The Judson Independent School District Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to allow district administration to implement both the GT (gifted-and-talented) program and an academic enrichment (AET) program "as deemed necessary by administration," and separately approved the purchase of STEM lesson software and hardware from Sam Labs for grades K-5.
The board voted 6-1 in favor of delegating implementation authority to district staff for GT and AET services. Later in the meeting trustees unanimously approved a purchase of Sam Labs materials intended to support the AET curriculum.
Administrators told trustees that staffing difficulties prevented the district from hiring the number of certified teachers originally planned. Administration proposed an alternate model: use 10 GT teachers to deliver required GT services by caseload, have two teachers volunteer for AET, and place one paraprofessional in the AET role at each elementary campus. District staff said the paraprofessional model would lower the cost by about $50,000 compared with hiring teachers for every AET slot.
District staff also said the Sam Labs package is a K-5 STEM lesson plan software and hardware purchase; administrators said the license is intended to be paid from Title funding. Trustees approved that purchase 7-0.
Trustees and administrators discussed scheduling and staffing implications for elementary master schedules, including the difficulties of securing substitutes to provide a districtwide PLC (professional learning community) period while teachers attend planning time. Several trustees said some campuses had already built rotations into schedules and cautioned against disrupting plans; administrators said they had assigned paraprofessionals to campus pairings and would work with principals on schedules.
Trustee Kenoyer, who moved the implementation motion, said the vote allows administrators to proceed without returning to the board for every staffing detail, while several trustees expressed caution and asked for monthly data and alignment with the district's broader academic plan.
Action on GT/AET: "I move that we approve the implementation of gifted and talented GT and the academic enrichment AE program as deemed necessary by administration." (Motion passed 6-1.)
Action on Sam Labs purchase: "I move that we approve the purchase of STEM lesson plan software and hardware for grades K through 5 from Sam Labs as presented." (Motion passed 7-0.)