001Keep coming in, guys. Come on. >> Boys, high school basketball. Y'all come stand. There y'all go. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Microphone. Right. It is 6 pm March 9th. Tonight is a regular meeting of the board of trustees of Brackd. We could have a quorum established. Everyone will please rise for a moment of silence. 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. comments. >> No public comments. Moving on to item number three, recognitions. Lucas. >> Awesome. Well, it's so neat to have such a full house. This is the best way to start our meetings when we get to recognize our students. I'm going to go ahead and ask Mr. Miller to join
002me up here. And we will start by recognizing our elementary students for this month. So, we will start first um with a student that was selected to be recognized by Mrs. Robinson. Um, Evie Rice. Evie shows up to school with a smile and a good attitude. Evie always puts in her best effort and it shows in her work. She is kind to others and always follows our classroom and school expectations. She is an outstanding all-around student. >> Under the weather. Okay. So, then we have a a student to be recognized from Mrs. Leech's class. Solomon Bellamantes. Come on up. >> [applause] >> Solomon, tonight we would like to recognize you for your consistent efforts, willingness to help others, and strong commitment to always doing your best. He always completes his work and ensures he meets
003expected standards. Solomon demonstrates responsibility, kindness, and a positive attitude toward learning, making him a wonderful role model. [applause] Everybody wants to um we have some students we have some students from Mr. Gomez's class that we would also like to recognize tonight. Um first we would like to recognize Alice Montalvo. So Alice, come on up. [applause] and and Alice. Alice might come with Aaron. So, let's see if Alice will join Aaron because Aaron is also coming up. Will you come up with Aaron? Come on up, Aaron. Aaron, come on up. [applause] >> [applause] >> Aaron is being recognized for his positive attitude and willingness to do his very best at everything. He is inspiring. He's always willing to lend a helping hand and it is evident that he enjoys being part of our team. He's also
004a very good dancer. [applause] [cheering] High five. High five. There you go. So >> Alice is being a little shy today and that's okay. But we want to tell you a little bit about Alice. Alice has tremendous academic and has made tremendous academic and functional progress to her towards her goals. She clearly exceeds academic expectations in her grade level for English language arts and reading. So Alice, we're very proud of you. [applause] >> [applause] >> And we have one more student who is being recognized by Miss Christine Gomez. So Brixton Simmons [applause] is being recognized for his curiosity, his kindness, and his love of learning. He constantly asks thoughtful, in-depth questions and shows how he thinks about the world. Rickson is a caring classmate who is always willing to help his friends who may be
005struggling with work or they just need a shoulder to lean on. He's also able to read already and enjoys doing so with his friends. [applause] Give me this hand. Good job. Okay, now all these people want to shake your hand because you're so awesome. Black shirt. Good job. >> Yes. Can I have my elementary student come back up for a group picture? >> Come on, Aaron. >> Maybe come with us. >> Okay. Thank you. >> One, two, three. >> All right. >> Awesome. Thank you. [applause] >> All right. So, next up, we've got our high school kids. I'll ask Mr. Himemenz and Coach Jagger to join me up here. Come on up. >> All right. So, we're going to start with boys basketball, right? And some of these are returning familiar faces. Probably a lot
006of them are. So, um, we have first our district MVP and academic all district, JORDAN BETTAS. [applause] NEXT UP, FIRST team all district, Troy Sandal. [applause] >> First all district, TRENT STANDALL. [applause] SECOND TEAM all district AEL [applause] second team all district and academic all district Cameron Creole. [applause] Honorable mention, Ivan Gonzalez, [applause] academic all district. Tucker Ellen, [applause] good job. and academic all district Eric Himenez. [applause] >> All right, boys. Come back up and we'll get a group picture in. Y. Good job, guys. [applause] >> So, Coach, we also want to recognize you for the outstanding job that you did WITH THE BOYS. >> [applause] >> OKAY, NEXT UP WE'RE GOING TO HAVE OUR GIRLS AWARD. SO, our girls had a great season as well. They made it to the first round of playoffs,
007which was very exciting. Um, is is Coach Deion here? I thought I saw her. >> Oh, there you are. Abby, come on up. Coach Whiffy, sorry I didn't call you up here. >> Just missed it. All right. So, um, our girls awards, uh, we have newcomer, newcomer of the year, Amber Tashian. [applause] First team, all district, Marley Flores. [applause] Good job, Marley. Good job. >> First team, AUGUST, LEILA JOHNSON. >> [applause] >> SECOND TEAM ALL DISTRICT. Nolani Morris. Second team all district and all academic. Garina Salaza. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> Um, second team all district, Aliana Valdez. [applause] Honorable mention, MIRANDA. Honorable mention, Anna Mesa. [applause] All academic Hannah AYOLA and all academic Marley Jimenez [applause] >> picture. Okay, everybody back up here for a picture. They have softball practice immediately after this. So,
008they're soft. We're going to do Yeah, some of them might have to kind of Okay. >> And then [laughter] squish down. Squish down just a little bit. There we go. >> Good job, girls. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> And we have a student at elementary who has arrived. I believe it's from Miss Robinson's class. Is that correct? >> That's right. >> All right. So, we have uh tonight we'd like to recognize from Miss Robinson's class. Evie Rice. So, come on up, Evie. [applause] Evie shows up to school with a smile and a good attitude. She puts your best effort and shows her work. She's kind to others and follows our classroom and school expectations. An allaround outstanding student. Everybody wants to take >> Mr. Let's get one with Let's get one with so we can post
009it. We're going to take a group picture. There we go. >> There you go. Awesome. >> Good job. Thank you everybody. >> You don't have to go. All right, moving on to item number four. It's an agenda. >> We do have one donation. Um the donation was from Miss Lisa Connley and she donated just different assorted furniture to help with the um set for when play. >> Yes, she was fantastic. >> There any discussion on the consent agenda? Do I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> That makes a motion. No seconds. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. All those in favor? 5.8. >> I say extension. >> Moving on to item number five. Items. >> Mr. The 5A is just an update on the vestibial safety project. Um it had
