Student Enrollment Up, Construction Back on Track
    By Danielle Pardue, Staff Writer ~~ The Monahans News, October 30, 2008

On Wednesday, Oct. 15, the MWPISD school board met for a regular meeting with board President Bo Rose presiding.

Superintendent Keith Richardson gave a report stating enrollment was at 1,924 the end of the month, up 41 students from the same time last year.  Monahans High School Principal Kellye Riley gave an update on the LifeTrack Survey.  Riley had combined data from previous years of the survey for the Board to compare results.  She was in attendance at the meeting to answer any questions the board had on the survey results.

Richardson gave construction updates on various campuses.  The building at the junior high track was taken down by the County, with plans to reuse that metal.  Two buildings will be built, one being a storage building in Wickett, according to Trustee Bill Clayton.

Much work is being done on the inside of Tatom in the construction project.  All the glasswork, minus the front doors, has been put in for the front entrance.  The move-in date for teachers and staff is Dec. 1, according to Richardson.  Richardson said only a couple of weeks had been lost in the completion of the project due to supplies and weather issues.

As of meeting date, construction has picked up on the baseball field, following a brief pause while work was being done on Tatom, and holes had been dug out and filled with concrete for the backstop pillars.

Proposal for plans on the high school are due for approval by Oct. 28, and Jan. 1 is scheduled for construction to begin at Monahans High School.  There have been a lot of trades putting in their bids for the high school project, which is more than any other project, according to Richardson.

Assistant Superintendent Glenna Applewhite presented the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) report.  Applewhite also discussed the 2008-2009 Campus Improvement Plans, 2008-2013 Gifted / Talented Plan and the 2008-2013 Dyslexia Plan, for approval from the board.  The board voted unanimously to approve the plans.

Sudderth Elementary principals Bonnie Richardson and Diana Scott were present to discuss their campus goals and what the campus was able to accomplish.  Sudderth received a "recognized" rating last year.  Richardson stated one big push for them was science scores.  Richardson stated in 2007, their science scores were 69% and last year they reached 87% mark through response intervention, according to Richardson.  She further explained Response Intervention (RTI) is broken into three tiers.  Tier 1 is core student instruction, tier 2 is identification and addressing at risk students and tier 3 is intervention labs for students identified through a special population.

Accelerated instruction was used at Sudderth last year with math, science and reading.  This instruction comes from data driven curriculum based on the breakdown of information from the benchmark TAKS testing, said Richardson.

The board approved School health Advisory committee appointments.  Those on the committee include Angie Fuentes, Valeria Smith, Amanda and Edward Huerta, Vicky Torres, Jennifer Thurman, Linda Sotelo, Renee French, Glenna Applewhite, Minerva Naverette, Diana Reyes and Connie Harris.

The board approved to approve sale of property and No. Betty to bidder Debra Risher for $700.  Sale of property at 506 Alpine to bidder Victor Rios for $500 was also approved.

In other business, the Board voted to approve bids to sell two candy machines for a bid of $600 to Phillip and Christy Creech of Pyote.  They approved a bid of $34,028.45 to purchase a 2009 school suburban.  The Board declined a bid of $57,250 to resurface the tennis court in order to rebid the project.

The 2008 tax roll was approved.  The Board agreed to advertise a 60' of property in lot 870, south of Tatom Elementary for sale.  The District owns the property, and there is a party interested in purchasing the land.

In attendance at the meeting were Superintendent, Keith Richardson; Board President, Bo Rose; and Trustees, Bobby Almanza, Kay Rankin, Raymond Reyes, Denny Latham, Donna Garcia and Bill Clayton.