As a second generation Odessan that was educated in ECISD attending west side schools and graduating from OHS, I have always thought that Odessa was a great place to raise a family (my kids graduated from PHS). I am troubled by the steady decline of our schools and the quality of education in our community. While growing up, Odessa was known to have some of the best facilities for schools and always equipped students to be the best they could be. The community did its best to make sure ECISD gave our students the absolute best chance to succeed in the classroom and in extra-curricular activities regardless of which side of town they were on or which school they attended.
Both of our current high schools are over 60 years old and current enrollment is at about 125% capacity. Additions were added to accommodate the added 9th graders which resulted in the enrollment increasing to about 4000 students. We have failed to plan and be prepared for the growth that we have seen during the past 20-30 years. This includes the elementary schools and middle schools as well. We have failed in providing the best learning conditions for our students and the best working conditions for our teachers. In fact, we are nearly last in academic performance compared to the rest of the state. This is unacceptable!
Although I voted for the bond that passed in 2012, I did not agree with some of the provisions that were presented. I began to ask questions of the school board members as well as administrators. As a result, I was asked to serve on the bond committee in 2016 and again in 2019. Both were made up of a variety of other community members (parents, business leaders, teachers, administrators, retirees and others). We looked at information from the district and outside sources. We looked at dire needs as well as wants. We tried to identify priorities across the district at every level. We spent 6-7 months reviewing this information in order to offer solutions that would best serve the students and teachers of Ector County. Bottom line is that we have more needs and priorities than we have resources. While there were differences in what needed to be done, the consensus was that we need to address the direst issues first. We have to start somewhere and ultimately the school board made decisions based on the recommendations from the committee.
There is a lot of misinformation being told by people that have not stepped foot on any school campus or even attended a school board meeting.
I would like to encourage everyone to attend one of the informational meetings and ask questions before making a decision that will have long lasting effects on the quality of education for the kids of Ector County. We can no longer say “shoulda, coulda, woulda” and blame past school boards and superintendents for our failure in education.
We can’t point fingers at the other side of town claiming that one side gets preferential treatment. We are all in this together. What benefits one will benefit the others! We are all to blame for not holding administrators accountable and demanding that our schools be better!
We should have been attending board meetings and talking to our elected officials… but we did not. I believe that it is our obligation to the kids of Ector County to provide the best education possible.
Our future depends on it! While these proposals may not be exactly what you may want we must start rebuilding now for our future! Please vote yes for both propositions on May 7!
Grayson Hankins
Odessa
