The Ector County ISD Board of Trustees on Tuesday approved hiring three principals for three elementary campuses.
They were approved by a 7-0 vote.
Christan Pugh was named principal at Blanton Elementary. Pugh is currently an assistant principal at Nimitz Middle School. She taught for five years between Buice Elementary and Bonham Middle School, as well as three years as a middle school instructional coach. She has taught in schools in Louisiana and Missouri in addition to ECISD.
Claudia Lopez will be principal of Goliad Elementary. Lopez is the assistant principal at Sam Houston Elementary, her fourth year as an assistant principal in the district. She was a bilingual teacher at Cavazos Elementary for six years, a bilingual specialist, and has eight years of teaching experience in Mexico.
And Mercedes Shirley was named principal of Ireland Elementary. Shirley is the assistant principal at Blackshear Elementary. She also served for six years as a special education and reading teacher at Dowling and Blanton elementary schools, as well as a leader teacher in New Braunfels ISD for two years. She is a member of ECISD’s Aspiring Principal Academy this year.
On a separate item, trustees continued their budget discussions for the coming year.
Superintendent Scott Muri gave board members a brief update on the state legislature’s work, letting them know the Texas House of Representatives has now sent a preliminary budget to the Texas Senate, and the Senate has sent its preliminary budget to the House, the board recap said.
In early analysis of each budget, the House proposal would mean an additional $4 million for ECISD’s funding; the Senate is targeting funding for areas such as safety and a $2,000 raise for teachers. Muri and a group of trustees were set to go to Austin this week to talk with elected officials about district needs and ideas on using the state’s $32 billion surplus to have a large impact on public education, the recap said.
In other business:
- Trustees voted 7-0 to approve the 2023-24 Gifted and Talented Plan. Gifted/talented students demonstrate skills in self-directed learning, thinking, research and communication as evidenced by the development of innovative products and performances.
This year, 3,176 students are receiving G/T services, which is about 9.5% of ECISD’s enrollment. Over the last three years, G/T testing has increased by about 400 students. In kindergarten through second grade students remain in their classrooms for G/T instruction; in grades 3-5 and 6th on an elementary campus, G/T is done in classrooms and in pull-out sessions; in middle school G/T takes the form of Honors courses; and in high school it is Honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and advanced Career & Technical Education courses.
The district uses a universal screener in kindergarten, 3rd grade and 5th grade that helps identify students at three different points of their academic career – in addition to being recommended for G/T by parents or teachers. Parent and community engagement that results in more people knowing about G/T opportunities and how students can benefit from G/T classes and activities are a focus of the Advanced Academics Department.
- Trustees voted 7-0 to enter an interlocal agreement with Ector County. This agreement is a swap of two pieces of property adjacent to Cavazos Elementary School.
- The board voted 7-0 to set May 16 as the date to canvass the Board of Trustees May 6 election results.
- Voted 7-0 to approve the Consent Agenda. This month’s Consent Agenda included minutes of previous meetings; bills for payment; acceptance of donations over $10,000; a memorandum of understanding for teacher residency strategic staffing grant with UTPB and Region 18 ESC TXCEE; out-of-state travel for Odessa High School Future Educators Student to go to the national conference; and Instructional Materials Allotment and TEKS Certification.
- The board heard a K-2 Literacy report from the Curriculum & Instruction Department. All kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers and administrators are required to attend a Texas Reading Academy. The district is supporting that work with a decoding pilot that showed strong improvement (double-digit gains) among students at Blanton, Milam and Pease elementary schools.
There are 5 essential components of reading: fluency, vocabulary, phonics, phonemic awareness and comprehension. The decoding work directly supports phonics, the recap said.
- Trustees received an update on work being done by the Information Technology division. The IT teams are continuously evaluating infrastructure and devices to ensure they are working, and being used, at maximum efficiency. IT has been cleaning up wireless internet access in portables to prevent downtime; providing each teacher a laptop and docking station to make every teacher portable – they can go anywhere and use their computer; the district is changing over from smart boards in classroom to interactive smart panels (Promethean boards) that are larger, and brighter; streamline processes for buyback or disposal of outdated equipment; the IT Help Desk has been redesigned to improve service, which it has to less than 5 hours for the first response to a request and resolved by the next day, on average.
A new student information system will come online this summer, called Focus. The migration started about 10 months ago and training is well underway.
With Focus the new parent portal and teacher gradebook are mobile compatible and easier to use.
The Digital Learning office gives support for the way student devices and digital tools are used, allowing teachers to create, monitor and deliver learning more efficiently. Digital tools let teachers review work and give feedback without having to physically collect all completed assignments.
- Trustees voted 7-0 to enter into an interlocal agreement with Central Texas Purchasing Alliance Purchasing Cooperative. Cooperatives (coops) allow ECISD to use group purchasing organizations instead of performing competitive bidding to receive better value on goods and services through a pooled purchasing power.
- Trustees voted 7-0 to enter into an interlocal agreement with National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance Purchasing Cooperative.
- Trustees voted 7-0 to enter into an interlocal agreement with Omnia Partners Purchasing Cooperative.
- Special presentations included the presentation of the Spirit Scholarship honorees, introduction of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program winners, recognition of the 150-plus state and national qualifiers from Career & Technical Education contests, and the Young Professionals of Odessa donation of $1,000 to seven elementary schools.
- In his opening comments, Muri congratulated retiring school board member Carol Gregg. She served in the role of school board member in two separate terms totaling 20 years. Trustees presented her with their “Extra Mile Award” and offered their thanks for all she has done for the staff, students and families of ECISD through the years.