010gotten really behind after it was approved um due to lack of materials that were coming in. And what happened was we were pending for them to start. And so we had kind of set up the the office of where it was going to be and and kind of what we wanted it to to look like. And in doing so, um and talking to Mr. Himemenz and Mr. S, they really don't need two walls. If we move it over, we can do just one wall and it'll be a little bit more efficient. It helps keeps the kids inside instead of having to go around. So, what I presented to the board today is just what the change order look like and then what the new drawings look like. Um, Mr. Solis was in contact with someone
011today and we have a tenative start date now for March 13th, so over spring break. So, hopefully we'll get that done um pretty quickly. >> Time, right? I was just going to say I know we have to put a fence up there too in front of the parking >> we did. >> That's not going to get away right the construction. >> No, I don't think so. Um cuz it's going to be more off of and um on the I hope >> I hope. But yes, um we also we have the fence up there and then we've got the fence up at the back of the elementary. So >> um slowly but surely we're we're meeting all the requirements for our vulnerability assessment. Is there a change to whenever you have a change request, there's some
012more than likely changes to cost? >> It actually if anything is going to go down a little bit because we went from two walls to one wall. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, we're waiting for the final contract >> since material saving. >> Yes. And this is being funded through the safety and security grant. 5 B >> 5B is our fourth six weeks attendance. Um, and like I said, I I do I did include the 24 25. So, you can see kind of whether we go up or down, and it's where we went up in one grade level, we went down in another grade level. It's just kind of up and down all over the place. And um but there was a little bit of a of a drop from where we were last year at
013this time to this year. Um last year at this time our attendance was at uh 93.0 and this year we're at 92.6. So I know both principles continue to work with um different incentives you know for attendance. And at the secondary we're also looking unfortunately now like it being a little more punitive. Um, so if our juniors and seniors aren't showing up to school, then they lose that eligibility to leave for campus. But one of the things I did notice when I was looking at the senior um attendance is that one student dropped them from 92% or sorry from 95% to 92%. So if you look at the senior class, they were at 90.71. That's that was three students, I believe. you know, three to four students. So, it's just it's we're we have our
014classes are such small numbers that one or two kids absent drops the percentage pretty significantly. But that's where we are in attendance for the first six weeks [clears throat] and 5C is the department reports. I do have my directors here if there's any questions regarding their reports. I just got one question um on the DOI and accountability. I see here that to it's the second to the last budgeting process begin software instructional materials for 26 27. One of the things that was discussed at the recent conference we went to was really focused on instructional material and really evaluating what how many different instructional materials we're using and could be potentially costly. But I do from the sounds of it it's almost as if the state is really pushing for blue. >> Yes. >> So it's
015not blue on it has to be something they're really pushing something off their what they call their HQIM list. Um, so it has so what we purchase is off that HQIM list because that also allows us to use what we call EMAC funds. Um, so we can use state funds um to purchase those materials >> and they are the they are they have recommended this on the HP but one of the biggest pushes is the instructional. So, I was just curious how many different um software materials are out there that we're um currently utilizing. >> We have we have a master list. So, if you'd like, I can put it on forformational and share the master list with you. >> I can recall that you guys have already been auditing for underutilized software. So, >>
016correct. >> Sounds like we're kind of a little bit ahead of the game on that. So I would say about three um years ago is when we we kind of had everybody using different things and we really cleaned that up and we were like okay we're not going to do that. So what is it that we use for K through five math and everybody had to come together and decide what are we going to use for 6 through 12 math? What are we going to use? So, we've really cleaned up um the number of programs because we were I mean I'm sure Miss Preston, you know, we it would have been pages and pages and now I think we've got it all down to maybe one page, you know. But we'll definitely put it on
017the agenda as anformational item and bring you the um the list. And that grant that we got, sorry, um the lift, it can only be used for um blue bonnet or blue bonnet like sponsored. Carnegie is is a blue bonnet sponsored curriculum >> and that covers the training for those that are utilizing them. Correct. It covers your leadership, your teachers materials and they do help ch And so so that was done this year with Mr. at the secondary. So he had somebody that would come and watch the teachers, coach the teachers, provide feedback to the teachers and then come back and meet with Mr. Jimenez and and talk about how he could best support his teachers and what feedback and what to be looking for. So he did that. >> We're still doing it. [clears
018throat] We had the last visit last week. >> I was just looking at the maintenance tickets to see We've got bats in the ceiling. >> We do. >> What kind of what kind of manifestation are you talking about? >> Is that the one? >> Yeah. So, I'm like that's that's been an ongoing um issue. >> Um and the thing is we were just looking up. There's very little we can do to it. They're they're particular. >> Yeah. As you say, it's that's a mind thing. >> Yeah. And so, um, what we've done in the past is had to work with the, um, effects of having fast. So, we've dealt with done things because of the smell and the droppings and, you know, that type of thing. But, um, it's it's a it's a tough one.
