Boerne Independent School District board trustees lent an ear Monday to a complaint about its cellphone ban punishment not being stringent enough.
The school board opened its meeting with a plea from Champion High School Career and Technical Education teacher Stefanie Dristas concerning House Bill 1481, Texas legislation that bans student use of communication devices in schools.
The measure, in place since the new year opened, has been supported by Boerne school teachers, students and parents, according to Maggie Dominguez, Boerne ISD executive director of communications. Dristas does not have an issue with the bill itself – only its enforcement, which she calls tedious for teachers.
“Our punishments are burdensome to enforce,” said Dristas, who had a group of students and teachers in attendance to support her. “In my 84 class periods, I have already issued 89 warnings. Collectively with the teachers I work with, if these numbers continue, you can expect 40,000 warnings.”
Dristas said the issue was that warnings “reset” every nine weeks, something she says the students are well aware of. Moreover, Dristas said teachers found the initial stages of punishment time consuming.
“We have to spend 15 minutes logging a single warning,” Dristas said. “Other schools, like Alamo Heights ISD, Bandera ISD and Kerrville ISD, are doing better. Our first offense should be stricter.”
Dristas is the first teacher and parent to come out and speak against the policy.
While the board could not provide a response because the item was not on the agenda, Board President Kristi Schmidt said Dristas could expect a response by the end of the week, giving the board time to discuss the issue.
As the meeting progressed, Superintendent Dr. Kristin Craft provided an update on the district’s enrollment numbers.
“Currently, we have 11,178 students enrolled,” Craft said. “We budgeted for 11,223, a number we are still expecting to see.”
Craft also announced organiz- Craft also announced organizing a student advisory committee from a list of junior and senior applications. “It’s important we get feedback from our students,” she said of the new committee.
The board also addressed the concern of teacher retention, agreeing that teachers in the district are not paid as much as neighboring districts. In an effort to keep their educator numbers steady, the board expressed support for a CTE program that offers BISD students enrolled the opportunity to work at BISD upon graduation.
“There is no better way to conserve our culture than hiring students,” Board Trustee Carlin Friar said.
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