Polk County News - Breakout

Write a comment

The Livingston Knights of Columbus will be selling fish fry dinners during the season of Lent every Friday, Feb. 24 to Mar. 31. Large is $12 and small is $8. Dinners to include fried fish, salad, fries, dessert and drink. Will be served from 4-7 p.m., dine in or to go. Donations welcomed as well. The location is St. Joseph Catholic Church, 2590 U.S. Hwy 190 in Livingston.

Write a comment

“The pandemic turned schools on their heads. It caused a lot of problems with the students’ learning – transitioning from in-person learning to online learning.” — Dr. Aubrey Vaughan

By Emily Banks Wooten
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dr. Aubrey Vaughan, the pre-kindergarten through 12th grade principal at Goodrich ISD, recently presented a program to the Rotary Club of Livingston. Vaughan has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education-interdisciplinary studies, a master’s degree in teaching and learning and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction. He was the guest of GISD Superintendent Dr. Daniel Barton, a Rotarian.

“He has a very interesting background. He’s a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, then he owned a construction business, then he ran a kids summer camp, then he became an English teacher and now he’s a principal,” Barton said.

Vaughan referred to the time period in which he and his wife built a summer camp in Tarkington Prairie prior to his getting his degree, saying “Young people are near and dear to our hearts.”

Vaughan said some of the issues he faces today are safety, apathy in students and learning loss due to the pandemic.

“The legislature is sending money down very slowly to help secure schools,” he said, referring to safety concerns. “The pandemic turned schools on their heads. It caused a lot of problems with the students’ learning – transitioning from in-person learning to online learning.”

He said that both the Texas Tribune and the Dallas Morning News reported on schools having lower scores following the pandemic than they did the previous year and that high-poverty schools actually lost the equivalent of 22 weeks of study.

“After a learning loss, we have to close these gaps. Absenteeism has increased because students are learning online and going to work to help their parents. There are health concerns. That’s a valid concern but parents didn’t want to send their kids to school,” Vaughan said.

“We had a 98% attendance rate pre-COVID. Right now, we’re at almost 95%. We’ve been working quite a bit on that. We’ve started a volunteer program. The younger grade levels love to be read to. Popcorn Friday has helped increase attendance in the elementary school. That’s something they really enjoy and like,” Vaughan said.

“Unfortunately, in lower-income-type schools, they just don’t see a future. What we’ve begun doing and are trying to do is to invite people to come once a month and talk to the students about jobs out there. We have a CNA (certified nurse’s aide) program now and we’re moving toward an RN (registered nurse) program. We want productive members of society,” Vaughan said.

Commenting that the district is “instruction-centered,” he said they have recently implemented “social/emotional learning.”

Addressing teacher incentives, Vaughan said, “I love our teachers. They are so hard-working. We had some things donated by local businesses that we gave to the teachers as gifts at Christmas.

“We’re always looking for ideas for teachers and students. Give us a call and let us know you’re coming. My door is always open.”

Write a comment

From Enterprise Staff

During its regular meeting Feb. 14, the Onalaska City Council approved authorizing the mayor to sign a modification to the waste collection service contract, authorizing an increase in rates not to exceed 10%, effective May 1 due to the increasing cost of service.

Darla Dear of Belt Harris Pechacek LLLP of Houston presented the fiscal year 2021-2022 annual audit which Council approved following her presentation.

In personnel matters, Council accepted the resignations of Police Officer Bailey Deaton and Telecommunications Operator Adron Seward, both in good standing.

Council approved budget amendments for the fiscal year 2021-2022 annual budget.

Reports were presented on behalf of the police department, fire department, fire marshal/building inspector and library representative.

Other business included approval of the minutes, vouchers and financial reports.

Write a comment

By Emily Banks Wooten
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Efforts have been underway for some time to improve broadband internet access throughout rural East Texas and the Deep East Texas Council of Governments (DETCOG) has led the charge with its broadband initiative. However, discrepancies regarding local broadband internet service could decrease the amount of funding available. Time is running out and in order for Polk County to maximize its broadband service, these discrepancies must be corrected.

Local citizens are being asked to complete a quick internet survey from their home or business, regardless of their provider or level of service. As many people as possible need to complete the testing so that the needs of the county may be evaluated. To participate in the quick survey, go to the website at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7218052/Deep-East-Texas-Internet-Speed-Test or click here to test the site.

“We are encouraging everyone to assist their employees, residents, members, etc. in completing the survey. The data will allow Polk County, DETCOG and the State Broadband Office to make more educated decisions with regard to internet and broadband capabilities. We cannot stress enough the importance of maximum participation in this program from all areas of the county,” County Judge Sydney Murphy said. “Please forward the survey information to anyone who might be interested or benefit. We want to improve our coverage for educational, medical and business purposes, along with a multitude of other reasons.

Murphy said the county is hosting a meeting to discuss the DETCOG broadband mapping project at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the temporary county judge’s office located at 410 E. Church St. “If your organization is having any difficulties or has any problems with the website link, please let us know and plan on attending the meeting,” she said.

DETCOG Executive Director Lonnie Hunt said he has received numerous inquiries concerning the new broadband maps, having found so many discrepancies with the map released late last year. Then, the Texas Broadband Development Office released the new state broadband map and it, too, appears to contain many inaccuracies.

“If not corrected, this could mean less money coming to Deep East Texas to solve our broadband issues,” Hunt said.

DETCOG’s broadband project manager, Mickey Slimp, put together a summary for each of the 12 DETCOG counties and forwarded those reports to each county.

“We will share this with other government and community leaders, too, and encourage you to share it with other partners that could be helpful in getting together the information needed to challenge the state map,” Hunt said.

“The State of Texas will be distributing funding for broadband based on the following Texas State Broadband Office map. Areas showing as blue on the map are considered well covered by existing or anticipated providers, so no funds will be forthcoming. Areas in orange are considered ‘underserved,’ meaning they are reported to have 25 to 100 mbps available for every household, so will be a second priority for funding. No homes in Polk County are shown as unserved, which is the priority area for funding,” Hunt said.

“We need to assess the map provided by DETCOG to assess the accuracy of the information. Quite obviously, this map contains a plethora of misinformation since it claims that we have zero residents that are unserved. I myself am unserved,” Murphy said.

“If we do not correct the information at this time, then we will have to live with the map as it is. The challenges may include cities, schools, economic development/chambers of commerce, businesses, VFDs, co-ops, etc. Since internet/broadband technology is essential to daily life and will only gain in importance, we must make every effort to improve service to our residents and children/students, medical and business community, elderly and indigent residents, along with providing service to visitors,” Murphy said.

“As earlier noted, DETCOG is available to help counties and political subdivisions dispute inaccuracies in the state broadband map. Disputes to the map must be made at a census block level and include proof from 20% of the homes in the block that they are and will be underserved by the existing and proposed technologies,” Slimp said.

“As individuals complete the speed test on the website, the data will be fed into a spreadsheet that will automatically add the coordinates of latitude and longitude required for a dispute and sort the respondents by county and by census block,” Slimp said.

“This information needs to be distributed as widely as possible including to utility customers, news outlets, businesses, companies, schools and parents, churches, firefighters, chambers, civic clubs, and anyone in your communities who are interested in improved broadband. We are targeting at least 15,000 responses from our region,” Slimp said.