BISD reveals Academic Excellence results
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

Brownsboro Independent School District chose Monday, January 14 as the date to hold their hearing on the Academic Excellence Indicator System results. The AEIS hearing covered almost everything about the school, from test scores to teacher salaries to how ready for college Brownsboro High School Graduates are.

According to the report, the Texas Growth Index, how a student grows over the years in school, is up over the state average. This means on average a BISD student learns more in a given year than the minimum required to move up a grade.

The school dropout rate is around point eight percent for students in grades 7-12.

Vickie York, assistant superintendent, said the turnover rate for teachers at BISD is 17.7 percent.

"We don't have any trouble getting elementary school teachers; they're lining up at the door," York said.

York also said while the elementary school situation is steady, other campuses have struggled to find teachers the last few years.

Also, BISD's Hispanic students surpassed its African American students in number. The school now has 8.9 percent Hispanic students and 8.2 percent African American students. This marks the first time the number of Hispanic students has passed the number of African American students in the school.

Overall, BISD holds the rank of Academically Acceptable.

In addition to the hearing, over a dozen other items were covered over the course of the night.

During the previous meeting in December of 2007, the board called a special meeting on January 20, 2008. This was something of an accident as January 20 is a Sunday. The board moved the meeting to Monday, January 21.

The board approved multiple innovative course offerings at the secondary level. The courses are; "Sports Medicine" One and Two, "Ready, Set, Teach" One and Two, "Exploring Education Careers" and "Radio Broadcasting " One and Two.

The board of trustees also answered a response to the actions of the school in regards to bomb threats received November 5 and 8, 2007.

Joel Irwin, board chairman, said the school did everything possible to ensure the safety of the students and faculty.

BISD dealt with the bomb threat by calling the police to bring in search dogs, and by hiring security to make sure no one entered the building during the night before the November 9, 2007, rally, the time the threat specified. Cameras were also set up around the bathroom, and the range of suspects was narrowed to 23 students, though the perpetrator has not been determined.

A bit of good news for school athletics followed, as the board approved a motion to supply two new commercial washing machines and dryers for the junior high campus. A 55 pound washing machine will be given to the junior high boys along with their dryer, and a 40 pound machine will be given to the girls to go with their dryer. The combined cost will be around $16,974.

New lockers for multiple campuses were also approved. John Settle, Brownsboro Bears football coach, said the old lockers in the schools are not able to securely store items. All the new lockers will cost $47,095 if they are ordered at the same time.

Finally, the board decided to approve the hydro mulching of the high school practice field. Settle said the field is deteriorating and needs immediate attention. The hydro mulching, at $13,000, will begin as soon as the equipment is ready.

"The field is currently unplayable when it's wet," Settle said.

Elton Caldwell, school superintendent, delivered bad news to the board.

Caldwell said the Texas Legislature passed a law that would make the maintenance and operation of the school run in a deficit by 2012.

"The legislature decided to lower property taxes, capping the appraisal price and artificially lowering the price of property," Caldwell said.

Currently, there is no good news to go up against this issue. Caldwell suggested there is still time for everyone to speak with Texas representatives and ask to have the law reversed.

"We might be ok for one or two more years," Caldwell said. "But we're basically on a train waiting for the train wreck."

After this report the school received official authorization to check visitors to the campuses against databases for registered sex offenders.

Two agenda points will reappear in future meetings: teacher salaries and a policy update.