Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 50

Superintendent Honored for His Leadership • Coppell High Teams Get New Set of Rivals • CFBISD Trustees Deride Chaplains Bill • Congressional Candidates Turn in Receipts

Longtime CBS Sunday Morning host Charles Osgood died last month at the age of 91. During one of the many tributes that his former program aired last week, Osgood said this: “Short words. Short sentences. Short paragraphs. There’s nothing that can’t be improved by making it shorter.”

I try to take those words of wisdom to heart as I craft this newsletter, but there’s so much I want to tell you!

---

Superintendent Honored for His Leadership

In May of 2014, about a year and a half after my family moved to Coppell, I posted this on Facebook: 

“Small-town life: We went out to dinner and ran into a family whose son I've coached for two Coppell Baseball Association seasons. When I asked the waiter for our check, he told me that family had already paid for our meal.”

The father of that family had been living in Coppell for a quarter of a century by that point. Brad Hunt moved here in 1990, when he was hired as a teacher at Coppell High School. His subsequent titles in Coppell ISD have included Coppell Middle School West Assistant Principal, Director of Human Resources, Coppell High School Principal, and Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services. He was given the district’s top job in 2017, which makes him the senior superintendent in Dallas County.

Along the way, he’s helped many Coppell ISD families besides mine in much more impactful ways than picking up a check. That’s why the Coppell Chamber of Commerce honored Hunt last night with the Cliff Long Leadership Award. The presentation included a video featuring testimonials from several students and educators.

The video was produced by Coppell ISD Brand Experience Specialist Mike Gutt. I’m pretty sure that’s not him on the left.

When Hunt accepted the award from its namesake and two of the other previous winners — former Coppell Mayor Karen Hunt (no relation) and Metrocrest Services CEO Tracy Eubanks — he said the first place he lived in Coppell was the Wellington Place apartments on MacArthur Boulevard.

“I can just remember going back to that little apartment every night and just being on my knees and thanking God for me finding Coppell ISD and Coppell ISD finding me,” Hunt said. “I would never in a million years think that I would be in a position to receive an award like this, let alone be the superintendent of Coppell. Coppell has given me so much.”

Besides a distinguished career, Coppell ISD has given him a family. He met his wife, Janay Hunt, when she taught at Town Center Elementary. Their daughter, who graduated from Coppell High last year, is a freshman at Texas A&M. (“Whoop!” yelled the Aggies in attendance.) Their son attends the Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus.

“How special it is for Janay and I to have our children be a part of Coppell ISD,” Hunt said.

Here are few more notes from last night’s Coppell Chamber of Commerce Awards and Community Gala:

• The other major awards made me feel really connected to this community. I’ve been writing annual checks to the Large Business of the Year (AAA) for most of my adult life. The Small Business of the Year award was shared by two winners; I’ve had treats at one (Hat Creek Burger Company) and treatments at the other (Legacy ER & Urgent Care). And although I’ve not yet hired the Emerging Business of the Year (Ace Handyman Services), owner Stephen Cortez and his wife sat next to me and my wife at the gala.

• Leadership of the chamber’s Board of Directors was transferred from DFW Airport’s Kori Stolar to AAA’s Daniel Armbruster. Hey, the airport won Large Business of the Year last year, and AAA won it this year. That’s quite a set of consecutive coincidences.

• Mayor Wes Mays made sure everybody in the room knew that Coppell and other cities are suing Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar over his proposed changes to how sales taxes for online transactions are distributed. That 2021 lawsuit, which is supposed to finally go to trial in May, is old news to longtime Chronicle subscribers, but here’s a bit of breaking news: The mayor and his wife, Linda Mays, became grandparents yesterday.

---

Coppell High Teams Get New Set of Rivals

The University Interscholastic League unveiled its realigned districts at 9 o’clock on Thursday morning. With football in mind, I tried to break the news about Coppell High School’s latest rivals to the tight end/defensive end who lives in my house. I texted him at 9:10, and this is how he responded:

“i knew at 9:02 buddy”

(Punctuation and capital letters are for old people, apparently.)

