It’s the last week of the school year! It’s also a week with two school board meetings. Wednesday evening was the first, and here are a few of the highlights.
The meeting started with the pledges of allegiance, led for the final time by a Blanton Elementary student. Sixth grader Kenya Wagner led the pledges and did a great job. Thank you, Kenya.
The focus remained on Blanton as more than 50 students from the Blanton Eagles Choir performed three songs under the direction of Carlee Monthie. They concluded their beautiful concert with the Blanton Eagles School Song.
One of the first things the board did was vote on new officers. For the first time in history, the board officers are all women. The new president is Sarah McMurrough, the new vice president is Leanne Haynes, and the secretary is Brooklyn Richardson.
As the school year comes to a close, there are so many outstanding students across the district who deserve to be recognized. The board got to honor some of them at the meeting. They started with the 37 high school students who earned the prestigious title of Visual Arts All-State through the Texas Art Education Association’s Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE). This is the highest recognition a Texas high school art student can achieve. These are truly amazing artists.
Next, the board honored the district’s track and field state qualifiers, including Caitlyn Cavitt from Martin High School, who won the state championship in the long jump for the second year in a row!
Finally, the trustees celebrated the Martin High School archery team for winning its third consecutive Western National Championship last month! Congratulations to these archers!
Following the Board Honors, there was a lot on the agenda, including a number of committee and staff reports. After those, the board approved a new calendar for South Davis and Thornton elementary schools with three additional academic days for next school year. TEA has approved these schools for an Additional Days School Year grant that will go fully into effect in 2027-2028. So, next year will be a planning year, and the schools are required to have 175 instructional days.
In the consent agenda, the board re-approved an interlocal agreement with the City of Arlington to ensure the Police Academy course at the Career + Technical Center will continue to thrive in partnership with the Arlington Police Department.
The board also re-authorized the International Baccalaureate program for next year at Arlington High, Bowie High, and Crow Leadership Academy
Those are just a few of the highlights from the meeting. If you would like more details on any of these, or any of the items not covered in this Board Brief, please click here to watch the entire meeting.