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Tyler County News - Breakout

Grammer advances

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Kamryn Grammer UIL

Woodville High School senior Kamryn Grammer placed first at Regionals in Congressional Debate and went to state where she advanced to the finals and placed seventh. She is the only Tyler County student advancing. This is WHS’s sixth straight year in making it to state and the fifth to have a state finalist.PHOTO COURESTY OF CATHY D’ENTREMONT

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SIDEWALK CONSTRUCTION

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Sidewalk Work Two

Construction took place throughout last week, in spite of the freezing temperatures on a sidewalk project along Magnolia in Woodville. The stretch of sidewalks run from the Magnolia (US 69) and US 190 intersection up to Red Tailz on the southbound side. CHRIS EDWARDS | TCB

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WISD votes no on chaplain counselors

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WISD Meeting 1 25A Woodville Elementary student presents a box of cookies to WISD trustee John Wilson. Students from all WISD campuses presented the board members with tokens of appreciation at Monday night’s meeting as part of School Board Appreciation Month. CHRIS EDWARDS | TCB

By Chris Edwards
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

WOODVILLE – At its regular monthly meeting on Monday, the Woodville ISD Board of Trustees opted to not hire chaplains to serve as counselors in the district.

WISD Superintendent Lisa Meysembourg has brought the issue before the board and provided three options for the trustees to adopt a policy pertaining to chaplains serving as counselors. Option one would have approved the employment of chaplains in counselor positions throughout the district; option two was not applicable to WISD, as it referenced an existent local policy pertaining to chaplains on the books and option three was to not allow chaplains to be hired as counselors.

Meysembourg, who has presented information on the topic to the board for several months, summarized some of the concerns that have arose with the hiring of chaplains as counselors. All of this has come from a bill passed last legislative session (Senate Bill 763) which governs the employment, or acceptance of volunteer services, of chaplains by public school districts. Per the new law, school districts in Texas have until March of this year to vote as to whether or not they will accept chaplains to provide mental health services to students.

Meysembourg said that some of the concerns on the issue owe to the difference in training between chaplains and counselors who provide non faith-based counseling, as well as the potential conflicts between religions and schools. “We had put this off waiting to see what other schools are doing,” Meysembourg said. She added that it has been about “half and half,” so far, with some opting to hire chaplains and some not.

She said that there are “wonderful chaplains” in the community who are available to help students, as well as their families, in the event of emergencies or crises. WISD currently has counselors on staff for the students, including one specifically for social and emotional services.

WISD trustee John Wilson said that with the existing staff and support network available, the third option made the most sense for the district, and he motioned for WISD to adopt that option. The motion passed 6-1, with Josh McClure abstaining from the vote.

Audit draft shared

WISD assistant superintendent and head of finance Cody Jarrott shared the results of a draft of the fiscal year 2023 comprehensive financial report.

Jarrott reported that the draft had just been received Monday afternoon, and overall, the result of the audit was that the financial position of the district was “unmodified,” which is the highest opinion that an entity can receive.

The findings indicated that WISD has a “good financial position” with positive fund balances and a surplus of close to a quarter million dollars of revenue over expenditures from the previous fiscal year, which ended on August 31, 2023. In the district’s general fund, there were $8,298,574 in total assets; $4.6 million in the debt service fund and a fund balance of $5,852,335.

 

Facilities update

Brayden Griffin, of Gallagher Construction, was on hand at the Monday night meeting to share a progress update on the new facilities construction. The pad for the new elementary school is set, and Griffin said concrete should start to be poured in a week or two.

The renovation for the CTE building was the topic for most of the reporting from Griffin. Gallagher will begin on the project on May 1, and the date to have it completed by is Sept. 30. Meysembourg said the district anticipates it being complete sooner than that, but that date is set for contingencies.

While the building is being worked on, CTE students will have classes in the old Woodville Middle School gymnasium, which Meysembourg said, eventually, will be where the WISD maintenance department will be located.

There was discussion concerning four additional classrooms to be added onto the CTE project at an estimated cost of $618K. There is enough money in the interest gained from the bonds ($2 million) to pay for the classrooms, and while that topic was discussed, Meysembourg said she would have more numbers for the board later so that a decision could be made.

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Lady Jacket volleyball players honored

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Volleyball players were honored at the Chester ISD board meeting on Monday. Pictured left-to-right:  Lily Read (All State outside hitter & THSCA super elite team member); Emma Byrd (All State honorable mention), coach Courtney Tonnies; Sidney Brock (All State honorable mention); Kinsley Barnes (Academic All State). BECKI BYRD | TCBVolleyball players were honored at the Chester ISD board meeting on Monday. Pictured left-to-right: Lily Read (All State outside hitter & THSCA super elite team member); Emma Byrd (All State honorable mention), coach Courtney Tonnies; Sidney Brock (All State honorable mention); Kinsley Barnes (Academic All State). BECKI BYRD | TCB

By Chuck Davidson

CHESTER – All seven Chester ISD school board members were present for their January meeting along with several students and parents when board president Bryan Martin called them to order.

Refreshments plus individualized posters were given to each member by the district staff in recognition of their work and support. Four volleyball students were honored due to them having received All-State awards: Lily Read as outside hitter and member of the THSCA super elite team, Emma Byrd and Sydney Brock as earning honorable mention, and Kinsley Barnes as earning the Academic All State award.

The board received its 2022-23 fiscal year audit from Dan Rainey and after his detailed coverage on two areas of non-compliance but overall compliance, approved it after several questions were answered.

They also voted to have Goff & Herrington again complete this year’s financial audit.  Ken Jones with the CoxJones construction management team reported on the Guaranteed Maximum price for the construction projects which is 5.168 million dollars and reviewed the overall plans and timetable.  After several questions and more discussion, the board approved this amount with the potential work beginning in mid-February lasting about two years.

Principal Amy Dinger updated the board on current attendance figures (94.92%) and enrollment (195, down 3 from the start of the year) and mentioned several upcoming events, such as a dance on Feb. 3, a blood drive on Feb. 7, and an alumni baseball game set for Feb. 17. Superintendent Drake then covered more about the bond work and Business Manager Austin Odom covered recent expenditures and revenue issues.

The monthly consent agenda was approved, and the board went into executive session at 7:08 to discuss the superintendent’s evaluation. They returned at 8:15 p.m. and adjourned with no action taken.

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Dogwood play director looking for participants

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Performers in the 2022 Dogwood Festival historic play. BOOSTER FILE PHOTO | JIM POWERSPerformers in the 2022 Dogwood Festival historic play. BOOSTER FILE PHOTO | JIM POWERS

By Chris Edwards
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TYLER COUNTY – Each year, as part of the tradition with the Dogwood Festival, the performance of a play, taken from our county’s history, is produced and performed during Queen’s Weekend prior to the coronation of the Dogwood Queen. That will happen this year on Saturday, April 6.

According to the play’s director, LaLa Elrod, rehearsals will begin soon in order to “avoid a mad dash at the end of March.” Elrod said she needs to know how many people wish to participate in the play, in order to begin casting roles.

“As I say every year, this is a community project, and therefore, I believe anyone who wants to participate should be able to and I will find a place for anyone,” she said.

Elrod said she needs to know how many people she has in the talent pool, and what age ranges and genders are of that group of people, so that she can make sure the roles accurately reflect the cast makeup. She added that no auditions are going to be held for this year’s play.

Instead of holding a meeting to get all interested people to come out for a head count, Elrod has started a Facebook page titled “Dogwood Play Info 2024,” and interested folks can comment on a thread concerning the play posted to the page.

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