001[Music] This is the MISD June 24th, 2025 special meeting. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance to the United States of Texas. To the flag of the United States of American Are there any public comments? I have all of them. Few things to go over with before we hear those. Um, the board will hear comments from the audience only during the public comment portion of the meeting. Individuals wishing to speak must have added their name and topic to the public comment signup sheet prior to the start of the board meeting. The board will allot three minutes for tonight's public comment portion of the meeting. Each speaker will be allowed a maximum of three minutes to address the board. Please respect the privacy of others and refrain
002from identifying students, employees, or other community members by name. The board requests that any comments on any subject, whether positive or negative, be courteous and respectful. Disruption of the meeting will not be tolerated at any time. Um, so we have four public comments. Um, thank you for registering to speak to the board this evening so that everyone has an opportunity to speak that we we ask that you limit them to three minutes. As you can see, there are a number of limited number of instances in which the board can respond to you during public comment. We cannot take any votes or actions based upon public comments. Please keep comments respectful and focused on the topic topic you have registered to speak for. First up is uh Shane Webb. Thank you. Uh my name is Shane
003Wet. I have three daughters in this school district. Um two of which are in high school at McGomery High School and they are on the Bell's dance team. Uh I'm here today to voice my support for a change in leadership in the uh director's position of the McGomery Bells dance team. There are over 15 people here behind me who are in support of this as well. And there are many more who are not here, most likely because they're afraid of retaliation towards their daughters who are currently on the team. You all have seen and heard and read lots of testimony and evidence in this matter. The administration has failed to take enough action to make change. So, it is up to you to make that change to protect our girls. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
004Web. Next up is Alyssa Lockage. Hello, my name is Alyssa and I am a former employee of MISD as well as the former director of the Junior Bells dance team. And I am reading a statement on behalf of one of my former dancers. Um, she did not feel comfortable coming up here and speaking. Um, so I'm going to start. She says, "I am scared to say this, so I asked Miss Lockage to read this. I am a current member of the McGomery High School Bells. I think the Bells should have a new director. I don't feel that our dance director truly understands us or tries to connect with our team. She doesn't actively teach us. Most of the instruction comes from the officers. She rarely spends time working with us on our routines and often
005stays in her office during practice. She allows some girls on the team to get away with almost anything, including breaking school rules. While other girls have very strict rules, she does not make anyone feel welcome and is not okay to treat students the way she treats us. It has become more like a popularity contest than a dance team. The funny thing is is that even the girls she does like don't feel welcomed by her. I can't think of anyone on the team who feels completely accepted by our director. It is also hard to do more than one activity because she is not willing to let some girls do more than one activity. But some girls can do several things if you are one of her favorites. One of my teammates missed a performance to attend
006fashion week and still performed the next week. But when I left school for a doctor's appointment, she told me I could not perform at the football game. There have been several times when it feels like the dance team director treats her favorites differently. For example, there was a situation where one of my teammates was struggling with a move and instead of being taken out of the dance, she was given multiple chances and the director even asked several other dances dancers to help her even though she was never able to perform the move. But if someone who isn't one of the favorites tries for the same move and doesn't get it right away, they are not given another opportunity to try. They are not assigned that role and no one is asked to help them improve.
007She creates a lot of problems on the team because she always compares us to each other. Right before spring break, she pulled us all together. She was crying and went around and said different things to each girl. Some girls were told they were perfect and would be successful in life, while other girls were told that she just likes their Instagram posts and they have a good sense of humor. I don't know why we use class time to let her compare all of us when we should have been practicing for nationals. At nationals, she was not around us much. We would see her occasionally and when we checked in at the hotel, but she never gave us much direction. A lot of my friends talked about quitting but stayed because they hoped there would be a
008positive change. I do wish that the dance team director would be someone who cared about us and wanted to teach us. I don't think it's fair that a teacher can get away with breaking all the rules, but we cannot. She should be an example on how to behave and not be an example of what a bully is like. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You have to excuse me. I'm probably going to butcher this last name, but I'm just going to say Lo. Yep. I I go by Lyall mostly all the time. So, I'd like to thank the board for the opportunity to speak today. Our daughter was in the bells for five years. During that time, we have had many negative interactions with both the dance director and the school administration from the assistant
009principal level to the superintendent with no satisfactory results. A continuing theme regarding the lap of lack of action and results is the fact that the school administration has changed fairly significantly almost every year. This fact is apparently led to the problem that there have been no records kept of ours or anyone else's complaints against the dance director. Therefore, every time we've had a meeting with anyone at the school district, it appears to them as the first time that there's been an issue. This these items highlight a systemic issue as well as a dance director issue due to the fact that there have been no consequences that we are aware of for the district for the director and her behavior. It has only emboldened her to continue her actions and it seems to get worse every
010year. I have four examples that I consider to be the most egregious that I'm going to go over. First is excessive punishment. The dance director removed our daughter from leadership and made her sit out practices for missing a week due to a family vacation, of which, of course, our daughter clearly has no control over when I can take my vacation. The director wrote a letter to us detailing our daughter's breach of contract and even included an excused doctor's absence against her to make it seem as though there were multiple offenses. We expected some form of discipline due to missing practice. However, the severity appeared to be over the top, especially since it was truly her first offense. as a illness with a doctor's note should never be counted against anyone. The junior high assistant principal
011and principal ignored our complaints. Additionally, we are aware of other Bell's members that have had similar or worse infractions of the Bell's code that were not treated or that were treated much more leniently. Second is she called the police unnecessarily on my wife and I. The dance director called the police and had my wife and I removed from a dance competition and not allowed back in for sitting in the wrong seats. All of this despite the officer who did show up saying that no action from him was warranted for anything. I'd like to point out that when we were first informed that we were in reserve seating, we moved. Apparently though, we did not move far enough for the director's liking. We felt like this was completely out of spite and her disdain for us.
012Administrative indifference. We did not bring the previous example up to the school administration since it was our daughter's last year in the junior bells. However, when we found out later that she the director would be taking over both roles of junior and high school bells, we went to the superintendent to voice our concerns. The superintendent at that time claimed despite hours and other previous complaints and interactions with the school, there were no documented complaints against the director. Therefore, there was no reason that he could see that would keep him from making the decision for the director to take over both roles. As I mentioned previously, this is an issue in particular that highlights the systemic failure within the district to properly protect our children from toxic and abusive environments, inappropriate contact and harassment. The director
013also texted our daughter multiple times during family funeral about missing practice. An assistant principal did intervene on this one by telling the dance director to stop. However, on my daughter's return to school, the hostile comments from the director about my wife in both private comments to my daughter as well as with the rest of the bells in attendance increased, leading our daughter to quit the team due to the abusive and hostile atmosphere created by the director. Our experience with the dance director is far from unique, as others have had similar issues. But based on our experience alone, it should be obvious that the dance director has no business being in an influential influential leadership position over our young and impressionable children. Having said that, our students deserve a leader who is committed to their success
014as committed to their success as they are. The current director has failed to establish meaningful relationships with the team and has only created chaos and discontent. The dancers did not see her as a mentor or an artistic guide. And her treatment of my daughter and many of the other girls has eroded respect and trust. If the desire is to have a program that is positive, that is a positive influence on our young people instead of a petty, abusive, and toxic one, we must prioritize qualified, honest, respected, committed, and connected leadership as opposed to what we currently have in the dance director position. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, next we have Adeline Ward. My name is Adeline. Um, apologize if I'm nervous looking or whatever. You know, I am still in high school. I'm
015a part of the Bells. Um, I'm going to be a senior this upcoming year and I am a lieutenant colonel. who I do hold um an important piece on this team and that's why I want to speak out today. Personally being involved with my director since sixth grade, I've definitely looked up to her as someone that could help me grow as a person and help me, you know, lead the team more and more. But as I've continued to grow and as I've continued to have her, I've definitely seen a difference between how she treats people as they grow up. So, no matter what, you know, anyone's going through in their personal life or how they look, it should never be talked about. Yet, as I got into high school, it was very common for her
016to speak on people's bodies or their hair or talk about their home lives. And this wasn't talked about to the team, of course, but she would talk to the officers like we're her besties and she can talk to, you know, us like that, which is fine. But, um, it's kind of upsetting because those are my teammates that I love truly and dearly. And it's really upsetting how she's changed and it seems like it's more about money now and it's more about the popularity. I 100% agree with that because I personally am not financially all over the place where I can spend hundreds and thousands of dollars. And I feel like I used to get so much help from her and now it's gotten to a point where she talks down on me like I'm still
017a junior high kid and she talks down on me like I have a say so and how I make money cuz I can't have a job because being in Bell's as an officer there's no way I can have a job. It's my senior year so I have no job, no nothing, no way to make money. yet she holds me back from being able to do competitions and being able to do these dances that I want to do because I have a passion for dance. So, I think she holds people back. She talks about people and I I just think it's definitely turned into a extremely less motivating and stressful environment cuz the difference from 9th grade to my past year and junior and junior year. Um I I had zero confidence and I genuinely think
018it only came from her as my director. So thank you. Thank you. Thank each of you for your comments. Um, the board will go into a closed meeting as authorized by the Texas Open Meetings Act for the reasons listed on our agenda. The time now is 5:13. It is now 7:09. Um, and we are back in open session. Having heard the appeal, does any board member wish to make a motion? Yes. Um, I would like to make a motion that this board upholds the level two grievance as heard. Is there a second? A second. Any discussion? Yes. I'll like to talk first on this grievance. I'm voting against the district's recommendation on how they would like to handle it. The issue here has been going on for too many years with the current administration and
019past administration on this employee. I feel it's the not the right excuse me I feel it's not right that the district is quick to discipline a student for infractions but when an employee with infractions nothing's documented an employee should not be allowed to verbally bully a student retaliate if they or the parent raises concerns for this behavior I believe the employee should be removed from her assignment um though this decision was not an easy one to make. U given all of the testimony um not just in this room what all of you all have heard tonight but all of the um uh all of the evidence that was presented um in the in the level one grievance is all that we're allowed to consider. And with that being said, it's not this board's jurisdiction to
020make HR and employment decisions. That's an administrative decision that has to be made at an administrative level. Um, you know, hearing heard having heard all of these things and and read and discussed all of the evidence that we've were presented, um, you know, we we've come to this conclusion based on the only thing that we're able to grieve. Um, you know, hearing everything. I mean, Dr. Ruffin, you understand this the severity of these claims. I'm sorry, Charity, chime in, but I think that's kind of where you are. Dr. Do you understand the severity of these things that were brought up tonight and that they need to be looked into and that action needs to be taken? Yes, ma'am. I just want to speak for the record um on uh I've abstained from voting and I
021want to make it clear of why that is because of my uh daughter. He's on the dance team and uh depending on how I would possibly vote on this, I'm not going to um have any backlash on my daughter and have her go through that. So, I'm abstaining from voting on this. Unfortunately, uh due to a medical emergency on the day of the grievance hearing, I was unable to be a part of it. Therefore, I will need to abstain from voting. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Abstain. The motion carries. Um I'm going to read a a statement on behalf of the board and just kind of go through um where we're at and what we are kind of um expecting to to happen from uh this point forward. Um
022first I want to thank each of you that had the courage to speak tonight. While we can only consider the facts and evidence presented during the grievance process, we heard your comments and have taken them to heart. The the board's decision tonight to uphold levels two decision is in no way an indication of disregard for your concerns shared by those involved. We deeply respect all perspectives and appreciate the input from our community. After thorough review of the process and evidence provided at each level, the board is voting voting to affirm the decisions made at level one and two. We believe the grievance f process was followed and our decision reflects our trust in that process and the professionalism of our campus and district leadership. At the same time, we recognize that serious concerns were raised
023during this process that warrant attention. The board is directing the superintendent to immediately engage in direct and timely conversations to ensure improvement in the systems, processes, and the culture of the program. This includes setting clear expectations for enhanced communication and opportunities for student and parent feedback. Implementing measures to ensure an environment where a student feels physically and emot emotionally secure and able to thrive and ensuring the program reflects the district's values and expectations moving forward. The time is now 7:14 and this meeting is adjourned. community and these children again. It's sickening. 7:15 and I would like to call the McGomery ISD 24 June 24th, 2025 regular meeting to order. Dr. Ruffin, would you leave us lead us in invocation for that? Please bow with me. Uh, Father God, we just come to you honored and
024humbled uh to be uh representative and and to be able to serve uh this community. Father God, we just uh pray um for safety and security uh for our students and our staff throughout the summertime. Uh we pray for uh rest and relaxation and time spent with family and loved ones. Uh appreciating the gifts uh that you've graced us with, Father, and the blessings that you've bestowed upon our lives. Uh we ask for leadership and guidance um and that all decisions uh throughout our district go to glorify you and forgive us for we failed you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag to the flag of the republic for it stands one indivisible honor of the Texas flag. Dr. Ruffin. Um, special resignations and um, recognitions and presentations. Yes, we have
025got some friends from the Lake Conroe Republicans Women's Association. Hey, Miss Mo. Come on down. They're hard to miss in the red. Red shirt, you guys. Um, but thank you, uh, Superintendent Ruffman, President Wyn, and the rest of the school board for allowing us to come before you tonight. I think I better turn that up. As you can see from all of the red shirts, and we do have one in blue, but that's okay. It's got the red logo. Um, we are here to say thank you for your continued support of our organization and to share about some of the successes that we've actually experienced this past year with um, Montgomery Independent School District. And so I'd like to introduce our president, Molly Adam, to highlight those efforts. Good morning, good evening. My name is
026Molly Adami. I'm the president of the Lake Conroe area Republican Women and I'm also a parent of a Montgomery High School graduate, class of 2015. Our organization is a diverse group of women who have come together to promote political activism through social engagement to keep Texas red. Men are always welcome to join as an associate member. We hold general meetings monthly except during the summer. We're taking a break. Um and we have many other functions throughout the year which help focus on current events, community service, supporting Republican political political candidates and leadership. So we are not just about politics but about being a positive voice in our community. Guidelines are handed down from the state and national levels outlining our major initiatives each year. One of those and our favorite among many is education and
027collaborating with our local school district to create an awareness of the political process in our county and our country. We are pleased to talk about our partnership this past year with McGomery School District. We are always looking for innovative ideas to engage both members, students, and teachers, and we welcome any suggestions or ideas you may have. Lisa, thank you. Well, good evening, uh, schoolboard members and Dr. Ruffin. Um, I'm Lisa Tater. I'm the literacy chair of Lake Conroe area, Republican women. Recognize a few faces up here. Um but anyway, I just wanted to share um our literacy program is what we do every fall and we usually invite a an author or a speaker, someone that uh is a specialist in literacy. We had a really good um meeting this last September and we also
028invited Sky Tree Book Fairs to come along and um have a great assortment and options of good familyfriendly books. uh based on patriotism, conservativism, and um family values, good um you know, moral character, those types of things. And so we were able to purchase um through our club members, through the guests at that program, we purchased over 140 books that we ended up donating to all of your school libraries uh within MISD. So my committee and I, we were able to um bring those to deliver them and it was very exciting. Uh we got to just kind of do age appropriateness for each of the schools um in their libraries and even the branch library at Charles B. Stewart. And the other thing is um we were able to bring some pocket constitutions at Morgan
029Latrell's office donated last year 850 copies because um with the climate in our political arena you never know when you're going to need to pull out that pocket constitution if you're having a little debate with somebody. So we were able to do that for um your junior high at Oak Hills and Montgomery Junior High. So we delivered those also for those students um in the government classes. And so this fall coming up we have invited uh the MISD um she is the instructional specialist uh Dette Keith. So she's going to be our speaker and she's very excited to come and speak and it's going to be on Thursday September 18th. You guys are all invited. We love to have you come. um and she's going to just share her um specialization and uh her goals,
030the challenges, you know, that she faces and um just the interventions that that she has. So anyway, um the one thing I do want to say is that I'm very excited um about I was at a meeting at the honor cafe. They did a recap um the texas values.org or did a recap on some of the legislative initiatives and the bills that passed and you guys are probably familiar with SB13 which is the no harmful books or materials in school libraries. Um are you guys familiar with that? So that passed and so this bill will prohibit pornographic books in school libraries by creating a streamline process for selecting and removing library books. This bill is a stronger effort to address sexually explicit books and libraries by having a strong legal standard that should withstand a
031court challenge. It also gives school districts a clear framework to address this issue. So anyway, I'm very excited that this um bill has come into uh law and um just I am just sure you guys are going to um see that it gets fully enforced because that is my heart that our kids and students um just don't get derailed um in their early years, you know, in areas that they don't need to be going. So, thank you for your time. Appreciate all you do. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I want to talk a little bit about our My American Hero project. I'm sure I think all of you have attended our My American Hero. Um we actually service both Willis and McGomery, but we actually farmed that out this year. So now we're only
032going to do McGomery. We're very excited. And another club is going to handle Willis that actually votes in Willis. So they're excited. We're excited. Everybody doesn't have to drive as far. It's going to be a win-win. Um, our My American Hero project starts in February of each year. Um, our chairman communicates with each one of the principles of all the elementary campuses to give instructions about this special program where fifth graders will write an essay about their favorite American hero. Uh, teachers are asked to submit their top five essays from each class. Approximately 30 essays from each of the seven schools are submitted and the committee judges about 210 essays. Out of those essays, Lake Connor Republican awards 10 honorable mentions with a first, second, and third place for every school. The 21 students and
033their parents and maybe their grandparents this year um will get to come and be honored at our luncheon. Um they are recognized at our My American Hero Awards lunchon in April. Over $500 in awards are presented by our local legislators and elected officials. And then in May, our scholarship committee continued this year with the recognition of two graduating seniors, Jake Hutchinson from McGomery High School and Kimberly Boyd of Lake Creek High School. both are going to&m and that's just a coincidence that I also went to&M. Uh they were presented $1,000 scholarships for their education this coming year. Good evening. I'm Carol Parsons and I'm so old that my son graduated from MHS in 2008. So anyway, I'm just so h so honored to be here and just quickly uh wanted to let you guys know
034that Governor Abbott just signed SB10, which requires every single classroom to display the uh ten commandments. So I would we'd ask the honor of being your sole provider uh for those for every single classroom. And um there's they have specific verbiage. when I became a Christian, I didn't understand the the those and these and thouss and stuff, but that's what's on here. But that's fine. And uh so we'd like to provide those for you if that's okay with you guys. Um we're working currently with a a printer to get all the details ironed out and such. And there are challenges in other states against it, of course. So, but it doesn't take effect until September. So, we're ready to go if you guys want us and we'd love to be your own your only person
035or organization that does that. Also, uh just to recap our my favorite thing, the National Model Project. We've been so successful and we just really appreciate all the support you guys have given us. We've done over 400 posters for the Montgomery School District alone. Uh the law was passed in like 21 that said you had to have a uh in god we trust poster in a very uh conspicuous place I think they said. So we did the big posters right off the bat in all your school campuses and then we uh went through the proper channels through superintendent to make to see if any teachers wanted them. And in 2023, a law was passed saying if a teacher wanted them and they could either provide them themselves or they didn't even have to have them
036donated. So we've done over um like I said over 400 posters so far for MISD and just we're in sort of a maintenance mode with that. But we've always got them. Same with the Ten Commandments. If that comes to fruition, we'd love to be your your go-to for that as well. and we're so honored uh to be able to to work so closely with you. I'm I'm real shy. I mean, I I I always love the MISD uh area. And uh we also worked with Lake Creek Teenage Republicans and uh we have a lady named Carrie Butler that uh is our sponsor for that and we want to continue to support that as well. So, please any suggestions you have, anything we can do for you, that's what we're here for. Thank you. Thank you.