019>> Yeah. What people would imagine sensible solutions are actually not >> correct. >> We were just talking about that before the meeting, Mr. Solis and I just all the things you can't Anybody else on the scene? Moving on to item six. Action items 6A. >> So 6A, this is an exciting time for um Bracket ISD. So the 2526 school year, we partnered with Cander to help us kick off our team incentive aotment. Um so the teacher incentive aotment elevates the education profession by providing districts with systems and funding to recruit new teachers, retain their our best teachers and incentivize teachers to do the work that needs to be done. So it really is um a system that's been designated to provide funding for outstanding Texas teachers um to improve student outcomes. So, we partnered with
020Cander uh for expert guidance and really what I was looking for was a turnkey service. Being such a small district and having to meet all the requirements that goes into the application, um I knew was going to be a monumental task. And so, we have had a a a great experience with Caner. Um Cali is here tonight to present to you our plan to be submitted to TEA. um they've been able to streamline every step so that the district focuses on empowering educators and student success. So they're all all yours. So my name is Cali Konik. Like she said I work with Kinder Consulting prior to this. I was a curriculum director as well for several years and one of my many duties was being over TIA. So I remember being on this side of
021the desk and working through that and what it's like to make all these decisions. Um, I had the opportunity to begin working for Cander and it's really been a blessing to go into districts and help lighten the load for them as they want to come into TIA because like she said, there are certain things that you're allowed to do, there's certain things you can and then there's a greater in the middle of where can it benefit you versus what might not be a smart decision. Um, it's really been a wonderful experience working with y'all's team. you'll have some great admin administrators and the teachers that were chosen to be on the stakeholder committee really participated. They listened. They asked the right questions instead of just sitting there and waiting for the time to end. And
022so I really enjoyed coming and getting to know y'all's team. Um I know this was in your board packet, but I like to go through the few slides. It's the highlights of our plan. Um this is what is in our application just at the high level. And then we will look more specific at the spending plan which is what is the actual voting item. So on this here this shows what the timeline is like for TIA. We are in at the end of year one. And so this is called application year. So we go through meeting with the stakeholder group looking through all the choices of who's going to be eligible, how can we designate them and just all the decisions that have to go in the plan. that is to be submitted April 15th.
023At the end of May, maybe the beginning of June, we will find out from TEA if the plan was accepted and that will allow us to move into year two. So next year will be called data capture year. And that's a year that we're looking at the teachers growth with their students and what their t test performance is from the administrators. And so those are really our main two pieces. at the end of data capture. Uh so at the end of next May, we will take all that data together. I'll help build the file and we will submit that data which kind of bleeds into year three called our designation year. So at the end of year three is when they will get payout. And so it's kind of the long game. You know, right
024now we're trying to get it going, write the application, get a send data captured, and then once we get there, it starts going a little bit faster for the teachers. And so our goal this year in talking with the stakeholder committee is how many can we get eligible in our first round but still do it well but we don't want to hold up too many because it does take a full two years once you start your student growth to get to the end of that payout cycle. And so I feel like we found a happy medium of getting as many that have an appropriate growth measure but not too many to where it was going to overload the system and not meet data validation. Um so at the end of year three uh so 2028
025we're looking at August of 2028 is when our teachers will get their first payout. Um and then after that it's just very cyclical. Every year you have another data capture and then you have another designation year and it just keeps rolling um bringing new teachers in continuing to grow them continuing to focus on instruction and we just keep hopefully putting forth our best to retain them instead of them going to another profession. Um, I kind of got a little ahead of myself, but these are the main three pieces. We've talked about the test, the teacher observation, and then the student growth. And so when we talk about the plan, you have to determine which one's going to wait more or are they going to be weighted equally because as you develop the point system, that
026will matter how it comes together. Um, and then the spending plan is where the formal uh finance piece comes in of where like the taxes and the deduction. The TRS side is going to come from and that's what we'll look more in depth at. So when you're looking at how much will the teachers get, it varies per district. So if you talk to a district near you, it's not going to be these exact amounts. Next year it won't even be the exact same amounts because it depends on the SCES number. So if you have more low uh socioeconomic families or more that value will vary. Uh it is also dependent per campus. So if you think of like prek uh low SCES as a qualifier, your elementary campus is going to have a higher aotment
027than maybe your secondary campus. So what's shown on the screen is your average. And once a teacher earns a designation, they keep that allotment or will receive that aotment five times. So for five years in a row, they can move up a level and then they'll get that for five years again. And so it's a very big incentive to stay in the teaching profession and that's what it's allotted for. So right now, um, if you're an administrator, you can't earn it. If you're an instructional coach or a director, you can't earn it. It is specifically at our teachers to keep them where their gift is in front of kids. Um, the lowest level, that's an orange. The reason why there's a range on that one is it's new. So, prior to now, there's only been
028three levels, recognized, exemplary, and master. And so, the state has now gone in, and we've known that this was coming, but uh this will be the first year teachers can be designated for it. And so, in October, teachers will be submitted for it for the first time in next April, we will actually get that finalized value for bracket. Um, we know it will be within that range. It will probably be around the 5,000 mark, but I don't know how high or how low. Um, but it's exciting that they're bringing another level because that allows even more to be eligible and receive it. And so the differences between those levels depends on, okay, how high or low is your t test and then how high or how low is your student growth. and it would determine,
029you know, are they a chemistry teacher, are they a pre-K teacher, are they a star tested subject? And so at the next screen, we'll show that in a moment, but you can see going across there, it just grows up from the 3.5 is the lowest level that is eligible off of their T test and that matches up with the 50% on the student growth. And then the high end, you have the 4.5 for the master and 70% student growth. And so when we're talking instructionally, it's still the same conversation that your principles are already having is how do we grow our kids? That's what we want the focus to stay and remain on, not be something different just because we're doing TIA. And so that's always been my heart is we want to do what's
