During the school board meeting, Cheryl Owens was honored, the board recognized 3 retiring teachers, new school board members were sworn in, and there were three new hires.

The board recognized the departing School Board Member, Cheryl Owens. She served 9 years on the board, the board and the community thank her for her service.

The board recognized retiring professional staff. Cheryl Allen – 26 years in Italy. Jeanette Janek – 18 years. Paula Mandrel 31 years here. There will be a presentation on May 27th for the staff that are retiring this year.

Open Forum – Jennifer Jones with TASB, She is here to say thank you to the board for their support. $6,000 grant has been awarded to the school district. The board was given a plaque recognizing the award. It was a joint effort by Michael Chambers and Natasha Blackburn. Michael Chambers informed us that the funds will be used to replace the doors in the elementary cafeteria.

The board then read the official canvass of election returns. There were no reported discrepancies from the early results reported May 9th.

Russ Lewis (incumbent) and Shawn Holden (newly elected) were sworn into office during the meeting.

There was also a reorganization of the board. Larry Eubank was re-elected as President of the board, Larry Creighton was elected as vice-president, and Russ Lewis was re-elected as secretary of the board.

559 is the year end student attendance record with 4 new ones added just last month.

Italy City Council will be having meetings on the 2nd Monday of the month, and the board decided to maintain their 3rd Monday of the month time for their meetings.

Dana Parish will be taking the food service director position. She will be taking our contract as soon as she is done with the Red Oak group.

Mr. Velasco reviewed the moving of the 6th grade up to the High School building. They will be sharing the band hall, cafeteria, and gym. There should be minimal cross over, but give the much needed space to the elementary school.

High School Principal Report by Lee Joffre

• 96.69% attendance last month
• Ag teacher resigned, 6 new candidates are being evaluated.
• Lep (language learner) scores 100% in Algebra 1 and 100% in Biology. Joffre congratulated the teachers for their hard work in this area.
• Tomorrow the 6th graders are coming here to host a scavenger hunt and orientation meeting for the new kids.
• Seniors are on a trip to Galveston. 32 of the 34 were able to go.
• Tomorrow evening Mr. Joffre and the teachers are going to sit down and review the grading and homework policy for the middle and high school.
• Scholarships have gotten up to greater than $750,000 in scholarships this year.

Elementary School Principal Report by Pamela Thomas

• Recognized the 6th grade band at their competition
• Field Day will be starting at 9am on Friday [has been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 27th-9am due to weather woes]. The new playground should be ready for that.

Maintenance Report by Michael Chambers

• Going to replace the doors in the elementary cafeteria
• Gyms will be closed for re-varnishing
• Football field is looking great.

Athletic Director Report by Daniel Weaver

Baseball:

Came up a little short of a Bi-District Championship to a solid Mart team. It took Mart 9 innings to take down a fighting Gladiator Baseball Team.

Softball:

After winning game 1 in Gladiator fashion, Bells would be victorious in the final 2 games of the series. Our girls fought with the heart and determination that all Gladiators would be proud. It took Bells all night long to clinch the series.

Track:

REGIONAL: 6 Participants

• Ty Hamilton – 300 Hurdles participant
• Kortnei Johnson – 4 X 100 Meter Relay Champion, 100 meter Champion, 200 Meter Champion
• Halee Turner – 4 X 200 Meter Relay Champion, 100 Meter Hurdle Champion
• Janae Robertson – 4 X 100 Meter Relay Champion, 4 X 200 Meter Relay, 200 Meter participant
• T’Keya Pace – 4 X 100 Meter Relay Champion, 4 X 200 Meter Relay Champion
• April Lusk – 4 X 100 Meter Relay Champion, 4 X 200 Meter Relay Champion, 100 Meter State Qualifier
• 2015 Girls Regional CHAMPIONS

STATE: 5 Participants

• Kortnei Johnson – 4 X 100 Meter Relay Runner-Up, 100 meter Champion (11.26 Conference Record), 200 Meter Champion (23.39 Conference Record)
• Halee Turner – 4 X 200 Meter Relay 5th Place
• Janae Robertson – 4X 100 Meter Relay Runner-Up, 4 X 200 Meter Relay 5th Place
• T’Keya Pace – 4 X 100 Meter Relay Runner-Up, 4 X 200 Meter Relay 5th Place
• April Lusk – 4 X 100 Meter Relay Runner-Up, 4 X 200 Meter Relay 5th Place, 100 Meter participant
• 2015 – 3rd Place Girls 2A Division (1point away from 2nd)

Off-Season:

Very impressed with the way the kids have responded to the change. We are grinding every day! There is only one way to do things around here and that is the GLADIATOR WAY! Carpe Diem!!!

Reconvene into general session

After executive session, there were three new hires to the Italy staff:

• Daniel Weaver, hired to be a junior high / high school teacher subject to assignment, offensive coordinator, head basketball coach, and assistant baseball coach
• Shelbi Gilley, hired to be a junior high English Language Arts teacher and junior high assistant coach
• Mrs. Amy Reeves, hired to be 3rd grade reading teacher