$6.5M to pay for dual credit, purchase new bus equipment

COMO-PICKTON—With roughly $6.5 million budgeted, Como-Pickton CISD is planning to fully pay for students’ dual credit classes along with purchasing new monitoring equipment for their bus fleet in the coming year, according to Superintendent Dr. Greg Bower at the school board’s Monday night meeting.

With some grant funds paying for roughly half the tuition, the district is pitching in the other half to remove a major financial barrier to earning college credit.

“What a service for our kids if we’re able to do that,” Bower said. “[High school principal] Mr. Baird will be happy. He’s been asking for that for some years now.”

In the district’s budgeted purchase of bus equipment, Bower said the school has had problems with their current rental service for camera and audio equipment, and he proposed the school should own the equipment instead.

“I’m trying to get everything in place so that I can cancel the service so we can own everything outright,” Bower said. “If we have a problem with it, we buy another one.”

The biggest expense would be buying and installing a $14,000 repeater on a tower in Como, but Bower argued the repeater would eventually pay for itself, stating the district currently pays about $1,200 to its rental service.

“That [repeater cost] will really cancel itself out when it’s said and done,” Bower said.

In other budgeted items, the board approved the addition of another special education paraprofessional. Assistant superintendent Jana Andrews said the position is needed to help with a student who will require much support.

“We absolutely need the support position,” Andrews said. “We’ve taken a look at all of our staffing in special education and just try to be as efficient as possible.”

CURRICULUM

Accountability ratings, or letter grades for districts, have been suspended for the 2019-2020 school year due to COVID-19, and the board unanimously passed a resolution stating their support for the ratings suspension for the upcoming school year.

“The state accountability should be suspended for the 2020-2021 school year to allow districts to focus on interventions necessary to recover from institutional gaps resulting from school closures caused by COVID-19,” the resolution read.

Bower clarified the res olution is not for STAAR test suspension but rather the ratings given to districts based partially on test results. According to the Wood County Monitor, Mineola ISD passed a similar resolution, but theirs called for test suspension as well. Bower said the Sulphur Bluff ISD had requested a copy of the resolution for possible adoption.

“It [resolution] does not mean that we are not going to do it. It’s saying that the board says that we don’t think it’s a good idea,” Bower said. “We’re going to do whatever the state says, but we don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Other schools across Texas have adopted similar resolutions, including Arlington ISD, Burnet CISD and Conroe ISD.

In other items, Career and Technical Education (CTE) Director Michael Bowen presented out-of-state travel plans for CTE activities and a certification list for CTE programs. He said the travel plans are contingent on cancellations due to COVID-19.

According to Bowen, the district will offer eight certifications for students before they graduate, and there will be nine sequences, or areas, of study for students as well.

“We usually do our certification with our students after spring break, and, well, after spring break didn’t happen this year,” Bowen said. “We’re changing our plan for doing that. We’re going to work to get these kids certified before their senior year if we can.”

The board approved his proposals unanimously.