December 15, 2025 Brazosport ISD Board Meeting

001All right, I'd like to call this meeting to order. It is 6 pm that we do have a board quorum present. The mission of Brazport ISD is to graduate each student to be future ready. If you will please stand for our invocation and then our pledges of allegiance will be led by Mr. Gary Atkins. If you would bow your heads. Father God, we thank you for each and every day. Uh we thank you for the the gift, the precious gift of life and God just for getting to be a part uh of your creation. God, thank you for this district and for all that it does and for all the kids that it serves. Father, I pray that you would be with us tonight and give us wisdom and discernment as always, God, to deal

002with the uh the business of our district, God. Be with our communities. Help us and always to honor you. In your son's precious and holy name we pray. Amen. Amen. >> Join me in the pledges to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for alliance to the Texas one state and indivisible. I'd like to ask our board if you can make it way through the front as we transition into our awards achievements and recognition time. Good evening, Superintendent Massie, board of trustees. In alignment with our district's strategic plan, it is desired that BISD work to foster student and employee engagement and community partnerships. One effort towards goal achievement is to recognize and affirm the efforts and performances of

003our students and staff. We get to do that tonight with our Taffy achievement. Last month, our Texas Association of Future Educators or TAPY students participated in the regional competition. We are so proud to announce that the following future educators qualify for the state competition. Joining us from Clute Intermediate School is Viviana Damian for public speaking. Viviana Flores also for public speaking. Jason Torres and Jeremiah Clay for public speaking. We also want to recognize Jason Torres and Marcus Lovely for interactive bulletin board music. >> We want to take this opportunity to recognize Miss Mary Ashley Humanis. Without her, we would not have a Clute Taffy. So, thank you for representing these students and for leading them to greatness in the Taffy organization. She's done this before. >> Where's Mrs. Bolton? She show. And now our Tappy

004students from Brazport High School. Representing Taffy Portfolio is Marissa Beerana. Mariah Lopez also for Taffy Portfolio. Ellie Lehoff for Taffy Portfolio. Aelaro for Taffy Portfolio. Lea for Kathy portfolio. Thank you for representing Roport High School and these students tonight. Joining us from Braz High School, we have Anna Rivera for JV Children's Literature K through third grade, Maddie Tina, and Kira Martinez for varsity INTERACTIVE BULLETIN OLIVIA DUFFY AND AND Paris Punt for JD teacher created material. >> Thank you to our Bradley Kathy sponsor Miss Peters and Mana. Thank you for your dedication. You didn't want to check. Congratulations to all of our future educators. We hope to see you back leading classes in a few years. Now, our mission first team always. >> Our next recognition this evening is our mission first team always educators. The

005purpose of the mission first team always educator award is to recognize staff members who prioritize students success with purpose and integrity, foster collaboration and trust to strengthen the team and embrace innovation and lifelong learning to prepare students to be future ready. When I call your name, if you could both come, please both come stand next to Superintendent Massie. We have Miss Emily Hall and Mr. Lawrence Garland. We'll start with our elementary Mission First educator, Mrs. Emily Hall from TWWG Elementary. Miss Hall's a preK teacher and grade level lead. She exemplifies Mission First, team always future ready. Her classroom reflects high expectations and a positive culture, while her leadership strengthens collaboration and professional growth. She led her team to the Frog Street conference and took the initiatives to implement RTI and preK, ensuring students receive targeted

006support for kindergarten readiness. Emily's dedication and belief in her students make her a standout educator. Thank you. Next, we have our secondary mission first educator, Mr. Lawrence Garza from Freeport Intermediate. We're proud to recognize Mr. Garza, a teacher committed to growth and innovative instruction. This year he was selected for the 2526 applied mathematics program with white rice university in Konico Phillips. A prestigious professional learning experience. Through this work, he has strengthened incurred based learning and brought new strategies such as question formation techniques into his classroom to spark curiosity and deepen student engagement. We're proud of his campus leadership and continued learning. Thank you both so much. CONGRATULATIONS, SIR. Appreciate Maybe a question. Thank you. That concludes our awards and recognitions for the evening. Uh at this time with PE local the board provided an audience

007with individuals who have signed up before the meeting to address uh the board regarding only non-aggenda items. Tonight we do not have anyone. So we will move on to our next uh agenda item. Our next agenda item is our consent agenda. Are there any items that are requested to be pulled from the consent agenda? >> No. Got it. Okay. >> All right. Hearing none, then do I hear a motion? Motion to approve by Chris. I have a second. Second by Mr. Reinhardt. Before we vote, uh we will allow public comment on any of the individ. So all in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. >> All opposed by nay. >> All right, that carries. Thank you. Next item that we have on our agenda is a public hearing. We will ask Mr.

008Ron Reading to conduct a public hearing to discuss the campuses identified for targeted improvement. State law provides that a public meeting be held to discuss the topic. Public participation is invited at the conclusion of the presentation. >> Mr. R. >> Good evening and in alignment with board policy AIC legal, it's my pleasure to present a public hearing on campuses identified for targeted improvement. The Texas Education Agency utilizes the state accountability closing the gaps domain performance to identify comprehensive support and improvement or CSI, targeted support and improvement or TSI and additional targeted support or ATS to schools. The comprehensive support and improvement designation is both a state and a federal identifier for school improvement. While targeted support and improvement and additional targeted support are federal designations, Preport Intermediate School was identified as a CSI campus for

009their overall drating and for their closing the gap score. To identify schools for CSI TEA annually ranks all title one campuses based on closing the gaps scale scores. The agency determines the cut score for the bottom 5% of schools and then compares the campus score to that cut point. The 2025 closing the gaps cut score for the lowest 5% was 57 report is had a 38. The Lighthouse Learning Center DAE include intermediate school were identified as targeted support and improvement first and then due to the performances the population groups you see under the second bullet point on this slide that designated as ATS campuses. TSI identification is based on identifying any campus with one or more consistently underperforming student group. TEA defi defines consistently under performing as a as a school having one or more

010student groups that do not meet interim targets or show expected growth towards the next interim target for three consecutive years. Additional targeted support or ATS identification is based on a subset of TSI identified campuses. First, the campus must meet the identification for TSI by having at least one consistently underperforming student group. Second, excuse me, back up. There we go. Second, the closing the gap score for at least one consistently underperforming student group must be lower than the score used to identify the lowest performing 5% of each school type. The same cut point that's used to identify CSI. The two or more racist subgroup include intermediate schools scored a 30 which is below the overall cut score for all middle school campuses. The economically disadvantaged and continuously enrolled subgroups at LLC both had a closing the

011gap score of 36 which is below score for their campus group. Preport Intermediate School developed a targeted improvement plan to address their closing the gaps performance. The campus underwent an extensive diagnostic process during September and October. The results of the diagnostic identified areas on which to focus their improvement. The first area is in the area of professional learning communities. With the continued decline in enrollment, all of the FIS core teachers are single teachers in their grade levels. In other words, while they are part of a department with other teachers who share their subject, they are the only teacher teaching that subject in their grade level. This requires changing the campus approach to the PLC process. The campus is working with into learning a vendor that comes into schools and helps them to transform their PLC

012process to create and implement a new model of PLC's into learning will support them throughout this year as they implement a new model that emphasizes planning with teachers in other grade levels so that single teachers have a partner with which to plan and evaluate lesson effectiveness and student performance. Although the campus regularly conducts walkthroughs to observe teacher performance, walkthroughs have been limited to test walkthroughs. Because those walkthroughs are evaluative by design, lesson observation and feedback is primarily evaluative. Research shows that coupling their current system with an observation and feedback model has a greater impact on high quality instruction. The campus has begun using an observation tool that captures everything that is going on in the room while the observer is taking notes. The observer can better provide timely feedback to the teacher. Campus leadership is

013is developing the feedback protocol and cycles and sharing those with the teachers. The campus is already seeing improved student performance even though the observation and feedback tool is in the early stages of use. In the spring, one of three state board of education highquality instructional materials in mathematics that are currently being piloted in in this year in our district will be presented to the board for approval. If approved, the implementation would be next year. Both Clut and Freeport Intermediate Schools were eligible to apply for a school improvement grant that will be awarded in March. If awarded, the campuses will work with Big Rock Education, a vendor that specializes in curriculum implementation to support the implementation of the new math curriculum. Next year, Big Rock will provide support to teachers throughout the first year of implement

014the goal of effective implementation and rapid improvement in in student math performance. Cleveland Intermediate School has already begun implementing a variety of strategies to both improve star performance at the meet each grade level in all tested subjects and to improve performance growth from last year to this year. To improve growth, the campus is tracking student performance throughout the year on unit exams and curriculum based assessments. Students who are not showing the level of growth needed are being supported through interventions and tutorials. Looking ahead to next year, Flute Intermediate School will use their school improvement grant money if awarded to contract with Big Rock Education to support the implementation of the new state board of education highquality instructional material and mathematics as described in the previous slide. In the state accountability system, alternative schools that serve

