Good evening and welcome to the april work session meeting of the richardson isd board of trustees.
I'm chris poteet, board president. Mr. Eager will not be joining us today.
however, we do have a quorum present and this meeting is called to order at 6.01 p.m.
at this time, we will proceed with our public comment section. Ms.
renteria, do we have any persons who have signed up to address the board?
we do not, mr. Poteet. All right. Thank you. With that, we'll move
to our first item on the agenda. It's an information item,
and we're going to receive a presentation regarding algebra 1 for all.
ms. Brannan. Thank you, president poteet. Thank you, board.
several years ago, our teaching and learning team, along with school leadership,
underwent a journey to really look
at and why many of our students were not accessing higher level math, as well as looking
at tsi scores, sat, act, and continued
to recognize that one of the barriers that our students have in taking that higher
level math was algebra 1, and really not taking algebra 1 until that freshman year.
and research has been very clear that when students take algebra 1 in eighth grade,
they that it opens up tremendous avenues for students, especially
first-generation college students. And our team at that point made a commitment that we
were going to do the work, and we knew it was going to be a long road ahead
to adjust curriculum, to provide professional learning to teachers,
to support student readiness, to help communicate with parents the reason why this was such an important project
for us. We are not where we need
to be yet, but man have we made great strides and we are excited
to just provide an update. One of the main outcomes that
we wanted for this meeting was we know every time that
we present for example our math scores we always look at that funky kind of grade
seven and eight and part of that is because we have this acceleration and so we just
wanted to provide you board as well as our community. With a little bit
of deeper understanding of why this is important and the
work that we are doing to increase student outcomes,
student achievement specifically measured with algebra 1. And so huge applause to our
teaching and learning team and to our math team who have just been steadfast.
and there have been many times when we look at each other and we say, hey, is this the right work?
and we keep coming back to our why of our north star goal and providing access
to every opportunity for students that we can. So I'm going to now turn it over to dr.
leeper and to ms. Teague, who are going to just walk us through the work and where we are and how
we're going to continue to improve those outcomes. Thank you so much for such a
great introduction. I feel complete now. All right, so we are going
to be looking at algebra for all tonight, and we do appreciate the opportunity to bring an update because it
really is important work. I want to start off, as we always do,
by grounding ourselves in the north star goal. Every student, teacher, and
leader will meet or exceed their academic growth goals.
the next thing I want to do, though, is introduce you to the newest member
of my team. She's been with us since last july. Her name is mia watson.
she is our middle school specialist. She works with our
pre-algebra and algebra and even our algebra one in high school.
so it has been a wonderful year working with her.
and so she is going to bring, y'all know how I like to do in math, I like you
to have a little activity. We're going to call this the ignite activity because we are
paying homage to the learner framework and so we want to do that for you and
we are so excited and mia is going to take it away now.
hi everybody. The first thing I would like to do is, this activity is called the
algebra, the equation elevator. I would like for you all to look
at the cards that are in front of you. There are pink cards,
there are yellow cards, and the blue cards. The blue cards are the grade level. So we're going to start
at sixth grade, and we're going to go all the way down to algebra 1.
and then we have the purple cards, which are the teks indicators. And then we have the orange
cards, which are the equations. So I'm going to give you
about a minute. You and your partner are going to work together.
and you are going to match the correct grade level with the correct equation and also
try to find the right indicator for that grade level.
we're yes.
okay. Do you want to tell them the answer? Okay.
so thank you for doing that activity. I loved all of the talking
and like processing all of the vocabulary that are inside of the cards.
and you were able to match the teaks with the correct grade level. And also I saw that
in the groups, you and your partner may have been wondering that.
seventh and eighth grade, how they went, what order did those equations go in, and sometimes that's where
our students, that's how they feel. Like, I don't know what
to do first or what comes before something else, and so here in risd,
we have tried to make a conscious effort when we, now that we don't have a actual
seventh grade math class, that we embed those skills within sixth grade and then
also embed them in the eighth grade. Math or the seventh grade math that they take now.
so the pre-algebra class that we have. So the first equation for sixth grade is equation a,
which also goes with the one step equation.
so all they have to do is combine like terms and then isolate the
variable. Then seventh grade is equation d.
they have to know how to combine like terms and then isolate the variable. Second is the eighth grade
teac, which is equation b. Equation b has variables
on both sides, but this question has a variable, I mean a constant
on the outside where they have to distribute to the parentheses. And then equation c is
algebra one, where they combine all of those skills. So it starts really early. You may think it starts
in sixth grade, but it actually starts in elementary. Can you believe your students do algebra
in elementary school? Yes, they are. This is a building block. For where we are sending our
students. So when you think about algebra 1 for all, you need to think ground level.
like where will they start? How are we preparing them in elementary to go up into
secondary math and being successful? This is a very good indicator
of how college will go for our students. And we want
to make the math accessible to everybody. And that's what we've been doing here now
by having our pre-algebra in 7th grade and our 8th graders taking algebra 1. It helps them.
and we are able to build that math skill that we want people to have.
and it makes them confident. You can hear them talking like today. I was at north, you know,
helping with star. I've been helping prepare the kids for star and they look so happy today.
they did not look stressed out at all. So our teachers are doing a really good job bridging the
gap from where they were to where we are now. And the students looked happy
and I was happy to see that because I'm a math person. So I just I wanted I want everybody
to feel the way that I feel about my content. And I could see it in the students when I go
to the campuses and visit with the middle school kids. So yes we were very excited to hear one
of our co-workers got a call from her son and he said oh it was easy. It's a little bit scary
to hear that but at the same time we're going with it was a positive.
okay I want to start off tonight looking
at the journey of algebra for all because it it has been a journey
to get where we are now. In 2018-2019, risd made the decision
to begin the work to make rigorous math accessible
to all students.
and so they phased in a program called algebra for all.
and I will tell you, just personal, I love that name. I think it's a great name.
I think it's a great message. Our second step occurred in
2019 and 2020 when we actually launched. The program.
we started it at two schools, liberty and apollo, and unfortunately
covid hit, and so we never got star scores that year. We went home
at spring break, and we didn't come back until the next school year.
2020 and 2021 then were our second year, and we continued to phase in
that program and roll schools into the program.
in 2023, tea jumped on our bandwagon. They released senate bill
2124, which encourages all schools and all school
districts to get students into algebra 1
in eighth grade. In 2425, all eight of our
junior highs and middle schools were implementing algebra for all.
and so that's very exciting because it tells you where we are now. We're fully in.
I want to talk about the why. Why is it important that we
put eighth graders in algebra 1? And there's several things
that we have to think about with this. First of all is college
readiness and access for all. We want to increase the
opportunities for underrepresented students. We want to ensure that
they're not shut out of pathways for college and competitive careers.
I always think about this. It doesn't end when they walk across the stage.
we want them to have good jobs and be strong members of the community.
and so what we've done those previous 13 years, that's the start
to get them going. The other thing that is
really good with algebra is for abstract thinking. And if you've seen me present
before, you know that I talk about concrete, representational,
and abstract. Abstract is what we get in algebra 1.
and the great thing about that crucial, critical thinking and problem solving
is that it's transferable. If you can problem solve in algebra 1, you can transfer
that to other disciplines and areas in your life.
and that's what we want. Our kids need to be able to solve problems.
finally, we know. That research supports this. Research tells us that
getting into algebra at an earlier age will increase and
make higher math scores and a greater likelihood of taking
advanced mathematics. And I'll show you in just a second,
that's true in our district. It's also with better long-term outcomes because
what we see is kids completing degrees and having greater earning potential.
and those things are so important. And so when we look at algebra
at the early ages or in eighth grade, we really are seeing and setting our
kids up for more success. And maybe, julie, could you touch on,
we also recognize that for many students, going directly into college
may not be their pathway. They may have their eyes set on a career going right out
of high school that might also be high wage,
high demand. How does this work also prepare them maybe for some
of those skilled trades? That's a good question and it obviously does because what
we see with our kids that have completed algebra and moved on to higher
mathematics is they have those crucial critical thinking skills and so they're able
to problem solve. They're able to be working on a construction site and
realize that something's not right or realize that something doesn't fit.
we see those kids really grow in their personality and
in their ability. It's not just math. It really is
about skills that you can use in your lifetime.
not all kids are going to go to college and do that route, and we know that.
one of the things, well, I'll talk about it on another slide, but we're
seeing such improvement in our ccmr scores, and that's something that we
really, really want to celebrate. On the next slide, you'll see
that we've come a long way in just a few years.
when you look at what our scores are or how many
of our children took algebra 1 in 8th grade in 2018, the
year before we rolled out this program,
you see that we had a total of 960 students that were
in algebra 1 that year. In 2025, you see that we had
02,061 students in algebra for all.
and the other thing that I want you to notice are the numbers
below the 2061. Because what you see there is
almost an identical snapshot of our actual enrollment in the district.
and that is so important for us to understand. Because we are getting our
kids in there that were
underrepresented and now are able to do this.
just to point out that those demographic percentages almost mirror that of our district.
I went and looked today. We're at 30% white, 38% hispanic.
it was almost identical. I was really surprised and very happy when I looked
at that. When we look at the number
of testers, this is where we will see some different numbers come into play.
and I think it's important that we acknowledge this and look at it.
in 2023, we were well into algebra for all. We'd been doing it
for two or three years at that point. And so you'll see that
in seventh grade, we only had 202 seventh graders taking the seventh
grade star. Two years later, as we rolled everybody in,
last year we had 14 seventh graders take the seventh
grade star. It didn't all leave the
district. They were just all in eighth grade math.
and so that is what is so exciting. When I look at,
and I'm going to jump over to the column that says eighth graders taking algebra 1, I
think it's important to see that in 2023, we had 01,772 students taking
algebra 1 in eighth grade. Bless you. In 2024, we had 2007.
and in 2025, we had 2,061 eighth graders taking
algebra 1, and that is exciting. The other number that you'll
notice that really is changing is our ninth graders taking algebra 1. The more kids we can get
through algebra 1 in middle school, the better off we'll be
for those kids. We know that we will never
have no kids in algebra 1 in high school. Because there will always be
kids that move in that were at a place where maybe algebra 1 wasn't as prevalent
in eighth grade as it is here in richardson. There will always be students in there, but we went from
01,946 in 2023 to 1,210, a difference of over 700
students in two years taking algebra
in high school. I want to look at some data
trends that we've seen because it is important and it is something that we are
very cognizant of that the scores are not exactly where we want them to be.
the work is not done. We are continuing to improve and work
on things, but I want to look at this full picture. You can see that we had
seventh graders taking the algebra 1 test. These are a handful of advanced kids who are
obviously actually working. Two grades above where they
would be and you can see how high their scores are and so that tells you they're
exactly where they need to be. They have not overstepped what they can do.
in eighth grade, taking algebra 1, you see that our scores are really hanging in there.
some years, the test is harder than other years. We know that.
but we also can see that our kids are doing a really, really good job.
in ninth grade, we see that as well as eighth grade. We need some more support
there, and we are looking at ways to get that done,
and I'll talk about those in just a minute, because it is important that we know the
work isn't done. This work continues and we are continuing to do it.
on this slide, I wanted to
give you a teacher's perspective. Catherine, and she goes by
katie caravano, is a middle school teacher at apollo
junior high. She has been there for several years.
she taught pre-algebra and now teaches algebra. And so I thought she was a good voice to talk
about how it feels on the... On the end of it
of a teacher and so I want to play her do I just point this and press let's see oh here
we go hello I'm catherine
caravano and I work at apollo junior high I am an algebra one teacher I've been
doing algebra one for three years we do our algebra for all program where our sixth
grade students move up as seventh graders into pre-algebra and then the
eighth graders will take algebra 1.
before we had this program, we had to convince the sixth graders
to take advanced math so that they could move on to pre-algebra seventh graders.
and a lot of them heard that word advanced and they're like, nope, I'm not going
to do it. And I would have them sitting in my class bored doing the lesson before I even finished it,
like being done. And so we would then have to do a process of have them take a test so they could
then skip a grade and that was always more of a struggle whereas now they get that
chance from the beginning and then they move on and they just do beautifully seamlessly one thing that I
would love to add into the program for the students who are struggling
with that jump is if we had a math lab, it would really be helpful to
those students who just need a little bit more help front loading and getting those gaps in.
and then we see, we just see
so, like I've seen so much more growth because
like I said, I used to teach pre-algebra and seventh grade math. The number of kids that I see
successfully taking their algebra 1 class and that star test has just been so many
more numbers from when we only have them taking it as advanced students.
our on-level students do awesome in algebra 1, they
really do, and it's great to see that they can then take algebra 2 starting
in high school and move on and take ap courses and get that college credit from the get-go.
okay, tonight we are kd squared. Because I had katie caravano
and we also have katie motron who is our principal at westwood so she has dealt
with this from a little bit of a different perspective.
I am very proud principal of westwood junior high I'm really glad to be here to talk about math.
also our principal of the year by the way secondary principal of the year well, I
have a great math team I think that's why you know, we started the pre-algebra.
so I say pre-algebra because eighth grade math, seventh graders taking it always
confuses me. So pre-algebra, we started that in 2023.
and certainly, you know, as we've kind of talked about, our data isn't exactly where we need
it to be. But what has been really cool is every year we have made
huge, huge strides. And then when we look at that seventh grade math. Our students
in seventh grade on the eighth grade test are performing higher on that than other seventh graders
within the state. And I think that that's a really important piece to make here,
that while maybe our seventh graders, you know, there's a few gaps in terms
of how they're performing against eighth graders
statewide, they're outperforming seventh graders in the state in math.
and so I think that just tells us just... A linear analytical person, I think that that tells us that this is working, right?
we need strong teachers who know how to differentiate for kids and who know how to meet kids where they are and
grow them and believe that this is possible for them.
certainly at first it was a little scary, right? Our numbers were really high when you have kids who are
self-selecting and accelerating into algebra 01, and now everybody is going to be in there.
there's a few, you know, teachers can be apprehensive about that.
but I do know that with the right support from really our curriculum
department and within the campus, it can happen, right?
our algebra I scores have remained high. We have still been competing
and higher than the state. And that's eighth graders compared to a lot of ninth
graders and mainly ninth graders. So I think overall it's really, really exciting.
I love the opportunities that it expands for. Students in high school, right?
they can take... More rigorous math at the high school and just even seeing kids be like wow
like I'm in algebra 1 I'm an eighth grader and and ninth graders are doing this and
I'm performing at a high level I think there's a lot that students that belief
in themselves especially in math and moving on is really exciting for
them you're welcome anytime you have a program you have
to look at the ups and the downs and the grows and the glows.
so I want to take a few minutes and kind of look at the things that are happening
that we know are really great and then some of the areas that we want
to see improvement. With our glows, we have 04,813 total hours
of college math credit earned by the class of 2025.
and I think that is so exciting. Think about that.
that's just in math. When you think about all of the courses and all, we graduated so many kids that
were going to walk into college as juniors. That is so exciting. And their parents are excited
too, because that's two years they're not having to pay for.
we also, because we've done eighth grade eoc
in eighth grade, so we've got that off their back, they're able to have that opportunity to
take those advanced math classes, and we are seeing... Increased enrollment
in our advanced math, and I'm so excited about that.
and the last thing I kind of alluded to a minute ago is that we had 97% ccmr met last
year, and that is huge. That's further than we had
even set our goals, and that's very exciting. When we think about grows,
obviously the impact on accountability, because now it's not just our
advanced eighth graders in algebra one it is kids who probably never dreamed that
they would be in an advanced math course.
but the exciting news is they are and they're passing. And that's what we want.
we want our kids to get in there and learn it and meet and master and do all
of that because they can. We know that this is an area of growth
for us as we continue to get those scores up, but we will continue to work
to get the scores up. I want to talk next
about next steps, what are we doing next, and key takeaways.
the first thing that we are so excited about is our new curriculum.
we have a new curriculum resource that we will roll out this summer with trainings and then
for the next school year in sixth grade through algebra one. This new curriculum resource
has a lot of enrichment activities.
it has a lot of differentiation. It's a very strong program.
the teachers voted for it unanimously. They were very, very excited
to have this program. We had a big committee of teachers and administrators
and people that came and saw what the programs that we offered were.
and this was the one they selected. And we're very, very excited about it.
also, the vertical alignment. We're all going to be on the same program.
and that is going to help so much with that vertical alignment.
increased rigor and alignment for elementary, that's an area that we know we need to shore up.
there are several things on the horizon that are going to help us there too.
first of all, we have math academies that we're about to start rolling out,
not next year, but the next. And we know that will increase the rigor and tie
that alignment more tightly to where we need it to be in those early lower grades.
my team... Audrey robertson, megan mayo, and myself have
actually been selected to pilot it. And so we will be piloting those math academies next
year. So we're really excited about that and the work that we're
doing in elementary. We want to continue supporting our current
teachers, administrators, and students as they work through these higher level
math because we know it's so, so important.
one of the things, and I want to give a shout out to you, is that part of
what is so important here is that we retain our teachers. And part of retention is
something that you guys have done.
and that is with increased salaries. We know money talks and
teachers listen. And it has allowed us to keep our really great teachers.
also get teachers to come here who are great and
experienced, but because of what we offer,
they are so excited to be here, and that helps our administrators.
because then they get the very best math teachers. The other thing we need
to do is continue to communicate what it is and the why behind algebra for
all. That's so important. Finally, with any program,
you're going to have to refine. And I will tell you that when
I met with katie caravano, I did not know that we were going to be implementing all
the math labs next year. And so watching her say that,
I was like, oh, my goodness,
yes, because that's something that I have felt very strongly about
for a while. Some of our kids don't walk through that door in seventh grade going into
eighth grade math quite prepared for what they're about to see, and that's okay, because if we can have
a math lab that front loads what's going to be taught, that scaffolds back and helps
pick up those misconceptions, that's going to make a world of difference
for those kids. And so the math labs are something I am super supportive
of and excited about. Student data. With ddi, the way we have
addressed that the last two or three years, we look at each student's name and need.
what is it that child is struggling with? I always use this.
it's kind of an analogy. It's just something I say. Where do the wheels come off?
because a lot of times when you look at a student's work, you can tell exactly where they strayed
from what they needed to be doing. One step. When you really understand
that, that's when you can fix it. Fifth grade curriculum, we
know there are ways that we can support sixth grade even more because sixth grade is
aligned to middle school. Fifth grade is aligned to elementary,
and there's a gap in there. So one of the things we've done is that... Next tuesday, our fifth
graders will take star. And after that, the teks they will work
on are sixth grade. We start teaching integers. Those last few weeks,
we have over a month left in school, or about a month left
in school. And we can't waste that time. So we're teaching integers and exponents and all the
things that we can to get our fifth graders ready for sixth grade.
the other thing that I'm super excited about is the middle school transformation.
pulling those kids up into middle school, if you look at forest meadow and if you look at lake
highlands middle school, you see the difference it makes.
those teachers go back and forth and talk to each other.
when I'm at an elementary school, I don't ever go to the middle school to talk to the eighth grade math
teacher and say, what is it you really need my kids to be able to do?
but at that middle school, they do. And it really is making a
difference. We are seeing amazing scores from that.
the last thing I want to say is this.
implementing algebra for all in 2019 was a bold move, and it put risd ahead
of the curve in mathematics.
algebra for all is not a one-size-fits-all. And so the fact that we
continue to refine the program. And work to make it even
better just shows our dedication to it. Our teachers are wonderful.
we have some very strong math teachers, and I'm so proud of them, and I'm so proud of
the work they do. I cannot tell you how much they care, and I cannot tell
you how proud they are of their kids.
