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Business manager Denise Boseman (left) swears in DJ Carr as a new member of the CPCISD school board. Carr was later nominated and elected to serve as the board’s president, a position he held before he resigned. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
Board approves Aug. 10 fall start
Como-Pickton CISD Superintendent Dr. Greg Bower issued a dire warning about a fall start at the school board’s regular meeting Monday, stating the district is faced with a “no-win situation” on reopening the campus.
“No matter what you do, it’s not to satisfy all the staff,” Bower said. “No matter what you do, it’s not going to satisfy all of the community. No matter what we do, it’s not going to satisfy all of our kids.”
Bower said finalized procedures for CPCISD should be released Wednesday or Thursday after he and the principals meet to discuss plans.
“We’re going to come with a plan that we think is best for our community and best for our school,” he said. “We’ll see what happens from there.”
Bower also acknowledged the growing uncertainty surrounding a fall start, and he assured the administration will “tirelessly adjust” to state decisions.
The Texas Education Agency released guidelines on a fall return early last week, and Bower took issue with them, calling them “ridiculous.”
“If they think we can follow those expectations, it is insulting and ridiculous,” Bower said. “It is impossible for us to do all of what they’re asking us to do.”
However, the district has purchased temperature-checking machines for the upcoming school year, including walk-through scanners that resemble metal detectors and smaller stations that determine temperature within a few seconds.
“At the entrance at all the campuses, there’s going to be…a temperature scanning machine,” Bower said, adding the smaller stations will be used at the school bus entrance.
To account for sudden closures due to COVID-19, the board approved changes to the academic calendar which includes an earlier fall start for students on Aug. 10 and contingency days for closures due to COVID-19. The school day will also end at 3:35 p.m. instead of 3:20 p.m. According to Bower, the district should have 18 days, or a little over 3 school weeks, of leeway without changing the graduation date.
“It stretches out this year where we’re not adding any additional days but instead making it flexible for in case we needed to close, we can use these [contingency] days to fill in the gaps we might have,” Bower said. “
The board also approved a $32,454 purchase of 150 hotspots for students who do not have reliable access to the internet during closures.
“They [students] are now able to take that hotspot with them and work from home,” Bower said. “Obviously that’s expensive, and it was not budgeted this year.”
However, Bower said the school managed to qualify the purchase to be covered under the Technology and Instructional Materials Allotment, state funds outside the local budget given to each district for tools needed for education. According to the Texas Education Agency, CPCISD has access to $139,386 for the previous school year and this upcoming year.
At the start of the meeting, DJ Carr was sworn in as the newest member of the school board after Beth Hankins, who was appointed in June, resigned due to an employment issue. Carr resigned in June due to his wife Katie being hired by the district as a teacher, and Bower said the district’s attorney approved the legality of Carr’s appointment.
According to the Texas Government Code, an individual must be employed for at least 30 days before a relative is appointed to a school board, and Katie Carr, having been hired June 9, was on her 34th day of employment as of Monday.
The board was also reorganized. Carr was named president, Mark Humphrey vice president and Shiloh Childress secretary.