015as the district's DAP are not evaluated. However, the Department of Education does not recognize alternative schools, so they are evaluated under the federal system. If there are are at least 10 students in the all students groups for English language arts, reading, and mathematics under academic achievement status in the closing the gaps domain, the Lighthouse Learning Center had 13 students in that group in ELA and 11 in mathematics. Furthermore, they had exactly 10 students in each subject under academic growth. The identified students were with the DAP on the octo October snapshot date and either tested in December before returning to the high schools or returned for a second assignment in late March or April and were on the campus to test in grades three through eight or high school. LLC has embraced their identification of additional

016targeted support as an opportunity to not only better prepare their own students for STAR testing, but to also send them back to their home campus better prepared to test successfully. They are using STAR EOC preparation courses in egeneuity for their high school students and Sirius for grades three through eight. Additionally, they are monitoring student progress and planning additional support to students during the spring semester. This concludes the hearing on campuses identified for targeted improvement. At this time, I'll be happy to answer any clarifying questions you or the audience may have. Any questions from the board? >> Any questions from the audience? All right, hearing none, I will now close our public hearing. Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you, sir. Next item that we have on our agenda are action items. Uh public comments will be

017allowed before a vote is taken on each action item for those who have signed up prior to the meeting. Uh our first uh action item is the reconfiguration of CNF Austin Elementary School attendance zone. We do have uh some folks who have signed up and they will be allowed to come and speak after the presentation. >> Thank you, Mr. Howard. And I do want to say to uh our guests here from Jones Creek, uh thank you for being here tonight. Uh also want to let you know that we certainly understand how special of a school this is. We know that there's been generations of students and families that have come through here and it truly is the heartbeat of the community and has been and uh thank you for being here. This is something that

018we have not taken lightly. This action item is in alignment with board policy. FDB local and district goal. Brazenport ISD will exercise fiscal responsibility to ensure financial strength and provide the resources to equip and maintain quality facilities and educational programming. Attendance areas for each of the public schools of a school district are recommended by the superintendent and approved by the school board. Average daily attendance of enrolled students is used to determine the funding levels of school districts. When student enrollment declines, the district loses funding. The table you see on this slide presents the 202526 enrollment by campus theater pattern alternative schools and the district. It compares the current enrollment with the official district enrollment from the 25 school year which was last school year. There is no change in the clute feeder pattern enrollment. This

019is partly due to the availability of new housing in Clute and Richwood. As you can also see, enrollment decline for the remaining feeder patterns and overall enrollment is showing 2.4% behind last year, which would be approximately $1.6 6 million less funding than last school year. Here are the 10-year enrollment trends beginning with 201617 school year. Since 2017, the district enrollment has declined by 1569 students or 12.6%. Following a precipitous decline from 2020 to 2021 due to the impact of the CO 19 pandemic, overall in district enrollment has continued to decline. This enrollment decline is equal to $10 million less funding. While multiple factors affect district enrollment, the primary causes of district's enrollment decline are a decreasing population, a lack of available new housing, competitive housing developments along two highway 28 corridor, homeschooling is more accessible,

020a global pandemic, and hurricane barrel two summers ago that came through our community. The most significant drop in enrollment occurred in the Brazesport high school feeder pattern. Peak enrollment for that feeder pattern occurred during a period when there were several construction projects underway in the prochemical industry and the Freeport LNG. Many of those projects were completed just in time for the CO 19 pandemic. Additionally, many Freeport residents moved out of the east end of that city. There's also a lack of quality housing in these areas. The result was a dramatic decrease of 695 students from the end of 2017 school year through the end of the 2021 school year. Again, the lack of quality available housing continuing to impact the Brazesport high school feeder pattern as enrollment dropped an additional 435 students through this October.

021Overall, the Brazesport high school feeder pattern enrollment declined 31.4% since the 2017 school year. The Bradiswood theater pattern decreased 696 students since its peak enrollment of 8,873 students in October 2019. The Lake Jackson feed the pattern experienced 155 student decline or 11.9% decrease in enrollment. However, because the Clue feeder pattern saw a 1.5% increase in enrollment and Brazeswood High School maintained its enrollment, the overall feeder pattern enrollment decrease was 5%. The information on this slide provides you with a condensed look at the enrollment changes by feeder pattern. Once again, the Bradport High School feeder pattern declined by 31.4% while Brazwood High School feeder pattern declined by 5% and the Clue feeder increased students. This shows a 10-year enrollment decline at key campuses using the 202526 campus configurations. Enrollment data from the 201617 school year through

022this school year were reconfigured for each of the campuses to allow for an applesto apples comparison across the years. Each of the Bradport High School campuses, including Bradport High School, exper experienced substantial declines in enrollment over the last 10 years. Again, in the Lake Jackson feeder pattern, Rasco Middle and Lake Jackson Intermediate Schools had the largest decreases in enrollment with Rasco declining by 18.8% and Lake Jackson declining by 13.9%. The combined elementary enrollment in Lake Jackson declined by 8.3%. In the click theater pattern, Griffith Elementary enrollment declined by 10.5% while post declined by 9.5%. Yet those campuses were countered by enrollment increase by 5.7% at all elementary include and 11.2% atclude intermediate rendering an overall gain of 1.2% 2% include feeder pattern. To miticate the decrease in enrollment in campuses operating significantly under building capacity

023over the years, the district has had to adjust grade level configurations and closed campuses in order to create operational efficiencies. The free the free feeder pattern was the first reconfigured for the 2016 2017 school year when OA Fleming Elementary and Jane Long Elementary were configured with different grade levels to better utilize available space at each campus. Then at the start of the 201718 school year, Jane Long Elementary was closed due to low enrollment and consolidated with Fleming and Velasco elementaryaries. In the 201819 school year, the new Freeport Elementary School opened and served students in grades preK through 2 grade. Velasco served students in third and fourth grades which led which led to the closing of Fliming Elementary School. Then a few years later at the start of the 232 24 school year due to a

024declining enrollment and campuses operating well under capacity elementary was closed and students were zoned to Freeport Elementary and Laneir in Lake Jackson. Nay Elementary was converted to a pre kindergarten school then was closed due to lower enrollment and building capacity available at Bole Brandon and Roberts elementary schools. Specifically for SFA Elementary, enrollment has declined from 326 students in 2019 to 193 students in August of 2024. From the beginning of this school year, SFA sixth grade students were zoned to Freeport Intermediate School where they had more course options and opportunities, which brought SFA's enrollment to 146 students as of the snapshot date in the last week of October 2025. This slide highlights enrollment declines in nearby school districts. As you can see, Brazesport ISD is not alone in seeing a decline in enrollment. Our district's 10.4%

025enrollment decline through last May is equal to the average decline of all the nearby districts listed. This is an enrollment comparison and cost per student for SFA with our other BIC elementary campuses. As you can The student enrollment at SFA is between and 577 students lower. The next smallest campus is PULK with 396 students and Brandon has the highest enrollment at 724 students. The SF the SFA cost per student is between 2500 to $1,200 higher than the comparable elementary campuses. SFA currently costs approximately $1.7 million a year to operate. Due to the low student enrollment at SFA and the available space in our Freeport campuses, it makes sense to reszone our preK through fifth grade SFA students to Freeport just like the 6th through 12th grade students in Jones Creek are. This slide shows the

026number of students per grade level at SFA. Freeport Elementary and Laneir have ample capacity to educate the additional students. No, no SFA staff members will lose their jobs due to the closure. There are currently 12 teachers at SFA. All teachers and all staff currently working at SFA will have jobs at other campuses within BISD next school year. The 2019 bond program included funds for a new SFA campus. At that time, SFA had a student enrollment of 326 students and were projected to increase to 350 students for the 2025 school year. We believed at the time that this was a reasonable projection for student enrollment, but no one could have foreseen the future circumstances that have led to where we are now. The first being the new campus went out to bid in March 2020, the

027same month that the global pandemic hit and the world turned upside down. When the campus was rebid in January the following year, we learned that there had been change changes to the land's flood plane designation. There was not a viable solution given the inflation, new flood planning requirements, the decreasing student enrollment to build a new campus. So, the project was placed on hold. A portion of the bond funds have been spent on improvements at SFA only, new fencing, new furniture, new playground, resurfaced the track, replaced flooring, and a new outside awning. The district has an active citizens bond overstock committee. Any The allocation of the bond funds to meet the district's needs would be considered through that committee and approved by the Brazesport ISD board of trustees. As SFA's enrollment continued to decrease, there became

028a student spending comparability issue because the district was spending so much more on SFA students than other elementary school students. The Texas Education Agency provided conflicting information regarding solutions to the comparability threshold. Initial guidance and communication stated that there is no waiver for SFA and the district must be compliant or lose over $2 million in federal title funding for the entire district as stated in this email. In a later communication with TEA, we learned last spring that SFA could receive a waiver from the comparable spending threshold and Brazesport ISD would not lose its federal title limit. So I want to be clear, the district losing federal title funds is not a factor in the decision to close the campus because there is a waiver. The factors related to closing the campus are the low student

029enrollment, the higher cost per student compared to the other elementary campuses, and the annual cost to operate the campus. There are simply no longer enough school age students living in the village of Jones Creek to support a campus. It is the recommendation of the administration for the students currently zoned to attend SFA Elementary to be reszoned to the neighboring BIP campuses based on their grade levels beginning in the 202627 school year. Specific campus assignments are as follows. PreK through 2 grade will be zoned to Free Elementary School. The third through fifth grade will be zoned to Laneir Elementary School. I'm happy to answer any questions. question. I got my question to answer the maintenance cost and stuff like that still is also I got one question. What what's the feedback been for our sixth graders

030this year that have already transition parents? Yeah. Uh my understanding is SFA students at uh Freeport Intermediate School uh are doing fine, enjoy having the other opportunities. We've not heard anything negative. I think Miss Lear mentioned she had talked with some families and and uh we're very pleased with being over there. Okay. Uh at this time then we will now allow public comments from the individuals who have signed up prior to the meeting. Uh our first one that we have signed up is uh Mr. William. Okay. So, I guess we've been here many times talked about the same subject. Of course, residents, myself included, is not what this school be closed. I see the numbers, but that don't reflect what it means to this community. Okay? So, we just talk about the safety of this.