I know that we want to continue this work.
and I want to say this, and tab said this when she opened
for us, it's the right work.
and most of all, it shows our commitment to our students and to doing
the right thing. I want to thank you for your support with all of
this and then ask if you have any questions. First of all, I have to let
kaysen know he thinks after star next tuesday that it's like smooth sailing the rest of his fifth grade.
well. So I'm going
to do some pre-teaching of integers. I don't want him to be mad at me, but no, it's not a downhill slide.
he loves to speak. But I think I really want to
highlight what you mentioned around algebra one for all is
not a middle school focus. Just like we say graduation
is not just a responsibility, or ccmr is just not the responsibility of the high schools.
it's a pre-k-12. So when I think about elementary, we talk a
lot around how important it is, for example, for students to have automaticity
of their math facts. We send home flashcards for addition.
third graders, we send home flashcards for multiplication. We equip parents with fun,
easy games that they can use for those flashcards. And this is just my plug
for any parents who are out there listening on this thursday night. How important it is that they
are reinforcing that. As our students are taking more complex math, what we
don't want is students having to process those basic math facts.
we want them focused on the new concept or skill that they're developing.
and if they have to worry about what is eight times six, they're focusing on that and not the skill that
they're applying that math skill to. So parents, please use those
flashcards. We want our students to have, and we believe in doing it the old school way,
flashcards, practicing that, having fun games with that,
manipulatives, because that really does bring that automaticity.
so, again. Huge congratulations and appreciation to julie and her
team and we would love to take any questions or comments. All right, we'll open it up
to questions or comments. Board members.
yes, mr. Andrea. Thank you. Yeah, what a wonderful
presentation. Just so much excitement behind everything that you mentioned and I think it's
awesome. I think for me, I know my own personal experience, I struggled with math.
but all it took was one or two really bad math teachers, right?
absolutely. And I think that that stays with you. And so it was like a catch-up for me, right?
and math has always, I mean, I've always seen it as almost learning another language, right?
and like with any other second language, it takes practice, right?
you apply it. You have to keep doing it. And so that's something or the approach we took
with our two children. So I love the excitement and I love this awesome presentation.
I did want to see if you could clarify for me. You mentioned math labs. Can you just clarify a little
bit about what that is and what it looks like? I mean,
what is a math lab? Okay. So for our kids who take start,
obviously, at the end of the school year, one year, and then they move
into math the next year. For our kids who are not able to meet or master, that means
they're not really performing at grade level. Even if they approached.
it means they're slightly under. They need to be at the meets level.
and so for those kids, we want to offer them a class that is a lab
in that they'll go in, they'll have a teacher.
this is at the middle school and junior high level. It's not at our elementary schools.
we're not doing that there next year. But at our middle schools, our kids will go
into a class with a teacher who will um go ahead and
front load some of the things that they know they're going to be taught.
we know from research that seeing something more than once really does help us understand it and retain it.
and so seeing that, our kids will go in,
they'll see that. We'll work on math facts. A lot of times those are the
kids who it took longer to take the test. Maybe they didn't even finish.
maybe they got tied and gave up because they don't know 6 times 7 is 42. And so they're sitting there
counting on their... Fingers seven times. Well, if they get off
at some point and put 43, we all understand why, but the answer's not going
to be right. So working with those facts is going to be an important part
of that. Learning the rules of integers, those things like that, that they need
that reinforcement on, those are things that will happen in math labs. I'm very excited
about front-loading. Because I will tell you,
when I was a coach, one of the things I did was front load with my kids. And I couldn't believe the
difference. I was talking to a teacher last week at one
of the schools, and she was saying that she had started front loading some of her kids.
and she was like, oh, my gosh, we got to class the next day. And they had their hand up
because they knew what it was she was teaching. That was the experience I
had. Their confidence built. They were excited. And that's what we want.
and so in those labs, there will be a lot of front-loading.
and I don't know if that clears it. I think so. Okay. So it's only in the middle
school, junior high right now, like you just said. So we will have a math lab for our sixth and then
seventh and then eighth. It's really just
about providing more time. We recognize not every student masters a skill or a concept at the same rate.
so having additional time, smaller class sizes so that the teacher can really
differentiate and group students based upon what they need.
and again, either prepare the students for what's coming up next, or
maybe it is we recognize there's a skill that you lost in fourth grade and we need to make sure that we fill
that before you walk into class tomorrow. Okay, I get it.
and so not every student will be, you know, in a lab, right? So it's just those that we
find that what taffer just described. Yes, ma'am. We're a little bit ahead,
but in our next presentation around the schedule, again, I have a fifth grader.
and so when I think about him in sixth grade, he's an advanced math student.
and so many people would think he would not need additional time. However, these are
foundational. This is foundational curriculum work and one of
the opportunities we're going to be able to provide with the new schedule is that all
sixth graders will also have an option to take an enrichment math. So not only is it
about supporting students who may need that additional time to master a skill,
but kids that need to go deeper and that need to be pushed, that need
to be challenged. It may be more complex problem solving. It may be, you know,
raising the rigor of the skills that they're learning, but making sure that they are
equally challenged and that they have additional time, just like our students who
may need time to master a skill. That is something that we
have talked about doing for a long time, and for the first time the schedule is going to allow us.
to make that happen more time isn't just for students who need intervention it's also for students who can go
farther exactly I think that's wonderful so thank you for clarifying that and you know once again I think this
is awesome and it's just it makes me excited about math thank you yes other board
comments or questions on the presentation let's check
out hi, thank you so much for
your presentation. I loved it. I'm so excited to see just the engagement of
our students and the diverse groups of students are taking advantage of these courses.
also, you know, how they're performing on their end of year course exams.
I have a question and you all mentioned it. You know, we we are taking care of the student
from kindergarten on. Right. They don't start math at sixth grade.
and then you gave the explanation on the math labs, which was also one
of my questions. But how do we know that they're ready in sixth grade?
or do they all go and then we do math labs for additional support or enrichment?
okay.
so we have math.
the kids that go into seventh grade math are in a very challenging math
course with no calculator. When our kids...
yes, per the state. It's not because we wouldn't give them one.
if anyone asked, if it were up to me, we would do calculators starting in sixth grade because how many
of us truly do division of three numbers divided into six numbers without a
calculator? I mean, honestly,
I'm glad our kids can do it, but the truth is a calculator
would help them. But in seventh grade, the math is hard and there's no
calculator. By bumping them into pre-algebra, the math is
not that much harder and they get a calculator. And we know that helps our
kids who are struggling, especially with those basic skills.
they still have to know how to do the math or they wouldn't know what to put in the calculator,
but it keeps them from having to sit for so long doing the computation of something that takes such a
long time when we know that moving forward they will be able
to use that calculator. And so that's one of the things that we know.
if we go ahead and put them in pre-algebra, and if you look
across the state, seventh grade scores are a struggle all across the state, and I'm
talking seventh graders and seventh grade math. It is.
and so giving them that calculator, giving them that boost, that extra lab support is really going
to make a difference. And so that's part of the reason we're so
excited about it. But we want to give all of our kids that chance. Ok, I love that.
I was curious because I'm sure families are wondering, is my kid just automatically placed in this class?
do I opt out? Do I opt in? Like, how does this work?
so I appreciate the explanation. I'm just, you know, full
disclosure, I wasn't allowed to use a calculator until grade.
so, yes, I did that kind of math. But I'm glad that they can use it for when they need it.
the other thing I noticed, and I guess like you mentioned, we'll always have some
of our ninth graders taking algebra 1 just because we have people who move in. We have students who move
slower in the process or just, you know, have other things that
they're really good at and math is just not it. Absolutely. But we need math, right?
so I'm glad that we still have those options available to all our students and the
opportunities to enrich and, of course, improve on concepts that they may be
lacking. So, yeah, thank you. I'm excited. I've always been excited
about the algebra for all, and it's good to see the numbers increase. Thank you.
other comments or questions from the board? Ms. Timmy.
microphone is revolting against me tonight I wonder why thank you guys we're
great all three of you presenting that um I want to thank you
to you guys I also want to just take the moment to say thank you to your point
to the community for passing the bond so that we can have instructional alignment it is
it is different when you have some vertical alignment that
have specific really direct alignment such as this.
to have those students ready for the algebra for all. So I know that instructional
alignment is going to make a difference, especially when you're adopting a curriculum 6th
through 12th grade. Having them in the same spot where you can support them is incredibly important, where
in elementary, until that happens, we're just going to have to, you know,
have two different kinds of support and know two different kinds of curriculum.
but thank you to the community for doing that. It will make an instructional difference.
one of the things, while I share... I show the same reasons for liking this alignment and
this push as my colleagues do, but also, too,
I think oftentimes out of good reasons and good
intentions, we predetermine kind of where we think kids will be successful,
and so they end up in those classes because we think they might be. And I think math is one place
where you can see some kids shine, maybe in areas where they might struggle in other areas.
and if you predetermine what they're going to be good or not good at, you're also going to
predetermine their outcome. And I can guarantee you that if you don't expose them to the highest rigor,
they're never going to reach that, right? And they may not reach it if they're exposed,
but that's because of the skill set, what they may need, and not because somebody else has
predetermined their outcome form. So I really like that option here.
in thinking about that, though, also, we don't want to slow other classes down or I don't know another way
to say it, but like drag instruction down. If we have students in there who aren't ready and who do need extra support
significantly, right, we don't want to stifle learning at class. Do we support that
with any ways, like looking at students who might need that maybe by class size? Like looking at like there
might be some classes that have a larger size if kids are more ready and smaller class size if we know there's
going to need to be more support? Well, so for example, students who are accelerated
in math, you know, they're a lot of our kids, like, you know, kacen will be actually
taking eighth grade and seventh grade. I mean, taking algebra 1 in seventh grade.
so, yes, like those class sizes will be bigger. One of the reasons why the math lab is so important to
us is that it will have differentiated class sizes to be smaller so that our
teachers really can differentiate. A typical algebra 1, what we have not done is we've not
tracked kids. So our algebra 1 kids, we really do.
it's... The entire eighth grade and however their schedule fell, they are in algebra 1
together in that class. There are some challenges
with that, but there are also some benefits. And that's where I think when you heard our amazing apollo
teacher mention why she feels like she needs that math lab, it's that she knows sometimes she needs to provide a little
bit more treatment and a little bit more time and intensity with our kids that need that reinforcement.
and right now, that's where she's struggling to find that time. And I think if you talk
to all of our algebra 1 teachers at... Junior high, they would say
the same thing. It's having that ability to meet all of them. Absolutely.
I would like to also echo what you say that when you can front load for kids, listen,
if somebody front loads me on something, when I go in and I know what I'm I know what's being talked about.
I have a little bit. You talked about that they're going to raise their hands and things.
they will participate more. Everybody wants to be successful. And when everything's hard
for you every day, but you have now, you have a little bit of a leg up, it gives you an opportunity
to participate and be engaged in a different way. And kids who are engaged in instruction, in my opinion,
are just going to have better outcomes, right, other than trying to blend into the wall and, like, not make eye contact so
you don't call them on them. So. So, I really think that's an excellent support.
I think also, too, sometimes even understanding what the words mean. Like, maybe they know,
but maybe they don't. Like, and it just, yeah. Sometimes you have kids who need
to overlearn a concept, especially if they struggle in math, right? And that does happen. You have kids who are
stronger, right, in certain subjects. So, I do, I think that's going to be a really great model.
I'm glad to hear that you guys are using that. It sounds like that's going to be a really good support. Let's see.
are you guys going to correlate how many kids are
in this and the difference in how it goes to the ccmr outcomes?
I'm trying to get to this. Are we going
to see the correlation of starting them early and how it benefits them through
additional coursework so that we're going to be able to see that over time? Yes, ma'am.
so we began tracking that, and we provided some of that for you.
but that is our next step. Once we have that full cohort, we will begin to show, before we did
algebra 1 for all, this is how many kids that took, for example, it may be a business math, or it may be
an ap calculus, calculus bc. And now this is how many kids
that are accessing that because they had that math earlier.
so yes, we're going to be able to track that. Tsi. Right.
yes. Tsi before, tsi after. Well, with a new system, that's going to be huge. Yeah, it's going
to be huge. Yes. So, yeah, we even as a district, you know,
we flipped algebra 2 and geometry, again, as another tool around ccmr and tsi.
so, again, measuring that, allowing kids to go straight from algebra 1 to algebra
02, geometry is kind of a little... A whole different math.
yes. A whole different language. So moving that,
so kids have algebra 1, algebra 2, and then they take the tsi right there. So we really use the tsi as
our assessment of algebra and so what is that continuum?
so, yes, we will begin to report on all of that
for you. That's great. And then I'm assuming, too, for the kids who aren't
successful going through there or who struggle, you'll be able to track that in the same way and be able to see, like, how we can
channel them so that they still have the opportunities for those outcomes, even if this is just a challenge. You know, we want growth or
whatever, and I want them to be the best that they can be for sure, but I also would hate
for this pushing to prevent kids from getting into some places if we can
channel them a different way, right, because there's so many multiple tracks that sometimes you need just the
intentionality of if you're, like, there are other options if this isn't
working the right way. One of the things we are really beginning to look
at and where, again, we're so excited, again, thank you to our community for the support of the bond
of our cte center. Because we also think it's super important to match math
with their cte pathway. Absolutely. And there are some maths that, depending upon what
your pathway is, are going to be better aligned to what it is that you're going to need
to do versus others. Absolutely. So if we're going
to support you in career, how do we align your math sequence to support you in that,
versus if we know you're at rhs, we have a student that's going to mit.
so his pathway for math. Was very differentiated from, you know, other students. And so how do we do that?
so it's not just here's the course catalog and you take this class and then you take this class and you take this
class. To julie's point, name a need.
what do you need, ms. Timmy, that's different than ms. Pacheco and how do we make
sure that that sequence looks like that? That's so great. Well, I want to thank all of our math teachers,
our math department, who obviously do a great job, the fact that you guys were bold with this and have continued
to stay with it even when it's been a struggle because some of the scores when they've not been, on that
advanced track have been really tough right like and said that you guys have stayed with that and really worked
to find supports and to fill those gaps um that along with the community allowing
us to have some instructional alignment by having middle schools and moving that sixth grade up I think all
of those things are going to student growth and student outcomes and I think that's what we want so thank you
thank you for those comments do we have I see you reaching across the table. Ms.
harris, you're up. Great. I mean, I've written
down quite a few notes. And really what I want to focus on is just really comments.
because when I think of math and algebra and all the things,
the first thing that comes to mind for me is fear. I also feel
like there's a lot of kids out there that feel the same way. And because they are so
fearful of this stuff that they don't recognize, don't understand,
they would just prefer to just shut down and not try and not do it.
so all these extra things, the flashcards, something as simple as
flashcards, take these home, I love it. I mean, engaging the parents,
even though some of the parents may not know what the heck is going on. But it gives that student and
the parent an opportunity to collaborate and to kind of try
to figure this thing out, even if they have to google it.
right. And so, you know, I really appreciate that. I love that because I was I
was not strong in math at all. Right.
still not today. But yeah, it does.
it absolutely does. I mean, but you have some people out there just absolutely love
it. So I just appreciate the opportunity that you're giving to students who may
not know how well they can do in this. And it sounds like you all
are headed in the right direction in doing that. So I really appreciate it.
and trustee harris, if I can tell you that a secret objective outcome that I have is to eradicate our students
saying I'm not good at math. I don't do math.
math may be a little bit more challenging. We may spend more time on it, but you can be good at math.
and we're going to show you how to be good at math. So that's my, I may not be able to measure that, but I
do believe if we can change that mindset that we believe you can, and then we just give you the tools
to do it, all kids can be successful.
I think you'll be able to see it in your percentages. I absolutely think you'll.
and you'll be able to see it in those students that wouldn't typically. Sign up for those classes
because I know a lot of students like that. I know a lot of students
like that. In our math department, we say every person is a math person because a lot
of people say, oh, I'm not a math person. Yeah, you are.
you are. You got here on time to work today, didn't you? That was math.
you got your paycheck and you paid your bills. That was math. We're all math people. We may be
at different levels, but we are all math people, period.
other comments or, okay. Do you have a,
squeeze one more in? Okay. I'm sorry. I want to squeeze one more in because I do think it's
important. One thing that I did hear, and I heard it on that video,
which is why I really want to come back to it. It is clear, and to me, I hope it is clear to others
that. A teacher being comfortable enough to say in a video,
I want a math lab, like I would like for you all to provide that.
and then for you guys to already have had that, to me that speaks to, a, that our teachers feel comfortable enough to give feedback and
ask what they want. That doesn't happen by accident. It happens because you guys overtly solicit it because
our principals are making our teachers feel confident enough that their voice matters.
and the fact that knowing this was coming to a board meeting, a teacher felt comfortable enough in
letting us know. What they needed. That all speaks to how
important the teacher's voice is. I think it goes to why they would want to come to work
in richardson, why they would want to stay. That comes from great leadership and instilling
confidence in other leaders and all of you all implementing that. And that's a little thing
that could pass by pretty easily. And I just didn't want to let that go
without saying it. So thank you guys for doing that.
all right. Any other comments from the board questions? I will.
close this item out, but one of the words I know that ms. Timmy used earlier, and this
is a little bit more of a global comment, she used the word bold.
and when I look back and you went over the journey and the timeline, how we were ahead
of where the state was. And that made me kind of think, okay, where else have we been ahead
of the state? Maybe cell phone policy. Maybe in our project right size,
we were way ahead of a lot of our peer districts. And so all that together. Tells me that we're making
bold decisions to the benefit of our
students and everybody else has to play catch up around us so that brings a little
bit of that independent in the independent school district that we've been looking for and feel like
it's fleeting sometimes I think that shows a little independence that we're using in our isd and that builds a
reputation and we will have a reputation where we take the bold steps for our students
and our teachers so anyway, those just were some things that, as I heard some of these words and saw that
timeline, I thought about. So appreciate the presentation.
thanks for the time tonight. And with that, we are going to go to our second item,
our next item on the agenda. Thank you.
yes, thank you. Thank you, ms. Matra. The next item on the agenda
is an information item to receive a presentation regarding secondary scheduling.
ms. Branham. Thank you, trustee poteet. At our last meeting, I brought forward a series
of reductions to help continue to right-size our budget
to really better align with our current enrollment. And one of the adjustments
that I did bring forward was moving our secondary schedule model.
to a traditional seven or eight period day. We know that there are lots
of questions in the community that we wanted to make sure to provide as much clarity as
possible, and tonight we felt like this was the right time
to bring that forward. I want
to assure the community, I want to assure the board, that our team would not have
brought that recommendation forward if we did not believe that the schedule and a new
schedule would still align and support our north star goal.
everything we do is around ensuring that we bring this from words on a page to to life in our students.
and so if you go to the next slide and we're sharing because jenny's going
to be presenting in a minute. If you keep going,
what I want to highlight for everyone is like the calendar there's no perfect
schedule. I actually went back to my email emails
from when we transitioned during covid to a block schedule.
and if the board will remember, we implemented that
in response to our health experts asking us to reduce transitions and
to try to prevent as, you know, minimum moving
between classrooms, large groups in the hallways, and the block schedule did afford
that. And as I went back to my emails, it's eerily similar to a couple of the emails
that I have received from students and parents related to this schedule.
you can have a student that is an advanced student who
loves a block schedule, and you can have an advanced student that thrives
in a seven-period day. You can have a student
with anxiety that sitting in a classroom for 90 minutes is overwhelming, trying
to tackle too many concepts at once. That can be overwhelming,
and a seven-period day with added transitions can be overwhelming.
so it's not even a certain profile of a student may or may not fit one schedule or
the other. I wanted to, as transparently as I could,
really just communicate to our stakeholders, what do we see as the
benefits of both? Because both schedules are fine.
like, both schedules are fine. Some of the benefits of a
traditional seven-period day, for a lot of our students, the consistency.
when you have a block schedule, for example, depending upon if you miss a friday and then maybe
monday, for example, we had to have a snow day, then you may not see your a or b
teacher for six days or five days. And that, for a lot
of students, missing that instruction and not having their connection
to their teacher for that long. Can be something that's
really challenging. So knowing no matter what day, I know I'm going to see one
through seven. I don't have to guess. Is it a day or b day?
like that consistency can really be a benefit. For our teachers, our teachers, again,
they're amazing at what they do, and they can thrive in either schedule.
