By PAMELA ROBINSON Register Staff Writer
Gainesville Independent School District board members voted 6-0 to approve the Order of Election Notice for May 8, Place 6 and 7 during their meeting Monday evening.
Place 6 is currently held by David Moore, while Place 7 is held by Mary Hunter.
GISD superintendent Bill Gravitt reported on enrollment and attendance for the district.
Gravitt said enrollment is at 2,645 for the entire district. He said attendance is still up over 110 students from the first week of school and is down seven from last month, but three of those students graduated from the Leopard Pride Achievement Center.
Gravitt said the attendance goal for the district is still 96 percent and three campuses are over 96 percent now: Gainesville Middle School, Lee Intermediate and Chalmers Elementary.
Gravitt also reported on construction of the new athletic stadium and said the field and track is complete. The stripes are to be put on the track this Friday if there is no rain. The stands are being put up and the home side is almost complete except for the press box.
“It looks really good,” Gravitt continued. “They’ve got almost everything painted that needs be painted. All the fences are just about complete and all the concrete work is getting close to being complete. The major thing that we have now will be the concession stand, restrooms and things such as that.”
Board members voted 5-1 to purchase a pick-up truck for the Agriculture department to transport animals. Board member Mary Hunter cast the dissenting vote.
The vote followed discussion which included comparison of the bids, whether the board needed more time to consider the purchase and if the purchase should be from a local truck dealer. Mary Hunter made the motion to table the item. The motion failed for a second. When asked when the truck was needed for the department, Gravitt said, “starting last week.”
The board then voted and approved the item. The 2010 Dodge Crew Cab 2WD is available for purchase now from Glenn Polk Autoplex and the cost is $33,510.
During the meeting board members tabled the 2010-11 school calendar action item by a 6-0 vote.
The Texoma TechPrep Agreement 2009-2010 was approved by a 6-0 vote. The agreement offers courses for high school students, who receive college level credit for the career tech courses through North Central Texas College and Grayson County College.
Board members approved the entire list of “instructional materials offered for adoption” by a 6-0 vote. Curriculum and Public Relations director Kim Parsons recommended that the entire list of books be approved by the board, so teachers could choose the books they wanted and changes could be made if necessary.
During the meeting board members approved the consent item, a budget amendment to purchase the truck approved earlier in the meeting, by a 6-0 vote. The amendment item is $33,510.
During audience items, Karen Mackey addressed the board and requested they review school policy regarding girls being able to carry purses on campus. She said the policy has grey areas that teachers are misunderstanding. She said her daughter was told by a teacher at Gainesville Middle School that she could not carry her purse at school because of its size. Mackey said that girls shouldn’t have to spend time at school having issues over their purses. She also asked the board to review the policy for belts, so classtime is not taken up with issues over the belts. Following the meeting Mackey said the issue over her daughter’s purse had been resolved with GMS Principal Rhett King.
During audience items, Kyle Nix addressed the board and his comments included, “it is my firm belief that Superintendent Gravitt does not have our children’s best interest in his decisions relating to the management and operations of this district. Recently the field conditions at Leeper Stadium were unsafe at the commencement of this year’s boys and girls soccer season. This resulted in the teams having to play the first two weeks of scheduled home games outside of Leeper Stadium. Initially Mr. Gravitt informed the coaches to find other fields in which they could play their scheduled home games on. At one point in time the soccer teams parents and fans thought that they would have to travel during the entire soccer season. This never would have been suggested if we were referring to the football program.”
Nix said that Gravitt did not allow soccer teams to go down to Brenham to compete in a tournament for the 2009 year.
He also said it was disheartening to see what has happened to the band program.
Following the meeting, Gravitt said the wet fields at Leeper Stadium this year were due to the rain and there is nothing the school can do to make a playing field better in that situation.
Gravitt said the tournament and trip to Brenham had not been cleared by GISD Athletic Director and Coach Ricky Lock, and the trip was being planned independent of the school district.
Richard Ownby of the Education Service Center for Region 11 addressed the board with an update on the service center. At one point during the presentation GISD board president Phil Adams requested that Ownby return to meet with them for a more detailed discussion.
“We’d like to know what is available and what you can do for us,” Adams said. “Meet with us for an hour and explain to us, let us know exactly what help you can give to us.”
Gravitt also requested that Ownby and staff meet with them for a more detailed discussion.
Members of the board went into executive session to discuss personnel items.
After reconvening in open session, board members took no action following executive session.
Board member Mike Schmitz was not present at the meeting.
