A presentation of demographic data from Population and Survey Analysts will be on the Ector County Independent School District Board of Trustees work study agenda Tuesday.
The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Odessa High School Performing Arts Center, 1301 N. Dotsy Ave.
Superintendent Tom Crowe said in an interview he has invited the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, the city council, the University of Texas of the Permian Basin President David Watts and Odessa College President Gregory Williams and the Education Foundation Board, among others.
“It’s going to impact the entire community. Also that’s helping me lay groundwork for future bond issues,” Crowe said.
He said there are people who probably won’t believe the data because the area has recently gone through an economic downturn. “But if they’ll look out across from the golf course at how many of those rigs have disappeared now in the last two weeks, people are going back out” to work in the oilfield, Crowe said.
He said it takes three and a half years to build a high school; two and a half to build a middle school; and two years to construct an elementary school.
“What I’ve got to do is get people not to look at the next two years’ numbers, but three years out. What do the numbers tell us three years from now?” Crowe said.
He noted that he knows a bond issue will be a hard sell. But the district didn’t lose many students in the last slowdown.
Crowe added that homebuilders are still building residences at a fast clip. The new elementary schools on the west side filled up and an elementary school on the east side was closed to new enrollees.
Some of the other items on the agenda are:
- Request for approval of the ECISD District of Innovation Plan.
- Discussion of a request for approval of innovative courses submission to the Texas Education Agency for Occupational Safety & Environment Training for OCTECHS students. OCTECHS is the early college high school on the Odessa College campus that enables students to earn a high school diploma and associate degree at the same time.
- Presentation of AVID’s annual report. AVID, a college preparation program, stands for Advancement via Individual Determination.
- Discussion of a request for approval of a memorandum of understanding between ECISD and UTPB for a counseling intern program.