I will say that when you're teaching to a 50-minute class period, there's an urgency to maximize every instructional
minute. One of the challenges that sometimes we have in a block
setting is that when you have 90 minutes, you don't necessarily want to try to introduce too many
new concepts, because that can be completely overwhelming, and you can't introduce the next
concept until you know the students have mastered the first.
so a lot of times our teachers will give extended time for independent practice.
they may even give some time for homework. Well, one of my kids,
they are going to take advantage of every minute, and they are going
to get that homework done. They're going to study. Another one, he would have been on his
chromebook doing all kinds of things that mr.
hall probably would have had to check out and address. So that urgency of maximizing
those instructional minutes we see as a real benefit to the 7 or 8 period day.
daily skills, just having that daily practice. There's less decay
of learning. So I've learned something today,
and guess what? I'm going to be back at it tomorrow. I'm not having to wait from,
you know, thursday to monday to practice that or to ask a question of my
teacher because maybe I got lost in something and I had to wait for it. Now I even forgot what
question I had. So being able to every day be able
to address that. Performance subjects specifically, they require
that muscle memory. Fine arts, for example, is a curriculum area that they
thrive with a shorter class period where they're meeting
every day and they're practicing skills to get to that muscle memory.
lower absentee impact. When students do miss a day, they're not having to wait
for so longer as well as missing so much content. In that 90-minute block.
so it does lessen what it feels like when I have to
miss a day because I am sick, or maybe I've traveled with a team to compete or
to perform somewhere. And then we do have to address attention cycle.
and actually you're going to see that this is kind of a benefit on both sides.
for some students, give me 50 minutes, I can be all in for 50 minutes,
and then I get to transition and I get to move to something new. So for many students that is
a real benefit. On the block schedule, again, you get instructional depth.
if I'm a science teacher, give me the block schedule
all day, every day, because I can get through a lab from beginning to end, and I don't have
to break it up into parts. Instructional variety, when I have 90 minutes,
I might be able to group students. We might be able to have different activities.
all that happens in with one schedule. There is less student transition.
there may be extended periods within that block where I have an opportunity
to connect with our teachers. When our teachers have a
planning period, they have a full 90-minute period, and I can get a lot done in
90 minutes. Sometimes with 50 minutes, by the time I get all my resources organized, I may
not feel like I'm being as productive as if I have a full 90-minute block.
more athletic time is built into the schedule. Some additional minutes
to complete homework in class. So being very cognizant of that, and we're going
to address that in a minute. And then again, on the other hand,
attention cycle of kids. So having a block for many of our kids and not having to think about eight or seven
different classes in a day, and just today I'm just focusing on these four,
that feels doable. And so again, depending upon the individual
student, they can have different impacts. So there's no perfect
schedule. There's no perfect schedule. So if you come back to what
we know impacts student achievement, and I know you hear us talk
about this in the board, you have extended your value, as ms.
teague said, to this research as well. The most consistent finding
in educational research is that the schedule matters less than the pedagogy.
among all student-related factors, including facilities, leadership, and services, teachers have two
to three times the impact of any factor on student achievement.
in the end, it comes down to the teacher in the classroom. And our phenomenal teachers are going to do great things
and help grow our students, regardless if they're in a seven- or eight-period day or if they're
in a block schedule.
so just some context that I wanted to provide. Again until 2021, risd had
implemented a traditional seven and eight period day. We had our health center that
was at richardson methodist hospital, and our students traveled over there for all
of the same courses that we have today. And we navigated that very
successfully. As I mentioned, the block schedule was implemented to
reduce transitions. I also think it's important to note that even, for example, plano isd will
be in our new athletic district next year. And they are also on a seven-period day.
mckinney isd, conroe, round rock, houston are just a few examples of districts that are
on a traditional schedule like we are.
almost every district in the state for middle school implements a traditional seven- or
eight-period day. We were actually one of the outliers in middle school, and I think
you all can imagine where some of the challenges I mentioned with the block schedule,
it's exacerbated for our middle students.
as they are developing and maturing, that 90-minute block and keeping up with everything every other day
can sometimes really be difficult.
and then lastly, there's really no significant risd data point to indicate
student achievement or program success was impacted by a schedule design.
so if you go back and look at fine arts enrollment, fine arts, you know,
successes, we were equally successful. The success of our athletics
programs, we had district winning,
area winning programs on a traditional schedule just like we have had
on the block schedule. So with that, we know
everyone is anxiously awaiting for some of the details of the schedule, and so
ms. Bates is going to provide some of the information. Go ahead.
I'll turn it over to you, ms. Bates. Go.
thank you, superintendent branham, board. I do apologize. I did not bring an activity today.
I didn't know that that was a part. I'm just chalking it up to you.
sorry. So thank you for giving me this opportunity to kind of explain to you kind of
what this will mean as we shift over to this. First of all, first and foremost, the $4 million
district savings, I think, is a good point of reference as we start this slide, because that is really kind
of the why behind that. So this is actually for middle school.
this is the junior high. Wait, wait, wait.
I'm so sorry to interrupt you. Here's one.
they're moving on to state. Yay they're going to be one
of eight. They're one act play. Biddle just texted me. Oh, my, wow okay.
no, that was a great interruption. I thought you were interrupting me because you said you've messed up
already. She really wanted an activity. Woo, I know.
I'm like, there was the activity. So that is amazing.
okay, no, okay. Okay, so back to the junior high and middle school
schedule. So, again, as we're transitioning
to our middle school model across our district, we're going from a 90-minute
block every other day to now a 45-minute bell schedule every day, just as
superintendent brandon explained prior. With that, though, I will say
that we will be adding 10 minutes to the day at the junior high and middle school
only to accommodate for a couple of items. First, the middle school
construction as we embark on that with six of our eight middle school junior highs
now going to middle school. We also have to accommodate
for the cte minutes. Every class period has to be 45 minutes.
so in order for that to happen, we have to extend the day a little bit.
and then, of course, advisory is very important, especially in our junior high and middle school years.
to make sure we continue with the connections, some of the study skills as we
transition to this new model. It's going to be really important that we help our
junior high students and middle school students with some of those skills,
and we can do that through our advisory period. And then, obviously, the
instructional minutes that is needed. And then, as you can see, too, they will have a daily
advisory built into the schedule. Okay, next I want
to talk a little bit about the junior high reading, language arts, and math. So thank you to julie teague
and cruz. You kind of led a lot into this for our math.
so I will say that will be a part of this presentation as well.
so I first want to start off with our rla scheduling. So one of the things in sixth
grade only that rla will still be double-blocked. So we'll utilize the daily
block. To focus on our literacy foundations and accelerated
reading and then this total instructional time is aligned with our current elementary
and middle school standards so when they when since sixth grade is still
in some of our elementary schools that is that is that matches what we're doing in
um our middle school so I wanted to point that out and then we will be providing an
intervention opportunity as well in our seventh and eighth grades so there will
be a double blocked rla, just like we talked about math,
the same will apply for rla, that if they did not meet, then we will require have some intervention time
for them as well. And then mta and take flight will also be separate courses. So this is exciting as well.
so that way we're not having to pull them out of other courses so they can still meet their dyslexia schedule.
and now moving over to math. Again, there will be double
block required for students below meets. Standard including algebra
so there was a lot of conversation around this in our previous presentation.
so this is kind of where this is going
to support all of what we just talked about. So I too want to share that I
am super excited about the way that this math lab is going to be because I was a
principal in this model and it really was powerful for our kids who were struggling
in math. And I also seen the relationships that were built
with their teachers. That helped with that confidence in math.
so I just kind of wanted to put my little opportunity, have my plug in there for the math lab. And then we will have an
advanced tracks for meets and masters. And in math enrichment will be required for sixth grade advanced and meets and master
students. And again, giving them that opportunity to differentiate for their increased math,
their love of math. And so we can continue to keep pouring into that.
you will see on the bottom that because of this, each student,
depending on their star performance, could actually add another
elective period. So that's super exciting, and we'll talk a little bit about why
in our next slide, because now they'll get an opportunity to have a little bit more flexibility
in their schedules. Okay, so one of this, though,
about the designated school-wide collaboration time for plcs, we are still going
to provide opportunities for our tested. Subject areas
for core teachers in rla 6 through 8, math 6 through 08, history or social studies,
and science in eighth grade.
so that is important that our teachers have that time together to collaborate
in what we refer to it as a plc or a professional learning community so they
can have time to make sure that they're meeting the rigor of our state test to that way that they are
preparing our kids for that. So they will still have that designated plc time
for our core teams. The other opportunity that this allows in junior high
and middle school is our college and career and military readiness.
the ric strongly recommends that all of our middle school students leave
with two high school credits to increase space and high school schedule
for additional electives. So this opens that for them to have that opportunity
to get. Kind of leave junior high and middle school with high school credits,
just like we encourage high school students to leave high school with college credits.
so that kind of mimics that a little bit. And so a couple of options they could have is foreign language, health,
additional cte courses, algebra 1, and then of course we're also going
to continue to provide summer enrichment opportunities so they can also free up their schedule and do some
of these courses in the summer. Okay, so superintendent
branham kind of touched on a lot of these implications, and,
of course, fine arts is going to be what
we're really excited about. And, again, because pierce is now going to the state finals,
that's another example. But what it will do is increase in program growth
at pivotal entry points. So currently there is a struggle at the junior high
and middle school because they do have to choose. Because there's not as many
opportunities in their schedule for elective choices.
the daily reinforcement and development of fine motor skills, when they get to see their
students every day, that has a huge impact. And then increased retention of the materials.
so it's very much when they're practicing every day and seeing them every day,
that's going to help increase with the retention.
and then, again, it goes without mentioning higher success rate of their craft.
when they practice more frequently. So that will help
with fine arts. The rapid feedback loop, so they're not having to wait another day.
so they get to see them every day. So they can continue to do that in there.
when you talk about immediate feedback, fine arts teachers do it the best. They give that immediate
automatic feedback that I think even sometimes our core teachers could learn from because it's automatic and
they're like, well, they practice and practice and they don't move on
until they get it right. And then just retention and muscle memory. So that's implication
on fine arts, which is all positive. Now, athletics, again, as superintendent branham said,
that it will be a little bit of some longer days while in season for athletic staff
because there is going to be some before and after school implications now.
construction, that will impact the six campuses because
of the way that we're having to move fields and move practice locations.
we are going to have to transport and shuttle. Some students back and forth
for a couple of years. So there will be some impact on that, but the long-term effects will be amazing when
we see our brand new facilities. And just to know, that would
be the case whether we're on block or on a traditional schedule, just like we did at lake highlands middle school.
correct. Thank you for that. And then, of course, our cte, again, increased enrollment
because now it's opening up a spot in their course to explore another cte option
because as we know in junior high and middle school. That's where I spent most
of my career. And we know that they don't make good decisions
in that age. So giving them opportunities to explore some
of those things and be able to change their mind when they think about what they want to do
in their next phase of their life. So that's another exciting
thing about this. And then offering some new course pathways for them so they can look
at some of the things and do what they want. And maybe then change their
mind like I just said, and then expand access to cte foundations and give students
an opportunity to take principal's course, which also will give them
high school credit, and then allows more time to explore cte options.
the next slide I do want to make sure that this is just a sample bell schedule. I don't want, we're just,
we're currently working through some mock and some schedules but I just wanted
to put this up here to let you know that the schedule is, this is just a sample,
but this will represent the 45-minute class periods with the advisory and then you can
also see the lunch blocks but also know too it will also depend vary from campus to
campus because what really impacts our bell schedule is
the amount of lunch periods that a campus can have so I just wanted to note that okay
now um we'll move on to high
school so again we will anchor this part in with the
seven million dollar district savings that it will recapture for us as we move
into high school um this will be the additional zero hour option so we are going
to be adding that to our high school schedule.
now let me, this is not required, so I don't want everybody to think, oh my gosh, they're
now extending that day. This is just to help with some of this transition so we can make sure that we
can get all the requirements in. So we will be going from
eight periods to seven periods, so that will be a reduction,
one of the periods in this model. And so you will still have 28 credits available
without zero hour, and this is where athletics will not be double blocked. We still will be having
junior and senior release periods. So if you are a parent out
there and your junior or senior had late arrival or
early release, that will still apply. And then we will still be having daily advisory.
I think it's super important to note that our athletes currently, if they're in athletics or any of our
courses that we currently double block, they already have a 28-credit schedule because their athletics is
taking up two of the eight periods. So we're really working hard
to help educate and remind our parents of that so that they do not feel like their students are actually losing
an opportunity on a seven-period day because many of our students are actually,
it's almost like a wash because now athletics is one period versus taking up two.
okay.
next slide. So just real quick over some zero-hour options that could be possibility.
fine arts, cte. Seniors needing an aid slot for endorsement pathways.
this is an option for dual credit, ap on-ramps, and then it will be from 8 to 8.50, but it is important
to note that transportation will not be provided for this.
several of our teachers have expressed excitement about
this because it also would allow them to have a flex schedule.
so it might be that they could come in and teach a zero hour, and then they might actually not
be there until the end of the day. So it also provides some flexibilities
for our teachers. Okay, and again, the high school program implications,
we have it divided again with fine arts, athletics, and cte.
so with fine arts, again, it's just that daily reinforcement of the practice
and muscle memory. With athletics, it will be full practice. That longer fits in
within the school day. But like superintendent branham just said, that it's now no longer going
to be double-blocked. But that is where it will be a little bit longer for our
coaches and our athletes and our facility usage. With cte,
just it's daily practice for skill mastery. And then the 45-minute
requirement for funding is being met and prioritized. And then just making sure
that we are ensuring that transportation and practicum courses are prioritized as
well. And then for high school, the
designated plc or common planning periods, as they're sometimes normally referred at, will be for english 1,
english 2, algebra, biology, and u.s. History. And then also, too, just our
junior and senior release periods, because we don't want anybody
to be worried about those going away, because we know how important those are
for our juniors and seniors. And as long as they are meeting their cte or ccmr indicators,
they will still be. Eligible for those release periods and
on track to graduate. Thank you.
okay, so I've also provided a high school sample bell schedule here as well. This bell schedule reflects
the 50-minute class periods with the advisory.
again, I just want to make sure that we note that this will vary from campus to campus based on what is needed
at each campus. Okay, secondary scheduled
transition and support. So we also know that that is where some
of the change that's coming through and how are we going to support our students
through this. So we will be having some targeted professional
development for our teachers because as we have talked about previously, moving
from a 90 minute teaching block now to 45 minutes, we are also going to need to provide support for our teachers to make sure
that they are. Equipped to meet those needs in our classroom.
homework and testing schedule, it will be similar expectations prior to the last year's schedule change.
so we will not be, this will not be an increase in homework. It will just be that we'll
have to look at it a little bit differently. And then just-in-time support from teaching and learning
and our campus instructional coaches for our teachers who are needing that as well. Bye.
our teaching and learning department is working
on curriculum realignment to make sure that the pacing tools and resources are
for shorter daily sessions, and that makes sure that we will be have clear,
purposeful lesson segments with longer concepts strategically chunked along classroom periods,
and then focus on more engagement. I think that is the piece I want to pull out from this
slide is the engagement piece that we're really wanting to make sure that it's more
about. Keeping our students engaged in the curriculum and the
activities that they're doing, rather than just making sure that we're getting through the lessons.
and then leadership support. We will be continuing to revisit and look at this to make sure that we are having our leadership teams
look at this and make sure if there's any adjustments we need to make. I want to also add,
when we focus on engagement, one of the opportunities that we have is kind of that daily mastery
check. Where we are, you know, as we
introduce and students have that independent practice, did they actually learn what
we expected them to learn? Did they master it at the level and the depth that we needed them to learn?
and I think that we do think that that 50-minute class period allows for that
to be short, frequent checks, so we catch a misconception right away versus waiting
until, you know, maybe that next block where we finally
realize that. Thank you guys. Yes, that is a good point. And then the reteach can
happen almost immediately. Okay. And then now the next slide is just our student support.
so again, we refer to the advisory period. So we will have specific advisory lessons to help
with the implementation of this new model, especially with
organizational and time management skills. That's going to be a huge support for our
students as they transition to this new. Schedule and then our
principal focus groups we use to get input and feedback and then as our amazing counselor team summer martin and her
team will be providing counselor support for students who may feel
this increased anxiety as well as making sure that she's supporting them in any
of the scheduled changes okay so now I will turn it back over to you superintendent
brandon again I absolutely want to thank our central
team our principals and lead teachers who have given feedback as we've designed
how we are going to support this transition. I do want everyone to know that actually beginning
tomorrow morning we have communication that will be sent to students and to parents that will allow them
to adjust their scheduled course selections. For some of our grade levels there's no impact because
it's like a net neutral transition. For other students it might be that they get
to pick up an elective or it may mean that they need to prioritize what elective that
they would have. Our counselors have done a phenomenal video that walks our students and our parents
through the process, and then there's a tailored way for each student to be able
to give that feedback to their counselor so that we can make those adjustments as we're building the new master schedule.
in addition, there is a website that will be live first thing in the morning that is specific to this
schedule change. I believe it has over 20 faqs.
it has sample schedules. And it had I'm sure there's some information that we have not addressed, and if there
is, we will add it as we get new questions. But we really have tried to lift up a resource that our
parents, students, and staff can access as we move forward with the transition.
again, I just want to just reiterate that while we know it's a change, and some
of our staff and some of our parents and some
of our students will feel like they won the jackpot, others are going to feel like, you know,
this. They're losing something that they loved. And so we will absolutely,
you know, our counselors are available, our principals will be supporting everyone
as we go through the change, making sure we get feedback along the way.
from this point, majority of the feedback that our stakeholders receive will
come from the principals. At this point, this is now kind of a campus management implementation
because there are nuances at each campus. That might be different, might be unique.
for example, at pierce high school, they have two lunches, whereas at lake
highlands, they have to have three, just based upon preference and size of cafeteria and all
of those things. So this was our night to basically say from a district level,
here are our expectations, and then now from here, our campuses are really individualizing it based upon
the needs of their campuses. A lot of people have asked, well,
why is this a cost savings? And so I just want to make sure that we communicate that
a traditional seven and eight period day is less resource intensive due to specifically
the athletics double block. So if you think
about a coach, if they teach ninth grade football and they coach varsity,
that might be four periods of their eight period day that they no longer are teaching
their actual content area. And then additional.
additionally, with looking at and really strategically
placing that plc, that is
also supporting the reduction. We couldn't reduce plc on a block schedule because then
you would have teachers that would not have a conference period every single day.
and we did not feel, as we listened to teachers, that that would be a great
system for anyone where they could thrive. Every teacher needs an
opportunity to breathe during a day. And then, again, just want
to reiterate over and over again and show great appreciation to the board
that as we know our campuses are going to be reduced in their allocations,
that we are doing all of that through attrition. So we are not looking at
anyone and saying you don't have a job this year. It is you will have a job.
it may not be in that same course,
that same grade level, may be in a different campus. But everyone will have a job.
