001We aren't taking formal action. So I don't have to say action that we're just meeting. Okay. Can y'all hear me? Hello? Can you hear me? Maybe. Okay. The time is now 5:01 p.m. I call this meeting of the Granberry Independent School District to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present, that this meeting has been duly called, and that notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, chapter 551. Uh purpose of this meeting is just for public comments. It's our quarterly community forum meeting. Um and we will begin with the invocation and pledges. And um I will be giving the invocation. So, if you would kindly bow your heads with me. Dear heavenly father, we come before you with thankful
002hearts for the privilege of serving our schools and our community. We are grateful for the students, families, educators, and staff who make our district strong. Guide us tonight to listen with wisdom, to speak with respect, and to exemplify excellence that uplifts every child. Help us build bridges of trust and partnership with our community so that together we may create a future full of hope and opportunity in Jesus name. Amen. Now please join us in the pledges. [Music] I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to the Texas one state and indivisible. >> Okay, thank you. First we have uh superintendent comments and then we will go into
003the public comment section. Okay. Thank you. Um first of all I want to draw your attention to the screens. You should be able to see um one of the four screens around the room um and give some acknowledgement about places and information uh on our website. And so we have added a few new items. I want to make sure that everybody knows what they are. So when you look at granberryd.org or the first thing that you'll see when you go to this page is a pop out uh window that allows you to sign up for a newsletter if you're a community member. That is a new feature within the last few weeks. Um so before we only had ways to uh communicate with families. Uh so now if you'd like to sign up under our
004community newsletter, you can do that. If it's off to the side, there's some purple arrows that you can see on the screen. They're tiny and you can pull them out if it doesn't pop out. The other thing to know is down below we have our icons um that are they're going to be static and remain uh the same throughout the year, but they are the most frequent things that parents need on our website. So, you can look through that and if you need information about our calendar, strategic plan, um or how to volunteer, all those things are on there. The new item that I want to make sure that you see is a connect with us um logo or icon. And this is a way or place for anybody to ask a question. So, this
005is a great tool for you if you are seeking clarification about something that you are unfamiliar with. Um, I don't want to discourage anyone from doing a public information request. This is not that process or um going straight to your campus administrator if you're a family. But if you truly need answers to a question and you need a place to give a comment, um that is a great place to start. So, you click you click on connect with us. It'll take you to a form and then th those are directed to our public information office and we'll send those requests to the right people when we get them. Also, you'll notice on the top left hand side of the screen, there are three icons right now. We call those our kind of relevant um and
006timely links, and those change all the time. So, right now, when you look at those links, you'll see there is a link for uh 50 fellas if you're interested in that. Uh there's a link for I don't have my glasses that see that far. Okay. Athletic tickets, which are timely right now. And then Blue Bonnet Math. So, we um at our last board meeting introduced Blue Bonnet Math, the parent portal. And so that is there for you. Those links change frequently. So I encourage you when you go to our website to if you're looking for something specific um then you'll you'll um hopefully if it's timely it'll be on the lefth hand side that you can find it very quickly. Uh okay. So a couple other things. Great announcement. Um with the cell phone ban
007we are up 500 book checkouts compared to this time last year. So that is a really great stat to see that more books are being read with no cell phones. Let's give some applause for that for sure. Yeah. Um, also I know also our enrollment right now um is 7,899 students and so I like to give an update on enrollment because that's one of the biggest questions that we get asked. So our student enrollment is holding steady. While we're not seeing growth or decline right now, we'll continue to keep a close eye on the numbers and share updates with pirate families. As mentioned, um those that question gets asked a lot. Right now we're very steady. So we'll continually share that information information out as well. Also, um I'm going to use this forum to
008give a few clarifying uh pieces of information to things that have been asked repeatedly of our group here. And one of the things is that um it was hard for some community members to understand about a public information request and how when they get that back, there may be some redacted information. So, just remember that when you put the request in, we're we're required by law to review the documents carefully and and certain information must be redacted such as confidential student or employee records and materials protected under attorney attorney client privilege. So, um I know it's hard to understand if you're requesting information, but some things are protected. And so, that's what you'll see if you see something redacted in black across a public information request. Also, there's been some questions, a lot of questions
