School board discusses shooting threat from last week, receives audit report, announces students of the month

The Breckenridge ISD school board met Monday evening and addressed the shooting threat that was found in a bathroom stall last week. They also announced students of the month and received a report on an audit conducted on their finances.

Addressing the shooting threat, which was the last item of the night, Superintendent Tim Seymore discussed updates and information on the incident, as well as the decisions made by the district. Seymore said when the incident happened they were able to line up with the police quickly and have the campuses surveilled the rest of the day Thursday and Friday, as well as during the events on the weekend. While the basketball tournament carried on, the play originally supposed to be put on the theater was cancelled.

Seymore talked about his decision to have school on Friday despite several voicing opinions against it. He went onto say when they receive a threat like this they assess how credible it is and carry their actions in a way that would make sense to the situation.

“I had to make the call, somewhat unpopular, whether or not we would have school [on Friday],” Seymore said. “There was a large number of people that said I should have sent everyone home on Thursday when we found it and not brought them back until we caught the person. Well we wouldn’t have had school [Monday].”

Seymore said he thinks they have a promising lead, but proving it he added may never happen. He also went onto say if he had decided to not have school it may have set a precedent, leading to potential situations where students may repeat these kinds of threats if it means they can get out of school.

The districts attendance was under 60 percent on Friday, which Seymore offered as a day parents could keep their kids home for safety reasons and have it excused. Seymore said the number of those who stayed home cost the district $24,325.

The board also received a presentation on their financial audit, conducted by Merritt, McLane & Hamby P.C. Mike Hamby gave the presentation and said it went great, adding they were able to get all the information they needed and there was little adjustment needed.

The Students of the Month were also announced. The Students of the Month include:

• Kaylee Lee - East Elementary
• Kitten Escalon - North Elementary
• Karlea Going - South Elementary
• Emily Welch - Junior High

Congratulations to these students.

Other business on the night involved an item concerning the colors of the school uniforms. Jeff Dooley put the item on the agenda and said he was concerned that there was less importance being put on the colors of the uniforms at the school, and that the district should be devoted to maintaining the Kelly green and white.

“It’s been our school colors for 100 years and its never really been a problem until recent,” Dooley said.

Board member Pat Escalon chimed in and said the color Kelly green has been hard to find in the past. Dooley pushed back on that saying that has not been his experience. Others said there are special instances where the kids competing have to wear other colors. Dooley said he understands this and is more so asking to make sure uniforms stay a majority green and white.

The board passed the item, which would require superintendent approval to have colors on a uniform that are not green or white.

The board also gave their tax collection report, and found they have received 5.378 percent of collections. This compares with 4.141 percent this time last year.

The Breckenridge ISD school board meets at 6:30 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at the Administration Building at 208 N. Miller St. Their next meeting will be Jan. 14, 2019.