001[Music] the stop Fairbanks Independent School District Board of Trustees is now convened in a board work session on Tuesday June 13 2024 at 6 PM in the boardroom of the sopus Fairbanks in school district for the purpose of reviewing the portion of the Monday June 17 2024 regular meeting agenda design as action items and to hear design reports and recognitions posted in the meeting as required by Texas law i' like to welcome me of members of our audience and our online viewers to the meeting the board trustees we are here to set goals listen reports approve budgets contracts personel appointments and make policy for the district is not the role of the board to make day the operations of the of the district the mention of the district is the operations is responsibility superintendent we
002have policies and procedures in place to resolve concerns and issues this is a public meeting of the Board of Trustees not a meeting of the public the public is open and wish to attend this meetings discussed audience members may not participate in the mean outside of the designated agenda items for citizen participation or agenda comment disruption by the mean by any person including the audience is inappropriate and will be addressed by the board president or counsel as a meeting parliamentarian contended repeated disruption by the board by words or actions may result in a removal part of the meeting board members received information related to tonight's agenda agenda items may not necessarily be handled in order listed in the notice during the course of the meeting the board will determine that close session is necessary in
003that event the board will meet in the Clos session consider matters duly posted as 551.071 through 55108 4 of the Texas government code these proceedings are airing live on District website they're available on the district website foll tonight's meeting for the video to adequately reflect the proceedings I respectfully ask you please refrain from talking while others are speaking and cell phones are turned off or in silent mode thank you for joining us this evening in your interest in the Cyprus Fairbanks Independent School District the invocation Pledge of Allegiance mission statement remarks announcements recognitions board comments Citizen paration and information items will be presented in a regular board meeting on Monday June 17th at the at at each open meeting the board patrons are registered in accordance to the procedures established in bed regulation May address
004the board designated in agenda comments prior to the board's consideration of an action item unless the agenda is otherwise rearranged for the board president during the meeting agenda comments will generally be taken prior to each agenda item also in accordance with the procedure established in bed regulation patrons May address the board during cation on matters of interest and concern not posted on agenda items for details information please visit our website patrons who have registered speak this evening may see their name in the orders listed on the screen before your name is called please move forward and sit in one of the reserved seats on the front when you approach the podiums you will see the monitor inside the podium when it's your time to speak the dis presentation timer will be displayed on top of
005the monitor you'll see 30 second and 15sec warning lights to wrap up your comments the timers will be set according to the number of speakers registered this evening we'll now proceed with the reports portion of the agenda 5A the administration will provide a written report on a school health advisory committee annual activities to the Board of Trustees Christina cold and Linda hood are presenters this is just questions only but this is a standard report that we provide every year it's already posted on our sha web page um and it's basically a summary of what we've discussed at the Sha meetings all year long any questions from the board on this see none and Lucas if you want to ask a question so I can't see you please just speak up please no questions go ahead
006Nellie um I just wanted to thank you um Dr Cole for your work taking over The Shack you've been very uh conscientious very efficient you've engaged uh stakeholders you've um been incredibly structured and with the work and systematic and um I feel like it's a really uh great start um and uh I can see that some of the stated purposes that are legal with behind the law behind Shack um I see the opportunity that we could really go deep to really engage the community in those conversations so I really appreciate you and your team thank you I appreciate the acknowledgement see no more questions move on to 5B the administration will provide a report on generating additional revenue for the district this is a presentation by Teresa Hull miss hle good evening uh while they're
007pulling up the PowerPoint um this is just to to brive you with the very brief update on several initiatives that we have been working on that we believe will generate additional Revenue uh for the district as you will recall uh at the April 22nd budget Workshop we provided you with the feedback from the budget reduction advisory committee on the ideas that were generated to uh possibly create additional revenue for the district and this is the rank order and the items they were required to rank the items 1 through3 so it kind of forced the ranking the items that are highlighted in green are the ones that we absolutely have move moved forward with and we'll implement the items in yellow are items that are in progress we're going to talk about a couple of those
008this evening and then the items in blue which you will see on this next page are items that we're really uh just continuing to do some additional research on and they are pending so the first item I wanted to uh bring you up to date on is uh Community engagement uh we are really focused on trying to expand our efforts for advertising in the district we on Monday submitted a request for proposals to possibly consult with a firm to help us maximize our marketing strategies and opportunities for naming rights for our facilities so that'll be out and once we have the opportunity to review and evaluate uh the opportunities that we feel like a consulting firm could provide and what the cost would be for using a firm of that nature we'll provide you with
009an update as we move through that process but our hope is that the a consulting firm would be able to cast a wider net and maybe solicit businesses that are kind of outside of our scope of contacts uh in addition we're expanding a lot of our advertising uh opportunities um specifically and looking at our softball and baseball complexes and our natatoriums we've really restricted that in the past we've really limited our advertising to only advertising at the two stadiums we've not allowed any advertising on the uh campuses but we're looking to expand that to again create additional Revenue uh for the district a second item that we're looking at uh is going to require a policy change and you will see later in the agenda we're asking for the board to consider approving on first
010reading uh FDA local which would allow the opportunity for non-resident students to request a transfer uh to cfis request of this nature for out of District students and the campuses that they could request would be based on the projected enrollment of that campus and the projected uh or the capacity uh that we have for that campus there will also be enrollment criteria that a student would have to meet in order to be eligible for a transfer under this policy and a tuition would be charged if the board uh does want to move forward in approving this at first reading then in August we'll come back to you with some options uh for you to consider on tuition because it is something that would require board approval to set the tuition that we charge for any
011interdistrict student transfers currently we do allow obviously inter District transfers for employee children and we do not charge tuition and that would continue to be our recommendation I think it's important for our employees to know we're not looking to charge tuition for those students but any um Stu other students uh that are not currently allowed uh would be charged to tuition the third area that we've really focused on is trying to expand our outside facilities use um in the fall uh late fall early spring we made recommendations to the cabinet for our administrative rag to update um our rental fees for our campuses and our Natatorium those will go into effect on July 1 so we already anticipate additional Revenue just by increasing our fees but another policy that we're asking you to consider uh
012revisions to is G gkd local um currently we do not allow for-profit use of our facilities with the exception of the Berry Center and the Visual and Performing Art Center so a modification in the policy would Grant uh for-profit businesses and organizations the opportunity to rent our facilities um and then we would also try to expand some of those facilities uh for Access like our baseball and softball complexes now we've had a lot of conversations in our policy committee specifically um with Todd because of his connection and knowledge and relationship in the baseball world and I agree having children that have competed in that uh sport uh a lot of opportunities for tournaments when those fields are not in use that we feel can generate additional revenue for the district an area that would be
013a new provision uh in gkd for your consideration is to allow the sell of alcohol at the Barry Center for non District uh sponsored events and the criteria that would be established for uh an event to allow the sell and consumption of alcohol would be those that would be scheduled um outside of regular school hours and when a student event a district event is not scheduled at the Berry Center so it's not that we feel that we're going to generate additional revenue from the alcohol cells it just expands the types of events that we can possibly attract and schedule into the Berry Center weddings wedding receptions great example um a lot of corporate events and dinners that we could possibly have there but again we would have criteria about really restricting uh during a time
014when we have a student event going on uh when the event is scheduled so that will kind of limit uh the the windows but um Beth Wade who has been the director of that facility from the very beginning first off I think as she um um considers this I think this would just make her so happy uh if uh the district uh would approv this because you know just because of her knowledge and expertise in uh facilities use she really feels like she misses out on a lot of great events that she could possibly bring to the district um we would not store uh alcohol Berry Center employees would not be the ones selling we would contract with a third- party vendor that meets all the legal um uh licensing and permitting uh regulations and
015laws and they would be the ones responsible for the sell uh and uh distribution of the alcohol at the events so that is the end of that brief presentation take any questions you may have I have a question go ahead what what does that open us up to in the realm of liability for having alcohol on at our facilities and Tra could answer this cuz we've talked about it at length but I'll just and then you can uh clarify anything operationally we talked about that we talked about at length in the policy committee um because that was not something that anyone was interested in if it substantially increased um our liability that's why the parameters that um Teresa mentioned would be important we would not be the ones um it would merely be our facility
016we would not be the ones serving so we would not have what's called dram chop liability um the facility would have to have the appropriate um not the facility the the vendor would have to have not the facility the vendor would have to have the appropriate licensed pouring for instance and then they would have the required additional Insurance go ahead Ellie um I'm very interested in seeing this interdistrict student transfer item um I think it has an incredible amount of potential Beyond raising revenue um um in this environment of choice the fact that we are such a system of choice that people could choose to attend we could fill up uh buildings that have the 60 70 80% capacity in the pasta study on the my end of the district um we could offer Choice
017programs that are robust see what people would like to come for um this is also if we ever get into I actually exercise this kind of choice for my own child because I want a dual language for her um but because Spring Branch at the time was a uh a recapture District they were looking for water so this is a way to buy a attendance which is way more District funds than uh a transfer fee or something of that sort and so it could end up being something that's incredibly um promising but also I believe in choice for parents within public schools and Public School Systems us creating the choice that everyone wants and this gives us an opportunity to get some creative in the ways that we could do that and see what people
018want and they will drive their kids here for it I paid 50 bucks to have my kid in a dual language program in Spring Brun on a transfer after I wasn't working there any longer and so that's the best $50 I could ever spend I do a question though have we talked about a fee what kind of price that is since we're not in that recapture situation but also have we done the math on the water hit and the count of having those students in our attendance and what that does um that's what we're working on now Dr blasing game and we'll bring that forward to you again in August if that is the desire of the board if you want to move this to Second reading uh we'll have those options I know Dr
019Stewart and her team are doing some research uh on what surrounding districts are charging and then obviously looking at um you know what the costs are to us as well uh but we'll bring that to you CU you do have to approve the tuition yes I'd love us to have I'd ask the superintendent that we in a parallel we have a conversation about the kinds of choice programs and I also want to um to uh express my um I don't know what just the right word just uh um appreciation for Linda masas Dr masas with your um working to create a dual language program in the district you took that really smart decisions the way you decided to do it really um interesting use of data to determine uh where people would look for that
020kind of option or choice and so I actually hadn't heard from you the update so I will later but I wanted to also thank you that you are already thinking that way about providing Innovative and different um options that families may be interested in and I would like to see a survey families to say hey what would you look for in the future what kind of program would make you even District come to our district other than our incredible schools like Lam Creek where my kid just graduated from um what are the things that looking for so thank you I think this could be actually really powerful great job on all the ideas actually well done with this survey see any more questions move on to number five C thank you Teresa the administration will
021provide a written report on Cooperative person agree fees paid for the district for 2022 2023 fiscal year uh that was including our board book this is questions only seeing no questions we'll move on well move on the public hearing portion of our agenda 6A the board will hold a public hearing on adoption of the 2024 2025 budget at 6 pm on Thursday June 13 2024 we do have one speaker Lisa bua Lisa minutes yes let me begin when you're ready as a member of the public I have no idea what the proposed budget line line items look like what was cut Etc but I can tell you that the legal services line item is probably going to need to be quadrupled since this board and some of the administration don't want to do what is
022right by our very diverse students y'all about to lose your shirts and litigation from your very narrow-minded decisions that will not stand in this community from elections to hiring practices to library books to the way students are treated your you're going to lose your shirt so unless you all change course please be prepared Karen let May begin thank you thank you president Henry tonight I will be presenting the 2425 proposed General operating budget which is essentially the same information provided to the board in May districts are required to annually adopt a budget for the general fund The Debt Service fund and the food service fund the district's budget must be approved before June 30th excuse me each year since our district has a June 30 fiscal year end districts are also required to have a
023public hearing to discuss the proposed budget prior to adoption of the budget most of the information on on this slide has already been shared oh I think it went to I think I want to make sure it's okay I'm sorry that is the correct slide uh most of the information has already been shared with the board however it is a good idea to start the as a starting point to discuss where we are for the 2425 budget when the budget was adopted last June the anticipated deficit after utilizing 65 million in federal stimulus funds to offset the deficit was $ 73.6 million the items already shared with the board impacting the amount of the deficit were additional Federal stimulus funding decrease in charge federal funds an increase in interest income and reimbursement for s or
024indirect cost as as well as unfilled positions resulting in an estimated deficit of 15.1 million since I shared the information the district was impacted by the Windstorm and tornado that went through the Cyprus area on May 16th the estimated damage from the Duro storm is about $5.6 million resulting in a new deficit of approximately 20.8 million at June 30 2024 however it's important to note some of the factors s that could result in a a slightly higher deficit or potentially a lower deficit or even balancing the budget or a surplus that would be unfilled positions because those could end up being more or less than is in the uh estimated right now at 42 million interest income uh could end up being a little more or a little less than anticipated however I'm expecting it
025to go up a little bit just because uh we recently heard that the uh the Federal Reserve is not planning on increas ining interest rates anytime soon also we uh as I've mentioned before the district does a prior property value audit every year similar to maybe a homeowner doing uh requesting U their their values be reviewed and changed possibly on their values and we do this every year and we never really know about when we're going to hear back uh from the state on this and we also don't know the exact amount that it would be average daily attendance also could be slightly different than expected and then unspent funds other than payroll and then the Windstorm damage uh could be a little more a little less plus we really are not sure how much
026of the actual expenditures will hit this current fiscal year they may fall more into the 2425 fiscal year and then also the rec 50% recognition of the local optional homestead exemption um you know if this nothing happens with this by August then what the district will Pur pursued from that is seeing if we can get a supplemental Appropriations Bill introduced to maybe recognize this maybe uh in January the key areas considered during the budget process are retain and recruit quality staff preserve the quality of instruction and services and prioritize student and staff safety the M Tax Rate is made up of two components the maximum compress rate in the arren pennies the maximum compress rate or red is reduced uh compressed or reduce to the lower of the compressed rate or the local compressed rate
027uh the tax compression occurs when property values increase more than 2 and a half% from the previous year current year property values affect the tax compression the maximum compress rate may remain the same as tax year 2023 at 6311 one because the preliminary certified values received from the Harris Central Appraisal District only reflect a 2.44% increase in property values Which is less than that that 2.5% that would initiate tax compression if values increase by more than 2 and a half% the maximum compress rate will decrease slightly the district has accessed all five enrichment pennies that it can without a vat state aid funding is based on the controller's property values versus apprais Appraisal District values and these are the values the district protest every year that I just mentioned that can result in additional State
028funding the remaining Federal stimulus funds will be spent to offset the deficit in 2324 and will not be available in 2024-25 to offset the deficit as you already know neither the 88th legislative session or the four special sessions provided funding to public education therefore the district for formed a budget reduction advisory committee to provide recommendations for other sources of revenue and to reduce expenditures since the district had healthy fund balance the proposed budget was built based on utilizing a portion of the fund balance to reduce the budget cuts for 2425 the 24 2425 preliminary budget was built on the following assumptions that were shared with you at the May board meeting the expiration of the stimulus funding uh reducing expenditures by $58 million and just to clarify we although we reduced positions there were no
029actual layoffs payroll uh fill rate at 98% which reduces expenditures by uh $20 million and then a minimum enrollment growth of0 28% and then the district is proposing a salary increase on the greater of midpoint or base of 1% for all levels of administration and 2% for teachers par professionals and hourly and also increase the uh teacher starting salary from 62,000 a year to 63,000 so the total amount of of the salary increase is $17 million also uh reduction of the chars funding that I've shared with the board previously of 10.3 million continued 2% average daily attendance decrease which is $15 million operating cost for Bird Elementary to open of 2.4 million an increase in the property values of 2.44% it does not include the Brack Revenue recommendations that Miss Hull just recently uh re
