001Good evening and welcome. My name is Taylor Kingman, president of the board of trustees for St. Angelo ISD. I would like to welcome all of you who are present at tonight's pre-aggenda board meeting as though as well as those of who will be watching the recording online or on our public access channel. Today is February 9th. All items on tonight's agenda have been posted as required by state law, and most items will be discussed tonight and voted upon at our regular board meeting. As a board, our work includes setting goals, hearing reports from our superintendent, approving budgets, contracts, and personnel items, and making policy for the decisions for the district. Please keep in mind that this is a mean of the board, held in public, not a mean of the public. These proceedings are recorded
002and will become part of the district's permanent record. to help us maintain a clear recording. Please refrain from speaking while others have the floor and please silence your cell phones. Thank you again for being here and for your support of SASD. We do have a quorum. All our entire board team is present and we'll begin with our first item on the agenda which are our pledges. So if everyone would please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag algiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Next on our agenda is public comments. We do have individuals signed up to speak this evening. For
003those speaking tonight, please remember to follow the guidelines you received when you signed in and were displayed on the screen before the meeting began. Our first speaker is Nicole Lozano and topic is SB11. I have okay there handouts coming around for y'all. Um but I am ready. Uh so good evening members of the board. Uh my name is Dr. Dr. Nicole Lozano and I am here to respectfully urge you to not adopt the policy authorized under Senate Bill 11. Um SB11 allows school boards to vote to create a daily time for voluntary prayer and reading of religious texts in public schools. Participation under the polic this policy requires signed consent forms and waiverss of legal claims and students without consent may be excluded from that space. What the law permits in practice then is separation
004of students based on religious background or waiver status. Exactly the kind of division that interferes with an environment where every student is meant to feel safe, welcome, and able to fully engage. Even when labeled voluntary, official periods of prayer or religious reading can create subtle peer and social pressure. Students who are not religious, who belong to minority faith traditions, or whose families choose not to sign consent forms may feel otherred or uncertain about whether they can truly opt out. That dynamic directly conflicts with our district's values of a strong culture and communication and belonging for all learners. A practical concern is also time. Any implementation of this policy would require the district to identify when these activities occur as well as the additional task of tracking waiverss, separating the students, monitoring classrooms. My school has
005a hard enough time tracking whether our students can be included in photographs. I cannot imagine the increased burden that this would cause. A relevant and inspiring education depends on protecting instructional time and ensuring that school hours remain focused on student achievement. Finally, I do want to name the broader context in which this decision is being considered. The decision does not stand alone. We are already seeing increased religious content entering public education through measures like the mandated ten commandment postings and classrooms which appeared over winter break and the adoption of the blue bonnet curriculum. Attorney General Paxton has suggested the use of the Lord's Prayer for this dedicated time and as a Jewish woman that means nothing to me or my family. Um, you can see his press release or his statement on your handout. Adopting
006this policy continues a gradual shift away from the religious neutrality that has long to help public schools serve diverse families well. And excellence in public education requires environments where every students feel that they belong, regardless of personal belief. Students already have the constitutional right to pray, read religious texts, and to express their beliefs both privately or publicly through school assignments or passing out religious literature, praying. That freedom does not require new policy, new scheduling demands, or new sources of pressure. SB11 is is a solution to a prayer rights problem that doesn't actually exist. This is not a statement against religion. I'm a very proud Jewish woman practicing very religious. It is, however, a statement in favor of inclusive public schools where no student feels singled out, marginalized, or compelled to participate in practices that do
007not reflect their beliefs. In reviewing the board documents, I did not see a reason for this and I'm interested to hear the conversation tonight for adopting it, but I urge the board respectfully ask the board to decline adopting this policy and continue prioritizing instructional time, student belonging, and shared mission of public education. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Lozano. Dr. Lozano, I'm sorry. Um, uh, next we have Wade Meyer and it's topic is religious study time. Um, that was very well put. By the way, mine's much more simple. I think this is a really bad idea. Uh, she talked about religious neutrality, which is in our constitution to keep a separation between church and state. These are public schools. If you want your child to learn about religion, send them to an religious school. There
