Good evening. This meeting is now convened at 5:02 p.m..
I would like to ask everyone to please silence all cell phones. A quorum of board members is present in the auditorium.
I will preside over today's meeting and present ric president ric campo absence.
I am joined by board members michelle kruse arnold and edgar colon.
are there speakers to the agenda item present? Is our speaker present? Then we will now conduct the hearing scheduled for this meeting.
please note that we will not be conducting the hearing scheduled for alicia luis, As the hearing was rescheduled before tonight's meeting.
with no further business to discuss this meeting of. You want me to join each one?
okay. Procedure to consider the recommendation of the independent hearing examiner and the Matter of theron
glenn, docket number 086lh122025. Theron, glenn, Purpose of the meeting.
the purpose of this meeting is to consider the recommendation of the independent hearing Examiner in the matter of theron glenn,
teacher for high school hearings involving complaints against district employees are to be Held in closed session unless employee who is subject of the hearing requests an open
hearing. If both parties request an open hearing during this hearing, The board may go into closed session to consult with its attorney.
under the terms of the texas government code, Section 551.071.
if any board member wishes to seek the advice of counsel, Please tell me for the record, theron glenn is present.
yes. No. No. Mayor chickering with rogers, morris and grover representing the Administration.
yes. Myra. Sorry. Catosha woods hisd, general counsel, Is also present.
how do we proceed with that? Impressive. Since he's not here.
okay. I think we should proceed in close since he isn't here.
okay. The board will now recess to closed session under chapter five five. One of texas government code open meetings act subsections 551.0043551.089.
should board final action voter decision on any matter considered in the closed session be Required?
such final action, vote or decision shall be taken at the open meetings covered by this Notice.
upon the reconvening of this public meeting or at subsequent public meetings of the board Upon notice thereon.
the board is recessed to closed session at 5:05 p.m. On april. 18
at 5:16 p.m. And. Excuse me. Auditorium is now reconvened to open session at 5:16
p.m.. Is there any further discussion? The board is ready to vote.
please open the auditorium doors and begin live streaming.
this special meeting of the school board of houston independent school district is now Reconvened in open session.
the time is 5:17 p.m.. Do I have a motion? Yes, Madam president, I move that we adopt the
decision and recommendation of the independent hearing examiner, Adopt the findings of fact and conclusions of law recommended by the independent hearing
examiner, and terminate the employment of respondent therein. Glenn, do I have a second? I have a motion by board member cruz arnold and a second by Board member colon.
is there a discussion? Please vote.
voting is closed. The motion passes. The board has voted three for and zero against to the Motion to.
to the motion above. Do I need to read the whole motion?
no. A letter notifying both parties of the action of the board shall be prepared and Signed by
the executive director of board relations as soon as possible, And this hearing is concluded at 5:18 p.m..
procedure for dispute resolution hearing. Rachel matthews.
purpose of the meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to consider the dispute filed by Rachel matthews,
former bus driver. Transportation department. Hearings involving complaints against district employees are to be held in closed session Unless the employee who is the subject of the hearing requests an open hearing.
if both parties request an open session during the course of this hearing, The board may go into closed session to consult with its attorney.
under the terms of texas texas government code sections 551.071.
if any board member wishes to seek the advice of counsel, Please tell me for the record, cecilia edwards from people's choice association union
represents rachel mcadams and representing rachel matthews is present.
okay. I'll let them know. Thank you. Miles bradshaw with bradshaw law
representing the administration is present. Yes. Catosha woods hisd, general counsel is also present.
miss matthews? Yes. For the record, cecilia edwards with people's choice association union Representing rachel matthews
is present. Thank you. Miss edwards, do you wish to continue an open or closed session?
open.
issues for determination. The issues before the school board or whether board policies and Administrative procedures were correctly applied to the grievant and whether the
administration has violated those policies and procedures. Miss edwards, you will proceed. First, you will be allowed to make a ten minute Presentation to the board,
followed by a ten minute presentation by mr. Bradshaw. Presentations must be based on the level two hearing script.
transcript. Miss edwards, you may reserve part of your ten minutes for rebuttals to Matters presented by mr.
