Board denies financial need policy changes

Dr. Katie Preast hands out Gold Performance Acknowledgement awards to principals Debbie Moxley, Derek Driver and Ava Johnson, whose campuses were all designated Recognized from TAKS testing.

Troup school board trustees engaged in a lengthy, and at times, passionate debate on the merits of establishing a policy for determining financial need, with two related motions failing to pass. The issue was placed on the agenda of this month’s regular meeting, held Monday, Dec. 11, at the request of board member Keith Lindsey.

The issue of financial need as discussed by the board pertains to students receiving assistance to participate in school events such as field trips or other extracurricular activities. Lindsey asked the board to establish a criteria for reliable proof that campus principals could use in determining need.

“I just don’t know if we are giving them the necessary guidelines to evaluate policy consistently,” said Lindsey, who questioned the principals of Troup’s elementary, middle and high schools about their policies and criterias.

Elementary principal Debbie Moxley said the issue rarely rose with her students since most of their events involved small fees. She said parents often sent extra with their children to help cover others’ expenses, or a teacher would pay.

Middle school principal Ava Johnson said the fees of two students were paid for on her campus’s last trip. When asked how she ascertained genuine need for assistance, Johnson said the parents came and spoke with her and that both cases were situations she was already somewhat aware of.

Lindsey questioned the use of personal judgement as a means of reliable proof and added that one person’s opinion might differ from another’s and he wanted to lay grounds for consistent administration.

Supt. Marvin Beaty reported that in researching the issue, he found that only 2.9 percent of schools laid out specific criteria, and those that did used their free and reduced lunch status list.

Trustee Melissa Young expressed concern about using this type of criteria, that might not take into account an unexpected or temporary hardship that affected a student who wouldn’t normally need assistance.

Young also asked if the principals had received any complaints concerning an issue of financial need, and they said no.

Lindsey asked if it were policy that staff pay for a student in need. “No,” replied Johnson, “it’s called kindness.”

“I think we’re attempting to fix something that’s not broken,” said Beaty, adding that there didn’t seem to be cases of abuses to the current methods and that children weren’t being overlooked.

“It happens at my house,” said Lindsey, “and if it happens at my house, it happens at others.” Lindsey said his daughter had been unable to participate in certain activities because of lack of money and it was hard for her to understand why she couldn’t do what everyone else was getting to do.

Lindsey acknowledged that he had not asked for assistance, saying “we’re the type of family that tries not to live beyond our needs.”

Keith Lindsey’s motion for establishing a standard of reliable proof was seconded by Kent Lindsey and defeated by a 2-5 board vote.

In a related issue, Lindsey also made a motion that parents

Dr. Preast accepts awards on behalf of the district.

be provided with a list of reasonable financial expectations for all extracurricular activities before making the decision to let their children join something. He proposed making the information available in handbooks prior to the beginning of the next school year.

This motion also failed with a vote of 2-4-1, with Kent Lindsey voting yes and McElroy abstaining.

In other matters, the principals of all campuses received Gold Performance Acknowledgement awards from the Texas Education Agency based on Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills performance. See page 7 for awards.

Other items approved by the board included the purchase of eight automated external defibrillators plus glass boxes with locks and a training system, an educational field trip for the senior class and the use of an electronic check recovery system provided by Blair Consulting Services, Inc.

The board also approved a special meeting for noon Friday, Dec. 15 for a walk-through of construction projects and to discuss TISD data regarding continuing education.