001[Music] e [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] laptop now where do I where do I go oh there's a g do we have a speaker list oops time thank you okay good evening I'm calling this meeting to order the time is 5:31 p.m. in accordance with the Texas open meetings act Texas government code chapter 551 this meeting is officially open with the Quorum present we will now move to our pledges which would be led by one of our jrc students pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands all nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all now for the Texas pledge honor the Texas flag I pledge alance to the Texas one State under God one and
002indivisible please be seated please be seated for tonight we recognize our Greers from the Benbrook Middle High School Army jroc these exceptional students selflessly serve the community and School District we thank them for all that they do tonight in attendance we have Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin nor Cadet major Michelle verella Cadet Captain Sawyer sder white Cadet first lieutenant Michael sod kadet Sergeant durin Favre Cadet Sergeant Jacob vaugh Cadet private first class Tatum Barbie and the Benbrook Middle High School Army jrc is led by Master Sergeant Tony Watson let's give them a round of [Applause] applause thank you for joining us this evening this concludes tonight's recognitions thank you students for being here this evening Dr Ramsey we're now ready for the Telos presentation thank you very much at the podium this evening is Dr Gracie
003Guerero one of our associate superintendents who's in charge of emergent bilingual programs and our executive director and they will both be presenting this evening yes thank you uh well I have the pleasure not only of doing the presentation but marking the first presentation at new building so no pressure right I will be working out all the techy King so uh you welcome everyone that follows uh good evening uh president Rodriguez superintendent Ramsey and also our esteemed board members um I I am the proud uh assist associate superintendent of network 3 and like I was stated earlier I do oversee everything that is related to the language acquisition and the access uh to um learning of all of REM Merchant bilingual um students joining me today is Dr Marie mendosa the executive director for emergent bilingual
004services in the audience here with me I also have Miss Valencia ryes who is the um learning and leading executive director who has ongoing collaboration with dror Mendoza and team to ensure that our emergent bilingual students enrolled in for in forward ISD schools have access to a quality Equitable education I want to also thank Sarah re spin team the associate superintendent for accountability and data quality for her partnership in being able to finalize this presentation so today's presentation is the annual Texas English language proficiency assessment system otherwise known as tpas participant results for the spring 2023 Administration the assessment rates the English proficiency of our students who qualify as emergent bilingual or will often uh be able to refer to this programming as EB in the areas of listening speaking reading and writing uh all
005students enrolled in grades Kinder through 12th are required to participate also including those students whose parents declined bilingual or English the second language or ESL services our emergent bilingual e student make up just over 40% of our total enrollment of which approximately 26,000 are generally enrolled in grades Kinder through 12 in the spring semester and participate annually in this assessment system if we look at a deeper breakdown of our emergent bilingual student population uh here in the district we have slightly more more than 50% enrolled of those EB students at the elementary level and also approximately 22% in middle schools and 28% in our high schools so that's the breakdown of where we serve our AB students now um I um uh this is followed by um our executive director Dr Mendoza to continue uh
006with specific about our emerging bilingual students their language Services specifics about the required annual language proficiency assessment and also the spring 2023 outcomes I will then after she goes through the outcomes and the test itself I will conclude the presentation with the summary of current initiatives and also the planned next steps so Dr Mandela so as we continue with the presentation you'll see on the slide that about 91% of the emergent bilingual students in our district have Spanish as their home language their first language and about 9% of our EB students which is just over 2500 speak another language in the spring of 2023 we had about 48 languages represented in our district District that number has since risen to about over 93 languages um this school year but in the spring we had um
00748 languages so where do our students come from so the 91% of our Spanish speakers actually um come from 28 different countries the 2% of our EB students who speak Swahili as their primary language come from about 15 different countries and those are the schools that service those students our arabic speaking students arrive from about 14 different countries and that comprises about 1% of our EB population so let's look further at this whole notion of tpass and what is being assessed with Tass so we're looking at language proficiency and so you see on the side that's green in the VIN diagram that's where we see um students who might have social language um and so that develops pretty quickly so the key here is the development of language proficiency with academic achievement and so that's
008looking at the academic achievement in core content and enrichment courses and meshing those together so we have language proficiency coupled with academic achievement and so our Focus here is looking at what is the academic language proficiency so it's the social language plus the academic language that we are looking at with tpass so we get composite scores those composite scores as Dr Gedo mentioned earlier come from the four language domains listening speaking reading and writing in each of those categories students can be assessed um as beginning intermediate Advanced or Advanced High each one of those four areas has a weight of about 25% and so um students are assessed in each of those domains and then they are given what's called a composite rating and so that's what you see on this screen so the goal
009here is for us to make sure that we're setting language goals for our emergent bilingual in each of these areas so we're not just focused on the assessment at the end of the year but it's coupled with how are we um implementing our English language proficiency standards on a daily basis and then this assessment comes at the end well toward the the end of the year beginning in February um and so this these are the four areas but it's tied to um the elps did I see so what is the goal our goal then is for our students to meet reclassification criteria and so we want our emergent bilingual students to progress one level at a minimum annually so if they are rated beginning in one year it's an expectation that they move up one
010level a year at least until they meet that um exit criteria and part of the exit criteria for emergent bilingual programming is being at the advanced high level on telp pass with their composite score so what does the assessment look like at the various grade levels for grades K and one it's holistically rated by the teacher um in each of those areas for grades 2 through 12 for the first time all four areas were assessed online through an online assessment so that has something that has been something that's been progressing over uh a couple of years but this past year was the first year where all of those domains speaking was the last uh domain to go online but all four areas are assessed online so what do our results look like from the spring
011of 2023 if you will I'll draw your attention to the purple color there um and so you'll see of the 26,000 emergent bilinguals or so who actually participated the sent at each of those levels that were at beginning so of the 26,000 or so students in writing which was an online assessment for the you know online about 28% were're at the beginning level 22% were at the beginning level for reading 29% the beginning level for speaking and then you see the other listening 11 um and then as a composite about 14% of our emergent bilingual students were rated overall at the beginning level so you can see the progression and keeping in mind that our goal is to have our students uh rated at the advanced high level through this now fully online assessment so
012I won't go through all of those but I just went through the example so that you can actually see um how the results come back to us so I want you to remember that this was the first year that all four areas were online and so this um Trend shows you over the last couple of years since 2021 the percent at the composite level overall um we had about this past spring 14% at the beginning level um in 2022 it was 11 and 2021 11% as well so you can see um as we gone through the years and as this assessment has become a fully online assessment the results that we see there so 14% at beginning composite 43% at the intermediate level 34% at the advanced level and 10% at the advanced high level
013and here's just another way to look at that proficiency level by domain so when we look very specifically at listening speaking reading and writing you see each one of those areas there and the trends with the various lines so as a district we had 27% of the 20 6,000 or so students who participated in this assessment be rated improved so what does that mean how do you get that rating as improved remember there are four areas on the tth pass assessment in order for you to be classified in the improved area at least two of the four language domains you need to move up a level so what else does that mean that means you have to be in this part participating for 2 years right in order to show Improvement so they're looking at
014the cohort and as they move up 27% of our 26,000 or so emergent bilingual students were rated improved you see in the red about 20% of our 26,000 or so students actually regressed so what does that mean that means one year they could have been Advanced and then this last spring they were actually moved back to intermediate how does that happen two areas again so it's not that they regressed in one of the four language domains listening speaking reading and writing it had to be at least two of those areas where they took a step back so 20% of our emergent bilingual students took a step back on this assessment and it was because of at least two of those four areas where they made that um shift 53% of our students remain the same
015that means they could have been rated intermediate and then this past year they were rated intermediate again now it doesn't mean that they didn't make any progress they could have made progress in one area but in order for them to move up it need needs to be at least two we also have students who are um have significant cognitive disabilities and are what the research calls twice exceptional and so these are students who may be coded as an emergent bilingual who are emerging in their understanding of the English language and have significant cognitive disabilities and so our students participate in this assessment as well we had in the spring of 2023 about 163 of our emergent bilingual students who were twice exceptional Who Fell in This category who were also assessed using observable behav observable
016behaviors inventory is what it's called and these students were rated by their teacher holistically rated so 163 of them so you can see that about um 48% were rated improved about 34% were rated the same and 177% of these students regressed so crazy thinkk so I'm going to give the mic back to Dr guo Who will go over this next piece so we certainly saw um quite a few data points there and um it's it sounds a whole lot more simple than it really is the goal is to be able to have in our case um close to 29,000 students uh improved on their English language proficiency at least one level every year according to our re search it takes between five to 7 years to be able to acquire a second language that gu
