CCISD board votes to lift face covering requirement, approve staff pay increase
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove Independent School District Board of Trustees voted to rescind the district’s face covering requirement as of July 1, 2021 and approved a pay increase for employees during its regular meeting Tuesday evening.
During the Open Forum portion of the meeting, two parents spoke against the mask requirements. Eric Dominowski, whose son is in the 8th grade and a student in the district, said that his son would not be forced to wear a mask, and thus had been in virtual schooling since the district implemented its face covering policy last spring.
“He’s been virtual learning all year, and virtual learning is absolutely not the same as in person,” Dominowski said. “He suffered isolation, he does not want to go out of the house to do anything. He’s up at 10 a.m. and done with school by 11 usually. He has no interaction with teachers. There’s no zoom meetings. There’s no conferences with teachers. He doesn’t talk to his friends. He doesn’t see his friends, and this has been going on for a year.”
Dominowski added that his son was not allowed to take the STAAR test, which was administered on campus, unless he wore a face covering.
“I need to know where he is academically this past year from missing out on in person learning, and he was refused,” Dominowski said. “So, not only has he not been in school for a year, he did not take the STAAR test this past week, so I have no idea where he’s at- but I know where he’s at. He’s suffered. He’s regressed. He’s absolutely regressed and so has every single kid that’s been on virtual learning.”
He concluded his statement by asking for the board to lift the requirement and make sure that when students return to school next year, they don’t have the requirement ever again.
Christina Wilson also spoke about the mask policy. She said she lives in Belton but has been going around Texas to speak against the mask policies and said she came in support of Dominowski.
Wilson said that her 12-year-old son has gotten 23 mask referrals in his own school district due to pulling his mask down during P.E. or taking it off, and she said that after 10 referrals, she received a phone call from her son’s school saying he was being considered for an alternative school.
Wilson said she felt masks should be a choice.
“I’m not from this district, but I was told that you have a new agenda developed for next year. A lot of parents are concerned about this issue coming up again next year and having to put our kids through this all over again, and that’s our main concern,” Wilson said. “If it makes you feel safer to wear a mask, by all means have that choice, but limit the choice because I can guarantee you half the kids will choose not to wear one.”
As May 11, 2021, the district’s website reported two active test-confirmed COVID-19 cases, both being staff cases. The most recent count for the number of active cases in the city of Copperas Cove was 112.
The item was unanimously approved by the board members, and effective July 1, 2021, the face covering requirement will be no more.
When students return in the fall, the wearing of face coverings, which include masks, gaiters or face shields, will be voluntary for both students and staff while on district property.
Following the meeting, Board Secretary Dr. Karen Harrison said that the district is hopeful that those eligible will take advantage of the vaccinations to better protect themselves.
This week, the FDA also expanded the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to include adolescents ages 12 to 15 years old.
“I think that as we know in our local community, the counts are getting much better, even in the clinic, we’re seeing less and less positive cases,” Harrison said. “More and more people are getting vaccinated, and I think the district felt that by July, we would have more and more people vaccinated. I think today it’s exciting that we have I think age 12 and up can get vaccinated, and so this will get us through summer school, and hopefully by next fall, our numbers will continue to stay flat and more people will get vaccinated. It is my opinion and my hope that over the summer, we’ll be able to have more and more parents get their kids vaccinated. I truly believe that if we want our children to be competitive and be involved in extracurricular activities and all get to participate, then we all need to get them vaccinated.”
Harrison said that this will help make the next school year a more normal one.
The board also approved a pay increase for faculty and staff that will cost a total amount of $2,379,787 from local funds. The pay increase includes bumping starting teacher pay from $47,500 to $50,000. Current teachers in the district will see at least a $1,650 pay increase. Instructional aides will see their pay increase based on job experience, and the starting pay for a bus driver will increase to $14.65 per hour.
The board recognized four retirees during the recognition portion of the meeting. Deborah Trundle, Becky Hunter, Thomas O’Quinn and Nabeel Sakhnini were each recognized for their years of service to the district.
The board also recognized several student groups and individual students who qualified for competitions at the state level or higher, including the CCHS JROTC, CCHS Life Skills, CCHS Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE), CCHS DECA, CCHS HOSA, CCHS Theater Arts, CCHS Athletics and the S. C. Lee Cheerleaders.
The board also approved their consent agenda which included 20 new hires, including a new choir director at Copperas Cove High School, as well as the contract renewals of teachers and staff across the district, and several purchases exceeding $25,000. The purchases included construction materials testing for renovations and additions at Mae Stevens Early Learning Academy for $38,846.50; the purchase of a new playscape at MSELA as part of the renovations and additions for $136,758; library book replacements for House Creek Elementary’s Library for $38,498.62; filing cabinets for records storage for $31,317.06; and the purchase of CTE materials for new CTE courses for the 2021-2022 school year, for $40,477.94.
The board also approved executing a contract with Building Abatement Demolition for the asbestos abatement at Martin Walker Elementary and Hettie Halstead Elementary after the ranking of the proposals received. The budget for the asbestos abatement is estimated to be $110,000.
The board rejected the single proposal it received for the drainage improvement project at Martin Walker Elementary, which was deemed to not be a good value to the district.
The board also approved the 2021-2022 Communities in Schools (CIS) Contract for $192,329. The annual contract will provide services to all K-12 campuses.