001Trusty Brandon Barti did join us at 5:35 and Trusty Taylor Gilwood at 5:52. >> Okay, next up will be our public participation, but we do not have any today. So, we going to go ahead and move forward to our staff reports by uh Superintendent Dr. Mark Ptery. Thank you, President Johnson and board members. Tonight we have two of Port Arthur's finest, uh, Dr. Angel Murphy and Mr. Trent Johnson. Uh, they will come and they will tell you exactly what's going on. We've had a very, as I just said, we've had a very good start of the school year. Things are going extremely well. Of course, we're not we're nowhere near where we want to be. when we will never be satisfied. But I will say things are going exceptionally well. So at this time I
002will ask the president, not president, the the principal, the principal, she's the president, the principal of the, as they say, the Memorial High School 912 to come forward. >> Well, good morning to everyone. President Boff Johnson, the board, Dr. Portery, everyone here this evening. I'm going to briefly go over the turnaround plan that you all approved for us last month. Memorial High School's turnaround plan. Our mission statement at Memorial High School, a thriving learning community challenges and inspires students to discover their passions and pursue their goals through strong dedication and commitment to achieve success above and beyond high school. Our core beliefs at Memorial are achievement, integrity, character, respect, and responsibility. The vision statement of Memorial High School is a learning community committed to providing positive, rigorous, and meaningful learning experiences that promote the intellectual
003growth, social responsibility, physical development, and creative stimulation for the development of students skills and abilities. The curriculum responds to evolving student interests and current global challenges and includes specialized and in-depth studies. Students are supported in taking intellectual and creative risks as they engage in their studies. At Memorial High School, cultural differences are honored and respected. Is our highest expectation to help all students to become confident learners and responsible global citizens. Our turnaround plan. The objective of the turnaround plan is to enhance foundational practices as outlined in the effective schools framework at the campus level in order to improve student outcomes by focusing on school improvement strategy implementation, building systems and capacity and feedback solicitation. Our school improvement strategy at Memorial High School will partner with TA vetted partner Texas Instructional Leadership to foster continuous improvement
004in the following areas. Objectived driven daily lesson plans with formative assessments which is effective schools framework 5.1 datadriven instruction effective schools framework 5.3 compelling and aligned vision mission goals and values focus on a safe environment and high expectations effective schools framework 3.1 memorial high school will also have the strategy alignment of data data driven instruction and federal accountability. Through the Texas Instruction Leadership's focus on datadriven instruction, teachers build the capacity to interpret and apply student data effectively. This ensures more accurate interventions and supports federal and state ratings dependent on valid performance measures. The vision, mission, and schoolwide alignment. By embedding TIL practices into leadership routines, schools can more consistently communicate and reinforce their vision and mission. This alignment fosters collective efficacy and supports indicators such as CCMR outcomes, graduation rates, and closing achievement gaps. Time
005for planning and instructional quality, college career, military readiness, and graduation rates. The milestones and monitoring will be year 1, milestone 1 weeks 1-9, milestone 2, weeks 10 through 18, milestone 3, weeks 19- 27, and milestone 4, weeks 28- 36. For year two, we will have milestone 5 weeks 37- 45. Milestone 6, weeks 46- 54. Milestone 7, weeks 55- 63. And milestone 8, weeks 64- 72. What we did for time, funding and staffing, we did do personnel where we had added associate principal, a dean of instruction, some teachers, special education, we added an inclusion and adaptive behavior classroom, some English language arts and math. Professional development includes our text instruction leadership training. All campus administrators and instructional coaches participate. instructional practices, teachers, instructional coaches, and campus administrators. And our content resources, our teachers, instructional coaches, and
006campus administrators. Also, we are trying to enforce all of our teachers to become ESL endorsed time scheduled time allocated for common planning among teachers of like subjects and professional learning communities, [clears throat] which are held every Thursday on our campus. We also did our funding that was allocated to our TA vetted partner, Texas Instructional Leadership. >> Dr. Murphy. >> Yes. Um, not I'm I'm going to ask you to pause. >> Yes. >> And uh the plan is wonderful and I'm glad the board has it, but I'm going to say this. I've seen you in action. >> I've seen what you have done with Memorial High School. >> Yes, sir. >> It's a totally different a totally different place. And I applaud you for that. Dr. Murphy, I want you to talk to this board and
007this audience with the passion that you speak to your kids, okay? >> The passion you speak with the staff, the vision that you have. I see it every time I'm in your presence. This is wonderful and I'm glad you have the turnaround plan. But I want you I want Dr. Murphy, the principal of Memorial High School 9 through 12, to let us know what you're doing and what you have done to turn that school around. The energy that you carry with you every >> All right. All right. This is This is who we want to see. We want to see Pat Murphy. >> No problem. Well Well, let me say this. Um, when you say what's going on at Memorial High School, we're trying to change the culture and the climate at Memorial High School.
008The first thing that we wanted to do was change the way the community sees Memorial High School. We want to change the way students feel when they say they go to Memorial High School. We want our students to say, "I go to Memorial High School. I go to Neland. It doesn't matter if you go to Neland, we MHS." So, that's the first thing that we do is that every day on the announcements, we tell our students at the end of announcement, tighten up because we believe that you're a Titan. you need to tighten up. So, all of our students are beginning to have that mindset. It's a slow shift, but our kids are buying in. And the first thing we needed was to get our staff to buy in. So, before school even began, we
009had those meetings with the teachers. You know, you either get on or you get off. And that at the end of the day, that's what it's about. Because if you're not here for our children, if you're not here for our community, you need to get off. Absolutely. >> Because at this point in time, it takes every last one of us. And every time I speak to someone, I need for people to understand that it's not about Dr. Murphy. I I need people to lead Dr. Murphy outside the door. It's not about me. It's about our children. And people understand what my mission is and what my purpose is and why I'm where I am. It's not about me. It's about these children. And I look at them every day in the hallway and they come
010up to me and say, "Thank you, Dr. Murphy. I can finally think." I had a student that's a senior. He's not classified as a senior, but he will be in December. And he said, "You know what, Dr. Murphy? When I left that ninth grade center, I turned into a 10th grader. I walked these halls every day. I did whatever I wanted to do. He said, "My 11th grade year, they put me in credit recovery. I still walked the halls and did whatever I wanted to do." He said, "You know what? This year, it's so structured. I don't have nothing to do but go to class and do my work." Thank you. >> And that's what it's about. We are here to guide children. >> We are not here for the children to guide us. >>
