In addition to choosing a new Llano High School Principal Monday night, the Llano Independent School District Board of Trustees made it clear they are committed to athletic facilities improvements and they will dig deep in the district’s pockets to get them.

Daniel Vera, currently of Bangs High School in Bangs, Texas, will become principal of Llano High School for the 2008-2009 school year. Charles Ross Baker has served as interim principal since Earl Jarrett left last August to become superintendent of Supr Independent School District east of Lubbock.

Randall E. Fromberg, architect for the bond projects underway at LISD, had been charged with assessing the scope of work and possible cost of a new complex of restrooms and concession facilities, improvements to visitor bleachers and adjacent tennis courts.

Without site development or parking improvements, his best estimate was $842,602 on a timeline of 289 days, well past the opening of a new football season in a realigned district that promises much larger visitor attendance.

Not only are the ramshackle concession stand and restrooms an eyesore, located inconveniently for visitors on the west side of the stadium, with much more demand, they will become a Department of Health issue.

“We have restroom facilities that just won’t work,” said trustee Ronnie Rudd. “We need to do something and we need to do it before all the people get there.”

“What would it take to get the construction done by September 1, 2008?” trustee Norm Long asked the skeptical architect.

“A restroom facility may seem simple, but it is a lot more difficult than it seems. It is full of plumbing and has to be handicap accessible.”

The board seemed in agreement that a site easily reached by home and visitor fans on the north end of the stadium was preferable, but with a construction survey yet to be done, the cost of site preparation was still out of reach.

In the end, the board sent Fromberg back to the drawing board, so to speak, to secure a survey, evaluate the cost of site preparation and include figures for paved parking improvements.

On Tuesday Superintendent Dennis Hill noted that work might be done in stages, with work on tennis courts and bleachers of about $74,953 being deferred until another phase. He said, too, that financial arrangements would keep these new projects strictly separate from work being funded by the most recent bond issue.

The board heard two detailed reports – one from Jimmy E. Beasley, LISD director of technology, and another from John Fessenden of the Region XIII Education Service Center.

Beasley reviewed work to establish better district computer internet access.

The latest development he said was new willingness from Verizon to participate. He said that he was continuing to represented the district in meetings of the city and the hospital authority with the company hired to develop broadband access for Llano County, and that both Northland Cable and ZeeCon were discussing methods of offering better Internet access.

For now, Beasley said wireless tower service may be the fastest route to the best improvements for the money. Verizon estimates were that their service would increase school phone bills from $2,854 per month to $11,822 per month.

Fessenden conducted a dizzying review of the progress since 2002 of standardized testing. Now tied to No Child Left Behind, it’s various incarnations aim at holding schools to moving all students through to graduation with no more than four years of high school and demonstrated test proficiency by 100 percent of students, no matter their handicap or language deficiency, by 2014.

“We need attainable goals,” said Ronnie Rudd, board president. “We are trying to do long range planning and we need goals we can expect to reach.”

Because no school board candidates drew opponents, the district will be saved the cost of a May 10 election. The board approved the acceptance of Gerald Kaspar for Place 1, Coni Milliorn for Place 3 and newcomer J. Preston Mason for Place 4.

In a press release on Tuesday the district made the official announcement of Vera’s selection during the boards executive session.

Vera earned a bachelor of arts degree from Angelo Sate University in 1989 and completed a master’s degree in education at the University of Texas in Austin in 1992.

He served as a counselor and as high school assistant principal before being named principal at Bangs High School.