031We're talking about elementary school kids getting on a bus with high school students to be bus. I see that bus running before six o'clock in the morning every morning picking up kids power 400 coming back up. So, we're going to expect elementary school kids to be on the same bus at that time of the morning to do that. That's not very safe. Not at all. That's been proven over and over in other districts. It's not safe. Uh, you know, a year ago in another meeting when y'all said y'all were going to pause this thing, we were promised that the bond money for SFA will be kept five years and then reassessed after five years to see if school should be built. That happened, you know, but we were told that I wasn't the only one

032in the meeting. It's really a shame. We've had a lot of good teachers, had a lot of good principles out there that lot left. Since 2024 school year, we've had a 68% turnover. These people didn't want to leave, but they felt like they needed to. and they felt like they were being singled out more than anything because they fell in love with that school. principles from last year, teachers from last year, he had 68% turnover and none of them that I talked to when exits on the computer, none of them were contacted say why don't you stay you got that much dedicated service in BSD already so much invested in these people but yet let them go and they all felt it's because they fell in love with SFA and it looks that way. So,

033I had more to say, but I think someone else is going to talk about some other things. Mason, you represent us. Represent us tonight. Yeah. Uh, thank you, Mr. Tidwell. I will tell you that there has not been transportation routes have not been worked out. We typically don't put elementary students on uh bus with high school students. They have a different start and end times for the schools. And so we will be able to designate and differentiate buses uh for uh younger kids and older kids. So if that that if that is a concern, thank you for for bringing that up. Yeah. And we uh every student will be um available for transportation will be eligible for transportation. Every student that lives outside two mile distance from the campus that they're zone to is eligible

034for transportation. So every student in Jones Creek will be eligible for transportation. And again, we typically don't have younger students on the bus with older students because they have uh different start and end times. We will uh work with the parents once we uh have an idea and we know how many students uh want to uh ride the bus to and from school and sign up to ride the bus and we will uh designate routes then to make it as safe as possible. Second speaker is uh Miss Rhonda Rivera. >> Rhonda. >> Yeah. >> Rivera. >> Hello. >> Good evening. >> My name is Rhonda Clava, founder of Guardians for Transparency through Truth Education and Reform and parent and community advocate. I am here tonight not just to ask questions but to speak to the

035real and catastrophic impact this decision will make will have on our children, our educators and our community. Stephen F. Austin was not just another campus. It is the heart of Jones Creek, a school rooted in generational families, history, civility, and trust. Closing or dismantling this campus does not simply move students. It fractures a community. Families in Jones Creek will be displaced. Children will lose a neighborhood school where relationships, routines, and support system already exist. For many students, especially those with disabilities, disruption is not neutral. It is harmful. This decision will also place an enormous and unfair burden on Freeport Elementary, its teachers, its staff, and particularly its special education team. You're not transferring students. You're transferring complex needs, case loads, trauma, transportation challenges, staffing strain, and legal responsibility. Without transparency, planning or accountability. Special education

036teachers are already overwhelmed. They are already understood, individualized instruction, behavioral support, and federal mandates. And yet BISC is prepared to act more without addressing how this board will be supported, staffed or funded. This is not future ready. It is reactionary. BD slogan is future ready. So today, so tonight I ask plainly, where is the future readiness in this decision? Where is the $19 million that was approved by voters in the 2019 bond and marketed to this community as funding that would build Stephen F. Austin STEM Academy into the pride of joy of Rasport ISD. that bond who was marketed to voters using the promise of Stephen of Boston as a STEM academy, a future focused campus meant to be rebuilt, elevated, and sustained. And as of this stage, Stephen Evoxton continues to be marketed, referenced,

037and spoken about publicly as a STEM academy. That language has appeared in district communications, board materials, and in what is being read and presented publicly, including descriptions used to explain the campus, justify decisions, and frame this reconfiguration. Before any decision is made to dissolve, reconfigure or close this campus, a complete and transparent audit of the 19 million in bond fund must be conducted and publicly accounted for. The community has the right to know how much of that bond money was actually spent for Stephen F. Boston STEM Academy. What projects were completed? What projects were never done? And where those funds were ultimately allocated. You cannot erase a campus before accounting accounting for the money that was used to justify its future spec especially when that future was sold to the public at the STEM Academy.

038Where is the facility that voters were led to believe will be rebuilt, reimagined, and elevated? Where is the certification? Where is the accountability? Where is the program? Instead, Stephven Austin was left on the back burner, left without pro proper STEM certification, left without the resources promised, left without transparency, and ultimately left behind. Families were given false hope. The community was given false assurances. And now the solution offered is not investment but dissolution. You do not fix neglect by closing the doors. You do not erase responsibility by reconfiguration. This board owes the community answers before action. We need accountability. We need responsibility. And most importantly, we need honesty for our children, for our educators, for our taxpayers who believed in this district. Future ready cannot be the slogan when the past has not been accounted for.

039Before we move forward, you must answer where did the money go? Why was certification never secured? Why was this campus allowed to fail quietly instead of being supported loudly? Our children deserve better than silence. Our teachers deserve better than overload. And this community deserves better than being erased. THANK YOU. JUST A COUPLE OF POINTS OF CLARIFICATION to that is um again jump in and correct me if I'm wrong but the STEM academy Stephen Fost Stem Academy was created in the 1314 school year somewhere around there. Um we as part of a reconstitution of the school because it was improvement for um I think more than two years for low performance. When I got on the board in 2014, we had 11 of 19 campuses that were in needs improvement and we got all of them

040out and I think in a three-year period post that it was reconstituted as a STEM academy because pea required us to do that uh to reconstitute the school's purpose and mission in order to um um keep it open and keep that focus um done. So we did that um and we fulfilled that obligation to tea in order to get the scores to where they needed to be soon thereafter. So the the the bond that you speak of every campus in our district at the elementary level now has a STEM academy on there. We have for seven eight plus years now. Um and so those although it is still something that is done at SFA was never um and still is currently not designated as a Special STEM Academy is Stephen as >> because it's been

041one for a number of years and so they still have one and people still refer to it as because we reconstitute renamed the school as part of that TEA obligation when we did that and so that was part of that. So it is still it excuse me it's still referred to that only because of the past of that change in transition that took place and we did do a full disclosure of audit not audit but of spending of the bond at I think maybe two or three meetings ago right when we were doing the >> um budget we go through every line item and we presented every line item um every dollar spent on that school over the last two years as part of that bud If you would go back to the minutes, it'll

042be in there. >> Our next speaker is uh Mr. Bert Smith. >> Good evening. My name is Bert Smith. I'm a resident of Lake Jackson. And uh I was reading the paper the other day and I got really concerned with the article that was uh printed about closing of Stephen off and I'm here tonight there's a ton of questions that you guys haven't answered and I'm here tonight to say I think you need to do that before y'all make a motion to close this school. I'd like to see someone make a motion to postpone it until these people here have some clear answers on your numbers, how you got there, and what the plans are. Uh there's a few of them already given on the busing. I've got some concerns about that as well. Uh

043glad you got some plans, but you know what? Before you close this school down, let's put a plan together that everyone understands and can justify in their own mind why you're wanting to close it down. I've been to that school. It is one hell of a nice school. Well-maintained. It's been there since the 50s. It's a good school. And I hear your numbers up there. I see that. But what I'd like to know is where those numbers came from. I would request that you guys postpone this decision and give those who are interested in this motion chance to ask questions and understanding. Looking at the newspaper article, of course, you can't get all the numbers out of it, but uh this uh one point, what is it? Uh, forgot that number that you guys quoted.