017that is um also leading to the uh point that we do have in in our um uh system students who are taking longer than seven years to be able to become proficient in English so therefore we need to be able to monitor our students just like we do for any type of growth as we would be um uh doing language arts math or any other area with the uh caveat of course that are students who are learning English uh and need to become proficient in English need to not only acquire the language but also be able to do so in all academics as well um so therefore it's um uh it's great to note that just as we look at our star scores we also need to be able to be cognizant of our growth
018in English that our students do and also be able to keep in mind that the telpas um um data is also used for um accountability it's also used for the rating that not only your sites get but also overall uh our school district because it is uh in um included in the closing the gaps category as well uh so what do we do with uh that notion of really paying attention to our students who are learning English ensuring that they grow from year to year is be able to really acknowledge the number of students not only at the district level but also at each site uh we have set goals for the district going forward that we have addressed uh with the sites and are uh closely putting systems in place to be able to
019monitor students overall our goals that we have set is to be able to decrease the number of long-term as we call them English language Learners that they have been identified and have had the label for more than six years to be able to reduce that right now it is over 70 uh% of our total EB population uh we also um do have to note that though we do have immigrant students who have been in the US less than three years the bulk the majority of our students are are born in the US so definitely acknowledging the need to be able to uh improve outcomes in the language uh of all of our students here um another one of our goals is to be able to have our um our students grow in language proficiency from
020year to year and then also at the same time to grow academically so that we can be able to see their scores increase just like we do any other student here who is not necessarily in the EB category grow in the areas of language hearts and math so certainly a lot of work to do but I think that we're off to a great start in in the um uh sense that we have um districtwide invested heavily in two high yield language based instructional um strategies we have the talk read talk right and also habits of discussion that all uh staff at the district level has been trained all of our principles all of our assistant principles all of our district instructional coaches all of our campus uh based instructional coaches as well and we have
021a timeline for them to be able to turn around the training to all the teachers as well we are also keeping language as a uh lens we um in which we conduct and use in all the instructional walks that we do whether it's in a a dual language classroom and ESO classroom and overall give that feedback to our um uh site admin Insight staff as well um not only because it is in our accountability but also because we have a moral and ethical responsibility to be able to reach our students in whatever it is that they have a need in this case is to ensure that they acquire the English language and grow academically um uh at the same time uh so we have uh work in progress to be able to deliver a three-year
022action plan that we'll be able to discuss at a later um board meeting so that we know what are the action steps that are then uh being able to take that includes redesign of the programming and also of the resources in the training that we continue to provide to staff at this time I think we have some time to entertain any questions trusty Dar thank you president Rodriguez and thank you for this report um first of all I just want to give a big shout out to 29,000 students in Fort Worth ISD that do not speak English as their first language and they are in classrooms and they are learning and they are growing and they are I I know if I moved to Guatemala tomorrow and I was expected to learn in a classroom
023I would be completely IL equipped to do so because I do not speak the language and so the tenacity and the perseverance of these students is to be commended and I don't um I I I love data but behind every data point is a human being and so um kudos to those 29,000 students um just a couple of questions uh the first one is on page 16 or slide number 16 and it's the the pie chart with the till P pass results for spring of 2023 and my question is just to just to clarify and make sure the this data is individual student data not 53% of third graders in 2022 as compared or 2023 as compared to the third graders in 2022 does that make sense we're we're looking at individual student data not
024grade level data correct right or overall data okay I just want to make sure about that and um and the students who take the tail pass also has have to take the star correct um there is a small group of emergent bilingual students who may be classified as unschooled refugees okay there's some criteria for which they may um not have to participate yet but for the most part all all of the students um who participate in Tel pass will be assessed if they're in grades three and up will be assessed because this starts at kindergarten right and that's required by the state yes okay and um my last question is what kind of parent supports are available for families because when you tell me that the majority of the 29,000 students that are emergent bilingual
025were born in the United States that tells me that most likely the language spoken in their home is a language other than English and um and so what parent supports are we providing not only to help them help their children but also to ensure that they're understanding the importance of the tail paath the importance of star the the results the the growth that their child has made the um hurdles that they've overcome or the obstacles that they haven't overcome how are we supporting parents and families in this so we have a coordinator in our department Department that is a family and Community engagement coordinator she works with my team um and so as we are developing our programming um she's right there at the table with us and we are sharing the information so that
026she can turn that around when she has her parent meetings so she does do parent meetings and um work with our families and so because this year she has been um very tightly um connected with us she's listening to the training that we're providing she sat through the training with us and then we talked about what's the next step for providing this information to parents so that they can support us in what we're doing on the school side that's at the district level um is there something else you so um as our families come to our district to be able to enroll we do walk them through the different uh options that we have as far as the uh programming and are able to um uh educate our families so they're able to make the
027best decision for uh for their child um and that is an onboarding that we do have also with our team team community events the um parent events that we do have a sites in partnership with the EB team as well and did I were you going to say something else so I know that we Dr Gedo mentioned that we are have a draft three-year action plan one of the items that we are toying around with is how do we be get families into like a family leadership um Institute and so that is something that we are toying with working with it's not yet fully fleshed out but we know that there's a need not just to um provide parents information about tpass but really how how do we help parents lead the work and understand
028the educational system here in the United States even if their children were born here they may not have been and so understanding the nuances with the education system here so that's something that we are as part of our planning it's not done yet but we have that in the back of our minds I I appreciate that comment because the goal is educating children not passing a test that's a byproduct passing that test is a byproduct of properly educating kids and did I hear you correctly when you said that we have 90 languages represented in Fort Worth ISD now 93 93 93 now our pee snapshot is this Friday right so we're still uh it might shift between now and then but that's the official dead uh date that we'll look at that 93 okay thank
029you I appreciate your responses truste Martinez looking at that same um chart on page 16 and also page 18 what do we see is the causes for when we see students who reg regress into um areas um what what do we see like the the cause for that and how are we providing support to those students yeah I think one of the things as the team the emergent bilingual team um has had the opportunity to walk campuses we note a need for students to engage in conversation more about the content in a structured Academic Way and so that's part of where as we walked campuses and we we noted who was doing most of the talking we said we need to provide training and support for teachers so that students have the opportunity to engage
030in conversation before they read something and then after they read something and before they write rather than right and so that's part of the structure and we believe as part of the root cause of what you see with students staying the same or even regressing so where do we provide the opportunity for students to listen speak read and write in a structured academic thoughtful way that's what we're doing great um you mentioned habits of discussion can you um tell us a little bit more about that and what other what are the best practices that we're utilizing currently to support not only our students but our teachers so if um one of the things in habits of discussion that's critical is listening and so habits of discussion is the work of um Doug Lov and the
031first part is is learning to contribute and what does that mean that means we're sitting like um professionals we're listening like professionals and we're speaking like professionals when the speaker is speaking all eyes are on the person who's speaking and that's called track the speaker and what does that do to the brain when you're tracking the speaker you're paying closer attention my eyes are locked I'm paying attention I'm sitting up straight I have my hands folded I'm feeling like I should be listening that's all part of habits of discussion so that's what we're coming through right now just to see train first how do we listen and how do we speak like a professional even from kindergarten we speak in complete sentences we make eye contact if we're in agreement we nod if we are
032in disagreement there's a way to disagree and so these are the things that we are working on right now it's called learning to contribute is the first piece great and um how has the shortage of bilingual teachers impacted this particular population do we have enough um bilingual teachers to adequately serve our emergent Bingo population and what are we doing to you know address shortages so um it is a hardto staff area uh not just here in Fort Worth but throughout Texas and have worked in other states I can also say that it is a challenge in other states as well throughout the country uh so we do have to be uh as Innovative as possible in order to be able to meet the needs of our students and have a qualified certified teacher there so
