School board approves name for new CTE facility funded by Bond 2023

The Ector County ISD Board of Trustees held its March Board Meeting on the 24th. A recap of the agenda is below.

1.      Roll Call. Chris Stanley and Wayne Woodall were absent.

2.      Verification of compliance with open meetings requirements.

3.      Gabriel Ramirez and Maximiliano Galaviz from Gonzales Elementary led the pledges of allegiance.

 

4.      Pastor Joshua Zuniga from Kingdom Church gave the invocation.

 

5.      The special presentations featured the recognition of ECISD’s Purchasing Department for receiving a 2026 Award of Merit for Purchasing Operations; the recognition of ECISD Executive Director of Athletics Tracey Borchardt as the Region 2 Athletic Director of the Year; the introduction of five (5) Permian High School football players who earned 6-A All-State honors; recognition of the Odessa High School Mariachi Broncho on qualifying for the UIL state competition; and the announcement of Academic Decathlon teams from OHS, Odessa Collegiate Academy, New Tech Odessa, and STEM Academy who all qualified for state competitions this spring. NOTE: the first two presentations are pictured below, the rest are posted on our Ector County ISD Facebook page.       

 

6.      In opening comments, Superintendent Dr. Keeley Boyer told Trustees about two very generous donations from community partners. The Education Foundation gave $1 million toward the renovation of four school libraries and the Permian Strategic Partnership committed to funding targeted professional development and coaching for K–2 teachers focused on foundational reading instruction. Five campuses will participate in the pilot over the next two years, working with the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at the University of Texas at Austin  

 

7.      There was no public comment.

 

8.      Board Policy

A.      Trustees voted 5-0 to approve a revision to board policy CW (Local) Naming Facilities. This update references a recently created Regulation (CW) that addresses facility naming requests for parts of a facility (e.g. an auditorium, playground, practice field) and it allows for a facility to be named for a business or organization that has made significant contributions toward the construction or renovation of a facility.

 

9.      Public Hearing

A.      Trustees heard a report on the 2025-26 Targeted Improvement Plans and Local Improvement Plans. (as they did during last week’s board workshop, too). A Local Improvement Plan is developed by the school district and campus to address areas of low performance on a campus, and is incorporated into the Campus Improvement Plan. Progress is measured and monitored monthly, weekly campus visits are conducted, as are data reviews with the superintendent.

The Texas Education Agency requires TIPs (Targeted Improvement Plans) for schools identified as needing improvement due to low performance, D or F ratings, or consistently underperforming student groups. TEA recommends school districts select a single school improvement strategy to align district-wide processes; ECISD has chosen “intensive curriculum and instruction improvements” aligned to Academics & Accountability Department initiatives.  

 

B.      Trustees voted 5-0 to approve the plans.

 

 

10.  Bond 2023

 A.     Bond Update:

At the new Career & Technical Education high school sewer, electrical, and plumbing are all ongoing and foundation placement is in progress.

The new middle school is advancing quickly in anticipation of its opening in August. Some interior finishes are already in place, and the grounds, fields, and parking lots are taking shape.

At Permian High School, HVAC ductwork in the auditorium has been enclosed, the stage extension is in progress as is exterior concrete work, and the famous MOJO letter will soon be placed back on the outside of the building.

The PHS JROTC facility is almost at the half-way point. Insulation and underground utilities work are ongoing, overhead doors have been installed, and completion looks to be in May.

The Transition Learning Center has concrete placement for grade beams and underground electrical and plumbing is started.

At the Ag Farm, the concrete slab is being poured for the building that contains the arena and both barns. The project has a finish date of late summer.

A geotechnical survey is being done at the site of the new Transportation Facility, as they map private and domestic utility lines ahead of the scheduled renovations and construction.

Under the Priority 1 & Priority 2 work, revised drawings for the five schools in Package 2 are being reviewed by architects. The schools in this grouping are Noel, San Jacinto, Cameron elementary schools and Crockett and Ector Middle Schools. Additionally, Travis Elementary – which will become ECISD’s new Welcome Center for parents – has gotten a validated Certificate of Occupancy.

About one-third of bond proceeds are available (that is slightly less than $141 million); the rest of the funds have been spent or are designated for specific projects through purchase orders.

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

 

B.      Trustees received the annual report from the Bond Oversight Committee. The oversight committee is made up of ten (10) community members who meet regularly to ensure bond projects remain faithful to priorities identified in the 2023 Bond Plan, review information about and expenditure of bond funds are accurate and transparent. They are expected to serve in this role through the implementation of Bond 2023 projects. At this time, the committee members report being pleased with the detailed level of communication, openness, and responsiveness of ECISD’s administrative team and the progress of the bond work.

 

C.      Trustees voted 5-0 to approve the naming of the new Career & Technical Education high school set to open in 2027. The local, board-appointed committee met four times beginning last December to establish a plan to solicit and receive suggestions from the public, to review potential names, mascots, and colors for the new facility. The committee’s recommendation is to name the new facility Advancing Trades, Learning, and Skills Career & Technical Education Center – the ATLAS CTE Center for short. The committee felt it would be best to let the students at the new school select a mascot, and recommended ECISD’s district colors as the facility will be home to and represent students from across the school district.  

   

D.     Trustees voted 5-0 to approve Bond 2023 purchases over $100,000. This month’s list of items is lengthy. Use this link to see the list for this item, 10-D.

 

E.      Trustees voted 5-0 to approve Teinert Construction as the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) for the new Transportation Facility.

 

F.       Trustees voted 4-0-1 (Delma Abalos abstained) to approve cancellation of a Request for Qualifications for roofing projects Construction Manager at Risk. Cancelling the RFQ will allow the District to rebid the process as a CMAR Request for Proposals and will allow the roof projects to be bundled for maximum market efficiency.

 

G.     Trustees voted 5-0 to delegate authority to the superintendent to negotiate and execute an individual job order for Bond 2023 Priority 1 and Priority 2 construction with the listed general contractor at the specified cost. The specific job order is for Priority 1 and Priority 2 work at Hays Elementary.

 

H.     Trustees voted 5-0 to approve a revised estimate cost for individual job orders under the approved job order contracts for Bond 2023 Priority 1 & 2 (P1 & P2) construction. Projected costs for eleven of these P1 and P2 campus projects are exceeding a threshold of 10% or more, the original estimates which were informed by the facility condition assessment last updated in 2022. Market pricing and labor costs have changed drastically over the last four years and have impacted smaller projects that are just beginning to be bid. Trustees reviewed these projects and the updated costs and asked that every contingency be considered. Parkhill architects are closely reviewing the scope of all projects to look for savings and are focused on negotiating the best possible cost with vendors.

 

11.  Action Items

A.      Trustees voted 5-0 to approve purchases over $100,000. The item on this list this month is an increase of $130,000 for charter bus travel for extracurricular activities the Transportation Department cannot cover.

B.      Trustees voted 5-0 to approve budget amendment #6.    

 

 

12.  Trustees voted 5-0 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; recommendations for library materials; and participation in Local Government Investment Cooperative.

 

13.  Trustees moved to closed session to discuss intruder detection audit findings.

 

14.  Information items - https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1406?meeting=729629.

 

15.  There were no closing remarks.

 

16.  The meeting adjourned at 8:02 p.m.