037Yeah. And I almost forgot to tell, you know, I've got I tricked out some posters for the new board with the new picture and such. And next to Mr. Keelin over there, I've got enough for everyone. You can go hand them out. Um, they can do that because we Okay. I thought that was very nice that uh Carol took the time last week to have each of you a poster or a new framed poster uh to put in your office or to take home or to put up wherever. Uh just a little recap. Um and thank you ladies for being here. There are some other members in the back. Um it was summer. It was hard to get a lot of people here but um oh and my daughter was a 2009 graduate. So uh
038and my husband was a 1970 graduate. So, we could go down the list of Moes if you want me to, but we won't. So, I'll just uh take those those right there since we're comparing notes. But, uh for next year, we will we want to continue this partnership and we want it to grow. And so, we do ask for your approval uh to allow for the distribution of those Constitution handbooks to uh your eighth grade students. I know Congressman Latrell is willing to pay for those and so that's a nice donation. uh and that you allow us to work with your school librarians to donate the books that our members have actually purchased uh at that September meeting and we'll be dividing those out so that every school gets a fair amount. Uh, and then
039one of the requests that I had, and this came as a result of the My American Hero um, awards program, was that perhaps we had time in August during your teacher inservice, that we could take a few minutes to train those elementary principles. I guess I'm looking over here at Carrie and saying we would like to make a video, come in person and talk about what's really expected out of that because we think that maybe teachers as well as students need a clearer understanding about what a hero is. And so as we're judging those essays would like to pay more attention to that. Um assisting Carol with the on ongoing distribution of the in God we trust posters. anytime anybody wants one, uh, we'll make sure that, you know, they get them right away. And
040Carol and I have been talking all week about the Ten Commandments. And, you know, the the governor hadn't figured out how they're going to print all these yet. So, we've been asking, you know, where are these all coming from? And it's kind of like, oh, we don't know. And so because there's already specific guidelines for how they want them printed, we were like, let's go to our own printer and see if they might be interested in doing at least 500 of them for us for the first run. We don't know exactly how many rooms are in all of your campuses, but we estimated about 500 would cover you after the first of the year or you know we can make as many as you need and we feel like we have financial funds for that.
041So, you know, we're not asking you to pay for that. We're going to take care of that for you. But we would like to be the premier organization that provides that new document for your classroom. Once again, I just want to say thank you. Uh we love being a part of MISD and you guys and ladies have always been so supportive of anything we've asked of you. So, once again, thank you for letting us come before you tonight. We appreciate it. Thank each of you as well. Dr. roughening any more special res recognition. All right. Um item number four is hearing for citizens present to address the board about the budget for the 2025 2026 school year. Good evening. We have a packed agenda tonight. So, um I'll go through this fairly quickly. This is
042the culmination of many months of work and many meetings, board meetings, meetings with staff, campus leaders, and department leaders, and u we're finally here. What a difference a year makes. Um this time last year, we were presenting a deficit budget of about $4.4 million. And um with the support of our community and some help from Austin, um we actually have a balanced budget. So we're in a really good place right now. Um, our revenues equal our expenditures. We were able to allocate funds for payraises and adjustments to the employee compensation plan. We funded additional positions necessary for growth in key focus areas and increased operational costs. When you look at our revenue side of the picture, we have a three primary sources of revenue. That's our property taxes, our state revenue, and our federal dollars.
043The amount of our local and state dollars depends on the property values in the district. As property tax collections increase and values go up, our state revenues decrease. This shows our anticipated revenue increases and decreases for next year. Um we had an increase to certified values last year after the budget was adopted. Um our hold harmless and specialed CTE funding mechanisms had an increase of $2.8 million. Vader Prop A was $5.4 million. And we got additional funding from House Bill Two that just passed this summer from the state legislature, $4.7 million. And then there was a correction to the values submitted to the comprollers's office by our appraisal district that resulted in $3 million. So our total increase in revenues is $16,56472. Decreases. Uh we had another decrease to our Medicaid funding this year, about
044$185,000. Interest earnings are dropping just a little bit and we're projecting about $100,000 decrease there. And then we had our original deficit that we had to overcome that we adopted last year of $4.2 million. So when you combine the deficit with the decreases, we're at $4.5 million. Our net increases in revenue above prior year expenses are 11,989,831. expenditure increases. We got compensation and benefits that will be adopted later this evening of about $6 million. We added positions in the 2425 year after the Vader about $765,000. Next year we've added positions and growth expenditures of $1.3 million. Special ed positions $1.7 million. Our property and casualty insurance has gone up every year and we're going to bring the CT building on board with that and we're looking at about $400,000 increase there. Special ed students and
045residential placement services is $525,000. Our recapture as a result of the Vader is $68,000. Increased CT expenditures that are required with the increase in CT students is $375,000. And um we restored our campus budget cuts and department budget cuts from last year. And we have some increased software expenses for 303,000. So our net increase in expenditures is 11,989831. Real quick, Ben, on that last slide. Yes. Um you know the word recapture hits everybody. So just to clarify that has to do with the copper pennies. Is that correct that we just got through the vader? Just want to reiterate that so everybody understands why that word is there. Yes, that's correct. Okay. This breaks our budget out by function. I won't go through each individual functional line, but most of the increases are payroll increases and
046staff increases for those functions. Um, our total budgets 104, 931, 939. And this this is all three budgets that were required to adopt. Our general fund budget, food service budget, they're projecting the surplus. They're they're spending surplus funds and uh for capital projects. They've got too much fund balance at the moment and they're required to spend some of that down and so they're anticipating spending more than they're bringing in. I said surplus, it's actually deficit there, but it's intentional. And then our debt service budget is $ 38.6 million revenues and expenditures. Does anybody have any questions? Is there uh anyone in the audience that's here to speak on the budget? being on behalf of the board. I I know the amount of time and effort um that was put forth into this to to get
047to this final um number. We we as a board again are are thankful for what was what happened in Austin and locally um with our community that um stood up and supported um Prop A. Um we were in a difficult spot last year and we were faced with having to make some difficult decisions and this board was tasked with uh having to go out for um a Vader and we didn't take that lightly. Um, we knew that, um, it was in the best interest for our students and our staff and our community. And we just want to thank the the community again for rising up and, uh, supporting our district to to continue to make us the premier district in Texas. Absolutely. Thank you. Item number five, uh, public input on federal, uh, program grants.
048Yes. So, this time of year is our time to review our federal program. So, we're just going to keep talking about money. Um, this is the time where uh the application is due and so it's called an ESSA application and it is our title one, our title two, and title four. Um, we welcome feedback on this plan. The application has not been submitted yet. So, we have a window of time to get feedback from our community. Um there is a this presentation is on our district website. There's a little popup that pops up so you our community can review that and then a link for a survey where they can then provide input on any feedback. We'll review that feedback and make any adjustments before submitting our um final application. So just to kind of
049give a little background um one of the things that's important to remember about our federal grants is that is a a rule called supplement not supplant. So all those things that Ben just talked about, what we spend our money on in our general budget, if we spend those things in our local dollars, our general budget dollars, we can't then turn around and replace that with federal funds. These federal fund programs are for additional services to provide to um our students um and increasing their academic achievement. And so part of that, a lot of times we get public uh input that says, "Hey, let's use this money on raises." Well, we can't do that because we pay for our salaries and our raises out of the general fund. The federal funds are not for that use.
050So, Title One is one of our programs. We have three campuses that qualify for Title One services. That's Lincoln Elementary, McGomery Elementary, and Creekide Elementary. Uh this program um is for improving the basic programs on the campus specifically targeted to closing those achievement gaps for students from lowincome families. Um once we uh qualify a campus, each campus then determines how they want to use their allocated funds on their campus. So our total for the title one grant is um we are anticipated to receive 862,000 in that area. The we reserve a certain amount that of that at the district level. uh we pay a certain percentage of salaries for two positions that are managing that program. We also cover costs related to districtwide parent engagement, um indirect costs and then homeless reservation. Um each campus
051gets their allocated amount that is based on the number of lowincome students at that campus. And then you can see that most of them have certain categories. They all fall in the same categories. So salaries for additional positions like academic and behavior interventionists, um pair of professionals that can help support in the classroom. These salaries are in addition to what we would have normally allocated based on our staffing charts. Then they can also cover professional development opportunities, field trips, and um parent engagement and supplies. Title two, um, this is kind of where we think about professional development. So the purpose of this one is to incre increase student achievement. And you do that by improving the quality and effectiveness of your um, employees. And so this is all about increasing the number of effective teachers
052so that you have more teachers that are available to reach those low-income and minority students and have greater access to great teachers. So that's the intent of title 2. We get 248,000 or I anticipate 248,000 this year. Um those funds um right now the plan is to spend those in these areas. The area of curriculum planning um so we take our expert teachers together. We may pay for supplemental pay for work outside of school hours. We may pay for substitutes um to cover so that we can pull them together during the school day. And then we also have subs and supplemental pay for our new teacher mentor program. In addition to that, we cover some special education stipens. This is the area of high needs um like our self-contained classrooms or some hearttofill areas. We
053have support for our MTSS and RTI process. And then we also do a lot of professional training and materials. Um this year we're focusing on some curriculum frameworks. um continuing with our behavior training and supporting our classroom teachers in that area and then on academic intervention. And then title four, this grant um is to focus in these areas um providing all students access to a well-rounded education um improving academic outcomes for um by providing maintaining safe and healthy students and then also effective use of technology is included in that. This is a m much smaller grant. We get around 62,000 um this year for that. And the activities that we are focusing on this year will include um advanced academics area. We support some of the fine arts and um and have a choir activity
054workshop that is planned. Safe and healthy students. We support our counselors and providing additional supplies and character education materials for them. uh we send some people to a school safety conference and then additional behavior training as well. And in the area of technology, we focus on keeping our campuses safe um through cyber security audits. So that is the uh current intent for our programs. Um this link here is the link that takes us to that survey. Um, you don't have to write that down here because it is on our website and it will be there until June 30th so that anyone who would like to provide some input has the opportunity to do it in that format as well. Right. Any questions? Any questions? All right. Thank you, Dr. Busby. Um, public comments. I see
055we have one. Okay. Um, the board will will hear comments from the audience only during the public comment portion of the meeting. Individuals wishing to speak must have added their name and topic to the public comment signup sheet prior to the start of the board meeting. The board will allot three minutes for tonight's public comment portion of each meeting. Each speaker will be allowed a maximum of three minutes to address the board. Please respect the privacy of others and refrain from identifying students, employees, and other community members by name. The board requests that comments on any subject, whether positive or negative, be courteous and respectful. Disruption of the meeting will not be tolerated at any time. Thank you for registering to speak to the board this evening so that everyone has an opportunity to speak.
