BRENHAM ISD COVID-19 LEVELS DROPPING

  

Brenham ISD officials say the district’s COVID-19 numbers have started to drop off.

Brenham ISD Health and Safety Director Jamie Woodall told the Brenham School Board on Monday that the first two weeks of class in August had very high numbers of testing and positive cases, but numbers are now starting to compare to what was seen in the spring.

 

As of Monday, according to the COVID-19 dashboards for Brenham ISD’s individual campuses, the district had 74 active cases in students and staff, and 279 cumulative cases since the start of classes.

Woodall said there were some days at the beginning of school where the district was testing around 50 people a day for COVID-19, compared to around 10 people a week in the spring.

When asked if the district still has enough COVID-19 tests to get through the school year, Woodall said she has no doubts it will make it through December with its current tests.  She said the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has released allocations for how it will move forward with new testing; through the end of the current school year, the TEA and Department of State Health Services (DSHS) will support school-based COVID-19 testing activities through vendors, funded by an $800 million federal grant.

Woodall also thanked the school nurses and athletic trainers who have been performing COVID-19 tests and scheduling appointments.

The board also heard a presentation from ABM for a one-year extension of its contract for custodial services for the 2021-22 school year.  ABM Regional Director of Operations Jason Barron and Senior Vice President of Operations Myron Luckenbach spoke to trustees about the company’s efforts to address staffing shortages company-wide by implementing more employee recognition in order to retain current employees.  However, Luckenbach said Brenham is in pretty good shape when it comes to staffing.  The company has 43 employees working with Brenham ISD.

Board members were concerned when Barron and Luckenbach told them that the average hourly wage for ABM’s Brenham employees is $9.75.  Trustee Mark Schneider said, “I don’t see how you retain the people you have at $9.75 whether you have quality people or not.”  Superintendent Dr. Tylor Chaplin said the company has a lot of great people, but does not want to make them continue working “on the kindness of their hearts.”

The board ultimately took no action on the item.

Dr. Chaplin provided an update on staffing and on the search for a new high school principal.  Dr. Chaplin said the district is down to two positions that have long-term substitutes filling in.  The high school has received 14 applications so far for the vacant principal position formerly held by Joseph Chandler.

Trustees also performed the first reading of revisions to school policy concerning innovation districts, employment requirements and restrictions, credentials and records, employment practices, probationary contracts and assignment and schedules for the school year.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the board began a new campus and department spotlight where, once a month, it will recognize students, teachers, paraprofessionals, child nutrition and maintenance employees and departments across the district.

This month’s honorees include:

Teacher of the Month: Cindy Marcos

Student of the Month: Victoria Cuellar

Paraprofessional of the Month: Lete Bustos

Child Nutrition Employee of the Month: Paula Eldridge

Maintenance Employee of the Month: John Quimby

Department of the Month: Assistant Principals – Mary Gold, Alton Elementary School; Don Silvey, Brenham Elementary School; Toni Schwartz, Krause Elementary School; Steven Siemsglusz and Erin Thibodeaux, Brenham Middle School; Kirk Still and Rachel Peterson, Brenham Junior High School; Suzette Evans, Monte Shields, Larry Hughes and LaKesha Morgan, Brenham High School.