CISD board hears report about accountability
The Cameron Independent School District Board of Trustees heard a report on the district’s accountability rating during its meeting Sept. 9.
Cameron Independent School District improved its score from a C in 2018 to a B in 2019, scoring 86 out of 100 points.
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Mistie Dakroub told the board that overall scores across the district were up.
She said there was good news across the district with rising scores on the junior high and high school campus. But there was a little dip in scores at the elementary campuses.
“Our two baby campuses are linked to each other so that is one accountability score,” she said. “We had a little bit of a dip. That is a little surprising because the district as a whole had an increase. Last year our accountability rating as a district was a C, this year it was a very respectable B. So much so that with a few tweaks it could have maybe been an A.”
She said great progress was made, but the district is still working to make it even better.
“Some things we have looked at doing is that we have tried to align what we are doing in our core courses,” she said. “That way we can do a better job of progress monitoring and intervention across campuses.”
She said the district is also working to have a little more consistency in lesson planning and that the district’s instructional coaches are working with teachers on lesson planning.
“We have incremental growth in both the high school and the junior high across the board, which is really good,” she said. “We are working to get those same results at the elementary campuses.”
She said they are making sure they are providing the absolute best opportunities students in Cameron ISD.
“We are in a good spot,” she said. “We have great staff. We just have some disjointed areas that we need to work on. We have some work to do, but are in a good spot.”
“When you are looking at trying to build something sustainable, you have to look at putting systems in place that will be able to pinpoint discrepancies,” CISD Superintendent Kevin Sprinkles said. “We also have to get to a point where we are working at individual instruction and building capacity in our staff.”
During Sprinkles’ report he told the board that the annual Community Cookout will be held on Oct. 7 at the O.J. Thomas campus. He also said that enrollment for Cameron ISD is at 1,743 as of Sept. 4.
“On Sept. 4 we had 1,743 so we are hovering around the number we ended the year with,” he said. “That is good from a budget standpoint. Hopefully we will see an increase in that number as we go throughout the school year.”
The board also discussed a change in the district’s delinquent tax collection firm.
Board member Greg Hoelscher asked if the district could solicit requests for proposals. He is concerned that the district’s current tax attorney – Purdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins and Mott – could do a better job staying on the cases that are outstanding. The current firm has been with Cameron ISD for 15 years.
The board agreed that the district should look into going out for request for proposals after a discussion.
In other business the board also: heard from Sprinkles that early release time will be 12:45 p.m. for this school year. Sprinkles said the time was added to make sure there was enough instruction time in the day for early release days; recognized YHS student Brooklyn Balch for competing in national rodeo competition; approved a new staff dress policy; and approved an adjunct faculty agreement with the Milam County Extension Office.