008are a bunch of those around and they're even getting taxpayer money now. U which I disagree with also. Besides, we uh I mean, I'm sorry I didn't do my homework, but I believe we're kind of the lowest in the nation as far as providing food for children in this state. Uh the education of children in this state. Um and and a few other things, and correct me if I'm wrong, but uh I've also heard from many teachers that, you know, they don't have enough time anyway. We're we're behind on reading and math and all kinds of stuff. So, you know, is the legislature asking us to be the parent of all these children? I mean, you know, first we're we we're asking school boards to pick which books our kids should read. Parents need to
009do their job and the legislature needs to do their job instead of using our children as political pawns. This is a bad idea. Please do not vote for this. And actually I we I was at a dinner party recently with about 20 people that are all from all over St. Angelo. They all live within the city limits and not one of them thought it was a good idea. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Next on our agenda, we're going to conduct our board updates and reports. Uh first is a report on summary of findings of TEA intruder detection audit conducted by ESC staff and M. Pacer is gonna help us with that. Dr. Moran, Dr. Keeman and members of the board, thank you for your time. We have had four intruder detection audits in
010the month of December and the first week of January. Any findings and corrective actions needed, if any, have been addressed by our campus administration. Thank you, Mer. All right. Um, Mr. Lopez is going to do is going to do our construction update and we have that next. >> All right. Dr. Kingman, Dr. Moran, and members of the school board. I'm glad to be back out here for an update. Every time we start putting the presentation together, we think, "Oh, we were just out here. What What can we possibly talk about again?" But then we start putting it together and it's a lot because you have a lot of projects going on and so it's it's always exciting to see the the progress and and talk about what we've been up to over the past few
011weeks. So uh let me start with the uh the overall schedule remains the same. So the the main deadlines of opening campuses have not changed. Um I do want to highlight a couple of details on the schedule. One is just that we added the uh Fannon. We had McGill and Fannon uh put together as the same line item. We separated them out just because they have a little bit different schedules based on their their phasing. They're still aligning with the opening schedule currently, but we wanted to go ahead and start showing those separately just because they do have different uh bid and construction dates. The other one that we added is has become a more fasttracked uh project under the uh central high school project which is the waterline project that we're looking at starting
012this summer so that we can actually reroute the main water line that runs under the campus before the demolition of some of the other facilities start in uh in September. So, we've added that there so we can start tracking those deadlines to make make sure that we're hitting uh what we need to to open these schools on time. All right. Uh first project is a Crockit and that one is uh under construction. I would encourage you to drive by if you haven't. You can see the the steel and the concrete walls going up. You can even start to see the front uh entry canopy kind of elements. uh a little bit to the right in that picture there um is the the main entry to that new classroom addition. So that one is is currently
013on schedule still to open in August. McGill is uh about to be under construction working on getting the asbestous removal uh under underway. And then uh you can see the the picture. We've actually highlighted kind of what's existing and then what's what's new outside of the the purple bounds there. But uh they've got the the permit that they need to start construction. Um and after the asbestous removal will be the demolition of some of those existing buildings there. Um Glenn Middle School continues uh in detailed design and so we're just working through u kind of some of the the broad decisions into some of the more detailed decisions. And so over the next couple months we'll be bringing some more of the the things that are uh getting solidified as far as interior and exterior
014design, but those are still kind of being flushed out. It is one of our more uh larger projects that has a little bit more to to to figure out. So, we'll we'll be bringing those to you in the next couple months. And then uh Lake View is getting uh pretty far along when it comes to some of those uh final selections. And you can see in the the bottom there is actually an an aerial from the southeast looking at the new mariachi edition and then the new entryway going back to the gymnasium and uh auditorium entry. And we've got a video. Let's see if it works for us tonight. There we go. So the first part of this video is actually just a fly through of the campus. And so you can see right now
015this is showing the west side where the auditorium is. You can see nothing's there right now. That's where the mariachi will be added. This is the east side where the CTE will be added. The the back side of the campus there with the tennis courts and then eventually some of the athletic field improvements will be popping in. We're going to swing around and show you the auditorium there where the mariachi hall will be added. So, this is currently and then that's what it'll look like whenever we add the addition. And then if we're able to get the new parking and drive, that's what it would look like. This is look from the main entry. And then this is on the CTE side. And then once again we have an alternate to add a bus drive