033I do have we do have a good partnership with our um um human resources or talent management team to be able to look at ways to be able to attract we do have a stien that we do provide and and uh uh we we're also looking at other innovative ways to be able to perhaps partner not just with entities here of Higher Learning but also seeing if we can be able to partner with uh other countries as well to be able to do a teacher exchange so that we can be able to have a qualified person in the classroom we do have the Dual language as our uh bilingual program and there's ways in which we can be able to staff that with an ESL certified teacher and a bilingual certified teacher at U grade
034levels in which half of the instruction of the days in English and half of the instruction of the days in Spanish as well um so yes it is a hard to stuff area and we are uh open and uh uh really actively exploring ways in which we can be able to uh close that uh close that Gap in the deficit great and lastly just had a comment that um you know recently heard about the consilio program and at MH Moore um and I'm excited that those programs are being offered to our parents and our students um to get them engaged to get our families engaged absolutely thank [Music] you trusty leanos thank you pres Rodriguez on the same page 16 the 53 um per do you know what grades are the students from so these
035are all of the students who part of all of the students who participated in Kinder through 12th grade each campus has their own report like this you're getting the district level one so all grades who participated 53% of the 26,000 remain at the same proficiency level that they were the year before but typically we do see more growth at the lower levels than at the higher levels um and it could be for uh different reasons it could be for uh lack of Engagement in the test it may be just another test that the kids you know know that they have to take Etc but we do see less growth in the upper levels and we tend to see at at least in my experience over the years more growth at the lower level so I
036would say that that staying the same would be in The Sweet Spot area between maybe third fourth fifth grade and then uh some that were able to regress uh as you see tend to be in the secondary schools a little bit more so how as a general rule how can we help in the short time I know you have a plan for three years but three years as six uh that's a long time for students to to close the to the gaps what can we do in a short time to close the gaps and now way for plan for three years so this is going to sound um strange probably but we are hyperfocused on providing students information on where they are on T past and having them goal set so if I were rated
037at the beginning level the expectation is that we move up so we are planning how do we get that in the hands of some of our students who might think oh this this test doesn't mean mean anything I just have to it's something else for me to do really showing them this is the goal of the program and this is what we're going to do to you look and see where you are and then set some goals for yourself to move up and so that's one thing the other thing is really um providing students opportunity I'm going to keep saying this to listen speak read and write on a daily basis across all content and then helping them make the connection and you will be assessed at the end of the year on how you're
038making progress so Awareness on the part of students that this really matters and goal setting being very specific if I'm here this is my goal and what do we need to do to get there not just say okay I need to move from beginning to intermediate but here are the steps that you do to get there there are rubrics language U proficiency level descriptors for each one of those levels so students can actually see if this says that I'm beginning these are the attributes that I'm exhibiting so what do I need to do to move from beginning to intermediate in this area what's the difference and so those are the types of things that we want to do with students so that they understand it's partly the responsibility of us as Educators to provide the
039conditions for which they can um demonstrate their understanding of the English language and it's also on them to be participatory in their language development that's the area of being able to truly engage Learners in in uh in the process in this case is in the process of acquiring a second language uh you will also recall that at the last presentation that we had um about the different um items that we are really concentrating on this year so we have data driven instruction DDI we also have MTS mtss the multi-tier systems of support and we also have the focus on aligned uh instruction and assessments all that really focuses um uh staff into what data we have available and here you have seen the data that we have as it pertains to the acquisition of English
040as a second language and so not only are we looking at map data not only are we looking at unit assessments not only we're looking at Star but we're also looking at the language acquisition data to really fine-tune uh learning plans for students in this case our students who are um um emergent bilinguals have an additional piece of data how are they doing uh not just academically but where are they in listening where are they speaking where are they in Reading where are they in writing and by addressing that through the instructional practices that we're really focusing on and betting down on across the district I think we're going to be able to um have that uh Focus be able to pay off not just in language acquisition but also in in um uh in
041the in the scores that we get at the end of the year also with the acknowledgement that our kids are way more than just a test score to be able to see them flourish and get a their self-confidence in this case of being able to speak two languages and my last question how can our parents know where the student is is that is that any report that they can go and focus and and look over on how can they know you're on goal one and you need to move to goal two or is that a meeting with their specific spefic teacher or counselor it's um it's an au three so our our parents do get a report of where the students are every year just like they they dig it with the star scores as
042well so the uh parents are able to note where are they as part of the uh um language program that each student is able to participate in they are required to be able to get um documentation of the growth that they're making toward being able to meet reclassification criteria so certainly involving staff in being able to uh communicate that information at curriculum nights at open house is certainly a best practice to be able to have a sites in addition to our counselors being able to have those discussions not just with students but how this is impacting students as they graduate or attempt to graduate in uh in the attemp that they have for high school as well thank you thank you trustee Bridges thank excuse me thank you I just have one question why are
043the numbers all kind of bunched up together and not broken up by grade level in terms of the progress right right as a district uh that's something that we could also be a uh able to look at uh we do look um at uh at the DAT as a whole knowing that um it it would be um almost comparing apples to oranges at times because I could have a student who may have been born in the US starting school here in kindergarten and uh I I could also have a student who started in kindergarten but is now in third grade but then I'm comparing him to maybe someone who joined the educational system here in the US in third grade so it would give us some data as to where students fall but not necessarily
044be the most accurate data possible because of what the different entry points that we have for uh for our kids okay thank you trusty Dar uh my apologies one more question with the tail pass reports that parents receive are these written in a language that the parents can understand or how how do we Texas is not known for producing test reports for families that are easy to understand even for people who are not speaking English as a second language um so so how are we uh helping parents navigate these reports in order to best help their child right so we do have those reports available to my knowledge in English and Spanish I know there's additional resources and um home languages as you saw our number of Home languages are increasing as well so that's
045definitely a um touch point in order to be able to improve about to not only just have it I mean because even if it's in a language that they understand and read the uh complexity just like it is for for parents to be able to understand star scores Etc it's not uh necessarily as friendly as possible so that is where our connections with the sites and and of course with the family uh engagement Specialists to be able to bridge that and be able to make that oneon-one uh human connection with uh with the parents and in the case of secondary students with them as well thank you thank you Dr Ramsey and team uh we are up to the board committee and superintendent reports are there any comments or questions from any of the trustees
046concerning the written reports okay so now uh uh trustee Rodriguez I'm sorry um just worth noting is that many of the trustees um provided questions in advance of this meeting and those can be found in online in the board book if there are people who would like to know what those questions are and what the responses were as well so um many of I I have been through this entire agenda I have asked my questions and those can be found online and and all of the trustees had an opportunity to do that so pardon me for interrupting you yes thank you trusty Dar for that and and we did uh several trustees submitted several questions and thank you Dr Ramsey for getting back to us in a timely manner and so now uh the next
047item is a financial accountability public hearing which is now called to order Dr Ramsey I'll will turn it over to you thank you at the podium this evening is our Chief Financial Officer Carmen ARA Candelaria who will give the presentation on the public hearing kadman CFO for the district and I'm here to present the 20 uh 23 school first uh report this is the public hearing uh the purpose of the school um first report is if you'll go to the next slide oh I can go thank you I'm also getting used to the new space so the purpose of the school first report it is a financial accountability rating system that holds school districts accountable uh for the quality of their financial management practices this is a tool that was created in order to uh
048provide transparency and then disclose the quality of the decision-making processes that concern the financial uh resources that the district receives so question is how are these ratings assessed well they're based on 20 indicators and they are based on a numerical score and that ra rating uh ranges from 0o to 100 and you receive a rating an ABC or F uh based on the numbers uh of that numerical score uh this is a rating system across Texas and there are major areas that are assessed they are broken down as follows first of all we have six critical indicators where that you either pass or you fail um and Fort Worth ISD passed five indicators there was a fifth indicator that has been used in the past but in this particular year due to coid uh the
049um uh ta elected not to score this fifth indicator so you see all that as well in the solvency indicators we have nine indicators for total of 85 points uh Fort Worth IST scored 83 out of 85 points the 10th 14th and 15 indicator was not scored and then you have some uh Financial competence uh indicators a total of 15 points available and we scored 15 out of 15 so what are the requirements with regards to the school first well uh Fort Worth istd has to announce and hold a public meeting within two months of the release of that final first rating so the ratings were released on September 7th and the notice of the public meeting was also published on 109 and then we have this public hearing we have to prepare and distribute
