Three LISD schools ‘recognized’

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

Four Lockhart Independent School District Campuses showed a marked improvement in the education their students received last year.
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) recently announced the 2006 Accountability Ratings for LISD. The report shows that three campuses earned a “recognized status,” while all other schools in the

district are “academically acceptable.”
Last year, because of a coding error, Lockhart High School was deemed “academically unacceptable.”
The ratings are based on student performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test.
To achieve a rating of “recognized,” between 70 and 89 percent of the students taking the TAKS test must pass the five main areas of the test. This year, Lockhart Junior High School, Clear Fork Elementary and Navarro Elementary were all named “recognized campuses.”
On an “academically acceptable” campus, 60 percent of the students tested must pass the reading, writing and social studies elements of the TAKS, 40 percent must pass the math element, and 35 percent must pass the science.
Last year, the district hired Assistant Superintendent James Rabe to help coordinate curriculum to raise the test scores. Rabe will continue on that path this year, hoping to lead each campus to a rating, not of “recognized,” but “exemplary.”
In other district business, the LISD Board of Trustees held a special meeting on Monday evening to discuss certain budget and personnel issues.
As a result of what the district thought would be a serious budget crunch this year, several departments and campuses slashed their budgets.
However, when the State Legislature announced the new school funding plan under House Bill 1, the district discovered there was additional money available. Therefore, the board received several requests to fund items that had previously been removed from the budget.
After lengthy discussion, about half of the items requested were approved for funding, including the purchase of additional textbooks for Bluebonnet Elementary School, and an increase in budgets for student meals and travel for the band and athletics department. The board also approved a $10,000 allotment for customer service training for all “front line employees,” such as secretaries, attendance clerks and counselors.
Personnel issues, including the reassignment of certain administrators and additional stipends for some teachers had the board in a series of heated executive sessions for more than three hours.
In the end, Community Education Director Joan Schlaht was reassigned as the assistant principal for Clear Fork Elementary after she requested a reassignment. To accommodate Schlaht”s assignment, Clear Fork assistant principal Becky Kibby was moved to the LHS Freshman Campus and LHS Freshman assistant principal Terry Mohle was promoted and made Director of Community Education.
In brief board news, the board approved the employment of Auto Collision program teacher at mid-year. The addition of the teacher is the first step in initiating an auto-body repair program under the Career and Technology Education program.