BISD school board approves band trip to Disney World
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

The Brownsboro Independent School District board of trustees unanimously approved Monday, October 8, a request to allow the district's band program to travel to Orlando, Florida. The band will participate in a concert contest with bands from around the country and have been invited to per- form at Disney World.

Jeff Russell, band director, said the trip will take place May 14-19 of 2008.

"This is a huge honor for us," Russell told the school board.

According to Russell, the students will not be required to pay for transportation or for part of their expenses, but will still need between $200 and $250 for the trip.

"This is not a required trip," Russell added.

The school board visited many other topics during the evening. Perry Eaton, parent involvement coordinator for BISD, went over future plans for the school's internet radio station.

"We're in the final stages of implementing Bear Radio," Eaton said. "We're hoping to win the right to build a tower."

Eaton added that the Federal Communications Commission will open a "window of opportunity" next week that will allow Bear Radio to fill out an application to receive broadcasting rights. If rights are achieved, Bear Radio would be able to construct a radio tower and broadcast messages on AM and FM frequencies.

Kevin McCarthy, executive director of operations, briefed the board on a variety of maintenance issues over the course of the meeting. These issues ranged from roofing contracts to fire alarms and pavement deals.

McCarthy said the district buildings have old roofs combined with new roofs, and they would eventually need roofing work done.

Superintendent Elton Caldwell said the warranty was gone on most of the older roofs, and the overall roof work could cost around $16,000.

McCarthy stated there are around 25 buildings in the district.

The board also talked about contracting with Fire Trol to modernize the district's fire alarms, and authorized $4,100 to hire Advanced Paving to paint parking stripes outside the school administration building.

Caldwell also spoke of suggested changes for the school stadium, but no action was taken.

As for personnel, the board approved a pay raise for paraprofessionals and nurses, and decided on a date to interview four applicants for the vacant board position. The interview date was set for Monday, October 22.

In addition, changes in taxation practices reached the board, and it was recommended by the school board to keep the BISD office as the responsible entity for collecting taxes owed by those in Van Zandt County. BISD Property in Van Zandt is, this coming year, to be appraised by Van Zandt.

As for acquiring property, BISD approved the acquisition of 51.7 acres of land from John Rash, who is donating the land, and from Billy Ben Barnes, who is selling part of it for $110,815.

Before the meeting closed, the board decided students who had not passed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests should not be allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony. This decision was to provide incentive for seniors to put forth effort to pass the TAKS tests.