By Jennifer Perry Middleton/Jefferson Jimplecute
Jefferson Independent School District will now hold their trustee elections in May to coincide with the city and county elections. JISD Trustees approved the measure during Tuesday’s meeting after they heard a presentation from Marion County Judge Leward LaFleur and Karen Jones, the county’s election officer.
Both city and county officials have already approved holding the elections together with the school district. LaFleur and Jones told the board that by holding the elections together, it will mean significant savings for the city, the school district, and the county.
“This is something I have worked on since I took office, little by little,” Judge LaFleur told trustees. “We are considered unique in the state of Texas and are one of four counties with one school district and one municipality inside the county.”
Previously, voters would have to go to various locations in the city and county to vote. By doing this, each machine will have all the elections in each location and voters will only have to travel to one location, Jones said.
Each entity will pay $6,599.86, a third of the total cost. The county will handle all early voting duties and costs, Jones added.
“It makes better sense for the taxpayer to consolidate these,” she said. JISD has budgeted approximately $11,000 for the annual elections.
In other business, trustees heard a report from Laura Ornelas and Maurice Jones on the success of the new Afterschool Centers on Education program. Funded through a grant from the Texas Education Association, ACE serves students after school and helps them with tutoring, provides dinner and also enrichment activities, including art, computers, cosmetology, cooking, brain games, physical education, zumba, yoga and media.
Ornelas said the enrollment goal for the junior high is 120, and they currently have an enrollment of 136, with an average daily attendance of 55-68 students. The elementary’s goal is 79 students.
The program was created to help those students who did not pass the state readiness exam in 2021 and is mandated by House Bill 4545, which went into effect in June 2021. Jones and Ornelas presented proof that the program was working by providing several anonymous student report cards showing significant improvement in the areas of math and reading.
They said the objectives for the spring are to increase daily attendance and increase state testing and benchmark scores.
The students will receive incentives for daily attendance including a recognition certificate and if they attend 45 days, a pizza party will also be held.
“We are seeing a difference and the kids are having fun and they are enjoying it,” Jones said.
Ornelas added that the students are also experiencing social and emotional learning in the program, which is staffed by the students’ teachers and aides.
In other business, the board approved a Texas Association of School Boards policy language change allowing Superintendent Rob Barnwell to hire contracted personnel during times of emergency. Barnwell told trustees that they had approved the item a few years ago, but that it was recently discovered that although action was taken, it was never transferred into policy. TASB suggested they officially vote on it again to be included in the policy manual.
Trustees also approved holding a special meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 20 to open bids for the proposed stadium project.
During the December 2021 meeting, the board approved drawings from Trull & Hollensworth Architects of Magnolia, Ark. to improve drainage, improve the field, replace fencing, update the press box and ticket booth, and add some additional parking and driving surfaces around the stadium.
If the bids fall within the district’s budget for the project, the contractor would have 195 days to complete the work, which is planned to be completed in time for the fall 2022 football season.
The meeting will be held in the Administration Building, 1600 MLK Drive, Jefferson, Texas.