ODESSA, Texas — The ECISD Board of Trustees held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, and the members took big steps to helping the district's police force get new equipment.
Following the opening agenda items, including comments from Superintendent Dr. Muri, the board began voting on action items.
The first of these items was a 7-0 approval of a variety of purchases over $50,000. These included three police vehicles and 33 sets of both hard and soft body armor for district police officers.
A contract on virtual coaching for teachers that would have used COVID relief funds was originally on the agenda, but was pulled to be discussed later.
The board also voted 7-0 to submit three different grants with the Office of Governor to support police for the 2024 fiscal year.
One grant was for the Rifle Resistant Body Armor grant program, which would allow ECISD to purchase bullet resistant vests, ballistic plates and plate carriers.
Another grant would allow the district to purchase bullet-resistant shields to equip "new and additional officers".
The third grant was for the Project Safe Neighborhoods grant program, which the board says will help ECISD develop evidence-based activities to help prevent violent crimes to help reduce violence, crime and incarceration rates.
To close out the meeting, trustees accepted three donations of $10,000 or above.
One was a $110,000 from the FMH Foundation through the Education Foundation of Odessa. This donation is for auditorium sound booth and equipment at Permian High School.
Another $12,500 came from the Education Foundation to help provide a portion of the salary for the grant writer.
Finally, the third donation was $10,000 and came from the Dan and Hermine Hemphill Charitable Foundation. This will go towards the Community Outreach Center.
You can find more information on the board meeting on the ECISD website.