Major pieces of Longview ISD's 2024 Bond program are now rising across the district while enrollment has moved above the 8,000-student figure used to build the 2026-27 budget.
The five-proposition, $456.2 million package was approved by voters in May 2024.
At the Sept. 28 regular meeting of the Longview ISD Board of Trustees, officials reported that all five major new-construction projects managed by PROCEDEO remained under construction, on schedule and under budget. The Career and Technical Education expansion had reached 39.47% completion, structural steel at the new multipurpose facility was about 40% complete, and additional renovation work continued across Longview High School.
PROCEDEO manages the district's five major new-build projects, while E4 oversees Longview High School and athletic renovations.
Enrollment reached 7,995 by the night of the meeting, just five students below the district's budget assumption. By Sept. 30, enrollment had surpassed 8,000. By Oct. 1, the district had reached 8,015 students, 15 above that benchmark.
The meeting also included measurable gains in family enrollment support, lower teacher turnover, more than $2 million in Teacher Incentive Allotment funding, several major Board actions and continued financial monitoring.
Bond projects reach major construction milestones
The most visible work is taking shape at Longview High School, where the CTE expansion and multipurpose facility are moving vertically at the same time.
Paul Miller, PROCEDEO Program Director, told trustees the CTE project had active work in every major area of the first and second floors, including brick, fire sprinklers, plumbing, electrical systems, HVAC, walls and above-ceiling work.
"There's some level of construction" in every area, Miller said, adding that the project was "moving along very well."
The CTE project was 39.47% complete at the time of the meeting.
Steel rises on multipurpose facility
Structural steel for the indoor practice fieldhouse was about 40% complete. PROCEDEO said the contractor was targeting completion of the fieldhouse structural frame by the end of October.
The adjoining instructional wing will include the Lobo Store, law and culinary spaces, and an on-site bank designed for hands-on financial-services training.
A material delay of about three weeks had affected the project, but Miller said those days were absorbed within the construction schedule rather than moving the overall completion date.
"All five projects are on schedule, and they all are under budget," Miller said.
Longview High School renovations progressing
Longview High School also continues to move through a multiyear renovation program. Major summer interior work included completion of the renovated dining hall, while restroom, classroom, library, theater, furniture and athletic-facility work continues in phases.
John Erickson, E4 program manager, said six sets of renovated restrooms were complete and open, with additional student and faculty restrooms under construction. Crews are opening completed restrooms before closing the next group so the work can continue with less disruption.
"It's a process, but it is moving forward," Erickson said.
Planning has started for next summer's second-floor classroom renovations and a furniture package replacing student and staff furniture that has not previously been updated. Upper- and lower-level library improvements also are planned.
The Little Theater is scheduled for improvements during Christmas break, including new seating and replacement carpet. A larger door and hardware package is being developed for a future phase. Seating improvements at Lobo Coliseum remain scheduled for February after basketball season.
Lobo Stadium design work 'kicks off'
E4 also showed trustees concept renderings for planned Lobo Stadium renovations. Erickson said the architects were approximately 65% to 70% through design of the visitor side and stadium interior at the time of the meeting. The home-side concession stand and press box had not yet entered the same level of design because the team wanted to incorporate the visitor-side scope and football-program requests before determining how much to change on the home side.
The concepts also contemplated replacing the current advertising-board arrangement with wall-mounted, backlit signage. District officials emphasized that the images shown were concept renderings rather than final construction documents.
Athletic improvements are moving at the same time. New ADA-compliant bleachers were delivered for soccer, soccer dugouts were rebuilt, and a new net and poles were installed on the north end of the field. At baseball, a covered bullpen structure on the first-base side is complete and will also provide additional batting-cage space, with a matching structure underway on the third-base side.
At the Lady Lobo Softball Complex, the athletic portion of the facility was usable while remaining fencing, irrigation, landscaping, inspections and site work continued. Trademark had committed to Oct. 2 for substantial completion of its remaining scope.
