By Becky Brewster
The Culberson County-Allamoore ISD Board of Trustees approved an agreement with West 11 Sports Media LLC to broadcast the district basketball games over the internet. Live play-by-play action will be broadcast at www.West11Sports.com or via a free mobile app for the smart phone or tablet. The agreement specifies that there will be no political announcements, no advertising of liquor or tobacco, no destructive criticism of official’s decisions, and no mention of incidents that may cause any anxiety on the part of listeners. There is a sample broadcast of the 1-13-17 game with the Iraan Braves on the website. There will be no charge to the District. Instead, funds will be raised through sponsorship advertising. The District will evaluate the program after the basketball season to determine if they will continue broadcasting for other sports.
Supt. Dalia Benavidez presented the Trustees with Certificates of Appreciation in honor of their service as part of the “School Board Recognition Month.” The boardroom was decorated with posters from the various classes recognizing the contributions the Trustees make to the District.
The District then called the General Election for Saturday, May 6, 2017 for the election of Trustees. The election will again be held jointly with the Town of Van Horn. The deadline to file for a place on the ballot is Friday, February 17, 2017. Terms are up for Letty Hernandez and Sandy Urias.
The Trustees joined with school districts across the state in passing a resolution asking that the Texas legislature review the process for the A-F Rating System for school districts scheduled to go into effect in 2018. Supt. Benavidez stated that the system is “really convoluted” and “doesn’t tell you what the legislature intended.” High-stakes standardized test scores, which are already under fire from Texas school districts, make up 55% of the scores for the districts.
The District also approved a waiver of penalty and interest on delinquent taxes for 2011-2015 for a taxpayer whose property was inadvertently assessed to another person during that time. The tax code states that an entity “shall” waive penalty and interest if the accrual of the penalty and interest is caused by an act or omission of a taxing unit or the appraisal district.
In other business, the CCAISD Board members:
• Accepted a donation from Chevron for $80,000 for STEM training for teachers.
• Approved Lisa Cottrell and Michael Urias as the District’s nominees to fill a vacancy on the Culberson County Appraisal District Board of Directors.
• Approved the District Improvement Plan updated to reflect changes to correlate with the recently adopted Targeted Improvement Plan required by the State.
• Acknowledged Trustee continuing education hours.
