Celebrating 126 Years of Serving the communities of Devine, Natalia, Lytle, Bigfoot, and Moore in Medina, Frio, and Atascosa Counties
The Natalia Mustang Band spent Memorial Day remembering the sacrifices made for our country as many Natalia residents watched band members march down Constitution Avenue in Washington DC. Our Mustang Band represented Natalia with such pride. They also wore ribbons to show our deepest support for all of those in Uvalde.
Natalia Police Chief Valerie Naff said one student has been charged with Terroristic Threat in connection to the events that unfolded in Natalia last Friday.
“A junior high student was charged with Terroristic Threat, which is a 3rd degree felony. It’s a very serious offense,” Chief Naff said. “There was never a weapon on campus, but we have to take these threats very seriously.”
“If you ever see or hear anything, please report it directly to the school or to police, rather than posting it online or texting your friends. Not coming directly to the school or police leads to a serious delay in handling the matter.”
Superintendent Harry Piles stated, “The recent tragedy in Uvalde has reminded us of the importance of safety and security in our schools. We want to assure our families that our district has an updated emergency operations plan.
“There were rumors and concerns brought to the district’s attention that have been investigated by the district and law enforcement, and are being resolved. There was no imminent danger to the students or the staff, as the student making the comments was never on campus. I know that informing our community is essential; however, we must deal with the concern first, and then ensure that all the facts are correct instead of sharing inaccurate information too quickly. I will always strive to find a balance between the two.
“As a parent, I also understand your concern and worry for your children; with that being said, the district has listened to the community’s concerns, and to put our community at ease, the district has decided to declare today (May 27, 2022) as the last day of the 2021-2022 school year.”
Campus year-end events have been adjusted and rescheduled. Graduation will continue as scheduled.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022- Elementary Awards & Kinder Commencement in the High School Gym 5:30 PM
Wednesday, June 1, 2022- High School Awards for Seniors in the High School Gym 6:00 PM
Thursday, June 2, 2022- JH Awards in the High School Gym
6th grade @ 5:00 PM
7th grade @ 6:00 PM
8th grade @ 7:30 PM
Friday, June 3, 2022- High School Graduation Practice on the Mustang Stadium10:00 AM
Saturday, June 4, 2022- Graduation Commencement at the Mustang Stadium 8:00 PM
The district reminds citizens and students, “IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.”
There is an Anonymous Alerts line found on the district website.
By Anton Riecher
An estimated pay increase somewhere between $172,216 and $255,349 for Devine ISD school teachers is recommended in a Texas Association of School Boards pay system review presented to the Devine school board May 16. No action was taken at the meeting.
Keith McLemore, human resources and compensation consultant for the Texas Association of School Boards told trustees that nearly 60 percent of school district in the state participated in the review, including nearly 90 percent of the state’s largest districts.
“The good news is you all are in good shape,” McLemore said. “The market is moving very quickly right now.”
Two separate models aimed at keeping Devine ISD competitive in the hiring of teachers, administrators, clerical and auxiliary personnel called for an estimated total increase above current costs of between $371,516 (2.8 percent) and $501,231 (3.8 percent). The increase includes both a general salary increase and salary adjustments to bring various job descriptions in line with other competing districts.
“Once we get done matching your jobs and getting the market data together we realign your pay structures,” McLemore said. “If there aren’t any pay structures in place you’re building from scratch.”
For administrators, the suggested total increase ranged from $71,132 to $100,579, including salary adjustments. Recommendations for clerical employees ranged from $79,419 to $87,278. Salary increases for auxiliary help ranged from $48,749 to $58,025.
Pay system objectives include establishing competitive salaries for new and experienced employees to aid in recruitment, he said. It also helps retain employees by preventing overpayment or underpayment based on job value.
Strategies in developing pay system control involve assessing job value accurately, keeping pay ranges competitive, controlling the pay spread between job incumbents, accelerate employees to market pay and budget sufficiently for pay increases, he said.
