001[Music] good evening i thought i'd start off with a couple of quotes that have uh caught my attention that i liked intelligence is the handmaiden of flexibility and change that was a quote from werner venge who is a science fiction author and a retired professor and my favorite is patience with others is love patience with self is hope patient with god is faith and that was by adele bestavros who is a lawyer and a preacher john she's both the cyprus fairbanks independent school district board of trustees are now convened in a regular board meeting on monday august 10 2020 in the boardroom of the cypress fairbanks independent school district instructional support center located at 300 jones road houston texas at 6 00 pm i want to welcome the members of our audience and our television
002viewers to this meeting of the board of trustees as the cypress fairbanks board of trustees we are here to set goals listen to reports from the superintendent approve budgets contracts personnel appointments and make policy for the district it is not the role of the board to make day-to-day operational decisions the management and day-to-day operations of the district are the responsibility of the superintendent we have 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 prior to this meeting board members received information related to items on tonight's agenda agenda items will not necessarily be handled in the order listed on the notice the meeting is open to all who wish to attend and hear the matters discussed during the course
003of this meeting the board may determine that a closed session is necessary in that event the board will meet in closed session to consider matters duly posted for this meeting as permitted by sections 551.071 through 551.084 of the texas government code these proceedings are airing live on comcast channel 16 and the district website and you all don't need to worry about that i got five grandkids and that's not going to bother me plus don ryan's not here tonight so we've got to clear it in they will also be available as video on demand on the district website following tonight's meeting for the video to adequately reflect the proceedings i respectfully ask that you please refrain from talking while others are speaking and that cell phones are turned off are in silent mode would you please
004make that step to turn your cell phones off thank you for taking the time to join us this evening and for your interest in the cyprus fairbanks independence school district i would also like to take this opportunity to recognize our community leadership committee members who are in attendance this evening those in attendance are leslie martone would you stand leslie thank you ryan irving where are you there you are you're you're always standing right and francis romero there you are thank you francis appreciate y'all being here damn we did not have boy scouts here tonight so we will move on the invocation for tonight's board meeting will be given by matt hawkins lead pastor of houston first church of nazarene matt's wife melanie is a sixth grade science teacher at hopper middle school and they have
005three children noah who is in the eighth grade riley in the fourth and quinn who is in the second grade matt has been pastoring in houston for the past 11 years and in florida and south carolina before that pastor hawkins we appreciate your commitment to the students and family of our district and thank you for being here tonight i would ask that you please stand for the invocation and remain standing for the pledge allegiance after the invocation let's pray together father you are so good to us lord we are so thankful for all the many ways that you have blessed our lives and our families we thank you for the ways that you have blessed our our community as well and god you have given us so many good gifts and maybe the greatest gifts
006that you've given us are our children and so tonight we are thankful for them lord and we lift them up to you god we know in this season especially would be very easy for us to be anxious lord and you tell us in your word that we can come to you with praise and with prayer and petition lord with thanksgiving in our heart lord and we can come and we can experience the the peace that passes all understanding lord and so we confess today we need that peace lord in the midst of a lot of anxious things lord and so we pray for that peace for us but also for our children as well god may they experience that through us and in us lord god i pray that you would give us wisdom lord
007god we thank you for the leadership that is represented here tonight god we thank you for their their heart for their community and for children as well god we pray that you would guide their thoughts and their decisions we pray we we lift up parents we lift up teachers we lift up this entire community and pray god that you would guide our steps during this pivotal time in life god and we will give you all the praise and all the glory for doing it we pray all these things in your precious name amen thank you you may be seated board member dr john ogletree will read the district's vision and mission statement for the benefit of the audience dr ogletree our vision at cypress fairbanks independent school district is formed from the acronym lead learn
008empower achieve dream lead our mission is to maximize every student's potential through rigorous and relevant learning experiences preparing students to be 21st century global leaders thank you dr ogletree 1a the board will recognize newly selected principals and administers admin minister there i go again administrators and this is early mr roy garcia president covey and board of trustees tonight we are excited to introduce to you for principals and also to our cfisd community we will begin with our new principal for bain elementary school mr cesar diaz cesar received his bachelor of science from the university of rafael bioso and his master's degree from prairie view a m university he recently completed his 16th year in the education profession he started his career as a bilingual teacher in houston his administrative experience includes serving as an assistant
009principal and principal at southwest schools in houston he also served as an assistant principal and summer school principal in alden independent school district he joined cypress fairbanks as an assistant principal at bain elementary in 2015. he has served as a summer school principal at duriere in horne elementary and most recently served as the principal at reed elementary school for the past three years cesar is married to mary engel who is a new pre-k bilingual teacher at durier elementary they have 19 year old twins anna and andres who are graduates of cypress ranch high school and have completed their first year of college in addition he and his wife have a 19 month old daughter daniella yoo-hoo please join me in congratulating mr diaz on being selected our new principal at bain elementary school thank you
010mr garcia and board president covey dr henry and trustees i just wanted to say thank you for your trust i'm in a i guess in a selected group of people that have had the opportunity to serve the same school in more than one capacity and just having the opportunity to go back to that great community where i started in this district in 2015 and they were so welcoming in just having the opportunity to be back as their principal i am super excited um and and that has been possible because of all of the opportunities to grow in this district to become a stronger leader um began in 2015 as an assistant principal under the under the wing of dr mars and just i'm so thankful for all the opportunities that i've had and i will
011do my best to continue to serve and to continue to lead and be an example for you know just a servant leader for our communities so thank you thank you cesar our next introduction is for our new principal at hare grove elementary school mrs michelle lee michelle received her bachelor's from the university of houston and her master's from the university of saint thomas she is entering her 21st year in education michelle served as a third grade teacher for seven years and as a reading specialist for five years in fort bend independent school district she also served as an assistant principal at cooper elementary school in spring isd she joined cypress fairbanks in 2018 as an assistant principal at hair grove elementary when michelle is not working she enjoys reading and traveling michelle and her husband
012kevin have been married for 14 years no children but they do have two cats mia and zoe please join me in congratulating our new children excuse me our new principal for hair grove elementary miss michelle lee thank you president covey dr henry and board of trustees what an honor it is to stand here to be named the principal of hair grove elementary hair grove is such a special school filled with amazing students and amazing staff members and from our custodians to our cafeteria to our paraprofessionals to our admin team to our teachers everyone is there for the success of the students and i'm just honored to take this position and take the lead at hair grove and i look forward to continuing hair growth success and to working closely with all of you thank you
013so much thank you michelle i must tell you where i was thinking and why that children came out as you all do have lots of children 800 plus children and hair growth so congratulations our next announcement is for our new principal at the alternative learning center east mrs andrea lagarde andre received her bachelors from prairie view a m university and her master's from texas southern university she has 21 years of experience as an educator she is a proud product of cfisd graduating from jersey village high school she served as a secondary school teacher at an alternative school in dallas independent school district and as a biology teacher at sterling high school in houston independent school district in 2004 she joined cypress fairbanks as a science teacher at cypress ridge high school she also served as
014the academic achievement achievement helping teacher at dean middle school and as an assistant principal at cypress woods high school for eight years andrea served as the associate principal at cypress springs since 2016. she has completed the aspiring principles institute is a member of the restorative discipline committee and the leadership development advisory committee she has served as a summer school principal at cypress woods high school and cypress springs high school when she is not working she enjoys making crafts and taking her family to the amusement park to ride the roller coaster andre and her husband johari have two children miles and sydney miles graduated from cypress woods and attends texas state university and sydney is a junior at cypress woods please join me in congratulating andrea on her new leadership opportunity thank you president covey board
015of trustees and dr henry it is such an honor to serve in the district that i had a chance to grow up in as you stated i'm a graduate of jersey village high school and there were so many people there that paved the way for me to stand here today as an administrator and so it's an honor to serve and just to give back to the district that raised me i have with me today my husband who's very supportive johari i have my daughter sydney and my son myles i have several other family members that wanted to be here but they are in baton rouge louisiana my family there and i have family here in houston as well and so i thank them for watching virtually along with all my friends and family here in
016scifir isd and so um i just like to thank all of the principals who've given me the chance to serve at their campuses and just to build my leadership up with dr henry sue mcgowan gary kenneger and mike smith and so i appreciate all of them [Applause] our final principle in introduction this evening is for the new principal at reed elementary school mrs karen richardson [Applause] karen received her bachelor's from the university of houston and her master's degree from prairie view a m university she is starting her 15th year in education prior to joining cfisd in 2006 she served as a pre-k teacher and assistant director at foundry united methodist church karen served as a fourth grade teacher at matzky and farney elementary an instructional coach at hancock elementary and as an instructional specialist at
017danish elementary she has served as an assistant principal at horn elementary for the past five years karen has completed the aspiring principles institute and is a part of the training cadre for the cfisd new administrator institute karen and her husband cliff have three children whitney hunter and bennett when karen is not working she enjoys spending time with her grandbaby grandbabies charlotte and lonnie please join me in congratulating karen on her new leadership opportunity thank you so much roy thank you president covey board of trustees dr henry it is my honor to serve reed elementary you see i am home though i rode the bike up and down those streets i babysat in those houses and now i'm really home back to serve the community where i was reared i want to thank mr diaz for
018a wonderful transition and a tradition of excellence there and a wonderful staff to serve alongside i want to introduce the family that has come with me this evening my entourage here um so you guys want to stand please so you know i'm bossy here too so come on up guys everybody up all right so um at the end i have my daughter whitney her husband daniel and their daughter charlotte i have my son hunter and his wife corbin and their daughter lonnie they're graduating in 2038. and then i have our son bennett richardson senior at texas state all these kids graduated from psywoods with the exception of daniel and we let him in the family anyway and then we have my mother and her husband jim and yvette calkey my mother-in-law beverly richardson class of
019from sci fair high school and then this is my husband cliff we'll be celebrating our 30th anniversary tomorrow so it is my honor today to um to accept the appointment of reid elementary and i will do my best to serve it well thank you mr covey at this time i'll turn it over to miss karen smith i would like to introduce cfisd's new assistant superintendent of business and financial services miss amanda bowles ms bowles received her master's of accountancy in her bachelor's of a business administration and accounting from texas state university she is also a certified public accountant and a registered texas school business official ms bowles joins us from klein isd that she was at klein in 2012 started in 2012 and recently he's most recently served as a director of accounting prior to
