Weslaco ISD Regular Board Meeting (November 17, 2025)

001Good evening. I'm Armando Quer Jr., vice president of the Westico ISD Board of Trustees. This regular board meeting is being conducted in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. Notice of this meeting has been posted online for at least three business days prior to the meeting dates. The time now is 5:48 p.m. and I'll call this meeting to order. I will now begin with a roll call. Mr. Jackie Jaclyn Susita >> present. >> Dr. Hamer Rodriguez >> present. >> Myself, Armando Quer. Mr. Ntoro, he could not be here. Mr. Castillo, he could also not be here. Mr. Coera >> present >> and [snorts] Mr. De Los Santos just notified me that he had something pending and could not make it. Let the record reflect that we do have a quorum and u we will now

002begin our meeting. Invocation Dr. >> Yes, Mr. Elaso, please. >> Amen. Would you be so kind to bow your heads and gentlemen if you're wearing a hat to the Lord? If you would please remove it. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, how great and mighty you are. We honor and magnify your holy name. God, in all situations, at all times, you are good. Nothing compares to you, and there is no one like you. We are humbled that we get to know you. We thank you for the blessing of gathering once again as a corporate body and the privilege to serve this most beautiful and thriving community of Weso. We are blessed to live in this community. Father, is as always our petition. We ask you to continue to bless and grant greater

003wisdom to our superintendent, Dr. Richard Ria, and our board. May your will be done in our board meetings. Help us to always maintain integrity and what you have left in our care. In our district, boys and girls, they are what matters most. Help us to never grow weary of doing good, for in due season, we will reap a harvest of blessings. May we exhibit your love, humility, and kindness towards others. begin that work in me. There is gratitude in our hearts for all that you have done, are doing, and will do in the days to come. May our hearts reflect the spirit of thanksgiving, not only in this season, but every day of our lives. We ask you all this in your precious, glorious, and mighty name of Jesus. And everyone says, "Amen." >> Amen.

004Thank you, Leah. >> Item four, pledge of allegiance and Texas pledge. That's >> Mr. Mr. But >> good evening. At this time, we'd ask everyone to please stand, remove any caps, place a right hand over their heart, and face the American flag. >> 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. >> We'd ask everyone to remain standing, right hand over their heart, and face the Texas flag. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. >> Thank you, Mr. Bmer. >> Item five, awards and recognitions and proclamations. Dr. >> Mr. Garden. >> Yes, sir. Coach Gu, Dr. Members of the board, tonight we want

005to congratulate and honor many of our students who are having just a great semester here at Westl ISD. So, how about we give a round of applause to our West Laoiz High School Wildcat Regiment as they enter the room. [applause] [applause] >> [applause] >> So, we want to congratulate the West Louise High School Wildcat Regiment for receiving a Division One superior rating at this year's UIL Pixkin Marching Contest. Our band students delivered spectacular shows with amazing music and marching precision. Representing the Wildcat Regiment are the drum majors and the section leaders. Let's give them another round of applause. >> [applause] >> And parents, if you're here, can you please stand if you recognize parents? [applause] And we'd also like to recognize their band director, Armando Huer. Mr. Quer. [applause] Okay, we'll take a photo. Once

006again, congratulations to our students. [applause] Up next, we would like to congratulate and how about a round of applause for our next group of students, the Weslo Panther Corps. [applause] So tonight we want to congratulate the West Lico Panther Corps for receiving a division one superior rating in this year's pigkin marching contest. The Panther Corps concluded their marching season as area 28 finalist. Tying for third place. Representing the core tonight are also the drum majors and section leaders. How about we give them a round of applause. [applause] [applause] We also want to recognize their band director, Rodrigo Lial. Mr. Lal. [applause] And if their parents are here, can they please stand and be recognized? Parents. [applause] All right. And photos are already done. Congratulations. How about another round of applause for the Panther Chord? [applause]

007All right, ladies and gentlemen. Next up next, we want to congratulate the water polo team from Westl High School. How about a round of applause as they enter the room? [applause] >> [applause] >> So tonight we want to congratulate the West Local High School boys water polo team. They recently won a district 316A championship and a by district championship. This is the second year of their program and they finished the season with an impressive 9 and1 record. Several Panthers also won individual postseason distinctions. And we'd also like to recognize their head coach, David Ortiz. Let's give them a round of applause. [applause] And parents, if you're here, can you please stand and be recognized? Parents, [applause] All right, congratulations once again. [applause] >> All right, how about we give a round of applause to the

008West Lquiz High School boys cross country team as they enter the room. >> [applause] >> As you can see and you can hear, they have plenty of hardware with them because they were so successful. This evening, we want to congratulate the West Lauque High School boys cross country team for their district 325A championship title. This is the third time they have won district championship. They also won back-to- back region four championships. And at state, they won third place, bringing home a bronze medal. How about we give them a round of applause. [applause] Several team members also won postseason distinctions. And we also want to congratulate Erin Nava as the individual district champion. >> [applause] >> And we also want to congratulate their head coach, Tom Owens. [applause] >> Yes. We also have Coach David in

009the back as well, assistant coach. Thank you very much, coach, for [applause] being here. Parents, if you're here, parents, can you please stand and be recognized? parents. [applause] All right. Once again, congratulations on quite an accomplishment, especially bringing home that big plaque all the way from state, third place. Congratulations. [applause] >> All right. How about another round of applause? We have our girls team from West Luiz High School. We want to recognize them this evening as well. [applause] So tonight, uh, on the girls side, we want to congratulate the West Loise High School cross country team. They were crowned 325A district champions. Let's give them a round of applause. [applause] And we also want to congratulate the girls cross country individual district champion, Maddie Castillo. [applause] Their [applause] head coach is Josh Davis. Congratulations, Coach

010Davis. And we also want to recognize their parents. Parents, please stand and be recognized. [applause] All right. Photos. Good. Congratulations, ladies. [applause] Tonight we celebrate our campuses that have successfully increased attendance during the second six weeks of school. Meeting and surpassing our average daily attendance goals benefits our district and most importantly our students. So, the following elementary schools met or surpassed the attendance goal of 96%. We'll start off with Tony Rico Elementary. Up next we have Kuckler Held Elementary. [applause] Margo Elementary, [applause] Gonzalez Elementary, [applause] Memorial Elementary. Want me to slow down? And Silva Elementary. Those are elementary campuses. [applause] The following middle schools met or surpassed the attendance goal of 95%. We'll start off with BG Garza Middle School, Quad Middle School, [applause] and we also want to recognize Central Middle School. [applause] The

011following high school met or surpassed the attendance goal of 94%. South Palm Gardens High School. [applause] Congratulations How about a round of applause one more time for our principles? [applause] And that concludes our awards and recognitions. >> Coach, yes. Public comments. >> We have one >> [cough and clears throat] >> Okay. Um, state your name and address and then uh Dr. Rodriguez will read a narrative before you make your presentation. >> Jana, 1011 East 10th Street. >> This is Garca. Pursuant to the Texas Open Meeting Act, the board of trustees may not deliberate on any comment made by a member of the public on a subject that is not included on the agenda posted with notice of this meeting. As per the Texas Attorney General, the scope of board discussion for a subject not part

012of the meeting agenda is limited to only proposal by a board member to place a subject on a future board agenda. Specific factual information or recitation of existing policy may be furnished in response to inquiries, but the board shall not deliberate or decide regarding any subject that is not included on the agenda posted with me notice of the meeting. Audience participation at a board meeting is limited to the portion of the meeting designated for that purpose. All other times during a board meeting, the audience shall not enter into discussion or debate on matters being considered by the board unless recognized by the presiding officer. No public comment presentation shall exceed three minutes. Any disruptive behavior by any speaker may result in the speaker's removal from participation in the meeting. Please be mindful of using names

013or personally identifiable information as there is no immunity from defamatory comments while participating in public comments and I'll start the timer when you start your presentation. >> Thank you. Good evening Dr. Deta, school board trustees, students, staff, parents. First and foremost, I want to thank God for giving me the ability to be right here and stand before you. So, with that being said, I want to address item 10H, business and finance department. I strongly believe that people running departments such as that should be a person that's a people person, one that can work as a team player with every staff member under his supervision to create an environment that is conducive to operating effectively for the betterment of every staff student at Westico ISD. The next agenda item is 13B4. Megan Rios versus Wesd. So

014I I find it kind of awkward that there's two board members missing or three. Yeah. Okay. So anytime one too many times employees mess up and what do they want to do? Sue Westd is not going to terminate or put anybody on uh non-renewal because you did something real great. So, with that being said, I strongly suggest that you all consider letting the jury decide. That's not for you all to be deciding. If they did wrong, why should you be rewarding them with taxpayers monies once they mess up? That's the first thing they want to do. Line their pockets at the expense of taxpayers and our boys and girls. So, thank you in advance for taking that into consideration. Let the jury decide. The next thing I want to address is that um recently there

015was a uh what was it? The risk management department set up the mandatory open enrollment for voluntary products. I cannot speak about the setups at other throughout the school district at campuses departments but I know for WestD I mean for central office it was at the lobby in a small uh conference area with three agents and three staff members there everybody listening to everybody's business I sent an email out and the manager disregarded my concern for the rest of the staff members that felt it was that shared the same sentiment. I got to meet with Mr. Jason Everett and I thank him because I was able to discuss my personal business on health and products in privacy and I think every West ISD employee should be awarded that privacy. There's plenty of offices throughout the

016district, schools that are empty, have empty areas so that they can be awarded with that privacy that they deserve. So Jason Everett, I thank you again for meeting with me. I was able to discuss everything I needed to. The next thing I want to address is that I haven't forgotten that a year ago I submitted for a public information request on the board member misconduct allegations. I haven't forgotten. Let's be transparent and provide me with that. What are the findings? >> Thank you and God bless. >> Thank you. >> Item seven, superintendent report. Dr. Let me start with student enrollment. And you can see that on November the 8th, last year, we had 16,289 students. This November, a year later, the enrollment stood at 16,053. As of today, it's 16,020. So, we are going down