I will also, as I shared with the board at our last meeting, we may
not see the full savings until 27-28, because again,
we're not looking at any one teacher and saying, sorry,
you don't have a place. So if there happen to be some
allocations we aren't able to reduce as a result
of attrition, then that will help to lower class sizes or to provide additional support
in another way. So I just want to make sure that we're being very transparent with that.
so finally, in case you didn't guess, there's no perfect schedule.
there's no perfect schedule. But I promise you our team, our principals, we would not
bring this forward if we did not feel like we still absolutely could realize the north star goal and ensure
strong outcomes for extracurricular and academic programs
on a traditional schedule. You can see we have strong transition programs that are
in place, and we will be ready to help
our entire system as we move. Y'all,
we've done this before. We were successful, so we feel very confident that we
can do that again. And then in the end, you know, we're keeping the main
thing the main thing, and that is how do we make sure that we love and grow our
kids. And then, again, we're going to be soliciting a lot
of feedback, and we will make just-in-time adjustments based upon the feedback that we receive.
so, again, thank you to our team. Thank you to our principals, our counselors.
of fine arts, athletics, all the people for all that they have done
to have this ready. Without these reductions, a conversation that we're going
to have later tonight about an appetite for compensation would not be
even a conversation that we could have. So again, just I appreciate
the staff and message this in our monday message.
our staff, while many of them feel all different kinds of ways about the change,
they have all been incredibly gracious in understanding why this is necessary.
and I'm just incredibly grateful for them that they have just expressed a
commitment that we're going to do great things for kids.
and we recognize that there's a why behind why we're having to do this right now.
thank you for the presentation. Thank you as well.
we'll open it up to questions and comments there's a lot here so board members we'll
start here and come back down towards uh miss mcgowan thank you um really really great
presentation um you all have been busy um it's a lot of cognitive lift to go
through this and to think of every possible outcome think of it from every single person's point of view
to map it out and try to figure out where your pressure points are and to make an faq and
to have all of these resources ready
with all of the communications um that is a lot of work that is a lot
of people I am like outside of just this room I know that goes into that
to do it so um I want to say thank you guys for that that is I mean I'm
saying it for the second time but that really goes back to the leadership
of that and taking care of the people and trying to find the way forward and I it may be hard to understand
like how much thinking all of these things through is exhausting and worrying about
what you miss and worrying about how it's impacting staff and worrying
about when you communicate it out like what did we miss right so I want to say thank you to you and
your staff it's a big deal um also too I want to thank our staff in the
buildings who are experiencing this change because not only are they hearing some messages that
are hard to hear um that we hate that have to be delivered but also too that we're asking them to do some...
changes as well, and I know that may mean you know for our coaching staff that's going
to be longer hours and for our teachers that may mean some more prep in one day, right? They're going to be lots of
different things that are going to be hardships, but I really appreciate the fact that unfortunately that we're having
to make some tough decisions, and how you guys are handling that how our staff's handling it certainly certainly do
appreciate that um you mentioned the money,
and I just want to be I just wanna be sure we talked about it'll take a couple of years right like this to
in your we're talking about when you're saying like, oh, this is $7 million and this is $4 million, you're talking
about we're saving that in staffing allocations? Yes, ma'am. Is that where the saving comes from?
yes, ma'am. It's purely staffing allocations. Okay, and that's why it may possibly take two years,
right, for that realignment? So, for example, and this is not a specific number, but let's say we have
a high school that with the new model, they may need 24 less teaching allocations than they had
this year. They may not have 24 resignations or retirement. Right.
so let's say they only get to 15, and there's not another campus that needs that one teacher that has
that one certification. So that allocation, that teacher may stay
on that campus and, for example, help reduce class sizes, those other things.
so we may have that additional allocation for another year until we receive more resignations or
retirements. Great. Thank you. Just in thinking it
through with, like, knowing that the new cte center is coming and knowing that
that's going to have some transportation implications and things like that, how is this scheduling potentially
going to impact that? Just thinking about, like, getting to there, taking courses, getting back,
how does that? We are very fortunate that we have a neighboring district that is actually opening
their cte center next year. Plano isd is opening their cte center. And really, we were, I think
we felt very confident that. The schedule we developed for
the health science program. Again, if you think about like highlands traveling over to richardson
methodist, that schedule will be the same schedule that we will apply to the cte
center. And when we checked with our sister school district in
plano, they're actually implementing the exact same model. So we will go and watch and
hear feedback to make sure it's working as well for the cte center as we design and launch ours.
that's great. Thank you. I mean, again, going back to
this is a large lifter. I'm thinking through all the things, right?
like it's hard to think through all of these things. Are you guys also looking at,
and I'm sure that you are, I know that because of, I know that there is going to be potentially more prep,
like there are going to be more preps in a day because there may be however many preps of certain teachers.
are there caps on those things? And are there ways that you guys are ensuring that we're not?
yes, I love you said that. Actually, today we sent we sent guidelines and expectations to the campus
principals related to the number of preps any educator could have,
as well as expectations around coaches schedules to
ensure that they had they had their planning period as well as time to respond
after that. They are coaching as well. So all of those expectations
have been communicated to principals and they know what that needs to look like. Listen, like I said,
y'all have been very busy. There are a lot of things that are happening right now between testing, things like this.
it's incredibly impressive that you guys have done this. You know, to your point, there are pros and cons
of all things, right? There are pros and cons to all things. I think you guys have done a
really great job in trying to find the best path forward. While thinking of all the people, while
ensuring that we have high standards, while ensuring also that we're being responsible and aligning
to our north star goal, what we want are student outcomes, and ensuring that we're not losing traction
by a change like this, while also being fiscally responsible in a time where we really
have to be, and working on not cutting people and programs and really working
on those things while maintaining our culture of support and importance for
our staff. Because you have said it tonight and you'll say it
other nights that that teacher in the classroom is the biggest determiner
of the outcome of those students have. So taking care of people takes care
of our students. And so thank you. All right. Thank you.
ms. Mcgowan, you're next. Thank you
for the presentation. Just a couple of questions. When you, one slide showed 4
million, the other showed 7 million. Is that a total of 11 million in savings? Correct. It's cumulative.
yeah. You add those numbers together. Okay. Awesome.
and the other question I have is, are we having to cut? Does that come from like cutting the course catalog,
the courses being offered? No, ma'am. There's no changes to the course selections.
perfect. That's it. Thank you.
okay. Other questions, comments? Yes, ms. Pacheco. Okay, great.
thank you so much for the explanation on the schedule changes. I remember in the past
with one of my kids we had this type of schedule and then with the other kid I had the other
schedule for the last remaining parts of his years and I was always confused I didn't know what
ab was and I was so happy that you guys had it on the board there when I was
driving up so great yeah always used it
but I had a question on the schedule changes and you know
I I don't know what parents are doing right now. Do we have zero period
with block period, or are we just implementing zero period again?
we really don't have zero. None of our four high schools right now have a zero hour. Okay.
and so this is something that they were very excited about bringing back with the traditional schedule.
well, I'm just as excited because I know one of my kids did take full advantage of that zero hour and did all
kinds of fun things and also opened up her schedule for the regular school day to
do the things that she really liked. And trustee pacheco, just as
a reminder to our parents and our students, tomorrow when they receive their scheduling
information, there is an opportunity for them to basically
indicate that they would like to take a zero hour and give us information so that,
again, that is information that our principals can use in building the schedule. That sounds great.
I do know that's good that they're doing that because sometimes she was interested in a class but there weren't
enough students. So we don't have a class. Right. So I'm glad that you all are
doing that early so we can have enough students take advantage of the zero period hour. With some
of the middle schools, I noticed you are providing the students that opportunity,
right, to take the summer classes or get ahead with this presentation,
right? Yeah, all students have an opportunity to take summer enrichment.
and then for our, the class that we have the most. As dr.
martin and I talked the other day, we have the most concern for is making sure our
juniors to seniors, that if they are impacted in any way moving from eight periods
to seven periods. Oh, yes. So we will have specific
virtual courses as well as in-person courses that we will be offering for free
for any of our rising juniors or seniors that their graduation plan was in any way impacted
by this change. We will have those available, and they'll have some options to make sure that their graduation plan is not
impacted because of the schedule change. Okay, great. I was wondering about that,
and I was wondering because sometimes when I used to see the options, they were usually half-semester
classes. So with this option for our rising seniors,
are they going to be able to do a full year maybe? Yes, we're actually, dr. Martin and the counselors, as
soon as we receive back the adjustments that our parents and students will look at tomorrow,
then we will begin to process what are those courses that we need to stand up.
because we know that our students were impacted by the schedule change so that there
will be multiple options available I can't speak to which ones yet because we need to hear from our kids
but we are our teaching and learning team we're ready we're just waiting to know what the need is and we will
stand those up and I know it's a lot of work it's a lot of kids so I'm really thankful that you
guys are thinking through this working out with the students and their families lastly again just
trying to you know get them more credits as quickly as they can can students...
test out of language and not actually take a class? They can.
yes, ma'am. They can do a credit by exam. And we do have several kids
actually that do that. We test them, especially if they're native speakers. They can go ahead and get
their spanish 1 and 2 credit and then go into spanish 3, ap spanish. We are looking at,
to that point, offering spanish 1 and 2 possibly over the summer as well. Just looking at different
courses that we haven't offered in the past to also help them
in junior high to get those high school credits.
credit to open up their courses. The 9-1-1 is those juniors to seniors making sure that we
know what courses they need there but then also thinking back. We do that cbes but a lot with spanish we have here is
mostly in the district but we also offer it for any language. Over 500 different languages.
that's really awesome. I didn't realize I saw it there and I was
like wait can they also test out besides just taking the class? So I think that's great. I know it's a change, change
is hard for everybody. And I'm just thankful that you guys are working it through.
you have a whole website that's going to be ready, so I'm excited that the families will now be able to look
at something, look at samples, communicate, and, of course, share with their
students and guidance counselors on courses. And I just think it's great.
I really feel like it's going to give them a bigger opportunity
at taking extra classes, you know, stretching themselves,
learning something different that they probably wouldn't have an opportunity to do. With a block schedule trustee
pacheco one of the the areas that we we think we will see
that the greatest impact for example is students will have an opportunity
to take that principles of a cte pathway in middle school and more students will have available slots to take
that um and why we're excited number one if they take that class in middle school they're much more likely
to finish that pathway in high school but also if they take a pathway and they
realize this is not for me I don't like blood after all, and I don't want to touch it.
and they still then have all four years of high school to dive into another pathway
and potentially find something else that better aligns
with their interests. So I think this gives them some more flexibility. It will take us a minute
to get there, but we do think that that's going to be a real benefit. Yes, I think it is.
I mean, we do still have the one group of kids that are going to be in that transition and
senior year, and, of course, that's really important. To get them to
to the final mark but I think everybody else will see the advantages and have less
confused parents like myself so I appreciate it and thank you for that presentation and
all the hard work other comments questions yes mr andrea uh just one quick
question and this may have already been answered
in what ms pacheco said but I was wondering like the programs that are like with pip.
that you have internships. Help me remember, because I know that that was still
something when my son did it, but even on this new schedule,
they'll still be able, it's not going to affect, or when the students that go
off campus, okay, so it'll all stay the same.
right, right. That's what I remember. Yes, we had all of those programs on our traditional schedule as well. Okay, perfect.
thank you. All right.
great questions, great discussion. The one question that I had
and I think I know the answer but there's no impact on class sizes right because we will be increasing I'm so
glad that you mentioned that we are not increasing class
sizes so that is not part of the reduction so we're maintaining our current class
size and that same ratio is in place and that's how allocations were calculated
excellent all right great and I know we were at the the ambassador meeting and there
was a lot of questions about
you know why couldn't we have done this three months ago why couldn't we have done
this in the fall and I just think that it's important to understand kind of the the sequential manner that we got
here and knowing what our revenue is going to be drives the decisions that we've got
to make and unfortunately we don't have that until appraisal districts give us numbers so we have our final
enrollment numbers so there were a lot
of pieces that had to hit before we actually got this presentation as an option
that we had to consider. So we're always open. I know you all are
at the district level, at the administration level, to answer those questions. But I know that's been one
that I've heard quite a few times is the timing of this.
and with that being said, again, kudos to turning around in such quick order.
the planning and the execution. I mean, it's dr. Martin and her group of counselors and
department. I mean, they're burning the
midnight oil trying to get this all hammered out and they will be over the next few weeks.
so it's not, we wouldn't have asked
for it this way, but we were given this and had to react and bravo
to the reaction. So, okay. With that, I am going to,
let's take a quick 15-minute break before we come back for...
the next item, so it is, let's say this, at 8.05 we'll
return and get going again. Thank you.
all right, we're going to get started. We are one minute early.
so the next item on our agenda is an information item to receive an update on bond
2025 middle school bond projects for apollo middle school and richardson north
middle school. Ms. Branham.
thank you. Thank you very much. We wanted to bring forward a presentation tonight.
really, we chose our two most complex projects because these are going to involve the most movements
in terms of phases and or may involve the most
portables. And we know that as our
parents and our staff are processing that information, we just want to make sure
we're very transparent, make sure they know the plan. Make sure they know all of
the amazing safety supports that our facilities team have put in place to make sure
that this construction over the next two years is a safe one and a project that still
allows for students to focus on learning, because in the
end that's what they're there for. The great news for us is we've been
through this a couple times. Not just with lake highlands middle school and with forest meadow,
but we've also been through it with mohawk and brentfield and pierce for three years.
I mean, we have had practice at how do you, northridge, stoltz, lots of opportunities for us to
recognize what lifting up a project like this looks like in a way that doesn't have to completely disrupt learning.
so we've invited the facilities team.
I think, lee, you're going to be the lead tonight. But I thank all of them for the incredible work they've
done. Also, huge kudos to our strategy and engagement team because, like the schedule
presentation we just had, we have a bond 2025 website that is already listed up.
it's already live, and there are already, again, faqs, information, so that
parents have a go-to place as they're seeking out information.
so I'll turn it over to you all. Thank you, superintendent
brannon. Good evening, board of trustees. I'm going to walk through the
construction phasing of apollo middle school and richardson north middle school.
as superintendent bram said, you know, k-12 projects are
the most complicated. You have a couple
of factors. The campus needs to be occupied. There's not a big window of time except for summer
where students are not there. And then you also are dealing with students, students that are learning every day. So you need to make sure that
their learning environment is sacred and it's not disrupted during construction. So with that being said we've
been working with these contractors who are very qualified and have done lots of k-12 projects
in phase construction for the last year to really determine what's the most efficient phasing that we can
have for these two projects so I want to really highlight apollo first and just to look back at the end goal
right these beautiful renderings it will take two years to get apollo to look like this but we also have to
remember this is the end goal right this is this is the wow this is the august of 2028
this is what our students will be walking into but to get there, it's going to be quite a journey
for the next two years. It's exciting, very exciting, and I want to walk through that
in the most efficient, simplified way I can. So looking at this schedule
that we've put together, it has from 2026 all the way to 2028, where we have
substantial completion of august in 2028. For apollo, apollo's really
broken down into two big phases. You have phase one and you
have phase two. And if you can see the ticker on the top, where you see the two different colors are kind of big milestones that
there's a big turnover or a big milestone switchover for the contractors.
so from april to july is one kind of phase one part. From august to may is a chunk.
the summer of june and july and 27. And then august to
december. And then january to may. And then each slide that I'll
go through next corresponds to each one of those chunks. To give a breakdown
of bite-sized pieces as we go through from today all the way to 2028.
so looking at the first phase, this is looking from april to april of 2026 to july of 2026, so this coming
summer. So I broke every single slide
into what's happening on the outside, exterior, and what's happening on the inside.
you guys can see holistically what the plan will be. So on the exterior, starting
in april, the construction, fencing, and mobilization has already commenced. You should see it at apollo
right now, some construction. Site utilities and
infrastructure are starting. The portables and the covered walkways are also starting. Those will not be occupied until august
of this coming year, but they need to set up all the infrastructure for it. And then site paving and parking is going
to be started. On the inside, which will happen after school releases in
may, so june and july, there will be selective abatement in the area in red, and temporary administration
suite will be getting built. Structural demolition will start happening in june and july.
we'll start renovation on some of the existing, and then we'll start the new
academic. And then as I go through these diagrams, I want to point out the line
in blue is going to be the construction fencing. And then everything within that construction fencing is
where the contractor will be laying down his materials. That's where the workers will be.
parked most likely, that's where all their materials will be. Everything in red that you
see is going to be kind of off limits. No students will be there, no one will be there
in the chunk of time that we're talking about. So april to june, that will
be occupied. Everything that you see in white within the building will be occupied, and then you'll see in the next coming slides,
things that are in green are going to be occupied. I'm trying to keep it consistent
for all the phasing. So after...
