[0:02] All right. Welcome to the regular board meeting of the Leader of I.C. Trustees. The date is March 17, 2025. Let the record show there's a column of board members present, myself, or his columns, as well as trustees, exact parent, Jim Scott, Jennifer Taylor and David Lear. For the more let the record show this meeting has been billy posted in accordance with the Texas of the meeting exact. The time is 602 p.m. and we have some special visitors today.

[0:28] Do you want to come up and introduce yourself, here you can stand right here in front of everybody, and tell us, come on, hey, don't beat, come on, you're an ambassador, you've already volunteered to do things, I know you're not scared, tell us what your name is, what story you're from, my name is Liam Scott, and I go to McKenney Elementary, my name is Brooklyn, I go to McKenney Elementary, my name is Carly Melina, and I go to McKenney Elementary, okay, we're greater than you have,

[0:57] This grade fifth grade fifth grade fifth grade. What's your favorite subject. I like writing the most writing

[1:04] I like math math. I like math too. Okay, what do you want to do when you grow up and get out of school?

[1:10] I want to be like a baker a baker. I like that. I want to be a nurse.

[1:15] That's a good profession. I want to play in the NFL. There you go.

[1:19] Dream I like the dream. I like the parents. So today y'all are gonna up. Well, I got to ask you this question.

[1:26] Do you have any idea what a school board, oh, let me start with this.

[1:30] What does a barricade ambassador do?

[1:32] Then lead their fellow students?

[1:35] Yeah, what else is an ambassador do?

[1:37] They show great example throughout the school.

[1:39] Yeah, what do you think?

[1:40] They represent the school.

[1:42] represent the school.

[1:43] What do you think people in the school board do?

[1:49] Talk about adult stuff.

[1:50] Talk about adult stuff.

[1:52] So we're, we are elected volunteer officials.

[1:58] We help oversee the school district, we help create budgets, make sure your teachers use students

[2:05] at the resources they need, so that's a little bit of what we do.

[2:08] It's really long and somewhat boring, I mean, but that's what we do.

[2:13] So, are you all going to lead us in our pledge of allegiance today?

[2:16] All right.

[2:16] Y'all step up front here and we'll follow you guys.

[2:19] We're going to show up as our American flag first and then we'll do the Texas flag.

[2:23] Okay.

[2:23] American flag right here.

[2:24] I'm glad I laid in to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, America, and divisible for liberty justice for all.

[2:39] On on the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.

[2:47] All right. Now, if y'all all please join us in a moment of prayer or reflection.

[3:06] Now, what is today?

[3:10] Say, Pastor, are you wearing green?

[3:12] No, no.

[3:18] I'm not a Celtic Span. I'm a Maverick Span.

[3:22] But, well, how do you feel about looking at the tree?

[3:25] It's not good.

[3:25] Okay, you volunteer to read a couple of these jokes, and so we're going to see if they can answer them.

[3:32] You sure?

[3:32] All right, you can send the picture if you want, it's okay.

[3:37] Why did the leprechaun turn down a bowl of soup?

[3:41] Because the already has a particle?

[3:42] Oh my god.

[3:44] That was terrible.

[3:45] I struggled with that one by the way.

[3:48] What kind of spells do leprechauns use?

[3:54] Good.

[3:55] Lucky charms.

[3:57] All right, let's give them one more.

[3:59] Okay.

[3:59] What's the good one there?

[4:02] You don't like that one?

[4:04] OK, fine.

[4:04] The best one.

[4:05] And let's do that one.

[4:06] I like the last one, huh?

[4:08] Yes.

[4:09] Let's leave that one.

[4:11] Why do left repellents hate amusement parks?

[4:15] They're too short for the rides.

[4:19] I told you they were terrible jokes too.

[4:22] Here.

[4:23] Can we get a bigger round of applause for our ambassadors?

[4:26] Here.

[4:31] You think what to be on there?

[4:33] All right, I'm going to sit down.

[4:34] First, you guys, thanks a lot for coming.

[4:45] We do that every meeting.

[4:46] And it's always fun to hear the kids' responses

[4:50] and the questions.

[4:53] Next up is our board member reports.

[4:55] And so I'm going to start off with a presence report.

[4:59] Our good things for this month is that our barricade

[5:03] And Lady Cuts, Lady Cat, sock teams, both one district.

[5:07] We have power lifters estate, airy methods.

[5:09] 7th place finished, this is the highest finish ever

[5:12] for power lifting for lean out state.

[5:14] And we had three boys, state qualifiers.

[5:18] Kelly Griffith, AMS sixth grade social studies teacher,

[5:21] won the Jack Harvey Academy at the exemplary teachers

[5:24] award, congratulations to her.

[5:27] AMS principal, Mandy Musselwhite,

[5:29] is going to be our new director of human services

[5:31] So correct congratulations to Ms. Musselwhite for that.

[5:36] Also, Dr. Susan Bone was the Parker County Chamber of Commerce business person of the year.

[5:43] And I understand there's about 50 nominations for that award.

[5:47] It's voted on by people outside of the community so people didn't know who Susan was.

[5:53] A good question I got was why did the superintendent win the business person of the year award?

[5:57] I thought it was a great question.

[5:58] And as someone who's part of the chamber myself, you may not recognize, but Elito ISD is the largest employer in Parker County.

[6:06] We have over 1,000, about 1,000 employees.

[6:09] We have everything from educate kids, transport kids, child nutrition, real estate transactions, construction.

[6:15] There's a lot that goes into it.

[6:17] And if you haven't been here for a little while, maybe five or six years if you kind of knew,

[6:22] I'll utilize these made up of eight or nine, nine different towns, two counties, and emergency

[6:29] services district.

[6:30] There is a lot going on and historically, they don't play well together.

[6:36] And so one of the things that we were going to ask to do, and we took on as a district and

[6:40] talked about this kind of led this, is bringing entities together and understanding that when

[6:44] we all work together for the benefit of our kids, then great things happen.

[6:48] When we're building schools, we need infrastructure, we need electricity, we need water, we need roads and so those partnerships have literally saved our taxpayers, millions of dollars land donations that you see recently.

[6:59] We had two land donations, one was kind of a swap, those things don't happen by accident, that's a lot of hard work in connection.

[7:05] So congratulations to Dr. Bone on getting that.

[7:09] And then also I just want to talk about the budget a little bit. You've probably seen the communication from the district about the budget.

[7:18] Last year, we had to make a lot of difficult cuts.

[7:22] It was very painful for everybody.

[7:25] This year, we find ourselves in a little bit better spot

[7:27] because we did the things last year.

[7:30] If you're watching the news, you're seeing school districts

[7:32] having to close schools.

[7:34] You're seeing school districts, lay off teachers.

[7:37] We don't find ourselves in that position.

[7:41] But we will continue to keep you informed of that.

[7:44] We've even seen school districts like Keller who tried to split their school district in half because they thought it was what was best for their community.

[7:52] Just just look out for a future email communication about that and we'll keep y'all informed and how you can go advocate to your legislators to about that.

[8:01] And so next we'll have the superintendent report.

[8:03] Okay, so we're going to get the opportunity to recognize lots of students and staff tonight to serve our favorite part of the meeting.

[8:09] So thank you for being here to celebrate your students and our staff as well.

[8:13] So we're coming off spring break, which means we're headed into the last nine weeks of the school year.

[8:18] And seniors and their parents and the celebrations that come with that.

[8:22] So congratulations to all of you who are seniors or senior parents.

[8:27] We also had a teacher professional learning and work day today.

[8:31] Thank you parents for helping us give that to our staff so that they can be fully ready when kids walk in the door tomorrow.

[8:37] And they spend their time very wisely planning for the next nine weeks, really, for three weeks at a time.

[8:44] We also have an event coming up that I wanted to make sure everybody in the room knows about.

[8:48] We do have a Silver Cats program, which is our 55 plus program.

[8:52] And we invite anybody to join that, who's 55 plus.

[8:56] We have an event coming up on March 28th, where those folks are going to get to hear from some of our high school students.

[9:01] You are in career and technical education programs and advanced academics.

[9:05] A really, really impressive group of kids that they'll get to hear from them.

[9:09] That's March 28th, 830-9.

[9:11] We would love for you.

[9:13] If any of you are eligible, we'd love for you to join that program and ask you or friends and family

[9:18] neighbors who are to do that as well.

[9:20] That's all I have.

[9:21] All right.

[9:22] Next up is our strategic partners, Elido Education Foundation, Elido SDPTO, an advocate report,

[9:28] Mr. Taylor.

[9:29] The legal education foundation is having one of their largest fundraisers very soon on March 28th

[9:35] is Baracats and Boots.

[9:37] And what I've been told tickets are sold out, so find a friend who might have a table if you'd like to go.

[9:43] But I do know that they welcome you to bid on auction items online need if you're not intended.

[9:51] So support them in their efforts.

[9:52] Lito PTO is working diligently for the last nine weeks with staff appreciation and various

[10:01] teacher appreciation week programs.

[10:04] I know some elementary's are celebrating that a little bit earlier than the national teacher

[10:09] appreciation to avoid testing schedules and that sort of thing.

[10:16] So stay tuned to your local PTO campus to see how you can support in their teacher appreciation

[10:22] efforts.

[10:23] A leader of children's advocates is having their run walk crawl, glow run, at Picanan Stadium

[10:30] on March 29th in the evening.

[10:33] Registration is still open, so please join them.

[10:36] This is also their largest fundraiser of the year.

[10:39] It's a great family, friendly event, so I hope to see all of you there.

[10:44] Yeah, it's pretty cool if you've never been.

[10:47] You run state, you can do a 1K or a 5K, you run station station and they give you things

[10:50] light up and kind of looking down the stadium at Bay of Ranch Road at night time, seeing all

[10:55] that glowing.

[10:55] It's pretty cool.

[10:56] I take my family every year and it's special event for my family.

[11:01] Next up, we'll be our legislative subcommittee report, Mr. Lear.

[11:04] Okay.

[11:05] So the legislative session continues, a few of us will be going down to Austin some week.

[11:12] or this week, I guess, and several days,

[11:14] next week, next week, next week, next month,

[11:16] sorry, not next week.

[11:20] And, you know, a couple of days,

[11:21] basically, we're advocating for public school funding,

[11:23] we're advocating for local control.

[11:26] I know you guys all have some flyers that were handed out

[11:27] at the back.

[11:28] It gives you some details into some of the shortfalls

[11:30] that we're seeing as a district.

[11:33] You know, $2 million, $1,200, it's been,

[11:35] free billion dollars in the funder to transportation and almost a million in safety so there's some of the things that we're highlighting

[11:43] that we need some help with

[11:44] right now a couple of bills a couple of big bills just to mention one is a house bill to which is

[11:51] which is being debated is kind of an all-in-one bill with their you know they have a small basic law

[11:56] management that have some money for teacher raises some money for it's been increases things like that

[12:02] And since it's kind of taking the different approach, they have, for instance, Senate Bill 26,

[12:06] where they're focusing just on teacher pay.

[12:09] And here's the idea might be that they send them much of money for us to do teacher salaries,

[12:14] and teacher incentives, and then that frees up money in the district to do other things,

[12:18] not sure how that is exactly true.

[12:21] But that's kind of their idea.

[12:22] They also have one Senate Bill 568, which is focused primarily on state funding, increasing,

[12:28] which is really needed in the state.

[12:30] It has been tested by the Commissioner of education that we're way under funded in that area.

[12:37] So, look forward to kind of see how they kind of work with each other to figure out how to make all it work.

[12:42] Also pay attention, House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 2, those are the bills that have been debated about school vouchers,

[12:50] which is, you know, if you haven't already been beaten enough with the discussion of vouchers, it's time to kind of check back in.

