CSISD Board Meeting 02/17/2026

001terminology. Good evening everyone. Um it is five o'clock on the dot and I'm going to call to order our board of trustees workshop. Declaration of a quorum. We have seven members present. Um item C is hearing of citizens. We do not have anyone signed up to speak for this workshop. So that's going to move us to item D1, which is our 2627 budget discussion, which I believe is Miss Wilson. Good evening, Miss Geeky. Dr. Huckrider, board of trustees. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to visit with you guys again about budget. So, we're going to go through several things today. We're going to look at the current budget. We're going to look at the budget amendment. There were a lot of adjustments in that budget amendment and I wanted to have a chance to

002kind of go through that. We're going to look at the first semester attendance incentive. I think that's really exciting to celebrate our campuses that achieved their incendence aotment. Uh we're going to look at enrollment trends again and then we're going to look at estimated revenue trends. So we'll go pretty quick through that. That looks like a daunting list. So we'll kind of start with the current budget. So if you look at the current budget, uh it was in your budget reports, but I just want to kind of bring that back to you because we're about seven months into the budget and so you can kind of look at the ebony estimates and where we're over. A few things that you'll notice right off the bat is the available school fund. That's ASF foundation state that

003is over by 3.8 million. We'll address that tonight. A lot of that revenue is generated due to a property value study that we had done in our district. It was on 2023 values and it brought the district more than $2.3 million in revenue. Uh that is not on our current summary area finance but that's property value study from previous years. In addition to that, we had some additional property value studies in 2022 that I'll bring tonight. And uh we had a little bit of repayment on um our um our um chapter 42 payments. Uh other sources was the 2.4 million that is from a hell claim that will receive the revenue this year. However, we won't make those uh repairs until next fiscal year. So because right now you remember our budget ends on June

00430th. So if you want to look at it by expenditure, you can kind of look through here by function and kind of look at where we're at as a function level. I really like to look at it by object code because so much of our budget is in payroll cost with 84% in payroll cost. You can tell real quick if we're blowing a budget by how much of the year has passed and how what percentage of the year have we paid out in payroll. One thing that you really have to keep in mind with payroll cost is there's something in there called teacher incentive aotment. Uh right now we're estimating about 3,875,000 around that uh po point for the teacher incentive aotment that get that gets paid out in August. However, we get the numbers

005and then we rebook it to this fiscal year that ends June 30th because it's earned in this fiscal year. So it has to be coded and charged to this fiscal year. So when you're looking at the payroll, kind of keep that in mind because that is a very big number. So if we want to break down the budget amendment a little bit closer, I want to kind of just break it out in chunks and kind of talk about what you're seeing. So the total increase to the budget was $2.3 million, close to $2.4 million. Uh I had brought up to you guys the last time we kind of looked at the current. It's just where our interest income was. the additional fees that the district was being charged and the decrease in return on investment.

006So, with that being said, I think we'll end this year with 372,000 less than we did in previous years and less than we did budgeted. However, we have that bank bid out. We're going to receive those in March and we're going to bring those to you guys to adopt in March. We're hoping that we can kind of turn this around, decrease some of the fees that we're being charged. Like I mentioned the last time, just the number of bank accounts. when we decrease that, that will decrease fees and be able to uh increase our interest revenue as well. And so we're trying to do whatever we can to kind of generate as much revenue. Uh state revenue, we increased 1,334,000. So this was the summary that was ran through the end of the third six

007weeks. Uh of course that generated a decrease in revenue because our estimated students based on the demographs and bas and then what was actually uh showed up at school this year was less. And so we're going to go ahead and decrease that revenue now and then we're going to increase the revenue for those property value studies. So those property value studies amounted close to two $2.4 million there. Uh a big one right now is the federal revenue. You're going to see that a couple of places. So we're going to go ahead and decrease the federal revenue by a million dollars. Um it's a million1 actually. Uh that is due to charge revenue. We're not anticipating receiving much of anything this fiscal year. We'll continue to monitor that because that's a number that we're going to

008want to kind of look at hard going into next budget cycle. U we have three different cost reports that we're dealing with right now. There was a um a negative amount out of the 22 cost report from an audit that we're having to repay back a 23 cost report audit for SHARS and a 24 cost report audit. So what's happening right now is they're using the funds that we would receive in interim payments to take some of those to to reverse some of those negativities. And then we're having to set aside additional money right now in the other uses category so that we can pay back anything from the 2024 SHs audit report. We're still working through it. We're still looking into it. We're still fighting it and we're kind of monitoring what's going on

009with the district to make sure we're turning in everything we possibly can to make sure we're seeing those uh federal revenues. Uh if you're very if you're anything familiar, I know that um the previous CFO talked about this a lot just about the different types of charges that we can we can recoup cost on that we could in the past. And that's what we're really kind of looking at. Uh other resources of course is that $2.4 million in hell claims. So I I kind of wanted to take a little bit so you can see in that bottom right hand corner I wanted to look at one-time revenue increases and current revenue decreases so that you can kind of keep in mind. So if you were looking at at a current budget we decreased revenue in

010the budget 2.4. However we have a $4.8 million increase and so when we end the year this year we will be putting money in fund balance. Does that make sense? But certainly can on that hail >> piece of it and I think we have an item too that we're going to >> commit that fund balance. Yes, >> ma'am. But that one Yeah, that one's committed for something else for sure. >> Yes. Yes. >> Is that the only part of that that would be committed to something? >> Okay. So, we've got the 2.4 million that we're going to commit to fund balance, but I went ahead and committed just that because you remember we told you at the last board meeting that we really didn't change our fiscal year to increase our fund balance. And so,

011I pulled that out and put that as a commitment as well in fund balance. So you can kind of keep that in mind. However, we still have a healthy fund balance. It's over three months of operating and with those items in place. >> So just to be sure that I'm tracking with all of this, too, because we might get really excited and see a net increase of almost 2.4 million at the top, but the reality is we've got 2 almost 5 million that is insurance proceeds that we're going to be spending to fix our roofs, right? Yes. You just want to be sure that like as we're talking about these numbers, everybody's clear that we didn't just suddenly get a ton of money into our budget. >> Absolutely. And that's a great point because I

012want you to keep that in mind when we build next year's budget because even though we get a increase in revenue this year, you're going to see a larger deficit next year when we turn that around and have to pay for those roofs. But that's why that's committed. So that you guys know that's committed and that's going to be rerolled back out to cover those expenditures in the next year. And it's really not in a sense our day-to-day operations and to keep that in mind. So that's a great point. Thank you. >> So basically it's just all a wash relative to the repairs that we're going to have to have for the hell damage. >> Yes, sir. It really is. But it's going to look really healthy this year when we close out the fiscal

013year and add to fund balance and I just Yeah. So that's why we're kind of ear marking that. >> Can you can you talk a little more about the audit? I didn't I don't totally understand that. Sounds like three years in a row we were overpaid chars or we did something incorrect. What could you talk a little more about that? >> Not really something incorrect. So what happens and what's happened over the past is they give interim payments. And so that was based on our estimates going into those years where they were changing our shars and what could be reimbursed. And so they're paying you interim payments and then you do a cost report to settle up. And so what the cost report does is settle up any interim payments. Sure. So if you've been

014overpaid on those interim payments, they're wanting you to pay that money back. And so that's really kind of what we're looking at for 22, 23, and 24. However, with some of the stuff that's going on with the interim payments, like one of them's a a one trip ratio um on transportation and we feel like we should have gotten that money in. We should get that money back and not be charged for those costs in a sense. We should Okay. Let me rephrase that. We should have earned that revenue uh when we submitted it. And so we're still fighting those, but basically you sub they give you your interim payments, you file a cost report, and then they go in and say, "Oh, we don't agree with you or you do we do agree with you."

015And so we're kind of going in through that period. It's not that the district's done anything wrong. Sure. And a lot of it has to do with they changed the rules after the game was played and so we submitted all the information. we received interim payments and then they came back and said, "Oh, you can't claim those costs anymore." And so, we were dealing with some of that, too. >> So, I guess two follow-up questions. Is it typical to have like a four-year clawback? Like going back to 2022 seems like a very long time. >> It it does seem like a long time to go back that far. However, I think it has to do with just all of the change in the rules and them going back. And then not only that, we were

016trained on some of the rules and they actually went back and changed those rules after they did the training with us. And so there's some of that in play. Typically, historically, >> we haven't had we haven't ever had this. We haven't had to pay money back. We haven't I mean, that's not thing. It's just like I said, it's the federal rules that have changed and we're just in the mix of it trying to get it taken care of. if they change the rules and instead of starting as is moving forward, they're retroactively trying to go back and recoup. >> So that's a recent thing. >> Correct. >> Okay. And then whatever the kind of the challenges around tagging, you know, getting getting things categorized correctly. Do we feel like we have a pulse on that

017now? So the risk of that happening moving forward is less or are we still just we'll find out in three or four years if we did it? >> Okay. So right now what you're looking at now is we're decreasing that revenue. We're not receiving payments right now, right? The payments we're receiving are very very low. Like we used to receive a million3 a year. We're receiving like 254,000 right now. So we're kind of monitoring that. Okay. And then making sure that we can claim as much as we can. There are a lot of school districts in the state of Texas just because of the decrease in revenue. They've emand abandoned the program. just we want to make sure that's >> that these numbers are accurate, right? And that we're getting all that we can before

018we abandon a program because that's still a lot of money. >> Sure. >> To us. >> Yeah. I just want to make sure we feel comfortable that whatever was changing, we feel as good as we can with the changing rules that we've identified those things and and our projections will be more accurate in the future, I guess, because of what we've learned. Is that fair? It it's fair. >> We'll see in a couple years relative to the way it's written now. >> Yeah. So, if the federal government changes the rules of the game and then makes it retroactive and applies back, >> then yes, we'll be hearing this conversation again. >> Okay. >> But right now, we're not showing any revenue. So, there's nothing to take from us, >> right? >> So, >> I bet

019they could find >> I mean, they've taken everything. >> I bet they could find something. It feels like they've taken everything. There's very little revenue left in the program. We're just hopeful legislation will kind of look at this because this is huge to school districts. It's a another loss in funding. But great questions. Thank you. Okay. Looking at expenditure. So, when you look at this, I didn't just want I wanted to take a hard look at our total expenditure budget because we're we're about to get into the hard budget season making decisions for our school district. So, I wanted to kind of look and to see what we set aside in contingencies, what our planning numbers were, where they are now, and take a hard look at payroll. So, as I showed you guys earlier,

020payroll makes up 84% of our budget. So when we started this year, there was a lot of things playing on our budget. Uh we changed how we budgeted. That's one thing. Uh and we made sure everything was accounted for in your budget and then you had to live within your budget. But we also know when you're going through some of those pains, there might be some things that you might have forgotten about. So we set aside some contingencies for that reason. Another thing is we're still in the process of building a position control system within our finance system. So it lines your positions up with the exact number of positions and the correct coding behind that position is set up in the system originally. It's gone it goes through the budget process. It goes through

021the hiring process and it's the only way we can pay people. Okay. So with that being said, we know that bud that positions are coded correctly from the get-go and that we know that they're all accounted for. So some of the adjustments that you're seeing within the functions in the budget is yes, payroll was accounted for 100% correctly, but not in the right function. Like that function didn't have enough of the payroll in it. It needed to be adjusted. So I went line by line and then I turned it over to Chris. He rebuilt the spreadsheet and he went line by line. If you also take into account when you're talking a huge staffed high school, three people are not hired for that campus, then that's a huge number. Another thing is with transportation. If

022you know right now where we got 22 spots in transportation that are not filled. So when you built your budget, some people build with those not at 100% fill rate. We build with it 100% fill rate. Uh, I hear a lot of times when we're building a budget that yes, we build a deficit budget, but we end out perfect. Okay, we end out good. We don't we don't hit the fund balance. A lot of that is just because we have to cover estimates. We have to make sure that we're covering our substitutes for the year. We have to make sure we're covering all the insurance when we don't know who's going to take the insurance and things like that. So, what we've done here is gone and looked at all of those pieces and went

023ahead and reduced the budget to kind of show you what a real number looks like. Please keep in mind when I show you the final number here that we still have room in that payroll budget. Okay? So, there there's still movement in there in case something goes over in substitutes or anything that happens. And so, we still have a pad in our payroll budget. However, this takes the contingencies out and those these takes like right now we're trending to be about 380,000 in savings and substitutes from previous years. That takes that into consideration and that takes that out of that number. Okay. Um, another thing that happens is sometimes we can't get positions filled. So, in that number, um, if you can look at the next line on contracted services, there's $31,000 sitting there. That

024is actually positions that could not be filled in payroll. So we had to contract out for a diag or we had to contract out for an aid for a behavior student. And so those would be typically things you would pay out of payroll, but now you have to pay it on out of contracted services. So that's the 301,000 there. Associated with that money that we receive in a property value study is we have to pay Purdue Brandon that runs all of those numbers. And then that's an increase in attorney fees. And then of course we're setting that money aside for SHAR's payment. We're hoping it doesn't have to happen, but I just really kind of want to give you a true picture. So again, what I tried to do here was break it out on

025current adjustments to the budget. So I'm reducing your current dayto-day operations budget by $1.9 million. We can call that $2 million. And then we're increasing expenditures for one-time cost of a million. That is for your attorney property value study. And that is also for the SHs. What questions do you have? >> Couple. How? So 2.3 million contingency and unfilled positions. How many unfilled positions is that? Do you have a ballpark? I was just looking at a total, but like for example at our two high schools when we went into the budget cycle because you remember now we have to go in at June 1st and we don't know 100% of the positions on June 1st but you have to adopt your I mean July 1. You have to adopt your budget in June. So when

026we looked at each line item we were looking at basically the two high schools we were over allocated on positions by three at each high school. So that was over 200,000 a piece. uh when you look at your transportation department um >> on the high school before you go forward. So are they unfilled positions or the positions that were absorbed because they were not needed and and so that's why the payroll decreased. It does my question make sense? >> Well, a little bit of both. We didn't go line by line and compare the positions. We were looking at a total cost of budget and it ended up being about that much. And when you go into the budget, what happens with our old system is you take your current positions, you roll it in and

027then you try to make adjustments of what your known are uh during the system because there's not a position control. There's nothing at a onetoone. So you're you're basically taking your job classes and pulling them into a budgeting model and then pushing them into the next year's budget after you roll your raises. So you're hoping that you get like for example if we had three less elementary you hope you pull those positions out of the mix before you roll it in. And then what was going on was like Chris rolled one thing in or Mr. Neely did and then I had an Excel spreadsheet that I was working off of. And so then we kind of compare for materiality to see kind of where we are. Uh there was there is about um 600,000 in

028health insurance in in that number right there. that maybe have been a little bit overestimated, but you don't know at the time when you're when you're building the budget how many people will take, how many will not take health insurance. Um, you had transportation. There was a little over there was a couple hundred thousand in transportation just from unfilled physicians that we went ahead and reduced. Uh, and there was a little bit in maintenance that we went ahead and reduced. There was a half a million in contingency that was just setting aside till we got through a period of time where we felt like all of the budgets, all the softwares and everything was accounted for and then that was reduced. >> Okay. You mentioned we we beat u your expenditure projection on subs. How

029how did we do are we just not >> are subs just not picking up jobs or how do we beat that number? Okay. Um, so, so what Mr. Neely does is kind of looks at a historical information on substitutes and then he comes up with how much he estimates will be going into the next school year on substitutes. However, we're we're trying to track down we kind of close some of the gaps in substitutes. For example, one of the cost savings going into this year was just we did um we set aside so many subs per campus that a that a principal could utilize. So we had a bucket of subs for campus and then each department in curriculum had a bucket of subs for campus. Um and then we looked at the other subs.

030And so so basically it's not so much that it's just that we're not we're holding people accountable in the substitutes where um you only have allotted so many subs. You can't just if you need a sub for the week. It's not that someone's missing is you just wanted to bring in a sub to relief something or >> Right. It's a part of their zerobased budgeting when they build their their budget. Okay. >> Um >> we're just trying to we went into this year that was one of our cost savings, but we wanted to also make sure that we were accounting for everything and we weren't going to be short. Well, no. I'm just ask because I didn't know if it was a procedural thing to help with efficiency because on a Friday in spring at

031a high school, you are likely not filling all your sub requests. And so I didn't know if if the savings was relative to something that as far as how we're approaching subs as a district or simply the fact that more sub requests are going unfilled which then in turn yielded less expenses relative to subs. So, it's not it's not a it's not a big I was just curious. And so, >> the fill rate's pretty similar to what it's been in years past, but as we building the budget for next year, our subpay is is not uh where it needs to be as far as being competitive in the county, and that's something that we're going to address. Uh I'm not sure it's just money. That's possibly why subs aren't necessarily Northfield rate, I think, is

032a little over 60 to 70%. It also depends on the campuses. Uh I think it's more than money, but we've got to make sure that that's not an excuse either, that we give them a reason that they come here versus going somewhere else. >> Yeah, that was my thought on the subs as well. If there is any extra money when we're talking about a 60 or 70% fill rate, you know, can some of that be used? I mean, that's kind of another maybe >> brainstorming some ideas. In Heather's previous district, Friday's uh sub rate was higher than Monday through Thursday uh filling for special education positions. We could pay more than we pay pay for gened. So, there's multiple things that we want to experiment with to try out next year and see if we're

033getting movement in the right direction that we want to >> because it still means 30% of the time um teachers or somebody's going to have having to cover some of those those classes. It's been a pretty big issue since COVID everywhere substitute teachers and uh but you know we've got to evaluate where we are pay-wise. We've got to make sure we eliminate that but also coming up with some creative ideas like Friday pay potentially Monday special education positions could be something that entices more people. >> I think those are good ideas. One other thing because it was similar I think to what Mr. Martell's asking is when I see that two point something million that's coming out of the particularly con um construction payroll >> are you saying that we're not able to pinpoint like

034how many actual positions >> there's not very few a lot of >> that you know that we've eliminated some because of the you know changing the um well we're down we're down with our number of students so getting rid of some positions or as the question was we are we just not filling them. >> It's not it's it's not that we're not filling them. And actually our sub rate, the last time I checked with Mrs. Cooper, it was 77% fill rate. >> Um so and then when I compare with our peer districts, we are lower than our peer districts in subpay. And so we pulled all that data and we're ready. We've actually already submitted it to the budget committee so that they can kind of see um where where we have some things that

035we might need to cover. Um, most of that money is set when we set contingencies aside, we always set them in function 11. So when you set a contingency aside or you're building an extra amount of money in there for health insurance, you're going to put it in function 11. And then in addition, when you have subs that you might have overestimated how many subs you were going to need for the year, you set that in function 11. So when you look at all of those decreases, they're coming out of one function in a sense. And so that's a majority of that just to get to to start with. So and then on top of that TRS on behalf is another one that's really so if you're seeing some functions increase and then then function

03611 decrease. I didn't feel from looking at the estimates that TRS on behalf was allocated appropriately by function. It needed to go less out of function 11 and more into the other functions. So, it's not that we're decreasing positions in function 11. It just happens to be we've got to get some of that extra out of there so that you can look at a true cost of a budget. That makes sense. >> Okay. And and I assume too, I could be wrong. I'm still learning the new fiscal year and the implications of how that thing influences how the district operates. So going into approving a budget in June, it's probably much more difficult to project some of your staffing needs that early on. Is that correct? That could play a role in this 2 million

037as well because absolutely. >> I guess you're going to anticipate some things as far as student enrollment, >> but a whole lot can change from then to the beginning of school. So I would assume it's a little more difficult to just completely pinpoint your staffing due to the when you have to make a move on the budget. Is that am I on? >> Absolutely. And so I think that's where position control is going to put it and be in play. We'll make sure their position is there. It's coded correctly. But a lot of times when someone leaves and a new person replaces it might be someone retired and a younger teacher replaces that. And so you're going to have savings and some of this money is attributed to that because when we were rolling those

038budgets over, we had to roll over current staff and then make make sure it was based on a pres a position. And so you're going to have some of those savings just from older teachers retiring and then hiring younger ones with less experience. >> So what I feel like I've heard you say, I mean you have talked about a couple of areas which we know are high need areas. special education. We ended up doing some contracted services for unfilled positions. And you mentioned um bus drivers, but what I'm not hearing you say is that we have a lot of unfilled positions um for teachers and and other staff. And that's really um great. And also just to kind of put in a bigger perspective, I mean, even for our families sometimes when we budget, we

039have to kind of have a little bit of extra because we don't know what's going to happen. And I feel like I'm hearing that we're at a point in the year where you are more sure of what's going to happen so we can have better numbers. >> Absolutely. And a school district has to have contingency, especially at a school district this large because there might be something that comes up in the middle of the year that you have to have and you want people to be uh conservative in their budget and then go into their budget conservatively, but something might come up, something might break. There might be a software that you need to purchase in the middle of the year that you didn't know through the budgeting process. And so you've got to have

040a little bit of money to be able to function and and we've had some of that in all honesty. >> Could we get like a five-year look back on unfilled positions just so it's it feel it still feels very ambiguous to me. That is that that feels pretty straightforward, right? >> Yeah. I'm not sure we can give you an accurate count. We have not had a position control here. So part of that money as we're going through line by item, we've had money budgeted here historically in staffing that we no longer have those positions or need them based on enrollment. After this year, by them going line item by line item with a new software where the business office and HR will actually speak to each other, we will have a more accurate count of

041the staff we have and the staff that we currently need. So like in for this current school year, we don't know what positions we tried to hire last summer that we didn't fill. >> Okay. So I want to be extremely clear because I probably have said the wrong word up there. It's not about teachers and field positions. When I talk sped, that might be you go through an AR and they assign a one-on-one or we have a behavior kid that no one will take that position. And so those are the ones that really kind of go unfilled. It's not so much or it's in the middle of the year and we have to have something now. Uh sometimes on diags we have all the positions filled. However, we need additional services and so because of

042ARS they say you have to you know we we have to cover our case load. Um, and so those are sometimes your contracted services, but a lot of your your your money there in contracted services in the unfilled positions are things that have happened during a school year where we've gone through an AR and we have to have a one-on-one or and other things like that. A majority of your unfilled positions are sitting in your transportation department. There are 22 bus drivers that are unfilled right now and 12 monitors. That's not saying we're not doing our job because we are. they have had to uh increase route sizes and a lot of our work our our staff that's in the transportation department you'll often find them on a bus in the afternoon. Um with custodial

043that is a little harder sometimes because if you you feel at 100% those jobs turn over a lot and you're constantly refilling those jobs and so when that happens you might be short for a little bit in a position and then you rehire that position. So with that happening, if you've budgeted a 100% for those positions and they're not at a feel right 100% because they're open some of the time, sometimes instructional aids, they leave us during the school year and we've got to replace them. But while they're gone, we have a a savings in a sense if we're not filling it with a substitute or something like that. So that's really what you're looking at. Our district is doesn't have like a problem filling teachers or anything like that. So I don't want that

044you guys to think that's it at all. And every department head and principal knows who what their staffing is. Right. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, this is the budget amendment and uh together we went from a 2.1 million deficit to a 2.596 if you're looking at current budget with all that that's was said. Okay. Attendance incentive. So I guess you guys know that if our campuses increase more than their targeted at 0.5 increase in attendance incentive, we reward them at one times their enrollment. If they go six to seven, we'll do two times their enrollment. They can keep going up. So the enrollment on the they kind of get a bonus to get that incentive up. So >> I'm sorry. Before we go, can you go back to the one just prior? I'm

045sorry. Right here. So the 33 is the delta of everything we just talked about. >> Yes sir. >> Okay. So 56 593 but we know 2.4 of that we're going to commit for roof damage later. >> Right. >> Okay. >> So if you look right now what we're going to contribute to fund balance at the end of this year will be more than the $1.2 million. >> Okay. in and so in our right now our annual operating is about it I think 156 >> 158 170 now it's 156 344 >> okay thank you >> okay >> all right so our district has a target of a 95.6% 6% increase in attendance. So, the winners are ADM Consolidated High School. I'm sorry that that kind of moved the letter there. Uh they actually had over 24

046students per day that showed up than in the previous year, which is really exciting. Uh Oakwood Elementary increased their attendance over the previous year at 1.15 so far this year. Uh Pebble Creek is up there as well, over8% increase. and College Hills and College Station High School over 17 students uh per day over what they were last year. So, those are really exciting. Welburn's just right over that 0.5, but they still qualify for that additional funding. So, that's really exciting. Uh enrollment review, we've already kind of talked about this. I just kind of want to bring it to your attention. Um, we did adj I did adjust these numbers a little bit because when we resubmitted our uh fall snapshot, our number went down to 13953. So that's our snapshot enrollment number. Uh, I have

047showed this before, but just want to keep in mind because when I go I'm going into next year, I'm estimating that we're going to get those COVID babies. And so if you look at that year, that's 1,263. We have about 900 kindergarteners right now. And I think we're that number is going to grow this year. So, I'm kind of excited about that. Um, this is our estimated enrollment going into the upcoming years. The graph doesn't tell the whole story because that's not a whole lot of movement. I do think we have enrollment growth in our school district. I think a lot of it is our birth rate. So, if you look at the birth rates, you look at those earlier years, they're a lot lower. And if you look at those birth rates, they're just

048a lot lower. And so, we have less coming in. And so as our our grade levels roll off, you're going to see that kind of go down. Uh I do monitor different things like if you look at um Greens Prairie right now, Forest Ridge, some of those campuses, some of their grade levels are growing at 10%. So I mean you can kind of see the growth in the area, it's just those birth rates are killing us. Even though they can get here, we're growing as a district, but it's just not showing in our total enrollment numbers because our our larger grades are moving off. uh that one year where we drop a lot. We've got a big freshman class like over 1,160 something kids when our next level, you know, is 100 less. And so

049>> so that is strictly birth rate relative to how many were graduating, right? Projected. Is there any account or calculation relative to anticipated impact of vouchers or anything? Yes. Or is that just strictly math? graduating class, birth rate coming in. >> It's not strictly math because of the fact that I take a five-year history and I look at every grade level when a kinder works from first and I take that percentage of of growth. So, are they decreasing every year going from first to second? Are they increasing every year? Like we have a huge increase going from 8th to um freshman year. So, 7% on average over the last five years, we've had an increase in enrollment going from eighth grade to their freshman year. So those are applied in these numbers as well. When

050you get into your upper level classes, you're going to see a decrease in every year. So I didn't take it off of one year because last year was huge decreases in some of our senior years. But in the previous year, no grease at all. For example, College Station High School typically they get kids the senior year. They lose, but they get and they flat their senior class. Last year we had a 7% decrease in enrollment. So those things I keep into play and then make sure that I'm not decreasing. So like when you move my my juniors to my seniors, I know typically you're going to see a 6% decrease in enrollment from one year over the other. And that >> so you take the historicals and apply five years estimates, but then I'm kind

051of just taking into account sometimes if there's an anomaly in there. Uh it is five years estimates and so you've got your year coming back from COVID that's in the numbers that I think you could possibly take out and relook at the numbers. But to be fair, when you're estimating enrollment on these campus that builds their budgets, I just kind of kept it to the five years. >> So since we have that question, how does um like the demographers, new additions, new buildings, and all that part of it play into this? How's that in your estimate? >> You can kind of look at that. Like for example, u like I said, 10% at Greens Prairie, 10% at on some of those grade levels. And so when I'm building out their staffing and in their enrollment

052on their campus, it might be just a hair different from this because of the fact that on that campus, I'm estimating they're going to get 10% more kids from second to third than they did. You know what I'm saying? So I'm not just rolling second to third. I'm actually that grade level's getting a 10% increase because historically you get a 10% increase. So those are kind of played into my numbers. And I and and I even went back and kind of looked at some of the demographers to see, you know, like where they were off, where they were on par and I could see some of that in their numbers as well where they must have been assigning a little bit more growth to a few of those campuses like that. Uh you're going to

053see Pebble Creek is one that she fluctuated a lot because she had that apartment complex in her numbers. However, that apartment complex has moved out and so I'm g I think you're going to see a larger increase in her numbers going forward. All right. So, on to estimated revenue. This is just really kind of a just kind of a look. And what I did to get up these numbers, of course, is I used the enrollment numbers of the uh 13835. I played 95% ADA on that number. And then I went in and estimated a a 5% growth in property value. So I had to ref figure my property value study to figure my state aid and then applied the growth to the property taxes. And so that's really what you're looking at there. Uh so

054you can kind of see where it goes from a $2.596 million deficit taking expenditures one for one over to a 3.6 million. Of course there are expenditures in our current budget that we won't have next year. Um for example we have a one-time cost on our new software that's a large number that's going to go away. So, we'll be bringing more up-to-date numbers in the future, but I kind of wanted ju you just to see right now what that looks like. Um, and then I kind of took it out a little bit further. Like I said, this graph sometimes makes it looks like those are huge decreases in our revenue, but it's really not that huge of a decrease. I do want to give a couple disclaimers because most people do not show future revenue

055in school finance because it's a moving target. every two years the legislation changes the rules. Um, however, I want you to be I I took it out of the number, but in 2829, if you see a huge increase and say that Heather did not show me that, this is what it is. It is called a hold harmless on recapture. So, when we had House Bill Two, we were in recapture. House Bill Two threw us out of recapture. They held the recapture districts at a whole harmless amount. Okay, we went out of it. So, we lost that bump. When we start lo, you know, like decreasing students and gaining property value, when we get closer to recapture, that holds comes back into play. So, on two different summary of finances, on Tasbo summary of finance and

056on Omar summary of finance, you will see 28.29 jump a little bit more than $2 million. Okay? But I didn't want to show that because that looks really fishy because that's the the hugest decrease in enrollment is that year and it's a little bit hard to explain. But I do want to tell you if the law stayed the ch the same and we did see a 5% year-over-year increase in property values, you will see that holdarmless come back in play. Okay. U board priorities. I just bring them back every time because that's what you guys set. Uh next steps uh the campus's budgets are due on February 20th out of district and staffing transfers are due on February 28th. So then we can start looking at enrollment and finalizing those staffing models for the next

057year. Uh our visor committee meets on Thursday. They're going to come out with their committee recommendations that they'll bring to the board in March. Uh we're going to continue to analyze cost. We've done a rubric on stipens and our our departments have done an amazing a job with giving us all that information and then we have our compensation and health insurance review going on and uh we are looking at rebidding health insurance at this time. So we'll bring that to you guys in the near future as well. H how are we tracking with the uh out of district transfer applications and has that been applied to your enrollment your projections for revenue? >> When I looked at the projections it was of January 21st and that's when I pulled all of the out of district

058as well as the transfers and so those are the numbers I started with. I have given the numbers to the campuses as of that date and I've told all of them if you see an increase in enrollment due to the transfers out of district transfers I'm going to go in and increase your budget for that. >> So so what is >> number wise it's it's been pretty slow. I think we've got about 15 or so I think it's a it's a odd time of the year when people the timing is not great. Parents really aren't thinking a lot about uh next year yet especially in other districts. I spoke to a group of realators uh last week over in Brian. Uh they were not aware, many of them, that we had this process going. So

059when we go through our staffing projections and we staff Creek View and Side Grove, we want to be able to uh leave a little room for growth there as well and then jump start and continue to keep that window open, make a big push in May through the middle of June. Uh at that point in time, we would know at Syroveve x amount of fifth graders we could take with that staff. Same thing with Creek View and uh see if we can't get another bump a little bit later. >> What's the What's the current closing date for that? And you mentioned you may extend it. >> Yeah, next week is the current close and we plan on to keep it open. >> Yeah, I think the first year is the toughest year to get it

060out and get it going for people to talk about it. And then your biggest salespeople obviously for us will be those that come here, enjoy their time, and then help us get the word out. Thank you guys. >> I want to thank you for all of the data that you look at. I mean, you're talking about apartment complexes impacting enrollment and things like that and uh that's a lot of stuff to look at. Um and your um your recollection of being able to talk numbers is remarkable. So, I want to thank you for that. I also am I just want to say the English teachers are probably mad consolidated got spelled wrong. So, you you're gonna take some heat for that. Um, and I was happy to see uh College Station High School as one

061of the attendance winners because as Mr. Grimes knows, my senior is not helping at all with that situation. She's killing us and and he knows that. So, my public apologies for that. So, I was happy to see that. Thank you, Heather. >> Thank you, Miss Wilson. All right. That is going to move us to item D2, which is our 26 27 staffing requests. Good evening. Um, thank you Dr. Hawk Ryder, Miss Eggy, and uh, members of the board for the opportunity to come visit with you today uh, about a need that has been present in the athletic uh, department for a while. Uh, and so I appreciate the opportunity to come visit with you uh, currently. Uh so what what we're asking for or uh hoping for is an addition of an athletic trainer um

062per high school campus. Uh so one at Console and one at CSHS. Our current challenge is uh our we have two athletic trainers at each of our high school campuses right now. We have a lead trainer, we have an assistant trainer. Um and so it would we're asking for an assistant trainer, a second assistant. Um currently they're working many many hours. They're there. They're one of the first ones there in the morning and then they stay through and and until pretty much everyone's done practicing or if we have games then they're there for all of those. Different from some of our other coaches who have seasons, uh they don't have off seasonasons. They work uh when we come back 1 of August uh through um the end of baseball season whenever that might be. Um

063and so they work long hours uh long um days and so uh there are times where we have um coverage gaps with over overlapping events and so I'll talk more about that in just a minute. Um the benefit of a third trainer would enhance our our student safety uh and rehabilitation. So, the rehab side of that and getting them um back on the playing field or court uh as well as uh on-site medical support more frequently. And then obviously our goal is to provide high quality care for uh over 200 2400 students that are involved in our athletic programs. Uh you may or may not know, but u approximately half of our middle school students and our high school students are involved in an athletic program. Uh so it's it's the uh participation is quite

064large. So from the fall so fall 2025 uh again long days but then also uh look at the amount of students that are checking into the athletic training room. Uh you know if you break that down per day you know you've got 3600 kids that came in in the fall semester at Console and really it's it's probably closer to the 5700 number. They just have a different signin process. So that's kind of the disparity there. it isn't that they're getting hurt more frequently at one and not the other. Uh and so, you know, they're probably um closer to the CSHS numbers of numbers of kids that go into the training rooms and then the treatments that are being offered uh to those kids to get them back healthy. Um we had over,300 new injuries. Uh

065some of those were concussions, uh 61 broken bones across the district, and then 46 uh of those injuries requiring surgery. Uh so our kids are very active, very competitive. Um we do have a a large amount of kids who participate in club sports outside, so there's some wear and tear there. And so um we're able to service those kids as well. But our current ratio right now at the high school is one trainer for every 600 to 700 kids. Um which is obviously um well it is uh exceeding those safety standards. There are also gap concerns and so with with coverage uh because of the UIL scheduling and the success of our programs and those deep playoff runs that we like to go on in this district uh there's a large overlap in our sports

066uh seasons. And so that causes multiple events going on on a Tuesday or on a Friday night. Okay. Uh and so there are times where we have events, athletic events or even practices without a trainer present. So if a kid gets injured, then our coaches kind of have to triage that um because a trainer may not be there. There were 91 instances uh of one or no uh athletic trainer on in the fall uh that was on campus due to traveling for events or they were out sick, one of them was out sick or whatever the case might be. Uh and so in certain circumstances, we do use um uh contracted services for athletic trainers. Uh there are there are less now than there used to be, but there is a local um hospital that

067does have athletic trainers, but they are pretty expensive. Uh and so we have to be strategic in in how we utilize their services. This is just a a sampling or a um a graph that shows our season. So I'm not going to go line by line, but you can see where that line is uh in the at the towards the end of January. all of the different sports that are going on at that time. So, with two athletic trainers on a campus, you've got wrestling, gymnastics, girls basketball, boys basketball, we've got soccer going. All of those sports are going on at the same time, which is where they're really stretched thin. And that third trainer would help us manage all of the things that are going on. So, an example, we we we put a

068a couple of Tuesday, Friday night examples, but just tonight, we've got uh girls basketball playoff game down uh for for example at Console. Uh the Lady Tigers are in Bridgeland for a playoff game. Well, we have to send a trainer there. Uh we also have a boys basketball game in at home and so we have a trainer there but then we also have a girls soccer game and so we we have to have a trainer there and so we have a very similar situation at CSHS tonight. So the longer that the girls basketball or the boys basketball playoff run goes then you have these overlapping three or four events going on on a given night. And then we have to plan how are we going to manage those things because we want to provide the

069best possible care for our kids. And so um we have to make some decisions on that. So the benefits uh our perceived benefits are one is just a it's a proactive investment in in the student safety. Uh it ensures that we have more consistent on-site medical coverage. Uh and so with those multiple event nights going on uh we also would be able to enhance our quality of care uh and so you know having a trainer there a medical professional uh is is going to help us as well as get our kids back healthy faster. So if we have three trainers that are on campus every day um in the training room doing treatments then our kids are rehabbing uh more frequently more intently and so hopefully returning to to action sooner. Also student outcomes hopefully

070with the faster recovery times we can also limit uh reinjury uh and so those kids can can have a a a more um positive experience um in their high school careers. Additionally, uh this would uh reduce the reliance on that outside contract uh coverage for our programs uh having that third trainer on site uh as well as potential reduced medical expenses for our families. So, if a student um a trainer could assess whether a student needs to be transported by ambulance or not, is it severe enough? Or a student um you know, like for example, I tore my Achilles at one point and so I I was able to utilize in my previous district the trainer to help with rehab instead of going uh multiple times a week to PT. Uh so they they are

071certified um for that and so that's an option that our kids could use instead of being pulled out of school for these PT sessions. Uh then they could do it in the in the athletic training room um setting. Uh and then that leads into minimized academic disruption. We know, you know, we just talked about ADA and the incentive of kids being in in class every day. Well, if they're having to be pulled out for PT or if they're, you know, they're just hurt and they're not able to get around, uh, this is an opportunity for us to, um, address that and hopefully improve in that area and then offer medical guidance to our families. You know, our coaches do the best thing uh, best that they can uh, and and our parents do as well.

072And so, but with a medical professional who's trained there, u being able to recommend certain things to the families so that they make the most informed decisions based upon um their recommendation is is also a benefit. So, the way that we're currently structured again is we have a head trainer uh and they're currently on a an administrator pay scale. They're on a 207day contract. Then we have an assistant trainer who's on a teacher contract. they do receive a stipen and and and currently our assistant trainer teaches two classes a day. Okay. So, what we're asking for or asking for you to consider uh at the appropriate time is uh a an additional trainer which would be on a teacher pay scale. That would also include them receiving the uh stipen which would lower our ratios

073from 1 to 6 to 700 to uh 1 to 400 uh at our high schools. This also could if we decided uh to utilize them in the classroom uh then we could also utilize them um to reduce some class sizes in certain uh classes. And I do real realize there's a lot of things that maybe the district needs. Um, and you know, we're talking about deficit budgets and things like that, but I do appreciate it. This is definitely our highest priority need as a as a department. And so I appreciate the time to visit with youth this evening. Are there any questions? >> Yes. Can you go back one slide, please? Kevin, the very last slide. uh that lower ratio is from one to 600 student athletes to one to 400. Right. In the treatments

074I see I'm looking back at your third slide. It looks like um in the fall they saw 5,800 student athletes through the course of the fall. So I would assume the spring is similar to that or comparable. So then 10,000 treatments per school year. There's two of them. So let's just say 5,000 treatments per trainer. How many days of school do we have? >> Maybe something >> 70. >> Okay. >> Two. >> And uh we do have facilities uh inside the main buildings that are athletic training spaces. So there is additional spaces that could be occupied by that third trainer to um decrease the traffic in one specific training room and they would be able to utilize both spaces. >> And we allow we have some fine arts kids that take advantage of our trainers

075too, right? Some of the band kids and drills. So it's not just limited to athletes. These these trainers are servicing all our students if they need it. >> Absolutely. And we uh talked to Mr. Eekes uh yesterday and and he referenced that. So, especially early um when the band and and drill team flags they're out on the on the pavement or on the turf, you got heat exhaustion or they're turning an ankle or they get a concussion. Uh our trainers also treat those kids as well. >> And we still have the middle school trainers in place. Correct. >> We do. Yes, sir. >> So, just kind of for like my knowledge, I'm curious is the goal. Do we have uh trainers? We obviously have them there for athletic events. Are they also present for all

076of the athletic practices? >> They are. So they um we have athletic periods during >> but they're at the building during the practice. >> Yeah. They're they have athletic periods throughout the day. And so as those athletics period periods come up uh there's treatments during the period, there's treatments before school, after school on Saturdays, um all of those things are offered by our our trainers. >> So this is more just general process. So I know we heard from Kevin. I assume we're going to hear from Mr. Eat shortly. What is the I apologize I'm new to this how this process how how does this process and hearing potential requests for next year are we want to hear from different departments every month leading up to the budgeting process? >> No sir both of these uh

077were on my radar a year ago and so we gathered data this last year and felt like it was worth a discussion. There's others that come forward that may not in in my opinion in the cabinet's opinion be ready to pull the trigger on. So that's basically it. The priority >> the ones that come here to present in essence are the ones that administration is endorsing. >> Yes. And we need to consider. Yes, sir. You mentioned the budget um which is relevant because it's on all of our minds but um I think one of the greatest things that we can see is to watch young people try um and to watch young people do hard things which is where athletics and fine arts and everything else comes in. Um and there's a lot of pride

078in this community around the athletic departments of uh both of our comprehensive high schools. We've also I've heard personally from parents on this exact topic. So, I appreciate that this is being brought up. Um, I think it's critically important. I think there's, um, so many benefits that young people learn from competition. Um, and so in this, I think, uh, just so you know where I stand, you have my full support in this. >> Thank you. >> And I can say as a parent whose son just went through a major revision surgery on his elbow yesterday, um, and he'll be living with Ellie and Dion probably for the next three months. Um, these trainers also do more than just help with the physical aspect. It's the mental. They're encouraging. They're helping these kids come back from

079an injury and that's almost invaluable um to these kids and and it's right getting them back on the field and getting their confidence back in the field in the classroom. So, I 100% um support this as well. Yes, I'd say I'm struggling a little bit more after just going through, you know, the revenue projections and the fact that, you know, we're looking at another significant uh deficit. And I've said before my my first priority is to make sure we have the funds that we need in our classrooms. I mean, I certainly also recognize the benefit of all our extracurricular. So again, it is a struggle, but to me, it's the um the classrooms have to be have to be first. And I guess the other the other part with this, it's trying to put this

080in line with the fact that we're just looking at our num our um enrollment numbers potentially going down, right? But then we're looking at adding additional trainers here. Is it just that we're get more kids in athletics or I guess we do have bigger classes for the high school level right now? Um so trying to make sure I'm understanding that need and is it a temporary need? Um >> I don't I don't think so. I think, you know, this district is is very special in the amount of participation that we have in our in our extracurricular programs. And I would say it's co-curricular, right? Like we work handinand uh with our academic um counterparts and and so I think we're all working towards the same goal, which is a well-rounded student um when they leave

081us. Uh and so I think that for us though, we have a large amount of participation um and we have a large amount of success, right? And so as programs have success, young kids want to be a part of it. And so it just continues to feed it. Uh we have um and so I think that the need is not going to go away. I think that it's always going to be there, especially as we consider and I know you know what people do outside of school we can't control, but there there's a larger growing population that does club and select and AAOU and all of those things. So, we're dealing with overuse injuries and we want them to be elig eligible to or able to play with with our programs and so that's part

082of it too. >> I don't I don't like that that has to that burden didn't end as necessarily on the school district. >> I think we care for kids. We there are kids. We want them to be healthy and so we take care of them and that's why we help with the fine arts or if somebody else comes up injured, we're going to treat them >> because there are there are folks. I've got a fine arts kid that has seen one of the athletic trainers. So, um I understand that and I and I appreciate that you guys are there to serve kids. I think what what is probably going to happen is we have a couple of requests we're looking at that are that are things that the district thinks are needs and and it's

083also going to be um up to you know, Miss Wilson and then all of you guys to show us how that will fit into the budget, right? So, I mean, >> yeah. And I I wonder as they tighten up position control, we just did a a roll down of $2 million in payroll. So it's quite possible that in the numbers you're looking at now, the position is is quite possibly financially already there if that makes sense. I don't and uh I know those people are there all the time. I'm not there that often, but when I am, they're there. So, uh, and that was my point of in the current current staffing, they're administering 5,000 treatments in a school year. Um uh so and and I get what you're saying too because I think the

084classroom comes first but I also think that all these things work in conjunction with one another because we have such a large number of kids involved in extracurriculars and a lot of kids I was a math teacher they didn't come to class for my math class they came to class they came to school for extracurriculars you know so I think we have to consider all those things but ultimately like Missy said this this is a longer er process than today, but just the collective budget. But I I'm wondering as position controls tightened that maybe uh some of that money already exists in that number. I guess we'll see, right? >> And we talk about staff to student ratio in the classroom and you look at this staff to student ratio and that's it's crazy in

085my opinion. So another thing to consider. >> Well, we appreciate you um sharing with us and we know this is I mean it's a safety issue too for our kids. So, um, thank you for bringing that to our attention. And now I think we have Mr. Eekes set up here. Good even good evening everybody. For those of you that may not know me, my name is Eric Eekes. I'm the director of fine arts uh, here for College Station ISD. Uh tonight I'm going to be presenting information related to staffing needs in our high school choir program specifically at&m consolidated and college station high school. This presentation focuses on how staffing directly impacts student success, safety, and long-term sustainability of these programs. And these positions have been on our district radar uh now for a few

086years. The purpose of this presentation is to again establish the need for a full-time assistant choir director at both of our high schools. We will do this by sharing audit findings, uh, comparing CSISD peer districts, reviewing enrollment and program demands, and aligning our recommendation with best practices in music education. Last year, Calst Station ISD partnered with the Doc Docintis group uh to conduct a comprehensive audit of our choir programs. While changes at the middle school level have improved alignment and consistency, those improvements have highlighted a growing staffing gap at the high school level that we now need to address. To ensure that we are evaluating everything responsibly, we compared CSISD to districts of similar size, demographics, and coral success. These districts represent the same level of competition our students will regular regularly face uh making

087them an appropriate benchmark for staffing comparisons. This chart shows choir enrollment at comparable campuses with the number above each bar indicating the number of choir directors. What stands out the most is that is that our programs are similar in size to many others, but we are consistently we are similar in size to many others that are staffed consistently with two or more uh directors, but our College Station ISD uh schools are only staffed with one director. Uh this slide uh shows the enrollment growth over time at both of our choir programs. While&m Consolidated has remained consistently large, College Station High School has experienced significant recent growth. Uh further increasing the instructional and supervisory uh demands placed on a single director. I'm going to hit the pause button real quick. I love I love the bottom

088line there. It's going to be the bottom line in orange. I love the angle uh of that growth. Uh and that and and that indicates really really just a a a quality powerful teacher uh that we have at College Station High School. So I I'm super super happy to see that growth. Okay. So comparing CSISD to peer schools uh within our competitive region, these schools share the same uh competition pool as College Station ISD uh for UIL and for TMEA events. We are we are evaluated by the same adjudicators and we're held to the same standards uh which makes staffing within our region uh especially important. As of this year, every 5A and 6A campus in region 8 uh is staffed with two or more choir directors except for our two high schools. Despite having

089some of the larger programs here within region 8, CSISD remains an outlier still in staffing. Even with limited staffing, College Station ISD students have consistently achieved high levels of success at the region and all state levels. You will be seeing some of those students uh here later this evening at the 7 o'clock meeting. Uh these these these quality results uh definitely reflect exceptional work uh by our students and by our directors. Uh but sustaining this level of success long term requires appropriate staffing uh and support. uh our two high school ac capella groups, aside from&m consolidated high school, their their uh achievements illustrate the expanded scope of modern choir programs, including national competitions, recordings, and invitationonly performances. These opportunities are educationally valuable, but significantly increase the instructional and logistical demands outside of the school day.

090at College Station High School. Purple Rain further demonstrates the depth and complexity of our programs, including national performances and professional collaborations. These experiences require extensive planning, supervision, and instructional support uh beyond the traditional classroom instruction. I I do also want to pause here for just a minute. So, this is the third year uh that Purple Rain has has existed. Uh and in their very second year, so this would have been the last school year Purple Rain specifically was was invited uh to perform at at the Lincoln Center in uh um um New York City. Uh this is the same place where the New York Phil plays. Um this this was an amazing moment for these students, especially uh performing in an ensemble that really was was only two years old. Uh it it's important to

091also understand that that that that these kids didn't pay to play. They they were specifically invited uh for this event. I I was actually the administrator on this event and it was it was truly outstanding especially for an ensemble that's only been around uh just a couple of years. Uh this slide outlines uh the volume of events occurring outside of the school day, many involving over 130 students at once. You know, having a second certified director is critical to ensure student safety, proper supervision uh and instructional continuity during these activities. National and state organizations emphasize manageable ensemble sizes and individualized instru instruction. While staffing ratios are not necessarily mandated at the statewide level, common practice consistently supports adding a second director once programs exceed 100 to 120 students. Addition additional staffing allows for better differentiation,

092small groupoup instruction and targeted UIL preparation. It also ensures appropriate supervision and safety during travel performances and emergency situations. Ultimately, this recommendation is about long-term sustainability. A second director supports continuity, feeder alignment, recruitment, retention, and it ensures that these programs will remain strong as enrollment and expectations continue to grow. So in sum in summary, with enrollment data, regional comparisons, and best practices in music education, it all really points to the same conclusion. Additional staffing is both necessary and appropriate. I I greatly appreciate your time and I'd love to answer any questions that you may have. I >> think you forgot one of your biggest selling points is Mrs. Ramos has turned out a uh winner of the voice. >> Absolutely. Aiden Ross. Absolutely. >> I appreciate all the information and I fully support I I

093see the need for this um aspect as well. >> Same thing um in terms of uh what the district is presenting with uh you and athletics. Um this is something from that I've heard about from parents uh from both high schools. So uh appreciate bringing this up pointing out the success we've had um and and the additional need because um it comes up often um and we turn out a great product. Um I was curious for those trips and things are there there's also same thing with athletics. I would assume there's out-of- pocket costs for the students as well, right? There can be uh you know it really just kind of depends on on on if it's tied to the classroom or or if it's an extra bonus trip like let's say students are going

094to be going to you know um Orlando that can be more of a student out-of pocket cost but that's not necessarily something that every student has to do. So it really just kind of depends on on what the specific nature of the trip is. >> Just appreciate that again between fine arts and athletics we're servicing kids and giving them an opportunity as Mr. Martell pointed out um you know we don't get 5,000 people to show up to watch people take a math test but they do show up for basketball and football. Same thing with concerts and the musicals we put on. So appreciate that we give these extracurriculars to things that we serve everybody who wants to participate. >> Mr. So you know off so I assume these positions they're on the the teacher salary

095schedule with the stipen. >> Yes. >> And and how many do you know the days or anything off top of your head or have y'all looked at that? Kevin kind of gave us that. I'm just curious. >> Right. Uh, so we actually changed how we do stipens and uh extra days. We changed that u Mr. Simckac just a few years ago. We're now basically not doing extra days. We're just doing a a stipen on top of the teacher salary. >> Okay. So it' be these would be 187 plus >> plus a a whatever. Okay. >> Right. Right. >> Well, I appreciate that as well. Thank you for all that you do for fine arts in our district. That is going to move us to item D3. Um we're going to talk about Senate Bill 546

096and threepoint seat belts. >> Miss Dr. Harrider, members of the board, thank you for your time this evening. Um I'm going to come to you today and present on Senate Bill 546, which at its current time is another unfunded mandate from the state of Texas. However, that's why I'm here talking to you today. uh because there's a plan moving forward because we are not going to have this money in our district budget and you'll see why here in just a few minutes. And so Senate Bill 546 passed during the 89th regular legislative session. It's a school safety law that mandates installation of threepoint seat belts on all school buses. Uh we have a deadline to submit to TEA our plan by May 29th of 2026. So we've been evaluating this for the last several months,

097myself, um Shannon Cthar, our director of transportation, and Miss Wilson, um who you've heard from tonight on the budget. And so this law officially took effect on September the 1st of 2025. We have until September 1 of 2029 to be in compliance, which is good because that gives us some times and some of our buses will roll out of cycle at that time. Um, so we have to report our current seat belt status and estimated compliance cost to TEA by the end of this school year, May 29, 2026 to be exact. The reason we're bringing it to you here today is because we are not going to have the money in our budget. And if you don't have the money in the budget, it is indicated that you need to have the board take actions

098before you submit this. So, we're introducing it to you here today. Um, and here's where we are currently in CSIC. We have 120 total buses. We run 71 routes daily. 89 general education buses, 24 sped buses, seven spares out of that mix. Currently, we have 49 buses that do not have three-point seat belts. Okay. It's about $30,000 a bus to retrofit a bus with seat belts. It's not as simple as just putting seat belts on it. You have to take the seat completely out of the bus. You have to add a new back to the bus. You have to bolt it to the frame. It's a lengthy lab laborous process and it's not something that's cheap or very easy to do. So, the good news for us is we have 30 of these buses that

099are currently without three-point seat belts that'll come off cycle in the next two years. And so, if you don't know a bus cycle, we're trying to get 15 years out of a bus. Uh so what we have coming off the books, we'll have one 2010 and everything else will be a 2011 uh model that's coming off the books in the next two years. Next month you'll see 13 GenEd buses for your approval on the board agenda. And then we'll come back next year. We'll do 13 additional gened buses and we'll do four sped buses next year for the total of 30 that come off, leaving us with 19 buses that need to be retrofitted at $30,000 a bus. That would be $570,000 from our general budget. Now, we have until 2029 to comply with this.

100Um, we don't have that in the budget as you've just heard from Miss Wilson this evening. And so, next month, we'll be coming to you for approval to submit this to TEA. Uh, we'll submit it just after the board meeting. Uh, once we get that approval and the good news is while this is currently an unfunded mandate, the reason they're asking us to take action is because they are going to hopefully do this. They say there's going to be a grant available. We have no idea how much money is going to be available, but they did something very similar with safety fencing. Miss Budro stayed on top of it. All of our safety fencing that's going up to be in compliance with House Bill 3 around the around the school district is currently being paid

101for by a grant that she applied for and was awarded for the school district. And so, we're very hopeful that something similar like that will u work here in our favor uh related to the three-point seat belts on our buses. Someone did ask me recently, why don't we use our bond funds? Well, we are using bond funds obviously to purchase buses and there is a Senate bill that would allow you to utilize bond funds, but then the shelf life of what you're using that money for has to be more than 10 years and the buses that would be in that cycle would be less than 10 years left in our in our fleet before we were to auction them off and replace them with newer model buses. And so, just making you aware of this

102at this time. Like I said, it'll be there for you next month on the board agenda. Um, and any questions at this time? When we bought buses a couple years ago coming out of CO, it took a long time to get them. Are we still having that issue where so when the new ones that were going to get replaced in the next couple years? Are we anticipating any issues? >> We um so when we came out of CO, it had been over 18 months and we and we had tried to purchase some buses and it was a situation where we couldn't get buses from that company. We wound up having a situation where we went with a different bus company. Uh we're currently waiting on our third quote right now. Um so what's happening to

103us is buses have increased. We bought 30 buses last year and they've already increased 6% in cost from last year to this year. Um so right now roughly say about $160,000 a bus. Um a few years ago it was only about $120,000 a bus. So the cost keeps going up and up. We're not having as hard of a time getting them. We're not waiting 18 months, but it's not they're not sitting on a shopyard ready to come to you two weeks later after the fact. It takes longer for sped buses, your 53 passenger buses. It takes longer to get those. Um however, they are more readily available than they were during co And then, you know, potential cheaper solution. You know those t-shirts that look like tuxedos? We could just get some t-shirts look like

104a seat belt, take a picture, send them to the state, tell them that we put Can we try? No, can't do. >> So, Josh, give it a thought. >> We have to take action on a recommendation probably next month so you can submit your report. And basically, it states that we don't have the 500 >> in the general fund. Correct. >> You don't have the 500 in the general fund. Yes, sir. So then there's 19 buses left at at 30k after you cycle through, buy the new buses, so on and so forth for 570. And those 19 buses or however that number shakes out over the course of you have till 29 to make it happen. >> Yes, sir. September. So would would like initial game plan be to try to knock off a couple

105of these a year to mitigate the 570 over three or four years or we just gone >> food for thought. We're not making this decision tonight for sure is >> uh much like much like we're designating some um some fund balance associated with the hell damage. You know, I don't know if the fund balance is tracking a particular way you designate the 570, get it done, but then again, who knows if they'll change the law again or they'll provide the grant funds. So, yeah, >> let's just say right now, if the grant funds are there, you know, then we maybe reconsider, but we are going to hold as hard as we can to our cycle of rotating buses off the off the fleet every 15 years. When when we purchase a bus, we want to

106keep it as long as we possibly can, run it as long as we possibly can as long as it does not not a maintenance issue or, you know, the cost becomes so much that it's not worth having on the fleet anymore. So, we will currently monitor this, certainly monitor this very closely with what it is with our fleet. We already have all that mapped out. We've got a pretty good plan looking at it, what it may be, but we just don't know what the money's going to be. And so, if it's a situation where they say, "Here's your grant, but you got to get all these seat belts, then we can certainly look at doing that right away. But it's a lot easier to do whenever they're providing the money. >> You mentioned the grant

107from or that TEA says there might be a grant. Is that >> Well, they said there's going to be a grant. We just don't know what the money is going to be. >> And then you compared it to the safety fencing. Was that also from the state or was that a priority? >> That was from the state as well. That was that was House Bill 3 required the safety fencing, the anti-scalable, the six foot tall, so on and so forth. Um, and it was an unfunded mandate. And then I think once they started realizing how much it was going to cost school districts to be in compliance with that, they came back with a grant. And as long as you're as long as you apply for it, most everybody I talk I haven't heard from

108anybody that didn't get approved for the grant. Now, I know some school districts that missed the grant because they didn't find it. But, uh, Miss Budro was on top of it for us for safety. Myself and Miss Cthar will be all over this one waiting for it. Um, I'm in a I'm in a mailing list. I get everything updated to us in that way. So, we be we should be on top. >> Should be similar. >> That's what we hope >> theoretically. Yeah. All right. That is that is likely why they're asking for the reports. >> Sure. >> To gauge what it will look like in the next benium. And that very well may be what drives whether or not this stays a a law or not or you know because it's I think it's

109going to be really costly. >> Yeah, I think when they get all the numbers from across the state, I'd be really surprised if that September 1, 2029 is not pushed back >> so much. Yeah, I agree. Two quick things. So obviously we have more than half of our buses that do have the seat belt. So we've been buying buses with seat belts over the last five, six, seven, I mean how many years? every bus that we've purchased thus far since I've been in this position. Every bus that we've purchased thus far is coming with that three-point seat belt um is there and so we know that it's a it's a priority moving forward and so we're not buying anything that doesn't have it and I don't even know that we could even choose an option

110that doesn't have a seat belt currently. >> That's what I figured. And then my other question would be hopefully again there will be a grant and we wouldn't have to go in the general budget but if we had to come up with that 570 theoretically it also could come out of bond money. So, I looked that up and no, um I think it's 20 bill 22, Senate Bill 2246. I could be wrong on the number, but I've looked it up. The problem for us there is every one of the buses that would of the 19 that would need the threepoint seat belt, they're older. They're going to be less a shelf life less than 10 years. So, if you're going to invest bond money in something for safety or something that effect, it has to

111be have something that has a shelf life longer than 10 years. Well, and regardless of if we had all the money in the world, if there's a potential for the state to fund this, we should be financially responsible and go that direction first. So, >> we're not going to turn down free money. >> Yeah. Yeah. Anything else? >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Sim. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> That is going to move us to um adjourn. It is 6:24. No, it's I came yesterday. What do you think? Just amazing. It's too bad. I mean, I That's what he does. Exactly. I mean it is like a playground. Hey, it's a good way to I haven't heard anything. I'm always curious if that looks like Absolutely. Declaration of a quorum. We have

112seven members present. Welcome to this meeting of College Station Independent School District Board of Trustees. We were elected at large to represent the interests of our community and our state in educating our students. Our mission for our students in this district is success each life, each day, each hour. We adhere to all pertinent laws, policies, and procedures in posting agendas and conducting our meetings. The detailed agenda information was made available to us at least three business days in advance, and we have all come to this meeting informed and prepared. We have just completed a workshop session where we heard reports and discussed much of the information needed to make decisions in either this meeting or in upcoming meetings. This is a meeting of the seven trustees in a public setting rather than a public meeting.

113As such, public comment is included on the agenda at a specific time and requires us to listen rather than take action so as to abide by the open meetings act. We are pleased that you have taken time this evening to join us. We are very proud of this school district and we thank you for your interest in and support of our students. And that is going to bring us to item C, recognitions. I believe we have some people who are going to do our pledges. Hi guys, welcome. My name is Britney Kane. I'm the proud principal of Pont Trail Intermediate School and we have two of our most outgoing sixth grade students with us. If you ever get a chance to like personally interact with these two young men, highly recommend it. So, we have

114Walt Parkerson, who is a sixth grade student, as well as Reggie Hill, who is another sixth grade student. I'm gonna let you tell them a little bit about themselves. Um, hello. I'm Walt Parkerson, and I I really like going to PCON Trail. Um, it's really nice. All the teachers are really nice. And my favorite thing about it, I would say, is theater. I'm sure some of you may recognize me. I was in I was in Puffs last semester, so yeah, it was a lot of fun. Okay. Um, good evening. My name is Reggie Hill. Um, some things that I like about um, PT is um, that we always do this hoot hoot hooray celebration at the end of the year, which is really fun. Um, we also um, what was it? Um, we al I

115also like the friends that you make along the way and the teachers that I've had a pleasure of having. Um, my favorite thing about the school is the theater. Um, me and Walt were in the one act play production of Puffs and um, we were both like main characters and um, our school got a superior rating. Oh yeah. And um and um if you want to, you can come see Annie at the at the theater company, Ryan College Station Theater Company, >> man. This guy. Way to go, my man. Good evening, everyone. My name is Jeremy Stewart. I'm the very proud principal at Wilbur Middle School. I've got two remarkable Warhawks who are going to introduce themselves, uh lead us in the pledges, and then we'll pass it back to you guys for the moment

116of silence. Hi, my name is Eli Contrares. I'm a eighth grade student from Welurn Middle School. And what I like about Welurn is their athletic program. Um, the coaches instill leadership skills in us that I can use through high school and beyond. And um, I uh, participate in office aid and also I run cross country and track. And with track season coming up, I invite all of you to see us compete and show our Warhawk pride. >> Hi, my name is Elena Hammet. I'm an eighth grader at Wilbur Middle School. Um, my favorite thing about Wellelburn is the kind people I am surrounded by each and every day. The faculty and students at Wilbur Middle School are supportive and helpful in every way. My favorite my favorite subject is English and I have the only

117the one and only Mrs. Brewer. I am on the Wilbur Middle School dance team and a counselor aid. Thank you for having me here this evening. Will you please rise and join me in the reciding pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for the Texas pledge. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. >> Remain standing for a moment of silence. You may sit down. Thank you guys. Got it. Okay. All right. So, now we are going to move into staff celebrations. So, I have eight wonderful teachers. If they would come up and join me,

118please. So, as they're coming up, um, our admin staff got together and we were trying to decide who we are going to recognize tonight. And we, um, landed on this entire group of teachers. So, these are all of our special education teachers, and each of them go above and beyond each and every day for the students on our campus. They collaborate with our general education teachers and they truly make each student feel seen, heard, loved, and really supported. So, you know, I like to go in a specific order and you're not in that specific order. So, just kind of wave when I get to you. Perfect. So, the first person we have is Melissa Batty. So, she is our fundamentals of reading teacher. So, you exemplify what it means to go above and beyond. Your

119commitment to building strong relationships with students, families, and staff is unmatched, and your initiative in starting a community event reflects your dedication to making our school so wonderful. Thank you. So, next we have Alicia Novasad. So, she is our fundamentals of ELA teacher. So you are a deeply caring teacher who builds strong, meaningful relationships with students and supports the whole child academically, socially, and emotionally. Your students know they are seen, valued, and supported every day. So thank you. Next is Miss Riley Horn. So she is our life skills teacher. Um, thank you for spending each day pouring into your students, not just teaching academics, but modeling love, compassion, and everyday life skills. Your classroom is a place where students feel safe, supported, and truly cared for. Thank you. Next is Amy Borak. So, she teaches

120fundamentals of math for fifth grade as well as co-e math. So, thank you for being such a constant support for our students. Your willingness to move in and out of classrooms and ensure students have multiple ways to learn shows how deeply you care about their success. Because of you, students are able to access learning in ways they truly meet their needs and still feel connected to their peers. So, Miss McCloud could not be here, but she is an incredible support to both students and staff. So, she is um she teaches co-e as well as math. So, we we truly value her as well. Next is Cassandra Sarata. So, she came to us this year. She is um a co- teacher. So, thank you for jumping right in and supporting students from day one. Even as

121a new member of our campus, your dedication, flexibility, and willingness to help wherever needed have already made such a positive impact. Next is Miss Carrie Owen. So, she is our um fundamentals of literacy teacher word dyslexia. Um we are so incredibly grateful for our amazing dyslexia specialist. She truly loves her students and pours her heart into supporting them each and every day. Her dedication goes far above intervention time. She supports students across all areas of our school, advocating for their needs, building their confidence, and celebrating their growth. And last is Miss E or Miss Elmo. So, she has a special gift growing students who typically struggle with math, helping them build confidence and find success through targeted support and encouragement. She builds strong relationships, advocates for her students, and truly supports staff with professionalism and

122heart. So, thank you all. We are truly grateful for you guys. Oh, and it is our AP's big 40th birthday. So that's Miss Hen. Kane, I think I'm going to copy with eight uh because I also have eight folks that I want to invite and recognize tonight. Uh well, folks, y'all come up here. I want to uh recognize a very important pe group of people at our campus. uh they are members of our English team and one of our instructional coaches Dr. Arrider Missi board thank you for letting us recognize our teachers and faculty and staff at our campuses who make such a deep impact. Uh there's something really special about recognizing and celebrating people publicly for the work they do privately. Uh there's something really powerful about uh recognizing that the achievements people make

123when uh they not only make an impact for a small group of people or an individual but an organization at large and even more powerful when they impact a young person that's going to impact them for their life. These people behind me like I said when they were walking up are members of our language arts team and and instructional coach. They understand the burden of carrying uh the burden they carry as those teachers around language arts because we all know that if a student struggles with reading and writing their life is going to be challenging on the outcome in adulthood and they understand that if they're going to create this opportunity of betterment that that burden falls on their shoulders and they they they do that they carry that burden every single day when they

124come together as a team to say how can I push this student's thinking even higher or how can I meet this student where they are as they are how can I provide them what they need so they can be more successful and not not only be successful academically but just be a better human. And so one of the things that I'm going to tell you that I'll introduce them individually but uh and and but I want to tell you at the end like the real reason that they're being recognized is something that I find is absolutely remarkable. But I wanted to preface before I introduce them. This is the kind of people you're looking at. Like this is the dream team, the A team. So take notes if you're needing a team member uh to

125recognize of like just really amazing people. But I'll start off here with this is Aaron Longoria. So Mr. Aaron Longoria came uh to Welburn as a student teacher. Uh then he went south for a little bit to a little uh school district just south of us on Highway 6. But he got to come back to Warhawk Nation this year. And the gentleman has done a remarkable job of just being a great pulse and a trends setter on the hallway where he's greeting kids every single day and making a difference for all of our students. Next up we got Jordan Hall. Miss Hall has been at Welurn for several years. Uh she actually will soon be Miss Lambert, Mrs. Lambert. She's about to get married, folks. So that's super exciting. Uh, and then we've got Sarah

126Benderup, who I've known Miss Benderup for over a decade, which is crazy because she's only 22. Mr. Simak, remember those days at Pebble Creek together? Uh, but she's a child whisperer. It doesn't matter who's in her classroom. Uh, she creates remarkable outcomes for those kiddos, whether they're hard to reach or students who need to be uh pushed to another level, she is the remarkable educator uh that makes a big difference in kids' lives. We've got Katherine Means. Katherine was uh recommended to me by a friend of mine to say, "Hey, you got a person that's interested in being an English teacher at Welurn. You've got to give her a look. You got to bring her in." And within 30 seconds of getting to talk to her and walking her just to the interview room, I

127knew for without a shadow of a doubt, this is the kind of person that you're going to want on your team. Uh, principal, she's starting her AP's program soon. And I'm not saying that to lose an English teacher, but I'm telling you, she's the kind of person you're going to want on your campus. She'll make your school a remarkable place. And then Broo Brewer, another person, recommended me years ago to give her an opportunity to interview it. And I and I knew right away that uh she's a remarkable human being. But there's something even more cool about Brooke that you probably didn't know. And I don't know if you know that you have this skill, but uh Brooke also does a great job of bringing in students who want to practice dance moves. And she's

128not a dance coach. Uh but she has recently since October become a Hispanic heritage dance coach. Uh I don't know if you know that. That was really amazing. And she's also now the uh Welurn Middle School unofficial, but officially unofficial step team coach. And so she's getting kids ready for a step performance at our Black History Month program next Tuesday at 3:20. Yeah. Uh and then Kelsey Bettin Court, our department chair for language arts. She is um just an absolute steady person. Uh it doesn't matter the what comes in for the day. She is able to respond with poise and leadership. And she always handles herself with uh tact and always is uh able to provide that cander that is a communicate in a way that you hear it just right, but it doesn't feel

129like it hurts. And she's the kind of person that leads well and leads from the middle. And so thank you for what you do for our team. And then Candace Mcnut, the newest newcomer to Welver Middle School. uh you would never know that she is uh new to the education world, but she has done a remarkable job. You look at her data, she's making an impact with kids every single day. And last but not least, uh Rhonda Gray, if you've worked in uh literacy at the 5 through eight level in the last 10 to 15 years in Brian College Station, uh her DNA is involved in that work. She's an astounding person. She's a remarkable coach. She's the kind of person that when you sit down with her, she's going to make you feel like

130the center of the universe, but also make you feel when you leave there, you've got something to do, which is what a great coach does. And so this is this English team. This is the dream team. But I brought them here tonight not to just to brag about these great things. But here's the big part for me. We have a big goal at our campus. And and and uh I'll tell the the campus improvement goal. They this one of our goals is to increase outcomes for historically underperforming kids. And this team right here has done something that W Middle School's never done. And we're a pretty high performing school in a lot of ways. I'm really proud of the work that we've done. Uh but right now uh if you take our last year star

131data for one of our sub populations which uh and you look at what our middle of the year map data shows we're projected to have 22% more of our students in this sub population approach meets or masters on their star test next year. And not that star is everything but dad gum it folks that's pretty remarkable. So can you please join me in giving the round of applause because these people do some really amazing things. And the last thing I'll leave with you with is if you compare if we wrapped up one we put a thousand schools in a row uh the 900th school uh when you compare them on growth uh you're going to see that Wellelver Middle School's there in reading and language arts and that's because of these teachers. Teachers are making

132the difference. We're in the people business. Let's support our teachers. Thank you for what you guys do. You're amazing. All right. President Eigy, members of the board, and our distinguished guests here tonight and viewing online. It's always a honor and a privilege for the district to bring forward a student group to recognize who has uh achieved great things at their school or in their program at the state or national level. And this evening, we have our high school music students who earned all state honors through the Texas Music Educators Association or TMEA audition process. These students began that process of competing in the fall semester and advanced through a series of rigorous competition rounds to eventually earn this performance distinction. Earning all state honors is one of the highest distinctions a Texas music student can

133receive. Approximately 1,800 students were selected to receive the honor through the audition process that began with more than 60,000 students from across the state. Only the top 3% of musicians who initially audition become allstate musicians. This past weekend, the students attended the TMEA clinic and convention in San Antonio where they rehearsed and performed with nationally recognized conductors on the statewide stage. So, all of that to say, this is an incredible achievement by our young musicians, and we are incredibly proud of them for their hard work and dedication. So students, I'm going to call your name and you're going to come and receive a certificate here from Dr. Hark Rider and then if you'll allow the board to shake your hand and congratulate you and then wait over here to the side and we'll take a

134group picture there at the end. To start us off, we have sophomore from College Station High School, Micah Field. Micah was named to the TMA Allstate Large School Mixed Choir as a soprano, too. Next, we have&M Consolidated senior Addison Jaspersonson. Addison was named to the TMA Allstate Large School Mixed Choir as an alto 2 and then was named as the only vocal percussionist statewide to perform at the TMEA convention. So very distinct and awesome honor for Addison. >> Next, College Station sophomore Allison Kent. ALLISON WAS named to the 5A symphonic band for playing obo. Next we have&m consolidated junior Cynthia Culo. Cynthia was a violin 2 player in the state symphonic orchestra. Next we have College Station junior Sawa Mayamoto. Saw was a violin 2 player for the Philarmonic Orchestra. Next we have Fabian SCS.

135Fabian is a senior at&m Consolidated High School and was named to the large school mix choir as a tener two. Next we have&M Consolidated senior Matteline Schmidt. Meline is a euphonium player and was named to the 5A symphonic band. Next we have Evelyn Schmeichel. Evelyn is a junior at&m Consolidated High School, plays the Bflat clarinet, and was named to the 5A Symphonic Band. Next, we have Console Jr. Michael Woo. Michael is a chist and was named to the Philarmonic Orchestra. Next, cause station senior Joshua Tao. Joshua is a percussionist as and was named to the 6A symphonic band. And last but not least, we have Grayson Zorn, who is participating in Mr. CSHS tonight. But on behalf of Grayson, his mother is here to accept the award on his behalf. Miss Katie Zorn Grayson was

136named to the tenor bass choir as a tenor, too. And I already introduced uh Miss Zorn from CSHS. She is the choir director. We also have our band director from CSHS, Mr. John Seal is here. Come on up, John. and our orchestra director from College Station High School, Jason Hooper from&M Consolidated High School, choir director Emily Ramos, band director, Mr. Steve Fry and orchestra director Miss Mary McNeel. All right. Thank you guys. Take Okay, I just want before we move on to um be sure that you guys recognize the artwork in the back of our room. that artwork was done by our Piccantrail and Wilbborne uh middle school students. Um so take a minute to look at that before you leave tonight. Uh we're going to move into item D1, which is board reports. Who'd

137like to start for us? I'll start. Um Shaq met and we had a wonderful presentation um by Miss Clink Skills on all the CTE programs that we currently offer and everything we're about to offer and it's just amazing all the opportunities these kids are going to have. Um so super excited about phase two opening. Um Miss McAdams and I were also at bilingual um committee and um just a couple of facts. We have 1,700 emergent bilingual students um which means English is not their first language in our district. Um and they are doing an amazing job with those um students. Um their big focus is going to be work on communication with the families. Um, and they've we really focused and talked a lot about possibly having a central landing page of resources for families

138to use to better support their students in learning. I guess I'll follow after that because um Miss Simmon and I were also on the at the sped uh committee meeting a really parent involvement meeting and they did a good discussion about some of the updates they've been doing on their website regularly but what the biggest presentation really was about all the assessment work that they've been doing and that's such a big part of what their team has to do and I think they've had done just under a thousand assessments ments already which was uh more than the 850 something that they did total last year. And then another piece of discussion information was that they're also have getting a lot more of assessment requests from many of our local private schools because that is a

139role that our that school districts have to play. But there's more of them than normal most likely related to the vouchers and the potential extra funding that would come come along with sped sped funding. But they're also they really just focused on a lot of good data that they are collecting about those assessments and how what they're the kind of the results of those in all the different campuses. So and and always a great discussion with the parents involved there as well. And then really quickly and Dr. Payne and I were on the DEIC meeting call last week. We did that one by Zoom and it is going to it was the Matt presentation basically what we will see here in just a little bit. >> Yeah. On that um just some highlights because we'll

140hear from it from Mr. Man, but it was worth noting uh math K through eight every grade level grew beyond their projected growth. I won't steal too much of his thunder. Algebra 1, every grade level is maintaining or increasing the level of achievement for entire grade level. Geometry, every grade level exceeding growth. Reading K through 12 uh grew beyond projected growth. K through one reading fluency um and science um exceed last year's growth level. So, just a lot of wonderful work that's being done. It was great to see that and we'll see more of it tonight. >> How was that education foundation? Uh today we had our meeting. Um if you missed it, 50 men went out, went off without a hitch. Uh we had a lot of participation as we always do, but just

141want to send a big thank you to all the volunteers, the chefs, um and the education board members for really putting on just a spectacular event again this year. Um also March 1st um is the deadline. We still have those scholarship applications um open. And don't forget to look into the A initi initiative. It's around the corner and it's a really great program to support some kids that are have some really big projects aka animals and other things. Did I wanted to add two quick things. One is just a reminder that the budget committee meeting is going to be this Thursday and really appreciate the community being involved in that process and coming to those those meetings. And then the other thing I just wanted to quickly remind folks is that we are again it's

142time to vote again. This early voting for primary elections started today and it's going on for the next two weeks. And those are elections from um county officials, lots of lots of state races that we know impact our school district and even some federal races. So, um so last week I had a chance to go to the teacher advisory council meeting um and we spent a little bit of time kind of getting to know each other. Um, but that one of the main agenda items that was discussed was uh feedback on kind of our PLC process. And I was encouraged as a board member who isn't in the classroom to hear some of the teachers speak up um about how the work in PLC's is affecting their students in a positive way. Um, that was

143encouraging to me. I think um, we also decided that we could use more time for everything. Um, and that is definitely a challenge that teachers face. Um, but a lot more work's going to be done in that council. I know we have a Zoom meeting next week and an in-person meeting next month. So, I'm interested to see um how we're going to work together and I appreciate the teachers who are taking their time to come to that committee meeting. Anybody else? All right, Dr. Hawk Rider. >> Yes, ma'am. I'm going to share some celebrations and district events uh since our last board meeting. Uh February is Black History Month and we've got campuses participating in multiple lessons and activities and several have programs scheduled for later this month. So if you'd like to get out

144and about and check those out, we're looking forward to it. CTE month. So check our CSISD CTE on social media for highlights of our wonderful programs. Earlier this month was National Counselors Week. Uh Sunday was National School Resource Officer Day and next week is food service and warehouse workers appreciation week. There's a lot of appreciation in the spring semester to recognize some great uh employees that sometimes don't get the notoriety that they deserve. Uh incoming student nights, comprehensive high schools, middle schools, and intermediate schools hosted welcome nights for incoming families. And April 30th will be our elementary new student night for all 10 campuses. So looking forward to welcoming some new parents and students to the district. Uh big thank you to South Null and Oakwood Intermediate for hosting our tours in January. The board

145and our team enjoyed that. Uh towards the end, middle and end of uh January, we had our UIL state uh championships for Spirit. College Station High School girls finished 12th. In the following week, we had a virtual national championship. You remember the ice storm? Uh we were supposed to be up in Fort Worth. Thankfully, they gave us a virtual option. Otherwise, we would have been there until the following Thursday, I think, and probably would have went broke trying to stay up there. But, uh, both teams did very well. Console girls finished seventh, and College Station High School girls finished eighth. Our elementary UIL competition was January 30th. We had 273 students from all 10 schools participate in all 10 schools had a student place in the top three. So, big shout out to Advanced Academics

146with Jeremy Day and our GT specialist. You guys did a great job uh celebrating some academic excellence amongst our our little guys and girls. Uh dance showoffs was February the 4th. If you hadn't had opportunity to be there, please put that on the calendar for next year. It's a wonderful opportunity to see our high school and middle school dance teams as well as the audition of our River Ben Steppers to that showoff. So, shout out to the Bears. So, uh couple other things. State wrestling tournament was this last week. We had eight wrestlers compete at the state tournament in Cypress last weekend. Uh, two student athletes earned podium finishes, which was exciting. And then we had our Special Olympics Texas Winter Games the same two days. We had student athletes on College Station A Team

147compete. Uh, they had 14 new personal records, seven gold, six silver, and two bronze medals. So, very proud of those young men and women. And then tonight, girls basketball is starting. We got our College Station High School girls finished second in district. They have a by district game tonight in Cypress against Crosby. And the Consol Girls finished third. They have a game tonight in Cypress against Porter. And then our baseball and softball teams are getting to show off their new fields. Last weekend we hosted tournaments at our two softball fields. This weekend we've got our two baseball. So a lot of people throughout uh Texas are getting a chance. And then our soccer programs are on their second round of district play and playoffs will be starting soon. Just a little bit going on. >>

148Yeah, it's that time of the year, right? Um, okay. That's going to bring us to item E, hearing of citizens. We do not have anyone signed up to speak uh at the meeting tonight. So, that is going to bring us to item F, which is our consent agenda. And I have items G, I3, and J1 to J16 on the consent agenda. >> Motion to approve as presented. >> Second. I have a motion by Dr. Payne and a second by Miss Simmon. Any further discussion? All in favor, please say I. Any opposed? All right, that motion is going to pass seven to zero. And that's going to bring us to item H. Um, one, receive a report on our middle of your map data. Mr. Man. All right. Good evening, President Eigy, Dr. Hark Rider, ladies

149and gentlemen of the board and those tuning in at home and in the audience. It is my pleasure to come to you this evening to get to really brag on the hard work that our staff has been doing this year, the hard work that our students are putting in in their academic growth. Um it's just really tremendous to see what we what we get to see. Went the wrong way. There we go. >> You're right. I know, right? Um so before we get to the data, I do want to put this out there. Um because I know it's going to generate questions whenever you start to see the amount of growth that we have. Um it is a significant amount of growth. David, that wasn't me, brother. It went blank. Um, while David's getting work

150out, I can kind of talk through this. Um, so I contacted our MAP consultant whenever we started getting the results in. Um, and I talked with her and I said, "Hey, just talk me through this because this is really great, but I want to make sure I understand, right?" And so she told me that there are three contributions to um, what we are seeing. Okay. So, the first contribution is that MAP um changed their norms and we'll talk about that. Um I sent uh some information out about that, but um they changed their norms. Um they changed how the MAP assessment asked questions to the students and I'll talk about that. And then she brought up the work that we're doing in uh College Station around PLC's and the focus on standards. Uh so with

151the norm process um NWA has um built into their structure um that they redo their norms every 3 to five years. Um and what this does is allow us to continue to um rely on the data that they have because they compare it to a very large diverse national data set and that's exactly what we see um whenever we look at these norms. We know that our kids are not only compared to other students in the state of Texas, but across the nation and within their different grade levels. Um, and this is a very valid and reliable assessment process that they have established. Um, the norms at a glance. So, you can see the numbers here across the bottom. I'm not going to read them all to you, but this shows you the process that

152they go through in their reorming. It's a two-year process and literally millions of scores from thousands of schools and millions of students um is within their database. And so whenever our students in College Station um complete assessments um it is definitely part of a big data set. And so the first contribution with this has to do with the reorming and this is um been seen across any academic data since COVID. Um and so it was very well reflected with what NWA found whenever they went through the reorming process is that they began to see the academic performance of students across America. I kind of like how she put it. The curve got squished a little bit at the top. Right? So the overall achievement dropped a little bit because of the impacts of COVID. And

153what they found in their database is on the left side where that tail is on the students that um are not achieving at the higher rates is a little bit wider gap. And on the right side where the tail is, it's actually a little bit tighter gap. And so this is reflective in our data all the way through whenever we look at it. And so whenever they talked with us as well as the literature that you can find from the the the website from MAPS website, you'll see this graph if you look at their norm data of the shifts. And so you can see on the left side where it talks about achievement um that the kids that are on the left side of the curve. So if we're looking back to this left side

154of the curve here, those are the red arrows that we're seeing on the achievement side. And so this aligns with what they're seeing within their data sets. Um and we'll look at that um here in College Station. And then you can see on the growth where we're seeing growth um within the norms as well. Uh contribution number two to the change is that MAP actually changed how the program ask the questions to the students. And so just as a really brief reminder um for those of us that are not familiar with MAP or if you heard it once but you need the reminder, MAP is not a test designed for you to get 100% of the questions correct. Okay? It is designed to ask you questions until it gets to about the 50% correct and

155about the 50% incorrect. In fact, on the assessment reports, it has a measure that tells us the percentage correct for a child. Um, and whenever it's around that 50 range, that tells us it right where it needs to be. Um, and what this process does is it allows the program to then establish what they call the RIT band. Um, and the program is designed within the RIT band to ask questions previous to this change. It would ask a child a question that might have been a fifth grade question. The next one could have been an eighth grade question. The next one could have been a third grade question and then a sixth grade question. It would iterate back and forth between grade levels within the RIP band. Okay? So, say Dr. Hark Rider is a

156fifth grader and he has a 210 RIT band score in science and it would ask 210 to 220 RIT band scores for him up and down the grade levels. Well, with this change now, it's going to exhaust the fifth grade level and then go to sixth grade or go down to fourth grade. And Matt talks about with this change, what they're seeing is actually a greater focus on the standards and more accuracy with the results because it's driven more by the grade level and it's not as random between the grade levels. And so it's a stronger connection to what we're seeing. They believe it increases the validity of the assessment and the kids get less frustrated because they feel like they can do more on the test. So um and what changes have been observed

157by NWA in their data set. And so you can see here reading language arts and science um did not show a significant difference between the two versions of MAP growth meaning before the change after the change students are scoring higher in winter and spring in math and then higher scores are being seen in winter and spring um on the reports that are higher in typical and so this is something they told us because of the COVID impact schools that are achieving well are going to see higher schools compared to the normative data set and so that's something to be expected. And then third, like I said, our rep brought this up to me and she said, "Jeff, you guys have been doing a lot of work around standards." And so whenever you talk about standards,

158you assess on standards, and you give students what they need versus just continuing through the curriculum, you're going to see a tremendous impact in your data. And so she was very supportive of the work that we're doing based upon our assessment. So all three of these have contributed to what we are seeing in our data. And then the last thing I want to do is just to make sure everybody's talking the same language because it gets a little wonky whenever you talk these things. Um, and the biggest one is this one, the percentage versus the percentile. And so just like it says, a percentage is a number expressed in a fraction of 100. So four out of five on a quiz is an 80% or yeah, 80 percentage. And then a percentile um is used

159in ranking and ordering. So a position or a rank. And so for example, the top two students in the class of 20 were in the 90th percentile is also the top 10% of the class, which is why there can be some confusion. And so here's an example of the achievement percentile. Okay. Um so the percentage of students in the NWA normed group for a test and a grade um that a student's writ score is equal or excelled or exceeded, right? And so the student with a percentile rate of 72 scored as well or better than 72% of comparable students within the group just so that we're all on the same page of what we're talking about. We see this all the time. What is a writ? I get this question frequently. And a writ is

160the abbreviation of rash. That's the researcher in unit. It's how they came up with it. It's their thing. But really what I want you to think about this is it's an equal interval scale. Think of a ruler and a child standing in a doorway and you're measuring their height every year. Okay? It doesn't matter what grade they're in as to how many inches they grow. They grow when they grow. And that's kind of the stance that MAP has in their assessment as well. And then observed growth. This is the actual change that we see between assessment windows. And so for us, we are currently looking at the fall to winter growth and achievement data. So August, September to January. And then we do compare winter to winter in this um because that's as a system

161we want to see how we're progressing over time by grade level as well as by cohort. So and this is this slide indicates the the projected growth and I'll show you on the candlestick report that little diamond or the rhombus as Jennifer Smith likes to remind me right is something that we keep a close eye on. So, we're going to dive into this. This first slide that you see here, you're going to see this graph in a couple of different ways because I chop it up whenever we work through the reports. On top, you're seeing last winter. On bottom, you're seeing this winter. And so, this is for math specifically. And we call this the candlestick report in College Station ISD because I want you to think of the rhombus as a wick. And what

162we actually want to see that flame going further and further down. We want that wick to be deeper and deeper in the candle because what this means is the the projected grade level norm is here. So the national norm is here and the actual growth of our kids is at the top of the blue bar. So the deeper it is into the blue bar, the more our kids grew against the national norm set. That's why we want to see it in there deeper. And so we're going to look at how we did compared to last year. And so on the left is this year, on the right is last year. And I want to point out that not only did we improve, the little numbers on top talk about our difference from last year to

163this year. Not only did we improve, that's compared to what we did last year. I also want you to recognize how many RIT points we are above the national level. So we have had tremendous amounts of growth against the normed data set as well as against what we did last year which is a great thing for us to see. And so this is math 5 through eight. And so the same thing you can see the the percentage points that we have against oursel and you can see where the normed um projected growth is as well. And on this slide here and we'll have these uh versions of these slides as we go through the different content areas. But what you're looking at here, the titles have it, math K to8, percentage of students meeting or

164exceeding the growth projections. And so part of the assessment whenever you look at it as a parent is it's going to tell you a projection for your child. And so we track that projection to see how are we doing from winter to winter, year to year. And what is very exciting to me about this is this is that customized piece for the the student to be able to see am I doing as well as I think I am or am I doing better than I should be, right? And so this means by the entire grade level that 70% of the grade level in kindergarten met or exceeded their growth projections. That's down 1% from last year for kindergarten, but you can see this K through eight. And the great thing is is we've seen jumps

165all the way through. Okay? And then I put a little arrow under this eighth grade mark here at the end. Um because if you've had a child go through College Station ISD, you're probably familiar that come middle school math, kids begin to separate out. So we'll talk about that here in just a second. And this second slide, this is the achievement slide because growth is fantastic, but we want our kids to achieve. That's passing. Okay? And so this is projected passing. And so part of the the MAP report will project um star assessment and approaches meets and masters. And so it gives us that information. So we take what we see here and we're measuring that. And again, the light blue on the left of of each grade level is how we were projected last

166year at the winter. And the dark blue on the right is how we're projected as the grade level to be doing for all of our kids. And so even though we see with eighth grade, and this is where our advanced maths come out, the great thing is for our onle math kids, and I like to remind folks that little Jeffrey whenever he was growing up, I was an on level math kid. I was in that eighth grade math category right there. Everywhere that orange arrow is is where I would have sat going through the system, right? And so we want to see those kids achieving at the highest levels as everybody else. This table here is to just demonstrate for folks that are not familiar with just what happens in middle school math. Right? So

167our students in College Station will take um the same math test in sixth grade from K through 7th um unless they've already branched off into one of these higher maths. But once they get into here, if they're wherever they're taking their math course, that's the assessment that they take. And so that's a reason why we see the drop that we see here is because we're losing a subset of those kids that are taking algebra, geometry, algebra 2 assessments instead of with their eighth grade peers. Not making excuses for where we are with the eighth grade math. That's just explaining why this happens. But we know we've got work we've got to do. the numbers in green, that's last year, just to give you that scale to see this is this is an every year thing.

168Um, but this happens in middle school with eighth grade. So, um, and then this is as a cohort. Um, because I also believe in the school improvement world, not only do we have to measure the effectiveness of grade levels from year to year, but we have a responsibility to make sure kids are growing as they grow through our system. And so, we talk about this whenever we look at our data as well. So you can see same process. The 2025 is last year. That's the the gray bar on the left. The blue bar on the right is how we're doing this year. And so this the percentage of students meeting or exceeding growth projections this year compared to last year. And so we're seeing good trends in that direction. And then the same thing holds

169true for the achievement percentile of the grade level. And I believe I neglected to mention this um I have the orange bar on the 50 um because everything with MAP is the 50th percentile or higher. If students are growing at the 50th percentile or higher, whether it's growth or achievement, then they are saying that we are on the right track for at least a year's worth of growth, which is average growth or better. And so the great thing is we have all of our kids at the 50th percentile or well above. So, and then just to point back out, this this illustrates what we're seeing in our data is what math is seeing in their data with our eighth grade math kids. Our struggling kids in math, they're seeing it in there. And so, it's

170it's laying out the work for us that we know that we need to be doing as a system. So, algebra one, same thing. last year at the top, this year at the bottom. And so you can see there's a a slight dip last year um with our seventh or this year to last year with our seventh grade kids. Um we actually did have some sixth grade students taking it this year. We didn't have those last year. And so that just shows you the level of students that we have in our district. You do not see the diamond on these classes. And the reason for that is because it's a oneanddone test. You don't have K8 assessment to look at growth projections. And so map doesn't provide that rhombus for us to look at that measurement.

171So all we have to go by off is where we were from last year to this year and then on the data sets that we see how does this compare to the national norms which is very strong with what we're looking at. So I have highlighted here again here's here's little Jeff cohort. Now I'm a freshman I'm in algebra one and we're doing better this year than we did last year. Right? And that's a great thing. So this is the proceed the percentage of our students meeting or exceeding the growth projections and then this is the percentage of our students or our achievement percentile of the grade level. So we're maintaining where we were last year, right? And so an indication that we're growing but we're still not achieving where we want to be achieving

172with the on level students in math and then geometry. So we see the same things here. We have eighth grade students and up. Small celebration is this year we didn't have any seniors take the geometry assessment. That's a good thing um because that means that we didn't get them into that level and that's how we like it to be. Um but you can see the growth there. Um we either held steady or we improved in every one of the grade levels. And then you can see here we are slight increase in the percentage of students that met or exceeded our growth projections this year for geometry. and we're holding steady on our achievement for our on level kids and our other students are doing the same. And then with algebra 2, this is where we

173had our largest decreases whenever it comes to our high school math courses. Um, and this is because whenever we look at our data with our kids, 11th grade is whenever the on level kids are taking the math and the algebra 2 math. And so on the growth piece, you see there's minus5 and minus3. But I want you to keep in mind, you see the drop in the dip, but you can see the achievement percentiles are up there. Now, MAP will tell you just because a kid is a high achieving kid doesn't mean they can't grow. They absolutely can grow. And so, this is another one of the indicators for us with algebra 2 that we've got some work to do to continue to grow the kids where they are. Um, but it's still very strong

174data that we're seeing with our students. Um, but we did see a drop in the achievement percentile of our on level courses. Okay. Uh, shifting on to reading. And so comparing winter last year to winter this year. Same format. And so I'm going to dive into by grade level. And so you can see here this year's on the left, last year's on the right. And it's the same look that we saw throughout math. We have very strong growth both against the normative data as well as against ourselves. And you can see here grades five through eight. we held steady or we grew a couple of points in seventh grade um but well above what we are projected to have from the national level. And then the same thing with our winter data. We're either growing

175or we're holding steady. And so our growth change year-over-year. So we're back to the slide where we're looking at the percentage of students meeting or exceeding the growth projections. And so you can see this year we've had increases um just about across the board. And then our 50th percentile is very strong performance of where our students are performing on achievement. And then you can see high school 9 through 12. And so this is our percentage of students meeting or exceeding growth projections. And so we're steadier, we're increasing in most areas. And then you can see the achievement percentile of the grade level is definitely made improvements. It's good. and our K through eight. This is our cohort. So again, we're tracking students as they come through our system. And so we can see where we

176are. And we got a couple of grade level cohorts that we've got some work to do. And we've got some couple of grade levels that have been doing fantastic jobs. And then this is our achievement percentile as cohorts. And so again, you can see the achievement percentile exceeds where they were last year. And that's why we're seeing some of that dip in growth. But again, we have some work to do in growth because high achieving kids can continue to grow just the same as everybody else. And then we have our cohort, our growth change data with high school 9 through and our achievement percentile levels. So very strong uh performance. This is our youngest of learners with uh reading data. And so what you're looking at here is phonics and word recognition. Um and so

177you can see last year is on top 92% this year is 93%. And what this means is by the middle of the first grade year that 93% of our first grade students are performing at very high levels of their phonics and word recognition. And the same is true for their funological awareness. And we actually had a nice increase from last year at this time from 89% to 92%. And so fantastic work that's happening by our kinder and first grade teachers to get them to this point this quickly. And shifting finally to science. So again beginning with the same uh views last year on top, this year on the bottom. Um the rhombuses is really where we want it to be because we have lots of growth above it. And so you can see here on

178the left um every one of those grade levels improved over last year and definitely strong performance against the national norms and same five through eight. And so we saw great improvements over last year and last year we saw tremendous improvements uh compared to the previous year with science. And so you can see here our students our percentage of students that are meeting or exceeding growth projections in science. It's very strong across all of our grade levels. and our achievement is tremendously strong across all of our grade levels. To see grade levels achieving at the 90th percentile or higher across is a very rare thing. So it's a great thing for us to see that. And then of course we have our 2 through eight percentage of uh students meeting or exceeding growth projections again very

179strong and again with our cohort with the achievement is very very strong. And in biology, eighth, uh, high school. Um, and so we held steady. And in 10th grade, we had a couple of rip point drop. And so you can see it here reflected in the data. Eighth grade and ninth grade um, did well and we had a drop there this year with our 10th grade. That's our on level students. And so we know we've got some work to address there. And then you can see the achievement dropped as well. So the growth wasn't where we needed it to be and the achievement percentile wasn't where we wanted it to be either. And then finally, the last couple of slides are to address the um academically um the historically academically underperforming student groups, goal two

180of our strategic plan. And so what I want you to really take away here, right, we've been looking at this year-over-year. This is why we built it into our strategic plan. But one of the things that began to stand out is we had a larger spread and it's starting to tighten with our fourth grade and down. And that's a very encouraging thing to see. So this is with math grades one through eight. And so I was very encouraged and excited to see the tightening of it. We've still got a lot of work to do. What you're looking at here is what the mean RIT is by the grade level by the category that we're monitoring. And so every year that level is going up and it's getting closer, right? And so it's encouraging and we're

181going to keep progressing forward. This is what it looks like for reading. And then this one it looks like for science. So we went through about 75 slides and how long Mr. Dunson? Not too bad. Not too bad. He'll give me credit for it. Not 8 o'clock. What questions or comments you got for me? >> That's a lot of data. Um again uh we didn't get into that much depth in DEIC, but thank you. Um one just uh we're seeing how well we're doing. that kids are achieving, that teachers are doing what we've asked of them and seeing a lot of growth and a lot of success, which I think is great, but also acknowledging that we've got areas to improve in as well um that you're highlighting as well. So, thank you very much

182for the data and it's a testament to our teachers uh and the students and their achievement and growth. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah, I think there's a lot of good news in there. I mean, the being able to look at the growth even just this year, I think the one I mean is very positive for this year. You can see that in there. I think the one thing that I kind of have in the back of my mind though is that those kind of first caveats you put on there that and I went and looked at one of those videos you sent that they completely changed the norms that they're using to compare against now and they're you know basing them on the postcoavid data which was the norms really have been lowered. So I just

183I um the video didn't give a complete understanding one on how can can we still compare 26 to 25? I mean is that apples to apples or not? And also um how is that going to change us looking at that na that national norm if we know it's lower than it used to be? Right. How is that how is that going to help us know that we're still doing where we what we need to >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> So to answer the first question, yes. So that was part of the conversation I had with our map rep and they the their engineers with NWA actually changed the platform and they changed last year's results to put them to this year's norms, but they did say do not compare it to prior years. It's not an

184apple toapple prior to last year. And so I like to look at three to five years worth of data. And so what they told me, if you really want to look at that scope of data, then all you can really look at is how did you compare to the normed projection and yourself within that? Did you grow one or two points? Did you beat the norm by two or three or four points? Um, and that was a lot of nitpicky detail. Um, and so that part of it, you know, they feel very confident about that. And >> so they did adjust the 2025 with the new norms. Appreciate that. >> Yes, they certainly. Yep. And then the other question is is it gets into really that's why I like to look at cohort. I like

185to look and see, you know, I I I don't always look like it, but I'm a runner and I I subscribe to the theory of Garmin beat yesterday. And so we need to keep doing better than what we did previously. And if we're as long as we're beating our previous benchmarks, we're headed in the right direction. And whenever it comes to STAR and um we start looking at how we're going to do, we can't worry about the other districts and how we compare to them. And in the 2A component or 2B component, we focus on 2A. We beat ourselves and if we do that, then we're going to be just fine. >> I saw so many positive things in that and I appreciate that and appreciate that we have a system that we actually can

186look at and nationally normed test. Um, I appreciate just the significance of that so that we have good data to look at and and not something that's kind of this always moving target. Um, so I I'm encouraged to see what you presented to us. >> Yeah, >> I think it's nice to see the initiative that's been taken at each campus by like our admins to really kind of tackle this and get it done. you know, PLC's were this kind of thing we don't talk about and now it's really great to see that they're kind of settling in to CSISD and having success and we can see it. Proof is in the pudding here. So, >> absolutely. >> It's nice to see. >> I guess I'll ask one more quick question. One slide up on those

187last three slides. Can you explain how how am I supposed to see that um like over the last few years we've really made an improvement in and say the yellow >> absolutely well because these eighth grade kids here that's the seventh grade p like it's tracking backwards on the average pieces and so every year if you saw the numbers behind it you would see the year over year over year over year I don't have that labeled out here right to then be able to track and See, >> you're trying to may like make I'm supposed to see that. Well, I could say from sixth to seventh they got a little farther in the part, but then from seventh to 8th they got >> a little bit but that's why I'm drawn. Yeah. If you look

188here like obviously we still have a large gap here with science between our multi students, our white students, our Hispanic and our African-American students. There's a significant gap that we've got to work on. But we can see based upon specifically our African-American students that we're starting to make some gain with getting them up to where all of our students should be. And that's what we're tracking and looking at >> with all >> and I could see that. I guess I just can't without comparing that to previous years. It's hard for me to know it what I mean was that a smaller gap or close I don't know right. I guess looking at it from the from this one graph. >> Okay. Yep. But I like that we're trying to show that >> for sure. >>

189Okay. Well, we appreciate your time and putting this together for us. Thank you, Mr. >> You're welcome. >> All right. We're going to move to item I1, which is consideration, discussion, and possible approval of board operating procedures. So, we don't have a presentation from anyone on this um board because this is kind of what we began talking about in December. So um unless there is any discussion um you guys had received the draft of that and we could ask for a motion to approve those. >> Motion to approve as presented. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Dr. Payne and a second by Miss Wilson. Any further discussion? >> I do have a clarifying question. Okay. >> By Miss >> uh on the new attachment the draft that we're considering page 15. Maybe it's

190page 16. It's actually 13. It's numbered 13 in the board operating procedures, but page 15 in the PDF >> has to do with consent items and I know we had some conversation around this. At least 24 hours in advance, any board member can request that a consent agenda item be brought to the board for discussion, questions, or considerations. So I just I want your interpretation as are are we saying that if you're going to pull a consent item it has to occur 24 hours in advance or does a board member still have the discretion to pull an item if they so choose. So I think the way this is worded is that we are asking >> um >> we are we are asking that you would request it 24 hours in advance. If if you

191request it in 24 hours in advance, of course we can pull it. I don't think we have put in here that that's just an absolute line. If there is some situation that that arises after 24 hours, then I think we still leave open room for that. But it is in our procedures to say it would be helpful as we work together as a board for you guys to present that 24 hours in advance. Is that >> got it? Can we can we write some clarifying language with that then? So it's not interpreted otherwise because and may if I'm the only one then I I'll get by when I read it. It it doesn't it doesn't say to me what you just said to me. And so if it could simply be something along the lines

192of it is encouraged, it is requested um >> say if possible 24 hours >> it is it is asked of request >> if possible at least 24 hours in advance anymore board member would that would that be appropriate? >> That that's fine. I I don't want us to to add restrictions to ourself >> and I and I don't want I don't want us reacting to one meeting and a particular occasions and restrict what we can do with consent items. So I think if we can make sure that wording is more clear then then that would would be my my question. >> I don't want to word smith it too much. So, if we're okay with saying that we are going to add the words if possible um to that part of the um item, that

193would be helpful. I think I do think the intent here isn't to take away the right of a board member to take something off of consent. The intent is to say that communicating with each other in a timely manner and allowing the district to be able to be prepared if there's something that you want to discuss that's on consent agenda. So, that that is my intent. uh when that item was brought up for discussion in December was just to be able to help us all be prepared for the meeting better. Um but I think that that would be appropriate to add those two words. >> Thank you. >> Is there anything else? >> Yes, I had something. So, it may just be my confusion, but on the board member visits to campuses number three, >>

194I went back >> just so I can >> What's that? Uh, it's page 10 on the PDF. So, I went back and watched the 31 minute workshop discussion because I thought I must have just missed this, but the board never discussed changing that language, which seems like a governance issue. I'm curious how did that end up getting changed? >> Um, this is under board member visit to school campus activity. Um, >> so it changed from board members must notify the principal of visits to campuses to board members must notify the superintendent and the superintendent shall schedule the visit with the campus and attend the visit with the board member. I'm curious. >> Yeah, I talked to the executive committee and requested that be put in there. >> That's not what the memo said. The memo

195said the changes in these procedures came out of the workshop in December. It's not the executive committee's job to add board operating procedures without a full discussion. And we were about to just pass it without even discussing it. >> We did talk about this as an executive committee. It was brought up in that meeting. So, one of the I I mean I understand you're saying we were just about to pass this, but that's not completely true because you were given the draft with this item in it before last month's meeting. Okay. So, you've had some time to look at it and bring up a concern if there was a concern in an item. So, I'm not asking you to uh pass this tonight without any discussion, but we did give out the draft. I guys

196I sent all of you guys a note and said, "Hey, because someone uh was concerned that this wasn't on the January agenda for discussion and my response to the board was, we're giving you the draft so that you can look at it because we're going to come back in February and approve it." So, I guess I would have just expected that if someone had a serious concern about one of these items that they would have come to Dr. Harkider or myself. Well, the serious concern is that this is something that should be discussed publicly and we can't do that except in a meeting when it's on the agenda, which is what we're doing tonight. >> Okay. Well, then we can discuss publicly what you're concerned about this item. I don't have any problem with that.

197>> Well, I I'm very concerned with the governance around the executive committee adding this with no discussion with the rest of the board and not even mentioning that in the memo. So, it makes the memo read false because it says you you want me to read I'll read the memo. I'm not trying to be uh difficult without actually having some I actually closed mine. Can somebody read the memo from Mrs. Stoval that specifically says this came out of the December workshop. >> I think it's a generalization that the changes to board operating procedure came out of that workshop. I don't think she's meaning every >> Well, that's what it says. >> I think that um my bigger thing here is that there was there has been some request by at least some board members to

198clear up the language around um visiting school campuses. Um I know when I came on as a board member, you know, it was explained to me that, hey, we know you're a parent. We know you're going to want to be at activities. If there are, you know, events at a school, you are welcome to be there, but we as board members should not um just be at a school campus for a kind of ambiguous reason, right? Um with because it makes those campuses um you know, they're kind of caught off guard when we do that and we don't want to put ourselves in a situation where we're making somebody uncomfortable. And I mean, look, like we know lots of people in the that work in the district. And so if I see them and they

199say hello to me as as Kimigi, like that's great, but if I come up to their school and I don't have a purpose to be there and I'm a board member, that puts them in a little bit of an awkward situation because they weren't prepared for my visit. So I think all of this is saying is if you're not going because you're there for your own kid or for a specific um event, you're going to take the step to talk to Dr. Dr. Harker and say I'm trying to visit this campus for this purpose and he's going to arrange for that visit to be to be met. >> So the executive committee brought that to Dr. Hark Rider as something they were concerned about. >> No, that's not what he said. Um Dr. Hark Rider

200said that that was something that's come up in um his group and they brought it to us and we felt I mean I don't want to speak for Miss Simmon and Miss Wilson. they can speak up if they want, but I felt like personally that was a reasonable request. >> I have to really agree with Mr. Field on the procedural side of it though, that if if it was discussed and the exec team thought that it was something that would was worth us um doing something about, then it really should have been brought to the board in in the workshop to discuss. We own the board operating procedures and it is, you know, and so I was also taken aback to see that it was put into some completely new wording that we had not

201even discussed that topic at all was put into this board operating procedure. And yes, we had the opportunity to um contact you about it, but I also believe that again, we sat and talked about it in December. We could have we had an opportunity if we wanted to have it could have been brought to us at workshop in January as well, but to kind of just put it in there without um really bringing it for us to discuss I I thought was really should not be the way that that we operate as as a board in an open session. So I I do want to make that statement. Now we can talk about this specific item as well because I have some issues with it also. >> I do as well. How the executive committee,

202did you guys study other board operating procedures around the state of Texas to see what precedent was there for this? >> No, I did not do that. I know that I feel like this isn't I guess I feel like the only change that we're really making in this is that instead of you going to a principal, I need to look back at the wording now because I I don't have it right in front of me, but is instead of you going to a principal to set up a visit, you're going to the superintendent. No, the superintendent will attend the visit with the board member. >> Is that the part that is is concerning to you? I'm I'm trying to understand because this is the first I'm hearing about the concerns. So, you're concerned not that

203you are going to the superintendent to ask, but that the superintendent is going to attend with you. >> I'm just curious how many documented complaints we have from principles that the policy that's been in place for a decade was no longer sufficient. What led to the change? There had to be some documented problem. >> No documented anything. Uh principles work for me. They don't work for the school board. So your role as a school board member is not to supervise principles. If you have a question or concern, that's my job to take you there to get that question answered. If I can't answer it, they don't work from you. And so for you to schedule a meeting with a principal for whatever reason you want to schedule a meeting is not under your purview as

204a schoolboard member. >> I don't think >> you have one employee that's me not principles. >> I don't think it's scheduling a meeting with the principal. It's going onto a campus. You notify the principal about a campus visit. >> Correct. But as a school board member, if you're not going to supervise or see your child or whatever is going on an event, Wellelburn's Black History Month, whatever that is, what place would you have on that campus? >> To see that the decisions we're making in board meetings, >> that's my point. That's not your job as a board member. That's my job and that's my committee's job, my cabinet's job. >> First of all, >> I think isn't that the point kind of of the trustee chores? I mean, I know when I go to campus,

205I'm trying to go as a parent, right? Like I'm not going as a board member. And I think it's kind of nice to keep those things separate. And I agree like you probably should be like, "Hey, I have some questions for this campus or this has come up." But back to what Kim said, this has been given. And if there was some concerns, which it seems like you and Kimberly have some concerns that maybe have been discussed prior to this meeting already because it sounds that way, then you should have maybe come to the president and discuss it so that we could have had some discussion before the vote. >> That's you reached out to each of us. I I brought up some things that I didn't agree with and she followed up and we

206had a conversation about it and um there were things that she said were my ideas that she said I don't think those are great ideas. I'm like, "Yeah, I get it. That's fair." Um, I just wanted to make my piece and we had a perfectly reasonable conversation beforehand because we had all the information and because she reached out individually and we can also communicate via email at any point. We don't have to have a meeting. We're allowed to communicate openly and that could have happened before this and remind everybody that there is a motion on the floor. >> And also these are not buried in here. We weren't trying to hide anything. These are in red in a document. So they're very very visible and we've had this document now well over a month. But

207we couldn't discuss it publicly unless we were sitting in a meeting. Unless I misunderstand the open meetings act. >> That's true. But you do have the opportunity right to right now to talk about it, which is what we're doing. So I do think that um I mean I'm I'm going to be honest with you. It's it's really tricky because the way this wording says is when they are not attending a scheduled activity. So no one is saying that a board member cannot show up at Black History Month or cannot show up at the console musical. I mean I do these kind of things. uh even some that my kids aren't involved in because I want to go to those district events. So, it's not saying that you cannot be a part of everything in the

208district, everything that your child does. It's saying that um when we as a board member are going for something that is not scheduled, we do not want to put a principal or a teacher or anybody into an awkward situation where we've shown up and they don't have any prior knowledge of that. I will be honest with you, I do know of one situation recently where a principal was uncomfortable with a board member um that had come up to school for something. And so it does happen. Um and I think we have to recognize the difference between um just the personal relationships we have and even the relationship I might have with a principal because I've got a kid there or I'm on the PTO or something versus like the relationship when I come as a

209board member. it's different and I think we need to honor that. And um I think all that we are asking in this particular item is a clarification of we're not going to show up at you know campuses for non activities um without having the superintendent be a part of that. >> So has that been an issue? >> No, we already said it's not been an issue. >> I don't think it needs to become an issue to have a policy. We've cleaned up a lot of policies that have never been an issue. We're just cleaning up things. >> Okay. Well, let me say this. I reviewed 50 different districts board operating procedures and this is by far the most restrictive of any of those single ones. So, it seems very surprising to me this is not

210normal. >> It's not entirely true. It's not entirely true. >> What's not entirely true? Well, nothing is entirely true though, is it Darren? >> Right. But when I first came on the board and I asked Mike when you were superintendent, uh, there was a principal meeting and I asked if I could attend. I was told no. And Mike just explained why for the same reason that Tim explained. >> Principal's meeting is not the same as not being able to go onto a campus after you talk to a principal and they say, "Sure, come anytime." I just I don't understand why we this is literally unprecedented and we were about to It is unpre Show me. >> It is also possible that you could ask a principal for permission to come on their campus and they

211would feel pressure to say yes to you because you're a board member. That does happen. I know of a situation um where a principal did not feel comfortable telling a board member no on something. >> And I don't see why if you reached out and said to Dr. Dr. Hawk Rider and said, "Hey, Britney said I can come to my campus to talk about this thing." That he could say, "Yeah, go for it." >> Because just like he said, "Principles don't answer to us. I don't answer to him. It's the other way around. >> What are you wanting to do on campus?" >> Like, what are you wanting to do on campus? >> To have the most restrictive. >> This isn't the most restrictive. >> I am. Can you show me other districts? Can the

212executive committee that approved this show me the other districts that have this rule? I didn't >> what are you wanting to do on campus? >> It doesn't even have a um clause I guess that would allow parents I mean that talks about well parents of course should be able to go if um on campus if they want to if they have a meeting with a teach with their kids teacher. Of course a parent should be able to go on campus if they want to go have lunch with um their student. Of course, this parent could go on if they want to take pictures or they're helping out, you know, with the the musical. It doesn't even say that. >> It doesn't need to. This is the board operating procedure. It's not a parent operating procedure.

213We've got to divorce ourselves from being a board member and a parent. >> What? Okay. And I then how about just a community member? Can I go on to what's the difference there of me going for a community member reason then versus you know so I am I'm >> a community member to me when we step on campus sometimes I feel like we disrupt learning because teachers feel like they're being watched. Oh there's a board member here. Um a community member could come on campus if they're vetted and they are they were vetted through our visitor policy. I I think I I just don't understand either what the point in going to a campus just to walk around. I I don't >> So how about my example where I have for four years have volunteered

214on a campus. Um am I going to I mean I have to get permission I mean I've certainly had permission from a principal but get permission and then and then Dr. Hark writers to go with me. I think if you're volunteering for something, I mean >> again, but that's not what this says. So that's why I guess it just this makes it sound like anything. >> So the words I think >> I'm fine to wrap this up. I'm 100% voting no because of that. I I've been told multiple times in this conversation that this is not the most restrictive and nobody has given me a single piece of data to say that. So, I've looked at more border operating procedures about this specific topic clearly than anybody else here. >> And why didn't you send

215that to us? Why didn't you do that? >> Because we can't do that in Isn't Aren't there open >> You can send an email that says, "Hey, we No, we can send those emails." >> And what would be the purpose of that if we can't discuss it? >> So, we can't we can email about it. You can ask about those are available for open record. that definitely would be allowed is when we sent this out over a month ago and you had a concern about that item and a question about it, it certainly would have been allowed for you to reach out to either Dr. Hark Ryder or myself and say, "Hey, where did this come from that would be allowed? You can ask a question to the superintendent or the board president really about

216any anything." And if we say, "Hey, that's something we need to discuss an open meeting," then we can, you know, put that on the agenda and make sure it happens. But if I we don't know that there's any concern about any of it then that we don't know to >> I wanted to discuss that discuss >> in an open meeting because I think it matters and I think the way it was handled from a governance standpoint was not appropriate and I think the fact that and I am I'll be delighted to be proven wrong and I will eat crow if I am at the next meeting. I'll lead off with that, but I could not find another campus. In fact, I'll say this last thing, and I'm happy for us to vote. Brian's operating procedures

217for their board says to please let the principal know and please let the office, the superintendent's office know so that they can send someone to record that you're on campus and promote it in the media. So, it could not be more opposite. And I'm I'm very surprised that that we don't see a problem. And there's nothing so unique about our districts that we would need to have the most restrictive rule around who can visit campuses. And I'm very surprised that we don't see that. I don't think that's our job. We were elected and entrusted to be trustees. And if part of that is us contacting a principal, a policy that's been in place for decades with zero documented cases of it being a problem, I don't know why we would change that and go to

218this incredibly restrictive language. But that's all I'll say about it. I do appreciate that one of the things that we've also put in place is our board um visits to schools because that's a way that we can um have the principal set up time for us to see things and we can promote them. Um we always do. Um I feel like that's done in a more structured way where it's not as disruptive. You know, we're all going at once. It's not as disruptive as if I just say, "Hey, I've decided I'd like to go see these elementary schools." And then they have to set things up for me. So, you know, I don't I don't I don't see this as something that's being done so that we as board members like don't have access to

219information or to our schools. I think it's um >> then why is it in there? >> I think it's a safeguard so that we are careful so that we don't as board members um cross the line um and show up at schools and put principles and teachers and other people um in a tough situation. >> Okay. Well, we are, as far as I can tell, the only district that is choosing to go this far and restrict board member access to campuses without the superintendent. And I that does not seem like a prudent idea and it certainly doesn't seem well researched and thought out. >> I I do have a comment. >> Okay. So it seems like we're we're frame putting much more restrictions around something than this in the prior board operating procedures. Uh I'm

220not sure why. I I don't know that this has been a problem. Not that I'm aware of. So, we're going to get more restrictive to a problem I don't know that actually exists and that many many boards prior to us could function w without this particular wording. Uh I think what is more concerning to me is this was a discussion an executive setting the agenda and the board operating procedures with the superintendent and yes we've had it for a few months. I agree with Mr. feel that I just feel like there are things that need to be discussed in public period. But when this was distributed, knowing that this had not been discussed with the collective seven and this was something that the four of you discussed, it would have been appropriate to at least

221have denoted that to the other four of us that weren't a part of that conversation. For example, we we we had a conversation as executive and we added this particular piece and wanted to mention it to you so you would know where it came from. I think the way it was handled is completely disrespectful of the other board members. Uh and this is exactly why we needed to have the conversation here. I think it I mean it's whether we send emails or not we need to have some conversations in front of everyone as opposed to just settling everything through a particular email. I don't know what would have been settled through email because you couldn't imply a decision of any sort because then you're leaning toward a walking quorum on this particular item. So, um,

222it would have been nice to have been included in the conversation or at least made aware of. Obviously, it occurred because it just showed up in our draft. And I think we are looking at a more restrictive approach to a problem that to my knowledge doesn't exist. Um, so with with that's that's where I stand on this. I I don't if board members were just showing up to campuses uh and causing issues with teachers or principles or whatever the case may be, those board members should be addressed by the board president. Um, and I honestly me I don't have a problem with calling Dr. Hark Rider and saying, "Hey, I'd like to visit principal so and so at this campus and letting him know, even allowing his office to schedule it on my behalf. uh

223where I start to go where it begins to feel like we need our handheld is where it says he's going to attend with us. So that is concerning not concerning that is that is where I begin to feel like this is the superintendent's operating procedures as opposed to the board's operating procedures. If I heard you correctly, he's the one that recommended this wording to the executive. >> When you were superintendent, Mike, you had a standing principal meeting, right? It was a principal meeting regularly. >> You're absolutely right. With the executive team and the leaders of the school district, >> right? And I asked, "Am I >> You're absolutely right. This we're talking about visiting a campus. We're not talking about sitting in a principal meeting," >> right? I asked, "Am I able to attend?" I

224was new and you said no. And one of the reasons you gave me was you will make the principles uncomfortable. >> Okay. I don't expect you to agree with me, Dr. Payne, but it doesn't remove my opinion on this. >> That's fine. I'm just bringing up why that this would be valid where we what you were asking for at the time was a simple heads up so that it could be orchestrated so that we it could make sense as to why that >> and it wasn't a problem. So, we didn't put it in the board operating procedures. But I was told I couldn't have contact with him, right, without your approval. That's what that's what you had told me. >> I I I I'm going to disagree with that. You tend to remember things that

225benefit your perspective. So, I'm going to disagree with our conversation was I don't remember that conversation. >> Here's how here's how this was from my perspective. And if um anyone in the room feels that I've you know done them wrong um then you know I I'm I apologize for that. But here's how it went from my perspective. We're in the process of looking at board operating procedures. We're trying to kind of clean up some stuff. We're trying to clarify a few things. Um so that's when you look at board operating procedures and go, hey, is there something that we want to be more specific about? Um and yes, this item was brought up by Dr. Hark Rider and his team and the rest of us in the executive group felt that it seemed reasonable to

226us. I did when we came out of executive session send you guys like the information that here's we've got the draft and take a look at the red items. So I wasn't trying to hide anything that was in that draft. I mean, it's kind of hard because we had a conversation in the December meeting and it was a pretty lengthy conversation like this one and then we give this to like the team and say, "Hey, will you kind of write up everything we talked about?" So, there's a number of things that might not be the way, you know, like wanting to add if possible to this line item. So, I don't have any problem with people discussing things or bringing concerns. Um, I don't believe that I was trying to hide anything um, in this

227draft of board operating procedures because I did communicate to you guys, hey, this is what it is. Take a look at it. And I invited everyone to reach out to me if they had any concerns. Um, and it's okay to discuss it now, too. But everybody could also, if they had a concern, have come to me sooner and said, "Hey, this is my concern. I'd like to go ahead and talk about it at such and such meeting." and I would have said, "Okay." Um, just like it's okay right now to talk about it. Um, but in the end, I don't think that this is coming out of um an ill intent. Um, I I think that if we're saying that there's not been a problem, but we're having an issue with us putting in some

228language just to clarify that particular topic. Um, I mean, I guess my question back to was like I forget who who asked it like, well, what are we wanting to do on a campus that can't fit within this particular item? So, or can't be under a trustee tour and and that's my big issue is I feel and I I hear everyone and I hear y'all wanted to discuss it, but the fact that everyone was radio silent when Kim sent it out, you could have at least said, "Hey, I have an issue with this and I'd like to discuss it." but instead it was you wait to bring it up here and clearly have done a ton of research. So I feel like I could argue the same thing that y'all think it's that's a little

229deceptive I guess if we're being accused of that as well. >> It's the same courtesy you showed to the rest of us and not and making us aware of your conversation and it's no different. How many other changes on the board operating procedures were not discussed in the workshop in December? >> I don't think anything else on here did not come from the board. And you're right, I could have specifically said in that email and you know I I wish now that I had but I did >> communicate to you guys that board operating procedures draft had been you know given in exec and I gave you that draft. It was not hidden and if you had a question about any of the items, you could have reached out and asked me about them. That's

230that >> we have had one principal put in a situation. >> I have had a a situation recently where a principal has felt uncomfortable um and like they couldn't tell um a board member no on something. So, do I think it's a widespread like it happens all the time? Not to my knowledge, but I can point to one situation where it has been an issue. So, um, anyway, I know we have a motion by Dr. Payne and a second by Miss Wilson. If there's no further discussion, I'm going to ask for all in favor to say I. I. All opposed. Okay, that motion is going to pass 43. That is going to bring us to item I2 which is consideration, discussion and possible action on Senate Bill 11. I think we have Miss Hester. >>

231Good evening, members of the board. Um, I want to introduce and you've gotten a memo about this and I'm going to, it's a little confusing, so I'm going to just read it or I'll get it messed up, but Senate Bill 11 from the 89th legislature session requires the school Thank you, Austin. um requires that the school boards um consider whether to adopt a policy requiring every campus of the district to provide students and employees with an opportunity to participate in the period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts on each school day. What we have to think about is in order to avoid violations of the United States Constitution, such a policy, even though the Senate bill recommends it, would be would have specific con constraints on the practice set forth

232by Senate Bill 11. For example, a policy adopted under this law would require all student participants to provide to provide written parent consent and all participants, both employees and students, to expressly wave their constitutional rights under their first amendment in order to participate. The policy would also require a period of prayer and reading of religious texts to be held outside of class time. Senate Bill 11 does not require the CSIS board, CSISD board of trustees to adopt a policy. What it requires is that the board take a record vote on whether to adopt the resolution stating that they will adopt the policy. The legislators, our esteemed legislature, in fact provided the language of the leg of the resolution which is listed right there below and that's what they put in Senate Bill 11. So, our

233recommendation I won't I can y'all can read that. The co I'll read it. The College Station ISD shall adopt a policy requiring every campus of the College Station ISD to pro provide a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts as provided by section 25.08 of the education code. It is our recommendation that the College Station School District independent College Station Independent School Board um decline to adopt this resolution to adopt this a policy of requiring every campus in the College Station School District to provide a period of prayer and reading of the Bible specifically as it is recommended that the board make the following motion. And that's the following motion. I move that the College Station ISD board of trustees decline to adopt a resolution to adopt a policy requiring

234every campus of College Station ISD to provide a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious texts. >> Second. >> Okay. I have a motion by Dr. Payne and a second by Miss Simmon. Do we have any discussion? >> Dr. Harker, Senate Bill 11 is actually more restrictive than current practice. Correct. >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Just so it's clear, if anyone's only tuning into this meeting and missed the last one, we do a moment of silence. If a student wants to read their Bible and pray and it doesn't disrupt class time, they're able to do that. This doesn't this doesn't pro I don't want somebody only tuning in tonight to think we're saying we don't want students to have the right to be able

235to pray and to read their Bibles. We don't want it to be as restrictive that it actually becomes an impediment to the learning we're trying to do in classrooms and causes issues with who's going to watch which kids and teachers all that. Right. >> Correct. Okay. They currently have the right. >> Great. Okay. All in favor please say I. I. Any opposed? That motion is going to pass pass 70. And I believe that actually brings us to um ajourn.