001Recording in progress. The Edinburg School District will meet in special session >> [snorts] >> at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 5th, 2026 in the administration building, room 613, B West El Azar Street, Crystal City, Texas. This time, I know what you do call roll. Mr. Robert Palacios, present. Mr. Louis Mata, present. Mr. Danny Castillo, Yeah. Present. Mr. Victor Bonilla III, present. Mr. Gabriel Espinosa, here. Mr. Miguel Espinosa, here. Mrs. Patty Young, here. We have a quorum. It's one time. >> [snorts] >> We're going to have a moment of reflection. Number four, uh, public comments for agenda items, sir. No one, sir. Thank you. Number uh five, uh, discussion action to approve the district annual financial report for the uh 2024-2025 school year in the August 31, 2005. Mr. E, you're back. Yes. Do you all have
002copies of the audit? >> Sir, we we brought in our For your information, sir. I listed them copies. Okay, if you will turn to page three, this is a certificate of the board where tonight the board will either need to approve or disapprove of this audit and then sign and get them sent into the team. Uh T On page five is our audit opinion. You received an unmodified opinion again this year. This is the best opinion you can receive. That in our opinion, uh the financial statements are presented fairly in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles and the best opinion you can receive. Starting on page eight is the management discussion and analysis. This is the same information that's presented in the body of the financial statements, but as we go through here, you'll see
003it's a it's a more of a graphical and narrative format. We have uh condensed comparisons of your balance sheets from the prior year, condensed comparisons of your uh income statement from the prior year. Also, if you go through here, you'll see we have pie charts of your revenues and pie charts of your expenditures. Uh so, uh it gives just a a different view of the financial statements in a graphical and narrative format. The basic financial statements start on page 16. This is a statement of net position for the governmental activities. This is taking everything for the district as a whole uh and putting it together in one balance sheet uh including all of your fixed assets and all your liabilities. Uh This is on the full accrual method of accounting, which your normal books and
004records were kept on the modified accrual method of accounting using the fund statements. Uh Top part of pages are assets, the middle is our deferred outflows and liabilities, and the bottom is our deferred inflows and net position. So, as you can see at the end of the year, we had total assets of 54,419,416. Uh the largest this was was in our capital asset activities. You can see that those amounts there are the amounts net of depreciation. So, again, that's the largest makeup of your assets is your capital assets. Uh end of the year, we had right at $3 million worth of cash. We had uh $1.7 million worth of property taxes net of allowance for doubtful accounts of a of $200,000. Total assets, 54 million. Our deferred outflows were mainly to deal with our uh
005deferred charge on our refunding, and then the deferred outflows for pension and other post-employment benefits. Those amounts were Again, these come to us directly from uh tech uh the teacher retirement system, and then we use these numbers to drop into your financial statements. Our total deferred outflows for the year were eight 8.6 million. Liabilities at the end of the year, we had a total liabilities of 53,179. Uh you can go down the top of those. We start out with accounts payable. We had just right at $900,000 worth of accounts payable at the end of the year. Uh going on down some of the other big items, we had right at $500,000 worth of uh deferred revenue, revenue that had been received uh uh our cash has been received, but it's revenue to be reported in
006the next fiscal year. So, that was about a half a million dollars. And then we get into our our uh our debt portion. We had uh part of our debt that's due within the next year, $3.8 million. Uh one of the things that we have this year that's new is, you know, every year it seems like the governmental accounting standard boards put something new that we have to report on. You You'll remember we had to start reporting on the pensions and then the other post employment benefits. Well now we have the the compensated absences which you'll notice on line number 2505 special termination benefits and compensated absences. We're required now to book a liability for your compensated absences if they're more likely than not to occur. So that's what that $127,000 is. That's a new
007item this year. Then we have our our bonds and notes leases payable. We'll see a breakdown of these later on but it was like $30,947,000. Then we have our net pension liability and other post employment benefit liability. Again, these are amounts that come to us directly from the teacher retirement system. The pension liability 8.7 million and the other post employment benefits of 6 6 million. So our total liabilities were 53,179. The deferred inflows coming to us from the teacher retirement system were a total of 7.4 million. When we subtract those uh deferred liability deferred inflows and our liabilities from our deferred outflows and our total assets, that gives us our total net position. Our total net position for the year was 2.4 million dollars which 13 million was for investment in capital assets net of
008debt. We had 38,000 that was restricted for state state and federal programs that can only be used for those purposes. Yeah, 38,000. And then we had restricted for debt service of almost 5.5 million. When we subtract all that, we had a a negative unrestricted net assets of $16 million. I'm going to skip the next page because it we're going to go into some more detail on our governmental fund balances page 18. Uh, we have four different funds that we consider major programs and were major funds that were required to report on. We have the general fund, the special revenue fund, the debt service fund, and then we still had a little bit of capital projects funds that's completely terminated by now, but it was it still had a little bit of activity, so that's on
009in included in. Under the general fund, we had total assets in the end of the year of $2.9 million. Our accounts payable and liabilities for the year were $4.1 million. The deferred revenue is the amount of the offset to our property taxes net of allowance for doubtful accounts of $1,151,000. So, when we subtract our our deferred inflows and our liabilities from our assets at the end of the year, we're still sitting with a negative fund balance. That negative fund balance this year is $2.3 million. And we'll get into a breakdown of the increase and decreases here in a minute. The special revenue fund, this is where we have all of our federal programs. Normally, these are pretty much self-balancing. At the end of the year, we still had $120,000 worth of assets, $81,000 worth of
010liabilities, and so we had a $38,900 fund balance that was restricted. Those that money can only be spent for state and federal programs. Then the debt service fund. We had total assets of $5.9 million. dollars. Our liabilities were and deferred inflows were 1,500 and then 401,000 for our deferred unavailable revenues. So, when we subtract that, we still have a fund balance in our debt service fund of 5,499,000. There were no assets or liabilities in the capital projects fund. >> [snorts] >> If you'll turn a couple of pages and go to page 22, this is looking at the statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balances for those same funds, the general fund, the special revenue, debt service, and capital projects. Top part of our page are revenues. Middle is our expenditures and other financing
011sources, and then we get down to the bottom is our fund balances. Going down the general fund, we had total revenues for the year of 20,445,899. Our expenditures were 23,086,001. So, we actually had a a excess expenditures over our revenues for the year of 2.6 million dollars. Now, we did have some other financing sources. If you'll remember, we had a short-term loan this year. So, that was where we achieved 1.4 million dollars worth of loan proceeds, which is another source of income. We had transfers out to other funds 1,186,000. And then we also had some capital leases, but the net other financing sources were 481,000. Then underneath that, we'll see we have this extraordinary item. If you'll remember, we had the lawsuit collection this last year. That was $1.2 million. So, So, when we take
012all those things into account with the $1.4 million worth of loan proceeds plus the $1,200,000 worth of loan settle lawsuit settlements, we still almost about a million dollars in the hole with those things even happening. And without those, we still would have been with a deficit of $2.6 million. So, we're not seeing that the, you know, again, I think all most all of you were exposed to this about this time last year. So, we we we had really only about 8 months, you know, for this fiscal year to try to correct the ship. But it's it's, you know, as a as a board, you're going to have to start probably trying to make some serious changes and and things to start addressing this because, you know, I don't know where you stand right now, but
013this is something that, you know, we've got to start addressing this negative fund balance and start trying to do something to whittle away at it. Going going in the hole another $2.6 million is not, you know, we're not getting where we need to go with that. So, just bring that to your attention. The special revenue fund, we had total revenues of $2.5 million. We had expenditures of $2.4 million, which is what we expect. Your special revenue fund should be a self-balancing with the exception of some of the state programs. All of your federal programs our revenues and expenses are matched matched one-for-one. So, the bottom line on that is we had a change in our fund balance of $46,000. The debt service fund, in the debt service fund, we had total revenues of 5.4 million,
014our expenditures were 3.7 million for uh principal on our our uh our debt our long-term debt and interest and bond cost. Uh that's something that I've I've talked to Ms. Briones about and and the staff is that you know, we're we're collecting a lot of money in our debt service fund more than we really need because uh you're you know, if you look at what you're bringing in, 5.4 million as opposed to the the needs the debt service needs of 3.7, we're building that fund balance up in the debt service program which can only be spent is restricted, can only be used to uh service your debt. So, uh we've we've talked about some ways of possibly reducing your your debt service tax rate to be able to maybe raise your your other your your
