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CISD Trustees Approve $500 Bonuses

Coppell ISD will soon provide $500 bonuses as “a token of appreciation” for employees.

That phrase was used by Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Kristen Eichel on Monday as she made the case for using about $670,000 worth of federal funds on the bonuses. “It would be hard to find any individual in this district that has not stepped up this year and worn a hat that is not a normal hat for their position,” she told the CISD Board of Trustees.

Last August, the board unanimously approved using $1.25 million worth of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to give a $1,000 “retention incentive payment” to most employees. That money went to anyone who was on staff before the final grading period of 2020-2021 and remained employed on Nov. 30.

Last June, the trustees approved 2 percent raises for all employees. In December, they approved a request to give teachers an extra day off. Both of those proposals were framed as retention tools, and Superintendent Brad Hunt used similar terms on Monday to describe the latest bonuses.

“The hiring season is not just for us hiring new people in,” said Hunt, who mentioned an April 9 job fair during another portion of Monday’s meeting. “It’s for our people looking at other opportunities too, and we want to make sure that we retain our high-quality staff.”

(Speaking of high-quality staff, Monday’s meeting began with recognition of each campus’s Teacher of the Year.)

Four people posing for a photo in front of a dais — Denton Creek Elementary School Teacher of the Year Kathy Glover with Superintendent Brad Hunt and Trustees Manish Sethi and Leigh Walker

Eichel reinforced Hunt’s point when answering questions from Trustee Neena Biswas about other ways the ESSER money could be spent.

“Quite honestly, we’re competing against other districts that have received larger allocations of this funding and are providing incentive payments such as this that are larger than this — signing bonuses as well as retention bonuses,” Eichel said. “We don’t, based on the amount of money we’ve received, have those same opportunities.”

In response to Biswas’ questions, Robyn Webb — CISD’s Director of Accountability, Assessment, and Federal Programs — said about 40 percent of the district’s ESSER funds will have been spent when the $500 bonuses are issued. Webb said the deadline to spend the remaining 60 percent is Sept. 30, 2024.

If you’re employed by CISD before March 21 (the first day of the school year’s final grading period) and remain employed through May 27 (the final day of the spring semester), the $500 bonus will be added to your June check.

COVID Cases Drop Dramatically

Those bonuses were inspired by staffers’ hard work during the pandemic, and the ESSER funds were created in response to the pandemic. So it was appropriate that Superintendent Brad Hunt gave a COVID update during Monday’s school board meeting. The first two slides he shared were encouraging, as they showed how the numbers of COVID cases among Coppell ISD students and staff have plummeted this semester.

A chart showing COVID cases among CISD students, which dropped from 621 to 4 over five weeks

A chart showing COVID cases among CISD staff, which dropped from 75 to 1 over five weeks

In case you have trouble reading those charts, the number of student cases dropped from 621 to four between Jan. 18 and Feb. 25. The number of staff cases dropped from 75 to one in the same time frame.

“The number speak for themselves,” Hunt said. “It’s important for people to see that.”

Dallas County still publishes a hex map that shows new COVID cases over the previous 14 days. It’s updated on Mondays, and here’s what it looked like after the most recent update:

Dallas County's hex map documenting COVID cases as of Feb. 25

Hunt reminded the board that the district hosted vaccination clinics before all home football games in the fall. CISD also offered a clinic at Wilson Elementary in January and another at Valley Ranch Elementary in February. Only 40 people were vaccinated at Valley Ranch, after 75 people got jabbed at Wilson, so Hunt said there are no plans for more clinics.

I wonder if the lower participation at the February clinic might have been due to its location. When you rank Dallas County’s 80 ZIP codes by the percentage of all residents who are fully vaccinated, 75063 — which encompasses Valley Ranch — is in second place (77.5%) while 75019 is in ninth place (68.9%). When I last reported such statistics in September, 75063 was at 66.3% and 75019 was at 59.3%.

Although the district will not offer any more vaccination clinics, Hunt said CISD will continue to provide COVID tests in the visitors press box at Buddy Echols Field through the end of the semester. Those tests are conducted by a company called Curative, and it has completed 6,389 of them at that site so far. Tests are available between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays to anybody in the community, not just students and staff.

Short-Term Rental Rules May be Revised

Coppell may soon add some teeth to the city’s ordinance regarding short-term rentals.

The ordinance has been on the books since June of 2018. During the City Council’s Feb. 22 meeting, Director of Community Development Mindi Hurley previewed some changes that she would like the council to consider in the near future. But first, she outlined several things that would not change:

Short-term rentals can only be offered in the owner’s primary residence.
Anyone offering a short-term rental must first obtain a permit from the city.
The city must inspect the property after the permit is issued.
The owner must provide a brochure to renters that lists the home’s rules and a local emergency contact.
The owner must pay sales and lodging taxes.
The home cannot be offered up as a party venue.

