Month: February 2015

The El Paso Independent School District is considering three bond elections over the next six years. These bonds would pay for the recent recommendations made by the Jacobs Engineering Group, which found many schools are being under-utilized due to a decline in population. The firm recommends closing a number of schools, and rehabilitating others. The

The facility master plan organized by EPISD has dozens of schools on a list for either closure, reconstruction or consolidation in the coming years. Some schools are on the list for possible closure, consolidation and conversion, all in a draft report conducted through Jacobs Engineering Group. The report provides multiple suggestions, including closing schools, consolidating

An El Paso Independent School District administrator put on leave last week says the district is unfairly targeting him. Assistant Principal of Burges Manuel Duran says he tried to notify the district about questionable policies, but they didn’t listen. Duran said when he was an assistant principal at Bowie High he reported things he saw

Bowie, Franklin and Jefferson high schools are getting upgrades. This after theEl Paso Independent School District reallocated extra money from their 2007 bond. The district’s bond committee set aside $500,000 for Bowie High. Bowie has a stadium but is set to renovate it’s field house. At Franklin and Jefferson high schools, which do not currently

The El Paso Independent School District is asking parents and taxpayers to learn more about the findings of the Jacob’s Engineering Inc. facilities report, and then take a survey with their feedback. The survey can be found here. EPISD thedistrict’s facility report projects 5,000 students will be lost in five years. Each student brings in

The El Paso Independent School District discussed the results of its corrective action plan at Tuesday’s board meeting. One of the CAPs targets cheating at EPISD high schools. The district will now install internal controls at their high schools that will track where credits are going on a transcript and how they were awarded starting

The El Paso Independent School District held its last community meeting Monday night at Austin High. It was the smallest of the community meetings. About 50 at Austin high, whereas more than 100 showed up at the other five meetings. But Susie Cabrera and her family made it out the last meeting. “It was the

It took months of crunching the numbers, but the El Paso Independent School District has managed to pass its 2014 -2015 budget Tuesday night. With a $17 million deficit, it’s been a tough couple of months for the district. Fewer students this year translated into less state money. To balance the budget, the district chose

The El Paso Independent School District’s budget shortfall will not be affecting taxpayers. At Tuesday’s board meeting, managers learned the district intends on keeping next year’s tax rate the same as this year. Right now it’s a $1.04 for maintenance and operating and costs, and $0.1950 for the debt, for a total of $1.235 ,

How to spend $60 million? That’s the question decided by the El Paso Independent School Board of Managers Tuesday night. The funds originally came from the district’s 2007 bond. It was earmarked to build a new high school in northeast El Paso, to accommodate new students coming into Fort Bliss. But the expected housing development

Margo invited in the current, elected trustees as well as the former inside the closed session where Juan Eduardo Cabrera was being interviewed. Inside were former trustees Isela Castanon Williams and Patricia Hughes.And current trustees Diane Dye, Bob Geske, Chuck Taylor. Susie Byrd was also there, but refused to go in. She said that she

The El Paso Independent School Board of Managers voted to change how public comment is conducted during board meetings. Up to four people can sign up to speak about a particular agenda item, before the item is discussed. If a person’s comments do not pertain to the agenda, they will have to wait until the

The El Paso Independent School District board accepted the resignation of former Assistant Superintendent of High Schools James Anderson. The board voted to begin the termination process for Anderson earlier this year. Anderson allegedly was involved in the district cheating scandal. The board also discussed contributing more to their employees health coverage under TRS Active

It’s now coming to light why El Paso Independent School District had to pay forensic auditing firm Weaver nearly $800,000 to investigate district-wide cheating. In a discussion during Tuesday’s board meeting, Board Vice President David Dodge told the audience Weaver exercised bad business practices and took the board by surprise. Last year the company told