017on the enrollment. You can see that the difference in enrollment, the 236 at a 95% attendance equals to about almost $2 million. So, we're missing our students. Uh we want for them to come back. We're making every effort we can to get them back into the district. So, that's a lot of money. Now, even though it's 236, other districts are losing a,500, 600. So there are different reasons and uh we're trying to find out why these kids are leaving West Loco ISD on a we have almost 900 out of district transfers and the vast majority of these transfers come from Donna Mercedes Edelsa and Progresso. So on B as you can see less students means less teachers. teachers have to be reduced by attrition beginning next year. So, we'll probably lose up to 10 teachers

018through attrition. When they resign and retire, we're just not going to replace them. Again, less students means less teachers and we cannot be overstaffed. On C, the budget is based on 14,500. After the first two six weeks, we have the average is 14,511, just barely over. Higher than 145 means more state monies. Lower than 145, less state monies. On page four, I'm sorry, on page three, I'm going to show you the second six weeks attendance report. And uh as as a whole, the goal is 96. And I can tell you that compared to other districts, we are doing real real good. I want to commend our principles, our teachers, our staff, our parents, Diana Gara who makes a lot of these visits where the kids don't come to school. So you can see 11824 to

01911625. You can see the percentage. Clickler held the goal again is 96. Clickler held 97.2 2 Marggo 97.1 Memorial 96.4 Rico 96.2 Silva 96.1 Gonzalez 95.7 and and four are slightly under uh North Bridge 95.4 4 IATA 95.3 Sam Houston 95.1 airport 95.1 so again these are very good numbers and it takes a lot of hard work and again I want to commend all the ones that I mentioned you can see the enrollment the enrollment you can see that only Marggo from 109 1089 to 1120 and I uh slightly higher so the other ones other schools have less kids than what they had last year. So only Marggo and Ivara have more kids than last year. I want again I want to commend I want to commend the principles because they do a fantastic job

020and again all the ones that I meant staff parents uh Diana Gara all the ones that I mentioned on page four these are the middle schools. The goal here is 95 and you can see that the highest one was central 95.6 6 B Garza 94.7 Mary Hog 94.7 and C and Quer 93.8 again the gold is 95 secondary I've been in secondary and it's a little harder because for different reasons but again I'm going to commend all four principles because they're working very hard again with their staff and all the ones that I mentioned earlier. As far as the enrollment, you can see that Central Middle School is the only one that's it's slightly higher uh than than last year. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah. Be Garza. Be Garza is the only

021one slightly higher in 920. Uh four more students and the rest also very very close. Again, I want to commend our middle schools because they work also very very hard. On page five, we have the high schools. South Palm Gardens the highest 96.5 and she's she's always very high even though she has less kids but if she has more absences she will not have this this goal 96.5 I understand Miss Wales goes you're absent you better she's going to go out there and find you so she does a very good job with with the enrollment so I want to commend her 96.5 the two high schools even though they're they're not at the goal compared to other high schools they're doing real real good so again I commend commend our high schools too and the

022only one again you can see the the the enrollment west high 26.95 this year 2724 slightly higher not that much same thing for east last year 2052 this year 2046 so again uh great job to our schools and our parents for having their kids attend school on page six this is the update on the Mary Hook track again. This is this is the last one. Uh Quer V Garza and Central are complete. We had a little problem with Mary Hope because of the of the clay in the soil. So the goal here is to have this ready by March. And uh again, the kids and principles, the parents, everyone's very happy that we don't have to bust the kids anymore because they have their own track. And this was done through the bond the bond

023proposition C. On page seven, an update on the supper program. I mentioned this last month, but I have a I have a video presented that I want to show you all. But let me start first by saying the supper meals are available to everyone in the district at no cost. And these are after school hours. And uh we there's different kinds of food being served from Asian. They're now available. So again, high high participation. So can we show that video? [snorts] while we wait the silence real quick. >> This supper program, it's not just for kids in A's or for the kids. It's anybody can go after school and get a meal. And what time does it start? >> It starts after 4, I believe. I'm not sure what time. >> And it ends at

024>> So the the primary kids who do participate is those that are participating in the ACE program. >> Okay. But and so but again it's open to all uh zero to 18 year olds and um it's it's following that time of the ACE program. So >> four to six >> about four. >> Okay. >> It's after school and these WD students are hungry. After enjoying an hour of enrichment activities, >> it's now supper time >> and are in line for a delicious meal. >> The district is bringing back the supper program to uh offer the students a hearty meal uh to keep them energized. >> At Gonzalez Elementary, the cafeteria is packed with boys and girls. On the menu is popcorn chicken, one of the most popular dishes. The students receive a hot meal um

025filled with uh protein, whole grains, uh fruits and vegetables, and dairy. We offer popular items that the children enjoy. Uh for example, cheeseburgers, popcorn chicken, corn dogs, um hot uh ham and cheese hogies. It's available to any individuals in the community 18 years of age and under at participating campuses. Both high schools and nine elementary schools provide a service for free. >> I like to um go to the cafeteria to bring my friends to talk and have a good meal. It feels good. [cough] >> Cuz I can talk with my friends and at home I don't have to eat at home, >> which works out perfect for parents. >> It works. So as soon as I pick him up, I know that he's already fed and we don't have to I don't have to hurry

026and make another dinner for him. >> That him is her son Leo, a fifth grade student who admits to looking forward to the servings and always has a positive attitude when he's picked up. It's important to eat a meal because you have energy to run, jump, and be >> with rising food costs. The supper program [music] takes away some of the burden financially. >> It does help us um at home uh with our grocery list and then help us um uh reduce that amount that we spend on groceries. It helps us keep a little money more money in our pockets cuz they're getting milk here. They're getting uh they're serving up fruits and they're serving up grain. >> Regardless of economic challenges, rest assured Westico ISD will continue to provide the best possible services for

027our children. For K West TV, I'm Mike Gonzalez. >> Thank you. On page nine, I have my next slide is the at risk federally funded programs. We have been informed that the funding may end at the conclusion of this school year for bilingual migrant title one. This is not just Wesler. This is the whole the whole state, the whole nation. So we have 29 positions, professional positions that when the grants end, uh the people that are here will not have a job. So come May, they they will not have jobs unless we do something at the district. And these professionals on gear up, there's four facilitators. They prepare students for post-secary education. the Strong Connections Grant. We have five LPCs. Two are funded with state comp. They support mental health services for students. The bilingual,

028we have one coordinator, one counselor. They support bilingual students academically also with the counseling, the mental health and other issues. The migrant, we have one coordinator. They support migrant students academically. the CNI content coordinators. This is the curriculum of the district uh administrators. We have two reading language arts, two math, one science, one social studies. They organi organize the district curriculum and training. Then the ACE grant. We have two district administrators and 10 campus coordinator. This is they do the afterchool tutorials and enrichment opportunities. So my task as your superintendent is to find a way to find jobs for these individuals and the ones that I mentioned their administrators, their teachers, their counselors. So we need to fit them in first and just to make sure I want to assure these 29 that we're going

029to find something for them if the grants the grants do not come through at the end of the year. The plan of action again is to to go ahead and have them apply and they will fill any unbudgeted positions that that we have right now. So we have to consider them first before we do any hiring of anyone else. I want to make sure again that these 29 individuals have a job for next year comparable to what they're doing right now. My last slide I just want to present our fund balance. We are doing very good. We next in February we're going to present the audit. There's some issues that have been discussed but when it comes down to the audit I feel very comfortable that we're going to have a good audit and uh

030let me start with the fund balance. The fund balance the figures that are here is that of July the 1. the auditors when they do they're doing their work right now and they'll present to the board in February. So these are preliminary figures, but they're pretty accurate. I feel comfortable with these with these figures. Our fund balance right now, and I'm going to round off $71 million. TA TA uh states that we should have 90 days. They recommend it, but we don't have to have 90 days. Some districts very few have 90 days. West Lago, we're one of one of the one one of the few that have the 90day surplus and uh on on if I subtracted this is the cafeteria nutrition. We have 13 million. So I subtracted the 13 million. So right

031now the unassigned fund balance is 57 $57 million. I'm rounding off $57 million. So this is a three months reserve on D. on the we've already earmarked some of these onetime projects and when when we do the audit this is this is going to show as an additional fund balance but really this this amount has been spent or is being spent and these are board approved projects they're not they're not anything that I that we did that would not did not go through the board some of these projects one time for example are the baseball softball turf the stadium turf, the [clears throat] lights, the activity buses, the yellow buses, HVAC, portable HVAC units, playground equipment, uh, library equipment, sensory rooms, cameras. So all of these this third the 13 the amount that you have

032here the almost 6 million is part of the fund balance but it's it's already been spent or we're going to spend it. So again, when the auditors come in, they're going to show this 6 million plus plus the 57 because their their their audit runs only through through no through I'm sorry, through the end of the of the year, which would be uh November. So we have the three-month reserve. in we have $51 million and and this amount again is is 90 days. Most districts don't have the 90 days. So as we go as we go throughout the year with a board approval, we might decide to take some of this money out because there's still some needs in the district. We still need some personnel. We still have projects that are not done. So

033if the 90 days again is 51 million. So if the board decides to go ahead and go 85 days or 80 days, you can see the amount that would be the difference. So again, we'll discuss this with the board and and see if they want to use some of this money, the 90 days to do some of the projects that are incomplete or to hire additional personnel. And this will be to be continued and we'll probably wait until the actual audit takes place and from there we'll decide if the board wants to do something with the with the fund balance. This is my presentation. Board member, do you have any questions on any of these slides? >> Let's start with u Mr. Susa. Do you have any questions? >> I have two questions that I