011Will they like every decision that we make? No, they won't. But later in the future when they come back and they say I am somebody because you cared enough to say no when I said yes. That's what it's about. So when you talk about this turnaround plan, it's about turning around the mindset of our community, our parents, our students, our team, our faculty, and our board. We have to be on the same page every single day. And I appreciate the board because I'm telling you what, Facebook runs Fort >> and I have to say that the board has done a wonderful job by not buying to every story that comes on because they they can come into the building any day and say, "Whoa, wait a minute. I thought they said you didn't let kids
012in without a backpack." I thought they said you hate children. I thought, BUT WHEN YOU COME INTO THE SCHOOL, you see what's really happening every single day. So, thank you for coming to the school, Miss Johnson. pep rallies. Miss Johnson, thank you. Mr. Getwood, he walks the hallways. He sees what's happening every single day. Mr. Loftton, thank you all for being a voice, being a support. And when I'm feeling some I get tired. I say, I don't I don't I can't do this today cuz I do. I get tired. I'm like, I can't argue with somebody about something that's very very blatant. >> And then the board steps up and I remember Taylor said, "Don't worry, we got you." And that meant a lot to me. That means a lot to me because we are
013trying to do something great here and I can't wait till people put respect on Memorial High School. That's all I have to say. >> Okay, you may have questions. Hold on for that. But that's the Angel Murphy, Dr. Angel Murphy that we see every day in those halls. And you know what? I'll say this. The students, >> I mean, they're beautiful. They're wonderful. They have turned. And you know what? Students want to do well. They want to be proud of their school. Yes. And you and your staff along with a lot of parents are behind you and you all have done that. We see the difference. Thank you. [applause] >> Well, first and foremost, let me quickly rush to say congratulations. I don't know if many of you know this, but Dr. Murphy just received
014an award on what was that yesterday? The day before yesterday. >> One of the days. One of the days. Tell tell us the award you you received. Tuesday and empowerment and education award I received on Tuesday. >> There we go. And I think today we were all able to see exactly why she was chosen for that award. Uh let me also quickly rush to say that I am just beyond thankful um for your [clears throat] leadership during these times. Um I can humbly say and I've had the chance to travel the world many different places um and sit in rooms where my mind has been um challenged to be outside of the Porta mentality. And so when I hear you say about the mindset and the mentality of our community is exactly um our biggest
015hurdle and biggest setback and our biggest challenge. Um and I'm appreciative to my colleagues and to Dr. Portery for us being one band, one sound as it relates to the leadership that we put in place um as it relates to changing these things. And the high school has always been something that has been very near and dear to my heart just mainly because it's the last piece that our students have before they leave. and I graduated in 2020 from Woodro Wilson Early College High School, Memorial High School, and went off to Texas Southern University and realized that I was nowhere near prepared like I thought I should have been. And that gave me the courage to come back to run for this position and get this position and serve on this board and understand how
016things really truly work. Um, and as a community member, as a leader, I was able to see things from a different perspective that I would have never taken into account before. And so the work that you do is truly transformative. And while you have to do it in the midst of a community that doesn't always understand, but you've never once let that defeat you and you've never once left this city. So thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> Um also I want to say thank you for this turnaround plan. Hopefully we can get some um of what we can well all of it is public information but what we can divulge to the community so that way they can understand what your vision is and how they get into the vision. how can they
017be a part of tighten up? How can we get our community to tighten up? I think that will be a very great campaign um so we can all get on board and really truly tighten up. We got some work to do here in Port Arthur ISD, but I I can truly say, and I don't mean this by any slight or shades, but in the 5 years that I've been on this board, I can truly say that I'm seeing us tighten up and I can truly say that I can see us moving in the right direction. And so, you have our full support for sure. >> Thank you, Mr. Gwood. Dr. Murphy, how you doing? >> How you doing? [clears throat] >> Once again, congratulations on your work. And we also spoke Tuesday night, so you
018know how I feel about the situation and where I'm coming from. Um, I haven't uh had the opportunity to actually be hands-on like I used to be. I took another road in my job, so I I got to be there full-time now. But if you don't see me, that's a good thing. I tell people when they see me then you it's something going on. But if you don't see me that's a good thing. And u I see the change. I hear it but I see it. I see it in different areas. It's and it's it it came like a flood but it was a good flood. And I I've seen it with just football team. I've seen it with the other kids other kids in the community. I know that this boy made a good
019decision by placing you there. I backed that. I'm going to continue to back that. I'm your number one fan. I told you I'm going to I'm going to for you because I know what you can do and it the deal time that you've had it. We seen a a change and I thank you for it. Thank you. >> How you doing, Dr. Murphy? I've been loing you for quite a long time. Quite a long time. Uh, you know, I love to see the the energy that we're bringing to Memorial High School. Uh, it does my heart joy when I see we got over 160 kids in the band >> because it started from having an elementary band program. And I always say that kids don't just wake up one day and say, "I'm going to
020play a horn or I'mma do math." It starts when they're in elementary school. So it, you know, and it takes a community. I tell everybody, education, anything starts at your home and then all we supposed to do is build on that. So to watch how you've grown, how we showing all this energy and memorial, how we getting club started, how we have to vote to give more money because we need more horns uh and drums in the band because we got more kids participating. I always say the more we have kids participating, the less time they got to get in trouble. >> Correct. >> So the more stuff we keep implementing at the school with the Kate building with band, sports, everybody going to play sports. Uh, everybody going to college, some got to go
021to the military, some got to do this, some got to do that, some join the workforce. But the idle mind, that's what we got to >> realize. We can't have our kids with idle minds. And that starts from elementary. By the time they get to high school, they don't have an out of mind. So, I congratulate you. Keep moving forward. Keep pushing. Keep that same energy. I know them feet hurt. I don't see you wear them heels no more. You know, you used to have them [snorts] high heels on. Now you walk around with tennis [laughter] shoes. But but you keep doing what you're doing because uh our kids need it. Our community, you know, hopefully we ain't got to find another person for many many years. So you ain't going nowhere else. [laughter] So
022totally. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> Hello, Dr. Murphy. [laughter] >> Hello, Dr. Brown. >> First, I want to acknowledge Dr. Porter for uh encouraging Dr. Murphy to show us the real Dr. Murphy. That that was that was a good stroke on your part. But I also want to join uh my colleagues uh in recognition of your award um Tuesday evening, a program of which I enjoyed participating. But I had two different things going on. The program you were in, but also the first basketball game for Memorial High School for girls. Uh and uh so I ended up attending both both events back and forth. But I was long there long enough to know of the pride and excellence the pride that uh that that that was obviously in place to select
