Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 14
Bus Driver Charged With Sexual Assault • Bond Projects Need Multiple Managers • I’m The Proud Dad of a Coppell High Grad • Longtime Volunteer Plays Special Role
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Bus Driver Charged With Sexual Assault
As you probably know by now, a Coppell ISD bus driver was arrested last Monday and charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child.
In a message to bus riders’ families, Superintendent Brad Hunt pointed out that the arrested driver, Paul Russo, was not a Coppell ISD employee. The district’s buses have been operated by a company called Durham School Services since the corruption-plagued government agency known as Dallas County Schools was dissolved in 2018. Hunt’s announcement said Russo had been terminated, and it also indicated one student was involved.
“I join you in being deeply outraged, disturbed, and extremely disappointed about these allegations, as we take very seriously any alleged violation of the professional and ethical conduct we expect of Durham bus drivers,” Hunt said Tuesday.
Hunt’s message said Russo was arrested by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department. That law enforcement agency supplies the school resource officers for the Coppell ISD campuses outside Coppell’s city limits: Coppell Middle School West, Canyon Ranch Elementary, Lee Elementary, and Valley Ranch Elementary.
The arrest warrant says Russo is a Lewisville resident. The copy I obtained had his date of birth redacted, but other media outlets have reported his age as 58. The warrant indicates the alleged assaults happened on two consecutive days in April.
The Coppell ISD Board of Trustees met on the same day Russo was arrested, and that meeting coincidentally included a “Safety and Well-Being Update.” During that update, Trustee Leigh Walker asked Assistant Superintendent Angie Brooks how many parents had opted for their students to receive instruction related to the prevention of child abuse, the prevention of family violence, the prevention of dating violence, the prevention of sex trafficking, and human sexuality. Brooks said about half of the students at the three middle schools and CHS9 were opted in, and a third of Coppell High School students were. She theorized that opt-in levels would rise now that those questions are part of the annual registration process.
Nearly half (47 percent) of the district’s students were registered bus riders, as of last November. That’s when Kacy Davis, Durham’s general manager for Coppell ISD, told the Board of Trustees that 6,171 regular-education students were assigned to 41 routes, and 168 special-education students were assigned to 21 separate routes.
(See “Bus Provider Needs Drivers and Time” in Vol. 2, No. 40.)
During that same November report, Davis talked about how hard it is to find bus drivers. Davis said Durham had recently reached out to 200 potential applicants who had been identified through various sources such as LinkedIn or Indeed. Only 15 of those 200 turned in applications, Davis said, and only 10 of those 15 cleared their background checks.
“Bus drivers often drive multiple routes, substitute for other drivers, and/or drive for field trips,” Hunt said in his announcement of Russo’s arrest. Consequently, he offered resources for discussing personal safety with your children and asked parents to contact Director of Student and Staff Services Jennifer Villines at 214-496-6068 or jvillines@coppellisd.com if they have any information about possible abuse.
Bond Projects Need Multiple Managers
Coppell ISD is seeking nearly two dozen people to help oversee its upcoming bond projects; most of them will be volunteers, but two will be paid.
Earlier this month, a majority of voters approved the sale of $321.5 million worth of bonds to finance a variety of renovation and construction projects that will affect every school in the district. Last week, Coppell ISD put out the call for 19 people with experience in finance, construction, project management, technology, or education to join a Bond Oversight Committee. Interested individuals who are willing to donate their time should apply here before July 12, with the knowledge that this may be a competitive process.
“We have community members that are clamoring for this information,” Superintendent Brad Hunt said during Monday’s school board meeting, when the trustees debated how soon to take applications. “They want to know.”
The 19 selected individuals will join a pair of trustees to be determined on the Bond Oversight Committee, which is scheduled to meet three times during the upcoming school year: Sept. 18, Jan. 8, and April 29.
During the school board’s May 15 workshop, Trustee Nichole Bentley advocated for coming up with a name other than “Bond Oversight Committee.” Apparently, some members of the committee overseeing the projects funded by the 2016 bonds got too big for their britches.