[12:58] There's the other night they had or the other day and night they had an open you know open community comment for House Bill 3 and it would last a 20 hours

[13:07] And I've my understanding it was mostly against House Bill 3, but I guess we'll just kind of see how it works out

[13:16] That's it.

[13:17] Yeah, that's great.

[13:18] Also on there on those sheets, there is on the information I think about a contact to your representative is and so as you were paying attention to legislative process

[13:26] And you have opinions, please make sure to reach out to them.

[13:30] We will obviously advocate, but it helps to hear from the community as well, the more people

[13:35] that are letting them know, you know, when we're there, however you feel about it, please reach

[13:39] out to them.

[13:40] The one good thing I will say about the voucher debate is, for years we've asked people,

[13:44] make education a priority, and I do believe that conversation has brought it out front.

[13:49] I've had people that I know don't think about education have walked up to me, and so like,

[13:54] what do you think about those vouchers?

[13:56] That's interesting, so good work, Mr. Lair.

[14:01] Barn progress in playing subcommittee report, Mr. Taranton.

[14:04] Thank you, good evening.

[14:05] Well, we have an opportunity to take a little field trip

[14:08] before this meeting and field trips are found for anybody,

[14:13] whether you're a student or a adult.

[14:15] So we got to go out and check out the progress on the Ag Barn

[14:20] and Steve Wood Complex.

[14:21] both places just live awesome.

[14:25] Value ads for our students and staff.

[14:28] Ag Barn is the addition right now is finished,

[14:31] and we've got students and staff that are utilizing

[14:33] that right now.

[14:36] Still have some finishing touches to go

[14:39] on the Steve Wood complex,

[14:44] but the number of students and opportunities

[14:45] that's going to provide is really, really,

[14:48] something really cool.

[14:49] So we're looking for a grand opening, hopefully some time in April

[14:53] with those specific dates, just yet.

[14:56] But Kudos to the entire administration, especially

[14:58] Mr. Campbell, Brooks, furthermore.

[15:01] Thank you, Chair. And before our campus presentation, I always do this in my presence report. We forgot. If you are a parent of a child receiving a commendation tonight, we just call it raise your hand. So we can acknowledge you.

[15:19] We truly believe all of us are parents up there. Everybody see it, there's a parent. We truly believe our district is great because we have parent engagement. So thank you for being great parents and having great kids and our schools. Next up is going to be our campus presentation, Lynn McKinney Elementary, Ms. Heather Street.

[15:50] Good evening, guys. I am super excited to be here and have the opportunity to brag on

[15:55] Lynn McKinney Elementary as a brand new opening campus. We had some really intentional practices

[16:01] in wanting to ensure that for a lot of our older students, our fourth and fifth graders, for

[16:06] some of them this was their second or third campus to attend. So we had a lot of intentional planning behind

[16:10] we wanted to ensure that we had some really solid relationship building tasks and opportunities in place

[16:15] And we also wanted to ensure that we had student voice in the celebrations, the traditions, and everything that we were building for our campus.

[16:25] So we've had a wide variety of groups, give input into how we are accomplishing that on campus, but the number one leading voice that we chose to use for this was our student voice.

[16:36] And so for that, we've had a lot of opportunities for them to provide feedback, a lot of opportunities for them to give us all the ideas.

[16:44] We learned very quickly that we don't have a $20,000 budget for field day.

[16:47] Things like that, you know.

[16:49] So, but this group, we have our fifth grade group with lots of leadership opportunities.

[16:54] You'll sell some of them today in regards to our leadership there, but also with student council and some of our buddy cohorts,

[17:03] cohorts, which one of our principal cohorts members here will talk to you a little bit about.

[17:08] But we have our third grade leadership, which is our junior teachers cohort.

[17:14] Our junior teachers cohort comes up with extension opportunities for their peers.

[17:21] And to bring in and support connections between the lower grades.

[17:25] And our fourth grade group is our principals cohort, which we're going to be talking about today.

[17:28] And this has to do with leadership for kiddos, but also very needed area of extensions for our campus.

[17:35] We are in a great place with lots of parent community and district support, where we need additional ideas outside to your one curriculum.

[17:45] We need lots of extension challenges, lots of ways to challenge our learners, and so this provided both opportunities.

[17:51] So some fabulous ladies here who are going to talk to us a little bit about the principal's cohort,

[17:55] What you guys will see up front and other pictures are kind of tiny, but they started with what we call a graffiti wall.

[18:03] It's actually a learning strategy where they brain-damped all kinds of information about what was most important to them as a student.

[18:09] What traditions they wanted to carry on, what do they want to be the first of doing?

[18:14] And so from that came different groups and different priorities for leadership on campus.

[18:21] So, I have a couple of ladies who are going to talk about some opportunities.

[18:25] What they probably won't mention is the fact that, in order to be part of the principal's

[18:29] cohort, they have to have recommendations from multiple teachers.

[18:34] They also, however, had to make sure that the class works that they were going to be missing,

[18:41] was something that they were okay with being able to either make up, work ahead, or supplement

[18:46] with a replacement project.

[18:47] and a lot of these replacement projects are taking the place of both because their work here

[18:52] is important and hard, right?

[18:54] Yeah, of course.

[18:56] And so with the opportunities you see here, we were going to wrap up with Buddy Day, but

[19:03] I have somebody who wants to talk to you guys a little bit about our campus digital newsletter.

[19:09] And so we have traditions of like student-led newspapers.

[19:13] This is a little bit different.

[19:14] And you ready to get us started in this country?

[19:18] Okay.

[19:18] Let me skip this over and you can stop by.

[19:25] Hello, my name is Kenzie, and I'm a fourth grader at McKinney Elementary.

[19:30] I worked with the friend to design an online school newsletter that we decided to start

[19:35] because we needed a place for kids to get information in a fun way.

[19:39] It is extremely important for us to combine ideas and work together to get the product we want.

[19:44] Our newsletter is a smart page that we built and developed together.

[19:50] We built a QR code for our broadcasted announcements to allow students to scan and read individually,

[19:57] and a QR code is located in the newsletter for our classmates to submit story ideas.

[20:03] When designing the newsletter, we made sure to design it so that it is appropriate for all grade levels, not just fourth and fifth graders.

[20:12] To do this, we created separate activity and grade level sections that connected to what different grades were learning.

[20:20] We made sure to include jokes that were appropriate for Kinder through 5th grade.

[20:26] Creating the first student newsletter and McKinney Elementary has helped me learn how to create and build links, forms and QR codes, work within this more, and that hard work produces a product that people love.

[20:45] And now Miss Julie, I want to talk to you a little bit about Buddy Day, a completely student run, and this should have on campus.

[20:54] Hi, my name is Julie, I'm a fourth grader at McKiney Elementary and I am in our principal's cohort program.

[21:01] Our goal in principal's cohort is to make traditions for our school.

[21:05] For example, some of the things we are doing is big and little buddies, game day and a newspaper for our school.

[21:10] All the things we do in this program is still fun, but we also have to use our brains.

[21:15] For example, when we have to, is brainstorming, making presentations for the school and parents and deciding on things.

[21:22] We do not go to these meetings alone.

[21:24] Mystery will always be there to give us a help in hand.

[21:26] These are all the reasons why I enjoy principles, California.

[21:35] So just to kind of wrap up, this group has been responsible for starting our tradition of McKinney Day,

[21:41] which is coming up soon.

[21:43] They started with the initiative programs for Buddy Day, partnered up all of the classes.

[21:47] They had to request information from our team's secretary.

[21:50] They scheduled meetings with my secretary to come and meet with me.

[21:53] They have to present all of their ideas for approval.

[21:56] Some of our other committees, we have a field day committee,

[21:59] and that they are planning the entire full day of field day.

[22:02] At the end of the school year, they are working with the secretary to submit peos to find ideas

[22:07] to request budgeting and information.

[22:09] They had big ideas.

[22:11] And then we have a group that is working through a wide variety of traditions having to do with fifth grade promotion

[22:18] because this will be our first promotion as a campus and then our fabulous student news paper.

[22:26] They make it sound like it's super easy, right?

[22:29] We do all these great things and it's wonderful.

[22:31] The work that they do in addition to their classwork to get these things done involves work outside of the classroom.

[22:37] It involves them saying, okay about my recess, can we please do a meeting then?

[22:42] So they take a lot of ownership in this process and as a result, we have fabulous feedback, lots of buy-in, and it helps us make decisions as a campus.

[22:50] So we appreciate you letting us talk with you today about McKinney.

[22:54] I

[23:04] did not do it.

[23:05] I did not

[23:13] do it.

[23:14] I did not do it.

[23:15] Thank you.

[23:16] Could we have any bikini staff members come up?

[23:18] Laura.

[23:19] Come on.

[23:20] And Miss McKinney?

[23:23] I'm nine-state.

[23:30] Yeah.

[23:35] We got more of a bikini.

[23:36] Come on, bikini.

[23:55] I'm sorry.

[23:56] I'm sorry.

[23:57] I'm sorry.

[23:58] I'm sorry.

[24:12] I'm sorry.

[24:21] I'm sorry.

[24:42] Okay, we are very excited for this opportunity to recognize an amazing group of educators from

[24:51] Annetta Elementary School and I have Mrs. Holly Eldon, the campus principal that's going

[24:57] to say a few words about this team that we are recognizing as our featured collaborative team.

[25:04] Good evening and thank you for this opportunity, we are so incredibly proud of our fourth grade

[25:09] collaborative team. They have just had a can-do attitude from the start of the year. They've

[25:15] got so many students and their classrooms and they have just jumped in identified needs

[25:21] and made sure that they are addressing each and every one of them. And so I'm going to

[25:26] introduce you to our team and then Lindsay Rutherford, our team lead, talk to you a little bit

[25:31] about the work that they have done. So we have Lindsay Rutherford, team lead, Lauren Drew,

[25:51] We want to first thank you for this recognition and just being able to tell our story.

[25:57] Though we are tiny for a man team, we like to view ourselves as tiny but mighty.

[26:01] Through the changes we've seen this last year, our constant support system has strived to give our kids 110% every day.

[26:09] We know a leader of ISD school is to be all in and truly that is the mindset that we have made to guide us every day.

[26:15] These fourth graders are not just mine, they are ours.

[26:18] We pride ourselves in knowing that every kid who steps into the fourth grade pod is ours.

[26:22] We know there's areas of strength.

[26:24] We know there areas of struggle and we foster ways to make sure they grow.

[26:28] When the child steps into each of our rooms, they know their value in how much they are loved.

[26:32] Our focus this year has been on differentiation and seeing every kid grow.

[26:36] Throughout the grade level, in both math and RLA, you will see differentiation and extensions in every classroom.

[26:42] And math projects based learning is something we have truly jumped all in for.

[26:47] Our students find ways to differentiate projects through mild mediums by CPVLs and have found so much joy and pride in seeing our students take ownership of their learning and dive deep into these projects.

[26:58] In RLA, we try to incorporate writing into every extension, giving students a chance to strengthen their writing muscles.

[27:05] Students can choose to respond to creative writing prompts showcasing their independent reading

[27:11] selections or write their own myth based on creation or something in nature.

[27:15] This allows a lot of choice and creativity.

[27:18] As a team, we believe that students grow the most when they take ownership of their learning.

[27:22] Every student in fourth grade has a data binder where they chalk their own IXL map and so much

[27:27] more data.

[27:28] It gives them such tangible ways to see their growth and the growth they have made throughout

[27:33] student set goals, work on these goals, weekly to achieve them and monitor and check in on their progress.