020joining cfisd prior to klein bowles worked at deloitte in houston as an auditor she's supported here today by her husband zach who is also in school business at tomball isd her five-year-old darla riley and her two-year-old son cooper in her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family outdoor activities and please join me in congratulating ms amanda bowles in her new endeavor [Applause] thank you president kovy members of the board dr henry thank you all so much for this opportunity i'm extremely honored and so so grateful to be a part of the cypress fairbanks isd team um i also want to express my gratitude and appreciation of miss karen smith for giving me this opportunity um and just to be mentored by her and to continue the tradition of financial excellence in this district
021i'm extremely grateful for that i've enjoyed getting to know the finance team they're a great team and very talented people that i'm very excited to serve alongside and i look forward to serving um with this leadership for many years to come this is my family that you've been hearing from all evening this is my husband zach as karen mentioned he's at tomball and we definitely share a passion for public education this is cooper and my daughter riley thank you very much okay we got all that covered i'll tell you it's exciting night tonight one more one more that's i was going to say i i'm next so i'm marny colin sims i'm the general counsel in cooper i want you to know that 15 years ago my two-year-old you remember dr o bob my two-year-old
022stood there and when he saw me on the screen he started to that's when he decided to announce that he needed more goldfish mommy so he's now a senior at cy woods so they do they do grow up and he embarrasses me in new exciting ways but anyway welcome amanda but i am here to introduce uh my new assistant uh general counsel he's the assistant superintendent in legal services and stand up harry this is my harry wright so he is wonderful he's been with us since july and i just can't tell you how excited i am after 15 years to have a partner in crime but harry comes to us from bryan isd he was the general counsel there for five years but the shorter commute lured him here as you can see by the
023the lovelies with him he is actually a sci fair parent and he and his wife scarlett live here in the district and so the idea of driving 15 minutes instead of you know an hour was what helped draw harry here but he comes to us the children of educators his dad was the longtime principal i think original principal at bf terry right high school in lamar and i think they are naming a school after him his mom was a classroom teacher in lamar as well so he's come from educators he was went to dartmouth undergrad where he was captain on the football team and still graduated in four years with honors and after that he answered the call to the family business and he was a teacher through teach for america and taught in hisd
024for seven years eight years and he was also a middle school football coach so special place in heaven for middle school teachers and uh and so then after that he went back to law school to duke and so as you can see we we don't lack for intelligence in the right family and so he was at duke law school and then after that he was my law clerk at bracewell and giuliani so that's actually where i met harry um 15 when i was 20 years ago so so he does know what he's getting into working with me i think at you know half the board when they first met him said so so you you know you know marnie so yes he does know what he was getting into but i am so excited to
025have a an attorney of his caliber join my team and he will serve this district well and those i want to let you uh introduce your family but his beautiful wife scarlett is a great supporter a good friend and i'm excited thank you for for lending him to a scarlet and he can introduce those precious ones with him [Laughter] thank you good evening uh mr covey dr henry boyd i want to take a second to really thank you for giving me the opportunity to work for this district i mean i've you know of course i've lived here for several years uh and always admired the great work that you were doing and when money uh let me know that she was thinking about bringing someone aboard i i couldn't get here fast enough i couldn't
026think of a better district to be associated with or a better person to work work work with again i'm excited to deaf to be here it's a great opportunity for me great opportunity for my family and uh and just over the last few weeks i've just been so impressed with the administrative teams you've assembled here you've got a lot of great folks that are working for you i look forward to to assisting them and and providing ample uh employee to money as she continues to provide uh great assistance to to to the district and all of its administrators uh again it's just uh another way for me to have all even though i was even though i've been a lawyer as well i thought about lawyer for about 18 years i tried did the math
027on it today uh but you know i've always considered myself an educator you know i anyone anyone asked me i'll tell them the best job i've ever had was teaching sixth grade you know sometimes i get some bemused looks and are you ready to be committed when i say that but i i love the education nonetheless i'm excited to be able to continue uh to be of service and continue my uh career in education with the district again i would like to thank my family who's here again today my wife scarlett my daughter zoe and my sons max and zeke and thank you again for this opportunity max and zeke will be kindergarteners at swinky so look out swinky and zoey will be a freshman at bridgeland so we've got investment in the district here
028right here thanks harry and i will tell you harry you're an impeccable dresser i'm just going to say i tell you you know what can i tell you and i'll also say it's a very proud night because i heard texas state all over this place i'm just very proud of everybody that went there goes there wants to go there yay texas state and that's because i get to be president and say that anyway right now we're going to take a break and we're going to congratulate all of our people that have taken over big positions and then we'll come back in 10 minutes and no less okay we will now proceed with the public comments portion of the agenda patrons who have duly registered per policy ded local may address the board and make public
029comments on an agenda item during or before the board's consideration of the item the board may allow public comment on agenda items at all meetings the board will continue with the remaining agenda after the registered patrons have had an opportunity to speak tonight we have 20 was a 20 21 speakers there are two minute limit you will begin uh green light will come on over here and then 30 seconds before the end the yellow light would come on and when the red light comes on since we've got so many speakers please summarize as quickly as you can okay now what we're going to do is we're going to alternate so we can clean one after somebody's spoken so here we go and we'll start over on this side donna lord good evening i'm donna lord
030president cypher tsta nea i'm a middle school teacher and a taxpayer during thursday's work session we were given what appeared to be an honest authentic and transparent explanation of why we cannot begin school entirely online cypher tsta nea understands and accepts that explanation now let's focus on issues that we can still resolve there is still time to protect our most vulnerable teachers teachers who have legitimate verifiable medical conditions should be allowed to work remotely unfortunately the implication of take leave or resign may very well be the legacy left by this board and administration we as a district are better than that you are better than that teachers with legitimate high-risk medical issues should not be losing their jobs when there are viable accommodations available they should not be living in fear of teaching and getting
031that disease there's really no difference between an online live interaction with a teacher working from the safety of his or her home and an online live interaction with a teacher working from the classroom in fact the teacher working remotely could better serve his or her students by giving 100 attention to those online students a while ago i read a quote by author lauren oliver and i'd like to share it with you tonight most of the time 99 percent of the time you just don't know how and why the threads are looped together and that's okay do a good thing and sometimes bad things happen do a bad thing and sometimes good things happen do nothing and everything explodes and very very rarely by some miracle of chance and coincidence butterflies beating their wings just so
032and all the threads hanging together for a minute you get the chance to do the right thing this is your chance to do the right thing this is your chance to preserve your legacy this is the chance to prove that scifir isd is really for all thank you thank you ms lord paul and gone paul can you see the lights over here okay they're up here on the side okay okay yeah there we go okay go ahead whenever you're ready good evening i am pauline gone scifir tsta membership chair and middle school teacher in the district as membership chair one of my my main jobs is to reach out to members and listen to their questions and concerns the last few months i have spoken with so many members who have legitimate concerns about returning
033this upcoming school year many are scared and worried tonight i went to share some quick member uh ser survey data when asked 89 of members said they did not feel safe returning to work and 95 felt teachers should have a choice to either return in person or remotely these are staggering numbers when you consider the percentage of staff members we represent teachers want to be treated as the professional educators we are we want to know scifir isd values our thoughts input ideas and expertise when it comes to making decisions affecting the instruction of our students and the well-being of our students and staff while many of our members are upset and disappointed with decisions that have been made at the district and state level we want to leave you on a positive note scifir tsta
034will would like to say to the students and parents of the community we will continue to be dedicated to the best of our ability to the students and our district make no mistake we are professional educators and educational support staff we will continue to give our best to the children of this great community regardless of how we feel about the treatment we are experiencing at both the district and state levels the students will always come first thank you thank you mr langone arabella villanova villain did i i'm sorry thank you villanueva good evening my name is arabella villanueva and i'm proud to have been a student in cfisd this is my third year teaching at a cypher middle school which is in the third most infected zip code in harris county i am here to
035request that you please reconsider the possibilities of remote professional development and virtual learning it is obvious that you know that this disease is serious because you have attempted to play safety measures in our schools i truly appreciate the make your computer easier to use narrator hear text on screen aloud i'm sorry it's okay i truly appreciate the attempt but it took my uncle only one asymptomatic client at his workplace to give him covet 19 and take his life while i was mourning his death i spent the school days calling hundreds of parents on the screen larger well i was more people i apologize obviously we have a friend we don't see in here hold on just a minute i'm sorry well i was mourning his death i spent the school days calling hundreds of parents
036asking about their well-being accessibility to assignment and informing them of the curbside meal program after talking to parents i created online lessons on a platform i was not familiar with i went on for the next two months adapting every day working way after hours still calling hundreds of parents along with grading assignments and trying to stay connected with my students it was not easy but i did it along with all the educators in my district this month i would i helped create some of the materials for my team on schoology and i can honestly say without prior experience that schoology is very intuitive for teachers and students student progress is easier to track and teachers are able to see growth areas through assessments and other features teachers are willing to adapt for their students but
037it becomes harder to do when we are rushed and unsafe we spend time building structure and safety with our students because we know it creates a more conducive learning environment in many ways virtual learning will require more pedagogical creativity from teachers but choosing virtual learning earlier as a district will give us structure and safety therefore making us better teachers the academic success of this district is phenomenal and i believe we can reach the same academic goals that we always had but we all need to be alive in order to get there what you do this next school year sets the precedent for many other districts please continue the chain of excellent educators and not make them have to resign or go to school thank you ma'am thank you i was interrupted can i say my
038last paragraph please okay thank you luke billett good evening my name is luke biet and i am a rising junior at cypress ridge high school thank you for allowing me to share with you some student perspectives about the reopening of schools my first point is about the behavior of students the current district plan is to treat masks as a part of dress code let's face it if rules regarding masks are followed as carefully as the rules regarding id badges or not using cell phones about half of the high school population will drop the mask regularly social gatherings the occasional fight and even lunch in the cafeteria will be super spreader events secondly i do not understand why my district is planning to reopen in-person instruction now against both local and national health guidelines the director
039of the cdc stated that an area with a positivity rate of 5 percent or higher is considered a hot spot where schools must not reopen the current positivity rate in harris county is several times that many of my friends families are not aware of these numbers they will send kids to school because the district tells them that it is safe it is almost guaranteed some of them will bring the virus back home infecting their parents and grandparents if one of their loved ones were to die they would carry that burden with them for the rest of their lives i love my school i love my teachers i love hanging out with my friends however i can wait for later this fall putting lives in danger is not worth it my mom is getting ready to