050an annual financial management report which basically compares the current year and the prior year ratings as well as dislo uh certain disclosures that are required by title 19 of the Texas administrative code chapter 109 um and these are also required by uh the commissioner's rules pertaining to section 10911 uh and that was effective in um August 6 2015 the report is available for the public to review we also have a a hard copy and we have some copies available for any member of the public that would like to receive a copy uh they are on the back table and um are available if uh a member of the public would like to take it let's look at our score uh for 2023 so the district received a superior rating an a we received 98 out
051of 100 points which is outstanding um and I also wanted to provide for historical context uh the prior uh four rating score I believe the last time that the district received a score of of 98 was back in 2017 2019 so overall um district is in good standing with regards to financial uh reporting for this particular year which the rating for 2023 is based on 2122 you may also go through the report and notice that there are still uh the the former board and the former superintendent uh is in that is in the particular uh report and that is in line with the way that we're required to present uh the report so with that are there any question questions um with regards to the report there are no questions so thank you Dr Ramsey
052and chief adata gandaria we will now move to the uh public hearing and we have no speakers registered so thank you and the public hearing is now closed thank you so much at this time we will hear public comment addressing items on the agenda as well as items of a general nature of topics not specifically listed on the agenda let me remind you that because of restrictions by the Texas open meetings act board members may not engage in a verbal exchange about a subject that has not been posted we will listen and take notes but the B board is prohibited from responding to any inquiries made during a board meeting on any topic not posted on the agenda however the board May reply with one a statement of specific factual information given in response to
053the inquiry two recitation of existing policy in response to the inquiry or three direct a person to visit with staff about the issue per board policy bed local to allow everyone the opportunity to speak no presentation May Exceed 2 minutes unless the speaker has prior approval for additional time because of the use of a translator speakers who require the ass assistance of a translator are permitted double the allotted time of speakers who do not require the assistance of a translator speakers when your name is called approach the podium by going to the back of the room down the stairs and coming up the sidewall to your right as soon as the speaker begins speaking the time clock will begin our first speaker is Chris KD followed by Mark Fulmer good evening I am Dr Chris
054KD and I'm the education lead for tant County Citizens defending freedom and I'm a resident of the city of Fort Worth tonight I want to speak about policy efb local I emailed the board nearly a month ago inquiring about the board's plan to craft and adopt a local EF policy on instructional resources Library materials since I've received no response I'm here to publicly share a portion of my email in my email I noted that under current Texas State library and archives commission standards the Board needs to adopt a robust local efb policy that establishes guidelines for which books are determined as appropriate for school libraries according to T Slack's current guidance for school libraries on collection development harmful material is defined as and I quote material whose dominant theme taken as a whole one appeals
055to the prent interest of a minor in sex nudity or excretion two is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable for minors and three is utterly without redeeming social value for minors it is an offense in Texas to distribute this material in violation of Texas Peno code 4324 B end quote so thank you for removing the books from the school libraries which very clearly meet t- slac's description of harmful material now you need to take the next step which is to create clear guidelines through local efb policy that does not only meet but exceeds t- slac's current guidelines Additionally the school library collection requirements portion of hp900 remain in place which means by January 2024 a robust efb local policy needs to be implemented
056wouldn't it be great if orth iy was leading the effort efforts to comply with the school guidelines portion of hp900 rather than lagging behind this could be a great win for the district toward restoring trust with the community I look forward to hearing about the timeline for when the board intends to review and adopt a local efb policy please let me know if I can help in any [Music] way thank you Mark Fulmer followed by Reed builts thank you I would also like to add to that comment that thank you for the action that you've taken in removing the books uh you know when that was brought to your attention just a few months ago um you know it was quite revelatory about the shocking content that was contained in some of these books and
057as you know that many of them were so graphic and vile when they were read in public meetings so they were considered extremely offensive to the adults and the audience as well therefore I'd like to follow up that it's so imperative right now and I would ask you also to begin considering planning and implementing policies that are necessary for creating a safe environment for our children children these policies should address uh being able to sustain and promote such a safe environment through definitive policies that protect our children from books containing sexually explicit content that is really where the real work begins policy implementation that is where uh and you have to consider the drafting the the planning as well as the approval and implementation process so if there could also be I I would Advocate
058a reporting system for this project uh in order to uh develop a project management uh for uh such a uh development of these policies and again as I mentioned I am appreciative that some of your board members have taken action to consider responses and appreciate that thank you very much thank you Reed belts followed by Ryan sharp and Dorene gerer my name is Reed bills and I am a Fort Worth ISD taxpayer and the mother of six Fort Worth ISD school graduates I have attended and spoken at the last two board board meetings my current concern is the stressful process of bringing my voice to your table people who do not live in the district or pay taxes to Fort Worth ISD have monopolized the dialogue in these meetings it's time to enact a new
059policy to give priority to legitimate Fort Worth stakeholders I suggest those who have credentials I suggest that those who have credentials as a parent student teacher staff member or taxpayer be allowed to speak first in the public comment portion of each meeting enforcement will be simple through appropriate required information on the requests to speak form Awards presentations deserve to be the first item on the agenda so that awardees do not have to sit through lengthy reports but public comments should come next to permit speakers the same courtesy of leaving before other board business thank you for considering ways to improve stakeholder participation to make Fort Worth schools even better thank you Ryan sharp followed by Daren Gyer and Taylor thank you um my name is Ryan sharp and I'm a father of two FWD students
060including one uh mlan uh Middle School student and mlan as you know was recently the target of a bomb and shoot uh shooting threat uh which included a stu a student quote unquote Hit List posted to social media and has um and has also been dealing with some troubling uh social media activity in addition to that including a student posting pick exposing with guns and ammunition all this has me reflecting on the ways the district and its schools need to develop toward the employment of policies and practices that are more proactive as opposed to reactive there's too much to say here that I have time for especially when it comes to uh discussing efforts to ban books and so on but what I can fit in is premised on two facts one being in Fort
061Worth Texas it is fair to assume that many of our students live in house households in which there is a gun or guns and to the varing and to varying degrees have access to guns two Texas is one of the worst states when it comes to access to youth Mental Health Services DFW as a metropolitan area is one of the worst in one of the most lacking States thus taking in taking in those facts it's re uh it would be reactive or is reactive to assemble additional SRO and Security in the wake of a threat further studies show it can create more Danger particularly for students of color um after there is a clear threat of danger it would however be proactive to pour more resources into additional school counselors and uh social and emotional
062educational opportunities that might help alleviate the need to react to Future crisis particularly when we know our students are still navigating the ongoing trauma that stems from living and trying to learn through a pandemic in this instance I do not believe in particular the additional Mental Health Services or spaces for mental health support were provided to to the school community in the aftermath of both instances also instead of scrambling to approve language to address instances in which described in this case we might come thank you say later but thank you Narin guer followed by Taylor Duncan and trenance dorsy Hollands I a res president and taxpayer in Fort Worth ISD there are some people here to speak tonight that do not live in forth I many years ago I was a sex educator working with
063churches private schools and public schools and parents one evening I was at a very large Church a minister met with parents while I met separately with the middle school children the first thing I did was hand every student an index card and a pencil and asked them to anonymously write down any question they had after collecting the cards I asked the students if they would give me permission to go read the questions to the parents down the hall they agreed because they knew all questions were Anonymous when I read the questions to the parents they were in shock they could not believe the questions the students wanted answered while many parents think SE sex education is as simple as telling their children don't have sex and don't get pregnant children want and need much more
064information the amount of misinformation children believe about sex is very sad while they need to know the benefits of abstinence they also need to know basic information about like autonomy puberty reproduction contraception screening and prevention of sexually transmitted infections they also need to know about healthy relationships prevention of sex abuse sex trafficking and how to deal with peer pressure let's support Ford's plan to teach sex [Applause] ed t Taylor Duncan followed by trenin dorsy Holland and Virginia Collins Trace hi my name is Taylor Duncan and I am the parent of three Fort Worth ISD students at em daget Elementary I come here to say and to share with you guys that my children are thriving they love going to school they feel a strong sense of accomplishment acceptance and support by their teachers and the
065staff dag it is a school that on paper is struggling if it would it would likely get a d or possibly an F rating by the new metrics and while there is a lot of work to get our student body to higher performance levels I want to say that I am a strong supporter of Fort Worth istd and what you are doing I believe in our kids and our teachers and in our district leaders that said it doesn't mean that things are perfect for example I was disappointed to see the number of K through four classrooms that are out of compliance for the class size and the number of waivers requested by tea and looking at the schools I also have concerns with the equity of which schools are hit hardest um and which schools
066don't even make the list at all I know this is something that our school is dealing with and I saw on the agenda that trustee Martinez our trustee has inquired as well two things can be true though I can express constructive criticism and ideas for improvement and be here to support and affirm our district I'm committed to changing the rhetoric and the narrative that our public schools are failing or that you are district leaders are failing I also want to express my support for the proposal made at last month's meeting to emphasize and prioritize Fort Worth istd stakeholders during the public comment section as other local districts have done and to limit non- stakeholders to one minute after proven stakeholders have already spoken we all know that we have a long road ahead of us
067but I feel it's important for you all to hear that there is a community in your corner that are committed to all students to this district and to the future success uccess of all of our neighbors thank you for all your hard [Applause] work trenise dorsy Hollands followed by Virginia Collins and suprina ball hello on October 11th at 6:35 a.m. I pushed my daughter out the front door kissed her on her forehead and pushed her on the bus lift so she could be lifted and headed to school at 7:30 I received a phone call from her school saying that school was opened as normal I had no idea what that meant because I was like why would school not be opened as normal um I called no answers at 8:30 I received a robo call
068and a email stating that a staff member had passed away in the parking lot I was immediately concerned no one was providing me any answers except for the community which I live in we're confirming the piece putting the pieces of the puzzle together my question is if for Worth Police if excuse me Forest Hill Police Department arrived at the the scene of this tragedy at 650 why was my daughter who's 5year old who's 5 years old pushed out of the safety of her bus into a crime scene of a school nobody notified me as the parent nobody gave me any indication as what was going on into hours later I'm not okay with it like I'm not okay with that there's parents in the crowd who's not okay with that as well who's had to
069remove their kids from their school that school because they didn't feel that the safety of their child was taken into consideration just given all of the facts and everything that's going on with footw Worth ISD this is why people are unenrolling their kids from these schools and there schools in our area and we already know that schools are closing enrollment is declining so we're looking at school closures right now like this is not helping the fact and I know Dr Ramsey you sent out an email saying that you guys were going to be more transparent that has to happen like we as parents have to know what's going on I understand the protocol and the the everything that has to be done from the the families but what about my children what about our kids
070and what about their safety that was not taken into consideration [Applause] time Virginia Collins followed by Sabrina ball and Christina Thompson okay my name is Virginia Collins and um I've been talking to some of the administrators at forward ISD the principal at my daughter school wli I'm not going to call any names but um I would like to see the district implement we I'm glad that the people that were here before me talking about the the stats and everything because the forward ISD at World Language does not offer stats for African-American students when they cuz my daughter been um enrolled in a program for dual languages started off as Spanish Immersion and it rolled over to PC they was talking about the languages and how they follow up the the Dual language ESL but they
071do not follow students that's learning a second language I want to know how my daughter is doing I personally know cuz I'm able to be involved some parents don't have that opportunity and we need to be the bridge for those parents that don't have that opportunity some of us have to work two three jobs and all of that we need to bring in um Equity at this school we need to offer a native African language that we don't have results we don't have any representation in the classroom the curriculum no native language how can you have a world without Africa A is for apple A is for Africans we want a native African language taught at World languages some of the parents don't have the opportunity to come and I'm speaking for some of those
072parents um my daughter has the privilege of being bilingual but all kids don't have that privilege and I would like for more African-American students to come to World languages and I have asked for recruiters and staff and all that to be to be at World languages and we want representation there's no representation we would like a flag in the school like other flags are in the school please I would ask the board to follow up with the uh leadership Department to help support getting a n native African language at Theo [Applause] time Sabrina ball followed by Christina Thompson and Michael Jones hi I'm a Fort Worth istd parent and tant chair for defense of Dem democracy over the years you've made me follow some very frustrating processes they are hard but necessary you've given special
073privileges to others you've opened the door to outside influence this summer Chris Kettle a person from Keller and a leader of citizens defending Freedom a Christian nationalist group she sent you an email challenging a book using crowdsourced info we don't let students use crowdsourced info but you accepted hers you didn't make her follow the book challenge process then three more books were challenged supposedly found on Elementary shelves in the summer when school was closed they didn't physically find those books or read them you didn't make them follow the process then you allowed them to challenge a list of 120 books again outside the process they didn't read those books Dr Teller says he's prepping for HB 900 I've given you the guidelines for that law he isn't following that law he does doesn't have the
074power to review books the law says he should not have changed the guidelines for this year but he did without your approval on April 1st you'll get a list of books to pull not before return the books to the shelves according to their age ratings you already have those there's a process for that you've opened the door and now Mercy culture church is advertising that they want you to skip the process given to you by the state of Texas reject their proposal stay the course for evidence-based sex ed that I can opt my kids into by law return books to appropriate shelves by law adopt the public comment process from Lewisville ISD that reduces outside influence it worked for them shut the door on outside influence return this boardroom to Fort Worth IST families and
075focus on student outcomes thank [Applause] you Christina Thompson followed by Michael Jones and Tom Harris hello good evening my name is Christina Thompson I'm a Fort Worth ISD taxpayer and grandmother tonight I'm speaking about policy efb local on Library materials I support parents making the decision on whether their child has access to inappropriate books in the library however policy EFA local states that any book within the district's Library ction can be considered a teaching resource which can be used in the classroom this means that books with content a parent May deem inappropriate could be incorporated within classroom curriculum and discussion therefore a parent who opted their child out from assessing certain library books loses that voice when a teacher uses a library resource with controversial topics in the classroom the parent is not made aware
076until their child has already been exposed to this content this is why the creation of robust book acquisition guidelines is so important I encourage this board to research what other local districts have done to establish a strong local efb policy to align with HB 900 I'm also asking the board to adopt a robust local efb policy to ensure that books with inappropriate content are not available in our libraries or in our classrooms thank you thank you Michael Jones followed by Tom Harris and Celeste Holbrook good evening I am a retired school teacher of 41 years teaching and coaching three areas of concern three areas of concern number one do all schools in the district have Nar can rewind do all schools in the district have Nar can number two uh does all students have IDs
077do all students have IDs if so how is it process when they don't have it what do what do they do uh where do they go how do they get it again is anyone saying anything or do you go in the cafeteria and no one's wearing the IDS and then the last one what three schools have the substitute teacher deficiency what three schools have substitute teacher deficiency uh and and what means do we have to improve those deficiencies what means to improve this deficiencies now I've seen some things go on like Peter Robin Paul uh to get a substitute in but you you're not really having anyone basically there uh I think last year there was uh an incentive for substitutes and I don't know if they have that incentive well I asked and they
078said not yet it started in January you work a certain number of days you get a little bonus anything that we can do to help improve our students academically uh Plan B that's great and also I want to thank you for protecting the those of us you do protect thank you for protecting our kids and our campuses early in the morning thank you Tom Harris followed by Celeste Holbrook and Dena Silva good evening I've had the privilege of being part of the Hillwood team at Alliance Texas for over 30 years and now serve as an Executive Vice President there what am I roles in that capacity today is to serve as the chair of the Fort Worth mayor's Council on education and Workforce Development as I stand here tonight one thing is clear the future
079of our city depends on building a strong Workforce to support our growing economy the labor market for many of our Industries remains tight today these companies and those locating from other parts of the US demand a highly trained and qualified Workforce we have to be Innovative and find new ways to Source our Workforce more than ever before the mayor's council is made up of Business Leaders current and former Educators and representatives of the philanthropic community and formed to serve as a champion for education and Workforce Development in the city acting as a convenor the council Bridges a gap between education and Industry to improve the student experience by helping identify career Pathways and support the development of programs initiatives that better prepare students to enter the ever evolving labor market the mayor's council is committed
080to aligning education with the the future development future Workforce demands to close the skills Gap and better prepare students to succeed in tomorrow's economy working with school districts the council is focused on two priorities first growing the population of students in in our 12 districts enrolled in Early College High School Career and Technical education programs pathway Pathways and Technology Early College High School secondly increasing the numbers of activities for students engaging with business and industry including internships full and part-time jobs field trips and mentorships most importantly and on behalf of the mayor's Council on education and Workforce Development I want to thank each of you the trustees superintendent Ramsey and your entire Fort withth IST team for your efforts and your focus in in providing our students the quality education deserve we look forward to