030best for kids, keep that the main focus and keep growing them. And if we're doing writing in the classroom, this is just going to be a byproduct and we'll be designated that way. Um the next slide, I know it's small, but you can put it on your screen. Um, these are all of our teachers that will be eligible. And so the left is your category. What do they teach? Everybody's waiting is the same. And you may say, "Well, then why did you include it in there?" Um, it doesn't have to be the same. You might talk to other people that are in other districts and they may choose elementary to be different than secondary. We felt it was better um, culturally if everybody stayed on the same. We didn't want more people to feel like,
031well, it'd be easier if I went down to that grade level. So everybody's 50/50. Uh both measures we felt needed to be the same. And then the far right column is how are we determining student growth. So they've got a BOI which stands for beginning of year their data point and EOI will be end of year data point. And so some of them are from STAR testing but then we also have other teachers that aren't STAR and we didn't want them to not be eligible just because of that. I mean, they're still a critical piece to our kids learning. And so, you'll see like I Ready is on there, Circle is on there for our preK teachers. AL Summit K12, and then ICV for some of our elective areas for high school. Um, so all
032of those are assessments that will give us a percentage. And so that's what we're looking at, the percentage to percentage. Do they meet their own growth goal for each individual kid? And so if I have 20 kids that I teach, how many of my 20 met that goal? And then that would be the percentage that's submitted for the teacher in the data file. So this is a little screenshot, but I know we're going to pull up the other file um and we'll look at the spending plan more in depth. And this is where we will kind of go paragraph by paragraph and talk about what's in it because this is what will be on the voting item. Uh and if you want to go ahead, you come out of the presentation. Some of the language
033that is in this uh document is statutory language. And then I will tell you like where we made a choice of how to apply it. Sorry. Fix that issue. Okay. So the first part there is talking about the distri distribution of the money. The state requires that at least 90% of it goes to studentf facing instruction and so that's what we maintained it. So those two first paragraphs are almost identical. One is stating the statute and the other is what did we decide to do? Uh some districts may say, "Okay, 80% will go to the teacher and then 10% maybe split up amongst everybody on the campus." There's pros and cons to all types of ways to do this. We chose to stick with the 9010. That is the most common model and it's rewarding
034the teacher who did the work with the kids instead of taking part of the money that you earned and it's going to go to everybody else. So we stuck with the 9010. Uh the 10% that is retained is to keep the system going. um do we need to buy a different growth model or an assessment so that somebody else can be eligible or is there some more training that we can come in to help our instruction grow? Anything that can be tied to student instruction can be paid for out of that 10%. Uh the second portion there, the aotment payout timeline. So each February the district is notified by TA if the data met validation. And [snorts] so in October prior to that um is when the file would have been submitted. Texas Tech actually
035runs the data for TEA. And so then in February and it's like waiting for Christmas but on the bad side of it. You know you're just waiting to see is this email going to say if we're validated or not. Um they run a skew check. And so there's 13 different checks that they run and they're looking at your correlation values. You're looking to see did you designate teachers systematically or is one campus designating on that one rate and the other campus is the exact opposite. They're really looking at the equality of your system and do you have good processes in place. So we really try to tell the teachers just because our plan gets accepted in May doesn't mean we are getting our payout yet in August of 2028. We have to meet that data
036validation of that year. if we're doing things right and we're doing our own skew checks along the way, then we know what those correlation values are going to be. And so that's part of what I'll help the administration do is we just watch our data along the way. And if we're veering it off or if we're say doing t tests too high or we're doing t test too low or our student growth isn't matching with what we're seeing, then we correct that before it's a problem. Um, but that's what it's about on the payout timeline is that we wait until February to find out if the money is coming and then we start conversations with teachers. Okay, we've met approval. Uh we have some business office side to do between April and May uh inside
037of Teal. And then once that happens, we'll notify the teachers again because it's just a clear communication the whole way through. Tell them where are we at? What's the next step? Uh BISD will provide TA compensation to designated teachers through a lump sum. So that means they're going to get it all in one amount. It's that's a choice. It could be broken up into 12 payments and then monthly. [clears throat] It could be broken up into three or two. Um, again, pros and cons to every way. Um, the more that you break it up, it loses its impact of being an incentive amount. And then also, it's a little bit more on the payroll side. It's harder to keep tracking those funds. The more times you run it through, you have taxes removed. Um, so
038it's much cleaner and the teacher response to it is a lot stronger when they're in the check for, you know, say $9,000 versus they only got maybe $840 12 times. So, um, >> Kelly, I just want to interrupt super quick. So, you mentioned at the very beginning about the stakeholder group. Okay, so this information that came from the stakeholder group. So, there was a group of about 15 staff members and it included both elementary and secondary teachers, star teachers and non-star teachers. Um, we had CTE teacher, we had a special ed teacher. So, I think as she's going through this, I want I just want to remind them that a lot of the feedback came from the from them and how they wanted to see this program built for for our school district. >> And
039one of the conversations that we had was the when when do you want to get paid out? Are we going to pay out in May? So, we really don't want to pay out prior to April because the business office we're still doing stuff finalizing that through early May. And so then it's like we're going to do at the end of the school year and kind of do a reward to send off in the summer. Um and so through talking and the pros and cons of all the different ways we chose the second Monday of August. So the reason it's written that way is because it will be during inservice when the teachers are back. So again thinking of retention. >> No, I just wanted to reiterate the stakeholders. Um there's a component that talks about
040eligibility for TA compensation of when they have to be employed with the district. So this is kind of like a trigger mechanism with TEA of where they get picked up. So your team's uh personnel for the district, they do what's called a class roster winner submission every February. And so when that is turned into the state, if a teacher is yours at that time, that's what will pick them up. So if they come to you and you know after spring break they will not earn money here because they came too late. And so that day is very important and we try to really stress to teachers wherever you are on that Friday in February is the amount that's going to be allotted to you. So say you started the year I don't know in third
041grade and you got moved up to seventh grade. Okay now you're going to be on different campuses. So that's going to trigger a different value. At least 50% of their time has to be spent directly working with students. So again, it's really rewarding the student facing teachers and then they have to meet or will meet by the end of your credible year of service. So again, that's a PES requirement. That language is in there [snorts] because you need that language to stand on. Should somebody not qualify, you it's in their le to say this is why you didn't qualify. So I know it's not really fun stuff to read over, but we we need to keep that in there. Uh the next several bullets I'm not going to read everyone line by line, but it's
