STATE QUALIFIERS PICTURED ABOVE: On the far left, is the Best Mayor” Documentary Production Team: Joseph Garcia, Alexa Leal, Miriam Armas, Madison Prather, Romana Perez, Caleb Morton, Jeffrey Vargas and Giovanni Mosqueda. NOT PICTURED: Aylin Casas and Aryana Reyes Snakes animation video Ashley Trevino (middle) “He Will Continue to Serve” Production Team (right): Alexa Leal, Miriam Armas, Alieha Rodriguez, Kaelyn Vega, Isaiah Leven, Joseph Garcia, NOT PICTURED: Valentina Ayala. Photoa by L Migura. FULL STORY INSIDE!
It’s official: Lytle High School is an AWARD-WINNING video production program. With hundreds of films to compete against each year, students have had ten documentaries place in the TOP SIX in the State UIL Young Filmmakers competition, since its inception in 2014. And, in February 2023 and 2024, Lytle won back-to-back UIL State Championship honors. Lytle filmmakers will compete at the UIL Young Filmmakers State Competition again on February 26 in Austin.
Filing ends at 5:00 pm on February 14, 2025 at the City of Lytle office, 14916 Main St. Positions expiring May 1 are: Districts 1, 2 and 3 currently being held by Aldermen Aguirre (1), Hughes (2) and Emery (3). Filings so far for a place on the ballot are Richard Hughes for District 2 and David Emery for District 3, as of Tuesday morning, Feb. 4. The City of Lytle operates with a Mayor-Council form of government. The council consists of five Aldermen that each serve a single member district. The City Council’s primary duty is policy making. The council identifies the needs of the city’s residents and provides programs to meet the changing requirements of the community and measure the effectiveness of ongoing services in the city. See qualifications for becoming a Council member at lytletx.org. Currently serving are : Ruben Gonzalez-Mayor; Miguel Aguirre-Alderman, District 1; Richard Hughes-Alderman, District 2; David Emery-Alderman, District 3; Michael Rodriguez- Alderman, District 4; and Matthew Martinez- Alderman, District 5.
Nine more days to file for City of Devine council February 14 deadline The City of Devine will be calling for a mayoral and city alderman election to be held on Saturday, May 3, 2025. Positions currently held by Butch Cook, Mayor and Michael Hernandez (District 2) and Debbie Randall (District 5) are expiring. Filing so far are: Butch Cook for Mayor, Hal Lance, Jr. for District 5 and Michael Hernandez for District 2. Deadline to file for a position is Friday, February 14th by 5:00 p.m. at city hall. All voters can vote in the mayoral election. You have to live in the district you want to run for. And you must live in the district to vote on a district race.
Feb. 14 deadline to file for Devine ISD trustee election Devine ISD will be calling for a school board election for District 2 and the two At-Large positions to be held on Saturday, May 3, 2025. Positions currently held by Carl Brown (District 2), Renee Frieda (At-Large) and Chris Davis (At-Large) are expiring. So far only Chris Davis has filed for election, At-Large position, and Carl Brown (District 2). Deadline to file for a position is Friday, February 14th by 5:00 p.m. at the Superintendent’s Office.
Alvin L. Mann III, a junior at Devine High School, placed 3rd at the AG Mechanics Metal Welding Competition in Laredo, Texas on January 3rd. Pictured are his friend Robert Matthew Pequino, Alvin L. Mann III and Orlando Nava, instructor.
Devine High School FFA Advisors Adrianna Segura and Chad Saunders congratulate Harper Parson on his American FFA Degree.
Harper C. Parson, class of 2023 Devine High School Salutatorian is the first Devine FFA member in over a decade to earn the coveted American FFA Degree; Harper has set a new standard of excellence within his chapter and community obtaining the highest degree achievable in the National FFA Organization. The gold standard. The American FFA Degree shows an FFA member’s dedication to his or her chapter and state FFA association. It demonstrates the effort FFA members apply toward their supervised agricultural experience and the outstanding leadership abilities and community involvement they exhibited through their FFA career. American FFA Degree recipients show promise for the future and have gone above and beyond to achieve excellence. Harper is currently a member of Texas A&M University class of 2027. He is pursuing a Bachelors of Science degree in Animal Science with a minor in Agricultural Economics and Political Science with the ultimate goal of becoming a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. While attending college he competes with Fightin’ Texas Aggies Meat Judging Team ‘25 (FTAMJ ‘25), is a TAMU Animal Science Ambassador and was recently named the…
The One Act Play Cast and Crew all did a great job!