040go back into classrooms and took the time to explain to me how to take care of my special needs brother and put his affairs in order in case she gets the virus at school and is hospitalized or dies please consider offering only remote instruction until conditions in our school district reach the levels recommended by county health officials and the cdc thank you for listening [Applause] lauren wales lauren wales hi i'm lauren wills hi i'm lauren wells a former cfisd student currently at baylor university studying mechanical engineering i'm going to show you three red flags why we should not reopen schools or in face to face the first red flag is that statistics don't agree with opening face to face as he just mentioned the positivity rate that the cdc recommends is five percent and we
041are currently at 20 and here's where we closed and here's where we are now we're at 20 new york is opening schools but they're at one percent that's a lot less that's that's okay i don't know what your metric is but we need to have a metric we can't just do this arbitrarily or because of politics we're looking out for immunocompromised teachers and we want those to stay alive the second red flag is that this policy neglects teachers and because because of that like employees aren't employees are entitled to know the risks that they could face while working and there are they they should be allowed to agree to those the third red flag is that what are we teaching our students that we value politics more than safety what are we teaching all of
042my teachers i know that all of my teachers would be telling me my math teacher would say look at the numbers my science teacher would say look we can see the virus we know how it spreads my history with teacher would say let's look at history let's learn from our mistakes the plague of the plague of justinian they didn't know how to quarantine they all died there was no one left to die the black plague they quarantined and so they they had they saved you know some of themselves but now we can see the virus we even know what it is and how it spreads why don't we just do something if testing is if we're in the bottom 14 states for testing why don't we just like do something else to help accommodate for
043lower funds for testing we can do something else and i believe in this i know that we can do something so um another study the npr said was that um asymptomatic they tested um five-year-olds and asymptomatic five-year-olds could carry a hundred times the viral load that um severe cases of adults could so it's not that they're getting sick but they can spread it they have the capability to spread it thank you thank you miss wells leslie gilmart i'm sure i didn't pronounce that right i was like oh good my name is leslie gilmart and i'm an instructional coach in scifire isd we educators in scifire isd we want this pandemic to end we want to safely return to our school buildings but unfortunately folks haven't done what they needed to do to bring our virus
044rates down enough for it to be safe we have to abandon wishful thinking for data-driven thinking the bedrock of educational decision-making we will have to make brave inconvenient and expensive choices data-driven choices for the safety of students staff and our community some data for you it's already been stated that our positivity rates well exceed what health officials deem safe for reopening school buildings and in the last two weeks of july nearly a hundred thousand u.s children tested positive for covid our cfisd has seen hiccups this summer in our programming in our sac camp in staff members being quarantined and not being able to offer face-to-face summer school what has changed that makes it safe for us to go back into buildings in september what makes sense to do according to the data is offer teachers
045remote professional development so that as many of us as possible are healthy on the first day of school why risk infecting people before then and this helps our support staff who are on campus because having fewer people in the building keeps those people well uh as well also masks reduce transmission and we know little kids can carry the virus can get sick from the virus and can transmit the virus why aren't masks required for students under 10 years old in this district face shields are not sufficient because the particles can get through gators are not sufficient we need masks for everybody all the time my family followed all the guidelines from our health officials for five months and now we are all being forced back into buildings because my husband and i are both employed
046by this district and our children are both students my kindergartner and fourth grader can wear a mask all day thank you mask thank you very [Applause] much tara cummings good evening i'm dr tara cummings and i am a parent and community member um at the last board meeting i shared with you some very preliminary results of an anonymous online survey um that we shared via social media and we've now surveyed a thousand and six cfisd staff members i sent the updated data to you in an email earlier today so i hope that you have the opportunity to take a look at that essentially the data that i shared earlier it's just gotten worse staff are more afraid than they were before they are experiencing worse and more new and worsening mental health and physical concerns
047and they do not feel that you've been transparent or have communicated openly with them they do not trust you and they feel disrespected by you you claim that you care about staff members and that their safety is a priority though you have a funny way of showing it that lack of transparency communication and collaboration does not convey an attitude of respect or regard for faculty and staff if you do in fact care about staff members and i sincerely hope that you do you need to do a much better job of showing it no one should be forced to choose between their life and their livelihood but that's precisely the position in which you've placed faculty and staff sure they could use their leave but they shouldn't have to sure they could resign or retire but
048they shouldn't have to and what will happen to their educator certification should they make the excruciating choice to resign at this point they are in a precarious position not simply because of the non-choices that you have provided with them in the midst of a deadly pandemic but also because of fear of retaliation from administrators and district leaders should they speak out and stand up for their rights and yet many of them are here tonight doing just that they're in the parking lot doing just that and i want to applaud and come in and thank all of you for doing that i also want to amplify your voices and your demands because we belong to each other to protect faculty and staff i'm calling on the district to provide all staff members the option of at
049home virtual professional development to direct hr to work with faculty and staff to find real accommodations beyond taking leave or resigning to begin in-person instruction only when doing so alliance with local and national health guidance and to ensure in writing that the district will not take any actions against the certification of educators thank you dr cummings thank you gabriella kopp good evening uh my name is gabriella corp i'm a teacher in this district i'm a parent uh i'm a lot of things on top of it i'm a cancer patient i'm one of those people that right now are terrified to go back in the classroom why i'm a scientist i read science and i'm gonna give you just a very very simple math so there is a new strain of the virus because this darn
050virus mutated and the one that's most prevalent right now it's eight times more infectious that means our knot is roughly 44.8 which means one asymptomatic carrier can infect 44.8 people in 24 hours we go to school my school has over 4 000 people in the building first day school you have an asymptomatic carrier no symptoms no nothing doesn't get tested because why next day we have forty others the next day we have sixteen hundred day three we have sixty four thousand let's say infectivity rate is five percent which is the most ideal situation where everybody wears masks everybody washes hands we have hepa filters in the ventilation system in the school that's roughly 300 people in my school can we afford that i don't think so i don't think educators teachers are expandable because i
051don't know how many of you are like me but you can't find qualified dedicated teachers a dime a dozen there's no such thing i i'm i really want to go back to my classroom i miss my kids i've been working online with them since right after the the spring break i've been teaching them actually my last zoom meeting was yesterday because i have a team of students that wanted to do a summer research project so i'm i've been working with them all this time and some of you you might get the email for invitation for the presentation because it's a national program but please i beg you think about us i don't want to go in the school right now i'm a single parent who's gonna take care of my kids if something happens to
052me so what i beg you is follow the science send us back to school only when it's safe for everybody thank you my name is laura wynn and i have been teaching in cypher isd in social studies for 18 years i'm also a parent to two cfisd students i'm very excited to get back in the classroom actually um and teach because number one i'm healthy uh and number two i have faith in god i'm putting my faith in god however my biggest issue that i would like to address today is the lack of communication and the lack of transparency to the teachers and parents you made promises to parents me included obviously and you made you refuse to explain or give any direction or details as to how to fulfill your promises we have to
053wait until our three weeks of pd to plan that's not nearly enough time to be able to plan because we're going to be sitting in meetings for so much of that professional development it also takes five minutes of every five minutes to create one minute of quality instruction this not three weeks is not enough time even to get ready for two weeks of the first two weeks the school board has provided no solid plan for cases of coven 19 in the schools you state that the area most heavily trafficked by that individual will be cordoned off but in middle school and high school kids they're going between eight you know seven and eight periods a day locker rooms cafeteria etc it's not a feasible plan okay and so what is the real plan for positive
054cases at what point do you um do you close the campus we need actionable plans most especially posted online we're forced to quarantine uh or if we are forced to quarantine as some has already had to do in cypher isd will we not have to use our own personal sick days what about your life skills teachers and paraprofessionals they work one-on-one with kids with no shields that puts them at the highest risk please post online how you plan to protect those students and teachers what about paraprofessionals with major health conditions that put them at the highest risk of death if they can track the virus those are the most financially at risk individuals because of their low pay we cannot afford the district help they many can't afford the district health care uh much less
055quitting uh to be able to protect themselves please protect our underpaid paraprofessionals will teachers be required to cover classes okay i'm just asking for action posted actionable plans online thank you stacy good evening my name is stacy hunter and i'm a concerned resident within the sci fair school district currently the infection rate of covert 19 in the zip code of 7749 is not 5 not 10 not 15 but 18 i'm asking that the board immediately reverses already decided on vote and mandate virtual learning for all students and teachers until covert 19 levels recede to medical specialists recommended levels of 5 or below after listening to all of the local and national news reports regarding school openings i couldn't help but to come and speak my mind regarding this matter in support of teachers that can't
056say what they really want to say for fear of losing their jobs my reason for speaking it is because it seems though the decision makers within the sci fair school district continue to express their concern for students their concerns for parents but absolutely no concern whatsoever for teachers the teachers have absolutely no say-so regarding the decision of teaching person or virtually my first question to the board why is that here's the problem with infection levels as high as 18 a few students might die several teachers are going to die my next question to the board how many teachers have to die from covert 19 before you the board say maybe we should go virgil since teachers are now dying from covet let's face it it's a fact parents will definitely be inconvenienced if you allow
057teachers to teach virtually however unlike the teachers parents lives will not be in jeopardy while their children will still receive a quality education and the teachers get to live before this meeting is over change the decision board change the decision now let the country know let governor abbott know that not only the sci fair sci fair is different not only does sci fair care about the student's education but side fair is a safety first educational institution that cares about all of its employees especially its teachers thank you very much rachel rile rachel riley hello i'm rachel rile and i work at jersey village high school this will be my 12th year as a high school math teacher and i came here tonight because the changes in the policy have not happened the way that all
058the teachers i believe really would like it to happen i know there are teachers that um you know want to go back in person but we want that the ability to have that decision um there are many teachers i know who have uh major health issues and their lives are at risk and i think that you know another person stated the 97 000 students uh tested positive in just the last two weeks of july 338 000 students of children have tested positive since the beginning of this virus in just the united states those numbers cannot be changed and they're only going to get worse and i know you guys are really put to the test here and there's no good answer i get it i know everybody is really mad and upset and and i
