CCISD announces winner of Christmas card contest, authorizes HVAC replacements
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
Holiday cheer was in the air on Tuesday evening, when the Copperas Cove Independent School District announced the winner of the Christmas card design contest for this year.
CCHS student Katie Bartley; CCHS student Lynsey Robison; and CCHS teacher LaDonna Sanders had their designs named as finalists, from out of more than 150 entries submitted by district students and staff.
LaDonna Sanders won for her card design in shades of blue, with ornaments representing each of the District’s Campuses. Robinson’s 2nd place entry featured a CCISD school bus with a Christmas tree strapped to the top. Bartley’s depicted a Christmas tree of glowing light against a backdrop of a blue night and stars.
Wendy Sledd, CCISD’s Director of Communications, told the board and audience that Sanders has submitted designs over the past several years for the Christmas Card competition as well as the T-shirt design for the annual convocation.
Sanders as well as Robison were present to accept their awards, and Bartley’s teacher Annababette Diemecke accepted on her behalf.
Recognitions during the meeting also included local VFW Teacher of the Year presentations, to Andrew Pence (Elementary), Kasie Taylor (Junior High), and Jeni Carbone-Williams (High School). Winning entries in the Copperas Cove Christmas parade were also recognized, to include the CCHS Copperettes, Performing Group Category 1st Place; S.C. Lee Cougarettes, 2nd place; CCHS HOSA, Civic Group Category 1st Place; and FFA, Large Float 1st Place.
Also on the agenda for Tuesday night’s meeting was the matter of HVAC replacement for Martin Walker Elementary School Upper Building, the CCISD Technology Building and Mae Stevens Early Learning Academy. The board voted to authorize the superintendent to negotiate and execute the contract with the highest-ranking proposer, provided there are no material changes to the contract included with the procurement package. For this project, the first-ranked company was RaBroker, who proposed to do the project for $559,998.
In addition to the above, the board approved several district purchases that are more than $25,000, to include IXL learning site licenses for Grades K-8; the purchase of Naviance for Copperas Cove secondary schools in the amount of $36,450; purchase of a greenhouse for the high school funded by a Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) JET Grant for $143,500; purchase of robotics equipment with TWC JET grant funds for $184,760; ISCORP (Integrated Systems Corporation) service bureau subscription for $30,195; and emergency authorization for S.C. Lee Junior High School freezer/cooler replacement in the amount of $65,000.
The board also approved two upcoming out-of-state trip requests, the School Nutrition Association Legislative Action Conference, March 4-8, 2023, in Washington, D.C. for Melissa Bryant to attended; as well as the MISA Summer Conference, June 25-28, 2023, in Tacoma, Washington, for Superintendent Burns to attend.
The board also approved the application for innovative course renewal for Video Game Programming and Advanced Video Game Programming at Copperas Cove High School.