Irion County ISD Board February 18 2026
- Feb 21
- 7 min read
Agenda Analysis | Meeting Review | Meeting Documents | Commentary | Last Meeting
A. Agenda Analysis
TAPR, Texas Academic Performance Report, item 7: Go here at the TEA site and search for "Irion" in the district box.
Prioritizing loans to pay down, item 11: Debt free districts will do better when the time comes that the Texas legislature puts a stop to wealthy districts being able to use local funds on bonds. I’m betting that time will come.
Election season, item 9: Three seats are up for re-election. Where they fall on the ballot perhaps isn't as important in Mertzon as in other cities where campaigns are financed and races are highly competitive.
Pending construction projects, bond purchasing, item 5: This language is the safe harbor language regularly used when spending bond money comes up.
Administrative reports, item 6: Always relevant.
Closed session, guardian update, supt. evaluation and action on closed session, action on Supt. contract, items 15, 17 and 18: What's not to be curious about here - guns possessed by a secret police force and the superintendent's job performance? The recent deaths of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by the Border Patrol I think fairly raise the question of whether law enforcement is receiving proper training on when to shoot to kill. I don't envy anyone serving as a guardian. As to Supt. Moore's job performance, in my experience in the past year she has been quite responsive and always professional. I am well aware of the freedoms I have under the 1st Amendment to turn GovernmentintheSun into an edgy, muckraker style journal, but her disarming approach has made that style of advocacy unnecessary.
B. Meeting Review
Closed session, guardian update, Superintendent evaluation and appraisal, action on closed, action on Supt. contract, items 15, 17 and 18: One reason I recommend sticking meetings out to the very end is sometimes really important matters come up at the close. That's the case here where the Board after about a 2.5 hour closed session voted at around 10:30 pm to extend Supt. Moore's contract 1 year and approve a stipend for the guardians. There is more on each of these down in my Commentary below.
Discuss over collection and pay down on loans, item 11: No action was taken, but the discussion was essential. Because of additional tax revenue, the District is in a terrific position to pay off its 2019 bonds and save a ton on interest. The motivation is more than financial savings, though. It is also to build back capacity so that additional bonds can be sought later if there is a growth spurt in folks moving in to the district with a passel of kids. Remember, the 2019 bonds built no classrooms, one of my key criticisms of all that effort. And, while the 2024 bonds are rebuilding the elementary and more, the District is not seeing substantive growth. It would be over a barrel if it didn't have the financial capacity to go out for more bonds if a growth spurt were to occur. No action was taken on this item, but the discussion showed that Supt. Moore and the Board are thankfully on the same page for getting 2019 bonds rapidly paid off. Expect to see a follow up board meeting agenda item where they formally vote to pay off the bonds.
Drawing of place on ballot, board election, item 9: Here's how the drawing (and it was a drawing) played out, in this order: Tony Martinez Taylor Douglas Jayton Lindley Anthony Baumann There are 3 seats open, as member Ashley Hill opted not to run for re-election. I'm not making any endorsements. 4. Admin Reports, Coach Morrow, item 6b: Coach Morrow gave an update on the District's ongoing dispute with Hellas regarding the quality of the new track around the football field at OK Wolfenbarger stadium. While the District is pleased with the installation of the field (there were hiccups though), the track has itself has become a major point of contention. Coach Morrow reported that a patch has been put in with mismatched colors and the lanes aren't level in places. Quite a number of issues have come up regarding the quality of Hellas' installation of the track. (Search "Hellas" in the search bar to get more on my coverage of Hellas' performance.) Also, timing is now an issue because track season is starting on a project that was planned to be complete late last summer. I continue to cover the Hellas' dispute for a couple reasons. Mainly, its a good example of the terrific leverage the District has during construction to demand quality performance; they can, as they are doing here, refuse the final payment to them. (One reason I believe the audit of how WBK Construction spent the 2019 bond funds fizzled out (intentionally?) is that WBK was paid in full by the previous IC ISD superintendent before the audit began. Once they were fully paid they had no incentive to cooperate with an audit.) I also cover Hellas as perhaps an example (warning?) to other contractor that, even though there isn't traditional media coverage of their performance in this remote neck of the desert, all it takes is a blogger like myself to get perturbed about where his tax dollars are being spent to start writing about it on the web. (To think harder about the impact of blogging, consider the 4th Estate and the 5th Estate. To put this in perspective, in my youth in Mertzon the San Angelo Standard Times was delivered by bicycle every morning and afternoon by Brent Evans, teacher Janet Rathmell and Superintendent Stew Evans' son. I subbed on occasion for Brent when he couldn't ride.)
C. Commentary
Superintendent contract: The Board added a 1 year extension to Supt. Moore's contract at this meeting. This means that the term of her contract remains at 5 years. That was a good decision. She's doing a great job, and from my personal experience I can say she is excelling on the myriad of construction projects. Importantly, this 5 year term is going to invest her beyond the completion of the bonds so that this isn't a wham, bam, thank you taxpayers scenario of her leaving upon the completion of the construction. (The last superintendent, and I no longer need to mention names every time this comes up, wished us "Godspeed" when he bolted for the door, just as the budget literally blew up and construction was barely complete. And, from what I can see the problems with the construction build are ongoing.) So, a 5 year term is good for everyone in this situation.
Thank God for another horse born in Texas. Guardian stipends - In any other time, I might not pay much attention to law enforcement on a school campus. This is not any ordinary law enforcement, though, and these are extraordinary times. The Guardians are allowed, indeed required, to operate anonymously and their identity is shielded from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act. The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of masked Border Patrol officers have me evaluating the assumptions I make on a regular basis around law enforcement. Are those assumptions appropriate around a publicly financed but private police force? What assumptions do you make, and is it time to re-evaluate them?
Oncor/LCRA 765 kV transmission line: I have intervened in this PUC case because one of the proposals is to put the line across my property at Cowboy Hill on Hwy 67. To do a deep dive, go here and put in 59182 in the Control Number box. On occasion, I will post matters about the case here in the commentary. The documents filed in the case are all public. (Here's a question to ask yourself: why are the oil and gas companies intervening when the issue is a high voltage transmission line?) One reason to pay attention is that once a high transmission lines come in, more will follow. The primary (though misplaced) issue for the electric companies (Oncor and LCRA) is the number of habitable structures within 500 feet of the wires. The fewer the number, the less the outcry, the easier to get lines approved. Counties like Irion, thus, will become popular to cross because the population is so sparce. (Less than 2,000) I am strenuously opposing the placement of high voltage lines on my property and anywhere in Irion County.
Implied easements: Carla Lindley forwarded me this article about implied easements. See page 8. The article doesn't identify the landowner, but…she’s local. Here's the thing about private land ownership and the government: there's always a tension, and a landowner who sits on their hands will absolutely lose their use and enjoyment of their land to the government/private companies who have been given the right of eminent domain. Whether it is from stormwater runoff like I've been dealing with my neighbor IC ISD for almost 10 years now, or Oncor and LCRA deciding it is time to put a 765 kV (5,000+ amp!) transmission line, or Matterhorn and Eiger claiming their right to put a combined total of 90" of compressed natural gas pipelines through my property, our government and its agents will take my property with abandon unless I protest. Our Texas and U.S. Constitutions prohibit the taking of private property without just compensation, but those provisions don't automatically stop anything, even transparent injustice at the hands of the government. To be sure, there's no plea for a pity party on my behalf here, but Texas government leaders should not forget that their source of funding is largely through taxation of private property. There's a mutual reliance here, without one the other doesn't exist, and vice versa.
Copyright 2026 G. Noelke