My son was informed by his Spanish teacher, Jason Spoor, who also coaches the Cowboys golf team. El entrenador de golf was tuned into the UIL’s announcement because he couldn’t wait to find out what kind of competition his squad will face on tees and greens for the next two years.

Coppell was placed in District 5-6A, and four schools from Lewisville ISD — Hebron, Flower Mound, Lewisville, and Marcus — will continue to be among the Cowboys’ and Cowgirls’ district rivals. But the three Plano ISD schools have been replaced by Little Elm and a pair of Denton ISD schools: Guyer and Braswell.

Guyer is a familiar name; that’s the team Coppell defeated in the first round of the 2023 football playoffs. But I’d never heard of Braswell, which opened only eight years ago. Although it’s a Denton ISD school, its campus is in the city of Aubrey, which I couldn’t find without a map.

Speaking of maps, the UIL creates interactive ones that connect the dots symbolizing the schools in each district. Here’s what District 5 looks like on the Conference 6A map:

These biennial district realignments govern more than just athletics. When I shared the UIL news on Facebook, a couple of theater moms said Coppell “will really need to step up their game” to compete with the theater programs at Guyer, Flower Mound, and Marcus, which present a “HUGE challenge.” (Dramatic!)

However, because we live in Texas, I’m still looking at realignment primarily through a football lens. Here’s how each of the teams in the newly formed District 5-6A fared in the 2023 regular season and playoffs:

• Coppell Cowboys: 10-0, lost in third round

• Lewisville Farmers: 8-2, lost in first round

• Guyer Wildcats: 7-3, lost in first round

• Marcus Marauders: 4-6*, lost in first round

• Flower Mound Jaguars: 5-5, missed playoffs

• Hebron Hawks: 4-5, missed playoffs

• Braswell Bengals: 4-6, missed playoffs

• Little Elm Lobos: 2-8, missed playoffs

* Marcus made the playoffs with an overall losing record because they were 4-3 in district games. They went winless in pre-district, when they had the guts to schedule Highland Park, Southlake Carroll, and Euless Trinity. Each of those perennial powerhouses hung half a hundred on the Marauders.

On the subject of pre-district schedules, Coppell head football coach Antonio Wiley told me his team will start the 2024 and 2025 seasons with games against Sachse, Waxahachie, and Arlington Bowie.

In other CHS sports news …

• The varsity boys basketball team’s final home game will happen on Tuesday, which will also be Senior Night. I was at the Coppell High School Arena last Tuesday, when the Cowboys were in a 17-5 hole to Hebron after one quarter. But they fought back to a one-point deficit (21-20) by halftime and ended up winning 48-46 on a three-pointer in the final minute. The stands were fairly empty for that thrilling game, so I’m hoping to see you there this Tuesday night when they host Plano. Yes, I’m talking to you.

• The varsity girls basketball team will finish their regular season on Tuesday with a road game against Plano. They clinched a playoff berth with a 60-41 road win over Plano East on Friday, and then celebrated with ice cream, as one will.

• The varsity baseball team had their first scrimmage on Saturday. Their home opener is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Feb. 16 against Little Elm, one of their soon-to-be district rivals.

• The varsity softball team has already played two scrimmages. They’ll open their regular season with a home game against Argyle at 7 p.m. on Friday.

• Despite the access issues documented in “Pump Problem Temporarily Displaces Swimmers,” 19 swimmers and three divers qualified for next weekend’s regional meet at Lewisville ISD’s Westside Aquatic Center.

---

CFBISD Trustees Deride Chaplains Bill

In last week’s edition, I told you the Texas Legislature passed a law last year that says “a school district may employ a chaplain instead of a school counselor to perform the duties required of a school counselor.”

As it turns out, I mistakenly quoted the bill’s first draft. The final draft of Senate Bill 763 actually says “a school district or open-enrollment charter school may employ or accept as a volunteer a chaplain to provide support, services, and programs for students as assigned by the board of trustees of the district or the governing body of the school.” Although I strive to live my life with #NoRegrets, I regret the error.

