Carrell Elementary School will be the district's ninth elementary campus and will be located along the future extension of Cypress Bend Parkway. The district's fourth middle school is on the adjacent property.

Trustees hear construction update

The Princeton ISD board of trustees heard an update from Kolton Barnes with Claycomb Associates, Architects regarding the two projects currently in the construction phase.

Both Banschbach Middle School and Carrell Elementary School are being built along Cypress Bend Parkway, which will stretch from U.S. 380 to Myrick Lane (County Road 400).

According to Barnes, the middle school is nearing 80% completion, while the elementary campus is just over 60% complete. Work on interior walls is underway, including, brick, tile, texture and painting. It is projected the schools will be ready for occupancy next summer, both in time for the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

Banschbach Middle School will be the district's fourth middle school and will be located along the future extension of Cypress Bend Parkway.

PISD approves two new administrators

The Princeton ISD Board of Trustees approved two new administrators, including Jona Boitmann as the new assistant superintendent of growth and development. She will replace Philip Anthony, who has been working with Princeton ISD's growth and development since 2020 when he retired from the role of superintendent. Mr. Anthony has decided to fully retire from PISD.

Mrs. Boitmann returns to PISD after a brief hiatus as she pursued an opportunity in East Texas.

Mrs. Boitmann started her career in education in 2002 as a math teacher at Clark Middle School and coach at both Clark and PHS. She taught and coached for seven years before being promoted to assistant principal at Harper Elementary, where she worked for one year before moving to the same position at PHS.

After six years, she was promoted to campus principal at Smith Elementary before moving into district leadership in 2017 in the area of finance, where she became an assistant superintendent and served in that role until this summer.

She received her bachelor's degree in public administration from the University of Texas in Dallas and a master's in educational administration from the University of North Texas. She also holds both an EC-12 principal and superintendent certification.

The board also approved Joshua Prince to transition into the role of technology director. He will replace David Vincent, who is retiring in December.

Mr. Prince has been in the PISD technology department for eight years and spent the last four years managing the district's infrastructure team.

Mr. Prince started his IT career in education 15 years ago and worked with Wylie ISD before joining the staff at PISD.

Early voting underway in ISD election

Early voting is underway until Friday, Oct. 31, in the Princeton ISD trustee election.

The Princeton polling location is at the Princeton Municipal Center, 2000 E. Princeton Parkway.

There are seven candidates on the ballot for two spots on the school board.

Two incumbents, John Campbell and Julia Schmoker, have filed for re-election. In addition, Melissa Ait Belaid, Sonia Ledezma, Kay McLaughlin, Samuel Nevarez and Charlotte Wilson have filed.

The election will be Nov. 4.

The top two vote-getters will fill the two trustee positions and serve a three-year term on the Princeton ISD school board.

The bond overview featured a breakdown of each bond election since 2002. The presentation outlined projects and completion dates.

Board gets overview of bond elections

PISD's executive director of growth and development, Philip Anthony, presented an informational overview to the board covering nearly 25 years of bond elections, beginning with 2002.

To show a detailed picture of the district's development as it has grown from four campuses in 1999 to 16 schools today, Mr. Anthony outlined the six bond packages approved by voters since 2002.

Each outline featured the long-range planning committee's recommendations, complete with budgeted projects proposed in the bond election, as well as completion dates for each project. The information also included a listing of additional projects the district completed during that time that were not budgeted as part of the bond package proposed to voters.

The highlights of the construction presentation during Monday's school board meeting include:

Bond 2002 - $45.5 million (all completed by 2009)

New high school (PHS)

Renovations of Huddleston Intermediate, Clark Jr. High and Community Ed building

Repairs to Lacy

New elementary (Harper)

Bond 2007 - $46.59 million (all completed by 2015)

New multipurpose indoor facility

New elementary (Smith)

Expansion of Clark, ag barn, stadium

Structural/ADA compliance for Godwin, Lacy and Clark

Addition of practice fields for baseball/softball, gym at Clark, parking at Community Ed and parking and restrooms at tennis courts

Bond 2013 - $49.5 million (all completed by 2020)

Expansion of PHS and CATE Center

New Jr. High (Southard)

Bond 2017 - $93.6 million (all completed by 2022)

Expansion of Southard

Two new elementary schools (Lowe and Mayfield)

Renovate Lacy and Godwin

Addition of game field for middle schools

Turf baseball and softball fields

Replace and widen Bois d'Arc and concrete drives and parking

Purchase school sites for one elementary, one middle school and one middle and high school combination

Bond 2019 - $237.4 million (all completed by 2024)

Lovelady HS, phase 1 and 2

New elementary schools (Green and James)

New middle school (Mattei)

Bond 2023 - $797 million (in progress, projected completion by 2030)

New early childhood center (Perkins)

Four new elementary schools (Carrell, Abbott and Talley and No. 12)

Two new middle schools (Banschbach and No. 5)

New senior high school (Anthony)

According to Mr. Anthony, district personnel closely monitors demographic projects and actual enrollments as a signal of when construction needs to begin on a new school. These numbers are described as "triggers," meaning when the district's enrollment reaches a pre-determined population for either elementary, middle or secondary, it triggers the need for a campus to be built to provide relief for overcrowding.

Mr. Anthony also detailed the rationale each long-range planning committee must consider before recommending a bond election. This includes:

-Total capacity of existing campuses

-Possible options to rezone to create space

-Bond approval required three years before first school is needed due to construction timelines

-Bond fund capacity, which is based on appraised property values

School security focus of TEA assessment

Board members heard a report from Brent Collins, Director of Security, regarding the recent districtwide vulnerability assessment, which is required under the Texas Education Code and designed to measure the district's compliance with school safety mandates.

A senior safety agent with TEA's office of School Safety and Security conducted the audit of Princeton ISD. Following the one-day inspection of Princeton ISD's facilities, Collins met with the agent to discuss any areas of vulnerability, as well as any recommendations to improve school safety within the district.

"The agent said that all in all our campuses were in really good shape and reported no major findings," Collins told trustees at Monday's meeting. "He commended us for our cleanliness and attention to detail."

Minor areas to improve included replacement of some alpha numeric numbering on exterior doors that was missing or damaged, as well as the addition of peep holes on exterior metal doors without windows or cameras.

"I am super proud of our security team for its work to ensure the safety of our students and staff," Superintendent Donald McIntyre said. "I commend our maintenance crew for already completing 70% of the necessary work within two weeks following the inspection."