Plano ISD Regional Day School for Deaf students performing the pledges of allegiance

To help open the meeting, the Plano ISD Regional Day School for the Deaf program led in the Pledges of Allegiance to the United States and Texas flags.

After the pledges, Plano ISD Board President David Stolle invited Executive Director of Fine Arts Dr. Phillip Morgan to the podium to lead in recognizing Nicolo Boselli of Plano West Senior High School, who was named a National YoungArts winner on jazz saxophone. His award is an Honorable Mention and he will receive a $250 scholarship. This award is only presented to seven jazz students across the nation and only one per instrument. YoungArts is one of the premier national art competitions for high school aged arts students. Other categories include classical music, visual art, theater, dance, photography and writing.

Plano ISD Instructional Music Coordinator Jeremy Kondrat, Nicolo Boselli (middle), Plano West Associate Band Director Preston Pierce, Plano West Band Director Jackie Digby

Next, Dr. Phillip Morgan was joined by Instructional Music Coordinator Jeremy Kondrat to recognize Plano ISD’s All State Band, Orchestra and Choir students. Each year, music students enter a rigorous audition process that begins in July or August when audition materials are released. Students advance from region to area to state level from October through January. The final round of auditions takes place in early January each year where students are selected to perform as all-state members at TMEA in San Antonio in February. 

Plano ISD All State Band, Choir and Orchestra students

With the final Fine Arts recognition, Mr. Jeremy Kondrat concluded with recognizing the Plano West Senior High School Full Symphony Orchestra,  which was selected as the best full orchestra in the state of Texas for 2022-2023. They received an exclusive invitation to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) convention held on February 10, 2023 in San Antonio, during which he emphasized was a "stunning performance."

Plano West Band Director Jackie Digby (third left), Associate Orchestra Director Amy Gross, Orchestra Director Ryan Ross (middle), Choir Director Sarah Council (second right) joined by students

Lastly, Deputy Superintendent for Business & Employee Services Johnny Hill invited Director of Food & Nutritional Services (FANS) Ashley Hipp to the podium for her achieving excellence in the Texas Department of Agriculture's Farm Fresh Challenge. This program, designed to showcase healthy eating habits for students, challenged food and nutrition departments across the state to serve local Texas foods each week, incorporate educational components into their weekly operations, and share their efforts over social media throughout the challenge. Ashley not only rose to the challenge, but has also been recognized by the state with a 1st Tier “Best of the Bunch” Award for demonstrating leadership in serving local foods in school meals, connecting young Texans with Texas Agriculture, and promoting good nutrition through the use of social media. 

Ashley Hipp (second right) is pictured with Food & Nutritional Service colleagues, as well as Plano ISD Board Vice President Nancy Humphrey (far right).

For the final recognition, Mr. Hill took a few moments to recognize the entire Plano ISD Facility Services Department, who continuously goes above and beyond the call of duty, no matter what challenge or crisis may have surfaced. They are quick to respond day or night, rain or shine – or ice or snow or even tornadoes –to manage the most urgent and critical situations in our schools and facilities. This dedicated team is always on the ready with a calm, capable approach to quickly respond, assess the situation, and immediately begin doing whatever needs to be done to keep it all going here in Plano ISD. This school year, they have managed power outages, water outages, flooding, ice, fires and high winds.

Plano ISD Facility Services Department