Schools taking additional safety measure steps
The Iowa Park CISD is ahead of the game when it comes to school safety, but at their regular meeting Thursday, members of the school board discussed additional steps that will be taken to deal with requirements coming out at the state level.
School Superintendent Steve Moody said that after the Uvalde shooting they are getting a lot of information from the state, Texas Education Association, the governor’s office and from the Texas School Safety Center about security measures they are having to put in place at the start of next year. He said a lot of it is geared towards all the exterior doors around the campuses and making sure they are all secure and functioning correctly.
“The doors at the school at Uvalde are like the doors we use to have here,” said Moody. “Seven or eight years ago we started renovations on the security side and changed that. Now our classrooms can be locked from the inside so if something happens the teacher can immediately lock that door.” He added that when school starts this year, “We are all going to be teaching behind locked doors.”
Moody said they would be having more meetings on additional requirements and information that is coming out at the state level. “But, we are putting in place a lot of these requirements already. We are revisiting all of our current security measures . . . security locks, doors, anything that we have in place, to make sure it is working correctly,” he said.
“We are very fortunate that we have been proactive with the bonds we’ve had in the past few years,” Moody told the trustees. “We have all of Bradford now completely under one roof from the cafeteria to the gym. Kid-well is under one roof. Now that we have the office space up there you can’t cut through to get to the office, and the middle school is also under one roof.” In regard for the high school, Moody said, “I don’t know of one across this state that could be under one roof and nobody leaves the building during the course of the day. We will make sure we are meeting the guidelines we are supposed to.”
After meeting in closed session, the board promoted Serena Criswell to Tax Assessor/ Collector. She will take the place vacated by Jonathan Clubb, who has taken the position of the school district’s finance director.
In addition, the following teachers were hired: Rebeca Perez, high school geometry teacher; Audra Miller, high school art teacher; Roy Villanueva, high school special education aide; Alexis Shafer, middle school ELA teacher; Meredith Berend, middle school special education aide; Mary Brown, Bradford special education aide; and Ricki Ablia, Kidwell special education aide.
The resignation of Dalena Propest, middle school secretary, was accepted.
In other business, the services contract with Region 9 ESC for 2022-23 was renewed, and trustees conducted the first reading of TASB Policy Update 119 and approved it.
In a report on the new budget, finance director Sharon Godwin said because of supply chain issues, two pick-ups, maybe a school bus and some of the band instruments that were ordered have not come in. These will be added to next year’s budget and the money budgeted for them this year will go into the fund balance.
Moody said the city has assured him the road they are working on in front of the middle school will be finished by the start of school. He also said there are cracks in the parking lot off Johnson Road by the Ag building that need repair and asked the board members about putting the work out for bids. Mark Lukert was endorsed by the board for TASB Board Representative for Region 9.
