Middle school boundary maps down to two considerations

The Ector County ISD Board of Trustees held its January Workshop on the 13th. A recap of the agenda is below.

1.      Roll Call.

2.      Verification of compliance with open meetings requirements.

3.      In opening comments, Superintendent Dr. Keeley Boyer alerted Trustees to an evacuation and reunification drill that will be conducted on Friday afternoon at Noel Elementary. ECISD Communications will be pushing information out to the community over the next day or two to let people know it is a drill and not a real emergency.

4.      There was no public comment.

5.      Board Policy

A.      Trustees discussed revisions to CH(Local): Purchasing and Acquisitions. This proposed change would increase the purchasing approval limit delegated to the Superintendent from the current $50,000 to $100,000 which would be in alignment with the new state threshold for competitive bid purchases.

 

B.      Trustees discussed revisions to CFB(Local): Accounting Inventories. This proposed change would align ECISD policy with recent changes to both federal l

 

C.      Trustees discussed revisions to EHBE(Local): Special Programs: Bilingual Education/ESL. This proposed change is in line with the District’s proposal to move to a Transitional Bilingual Early-Exit Model with the 2026-27 school year.  

 

6.      Report/Discussion Items

A.     Trustees continued their discussion of middle school boundaries for the 2026-27 school year. You may recall; the school board began these discussions in the fall with a series of public meetings and a community survey. Using that feedback and input from Trustees, two maps were presented in this meeting as options for consideration – they were proposed plan #5 and proposed plan #6. You will find these two maps on our webpage - https://www.ectorcountyisd.org/our-district/middle-school-boundary-changes-for-2026-27. You will notice the differences between the two are along the western edge of the Bonham MS boundary and would impact Bonham and either Bowie MS or Wilson & Young MS. The goal of any rezoning effort is to allow students to attend a neighborhood school, to reduce travel time, and to level out enrollment between the schools as much as possible. Trustees are planning to vote on the new middle school boundaries at next week’s meeting.

 

B.      Trustees received an update on the strategic plan initiative related to Artificial Intelligence (AI). ECISD’s strategic plan commits to “integrate evolving digital tools in ways that enhance teaching and accelerate student success.” AI is one of those tools. ECISD is one of the leaders in the AI for education work with updated Responsible Use agreements to include language about the use of AI, vetting of all AI products to ensure alignment with our data privacy standards, age-appropriate access controls by grade level, and active content filtering and monitoring system. The board talked about common misconceptions of AI and then practiced with it themselves, learning the importance of using good prompts to elicit a better quality of responses. The District has provided (and is providing) professional development training on AI use for teachers and staff. Also, ECISD has developed a guide with four approaches to students using AI: for brainstorming, for practice and productivity, for feedback and refinement, and on their own. It is important for students to be prepared for the workforce, build critical thinking, personalizes support for all learners, and develop AI literacy.

 

C.      Trustees began their discussion of priorities for the 2026-27 budget. With a decline in enrollment this year, the beginning budget amounts will be lower than in previous years. As school board members took turns talking about things they want district leaders to prioritize as the budget is built, they mentioned keeping an emphasis on improving Bilingual education, look for redundances that can be eliminated to improve efficiency, keep any cuts as far from the classroom as possible, continue talent development efforts to recruit and train and retain employees, quality professional development, and do all that can be done for compensation. All agreed, raises are important and ECISD should be competitive not only in this market but with other, similar districts, but if budget constraints are an obstacle, explore retention bonuses for employees. It is still very early in the budget process and all revenue projections are estimates and will change between now and the time a new budget is adopted in late June.

 

7.      There was no closed session.

8.      There were no closing remarks,

9.      The meeting adjourned at 8:28 p.m.