[0:08] Good evening ladies and gentlemen. The time is now 630. I call to order the Stafford Municipal School Board meeting. Today April 20th, 2026 at 630 PM. We will begin with public comment. I have received one public comment. Mr. Lungoria.

[0:28] I do not see Mr. Lungoria in the room.

[0:36] That's fine.

[0:37] They will move on.

[0:38] Is there any other member of the public that would like to address the board?

[0:43] Now, we will move on.

[0:44] There is no closed meeting today.

[0:47] We will now move on to agenda item 5A.

[0:51] Consider ratification of certification of provision of instruction materials.

[0:54] 2026.27 form.

[0:56] Again, I believe this is just a typo that was corrected from last week.

[1:00] But, Dr. Buster, is there anything else you'd like to add?

[1:02] No, President.

[1:03] I asked the board to approve as president.

[1:06] Great.

[1:08] Mr. President, I make a motion that we approve the certificate of provision of the

[1:13] instructional manual for 26, 2,026, 27,4.

[1:19] So, I've got a motion by Vice President Jean-Bethi, second by Trustee Manio-Hose, all those

[1:25] in favor?

[1:28] Motion carries 7-0.

[1:29] agenda item five be consider.

[1:34] We'll come back in the end.

[1:37] Five be consider approval to name the SMSD educational

[1:41] Plaza.

[1:42] The Robert Bostic educational Plaza open up to a motion.

[1:47] Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion.

[1:50] Like the motion to approval for SMSD to rename the

[1:55] educational Plaza, the Robert Bostic educational Plaza.

[2:00] Second, got a motion in a second. All those in favor?

[2:07] Motion carries seven. No. Congratulations.

[2:10] Wow. We decided to name that after us. Yeah, that blows me away. I am still alive. Yes, that's a good deal.

[2:17] That blows me away. That is awesome.

[2:23] Moving on to agenda item five.

[2:25] Consider approval of the fiscal year 2020-620-7 joint board budget calendar.

[2:32] What are your thoughts, Boston?

[2:35] President Hammer, I remember the board.

[2:37] I'm looking for Mr. Obsav and Eaton come in.

[2:40] One of the things I emailed to you just a bit ago was the joint staffer

[2:44] to MSD, joint budget calendar.

[2:47] One of the things we did as for the last meeting is to have an additional meeting

[2:51] that was added.

[2:52] So if you look at your email right now, I don't have access to that right now to fill it up there on the screen, but you've got it in your email and it gives you an additional day if needed for that.

[3:03] It also changed the end of when you can actually adopt your general budget and they moved it to August 24th.

[3:13] And so if Mr. Ovesov comes in, he can give you some additional clarity, I see many of you have it up right now.

[3:19] What questions would you have on that and then the city council was very flexible and said if this didn't work for us

[3:26] Please let us know and they can make the at his neck

[3:30] Perfect. Thank you any questions board comments. I will open up for a motion

[3:38] Mr. President I like to make a motion to approve the FY-2026-2027 joint budget calendar as president

[3:46] Okay, motion you have a second second

[3:48] The motion by Vice Trustee Henna Hose, second by Secretary Sussan Montelongo, all those in favour?

[3:55] The motion carries 7-0.

[3:59] And then we move on to agenda item 5-D.

[4:03] Student Transportation Safety Require Report SB 546.

[4:07] Dr. Boston.

[4:08] President Hammer running members of the board Senate Bill 546 does require that we report annually

[4:13] as to how well our school buses are equipped to have a three-point harnessing for all those buses the age of our bus.

[4:21] doesn't actually have that. You will see some of the information that shows what the cost would be

[4:27] if we were to retrofit those buses. I think it was about almost $600,000 and then for the

[4:35] additional buses that we would need that aren't eligible for that, is that a nice way to say that

[4:43] I'm trying to be nice on my last day, but that's clear. And those are a little over $2 million.

[4:48] So, this is just a reporting requirement that we have, it is not, it doesn't require that you spend any additional dollars, is there any additional salary like they had to the CFO or have I covered it.

[5:06] So, the final deadline to change the school fleet is September 2021, but if we cannot afford it, we can't postpone it.

[5:17] And that number is quite right, about $657,000 to retro all of them with 3.0 builds.

[5:30] But we need to present it and then both can postpone the purchase.

[5:35] Right.

[5:36] And so the bottom line, the requirement is just that we report that if we had the dollars

[5:41] to fix it, of course, we want to go ahead and take care of any safety needs that we would

[5:45] have.

[5:45] But if not the reporting requirement, it just says we have to have a plan to begin to address those needs.

[5:52] So Dr. Musa, what happens after 29 is that the bus has to be removed from service or is there like a penalty?

[6:01] So I would say at this point they have not necessarily put a penalty out there and say we would have one because again whenever they set some of these requirements.

[6:11] with out the funding that's needed, they sometimes don't really put that out there.

[6:16] So the legislature at this time, I think, wanted to make sure that we had a awareness

[6:20] of what that was that they wanted, the three-point safety harness on the buzzes, but if we can't afford to pay for it,

[6:27] kind of like some of the other safety requirements for door latches and pieces,

[6:31] that if we couldn't afford to pay for them, they wanted it to be on the board's radar.

[6:36] So I'd like to request as we're going into our budget process that may be we work with our transportation department and the administration and look at the age utility of the current fleet, which ones are still so that we can start working those in maybe have a plan for over the next three years and see if we can get some of these done.

[6:58] At least have a, you know, a game plan for that. Otherwise, we're going to, we're going to blink.

[7:04] It's going to be 2029 and we're going to have all 16 or maybe even more at once.

[7:12] And Mr. Owen, just for the viewing public, if you would confirm, since they're not able to see this attachment,

[7:19] we have a total of 27 buses. And, and

[7:29] as I read.

[7:32] We have a total of 27 buses, and 16 of them, 16 of them need three point bills.

[7:46] 1627 buses need three point bills. So we need to replace the buses or we need to retro those buses with three point bills.

[7:55] So, approximate cost for each bus to replace them is $162,000, approximately.

[8:02] And to retro each bus, the cost to do that is about $41,000.

[8:09] So, for the cost of $16,000, it comes up to $657k.

[8:14] Thank you.

[8:16] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[8:20] In turn, Attorney, what do we need to do?

[8:22] What actions is a board need to take base on this information?

[8:25] So, thank you, President Hamarani.

[8:26] In addition to the reporting requirement that was on the agenda this evening,

[8:29] The statute also requires that the board take a vote where the board determines that purchasing

[8:36] buses that are equipped with the three-point seat belts either fits within the district's

[8:41] budgets budget or it does not.

[8:43] And so I'll be drafting a resolution to bring before the board for the May board meeting, because

[8:48] that needs to be reported and reflected in the minutes and the documentation sent to TEA

[8:53] before the deadline of May 30th.

[8:55] Great. Thank you.

[8:59] Need additional question for the board?

[9:03] Great.

[9:04] We'll move on to agenda item 5E.

[9:07] Consider approval of job order contracting

[9:09] Construction delivery method for the ECCHVAC replacement project

[9:12] and approval of a job order contract with job order

[9:15] contractor procurement through cooperative purchasing program.

[9:19] Dr. Boston.

[9:20] See you.

[9:23] Dr. Boston, I request to table this agenda item.

[9:31] Awesome. With that, now we get to do the exciting part.

[9:33] the reason we're all here.

[9:35] We'll move on to and just so everyone knows that we did have public comment, but I will

[9:38] actually open it back up to public comment after we have made the motion on this and that

[9:42] will give an opportunity for any congratulations and any other recommendations that we'd

[9:47] like.

[9:47] Before I do start, I do want to recognize we've got several elected officials here in the

[9:51] rule of gut.

[9:51] Our mayor, Ken Matthew,

[10:00] councilwoman, Virginia Rosas,

[10:06] saw a representative, but he just

[10:07] left.

[10:07] I see Councilman Xavier Herrera,

[10:15] and then we've got police chief Ramirez as well.

[10:26] With that, we will move on to agenda item 5x, consider approval of Superintendent Employment

[10:31] Contract with Dr. Adam Stephens.

[10:35] Board, I will open it up for a motion.

[10:39] Mr. President, I move to approve of Superintendent's Employment Contract with Dr. Adam Stephens.

[10:49] Got a motion, do we have a second?

[10:51] Got a motion by Secretary Sussan Matlango.

[10:54] A second by Trustee Adam Sanchez.

[10:57] Any further discussion on the motion?

[10:59] All those in favor?

[11:01] Motion carries unanimously seven-0.

[11:03] Congratulations, Dr. Adam Stevens.

[11:28] I want to give them board an opportunity to reflect on the process

[11:31] as well as any congratulations.

[11:33] And so we will stake down there with Trustee Wilkins.

[11:37] Congratulations, Dr. Stevens.

[11:38] And welcome to the family, we cannot wait to see the great things you're going to have for

[11:46] our district, your beautiful family, your wife, and your two boys.

[11:51] What is excited, and thank you for taking that's about the hand right now.

[11:58] All right.

[11:59] Dr. Stephens, welcome to SMSD family, it's not often that you get to select a part of a

[12:08] for superintendents. So we were all fortunate to go through that process.

[12:14] We were also fortunate to have a great number of very highly qualified talented individuals

[12:23] and so the fact that you are here today is our superintendents.

[12:29] It says a lot about that process and about yourself.

[12:32] It was a pleasure meeting your family and look forward to working with you and teaching you everything that there is to know about staffer and then allowing you to help us work for our students and for our community and for our teachers.

[12:48] So welcome aboard.

[12:53] Congratulations and welcome aboard.

[12:55] I look forward to working with you and hopefully we have some great things coming.

[13:03] Dr. Stephens, you may not know yet, but the school opened in 1983.

[13:10] I started at Stappard in 1984.

[13:14] I went through the school district, I raised my kids through the school district.

[13:18] This is my home, but I welcome you and your family to our home, and we're super excited and

[13:26] looking forward to all the great things that you'll be leading us through.

[13:31] Dr. Stephens, just want to say congratulations, it was great meeting your family.

[13:37] We look forward to working with you.

[13:40] We know what the struggles are here, it's backward and you're ready for the work like

[13:44] you said.

[13:45] So, let's go.

[13:50] Dr. Stephens, great first name by the way.

[13:55] I'd like to say that during this whole process, we got to know you, you're back around,

[14:01] your hopes and aspirations, and I would like to think that was one of the reasons.

[14:06] One of the many reasons we chose you and to the board, I feel like it was a labor

[14:12] of love for 60 plus hours finding our new superintendent and look forward to all the great things

[14:20] that you're going to do for Stafford and the legacy that you'll begin tomorrow.

[14:25] So thank you and welcome to Stafford.

[14:26] I also want to give Dr. Boston an opportunity to give any welcome wishes.

[14:34] Dr. Stephens, you saw the little jovial piece, but it was very serious, it's that in love.

[14:40] I think you're about to join one of the very best groups in the state of Texas.

[14:47] We are the only municipal school district and we have the honor of having you as the next person to lead and have your legacy along with your family.

[14:55] Thank you for choosing SMSD and we look forward to all the things that you're going to do here.

[15:03] Welcome to the SMSD family of you and also to your wonderful family. We are extremely extremely thrilled and you heard the reference to 60-plus hours. For those of you that don't know, when I did, was I took all our meeting minutes, all our meeting videos, and I upload them into AI, to figure out how much time did this board spend searching for their new superintendent. And we spent 62 and a half hours of our time on just the superintendent piece. And that doesn't include time spent outside of meeting room materials, preparing for those meetings.

[15:31] And I really want to applaud the board for doing that.

[15:34] And I promised them I'd double their salary for those of you that don't know we get paid zero dollars.

[15:39] And we had some extremely, and I think the amount of time it's about one that speaks to the volume of how much this board cares.

[15:45] And I can't speak highly enough of how much this board truly cares about our kids and about doing the right thing for every single one of our children.

[15:51] But also how qualified those candidates for.

[15:54] We had some extremely extremely qualified candidates including many sitting superintendents that also applied for this position.

[15:59] And the board went through that arduous process and interviewed many, many, many, many candidates over several days and went through that entire process and selected Dr. Adam Stevens is the most qualified person for our school district today and that speaks volumes to your skill set and to who you are.

[16:14] One of the interesting things we have is we've got 21 day waiting period and during this 21 day waiting period that the state mandates, it's in case there's anything wrong with the person we pick.

[16:24] It kind of floats to the top and I received a lot of text messages, phone calls and a lot of folks

[16:31] Again, we're hiring someone that's very neighboring to us many of us are even alumni of that school district and

[16:36] It was

[16:37] Interesting to see the amount of things that came our way and it was really really nice was every single one of them was extremely positive

[16:44] The worst thing they said is hey, why are you stealing him from our district?

[16:48] But that really speaks to who you are and a lot of the themes that came out or

[16:53] about your integrity, about your commitment to students, and about how much you value every single one of those students and that you will take care of every single one of our kids and one of the things, you know, we discussed very early in your process as you start to your career in sped and that's something that's very important you saw in our last meeting and every other meeting in our district is those are kids that are we care about as well and we care about every single child.

[17:15] And so we're really excited about this next chapter. I think there's extremely high expectations from the community.

[17:20] I think there's high expectations from this board but I think you're going to hit every single one of those expectations and hopefully, you know, 15 years from now, you're sitting up here and we're celebrating you just like we did with Dr. Bostic and we're excited.