059get that you're in a really hard position here and there is no right and wrong answer to this but do you want to be remembered for the teachers and the children that have died because of your bad decisions that's that's all i have to say nikki cowart good evening superintendent henry board members and sci-fi teachers and staff my name is nikki cowart president of the scifir aft from the beginning of the pandemic cypherryft members have been focused on engaging administration in productive discussions around safe reopening teachers and staff have told us three things one they miss their students and want to get back to in-person teaching when it's safe secondly they are very concerned about their health and safety of both themselves their students and their colleagues and third they are increasingly alarmed about the
060lack of answers and support from their administration when they bring valid health concerns or ask well-meaning questions we know you are in a difficult situation we know that governor abbott and the ta are attempting to coerce our district to full in-person reopening as it seems however you do have decisions under your control that could all make us safer tonight we're concerned that forcing all cypher isd teachers even those with pre-existing health issues will lead to covid19 outbreaks and worsen teacher shortages when students can return to school the district has just a few days to change course and get this right teachers should have the individual choice to participate in august professional development whether it be in person or virtual virtual if they do not feel safe our own polling shows that about 60 percent of
061teachers want the virtual option but 35 percent said that they would do in person pd we should respect their professional judgment at last thursday's board meeting we heard the district will work with employees on medically certified accommodations yet our union is hearing staff are still being told return to work or resign and that is unacceptable when we closed out the school year in june the district was effusive in their praise of our cypher teachers and staff as heroes and i agree now we have a chance to protect the health of these heroes and still get ready for a school year focused on learning okay hi i'm pearla kohler i'm an activist and i'm also a combat disabled veteran from the navy and i'm outraged that i signed on the data line and i went to
062go to a combat zone these children these teachers did not sign to be put in such a risk that their lives can be taken away i have lots of teacher friends who are crying because now they have to write a will in case well they were encouraged to write a will because there is a chance that they might die because a lot of teachers they're older and i will say teachers i'm not a teacher but if it wasn't for teachers i wouldn't be where i was right now i didn't have a great upbringing and those teachers changed my life they gave me a positivity that i never had teachers are the most undervalued underpaid and just why are we doing this to this these are crazy policies at first we're going to put guns on
063them to protect from the shootings but we wouldn't take guns away and now we're going to risk it because of politics abbott failed miserably dan patrick fell miserably and you guys disabled veteran ptsd and everything of the sorts and i can't even imagine what these children are feeling to have to go to school and this you all do realize that putting them in a trauma see they're gonna die one of their teachers is going to die and they're going to live with that and they're going to remember all your faces mark henry bob covey mrs fletcher jackson and is that what you want to be known as i'm a veteran crying to you right now these children these teachers deserve to be appreciated and their lives matter and what happened to all the lives matter
064where are those people guess what their lives matter too and this is ridiculous i will fight and i did fight i went to combat on the t-80 which means i did it voluntarily i wanted to come back to a country that values its citizens because i fought for them you need to fight for them this is ridiculous you have the ability and the control to protect them [Applause] sherry frank hi my name is sherry frank i teach at cypress falls high school i have 27 years teaching and i've banked 186 days so clearly i love my job i love my school my coworkers even my administration they are awesome but most of all i love my students and i want to be in the classroom teaching those kids i want to be after school making
065theater magic and all i ever hear is we're thinking about the students well who is out there thinking about us the teachers the paris the custodians and all those employees with underlying issues it doesn't feel like anyone is thinking about us many of us are not from economically gifted campuses that puts us more at risk many of us kept our family safe for five months including my 86 year old mother and now if we get this at school somehow or other it's our fault and we're not covered by workers comp i can get shot and i can slip on a coat hanger and i'm covered by workers comp but not if i get coveted 19 and get sick and or die i don't know why this is happening we are not covered by anything you're
066sending us into a dangerous work environment as cannon fodder for an enemy we can't even see to promote your optics and your politics so unless you all sign up as substitute teachers that makes you the general sitting safely behind the front lines counting casualties without having to accept responsibility or culpability and believe me it's an if not a when you can say i was ordered to by our president by our governor by tea i had no choice it's not my fault well the history of cfisd will be the judge and we all of us know where that indictment will fall [Applause] john rosenthal howdy y'all i'm john rosenthal i'm the texas state representative for house district 135 that's this district right here and i did come tonight to commend you for the resolution condemning racism
067down for that that's good there's no way that any of us can sit in this room and not be moved by this testimony we have to listen to the people that are speaking to us and it's not just the emotional part so i'm obviously very emotional but i'm a mechanical engineer and i believe the way out of these difficult situations is to follow the science so you know i never script but i'm going to read to you from the american association of pediatricians this is their guidance and they say returning to school is important for the healthy development and well-being of children but we must pursue reopening in a way that is safe for all students teachers and staff science should drive decision making on safely reopening schools public health agencies must make recommendations based
068on evidence not politics we should leave it to the health experts to tell us when the time is best to open school buildings and listen to educators and administrators to shape how we do it i rely on you and i know that you guys are committed to these people and i have my faith and trust in you please please follow the science listen to your constituents thank you so much [Applause] sherry fricke hello my name is sherry fricke i appreciate this opportunity opportunity to address the board i am a special education teacher for scifire isd the expectation of my campus is for all staff to gather in attendance as a group on august 14th in the cafeteria i recently had a surgery for lung cancer with m.d anderson and am still under their care it
069is well known that covet has detrimental and long-term effects on the respiratory system among other organs in the body gatherings at this time regardless if it is with adults or students is very risky and puts all of our lives in a very dangerous position my question to you is is it reasonable to jeopardize any of our lives much less mine for the sake of staff and students returning to the classroom we understand there should be a vaccine coming out in the near future however presently covet 19 is not under control and is rapidly rising in houston texas as well as other states the news has repeatedly shown people who have stayed home and only attended one mass gathering such as a funeral getting covered 19. it is a highly contagious and dangerous disease to be
070gambling on as we go back to campuses in a school in georgia the day after a picture was taken of kids in a hallway changing classes nine people tested positive for covid virtual learning is the safest and most considerate option at this time actual lives in the lives of the ones we live with is literally what you all are making decisions on and i ask why when we have an option other than meeting in groups as staff and face-to-face contact with children one life cut short is one life too many when you have other choices you can make to protect the people of this community in my opinion literally putting our lives in jeopardy especially those who are high risk such as mine is not justified for reasons such as funding or political issues thank
071you megan brennan reece good evening um there's been a lot said um and i don't want to belabor the points but i do just kind of want to clarify a couple of things that are really really important to the teachers and people that work in the district please give teachers the option to work from home based on family or health concerns especially during the pd week please direct hr to work with teachers and staff to find accommodations beyond taking leave or reassigning for those with the medical need please have all students begin learning virtually and teachers given the option to teach virtually at home or at school on september 8th if our county is still in the red and the spread of the virus is not contained based on recommendations from the harris county health
072department please ensure that i return to in-person class is only implemented when it can be done safely and appropriately and when it aligns with the guidance from local health officials who follow advice from the scientific community please ensure that all staff have access to an abundance of sanitizing supplies such as sprays paper towels soap and hand sanitizers and that it is expected that all students and staff are required to wear masks at all times except lunch keep six feet social distancing and that the campus has procedures in place for mask violations and contact tracing we know that there's a incredible amount of pressure that everyone is under and that there are no easy answers but please try to keep us safe brian um first i want to say that i stand in solidarity with all
073of the teachers and community members who have spoken about a need to reopen safely like i spoke last week i want to address specifically racism in scifire isd this week i'm asking the board make a plan to address these specific issues more transparently and more forthcoming a signing no place for hate commitments and saying we're going to audit the impact of racism racism in our district is a start but for this current school year with our current students and staff these actions are only ceremonious if they don't affect students on day one of the semester then the board may indirectly say that black lives matter but it's lip service if they're not addressing the needs of our black students with urgency the board can tout our high latino population for funding needs during the legislative
074session but if you're not allocating these funds and ppe and resources proportionally to those communities we are not serving them racism is thriving in scifire covid is thriving inside here that is not a coincidence we need an actionable an actual plan to address how that impacts our students this school year how do we keep them safe from a pandemic how do we keep them safe from discriminatory discipline policies and from the racism that from the racism they will experience in our schools a lot of us think that racism is just using a derogatory word but it is so much more than that it is stomach and it's the fact that the majority of the schools in scifire that are title one that are in covid hotbeds are black and brown schools it's the fact that
075even though the majority of students are black and brown the majority of teachers and admin are not we need a board who is going to model anti-racist mindsets it's not okay to just be racist you need to be anti-racist and working on that and we need to hold every single employee to also be anti-racist i'm calling on the board to specifically include their plan to address racial disparities within their safety plan to reopen schools and specifically how that pertains to hispanic and black students we have a right to know how you are actually bringing opportunity to all these meetings are done completely in english are you captioning them in spanish is it accessible to our spanish-speaking parents how can i how can i communicate with them what's happening on the board when you're making decisions
076about the lives of their family thank you good evening my name is ashley dodd i'm a teacher and a parent here i'm here to implore this board to listen to teachers as you have this community i have three children none of them will be returning to school my youngest lilly has a very weak immune system last year she had the flu three different times in a severe case of rsv to list a few since june return restrictions went from 10 feet apart and everyone wearing masks to three feet and went feasible on almost every line be honest with parents these aren't guidelines they're suggestions when are you going were you aware that if my students don't wear a mask but i do there's a 70 chance they're going to give it to me professional development
077can be done virtually at home versus going in and doing it in the building but still virtually give staff the choice why risk my life when it's not necessary you have already quarantined two campuses and it's only admin there tea states that all students must have a device to offer virtual only instruction and still receive funding other districts are doing it and they have admitted not all of their students will have devices yet so they're issuing one computer per household until they can get more health experts suggest not to have class on both the national and local level unless the rate is five percent or less you make in-person classing glamorous but to be honest it's not going to be students won't sit together at lunch there won't be group projects no sharing what about
078their mental health if someone on campus dies what about the instability created when children are constantly changed teacher to teacher every time a teacher is quarantined because there are no substitutes to fill the spots i ask that this district as other districts have return online only and reassess as october nears for the safety of everyone when did teachers and staff become so expendable when in the spring we were all such heroes contrary to what some of you may believe in march buildings may have closed but school didn't stop staff made hundreds of phone calls sent countless emails and had numerous zoom sessions we continued to rise up we continue to serve our students and those families i close and asking you how much how much are the lives of this community and staff worth to