[27:39] Some of the biggest celebrations we've seen this year is watching students see their worth and knowing how hard they have achieved these goals.

[27:46] I know I can tell you first year, and none of this would be possible without the foundation we've built as a team.

[27:51] We truly are a family and each other's anchors. We've experienced new babies, surgery, and even loss, and throw it out.

[27:57] you remain there for each other.

[27:58] It's the foundation that allows us to be a rock slow

[28:00] for these kids and give us a place we love every day.

[28:05] Oh, there you go.

[28:10] So proud of the work of this high functioning collaborative team.

[28:14] And ladies, we have a certificate for you.

[28:15] And if you come up and shake the board members hand

[28:18] and then stay for a picture.

[28:19] Let's see, rather, for a dean of the test team,

[28:26] Amanda Bock, and more Andrew.

[29:54] Okay.

[30:00] And next, commendation is one of our favorites, always the very cats of character. And this

[30:04] month's character, strength is love. P2 says that the character's strength of love represents

[30:09] the way we think, feel and behave toward the people within we have close relationships. When

[30:14] one person loves another person, that person comforts and makes the other feel safe. Sacrifices

[30:19] on the others we have, supports the other during struggles and places the others needs ahead of

[30:23] his or her own. If you love a person, that person makes you feel safe and secure. You could be yourself

[30:28] with that person and you miss that person when they're not around.

[30:31] So this group of students this month represent that character trait.

[30:35] We have a wall here.

[30:36] Someone closer.

[30:38] OK, we're going to start out with Elito High School Senior Addie Smith.

[30:47] Addie always shows the character of love with the way that she invites others

[30:50] into our lunch table.

[30:51] She truly doesn't discriminate and loves others well.

[30:54] She also sends people love no matter what,

[30:56] and even helped pay for someone singing Valentine.

[31:00] Again, Elito High School Senior Addiesmith.

[31:09] Okay, not able to join us tonight is Kylie Joe Weber, a freshman at Elito High School

[31:15] Daniel Knight-Grey Campus.

[31:16] Kylie Joe shows constant.

[31:21] Okay, sorry about that.

[31:23] Kylie's the one.

[31:29] Okay, Kylie Joe shows constant affection to all of her peers.

[31:32] She's a great person to be around because when you see her, you feel appreciated and

[31:35] cared for.

[31:37] Kylie Joe Weber.

[31:43] Next, also not, actually, not here, I think.

[31:47] Elito Learning Center senior camey Jones, and camey's English teacher Ms. Robert, nominated

[31:52] camey and said for her constant display of love through her thoughtful work ethic, kindness,

[31:56] and compassion toward both her peers and adults, and all the ALC staff is very proud of

[32:00] her.

[32:05] Okay, next we have from Elito Middle School, Harper Roberts, seventh grader.

[32:12] Harper recently was made aware of a difficult time that someone in her class was going

[32:16] through, and she went out of her way to show that person love by bringing a sweet gift

[32:19] to them.

[32:19] I know personally that made the other person feel loved and noticed.

[32:23] Congratulations, Harper.

[32:28] Up next from Macanali Middle School is Hayden McCullough, a sixth grader.

[32:35] Ms. Guyagos, Ms. Park, Ms. Pius, and Ms. Sears selected Hayden as a Macanali Barricut

[32:40] character for his wonderful example of what it means to show love and empathy.

[32:44] Whether offering a friendly smile, assisting classmates who are struggling or showing patience

[32:47] in difficult situations, Hayden constantly, consistently demonstrates a positive and compassionate

[32:53] attitude.

[32:53] He has the ability to uplift those around him and treats everyone with kindness.

[32:57] Hayden has a love of learning, love for his peers, and an overall love for life.

[33:01] Congratulations Hayden.

[33:09] Next we have Rebecca Edwards from a net elementary school.

[33:16] Rebecca is in second grade.

[33:18] Rebecca shows love by being kind and caring to everyone around her.

[33:21] She gives out of her way to include others and makes her friends feel important.

[33:25] She shows love by helping others when they need it and celebrating their successes.

[33:28] Whether through a kind word or thoughtful action, she makes sure everyone feels supported.

[33:32] Her warm heart and thoughtful actions help create a happy and welcoming classroom for everyone.

[33:37] That's from Ms. Heppel, her second grade teacher.

[33:39] Congratulations.

[33:44] Okay, ready?

[33:45] Okay, next from Coder Elementary, we have a D-Larman.

[33:48] A D

[33:53] -D demonstrates the character's strength of love through her genuine care and compassion for others.

[33:57] She radiates love and brings joy to everyone around her.

[34:00] She is a positive light on her campus and is always willing to offer encouragement or one of her amazing hugs.

[34:05] Being her teacher this year has been an absolute joy. I'm so proud of you, Eddie. That's from Ms. McCarthy, her second grade teacher.

[34:18] McKinney Elementary.

[34:19] Okay, next up from McKinney Elementary, we have Molly Johnson and a kindergarten.

[34:27] Molly's teacher said Molly is a great example of love in our classroom and in our grade level.

[34:31] She loves her friendships and our class and offers kind words and hugs. She does this as well for her friends across the grade level.

[34:37] Her favorite saying is, I'm a hugger.

[34:40] Our warm personality and kindness make us all feel welcomed and loved.

[34:45] Great job, Molly.

[34:52] Okay, not able to join us tonight from Macau Elementary is Finley Burrows, a first

[34:56] grader.

[34:57] Open the ass here.

[34:59] Okay.

[35:00] Yeah.

[35:00] Fill in your hair.

[35:01] Fill in your hair.

[35:03] Okay.

[35:05] All right.

[35:05] So here we have from Macau Elementary.

[35:07] Come on.

[35:08] Finley.

[35:09] Finley Burrows, first grader.

[35:15] Okay.

[35:15] Her teacher Miss Arvis had this to say about Finley.

[35:17] Philly's heart is so full of love and kindness.

[35:20] She doesn't shy away from expressing her love for others,

[35:23] whether it's hugs, sweet notes, or simply saying those three magic words

[35:27] thinly brightens the day of those around her with her love and kindness.

[35:30] Each day as we walk to lunch, she passes her brother in the hallway.

[35:33] She stops to give him a big hug and tell him that she loves him.

[35:37] One of my favorite moments with Philly is when I call them her during class.

[35:40] A class discussion thinking she was going to answer question, but instead she

[35:43] out of factly said, I love you.

[35:46] Her warmth and caring nature makes her a beloved member

[35:48] of our classroom family.

[35:50] Congratulations, Benly.

[35:56] And now, from Seared Elementary School,

[35:58] we have a Taylor Reader, a fourth grader.

[36:04] Author Robert Heinlein said, love is that condition

[36:06] in which the happiness of another person

[36:08] is essential to your own.

[36:10] Taylor demonstrates love in the way she puts others

[36:12] ahead of herself.

[36:14] She greets her teachers with warm hugs,

[36:16] works hard to make our class the best place to learn

[36:18] and shows that relationships with peers and friends

[36:20] are important to her and both her words and actions.

[36:23] Her patience, kindness, peacefulness, and self-control

[36:26] are the personification of love.

[36:28] Congratulations, Taylor.

[36:34] I'm going around here.

[36:34] OK, now from Vandergriff Elementary,

[36:36] we have Dennis Gordon, a kindergartener.

[36:42] Dennis shows the strength of love through small,

[36:43] but powerful acts of kindness.

[36:45] For example, he loves to share hugs.

[36:47] This is becoming a thing, I believe, with love.

[36:49] He loves to share hugs, high-fives, fist bumps,

[36:52] and super sweet compliments with his peers and teachers.

[36:55] Dennis shows concern for others,

[36:56] and does his best to help a friend in need. He does a great job at making others feel special

[37:00] and cared for. The class always tells me that Dennis is the kindest and nicest person we

[37:05] know. Dennis shows strengths of love when he has a willingness to put others needs first,

[37:10] offering kindness without expecting anything in need. As his teacher is amazing to see these

[37:15] acts he does daily and so naturally. Not only does he show loving kindness, but he is the

[37:19] number one encourager for us all. I hope everyone can take notes from Dennis' daily love and apply it

[37:23] to make our world a better place.

[37:25] That's from Ms. LaRoke.

[37:32] Next up, from the early childhood academy,

[37:35] we have Olivia Burstino.

[37:36] She's in Pre-K.

[37:43] Olivia's teacher, Ms. LaVesque,

[37:44] shares that Olivia shows love each and every day.

[37:47] She is a very kind friend to all students in the class.

[37:50] She always shows empathy and a willingness to help others.

[37:53] Olivia is very bright, but never brags or complaints

[37:55] about having to review for those that

[37:57] may need to hear things just one more time.

[37:59] She will take the hand over friend that needs a little extra guidance

[38:02] when transitioning both in the classroom and outside.

[38:05] She shows, she shows love to all of her friends

[38:08] and has a smile for everyone.

[38:09] She encounters each and every day.

[38:11] Congratulations, Olivia.

[38:17] And then one more student who wasn't able to make it tonight,

[38:19] I don't think.

[38:20] So if you're here, you'll out of me.

[38:22] Walsh Elementary School, third grader, Jonathan Vales.

[38:26] From Jonathan's home room teacher, Ms. Lindell,

[38:28] Jonathan is always eager to lend a helping hand

[38:30] and write in someone's day.

[38:31] He walks into school each morning with a smile ready

[38:33] take on the day with kindness and positivity. His caring heart and friendly nature make him a wonderful

[38:38] example of love, and he consistently treats others with warmth and respect. Jonathan's ability

[38:43] to spread joy and encouragement creates a welcoming atmosphere in our classroom. That is a

[38:47] Jonathan Vales from O'Shael, mind yourself.

[38:53] Okay, we're going to get a great picture.

[39:46] do we get

[39:55] everybody

[40:04] okay okay next we're going to have our little high school principal

[40:15] Michael Martinack make presentation for us okay good evening I'm a super excited to be

[40:21] to introduce, I'm sure you may have met or at least maybe have seen her around our campus before,

[40:28] but I'd like to introduce Lauren's school field, is our National Merit Finalist.

[40:34] A little bit about Lauren, come on up on.

[40:41] Over 1.3 million juniors in about 21,000 high schools entered the

[40:46] 2,025 national merit scholarship program by taking the 2,023 preliminary SAT national merit scholarship qualifying test.

[40:58] The nationwide pool of semi-finalists represents less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors and the finalists represent an even smaller percentage.

[41:06] Lauren is one of roughly 2,500 finalists in the name of this year.

[41:13] She plans to attend the University of Oklahoma and study engineering.

[41:17] Lauren is heavily involved in the leader robotics as a member of Team 13811, so congratulations

[41:24] Lauren on your conference.

[42:17] Okay, next we have Megan Robertson, our swimming coach for our THSCA academic all state swimmers.

[42:27] Thank you guys so much for having us.

[42:29] So, a THSCA recognizes our athletes based on their GPA, their class rank, and their test scores.

[42:38] And this year we had three athletes that have qualified for academic all-state, which is most we've had in the last four years.

[42:45] So, first I would like to recognize Hayley Robertson. She is second team academic all-state.

[42:56] Next, we have Avery Faulkner. She is academic first team all-state.

[43:05] And lastly, we have Tyler Jackson, who is elite team academic all state, which is the highest

[43:11] room to meet with us.

[43:55] Okay, next, we have a very special word, Amber, is going to help us present with Mr. Susan

[43:59] Rachel.

[43:59] Right?

[44:00] Okay, we are very excited this evening to get to recognize one of our amazing campuses, a net

[44:07] at elementary.

[44:09] This ties back a little bit to the work of the featured collaborative team, the fourth

[44:13] that I believe is still back there.

