Thursday's Internet Edition, September 09, 2010.
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| Champs to play Area game.... The Van Horn Eagles, district champions, will play Farwell in the Area game this Friday night. The game will be played at Odessa High School. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $4 for adults and $2 for students. Above are the Eagles after winning the district at Ft. Hancock. Photo courtesy of Rocio Onate. |
- Trustees of Culberson County-Allamoore Independent School District held their regular monthly meeting a bit late last Thursday evening. The meeting had been delayed from Monday due to the President’s Day holiday.
At the meeting, Superintendent Guillermo Mancha recommended that all administrators and faculty be offered contracts for the coming school year. In the recommendation, Mancha also added that there would be no reduction in force for the coming year.
What that meant is that trustees were called upon to approve all the administrators and faculty under one motion. And, that motion passed 4 votes for, 2 votes abstaining, and 1 vote no.
The four votes for the motion were Lupe Alvarado, Angie Gonzales, Joe Morales and Andrea Ramirez. The two abstaining votes were Omar Ortega and Lisa Cottrell and the lone no vote was John Clark.
The motion that was passed gave Mike Barrandey a 1 year contract extension, all other administrators (John Fabela, Dolores Upchurch, and Jose Salinas) received a two year contract extension, and all teachers were awarded a one year contract for next year.
Following a behind closed doors executive session, two other action were taken with regard to personnel. Sondra McCoy, the district counselor and district testing coordinator was moved to a two year contract. The vote was unanimous.
And, Superintendent Mancha was awarded a one year contract extension. The vote was 6 for the extension and 1 no. The lone no was trustee John Clark, who reasoned that Mancha already has another year to go on his contract. Let him serve it and then extend him.
Following these sweeping personnel actions, trustees learned that the High School has been awarded the Redesign Grant which High School Principal Mike Barrandey had applied for back in the fall.
According to Superintendent Mancha, this grant was only being awarded to about 35 school districts across the state and it is a real plus for our High School to be selected.
Superintendent Mancha noted that this grant, in the amount of $76,000, will be for a 2 year period at the High School. And, it will be utilized for staff development, specifically concentrating on math and science subject areas.
The grant will be data based and specifically driven to student needs at Van Horn High School. It will be monitored by Texas Education Agency as it progresses.
With regard to other items considered by trustees during the session, the following actions were taken by trustees:
* Tentatively approved the 2009-2010 school year calendar for planning purposes.
* Formally issued an order for the School Trustee Election to be held on the 1st Saturday in May which is May 9th.
* And the approved of the submitted finance reports and expressed their appreciation to Business Manager Julie Uranga for her efforts
* And, trustees tabled action on consideration of the Superintendent’s salary and compensation package until a later meeting.
Van Horn EDC will host busines startup/expansion luncheons
The Van Horn Economic Development Corporation (VHEDC), in partnership with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), will begin a series of lunch meetings designed to identify and assist local business people who would like to expand their business, or start a new business.
The lunch meetings will begin on March 4, 2009, and will be held every two to three weeks after that. The full series of meetings is expected to last for 4 sessions and will culminate in the touring of actual businesses located in the region that have been successful with their small business development efforts.
Jeff McCoy, Director of Economic Development for the VHEDC, said that in the EDC’s efforts to identify areas for business expansion in Van Horn, developing startups from within the community is an option that cannot be ignored. “We know that attracting new businesses to our community that provide a lot of jobs is a long shot, but we also know that there are many needs in the local and in the huge interstate traveling community that could be met by locally owned businesses. Through our luncheon series, we are going to explore these business ideas and business options with anyone who has an existing business and wants to expand it, or anyone who has always wanted to own a business, and would like some help and a connection to resources that can assist in the startup of their business.”
McCoy went on to say that the EDC is hoping that anyone who has ever explored the idea of owning a business will take part in the series of meetings. “We are not limiting anyone’s participation and welcome anyone who wants to explore the idea of owning a business through participate in the first meeting on March 4.”
Jack Stallings, the regional representative for the Texas Department of Agriculture, added that TDA, and other state and national resources exist for people who want to start a business. “Money, expertise, and other forms of assistance are available for both existing and new small business owners who desire to expand, or start a new business and several examples of successful expansions and startups exist near Van Horn.”
Anyone interested in participating in the EDC sponsored series of lunch meetings should call the EDC office at 283-7494 and either talk to McCoy, or just leave a message on the machine indicating their interest.