Board approves guaranteed maximum price for new CTE high school

The Ector County ISD Board of Trustees held its May board meeting on the 20^th. A recap of the agenda is below.

1.      Roll Call. Dr. Steve Brown attended the meeting virtually, Delma Abalos was absent.

2.      Verification of compliance with open meetings requirements.

3.      Gavin Trowbridge from Dowling Elementary and Samual Sanderson from Permian High School led the pledges of allegiance.

4.      Deacon Andrew Davis from Holy Redeemer Catholic Church gave the invocation

5.      The special presentations were all about the Class of 2025. The valedictorians and salutatorians for all six (6) high schools were introduced, and the winners of the Achiever Scholarships (2), Memorial Scholarships (9), and Spirit Scholars (20) were announced.

 6.      In opening comments, Superintendent Dr. Keeley Boyer congratulated Nimitz Middle School 8^th grader Krish Patel for winning the regional spelling bee earlier this spring and wished him the best of luck as he competes in the Scripps National Spelling Bee next week.     

7.      In public comment, Isabella Patrick, a student from Permian High School, thanked the school board for all it does to support students in the district. She said she is a junior [a senior in terms of credits] who is graduating this month, one year early. She said while she is not able to walk in the PHS graduation ceremony [due to school board policy regarding graduation requirements] she appreciates that the board is following its protocol.

 

8.      Bond 2023 Update

 A.     Update:

The Career & Technical Education (CTE) high school is on track for groundbreaking next month. The project’s Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) has come in at $86,591,081 (and was approved in Item 8B).

The new middle school in west Odessa has seen steel work begin and blockwork around the gym started. Foundation, electrical and plumbing work are ongoing.

The final bid date for the Transition Learning Center will be May 21 with a recommendation to be presented to the school board in June.

The Permian High School auditorium project is nearing the end of the design development phase and GMP should be going to the board in June.

A contract of a little more than $1.3 million is being brought to the board for the PHS JROTC facility. No on-site activity has begun.

The Ag Farm design is being finalized, procurement will take place during the summer, and no on-site work has begun.

In the technology update, cabling is complete at the majority of elementary campuses and is beginning at Odessa High School (it should take 4-6 weeks). This is for the new PA/Bells/Alarms/Clocks projects. Installation of new surveillance cameras is finished at all high schools and middle schools and is now beginning at elementary schools.

Our Fine Arts Department has now ordered 1,103 instruments at a cost of about $1.9 million. Of those, 359 are for elementary classrooms. As of now, 987 instruments have been delivered.

In the financial update, approximately $31.4 million (7%) of bond funds have been spent and another $121.3 million (29%) is encumbered for specific projects.   

  

B.      Trustees voted 6-0 to approve purchases over $50,000 related to the bond. The single item on this month’s agenda is the $86,591,081 to Teinert construction, the construction manager at-risk, for the Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) of the new CTE high school.

 

9.      Action items

A.      Trustees voted 6-0 to approve purchases over $50,000. This is a lengthy list of items this month for the School Nutrition Department (food items, paper/plastic items, equipment, and staff uniforms) and the Operations Department (charter bus services, portable classroom relocation, floor recoating/repairs, lawn care, and other maintenance).

B.      Trustees voted 6-0 to approve budget amendment #7.

C.      Trustees voted 6-0 to approve the extension of the bank depository contract, a requirement every two years. Due to excellent service and affordable pricing ECISD is extending the contract with Frost Bank.

D.     Trustees voted 6-0 to approve the 2025-26 Gifted and Talented Plan. The plan, and an update on ECISD’s advanced academics program, was presented to the board at last week’s workshop.  

E.      This item was pulled from the agenda.

 

 10.  Trustees voted 6-0 to approve the Consent Agenda. The consent agenda is a group of routine, or previously discussed items presented together for a single approval vote. This month’s Consent Agenda included minutes of meetings; bills for payment; acceptance of donations over $10,000*; the quarterly investment report; authorization to operate a vehicle inspection station (for buses); a memorandum of understanding with The Holdsworth Center; a contract with Henthorn Commercial Construction to build a new cafeteria at Austin Montessori; and a contract with Mid-Tex of Midland to build a new shooting range for the Permian HS JROTC program (they use plastic pellets for target practice).