056We we ask that you limit them to three minutes. As you can see, there are limited number of instances in which the board can respond to you during public comment. We cannot take any votes or actions based upon the public comments. Please keep comments respectful and focused on the topic you're registered to speak. Pablo Chapa. Hello. Uh, thank you all for having us. Uh, good evening everyone. My name is Pablo Chapa and my name is Presley Payne. Uh, we're very glad to be here today on behalf of the Oakills Junior High band department. Uh, thank you MIC board trustees for a moment of your time. At the beginning of the 2024 2025 school year, Pablo and I were elected as the president and secretary of the Oak Hills Junior High band, respectively. As the year
057went on and we helped Mr. Abara organize and encourage the band, we soon realized that he may be one of the hardest working members in our school. Uh, Mr. Bar has worked uh so hard over the last year. Uh he's always in the band hall after school and doesn't leave until 5:00 p.m. each day. Uh this year he has poured his whole heart and soul into the band as he does each year. Along with the usual busyiness of having to run three bands, this year alone, Mr. Bar has continued the jazz band. Uh he's held sectionals every day of the week uh uh for months at a time. He's orchestrated the UIL. uh took both honor and of phonic band to a festival, listened to every student's opinions, uh even down to the smallest things
058like finding time to write the joke of the day on the whiteboard and uh much more. All this to say, we would ask for an assistant for our bands. Our band director is a dedicated and passionate educator who pours his time and energy into assuring that each student achieves their fullest potential in music. However, the demands of leading a growing program, especially one with many students, have become overwhelming. By hiring an assistant band director, we believe we can elevate the quality of our music program and ensure continued success for both the band and the students. Uh, in all, the Oakills band department would really appreciate it if you could all look into this incredible opportunity for our MISC bands to shine. Thank you. Uh we've also over the past year uh Presley and I made
059a petition and to all our uh fellow band students uh including honor symphonic and beginner bands 6th through 8th grade uh we gave them uh this petition and you acquired 115 students total uh to agree to the petition that your Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Moving on. Um item number seven. Would anyone like to pull an item from the consent agenda? If none, is there a motion to approve the cona consent agenda items A through E as presented? I motion we approve the consent agenda items A through E as presented. I'll second. Thank you, Dr. Ivy. Thank you, Miss Turner. Um, all in favor? Any opposed? The motion carries. Um, I'm going to ask that we kind of jump around a little bit. Um, instead of going straight into the action items, we're
060going to go to the information items. Um, I know it's uh getting late and hopefully we can get some people out of here and then we can go back to the um action items. So information item number one is a department update on specialized learning. Welcome our fearless leader of our specialized learning department, Miss Carrie Clark. Good evening. Good evening. Well, I want to just thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to deliver our specialized learning department update for you. So, I know that it's late in the uh afternoon, so we're going to go ahead and get started. I I did quickly want to introduce myself. There are many new board members that I've not had an opportunity to meet yet. So, I am Carrie Clark. I am the executive director for specialized
061learning for this fabulous district and I just completed my third year here in McGomery. All right. So, when we look at our specialized learning mission, it continues to be basically three things. We're going to engage our students in learning at the appropriate levels and we're going to support them in the least restrictive environment. We're going to continue to support our teachers and staff through a process of training and critical skill building. And finally, we're going to continue to leverage our collaborative partnerships with our parents, our families, and our community members. When we look at the organizational chart of our department, I have the great opportunity to work with some of the most amazing uh leadership in our special education. We have Julie Holmes, who is our assistant director. She supervises all of our evaluation and
062assessment teams. She also heads all of our initial evaluation and child fine for the district. We have Elena Simmonsman. She is our dyslexia and 504 coordinator. She uh handles everything dyslexia related and 504. And then finally, our SPEG coordinator, Miss Natasha Web. She supervises and manages all of our behavior teams across the district as well as our spark team which focuses on student services such as specialized um mission impossible transition adaptive PE and special Olympics. In addition to being able to supervise this amazing group of leaders, I also directly supervise all of our art facilitators across the district on our 11 campuses as well as our related service staff. When we look at specialized learning, I know uh Ben just got up here and talked about the increases in special ed. We are seeing higher
063and higher numbers of students qualify for special ed in the district. So, you can look at our three-year comparison and see that we have consistently added staff as we've had students um en enroll into our district and need more services. So, in looking at 2526, we are adding to a couple of areas. We're going to add a diagnostician. We're going to add two dyslexia interventionists. We're going to add three AR facilitators. And what we're going to do with these facilitators, they're going to travel amongst the 11 campuses to help some of our AR facilitators that have extremely large case loads. And then for behavior, we are going to hire two behavior interventionists that will be housed, one at Creekide Elementary and one at McGomery Elementary. We're going to talk a little bit more about that
064later on in the presentation, but they're going to be there to support our behavioral programs at our elementary campuses. When we look at special education enrollment, looking at over the last three years, you can clearly see that our numbers continue to rise. The numbers that are in green indicate a consistent growth at those schools. Um, at the end of this school year, we ended with 1,735 students in special education. 662 of those students are identified and serviced as students with dyslexia. Our our campuses that continue to be the higher campuses for special education populations are Keenan, Maidley Ranch, and our two junior high campuses. When you look at why the increase. Why do we continue to have large numbers of special education students, there's several different factors that play into this. The largest factor is
065the new federal and state law requiring that all students that are served with dyslexia move into special education. In the past, we've always had some students in special ed, but a big majority of those dyslexia students were able to be served under 504. The US Department of Ed came in and slapped Texas hand three years ago and put us in corrective action. And we've had three years in a roll-in process to be able to move all of these kids. So by the end of this school year, 100% of all dyslexia was to be moved under special ed. And McGomery has been able to meet this timeline. We've also had over 200 students this school year move into McGomery into our school that already are special education that came with an active IEP. We're seeing huge
066numbers of special education referrals and our early childhood, our three and fouryear-old students. And when those students qualify for special education, then we have to place them into the school for services. We're also seeing large huge numbers of homeschool and private school students that have never been in public education coming to enroll for the first time. These students are extremely behind academically. They oftent times are found to be disabled and in need of an IEP. And then finally, we're seeing an increased number in students that are enrolling or qualifying in our district that are exhibiting challenging and extreme behavior needs that require special education support and services. All right. Section 504 is also housed under my department. Now, section 504 is a general education program, but it is for students that have disabilities, but they
067may not necessarily require special education, but they would simply require some accommodations to be able to stay in the general classroom. So, you'll see a count by campus of the students. We have about 1,238 at the end of this school year. Our 504 numbers have dropped quite a bit because dyslexia was our largest group served and now they've moved into special education. But what we've seen um as a replacement is huge numbers of special education referrals that require a lot of time meeting data collection and paperwork. And so currently our assistant principles at the elementary campuses are in charge of 504 in addition to all the special education referral paperwork. We've been fortunate enough to be able to rework these coordinator positions. We've added two more this year. So, starting next year, all 504 and
068all child fine paperwork, observations, everything's going to be handled by these three individuals, which are going to free up significant amounts of time for our assistant principles to be into those classrooms being those instructional leaders and helping our students and our teachers. When we look at the initial special ed referrals that we're receiving in the district, um we had 624 initial special education referrals this year. You'll see the breakdown by campus. Our largest referral campuses continue to be Kenan, Creekide, Mely Ranch, and Lonear Elementary. We've completed all of those initial referrals within federal and state timeline. And my team also completed over 500 re-evaluations for students that are already in special education. So at the end of the year, we completed 1,124 um evaluations all within federal and state timeline. Very proud of my department.
069Our highest referral categories, where are we seeing our students qualify? Continue to be specific learning disability is where dyslexia is housed. That's about 40%. autism at 15%, other health impairment for ADHD at uh 17% and emotional disturbance at 10%. When we look at our life skills units, which we refer to as our CARES classrooms, we're seeing more and more students come to us with significant complex needs, communication needs, mobility, um toileting, um hygiene care, behavior, and we're finding that our numbers are growing, um and that we need to add some classrooms. We've always had two CARES classrooms at Mely Ranch and Stewart Creek, but this year looking at the predictions for next year, we u made the decision to go ahead and put additional classrooms at all of the campuses. So for next year, all
070of our elementarymentaries will have two CARES classrooms. This will allow us to split those kiddos up to provide that more onetoone help. Um sometimes too many people in a room is not a good thing. So, we're very excited about this and we're working hard to get those classrooms staffed. All right. When we look at our behavior programs, which is our best kiddos, we made the decision this year that we were going to mainstream those programs onto two campuses. If you're in the Lake Creek theater pattern, then you would go to Creekide. If you're in the MHS theater pattern, you're going to go to MEES. Each of those campuses have three best classrooms dedicated for those students. We're going to start next year off with 14 of those students that need behavior support in the creek
071side and 10 in McGomery Elementary. After the year of implementation, what we realized is we need more additional behavior support on those campuses to support those classrooms and those kiddos. And also our teachers as those kiddos um become uh have the ability to move out into general education, our general ed teachers need some support and in how to help those kiddos be successful in their classrooms. So the um behavior interventions will be full-time boots on the ground there 247 helping that campus with those extreme behavior challenges. When we look at our specialized learning survey results, we were very pleased with the feedback that we had this year. Um, we received 100% positive feedback in the areas of supervisors being responsive when um, employees have a concern, that our supervisors are accessible, and that communication is
072clear and timely and easily understandable. We were at 94% for a positive place to work, that they feel their supervisors are approachable, and that feedback is valuable in helping them grow. we were at 92 to 94% that would recommend MISD to um anyone looking for employment and that they believe that they have adequate training to be able to meet the expectation and the job requirements that they have. Can I ask you a quick question? I'm sorry on about this real quick. Yeah. Um were you able to get a high number of the of the specialized learning uh teachers and employees to give their input on this? Do we know Justin? Do we know? Did we have a high number? What was the percentage of special education compared to, you know, was it just my team?
073Was it special ed teachers? Who I have that information, but I don't know it off the top of my head, so I'll I'll get it to you. Okay. Well, I would say this is fantastic because we've come a long way in the last five years in this area. So, yes. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. and we had 82% in the area that they feel like they need some more assistance with um training and technology within the department and that they feel like um we need a little bit bit of work with making sure that we're communicating with all of the staff in a timely manner. So my um leadership team is already on this. We've met about this and we're coming up with a plan to try to make sure that our team feels supported
074in this area. Okay. So just like every district has a report card, right, and accountability, so does special education. And we call these indicators. And not only do we have state accountability for special education, we also have federal accountability. So there are four there are five basic areas that we have to report on that we receive report cards every year. The first one is RDA, resultsdriven accountability. This is federal compliance. They look at over a hundred areas in special education. They look at STAR and EOCC. They look at how many students are self-contained, how many go out to general ed, graduation rates. They also look at discipline in every area. They look at ethnicity and race and they will balance that out. So the reports about 30 pages long. Then they come up with the
075determination level for each district being from a DL0 being perfect, no need or area of concern all the way up to a DL4, meaning that TEA is going to get involved. You're going to get an on-site visit. They're going to come in and try to help you turn um some areas of concern around. Montgomery continues to meet with the uh determination level one. That's exactly where we need to be. We look at our re uh report from year to year and if we have a little area of concern we will turn around and adjust that and and do that at the local level. So we're very proud of that. The next indicators are all state indicators PS if you will was 11A which is child find. That means listen if a student gets referred for
076special education from the date the parent signs that consent we have 45 school days to complete that report. Okay. Then we look at 11B. Once that report's completed, we have 30 calendar days from the date the report was completed to have an AR committee meeting. SP12, early childhood special ed, we have students that we serve even as early as birth all the way to three years depending on the disability. We have to evaluate all of these students no later than their third birthday. And then SP13, that's going to be your transition. Every special education student at the age of 14 must have a transition plan in their IEP. Keep in mind that the that the uh these reports are a year behind. So, for example, for 2122, we're working off of 2021 data. So, in
077full transparency, you know, McGomery has struggled with timelines for several years. Three years ago, my team came in. We were all brand new and we were hyperfocused on making sure that the district got into compliance and we did just that. And keep in mind, there is no grace period. If you miss by one day, you're automatically out of compliance. So, for 2324 and 2425, I'm happy to report that we have been 100% compliant. We just met today, ran our numbers. We're going to again be compliant 100% going into 2526. And this is just a real compliment to our evaluation team and and our art facilitators making sure that that we are diligent to meet every single timeline because that's what's best for kids. So I just want to say something about that as well. Yes.
078Um um I just want to make sure everybody understands that it wasn't because people are slacking off. Um no diagnosticians work beyond the amount of hours that is typical of most people. Um, and so there's just so many, right? They were underst staffed, they were not able to fill those positions. Absolutely. Yeah. And coming off of COVID as well, and even though we were at home, the federal timeline still stood in many, many districts were unable to meet those timelines. All right. Um, okay. In addition to the hundred areas that we talked about a minute ago, the results driven accountability also looks at the area of discipline very specifically the area of significant disproportionality. They look to see is one group of students being disciplined or being removed from classes at a different or a
079disproportionate rate than their peers. Montgomery has is challenged with a couple of areas with number one is out of school suspension. Um for African-American students we were at 4.8. Keep in mind discipline data is two years behind. So we're working off of 22 23-year data. And then total removals is the combination of out of school suspension in school suspension and DAP removals. We were at 2.7% with African-American, 3% with two or more races. The challenge is we're working off of two systems. You have state compliance. Chapter 37 under the Texas Education Code says if you vape at school, if you if you bring drugs to school, that's a mandatory removal. Federal government says there is no mandatory removal in special education. So federal government says if your state has a mandatory removal, you can go
080ahead and do that, but then you are going to take a hit at the federal level because everything's discretionary. So our campus principles and administrators are trying to balance that out. The district wants to be consistent across the board with the student code of conduct. So we're challenged in this area, but we've already begun to have targeted action here. We have contracted with leads, which is leaders and educators addressing uh disproportionality um in special ed. We've already worked a root cause analysis, a corrective action plan for next year. We're getting ahead of the game. I'm working very closely with the principles to monitor their campuses monthly. We're going to focus on really good MTSS behavior practices and supports to help our teachers know how to work with our behaviorally challenged students. So, we're confident that
081we're going to be able to get um some improvement in this area. That wanted to explain to the board that it it's a very hard balancing act there. And then I wanted to end with just some highlights from our department. We held our second annual parent night this year. We had over 75 parents attend, over 30 vendors. We had some very positive feedback. Our parents are really enjoying that. We hosted our fifth annual Mission Possible field day. All 11 campuses participated. We had over a hundred special ed students participate and we had 30 over 30 of our general ed um students that volunteer in our partners PE come out and help us with that. Our special Olympics is is just our pride and joy. We had 12 cheerleaders compete this year. We had eight students
082in botchi ball. We had 20 students in track and field. And McGomery marbles were asked to participate in the special education torch run. So, that was really exciting for um those students and families. We're adding swimming and tennis next year for our competition in special ed. And our MISD marbles cheer squad just continues to be our shining star. They were able to cheer at both the junior high and high school, actually all four campuses games. They participated in the Christmas parade and they cheered our parents on as they entered into our parent night. So, if you've not had an opportunity to see our marbles um perform at a football game, I encourage that you do so. It'll just warm your heart. So, thank you for giving me the opportunity to give you an update and
083I am open to any questions that you might have. Any questions? Okay. Thank you, M. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. Um information item number B is department update on communications. Mr. Marino. Uh good evening trustees. Dr. Ruffen. Um I'm privileged tonight to give an update on our communications department. Um, first our team is um Stephanie Wells, a communications coordinator. Raise your hand, Stephanie. And, uh, recently added to the team is Diana Teal. We all know Diana during her time in technology. We're excited to add her to the team. Uh, they're both fabulous. Um, their work speaks speaks for itself. Uh, they're incredibly talented assets to the department and the district, and I'm just I'm very thankful uh for both of them. Uh much of communications work um is really driven by goal
084five of the district's strategic plan. So I'll go through each of the uh each of the goals within goal five uh or the performance objectives within goal five and talk about how the communications department's priorities and functions uh align with um with our goals under the strategic plan. These are what I consider uh really the the primary buckets uh of the communications department's work. So external and internal communications um events marketing and multimedia production uh PR and community engagement um media relations and uh fulfilling requests under the public information act and then I put other duties as assigned because we're a small district and uh many districts uh or many folks in our district wear multiple hats. Um, so we try to really fill in wherever we can. Uh, whether it's um leading a process
085to name a school or um redesigning uh signage at the athletic stadium. Uh we don't like to say no. Um we we want to step in and um assist staff across the district however we can. Uh so first objective one under goal five is provide opportunities for feedback from uh staff, parents, and students. Um we do this through annual uh town hall meetings which we hold ourselves accountable in a performance uh measure uh to have town hall meetings each year. Uh we support the superintendent when uh he speaks at parent uh staff and community meetings. Um we help facilitate the district advisory committee which we run our uh academic calendar process through and we recently partnered with a survey uh vendor um called thought exchange. uh that is the u platform we use our district-wide
086survey uh through uh this year. Um an example of a two-way communication is our calendar development process. Uh we have a monthslong process that starts each year in August uh September and um culminates in us recommending a new calendar in January to the board. So throughout that those months, we have multiple opportunities for input and a two-way communication between the district and community. Um objective two is provide stakeholders with effective external communications frequently throughout the school year. Uh we do this through um our social media channels. We have Facebook, uh X and Instagram. Uh we launched last year a magazine, a digital magazine called Montgomery Matters. We uh issued five um publications of that last year. Um each year we have various communications campaigns related to what's going on in a given school year. Um