009about a bond proposal. There is no bond proposal or planning done right now by the district. So I want to make sure and say that out loud that there's nothing um that we are planning for. What we are planning for and we ask questions for about or that we answer questions about all the time is um from usually started from a family or community member that says what are we going to do about the growth? So we will always respond to those questions and our question my answer is always the same. We are building trust with our community. we are trying to be more transparent so that we can communicate that better and that if the time ever came for a bond um then we would hopefully have as much transparency and um factual information
010as you would need. So I want to make sure and that I said that out loud as well. Um, a part of that transparency is next month or actually this month at our board meeting, we're going to have a facility presentation and audit. And so if you are interested in that, that's the beginning of a really transparent process that you will see what our u state of our facilities are in. We're going to be using that information with our long range uh facility planning team and also our advisory groups. And so we will continually communicate that out to you. We're looking for u to develop a long range facility plan that will be proactive and reactive at the same time. So we are going to use the money that we have and communicate out to
011our uh families and community how we're using our budget money and what we can repair with that u which may include using some of our fund balance and other items to make sure that we're caring for our buildings. The main thing that you will hear from me is that we are tasked with providing a safe and um secure learning environment for all students and that's what drives our decisions daily. So, I want to make sure and say those things out loud to this group. Um, and I think that is it for the superintendent comments that I have. So, I'll hand it back to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Moroski. Okay. So, with the new state law, um, parents go first and we've had one parent sign up to speak tonight and that is Danielle Thomas
012speaking on Decker gym status. And then this will be just like in a regular uh, school board meeting. you get your three minutes if you have any questions and I can answer those questions um and and we can have a little dialogue back and forth. No official action is being taken in this meeting. It'sformational and it's really just to have dialogue with the community. So >> can't can't hear. >> Is it on? Yeah, there it goes. Okay. All right, we're rocking now. All right. There's been a lot of talk online about Decker Gym. Lots of information, lots of comments, and I can't make heads or tails of what's factual and what's not. I've searched through the GISD website and I can't find anything pertaining to that. So, I was just curious if you could provide
013a status update for us. Uh so there's no status update because there there's nothing that has been decided or done. Um as far as the school district is concerned, we are just in anformational gathering phase. Um so there there's no agreement um there's no decision that has been made. So, uh, there's a lot of, uh, back-end work that goes into title research and getting all the information that we need as a board to be able to make a decision one way, uh, or another moving forward. So, we're just we're just not at that point yet. We're still in thatformational gathering phase. >> So, United Way right now is renting the space just like they are. They are paying Yeah, correct. They are leasing. They are paying a rent. >> All right. All right. Um, and
014then I have some other questions that really are directed toward you, Miss Boore. Um, sorry, sorry to put you on the spot. Um, are you on the board for United Way? >> I am not. >> You are not. Um, can you do you have an approximation of when the last time you attended a board meeting for United Way as a member of the board? >> So, the last time I attended a board meeting with United Way was back in February of this year. Um, I missed many United Way board meetings, which was one of the main reason I did resign from that position because the majority of my time I spent my free time down in Austin advocating for our students, our teachers, our district, and our community um, as a school board trustee, as
015an elected official trying to speak and have conversations and build relationships with our legislators. I felt like that this is my elected position, so this is my priority. And because of that, I missed all of the board meetings for United Way. Uh so the last one I attended was back in February. >> Okay. So So just to be clear, that that predated any Decker Gym conversation. >> No, the first time I heard about the Decker Jim uh proposal that you were asking about was with the rest of the school board. >> It was on behalf of the school board. Okay. But but you didn't participate in any discussions as a board member of United Way because you were gone to Austin. >> Correct. That is correct. >> Advocating for the district. Okay. I just there's