bradshaw. Both sides shall be available for questions from the board after their Respective presentations.
miss edwards, how would you like to divide your time to make your presentation to the Board?
four minutes and five minutes. Thank you. Four minutes, Its presentation and five minutes rebuttal.
miss edwards, you may begin. Good afternoon again.
the level two decision should be reversed because it fails to resolve the central, Factual and legal issues in this case.
hisd terminated miss matthew based on alleged 6.4 hour absent overage.
while refusing to properly credit or correct medical documentation, Absentees connected with her march through march 4th and march 7th,
225 hospitalization hisd position has been inconsistent from the beginning.
the district denied miss matthews fmla requested on the basis that it was alleged outside The time frame that there was no proof of
hospitalization. However, the records reflect that miss matthews provided medical Certification signed by her treating physician doctor daniel kat,
along with the hospital discharge documentation, Verifying her permission and discharge dates.
if hisd records does not reflect those documents, That is not evidence against miss matthews.
it's evidence of documentation handling failure by the district.
even assuming hisd believe that the certification was incomplete or insufficient, Federal fmla regulations required hisd to notify miss matthews
in writing on specific deficiencies and provide at least seven calendar days to cure it.
hisd did not do so. Instead, the district treated the denial as final, Counted the medical supported absences against her,
and then relied on those hours as grounds for termination.
this is not new to attendance policy decision. It is legally defective transportation based on absences and should not have been reviewed Under fmla.
ada and protected leave standards before this discipline was imposed.
hrc also relied on rigid attendance cap argument while ignoring the fact that federal law Supersedes any local handbook rule when
protected leave is implicated. A district handbook cannot convert potentially protected Medical leave into a misconduct merely because an employee
exceeds the local of a local leave bank. Hisd was required to analyze whether the absences Would qualify for fmla protection.
whether any documentation deficiency had occurred.
whether re activate designation was appropriate and whether ada interactive process was Required before termination.
the level one and level two response does not perform that. Analyst that simply conclude that hisd made an error while failing to reconcile the Medical documentation.
the lack of cure notice and the retroactive fmla issue. The ada accommodation issue is the fact that the termination was based on 6.4 hours.
for these reasons, miss matthews respectfully request that the board reverse the level two Decision and grant the requested remedies immediately reinstate to a prior position
restoration, back pay, benefits, leave and seniority removal related negative records, And corrective review of fmla
leave documentation practices. I would say the rest of my time.
mr. Bradshaw, you may make your presentation to the board.
thank you and good evening, board members. Miss matthews was a field safety investigator In the
transportation department and a bus driver prior to that.
what happened this past school year is she exceeded the number of excessive absences Allowed under policy.
she exceeded it by six hours. And as you know, Many of these cases have come before you in the past,
and the district maintains a pretty much a zero tolerance policy when it comes to Excessive absences.
and in this instance, miss matthews once I guess once she realized she had exceeded the Number of absences,
she tried to get retroactive fml, fmla leave to protect four days that she was out.
and we don't deny that she was out. We don't deny that she was in the hospital during Those four days.
but the problem is she submitted that fmla request to go back retroactively, Two months after those dates occurred,
and the leave administration had a protocol of allowing retroactive only if it could, It could only go back seven
calendar days and not any further than that. And so the reason it was denied had nothing To do with the medical certification.
it only had to do with the fact that it was submitted. It wasn't submitted timely. And that's what the exhibits and emails provide.
and that the leave administration testified to at the level two hearing.
so it's really a very simple case of exceeding the number of absences and not having any Protected leave to cover those absences.
plain and simple. At the level two hearing miss, Miss edwards, I guess, tried to make make a case that somehow the
administration mr. Amir mohideen, who is her supervisor.
you know, somehow got in her way or prevented her from.
getting her absences approved. But the truth is, It's her responsibility to put in her time.
she was not doing that. And and because she was not doing that at a time, There was a there was a window of time during which
she could input her time or her input her time off. Excuse me. And she, she didn't she didn't do it.
and that window closed. And then she couldn't do it. She couldn't go back and wasn't allowed into the system to do it.
neither could mr.. Mr. Mohideen. But what he did do, Going back as far as march 20th, and that's exhibit 16.