044$1,300 a student out of 145 students. What's that work out? $195,000. 190,000. That's a drop in the budget for y'all school district. What's your total operating budget? 172 million, something like that. It's a huge number, but this is a drop in the bucket for which you're quoting. There's some other things I'd like to bring up as well is that uh it it has to do with the busing. Dan, I appreciate your comments about want to do the busing and how are you going to go about it with all the kids, elementary kids and high school kids. I agree that needs to be separated. But have y'all looked at the cost of busing, you know, just some numbers this afternoon. Looking at a dollar per mile to run a school bus, 30 miles round trip, one

045town in the morning, one in the evening, you know, you're talking you're talking a lot of money, well over $100,000. Have y'all quantified that and baked that into your plan? That's what people are asking for. That's what I'm asking for. I came to this town in 1997. took me three moons in five years to get here from Hawai and uh we decided to stay. This is a good school district. My kids all in here, they all were very successful. But I tell you what, schools like Jo State Steven F. Austin and Jones Creek is a shining example. It's a small community and like they've said it's the heart of the community. So you guys please I'm requesting take a time call another meeting smaller meeting if you want but see if we can answer the

046financial questions. Uh, that's about all I wanted to say tonight, but I don't think it's fair either to quote these numbers in the paper with without some backup. And I realize they can they can't put them all in there, but maybe we can in a follow-up meeting. That's what I request. Mr. Massie or anyone on this board, if y'all can delay the vote a little while, give these folks a chance to to hear the details, I think it'd be well worth it. Thank you. >> Uh Mr. Smith, going back uh the first meeting uh public meeting that we had with the whole board was in September 16th of 2024. So there's been a lot of you know questions come up and answers and numbers and u basically the the numbers are there but in the

047budget versus you know take the number spend at student Boston divided by the number of students that's why the 8900 comes up. So um so there has been a lot of time uh and discussions and I guess one thing my driving force as it was the la at the last vote I I did was what is the best for the students the issue of the bus is a concern and I think that our group our transportation people and and along with the parents think we can resolve that fairly easy. Um, so my, you know, my point is is that we really need to be thinking what is the best for our students who live in Jones Creek opportunity at the bigger schools have more clubs, etc., etc. It and the the school effort is for

048students. It's not for a community. So it's disappointing that you know I assume parents are here. Um we haven't heard I haven't heard too much from him. Holly Mason has since he's part of that but but we all represent BSD. We don't give schools in Jones Creek wherever. So I guess I would address your concerns about the time is we've had quite a bit of time and we've gone over a bunch of numbers. It's we probably look at this every other month if not every month. So, uh I guess I I will respectfully disagree with you about the time and money. >> Can I say anything else for my time? >> No, you come to Yes, sir. >> If you don't mind, I I'll I'll jump in while you're walking up too. To to your

049point about time, and I appreciate you coming and reading the article and participating tonight, but to to Mr. Atkins point is these numbers have been presented in great detail uh in multiple meetings with leaders of Jones Creek no less than probably four to five times over the last probably four to five years. So we've met multiple times with multiple different people both um stakeholders um leaders of the community uh elected officials community members. They've all been um in meetings with us multiple times over the past year. So I I realize you may be hearing about this for the first time because of the art. >> No, I've heard it for a while. >> Yeah. And it it's be honest with you. >> I get the impression. >> Somebody one sec. Somebody finish one second. Is

050and if I give you your time is is we have been dealing with this since I didn't know it was a big issue when I got on the board in 14, but we have been dealing with it um since then. It's been a constant issue. At beginning it was a a scores issue that we had to overcome. We overcame that. And then it's been a a population increase decrease. we've had um um the school issues and maintenance things like that. So this it's it is a little unfair that we haven't presented those numbers because we have given all the numbers in not only public meetings but in private meetings with multiple people here that are in attendance today that are both elected officials and members. >> Thank you. I guess what I would like to

051say and Mr. Atkins I appreciate your comments. Uh there's a lot of numbers get thrown around, but I still get the distinct impression that they're not totally understood. There's a lot of numbers from the budget that are put out there and uh my impression is that there needs to be more information. I'm just asking, let's go at it one more time before you decide to do this. The other thing one of the young ladies uh brought up a while ago uh uh about the reallocation of funds. I don't know what the rules are, but uh my impression is that if you voted on the school bond and and it wasn't done, well, they're not your funds. They're the taxpayer funds. So unless you have a reason for want to reallocate it without approval, u I

052would request you let us know what the plan is and how you plan to do it. But my question is uh that's a lot of money. Are you trying to cover a shortfall in another part of your budget? So where is that going? >> Question. >> That is definitely not the case. >> Yeah. We look at audit for the last five years. You can look at our budget workshops that we held monthly starting, you know, September, >> you know, for the next year. So, I guess I I take a little umbrage about numbers not being available. Uh I don't know. Have you looked at our budget? >> I'd like what I can get off the line. I can't budget's online. There's no explanation in detail. So, uh that I could find. So, I would love

053to sit down with you. >> We'd love to have you come soon. Can we do that? >> Yes, sir. Anytime. >> Can you Can you let us do that before you decide tonight? >> We let any committee member come and ask questions. I think communities do engage with us. >> And and to to Mr. Atkins point and starting in in January, we will every month we give a outline of our expenditures and our our cuts that we do for for every month up until we pass a budget in in July or August depending on the year. >> And Mr. I did not intend to to say anything uh off color, but these are questions I hear and I think we need to we need to address straight up. >> Well, I think we have been

054very open over the past year and a half on questions that have come forward. Uh the bond money has not been spent except for upgrades to Stephen F. Austin that was designated the bond the community or the uh citizens bond oversight committee is made up of I don't know 12 14 citizens um they take their job very seriously I sit in on the meeting so I know the discussion goes on and there has been no reallocation and you know maybe there won't be I don't know it's just that it's still so from that standpoint there's really no plan on reallocating but the fact is is that it will be looked at. >> Well, that's fine. And you know, if you can involve those in the school system, in the school district there, can they get

055be involved in that discussion? >> It would be a good committee for you to get on if you had some love. We're always looking for committee members. >> Be glad to. >> Yep. Always. >> Again, thanks guys. I appreciate it. >> Just to be clear, too, just to you referenced something about operational budget. Bond money is a totally separate budget. People completely away from operational. We can't spend it on teachers. We can't spend it on on non assets. That's >> Thanks. Thanks. I appreciate it. >> Next speaker who's uh requested signed up is uh Devin >> Wow. >> We Yes, sir. >> Hey, how y'all doing? We I'm here as a parent, not any other representation, nothing else, but just being a parent. And I want to say that I have had students in Freeport.

056I've had students in Lake Jackson. And I've had students in Stephen F. Boston. Stephen F. Boston has made them shine more than anything. Freeport has their good points at times. We struggle with Freeport because of the student ratio. Okay. We don't have problems that and one of the other things I'd like to address it it comes as a concern to us as parents. We have a open district. Why why are the transfers being denied? Last time we went around with this, we asked to go to another school because we didn't keep our kids in the same school together. because they're at that age where one year difference and they have to go to separate schools whenever this would pass. Okay. We would rather our kids be able to stay together because that's what they're used

057to. Any disposition other than that is going to mess with their learning abilities. And as far as transportation goes, I've I've had to provide transportation to Lake Jackson because transportation is not offered from Jones Creek. People that have had their kids come from Lake Jackson to SFA, they have to provide transportation because it's not offered. So transportation is still a big issue on my opinion too because when I had a student in He had to get up at 5:00 in the morning to catch the bus. By the time he gets home at 6:00 in the evening, I can't get him to focus to do anything other than eat and go to bed. That's a big deal. That's that's a learning curve for him. He is borderline ADHD and autistic. We couldn't get him through at

058high school. We had to pull him from high school because of the student ratios to the teachers. We had to pull him and send him to what I have found was the greatest place for him to be was the grad success test. He did amazing because he was able to get more one-on-one on time and had the student ratio he needed. Pulling our kids from SFA doesn't give him that opportunity anymore. And I think it's sad. Other than that, that's really about all I have for you. >> Thank you'all for listening. >> Mr. Weed, in the last year and a half, we've had a lot of representatives of Jones Creek come and talk to us. Um, either during board members or on other occasions. You are the first parent that of a current student that

059we've had come address the board. So, I commend you for that and I also commend the other parents that are here tonight. Um, first person to also bring up the argument that we like our kids going to the same school for six or seven years because if we have multiple young kids, that sure is convenient and you know the we would lose some of that. Um, but in some districts in in some school schools in this district, we are steadily progressing. I've got three granddaughters and they're in three different schools right now. It unfortunately it's part of, you know, kind of part of having multiple kids. But I do appreciate that concern and you're the first one to express it. Um, the other thing I'd like to throw in on busing, these kids would already

060be bus seven years if the parents didn't provide their own transportation. Uh, it would go sixth grade through senior year in high school. And I was a kid that rode a bus. I didn't enjoy it. Um, yes, I got to school um 15 minutes earlier than the regular kids and I got home probably 30 minutes later. Um, but my parents worked. That was just um that was just part of making transportation a little easier. Uh, that I don't think that's bad. But I think the questions that we have about bus routes until we know the number of kids that sign up to ride the bus, we can't give you a clear plan uh what those bus routes will be or how many there'll be. We can't give you that plan in um Richwood either until

061we know the kids that that asked for transportation. So I wanted to add those other than compliment you. >> So as far as I understand what you're saying about not having the numbers until you know how many students >> correct you have a general idea 147 students. >> Worst case scenario take your 147 students. What is it going to take to do it? Right. Uh we'll have a secondary route and an elementary route. And obviously um the elementary route would be more the 90% of the kids probably the sixth graders would be on the secondary schedule. Um, so, uh, I don't know if we do it by grades or by areas of Jones Creek, but, uh, the bulk of the busing and the kids that are going to be bus are all elementary >> because

