The Levelland ISD School Board kicked off the new calendar year with a regular meeting that saw an election order passed, action for the purchase of a new bus and several reports.
The big-ticket item on the January agenda that affects the board directly was for the group to approve the Trustee Election Order for district’s two and five.
Approved unanimously as expected, school board terms span three years, and the trustee election is slated for Saturday, May 6, 2023.
Board members up for reelection is district two’s Brooke Obenhaus and district five’s Matt Buxkemper.
Another actionable item listed was the possible approval of replacing a route bus that was totaled in August of 2022. The bus that was wrecked was a 2011 International.
Levelland ISD Chief Financial Officer Teresa Montemayor explained that the district received three quotes from Longhorn Bus Sales for $134,725, which can hold 48 passengers; Thomas Bus for $120,790 and can hold 48 passengers; and Blue Star Bus Sales for the price of $144,775 and can hold 48 passengers.
Montemayor advised the board that the big from Thomas Bus was the administrations recommendation.
Levelland ISD Transportation Supervisor Randi Bullard gave additional context as to why that company was preferred aside from costs.
Bullard explained that the company making the bus had inventory for the model they are looking at in stock which expedites the process of receiving the vehicle.
Additionally, the layout of the seating and additional possibility of accommodating individuals who are wheelchair bound is a lot easier.
Bullard also added that with the bus that was wrecked out of commission, the spare bus that was put in place to replace the route is an older model that cannot accommodate wheelchair needs.
The board moved forward with approving the bid. Several reports were given throughout the regular meeting and one of the bigger items was the annual financial audit.
Speaking on behalf of CMMS CPA’s & Advisors PLLC was Fermin Ramirez who broke down the bulk of the report for the board.
Ramirez opened the briefing by giving the districts opinion which is the overall findings of the company’s audit on the district.
He explained that having an unqualified opinion is what the audited party should be shooting for as it means the findings were not bad or good. It simply means whoever is being audited has their business in order.
Ramirez was pleased to inform the board that the district had received an unqualified opinion. The district is also preparing its campuses to be more secure and safe for its students and staff in the new year.
Assistant Superintendent Rodney Caddell informed everyone that a security committee had been established to cover a wide variety of perspectives.
Included parties on the committee are Law Enforcement specialists including School Resource Officers (SRO), Fire Dept, EMS, Emergency Management, Admin, Teachers and Parents as well to ensure that no stone goes unturned when it comes to the student safety.
With the last gathering happening in November, the committee discussed a list of items ranging from the upcoming vestibules project to cyber security.
For Physical safety the district has been working towards the construction and implementation of security vestibules for every campus.
This would mean that no one outside of staff would enter a campus without first being filtered through a main office, thus giving staff a chance to screen all incoming guests.
On some buildings, such as Intermediate, it will only require minor adjustments. However, other campuses like the High School will require more robust construction.
Bids for that construction on all LISD campuses have been collected, and work is ready to begin as soon as possible, bearing the acquisition of construction materials is not delayed.
Levelland ISD suffered a Cyber Security incident. November 4, 2022, a ransomware was detected on the network, which took the whole system down.
Internet and system access was lost district wide for the duration of the day. All of the systems files are backed up through Region 17 every night.
IT staff spent two days cleaning and deleting old files and starting fresh, eliminating the virus. Thanks to a diligent Cyber security team, LISD reports that no student files, financial files of any kind, nor any data was lost or transferred.
The ransomware known as “Baby K” is traced back to a Russian manufacturer, but how the virus made its way onto the network is unknown. This was only a portion of what was discussed in the security council meeting.
In addition to security measures, the ALICE training the district performed at the start of the school year, as well as updates to the Guardian Program were briefly mentioned.
With the training now taking place a full semester ago, it is clear the training remains on the minds of staff when it comes to school safety.
Superintendent Becky McCutchen said they will be participating again, though whether this will be annual or otherwise is still unknown.
The Guardian Program is still on going, which is the program that allows certain staff to carry a concealed handgun inside campuses.
Caddell stated that any staff who wish to become a school guardian must undergo a psychological evaluation and simulation training with the developer of the program out of Lubbock.
As LISD takes the responsibility of student safety seriously, this year the TEA as well as the Texas State School Safety Center have begun conducting unannounced intruder audits to test a districts level of safety and regulation.
LISD has had two visits since October and passed both visits with no issues.
Additionally, the next school calendar for the 2023-2024 was brought to the boards attention and was ultimately passed. Future school board meetings were left off the calendar to account for their potential to move around on the calendar.
To account for that issue, school board dates and other items pertaining to the board will become more accessible on the school’s website in the near future