The Brownwood ISD Board of Trustees on Monday night unanimously approved Teacher Aide Retention Stipends.

All campus instructional aide positions will receive a $1,500 retention stipend. This supplemental pay aligns with the board’s goal to attract, retain, and develop an ethical, diverse, and highly qualified staff.

To receive the entire $1,500 an aide must have been an employee with BISD since

September 1, 2021. The stipend amount for aides hired after Sept. 31, 2021 will be prorated by their start date.

On the February 2022 payroll, instructional aides will receive $250 of their stipend amount. The remaining stipend will be paid out per paycheck over the next six pay dates.

Also Monday, Brownwood ISD Superintendent Dr. Joe Young announced the next round of public meetings regarding Project Neighborhood will take at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday Feb. 15 at Northwest Elementary, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22 at Woodland Heights Elementary, and 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 1 at the BISD Central Office.

Project Neighborhood will realign Brownwood ISD primary campuses to provide continuity of services from Head Start through fifth grade within neighborhood elementary schools. The proposed changes would add Head Start to the three elementary campuses and Coggin Intermediate. This would transition Coggin Intermediate to a school that provides education for students in Head Start through sixth grade. East Elementary, Northwest Elementary, and Woodland Heights Elementary would house students from Head Start to fifth grade.

“We encourage everyone to come, especially parents of students in Pre-K through fifth grade, because you’re going to want to hear about a lot of updates, some things the task forces have done to talk about certain issues that were brought up,” Young said. “If you attend those meetings, you’ll be able to get a sneak peek at the lines themselves – where you live and where the elementary attendance boundary will be and how it will affect you. These meetings are to gather more input. We took feedback from earlier meetings and changed a lot of things, and we’re going to do that again.”

At the March 14 board meeting, the final Project Neighborhood recommendation will be presented and a vote will be taken.

Transfer month is April for Brownwood ISD and for parents who want to transfer their Pre-K through fifth grade students after the lines come out in March, a transfer form must be filled out and submitted during the month.

Also at Monday’s meeting, it was announced the 2022-23 school year will revert to 180 academic days opposed to 172.

Brownwood ISD currently starts its school year on a Wednesday, enjoys a long weekend each month, has a week out for Thanksgiving, two weeks out for Christmas, a week for Spring Break and ends the year before Memorial Day.

Changes will need to be made to the school calendar as the aforementioned scenario is not possible in 180 days. Keeping the start of school on a Wednesday will stay as it benefits Pre-K and kindergarten students adjusting to school, and also provides a couple of days to resolve any potential issues on other campuses.

A total of 331 staff surveys were returned ranking the rest of the potential options and the No. 1 priority was two weeks at Christmas followed by a week off for Spring Break, and the week at Thanksgiving. The long weekend each month came in at No. 4 and getting out before Memorial Day ranked No. 5.

“With this information, we’re going to revisit the calendar options and bring a calendar to the March board meeting,” said Deputy Superintendent Liesa Land. “We will implement the top three choices in a couple of calendar options, but just know we probably can’t get all the way to No. 5. There’s the just not enough days.”