062if I'm not mistaken, if I'm correct, the elementary schools start earlier than the high school. Correct. >> Uh, it's the opposite. >> Yeah. So, that it's not feasible to put the high school kids and the first graders on the same bus anyway. Well, the the comparison I was using there, that was my high school student when he was in high school. I'd get up at 5:00 in the morning and get on the bus. Yeah. So, and that was that's a lot. Well, that and that needs to be improve. I'm not I don't want to deal with transportation. Okay. But we've got to be better than that. Simply put, simply put, we've got to be better because it's not that far from Jones Creek to Bradport High School. uh that they would need to >> I

063don't think if we do then we're going to address those concerns in September and October and we're probably going to have a room full of parents that are pretty angered about that. Anyway, thank you. Just a point of clarification, too. the we only um bus the designated school for your zone. And so if you if you're SFA student, you choose to go to Lake Jackson school or if you're a Lake Jackson student, choose to go to a free port school, we don't bus. You only bus to the school at your zone, too. So anything that you would choose otherwise, whether that be a transfer, your your your mother's a teacher, your father's a teacher, whatever it may be, you would you would have to provide your own transportation. That's a districtwide policy there. So that's

064not a are required to push you to the school of district zone to in this case SFA would go to a preport lake Jackson go to Lake Jackson school and so on so forth so just to clarify our last uh speaker is Mr. Mike Choke. >> Good evening. My name is Mike Chelco. I'm a concerned citizen of John Jones Creek. I've lived in Jones Creek 40 plus years. I've had students go through the Jones School. I have grandchildren go through the Jones Creek School right now. So, I am concerned about the fact that the school's going to y'all trying to close the school and bust the students out. 147 students. Steve Fost uh it's been there for a long time. Uh it sits on land that was donated from Steve F. Austin family uh to

065be built there, but from Paris is land that was donated for as well named after Steve F. Austin. Um, nothing that I have read or heard has ever been done to try to bolster the enrollment at the campus. There has been nothing done to try to bring other students to the campus. It's always been from my contention that it's been a subject of contention with the whole board that that the school has been costing money, money, money, money, money. It's bleeding money. Um, I would recommend that you postpone your vote for a month till the next meeting. put out an inquiry through all the elementary campuses to the te to the students to their parents to find out if any of them are willing to have their child come to Steve Met Austin to bring

066our numbers up to decrease disparaging dollar figure that the TEA and y'all are showing the $8,000 versus the 7200 $7,200 change. So see if we can get enough students to bring the numbers up to bring that dollar figure down to bring it more comparison. I realize it's not going to increase enrollment throughout the district. It's just going to shuffle numbers around, but it will shuffle numbers around enough to make the TEA see that something was done to try to bring the numbers of the campus up and reduce the cost per student. That's what we're talking about here. It's all about money. It's all about headcount. And and y'all have said it. It's it's money. They cannot blingly come out and say it's about money, but we all can read and see that it's about money.

067It's about the fact that the headcount's so low. But like I said, if we could get the headcount up 50 60 kids, that'll bring that number down to where it's a little more reasonable. So, I would s I would recommend that that you postpone your vote for a month and and run the inquir run, you know, survey through the elementary students. It might be someone like Jackson want to bring their kids to the smaller campus so their their kids get a better one-on-one environment from the overcrowdedness that they have in their other campuses. So Freeport, Lake Jackson, Rich, you never know. It it might turn out to be a good thing and it might, like I said, bring that number down. So I'd appreciate if y'all even consider the fact just postpone your vote for

068a month and and look into that. We recommended that last year. Nothing was done about it from what I understand. Nothing was ever done. We had several recommend recommendations last year that we could have tried to work on to bolster numbers and things at the campus. So that's all I've got to say. Thank you. >> Again, I'm not using the point guy tonight, but the um it's part of the Steven F. Austin reconfiguration that we did to make it a STEM academy. I think we saw, again, correct me if I'm wrong, but it it was around a 50 to 70 student increase because of that. Um, you're shaking your hands. I guess I'm pretty close. Um, and so which we were really happy about. And at the time whenever that was reconfigured into a STEM

069academy, there was no other STEM academy in the district. Uh, we hadn't put on any other campus at the time. So, it was new, it was different. And so we did see a lot of students in other feeder patterns, not just like Jackson or Clue, it was all of them that had interest in that and saw some value in that. And so we saw an uptick. We did. We saw I want to say 50 to 70 and it may have been 75. Um but anyways in the 50 to 100 range, but 100% of those students I shouldn't say 100% 95% of those students all returned back to their original campus um after about a two to threeyear period um because of the distance. I would assume mostly because of the distance. Um and so it

070it is very difficult for us to justify a declining school district from a total number standpoint to pluck some students from here, pluck some students from there to move them over there and expect that they would stay there for four or five years and the gentleman spoke earlier earlier about the distance and the time you'd have to get up and get your student out there plus get back to your own work. all those things. Um, it created an issue that wasn't sustainable for the families that chose to do it initially. Now, if we try it again, maybe it would be different and they would stay there and and then a new generation of people would want to try to and do those things too as well. But but those all things are are whatifs and

071and but it has been tried. It was a draw at one point because of the reconstitution of that uh school as a STEM academy. Um but we did not sustain that same level of uh students during maybe a two to three year period post that just >> my comment had nothing to do with the STEM. I No, I understand. I'm just I'm just giving you a reference point back to something that we did that created a population increase for your school and then we didn't from other areas and it didn't sustain itself. >> I've I've had several conversations with uh folks that I work with and then folks out in the community as well that have have have made comments about the fact that their student is struggling in the class that they're in. And

072the students in Jones Creek seem to be excelling because of the smaller numbers of more more personal one-on-one time with a teacher and they would like to move their but but that's that's hearsay I understand I don't have any facts >> and to to the gentleman's point earlier we are an open district and we do allow transfers and we're not seeing that >> any they've had that option for the last 10 plus years that we've been on this board so >> one time >> they've had that option too so and people have chosen there have been people that have chosen to do that we do have people out there in Jones Creek that aren't residents of Jones Creek as well they're either neighboring or from other districts because they're work in that area or their

073their mother is a teacher or father's a teacher or whatever it may be. >> I'm sorry, but a lot of them may not know if they have that option to to take and move their child that they are required to go to the school that they are are sent to go to. So that's what I'm saying. They sent out information to to families to get off from that option. We're going to need we're going to need you to come to the podium if you're going to speak, but >> thank you. >> Yeah, no problem. >> Just a reference. >> Okay, Mr. Red, when we had a meeting, didn't you tell me that um >> Pam, I'm sorry. I need you to address the board. >> Okay. Then I address the board for the STEM Academy.

074Okay. For a school to be designated STEM Academy, a whole curriculum, the curriculum has to be different than any other school to be certified at the STEM Academy. I already contacted the TEA. Stephen F. is not a STEM academy. It has never even applied to become a STEM Academy. So for it to be even named Stephen Fost STEM Academy, it's basically saying false advertisement. By you saying we're going to build a STEM Academy for you guys to pass a bond is a lie. Then last year whenever we had this same vote and I went to your website and we went into the transfers. All the schools were listed except Stephen Evox. So I don't know from what time to what time Stevenson was unlisted on the BC website to accept or deny transfers. A lot

075of the community people have emailed me stating that they have asked to be gone to Stephen Abustin and the transfers have been denied. Why can we not upgrade Stephen of Austin to be an actual STEM academy like you do best Brandon um the other elementary school like make their classroom more techsavvy, make it more prettier so that people will actually want to go to Steph of Boston because last year whenever I went to for the first time I went to the pie eating concept, I was shocked that their fountain was the same fountain was when I was going to school. and I'm 45 years old. The school, even though it's wellmaintained, it's old. Okay? You look at any other school in BC in Lake Jackson, they're all TWW. It was built in 2019. Why was

076that one built and not Stephen Boston? They're saying because he became a playing a or whatever. Okay. T uh TWWR Best Brandon. My kids went to Best Brandon. We were in the PTA together. You know me for a very long time. And what did what was the first thing they did in Best Brandon? A big retention pond. TWWR big retention pond. It does not take a rocket science to figure out what we need to do to make it feasible. If you were able to build a state of the art be >> we built a retention fund for it, too. >> Yeah. >> And you were able to spend all this $7 million pool and you were able to build wood and the CTE and everything else. Why can the engineers BLK or whatever whatever engineers

077they cannot figure out how to make Stephen and Austin work? >> One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. There's a lot of people here that can put their heads together to make this work and make it grow. >> Thank you. I want to congratulate the students and the teachers on their accomplishments and the recognition that they received tonight. I think that's well done. Thank you. >> Appreciate you. >> Any any other comments from the board before we There we go. All right. So I I am uh privileged to also be from Jones Creek, grew up in Jones Creek. Went to Stephen F. Austin. Uh my mom and my wife both taught there for cumulative over 50 years. I feel like I have a a stake in Jones Creek. I don't feel like I need

