Here are a few items the board of trustees unanimously approved during its regular meeting July 22.
New assistant principals
Tom Green Elementary and Johnson High School will both get new assistant principals for the 2024-25 school year, following the board’s approval.
Clarissa Arredondo will become assistant principal at Tom Green. Arredondo previously taught at Rodriguez Elementary in San Marcos CISD.
Christine Velasquez will become assistant principal at Johnson High School. Velasquez has 26 years of experience and was most recently an instructional coach at Lehman High School.
Cybersecurity platform
The board unanimously approved the purchase of a cybersecurity platform for an amount not to exceed $236,300.
Per agenda documents, the platform will help protect Hays CISD equipment from ransomware, data breaches, phishing, malware, spyware and other hacking threats. Additional details were provided to the board via secured communication.
SMARTtag upgrades
According to agenda documents, the transportation department utilizes the SMARTtag portal to verify students on the bus and can contact parents when buses are running late or if there are issues on the route.
Additionally, the portal can be utilized to verify student attendance or the time they arrived on campus. Its SMARTprint system creates student ID badges that are used across all of the district’s bus routes, and its SMARTconduct system allows drivers to track student behavior and discipline issues.
The upgrades come at a cost of about $354,400, which includes upgrading 180 tablets, hardware installation and upgrades on 250 buses, upgrading the SMARTtag printer and renewing the cloud service.
Transportation Director Cassandra Behr said the tablets are now four years old and the technology is no longer supported, leading to the upgrade.
The department will hold two events on Aug. 8 from 4-6 p.m. and Aug. 10 from 9 a.m.-noon at the Performing Arts Center to help parents register for the SMARTtag app.