016to that area. And then this is from the courtyard of the CTE area. And then lastly from the inside of the floral shop and inside of the mariachi hall. So showing the mirrors and the the lockers and the acoustic panels. really just showing the spaces that really are are made for those purposes and can truly serve those those students and teachers really well for the next 20 30 50 years. So very exciting to be at this point uh in the process. See if I can might not let me get past. Oh, so we have the images there, but I thought the the video is a little bit more fun, but that's looking from the the entry that's inside of the mariachi hall. It's from the east side over there, that CTE edition showing the the
017wood shop and mechanic shop. Then, like I said, we we had discussions about, oh, it'd be nice to have a bus drive and additional parking. It wasn't part of the original plan, but we're going to price it out. And if you know the the project comes within or under budget and we're able to get that in, then it would be a great addition. But we want to make sure that we're trying to stick within the budget where we can. Um that view from the courtyard there and then inside the the floral lab. And then the last project uh to discuss tonight is just the Central High School edition. And this one we're continuing to detail and work through materials and design of both the interior and exterior. So hopefully in the coming months we'll be
018getting more refined and being be able to bring you uh quality images and designs similar to to Lake View. >> RJ, is this how is this how they're all going to be connected? Just like that. Is it going to be just from the auditorium all the way to the health science and culinary lab? >> Yes, sir. >> All that will be under one. >> Yes, that would all be you'd be able to go from one side to the other without going outside. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> All right. I think that's the end of the construction and design update. Any questions? >> Can you go back to the crocket picture? >> Yes. That door entryway is that entryway into a hallway that doesn't just go directly into the classroom? >> No. So, actually
019that that entry, of course, you can't see my pointer, but it goes uh in between the the classrooms and the uh the cafeteria. So, that that entry is actually going down kind of the middle of the the addition there. Yep. Perfect. >> Thank you. >> Yep. with the additions at Crockett. What will the new student capacity be? >> I should know that and I don't have that on me. We do I can get that for you though. >> Okay. Thank you. >> 650. Yeah. >> And along the same lines with um for Glenn Middle School, do we know what the capacity will be for that? >> I'm sorry for what? >> I'm for Glenn Middle School, what the capacity will be for the new school. >> Um, yes, >> I can answer that. Okay. >>
020Yeah, we're we're building it to house a thousand students. Full capacity would be,00 >> but because Lonear and Lincoln are each built about that same size, trying to level and uh make sure we've got um equity across the district. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you, RJ. >> All right. Thank you'all. >> All right. Next, we're going to have a report on Senate Bill 11, prayer and rel rel prayer and reading religious text. Can't talk today. >> All right. Mr. president and then the board. Uh you received on January 9th information um regarding this just so you could get ahead of it. But to refresh your memories, uh this past legislative session, uh our legislature um asks boards to have a a record vote prior to March 1st on this issue. And uh essentially
021they're saying a board wishing to establish a daily prayer a period of prayer and religious text reading must do so by adopting a statutory res resolution. And you've I think you've seen the example of that resolution. Uh we have one tonight. We have one to accept and one to reject so the board can make their decision. Interesting thing about this is uh it requires the board to consider um adopting a resolution that would essentially create a time outside of the instructional day to be determined to be determined by the district at a place to be determined by the district. And parents would have to consent for their children to attend that spot during that time to participate. And the way the law is written is if a student has that parent consent, then they're allowed
022to go to that place for that purpose during that time. If a student does not have parent consent, they are not allowed to go to that place during that time at all. So there's no students allowed in that u that area if they don't have parent consent. And so the board uh really is forced to make a decision. Even though we all know students have the freedom to uh pray when they would like to pray and uh a student could take a religious text to school as long as it doesn't interfere with instruction and class. Students are free to do that. We encourage kids to to um uh to do that. We want them to be themselves and uh follow the faith of their family. So, uh, this is an interesting thing because the the
023legislature is asking boards to vote to establish something that really already exists. And uh, if we as a board adopt it, then you're actually preventing students from going to that place during that time and participating if they don't have parent consent. uh if you if you don't adopt it, then essentially you're saying uh we're just going to continue to do what we've always done in the first place. So, um you know, it's it's really an interesting thing. I I think maybe the original intent of the author uh has been probably lost in the as time has progressed and people have seen how this is going going to roll out. Uh but that's just my opinion. So, that's really what the board is faced with uh next Monday. We're not voting tonight, obviously. This is just
