For the 50 volunteers of the Aledo Growth Committee, it’s been a long road filled with volumes of information and countless hours of deliberation. But, alas, this journey they embarked on together those many months ago is winding to its inevitable conclusion.
Members of the AGC met for their final time on Monday, Feb. 6, before making their final recommendations for the upcoming bond election to the Board of Trustees next Monday, Feb. 13.
The meetings started off with a visit from the principals of the Aledo High School and Daniel Ninth Grade. Both principals had an opportunity to speak to the group regarding the best use of the funds the AGC set aside in their proposal for both existing campuses.
Existing programs at both campuses currently struggle to facilitate practices due to a lack of allotted space for all the available programs. The principals shared how they believe the funds in the bond package could be used to create space that would allow for less competition between the existing programs as they jockey for opportunities to practice their craft.
During the meeting the AGC got their first look at the recommendations proposed by the broader community by way of the feedback forms that were placed online, as well. Community member proposals ranged from instructing the AGC not to do anything that would potentially raise property taxes to the complete opposite end of the spectrum, wishing the AGC would maximize the bond capacity in order to get as many new schools on the ground as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, a significant amount of the comments from the community were indicative of residents sounding off on items that were not even part of the proposal put forth by the AGC.
“You do your best to communicate, but when you hear feedback about ‘they’re adding or they’re not adding a high school,’ there’s no high school or career academy presented in this bond,” said AGC co-chair Dan Reilley. “And yet, some of the feedback was directed towards that.”
“It’s definitely an opportunity to dial in our messaging to tell people what’s included [in the proposal] and what’s not,” Reilley expounded. “And more importantly why. Why are we doing what we are doing, and why are we not doing a second high school at this point. I think the process has been done well. I think the end product is the right start. I hope the community understands this is phase one of a multi-phased project.
We’re doing the right thing for right now. We’ve set good benchmarks to look at over the next few years to ensure we move forward in the best, possible way.”
The special meeting of the Aledo ISD Board of Trustees is slated for 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13. The meeting will take place in the boardroom of the administration building.
For those unable to attend the meeting in person, video of the meeting will be uploaded to the website within 24 hours. To access that video visit aledoisd.org. In the drop-down menu, click on ‘School Board’, then click on ‘board meeting videos’ to locate the video dated Feb. 13.
Once finalized by the board, the bond will be presented as part of a special election coming up in May of this year.
For more information related to the proposal and the data the AGC has been working from since August, visit aledoisd.org/AGC.
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