Snyder school board hears update on TEA sanctions

More than 300 petitions are on their way to the Texas Education Agency.
During Thursday’s Snyder ISD school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Eddie Bland gave a brief update on the status of potential sanctions against the district due to ongoing low campus performance ratings at Snyder Junior High School.
“We’re pretty up to date,” Bland told members of the school board. “We’ll be submitting our petitions tomorrow via carrier pigeon. We’re sending them out tomorrow. Then we have our first meeting with the commissioner and the deputy commissioner, trying to work through that process and come to an agreement on how to repurpose the campus.”
Earlier in the month, Commissioner Mike Morath sent a letter to Bland and school board president Ralph Ramon stating that he would be appointing a board of managers and a conservator to oversee operations in the school district.
That same letter, though, also included information about the petitions district officials had been collecting asking the commissioner to instead close the campus.
“That was just the first step. We got notice that we were getting a letter that a board of managers was being installed while we were driving to Austin to meet with the commissioner,” he said. “But if you read into the letter and get down into the body of the letter — I think it’s the fifth or sixth page — it discusses the petition and what happens if the petition is in place.”
Bland said larger-market regional media have not taken the negotiation process into account before presuming the district’s fate.
“Lubbock had us closing, Abilene has us being taken over by a board of managers — they didn’t read all the way into it,” he said.
The board discussed, but did not vote on, plans for the Stanfield Family Engagement Center, which is currently occupied by Jumpstart Enrichment for Tomorrow’s Students. If the state approves the district’s proposed dual pathway plan, the campus would also house pre-kindergarten students. The district’s administration is soliciting proposals for an additional portable building to accommodate space needs.
Director of Administrative Services Clay Cade gave a brief update on planned maintenance at Tiger Stadium’s track.
“We need to do an overspray at Tiger Stadium on the main competition track,” Cade said. “It’s got a structural spray on top of it, so it’s going to be about $100,000 to do the structural spray and to repaint it. It really needed to happen about a year ago. We just didn’t have weather that cooperated with us before we got into track season. So we really need to get it done this year before track season. If you go out there and walk on it, you can see it. It’s that red top that’s on it, and you can see where it’s wearing down. You can see the black underneath it. If we don’t do this, we’ll be looking at a $300,000 resurfacing.”
Cade also told trustees that there have been no responses to the district’s attempts to sell the vacant North Elementary School campus and that playground resurfacing at Snyder Primary School is expected to cost more than $250,000.
Board members also discussed local accountability plans and Lonestar Governance campus academic reports and heard a report from Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Rachael McClain regarding the process of selecting a new English/Language Arts curriculum for the district.
No action was taken after a 60-minute closed session.