078to prove that. About 18 years ago, uh I started getting interested in our school in Steven Boston. uh not just as a parent, but uh because I was concerned about about our school. And so I went and I talked to every mayor uh from back then when it was Mr. Mitchell uh all the way through except for Corey. I have not talked to Corey uh about the state of uh our our school and our community and my concern about this day today. So, I'll just tell you as a board member, this is my worst day in my 15 years here because I got on the board, I ran for the board to try and prevent this day. We also had 350 students. We had wonderful success. Uh, as everything that everybody said positive about CNF

079Boston, absolutely true. I said it myself. And I love Jones Creek. I moved all the way from California back to Jones Creek when my son was old enough to go to school for the very o opportunity to go there. I I'm frustrated. Uh but I appreciate your I I appreciate everyone from Jones Creek for their uh for their honesty. I appreciate them for um for how committed they are to their community because I feel like I'm the same way. And and I'm a little bit frustrated when people talk about transparency because we've been talking about this uh for years. I've been talking about it for 18 years with everyone who had listened. uh came to a council meeting a couple years ago to share that our numbers have gone down and didn't get much traction

080at the time except from Beverly Lightner who was the judge or who is the judge but she understood because she worked for the district at one point and she understood what those numbers meant as those numbers in Jones Creek went down except every uh other folks who who who listened uh like many of us when we think that there's an institution that's been there for decades we think is not going anywhere. And yet here we are. Uh I I'll just as a reminder uh you know we're volunteer. We don't get paid. All the board members are here to to give their best for our community, for their kids, what we think is best, not for an individual school, not for an individual uh project. uh Howard Huitt uh longtime member of Jones Creek. He's passed

081away when I was running for the board. We had a community uh gathering to discuss uh being on the board and also they were voting on, believe it or not, the water and sewer uh 15 years ago. And Howard Huitt asked me if I would treat Stephen F. Austin as a golden cow, as a golden calf. And I told him, "No, I would not. And that didn't really ring true until uh the last couple of weeks that he asked me that in my response. And when I ran for the board, I promised myself I would never become a politician. And I'm sorry you're hearing way more than you want to. But I haven't said anything on purpose. Uh because I think it's normally much wiser to hold your tongue rather than to share. But it

082frustrates me when people accuse me or our board of hiding not being transparent. Y'all realize we don't even have to have this meeting. We didn't even have to announce that this is to even take a vote. We could have done this at the end of the year uh in close session. We really didn't have to have a vote period. But every school that we've changed that we've reconfigured or that we've closed, we've come in from the public to share the information. uh information about the money. We share that all the time. It's on the It's on our website. You can look and see where we spend every penny. All the time. We talk about it at meeting after meeting after meeting, but most of the time folks aren't here to see it and then make

083accusations that we're hiding the money, that we're moving the money. And and that's a frustration because for me, honesty is probably the most important thing in my life. So when someone accuses me of not being honest, I really take I take offense to that. We have a great district. I could not be more proud. It is better today than 15 years ago when I got here. It's not because of me. It's because of all of our people. We have a great community. This sucks. It's probably not very presidential. That's terrible. That's terrible. I got one last thing. So, I love Stephen Austin. I love Sean Creek. This is a terrible day for me. So, I want you to know that we have a motion. I'm sorry. We have a recommendation from our board. I'm sorry.

084from we have a recommendation from the administration to reszone uh attendance SFA elementary to be reszone to the neighboring BIC campuses based on the grade levels in the 2026 27th school year specific campus assignments prek through 2nd to free elementary and 3rd through 5th to Glen Elementary. Do I hear a motion? I will make that motion for the benefit of our students. >> I'll second it. >> All right. It's been moved by Mr. Atkins. It's been seconded by Scott Schwartner. All in favor signify by saying I. >> And all opposed by name. The motion carries. Next item that we have on our agenda is the amendment to the student code of conduct. Mr. Whitehead, Deputy Superintendent of Administrative Services, will do our presentation. In accordance with board policy fo local and district goal bd learning

085environments will be safe and conducive to learning. is my pleasure to present for consideration amendment an amendment to the 2526 student code of conduct. The student code of conduct was revised for the 2526 school year and after major changes took place during the 89th legislative session. The revisions were extensive. Therefore, BISD utilized utilizes the TASBY model student code of conduct. One specific section of the code of conduct outlines the appeals process when a student is assigned to the disciplinary alternative education program or juvenile justice alternative program. A DAP placement appeal historically had two levels. First with the campus principal followed by a second with a panel of three administrators designated by the superintendent. Additionally, a JJ AE expulsion has been appealable directly to the board of trustees. The TASBY model did not include the local

086provision of discipline appeals going through our previously adopted process. Rather, it had disciplinary appeals following board policy FNG the grievance policy which normally goes through three levels with the third being the board of trustees. The intent for the 2526 student code of conduct was to continue the appeals policy at level one and level two as in the previous years. However, the transfer of this language was not clear in the 2526 student code of conduct. In your board book, you have an excerpt showing the language that would be changed to reflect the recommendation. And this slide shows a brief overview of that change. The right shows an outline of our board policy FNG local which is the grievance pol pro process which has three levels and ends with the board of trustees. The left side outlines

087our previous year's practice for discipline appeals and reflects the recommended amendment to the 2526 student code of conduct. This practice has served BISD well for at least the last 15 years and provides stakeholders with a complete appeals process when they disagree with a discipline placement. In summary, this amendment would support prior years practices and procedures and provide clarity regarding the discipline appeals process. With that in mind, the administration recommends that the board of trustees approve the amendment to the student code of conduct as presented, I would be happy to answer any questions you have at this time. >> So, as slow as I was trying to figure this out starting last Wednesday, I finally came to the realization this morning that we're talking about discipline process versus the grievance. >> Sorry, that's okay. It didn't

088take me that long. >> Less than a week. >> It is a never ending challenge for people to understand there's two different processes. >> I read that through and it's like wait a minute this we we've always done this but then I realized that we were talking discipline. Okay. >> So yeah. So well you know with all the legislative changes it's wonder we call it any >> and some districts do follow the FNG for all grievances. Uh it's just where the really the big factor here too is the timeline. When you get into three levels, by the time you get to the board, you already have completed your 35day ADA. So it's not it's not fair to to parents and students to have that legally process. >> I mean the grievances I mean it's totally

089different. >> Yeah. From that standpoint. So okay. >> Any other any other question comments? All right. We have a recommendation. Do a motion. Well, since I now understand the amendment to the student code. >> All right. It has been moved by Mr. Atkins. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Uh, Mr. Dunn has a second. All in favor signify by saying I. >> All oppose by nay. >> All right. Thank. >> Thank you. >> Next item that we have uh on our agenda are our reports. Public comments will be allowed on each report. uh 2025 202 district improvement plan first quarter review. Miss Herrera, thank you for being here. >> She is our director of our state and federal programs. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. In alliance in alignment with the board

090policy BQ local and each district goal, it is my pleasure to deliver the report on the first quarter progress made on the district improvement plan. You have a copy of the first quarter formative review in your board book. During each formative review, strategies that support the accomplishment of performance objectives are evaluated as discontinued in a which indicates no progress, some progress, considerable progress, and accomplished. To review, discontinued means that the strategy was discontinued for this year. NA means that no progress towards accomplishing the strategies intended outcome was made. Some progress means that from 5% to 49% of progress was made. While considerable progress means that from 50 to 94% of progress was made. Accomplished means that 95% or more of the strategies intended outcome was met. This graphic illustrates the progress made towards accomplishing intended

091outcomes during the first quarter. Specifically, 0% was discontinued. 2.6% 6% was rated an in was rated NA 43.5% were rated as some progress 46.1% were rated as considerable progress and 7.4% were rated as accomplished. Goal one. Goal one is the district's academic goal. The curriculum department provided professional development in October focused on high leverage tier one instructional priorities. This included training on explicit writing instruction, modeling, guided math, and number talks. During the first quarter, supplemental math programs, STMath for elementary, and Alex for secondary, were fully implemented to reinforce classroom instruction. The curriculum and instruction department responded to curriculum based assessments through targeted professional development for select classrooms. Teams from campuses across the district have participated in instructional rounds to target specific instructional focuses. Curriculum team members engage in regular classroom walks to provide feedback and

092support as needed to share best practices from across the the district in the area of college career and military readiness or CCMR. Planning took place in conjunction with the Brazesport college to offer FASA workshops with high schools once the FASA opens in December. During the first quarter, the CTE department identified additional opportunities for students to earn meaningful industrial-based certifications and students have begun the certification process. The district is also providing opportunities for students to have free access to earn college credit with Brass's Port College with an increased focus on earning CCMR credit on college readiness indicators through the Brasses Success Academy, BSA. The district continues to provide accelerated instruction to students who are behind in credit and at risk of not graduating. To date, 23 students have graduated from BSA. District goal two. Goal two

