The Levelland ISD School Board approved a depository contract with City Bank at a school board meeting held Wednesday.
Chief financial officer Teresa Montemayor made the observation that the change will be major but beneficial since Levelland ISD has not changed banks in over 20 years.
The board decided to rebid the depository contract after previously receiving one bid from Prosperity Bank with an annual percentage yield of 1 percent. City Bank submitted a bid with a current annual percentage yield of 3.79 percent based off of a calculation of 75 percent of the TexPool seven-day net yield which will change monthly on the first business day.
The board held the public hearing on safe return and continuity of service plans. All Levelland ISD campuses will begin at 8 a.m. Levelland High school will release at 4 p.m., Levelland Middle School fifth and sixth-grade will release at 3:45 p.m., Levelland Middle School seventh and eighth-grade will release at 4 p.m., Capitol Elementary will release at 3:45 p.m., South Elementary will release at 3:45 p.m. and Levelland Academic Beginnings Center will release at 3:45 p.m.
The board approved the policy update 121 affecting local policies. The CFB local policy updated the capitalization threshold for purposes of classifying capital assets shall be $5,000 to the capitalization threshold for purposes of classifying individual capitol assets shall be $5,000.
The CKE local policy regarding safety program, risk management and security personnel was discarded and replaced with the CKEC local policy regarding security personnel and school recourse officers.
The CLB local policy regarding building, grounds and equipment management maintenance had changes in wording. The CO local policy regarding food and nutrition management increased the $10 limit on meal charges to an unlimited amount.
The COA local policy regarding food and nutrition management procurement will now be overseen by the assistant superintendent and no longer by the superintendent. The CRF local policy regarding insurance and annuities management unemployment insurance had zero changes.
The CVA local policy regarding facilities construction and competitive bidding was updated to remove designees from ensuring detailed specifications are prepared and gave the duty solely to the superintendent. The CVB local policy regarding facilities construction competitive sealed proposals was also updated to remove designees from preparing a request for proposals and gave the duty solely to the superintendent.
The DEA local policy regarding compensation and benefits compensation plan updated language including the annualized salary of employees from bimonthly to semimonthly and updated the premium pay during disasters policy. Nonexempt employees who are required to work to mitigate the reason for an emergency closing will be paid at a rate of one and one-half times their regular pay and all other nonexempt employees who are required to work during an emergency closing shall be paid their regular rate of pay.
The FD local policy regarding admissions was updated to ensure credit, including proportionate credit, is awarded appropriately for all subjects and courses taken prior to enrollment and a proof of residency change.
The FFI local policy regarding student welfare and freedom from bullying was updated to include minimum standards for bullying prevention and periodic monitoring the reported account of bullying.
The board approved the board member code of ethics with no changes made from the previous year and the board operating procedures with the change to move board meetings to Wednesdays.
The board heard end of year updates from each school including end of year testing scores and end of year activities. The board also heard a maintenance update regarding the 2022 water fountain project summary. The proposed budget was $125,941 with a $15,000 contingency and the actual price was $127,107. All of the water fountains were addressed excluding one.
The board heard a report on the South Plains Educational Coop which is a shared service arrangement including nine area school districts with Levelland serving as the fiscal agent. As of October 2022, there were 804 students in the program which has increased to 946 as of May 2023.
The SPECO program will replace one of the eight educational diagnosticians with a licensed specialist in school psychology and will add an addition behavior coach and speech therapist. There are currently 128 students living in Levelland that require intensive instruction placement and 48 transfer students in the program.
The annual concealed carry report was given including the volunteer concealed carry update detailing that authorized employees must maintain a current handgun license, be authorized by the board via board resolution, obtain written certification from the superintendent or designee to carry a concealed handgun and must have completed additional training and test authorization.
The superintendent discussed the increased attendance, end of year enrollment, HB3 board goals, the board activity calendar, the balanced scorecard review and a TASB SLI update during the superintendent’s report.
Levelland ISD attendance increased from 93.5 percent in the 2021-2022 school year to 94.5 percent in the 2022-2023 school year.
The board then entered an executive session to take action on the superintendent annual evaluation and the superintendent’s contract. An update has not yet been made due to the executive meeting continuing late into the night.