Friday, April 26, 2024
The Granbury ISD board of trustees voted unanimously to sell the district's plane during Monday's school board meeting.
Granbury ISD’s board of trustees voted unanimously to sell the district’s airplane during Monday’s school board meeting, citing higher expenses and liability risks as the reasons behind their decision.
A subcommittee consisting of trustees Barbara Townsend, Billy Wimberly, and Melanie Graft, was recently formed to discuss the potential selling of the GISD airplane with Todd Gibson, the district’s career and technical education director.
“All of those folks that were on the subcommittee have some knowledge to some extent of the field of aviation, which was a good thing,” Gibson said, during the meeting. “We met, we reviewed financial statements, we looked at flight data, we looked at the individual classes and the vision of the flight program — specifically getting students’ flight hours — and that initial vision was to get students their private pilot's license at a reduced cost. After a lot of review and discussion, it is the recommendation of that subcommittee to sell the GISD airplane."
Wimberly read the entirety of the subcommittee report during the meeting that stated the reasonings behind wanting to sell the plane.
The report states that from the financial data collected during the time that the district has owned the aircraft — and after considering the liability and potential risks associated with owning an aircraft — the subcommittee agreed that the sale of the airplane was in the district’s “best interest.”
The report also stated that based on the financial data and the number of hours flown by students in the GISD airplane, the subcommittee determined that the district will still be able to offer students discounted rates without owning an aircraft.
The district will begin the use of the district’s partnered flight school, In the Pattern, at the Granbury Regional Airport for instruction in lieu of the GISD airplane. The sale of the airplane will not hinder students from accumulating their flight hours.
PERSONAL USE
The decision to sell the airplane comes just two months after WFAA-TV Channel 8 reported that Assistant Superintendent Jimmy Dawson used the district’s airplane to take a trip with his wife — also a GISD administrator — to see their daughter in Abilene for her birthday. The round trip was about 250 miles.
An investigation into Dawson’s actions was conducted by KBS Law Group, but attorney Miles Bradshaw said during the December school board meeting that there were “some gray areas.”
Included among the law firm’s recommendations during December’s board meeting was possible disciplinary action against Dawson, but Bradshaw suggested a written warning and training rather than the stronger punishment of a reprimand.
“I just don’t see it as intentional or knowing misappropriation of school property,” Bradshaw said during the December board meeting. “I just don’t see it.”
The investigative report by Bradshaw stated that the aviation program was not in question — but the use of the plane by GISD staff without creating policies first was a huge concern.
“There's no question that the aviation program is a unique and valuable educational resource and CTE program for GISD,” Lowery said, reading Bradshaw’s report. “The plane and its use by GISD staff were a very big concern for me and many members within the community. KBS investigative report findings clearly identified the GISDs executive staff and board’s failure in defining and creating policies to administer a plane for the aviation program. GISD employees are free to determine what was acceptable and what was not based upon their own opinion.”
The investigative report also states that the GISD plane made 136 flights since it was purchased and noted that “each and every one of these 136 flights placed GISD in a risk of liability.”
The report also showed that Dawson made 17 flights since May 6.
"I would question whether the 17 flights qualified that employee as being sufficient to be flying students and staff and putting us at risk,” the report from Bradshaw reads.
The subcommittee report stated that the original intention of purchasing the plane back in 2021 was to save students’ money as they work to obtain their private pilot’s license.
However, between November 2021 and November 2022, the cost of “maintenance inspections, insurance, hangar fee,” and additional plane-related costs were “much higher than anticipated.”
CONCERNS
"I want to say I believe we're very fortunate the plane issue came to our attention before a catastrophic event occurred and we would have been negatively impacted for years,” Lowery said, during the meeting. “We have the opportunity to fix this issue before someone's injured or killed.”
She noted that her concern was not with the aviation program directly, but with the “original purchase use cost and risk of lability of the district-owned airplane.” Additionally, she noted that the $100,000 insurance policy would never be enough if someone were to lose their life in a crash.
"Basically, what this says to our children, families and community is that GISD accepts the risk the plane creates because the most we can lose is $100,000 per person according to insurance,” she said. “Every time this plane would take off and land it created a risk of accident and liability to the district. As a district, accepting the risk of this catastrophic injury or loss of life to a student, district employee, or community member based upon the statutory cap liability was disappointing and unacceptable for a public school district. The loss of life or catastrophic injury would far exceed the $100,000 insurance coverage and emotional and physical reputation for the district — and I am glad that we will be voting to sell the airplane.”
Melanie Graft, another school board trustee, added that she was in “complete agreement” with Lowery’s argument.
The board was unanimous in voting for the sale of the district’s airplane. The selling of the plane will go through a normal bid process and the funds generated from the sale will be returned to the GISD CTE department.
GISD will continue with the current aviation procedures and prerequisites through July 31, but new procedures will be reevaluated for the 2023-2024 school year. Additionally, Townsend said that “there will be no pilots from GISD teaching students,” at In the Pattern.
Lowery added, “A lesson learned I think through this plane experience is that GISD must create written policies before programs are implemented into service and especially when a program involves high value equipment and creates a high risk for the program.”