016just a ton of information flying around and it's just best to go straight to the source and and >> Well, I appreciate that. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. And thank you for the opportunity to clarify those questions. >> Well, thank you. Um that's all I have. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Our next speakers are community members. Uh, the first one is Joseph Jones speaking on Decker Jim. >> Oh, first. He's going first. >> Okay. I'm sorry. If you're a parent, I apologize. >> We made a mistake on our >> You're a parent, too, right? >> Okay. So, you get to go first, too. >> Okay. Joseph Jones on Decker. >> Sorry. >> Um, sorry. I've never done this, never attended one, so a little nervous, but I was asked to come and uh speak a
017little bit. I started founded I'm the president of a local nonprofit called Play It Forward Fitness. And sorry, I am a little nervous. I didn't think I was going to be, but um with the sole mission in mind to provide um fun fundamentals of recreational sports and fitness for all kids to offer them free classes in a coach setting um because it's it's a huge problem. Can't get our kids out of the uh devices. Um, kids can't play like when we were kids and there's no safe places and frankly there's not a lot of places unless you're going to spend an exorbitant amount of money uh for those places here in Hood County and it's a huge problem. I coach for GAA uh baseball and basketball. I've been doing that for several years now and
018I saw a big big problem that I didn't realize was a problem. I thought it was just kind of my kids, you know. Uh my my oldest never played sports. He had one bad coach and never turned around. And then my youngest started um and he's doing pretty good now. But so I I I decided long time ago, it's about three years to try to remedy this problem. And I went through a lot of how am I going to do this? Um then I've met some people with nonprofits and figured out a way to do it. and it's a legit nonprofit. Um, all money that we do raise, which really haven't raised any, is just goes to insurance and some basketballs and stuff. And I partnered with another local nonprofit, the Waples Community Center, so
019I can do my baseball trainings out there. Um, and with the goal in mind, all my trainings are kind of like a pre-season to whatever GA season is coming up. So, basketball's coming up in November. So, right now we're currently doing basketball and there's always fitness involved. Uh, I've been going for five months now and I've coached well over 200 kids and I get new ones every single day. Right now, I'm only coaching one day a week because I am a husband and I am a father and I got to attend to those needs as well. I wish I could do more with the endgame of of offering a lot more days. Um, I had a problem with basketball. Um, everybody wants to charge, churches charge. I don't have the funds for that. And I
020just took a whim and reached out to United Way and um, I've been doing Tuesday classes there for the last five weeks. We are averaging well over 30 kids every Tuesday. It I actually I'm a little overwhelmed with it because it's a such a small space, but I got the head uh, girls basketball coach coming out tomorrow. always going to help me out. >> Awesome. >> Um Brad, I haven't got to meet him face to face. Just emailed him. But uh I just wanted to just touch on that that the Decker Decker Gym and I and I haven't known Crystal and the United Way people very very long. But the experience that I have had is just um very very good, overwhelming for a guy like me that's just trying to do my own like
021little part uh to help the kids out because it's a huge issue. It's a big passion of mine. Um, I I can't thank them enough and to have that opportunity to be able to coach basketball there and fitness and not have to worry about a lease or a rent or anything for guy that mean like I don't have any funds. It's big and it's I think it's going to be a game changer for this community. So, >> well, >> I just wanted to state that. >> Awesome. Thank you so much for your involvement in um reaching out in the community outreach and pouring into our youth. Um the partnerships with our nonprofits in Hood County is amazing. And um it's I think it's a true gem of Hood County that not every community has. And
022so thank you for stepping up and volunteering your time and getting engaged with our youth and and reaching out to other nonprofits to to make that dream happen. >> Absolutely. some >> Thank you. >> Okay. I don't know what I'm doing. >> I just coach. That's all. >> Okay. Our next speaker is Monica Brown. Uh, general comments and questions. >> Okay. I did send in some questions when y'all asked, but I didn't get it till a little while ago. um to try to help because I was a little rushed this morning. That wasn't really intentional to keep it so general. And mine are pretty benign tonight. Um about I mean about the Decker Jam, I'm curious. In September when the board voted on it, you're saying you only knew about it that night and y'all
