With summer school in full swing and campus improvements under way, Lometa Independent School District has had a busy June. During last week’s meeting of the Lometa ISD Board of Trustees, members were apprised of various activities by school administrators.

Superintendent David Rice informed the board of last week’s meeting with members of the newly realigned spring meet district.

The realignment placed Lometa back in Region IV and into District 28, which covers an expansive area. Included in the district with Lometa are Austin School for the Blind, Buckholts, Calvert, College Station Harmony Science, Dime Box, Evant, Fayetteville, North Zulch, Oglesby, Richards, Round Top- Carmine and Star.

Rice said the new district’s extreme distance between schools poses a difficult situation for administrators and UIL coordinators as they attempt to organize district competitions in a central location. With Rockdale -- two and a half hours from Lometa -- as the District 28 midpoint, finding a host school for district is no easy feat.

During the meeting it was agreed that Lometa would host the North Zone and district competitions for One-Act Play, while the writing events will be handled by zone prior to the district meet. Blinn College will play host to the district meet, with students returning there for regional competition two weeks later.

“This is quite a large district,” Rice said. “Next spring, there will be some travel involved, and we will have to send the kids to Brenham the night before for UIL district.”

The superintendent added that district track and cross country meets likely will take place at Giddings or Round Top-Carmine. The North Zone’s junior high track meet will be in Temple.

In other business, the board learned that grant funding will enable the school to remodel its toilet facilities, equipping them with water conserving equipment. A Smart Grant will allow for the installation of energy-efficient ballasts and bulbs.

Trustees also learned the school district had a 100 percent pass rate for employee drug testing.

In reviewing a report from the School Health Advisory Committee, the committee recommended the school cafeteria improve nutrition by serving fewer pre-cooked products in student meals. Also recommended was that the school adopt a curriculum on sex education and birth control that includes parents in its teaching.

In his curriculum report, director Rob Moore told trustees that summer school is in session, and the after school program is in operation as well. The school recently took 60 students to the Goldthwaite pool for a swim trip. Another outing is planned later this month.

This year’s after-school program also includes a golf session, he said. “There are a lot of good things going on with the program this summer,” said Moore.

He also addressed the district’s TAKS scores. While Lometa’s reading and writing scores were good, administrators and teachers are concerned about math scores.

“Our math scores are a significant concern,” Moore said. “We’re pretty strong with the reading, writing and so forth coming up about 10 points over last year.

“We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re getting there.”

Moore said new teaching strategies and curriculum will be incorporated into the schools to help improve math and science scores.

Special Programs administrator Jamie Smart informed the board that special education summer school was set to begin this week and that two older buses were to be sold at auction.

And in final matters, the investment report showed a $1.3 million fund balance for the Lometa ISD.