Spring Branch ISD Featured News

AGENDA
VIDEO

Opening Remarks
 

Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Blaine opened with acknowledging the recent winter storms and the impact throughout the community. She specifically thanked all of the divisions for their hard work to get the district back up and running.
 
Next, she addressed a recently released Children at Risk “report card”. Dr. Blaine gave an overview on the district’s multiple measures and other data used by Spring Branch ISD, which do not align with Children at Risk’s single-measure report and data used to create it.
 

Special Presentations
 

Special Presentation: Donna Bahorich for her Service as a Member of the State Board of Education
 
Trustees recognized Donna Bahorich for her service as a member of the State Board of Education. First elected in 2012, she served from 2013 until January 1, 2021. In 2015, Bahorich was appointed to a two-year term serving as chair of the board and fulfilled a second consecutive term in this role. 
 
Bahorich received a token of appreciation from Trustees and voiced her thanks for the gesture. “To be recognized by my home district for the work over the last eight years is incredibly impactful to me personally and I hope to continue to serve my community for years to come,” she said. 
 
“We thank Ms. Bahorich, on behalf of the children of Spring Branch ISD and the entire state of Texas,” said Trustee Chris Vierra.
 
Special Presentation: Virginia Elizondo and Ed Valicek for their service as Co-Chairs of the SBISD Visioning for the Future Committee
 
Community members Virginia Elizondo and Ed Valicek were recognized by trustees for their service, not only as co-chairs of the Visioning for the Future Committee, but also as members of the Visioning Steering Committee. 
 
Trustee Pam Goodson praised their contributions and dedication.

“These two dedicated individuals provided guidance, input and feedback, and devoted several hours of time weekly, often rearranging their own work schedules, to be a part of planning meetings and presentations to the board to keep us updated on the work of the committee,” Goodson said. 
 
Elizondo and Valicek helped shape the Visioning work and kept the committee highly engaged throughout the process - a task made more interesting as all of the meetings were held via Zoom.
 
Special Presentation: SBISD Financial Services Division for NIGP's Accreditation of Quality Public Procurement
 
Trustees recognized the district’s Procurement Services team for earning the distinguished Institute for Public Procurement’s Accreditation for Public Procurement Departments. This honor formally recognizes excellence in public procurement through the standards that reflect sound procurement practices.
 
“While well over 3000 government agencies are part of the Institute, only 159 have earned this distinction - making SBISD part of an elite group of exemplary procurement teams,” said Trustee Minda Caesar.  
 
Associate Superintendent for Finance Christine Porter and Director of Procurement Services Rick Gay, on behalf of the Procurement Services team, were recognized for this outstanding honor. 
 

2021-2022 Enrollment Projections
 

Trustees unanimously approved enrollment projections for the 2021-22 school year. The projections were presented at the Feb. 8 workshop meeting.
Enrollment Projection Presentation from Feb. 8
 

Waiver for 40% Campus Hybrid Instruction for 9th-12th Grade Students
 

Trustees unanimously approved a waiver for 40% campus hybrid instruction for 9th-12th grade students. 
 
This waiver is intended to allow school systems to establish a less-than-daily on-campus attendance schedule as the sole offering for students in one or more campuses of the district in order to reduce the number of individuals on a campus at any one time and increase the total number of students served in an on-campus setting in the district on testing days.
 
All waivers will be conditionally approved upon receipt but may be subject to further review by TEA. In the event one of these testing days has already occurred, waivers can be submitted now, and approvals can be granted retroactively.
 

Core Characteristics of a T-2-4 Ready Graduate
 

Trustees unanimously approved the Core Characteristics of a T-2-4 Ready Graduate. The Core Characteristics draft was presented at the Feb. 8 workshop meeting.
Core Characteristics of a T-2-4 Ready Graduate Presentation from Feb. 8
 

Waiver for Missed School Days
 

Trustees unanimously approved the waiver for missed school days.
 
Spring Branch ISD was closed Feb. 15 - 22 due to severe winter storm Uri and associated large scale electrical outages across the entire state of Texas.
 
On February 17, TEA released updated guidance to allow districts that continued to experience electrical outages and its related impacts the ability to request a Missed School Day Waiver for up to five days. Make-up days and bad weather days will not be required as a result of approval.
*Note: While SBISD was closed for six days, Monday, Feb. 15 was a student holiday and did not count toward the five-day waiver limit.
 

Consent Agenda
 

Trustees unanimously approved the consent agenda, a group of agenda items considered routine and that are considered as a whole. Trustees have the privilege to remove items from the consent agenda for individual consideration. No items were pulled.
 

Legislative Update
 

Trustees and Dr. Blaine had a discussion on recent information and activity from the Legislative Session.
 
One item discussed included the budget and that the House and the Senate’s proposed budgets fund House Bill 3, which is a positive. However, the district will need to keep an eye on the seven-billion-dollar deficit between the comptroller's projected revenues and these two budgets. “The Comptroller is projecting a boost in the economy when COVID is mitigated and believes the deficit will be bridged. We just don’t want them to use federal dollars that should be coming to the school districts to bridge financial gaps,” Dr. Blaine stated.
 
The next item discussed was districts continuing to be able to offer virtual learning due to the pandemic. Dr. Blaine spoke about wanting students who choose to learn online to continue to be able to benefit from our great teachers and curriculum. As it currently stands, districts would receive funding for distance learners. One of the anticipated topics in legislative sessions is that the state would prefer to have virtual learning through the Texas Home Learning network, which is a centralized system.
 

LearnSBISD Update
 

Dr. Blaine gave a quick update on learning model selection numbers. Approximately 77% of SBISD students are now back in-person.
 
She then addressed international travel over Spring Break, stating that the district will follow CDC guidelines as they pertain to international travel. 
 
Per the CDC, this means students and staff choosing to take a COVID test should take it three to five days after returning from international travel and then stay home another seven days. Students and staff choosing not to take a COVID test, must remain home for the full 10 days.
 
The district’s Active Case Dashboard was also discussed. Dr. Blaine noted that district case numbers are significantly down after the post-Winter Break spike. Another spike is anticipated after Spring Break. 

 

No closing remarks were made. The next regular meeting for the Spring Branch ISD Board of Trustees will be on Monday, March 22 at 7 p.m. at Northbrook High School.