Archives > The Colony Courier-Leader > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Foughty not running for re-election in LISD
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
Lewisville ISD Trustee Julie Foughty announced at Monday's board meeting that she will not be seeking re-election for Place 4.
Foughty is completing her first term, which expires in May. She was elected in 2010.
“I have enjoyed serving the students and families of LISD as a trustee, and I plan to continue that service in a different way: as a passionate parent advocate who believes that Texas can do better by its schoolchildren,” Foughty said in a statement. “With the convening last Monday of the 83rd session of the Texas Legislature, it’s the right time for me to return to private life, so I can represent our kids in Austin as a parent and taxpayer.”
"Please know that I am here and am willing to serve LISD in any other capacity," Foughty told the board members and the audience. "It's been an honor to serve as a trustee with this team and an absolute delight to work with Dr. [Stephen] Waddell as he transforms LISD from great to world class. And I'm confident in where you will take this community and our kids into the future."
Rebuilding campuses
Earlier in the night, the board voted to reallocate $160 million of the remaining $200 million from the 2008 bond election to various project, including rebuilding Camey Elementary School and Griffin Middle School in The Colony. The expected cost for those projects is $21.5 million and $43.2 million, respectively.
The reallocation also includes $55.3 million in renovating existing facilities and $40 million in technology.
District officials said the new campuses for Camey and Griffin could be open by the fall of 2015 if the district's tax rate supports the bonds sale.
Transfers
Board members also voted to amend its policy on intradistrict transfers.
The change effects three components of transfers, including factors affecting the approval or denial of a transfer request. The factors used will be space availability at the requested campus, as well as the student's attendance record, academic record and discipline history.
Another component of the change is the ability for non-resident non-exempt employees (campus paraprofessionals) and non-resident employees of contracted service companies to request an interdistrict transfer. Previously, only non-resident professional employees have been allowed to bring their children into the district.
The district surveyed 305 employees who fall into those two categories, and 54 stated they would like to bring their 78 children into the district.
District officials said the benefits of allowing such transfers include having a more equitable system, providing a choice for which schools students can attend and more revenue, possibly $500,000 from interdistrict transfers.
The third component deals with eligibility for extracurricular activities. Currently, the district requires that if a student transfers from one LISD school to another one for varsity extracurricular purposes, that student loses one year of varsity eligibility. An appeal process had been overseen by the superintendent.
With the new policy, a committee made up of officials from the LISD schools not involved in the transfer will hear the appeal.
Calendar
The board also approved the academic calendar for the 2013-14 school year.
The first semester will run from Aug. 26 through Jan. 17, and the second semester will run from Jan. 21 through June 5. The winter break will run from Dec. 23 through Jan. 3. Spring Break will take place the week of March 10. Bad weather days, if needed, will be June 6 and May 23. There will also be five professional development days for teachers and staff and two professional development trade days.
Vacation
Last year, the board approved a change in its employee vacation policy for employees who have at least 15 years of continuous experience with LISD. The change limited the number of vacation days employees can carry over to the next year, and it eliminated the option of getting paid instead of using all the vacation days.
Many employees had chosen to take a lump sum payment instead of using the accumulated days.
LISD's policy change provided a cost-control measure. With the new policy, employees could carry over a maximum of 20 days to the next year and could earn a maximum of 10 days in the current year.
Monday, the board voted to allow five additional days that can be earned in the current year. This will take effect in the 2014-15 school year.
New facilities
The board also established some guidelines when it comes to naming a new facility. Among the policy's components is the criteria for naming a facility after an individual. The new facility may be named "for a person who worked for the district if the person was a distinguished district employee for at least 10 years, has worked in education for at least 30 years, is retired and attained the age of 80 or deceased."
The policy change also allows a board to vote on the naming of the facility if all of the board members are present, although there doesn't have to be seven board members as the previous policy required.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