079all of you if i were to die due to reopening suggestions that you have laid out are you going to tell my three children and my husband that you're sorry that my life was just the cost of reopening you all were willing to make thank you terry harold terry harrell hello my name is terry harrell i am a special education teacher it's been 11 years that i've been in this district teaching i've loved it i love my district i love my kids i love the school that i work at but i have to tell you that it's a little bit overwhelming as i think about all of the data and we've heard so much data here tonight you drive on the freeway and you see these blaring signs as i drive home to go see
080my 85 and 82 year old parents code red stay home stay safe and yet then i prepared to come into the classroom and i think to myself well i hear all of this data about hospital beds i know that the that all of phase one is full we're into phase two two percent right now according to tmc so am i going to get a hospital bed if i need it am i going to be one of those people that have to wait out in the hallway if i should need it i hope to god i don't but what if i do in the last 72 hours texas has had over 20 000 new cases we're only bested by california and florida i know in texas we like to be number one but thank goodness we're
081number three but this is the environment that we are opening this school in this district i am bombarded by headlines and i want to just turn it off i read about 300 children in texas and day cares that have caught covet 19 and i know that there are 307 children but there's 643 staff that means it's two to one two to one staff to children right here in texas in this experiment that we have had for our day cares in our camps mississippi 116 people in quarantine i see that headline georgia's schools they're already having to close down schools and of course everybody's talked about the latest headline from august 10th where we have 97 000 children that are already infected so i say to you this is an experiment and i don't want to
082be a part of it and i implore you to please do not make me be an experiment because hisd is not going face to face until october 16th you do have that choice you have the choice please don't make us do it [Applause] good evening i am a parent of a sci-fi student he's a senior he wants very much to be back in school with his contemporaries for his final year of high school we want that for him as well but we have concerns concerns that i expressed in an email to the district but it has not received a response my concerns lie in the following the district allowing parents to change the selection process for their students education on a periodic basis so in other words we had to make our selection of whether
083it's going to be in person or virtual we've made those selections is the district going to allow the parents to change those selections on a i don't know semester basis monthly basis quarterly basis etc how well will the district enforce the guidelines masks social distancing for the on-campus attendees i'm hearing whisperings amongst these kids that they already know that the masks are not going to be enforced they know this how does the district intend to avert a problem someone's already mentioned this like what happened has happened at north paulding high school in georgia that picture got out that that student took of them in the hallways in their in their passing where they were just shoulder to shoulder as it normally is and they've already had what a couple several cases of covid and things
084like that are going to occur there are going to be outbreaks as soon as you open these schools and you know that you're going to have those the linchpin i think is that as soon as covid occurred the schools shut down in march right around the time of rodeo everybody remembers that what's changed a lot has changed for the worse but you're opening and i don't know that that makes a whole lot of sense so i think that a lot more consideration needs to be given to this we will now proceed with the board comments portion of the agenda any board member may make a comment during this portion of the agenda without prior posting being required comment items may not pertain to the character of any students staff or board member and may not
085be discussed or deliberated upon at this meeting we're going to start on this side over here mr serabia you're up yes um welcome everybody to our meeting august meeting and uh we welcome your input at least i do so and i'm sure everybody else does too thank you for taking your time being out here um going back on the month here um it's been quite the um different type of what we probably have been through in our lifetime but i don't see it changing in the near future and stuff it's going to be it could be different from this week to next week and the following week and it could be different for weeks to come it can be different in the month it's going to be ongoing changes and it's something that we're going
086to have to deal with in administration i guarantee you has your well-being even though you may take it hard to believe it i i wholeheartedly know that they do and stuff so um mr cepeda uh for the uh um past month we've had uh summer um athletics going on and off with the cobid and hindrance there we had uh participation i'd like to uh congratulate those kids for coming out and and giving all effort they have for the summer and also other uh related issues we get daily updates on various um ongoings throughout the district and they're trying their best to uh get on board and i congratulate them on getting out there and hopefully listening to the science but yet not letting the covet dictate everything that you can or can't do there's a
087lot of mixed feelings in the community right now and throughout the country and that's something that's going to be tough on everybody i want to wish the administration uh dr henry uh the very best on ongoing issues uh that will be here throughout the fall fall season looks like and i uttered the word patience over and over and i'll keep doing that um usually it's a this is a time of what we've done during the month and feel good moments right now it doesn't seem like like a lot of feel good moments at this time but um i'm sure there there are going to be some in the future and yes we do believe that there is a problem and we're not shedding our our eyes towards anyone i've stated thursday i think i had
088five funerals all covet related in the last week and a half so i understand where we're at and uh what we're going through but um again prayers to everybody and unfortunately i don't have a lot of good stuff to say right now after everything so bob go ahead thank you sir mr jackson the bulk of tonight's meeting will be talking about the twin viruses that are reflecting our country neither of them are going to go away anytime soon both of them will be here next year both of them will be here the year after that i would mention byron williams dr rowe out of las vegas you know dr o could tell us about a storm that lasted three days in a shipwreck and those who came off the boat but i think instead i
089will mention my dad career army combat veteran heavily decorated he was part of the reverse integration project in the army in korea meaning when he walked into that mess tent he was the only white man in the entire tent that was purposeful the comment he made to me and he and like most combat veterans of world war ii he was a man of few words he said son remember we all bleed red we all go to sleep at night when i was a little kid i found a cigar box in the garage it was full of metals some belong to my dad some belong to his kid brother there was a silver star in there too and i said dad you must be very brave you're a hero and he said no son i was
090scared almost all the time i woke up scared i went to sleep every night scared we just did what we had to do and those thoughts i carry with me some of you know i'm a stage four survivor i still have active cancer i pray for those of our teachers and staff who have cancer now these are hard times but they are always hard times and i would say i would pray for dr henry and her senior staff as well as for the teachers there are no good answers we will follow the law our flexibility we push to the bounds but our complete flexibility is in fact limited by the law and so we do have constraints and we must remember those constraints i certainly as gilbert said i appreciate everybody coming out both last
091week and this week and i know that you will continue to speak and you should and i mentioned when i went into treatment six years ago and i knew they said 50 percent can make it two years i knew what that meant i stayed as a board member and i asked senior management please make accommodations and senior management did we had teachers throughout the district with cancer none lost their jobs they were all frightened that they would lose their jobs immediately none did many came back after treatment and the scifire family welcomed them as a board we have asked for accommodations not all can have accommodations we do have to teach our students and not all choices are ours but i do appreciate everybody coming out tonight thank you bob thank you mr jackson ms
092blachcher i just want to appreciate and the teachers that have come forward and spoken tonight i appreciate your concerns and they are certainly duly noted um i also appreciate uh for the teachers and the viewing audience that may not be here but that i've also heard from that are ready to go back to work to be in the classroom and i appreciate them as well to our seniors our incoming seniors i want to say to you that we are going to strive to make your senior year [Music] as positive as we can i know for the seniors last year that that recently graduated it was an unusual into their senior year and our incoming seniors are going to have an unusual start to their incoming year and i pray that they will be able to
093in that final semester have a more normal look to their school year i certainly wish i had a crystal ball and i could predict the future i can't so whenever i have tough decisions to make i i trust the god whom i have my faith in to lead me in those dir in in those decisions and that is what i've done all throughout this and i will continue to do this and i will continue to pray for our teachers our staff our students each school year as i have done in the past and i pray that the things that we are most um anxious about will not uh be our reality thank you thank you ms black shirt dr o i do want to thank all who spoke on tonight as well as on on
094thursday night and i do also even though our main concern has been on the opening of schools i'm thankful that we've had citizens who have spoken upon our resolution and the racial issue that we must deal with here in this district um and that is encouraging um it is something that uh as we look tonight is just a start but we know that we have much work to do i believe that we are fit for the task and will do it um i've shared with others that i have two years left to serve on this board and i definitely want to make sure that uh that when i finish my uh time uh that that issue uh has at least been dealt with in a significant way even though i know that it's going to
095take a lot of time a lot of conversations a lot of brutal honesty and a lot of evaluations and a lot of change we're faced tonight also with a decision that in a situation that none of us desired i've served over 15 years on this board and i have never had to make a decision that is so heartfelt and critical to the health safety and educational achievement of our students our decision and we are trying to support the administration dr henry and his administration has great ramifications and i think much of which are really beyond our control i i think we have a great uh board we have a great superintendent in an administration i think all of our concern is for uh the students uh well-being our teachers our custodians our food service personnel
096our administrative personnel we really have uh i believe a genuine concern for all but we're forced to shoulder everyone's concerns and needs the approach has been to survey our parents and we've had 38 of our parents say they want their children in class 43 that said virtual and we still have some that we have not heard from so this this is not a simple issue or solution i i think to the administration's credit they have really tried to come up with a workable solution um but i think we should all remember and think about how we've been put in this very uncomfortable situation uh in opening our schools uh and as the situation is due as someone addressed this but still put pointed to our board but it is due to our political leaders in
097this state who have put politics over science thought about this here we are as a school district focusing upon education and we've been for years promoting stem and the essence stem stands for science and we've been told to ignore science ignore science for business and we've been told that as if one doesn't affect the other we've been presented with a false dichotomy and there's a national pandemic and you all many of you have given all the rapes and the figures and the numbers but we are being forced to act as if science doesn't matter and science matters but what i want you to understand tonight is that elections also matter and locally i think you're right but the people who hold office have put all districts across this state the over 1 000 districts in
098this position the governor lieutenant governor that our state attorney general have this board and others dealing with this quagmire and they've been following the position from washington and not focusing upon what's best for texas and we have in texas over 5 million students so it's it is something that um i want you to know that we're we we're really wrestling with and and we want to do what's best we've gone from our seniors being expendable to now wondering if ours children are expendable and i speak this as a grandfather who has grandchildren in this district and so as much passion and as you've uh given us tonight i want you to know uh i believe we've all heard we've all felt but we have done a survey and we're going to have to see uh
099what we can do and i'm i'm assured of this fact that if the numbers uh rise if they keep escalating that we will do the right thing we will do the right thing for our teachers our staff as well as our children um i promise you that thank you thank you dr oh miss hanuman i've been honored to serve as a trustee on the cypher isd school board for just over a year and it seems like a lot longer but it's just been a little bit over a year and while i knew there would be a steep learning curve i didn't know it was gonna be such a roller coaster and unlike one of our new principals i'm not a big fan of roller coasters i definitely want the stability and security of having my