023approved it that night? >> I'm so in September of 2024 when the Decker Jam agreement was done here. Is that what you're saying? >> That was a That's a different That wasn't a Decker Jim agreement. That was agreement to lease the building. That's when theou was put together in >> 2024. It's a lease agreement. >> Okay. All right. I'm pretty sure I was there and it was announced as >> Yeah, that's a that that's a completely different um >> different terminology, but it's a lease agreement. >> Okay, that's cool. Um and that was in September of 2024 and at that time you were on thei um the United Way trustees. >> Correct. I was on the United Way board at that time. >> And then tonight you said that was the first time you'd heard
024of it. the whole >> this is a complete the Decker gym arrangement where uh United Way has come to the school board or the district about a 99-year lease or a deeding of the property or something like that. >> Okay, that's very helpful. I appreciate that. Okay. >> Yeah, two different completely issues. >> Okay. Okay. I appreciate that. Um Okay. So, I was curious and I wanted to see what your thoughts are on DEI. How important is it to you that we don't have DEI here in our schools? And I know it's illegal at the state level or maybe you need to clarify how I'm saying that because that might be too broad the way I said it, but um um how important is it to you as a board and are you aware of
025where it is present? Diversity, equity, and inclusion. >> Okay. So, maybe we should start with what your that definition of >> No, I don't want to go there. Um, you did that once before where you gave us all definitions that were accounting related with equity and diversity and I think that insults the intelligence of the public. >> I mean diversity, equity, and inclusion that's illegal in the state of Texas, not legal activity. Are you aware of it? How important is it to you and are you aware of it is that's my question. So, I'm aware of the legalities around DEI in the state of Texas as defined by the state and Governor Abbott, which is a completely different definition when we're talking about education. >> Okay. So, can you publish that for us on the
026Granberry ISD website so we can really make that clear? >> What do you want published? Exactly >> the what you're saying what what what you are calling DEI of what you're aware of so it's very clearly understood. >> Right. So diversity means we serve more than one race of students. We don't just have Hispanic kids in Granberry. We don't just have >> No, I know that. >> Right. So that that in education that's that's diversity. Okay. And equity in education is making sure that we're providing equal opportunities for learning for all students. >> Right. >> Which is never I don't know that that's been an issue here anyway. Exactly. Right. So that's what we're talking about. But go ahead. >> That's what I'm saying. I think we have two completely different I think we're talking
027about >> I think the state of Texas has been unclear and I don't think I think there's programs that have been very clear about what their motive is and their background >> but okay we I guess you're that's an answer I think the answer is no >> um also I was curious because in the past I want to say it with Miss Townson who said that we could move these meetings to a later time so that working people could get here. I know it's really probably one more meeting, one more time, but it's five o'clock and there is just a huge amount of people who cannot show up if they wanted to because you're starting these meetings at five o'clock. It's really rough on parents with children, dinner, uh getting off work. A lot of
028people don't even leave their business until 5:00. So, when you do that, you kind of boil it down to the people who are freer in their time or a little eclectic in how they work. And I thought it was said to us maybe about four of these ago that y'all would change the time to accommodate the public. So I'm thinking six or six:30. And I don't know if you'll do it, but I think that would be a move in the right direction to see if you might get more participation. Is that something you would consider? >> I know that there were some community meetings that have been moved to later times as far as this forum goes. >> This is the one I'm talking about in particular. >> Right. As far as this form goes,
029I think that's something we still have to look at because we also have admin that are up here working away from their families that have >> they need time at home, too. So, it's it's about finding that balance, and I know that's something we're still looking into. >> Well, and then just uh one of the things that I'm personally campaigning on for running for school board is free speech, first amendment rights. And I know that as soon as Karen Lowry got on this board, you guys took a vote to make it to where trustees had to have at least two trustees instead of the traditional one put on the agenda. Sorry. So, personally, I'm still pressing for that to be returned. And then the second thing is to allow the community comments to come back
030so that if something happens, we can talk at the very next board meeting. And I don't mean me, I mean a parent. because if they have to wait until this date, I think you I think you basically it's not a good management technique to make somebody wait that long. The other thing is if someone's on your automatic uh reminder of this meeting, it tells them the agenda, but it doesn't tell them where to sign up. And if they don't know, I've seen people show up very, you know, professionals last time showed up and they didn't even know to sign up through your system. So, I really wish you would I'm just putting it out there. I wish you would put it back to the meetings and go back to free speech for your people and
