Roscoe School Announces Plans for Fall

The following is RCISD’s official announcement of the school’s plan for educating students this fall while coping with the coronavirus.

Roscoe Collegiate ISD has worked through the summer to develop a plan for the fall semester. Our plan is designed to focus first on student and teacher safety while meeting our commitment to high student success. The plan has been developed to be flexible and ensure that we are able to change and adapt as the COVID-19 situation dictates.  A brief summary of the plan follows:

Roscoe CISD will be starting school on
10 August 2020 (17 August 2020 for 3 year olds).

•  Students will attend classes as usual.
• We will take extra precautions for sanitation and to screen all students, staff, and visitors.
• Everyone over the age of 10 will need to be prepared to wear masks.
• Buses will be run for those who need the transportation.  We ask those on the bus to please keep masks on and sit with siblings to minimize community spread.
• Our maintenance and cleaning staff have arranged their schedule to ensure all facilities, equipment, and buses are being cleaned more robustly than before.
• Students will work remotely for a minimum of three days if they have a fever of 100.4°F or higher.
  

Be on the lookout for more information on the district website and campus Facebook pages in the coming weeks. As the state gives us more information, we are finalizing details on our plan.

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CITY COUNCIL HEARS REPORTS, CONDUCTS BUSINESS

Cody Thompson reports at yesterday's meeting.

At its monthly meeting in City Hall yesterday evening, the Roscoe City Council received a proposal from a local resident, heard updates from the City Manager and Chief of Police, and conducted routine business including approval of the Quarterly Investment Report.

Roscoe resident Margerite Wakefield presented a proposal to the Council encouraging citizens to build gardens to help themselves and others in times of need. She also brought up the possibility of holding a local dog judging show.

City Manager Cody Thompson provided a public works update. He opened with a report on the recent successful July 4th Celebration, saying that an estimate of the evening crowd was at around 2,200, that vendors had a good day, and the parade and Plowboy Mudbog were well attended.

He also reported that the City’s engineers, Enprotec/Hibbs & Todd of Abilene (eHT), are in town doing on-site work concerning plans for water line improvements. He mentioned that ground movement during the current spell of dry weather has caused some older city pipes to break and cause leaks at 10th Street and elsewhere.

RCISD is working with broadband companies for citywide coverage, visiting and consulting with the city and boards concerning input and assistance in creating a grant package.

City workers are planning and implementing work concerning the closure of the old sanitary sewer plant and the required inspection and repair at the new sanitary sewer plant.

Thompson also said that the sealcoating of city streets should begin in the next week or so.

Police Chief Felix Pantoja then gave the Police Report for the month of June, saying that the Department had received 91 total calls, issued 3 citations, given 27 warnings, handled 2 vehicle crashes, and made 2 arrests. He also said that the Roscoe Police Department and the State of Texas will present 3 counts of vehicular manslaughter to the grand jury against the driver of the vehicle causing the head-on collision on US 84 within the Roscoe city limits on June 1, which resulted in three deaths.  

The Council then discussed the Quarterly Investment Report before approving it unanimously.

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NEW SCHOOL OFFICIALS NAMED

These are the new RCISD officials for the 2020-2021 school year:

J. T. Elmore, Dean of Secondary Education
Tecka Heaps, Dean of Elementary Education

Dana Elmore, Dean of Early Childhood Education

In other school news, School Board and Administrative Staff went through Lone Star Governance training Friday and Saturday. Lone Star Governance focuses on roles and responsibilities of the board, school district goals, and integrity in leadership.

Student athletes resumed their strength and conditioning workouts on Monday, July 13.

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COVID-19 CASES CONTINUE RAPID GROWTH

The number of active Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations continues to grow in Texas in both the cities and rural areas. Yesterday, Texas reported 10,745 new positive cases, a new record for one day, along with over 10,500 hospitalizations and 607 more deaths since last Tuesday. The positivity rate of tests to total tests for the past week is 16.9%, also a new record.

In the Big Country, Abilene recorded two more Covid-19 related deaths yesterday and 28 new cases, bringing the total of active cases in Taylor County to 419 (253 a week ago) and the year’s total to 794 (573 a week ago). Abilene now has 41 Covid-19 hospitalizations (21 a week ago) with 13 more “under investigation.” Hendrick Medical Center’s CEO, Brad Holland, said that capacity at Hendrick is “tight,” but not enough yet to stop elective surgeries, as has happened in San Angelo. San Angelo also reported two more deaths yesterday and 96 new positive cases with 38 hospitalizations.

Nolan County now has 32 active cases with 4 of those in the prison system, and Mitchell County has 19 active cases with 3 in the prison system. Scurry County had 73 active cases on Monday.

These are the area’s county figures as of yesterday (with a week ago in parentheses if different): Jones, 607 (609); Scurry, 350 (71); Erath, 236 (160); Brown, 237 (117); Howard, 71 (55); Nolan 70 (49); Callahan, 28 (24); Comanche, 32 (21); Mitchell 26 (18); Runnels, 25 (17); Eastland, 20 (11); Fisher, 14 (11); Knox, 10 (4); Shackelford, 9 (5); Stephens, 9 (9); Haskell, 8 (6); Coke, 5; Coleman, 5 (3).

Selected west Texas counties yesterday (with a week ago in parentheses): Lubbock, 3,823 (2,918); Ector (Odessa), 1,370 (946); Midland, 1,194 (927); Tom Green (San Angelo), 1,065 (530); Wichita (Wichita Falls), 636 (464).

Texas now has 275,058 cases (210,585 a week ago), 129,338 of them active (99,385 a week ago), and 3,322 deaths (2,715 a week ago).

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WEATHER REPORT: HEAT SPELL CONTINUES

Roscoe's temperature on the Weather Channel website yesterday.

It’s been a brutal week for the weather as the heat spell of last week has not only continued, but also increased in intensity as it wears on.

Last Wednesday’s high of 99°F was the most recent day in which the temperature didn’t top out with triple digits. Thursday’s high was 102°, Friday’s 100°, Saturday’s 105°, Sunday’s 105°, Monday’s 109°, and yesterday’s 110°, which is the hottest day Roscoe has experienced in many years. Roscoe weatherman Kenny Landfried recorded an official 110.4°F. In any case, the electric companies will be making a haul this month when they collect on all the bills sent to them from Roscoe and the surrounding area.

The heat was accompanied by plenty of sunshine and hot southwest winds, straight from the Chihuahuan Desert in northern Mexico. Lows have been in the upper 70s except for Monday, when it was 80°. And there has naturally been not a drop of rain.

The forecast is for more of the same—not as extreme as yesterday but still plenty hot. Today’s forecast is for a high of 105°, tomorrow’s 101°, and Friday’s 100°. Then Saturday will begin a string of eleven days in which the forecast is for a high of either 98° or 99° accompanied by early morning lows of 74°, 75°, or 76°.

If this keeps up, we may have to wear jackets the first time the high temperature drops below 90°.

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† MAX KENNETH SMITH, SR.

Graveside services were held for Max Kenneth Smith, Sr., 93, of Katy, formerly of Roscoe, were held at 2:00pm on Saturday, July 11, at Roscoe Cemetery under the direction of McCoy Funeral Home. He passed away on July 6 in Katy.

Among survivors is his wife, Nita Carol (May) Smith of Katy.

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