030uh referenced because we don't really know what that's going to be at this point in time and also it does not incre include uh the 50% recognition of the local optional homestead exemption which if it actually happened would be $31.5 million Administration shared with the board the budget reduction plan at the April 22nd special called meeting as well as the May board meeting so I will not go through all the items that comprise the 58.7 million in budget reductions but I will briefly pause to allow those that have not seen the plan to quickly review the recommendations this slide reflects the salary increases that the board has approved for the last 10 years as a reminder in 2324 the board approved a 3% raise for all employees the proposed budget with 58 million in budget
031reductions a 1 to 2% raise for employees and a fill rate of 98% results in a deficit of approximately 77.5 million which will directly impact fund balance in 2425 since Federal stimulus funds will be exhausted general fund revenues consist of local revenues of 497.org and TRS on behalf Federal revenues of 16.5 million which is comprised of the school health and related Services which is the reimbursement for Medicaid eligible expenses associated with providing special education services special education students Roc and reimbursement for indirect cost on grants other sources of 500 500,000 represents revenues from auctions operating expenditure are estimated to be approximately $1.16 billion and I'll provide more detail on the expenditures in the next several slides this slide reflects the general fund expenditures by Major categories such as payroll contracted Services which includes costs such
032as utilities supplies and materials which includes CL costs such as instructional supplies and fuel other uh other operating which includes costs such as property insurance and then Capital outlay which is includes costs such as equipment Replacements payroll costs remain 89% of the district's budget this is in line with the districts Across the Nation where payroll is 85 to 90% of the general fund budget raises have a significant impact on the budget as a 1% raise for cfd cost $9 million the budget must be adopted by fund and function instruction costs are 66% of the general fund expenditures the remaining functional expenses on this slide Provide support to the campuses and to the classroom maintenance and operations is the next largest functional expenditure after instruction at 92.7 million General Administration is only 1.64% of the budget
033which decreased from in the prior year of 1.77% other intergovernmental charges are our payments to Harris Central Appraisal District for their services the Texas Education Code 29.0 181 requires districts to indicate the portion of their budget that is for Accelerated instruction $12.8 million of total expenditures are for Accelerated instruction this pie chart consolidates the previous three slides by functional area 96% of our expenditures go directly to the classroom and towards instructional support and District Operations to support the classroom in addition to the general fund the district must also adopt a budget for debt service and food service the interest in seeking tax rate generates funds required to service the district's debt that was approved by the boers in a bond referendum the funds can only be used for principal and interest payments on the bonds
034and cannot be used for the general operations of the district or to offset the deficit The Debt Service Revenue consists of local revenues which are tax collections to make the district's Bond payments in the current year State revenues consist of the hold harmless the state provides when voters approved increasing the state Homestead exemption the 34.5 million includes when the homestead exemption went from 15,000 to 25,000 and then from 25,000 to 40,000 and then most recently in November voters approved increasing the exemption from 40,000 to 100,000 Federal revenues consist of the subsidy for the district's qualified School construction bonds the expenditures are for the current year bond payments the Food Service fund is subsidized with Federal reimbursements and funds can only be used towards a child not nutrition program and not for the general operations of
035the district it is important to note that the district's Child Nutrition program makes a profit and does not require the use of the general fund Food Service local revenues consist of allart sales State revenues reflect a small state meal matching amount for reimbursable meals from the prior school year Federal revenues consist of the federal reimbursement for free and reduced meals and commodities expenditures reflect the cost to run the Food Service program and utilities for our kitchens fund balance is the accumulation of surpluses and deficits and the only way to replenish our fund balance is to have an operating Surplus as mentioned at the May board meeting it is important to have adequate fund balance which is at least four months for districts with a June 30e end to manage cash flow low points and anticipated
036revenue shortfalls and anticipated expenditures the recent torn NATO that impacted the district is another example of the need for fund balance the district will have to front the cost for repairs until reimbursed by insurance and FEMA with the Windstorm deductible of 3% of the building value the district will lightly likely only have one building uh that will be covered by Insurance therefore we'll be relying on FEMA reimbursements FEMA covers 75% of the claim amount and the remaining 25% will have to come from the District's fund balance a healthy fund balance also allows the district to address the budget deficit over several years based on using a portion of fund balance in 2324 and 2425 it is estimated the district will have 4.68 months in fund balance at the end of June 30th 2025 now I'd
037be glad to answer any questions that you may have any questions from the board go ahead Jill Karen um on the page regarding budget assumptions when you talk about um the assump and I don't have a page number let me see oh page seven when uh you mentioned uh that we continue to expect a reduction of sh's funding of $10.3 million I know that we were um pursuing legal action to try to recover those funds do we have an update on the process for that uh yeah actually we have a call scheduled for Monday uh to have an update uh as far as where we are with that but um our attorney has requested information from the F on from the federal government um or and they are reviewing that information to determine what were
038the reasons that they were saying that they were denying these claims with Texas and to see if we have maybe um information that we can for example they may not have provided all of the information to support a particular expenditure so we're they're going back and reviewing do we have a case as far as this final appeal is concerned if so we will continue with the final appeal if after the attorney reviews the information they believe there's not much that can be done then we would withdraw our appeal U and not go any further with it and then so then the assumption would be that we would continue to be short $10 million in our reimbursement for caring for medically fragile students yes and one of the things that we're trying to do is we're
039trying uh we're once again working with the attorney on this is trying to determine what information they the federal side of Health and Human Services feels was missing and maybe what can we do maybe to provide that information in the future and do something differently so that we can obtain reimbursement thank you for your efforts I appreciate that um on the next page P page eight which was um the outline of the budget reduction plan the $58 million that were reduced from the budget just want to make a note um campus level staff reductions were $2 29.7 million if we had been able to um receive reimbursements from the funds lost by providing the 20% local optional homestead exemption that would have been 31 million and we could have saved all those campus level positions
040MH just a note on that I think I had one additional question um under on page 13 under general fund expenditures are you with me Karen yes uhuh okay um you said the second the our greatest um line item uh of expenditures is instruction of course and the second is plant maintenance and operations of 92 million is transport included under that no that transportation is that second item under oh I totally Miss okay so tell me again what's included under PL plant maintenance and operations it's our the facilities for our facilities Department our maintenance department and our operations Department okay our custodians okay and okay and and also that is where our utilities are charged also okay that makes more sense okay I think that was was all of my questions thank you um I
041just want to um thank it was a very difficult process I thank everyone who engaged Community um Administration campus staff uh committee from the board um and obviously our superintendent um specifically um this is never easy and um um I just want to appreciate you for the way you presented it this evening Karen thank you that you're always on top of things um I'll count you as U she gave me a little um reminder after the tornado whipped through our district um this is why we need fund balance since I'm always trying to see how we can push fund balance so we can make sure we teach the kids to read today so I I take the L on that one thank you um it was a good good reminder of why you're going to
042need to sit with some of that but also the way you handled that Matt and your team the incredible just my my neighborhood was hard hit and Larry Elementary was a a mess and then within three days those huge you know old trees and everything else was cleaned and everything just looked so sharp and it was safe and so um thank you um to your team but also thank you for educating me um I did um to Julie's question that she asked about the chars so I have a question I think you answered the organization before but we were given bad advice by an organization correct about how to build chars correct um we actually received training uh through the Texas Health and Human Services excuse me or they actually have a vendor that they
043Fairbanks that they have us that handles the program and there's required training that we have to have every year and so all the information has been reported by the districts as trained do they have any liability is there any recourse financially through an organization that provides bad guidance we at this point we have not seen um that there's any but I'm not I'm not saying down the line something might change associated with that I know that uh districts are trying to at least see if the Texas Education Agency will recognize the fact that we have lost out on that money and maybe the legislature in the next legislative session and provide maybe some additional special education funding that to assist us and then to Julie second part of that question so we know that students
044require certain Services especially in a medically fragile situation did we provide more services thinking they would be refunded or we just provided the level of service we had the year before but the funding model shifted how does that look going like to Julie's point will it cost us 10 million more for sure or is there something we would do a little bit differently in how we serve students well these you know this lot of the the services that we're providing for our students are required and so um I would say that our our cost will remain about the same uh what we will try to do though is make adjustments once we hear back on as I indicated to miss Hinman you know once we know why we were denied at the federal side uh
045for reimbursement is what can we do to provide additional information a good example is um they were claiming when we the teachers responded to a random moment Time study is that they were listing several things that were going on at that time when they were uh when it when they were questioned about that time study and they want you to only mention one thing well several things could have been going on at the same time so it's just getting further clarification on all of that so that maybe we can recover some of those costs in the future great answer thank you I think that concludes my questions thank you go ahead Justin so one of the interesting numbers uh you discussed Karen was our um percentage of General Administration in our expenditures we went from
0461.77% to 1.64% correct and that contributes to our already low Administration ratio especially for a district of our size correct correct and also the additional budget reductions that we did because you know we started by reducing 7.5% um off the top you know of budgets but then uh reduction of Staff we started at the district level first so I mean that even contributes to right now like cyfair especially District of our size right $1.2 billion budget 12,000 students we have a lower General Administration ratio compared to other districts correct correct yeah so it it kind of feeds into the narrative that cyars pretty much continues to do more with less so correct appreciate y'all's efficiency and all the work on the budget thank you um I just wanted to actually comment um being uh heading
047the ad hoc teacher Recruitment and Retention committee I'm uh you know we're keenly looking deep and I appreciate um Dr Stewart actually the whole team is part of that but Teresa thank you for leading that um with us the um we are nothing if we're not great teaching talent in our classrooms that is the front line that is what makes our school district what it is our teachers are true asset and value and we need to make some decisions that help us to recruit and retain there's one right there I visited her classroom that girl goes shopping at Costco for her kids I happen to see her at Costco and then I got to see her classroom the next day on a campus visit and um so to me that decision I was looking I
048was thinking we could have done 2% last year what would that have done for us but I know I I say that was the right decision to give a teacher raise we have to stay competitive but we also have to make sure that um that is the true quality and I want to mention that now because we're talking in the budget way but there are other ways that you keep teachers um retain and recruit and and make sure you have the best Workforce happy to teacher and one is calendar I apologize for my decision on the calendar but I I want to suggest that just as important as giving a raise are there's other working and we're getting an incredible amount of data thank you to Teresa for leading a teacher Time study and we
049have a just really good information back from our our teachers on the ground in our district about what it is that matters most and works for them and so I would say that calendar is another issue another way we can go that costs nothing in the budget but we could say hey let's let's go ahead and suggest that the way we look at our calendar takes teachers into consideration first and then we say to parents this is what's going to keep the best teacher in front of your child can we live with this calendar and so um I mentioned that because raises for teachers will never be a bad budget decision in my opinion we may be you know some people will suggest oh we guys we played with Esser and that we shouldn't have
050done that I have conservative um friends and others who say that wasn't a good decision um but I actually stand behind that one um because our teachers and our staff is worth it so thank you I just want to point of clarity when the calendar committee was was uh convened Dr msas what was your instructions to them it was it was it was basically student concerning the student first correct it was to build a calendar proposed to the board that was uh in the best interest of students academic achievement thank you any other questions hearing none and seeing none we'll move on the board would now review the following consent agenda items during review of the following action items any board member May remove one or more items at which time these items will be
051addressed and vote on individually if any board member has a question regarding agenda item please ask to be recognized on the consent agenda items 7A the board will consider approving minutes from May 6 2024 7B the board consider approving the budget amendments for the period April 1st through June 30th 2024 7 C the board consider approving the resolution for the commit for the the commitment of the district's fund balance 7D the board consider approving the list of qualified financial institutions Brokers dealers investment pools investment advisers that are authorized to engage in investment transactions within the district 7e the board will consider a resolution approving the district investment policy and strategy the investment officers of the district the independent sources of institution relating to the investment responsibilities for the investment offices of the district and the
052investment training hours 7f the board will consider authorizing the superintendent to execute a memor understanding with Charlton State University regarding distinguished High School partnership program 7g the board consider authorizing the superintendent execute an agreement and memorandum understanding with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Texas A&M University related to the advice Texas College advising corpse program 7h the board consider authorizing the superintendent to execute the the 2024 2025 interlocal agreement with the Harris County resources for children and adults provides services for 15 youth service specialist and two coordinators to assist with specialized services for students and families in the Cypress Fairbanks independent school district 7 I the board consider approving the memor of understanding between Harris County Jal Board of of s General board excuse me in cciir Independent School District to participate in the JJ
053a for the 2024 2025 school year 7j the board consider authorizing the superintendent executive memorandum understanding for the University of Houston Victoria to implement an unpaid teacher res Residency program 7K the board consider request for tea miss school days waiver and low attendance days waiver for instructional days impacted due to Texas storms straight line winds tornadoes flooding that occurred on May 16th 2024 7l the Border consider approving the request of Texas Education waiver for the this District to train staff on various education strategies designed to improve student performance in L of student instruction for 2024 2025 school year in 7M we have one speaker Lisa abuka I would just like to point out that the the agenda item States quote the board will consider approving the attached list of facilities for off-campus physical education category
0541 for the 24 25 school year end quote yet there is no attachment at worst this is a violation of the open meeting laws and at best it is an indication that the technology that we pay for isn't being used properly we expect complete transparency attachments to posted agenda items in the public facing board book online should be on almost every single item for transparency to follow the law and to have informed taxpayers please be better please do better so 7M is the board consider approving the attached list of uh facilities for off-campus physical education category 1 for 2024 2025 school year 7n the board consider authorizing the superintendent to execute the renewal of the 2024 2025 interlocal agreement with Harris County for specialized services at the academic Behavior School ABS West 70 the board
055will consider authorizing the superintendent to execute the renewal of the 2024 2025 interlocal agreement with Harris County for school-based Therapy Services 7 P the board consider granting temporary construction easement for North Harris County Regional Water Authority and authorize the superintendent or designated to negotiate the final terms and execute all related documents 7 Q the board consider approving the interlocal agreement between Harris County Municipal um District uh 364 and mud 365 in the Harris County excuse me in Cypress fairbank's ISD for funding the purchase to install playground equipment at Samson Elementary School and authorize a superintendent or his design to negotiate the final terms and execute all related documents this item May discussed in close session pursu to 551.071 and 551 072 7R the board consider approving the Centerport energy LLC blanket use easement agreement to
056provide underground electricity service at Jarvis Transportation Center and authorize the superintendent or is designated to negotiate final terms and execute all related documents 7s the Border consider approving the granting the temporary workspace easement to Exon Mobile pipeline company at Danish Elementary and authorize the superintendent or his designated negotiate the final terms and execute all Rel documents 7t the board will consider approving granting temporary workspace easement to Enterprise crude Pipeline and that Danish Elementary and authorize the superintendent or designate negotiate final terms and execute all related documents 7uu the board will consider approving construction Pro proposals and contracts paid from bond funds to the recommended contractors authorize the superintendent or his designate to execute all necessary documents related to such contracts 71 2023 maintenance and operation Renovations 7v the board will consider approving bids contracts and
057authorizing purchase orders recommending the post agenda item 7b1 Adobe for instructional administrators 7 B2 art and miscellaneous school supplies 7 B3 Associated food nutrition services 7 B4 Auto liability cyber Insurance 7 V5 building materials and general maintenance repair 7 V6 Child Nutrition Food Services Fleet Services 7v7 classroom supplies curriculum equipment 7 V8 contracted Educational Services professional development 7 v9 District fundraising Services 7 V10 Farm to school produce for school nutrition services 7v 11 leave management software 7 V12 Med Medicaid and student health related Building Services shs 7 v13 produce for nutritional Services 7v4 restaurant and catering and delivery services 7 v15 security Courier Services 7 V16 single signon integration 7v 17 Spirit apparel and promotional items 7 V8 transport cabinets for interational traditional services and last 7 v19 vending machine services say no questions we
058now proceed with the non-consent agenda items 8A the board consider approving engagement with wheeler and Tidwell to perform an efficiency audit Services there is a presentation by Karen Smith it's just a brief just uh explanation uh Administration believes in light of the budget deficit that it would be beneficial to engage our external Auditors Weaver and tirell to perform an efficiency audit to examine fiscal management efficiency and utilization of resources and determining whether the district has implemented best practices so we in in your packet it included um a summary of the efficiency audit and the that would they would be looking at for example they will be comparing us to peer districts uh they will be looking at District revenue and expenditures while looking at student characteristics um as well as District Staffing levels teacher turnover
059rates special programs and uh you know the compensation s system Etc so those are some of the are is that they will be reviewing then they will come back and uh provide a report to the to the board um at the board meeting uh as far as their the results of the audit the estimated cost of the audit is about $114,000 thank you Karen any questions go Karen if the board approves this on Monday um what would be the time frame that we would receive the results of the audit they will um they will probably start in July um and uh there there is a we will probably be coming maybe I'll have to check and see when everything's kind of F at the August or the September board meeting all right see no more
060questions move on to eight just make a comment go ahead go ahead Doug I just want to make a comment and thank trusty comback um we had actually had a conversation um not too long ago and I was thinking about an efficiency audit and she said the same thing and it's just like yeah exactly we need to do that and what we're hoping is we're going to find a few things that again we weren't thinking of in terms of our operations that'll save money and keep money in the classroom so thank you for that Karen one question about the scope of the report that we would receive if we approve this on Monday so they're going to identify areas of fiscal management efficiency utilization of resources are they also going to do we foresee the
061making any proposed recommendations as well yes they probably will make some might maybe making recommendations yes thank you question um I'm interested in the level of detail they'll go into so for example let's say a department like maintenance um and the you know like a decision to repair or replace or a decision to or like how long it takes because we're waiting on parts or you know labor costs with within all of that will it go down to that level within departments you know uh Natalie I'm not exactly sure I do have a list of the different areas they will be looking at and what they will be looking at I'll have to actually check this and review it I might could share that back with you on Monday uh excellent that'd be great because
062I to me I feel like those are there's like little places where it's a very um such a huge system all these facilities and and days like the tornado right where there's so much activity to happen but just how does that look are there um internal efficiencies or the way we staff or shift hours or anything that could be something that just helps us um look at efficiency or the idea of overtime versus swing shifts and I think we've had a conversation about having a people with that overtime situation even I think in a different department like the police department we've had that question but um that would be another department with a question like that what does that look like with how we have hours and extra shifts and and that kind of stuff
063and they will be comparing to look at Best Practices and are we follow following those and kind of what is standard uh among Texas school districts fantastic okay thank you see any more questions move on to 8B the bo will consider approving the district's hazardous traffic conditions resolution as required by tea to receive supplemental transportation funding you have a presentation by Darren Crawford and Mr Smith all right good afternoon Mr Henry Board of Trustees Dr kilan uh transportation services was charged with finding savings to offset our current District budget shortfall and unfortunately the only way we could do this was by looking at and reducing some Services we started the budget process by developing a zerob based budget that included looking at all areas including payroll operating expenditures and we looked at the service level
064that included the Hazardous criteria that was presented to you in May uh we also looked at uh eliminating late runs the alc transportation and then consolidating various administrative functions within the department with these changes we submitted a budget that includes a 4.78 million reduction for 2025 and before you is the 2024 25 Transportation plan that was presented to you in May oh next slide please you also have a copy in your board packet of the proposed 2020 uh 20242 tea hazardous declaration that will be used for funding purposes for hazard ardous areas for the 2425 school year the hazard hazardous declaration includes Transportation eligibility details for all 96 campuses based on the 2425 Transportation plan and also just for a note of clarity you'll notice that the Hazardous resolution does mention areas within two miles
065of the elementary schools this has to be stated uh in the resolution for funding purposes but we will provide transportation for all elementary students that are Beyond one mile of their Zone campus and thank you and I'm available for any questions that you may have I have one go ahead Lucas can you walk through the what the statement means zerob based budgeting what that is again just for the audience uh yes sir so so we actually um basically started our budget this year from scratch uh knowing that Transportation can be a fairy it can be a variable cost uh so we actually looked at what is the true operating cost per bus that includes payroll maintenance fuel uh Etc we looked at how many buses we were going to be running based on this current
066uh Transportation plan that we presented to you in May and we were able to develop a budget from payroll to all operating expenditure 61 through 6600 and build a budget based on the level of service that we have presented to you that we would recommend providing for next school year thank you I have a question it may not be a fair one for tonight because you may not have that level of information with you um and maybe it could be for Monday or by email then I do know we had a presentation of a citizen concerned about that Jarvis area where um Spain and woods and all that so and I myself wandered and I drive through that area frequently and I thought is that it I didn't see sidewalks and I wandered so did
067that area end up being on a list of one that would be protected for young children or I know Samson Tu in the neighborhood but so for elementary and we go back to the slide um for elementary walking along a moderately to heavily travel thorough Fair one of the things that we uh have to take into account is there's not sidewalks everywhere so we have to take into account is there a safe path to walk um uh you know along a along a street basically uh for Samson we can I can affirmatively say that uh Jarvis Road Barker Cyprus teli Spring Cyprus are all considered hazardous for Samson uh for Spain and Sy Woods for middle schools and high schools that would not be considered hazardous because we do not take into account the walking
068along for the middle schools and high schools thank you that's a question I had appreciate it thank you for the hard work of your department that's a huge amount of money to cut um and so uh we appreciate the level of service that you'll continue to offer thank you any other questions I just wanted to have a a response we we're doing state standard right now for transportation as for for the upcoming school year correct uh when you say state standard it's within within two miles that's that's a standard we're actually we're still going beyond the state standard um most school districts you know like we've continuously provided transportation to everybody uh this year or for next school year we're recommending the one mile for elementary where a lot of school districts May still provide
069uh Transportation 2 miles and Beyond so basically tea only provides full funding when I say full funding it's not full funding for the true operating cost but they only provide it for services that are Beyond two miles of their own campus going beyond what the state standard is so and we are similar to surrounding districts I'm assuming I would say we are similar to if not uh providing still with this recommendation a higher level of service to more students thank you and I appreciate I mean I I've talked with Matt and and uh you got the rundown on on all the cuts and I I appreciate you guys working on that I know it was there are some tough decisions and and I just want to ask Community to uh you know bear with us
070I mean you know we're do we're doing the best we can with what we've got thank you thank you Matt hey Matt quickly can you discuss maybe the sidewalk situation we talked about previously about some of the muds that you reached out to yes we we have reached out to some of the neighborhood muds and HOAs uh I'm not going to list them just to talk about the change in transportation service because we feel this is a community effort uh you know the the district we provide sidewalks on our property but we don't provide sidewalks throughout the community so we've met with the muds the HOAs talking about the changes the potential traffic impact asking for assistance thank you say no more questions thank you one more um Matt I know um actually I think
071I want to uh appreciate that uh commissioner bionis is they're working about out in the Lakes area to look about sidewalks are there any of these areas that the Commissioners uh the Harris County Commissioners have act or have jurisdiction over that would help and have we work with them precincts three and precincts four and they're providing us all their future projects we've also uh believe at Precinct Three it was we're going to make some recommendations on future projects uh based on our new transportation plan you have to understand that that is a very slow process with the county in the precincts but they are more than willing to help they're very receptive uh we had some really good meetings thank you I want to say to um Tom Ramsay's that they were very efficient during
072their tornado and helping I know they were up and down the streets where the schools were making sure to clear debris a way so it'll be clear for school start they did a great job and they got the school zone sides up pretty quick absolutely thank you thanks again appreciate HC the board considered adoption of the 2024 2025 budget including the 2024 2025 staff Compensation Plan questions only 8 D the board consider approving on first readings of revisions additions deletions of District policies we do have three speakers on 8D uh first speaker is Liz Madden followed by Lisa bua Liz no Lisa you're back up followed by Megan Co pepper the board president States quote we are here to set goals listen to reports approve budgets contracts Personnel appointments and make policy for the district
073it is not the role of the board to make daily operational decisions the management and daily operations of the district are the responsibility of the superintendent end quote at the start of every meeting and yet the proposed Library materials policy is in direct conflict with having the management and daily operations in the hands of the professionals y'all are not qualified to determine anything about curriculum or materials and Natalie farming out to Monica Dean certainly makes you unqualified for such decisions your job is to trust teachers your job is to back the superintendent your job is to leave the current policy as it stands I am appalled that the enjoyment of reading was redlined kids reading books just for enjoyment is the goal isn't it if redlining that isn't stupidity at its finest I don't know
074what is if you pass the proposed policy you're going to get sued that's not in the budget please stop treating students like mushrooms you know kept in the dark and fed full of poop making Co pepper I served on the library materials committee this past year and I have several questions regarding the proposed policy for Library materials first is the board aware that the version of the policy slated for approval differs from the version presented to the library committee during our final meeting in April what prompted this revision after the conclusion of our committee's deliberations in particular page one paragraph 2 is the board aware that this paragraph underwent revision after the committee's approval of the original version the original version was crafted in accordance with House Bill 900 and there was no suggestion during
075our numerous meetings that the board should have final reconsideration authority over Library materials is the board aware that the unapproved revision to this paragraph could potentially override the formal reconsideration process developed by the library committee over the past year and thereby render the entire process pointless are you aware that the current policy allows a complaintant to appeal to the board if dissatisfied with the results of the formal reconsideration process it's imperative to note that overturning a formal reconsideration committee's recommendation could constitute a direct violation of First Amendment rights as established in the 1982 Supreme Court case Pico versus The Island Trees Union Board of Education in school district are the financial implications of such a lawsuit against our school district understood by this board regarding the final paragraph on page four please note that the
076majority of the library committee found it very problematic and requested its removal from the final policy could the board explain why this paragraph Was retained against the committee's recommendation and furthermore why it was expanded to an additional 5 days finally with regard to that same paragraph is the board aware that by ignoring the committee's request to Omit they are effectively creating a loophole in this policy this loophole allows a complaintant to bypass the formal reconsideration process entirely essentially making it irrelevant to be clear this Library policy in its current form was not what was approved by the library materials committee and I'd like my questions to be answered 8D one efb local instructional resources Library materials revised 82 gkd local commun relations non-school use of school facilities and 8 D3 FDA local admissions inter District
077transfers this is questions only I I do have questions um so regarding um 8 D1 efb local instructional resources Library materials so I actually did have a question which uh has now recently been answered well first let me ask who am I directing my questions to to Marney probably me or Linda but it would depend on what the question is so my question one of my questions was is the proposed revision that we're looking at today the same one that was presented to the library materials committee at their last meeting we were just told no um if not why so can you share why the the revision was was the there were additional revisions made after the Library materials committee met yeah I I mean Linda can jump in so the library materials committee um
078and I did appreciate um our parent who was on the committee we had a lot of um folks on the committee parents high school students uh campus administrators librarian well yes Librarians uh I guess I should have said that first um and and so there was a lot of collaboration over a long period of time you may recall we started this back in the spring of 23 at the request of the board right that we get feedback because we initially made revisions and actually the question I think about the board the reconsideration that's always been in the policy I that's as far as reconsideration reviews it's that's always been in the policy um so I'm I'm sorry if I didn't emphasize that enough when we were meeting but what we did starting back in the
079spring is we literally took the policy as it was and it had been recently revised at that point in the regulation we had stickies on the tables we had you know boards all around and we you know took it kind of section by section and some of the suggestions and then worked through it and what I will say at each meeting what we would talk about and what I was what I attempted to share with the committee and and will own if I if I didn't do it as effective as I uh should have but what we attempted to share is we are bringing forth a policy that we're going to recommend to the board but ultimately the board makes the decision about the policy and so as we would work through it we would
080say and and there were things that some people really liked there were things that other people thought I don't love that and but we went through it and we would ultimately at the end say is this something that we can basically coal around it's not going to be 100% what you know maybe this person wanted or 100% maybe what this parent wanted but that was how we would end each meeting and then I would take notes and then I would come back with different versions I think we probably had that we presented to the committee we had more versions than that but you know we probably went through five six seven versions as we worked through it for the summer then the legislation uh the reader act uh came uh to fruition and so what
081the committee did was we dissected that law and we talked about how we could work you know keep what we had talked about and actually ultimately some of the things that we had done at the committee level ended up being things that either the t- slack uh recommended or ended up in the reader act we had been a little forward thinking in our committee requiring the informal process first for instance um a couple of things that we um had already done and so we worked through that but then we had this waiting period because we had to wait for the Texas state libraries and archives commission to come up with their suggested uh mandatory not just but their mandatory collection development guidelines and then the State Board had to approve them and so there was
082a long gap between the last version and when we got the Tes slack guidelines so we got those in January and then working directly with uh Jennifer geki um Dr Bergman Dr msas we tried to incorporate and there were some things we had to change so we tried to incorporate those t- slack and sboe approved mandatory collection guidelines and keep it though as much similar to what our committee had worked on and we worked on that for a bit um presented it then to the lead Librarians and and then um I Linda and I presented to the Librarians themselves kind of talking about that then our last step was to bring it to the library policy committee again before we took it to the board policy committee and to the board so another I guess
083piece after the t- slack we also created some board committees one of those being the policy committee so when I met with the library materials committee for the last time talk about here's what we here's how we've Incorporated the t- slack Provisions here's some of the initial feedback because we had had one board policy committee meeting um you know here are some things um that we I've gotten feedback on that we want to address and one of those was the prior posting of um materials before acquisition so that was a local uh locally derived revision and there were questions and we talked through it we talked through a lot of different things and I had good suggestions from Librarians and we actually tweaked it and what I I don't I would respectfully say that I
084don't know that I would say the committee rejected it I think there were lots of discussions and there were several people who said I don't like that and then there were some of the Librarians who said I can see value in that and if we do do it though this is how I suggest that we do it and we took that into account I made some revisions and then I brought it it to the board policy uh committee and we did include actually I drafted the language in regards to the board having the final oversight and ultimate responsibility for reconsiderations for this policy development all of it and that was in the context of trying to be trying to be clear um upfront and talking about we are going to establish these guidelines the expectation
085is that the superintendent will put administrative regulations in place and that we will Implement these guidelines but ultimately like many many things entitled to of the Education Code the ultimate responsibility for oversight lies with the Board of Trustees you know in the um in the Education Code itself and this was a kind of a paradigm shift from in '95 when we recodified the Ed code but there used to be a lot more that was pushed down from the state board and then you know I 30 years ago now there was sort of a paradigm shift and really what the law says is that if it's not a duty that is reserved to the State Board it's vested in a local school district and so we talk about that we talk about that in regards to
086local control and so that revision it I didn't have any nefarious intent when I put it in there I I put it in there for clarity in regards to answering questions and and clearing up confusion and and I would say it's 100% consistent with not just the law but really what all of the duties that are vested in the school board with you all have final and ultimate responsibility and oversight for policy development and there are a few things that are in the law law vested in school boards that can't be delegated um and we'll talk about one of them a little later but that is what that paragraph means and so your question of did the library materials committee I guess the the short answer the my version of short answer to your uh
