The Canton ISD Board of Trustees honored September’s ‘Teachers of the Month’ at their monthly meeting on Sept. 19, held at the Canton ISD Administration Building.

Among the honored were: Susie Dorman from the High School, Kassie Todd from the Junior High, Kristi Carter from the Intermediate School, Jilian Brown from the Elementary School, and Kristen Fitzgerald from the Support Staff. Members of the Canton ISD Administration introduced and spoke about each honoree.

“Every team has the players that make it go. I can attest that [Susie] is the one that makes everything go [at the high school]. For me coming in new last year, Mrs. Dorman has taken care of a ton of details for us and we greatly appreciate her,” High School Principal Wes Rhoten said.

“Kassie is so dependable. She builds tremendous relationships with her students and works hard to make learning fun. She’s so great to have on our campus,” noted Junior High Principal Dawn Boyd.

“Whenever we go through the hiring process, we are required to call and check on references, and Kristi was the first time I’ve ever had someone say, ‘She’s the best I’ve ever seen.’ She is compassionate, and big on teamwork. I’m proud of her and so thankful I hired her,” said Intermediate School Principal Angie McLeod.

“It is Jilian’s first year in Canton and you must be spectacular to be voted for this in your first year, and she is spectacular. She has brought so much joy into our music program. It is much deserved” Kelli Lamar, Elementary School Principal, noted.

“This is a well-deserved honor. Kristen does so much and is a big helping hand with everything we do around here. Kristen has helped tremendously with our transportation department in training new bus drivers, helping with routes, and more. Thank you, Kristen, for going the extra mile,” Canton Superintendent Brian Nichols said when introducing Fitzgerald.

Following this ceremony, Nichols addressed the Board of Trustees in his monthly Superintendent’s report.

Nichols mentioned the enrollment numbers for Canton ISD, a topic which was mentioned last month but not discussed in detail due to uncertainty prior to the start of the school year.

“The enrollment right now is at 2,317 students [ISD wide]. Last year, at this time, we were at 2,272, so we’re up quite a bit,” he noted.

Nichols moved on to mention two upcoming campus studies, conducted by third-parties, that will eventually be presented to the Board in an upcoming monthly meeting.

“We just finished up our Capacity Facility study, we had those guys on campus last week. They should be providing us some estimates on our capacity, as well as provide us some recommendations on a variety of things they found [around our campuses]. We are expecting to get this report back in December, and he will come and present it at our monthly meeting.”

“We have our upcoming Texas School Safety Center Intruder Audit, and we’ve gotten word that it will be conducted pretty soon,” he continued. “What that entails is an individual will notify us here [at the administration building] and they will go by each campus and check to see if all exterior doors are locked. Once they have conducted this audit, they will come back and have a report for us, 45 days after it takes place.”

Nichols concluded by discussing various construction projects around the Junior High and High School campuses, including work on the Junior High fieldhouse and the walkway to the baseball and softball complex between the High School and Intermediate School.

The Board of Trustees moved into discussion on updating some local policies and programs around the school district, which were reviewed and passed without objection by the Trustees.

No action was taken following a closed executive session taken by the Board of Trustees.

The invocation and pledge prior to the meeting were led by Canton Elementary students Hoyt Evans and Leah Berendzen.

The next monthly meeting for the Board of Trustees is scheduled for Oct. 17 at 6 p.m., in the Canton ISD Administration building.