BY K. MCSTAY

HERALD DEMOCRAT

DENISON -- The school board discussed the district's facilities and needs during Tuesday's meeting, and made plans for districtwide improvements.

Several of the agenda items represented a summer's worth of meetings between the board members, discussing a plan for community input as to the improvements across the district. In addition to the approval of the campus site-based improvement plans, which deal with campus-specific issues, the board approved appointing communitywide facilities planning committee, established the make-up of said committee and crafted a charge to the committee, to guide them as they determine the facility needs of the district.

The committee, said DISD Superintendent Henry Scott, should include a cross section of the community, and be approximately 30 to 40 individuals. "Each board member will appoint two members from their ward," he said, and added to that will be principals, teachers, parents and representatives from the city, chamber of commerce and Denison Industrial Foundation. Once all the names are in, Scott said, he and Board President Jay Watkins will compile them.

"Hopefully what we'll have is individuals from the community that are from all walks of life," he said. "We want leaders in the community ... and people that are just every day people that have an interest at stake."

The board, Scott said, has no plan in mind, and wants this committee to come up with what they feel the community would like best to see. "We want to go into this with an open mind," he said. "We want true input from the community on what they want the schools to look like and what they want to pay for." The plan, he said, is the first step toward the future. Since the last such committee, he said, they'd been expecting an economic upturn, and though that hasn't happened, the time has come to move forward.

"We can't wait," Watkins said.

The committee, he said, will be given factual information, and the board expects a good recommendation to come of the process. "We trust the community to come up with a good recommendation," he said. "We've got some ideas, but this process really works, so we need every one of you to be a part of it." Watkins was the chairman of the last facilities committee, and said he felt the process was very helpful in understanding the needs of the district. At that time, the committee traveled to each of the district's facilities, as well as facilities at other districts, in order to get a sense of what was needed.

"The people that are the target of this information and this move, they'll be picking up the bill," said board member Bruce Hysmith. "We're very strongly committed to seeing what these same people say about DISD facilities, and if they're going to pay, they'll have a say in what we do."

In addition to discussing general facilities plans, the board heard from Amy Ellis, an engineer who worked with the recent examination of Munson Stadium, during the information part of the meeting. Following a previous recommendation to the board, the stadium was submitted to a six-month check-up of sorts. The north side of the stadium has moved a half an inch, she said, which shows that the structure has heaved due to swelling of the soil. "I don't know what it's going to do in another six months," she said, though currently, the stadium did not have any life safety issues. No visible deterioration of the concrete had occurred, she said, though rebar has continued to rust. "You probably do need to do this again in six months," she said. "We were kind of thinking we'd take a look at this and say it didn't move and it didn't change, but it did change."

The cost to the district was approximately $4,000. "Nobody's life is worth that, but are we in a situation now that the six-month check is going to uncover a life threatening situation?" said Watkins. Ellis responded that, in the next six months, she couldn't predict what would happen, though anything serious would likely be caught by DISD maintenance crews. She maintained the initial estimate of a lifespan of four years from the original assessment, which left three and a half years. Nothing could be done to fix the drainage, she said, that wasn't extremely expensive. "The drainage out there is very bad," she said.

The board also awarded the principals of schools in the district with their Gold Performance Awards. The recognition from the state show achievements that go above and beyond the normal requirements. "They're indicators of high performance that are not part of accountability," Scott said. Last year the district got 28 such awards; this year, the number rose to 34. "This is not accidental, this is hard work and planning," he said.

Also approved were budget amendments relating to confirmation of federal and state funding, consent for the Chamber of Commerce to use Munson Stadium for the U.S. Air Force Band, and the casting of votes for Norman Gordon to the Grayson County Appraisal District.