Copperas Cove ISD heads back to school

By LYNETTE SOWELL 

Cove Leader-Press 

The air was filled with anticipation at House Creek Elementary School in Copperas Cove on Thursday morning as students returned to campus for the 2024-2025 school year. 

At House Creek, students arrived by car and by bus, with soldiers from the 1-82 Field Artillery, the campus’ Adopt-A-School Unit, there to greet them and wish them a great first day and a great school. year. Upbeat music streamed from a sound machine out in front of the school.

HCES Principal Todd Williams was out front as well to welcome students back to campus. All in all, for the morning of the first day of school, he was pleased to see a smooth transition from student drop-off, to breakfast, to class for the students, parents, and staff. 

He carries a positive outlook for the new school year, his 31st as an administrator and his 37th in education.   

“This is the one position that you have a chance to really have a positive impact on a student’s life. And I think that’s the thing that I enjoy the most. I’ve been at a primary school principal, elementary, intermediate, middle and high school. I think you can have the biggest impact here at the elementary and so I think that’s the thing I enjoy the most, is to see kids’ growth and become successful and have the confidence with their learning.” 

Enrollment at House Creek is a little lower than it has been, with the campus ending the 2023-2024 school year at approximately 585 students. 

Still, Williams is excited to see enrollment numbers being strong this new year, especially with incoming kindergarten students. 

The campus also has a high retention rate for students, with as much as 89 percent of students returning from the previous year. That is a high number, particularly for a military/transient community. 

“I think parents have a lot of confidence in our school, and so we have a lot more kids that are coming over here. We have a (district) transfer policy, and that’s the biggest compliment we get. That people want to bring their kids to our school,” Williams said. 

In the classroom, students in Cassandra Obenoskey’s first grade class were greeted warmly, shown to their desks, where they had the opportunity to work on a “welcome to first grade” color page as soft music played in the background. 

Then after arrival and breakfast, Williams led all the students in the morning pledge of allegiance, then made announcements as he welcomed the entire campus. 

This year, Williams said as far as staff is concerned, his campus has zero vacancies. He is particularly proud of the four RISE intern staff on campus. They are in the district’s program which helps current district staff earn their teaching degrees and certifications as they work in the classroom. 

“All four of those have been people at our school as instructional aides. In fact, two of my front office people from last year are kindergarten teachers. I have another one that’s a second-grade teacher, and she was actually Rookie of the Year teacher last year. The district program has worked out really well for us.”