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HIGHLIGHTS ROUND ROCK ISD Red Bud Elementary School won the Texas Association of School Administrators’ Caudill Award for architecture in January. The award is based on the 123,000-square-foot facility’s use of natural light, outside views, organic shapes, materials and color selection. ROUND ROCK ISD Tierra Pitchford, a first-grade teacher at Caldwell Elementary School, was selected by publishing and education company Scholastic to join its first cohort of Teacher Fellows. The group will help with various K-12 initiatives through July. Round Rock ISD board of trustees Will meet Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m. 300 Lake Creek Drive, Round Rock 512-464-5000 www.roundrockisd.org MEETINGS WE COVER NUMBER TO KNOW The amount of 2018 bond funds used for a redesign of the main electrical room and equipment upgrade of Canyon Vista Middle School $615,836
Spring break 2024 dates shifted to align with local colleges ROUND ROCK ISD Spring break dates for Round Rock ISD’s 2023- 2024 school year have been shifted forward by one week. Board members approved the change Jan. 19. The dates were originally set for March 11-15 and will now be moved to March 18-23 to align with The University of Texas and Austin Community College calendars. The shift is a regular adjustment to the district calendar, according to district documents. Spring break dates for 2023 remain unchanged, running from March 13-17. The 2022-23 and 2023-24 school year calendars are the first in the district to have additional holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Diwali, and Eid al-Fitr incorporated, according to district information.
Round Rock ISD general counsel Cindy Hill said the district has three options for updating its legal strategy with the goal of reducing legal fees in the future. AVAILABLE AVENUES
1 Increase internal legal staffing to reduce outside contract costs 2 Continue contracting for legal representation with firm Escamilla & Poneck LLP 3 Explore other services through requests for qualifications
SOURCE: CINDY HILL/ROUND ROCK ISD
District aims to reduce legal costs
ROUND ROCK ISD Board mem- bers are exploring the possibility of reducing legal service costs through several options, including increasing in-house representation. At a Jan. 19 board meeting, Round Rock ISD general counsel Cindy Hill said bringing additional legal representation in-house would allow the district to have greater control of its legal fees. Costs have been already been halved in the last year through the strategy, she said. “I think that’s partly because we are doing as much as we can in-house and not having to rely on outside counsel for routine
things like reviewing contracts and handling the normal stuff that comes around,” she said. Hill said district options include continuing to contract with law firm Escamilla & Poneck LLP, exploring what services are avail- able from other firms or increasing internal legal staffing. The Round Rock ISD in-house legal department has only two of three positions filled, and Hill suggested hiring someone with a background in special education law, which is outsourced. Board members took no action Jan. 19 but could reexamine the matter at a future meeting.
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ROUND ROCK EDITION • FEBRUARY 2023
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