Strategic planning group gets sneak peek of new CCISD board room, building

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press

The site of the former drive-through at the former National United Bank on Main Street was filled on Wednesday morning, not with vehicles, but by strategic planning team members for the Copperas Cove Independent School District. 
Initially created with the name Vision 2020, the district’s strategic plan was actually completed two years ahead of schedule, which led to the team gathering again to begin crafting another plan for the district to see it through 2021. The team is made up of district administrators, business owners, pastors, teachers, community members, and parents.
The building’s board room has room enough to seat 100, and for two days this week, was filled with round tables as the group met.  
Part of Vision 2020 included planning for facilities, and as part of that plan, the newest district property has become the district’s administration building. The district is preparing to move its administrative offices from Avenue D starting next week, so they can be settled in prior to the official ribbon cutting set for Tuesday, July 17 at 4 p.m. 
This week, a punch list of items was being worked on under the watchful eye of deputy superintendent Rick Kirkpatrick. 
Like the strategic planning group – Vision 2021 – who met in the new board room, other groups will have access to the board room and other meeting space at the administration offices. 
CCISD Superintendent Joe Burns told the group that the space is a community building. 
“We want to be able to make it available to community groups,” Burns said. 
Burns also shared comments from some National United staff who have seen their former bank said that, it doesn’t even look like the bank anymore. 
“And, that’s the goal,” Burns said. Members of Vision 2021 also had the chance to take a brief tour of the rest of the facility during the group’s lunch break.
In addition to increased meeting and training space, the new facility will mean that the district’s special education and curriculum departments will be under the same roof as the administration’s central offices. 
“This will be much easier for parents, or anyone else; it’s going to be a one-stop shop,” said Wendy Sledd, the district’s director of communications.  
The former bank’s interior has been transformed, with the elevator shaft relocated from the rear of the building. In front of the new shaft is a front stairway to the building’s second floor, with both located behind a reception area just inside the property’s Main Street entrance.
In addition to the space for board meetings, there is a smaller conference room that seats about eight, and on the second floor, more meeting space. The second-floor space that was open to the first floor below is now filled in with a brand-new floor and office space, along with storage for special education records.