“This is a little bit more advisory, and ‘oversight’ implies — to me — authority that doesn’t exist with this committee,” Bentley said on May 15. “We are the only ones that legally have some of that authority.”
However, a board subcommittee comprised of Trustees David Caviness, Jobby Mathew, and Manish Sethi recommended keeping that name after moving up some language in a related document “to make it very clear that the Bond Oversight Committee wouldn’t have any legal authority to do anything related to the bond funds,” Mathew said during Monday’s meeting. “That would only exist with the board.”
Also during Monday’s meeting, the trustees approved the administration’s recommendation to hire a construction manager-at-risk for all of the projects associated with this year’s bond election.
“We have utilized this purchasing method for over 12 years (e.g. the last four bond elections) and are very pleased with the results and control we maintain throughout the construction planning and actual construction process,” said a memo attached to the trustees’ agenda. “The method also enables the awarded general contractor to be an integral participant in the visioning, design, development, and cost estimation for any new construction projects, whereas they will become very familiar with projects before they place them out for formal bid.”
That memo was written by Sid Grant, who retired as the district’s Associate Superintendent in 2020 but has returned to work on an interim basis until Coppell ISD can hire a permanent replacement for Dennis Womack. The district’s Chief Operations Officer for two years, Womack was lured away by McKinney ISD, which recently named him its Assistant Superintendent of Business, Operations, and Technology. According to a press release, Womack and his family have lived in McKinney since 2000, so you can hardly blame him for taking a job closer to home.
If you’d like to fill his seat in Hunt’s cabinet, here’s the job description.
I’m The Proud Dad of a Coppell High Grad
My wife and I moved our family to Coppell in 2012 expressly so we could enroll our older son, who was a second-grader at the time, in Coppell ISD’s special-education program. On Friday night, that not-so-little boy graduated from Coppell High School with the skills and training he will need to find gainful employment and make his way in the world.
As I’ve said before in this newsletter, we likely never would have moved to Coppell if we were raising two neurotypical sons. That means my newly minted graduate is indirectly responsible for the creation of the Coppell Chronicle. So please indulge me while I dedicate some time and space to thanking the educators and administrators who got us here.
During his three and a half years at Denton Creek Elementary, he had three lead teachers in the Structured Learning classroom: Lisa Hudson, Erica Carswell, and Emily Duff. By contrast, he had only one Structured Learning teacher during his three years at Coppell Middle School North — the incomparable Beth Newman.
His four years in the Transitional Pathways program at Coppell High School were under the direction of three primary teachers: Brooke Coch, Shannon Samberson, and Erika Chavez. All of his teachers were assisted by a small army of paraprofessionals; the two with whom our son had the closest relationships were Samantha Ost and Kyle Kohler.
His principals were Shannon Edwards at Denton Creek, Amanda Ziaer and Greg Axelson at North, and hugs connoisseur Laura Springer at Coppell High School. The latter two and their administrative teams welcomed my son’s service dog to their campuses over the past six years. As of Friday evening, he is a retiree who will live out his days as our family pet.
There have also been too many speech therapists, occupational therapists, diagnosticians, other teachers, and peer tutors to thank by name. Additionally, we — and many other graduates’ parents — also owe a debt of gratitude to the moms and dads who organized the safe and fun Project Graduation party at Main Event that lasted until the wee hours of Saturday morning.
I plan to be on that organizing committee in 2027, when my younger son is scheduled to graduate from Coppell High. Because he has taken gifted-and-talented classes and plays football, I expect these next four years will be a completely different experience from the previous four years.
Thank you, Coppell ISD!
Longtime Volunteer Plays Special Role
Although he didn’t play football, my older son has participated in a variety of sports such as bowling, soccer, and bocce through Coppell’s Special Olympics program. And one of his coaches is a Coppell High School graduate herself.
Taylor Mounce got involved with Special Olympics when she was a student. She was a sitter for a family friend who was among the athletes, and driving him to his practices grew into something more. Before long, she was volunteering in a variety of ways beyond transportation.
“Her friend group included all kinds of kids, including kids with special needs,” said Superintendent Brad Hunt, who was Coppell High School’s principal when Mounce graduated in 2011. “She’s got the biggest heart.”
