Local area leaders speak at State of the Community luncheon

The Graham Chamber of Commerce hosted its first State of the Community luncheon last week and gathered representatives from local taxing entities to provide updates regarding current and upcoming projects, accomplishments and goals.

The event was hosted Tuesday, March 19 as one of the chamber’s quarterly luncheons at North Central Texas College. Speakers were Mayor Alex Heartfield, City Manager Eric Garretty, Graham Regional Medical Center CEO Shane Kernell, Graham ISD Superintendent Sonny Cruse and NCTC Director Dr. Magen Bunyard.

GRMC CEO Shane Kernell

Graham Regional Medical Center CEO Shane Kernell spoke on the around $5.5 million construction project currently underway at the hospital.

“It started back in July or August 2023 and we should wrap up around September 2024. So there’s a lot of things we’re getting out of that,” he said. “The two key components are to repurpose and put to use the newest part of our hospital. It used to be the Women’s Center and it’s been sitting vacant now since 2015. So that was the key thing was to repurpose that. And the second thing is to add more clinic capacity. Right now to be able to go out and recruit certain specialists to do procedures at the hospital that we currently don’t do, I don’t have a place to put them. So that’s going to be a big driver.”

The CEO said the hospital is additionally renovating the lobby and emergency room to provide private admission areas. The hospital also recently switched to critical access status with Medicare.

“Basically what that means is we are now guaranteed to get the cost of what we do back in Medicare payments,” Kernell said. “It doesn’t change the way we operate. We will still operate the same way, we’ll just get paid more appropriately on our Medicare patients. It’s us and about four other hospitals around us are all going to that mechanism.”

GISD Superintendent Sonny Cruse

Superintendent Sonny Cruse presented stats regarding the district and its around 350 employees and over 2,100 students. One of the first stats presented by the superintendent was the number of students which are classified as economically disadvantaged within the district.

“That means that’s the number of kids that qualify for free and reduced lunch,” he said. “That number has been a growing number over time. So district-wide (with) a little over 2,100 kids, 61% of those kids are eco-disadvantaged.”

Cruse touched on the teacher hiring scale increase implemented by the district as well as recruiting and retention programs for teachers within the district.

In the 2016-17 school year the starting teacher salary, for a teacher with zero years of experience, was $34,000 and is now up to $43,000 for the 2023-2024 school year.

One of the recruiting and retention programs with the district is the Teacher Grow Your Own Program which has instructional aides participating who are reimbursed for tuition.

“We currently have 12 instructional aides that work for us in the district who are in an online college program, in which they pay their cost and then we reimburse for that,” Cruse said. “So when they finish with the program they are going to be certified teachers and have no debt. We see this as one of the ways to not only recruit high quality instructional aides to come to work for us but also to grow our own, especially in the world of bilingual education.”

Since 2006 the district has off-and-on offered one-time bonuses and provided over $1.6 million since 2015 for all staff. The district also has teachers involved in an incentive allotment and is looking to expand teachers that can qualify for that program.

“We have 30 teachers that are qualified to benefit from the Teacher Incentive Allotment – two at the master level, 14 at the exemplary level, 14 at the recognized level,” he said. “...For our two mastered-level teachers, they’ll receive $23,702 in extra pay. That money will be flowed to us from the state later this spring and then we’ll flow it as a one-time payment to those staff members”

The district has a bond election approaching in May with early voting beginning next month with two propositions on the ballot.

Proposition A is a $27.5 million consolidation from three to two elementary campuses. This will redirect resources from facility operations to support students and staff, add instructional space at Pioneer Elementary School to serve students in pre-k through second grade and minor renovations at Crestview Elementary School to serve students in third through fifth grade.

Additionally, Prop. A will include the demolition of the existing Woodland Elementary School campus, with the exception of the gymnasium.

Proposition B is a $10.5 million student multipurpose facility which includes a 60-70 yard fully enclosed turf field. The facility will be used by all extracurricular programs including band, dance, cheer, soccer, softball, baseball, track, football and more.
Cruse said if any one of the propositions passed alone it will be a zero tax rate increase, but together would cause a tax change.

“If either one of the propositions passes on its own, it would have less than zero impact on the tax rate. If both of them did pass, it’s 1.5 cents on the tax rate,” he said.

NCTC Director Dr. Magen Bunyard

North Central Texas College Director Dr. Magen Bunyard spoke on the variety of programs which are available on the local campus.

“Everything from academic core courses, career and technical education, dual credit programs for Graham High School, a variety of online courses and programs ranging from occupational skills awards, certificates, and also associate degrees. We also have continuing education,” she said. “...We are going to try, or at least attempt, to offer phlebotomy technician in the fall, and then bring back certified nurse aide for the spring. We have metalsmithing that’s ongoing all the time.”

The campus is working on establishing a licensed practical nurse to registered nurse transition program in 2025.

One of the largest programs at NCTC, which is in its second year, is the Red River Promise program. GISD graduating students can receive varied support services and the cost of tuition and fees covered for up to two years, or 60 credit hours.

The program had 42 GHS students participate. Students can choose to attend NCTC to earn academic degrees and/or career and technical certifications and degrees. Another option is to attend NCTC and transfer to a RRP partner university or direct entry to one of the partner universities.

“It’s a last dollar scholarship program that provides the cost of tuition for up to 60 credit hours. Then there are also opportunities to go beyond NCTC with partnering universities. …Last dollar means that financial aid is plugged in first, then scholarship second and then the remaining balance is covered by this program,” Bunyard said. “For NCTC students, it’s actually very easy to qualify. They submit a Red River Promise pledge, they complete 10 hours of community service, they apply to college, they do their financial aid application, they apply for scholarships, graduate from Graham High School on time, and then start college the fall after they graduate.”

NCTC is also at GHS every week meeting with students to help them and provide opportunities for higher education.

“If students have success goals, if they have dreams, we want to be a part of helping them achieve them,” Bunyard said.

Editor’s Note: This is part two of a two-part story about the state of the community luncheon hosted by the Graham Chamber of Commerce.