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Del Valle ISD seeks renewal of District of Innovation and asks to retain current grievance and library-materials procedures
Summary
Administration presented a five-year District of Innovation renewal asking to continue calendar and staffing exemptions and to add exemptions for grievance timelines and library-materials acquisition, arguing the new legislative timelines could hinder investigations and delay book access.
At the Nov. 4 meeting, Dr. Mark Cantu led a presentation on the district’s District of Innovation (DOI) plan, which gives local flexibility to request exemptions from certain state requirements. He told trustees the current DOI (adopted 2020) includes exemptions for the academic calendar and staffing/certification; the administration proposes to add two areas: retaining the district’s current grievance policy timelines and continuing its existing library-materials acquisition process.
Ms. Murillo explained the grievance-policy concern: legislation would lengthen filing and appeal timelines (described in the presentation as extending a 25-business-day window to 60 business days), and staff said that could cause practical problems — for example, district video evidence is retained roughly 30 days, which could be lost if filing windows lengthen and make effective investigations more difficult. The presenter said the district seeks to remain able to resolve issues promptly and avoid calendar conflicts introduced by new statutory deadlines.
On library materials, staff cited Senate Bill 13’s multi-vetting and 30-day public-posting requirement and noted practical delays for newly released books: one example given was a recently released title that would not be available to students until mid-January under the statutory timeline even though it was released in late October. Staff asked the board to let the district continue its current, faster local vetting process while retaining parental block/opt-out authority.
The DAT (district advisory team) reportedly reviewed the plan and voted unanimously to support it; staff said the board will need a two-thirds vote of the nine-member board at a future action meeting to adopt the DOI renewal and file it with the Commissioner of Education.
