CCISD board of trustees to consider lifting face covering requirement

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, students and staff in the Copperas Cove Independent School District have been required to wear a face covering while on campus.

With Tuesday night’s meeting of the CCISD board of trustees, that could change come July 1.

CCISD Superintendent Joe Burns is presenting a request that would rescind the face covering mandate as of that date.

“In an attempt to assist our community, CCISD has partnered with the City of Copperas Cove, Coryell Health, Advent Health Systems, and the DSHS to provide seven opportunities for CCISD employees, age eligible students and community members to receive the COVID vaccine in Copperas Cove,” Burns wrote for the meeting agenda item summary.

“With these efforts and the efforts of local medical providers and pharmacies we are now seeing very low incidences of COVID-19 infections among our students, staff and in the community. As result I am recommending that the Board of Trustees rescind the CCISD facial covering mandate effective July 1, 2021.”     

CCISD has had a webpage which is updated to show active cases of COVID-19 among district students and staff.

As of May 3, there were a total of five active cases in the district, four students at Copperas Cove High School and one student at Copperas Cove Junior High.

Altogether, as of May 2, a total of 291 students and 149 district staff had reported lab-confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 since July 27, 2020.

That’s out of a total of 8,029 students enrolled in the district as of Jan. 29, with 6,077 enrolled for on-campus learning.

The board's meeting at 6:30 p.m. can be accessed through the district’s website at www.ccisd.com, then by selecting “Board of Trustees” and then “Board Meetings.” The meetings take place at the CCISD Administration boardroom, located at 408 S. Main St. In-person attendance is available, with the face covering requirement still in place.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the board will be presented with several options for district pay increases for the 2021-2022 school year.

CCISD administration is recommending a starting pay for new teachers of $50,000, along with increases to starting pay for instructional aides and bus drivers, plus a general pay increase for all other district staff of 3 percent of midpoint and “targeted equity adjustments.” The total cost for all proposed pay increases is $2,379,787.