034wrote down on my notes as you were presenting Dr. DVDA. And then if we can go back to the slide. I It said page three on attendance. >> Page three. Okay. >> On the second six weeks attendance. >> Yes. >> I guess I'll just wait for it to pop up. Believe it was page three. There we go. So I I'm looking at this and this is awesome. It's a great feeling giving all the principles that came up here that that award. I just wanted to speak a little bit on my mind as a parent because I have how many kids in the district right now? Four. And a lot of my some of my kids sometimes are absent because uh for example, one time I took them to go visit a college campus. And I

035did not know this, but as a parent there there's a the student handbook. I I forgot what it's called for the what's what's excused or non-excus is absences. So this is just an example. uh if your child has gone to on a college visit, you have two days and you bring a college excuse and they're they're it's excused, right? Uh for funding purposes on the handbook, for funding purposes, not for credit, for funding purposes, for FSP. But my advice to parents, I did not know these things and I know we all don't go for fun go look at the handbook and start reading about what the rules are. [laughter] But what really has helped me as a parent that parent portal that we have um you can log in and your the school that your

036child is at can give it to you and you log into this parent portal and you have a calendar and it tells you if your child was absent or what was the reason because I've already caught a few where I say hey my my kid was there this day but maybe the teacher didn't see a list of when they were out for an activity a school related activity things happen. So, if us as parents can keep an eye on our our children's attendance and the the teachers are really good, you know, I I tell my kids, "Email your teacher, let them know you're going to be out." Or if I see that their child is absent, let me email the teacher and let them know to fix it. Or there's some there as parents, we

037can do those small little things that make a difference in our our child's um education as well as everybody else's. So, that's my advice as a parent. And also, sometimes we don't have access to the parent portal because you can't find the email or something happens. We also should be getting those phone calls. I know I get phone calls at 10:45 in the morning if if your child is absent. Um, also there's emails. If you have if you're really good at checking your emails, they will email you and let you know your child is absent. And if you know that it's an error or your child was at the doctor or they're going to be there tomorrow, but fix it because sometimes those things might go unnoticed and those absences stay. So, it's good to

038just keep track of your child's attendance because that really really helps out a lot. So, those are my that's my advice for any parents listening. Uh the parent portal, check up on the on the attendance on there and you can also sign up for those emails if you're a good email uh person. So, that's my that was my comment on the attendance. And then uh the other comment on the the the funding for the CNI and the grants um the ones that that one right that one. >> Okay. So this makes me very sad because all those people are very very important to to the district. I know that they do a lot of work and help the kids. My question though Dr. Divera title two programs what what is title two? I know what

039bilingual is and migrant but what what are title two programs? Which one? The title two, right? Which one is the one you >> It says many uh may for the that the the the funding may end >> for bilingual migrant and title two programs and personnel. Who are the title two programs and personnel? >> Mr. Bmer, Mr. Nano, you want to >> Yes, ma'am. Um, hi, good evening, Mr. Specta. So our title 2 program provide money like for example right now our coordinators those who provide support for academics are funded through our title two program. So all our content coordinator and our bilingual coordinator are funded through the title two. >> Okay. So the curriculum the the the coordinators. >> Yes. >> Our CNI. >> Yeah. >> Well because I've worked with districts that don't

040have co coordinators and it's yeah it's very much needed >> and that funds also some of our professional development. Wow. Okay, that's what I wanted to know what there was. Thank you very much. Those are my questions. >> Okay, Dr. Rodriguez, >> uh just just some comments. Uh you know, great job with the ADA. I know even though our enrollment is down a little bit, you know, we're still able to um stay above that ADA mark and and great job to I know it's a team effort. It's not one person um that's responsible for that. It's a team effort and great job to to everyone uh with that. I know Dr. There's a ret which is which retention stipen is is tied in with the U ADA. Is it for the second half of the

041school year? >> Yeah, it's a December stipen and we're going to give that as part of the budget. It was in the budget. >> So, we're going to provide that >> in December. Now, the June, I'm sorry, the the May is kind of borderline because it's going to depend on the ADA. >> I remember one of them depended on the AD. mentioned that during the convocation, but for sure there will be a December stipen. >> Okay, good. Good. And then great job with the supper uh program, you know, that's that's >> uh really great for our students, you know, and the parents, you know, so you know, thank you for doing it. Thank you for doing that. >> I'm glad you clarified that. [clears throat] >> Well, my comment is is towards our fund balance.

042First of all, I want to I really want to say that I'm glad we have a very healthy fund balance. Um, and like Dr. Da said, maybe we can utilize some of that. I really want to see if we can maybe uh agree to use some of that for, you know, bolstering our counseling department and uh especially where where the needs are are need, you know, where we do have needs and especially if we can uh uh help our kiddos with mental health. uh that would be uh something where I think we need to see if we can, you know, address that using some of that fund balance. So, it's great to have it. Uh I no doubt about it, but I think I we'd like to I'd like to see it utilized to where

043we can uh address some of those needs, especially with our kidd kiddos, especially if it's going to have a a direct impact on our students. So, uh, if we can maybe study that and and see if we could do it now, the sooner the better, obviously, uh, if we hopefully we don't have to wait till February. Hopefully, we can do it as early as the next board meeting, but, uh, we'll see where we go with that. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> And, um, Dr. as as always um you've done an outstanding job of uh running this school district and always being conscientious of of every employee and I'm talking about every employee for this school district and and the support that uh that you ask for and and and we are there for you.

044Uh you all are doing an outstanding job. Keep up the good work. The challenges are great during the holidays. you know, we we we have a lot of distractions, but but stay stay focused on on on what we need to keep doing and um um you know, I don't think we can ask more of you. Uh just keep up the good work and Dr. Rivera, again, you've done a great job of running with the ball. So, >> go ahead. Thank you. But it's a team effort >> beginning with the board and everyone else. It's a team effort. Thank you. >> Thank you. Well, now we go to item eight, uh, lonear governance. >> Uh, coach Quer, I am going to make a motion to table this item for Lonear governance because the data we just

045got it recently. So, we want you to see some other information on there that we we didn't have with time. So, we can table this item and bring it back in December. And it works out because December we didn't have the LSG item. So we can move all this to the December board meeting. >> So I can make a motion to table and >> I'll second that. >> Okay. We have a uh motion by Miss Slaita and a second by Dr. Rodriguez. Is there any discussion other than uh what you've said, you know, not having the uh the >> sufficient information about what we >> No. And I appreciate the information that was given to us. It was it was informative. We were just looking for a couple of other things and I did talk

046to Miss Alano um before the meeting. So we were kind of in agreement about it and we can have more time and in December we will discuss. >> So you know what we we need to address. Dr. >> Rodriguez, do you have anything to say? >> I'm in agreement. >> And Coacha, with all that being said, let's take it to a vote. >> All right. >> And we'll start with Mr. >> I. >> Dr. Rodriguez, >> I >> and Co. I >> motion passes. We will table this for the next board meeting because we need more more more information on the uh on the issue that we're going to discuss. [snorts] >> With that being said, >> I'm sorry. That will include item 883 >> action item. >> So, we're going to we're going to

047get all the items under the uh yes >> the the whole umbrella of uh Lonear Governance. So that will take us now to item nine, presentations. Dr. >> Yes. at the last meeting you all asked uh for a few presentations. So we're going to start off with on our way back to an with Rosa Garcia. >> Good evening Dr. A members of the board. So I am going to um try to wrap up 13 years that I've been at Gonzalez and course light. So >> so um and I just did want to say Mrs. Susai that the dinner program at our campus is strictly from 4:45 to 5:15. Okay. Because of guidance so or something about guidelines with the food department. >> Yes. >> No. Thank you ma'am. So, um I think the question is

048how how do we get campuses to be um how do we get to be where we're at pretty much right? Um and I think I I can speak for our colleagues as well. I think we all work toward the same goal. Um specifically speaking about Gonzalez, I'm going to say we have a culture of expectations which then uh has turned into a culture of excellence as well. And so how do we do this? Well, students are the most important stakeholders on our campus. Everybody knows academically and just emotionally as well. Every single student is made to feel valued. Even our tough kids, we make sure that we talk to them, we speak to them, that they feel valued. Period. Uh, everyone, all staff is held accountable for every single student on our campus. Uh, we're

049talking attendance, being punctual, their achievement, and their behavior. And so the next uh bullet is just part of that clearly defined expectations for behavior from you know what side of the hall you walk in to respect. I have a coach who talks to kids about manners and instruction as well. And we can't have good instruction if we don't have good behavior. So they go hand inand our teachers are given quite a bit of autonomy and I'll give you an example. Uh we have a fall fest on Friday. We also have a really release. So then it's like teachers what do you want to do? And so they decide um how we take care of things on our campus. And that's minor, but it's a lot of major things that they have autonomy over, which then

050leads to them being empowered. And then they just take ownership of the decisions that they make um that they agree to. There is a mutual level of trust, quite a bit of transparency from me to my staff and them to me. And so then we've become a a team. We have bell-to-bell instruction from August to May. uh my staff, my teachers know or our staff knows that um they're allowed the last week of school to plan a lot of fun activities with our kids. Besides that, it it's all instruction. Um my support team or our support team has a customer service mindset. Uh like right now, I'll tell you, Coach Warren is my wingman. I have two right hands, my assistant principal and and our instructional coach, but he's my wingman. And right now, he's

051taking care of all the Friday activities. And that's what I mean. and it's he runs the support team and they all work on all the little things to increase instructional time. Everything is about instruction. Uh purposeful collaboration. Our PLC's, weekly PLC's, they're practiced with fidelity. So they're usually on Fridays. Well, guess when they're having them this week on Thursday. So our teachers know their planning um their PLC's. Our PLC's are are important and they're student and data driven. Everything we talk about in PLC's has to do with students, student data, how can we improve it, how can we make sure they're being successful. They are 120 minutes. Um, this year we increase them by 30 minutes. So, um, they have two hours of planning. Um, when administration does lead PLC's, we lead them. Um, the