[44:17] Oh, there we are, we moved, we moved, but we're here.

[44:20] One of the things with being a high functioning collaborative team

[44:24] is we are all part of the professional learning community process.

[44:27] And as you know, that is core to the work that we do in a leader ISD.

[44:33] We have been working on this work for the last seven years

[44:37] and we are really, really excited that a net elementary

[44:40] who is in their fourth year as a campus, has worked hard to become a promising practices

[44:46] district. One of the things we talk about in a lead OISD is that we want to make sure we're

[44:52] fully committed to this work of ensuring high levels of learning for all of our students.

[44:57] And we look at, what does it take to be really...

[45:00] A model professional learning community. And we have many campuses that are doing this work every single day. This starts with the work of these amazing teams that we were able to recognize at the start of our meeting.

[45:12] But we're thrilled to get to showcase a net of this evening, their hard work, some data to back up the work that they're doing and just very, very proud. So at this time, I'd love to introduce Mrs. Susan Raebel.

[45:25] And she is our representative from solution tree.

[45:27] Hi, y'all. Thanks so much for having me here tonight. Dr. Bound, President Collins and

[45:33] trustees. I'm honored to be with you this evening to recognize a net elementary. It's

[45:38] one of our newest promising practices campuses. Our promising practices designation is an

[45:44] initial step towards becoming a model PLC school. Promising practices schools have strong

[45:50] evidence of the solid foundation required to become a model PLC at work and share at least

[45:57] when you're a data that shows student achievement growth.

[46:01] Solution trees proud to partner with the leader, ISD,

[46:05] and to celebrate the growth of your educational community.

[46:08] Teachers, leaders, and most importantly students.

[46:12] The very foundation of professional learning communities

[46:14] at work is to build a lasting culture of learning

[46:17] with the daily focus on student achievement.

[46:20] Principal, Holly Eldon, and her staff have done just that.

[46:26] And because of their focus on collaboration and communication

[46:29] within their collaborative teams, they have increased capacity

[46:33] in both their teachers and students.

[46:36] These educators have a sense of ownership

[46:38] and collective responsibility within their collaborative teams

[46:42] and a common school wide mission to educate, inspire,

[46:46] and empower all students.

[46:48] Please join me in congratulating Annetta Elementary.

[46:51] And

[46:58] we have a certificate and a flag, which we don't have here.

[47:03] I think we have a happy right.

[47:05] That is the certificate.

[47:30] We have a very present on the table.

[47:33] Why is it hard?

[47:35] Or is it hard?

[47:36] Or is it hard?

[48:03] Yes.

[48:03] One, two, three, five.

[48:06] Thank you.

[48:15] Thank you.

[48:16] Thank you.

[48:17] Thank you.

[48:21] I will say I didn't speak as so in principle, he's near here and he told me to ask him to listen to there's a point that he doesn't get the answer.

[48:31] The mission is to deal with the process, he's not as often as that.

[48:34] Thank you, so I think he's looking at what he's going to do.

[48:37] So, thank you for those thoughts on that.

[48:39] I thought that was very interesting.

[48:51] We have another little high school,

[48:59] so I'm here with Miss Greenwood, and we are here to

[49:05] recognize Ariana Storms this evening.

[49:08] A little bit about Arianna, she advanced to the visual arts, scholastic event, with her

[49:13] amazing art piece titled, Jack of all trades.

[49:17] This piece was attributed to her dad, not only is this piece masterfully executed, its

[49:24] intrigue included hidden images of meaningful symbols and inside messages.

[49:29] If you hold a flashlight to the back, there are special messages that are revealed in

[49:33] the painting.

[49:35] Additionally, in 2023, she had a piece that was a tribute to her mother, so, you know, we have to play both sides.

[49:41] I was delighted to support her as her piece advanced to the state competition that year as well. Congratulations, Aryan Storms.

[49:51] Thank you very much for being here.

[49:53] I'm sure they'd like to see your artwork, so there it is up here as well.

[49:58] So, this

[50:01] is the answer here in the middle of the day.

[50:23] I've

[50:31] ever

[51:20] backed,

[51:24] but wait, there's more.

[51:26] So, I'm going to talk a little bit about our swim season this year.

[51:30] A lead us from many guys, our swimmers have to wake up really, really early in the morning and meet me for a bus that takes them into Fort Worth and they do this four days a week.

[51:40] So this is a dedicated bunch of kids and so here's our successes for this season.

[51:46] As you remember we had three that were recognized for Tiska academic all state honors highlighting their commitment both in the pool and the classroom.

[51:54] We sent three relays to the state meet this year, with one advancing to finals, the 200

[51:59] freestyle relays for the girls was our highest placing for a relay in recent years.

[52:04] Attestimate to our growing competitive edge.

[52:08] Haley Robertson finished her high school career with the highest individual

[52:10] placement that she's had at state in both of her events.

[52:14] This marks a perfect four for four state qualifier for both Haley and Victoria.

[52:18] So all four years of their high school career, they have made it to state to represent a widow.

[52:26] Both our boys and girls teams finished as district runners up and forth at Regionals, which

[52:30] is not bad considering Grandberry 1 districts and we had more finalist at state.

[52:38] So depth may have tip the scale in their favor, but our summer's proved that quality

[52:42] needs quantity when it counts.

[52:44] All state teams have our athletic all state teams have yet to be announced, but we anticipate

[52:49] several swimmers and events making the cut there.

[52:51] A total of six new team records were set this year, which is pretty outstanding.

[52:57] Of those, the girls 400 free and 200 free relay with Victoria, Julia, Mackenzie, and Hayley.

[53:04] And then the boys 400 free and 200 free relays with Kayle, Braden, Ian,

[53:09] Evan on the 200 and Tyler on the 400.

[53:11] And then Hayley lowered both her 500 free and 100 backstroke records,

[53:15] bringing her high school total to seven records in four years, five of which will be her legacy.

[53:20] So we bid farewell to seven seniors this year, but the future remains bright.

[53:25] We have six freshmen and six sophomores ready to step up and continue to represent Alito.

[53:31] So the season proved Alito's coming continues to rise, and we look forward to what's to come.

[53:43] First up, we have Kail Robertson recognized for the 400-free relay at state,

[53:51] braiding the bower for the 400-free relay at state,

[53:56] Tyler Dexon for the 400-free relay at state.

[54:00] And then Ian Perez is not here today, but he will pick that up later.

[54:07] And then for our girls, we have Victoria Cruz for the 200-free and the 400-free-reliance state.

[54:14] Julia Bordy for the 200-free and 400-free-reliance state.

[54:20] McKenzie will reach slager for the 200-free and 400-free-reliance state.

[54:25] McKenzie is a freshman, so we've got more out of her.

[54:28] And then Hayley Robertson for the 200 free relay, the 400 free relay, the 500 free style, and the 200 individual medley.

[54:42] Thank you guys so much for having us and recognizing the hard work that these kids put in.

[56:07] All right, next up is our public comment section.

[56:13] The Board, the Boarding card just public comment about the district and citizens of the district, from district employees or from other members of the public.

[56:20] Anyone wishing to speak, either as an individual or a representative of a group may do so at this time.

[56:26] The Board asks that each participant's comments pertain to public education and be no longer than three meds.

[56:31] Remember that board may not discuss or act upon any issues that are not posted on our agenda.

[56:36] If an issue mentioned is listed on tonight's agenda, the board would refer to the discussion of the issue until the appropriate time during the meeting.

[56:42] In addition, the board has adopted complaint policies that are designed to secure at the lowest administrative level of like prompt and equitable resolution of complaints and concerns.

[56:50] Complaints brought by employees may be heard in accordance with policies,

[56:53] DGBA by students or their parents in accordance with policies FNG and by citizens in accordance

[56:59] with policies GF.

[57:01] Each of these processes provide that if a resolution cannot be achieved administratively,

[57:05] the person may feel the administrative decision to the board as they properly post-additioned

[57:09] item.

[57:10] Copies of the district policies on public participation in meetings and fines, complaints are

[57:15] available at LIOSD.org or policy DGBA, FNG, and GF.

[57:20] In addition, it is a board request that during public comment, speakers referring from training

[57:24] the name of minor students who are not their own child without the permission of that child's parents.

[57:31] So we have several people signed up tonight and what we'll do is I'll call you one at a time.

[57:36] You have three minutes, you'll hear a buzzer go off.

[57:38] Once you hear that, just kindly wrap up your comments and then we'll move to the next person.

[57:43] So first up is Jeremiah Stoker.

[57:53] Welcome, Mr. Stoker.

[57:59] I'm Jeremiah Stoker.

[58:01] I'm running for school board.

[58:03] I guess the incumbent president, that's here.

[58:05] I have on this sheet of paper, a list of 15 questions,

[58:09] but I will only share five of them with you right now.

[58:12] What is the reasoning behind typing all information for an

[58:15] IEP into the Google document form?

[58:17] Is this known to avoid the key stroke,

[58:19] history, afforded with success at program?

[58:23] Should this process not be transparent?

[58:26] Is it standard practice to not read assurances

[58:28] and deliberations during a transferred order.

[58:32] Can the district explain my students needing accommodations to not receive support in the

[58:37] Spets staff?

[58:38] Can the commentating their work of why the speed teachers are not pushing in or pulling students

[58:44] for tutorials to assist with the coursework that they may be struggling in?

[58:49] Can the district account for the minutes of the day where the inclusion support is not

[58:54] within their assigned classroom and explaining the reasoning for them not being in the classroom?

[58:58] Can the district explain the reason of not writing the effect of goals which are staggered out to show growth over time?

[59:05] Why are the goals so vaguely written?

[59:08] Who is writing these?

[59:09] And why is it not a standard cohesive practice on how goals are written?

[59:15] Alito ISD is spailing our children.

[59:18] Basic laws for education plans are constantly being broken.

[59:22] Parents are being bullied in a culture of fear, fostered by top administration

[59:27] and is forcing great teachers out.

[59:29] The superintendent and special education director are doing this intentionally and it has to stop.

[59:35] Is this growing greatness?

[59:57] My name is Courtney Mori, my daughter Annie.

[1:00:00] This four-year-old and has down syndrome.

[1:00:03] Elito ISD is deliberately failing my child. The superintendent and special education director,

[1:00:11] our ignoring education laws, intimidating parents, and driving out great teachers to serve their own agenda.

[1:00:19] This isn't mismanagement, it's intentional. Is this what growing greatness looks like?

[1:00:29] Next up is Katie Rivera.

[1:00:31] My

[1:00:40] name is Katie Rivera and my son's name is Cal. Cal is five years old and Cal has

[1:00:46] down syndrome. Elito ISC is deliberately failing my child. The superintendent and

[1:00:52] special education director are ignoring education laws, intimidating parents, and

[1:00:57] driving out great teachers to serve their own agenda. This isn't mismanagement, it's

[1:01:02] intentional. Is this what growing greatness looks like?

[1:01:08] Next up, we have Carol Canan.

[1:01:12] I'm sorry, Karen.

[1:01:14] The R was, and I'm sorry about that, Carol.

[1:01:18] My name is Carol Karen.

[1:01:20] My daughter, Ellie, who's 10 years old,

[1:01:22] goes to Stewart Elementary, she's in the fourth grade.

[1:01:27] As you all are aware, because I've talked to most of you,

[1:01:29] I'm not real happy with the special ed services

[1:01:32] that are being provided at the Lido ST.

[1:01:36] And I brought a couple of examples with me tonight to kind of show you exactly what I'm talking about.

[1:01:43] So, Ellie's in fourth grade. She's supposed to be learning math. This is an example.

[1:01:49] Sign language math. So, I'm not sure why she's learning it. She's not deaf.

