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TxDOT Freeport-CS100624972 - 398 -4200 www. Nf - ws .( -oni News Get More Hometown News See daily video updates www.5la Loca1News.aarn VOLUME 28, NO. 48 GCAA landscape project completed C0PPELV, r In the Commwtity. With the Cor nunity. For Ote Community. WEDNF Coppell School Board calls for a tax rollback election Sept.11 CISD to stop ranking high school students beyond top 10 percent BY JIM KILPATRICK jkilpatrick@acnpapers. com The Coppell School Board voted Tuesday night to call for a tax rollback election Sept. 11. The board voted 7 -0 to approve a new property tax rate of about $1.42 per $100 valuation. The tax rate is now $1.28 per $100 valuation. In a public hearing prior to the vote, four residents spoke in favor of the proposed increase; no one spoke against it. The new rate still requires voter approval. "We are going for the maxi- mum allowable amount the state will allow," said Kelly Penny, chief financial officer for the dis- trict. "This (tax increase) will allow us to maintain the quality of the programs offered by the district to its students." She added the range of the 13- cent increase would be $20 to $53 a month, depending on the valua- tion of the home. In other action the board approved a change in the ranking system for Coppell high schools. The new policy will take affect for students entering their senior year this fall at Coppell High School and New Tech High School. The policy states the district will only rank the top 10 students and not the entire class. "Because our high school is so competitive, we feel that this will be positive for all our students," said Dr. Jeff Turner, superintend- ent of schools. "Generally speak- ing we have kids in the bottom half of our class who have higher SAT scores than the state aver- age." The SAT scores at the high school are hundreds of points higher than the national average, Turner said. "When we rank them and send that on to colleges we feel that it puts them in a negative situa- tion," Turner said. The district must still rank the top 10 percent of students by state law to help universities that use the rankings to meet auto- matic admissions requirements. Students wishing to obtain transcripts with ranking informa- tion have until Aug. 23 to obtain the transcripts. The district will notify stu- dents if they are in the top 10 per- cent at the end of the fall semes- ter of their sophomore year and all following semesters. CISD will communicate with colleges and universities when admissions offices are not pro- vided rankings. PHOTO COURTESY OF CRISTAL ROLLINS The GCAA plaque is displayed at the completed landscaping proj- ect near the intersection of Freeport Parkway and Interstate Highway 635. PHOTO COURTESY OF CRISTAL ROLLINS The new landscaping project wel- comes visitors to Coppell at the intersection of Freeport Parkway and Interstate Highway 635. SNAP, C_§%J%%KLE, POP! C BY JIM KILPATRICK jkilpatrick @acnpapers.com The Governor's Community Achievement Award was received by Keep Coppell Beautiful in 2006 for a landscap- ing project that has now been completed after a long delay. Each year Keep Texas Beautiful awards 10 community affiliates for their environmental programs and beautification efforts. The communities share $2 million in landscaping monies from the Texas Department of Transportation for a project in their community along a state - maintained highway. In 2006 Coppell received $100,000 from the Texas Department of Transportation for the landscaping project. "The original location was at Denton Tap and 121, but that became NTTA property so they had to find a new location," said Cristal Rollins, community pro- grams director for the city. "The area has to be maintained by gxDOT." GCAA winners are selected on tk eir accomplishments in seven Yeas, Rollins said. R_ The areas included in the award are community leadership and coordination, education, public awareness, solid waste management, litter prevention and cleanup, beautification and See GCAA, Page 4A BY JIM KILPATRICK j kilpatrick @acnpapers.com Coppell will get an early start on Independence Day, kicking it off on July 3. The annual parade and fireworks will be the highlight of the Fourth of July weekend. "This will be the fourth year we have done fireworks," said Sheri Lewis, special events coordinator for the city. "The parade has been happening for many years." The parade will begin at 10 a.m. from St. Ann's Parish, travel north on Samuel, west on Parkway and end at Town Center, Lewis said. She is expecting a large crowd on the two - mile parade route, and she suggested residents arrive early to get the best spots. The festivities begin at 7 p.m. at Andrew Brown Park East. The fireworks show is set for around 9:40 p.m. after sunset, Lewis said. The 20- minute fireworks show will highlight the day's activities. Before the fireworks residents can experi- ence a ride on the mini train, bounce at the bounce houses, work off energy on the inflat- able slides and test their talent and skill in the game tent. There will be plenty of food vendors providing turkey legs, kettle corn, snow cones, funnel cakes, sandwiches, fajitas, nachos and many more food treats. There will also be face painting. Signed Sealed Delivered, a live band, will provide music before the fireworks show. "We had a turnout of about 5,000 last year I would guess," Lewis said. "It's hard to know because people are all over the place, coming and going." She hopes for the same turnout this year. To sign up to be in the parade go to the city website at www.ci.coppell.tx.us. City plans annual parade, fireworks for July 3 GCAA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A illegal dumping enforce- ment. The GCAA has been giv- ing the award for more than 10 years, Rollins said. The Coppell project, which began in fall of 2009 was completed in May and is located at the intersec- tion of Freeport Parkway and Interstate Highway 635. "There are a lot of native plants that can sur- vive here, plants that wouldn't take a lot of main- tenance or water to keep it up," Rollins said. "They wanted a new entry site into Coppell." Keep Coppell Beautiful, a Keep Texas Beautiful gold star affiliate, worked with the city and TxDOT on the design and location of project, Rollins said. Rollins added that Keep Coppell Beautiful has entered the award project yearly. "Once you win first place you can't win first place again for three years," Rollins said. "We are now eligible to win first place again. For information about Keep Texas Beautiful and the GCAA go to www.ktb.org and to learn about Keep Coppell Beautiful go to www.cop- pelltx.gov.