I've got it. Sorry, skipped a slide. So just to zoom in
on the portables, I really wanted to highlight some of our safety measures regarding the portables.
so the entire area that you see in yellow, and it's pretty small, but the whole area in yellow is going
to be completely secure. There will be covered walkways from the main campus to the portables
with the exception of fire lane. And it's very small, but anytime you leave the main
campus, you will be under a covered walkway with the exception of the fire lane.
all of the secured gates with panic hardware, there'll be panic hardware throughout. So if there was any
emergency, students can exit and leave out of those gates
with the panic hardware. It's those push bars that you see on doors. There'll be sensing,
like I said, all around the portables, which you can see that's outlined in that yellow area secured.
all classrooms have controllable air conditioning and heating. All classrooms have emergency
phones, full fire alarms, security cameras, interior corridors.
and the exterior walkways, as well as the public address system that's tied into them.
then another point is the restrooms are provided in the portables. And these portables are a
little different than what you normally see as a typical portable. So these portables are
actually a building that has a hallway and then classrooms. So the classroom doors aren't
on the very exterior of the building. You're actually going into a building, there's a
hallway, and then you go into your classroom. So that's one of the key differences
on these portables for apollo, and I'll talk about portables at north that are different.
so that's one key difference. And then another factor that I want to talk about just very briefly is why so many
portables. So the way we work with the contractor is we had a lot of limitations
on the existing structure of the building. These buildings were built
in the 70s and 60s and 70s. So the code back in the 60s and 70s were very different
than what we need today. So after working with the city and some pretty strict
code interpretations that we had, they didn't allow us to occupy lots of chunks of the building that we
wanted to have. But we had a lot of limiting.
we could only go 20 feet. It was very unrealistic in some of these spaces.
so that's what, with the available land that apollo had, we were able to say, how about we just do
two large phases, move a lot of the students out into the portables, and able
to turn over some of these spaces a lot quicker. So that was one
of the main whys on why we had so many on the site and then so after we just had summer so this
now is a snapshot of okay what is august of 20
so phase one the 2026-2027 school year again, you can see the blue fencing is still
intact. Everything in green and everything in white is going
to be completely occupiable, so students will be in those spaces.
so on the outside, the new south fire lane and the east parking lot and drive is
complete, but it's only used for emergency. The portables and the covered
walkways, those are complete. Inside the building, the temporary admin suite is
complete. What that shows is a red dash.
as you can see, everything in red is currently under construction, which included the new administration area.
we needed to put... A temporary admin somewhere we did this very similar to you so the area that's dashed
in red is where the temporary admin will go and then again renovation of the existing is still ongoing and the new
academic wing which is on the north side of the building that's ongoing so that would be the whole first
2026-2027 looking into phase two again two big phases so
the majority of that that building was taken over. Going
into the second school year in summer of starting june
of 2027 and july of 2027, on the outside
of the building, they're finishing that north fire lane on the north. Again, it's used for starting
the detention corner over there. We have a reduction
in portables. That second summer, we're reducing the portables in half.
there's less portables out there. We're starting a covered walkway for the new academic.
I'll show you that in the next slide. And then inside, the existing renovation is still ongoing
and the new academic. So the next slide is august
of 2027. So this phase is showing the
fall semester of 27. So on the outside now, the fire lane is still complete and the south is complete.
but again, it's only used for emergency. The reduced portables is
complete. So if you can see in the bottom.
with the green portables those have been reduced now but they're still occupied the detention pond is ongoing and if you can see in that
light blue there is a covered walkway so that new academic wing is complete
on the north everything in green it's complete and so we need to connect that new
academic wing to the new cafeteria so that will be a
covered walkway that has fencing all around we've done this
before we've done it on pierce new completed wings
like I said the new academic wing and storm shelter is also complete um the renovate portion of level two is also
complete I want to bring up level two because I'm not showing it in the diagram the
new cafeteria and stage is complete which is on the south end the southeast corner um this is a very
small image but it's a big green box in the bottom the demolition
of the existing cafeteria is ongoing and then renovation of the the existing, ongoing, and the new competition.
again, this is a snapshot of what august, the fall
2020 semester was. Going into spring of 2028,
you can now see that a big chunk of the building now is all green.
on the exterior, the detention pond is complete. There's another reduction
of portable classrooms, so only one is remaining for athletics.
in the interior, the new main entrance, the media center, the new administration.
new cte classrooms art classrooms and all the second floor at drive on the northeast as well that's now
complete too um so the you can see the construction center has moved now so now
they're utilizing the new drop-off and the new pickup and the new admin the cafeteria courtyard and
interior courtyards are complete and then the renovation of the existing
practice gym the new competition area addition and the fine arts wing that is
all under construction in the red and this is a snapshot of what spring of 2028 looks
like so by spring of 2028 probably 80 of the building
is now so then going into summer of 2028 the track
and field is gonna will be starting construction and the fine arts and new locker room
renovation and new competition gym will be getting underway.
and finally... August of 2028, all
of it's green. It's all completed. The track and field will be completed at the end of
august. The only remaining items left for that august would be punch list items, and the
building is the same. Then going on to north middle school, again,
snapshot of what the end goal is.
so for apollo and north,
there was two different...
for phasing the apollo you had two big chunks two big
moves to get the project completed there was available land at north, we didn't have a ton of land, but a bunch
of portals. We have some,
and I'll show you that in a minute. But the mindset with north was we take it all in little chunks.
so as you can see on the construction page here, there's multiple phases in little chunks where students or staff will be kind
of turning over once new parts of the building.
so from may to july is phase 1a. From august to december, it's phase 1b.
january to may of 27 is phase 1c. And then so on and so forth. And each of those correspond
with the semester. So again, a different school
of thought because of the site-specific conditions. Apollo, two big chunks
to get the project done. On north, smaller chunks throughout the whole thing.
so going into, again, same kind of graphics where
blue is the construction fencing, red is kind of off-limits, white is occupied,
and then green will be... So looking at phase 1a, which is summer
of this year, june and july of 2026, the construction, fencing and mobilization will
start, site utilities will start, the portables and covered walkway will also
start, and that's the box in the bottom right corner, and then site paving
demolition. And then on the inside, they
will be demolishing the northwest corner of the building.
looking at portables again, again, same safety measures that we have for apollo,
but there's a couple of different nuances. So the entire area in yellow is going
to be secured. There's covered walkways from the main campus portables, again, with the exception
of the fire lane. There's secured gates with panic hardware throughout. All classrooms and exterior
doors are walkable. The fencing around the portables is feet-foot tall.
all classrooms have controllable air conditioning. And again, all classrooms
within those portables. They have emergency phones, full fire alarms, security cameras, as well as public
address that's tied into the main campus. And then the difference on north is that the restrooms
are accessed in the main campus, and we did at forest meadow
where students have a bathroom pass.
so looking at fall of 2026, this is a snapshot of what fall of 2026 looks
like. So that north parking lot is closed. The new fine arts and
athletic addition started, so that big red box at the northeast corner.
and then portables and the covered walkway, those are complete.
again, all of the white is going to be occupied during the fall of 2026.
on the inside, the renovation of the classroom south of the courtyard, level one and two,
those are started. So they'll be renovating those.
and then again, just wanted to put out the bus loop is also still open.
the traffic on this one, the bus loop is still open. Looking
into the next semester, so phase 1c is spring of 27. So in spring of 27, that fine arts and athletic
edition is still ongoing at that northeast corner. The north parking lot and parent drop-off, that's now
opened. Again, going back, during the fall it was closed. They're working on it,
so now it's open spring of 27. On the inside of the building, they've now
finished those south classrooms, and they've moved on
to the north classrooms north of the courtyard. So the strategy here is you basically flip around the courtyard every semester.
one area gets completed, they flip to the next area to start renovation. And this applies to both
level one and level two. So looking into summer of
2027, so that south parking lot is started.
the portion of the east fire lane is complete and used for emergency only.
the remaining portion of the east fire lane is started.
the athletics and fine arts wing is still ongoing. And on the inside,
the middle of the building is going to be completely demolished on the north side
during that summer of 27. The temporary administration area renovation is started as well.
this is very similar to apollo where we're working on the administration area, so we need a temporary one.
and again, we've done this before at forest meadow. And then a covered walkway
connecting the main campus. So fall of 2027.
so fall of 2027, you see a lot more green.
the new athletic and fine arts additions at north and south parking lot are
complete now. That east fire lane is complete, but again,
it's only for emergencies. Existing bus loops still
remain on the inside. Those renovated classrooms west of the courtyard have started, so now we've taken
over the west side of the courtyard. The new administration wing cafeteria and library have
started as well, which is the... Big red block
in the center. That's the new admin that's started.
the new athletics and fine arts addition is complete. So the big box
in the right, that is complete. Temporary admin area is shown
in the red dashed on the south building. And then there's a covered walkway connecting the staff
parking lot to the main campus and a covered walkway connecting the main campus to the new athletic and fine
arts.
that's shown in blue. So looking at spring of 27, so the next semester, all the
portables have been removed. The track and field renovations have started. The covered walkway now from
the north staff parking lot to the main campus is complete.
renovation of the bus loop has started. And then the tennis courts have started.
and then inside, the renovation of the classrooms west of the courtyard are complete now.
now we're flipping over to the east side where the new sped classrooms and new
classroom renovations on the east courtyard have started. And then the new administration wing and
cafeteria and library and then finally that summer of
28 is the track and field renovation is still ongoing the covered walkways have
been removed renovation of the bus loop is complete the tennis courts are ongoing the
new sped classrooms and classroom renovations courtyard are complete and
then the new administration wing that includes the cafeteria library in the
courtyard are ongoing or finishing up that summer august of 28 the track and
field and tennis courts are complete all the remaining items left are punchless in
the building now that was a
lot to digest and we've been working on these plans for over a year and I tried to condense it as much as
possible but some key takeaways from this project or from this presentation is you know
each project requires phase construction to ensure the campus remains operational
students and staff safety in a priority with affordable and then the projects aligned to rsd's middle school
transformation in which modernization is complete grade students to attend
middle school beginning fall of 2028 as tabitha mentioned
bond 2025 website is where we will keep everyone up to date on I also want to add
that again this team is absolutely amazing all of our
partners whether it's our construction crew or architects, they have just
been amazing. I also want to speak
for a minute from a mom's perspective. So karis, when she was
graduating from pierce, her freshman year, she got hit with covid.
and then her sophomore, junior and senior year were all construction.
so when I think about, we recognize that there's disruption, even though they put all
of these measures in place to make sure that students can stay focused on learning
teachers can stay focused on teaching. We know that there are still going to be some experiences
that is very different for this group of students as we go through construction.
my own son, when he transitions, we will be under construction when he goes
to middle school. Kirsten was like, mom, you couldn't at least sacrifice
one. I'm like, no, I treat you equally. You both are going
to have construction. So when we're in the meetings,
I do bring that mom lens. It's like as a mom, what how would I want to make sure that we are looking
at safety? How are we communicating to parents so that they have a heads up and they can prepare the students?
how do we make sure that we message this to students so that they are aware of what the changes look like and that they feel secure as
well in their new learning environment? So again, we recognize that for our junior high students, they're there
for two years. And when they're there for two years, both years,
they're going to be under construction. And sometimes...
like I would tell karis, sometimes we make a little bit of a personal sacrifice
because the outcome is going to benefit graduating classes that leave pierce high
school for the next 50 years. And guess what? You still had an amazing high
school experience and you don't even think about the construction anymore.
but I would be remiss if we didn't acknowledge that we do recognize that what parents think about when they send
their kids to that next place is not necessarily construction.
but we do believe in the end the outcome will be worth it. So again, thank you team and
we are happy to take any questions.
all right. There's a lot there.
let's open it up. Questions, comments on any of these?
do any of the board members have? Okay. We'll start with rachel and
then we'll go to ms. Pacheco. Thank you for the presentation.
it's gorgeous, the outcomes. I think we're going to have to go back to the presentation. It's just about security.
and as a mom, I think about portables and my kids being in portables. And you said, I know there's
an eight-foot wall that's around the portables, but that area is secured. How secure,
like truly secure, are those portables for an active shooter?
well, the use of portables is pretty standard. We know from previous projects that we've done here
in the district, and, of course, we know from other districts, that they're a necessary part
of doing phasing as complicated as this. So when you ask about... How secure are they?
so the standard starts with an eight-foot non-scalable fence with all the panic hardware
in case there's an emergency where kids had to exit that area.
and so that's the starting point. The portables at apollo
versus the portables at north, and correct me if I'm wrong, lee, they're a little
bit different in the fact that they have an interior corridor.
so the classroom doors at the apollo portables don't face the exterior, don't face the outside.
so there's another layer of added safety there with that additional door to enter that hallway to get
to your portable classroom. Does that kind of speak to what you're asking?
yeah. Additionally, it's important to note our sros.
so we will be collaborating with either rpd or dpd and with those sros.
this may change, for example, what their walking pattern looks like,
especially at apollo when you have such a concentration. Where they're spending the majority of their time,
where we locate their office, is going to be close to those portables so that, again, we have that proximity
as well. It really is similar. Our students are outside
practicing football and soccer, so it's under that same kind of experience.
but safety is by far, and this is, again, why we wanted
to bring it forward, all the steps that we've taken, security cameras, all of those things.
to make sure our parents know that that is a priority for us. Yep, ms. Branham,
along the same lines, thank you for bringing up the security cameras. We'll have all the same
functionality that we do in the brick-and-mortar building as it exists right now, including the new phones that
we updated this school year. If you remember, if the board will recall, we went through a dva,
a district vulnerability assessment, and so one of the key components was that each classroom is enabled with a
911 panic, if you will, button. In case of emergency.
our staff also has, through informacast, the ability to enter into any of the srp protocols,
those kind of things. So all the functionality that we have in the regular building, the
portable classrooms will have that as well. Ms.
pacheco. Okay, great. Thank you so much for your
presentation. I thought I followed it really well.
I appreciate you breaking it down into the faces. And showing us the different
things that both schools are going to have. I wish we didn't have
to do this like the way we're doing it, but it's necessary because it is important, right, to align our students in
their learning and better outcomes and to really move those sixth graders into the middle school.
so I appreciate all the hard effort, our community, for ensuring that we are able to do this for the remaining
schools that we have. And, you know, just... Ask our families, you know,
be patient. You know, it's going to be a little bit hard,
but we have a plan. We're going to keep our kids safe.
they're going to still be able to stay motivated, active, and engaged in school and
learning and activities. I'm sorry.
and, you know, it's just going to be great. I think it's going to be really nice.
it's beautiful. I truly believe our kids are just going to come in there.
and be wowed by it. I just, I'm wowed and I'm looking at renderings.
I can't imagine learning in classrooms that look like that and going into a school that look like that.
so I appreciate it and all the hard work. So thank you. Ms.
pacheco, if I could, you actually hit on a point that we want to make sure that we share with the board in that the
board will continue to get periodic updates on the various, six various
projects that are going on.
of course, we talked a little bit about phasing, and so you can imagine that we might come back at different points
during the two-year process to update you on those. As part of the comprehensive communications plan
with strategy engagement, we're working hand-in-hand. We will also meet
with parents and community, kind of in alignment with the phasing process. We've already begun to meet
with campus staffs because they're the ones that are going
to be immediately impacted. Apollo, for instance, has the fencing up already.
and so those types of meeting and communication will happen throughout the course of the two years because we want to
be as thorough and transparent and offer everyone the chance to ask questions so they understand
the why behind it, not just the you guys decided to do this kind of thing. In addition, our junior high
principals will be adding a construction connection message to each of their newsletters, so they
will be providing weekly updates to parents, letting them know how the construction is progressing. They're going to also be
sharing those updates with elementary feeders, so that elementary students who, again, if I'm a parent
of a fifth or sixth grader, I know my kiddo is going to be going up to that. I'm being kept apprised
along the way as well, so I know what to prepare when my kiddo is ready
for that transition. Great.
other comments? Only one I've got in question is engagement
with the neighborhoods. So traffic flow, construction, traffic,
all that kind of stuff. How is that being handled, communicating with all of the surrounding neighborhoods?
because it's pretty tight. Yeah, actually, we met last week, and we were looking specifically, for example,
at north. Parking at north is going to be really rough for a year.
and it already is hard, and then this is going to exacerbate that. So when they have big events,
meet the teacher, all of those things. And so some of the things that we talked
about were making sure that there are, maybe that we put a mailer in the mailbox to let them
know open house is coming, or we're meeting with the homeowners association so
we're communicating, hey, here are the five big events. On these nights you might see
extra parking in the neighborhood. We want to make sure that we are good neighbors, good
friends, and that they know, again, this is for a short period of time.
yeah, and to that point, I'm sorry, lee, to that point, I really want to commend both principals,
ms. Gaither and mr. Lopez. Mr.
lopez particularly is coming over from pierce who lived through the project there. And so he's got a keen sense
of what's about to happen because he's lived it. And he was very, very clear when we met
with he and his team last week about the parent messaging.
the top of his list is if we tell them ahead of time, they'll still kind
of have feelings about how critical mass it's going to be for a little while,
but they'll figure it out because they know the end game is worth it.
and so both principals really deserve a lot of accolades for their communication.
we've also worked with the city jurisdictions, the city of dallas and city of richardson. We've hired consultants to do
traffic management plans and traffic analysis for us, and this has all been approved
by the city already as well. We've worked with the city on communication with the neighbors. We've had community meetings
where they specifically talked about city or talked about traffic management. So we've gone
through all those avenues on all six projects. Excellent.
all right. Great presentation. Thank you, ms. Estes.
thank you, mr. Hossow. Mr.
watson, thanks for being here. Support. And we are going to move on
to our next item. Last item, our final item on the agenda is an information item to receive a
presentation regarding the 2026-2027 compensation and
budget update. Ms. Brannon. Yes, thank you, trustee poteet.
yes, we started this journey in january, and we are headed to the end of april, and we are still phase-by-phase
moving along, trying to provide the critical information that you need,
board, to make decisions. First and foremost related to compensation and then overall
the direction you would like for us to take in our final adopted budget
in june. So tonight the presentation is going to be shared by
mr. Pate and dr. Goodson, so I'm going to turn it over to them.
thank you, ms. Branham. Trustees, you know, we've talked about the north star goal, you know,
the budget's 90 percent compensation and it is, its entire focus is
on providing the resources. To achieve the district's north star goal as ms brown
said we'll go over the general fund budget I'll turn it over to dr goodson to discuss compensation options
and then we will look at some a couple of revenue increase options and then
pull it all together with next steps and we'll be glad
to address your questions this evening starting
with the 2627 general fund budget I just want to ago. Kind of start
at the beginning of the budget with enrollment. Our budget is really now with
the way past legislations have gone, legislative sessions have gone, it is really all
about enrollment. That is what drives our funding.
and you can see going back to 2014, we were at 38,283 students.
we hit our peak in the 2019-2020 school year.
with 39,619 students and for this year,
and I should have mentioned, all the blue columns are our actual enrollment and the red
columns are the demographer projections. So here we are,
the last blue column there at 25-26 school year, and these are all pems enrollment
dates in blue, the last friday in october. And we were at 36,228. Our demographer is predicting
35,704 students for 2027, with a decline down to 34,207 students
in the 2030-31 school year,
which is an average of
about 400 students a year decrease through 2031.
and just a reminder from when mr. Huff presented
the demographic study these projections do not have any
estimated impact of the education savings accounts or waivers I mean or vouchers
excuse me factored in so we don't know what those are going to do we know people
just received information about whether or not they received a voucher that they applied for but we have not
we do not have the data to factor that into these calculations at this point so michael
freeman prepares this report for us.
and it is enrollment for each week on mondays.
and so he sends that out. The gray and the blue lines
are the prior two years.
the orange line is the
current year. And as of the 23rd monday of the school year, we were
at 35,585 students. And that is 119 students
below our demographer projection for next year.
and you'll also notice that while we always have some enrollment declines
in the spring, we hit a peak in the fall, and then it declines a little bit
into the spring, that our decline we're experiencing this year is a higher rate of
decline than we've experienced in previous years.
just a comment on that. We've dug in specifically to look
at the students and just like we reported to you in the fall when we gave you an
enrollment update, we lost almost another 600 students specifically
in our hispanic population.
so again, it is the enrollment loss is specific to a demographic.
of that, the majority of those students are also economically disadvantaged.
so we're specifically seeing it in a specific area based upon lots of different
factors that we know exist right now.
so again, this is just complicating the data for next year.