When the Texas House Public Education committee considered a bill that would recover and educate students affected by El Paso Independent School District cheating scandal on Tuesday, members had already been informed the bill served no purpose by a lobbyist for EPISD, according to state Rep. Marisa Mrquez. Authored by state Sen. Jos Rodrguez and

The El Paso Independent School District is dealing with a coming budget shortfall and is looking to cut costs where it can. What many people don’t know is the EPISD actually owns 10 vacant properties. So what will the district do with them? EPISD owns properties around the city, but actually does not own its

E.R.O Intermodal Services is now operating in Santa Teresa. Strategically located near the Union Pacific hub, the company does maintenance and repairs for rail related businesses. E.R.O will create 50 jobs within the next three years. Jerry Pacheco, of the Border Industrial Association, says the company wants people with skills in logistics, sales and repairs.“They’re

As Texas children begin to head back to school, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is reminding all drivers to watch out for children walking to and from school or waiting for school buses. Drivers must also obey all traffic laws related to school buses and active school zones. “As the new school year

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is reminding Texans in advance of the upcoming primary election that Election Identification Certificates (EIC) are available at all Texas driver license offices for individuals in need of proper identification required to vote in elections in Texas. The 2014 primary election in Texas is March 4, with early

Former Sunland Park Mayor pro-tem, Daniel Salinas, never started his term because he was arrested in 2012. Salinas faces a list of charges that includes fraud and extortion in connection to the mayoral race. He is accused of attempting to sabotage the race for an opposing candidate. Salinas allegedly hired someone to secretly videotape Gerardo

Internet phones and more WiFi. Monday, City Council got a progress report on the city’s technology improvements. Council signed off on a major technology upgrade for offices and the city at large in 2012. Three years later, the move is yielding big changes and even bigger savings are expected. In today’s special city council meeting,

For more than a decade, neighbors wanted to turn an empty lot into a park. Plans to develop the land into a park were plagued by the discovery of trash that included medical waste. Cheryl Ladd Park is finally taking shape in east El Paso, but not before the City Council approved hundreds of thousands

The El Paso Independent School District announced Wednesday the schools recommended to be closed, rebuilt and consolidated, a move that would cost taxpayers more that $850 million during the next decade. The Jacobs Engineering Group, which prepared the report for EPISD, recommends the district hold three bond elections: a $261 million bond election in 2015;

She’s a one-time New Mexico “State High School Player of the Year” who shocked her fellow Las Crucens when she stabbed her mother and sister numerous times in 2006. The ABC-7 New Mexico Mobile Newsroom has learned Carissa McGee is once again in jail. McGee’s mother and sister survived the stabbing attack, but she was

A large fire severely damaged a home in El Paso’s Northeast side. The condition 3 fire happened around 5 a.m. Sunday at 10828 Sapphire Drive. Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control at around 5:30 a.m. Officials with the El Paso Fire Department say no one was home at the time of the

Allowing concealed weapons to be carried on college and university campuses would create “less-safe” environments, University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven wrote in a letter to legislative leaders on Thursday. On Wednesday, a billby state Sen.Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, that would allow campus carry was referred to the Senate State Affairs Committee by Lt. Gov.

The El Paso Zoo’s Asian Elephants, Savannah and Juno, will choose which team will win this year’s Super Bowl. Last year the elephants accurately predicted the Seahawks would win. Each will cast their vote by selecting the helmet shaped piata set out for them in their exhibit by their keepers “All of our animals love

A West Texas prison bus accident that killed two prison guards and eight inmates was likely caused when the bus hit a piece of displaced highway guardrail, sending the vehicle onto the center median and down an embankment, where it struck a passing freight train, according to a preliminary federal report released Thursday. The National

*Editor’s note: This story has been updated throughout. Freshman state Rep. Molly White, R-Belton, is not in Austin today to celebrate Texas Muslim Capitol Day. But she left instructions for the staff in her Capitol office on how to handle visitors who are, including asking them to declare allegiance to the United States. “I did