 

11.  Reports/Discussion Items

A.  Trustees continued their budget discussions for the 2025-26 school year. This was a brief update, as there is very little new information. The Texas House of Representatives passed House Bill 2 for public education funding, but the Texas Senate made sweeping changes to it. Evaluating ECISD’s expenditures for this 2024-25 school year it appears the District’s fund balance will increase, but based on current school funding laws and the projected expenses the 2025-26 school year, ECISD would be facing a $10.5 million deficit budget. That calculation includes no raises for employees. District leaders are continuing to look for budget areas to cut. Proposed bills in the legislature, if passed, could require differing raises for teachers based on their years of experience and these required raises for teachers would use most of any proposed increase in state funding. Trustees agreed that all employees need and deserve a raise, and they discussed different percentage increases in pay and the potential impact on the District’s budget. Several board members stated a 2% raise for all non-teachers (since they are not included in current legislative proposals) seems like the appropriate amount as it would use the remaining funds in the proposed legislation. The school board is planning a special meeting on June 24 to finalize and adopt the budget for 2025-26.

 

12.  Trustees moved to closed session to discuss several hirings.  

A.     Trustees voted 6-0 to approve Christan Pugh as the new Nimitz Middle School Principal. Mrs. Pugh is currently the principal at Blanton Elementary, a position she’s held for the past two years. Prior to that she was an assistant principal at Nimitz MS for three years. She was also an instructional coach at Nimitz MS for three years and has teaching experience at both elementary and middle school..

 

B.      Trustees voted 6-0 to approve Jennie Chavez as the new E.K. Downing Elementary Principal. Mrs. Chavez is finishing her sixth year as the principal at Noel Elementary School and was recently awarded ECISD’s Elementary Principal of the Year award. She served three years as an assistant principal to go along with 14 years of teaching experience.

 

C.      Trustees voted 6-0 to approve Amanda Sierra as the new Gonzales Elementary Principal. Ms. Sierra is a principal intern at West Elementary this year, and she attended the Holdsworth Principal Academy. She has three years of experience as an assistant principal and served on the administrative team at Ireland Elementary that led improvement from an F to an B state rating.

 

D.     Trustees voted 6-0 to approve Julie Marshall as Executive Director of Leadership. Ms. Marshall has spent the past five years as the principal at Dowling Elementary and before that was the principal at Hays STEAM Academy for two years. Her 35 years of public education experience includes work as an instructional services director at Bonham and Wilson & Young middle schools and 19 years as a teacher.

 

E.      Trustees voted 5-0-1 to approve Dr. Robert Trejo as Chief Academic Officer. Dr. Trejo is currently serving as ECISD’s executive director of accountability & school improvement where he manages and interprets accountability ratings under TEA’s A-F system and collects and analyzes student performance data to support campus/district decision-making, giving him extensive knowledge of instructional frameworks and school improvement strategies.

 

F.      Trustees voted 5-0-1 to approve Dr. Matthew Spivy as Chief Human Capital Officer. Dr. Spivy is completing his second year as ECISD’s executive director of human resources. He recently completed the Holdsworth Leadership Collaborative focused on developing talent pipelines. He taught for seven years and has 13 years of administrative experience.

 

13.  Trustees voted for new board officers, electing Tammy Hawkins as president by a vote of 5-1; electing Dr. Steve Brown as vice president by a vote of 5-1; and electing Bob Thayer as secretary by a vote of 6-0.

 

14.  Information Items –  https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1406?meeting=683693.

 

15.  In closing remarks, Dr. Boyer said the District has tentatively scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony for the new CTE high school on June 17.  

 

16.  The meeting adjourned at 8:06   p.m.  

 

* $23,104 from Reagan Elementary PTO for bleachers for outdoor track area

   $13,500 from Diamondback Energy for GT Super Saturday Conference 2025 and Chess Champs Tournament