Trustees approve campus, district improvement plans

By Melinda L. Lucas

Campus and district improvement plans were reviewed and accepted by trustees on the Albany school board during a fairly routine meeting on Monday, Oct. 21.

The 2018-2019 final financial audit was also on the agenda for approval, but since it had arrived late in the day and board members had not had time to study it, the vote was tabled until next month.

The audit presented in September, but has been “pending” until investment figures were received from the Community Foundation of Abilene.

Those numbers have now been finalized and added to the audit.

Required Plans

Local administrators presented campus and district improvement plans, simplifying documents from the past few years that often itemized more than 20 separate goals.

All three plans, one for the district overall and one for each of the two campuses, list three basic goals.

“We felt that we could tie everything back to student achievement, a safe learning environment, and recruitment and retention of highly qualified teachers,” said superintendent Jonathan Scott.

He noted that Leigh Lowe played a big role in developing the plans.

“It was a lot of work basically starting over with these plans rather than making changes and adjustments to the old ones, but we felt like this was the right path,” he said.

Vaping Program

Secondary principal Edward Morales said that the public is invited to a presentation in the auditorium at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 28 about the dangers of vaping. 

He also suggested that a specific policy be developed to deal with increasing vaping issues.

Other Business

•The annual English as a second language (ESL) report was presented to the board as required by TEA.

•Lowe and elementary principal John Gallagher reported that the sixth grade leadership team is continuing to work with Dyess Air Force Base personnel to take care of and improve Lt. Col. Dyess’s gravesite.