Nathan Straus Photo Chester York speaks to the BISD Board of Trustees about transportation operations The Brownsboro Independent School District approved the purchase of a new truck for the school's vocational agriculture program Monday. The decision came as part of the school board's monthly meeting.

Up for purchase was a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado.

School Superintendent Elton Caldwell said, "This vehicle is to be purchased with excess funds specifically for our vocational agriculture program."

The school must spend these funds or they will be lost.

Board members Jeffrey Fulgham and Dusty Wise made the motion and seconded, respectively, to approve the purchase.

The vocational agriculture program also saw an approval for a new cattle trailer. The cattle trailer, from Cherokee in Oklahoma City, will cost around $15,900, likewise purchased from excess funds for the vocational agriculture program.

Wise and Fulgham made the motion and seconded, respectively, to approve the purchase.

A policy update, policy update 84, was up for approval as well. Affecting LOCAL policies, this update was approved by the board with Wise making the motion and Joey Ridgle, board member, seconding.

In addition, there was a revision of Policy FDA (LOCAL) for the board to discuss. Ridgle and Fulgham made the motion and seconded to approve this, respectively.

It was time for the board to cast ballots for the election of an individual to place five on the Henderson County Appraisal District Board of Directors. This person, Ronny Harris, mayor of Brownsboro, was approved by the board last month. Wise and Ridgle made the motion and seconded, respectively, to cast the school district's ballots for Harris.

There were a few informational reports for the board to hear. One was from Transportation Director Chester York about all the hard work the transportation department undertakes each day to keep the buses mov- ing, and the other was from Attorney Jim Lambeth on the year end report on delinquent tax collections. No action was taken on either item.

Next up were items for setting dates and times for certain board events. One such item was for a public hearing on district and campus AEIS results, which the board set for January 12 at 7pm. Fulgham made the motion and Wise seconded.

After this, the board set the date and time for Superintendent Caldwell's performance evaluation; January 13, also at 7pm. Ridgle and Fulgham made the motion and seconded, respectively.

The board then had to decide where they wanted to go for summer leadership training. The choices were either San Antonio from June 11-13, or Fort Worth from June 18-20. Last year the board went to Fort Worth, but this year they'll go to San Antonio.

On the 2008-2009 budget shortfall item, Caldwell said, "I'd like to have a meeting late January, early February, to get our best guess on what our options are. We need to do whatever we're going to do before we start hiring teachers."

No official action was taken on this at the time.

Caldwell also reported that the Rash/Barnes property acquisition was finally closed; the property now belongs to BISD. In addition, he recommended hiring Ana Bailey as a teacher for the 2008-2009 school year, effective retroactively for December 8.

Wise and Fulgham made the motion and seconded, respectively, to hire Bailey on a probationary contract.

The meeting was adjourned after the motion passed.