You know who else leads a #NoRegrets lifestyle? Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD Trustee Randy Schackmann, that’s who! Here’s what he had to say about Senate Bill 763: “It is a poorly conceived law and very poorly crafted, and the people who wrote it and worded it need to be taken out behind the barn.”

Schackmann amused himself and some of his fellow trustees when he said that on Thursday, a few minutes before they took a recorded vote on whether or not they would authorize their campuses to hire chaplains or accept them as volunteers. Senate Bill 763 requires such a vote by each school board in Texas no later than March 1.

“It’s another situation where the state is stuffing something down our throats, and we get no say in it,” Schackmann added, “and they’re removing another notch of local control.”

The law also says chaplains are not required to be certified by the State Board for Educator Certification. Deputy Superintendent Brian Moersch referenced that aspect of the legislation when he introduced a resolution for the Carrollton-Farmers Branch trustees’ consideration.

“Being that it is not reasonable to place an individual in a position in which they do not have the needed training and certification, and given that chaplains already play a pivotal role in supporting students and families, it is recommended that the Board of Trustees refrain from approving chaplains as employees responsible for counseling duties,” Moersch said. “Their current impactful contributions are valuable, and maintaining this role preserves the unique and meaningful support they offer to the CFBISD community.”

Moersch reminded the trustees and the audience that Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD — which includes portions of Coppell and Irving — has created a Faith-Based Leaders Alliance. This group meets at the district’s headquarters once a month to discuss ways they can support students, teachers, and staff.

“I just want to make sure that it’s clear that this resolution does not change anything about the wonderful and needed support that faith-based leaders currently provide in our schools,” Trustee Tara Hrbacek said. “Our intent is not to prevent them. We want them volunteering, supporting our families, mentoring our students; we want that.”

Board President Cassandra Hatfield echoed comments from Coppell ISD Trustee Nichole Bentley that were included in last week’s edition.

“I am frustrated by this Senate bill, because I believe it puts us in a position to be at odds on something that is not what it is meant to be,” Hatfield said. “There may be communities where this is right for them. They may live in a rural area. They may not have access to mental-health professionals, and they may need this. But we are blessed to have amazing staff that care for our kids every day and have the credentials.”

In the end, the board voted 6-1 in favor of the resolution, which says the district will not employ chaplains to provide mental-health services to students. The dissenting vote came from Trustee Carolyn Benavides, who admitted that she hadn’t read the controversial bill.

“We need the whole community for our children, no matter what their status is,” Benavides said. “And I’m not talking about someone off the street; I’m talking about people who really care about our kids.”

---

Congressional Candidates Turn in Receipts

Candidates for federal offices had to turn in reports on their campaigns’ finances by Wednesday. The two Democrats who want to represent most of Coppell in Congress submitted very different sets of figures, both of which were dwarfed by the Republican incumbent’s numbers.

District 24 encompasses the vast majority of Coppell. The Democrats whose names will appear on the March 5 primary ballot are Sam Eppler, a former teacher and principal from Dallas, and Francine Ly, a former legislative district director and current court coordinator from Irving.

Eppler’s campaign reported $274,499 worth of contributions in 2023, with $70,502 worth of cash on hand at year’s end. Those numbers look pretty good when compared to the ones turned in by Ly’s campaign: $61,557 raised and $811 on hand.

However, that was all chump change compared to the dollars raised by Rep. Beth Van Duyne, the former Irving mayor who won this seat in 2020. Van Duyne’s campaign reported $1,674,660 worth of contributions in 2023, which meant she had $1,920,696 on hand by New Year’s Eve.

The Denton County portion of Coppell is in District 26, where 11 Republicans are vying for the seat that Rep. Michael Burgess is giving up after 11 terms. The leading fundraiser was Brandon Gill, who is the son-in-law of Dinesh D’Souza and has been endorsed by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. His campaign reported $478,701 worth of contributions in 2023, with most of that money ($439,225) unspent by year’s end. Coming in second was Southlake Mayor John Huffman, whom Van Duyne has endorsed; his campaign reported raising $303,084, with $285,640 still in his account on Dec. 31.

