CAMERON SCHOOL BOARD CHANGES FACES....AGAIN

(CAMERON) It's been a revolving door for the Cameron School Board Room over the past several elections. And Saturday's election was no different as two incumbents were ousted by Cameron ISD voters. Newcomer Michael Watkins (middle) was the top vote getter with 440 votes while Incumbent Carl Bradley (left) picked up 436 votes and newcomer Elva Vargas (right) received 418 votes. Newcomer Samuel Buhl narrowly missed the cut with 390 votes. Incumbents Jack McKinney and Marion Cooley received 324 and 288 votes respectively. Watkins, Bradley and Vargas were sworn in during Monday night's regular school board meeting. McKinney had served on the board 3 years and was seeking his first re-election while Cooley has served a total of 12 years on the board, many of those as President before she decided in 1997 not to run for re-election. She returned to the board in 2000. Also during Monday's meeting, the board reorganized with Gene Vaculin and Mike Zajicek nominated for President. Vaculin was voted in as President, the position he has served for several years, by a 3-2 vote. Vaculin was nominated by Carl Bradley and received votes from Bradley, Curtis Hoyle and Michael Watkins. Zajicek was nominated by Willyne Stanislaw and received votes from Stanislaw and Vargas. Zajicek was then voted by acclamation as Vice President and Carl Bradley by acclamation as Secretary.

Also during Monday's meeting, the board heard a presentation from Band Director Dan Holman concerning the condition of the 10 year old band uniforms. Three band students displayed new band uniforms for the board. The uniforms can be machine washed, require less maintenance, and are cooler than the uniforms purchased 10 years ago. The board learned that if ordered, the uniforms could be ready within 120 to 150 days. No action was taken.

The Cameron School Board heard an alarming report on the 2003-2004 budget projections during their regular meeting last night. Regina Young told the board that because of a lower ADA, and higher property values that reduce state funding, projected revenues at the same tax rate are $9,907,784 with expenditures projected at $10,339,624, leaving a shortfall of $429,800. Young said all departments are being asked to cut back on spending. Total projected budget cuts so far are just over $301,000 leaving another $128,000 to trim. A budget workshop will be held early next month, after the state legislature finalizes school funding issues.

The board heard and approved a good Lever Audit Report as presented by Diana Ward of Jaynes, Reitmeier, Boyd and Therrell. (Audio) The newly state mandated audit targets 7-12^th grade students in 2001-2002 who were not enrolled at the beginning of the 2002-2003 school year. In other business,

	The board awarded the bank depository bid to First National Bank.
	Approved two bills over $25,000. A payment to Chandler Information Systems for $216,289 for final payment in the CN2 Community networking grant. And a payment of $720,437 to EBCO General Contractors for construction work on the new high school project.
	Trustees approved reports on the district’s Gifted & Talented Program from coordinators Melissa Shelton, Kerry Harris and Kimberly Hudson.
	Heard reports on technology and construction.
	And the board recognized the Yoe High UIL Accounting Team who won the class 3A state title last weekend. They are Jessica Fincher, Kristen Hanel, Meredith Murray and Kyle Plachy.
	Others recognized were the Ag Mechanics team who placed 3^rd at the state meet out of 29 teams, and the Poultry team who placed 19^th in the state out of 49 teams. The Ag Mechanics team consists of Juniors Remington McDermott and Sam Ferguson and sophomores Erskin McDermott and Bryan Rinders. The Poultry team consists of Leslie Vaculin, Callie Gregory, Chelsea Tomasek and Stephen Fuchs.
	The board also approved a 10’ easement on the District’s property on FM 2269 for Oncor Energy to beef up their distribution for Schlumberger who is constructing a testing and training facility northwest of Cameron.

Following a closed session last night, the board approved the hiring of Choya Vaculin as a history teacher at Cameron Jr. High. She replaces Mike Temple. Kathy Person was hired as a high school Journalism teacher replacing Annie Cole. And the board accepted the resignations of Bradley Marek, girls softball coach; Nancy Gutierrez, High school Spanish teacher; Marsha Dodd, Elementary teacher; Brad Ballard, High school math teacher; and Paul Harris who is resigning as the girls basketball coach and will assume a full-time AEP teacher at the high school. The board also accepted the retirement of Betsy Davis, 1^st grade teacher at Ben Milam.