042talking about the movement of the teachers of when somebody resigns or when somebody retires or um when they move into the state or excuse me if they move into your district if they would get their money or not. And so again, think about retaining teachers and rewarding the right people. Um say you have a teacher leave you in April but they earned a designation. You don't want to be giving them a check because you still have a month left of school and kids instruct. Now you have a poll for an instructor. So again, all of these bullets, I think it goes down to the top of the second page. Um, yeah, there's quite a few where conversations had with a stakeholder of do you think this would be fair if a person left at this
043date and got their money or if a person left at this date, then how would we handle it? Um, we tried to align our practices with the contract cut off date, like when people are allowed to still be out of their contract. That was the date that we decided on. If people left prior to that, could they get it versus if they left after that contract cut off date. Um, so again, just the language on there and then the allotment amount that's linked in there for because this document will be on our TIA website that will be on their staff page and so it's a live link where it'll go back to TEAS and you can put the district and so that will stay live every time that it updates because remember annually that amount
044will change. Um, and then all of this incentive pay that goes to the teachers is eligible for TRS, which is good because then if you help to retain your teachers that are on the upper end thinking about retiring, but they're amazing at their job. This incentivizes them to hopefully stay for more years because it will up their last uh their top five years and it's a substantial amount of how it can impact their TRS. Um on the back side um we went through a lot of conversations of where uh your employer benefits and employee benefits will come out of and it was always kept in mind with how can we sustain the system and so all of the deductions and uh benefits and tax costs will come out of the 90%. So, if you want
045to scroll down just a little bit. I don't know if that whole if the finance part will show in one screen. >> It almost does. Yeah, it's a little too big. That's okay. So, if it starts out around $13,000, 10% is going to come off the top and that's going to say for the district to maintain the system. And then from there, the 11,725 is what's going to be entered in the payroll system to go to the employee. So y'all know as well as I do, we have our regular deductions that come out on our paya. That's what triggers that amount. And so it just hasn't listed out through the employee because what I find hurts TIA the most is when teachers aren't told this up front and they see that 13,000 up there at
046the top and they think they're going to get 13,000. But with good communication and they understand you're still going to have deductions. You're still going to be paying into TRS and unfortunately it's a lot. Um, which is good and bad. I mean, you'd rather have your money, but also knowing you're paying into TRS is good, but just helping them understand ahead of time, you're going to be getting around $7,900, not already a allotting in your mind how you're going to spend $13,000, but still $7,900 is more than you would be getting otherwise. And so, it's just keeping that clear communication up front. um if it's done really in any other way, it ends up costing the district out of the fund balance because the the benefits and the fees are more than the 10% that
047you're allowed to retain. >> And so we don't want this to be something that is a burden on the district, but rather it's an incentive for the teachers. And so that's why it's so important that we don't want people to be upset about all the deductions coming out, but rather that's the only way to make it keep happening and to be a positive thing for both the district and the teacher that is designated. At the bottom underneath there's an asterisk and it's explaining statutory minimum contribution. That is not a typical deduction that most people are aware of. It's a payroll fee that you pay after the fact and it's when you pay your teachers above the state minimum which nearly every district does. Then you add this TIA incentive on top of it and you're
048paying quite a bit more above and the state has already matched what they're going to match and now there's an additional 8 and a4% that is being taxed on this. So if you don't add that into it, it's just going to get lumped into your regular uh payroll fees that you would pay that August. And so it's just really denoting why an employee is now seeing this when typically the state just matches it on their behalf. Excuse me, the district matches it on their behalf for anything that's above the state limit. Uh so that is a little different, but again it's all to keep the system going and to make sure that you're not going to end up paying thousands of dollars later for a tax payroll fee that you shouldn't be. um little bit
049of language in there about retirement. And this is all on TRS's side. They want you to at least pay in three of your last five years at this level or they cap you at the $10,000 or the 10% because they don't want somebody to jump up $20,000 and then all of a sudden their TRS is at that amount. And so it's just helping teachers understand if you are going to retire, at least stay three of your five years that you've earned that designation so you don't get penalized. and you don't get to carry that full amount. Uh TIA will still tell teachers that are getting close to retirement to reach out to TRS directly. They don't want the district advising them on what their individual uh retirement would be and that aligns with what the
050practice already is. You know, they have to make appointments with TRS to go down. So, we [clears throat] just stay aligned with that. Uh but just tell them they'll be knowledgeable when they're going to make a choice to retire. How could this impact you or how could it help you to maybe save two more years? Uh the last few conversation points is just talking to teachers of how the designation process works, how they have to be coded as a teacher. Um so say you have a teacher that's amazing and they want to be promoted to an AP. Maybe they're going to one day have a split AP between the two campuses. they need to be fully knowledgeable that when they make that decision, they would no longer be an 087, which is the code for
051a teacher. And so, it's just really spelling out every piece of it, what allows them to be eligible. They've got to stay in the district for the two consecutive years, the data capture year and the designation year in order to receive this. So, we don't want somebody to leave in the middle and it breaks that cycle and they've got to start over elsewhere. Um there I'm looking at the second to last bullet on there. It says teachers receive email communication from TEA in May of the designation year outlining the status and their amount. And that email is very misleading because Commissioner Morath sends it and when he sends the email it states their 100% allotment. It doesn't have any of the taxes taken out. It doesn't have the district 10% taken out. So we just
052tried to communicate with teachers ahead of time. this is coming, but please understand that's not what your check will be. Um, a lot of districts just say, can you please just not send them an email or don't send any money amount and it just congratulate them. But that's not how um and then again just stating that the final check will vary depending on how uh their W4 is set up, whether the deductions you take. Um, but we will show teachers that finance example so they understand the process of it. And then the last piece is that we have presented it to you. Um if you have any questions, I definitely welcome them. Uh we will be doing a teacher training during the inservice of going through this whole process, making sure everybody understands how they