The administration later clarified that the softball project's total cost across all construction contracts was about $4.7 million, with about $3.5 million accounted for so far and $1.2 million remaining. Erickson said dividing the work between contractors avoided a substantially higher combined cost.
"The goal is to save Longview ISD money so that you can utilize those funds within the proposition on other needed renovations or updates," Erickson said.
E4 clarifies softball scope, schedule and cost
Ted Beard, Place 6 board member, asked whether earlier use of "substantially complete" meant the whole softball project should have been finished. Erickson explained that the project had two different parts with two different schedules. The athletic and field portion was usable. Trademark's separate site, fencing and building work was still underway. The Oct. 2 target applied to that remaining work, including inspections, fencing, irrigation, landscaping and other site work.
The district later clarified that softball players were given the option to begin using the new field in April, but chose to remain at the field they had been using rather than disrupt their routine and familiarity immediately before the playoffs.
Erickson also explained why the work had been split. A single combined bid came in much higher, so E4 separated the work into two contracts. That created more coordination for E4, but it avoided the higher combined bid and allowed each part to move on its own schedule.
The new north parking lot at Longview High School also is complete and striped. Permanent electrical service was still awaiting SWEPCO, while landscaping and final punch-list work continued. District staff and the City of Longview continue to study safer pedestrian routes across Airline Road, including options that could move students and visitors toward the existing skybridge.
City officials had raised concerns about relying on a standard crosswalk at the current intersection because of traffic conditions and the short pedestrian phase in the existing signal cycle. The district is continuing to evaluate a different crossing point or a route toward the future parking area near the natatorium and the existing skybridge. No final crossing plan has been selected.
Trustees also asked why some Bond 2024 safety-and-security work remains on the schedule through 2029. Erickson explained that the later dates are tied mainly to future renovations that cannot begin until new facilities open and existing space becomes available. Current campuses are not waiting until 2029 for core security work; E4 reported that camera, ballistic-film, fencing and gate upgrades already have been completed across the district.
Other major Bond 2024 projects advance
Construction also is moving on the district's new natatorium, Early Childhood Learning Center and Transportation Center.
At the natatorium, foundations have been placed in multiple areas, masonry walls are beginning to rise, and structural steel installation is expected later this fall.
At the Early Childhood Learning Center, concrete foundations had been placed for three of six building areas and approximately 85% of required paving was in place. The paving is needed before vertical construction can proceed because emergency vehicles must have access around the building.
At the Transportation Center, unsuitable soil has been removed and crews are preparing for additional grading, utilities and subsequent construction as permitting advances.
Miller said he was "very, very happy" with progress across the five projects.
Aquatic-center demolition, tennis courts remain sequenced
Trustees also asked when the existing aquatic center would be demolished and when covered tennis courts would be constructed. The district later clarified that the existing pool is planned for demolition after the new natatorium is operational.
The tennis and aquatic work is being coordinated with the Multipurpose Center and Natatorium site plan. The district later said the tennis project was in schematic design, with construction documents expected to take about six months.
Construction oversight adds monthly public reporting
The Board also received its first monthly construction change-order report under the district's updated local policy.
Samuel Kington, Chief of Facilities and Operations, said project buyouts have returned more than $20 million to the district as construction packages have come in below estimates or scopes have been reduced.
In this context, buyout savings means contract packages came in below the amounts budgeted for them.
"Change orders happen," Kington said. "This keeps the projects moving forward."
Kington said none of the five change orders presented to trustees increased the overall project budgets; the costs were handled within existing project or guaranteed-maximum-price contingencies. The new monthly report will show the prior month's change orders, contract amendments and project-budget adjustments so trustees and the public can follow changes as the work proceeds.
Enrollment tops 8,000 as district sharpens retention and demographic work
The Superintendent's Report centered on the district's demographic work with Population and Survey Analysts (PASA) and the decisions that should follow from it. PASA analyzes enrollment patterns and forecasts where student demand is likely to grow or decline. Longview ISD entered the Sept. 28 meeting just five students below the 8,000-student enrollment figure used to build the 2026-27 budget, then crossed that benchmark two days later.