Of four sets of recommendations included in the study, the leading recommendation urged implementation of pay structure adjustments to align with market value, including strong starting salaries and salary midpoints aligned with the market place.
The review also recommended a general pay increase of two to three percent for all job groups to maintain the district’s market position. For teachers, a general pay increase should be calculated as a percentage of market median salary.
For other pay groups, GPI should be calculated as a percentage of an employee’s pay grade midpoint, McLemore said.
The review further recommends that the district provide salary adjustments to address market differences and maintain equity. To do that, salaries should be at least one percent above minimum with targeted pay equity and scale adjustments included.
Finally, the review recommends increasing stipends for hard-to-fill teaching assignments, such as:
• Math/Science: $500 increase times 12 teachers totaling $16,000.
• Special Education: $400 increase times eight teachers totaling $3,200.
• Life Skills: $1,500 increase times six teachers totaling $9,000.
• Bilingual Teachers: $400 increase (number needed varies).
For purposes of the review, Devine ISD was compared to 13 other districts – Charlotte, Dilly, Edgewood, Hondo, Lytle, Medina Valley, Natalia, Pearsall, Pleasanton, Poteet, Somerset and Southside. Selection was based on similarities in market value and district goals, the review states.
After McLemore’s presentation, Board President Nancy Pepper stated that he had given them a lot to think about, and the board moved onto the next agenda item.
By Anton Riecher
Many of the new requirements for accelerated instruction approved by the Texas Legislature in 2021 caused less difficulty for the Devine ISD than other school districts, high school assistant principal Steve Anderson told the Devine school board May 16.
“House Bill 4545 caught everybody by surprise but it didn’t affect us as whole lot because we’ve done a lot of this anyway,” Anderson said.
The school board agenda included an annual public hearing on the high school’s accelerated instruction program.
HB 4545, effective as of June 2021, established new requirements for accelerated instruction for students who fail to pass the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). Any student who chooses to retake a required course is entitled to accelerated instruction as required by the new legislation.
“They kind of made it mandatory to do some acceleration for the kiddos that didn’t pass the STAAR test,” Anderson said.
At Devine High School, students are eligible for dual credit programs in which an eligible high school student enrolls in college courses and receives credit from both the college and high school. Dual credit courses for both academic and technical courses may be taught on the high school campus by an approved instructor.
“There are eleventh and twelfth graders that get the 12 hours of English, six hours of U.S. history, then government and economics that adds up to 24 hours,” Anderson said.
The district also offers College Board Advance Placement Program (AP) examinations for topics such as biology, world history and others. One major advance for the local school district is Devine High School is now a testing center for academic, career and technical education courses.
“It used to be a big headache organizing a trip to take kids to the testing center,” Anderson said. “We can actually do that here now.”
However, changes forced by HB 4545 did impact the district negatively in one specialized subject – welding.
“We don’t have dual credit for welding anymore,” Anderson said. “The college board came out with a new rule or law that basically said that all ag teachers that taught welding couldn’t do it anymore unless they had a master’s degree.”
Otherwise, the district met most of the new requirements under HB 4545, he said.
“If you basically fail the STAAR EOC (end-of-course) test then that summer or next year you’ve got to get 30 hours of acceleration for mediation, basically,” Anderson said. “We’re kind of already doing that for the most part so it wasn’t hard for us to implement.”
For example, at high school ninth graders are tested in English, biology and algebra, he said. During sophomore year the student take English II and, during the junior year, U.S. history.
“So they’ve got five tests and they have to pass those to graduate for the most part,” Anderson said. “There are some exceptions but if they fail any of those classes they’ve got to get 30 hours of mediation, which was hard last year because HB 4545 caught everybody by surprise.”
Unfortunately, English tends to be the subjects students struggle with the most, both statewide and in Devine, he said. Developing a rotation of special classes and labs to prepare students for retesting in English and the other various subjects is difficult to manage.
