Reprint from the Progress Times - September 21, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

LJISD approves order of bond election

By Claralexis Rios

In a special meeting of the La Joya Independent School District (LJISD) board on September 14, the trustees approved a school bond election to be held Tuesday, November 6 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting locations will be La Joya Housing Authority at 945 S. Leo Avenue, County Commissioner’s Precinct 3 offices at 724 Breyfogle Road and Sullivan City Fire Station at 500 Cenizo. Early voting will begin October 22 and end November 2 at E.B. Reyna Elementary for Palmview/Mission areas, Central Office Board Room for La Joya/Penitas areas and Sam Fordyce Elementary for the Sullivan City area.

The election’s purpose is for La Joya residents to vote for or against a proposition that will issue $94 million in bonds for school buildings, sites, buses and the levying of a tax. There will also be several town meetings that will be held at schools around the district from September 25 to October 18 to explain the bond issue to voters.

The board also approved the leasing contract with the Hidalgo County Election Administration Office for the use of voting equipment for the school bond election. The contract includes the 21 voting machines requested by La Joya ISD for $100 each. Coding and programming will be an additional $50.

Jose A. Salinas, La Joya ISD school board vice-president, made a motion to approve the discussion of the appraisal process and criteria for Superintendent’s Appraisal Instrument at a future board meeting. Board member Esperanza Ochoa seconded the motion and the board unanimously agreed.

The board will use the superintendent’s evaluation instrument which consists of two parts: Priority Performance Goals for the Superintendent and items that assess performance on ongoing management responsibilities of the Superintendent. To evaluate performance on both the goals and ongoing responsibilities, they will consult data provided by the superintendent on the Commissioner’s Recommended Student Performance Domain Worksheet.

The trustees discussed students who take Dual-Enrollment classes and later dropped or failed them. Five percent of students did not complete the courses and 1.4 percent failed them. According to a survey conducted on teachers who taught these courses during the fall and spring semester, the reasons why students do not complete them were because they did not have child-care, transportation and health problems. The reasons why students failed were because they had poor grades and failed the exams, did not do reading assignments, did not spend much time studying for the course or were excessively absent.

According to Lizette Martinez, La Joya ISD public relations officer, there is no charge to La Joya ISD for the students who dropped or failed because the school district has an agreement with South Texas College to provide the faculty. Dual-Enrollment teachers need a master’s degree or higher to teach courses and STC gives them a $250 to $300 stipend per semester and per class. Over 90 percent of students earn college credit from STC.

The board also discussed the 2007-2008 Dropout Prevention Program. Armando O’Caña gave a presentation and said that the Campus Dropout Prevention Leadership Task Force is in place and working hard at the campus level. The task force consists of a principal, principal’s designee for Dropout Prevention, attendance clerk, school counselor, social worker, parent liaison and others named by principal. The total number of “levers” has increased to 1,465 as of September 13. Not all of them may be dropouts but they are currently being reviewed.

The board approved student travel for Ann Richards Middle School Theatre Organization to attend a performance of the Broadway version of "The Wedding Singer" at the Historic Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. The cost will be $6,000 which includes tickets, transportation, souvenirs and meals for 15 students and five adults. The reason for this trip is to provide students with the opportunity to recognize the elements of Art, Dance, Music and Dramatics in a professional environment.

The trustees approved the application and certification for payment of contractor’s fees in the amount of $970,806 for William J. Clinton Elementary on Mile 7 Road and Tom Gill Road. They also approved payment of contractor’s fees in the amount of $592,487.25 for Corina Peña Elementary on Mile 4 Road and Liberty Boulevard. Payment of contractor’s fees in the amount of $3,515,894 for the new La Joya High School on Mile Three Road and La Homa Road was also approved as well. According to Martinez, this school is planned to be completed in May 2009 and should be ready to house students by August of the same year.