093is the district student and staff safety and well-being goal. Each year, district administrators, safety specialists, and law enforcement personnel undergo ongoing national incident management system, NIM, training to ensure they are ready for any safety or security situation that arises. During the first quarter, new staff hired for the 2526 school year have started receiving this training. In the area of student safety, counselors have provided training related to human trafficking and are equipped and the staff on their campus on the potential warning signs of trafficking. The district has also partnered with the Bay Area Council on Drugs and Alcohol, Bakakota, is supporting Brasses Wood and Brassisport high schools with prevention specialists to facilitate small groups to strengthening coping skills and resiliency of targeted students. Additionally, the district has partnered with the Boys and Girls Club to provide

094afterchool programs on campuses to support students. The Boys and Girls Club offers academic enrichment and quality child care on 10 of the BISD campuses. Four campuses currently receive grant funding, allowing the program to be offered at no cost to parents. District goal three. Goal three focuses on promoting, communicating, and marketing the accomplishments, achievements, and success stories of students and staff in BISD. BISD communications continues to implement activities that celebrate the great things happening across the district. This work begins with listening to families and gaining insight into how they view their child's school experience. One strategy that has been implemented this year is the development of a mid-year parent satisfaction survey which was shared with all BISD parents on December 3rd, 2025. To ensure broad participation, reminders are being sent prior to the survey's closing on

095December 19th of 25. The communications department is also developing standardized procedures for the way BISD markets the accomplishments of students, staff, and programs to the community. To support this work, the district is committed to increasing the number of stories and news releases complete with photos and details and sharing them promptly. During the first quarter, the department met with the athletics department to improve the consistency of athletic updates and accomplishments shared with the communications team. With this collaboration showing positive results, the department plans to partner with the additional areas to strengthen and streamline the flow of stories across the the district. In the area of campuses identifying one designated contact to collect stories and events, principles were named as the official campus contact. Having a clear point of contact ensures that celebrations and positive stories are

096captured and shared with the community. This strategy helps to strengthen the district's efforts to highlight the everyday accomp accomplishments that reflect the heart of BISD. District goal four focuses on BISD's technology systems and financial practices. BISD's technology continues to implement activities that continue to improve the district's technology infrastructure and advance district initiatives. One strategy that has begun this year is improving the district's cyber security. The network monitor system is now fully operational and alerts are being sent to the core technology team to support timely responses when concerns arise. The district is also continuing to evaluate and review a zero trust VPN solution. The new identity automation system went live on 12325. There are still some action items and punch list remaining and should be completed before the end of the year. The technology department is

097also transitioning the district's phone system from an older setup to a more modern and reliable solution. The circuit install was completed on November 20th and AT&T has sent their router to be racked and installed. Test and turnup of the circuit to connect both AT&T and BISD voice network was completed on December 9th. We are now testing the voice calls to make sure all is communicating without without any issues. The last phase of this project is to is to port all the BISD phone lines to the new circuit. This will be scheduled in January. BISD once again earned a superior rating in the state financial integrity rate of Texas or FIRST, which is the TEA's financial accountability system. The superior rating rating affirms that the district is exercising fiscal responsibility to ensure financial strength. Supplemental funds

098were once again distributed to campuses and district level programs to support instruction and programs that positively impact student learning. The district continues to support students experiencing homelessness by providing services under the McKenna Vento homeless assistance act and title one. The McKini Vento law ensures that children and youth who who lack a stable regular place to live still have the right to attend school and receive the same educational opportunities as other students. Counselors have interviewed students to determine which students are eligible for McKenna Vento Title One services. Identified students receive necessary support to ensure they receive outcomes equitable to their peers in stable housing. This involves monitoring their grades and attendance and coordinating required interventions. District goal five focuses on recruiting, developing, and retaining highly effective staff. The district's registered apprenticeship program is off to another

099strong start with 62 apprentices currently enrolled. 12 on-ramp four apprentices have now prepared to transition into full-time teaching positions and the HR department has welcomed 12 new apprentices for the 2526 school year. To support apprentice development, the district continues strengthening partnerships with universities committed to preparing future educators. The HR department is working closely with Brazport College, Grand Canyon University, Reach University, Western Governance University, and 240 certification. They are also exploring expanded partnerships with Teachworthy, Region 4, Steven F. Boston State University, Sam Houston State University, and Charleton State University to broaden the district's recruitment reach. The district's apprenticeship program provides 28 targeted trainings each year. Apprentices in each on-ramp engage in focused learning and on the job training designed to expand their knowledge, support reflective practice, and deepen their instructional understanding. Additionally, the district continues to

100participate in career fairs at Texas A&M University, Stephen F. Austin State University, Sam Houston State University, the University of Houston, Texas State University, and others to strengthen its pipeline of prospective teachers. The district continues its efforts to retain talent by connecting new teachers with phenomenal TIA designated and highly experienced educators, fostering strong relationships from the start. New teachers participate in the new teacher academy and their mentors conduct both fall and spring observations to provide meaningful actionable feedback. This structure ensures that new teachers receive the support, guidance, and encouragement needed to thrive while experiencing the full sense of care the district has to offer. Since this is a report, no board action is required. At this time, I would be happy to answer any clarifying questions you may have. >> Are there any questions from the

101board? >> Yes, sir. >> Of of the active apprentices, 12 new ones started this year. Is that what is that? >> 12. That includes clinicals started to this the beginning of the school year. >> Okay. Okay. So the clinicals are we include in the program and they're your traditional student teachers but we still provide all the training for them. >> Okay. >> How many how many are we expecting for new teachers for 26 27 >> with apprentices? >> You mean new apprentices or to fill roles? >> Fill roles. >> We should have including ones that are done at semester at the end of next year we should have about 20. ready to go. >> The way we have it structured now, >> so they're doing the yearong residency and then they'll start their certification program,

102giving them enough time to complete it to be certified to go in the classroom. >> Certification. >> Yes, there is. And that's one of the reasons we shifted. >> We've got 23 BSA graduates >> today. Yes. Hopefully get a couple end of this year. I mean end of calendar. >> Any other questions on the student teacher? Do we are we putting them into the apprentice program? Student teacher is are they in the same program? >> They aren't in the same certification program necessarily, but we do put them into the apprenticeship like they're part of the department of labor. stuff that we do because we provide all the training. So, but we're not necessarily >> so they don't get like a normal >> teacher going to whatever campus you just >> they don't have the year

103requirement, but we still provide them with a mentor. They are making a wage. They're a paid student teacher. >> It's just a little bit >> but we're giving them the same they're going through the same training program that apprentice would be going. fifth year apprentice or fourth year apprentice, third year apprentice, whatever it may be. >> Yeah, that's great. >> So what's our >> that may be the bigger benefit of the whole program honestly is >> given that extra support. So are we have we kept some of the student the traditional student? >> We will be. Yes. >> Okay. >> So I know Brazwood High School is wanting to um fix like something that we can provide possibly those store um for one of the ones that teach history but Yes, we will be able

104>> ever since the lead one retired. >> Any questions from the audience? >> All right. Thank you, ma'am. >> Thank you. Next item that we have on our agenda uh under reports is special education program evaluation. Miss Lauren Ferllo, our executive director of special services. >> Good evening. As the executive director of special services in Brazport ISD, I have the honor of serving the students who receive special education and supporting the staff and families that work with them. As part of requirements under House Bill 2, I'm here tonight to present you with the overall special education program evaluation. Before we de delve into the program evaluation, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the exceptional staff at the heart of the department of special services. Mindy sitting right over there. This dedicated team, this

105dedicated team works tirelessly not just to meet compliance standards, but to also ensure that all staff feel supported and empowered to deliver their services so that every student with disabilities in our district achieves their maximum potential. Along with this group, the district-wide support staff, classroom teachers, and pair professionals, and campus leadership's commitment to students receiving special education services is the foundation of all the success and progress we are reviewing tonight. Francisport ISD has seen a steady increase in special education student enrollment over the last five years with the most recent snapshot data showing us serving 228 students or approximately 19% of our district enrollment. You can also see this year's snapshot data by campus which ranges from around 15% at Brazeswood High School to 25% at Freeport Intermediate. Special education enrollment has increased across the

106state in recent years similar to BISD's growth. I'll be speaking about a specific contributing factor to that a little bit later in the presentation. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDA federal legislation along with Texas Education Code provides for 13 different eligibility areas for students to qualify for underneath special education. While identified students can be eligible under multiple areas, for example, they could be deaf or heart of hearing and speech or language impairment. Primary eligibility areas are used here to provide you with an at a glance information on the variety of eligibilities that we serve here in Bradport ISD. Our largest eligibility area at 31% is specific learning disability. This encompasses areas such as basic reading skills, fluency, comprehension and dyslexia, math calculation and problem solving and written expression. This is followed by autism

107at 18% rate and the speech or language impairment at 14%. In BISC, we offer a full continuum of services for students aged 3 through 21 designed to meet the individual needs of each student. Our services range from supports like early childhood programs for three and four year olds to in-class supports where students receive their special education services within the general education classroom. We also provide more intensive support settings like resource or dyslexia intervention as well as self-contained settings for unique and complex instructional needs like the life skills program or the best the best program which is our behavior support program. In addition, for students who require additional instructional supports after completing their high school curriculum requirements, they could be eligible to receive 18 plus programming or transitional services such as those provided at the BISD