015uh M&O tax rate, but you're still going to be subject to the the laws of of not going over the certain amount or otherwise having to have a rollback election, but gives you some options to be able to possibly make it more palatable to to lower one and raise one and still make it where it's not as harmful for the taxpayer, but uh I suggest that uh with with our meeting that you know, you might try to get some somebody that knows the ins and the outs of tax rates, uh the laws on that and what you can and can't do to try to structure this so it might help you out a little bit better. But, again, just collecting taxes here, I mean, all we're doing is building up a fund so that in
016our final years we won't need to to actually uh assess any taxes to pay it off because uh I looked at your your uh schedule of maturities and and pretty much your your debt service is going to stay the same all the way through. So, uh we're going to need about that $3.7 million every year to pay for it. So, uh, just don't see the need raising the tax the revenues uh, to have an excess there. Capital projects fund, we're still trying to close that thing out. We finally did this year. I have a little bit of revenue on that. Uh, and the it was the total amount was transferred out. So, it is officially closed down now. >> [clears throat] >> I'd like to turn to page uh, 28. This is your uh, schedule
017of the fiduciary funds. Uh, we are holding money for various different student activity groups that this is not our money as the district, but we're required to report on it. And we had uh, $88,000 worth of funds that we were holding that belonged to others. Uh, on the next page on page 29 that shows that our fundraising activities brought in $123,000. We spent $126. So, we subtracted that off to arrive at our ending net position of $8,000. Starting on page 30 are the notes to the financial statements. These are the notes that are required by generally accepted accounting principles. Uh, every year these get longer and longer, but uh, I do want to go through a few of these with you. Uh, if you'll turn to page 38. This uh, especially the the the the
018schedule there at the top. Uh, the inner fund receivables. Uh, one of the things that we've talked about in the past if you'll look in the middle of that page there. The uh, debt service fund still has uh, $2.7 million that is owed back to the general fund. Uh, and as we'll see later on with what we talked about last year. That is uh, not it's you're you're not in compliance by doing that. That you You know, again, these debt service funds should only be spent for debt service and nothing else, and borrowing from it is a violation of state laws, which we've talked about last year. It's still going on, so you're going to continue to get that input from us until that changes, though. Uh on page 39, short-term debt, uh just shows
019the terms of that. We did borrow 1.4 million, and uh it was to be matured like right now. I'm assuming that it did get paid back, so paid back. Uh so, as of now, that's no longer there. Uh if you'll turn to page uh 40 and 41. Page 40, towards the middle of the page, the changes in long-term uh debt. This shows you what our various different types of long-term debt were at the beginning of the year, what our increases were, our decreases, and our ending fund balance, and then the amounts due within 1 year. And on page 41, gives you a detail of each one of those bonds uh that makes up our total outstanding amount of 33,000 245. And what I was talking about earlier is if you look at the We're required
020to present your your debt service requirements for uh 5 years, and then in 5-year increments thereafter. So, you can see that those amounts are are staying pretty constant. So, I think it would be wise for you to try to, you know, maybe lower your your debt service revenue tax rate so that, you know, we only have to collect the amounts that we're actually needing to fund the debt service for that year. That's the good thing about it. Like I say, even though we do have a negative fund balance, I mean, it's it's it's in in it's uh >> [clears throat] >> you're you're you're I'm not saying you're lucky, but you had the you know, if if you didn't have that debt service to borrow fund, even though it was illegal, uh you would be
021in really bad shape now, so. Uh that's pretty much it for the the notes to the financial statements. I will ask you to turn towards the end. Um Turn to page 53. >> [clears throat] >> Uh We're required to uh list the unfavorable budget variances that you've had for the year, but not as much as they were last year. I think last year we were looking at every one of your uh different uh functions you had exceeded your budget on. Uh it it uh it's it's not as bad as it was, but we still have some pretty significant budget variances there. In note T, uh the use of the debt service fund, we're we're uh still pointing out that, you know, we have a a a borrowing money from the debt service, which is uh
022an illegal act, there of $2.7 million. Uh And that, you know, we're still in have the negative fund balances in the the the general fund in the internal services fund. Uh again, uh gives you the the breakdown of that that with those those fund balance uh uh amounts there. Now, no, on page 54, uh because we had the implementation of the encumbered absence, we're required to bring in $21,137,000 worth of revenue. We actually brought in 20 20,445,000, so we have an unfavorable budget variance on our revenues of $692,000. On the expenditures, we had anticipated that we were going to bring in 22,611. We actually spent 22,611. We actually spent 23,086. So, we have an unfavorable variance there of 474,000 dollars. Uh, so, like I said, you know, at the end of the year, we had
023anticipated uh, that we were going to have basically a >> [clears throat and cough] >> 46,000 [snorts] dollar decrease in our change in our fund balance, where we actually had a 944,000 dollar decrease in our fund balance. That's another thing I'd like to point out is, you know, if you look at that final amended budget, you know, we have a deficit fund deficit fund balance, and yet we're budgeting ourselves a deficit for the year, too. So, that's not something that's allowed to do. You can't budget yourself a deficit unless you have a fund balance to offset that deficit. So, in this case, where you were had a negative fund balance to begin with, you should never budget yourself a deficit. Only if you have a positive fund balance to be able to offset that. If
024you will turn to page 64. This is the schedule of delinquent taxes receivable. It shows what your tax rates have been for the last 10 years, what your assessed values have been for the last 10 years, what our original property tax receivable was at the beginning of the year, the levy collections, and then what we finally have at the end of the year. Uh, this is a good information cuz it tells you kind of where your tax rates have been and where they're going. When you also when you look at what our assessed value is, you know, we're looking at a 1.5 million a $1.5 billion uh assessed value, where, you know, 10 years ago we were at 800 uh 36 million. So, it's a a pretty sizable increase in our assessed value. Of the
025$15 million that we levied for the current year, we have collected all but $431,000. One of the things that that kind of strikes me is that, you know, when you look at our total receivable, their property tax receivable, $1.7 million. That's that's kind of high compared to most of our school districts. Uh you know, and uh we you would think that, you know, there would be uh collect you know, your collection attorneys, you know, that are hired uh I guess by the appraisal district would probably be start pursuing some of these to try to get those uh because property taxes will not be written off. You can't just write them off, but uh that property, if if someone hadn't paid their taxes, uh you'll have to file suit on them, and you pay that and
026you have to then go to the courthouse, and you know, it's usually sold on the courthouse lawn, and then if and the proceeds come back to you. Uh but eventually you'll get that money even cuz even if there's a judgment on it uh and when the the the property is eventually sold or transferred, it'll have to be paid first, but uh might want to get with the appraisal district and make sure that they're pursuing those uh delinquent taxes. We have three members from from the board that are in that school district. And on page 66, we have to present a budget for the uh our nutrition program, and this is what this this uh schedule is doing. Uh for the most part, like say this came in, we still had uh excess revenues over expenditures,
027uh but in in total we had a uh uh basically a a $1 variance. So, it came in exactly as we expected. The uh next page on page 68 is the schedule for debt service, the budget comparison for it. Uh one thing you'll notice that there was not in the original budget. You know, the debt service was never budgeted for originally when you prepared the budget, which should have happened. You did come in and amend your budget to to later on during the year, uh but this is part of the things that were going on that, you know, at the begin end of last year that were just now getting corrected. >> [clears throat] >> When the uh budget amounts were actually put in, uh we have an excess uh a favorable budget variance on
028our revenues of $706,000, uh favorable budget variance on our expenditures of $208,000. So, again, we uh we were uh we were budgeting ourselves to have a excess revenues when really we didn't need to have that. So, try to tighten that up a little bit more, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Okay, starting with page 71 and forward, this gets into our single audit portion of the audit. Because you received over $750,000 worth of uh uh federal funds, we're required to do what's called a single audit. And part of it is we have to do give you an opinion overall on your uh your compliance and uh internal controls overall programs and any state programs, and that's what this page uh on 74 uh 73 and 74 is. And if you'll notice in the
029last paragraph on page 73, that it does say that we did identify deficiencies in your internal control that we're describing on the accompanying schedule of finding the question cost. We'll get to those in a minute. We also on the on the next page that first paragraph says that we our test disclosed instances of noncompliance of which we were going to be getting uh describing on these accompanying schedules question cost. Uh again, those are all state internal control and compliance issues. They're not federal. So, therefore, the next opinion letter we have on page 75 since we are having a single audit, we're required to pick one of our programs to make up uh an amount that satisfies our our needs to be able to to be classified as major programs. And this year we had to
030select uh your Let's see what it was. I can't remember off the top of my head. We we had to choose your Title 1 program and your child nutrition programs as your major program. So, all those programs we did more extensive testing on your compliance and your internal controls. And on this paragraph opinion letter on page 75 and 76 and 77, this is saying that we disclosed no instances of noncompliance and your internal controls over the federal programs for the major program were adequate. Now we get into page 78 which has our schedule of findings and questioned costs. And if you'll look on page 79, these are the same findings that we found last year. So, they haven't haven't changed. Uh Finding number one is uh that we had an excessive amount of adjusting journal
031entries and that's anytime we have a large amount of adjusting journal entries that tells us that your internal controls are not adequate because when we get through financial statements, they should be in audit ready format. So, I think that you know, again, changes happen but they happen, you know, halfway during the year or so. I hope that you know, in next year's audit those things are corrected. Finding number two is on the negative fund balances. At the end of the year we had uh 2.3 million dollars worth of negative fund balance in the general fund and the internal services fund had a negative fund balance of 1 million 138,000. Again, that is a a violation of state law. So, we're going to have to to work on getting that corrected. Same finding again, these are
032all repeat findings from the prior year. Finding number three on page 80, budgetary compliance. We did not amend our budget. We had excess revenues expenditures over revenues in our general fund by 474,000 dollars. Also, as I mentioned earlier, you adopted a deficit budget without having a positive fund balance to cover that deficit budget. So, again, that is something that you know, when you prepare your budgets, you got to look at and you know, you can't budget yourself a deficit until we get this this negative fund balance taken care of. Then on finding number four, again, this is the borrowing of money from the debt service fund uh that you know at the end of the year that was 2.7 million. You know, that's up from what it was. That there was some some additional uh
033borrowing from the debt service fund that it incurred, you know, even during this fiscal year. So, that again needs to be repaid. So, you know, what you've got is is about a you know, a 4 million dollar problem because we've got a negative fund balance of 2.7 million plus we have uh uh the amount of money that's got to be paid back to the to the debt service fund. So, you know, you've got to really start, you know, and again unfortunately there's only two ways to get this done. We we are both we we either have to raise our revenues or cut our expenses or do both, but uh you know, we've got to start working on that coming up with a plan and I think Ms. Bronius uh has has told me that she
034you know, she's working on plans to try to implement this for the future to see how that happens, but uh you know, it's it's it's no different than at home. You know, you get yourself into credit card debt, it takes forever to get back you know, it's real fast to get there, but it takes forever to get out of it, but we got to come up with a plan to move forward so that uh we can start chipping away at this. Um So, those are our findings and questions. Thomas uh And again, if you'll look at the the uh summary of schedule of prior audit findings, these are the same findings. They just were repeated uh from 2014. >> [clears throat] >> On page 85, this shows our schedule of expenditures of federal awards. Uh
035this shows the various different programs uh where we receive federal awards from. Uh total federal programs was 2.7 2 2 million 74,000. Now, I would like you to in the front of your audit, there should be a some individual sheets uh letters uh presented to the board of education. We don't have them. You don't have them? Certificate of board sheet. Is it called a certificate of board? No, no. These were just handed to the board inside the packet uh by themselves. It's inside those ones. I didn't I didn't get a copy of that one. This is our our management letter to the board. It's basically telling you what I what we found. A lot of this that we have already discussed, but I I again uh would kind of like to go over this a
036little bit more in detail. Uh Number one, we had numerous numerous audit adjusting entries. Uh and most of those were in our federal funds. Uh and what we would propose you do is to try to do a little bit better job of uh trying to reconcile your federal programs uh at the end of the year. Uh I think we we still had several programs that had uh we could have gotten reimbursement from that we didn't, so need to monitor those federal programs a little better. Number two is that we had over 24 adjusting journal entries, which again, you know, where one of the things that that when we see that many journal entries, it tells us that your internal control structure is not working right. Uh number three is the negative fund balance. Again, that
037you know, it's a violation of state law to have your your negative fund balance. Number four, uh the budget variances. Again, uh these these comments are are we're kind of repeating ourselves, but we're required to continue this in the management letter also. Uh number five, we talked about this before, the uh the debt service fund borrowing is it's a violation of state law. Six, we haven't discussed before, but uh the district underspent its state allotment for its intent code 37 dyslexia allotment, uh 24 compensatory education allotment, and uh the current career and technology allotment, and there was and the gifted and talented allotment. So, there were several state allotment required uh spendings that were not being and you'll probably be receiving some uh nasty grams from TEA over that. These with these is there a
038possibility of losing this amount of money in the upcoming year? Like, if hey, you didn't use it, you don't need it. I don't think you're going to lose it, but I can't I mean, they're going to tell you that, you know, you're supposed to spend it. And uh like I say, that's that's out of my area. I just know that this is what they say you're supposed to spend, and I don't know what happens if you don't. I I I have had instances where I've seen them, you know, just you know, you they'll send you a nasty letter and tell you to start forcing spend it in the right areas. And uh it's you know, your your uh comp ed allotment, you know, underspending that by $533,000. I don't know what happened, but I mean,
039in the prior year, you were way overspent, and this year you weren't we're way underspent. So, I don't know what happened to that, you know, but it's uh be expecting, you know, uh I said a lot of bad news. Uh the one thing that I would say I'm disappointed in is that, you know, I I thought with, you know, we this this massive thing was under covered about this time or about January of last year and I was expecting that, you know, there would be more actions to try to mitigate things and, you know, that's what I'm trying to hammer home to you is that we've got to start making some serious probably unpopular decisions to to start at least chipping away at this because, uh you know, this this is not sustainable. I mean,
040uh I think you were able to get by this this last year with the the short-term borrowing, you know, uh but that's not that's just a band-aid. It's not fixing anything. It's just helping with cash flow, so. Questions? Um you mentioned that the the 2.7 million that was transferred from the funds, I guess. Yes. You mentioned that it had increased from last year. Do you have a number of exact of how much it increased from the year before? I can't exactly tell you. I can get that number for you, but I don't have it with me. It wasn't It wasn't massive because it was I think it was if it was anything, it was like three or four hundred dollars. And again, a lot of that is because, you know, we're we're talking about the
041end of uh August last year when uh a lot of this stopped about January. So, there could have still been some before it was actually brought to light that then it stopped after that. Do any of you have questions? No. I mean I don't, Peggy. You don't? >> Thank you, sir. And uh >> [clears throat] >> And you're looking at three quarters recommendations that you have delivered to us in the past 12 years. >> Like I say, uh if you, you know, have any questions during the year or or, you know, need to bounce some ideas off of us, you know, we're there to help in any way, but uh it's it's not going to be fun, but like I say, it's something that we have to start being addressed because it's it's past due.
042So. Okay. If there's no any more any more questions >> Mr. Reed. Uh All right. Sign in. Yeah, I have to get get ready. I have to talk. Okay. It's all right, okay. This one here. We're going to go We're going to go ahead and move on or you need something else? Or Are you going to approve this or Yes, I mean, we're going to move it I mean, we want the next action item under five, a discussion to uh action to approve the district annual financial report for the 20 2024-2025 school year in then in uh August 31, 2025. Do I have a motion? To approve? I'll make it. Uh Mr. Young, uh motion to approve. >> Second. Seconded by uh Mr. Easton. Uh questions, concerns? Not at all. In favor? You have it,
043sir. You have to get this submitted. Marvin, see if you can swing. Okay. I'm going to leave this with you. Have him to sign it as soon as possible get that back. Okay? All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Who's got on? Yeah, but he just has to sign it. Yeah. Well, I mean, I just [clears throat] wanted to for the record, Mr. Mata did sign on via Oh, okay. I need to talk to him by 5:30. By 5:30. Mr. Mata. Yeah. Will you be able to stop by central office tomorrow and sign the uh the things that we have to sign for the audit request to you and if you need to sign. Or Uh I can try before I can try before I pick up to work. Okay.
044Uh what time is that? Uh I can be there at 8:00. Okay. We'll be ready. Yes, we'll be here. We'll have it. Uh stop by and just uh sign whatever we need and uh we can send it to Mr. If you want to get there earlier, I can be there by 7:30. We're here by 7:30. Yeah, I can be there by 7:30. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank [snorts] you, sir. Safe travel. Anyone else? Yeah. Where you going to go? >> Before uh we continue with the meeting and I was supposed to do it uh before uh we have uh our conservators are going to be working uh for the school district. Um if there are any This time for the rest of the board, can you Yes. So, uh if if you all would
045like to come up, uh Mr. Hines, Dr. Reina. Uh John Hines is conservator that is working primarily with campus principals. And Dr. Sylvia Reina, as far as my understanding, uh Dr. Reina, you'll be working with uh the team of eight. Yes, the board of the team of eight. Exactly. In a nutshell, yes. And good afternoon, everyone. And also to the guests. I am Sylvia Reina, and I am uh I've been appointed by Texas Education Agency to be the conservator for the district. And uh because we have different areas of expertise, Mr. John Hines, introduce yourself. I'm John Hines. So, I'm going to be the co-conservator, and I'll be mainly working with campus administration. You have already started, right? You were you're Monday. And then you meet you met also with uh uh T. O. S.
046Elementary with the with with the staff. And my area is to work with the board, the governance, and the uh cabinet-level individuals to to deal with the system as a whole, and how is it that it's operating, and how is it that we can make it efficient, and uh and in accordance with all of the Texas education rules and regulations. So, we're you know, I I'll just say I'm pleased to be here. Uh I'm at your at your service, and certainly want to help you in any way that you can. And if you identify anything specific, please let us know. But again, those are our areas, and know that anytime that you need something of information, if we don't know it and can't give it to you, we will certainly get it for you. Uh
047because the goal is to ensure that you have a successful school year, and that our students are successful here. Do you all have like a schedule of when you're going to let the teachers know that you're going to be at the campus? It's going to be different every week, or I know you mentioned Monday Monday [clears throat] and Tuesday with with with the models, so they already know. Uh do you have >> And my schedule is a little different, because my first entry point is going to be to have I set an appointment to speak with you, interview each one of you individually. So, I'll work around your schedules, work, or whatever it is that you have as an obligation such that we can get to know each other and then get from your perspective
048what is it that needs to be done and such that we can create those opportunities for success. And so it's a little different in that I will be here on as need basis and also will be attend all of your board meetings so that we can make those presentations and give you an update as to what we're doing and how we have progressed throughout our our stay here. Again, Zoom is very easy to get in touch with us. We are also available by phone. So anytime that you have any kind of question regarding any areas because we both have expertise in the entire school system, but because we want to concentrate and and take care of your schedules as well as ours, we've kind of split those duties up. So as far as specific dates
049and times, no, but certainly will let the let the the superintendent and you all know when we're going to be here. Check the north. Yes. All good stuff. At every board meeting we will give you an update. Any questions for them? The board. We welcome you and me and we accept every uh help that we can give us and that you identified uh I especially mean at the you let me work with the uh What do you want to do with the board as uh one thing as a board member and and as the next principal. I know sometimes uh we blame the school up here. But we also need to check what's happening to the foundation so that what are our kindergarten students doing? The first grade doing? Third? So that when we go
050when they go to when they go to the high school they're prepared and uh and that's something that I but really ask of you guys to make sure that our kids I mean we're learning at at the uh that area. That's all. >> So uh but we'll be around. Call us if you need anything. Either the superintendent or Mr. Spurlock. So, you will notify us by email or you'll go through central office so they can notify that when you want to meet with us one-on-one. I've already met with Mr. Yanez to be able to discuss contact you all, what's available for your schedule such that we can have those at one-on-one interviews. So, again, I want to be as flexible as possible because I know work and have obligations, family, etc. So, whatever's convenient as
051much as I can do it in in in person, I will be here. And if not, then we can certainly talk. But it's going to be hopefully a a good relationship that we want the doors to be open and the phone lines to be open such that we can work together. So. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, sir. We're going Do you want to do personal matters first? Personal matters with the union and when we get to uh This one in time uh I know what's the time for uh going into uh closed session? It's 6:20. 6:20. I'm going to read the statement. Uh yes. >> [clears throat] >> The board of trustees will meet in closed session as authorized by the Texas Government Code Chapter 551 and
052the Open Meetings Act. Uh Okay. Recording stopped.