081collaborating with you and all thank you very much thank you Celeste Holbrook followed by Dena Silva and Linda Fulmer I'm Dr Celeste Holbrook a sex educator with a PhD in health education and a postgraduate emphasis in sex education I have a private practice here in Fort Worth and I speak to individuals and couples about sex I live here in Fort Worth with my daughters who both attend Fort Worth ISD I'd first like to encourage the board to adopt the public comment process proposed that reduces outside influence and keeps stakeholders at the Forefront of your decision-making specifically I'd like to discourage you from allowing outside groups to determine the sex education implementation in Fort Worth because of what of what I understand to be a clerical error my daughters who were in fifth grade last year
082did not receive sexed at school this remains unresolved unfortunately most kids do not receive comprehensive sex head at home either sex education reduces unhealthy sexual risk-taking reduces unplanned pregnancy and provides language to kids about sex giving them the ability to disclose sexual abuse to a trusted adult according to the Family Justice Center sexual abuse reports Spike after sexed weak I've been in practice for 11 years I listen to many stories of sexual trauma recently a client disclosed that if it weren't for her fifth grade teacher teaching sex ed she wouldn't have known to tell a trusted adult that an uncle was touching her inappropriately she was able to disclose that and stop the abuse by removing sexed Fort withth istd curriculum and off of the curriculum and the bookshelves we are not only abandoning abandoning
083our role as Educators but our secondary role as interventionalists for the most vulner hble kiddos among [Music] us thank you Dena Silva followed by Linda Fulmer and Lon Burnham hello my name is Dena Silva and I a proud parent of two students and four with ISD I've collaborated with the district in a work capacity and I'm a member of our PTA in our PTA meetings We Begin each session with our mission which reminds us that all students must be represented in represented in each of the decisions that we make we are just one school and spend our time ensuring we've asked the right questions to meet the needs of our students in our one School Fort Worth ISD has a wide range of students that this board is entrusted to to make decisions on behalf
084of and I wanted to come here today to say thank you to each of you our board and to the administrative team at for Worth ISD that signed up for these roles and are present for our children each and every day for children need access to space that allows their imagination to become Limitless to grow their knowledge and understanding of important Concepts and information that takes them anywhere they want to go it is important then to have members of our board that are able to go beyond what is in front of them and help position this community to be successful the women and men on our board care about our schools being the best they can be and not just for those currently enrolled they know their decisions impact this and the future Generations the
085community we are building so I thank each and every one of you for your time your mental effort and your physical energy devoted to the children parents and overall community of Fort Worth thank [Applause] you thank you Linda Fulmer followed by Lon Burnham and Lane Craig Lon Burnham followed by Lane Craig and Payton Jackson good evening everybody uh my name is lon Burnham and I am a proud product of the for istd K through2 and my mother retired from the school district a number of years ago and I'm a taxpayer here I'm not a Christian nationalist I'm not a flat Earth Society person I believe in educational opportunity I was raised that way in a family committed to public education I want to encourage encourage you on two or three points one is I thought
086the article in the Star Telegram the crossroads lab was fantastic and I appreciate you refunding that program I came to appreciate and learn how dangerous the situation is so for so many of our kids that don't have self-esteem this type of program is hard to document data points such as reduced suicide reduced drug abuse reduced droping about you guys are sponsoring some really important programs they're not always well documented but thank you very much second point I want to make something that is very well documented that is the problem with our tax uh District I want you to consider Gerald Miller I've met him on several occasions and visited with him we've got to do something to fundamentally change where way the taxing district operates it could enhance your Revenue flow and then finally I
087just want to thank the women that have set up for sex education and spoken to that issue here that also is a critical Dropout issue when I first was elected to the Texas legislature I learned a horrible statistic at Pascal high school that year there were twice as many seniors as there were gradu twice as many freshmen as there were graduating seniors that's a shocking figure we have to do more to address the issue of drop out and it doesn't start with dropping out sex education that's a critical aspect of getting these kids informed time Lane Craig followed by Payton Jackson and Kenya Aloo hi I'm a parent of two kids in District 9 schools and overall our family has been very happy with the teachers administrators and our district school board representation um however
088like most kids in forth I my kids have had to deal with the Fallout of inequitable research resource distribution for example my daughter Goes to School an extra 2 and a half hours a week um this year because she has to be bust to Pascal high school for geometry other middle schools offer geometry at the e8th grade level in the school itself um I'd like to be able to come to these meetings and talk about these issues that I think are small my daughter and some of her friends have to go to school a little bit extra that's okay with me sometimes um and also big I hear parents today talking about those issues that are maybe small and and also very big about inequity um however and I'd also like to bring my daughter
089to advocate for herself she has a real investment in the issue U where books have been disappearing from her school library and her librarian is concerned about the ability of students to read freely this is something my 14-year-old really takes to heart and would like to talk to you about every time I come here though um with the exception of tonight so far um I have encountered um foul language um signs that are homophobic and um and the kind of environment that I don't feel comfortable bringing my teenager to and telling her this is democracy in our city so what I would like to do tonight is to advocate for the board to put into place a speaker policy that I know has been suggested by other speakers which gives priority to speakers who are
090stakeholders in our schools parents teachers retired teachers and students so that we can start working on the real issues that affect our students actual education and lives and the things that they care about um by prioritizing stakeholders first at the meetings and also giving them more time than non- stakeholders thank [Applause] you Payton Jackson followed by Kenya Aloo and Daniel Bennett good afternoon board the way that districts school districts in Texas criminalize disabilities and autistic children is disgusting but what do you do what do you do when you birth the child that's being left behind and I'm not talking about reading scores because that could be fixed by simple prioritization but the real children that are being left behind the children that are forced into rise just so so they can watch you fail them
091what do you do and I I feel for the teachers I really do because they don't have enough resources and I blame that on you all or maybe I can blame the city but what do you do when you're forced into an evaluation just to come up with the term autism the term the state identifies as a disability but I know it's a superpower but that superpower can cost my child his life especially if the child is anything like Xavier Hernandez and my child is and the fact that multiple staff members at multiple different schools have no idea what happened to that precious boy is proof enough that child perpetuate the disparity of mental health in this city instead of prioritizing do something and by something I mean your job and ever since I left
092from the north side I can't even get my child registered in your school district Wallace and I'm not mad at you it's not your fault but I'm bringing this to your attention because you know I wouldn't come if it wasn't important y'all have a great night Kenya Aloo followed by Daniel Bennett and Missy Cara good evening my name is Kenya Aloo and I'm the executive director of citizens defending freedom I do not have children in this District when people ask me why I fight so hard for public school kids when my kids don't attend public school I'm baffled the answer is simple these kids are the Next Generation who will be running our communities in the not so far off future the public school kids are people my kids work with they are people my
093kids are friends with and they may be kids that my kids marry so yes it matters to me rather than being so bent on robbing kids of their innocence by exposing them to images and ideas that their underdeveloped brains cannot process let's stick with the basics of Reading Writing and arithmetic without seal CRT sexual content or contemp full of violence and self-hate every effect has a cause and we are liable for the trauma these kids are experiencing All In The Name Of Education it is our duty to protect children I'm I implore you to implement a strong book policy that will prevent kids from being exposed to sexually explicit content in the school library or in the classroom it's very disturbing to me that some books have been moved to the professional Library where they
094sit available for teachers to use in the classrooms if there is an update on that book policy or these circumstances we'd love for you to share those updates with us a policy would prevent these books from being used at all as you know based on how you silence speakers at at the previous meetings if the content's not appropriate for adults it's certainly not appropriate for kids thank [Applause] you Daniel Bennett followed by Missy Cara and Susan Wade hello I'm Daniel Bennett uh Dr Ramsey uh hello congratulations for being a new superintendent uh trustees I've come before this board very so often about every two years because it's time to elect and change the culture of tant Appraisal District Board of Directors you have a huge responsibility coming up this next month you'll be casting your
095600 votes there are seven candidates on that ballot three of the candidates are not returning one of yours is Joe J.R Martinez your replacement for one of the uh Miss Wildman no no for John moleno because he has to step down two years ago you put Martinez on there well Jordan Martinez and Poma are not coming back we have a huge huge responsibility by this board to change the culture to get it right to get uniform and equal treatment of your taxpayers and the appraisals which they have to live with day in and day out this compulsory system needs attention of this board in the past I'm not saying you've not done your due diligence but let me give you an example of Arlington's ISD they just nominated a lady named Pena I don't know
096Gloria pen she was on the board for 10 years cycled off in 15 but the past recipients of their votes and their approval Michael donnal former board member who helped suppress Jane Nelson's letter asking for an audit of the software Katherine wman who defended that action Tony Poma who not only defended Miss wman during her recall but was one of the key votes in squelching the need and the approved vote from moleno to do the audit they would they did a revote and they did away with the audit all Schoolboard officials EXC board officials and now we have Gloria Pena is she going to be in Michael Donal Katherine wman and Tony Papa I pray she won't if she gets on that board thank you so much Missy Cara followed by Susan Wade and Melinda
