Education Matters January 21 2022

by Education Matters

Posted on January 21, 2022

To the Patrons of Littlefield ISD:

We have had a busy start to the second semester of school. Unfortunately, our absences have been high due to sickness amongst the staff and student body throughout the district. I made the decision to close school on Friday, January 15 due to the fact we were very shorthanded regarding teachers in two of our four campuses. Germ Blast was here over the past weekend to clean and sanitize our buildings and buses in order for us to be ready to go. I am thankful we have this company coming in periodically to thoroughly clean and sanitize our entire district. It is imperative we take every measure to keep our staff and students healthy! 

Our first Focus Friday scheduled for Friday, January 28 will be a REGULAR SCHOOL DAY! The following Friday, February 4 will be our first Focus Friday. By law, we are required to have our students attend 75,600 minutes for the school year. Rescheduling this Focus Friday day to a regular school day helps recapture our minutes we are missing. We will be sending a call out informing our parents about the upcoming make-up day. I encourage you to periodically check our website out for the most up-to-date information regarding Littlefield Independent School District. Our website address is:  www.lfdisd.org

January is “School Board Recognition Month.” Littlefield Independent School District is fortunate to have seven members who serve for the BEST interest of ALL students and staff throughout our district. The seven members are: Lance Broadhurst, who serves as Board President. Pat Demel is our Vice-President. Adrian Solis is our Secretary. Rounding the board out is Gary Birkelbach, Johnny Castillo, Jr., Hervey Valdez, Jr. and Will Williams. If you see one of these gentlemen in town, please take time to “THANK” them for their service and commitment to Littlefield Schools. You are APPRECIATED!

Littlefield Schools has been running a facility survey regarding the current condition of our buildings and the possibility of a Bond Election in May of this school year. We had 612 patrons take the survey! Here are the results of the survey. 

Question 1:  What is your overall impression of the physical condition of the District’s facilities?  (Scale from 1 to 5.  1 being poor and 5 being excellent.).  Average = 2.97.

Question 2:  Would you support new construction options to address the physical deficiencies in our oldest facilities?                      

(Scale from 1 to 5.  1 being poor and 5 being excellent.)  Average = 4.31.

Question 3:  How important is Career and Technology to you? (Scale from 1 to 5.  1 being poor and 5 being excellent.)   Average = 4.67.

Question 4:  Would you favor construction of a Career and Technical Education Facility to provide specialized labs and instruction for welding, construction trades, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and medical fields?  (Scale from 1 to 5.  1 being poor and 5 being excellent.).  Average = 4.66.   

Question 5:  Would you support the school district in putting a bond election before the voters to address the District’s instructional facility needs?  THIS WILL BE A PROPERTY TAX RATE INCREASE!   (Scale from 1 to 5.  1 being poor and 5 being excellent.)  Average = 3.81.                                                                                                                                         

Here is the current age of each of our buildings in Littlefield Independent School District:  The Primary is 32 years old and is in good shape structural wise. Both the Elementary and Junior High are 70 years old, while the High School is 58 years old. As you can see, with the exception of the Primary campus, our campuses are nearing the end of their useful lives and are starting to have issues that will be very complicated and expensive to correct. 

We had members of the community present at our school board meeting on Thursday, January 20 and several other sessions to meet with Parkhill Architectural Firm out of Lubbock, Texas. Members on the committee are: Pedro Cruz, Mike DeLoach, Mitch Grant, Carrie Hanlin, Brad Heffington, Jessica Longoria, Danny Marquez, Melissa McDonald, David McGehee, Jeremy Newton, Johnny Rosemond, Kenny Rucker, Blake Torres, Eric Turpen, and Melete White. We also have three high school students who serve on the committee.  They are:  Madison McNeese, Dylan Redmon, and JJ Soria. LISD Thanks them all  for taking time to serve! This group has served as a facility advisory group and has had many meaningful conversations and discussions regarding a long range plan for LISD facilities and is considering asking the school board to call for a bond election to support facility improvements. 

The last day to call for a bond election is Friday, February 18, 2022. We have our regular scheduled board meeting on Thursday, February 17 at 7:00 PM. We would like to hear from the public regarding our long range facility planning thoughts and hopes to call for a facility bond election. As such, there will be a “Community-Wide Meeting” to discuss the facility masterplans regarding building a new high school and renovating our existing high school into the junior high. Parkhill representatives will be in attendance along with the gentleman from Specialized Finance talking to us about our tax rate, limitations on bond capital we can raise, etc. This will be very informative and I encourage you to attend! The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 10 at 6:00 PM in the Junior High School Auditorium. 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 806-385-4150

Proud to be a WILDCAT!