CCISD board approves emergency repair for CCJHS roof

By BRITTANY FHOLER 
Cove Leader-Press 

During its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday night, the Copperas Cove Independent School District Board of Trustees approved expediting the process of obtaining construction services to repair water damage that occurred more than one week ago at Copperas Cove Junior High School.  
A four-inch water main burst in the school on February 24, leaking water for at least two hours, according to superintendent Joe Burns. The district contacted Belfor Restoration to assist with the water removal and by that afternoon began the process of water extraction. The main hallway connecting the cafeteria to the front office, eight classrooms in the 200-wing, eight classrooms in the 300-wing, the theater classroom, the choir classroom, the boys and girls locker room and the original gym all sustained water damage. 
“You would have had waterfront property if you were in the 200 hall,” Burns joked as he explained what the school looked like on Saturday. 
By Monday, the school was cleared enough for classes to resume, but the gym floor would need to be replaced, Burns said. A claim was filed with TASB Risk Management, with deputy superintendent Rick Kirkpatrick in daily contact with the claim representative. 
Because a lengthy bid process would delay the replacement and lead to lost instruction time, the administration requested the event be categorized as an emergency, which the board approved. This allows the district to immediately move forward in replacing the floor, which will be covered under the district’s insurance policy with TASB Risk Management. 
Burns expressed his appreciation to CCJHS principal Amanda Crawley and her staff for the “phenomenal  job” they did that weekend in order to have the school operational by Monday.
The board also approved the use of competitive sealed proposals to contract for the electric renovation at Hettie Halstead Elementary. Halstead is approximately 54 years old and needs the electric system replaced to allow the classrooms to utilize current technology, Burns said. 
The board approved a job order contract as the procurement method for the installation of a turn lane at Williams/Ledger Elementary.  Currently, only one lane exists for all exiting traffic from the rear parking lot where parent drop-off and pick-up of students occurs. Burns shared that originally, the front parking areas were designed for parent pickup while the back lot was designed for bus pickup. 
“Parent pickups have increased so now if we didn’t have the back areas of pick up at Williams/Ledger, we’d have cars stretched all the way down to S.C. Lee and across the road as well,” Burns said. 
The turn lane would allow cars to turn south on Courtney Lane, relieving the congestion in the parking lot.
 The board also approved a waiver for a low attendance day at S.C. Lee Jr. High School, which if granted by the Texas Education Agency, would exclude the day from ADA calculations for the current school year, protecting the district’s funding. 
On February 21, 2018, S.C. Lee Junior High had an average daily attendance that was at least 10 percent less than last year’s average daily attendance, due to an unsubstantiated threat directed at the school. 
The board approved the purchase of sliding shelving units to house Special Education files in the new administration building from Southwest Solutions Group for $27,587.62, which was determined to be a quarter of the cost of new filing cabinets while using less than half of the space that filing cabinets would take up. They also approved purchasing a digital sign for the new administration building for $49,855. T
he board approved two out of state trips: the Military Child Education Coalition National Training Seminar and the DECA International Conference. 
The MCEC’s National Training Seminar is July 23-25, 2018 in Washington, D.C. and costs $1,498.52. The district’s DoDEA/Early College Program Director will attend the seminar to network and engage with peers as well as participate in professional learning to help ensure military students are supported and engaged in learning. 
The DECA International Conference is April 20-25, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. The request sends 33 qualifying DECA students and five chaperones to the conference for a total cost of $46,228.00. 
The board also approved the CCISD 2018 summer school program and staffing proposals, and also approved a timeline for accelerated instruction expedited waiver for the 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 school years. The Student Success Initiative (SSI) requires districts to provide accelerated instruction to students who do not pass the 5th and 8th grade STAAR reading and/or mathematics tests, up to the third administration of the test. The TEA allows districts to apply for a waiver to adjust the timeline for providing this accelerated instruction to students who fail the third administration. The district would identify and document the instruction needed by the student, target the instruction on the reporting categories where the student was weak on and ensure the instruction is completed in the first six weeks of school. The district will also develop an accelerated instruction plan to provide the student with ongoing instructional support during the entire school year, according to the agenda packet.
The board recognized the campus communication liaisons for their work this quarter in sharing what happens at their schools. Every single school earned the Newsmaker Award this quarter, according to Wendy Sledd, the CCISD Public Information Officer. 
Miguel Timarky, the CCHS principal, accepted the award for CCHS on behalf of the different organizations and clubs that make up the campus communication liaisons. Other campus communication liaisons recognized were Brandy Petty, from Mae Stevens Early Learning Academy; Karen Folger, from Fairview/Miss Jewell Elementary; Alicia Weikum, from CCJHS; Tammy Boast, from S.C. Lee Junior High; Ashley League, from House Creek Elementary; Bonnie Terry, from Clements/Parsons Elementary; Mary Sanchez, from Martin Walker Elementary; Edith Natividad, from Williams/Ledger Elementary; Sandra Ziehlke from Hettie Halstead Elementary; and Sharon Whitis, from Crossroads High School. 
Sledd was recognized by Burns for the awards she won at the Texas School Public Relations Association’s Star Awards held last month, with the district winning 15 awards in total. Burns also praised Sledd for the work she did with the State of the District. 
“Wendy has done an exceptional job and she would not put her name in to be recognized, so I said I’m going to do that,” Burns said.  
Board president Joan Manning added that she didn’t think the district had ever had a PIO who works as hard as Sledd does.