108transition center or our project search program partnership with Texas Workforce and Dell Chemical. In addition to the continuum of services, we also provide a variety of related services to support our students. These related and instructional services for a student could include speech, occupational or physical therapy, vision and orientation or mobility services, or counseling, psychological and social work services. Any of these related or instructional services could be determined as essential for a student to benefit from their special specially designed instruction plan. Special education is a dynamic field that is impacted by continuous updates to evidence-based practices as well as legislative and regulatory changes. Two key changes that have had the most impact on special education recently include dyslexia and changes to the complaints process. In Texas, there have been many changes to dyslexia services across the

109last few years, most recently as part of House Bill 2928. Dyslexia was formally integrated into special education. This integration required schools to move evaluation and direct instruction of students in any dyslexia program underneath the special education umbrella, thereby increasing enrollment in special education numbers across our district as well as the state. Recent years have also seen adoption of amendments that have impacted the special education dispute resolution process. These changes have broadened the scope of what is considered to be an area for a special education complaint investigation. As we look ahead, TEA has also indicated it's working on even further expansion of the capacity of their complaint department as well as implementing the new service intensity funding model for special education under House Bill 2. Federal and state compliance for special education is monitored through the

110resultsdriven accountability or RDA system. This system monitors not only the academic achievement and performance of students receiving special education services. It also includes measures for monitoring post-secary readiness disproportionate analysis as well as valid reliable and timely data. Contrary to most scoring systems, higher is not better. Under RDA, the lower the performance level rating, the better. A PL of zero would indicate no areas to monitor, while a PL4 would indicate the need for a targeted intervention. You can see here Brazesport ISD's special education programs average performance level remains around the PL1, illustrating that the district continues to appropriately program for and support the needs of our special education students. As part of district compliance measures, TEA also monitors special education disagreements or concerns. If disagreements arise, we utilize the structured dispute resolution process provided by TEA.

111This process includes options like hard committee meetings, mediation, and due process hearings, all aimed at resolving concerns efficiently and effectively. As I shared previously, the state has expanded the scope of their investigations process and you can see here that as a result, complaints received across the state has significantly increased. In BISD, we are committed to collaborative relationships with our families we serve. However, if disagreements do arise, we do utilize the dispute resolution process and work to resolve these issues at the local level if possible. It should be noted that given the currently expanding scope of the TEA complaints process, one would anticipate that increases would be seen here in BC. To maintain highquality programming, ensure staff are up to date on compliance measures and to help mitigate potential complaints. We provide comprehensive professional development opportunities

112within the Department of Special Services. In addition to real-time coaching opportunities within our classrooms, we work to provide training on a variety of topics to meet our varying student needs. Some topics and sessions provided already this year include standardsbased IEP processes, applied behavior analysis for everyone, and promoting interpersonal skills in young children. We are especially excited to bring back for our fourth year this summer our building our future conference. This conference style professional development opportunity is open to any staff within the district and provides a multitude of micro training options and has been very well received by staff who really appreciate the ability to select their specific training topics necessary to meet the needs of the individual students within their classroom. And finally, we'd like to highlight the family and community partnership opportunities provided by

113the Department of Special Services. Navigating needs for students receiving special education services can be complex within the school setting and especially in our family's home. To support our families, we offer opportunities to participate in our department advisory meetings as well as access to a quarterly newsletter in Revit with resources for special education and disability related needs. This year we are providing three resource fairs with our second fair bring bringing in over 20 community organizations to share about their resources. We are looking forward to our final fair this year on March 17th where we will be partnering with surrounding districts and expanding the network of resources within our community. We believe family and community engagement is vital and are so grateful for our collaborative partners that help support the work of the Department of Special Services

114in serving our students receiving special education. Thank you for your continued support of the Department of Special Services as well as the opportunity to report to you on Brazport ISD special education program. I'm very happy to answer any questions. >> Any questions from the board? Um, thank you for clarifying the average performance level that you know you answered that and then I went back. Okay, so that so good. We're on the good side. >> That's nice. Um, and thanks for the numbers. I think Brian sent him whatever about I I was surprised that we don't have as many or we don't we have six or nine non enrolled testing or screening. >> Uh for the um when we're looking at our evaluation information, you asked a question about the people who are not enrolled. >>

115Um for private school and home school, we see anywhere from like six to nine initial evaluation requests a year. The largest number that we see for initial uation request comes from our three, four, and five year olds who are not enrolled in the school district. And that ranges about a hundred requests for evaluations a year. And just remember, initial evaluations doesn't always mean qualifying, right? >> Just going through the evaluation process. >> So they we'll get a majority of those possible, right? >> Um I have one more. Oh, 19%. I I thought it would be a little higher. So, you know, it been creeping up over the years, but then when you said the dyslexia was added in there, I'm I guess I'm happy that it's only 19%. So, >> we we thought we would

116see a steady incline, but I think it was remaining proportionate based on our overall district enrollment because we are seeing some of our students leave. >> Yeah. And for us old people with bad memories, would you introduce >> I would be thrilled to they are absolutely amazing. Stephanie Chrisman is the lead coordinator for special services. Tiffany Hughes is one of our area and instructional coordinators. Kira Francis is another one of our instructional area coordinators. And Brenda Setter is our uh coordinator of identification and compliance. >> Yeah. Thank you. I think what you do I won't remember you later, but that's okay. >> Y'all can thank y'all next couple weeks after Friday. Lauren, I have a I have a question. It's going to sound silly, but but why are there more people being identified to fall

117in that fall into this? I know what the state did and they increased testing and and give a lot more money for it, but but they my real question is have they always been there and they were unidentified or are we just seeing more and more people who are born with these biological issues that are now coming to the surface? >> I think it's a little bit of everything. I mean, and this is just a hypothesis. Um, I think we are getting better with our identification processes. Early ident identifiers for disabilities are more clear. We're seeing lots of changes in research and identification of different disabilities. Awareness is another piece. Um, in addition to that, and I'm kind of almost speaking personally if you know the story of my own child, med medic has advanced

118so much that a lot of students who are or a lot of children are being born prematurely but medicine has advanced their ability to remain alive. >> Okay. >> But sometimes being born early still comes with some additional you know issues and things that could be need to be addressed and so that's just a hypothesis of why we are seeing a greater number of identification. What role has the state played in the increase in testing subjects? The state requiring state requirements for testing change. I guess that's what I'm trying to ask. >> Uh the only change in recent years has been for dyslexia. Dyslexia used to under the dyslexia handbook be allowed to be identified and provided for under section 504 or ADA. Now in the last uh with House Bill I think I gonna

119say the numbers right 29 28 um that has been encompassed by special education and they have said now the state the guidance from the state completely changed where it does have to be identified through the special education or IDA process. So that's the biggest change >> but other than the dyslexia that criteria hasn't changed too much over the years. >> No sir no changes in any other eligibility identification are >> and last I I have I need some data for our district for IDA. So, I'll be sending that >> again. Glad to provide you with >> I just want to say thank you all. It's um super important service that you guys provide and it takes a special person to leave our special needs children and so appreciate all you do. >> Thank you, ma'am.

120Uh, next item that we have on our uh, agenda under reports is board reports. Do we have any reports from our board members? I do want to recognize um, Danny Massie. He is officially the longest serving superintendent in the history OF last month or this month, one of the two. But today serving with you and leading this district. We appreciate your leadership and what you've done for our district and our students just >> I I the day that we offered him the job uh he's like I don't know if I'm the right man but I'm the right man for today right now >> almost 11 years later it's working out >> I just like to point out thank for information he gave me on the >> director of information thing that was that was that

121was good that didn't have to pull from the consent I understood almost >> went to also thanks Ludy for putting in the budget stuff that even I get to see it first and I still look at it but anyway thank you again. I like it. >> Michael, thank you for being here to get it get the word spoken >> even though you may have missed the numbers. I don't know. >> Any other members? >> Yes. uh went to ASL Christmas concert. >> Um between 350 and 400 kids involved and they did the show. Um the uh instructors were in the audience. So that that was very impressive. And then um this Breton, I know he's he's he's very proud. Um but sixth grade choir concert, but it was it was like a Charlie Brown Christmas.

122Oh, >> they're almost a friend of the house. It was so cool. But those those are great events, great things happening that um we don't get enough opportunity to see everything going on, but uh we need to let you know >> tomorrow is transition center Christmas 11 to 11 to 1 to >> 11 to one. Anybody know where transition center is? Next item that we have on our uh agenda is our work session discussion. The next uh regularly scheduled board meeting will be right here January the 26th at 6 o'clock. The next item that we have is executive session. Executive session may be called for the purposes permitted by the Texas Open Meeting Act, Texas Government Code section 551.001 through 551.1.6. Six. Section 551.071 consultation with attorney. Section 551.72 for the purpose of discussing the

123purchase, exchange, lease, or value of your property. Section 551.074 personnel matters, appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duty to discipline, dismissal, or complaint. Section 551.082 for the purpose of considering discipline of a public school child or complaint or charge against personnel. We shall return shortly. >> Doesn't matter. >> All right. We returning from executive session at 8:56. Unless there is anyone in objection, we will stand adjourned. >> Merry Christmas.