The Board of Trustees recognized the following students for their achievements:
In his comments to the Board, Superintendent Rick Berry announced that the trustees would be recognized at the February meeting for their dedication to the district’s students, staff, parents and community. While the state officially recognizes school board members in January, Mr. Berry said that the district instead chooses to recognize the National Merit Scholars.
Eighth-grade students Sarah Sibayan from Thornton Middle School and Mason McGahen from Hamilton Middle School were recognized for each having their artwork selected as winning entries for the PBK Architects 2002 calendar.
Langham Creek High School football player Jamar Williams was chosen from a field of eight finalists to be named the 2001 Defensive Player of the Year by the Houston Touchdown Club.
The Houston Chronicle has selected several district high school athletes for special recognition. Megan Heinze from Langham Creek was named the Greater Houston Area Volleyball Player of the Year. Fellow Lobo Cody Lowe was also recognized as the Greater Houston Area Most Valuable Defensive Player of the Year and received All-State team honorable mention. Also from Langham Creek, Ryan Smith was named Greater Houston Area Kicker of the Year, and Chris Baloney was named Greater Houston Area Second Team Defensive Back. From Cypress Falls, Biren Ealy was chosen as the First Team Defensive Back and also received All-State honorable mention.
Cypress Springs teacher Linda Stallman was the district’s nominee for the Gulf Coast Administrators’ of Special Education "Regular Educator of the Year" award. Stallman was nominated for her support to students with disabilities.
Linda Young, vice-chairman of the Volunteers In Public Schools (VIPS) Executive Board, was recognized as the recipient of the Galveston Bay Foundation Hero Award for her work in supporting the organization’s program to educate children about how Houston affects the health of Galveston Bay. As the district’s volunteer science chairman, Young has worked with the Foundation to provide training, support and materials to the district’s volunteers, who present environmental protection lessons to fourth- and seventh-grade students as part of the science curriculum.
In recognition of School Nurse Awareness Week as proclaimed by Texas Governor Rick Perry, the superintendent took the opportunity to thank Jan Jones, director of CFISD health services, and all district nurses for the critical work they perform providing services that benefit the health and education of students and staff members.
The Board received a progress report on the final schematics for elementary schools #37 and #38, which are scheduled to open in 2003-04 as projects approved in the December 2001 bond election. Representatives from CLR Architects and Bay Architects made respective presentations, which offered trustees a computer-animated perspective of each new school’s layout and location relative to their sites.
Located at the corner of Spring Cypress and Skinner Road just off U.S. 290, CLR Architects have designed elementary #37 as a modification of Walker Elementary. Some exterior changes were made to give the new school a different look, including an extended canopy as well as a new brick color and pattern. Bid proposals from contractors will be accepted January 29 through February 20, and a recommendation for the contract award will be made at the March Board meeting. Construction will begin in April with a targeted completion of June 2003.
Bay Architects have modified the designs for Farney Elementary in the schematics for elementary #38, which will be built on Queenston between West Little York and Kieth Harrow Boulevard. Changes in the new school include an alternate brick pattern and a larger computer laboratory space. Proposals have already been accepted and a recommendation for contract approval will be made at the February Board meeting, with construction slated to begin in March. The school is expected to be completed by the end of May 2003.
Trustees approved the scheduling of the first series of bonds from the 2001 election totaling $80 million to be sold in March. According to the district’s financial consultant, Frank Ildebrando of RBC Dain Rauscher, market projections indicate that interest rates for bonds will increase throughout the year. While the current interest rates aren’t as good as they were a few months ago when the district sold the final series from the 1998 bond election and refinanced older bond debt, Ildebrando said the market remains favorable for a competitive bond sale. The early sale will also prevent the district from having to borrow money from the General Fund to finance construction of the two elementary schools schedule to open in 2003-04.
The Board adopted a timeline and preliminary plans for the opening of the nine new schools and various support facilities authorized by voters in the 2001 bond election. Already in the works, the district will open elementary schools #37 and #38 along with Birkes Elementary with the start of the 2003-04 school year. The sites, architects and designs for those campuses have already been determined.
