CCISD holds school board meeting
By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove Independent School District (CCISD) held a regular meeting of their board of trustees Tuesday.
The meeting began promptly at 6:30 p.m. at the CCISD Board Room. The meeting covered recognitions, covering their consent agenda, and approving items whose prices exceed $25,000.
The meeting also included approval of purchases with cost that exceed $25,000. The first item approved was the adoption and purchase of eDynamic Learning Digital Curriculum for CCHS Career and Technical Education for $33,000 which will be paid for with budgeted funds from the instructional materials allotment. They approved a contract to implement Raptor Emergency Management for the 2024-2025 school year for $27,863 which will be paid for with budgeted funds. They also approved $367,500 for purchase of three 14 passenger activity buses which will be paid for with the fund balance.
They approved an out of state trip for the AYPYN Conference in Atlanta, Georgia from May 13-17.
The board approved a motion to consider and take action on the submission of the instructional materials allotment and TEKS certification for the 2024-2025 school year and on the adoption of the CCISD district of innovation plan revisions and renewal.
Also discussed was the NAFIS Spring Conference which took place in Washington D.C. last month.
“I think we had some productive meetings,” said board member Mike Wilburn. “We got to meet with Mr. Carter while we were there, and…we had the opportunity to express our concerns with them and I feel like they listened to us, but we’ll see what happens.”
CCISD Superintendent Dr. Joe Burns said that, at the conference, they were able to talk about impact aid. Dr. Burns said that, for military students, CCISD receives money based on the number of military connected students in the district. Dr. Burns said that CCISD fell out of heavy impact aid 5 years ago.
“You shouldn’t have to meet a minimum number of students to be eligible to receive impact aid because it is an original Title program. You should pay every district for every kid they’ve got. Currently if you don’t have 10% or 1,000 students, you’re not eligible,” said Dr. Burns. “Under Title 1, which is for students who are impacted by poverty, you get paid for every kid that’s identified. So why would we not treat all Title programs the same.”
This month’s meeting had plenty of recognitions. The Copperas Cove High School (CCHS) Girl’s Powerlifting team was recognized for winning the 6A Team Regional Championship, they had 8 state qualifiers, 3 individual regional champions, and 10 medalists. The CCHS wrestling team had 10 regional qualifiers, 4 of whom also qualified for the UIL state championship in Houston. Erinn Sewell received a special mention for earning state runner up in class 6A as a sophomore (in wrestling). The CCHS swimming and diving team had 12 regional qualifiers and Robert Lippert, the 1st diver in the school’s history finished 6th in the regional competition. The CCHS 9th grade boys basketball team was honored for becoming the undefeated district champions—undefeated since their 7th grade year. The CCHS girls soccer team qualified for the UIL 6A playoffs. The Copperas Cove Junior High School (CCJHS) girls basketball “A” team was recognized for finishing undefeated in the district championship.
Staff members Derek Chase and Matt Thompson received a special thanks for their efforts in saving the school approximately $100,000 towards the school’s efforts in improvements to the Lea Ledger Auditorium.
Derek Chase, CCHS Audio Manager, worked together with Matt Thompson, CCHS Web Master and Digital Media Producer, to help get the school discounts on their purchase and installation of audio equipment for the auditorium. Chase said that he talked with the studio and was able to get them even bigger discounts than they would have otherwise and, since he knows how to install much of it himself, he was also able to save them a lot of money on installation fees.
The school board’s next workshop will take place May 13 and will follow with their regular meeting May 14 at 6:30 p.m.