New middle school boundaries are set

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

1.     Roll Call.

2.     Verification of compliance with open meetings requirements.

3.     Alina Guillen and Luis Natividad from Gale Pond Alamo Elementary led the pledges of allegiance.

4.     Senior Pastor Matt Wilson from Antioch Church gave the invocation.

 

5.     The special presentations included this video to celebrate School Board Recognition Month, announcement of Academic All-State Student-Athletes from the fall semester, recognition of the Alternative Education Center’s CREST Award for counseling, and recognition of the ECISD Police Department receiving Big Bend Area Law Enforcement Agency of the Year. All are pictured below.   

6.     In opening comments, Superintendent Dr. Keeley Boyer told Trustees the district, on Wednesday morning, awarded five principals a total of $110,000 in Principal Incentive Allotment awards. She then introduced this video of the presentation.   

7.     There was no public comment.   

 

8.     Bond 2023

A.     Bond Update:

The new Career & Technical Education (CTE) facility has ongoing work on the site’s sewer system, foundation excavation and placement, and electrical; the plumbing is just starting.

Vasquez Middle School has site utility work, steel work, blockwork around the fine arts area of the campus, and interior finishes in the education wing in progress.

Foundation work is in the early stages of the Transition Learning Center construction.

At Permian High School, the auditorium’s concourse has now been reopened, with HVAC work ongoing and audio-visual work to begin soon. The exterior brick work continues, too.

The steelwork for PHS’s new JROTC facility is nearing completion, metal siding placement is in progress and masonry will begin soon.

The new Transportation Center project is in design phase. A pre-bid potential contractor meeting was held on January 7, and six contractors attended the walk with architects.

Priority 1 and Priority 2 Roofing Package 1 (Burleson, Fly, Travis, Zavala) is nearly complete and a contractor recommendation for Roofing Package 2 (Noel, San Jacinto, Cameron, Crockett and Ector) is being presented in this meeting.

At the Ag Farm, first phase demolition is complete, a retention pond is being dug, and trenching and plumbing work are going.

On the technology front: 13 campuses now have upgraded, operational systems for PA, bell, alarm and clocks, Cameron and Alamo elementary schools are the next scheduled.

The surveillance camera installation is into its final stage with only Ratliff Stadium installations remaining. That will complete Phase 1; Phase 2 will begin shortly after that an add additional door access cameras to campuses further strengthening districtwide security.

In the finance update, two-thirds of the original bond proceeds are either spent or designated for specific project costs – that’s approximately $283 million.

Be sure to keep up with the progress at www.ecisdbond.com.

 

B.     Trustees voted 7-0 to approve Bond 2023 purchases over $50,000. The four items on the list this month are $11.4 million for roofing projects; $745,000 for roofing projects design/engineering services; $539,900 for surveillance camera refresh; and $260,000 for asbestos abatement.  

 

9.     Board Policy

A.     Trustees voted 7-0 to approve revisions to CH(Local): Purchasing and Acquisitions. This change increases 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 voted 7-0 to approve revisions to CFB(Local): Accounting Inventories. This change aligns ECISD policy with recent changes to both federal law and state law on the threshold for capitalization of items purchased, increasing it from $5,000 to $10,000.

 

C.     Trustees voted 7-0 to approve revisions to EHBE(Local): Special Programs: Bilingual Education/ESL. This change is in line with the District’s planned move to a Transitional Bilingual Early-Exit Model with the 2026-27 school year.         

 

10.  Action Items

A.     Trustees voted 7-0 to approve purchases over $50,000. The items on this list this month are $215,000 for integrated pest management services, and $151,449 for combo walk-cooler and freezer units for School Nutrition.

 

B.     Trustees voted 7-0 to approve a memorandum of understanding with the Sunset Youth Golf Center.  The Sunset Youth Golf Center (SYGC) is a non-profit entity whose mission is to provide youth in ECISD with a safe and support space to practice and develop their golf skills. This agreement will allow SYGC to use a portion of the Sunset Golf Course Property to refurbish the driving range, practice putting green, and existing clubhouse into office and classroom space giving ECISD students a dedicated area for golf instruction and practice. The project is planned to begin in February and be completed by June.  

 

C.     Trustees voted 7-0 to approve new middle school boundaries. The board adopted Proposed Plan #5. The school board began these discussions in the fall with a series of public meetings and a community survey, gaining valuable feedback from community members during that process. You will find the map on our webpage - https://www.ectorcountyisd.org/our-district/middle-school-boundary-changes-for-2026-27. 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. More information will be forthcoming as to next year’s 8^th graders being ‘grandfathered in’ to their current schools and new transportation routes. Vasquez Middle School will open in August 2026 as the first middle school outside Loop 338 in west Odessa.

 

11.  Trustees voted 7-0 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; donations over $10,000*; recommendations of library materials; resolution for applying for four police grants from the Office of the Governor; approval of personal services by Hilberto Ochoa to provide bus driver safety training for Region 18 ESC; approval of personal services by Dr. Carole Campbell and by Dr. Scott Rudes for adjunct professor at UTPB.

 

12.  Trustees moved to closed session. When they returned from closed session Trustees voted 7-0 to approve Berta Saldibar as the new executive director of Bilingual, ESL, and Migrant Education. Ms. Saldibar has been serving as the Bilingual Education director since 2023. Her 30 years of education experience includes fourteen years as a Bilingual teacher. She has deep content expertise and is a proven district leader.     

 

13.  Information items – https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1406?meeting=717325

14.  There were no closing remarks.

15.  The meeting adjourned at 8:36 p.m.  

 

*$170,000 from the Education Foundation of Odessa (from FMH Foundation) to update lighting, video, and audio for the Odessa HS Performing Arts Center

 $16,776.78 from the Murry Fly parent-teacher account for discretionary use

 $ 53,012 from the Education Foundation of Odessa for staff salary contribution for Education Foundation

 $ 38,643 from the Nimitz Athletic Booster Club – Nickie Wilkins for Dynamic weight room racks and benches

 $ 25,000 from the Education Foundation of Odessa for books to replenish the San Jacinto Elementary library; given in honor of Dick Saulsbury