School board to appoint new member tonight

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Independent School District board of trustees will hold its monthly meeting tonight at 6:30 in the Administration Building board room at 703 W. Ave. D.

With the resignation of Place 5 trustee Doug Cook, the board of trustees accepted applications for the vacancy through May 1. At tonight’s meeting, the board will appoint a replacement from a pool of six applicants to include John F. Gallen, Robert S. Weiss, Mark E. Peterson, Charles “Chuck” H. Taylor, Bradford L. Jones and Jeffrey C. Gorres. Whomever the board appoints this evening will fill the unexpired term for Place 5. 

Also on tonight’s agenda, several budgeted purchases exceeding $25,000 are up for approval by the board, the first of which includes spending $25,080 in DoDEA grant funds for professional development training with Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID); $25,500 for a fixed assets management system update; a new walk-in freezer and cooler for Halstead Elementary School, in the amount of $49,418; and the start of an upgrade of the network infrastructure at Copperas Cove High School by the purchase of SCW Cisco switches for $56,974.25.

The teacher salary schedule for the 2017-2018 school year is on the agenda, which includes a salary freeze for all employees, which according to the administration is part of the overall plan to address the projected budget deficit for the 2017-2018. On the proposed schedule, the beginning salary for a teacher with zero years’ experience will remain the same, and teachers with zero or one year of experience will both begin at $44,500. The pay steps would be adjusted in the future as the budget permits.

Two out-of-town trips are on the agenda, to include sending two teacher leaders from CCHS to the CHAMPS/DSC Trainer of Training which will take place July 16-20 in Portland, Oregon and a trip to College Park, Md. for the National History Day National Competition June 10-15.

The board will take action on adopting school meal prices for the 2017-2018 school year, bumping lunches across the board by 10 cents. Breakfast prices would remain the same. 

The board will also take a vote on renewing its contract with Communities in School and an agreement with the Killeen Armed Services YMCA for the 2017-2018 school year. 

The contractor to perform bus loop renovations at Copperas Cove High School will be decided tonight, with the recommendation from CCISD administration to offer the contract to S3 Sitework, LLC for the project. The total cost is $323,477.75 which includes a $10,000.00 contingency.