Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 6

Trustees Remain Open to Closing Schools • Superintendent Earns 2-Year Extension • Medians in Coppell Will Get Drier • Old Town Coppell May Get Wetter

If you were surprised to receive this email, given the format change I announced in yesterday’s bonus edition, then you’re among many subscribers who fell for that April Fools’ Day prank. Several people emailed me to lament their lack of a fax number, and some asked about a prorated refund on their subscription. My reply to each one: “Have you looked at a calendar today?”

OK, enough fun and games. We have lots of serious news to report. You may have already read about Coppell ISD Superintendent Brad Hunt’s contract extension on Facebook, where I broke that news on Tuesday morning, but the article on that topic in this edition includes a few details that I declined to upload to Meta’s data centers.

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Trustees Remain Open to Closing Schools

When Coppell ISD’s $321.5 million bond package was being crafted last fall, there was a lot of sturm und drang about closing an elementary school. Although there are no plans to shutter a campus anytime soon, the district’s trustees are discussing that idea in the long term.

During their periodic budget workshops, the trustees have been trying to help the administration by ranking their priorities. One of the dozen or so items on that in-flux list is “Consider closing/repurposing underutilized campuses/facilities.” Last month, Trustee Leigh Walker wanted that concept removed from the priorities list for at least a few years.

“When we talk about these things, we have to be very intentional, because it is anxiety-inducing — to say the least — for our community,” Walker said during the trustees’ March 6 workshop. “If we truly don’t want to deal with this for the next couple of years, we have to be very loud and clear with that.”

Trustee Manish Sethi countered that a potential school closure has to remain on the table, considering that Coppell ISD has dipped into its fund balance to cover shortfalls and has more than 1,000 empty seats in its elementary schools. The district’s demographer predicted there will be nearly 1,500 empty seats by the 2028-2029 school year.

“I understand it’s creating anxiety,” Sethi said, “but so is our responsibility to our citizens, when they pay taxes, that we are frugal and we are not just spending it away because … we are afraid of discussing hard topics.”

Board President David Caviness agreed with both of them. Like Sethi, he didn’t want to take the topic off the table. But like Walker, he wanted to intentionally communicate that no campus would be closed or repurposed on short notice without justification.

“There’s a lot of dominoes that have to fall before we get there and puzzle pieces that have to move,” Caviness said.

Walker offered a caveat: “I want to say that, in my mind, we don’t close or repurpose any of our campuses — whether that’s New Tech, Pinkerton, Lakeside, you name it — we don’t even look at that for the next two to three years, comma, barring something crazy that happens.” (Yes, she said “comma” out loud.) Walker later brought up the bond election: “If our bond doesn’t pass, for instance, and we have to use M&O dollars to have basic capital investments, I mean that’s a very different story.”

M&O is an abbreviation for “maintenance & operations.” Every school district has two tax rates: the maintenance & operations rate and the interest & sinking rate (also known as the debt-service rate). If Coppell ISD voters approve any of the four bond propositions on the May 6 ballot, the interest & sinking rate will increase. This slide from the district’s bond presentation helps illustrate the difference.

The largest proposition in the bond package, the $270 million Proposition A, would cover priority condition needs at all campuses, including interior refreshes, roof repairs, new furnishings, and new playgrounds. It would also finance major renovations of three elementary schools: Austin, Lakeside, and Valley Ranch.

Getting back to the March 6 workshop, Walker eventually backed off her push to remove a potential closure from the priorities list.

“We have to not clench onto something … and say ‘never, never, never,’” she said. “But at the same time, if we’re giving direction to staff, I just want to be clear, saying that’s a very low priority for me.”

Sethi agreed that closing a campus should remain near the bottom of the list.

“This is not a near-term priority at all, but it’s something we want to be discussing all the time,” he said, “so if we have to make really hard choices, it’s a continuity of multiple years of [the] community seeing that this was really thought through.”

All articles about the bond election will be outside the Chronicle’s paywall, so feel free to help the community see this one.

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Superintendent Earns 2-Year Extension

Brad Hunt with a couple of the 13,000-plus students in his charge

Coppell ISD Superintendent Brad Hunt received a vote of confidence from the Board of Trustees on Monday via a two-year extension of his contract, which now runs through December 2027.

That’s an interesting date. One of the things that Hunt has in common with your correspondent — besides a Dallas ISD diploma and a fondness for dad jokes — is that his youngest child should graduate from high school in 2027.

The 6-0 vote was not unanimous. Trustee Neena Biswas said she was abstaining because she did not attend a special meeting on March 23, when the rest of the board conducted Hunt’s mid-year performance review. Before Monday’s vote, Biswas brought up the infamous choking incident that happened at Coppell Middle School North last May.

“There have been some big negatives over the past two years, and take that into account for the performance, instead of just, you know, painting a rosy picture,” said Biswas, whose term on the board expires next month.

When the trustees unanimously approved Hunt’s previous two-year extension in January 2022, Biswas said he maintained the district’s high standards, despite the pandemic. “We have a lot to be proud of,” she said then.