052the campus leaders do. Shared practices. Um, our teachers have become really good about not just sharing strategies amongst the grade level but between the grade levels. and that has really worked for us really well where any ideas any strategies anytime they need planning they'll ask for that multiple resources are available to staff students and parents um I don't think you have access to the videos but those videos are our instructional coach will create videos if our teachers are looking for something she'll create a video send it to them we have hubs for every content area so our teachers don't have to be looking for anything's housed in one sheet for them um and then we have blue bonnet support site homework assistance assistance on the parent portal. So, if you go on to our school

053page, you'll see a blue bonnet tab on there and there are videos linked to every single lesson and blue bonnet. So, our instructional coach took quite a few days to take care of that, but that's available to our parents and it's been shared out to them. Um, professional learning and accountability. So, I think this is what has had the most impact is any resources that are purchased follow a process. First, we we have professional development for our staff where they are learning what and it can be anything. And I'll use SIPS because that's big in our district, right? So, we provide the professional development. They're learning and I'm going to use internalization because that's a blue bonnet word, but this applies to every single content area. So, our teachers will then internalize what they're being

054taught. The next step then is implementation where we do quite a few learning walks and we make sure that we provide very intentional feedback as to how we want implemented and then um how to improve what they're doing. And then the last part is u modeling and coaching support. So if our teachers are struggling, I will go model the lesson. Um I'm going to be honest, I usually interrupt lessons and ask them or sometimes they'll tell me, "Can you model this for me?" And I'm like, "Sure." So um we model quite a bit. We set up peer observations. We practice. We recommend best practices and again a lot of intentional feedback and then lesson inter internalization conversations. So I think this has had the most impact um with our student learning. This this has worked

055well for us. And then at the end I just want to say that this year I told our teachers one of the things that has made a huge difference is that I lead and you guys follow. And that's made a difference. And so um I just wrote this. We've discovered that although the work and the change has been and is difficult because that's every day every day every day it's like how can we improve um I tell them trusting the process has made all the difference so I don't that is that is it for us for me I don't know if you have any questions [applause] >> would you like to >> yes so I want to say my personal experience miss Garcia was the assistant principal when I was at Sam Houston and she

056brought over I think I've mentioned it before but that's always stuck with me. She brought over Dr. Maggie back I don't know like 2007208 and it was all phonics and nursery rhymes and she just brought to us what helped the kids read and I remember being so thankful because it was my first year teaching and I just felt very empowered and [clears throat] I like the way you said teacher autonomy that you are allowed to you know be creative and do what you think works for your classroom because you know the teachers know the kids and I really appreciate that that you're there and and you're you're providing what's needed. Um I wanted to ask you because of course we don't know about blue bonnet what and I hear everybody saying internalization and you internalize

057what does that mean that teachers internalize a lesson. So basically uh Blue Bonnet provides a script for our teachers all the materials they'll need exactly what components are in there and it'll say like fluency for example every grade level has a different fluency because obviously it's either addition subtraction multiplication and it gives them like six minutes but it'll tell them now the internalization part comes in again where they have autonomy to decide how am I going to deliver this so yes while they're being told what to say or what what to teach they're also allowed to decide. So the internalization part is a lot of meeting and planning on how are we going to deliver this instruction. >> I see. Okay, that makes sense. >> Well, thank you so much for sharing. Hopefully the principles

058I know that they probably do a lot of the same stuff, but hopefully it helped to just to hear what you do. So, thank you. Appreciate it. [clears throat] A lot of work. >> My pleasure. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> I love talking curriculum. >> Great job. Great job, ma'am. you know, and one of the last comments you made was about trusting the process, and it sounds like, you know, you you have your your team on board and and you know, the the cohesiveness and and what you're doing there is is great. You know, I see a lot of students throughout the day, you know, uh at my office and you know, and a lot of praise coming from from your campus and keep up the great work. >> Thank you. >> If I may

059add real quick, you said autonomy. I had never thought I mean I knew about it but the the vertical alignment of working with other teachers because usually we do it horizontally amongst the grade level but when you're able to talk if you're a first grade teacher and you're able to talk to second and kinder I don't know if a lot of schools do that. I've never really seen it happen. So to see it that you're doing it there I mean I'm sure it makes a difference. So good job. I like that idea. >> And uh >> yeah I was uh curious about your u the resources that parents use. Do you have a way of figuring out how many hits you're getting on that? >> Gosh. >> Do you know what I'm saying? >> I

060would have to go with technology, but >> like I wonder if if how they're utilizing that and if you know like how many a percentage of what >> is it shared through class dojo or something with the parents? >> It was Yes, the it's a Google site that Mrs. Sa created and so then we shared it through um dojo with our parents and now it's on our website. So you can just anybody can go on to our school website and actually access those homework videos. >> Okay. >> Thank you. And um like everyone has uh shared the uh appreciation for the work that you're doing and u keep up the good work. You know I I know it's not easy and the challenges are there but you've done what you have to do and and

061uh and sharing with everyone is very much appreciated. So >> you're welcome. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. >> Thank you [applause] >> the blue bonnet adoption. Dr. >> Yes. Last month you also mentioned blue bonnet. So Mr. Garnick is going to explain. >> Hi, good evening Dr. Board members. Um or else is a tough act to follow, but I'm going to go in and she already talked a little bit about blue behind. This is more about where it came from and kind of where we're going. One of the things is why blue bonnet and you may recognize this this graph. You've seen these at LSG presentations is we have [snorts] not had optimal results with our mathematics in in in the past in past years. This is not

062a unique thing to Wesco. This is region one has noticed that the early childhood math it it's been a challenge. So, Blue Bot, one of the reasons we consider Blue Bonnet is because of these challenges. Um, if you look here, this is as a district the past eight years, uh, as far as getting students to be at the meets grade level, which means they're on grade level in their math. We've pretty much waffled up and down around 40 to 50%. It averages about 42% over the last eight years, which means we have about 60% of our kids who are not on grade level in math, you know, and you'll hear it every fall with teachers. All these students are coming in behind and that's and so we have to do a lot of makeup work

063because of that. How does that roll on down? When they get to high school, the students have to take their their TSI and in this case, this is just TSI math. And you can see how we're doing it getting students to pass that. We've got some work there. This is not on the high schools. This is on the culmination of our program as it rolls forward. Are the kids ready to do that so they can be ready for college? So these these are numbers just looking back. Why are we why blue bonnet in the first place? What did blue bonnet bring to us? First of all is the te's alignment. That's important. and the whole curriculum is aligned. Filling in gaps from year to year, a focus on conceptual learning, not just how do we

064get past the the multiple choice, the test, but actually learning the concepts, high standards for everyone. Uh, uniform language and communication style. And as I go to c different campuses, you can hear you hear kids who are in first grade already using that that language. When you hear a second grader talking about an algorithm, hey, something's going on. Uh, horizontal and vertical alignment, it's a challenge to get it at a campus, but I've noticed with Blue Bonnet now, you can go from campus to campus and you can see that alignment both vertically and horizontally. um resource playing field. Everybody has the full set of resources, manipulatives, the workbooks to support it, access to the electronic books if they need them. So the resources are leveled across the district and it's a uniform across the district.

065Every all the students in a grade level are getting taught the same thing at the same time. You know, it may waffle by a day or so here and there. and one teacher slightly ahead or slightly behind, but it's very close across the entire district. And if you look to the right there, you've got the me the the the lesson cycle K through five. And and how it resembles the old I do, we do, you do. It's the same thing. That's the same lesson cycle that everybody's following right now with the blue one. In the long run, we're looking to this to benefit our TSI and our ACT on the math side for readiness when they get to high school. This is our first year, so we've got some more work to do. This is

066the timeline for how we got here with Blue Bonnet. Not going to say it's not. It is a lot of work. Mentioned internalization earlier. That's a challenge for teachers to do. It does take a lot of work to internalize those lessons day in and day out. We started back in May of 24 with the lasso cycle 2 grant for planning. That process was led by uh Dr. Casey Wuarez and Norma Nora Lopez. They're the right and left hand for math across the district um with Arby's training resource-based instructional strategies that August across the district. Then they worked last last fall to develop a a instructional framework which came to the board in uh January for mass and then we moved into the blue bonnet. After that we uh applied for and we did receive the

067grant. Um some campuses began as early as May. The rest began over the summer. And you can see here this is the training that went on in the summer. There was a as far as a curriculum adoption in all my time in in WSD never seen this level of curriculum training and support for an adoption even before we rolled it out training coaches training administrators and then with the teachers with the productmies and their internalization days that rolls all the way up to where we are now in November and going further we will continue with the support for internal internalization all through second semester. We're in the process of working on a lasso cycle 4 to get more support into next year for Blue Bonnet as well as we're looking at the state board of

068education is meeting this week and if they approve the uh curriculums for uh geometry and algebra 2. Right now we're K through eight with eighth grade algebra and we'll see what we do as far as high school once the state board finishes reviewing those curriculum materials. support for the adoption at the elementarymentaries right now through region one and through the lasso cycle 3 grant the elementaryaries first semester getting 53 days of a person from region one supporting them in some way uh second semester they'll have 51 days a little less the reason there's less days at secondary is there's less teachers at secondary takes a lot more days to get to all the teachers in elementary the support includes productmies which the teachers got a two two days of productmies in internalizations every six weeks

069product observations there's two of those each semester where region one walks through with the the coaches through all the the classrooms on the campus and gives feedback and then there's learning walks with the principles for them to also walk through and give feedback and there's one of those each semester so there's a lot of hands-on on the ground support for the adoption. I just put a couple pictures in, but across the district there there's wonderful things happening with kids. Uh the picture on the left, I shared it just because it was just so nice to see the the students had work were working both with modeling a problem as well as the doing the standard algorithm to go with that. It it was just good good to see. [clears throat] And then there's this picture