On Saturday, December 14 the Devine Middle School One Act Play cast and crew performed “The Great Pandemonium” by Pat Cook in Carrizo Springs for the District One Act Play contest competition. They brought home first place for the second year in a row, as well as a slew of other acting and crew awards. Best Actor- Nolan Beaty Honorable Mention Cast- Isabella Duron and Annie Dugosh All Star Cast- Dakota Nighswander, Madelynn Mitchell, Cole Maxwell, and Griffin Blouin Best Crew Member- Riley Hennessy Best Tech Crew
By Anton Riecher A reexamination of the controversial four-day school week proposal is anticipated for the Jan. 20 Devine ISD school board meeting, school board president Nancy Pepper announced during the board’s regular meeting Monday. “At that time we will consider all options and make a decision on how we will move forward,” Pepper said. “Please know that the board is committed to doing what is best for both students and staff as we deliberate on this important issue.” Pepper abstained from casting a tie-breaking vote at the school board’s Dec. 4 special session on the issue. “I chose to abstain because the board is currently divided on this issue with varying opinions about its potential benefits and challenges,” Pepper said Monday. “I felt it was important to strive for full board support before moving forward with such a significant decision.” Trustees Chris Davis, Carl Brown and Henry Moreno voted in support of the shorter school week with Davis offering the motion. Renee Frieda, Keri James and Alixana Buvinghausen opposed the measure. Nearly 800 school districts nationally have shifted to the shorter week, principally as a means of recruiting teachers, saving money and boosting student attendance. Research varies on whether the reduced week translates into academic progress for students. Speakers both pro and con took advantage of the public comments portion of the Monday night agenda to make their views known. Teacher Emily Sadler argued that faculty is “overwhelmed, overworked, over stressed and what feels like unappreciated.” “Teachers are going to school early, staying late, going to their classrooms on the weekends or taking work home,” Sadler said. “When teachers do this it takes time away from our own families because we’re taking care of other people’s children who we love just as much.” Moving to a shorter school week would help “relieve some stress,” she said. Teacher Melissa Gutierrez noted that 108 school districts in Texas have switched to the four-day schedule with another 15 districts adopting a hybrid schedule that utilizes the shorter schedule for at least a portion of the school year. “As of last August only one Texas school had made the transition back to a five-day week,” Gutierrez said. Teacher Rhonda Shelton told the board that districts adopting the four-day week report have reported improvements in morale among its educators. “Right now morale is low,” she said. “A reduction in teacher turnover is a critical benefit at a time when retaining quality eductors is more important than ever.” Teacher Kari Davis said she was also speaking as a parent with children attending Devine ISD. “I want to stay here as a teacher,” she said. “I want my kids to be proud of being here. We need to keep the good solid teachers. They have several places they can go in this close area that would give them a different workload with a four-day work week.” In other business, architect Bob Shelton updated the board on progress on capital improvement projects included in an $11.255 million bond issue approved by voters in 2023. “In early October we did our final design reviews with the staff members at each campus,” Shelton said. All construction bids for the various campuses are due by Jan. 16. “At that point we will know the true project costs,” Shelton said.
Devine Lion’s Club President Lewis Stroud and DHS Principal Juan Gonzalez with students of the month Logan Davis and Oakley Malone. The Devine Lion’s Club meet the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month at Triple C. Contact Lewis Stroud if you would like to join.