(See “Superintendents Get Contract Extensions” in Vol. 1, No. 48.)

During last week’s meeting, the rest of the trustees praised Hunt’s performance and thanked him for his service.

“The last few years have not been the best of times,” Board President David Caviness said. “There’s been a lot that you’ve navigated this district through. For that, I am so grateful.”

Trustee Manish Sethi, who made the motion to extend Hunt’s contract, said, “We are here to promote stability. We have a bond coming up. We have a lot of challenges in front of us. We hope we navigate them under your leadership.”

There are 14 school districts headquartered in Dallas County, and 11 of them have hired superintendents since Coppell ISD gave Hunt that title in 2017. The only ones who have held their jobs longer are Sunnyvale ISD’s Doug Williams (2007) and Duncanville ISD’s Marc Smith (2016). Four of the 11 districts hired new superintendents in 2022, and two others have already done so this year.

Hunt’s tenure in Coppell ISD began in 1990, when he was hired as a teacher at Coppell High School. His subsequent titles have included Coppell Middle School West Assistant Principal, Director of Human Resources, Coppell High School Principal, and Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services. He and his wife, Janay, have a daughter and a son who are CISD students.

“You’ve been in this district for a long time and can tie it together to the experience of the teachers,” Trustee Jobby Mathew said. “That connection, I think, will help drive us forward as we all work collaboratively to address all the needs of the district and the students. I’m excited to have you continue that journey and provide that stability to the community.”

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Medians in Coppell Will Get Drier

Whenever the construction of South Belt Line Road is completed, commuters can expect to see less green grass through their driver’s side windows.

On Tuesday, the City Council was briefed on a plan to replace much of the turf in Coppell’s medians with hardscape. Tree lovers can relax; there are no plans to remove those. Nonetheless, city officials estimate that instituting this new planting scheme on South Belt Line will save 32,300 gallons of water on a weekly basis, which adds up to 1.68 million gallons annually. It will also eliminate a to-be-determined amount of hours from landscape crews’ workloads because there won’t be as much grass to mow and edge.

I’m telling you about this because I wanted to show you this rendering.

Upon seeing that image, City Council Member John Jun asked whether one side of South Belt Line would be getting an extra fourth lane, which led to a lot of laughs. Director of Public Works Mike Garza assured Jun that the artist had taken some liberties.

Nobody addressed the aspect of the illustration that got my attention. I’m fairly certain that the plans for reconstructing South Belt Line don’t include a sheer cliff leading to an abyss.

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Old Town Coppell May Get Wetter

Approximately 50 Coppell residents joined their elected officials and 10 or so members of the city’s staff last week for a “community conversation” about the future of Old Town. Some attendees thought Thursday’s event would be their opportunity to weigh in on one specific project, with this kind of energy:

However, this event was not about Chris Collins’ revised proposal to demolish the long-dormant church on the southwest corner of Main Street and Bethel Road and replace it with six mixed-use buildings. Those plans will be the subject of a public hearing during the council’s April 11 meeting.

(See “Old Town Proposal Wins Unanimous Support” in Vol. 3, No. 4.)

Before the community began conversing on Thursday, we received a couple of briefings. Matt Steer, Coppell’s Development Services Administrator, gave us a history lesson that said the city has invested $49 million in Old Town since 1996. Then Charles Parker, who is a project director for a consulting firm called The Retail Coach, compared Coppell to other nearby suburbs.

These heat maps from Parker’s presentation show how far people travel to visit Old Town Coppell versus how far they travel to visit Historic Downtown McKinney.

And this slide from his presentation shows how Old Town Coppell’s annual average daily traffic (AADT) stacks up against the traffic stats in other suburbs’ similar districts.

Once Parker was finished, facilitator Randy Pennington asked the folks at each table to discuss a few questions. He also instructed the council members at these tables to keep their mouths shut while we talked about:

• Has the Old Town area achieved what it was designed to achieve?

• What is your vision for Old Town in 10 years?

• What must go right — and what can’t go wrong — for the city to achieve your vision?

(Regarding council members keeping quiet: Mayor Wes Mays had an Elmo doll next to his microphone, and a Chronicle subscriber ordered me to find out why. The mayor explained that it was a subtle message to the council. “Elmo” is an acronym for “enough, let’s move on.”)

Once those conversations were completed, the council had a work session. There’s no way I can summarize everything said over the course of this three-hour event, so here’s my big takeaway:

ALCOHOL

As the council members relayed what they heard during the table talk, they repeatedly brought up booze; the only way Old Town Coppell is going to be more vibrant, they were told, is for the city to loosen its alcohol regulations. As things stand, Coppell restaurants that sell alcohol must derive at least 51 percent of their revenue from food sales. Loyal readers may recall that Irving’s City Council recently voted to allow restaurants in three specific areas to derive up to 70 percent of their revenue from alcohol.

(See “Irving Eateries Can Get a Bit Boozier” in Vol. 2, No. 52.)

