Breckenridge Texan

By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

At a special meeting at noon on Monday, the Breckenridge Independent School District’s Board of Trustees approved the superintendent’s recommendation that Patricia Gonzalez be hired as the South Elementary School principal.

Gonzalez has been the assistant principal at South Elementary for the past two years. She graduated from Breckenridge High School in 1996 and previously was a teacher and principal in Conroe.

The principal’s position was opened up with Dr. Joshua Holt resigned earlier this year after accepting a job as the principal of Henderson Junior High School in Stephenville.

At the meeting on Monday, June 19, the school board also approved additional personnel recommendations by Allen, approved the purchase of the reading academies through Region 14 for any elementary teachers who haven’t had the required training, and authorized Superintendent Bryan Allen to lease portable buildings for the school district.

Additionally, the board approved the 2023-24 compensation plan proposed by Allen. The plan does not include pay raises for most positions because the school district did not received additional funds from the State of Texas. At the June 12 BISD board meeting, Allen explained to the board members that legislation that would have provided school districts with additional money was not passed by the legislature. Although the proposed funds might be approved in a special session, it likely will not happen in time for the upcoming budget.

While the approved compensation plan does not include pay raises, it does provide stipends for several hard-to-fill and extra-duty positions, such as life skills teacher, one-act play assistant sponsors, ESL coordinators, etc.

Regular School Board Meeting

At the regular June BISD Board of Trustees meeting last week, the school board members received a report about the district’s new curriculum plans for teachers in the district. The new plans were developed by BISD in conjunction with the district’s teachers. The curriculum plans that are being introduced this year focus on reading/language arts and math, but they will be expanded in the near future, BISD Chief Academic Officer Prairie Freeman said.

Also during the June 12 meeting, the school approved the following:

• the agreement with Bill Pearce for athletic training services for the 2023-2024 school year
• the depository contract for funds of Independent School Districts with Breckenridge Interbank
• changes to the local board policies as recommended by Texas Association of School Boards’ policy service
• changes to the BISD policy about how the grade point averages will be calculated for the incoming freshmen. Only core classes will be used to calculate the GPA, which will allow the students to take classes that, due to the GPA structure, often lower the GPAs of high-ranking students.

Prairie Freeman, BISD’s Chief Academic Officer, left, talks to the school board about the new curriculum plan the district has developed for teachers. Also pictured are Superintendent Bryan Allen, school board president Nic McClymond and school board secretary Carrol Kanady. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Cutline, top photo: Patricia Gonzalez, right, was joined by her mom, Maria Duran, at Monday’s school board meeting, where Gonzalez was named the new South Elementary principal. She is Breckenridge High School graduate (1996). (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)