BISD agenda includes Broad Prize

The Brownsville Independent School District this afternoon will revisit its selection as winner of the 2008 Broad Prize for Urban Education.

A discussion on the specifics of the Broad Prize is among nearly 90 items on today's agenda for the BISD Board of Trustees. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. in the boardroom of the district administration building at 1900 Price Rd.

The Broad Prize is generally considered the nation's top education award. By winning it, BISD secured $1 million in scholarships for students who graduate this year. BISD won the award for demonstrating the greatest overall performance and improvement in student achievement among the nation's 100 largest urban districts while reducing achievement gaps among poor and minority students.

According to the Broad analysis, BISD's Hispanic students showed more improvement between 2004 and 2007 in reading and math than their peers in other Texas districts. The district also closed the gap between Hispanic students and the state average for white students by 12 percent in middle school math.

Trustee Rick Zayas said he asked to have the item on the Broad Prize placed on today's agenda because he fears BISD student achievement scores have leveled off since the 2006-07 school year. The district may have closed the gap, but "there's more advances that we can make," he said.

"I want our kids to be performing at the level of the top kids in the U.S.," Zayas said. "When that happens we have closed the gap."

The agenda item asks for student achievement numbers during the years used in the Broad analysis and a comparison to current numbers, along with instructional curriculum and management strategies used during those years and a comparison to similar such strategies used today.

Also on the agenda:

- A presentation on board members' fiduciary duty to the district and discussion of possible breaches of that duty by disclosing information discussed in executive session. Zayas said he asked for the presentation because a lawsuit against BISD by Special Services Administrator Art Rendon states that Rendon learned of discussions about firing him that took place in executive session.

The discussions took place with Rendon not present and without an agenda item for that purpose being posted, according to the lawsuit.

- A proposal to record closed-session meetings.

- Discussion in closed session of a preliminary report by the law firm Denton, Navarro, Rocha & Bernal, P.C. Trustees on Jan. 27 hired the firm to conduct an investigation of BISD's Special Services Department and of Superintendent Hector Gonzales, who was placed on suspension. A later agenda item is listed to "recommend approval on litigation matters discussed in Closed Session."

- A presentation, also requested by Zayas, on the financial feasibility of providing full-day pre-kindergarten instruction for all Brownsville children seeking such instruction.