[1:01:56] And I'm pretty sure it's not helping her learn additional subtraction. Here's another example.

[1:02:02] three, actually, Ellie's learning how to spell her name.

[1:02:06] Oddly, she could spell it whenever we came here three years ago.

[1:02:10] And if you notice, these are three separate examples.

[1:02:14] Her name's not spelled right.

[1:02:16] Y'all jammed in extra L in there, and nobody seemed to notice it.

[1:02:21] So you're teaching her to spell her name wrong.

[1:02:24] So here's where you're failing my child.

[1:02:26] So as a board, I would ask that you ask yourselves,

[1:02:29] Is this growing greatness?

[1:02:37] Next up is Scott Kern.

[1:02:39] That's my wife.

[1:02:44] My name is Scott Kern.

[1:02:46] My daughter's owner Grace.

[1:02:48] She also goes by Ellie. She's a wonderful child. She has Down syndrome.

[1:02:53] A Leo ISD, the leadership, is deliberately failing to educate my child.

[1:02:59] We've worked through every tedious step

[1:03:02] to try to meet with the school, the school leadership.

[1:03:05] we have done everything within our power to do everything and we are out of options.

[1:03:12] This is superintendent and a special educator, our ignoring education laws and Texas

[1:03:17] code, intimidating parents, and driving out great teachers to serve their own agenda.

[1:03:24] This is not mismanagement, it is intentional.

[1:03:27] Is this what growing greatness looks like?

[1:03:33] Next up we have Price Marshall.

[1:03:35] My

[1:03:44] name is Price Marshall, and my son, his name is Sully, he's four years old and has

[1:03:49] down syndrome.

[1:03:50] Elido SD is deliberately failing my child, the superintendent and special education

[1:03:55] director are ignoring educational laws, intending the appearance and driving out great

[1:03:59] teachers to serve their own agenda.

[1:04:01] This isn't mismanagement, it's intentional, is this what growing greatness looks like?

[1:04:09] All right, next, we have Theresa, Theresa, I can't read you last name, what is it last

[1:04:12] name?

[1:04:13] Amen.

[1:04:13] Amen, okay.

[1:04:14] Thank you.

[1:04:15] I'm sorry, Teresa.

[1:04:25] Good evening.

[1:04:26] My name is Teresa Lomin.

[1:04:29] And my son is Johann Summers.

[1:04:33] And he is 19 years old.

[1:04:34] He's a senior this year.

[1:04:37] And he has learning differences in the superintendent and the special education director are ignoring

[1:04:45] education laws, they're intimidating parents. They're driving out great teachers.

[1:04:56] This isn't mismanagement, guys. This intentional. Is this what growing greatness?

[1:05:04] Looks like

[1:05:08] any sped students are graduating this year.

[1:05:16] How many are transitioning

[1:05:20] and using the transition program, not us, it's not right for us, very few of these kids

[1:05:31] are using the transition program that are a senior this year in this fed program.

[1:05:38] This is because a failed leadership has left them without the support that they need to

[1:05:46] get a job.

[1:05:48] Thank you so much.

[1:05:49] My name is Theresa Lowland.

[1:05:52] And you go home.

[1:05:53] Is your son?

[1:05:54] He carries the flag at the...

[1:05:55] Yes, he has.

[1:05:56] Here's the A, very proudly.

[1:05:58] Thank you.

[1:06:00] Next up, we have Mary Kate Parminer.

[1:06:16] Good evening.

[1:06:17] My name is Mary Kate Parminter.

[1:06:18] I'm a seventh grade student at a little middle school.

[1:06:21] I'm here to express my concern for my brother's safety at school.

[1:06:25] Three years ago, I was honored by Stuart Elementary to accept an award for kindness.

[1:06:29] All years before the 2024 to 2025 school year,

[1:06:32] My brother was a leader at Stewart Elementary, excited to go to school.

[1:06:37] Now I'm scared for his physical and emotional safety at school.

[1:06:41] I've not seen my friends who are in functional academics, walking the halls,

[1:06:44] are eating lunch with us in two years.

[1:06:47] Before they were active in class and making friends,

[1:06:49] now when I see them it's like they have to hide or are ashamed.

[1:06:53] Ward numbers.

[1:06:54] I would like to ask you, where are my friends?

[1:06:58] Are you hiding them?

[1:06:59] As a leader, you claim to wrote greatness.

[1:07:03] I believe that everyone deserves a chance to build and be educated no matter how long it takes

[1:07:07] or where you have to do to teach them.

[1:07:09] Thank you.

[1:07:12] We have Heather Barmaner.

[1:07:35] You get your email today.

[1:07:36] I appreciate it.

[1:07:37] Thank you so much.

[1:07:43] She's better at the computer.

[1:07:44] I am.

[1:07:45] I apologize.

[1:07:48] Hello there.

[1:07:48] My name is Heather Barmancer.

[1:07:50] And I have two children in a leader of ISD.

[1:07:53] You all received an email from me today with my formal request for a strong staff attendants at the upcoming down syndrome Congress conference, which is taking place this year in Dallas.

[1:08:06] I think it's speak for a large population of people when I say that it has been a long difficult heartbreaking and sometimes abusive year for special education students in a Lito ISD.

[1:08:17] Much like the children we've heard from earlier this evening, our children want to become nurses and doctors and NFL stars, just like their typical peers.

[1:08:26] In fact, my son, Bo, dreams of becoming just like his hero, officer Scott Hogg, adds Stuart Elementary.

[1:08:33] In fact, I think he can do it. This child can do anything.

[1:08:38] But we can't do it alone. We need your help. This will not happen unless we see some serious change in regard to special education.

[1:08:47] and attitudes toward people with disabilities in Alito, ISD.

[1:08:52] There's too many assumptions about what this population can and cannot do.

[1:08:56] Often with antiquated data that ignores the progress we have made as a community.

[1:09:01] I've passed on several suggestions to staff over the years for inclusive practices,

[1:09:06] often free through different organizations.

[1:09:09] I have been ignored every single time.

[1:09:12] It is time to grow greatness for all of our barricades.

[1:09:16] Native Americans view families with children's of disabilities as being blessed by the gods.

[1:09:23] Somehow we have lost this in contemporary American society, but make no mistake about it.

[1:09:28] We truly believe that God trusted us with both.

[1:09:32] We have the same trust in you. Please don't abuse it.

[1:09:40] Lastly, we have Jeff Stringman.

[1:09:51] Good evening.

[1:09:52] My name is Jeff Stringman tonight.

[1:09:53] I am representing the elite community lines club,

[1:09:58] and on behalf of the lines club,

[1:10:00] also I am a board member for the elite lines club youth basketball association.

[1:10:05] And we just wrapped up a very successful season.

[1:10:09] And I wanted to come up here and thank you and thank Chris,

[1:10:13] Chris and Samantha may not agree that it was a complete successful, but they did give us

[1:10:19] and worked with us and a leader of ISD, Dr. Bohn, Chris, board members, you guys are a great partner

[1:10:27] for the Lions Club. As a organization, we are non-profit and our motto is Lions Serve, and since 1984

[1:10:36] or the youth basketball association that has started in Alito has been sponsored, I say sponsored.

[1:10:47] We use our nonprofit to support the lines of youth basketball.

[1:10:52] And one of our members who still remember Rick stores us, started that in 1984, there

[1:10:56] were maybe 40 kids.

[1:10:58] This year we had 900 kids, or over 900 kids, which is the highest we've ever had, probably

[1:11:03] as many as we can have right now.

[1:11:04] But that represents over a hundred teams, over a hundred coaches, one of the coaches.

[1:11:10] My might see up here on the board.

[1:11:12] We've also had faculty members that were coaches, and that also represents over 100 hours a week

[1:11:20] that were practiced in the elite of gyms.

[1:11:22] Again, we couldn't do without you guys.

[1:11:24] We really appreciate it.

[1:11:26] We're able to give hours and hours of opportunities for kids to learn, to play with their

[1:11:32] to learn the game and to get out and run around and to stay off their phones for at least

[1:11:37] an hour anyway.

[1:11:39] Thank you so much.

[1:11:40] Appreciate you all.

[1:11:40] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[1:11:44] Is that everybody that signed up for public comment?

[1:11:50] Thank you all for coming to speak tonight.

[1:11:52] Appreciate it.

[1:11:55] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[1:11:56] That's an organization we'll continue to support.

[1:12:15] All right.

[1:12:16] We'll move to our consent agenda.

[1:12:18] On the consent agenda we have consider approval of board minutes.

[1:12:21] Consider approval of monthly financial reports.

[1:12:23] consider approval of resolution regarding wage payments during emergency school closing.

[1:12:29] Trustees, if there's any one of those items you'd like to pull from the agenda, you may do so.

[1:12:34] If not, I'll take a motion to pass the agenda as listed.

[1:12:40] Motion by Mr. Territ, second by Mr. Harris, all of those in favor of please say aye.

[1:12:47] Opposed?

[1:12:48] No, I'm motion carries an answer.

[1:12:49] The next step is our communication items, as always, we'll start with our district instruction

[1:12:54] of focus.

[1:12:55] Dr. Kirsten, and Ms. Williams, is here tonight.

[1:12:59] Yes.

[1:13:00] Good evening.

[1:13:01] It's great to see you all and to bring you our instructional focus update.

[1:13:07] As you know, guiding everything we do, as we mentioned that I've got to celebrate as the

[1:13:12] work of the PLC in addition to that, we want to be able to provide you with some of our instructional

[1:13:18] focus data from our top priorities as a district. We've established goals around these priorities

[1:13:26] that are outlined for you on the screen, and this evening wanted to provide you with a brief

[1:13:32] update on how we are doing in relation to these goals that we've set ourselves. As you know, we've

[1:13:38] set a very high bar for our district instructional priorities, and that is to be 100% of classrooms

[1:13:44] with fidelity of implementation by June, and this last reporting period, we had 688 daily

[1:13:52] impact walks. Again, this is from our campus assistant principles and our principles,

[1:13:58] and each week they are in and out of classrooms gathering this implementation data for us.

[1:14:03] year to date we have conducted 4,842 daily impact walks.

[1:14:11] So 4,842 instructional walks.

[1:14:15] That's a lot of steps.

[1:14:17] But we get to see great things happening in the classroom.

[1:14:23] Yes, gathering.

[1:14:24] Really hard it work.

[1:14:26] Absolutely.

[1:14:26] Even during some of the busy seasons of the year,

[1:14:30] they still keep that a top priority every single week.

[1:14:33] So what you see on this screen is our four daily practices

[1:14:39] that we are looking for consistent evidence,

[1:14:42] K through 12 in every classroom.

[1:14:45] You can see in the far right turquoise colored bar,

[1:14:49] that is our data from this last reporting cycle,

[1:14:52] which is cycle six.

[1:14:54] I thought I would simply share with you the average,

[1:14:57] again, year to date for these six.

[1:15:00] So, you can see for the lesson frame, that is something that we know is instructually sound that every classroom has the learning target posted, anchored in the classroom and that students know the learning standard for the day and of course that students know the why behind what they're learning.

[1:15:18] You can see high levels of implementation with this again pre-K through 12 in all of our

[1:15:24] content areas and our average to date is 95% of our classrooms have consistent evidence

[1:15:31] of the lesson frame.

[1:15:33] Moving on to daily critical writing, you can see that we are proud of this work, especially

[1:15:41] if I were to put up previous school years and where we started with this particular look

[1:15:46] for. We started in the 50% range several years ago and our average today is 89% of classrooms

[1:15:54] have evidence of daily critical writing. I didn't want to point out on this look for we do not

[1:16:02] count just you know writing a word or something of that nature. We have done calibration around

[1:16:08] that it really should be critical thinking evidence through writing. So our campus principles this year

[1:16:14] we have worked to calibrate around this look for and to really ensure that we're measuring

[1:16:20] this with fidelity.