I have shared this slide with mr. Huff last week, and he is
taking a look at things. But again, it's not necessarily
at this point enough data to modify. The demographer projections
for next year. So, we have, this is just a reminder, I will not go through this in detail, but
this is the expenditure increases that we brought forward in the march meeting.
there's been no change to these expenditure increase requests.
if I can also just add, there's been some confusion through a little, a few let's
talks that I've received. The board has not made a decision on if you are going
to move forward with advertising and marketing or if you're going to improve any of these
expenditure increases. We just bring these forward as a reminder that these are the things that are
on the table and need to be under consideration as we adopt a final budget.
but there has no decision been made that we are going to invest that $500,000 in this marketing.
it's an option available to the board as well as there are options that are cheaper.
that we can be very specific
and some some actions that the board would want to take, but no decision has been made on that.
thank you, ms. Brandon. And yes, so you will see this 1m dollars in the multi year financial forecast just because effectively this is
a, as mr. I said, it's a worst case scenario.
okay.
and here are the 25m dollars in. Budget efficiencies that were
brought forward in the previous meeting. We went through the high
school and middle school schedule changes in great detail
in a previous presentation. And so this, again, this number has not changed.
it is still the $25.7 million presented previously. And so pulling this all
together into the multi-year forecast,
I just want to kind of give you the foundation of what the assumptions are
based on. So we have taxable property value growth.
we ended up with a decline or expected decline this year of 1.22%. That is a smaller
decline in taxable value growth than we were
predicting back in the summer when we received our certified values. And I'll just remind you,
we had the... One of the largest dollar amounts of value under protest that we've had
in recent years. And so we did recover more of that than we were expecting. So we are better off
on the property value there. We just received last week our certified estimated
property values from dcad.
so right now we're holding taxable value growth
for next year at 0%.
we will start in may. We'll start getting almost weekly updates from dcad on what our values are doing.
so we'll just continue to monitor that. For 27, 28, and 28, 29, I'm
just using a 1% value growth, being very conservative at this point.
because when we have had declines in the past, some of those we have seen up
to a three to four year of downward trend in values before it starts going back
up. And it does not always go
back up quickly. So we're using the conservative one and two
percent. And again, our revenue in the general fund is primarily
driven by the number of students.
so higher value, less students, more recapture. So we don't really benefit
from value growth on the general fund side. We do on the debt service fund side, but not
on the general fund side. And then our enrollment growth is just our actual pems for this year and,
of course, what our demographer provided for the future years.
and then, again, with the current state of the economy and fluctuations,
we're using a 5% inflation factor.
on the non-payroll portion of the budget,
that would include fuel, utilities, insurance, which all areas that we've seen
some pretty substantial increases in, even though inflation is not currently
running at 5% overall, went ahead and did a 5% inflation factor there.
so looking at our multi-year,
I'm going to start you there with the 25-26. Estimate for how we're going
to end the year, we're looking at a $25 million deficit, almost $26
million deficit. One thing I'll point out as we look at going
from 25-26 to 26-27, you'll see that's about a
$17 million decline in revenue.
well, there's about $6.8 million in 25-26 that is one-time revenue.
from the state related to property value audits that are, purdue brandon does
those for us. They evaluate them every year.
and so we can protest, just like our taxpayers can protest their values with dcad,
we can protest property values with the comptroller's office that are used in the state funding formula.
and so purdue brandon, you get, I think, two.
opportunities to protest your value in a certain time period and
purdue monitors that for us regularly and protests when it is advantageous to us.
so we received $6.8 million for prior years in the current year.
so that is part of why that drop looks so large going from $25.26 to $26.27
compared to the other declines in
revenue. Which are really just related to the declines in enrollment.
you can see our recapture cost, relatively stable,
five and a half, roughly to six and a half million
dollars. Our recurring expenditures, and as you'll remember for
2526, we're using the proceeds from the sale
of the sherman property to... Reduce the level of deficit we have. As I said, a $25.8 million
deficit estimated for the current year. Our ending fund balance
with that deficit would be $140 million. And our target for fund balance,
and that is total fund balance, and so our targeted fund balance is $110 million,
and that is 25% of expenditures.
and then just carrying that across there, you can see.
so as we get into 26-27, you'll see the budget increases we discussed
of a million, the budget reductions of 25.7, total expenditures of 419.
you'll notice in those total expenditures, no raise is listed on there for any year because dr.
goodson will go over the raise options with you.
but just at this point, even without giving a raise, we're expecting a $21 million
deficit, and that deficit will continue to grow because none of those years have a raise.
and you can see there in 27-28. The targeted fund balance
would be $105 million, and our estimated ending fund balance is $90 million.
so we're about $15 million under our target,
and that also just continues to grow in future years. Two important points.
we have the permanent school fund, just as a reminder to the community and the board, and we're going
to talk a little bit more about that as a compensation option. And then secondly, when you
say that that deficit moves forward, that's also to say if we don't do anything else to intervene
to reduce our expenditures. Correct. And the other thing, and
at this point, I'm not inclined to bet
on this option, but just remember, in the spring
of every odd-numbered year, we do have a legislative
session. So this forecast is built
on current law, but there's not been a substantial increase in the basic allotment
in a very long time now for us. So, you know, the only option
I have is to do this on current law. And again, we have options
to continue to work on this. And I'll prove, as ms.
branham said, we'll talk a little bit more about the local permanent
school fund in a minute, and we'll talk about a couple of revenue enhancement
options in a minute. But I just want to make sure I'm laying an appropriate
foundation here and not glossing over anything for you.
and with that, I will turn this over to dr. Goodson. Maybe click and talk. Okay.
thank you, mr. Pate. Good evening, board. We just want to bring back
to the table some options in terms of possible compensation packages for 26-27.
we shared several options with you in our march meeting. And then based on some of the
feedback that you provided, we came back and have kind of fleshed out a few of the options,
tweaked them a little bit. And so, again, we always want to show you there are lots
of possibilities in terms of the way that you look at a pay increase
for the next school year. And see,
that's why I don't get. Thank you. Ok. So just as a reminder,
if you were to provide a percentage increase to all employees.
the approximate cost of a 1% pay increase will be $3.6 million, 2% will be
$7.2, and then 3% will be $10.8. And as noted here, david
wants to be sure we remind everyone, these raised
calculations are general fund only and with employer
benefits excluding health insurance contributions. So last time we gave you option a, b, and c.
tonight, we're going to show you a little bit of a different take with option a and then a1 and then
option b. So for option a, similar to what we shared
in our last meeting, this would be a pay increase for all teacher types before we've delineated with
classroom teachers and then a separate increase for non-087 teachers.
for this particular model, we are bringing the group back together, so to speak.
so t-types in this setting are all teachers, librarians, counselors, and nurses. Anyone completing one to 10
years, they would see a $1,000 increase.
for anyone completing 11 years and up, they would receive a $2,000 increase.
and so the bullets underneath there show you that for next school year, a teacher who's completed five
years will be making $66,000. With the $1,000 increase
for 10 years, it would be $71,000 and so on. So you can see this is what
that individual would be making for their...
new salary for 26-27. The cost for that is approximately $5.6 million.
that's a little bit higher than what we shared with you last time because in our last option a, it was just classroom
teachers, and then we grouped the others in a different group.
so that's why that has gone up just a little bit. And then on the right, that still means that
for a new year, a new teacher starting in 26-27, we would recommend that the zero-year salary
will be $63,500. That would be $5,000 below what a one-year teacher would
be making. So again, new teacher this
year is $63,000. If they got a $1,000 increase, it will be
$64,000. So then that means a new teacher coming
in will be making $63,500. And then to make sure that we're staying compliant with the legislation,
an uncertified teacher coming in at zero years experience will be making $63,000, which
is where we are starting now. Dr. Goodson, just to clarify,
when you mentioned the separation between teachers and then counselors, nurses,
and librarians, that was not a delineation that richardson isd identified. That came
from the state as a result of the last legislation. Thank you for the clarification.
yes, that difference, that separation on the teacher scales of the pay scales and the pay
increases were the result of the state legislation. Yes, ma'am.
what we've done to target the other groups down below there is that all the other employees,
if we're talking about central campus staff, administrators, and others,
that will be a 2% pay increase. That's a proposal here.
we would also propose a 3% pay increase for all paraprofessional and auxiliary staff, and that
would be approximately $2.7 million.
so option a1 is a different approach to the pay increase, and for this scenario,
we are looking at you a $1,000 increase for one to 10 year employees and a $2,000 increase for 11 plus
years employees. And that would be all employees and it would be
provided in the form of a retention stipend. So I have to apologize
because when you see the bullets under option a1 there,
the sub bullets, it says 2627 salary. But that's my apologies that that basically is the 2627
take home for the teachers and the employees. I'm sorry. The base salaries would not
change because it's a one-time stipend. So our salaries would be
at the same level, which is also why we have the cost as it is and the starting
teacher salary. We are bringing this concept forward strictly from working
towards managing our current deficit budget and trying
to give another,
for example, might this be the year. That since it's a stipend it
would not be a recurring line item in the budget this might
be the time that we tap into the permanent school fund use that to pay for this
retention stipend so it gives us another year to find the additional 20
million dollars and that we need to in savings to completely right size our
budget um so again it's just an idea it's a concept um that would just again provide
a little bit more capacity a little bit more time for us to find the reductions.
again, this may not be something that the board has an appetite for.
this may not continue to accomplish the objectives that you set up. But I felt
like it would be remiss to at least not bring forward an option that doesn't increase
our recurring budget moving forward.
so for option b, it's similar to option a. In terms of the structure,
but the difference here is that the dollar amount increased for one to 10 years
instead of $1,000. We are showing what it would be if it was $1,500. Again,
for all teacher types, teachers, librarians, counselors, and nurses, and then for 11 plus years,
$3,000. And so that approximate cost would be $8.1 million.
with the sub-bill is there, you can see what a five-year teacher would be making, $10, $15, $20, and 30.
with this particular option, we would need to start our zero-year teaching salary
for 26-27 at $64,000. So that still stays below
what a new one-year experienced teacher would be making.
and then again, with the uncertified, we would propose keeping that at $63,500 so that there's
still a difference between uncertified and certified. And then the cost
at the bottom for the other employees is the same at $2.7 million
with them grouped. By 2% increase
for central and others, and then 3% for paraprofessional and auxiliary.
I leaned in a little close and it got louder, sorry. So this is just a comparison
page for all three of these options. Again, not proposing one
over the other, really just discussion points for us to consider and for you to consider today.
and then the approximate cost on the far right hand side. And then again,
across the bottom, if you were to give a flat one, two or 3% pay increase. Those are the dollar amounts
associated with those as well. I also want to mention that the board may also have an
option of doing kind of a combination. The board may decide we want to make sure that we're
continuing to invest in the teacher's salary. So we might decide that you're going to go
with one model and, again, add that potentially to our recurring costs.
but, for example, for the central, it might be more of a
retention stipend so that we're not building that in. Into our recurring costs so
there even some flexibilities within what we've brought forward for the board to consider and provide us
feedback moving back to the revenue recommendations you'll remember our community
budget steering committee recommended a va tre and they recommended expanding explore
enrollment so we're going
to look at a couple of options related to that now, starting with
explore. If you have detailed
questions on this, I'm going to turn it over to dr. Laper, but I will do my best
to cover this at this point. The proposal is
to increase the, what I call the school day or school year
explore rates by $5 a week for the afternoon community, free and reduced lunch,
and then a $6 increase related to for our employees.
and you can see the comparison. There in the middle are current explore rates with the proposed for 26-27
and the rate increases on the far right. An increase of $10 a day for our holiday explore
program and then summer explore, an increase of $25 a week.
and all of this combined would generate about a $700,000 increase.
and it would so part of this is also in the lower
left corner is a raise for our explorer personnel
from $16 to $18 an hour. And so that would help offset
the cost of that increase
in the explorer, I mean, for paying our explorer staff.
and historically, our explorer program has made a contribution back
to the general fund. It is not a cost center. It is a small profit center.
and, you know, with wage inflation everywhere and the
competition that we have for staff and our attempts to increase our enrollment
in explore, we do need to pay our staff some more so that we can stay staffed up and
attract the quality of staff that we need for our explore program.
and then moving on to the vatre.
you may remember that back in the fall of 2018, our
voters approved a tre for all 13 cents available
at the time. And then immediately
in that spring of 2019, back in the 86th legislative session, the state passed, I do not remember the house
bill number now, but it compressed our property tax rates. And so the state actually
took away. 3.17 cents that our voters had given us.
and so they made it so that
we have to go back to the voters to get back the 3.17 cents
that they had given us back in the fall of 2018. So what you have here, the
top half is just property tax revenue, state revenue,
and recapture. Without a vatre,
and they changed the name from tre, tax ratification election, to voter approval
tax ratification election. And so the top part is no vatre.
the bottom is with the vatre. And really the important
number for you is the blue row
at the very bottom, and you can see the increase
in revenue for a successful vatre.
is about $7.7 million. It's all really in the property tax revenue side.
we have an increase in property tax revenue, small to no change
in state revenue, and then an increase in recapture.
so we end up netting with all of those changes, again, about $7.7 million.
a couple more comments
on this in just a second. Just a little bit more information for you here.
so this is our statewide peer districts and how many pennies they have left
available to them if they wanted to call the atre.
and you can see several of them are in the same boat we are.
they have 3.17 cents. Some of you have gone to their voters for all of their pennies.
the little asterisk there. Ector county, midland, and spring branch, all are also
in the same boat we are. They have a local option homestead exemption in place.
and you can see at the bottom of the slide there in the lower right,
I just put the amount of pennies available to us for a vatre, that 3.17 cents.
here are our north texas peers.
and you can see, again, very similar.
allen has a little over $0.05 they can go for.
carrollton, dallas, and frisco all have the same
$0.0317. Garland just recently passed a vatre, so they have all
of their pennies now. Mckinney, same boat we are. Mesquite has nine cents available. Plano, rockwall have gone
back to their voters for all of them. And wiley with 12. And in dallas county, I know
we've discussed this many times, but dallas and highland park are the only two districts in dallas
county that still have a local option homestead exemption. And we do not use highland
park isd as one of our peer districts for this.
so some vatra considerations. We only have 3.17 cents to go for.
yes, ma'am. And if I can say that the main reason that we are bringing this forward and
highlighting this, as david mentioned, we are going into a legislative session.
and one of the items that is always up for consideration is austin making it more
difficult for districts to bring forward vaters as well as bring forward bond
elections. Whether it's changing a vote majority number or not even
giving us this option. So this is really the last window of time where we have
certainty that it's an option. We're not necessarily recommending it.
we just want to put everything out on the table and make sure that the board knows their full menu
of options and what it would look like to move forward with this process, just so you're aware.
thank you, ms. Brennan. Yes, legislative outcomes are
always uncertain. At one time, we could have removed the local option homestead exemption, but the
legislature several sessions ago set a date, and we cannot consider removing the local option homestead exemption.
and they have extended that deadline in the last several legislative sessions.
so we are being punished for having done that
at this point. We leave money
on the table. Just like all the other districts do that have a local option homestead
exemption. So we're at a competitive disadvantage to our peers that either never gave a
local option homestead exemption or removed theirs. Some of the other vatre
considerations in addition to legislative uncertainty, we do have the 3.17 cents
available. We will have to hire an auditor to conduct an
efficiency audit if you want to move forward
with a vatre. Our current audit firm can
conduct the efficiency audit. They've done so for other school districts. I have reached out
to them. The cost of that efficiency audit is $15,000.
we will have to have a board meeting to discuss the results of the efficiency audit,
kind of a public hearing type situation. I've got all the important
dates related to the vatre process on the following slides, and we'll go over those
in just a second. And I just wanted to.
remind everybody of the tax rate. So I have,
assuming I've got a with and without a vatre for 2627 listed here.
so with a vatre, the m&o rate would rise to
78.69 cents. The ins rate does increase
from the current 35 cents to the 39 cents.
that's the four cents. That we told the voters that was associated with the $1.4
billion bond election. So with a vatre, the total tax rate would be
$1.1769. Without the vatre m&o rate,
I expect to stay at $0.7552. Again, that could change when
tre, excuse me, tea gives us our maximum compressed rates,
but it would change in both cases.
the ins rate. It's still going to the 39 cents, and I expect us to be
at $1.1452 without a vatre.
so what are all the dates? So I've added in red on each of this is the budget
calendar you're used to seeing, but anything in red is key dates that are associated now have been
added for the vatre timeline. So we will need to, at the
june 4th meeting select an auditor and get that
on the agenda to hire the auditor for an efficiency audit.
that is our last meeting before july 3rd, last scheduled meeting,
unless you wanted to have another one, but that is the last scheduled meeting.
and the deadline to hire an auditor to conduct the efficiency audit is july 3rd. The other key dates, august
7th. We will need to publish the notice of hearing
on the tax rate, no less than 10 days, no more than 30s.
that is all the normal timeline. But if you choose to call for vatre, we will have
to publish a new notice. That is, there's no option there.
we will have to do that. August 17th, and this is just what the timeline has
to be. August 17th is the last day
to call a vatre. That is a monday, and we do have a work session scheduled on august 20th, but because that's the
last day to call an election, august
7th, and you'll see right there, august 5th, that's the last day for tea
to provide our maximum compressed rate.
we need that information. To get our notice in the newspaper.
and so this is as early as we can push up anything, is to have that notice published
in the morning news on august 7th.
therefore, because it's got to be 10 days, at least 10 days before that august 17th, and that is the last day
to call an election. Then october 1st,
we would have to post the results of the efficiency audit on our website and hold an open
board meeting to discuss the results. This is a thursday. There is no meeting currently
scheduled that I'm aware of for that thursday, but it is at least on a traditional
board meeting night. And then, of course, the november 3rd general election
date would be when the vatre would be held. And then november 17th is the
last day to canvas the election results. And then we would send out tax bills as close to
november 18th as possible as soon as we can get those published.
what are our key takeaways
and next steps? Despite the $41.7 million
in budget reductions since project right size began, we'll still adopt a deficit
budget for 26-27, even without a raise.
we don't know what the impact of education savings accounts is going to be at this point.