023you for such an award as you received. So congratulations proud of you and I know what's going the high school a lot because I live right across the street. You know I don't see kids running around in my street now as I used to uh when you know before your leadership. So I I know things are a lot calmer now than what they were. Again congratulations. Very proud of you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Murphy. >> Friend, [laughter] I have been in your building several time. You haven't seen me. I've been representing the Rotary Club that Dr. Jenny Brown and myself been in. I've been talking to the teach the counselors and everything. And I've been there doing the exchange in the classes. That hall is quiet. The kids are well mannered. They
024speak to you before. They just pass you by and don't say nothing or, you know, hearing things you don't want to hear. But they are doing awesome over there and I enjoy watching them watch the hallway. They're going the right direction. I'm going the opposite direction. But they are great and I thank you for that. You're doing a great job over there. >> Thank you, Miss Brown. >> Okay. I think I'm going be last. Well, no, if you have someone you know. No, it was just something else that came to my mind that I should have said before, but um I also just wanted to say because I mean we are community here and and the amazing things that we're highlighted today is really really great. And as Dr. Porter always says, we're always going
025to have some hiccups within our first year. I just want to implore our community to just continue to rally around because we're highlighting the good things now. And yes, we know our behavior is changing and but we also know behavior is just one aspect to this turnaround plan. And so I also just wanted to inform our community, let's continue to rally around and keep that same energy as we do in athletics, as we do in behavior, behind our academics because without academics, there will not be a Memorial High School. Without academics, there will not be anything that we highlight here. So just wanted to take this opportunity while we have this time to address the community formally to continue to keep Dr. Murphy in prayer, to keep our high school uplifted, but to continue to
026support beyond just the fun stuff. That's right. >> Just want to add that. Thank you, Madam President. >> Okay, my turn. I do I look I'm probably the only person who have a question on something on this plan, but I do when you got to the point of the ESL teaching endorsement. Yes. >> Um I do agree with you that that is really key and I just kind of wanted to know what you're saying at how is that going and if you don't mind briefly, what what is the criteria to get them to that point? Do we is there anything we can do to support the interest in getting more teachers to um become a part of the ESL teacher program? >> Uh what we've done is we met Miss Nolton, Miss Naomi Nolton, who's
027over our multilingual program. And so what we're going to do is they are able to do it online. So we just found out they're able to go online and take the training. And what the district is saying that they will do according to Miss Notice after they pay for the test, when they pass the test, they will reimburse them for the test. but only after they pass. So the what we're doing now at Memorial High School, we've been doing several PLC's that focus on our ESL strategies. We're trying to train them and get them ready so that they can take that test and be successful because the strategy that they use will be useful across for all students, not just for our ESL learners. So we're really trying to promote that endorsement. >> Okay, that's
028great. That's great. Hopefully they take advantage of that. Um so that was my only question for what's on the plan. Uh secondly, I will not uh be repetitious because I mean I I utter the sentiments of everything that everybody said. Um what stood out to me initially of course when you what I love about you is that you say what you mean and you mean what you say and you don't let anyone distract you. And I think that's what sets you apart from some others, you know, which we have a lot of amazing principles, don't get me wrong, but I think that's what sets you apart because you are one that does not let that deter you from your goal. And that's one thing that's really key because when of course when you first got
029here, you know, no one is a stranger to knowing that, you know, everybody was in an uproar from the students to some of the parents, but one thing I didn't get much flack about was from the educators. And to me, if the teachers where you come from, um, the teachers where you're at now are praising what you're what you're doing and saying how much it's made it better. I'm not saying it's irrelevant about the kids, but these are the people that you are the boss of and that you employ and you work with every day. And they were kind of like, I don't see anything wrong with it. I'm excited. I'm ready for it to go. So, you know, just to be able to have that praise from the people that are under you, it
030lets us know speak volumes not only of what you're doing with the kids, but how you're making it easier on those educators cuz they already deal with enough with the kids that are coming. So, if they are able to feel comfortable and a lot, you know, a lot of the teachers are like, I'm so happy like it's actually like peaceful like doing the transition and being around. So, like I said, not just from the community standpoint or the board, but even from the educators that have to deal with these children all day, every day for them to feel comfortable and be excited about the changes you make speaks volumes as well. Like I said, my dad, you know, him, he's retired and he was like the regulator and for the queen that when he was
031teaching and when he first when I told him, I think you told me at graduation to tell him, "Hey," and he was like, "Oh yeah, she that's that's she the one right there. she going to be the one to turn this around. And it was from home. And then when I told him you were going to be the principal, he's like, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, they got to." So, you know, [snorts] just to give a piece of encouragement. I know that it may get hard and tiring. Like you say, from social media on down, it's always something. But just know in the background, there's so many people that praise you and are excited about what you're doing, happy about it. The board, like Dr. Porter and everybody else says, is seeing the difference. The students are
032seeing the difference. I have god kids that were furious day one. And I they like, "Oh, it's my home girl. We love it over there at MHS." So, you are doing great. Regardless of anything that you may hear, we are here to tell you that there's more supporting and exciting than those that are negative. Cuz, and I'll end it by saying, you know, we do have a slightly negative connotation from our community, but the positive at this point is definitely outweighing the bad, and that's a good thing. And we really appreciate you for taking on that task, cuz you could have went home and said, "I'm done with this." But you never let your head down. If you did, we didn't see it and you never swayed from it. So, I'm glad we got the
033opportunity today to tell you on this platform that we appreciate you. And I don't know what Doc Trusty Loftton was looking at because those skinny heel platform I mean skinny heel pad and leather boots she had on in that grass at [laughter] the game the other day. Wasn't nowhere near flat. So, she still got those heels working. [laughter] So, we appreciate you for doing it. Being professional, showing professionalism, being an example for our students, for the teachers, for the staff. Shoot, you make me want to go put my boots on. So, you know, uh just keep doing what you're doing and know that there's a lot more behind you and a lot of people for you and we want to see you continue to flourish for PISD. >> Thank you, Dr. Murphy. >> Thank y'all.