[1:16:21] So, not just simply are they writing, but can we see clear evidence of critical thinking

[1:16:26] through the writing?

[1:16:29] You're welcome for this every other years.

[1:16:31] We do.

[1:16:31] Yes.

[1:16:32] This has been a look for the last three years, so we have data over time.

[1:16:37] Like I said, the year one that we implemented this, we were in the 50% range and I think

[1:16:44] that each year not only have we seen significant growth in progress, but the quality of the writing has also improved.

[1:16:51] So this is one measurement of that. It's our quick check, so to speak, but we also see evidence in students writing,

[1:16:58] our students do a beginning of your writing sample and an end of your writing sample.

[1:17:03] And that's really where we get to evaluate the growth of a student's writing year to year.

[1:17:07] So we're very proud of this work, but there's also a lot of other variables that show that

[1:17:14] this has been something to really be proud of, a point of pride for our students and lots

[1:17:19] of explicit instruction from our teachers and training. The third look for is frequent small group

[1:17:25] purposeful talk and this is also then a look for for quite some time. At one point we did

[1:17:33] move this off and then we moved it back on post-COVID because we noticed that kids were not

[1:17:38] talking when we came back from COVID and we needed our students engaging at academic

[1:17:43] discussion. We have put a lot of intentional work on this one specifically this

[1:17:48] school year. Many of our campuses, this is one of their state-of-the-school goals that

[1:17:53] they're working on, is to make sure that students have opportunities to talk

[1:17:57] about their learning and to really see that they're thinking through academic

[1:18:02] discussion and year-to-date we have 86% of classrooms that have evidence of frequent

[1:18:08] smog or purposeful talk. And that's not just talking one time throughout the course of

[1:18:13] a lesson but that's talking multiple times to really again have an opportunity to share

[1:18:19] their thinking with peers before they move perhaps to an assignment or a critical piece of writing.

[1:18:25] And then finally our last district look for is active participation. This is where we are really

[1:18:30] looking our students authentically engaged in learning.

[1:18:35] We're looking to see that they are not simply compliant.

[1:18:38] We have amazing kids that will be compliant,

[1:18:40] our kids are very respectful,

[1:18:42] but for this measure we're looking beyond compliance

[1:18:45] and really are they authentically engaged in the learning task.

[1:18:49] So very proud of the high levels of implementation with this look for.

[1:18:54] Lots to celebrate here.

[1:18:56] I know that these are just bar graphs,

[1:18:58] But behind the data, we have a lot of intentional work that goes on from our campus admin team,

[1:19:04] our teachers, our students, and we're really proud of these high levels of implementation.

[1:19:09] The next slide shows you the data broken down at the elementary levels so that you can see how our elementary campuses are playing into this overall data.

[1:19:18] And then you can also see how the secondary schools are contributing to this data as well.

[1:19:25] I also want to do quickly highlight a couple of exceptional experiences before I turn it over with the Kathy Williams who's going to provide us with the social studies update this evening.

[1:19:36] We provide you with these every month.

[1:19:38] Don't necessarily share them at each board meeting, but did want the opportunity to just highlight a couple of exceptional experiences.

[1:19:46] When we talk about active participation, this is to me what it really looks like in action.

[1:19:51] kind of the work behind the bar graphs. So you can see on the left side we have a fourth grade science classroom

[1:19:57] and they were investigating the impact of erosion and looking at ways to protect homes from the effects of erosion.

[1:20:05] You can see that they're doing some hands-on models in this far left example and then on the right side.

[1:20:12] actually got to see this one in action in human anatomy and physiology and was blown away

[1:20:18] by our students who were really using this model that they had created to simulate a heart attack

[1:20:26] and what does that look like when the arteries are clogged, et cetera?

[1:20:31] The level of thinking in this classroom truly off the charts made me feel

[1:20:36] at ease knowing that our future is in the hands of these bright students.

[1:20:41] The next one that I thought would be a great transition,

[1:20:44] before we talk about our social studies update,

[1:20:46] or a couple of examples from a few of our social studies classrooms.

[1:20:51] You can see on the far left side and fourth grade at McKinney Elementary.

[1:20:56] Students, we're reading about different Texas Revolutionary Heroes,

[1:21:00] and you can see one of their trading cards that they created.

[1:21:03] So, not only did they research, but they also created trading cards to really see

[1:21:09] them at their learning around these heroes.

[1:21:12] And then on the right side, you can see from Mac and Alley Middle School, Mrs. Gallardo

[1:21:16] Sixth grade classroom, we're utilizing a strategy called Little By Little, where they started

[1:21:22] to uncover the photograph, and you can see students engaged in that academic discussion

[1:21:28] like we were just discussing, really being able to talk with their peers about what they

[1:21:32] see while they were learning about the people of Sudan.

[1:21:37] So proud of the work that's happening across the district.

[1:21:39] You have some additional photos as well,

[1:21:42] but thought we would just highlight a few of those.

[1:21:44] And at this time, I'm going to invite Ms. Kathy Williams,

[1:21:47] our social studies coordinator for the district.

[1:21:50] So he's going to provide us with a brief update

[1:21:52] of what's happening with all things.

[1:21:55] So thank you.

[1:21:57] Dr. Bone and Mr. Collins mentioned it that this morning,

[1:21:59] We did have staff professional learning and our staff was hard at work planning for this last

[1:22:06] writing cycle to finish the year strong and we got to see the American Social Studies team

[1:22:12] and action today designing some great experiences.

[1:22:15] So we'll let Kathy highlight a few of those for us this evening.

[1:22:23] Good evening, President Collins.

[1:22:25] Dr. Bohn, members of the board.

[1:22:27] Thank you for the opportunity to share about how our society's apartment is growing greatness

[1:22:31] in the lead OISD.

[1:22:32] There are two changes that I wanted to share with you.

[1:22:38] The first one this year, social studies in our lab again,

[1:22:41] integrating the instruction of these core contents in grades K through five.

[1:22:46] Reachers is showing us that social studies

[1:22:48] has a statistically significant effect on reading improvement.

[1:22:52] We also know that students want more problem-based kinds

[1:22:55] of multi-discipline area approaches to their learning.

[1:22:58] Additionally, students will face real-world experiences that require multiple multidisciplinary

[1:23:05] skillset. In these pictures, you can see this in action. These fifth-grade students

[1:23:11] read the novel, Curse Journey, in particular, barely. The story follows the family and their

[1:23:16] journey along the Oregon Trail. While reading the novel, students are building their background

[1:23:21] knowledge of Westward Expansion. You can see at the teacher table, the teacher is able to

[1:23:26] a discussion about author's purpose and plot while talking about the challenges

[1:23:31] pioneer space on the Oregon Trail.

[1:23:36] Another new thing to associate this year is our personal financial literacy and economics

[1:23:40] course being offered to seniors at the high school that replaces the traditional

[1:23:44] economics. This innovative course provides students with the opportunity to learn real

[1:23:49] world units such as managing credit, taxes, insurance, banking, and budgeting.

[1:23:55] Teachers are utilizing the next-generation personal finance curriculum to facilitate the instruction

[1:24:00] and support relevant connections to students and their needs.

[1:24:05] They have remarked how engaged students are with this new course versus the previous.

[1:24:09] It's aligned with what students will need to know right out of high school,

[1:24:13] preparing them for college, the workforce, and the military.

[1:24:17] Now while those are new, we have some aspects that have remained constant.

[1:24:24] Our social studies are lifelong learners.

[1:24:28] They have attended multiple professional development sessions this year.

[1:24:32] Topics have ranged from implementation of the revised steaks that went into effect this year.

[1:24:36] Vertical alignment discussions about how they can support the grade level of their course.

[1:24:41] Developing real-world learning activities and a deep dive into the relevance we're

[1:24:45] looking at authentic resources. As a leader of professional

[1:24:49] development sessions, it's exciting to see them take their new learning and use it in

[1:24:53] the classroom the very next week giving their students new opportunities to master

[1:24:57] social studies content and skills.

[1:25:01] The PLC process has become the cornerstone of our planning and the

[1:25:05] social studies department. This year we have veteran collaborative teams that

[1:25:09] have continued to grow and become even better at utilizing data to drive

[1:25:13] instruction and intervention.

[1:25:15] They have taken their data and developed new intervention systems and strategies, which they

[1:25:19] have shared with other teams.

[1:25:21] Most exciting is watching the new teams grow and develop, because some of their team members

[1:25:26] know the PLC process and are able to get new team members supported and engaged much more quickly

[1:25:33] than in the days before collaborative teams.

[1:25:37] Document questions or DVQs we call them.

[1:25:40] is the foundational component of social studies instruction.

[1:25:44] It offers opportunities for students to engage in explicit practice of building skills

[1:25:48] in reading primary and secondary sources, developing a claim, and supporting that claim with

[1:25:53] contextual evidence. Students have the opportunity to read and write about topics such as the

[1:25:58] heroic leadership of Sam Houston. The causes of the great depression or how the constitution

[1:26:07] guarantees against tyranny. In this fourth-grade example, students ran several documents about

[1:26:14] cattle drives and hard life of a cowboy. They then had to address the prompts. Would you

[1:26:20] re-up next year? It's kind of 50-50.

[1:26:27] While those study teachers make learning about the

[1:26:29] TX exciting, engaging, and at times entertaining, they never lose side of the importance of

[1:26:35] courses. Social studies is where students learn the lessons of the past and the impact of them on the

[1:26:41] future. Students learn the importance of civic duty such as this birth grader and her voter registration

[1:26:48] card. They learn about patriotism such as this third grader as she reads her thank you letter

[1:26:54] to one of the founding fathers. We find ways to make history come alive such as with this fourth grader

[1:27:00] is using a podcast to share about the Texas Revolution.

[1:27:05] We get students thinking about and discussing our nation's role in the world, such as these

[1:27:09] 11th grade APUS history students.

[1:27:12] We get students thinking about their communities, such as these on-level world history students

[1:27:16] looking at the impact of our organization on cities.

[1:27:20] Our Social Studies department is committed to not only educating our bare cats, but also

[1:27:25] empowering in this future citizens of the world, our country and our community.

[1:27:31] Thank you for your continued support of our department and our amazing teachers.

[1:27:36] If there's any questions, I would be happy to answer them.

[1:27:39] Can you tell me a little bit about the five-dimensional literacy class?

[1:27:42] Yes, sir.

[1:27:43] It's a new course that it is following a state suggested curriculum that has nine individual units.

[1:27:49] They're much followed in previous, but they are looking at real world applications such as the banking,

[1:27:54] the budgeting credit and the kids seem to really engage in it more because they see real world

[1:28:01] things that they for their parents talk about and they know is coming for them.

[1:28:06] All right, raise in fiscal responsibility, that's all I can.

[1:28:08] Yes, sir.

[1:28:11] Any questions, trustee's comments?

[1:28:14] Thank you.

[1:28:15] Thank you.

[1:28:21] All right, next up, there's going to be our bond date update, Mr. Campbell.

[1:28:35] Good evening.

[1:28:35] Good evening, President Collins, trustee.

[1:28:37] Dr. Mone, you guys got a first hand look at most of what's left of the bond of the 23 bond work.

[1:28:46] It's coming along nicely. Going back a little bit, Lynn McKinney.

[1:28:51] I spoke to the contractor yesterday on the phone.

[1:28:54] We're waiting on two items from some contractors document wise.

[1:28:58] And then they'll be ready to submit their close-out documents to us for review.

