CCISD trustees hold special meeting, welcome new superintendent
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove Independent School District board of trustees held a special meeting on Tuesday, to make things official and formally hire Dr. Brent Hawkins as CCISD superintendent.
After unanimously voting to approve Hawkins as superintendent, a “signing ceremony” took place in the board room, followed by an informal meet and greet. Hawkins had family and friends with him to witness the occasion.
He s addressed those assembled after he signed the contract, stating that he appreciates the confidence placed in him.
“I’m not going to let you down and I will work day and night. Coming to Copperas Cove is real special for me. It’s been through a lot of prayer, and it came at a high price. I know Dr. Burns had been here 12 years, and he’s made a lot of strong relationships with folks in this district. Leaving a place like I had been in, the longest serving superintendent history of that district, you don’t leave a place without making extremely deep relationships,” Hawkins said.
“We’re in the people business, and we can’t ever lose sight of that. The vision that this board has is that they conveyed to me of being a premier district. I’m appreciative of everybody that’s in this audience, this community, for getting Copperas Cove ISD where it is today.”
He said that coming to Copperas Cove was extremely attractive to him because he wants to be part of something that can leave an impact.
“Over the next three to four months, I’m going to be learning exactly what has made Copperas Cove so special. We’re all going to understand that to be a premier district, it is going to take everybody in the room,” he added. “There is no superman, there’s no riders coming over the hill. It’ll be our team that figures out the things that we need to do to ensure that our kids have the very best opportunities to be the best versions of themselves.”
Hawkins was announced on Dec. 17 as the lone finalist for the position after being was selected from a field of 39 applicants. There was a required a 21-day waiting period before the board could vote to name him superintendent. He signed a contract for an annual salary of $241,255.
Hawkins comes to Copperas Cove after serving as superintendent at Livingston ISD since 2014. He has more than 16 years of experience as a superintendent and has worked in Texas public schools for more than 32 years.
While in Livingston, Dr. Hawkins saw the district’s campus performance improve from the lowest 5% in the state to a “B” district, with three “A” campuses and two in the U.S. News & World Report’s Top 40, in a district where more than half of students are economically disadvantaged.
Financially, Dr. Hawkins worked through multiple avenues for necessary capital improvement projects, refinanced existing district debt to save Livingston taxpayers $13 million.
In 2024, the Livingston ISD Board of Trustees nominated Dr. Hawkins for Superintendent of the Year. Professional staff turnover went from 27.7% in 2014 to 10% within the last two years.
Prior to joining Livingston ISD, he was the Deputy Director for Administrative Services for the TEA’s Region 6 Education Service Center serving 57 districts based in Huntsville for two years, where he oversaw several departments and helped revamp the center’s superintendent search process to help districts.
Before then, Hawkins was the superintendent at Woden ISD for four years. From 2002-2008, Hawkins was a coach, principal, curriculum director and superintendent at Diboll ISD, where he helped obtain grants to improve student opportunities and was awarded the 2005 National Renaissance Learning Educational Leader of the Year award.
He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University. He completed his doctorate in educational leadership in 2011.
Brent Hawkins is married to his wife of 27 years, Jenny. The couple has three adult children and two grandchildren.