CCISD board holds workshop, meeting Monday
Fri, 2015-05-15 05:00
News Staff
This month’s CCISD school board workshop on Monday and the meeting that followed on Tuesday night were loaded with agenda items including upgrades to technology, planned trips to conferences, employee pay and contracts, paving at Halstead School and school meal program costs. The first order of business at Monday’s workshop was to congratulate board member Jim Copeland on his 84th birthday. Copeland told the board to stop applauding and throw money at him. No one had any change. He said he appreciated the recognition from his “underlings.”
For budgeted purchases over $25,000 the board approved the purchase of 120 Dell laptop computers at a cost of $86,367. These systems will be distributed at the rate of five laptops for
every 5th grade classroom. Other information technology equipment that will be purchased includes spare parts at a cost of $2,300 and a new district wide voice over IP (VOIP) telephone system
which will cost $146,677. Teacher pay steps, salaries and raises were discussed. There will be an adjustment to the lowest paystep and raises district wide of 2 percent. This is necessary to stay competitive with other school districts in the region. A 2 percent raise will cost about $950,000. CCISD has about 1,200 employees and 28 of them will not see a raise as they are already topped out at their pay step. It was also announced at that beginning next year, job descriptions will be posted on line. The district expects that health insurance premiums will likely rise for next
year, and if indeed that happens, much of the teachers’and staff’s raises will go toward their percentage of insurance contributions. The federal government audits all schools in the nation
that receive government funding toward free mealprograms. Because federal money brings federal control, the board voted to raise the cost of breakfast district wide from $1.25 to $1.50
while junior high school meals are going from $2.25 to $2.30. High school meal prices will stay the same. During Tuesday night’s meeting, the board approved additional parking lot work done at Halstead and added Copperas Cove High School to the project. Last month, the board approved a contract with Wolff Construction for $497,988 for all three projects. Tuesday night’s approved addition by the board also added $93,460 to the project. When discussing the upcoming summer projects which will involve contractors having workers present on a number of CCISD campuses,
superintendent Joe Burns also addressed student safety in light of last week’sonline child solicitation sting which resulted in the arrest of a former employee of the Killeen Boys & Girls Club. That former employee of the Killeen Boys & Girls Club had a clean criminal record. Those working for entities doing business with CCISD are also required to pass a criminal background check, Burns told those assembled for the meeting.“We are initiating a lot of projects this summer. Our vendors know that no felons, no one with a criminal record, is permitted to work on these job sites,” Burns said on Tuesday night. He added that CCISD is required to protect its students to the best of its ability.Lynette Sowell also contributed to this article