Elementary #39 will be designed by PBK Architects and is slated to open in 2005-06 on a site to be determined at a later date. Bay and SHW architecture firms will design middle schools #13 and #14, respectively, with both tentatively scheduled to open in 2005-06. Middle school #13 will share the site with Jowell Elementary while #14 will be built near the intersection of Jarvis and Skinner Roads on the same site as elementary #37.
High school #8 will be designed by PBK Architects to be built at Jarvis and Skinner roads, along with the facility that will serve as the new Carlton Center. The district expects to save money in both the design and construction of the center by pairing it with the high school. Both facilities are scheduled to open in 2006-07.
The new transportation center will be designed by CLR Architects, and is set to open in 2005-06 at a site to be determined later. The district is conducting extensive research to select the most conducive location for the transportation facilities. CLR will also design the agriculture farm, which will begin construction shortly after an appropriate site is chosen.
SHW Architects will design the new athletic stadium, which will be built on a site near the three new schools planned at Jarvis and Skinner roads. PBK Architects will design the Educational Support Center to be built at Barker-Cypress south of West Road with an expected completion date in May 2006 for use in commencement exercises for the class of 2006.
Superintendent Rick Berry said that the new schools are being designed as modifications of pre-existing campuses in an effort to reduce the cost of architect fees. He estimated that the district should save approximately 3 percent in the overall designing of 9 new schools.
After a two-year feasibility study, the Board approved a UIL wrestling program for boys and girls that will begin with the start of the 2002-03 school year at every district high school. Due to limited space, facilities and funding, practices for all high school wrestlers will be held at one location and supervised by one coach and two assistant coaches. The season will run from November to February with matches held Thursdays and Saturdays. Start-up costs are estimated at $97,620 and cover coaching stipends, equipment, uniforms, entry fees, transportation costs and other expenses associated with holding matches.
Based on a recent statewide redistricting, the Board approved changes to the district’s voting areas map, which adds two new voting areas (R and S) to relieve those polls with the largest number of registered voters and increases the total number of poll locations from 16 to 18. The map is identical to the one used by the district for the last 10 years with the exception of the two new voting areas,. The redistricted election map must be reviewed by the United States Attorney General to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In a special-called meeting of the Board Thursday, January 17, trustees approved three annual contracts for local business phone service, data communications services, and Internet connectivity. Contracts for local phone and data communication services were awarded to Southwestern Bell while the contract for Internet connectivity was awarded to Phonoscope. The total contract amount for these three services is $1,051,394.
Mr. Berry announced that Cindy O’Brien was named the new principal for Sampson Elementary, which will open with the start of the 2002-03 school year. O’Brien will leave her position as principal at Post Elementary to begin work on opening the district’s 35th elementary school. A temporary office will be set up for her at the Instructional Support Center until she is able to move into her space at Sampson.
A public hearing was held at 7 p.m. during the Board’s January 22 action meeting to allow for public comment on the district’s 2000-01 Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) report. No patrons elected to speak during the hearing. A summary of the AEIS report was presented to the Board. Copies of the full AEIS report are available in each school’s library as well as the CFISD professional library and public information office located in the Instructional Support Center. AEIS reports for every Texas campus and district are online at the Texas Education Agency’s web site at www.tea.state.tx.us. A direct link to TEA for the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD AEIS report is available through the district’s web site at www.cfisd.net.
The Board was presented with a report concerning a law passed during the last session of the Texas Legislature that could negatively impact the district’s budget in the future. House Bill 3383 was created to generate more affordable housing for low-income Texas residents, but may have provided a loophole that could be exploited. The law allows for companies to form tax-exempt corporations and apply for bonds to purchase and/or renovate apartment complexes that must make available only a third of their total leases to qualifying low-income families.
Based on the number of companies currently reported to be applying for the tax-exempt status in CFISD, the district could lose as much as $136,000 in property taxes per year as a result of this law. After one year, the state is expected to pay the district for losses to maintenance and operations (M&O) fund, but the debt service revenues would be lost forever. Should these apartment complexes emerge all over Texas, there exists the possibility that the state would not be able to support repayment of every district’s M&O losses. It was duly noted that the state is expected to enter the next legislative session with a budget deficit.
The district’s only recourse is to protest the law to the state attorney general and urge that lawmakers review HB 3383 in the 78th Texas Legislature.
In other action, the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Board of Trustees:
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