IC ISD Board Meeting September 14 2026
A. Agenda Analysis
BoardBook: The Board has recently started using BoardBook, a web based meeting preparation software. This is a really positive development that I'll be pointing out here and there. The agenda above is a screen shot of how it looks on BoardBook. When I find out who to send your request to to get subscribed, I will post it here.
Meeting documents - Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. (Amazing!)
SB 12, Item 4: This is the new DEI policy required by state law. Another example of the benefits of BoardBook...read the policy before the meeting by reviewing the meeting documents at pages 2-5. I also provided some Commentary below on these policies.
Consent agenda, item 6: At last, the mystery is gone. By reviewing the meeting documents in advance of the meeting, you can see exactly what they will be approving on the consent agenda. This includes meeting minutes for the last meeting, the revenue and expenses.
Here is Google Gemini’s verbatim summary of the check register:
“The check register for Irion County ISD, covering the period from Aug 01, 2026, to Aug 31, 2026, reflects a total expenditure of $78,478.97. The disbursements include operational costs, facility maintenance, and various staff and student activity expenses.
Disbursement Summary
• Facility Maintenance & Utilities: Significant payments were made for essential services, including $14,182.55 to TXU Energy for electricity and $4,362.21 to the City of Mertzon for water and sewer services. Maintenance projects featured a $4,750.00 heat pump installation by Bowles Heating & C and $3,237.88 for walk-in cooler service at the cafeteria.
• Instructional & Administrative Support: The district invested $5,800.00 in tax collection services and $2,642.19 for the StopIt platform from Lightspeed Solutions. Additional costs included $1,510.86 for copier leasing from CTWP Leasing and $2,280.00 for CPR training provided by Sav-A-Life Skills.
• Student Activities & Food Services: Substantial food service payments were made to Labatt Food Service ($5,471.02) and Gandy's Dairies ($1,309.12). Extracurricular expenses included $1,748.66 to BSN for football supplies and various smaller amounts for student athlete meals.
• Security & Safety: Key safety expenditures included $2,945.84 to Raptor Technologies for a visitor management fee and $852.11 for a weather alerting package from Perry Weather.
• Cancellations & Corrections: The register notes a $840.00 credit from Stadium Lanes due to a cancelled reservation. A $360.00 payment to Smashers for a staff outing was also voided and reposted to the correct period.”
B. Meeting Review
DEI compliance, item 4: The Board approved the policy. They had no choice. See my commentary below. This will do more harm than good.
Administrative reports, Accountability, item 8: The Board accomplished a number of things at this meeting, but I want to highlight only one thing - the dramatic improvement in State accountability under Drs. Nikki Moore and Jessica Parker.
IC ISD overall comparison '25 to '26.
The entire accountability system is changing this year (again!), so it will be somewhat of an apples to oranges comparison under new Supt. Dr. Mike Heath. The improvement above is under Drs. Moore & Parker. (Note: I typically don't cover accountability on this site. Here's why: first, administrators, teachers and TEA know how to grade accountability on a curve, and, second, the goal posts are always changing. I am more interested in promoting the civic value that the community must expect constant improvement in public education, and a good way to achieve that is through community engagement at school board meetings. Regretfully, I was the only member of the public attending this meeting. All that said, there is some real importance in these numbers, and it’s worthwhile to point out the improvements.)
C. Commentary
Anti DEI Policy: See the policy at pages 3-5 here. I recognize that the Texas Legislature is forcing the District to pass this policy and so the District has no choice but to pass. I will be as plain spoken about this as I possibly can: History is not going to judge these policies favorably. They are racially discriminatory, misogynistic and most certainly violate the Equal Protection clauses of the Texas and U.S. Constitutions. Our federal government is showing its animus (spiteful or malevolent ill will) with this, removing disparate impact in Title VI regulations, while simultaneously dismantling the Office of Civil Rights within the Dept. of Education and moving it to other agencies. These actions are transparently hateful and in time will be judged as mistakes. In the mean time, policies like the one being approved here are going to do a lot harm. It's very unfortunate. We can do better. Finally, consider, however, that the policy cannot do away with the Constitution. This section in the policy is worth pointing out: "Constitutional Protections: Nothing in these guidelines shall be construed to infringe upon or affect a student’s core constitutional rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 8, of the Texas Constitution." And, just because this provision fails to mention the Texas and US Equal Protection clauses does NOT mean that students don't have equal protection rights. So, anti-DEI all you want, there are still going to be some protections.
765 kV update: On 9/11 the PUC Commissioners remanded two of the cases, 59185 (involving Irion Co.) and 59475 involving the line going east from Eldorado. A "remand" means they sent it back to the ALJs for more review...or, in other words, they didn't like the judges' ruling and want them to try again. The opinion on the table now provides that the applications for the lines should be denied, so this says something about where this is going... When I know more about the exact terms of the remand I will be filing an objection. I will post that on my 765 kV page.
BoardBook is a significant advance because community members can subscribe to notices from the District and not only be advised of upcoming meetings, they can review and download the meeting documents before the meeting. So, if a community member wanted to advise the board of their opinion on a matter before the Board took any action, they could come to the meeting educated on their issue by reviewing the documents in advance. Seems revolutionary, doesn't it? Come prepared to a public meeting?! Well, it isn't. BoardBook is owned and managed by the Texas Association of School Boards, and it was launched back in 2002. School district boards have been using it for decades now, and thankfully IC ISD has joined up. It is a great decision.
Copyright 2026 G. Noelke