[1:29:03] So we're looking, it's going to be tight, but we're still looking good for our March target to close out

[1:29:09] Lynn McKinney.

[1:29:10] High school, you guys got to see a lot of this.

[1:29:14] These pictures, I took at the same time that I normally take them when we do the season.

[1:29:21] We do the bond update.

[1:29:23] This was a week ago.

[1:29:25] So this was right before we went on spring break, is when I put this together.

[1:29:30] Excuse me.

[1:29:31] And you can see the difference in a week's worth of work all the following in these spaces on the left

[1:29:38] You're looking at

[1:29:41] Cheer on in the middle is dance

[1:29:44] And then one of the bathrooms

[1:29:46] So you saw all the flooring is in

[1:29:50] The dance floor is striped

[1:29:51] The acoustical treatments are up on the walls

[1:29:54] And all the bathrooms are finished out

[1:29:57] This was another look

[1:30:00] The following area, so you can see that you've got to see the progress there as well. There's the storage space in between dance and cheer, and then one of the bathrooms that was tiled at the time, but now the fixtures are there, the toilet partitions are up, all those things. Here's a couple of pictures of the exterior. On the far right, you can see the glass, the glass was in today. Last week it wasn't. Agborn, you guys got to walk through there. It was pretty much finished.

[1:30:31] We're not took the picture, there was a little bit of work left and nothing that you can see but they put some heat trace tape on all the water lines to keep them from freezing during the winter time.

[1:30:41] They came back and did that over spring break.

[1:30:44] But Ag is ag is fully functional and you could tell by the dropings in the wash bay that it's being used.

[1:30:52] So any questions?

[1:30:55] Questions?

[1:31:01] Thank you.

[1:31:05] next step we'll have a 2024 2025 general fund budget update, Mr. House fell.

[1:31:12] The I wanted to briefly take a few minutes and kind of give you guys an update on the status

[1:31:16] of our 2024 budget, and I've included there on page 111 of your agenda of your agenda is kind

[1:31:24] of a cap summary of the backup information behind it. You'll see that our projected student in

[1:31:31] but it was 8,400 and six.

[1:31:34] The our pens actual fall,

[1:31:36] pens enrollment was 8430.

[1:31:38] So very close on what our projected enrollment was.

[1:31:41] In fact, we're 24 students over that.

[1:31:43] The projected average day,

[1:31:45] the attendance or ADA is you all know

[1:31:47] we estimate what our average day,

[1:31:50] the attendance will be because that's what we're funded on from the state.

[1:31:53] We do that essentially year before we actually know what the numbers are.

[1:31:56] So when we adopt the budget in August,

[1:31:58] We're estimating of what our average daily tins will be for the course of the year, then we know what those final numbers are in the June following year and the state settles up with the same September of the following year.

[1:32:11] So our projected 80 average daily tins for the 24 25 year with 7,817 and sf so I've run started running our 88 reports essentially monthly to see how we're comparing with those numbers and stuff, because you know the last couple of years we've been.

[1:32:28] with the tennis, and so for this men a little estimated,

[1:32:33] difficult estimating, I'll put it that away in light of current attendance patterns,

[1:32:37] and so forth. So the, I ran it as of March 6th, you see there as of March 6th,

[1:32:41] it was 7,052. Historically based on historical trends, our student attendance, as well as in

[1:32:50] home somewhat drops in the spring of the year. So when TA funds, it's based as a

[1:32:57] The longer the students are in school over the course of the year, the higher our IDA is.

[1:33:03] So knowing historical trends will drop over the course of the spring.

[1:33:09] So I've estimated that with you see there an estimated of about an additional 68 is what I'm estimating that our IDA will drop.

[1:33:18] If, by some miracle, that was to actually be the number that we finalize with a gene,

[1:33:24] then we would project to have an additional state revenue,

[1:33:27] a receiv additional state revenue this year,

[1:33:30] of about 1.4 million you see there.

[1:33:32] Now again, that number is an estimated number based on

[1:33:35] at this point in time you see there as March 6th.

[1:33:38] I know it will change, we all know it will change

[1:33:41] because our student tennis patterns

[1:33:42] and so we will continue to change.

[1:33:45] So we'll continue to monitor that each month

[1:33:47] and see how we estimate a project

[1:33:50] that we will conclude this year with.

[1:33:52] the tax collections are running. We historically budgeted 99%

[1:33:57] collection right on the current year numbers. We've been very fortunate. I've

[1:34:01] included the last four years information in there. You see, we've been very

[1:34:04] fortunate in our community that our people pay their taxes and stuff. So this

[1:34:10] past year was every year before the priorities, four years except last year, we're in

[1:34:15] 98.96. So we're just a fraction under every other year, virtually has been a little

[1:34:20] more than 99%.

[1:34:21] The year to date, the information is

[1:34:23] how far is running that we're reasonably confident

[1:34:26] that we will hit that 99% number.

[1:34:29] So I think we will hit or budget in that regard.

[1:34:32] On the expenditure side, it came up even to that.

[1:34:36] We have made some changes this year.

[1:34:38] Mr. Collins mentioned earlier.

[1:34:40] Based on the difficult decisions for the 24-25

[1:34:42] budget and stuff, we've changed some things.

[1:34:45] It's from operational standpoint, copying, printing,

[1:34:49] operational things.

[1:34:49] So far we're six months into the year so far those numbers there are projections

[1:34:54] We're meeting those projections may be even exceeding them a little bit in some areas and stuff

[1:34:59] So we're continuing to review those as we gather more data and go complete the next six months

[1:35:04] We're looking to see whether we can forecast any additional savings for the 20 5 26 year

[1:35:10] And if that will help us some a much thing for the following year

[1:35:13] But those are all meeting as far as electricity usage and things like that that we made from operational changes

[1:35:18] Those are meeting water projections are so far at least you at least meeting those in some case exceeding those and stuff

[1:35:25] So that's very positive in that regard. The the last item that I put down there is our fund balance as you all of you

[1:35:33] Well, no, we've got a policy that our fund balance that we for a variety of reasons that we've talked about over the years that we maintain 25% of our

[1:35:41] expenditures in our fund balance. You see there at

[1:35:44] August 3rd

[1:35:45] in 2023, you see we were 32.93, then as of 831, 24, 28.51.

[1:35:52] If we were to conclude the 24, 25 year at a higher than anticipated, we were just talking

[1:36:00] about on the student enrollment.

[1:36:01] If that ADA was to continue to increase some projections at this point in time, then as you

[1:36:06] know, we adopted the budget with about $800,000 deficit.

[1:36:10] We would exceed, we would be in the black or have a break, at least the minimum break even

[1:36:15] possibly even positive, add a little bit to the front balance, if the numbers hold that

[1:36:19] and projecting at this point, and again, we've got six months more to go.

[1:36:24] So not only I can guarantee it will change, I just hope that I'm close to and based on historical

[1:36:29] trends we continue to realize some of the student attendance and projections that we

[1:36:34] historically done over the last 30 years I've been doing this.

[1:36:38] They have included on two pages over.

[1:36:42] I've included some information in there on attendance,

[1:36:45] student attendance.

[1:36:46] I know all of our campuses had a big push this year on student,

[1:36:50] getting our students in school.

[1:36:51] And so worth not only does it help financially,

[1:36:54] but you can't learn if you're not in school and stuff.

[1:36:57] So, you'll see there that this year,

[1:37:00] each of our six weeks that we've had so far,

[1:37:02] have exceeded the last couple of years the tenets.

[1:37:05] So, our campuses and everyone, parents, everyone,

[1:37:08] the collaborative effort they're doing a great job on having our students in school and so

[1:37:12] we're so that's part of what's you're contributing to that increase the ADA that I'm projecting

[1:37:18] for this year as we continue to complete this the 2425 year. The rest of the information

[1:37:25] there will be happy to answer any questions I put if there's a chart like our tax collections.

[1:37:30] There's some of those pages are in or monthly financial reports that you guys see every month

[1:37:33] but it put those in there just so you can look at some of those and stuff like the tax

[1:37:37] collections, shows you how we're comparing there, where at 96.35% for this year versus 96-12 last year.

[1:37:44] There's a chart in there about fund balance.

[1:37:46] So you can kind of see historically over the few years how that is fluctuated over time and stuff.

[1:37:51] And where we, it's nice to have appreciate the board of proving that fund balance policy several years ago,

[1:37:58] because it doesn't force us to make difficult decisions.

[1:38:02] But yet it helps tremendously from the financial viability of the school district, and it's we continue to grow cell bonds

[1:38:08] All of those things it makes a tremendous effort from the rating agencies and stuff as well, and it just provides

[1:38:14] Amines to operate the district on a conservative, but

[1:38:20] meaningful way in the board. I always appreciate the board for doing that. It makes my job simpler and a lot of respects and stuff

[1:38:26] And it helps the district financial as well as our taxpayers say money and long

[1:38:29] So, what that, I'll be happy to answer any questions overlooking anything or anything, but

[1:38:36] to sum up our student attendance is contributing greatly to us potentially, transhold,

[1:38:44] historical, transhold, finishing the year and not with the deficit budget, but with a small

[1:38:49] surplus, hopefully those historical transcontiny coupled with the operational efficiencies and

[1:38:55] things that we've seen and so I think it'll be both of those together based on everything

[1:39:00] I know at this point in time and see at this point in time help us to finish the year,

[1:39:04] not with the deficit that way that we're actually adopted by this year.

[1:39:07] So positive news so far for the first six months of the fiscal year.

[1:39:11] Yeah, I mean, I think that's really important to note that, you know, we made some difficult decisions

[1:39:16] last year, you know, we've got a cut spending, but what I appreciate is even though we pass

[1:39:23] budget throughout the year you're still looking for savings to try to turn that around and

[1:39:28] put us in a better position next year. Like I said earlier in the meeting, we're seeing

[1:39:32] school districts and really terrible situations and I don't judge anybody, but there were some

[1:39:41] decisions that were made that they thought they were going to come in and they didn't.

[1:39:46] They're in a tough situation this year and we find ourselves in not that great of a position

[1:39:51] and we've got a fun balance there.

[1:39:53] A lot of districts were hoping the state was going

[1:39:55] to do something like a legislative session,

[1:39:57] and it ended up not coming to your privilege to stuff.

[1:40:00] So I've talked about in our communities and stuff

[1:40:03] and with your assistance as well,

[1:40:07] make some different decisions this last year stuff.

[1:40:09] So we were kind of earlier a pre-emptive on some of that,

[1:40:11] and I think you're seeing some of the benefits of that.

[1:40:14] Now, one of the things that difficult decisions in April,

[1:40:18] TASB will give us a pay study

[1:40:20] that, you know, that we have typically every year and stuff.

[1:40:24] So, the biggest expenditure on a budget is paid is employees,

[1:40:27] because we're a service of business stuff.

[1:40:29] So, you'll see by, we've not given a raise in the last year or this year.

[1:40:33] We've given it one time payment, but we've not given a raise.

[1:40:36] So, you'll see that we're kind of losing ground in some of those areas,

[1:40:39] as well as compared to our peers and things like that and stuff.

[1:40:42] So, that's something we'll have to address at some point in time.

[1:40:47] But when we had the financial resources to be able to address that in,

[1:40:50] responsible matter. As you look at that, we look at that every year stuff and how we can address

[1:40:55] that going forward.