New arrivals at high school also have their problems qualifying under HB 4545, Anderson said.
“In the eighth grade they take four STAAR tests – science, social studies, math and reading,” he said. “We had 60 kids that came to us that failed at least one of those subjects.”
Statewide, high schools also report a high number of STAAR failures for incoming students, due largely to COVID,” Anderson said.
“In Devine, we probably had 15 of those kids fail all the tests and maybe another 15 who only failed one,” he said. “We had to find a way to remediate those kids.”
The district created five STAAR labs depending mainly on computer programs with teachers monitoring their work, he said. Failure to pass any of the STAAR testing required 30 hours of accelerated remediation.
“Basically, to get 30 hours done it takes about nine weeks based on 45-minute class periods,” Anderson said. “The state made it difficult. If you fail four subjects you are going to be in a STAAR lab all year long.”
Options for summer school classes are also in the works, he said.
By Anton Riecher
The Devine School District Board of Trustees voted May 16 to authorize Superintendent Todd Grandjean to hire professional staff as needed during the summer.
A motion by Chris Davis, seconded by Ali Buvinghausen, came after a closed executive session to discuss personnel. Grandjean has earlier mentioned during his monthly report to the board that the interview process was underway for new principals at the elementary and intermediate schools.
Interviews with the candidates for principal were scheduled for May 18, Grandjean told the board.
“We are going to ask for hiring responsibilities tonight like we normally do in the summer,” he said. “We would have that start tomorrow and then finish up at our August board meeting.”
However, Grandjean said he had no plans to hire a new athletic director on his own authority.
“We are not going to hire the new AD on my own,” he said.
Several unanticipated job vacancies have been posited by the district in addition to early retirement resignations that were expected, Grandjean said.
“I’ll give a full report when we go into executive session,” he said.
In further action following the executive session, the trustees voted to change professional contracts entered into by the district to one-year terms as recommended by Grandjean. Again, Davis’ motion to approve the proposal was seconded by Buvinghausen.
Grandjean reported that the district is continuing to meet with the Devine Fire Department regarding the development of a fire and EMS training academy that would prepare students to obtain their certification as emergency responders from the Texas Commission on Fire Protection.
To earn a certificate, responders must undergo an approved basic fire suppression program, pass an exam and earn accompanying emergency medical qualifications.
“We talked about that a little bit in our budget workshop,” Grandjean said. “We have a draft master schedule ready at the high school. All the kiddos are ready to fit into the slots if we can get it moved forward.”
Devine HS student would concentrate on firefighting in their junior year and move on to studying to be emergency medical technicians (EMT) in their senior year. Plans call for the academy to start this fall with the new 2022-23 school year.
“Our current talks involve the complexities of funding as soon as we get some clear options,” Grandjean said.
Grandjean reported that a meeting of the board of trustee’s strategic planning committee is anticipated in the near future. The committee consists primarily of teachers and community members involved in accessing a comprehensive, long-range facilities plan for the district.
“We are putting our needs into a guide that we can use to continue to the next step,” Grandjean said.
Action by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality remains pending on the district’s application for funding to cover replacement of four school buses. TCEQ earlier authorized $48,000 towards replacement of a 2006 school bus still in use, he said.
Nancy Saathoff with the Devine Ex-Student /Teacher Association reported to the school board on plans for the high school homecoming festivities Oct. 7 and 8. Beside the Friday night football game, the association plans to display its archive collection tracing the history of Devine ISD back to the 1890s.
The association also plans to honor the Devine High School graduating class of 1972 on its 50th anniversary, she said.
“Our annual homecoming information pages and membership forms will be mailed this week to hopefully build up our membership base,” Saathoff said.
This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the Dexta Student/Teachers Association, she said.
“We have a long tradition of serving and supporting our alumni as well as giving annual scholarships for graduated seniors at DHS,” Saathoff said. “All of our funds are raised from the $10 annual dues and $100 lifetime memberships as well as through memorial and honor donations from our generous alumni.”
