Excitement is palpable at C-CISD

It is an exciting time for Corrigan-Camden ISD Superintendent Brian Aiken. He accepted that job leading the school district in February and now has new surroundings.

Many of those surroundings are getting upgrades, renovations and complete remodels, thanks to a $21.5 million bond passed in November of 2022.

“A number of our facilities are aging and there has been some time since there have been updates,” Aiken said after a successful first day of classes on campus. “I know there was a bond that was passed, maybe around 2016 or so. It was limited, and only so much that was able to be done under that bond. It was time for pretty much every campus around the district to receive some updates and renovations. Some things are cosmetic, and some things are more to help operations of the school.”

Aiken’s career also received an upgrade during the spring semester, beginning his first job as superintendent in March. The travel was less than an hour down U.S. 287 from Crockett ISD, where he gained experience as assistant superintendent. He is originally from the Baytown area, going to school at Sterling and working in Goose Creek for a number of years.

“I have two boys. One is a freshman this year and one is a junior. When my wife and our family moved to Crockett, one of the things we all learned was how much we really like small schools, and rural East Texas schools,” Aiken said. “It fit with our family and fit with our lifestyle and our values. Whenever I was looking at taking that next step into the superintendent position, we talked about it as a family and one of the things we really identified was working with a small school. We really like getting back to that small-town community, where everybody knows each other and will do anything for each other. I think as a society, we’ve gotten away from that. That is something we felt going to Crockett and then coming to Corrigan. That was very apparent, just from my interactions and getting to meet people here and learning more about the community.”

He said friends always spoke highly of the Corrigan area. The feeling of North Polk County being a good fit for the family was reinforced upon meeting the school board.

“I believe the fit needs to go in both directions. For the superintendent to be successful, it is like a marriage. They need to know who they are getting, and the superintendent needs to know who he is getting in the relationship. My boys started their first day Tuesday, and they love it. They said the students are very friendly and welcoming and teachers also. They had been able to come to the school for summer

Everyone is invited to attend the ribbon cutting of The Texas State University System Polk County Center at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The center is located at 1015 U.S. Hwy. 59 Loop North in Livingston. Classes will be offered by Lamar State College-Orange, Lamar State College-Port Arthur and Lamar Institute of Technology. Kristin Tow-Walker serves as the executive director. COURTESY PHOTO workouts and band camp, and I think it made them feel better about making that transition.”

The changes are numerous and will impact all in Corrigan-Camden ISD, as each campus will have multiple improvements.

“A big one on everybody’s mind is safety, and there were definitely some upgrades needed related to safety,” Aiken said. “We put in new security camera systems with servers that are able to handle more cameras. We added additional cameras, and we are going from analog to digital. There are several exterior doors around the district that we needed to upgrade hardware to make sure they are latching properly, and we can control access to people coming into the buildings. We have installed a new phone intercom system that includes new speakers, that way everyone can hear announcements, but also everyone in the classrooms can hear updates related to safety.”

Aiken said a few of the buildings weren’t originally designed with some of the safety measures taken into consideration, making updates necessary.

“The big one was the junior high. That facility was previously multiple colors of paint, the ceiling tiles were getting old and dingy. The flooring had extended its usefulness, and really that whole building has gone through new ceiling grid tiles, paint and everything is nice and bright with Bulldog blue accent walls. There is striping in the hallways and nice accent pieces throughout the building, giving it a facelift. There is new flooring in the classrooms, so that building, in particular, was probably the one that had the greatest needs.

“The kitchens at each of the schools badly needed repairs. We are talking about plumbing, drainage, new equipment for cooking and cleaning, serving lines, and much of that has been upgraded. So far, we have updated the elementary kitchen, and we are working on the junior high kitchen right now. Once the junior high kitchen is completed, then we will switch over and start working on the high school kitchen. That has been a huge deal. We prioritized that over the summer to make sure we had good, operational kitchens.”

The junior high cafeteria will also expand, giving some needed room for one that school employees said were, “bursting at the seams.”

“Once we get all the beams in and everything for that, they will put the roof on it and close it in. Then, they will take out the wall, or at least part of the wall, to open it up to the new area,” Aiken said of the junior high eatery. “That will really expand our capacity there. Right now, all the junior high kids are coming over to the high school and joining lunches with them during the construction. Once we start working on the high school cafeteria, we will probably send kids (to the junior high). Being flexible is the name of the game right now, but we ended the school year with junior high students split between the elementary and high school. Now, they are back on their home campus and teachers are in their own classrooms, so that really helps morale. The kids are excited and the teachers are excited.”

The project has been on budget, according to Aiken, and he is working with the general contractor to make good decisions.

“Anytime you are doing a renovation and you open up a wall, you can find issues. Those are not expected, and the majority of these projects are renovations. There have been some ways that we can cut money and still provide a good product for the community, and there are other areas where we have had to allocate additional funds. Sometimes, if you want to do it right, it is good to go ahead and do it all while you are in construction.”

