SCHOOL NEWS
Safety a top priority in school planning
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
While this week’s Bowie Independent School District meeting was focused on budget issues, it also discussed pressing issues for the new school led by school safety.
In June the district received letters from the governor and Texas Education Agency on required school safety action steps to be completed before the first day of school. The push on school safety of course was prompted by the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
Superintendent Blake Enlow previously explained those include the local agency’s safety and security committees to review the emergency operation plans and the active threat plan, ensure all staff including substitutes are trained on their specific agency and campus safety procedures, schedule mandatory drills for the school year, ensure all threat assessment team members are trained and review and if necessary update access control procedures. Enlow said these are already in the works and would be completed.
Two new items joined that list: A summer targets partial safety audit and an exterior door safety audit. Enlow explained TEA and the Texas School Safety Center have prepared an audit tool of 50 questions for each instructional facility with half related to campus procedures and the other half to the campus physical plant.
As part of that audit each district must inspect every exterior door of each instructional facility. The purpose according to TEA is to verify each door closes and locks as intended to ensure appropriate levels of campus security the letter states. Once completed the district can take steps to immediately remedy any issues. Enlow said this audit must be complete and sent to the TSSC before Sept. 1.
Read the full story in your weekend Bowie News.
Bowie school trustees began the arduous task of creating a 2024-25 budget during a lengthy workshop this week.
The board also reviewed some possible changes in the student/employee handbooks and codes of conduct.
Superintendent Blake Enlow said the board spent about two hours in discussion Monday night and began crunching numbers; however, many factors still remain unknown including state funding and local ad valorem tax revenue.
Trustees examined where the district stands for the rest of the fiscal year that ends in August. Finance Director Paula Peterson said the district is catching up on the arrival some state revenues, which she hopes will help offset the expect shortfall. The 2023-24 budget adopted with a half-million deficit, but Enlow said they hope to keep that down as much as possible.
Read the full story in the weekend Bowie News.
As the Bowie School District launches into its summer projects, several department heads offered their year-end reports to the trustees last Thursday.
Annual reports
Wayne Walker, support services director, told the board the management team for all his departments set a goal to reduce budget expenses this year and so far they are below budget projections as the school year winds down and summer projects kick off.
As of June 6, child nutrition was $235,678.46 below budget; transportation, $217,942.20 below budget and custodial $312,277.44 below budget, for an overall projected amount of $765,898.10 below budget.
“We hope to finish August 2024 under budget to help out the district in recouping some of the adopt deficit budget for 2023-24. We are projecting in the right direction to end the fiscal year,” said Walker.
Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.
Bowie High School’s Mighty Marching Maroon Band will host a fundraiser paint party from 6-8 p.m. on June 18 in the high school cafeteria.
Cost is $30 to paint an 11 X 14 pre-traced canvas with $15 of each prepaid ticket going to the boosters. The band boosters will be providing snacks, and all supplies such as paint, brushes and canvas are provided.
Host will be Shannon Adkins of Texas Gals Creative Studio.
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