034>> Thank you. Next, we have the principal, Mr. Trent Johnson from Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln Fine Arts. And I'll say this, Mr. Johnson is doing an excellent job as well. Um you know, every every [applause] Every school has its own personality. Every school has its own challenges and they're different challenges. One of the challenges we have at Lincoln is to try and get our students to want to go there and appreciate it. But it can happen if the students feel that they're, you know, we always say that people want to feel adults want to feel appreciated. Students want to feel appreciated and valued as well. Uh at Lincoln, they're doing a magnificent job. They're working it. Everyone's in the hallway and everyone is speaking positive. Um, Mr. Johnson, I do think sometimes he get he thinks
035he's on the podium when he speaks. I was in one of his meetings and I thought sure he was he was preacher man that day, but he did it with such eloquence and and we are so appreciative of what he is doing. So, Mr. Johnson, what's happening at the Abraham Lincoln Middle School? Now once again now I'm not going to stop you in the middle of your your process but come correct and come like you are okay [laughter] >> thank you uh Dr. Porter uh President Johnson and board members thank you for this opportunity uh no pressure at all uh from Dr. Pery Dr. Murphy. [laughter] Uh, so let me tell you what's going on. Uh, on the west side, the proud west side. Uh, I'm going to call it after that. The the pride
036of Port Arthur. Yes. Okay. Um [applause] yeah. >> So uh a little bit about our turnaround plan and then uh so I have a lot of slides here that I won't go through but I I do want to highlight uh a few of them uh to give you uh some insight uh about our campus. Our faculty and staff they are laser focused on the work that we are committed to uh doing right now. And I uh am very proud of the staff and the work and the time that they are putting in uh to move this plan forward. Uh this is a little bit about our demographics here at Abraham Lincoln. Uh a little bit uh you see the demographics here, our attendance rate and we are working to improve all of these areas, the
037attendance rate and then the chronic absenteeism as well. uh I want to uh get to some of the things that I really want to show you. So this is crucial for our plan the domain three and if you see here in the first column the 2425 baseline these were our scores uh last year academic achievement and again this is only domain three uh we have three domains in our accountability system and this is domain three and it has these four parts academic achievement we receive four out of 32 points growth rate 9 out of 32 points student success there four out of 16 and EL proficiency two out of four. Those are our targets that you see for 2526. And we have put together a comprehensive plan and we call it operation elevate. And we
038have put this plan together together to move us from where we are F-rated campus to a C-rated campus within a year and then a A-rated campus within three years. So this plan is very detailed uh and these targets within each one of these sections we have identified students uh with this section we have identified two of our lowest performance uh student groups and uh through Dr. Turner uh Dr. Papion uh we have a tool that we have narrowed it down where we know how many students in each section that we need to have to move us to the next level. So for instance, just for example, in academic achievement, we may need uh 48 students that we need that are on the cusp of being meats to move those students over. Now, that's not to
039say that everybody is not important because we're still focusing on all students and uh continuing to drive all students, but we know some students are on the bubble where we can get the highest leverage from those students to move them over. And so we have intensive afterchool tutorials, before school tutorials. Uh we will begin Saturday school tutorials to help these students. We've implemented a uh inschool um advisory uh hour where well not an hour but it's 33 minutes where those students have intensive intervention during the school day. And so, uh, teachers work with them two days a week with direct instruction and then the other three days they're working on I Ready in a specific plan that has been tailored just for that student. So, we have a lot of great things in plan for
040them. So, we are also uh on the instructional leadership pathway. We have partnered with Texas instructional leadership and also uh Texas lesson study. And then we just completed a two-day training yesterday and today uh with the company educentric and uh very informative training and it kind of uh has given us laser focus on really what we need to focus on. It's not something additional that we have to do but it just kind of guides what we have already put in place and leads us directly and and two things that we uh are going to focus on through the edgescentric uh company is building teacher capacity uh elevating uh teacher instruction and then we're going to focus on rla and literacy because we know uh if we can improve uh reading comprehension with our students then
041they will do well on the math test. They will do well on the social studies test because now the tests are more work problems even in math and social studies. So we're going to focus on RLA reading comprehension. Uh those are some of the the partners that we have partnered with uh to put this operation elevate plan into action. Uh we have of course our uh highly qualified instructional materials uh with the curriculum that we have. Supervisors have been on our campus. They have been providing support. We have been doing observation walkthroughs and feedback uh and coaching cycles with the teachers. And so uh we have a sense of urgency on the west side because we realize where we are and uh the fire is lit. and the teachers and the staff, they understand. We
042had a meeting with every grade level, all of the students, uh, to let them know, students, this is where we are. Uh, and and I told them, you know, we don't like to lose. We don't want to be at the bottom. We want at the end of the school year to be proud of the work that we have put in and to say we move from F campus to a C campus and the students uh have invested in the work that they have to do. We are continuing to uh get our parents to partner with us. We have had uh a RLA curriculum night. Uh we recently had uh with Miss Berseron, our counselor, and our social worker. We had uh another social worker, a CIS night where we had had parents come to the
043campus. And so we want to partner with those parents to let them know we need their assistance to help get us where we need to be. We would like to see more students at after school tutorials. We would like to see more students at Saturday school and I want to thank the board and Dr. Pintery. Uh we have transportation at after school tutorials to get those students home. We have transportation at Saturday school to get those students there to receive the interventions that they have. So we have gaps. We realize the gaps that we have. We are targeting sped students. We put some resource classes in place. We're targeting our emerging bilingual students. We have uh created a new uh learner cohort and uh that is going well where our teachers have been trained uh
044with those strategies and uh our newcomer cohort. Those students are able to go to a class all together with their core subjects to receive instructions by trained teachers. Our sped students are going to two different resources resource class that is assisting them in both math and reading. And so we are very intentional about the work that we are doing and moving students where we have to go. We have to move nine points in domain two and nine points in domain three to get us where we need to be. We have metrics in place that after every common assessment after every CBA that we are looking at the data to see did this student move where they need to be if they didn't what are we going to do to retach to get them where they
045need to be. So it's a very comprehensive plan and we have received a lot of support uh from uh the district in all of the aspects that we are implementing and uh this two-day training that we have received just further uh gives us more tools that we can use uh in this effort to move our students forward. So that's a little bit uh about our plan. Uh it's very uh detailed. Uh and uh we're also uh giving I I feel like I'm getting like the the pe uh the Baptist preacher. So I'm not going to close for a third time there, fourth time. But uh we are uh giving the teachers even our adjunct teachers who uh may not have the content expertise. We're giving those teachers the tools that they need so they can
046go into the classrooms and deliver the content uh that we need them to deliver at the level level and the rigor that we need them to deliver it so our students can be successful. So uh thank you all for uh everything that you have helped us uh thus far. We will continue uh to lean on you and ask for some resources that uh we will need. And so uh we are confident that at the end of this year we will reach our goal and that is to be a C at in May uh when we receive our score. So again thank you uh Dr. Portery and board members uh for this opportunity. I do have um thank you u can we go back to the deliverable slide please? Deliverable slide. I'm saying that word kind