The presentation had been prepared using a verified count of 7,973 students. By the night of the meeting, the live count was 7,995. Enrollment surpassed 8,000 by Sept. 30. By Oct. 1, it had reached 8,015.
Prosser frames demographic study around decisions, not a headcount
Matthew Prosser, Chief of Strategic Initiatives, framed the district's demographic work around a single question: What will Longview ISD do differently because of what it learns?
"The real question isn't demographics, it's decisions," Prosser said. "We're trying to understand who is here, who isn't, why families make the choices they make, and what that tells us about future demand."
Prosser organized the work as a decision sequence rather than a collection of enrollment statistics: retain current families first, understand why families leave, recover local families where feasible, then align staffing, programs and facilities with verified demand.
"Before we talk about growing enrollment, we have to stop losing enrollment we could have kept," Prosser said. "That doesn't mean every student who leaves is recoverable. Families move, circumstances change, people make choices. So we need to separate what we cannot control from what we can influence, then act on the latter."
That framework required the district to keep several measures separate instead of blending them into one enrollment number: verified enrollment, average daily attendance, prior-year student records still awaiting an outcome, applications awaiting review, incomplete returning-student registrations and PASA's forward-looking neighborhood and grade forecasts. Each answers a different question and requires a different district response.
Prosser also stressed that the study was not being used to validate a conclusion already chosen by the district.
"The study is not being built around a predetermined outcome," Prosser said. "The evidence comes first."
Longview ISD also is working with communications expert Veronica Sopher and data consultants DatienceIQ to connect enrollment forecasts with family choice, neighborhood trends, student mobility, program demand, campus capacity and the family's actual experience of trying to enroll in or remain with the district.
After Prosser laid out the framework, Veronica Sopher and Tiffanie Thomas-Rodgers joined him for trustees' questions. Thomas-Rodgers is PASA's Director of Operations. Sopher is the family-experience and communications consultant working with the project and has provided the district an Enrollment Experience Audit designed to place qualitative family feedback alongside the enrollment numbers.
Sopher told trustees that she and Thomas-Rodgers had worked on similar projects across Texas and wanted the Board's preliminary questions while the study was still developing, rather than waiting until the final report.
Trustees immediately pressed on one of the distinctions Prosser had emphasized: whether PASA could drill below districtwide totals into neighborhood and grade-level trends and distinguish families who physically left Longview from families who remained inside Longview ISD boundaries but chose another educational option. PASA confirmed that it could.
The exchange reinforced the central analytical point of Prosser's presentation. A declining cohort, a family moving to another city, an unresolved student record and a family remaining inside district boundaries while selecting another school may all initially appear as enrollment movement, but they do not mean the same thing and do not call for the same response.
Verify before assigning a cause
That distinction was especially important in the discussion of a Sept. 3 worklist containing 495 prior-year student records that still needed a verified outcome. Prosser cautioned against treating the list as 495 students permanently lost to Longview ISD. It could include students who moved, enrolled elsewhere, returned, had records corrected or still had an unresolved status.
Dr. Marla Sheppard, Superintendent, reinforced the point during the Board discussion.
"Our enrollment is not down by 495," Sheppard said. "If you look at our enrollment, it's actually higher at this time this year than it was at this time last year."
Prosser said the district's working rule should be to verify each student's outcome before assigning a reason for the movement.
"The discipline here is simple," he said. "Verify before we assign a cause."
He also rejected a simple binary reading of the worklist. A prior-year student who had not yet appeared in the current-year record could have moved, could have a records issue, could still be in process or could ultimately represent a school-choice decision. The status had to be established before the district could responsibly diagnose a cause.
That analytical discipline was borne out almost immediately in follow-up work. A broader relocation analysis used a 542-record no-show file and was able to resolve residential movement for 228 of those records. The 495- and 542-record figures came from different working files and should not be read as a 47-student increase. Of the 228 resolved cases, 179 were still living inside Longview ISD boundaries in August, including 157 at the address already on file and 22 at a new address inside the district. Thirty-nine had moved from inside the district boundary to another location, while another 10 were already living outside the boundary at baseline. The remaining 314 records were unresolved.
