CISD board moves forward with Ag Facility renovations

The Cameron ISD Board of Trustees voted to move forward with renovations to the Yoe High Ag Facility among other things on Monday night during a regular meeting.

“There has been some renovation done on the Ag facility at the high school but there are some areas in that facility that need attention,” Sprinkles said. “The office area, the hallway and the restrooms in that facility are pretty poor. We have the career and technology funding to pay for it.”

The board selected the competitive sealed proposal method to find a vendor to do the work. The bids will be posted in the newspaper this week with specifications for the project.

The project is over $50,000 so the board is required to go out for bids on the project.

Sprinkles said the project will most likely be done before the start of the school year. He said if it runs over into the school year it can be done while instruction is going on because it doesn’t take in any classroom space.

Sprinkles also told the board he has received the first draft of a facilities assessment that the board approved earlier this year for the district.

“It is pretty extensive,” he said. “It has a lot of great information in there and I think you will be impressed that you will receive this information about the district’s facilities. I think we can have the architect group come in July and give you their findings.”

Sprinkles said the assessment does include Old Yoe and their will be recommendations for the use and information on viability of the district’s facilities.

Sprinkles told the board renovations to Cameron Elementary and Junior High will be done this summer to refresh the paint and do some other updates to the campus.

Assistant Superintendent Mistie Dakroub also updated the board on board goals for CCMR and Early Childhood Reading and Math.

“The goal is to make the board goals align with what we are already trying to do to get kids on grade level in reading by the time they take the STAAR test,” Dakroub said.

The board will hear a more detailed report on goals at the July meeting. Due to COVID-19 this year’s STAAR tests were not given. So all scoring will be using the numbers for 2019.

“Our goal is to prepare kids before they get to the third grade reading test to perform better,” she said. “Some of our numbers don’t look great, but we are working on it. We have until 2024 to meet this goal.”

Dakroub said the board will hear the report at the next meeting and decide whether the district is meeting those goals.

The board also heard from Business Manager Missy Giesenschlag on the district’s Ideal Impact Savings Report.

She said at of the end of April the district had saved $86,766.89 through the program and she was expecting more savings due to not using the district’s buildings in May of this year due to COVID.

“We are on track to recoup what we put into the program over the next few years and then the rest will be gravy,” Giesenschlag said. “We are saving $75,000 a year from the average of the prior three years.” 

In other business the board also: heard a report from Sprinkles on the 2020-21 budget; discussed the replacement of the PA system at Cameron Elementary and Junior High; approved a MOU with Temple College for dual credit classes; ratified the TEA waivers submitted by Sprinkles; and set a time for a board workshop.