053fit in. Um if they're not eligible yet, what's the plan for that? Because we're already talking about how can we move forward for the few that aren't eligible at the moment. Uh the main piece there is how can we get a valid student growth measure because once we have that there's no reason to hold it back. We want to make sure it's valid and that they have belief in it and in capturing their growth to to grow the kids. I can't have one more slide on the presentation. I think that was the last one. >> That's the last part. Okay. Any questions? So it has been a tremendous amount of work and I just want to thank you Cali because we definitely could not have done it had we not partnered with somebody you know
054so um the guidance and the work that you've done is greatly greatly appreciated and the same with the stakeholder group I mean their their input was was extremely valuable um and they were able to take information back to their campuses and then meet with us and and come back and and we did write off a lot I would say in the in the number of teachers who are going to be eligible. And so, um, it was kind of like, okay, maybe we're taking too many, you know, for round one. Um, but we want to get this started. We want to reward as many teachers as we as we can. So, anybody that we already have a test um, a system in place to to measure progress, then we went ahead and put those put those
055on there. But they gave great feedback. Um, like I said, We PD at the beginning of this year is going to look very different because we'll have one full day of TIA for teachers. So that way they understand what this incentive allotment is, what it means. Um when we say [clears throat] kids make have to make progress, you know, um that everybody leaves there understanding exactly what it means. um that they have a really strong understanding of the tool um that's going to be used and that everybody gets trained on tests so they know what to expect from their administrator on walk through. So I foresee at least three days at the beginning of this school year that's going to be focused on making sure that our teachers are wellversed and very knowledgeable in in
056the implementation of this program. >> Well, just doing a little research. The uh biggest negative I've been able to find is it's a huge burden in reporting to the state and staying in line with their expectations. Sounds like you guys are already aware of that. So >> yeah, >> I knew Yeah, I knew I knew the book. It is it had been a program that had been on my mind for two, three years and I just I knew we didn't have staff to be able to get it off the ground. Um, I think this last year when we when we started really getting into it, so many of our neighboring school districts are doing it that it became a must. We we have to or it would be very easy for our teachers to go
057to another district and become eligible. Um, and I think that for us, we actually have one teacher who is eligible already because she came from another district. And so when we received that notice and I was just like, "Oh, wow. That's super neat that she she gets this amazing bonus." And so after that, it was just like, "Okay, what are we going to do?" So thank you for helping us get it going. >> And you're very correct about the data. It is a lot on the back side that once you've completed your data capture, now what? Now you've got all these kids that need test, teachers that need their t test pulled from. So it's getting all of that together and that's what I'll help Christ work along to get around that. pulling it together
058and getting it ready for that October submission. Um, but what makes it easier is at the beginning you're already having your processes in place. So, like she and I have talked about the roster checks and like how to have teachers involved with it to where they know which kids are going to count because like a kid leaves and then they come back, do they count for the teacher? Well, how long were they gone for? So, just having all of these rules in place where it's a lot easier at the end to finish up the data and the teachers verify it. They have um a 10day window to where they can contest it or ask questions about, they sign off on it that they agree. Um and so it just puts a lot of process in
059place where it doesn't come back um and cause the issue later on. >> Well, I was going to say you're going to want to underline a lot of uh uh need for patients where there's going to be misunderstandings, people hopping in the collar thinking, >> well, I've got this coming to me. Why isn't it? >> Right. >> For sure. And the biggest thing about TI is none of it should be from the teachers. It's for them. It's about them. There's nothing on it that's not allowed to be viewable. Um, and so it's just trying to be very transparent. If they have questions about why was a decision made, being able to explain that. Um, and so that's where I feel like the stakeholder group was very very involved. I think almost every meeting we probably
060went about 20 30 minutes over because people were so so involved in asking questions and it was great. >> Thank you. It might be That's a silly question because I think I had heard you say that if a teacher wanted to go teach was it a dual credit class or something if they move like from third grade to high school. >> Uhhuh. So you're talking about the a lotment amounts. >> Yes. So with the campus codes, you know, like elementary and junior high have two different codes. And so wherever they are at in February, the system will pick them up as a teacher at a certain campus and that will trigger the value that they get. >> Okay. So I I it was a little further down in the explanation. Um I think what I
061heard was something if they want to go teach an additional class, maybe a dual credit or a more advanced class, something like that. And no, >> so they can change. >> No, they can wherever they want to teach if they're eligible. we have it in our plan, they can be a piece of it. It won't be more or less. It would just be dependent on a campus as far as the impact >> and and their course code deter one of the things that determine their eligibility is their course code. Okay. So like right now if you went back and you looked at the subjects that were eligible you might you can see government economics government right now a teacher who's going to teach government economics is not eligible. Okay. Why? Because we don't have a
062test to measure progress. So then they'll come in phase two. Um so it it's based on their course code at the time of winter submission and then um if if if we have an assessment that we can use then they would be eligible. >> So not all courses >> not all courses are eligible. >> What does that do to those teachers? >> Can they change can they teach if they're eligible to teach a qualified class? Sure. It's just >> Yeah. >> How do you fill those gaps? >> Um and and so it would be if there's a vacancy, I mean, they can't just go teach there. But so, for example, we have a CTE teacher and maybe that C personal finance, personal finance isn't listed on there. Okay? So, right now, we don't have a
063test for personal finance and so that's not listed, but that teacher is um certified all the way through 8ighth grade math. So, she might decide, hey, Mr. 15 minutes. If there's an opening for seventh and eighth grade math, I'd like to transfer. I I'd like to be considered for the seventh and eighth grade math position. So, um, and that's why I said this after this is approved, one of the next big steps is to get all of this information even further out to our staff. So, so they know I feel very comfortable and very confident right now that everybody knows. um whether it's registered completely um is a different story. But like I said, we had a history teacher in in high school that was here that sat there and listened to it and knew
