January 22, 2026 at 7:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Description:  Announcement by the Board President whether a quorum is present and that notice of the meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551 as required by law.

Description:  "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Description:   "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible." 

Description:  Mayor Ben Daniel will read a proclamation declaring January 2026 as Board Member Appreciation Month. Campuses and other groups will present board members with tokens of their appreciation.

Description:  Congratulations to the following students for qualifying for the TMEA/ATSSB All-State Band. Senior Betsy Bradford placed first chair in the Alto Saxophone room, her sister, senior Celeste Bradford placed second chair in the French Horn room, and Junior Cris Gomez placed first chair in the Trumpet Room. This is a very prestigious honor and the Buffalo Band continues to shine! 

Description:  Florence ISD recognizes FES teacher Melissa Cutright as our Teacher of the Month for December. From her nomination: "Mrs. Cutright is an outstanding teacher who consistently puts students first. She supports our campus systems with consistency and care, ensuring students receive high-quality instruction every day. Mrs. Cutright is always available to students, offering guidance, encouragement, and support whenever it is needed. She creates a positive, structured learning environment where students feel safe, supported, and motivated to succeed. Her dedication to student growth and success has a lasting impact on our campus."

Description:  The Board encourages comments about the district from members of the public.  Anyone who has signed up to speak in advance of the meeting in accordance with the Board procedures may do so at this time.  The Board asks that each participant's comments pertain to district business and be no longer than 5 minutes.  For any member of the public who is accompanied by a translator, your time will be doubled as required by law.  Remember that the Board may not discuss or act upon any issues that are not posted on our agenda.  In addition, the Board has adopted policies to provide prompt and equitable resolution of complaints and concerns for employees, students or their parents, and the general public.  Copies of our district policies and procedures on public comments and filing complaints are available on the district website. 

Description:  Senate Bill 11 passed in the 89th Legislative Session and was adopted into law in Texas Education Code §25.0823. The new law allows school districts to adopt a resolution providing students and employees an opportunity to participate in a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts on each school day. Districts are not required by the new law to adopt this resolution, but they are required to have a record vote on the resolution. The details of the law can be found in FISD Board Policy FNA(LEGAL). FISD campuses already have a Moment of Silence following the pledges that is required by law in which a student or employee may pray or read the Bible or other religious texts. I would like to lead a discussion on this issue as a precursor to a required vote on a resolution to provide an opportunity to students and employees to participate in a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text on each school day in accordance with the law. I have attached an FAQ from TASB Legal Services to serve as a guide to our conversation.

Description:  As the teacher shortage and lack of staffing continues to be an issue across all districts, it is important for districts to know as early as possible if an employee intends to resign or retire. To encourage employees who intend to resign or retire at the end of the school year, districts can offer an Early Resignation Incentive so they can post jobs in the spring when more candidates are available. I would like to discuss this possibility for FISD as we want to ensure that vacancies are filled with quality candidates. Attached is information from TASB related to early resignation incentives.

Description:  An update will be provided on estimated costs for identified facility improvement projects. 

Description:  Senate Bill 546 requires districts to identify existing buses in the fleet that do not have three-point seat belts and determine if the district's budget allows for the purchase of new buses that are fully compliant. Florence ISD currently owns 12 buses that are fully equipped with three-point seat belts and 10 buses that do not have any seat belts. The adopted 2025-2026 budget cannot fund the cost of the buses as quoted by Longhorn Bus Sales. The District's recommendation is for the board to determine that the purchase of 10 new school buses to comply with Senate Bill 546 and Transportation Code 547.701 is not supported by the budget. If the board makes this determination, I will bring a presentation to the February Board Meeting, as required by law, detailing the number of buses operated by the District that fall into each of the following three categories: a) are not equipped with seat belts; b) are equipped with two-point seat belts; or c) are equipped with three-point seat belts along with the estimated cost to equip all buses with three-point seat belts. Once this report is made to the board, the District will load the information into Sentinel, the online reporting system used by the State of Texas. It is expected that grant funding will become available to fund or partially fund the cost to upgrade current buses to three-point seat belts.

Description:  As we have discussed, the former goals needed to be updated and be measurable. I worked with Dr. Cathy Lauer on these goals and I believe they capture everything that needs to be included. If the board would like to add or delete anything, we can do so at the meeting prior to taking action. The goals include the goals previously set by the board to be in compliance with House Bill 3 as well as new goals based on the board approved FISD Strategic Plan.

Description:  Two calendars were developed, both based on calendars similar to this academic year. Draft A is almost identical to the current year with a few changes to school holidays to correlate with National Holidays. Draft B is an identical calendar, but adds five (5) early release days for staff professional development. The idea behind Draft B is to allow campuses to provide campus-specific professional development during the new early out days, which allows the district to plan and provide the professional development on the full professional development days. Campus principals reviewed the calendars with their leadership team and staff and the majority support Draft A.

Description:  Per SB 13 and our library acquisition policy, the Board of Trustees must approve all donated or proposed library materials.  The attached list of books has undergone the district collection development process for any library material that students will have access to in the campus collections. The list also includes books that will be available to purchase as part of the Scholastic Book Fair.

Description:  Course offerings for Florence High School are presented in the attached document. Two new courses are included for approval for the 2026-2027 school year and beyond. The new courses are AP Seminar and AP Precalculus. 

Description:  Board Policy CV(LEGAL) requires the Board to select the procurement method that provides the best value for the district for contracts at or above $100,000.00. For this project, it is the opinion of the District and the Engineer that the best value will be gained by the use of a Competitive Sealed Proposal. 
O'Conell Robertson has established a preliminary construction budget of $1,400,000.00 for the replacement of various HVAC units throughout the district that are at or have exceeded their life expectancy. 
Advertising for this project will begin on January 26 and proposals will be due on February 13. A list of proposers by ranking will be brought to the Board at the February meeting for approval.

Description:  The premium for the District's Property/Casualty coverage renewal from the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Risk Management Fund is $317,097.00. This is an increase from the prior year's premium of $249,636.00. The new cost includes the addition of the new elementary school, as well as the band hall and field house completed in the prior year. The scheduled values for existing school district facilities and contents, for premium purposes, are updated at renewal by TASB each year. All facilities, contents, and equipment will be scheduled for coverage as it is acquired or improvements are made.

Description:  Terms for Place 1, Place 2, and Place 3 on the FISD Board of Trustees expire this year. An election will be held May 2, 2026, to fill those positions.

Description:  As required by the Texas Election Code, FISD must provide at least one accessible voting system in each polling place used in a Texas election. This resolution ensures that the chief election officer provides the necessary accessible voting system.

Description:  Williamson County has once again agreed to serve as the Election Administrator for the May 2, 2026, election. The Election Administrator for Williamson County will serve as the Election Administrator for our election. She will be responsible for the coordination, supervision, and handling of all aspects of administering the election.

Description:  This contract sets the fees the District will be charged for the use of Bell County's electronic voting system. An estimate will be provided at a later date.

Description:  Available dates are Monday, February 2, Wednesday, February 4, Monday, February 9, or Thursday, February 12.