Also among the 11 candidates in the Republican primary is Neena Biswas, a former Coppell ISD trustee. She reported no money raised, no money spent, and no money on hand.

---

Chronicle Crumbs

• It saddens me to report that Coppell ER has closed for good. Although I never patronized that medical facility, the heroes who worked there were kind enough to let me roll with them during the 2022 edition of the Coppell Chamber of Commerce’s bowling tournament. That experience was even more enjoyable because they were all dressed as characters from one of my favorite movies, The Big Lebowski. Take it easy, dudes.

It was like I’d died and gone to Lebowski Fest.

• On Saturday, I spied with my big four eyes a couple of signs indicating that Little Caesars is setting up shop on Sandy Lake Road, in the building due west of Denton Tap Road that houses Neat Dry Cleaning, Mathnasium, and Falak Art Studio.

• Two Coppell High School debate teams made the semifinals in the World Schools division of this weekend’s Jasper Howl Invitational in Plano. Coppell’s Safiya Azam, Sivaank Pothukoochi, and Justin Murdock were the runners-up to a powerhouse squad from Flower Mound. (I thought about including this in the sports news you read earlier, but even I’m not that nerdy.)

• A pair of Dallas County volunteer deputy registrars signed up 15 new voters at Coppell High School on Wednesday. One of those volunteers will be at New Tech High during the lunch periods on Monday, which is the registration deadline for the March 5 primaries.

• During last month’s meeting of the Coppell Parks and Recreation Board, Director of Community Experiences Jessica Carpenter was asked whether a group of volunteer “friends” could be formed to support the Waggin’ Tails Dog Park. Carpenter said her staff would welcome that, but no dog owners have stepped up to organize such an effort. If you’d be willing to do so, the “Citizens’ Appearance” portion of tomorrow’s Parks and Recreation Board meeting might be a good time to say so. They’ll meet at 6:30 at Town Center.

---

Community Calendar

Coppell High School Band’s Midwinter Concert Series: The band will perform at 7 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday in the high school auditorium.

Community Summit: Coppell civic and service organizations are invited to share details about their missions and plans for 2024 between 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. RSVP via the link.

Teen Public Speaking Workshop: Karen Coleman of Toastmasters International will discuss best practices, elevator pitches, and things to avoid during a workshop for teens that is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. As someone who regularly hears Coppell teenagers speak — or tries to hear them, at least — I’d say this is a workshop that our community sorely needs.

Game Night: Families are invited to drop by the Cozby Library and Community Commons between 6 and 8 p.m. on Wednesday for a fun evening of classic and contemporary board games — and a few giant ones also.

Coppell Lions Club Pancake Breakfast: The annual fundraiser will happen from 8 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday at First United Methodist Church. Tickets are $5 for individuals or $20 for families. That price gets you all the pancakes, biscuits and gravy, sausage patties, coffee, juice, and milk you want.

Art and Heart Fair: The New Tech Hope Squad — a group of student leaders trained to be on the lookout for peers in crisis, especially those thinking of suicide — will host a fundraising event featuring music, artisan vendors, and health and wellness activities between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday at New Tech High.

Caribbean Nights Gala: The Coppell Arts Center Foundation will host an event featuring a buffet dinner, casino games, and live entertainment. Wear your best “resort cocktail attire” to the Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

House District 115 Candidates Forum: Scarlett Cornwallis, Cassandra Hernandez, and Kate Rumsey are the Democratic candidates in House District 115, which encompasses the vast majority of Coppell; John Jun is the lone Republican candidate. They have all been invited to an education-focused forum at 6 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the Coppell Arts Center.

Valentine's Day Puzzle Competition: Pairs of adults will compete to see who can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle the fastest. The fun begins at 6 p.m. on Feb. 14 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. If you missed my exclusive coverage of the library’s inaugural puzzle contest in November, check it out: