001Good evening everyone. I'm going to call this meeting to order. It is 5:00. Uh declaration of a quorum. We have seven members present. Uh we do not have anyone signed up to speak at this meeting under hearing of citizens. So we're going to move into our workshop sessions. The first one is teaching and learning department update. Right. Good evening, President Eigy, Dr. Hark Rider, and board of trustees. I'm Letty Roman, and I'm pleased to meet with you all tonight. Good evening everyone. I'm Tiffany Parkerson, executive director of the secondary um secondary education. I don't know where the came from. Um teen it off with a random article. Okay. Um we're excited to share um some information about our work with the teaching and learning department. Um we'll give an overview of our responsibilities, talk a
002little bit about instructional coaching um and MTSS or multi multi-tered systems of support. um the CAT partnership that elementary campuses are participating in as well as the campus visits and support from our department um survey information and adjustments that we've made to provide better support based on that feedback as well as sharing our professional learning plans for summer and next fall. Okay. So, in the teaching and learning department, um there's there are kind of three subcategories, if you will. Curriculum and instruction, early childhood, and special services. And so, uh Dr. Roman and I really uh get to serve in that curriculum and instruction side of the house um through elementary and secondary education. We work with all the administrators um of those campuses uh as well as their instructional coaches uh were applicable and MTSS
003coaches as well. Um we have the four core content coordinators um the coordinator for for bilingual ESL and languages other than English. our advanced academics coordinator. Um and then um additional folks who are campus based that we also provide training and support for. Also in our wing of the building, we have uh the directors for school improvement, state and federal programs, assessment and accountability. And we partner with them quite frequently. Um but they're not our direct reports. And so we're we're really going to talk about just our pocket within teaching and learning. Um and provide you with some information about that this evening. One of uh the the two big areas of focus for us um is improving um our tier one instruction through um tangible instructional best practices. And so we really wanted to
004make sure that when we talk about good instruction and researchbased practices that we are all defining terms in the same way. So one of the big things that we have done this year is launch the essential teaching and learning practices for CSISD. um particularly focusing in on content and setting a clear purpose for learning in all of our classrooms and then also really working um on differentiation and differentiation strategies um in the area of instruction. >> All right. So one of the ways that we support campuses is through the teaching assessing learning cycle. And the goal with this cycle is to ensure consistency, clarity, and continuous improvement across all campuses. In the area of teaching, we provide curriculum resources, instructional expectations and resources, professional learning. Um our goal is to ensure high quality learning at
005every campus. So we believe that it shouldn't matter where a child is enrolled in which school, which classroom, which teacher, they would have a high-quality learning experience wherever they go. In the area of assessment, we guide the development and use of common assessments and data systems to monitor student progress. So we are looking at data as as opposed to just that feeling or just we think this is how the student is performing. And in the area of learning, um we support datadriven conversations. We help make adjustments to instruction and ensure targeted interventions and extensions again with the goal of all students learning at high levels. Overall, we support alignment of systems. We build staff capacity and use data to continuously improve teaching and learning at every campus. In the air of instructional coaching, Tiffany and
006I are honored and blessed very frequently to get to meet with our instructional coaches. We have our current model is in the K through eight campuses. We have two full-time instructional coaches per campus and at the high school we have a hybrid model right now where it is a department chair and they are learning about instructional coaching as well. Last year we spent a lot of time with training and working on supporting the collaborative teams. This year they have worked to continuously support the collaborative teams but moving from facilitating to just supporting and coaching the teams while they are um coaching small groups meaning whatever the instructional need is they would coach a small group. Um, but we've really focused this year on coaching, one-on-one coaching with tier one instruction um, with a level um,
007with a focus on differentiation. Like Tiffany had mentioned, they're a great team to work with. We work with multi-tered systems of support. Um, this is a model or a framework that ensures all students receive the academic and behavioral support they need through layered levels of instruction and intervention. It uses ongoing data to identify the needs early, provide targeted support, and improve outcomes for every student. This year, we have spent a lot of time focusing with the team on learning everything there is about tier 2 and tier three. And most recently, we have partnered with our special ed department so that they can come and present to the MTSS coaches and teachers about how we can um support behavior in a better way. At the elementary campuses, we have been partnering with Texas A&M University through
008the CAP program, which is the knowledge acquisition and transformation framework developed by Dr. K. Wijikamar at Texas A&M University. It's a daily reading strategy designed to improve reading comprehension. Currently, all of our second and third grade teachers at all 10 elementary campuses have been trained in the CAP method. Approximately um half of our fourth grade teachers have been trained and next year all of them will have been trained. We have had such an incredible partnership with Texas A&M. They have provided professional development. They are a phone call or an email away to all of our principles, our teachers, and our instructional coaches. They come provide not only professional development at the district level, but to individual campuses, their modeling in the classrooms, and just being available for questions and answers just to help the teachers
009um with their practice to be better. It's been an outstanding partnership with them. This year, our goal in our department was to increase the support at the campuses from last year. And we are proud to say that currently we have had 1,070 campus visits, which is about 1,500 hours on campus. And so, you might be wondering, what do we do when we go on campuses? The purpose is we might visit with administration to just be a thought partner for them, help um listen to some challenges, help them problem solve, or just listen for needs that we can help support them. We observe classroom instruction either with instructional coaches or with administration and we attend the collaborative team meetings again to celebrate the work that they are doing support them and determine if there are needs
010that we can support through professional development. >> Can I just ask them that um while we're here? So, when you're saying we're doing these campus visits, are these you two or are we talking are this including all the the coaches or which which folks are those that are showing up on campus? >> Yes, thank you for that question. So, Tiffany and I definitely go to campus visits, but everyone in our department is visiting campuses. So, the the content um coordinators, they'll go and see what instruction looks like or just go to the collaborative team meetings. Um they might need to visit with administration. Same type of purposes that I mentioned before. Yeah. >> Oh, the coaches. This does not include the instructional coaches that are campus based. Okay. So, this would be um if you
011think about that first slide that we showed, this um includes everyone except for special services and early childhood. So, it's the other end of the house. So, Jeff's campus visits are in there um for school improvement along with Chelsea and so forth. Does that kind of help? >> Okay. All right. So, um, several years ago, we had the opportunity to be part of a partnership with the Holless Collaborative. Um, they support public education in a wide variety of ways. And as part of that leadership training, one of the phrases they use over and over again, um, that has really kind of stuck with us is feedback is a gift. >> Um, you know, sometimes it doesn't feel like it, but it is, right? It it is a gift that gives us the opportunity to improve
012and refine our practices. And so, um, we've done several things, um, specifically within the past, um, goodness, the past school year, um, to make sure that we're gathering feedback so that we can refine our practices and change our next moves. And so, um, one of the areas of focus for, uh, Letty and myself is principal training. And so, we have, um, they're not really monthly. Um, they're about every six weeks or so, meetings that are the principles with teaching and learning, which appropriately abbreviated is principles with TNL. And so, um, you know, we might like that part of it as well. Um, and so after, um, our first couple of meetings, we wanted to make sure that we were meeting their needs with that time to focus on instructional leadership. Um, and so this was
013right about the same time when Austin had the new thought exchange platform. Um, and so we were able to give gather their feedback through thought exchange. And so here is that example of the summary of that information. um that you know focusing on effective walkthroughs, using tests, enhancing PLC work, um strong emphasis on differentiation for example. And so when you look at this next screen, you can really see that there were some some common threads that emerged. Um but also we needed to get a little bit more information. So we followed up this thought exchange feedback with an activity for them to really hone in and define what they meant by all of this. Um and then we recreated our plan for the rest of the semester. And so based on that feedback um we
014continued um something that they liked. They're all grouped based on their campus archetypes. This is using their data um and some lead forward tools that Jeff has worked with them to identify campus needs based on that data. Um and to collaborate with campuses and leaders who are facing that same challenge. So um they've had opportunity to team with one another. Um we did a consultancy protocol just a couple weeks ago right before spring break um that was really positively received. Um we designed choice sessions for them to choose um based on differentiation strategies, data analysis, instruction based on all that feedback um to make sure that they left that meeting um with things that they could turn key use immediately um with different groups. Um and then this March, we're actually not going to have
015a meeting over here at all. um they are going to have campus site visits with those archetype teams um at camp the campuses they've designed their morning um and we're really excited about it. Um those areas of focus will be calibrating on differentiation by going in real time into classrooms together um with a group of principles and once again paired with some of our teaching and learning staff. Um they'll go into collaborative team meetings if that's part of what they chose to do with their agendas. Um and also they're sharing their best practices and their expertise. um there's a common thread in all the feedback is they want to get to learn from each other and so it's another way they can do that. Okay. Um similarly um there was the larger district survey um
016professional learning and needs emerged there and so then there was that follow-up with the professional learning specific survey um that just recently went out and closed and so um you'll see the engagement overview and the AI summary here on the screen. Um, I just want to acknowledge there was really pretty low participation whenever you see 226, but I'm going to go back to where I started. Feedback is a gift. And so whatever feedback we get, we parse through. We really take a look at it and we use it to help us design our next moves um to make sure that we're serving people well. Um, and so in the AI summary, you'll see um things about um valuing the curriculum alignment, practical strategies, collaboration, hands-on sessions, content specific training, and then that really is mirrored
017whenever you call out the different categories, and those star scores there. Um, so you'll notice at the top with the highest rating is a need for content specific PD or a desire to continue to have because we provide a lot of that. So that was affirming. um time for planning which I think is just really important for us to acknowledge because this is really a survey about professional learning and and planning time is incredibly important um and so when we we think about like next year's calendar and this year's we do have teacher work days so we do have some of that time built in but it's that push and pull on how we use that time right um and then hands-on learning being that third category and so when we think about what we're
018going to do um planning ahead the overarching trends that we noticed um more for practical tools and strategies, that strong desire for time, both time to do the things, but really from the professional learning lens, time for collaboration with their teams. Um, and then choice, right? Like we we want in our classrooms for students to take ownership of their learning and get to to choose. And so we also want to model that with our educators and give opportunity in that way for them to choose um different learning sessions as well. So, um, in July, we were going to have a oneweek professional learning conference. Um, we actually attempted to do this last year, but without compays in the schedule, we found that there wasn't a great incentive um for for teachers to come during the
019summer. And so, we've made some adjustments to that. Um, and we're going to do what we're calling trade days. And so for teachers who come and participate in professional learning in the summer um they can take one of those trade those um teacher work days later on throughout the school year and trade their time and so it would be a you know a day off. Um it would not be for the days in August because we keep hearing we need the time in our room so we want to make sure they they have that time. Does that make sense? Um, and so our choice sessions will focus on professional learning communities, making sure there are concrete tools for them to use with their collaborative teams, um, academic and behavioral MTSS supports, um, as well as
020research-based best practices and practical strategies under that big umbrella that we started with of those teaching and learning essentials. um we are going to provide um options and training from our in our department, but we're also um going to put a call out beginning on Thursday with our success team meeting to principles um and other instructional leaders throughout the district who would like to participate and provide options to go ahead and give a session proposals and participate with this as well. Um related to that when we look at August at our professional learning schedule there are those three teacher work days um which will be protected time for teachers to do what they need to do. Um there are two and a half days that are allotted to campus and then there are three and
021a half days that are district days. So one of those is convocation and that's a half day. Um we are going to have one day um it's looking like midweek right now that will be a district-wide choice conference um for all of our teachers to come together in one place um and participate in professional learning um kind of in a choose your own adventure uh type scenario. Um for those of you who have been in the district for a long time, we did something similar to this um back when we had such a large number of days in August. We were able to do this. It's been trimmed down over the years. We were not. Um and that was the you matter conference that some of you might have heard of before. Um we'll be
022working with the committee to rebrand and rename and all of that. Um other topics, we will continue that content area support that was the highest need that was identified based on our survey. Um make sure that we have time for collaborative team meetings embedded into our district time. Um we do have new ELPS which are the English language proficiency standards and so we have to implement those this year. So, we'll integrate that into district training. Um, and then of course we'll um integrate and model digital learning throughout all of our different sessions as well. All right. Um, so that's just a quick overview of all of the different things uh that we get to do in our role with teaching and learning. And so we'd like to I'd like on behalf of Letty and myself,
023we'd like to thank you um for for getting to share for a moment um the really awesome things that the people in our department do um to support schools. Um, and we'd love to answer any questions that you may have. >> Well, thank you for all that and um I I have a lot of thoughts, but since we just talked about the training, I'll touch I'll um ask a couple of things on that first. I mean, do you have an idea on how what percentage of um the training or the professional development our our teachers do particularly is things that are required for them to do versus things that you know we're they and and the district are choosing for them to do. And then um kind of along those lines then how much um
024do do would you say and these don't have to be exact numbers but you know how much do folks do we go above and beyond what you would think um that requirement normal bucket would be. I mean I I know at least from >> I I would just think that there are some folks who who want to soak this up and have lots of PD or take as much as they can fit into their schedules and then you know sometimes it's all we can do to get the minimum done. So just kind of getting a feel for for kind of that. >> So from the lens of required trainings like I need to phone in Jeff in the audience. I mean like there there are a lot of compliance-based trainings um that that are required.
025Generally that's done as flipped PD. Um they have opportunity to do that at their own pace. Um and then and a lot of that's front-loaded really. August is a lot of meeting the requirements, right? making sure everybody even in campus PD is aligned with the um what we would call like the laundry list type of things like do you know how to put a referral in? Do you know what the dress code is? Like all of those types of things that are embedded. Um, and then I would say through the throughout the course of the year, um, is really whenever we get to focus more on that content specific PD, um, additional opportunity to dig in and kind of monitor and adjust based on what we're seeing when we're visiting classrooms. Um, based on the
026feedback that we get from instructional coaches and department chairs whenever we're talking with them about what they need to to use those days and those times for. Um, so I don't have percentages, but I think it's a balance of both, right? and and it's really more front-loaded, meeting the requirements up front and then trying to be a little bit more fluid throughout the school year. >> Probably not dissimilar to what we do. We have our laundry list that we have to check off too as board members and then we try to have things that >> we choose that are meaningful for us. Yeah. >> I know one of the things that we've talked about is just um a desire to like improve how we're supporting new teachers. Can you guys talk at all about we
027talked about a lot of professional development, but I know we also have some training that's specific to new teachers. Can you talk a little bit about what you do with that? >> Absolutely. Do you want to Okay. Um, so we um re started redesigning um the new teachers um program. It used to be called NTU for new teacher um university. Um we renamed that to Spark this year. Um and um you can tell by the sweater, we can take a theme too far, right? like everything is um yeah sparkling um and so forth. And so that's really the the three days in August that we welcome all teachers new to CSISD regardless of the number of years of service. Um and so we have one full day that is for the district generally um a
028full day that is um on the campus out with their instructional coaches and their mentor teachers, their campus administrators. um we provide a list of things to make sure that are addressed, but it's really flexible according to what the campus wants to do to welcome those folks to the to the district. Um and then we've had one year or one day for zero um and one-year teachers who are new to CSISD to have that support. And then the ongoing support for um brand new teachers, the the zero-year teachers comes really in the form currently of the uh mentor program that we have. And so each of those folks is assigned an individual mentor. that person does receive um a stipend. There is a monthly schedule of things that they talk about and they meet about.
029There are additional requirements that mentor goes in and observes, provides um coaching, support and feedback in a you know a non-evaluative capacity um as a partner with that teacher. Um and they document all of this and and turn it in and support that um and turn that into Jeff. And so um we're really kind of in the middle of the handoff um between both of these programs. um being under um what used to be Jeff's title of professional learning and um leadership and as he's moved to school improvement, it's moving over um to the two of us. And so um since this is our first year of the program, we've been learning a whole lot right now. Um and we're currently in the process of getting feedback to determine how we want to move forward
030to better support teachers next year. Um I'll give an example of that. Um, we have a couple of instructional coaches who have taken that mentor list, gone ahead and planned monthly meetings from the instructional coach stance where they're they're giving additional support to those new teachers, you know. Um, and so we have some examples like that that we need to take districtwide and multiply in different ways. And so it's that balance. It's the um what can we do as a district? what supports can we provide campuses to make sure that when they're they're hands-on on on the ground dayto day with our new teachers. And so, um, looking at it from both angles, like how do we welcome them to our system and our district, but also how do we support campuses and making sure
031that that we're taking good care of our new folks as well. >> Correct me if I'm wrong. Was that the lunchon that we had at the beginning of the year? >> That was the lunchon. Yes, ma'am. I think it was kind of neat just to see all the schools had their tables so they could kind of all grow with one another with their new teachers but also kind of beat off of each other. They were all sitting so close but just to put a name with what we're talking about. Wanted to make sure that was the spark program that we got to witness. >> Absolutely. Okay, good. >> You know, it's it's a balance like right we need to give them the information and content they need but it's just important that they feel welcomed
032and that they're part of our CSSD family. Um and so um absolutely that that community lunchon is um definitely something that will continue even as we continue to revise potentially different pieces. Another topic, and I know this one's one that maybe not underneath your um official >> purview, but something you would work with tangentally, is more the technology use in the classroom and how you guys um um work with work with those decisions. Think, you know, we've had obviously that that's on our goals first of all, right, is how to integrate that with our in our classrooms, but also uh it changed a lot in the last changes every year. you know, we don't we have the cell phone bands and so the adjustments we've made to that we hear from teachers, you know, are
033are not from teachers, sorry, from parents are are sometimes, you know, are they spending our students spending too much time on a computer or, you know, or do we use doing enough those types of things? How are we as a district um determining besides the cell phone policy, but guidelines for those types of things? And maybe this is another maybe the answer is the this is a different presentation like from Natalie and the technology side of things. But yeah, I'm sure you interact with that um on a regular basis. So just some feedback on that. >> Yeah, I mean we don't have any regulations as far as teachers and use of computers. That's their autonomy to handle their classroom the way they see fit. Some are going to use the tech more than others just
034depending on the coursework and depending on their style as a as a a teacher. And so that's not something that we micromanage or have an expectation of. It's up to them. Natalie and her team are available for questions on additional resources to use that maybe they want to use a little bit more tech and so we're available to give them those resources and teach them how to use it. So I think it's an ever evolving deal but as a district we're not mandating what they have to do or don't have to do. That's that's their call as a classroom teacher. >> Yeah, if I guidelines would be a better word and I would certainly see that uh different teachers and different classes would need different amounts of tech. But yeah, I would like to know
035kind of what and it's ever changing but you know what are the thoughts where we are right now with uh with the district and your team. >> Okay. I mean the what I would add is the way that Tiffany and I work with the technology department with Natalie is um she is constantly sharing, oh can I come and present this to the instructional coaches, MTS, any of the groups that we work with, put in put something in front of the principles. Um really just trying to expand their experiences with some digital tools that they can use in their um you know as in their leadership presentations or in the classroom. And so that's really the the lane that we see the technology is with Natalie trying to um show us and present in our different
036groups the different tools that can be used for instruction >> and then otherwise back to your comment Dr. Crater you feel like it's the campuses and the teachers that get to take it from there on what they >> they do that. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Yeah. And then we're available. We look for trends. I mean, right now, I think uh with the amount of laptops we've been able to purchase the last two or three years, we've got more and more teachers in classrooms that have available to the technology. And now it's getting some of them comfortable with using a little bit more and a new tool. But I think it's also something that they need to as a uh teacher experiment with to make sure they're comfortable with that. And so you don't want to
037mandate that they have to do something. you encourage maybe if there's some areas that we feel like we can get a little bit better and get more engagement with kids >> and kind of along those lines and we haven't really talked about that but I don't know if y'all as an admin have talked much about the use of AI and developing any guidelines around that be in the classroom and and with teachers because I know there's some other districts who've been talking about even you putting policies around >> yeah we're actually working on that right now Natalie has a AI committee that she's uh putting together and so that's a big uh task that we're going to tackle here over the next year >> and that'll be ever changing too. >> One more thing I
038forgot to ask. Who's assigning the mentor to the mentee? Is that you guys or is that like admin campuses >> that is done by campus administration. >> Okay. So they kind of pick who they think is going to pour best into that mentee. >> Absolutely. Generally it's someone from the same content area. Um but really yeah they match the personalities they match the content at the administrative level at the campus >> the motivation and >> absolutely >> inspiration that need to >> pour into a mentee. Okay good >> yes. >> And you said those mentors they receive a stipen for supporting the new teachers. >> Yes sir. >> Do you know how much that is? >> Um off the cuff. Um >> it's $500 per >> semester mentee. >> Mente. Okay. >> 500. So to
039repeat, Jeff, for the the microphone, it's $500 per mentee. Um, and that's payable once they document that they've done all those different things with them. >> And and we're still utilizing title two funds to pay for that. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. I have several questions as I try to develop or or understand and teach myself um educate myself on on uh the classroom uh what's occurring. So in your presentation three things that I I hear a lot are comments that are made to me >> uh from teachers. Um time, you know, time is always u precious for everyone. So I hear lots of comments regarding uh time. Uh I saw professional learning communities in here and data meetings. So I'm curious and I know PC and I'm a supporter of PC. So let me
040be clear about that prior to my question. Um I know that's the cornerstone of the of a lot of the work that's occurring right now and the collaboration uh amongst the teachers and so on and so forth. So how often from a district standpoint what's the expectation as to the number of times our teachers have to meet per week whether it be PLC's I assume the data meetings run in conjunctions with the PLC or a part of so how often are they required to meet per week I I don't that's a I don't know who to ask that question of so >> you go. >> All right. So, um, regarding like the the difference between a collaborative team meeting or a data meeting, like all of those things things are just essentially part of the
041same work and the same processes and cycles. Um, campuses have kind of um taken on their own vocabulary and vernacular for what they call things and so I can understand why as different people approach it's kind of hard to keep up with. Um you know initially whenever we launched um the example that we gave was it pro probably would take two times a week probably about 30 at least 30 minutes if not 45 to be able to really engage in the unit planning as in the team teaching and learning um cycle that um that let um shared you know going back to like the the feedback some that's doable in some places and not in others right and so whenever we were um relaunching if you will recalibrating in July with principles Um when Letty
042and I and and Pane were going through like expectations for the year, um from what I remember about the slide that we shared related to this work is that the the how is campus discretion based on your guiding coalition, which is their team of administration and teachers. Um so the frequency of the meetings, the what your agenda looks like, all of that that's really campus based, right? Um but the what that we're going to do the work of working in collaborative teams that we've invested all of this learning in and training was non-negotiable right so we're going to make this happen and then within that um but last year at the very beginning of the year the parameter that we had set was you know it's probably going to take you two two meetings of
043at least 30 minutes if not 45 to be able to do this and then it became the question of when right >> so twice a week is what I'm hearing Okay. And that >> varies by campus, Mike. So the expectation was one to two times. So some campus principles uh have chosen to do once per week. Some have chosen twice. >> Okay. So the campus can decide whether it's once or twice a week is what I'm hearing. Okay. >> And the length too I think is important to consider there. >> And I think that's where my confusion because I hear different things. So understanding there's discretion helps me understand why I hear different things. Uh, another one is do, and I assume this is probably campus discretion as well. >> Do some campuses have a
044PLC period allotted in a teacher schedule and some do not? Or do some have a PLC period and some have a conference period? >> Is my question making sense? like because that influences time as well, right? Which obviously then translates to class size. >> Um is there a consistent expectation with that or are we managing that throughout during a conference time or is it some of both depending on how the principal sets up their schedule? >> I'd say some of both. Let you want to talk about elementary and then I'll talk about secondary. at the elementary level. Um the campuses have it during their conference period, the teacher conference period. Um with some of the schools doing the sort of like a double block like Dr. Harkard talked about just doing it one time per
045week. The teachers might get to to school a little bit early and they might have a team deploy and go um you know take the students to their camp time something like that so that the students are taken care of and the teachers can meet collaboratively. Um, and it's it's a little bit of an extended time, so they're meeting just that one time per week, but it is during their conference period. I think some of the schools are figuring out a way to get started a little bit early. Um, and this the teachers would still be able to have their conference period afterwards. It was something that I was able to pull off as a campus principal a while ago. So, they are problem solving on their campus and listening to their teachers. Um, I
046feel certain of that. Um, at the elementary level, they're working hard to provide them the time. And then the data discussions, sometimes they try to get it accomplished during their collaborative team time. However, depending on when assessment is given, you would want to respond to the data pretty quickly or else the data is old and it really doesn't make any difference anymore. So sometimes that would fall during a collaborative team meeting, a regular scheduled one, but sometimes they're going to have to just meet to address the data more quickly and respond to it because that would um benefit the students a lot more if they're looking at the data right away. Okay? And then everything gets more complicated as we move into the secondary world with bell schedules. And so um at intermediate we have
047a sixth period day. Um, and our teachers at intermediate are teaching five of those six class periods. Um, and so I would say that out of the three levels at secondary. Um, that is the most difficult to schedule. Um, and so most campuses are leveraging conference time and trading off and working with teams. It looks slightly different um, across all three of our different intermediates. Um, across middle and high school this year. um the star tested subject areas and then and of course exam tested areas have a conference time and a collaborative team time as well in in their schedules. Say that again. Which one? >> The the basically if it's star tested. So it would be all five EOCC's and then the seventh and eighth grade where where we do have STAR. Um so
048for example um eighth grade science does have a collaborative team time but at most campuses the seventh grade science team does not. Um they're meeting at a different time. >> So just to clarify, you're saying that collaborative team time would be in addition to their conference time. So they every day. >> Yes. That's so that's a significant amount. >> It is. It is. I mean, and it's been good. Um you can see the movement that those particular campuses have been able to make this year. Um and so like they're getting their feet under them. And so like as we face um you know, coming before the budget workshop, whatever the f the school of finance has before us, they have a pretty solid foundation in the work if we're not able to continue that to
049be able to move forward in those practices, right? Even without as much time. They are staffed in order to make the uh PLC and conference work for tested subjects. Some principles have gotten creative and other uh non-ested subjects they've been able to give a collaborative team meeting to. I believe both high schools do that for their English teachers because the amount of grading that they have to do. So, they've been able to make that work for them. But we don't staff for that. We're only staffing according to uh the need for tested subjects. But sometimes there's some movement in their schedule when they can give more as well. >> I just want to be sure that I'm understanding what the answer that you just gave. So those those subjects they actually have two out of
050the seven periods that they're not teaching or are we using like wind time and this other I don't know all the different terms that we use. >> So for those particular teachers they would teach five of seven classes. Okay. Okay. for clarity. Um there are other creative uses of our one-time advisory academic success has lots of different names for that same amount of time um where out of the secondary world um they might um protect a certain team's advisory time on Monday to give them additional collaborative team time as well. And so that does happen to try to help support teachers who don't have that additional time. I do think one of the pain points that we heard last year, correct me if I'm wrong, >> other board members, is that it was interfering with
051some of their planning time. >> Correct. And so I think now that our PLC's are flowing and going it that one of the big defenses is reducing the planning workload because they're sharing with one another. Am I correct on the PLC model? So now like the teachers are actually learning to collaborate which then cuts down on their conference need. Is that a thought? That's >> okay. Good. And we've seen a lot of that happen when we take the visits and it's going well and we have some of the schools that are being recognized. Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay. Awesome. >> So at the high school we're able to do that as well. I know I heard you at the say at the 5 through 8, but at high school and English, I think I heard
052Tim say we're able to incorporate um a collaborative time, a PLC time in addition, >> okay, >> classes across content areas. So, all five EOCC courses and then um in this year in English at CSHS, they all have the additional collaborative team meeting time and conference. Um they were able to work that out. I don't. >> So, biology algebra consult. >> Yeah. Biology, algebra 1, um I'm gonna blank. English one, English two, of course. >> US history. Yes. >> And those will continue next year, right? We're planning on doing the same. >> Getting the nod. Yes. >> Okay. >> And and so I'm making sure just to summarize, >> y'all are not dictating how it should be done. Y'all are giving campuses autonomy to figure it out. just it has to be done and then
053they can modify >> all this planning and all that to fit their teacher schedules and based on feedback. So you're not saying you must meet these days period. >> Right. And and I I would also just say and like we're all happy to partner and problem solve and troubleshoot and and figure it out together as well. Um and have been engaged in lots of those conversations >> and a lot of Go ahead. >> Yeah. So they'll have to they they >> inevitably have to meet at least once a week and principles have discretion as to whether a second time is needed depending on the circumstance. So maybe one week it's once and the next week it's twice. They have that discretion to make that decision. >> Okay. >> And I want to make sure like
054Letty said something that I think is important. Well, sometimes the teams want to meet more than once because they say, "We didn't get the work finished, so we're going back to it." I think what's interesting is there's been some teachers, maybe not the elementary level, but at secondary where they're upset that they haven't had a PLC time. You know, we this keeps getting taken up. We need to work. So, that's been very exciting as well as like what you spoke of Kristen is that the work that they are doing accelerates the work that they do. um their traditional planning is a lot of that's already been shared and thought through and it's just such an incredible level of work that they are getting to student learning in a more efficient way. Um they're they're developing
055beautiful questions together. They are talking about instructional strategies, modeling strategies for one another to see what's most effective. So that um you know we talked about mentoring. This is part, you know, it's an unwritten part of mentoring that you have a veteran teacher showing how they might teach something and a a brand new teacher learning um but the learn the brand new teacher might jump up and say, "Well, let me show you how I teach it." And so, it's just really incredible how um the work has expanded and every single principal is doing something just slightly different to fit the needs of their campus. And so, as we visit, as our our team and CNI visits, you see a little bit of this and that. Um but it's just been really great work. So exciting
056to see. I will say that at the one of the teacher advisory committee meetings um I a teacher said I'm going to paraphrase here but basically like we want more time to plan and we want more time for PLC's like both are valuable things and it just got me thinking because uh we wish that we could all teachers we wish we could all like multiply time for you but um I appreciate that we're spending dedicated time to things that are going to help our students and so just appreciate that work even though I can understand why time is just something that's really hard to find. >> But like any new system, as they do it more frequently, they will get better at it and it will be a little bit quicker in the process. >>
057I think it lends itself well to continuity, right? Because if we've got kids, uh, you know, when I was in school, we didn't change your schedule was set for the semester, whatever. Now, you know, things happen and sports happen or um different things where they might need to switch schedules mid-semester and now it lends itself to continuity because everyone's on the same page. Um and I'm glad I as the husband of an English teacher, I know they value those times tremendously that they get to plan and having the two uh sometimes rumors fly. I know that's a news flash that there might be rumors in the school district, but teachers were concerned about losing those two periods that I heard about. So, I'm I'm very because they everything I hear is positive. So, I'm glad
058that those are staying. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm more of a conversation than um so our PLC's we're we're growing with our understanding and implementation of that. We're in the third year of that I believe and solution tree is kind of the cornerstone or the vendor that's facilitating that process. Is that correct statement? >> Yes, sir. >> Yes. Okay. is I guess this is maybe more of a question for Dr. Hark rider is is we're three years in. Is there a point where probably our teacher leaders or our district leadership is fluent enough with the PLC process that that we begin to take that facilitation into Yeah, that's the whole goal. Generally most districts if you imple implement it correctly you're in about three or four years and then you should have
059the capacity to continue to lead that on with new teachers coming into your district new administrators coming in and so then you become self-sufficient on your own. >> Yeah. Because our folks become fluent enough they can manage the process and keep growing it. So then I'm going to circle back to our new teachers a little bit. So solution. So we're in year three. So I just heard you say three or four years. So as we look at the budget and strategy with new teachers and this has to do with teaching and learning and all of it. Um our our last annual up with solution tree was in the 200 plus range. Is that correct? The cost >> I believe that is yes. And I I'm I I'm believe we probably utilize title two funds for
060that. >> Correct. >> So there would be an opportunity if we began to move in house that we could free up some of those funds to have more aggressive with some of our new teacher or retention efforts and so on. And so we could we could utilize some of those funds for maybe more than $500 mentor to our teacher leaders to mentor our we could utilize that. >> Yeah, there's definitely strategies. >> Okay. >> Well, and I will follow up on that. I didn't say it before, but a few slides up on where you had the bars on the different the on the survey, I um the actual solution tree was near the middle to to bottom. And I don't know I don't know exactly what that star score meant. Was that saying the things
061that the teachers really liked the training they appreciated? I guess >> so. Like as topics come up in the algorithm you can input your own open-ended responses and then you can see others they tee them up and you can rate them with stars. You score other people which is usually a positive right. Absolutely. Yes. So some of So it looks like some of you know like you said before some of our own content specific PD was the number one the things that was start and the solution tree was well down the the list. So just another >> maybe we're ready for more for us taking taking it on more just >> well again y'all are doing wonderful work. I'm just trying to learn and understand and and get the logistics of things so that maybe
062I can contribute down the road. So um I I I absolutely believe in the wins associated with with PLC's and the collaboration and the conversations that come from that and how the teachers can learn from one another. Um that's absolutely a positive and I'm and I'm glad to hear that our principles have discretion as to how often uh is required to meet during the week. Uh and also to know that we've intentionally built in um in addition to conference time in the testing areas time for for PLC's. Um so I think as long as that discretion is applied at the campus level uh it allows people to kind of process that and manage their time for planning and develop ownership of how uh things flow and after 3 years you know I'm sure folks are
063becoming rather fluent and so u maybe it's an avenue for us to use the funds to be aggressive with our recruitment retention efforts that we all know we we need to begin to focus on as well. So, thank you ladies. You did a very appreciative for the information. I >> actually did have one other thing because I wasn't sure what we were going to get today. So, I had my little list of thoughts, but one that thing that made it made me remember I haven't asked in a while. We did a you guys did a or we had a curriculum audit >> done throughout the district last year and I I don't know if we've really got a full um summary and um you know what came from that what changes came from from that
064I don't >> we've got a team still working through that process right now >> as far as information >> more I mean we spent a good bit of money to do it and a lot of resources throughout and I it happened last spring. Is that right? >> Yeah. When they get finished with their work, then then we'll have a presentation to the board. >> Okay. Keep keep waiting. Anything else? Board. Okay. Thank you both for your time and your presentation. All right. The last item we have is an updated timeline for our budget advisory committee recommendations. I think that's going to be Miss Wilson. Good evening, Miss Eggy. Dr. Hark Rider, board of trustees. I appreciate taking the time this evening. Uh, I just have a quick update. So, guess what? I don't have a
065presentation. I don't know if you'll be excited about that or not. I'm sorry. >> I wanted to see. >> I know. I'm so sorry. Next month. Okay. Okay. So, um, we were going to bring our board advisory committee to the board tonight to show them our goals. uh they did meet for the third time. They came up with a plan. However, we want to take a bit of time just to back up, bring that back to them, and make sure everybody's on the same playing field before we present it to the board of trustees. If that's okay with you, that's kind of our plan. Is that okay? Sounds great. I mean, we don't want to get the committee to give a recommendation before they're ready. So, um we're going to be hearing that next month.
066So, >> yes, ma'am. Okay. >> We're going to bring it back in April. We're gonna just reconvene them one more time, show them just we were going to send that out as email, but we wanted to have face-toface time with them instead. So, we're going to bring them together, look it all over, make sure we're all on the same page before we present it. Would you like to add anything to that? >> So, we'll get a budget update next month, I assume. Pretty thorough when because when will we make a move or when will there be a proposed budget for the board to consider in May? I assume >> we're going to have a good look at the budget in April. Of course, we'll look at it again in May. It goes to the board
067for approval in June. >> June. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> So, next month, >> compensation will go in we'll bring compensation plan to the board if that's something that we want to do for raises. If that's something that we can feel comfortable doing, we'll bring that to the board in May. >> Okay. >> So, we'll have a good look in April. We'll bring that to the board in May and then we'll finally adopt our budget in June. So, April, I know we've already seen some projected revenue numbers last month. >> So, and and we know what current year expenditures are. We really haven't spoken about projected expenditures for next year. any assumptions as far as um personnel dollars associated with new personnel or not or and you just mentioned compensation. So I
068I feel like there's lots of information for I know in the next couple months there going to be lots of budget information. >> Absolutely. So, we're meeting with our staff right now on staffing and just trying to finalize that. So, we kind of know where we are at this point, but we still have a few more meetings left on staffing. And so, we'll bring that to you in April. >> How does that align with us approving positions of board? So, this is where I I'm just trying to put it all together. I know we're considering some positions this evening or at the regular meeting uh that we've discussed and and that Kevin shared with us in January. Uh we've had other positions mentioned to us. How does that align with the budget preparation? Are there
069going to be other moving pieces associated with that or are we just approving certain staffing positions or will the rest of them be captured in the budget as a as a whole if that makes sense? >> So the CTE positions right now are pretty much the only ads other than classroom size adjustments and so that we're going to bring to the board. We'll bring the full amount of the staffing back in April so that you can look at all that. Right now, we're looking at class sizes, where our enrollment estimates are for next year, and some moves in there, as well as other positions within the district. Some of that comes from just some of our advisory budget committee and and we're looking at that, but we were also looking at those positions prior to
070that meeting. So, we're just looking within the district as a whole. >> Okay. Where's our out of district transfer numbers looking Dr. Hark Ryder? Uh what was the last number Sarah? >> 16 >> 15. >> Nine of them were kinders. So they >> we've had a few others have started trickling in this week. Uh we've got a breakfast we're hosting with Brian College Station Realators. believe it is April the 8th at 9:00 in this room that we'll do a presentation uh of the district and then get that information out to hopefully a packed room of realtors and then make a bigger social media kind of push as we get towards uh new student registration at our elementary campuses and kind of do a kickoff with what they're doing as well as an opportunity to come
071to school here. >> And the positions that are going to the board tonight are CTE positions, right? Okay. And with the CTE positions, that's with our new facility that's going to be available and open in August. U and those are positioned we'll have to have. Of course, we spent over 105,000 with Brian ISD right now to offer those services to our kids. And so that's something we'll be >> I'm not I know those are weighted funding and also that we pay a tuition of Brian already that we'll recapture. So I I I don't me personally I'm only one board member. I have no reservations on those. I'm just okay thinking >> just collectively, right? And what assumptions are being made relative to staffing >> and uh raises because I know 1% raise is going to
072probably cost about a million bucks. Uh uh so um I've just I was just curious cuz I know um we we've seen revenue and enrollment projections uh budget amendment last time we were added to the fund balance and those types of things. Uh I was just curious when we're going to begin seeing projections on expenditures relative to staffing, new positions or not, or uh in compensation, which I know um is is huge. >> Absolutely. So, but >> yeah, April will be a big meeting. Uh after we get through these staffing meetings, we're going to have an idea of potentially reduction of positions that maybe we don't have to fill based on a loss of enrollment. Uh the other piece is uh in June we would have the new benefits package ready to go. They wanted
073one more month. We were trying to shoot for May, but they want one more month to be able to negotiate. They feel like it's advantageous for us to wait and go in June for that. And so uh April will be a big >> for what? For Oh, you said benefits. Okay. >> Yeah. Because that's going to be a big point uh with our change in vendors. We're hoping that we're going to get some movement in a positive direction for the staff and for the district with benefits. You typically get a move, a positive move the first year and then they roll it back on you the second year. >> We think we've been not getting a great deal and that may or may not be true. We'll figure out uh you know what the next
074two to three years looks like. >> But that also allows because we'll be within our five years and so we can go back to TRS after this next year without a penalty to our school district. >> Yeah. Because when we opted out >> consider as well. >> But has that gotten any better with I don't know. Maybe memberships increased, but many people were starting to opt out. So, I don't know what their rates really even look like active as well. >> We got more coming in because of the stresses of everything else financially. They don't have a choice. They're kind of stuck >> either way. All right. >> You'll go ahead remind us when is the new the budget meeting? because I I hope we get the whole budget committee there, as many folks as
075possible because, you know, for for this final answer because I appreciate you because last time we um I feel like there wasn't we're missing some folks. So, it would be great if we get the whole committee there. So, okay. >> When is it? I don't remember the date. >> Yes, ma'am. March 24th. >> What I heard you say is that in April you're going to bring us all those numbers that Dr. Payne's looking for. So, we'll be we'll be ready to uh get a presentation. >> A big PowerPoint. >> Thank you, Miss Wilson. Um, and that's going to bring us to item E. We're going to adjourn at 556.