087examples of that are the 2022 bond. The communications department led up both that and the uh Prop A in 2024. Um this year and continuing into next school year, you'll see ongoing communications celebrating the district's centennial year. Um, we help manage the district and campus websites. Uh, we organize special events like ribbon cutings and uh, groundbreaking. We're very excited uh, for the ribbon cutting coming up in July at the uh, at the den where we'll officially open the CTE center and the a uh, agricultural science center. And then um, media relations. We very much value um our partnership with uh our media partners, especially the community impact who I know is here tonight. So, shout out to them. And um our go government relations. We we also value building uh relationships with our local elected
088officials to advance the priorities of the district. Um this is an example of a campaign that um our communications department led um developed. You notice the branding is all similar fonts um very recognizable for the community that it's important to us that when the community sees something from Montgomery ISD um they immediately recognize that is a Montgomery ISD product. Um centennial coverage. Um this will continue throughout the school year. We'll have videos of uh various uh individuals um key key key players in the history of McGomery ISD sharing their story um of their time whether they were a student or staff member. So that's been a very exciting um campaign. We've had several folks uh reach out who uh you know went to MHS in the 70s or the 80s and and wanted to share
089photos from their time or a photo of their their letter jacket. So, um that that's been a very fun experience for our team. Um MISD Matters magazine, this was just um this was a uh communication um you know initiative that um our communications department talked about years ago and and we just did not um we took a a leap last year to do to uh produce the magazine and uh so shout out to our team for making that happen. uh another pathway to communicate with the community. Our social media engagement, this is a um performance measure in the strategic plan where um we are constantly evaluating how to best reach the community um through various channels, social media has clearly been one of those. So this shows the um increase in our followers on on
090X, Facebook and Instagram. um special events and recognitions. These are just a few photos of uh ribbon cutings and groundbreings and um the uh historical marker at MEES uh that we held earlier this year uh in celebration of the centennial year. uh Legacy Seniors. This is a uh an annual campaign that we push out on social media uh each school year, really honoring and celebrating um students who are um seniors that started Montgomery ISD as a kindergartener. and they share, we put it out to all the seniors and they share their some of their favorite memories and and lessons and their favorite teachers that um were memorable throughout their uh educational experience in the district. And then the MIST Education Foundation, we're um we're proud and and honored to support uh the foundation in um
091highlighting uh promoting all the the great events that that they put on each year um intended to to raise funds to give back to our teachers. And then government relations. Uh this is uh this is a priority for us especially during legislative years is uh building relationships and collaborating with our state lawmakers. Uh this session um we had a a legislative platform that we communicated with Representative Metaf and Senator Kraton and um we had what I would consider outstanding collaboration with both uh them and their staffs throughout the session. We provided in-person uh testimony. Um, shout out to Sean Dennison for taking the time to go down and testify on school safety legislation. And we uh provided um written feedback on countless num numbers of bills. And we appreciate our legislators uh openness and and
092willing to listen to our concerns and recommendations. Uh objective three provide stakeholders with effective internal communication throughout the school year. We achieve this through a weekly communication every Friday that goes out to all staff uh called the MISD minute. Um we help organize and plan a back to school convocation event for staff um sort of to just generate excitement about uh being back and for the new school year. We organize and uh plan the we are mgomery employees awards event at the end of the school year that um recognizes our campus um teachers of the year spirit of mcgomery award winners and department MVPs and we we communicate uh various district updates to staff uh following board meetings or um major actions or decisions by the district or board that need to be communicated to
093staff we ensure that happens on in a timely and clear manner. Uh this is an example of the MIST minute that goes out each Friday to staff. And then this is this these are photos from last year's convocation. Um this upcoming August 4th will be uh our golden year 2025 convocation. Uh there will be lots of uh theming around um the gold standard. um will be employees will um will shout out uh throughout the school year their colleagues for exhibiting the gold standard and that will be our uh sort of our theme for the year. Here's a photo of um McGomery we are McGomery Awards event. We're excited that next year we plan to hold this event at the CTE Center and objective four uh providing opportunities to build a strong district culture. Um this
094is an example. Each year we have a a different theme. Um for the previous school year it was impact maker. Uh we if you walk down the halls of this building and even in classrooms you'll see posters of folks um who are being recognized uh by their by their colleagues and peers for going above and beyond or being an impact maker. And then next year it'll be the gold standard. Um here's another example of um district culture. Uh in for the second time in three years we were recognized as an HB excellence in uh education finalist. Um we spent uh an entire day at Oak Hills and Montgomery High School with uh judges from across the district and had opportunity to really show off and highlight some amazing things happening um in our classrooms. Even
095on a Friday before spring break, there was uh active teaching and learning going on. And then objective five, provide multiple opportunities for two-way communication. Uh we achieve this through um as I mentioned previously, our town hall meetings and we convene um groups uh community groups throughout the school year to meet with the superintendent at least twice. Um the realtors, faith leaders, and then our leaders, the leaders of our PTO and PTAs across the district. And these are all generally very well attended uh great participation and it's just another opportunity for get for us to get input and feedback from uh diverse and uh various perspectives from parents and community members. So what's what's next? Um each year, you know, we we um meet as a communications team to evaluate what what we're doing, what we
096want to continue, and what new um initiatives we want to put forward. Um, so next year, as I mentioned, will will be our our golden year. That will be the the theme of the school year. Uh, we plan to continue our education around school finance with our community. Um, we shouldn't um we shouldn't stop uh providing information when there's not an election. So, we're going to continue to make sure that our parents, voters, and folks new to the community um are informed about how school finance works in the state of Texas. Uh we'll continue to um provide information as we wrap up projects in the 2022 bond election and Prop A. We are excited to launch a new um initiative with what what we're going to call the MISC premier partners. Well, where we'll invite
097various businesses and organizations to board meetings to recognize them for being a partner of our school district. um MISC Ambassadors Academy. Uh we plan to invite um community members to apply to um come in, have uh a handful of meetings with district leaders during the school year u to learn more about how the district operates um how departments operate, how we're funded uh so that we can grow um advocates uh within our school district. Our long range planning committee will continue meeting to make recommendations on uh future facility planning. And then we're very excited um to open up the den where we'll be able to to market continue to market and advertise our CTE programs and offerings. And also um we're excited to work with our other department leaders um athletics, child nutrition, maintenance, technology
098to really highlight all the great work uh that happens in those departments as well. any questions that I could answer? I just want to say that whenever um going back to 2020 um the communications department did not exist. So pretty much everything we all just saw in this slideshow was non-existent. Um so to see the progress that has been made in five years and how it continues to get better and better better each year is amazing. And I want to say thank you to the three of you and your department for uh your hard work and ongoing improvement in this area because it's such an asset for our district. Thank you for saying that and thank you all for the trust and investment that you've u provided to the communications team. Thank you Mr. Marino.
099Um item 9 um C is districtwide stakeholder survey results. Thank you for staying around. um privileged uh to present some highle results from the districtwide survey. Um this year we used thought exchange which was a transition from our previous survey vendor um let's talk um we we had participation that was fairly in line with uh with previous year's participation through the let's talk platform. Um you'll see the percentage of of folks um and total number of participants and and the percentage breaks down here. Um this survey opened in AP late April and it was uh conducted through miday. I do want to preface a few considerations before we get into um some of the data and we can't go through all the data tonight because we'd be here till 2 in the morning. But um
100which for purposes of this presentation, I'm going to give you the strategic plan uh key performance indicators, those that required survey data. And um I'll mention this later in the presentation, but we'll also um put the information on the district website, but uh the previous district-wide survey that we're comparing data to was conducted in October of 2023. Um so that was quite a bit of a gap between the previous survey and this year's survey, and it was on a different platform. Um so they the those two items may have had an impact on year-to-year um results in terms of tracking. And then there were um a handful of uh key performance indicators in the strategic plan that were added that this year's survey um provided a baseline for. Um so here's some common um threads
101in the survey feedback that we u got back. Um, what's different about the survey platform we used this year is we're able to better uh better glean through the open-ended response. Uh the platform had a a more sophisticated um use of artificial intelligence for us to um get see key trends what were what was identified as strengths uh and growth areas uh submitted through the open-ended uh responses but a few were MISC prioritizes great teachers, reasonable class sizes and safety of our kids. A positive learning environment maximizes student achievement. Um, a parent mentioned that help to stu help to students in need of additional assistance in classes and a teacher mentioned that keeping our teachers happy and apprec appreciated is a priority. In goal two, uh, as a reminder, goal one, all the key performance
102indicators are driven by assessment. Um, so there are no um survey keep there are no KPIs in goal one that require districtwide survey. So, in goal two, percentage of parents that report experiencing a safe and secure school environment, um that came in at 64%. Um again, that's one of those areas that we're um investigating as to why that why that drop could have been a number of reasons, but um through this platform, we'll be able to p pull information to see um what what may have been the cause for that that decrease. Then percentage of staff that report safe and secure school environment that um is at 80%. And then percentage of students um reporting a safe and school secure uh safe and secure school environment. Um we aim to increase that number by 3%
103annually. The last um survey report was 96%. Um this came in at 86. Continuing with goal two, uh customer service of the police department will be at 90% annually. This came in at 87%. And then um continuing goal two, percentage of students reporting mental health needs are being met will increase by 3% annually. That came in at 64%. Um and the following two are new key performance indicators. Uh teachers and students feeling behaviors addressed appropriately will increase by 3% annually. That came in at um 87% as a baseline for teachers and 52% as a baseline for students. And then teachers reporting that they have received effective training on uh behavior in classroom management. Uh that came in at 66%. Hey Mr. Marino, I want to jump in real quick because like these two KPIs are
104essentially establishing a new baseline, right? Because we didn't have data that supported those specific uh focus questions. But really, as you see, we go through this data and you'll see these drops from 73% to 64%. And I think it is important to keep in mind though we look into these numbers and dig into how can we improve uh some of these others are also kind of establishing a new baseline. Uh because if you think of taking a a survey in October and I've got two and a half months to form my opinion and cast my vote as to do I feel like we're at this level versus this year we took this in May, April, May. they've got an entire school year. So really, our data now is really more indicative of a comprehensive assessment
105of the school year length of time and how people are feeling at that point versus a snapshot in October when there's only been three months of things to come up, things to walk through, deal with uh to gauge some of these opinions. So um this is really really valuable data. We're excited to be able to to dive off into it and figure out how we can uh improve and make progress. Goal three, which is district operations, uh customer satisfaction of child nutrition will be at 50% annually among students. That came in at 55%. I think as long as long as we continue the orange chicken, Brad, that number will continue to climb. Um and customer satisfaction in the technology technology department will be at 85%. And that came in right at the number Continuing with
106goal three, uh, MISD transportation satisfaction came in at 87%, our goal is 90%. Uh, maintenance department came in at 75%. Again, that goal is 90%. And then child nutrition among parents and staff, uh, the goal is 80%, that came in at 72% for parents and 85% for staff. human capital or goal four addressing human capital. Um percentage of employees that report the district is a positive place to work. Um that came in at 83%. Um employees indicating that they have been provided training to meet their job requirements will increase by 3% that came in at 77 and the number of employees um reporting access to professional growth opportunities came in at 69%. And goal five, uh, addressing communications and customer service. Um, parents reporting satisfaction with clarity of district communication, uh, came in at 90%
107right at the goal. Uh, and then percentage of employees reporting satisfaction with clarity, um, came in at 96% above the goal of 90. And the number of employees reporting a positive culture, um, we aim for that to be at 85% and that is at 92%. um parents reporting that district leadership is transparent in their communication. Um that came in at 87%. We're striving to to reach 90%. And then employees reporting that district leadership is transport or is transparent in their communication came in at 90% or I'm sorry 89% and then parent percentage of parents reporting satisfaction with district's customer service came in at 89%. Um so perceived strengths through the the district um based on the open-ended responses and the overall data uh safety and security uh responsive staff members, access to technology, a overall
108positive environment and effective communication came in as the top five identified strengths of the district. Um, we asked a question, an open-ended response, uh, what our community felt the district's priority priorities over the next three to five years should be. And, uh, teacher pay and retention came in at number one. Uh, school safety and student behavior. Uh, overcrowding and class sizes, addressing that. Uh, growth and infrastructure, how to how to manage our our our the capacity of our buildings as as we continue to see enrollment growth. And then communication and transparency. uh next steps. Um we don't want to sit back and admire the strengths and admire the challenges. So our leadership teams on the district and campus level are uh going through the data to identify uh opportunities for growth um for the next
109school year. Um they'll this that information will inform our leaders as to create action plans for 2526. Uh well, they're they'll report um their findings to campus and district staff when when they return for the next school year. And then um information on campus level results and district level results will be posted on the district's website this week. Any questions? I just have one. So with this new program in the areas that like declined in score I guess um does this new program allow us to find is that common themes like are there open-ended comments after each section that will allow so if you for those thank you to everybody who took the time to provide responses. There were many more open-ended responses in this year's survey than there were previously because of the platform
110gives us better tools and abilities to go through and pull out key trends and themes from what those open-ended responses were. But there they can get down to the specific department that Yes. And when does the next survey go out? The next survey, um, we'd like to keep some consistency moving forward. Um, because we did a spring survey this year, our goal will be to do another spring survey next year. Justin, I think I saw only about 20% of employees took the survey. Was that is that the right number? Yeah. Is there any way we can I mean, I think it's important that we should have that number up a little higher. Abs. Absolutely. So, maybe something to focus on for this next survey for the spring of 20. I definitely I agree with that.
111Um and we're we're constantly evaluating how what what we can do better next year and communicating how how the survey gets put out and the time it takes. So there's no feedback on why that low percentage I can so that it's a lower it's a it's a low percentage in the grand scheme of of things. Um it's fairly consistent with what we see every year. Maybe a little bit lower. Um but there was there were many more questions. um open-ended that takes time. Um so we'll be intentional next year about how we communicate. One thing I'll say also is um we've just presented the expectation to our campus principles because some of these were just really focused on campus specific feedback. Um in the past uh the feedback has kind of been uh I don't
112want to say hoarded but kind of hoarded. Uh but our campus leaders will be taking the feedback specific to their campus and actually getting in front of their staff and saying here's the feedback you gave me. Um I'm owning it. Maybe it's great. Maybe it's areas of improvement. Uh help me get better. And so I think that step of utilizing the feedback and saying folks here is the folks that shared here's what you shared. um reiterates the value and importance of actually completing the survey. So hopefully that'll um that'll increase some of that participation. Also, I have one um comment and it's on the school safety and security. It seemed like every one of those categories we went down and I I would only ask that we dig into that a little deeper to figure
113out why we um in in that area is so important that we figure out what's what's going on there. if it is the the fall versus the spring survey or um if there's any validity to what they're telling us. When we talked about that in our leadership meeting and and there may be some aspect of that that is just unknown because there are so many things built into our safety and security approach that aren't necessarily known. Uh things like the web filtering, um the number of drills that we're doing, we can do a better job of of highlighting the things that are there. Uh coming up this August, we'll have the the much more um uh comprehensive silent panic alarm technology. So that piece will be a huge step forward because everyone will know and
114see that as the teacher has a button on them that that always points back to safety and security. So there's there's things I think in the works for that. Um but you're right. Yeah. How how much do we think that the cell phone policy plays into that? Yeah, I'm looking at the percentage of parents that were reporting there. Um, it's down. Yeah, I don't know. It's a good question. There were overall that was there was an open-ended question we asked about the cell phone policy and overall that was very positive feedback on that. Any other questions? How many total people took the survey? About 3,300. man need to start giving some of that orange chicken away for some and that 20% um Paul is 20% of total respondents to the survey. 628 employees is actually
115more than 20% of our total employees. Right? So I was gonna make that clarification. We have 1,200 employees. So half of our employees took the survey. But of the respondents employees were 20% of the respondent sample size that we got. Pointed that out. That makes sense. Glad we went back to that slide. Okay. I just want to one last comment on the uh kind of going along with the safety security. The slide about the mental health of our children. Um that was kind of uh that was down as well from what I recall. So, I just want to make sure that we uh we focus at that and look at look at themes that are a theme. Is there a common theme there? You know, um yeah, right there. So, thanks. Okay. Any other questions?
116I hate to even ask that of you, but is there a way to pull that data for us on themes and just overall themes that y'all find when y'all start analyzing it a little bit more? Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, M. Marino. Um item 9D is feasibility study of land purchase. All right. So yes, we are currently under contract uh to purchase a track of property here on 1097. And part of that uh contract is a feasibility period where we get the chance uh to bring in um engineers and experts to assess that land. Um and so we are actually set to close I think here in the next couple weeks on that. And so uh this is Casey Sledge with Sledge Engineering. he headed up all the feasibility and so he's just here to
117give us an overview of the that analysis um and go for it. Thank you. All right. Good evening school board and Dr. Ruffin. My name is Casey Sledge with Sledge Engineering. Very happy to be here tonight. So, uh we were engaged to take a look at this property like Dr. Ruffin pointed out the ogre chock site as we're calling it. Uh so, just to start off with, this is a feasibility report. Uh just for the public and anyone watching uh everything we're going to show you, these are not actual plans. We have some concept plans for you to to look at. We're just trying to see how suitable this property is. So that's what all this is about. Uh to do that, we need to really think through uh what the future possibilities might be.
