BURTON SCHOOL BOARD TO HOLD EMERGENCY VIRTUAL MEETING FRIDAY

The Waco ISD Board of Trustees passed a resolution at its emergency meeting Monday that delegated authority to Superintendent Dr. Susan Kincannon to ensure all district employees are paid during school closures.

“During these times it’s important that we act responsibly and with care for our employees,” Kincannon said. “This resolution will guarantee all of our staff receive a paycheck to take care of their families. I thank the board for taking this action for the well being of our community.”

By passing the resolution, the board will take important steps to help the District continue operations after extending the suspension of classes for another two weeks. With This resolution the Board is taking prudent steps to assure students and staff will not have to make up days the district is closed.

The delaying of the school board election is prudent. It is an attempt to give the district, state and nation time to hopefully extinguish the pandemic virus we are battling at this time. Time will tell.

In the next few months the Board and Administration have several decisions to make for the coming year. Effects on this years budget, Guidance from the state on how to determine senior credits for graduation, reviewing the policy to determine the valedictorian/salutatorian ( will they use grades from first semester only or will they average the grades they have from the unfinished semester to grant/deny credit and to compute the final GPA), Same consideration for all students final report cards, awards usually presented at athletic and academic banquets, scholarship applications for seniors, providing information such as class rank and gpa for filling out college entrance exams, cancelling orders for graduation announcements and robes, options for the juniors funds raised for this years prom that will not be held, lettermen jackets, Contracts for teachers and at will employees, a benefits and pay raise package, a budget for next school year, technology needs to address future emergencies, plans to begin the next school year will need to include transitions in academics including a time period of review and acceleration to get kids back on track, plans and policy reviews to apply what was learned from this experience and on and on it goes.

Plus you still have to make plans about what if they re-open schools after Easter as the President has hinted. The students will have to be evaluated to determine if remediation is needed or can the teachers accelerate the learning to finish the school year at or near grade level? What do you do if some teachers or parents do not agree with the idea of resumption of classes? What do you do with the food stuff still in the refrigerators and freezers? Donate it? To who? The janitorial staff should still be working, stripping floors and preparing as if for the start of a new school year, disinfecting buildings. Adjustments should have been made to thermostats to conserve use. The maintenance crews could be repairing equipment, plumbing and buildings as needed. They could start maintenance to school buses, cleaning them and disinfecting them. Plenty to do while there are no students

The Board and Administration would be wise to look at the school calendar of events from last year from March through June to see what activities need to adjusted, cancelled or alternatives provided. Parents and students will need access to transcripts and documents to plan for next year.

Use this time wisely. Hold meetings via teleconferencing. Delegate some planning to groups of employees. Require reports to be submitted and reviews. Have teleconferences with other superintendents and have all post questions, policy or practices they are considering or using. Ask Region Six to set up a cluster meeting and bulletin board for small groups of superintendents of small schools in the neighboring counties to do the same. There are so many things that could be done.