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PBTISD identifies areas for improvement after receiving September 2020 audit back

Superintendent Brent Jaco said parents, teachers and students will be able to see changes as a result of the audit as soon as this school year.

PECOS, Texas — After performing an audit in September, Pecos Barstow Toyah ISD finally has the results back.

"From financial to curriculum to board relations to staffing and all those things. We had 16 findings that we have started to dig into and start making a plan and developing a plan to correct some of those deficit areas," Brent Jaco, PBTISD superintendent said.

The audit has shed some light on the not so pretty parts of the school district.

"A lot of the facilities here in PBTISD are 57 plus years old. Our high school is 70 plus years old and so they've really come to the end of their life and life expectancy," Jaco said.

The curriculum needs revamping and there are staffing issues for special programs, but improvement is on the horizon.

"We now have a document that's been done by a third party that the stakeholders here in PBTISD, the board, the superintendent, my cabinet administration, campus administration, teachers can look at and reference and know these are areas that are truly identified, it's not just a new superintendent showing up and saying hey let's start fixing these things," Jaco said.

Some of which is already in the works.

The school board voted to call for a bond election on February 1, 2021, which will quell several concerns brought up in the audit.

"We're going to work to improve a lot of facilities with the passing of that bond. A new pre-k through 1st-grade campus, a new second grade to fifth-grade campus, a new daycare and adult learning facility, a new CTE and science wing at the high school, and then a new maintenance and operation child nutrition facility that we need desperately in the district as well as helping support some district capital needs in general," Jaco said.

Improvement is the direct priority.

Credit: KWES

"We as a society have an obligation to help educate our kids and make sure that they are truly ready for the next step in their life," Jaco said.

The superintendent also tells Newswest 9 that the school board has approved new positions for hire in special programs and that the district will be working on a strategic plan this summer.

He said parents, students, and teachers can expect to see these changes based on audit findings in the coming year, but more holistically in the next few years.

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