The Wills Point ISD Board of Trustees delivered a welcome bit of good news to district staffers prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, stopping by each campus to deliver retention bonuses Nov. 20. The board voted to approve the bonuses via a budget amendment earlier in the month as a thank you to staffers for going above and beyond throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.Courtesy photo

The number of confirmed and probable (those with COVID-19 positive antigen tests) coronavirus cases in Van Zandt County continued to grow last week, climbing from 1,539 as of Nov. 20 to 1,726 by the end of day Nov. 30 according to the Northeast Texas Public Health District.

Members of the Wills Point community gathered to hold a special drive-by Thanksgiving parade for the residents and staff of Crestwood Assisted Living Nov. 20. Many of the parade’s participants, which included city officials, the Wills Point Police Department, Wills Point Fire Department, local business owners and WPISD staff and students, decorated their vehicles with special signs to mark the occasion before making multiple passes in front of the facility as residents waved and cheered safely from the sidewalk.

The number of confirmed and probable (those with COVID-19 positive antigen tests) local coronavirus cases saw another sizeable jump last week, increasing from 1,399 on Nov. 16 to 1,539 as of Nov. 20 according to the Northeast Texas Public Health District.

The office of Texas State Comptroller Glen Hegar offered a rosy outlook on the local economy in a Nov. 12 press release, noting that Canton, Edgewood, Edom, Fruitvale, Grand Saline, Van and Wills Point had all exceeded their performance in sales tax revenue collections for the month when comparing against the November 2019 collection totals.

For the 10th consecutive year, Dr. Kimberly Neiman, DDS of Wills Point and students from the Wills Point ISD combined their efforts to collect candy for the Sweets for Soldiers campaign.