CLAY GILLENTINE NAMED ACTING BRENHAM ISD SUPT., EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
Brenham ISD has named a new acting superintendent.
Clay Gillentine speaks to the Brenham School Board
during its regular meeting in February 2022.
Gillentine on Monday was appointed to serve as
Brenham ISD's acting superintendent, effective
immediately.
During a special meeting this (Monday) morning, the Brenham School Board voted unanimously to appoint Clay Gillentine, most recently Brenham ISD’s Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services, as the acting superintendent, effective immediately. Gillentine was hired by Brenham ISD in April 2021.
Gillentine succeeds Dr. Tylor Chaplin, who had previously announced his intent to retire at the end of December. Dr. Chaplin joined Brenham ISD prior to the start of the 2020-21 school year.
In a press release announcing the decision, Gillentine said it is “an honor and a privilege” to step into this role and that he is committed to “ensuring that every decision made is in the best interest of our Brenham community.”
Board of Trustees President Natalie Lange said Gillentine’s appointment is “a testament to the depth of leadership within our district.” She said, “We are dedicated to the continued success of Brenham ISD, and we believe Mr. Gillentine is the right person to lead us through this transition."
Brenham ISD’s search for a new full-time superintendent is underway. The community is encouraged to participate in the search process via an online survey, which can be accessed here.
The board aims to have a new superintendent in place for the spring 2024 semester.
This follows last week’s announcement of Brenham ISD’s Chief Financial Officer, Thad Lasater, submitting his resignation effective this Friday, as well as news from September’s regular monthly board meeting that the district’s 2022-23 year-end deficit had grown to $5.8 million.
The full press release from Brenham ISD can be read below.
BRENHAM, TX – October 2, 2023 – Brenham Independent School District (Brenham ISD) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Clay Gillentine as the Acting Superintendent, effective immediately. The announcement was made during today's School Board meeting held at the Brenham ISD Central Administration office at 11:00 AM.
Mr. Gillentine has been an integral part of the Brenham ISD community since the Spring of 2021, serving as the Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services. His wealth of experience, dedication to educational excellence, and profound understanding of our district make him an ideal candidate for this crucial role.
Mr. Gillentine will be succeeding Dr. Tylor Chaplin, who announced his retirement set for December earlier this school year. Dr. Chaplin has been the Superintendent of the Brenham ISD community since the 2020 school year.
In response to his appointment, Mr. Gillentine expressed his gratitude and commitment to the Brenham community, saying, "It is both an honor and a privilege to step into the role of Acting Superintendent for Brenham ISD. I am committed to continuing the excellent work we do in Brenham, ensuring that every decision made is in the best interest of our Brenham community."
Mr. Gillentine emphasized his commitment to the local community, saying, "Brenham is not just a place to work for me; it's my home. Serving the students and families of Brenham is a responsibility I hold close to my heart. We will continue to take care of business, prioritizing the needs of our students and staff, ensuring they receive the best possible education."
Natalie Lange, School Board President, reiterated the district's commitment to excellence, stating, "Mr. Gillentine's appointment as Acting Superintendent is a testament to the depth of leadership within our district. We are dedicated to the continued success of Brenham ISD, and we believe Mr. Gillentine is the right person to lead us through this transition."
The search for Brenham ISD's next Superintendent is currently underway, with community input being a crucial aspect of the decision-making process. Although community input sessions have concluded, an online questionnaire is still available for those who wish to contribute. The questionnaire can be accessed at BrenhamISD.net.
The School Board aims to name a new Superintendent and have them in place for the Spring 2024 semester, ensuring a seamless transition and a continued commitment to educational excellence in the Brenham community.
The real and unpopular truth is that the residents of Brenham need to pass school bonds to keep up with inflation and competition from other districts. In November 2022, Waller ISD passed a $363,000,000 + bond to build new schools and upgrade facilities. Oh and look, they gave their teachers a raise this year. College Station ISD passed a over $100,000,000 bond a couple of years ago and have another on the November ballot. Without the passage of bonds, the Brenham schools will continue to decline and be outpaced by neighboring districts.
All this Commitment to Excellence and not a shred of excellence can be found with this board!!!!!
Exactly. Hasn’t been there for a long while. And it isn’t like the superintendent is going to change anything. They will always allow bullying and threats to parents and students from administration and staff (and Teachers!!!) and continue to either sweep it under the rug or find new ways of “shutting people up” to keep up the facade of “Warm welcoming Brenham”.
It is only Warm and Welcoming if you have the right last name, people in your back pocket, and look a certain way.
