COPPERAS COVE – Tuesday evening, needed repairs to reopen Williams/Ledger Elementary were approved, allowing the district to take needed steps.
During the regular November meeting of the Copperas Cove ISD Board of Trustees, trustees approved three purchases which are needed to continue repairing the Williams/Ledger Elementary campus after it was damaged by heavy rains over the summer: 96 new HVAC units to install across the campus, new servers and speakers for the campus and cabling infrastructure to support a modern learning environment once students are cleared to return.
“These three repairs will allow us to continue making progress in the reconstruction after heavy rains in early July caused heavy damage to the campus,” said Superintendent Dr. Brent Hawkins. “The new HVAC units replace units which were beginning to come to the end of their life cycles and weren’t reparable, and will make the campus like-new once repairs are completed. The new servers, speakers and cabling will replace equipment which was ruined in the flood, allowing for students to continue experiencing the high-quality, modern education they are accustomed to.”
The district is continuing to work alongside its insurance provider, the Texas Association of School Board’s Risk Management Fund, in order to continue repairs to the campus following the board’s declaration of the damage and needed reconstruction as an emergency on Aug. 12th. Repairs are on track for students and staff to be able to return to the campus for the start of the 2026-27 school year.
Trustees also approved a contract with New Direction Solutions to provide Speech Language Pathologist Assistant services, ensuring continuity for students who need speech services all across CCISD until a permanent hire can be finalized.
“Every district in Texas is struggling to find special education staff, unfortunately,” Dr. Hawkins said. “This action taken by our special ed leadership and approved by the board allows us to make sure staffing struggles don’t keep our students from the growth they and their families expect.”
Trustees also approved the submission of 91 teachers for Teacher Incentive Allotment designations through the data validation portion of the process. The state will now review it and determine if it will approve the designations of 24 recognized teachers, 49 exemplary and 18 master. Approved designations are valid for five years and should be awarded in the middle of the Spring 2026 semester.
The Board of Trustees will next hold a training session Dec.2nd. That will be followed by its regular December workshop and meeting.
The workshop is scheduled for Dec. 8th, with the regular meeting scheduled to follow on Dec. 15th. Both meetings will begin at 6 p.m. in the Board Room, located at the District Service & Training Center on South Main Street.
Agendas for each meeting are posted outside the CCISD Service & Training Center three business days prior. Once posted, agendas can be viewed online at www.CCISD.com/SchoolBoard.