Youth Volleyball Camp

Howe Youth Volleyball Camp was well attended

Above: Youth Volleyball campers (in white) along with high school volleyball players and coaches. Courtesy photos.

Howe High School coaches put on a camp for fifth through eighth grade volleyball girls last week. After not being able to host one a year ago due to COVID, the girls were excited to get back on the court before their seasons start next month.

With 24 participants, and several high school girls helping, Coach Lopez had a very successful camp filled with drills to work on ball control, serving, setting, teamwork and so much more. The last day of camp consisted of fun games and even getting to watch the high school girls scrimmage each other for a bit. The younger Lady Bulldogs learned a lot and are enthusiastic to start the 2021 season.

Photo gallery

Councilmember Sarah Myrick. Staff photo.

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time for licensing and software upgrades.

“Once you purchase the upgrades, then you’re paying for the license and a few fees,” said Stanley. “It’ll actually save the city money. We did the same thing with the court computer last year and that computer actually pays for itself.” Bearden asked Economic Development Director Monte Walker if the budgeted estimated sales tax revenue of $260,000 was a conservative figure or close to accurate. Walker stated that the city is on pace for a rough estimate of $480,000. The exact pace is $494,487 for 2021 from January—December.

Sales tax revenues increased by 17.6 percent from 2019-2020 and is currently on a pace of 19.8 percent above 2020.

“It all balances it out,” said current City Administrator Joe Shephard who will retire in a few weeks. “The last several years, we’ve finished the year in the black. A couple of them were by $7 or $8, but other years were by $20-$30-$40,000. So, you can adjust the sales tax, but then your water sales next year may be way down. We’re in the black so far this year by $107,000 so it all works out in the end. You can nitpick these totals to death. It’s the bottom line at the end of the year is what we look at.”

Myrick also asked the current city administrator duo about the intentions of the Type B Corporation (community development)— Howe Community Facility Development Corporation (HCFDC) expenditures on sewer bonds instead of community development and future growth. Stanley responded that the city does have plans for future growth and in three years should have our own sewer system.

Shephard says the school of thought is shifting away from cities giving away money to entice businesses unless very specific requirements are made such as employment obligations by businesses.

“The problem is that if you do it for one, you have to do it for the other existing businesses in town,” said Shephard who said the city has a comprehensive plan, but not an incentive plan. “You can run into a lot of issues especially in a smaller town. It’s a great idea, but it doesn’t work as well as people think it does.” Moving to a different subject, Bearden asked whether the Memorial Park project had been abandoned in which Mayor French stated the city was not awarded the grant which was sought from Texas Parks and Wildlife.

“Instead of building something smaller and lesser, we’ll hold on the promises of the funds and the funds donated and try for it again,” said French.

The money is not set aside outside of a line item in the general fund in the city budget, however, Walker stated that he is holding $5,750 of donations towards the project in the Howe Development Foundation. The total amount the city has budget for the park upgrade is $30,000 and an additional $15,000 from donations, and $45,000 matching funds from the grant concluded a total $90,000 upgrade.

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for parks at this time.

Shephard also mentioned that as new development takes place in Howe, those typically come with parks which developers pay for instead of cities having to budget towards.

“What got the Memorial Park Project started at all was the knowledge of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Grant,” said French. “It’s still a viable project, but we need to remember that the more money we have to spend when we do get the grant, determines how much the grant is.” Walker stated that he created the Howe Development Foundation (HDF) for the very purpose of being able to help in those areas such as parks and community development since the Type B economic development funds are being used for sewer payments. The HDF operates Summit Gardens wedding and event venue which has had over 34 events in 2021 and has created a balance in the HDF account of over $12,600 which includes the $5,750 already set aside for Memorial Park when it is needed.

Richardson asked about the judge and prosecutor’s yearly fee increase of $3,000 at the request of

Brett Bearden was appointed Mayor Pro Tem Tuesday night at the monthly City Council Meeting. Staff photo.

Mayor French.

“We are one of the lowest paying cities for these services and this increase will nowhere get us to the top,” said Mayor French. But for our size city, it puts is more in line as a professional city. Neither one of them requested it— this is at my request or direction. It’s not unlike our police department. We are working to make a more professional department and we have to pay for better people.” This was the one and only budget session unless the tax rate changes by a large amount. Stanley says the rate is not expected to change by much if any.

CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE

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trended well with improvements in Reading from an 87 to an 89 in “Approaching grade level” and from 46 to 57 in “Meets grade level” and from 18 to 40 in “Masters grade level.” He said he feels better about their scores in the red area compared to the state scores where third grade reading was a five-point decrease to 80 from 2019, however the State of Texas average was 68.

“We’re still in pretty good shape statewide and I think that’s the trend because of COVID and its effect on education,” said Wilson. “Statewide scores are down and ours are pretty comparable or better in a lot of cases.”

Wilson discussed Texas House Bill 3979 which Gov. Gregg Abbott signed into law recently banning Texas public schools from being teaching Critical Race Theory. Wilson stated that he believed it will be revisited in a future special session. He said he believes the governor and lieutenant governor want to make some changes to it. He said that dealing with controversial social topics gives some parameters to teachers and teachers aren't compelled to have those discussions in class and if they do, they must give both angles.

Wilson discussed Senate Bill 2202 which states the employer may not directly or indirectly pass that the employer may not directly or indirectly pass that cost on to the retiree through payroll deduction, by imposition of a cost on to the retiree through payroll deduction, by imposition of a fee, or by any other means designed to recover the cost.

“If we’re going to hire a retired teacher, it’s going to cost us more than if we were to hire a regular teacher,” said Wilson who was curious to see what affect this will have going forward.

He discussed Senate Bill 179 which requiresrequires a school counselor to spend at least 80 percent of the school a school counselor to spend at least 80 percent of the school counselor's total work time on duties that are components of a counselor's total work time on duties that are components of a counseling program developed under Section 33.005.

Texoma Shelter gets help from youth group from Community Bible Fellowship in Howe

Texoma Shelter was extremely grateful for the Youth Group from Community Bible Fellowship in Howe. The young people came to volunteer their time at the shelter on Friday, July 16.

Texoma Shelter’s Facebook page shared a post that read, “They all worked so hard in and around the shelter, whether inside in our kitchen, dining area or, outside making everything look great. It is such a wonderful experience not only for these dedicated young people, but for us as well. During these times of hardship for so many, it was such a blessing to see this group paying it forward to those less fortunate. TOGETHER WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE! Thank you again CBF Youth Group, and a special thanks to their Youth Minister, Dustin, for thinking of us.”

Howe ISD rules home school students are unavailable for UIL activities

The Howe ISD Board of Trustees discussed Texas House Bill 547 which makes it optional for school districts to allow home school students to participate in UIL activities. Wilson said this brings closure to the discussion and reduces the opportunity to appeal to administration. Wilson said the cons significantly outweigh the pros in allowing homeschool students to participate in UIL activities. He mentioned the lack of oversight to the education and grades, although they would be required to take a standardized test at the beginning of the year. There is also no oversight over attendance. With rules governing that a student can only have a 60minute athletic period, this could cause concern for a student that is not properly held to those standards.

Wilson also said he gives pause to the idea because of the snapshot number in October that determines the high school enrollment. If the district allows one homeschool student to participate in UIL, this could affect the overall enrollment number.

Wilson recommended adopting a resolution stating that homeschool students cannot participate in UIL activities at Howe ISD. The motion passed unanimously. standing cafeteria prices for the 2021-22 school year which is pending approval of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) based on free and reduced lunch rates. Howe ISD Superintendent Kevin Wilson didn’t indicate that there would be a change from last year but couldn’t guarantee that with a month to go. As of right now there stands to be no change to student prices, but there’s an increase by $0.15 for adults for lunch. Extras will go up from $1.50 to $2.00. The program was extended so that all students can each free this coming school year which significantly improved the district’s revenue. The board also approved Superintendent Wilson to serve as the Howe ISD representative for the Grayson County Community Mitigation Planning Team.

The board adopted the Board of Trustees Code of Conduct and Standard Operating Procedures.

Due to the winter storm, some school districts had major damages and were unable to expedite the repair procedures due to policy. This allows the superintendent to move quickly for repairs for facilities if it involves the health and safety for students and staff but does not give them authority to supersede bidding requirements. Policy items were approved help in this manner. Also, a policy was updated to clarify leave and absences by employees.