I am proud to serve as this year’s chair of the Board of Directors of the Odessa Chamber of Commerce. This opportunity has allowed me to stay abreast of the many community issues and needs facing Odessa, Ector County and the Permian Basin as a whole. Recently, our Chamber Board had an extensive presentation from ECISD Superintendent Dr. Scott Muri and Odessans for Education PAC members Lorraine Perryman and Lisa Wyman about the upcoming Bond Election of which Ector County voters will cast a ballot on May 7th.
After much discussion, I am proud that the Board of Directors voted to support and publicly endorse these two Bond Proposals. As a Chamber, our Staff works with various companies looking to make Odessa home, along with local businesses about expansion opportunities, which all require an increased labor force.
Over the past ten years, our community has experienced unparalleled growth. We have several exciting opportunities on the horizon, with the strong potential of the need for thousands of additional employees, which creates a great demand for an influx of an upskilled workforce. We must not only prepare our students for the future job needs and demands, but we must also make sure they are fully equipped with the proper skill sets that will be needed by our current and future employers. That requires repair and upgrades to our aging infrastructure, facilities and technology, as well as providing a state-of-the-art Career & Technical Education Center that will provide our employers with graduates who are career ready. After all, our students deserve the best and as a community, we must demand an academic setting of excellence.
Our two major High Schools in Odessa are exceedingly overcrowded, depriving our students of the safe, secure and positive learning atmosphere they deserve. We have not built a new high school since 1959. That does not align with the overall excellence that we feel our students, families and employers should demand. We are decades past the need for a new high school.
Putting off the inevitable is not going to make it any cheaper. We must act now and VOTE YES on both propositions. The students deserve this, our community’s future demands this and our future success depends on this.
Sincerely,
Jimmy Cox
Chair, Board of Directors
Odessa Chamber of Commerce