The follow-up analysis did not establish where every student was enrolled or why a family made a particular choice, which was precisely the distinction Prosser had told trustees to preserve. Location is not motive, and an address signal is not a final student record. The district is reconciling the 495- and 542-record populations and validating student status through authoritative records and direct follow-up before using those categories as final outcomes.
For Prosser, that is where the demographic study becomes strategically useful. A student who moved to another city is primarily a demographic fact. A student who still lives inside Longview ISD boundaries but chooses another school presents a different question involving family experience, program demand, customer service, school choice or another factor the district may be able to influence.
Registration backlog falls from 2,311 to 26
Prosser applied the same discipline to families who were actively trying to enroll.
In late July, the district reported 2,311 incomplete returning-student registrations. By Sept. 21, that count had fallen to 26. At the time of the Board presentation, another 55 applications were awaiting review. Prosser emphasized that the 55 applications and the 26 incomplete returning registrations were separate worklists, and neither group should simply be added to verified enrollment before the process was complete.
"If a family is trying to get to us, our process should help them finish, not test their endurance," Prosser said.
The district therefore plans to test enrollment exactly as a parent experiences it on a phone, step by step, in both English and Spanish, looking for unnecessary friction that can be removed. The approach connects PASA's quantitative forecasting to the qualitative family-experience work Sopher has been conducting with the district.
The district also now separately identifies approximately 150 pre-K early-learning students who previously appeared within East Texas Montessori Prep Academy enrollment. The new reporting structure gives leaders a clearer distinction between students physically enrolled in district classrooms and children served through daycare partnerships.
Enrollment and ADA remain separate but linked
Prosser also kept enrollment growth and school funding analytically separate. ADA, or average daily attendance, is the attendance measure used in state funding calculations and is different from total enrollment. Longview ISD built its budget around approximately 8,000 enrolled students and 7,300 students in ADA. Attendance was approximately 96.5% during the opening weeks, with ADA at about 7,268 at the time of the meeting.
"We need to be attacking enrollment, but we also need to be attacking ADA," Prosser said. "It's not an either-or. We need to improve our ADA and we need to improve our enrollment both at the same time."
The distinction matters because state funding depends not only on raw enrollment but also on attendance and student program weights, which can provide additional funding for students in certain programs or categories. District leaders cited factors such as economic disadvantage and emergent bilingual status.
Project moves from diagnosis toward decisions
The PASA work includes an Oct. 7 project checkpoint and a Nov. 16 working target for full-study findings. PASA is expected to return to the Board with the full demographic findings in November, and the two-year engagement will continue beyond that report.
Between those checkpoints, the district is working to reconcile student-status populations, validate records, add prior-campus and grade information where available and distinguish residential movement from educational choice. The intent is not simply to produce a more precise enrollment count, but to convert the evidence into decisions about family service, enrollment outreach, staffing, programs and long-range facility planning.
Prosser said PASA's role is to help answer three questions: where demand is going, why students are moving and what capacity the district actually needs. Longview ISD then owns the response.
"PASA tells us where demand is changing," Prosser said. "Our follow-up work helps explain why families are making different choices. Then we can begin testing what next: changes in service, outreach, staffing, programs, facilities."
The through-line of the Sept. 28 presentation was therefore not to prove a theory about enrollment decline. It was to separate movement, school choice, record cleanup, attendance and true retention loss well enough that Longview ISD can distinguish the things happening to the district from the things the district can change.
Board approves major contract, project-fee and academic-support actions
The Board approved the consent agenda 7-0. The consent items included minutes from the Aug. 24 regular meeting and public hearing and the Sept. 14 special academic meeting, Budget Amendment No. 1, the 2026-27 Student Code of Conduct, and Board Time Use Trackers for the Aug. 24 and Sept. 14 meetings.
Custodial agreement extended through 2032
Trustees voted 7-0 to renew Longview ISD's custodial-services agreement with SSC Services for Education for five years, extending the agreement from Sept. 1, 2027, through Aug. 31, 2032.