I wish I could give you information
on that. I would love to have information on that. It would make me a lot more
comfortable with this whole process. And as ms.
branham said, is now the time to tap into the local permanent school fund or rainy day fund.
to carry us through the 90th legislative session, which begins in january.
so the local permanent school
fund, just for a refresher for everyone,
our predecessors created this, prior boards, prior administrations created the
local permanent school fund. When I bring you the document in the summer
to restrict fund balance, is on there.
that is one of the things you're restricting for. We've recorded in a completely separate fund
number. It is a local special revenue fund.
it has various one-time kind of found monies that were put in it over the years,
and we invest it separately, and it continues to earn interest, and it has
grown, and so there is currently a balance of $27 million
in that rainy day fund that is an option for us. We will not spend it
without board authorization. And then the community
budget steering committee has recommended that we consider a vatre.
again, it would generate about $7.7 million. And then as ms.
branham said, it is unclear as to whether or not the vatre will be an
option after the 90th legislative session. We do know that there is a
desire to reduce isd's taxing ability, taxing authority.
and city.
and city, county, basically anybody that levies a property tax.
there is a desire to restrict that for all of us.
and it is our only real source of revenue. Cities do have various fees,
water, sewer. Sanitation fees, cities do collect sales tax benefit
from sales tax, property tax is our only source of revenue outside of the
state funding and they are very closely linked. With that we'll be glad to
answer any questions and thank you.
well, with that presentation, thank you very much. We will open it up
to comments and questions from the board.
that's right. All right, ms. Pacheco, you can start us off.
all right. Well, awesome presentation on all the things that.
and should not happen to us as a school district.
thank you so much for all of the hard work, the explanations that you do, mr. Pate.
I think our community and I know we appreciate it so much. One question, I have a couple
of questions, but it may be out of order because my brain is a little bit out of order
with this. If we were to do like a vatre and we get those pennies,
when I looked at the chart, recapture increases so recapture is not based on
student enrollment numbers it's just based on tax rate value that we earn they're
linked but it increases like by three million dollars
that's I mean more than three so that's kind of yes but
it's all it it all ties back to wealth per student is what the recapture is it's part of
the old terminology robin hood and so the wealthier per student we become the larger
the recapture is but because um we do because our voters authorize them we do get
to keep a portion of the additional revenue generated uh through the atre through those essentially local
option pennies but yes you're right we we do have
to give some of them away right I yeah I know it's
disappointing because not that I mind giving away and providing support
to other school districts, but if we're already doing $6 million and we know we need more money here,
we should be able to keep some of that, more of that, especially when they
took it away to begin with. But that's just an opinion, but thank you
for explaining that. The second part I had a question on was one of our pay-raise modeling
comparisons, and option a1 is a stipend. So with this amount, it's a
one-time amount that is given to each person. And is this amount, like
in corporate world, it gets charged as a bonus, or does this get taxed as
whatever tax bracket this person belongs to? Like what happens
to that amount? Yes, ma'am.
go ahead. It is taxed as ordinary income. So it would be taxed.
based on whatever an employee put on their w-4 and the appropriate tax tables.
but I will point out that because it is a one-time payment, a retention stipend,
if you will, it is not part of their trs salary,
so it does not contribute to their trs because it is a one-time payment.
like you said, it's more like a bonus. Than pay for work done.
pay for work, okay. And then if I could add,
one thing that we've done in the past is we stagger the payment so that it's usually not all
in one check as well. So we wait a few months until the school year is there so we make sure that the person
has actually come back to receive the stipend. And then we've broken it up into two payments, one
in the fall and one in the spring. So it's not 2,000 additional dollars, for example, all in
one check that could cause more taxes. We try to just break it up into chunks.
and so it'll cross our employees' income tax year, which is the calendar year
generally for most, if not all, employees.
okay, perfect. And then just for further clarification, I just want to make sure,
option a and option a1. Option a is ongoing,
and it'll compound for the following year, right? Right, that would be
recurring. Recurring. Okay. And then option a1 is that one-time thing we added and
then it's gone. Correct. Like we don't add it again,
ever again. Yes, ma'am.
okay. Option b, we added continuously?
recurring. Okay. Yes. So option a, so going back to the multi-year, option a,
you would see, options a and b, you would see in the 26-27 column, 27-28 column, 28-29 column,
and 29- 30 column. Option a1 would only appear in the 26-27 column.
and you could bring revenue in, you could do a transfer in from the local permanent
school fund, as ms. Branham said, into the general fund for
26-27 so that there would be equal revenue and equal expense for option a1 and it
would have no net impact. On the 21 million dollar
deficit, whereas a and b would increase the deficits.
it does increase the deficit,
but we can't use that fund. Right or we can you week week I mean yes I can make a
decision even if it was recurring so that doesn't matter right the board that's
right if the board decided we yes we want to invest in a recurring raise the board can still make a decision you're
going to commit x percent of the permanent school fund
to help offset the increase in expenditure and again give
us more time to find those efficiencies also I want to say with a one as I mentioned that it could be a
combination. You all could decide. For teachers and
for t-types, we're going to do that as a recurring. We're going to invest
in their salary. But for central, for example, that might be more of a
retention stipend that we would pay for one time. So you have some options and
flexibilities based upon just kind of your willingness to see what happens in the
next legislative session. You know, each time we go to find $20 million of
savings. It gets harder and harder to find $20 million in savings.
so I just want to present a menu of choices for our consideration as we
continue to right-size.
yes, I know you say $20 million, but I feel like it's a little higher than that at the end of the day,
right? Yes, and just to reiterate what ms.
brenner said, you could direct us, for instance, to bring in, say, a fourth of the...
balance in the local permanent school fund, just divide it by four and bring
in one fourth every year for years 26, 27 through 29, 30 as an option.
right. But that then reduces the investment opportunity of the fund itself. And that's probably not the
best move. Okay. So with the combination of things, I do have a
question and I know you mentioned this before to us, but is there
like a reason, I know the reason between certified and uncertified
teachers, and the amount, but is there a reason why the difference is only 500? Like, why isn't it 6,300 and
the other uncertified teacher, I don't know, 62 or 61?
like, where did these numbers?
sorry, we just picked the number that aligned with the particular option that we had.
we could always have that uncertified teacher number be lower. It was just a requirement
with the legislation to make sure that there was a difference between the compensation for
it. A certified teacher and uncertified? Where I would caution having
too much of a differentiation is, for example, our cte teachers.
many of them are uncertified, but they're highly skilled because they've had such incredible industry
experience. So even if I think about some of our health care, they've
had such incredible industry experience that that is a part of our district of
innovation plan. So it's not the same thing as the plan that we brought forward to the board.
to reduce our uncertified teacher in core areas. So I would just caution us
because we need our strong cte teachers
for our pathway. I get it. So thank you
for the clarity. I mean, you know, some people don't know, and they don't, you know, I don't fully understand what a
certified teacher versus an uncertified teacher. So that makes a lot of sense as to where
uncertified teachers are and the things that they're providing our students
around the district. So that's really important to know and understand and why the difference is smaller
versus bigger. Let's see. I think full fund,
restrict fund balance.
okay. I think that's it. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
thank you, ms. Pacheco. All right. Ms. Timmy, go ahead.
okay. I want to just talking about one, about a1, specifically
in the stipend. I just, this is just my opinion. One of seven, I know, but
just my opinion. I always get concerned when we talk about doing a stipend
and masking the raise that we're giving while I understand the flexibility
that's needed, but it may mean in order to catch up and then potentially give another
raise, we're at 4% to 8% at that point. And so we almost at times anti-ourselves
to perception. And I think that's really,
really important. I would rather... Just my opinion, I would
rather us give the raise that needs to be given versus a stipend that masks what we're
doing. We got ourselves into
trouble, and that was part of the compression issue. It was part
of the reason it looked like we were giving raises at one point in time, and then we came back and we were
not. I think there's a different message that that sends. So I just want to throw that
out there just as my feedback on that. I mean, I certainly want to look
at do some other research on some of the other ones just to make sure that the due
diligence is done for that can we look at slide 19 real quick?
I just have a question on that.
on that one, when we're talking like it says total revenue, and it says, you know, approximately $3.5 million
overall in revenue on the bottom right part of that table, is that less expensive?
so that would be like expense, like that would be like we're bringing in 3.5
after expenses. That's just our profit. Okay. It's not.
okay. Great. That's what I wanted. And then on slide 20, I think I'm asking a dumb question,
but I'm going to go ahead and do it. When I'm looking at, listen, I do it all the time.
I'm, you know, nothing new over here. I'm just preparing y'all. Right.
so the giggles stay minimal. Looking at the increase on the vadr on those bottom blue lines.
if I'm looking at what the forecast is for 28-29 and the forecast for 29-30, why is there
like a $2 million difference there, but all the other ones look the same or more similar?
I am still trying to figure that out. I will be honest with you. I don't know if that is an
error in omar's template or
if it is just really that's the way it's supposed to work. I have concerns that it does
drop that much in that year. Especially if you look
at the year before. Yes. There's some other pricing difference or other revenue pieces in there that are
lower and look different, but yet it doesn't drop it. I don't know.
I can't understand why it would devalue by $2 million. I'm still trying to figure that out,
and I will continue to work on that. Not as dumb as I thought. No. Thank you very much.
I just did a shorter number, and I was and I apologize that I did not highlight that
earlier because that has been driving me a little crazy. Absolutely.
okay. I think, I don't know, I mean, I'm not really sure
what's being asked. I think this is just information and presentation. I do just want to say that,
like, I do think there's some due diligence that really needs to be done here. I would be remiss if I didn't say that we've talked all
night about, like, how having the best teachers in that classroom is what's going to get us to our north star goal.
I know some of our neighboring districts that we're going to compete with. I've seen some of their
starting salaries. I've seen some big percent raises. I've also seen some other
funding models that we'll compete for for some of those experienced teachers. I think we jumped out ahead
of the curve, as we should have, appropriately. But I also think, too, like if we're really going
to be committed to that north star goal, then we have to really be sure we take care of our teachers.
now, how we do that, right, that's what we get to decide. But I do think that ensuring
that what we're putting in in a really tough time frame,
in a really tough time to be paying teachers and having to make some difficult choices
and whatever choice, whatever we end up going with, I know is going to make
more difficult conversations down the road.
and to me, it's not just a risk tolerance. It's that.
but it's also the tolerance of the conversations that we're going to be forcing going forward
for that. But this is I mean, listen.
this is why we get paid the big bucks, right? We have to have these conversations,
and that's part of our job. But I do hope that just as the board, and we do continue
to keep that north star goal and aligning our resources, as small as they might be at this point, with the
outcomes that we desire, I do think this is a situation where you get what you pay
for. So that's it. Thanks.
timmy, do you have any feedback related to our... Just as I think about modeling this out
further and bringing back the information that you would need to help give us directional approval
in our first may meeting, because we would like to share our compensation in that may meeting, get
directional approval. Y'all don't adopt the budget until june.
do one of these models speak to you? I hear a1 is not something that you would like for us
to continue with, and of course, look forward to other feedback
from the board. But a or b in any way. Yeah, so listen, I tend
to lean more towards a and I mean, listen, if I had my heart's desire,
we would definitely be doing that is where I would land. That being said, I also feel like it is incumbent upon us
to do our due diligence to look at the modeling. I think what I would like to look for is I would like
to see what the other starting salaries that we are competing with.
I would also like to see how you guys have done it before where it looks like we're the experienced
teachers. I know that's a little bit harder. But that benchmarking data from the other districts,
like I know that mckinney is giving like a three and a half percent raise. I don't know where that then
puts us in relation to them. I understand there's some districts that we won't be able to model against because of the model
that they're using, which is fine. That's I mean, that is what it is. But what I would I just would
like to see where we land. We worked really hard to get where we are. I am committed to our teachers in this
district. I know as our enrollment drops that we are going
to have to have different conversations. I understand that,
but we're going to just have to really, I would like to see that because I just would have a very hard time
dropping in where we've been when we've made the progress that we've made. And so those would be the
kinds of things that I'm going
to look at. Okay, thank you for that. One last just follow-up. In terms
of other employee types, would you like to see any adjustments in that percent increase? Would you like us
to lower that? Would you like... Any feedback on that? You're talking about outside of just t-types as you're
defining them now? Yes, ma'am. I'm talking specifically central and paraprofessional. Listen, I would like
to give everybody all of the money. Let's just be honest.
that's right, matt. I think I know we've done a little bit of pay on paras. I would say that I would have
to go back and look at that to see because I would want to see what that looks like. I mean, I think I'd be
hard-pressed. I mean, 3%. On what we don't pay them enough already
for what we ask of them. I would be extremely, it would be extremely hard for me to ever get behind
anything that would drop that. That's how we felt as well. Yeah.
I don't, and I don't know that I think I would want to on central office either at this time, especially
given the cuts that we're making and the amount of work that they're having to pick up in light of the cuts that we're making.
like we're making these cuts and we're getting a lot of less people, but it doesn't mean that those jobs
aren't there. It means we've shifted them to someone else. Right.
I know that we'll also be asking for additional cuts, right? I mean, it's going to have to happen.
I don't know where that comes from. It will be starting in august.
yeah. I don't know where that's going to come from, but I
would assume we would be doing the same thing. It's not like the work's getting less.
we're going to continue to shift more work on fewer people. And so I would have a hard time then not giving them an
increase, asking them to do more work while they're being prepared to determine what cuts we're going to make. Well, we're not giving them a
salary increase. I would have a very hard time getting behind that. That's just my thoughts. That helps us know kind
of what to model. All right. Others. We'll go to ms. Mcgowan now.
yeah. Would you like to add on to ms.
timmy?
I think ms. Timmy and ms. Pacheco have said plenty.
I do have just explore. I just had a question wrote down, like, is this our only child care option?
or do we look into other options for after school? Or does that even make a
difference? I don't know. We provide what I think is a
high-quality after school option, and it's very, very affordable. Right.
I was going to say, you can't find anything cheaper. Even with the increase, you cannot find cheaper than that.
and we've not. We purposely, again, we recognize that. I know.
cost of living for everyone is increasing, so we have been very conservative
in not addressing explore. I think it's been three years, maybe four, since we've last adjusted this.
we did look at all of our benchmark districts, and we are by far charging right now the lowest.
and I feel like there's even financial assistance for parents in the explore program.
so where does that assistance come from? It basically drops the revenue from the explore
model. Yes. I mean, again, this program
still generates revenue. It still generates. It just reduces the revenue. Is this,
is it a separate company? No, ma'am. It's all us. Yes, dr.
lieber and david burkholder and his team lead the entire thing. Okay. Well, I know because the ymca
has tried to break in. I thought they were like an outside. I thought it was outside of the district.
but if it's all internal, then we've got to hold on to all of that. Yes. For sure. Again, it is a revenue
generator for the district. One of the hopes that we have, and this is one
of the recommendations from the community budget steering committee, is if we can increase, and we didn't
model this because we don't know, but if we can increase that hourly rate and we can attract more workers, we have
a significant waiting list for our explore program. It's so cheap.
yes. It's just finding enough workers. So we're hoping that if we
can increase this hourly rate, maybe we will attract some more workers so that we
can get more students in to even increase the revenue.
gotcha. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for that.
I would also like to see, I know ms. Timmy mentioned seeing the comparison
with or benchmark districts, but I also wrote down the different employee types,
like you were saying, your parent professionals. I would like to see, and I wrote that down, are we aligned
with our neighboring districts on that pay?
today, are we even aligned? On the specific raise or on salary?
salary. It depends upon which employee type you're talking
about within that category. So within that, there are layers
of employees. It might be auxiliary staff. It may be a classroom
paraprofessional. It may be an executive assistant. It may be our sdss.
so there's a... Multitude of positions and each one benchmarks differently based upon what
we've been able to do and adjust over time. I will say they probably,
they all at some point will have to do some market adjustment,
but we know we don't have the capacity and the budget to do that. And that's why we knew we had
to at least bring forward a 3% consideration for that job category. Dr.
goodson, I don't know if you want to add anything to that. No, that actually is... Very accurate.
they are the lower paying positions. And so over the last several years, we've tried to bring
forward those groupings of employee types that needed to have some type of adjustment because they were
the farthest behind the rest of our benchmark districts
with actual salary and in some cases the starting salary for new hires coming in.
so we've made progress coming into this year. We targeted assistant
principals, we targeted central special
education, paraprofessionals, executive assistants, different groupings within the paraprofessional ranks.
and so we know that that's going to have to be the case moving forward.
I think we have to stick to that.
I feel like that we have to stick to that pay increase for that type.
and my last question is, ms. Pacheco touched on the certified teacher.
and then you clarified, because I wrote the same question down, and then you clarified the cte space.
but then my mind went to, but what about in the classroom space for our non-certified teachers
there? Can we further that?
can we widen that gap, like the classroom uncertified versus the classroom certified, and not touch the
cte uncertified? Well, there are a few other. Job categories that I would
recommend we would want to keep
in that close differential. What I would offer is, for example, this year,
unless we have, I don't anticipate having as many openings because of some of
the attrition work we're doing. But if we do, hr knows we
have to hire certified people. We are under legislation that
requires us in the core areas to have certified teachers. We have presented a plan that
the board approved. To reduce the amount of uncertified teachers we have
by 50%. So I think we have kind of a project in place,
a system in place that will address that without having so many different salary
schedules that it makes it incredibly complex for our hr system and our payroll system
to make sure that we are adequately paying everyone what they need to.
of course, whatever the board, I'm at the will of the board.
but I think we have another way to solve that that would allow us to kind
of maintain. Pulling all uncertified
teachers out of the classroom. Reducing, yes. Kidding.
working to reduce that. Just kidding. Okay, awesome. I appreciate that.
I love that plan. I appreciate the work. It's a lot. So, yeah, that's all.
thank you. Thank you. Comments or questions?
mr. Andrea.
I think my colleagues already said a whole lot. I mean, I just, yeah, I agree with everything that
was said, especially on the part with the paraprofessionals and all.
absolutely agree across, I mean, for the longest time, I mean, they have been the most, I guess, underpaid,
and they do so, so much work. I mean, they are equivalent to what a teacher does
in the classroom. And so that, again, I agree with that. One of the questions I did
have was on the very beginning, on the very, I don't know what slide,
what slide is this? Slide seven. You know, I just think it's super important.
