Board recognized by local officials Tuesday evening
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove Independent School District Board of Trustees were recognized by the Coryell County Commissioners, the Copperas Cove mayor and various student organizations in honor of January being National School Board Recognition Month at their monthly meeting held Tuesday evening.
Commissioner (Precinct 4) Ray Ashby and Mayor Frank Seffrood each presented the board members with a certificate of recognition, after reading the county and city proclamations declaring January to be School Board Recognition Month.
The Hettie Halstead Elementary School’s Student Council performed a song, complete with kites they colored in, to honor the board members. Members of the Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE) club at Copperas Cove High School made gift baskets filled with various items to encourage and inspire the board members. Students from Mae Stevens Early Learning Academy made cards to go with a candy jar that was placed at each board member’s seat while art students at Copperas Cove Junior High School made vases for each board member.
The CCISD board of trustees recognized retiring employees, Elizabeth Fecher, who spent 21 years with CCISD as a bus driver; Marlene Shirley, who spent 22 years with CCISD as a Special Education bus aide; and Arlene Wyatt, who spent 15 years with CCISD as a crossing guard.
The board approved two out of state trips, including the School Nutrition Association 46th Legislative Action Conference in Washington D.C. March 3-7, which costs $2,698.64; and the Schoology NEXT Conference in San Diego, Cal. July 15-18, which costs $8,129.
The board also accepted a $200 donation from Rene and Scott McDowell to be used to pay for negative lunch account balances at Martin Walker Elementary School.
The board approved several purchases exceeding $25,000. CCHS will be receiving 120 desktop and 30 laptop computers for teachers this summer, for a total of $98,752.50. The second technology purchase is for 30 replacement computers in high school’s Career and Technology classrooms, for $33,144.60, while the third technology purchase is for 480 Assessment Management Program (AMP) devices to be used by elementary teachers for student assessment in conjunction with the Schoology program, for $115,684.80. The final budgeted purchase was for a concrete retaining wall and handrail at the Bulldawg Gym at the high school, for $33,895.23.
The board approved the list of investment brokers that the district may utilize for investment purchases and the annual review of investment policies and strategy, to include Edward Jones Investment, Inc.; A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.; UBS Financial Services, Inc.; Duncan Williams, Inc.; First Public, LLC.; Samco Capital Markets; FTN Financial Capital Markets; AJ Capital Investments; and Frost Capital Markets.
The board approved the selection of Lott, Vernon & Company, P.C. as the audit firm for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The firm has prepared the District’s annual fiscal audits for the past 25 plus years, according to CCISD superintendent Joe Burns.
The board also approved accepting a $5,000 grant from the Central Texas Workforce Board, to go to the CCISD Prekindergarten program to be spent on activities that support early academic development and/or professional development activities.
The board approved the adoption of the CCISD District of Innovation (DOI) plan. The DOI concept, passed by the 84th Legislative Session in House Bill 1842, gives traditional independent school districts most of the flexibilities available to Texas’ open-enrollment charter schools, resulting in more local control. The DOI Committee was appointed by the board on October 17, 2017 and drafted the plan that was approved by the District Site-based Decision Making Committee on December 4, 2017.
The list of exemptions included in the plan are District-level Planning and Decision Making; Teacher Employment Contracts; Certification Required; Teacher and Principal Evaluation; Transfer of Student; First Day of Instruction; Minimum Attendance for Class Credit or Final Grade; Student/Teacher Ratios and Class Size, Notice of Class Size; and Designation of Campus Behavior Coordinator.
The board also approved the termination of the current lease with the Copperas Cove Boys & Girls Club, effective May 31, 2018. The district received a written request from Brian Jones, the Vice President of Operations for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Texas, to extend the current lease between his organization and CCISD. The Boys & Girls Club uses a portion of the campus at Fairview/Miss Jewell Elementary, with the initial lease entered into December 2014. The district is planning a renovation for the Fairview/Miss Jewell campus that will begin in the summer of 2018, and once that renovation begins the district will no longer be able to provide the use of the space.