Day-to-day life in the classrooms will be improved by better lighting, flooring and cleaner rooms, which the superintendent says is his favorite item of the entire bond project.

“To me, providing a fresh learning environment for our kids is exciting. You want kids to be excited to come to school and be able to look at the facilities and have pride in where they go to school and what they are a part of. That is exciting to me.”

He also points to a new bus lane and new roofs as items that will help operations. New signage on the corner of Highway 59 and U.S. 287 will highlight school activities and get messaging out to the public. The school exteriors will also have a different look.

“The community doesn’t see what’s in the classrooms as often, but they do see what’s on the outside. It was time to give the schools a facelift. That will include all three campuses.”

Parking for athletic events could become problematic with the new fieldhouse on land that was previously used for football and events in the competition gym. However, Aiken said there is a plan to explore those issues in the future.

The soft target is to have most items done by the end of the school year. There are generally delays in any large project, and the superintendent knows construction into next summer is probable.

Athletics will benefit from the bond, with many sports impacted by the changes. Athletic director Brett Ratliff is a Corrigan-Camden graduate, and the enthusiasm in his face shows through when touring the campus.

“When you go into the gym, we’re going to have a brand-new floor, with brand-new paint on the floor with new designs,” Ratliff said. “The walls are all painted and we are getting the bleachers redone and new lighting. The locker rooms were touched up and redone as well, with new showers and completely remodeled bathroom facilities. The offices for coaches were remodeled. This whole gym, even though it is basically still the same brick and mortar, has definitely been upgraded.”

The floor in the competition gymnasium will match one that was recently put down in the high school gym, when water damage made changes necessary in the older facility. Ratliff said the age of the high school gym made other cosmetic changes necessary, but he feels as though the upkeep there has been great. For a Class 2A school, the improved high school arena could also easily pass for something a varsity team would use daily.

Perhaps the most noticeable of all construction is between Bulldog Stadium and the competition gym, where a large structure has beams in place.

“The tall facility is going to be our junior high gym, so now we will have three gyms. That is going to be more practice-based if our youth want to go and play games in there. If we needed to have tournaments, we would have the facility to now host a huge tournament. The next tallest portion in the middle – the back half is going to be the weightroom and the front half will be locker room facilities. The front will be the foyer going in, there will be offices, and more locker rooms in the back. There will also be a big meeting room in there to study film.”

The current athletic fieldhouse will become an agility room and storage. On Friday nights in the fall, it will house Bulldog gridiron opponents.

“Our new weightroom is going to change our athletic program, being able to get in there and have every athlete able to be in the weightroom at one time,” Ratliff said. “It is going to make it very functional and it is going to help increase our growth. Bigger, faster and stronger athletes are better athletes, so we are really excited about that. It is going to make us a better athletic program.”

The coach said there are 88 high school boys and 54 high school girls participating in athletics. In junior high, there are 45 girls and 60 boys spread across two grades. He said around 65% of the junior high and high school population participate in a sport of some kind. Those that don’t will be able to utilize the new facilities through physical education courses.

“This entire bond project is going to touch every campus and involve every student,” Ratliff said. “That is every student group, every student organization and every personnel staff that is on campus. The bond is awesome, and it will touch everybody.”

Another $3.6 million would have produced new fencing and new dugouts for baseball and softball, as well as turf on the football field. Parking, which is in short supply, would have been asphalted. For a savings of about $7 more per taxpayer, proposition B failed. Ratliff said the proposition came up short by 11 votes.

Aiken believes there could be a point in the future where the other bond is revisited with modifications to make it more palatable for the community.

Yet, Ratliff is ecstatic with how functional and flexible the new additions make the athletic department. One example is that high school gymnasium, which he said is now used “considerably” more.

“We had to put a new floor in because the old one started buckling from a water leak. When we did, we took advantage and got the new graphics that we wanted down and got the design we wanted. We utilize it a lot more because of that. I think the kids like it, I think our staff likes it, and this is a fun gym. It is a gym that gives me a lot of memories, because there were so many activities in here when I was in school. We had our pep rallies in this gym. Even when we got the competition gym when I was a junior, we still had pep rallies in here. Being able to re-use this facility and with plans to use it even more in the next several years is pretty cool.”

Enthusiasm at Corrigan-Camden is at a high. Aiken has the opportunity to begin a new phase with his family in the rural East Texas school district he desired. He also believes the right group is in place to make it a success.

“I have a terrific team here at the central office and terrific campus leaders. Our teachers and our staff have that community spirit and I feel like we will lean into the things that we are doing well. We will continue to refine our process for providing a better service for parents and students. I just began work with the board in developing a strategic plan, so we are at the early stages of that work. The intent there is to capture our mission, our vision, and the priorities we need to address three to five years from now.”