024a discussion time, but I'm willing to answer any questions and discuss this further if you'd like. >> Dr. Moran, they pro y'all provided the DGA local and then the FNA. Is it FNA local? >> It is. >> Okay. But then does am I correct in saying that the legal FNA legal trumps local both locals right? >> Well legal policy is the law. >> Okay. And the legal policy I'm going to tell you legal policy states I'm kind of like you like you said earlier it's something that already exists >> and it's it exists exists in FN FNA legal you know where um like the the classroom it it it provides it for anytime you want to just like the same I mean it has all the same readings in it what they want us to
025do. So, I kept thinking, well, why are we going to vote on a resolution when it's already in our FNA legal and the the local compared to the one that I have from two months ago? I mean, it all reads the same. There's no changes at all in it. So, I just kept thinking, well, why are we why do we have to vote for something that we already have in our policy? >> And that's that's that's my >> we have to vote. >> We don't that's the state legis I mean the state legislature is making it to where we have to vote. Just to clarify, it's not a Yeah, we have to vote. >> The reason I mean >> it's on the agenda because we have to vote. >> How everyone everyone's conscience on that
026is everyone's conscience on that. But um just to clarify like it's on the agenda because we legally have to vote. >> We couldn't figure out why it was all I mean everything was the same. I thought well every I mean it even has the where y'all need to adopt this resolution and all that but it says you don't have to. So, so if we choose to. So, >> isn't there a difference in that uh this Senate Bill 11 allows teachers to lead prayers >> and readings >> with parent consent? >> The actual >> that was my understanding. >> Yeah, I guess that's that kind of piggybacks on my biggest question. Like hypothetically, if this was something we were to go for, who who do we have in place? Would we would this be like a
027volunteer thing? Are we like forcing teachers to essentially pray with the kid? Like >> No, the way I understand it is the adult sponsor or an adult in charge of that area would just supervise the area. They would not guide the students in prayer or Bible reading or religious text. The students would uh be able to do that on their own. And you can find that in the the actual text Yeah. >> of the bill. And you should have a copy of that. Uh if you don't, I've got it here. But essentially um we students would be allowed to individually go into that area during that time and participate on their own. We would not have adults guiding or uh supervising that other than just monitoring the area. >> So it's really just setting aside
028a space and time. >> That's correct. And right here in the in that in that legal document that we have in the policy, it does say before normal school hours only in classrooms or other areas which a consent form has been submitted. So it's almost it's everything that we were mentioning. So >> yeah, so that's >> I understand what the author of the bill and the legislature was trying to do. uh they're trying to make sure that students have an opportunity if they so choose outside of the instructional day to find a place and a time to do these things. And that's the intent. And um so if the board so chooses to vote to approve it, we would then make sure that there was uh and we had discussed maybe a 10-minute period prior
029to the school day in an area that each campus designates. And just like we have teachers and employees that have duty stations in the morning, an individual will be assigned to that duty station just to monitor just to be sure kids are safe. And uh but someone would have to monitor who has parent consent. That's the >> that's that's the added burden to the staff. >> Yeah. >> So it kind of has to be an enclosed place to monitor that. Well, or or some type of private space. Yeah, because uh this specifically says that if a child doesn't have signed parent consent, they cannot enter uh to that in that area during that time. So, someone's going to have to >> Yeah. Meaning we have to send out what 2,000 consent forms at the high
030school level or whatever. So, >> it's a lot of consent forms. So, if you have questions on this, obviously make sure you um get your questions to administration. Um you know, the reality is for me like I'm just looking at unforeseen consequences, consent forms and stuff and like I don't know the first amendment. So, we kind of already have it under control. I kind of agree with what George saying is there, but um but I do think it's something we have to do next week. So, >> and I would emphasize that we currently have student groups and clubs and organizations that are approved that meet on campus. Uh they have a monitor that turns the light on and opens the door. The kids meet uh and there's clubs of all different kinds. Um and so
031they they meet for their chartered purpose. So that's happening. Uh some are religious, some are non-religious, some are curricular, some are non-curricular. >> Uh I want to make a comment. Dr. Lozano, thank you for this literature. Uh some of these frequently asked questions we've already gone over, but just in case the public is watching and has the same questions cuz I did, I just want to read a few of them. Question was, who leads the prayer? The law doesn't say, it's not specific. Is it school staff? Um, someone from the outside? It's unclear. Uh, which texts are allowed? Any religious texts if the school allows it? What if a student doesn't have a signed waiver? They may not attend, hear, or be in the presence of the prayer period. Can students already pray at school?