Accountability is sorely lacking with the BISD. I do not yet know what Mr. Gillentine’s credentials are? Is he even qualified to take the leadership role. Dr. Chaplin was there to make a name for himself and pad his resume. We must hold the BISD board accountable for their failure to get the right people in place to lead our schools. Using TASB to conduct a search for a new superintendent has been a failure the last few times and our board is set to make that mistake again. Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result is sheer stupidity. When are we going to hold our board accountable? There are at least two members who try to do the right thing, but they get out voted by other liberal board members who I feel do not have a clue.
Just my thoughts, if I managed the multimillion-dollar business I manage like BISD management would have me removed quickly.
Please calm down. The new guy is just an acting Superintendent and Chaplin is quitting public education instead of seeking greener pastures because there are no green pastures.
Maybe you imagine doing things differently as a public sector manager but you’re actually not doing anything like that at all. No sane self-interested businessperson, including you, gets into public sector management to get rich. But they manage more people, larger budgets, greater complexity, and more political toxicity than you’ll ever fathom. They play by arcane rules that are divorced from reality, set by legislators. The legislature is their only customer. The legislature devises the revenue model and the customer is always wrong. Confidently and emphatically and spinelessly wrong. They are businesspeople whose first duty is themselves. They would make terrible bureaucrats and they know it, which is why they’re legislators instead, flaunting their inability to govern as a credential into itself. Being a legislator is a better career path.
I am growing tired of the constant tactic of blaming the state or federal mandates or laws – there are dozens of schools surrounding BISD who seem to have their act together. How many failures locally can be repeatedly swept away with the message of “calm down- the BISD board leadership is a victim” of some outside legislation or fed or state government. How can dozens of surrounding school districts be stable, successful and accountable at the same time BISD board and administrators have failed? Stop with the nonsense excuses that always keep blaming magical outside forces.
Well said G. It seems they are trying to fund Iran Contra.
Those surrounding districts all have higher tax rates than Brenham. That’s the common denominator.
Yes – more funding will solve everything. We probably need to raise property taxes to do the right thing for the children.
If you look at the surrounding districts, they all have much higher tax rates. For example, Burton does have a balanced budget, but their tax rate of $0.938 per $100 valuation, which equates to $15,276,096 (or $26,068 per enrolled student based on 586 student enrollments stated on 8/15/23).
Bellville’s tax rate is $0.9712 per $100 valuation, which equates to a $31,082,711 balance budget (or $14,129 per student based on ~2200 students).
Waller’s tax rate is $1.1092 per $100 valuation, which equates to $99,558,289 in revenue (+876,854 shortfall) for $100,385,143 in expenditures (or $10,935 expenditure per student based on 9,180 projected enrollment).
Magnolia’s (a growing district) tax rate is $0.9638 per $100 valuation, which equates to a $174,995,494 budget (or $12,500 per student based on ~14,000 student population)
La Grange’s tax rate is $0.8153 per $100 valuation, which equates to $22,934,632 in revenue (+2,106,634 estimated shortfall) for a total of $25,041,266 in expenditures (or $13,180 expenditure per student based on ~1900 students).
Gidding’s tax rate is 0.90802 per $100 valuation, which equates to a $23,903,251 budget (or $12,581 per student based on ~1900 students).
Brenham’s rate is $0.7693 per $100 valuation, which equates to a $56,259,023 in revenue (+4,580,194 estimated shortfall) for a total of $60,839,217 in expenditures (or $12,771 expenditure per student based on 4,764 students enrolled the first week of classes).
From a big picture perspective or competitively anyway, it seems to me that Brenham is not actually spending as frivolously as it is constantly being made out to be and is on par for expenditures with surrounding districts on a per student basis.
If not going to rely on new revenue from the state, raising the tax rate similar to the other districts is another way to increase revenue, but no one wants to hear that. As any business should know, you can only cut back expenditures so far and still operate at the same volume (i.e. number of students). Sometimes you just have to raise the price of service (i.e. increase revenue).
Victim mentality disgusts me. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
Calming done is the reason we are in all these messes!!! We stayed calm while prayer, discipline, accountability, challenge and many other things were taken out of schools and replaced by policies that have failed miserably. We stayed calm and allowed institutions at state and national take over. We stayed calm and allowed government to take over education and ruin it as they have most every issue they put their hands on. That is the “truth”.
What a mess! I hope the school board isn’t buying out their contracts after they resign like they have with some in the past. Teachers are already struggling to pay bills but they don’t keep getting paid when they quit in the middle of their contract. BISD is probably still paying off contracts for Sam Bell and Walter Jackson.
Hey common sense, Walter Jackson resigned on his own free will to become Superintendent at LaPorte ISD. He was paid nothing in return for his resignation.
Walter Jackson resigned for another position. No payout.
How can they???? With what money???? Oh wait….. The taxpayers money….
So did they cut ties with the retiring superintendent or we giving this guy a pay raise to be his shadow???!