087question is did the library materials committee was the version that was brought to them the version that's here with you today it has uh there were some additional revisions made and the reason that those were made is as I shared with them ultimately is that they were making recommendations we have developed a policy recommendation that we are carrying to the board but ultimately the committee didn't develop the policy because the committee can't develop the policy the committee can develop recommendations that we coalesced around the best I could you know consensus from I mean it was a big committee with a lot of viewpoints and we worked really hard to get as much consensus and there was a lot of good conversation and so yeah six meetings um that went for hours um and so I
088I my sincere hope is that the people who participated feel appreciated because you are appreciated um and and I regret if there was you know feeling any way to the contrary okay um thank you for that um that response um I don't know that it's necessarily about feelings and I don't know that it's necessarily about taking responsibility for developing policy certainly this board is responsible for developing policy the the question is the the part that was added to this it says the ultimate and the oversight and ultimate responsibility for the review inclusion and final reconsideration of Library materials is vested in the Board of Trustees um our new superintendent has actually uh cautioned this board against taking on too much of responsibility and liability our role is to hold him responsible for um the uh
089the meeting the goals of the district and and and isn't that correct Dr killan you have cautioned us multiple times about uh if we take responsibility for something it's on US versus if we hold you accountable and respons correct if I don't do it right so um uh and then looking at the Texas Administration Co Administrative Code um it does state that um that we must doesn't which you used right obviously the which code what are you talking title 13 part one chapter 4 sub chapter a rule are you talking about the reader out you talking about house 900 the yes Texas State the T yes yes that that we must designate the responsibility for collection development but does not say who it who we we must designate to be responsible in the past it's
090all always been the superintendent is my understanding is that correct it's been it's Librarians and we have certified um Librarians will uh be responsible for implementing The Collection development but collection development guidelines are required to be in policy and policy is always the responsibility of the board so I I don't I guess I'm not foll I guess I'm I'm saying responsibility for the review inclusion and final reconsideration of Library materials I stand behind that 100 % and I can explain why because all so the the policy sets how we acquire how we develop these collections how we consider um collection slotting how um how reconsiderations informal to formal will be done which ultimately culminate in a review at the final level by the board okay that makes that okay I hear what you're saying and
091that's my intent in conveying it so I can certainly have better verbage that's more clear if it's if it's not but that's the premise okay if the premise is that the board has the ultimate decision in reconsideration at the at the end and the culmination after this policy is implemented and we go through then why was a section added that said that before books are even acquired a list of books would be posted 30 days in advance on the district website and the board would get that list 5 days in advance of that I not I didn't see anything about that in HB 900 or in the t- slack that's a locally I thought I said that earlier just came just from a just from where did that come from um that came out of
092our board policy committee that was a a provision that other districts have utilized and honestly when we talked about it um in the meeting and and I talked about it we've even talked about it when we talked about it in the meeting um it's and there was a question about is this a is this a circumvention of the reconsideration process and I said you know what those are good questions and those are good points and following that we revised further to be clear uh and actually I worked with Jennifer gari um we put even a lot more detail in regulation I think because it's more operational that if there is a concern expressed about a book pre-acquisition that she would be the one that there would be a similar reconsideration process it's not automatic that
093it's removed she would review it and so we we have a process in place the policy just requires the posting and honestly I added that the board would get it in advance because I thought candidly you might if you had a constituent call you with a question you wouldn't want to be caught flat that you would appreciate the courtesy of having that list before it was posted um again nothing nefarious intended it was intended to give you um the opportunity to to be versed in something before you asked it I appreciate that that the intention on your part it it another intention that can be perceived is it's a pre-screening by the board if the board gets a list of books that that a librarian would like to purchase 5 days before it's posted publicly
094and a board member or friends and family thereof don't want one of those books ordered it could it could be removed and no one would even know no um what I would I don't know what that what is what is the process how where is that documented the district and again this is pre-acquisition and as I shared in the um and so it is I mean just to be candidate is a different level of review when it's pre-acquisition it can be and it's not required an HB 900 or t SL no it's not it's a I think I said it and I'll say it for the third time that is a locally developed I mean that's what school boards do they Implement policy at the local level that represents their you know their local decisions
095and they I mean that's that's not inconsistent 90% of our policies have an x on them which means that they are very locally developed so that is a locally developed provision I said in the meeting when we were talking and I stand by this statement right now I would like to know if there's a question or a concern with the material our Librarians do the very best they can to review to read we were you know we have developed a very extensive process to try and ensure that the materials that we are acquiring for the library are appropriate for the K through 12 setting Why Don't We Trust I'm going to finish and so we want to know if there is a concern don't be afraid of hearing the concern so that we can address
096it in advance and so that will be reviewed like any other purchase and I didn't mean to cut you off but I felt like I wanted to get that piece out because I do think it's important to know in advance if there's a question or a concern who's we who is we in your statement School the school district The Librarians the library uh coordinator so we trust the Librarians to select appropriate books for our students but yet we don't trust them enough such that we aren't going to pre-screen their list we have a small group of people and again friends and family pre-screen that list and then you said we will then make sure it's okay before we move forward who's we who will be the pre-screening so where's that process I would say it's
097not a small group of people it's published for the world to see five and five days no something could be removed between the five days ma' 30 days ma' no ma'am we are giving the list be to you before it is posted there's absolutely no provision for it to be removed and I don't know what look you're giving me if you're look if you're looking at me like you don't believe the words coming out of my mouth I want to believe you Marie what happens at the 30 days if if a book is p is if a list is published 30 days prior to acquisition on the district website and someone from the community says you know what I really don't like that Eric Carl book because that's happened in in a nearby district with
098a similar policy um what happens to that Eric Carl book so we would ask them to complete a form similar to the reconsideration form to outline because we have to understand did you read the entire material it's a form that Miss gari and I kind of worked on together because it's not the exact same as a reconsideration because we don't even have the material to read so we'll ask have you reviewed it what are you basing your concern on and then Jennifer will have to figure out Miss gari the library services coordinator will have to figure out we've talked about are we going to just purchase a single copy for her to review because what you have to recognize is that yes we trust the Librarians and that's the reason we have the parameters in
099place but they're not infallible none of us are infallible only one perfect person and he got nailed to a cross so we can I add something real quick just just to add they're not in I'm going to finish they're not infallible this is not saying that they're perfect and or that we don't trust them it's neither thing it is saying that if there's additional review that we need to do then we're going to do it that's fine Marty where that is not in this policy the process you just described is not clear it is not clear it says questions or concerns regarding Library materials proposed for acquisition shall be addressed in accordance with administrative regulation I don't know what that looks like Julie can I can I just can I I was just going to
100say that this specific piece it was discussed when the committee the committee had concerns and it was actually remember one of our committee members who who was very outspoken about that he was concerned that we didn't have a a a similar process in place before the book was taken off that it may seem like we're just removing books and so that process Mar just talked about was because was actually uh as a result of that one Committee Member that spoke very loudly about it or two or three I mean there were yeah there were there were but he's the one who started and spoke and spoke very loudly L about it so can the board see the process what what backs what is the process when questions or concerns regarding Library materials proposed for acquisition
101shall be addressed the regul there but the regulation and the policy are both they've been posted on the library Services page since we for the new revision M okay I'll go find them I didn't see them that's what I sent to Jennifer to be posted because you they're I I don't I looked and I did not recall seeing them okay well I that was my understanding because there are a few things now the regulation can't be finalized until the policy is finalized so it is still a draft but we um I was my understanding they were both posted because I think I shared that with you in an email but um no you or somebody asked if we could get a copy and I said it's posted okay um well somebody asked me and I
102said that it's posted um and so but yes you can see the administrative regulation it won't be finalized until the policy is finalized because we have to know but but our decision to put the detail in regulation was so that we could have forms and make them similar to the reconsideration process okay and the details of Regulation is not uh new you know we've had an we've in the past we've had I forgot what it was called din but kind of an operating Library manual and that's kind of where the details were and we kind of moved them to make sure we had them in in in reg and so that's not new that we've had the details in a regulation type but what is new is this policy that's being proposed and that's what
103I'm just asking for the backup the information about if how that that part of the policy if approved would be implemented yes okay um my uh last question or point would be on page six um when it talks about guiding principles um I appreciate that includes as requir by law that Library materials may not be removed based solely on the ideas contained in the material or the back the personal background of the author or characters um obviously that's there because it's required by law um the next statement says the major Criterion for the final decision on challenged Library materials is the appropriateness of the material for its intended use um because library books are voluntary inquiry how is intended use defined it would be for a k through 12 um Library so its intended use
104is for um you know reading a juvenile collection a Middle School a high school and so that's really the intent behind that is that we look at the level because what is appropriate in an elementary library in a middle school library and high school library even though they may have they may both or all be from the juvenile collection may not be appropriate at each level what's appropriate because we will have juvenile collection books our base collection and that's also a very locally developed portion of the policy how we have the collections and that was very Library uh librarian driven including keeping base collections for sixth grade at at Juvenile and that was our middle school librarians who really spoke out about that and so it is you would look at it and so it's
105going to be not just necessarily the collection level but also the building where it's housed in that collection level if that makes sense no that does that does I just I um I just was con just want to make sure we that I understood what was meant by that it's not it's you're talking more specifically about to what level that book is assigned to or camp or that's the best example I can give when you say intended youth overall though the intend Ed use would be is it appropriate for a k through2 Library I mean there are books that are appropriate for a public library and then there are books that are appropriate in a k through 12 Library uh completely understood and agreed yes yes I just wanted to make sure that we somehow
106captured the idea that library books are voluntary inquiry they're not they could just truly be for the the pleasure of reading or you know whatever but it it's it doesn't necessarily have to be tied to a teque or tied to something you know in the curriculum they voluntary inquiry that was my only Point okay just for clarity um I'm I'm seeing a regulation on our library materials Cent one right okay that is um those are my questions thank you for answering Marney thanks for the good discussion Justin so my only comment um for this evening um is to look at the concern about a a a the board being made aware of any library book inclusion uh the 5-day window any worry about that is a bit of a red herring because if you think
107about it you know what what very well could happen and it happens quite a bit is let's say Dr mercus or one of our other administrators say that uh We've identify the list of books they're going to be available July 1st and we'll make them we'll make them public July 1st and it's middle of June any any board member could then email and go I'd like to have a copy of that that's already established practice right considering we have we have as this policy says we have oversight of the inclusion of Library materials if this if this list was created and they identified a date they were going to release it for the 30-day review any board member could email them and go I'd like to have a copy of it so this in essence
108just kind of codifies what's already current practice so I wouldn't you know for me that's not really much of a concern and so that's my only observation and comment for on this go um thank you I appreciate the robo discussion and actually Julie that um intended use thing has actually volunteer inquiry intended use has actually given me an interesting other question but I'll start with uh the order so if you were to sum up Marney um the um like the change between the old and the new what would that be sum up is that the Laughing Point like ultimately if you were to put it a nut under her breath said that's your cue to be concise but um I just love how you explain things um you know it it's it was such a
109journey we the I would say prior to House Bill 900 and then t-s slack and state board I would say the big takeaway um we talked about um was we wanted to start the reconsideration process at the campus level and require the in formal uh consideration first and that was prior to it being codified the other thing we talked about was how we can best utilize um resources in regards to um uh reconsiderations so we took that to the district level and talked about if we're going to have if it's a book that's in five campuses it really wasn't the highest and best use of time staff time or resources is to have five separate reviews of that let's put it at the um District level let's include every you know stakeholder so someone from
110each Campus Parent um uh administrator librarian we also did give the library services coordinator the ability to have Representatives say it's at every campus we're not going to have 96 you know people uh on a re reconsideration So within reason and that was a good point that somebody on the committee brought up and they're like look what if it's at 20 campuses you don't want to have an unruly you know Committee of a hundred and then the other thing we spent a lot of time on was trying to give guidance to reconsideration committees and then also maybe even before that um give guidance to the Librarians in regards to collection levels and what would be a base collection uh at a campus and then what would be a a collection level that a student could
111opt into because you know they're an advanced reader they have you know higher interest but those opt-ins would be with parent permission another emphasis in I would say was that we were ensuring that we had you know parent involvement and then um I would say that we talked about um like I said designate and then giving more definition to um some of the definitions that the law doesn't give you as much uh to go by so we really kind of locally particularly in the educationally suitable uh realm so we talked about at each collection level and heavy input from The Librarians and then I think the parents on the committee were especially helpful you know about what does that look like how is a parent if I'm going to make an informed decision about if
112I want to let my you know sixth grader opt into the juvenile collection give give me an idea of what what that would look like and then we also talked about within some of those topics what's acceptable in a k through 12 Library what maybe should be more in a in a public library and so um we talked about things that you know there will be topics that are addressed um but they shouldn't be glorified or it shouldn't be the primary you know some of those harder topics that we want to help kids you know work through and talk you know and have these books that address those things but it doesn't need to be um in in a way that makes it inappropriate for K through2 so we spent a lot of time on
113that so I would say prior to this to the required revisions those were the things would you say and and Linda I want you to uh chime in if there's anything I forgot no I think you covered it Marty in more than five sent thank you Marty because I I had I'm very happy to see this agenda item um because I concerns um prior to some of my colleagues being elected on and some of us were here serving um I ask thank you um Linda you've been very U transparent like the requests We Have Tonight people for everything to be transparent to make sure and so the list you put on the website um for for example the books that were challenged in the 22 23 school year and I know of every book that
114was challenged none of them were actually removed in the end but they were also uh people went through an incredible process I think that to get this 14 books maybe there'll be 14 files on the same book and then I can understand why that took a lot I've been a campus administrator and a librarian and teacher I need to be teaching kids and um I need to be helping do whatever I need to do so that I think that efficiency of time I appreciate because um you know to get to every half 90 schools it would be so I had and I had concerns about the process at that point because I like the um thank you for explaining this idea of appropriate so the intended use and the concept of voluntary inquiry and understanding
115this as a K12 school so I'm gonna I I guess I want to make sure there's two parts of policy I want to make sure that the um if there are materials that literally are not for school they're for public library or something else U making sure our policy is tight enough to make sure that what you just said is true um and then also um just I have a question about the process for a citizen that maybe isn't a parent at a campus um but I want to I have something that I was I would have sent it to you by email but I'm concerned about if I would send this to you what would happen okay okay so I'm going to walk over to you I had a thought to read something that
116a book that was approved at the campus level um and sits in like six or seven libraries right now and it actually sits in one of the libraries with the label AP Prep which so this intended use question is going to come up in a minute okay so I was going to read it but it's that vulgar that I'm not sure that that's appropriate to be read online I know Debbie had a concern with people read vulgar material um but I'm going to come show you something and ask you a question they tried to Sol I need one other thing they Tred to solve that I could send it to you by email but I'll show you why I don't think that would work okay so are we in an open meeting I'll read it
