Recognitions dominated the regular monthly meeting of the Canton School Board during their 20-minute open session Dec. 12.

Sixth grade student William Drew led in the invocation at the beginning of the meeting and sixth grade student Aisley Liptak led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. and Texas flags. The students were introduced to the board by Canton Junior High School Principal Dawn Boyd.

The ‘Employees of the Month’ were introduced to the trustees by the campus principals. The ‘Employees of the Month’ were as follows: Lauren Morman, elementary school; Airik Williams, intermediate school; Della Powell, junior high school; and Theresa Oliver, high school.

Campus principals recognizing their ‘Employees of the Month’ included Kelly Lamar, elementary; Angela McLeod, intermediate; Dawn Boyd, junior high; and Wes Rhoten, high school.

Crystal Villarreal was also recognized as the Canton ISD Support Staff’s ‘Employee of the Month’ by Canton ISD Superintendent Dr. Brian Nichols.

During his monthly superintendent’s report to the trustees, Nichols shared that current enrollment at Canton ISD totaled 2,298 students including high school, 647; junior high, 547; intermediate, 536; and elementary, 568.

Overall attendance is at 95.2 percent, according to Nichols. “I think all of our campus principals would agree that we have been battling some sickness at each of the campuses so attendance is a little bit lower than we would like to see. We are definitely going through the cycle of illness.”

In other news regarding the campuses, Nichols shared, “We recently had 30 band members make the All-Region band and 14 of those students will be competing at area competition in January. We also had seven students advance to area in choir. We have had numerous athletes that have been named to various All-Academic teams. We recently had an FFA (Future Farmers of America) dinner and auction. That was a huge success. It raised a ton of money. I was really impressed with that event.

“This week wraps up our fall semester,” continued Nichols. “We will have early release at 1:30 p.m. Thursday (today). Boys’ and girls’ varsity basketball teams are in the middle of their seasons right now. The boys are 15-1 and the girls are 14-2 overall. Those teams are off to really good starts. Tonight (Dec. 12) is our choir concert at the Larry Davis Auditorium. Tomorrow night (Dec. 13) is our band concert. Our girls’ basketball team will be at Lindale (Dec. 13) in a district game and our boys’ team will host Sunnyvale (Dec. 13). One-act play at the junior high will practice tomorrow (Dec. 13) and they will be performing at Lindale Wednesday (Dec. 14).

“Our girls’ basketball team will host Mabank and our boys’ basketball team will host Quitman Friday (Dec. 16),” said Nichols. “On Tuesday, Dec. 20, our boys and girls will be in Athens for district basketball games. Our girls will be participating in the Aggieland Invitational Basketball Tournament Dec. 27-29 and our boys will be participating in the Paris Basketball Tournament Dec. 28-30.”

“Facilities-wise, concrete work at the walkway path between the intermediate campus and the high school campus is scheduled to begin Dec. 19,” said Nichols. “Painting at the high school will begin the week of Dec. 19, weather permitting. The gym floors are being redone and that is scheduled for Dec. 21. Our staff will return to work on Jan. 3 and our students will return on Jan. 4.”

No action was taken on the FIRST (Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas) report by the trustees, and no one chose to speak during a public hearing on the report.

It was shared at an earlier trustee meeting in October that Canton ISD received a ‘Superior’ rating for 2021-22 based on the school year 2020-21.

The consent agenda, which included the minutes of the Nov. 18 meeting as well as the financial status, budget status, and tax collection reports, were approved by the school board members.

Board members agreed to add revisions to the school district’s policy pertaining to student tracking safety devices on campuses.

“This would be an added addition to the Student Conduct Personal Telecommunications/ Electronic Devices Policy,” pointed out Nichols to the trustees. “The added information would allow our principals to have the authority to approve or not approve a student tracking safety device that has recording or listening capabilities at school or at a school-sponsored event. It also states that due to privacy concerns, the district requires listen-in technology to be disabled while on school property. The district prohibits unauthorized audio or visual recordings or transmission of audio or images of other students.”

Due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Monday, January 16, 2023, the trustees agreed to move their regular monthly meeting date in January to 6 p.m. Monday, January 9, 2023.

No action was taken by the school board members following a closed executive session at the conclusion of their Dec. 12 meeting.