The Hays CISD board of trustees voted at its Dec. 12 meeting to approve schematic designs for a new elementary school, the district’s 14th, in preparation for a bond election to take place in May. From earlier designs, the gymnasium was expanded to have two teaching areas, so two physical education classes can go on at once. Additional designs include outdoor class space on the first floor and more science labs on the second floor. The capacity of the school would be 900 students, district staff said, and they estimated the campus would cost nearly $34 million. McCormick Middle School, the district’s most recently opened campus, cost about $35 million. “What we’re asking for for the elementary is actually more [per square foot] than what we've spent on the middle school we just opened this year," trustee Meredith Keller said. "I'm having a hard time with those expenses." The board approved the schematic designs unanimously, and design documents will get back to the board in March to make way for construction documents in April. Process in motion to create developmental leave policy for teachers Also at last night's board meeting, trustees discussed a unique request from a high school teacher. A teacher at Hays High School who has been with the district for nine years requested a developmental leave of absence. His wife, a professor at Texas State University, was named a Fulbright Scholar and will be taking a sabbatical to teach in Taiwan, and he wanted to accompany her. At first, the teacher was told he would have to resign and reapply if there were any positions open when the couple returned. However, according to state law, school boards can approve developmental leave. “We don’t have a developmental leave policy [locally],” trustee Willie Tenorio said. “So I think what’s made this a difficult time is without a local policy, [it] means the board has to do a lot of interpretation of the offer before us and whether it meets the law and whether it meets the developmental leave definition.” The board had the power to give the teacher pay while not doing any work for the district, but he said he was not comfortable with that option, President Holly Raymond said. Board members were presented with documents showing how the teacher would be able to support the district while in Taiwan. Observations and research he would conduct would help the district, Raymond said. “We want them to have developmental and innovative life experiences to bring back to the students and teachers at Hays,” Raymond said. The board of trustees voted unanimously to grant the teacher’s request for a developmental leave of absence, grant him leave with pay as part of a pilot program and to direct administration to prepare policy criteria for granting leave in the future. “At Hays, we struggle with execution of implementation, especially with new programs,” Raymond said. “This is a chance to get it right.” Plans for third high school moving rapidly The process to complete the third Hays CISD high school is past the halfway point in the design document phase and is moving rapidly toward construction documents, district staff said during a presentation. Since the last time the board of trustees saw design plans, the proposed baseball and softball complexes were moved south, and city administration said they plan to remove a wetland area during construction.