Facility life cycle repair and replacement needs, a new career and technical education facility, technology upgrades and a third comprehensive high school for growth were the recommendations the Bond Advisory Committee made to the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees Tuesday.
Also at the meeting, Superintendent Scott Muri announced that trustee Nelson Minyard is resigning from the panel effective next week.
Muri thanked Minyard for his nine years of service and said he would be recognized at next week’s board meeting, the recap said. Muri said Tuesday night that Minyard is selling his home and moving out of town.
The board will talk to Mike Atkins, the ECISD attorney, about next steps at the Jan. 18 board meeting.
Bond committee Co-chairs Chris Cole and Lorraine Perryman presented the bond recommendations Tuesday evening.
Board members Steve Brown, Minyard and Carol Gregg did not attend Tuesday’s workshop.
Perryman stressed that this was just the first bite of the elephant as there are so many needs facing ECISD.
Cole and Perryman noted that the recommendations were based on survey results and what the community would support.
They said the bond should not exceed $400 million. The committee left it up to the district to determine how much the bond would be.
Perryman said the cost of needs for facility life cycle repairs of $175 million; a new CTE facility for $70 million; technology upgrades of $33 million; and a new third comprehensive high school for $183 million would come to about $461 million.
Perryman said this would have to be narrowed down by the district.
Superintendent Scott Muri said the bond will be discussed over the next several board meetings and the board could schedule additional meetings to discuss it.
The deadline to call an election is Feb. 18, but the target is Feb. 15, Muri said. The election would be May 7, 2022.
Perryman said a survey conducted in November did not ask about a bond that was less than $500 million and they should have. That survey by Baselice & Associates Inc. conducted in November 2021 showed that most people did not support a bond.
With an average home value of $148,090, the increase on a $300 million bond would be $9 a month and an annual increase of $105.
For a $400 million bond, it would be an increase of $14 a month and $166 per year, supplemental agenda material said.
Perryman said people wanted a lot of things they didn’t want to pay for.
The bond committee included 61 committee members plus 14 ECISD staff members. More people were involved as the facilities review committee when efforts started in 2019.
The average age of ECISD facilities is 51 years old going up to 81 plus. The new schools are six years old.
“Many of us went to school in those very old buildings and our kids are in those facilities. We as a community need to step up to meet the needs of students. We also took a really deep look at our demographics” and found there was steady growth predicted between now and 2028, Perryman said.
In 2020, she said, “Everything went to heck and we are rebounding from that,” Perryman said.
She praised the work of the district staff and the board leadership in bringing in Muri.
She noted that it will be a couple of years before construction starts on any new facility.
In his opening comments, Muri touched on several topics.
He told trustees that COVID-19 cases are rising very quickly among students and staff members.
He said Tuesday that over the last two days nearly 500 positive cases had been reported. ECISD’s positivity rate is mirroring that of the county as a whole, the board recap said.
He said internal testing is up and running and ECISD nurses are providing tests to students (with parent permission) and staff who request one; a drive-through testing process for employees is now being put into place for those who are not at work.
Muri added that new air purifiers have been received and are being put into classrooms and offices throughout the district, the recap said. Sanitizing of buildings and buses is done regularly.
He said ECISD does not plan to close schools but is planning for the possibility of staff absences leaving a school without enough adults to safely operate a campus, and that could lead to a school being closed temporarily.
Muri congratulated the board for being invited to be part of the inaugural Raise Your Hand Texas Trustee Advocates Program. Of the 1,029 school districts in Texas, 27 applied for this learning opportunity and nine received invitations. The 18-month fellowship gives Texas school boards and their superintendents the tools they need to find, use and amplify their voices and the voices of their communities to influence state education policy, the recap said.
Muri presented on ECISD’s recent SAT test performance. He walked the board members through a comparison of SAT scores from October 2020 to October 2021, the dates of ECISD’s SAT School Days which are offered free to all high school seniors.
More than 500 students participated each year. In 2021, ECISD’s Mean Score jumped by 40 points; ECISD’s writing scored improved by 17 points; and ECISD’s math score went up by 22 points. During this same time the state’s scores fell, the recap said.
All of ECISD’s scores in October 2021 exceeded the state’s scores, the recap said. The district made several changes aimed at improving SAT results, from providing resources for teachers, to embedding SAT-prep into daily lessons, to hosting Boot Camps for kids.
Trustees also heard a presentation from the To-and-Through Success Center, which is designed to provide support to students as they graduate high school, as well as make resources available to help students complete their college degree, industry certificate or other post-secondary pursuit they choose. Post-secondary enrollment and post-secondary completion are Indicators of Success for ECISD’s strategic plan.
The office has formed more than 30 partnerships with two-year and four-year institutions to help track ECISD graduates and helps with college admission requirements including FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and TASFA (Texas Application for State Financial Aid) completion for high school seniors and ECISD alumni.
Using an online platform called ACCESS, ECISD kids explore various careers with professionals from this region. College tours, mentorships, workshops and scholarship opportunities are also part of the To-and-Through work. The office is in the early stages of building an ECISD Alumni network, the recap said.