118Uh all right, moving on forward. So actually the full report that exists, this is an engineered report. You can see the cover page right there. Uh the entire report with all the appendices and subreports in it is over 300 pages long. I would really enjoy talking to you tonight about all 300 pages, but uh sadly we've only got time for maybe about 30 of those pages. So we're going to just go right to the uh overview of this site. Uh but I say that to let you know there's been a lot of uh there's a lot of background data done. uh very happy with the level of detail we're able to pull from the property and want to just show you some of the things that we look at. Uh for anyone uh thinking about
119the district going through a land purchase, uh to me it's really a riskmanagement decision. And so we're trying to figure out what the the risk would be for you, what are the, you know, possible pros and cons, what might happen. Uh again, to see how suitable this site is. Uh and to do that, we want to try to get ahead of any surprises. So, just a a pullback view of your entire district. You can see uh this property is just right in the heart of the uh the boundary. So, that's uh that's nice. Zooming on in, here's an aerial shot just to get us started. Uh the entire track is everything outlined in blue there. There's some some flood plane in the middle that's about nine and a half acres. I'm going to give you
120some detail on that in just a second. Uh just a little bit different view. That is the actual FEMA flood plane overlay to give you the regulatory view of that flood plane. Uh and you see this kind of an odd shaped property. We've got a couple of different frontages. Uh you've probably all dri driven by the property maybe on both uh roads. So FM1097 is the road is the primary road, the highway down there. And then uh you can also access uh the property, particularly the west side from Summit Park Drive, which is a dead-end road. Uh there were actually multiple parcels of land that uh put this track together. If you go pull the appraisal district data, you'll see something that looks like this and the the property. So, it was a couple of
121different ogre chock tracks uh pieced together. Uh just let you know that that's how we got to this point. So, if you get your hands on that 300page report and have some good weekend reading, you can just go right to the front of it. There's an executive summary that really uh uh gives you the the whole outlook. Uh so, it's a 73 and a halfacre track. Uh we find the track is suitable for basically any type of campus except really a high school. It's not impossible to put a high school there, but it doesn't lay out too well for that. Elementary, intermediate, middle, specialty campus, operations, maintenance, admin. Uh a lot of possibilities. So that's really good. Some sites are just too small to be practical uh for these things. Uh this site's particularly unique
122that it has a creek going through it. Uh, and that creek uh, gives you some interesting opportunities. You could have two separate uses. You can connect those. I'll show you how we might do that. Uh, as I mentioned, there's nine and a half acres of flood plane, giving you uh, an effectiveness net of about 64 acres, assuming we don't mitigate some flood plane, and I'll I'll show you how you could do that later. Uh, there's utilities available of all types. That is a rare thing that we would state to you as we look at other properties for you. We're not going to say that very often. So, that's a that's a big deal. Uh they've got water, sewer, electric gas, uh all quite available. So that's really good. Uh there's plenty of good roadway access.
123There's some uh concerns with traffic we'll talk about. There's a thoroughare plan we need to uh zoom in on. But the punch line is this last statement at the bottom. Uh assuming the county and city's future thoroughare plan for the site, I'll show you a map. Assuming that location works out to the benefit of MISD, we find this to be a really favorable site. So uh there's your punch line. We like this property. Um, so here's a conceptual layout. Uh, this is not what you are supposed to do, but it's to give you some scale. We're purposely using uh ovals and round shapes to give you some idea. Uh, the scale of this is accurate based on campuses you have in the district. So, your middle school campuses uh net out to that acreage. Elementary
124campuses net out to that acreage. We just dropped an elementary on the west side, a middle school on the east side. showed you how big ball fields are just to let you know, wow, things could actually fit up there. Uh there would probably be on-site detention requirements and things like that. Uh we didn't get that far into the detail, but all of that should fit fine. The tan lines are just one concept of how we might have roadway connectivity. Uh you can see I've we've dropped in two driveways for each side. So each campus in this case and even included a connecting uh driveway uh across that creek. Uh we we think that's quite feasible to do. Uh you don't have to do it, but it does open up a lot of good uh potential
125uh safety improvements when you have campus traffic, particularly parents going from one campus to another or buses, things like that. So I think that's a real possibility to actually walk through there. Uh it's flood plane, so there's uh certain things that have to happen, but but we think you could pull that off. Uh we did get a full boundary survey done. Uh the district hired quiddity engineering to pull this off. It's complete and stamped. Uh there's the full boundary. A lot of title work done as well. And just a snapshot, they did a full topo for us. So a topography map is done. It's one foot topo out there. It's heavily treated. they used LAR or laser data from from up high to get all of the data. Uh but it's a really good survey.
126Very happy with the end results of that. So just let you know we have that uh on the title. Uh this is still an active research being done by uh district's uh legal team. But uh there was just one notable thing in the report that we thought was worth mentioning that uh was a little unique. There is a 4 acre drill site listed in the title. And right now all that means is someone might have a claim to that. I think we're working to get have that claim relinquished and going away or your legal team is. But in the meantime, just to point out to you again, want to give you all your risk here. Uh that 4acre site is almost entirely in the flood plane down in the creek. It's this is a quite
127old document. I I don't know that we have anybody with an idea to actually do a drill site out there. It just came up in the title search. Uh if someone does have the right, I guess they could drill there. They'd have to get a FEMA permit to do that. That is not impossible. It could happen. I don't see it likely. Even if it did happen, I don't see it affecting uh the ability for you to have campuses here. So, just want to point out that's something that was found that's notable. Uh just some data highlights for you. The jurisdiction, City of Montgomery, you're within the city limits here. There's a quick listing of their building codes uh and electrical code. Uh ESD number two does your fire protection out in this area. Uh the
128Texas Department of Transportation controls FM 1097 and the city controls uh the other side street over there. Uh interestingly, there are no filed CCN's for water or wastewater service. All that means uh CCN is a certificate of convenience and necessity. That's uh where the state uh keeps the data on who has the right to serve water or waste water. It doesn't really mean much for you here. The city of Montgomery is serving the area with both water and wastewater. They don't need a CCN. That just means there's no competing interest to serve the site. Uh if there was no service, it would be more interesting. Uh because you're in the city limits, you're zoned, you're currently zoned industrial, or what they call the ID zone, industrial district zone. Um ideally, you would change the zoning
129to institutional. That would probably make the city quite happy. Uh, I would recommend that you do what I call a friendly resoning to try to change that to institutional. Uh, however, I want to point out to you, uh, the state of Texas has upheld numerous times, uh, that if you're if you're in an incorrect zoning that cities are not to stop the construction of reasonable schools. So, as a riskmanagement point of view, I'm not too worried about you building. that I believe you can build legally in the zone as it sits, but I would suggest you consider changing the zoning just to to to play along nicely. If that makes sense to everybody. Uh there were no zoning restrictions uh in either of these zones that really bothered us on on build the build uh
130constructibility of the site. Uh here's a shot of the zoning map. The star on the upper left hand side is is this tract. Uh just showing you that in the industrial zoning and that you are indeed in the city limits. Uh so one of the things that uh we've heard about as we're talking to folks around about the property is drainage. Uh our first site visit out there, it didn't take us long to see some erosion downstream. Uh so I'm sure everyone's familiar with that. So I thought I would try to build your confidence a little bit on what could happen on this property. Uh, so the picture right here, I'm standing on FM1097 out of traffic. Uh, looking upstream. I'm looking at this property. You've probably driven by and seen all the trees, but
131you can just tell from this photo, it's actually silting up on that side. Now, Text recently did some improvements down there. Uh, the coverts I'm standing on, those round pipes, you can see them kind of sticking out on the downstream side. Uh, and that helped. I think they're trying to just protect their roadway, and we did talk to Texot about that. Uh but the major point I want to make for you is uh and I'm not trying to talk either way about the projects downstream. I think there's a lot going on downstream. I just want to talk big picture with you about land development and drainage. Uh our opinion is if you will strongly consider keeping this track in a natural drainage state that is keep the natural vegetation as much as you can I
132think you'll find it quite beneficial and and rather simple to take care of that drainage channel if that can be done. If you urbanize this drainage channel because you end up developing it very heavily that can be done as well but you would generally have to totally harden the creek. picture like a fully concrete channel if you will. You've seen those in maybe some big city applications. That that is doable. I'm not currently thinking that's where I recommend you go. I think you have plenty of acreage out there, particularly with the concepts we're throwing at you where you can leave the creek natural and therefore gets a lot easier for you. You don't have to do so much. There might be some armoring you have to do the creek, but just to illustrate the point,
133I'm gonna get I'm going to diverge this a little bit. So, here's the same area. I'm looking downstream. You've probably all driven this road and seen some of this. This is a couple of months old. It might be worse today. So, I'm standing on the new Culver's looking downstream. You can see all the scour and erosion happening, right? U here's an aerial from about 2004. Just did a little research where I've got the words natural visitation. Uh there uh look how it's all green and there's trees and everything. This is all pre-development. Of course, some of you some of you were probably here when when that was going on. There's our track. Our track is over there on the left. Uh let's jump up about a decade to 2015. The vegetation gets removed and I
134wasn't around. I'm just looking at data to to figure this out. And you can see some channelization happening with those developments down there. So that vegetation has been removed and really jumping up to today. So a year old aerial photo, you can just see the scour been continuing. Uh I I just bring that uh information to you to let you know that if you can keep doing drainage in a natural state, it should be a lot easier to deal with. That's really all. You don't have to, but that's our thinking for you. Uh so I don't have a whole drainage project in mind for you. Uh and as long as Texot continues to take care of FM1097, which they they've done pretty good, uh I don't have any reason to think this scour would cross
135over that road and come upstream. Okay, so there's our lesson on drainage scour and staying natural. Uh here's a shot back on property of the FEMA map. Uh so the the Federal Emergency Management Agency flood plane maps. Uh the dash lines in red are flood way. Uh that's highly regulated. It's not impossible to encroach in the flood way, but pretty much we don't want to do that. That takes a lot of work and a lot of times you don't get permission. Uh the blue area represents the 100red-year flood plane fringe. that's outside of the flood blade, but still in the 100year flood plane. You can mitigate that by putting fill in there. I don't see that you need to do that. You have plenty of acres all around this. And again, you'd take out a
136lot of trees if you did it. And then the tan areas represent the 500year flood plane. Uh not too concerned about those areas. Any building you do, you just want to keep it a foot or two above all of those elevations, which does not look to be difficult at all. Uh we have water, sewer, electric, and gas. um out on property there's just some shots out there. You can see the infrastructure went out there. We have talked to all the providers at some level. We've talked to the city quite a bit. Um and so we're really confident that you're in strong position on utilities. Let's talk traffic though. So this is the same uh layout. Those are these proposed driveway layouts. Again, just conceptual just showing you how you might do this with campus circulation
137in mind. Um there's a lot of configurations here. I do like the idea of connecting across the creek. If you develop both sides, it would give you a chance to get better access. So on FM1097 on the right, text controls that you'd have to get an access permit from them. You would be able to get an access permit. We talked to them about that. Uh what I think of though is left turns coming in and out of the campus. Uh if you have a large campus particularly, you would want to uh have protected left turns coming in and out. Basically a traffic signal. uh probably could use one today on several of these driveways through that area. Uh textile will not tell you they'll give you a signal or not. You have to do a
138project, go through signal warrant studies, and then uh they'll let you know if that happens. I can easily envision there would uh you would warrant a signal on 1097 at one of those driveway locations over there. Uh there's no guarantee text would let us put a signal in. Uh, I do like that we have the ability to get over to Summit Park Drive if we cross the creek just in case we don't get a signal or if there's a delay in that happening. Uh, there are currently no plans to signalize anything on FM1097 in the area according to Texot. Uh, so just talking to their staff or at least not very close to this site. Uh, but also we discovered there's a city thoroughfare plan that's adopted and a county thoroughfare plan that's adopted. They're
139identical for our campus. So I'll just use them both interchangeably. Zooming right into that plan. So if you can see our tract with the blue outline and the and the star right there. So there shows to be and y'all may know about this that shows to be a future plan a future thoroughare crossing this ogre truck tract. Uh I like the concept from a thoroughare plan standpoint. I understand the idea that we're connecting basically eastern 1097 over to essentially western 1097. The concept is solid. It makes sense to me. uh that rough location makes some sense as well where the purple dash line is drawn and this is from the countyy's thirdare plan. Uh that would be in a bad spot. It would cut our eastern track right into. So we don't want it right
140there. Now these are conceptual for sure. So you our advice to you is pretty obvious. Just make sure you control that location and either move it I would say probably to the north or potentially to the south just freeing up some room uh on the uh the property. Whoops. go back. Um, this is really the only key item we have. If you could not control it and the county decided this should split the middle of that eastern tract, for example, and they had a project in mind, uh, like they were actively pursuing a rideway acquisition and whatnot, well, that could really affect your ability to develop the site. So, uh, it's a it's important, but, uh, I do think you guys have some great relationships with the county. I think staff's been talking to them,
141so I think you're ahead of this already. If you feel comfortable with that, I think you got a great property here. Does that make sense? That third for location. Wrapping up, uh I won't go into all these details, but there's a bunch of reports at the back that are quite important. We did a full uh environmental site assessment, routing, consulting was engaged by the district. Uh the summary is no evidence of any environmental conditions on property. Did a full wetland determination report. Uh no wetlands on property. Happy to report that. Uh that means we were not expected to need a federal permit to do work in the creek. Uh there's another process to make sure that later, but that's a great sign. Uh did a full archaeological assessment. Uh what is that? This is where
142you review antiquities and send an archaeologist Indiana Jones style uh out there to do shovel digs. They did 136 shovel test in the dirt. So uh it's a lot of work. Uh they're in the trees so you can't see them, but there's a the reports got every location dig. Uh it shows everything they found. They always find flint and arrowheads and bowls and things like that and they found them on this site, but they were not of historic historical significance. Uh state law does require that school districts do this type of work on any track larger than five acres. So that's why we did the report. Also, uh state law make sure we clear this with the Texas Historical Commission. I know you can't read that, but we've already got the letter back from the
143Texas Historical Commission. You are clear to build if you were to acquire this site and do some work on the site. So, that's big. Uh what you don't want to do is be in the middle of construction and have the historical commission come stop you and halt your project and you make the headlines that way. Uh last couple things, a full biological assessment was done by routin. This is for endangered species. No habitat was found, so it would not be considered a taking in their opinion. Uh and finally for you just to throw you some budget considerations. Uh we're not commenting on the price of the property for you. That's not not our role. But we wanted to give you some ideas of the off property items. Uh and let me just clarify some of
144this. This is not what a school would cost or a driveway or anything. This is basically to get your site what I would call shovel ready. Like we're just ready to go put a building up. And we've made a few assumptions that are pretty big. So let me explain the top item. uh platting, reszoning, doing some geotech borings on site. Uh we've seen enough borings in your area. We don't anticipate any surprises there. Uh traffic evaluation, maybe a tree survey. Uh that's at the top uh in a devaluation effort. The next item is some assumptions we put together on getting utilities just across roads and and really prepared not through the property, but get them to the property correctly. Uh that's probably a that is a conservative estimate. It's probably not that bad. Uh the
145biggest item on here is the assumption that we would have a text dot traffic signal going in that you paid for entirely. That's the assumption. Hopefully, you wouldn't. Uh including a deceleration lane. And so some pretty conservative numbers for that at at about 800,000 for those two things. Uh again, I'm not telling you that's a requirement for the site. I'm just saying it would be a realist realistic expectation. you might want to do that if you developed a large enough campus and they allowed you to do it and they didn't help you pay for it. Uh but again trying to point that out and then some site clean up and some contingency puts us at about 1.8 million. So the summary is the cost of the land plus 1.8 million conservatively. It's probably not that
146bad would be the total expected cost for this land acquisition for to be shovel ready. That's our advice to you. And the very last thing is just that last paragraph. Our suggestion is to consider a favorable site pending locating that thoroughfare plan accordingly and uh list of all those reports if you want them. Any questions? How much acreage is in the event that that thoroughfare does come through there? How much acreage is north of that? Uh I I I don't know exactly, but I would speculate that that might be as much as a 100 or 120 foot wide rayway. Uh, and it it just says thoroughare on their plan. I I don't know if it's if they have a specified width, but that would probably turn into maybe maybe three acres or so. I just
147we made a quick guess on where it might go depending on its shape. But north of that, not the not what the easement would be, but north of that where it divides where it divides. Yeah. Let me go back. So, north of that purple line. Yes, sir. Oh, that's substantial. That's like that's about 25 acres north of that line. I mean right where that one is shown like whoever drew this map and it's a zoomed out map. I mean they it just happened to split almost right there. And you can see they lined up to the western that western 1097. I think that was the only logic. We've done quite a bit of thoroughfare planning and it is normal to just draw square rectangular lines at planning level. They often go to property lines and
148whatnot. it that does not in my opinion that does not seem to be a specified exact location. It's just connecting west to east. But that's also very important. If they do put it right there, it's going to affect and I've had uh we've met with um Commissioner Walker um last this spring, last fall sometime. Um, and we discussed this and going back, you mentioned like we've got great relationships with them and we've actually already presented that we're purchasing that property um or we're going under contract on that property and we would be interested in having discussions about how to route that and he said it's exactly that like we've we've put this here as a planning stage right now. They've also got a plan on you know land owners and making it work. Uh so
149having dialogue now at those early convers early points of planning is great and also on the zoning piece of it. Uh Mayor Countryman and I have been in conversation about getting it reszoned to the indust institutional institutional um and I think that's actually on their upcoming u not tonight their meeting tonight but at their upcoming uh city council meeting. Oh excellent. That's great news. Yeah, by by my estimation, that dash line goes right through that middle school oval. Just to give you some zoomed in scale on that, it's about the last place I'd want it to go. Yeah, south might work out. I think north might work out, but some critical thinking needs to go into that. It and frankly, it it could turn into a very real positive safe move that may become the
150primary access. I mean, much safer or at least in addition to FM 1097. So, it it just makes the site that much better if done right. Quick question for you. You talked a lot about the drainage. Um there obviously we see that creek going right through the middle. Um do we still need to have retention uh ponds, if you will, or will be able to will the drainage be able to be routed into that creek? It's a great question. Do we still need detention pond? So, uh my current understanding of and we've not asked the city that question intentionally, but we've looked at it. uh uh we've got a a great understanding of city requirements and and uh detention ponds. My city engineering opinion, if I were the city engineer, I'm not. Uh I have
151been, but not here. Uh would be uh I think there's a strong advantage to not detain water on this site so close to the creek. From a big picture point of view, it's often good to let the local water get the creek and get out. So, if I were developing your site, I would probably make that appeal to the city. They may or may not receive that appeal. Currently, I would assume they're going to require detention outside of the flood plane on the site, probably up in the front driveway area, but but there's room. I'm not I'm not too concerned about that. Any other questions? I'm good. All right. And I just want to highlight that this is a uh part of the bond in 2020 to set aside money uh to purchase land. And
152so, uh, if if a question is is brought to me tomorrow, okay, so now what campus are we building on this property? We don't know. We don't know. But currently right now, in order to build Creekide, we had to go and purchase that property and then build the property or and build the campus at the same time. We're we're really trying to be diligent and planning um in making it as flexible as possible for our district as we grow to to secure sites and future campus sites that are as as convenient, centrally located uh and as flexible as possible. And so that's the that's the approach to this and I'm excited. It's It's come back to be a great a great location. Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you. Item 9E. You got exactly 2.2
153minutes, Brad. Bond update. Questions. You might want to take questions. All right. Good evening, Mr. President. Dr. Ruffin, board of trustees. So, um, quick update on our bond projects. Um, it's exciting summer for us. Uh, it's a busy summer for us all in all. Um, we got our hands in really every school except for Montgomery Elementary. Um, this summer, uh, we've got a little bit of work going on at at a few campuses, but a lot of work going on on others. Um, scroll through this pretty quick in the 11 categories. Um, this is a screen or a page we put up each time. Um you can see those lines are getting more and more green, right? Um we're now what I would consider 100% at Lake Creek. Finished punched out, finished everything in there.
154Few minor items left. Uh Creekide's at 99% um with the Troszo flooring, which we'll discuss here in a little bit. I'll go over that. Um CT's moved up to 98. Um and that's a general summary of that. We we have we have occupied the CTE center. So we have staff in there. Uh so the two coordinators um the and the director and their admin assistant is in that building. Uh so we had furniture put in. It's ready to go. We've got uh technology working in that. So um the a barn's lagging a little bit behind but it's catching up pretty quick. Uh MHS renovations has made some jumps this week and stadium as well. Um and the renovations at the triplets um tagging along but getting there and the fuel center rains hurt us there
155but it's uh it's coming along. So far, we spent $240 million of that bond. Creekide um Terzo with the Terzo update on that. Um I think Dr. Ruffin provided a summary in the last update to you guys um on uh what we were doing with the Torzo there. So um you guys know the story about when we first uh closed on on the on on the building. Um as we progressed throughout the year, we noticed some cracking. We noticed some cracking even at closing at some of the Terzos and locations. there was some theories behind what was happening there. It got to the point to where we contacted Pogue and said we feel like this is an unacceptable item. Um and we went in discussions with them uh with Huckabe and involved in that as
156well and um uh they agreed and um offered us some options. So the options that they were um offering us at the time um were uh the options of tearing out the Tzo completely and putting it back in uh throughout the entire building. um they would be willing to do a uh an option of LVT uh and Terzo mix in there. And then the other option um was a uh what's called an epoxy overlay. Epoxy Terzo overlay and it's a Terzo product. So it has rock in it, aggregate in it, but instead of cement, a cementitious product, it's an epoxy holding it together, harder, stronger. Uh we already have that product in uh in well the entryways at Creekide but also at Oakills and Keenan. Um that is that that product is in there. Um
157so uh what we decided to do and we didn't take this decision lightly. Dr. Ruffin and I spent a lot of time uh on the phone with different people. Um contacted Huckabe. Um Huckabe who is kind of the mediator by contract in this in this process. Um sat down with all of us reviewed some of the options. Um I contacted Southern Tile and Terzo who's the installer of the Turzo the cementitious Turzo at our CTE center um and um then also um actually worked with Casey in this and um through all the options the recommendation was to do the epoxy overlay on this with a crack isolation membrane um and uh to mitigate any possible future movement um there. So, Andreola was the original installer of this product. Um, Dr. Ruffin and I got on
158the phone with him. Dr. Ruffin asked him point blanks as um we have uh we want to make sure that that you guys know that um we want this done right and had a conversation with them. Um per the contract, we do have to offer the contractor and the original installer an opportunity to mitigate this and to correct it. Um and that's what we're doing here. So, um we chose this option. um the progress on this uh in in talking with everybody. One of the questions I had is that subbase that was down there. Okay. Because there's a sand cushion in Terzo and then there's a cement little coating on top. So there's this like 4 inch thick stuff of a cementitious kind of sand bed thing. Um and my concern was we did cores,
159we did bores on that. We had them look at it. Uh, and uh, I had Southern Tile and Terzo look at it and said, "Would you install a Terra an epoxy overlay on that?" And Southern Tile said that subbase is fine to install this on there. Um, Andrea agreed. Um, Huckabe signed off on that and um, and agreed that this was the an option we think would be the best situation for the district. So, um, one of the main reasons is it can get done this summer. Um, and the only reason, but was one of the main reasons. Um, and the epoxy product, um, compared to LVT is a a 50-year, a lot longer product. LVT is going to have to be replaced probably after 20 years, um, in there. So, we wanted to get
160an item that was as comparable to what was there before as we have now. The progress they're making right now, um, I've made it a point and, uh, Huckabe has made it a point and I've asked them to go out there with their field guy to visit this site every day. He goes out there, gives us field reports. Um, I go out there every day. Um there's been maybe one day that I've missed. Um I go out there, check on the site. Um they're making progress. U one of the main things I want to make sure is they had enough protection up. There's a lot of teacher stuff in there. Um putting you can see the plastic in this. So uh in this past three weeks, um where they are right now is they started
161in the classroom corridors. Um and they have actually poured um they put the uh the the uh crack isolation membrane which is a product that has the flexibility and it absorbs cracks and movements with a certain amount of elasticity. I'm not an engineer, don't pretend to be, but that elasticity it absorbs. Andreola has has installed this product. Southern talent and Terzo has installed it as well um over the top of terzo concrete anything. Um and oftentimes they have cracks in that. So, um, right now they've done the classroom corridors. They have put the crack isolation membrane in the cafeteria. The middle section has the, uh, vapor barrier membrane that is below the crack isolation on there. Um, and anywhere there was a crack, we've documented they put a fiber mesh on there along with an
162epoxy. Um, filled the cracks with that epoxy, went back over the top of this, made it very sturdy and hardened in there. Um, so this is kind of the progress. We we anticipate that they will be done with this. Their their substantial completion date uh is going to be uh mid July um to late July. July 30th was the drop like we have to have it done by July 30th and they can meet that deadline. Um can I ask you a question real quick? Sure. What is who's a subcontractor performing this portion? And the same contractor that Yes. So, do we have a third party inspector that's checking this every step of the way to make sure that My concern is that they're trying to mitigate damages and they're going to sidestep, you know, so
163we need somebody that's going to go in there and go, "Yeah, this is done right or this is done to to specs or to scope or whatever it may be." Uh, right now we've got the same contractor that screwed it up the first time is going in to make the repairs. And I I just feel like we need some oversight. So Pogue is the oversight for this site with making sure that they follow specs along with Huckabe and their field guy goes in and makes that there there's very specific specifications especially the crack isolation membrane of a 40 mil thickness. I had them document everywhere they put it with the gauge on top of it that that mill thickness is on top of it. But as far as third third party Hog was the one
164overseeing the original installation. Right. Right. So, I mean, it would stand reason if they didn't catch that the first time. I mean, we should probably have somebody check into this. And Huckabe is also doing, you said they're doing the daily. They're out there daily chronicling the process, making sure the specs and the and the submitt all submitts have gone through them and they're reviewing all submitts and they're making sure that they're building it stage by stage as the submitt and specs indicate. What kind of warranty will we be getting? So, typically it's a one-year warranty. We asked in the negotiations for a two-year warranty. They they gave us that. Okay. How um this is going over the existing Tozo that was there, correct? Right. So, how is that affecting everything in like a door jamb
165um all of those areas? That's a great question. So, um one of the things that obviously the the most doorways and thresholds we have are in classrooms, right? And so, the carpet and the and and the epoxy before was an even mix, right? So, a couple options we had through some submitts we reviewed were um a Schlutoter strip, a rubber in inlay to kind of you'll see those sometimes in buildings from the carpet to LVT or wherever. Um what what I suggested and what I wanted to do was and and talking with Brendan too is peel back the carpet, float it out for two feet and then so you don't even know that it's there and it just transitions straight to the to the Turzo from there. in the places where we have LVT which
166is in the art room in that science lab right there next to the gym and in the gym which is the rubber floor that foam that uh that rubber floor there that is going to be a slutter strip that's there on top of that because pulling that LVT back and the uh the gym floor you definitely couldn't do that a whole lot less traffic going through there a slutter strip is very durable um in there and and and it'll meet the ADA requirements of the amount of height it'll be about a little more than a little less than a quarter inch a little bit more than an eighth of an inch of of it. So, obviously, if there was nothing there and it was just a zinc strip, you might catch a toe. This will
167allow for a smooth transition. We did ask for mock-ups on both of those. Um, and the slutter strip, I'm sorry, that there's a rubber transition from the LVT to the epoxy. And the where there's epoxy to epoxy, which is bathroom areas only, those big gang bathrooms, that's going to be a sewer strip. And then the staff bathrooms, too. So, it's basically 316 of an inch thick of this new product that they're putting on top of it. Those areas they grown they grind it down a little bit when they went down in there. So, they took a little bit of the top off. Um, so they allowed it's a quarter inch pour and then they grind it down, buff it out from the top. So, it'll end up being a little under a quarter inch product
168on top. And the areas that they had to put the mesh down for the cracks, is it the same thickness there or is it less because of the mesh that had to go on top? So, it'll be it'll be the same. Um because then when they put the they dug down into those cracks and then they filled those cracks with epoxy. Then they put the webbing over the top of it with an adhesive. And then they put that crack isolation membrane material on top of that. And then they floated the whole thing out so it'll all match up at the top. My only concern is that history says that when there's a fault like that that something's causing that and it's going to continue to cause that. Yes, we're putting the mesh there on top
169of it and sealing it to hopefully prevent it, but have we figured out what was originally causing that to crack? Is it the movement? What was it that was causing the crack in the beginning so that we don't have that same problem um as we move forward? And I'm a little concerned that um 18 months down the road in the movement of the building that we could see those same exact cracks show up in these exact same places. Everyone was confident in the group that it was not foundation related. So those cracks weren't related to the foundation. Um the theories that we had discussed and um I think through some of the cing we found is that there was never an opportunity for the moisture to wick out of there. So they had built this
170thing so fast, so quick and if you remember the building was not conditioned. They didn't get the AC installed in a timely manner there. So it was it was running humid and hot. That sand bed never dried out. It has dried out now. And I think the cracking and talking with them is done um from that standpoint. And also there was a couple coal joints that may have been in there. Um and that's where they dug those out and they reset them. Um, so I think it really had to do with the conditions more than there was even some areas in the um, if you're looking at the library from the cafeteria to the left, there was some open areas up there that water had been penetrating in that we were on the contractor day
171in and day out to get those sealed up. Uh, when they were pouring the the the Turzo that was happening. So I think it was more about the conditions that it was built in. And then as you see and I think everybody noticed that walked that campus the blue leaking up through that that was just so much moisture still we wicking through those zinc strips and and it's had a year to breathe. Is the original sub covering the cost of this? Yes. We're actually getting a credit back. Right. And we did ask for a credit back of7 $79,000 and they agreed. and the the process of doing this overlayment with the webbing and the crack resistant barrier and things we vetted not just through Andreola and through Pogue and through Huckabe but also I called
172GC's completely separate from that um we talked to other flooring um Torzo individuals also Casey I think was actually included in those conversation also and it is it was always came back to that is a very sound way and a a a a a true solution to the problem. Any other questions on the creek side? Lake Creek's pretty much done. Um there's a few wrap-up items there um and some science labs, but that that campus is is pretty much done. Um, so the den, um, the den, uh, and I think if you've, uh, I know you guys haven't walked it in a while, but, um, it's amazing what a good cleaning and um, pulling up all the floor protection and looking at the flooring and watching the paint go up, the tile get done, and
173then you would I mean, you know, that when you put ceiling tiles in, it just changes everything. Well, all that stuff's in now. We passed all inspections um, at the at the dent at the CTE center uh, and we are clear to occupy. um made a lot of progress. Uh the furniture is in in there. So, watching the furniture go in the rooms with some of the stuff that the design team picked out a long time ago um and and and decided to put in there brought some of those rooms to life. It's pretty amazing stuff. And you'll see some of those pictures in here. Cosmo Lab right here. Um those are the manicure tables. Um ducted out uh and it it's coming along and moving real good there. Uh this is a robotics room.
174I have I have a soft spot in my heart for robotics. My son was, my middle son was a robotics kid, went to state robotics. Um I showed him this pictures of these rooms and he was grinning ear to ear. Um it's going to be an unbelievable space for our kids. But that's some of the furniture that's gone in there. And then you can see air and power at each one of these workstations. So they can plug in work hand tools, whatever. And then you'll see down there um uh the scissor lifts and the post lifts and are installed in auto. The the one on the left is actually uh the actual service line for the cafeteria. So, not culinary. This is the service line. Uh beautiful serving line for those kids. Uh there. And
175then you see on the right is the green screen. Um there will be a uh I guess a newscast desk right there. Um that we're kind of where that stuff is sitting right now. Uh that'll have a TV on front that you can change the logo on that depending on who's in front of it. Um and customize it. So, um, that'll be there and it'll be mobile that you can move out. Some of the furniture, there's an office right there, a typical office in the front office. Um, and the furniture put in there. And then that was the reception desk, the other one. Here's the cafeteria furniture. It's not your typical cafeteria furniture you would see because this is a unique building, right? It's going to be kids coming and going quite a bit. Uh,
176it's uh it's not your 10 10kid uh table with circle seats. Uh it's very um unique uh furniture in there and some booths. And then you'll see on the right hand side, it almost looks like two separate pictures glued together. It's a split right down the middle in the cafe at the den and the furniture put in there. So it's starting to look like a cafe. Um right next to the the cafeteria, as you guys know, is uh is the uh the eight stations for our kids in the culinary program. It's all installed um in there. And then you have the mobile tables that can be brought out for teaching. And then the teacher workstations in the very far back corner. Here's the front. There'll be a canopy going up. You can kind of see
177the the concrete dug out Right there. Um for the canopy that'll go in front and then the emblems on its way. Um this is uh I went out there today. Um these pallets are gone now. Uh and they um they needed to get the uh some of the fans up finished out up there. Here is the cattle pens on the left and the lamb and goat areas on the right. Uh those pens now they now have the exercise area for lamb and goat installed on one side. Um they made some progress just I took these two days or Friday is today. They made some more progress in there. And you can see the fans installed there. Montgomery High School renovation. Um this is the one that you know it's been a two-year project on this.
178So, they did a lot of East Campus last summer. They're doing a lot of the uh the the rest of the bathrooms in the building. They've got them all rocked, all the tile pulled down. They'll be starting to put tile up in that pretty quick. Um they're going to start uh replacing AC units in the east and west campus this week. Finishing wood blocking for the uh learning panels, the smart panels. Uh painting all classrooms and common areas is on there. Um there'll be some new graphics going in some places. Kitchen coolers are being installed on that. So you can see here is the floral cooler um in in the floral lab. So we had to update that cooler, pull it out of the constru our or amech lab, pull it back in there. Uh
179this is actually the drain that is required for that cooler. Um and we talked to the teacher in that classroom quite a bit and got her feedback about where things need to be and the principal um to make the space usable, the most usable for that. And then here's an example of some of the sheetrock or the uh the rock and the stuff going in um to the bathrooms. Here's a completed bathroom what the tile will look like. And then you can see kind of the dugout of the uh cooler and freezer area and the cafeteria on the right. Um plural cooler will be installed next week. Uh this is another finished out bathroom. And then you can see the backing for the panels, the smartboards is going up and then they will begin installing
180panels. Um I think they're probably going to hit that next week. Data projections is doing um all those. Right now they're spending time at Oakills and Keenan and then CTE and then they're going to go to MHS once that blocking is all done. Uh the transportation fuel center. Um so weather has killed us on this project. Um it's hurt us. Uh but it's we're still set um for a 7:30 substantial completion. This one doesn't I guess um frighten me as much as the other ones because we can work around a lot of this if we need to. doesn't impact kids significantly. Um, and is all that really is left because it's I mean we can put the buses, we can find a place for the buses if need be, but we're going to get this
181done um with concrete uh in phase two, which is the big area up top. And if you driven by there, you can see them scraping that thing. They've got most of the dirt hauled out of there. The next steps you'll see on that is you'll see there's some lime trucks in phase next to the the old uh where the transportation Well, I'll show it to you. Sorry, I had pictures right here. The tension pond is done. And that was a big step because weather hurt us on that. That is done except for a uh drain right down the middle that'll connect to that black tube right there. That'll have to be poured. Uh and it should be dried out enough to get that done pretty quick. And then if you look on the right hand
182side, that's an area that we uh have limed already and we're about to pour. And then you can see fresh lime on the right hand side. Uh and that goes all the way down to um almost to um 149. Uh and that is to the um north of the fuel station. The fuel station is in. It's getting commissioned right now getting ready to go. Software uh uploaded. In fact, we've um scheduled a time or we're scheduling a time for the staff to get a training on how we're going to do or use some of this equipment in there. Uh and uh once we do that, um they'll begin or finish commissioning it. And then um we'll transfer the old pull up the old tanks, get those emptied, and then move everything to this these tanks.
183But we will not move everything to the or pull up the old tanks until this is functioning. And then you can see off in the distance there um that is the uh the tall building um that is the shed that um for for a wash plant. So, there's going to be a wash plant uh that we purchased that is a walkbehind, battery operated, hooks up to a hose, clean the buses, sides, front. Still got to hand wash the hood or quickly. And the tops typically aren't washed that often. You can also put your white fleet on that. Here's another aerial view, drone view of the fuel canopy and the concrete that's been put in. And then here is the the site right here. This is that whole area right along 149. Um that is uh
184going to be limed I believe next week. Uh and we'll start getting that formed out and poured um pretty quickly weather. Pray for good weather. And then here's another aerial view of the uh fuel canopy renovations to Stewart Creek Lonear and Mey Ranch. A reminder on this one um and and it's kind of mind-blowing if you think about it. There's 112 bathrooms being renovated in this project. They have got them all demoed and they have started to put up tile and about a quarter of them and that'll roll pretty quick putting the tile up in those. A lot of the staff bathrooms are done right now. That's the new reception desk. And th this this completely changed the dynamic of that front entry. Um if you remember at Steuart Creek, that the top of that
185uh reception area and that's kind of like the director of first impressions, right? Parents come in there all the time. That completely changed the way that whole looked. And the casework is still the same, but that top really made it. Uh and then carpet going in in the library uh is uh is complete. And as you can tell, we removed all bookshelves out of there. And we have purchased a um last board meeting, if you remember, we uh we purchased some mobile bookshelves that will go in there to replace the ones that we took out on all three campuses. This is a Steuart Creek right here with the tile on the right. And then they have demoed and they're staging right now um the floor in the gym. And um we're requesting that they put
186in that floor last because it is a probably the most delicate floor um that we're putting in that gym. So, we want them to get as much of the dirty work done before they get that thing put in it. But, it it rolls out pretty quick. And then they paint it and put the little squares the teachers like for the kids to sit on. And then they're replacing the backboards with clear backboards on this. Uh, Mley Ranch is the probably the most specific one um outside of uh of all of them. So, we are pouring a new turn lane um into that because the big concern is right next to these playgrounds was the traffic flow in there. So, we're actually cutting that off, turning in a turn lane before all that. Uh, so you
187don't have to loop around there and where kids are playing during the day. All that'll be closed off during the school day. We'll still use it for parent drop off and pickup because kids aren't traveling back and forth to those playgrounds. So, that that's going to start next week. They've started the um the demo work and surveying for that. And then these are actually the playgrounds. Uh, Mley Ranch is uh the last playground we have to be updated. And uh they are um forming that out today and they'll be pouring um weather permitting next week uh for the the actual foundation of that. Then they'll put the pour and play um soft cushion kitty cushion in there. Then the playgrounds will go on top of it. Athletic complex. Um so wanted to spend a little
188bit of time on this one. Uh this is uh that you guys may have some questions on this one, but just a reminder of what we're putting in there um with the locker room and the fieldhouse um addition that's going in. Um if you didn't get a chance to look uh I think there was a Facebook post um about the turf. Uh that turf pops. The graphics on it pop. Uh I think Dr. Ruffin and I were worried about that gold. The gold looks great and the Lions and the Bears and um they the Texas flag looks great. They're sanding it right now. We'll do a final. They're doing they're going to do Huckabe's is going to do a punch and Steuart will do a punch and then we'll do a final punch on that
189in the coming weeks. Um this if you see on the right hand side that is the driveway um along the uh fully asphalted now and paved uh new parking lot a um and then they were completing the road out to Lonear. After that we did add a light um to the end of Lonear. Our law enforcement um folks partners told us, "Hey, we want to have a light right there. We're going to have a lot of traffic control out there." there. So, we put a light as close to the um to the entrance right there for people coming in and out um because that pathway is lit, but we added one more at the end. Bleachers are going uh the press box bleacher portion is going up. Um the foundations are being poured. Um it'll
190be ready for steel um when it comes. Um the press box uh shaft is being installed now. And then um this is the locker room in the new fieldhouse. That roof is uh I think it's all closed in now um up there and they will put the actual roofing material, not just the underllayment on uh next week and then they're going to brick and continue um finishing that out. Probably be done with that bricking in the next couple weeks. So going back to I wanted to give you a timeline of where we are with the bleachers. So um Steuart Builders has been in contact with Sturdy Steel um getting their timelines nailed down, putting pressure on them. Um, we've asked Stuart to put pressure on them. We want to make sure this thing is here
191and ready to go um by this by this by the first football game. So, they are delivering um or they're beginning on 77. Um that's when they're going to start progress. They're going to be have 11 crew on site 12 hours, 7 days a week until it's finished starting on 77. So, they'll be framing or there'll be framing steel on site uh large rakers and columns. uh uh until the 10th. On the 17th is framing steel beams, columns, bracing, large rakers. Um 718 center of press box landing, aluminum installed, temporary guard wheel put up, uh established, finished floor and work area. 721 to 725 remaining stringers installed. Um press box is going to be set on 7:25 according to their schedule. And then 7:25 to 8:15 is the decking and finishing out the bleachers. So
1928:15 is the substantial completion date that we have been given and I've asked probably five or 10 times each time it is 8:15 right now. Um and that that implement weather days they have some cushion in there for weather. But mo what I've been told is outside of lightning if it rains I mean you don't want people up there slipping and all that stuff. If it rains and stops or whatever it's not mud that we got to deal with. They can they can work pretty quickly. Uh and um I asked I said can they turn on the lights you know if it gets to that point and I think they'll turn on the lights if it gets to that point and uh and continue working. We have made it very clear we want this thing
193done by 8:15 from their standpoint. Then we still got to get our inspections after that. But it won't be uh that won't be a problem. We'll get that scheduled. Any questions on the stadium or fieldhouse bleachers? What about the other parking lot? the restriping. We're not We We took that out of the scope. The Are you talking about the one on the new home side? Yeah, the existing home side or the old That's the old home side. Correct. I call it the big parking lot. Yes. We did not We took that overlay out um and resurface and overlay out and we're not restriping it right now. It was It was a It was a million dollar savings to take that out. It cost a lot. Looking back and and talking with Jay, um an overlay
194probably would not have held up. that parking lot needs to be scraped and reporter because what we're finding in the current asphalt side on the old visitor side any equipment that was on there and we're gonna have to repair a lot of that stuff um did not hold up well. So I think it would have been putting a band-aid on it to even do an overlay. So I think probably one of our future projects needs to be to dig that thing up and and redo it for that parking lot. Any other questions on that? There's a turf. So, some other summer projects that are happening. Um, Oak Hills and Keenan. Um, just to be like everybody in line with all the other campuses, we had to uh we worked with Stuart to come over there
195to put the backing power and data set it up for to receive the smartboards. Um, those are pretty much installed at Oakills and Keenan. That that project rolled very quickly. Stuart got in and out of there quick. Now we can move data projections um to a different campus. Lincoln. Um, if you've driven by Lincoln recently, they poured the driveway, the new apron right there. So, that'll make a big difference for people turning in right there. It was in pretty bad shape, and they're doing some grading and some work on that. Very light work on that. Um, and then Shade Canopy at the uh Lake Creek Tennis Court. You'll hear about that later on uh in the board meeting. And then Oak Hills outdoor learning and eating space uh is uh is coming along and we're
196um getting the uh trying to find the old geotech report. So, um, to get that rolling in there, but, um, that'll be a pretty quick up and and down on that one. And that's it for the bond update. Any questions? What is the completion of the A bars? When is that that? Uh, so they are inspecting, believe it or not, I didn't I didn't know this. Y'all may have known this, but fire marshals are hard to get around the 4th of July. So, they have to inspect all fireworks stands. And if you can count the number of fireworks stands that there are. So, um they're hard to nail down around that 4th of July time. After 4th of July, they're there. They're scheduled 79 710 to give us occupancy down there. Um they have AC
197is running. Uh they're going to start putting up the ceiling tile once the inspection is done, the fire marshall's done, they'll put the ceiling tile up. Um we're still reviewing the sand um right now and I'm meeting with them tomorrow at 5 o'clock to go over um the results of that. And then uh the rest of it is um they still they're going to R decks. There's one thing I didn't mention. They when we when we opened up and realized that um the lamb and goat areas, they have the door that opens up to that arena, right? We didn't have that arexed. It was just going to be um just that regular Sharpbite sealed concrete. That's also where the entrances are, the gates to get into the arena right there on the end. So we're
198going to Rex that. I'm having them R deckex just that little section right there next to that door. That that should be there shouldn't be any animals moving past that point is what I've been told. So, uh that that was something we're going to add on to that. The rest of the Morgan and and and their contractor putting up the the pins all throughout there. The the the the powers everything's good there. Water's good. Uh the gutters are being installed now um on all that in the down spouts. Um, and that'll help a lot with getting the water off of there. We've addressed a couple issues with um the the down spouts. Um, in my opinion, when I'm going to talk to Jay about it, the down spouts come down and right on the sidewalk
199on the inside of those. I think they need to be up higher and extend out where it's dumping onto that sidewalk and it doesn't wash back in. I think that's something we need to watch carefully, make adjustments um to as that water's draining out of there on the back side where the mo strip is. I think uh talking with uh with some folks maybe putting some normal just gutter wash outs right there to get that water out or maybe some bull rock. Make sure it's not eating away at that grass that's right there because that'll get pretty bad. Are you talking about going into that drainage area in the middle where we were so the the middle part? So the alternate right? Yeah. Yeah. Right there. So why don't they saw cut the concrete and
200go underground? It's just sidewalks. I mean because it's going to Anyway, we can talk later. Okay. It' be a cheaper way to do it. That was Yeah. The the wash stations. Did we determine how we're doing them? He's talking about the the cattle um tie rails on the in the cattle to in the wash rack. Yeah, we got we had we had the uh Brendan has sent that plan. So, we've got that working and he drew up based on y'all's feedback on that. 18 off 24. Yeah. Yeah. 48 inches high. But they're going to have to saw cut that as well to to put that stuff. They will. Yeah. And they'll rearex that. And then the lamb and goats have pins where they wash so that they run out. This usually is the end of
201the board meeting, but we Any other questions? I don't have any more. All right. Let's go back to action items 8A. Uh, right away donation deed, right? So, it's a it's I got it, Brad. You're good. You're good. I talk faster than you do. Um, so I got it. I got it. They're at uh Thank you, Casey. There at Lonear Elementary, the drive that uh connects 2054 back to our transportation center, that is called Bearcub Drive. Um when the original uh folks purchased the properties to the uh east and north of Lonear Elementary, part of that agreement was that we would have that road dedicated for public use and accepted by the county. Very similar to the process that we went through at the Lake Creek entry to get that accepted by the county. Um
202the good news is we've already done all of the cing and all that has come back. Great. Uh we've had good conversations with um IB Commissioner Riley and his office. Uh and so this would be to pass a resolution to get that uh cub bear cub drive donated uh and deeded to the uh county for for public use because those are now being developed. Um then we are obligated contractually based on the original uh uh agreement with that land owner to get that dedicated to the county and accept the public lease. Any questions? Is there a motion to approve the rideaway donation deed to McGomery County for Bearcub Drive as presented? I'll make that motion. Thank you, Mr. Turner. I'll second it. Thank you, Mr. Rob. All in favor? I I uh any opposed? Motion
203carries. Uh item B, purchase over 50,000 for student athletic insurance policy. The guy that was so disappointed we skip act action items. Come on, Coastal Plant. The irony of the guy that used to kid up some stairs on the weekend talking about insurance has the pulled back. So, thank you board and and Dr. Ruffin in front of you. You've got the proposal for the uh uh student athlete accident insurance and and catastrophic uh insurance. Of course, our our numbers have changed over the years from 2014 to present as I tracked what we've been doing here with number of schools and the number of athletes and and miles and different things that we've we've put on. But, I think it's important to uh continue that coverage and protect our kids. And I think the uh the
204value that we have here from National Health uh and also Great American with those two uh policies presented to you are is good value for for what we have going and uh something we should uh proceed with to uh protect our kids. What exactly is this covering? Well, and Larry, I don't know if you want to come up here. We've got Larry uh Welch here from Texas Kids uh insurance. He can uh guess we decided to let insurance since it's so exciting to let that finish up the evening. Yes sir. Yes sir. Um actually the plan that the uh school district is considering is an all school plan which is a little different than uh than an all athletic and activities plan because you're going to be covering actually uh accidents at school in all
205the grades from uh prek through grade 12. So that means even accidents in a science lab or English class or a kid going to class runs into a you know uh locker door. Uh someone falls in the lunchroom. Uh all of those things are going to be uh are going to be covered now as well as all the UIL sports vocational classes uh day field trips for educational purposes. uh just about everything. Perfect. Uh and uh just to kind of for your own information actually when you consider this product the three main things to consider are of course price, service and network. Uh when you look at the benefits on these policies from company to company, quite honestly, you could put them in a basket and throw them out and there's, you know, six of
206one, half a dozen of the other. Uh for example, on an MRI, most of these plans will pay anywhere from 400 to 800, 900 bucks for an MRI. However, it's probably going to cost around $2,500. uh but in this area uh our company we have a wide uh range of uh network providers who will accept what we pay for that MRI as full payment and they want the balance bill the parents and so what that means is you could have a company where they might pay $800 for that $2500 MRI another company's plan may only pay $500 $500 towards the MRI. But if the company that pays just 500 has an agreement, no balance bill pro uh with a no balance bill provider, they'll take that $500 as full payment. Whereas the company that pays
207$800, if they don't have an agreement with a balance bill provider, they're going to pay $800 and the parents are going to pay the difference between 2500 minus 800. And that's why I say network is much more important than actual the schedule of benefits on the policy. And uh just off the top of my head in this area uh we have Methodist Memorial Herman, Texas Children's and uh uh Woodlands Sports Medicine uh as well as uh you know St. Joe's up and Scott White up over in College Station. So we have a uh we have the largest no bill uh no balance bill network of all the companies that provide uh that provide athletic accident insurance for the district. And then the other thing is the service. I will be the service agent for the
208district here. Uh I currently I knew Mr. Davidson from Livingston. I've done I've done a number of districts for over 25 years. So, I've gone through a lot of coaches and a lot of superintendent over the years. You know, I've done College Station for almost 30 years and as well as I do Conroe, uh, Magnolia, Tombball, Navasota, Willis, Anderson, Shyro, uh, just about every district uh, around here. And so, I look forward uh, the prospect of working with y'all. And, uh, you know, and they'll have access. I'm going to come do a training session in July with all the uh athletic trainers and try to get the nurses and everything involved too since we'll be covering the uh elementary kids and all the other kids as well. And so uh uh anyway, that's kind of
209it in a nutshell. And so y'all have any other any other questions while you got me up here? So if someone had to file a claim, would it be somebody from our administration filing it or the parents? Well, claim forms, uh, it's a one, uh, the part filling out part is only one page. The top half of it, the school fills out because the policy is in the school district's name. And so, uh, the athletic trainer, coach, or whomever, as long as it's an employee of the school district, uh, someone at the school has to fill out the top part of it. The bottom part of it the parents fill out and then all the instructions for filling out the claim are on the back. They need to read the back of that claim form
210and then the uh claim form is submitted uh then to the student accident insurance to the claims office. Of course, all student accident insurance is secondary uh to whatever the parents have. The parents insurance is primary. you know, they have to pay first, then the uh school accident insurance pays its part. And of course, if you go to a network provider, in that case, probably everything's going to be taken care of. Of course, you get a lot of parents who don't have any insurance on their kids. Uh, you know, some of the lower income kids have Medicaid. They can go Medicaid and they're fine. The more affluent parents have very good insurance policies and they don't necessarily need it. But then you have what I call middle class bluecollar workers who maybe work for a
211place that provides their insurance but they can't afford the insurance to cover their kids. You know, the premiums are just too high. But they are concerned about paying their bills and their credit and everything. And those are the types of families that really do use uh use the insurance that is really really helps those out in need. And uh can I give you one quick little story right quick? Uh I used to be back in the dark ages. I was a head girls basketball coach. And back then, uh, the only student accident insurance was only for the football players and usually only for the high school players. Uh, I took a team up to Marlin and we were playing in a a basketball game and, uh, about the middle of uh, fourth quarter when the
212girls, she was trying to play center underneath the basket and they had some big girls. She took an elbow right to the nose and I mean blood went everywhere all over the floor. Of course, it wasn't a, you know, life-threatening injury. So, you know, back then I was the only person there. There were hardly any parents there, just me. I drove the bus, coached the teams. I did everything. So, we loaded her on the bus and took her to the local hospital after the game. And we got there to the hospital and they were getting ready to treat her. And then someone asked me, "Who's going to pay the bill? Who's going to pay the bill?" You know, and I didn't know too much back then. I sort of knew that only uh the football
213players had school coverage. And I also knew Robbie Robbie Anderson. That was the name of the girl that got hit that she lived in Columbus Village. And uh I think I'd never seen her parents. I'd seen her grandparents once. In fact, most of the kids I had playing parents weren't even show up. Only a couple of kids. Only a couple of kids parents showed up. And so I thought, what am I going to tell this person? And I finally said, just send the bill to the school. Send it to the school. You know, she accepted that. Couple of months later, I get called in by the athletic director. Coach Davis said, "Larry said, "We're getting this bill here from the hospital on uh and Marlin on Robbie." He said, "You need to take this and
214give this to her parents." And I said, "Coach Davis," I said, "I can take this bill, you know, and give it to her, but I I know they don't have any insurance. She lives over in Columbus Village being raised by grandparents. They're never going to pay this bill. And coach said, "Well, the school's not going to pay for it." And I said, "Well, I don't guess anybody is then." And uh Coach Davis, he looked at me, grinned, and he took that bill and he just rolled it into a pile of trash and dumped it in the trash can. But you know that there's a lesson behind that. that that's one of the reasons why we need to have this for these kids to help them out. And the final reason is I believe legally you
215don't have to provide it. You don't have to buy buy a stitch of insurance for these kids, but if you're charging admission, collecting money, I don't care if it pays for the sport or not. If you're collecting money for people to go and watch these kids play and represented the community and sacrifice their bodies, especially in football and things like that that are dangerous. And then if they get hurt out there and and and their knee, you know, have to have a knee surgery or whatever, some of them back injuries, you know, severe injuries. And you don't have any insurance on them. And you tell the parents, even though you've been collecting money for admission and you say, "Well, you get hurt. It's all on you. You have to take care of it. We're not
216going to do anything to help you out. Legally, you can do that, but morally, I don't think that's right. And so, that's why I really believe in in what I do what I do. So, any anybody you have any further questions? I'll I'll hush. No, sir. Thank you. Good. Um, is there a motion to approve the student athletic insurance policy as presented? A motion we approve the student athletic entrance policy as presented. Thank you, Dr. Ivy. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Cameron. All in favor? Any I'm sorry. Any discussion? All in favor? I. I. Any opposed? The motion carries. Uh, purch item C, purchase over 50,000 for tennis court shade structures at Lake Creek High School. I got it. I got it. We've talked about it before. We've talked about it before.