a woman named tamika gibbons, who was her supervisor at her prior pool motor pool, Told her look,
you need to contact leave administration as soon as possible. This is march 20th. And because you need to request fmla leave.
well, she didn't do that until may the 5th. And so she was way out of the timeline.
and that's why ultimately she was terminated. Anything, you know, in terms of the federal law and trying to say we violated the fmla, The things that miss edwards brings up is not even applicable to this case.
what the federal law says, what fmla says is that employers may grant retroactive fmla, But they don't have to.
and then the second part, where she says, we should have given her seven days notice of Deficiencies in her certification materials,
not even applicable, because that wasn't the problem. It wasn't that she submitted faulty materials or not enough materials.
it was the fact that she submitted them a month late and there was no way to cure that.
so no notice was required from the district. The administration followed the rules in this Case.
they were assisted her quite a bit to try to get her to fix it, And she just didn't get it fixed on time.
and, you know, those are the consequences of being excessively absent.
absent. Excuse me. In hisd. Thank you. Miss edwards, Do you wish to make a rebuttal statement?
you have. Is it 529? That's correct. Okay. You have five minutes.
29. One thing I want to add. If you look at the administration page number 49 and on line 12,
administration had that department for fmla come in and speak with them as a witness.
and it says understanding if the timing of submission. I do not know. Here it states that there is no indication of hospitalization on her Paperwork.
I did review her paperwork. So that was an oversight on my team members review.
okay, so they made an error, but they refused to fix it. So I'm surprised we're here at level three. When they told us they made a mistake.
they did not know she was hospitalized. I'm sorry. Now tell us, who's your man? Who was your manager at the time?
mr. Amir was my manager. Is miss gibbons manager. Gibbons was not my manager. I never spoke with her regarding my hospitalization.
I don't even know if she even knew I was in the hospital. Did they deny you the first Time?
yes. I was denied because they said there was not enough information about the reason I Was in the hospital.
I went back to get a second one and the doctor told me then they do not have the right to Ask for more details about what is going on with your illness,
he said. But if you want me to write it, I will. I said, well, at this point I'm up to being fired, So it's okay.
I just tell them what they, you know, add the extra. Mr. Amir did not understand how to do the documentation, And he.
did he tell you that? Yes. When it came, he did not know how to do it. It was a new software or something that the department had brought in here.
just coming back to hisd. He was going to look into it to see how to input the time that I Had in which he did not.
so I had to come over here and I spoke to a lady in hr, And she explained to me what he needed to do.
and I told her, well, I tried to get him to do it. So she sent an email to our time keeper and said, She has the time.
I need you to put it in now. So after they inputted the time, That's when I came up 6.4 hours short.
and on the day that they showed the 6.4 hours I was short, I was actually in the hospital.
okay, so we're going to take her. How many years did you work for the district?
13 years. 13 years in the district. And you're going to terminate her for six hours?
come on. And one of the best employees I've ever had in that department. Correct? That is correct. Okay, so what do you want to happen?
well, I would like to be reinstated. You know, Giving everything back that was taken away from me,
just like them. To be fair, across the board. I'm not asking for anything. I'm just only what?
it should have never occurred to make it correct. I do know people make mistakes. We're not perfect, And I understand that, but I just want them to be fair to me.
that's all I'm asking and nothing more. At the end of the day, Mr. Amir dropped the ball in this. The manager, he was not trained properly, Which you've had this conversation before about.
management's coming in and not properly trained. If he's honest today, he would tell you he did not understand the paperwork and he dropped The ball on this.
you know, this is why we're here today and we're asking to be have her reinstated and Resolve this issue today.
now, I don't know what their fraternities have been told you, But I know it's not correct.
you know, those are lies. But if you look at the documentation, It clearly states, if you look at all our exhibits that we submitted,
it talked about hospitalization. How many days was she absent?
we submitted that those documents. So if you looked at the evidence, We don't know why we're here,
why we even made it to level three. She should have been given her the opportunity to give Her job back way in level two.
so do you have anything else to add? Yes. The thing about it is, Mr.
mayor, I would just like him to just be honest. We all. And I told him this summer, and I told him that we make mistakes.
and I understand if you didn't know it, you made a mistake. Just own up to it. Don't try and drop me on or drop it all on me like I failed to do Something.