031not and quit trying to squaltch them. That's what I would like you to do. And I think there's a huge amount of the community that does not like it when you just shut out dissenting voices. >> So the this meeting this forum setting actually came from community meetings and feedback from the community because when >> not the whole community, Courtney, this came from harnessing public comments that you and Dr. Glenn and much of this board went to TASBY and you spoke on how to harness public comments and you have and other districts have followed suit and it's not a progressive thing. It's not a progressive thing to suppress free speech. It wasn't progressive to take away Karen's voice or any other trustes voice. >> Okay. So, I'm going to finish my comment. >> Sure. Go
032ahead. But we completely differ. This is >> I'm going to finish my comment and then your comment time will be over because we're not going to I don't want to get into a back and forth and and have this become aggressive. You do. So you've shut me down in the middle of the other meeting. >> Okay. I think public comment is over. >> That's great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So to clarify for the community, this forum, this setting came from strategic planning that involved our entire community, input from parents, input from students were involved as well, input from teachers, admin. Um it was it took place over several months of meetings and some of the feedback we got from those meetings was that during regular board meetings and we have public comments
033on non-aggenda items we legally as board members cannot answer those questions. And so it created it created space for distrust between the board and the community because the feedback we were getting was that the community felt like we were ignoring them. And that is never our intention to ignore our community. And so we strategized as a community and came up with an idea where we could allow for more open forum so that when community members had questions about things going on the in the district that weren't on the agenda, we could have a little bit of dialogue to clear that up and build that trust and bridge those gaps. And so the purpose of this forum is actually to increase first amendment rights and give more freedom of speech to our community to have more
034dialogue with our community. And it's been a very the feedback we've gotten from the community except for some um has been overwhelmingly positive. And so I I really appreciate all the people that have have participated in those strategic planning meetings that we did and gave that feedback and allowed something as innovative as this to come out of Granberry ISD. And I appreciate everyone that shows up to these meetings and that is here and ready to have dialogue and learn more about the district and get clarification about things that we couldn't necessarily talk about at a regular board meeting because it's not on the agenda. And that's state law. That's not something that we can change. And so this is this is an innovative idea that came from our community by our community for our community.
035Okay. The next speaker is Jim Brown. >> Good evening everybody. Um, good evening. Yeah, if we could change the time would be awesome because I am a work a day guy from Fort Worth and it's it is a whapon to get here and then I'm rushed and not thinking clearly. So, um couple of things I had which I believe um is where we're headed in October. I want to just reiterate I knew that in sitting in these meetings just within a year ago, we were talking about some of the facilities uh air conditioners, buses. I truly haven't heard a whole lot about those and so I know it's my understanding anyway that there was a uh I think TASBY came and did a facilities uh update and uh we spent some money for that. I'm
036assuming we're going to hear a little bit of what's going on there. Um I at least want to say way to go. I'm seeing some new buses on the road so we're doing some things. I'm not hearing anything from community as far as like buses aren't working. So my question becomes uh since we're not going for any bonds, there's got to be money outlay uh for these buses facilities and I'm assuming that with all these analysis that we're getting that we are going to come up with monies moving from I don't know I mean I guess we got to somehow add more money to the M budget. Uh I'm thinking are we taking from INS budget? Are we I mean, how are we going to find this money to uh to make those changes to
037our facilities? Um we talked about air conditioners over the high school that were underwater and anyway, so we're just I just am not hearing anything more. And uh I guess that's what we're going to talk about in um in October. Am I correct? Do we have any bus I know there's a you know, is there like a bus plan in place? Is there some type of policy we're trying to fit into? I mean, where are we with buses? >> Go, go. >> These are exactly the kind of questions that we need to do a better job um of a district to communicate to you guys. So, that is um one of the things that I talk about the most with my team is how do we make sure that people understand where their money goes
