Board members canvas election results

Following the Nov. 5 election involving three places up for grabs on the PISD Board of Trustees, school board members officially canvassed the results.

Total votes:

Bianca Washington ....................5,189

Carlos Cuellar ............................3,942

Duane Kelly ...............................3,780

Terry Gilmore .............................3,491

Dana Pendland Jones................2,233

Mike Talley..................................1,821

PISD recognizes retiring trustee for service

Princeton ISD bid farewell to trustee Bob Lovelady, who has served on the school board for 12 years.

He was presented with his second retirement gift from PISD, because prior to his service on the board, Mr. Lovelady was the Princeton High School principal for 23 years.

“It’s been a privilege to serve,” he said after his last meeting Monday night.

In addition to Mr. Lovelady’s dedicated service, with three other Lovelady family members, which includes James, who is the assistant superintendent of operations, Heidi Lovelady Estep, principal at Harper, and the late Jean Lovelady, their mother who served as Smith secretary until she passed away, the family represents close to 100 years of service to PISD.

According to Mr. Lovelady, he is now “officially retired from everything.”

3 trustees take oath of office for new terms

The PISD school board canvassed results from the recent election, and Carlos Cuellar, Duane Kelly and Bianca Washington were sworn in to office during the Monday trustee meeting. They will serve 3-year terms.

The swearing-in ceremony followed the regular board meeting, and then trustees elected new officers for the coming year.

They are:

Board president: Cyndi Darland

Vice president: Duane Kelly

Secretary: Julia Schmoker

Lowe 2nd-grade student wins card art contest

Lowe Elementary 2nd-grade student Olive Logan was recognized during the school board meeting as the winner who designed the district's annual Christmas card for this year.

Olive is the daughter of Devon and Timothy Logan.

"This is one of my absolute favorite traditions for our district," said Rachel Nicks, Executive Director of Elementary Education. "We really enjoy that our students make the cards."

According to Mrs. Nicks, who organized the contest to pick the winning card, this is the sixth year for the design competition. Each elementary campus and the early childhood center invited students in Pre-K through 2nd grade to participate in the art contest.

"We do this at the beginning of the school year so there is plenty of time to select the design and get them printed," Mrs. Nicks said. "We like to call this Christmas in August."

Schools chose the top piece of artwork for their campus. The artwork from those students was then sent to the staff at the administration office to be judged, and Olive's was chosen as the winning artwork.

"We had great participation for this contest, and it was hard to choose," Mrs. Nicks said. "But I think Olive's card had everything that everyone was looking for in a Christmas card. We really love this tradition."

Trustees hear demographic projections

Because of unprecedented growth in Princeton ISD, the district has moved to receive two demographic reports per year, and Monday night marked the first time for trustees to hear a projection report during the fall semester.

According to Superintendent Donald McIntyre, actual growth in the district is still hovering around an additional 1,300 a the year, with this year's enrollment 509 students ahead of previous projections.

Using statistics from DFW Home Rankings, Princeton remains the 3rd fastest growing district when ranked by annual new home starts, only behind Prosper, which is 1st, and Northwest ISD, which is 2nd.

Princeton has 29 actively building subdivisions, and groundwork is underway on more than 4,100 lots in 13 of those subdivisions.

Two major areas of growth come from developments in the southern portion of PISD. In addition to Bridgewater with 2,220+ homes, Tillage Farms, Arbor Trails and Ranger Crossing near Mayfield all show significant growth.

The Winchester Crossing and Windmoor neighborhoods near Harper also remain a big growth area in the south.

Looking at the 10-year forecast by grade level, demographic projections show Princeton ISD growing by about 1,200 students annually until about 2034-2035.

One immediate concern is overcrowding at Mayfield Elementary.

"Because of a projected 854 students by next school year, the district will have to look at possible rezoning to relieve Mayfield for the 2025-2026 school year," Mr. McIntyre said. "We are going to look at neighborhoods which are already going to face a rezoning when Carrell opens the following year. This way, students will only change schools once, as opposed to twice in two years."

Trustees OK portables for 3 campuses

After hearing demographic projections, to stay on top of student enrollment, the PISD school board approved adding portable classrooms for three schools.

"This is necessary because of how fast the district is adding new students," Superintendent Donald McIntyre said. "Even with our recent bond approval, PISD is growing faster than we can fund the construction and build the schools."

Because of the growth in the southern portion of the district, additional classroom space is needed at Mayfield and Harper elementary schools and Mattei Middle School.

Board adjusts upcoming meeting schedule

Trustees voted to reschedule several board meetings, including moving the December meeting to Monday, Dec. 16.

With the way the calendar falls this year, the district is still in session on the third Monday of the month. Since this is the normal meeting time for the board, it made sense to reschedule for that night.

The board had previously voted to adjust December’s meeting to the second Wednesday of the month because the third Monday typically falls on the school break.

In addition, holidays always plague Monday meetings, so the January meeting is now set for the 13th, while the February and March meetings both will be held on Monday the 24th.