I did what was required, yet you did not know it. All you had to do is say you didn't know the software and have someone else to put the Information in you.
just coming back hisd had did some changes, so please just do what's right.
that's all I'm asking. I'm not. I'm not asking for nothing that do not belong to me.
I'm just asking him to be fair, to be honest. Because at the end of the day, I have to live with it and he has to live with it.
no one said, thank you. Thank you. Are there any questions from my colleagues?
do I have a motion?
the parties have completed their presentations. It's now time for the board members to have to make our decision on the issues before us.
the board will now recess to closed session under chapter 551 of texas government code Open meetings act.
subsections 551.0043551.089 should board final action voter decision on any matter Considered in the closed session be
required? Such final action, vote or decision shall be taken at the open meeting covered By this notice upon the reconvening of this public meeting,
or at a subsequent public meeting of the board, Upon notice thereof, the board is recessed to closed session at 5:35 p.m.
on april 30th, 2026. This special meeting of the school board of houston independent School district is now reconvened in open session.
the time is 5:43 p.m.. Do I have a motion? I
move that we deny all requested relief not previously granted by the level two hearing Officer,
and uphold the decision of the level two hearing officer. Do I have a second? We have a motion by board member colon and a second by board member Cruz.
arnold, is there any discussion? Please vote.
voting is closed. The motion passes. The board has voted three for and zero against a Letter notifying both parties of the actions of the
school board shall be prepared and signed by the executive director of board of relations As soon as possible.
this hearing is concluded at 5:44 p.m..
procedure for dispute resolution hearing. Suzanne risley.
purpose of the meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to consider the dispute filed by Suzanne risley,
teacher, west side high school. Hearings involving complaints against district employees Are to be held in closed session unless the employee who is the subject of the hearing
requests an open hearing. Both parties request an open session. During the course of this hearing, the board may go into closed session to consult with Its attorney.
under the terms of the texas government code, Sections 551.071, if any board member wishes to seek advice of counsel,
please tell me for the record. Wayne. Lang. Wayne lang.
lang with the house. Thank you sir. The houston federation of teachers representing Suzanne riseley.
ma'am. Rizley. Thank you. Is present. Suzanne grizzlies present.
miles leblanc, representing the administration is present and catosha woods hisd general Counsel is also present.
mr. Lang, do you wish to continue in open or closed session?
open. Thank you. Issues for determination. The issues before the school board are.
whether board policies and procedures. Administrative procedures were correctly applied to The grievant and whether the administration has violated those policies and procedures.
mr. Lanes. You will proceed first. You will be allowed to make a ten minute presentation To the board,
followed by a ten minute presentation by mr. Leblanc. Presentations must be based on the level three hearing.
transcript. Mr. Lane, you may receive part of your ten minutes for rebuttal to matters Present to mr.
leblanc. Both sides shall be available for questions from the board after their respective Presentations.
mr. Lanes, would you like to divide your time to make a presentation to the board? Yes, please. Four for rebuttal. Thank you. You may begin, Sir.
let's put our young eyes on. Alright. In the level two hearing, The remedies one, three, four and five were resolved.
so that the only issue you guys have to really look at is regarding remedy number two.
we are saying that that needs to be reversed.
oh. I'm sorry. Yes. My bad. In the level two hearing remedies, One, three, four and five were resolved.
so really the only issue we're looking at is remedy number two. And we're saying it should Be reversed. So I'm have mr. Risley to give a brief description of what she does in the
district and how this has affected her. Hi. The facts are simple and straightforward.
hiv hisd took part of my dual credit stipend that houston city college paid me without Proper notification.
I've been teaching dual credit u.s. History at west side high school since the 20 1920 School year.
every year, I received a stipend from hcc that was equal to their adjunct pay every year Until 2020 425.
last year, hisd decided to take $790 of the $2,790 per course stipend.
I found out by looking at the stipend page at the beginning of the 2020 425 school year.