Hurley said the proposed changes were designed to maintain a balance between the needs of homeowners who want to offer short-term rentals and the needs of residents who would prefer to not live near such properties. Here are some of the major changes the council will be asked to consider:

Adding clarifying definitions, including defining what constitutes a violation
Requiring operators to annually re-apply for a permit
Requiring annual inspections of homes offered as short-term rentals
Instituting new levels of enforcement

Hurley then broke down those proposed levels of enforcement:

Level I — Two or more of the following violations within a 12-month period could result in a suspension of a permit for 150 days:

Operating in violation of building, fire, health, or safety codes
Failure to file or pay applicable sales and lodging taxes
Failure to pay an annual permit application fee
Failure to apply for a permit

Level II — Any of the following violations could result in a revocation of a permit for one year:

More than one permit suspension with the past year
False or misleading materials in a permit application
Operating a short-term rental during a suspension
Any conditions that would have warranted a denial of a permit at the time of application

Level III — A cumulative total of four or more of the following violations could result in a permanent revocation of a permit:

Operating in violation of building, fire, health, or safety codes
Failure to file or pay applicable sales and lodging taxes
Failure to pay an annual permit application fee
Failure to apply for a permit
False or misleading materials in a permit application
Operating a short-term rental during a suspension

It’s not clear when the City Council will consider the proposed changes. They’re not mentioned on the agenda for this week’s meeting.

It’s also not clear — to me, at least — how many Coppell homes are offered as short-term rentals. I checked the two most popular websites for such rentals (Airbnb and Vrbo) to see what was available for a family of four during spring break, assuming some local families might want to temporarily lease their homes to offset the costs of their vacations. Much to my surprise, I found only one house available in Coppell. When I looked ahead to Memorial Day weekend, I again found only one listing, but it was not the same house that was available during spring break.

There were, however, a lot of houses available in Valley Ranch. Coincidentally, the Irving City Council just last month amended their code of ordinances to add regulations regarding short-term rentals. A memo to the council said there were at least 217 such properties in Irving.

More Homes Planned on Moore

If you’ve driven down South Moore Road recently, then you may have noticed that the house facing the empty land behind Speedy K Mart has been demolished. That house occupied a double lot, and the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved a request to turn it into three lots.

Coppell resident Wes Atwood represented the developers at the Feb. 17 hearing. They purchased the property in September, and they aim to replace the bulldozed home with a trio of five-bedroom houses that will each be 4,600 to 4,900 square feet. Each one will have a three-car garage.

“We plan to make Coppell beautiful with what we’re planning to build there,” Atwood said.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so feast your eyes on the three renderings he showed the commissioners.

The first rendering was labeled as “Modern Farm.”

The second rendering was labeled as “French Country.”

And the third rendering was labeled as “Contemporary.”

Yeri Beltran, whose home on Nash Drive backs up to the properties on Moore, showed up at the hearing to speak against the replat request. She pointed out that the equivalent amount of land on Nash is divided between two lots, not three. She’s also concerned about privacy, because the developers plan to build two-story houses behind her one-story house.

“Quality of life will be definitely different with three two-story homes right behind us,” Beltran said.

Atwood told the commission that the developers will add one caliper inch of tree for every caliper inch that gets removed during construction. He said many of those new trees will be planted along the rear property line, and he pointed out that there is already an 8-foot fence along that line.

“There’s significant privacy in place today,” Atwood said. “Of course, we want to be good neighbors, because there’s a good chance that we can run into our neighbors at J. Macklin’s or wherever else we might be in town.”

That good-neighbor philosophy is shared by your correspondent. It’s why I refrain from calling anybody names or besmirching their character in this newsletter. I, too, would like to eat my … [checks the J. Macklin’s menu] … panko-crusted flounder in peace.

After asking Atwood to consider his neighbors’ privacy when deciding where to place trees and windows, Commission Chair Edmund Haas looked right at Beltran as he said, “This does meet the zoning requirements, so it would be a very tough decision to deny this application.” The commission then voted 6-1 to approve the replat request, with Cindy Bishop being the lone holdout.

Chronicle Crumbs

• Coppell’s Library Advisory Board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, when its members will reconsider the request to remove graphic memoir Gender Queer from the Cozby Library’s collection. Last month’s deadlocked debate on that topic was summarized here.

• “¡Felicidades!” to Wilson Elementary student Emiliano Garcia, who won the Region 10 Spanish Spelling Bee on Thursday. His victory advances him to the National Spanish Spelling Bee, which will be held in El Paso in July.

• D Magazine publishes a series of “Excursions” articles that explain how to make the most of one day in a suburb such as Grapevine (December edition) or Carrollton (February edition). The March edition focuses on Coppell.

• The Coppell Police Department shared some interesting statistics and other facts about the city’s vehicle burglaries in February.

• A banner above the former site of Which Wich on the southeast corner of Sandy Lake and Denton Tap says it will soon be the home of Chillicious Thai.

Community Calendar

State of Transportation Luncheon: Officials from DFW Airport and DART will speak at the Coppell Arts Center on Thursday. Barbecue supplied by Hard Eight will be served at 11:30 a.m.

Encanto: The City of Coppell will host a free outdoor screening of the Disney movie at 7 p.m. on Friday in Old Town.

Teen Readathon: The Diverse Book Club, which is led by a New Tech senior, invites middle- and high-school students to this event scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.

Spring Break at the Biodiversity Education Center: The activities planned for spring break at the Coppell Nature Park include a weather workshop on March 14, a geocache treasure hunt on March 18, and a full-moon hike also on March 18.

Run to Fund: The Coppell ISD Education Foundation’s 5K race isn’t until May 7, but you can register now. The foundation fulfills teachers’ grant requests with money that can’t be recaptured by the state.

Coppell Chronicle

Coppell Chronicle Vol. 2, No. 2