047of fast I know. I'm sorry. Yes. Right here. I wanted to publicly give you a high five, air five >> and to Doc as well and to everyone that that's that's involved in this this and everyone knows I mean it's not a secret this this is this is something that was near and dear to my heart as it relates to the fine arts academy mainly because I'm a fine arts baby singer actor dancer and I know how much the arts can really enhance the educational aspect and of course you know since since the very inception of this program we've had the opportunities to connect and I've had a chance to come to campus and you showed me everything. You showed me the things that I need to see and you even showed me some things
048that I needed to to hear and learn to see how this was working. But this slide right here sums up every single thing that I was asking because when you are able to disagregate the data and when you're able to actually implement it into practices, that's how we get to the next step. And I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart um as it relates to where I stand and how I feel about this program. Um, and thank you for continuing on because this is something new. A fine arts academy in PISD. I don't I don't know. Have you ever had a fine arts academy in in the district before? This is a new initiative, a new new new new everything. And you've taken it, you've weaved it, you've created it,
049and you're still molding it into something that is going to be great um and has been greater than what it was in the past. So, I wanted to publicly thank you um for all the hard work that you and your team are doing. I've had the chance, like I said, to come by. It was an excellent atmosphere. had a chance to attend the dance. That was the Which dance was that? That was the >> our fall dance. >> The fall dance. And to see the students even more exciting. It's just really really great to see that the atmosphere is really changing everywhere. But I wanted to publicly commend you on all of these this growth because the community when we see things, yes, it may have been an F last year and it may be
050this this year. We don't get a chance to fully acknowledge that growth. Um, and I think prior to me serving in this capacity, I didn't realize that you can go up eight points but still be at an F. And you know, when you're on the outside looking in, it's like we ain't grow, we not grow. We still, you know, but we have growth and it is an opportunity of growth. This is also something that I too hope that we can share with our community in a in a capacity that can be feasible for them to understand that while things are looking the way they're looking, we still have growth. So, I want to publicly thank you for that as well. >> Thank you. Uh just to add, we did have um a opportunity where parents
051could be a part and give their feedback to this plan and we had I think uh right at about 60 parents that uh scanned the QR code and they gave feedback and we incorporated that feedback as a part of that plan. And so we are again, you know, excited to partner with the parents and then look at the different things. Uh because of some of that feedback, we added class dojo uh to our campus where we can connect with parents. You know, usually CA class dojo is used at the elementary level, but some of our parents wanted it and so now they use it. They're on there all the time. We can communicate in real time if something happens. So, uh out of this plan, that was one of the things. And so, we are
052excited about uh the partnership with the parents. >> How you doing, Mr. Johnson? Good. Uh, I like the fact that, you know, you you say we want to go from a F campus to a C campus. You know, some people have expectations think we just going to jump all the way to a A, you know, without putting in the necessary work. and you know the plan that you have here and the goals that you've set. I' I've talked to a lot of kids at Lincoln how they tell me the discipline now is is different and how learning has taken over than the discipline part. And I always say you can't learn if you're not going to be disciplined cuz undisiplined child can't learn. And so I like the fact that we're taking the necessary steps
053that you say hey we're going to get the seat. Now some people might say well why he's just striving for a seat but we got to make moves some way. And I like the fact that we we said, "Okay, we're gonna get a C this year." And next year, we probably can get a B. And, you know, thinking [snorts] about our sixth graders that by the time they're eighth graders, they should be a A-rated campus or at least a B-rated campus. So, I like the fact that we we we're taking those steps. You all taking those steps and you know, anytime you need something, come to the board. You know, we going we don't say no to no kids because our kids need us. >> I know Dr. Porter really don't like to hear that,
054but [laughter] Don't tell me we got some money in the fund balance. I'm give give it to [laughter] >> Mr. There is an economy [laughter] and things do cost and that is why >> and that's why we're comfortable because we know how to save. >> I know how to be cheap and spend [laughter] cheap and >> but [clears throat] uh thank you Mr. Johnson. I I I really feel that we're going to be a C-rated campus this year. Uh you got a good great team behind you over there >> that's putting in the work. So keep pushing hard, sir. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. >> Hello, M. Johnson. >> Hello. >> First, I want to acknowledge your grasp of the data and understanding where you are and where you're headed and your understanding of
055what it's going to take. Uh change is difficult. In fact, um I'm part of a program at Lamar University where there's a book we've used by Michael Fullen. And in that book, there's a sentence that I'm still shocked about. It says, "People rather die than to change." >> And I thought when I saw that, that can't be true. What? And then he goes on to write about how um people are told not to smoke, but they smoke anyway, knowing it could end up killing them. >> Yeah. They they they they people know not to continue to gain weight or eat all kind of sweets, you know, like I do like I like I do, [laughter] you know. Anyway, people would rather rather rather die than to change. I to say you've you've talked about a
056change model here today that's very impressive of which I'm very thankful and appreciative and and it fits, you know, several different I guess scenarios of which I've been part in terms of the change model. So congratulations and thank you for for that movement. Now having said that, I'm proud. How many years have you been in the school district? >> It's my 19th. >> That's what I thought. 18 or 19 years. 19th year. 19th year. Dr. Pury and I on the interview committee. Uh when you were selected to come here and some you you may not want to hear this, but but it was a little controversial because we had some internal candidates and we had you as external candidate. And we thought, gosh, this guy coming all the way from from from H.B.CU. CU school.
057Was it Southern? Southern. Yeah, he's come from H.B.CU. Oh, he he'll come here and pass through, be here a few months, and then he'll leave. 19 years later here, y'all still here. It's like I was, you know, just I love music. I was thinking about Luther Vandros and uh and uh and Diane War, Deion Warick, and a house is not a home, right? But you've not only you've not only [laughter] you've not only you you've not only gone past just having a house, you you you you've built a family. Brother, y'all y'all y'all this this is I guess I wasn't that busy that day, but Carol and I actually went to the wedding in Louisiana when he got married, his beautiful wife. And he's he's he's gone from being married in Louisiana, beautiful place, to
058having children here. And so he's created a home here beyond having a house here. And I'm just so proud of you and thankful for that part. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you, Doc. [applause] >> Pastor, how you doing? [laughter] >> Uh great presentation. Um we know um in in our district we have trials. We we know that we had some hardships, but the thing that I like about our principles that we have selected for these schools, they're doing everything. Y'all doing everything that's possible to succeed and we see it. The data that you gave us, like Taylor said, that's what we needed. Understandable. Great. Like Mr. Loftton said, anything for the children, we'll do it. Whatever you need, come to us. We going to make it happen because we see the success and anything that's
059going to make our kids successful and put out there independent school district. I do believe that we are going to go with it. I'm going to stop Dr. Porter. >> Principles, [laughter] you know who you answer to. >> Well, you on the west side. I got your back. [laughter] >> All right. I look, I hate to go last cuz pretty much everybody take everything I want to say, but like I say, I'll just utter the sentiments of them. Um, I do want to applaud you first off because if you have not done the research or have not gotten the data to know the direction you're going in and you're just saying, "Oh, we're going to train. We're going to do this." You're never going to get where you need to go. And I I will