064that right now all we have test for is 8th grade social studies and US history. So if you're not teaching one of those one of those classes at the secondary, you're not going to be eligible in phase one. Once we get approved for phase one, then we continue to work together and say, "Okay, who's left?" Okay. Um the art teacher. Okay. So, the art teacher's left. What do other school districts What are other school districts doing? They're doing portfolios. So, you keep a portfolio of the kids artwork. Okay. And you figure out a tool to measure if their artwork improved from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. So, we talked about portfolios. Um it's those are the classes that I think are going to be a little bit more challenging
065because of the growth measure piece >> becomes teacher teacher involved. >> You know if you have a teacher that's strictly an elementary PE teacher they're they're not they're not in phase one. Okay they're not in phase one because we don't have an assessment to to measure growth. But there's a test called fitness gram. Can we use fitness and scram and put them in phase two? But for phase one, we wanted to see what do we already have and then use those first to get that going and then implement for phase two. And I'll also ask you if you have a teacher that has multiple preps, maybe one of their courses is eligible, like maybe say they have IPC and chemistry and biology, they just need at least one to be eligible. Now, if they have
066multiple, great, we'll take all of their student grow from all of them, but they just need at least one to be eligible. So depending on what your availability is on the master schedule, they can somewhat get creative, but people still have to be certified in their area, you know, to teach it. And then I'll say too that there are still schools that have been in TIA for six years that have not expanded even beyond their star subjects. I don't agree with that. I would love for all teachers to be involved. Um, but you won't be an anomaly by not having everybody involved. Um there's a a lot out there that don't want to expand beyond STAR because they'd have such a hard time staffing those areas that they want to keep it there. So it's
067really like what what is the district needing? Where are you needing to incentivize? Um I came from a smaller district. We need to incentivize every position. It's hard to find an academic teacher just as much as it is to find an algebra one teacher, somebody that's really good that can teach the kids and get certified wells and all of that. Um, so if there's a way when we start expanding that we can get everybody involved, that's the goal. And I know she and I have had those conversations of some of this 10% as it starts coming in, where could we unlock that to expand and get, like she said, the rest of the high school social studies, like getting them involved. There's an item bank that we could bring in that could be considered. But
068that's what you got to get this first plan kind of in the door. Um, and then you can start your expansion. And they just keep rolling. It's very cyclical and it just keeps going. So if somebody didn't hate in the first year, that's okay. You get to try again. You get to keep growing and that's where as long as it's presented to the teachers correctly and like they do a great job of really like they're doing the seven mindsets and things like that, keeping instruction the main focus and just keep growing the teachers. It's all going to come together. We'll meet data validation by not letting TIA become something that's the driving factor. Rather, it's just something you get from doing the right things for your kids. Thank you. Um, Kelly, I have one more
069question just because I want to make sure that my recommendation is correct. Is it that they're approving the system plan or the spending plan? >> The spending plan. Okay. So, it is the recommendation of the administration to approve the TIA local designation spending plan as presented. >> Do I have a motion? >> That makes a motion. Do I have a second? No seconds. I move to approve the administrator's recommendation and approve the TIA local designation spending plan as presented. All those in favor. >> Thank you for presentation. >> Thank you. Happy day. Thank you. 6B is >> okay. So, um 6B is we're we're playing a little bit of catchup. So, um we brought the DOI plan to the board for approval based on different Senate bills and House bills that had passed. Um, and
070so we got the DOI approved, but then because the DOI approved was approved, then we needed to go back and send the DOI to Cassby and TASBY up close and adjust all the policies to make sure our policies are aligned with DOI. So, tonight I'm bringing um several policies uh local policies um that has to be worked on in order to align to our district innovation plan. Um it is the recommendation of the administration to approve the local policies as >> is there any discussion? >> I just have some questions. when I was going through the plans, um, you know, it gives you specific days in which you, uh, like a parent or a teacher can come and do the the grieving process or, um, we're very specific on certain days and I noticed at
071the summit that they gave a much bigger range and I think you had said at one point we decided on keeping those the 15 days or the 10 days. My question to you is, have you noticed that that's that limitation kind of keeps the process from [snorts] not happening because that that time is shorter or do you think it's a good time frame? No, I actually feel that when the when there's agrievance, it's because there's a there's a there's a stronger concern. >> Okay. So usually soon as we give them the packet that you know if if you're not in agreement with what we're you [clears throat] know with what we provided to you then you have the option to file a grievance usually we get it within one to two days you know um
072because it's important to them. So, um, everyone who, well, when I've had conversations with parents or community members that want to file agreements, they'll get it in because it's something that's important to them. Um, and I think that's kind of why we did at one point discussed that we didn't need to go to the 30 days or the 60 days or the 90 days because if it's important and relevant, it's going to come in within the 15 days. Um, since I've been here, we've never had a grievance not be scheduled or met because of the 15 days. So, we've never thrown anything out because of time. We've gotten close. Sometimes they only have one more day or two more days, but you know, I I think 15 personally, I think 15 days is is very
073doable. I just wanted to know after the summit when they brought it to 20 to 60 or 30 60 90 >> and ours is not even a fraction of that I was like >> wait how did that happen and I asked more questions so that was something locally I wanted to ask and just be clear on >> yeah so so that changed this summer with house bill okay so this last in the summer of 2025 the house bill opened it up for it to be 30 69 we've always had And so we just chose to stay with our 15 days. Okay. >> And that we did through DOI. So now our DOI our our pol our policies need to match with was approved in DOI. >> Any question? >> Just for clarification to make sure
074I understood correctly. Um what I heard you say is that we've never had individual um go outside 15 day window or us dismiss it because you filed in on day 16 and you should have filed in on day 15. >> Since I since I've been here, I can I can't think off the top of my head of one that we denied due to due to that due to that specifically. >> Do we have the ability if it h if it were to happen I come in on day 16 to file a grievance? Is there that discernment for you to use best judgment or it's black and white? It's day 16. You should have filed it. You have 15 days? >> Um, I would say it's black and white cuz it's it's in our policy. >>
075So, is it um 15 business days or 15 calendar? >> It's actually is listed there. And I want to say it's 15 business days. And day it even tells you like day one is the day after you turn it in. So, it's like it start the day you bring it is day zero. And then the next day is is day one >> within uh so the first one is within 15 days of the date the first the first the employee first knew or within reasonable diligence should have known what the decision >> that's the other thing um let's say you first knew about it and your 15 days is up but I didn't learn about it till two days after >> then 15 days isn't enough. >> If you're filing the grievance, it's the day