097good evening I'm Missy Cara I'm a stakeholder we've met before and um I just felt passionately about coming to talk to you'all today just to give you a quick reminder and an update about the sexed curriculum um it's been nearly a year ago to the day that the sex ed curriculum was halted and um many of you'all know but might the audience might not that it was due to uh violations with the law um not being in compliance with the law or tees guidelin lines and we've had multiple complaints filed about that to try and ask the district to come in compliance so I wanted to take tonight just to first of all come to address the board and say thank you um that I've observed seeing that you taking steps to uh come into
098alignment in those issues so I wanted to thank you personally for that and also just address you as the board to let you know that I foresee some more issues with this um coming up with some maybe not all but some administrators who are not being completely transparent in the process or um helping to get us to a point where we can adopt a new curriculum and so for instance there's been a RFP that's been opened for curriculum that has had no submissions because I believe that the process was not completed correctly um and so I just wanted to let this process and um that many of us though we don't agree that on all issues that we do want to agree and come together to do the right thing for kids and um so
099I just wanted to let you all know that we are watching and and appreciate the efforts that you have made and want to continue to support you as you are trying to come in alignment with the Texas state law and te guidelines and try and do something that's going to benefit everybody in Fort Worth I so thanks thank you Susan Wade Melinda akowski and Robert Van good evening I'm a uh Arlington Heights High School graduate my brother sister and two sons graduated from Western Hills I currently have a grandson at soon to be Rolling Hills um right now he's at West Park and I was the forth iy employee for almost 30 years retired a few years ago I was a principal at that time I tell you that because I want you to know
100that Fort Worth ISD is in my heart and always will be I so appreciate what you all do I know it's hard now I wanted to speak to sex education and parental control or parental choice I believe in both so I think there are both already in the plan the opt out if you don't want your child to be to participate in sex education you don't have to do anything you only opt in if you want your child to participate that is Parental Choice parental control but no one has the right to control what another person's child gets to do so please well I know when when I was a principal the vast majority of the parents wanted their kids to participate I had very few ever say no so please keep that in mind
101and don't let a small rather noisy group keep you from making the right decision here and I thank you for your time and thank you for all you do thank you Melinda akowski followed by Robert Van and Jerry weman thank you my name is Melinda akowski I am a resident in Forth Fort Worth ISD I am a stakeholder I do pay property taxes a lot um I'm prepared to speak on I was prepared to speak on an agenda item um sex ed I understand that it the adoption of this exed curriculum has been removed from tonight's agenda however I know this is a temporary pause and that you will place this item back on the agenda since we know that this is a temporary pause I would like to take some time to address concerns
102that I have in regards to a districtwide sex education curriculum as a parent I firmly believe it is a parents responsibility to decide when to introduce a topic as sensitive as sex education to their child the simple fact that not all educators will share the same values as as the parents is reason enough to not introduce sex education curriculum into Fort Worth ISD schools it is the responsibility of the parent to determine when and how they teach their children about sex education I would like to point out that all children develop physically and mentally at different rates it is dangerous to to assume that a child at a predetermined age will be mature enough or developed enough to discuss the sensitive topic this is not a one-side fits all topic and only a parent will
103know when their child is ready to discuss the topic of sex education sex education curriculum has no place in public schools this is a topic that should be left to the parents parents not Educators determine when their child is ready and when it will be taught it is imperative that parental rights are respected and they are allowed to present this topic within the values and boundaries established within their family I am urging Fort Worth ISD board memb MERS please respect the rights of parents to decide what is best for their children sex education should be taught in the home and within the safe environment of their family I would also like to submit to you we are all stakeholders Fort Worth ISD is responsible for training and educating Future Leaders of Robert Van followed by
104Jerry weman and Donna Collins good evening I'm Robert Van and I live in uh trusty Lynch's district and I'd like to briefly discuss two topics this evening the first concerns members of the public addressing this board United States Constitution promotes freedom to speak one's mind sometimes even when one's opinions may be nonsensical or even noxious however in recent times this Freedom has led a number of well-funded extremist groups to exploit this ability in order to disrupt various government bodies including school boards to promote agendas hostile to public well-being an acquaintance and several folks here this evening recently proposed procedures that would provide this this board a way to better ensure fairness that I hope you will consider members of the public who reside in pay taxes to support and perhaps have have or have had
105children in Fort Worth ISD uh should be granted priority in addressing these meetings now the second matter involves stoks I was recently approached by a large white stor this bird an officer in the storks Union flew in to ask me and others to promote abstinence only abstinence only sex education in our schools since Med Medieval Times the public has understood that STS deliver babies now scientifically based sex education could destroy the livelihood of the entire population of STS unfortunately I had to deny the birds request while abstinence is an important aspect of young people sex education a comprehensive science-based program in schools can ensure that student students have the knowledge to conduct themselves in a manner to help Safeguard them from unwanted [Music] [Applause] pregnancy thank you Jerry weman followed by Donna Collins and David
106B bicket hi I'm Gary weman and I currently live in the Tanglewood neighborhood so yes I am a stakeholder and I see one of your finest schools has got a national rating if I'm not misunderstand not if I understand it correctly I'm here to express my views on Interlopers from the outside coming in here and voicing their outrageous opinions and we all know what an opinion is okay um I do not like their hate filled agenda and their misinformation of pure ignorance this is my school district which I pay property taxes and I support wholeheartedly I am a retired Public School employee from another state um I set across the table from Betsy deos and so I can hold my own with anybody if anybody wants to talk to me bring it I'm ready I
107believe and I love education public education I'm a product of public education and I'm bet you willing 90% of you guys in this whole room are products of public education the groups do not have a vested interest and I think they should be required to put down their address where they live and even say it profoundly because you should be proud of where you live and quit coming here with a hatefield mongering agenda remember we vote I vote and I remember how you vote so thank you for your time and support public education if it's the greatest thing this country has and that's why we're great thank you thank you Donna Collins followed by David bicket and leavon cochrell hello I am a resident and taxpayer in Fort Worth and my grandchildren are future students
108that makes me a stakeholder I am also part of tarant County Citizens defending Freedom refer ref to a CDF during last month's comments citizens defending freedom freedom is a nonprofit nonpartisan organization founded in 2021 that helps citizens fight for transparency in local government and your local government my colleagues and I are volunteers we are not paid to speak here or anywhere else but to the topic at hand we're not asking for books to be banned we're trying to protect parents' choices books available in the library even if parents designate that their children can't check them out are still available as classroom resources for teachers they could also be removed from the general library and put in the resour resource library and be used in the same way so if my daughter to re were to
109request that my grandchild not be allowed to check out a certain book the teacher could still read to the class from this book and require assignments related to the book we are asking that you develop a solid policy to prevent this and respect parental rights I hope you don't find that to be hate filled speech also if a book is removed from the school library a child's parent May certainly take them to the public library and find the material to reiterate we are not asking for book Banning we are asking for age appropriate books for our children and grandchildren they have to be 17 years old to go to an R-rated movie but can read any pornography they want in school this is the pornography that you don't want to be read in this public
110meeting please share a written policy with us that helps protect protect parents' rights may God bless [Applause] you David B David biet followed by leavon cochrell and Jeff Rodriguez um I'd like to speak on the subject of sex education I had it when I was in fifth grade glad I did um Texas people are proud people but I don't think you should be proud of being in the top 10 in teen pregnancy that is not a statistic I would be bragging about um the fact that we are not discussing implementing sex education voluntarily for the parents who don't want their kids to do it fine but they may be one of the one in 50 that has a kid so I don't need two minutes to express my anger at people wanting to refuse the
111option of sex education kids should have it kids need it you know what you can ban the books but you can't ban the internet they're getting all the education they need from their phone that's all I got to say thank you very much leavon cochr followed by Jeff Rodriguez and meredi Bowman hello my name is Leon cockro retired Fort Worth istd teacher Fort Worth resident five one of five siblings who graduated from Fort Worth istd two children and six nieces and nephews I am a stakeholder I pay a lot of tax also I support the plan that the board require verification as a state of address as stakeholders before speaking to our board I would also urge reporting to police and Sheriff departments any non stakeholder traveling to Fort Worth to speak tonight as this
112indicates to me abnormal behavior I don't go to any other city and do this and it poses a heightened level of danger to us all and here is why Mercy culture church has on its website We Stand quote for Liberty and Justice by vetting and supporting candidates who are willing to do whatever it takes to protect our god-given liberties and take a stand for biblical Justice end quote and I want to remind everyone God did not give us our constitutional rights James Madison and Thomas Jefferson with the ratification of 13 colonies did that courts and justices and 242 legislators of 242 years have established our present liberties and our Justice no biblical Justice no god-given Liberties the Thomas Jefferson introduced the wall of separation of church and state and that needs to stand Mercy C
