TEMPORARY AGREEMENT OUTLINED BETWEEN BRENHAM ISD AND BLUEBONNET HAVEN
The Brenham School District will indeed be responsible for educating residents of Bluebonnet Haven—at least for the time being.
Details of a memo of understanding with the youth treatment facility just outside of Brenham were revealed at Tuesday’s school board meeting. Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Jamey Johnson, as well as Erik Nichols of KBS Law Group out of Houston, spoke to board members about the temporary arrangement with the facility.
According to Dr. Johnson, the contract period is between January 23rd and May 24th. The school district will provide the curriculum and educate students at Bluebonnet Haven through its online programs.
All students at the facility will follow the educational requirements set for Brenham ISD, no matter the program the students are in.
The district will need to provide anything that involves the students’ education, to ensure their needs are met through this arrangement. For example, the students will be issued Chromebooks and any additional items that are needed for instruction. In addition, Brenham ISD would be responsible for services like special education and counseling.
Nichols said that essentially, anything the school district would provide at its regular campuses it would provide at Bluebonnet Haven. This excludes the facility itself, desks, utilities, lunches, medication, nursing, and most things that are considered ancillary services. He said Bluebonnet Haven asked that students be taught at the facility, in the interest of safety.
Dr. Johnson said a single teaching position has been posted, and staff are currently looking at applications and qualifications. The teacher will need to physically go to the facility to teach, and the district will be responsible for travel.
Dr. Johnson said the student-teacher ratio is not known at this point, as it depends on what students come into the facility. She said the district would be responsible for acquiring an aide, if it sees the need for one for educational reasons.
Board Vice President Melvin Ehlert said some of the individuals being considered for the teaching position were possibly the same ones Trinity Charter was hoping to hire, so it’s not as if the school district would be sending its current staff members to the facility.
Ehlert said the intent of this agreement is short term, for both Brenham ISD and Bluebonnet Haven. The plan is to have Trinity Charter School become the educator once it is approved for the charter.
Nichols explained that Trinity Charter School had every intention of teaching at Bluebonnet Haven, saying the school has already outfitted the inside of the facility’s educational space. He said the facility has made it clear they want Trinity Charter to educate its residents, and that was in place before the state pulled support. This is after the state took a “snap shot” of the school district’s enrollment in October of 2018, to determine state funding.
Since the agreement is temporary, it is only binding until the new school year. Nichols said the agreement can also be structured to be binding until Trinity Charter comes in. He noted that this memo has not been signed yet, but there should be no issues given the way it has been written.
Ehlert also addressed concerns that Brenham ISD was responsible for killing Trinity’s charter to teach in order to obtain more money from the state, saying it was “totally not true”. He reminded those in attendance of the resolution the school board passed last year opposing Bluebonnet Haven’s opening, saying the school was never interested in providing these services.
Nichols responded to Ehlert, saying no one from the Texas Education Agency had ever indicated to him that Brenham ISD had a hand in the charter being pulled from Trinity. He said it was important to note that, now that students are involved, Brenham ISD has “stepped up to the plate”.