117okay I this is not a meeting in of the public so I am looking I'm already you an excerpt here from the book The Bluest Eye it was reviewed at campuses last year U let me re my little spreadsheet I left over there so I'll tell you the campus is in minute but I'm going to show you this um there's a few starred excerpts and I would like to know if this excerpt were in an email from an employee to an employee would this be against our HR policy for them to send this content by email to a colleague in the district well in regards to harassment it would be have to be objectively and subjectively offensive and so if it was unwelcomed but welcomed uh are we doing the formal reconsideration of a reconsideration
118that's already been completed during board meeting I sorry I'm the policy for us would make sure I want to make sure our policy is going to do the intended purpose now maybe we can this the relevance of this maybe is not I'm I'm going to tell you exactly why I'm doing it just one minute and then if this image was sent by email would that be considered against HR policy it's from the handmaiden table why don't you get to your point May so we can come back over here and get to your point okay okay so would this be to go in if someone sent this by email would that be considered inappropriate use of our technology and inappropriate against our HR I don't think that's relevant to the policy right now it would depend
119oops maybe it dep I I mean just to be I mean I I want to answer truthfully and factually if you're I can sure about the so now I will I mean so to intended use and appropriateness of materials adult materials in schools is my question so if last year with I'm trying to make sure this policy would address this concern so it's absolutely about the policy so last we had this book The Blue aside was reviewed and retained at Langham Creek syid scair s Creek it retained at bridgelin for 11th through 12th grade and retained in S Ranch for 10th through 12th grade and in the bridgelin collection it says a prep so is this u a book that's actually voluntary inquiry or is this a book that's intended for use in an AP
120course on the list of required literature and so that would be my question about if the policy would cover a book like that that's adult and that's now approved for 15 year olds maybe 14 year olds some of them on campuses um with parent permission but if it's an AP Prep is the is it actually voluntary inquiry or are there any places where a kid would have to read it with their AP um course so if it is used uh in the classroom it would be covered under EFA and so you are correct in that it's not a voluntary inquiry if it's uh an instructional material and that's come comes under EFA and we do have Provisions in place for um if a if a student or a parent on behalf of the student um
121wanted an alternative material um there are some abilities but when you're talking about an AP course which I don't know that The Bluest Eye is I don't I don't know I have to be honest with you I don't know but I with ap we don't have as much flexibility because that's not our curriculum sit in our library collection saying AP Prep that's why I wonder so I can I can answer just a little bit of that Dr blason game so we do have books that are in the library I'm sharing this in the library that uh that students may choose that are on the AP list they're not necessar in the AP class but they're on the AP list the The Bluest Eye is one of those books that's on the AP list and and
122some uh excerpts from it have actually shown up on the AP test and I think that was the rationale for for keeping it may not be used in the classroom but there are books that the AP has as suggested readings still would need parent permission well it's an adult it is in the adult collection and so it would be uh a student would only have access to it if their parent has authorized them or an adult student uh to opt into that higher uh collection and can you describe what that how that process is managed at a campus Because that's a large part of this policy is is that parent permission for adult literature yes so we have integrated that uh into the um uh our system yeah not um yes I'm drawing an absolute
123blank the par yesal the parent portal and so um I started to say echool and I knew that wasn't right um so that is part of the parent portal along with uh parents choosing for their children not to have access to the library at all that's all in there as well thank you okay um then I would um I have another question then so if a it says on page six um uh the same section where Julie is reading about if a complainant so if a complainant a complainant is not a parent at a certain campus but a Community member where would they make their complaint to the campus Zone they live in as a taxpayer or a they could choose any book any Library where the book is um and if the books said
124more than five then they do choose one and then it could roll up tell me exactly how that would work and so um if you are um a parent um a adult student a um staff member or a Community member then you can utilize uh the reconsideration process in efb if you have a concern with a library material it's EFA if it's an instructional material um and so it would be wherever the material was located but since if this policy is passed we would have a district level consideration and so if for instance you were a parent and the the book though wasn't in The Langham Creek Library it was in the Cypress Creek Library um you would file the reconsideration when you go through the informal reconsideration process first at the campus level and
125then after that you would file the reconsideration request and then we would determine and so you would file it with you pick the campus where the book was located it would need to be a campus where the book was located and then we will figure out all the campuses where that material is located so that we can then uh notify those campuses that there's a district level reconsideration on the material and then we'll staff the reconsideration committee accordingly so community members just can choose anywhere in the community where the book is in order to go yeah it would just need to be where the book was located okay thank you that was the clarification I needed now this committee are these committees uh public um is the membership on the committee and the the informal
126reconsideration process and the formal reconsideration process public and transparent so the informal process would be uh campus administrator it may not always be the Principal but campus administrator and I'm so sorry and the librarian and then the formal reconsideration process would be um other individuals were actually going to have um a committee similar to um you can apply to it if you want to be on the um if you want to be a parent and you want to be a representative on the uh Library reconsideration we'll have the application process we'll have that we'll have some training we we've got a whole um process that we'll put in place but as far as will it be public um I guess I hadn't thought about that directly there anything in the policy this isn't a um
127I I probably not I mean if you're not part of that process then um it wouldn't seem to me that that would be something that we would post on the website but I I guess I will I I I guess we'll take uh from for and and there's lots of requests for transparency on everything and I agree 100% about transparency and so I would say why wouldn't we have committees posted just like the Sha membership and others anything that's legally required by policy or law then it should be something that is uh a posted web I mean a membership so that people could understand who's making decisions or supporting those decisions so I would like that to be considered as maybe a revision if my colleagues see that way within the policy and then I
128just want to make sure Linda you question so my question is it do are do AP classes the syllabus of an AP class does it operate outside of this policy or a or b whichever one do they operate outside the library as AP Prep so we have in AP classes and dual in dual credit classes especially CH mon we have required reading and if it is an uh a book that has a label of of adult level we have had a process in place for some time now where where the parent gives permission for the child because the the uh Dr could it could be the parent has not opted in to the adult level but in those classes and the parent may give permission for the child to have access to that book that's
129being used in that dual credit class and I feel than you we've had a lot of comments from parents pleased that they get the letter and it lists the literature and it list um options I think that um I know at least one citizen um reached out to me to let me know that they none of the choices were good actually twoo um they didn't like those and then they were told by the teacher you can actually choose a different book as long as it's at the Lexile level and it's the theme that we're studying so I could just see that might be a revision or an improvement to the letter but I appreciate very much the communication that parents are getting um so they can make an informed decision in those classes so it
130does not operate outside of policy is what you're saying well it operates outside of this policy because this policy doesn't apply it's EFA and that one covers it in that way or do we need that one before the the committee is my I mean before the board is my question actually we can after that I may want to bring that to this to the board in a future agenda request to be added if to see if that's a line that's still there yeah that that policy has been in place for a while and just a reminder blasing game that in our English in our English one two 3 four classes we do give options and I hear what you're saying we'll go back and look at that we do give options but it is possible
131than the Dual credit class this may be the reading and and that syllabus comes from from the college just like because it's a college course and so the parent can make a decision whether they want to be in the due credit course or or not well informed informed consent I guess parents would need to know that that would be true that we don't have that access and I think we do because there are yeah and that's why we always send a letter out of that class where the parent gives permission but before they sign up for the class to understand that it may not fall in this Poli and I believe that we have that in our Blue Book that's that's written that's WR done such a third job anding all those graduations and all
132those yeah that that is written in the information that we provide for the parents awesome okay so I think that's it for policy questions for me um I will say that these excerpts of the books The handmaid's Tale the graphic novel and the blui were handed to me at this Das um by citizens they send it down when I read it I was surprised at the level of graphic information and graphic description something that is neuralis linguistically programming children about sex with an adult male raping an 11-year-old girl I don't find that to be appropriate for the intended youth use um of Education K12 so that's why I asked you about that I do not I think if I sent that an email to you I would probably be breaking or if I was an
133employee to an employee it would actually be breaking policy because it's that indecent so that's why I'm very happy to see this policy come together I appreciate the committee that worked on it and thank you very much Mary Linda any other questions of the board just comments I mean I want to thank everybody that that participated in the committee it was a long I mean we had some long meetings I I think one of them went almost 3 hours or a little bit over uh Librarians that participated parents that that participated students that participated administrative staff that participated and I just want to let everyone know that um it was done professionally um you know there was there was times that uh you know people didn't disagree but I mean didn't didn't agree on things
134but uh you know ultimately I think it was handled very professionally by by staff and and uh everybody that participated and so Dr Maas I want to thank you for your extended time I know it it was very timec consuming you did a great job and uh and Marne uh you did a great job as well thank you um just to clarify T so you are on the library materials committee I was a parent selected uh selected previously right um I saw you signed up as a Sil Lakes High School parent but I thought as when you were elected to the board you were no longer on the committee sakes no sorry he signed up as SES but he was the I assumed when you joined the board that you were no longer on that
135committee but you I I just was surprised I just want to hear you say that I wasn't aware of that as a i i as a board member I was on the committee as a parent uh this started over a year over a year ago is that correct yeah I all of the meetings except the last one and in the last meeting um I asked the policy committee members to attend so Todd was no longer on the committee as a parent but the very last one um Todd and Luke came um and to listen because we knew we were bringing it to the policy committee again so and I said that at the beginning of the meeting that I had that uh Todd had um graduated from the library materials committee but that he that
136I had invited the board policy committee members to attend similar to when you guys attended on the finance committee the budget reduction some of those meetings I no I I did some of those people did um but thank you for that clarification thank you moving on 8e the board consider approving on second reading additions revisions or deltion District policies 81 DEC compensation and benefits 82 dfbb term contracts non-renewal ae3 e e instructional agreements excuse me instructional agreements uh student services revised and then A4 it's ehab basic instructional program required instruction Elementary any questions seeing none we'll go on to 8f the board will consider approving the 2024 2025 Cyprus Fairbanks istd student code of conduct I believe the PDF was in our files and I think we've also talked about this previously thank you Deborah
137for all the hard work as well you and your team have done fantastic job looks much better than have been years so thank you go ahead good um Deb I do have a question on page let me see if I can find it I think it's page 33 yes page 33 there was um new language added um regarding felony drug offenses and a note about various drug offenses involving a controlled substance or a dangerous drug which are punish as dis misdemeanor offenses under sub chapter D of the Texas control Substances Act become felony offenses when the offense occurs in on or within 1,000 ft the premises of a school um and it references the code um can you share why that was added okay I'm getting to page 33 33 but I believe as I'm
138looking for this that it was added to clarify that if a student is in possession of a drug that is a felony infraction it is then moved to an expellable infraction so if you have your prescribed medication that's allowable or I'll take um an Aderall you have a an Aderall pill at off of school property that is probably a misdemeanor charge but on school property it would be a felony charge which would result in a expellable fraction and not a d or not ALC so we just wanted to make that clarification that there are some enhanced charges when they are on school property is that a mandatory expulsion yes it is okay well hopefully um with the new language there will be no more confusion uh thereby ensuring that consistent application of disciplinary consequences moving
139forward we agree thank you Deb thank you Deborah I think this question could be for the police department possibly but with the level four and five offenses it shows here um about the cooperation with law enforcement agencies and we have heard a lot of concern expressed we have it in our district and then I've reached out to col col uh the administrators and board colleagues from across the region and this idea about the the fact that we have a very clear policy but the da is often not taking charges is this something you could speak to or is this something that the chief would need to speak to and it could be later um because I have a concern that we approve this we're very clear on what are things and then we send a
140mixed message to students when we call to the DA and they say we're not taking charges and so on these things which are indeed illegal offenses and so um is that something you um you have any commentary that you could offer on I know I've heard Chief Express that concern so are you and then I would probably have Chief to elaborate on what he shared are you asking specifically about illegal drugs and felony charges I would say uh drugs I've heard that a lot from families and parents and Educators and also weapons I've heard that from the same so I think that I would let Chief if you are asking for clarification on a comment that Chief made this has been discussed in one committee so maybe our superintendent would be able to comment yeah
141I can I can comment on it because Chief and I have spoke about it so yeah we've had some difficulty with um finding um both drugs and weapons and when we try to move forward um our local um County prosecutor won't move forward on it um for instance I'll give you I actually shared this with um one of our legislators uh this this actually this last month so we we found through a search a student that had 39 I think it was 39 vials of THC vape um and also had about a th000 something dollars worth of cash in a car along with a 9mm pistol and um our understanding is that they won't move that forward even though it was on School District property so and it is against law and I will clarify
142um on that particular infraction and others that even though we have a parallel system there is a court system and there's School District consequences and so we are still able to move forward with those recommendation for school district consequences so I'm not quite sure of what happened on the court side side and the criminal side but that particular student or a student like that with a firearm um felony d uh Vape um materials we still expel those students to jja our code of conduct we can still enforce that's a great point so there's the school discipline and then there's the legal discipline and those level four and five infractions so correct um thank you for that Clarity and thank you it's a great job I do see that this gets Tighter and more solid um
143from when we read this two years back and approved it with some of the um restorative which I do believe in kids knowing what happened who was harmed and how to make it right that we had gotten pretty soft in some of the ways that the teachers viewed our discipline and stuff and so thank you for taking the steps thank you for providing the data consistently so that we can see thank you for the support of the campuses to put in um their PBIS systems and other um work that they've done um it's an it's uh I'm hearing less put it that way on the ground from teachers we could always do more to support them but I think that you've done great work your team ify and everyone so please um send that work
144that word to your whole team and I would say maybe this is something that could go to a committee of the board but I do know that at one system that I reached out to our superintendent colleague um of Dr Killian's they they met with the da and guess what they started having um they learned how to actually call the Callin properly and they were getting now they're getting almost everything taken so I feel like we could explore and also there's a collaborative of many districts I have the names of people who for us we could work with and that is our job per Texas Education Code we're supposed to work with other other um government government agencies to Liaison with them we are supposed to reach out to those to make sure that we're
145coordinating with them as far as serving children and so maybe that's something we could take up and and collectively look at I know the da Situation's changing and let them know that this is something we need help with I am concerned about kids and drugs I think the use is is up high and I'd like us to address it thank you 8G the board considered nominations for Region 4 position F large District member seat at tasby board directors if any member would like to be on that please let me know I will definitely put your name on there for the next meeting oh I just have a comment uh as I've done in the past I encourage uh my colleagues to consider um becoming a director of the board of the Texas Association of school
146boards if you have any concerns about uh that organization it's a great way to um have impact on policy and to uh and the direction of the organization and to get to know how it works better um I served on that uh board for one year as I fulfilled the um vacancy left by a previous cciir SD trustee cciir due to our size has is guaranteed a seat at the table um there are 44 directors on their board and there is a seat that's empty and ciir is not being represented so I encourage someone to consider even just trying it for a year and see what you think thank you 8 the board would consider level one complaint filed by an employee regarding the adoption of science instruction materials this item May discussed in close
147session pursuant to 551.071 we do have five speakers the first speaker is Christina milm followed by Laura Johnson I am a parent of two poop elementary students and I was appalled to watch six board members vote to remove numerous chapters from science and health textbooks I hope by now you've all read Deborah Hill's email at least twice how can one board member lacking expertise in these subject matters override the recommendations of the academic safety vision and planning committee were the concerns Ever Raised in the committee meetings to give members specifically the Educators trained in these fields Builds an opportunity to discuss and come to a consensus censoring accurate science-based content contradicts the very notion of highquality instructional materials by limiting students exposure to diverse perspectives we undermine their ability to engage critically with the world
148around them and Rob them of the opportunity to Grapple with complex issues learn from history's mistakes and contribute meaningfully to society equally concerning is the minimum questions from the other five board members before they voted to approve the motion more attention was paid to how to operationalize the changes than to the content and changes themselves each member of this board was elected to a position of trust the cfd community needs to be able to trust you to make decisions in the best interest of the students and to exercise due care when making those decisions the surface level questions from one or two other board members prior to voting in favor is inadequate and negligent this is not how you earn the trust of the community that you are here to serve I urge you to
149reverse this decision and accept the committee's recommendation to approve the textbooks without modification thank you Laura [Applause] Johnson my name is Laura Johnson I'm a 20-year resident of cciir ISD I have 27 years experience as an engineer in the energy industry and I am a parent of a current high school student and a recent graduate when it came to my attention that the board had voted to censor 13 chapters of state approved science related textbooks I wanted to learn more I was Disturbed to learn that some members of the school board had consulted with only a small group of people to hastily make recommendations to remove these chapters the textbooks had previously been vetted by the state Education Association in consult in consultation with subject matter experts and Educators following a welldefined process I respectively
150request the school board to reconsider the action they took for several reasons questions have been raised if the board followed appropriate protocol outlined in their own policies for approving instructional material by failing to include a broader source of input the board has not Illustrated how they will make up for the material that is required by the state of Texas and that may be included in standardized tests like the advanced placement which is a National Standard the board and District staff have spent countless hours to manage the budget as we learned earlier today and I appreciate all the time that has gone into that with the limited resources are we now asking our staff to develop new materials when we already have state approved materials when you describe wanting to care for our teachers and retain
151the best Educators and we're asking them to do basically redundant work that hardly seems consistent most importantly you have now put our kids at a dis advantage while I do not speak on behalf of the Energy company I work for I can say that I have recruited for engineers for two decades in particular ignoring current science and balanced conversation around climate change infectious diseases ecosystem services and endangered species leaves our kids well behind their peers if you just search online on any major Energy company site for their sustainability Port report you will find these topics I mentioned thank you for your time Deborah Hill followed by Lisa abuka good evening Cypress Fairbanks Board of Trustees and community members my name is Deborah Hill and I am a former sciare I ISD employee as well as
152former secondary science coordinator at the May 6 board meeting the board disregarded the recommendations of the cfd science Educators I've reviewed board policy on the selection of instructional materials and it indicat Ates that the board shall rely on District professional staff to select and acquire instructional materials the board does not select instructional materials by dismissing and significantly altering the recommendations and requiring cfis staff to create new content you have effectively become the selectors of curriculum in direct conflict with the board Dr Blas game I have no words for you indicated in via my public information request that her perspectives were informed by her attendance at the State Board of educations meetings relative to science despite this familiarity with texts Dr blassingham flagrantly included Concepts she knew to be in the text to justify the removal
153of chapters let's think about that again climate change was given as an indicator for why you have to remove the content yet it is demanded in the text that level of negligence and ignorance is unacceptable the board discussion that lasted less than five minutes resulted in incredible removement of content in the end climate change will be taught in this District as well viruses because they are required Dr blasing out you are spectacular in terms of I always say you're spectacular as a deterrent to employment in this district for any science teachers Lisa bua followed by Austin [Applause] mcgall to quote George Carlin there's a reason education sucks and it will never ever be fixed it's never going to get better so be happy with what you have the reason is the owners of this country
154don't want that I'm talking about the real owners now the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions forget the politicians y'all are irrelevant the politicians are here to give us the idea that we have freedom of choice we don't we have no choice we have owners they own us they own everything they want more for themselves and less for everybody else but I tell you what they don't want they don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking they don't want well-informed well educated people capable of critical thinking they're not interested in that that doesn't help them that's against their interests they don't want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they are getting screwed by A system that
155threw them overboard 50 years ago they don't want that you know what they want they want obedient work workers obedient workers people who are smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept these increasingly crappier jobs with lower pay the longer hours the reduced benefits the end of overtime and the 401K scam I know y'all were bought and paid for by the owners but you have a choice to stop being a puppet and uncensor the instructional materials to stop making our kids dumb Monica Dean has zero expertise in this area and admitted she didn't even read the material trust teachers fix your stupidity null and void your shady back room deal that was made in the dark of night come into the light of the public explain
156yourselves and fix it fix it now Austin mcau it is imposs possible for the members of this board or any human for that matter to have the extensive knowledge required of every subject our district teaches it is for this very reason that the board's policy requires it to consult with Educators when deciding on instructional materials as outlined in EFA last week an amendment was raised by a member of the board that I feel had no cause and undermine the transparency this board should be striving towards the concern raised by the board member was that the material was not appropriate but we know this not to be the case as the material had already been found to be free of factual error and suitable for the subject and grade levels for which it was designed by
157the State Board of Education as required by Education Code 31.0 23 one topic was given extra focus by another one of the board members as being controversial while I understand that that may make some people shy away from the subject we are in education we confront the confrontational controversial additionally controversy is not a proper reason to get rid of materials um unless it is a category outlined in the EMB these categories deal mainly with racism slavery and meritocracy as it's viewed towards American exceptionalism nowhere in the EMB will you find a mention of depopulation or any of the other topics that the amendment aimed to remove the textbooks were approved by teachers with all the chapters in them if there is a desire to change them then the amended books should be sent back to
158the original approval approvers for a re-approval process there is no process outlined in any of the board's policy for removing chapters from the instructional materials after approval nor was this amendment properly disclosed on the agenda or given time for discussion if there is no time for reapprovals the board was concerned with previously then the book should be approved as is and challenged via the official reconsideration process the official process is designed to Welcome All interested parties allow for thorough input and produce a document with justification for the changes which promotes transparency the board failed to do any of those things when they railroaded the amendment through during their last session thank [Applause] you in reference to agenda item 8h the board will consider level one complaint filed by Alicia Royer teacher at s Cypress Falls
159High School regarding the adoption of science materials I am Scott Henry president of Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District Board of Trustees and I will serve as a level one hearing officer we to record this Mary okay just want double check 15 minut time apologize thank you for the record this is a duly called mean the Cyprus Fairman cic School District Board of Trustees convened on June 13th 2024 the time is 8:16 PM this hearing is being recorded and I'll I'll now have each trustee introduce themselves for recording as stated I am Scott Henry board president starting to my right Todd LOM trustee Lucas Lucas scanland trustee Justin Ray trustee and secretary to my left for Julie Hinman trustee Christine kbach trustee Natalie blasing game vice president will the representative Mr Royer please state your name
160or names Kon go ahead and turn on your mic got it Kaylin Dixon Smith attorney with the CL uh Texas classroom Teachers Association M Royer at your request we we view this meeting as an opportunity for you to present your concerns we we are here to listen we may ask some clarifying questions today however you'll receive a formal written response from me all correspondents and the documents presented as well as the others mentioned during this meeting will be made part of the record as far the grievance conference a copy of the recording will be made provided you at your request I have scheduled 15 minutes for your presentation including discussing your requested remedy if we're ready Mr secretary you may begin all right good evening my name is kayin Dixon Smith and I'm an attorney
161with the Texas classroom Teachers Association I'm here representing Miss Alicia Royer in a grievance that she filed under board policy dgb local citing the sfair ISD Board of Trustees for a violation of board policy EFA local which states the board shall rely on District Personnel to select and inquire instructional materials on May 6 this board voted to censor multiple chapters from science instructional materials which completely contradicted the recommendation from professional staff including Miss Royer Miss Royer was a participant in the committee charged by this District to review the new science instructional materials Miss roor will give specific facts in her testimony but I will simp simply outline that the committee reviewed the science instructional materials using the rubric that should be included in your board book that was included in the complaint to determine the
162resources that serve the students in this District Miss Roy has been teaching for many years and specifically teaching science in this district for 30 years she took on the additional task of reviewing the instructional materials under the assumption that her input would be respected and valued however she filed this complaint because she feels like this school board did the exact opposite they did not respect and value her expertise and that of her colleagues on the science Review Committee the committee made the recommendation to adopt certain science material materal in their entirety it was never presented to miss Royer that certain chapters could or would be censored sadly Miss Roa and her colleagues were never even given the opportunity to give you input about censoring those chapters and how doing so would affect her classroom and
163the students that she teaches on a daily basis Mr roer appreciates and understands the power of this school board to make decisions about instructional materials she absolutely respects and values your service to this community she understands that many of you represent the concerns of various community members parents and students she has no intention of circumventing your Authority uh to act on behalf of the people who voted you into office she is displaying an immense respect for you and all she is asking for is reciprocity she requests the remedy that the board reinstate the centor chapters or at the very least the bare minimum talk to the science Review Committee before censoring the chapters so they can give you input about how that would affect her I'm going to let her speak now hi hello I'm
164Alicia Royer um I've been a science teacher for 31 years 30 years have been at scyf Falls High School um I have a degree in multidisciplinary science with a minor in secondary education I have taught uh biology environmental systems aquatic Earth Systems formerly Earth space science and IPC throughout my career I have always maintained my expectation of continuing education and have actively stayed current on best practices of Science Education including my most recent training by Region 4 in the new expectations and science of phenomenon based instruction I was a member of the instructional materials committee tasked with evaluating the new science textbooks up for adoption we only looked at books that were approved by the State Board of Education the state of Texas has also implemented new science teaks in all courses 6 through 12
165which we have to prepare for the upcoming school year we had meetings over Zoom with our instructional coaches for each of our subject matters we also had an inperson meeting with our department chair to go over the guidelines we were to follow we had to sign a lot of paperwork pledging to be there was no biases that we were neutral in our review of the books um we were tasked with a very specific set of objectives it was quite a lengthy document as you can see it prints front and back um it was colorcoded but I don't know if you got a color copy um and that was how we were to evaluate the books um what was included which was included in my original grievance you got the thing um each teacher filled out
166the rubric and then our department Sheriff tallied our individual votes came up with the campus decision that was then given to our science curriculum coordinator who then made the recommendations to you the board at no time during this multi-month process were there inner ever any concerning topics ever expressed to the committee I will be speaking of the Earth Systems topic specifically as that was my area of research and evaluation in the very surprising amendment that was adopted by the board on May 6th three chapters in the Earth Systems book were censored and very little reasoning why unless something happened behind closed doors that were a real discussion and research happen into this decision but that wasn't the committee I truly believe the board does not even know what topics you are trying to censor most
167of the topics in the these chapters are directly covering teeks that will still be required for us to teach the reason stated in the board meeting for censoring these chapters were listed as a discussion of depopulation and the United Nations I'd like to give a quick review of the three Earth Systems chapters that were supposedly not appropriate for juniors and seniors in a third or fourth year science this is an elective and can also be taken at the advanced level chapter two the key questions in the chapter from the beginning of the chapter what makes up each of Earth's four main systems are spheres what factors cause changes in Earth Systems how does cycling of water carbon and nitrogen demonstrate interactions within and among Earth spheres chapter six the key questions in chapter six are
168what are the differences between ore ore deposits and mineral Reserves scandalous what are Earth's non-renewable resources what are Earth's renewable resources why is conservation important when considering future energy sources chapter 21 the key questions in this chapter are how does the movement of water and air impact the global climate what are the similarities and differences between the major climate types on Earth how has Earth's Global Climate changed over geologic time and how do we know what are the major changes we see in today's climate what are the cons consequences of our rapidly changing climate this chapter is the only one I could find any references to the United Nations and I quote what they say this amounts to half column because the book is a a split column book and it amounts to three small
169paragraphs is how much they speak of the United Nations in 1988 the United Nations established the intergovernmental panel on climate change to provide policy makers with regular assessments and then it speaks of that they had a meeting in Kyoto Japan and that they planned to have another one in 2018 the UN published the emissions Gap report this constitutes about three paragraphs again as I said at the end of the chapter and they don't even explain what the emissions Gap report is really I was unable to locate any mention of depopulation in any chapters of this book control F every single page I spent some time does not exist in a year when we are tasked with rewriting all of our curriculum because of the new teaks we are required to Implement removing resources that would
170support us and have already been reviewed and tailored to our Texas curriculum makes absolutely no sense when you go online and you look at these books they say Texas edition they don't say National Edition they don't say Florida Edition we have our own books because we are already that conservative of a state at the state level we will still be teaching the teeks for our courses no matter if we have access to these chapters or not in my opinion there are no credible reasons that you stated in your board meeting last time that supported this action the delayed actions of this board have already greatly reduced the time we have for preparing for the upcoming Year's instruction we were supposed to be done with the entire first semester curriculum writing I was on the curriculum
171writing board for two of these subjects and we've had the one subject we done almost the other subject we've had to pause because of this they had to complete completely sto working on it so we have nothing planned for the first for the first units biology usually they are the most planned group I've ever met in my life our biology teachers they usually have their entire first six weeks or whatever grading period of times there is done before they ever leave for the summer so they already know what they're doing so they can spend more time evaluating getting all that star data all their practice data because they do a lot of work to get ready for that star test and they have yet to plan a single day because of that this decision um
172Cipher ISD already has constructed procedures online in our own District policies and we have highly qualified experts in science instruction that should be determining what resources will be utilized in conclusion the material selection committee spent many hours evaluating these books and truly using our expertise and our science subjects I didn't get to look at the books that I was not teaching I haven't taught biology in a while but like our bi biology teachers had six books to recognize and their vote did not count unless they evaluated all six books that definitely took a lot of time those of us who volunteered truly believe in finding the best materials for our students to use if the board still believes items need to be censored it should be sent back to the selection committee for us to
173evaluate the recommendations and have a thorough discussion of exactly what we'll remove it does not need to be entire check doors thank you to the audience this is an official hearing I need to please keep your voices down so we can actually hear the resp their time is being used by your time perfect um so this was supposed to be the conclusion but I just want to jump in in the last three minutes because that's the type of attorney I am uh and just uh really urged this board to listen to this teacher I was a former teacher do you know how hard hard it is to foul a grievance against your board appreciating teachers is more than a small percentile raise it's more than cookies on teacher appreciation this teacher 30 years in your
174district is telling you what you did hurts my classroom it is hurting my colleagues let's show her that you appreciate her and give her at least part of her remedy she's asking again I'm going to repeat the easiest thing is just to reinstate the censor chapters they were approved it would follow EFA local but if you still feel the need to censor chapters you have experts here why not get their input on how that could affect the classroom uh in conclusion I just want to uh acknowledge anyone who's on the science Review Committee could you please stand or my science teachers in the district please [Applause] stand let's show these people how much you really appreciate them thank [Applause] you I'm done the conclusion that's the real conclusion since this is a hearing please any
175board members like to speak please ask to be and then announce your name sorry to my right y Justin you may be recognized so it's it's Miss Roy is and Miss Dixon correct the Miss Dixon Smith two last Nam thank you okay want to make sure I'm addressing everybody properly yes sir so I've read the grievance appreciate your comments uh let me understand I want to understand the actual framework of the grievance um you're your the framework of the grievance is that um by the vote the board made that the board is in violation of local isy EFA local correct yes um and that in the grievance it says that we violated the Clause that says the board shall rely on District professional staff to select and acquire instructional materials um this violates EFA local
176because the board did not rely on District professional staff to select and acquire instructional materials the professional staff who reviewed the materials did not discuss recommend nor approve any censor materials so um That's the basis of the complaint that we're in violation of EFA local yes but how do you reconcile that the very first paragraph of EFA local says the ultimate Authority for determining and approving the curriculum and instructional program of the district lies with the board I don't reconcile it I acknowledge it I said in and I said in my complaint uh Miss Royer does not want to circumvent the authority of the board what she is saying however is that when you when you pass the amendment that censored certain chapters and the teachers had no idea whatsoever that the amendment was coming
177that the chapters could be censored or anything like that you violated uh EFA local that Clause where it said the board shall rely on professional staff would you no but wouldn't you argue that the ultimate authority to approve materials relies with the school board that is that is out so the ultimate Authority means above any committee discretion any administrator even the superintendent the board has the ultimate authority to approve amend or disprove materials is that correct that is correct and that and then in essence the basis of your argument is that we were outside of our scope of authority but how however we were not okay so the the other thing then is so if that's the case right you know the board for inance you know the board has the ability to approve the
178budget correct so what what is it about what is it about this subject matter that the board does not have total oversight on did you rely on professional staff that to select and acquire the materials that's immaterial to the fact that the board has oversight over it it's stipulated clearly it doesn't it doesn't say it doesn't say that the board has oversight only due and and can only accept the recommendation of whatever committee professionals are stipulated say the board has oversight and so I I understand that right but the truth of the matter is the board made a decision I I want I want it to be very clear that this board has no interest in violating local policy this board has no interest in EX in um going outside the bounds of its Authority
179it's very clear it's very clear even in the policy that you're saying we' ated that the board has Authority on this subject matter okay that's my point thank you okay to my left Todd said no go ahead Julie okay I'll go okay um thank you Miss Royer for your courage Miss Royer you stay in your grievance that nowhere during our curriculum was there ever mentioned the possible removal of parts of the material you also state that you were aware that the vote on instructional materials was supposed to be in April but was delayed till May so you're paying attention to the vote were you aware that a motion was going to be made to censor specific chapters from the textbook that you reviewed no be legal states specificity specificity easy for me to say but
180harder to implement of agenda provides that agendas for all meetings must be sufficiently specific to inform the public of the subjects to be discussed at the meeting setting out special matters to be considered or any matter in which the public has a particular interest do you feel that the posting of the agenda item for May 6th was specific enough for you to know what was going to be voted on no um I have a question for the administration who should I direct my question to depends on the question why don't you ask her a question then whoever can answer that question do that uh the employee provid a copy of the rubric used to evaluate um I have the employee sorry I'm going to call you the employee the employee provided a copy of the
181rubric used to evaluate the instructional materials my question is did any board member request to see the rubric either the template or the completed evaluations for these chapters no we no it was not requested and we typically have not provided it okay um Miss Royer do you believe that the decision made by the board on May reflects the evaluations completed using the rubric no in your grievance Miss Royer you state the board decision removes upto-date information and access to phenomena covered in the book in which we are tasked by the state to use in our science teachings chapter 2 and chapter six is the only place some of these teaks are covered as your answer to how you have been harmed by this decision or circumstance I just want to uh acknowledge the teaks for
182chapter 2 Earth Systems and Sciences which you addressed chapter 2 covers tis 4 point or 4 point C 5 a 6A 1e 6D 1 a 12f 3B 4 C and then again in the chapter investigation 1 A 1 C 1 e 1 f 1 G 3A to your point you state that those tis will still have to be taught yes but the decision made by the board is that you may not use this chapter to teach those specific tees right so we're going to have to go outside to find more information you're increasing the time that's taking us to prepare after you've already been delaying it that leads to my next my next point so uh Dr msas in the at the May 6 meeting said the district will have to utilize other instructional resources
183to fill in the gaps created by censoring these specific chapters are you concerned that a Community member um or a board member may also choose to object to or remove those other resources um I don't see how they can if it's something we're required to teach they don't get to choose the teaks no but the other resources that you'll have to go out to utilize they want me to just make it up myself I mean we've already taught these these are not some of the stuff that was covered in Chapter 2 is not new material we covered it last year year I can use my PowerPoint from last year and the activity we did but the new way to teach science requires us to include phenomenon for each thread and now you are greatly limiting
184our ability our book was created by National Geographic that is the gold standard in science and beautiful um pictures data tables graphs that we can use to have the kids read and so you're saying that I can't use materials like that's it just just just asinine um if if um let me think about this uh Dr msas what would will you inform how will we know what other materials you'll use will you use an older textbook or what or will the teacher be expected just to go out and use whatever they can find so miss heinan we're in the process of locating other material that we can use used to cover these these texts that uh or these chapters that have been omitted that cover some of the texts and in uh in some cases
185we are looking to our uh just different other different Sciences to see if the material that's in there we can pull from and use it um we have found some we haven't found it all so we're still looking that's why we that's why we're we're not doing all the curriculum writing that uh that you heard our teacher talk about because we're still searching for some of it but some of it we will be able to pull from other other books the I think part of it too is is that the books are 10 years old so some of the mature is not is not current or new either so we're having to of what we have right now the our actual current adoption it's 10 years old so some of the material that's in there
186that we could use we can use it but it's all material it's all data it's all so we're searching for other resources that we have within the district well you I would I would my personal observation is that using old data or old resources would not be in the best interest of children um I uh Miss Royer your grievance is is um addressing EFA local um according to EFA local just an observation a parent's ability to exercise control over instruction extends to his or her child as set forth in Education Code chapter 26 so there is a process for a parent to challenge instructional materials do you to your knowledge Miss Royer did anyone file a complaint or Express concern with the instructional materials being proposed no for the record as a trustee I was
187also not aware of any complaint or concern with the instructional materials proposed and recommended for adoption Miss Royer per EFA local at the bottom of page two of EFA local it says quote the major Criterion for the final decision on challenged instructional materials is the appropriateness of material for its intended educational use no challenged instructional material shall be removed solely because of the ideas expressed therein do you believe that the board in its decision on May 6th to remove chapters from the earth systems textbook violated EFA local yes I'll ask the same question to whoever wants to answer from the administration do you believe the instructional materials were removed solely because of the ideas expressed therein Dr killan I have no idea okay um also um I don't know if that's Germaine because you're talking
188about a a a parent complaint versus the board's ability to um approve materials that's completely different is that correct Marty I I would say that the part of the policy that you're referencing right now Julie is in regards to a parent requesting removal of a portion of a material that's in use which is different than what title 19 uh section 66 tasks the board with in regards to adopting instructional material so you as a board um of trustees and a duly called meeting has the authority to approve um the materials but it doesn't work the other way a parent can't file a complaint or can a parent file a complaint that materials were removed from educational materials I mean we are doing that right now this employe this is an employee grievance but could a
189parent also file a grievance uh I would look at it specifically um I would say I don't know probably um because the grievance policy is so um is fairly broad um specifically the employee you you know she was able to demonstrate um the action the specific you know her standing for lack of a better way to describe it i' I'd have to see the parent grievance but our our policy's pretty Broad if it had been done in a timely manner it um it's plausible I I would respond to that by saying though with all due respect the Board of Trustees selects materials ultimately yes we have a recommendation from a group of um experts and staff members and all that but then we come to the decision here um as a Board of Trustees to
190select those materials it's just like I guess it's what Justin was alluding to with the finance right um they're not Financial experts but ultimately it's your charge as a board to approve a budget so even if they're not experts they can still make an adjustment like we made a recommendation to do two and 2% um increase um for staff salaries but the um but then we had a subcommittee that say 1.5% or 1% for administrators well the board could change that and go to 2% because that's really under the board's Authority so thank you um I only have one more question and then um I may have another question one more done uh before we finish um uh Miss Royer you um you your remedy that you're requesting um is to reinstate censored chapters or
191reconvene the science Review Committee to discuss censoring chapters and the effect will have on student learning and teaks implementation those are two very different things so can you in share your preference or what what your thought process was on that of course my original My Hope Is that you realize that the way this was done was not above board and not all the board members knew this was happening as your reaction during the meeting so it was not discussed by the board it was not an informed decision by all of y'all um so that they should not have been censored and that would be my of course ideal in the in the fact that if you refuse to do that then at least it should be sent back down so that we can look at
192what was exactly because the reasons given for my book don't exist the reasons given for my book do not exist what was said in open meeting the two things I think I addressed pretty clearly are not covered in any of those chapters minus we can what do you want to black out three um small paragraphs about the United Nations okay that that does doesn't exist so my the reasoning that was given for my books doesn't exist and that's really where I'm coming from so if that's truly y'all truly have concerns about Juniors and seniors learning that United Nations exist then we should be come back so that we can talk about it okay um my only last I do have one more final comment but um I do want to just acknowledge that the AG
193this AG grievance under agenda item eight H is very specific to science instructional materials and does not address the issue of chapters being removed from CTE um instructional materials for the principles of education course and the health science theories uh health science theory clinicals course I just want to acknowledge that there were also chapters omitted from our CTE classes as well so thank you continue down from left any other questions on this end I have a question Dr msas in the books that we have how much of the book is used in the course it depends on the course so for example for biology biology all students take biology and so we have a scope and sequence we we we Define curriculum we write curriculum for all of that when we have smaller sections like
194uh like this specific course is an is an elective it's a choice it's a choice course so we may have 15 12 to 15 teachers throughout the district who teach that course and so in those cases we might have a scope and sequence but really the teachers will use the book more than would be using it where we have the vast number of students who um who have to take a course so a particular book may be used 25% 50% 75% 100% a book like like this one in uh in this course in Earth Systems may be used the teacher can s to correct me probably closer to 75% or 50 to 75% and then teachers will bring some some some of their own resources in as well it's just used more the book is
195used more than you would find it used probably like in biology or English one or those courses that have the vest that's that's where we spend most of our time our time creating the curriculum and the resources and when the thank you Dr msas and when the board made the decision to Omit those chapters we set it specifically with the intention of that the materials would still be covered the the for the teaks that we would be sure that we covered the teak so that any student would not miss out on that that particular teaching correct and and regard of the decision this board makes we will make sure that we have materials to uh to cover the teeks and and uh but it's it may be so yes we will have materials to cover
196the te we'll have to search forther materials but the teak stands as they are so we have to cover the takes thank you you have a question Ellie yes uh first of all I want to say to uh Miss Royer um I respect very much respect what you've done I think it's wonderful you're an example of a great teacher a teacher leader and so please know that what you did is for me is fantastic as the process and I respect the fact that you care about our profession you care about your students you care about your subject you care about your school you care about your District um so fantastic there's no hard feelings you're doing exactly what you should it takes a lot of guts good for you that's what I want in a
197classroom I wish my kid had had you at s Falls um because it's incredible and to all the science teachers uh you are a treasured resource you're a shortage area and you are a critical to uh growing our students and so I commend all science teachers and I appreciate that you choose to teach your S Fair I was a high school principal I know very much how you are a resource recruiting excellent science teachers especially with all the certifications that requires to teach these different courses the comprehensive and all the different areas chemistry whatever it might be you guys truly are an underpaid resource actually for your knowledge set so thank you to you and thank you to all science teachers so the great news is um there might be some very good news today
198because um a few things and I'll ask some questions to Administration then I'll come back on cont so I would like to understand first of all Dr msas did we not adopt a single textbook did we adopt every textbook that the committee recommended as the textbook did we ever change or go to other textbooks are you referring like in the past or no I'm talking about in this vote did we not accept the textbook that was recommended by the committee in any subject area all the textbooks that were recommended were accepted and and then chapters were asked to be removed yes so I read every book it took a month and it was a lot of work CU you did a subject and you can imagine and I'll tell you why I did that when
199I was elected I sat on a there was a a forum held out in bridgland and a a man who gave 20s something years to the school district as a trustee sat on that committee and they asked the question why did you approve that that sex ed curriculum and that gentleman had to pause for a minute and he answered I didn't like why did you approve that he said I didn't read it and that's not fair to him he trusted the administration to look at that content and say it was okay okay and then he's the one held accountable in a form and he did not get reelected and so I didn't want to be that girl so guess what I sat here and I read a lot of text books I actually had a
200one I liked better in your content area I don't think National Geographic is my most scientific resource it does have beautiful pictures it does have nice charts and it does have nice graphs but I have questions that I'll very particularly share in a minute about the content of the science and the sources to the point of critical thinking and and balanced view but I would so did we did we uh accept every textbook that the committee offered us minus chapters yes okay so then why were chapters removed Linda we were there were small issues of content now first of all let me ask another thing the the copies that this board spent hours reviewing and was given to review were those the pre-adoption copies so they were yes were these yet reviewed and did I
201have an opportunity to review materials that already been altered and adjusted by the State Board of Education or did I only have the opportunity to review textbooks that were pre-adoption you had the opportunity to review textbooks that were already adopted by the step Board of Education I had links to those I can't even get those right now adjusted and edited per the State Board input what I'm going to tell you is I did not because I know that right now in order to get it I would have to write to the Publishers to get a link for it so the State Board of Education had a long discussion for hours and hours many things were changed in fact many things that will help as chapters be such small revisions needed because the State Board already
202had the conversation but when we were given this material with like one week to read it and then one more month to read it the State Board of Education the textbook companies had to submit their final revisions to tea by I don't look on their website maybe May 24th or something like that March 15th thank you so there we did not have those copies that we were provided in our email right what I got in my email did not yet have state board revisions in it is that accurate that is not accurate Dr blasing game what you had was that the actual hard copy of the textbook did not have the revisions and I I said I said that uh during our meeting we that did not have the revisions but what was a available
203on the website did have it and those links were available for a while and then we reopened them as well those did have the revisions and we checked on that and then you you probably know this but the State Board of Education publishes um on their on their site what are what was requested for a change and then they also publish what what if the change was made and a textbook is not adopted is not uh is not accepted by the state board unless that change is made and so we that's how I knew where there was you know cosmetic things grammar or was more content but what was online the the those links had the changes what didn't have the changes or the edits were the hard copies the saas hard biology was not
204unchanged so I'm going to verify I would like to know there were final edits due to tea and I want to make sure that March dates is right because I know that they had time and then tea tells me they didn't have time to verify that all the changes were there however um to the questions that community members have about um digital curriculum being shifted later whatever has been approved and set by the State Board of publisher cannot change and if they do change it then they would lose their contract so I need to know so when I share these concerns in a chapter um I guess that means they're still in there so there are still things I'll be concerned about so the next question I have is this did we um Linda why
205were chapters chosen to be did I come and did I make the idea to remove a chapter or why did it happen that it had to be removed at a chapter level instead of smaller bits of content can you please explain that because I actually don't like it or agree with it either yes so the materials that we're purchasing are are are online they're they're they're web based the the we do not get enough money to be able to buy a textbook for every child we used to at one time we do not get get that money so we are buying uh web- based materials our Publishers as as we we we looked and we asked you cannot you cannot remove like these three paragraphs like the youer talked about you have to but they
206can remove chapters and so and you asked me about that and we checked on that and we verified it you can remove chapters but you cannot remove like this page or you know five pages so the idea to remove chapters was actually a technicality because unfortunately if there was content that we did not didn't want didn't think was best serving the students then we could remove it just in that little bit we had to remove a chapter instead is that accurate yes okay so um the next question I have is um the rubric so when I called to your office and spoke with your expert in the content was she discussing the book from the rubric that the teachers completed she was referencing the book we were going through to find Which chapter it was
207because un fortunately I just had it my page number as I read through and so was she using the information from the committee that she had marked that textbook up with that was related to the rubric they had completed no we were we had so they've reviewed all the books and they did have the rubrics they had every single piece of information so when you called uh Dr Dr Bergman happened to be in my office and you had I I made mention about what were the chapters so we had looked for those pulled those chapters and looked at them and so we were asking you right like exactly where or what or what and so you had shared you shared that you you you had taken a lot of notes you had this or that
208or you you were going to go find out some information but we were simply going by what you were asking and we already knew what chapters you were you were looking at so is there an option at this point not to have something removed at the whole chapter level or not not at this point so you're saying that because of the technology only a chapter can come out yes okay so then the next question I have is um um Linda how many in the content in the science um uh curriculum I do have a concern actually said something very interesting that now you have to teach phenomenon and that explains exactly some of my concerns in the textbook that you referenced as um in the in your class in your course that you reviewed with
209chapters 6 and 21 and the other one so maybe that's actually what's happened is the way science is being taught is now a little bit more about phenomenon and opinion instead of about fact and data and that would be and which resources I I'll show you some examples so Linda are you saying that um please keep your voices down we cannot hear up here I how many new science teques are there actually in across the all the science curriculum how many are actual brand new science teaks that we've never had something to teach from before I would have to count them for you and I can have an exact number for you on Monday but there are a number of tees that are brand new they were they're either brand new or they were revised
210and uh you know as you know as as an educator the state board will make changes to the to the tis or the text and and they provide a couple of years for the textbook companies to build the resources and then there's an implementation piece our implementation for these science teaks is the 24 25 school year but there are uh a number of brand new tees in in these three uh text in these three uh areas that we are discussing and if I may address the phenomenon that you you mentioned about that is attack and we actually uh got some additional guidance from ta they produced some other materials uh regarding phenomenons and so they they actually gave some examples you could you could teach you could use a phenomenum of of Co or you
211could use a phenomenum of of uh chickenpox or they gave like five different ones that you could maybe use so it doesn't have to be one or the other it just has to be a phenomenon so I am it might be that it was just unique to biology but you're saying that um the copies we had were more updated but I know in biology that after um after what I was able to review the Publishers had come back and confirm for example investigation 9 and investigations 13 that there were some changes made basically based upon that which means more material was accessible so Linda is there a way for the things that are not questionable or or or the science doesn't have the data to back it up in the phenomenon explanation in the textbook
212that that could still be used by a teacher without opening the chapter do we have the right and the permission from the company to just like in in fact I don't think my daughter had one single class from 6th through 12th grade that was taught from a textbook I affirmed that and many of my friends I checked so textbooks not the thing we do here yes in some special subjects like this at a smaller less planning and less curriculum I think that's really why I'm asking so that this teacher doesn't have to work that hard but is there a way to use the content in that chapter in a different way without opening the chapter if you're saying we have to shut it down by a chapter well I mean you don't have to go
213Page by Page in a in a textbook so yes you're correct as as a teacher a teacher could could choose to not say open to chapter two and and use that but she could actually take the material from chapter 2 and create her lesson so they can take material from everything that's not questionable in a chapter if that's if that's expressly laid out so they could I mean a teacher can a teacher can can go in there and pull the material and create her own as this teacher said Powerpoints and never open kids never open the the book for that chapter or not required because the teacher has provided all of the resources and all of the the teaching uh resources for it okay so um I'm going to um I'm going to address a
214question to miss Royer um you are very intimately aware of the earth systems textbook right you've already splashed a lot of and dug in there for information is that right I did I spent some time with it yes more than me I I did have to spend some time with it um I was also tasked I was originally on the curriculum writing for one of the units so excellent okay start yeah so I'll show you and then maybe this is their this is some and when way because I'm isn't about chapters being closed down I didn't get an option I still don't have an option I'm trying to find an option right so um let me just some pieces that I would say is this science is this opinion where's the data sources and where's
215the balance of presentation we want critical thinkers in our school district so for example um let's say um when experts this is on page 189 um when experts disagree it's difficult for the public if Global energy it'll be experts when experts disagree it is difficult for the public if Global energy demand exceeds the world Supply if we continue to if we continue we will push Earth Systems to cata for for towards catastrophes um summary a summary in 6.3 as prices of conventional fossil fuels rise non reable energy non I'm so thirsty nonrenewable energy resources have the potential to meet all of our energy needs is that science is that fact or is that's false or is that opinion can wind solar geothermal hydroelectric and biomass fuels literally replace all the world's needs for energy I
216don't know if that's or not I have a question there's an oil company person here summary at the end of the chapter uncontrolled human population growth can deplete resources due to our population and technological advances humans have become a significant engine of change agree or not let's see what kind of change in recent human history people have caused such um drastic such drastic things are making permanent changes to the Earth Systems that can be true I don't like seeing a big mass of of water bottles floating in an ocean somewhere but I also know that an earthquake happens and it shilts the degree of the Earth by a degree or half a degree and that changes the the patterns of the Winds of the earth so there are balanced opinions about what happens in that
217phenomenon it's not just humans um in chapter 21 the consequences of climate change work in a group this is Select an area affected by climate change categories include human population growth in chapter 21 global warming will affect precipitation and snow melt cause extreme weather alter biodiversity melt Arctic sea ice and Glaciers add to the acidification of the oceans and cause sea level rise is that true where's the data where was the reference where is that is a balanced opinion again that needs to be offered because there's also the fact that some signs shows that sea level has not risen so this is an issue where it's actually has U specific content that is where is the data and they often on the well I'll keep going so um scientific data is is is should be
218uh a lot of the um energy issues about Co and level wise a lot of references in there to um like as yes so what I'm saying is there yes thank you so human population um is large and continues to increase although the rate of the increase is slowing that is true so there's a whole bunch about controlling human population but actually it's on the decline so I would say my question isn't about you and your professionalism and the teacher in the textbook it's like it's literally about some of the content in there and so it's not a whole chapter I have trouble with but there are a few items in there that are that are um not as robust in the scientific data that they provide to give the critical thinking and the balance
219and so I would like to see if there would be an option to use materials in balance and Dr blasing game the like what you just talked about with the ocean and the temperature that's a tech it's Tech 12d and it says analyze read the yes read the te please can I read it I read it to it says analyze recent Global ocean temperature data to predict the consequences of the changing ocean analy means you present data that presents both sides and the kids analyze it and become critical thinkers and okay we are we are recording this we can't get a clear recording if the audience can't sit quietly you'll be removed and then there's texts in I think in this one as well as another one that talk about uh not just the negative
220impact that humans have had on on the environmental ecosystem but the positive impact as well I definitely saw that and I didn't see it as balanced in the presentation in the textbook so that might be what the committee could teachers can write is a way to present it in a balanced way and I know tees I was a teacher I'm a teacher I've been a principal I've been in charge of schools teaching tees for a time I do get how tis can be interpreted but so I interpret that te to say that yes I teach it in a balanced way that lets children be critical thinkers yeah and so that I I think you're going to find that in or we found that in the in the different um aspects of the text where they
221want to see the positive and the negative impact so I would say I never asked for chapters that was the only choice I was given I have some content that is a that I would love to see presented in a more balanced way and so however in the end um the board I do not want I did not I read it because I did not want to sit here and make a vote like someone else had to do before and then answer for it I'm looking at the material in a in with due diligence and the board holds the it does you've already Council would you tell me where the the um could you please tell me um where the um where the policy where code and policy say uh who does who gets to
222make the decisions on instructional materials say that again who has the authority toate decision whom yes yes it's the board thank you appreciate it going to my right you have a question Tod yeah um first of all thank thank you thank you for your service it and again I'm going to Echo the sentiments of Natalie uh it takes it takes guts to do what you're doing and I really appreciate and it'll have no no effect on my my relationship with with you or anything like but I I have some questions on on one of the chapters that uh that we voted to uh you know obviously we had we had some issues with um it said vaccines save lives which one do you do you know how many vaccines there are available right now that's
223not the I did not I'm not part of the biology okay my book does not talk about vaccines okay I I appreciate that I want to make people aware um right now um actually if you look at the childhood vaccine schedule in 1960 we had three childhood vaccines now there's over a 100 now there's over 100 wanted to throw this out there in 1960 autism was one out of 10,000 kids now it's 1 in 36 the the same chapter talked about the covid-19 vaccines some of the some of the some of the um some of the side effects that we know now are blood clots and myocard myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart damage to the heart can't be is not repairable do you feel that with absolute certainty that the vaccines have not
224caused the increase in autism she's not going to answer that thank you okay I understand that and again the reason why I asked that is because there's diverse opinions on this and they should be discussed and critical thinking is what we're trying to do that's what we're trying to teach and again I appreciate your feedback um and again based on the the actual grievance the grievance actually states does the board actually have uh the authority to do this and and you recognize that's correct yes okay going back to my left any questions on J um I uh just wanted to make a final comment that I appreciate the special interest shown by by our community in the censorship of chapters from District instructional materials that were approved by State Board of Education review committees the
225State Board of Education and the highly qualified Educators who serve our district science instructional commit materials committee and the CTE instructional materials committee and reviewed the proposed materials in depth while miss Royer's complaint relates specifically to science instructional materials and the REM remedies she's seeking relate to the science instructional materials that's correct I share that with you Julie she is she is challenging all of the removed chapters and requests that all the removed chapters her specific not just science not just science that's what's in the remedy she is requesting that all the removed chapters as I read it it reads that all of the pull it up okay she is speaking Percy saying to demonstrate her I mean you can can you please State the remedy as you offer was speaking specifically to science yes
226that's what it says on her grievance it says science all 20 something books in her testimony she actually said she to reinstate every single chapter first science what Miss Royer is only speaking of science that's not what the what it say sense that's not what it says it simply says reinstate censor chapters but the whole grievance itself the whole complaint itself only addresses science okay thank you regardless I hereby give notice that at the next board meeting of the board on men Monday June 17th 2024 I will move to amend the motion adopted by the board at the May 6 24 board meeting related to the approval of District instructional material recommendations pursuant to which the board omitted certain specified chapters from instructional materials approved for the 2024 2025 school year so as to approve
227all instructional materials as originally listed in the agenda provided to the board for the May 6 2024 board meeting without revisions or admissions such that the previously adopted motion when amended reads in its entirety as follows I move that the board approve the posted instruction materials in 7B for the 2024 2025 school year as listed in item 7B of the agenda provided to the board for the May 6 2024 regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District without revisions or emissions of any chapters my expectation is that an addendum to the agenda for the June 17th 2024 meeting will be posted tomorrow by 5:00 pm to add this matter to the agenda I have copies for the board secretary for Holly and for Marne can I ask another question
228Linda did you say there was a path for how teachers can use sections of the chapters that are not the questionable without removing the whole chapter by doing some curriculum work that will not cause that much work of creating all the material for the teacher um my point is can some of the materials that come in some of the chapters that are not questionable materials be used by a teacher not by opening the chapter but by by the fact that we do have access to the materials at the district level that we can share yes thank you Mr President as a point of order though um our responsibility is to um procedurally Mar you may to based on this as well we to uphold the grievance um and Julie could if if I may ask
229uh were you wanting to make a motion to amend the motion that we made last month what exactly are you going to are you proposing in your previous comments yes okay I am proposing to amend the motion made at the May 6th meeting but under this agenda item our job our scope is to only approve the G want make sure we're hand we're we're operating procedurally correct absolutely I was just sharing making a statement but yes I understand what our role is tonight understood thank you you can make that motion on Monday um that is definitely allowed um so that is part of the thing you can do so absolutely just want thank you for that confirmation any other questions from the board members Miss Dixon Smith M Warrior thank you very much for your
230time don't leave um is there anything else you'd like to add you now have an opportunity to wrap up or say anything else for the record um I think that you need to so even like for my course I'm the only person on my campus who teaches it most of us only one of us teach it on each campus so our curriculum writing is truly helpful to us we all kind of work together to do it we work kind of as a 12 person team but we're all on different campuses and Jamie really helps and Evelyn Shepard who's our person but none of us no science teacher uses all of the book but I shouldn't be sensored to not have choices like the graphs and stuff in the chapter about climate change they are very
231relevant they're actually what show up on the end of your te tests or graphs and stuff where they have to interpret data so that is really the point of it not saying that I'm going to hand that book to my kids and read they would read it because they wouldn't they're juniors and seniors and they're not going to read an entire science book but I should be allowed to use whichever parts of it that we deem fit and we really do not go Rogue we we follow curriculum I know like with aquatic when we wrote it we talk about what they should know which is proficient and Rel it back to the teaks and with the new ones it's just an extra layer because they did change the wording some things they expected us to
232teach we don't have to teach anymore and then they changed it and put it in much more in depth for some of the other parts so that's really the Crux of my point is that you're you were truly handicapping us for which I couldn't find the reasons for for my part for me personally but we're not going to use the entire book no no science teacher ever does it is a resource but it's an easy resource to get because they all have access to it and it's already been vetted by the state board and I just want to sum up and say um in while I was speaking I acknowledge the power of the board to make decisions regarding uh instructional materials and I'm very well aware the policy that says you have the ultimate
233authority to make decisions regarding that however Miss Royer still believes that you did not rely on the professional staff when you did not include them in that decision that's the first about censoring materials and secondly under clearly is stating that she is harmed and she is clearly asking you for a remedy thank you I believe we understand your concerns and requested remedy do you have any other questions at this time this concludes our hearing you'll be receiving a written response from me within 10 working days looking at my calendar that would be July 1st 2024 this meeting is now ended at 9:20 p.m. hear those we moved to Monday this is a written response thank you sir we'll now continue on with our agenda you need to take a short bre no I'll wait no8
234I the Border consider making determination that good cause do not exist as required by law for the individuals listed here to resign their respective employment contracts this item may be discussed in closed session pursuant to section 551.074 I'm going to move one item around 9A because we have two speakers even though that's not on the agenda uh Christina milum and Ashley bunker are they here uh Christina you like to go first right there wait hold on hold on on just one second sorry we need to reset the time a month later I am still in shock after watching six board members vote to remove chapters from a textbook used for teaching and training CTE I speak for myself and so many others in saying that we are concerned about the issues you raised not just
235how you implemented the change one example in this case chapter 18 was seemingly removed due to a perception of bias Dei and its impact on in the classroom education extends Beyond textbooks it encompasses character emotional intelligence and life skills educators are entrusted with fostering growth and creating safe spaces for all students by ensuring access is this related to the board committee updates committee updates you're not speaking of committee the board committees I'm this is yeah this has nothing to do with board committees um so if you'd like we can move you to s particip um but this is not um remain to the agenda there was not a committee to decide on textbooks not a board committee no ma'am so thank you Ashley bunler I was added today with all due respect this evening has
236been embarrassing a lot was spoken about the library committee and my concern as well as thousands of my group members we are wondering how it is not a gross conflict of interest that Bethany K scanland the most prolific ma'am can you tell me how this is related to board committees yeah we were talking about the library committee this evening that's not a board committee thank you I can add you to the citizen particip on Monday I'm already on there okay thanks the board now consider a level four appeal of a level three decision discuss this item will be discussed in close section uh Pur to 551.074 we will go in a Clos session I would like to thank everyone for being here tonight also like to thank those who are watching from home we have
237a motion to move in Clos session so moved second all those in favor please raising your right hand left hand count yeah it works we'll take a quick break while we reconvene for Clos session in here thank you