060I must uh agree with Trusty Gwood because that is a pet peeve of his and he'll decipher through that data and even you know kind of give me to notice some things and and the same thing with your um report. Y'all have gotten down to the meat of what needs to be done. And you know a lot of people may look at that and say that it's real technical like you were saying. If we have 40 students that do this they'll be like well that just seems like a system. But the the actual the reality of it is nowadays that is what we're faced against. I mean, we're basically being based on a test and what it does and a rating and things like that, which does not negate what you guys are doing on
061an everyday basis and how successful a student may be. But ultimately, the reality is that's what we have to go by. And so when you get into a system like that, you have to then adapt to that type of data. And I applaud you all because I know it ain't easy. I look at that tape report when when Trusty Gwood calls me and it's just like a whole bunch of numbers, you know, like on the little cartoon with all kind of numbers going in your head. So for you and Dr. Turner and everybody else that work closely with you to decipher and get that data, I applaud that right off because I feel like you're definitely going in the right direction to move the school where it needs to go just by, you know, doing
062your homework and getting that, you know, established. Another thing that I want to applaud you for is is the same thing like I said with Dr. Murphy is saying what you mean and mean what you say. Um I have truly saw the dynamic change on how people think of uh Abraham Lincoln Fine Arts Academy from just last year to this year. I mean it's it's been calm. Look, Dr. Blurry could tell you I am I live social media. I love it. Oh well. But I can tell you that you know in in the same sense principles and everybody can tell you I will get on there and let them know you are wrong and we are working on it and no that's not the truth. So I'm going to say but I but that's what
063I do. I love social media and I can say that with that being the way of the future and something that's the way of the world right now. The dynamic from just a year or two ago to now has changed tremendously. You know the negativity has um dropped over half. You know, it's it's very rarely that you see stuff. You may have seen me more the last couple of years because I was going up there to try to see what's going on, but you haven't seen me because it's been peaceful. Everything's been going good. And I I agree to not come and bother you if everything is working like a welloiled machine. So, I still may drop in just to say, "Hey, but I do see the difference. I do see the change. I applaud
064you for standing on business." Like Dr. Murphy said, you know, I just real quick before I go, you know, there was a big controversy when you cancelled that dance. You know, my inbox was blowing up. But guess what? I'm 40 years old. When I was in elementary, the good had to suffer for the bad. And guess what? When we did have to suffer from I was mad at at at little Shakira next to me that's acting up cuz now we not going to be able to do nothing cuz you over here talking. So be quiet. So sometimes that's how life has to be. And you made that decision because of the school in its entirety. And guess what? I guarantee you the next dance that comes around, the situations that you had then will not
065happen again because you put your foot down and made them know that you mean business and you didn't care who had something to say for who went bought a dress just yesterday. This is what I'm doing for this school because I need to show them that we're not going to applaud this type of behavior. And that alone showed me what you were standing on that you're not going to budge from that. And that's what's needed along with what what Dr. Murphy is doing. So, I see the change. A lot of people see the change. We applaud that. And I just want you to continue to be great over there at Lincoln. And I know that we will see an improvement. >> Thank you. >> Madam President, they stood when I say stood on business. I
066I was at the dance. They had a no-go list and everything. And they and those students you should have seen. They were coming. Am I on the list? They were trying to make sure. Um, so I definitely again, thank you. Dr. Pteryine. It's something that just popped up in my mind and y'all know even though I've been here 5 years, you can you can never have enough learning. Let me know if this is something that is feasible, possible. But as our principles were were talking and of course I know it's a lot of work that goes into it and just with knowledge of everything that is just going on in the world and where we're moving as a state, there are a lot of different things that are coming down the pipeline. Is it possible
067for us to start documenting these things and possibly one day presenting this to to maybe tea to say, "Hey, we have found a structure that works for our school and if it works for our school, we believe that this may work for schools like us and possibly becoming the trailblazers that we used to be and leading the way for other ISDs who look like us. I know in in the in in Texas, I should say, we're a very very unique state, so I'll be very careful how I speak. But I've one of the things that I've learned is that this state is is definitely preparing our children's future for more than just a prisoner pipeline. It's more than just preparing them to to to go to go to go to jail if you don't pass
068a star test. is preparing you for what I believe and what I can honestly say from from listening and research is not preparing them to reach the peak that they each can reach for districts such as us when legislature is being passed when systems are being created and pushed down they're not always thought PISD is not always at the forefront at that table at that conversation so I think it would really really be great if we as a district can document not only the data but how we're doing these things so we can put together a package and maybe call it the I don't know the onestar launch or something like that. Give it a creative name so that way we can say you know what instead of you forcing something down my throat because
069I did not do what you asked me to do because it did not beat my district here's what we did do is getting you the results that you need and you have other ISDs just like us that's surrounding you in these rural areas that could benefit from that. Is that something that we could possibly do? >> Let me say this um Trusty Gatwood. We are documenting and what you are saying is true. Now, all of these plans that we have presented, they go to TA. Okay? >> So, they already know what we're doing. They're they're watching us. >> Exactly. So, let's put a stamp on it before they check out. >> Let me say this and I'll say this about the [laughter] text education agency. And I'll be specific and intentional what I say this
070year. They have partnered with us. We don't feel that it's an out to get you. >> They have really partnered with us and they want to help us. And we have TA that calls us and when they call us now we don't we don't cringe because they're they're asking they want to help and that is a good thing. But I'll say this also to to your credit port is a different city. >> It is. >> There's no other place in the United States of America like Port Arthur, Texas. And we do what is best for our students. We know them like no other. So there are some things that people try to tell us to do for our kids, but it's not going to work. >> The diversity that we have in Port Arthur that
071we cannot ignore is real. Our district is 55% Hispanic, 38% African-American, and we cannot teach our children like they're all the same. the 55% Hispanic children are here and they're here to stay and we do what's best for them like we do for the special education students like we do for the GT students like we do for the general ed kids but once again yes we we are documenting and no one and I mean no one knows Port Arthur like we do thank you Mr. Johnson. >> Thank you. >> Okay, those are two of our principles, two of our [applause] best and greatest. And now let's see what Adrian Adrian has a lot. She has pictures of what everyone else is doing and they're great [laughter] as well. >> The good news report. >> Yes.
072[clears throat] >> Okay. So, here is our media and communications report. since we last met. We have a new student author from Woodro Wilson uh Early College High School. He's a drum major by date and he took one of his uh English assignments and turned the short story into a novel and it is on Amazon as we speak and he has been featured uh in the media and uh we also he's going to be interviewed I want to say tomorrow by another news station. So, he's going to be continue to be in the media and we are also going to produce our own uh district spotlight on him as well. Um, we celebrated Red Ribbon Week. So, we have Sam Houston and Booker T. Washington. Uh, you see the kids had this dress up days
073for Red Ribbon Week and they decorated the campuses. The theme was life is a puzzle, solve it, drug free. Um, we also had some UIL wins recently. our UIL academic team for Memorial has its own Facebook page now and so um that's one of the posts from the most recent meets. We had a first place uh on the left and I really can't read those but y'all can see it better on your screen. Um the group picture in the middle, Wilson Early College took a group to the annual uh H.B.CU Expo in Houston. And then at the bottom left, Wheatly has uh initiated a 1,00 book challenge. And so they have announced uh the top three classes who have read the most books and also announced the looks like the top eight or maybe eight