076you found out. >> So let's say I need >> How do you prove that? Just just how does one prove it? Doesn't it make it difficult? Like how do you >> So let's say um let's say there's a concern about um something that happened in the classroom with a teacher. I'm just gonna make up a random scenario. So, a parent comes and tells Mr. Himemenz, um, this happened and I don't agree with it. I don't agree with the way the teacher reacted. I don't agree with, you know, all the things they don't agree with. Typically, Mr. Himemenz would say, thank you for bringing it to my attention. I'm going to look into it. Okay? So, schedules the meeting, has a parent conference. The parent conference is the day that scheduled. Okay? And Mr. Himemenz would
077say, "Based on the information that you provided, this is what we found out. It was done because of this. It was here where the grading policy is. Your child failed because of this. You know, well, I'm still not happy. And that's okay. You don't have to be happy. This is where this is where we're at. And so, here is your grievance packet to be able to file a grievance. That's that's the day that you found out the decision that he that he made. So, I'm 15 days from that date that he tells me. >> Correct. Now they've already gone to level one gone and talked to him. The packet states to do the process again. Correct. >> Um to hold the level one grievance >> starts with the lowest level. >> So then they have
078to go again. >> But the difference is when they're filing a grievance, if you've ever looked at the grievance process, you now take the packet and you say, "I didn't like it. I didn't like what he did." And the remedy that I am seeking is ABCD. That's the grievance. So the grievance is no longer saying I don't agree with you. It's I don't agree with you and this is the remedy I want. So the the first conference is this is what we're doing. Don't agree with me. I understand that. Okay. But then you have to start all over because you have to request a remedy in agreements. in a grievance. If you look at the form, the last part of it is where you say, "What is it that you that you want? What is
079it that you're seeking?" And then it starts with him all over and they get to bring it's he listens. This is why this is why I think this is fair. This is why I think that my remedy is appropriate. This is um my facts, you know. So now now you have 15 days to build a case and you come to level one. Mr. Himenez could say, "You know what? I didn't think about that. You're right. You know, here you did you you did bring me the syllabus and the syllabus did say that you need that we would drop the lowest grade. I must have missed that. So then you win your grievance at that point because you got the remedy or sorry this is what it says and you don't win the grievance and then
080it goes to level two. Okay. Do I have a motion? Jess makes a motion. M seconds. So the motion is I move to accept administrative recommendation and approve policy AF local, DBA local, FN local, GF local, and E FB local and BDF local as presented. All those in favor? >> Uh 6C. >> Um 6C. Uh due to the limited availability of voting machines and the number of local entities that will be conducting elections, Racket ISD will contract with Kenny County to administer the general election on May 2nd. Um, a $2,000 deposit will be required and the remaining costs will be divided equally among the ISD, the city of Bracketville and FC and the Port. It is the recommendation of the administration to approve the election service contract between Kenny County and Bracket for the May
0812nd, 2026 school board general election. Is there any >> discussion? Do I have a motion? >> Makes a motion. Have a second. I'll >> second. >> No more seconds. Motion is approved to approve the election service contract between Kenny County and Bracken SD for the the May 2nd >> May second school board general election. All those in favor 6. >> Um so 60 is our board operating procedures. Um, so the board operating procedures are now aligned with the informal rules for small boards and committees based on law's rules of order. That was the only thing as it's changed. Um, I do believe that in the attachment that we received, it's highlighted in yellow. Um, so it just reads now uh sorry, all board member all board meetings will observe Robert tools of order based on
082the section of the book calleds and committees. Robert tools and order newly revised is a parliamentary procedure adopted in policy by this board. Meetings, motions and debate will follow the guidelines um found in this section of the book. So it was basically what we discussed in our board workshop. So it is a recommendation of the administration to approve the board's operating procedures to align with informal rules for small boards and committees based on our virtual order as presented. Any >> discussion? Do I have a motion? [clears throat] >> Makes a motion. Second. Motion is to accept administrator's recommendation to approve the board operating procedure as presented. All those in favor? Succeed. >> Um, no budget amendment. No. No. No budget amendment >> item seven. >> So those are Amal's um budget expense and revenue reports
083and the check report. What stands out is the revenue being a little different from last year to this year and that's because we had a very large taxpayer paid later. We've gotten that payment so it should show up in the March report. The expenditures are pretty much at the same place we were last year. We're on track. >> Anybody else on 7? 7 ft. Check glass. anything. >> Um so a couple of corrections just as we're kind of going through um the events. Um, so we did pass and completed events. The fourth and fifth grade had their parent meeting. Um, we did have our food service audit. We're still waiting for the final um, report. Um, so we hope to be able to present that to the board in in April. Um, the gentleman that
084came was very complimentary of our staff, of our ladies. Um Amali and I went and presented them with a little thank you gift um just because they really they worked really hard to make sure that that we were prepared for that. Um project graduation it's here. Mr. Himemenz is having his meetings with his parents to raise the fund so we can continue to have that evening of fun for our for our graduates after graduation. Um we did hold the district advisory committee on February 26. Um we had our OAP contest and I shared that with y'all in the message today. they did advance. So, they will be performing again um March 23rd and 24th. Um I attended the Special Olympics last week. They did a fantastic job. It was always it's always a lot of
085fun. Um on our upcoming events, this is where I just just a little bit of correction. Um we got the feedback from the staff members on the two calendars um by on Friday. So, this week we're not actually voting. We're taking their feedback and we're updating some things. So, um, one of the one of the calendars that we shared with them only had, um, Easter Monday off, but not Good Friday. And almost everybody said, "We really need Friday." And Monday, they're bad attendance days. Um, so we're taking all of that feedback and revising the two calendars um that we presented to them. And so, we won't vote until the week we come back from spring break. So, um, voting will actually be the week of the 23rd. Um this week we also have the uh
086Renaissance Fair. So that's scheduled for March 11th. Um then we have a holiday not March 14th but March 13th. So the holidays March 13th and then we have spring break next week. Our junior senior prom is scheduled for March 28th. The end of the six weeks um is April 2nd and then the Good Friday Easter holiday is the 3rd and the 6th. I did also receive an email from Sheriff Co and they have pushed back the shattered dreams presentation. Um, and so he we're looking at possibly May 1st, I think is what was one of his possible dates. And then we'll have our regular board of trustees meeting on April 13th. So really the two days was the holiday that was off and the district that was off. Detective government code 551.074. The board will
087now go into close session at 7:16 p.m.