070on the right. It's it's hard to tell what what you can really see there, but what it is, you have three fifth graders solving a problem three different ways. You know, they they chose how they, you know, after they've gone through the lesson, how they were going to go up there and solve it. And it's just good to see students understanding the concept, having some choice, and then applying that. So, that's a just a little bit about where we are right now and kind of where we're going. Once again, it is a lot of work and I applaud the teachers, the instructional coaches, the principles, everybody involved in that process because it is, you know, it's the first year and anything new, it does take a lot of work. So, that concludes my presentation. If

071there are any questions, Mr. Garlic, um, I'll open it up for discussion. Mrs. Saita. >> Okay. First, so I talked to teachers, of course. How's it going in your classroom? How are you feeling? of course a little shaky but my question and you mentioned this every teacher all across the district is teaching the same thing all the kids are getting the same information so if a teacher is out let's say for I don't know personal day or training the curriculum doesn't say okay we're going to stop here pause and go to the you it's a lesson day by day by day what happens >> okay it the way it work the campuses have some freedom for a little bit how they want to work that. I know some campuses the instructional coach will actually go

072in help give the lesson. You can't do that for everybody. >> The way Blue Bonnet keeps track of pacing is as long as they're within five days plus or minus for where they're supposed to be in the scope and sequence, they're still on track. So if you're out for a day, it's okay. you're not too far behind to make. If for some reason you fall behind quite a bit, >> they can compress the the the lessons together to to to make up that. >> Okay. And they did tell me that it spirals like one week either it's this and you're going to get back to it a couple weeks later. >> Yeah, it's it's in the in the in the previous curriculum. If I'm going to teach you to add and subtract fractions, I'm going

073to teach that. I'm going to teach that. I'm going to teach that. Everybody's got it. Okay, fine. We're going to move on. And then about March, I'm going to go back and review it because I kids forgot it. >> Here you teach it. Okay, got it almost. No problem. We'll go on. Then we'll spiral back and we'll hit it again. We'll go on, we'll spiral back and hit it again. And it's like that across the the the curriculum. So you can see it in the different stages, different parts. >> So let Miss Garcia mentioned autonomy, how teachers, you know, it depends on every school and every uh principal and the teacher. Now, some people have told me that other districts use this curriculum like supplemental. It's not the whole with fidel. They don't use it

074with fidelity 100% math blue bonnet. Are we doing 100% fidelity blue bonnet or is it supplemental? >> It is our tier one >> instruction. We are working as hard as we can to make it with fidelity because if if I go through and pick and choose, >> it's kind of like if you go to cook a recipe for Thanksgiving, well, I'm going to leave one or two things out. it doesn't the product you get is not the same. We want the the students to get exposed to the full breadth of the curriculum and the tees because and I I don't have this slide in here but if you track a student who's now either in ninth grade or eighth grade taking algebra one you can track those teaks all the way back to second grade

075that they had or first grade that they had to have to build up to that. And if this teacher puts more emphasis on this, this one puts less on that. When at some point in time it all comes together, are all the students going to be ready? The goal is to have all of the students exposed to all the curriculum so we can have that process build for everyone. >> Okay. And my last question because I I'm googling who made Blue Bonnet, who wrote this curriculum, where does it come from? It's a long uh thing to read through on um online, but I some people have told me that districts who uh adopt the curriculum that do we get some funding back from the state for this? >> Okay. Our adoption right now is the

076lasso cycle 3 grant is funding all of this extra training everything call it round it off to about $600,000 worth of training and support from region one. M >> the other half of the grant that goes into materials. Um when we pull all of the teachers out for internalization training each six weeks that pays substitutes. You know at the elementary you're talking about including special education about 250 teachers and at the secondary talking at middle school about 50ish roundish teachers. So about 300 teachers every six weeks going through this. So that helps cover all of the substitutes also. >> I see. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Those are my questions. [clears throat] >> Thank you, >> Dr. Rodriguez. >> Um, in regards to resources, I know Mrs. Garcia mentioned uh placing a link

077on on her web website for for Blue Bonnet. Is that something that as a district do we have on the on the district website also or is that up to the campus? >> We've shared all of the all of the resources have been shared to all the campuses. There's there's a series of videos for the lessons. There's the the the all of the books which the students have are also available online. So they they have all of those resources. >> Okay. They they have everything they need there. >> Correct. Thank you. >> And then they have the hard copy and the manipulative kit also. >> My daughter's teacher in second grade. I know he sends through class dojo the videos for parents who I the teachers are doing a pretty good job of sharing with

078the parents. Yeah. the lessons and like Ben mentioned last time, first grade or kindergarter homework was kind of hard for him because it is it's very fundamental math which it's you know it's not as easy as it sounds but um if the parents do need help it would be a good idea to put it on the on the website if they they're getting surger Yeah. >> Thank you, >> Coach. >> Well, uh, yes. Um, change is tough. >> You know, it is. I've been through that throughout my career. Um, but I like what you said. We're in it 100%. We're all in. I think that's the best way to go about it. I like I like the vertical alignment that we have. Is it too early to tell whether we're filling the gaps? I know

079we're two, six weeks in, >> but the monitoring is important. Feedback is important, >> benchmarks, we just finished. We're going to look at them. >> Um I I worry about, you know, in your education class, they call it the implementation dip. But, you know, I was at training last week at region one. I happened to bump into Chris Valdez from mission. She had talked about how their scores on star they basically the approaches was level but internally their meat scores went up so on their first year so and after that it's you know everything you know we can hope even for more in the future so we'll we'll get a feedback from our benchmarks but you know there still it's one semester in I'm not going to draw too many conclusions >> but I'll be

080real happy to see if students are holding their goes up. >> Well, and filling in the gaps because that's like like your your second bullet on that presentation is filling the gaps from the previous years. So, it'd be interesting to see if there are some gains. >> Oh, yeah. And the gaps from previous years, you know, the kids who go into next year when the teachers have them, they've already got the cycle down. They've already got the language. They know the expectations. It's only going to get better. >> Yeah, that's I feel the same way. I think uh but again uh all the support that the teachers need to you know moni you you guys going out to the campuses and monitoring and helping the the instructional leaders at each campus I think it's important

081of course listen to the feedback and uh and see what data tells us. >> Thank you. >> And I and I agree with that. you know, I I I I like the word commitment. >> And with that commitment, you know, we're we're all going to be on board. And uh the biggest way to keep that commitment going in the right direction is to always be there to reinforce the support that is required because anything new takes takes the continued work that that you're talking about, Mr. Garlic. And I'm and I and I hear a lot of things, but you know, being supportive and trying to be positive with things says, "Hey, just stay the course. It'll it'll it'll work out. But you got to you got to really really, you know, stay stay focused on

082the things that you can control. And once you do that and get a little comfortable, then you can build on that and then move forward. But it's not going to happen without this support. And um and and we're here to help every every way possible. Dr. Rivera will will let us know we need this, we need this, and uh and go for it. You know, cuz you know, I'm I'm one of those kind of guys, you know, even when we get something new, you get it, you open it, you start working with it, and then you say, "Oh, where are the instructions? Those instructions. without those instructions, you're not going to, you know, uh, we didn't have this or we didn't have that. And I think a little bit of that is taking place. I

083could be wrong, but, you know, when you do something new, there's always those little things to to iron out, but like I've mentioned before, be good good listeners and and work work and uh and uh like Dr. Ramo says, when when halftime comes around, look at [clears throat] where you're at. look at your adjustments and then move forward. >> Thanks. There's hard work going and and we will continue. >> And coach, if I may add, I I just want to give a little shout out to Sam Houston today because I was kind of I was impressed you're thinking out of the box and trying to find solutions. I got a message saying um from my daughter's teacher, we're going to break up in groups like group A, group B, and help the kids who need

084that extra support. So, let's say that they were like team teaching, right? Um, this classroom and this classroom, they're going to they're I guess this is the way it's going to work. I don't know, thinking out of the box and being creative. Gather the kids who need this help. And [cough] it's [clears throat] and then the other kids and I don't know how it's going to work, but I think it's a great idea. Just go out there and you you do what you have to do. Be creative. Think outside of the box and [snorts] be that trailblazer. Just because no one else is doing it, well, it doesn't matter. like you guys do whatever you think you need to do to get those kids to pass. I know you have all the board support for

085anything you need to help the kids. So, I was just really impressed with that today. I thought I was I thought that was a great idea and I I can't wait to see how that works out and then you can come give us feedback later on at another board meeting how it worked out. But thank you for taking that into account with the kids. Appreciate it. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next one is the presentation by Purdue Brandon Fielder Collins and Mott delinquent Tax attorneys firm of the delinquent tax collection activity report for the period from July the 1st of 2024 through June 30th of 2025. Dr. >> Good evening Dr. Vera and honorable members of the board. For the record, my name is Irram Gutierrez partner with Purdue Brandon Fielder Collins

086and M your delinquent tax collection firm. I'm here to present you with your fiscal 2425 delinquent tax collection report. That being the period of July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025. The tax collection program for Westico ISD is designed with working with your taxpayers to help them resolve their delinquent tax problem. To that end, our local bilingual uh call center has made over 11,300 contacts with delinquent taxpayers at West. We have also mailed over 3,600 notices of delinquency. And when those letters come back undeliverable, we do uh address research and uh we uh uh send letters uh during this period. We've done 966 address updates. When the calls and the letters uh don't result in payment, we also visit taxpayers at their property or business. During this period, we've uh conducted over 300 field inspections.