074or 10 students who have read the most books to help them reach the goal of a total of a thousand books read. And these are our Tiny Titans. So yes, they are reading over at Wheatly. These are some of our observations for the month of November. We have added National Diabetes Awareness Month. And on Friday the 14th, we wore blue in observance of World Diabetes Day. Um, today is actually National Parent Involvement Day. Uh, at the bottom right corner, we have also added Texas character education week. And to the immediate left of that graphic, we have some students who dressed up for to celebrate Native American Heritage Day. At the top, Weekly had an event that was bring your dad to school day and it was a huge success because it seemed like it was
075a surprise to the kids that the dads were going to be at school that day. And so they had some really nice pictures individually of the students and their fathers. And this is the group picture. We also had a really good uh principles and PTA's breakfast that launched this year's season of uh the monthly citywide PTA meetings. And so we encourage all of our parents, teachers, and students because PTA is all about the students to join our uh campus PTAs. At the top left corner, uh Sam Houston is continuing this year with the YMCA coming into the schools to read to students. So they had their superhero kickoff event, Y read um program and everyone dressed as superheroes, even um the guy from the YMCA in the at in the background there. Wilson Early College
076Fitness Club participated in the annual 5K Monster Dash. Uh the bottom left is Wilson's dad club. There's a meeting uh and they have a breakfast coming up as well. And then some of the Wilson students visited UT Austin to prepare for that recent academic meet uh that they just recently had those wins from. Um boy Red River Week in the top left corner for the first quarter. You know, usually you get like pizza or hot chips and Capri Suns, but the high school had a ice coffee bar for their honor roll and perfect attendance. and also they included students of the week and chemistry mentors in that celebration. Um, Terara first graders visited Gator Country. Thomas Jefferson Middle School last year we heard uh Dr. Lewis present on her Ignite which is the pilot program
077for sixth grade GT students. And here they are on their bicycles for their lifetime sports class. The last um report we talked about the um royalist who came and put the bicycles together. Oh, excuse me. The misters, please forgive me, misters. The misters, um, it was a Sunday. They gave up their football Sunday to uh, assemble the bicycles for the GT students in the sixth grade. I got it confused because the royalists donate those bicycles for Christmas. Um, Sam Houston also celebrated scarecrow day as um, they do that every year when the students uh, dress up as scarecrows. So, that's the picture in the middle. They also celebrated the 50th day of school. So they dressed like 1950s with the poodle skirts and the little happy days outfits and they had um ice cream floats
078and they also had um crazy hair day for Red Ribbon Week. Um fire safety at Lake View and the the fire department does this every year. They go out to all of the elementary campuses and teach the kids about fire safety. Thomas Jefferson has a class that was learning how to produce a podcast and that's something new and something that is very a way to keep the kids interest because there are so many popular podcasts where people are making so much money and so here is something that they can incorporate that learn about that life skill and maybe pursue that career uh in the future. My favorite time of October is the storybook character pumpkins. And so here are some of the campuses um celebrating the winners of the the pumpkin creation contest. We also
079uh celebrated school bus safety week and all of our um campuses celebrated our bus drivers. uh Wilson Early College Youth and Government students uh had a competition at TSU and here they are taking a group picture in front of our native Portan uh Matt Hannah Hall. So I thought that was pretty cool. Um women educators. It's a girls group at Alpha. Um so that's a meeting of the of the girls group at Alpha. I'm have to start captioning all of my pictures because I can't. >> Women educators developing girls. >> Thank you. Uh Thomas Jefferson student council attended a student council conference. Um, the queen had a Texas mobile STEM lab to visit the campus. And these are the students inside the mobile lab learning about um, STEM projects. And they had an experiment where
080they were using catapults to to launch something across the the area. Our uh, real estate program at the CTE campus, these students are actually interning at different places around the city. Um, and it's it's another um this is one set of students, but it's a second set of students. And I think last month we saw pictures of all of them when they visited city hall. So, in essence, those visits turned into internships um for those some of those kids. And here we have um Trusty Getwood with those Wilson students. The same day that they went to the H.B.CU Expo, they also went to a football game at TSU. our tiniest titans um gave out a prek and uh prek3 and prek4 um perfect attendance awards for the first quarter and then our portacres elementary kids
081took a virtual trip to Paris in Japan um and then we have some science experiments with magnets at tero and we are we celebrated uh national principles month so here's a a very nice group picture of all of our principles um our district testing coordinator and the campus testing coordinator at the high school. They attended the Texas Assessments Conference in Round Rock and our chess club at Wilson is very active as you can tell from that bottom right photo. And shout out to our undefeated Titans who are now 11 and0. First time in the history of the high school that we have gone 11 and0. So we are headed into that area around tomorrow night. And it what this collage represents is that it's it it's a collective effort. Not just the football teams, but
082the auxiliaries as well and the fans because the they they had different themes for the games where every game it was a different way to dress up. There were games where they involved the kids. I think the last home game they had a lot of kindergarteners running out um with the Titan towels and the community is really supporting our Titans and um as we tighten up on that state championship we're chasing. Um, Moody Harris Funeral Home actually fed our Titans before the LA the game last week and the football team. I was told it was the kids' ideas to dress up in the suits um on game day. And I I remember that's something that used to happen when I was in high school. So, I'm glad the kids um brought that back and I
083look forward to seeing them dressed up tomorrow as well. Um when our Lady Titans um basketball team played West Orange Stark um that was their first game of the season, but it was a away game. The score was uh Memorial Titans 76 and West Orange Stark 11. So that was oh my goodness. Um the softball team held a skills camp. Our Thomas Jefferson 8th grade volleyball team are co-dists. Here are a couple of pictures of our auxiliaries on senior night, which was a very nice um halftime because all of the seniors had special performances. And here is senior night for our volleyball girls. And then um Thomas Jefferson also had a eighth grade night for their volleyball team, which is their version because when we were in middle school, we called ourselves seniors when we
084got to the eighth grade. So they had an eighth grade night and they gave gifts to the um eighth grade volleyball team. Um Thomas Jefferson and several of our elementary campus, the life skill students participated in the YMBB uh relay races which is earlier this month. And um I think I I mentioned this at the last meeting about uh Kennedy Meeks having uh she had the 200 was it 500 career digs. She was named to uh second team all district and then we had three other additional volleyball players that made the honorable mention team. Um we are the our baseball coach was recruiting um any potential or prospective um baseball players that were in grades 5 through eight to represent our school district in a regional basketball uh baseball tournament. So um we um promoted
085that to to hopefully have some kids who were show interest to get in touch with coach lot and um represent PISD in that Southeast Texas um high school futures tournament. for baseball. Uh here is some of our community engagement. There was a stop bullying uh seminar at Sam Houston Elementary where parents and community members were invited and that was uh in observance of bullying prevention month in October. Um we also sent out communications on our socials to let parents know that they should be receiving voicemails, emails, and text messages from the school district. Um, we did have a new number that was added to our al call system that's sending out text messages. So, if they are not receiving our communications because we are heavy on the oversharing with communications, they need to make sure
086that their phone numbers, their emails are are accurate in the registration portal because that's the that's the numbers that we're using to send communications out. So if it's any parents who have kids in the school district and they are not receiving all call voicemail messages, emails or text messages, they need to make sure that their their contact information is correct. Um we also had um Judge Caitlyn Gardner. He visited uh several of our campuses to recognize and reward students with perfect attendance. So there is a picture of him with some of the kids from Alpha. More community engagement. This was the first year that our life skills students were invited to Gross Middle School to attend their annual fall festival. So, we want to send a shout out to them for that invitation. We have