217He's stealing your thunder. Stealing your thunder, man. Um, yep. So, this is just kind of a comparability issue. Also, MHS has got uh shade there at the tennis courts, but also dealing with UIL new guidelines and the the heat bulb uh index uh providing those uh those student athletes a dedicated shade area there at uh Lake Creek. Uh it'll be purchased with some of that leftover um budget on the renovations to Lake Creek. Uh, so it's purchased through bond funds. Is there a motion to approve the purchase over 50,000 for tennis court shade structures at Lake Creek High School as presented? Sorry, getting the jumping the gun. I motion that we approve the purchase of over $50,000 for tennis court shade structures at Lake Creek High School as presented. Thank you, Dr. Abby. A second.
218I second it. Thank you, Mr. Keelin. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? The motion carries. Uh item D, purchase over 50,000 for Silent Panic Alert Hardware. All right, I am filling in for Miss Davis tonight as she is at a technology conference. Um this is not a new project. Um we brought this back in April for your approval. This is the crisis go silent panic alert system. um that at that time we brought you an estimated cost and as we have gone through the project line by line we've gotten to the towards the ends of the project. This final phase is going to put us over that estimated cost. So we wanted to bring this back to you just as the final piece. Um this is to cover all of the um auxili
219auxiliary sites such as the stadium, athletic fields, transportation. We want to make sure that no matter where our employees are at that those panic alert buttons work. Um and then additional um buttons for substitutes and additional staff. Questions? Any questions? What was the difference in price? I don't recall. So this will actually um put us over the estimated cost by about 48,000. Okay. You mentioned buses are do is do bus drivers the bus drivers will have a button. Yes. Any questions? Is there a motion to to approve the purchase over 50,000 for silent panic hardware and safety grant cycle one funds as presented? I'll make a motion to approve the silent panic alert hardware. Thank you, Mr. Cameron. Any second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Rob. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? The
220motion carries. Thank you. Uh, item E, budget amendment number two. This is our final budget amendment of the year and it just covers additional p purchases that we had throughout the year and gets all our functional categories to the the level they need to be to close out our budget. Any questions? Is there a motion to approve budget amendment number two for the 2024 2025 as presented? A motion we approve the budget amendment number two for the 2024 2025 year as presented. Thank you, Dr. Ivy. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Rob. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? The motion carries. Item F, 2025 2026 general operating budgets. Yes. So, this is uh what Ben went over uh to start off our meeting uh there in your board book. Um
221and it is required before we uh roll over because we're a June July 1 fiscal year. We've got to pass our budget by June 30th. Uh you always have to pass your budget before your tax rate. So, your tax rate will come um subsequently in August when we get that finalized from TEA. and it's balanced, not passing a deficit budget. There's been a lot of uh we kind of touched on earlier the the the financial swing that we have been able to successfully accomplish in this district over the last 18 months has been uh nothing short of astounding and it it's a testament to one our our our staff's willingness to to work with us to understand efficiencies need to be made certain areas uh to be patient with us in other areas and then
222obviously our community's overall support um of Proposition A and the passage of our Vader Any questions? Is there a motion to approve the 2025 2026 general operating budget, child nutrition budget, and debt service budget as presented? I'll make that motion. Thank you, Mr. Turner. I'll second. Thank you, Mr. Rob. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item G, the 2025 2026 compensation plan. Uh we've had to wait a little while because of the legislature being in session. Um but we're to a point with understanding our projected revenues and our projected expenditures and a general enough understanding of House Bill 2 uh that we can go ahead and proceed with a uh compensation plan. All right. So, uh, the compensation plan objectives, uh, really to utilize our funding increases from Proposition A and
223House Bill 2 to do these things, adopt a meaningful compensation plan that impacts all staff, ensure non-eing staff, which we'll talk a little bit more about this, uh, non-eing staff that do not qualify for the state funded raises receive the same raise as those that do qualify. Uh, we have several teaching, several non-eing staff on the teacher pay scale. Balance rising health care costs is another objective through this plan and then provide as equitable compensation increases across pay grades and groups as possible and then continue to focus on the overall financial position of the district to ensure future budget capacity to maintain competitive compensation. So, House Bill Two, just a review of what what took place. Um, first of all, we kind of touched on this earlier through Justin's presentation, but u our conversations, our
224our work, our collaboration with our legislators this session was constant and it was ongoing. Um, did everything turn out exactly the way that we could have imagined? No. But we're not going to um discredit the good work and progress that was made. Uh and we're very thankful for uh both Senator Kraton and Representative Metaf's uh their willingness to listen to us um their willingness to take input and and it really did result in legislation, not just House Bill 2, but other pieces of legislation that impact Montgomery ISD in a positive way. So, House Bill 2 uh established the teacher retention aotment and the TRA required and funded raises for 0 to2year teachers. It did not provide a funded raise for for teachers with three to four years experience. It provided a raise of $2,500 that
225is funded by this TRA. And then five plus year teachers, uh we are required to give them a $5,000 raise funded through the TRA. House Bill 2 also established other aotments like the support staff aotment and I believe they're calling it the ABC all aotment to offset general expenses of the district. Um though those support staff aotment doesn't provide uh full funding to cover support staff. Luckily we've got our Vader passage so we can couple all that together and put this great compensation plan forward today. So, so the compensation plan, let's take a look at um really I wanted to focus on what the House Bill two parts of this are. So, we've got this broken off into teachers, non-eing staff on the teacher pay scale. Those are folks like your nurses um who um
226it's 10:00 librarians. Thank you. Um interventions. There you go. So you can see that what we received funding for through this house bill 2 and through the teacher retention aotment it only provided funding for those three to four year teachers and the five plus year teachers but it was up to us to look at that and say all right so that non-eing staff on the teacher pay scale. Um we want to be as comparable as we can. We want to make sure that what they receive we can fund locally for others. Uh, and so that's what the next step of this will show you is that what we're going to do and what we're presenting tonight is it actually provides a u uh not a $2,500 and a $5,000 raise. It goes beyond that. And
227not only does it go beyond that, but we as a district are able to look at our zero to two-year teachers and say although the teacher retention a lotment did not fund a raise for you, we are going to fund what essentially amounts to a 5% raise. And that's anywhere from 2,600 to $2,800, $2,900. Same thing for our three to four year teachers. Uh we are going to go above and beyond what the state of Texas is funding us for. Uh and we're going to add funds to that and get you to a $2,900 raise. Same thing with the five plus year teachers. Go beyond what is provided for us and funded for us. Uh and that ends up to be anywhere from a 9% raise to a 7 and a half% raise. And the
228key here is looking at that second category underneath them is we've been able to match it for everyone on the pay scale. Regardless of if you qualify for these raises or not, we've matched it for everyone on the pay scale. And you'll see that not only do we match it, and I've touched on this earlier, but we've we've gone above and beyond what is required and what is funded. And so it it's really important to understand, we'll talk about this at the big picture at the end of it, but all of what we're looking at on the right hand side are what MISD is committing above and beyond what is funded through the teacher retention aotment. Those are our local funds that we are putting into this compensation plan. So the next thing we'll highlight
229here is this uh objective of providing equity in the compensation plan and trying to make sure that these other pay scale groups the admin pay scale other which is transportation auxiliary clerical pair professional um that that everyone receives as equitable compensation increase as possible um and I will say on the admin pay scale that that kind of gets misconstrued sometimes. You don't always understand who is on our admin pay scale. you immediately assume that's the principles, assistant principles, that's district leadership. That's also our professional pay scale. So that's our IT department, that's um coordinators and directors. And so uh that is very comprehensive of a group. And so what you'll see we've been able to do in this compensation plan we will propose is at the admin pay scale uh we are going to propose
230a 4% raise on the midpoint and for the other transportation auxiliary clerical and prepare professional a 6% raise on the midpoint. So, we've been able to walk through a lot of these objectives and we're going to continue to do that because the next one that we'll highlight is balancing rising health care costs and making sure that we're impacting all MISD staff. Um, so we'll look at the healthcare piece and the substitute piece and what we've been able to include in this compensation plan is an increase to the subpay $5 per day and then also increase the health care contribution from the district $30 per month. So that's $360 additionally per year for our employees that receive our health care. So right now the district contributes $370 per month. We're going to be contributing $400 per
231month uh to offset employee healthcare costs. And then the last part of that, which is really exciting, um is a one-time all staff stipen that we're able to approve right now to be paid out in December. um in in education, our teachers, our paras, our bus drivers. Um it's very rare that that we're able to just drop $500 on them in a month. And so that's a very exciting opportunity for our people. And obviously it does impact all of our staff. So what does this all mean? It means that over this is a over $2.6 6 million commitment by McGomery ISD outside of what is funded through the teacher retention aotment. To think where we were 12 months ago and approving a 1% raise for all of our staff to this is is really something
232to celebrate um and be excited about. So to go over the highlights here that starting 0 to2 teacher, it actually pushes our starting pay for teachers over $60,000 a year. It increases teacher pay raises beyond what is required and funded. We've talked about that. What you don't see in here though is we started to look at the individual paygrades ahead of these 4%, 6%, 5% raises and make market based adjustments through several different pay grades and different stipens. So certain pay grades might actually see a larger increase to make sure that they stay aligned with uh market comps. talked about it increasing our district employee healthcare contribution from 370 to 400. Uh so totally the district pays $4,800 annually towards employee healthcare. Provides all staff with that onetime stipen. Auxiliary support staff receive 6%. All
233staff on that teacher pay scale receive anywhere from five up to 9% raise. And then staff on administrative pay scale receive the 4% raise. And then we're able to include substitute pay also. So, we can do all of this without cutting any staff, right? We can do all this without cutting staff. And if you think back to what we've added in staff, we've been able to do all this with adding Miss Carrie Clark talked about the impact our behavior interventionists are going to have. We've got one housed at Creekide now and one housed at McGomery Elementary. the art facilitators that we've added, the CARES classrooms that we've added. We've been able to do all of this and add staff and build in um uh capacity to handle growth uh if growth occurs and we have
234to bring on new staff throughout the course of the year. Good deal. Any other comments or questions? I've got one. This is just my personal opinion, okay? I feel we're not rewarding our tenure teachers enough for their loyalty to the district for the bulk of their careers. Um, but I am happy that the rest of the employees are getting a raise across the board. Um, however, I for this I feel this board administration could have done better for our teachers. Why I feel that I will still vote yes for this. It's just because it does offer some increase in pay. I just want the teachers to know my opinion on this. Any other comments or questions? I am thrilled that we're able to not just think about what um the TRA is doing for staff,
235but really look at all of our all of our staff, our our paras um our um child nutrition workers. We, you know, it takes a village and I feel like we're one of the districts in the area that's really able to take that into account and show our appreciation to, you know, the people that are Montgomery ISD, which is everyone. I'll just echo what um Dr. Ivy said is that when you compare what other districts are doing um the fact that we were able to touch everyone um speaks volumes. Um it does take a village uh to to run this. Um on what Mr. Dennison said, "I I would like in the future too that we do put some emphasis on our tenure teachers um to to try to reward them to to keep them.
236Um it shows that uh there's a lot of success when you have teachers that are in the buildings um for longer than 10 years. Um that stay within a district. And I I would hope that in the future we could um put some more emphasis um in that direction. But I I commend everyone that was involved in putting this together. Um it was a journey to get to the point that we're at and um I commend everyone for uh getting to this point. Any other questions? Is there a motion to approve the 2025 2026 compensation plan as presented? I motion we approve the 2025 2026 compensation plan as presented. Thank you, Dr. Ivy. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Miss Turner. Uh, any any further discussion hearing? None. All in favor? Any opposed?
237Motion carries and it is officially 10:12 and this meeting is adjourned. [Music]