087Once we contact the taxpayers, they're not always able to pay in full. Uh so we do enter into payment agreements with taxpayers. During this period, we've entered into 88 formal payment agreements involving over $22,000 in base tax owed to Waco ISD. uh when the calls, the letters, the the uh uh property inspections don't result in any payment or any activity, uh we will proceed to litigation. Uh during this period, we've uh we filed 161 new petitions or interventions involving over $1,552,000 in base tax to Waco ISD. Uh another tool that we have for collections is tax warrants on businesses. uh as you might um understand with businesses they can property can disappear quickly. So it's it's very imperative that we act quickly. So we have a tool it's called a tax warrant. During this period

088we've filed three tax warrants involving over $4,200 in base tax owed to uh West ISD. We also represent you in federal court mainly for bankruptcies. During this period, I filed uh three claims on your behalf involving over $776,000 in base tax owed to the district. Um once we take a judgment, we still try to work with your taxpayer, try to see if they're still willing or wanting to save their property. Uh during this period, we did put up 14 properties of up for tax sale. Out of those 14 properties, nine properties uh resulted in in either payment in full or payment agreements involving over $57,000. One property was struck off to the taxing entities and four properties were sold in uh bringing in over $31,000 to the school district. When a property gets struck off

089to the taxing entities, the next step is to put it up for resell. During this period, we put up three properties up for resell. uh three and the three sold bringing in over $26,000 to the school district. And of course um oh the total collected was $115,000. And of course uh all of these efforts are geared for one goal and that is to collect your delinquent taxes. And I'm very happy to tell you that during this period we uh were able to collect over $1,570,000. Uh I do want to bring it to your attention refunds. Uh there's been a substantial increase in refunds during this period. $859,000 were refunded to taxpayers. The next page shows a comparison between this fiscal year and the previous fiscal year. On the right is 24 2025. As you can

090see, a collection rate of 34.89% compared to last year 34.78. But I want to I want to point out the refunds as well. this year, $859,000, which is a substantial increase over last year of $37,000. Um, what's causing this increase in refunds? Well, one of the things, one of the big uh uh factors is homesteads, uh, people filing late homesteads. Before the homestead exemption was $40,000, now it's $100,000. So, taxpayers that are getting refunds, it's a substantial higher amount. The other thing is that there's a lot of more people filing lawsuits against the appraisal districts on their property values and when the they're successful and they get a reduction in their value, they get a refund. They might have paid they paid in time, but now they're getting a refund for that extra payment that

091they made. Uh, another service that we provide to the school district is property value audits. Uh this service ensures that the school district is getting all the state funding that it deserves. During this period, we filed four audits for the 2020 tax year 2021 and 20 uh 2022 and 2023. Uh this page shows the results of those audits for the 22 uh tax year. Uh uh the uh TA accepted our our findings and you received an additional $1,ion37,000 in state funding for the 2020 tax year. TA accepted our findings and you received an additional $320,000 in state funding uh for the audit for 2023 that is still being reviewed by TEA. So we don't have the results for that for the 2021 tax year. We're still reviewing it internally. And that concludes my presentation to

092you and open it up for any questions you might have. >> Um, >> you mentioned because of the proposition that just passed the the homestead exemption, it went from 100 to 140,000 that is already reflected in what people owe or is it till next year or how does that work? >> Well, it's going to be for this this year 2025 uh taxes that that we're going to be paying. So instead of getting a $100,000 property exemption, you're going to get $140,000 property exemption. >> Good for the homeowner, but for the district, that means less money coming, >> less revenue. And and I would expect that people that are filing late uh homestead exemptions because you you can file a homestead exemption today, but if and you can go back two years as well. So, if

093you paid your taxes for the last couple of years and you paid based on a $40,000 homestead exemption, for example, well, you're going to or or no, never mind. You you didn't get a homestead exemption at all and now you're getting a$1 $140,000 homestead exemption, you're going to get a refund. So, uh >> I I think we're going to see a a jump on people getting uh homestead uh refunds. >> So, how will that affect the school district? Well, the state is supposed to make up the uh the loss. So, you'll be getting less uh local value, a local uh tax base, but the state should be making up the uh >> Okay. >> the loss that you're having. >> Well, that's good. I didn't know that. Okay. >> Is that is that dollar for

094dollar? >> U that that's my understanding. I don't you know that's a little little complex, but you should be be made whole. That is the uh the understanding. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for the info and keep up the good work. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here with you and have a good evening. >> Thank you. >> Your staff is here. >> Oh yes. Uh here with me is my partner Janelle Casso and Romeo Ku who is in charge of our uh tax sales. >> Thank you. [applause] Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Good evening. >> Yes sir. And now for the comprehensive bond project status. Dr. >> Yes. Mr. Miracle coach, uh, members of the board, Dr. Divera, good evening. Uh, we were posted a couple of

095questions for some updates on some bond projects to give you a status. So, just bear with us. I know we do have roughly about 22 slides, but we promise uh we won't keep you here too long and we'll open up for questions afterwards. Uh what you see before you, it's comprehensive bond projects and the status where we're at. They're going to be categorized uh through roofs, HVAC, uh kitchen upgrades, and so forth. So, they'll be clustered. So, you'll see the different phases there. Uh we do have the architect, the contractor, and a very rough estimate because this doesn't include all the fees that we have uh is roughly about $65 million into our $160 million budget. Again, that's a very rough estimate. So, beginning with the first project that we have roofing at Kler Held

096and Rico Elementary, you have the architect contractor RGO roofing. Right now, we're those were the exact questions we received, so we're just providing answers to them. So you have the official start date March 25, projected end date December 25. It's 98% on construction still in the construction phase and uh delays will be due to the weather and school activities. Next one we have roofing for Varsa Middle School. Um again start date April 24, end date January 27 85 on the construction documents. So it's still in the design phase right now. any delays are due. This one we do have incomplete HVAC engineering design uh by Trinity MEP. Next one we have roofing Margo uh elementary Mary Hog Middle School and Central Middle School. This is a part of a phase two architect armco contractor is

097pending uh for Marggo official start date that would be August 25 based on the architect's uh contract when it was executed projected end date June 26 it's 100% complete on the documents it's currently out uh for bids it's in the bidding phase and as of now we don't have any delays next one Mary Hulk Middle School again follows the same one as Marggo Uh so ex with the exception of the end date September 26 100% uh documents completed it's out for bids in the bidding phase no delays at Central Middle School same thing August 25th expected end date November 26 we're about 80% complete there with construction documents and this it's in the design phase and we don't have uh any very uh delays at this time building envelope for Sepulva gym Architect Rabbakisner. Contractors

098pending start date April 2024. Projected end date September 2027. It's roughly at 60% on construction documents. In the design phase, there is a delay due to engineering design. Uh it's roughly two years behind schedule due to incomplete HVAC design by Trinity MEP. We go into the restrooms. Student restrooms, Marggo Elementary and BARSA. Uh architect is Janak. contractor Trigen Construction official start date April 24 execution of architect's contract projected end date December 26 uh bids are completed uh contractor was recently approved so again we uh it's in the it's just starting the construction phase we don't have any delays uh student restrooms this is a phase two project Memorial Elementary and North Brbridge Elementary architect Milnet contract pending excuse me contractor pending Official start date uh June 25 uh architect's contract execution projected end date Jan

099June 2027 we're roughly 30% of the construction documents in the design phase we don't have any delays at this time vestibules we have WSO East High School and Bara uh architect the Warren group contractor Rio united BARSA and Weso High both uh executed car uh architect's contract May 2025 BARSA expected end date January 25 95% of construction uh delay due to uh door manufacturing that's caused some delays there west to go east the end date is April 2026 we're roughly about 20% on construction uh and construction this one was due to uh school activities if you can see the entrance we had to stop because there's a lot of activity so we're going to resort back to that and we're we're working closely with the principal Dr. Gambo on this one. Vesibu's continued airport elementary

100school, Central Middle School. It's part of a phase 2 architect Sam Garcia contractor is pending. Official start date May 25. It's uh execution of engineering contract. Projected end date is pending. 100% of the construction documents complete. Uh this one we did go through a rebidding uh process and due to cost. So this one uh is going out on that one on the rebidding phase running track Mary Hogue as you saw in Dr. Rietta's uh slide presentation. Um I'm going to go to the percentage completed roughly about 15% uh the construction phase and the delay was due to the poor soil conditions and the highlight that Dr. pointed if you want to reference that the yellow part is what's going to be injected with with [snorts] the chemicals that's for your reference engineers half associates and

101the contractor's bayonet tennis courts high school official start date October 2025 uh board approval of contractor rankings projected end date April 2026 uh current percentage it's pending preconstruction phase delay due to rebid on cost and design. I'm sorry. A contractor is Helis and Engineer Half Associates. HVAC projects Bearsa Middle School and Waso High School engineer Trinity MEP. Contractor is pending BARSA. Official start date March 24. Execution of the engineering contract projected in date September 2026. 100% of the documents are complete. It's out to bids. It's in the bidding phase. Delay due to engineering design. It's a one-year behind schedule. Wico High School official start date March 24. Execution of engineering contract projected end date September 2027. We're roughly at 60% on construction documents and it's in the design phase and delay due to engineering design.