[17:33] We're really excited and your commitment to our kids, your commitment to our students is really really excited.

[17:38] I want to wish you all the best for the next chapter and we're excited to get to work with you tomorrow morning.

[17:42] I've got a set of keys that I'm going to hand over to as soon as we get out of here.

[17:45] So again, welcome, Dr. Adam Stevens, who are excited to have you here at SMSD as our superintendent.

[17:50] It's going to be one more hand of,

[17:59] I know we all want to hear from him, but before we do, I'll actually go back.

[18:02] I want to make sure the public has an opportunity to come back and address us and give any welcome wishes.

[18:07] We'll go back to agenda item two public comment.

[18:10] I've got here one from former trustee, Joe, and Gloria.

[18:14] Mr. and Gloria, you've got two minutes.

[18:27] Thank you, Mr. President.

[18:33] I've got 10 minutes.

[18:39] Five for the board and five for the City Council.

[18:46] Okay, thank you very much for this opportunity.

[18:49] And I might say the board welcome Dr. Stephens to our family.

[18:55] I would like to add welcome to our village, our community.

[19:02] I was out there drinking some of this stuff here and Mrs. Ramirez asked a question, where are

[19:11] the other herbs? And I told her, when you come in, this is all you get. When you leave, you get

[19:19] the other herbs.

[19:23] All kidding aside, they're welcome, Dr. Stephens. And I'd like to, my

[19:29] If some purpose at this time is to ask, make a request, fellow board members, I count myself

[19:39] as part of you, and I respectfully request that you make an agenda item, that you throw

[19:47] out an agenda item, a motion, if you will, to set up a town hall meeting, whereby the community

[19:56] will have an opportunity to ask Dr. Stephens some questions, get a feel for his way of thinking

[20:05] how he's going to take this district ahead. What are his thoughts? Where can we help the

[20:13] community? How can we help the community? The only way we're going to do this is to get the

[20:19] community here. Yes, this is fine, but it didn't go far enough. You don't see any business

[20:25] people here that I know are. They need to be included also. Parents that have kids that can't

[20:33] afford to come because they have to take care of the kids. Need an opportunity to meet our

[20:38] leader, our new educational leader, and get a feel for what they are, they are interesting,

[20:46] they are children too. What is his philosophy? So that please, I ask you, make a motion, hopefully

[20:55] somebody was sick and that think about it, let it be well advertised so that we all can come

[21:01] and get to know Dr. Steven's. Thank you

[21:28] for those of you who have not signed up either sign

[21:30] up and if not you can always come speak to the public and then we'll have you sign up after

[21:34] that's also not a problem. So if anyone else would like to speak please feel free to get in line

[21:38] right after minutes. Don't start anything. So Dr. Vostick, thank you. Thank you all

[21:48] on a sport to need enough to be on too.

[21:53] Well, I say, trustee on the board to hire two superintendents.

[21:58] So I know how much work goes into it

[22:00] and thoughtful process.

[22:02] And so I congratulate Dr. Stephens for making the cut.

[22:07] It's an exciting time, but I thank Dr. Boston for coming to us.

[22:12] You took us some really tough times,

[22:14] and we appreciate every ounce of energy

[22:17] you get to the school. But our city is not like any other school district. We are a municipal

[22:23] school district. We're special. We continue to be special. And we like to stay a...

[22:30] Head of the curb, and I know that, you know, I haven't really had time to make two, but I've

[22:34] read your bio and you've done a lot. So, I think the expectation for you to achieve and

[22:40] continue the work that Dr. Bostick put into the district.

[22:47] But state representatives

[22:49] have run Reynolds tass me with a special little item for Dr. Stevens and so if I go over

[22:59] a personal privilege in it reads it's a certificate and it has the flag and this nice little box

[23:11] and I'll read it. It says the state of Texas House of Representatives, this certifies that

[23:18] Texas flag herewith presented to Dr. Adam Stevens, Superintendent, Stafford Municipal School District

[23:25] by state representative Ron Reynolds was flown at the capital at the sovereign state of

[23:31] Texas. Congratulations on your appointment. And witness thereof and pursuant to the authority

[23:36] vested in me, I herein to set my hand and seal a office at Austin on this 20th day of

[23:42] April, 2026, Ron Reynolds, State Representative.

[23:47] So thank you, thank you, board, for making a good wise choice.

[23:52] I think we did you a fair attitude, that was good.

[24:38] Any other members of the public that would like to address the board?

