The Board of Trustees for the Brownwood Independent School District met in regular session on Monday evening.
One issue discussed was alcohol sales at the Food Plaza #9 at 2800 Southside Drive which is very near the Brownwood ISD administration building and accelerated high school.
Recently, the City of Brownwood moved to seek an injunction for the sale of alcohol at the location from the Attorney General’s office (see original story HERE).
The board of trustees voted to pass a resolution stating:
The Board does not support in any form or fashion the sale of alcohol at Food Plaza #9 and will work with the City of Brownwood on any appeals or injunctions to prohibit this.
During the discussion of the issue, Brownwood ISD Superintendent Reece Blincoe said that he wanted to tell a story of how he found out about the sale of alcohol at that location.
Blincoe said that earlier in the year around January or February of 2009, he was made aware of the the application for a liquor license at the food plaza location. Blincoe expressed at that time that he only wanted the city to follow the letter of the law as he put it.
Blincoe said that the city had passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale of alcohol within 300 feet of a public school measured from property line to property which was changed from the original ordinance measuring from “door to door.”
Blincoe explained that is was his understanding that the Food Plaza had applied for an alcohol sale permit which was denied by the City of Brownwood on a 3-2 vote. Blincoe said, “We thought that was the end of the topic.”
Mr. Blincoe explained that he went to the Food Plaza #9 at the beginning of the school year to make a purchase and discovered that the location was selling alcohol. Blincoe contacted Brownwood City Manager Bobby Rountree to find out how this happend and Rountree was unaware that this had taken place.
Blincoe said that it was his understanding that Food Plaza had made an appeal regarding the alcohol sale permit which would go to a judge. Orignially it was to go to County Judge Ray West, but West passed the appeal to another judge. Blincoe continued to explain that the judge who heard the case said that the city was informed of the appeal, but the city claims that they did not get notification of an appeal. Being as such, Blincoe said that the city did not attend the appeal so Food Plaza won the appeal and the alcohol permit.
Blincoe said, “From what I have gathered, and I have talked to many people including Judge West, including the City Manager. I don’t think this was done in the bounds of the law.”
He continued, “On the specific sheet in which the judge ruled, he stated that evidence was presented that this [the administration building/accelerated high school] isn’t even a school over here. In which that is ludicrous. This is a school by all means. It has a school ID number, it has a principal, it receives a school rating, it has a cafeteria, and full time teachers.”
Blincoe explained, “We are not players in this suit. This suit is between PF&E, Food Plaza #9, and the City.” He later said, “We want to tell our side of the story which is that this is a school.”
There was also a brief discussion regarding the 7-11 location on the corner of 4th St. and Indian Creek Dr being in close proximity to Woodland Heights Elementary. It is the understanding of the school district that the alcohol sales permit was in place at that location before the new ordinance was in place which makes it grandfathered in under the previous ordinance of 300 feet from door to door.
The School Board passed the resolutions unanimously.
Other issues from the Board meeting were:
-Trustees reappointed Thomas Vickers and Mike Coppic as representatives of the school district to the Brown County Appraisal District’s board of directors.
-Trustees approved the district plans for 2009-2010 as required by the state. The district plans to update and revise many of these plans for next year.
-The Board of Trustees approved a new procedure on hiring contracts. Any teachers, counselors, nurses, librarians, diagnosticians, and speech pathologists hired beginning September 1st, 2009 or later will move to a one-year term contract following their probationary period. This was a change in procedure from a two-year contract.
-Trustees received a briefing regarding a technology plan that is required by the state to be rewritten every 3 years. A committee is being gathered to create the plan and have it submitted to the trustees for next months meeting. Trustees were also briefed on the Children’s Internet Protection Act related to the district.
-Trustees discussed the future of Dual Credit courses. Currently, Dual Credit courses only count and college credit and not towards a student’s GPA. The district is constructing a plan to weight these courses for GPA credit depending on what the course subject is. A proposed policy will be discussed at their next meeting.