102It's one and a half years behind schedule. HVAC upgrades for Dr. Armando Quayer Middle School engineer E3 contractor carrier. Official start date January 2025. They received the notice to proceed to contractor. Projected end date September 2026. Percentage is 25% on construction. It's currently in the construction phase. Delayed due to contractor 11 months behind schedule. HVAC upgrades. Wesico East Central Middle School and Mary Hulk Middle School. This is a phase 2 project. Engineer DBR contractor is pending. Official start date March 2025. That's when the execution of the engineering contract was issued. Project projected end date is pending. Completed 100% of the construction documents. It's in the bidding process phase. We don't have any delays at this time. Districtwide HVAC controls. Engineer is E3. Contractor is automated logic. Um official start date March 2025. They received the

103notice to proceed. contractor projected end date March 2026 85% on construction it's on the construction phase and it's currently on schedule fire alarm muggrades Mario elementary school west east high school engineers ethos contractor visceral illumination Mario official start date January 2025 they received the notice to proceed the contractor projected end date that's complete uh it's it's constru 100% on construction Construction construction phase and none. Excuse me, I went down. Westico East January 2025 projected end date April 2026. We're 40% on the construction. It's in the construction phase. Delays due to scheduling after work hours due to school activities. Fire alarm system upgrades. Mario Elementary School and Central Middle School. This is a phase 2 project. Engineer is ethos contractor is pending for both of them. Official start date March 2025 execution of engineers contract it's

104pending we're 100% complete on the documents it's currently in the bidding phase we do not have any delays lighting upgrades Susan M. Peterson Performing Arts Center Engineer Sigma HN contractor Zitro Electric official start date notice to proceed on February 2025 to the contractor. It's complete 100% on construction. It's currently in the punch list phase. Delay due to material deliveries. Demolition of old gym at Central Middle School. Architect the Warren Group. Contractor RL Abatement, excuse me. Uh official start date August 2025. Contractor received the notice to proceed. Projected end date February 2026. It's currently at 15% on construction in the construction phase and the delay has been due to asbestos the excuse me asbestos abatement requirement. Baseball and softball field scoreboards. Wesico East High School and Wesico East High School. Engineer Rava Kissner. Contractor A1 Skylight

105Signs. Official start date for both of them August 2025. Notice to proceed to the contractor. Projected end date December 2025. It's currently 90% of construction in the construction phase. Delays uh were due to availability of materials. The new Pete Aberigo a facility project. The career technology education engineer Janak contractor is pending uh for both high schools. We have October 2024 execution of architect's contract ex projected completion date. We're hoping for uh December 2026 but we're looking at January 2027 where 100% of the construction documents completed. It's in the bidding process. We don't have any delays at this time. Kitchen remodeling project Kler Hill Elementary School. Rico Elementary School phase 2 architect ROA contractor is pending. Official start date. These are all pending. Uh delay has been to the architectural firm reorganization. There's some shift going

106on right now. Drainage improvement project Memorial Elementary School and CTA complex. This is a phase 2 project. engineer SWG contractor is pending official start date June 2025 projected end date June 2026 we're about 98% of the construction documents it's currently in the design phase and delay has been uh due to coordination with carrier the contractor uh on HVAC uh project at memorial so there's needs some coordination needs to take place there running track resurfacing west high school phase two start official start date June 25 the project end date has been completed 100% has been completed on the construction currently in the punch list phase the delay was due to contractor and ADA requirements and that is the last of the comprehensive bond projects uh on the status we have anyone has any questions >> that's

107an awful lot there >> it's an awful lot >> been busy >> so when I first saw this I understand where it says a percentage complete on construction but when you talk about construction documents what exactly does that refer to that you're not 100% on construction documents >> good evening members of the board Dr. So we have uh if we will we can break down uh a a typical project into two phases which is the design by either an engineer and architect and the construction phase and then in between you can add the bidding phase as well. >> Uh so for quite a few of these projects we're still in the design phase and that's where the construction documents come in. So they're designing the construction documents so they they they're trying to get them

108ready for us to go out to bid and then get into a contract with a contractor to start the construction. I noticed some of them have a uh you know the the the percent of completion on the construction documents is not very good and they started a while back. That's concerning because shouldn't they already have like moved on it with just the construction documents? What what is what is going on with them or why are we not putting more pressure or what's going on? >> We are we are uh constantly communicating with them and sending them emails. Unfortunately, you know, we don't get the response that we want. Uh and really it's it's on the on the engineer uh you know on the engineer side as far as their scheduling and what they're doing. >>

109Uh but [snorts] the expectation is that we should have these these documents a lot a lot faster and a lot sooner than than we anticipated. Yes. >> I know that we hear it from the community as board members. Well, it's taking a long time and of course things take time. But even me when I'm looking at this I'm saying yeah that this is taking a long time. For example, I just wrote it down. the A farm at October 2024 is when I guess we approved it and right now we're in November 2025, a year later and we're barely on the construction documents still. Is that correct? >> No. So the the construction documents are complete. >> Okay. 100% on the construction >> and that is is not I guess considering the the projects that we're

110doing right now that is not a typical project because it's a full construction project of an entire new facility. So the architect has to coordinate with all the disciplines civil engineering, structural engineering, electrical, MEP, mechanical and so forth. That takes so they did tell us ahead of time, you know, it's going to take us a good 8 to 10 months or so to design it alone >> because of all that coordination to take place. We we also had meetings with the city of Wesle for guidance to see what were the requirements if any if there's any anything that that the engineer or the architect had to incorporate into the design as well. >> Okay. So, it should be complete by next January. >> That is correct. >> January 26. >> January year. >> 27. 2027.

111>> 27. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> I know since I we got on the board in 2020, we've been after it's 5 years later, but I I get it. We're getting there. And the bond really helped out. Another question, and I know we all we had a meeting about this before. We talked about it about HVAC and and carrier. A lot of the projects are being delayed because of that issue. I don't know. We need to do something. I We talked about it. >> I sent the update. >> Did you? >> Those are projects. >> Okay. >> With carrier. Yes. >> With carrier. Yeah. I know that we were talking to the lawyer. You had said in the past workshop, but it's concerning to me that it's taking this long about a year and a

112half later and we're still struggling with this. So, yeah, let's just look into that. Again, last thing that I wrote down, Westico East, I know you said the vestibules and I I go there almost every day. The vestibules are are haven't been done because of the I guess you know events or kids coming in and out. And there was another project you mentioned that was the co-res because of after school. Are we coordinating well to just hey have the kids use something else temporarily like we got to get this done or c can we just coordinate? >> Yes. Yeah. We we've we've been working with the duck and ball on this and we we're very careful. >> That's the main entrance after the main entrance >> and it's very it's very hard to direct traffic

113>> and I know mother said you have the buses right and the kids park on on that entrance. So do you have a plan of what we're going to do there? communicating in the event that we do have to shut down the entire main entrance to have some alternate routes whether it's through the athletic area or through the north side of the east side of the building. So like right now it's been working fine. They did create a little tunnel where the kids can go under. So so far it's been working as >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. So the contractor we're working with contractor as well to again safety is the priority at the main entrance there. And so the contract making provisions to make sure it's safe and that they can continue working

114at a at a slower pace but still move forward. And then during the Thanksgiving, they're going to hit it pretty hard to try to make progress. >> All right. Thank you so much. Those are my questions. >> I did want to add aside from the meetings that uh Mr. Medico just asked that they're meeting with them on their weekly, we also schedule meetings with administration and Dr. Leetta uh with with the engineers. Anything that with delays or concerns, we schedule meetings with them and they we we follow up see where we're at. >> Yeah. And I picked up on a little pattern. I mean, I'm I'm not I don't know who these engineers architects are, but you can see the ones that are getting, you know, that are on time or getting things done, but

115you can you can see on the other side the ones that are a little delay. So, let's just keep that in mind for the future of the, you know, h how how how they work >> with timelines. That's really important. But, okay, thank you so much. >> Okay, Dr. >> I'm good, coach. Thank you for the update. Thank you, >> A lot of information. >> Now, let me get that right. 160 million was the bond and we've used 65 mil >> rough. That's a rough estimate right now. It's about roughly about 65 million with these projects that we just that are active right now. >> Okay. I mean, I'm sure maybe next in December when we meet again, I'm sure some of these questions may come up again or or we may have to revisit

116that if if need be because I know we're missing some board members. So maybe possibly if there's any other questions, we can revisit some of these. Not all of it, please. >> [laughter] >> No, no, it's all good information. But I also, like Jackie said, I look at start dates and I see 2024, uh, and here we are, 2025, and I see 60% or 40% complete on the documentation. And I'm like, you know, I kind of have the same feeling like, are we are we on them? Yes. >> Yes, >> I'm sure we are. >> And just lastly, I want to talk uh the drainage at Memorial. Is that the drainage that we've had trouble with since a few years back? >> Yes. So, it is a drainage in the playground area. Yes. And it's

117concerning because of the kiddos, you know, right? >> Uh especially when we have water that's in there. It's it doesn't flow out. It's just uh it just gets detained there until it >> I was I was there early in the year. I guess it was one of the schools that I visited when we were invited by Mr. Netto and I noticed there was a big old >> puddle of water out there. It was more than a puddle, but uh and I brought that up. So I I just is that this is it >> that that this is it. We're addressing that and we're taking >> So you're addressing that. >> Okay. And then the last thing I missed unless I missed it. I know you mentioned the demolition of the gym at at Central. Is

118there anything about the demolition at the swimming pool at West Co because that's been out there that's been a problem forever and ever. And I I know when I was there it has a lot of stagnant water. And even though we don't get rain, you know, we may not get rain for a few months, but the water the it just it just it's really bad. >> So I don't know >> on those coach, we do have several uh local non-bond projects that are currently in play as well. Uh the request for was for the bond. So we didn't prepare that, but we can provide a board update or a presentation in December if you like. >> Yeah, that came up a year ago and that's right. I remember now. It was a nonbond nonbond. >>

119That's correct. >> project. Okay, I [snorts and clears throat] got you. Okay. just maybe revisit and see where we're at on that cuz >> yes, >> spring sports are coming up. Tennis is go is ongoing throughout the year. Of course, the >> courts aren't ready so they won't be out there, but baseball will and and offseason football always uses that area. So, >> absolutely. >> Yes, coach. >> Thank you. just to add a little bit about your like just to keep people informed. I remember when we first went out for the bond and we we were asking people to come and comment and we had a couple of meetings preparing for the bond election and we had a couple of people here saying we want to know what you're doing with the money. We want

120to know the progress. I know it's hard to keep a live on the website a live like a Excel sheet or whatever something to to show the public but for example your presentation right here and it's the presentation of of this and Purdue and Miss Garcia the blue bonnet adoption all that that we get um on our board book that we we look at the PDFs. I would like to have this on [clears throat] the website on our board book so people can say you know what I want to know what phase are we at because sometimes I get the phone calls a couple of days later after the meeting and I'm like uh I forgot I don't know let me look at so the point of board book when I when I brought it

