AGISD board tweaks four-day schedule

Posted 3/9/23

The recent decision by the Alba-Golden school board to switch to a four-day school week in the fall is already getting some tweaks.

Superintendent Macie Thompson told the board Monday that a …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

AGISD board tweaks four-day schedule

Posted

The recent decision by the Alba-Golden school board to switch to a four-day school week in the fall is already getting some tweaks.

Superintendent Macie Thompson told the board Monday that a waiver that the district anticipated it would seek for classroom minutes for career and technical education (CTE) classes would no longer be allowed by the Texas Education Agency.

As a result, the district examined ways to bring the schedule to the required 8,100 CTE minutes, and Thompson’s recommendation passed on a 4-1 vote, with Trustee Matt Haisten opposing.

The change will mean the secondary campus will begin classes one day earlier than planned and start the school day five minutes earlier and end it six minutes later.

“I’m not supportive of a longer day,” Haisten said at Monday’s board meeting.

That will lengthen the school day from 7:40 a.m. to 4:13 p.m.

It was noted that the district is trying the four-day week on a three-year trial, and tweaks will likely be made each year.

Thompson also noted that in Alba-Golden’s district of innovation plan, teacher contracts are set at 182 days.

When the district revisits that plan, she recommended that be amended to reflect the new number of school days.

During the public comment section of the meeting, elementary music teacher Keelyn Swoape addressed the board about last month’s decision not to act on renewing the contract of elementary Principal Chris Massey.

He offered support for Massey’s efforts in his first year on the job and said other staff members who support Massey did not appear at the board meeting.

He said he thought Massey was being made a scapegoat for decisions that were not his, and that he had the tough task of following a universally respected principal, in a year in which the entire district administration turned over.

Thompson updated the board on improvement projects.

She said the fencing improvements would be underway within the month.

Bids are being sought for the parking lot improvements.

Recommendations to address the sewer lift station issue are still being worked on and may involve the pressure relief valves in the line that goes to the city of Alba.

After learning the $330,000 that was budgeted for new school buses was not enough to purchase three, trustees accepted a bid of $261,060 for two buses.

Thompson said the district would like to replace the mini-bus that was recently damaged in a traffic crash with an activity bus.

But those 14-passenger vehicles have become so popular that the lead time is so long that AGISD cannot even get a quote. She said they will be trying to locate a used vehicle in good condition that the district could buy with the insurance proceeds and the money remaining in the budget.

Trustees also discussed raising the tuition for students in pre-kindergarten who do not qualify for the free program.

It is now $2,500, and the recommendation is to raise it to $3,000, based on a fee of $20 per day.

The district hopes to again offer three sections of pre-K after having to cut back to two when a third teacher could not be found.

Trustee Grant Sadler said the district should not miss out on the opportunity to enroll a pre-K student over the additional $500.

Earlier in the meeting, trustees learned that students who enroll in pre-K are more prepared for kindergarten than those who don’t.