LISD hears report on freshman campuses, efficiency study, facilities report

The Lewisville ISD Board of Trustees on Monday received an update on the evaluation metrics data for the Lewisville High School Killough and Harmon campuses.

The Farmer Focus committee, which is composed of 35 parents, community members, teachers and administrators, formed in 2010 and formed the goals of achieving academic excellence, pride and tradition and unity and consistency at the two campuses.

A metric system was created to help reach those goals. Monday, the first set of data from the system based on the 2011-12 school year was presented.

Among the findings was that 99 percent of the students who completed a full year at either campus was promoted to the next grade level; 97 percent of the students received course credit for each of their four core classes and students were present in school 96 percent of the days.

“Across the state, 11 percent of freshmen fail, mostly because of algebra,” said Buddy Bonner, Central Zone leader for LISD. “But at Killough and Harmon, 99 percent were promoted, which means they received six credits or more.”

Forty-six percent of the students were enrolled in Pre-AP or AP courses. And regarding the State of Texas Assessments and Academic Readiness (STAAR) end-of-course exams, 88 percent of the test takers reached Level II, or “Satisfactory,” in four of the six subjects.

“Strong performance of this nature has been a hallmark for the 10-plus years the ninth-grade students have been at LHS Killough,” Bonner said. “I believe the focused instruction and personalized attention students receive from their teachers as well as the overall culture of student success at Killough lead to strong assessment scores. Replication of this performance at LHS Harmon is outstanding and confirmation of the instructional approach employed at Killough.”

Thirty-seven percent of the students participated in sports, and 21 percent participated in fine arts.

There was, however, 18 percent of students who received a referral, which is at or above the level of in-school suspension, a percentage Bonner said he hopes goes down.

In terms of unity and consistency, various programs were brought to the campus to encourage involvement.

Bonner said since this is the first year to use this matrix system, these statistics will help set goals for future years.

“Next year, we’ll have benchmark data from last year [2011-12] to compare to what we see this year [2012-13],“ Bonner said. “When we compare the data from Harmon and Killough versus other ninth- through 12th-grade campuses, it will show us how the ninth/10th-grade campuses are progressing. This year’s benchmark numbers are really good, and we anticipate continued successful performance by our ninth and 10th graders this school year as well.”

Construction for the Flower Mound and Marcus high school ninth-grade centers is scheduled to begin in the spring after a final plan is approved.

Also Monday, the board received an update on a district efficiency study.

LISD recently hired Moak, Casey & Associates (MCA) to examine budget and staffing levels for the district.

As part of the analysis, LISD was compared to nearby school districts (Allen, Denton, Frisco and Richardson), as well as districts across the state that are similar to LISD in growth, student population, percent of economically disadvantaged students and Limited English Proficient Students. Those districts were Plano ISD, Conroe ISD, Katy ISD and Round Rock ISD.

Monday, MCA presented its findings.

In terms of budget comparisons, among the findings was that LISD’s fund balance meets the needs of its students. The analysis also suggested that LISD spends $350 more per pupil than the average of the group.

Focusing on staffing, the study indicated that LISD’s staff growth has outpaced its student growth. From 2006-07 to 2010-11, student enrollment increased 4.9 percent while teaching staff increased 8.25 percent. Total staff in that timeframe increased 10.6 percent with central administration and leadership increasing 19.4 percent. When compared to the similar districts, LISD has the lowest number of students per teacher (14.2 percent).

After the meeting, board president Carol Kyer said some of the statistics don’t take into account the cost-saving and staff-reduction measures the district put into place last year since the most recent data used is from 2010-11.

MCA also came back with 14 recommendations. Among those was to review staffing guidelines, process alignment, the special education department, non-campus positions and some athletic teams/participation in sub-varsity levels.

However, many of those recommendations are things that have already been implemented or have been examined, much to the opposition of parents.

"What this did was validate that the steps we're taking are the right ones," said district spokesperson Karen Permetti. "Plus, the public wants to know that we're trying to be as efficient as possible. So having this study helps with transparency."

The board also received a presentation from PBK Architects about a facilities analysis conducted by the firm and the facilities assessment committee.

The committee, which includes community and staff members as well as the PBK team, toured campuses and other facilities in the district earlier this year and compiled a list of what each facility needs repaired and replaced. District officials also provided input through a website.

Part of the process included the establishment of a Facility Conditions Index (FCI), which provides a benchmark to compare the relative condition of the facilities. The facility in question is benchmarked against its replacement cost. For example, an FCI of 10 percent or less is considered “excellent” while an FCI of 65 percent or more is considered “poor.”

At the conclusion of the study, the committee provided a list of recommendations to be used as a long-range facilities plan.

Among the recommendations is to consider addressing Priority 1 and 2 items at each elementary school, middle school, high school and support facilities first.

The committee also recommends replacing Griffin and Hedrick middle schools and performing a facility-wide renovation to Huffines, McKamy and Arbor Creek middle schools.

It also recommends replacing the Purnell Support Center in Lewisville and consolidating seven support facilities throughout the campus to save on operational costs.

The expected cost, if LISD considers all of the recommendations, is $411.4 million, though the projects LISD decides to pursue would be phased in over many years.

In other business, the board approved the hiring of five new principals: Brian McCoo at Durham Middle School; Michelle Sandefur at Griffin Middle School; Kevin Moffitt at Central Elementary School; Trish Cuckler at Hedrick Elementary School and Lori Litchfield at Parkway Elementary School.

The board also approved a 3-percent salary increase for Dr. Stephen Waddell, superintendent. This comes as the district is set to increase employee salaries for the 2012-13 school year using a new, simplified salary model.

Also, the Killough campus was recognized for receiving the Verizon Innovative Schools Learning Grant for $50,000. Killough was one of 12 schools in the country to receive the grant, which is awarded to schools that embrace innovative technology.

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