I emailed dual credit coordinators at the district several times from october to december 2024,
asking for clarification about changes to the stipend since it appeared to be Significantly reduced.
no one responded. This was not the first time hisd has failed to communicate changes until The 2020 324 school year.
we received our small excuse me, fall stipends in december.
we did not get it until mid january 2024, and we only found out it was going to be delayed Right before we went to break for christmas.
many of us, many of us dual credit teachers like me depended on that money every year.
and we essentially had to cancel christmas that year. Payment for summer school 24 was also paid late.
it wasn't paid until mid september, even though it was backdated to mid august.
and these were classes that to ensure our future students get their associate's degree When they graduate high school.
these are not I'd credit courses. And also last school year in 2020 425, The schedule listed december again as the
fall statement, but we did not get it till january 29th, 2025, a full six weeks after the semester ended.
this is not hisd money that they're withholding. It's money that hcc pays to hisd with the understanding that it be forwarded to the dual Credit teachers so that they are paid in accordance with the college adjunct pay rate,
according to the memo of understanding between the two parties, Adjunct instructors, which is how we are classified with hcc,
are normally paid monthly by hcc, but the district insists it goes through them.
some of the duties that I have as a dual credit instructor, I have to have at least 18 hours of graduate credit credit in the course of study,
hcc requires a master's degree. In addition to following tx and other hisd requirements, I have to create next to execute lessons in line with requirements
and course objectives set by hcc. Maintain. Maintain an online presence through canvas Even if it's in person.
maintain a separate gradebook and attendance rosters. Complete multiple compliance trainings. Complete additional trainings when presented.
required to attend dual credit institute. Required to attend adjunct faculty and Department meetings.
be observed and evaluated by hcc. Submit grades and attendance.
ensure letter grades for hcc and hisd match and I am considered employed by hcc to teach These dual credit classes.
again, this is not hisd money. It is hcc money.
dual credit courses must be taught at college of requirements, And the hcc determines whether or not a teacher is qualified to teach them or not.
so she had to go through two application processes to get there. The basic arrangement that hcc and hisd has regarding the dual credit program is exhibit One and in the contract.
miss risley had a dual credit for several years. She's taught these classes for a long time prior to 2425.
it was always a pass through in the 24, 25 school year, You guys came up with a new word instead of the compensation manual was called the plan.
that plan didn't get put out until march of 2025.
so when she said she's looking for how much her retirement was going to be because it Wasn't listed in any of the manuals.
so we have to go back to the 2324 manual. But of course, That went up from 23 60, 2346 to to
2790. Now, in the arguments we made before or in the arguments we made at the Presentation,
the compensation of adjuncts it says here under exhibit 111 section f compensate adjuncts Directly to contribute funds to the school
directly districts based upon the number of courses and enrollment that the schools may Provide stipends to two.
instructions. This is the key word may provide stipends. Two instructions. But the last part is the part we didn't get on to, Which is in accordance with the acc faculty salary rates.
so the money is passed through for the adjunct professors to have their money.
hisd supports the contract. The position that this contracts does not require it to pay Because it has the word may,
but they neglected to read the second half where it says, In accordance with the faculty acc faculty salary rates.
this is the part where we're arguing why this decision should be reversed is because the Money has always been passed through money and not intended for hisd to pocket or decide
that they're going to pay less and keep the 790 we'll yield because we're right at the Time.
thank you, mr. Blunt. You may make your presentation to the board.
is it still afternoon or is it evening? I think it's still afternoon. So good afternoon. Board I, I here I am here to represent the hisd administration with Respect to this
level three grievance hearing. I also handle the level two grievance hearing.
that was that's been appealed by the grievance here. So this grievance turns on a simple question.
who determines what stipend amount and hisd employee is paid should the employee decide The
amount of the stipend? Alternatively, should another educational institution decide how Hisd
will pay stipends to district employees. Or is that decision the responsibility of hisd Administration
in conformance with the district budget approved by this board?
well, the answer, of course, is the latter. Administration hisd administration makes that Decision,
not the employee, not another educational institution.
but suzanne risley objects to that common sense notion in her grievance.