100feet flat on the ground for the three years leading up to my election to this board last year i attended almost all of the board meetings over those three years sitting in the audience just like many of you all have are tonight i was participating as an interested citizen and a parent of cypher isd students i am a glass is half full kind of person and i appreciate so much that you are here as an engaged constituency and i think that's one of the very positive things to come out of this current situation that so many more people want to be aware and interested and involved in how and why decisions are made by your elected officials and engaged constituency and active voters are critical components of our democracy much like public education which is
101the cornerstone of our democracy please know that we the word and dr henry and the administrative team hear you we read every email every letter we read the comments on social media please know that when folks say they are doing this or they are doing that that they is we we are parents and grandparents of students we are parents of teachers right i look at so many of the administrators and their children are teachers their grandchildren are teachers teachers are parents and grandparents themselves of students we are all connected we are friends and neighbors with teachers and nurses sorry and bus drivers sorry so it's not us versus them or you versus us we we're going to get through this together as a board we've tried to give parents choices parents like myself choices for
102what we feel is best for our children and their speci in our specific situation as families for employees the district has tried to give choices where it could while still meeting the requirements placed on us by the federal government our state governor and the texas education agency providing in-person instruction for students who do not have access to technology is a requirement that comes directly from the governor it also happens to be the right thing to do another example that i've read about is the concern about the attendance requirement for online learners that also comes directly from the ta and we are held accountable for that offering one-to-one technology for students is critical for us to provide virtual learning opportunities for our students i am sorry that we do not that we did not implement that
103strategy sooner when we are not in a crisis situation and competing for computers and hot spots with the rest of the country so that we would have had more options and more flexibility and more experience before now when we're in this crisis i am very glad that we're now working towards that goal of one-to-one access and know that will absolutely have a positive impact for our students and their families thank you to all the departments who are working so hard on that effort that's such a huge project and it's going to have such a positive impact on our students and their families so i appreciate i know there's so many people involved in that transportation our it group the berry center folks even nutrition services everybody's working so hard on getting those computers into the
104hands of our students because only by that effort will we be able to do all online learning because if we don't have access for all of our kids we're going to leave some behind if we go all virtual some kids will not be able to keep up with us so we can't do it until we they can all keep up and have the same opportunities as others with over sixteen thousand employees which includes seven thousand six hundred teachers cfisd is one of if not the largest one of the largest employers in our area we do not take that responsibility lightly so many families rely on our school district for their financial security several years ago i took paid leave from my job to care for a family member who was ill and living with me
105and my husband contrary to what has been shared on social media the district is also trying very hard to provide paid leave to employees the district is also following federal and state laws i encourage any employees with questions to please reach out to your supervisor or hr with questions and for assistance i urge hr to respond with clarity and compassion so that all employees feel heard appreciated and understood and that they understand their options if employees are denied leave they must understand why and how else they can be supported in their jobs so that we can keep our best teachers at my current jobs i wear a mask every day even when i'm working in the warehouse or outside my kids have not seen their grandmother since march and have a very limited contact with
106her friends as i am that mom enforcing social distancing as much as possible these are some of the choices our family has made to try to keep ourselves and others safe while this board may not always agree with each other and we cannot make everybody happy with our decisions especially in this current situation please know that we are 100 percent focused on our core mission our purpose which is to provide an exceptional education to all 118 000 students who live in our district all of them that purpose is implemented thanks to the incredible efforts of teachers and nurses and paras and bus drivers and nutritional services and technology folks and counselors and our psychologists facilities maintenance and architects and administrators who all care about our students and about each other i mentioned that i'm glad
107to see so many people interested in the board meetings and i really do believe i do mean that seeing the signs outside and the emotion behind them has an impact i hope that same passion will come out again when our elected state officials reconvene in january for the upcoming legislative session they only meet we meet once a month twice a month and you're welcome to come to our meetings and come talk to us state officials meet once every two years and they only meet for a short period of time and during that time they set a state budget that we have to live with for two years and we're at the tail end of that now with the reduction in state revenues there's a very good chance that public education will be cut last time
108we had a recession like we're in now public education lost five billion dollars in funding and jobs and programs were cut across the state including in scifire isd i hope we can bring the same passion and energy and fight for our schools and for our students and for each other when it comes time to go to austin i will be happy to meet you in austin with my signs speaking of science i saw a sign about the county about following the county orders and i i just want to share that we need to take signs down to the county too we need to go stand outside those offices too because the communications we've received talk about accommodating families who lack internet access and devices and offer no resources no funding it says we make ourselves
109available to continue these discussions but yet they don't refer return our phone calls and have not met with our superintendent despite multiple requests to do so we need resources and support from other other county and state officials as well the letter also included a suggestion for consultation with local health authorities regarding reopening we've asked for that and have been unable to make those those contacts we need metrics we need to know we talk about numbers we've not been given any guidance from the county on numbers for how do we know when we will close a campus is it one case is it a percentage of students of population we don't know because we we don't have the collaboration and we don't have the guidance so know that we're doing the very best we can but
110we need to make those data driven decisions when we have data and we have real guidance finally i'll wrap it up the current national coronavius coronavirus crisis has amplified issues within our society like reliable access to the internet food and security affordable health care access to child care mental health the value of public education and more public schools are expected to provide solutions to many of these challenges why is that why don't other organizations have the same expectations why does public school support and public school funding not reflect these incredible expectations thank you thank you miss heinemann thursday and tonight we had some amazing comments before the board i am extremely proud to look out there and see that we have such a large attendance and i believe in our overflow room as well as
111well it would be really nice as a board member to look out here at every one of our meetings and see this many people in attendance that are actually interested in what's going on with the board however i must say that i was saddened by some of the comments recently made about our reopening committee just to share there were 32 who served on that committee which is approximately the same size we do for all committees that do what we do within the district there was a combination of assistant superintendents health emergency safety psychological guidance and counseling curriculum principles from elementary middle and high schools four teachers one was a parent also two paraprofessionals extracurricular three students and one more parent in addition administration met with tsta atpe and aft representatives as well as the clc
112committee atpe even asked for an additional meeting which was held and many questions were shared and answered it's highly important that you as our district teachers support staff and administrators understand that this board that was elected to represent the scifir community and serve you as well have a vested interest in you your health and safety while keeping focused on the science fair students and their educational experience if you are not a person who has seen the board out in your schools this board unlike a number of boards and other school districts goes out into the school so that they understand what's going on on with the feet on the floor and the what's happening with the teachers and the principals and everyone else that's involved i must also share that and please remember this during
113public comments in following open meeting rules and regulations we are not permitted to react or to respond to statements being made that's a law the board must adhere to these rules and regulations and only address and discuss agenda items that have been duly posted a side note because there's so many of you want to go full virtual if we cannot furnish enough technology for each of our students then by law we have to offer face-to-face instruction two this is a difficult time for all of us those that don't want to return to work in schools have valid reasons those that want the schools open so their children can return and learn have valued reasons i have two sons and five grandchildren in sci fair two of my grandchildren have asthma their parents have decided they're
114gonna stay home the first six weeks so nine weeks first semester whatever it is the other three are going to school because they don't feel like that they're going to have a problem i think it's all right if we have different thoughts but it is best when those thoughts can come together and find a solution i look at people who are having to work in grocery stores hardware stores hospitals restaurants and i'm one of those that goes in with my face mask on and i do my grocery shopping actually i'm always told i overshot but i go there anyway and the list goes on and on and they are working in similar conditions of being around many many people who may or may not be practicing social distancing can all of you that are against
115this returning to teaching tell me that you have not been in one of those facilities since 2000 since march of 2020 i think it's a question to ask of yourself and i appreciate i totally appreciate the desire and the depth of loyalty that you have to this district right now we are asking for patience flexibility collaborative cooperation but most important teamwork on a side note the state board of education is re-drafting the framework for school board development that has not been touched on for 26 years that that framework is something that will be another guidance that we as a board member board members have to follow whatever they set whatever the state board of education sets we will have to follow that and that is something that is unknown out there you think we're an
116independent school district and we are we try to make as many decisions independently as we can but there are some decisions that we have to follow the rules and regulations especially if we're going to be getting the support of the state and uh the monies the state sends in so we can make your payment your your salaries on a lighter note and i do appreciate y'all being here dave to john would you walk up here where are you dave dave is dave does john in that room back there harry would you look in the room and see if he's back there he's in the side office all right dave you're not in here we're losing dave because he has decided that he wants to go back into the classroom and teach dave has been over
117our tv station for the last five years and does a remarkable job i told him tonight if there was any way i could block him from leaving i'd do it but he has made this choice it is a calling it is a calling he feels very strongly about he will be going into yates high school for hisd and i know those kids are going to benefit come on in dave ah he's going to do it for a man that runs a tv station he's awfully shy oh okay okay but i'm very appreciative of what dave has done and his he has told me it is a calling he feels the calling to go back in the classroom all of you sitting out here teaching is a calling and that's all it is and what you
118do with those students is something that is so highly important to their developmental skills i appreciate each and every one of you thank you all for being here for night we're going to move on on the board but i'm the oldest person on the board and i need to take a five-minute break so dave come in here a minute [Applause] all right five minutes y'all okay thank you all for returning we will now proceed with citizen participation portion of the agenda patrons who duly registered for policy bed local may address the board regarding matters of concern interest to the district other than the character of any student staff or board member the board may not act upon any matter that is not listed under action items portion of the agenda we have no one signed