113culture churches do whatever it takes is a definitive invitation for violence I strongly urge the board to expel now and not allow in the future any participant who is not a stakeholder they pose a danger because they have no Civ understanding of our nation's Constitution and no Financial investment in our children's education thank you Jeff Rodriguez he's not okay Meredith Bowman followed by Our Last speaker Jennifer Nelson good evening board my name is Marth B I am a um resident in Fort Worth THD also um students wenter and I do I am a teacher in Fort Worth THD I'm here as a citizen tonight I'm um going to be reading some excerpts from a book a children's book called adventures with Fuego by Pam white um this book is not in Fort Worth istd libraries
114just for the record um there's a lot of questioning about identity going on now throughout the world and I believe this book helps to point identity in the way we are searching for that's in our heart um this book is about a character named flame he attended a service that changed his life forever his thinking changed the inside of him changed he smiled all the time he was friendly helpful and his friends noticed they began to call him Fuego which means fire in Spanish his flame was so bright people listened to him and received Jesus right there and then he shared what the Holy Spirit had done for him with everyone that he met um he was so bold to go to people people and ask them if you were to Die the second do
115you know without a doubt that you would go to heaven then he would tell them the Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ It also says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and you are who whosoever aren't you well sure you are then he would lead them in a prayer and they would receive Jesus that's so amazing um when he became went through this experience fego sh grades changed from C's and D's to A's and B's he cleaned his room he wasn't lazy anymore he enjoyed songs about God you can also be changed by the power of God from the inside out it starts with a
116decision to serve him to allow him to be the Lord of your life that means you talk to God when you need to make a decision and that you allow God to show you the way there's a prayer and I with less time I'm not going to read it but thank you very much thank you Jennifer Nelson good evening members of the board I'm your last speaker I think tonight um several have already spoken to what I was going to um speak to tonight sex education also um the prioritization of The Proposal that Sabrina ball has forwarded for who gets to speak first and who the true stakeholders are when it comes to the Fort Worth Independent School District and the education of children our children um I'm here to ask for you to support
117the reinstatement of sex education in our schools and that we focus on it being developmentally appropriate and evidence-based health and sex education um I can cite from the American Association of Pediatrics the CDC um any number of um articles but I think that I would hope that you all also have done that research and understand that that um this type of sex education which is developmentally appropriate and evidence-based um actually lowers sexual risk um behavior in Youth and Adolescence and children it lowers STI it lowers pregnancy it's already been cited that Texas is number 10 in in um in pregnancies teen pregnancies in the country um and so I would wonder what kind of research have we done to see how many parents are opting out and how many parents are opting in um when
118we have that option which I appreciate greatly and I'm thankful for so it's not something that everybody has to take you actually have to choose to allow your child to take the sex education um work or courses so how many parents are choosing to do so that would be one of the questions I would ask the school board to look into also um when we spent $2.6 million and didn't use all of that um what's happening and um how do we feel about that um fiscal responsibility the um a number of people that have been coming to the Fort school boards across the country um speaking on behalf of others when they are not actually residents [Applause] completely thank you for sharing your thoughts this evening the time is 7:2 7 p.m. the date is
119Tuesday October 24th 2023 we will now recess and reconvene for executive session as authorized by chapter 551 of the Texas government code under sections 551.071 072 074 and [Music] he [Music] he [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] e [Music] n [Music] la [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] da [Music] a [Music] n [Music] e [Music] for [Music] for [Music] la [Music] w [Music] yeah [Music] yeah [Music] me [Music] yeah [Music] n [Music] yeah [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] PA [Music] a [Music] n [Music] o [Music] yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah [Music] o [Music] yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah [Music] hey [Music] are [Music] away [Music] yeah [Music] h [Music] yeah [Music] yeah [Music] oh [Music] yeah [Music] hey oh [Music]
120la la la la [Music] la hey [Music] he [Music] la there some cor that need to be made in accordance with the open meetings law the board opened the meeting at 5:31 p.m. with the quum president recessed in reconvened Open Session adjourned regular session convened executive session adjourned ex adjourned executive session and now reconvene open session at 9:36 p.m. with the Quorum present we are up to consent agenda items as board president I am making the following statement in accordance with board policy bbfa local this is a reminder to all board members of the legal conflict of interest requirements and disclosure requirements you may have for matters under consideration on the agenda for this meeting if required by law board members shall recuse themselves from all discussion and shall abstain from voting on any matter
121pertaining to such a disclosure are there any questions or comments concerning consent agenda items truste dar thank you president Rodriguez due to my employment with Education Service Center region 11 and any potential conflict of interest that might be created by that employment I recuse myself from any discussion or consideration of agenda item 11 c4a show my sticky okay 11 c4a thank you do I have a motion accepting accepting consent agenda oh I'm sorry trusty Jackson yes so moved okay do I have a second a second trusty Phillips any discussion please move to voting noting that trustee Dar abstained from 11 c4a I guess plus it is on ma'am when I push on that nothing happens yes it doesn't doesn't register Madam board president just for the sake of uh Clarity we could do a roll
122call vote would you like me to do the roll call or would you like to do it well you could just by show of hands we don't have to do a formal you a formal okay all those in favor raise your hand okay it's unanimous vote against now let's move to action items any discussion I need to okay yes oh okay okay so we're at action item 12b personnel okay Dr Ramsey thank you this evening um I would like to recommend as Chief Talent officer woodro Bailey do I have a motion so moved trusty Jackson do I have a second second trusty Dar do we roll call again okay we roll call all those in favor raise your hand got a unanimous vote 8 for Z against Dr Ramsey thank you this evening I also
123have the pleasure of um recommending a chief technology officer and for that position I would like to recommend rsh Christian Murthy do I have a motion trusty Dar do I have a second trusty Ryan any discussion please move to voting am I raising your hand all those in favor is unanimous 8 to zero all right Dr Ramsey would you like to introduce the new Personnel uh yes this evening one of uh the new Chiefs is here with us as he was serving in an interim role and U Mr if you would come up to the podium and just introduce yourself to the board and staff of Fort Worth ISD I've enjoyed my time here and I'm excited about the team that I get to work with um and we have a lot of work ahead
124so we're ready for the challenge and ready to do great things for students thank you congratulations thank [Applause] you let's continue with action items 12. c. 1.a consider and take action to terminate the chapter 21 term contract of Elizabeth Nipper do I have a motion yes president Rodriguez I move that the Fort Worth I board consider and take action to terminate the chapter 21 term contract of Miss Elizabeth Nipper uh do I have a second trusty Dar any discussion please move to voting by raising your hand if you're in favor if you're in favor uh seven motion passes S four and one extension next item discussion and action to approve purchase of musical instruments for the secondary instrumental music program do I have a motion uh trusty I mean trusty Ryan second trusty lebanos any
125discussion uh please if you're in favor please raise your hand unanimous vote 8 for Z against now we're on to 12 e1a discussion and action to approve additional elevator and wheelchair lift parts and contracted services do I have a motion so moved trustee Jackson do I have a second truste Martinez any discussion please move to voting raise your hand if you're in favor unanimous 840 against next item 12 Point e point1 point B discussion and action to approve additional purchase of heating ventilation and air conditioning equipment and services do I have a motion trusty Dar do I have a second second truste Jackson any discussion please vote by raising your hand if you're in favor have unanimous vote 8 to Zer n next item 12. e.2 . a discussion and action to approve budget amendment
126for Polytechnic High School betterment project in conjunction with the 2017 Capital Improvement program do I have a motion so moved trusty Jackson do I have a second trusty Martinez any discussion please move to voting by raising your hand if you're in favor motion carries unanimously next oh are we done with AC okay um oh okay now we're moving to 13 comments by board members or superintendent on current District activities and announcements i' like to be again oh Dr Ramsey Dr Ramsey um I know that other that trustees U may have some other comments and I want to take the I want to take the opportunity to congratulate one of our own who will hate this moment um but she worked very hard for this recognition and I just want to publicly state that uh Karen
127Mull and successfully defended her dissertation earlier this month and she is officially Dr molinar so [Applause] congratulations TR Dr molinar would you like to make a comment just thank you all the support thank you to our team I appreciate it and just proof that we're lifelong Learners regardless of our age young lek watch netfli fors now uh trusty Bridges I want to take this time to um this has been a very challenging week for a lot of the families at fars Hill and I want to recognize the uh longtime worker who had given her service to the kids at David Kellers Miss galanda Gibbs who we lost I want to say I I have been so amazed by the resiliency of the staff at that school and the families who have come together and support
128each other and hug each other and to keep our memory alive and um I feel honored to be a servant and I feel honored that we had the opportunity that she was utilized at David k salers for the many years and I want to thank a lot of emails and calls that I got in reference to her her loss and and all who talked about how much she meant to the community so thank you for everyone who came out to the candle light visual as well any other comments trustees hey trusty Bridges I'd like to close in honor of melanda Davis Gibbs and prayers for the entire family and the Forest Hill Community the time is 9:49 p.m. and we are re and we are adjourned [Music]