basically, miss risley asserts that she is entitled to be paid the full amount of a Stipend paid to hisd
by houston city college. It used to be houston community college for dual credit courses She taught at hcc as an adjunct
instructor during the 2024 2025 school year. However, In her grievance, what miss risley fails to
acknowledge or take into account is that hisd administration adopted an employee Compensation plan for the 2024
2025 school year that caps the amount of stipends paid to district employees.
ultimately, miss risley was paid the stipend amount that she was entitled to receive Pursuant to the compensation plan.
let's review the facts in detail. Christina wade roediger, Hisd executive director of post-secondary program
programing, and brittany kagan, hisd director of compensation, Testified at the level two grievance hearing held last
june that miss risley taught five dual credit courses in the fall semester of 2024, For which hcc paid
hisd $2,790 per course, which amounted to a total stipend amount.
of $13,950 for the fall semester. She also taught five dual credit courses in the spring Semester
of 2025, for which hcc paid hisd again, $2,790 per course for a total
stipend amount of $13,950. So for both semesters of the 2024 2025 school year,
hcc paid hisd a total stipend amount of $27,900 for the ten dual credit courses miss Risley
taught over that time frame. However, the hisd compensation plan for the 2024 2025 school Year,
which is incorporated in the level three board grievance hearing.
transcript in exhibits four and five states, Specifically at exhibit five, that hcc dual credit stipends are capped
at $2,000 per course. That means miss risley was entitled to be paid $10,000 for the five Courses that she
taught during the fall semester of 2024, and $10,000 for the five courses she taught During the spring semester of 2025.
and in fact, for the 2024 2025 school year, she was paid the full $20,000 that she was Entitled to
receive pursuant to the hisd compensation plan.
now, let us review a few of the objections raised by miss risley to the compensation plan.
stipend cap. First, contrary to what miss risley asserts, The dual credit partnership agreement between
hisd and hcc for the 2024 2025 school year does not override the hisd compensation plan.
however much the agreement would like that to be so, In fact, the language of the hisd hcc dual credit partnership
agreement, which is incorporated in the level two grievance hearing, Transcript and administration exhibit seven specifically says
in section f of that agreement under the header acc responsibilities that it is hq's Responsibility to
compensate dual credit instructors directly or distribute funds to the school district Based on the number
of courses and enrollment, so the school may provide stipends to instructors in accordance With
hcs faculty salary rates. Again, the key word is may.
the contractual language is not obligatory. Hisd and its administrative discretion has Chosen to cap the
dual credit instructor stipends at an amount less than what was paid by acc, Which the district has every right to do.
second, the cap stipends were not a mystery or a surprise to any hisd teachers who served As dual credit instructors at
hcc. Administration exhibit four includes the email distributed to our hisd employees by The hisd chief
human resources officer, which incorporated a link to the compensation plan.
furthermore, administration exhibit ten, which is a copy of miss risley's hisd dual credit Instructor agreement for
spring 2025 semester, which she signed on january 15th, 2025, specifically provides that
she would be paid a stipend pursuant to the hisd compensation manual, Which really is synonymous with the hisd compensation plan.
lastly, grievance cast aspersions against the district by questioning how the district Utilized the excess amount
remaining after the cap stipends were paid to the adjunct instructors.
this issue was addressed in detail in an april 2025 board referral, Incorporated in the board transcript at exhibit eight
in the referral. Miss wade roediger addresses several issues related to hcc stipend Payments for the edification
of the board with respect to the disposition of excess stipend amounts.
she writes. Any extra funds left over from the hcc?
reimbursement of stipends is used for other dual credit purposes.
for example, hcc, tsi boot camps, dual credit instructional materials, Etc..
given the foregoing facts, I ask the board to uphold the level two hearing officer ruling With respect to this grievance.
which one grants grievance remedy number one, In which she requests that there be no adverse action or
retaliation be taken against her. Two denies grievance requested remedy.
number two seeking payment of the full stipend amount paid by hcc for the 2024 2025 school Year and
upholding the amount paid to miss risley pursuant to the hisd compensation plan.
three grant the remedy that all stipends owed to miss risley will be paid in a timely Manner consistent with the compensation plan and
as I stated earlier, she's she's already been paid the amount due for that year.
ladies and gentlemen, I have nothing further. Thank you for your attention and consideration.