I think all of us here, when we get to a certain topic, we talk about how important that is,
right? And so absolutely, I think all of us agree that the teacher compensation is super
important. If we could, we would give them exactly, I mean, give everybody the top most,
yeah, in a race. But I think it's offsetting these things. So when we talk about,
I know we talked about the marketing. How important that was when we did that presentation,
right? I just feel like whatever's in front of us, we're like, yeah, let's do that. And then, yeah,
let's do that. And yes, we'll do that. But when it comes to this, again, I think for all
of us, I know for me, the teacher compensation is super important and top priority.
I mean, what everybody said here is absolutely right. But when I see some of these other things, I
mean, this right here on this slide, are these like, I know the advertisement one you said,
we can go back and forth. There's things that we can move around. But are some of these pretty
much, I mean, there's just, and I know it only adds up to that, you know, the $1
million here. But say like property auto
liability, cyber insurance, is that like just something that it is what it is,
right? The cost increase.
where the board would have some options, for example, the fine arts supplies. That is a request that mr.
sinet with visual arts brought forward. We've not made any adjustments
in supply budget. For elementary or secondary visual arts teachers um and so he he did ask that we make
a a small adjustment but the crossing guard is required by the city
of richardson and we have to we have a cost associated
with that. The two special education teachers and four central paraprofessionals,
we could continue to work with our special student services.
we could potentially put a pin on that and see if we can find some efficiencies, maybe
add one or two students depending upon the special program that it is.
we just know that our students... Identification continues to
increase our request is that we hire that early so we can
get higher quality individuals versus realizing in october that we need those
classrooms and then trying to find teachers and paraprofessionals
in that classroom in october so there there potentially might be some flexibility there so really advertising
and marketing plan potentially the special
education classrooms and the fine art supplies the other things are unfortunately
that's just what it is okay well that was my question because I didn't know what else yeah
but again I think I agree with my colleagues here where I mean the as far as the teacher pay I agree that's a
tough part yeah thank you and thanks for the presentation
do other board members have
any feedback related to a versus b you go
to slide slide 16. Slide 16.
and, again, as we referenced all models, we brought but there may be something else that you would like
to see us model and compare to benchmark. So we're open to your
feedback. I'll go last. All right.
just waiting over here. As far as feedback, I think I
would definitely want to see more on a and b. Maybe there's a combination or something we do in
between with it.
I agree with ms. Timmy on seeing benchmarks on teachers with experience and what do the salaries
really look like for our auxiliary and paraprofessionals.
I asked about the stipend because I was just really curious.
I hadn't seen something like this before, and I was like, does that really move the needle?
what is it exactly? But really and truly, it's kind of like one of
those that doesn't really change a lot for any of our employees.
and when it doesn't also help with their retirement and it doesn't help with other
things versus a salary increase. It truly is.
it's very different. I mean, thank you for providing an option.
but that's definitely not one that I would think it's going to really make a difference. Is that one, so the one to
10 years, 1,000, 11 plus
years, 2,000, that is the stipend we're talking about, right?
that's going across the... So a and b, actually, that is a salary increase, whereas a1, it would be a
one-time, two times a year, but it's more
of a one-time stipend. So it does not increase the actual salary.
I'm going to lean towards because I know what they're doing in fort worth, which is
insane. I mean, it's not insane, I'm so sorry.
but I'm going to lean more towards b. We're going to adopt the deficit.
and, I mean, it just doesn't even really move the needle that much in salary pay,
right? But if that's on the table, that's what I'm leaning
towards. Anybody else want
to speak? Any other trustees? Okay.
can you go to, no? I can't see. Okay.
can you switch back to slide 10?
and I know we're focusing on compensation decisions and stuff ahead of may.
slide 10, and I'm kind of, I keep coming back to this big overall picture
of where we're headed, right? And I know we're focused
right now on decisions that we're making today. We're kind of touching on.
next year and impacts beyond that. But when you look at this and you look at the
ending fund balance compared to the fund balance targets,
we hit an exponential cliff in 27-28. You can see we go to a $15
million deficit in where we need to be with our fund balance to a
50 to 110 or whatever. I don't know what the plan is
going forward to. I mean, how many cuts can we make
to make up $100 million in the next two or three years? I mean, that's just not.
so I know we're talking about. We're kind of splitting hairs on compensation discussion a
little bit because when we're talking about that magnitude of change, and that's not
like in five years. I remember when we had this conversation years ago and we said, oh,
it's five years out. We're going to take some bold moves, which we needed
to do and we could. Well, the light in the tunnel is the train, and it's about on top of us.
so this is an important slide for me to kind of think about things.
I know we've committed to bold moves. We've committed
to bold compensation moves for our teachers, especially multiple times,
because we go back to our north star goal and we're looking at outcomes.
and we know that the teacher in the classroom, the veteran teacher,
the good teacher that we want to retain, the great teacher we want
to recruit, those are what's going to so when we take these bold actions, I just have to remind myself there's
additional pressure now to produce outcomes. I mean, it's just you feel it, right?
I mean, because we're taking risk. And I know you mentioned a
risk. That's part of the equation, right, the risk proposition. So we're taking this risk
on a fiduciary side of the house for the roi on the student outcome side. And so the more risk we take,
the more pressure I feel, right?
and I think that's how it's supposed to happen at the end of the day, right? But this is a lot of
pressure. There's a lot of risk there. And I know that $8 million this year, a decision, or
$10 million, or $12 million, or whatever. We're just talking a few million here and there.
but according to that, I mean, we've got bigger problems than just $8 or $10
million. And that's really what at least caused me to say we needed
to have this conversation. Because without a compensation increase.
we need to find $21 million next year. Just next year.
you want the year after that. Right.
50. Right. It's not, yeah, it increases exponentially. Absolutely.
I hear you. So I'm more talking than asking a question, but these are things that, as
we have the discussion that keep going through my head, one, compression. We took care of that,
right? So none of these reintroduce compression. We've kind of made the.
that's basically why we adopted this. Okay. I just want to make sure in
my mind that I understand we're not accidentally sliding back into something like that.
use the term completely right size our budget. That's something later on we
can see what that looks like. The challenge I have is that
what the amount is that I need to identify to right size our keeps is a moving
target. Yes, absolutely. And as long as we're losing
enrollment, it's like catching a falling knife. So, I know.
okay. Well, bear
with me. A couple of questions on the audit.
I don't understand what that all means, the definition of the efficiency audit. But it sounds like, I mean,
this is probably going to be a no-brainer on having to do that.
but how long is that audit good for? Because we're operating on all these slides
on we have to go to the voters in the fall. Yes, I will double check.
there is a time period where it would have to be refreshed, and the
audit is actually state. The testing or the procedures associated with this efficiency audit is mandated
by the state. So it's not like your normal financial statement audit
that we're used to having it as a special purpose.
so my leading question there is, do we need to go
in the fall? And I know we talk about the pressures of potential action
at the legislative session. And we talked about that last time because we almost accelerated our bond
to get ahead of that, which it ended up it was a bill. It went to the house. It did not get passed.
thank goodness. But, you know, can we do it in the spring?
if they do legislation, when does it take effect? Is it immediately? Is it september 1? I'm just seeing is our only
option. Just to note, right now, vaders can only be done in november. November, okay.
so it would be this november or next november.
so, yes, only in november, and chances are, based on prior legislative activity, if they pass any legislation
related to vatre, we let's see, in 27.
chances are like 20 legislation coming out of the 90th session in 27 could very likely prevent us
from having a va tre in the fall of 27 they had a
kind of out the last time if we had discussed it within a certain time period,
but I don't know if they would give that to us again.
okay. So my point is that we're tying this to this
november. One of my other concerns with that is the and please note, we're open
to board feedback. We just want to make sure you had all the information that you needed to let it, like,
nope, we don't have, like, that's not something we even want to explore.
no, we need to continue to see what that would look like. And that vader, I think we're
getting to the point where if you look at this, we've got to execute every, we've got to pull every lever that we
have. We've got to consider it and we've got to probably do more than consider it.
we've got to find the change in the cushion of the couch. We're digging everywhere we
can. I know you've talked about the permanent fund. That's a good option as well.
I'm not sure I want to exhaust it all in a year or two or whatever. But I also wonder what the
appetite of our voters are going from a bond to a vader
in a short order. And so the whole point of that question was,
can we put space between those two requests?
and I totally know and we can preach all day that they're two different buckets of money and two colors
of money. But it's a tax, all of us. Right. And so that's my concern is
that separation between the bond. And the vader.
and so that's what leads me to ask about the audit and the timing of the election and
all that kind of stuff. So anyway, that's my comment
is just a concern that I want to make sure that we keep on our radar. And if I can note
to something you mentioned about the bond, I just just
to clarify. We did not accelerate the bond to a november election just out of concerns
from legislators. It was also if we wanted to have any chance of being open in the august of 28.
that's true. We had to do it in november.
otherwise, it would have been like a january, which doesn't make sense with a school calendar year.
I know we were on a five-year cycle, and then we got off of that for a number of reasons.
hopefully just this one time. Yeah. Mr. Poteet, can I add just a piece?
I do want to add, there was something that you said, and I think you've said a couple of times, but I actually think it's
like incredibly relevant. So we're talking about like the $10 million raise for our teachers, right?
like 10.8, right? I think is that what it is? But we also, if that's what we went,
right? Like at max, like max is I think what we're talking about. But if I'm really,
and I know we're talking about like these deficits and things like that and out to
2930 and I fully get that. We already know that on the legislative priority list that there is a piece to go
to zero ability to collect any tax payer or any property tax, which is, as you said,
our sole source of funding, which means the whole system at some point, if that goes
through, they're going to have to figure that out because then what?
so then it doesn't become those numbers at all.
and I know we cannot plan on what we think the legislative session will or will not do,
and I get that. And I'm... On one hand don't think we should but I also think too
you you mentioned we're talking about splitting here is about 10.8 million dollars to
give teachers a raise and a potential of a complete and different funding system so
like when I look at that when that's the legislative priority I do look at those
deficits a little bit differently um because 10.8
in that and having no funding sources coming in at all I I just I it doesn't seem like well we want
to be while we want to be responsible fiscally
with our funds, if we don't continue to fund
our teachers the way we are, trying to base it on a current system, which we don't know if it's going
to be there, which we don't, like, I, in my mind, have to keep my eye on the prize,
which is student outcomes, because I can't with all the other things that are happening. I hope that, listen,
I very rarely will get into politics in here for a number of reasons on, from a work perspective.
however, I do hope that our community will get out and understand the impact it's going to have to our
education system should we not find a way to fund our schools without the strings and
without the harnesses to programs that may not be right for our community in order to increase that.
but I think that it makes it not arbitrary. I don't mean that those
numbers are arbitrary, but I do think that... I think in some ways it does.
and so I just want to leave it at that.
I also want to recognize what both of you said. I hope you know that there's not a person in this room
that does not share your urgency around student outcomes. And we know that...
again, you have made the investment, and now our
central systems have to support our educators
in realizing those outcomes. So 100%. Yeah, and just now I was speaking more about my,
the pressure that I feel, you know,
and I know you do every day, all day. But I just think that it's like everything else we do.
it's a balance. It's a balance of looking at sticking with the north star goal and the
commitments, the bold commitments we've made. But then it's a balance of also looking at.
knowing the landscape as it is today, the law as it is today, you know,
this is what we're looking at in two and three years out. So where do we find that balance and where's the risk
in the decisions that we make? So I appreciate the presentation.
hopefully you got a lot of feedback from the board. Ms.
harris, are you good? Can I ask a couple of clarifying? Okay.
well, we're not voting here. I know, but do you have any directional feedback on what you'd like us
to bring back? What I want to see? No, I mean, I do feel that the stipend, I
appreciate you bringing that forward just so that we could have the discussion, understand that option and
what it means. I do think that there's, while it looks good
on paper, there's other second and third order impacts, like we said to trs
and things that that's culturally impactful as well. To our teachers so um so I I
am more interested in option a and b and to our
point that we had a while ago you know is is two million dollars in the grand scheme
of things do we get but also the questions ask you know
does an extra two million dollars does that what do we get for that so you kind of got to look at both
of those but I think we're I see some coalescence around those kinds
of options. Yep. So all right do you have one
more question? Talking about stipends, while we're on the stipend point,
I know a lot of our bilingual teachers received a stipend for, like, our bilingual.
we're not changing that. So we're going to continue that? Yes, ma'am.
okay. Not in the presentation related to stipend reduction. We are not, our special
education, bilingual, many of our other specialty stipends, we are not reducing that. We're really targeting things
like travel, for example, to earn a certain. You know, travel allotment,
you know, a staff member may have to travel 172 miles in a month
to have earned that amount. We know that that is probably not happening. And so it's those kind of
targeted things that we're looking at, but we're really trying to maintain, especially for
our bilingual and our special student services classroom teachers, we're holding on to those stipends.
I just wanted to add something too.
I think that, you know, it's, it's, for me, it's a frustration, right? It's really a frustration
because both sides of what mr. Poteet and also what ms. Timmy said, you know,
we're kind of caught in the middle. And I think the frustrating part for me is that, you
know, with austin, you know, it's the blatant almost, you know, intention to dismantle
public education. And it's coming at all of this, right?
because we're doing the very best we can.
I mean, and I know that our... That other districts are doing the same thing
in the state. But, you know, again,
I think that as we talk about we don't know what's going to happen with this next
legislative session. We don't know what's going to happen, and we're all trying to guess, and
at the same time trying to do what we're supposed to do, and then at the same time provide and keep those teachers.
it just seems so impossible, right? I mean, we're trying to split hairs here on what it is, and it's really hard,
you know. But I get frustrated because, you know, the cuts keep coming from further up.
and it's an intentional and, you know, just like I said, a blatant and intentional point to just continue to dismantle
public ed. I would also just add that
it's not only the underfunding, but then it's
also a continued change in the rules of the game.
so just ccmr is one example of as districts have continued to work towards.
what they're holding up as like this is where we need you to be,
then they continue to change the rules of what counts, what doesn't,
how many points you get. And so even for our current high school students, we're having to reimagine all
the work we have done to make sure that we're doing great things for kids.
we're having to reimagine it all over now because the state has moved
that target. And that's just one. That's just one area.
that's not alone, all the other areas. And, david, if you could hit the last slide, the takeaway slide, because I do want the
community especially to hear this as we're having this conversation.
I know this year, as we hear a $25 million reduction, I just have
to continue to communicate that we've not been on this journey just one year. We have been on this journey
since project right size. We have reduced our expenditures by almost $42
million in three years. So we have not taken this lightly. We have not put our head
in the sand and pretended
like we're not in this. This current financial
situation, every year we have continued to find as many efficiencies, keep them as far away from
the classroom as possible because we feel that urgency.
but to think that in three years we've reduced by $41 million and
to know we've got to do another 20 next year. That is still not enough.
right. I mean, and every time we get to a certain point, they move the needle.
yes. I mean, they're just moving more and moving more. And that's what I'm saying.
and then for those who don't understand that it's like, well, our public schools aren't doing enough. Our public schools don't
provide this and that. And even to mr. Poteet's point about having, I thought the same thing.
I was like, well, we just passed and our community was kind enough and understood how important this bond was.
but then to also come again and say, hey, guys,
now we need this evader. It's like, what more do you want? And we're just trying
to stay afloat. We're just trying to stay afloat. It's like a hamster wheel
because if we don't have facilities and if we don't have the learning environment that will attract and retain, it's kind of
like the marketing, right? Right. I recognize we don't have $500,000 to spend
on marketing. I get it. Like, we don't. At the same time, we recognize the only way
to increase revenue is to try to recruit more. And so it's a hamster wheel in every area,
and I'm desperately trying to find the off ramp to get us
off the hamster wheel but we keep getting like sucked back in exactly
so I just I just had to communicate like we had
the board has been very strategic with charging staff to find
these efficiencies the community budget steering committee was very strategic in making recommendations so
I just that's why I just feel like we're all doing our part right we're all trying really
hard except it seems like austin is not austin's not
doing their part and that's what's frustrating and minutes. Yeah, yeah,
exactly. I do just, okay, and I'll be quiet over this. I do just want
to add, I would be remiss if I did not say we are so lucky
that you are superintendent. I know you're not asked for this because this is hard work. Your team and what you
all do, this is such hard work. And I know you guys get hit with so
much negative all the time. I mean, that just. Somewhat of the nature
of the job. I mean, we get that as principals sometimes too, but not always all the positive pieces of this, but this is not easy work.
this is extremely hard. I'm just thinking of the presentations we had tonight, all the thought and all
of the planning and all of the repercussions and all of the different things that you all are working through
from just a cognitive load of just thinking through every single aspect of that,
how difficult that is. We don't tell you thank you
enough for those things. We don't tell your team thank you enough
for those things. It takes the entire team to make this happen. I'm so glad that you
guys, you have such a strong team that helps her do that, but also, too,
for your leadership in allowing them to help and work with that. I hate to think
where our district would be if we didn't have somebody who could lead this kind
of stuff. It's hard. So thank you. Any other? Oh, yes, ms. Mcgowan. One more question, and this is
probably the dumbest question, ms. Timmy. So I'm going to take that. Is this a competition? I'm taking that
on tonight. Okay, so, and just for the public to understand, because people are always speculating and
throwing things out, like, oh, they shouldn't do this, they shouldn't do that, oh, they should do this. Can you
put it in layman's terms? Like, what would it take to truly right-size our budget?
like, what would you have to really do? Shut down what at this point? And because we
can't, like, realistically, you cannot do those things, right? It's not possible. So if you were talking to
someone and they were like, well, why don't you do this? Why don't you do that? Tell them exactly what it would take to
truly right-size our budget. Sorry, it's a moving target.
so if you're asking what are our next steps in finding the next $20
million? I'm saying options that are not even on the table, options that
we're not even considering. Like what would you have to do to just be like, if you had a magic wand and you're
like, I can't even, I wouldn't even want to speculate on that.
because people are going to speculate. Yeah, I don't want to become a headline
on it. What I will say is
just like it took us to find this $25 million, our team will start in
august. We will get school started. And then that very next week, we will get back to the work of identifying
every opportunity. To find the next efficiency. So, you know,
changing staffing models, you know, looking
at how can we provide services to campuses differently
with less people. You know, we'll have to start looking at programming and are there
certain programming options that we we have
to explore and look at differently. So it's it it will start in august and we will work august through
december. Just like we did this year to begin to identify those and then begin to bring those forward for
feedback all right thank you somebody told me a term one time called abundance mindset
heard that so that's a good way I think to bring this all back
around that we we deal with this we've got hard decisions we got hard discussions but
as you've told staff throughout the entire
district we need to approach this with an abundance mindset you sometimes that's harder
to do than to say. We absolutely do. Well, thank
you very much. Thanks for all the information, mr. Pate down there. Thank
you. Thank you, superintendent branham.
thank you, dr. Goodson. Appreciate it. Didn't want to leave you out
down there. So with that, I would like to thank the staff, our visitors, and my colleagues for being here this evening.
we will not have a closed session tonight, and therefore this meeting is
adjourned at 10.04 p.m.