032Yes, students already have full rights to pray, read religious texts, and express their faith under existing law. So, just in case the public had those specific questions, those answer it. And thank you for that. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Moran. Next, we're going to move forward to committee on academics stewardship and efficiency. >> All right. So, we're calling it the case committee and uh this is our attendance boundary committee. The board's been advised of of what we're planning to do this spring. really just an update for you to let you know that we have a list of of individuals that we're inviting. And on that list, what we've done is we've taken uh essentially for each elementary campus, every time the elementary campus's enrollment goes over a hundred, we add an individual. So, if
033you have 300 or more, you have three uh parents. If you have 400 or more, you have four parents, 500 or more, etc. And so as we develop the list, we're trying to include parents, uh some employees to support and provide uh information and then uh campus administrators as well. But this committee will meet six times during the spring. Uh we've employed the help of a facilitator. Uh Dr. Eddie Coulson is a skilled administrator and he does this for a living. he'll be joining us and he'll be guiding the process so it's done objectively and done correctly and and we want to get it right. You know, you you have one time to do these things right and we want to make sure we're we do it correctly for our community. We also engage with
034our demographer Zonda Demographics will be here. Uh Rocky Gardner is the representative. He's been here before to speak to the board. he or representative will be with us uh most of these meetings to help guide and and talk about options. And so we're providing him information now because they've geocoded every student in our district and they'll be able to click and drag and help us to populate campuses and in real time get an idea of what the the attendance boundaries could look like. And so uh options will be developed. Our hope is to come back to this board in summer uh at the very latest July, but hopefully in June uh with a recommendation and the recommendation will be to uh develop new attendance zones for the 12 elementary campuses that will be uh reset
035in the fall of 2027. So last month we voted to close Buoie and Reagan and this process is the next step to that. We need to reszone and we need to talk about uh which students will live in the attendance boundaries of the 12 that will remain in the fall of 27. The plan then is to give our parents and community a one-year heads up this summer to say we've worked through this process and next year we're going to reset these attendance boundaries and here's what they are. And that way parents can begin planning and we can begin working because there's always exceptional cases. there's always uh appeals of some nature. We need to work through all of that in a timely fashion so that uh parents have time to understand where they will be
036attending and plan for that. And so um you I think you've got on your desk there the schedule and um the letter that we sent and then a memo with u the the committee that we're developing. And just a reminder to the board, um, we won't be able to have a quorum at any of those meetings. So, look at the schedule and get with Mrs. RmIrez so we can make sure that we have three board members or less at each meeting um, and have that on the schedule so we can get that done. So, if y'all could look at this this week and get with her um, by next week, that would be helpful. And quick math, every board member should be able to attend at most three and at least two. >> All right.
037>> I have some questions about that committee and and a couple of concerns. Um, so Dr. Eddie Coulson, you said he does this for a living. What What does he do for a living? >> Well, he's a retired school administrator and he works for N2 Learning. He does strategic planning and helps districts with resoning processes and so he works through these kinds of group dynamics and processing to make important strategic decisions for districts. >> Okay. So he his job is to facilitate those groups or he actually has experience in resoning. You know what I mean? >> Both. Yeah. He's done resoning before with districts and he much like the facility advisory committee >> and you got to experience that. So you saw how uh the facilitator worked through the process and kind of guided things.
038That's much like he will do. >> Okay. And the role of the case committee is what exactly? >> Yeah. The case committee is going to develop options for the board to present to the administration and the board so we can consider and make a decision on the two the new attendance boundaries. >> Okay. So, they'll have different options for us to look at. >> That's the goal. Now, if the committee comes to consensus on one, that's what they'll present. But they very likely could have some uh because, and I've been through this before, typically you get most of the big pieces adjusted, but there's little areas that could go this way or that way, and we just need to work through those. >> Uh the goal is to get consensus and bring one final recommendation
039to the board. >> Okay. Um let's see here. So that list that you gave us, is that the final list of of people on the committee or >> this is a draft list and being developed? Yep. So uh we've we've begun u began the inviting of members to the committee. >> Uh we've talked to the board about uh your role in that as well. And so that's where we're at. >> Okay. Now, the list that I I saw, I just have a couple of concerns because St. Angelo ISD as a whole um over 62% representation is the Hispanic community and I don't see that that board represents that. So I'd really like the demographics of our city of our school to be represented on that board as well. Okay. >> We'll take a look at