[1:40:57] I wanted to just mention something. So though we are not closing schools or laying off staff,

[1:41:03] which we're very grateful for and it's because of a lot of intentional planning and we do

[1:41:07] have some really significant pain points right now. One, you saw the collaborative team, it's

[1:41:11] the fourth grade team that Annetta and they have very large class sizes. So class sizes are

[1:41:16] to high because we're staffed tightly because we have to be 80 percent, as you know, about 80 percent

[1:41:22] of our budget goes to pay staff. So that is a paying point for our teachers. It's paying

[1:41:27] point for our kids as well. And so that's one reason why we need additional funding from

[1:41:31] the state, so that we can address that tight staffing and get some relief there. And then also

[1:41:37] as Mr. Hasfield mentioned, we didn't give a pay raise to our teachers as you know, for

[1:41:41] the last two years, just a one time payment each year. And so that is another reason why we need

[1:41:46] additional funding from the state, we cut so much in the last two years that there is not much

[1:41:52] more blood to squeeze out of the jar. And we're staffed so tightly that we're not able to reduce

[1:41:59] any staffing positions like we have in the last two years. The other thing is that the

[1:42:05] other opportunity that lawmakers have at the state level is they have the opportunity to,

[1:42:11] you know, we have really great programs here. We've celebrated them tonight. They are academic,

[1:42:15] they're extracurricular, they're athletic, they're fine arts, they are what our community

[1:42:20] expects us to give to our students to make sure that when they leave here they are ready to go

[1:42:24] and they found what they love and what they're good at and that they're going to use those skill sets

[1:42:30] as as productive citizens when they graduate from a Lito ISD and what the state has the opportunity to do

[1:42:38] is to support funding that's year-over-year funding that will help us make sure that those programs

[1:42:47] are round in one year or two years, three years, ten years.

[1:42:53] So that's why, as Mr. Linger mentioned, that's what we're asking.

[1:42:57] That's the opportunity that lawmakers have to help with teacher and staff funding and sorry,

[1:43:03] pay raises to and for us and allow us to have some better staffing models, so class sizes

[1:43:09] aren't too high, and then also to kind of secure the longevity of programming that parents

[1:43:14] expect.

[1:43:16] I mean there's a lot of conversation about teacher raises and therefore the so, but you know

[1:43:20] I think the thing that we've reminded our legislators and the continued, is now we have 80 people

[1:43:25] on transportation department, you're a transport unit, we have over 60 people in our childhood

[1:43:30] There's certainly a few teachers or certainly the most important person in child education, but there's a lot of support that goes there.

[1:43:38] So we might have a continue to work with them and talk about those issues.

[1:43:43] In one last thing that I mentioned is just an obvious note before our community is that when there's the legislation talks about property tax reductions and stuff like that and compression they call it.

[1:43:58] things like that about releasing property taxes, sincerely needed, but that's not new money or additional money coming to publics, because publics are not a lot of trash.

[1:44:07] It's not new money that's coming to the district to spend on the classroom where teachers are erasing things like that.

[1:44:13] It's just the size of the past still staying the same.

[1:44:16] They're not coming from the state versus what of the taxpayers is what's changing, but the size of the past still staying the same.

[1:44:21] So it's not new money or additional money to be used for erasing or the teachers, stopping whatever stuff.

[1:44:27] So it's a shift in where the money's coming from, but it's not in there.

[1:44:30] So that's something that they're going to have to address.

[1:44:33] Again, it's pain and they need to address that as well.

[1:44:36] So we can continue to deliver the services that we all want to do in our community,

[1:44:40] the expense from the district as well.

[1:44:45] All right.

[1:44:46] New close and stress.

[1:44:52] Next up, we'll have board policy update.

[1:45:00] Good evening, and happy same Patrick's day. I don't know about y'all, but I received a call from another, whose maiden name is Murphy. At 6.30 this morning to make sure I had on my green. So, you know, I would be banished from the family. If I did not, I'm probably she didn't ask for a picture. I may have to send her one later. There you go. I'm excited to bring to you this evening. Board policy update 124, and this is eight policies for review this evening. This is just for review.

[1:45:30] You do have a summary of the revisions of these policies as far as red line versions in your packet.

[1:45:38] Again, this is just to review the seeding for you to be able to look at these over the next month.

[1:45:45] And then certainly I'm happy to entertain any questions that you might have and we'll bring these policies back to you at the April Board meeting for you to vote on.

[1:45:55] Any questions that I can help you with the seeding?

[1:45:58] Any questions about positive?

[1:46:00] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[1:46:02] Thanks so much.

[1:46:04] Well, next move to our action items.

[1:46:06] First up is our consider approval of a legal medical

[1:46:09] stadium turf replacement, Mr. Campbell.

[1:46:14] I'm back.

[1:46:17] A little bit of history.

[1:46:20] The turf was put down in about 2012.

[1:46:24] So it's got about an eight to ten year lifespan.

[1:46:27] We got about 12 out of it.

[1:46:29] It was originally a part of the 2019 bond package for Alito Mill School.

[1:46:36] It was part of the renovation and addition project that happened there.

[1:46:40] It was supposed to get replaced.

[1:46:42] COVID happened.

[1:46:43] Started trying to find money.

[1:46:46] And the turf was one of the things that got value engineered out to free up money to spend

[1:46:51] on other things that were more critical at the time.

[1:46:54] We were still passing all of our GMACs test at that time.

[1:46:58] But it was still, it was starting to look like it was worn, and it needed to be replaced, but we had a little time.

[1:47:06] So that time is now.

[1:47:09] And working with Earl, he was able to find.

[1:47:12] We had some interest income off of the bond.

[1:47:17] And this is now a need because our latest DMX test, we average just under the threshold for failure.

[1:47:25] So this is, this is the perfect time to do it.

[1:47:29] We're bringing it to you in March like this because we want to have time to manufacture the material and be able to put it in and install it this summer so that we'll be ready for all the sports activity in the fall.

[1:47:42] We've gotten 12 years out of it, it's pretty good.

[1:47:47] If there are no questions at this point, I'll go ahead and read the recommendation.

[1:47:51] If I can get it pulled up here, there we go.

[1:47:57] This is through Paragon Sports Contractors, PSC, you may know they gave us a pretty good deal

[1:48:05] on it through a byboard contract and the cost that I'll present to you here in a second

[1:48:09] I just want to add that this includes a groomer for the turf so that the coaches can use

[1:48:16] the groomer on the field periodically in regular, regular sequences to clean it, sweep it, maintain

[1:48:27] it, help the pulse and up so that we can hopefully get another 12 years out of this

[1:48:33] product.

[1:48:34] The one that's at AMS, it's broken, it doesn't work.

[1:48:38] This is a better one, but I think I think we need it, and the coaches are willing to, they're

[1:48:45] in the group of fields and that will help it last longer.

[1:48:49] So I'll read the recommendation, I'll take any questions.

[1:48:52] Administration recommends the Board of Trustees

[1:48:53] approved the by board proposal for turf replacement

[1:48:56] at a legal and no school stadium from paragraphs

[1:48:59] sports constructors in the amount of $599,754 as presented.

[1:49:06] First is any questions?

[1:49:07] Comments?

[1:49:09] I will say that that is very much a community facility.

[1:49:12] Any day it's open for anybody to use football baseball, softball, track.

[1:49:20] I see people doing the cross and everything else there.

[1:49:23] The fact that it's used that much in last 12 years is pretty impressive actually.

[1:49:29] I've seen it recently, it's a pretty bad condition.

[1:49:31] Every time I drive by there, there's a least.

[1:49:34] It's guidance, money, it's worth it.

[1:49:38] Trustees, we have a motion to accept the recommendation.

[1:49:41] so move. Motion on Mr. Scott, give a second. Second on Mr. Tarot. All those in favor of

[1:49:46] Place A. I. Aye. Aye. Opposed? None. Motion carries an answer. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:49:55] Next step, we'll be consider approval of a purchase of Chromebooks, Brooks Moore.

[1:50:00] Thank you, sir. As we discussed at the February meeting, we are in need of purchasing some

[1:50:07] for Linda Kinney Elementary as we prepare for the 2526 school year and so we have received quotes from CDWG and tonight the administration recommends the Board of Trustees approve the purchase of Chromebooks from CDW in the amount of

[1:50:28] $108,000, $140 as presented.

[1:50:35] Motion by Mr. Taylor.

[1:50:37] Second by Mr. Lair.

[1:50:39] Trust me, is any questions?

[1:50:41] Then we talk about this last meeting.

[1:50:44] All those in favor please say aye.

[1:50:47] Opposed?

[1:50:48] None.

[1:50:48] Motion carries a name.

[1:50:51] Next step is consider approval.

[1:50:53] A purchase that we don't high school auditorium audio system upgrade.

[1:50:56] Yes, sir. So also at the February meeting we discussed the age of the audio equipment in the auditorium at a legal high school. It has

[1:51:07] It has been touched very little in

[1:51:12] Since the building has opened and it is in need of some serious upgrades. So we discussed last month

[1:51:20] our intention to bring you a quote, we've worked with a consultant, an outside consultant

[1:51:26] to help us design a system that will fit the room appropriately so the kids will get the benefit

[1:51:34] of newer technology in the space. And so tonight, also the vendor that we were, that we've

[1:51:45] we're going to recommend tonight. Originally, I wasn't sure if we would be able to get it in,

[1:51:52] but our goal was to get in by the summer, by this coming summer. We thought it would be

[1:51:57] more like Christmas, but it's looking like that's backing up a little bit. So I'm hoping that we'll

[1:52:02] actually be able to get, of course, with your approval tonight, get it put into summer. So that's the

[1:52:07] goal that's to push, is to get that done. But at worst, I would say it would be at the Christmas holiday.

[1:52:13] So, I'm going to read the recommendation to have to read, have you to answer any questions.

[1:52:17] The administration recommends the Board of Trustees approve the purchase of upgraded audio system equipment

[1:52:23] for the Illegal High School Auditorium from CTI in the amount of $298,277.81.81.

[1:52:33] It's as if it was.

[1:52:36] Well, your results will go.

[1:52:38] Is it too thick of the opening of the opening of the opening now?

[1:52:41] So you're talking about the closing?

[1:52:42] About the twenty percent of the opening.

[1:52:43] Yes, we're talking about.

[1:52:44] Twenty five years old.

[1:52:45] I'm sure.

[1:52:47] Just these are recommendations.

[1:52:48] We have a motion.

[1:52:50] Motion by Mr. Taylor.

[1:52:52] Is that?

[1:52:52] Second.

[1:52:53] Second by Mr. Lear.

[1:52:54] All those in favor please say aye.

[1:52:57] Aye.

[1:52:57] Opposed?

[1:52:57] None.

[1:52:58] Motion carries.

[1:52:59] Thank you.

[1:53:01] This border now recesses open session and convene and it closed me to the step on out of

[1:53:06] the city origin as a evening as a fall. As a loud, by the Texas government code 551.074,

[1:53:12] 551.072, 551.051.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.591.

[1:53:17] I don't know if anybody on take place in the closed meeting. Any action that more wishes to take as a result of

[1:53:22] discussions and that close meeting will take place after the more reconvenes in the open meeting.

[1:53:25] Today, March 17, 2025, and the time is 755 p.m.

[1:53:39] This board will now reconvene into open session,

[1:53:42] notices and directions for taking during the closed meeting.

[1:53:44] The date is March 17, 2025, and the time is 19 p.m.

[1:53:50] Last night, agenda is just the comments,

[1:53:53] ignore this. Anybody?

[1:53:55] Sure, was not seen the facilities today.

[1:54:00] take a little tour. Everything looks pretty cool. Looking forward to all that for kids.

[1:54:07] I feel lucky to serve on this board with all of you.

[1:54:13] All right. With that, there being no further business before this board, this meeting is a

[1:54:19] the time is 9 or 8 p.m.

Mar 17, 2025 Board of Trustees

Agenda

Transcript