Published: March 11, 2008 02:43 am            

Westwood board approves fingerprinting fees

On Monday, members of the Westwood Independent School District voted to approve fingerprinting fees for auxiliary employees.

According to Texas Education Agency standards, all Westwood employees must have their fingerprints on file.

Teachers hired more recently already have submitted to having their fingerprints done, but Westwood Superintendent Ed Lyman said the rule mostly will apply to faculty members who have been at Westwood for sometime.

“Most of the newer teachers have it, but auxiliary employees, maintenance workers and transportation workers must also have their prints on file,” Lyman said.

Currently, Westwood has at least five employees who still need to be fingerprinted, and the cost will be over $250 for these five individuals.

Any faculty hired after January also must immediately be fingerprinted.

Another item in Monday’s meeting was the consideration of the 2008-2009 district calendar.

“The majority of teachers prefer this one, which has 177 days, and it coincides with the spring break of TVCC, which will help with the dual-credit courses,” Lyman said.

Board members reviewed this year’s energy conservation goals, and the Westwood superintendent said the schools were doing a good job thus far.

“One thing we need to do a better job with is the air conditioning and turning the lights off,” Lyman said.

He added that Westwood has replaced many things with energy saving products over the years, and the campuses will get 22 new air conditioning units that have higher energy efficiencies.

Another topic discussed by the board was the consideration and approval of junk bidding, which will help clear up some space at Westwood Elementary.

“We’ve got quite a number of things that we can put up for bidding, and as the saying goes, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” Lyman said. “This will help at the elementary campus, which needs more storage and renovation space.”

In other news, the board:

l APPROVED fundraisers for the National Honor Society and elementary school.

l APPROVED the TEA waiver for a modified schedule of testing days and early release days for staff training.

l HEARD a facilities report on the elementary school renovations and the high school field house. According to athletic director Shane Jones, the field house architect is waiting on engineering stamps to finalize the bid paperwork and finish the plans.

l HEARD campus progress reports on the 1007-2008 district and campus action plans and goals.

l HEARD the curriculum director’s March report.

        

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