040the uh the membership of the committee. uh what we've tried to do is invite parents that are involved in PTO's and other things from each campus >> and uh invite uh the principles and staff to give input. So, we'll take a look at that. >> Okay. >> Y >> that's a concern of mine. Another one is just looking over that list, there's several names that that are repetitive over the years. They're the same names on each committee year after year after year. So my concern is that there might be a little bit of bias when you know deciding on boundary lines. I'd like different representation just like you know school boards just like anything I think there should be new fresh people attending and in that particular list and I know you say it's a
041rough draft. There's several different names that I see on there that are continuously on these boards. There's big donors, there's big booster club members, and I'd really like to take that into consideration just because there could be a little bit of bias when deciding on the boundaries. Um, I'll comment that um Thursday, Dr. Moran um told all of us if we have names that we thought that weren't on there. So this week, I know I've sent in a couple of names that come to mind. So we can still do that, right? >> The uh yeah, the comment to the board in our team of eight was that if you had a name that you'd like to put forward, >> just to send that to me or the office and we will make sure that we
042contact them. >> Yeah. You're saying a name, Pam, are you saying a name to like I looked at the list and there were I had some names in my head of people whom I think would be really a good representative of that. And so I sent those names in as for me a recommendation to add them because that's what I that's what he told us on Thursday that we could >> we can each have one additional member added to that group. >> Yeah. Yeah, >> kind of like we did with the bond committee when the original bond committee kind of added names. >> Just a quick question. I guess obviously I'm kind of new to this resoning thing, but is the primary focus to like basically keep the schools even in a sense or what's
043what's the main focus of the of the committee? Uh the main focus is to make sure that we consider the capacity of the building and that we try to populate the building with students who live in that attendance boundary. And if we can do that consistently across the district, we're going to do a lot of good things for ourselves as a district. The first and probably most important is some of the A throughF rating issues we're dealing with are going to go away. >> Thanks. Yep. >> Other questions for Dr. M. All right. We're going to review our proposed agenda for next week. Um, we have the invocation, the pledges, and we'll have three recognitions, public comments. We'll have a bond construction update. Dr. Gomez, you're going to have middle ofear data regarding uh map
044testing and MClass. Okay. And we will also do the public hearing for the taper report. Perfect. And Dr. Gomez is going to be busy. And then we have consent items uh versus donations. And then we have a maintenance, transportation, and miscellaneous adder. Uh Mr. Henry, you want to tell us about that real quick so that we can keep that on our consent agenda for next week? This is a bid that we put out earlier in the year uh that allows us to add additional vendors as we go through the year. Uh we had two vendors that came forward as uh ads, which would be Counselor Collab and then Amarillo Clay. Uh once approved, they'll be added to our vendor list. And this one will not expire until January of 2030 2031. All right. >> Any
045questions about >> Yeah, Jason. >> Yes. >> On your recommended board action, you have vendor rather than vendors. So, when I read it, I was like, well, where's the colored part that he wants us to approve? But you have of the vendor on the attached bid. So, I don't know if that matters, but >> I will get it corrected. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right. Can we also we have a curriculum instruction materials adder? Yes. And this one is exactly like the uh maintenance and transportation one. It allows us to add additional vendors throughout the year and we had two vendors on that one. >> Did you say curriculum or m or maintenance? Dr. curriculum and instruction. >> Okay. Two on the >> Oh, sorry. I missed. You're right. I skipped a page. I
046apologize. Bid 25. >> No, >> you're right. >> I'm right. >> 251. >> You already had 2515 and then that was the first one. The maintenance and 2518 is curriculum and instruction material >> is the curriculum one. And that's the one that we're adding uh collab the counselor collab and the Amarillo clay. on. I apologize. >> Okay. All right. So, we'll keep both those on consent. Uh, next is Mr. Lee Livingston is going to explain to us Texas legislature and the purchase of school buses. Good evening, everybody. I I do have my yellow tie on. Okay, today was uh wear yellow over there for uh love the bus month activities this week. So, um, Senate Bill 546, uh, passed in the, uh, last round of the legislature, uh, which says that we now, uh, have
047to provide a three-point restraint at each seating location on our buses. uh this updated bill that uh was passed back in 2017 that called for uh new buses to have threepoint restraints and uh so this just kind of updates it and so now everything has to have threepoint restraints and the deadline is September 1st 29. Um, so we've been taking a look to see what uh how we're going to comply with that uh September 1st, 29 deadline. Uh, our the one thing we can be thankful for, the board over the the last few years has done a very good job of keeping up with our fleet and um, keeping everything updated. So, we have a little over half our buses that are already in compliance. um of the number that we have that are still
