CISD plans could breathe new life back into Yoe High

The original Yoe High building may be getting a new purpose in its 100th year.

The Cameron Independent School District Board of Trustees selected the architectural firm of Huckabee to begin looking into the renovation of the existing Old Yoe building to create a College and Career Center of CISD during its Dec. 14 meeting.

The board has been tossing around ideas and discussing what the building could be used for over the last several months and has decided to look into a new use for the 100-year-old structure that will lead CISD into the future.

The district asked for qualifications from architecture firms early in November. Six firms replied and the board interviewed several in November. 

CISD Superintendent Kevin Sprinkles spoke to the board about the possibility of moving forward with doing something with Old Yoe during the October board meeting.

“After our facilities assessment last month I think we identified two major priorities, those were Old Yoe and the district’s ag facilities,” he said. 

Sprinkles said there are three things to think about during that meeting.

First off the district would need a plan for the building if it was decided to move ahead with rehabilitation.

“If in fact there is thought that we would rehabilitate, we need someone to plan out the building,” he said. “We need to think about contracting with an architect to make plans for that building.”

The district also needs to think about what it will be used for.

“One of the things we feel most strongly about is that if we are going to save Old Yoe it needs to be something that can be substantially used for academics,” Sprinkles said. 

He said that space could be used for CTE classrooms that would give students an opportunity to learn in an environment that can help them in their future careers. Some space could also be allocated to administration and for use as some sort of Hall of Honor.

Board members agreed with Sprinkles saying there is no reason to discuss any longer on this topic.

“My vision of what we can do with that building is exactly what Kevin just spoke about,” Board Member Greg Hoelscher said. “I can really see that happening.”

Board President Jason Dohnalik agreed.

“This will be unique, no other school our size in this are has something like this,” Dohnalik said. “This will give the students opportunities and options to be successful after they leave here. Not everyone is going to college. The reality is they can earn those certifications here. This is an opportunity for us to have that here for our kids. This would also promote our town. These CTE type classes are the new classroom of the future..”

Sprinkles said the architecture firm will not charge the district for design work. They will only charge once the district has a contract to begin actual construction.

“I like the idea of the CTE Center, but at the end of the day we are adding another facility,” Board Member Alan Patterson said. “I just want to look at what kind of impact this will have on our budget since this is a new facility.”

Sprinkles said the district will have some additional costs on a yearly basis, but the great thing about it being on the high school side is that it would utilize the existing staff at the high school. He said there could also be room for adult education services for the community.

Sprinkles said that CTE programs can pay for themselves over time with state funding for those programs.

“We need to have those discussions about programs first and then the design will come second,” Sprinkles said. “We have these programs, but they are housed in other places now and this would put them all in a space that is specifically for that use. We wouldn’t want to do something that is going to put us over the funds we have to support it.”

“I really like what I hear. I really think that if people are looking to get out of the bigger cities and they are going to look at schools and a facility like this would draw, but I don’t want to break the budget,” Board Member James Burks said.

The board voted to hire Huckabee to begin the process of designing the renovation. The selected them due to their prior work with old building renovations.