January 19, 2015 Board Meeting
Board Briefs covers the highlights of each month's board meeting. More details can be found online at www.bisd.net.

Trustees Approve New Courses

At their monthly meeting, the Belton ISD Board of Trustees approved new career and technical education courses for high school students. The 20 classes cover subjects including graphic design, construction, manufacturing and engineering.

 

Many of the courses will allow students to gain a greater depth of knowledge through hands-on experience. They are also a response to changing graduation requirements.

 

During the 83rd session of the Texas Legislature, lawmakers adopted new graduation requirements that go into effect for students who are currently in ninth grade. Under the new graduation plans, most students will be expected to earn an endorsement in one of five career areas by completing a strand of four courses.

 

A complete list of the newly approved courses is online at www.bisd.net.

 

Students Preview "Little Shop of Horrors"

Belton High School students Riley Wesson and Caleb Mynatt, who were two of the four all-state choir students recognized at the meeting, provided a preview of the upcoming musical, "Little Shop of Horrors." Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 6 and 7 and 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 8 in the Performing Arts Center at Belton High School. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children, students and seniors.

 

 

To purchase tickets online, click the image above or visit  www.seatyourself.biz.

 

Tickets can also be purchased at the Belton ISD Administration (400 N Wall St, Belton) or at the box office at the BHS Performing Arts Center. The box office will open one hour before each performance.

 

Superintendent's Report

Construction Update

While the rain earlier this month slowed down work on the agricultural barn, crews have been able to get back on schedule. Reinforcing steel work has started, and the slab rough-in for plumbing and electrical is complete. 

 

Graduation Update

A record number of seniors are preparing to graduate in June 2015. Belton High School is expected to have 626 graduates, and Belton New Tech High School @Waskow anticipates handing out 104 diplomas to their first graduating class.

 

The Class of 2015 is the first one required to pass five end-of-course exams to receive a diploma. To date 96.6% of Belton ISD's seniors have successfully completed all five of the required exams. For comparison, the statewide average is currently 90.3%. 

 

Legislative Update
In preparation for the 84th Session of the Texas Legislature, 13 superintendents from the Central Texas Area began meeting last fall to discuss their priorities for public education policy and outlined them in a letter that was sent to the area's legislators last month. The group is advocating for restoring school funding, increasing the transportation allotment to reflect increasing transportation costs, restoring facilities funding, providing an adequate instructional materials allotment, and expanding early childhood education.

Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee

The opening of three new schools (High Point Elementary, Chisholm Trail Elementary, and North Belton Middle School) over the last two years as well as the reconfiguration of the Belton Middle School campus to Bhs9 and Tyler Elementary to the Belton Early Childhood School marked the completion of Belton ISD's last ten-year facilities plan. Those projects helped to keep pace with the district's fast-growing student enrollment, but experts project that the growth will continue through the next decade.

 

A Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee will meet this spring to plan for the district's facilities needs between now and 2025. The committee's first meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Feb. 10 in the boardroom at the Belton ISD Administration Building. All of the meetings are open to the public.

 

January is School Board Appreciation Month, and the theme for 2015 is "A Work of Heart".

For our volunteer school board members, service truly is a work of heart. When you watch our trustees with our students, it's obvious that they put their heart into what they do. They care deeply for our students.

The decisions that our trustees make are driven by the sincere desire to see every single student excel in tomorrow's world.

Being a school board member isn't a typical volunteer job. It isn't something that our trustees do for a couple of hours once a month or even once a week. It's a part of who they are and what they do everyday.

It's a challenge to represent the whole of a fast-growing community as diverse as ours. Our school board members do it well, and they do it with courage.

Each member of the board is responsible to the area and the unique constituencies that he or she represents. Each trustee is also part of a collaborative team that sets the mission and goals of the district. This board works hard to strike the right balance between those roles, and the district is stronger for their dedication.

Please join me in thanking our school board members for their leadership and their service.

Sincerely,

Susan Kincannon, Ed.D.
Superintendent
RECOGNITIONS
All-State Choir

Earlier this month, Riley Wesson and Matt McKinnon were selected for the All-State Mixed Choir, and Caleb Mynatt and Nicholas Hauger made the All-State Men's Choir. These students will travel to San Antonio on Feb. 14 to perform at the TMEA Annual Convention.

All-Region Middle School Orchestra

Six middle school students qualified for the all-region middle school orchestra, which is the largest number to do so in the brief history of the program.

All-Region Middle School Band

In total, 71 middle school students earned positions in the first and second all-region bands or were selected as alternates, and 16 of those students were chosen as first, second or third chairs for the first band.  

VFW Teacher of the Year

On Dec. 20, Kim Flowers was recognized as the 2014 Teacher of the Year by VFW Post 4008. The award recognizes "exceptional teachers for their outstanding commitment to teaching Americanism and patriotism to their students." Flowers is the band director at Lake Belton Middle School. 

Temple Rotary Educator of the Month

Cynthia Long was recognized by the Temple Rotary Club as their educator of the month. She is a French teacher at Belton High School, who has taught in Belton ISD for 13 years.


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