EPISD Facilities Advisory Committee faced with major tasks

be calling for a bond election in november. although there is still a lot to be considered the district’s facilities advisory committee is studying how they could improve issues when it comes to outdated buildings. it could mean consolidations and possbily new campuses. abc-7’s jerry najera has is live with the story … rick estela right off the bat i want the viewers to know this whole process of calling for a bond is still in the early stages. the district may not even call for a bond. the ideas presented to the facilities advisory committee are only considerations. but the district says they are making efforts to streamline their facilities. “we recognize that these 80 citizens that are helping us have a big task at hand” epis spokesperson gustavo reveles is talking about this facilities advisory committee. the committee is made up of parents- grandparents, members of the military and even students. “they are doing a lot of work and spending a lot of hours looking through information, vetting some of the information that’s being vetted to them and they ar egoing to be making some decisions that are going to be hard” the committee recently toured the districts facilites to see how or what the district could improve on. perhaps one of the hardest tasks at hand would be considering consolidations. again –right now in the early stages – some schools are lined up for major changes. clardy elementary a 62- year-old school that the district says is only 78 percent utilized could be consolidated with henderson middle school but the school could eventually be turned into a state of the art facility. 62-year-old bonham elementary could be consolidated with macarthur elementary school and that campus could be turned into a state of the art facility even the silver foxes at jefferson could be turned into what the district calls a urban learning environment. and for those worried too many students might be packed into one school. “that doesn’t mean larger class sizes it actually means the opposite because you have more resources you can actually maintain a smaller class size” and with al the possible shifts will buildings be left empty? “the school district has made and effort to come up with a plan that would partner up with the city for example to offer those buildings as potential community centers or to other enties that could provide social services or neighborhood services” the facilites advisory committee has until august 10th to present the board with their recommendations abc-7 has learned of an alleged assault against a detainee at the dona ana