School board to vote on proposed 2018-2019 school year calendar

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Independent School District board of trustees has had its first look at the proposed school calendar for the 2018-2019 school year, along with the summer 2018 work schedule, and will take a formal vote on both at tonight’s meeting, set to begin at 6:30 p.m. in the CCISD administration board room, located at 703 W. Ave. D. 
The proposed school calendar calls for the next school year to start Wednesday, August 15 and end on May 24, 2019, with that date also being the graduation date for Copperas Cove High School. 
In keeping with a new requirement by the Texas legislature, the board is going to adopt a policy related to identifying hazardous traffic conditions, with the education code allowing the district to get supplemental funding to transport students to school who would typically be ineligible for transport because of living within two miles of their school. 
Those areas have been identified by Gary Elliot, the district’s director of support services, as Summers Road, Lutheran Church Road, Oak Hill Drive, the south side of F.M 1113 in the Mesquite West subdivision, East Highway 190, the South Meadows subdivision along F.M. 116 South, the Big Valley subdivision along F.M. 3046, Walker Place Boulevard, and the 1200-1300 block of Katelyn Circle.
The purchases of several budgeted items with price tags more than $25,000 are also up for a vote this evening. They include a    Microsoft EES Licensing Agreement for $57,771.68; Cisco Small Business SG500X-48P switches at Copperas Cove High School, for $58,016.90; a network cabling upgrade at Copperas Cove High School for $313,000; and Ruckas Wifi access points at Copperas Cove High School, for $47,313.98. the network cabling upgrade at the high school is the first of upgrades recommended at all district facilities “to sustain and prepare for future internet capabilities.”
Two out-of-state trips are up for a vote tonight, for superintendent Joe Burns, June Crawford, and board members Joan Manning, Inez Faison, and Mike Wilburn to attend the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools Spring Conference March 16-20 in Washington, D.C., at a cost of $12,300; and for CCISD’s director of child nutrition, Melissa Bryan, to attend the School Nutrition Association Leadership Conference in Long Beach, Calif. April 24-28, at a cost of $1,986.    
Also during tonight’s meeting, the district will be recognizing the Moose Riders of the Copperas Cove Moose Lodge and Bearables for hosting a holiday party for 100 special education students, and also recognizing local organizations and businesses for their support of public education with the Stand Up For Texas Public Schools Award.