038um and and be realistic about what we can take care of. And so, you will get a facilities audit update in October. And from that point, what it's going to show you is um a list of priorities on every campus and a roundabout cost about what that would be. So then as a district, we're going to have to get real serious about what we can afford with our budget that we have and start choosing some priorities from those list and those will be things that we communicate with you. We know we need to do a better job with that. Um we need to do a better job about updating you on how many buses we purchase each year, how many HVACs we purchase each year, just so you know that the money is being spent
039out of our M budget. Now, the state of Texas limits us in a lot of ways that we have to have bonds um to do large capital pro projects. So, if we were to get to any kind of um building modifications, even if we had to expand or if we were declining enrollment and had to shut something down, um those things cost money that we would have to get a bond approved for. We're not there yet, as I mentioned earlier. Um so, we are going to do a better job of communicating what our budget is. Um my team hears me talk about it all the time and and make sure that you know that these are the funds that we're using. If we have to use some of our um fund balance, that would definitely
040be a uh board decision about what goes forward um with that purchase, but it will be based on the needs of our facilities and our um replacement cycle for buses. We've talked about cafeteria tables. We're looking at everything to say how are we being very um transparent and thoughtful and efficient with the money we have with what our schools need to be safe and secure learning environments. >> Okay. Am I allowed to say anything? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Great. So, with that said, I I a year a year year and a half ago when I was kind of digging into some of this um I thought that buses and things like that were always within M. I mean, they really shouldn't necessarily be a bond item. They're not I mean, it's not like a big
041capital expenditure. It's an asset. I don't know if it's an asset that's depreciating, but it but my problem is is that I don't understand why we if our budget keeps going up every single year, which it has. I mean, we've already said this down the road. If the budget keeps going up, why are we not able to to basically maneuver more money from our budget to put it towards maintenance operations and and I I I don't I don't appreciate maybe would maybe be a nice way to put it of why we're why we have to put buses like we don't want to we shouldn't need to buy buses all at once. It should be an ongoing maintenance item I'm assuming out of the budget, right? >> We've gotten money I thought from different sources recently.
042>> So there there is are there are maintenance cycles and that's something that's going to come out of our facilities assessment to see if there's any tweaks or refinements we can make there. Um but there there are definitely cycles, replacement cycles for um things that like buses and AC units that that we know have to be replaced. But one of the things when it comes to school finance and budgets, for example, teacher raises, that's going to increase our budget. If we're paying our teachers more money, our budget is going to be bigger because we're paying teachers more money. The money that we get from our property tax revenue goes to the state. Then the state allocates that money back to the district based on our ADA, our average daily attendance, uh, special education, CTE programs,
043things like that. Then if there was a certain amount of revenue over what the state allows us to gather that comes from the maximum compression rate, there's a certain amount we have to send back in recapture. So, it's a lot of changing of hands. The money goes to the state, the state allocates it to us based on our ADA and other programs, and then we have our recapture that we have to pay back to the state. But just like anybody else who owns a home or has to pay the electric bill or pay for groceries, those costs go up and that it makes our budget for those those costs for a school district go up as well. So, we're not paying the same rate for gas or for diesel for our buses that we were
04410 years ago. That's a budget increase. We're not paying our teachers the same salary they were getting paid 10 years ago. That's a budget increase. That That would be really the simplest way to kind of explain. >> I I I get it. Um I just I only make so much money, >> right? >> I don't have the freedom to go to my boss and say, "I need a raise because my air conditioner went out." Uh, I just am saying again, I I I genuinely get the feeling over the last few years, it's like whenever you get more money, you you take it, you spend it, and you just keep asking for more. And I'm just thinking, can we not look at our current budget >> to find more dollars because I, as an employee, make
045X dollars, and it really is serious. And I'm sure every other parent in this city only makes certain dollars. And I can't just go to my boss for a raise, but yet the school can come to us and with higher property taxes or property values, leaving the tax rates alone. I got it. But the but we're still paying more money and and you're still asking for more money. I I I I can't this school operate on a $90 million budget instead of jump every year jumps up. Now my bills jump up, but I still have to figure a way to make it all work. Why can't we? It just there's some fiscal >> and the district the district does too. Uh but those money that money comes to us from the state with what I