Kington said the district has had strong results with SSC, including responsive service, a stable leadership team and positive feedback from campus principals. SSC did not take its usual annual increase for 2026-27, which Kington said saved the district approximately $146,000 for the year. The five-year renewal includes a $500,000 partnership incentive and preserves a 90-day written cancellation option.
The contract allows an annual cost adjustment tied to the Consumer Price Index or Employment Cost Index and includes two additional one-year renewal options after the five-year period. A future renewal could carry another $250,000 partnership incentive, subject to mutual agreement and a later amendment.
The agreement also carries through the opening of more than 300,000 square feet of new district facilities. Early estimates indicate the additional space could require approximately seven to 10 additional custodial employees, depending on how the buildings are used.
SSC reported it was about 12 custodians short at the time of the meeting and was planning a job fair to recruit additional employees. Kington said the longer term gives the district continuity through the initial opening of the new facilities and a point to reassess once the expansion is fully operating.
Proposition A professional fees approved
Proposition A is the $237.7 million portion of Bond 2024 that includes Longview High School renovations and expansion, Career and Technical Education, safety upgrades and the Transportation Center.
The Board approved $500,000 in additional professional compensation associated with previously approved Proposition A scope additions by a 5-1-1 vote. The compensation summary assigned $253,800 to amended DLR Group and PROCEDEO compensation for geothermal and shared-parking work, $77,000 to owner's contingency, and $169,200 to amended DLR Group and PROCEDEO compensation for the Transportation Center.
Dr. Samir Germanwala, Lateefah Pruitt, Michael Tubb, Crista Black and Brett Miller voted yes. Dr. Troy Simmons voted no, and Ted Beard abstained.
The action did not add another $2 million to the Transportation Center or another $3 million to the geothermal/shared-parking scope. Those construction additions had already been approved in earlier actions. The Sept. 28 action addressed design, program-management, materials-testing and related professional costs tied to that previously approved work.
The district later clarified that the $2 million Transportation Center transfer was approved in December 2025 and the $3 million geothermal/shared-parking addition in February 2026. The Transportation Center money came from savings in the Longview High School renovation budget within Proposition A.
Trustees also asked about Terracon, one of the third-party firms included in the project's soft costs. Soft costs are expenses beyond physical construction, including design, program management and materials testing. Terracon performs testing on items such as soil, concrete and reinforcing steel and provides reports as construction proceeds.
Sheppard said the additional Transportation Center construction funding allowed the district to increase square footage and improve materials, add a covered walkway, expand parking and make other improvements intended to create a more functional and durable facility.
"We came with the recommendation," Sheppard said, "so that we could build something that accurately represents our value for those bus drivers."
'Super Saturday' pay approved
Trustees also voted 7-0 to approve supplemental pay for the 2026-27 Super Saturday Academy.
The targeted Saturday intervention program will serve students at Bailey, Ned E. Williams, Bramlette, Ware, Forest Park, Foster and Judson. TIA-designated teachers will receive $50 per hour and administrators $75 per hour. Board materials listed nine academy dates from September through December, with sessions scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon.
District leaders said the program is designed to address learning gaps, strengthen prerequisite skills and accelerate progress toward grade-level standards and state assessment readiness.
The exact 2026-27 program cost was not stated at the meeting. District leaders said Saturday school funds were included in the original budget, although the amount had been reduced because fewer campuses were expected to participate. The final cost will depend on approved dates, staffing, transportation and student participation. Sheppard said the district spent roughly $80,000 to $90,000 over the prior year and that the new $50 hourly TIA-teacher rate is lower than the prior $75 rate.
The district later clarified that Saturday Academy was not listed in the 2025-26 School Improvement Plans because the program was not used that year. It will be included in the 2026-27 School Improvement Plans for the participating schools.
Comms report links outreach to enrollment, customer service and family access
The Comms team's quarterly report focused less on publicity volume and more on what changed for families, staff and the community.