119up for citizen participation tonight so board we will now proceed to the consensus action items portion of the agenda action items under consent 6a the board will consider approving the minutes of the june 16th 2020 regular board meeting 6b the board will consider approving the minutes of july 7 2020 special call board meeting 6c the board consider approving the minutes of the july 21st 2020 special called board meeting the following non-consensus action items were moved to consensus during the board work session on thursday august 10 2020 the board will consider approving board members to serve as delegate and alternate delegate to the 2020 texas association of school boards tasb del annual delegate assembly 7d the board consider approving on dual reading additions revisions or deletions to district policies one ffh local student welfare freedom from
120discrimination harassment and retaliation revise and i'm going to jump back to 7a and i want to congratulate miss julie heinemann who has been taken as a part of the leadership tasby class for 2021. congratulations julie i'm sure you'll set them straight and we appreciate that a lot 70 the board will consider a request for the tea parent notice requirements for students at risk failure waiver seven if the board consider a request for the tea reading diagnostic instrument waiver 7g the board consider approving the attachment list of facilities for off-campus physical education category 1 for the 2020-2021 school year 7-8 the board consider approving the cfisd connect a synchronous plan as the remote option for the 2020 2021 school year the board will consider seven high the board to consider approving the district instructional material recommendations
121for anatomy and physiology courses so glad don's gone 7j the board will consider approving the issuance of career technology education cte teaching permits to applicants in lieu of standard teaching certifications as established by law 7k the board consider approving the shared service arrangement between cyprus fairbanks isd and region 7 l the board will consider authorizing the superintendent to execute a memorandum of understanding with east carolina university for speech pathology field placement and texas a m university for master's level practicum for school psychology 7 in the board to consider approving construction proposals contracts paid from bond funds to the recommended contractors and authorized the superintendent are designated to execute all necessary documents related to such contracts as follows one 2019 high school band tower replacements two 2019 high school band tower replacements infrastructure three 2019 transportation
122centers propane tank replacement and new fuel dispensing stations four 2019 manske road site improvement package 7-0 the board will consider approving the granting of a water meter easement to cypress creek utility district or water service to belial middle school and authorize a superintendent or designee to negotiate the final terms and execute all related documents 7p the board will consider the approval and execution of the plant for owens elementary school property 7q the board will consider the approval and execution of the replat for perry road section 5 for the maintenance and operations center seven are the board will consider approving the amended and restated declaration of covenants conditions and restrictions for legacy park and authorize the superintendent are designated to negotiate the final terms and execute all related documents 7s the board will consider approving the
123granted of a waterline and temporary construction easement to north harris county regional water authority nhcrwa located along mills road at manske elementary and authorize a superintendent or designee to negotiate the final terms and execute all related documents 17 the board will consider approving the granted of a right-of-way easement to harris county located along mills road at matske elementary school and authorized the superintendent our designee to negotiate the final terms and execute all related documents if any board member wishes to remove one or more items for further discussion please do so at this time if not i will entertain a motion to approve the consensus items as recommended are amended do i have a motion dr o are you trying to get there mr president i i move that the consensus items be approved as recommended
124or amended thank you doctor oversteer do i have a second i second thank you mr jackson and before we vote yes sir since we have a motion on the table with the second yes sir may i ask a question of roy sprague yes you may thank you sir and of course general counsel may stop me somebody send her out for coffee please i like that uh this is the same question that i asked last thursday harold rowe my first year on the board wondered aloud why did somebody always ask the same question twice well i explained that answer harold to linda last week i just need to hear it twice so i can understand it i'm a little slow guys so here's the question roy and i'll go ahead and read it i've asked questions
125about her air quality before the first was after the mold from the ductwork outbreak in a neighboring school district and then again after harvey i asked a basic question immediately after the pandemic hit a week before last the dallas newspaper ran an article intimating schools were not in compliance with the covid19 guidelines as promulgated by the cdc i did a quick search on the cdc website and i could only find a reference to standards pertaining to particular matter from wildfires so my question for you is the following are there guidelines for air filtration as it relates to cobie 19 and if so do you think we're in compliance with those guidelines if there are no specific guidelines is our filtration system in compliance with promulgated guidelines for schools for the safety of students and staff
126like i did thursday night i'll answer the second question first we do have very strict building codes that we're required to adhere to and it does cover uh the number of air changes and required cfm that are required to be designed into our system to bring outside air what we do in our district because we're in the southern part of the hemisphere here in our in the united states we have a very high humidity climate that we work with so we what we do is bring in pre-treated outside air into our system so when we bring that outside air in we're basically taking the moisture out of it and then introducing it into our air distribution systems and that helps maintain a very good high quality indoor air quality environment for our students and our
127our staff members in addition there are some guidelines that have been published by epa and recommendations related to covet 19 and generally we follow quite a bit of those one of their recommendation is increasing the amount of outside air into a building we can do that but we want to do it with pre-treated outside air not just raw outside air because then we're bringing mold and humidity in from the outside air into our building and that would actually create some potential issues for us in our campuses which we don't want to do for our students and staff so what we're looking at is looking at a different filtration system there are recommendations they do mirv 11 to 13. most of our buildings are 8 to 11 and currently we're purchasing merv 13 filters and we'll
128install those in those systems that will allow us to be able to do that as we work with our engineers and architects to make sure those systems are designed to handle that increased infiltration the other thing we're implementing is changing our operating hours in terms of our air conditioning system so we can have more air changes basically flushing out the building so just recent discussions today we decided we're going to run our outside air in our system three hours earlier so we before students and staff arrive so we can flush out the building run it of course through the day and at the end of the day we're going to run it another three hours so we can flush the building out and be ready for the next day and that'll allow our operations team
129to continue their sanitation sanitization process at night as we have set up in our protocols to be ready for the next day we're also cleaning all our air handler unit coils our drain pans as well and the other thing i failed to mention on thursday night is our teams are going around and verifying the operation of all our outside air dampers to make sure they're all fully functional and working so that we can ensure we're maximizing the amount of outside air that we bring into our buildings and roy i want to repeat something i heard because i think it's very important even though you had your policies in place what i just heard you say is that even today you're updating that and i presume that you like the rest of this district will continue
130each day to look and see if anything else needs to be updated or modified absolutely we stay in constant contact with our engineers as to any other updates that come out from ashrae to see if there's any operational parameters we need to change with our systems and we'll make those adjustments accordingly thank you sir for for another thorough and good answer appreciate it uh thank you bob appreciate it certainly okay if there's no more changes or questions i'll take the vote we have a motion by dr ogletree in a second by mr jackson all in favor raise your right hand and that's unanimous thank you the following non-consent action items remained on non-consent the board considered the endorsement of candidacy of darlene bro paige rander for position b and sung position d rose avalos position
131h for the tasby board of directors representing region four i know we're going to have a bit of a discussion because both dr ogletree and i know two different people i will say ann sung is representing hisd and that's a large district so her district chose her and rose avalos doesn't have an opponent so we don't have to worry about those two so i'm going to turn it over to you dr ogitry well i i will and you want to just discuss it or should i put a motion and then should we you want to do a motion first or just discuss it you would need a motion in order to have it okay need a motion all right i'm i'm moved that the board endorsed darlene bro for the uh test tasby board of
132directors do i have a second i'll second that motion we have a motion in a second do we have any discussion yes ms heinemann um i just wanted to share that i have i do know darlene um and i uh respect her as an educator and i would support her in this role and then i have to be a dissenting person because i know paige rander and i know paige has served on the tasby board in a variety of positions not on the board itself but in supplemental positions and sadly this is uh she was only filling out one year and was very hopeful she'd get a full term and i know paige is a a an amazing woman and a leader and i know y'all both know darlene but uh i got to tell
133you paige is she would be my choice because i know her background so we have a motion and a second uh all in favor raise your right hand and that's all but me so i'm saying no and she so we will support darlene bro uh may i have a motion to approve non-consent oh wait a minute we just did that excuse me the board will consider adopting a resolution condemning racism and affirming the district's commitment of opportunity for all presenters are and they're actually going to be dr ogletree miss heinemann mr sarabia dr ogletree thank you mr president of course after the tragic events of the george floyd murder across the country this issue came to the forefront the the new pandemic of racism and we want to acknowledge that in our district we wanted
134to take a stand our we our superintendent henry uh wrote a a letter to the our community on this issue but we thought that as a board that we should make a statement we had an opportunity to do so earlier but we wanted to really not just make or have a resolution that was not well thought out and that we wanted a resolution that we thought would really give us a target and some action items uh to really pursue uh this is something that would be uh board driven and also in cooperation with our uh administration uh but uh uh so we we worked to come up with this and to try to make sure that our statement was clear and that our statement was something that would give our district a target and also
135give those who work in our district and the students in our district uh some hope that change would uh would come and this is what we came up with and i'll let julian gilbert speak yes i like to reiterate dr zoe's sentiments going back on a couple of months when bob you were brave enough to bring up the subject it's not a subject that's easy to bring up it creates uncomfortableness between everybody but it was something that you brought up and that was uh showing good leadership in our project for that we looked at other uh resolutions and throughout the area and we wanted something like dr old sets something with some grit and some teeth on it not only um making this resolution but also with the looking out for our employees also so
136there's uh know that they feel in the comfort and in their workplace and that's should be every american's uh dream of being able to work in that comfort of that knowing that they can speak their voice without some kind of uh retaliation or some such so and then going on with the uh racism and i not naive to think that that doesn't happen it's something that we deal with but do i believe that we're in the throngs of say other areas i really don't uh i think i've been i still deal with high school kids uh and my side uh job there and i can see where children young adults are just learning and they're not saying it for to hurt they just don't know and we want to be somewhere where they can learn
137and thrive going forward um looking at our history and being proud of what we have done and not being shielded for misconceptions and such but um i believe it's something there with teeth and yes it i believe it's needed we need to show leadership and this is an opportune time to go ahead and do this this here and it's a it's a good thing like dr mark said this it's a good thing to do let's do the good thing and that's what we're trying to do here julie thank you president covey for the opportunity to work alongside dr ogletree and mr sarabia in crafting this resolution it was um quite an honor and a learning experience for me i we had some really good discussion and what i appreciate most is that we're focused on
138systems solutions versus just the easy way out as was mentioned earlier that this is a starting point and something to continue to grow and build upon laying the foundation to move our district forward our current board goals already include many aspects of what we want to focus on through this resolution including educational equity for our students um issues surrounding our disciplinary procedures and processes the demographics of our teachers and our leadership ensuring that they reflect the demographics of our students so i feel like this resolution is certainly a positive step to to demonstrate to our community our commitment to educational equity and to addressing systemic racism in our district uh yes and and i i wanted to say again i believe uh that when we focus upon uh those on the bottom and and do