048showing needing to be updated, there's eight of those that are currently being ready for disposal. And uh the buses that we purchased uh uh that are on order that are coming this spring that we purchased back in October, eight more will be added to that. And um we're going to update the fleet uh with the regular schedule um moving forward and that'll bring us in compliance by September 129. So, uh, we are asking the board to move the schedule up a few months and, uh, we're going to do, uh, next year's, uh, bus replacement now and then, uh, the regular replacement will fall each year after that, one year ahead. So after this year, we'll be back on a six bus per year cycle. >> Uh actually I think it's seven after this purchase. The
049next three years or seven. >> Okay. >> And this purchase will come out of fund balance >> I believe. So but that's a Dr. Brandon >> and correct me are we there is a retrofit but avoids all warranties and um >> yes we have to we have to report our numbers to tea and um currently uh all three manufacturers have pretty much washed their hands of it say if you do it you're doing it on your So, uh, we have to go to a a third uh to a third party to to get that done if that's what we want to do. Um, the quotes I have about 1.6 million to do the buses that we have and then, you know, we're looking at spending that money on buses that are already uh at least
050seven or eight years old. So, um, so we feel that the best way to do is to move it up a year and then stay on track and we'll have a good fleet for our students and our drivers. So, >> so it's correct to say that if the guy if the deadline was 2030, we wouldn't have to do any of this. >> Correct. But because it's 2029, we that's why we need to move up one year and skip a year in our replacement because we've already been replacing. But um >> correct >> if it was we're just one year too long in our normal replacement cycle to get it done. >> And and the nice part about it, we had six down, so we're not doing seven again. So, um that's it kind of happened
051at a good time. questions for Mr. Livingston. >> Yes, sir. Okay. So, we replace seven buses every year. >> Pretty close. We did uh eight, I believe, in October. >> How many buses total do we have as a district? >> 85, I think. 85. Wow. Yes. >> Yes. every year. What how much is budgeted for buses? >> Yeah, roughly a million. >> A million. >> We there was a time where we were not replacing buses. Um and then all of a sudden we had to there were a few years there where we had to catch up during kind of during COVID we didn't replace buses and so we got a little behind. So there was a few years that it was actually more than a million. But the goal is to do it at something
052we can um and obviously bus prices have changed on us as well. But the goal is to replace roughly six or seven a year to keep us to where we don't have to we have a fleet. I mean we do so many miles on our buses and we do um I mean we use our yellow dogs for out of town just like we use our charter buses. And so we have to have ones that there was a stretch there where we were having some um mechanical issues that were putting our that were not good for our students. >> Does that 85 um satisfy the needs of the district those 85 buses >> right now? Yes. Actually, it's probably a little overkill, but uh we keep um about eight buses out at schools for coaches to
053pretty much just use for um after school uh transport back and forth between uh the athletic venues. So, that's um you know, seven or eight vehicles right there that don't get a lot of mileage on them. you. Usually they don't even run through a full tank of fuel for the whole year, but they're they're there and they're needed and we use them for that. >> What about with the recent school closures, Dr. Man, with your expertise, do you think we'll be needing more buses? >> We've talked about that. >> Uh we're going to have to evaluate where the lines are drawn and if in fact we'll need some more routes. It's possible. Uh, but I think we've in this plan, we've got that covered and we'll be able to to manage it. >> Other questions?
054>> One more. I saw that the quote was from A through Z bus cells. >> Yes. >> Um, that's the only quote we have. Is that like typically where you go through or why is that the only quote we have? They they are the dealer for the buses that we've been buying. >> Okay. Okay. >> They're they're an approved vendor uh through by board and so they've been vetted uh through the byboard system and so uh keeping the fleet consistent with Bluebird then we're able to buy one set of parts uh rather than multiple Chevrolet, Ford, GM, you know what I mean? So >> we and Carla we've also miss we've also been able to use Bluebird for some of our travel buses now as well to keep us even more consistent or you know
055throughout for maintenance. >> Are the buses still taking like nine months to get >> about seven seven or eight. >> So it's getting a little quicker. >> Yes. better than it was a couple years ago. >> Yeah. But >> they were over a year there for a while. >> Yeah. >> All right. Any other questions for Mr. Livingston? Um, regular or consent? >> Yeah. >> Anyone? >> Consent. Anyone have a problem with being consent? I get consent. >> Thank you. >> You can always pull it. Um, all right. Next is a bid 26-003. Um, which is Miguel phase 2 abatement. That's going to be a placeholder. We're going to get that hopefully this week if it's going to be on our agenda next week. >> Friday. >> It will be in Friday facts. If we
056don't get for Friday facts then we'll just pull that. Um Dr. Brandon consider easement agreement. Dr. Keeman, Dr. We're in uh board of trustees. Uh as part of the McGill phase 2 construction, a sewer line will need to be replaced and rerouted on district property. Uh the city of St. Angelo is requesting the district to grant to itself an easement for 2011 and 202 Milspa. Um you have a map uh that shows the location uh going from um where we have where you would say McGill proper is right now in construction for phase one running to the Tiny Texans building on the east side of the campus. Uh there's a clay line there that's um many years old and so it's a proper time to go ahead and make that replacement. Uh but there's never