046guess people would call strings attached. There are laws set by the state that says that we the money that's allocated to us has to be spent a specific way, >> right? >> So we don't have the freedom to we don't just get this one lump sum of money and then get to decide how to spend it. >> Well, the property taxes is a pretty good lump sum >> that goes to the state. >> All that everything >> all of it goes to the state. Then the state allocates money to us based on our average daily attendance, special education, other programs like that. And when it comes back to us from the state, there is law, very specific law that states how we are allowed to spend that money. So we have very little discretion over
047how that money gets spent because we have to follow state law >> about what did I say? Well, just a bit about that we're operating under the assumption that we're not going to have a bond, >> right? We are not asking for money from a bond right now. I want to be clear and say that a million times. >> Watch what I just said. >> Well, you said we're asking for money and we're not. We're not asking for more money. >> We are trying to be more transparent. Yeah. You said we're asking for more money and we are not. I just want to make sure that that's said out loud. >> Yeah. It's coming out of my tax dollars. I mean, it's >> So, we don't raise tax we don't raise your um property values
048and that is not a part of what the school district does. >> Yeah. So, I just want to be clear about that. And um we are trying to make sure that we are being extremely efficient with the money that we have and we're asking a lot of questions and we're making sure that we're um operating under the assumption that this is what we have and we want to take care of the things that we have really well and that is what we talk about every day. >> Did that right? And then and then when it comes to the fund balance, there are stipulations around that too. We can't just dip into it and use all that money to take care. Well, first of all, it's not enough to do everything we need. Um, but there's
049only a certain percentage of it that we can per policy actually use for things because we have to be able to maintain uh the operations of the district for so many months through our fund balance. >> Oh, good. I just go back to the same thing. Just please stay sharp on the numbers. I I >> Yeah. And and we have an awesome C CFO. We have a great admin that does an excellent job of finding money through grants and other programs available through the state and uh they set a great example of finding money where it may not have existed before and I'm very grateful for all the effort and time that they put into that because they make magic happen in Granberry ISD. So, thank y'all. Thank you. Okay, and the next speaker is
050Renee Shahardy. Good seeing all y'all. >> How are you? >> Yeah, I'm doing good. And uh I want to thank you for including me in some of this uh extra work we're going to be doing with the um I think it's a citizens advisory >> panel. I really appreciate that. Um, I I'm here to I've got a real short little talk and it's not about money and it's not about all the technical stuff because I don't know any of that stuff. What I want to talk about is I want to add something to y'all tonight. So, when I make my comments, I'm not being critical. The board operates and comes across much smoother today. And I've been following y'all for four or five years now. And I've seen the nonsense in the past and you
051know we're not we're not seeing that. But I I want to bring forward some ideas for y'all to consider how y'all operate. And when I first got involved with the board uh four or five years ago when my niece was here, I spoke and I spoke on the topic of teamwork. And you know, I don't know if it hit the wall and stuck or fell down. And I'm okay with that. But I just I just felt with the Charlie Kirk thing I had to say something and that's what's really driving my heart on this. Our country is at a seinal point. We we have an opportunity right now as a country n you know nationally all the way down to locally to to really assess what happened. And there was a real contrast between evil
052and good. And I think it's affected all of us. I mean, I watched it, my wife and I watched that five-hour ceremony, and we were just broken, as I'm sure everyone in this room was, but we also see some really positive things coming out of this. Not there's nothing positive about his death. I'm not, don't anyone misinterpret that. But there are across the country in college campuses and in high schools, we're seeing kids raise their hand and go, I want to understand. I want to understand God better. I want understand who I am better. I bring this up because true leaders discern the times and you guys are our leaders and it's really important for y'all to discern the times that we're in. And even though y'all are getting along better, which I'm happy about,
053uh, because I have to attend these board meetings, I don't want to hear it all. But but but our community that this board has affected still is in turmoil. Now, I don't read all the signal stuff. My wife my wife's better at this stuff than I am. I I steer clear of it, but it's really important that our leaders act out of their Christian values. Every one of y'all have professed to be a Christian. I didn't put that on you. Y every I've heard everyone say that. And I believe it. And we have to operate out of those values the same way that young man did. He let his values drive his behaviors. You guys set the macro culture for our district. And whether you know it or not, there are many, many micro cultures
