This month’s board meeting, held on Nov. 13, 2017, began with quick approvals and some discussion over a few items on the agenda, as per request of the concerned board members. In addition to starting the process of selling school district surplus real property (the ROP house), the following items were discussed.

At the board meeting, John Kopp felt strongly about the decisions made to hire a new Human Resource Secretary from outside the school. Kopp raised the first question, asking, “If we could move people around from within, why wouldn’t we?” Cavazos responded, “We’re too new at HR to train someone. Could we have hired someone from the inside? Yes, we could have. Would that have created a position through attrition? No, it wouldn’t have. If we didn’t have as high of a qualified person as we did, we would have hired from within.” Kopp concluded the discussion by stating, “I suffered over a decade at this district under the pretense, that if we hired from the outside our position will improve.” After the discussion, the issue of hiring a new HR secretary was brought up to be voted on. The vote was four to one with only Kopp in opposition of the idea.

Prior to that discussion, a presentation was made by the CHP Explorer Program at Taft High lead by Tom White, teacher for Law Enforcement at CTEC. CHP student members were also present at the meeting was Sgt. Makenna Kirby (CHP Explorer). Mr. White’s presentation introduced what the Explorer Program’s objective were for their students to the Board. The presentation also included additional information on programs and activities that CHP attends, and an important point of the presentation was to obtain approval to purchase a training simulator that helps students prepare in the field as a peace officer. The simulator puts students in an interactive environment where they face real-life situations in preparation for over 450 different circumstances that they will face in their future occupations. After listening to the presentation and inquiring about the CHP Explorer Program, the Board gave the green light for the simulator.