See updates from latest meeting in article on new hires.
The Devine ISD School Board hired Michael Gomez as the new intermediate school principal, and Magdalena Vielma Strickland as the new Elementary principal at a special meeting on press day, Tuesday, May 24.
Gomez is a 2002 graduate of Devine HS. Taught seven years at Harlandale ISD in San Antonio, and spent last three in Lytle ISD where he was assistant principal at Lytle High School.
“I’m really humbled and excited to lead the intermediate school,” Gomez said.
Gomez earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Texas A&M Kingsville and masters in educational leadership from University of North Texas.
Strickland graduated from Texas A&M University in Kingsville, TX, in 1993 with a bachelor of science in range and wildlife management. She holds a teacher certification in secondary biology, also from Texas A&M – Kingsville.
She also holds a master’s in education with an emphasis on urban learning from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. She also received a master’s in education management from the University of Houston at Clear Lake and a doctorate in education with a superintendent certification from the University of Houston.
Strickland presently teaches at Ninfa Laurenzo & DeZavala Elementary in Houston. She has taught in that school district since 2005. Strickland earlier taught science and math at McIlvaigh Middle School in Tacoma. Principal Strickland was not at the school board meeting and could not be reached for a comment as of press time.
By Anton Riecher
and Kayleen Holder
By Stella Contreras
Devine High School Seniors received $92,700 in scholarships at the ceremony held Sunday May 15, 2022. Following the ceremony many students, staff and family stayed for the traditional Baccalaureate Service given by the First Baptist Church honoring the graduates.
Scholarship Recipients were:
Darian Alvarez- Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Dr & Mrs Robert Francis Gossett Memorial Scholarship
Peyton Carr-Jeremy Freeburn Memorial Scholarship; Jacob Benavides Memorial Scholarship; Rosalee Rogers McLure Memorial Scholarship; John Wesley Ward, Jr Memorial Scholarship; Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship
Xavier Contreras- Travis Wade
Spielman Memorial Scholarship; Don Sessions Memorial Scholarship; Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Devine Youth Sports Scholarship; First Baptist Church Devine Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship
Madison Crabtree- Herring & Selma Blatz Memorial Scholarship Administered by First Baptist Church; Devine Chamber of Commerce Scholarship
Ashlyn Crossland- Carolyn Hopkins Memorial Scholarship Administered by First Baptist Church; American Momentum Bank Scholarship
Brooklyn Crossland- Herring & Selma Blatz Memorial Scholarship Administered by First Baptist Church ; American Momentum Bank Scholarship
Sage Cruz- Will to Win Scholarship
Jacob Delaney- Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Devine Ministerial Fellowship Scholarship
Hayden Dubose- Will to Win Scholarship
Kennedy Duncan- Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; American Momentum Bank Scholarship; Tommy Groesbeck Memorial Scholarship; Kelly Culbreath Houston Memorial Scholarship;
Cameron English- Alyssa Ramirez Memorial Scholarship; Doris and Ray Conrad/Mulholand Memorial Scholarship
Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship
Marina Esch- Herring & Selma Blatz Memorial Scholarship Administered by First Baptist Church
Angel Espinosa- Aaron Anthony Benavidez Memorial Athletic Scholarship; Marvin Gustafson Memorial Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship
Jared Fernandez Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship ; Bain Memorial Scholarship
Corinne Fowler- Martin Family Scholarship; Devine Ex Student/Teacher Angilee Griffin Heyen Memorial Scholarship; First Baptist Church Devine Scholarship; Medina County Farm Bureau Scholarship; Devine Current Events Scholarship
Yessika Garza- DJ Carlson Memorial Scholarship; Rosalee Rogers McLure Memorial Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship
Aleyna Gerlach- Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Martin Family Scholarship; Bain Memorial Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship
Kelli Geyer- Security State Bank Scholarship; Devine Area Thrift Store Scholarship; Karen Howard Muennink Memorial FCCLA Scholarship; McAnelly Educational Scholarship; Retired Teachers Association Scholarship; Robbie Robertson Memorial Scholarship Administered by First Baptist Church; G.D & Ruby Whitfield Memorial Scholarship
Jenysee Good-Wesley & Gene Lackey Ward Memorial Scholarship
Jacob Guajardo- Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Lula Teel Gossett Memorial Scholarship
Brady Hackebeil-George Alexander Jr. Memorial Scholarship; DJ Carlson Memorial Scholarship; Joey Toepperwein Memorial Scholarship; Security State Bank Scholarship; Medina County Farm Bureau Scholarship; Devine Current Events Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship
Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship
Riley Hagdorn- DJ Carlson Memorial Scholarship; Rosalee Rogers McLure Memorial Scholarship; Medina County Aggie Moms Scholarship; Devine Ex Student/Teacher Angilee Griffin Heyen Memorial Scholarship; Doris and Ray Conrad/Mulholand Memorial Scholarship
Lily Hargis- Herring & Selma Blatz Memorial Scholarship Administered by First Baptist Church; Devine Ex Student/Teacher Angilee Griffin Heyen Memorial Scholarship; Linda Alexander Memorial Scholarship
Macey Hein Samantha “Sam” Buvinghausen Memorial Scholarship; Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Neva Sessions Memorial Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship; Alyssa Ramirez Memorial Scholarship; Patricia Ann Wilkerson Woods Memorial Scholarship
Karma Herring- Security State Bank Scholarship; American Momentum Bank; Devine Lions Club; Dollars for Scholars; Lytle State Bank- Salutatorian
Audrey Longoria- Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Patricia Ann Wilkerson Woods Memorial Scholarship; G.D & Ruby Whitfield Memorial Scholarship
Kendall Marek- DJ Carlson Memorial Scholarship; Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Devine Area Thrift Store Scholarship; Rosalee Rogers McLure Memorial Scholarship
Cecilia Martinez- Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Aaron Anthony Benavidez Memorial Athletic Scholarship; Aubrey and Willie Mae Driscoll Memorial; Imogene Tschirhart Memorial Scholarship
Mason Martinez- Will to Win Scholarship
Liliana Mendoza-Jimenez- St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Scholarship
Isaiah Morin- Will to Win Scholarship
Makayla Perez- Bain Memorial; Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship
Kannon Ramirez- Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Rosalee Rogers McLure Memorial Scholarship; St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Scholarship; Devine Youth Sports Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship
Gracie Ricord- DJ Carlson Memorial Scholarship
Jesslyn Sanchez- Neva Sessions Memorial Scholarship
Kylee Saunders- DJ Carlson Memorial Scholarship; Rosalee Rogers McLure Memorial Scholarship; Martin Family Scholarship; Devine Lodge #590 Masonic Council Scholarship; Medina County A&M Club Scholarship; Medina County Aggie Moms Scholarship; St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Scholarship; American Momentum Bank Scholarship; Devine Ex Student/Teacher Angilee Griffin Heyen Memorial Scholarship; Devine Area Thrift Store Scholarship
Brian Schaefer- – Alyssa Ramirez Memorial Scholarship; Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Devine Lions Club; Dollars for Scholars Scholarship; Lytle State Bank- Valedictorian; Sid & Maurice Malone Memorial Scholarship; Robbie Robertson Memorial Scholarship Administered by First Baptist Church ; Gordon Shultz Memorial Scholarship
Brooke Schott- American Momentum Bank
Lacey Shook Gayle & Don Sessions Scholarship; First Baptist Church Devine Scholarship; Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship; Will to Win Scholarship
Wyatt Spivey- Jacob Benavides Memorial Scholarship; Henry & Henrietta Bendele Memorial Scholarship; Carolyn Hopkins Memorial Scholarship Administered by First Baptist Church ; Wesley Ward Memorial Scholarship; Security State Bank Scholarship
Abe Taitano- Ruth Allen Memorial Scholarship; Dollars for Scholars; Josie Hernandez Memorial Scholarship Administered by Lytle State Bank; DHS Faculty and Staff Scholarship
Brianna Torres- Alyssa Ramirez Memorial Scholarship ; Devine Athletic Booster Club Scholarship
Kadence Yeats – First Baptist Church Devine Scholarship
City of Lytle…
Mayor Ruben Gonzalez was re-elected with 363 votes to challenger Tom Cate with 174.