Family-facing work showed measurable results. From May 1 through Sept. 21, the department recorded 110,818 successful registration-related sends across email, text message and automated voice channels. Those are message counts, not unique families, and the registration improvement reflected joint work by families, campuses, Enrollment staff and Communications.
The result was the drop from 2,311 incomplete returning registrations in late July to 26 by Sept. 21. Longtime enrollment staff member Dolly Soule said, "In all my years here at Longview ISD, I have never seen less than 100 incomplete returning student registrations."
"We're at 26," she said. "Way to go, team!"
Kacy Swaim, Community Outreach Coordinator, said the same strategy extends beyond registration.
"We brought our community together for our first community pep rally, and we have equipped staff with practical customer service tools," Swaim said. "Plus, we made our campus websites more helpful for families choosing a school with clear information about programs, student support and enrollment so parents can see what makes each campus different."
Longview ISD also appeared at No. 9 in Greg Turchetta's roundup of enrollment website experiences among Apptegy clients. The recognition highlighted the district's customer-service work and homepage as making a strong case for families considering Longview ISD.
The district also expanded customer-service training from campus testing to districtwide implementation and used a task-tracking system to make follow-through more visible. At an Aug. 27 snapshot, 265 of 280 logged tasks had been completed, a 94.64% completion rate at that point.
Elizabeth Ross, Director of Community Relations, has led much of the department's community-facing event and partnership work, including the first community pep rally and preparations for State of the District.
"Join students, educators, business leaders and community partners for a luncheon celebrating progress, sharing what is ahead and strengthening the partnerships that move Longview forward!" Ross said.
The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Infinity Event Center. The quarterly update also previewed October recognition of the employees whose work supports students and families across the district.
Dustin Taylor, Communications Specialist, has continued strengthening the district's website and public-information infrastructure, including campus information, financial-transparency materials, Bond 2024 updates and other pages designed to make information easier to find.
Francisco Rojas, Public Information Officer and Family Engagement Coordinator, produced the Communications quarterly video and has continued expanding the district's visual storytelling and family-engagement work.
"Video gives families a chance to see what is happening, not just read about it," Rojas said. "When people can see the students, staff and real work behind a district priority, it becomes easier to understand and easier to connect with."
That approach also has carried into Elevate 2030, Longview ISD's five-year strategic plan, and other public-facing storytelling around district priorities.
The team also continued the Longview Forever campaign, which sold 492 shirts and generated more than $4,100 in profit, and brought back new SchoolCEO resources on using artificial intelligence to better understand community feedback. Communications also moved forward with expanded Apptegy tools that include AI-assisted alternative text, PDF-to-webpage conversion and ADA 2.2 accessibility support.
HR reports four vacancies, lower turnover and expanded pipeline
Longview ISD began the 2026-27 school year with four staff vacancies while reporting lower teacher turnover and continued growth in programs designed to recruit, retain and develop employees.
Shalona McCray, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, said the district employs approximately 1,350 people across campuses and departments. Because 35 employees serve in more than one role, the district counted 1,385 filled assignments.
HR processed 250 prospective new employees during the hiring cycle, with 224 ultimately becoming Longview ISD employees.
"We are doing a fantastic job of retaining our employees," McCray told trustees.
Teacher turnover for 2025-26 was 15.4%, down from 16.9% the previous year and below the 18.8% state comparison presented during the report.
The report listed 161 teachers as uncertified, excluding Teacher Apprentice Program participants. McCray stressed that the number did not mean those employees lacked a route toward certification.
"Just because you see 161 uncertified does not mean that they're not in a certification program," McCray said. "All 161 of these uncertified teachers have a pathway."
That group included 65 teachers working under emergency permits while completing certification requirements.
An emergency permit can allow an educator to work while completing state certification requirements.
Teacher incentives exceed $2 million
The Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) is state-funded, while Longview ISD's LIFT program is a local performance incentive.
The district reported more than $2 million in Teacher Incentive Allotment funding for 140 designated teachers during 2025-26. HR noted that the comparison shown in the report represented approximately $243,000 less funding and 29 fewer designated teachers than the earlier comparison, and said staff were reviewing what drove the change and the district's designation parameters.
