Gatesville ISD board approves multiple administrative policy changes, accepts $53,000 netting bid and discusses vaping, attendance and rising insurance costs

Gatesville ISD trustees approved several administrative policies and contracts at their June board meeting and heard updates on student discipline, attendance and employee benefits.

The board voted to accept a vendorbid of $53,000 to install a 40-foot netting-and-poles section for the high-school baseball field. District staff said the First National Bank of Central Texas had donated $100,000 to the baseball program; the dugout and backstop portion will be rebid after the district received no eligible bids for that work. The motion to accept the netting-and-poles bid passed after a second and voice vote.

Trustees also approved routine contracts and policy housekeeping. They renewed a memorandum of understanding with Temple College so students may continue to take dual-credit coursework through the Texas Bioscience Institute, and approved the districtpay plan for 226 employees with July start dates that staff said would average roughly a 3% increase (with an $8,000 adjustment applied to some positions under recent guidance).

On procurement and finance, trustees approved changes to EDGAR/grant procedures and local purchasing authority. The board updated its capitalization threshold in local policy (CFB Local) to raise the asset threshold to $10,000 for tracking purposes, and adopted a micro-purchasing threshold (CBB Local) of $25,000 so staff would not be required to obtain three quotes for purchases under that amount. District staff said the change aims to reduce procurement delays when multiple local quotes are difficult to secure.

District staff previewed grant activity and safety-related funding. Staff notified the public the district plans to apply for federal ESSA (Title I) and Perkins career-and-technical education grants, and said they are pursuing the 2025 COPS School Violence Prevention Program grant. Staff noted the COPS SVPP is a matching grant that would require a 25% local match and said they would return to the board with specific budget implications if the district is awarded funds.

Board members discussed student vaping and disciplinary policy. District staff described a disciplinary approach that gives more flexibility under recent state law changes: for a first vaping offense the district said it would pursue a period of disciplinary alternative placement/ISS in the 20-to-30-day range but would emphasize addiction counseling and referral to community providers. Staff cautioned that if a suspension would extend beyond seniorsgraduation it could affect eligibility to walk the stage, and said administrators repeatedly warned seniors about the consequences.

On attendance, trustees pressed staff about low senior attendance in the latest "vital signs" report; staff attributed lower rates to end-of-year activities and senior events and said principals have attendance and enrollment as explicit goals for evaluation. The board approved the vital-signs item after discussion.

Staff reported a significant rise in employee health-insurance costs. A district official said employee monthly premiums increased by roughly 14 percent and described the change as adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to district expenditures; staff emphasized the district has historically covered the employee-only premium and intends to continue that practice.

The board took other routine actions, including approving the annual staff-development minutes waiver, maintaining a 60-average minimum for advanced courses as a UIL eligibility standard, and adopting TASB-recommended policy language to disallow homeschool or private-school students from district concurrent enrollment and extracurricular participation (FD Local and FM Local).

The board concluded open session and recessed to executive session.

Votes at a glance - Consent agenda (accept all except vital-signs): approved. - Vital-signs report (attendance): approved. - Temple College MOU (Texas Bioscience Institute dual credit): approved. - Baseball netting-and-poles contract: approved; bid amount $53,000. - July-start staff pay plan (226 employees, ~3% average): approved. - Capitalization threshold (CFB Local) changed to $10,000: approved. - Micro-purchase threshold (CBB Local) set to $25,000: approved. - Staff-development minutes waiver: approved. - FD/FM Local (homeschool/UIL participation): approved.

What happens next Staff said they will return with any grant award details (including required match amounts) and will bring additional pay and contract items to the July meeting as required by start dates and contract timelines.