139our darndest uh to raise them up and really live by this opportunity for all then this whole district will will really go up and we'll will reach our goals i'll read it where is the board of trustees of the cyprus fairbanks independent school district the third largest school district in the state of texas deem it necessary for the respect and dignity of our employees students parents business partners and community to promote the tenant prescribed and the declaration of independence being all men are created equal whereas in recent events in our country have brought to the forefront the disturbing issues of racism systemic racism discrimination injustice any inequality these issues go against the motto of our district opportunity for all it is our desire that this motto become ingrained in our culture and behavior so much
140so that sci-fi isd is a district that does not tolerate racism whereas it has been 56 years since the civil rights act of whereas racism systemic racism discrimination prejudice injustice and inequality continue to exist and are antithetical to what sapphira isd strives to be whereas we have an obligation to help shape the lives of our students toward a better america free of racism and systemic oppression now therefore be it resolved that we lead through policy and practice to eliminate racism systemic racism discrimination injustice and inequality in any and all its forms we desire all schools to be no place for hate schools as well as require the study and celebration of the history of all races ethnic groups genders and differences we resolve to engage an outside entity to conduct an equity audit that will
141lead us to develop an equity policy or policies so we can better strive to close the gaps of opportunity and achievement among ethnic groups races genders and those of low socioeconomic status and learning differences further we resolve to encourage our district to be a place for transparent dialogue among our board staff school personnel students and parents on the issue of race and racism and there be no retribution for individuals or groups sharing what is perceived believed or experienced in unity and agreement we vote in affirmation and sign this resolution to be part of our permanent record as a board of trustees thank you dr oh uh can i have a motion to uh i'm we do have it don't we i don't is it late yeah this is bedtime okay uh we have a motion
142and a second does is there any discussion yes i know that there's some discussion i i just want to give my sincere thanks to dr o and to julian to gilbert for the great job they did on crafting this document it's something that that we certainly need to support in our district and our our city our county and our nation and i am thankful for the opportunity to serve with this group of trustees that believe in this and know the importance of what we need to do going forward so thank you all thank you debbie but we did not have a motion you're thinking about the one before no that was the one before so can i have a motion that's okay deb it's late for you too all right can i have a motion
143someone so mr covey i would move that we adopt the resolution as promulgated and as read by dr ogletree thank you do i have a second i second the motion thank you miss hanuman now are there any questions or discussions yes sir mr jackson first i would like to say thank you to the three of you all exceptionally well done you definitely touched on any number of the points that the entire board brought up as a matter of discussion this board works through subtleties we say many things indirectly but they're meant very directly and the three of you all heard that from the entire board and you incorporated those comments which meant you had to be listening and of course that's one of the things that is included in the recommendation i would like to
144add the following amendment board members shall take pertinent continuing education the predicate for this i i laid out when i spoke about it the first time but at one of linda's great rrrs when they used to be in person and i guess they will be again i had no fewer than three principles come up to me and point out on the on the program guide or whisper in my ear suggesting most indirectly that i needed to go to the seminars and so i went one was by dr sharon washington and i bought her book the other was by a lady who came up through the social work side both of these individuals were going to come before us for contracts as consultants for the district and we did in fact hire them and i did
145visit with principals who utilize their services and they were very pleased with their consulting services but it was important for me to go to those seminars for me to gain a better understanding in my role as a trustee and certainly i need all the help i can get folks but but i think that that if we're asking for an equity audit of our staff i would ask that at a minimum we endeavor to to take additional continuing education that's pertinent in this area so that it stays in the forefront of our mind but but also so that we gain a better understanding mr jackson i appreciate that thanks for that amendment i will share with you that ms stewart has taken the name of someone that if y'all did the sli online in june there
146was a group that works with a leaf yes and i turned that over to her and they've already had conversations part of that will be working with the board and so i think that what we'll have from that is a derivative into exactly what you're talking about and that's more education for us as well as for the rest of the district so and deborah am i correct in making that statement okay so if that's acceptable to you then we i think we've got it covered in the we resolve to engage an outside entity to conduct an equity audit that will lead us to develop an equity policy or policies and that would be part of that would that be acceptable to you or not really well you know me bob i always have two answers
147right i have three questions and two answers okay so the short answer is of course it would okay but we're also dealing with perception and reality so we know what it means and we know what's going to happen but we also want the viewing public and the reading public to know what is actually intended my verbiage may not be on target um but i would like some words in there if possible dr ogiltry any thoughts let them i'm just gonna ask if i what i hear mr jackson saying is that even beyond once we finish the equity audit to have to ensure that the uh board trustees would do continuing education uh in this area correct yes okay i just wanted to clarify what i believed i heard you say okay and you know bob
148that would carry over to new people right right right and that's what this you know the public really doesn't want me around here forever that that that's what this should do and i'll also give you a little side note and the state board of education has already added something similar into what they're asking boards to be educated on in that framework so do you do you believe it'll be something that will be done at the tasby level so that we when we attend either uh our summer leadership or other uh conferences that they will have classes for us in this area so that we can get continuing education and i'm not sure the classes will be at that time because i'm not sure when class cutoff is but i know that they have a timeline
149agenda where they have to have this back to the state board of education by the first of september so i would assume that we will have that in hand before the end of september i may be pushing it but that's that's just a side note okay but dr o is there something you think we can do to hire ours i think we could add that a statement uh in that uh paragraph there with the equity audit that our board we uh pledged to engage in and continuing education in the area of of uh equity and bias training something like we could do that okay so do we think we want to add that because we really can't add that tonight is that right marny because that would be can we make an amendment to this
150resolution tonight and we're okay we're still yeah it's so i mean you've got the motion on the floor and then that's the debate and then you can you know it's a friendly amendment and so you can just say you know yeah then so amended and then you can vote on it like that all right so how do we want to state it i think john just did so john was that a motion holly did you hear what john said i was trying to put it here that uh on that paragraph that uh and as a board we pledge they have bought as board members pledged to engage in continuing education in the area of um and i guess in the area of racism discrimination we could use that whole okay that whole uh injustice and
151in in inequality okay we could we could add that open okay marnie another legal question because i kind of wanted us to all sign this at the formal board meeting should we put off the signing until we've got the corrected uh verbiage in here well you've i mean you've made the motion and we can holly can can um you know correct the copy what what's in front of you is just for the agenda item once you make the motion and you amend it we can retype it and have it for you to sign mr ryan had already expressed his um okay you know his support and said that even though he wasn't going to be able to vote on it that he definitely wanted to sign it but he would sign it when he came
152back into town so okay so we have a motion and we have a friendly amendment we need a second on the amendment yes sir we do thank you i left my dummies thing at home okay second thank you all right all in favor of the amendment raise your right hand thank you now we have a motion and a second for the uh the amendment has passed and so now we're back to the original motion which has about the original motion for the resolution i couldn't think of the word okay so we have a a motion and a second all in favor what i still have one more comment you know bob another one okay um and and this one i'm not going to push for but it's kind of a pet peeve we're 52 percent
153hispanic we named our first great port city for a fellow by by the name of galvest who is one of eight honorary citizens in the united states yet the state board of education saw fit to remove him as a person to study and we know that if you aren't specifically mentioned as a person to study that means you won't be tested which means you will be forgotten and it's you know it's just kind of a burr under my saddle all four of our great ethnicities in the school district had a role to play in the creation of our country three of those four ethnicities did so with their lives and that's an important concept but if we're 52 percent hispanic and the leader of one of the leaders of the american revolution recognized by washington
154but also by our congress as being one of the eight most no noteworthy non-citizens and we don't study him i just think that's wrong so i i do have a motion to amend but i won't put it forth but i still think the state board of education ought to bend their ways and i still think this board ought to encourage them to fix their problems [Music] you know if it wasn't for galvest and the spaniards we might still be british subjects well your bur is acknowledged and i feel sure that dr macias is making notes over there now so did we vote yet i forgot okay all in favor of the resolution raise your right hand and it's unanimous thank you very much and we'll sign it in september uh where are we okay uh
1557 m the board will consider awarding bids and contracts and are authorizing purchase orders as recommended in the posted agenda items one assorted food for nutrition services assorted non-food items for nutrition services 2020 three contracted educational services and professional development services four district fundraiser services five roof repair services six software license and maintenance renewal expansion may you have a motion to approve non-consent action items on 7m may i have a motion looking for a motion uh yes sir uh i will move that we approve the non-consent items as enumerated by you sir okay do i have a second second thank you dr elgatree ms blexer mr kobe i will be abstaining from the vote as uh in bed item number one my son jason is an executive officer of one of the country's i mean
156country's country one of the companies being awarded a bid jake's finer feuds okay thank you very much ms blackshire anyone else all right we have a motion in a second all in favor raise your right hand that's the five of us and then one abstinence that wasn't a good word abstaining yeah it's almost nine okay good lord okay seven you the board will consider authorizing the administration to declare certain undeveloped district property as surplus and advertise a property for sale in accordance with state law and board policy i move that the board authorized the administration to declare certain undeveloped district property is surplus and advertised the property for sale in accordance with state law and board policy thank you mr jackson do you have a second a second thank you any questions or concerns all
157in favor raise your right hand and that passes unanimous 7v the board will consider authorizing the superintendent or designee to finalize and execute a purchase and sale agreement for an approximate 16-acre tract directly north of hoover elementary school and negotiate and execute any necessary closing documents contracts easement utility service post closing and development agreements etc this may be discussed in closed session pursuant to section 551.072 they have a motion to go into closed section uh session i move that we go into closed sessions jackson do i have a second thank you very much all in favor raise your right hand and we're going into a closed session you really really hardliners out there if you want to sit and wait we come back you're welcome to it shouldn't take very long but i appreciate all
158of you for being here thank you very much and we're moving into a closed session all right i need a motion to come out of closed session thank you tom a second second thank you julie all in favor say aye raise your hand it's a hundred percent go ahead john do it again may i have a motion yes i move mr president that we uh purchase and execute the documents necessary for the 16-acre track near hoover elementary thank you dr o may i have a second thank you mr jackson uh any questions or discussions all in favor raise your right hand and that's unanimous now we are adjourned [Music] you