thank you, mr. Lang. Do you wish to make a rebuttal statement? Yes, ma'am. How much time left? Four minutes.
okay. Thank you, sir. We're ready. In exhibit one six from hisd, We have the mou.
and in the mou it says the principle of the partnership for both parties acknowledged that Principles like provisions of faculty,
staff and administration shall be collaborative.
section b as section b of that part. Section f of that part has a beginning.
and it says for financial collaboration and getting to the end says to operate the program Successfully on a cost neutral for both parties,
or it's in the mou. So the cost was passed through to give to them.
so it didn't cost hisd nothing or I didn't add an extra expense. On to hisd exhibit 15 at the bottom is dated on december 1823, Where mr.
mark spear the ctmccmr business operations of hisd responded to one of mr.
risley's requests about her stipends for that year. That was late at the time and he said that as such, Dual credit student stipends must be created and approved as an ad hoc stipend for each
semester. This gives the precedence of why they're not using the compensation manual, As he keeps mentioning the manual.
getting back to the manual that year, you didn't present a manual. You presented a plan. The plan was put out in march.
she signed that thing about going with the manual in january, We have in hisd exhibit number five is a document
that says that it was emailed to the teachers, But it doesn't say the teachers.
it says mr. Leblanc received that. That's not the teachers. We have nothing that shows where she had even got notice with her stipend was going to be.
at this point, there is no document, no email, Nothing that says that she received what her compensation was going to be.
so she's assuming that it's passed through like always at the 2790.
so instead of getting the 2000 per course, she should have got 2790 per course.
and then she is still owed some $7,900. If you look at exhibit 12 from hisd, You can see that on january 10th,
miss risley was still emailing hisd trying to find out.
and that was 2025, how much her stipend was going to be.
she still had no idea how much she was going to get for that school year. 2425 now we go back to a rule that says that 45 days before the end of the contract time When she has time to
resign or stay with the district, to have time to think about whether she wants to take The salary,
cut or not, is what is standard for you guys to give. If these teachers violate that, you will sanction them.
so what's she given 45 days? No. It's our understanding that on june 26th of that year is When it got emailed out to the teachers what the stipend was
going to be. She had three days. And that was because the 28th, Which would have been the 45th day before class,
was a saturday, three days to make a decision on whether or not she could afford Everything.
now, that's saying that she's on not on vacation because this is coming out in the summer.
june 20th 25 or 2024. And in the manual itself, It says, when you look for what the compensation for the stipends are going to be,
you have to go to a separate document. The separate document is number.
it's in the I. I lost my track here.
stipend exhibit five. With the stipend annual compensation plan, But it's not part of the record.
there's nothing in exhibit five that shows where the document came from. The only part date on the document that it referenced anything is may 15th, 2025 at 2:21 p.m.
the point is exhibit three of hisd attachments, And it notifies the stipend has been removed.
are there any questions from my colleagues? The parties have completed their Presentations.
it's now time for the board members to make our decision on the issues before us.
the board will now recess to closed session under chapter 551 of the texas government code Open meetings act.
subsections 551.0042551.089. Should board final action, Vote or decision on any matters considered in closed session be required,
such final action, vote or decision shall be taken at the open meeting covered by this Notice.
upon the reconvening of this public meeting, Or at the subsequent public meeting of the board, upon notice thereof. The board is
recessed to closed session at 6:07 p.m. On april 30th, 2026.
this special meeting of the school board of houston independent school district is now Reconvened in open session.
the time is 6:14 p.m.. Do I have a motion?
yes. Yes, madam chair, I move that we deny all requested relief not previously granted by The level two hearing officer and uphold the
decision of the level two hearing officer. Do I have a second?
we have a motion by board member cruz arnold and a second by board member colon.
is there a discussion? Please vote. The
voting is closed. The motion passes. The board has voted three, Four and zero against the above motion voted on.
conclusion of the hearing. A letter notifying both parties of the action of the board Shall be prepared and signed by the executive director of board relations as soon as
possible. This hearing is concluded at 6:15 p.m..
with no further business to discuss, this meeting of the board is adjourned. The time is 06:16 p.m.
on april 30th, 2026.