ECISD board approves 2025-26 optional flexible school day application after program report
Summary
The Ector County Independent School District board received a staff report on optional flexible school day programs and approved the district's 2025-26 application by voice vote; staff presented participation, graduation and dropout figures for multiple program sites.
The Ector County Independent School District board of trustees on Aug. 19 approved the district's 2025-26 optional flexible school day application after a staff presentation on program participation and outcomes.
District staff reported that nearly 338 students were served across optional flexible school day sites last year and that 120 of those students graduated and walked at commencement ceremonies for the 2024-25 school year. Staff said the Community Outreach Center on Clemens served 63 students, with 38 graduates; the Ector Acceleration Academy served about 260 students, with 73 graduates; and a small program at Permian High School served 15 students, with 12 graduates. Staff reported dropouts and other departures as part of the year-end accounting: 4 dropouts at the Community Outreach Center; 62 dropouts at Ector Acceleration Academy; and in the district-wide totals staff reported 66 students who dropped out, 18 who left for reasons other than dropout and 8 who returned to traditional campuses. Staff also said the program logged more than 4,000,000 minutes of instruction under the optional flexible school day model during the year.
At the end of the presentation staff asked the board to approve the district's 2025-26 application for the optional flexible school day program. A trustee moved and a second was made; the board approved the request by voice vote. Individual vote tallies were not recorded in the public minutes.
The superintendent noted the district began its first week of school with almost 32,000 students enrolled, a slight decline from the prior year; staff also said the district is serving about 28,000 meals per day and has added roughly a dozen bus drivers compared with last year. The presenter emphasized that many students served by the optional flexible school day programs face more extensive challenges than peers in comprehensive high schools and that the district seeks to keep dropout rates in those programs below 30 percent.
Questions from trustees were invited after the presentation; none were recorded on the transcript prior to the approval motion.
