The Victoria Independent School District Board of Trustees on an October meeting approved a set of routine and substantive items including renewal of the district's legal services retainer, the purchase of a bus routing and rider-tracking system and several personnel hires, and scheduled two board facilities workshops ahead of potential bond planning.

Board members said the items were standard business needed to support operations and planning. Trustees voted unanimously on each motion; recorded tallies for the actions taken were 6-0 in favor with no dissent.

The board approved a legal services retainer agreement with the firm listed as Walsh Gallegos, Kyle Robinson & Rolison, P.C., continuing the district's on-call legal coverage. A trustee moved the contract for approval and the motion passed by voice vote. Board discussion noted the district is not required to solicit competitive bids for attorney services and retains multiple firms to provide specialized legal support.

Trustees also approved scheduling two board facilities workshops to review bond project estimates provided by retained architects (RMA and PBK). The board set a December workshop and a follow-up workshop in January (scheduled for Jan. 13, 2026) to allow time for the Bond Action Committee and architects to present cost estimates before any decision on a potential bond referendum.

On purchases and operational approvals included in the consent agenda, the board approved: purchase of Wayfinder (bus routing and rider-tracking) software and hardware at an initial negotiated cost of $113,000 (first-year implementation and data plans) with ongoing annual maintenance estimated at just over $30,000; acquisition of a refrigerated box truck paid from the child nutrition fund balance to replace an aging refrigerated box whose refrigeration system failed (the vehicle’s refrigerated box will later be reassigned to the athletics department for nonrefrigerated use); and other routine consent items including an adjunct faculty agreement for a 4-H show participant from DeWitt County. Administration described funding sources for the Wayfinder purchase as reprogrammed funds originally budgeted to purchase additional buses.

The board approved two administrator hires that were placed on the agenda after a closed session: Lori Lial as data integrity coordinator in academic services and Kelsey Hubbell as a counselor at Roland Elementary School. Both hires were approved by a unanimous voice vote.

Finally, trustees approved scheduling and logistics for the board’s Team of Eight training and accepted a motion to allow staff to finalize dates based on trustees’ availability.

Votes at a glance
- Legal services retainer (Walsh Gallegos, Kyle Robinson & Rolison, P.C.): approved, vote 6-0.
- Board facilities workshops (bond planning): approve scheduling for Dec. 4, 2025 and Jan. 13, 2026; vote 6-0.
- Wayfinder routing & rider-tracking system: approved purchase, initial year $113,000; vote 6-0.
- Child nutrition refrigerated box truck purchase (use of child nutrition fund balance): approved; vote 6-0.
- Consent agenda (includes adjunct 4-H agreement for DeWitt County student and other routine items): approved; vote 6-0.
- Employment of two administrators (Lori Lial; Kelsey Hubbell): approved; vote 6-0.

Board members and staff who spoke on these items included board President Patton and trustees Pruitt, Bell, Nelson and Marshall; Superintendent Coyazzo; CFO Michelle Yates; and transportation staff member Sean, who discussed the Wayfinder purchase and rollout.

The board did not approve or adopt a bond at this meeting; it scheduled workshops for further review of architect estimates and bond planning prior to any referendum decision.

The board’s motions and votes were recorded in open session; no ballots with individual member roll-call votes were read into the record beyond the unanimous tallies announced at the meeting.