[24:41] Going once going twice?

[24:43] Not, we will move on.

[24:44] Dr. Steve, as I'm glad you're over there.

[24:45] I'll give you an opportunity to have the mic, and welcome to Stafford, MSD.

[24:57] Well, thank you all so much.

[24:59] I first really want to begin by thanking Dr. Bosnik in the board.

[25:02] It's been a really such a pleasure to do this spend several hours getting to know the school board getting to learn about them getting to learn their priorities and I can tell you

[25:10] The number one thing that is most important to them is this community and the children and their futures. So I am really excited to come aboard this family and be a part of this team

[25:21] Also super thankful for Dr. Bostock. He's been so kind over the past

[25:24] 21 days just taking my phone calls answering my questions. He took time out of his day last week to just show me around and just

[25:31] You know, tell me all the great things about Stafford MSTs.

[25:34] So I am beyond excited.

[25:36] Over the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to spend time in multiple of our schools.

[25:41] I've gotten to meet our faculty, our students, their families.

[25:45] And those experience have been incredibly meaningful to me.

[25:47] And they've only confirmed what I already knew to be true.

[25:50] And that is that Stafford MST is a very, very special place.

[25:54] You know, you've heard it said that we are the only municipal school district in the state of Texas.

[25:58] And I think that lends itself to just how special we are.

[26:01] There's something unique here.

[26:03] You've heard several of this people reference it.

[26:05] There's a sense of pride.

[26:06] There's a sense of community.

[26:08] And there's a deep passion and a deep sense of connection

[26:10] from the community to the schools.

[26:13] You can feel it when you walk the halls.

[26:15] You can feel it when you talk to the teachers.

[26:17] It's been an honor to begin building my relationships.

[26:19] And I'm so excited to be your next superintendent.

[26:22] As I've spent time in the schools,

[26:24] I've been reminded of why I chose this profession.

[26:27] As President Hamarani said, I began my career as a special education teacher.

[26:31] And those experiences taught me and those experience shaped me.

[26:34] It's taught me that every student brings unique strengths.

[26:37] I'm excited to be a part of the Stafford family.

[26:39] I'm excited to just spend time here and see really where we can go from here.

[26:44] As we move forward from tonight, my focus is on building the foundations that we already have.

[26:49] I'm not adding more or taking less just by strengthening what we already do well.

[26:54] I'm believing clarity for expectations.

[26:56] consistency in how we support our students and their families in trust.

[27:00] You'll see me in the schools, you'll see me in the hallways, you'll see me in the community.

[27:04] I encourage you to come by, say hi, tell me what's working, tell me what's not working

[27:09] and just tell me what we can do to make your experience better.

[27:13] I am deeply committed to keeping our students at the center of every decision that we make.

[27:17] I'm at the end of the day, our purpose is clear, to ensure that every student leaves

[27:21] Stafford, MSD, prepared for what comes next.

[27:24] College, career, community, and life.

[27:27] I'm honored to be a part of it.

[27:28] And again, thank you so much.

[27:36] Dr. Stephens, before you leave, I guess I'm going

[27:40] to do my final test.

[27:42] I know I have to live in 59 as the attorney

[27:44] will let him sit up here.

[27:47] I'm going to ask that I take myself down.

[27:49] I'm going to ask you to come and sit up here.

[27:52] Superintendant, come on, suit.

[27:54] Let's give him around and play.

[29:34] Before we move to the hardest agenda, and I do also want to take a moment of privilege.

[29:38] If you don't mind, I'll ask your family to stand up, and this is a family-all effort

[29:42] as you know, and everything you do is, you really truly commit.

[29:45] So if we can give a round of applause,

[29:59] thank you guys for being here.

[30:00] With that, we'll move on to the hardest agenda item, agenda item 6 adjournment.

[30:05] Mr. President, we're going to do future business. Unfortunately, so we don't have future business.

[30:11] Okay.

[30:11] On the agenda, so I have been told we can't.

[30:13] Yeah.

[30:13] Future business, unfortunately.

[30:15] But we will address it at our next meeting.

[30:17] But thank you for checking.

[30:20] With that, I'll open up for adjournment.

[30:22] Mr. President, I'll make a motion to adjourn.

[30:25] Get a motion by Vice President Jean Vettis second by Trustee Thompson.

[30:30] Gosh, Steven, what is your recommendation on the motion?

[30:33] All those in favor.

[30:36] Meeting adjourned at 701 PM.

Apr 20, 2026 SMSD Board of Trustees - Stafford Municipal School District

Agenda

Transcript