087also set April 1st as a deadline for any um community group, individual organization. anybody who is um offering scholarships and you want the scholarship that you're offering and the student who receives the scholarship if you want that to be listed in our graduation program that information information needs to be sent to the college I'm sorry to the campus counselors before April 1st. April 1st is the deadline. If we don't have any that information, then we won't be able to print it in the um graduation program. We are going to have our sounds of the season, the free holiday concert that Motiva uh co-sponsors with us at Woodro Wilson on December the 9th. One of our uh Memorial High School choir students will be featur one of the featured performers. There will be light refreshments at
0886. The concert begins at 7. It is free. It's open to the public. Um, Motiva uh gave um tickets to campuses um for honorroll students and their parents to be seated in a special VIP section. And uh we are encouraging people to dress to impress and come on out for that fun evening of a free holiday concert with the Symphony of Southeast Texas. Our Titan Salon is now open for business. It is open on Mondays and Tuesdays by appointment only from 3:30 to 6, but is a fullervice salon for men and women. And it's any type of beauty, hair, nails, makeup, facials, waxing. Um, it's it's a whole laundry list of what they offer. Um, the counselors at the high schools are also encouraging seniors to frequently scan this QR code because they are updating
089scholarship information as they receive it. When we see scholarships that are available, we will share the information, but they can also uh reference that QR code for more frequent updates. We have u several alumni and staff accomplishments. Dr. Tanisha Marcel Herbert. She's a mathematician and she had uh an article published in u a academic publication. Um we had two alumni, one is a former teacher um who had an article about the two sisters um nurse Judith Smith and nurse Diane Marx who used to teach at the CTE campus. They are breast cancer survivors. And then we have Miss Kayla Jacobs, our director of operations, and Ransom Howard, uh, who is one of our educators at one of our campuses. They were recently honored at the 40 under 40 in Bowmont earlier this week. >> Unfortunately,
090we did have to say um, see you later to a couple of our uh, retired employees. Um, Miss Dolores Jean Gunner, Mr. Arcel Clayton, Senior, and Mr. Glenn Tippido. Um, this is our media summary. There's one thing I want to go back to because I I know that it's in the summary, but I don't remember um talking about it, but we had a video that in in my opinion went viral in celebration of National Principal Month. If you saw the Stephanie Mills Tik Tok challenge where somebody says >> [clears throat] >> if you're my backup dancers, you can do this. So, Dr. Papon told the principles and the administrators if they're her backup dances, they could leave early for from work one day. And that particular video got 44,000 views, almost 2,000 likes, 165 comments,
091and 67 shares. And that was just in the first four days. So, I'm sure it was even more popular than that the longer it stayed up. But it was very cute. And although we don't monetize, if we were to monetize, we would have earned a whopping $10 [laughter] for the popularity of that video. Um, [clears throat] we we are starting an above sea level campaign to encourage our students to get in the mindset, change the mindset of it's not just about passing and making a 70%. We want to swim our float above sea level so we can earn those A's and those B's and not just settle for C's. So um we're going to have like we posted this graphic but we have also started um we asked the campuses to to select students that
092would be like social media influencers for their campus to make Tik Tok like videos where the students are talking to our students about what it takes to uh float and swim above sea level to to earn higher than a C on your um academic work, your assessments, your star exams because we want them to get into the mindset of don't just settle for just passing with a 70. Um and that concludes my report for the month. >> Okay, board members, I hope you can see uh and I want to first thank Mrs. Lodge. She does her and her team does an excellent job at capturing everything that goes on in this district. Um excellent. So, I want to thank her for that. I hope you see based on what you heard from our principles and
093the work that our staff is doing and what you see on the agenda tonight from moving through academics to all of the bond aspirations that we are excited excited to be able to start constructing. Um, I hope you are as proud as I am of the work that we're doing because I'm telling you, the 1500 employees in this district are working and working and working and they are working their butts off. They're not just sitting. We may have one or two and we will address them, [laughter] but for the most part, >> Get them off the bus. But for the most part, our staff is working diligently. And I'll say it again, we have 8,000 of the best students in the history of Texas. That concludes our announcements. >> Madam President, may I make one
094other comment, please? want to acknowledge a speaker for our Rotary International >> program a few days ago, a 2009 graduate of Memorial High School, Miss Kayla Jacobs, who did a beautiful job for that program. [applause] >> Well done. >> All right, thank you. That in that concludes our staff reports and as everybody can see we have had a lot going on and we do thank everybody for those amazing staff reports. We will move on to our minutes considering if appropriate approve minutes of the October 23rd 2005 2025 board of trustees meeting. >> So move for approval. >> Second. Okay. We have a motion by trusty Gwood and second by trustee Norse. All in favor. >> Any opposed? That motion passes. We will go on to the consent agenda. The following items which are of routine
095and are recurring nature have been designated consent agenda items by the board president per policy be local. All of the items in the consent agenda will be acted upon by one vote without being discussed separately unless requested by a trustee in which event in which event the item or items will be withdrawn immediately for individual consideration in its normal sequence after the items not requiring separate discussion have been acted upon. I will give you a brief moment to look over numbers 1 through 11. >> Madam President, >> I move to approve consider agenda items 1 through 11. >> Second. >> Okay. [snorts] It's been moved by trustee sorry vice president Norse and second by trustee Gwood. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Okay, we'll move on to personnel. President Johnson, board members, I
096have given you the list of teachers for consideration. >> Madam President, I move that we approve the employment of teachers as presented. >> Second. >> Okay. It's been moved by Trusty Gwood and second by Dr. Johnny Brown. All in favor? >> I oppose. >> President Johnson, board members, I ask I am asking for the approval for the employment of a bond 2025 project coordinator, Mrs. Abria Garden. >> So move for approval. >> Second. >> It's been motion moved by Vice President Narcissis and second by Trusty Gwood. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> President Johnson, board members. I am asking for your approval of the 2025 project manager, Mr. Theodore Sims. >> So move for approval. >> Second. >> Been moved by Vice President Nars and second by Secretary Diane Brown. All in
097favor? I. >> Any opposed? >> President Johnson, board members, I'm asking for your approval for the special education elementary supervisor, Mrs. Christy Jernigan. >> Second. >> Uh, it's been moved by uh, Trustee Johnny Brown and second by Secretary Diane Brown. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? And lastly, >> President Johnson, trustees, I'm asking for your approval for the special education compliance supervisor, Mrs. Diana Clayton. >> Second. >> It's been moved by Secretary Diane Brown and second by Trustee Gwood. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Moving on to information. >> Average daily enrollment by month 7,896. Average daily attendance by the month 92.08. Okay, thank you. And before we call for adjournment, we would like to thank all of our guests that we have here today along with our Deltas who have
098visited us. Again, we appreciate your attendance and um everyone else who came to support us today. >> And also, we would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving out there. The Port Independent School District will be closed [laughter] in the week of the 24th and we will return after that week is up. have a wonderful uh gobble gobble day and we will see you all back very very soon. >> And if you can meet us in Deer Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. Absolutely. As we cheer on our mighty Titans football team and we're believing for a 12 and0 and a good run to state and hopefully a victory. So I will ask for a motion for adjournment. It's 7:52. >> So move second. Okay. It's been moved a second. We our turn.