Devine High School students Oakley Malone and Logan Davis were honored as Students of the Month at a recent Devine Lions Club meeting. Both are seniors at DHS. Oakley Malone Oakley has participated and excelled in Devine’s athletic and band programs all four years. She started out being on the Varsity tennis team as a freshman, and has now officially been given the title of the girls captain for her senior year. Her sophomore year she moved up to Varsity and was a part of the starting five. Devine’s basketball program has been very successful and now since there are 7 seniors, we’re having a fund and goofy season, honoring our favorite guy, Coach J. For community involvement she recently was inducted into NHS, where she will serve community service hours. Outside of school, she owns her own business of permanent jewelry, which she started this past May and greatly enjoyed. “Although I haven’t decided what college I want to commit to, I have an idea of what I would like to do in my future. I’d like to major in communications and get a four year bachelor’s degree. Then, I want to get my future degree in Technical Writing, preferably within a medical or scientific study. In between my studies I would also like to further my business, whether it’s moving it to an online business or doing annual pop-ups,” said Malone She is the daughter of Megan Martinez. Logan Davis Logan is ranked number four in the senior class. He is a member of NHS, student council, Youth Alive and FFA. He has also been a student trainer for three years and head trainer for two of those. “I will be attending A&M University in the Fall of 2025, to study Kinesiology. After I graduate, I plan to become an Athletic Trainer and eventually go to PT school and open my own clinic,” Davis said. He is the son of Chris and Kari Davis.
Ms. Madison Pike is pictured with 8th graders Collier Paige and Urijah Thompson, whose project was to clean up Devine.
Devine eighth graders Collier Paige and Urijah Thompson are set on cleaning up Devine for their FCCLA project this year. On November 13th the duo held a trash clean-up for the FCCLA chapter at the road leading to our local Walmart. Paige stated, “This road always has trash along it and looks terrible. I thought it should be the first place we started with our project.” FCCLA members, advisor Linsey Outlaw and another parent volunteer helped to clean up four large bags of trash. Paige and Thompson next set out to teach Devine’s younger students about the importance of not littering and why recycling is important. On December 11th, the DMS students presented to 81 third and fourth graders in Ms. Pike’s Science class. The boys created a slideshow with facts about pollution and some effects that it has on our planet, the different types of pollution, and asked the younger students where they see this locally and beyond. Paige and Thompson reached out to Don’t Mess with Texas for help with their speech. They utilized educational materials on the site for this presentation. To get the third and fourth graders thinking about how they could help with this problem, the boys asked them to create posters about littering on the intermediate campus. These were put up around the school by Ms. Pike to remind all the students to clean up any litter they see and to keep Devine Intermediate looking beautiful!
The Devine ISD school board meeting tonight ended with a split vote 3 to 3 on the four-day work week. There were speakers both for and against the big move.
Chris Davis made a motion to enact a 4-day school week, and Carl Brown seconded the motion, with Henry Moreno in agreement, however board members Renee Frieda, Keri James, and Ali Buvinghausen advocated and voted against the big change. Board President Nancy Pepper abstained from casting the deciding vote at this time.
It is uncertain if the matter will be taken up again at a school board meeting later this month.
See more updates in next week’s Devine News, and subscribe to support third party coverage of important city, school, and county news at www.devinenewsmembers.com
A speaker takes the podium before the split vote.
Did you know you can get the newspaper mailed to your home every week and full print and digital access for only $36 a year in Medina County???!!
Devine Lion’s Club recognizes Students of the Month for November. Pictured are: Kellen Nixon, Juan Gonzales, student Tate Wisenbaker, Lewis Stroud, and student Savannah Parker, and Bill Herring.
DHS Student of the Month: Savannah Parker School and Community Involvement: My involvement in school and the community is a huge part of my life. I stay active by playing sports, which not only keeps me fit but also teaches me teamwork and discipline. My time in the FFA gave me a chance to develop my skills of leadership and learn more about agriculture, which is really important to me. I volunteer whenever I can, either helping out at events or participating in community service projects. These experiences have helped me build strong connections and make a positive impact within my community. Future Plans In the future I plan to take flight classes and acquire my private pilot’s license. Once I have my license, I aim to work for a company like UPS or Amazon, delivering packages. This career path excites me because it combines my passion for aviation with the opportunity to play a crucial role in logistics and delivery services. I’m looking forward to the adventure and responsibility that comes with being a pilot.