HR leaders said the two programs can create annual earning opportunities approaching $90,000 to $100,000 for qualifying educators. The report also showed more than $3.1 million in LIFT awards to 1,171 district employees for distinctions and growth. The incentive update noted 52 campus and district distinctions in the earlier results compared with 42 in the current results.
The district also highlighted its certification test-preparation program, including three weekend sessions covering core subjects, English language arts and reading, math and science, along with structured mentoring and coaching for beginning educators.
Teacher Apprentice Program grows Longview's own educators
The Teacher Apprentice Program remains one of Longview ISD's primary grow-your-own strategies.
The program partners the district with Indiana Wesleyan University and Teachworthy to help participants earn a college degree and teacher certification while receiving advising and mentoring support.
Since the program began in 2022-23, more than 46 employees have participated across five cohorts. Eleven have graduated, another 24 are progressing through the program, and four new teacher apprentices began the 2026-27 cohort.
One graduate entered the program after graduating from Longview High School in 2022, completed his college degree and has returned to the district as a classroom teacher at East Texas Montessori Prep Academy. Several TAP graduates attending the meeting were recognized during the presentation and joined trustees for a photo.
HR generally seeks five to seven new apprentices each year.
Dr. Ticha Chikuni, Director of Employee Relations, said the district's goal is not simply to complete onboarding paperwork but to make new employees feel connected to the schools and community they serve.
"We want this to be a place where you take pride in coming to work every day," Chikuni said.
The department also highlighted university partnerships, in-person and virtual hiring events, new-employee orientation, community partners and employee-support efforts designed to strengthen recruitment and retention. HR also pointed to upcoming recruitment through the Texas Workforce Commission and other regional and university job fairs.
HR said new-employee orientation included sponsored meals and a community partner fair with about 20 organizations offering information on banking, insurance, child care, colleges and other local resources. Department leaders said those partnerships reduced district costs while helping new employees feel connected to Longview.
The report also highlighted retirement recognition, first-day follow-up with new hires and other employee-wellness efforts intended to retain staff after recruitment. As one example, HR highlighted Longview High School nurse Tanya Harris, a Longview High graduate and former band member who returned to serve students after a career change from banking to nursing. Staff and baby spotlights, including new Longview ISD baby onesies, were presented as another piece of the department's culture and community-connection work. HR also recognized principals who opened the year fully staffed while noting the district began school with only four vacancies overall.
Financial report shows strong attendance and continued monitoring
The July 2026 financial statements and accompanying enrollment update showed attendance at approximately 96.5% and ADA at 7,268 against the district's 7,300 ADA budget assumption.
The general operating report showed approximately $671,580 in year-to-date revenue over expenditures and other uses. District cash and investments totaled more than $68 million, including about $5.2 million in bank cash, more than $32 million in money-market accounts and more than $30 million in certificates of deposit.
The Interest & Sinking Fund, which is used for bond-debt payments and is separate from the district's operating budget, showed approximately $7.2 million in revenue over expenditures at that point in the reporting cycle, with the August bond payment still to be posted. Dr. Wayne Guidry, Chief Financial Officer, also noted that the state's payment schedule brings a large share of state revenue earlier in the year, allowing the district to invest cash that will be needed later in the spring.
Because the statements cover only part of the fiscal year, those balances are timing snapshots rather than year-end results.
The Child Nutrition report showed a year-to-date deficit of approximately $63,761 with one month remaining in the reporting cycle. Guidry described the amount as small in the context of the program and noted that child-nutrition funds also have limits on how large a fund balance the district may carry.
Guidry said the district uses the first six weeks, October snapshot data and subsequent six-week checkpoints to adjust state-revenue assumptions as enrollment, ADA and student program weights become clearer. He pointed to the prior fall, when the district reduced budgeted state revenue by approximately $513,000 after monitoring those factors. He noted that some data used to determine student funding weights was still being completed, making the October snapshot another important checkpoint.
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