Tri-ethnic committee meets

ECISD acting superintendent Hector Mendez told tri-ethnic committee members Thursday the Teen Parent Center will remain at 4803 Plaza Blvd. for the 2007-’08 school year.

Mendez said Alma Guerrero, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, has headed up the TPC committee since April — on the direction of former Ector County Independent School District superintendent Wendell Sollis.

The committee worked through the summer on whether to merge TPC with the Career Center or keep the facility going for the current school year. Members chose the latter.

Members recognized some changes need to be made to the facility as soon as possible to meet student needs, Guerrero said.

These renovations would include remodeling TPC’s roof and some of the windows, creating a front entrance to the center, demolishing some of the buildings and adding classrooms and daycare facilities, Guerrero said.

“This is just to get it going for the year,” Guerrero said.

David Finley, ECISD executive director of facilities and maintenance, has been working on a draft plan for the project.

The project will be presented to the TPC committee one more time before being recommended to the ECISD board of trustees, Guerrero said.

Mendez said in terms of the Career Center he created a committee to discuss whether the school needs to remain under alternative accountability rating status for the Texas Education Agency or if should be regular accountability.

Hopefully a plan will be developed and presented to the board by January, Mendez said.

Guerrero also addressed questions from tri-ethnic committee members as to why there are eight ninth-graders at Career Center this year while Odessa High has 29 and Permian has 18 ninth-grade students.

The AAA campus was done away as part of a summer 2006 decision, Guerrero said, some ninth graders still go to Career Center but others are at their home campuses — junior highs — to complete some ninth-grade coursework.

In many cases, the students are closer to sophomore status than the freshmen grade level, Guerrero said.

In other business, Tri-Ethnic Committee members will meet on Sept. 22 to review the committee’s agenda for 2008-‘’09 school year, the latest Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills results and the Tri-Ethnic Report.