Mounce thought being a special education teacher would be a natural career choice, but she gravitated toward speech language pathology due to the increased variety in settings and situations. After receiving her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Abilene Christian University, Mounce was hired by Coppell ISD in 2017. (On a related note, did you see the district’s recent article on its efforts to recruit more alumni as teachers?) She’s been more involved in Special Olympics as an employee than she was as a student.
“The continuous joy I get from seeing our athletes learn new skills, be a part of a team, and build bonds with our peer volunteers is why I keep coming back,” Mounce said. “They are excited to see each other at practice, and a big reason for that is our volunteers and the peers that encourage them, cheer for them, and cultivate a positive space for our athletes to grow and be themselves.”
I’ve seen evidence of those benefits in my own Special Olympian, and I’m not alone in that experience. Former Coppell resident Beccy Ratliff was one of Mounce’s fellow volunteers when her son was in the program.
“Taylor is a hard-working teacher, advocate, supporter, and friend of people with disabilities,” she said. “I wish there were more Taylors in this world.”
If you want to support Coppell Special Olympics, consider participating in Saturday’s Coppell 5K, which is once again being hosted by Brad Linder and his team at Get You In Shape. This annual event provides 95 percent of the program’s funding, allowing Mounce and the other volunteers to pay for uniforms, letter jackets, equipment, and trophies.
Congratulations Are in Order
• Congratulations to Sarah Myers, who on Monday won the inaugural Best Stage Manager award, as well as the first Ashley Newman-Schneider Scholarship, from the Schmidt and Jones Awards, which honor excellence in musicals produced by high schools in Dallas, Collin, and Tarrant Counties. Myers was one of seven nominees from the Coppell High School Cowboy Theatre Company’s production of Mamma Mia, which is also up for a Broadway Dallas High School Musical Theater Award, in the Outstanding Technical Crew & Execution category. The winners of the Broadway Dallas awards will be revealed this Saturday.
• Congratulations to Sriya Gomatam, a rising eighth-grader at Coppell Middle School North, who will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week. The proceedings will be broadcast on a television network called ION starting on Tuesday morning.
• Congratulations to the family of Liam Claassen, who partnered with the Coppell ISD Education Foundation, Carson’s Village, and Boy Scouts from Troop 841 to establish a sensory pathway in his memory at Cottonwood Creek Elementary School. Liam died a year ago this month at the age of 11. The pathway will allow students with sensory issues to receive input through their feet by walking on a variety of textures and surfaces.
Chronicle Crumbs
• I recently noticed that Chris Collins has vacated his live-work space on South Coppell Road; the lit signs touting listed properties are no longer in the front window, and the cooler full of free water bottles is also gone. Collins told me he still plans to occupy one of the five live-work units he’s going to build one block to the north, and ground should be broken on those this week. But he received a quick cash offer on his home, so he had to vamoose.
• Signage for a new restaurant called San Daniele Italian Eatery & Bar has been posted on the space formerly known as Kelly’s Texican. Paid subscribers may recall from the March 12 edition of the Chronicle Crumbs that San Daniele is being brought to us by Todd and Holly Kerr, the couple who own J. Macklin’s Grill. But the appearance of a sign doesn’t necessarily mean an opening is imminent. Yeah, Taqueria La Ventana, I’m looking at you!
• Tuesday’s meeting of the Coppell City Council was the final such meeting for Cliff Long, who received many kind words and gifts from his peers and the city’s staff. I knew before Tuesday’s reception that Long had been elected three times without ever drawing an opponent, but Mayor Wes Mays broke the news to me that Long had perfect attendance during his nine years on the council. After all of the speeches, Long delivered an “attaboy” to his fellow elected officials, past and present, regarding congeniality: “We didn’t get into any fistfights, we didn’t get into any hollerin’ matches, the whole time I was there,” he said. “That’s an A-plus as far as I’m concerned.”