Michael Rodriguez won the District 4 Alderman race 50 to 21 over Marshall Witter.
District 5 Charles Cate was unopposed.
City of Devine
Josh Ritchey won the District 5 seat with 39 votes over Cassandra Maldonado 15 and Wilburn Woody Woodrow 3 votes. Councilman D1 Rufino Vega and D3 David Espinosa were unopposed.
Devine ISD
Trustees Chris Davis and Renee Frieda were re-elected to their At Large seats over challenger Brenda Burford. Davis had 246 votes, Frieda 206 and Burford 95. Trustees SD1- Ali Buvinghausen and SD2-Carl Brown were unopposed.
Lytle Pirate junior Robert Wagner will compete at State after placing second overall in the 800m Run in Seguin at Regional last weekend. Wagner ran 1:59.98 to finish only .89 seconds behind Wyatt Hoover of Poth who ran 1:59.09 to claim the race’s individual championship.
Wagner also competed in the 1600m Run, placing 13th with a time of 5:01.96.
Alex Medina qualified for finals in Discus with a throw of 132’11½” to place third, almost qualifying for State.
Jose Cortez ran 4:35.54 to place fifth in the 1600m Run and placed sixth in the 3200m Run with a time of 10:49.31.
Abel Sanchez came in 8th in the 800m Run with a time of 2:06.01.
Head Coach Jacob Escamilla stated, “This has been an amazing ride that will continue for another few weeks onto the STATE track meet in Austin. First, congratulations to all the track athletes who qualified for the Regional track meet this past weekend. These student-athletes represented Lytle ISD with pride and I could not be prouder of their efforts.
Once again, to get to this point in the track season is remarkable and an effort to be proud of. All of our male and female athletes represented with pride.”
Wagner is scheduled to run at 6:25pm on Thursday, May 12.
Foster care
One thing I enjoy getting in my email inbox is Coach Hadley Foster, Jr.’s recap of his thrower’s performances from the previous track meet. For those lucky enough to receive these emails, the care and compassion he puts into words for his student-athlete throwers in his “Lessons from the Rings” recap is clear to see.
Alex Medina was his last performer for the 2022 season, and this is just a snippet of what Medina’s coach had to say about him.
“This year Alex stepped into the leadership role for the throwers as he worked harder than any boy thrower I have ever coached, yet he is a different type of athlete. As the other discus throwers were warming up with high knee runs and stretches, I told Alex to go take a walk. He then came back and began to throw.
If this year has taught me anything, it is that next year is next year. Alex’s success is his and all those who support him.
His parents provide him with the opportunity. He has great friends in Robert Lane Wagner and the support of the Wagner Clan. Mr. Bob is always so proud of Alex. Coach Escamilla’s support and trust in me allowed me to work with the throwers. I don’t see high school boy athletes often, so his belief in the program filters quality boys my way. The season wraps up, the nets will come down and we finish the year with hope.
Wishing Robert Lane the best success as he heads to state.”
Jerel Beaty
Staff writer
Four different elections are taking place this Saturday, May 7, 2022 in our area. City of Devine voters in District 4 can vote, all voters in Devine ISD can vote, and all voters in the City of Lytle can vote in those elections. Statewide all voters can vote in the Special Constitutional Amendment elections hosted in their county.