Archive for the ‘Bastrop School District’ Category

Bastrop candidates sign up for new terms

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Bastrop, Tx–Only incumbents have signed up so far to seek election to seats on the Bastrop City Council and Bastrop school board in elections set for May.

Candidates have until March 14 to apply for places on the ballots.

City council members Ken Kesselus, Kay Garcia McAnally and Bill Peterson have all filed for re-election.

Former school board president John Eaton is seeking re-election. The other school board term coming to an end this year is the one currently held by Board President Johnny Sanders. So far no one has signed up to seek that seat.

Cedar Creek football coach resigns

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Bastrop, Tx–The Cedar Creek High School athletic coordinator and head football coach tendered his resignation Tuesday ahead of a Bastrop school board meeting set to consider possible disciplinary action.

Mike Ferrell was placed on administrative leave from his post Jan. 19 following unspecified complaints to school officials. School trustees accepted the resignation without public comment Tuesday.

Ferrell was the new high school’s first athletic coordinator and he fielded freshman and junior varsity football teams last fall, the first season for the campus. Cedar Creek is scheduled to play its first varsity sports season in 2012.

Before coming to Cedar Creek, Ferrell coached for three seasons at El Paso Socorro High School.

MLK march set in Elgin on Jan. 17

Friday, January 7th, 2011

Elgin, Tx–The annual Bastrop County march to commemorate the life and birth of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr will not take place in Bastrop as scheduled this year.

Instead the county’s 22nd annual march is set for Jan. 17 in Elgin, beginning at 10 a.m. from Veterans Memorial Park downtown. The event will conclude with speeches and music at Booker T. Washington Elementary School.

Normally the event rotates each year among Bastrop, Elgin and Smithville, but is headed back to Elgin this year because a suitable gathering place for indoor ceremonies could not be arranged in Bastrop, said organizer Dock Jackson. The school district’s performing arts center auditorium could not be used without paying a $1,400 fee, which the organizing group does not have, said Jackson.

The gathering has grown too large to be held in other potential Bastrop sites including the Opera House or Kerr Community Center, according to Jackson.

The 2012 march will take place in Smithville, ending at the city’s recreation center. Jackson said he expects the event to be back in Bastrop by 2013 with ceremonies taking place at the city’s new convention center, expected to be completed this spring.

The event which will remain in Bastrop this year is the annual fund-raiser for the local MLK Scholarship Committee. That event will take place at 7 p.m. at Paul Quinn AME Church, 1108 Walnut St.

BISD ‘acceptabe,’ says TEA

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Bastrop, Tx–The Bastrop school district earned an “accep0table” rating for the 2009-10 academic hear, the Texas Education Agency reported this week.

Of the 11 schools which were rated in the district, seven were listed as “recognized” and four as “acceptable.”

The “recognized” schools are Cedar Creek Middle School, Cedar Creek Intermediate, Bluebonnet Elementary, Emile Elementary, Lost Pines Elementary, Mina Elementary and Red Rock Elementary.

Bastrop High School, Bastrop Middle School, Bastrop Intermediate School and Cedar Creek Elementary were rated “acceptable.”

Bastrop school district incumbents squeak back in

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Bastrop, Tx–By narrow margins two Bastrop school trustees were returned to office in elections May 8. An open seat was overwhelmingly carried by a newcomer to local politics.

Linda Apostalo won 1,195 votes to swamp Gary Jefferson’s 413 votes for the Place 6 school board seat formerly held by Sophia Williams, who did not seek re-election this year.

In Place 5, however, incumbent Glenn Peterson narrowly won re-election with 837 votes, nine ballots ahead of challenger Carol Armstrong, a Bastrop accountant.

A three-way race for the Place 7 seat was almost as close. Incumbent trustee Jim Mills won 653 votes, just over 38 percent of the total, to lead challengers Kelly Bender (503 votes) and Jim Clark (547 votes).

7 seek 3 Bastrop school trustee seats

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Bastrop, Tx–Voters in the Bastrop school district will select three school trustees May 8 from seven candidates.

Two incumbents will be on the ballot, but one current board member is not seeking another term in office.

For the Place 5 seat, Trustee Glenn Peterson is standing for re-election. He is being challenged by Carol Armstrong.

In Place 6, veteran Board Member Sophia Willisams declined running for another term. Gary Jefferson and Linda Apostalo both want the post.

For the Place 7 seat, incumbent Jim Mills is facing two contenders, Kelly Bender and Jim Clark who has sought election twice in the past.

Classes begin late Wednesday in Bastrop

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Bastrop, Tx–Bastrop school officials have delayed the start of classes by two hours on Wednesday in the wake of cold, snowy and possibly freezing weather overnight Tuesday.

School will begin at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday for students in grades Pre-K to 4. Students in grades 5 to 12 will begin classes at 10;30 a.m., according to an announcement emailed from BISD offices at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday.

As rain, sleet and snow dusted the Bastrop area during the day Tuesday, emergency management officials worried about the possibility of icy bridges and roads if temperatures fell below freezing overnight.

The Bastrop City Council called off its 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday because of weather conditions.

BISD trustee candidates signing up

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Bastrop, Tx–Four candidates have put their names on the May ballot for three open seats on the Bastrop school board.

Former school trustee Karen Halladay has signed up to challenge incumbent Glenn Peterson who is seeking re-election to the Place 5 seat.

In Place 6 Linda Apostalo will be on the May ballot.

Incumbent trustee Jim Mills is seeking re-election to Place 7.

BISD trustee vote was public, board president insists

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–Bastrop school board president John Eaton denied a report published today saying trustees voted during a closed door session to name a lone finalist for the vacant superintendent’s job. The vote was taken in public following an executive session Monday, said Eaton.

A secret vote would violate the state’s Open Meetings Act. The Bastrop Advertiser reported the Dec. 7 vote came “during a closed-door session of the BISD Board of Trustees.” Eaton said official minutes of the meeting will reflect the vote was taken during a part of the meeting open to the public.

The Monday vote did name Steve Murray as the lone finalist to succeed Roderick Emanuel as superintendent of the 8,000-student Bastrop school district. Emanuel has been acting superintendent since announcing his resignation as superintendent last summer.

Six candidates were interviewed for the vacant post beginning Nov. 18, said Eaton. The six were culled from more than 50 hopefuls who applied for the position, he said.

By law the school board must wait 21 days from naming a lone finalist before making a formal job offer. Eaton said trustees expect to take the next step on Jan. 4 and negotiate an employment contract with Murray so he can take the reins of the school district by Feb. 1.

Murray is currently superintendent of the Little Elm school district in the Dallas area and was formerly superintendent in LaVernia. Before that he was a deputy superintendent in Del Valle, among other public education jobs. He is a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University and what is now Texas State University-San Marcos.

School trustees begin superintendent interviews

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Bastrop, Tx–Bastrop school trustees began interviewing candidates Nov. 18 to replace Roderick Emanuel as superintendent of the Bastrop Independent School District. Emanuel resigned the post earlier this year but agreed to continue as acting superintendent until a replacement is hired.

Subsequently the school board hired an executive search firm to screen candidates for the position. The first round of interviews was set for Wednesday at the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative headquarters on Texas 21 east of Bastrop.

The names of applicants for the opening and those selected for interviews have not been made public.