054inside of our district. That's just the way organizations work. You have your macro and y'all set the boundaries for that. And I also believe that y'all have values that y'all that y'all try to adhere to and I and I believe you probably do. And I don't know what they are. Usually in organizations it's things like trust, respect. It's it's you know, we're going to communicate blah blah blah. But what I want to propose is I want to propose three uh cultural norms, learning cultural norms that I would like you all to consider adopting. You don't and you may never change the words on the plaque, but but I'm hoping you hear what I say tonight. You are over it's obvious you're over an educational organization, but more than that, it's a learning organization. And that's
055what we want to be in Granberry ISD. We don't want to be an educational operation. We want to be a learning and then we want that to impact our culture uh you know our county. So there's three, I'm not going to give you 10, just three to think about. One is encourage lively debate and discourse among like-minded and not like-minded. to get better solutions. We need to personally stop the derogatory comments and ask those who we influence to stop. Listen, I haven't heard that in in a in in several months. So, I'm not putting that and I'm not being ugly toward you guys, but if you go out on social media, people that follow the different groups that we all know about that we don't talk about, they they are they are it's vitriol out
056there. And y'all are our leaders that we have city council, we have county leaders, and y'all have influence. And I'm asking y'all to let's encourage discourse. And and I don't know, I have no, of course, I was in I've volunteered the last four years. I'm not in school right now yet. But um you know, I'm not going to say that we don't have open discourse in our schools. I'm I'm not going to say that because I don't know that. But everything y'all set your staff's watch. I worked, you know, y'all know I worked in the oil industry at major corporations doing this kind of work. So we saw it all the time. So you might not think it, but if the behavior is going on or a message is being sent, they pick up on
057it. The staff does. We need to practice humility when we do things. Humility is at the heart of learning. someone who's prideful and arrogant, they they can't learn because they can't hear. And and and we need to really put that into our system from our leaders, starting with our leaders and and and working it all the way down that people are humble, that they're willing to listen and value others. And the third one is encourage the exploration of ideas. Right. We need to think of our schools as a as a learning laboratory. When our kids and our teachers come in, let they they should be able to explore ideas and and I look if if I was talking to Stacy, I know Stacy would tell me, right? Or Tammy might tell me now, you know,
058we got our rules. We can go, okay, I you know, I got that. But the culture we the culture that we build should be a learning lab for our teachers to explore. And I know our teachers advance in their degree programs and they work hard and the ones I've met are outstanding. I I just I almost told my wife I said I almost not I I almost didn't come up to say this because you guys are doing so well. But I really believe if we could encourage discourse, if we could open up more of a learning attitude and practice humility, Charlie Kirk gave his life for those types of beliefs. He was on ch he was on campuses engaging people. I'm not saying the man was perfect. I'm not saying he didn't make mistakes or
059he might have said something wrong to somebody. I don't know. But I but I do know he invited people in and that is I'm really just encouraging y'all to do that. You do that at this meeting like you explained. This is this is a part of that, right? It's and we're learning how to do these meetings so that our staffs and our students and our families feel that they can come in. You know, I know that's in y'all's hearts. It's just we have to kind of figure out how how y'all send a really strong message in that way. So, I really thank you for this time. I I really appreciate what y'all do. Uh I I know every organization has its stuff, right? Our organization has it too here. But, um I believe the staffs
060care. The ones I've met care and and we have to make sure that you guys send the right message all the time. And maybe you are because I'm not in all those interactions. But but just like when when I watched and I'm gonna wrap up just like when I watched the Charlie Kirk thing ceremony or memorial service and I had to check my own heart. How am I living? We have to do that as individual members of this team up here. How are we interacting with each other so that our teachers and our families and our students know it's okay to have discourse? And then ultimately, like I said, people in our community, we need to we need to we need to tap it back. And that's you. It's not y'all putting stuff out, but
061people that we all have influence over. Thank you all so much. >> Thank you, Renee. I always appreciate your comments and thoughts. >> Thanks. And that is our last speaker for tonight. So the time is now 5:47 and this meeting is adjourned.