Mays said, “We’ll take that as a ‘go work on,’” in regards to alcohol, but City Manager Mike Land said the council can’t revise those rules on their own; such a change would have to be initiated by a petition from residents. He promised a briefing on that topic soon by City Attorney Bob Hager.

Meanwhile, some of the council members questioned how vibrant Coppell could be, which brings the whole “Discover Coppell” marketing campaign into question.

“I do think about that critical mass,” Council Member Kevin Nevels said. “Is there even enough in Coppell to advertise to the region?”

Council Member Don Carroll added that Coppell is a wonderful place to live, but it’s essentially a bedroom community. “I don’t know if ‘vibrant’ is a word you would use to describe Coppell,” he said.

To his point: The meeting broke up shortly after 9 o’clock. My path home took me through Old Town, and all of the restaurants on Bethel — Coppell Deli, Local Diner, and Hard Eight — were already closed.

Several Chronicle subscribers attended Thursday’s event, so here’s an opportunity for even more community conversations. Did I miss anything?

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Chronicle Crumbs

• You have to work pretty hard to elicit a harsh word from Leigh Walker, but Neena Biswas has put in the work. During Monday’s Coppell ISD board meeting, the trustees canceled a special election because Jobby Mathew is the only candidate for finishing the final year of Tracy Fisher’s vacated term. This simple item took 10 minutes because Biswas asked lots of questions and lobbed a few accusations, which Walker said were “fundamentally and categorically untrue.” If I hadn’t already published “Mathew’s Term Has Dramatic Start” and “Community’s Impact on Vacancy Unveiled,” I might have devoted a headlined article to this latest donnybrook. If you want to watch it, go to Item VIII.D at the 02:32:03 mark of this video.

• After reading “Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign” in last week’s edition, a former member of the Coppell City Council pointed out to me that Coppell ISD candidate Samit Patel’s campaign signs are missing the word “for” between his name and the position he’s seeking. The Texas Ethics Commission’s guide to political advertising says that word is necessary for any candidate who is not an incumbent. Patel told me “for” will be included on his future signs, and he’s exploring how to add that word to his existing collateral.

• This Thursday is the voter registration deadline for the May 6 elections. I’m a Dallas County Volunteer Deputy Registrar, so let me know if anybody in your family needs a registration form. As a reminder, there is no way to register online in Texas; you must sign ink on paper.

• Coppell ISD announced on Friday that it plans to offer a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) curriculum to all elementary students. The district intends to hire a full-time STEAM educator for each of its 11 elementary schools by the time kids return from summer vacation.

• I was making plans to be in Austin on May 1, so I could cover the lawsuit that Coppell and other cities filed against Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar over his proposed changes to sales-tax regulations, but the trial has been delayed yet again. The latest schedule calls for the proceedings to begin on Nov. 6.

• Without a public explanation, Starbucks has withdrawn their proposal to build a store with a drive-thru near the intersection of State Highway 121 and Freeport Parkway. (Oh, no! Where will we ever find a venti latte around here?) As a result, the Coppell City Council’s consideration of a zoning change for a Popeyes on the adjoining land has been delayed until April 11.

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Community Calendar

Candidates Forum: The Coppell Chamber of Commerce will host a forum featuring candidates for the Coppell City Council and the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees starting at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday at Dallas College’s Coppell Center. That’s a venue change because the level of interest made it impossible to have the event at the chamber’s offices. I have a scheduling conflict that morning, so y’all let me know if anybody says anything outrageous.

Cricket Pitch Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony: The City of Coppell’s first designated cricket pitch officially opens at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, near the batting cages in Wagon Wheel Park; you can get there via Northpoint Drive. That same scheduling conflict will prevent me from being there, so y’all let me know if any bowlers throw any beamers, grubbers, or yorkers. (I’m fairly confident that those are all legitimate cricket terms.)

Party in the Parks: The community is invited to the Coppell ISD Baseball and Softball Complex behind the Coppell High School Ninth Grade Center on Tuesday, when the varsity Cowgirls and Cowboys will have home games starting at 7:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively. The first 100 fans will win T-shirts, and any youth players wearing their jerseys will be admitted for free. Additionally, I’ll give a free pouch of Big League Chew to any youth player whose parent sends me a photo of them in front of my sponsorship flag.

Coppell Women’s Club: Scott Starnes of Milano Hat Company will be the featured speaker when the club gets together at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday at the Church of the Apostles, so the wearing of hats is encouraged.

Game Night: Families are invited to enjoy a variety of classic and contemporary board games, plus a few giant games, at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.

Budget Town Hall Meeting: If you want to ask questions about major projects the City of Coppell is planning for fiscal 2024 (which begins on Oct. 1), be at Town Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of Mark Twain’s classic tale starting on Friday at the Coppell Arts Center.

Acton Children’s Business Fair: Young entrepreneurs will hawk their wares from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on April 15 at The Sound at Cypress Waters.

Peter and the Starcatcher: The play that provides a backstory for Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, and Hook will be performed at 7 p.m. on April 28, 29, and 30 at the Coppell High School Ninth-Grade Campus.