121to the board was let's give this information to the public where they can just click on it for the people who want to know instead of calling us and saying hey what about this what about that the information is there what about the bond how what phase when are you going to be done it's all online It should be online but right now I checked on my phone to see let me see if they have the presentations on board book and I don't see them as a link where people can say let me click on the presentation the PDF with all the presentation to see what they talked about because I missed the board meeting or I don't know the board members uh numbers so let me you know what I mean like can we

122have this >> this can be done >> yeah we can we have that on on board book >> we'll do it tomorrow >> yeah they're very informative >> presentations >> we'll do that >> that that will help a Um, I know some people do look at that and it would help just to even for us to go back and say, "Wait, what did we talk about?" So, that that would be really good. I appreciate that, Dr. >> Okay. And then um on on the the pool because you brought up a very good point there. Is that thing nonfunctional at all? >> It it it doesn't serve any purpose right now. >> No, >> but it collects water whenever we do get rains and there's water out there. Would would it be a would it be

123a problem just to fill it for the for the time being just so we don't have to worry about anything and the possible safety of somebody might be jumping in or whatever? >> That would be a full on project that we'd have to take on. Uh but yeah, >> let's discuss that tomorrow. >> It can be done. Yes. >> Ju just to have one less thing to worry about. >> Yeah. Yeah. It should be demolished. >> We're we'll do it. >> We'll do it. >> Okay. Well, thank you very much. Hey guys, stay on top of it. You know that. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Okay, good presentations, guys. >> Oh, very good. >> Very good. >> A lot of work put into it right now. Thank you. >> Item 10, consent

124agenda or consent items. Um, [snorts] do we need time to go through these or do you pretty much have anything that you want to >> Okay, Jackie, do you want to pull anything? >> No. No. >> Okay. Dr. No sir. >> Coa. >> No sir. >> None. With that said, uh let's take it to a vote. >> I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda >> and a second by >> myself >> by Dr. Rodriguez. And do we have any discussion? >> Okay. Let's take it to a vote. All those that approve say I. >> I. >> Any opposition? Nay. >> No. >> Just a question. I did have a question, but but I'm not I'm not I'm not not approving it. Motion passes. >> Okay. >> My only question

125I didn't want to pull it, but it's just a question on one of the items which was something for CTE to approve a I where is it? I something. It's some curriculum for CTE approval to purchase the renewal of online instructional resource for career and technical education. I did open it and I saw bundle for 25 kids. Is it a bundle just for 25 kids or it's for the whole all of them? Okay. I was when I saw that and I saw the price, I said 25 kids only, but maybe it was just not that's not what it meant. It's a 25 bundle. >> So, >> yeah, you can come up here since you're >> Okay, >> members, Dr. So um ICVE is the equivalent of what um TIK's resource system is to the core

126content area. Okay. It's going to be a platform online that addresses a number of programs of study. So it provides curriculum for them. Uh it's very thorough and it has lesson plans, vocabulary, um hands-on activities. So it does all the stuff that you would see [clears throat] on TE's resource system for math, science, social studies, reading. Um, but it is one of a number of of uh vendors. The difference about it though is that it encompasses so many different programs of study. So, we've we've looked at others, but the reason why this is being brought before you is because we want to um provide an assessment piece that was not on there before that will help teachers to get on the teacher instead of aotment. So this is going to provide that piece for them

127because if you will imagine 30 plus programs of study, it's nearly impossible to have the expertise to create the welding assessments, the health science assessments, the photography assessments, the architecture assessments. So this is going to provide one location for them and an option for them uh you know when it comes to the to the curriculum aspect of it but the assessments was a really critical component in us moving forward with getting the CTE instructors um on TIA. >> So we'll use this for measurement uh for the teachers for for TIA. >> Yes. And they're very very uh eager to get their hands on it. >> Awesome. Okay. That's good news. Well, thank you so much. That was my question. I saw 25 kids. I was wait a minute, but no, it's for all the kids.

128>> Yes. Okay. >> Thank you. >> We now will go to um >> we vote. Yeah, we voted. >> Yes, we >> we voted. Uh it was just a question after >> and it passed everyone. >> Okay. The um discussion items. Item 11, um, update on trainings, conference, events, and consider future agenda item request by the board of trustees. Dr. Yeta. >> Yes, there are two items. There's a level three on Wednesday, December the 3. I think Miss Yet has uh sent you emails and texts. And then number two, there's a Christmas social. Christmas already right around the corner on December the 17th in the boardroom. >> Okay. >> December 3rd and December 17th. >> Thank you, Dr. >> Item 12, discussion and possible action items. 12A 1 discussion and possible action for the board

129of trustees to cast 56 votes in the election for the appraisal district board of directors of the Ilago County Appraisal District HCA for election 26 2026 2029 and approval of resolution for the cast votes. Dr. Yes. >> The board has 56 votes. >> 56 >> and there's four individuals. Richard Garcia, George Martinez, David Moreno, and Joel Ivaris. So, you can cast them any way you want to. >> Do we have to do like together as a group or one by one? >> A motion. >> Okay, I'll make a motions because we've just always gone with them from Westico to for Mr. Joe Olivarez. for all. >> We have a motion by for Mr. Joe. And >> do we have a second? >> Second. >> A second by Dr. Hime Rodriguez. >> Do we have any

130discussion on this? >> Let's vote on it. >> All approved say I. >> I. >> And we have no opposition. So motion carries. Mr. Olivitis will be our representative. We now go to item 12B. One, discussing and possible action for the board of trustees to consider approval of a procurement method of construction for the facility improvements of the fine arts programs bond phase 3 project at Batre Gasa Middle School and Marho Middle School as follows. One, approval of the competitive seal bid proposal CSP method of construction for the projects and two approval of the criteria and points to be used for ranking the proposals. Dr. Ra >> on your backup you have on one you have the competitive seal proposal and also you have the criteria to approve the criteria and points. Any discussion? Mr.

131America is here. If you have any questions for him on on one one and two, >> again, we recommend competitive seals. >> I'll move to I'll move to approve. >> Okay, we have a motion to approve u >> the competitive sealed bid proposals me for for the method >> and criteria >> and >> accept. >> Yes. And then accept the criteria uh and points to be used for the ranking. [cough and clears throat] >> I'll second. Okay, we have a an motion by Dr. Rodriguez and a second by Missa on the recommendation. Do we have any discussion? [clears throat] >> Is there going to be similar projects for the other two middle schools? >> This one's for Be Garza and Mary. >> I'm sorry, >> Dr. Can you repeat the question? >> Is there going

132to be similar projects for the other two middle schools? >> Yes. All right. So, we're starting with these two that are the the that have been identified having the most need. >> Okay. >> And and then we'll move on to the >> it's part of the bond eviction. >> But is this part like the uh the dance studios? >> Yes. >> Is this part of that project? >> It's going to be expansion and or whatever the the need is for the fine arts programs at the moment. >> And Mr. Fernandez has been involved in our discussions. Okay. So, he's in agreement. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Do we have any further discussion? If not, take it to a vote. Those that approve say I. >> I. I. I >> Okay, motion carries and we now

133go to item 12 B2 discussing the possible action for the board of trustees to approve to hire a firm to provide architectural services for the facility improvements for the fine arts programs bond phase three project at beatatrici middle school and Maryho middle school and to authorize the administration to negotiate and approve the contract that's >> yes the ones with the most experienced with this kind of work. You see in your backup you got Janak Droa and Ero on on the backup you also have the list that the board approved and then the projects they've done. So just just based on the work that's been done in the district, the ones that can do this kind of work, architects, you got Janak, Droa, and ERO. Staff and I are recommending ERO. >> Move to approve. >>

134Okay, we have a motion to approve the ERO. Dr. Rodriguez, >> I'll second >> and a second by Mrs. Spike. Any discussion? >> If not, let's take it to a vote. Those that approve say I. >> I. None opposed. Motion carried. Thank you. Item 13, close meeting pursuant to the Texas Government Code section 85. No, section 551.071 and 551.074. 13A. Personnel matters Texas Government Code 551.074. 13A1. Discussion regarding superintendent's recommendation of contracts for certified professional, noncertified professionals and non-contractual personnel. 13 A2 discussion regarding resignations, retirements of certified professional, non-certified professional and contractual personnel. 13B consultation with attorney regarding 13B1 pending or contemplated litigation. 13B2 settlement offer or 13B3 matter in which the duty of the attorney of the West Independent School District under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of

135Texas clearly conflicts with chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code, Texas Government Code 551.071 and 13B4 discussion and consideration regarding cause 24-2115J [clears throat] Megan Rios versus Weston Parent School District in the county courted law number 10 of the county Texas. The time now is 7:46 and we will now go into close session. The time now is 8:28 and we have reconvened an open meeting. Item 14A, possible action if necessary on the item discussed in close meeting. 14B, discussing possible action regarding the superintendent's recommendation of contracts for certified professional, noncertified professional and non-contractual professional. Dr. Eva >> recommend we have a motion by Mr. and a second by Dr. Rodriguez. Any discussion? >> Take it to a vote. All those that approve say I >> I. >> Those that oppose. >> None. Motion carries. [snorts]

136Item 14C. Discussing a possible action regarding the resignations retirements of certified professional, non-certified professional, and non-contractual professional. Dr. >> recommend approve. >> I'll make a motion to approve. Okay. >> Motion to approve by Maita and a second by Dr. Rodriguez. Any discussion? Okay. Make a motion to approve. All those that approve say I. I. >> Okay. Those opposed? None. Motion carries. >> 14D. Discussion, consideration, and possible action regarding cause number CL-24-2115-J Morgan Rios versus West School District in the county court of law number 10 of County, Texas. Dr. >> Uh, no action as discussed in close session. >> Okay. We don't have any action on that. So we now go to item 15 adjournment. >> So move. >> Okay. The time now is 8:30 and this meeting is over. >> Sure.