• It appears that the White House and Congressional Republicans have reached a deal on raising the debt ceiling, which would render the following moot. During Tuesday’s meeting, the Coppell City Council informally approved Deputy City Manager Traci Leach’s proposal to reclassify some projects’ funding, just in case Washington tried to claw back any of the $10.2 million the city received under the American Rescue Plan Act. “I am 100 percent confident we can move faster than the federal government,” she said.
• Farmers Branch Mayor Pro Tem Richard Jackson showed up at the Coppell City Council’s meeting on Tuesday to thank the first responders who saved his elderly aunt, a Coppell resident who was rescued from her apartment after spending eight days on the floor without food or water. You ought to watch his remarks during the “citizen’s appearance” portion of the meeting.
• Jackson wasn’t the only elected official to speak during Tuesday’s “citizen’s appearance” session. Thomas Burrows is the Dallas County Republican Party’s precinct chair for Precinct 2802. A two-time candidate for the City Council (in 2011 and 2014), he has a history of speaking at their meetings. Although Burrows spoke at five of them in 2021, he did so just once in 2022. If you reside in Precinct 2802, you ought to watch his first such speech of 2023.
Community Calendar
Myeongmu: Performers with the Korean Traditional Dance Association will “release various experiences of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure” starting at 6 p.m. today at the Coppell Arts Center.
James Wand Magic Show: This performance, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. on June 6 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons, will be limited to students who will be enrolled in elementary school (K-5) this fall.
Four Day Weekend: The acclaimed improv comedy troupe will be at the Coppell Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on June 8 and July 13.
Caring for Your Orchids: Charles Hess of the Greater North Texas Orchid Society will offer information and hands-on assistance, so bring your orchids to the Biodiversity Education Center in Wagon Wheel Park at 10 a.m. on June 10. This program is free, but registration is required.
Hit Like a Girl: The Coppell Police Department will offer a self-defense course for recent high school graduates from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on June 13 and 14. Attendance on both days will be required to earn a certificate. Reserve one of the limited spaces by sending an email to Officer Kelly Luther via that link.
Tracy Walder Q&A: Speaking of girls who know how to hit, Tracy Walder was recruited to join the CIA when she was a student at the University of Southern California. After a few years, she began working for the FBI. Walder will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 6 p.m. on June 14 to discuss her book, The Unexpected Spy.
Superhero Adventures: Theatre Coppell will offer two workshops for young thespians during the week of June 19-23. Superheroes in first through third grades will assemble between 9 a.m. and noon; superheroes in fourth through sixth grades will team up between 1 and 4 p.m.
The Hit Men: Relive rock’s greatest hits with a band comprised of five musicians who have shared stages with Billy Joel, Elton John, and Sting, as well as members of Cheap Trick, Foreigner, and Journey. The amps will get cranked up at 7 p.m. on June 24 at the Coppell Arts Center.
How to Make Great Coffee Every Time: Coppell resident Justin Runyon, who sells his Runyon Coffee Roasting Coffee beans at the Coppell Farmers Market, will discuss how coffee is grown, sourced, and roasted at 2 p.m. on June 25 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. This free event, which is for adults 18 and older, will include tastings of different preparation methods.
Coppell Youth Soccer Association: Registration for the fall leagues is open through July 6.
Good read! I watched both videos. Wow.
Congratulations to your Graduate! 👏👏👏
I too am a very proud parent. Both of my kiddos graduated on Friday. My son (SPED) from NTH @ 3pm. My daughter from CHS @ 7pm. It was the 3rd Greatest (longest) Day of my Life as a Mom. I am SO thankful and grateful for (Wilson-CMSW-NTH@C-CHS-VP) and so many other key folks within CISD who taught, cared for and loved my kiddos from K-12. In the throes of raising kids day by day, month after month, year by year, the time seems to drag. But, as I looked back on (Friday) Graduation Day, it seems just like yesterday that I was holding their tiny hands while walking them into their Kinder classrooms. My Gosh, the time flew by. It’s bittersweet and exciting. Onward to New Chapters of Life. Good luck to you & yours Dan! Congratulations!! ❤️
Congratulations on having a Coppell graduate!
Thank you for honoring all the educators who touched his life! I’m sure you made their day! Love it!