Kline Whitis Elementary’s Behavior Intervention Classroom program came under scrutiny Monday night when several parents told trustees of the Lampasas Independent School District they were not happy their children are being subjected to some of the inappropriate behaviors of BIC students.

Superintendent Randy Hoyer presented several options for trustees to choose, but in the end he recommended staying the course and keeping the program at Kline Whitis, due to a decline in the number of students and the cost to hire additional teachers if BIC students were divided among the three elementary campuses.

Hoyer said that with some adjustments -- hiring an assistant principal at Kline Whitis, additional staff training and tightening up a “leveling” system that discourages bad behavior -- he believes the program could continue to thrive at Kline Whitis.

This year, BIC had five children on campus, and next year it is projected three students will be integrated into Kline Whitis classrooms.

Trustee Dan Claussen said if teachers are better trained and more able to spot potential unwanted behavior, it could stop some of the students’ problems before they start.

In other business, trustees discussed at length possible changes to the class grade-point average and ranking system for dual-credit courses.

Currently, students taking either Advanced Placement or pre-AP classes have their grades “weighted” to count more toward the overall GPA. Dualcredit (college-level courses taken for high school and college credit) courses are not weighted, and they do not add to the students’ GPA.

“Do we need to include dualcredit classes in GPAs, and if we do, how much weight do we give them?” asked Hoyer, who sought board input.

A policy change would impact incoming eighth-graders, the superintendent said, but trustees need to look at the multiple ways a change could affect all students, he said.

“We have a strong AP program, and we want to maintain the integrity of that,” said Hoyer. “There are some concerns that if we start weighting dual-credit, students may not take the AP courses.

“But the flip side is these are college courses, and should they not be weighted equally?”

James Briggs, president of the LISD board, said students should be encouraged to take as many college courses as they can handle while in high school.

“Dual-credit ought to be weighted, but I’m just not sure how much,” he said. “College is expensive, and anything we can do to get some of that out of the way will help students and their families.”

Lampasas High School Principal Mark Kehoe said to earn a higher GPA and to compete for the top rankings, students must take AP and pre-AP courses.

“There are a lot of things to consider,” Kehoe said. “It will be tough not to weight them the same, but if you do that, you are going to be faced with what it’s going to do to your AP program.”

Briggs said college courses are more rigorous than regular high school courses, “and the students deserve something for that.”

Said the superintendent: “When you have a very strong AP program, and they track that through middle school and high school where people are trained, and they teach it with rigor the way AP should be taught, your truly top students will take the AP path.”

Trustees will consider the issue further at an upcoming board meeting.

Also Monday, board members terminated the LISD’s contract with the financial services firm First Southwest and agreed to contract with Specialized Public Finance, a company that deals specifically with maximizing state funding for school districts.

SPF is the fourth-ranked financial advisory firm in the state, said Shane Jones, LISD director of finance.

In his monthly report, Hoyer noted the district finished its year with 17 more students -- 3,293 -- than at the end of school in 2009, and average daily attendance was up to just over 96 percent. “Those are two positives that will affect our funding,” he said. “We want enrollment to continue to grow.”

Nelda Fortune Crawford, who attended her final board meeting before retiring as assistant superintendent for curriculum, shared preliminary TAKS results. Though the final results won’t be released until the end of July, Mrs. Crawford noted that LISD has improved its scores.

“I am proud of the staff with the gains we have made,” she said. “We still have a lot of work to be done.

“With opening new campuses and changes in administration, we have a lot going on. I look forward to some more positive changes coming with a new curriculum specialist and instructional technologist. I am excited about our academic future.”

In final matters, trustees hired Hanna Springs Elementary counselor Lindsay Neely as assistant principal at that campus for a two-year contract through the 2011-2012 school year.

New hires given a one-year contract include Wesley Graham III, assistant principal for Kline Whitis Elementary; Sarah Keys, counselor at Taylor Creek Elementary; Jenny Bowden and Tracy Russ, teachers/coaches, Lampasas Middle School; and Russell Erwin, teacher/coach for LHS.

The resignation of Andrea Conley, a high school science teacher and coach, was accepted.