057been an easement uh on that property to allow for that line. So, if the district the the city needs the easement so that uh if anything ever happened to the property or the district chose to the board of trustees chose to um let go of the property on the east side of the campus for some reason, uh that easement would already be there where they could get to the sewer line for repair replacement. Uh so there's a uh recommendation um you see the um paperwork uh administration recommends the board approve the sewer line easement uh between the two properties uh 2011 and 202 Milspa and uh both in St. Angelo uh and then further authorized se superintendent deputy superintendent to execute all necessary documents for the easement. And so Walsh Gagos uh our attorney has
058gone through and um prepared the documents uh with um phone calls to the council for the city of St. Angelo and uh provided those to the district. questions. >> Yeah. Is that still that property is still going to be used though? We're still we'll still be using those buildings and all that, right? The tiny Texans and all are they? >> Yes, sir. >> They'll still be in play. >> It's made for a good location for tiny Texans. Um, uh, maintenance and facilities went in and did a great job remodeling and bringing all those up to date. And it's a nice spot for parents to be able to pull up to the front door and get in and out with children. Uh good parking uh kind of centrally located. Uh so we're we're pleased with uh
059that location. >> So they're just are we are we are I guess what I'm asking are they adding a sewer line or we just making an easement for it saying this will be where you can go through if you need to do this? >> So the sewer line currently exists without an easement. >> So that's where it runs right now. the the picture you have with the yellow, >> correct? And they're going to replace the existing line, the clay line >> with, I'm sure, PVC uh type product um in that same spot, but they want to ensure once all that work is done, they're able to get to it as a city line and make any repairs they need. >> It actually connects the old >> 10 or 20 inch line on each side of
060the school that would have run through the alley. Uh anyway, um so it's going back and replacing some of the old existing sewer line. >> So are the is the city paying paying for the se sewer line replacement? >> No, they're not. >> Of course not. >> Yeah, that's a Well, it is on our property. So that is right, Mr. Danheim. Correct. Yeah. All right, other questions. All right, we'll keep that on regular. Um, Dr. Brandon, we're going to consider a resolution addressing employee pay during emergency closure. So, school districts can choose to pay employees when schools are closed because of pandemic, flu, hurricanes, other emergency disasters as long as it takes steps to establish that doing so serves a public purpose. And then you find under the consideration and facts uh on January 26th
061and 27th icy road conditions made it unsafe for staff, students and buses to navigate local roads. Additionally, campus parking lots, sidewalk, school entrances remained frozen, causing administration to close all schools and other district facilities as well. If the board chooses to pay employees during a school closure, it must adopt a resolution or similar action at an open meeting that complies with the open meetings act. And then the resolution must address the three bullet points. It serves a public purpose by continuing the wage payments um which employees will continue to receive wages and the duration of the pay. So the request and the resolution is simply for those two days that the district was closed uh due to ice and then the premium pay for uh employees that were called out uh for emergency. We had
062a couple of different um plumbing lines, water lines that burst uh in the temp those temperatures and we had staff that was called out to take care of that and they would be paid at time and a half uh for the hours that they worked. And this resolution only just just covers those two days of 20 when we had the bad storms. Okay. >> Typically our process. >> Yeah. We have typically paid our employees if we clo if we choose to close for weather or other things. It's um not their their fault that we closed. And so um any other questions about that? >> Yes. So is this something that's brought to the board every time there's an emergency situation? Okay. >> Yeah. So every time there the school closure not Yeah. So anytime there's
063a school closure for a reason like weather or >> so >> when we vote on this it should it happen in the future it will come to us again. >> Yes ma'am. >> Other questions? All right. We'll keep that as regular. Um, next is Senate Bill 11. We've already discussed that. Does anyone need any further discussion on that before we we'll obviously keep that as regular? Um, any other questions regarding Senate Bill 11? Okay. And next is approval of superintendent contract. And we're actually going to executive session right now under personnel. Hold, let me find that. Uh that's 551.074. Um and we're going to go under 551.071, which is consultation with attorneys. Um, and so I'm going to bring you in first and then we'll excuse you for the rest of it. Sound good? >>
064We are back from executive session. Um, we took no votes. Um, just for completeness, uh, consider approval of superintendent's contract. Everyone okay keeping that on regular for next week? Okay. Um, next announcements which we'll go over again next week will be our March 9th and our March 26th meeting. Any other questions or comments from the board? >> Meeting is two weeks from >> today. No. >> No. No. It's next week. >> We moved it to the 16th, right? >> Yes. Isn't the 16th >> on this? All right. And with that, we are adjourned.