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Tidehaven ISD
District Program and Facilities Advisory
Planning Committee Meeting
April 19, 2007
Summary of Meeting
The open forum was held in the Tidehaven High
School Cafeteria. There were 28 members and one guest present. Mr.
Jones began the meeting at 6:45 p.m. with a review of the previous
meeting held on March 29.
Some of the highlights of the review were:
- The members discussed how educating children
takes everyone.
- Mr. Jones reminded the committee that this is
“Your School, Your Kids, Your Money”.
- Everyone was encouraged to ask questions for
clarification.
- The vision for Tidehaven ISD is to promote a
sense of community in Tidehaven ISD where students, faculty, staff,
administrators, parents, board members and community members assist
each other in achieving their full potential.
- The committee is using the “chalkboard”
process in order to allow change and modification.
- The members reviewed the perceived reason for
this committee, including, cost of continual repairs, limited space,
Chapter 41 status, educating students to meet the workplace demands,
increasing population and upgrading to support technology needs.
The meeting then moved on to the following items:
- Committee members were asked to share who they
had discussed the previous meeting with and to share any comments or
concerns they received.
- Timelines were discussed with the emphasis
being on moving slowly in order to gather significant input before
reaching a consensus of what might be presented to the Board.
- The minimum and maximum possible outcomes,
including construction of new classrooms to the building of a brand
new Pk-12 campus, were discussed.
- Members were encouraged to gather input from
the community, including parents, grandparents, business owners,
staff and former students.
- The possibility of having consultants,
financial planners, architects and facility planners was presented.
- The use of surveys was suggested as a means of
gathering more input.
- Clarence Fenner and Cathy Gann, representing
the South Texas Nuclear Project, discussed the planned expansion of
the plant with the addition of two reactors. This expansion will
produce 800 permanent jobs by the year 2014 or 2015. Mr. Fenner and
Ms. Gann also discussed the development of the STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math) Program being developed to help
meet the workforce needs of this expansion.
- The committee members divided into small
groups and spent time brainstorming the
strengths and
areas of concerns they had for the district’s programs and
facilities.
- Mr. Jones presented slides reviewing the
district’s history of revenues, a history of expenditures, Chapter
41/42 Status of the district, past enrollment figures, the
construction and renovation dates of the four campuses, the fund
balance report, the tax rates of surrounding school districts, and
the taxable values for Tidehaven ISD for the past 14 years.
After a quick review of the evening, the committee
reached a consensus to invite the local newspapers to meetings later in
this process. It was decided to have the next meeting on Tuesday, May
22, 2007 at 6:45. At that time, the committee will meet at the high
school, divide into 4 groups with each group visiting one campus to
visit with staff members about any questions or concerns they may have
concerning Tidehaven’s programs and facilities. |
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