Mt Vernon ISD Board Meeting 10/13/2025

001this meeting of the Mount Vernon Independent School District School District to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present, that this meeting has been duly called, and that the notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. Do I have a motion to certify the agenda? Motion made by Donnie. Do I have a second? >> Seconded by Kyle. All four. That's 6. Uh, let the record show that Linda Barrett is absent tonight. >> All right, Donnie, would you open us up in a word of prayer? >> Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity can come to you and serve this community, our children, our students, our staff. Please keep please allow us to have

002open minds tonight as we make decisions for growth, learning in our school system. Um, please keep the edge of safety around our campuses. >> Please continue to bless this great country. I ask this all in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. >> To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. >> At this time, we do get to do special recognition. And uh we will start with staff recognitions. I know we have some student recognitions to do tonight as well and uh we'll do those right after we do the staff ones. So I will start if I could have Miss Heather Mitchell

003come forward please. Miss Heather is our elementary teacher of the month. >> All right. This says Heather Mitchell is Mount Vernon Elementary spotlight teacher for the month of October. Miss Mitchell is a veteran teacher and brings a wealth of knowledge to her classroom and to her team. She has an incredible gift of bringing out the best in each of her students. Her classroom is a place where curiosity, respect, and growth thrive. Beyond academics, she inspires a love of learning and a sense of belonging that stays with students long after they leave her classroom. She has an incredible gift of connecting with students with patience and empathy. She creates a sense of community and family in her classroom where students feel comfortable in taking risk. She recognizes students for their strengths, whether it be academics or

004their character. She serves as third grade's reading language arts team leader and has helped lead the implementation of our new curriculum. She is willing to serve in any capacity and has always has creative ideas to share. She is well respected by our colleagues, students, and their parents. We are incredibly blessed to have Miss Mitchell at Mount Vernon Elementary. Congratulations. Hold hands here. And >> sorry, I want you to stand. >> There you go. >> You want to say anything? >> Thank you. That was a lot. >> Okay. All right. Congratulations. >> Okay. Next, we'll move to the middle school teacher of the month. Can I have Miss Michelle Damron come forward, please? Congratulations. >> This is Mount Vernon Middle School would like to recognize an exceptional educator, Miss Damron. First and foremost, Miss Damron consistently

005provides her students with opportunities for individual growth. It is increasingly recognized that personal development and academic achievement go hand in hand. Miss Damron embodies this principle by designing her curriculum to foster a sense of ownership and learning. She does this through personalized reading assignments that cater to each student's interest and reading levels. By allowing students to choose books that resonate with them, she empowers them to take charge of their learning journey. This sense of agency not only ignite the passion for reading but also instills critical thinking and decision-making skills. A passion for reading but al sorry said that moreover, Miss Damron often incorporates reflective practices into her lessons, encourages students to set goals and assess their own progress. This reflective approach cultivates self-awareness and personal responsibility, qualities that are essential for growth both inside and

006outside the classroom. Lastly, we cannot overlook Miss Dam's remarkable leadership on campus. Her commitment to collaboration extends beyond her classroom as she continually seeks opportunities to help out fellow staff members and engage with the broader school community. Miss Dammer participates in initiatives that enhance school culture, showing her dedication not only to her students, but also to her colleagues. By sharing her resources, ideas, and experiences, she promotes a culture of teamwork and professional growth among her peers. Her leadership is characterized by willingness to step up when challenges arise. Whether that's mentoring new teachers, organizing events that promote literacy, or leading professional development workshops. This proactive approach not only enhances the learning environment within her classroom, but also contributes to a positive and supportive atmosphere throughout the entire school. Miss Damron exemplifies what it means to be

007a dedicated educator. Her example reminds us that when educators invest in their students, they cultivate not just better readers, but also stronger, more confident individuals ready to take on the world. Middle school teacher of the month, Miss Michelle Dammer, >> want to say anything? >> I just want to thank everybody and that's from everybody from our janitors, our school bus drivers, our resource officers, our principal, school board, everybody. So, thank you so much. Thank you very much. We appreciate you. >> I just want to give that back to you. >> You get to keep that. >> Okay. Next for high school teacher of the month, Mr. Samuel Baron. >> He's got an entire cheering section up there with him tonight. >> Congratulations. All right. This says, "We are proud to celebrate Samron as this month's

008teacher of the month at Mount Vernon High School. Now in his third year with us, Mr. Ron has smoothly transitioned from Spanish to teaching US history, taking on the important responsibility of preparing jur juniors on their end of course assessment, as well as serving as our social studies department lead teacher. His positive energy and dedication continue to inspire both students and colleagues. Mr. Ron creates an engaging and dynamic classroom environment that motivates students to explore all aspects of US history and develop critical thinking skills. His innovative teaching strategies make learning both meaningful and enjoyable. Beyond academics, Mr. Baron remains a committed member of our school community, always ready to volunteer for extra duties and support students in every way possible. His patience, approachability, and unwavering commitment to student success truly set him apart. We are

009grateful for Mr. Baron's ongoing contributions and leadership at Mount Vernon High School and excited to watch him continue to make a lasting impact on our students futures. Mr. Baron is a tremendous teacher and very worthy to be again recognized as teacher of the month for Mount Vernon High School. >> Congratulations. >> Want to say anything? >> Only that I am thankful to be here and go >> Tigers. Okay, next we are going to do our staff member of the month. If I could have Miss Susan Smith come forward, please. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> All right. This is Miss Smith has joined us at Mount Vernon Middle School and in her short time here, she has transformed our library into a vibrant hub for learning and discovery. Her innovative ideas and unwavering commitment to

010our students reading journeys have gone above and beyond. First and foremost, Miss Smith has recognized the untapped potential of our library. Libraries are more than just places filled with books. They are getaways are gateways to knowledge, imagination, and creativity. From day one, she immersed herself in understanding our libraries processes and procedures, identifying areas that could benefit from improvement. Whether she's organizing books or streamlining checkout processes, her diligence ensures that our library is accessible and inviting to all students. Miss Smith understands that the physical environment of the library plays a crucial role in fostering a love for reading. With her vision, she set about reinventing the space itself. She coordinated efforts to create cozy reading nooks, inviting students to settle in with a good book. By incorporating comfortable seating and vibrant decor, she has transformed the

011library into a warm and welcoming environment where students can escape into their literary adventures. Perhaps most importantly, Miss Smith has an innate ability to connect with students, making them feel valued and heard. Miss Smith has truly been an exceptional addition to Mount Vernon Middle School. Her commitment to enhancing our library and promoting a love for reading is evident in every change she's made in every initiative she's launched. Her passion for creating a welcoming and inspiring environment has encouraged her students to embrace reading, explore new ideas, and connect with one another through literature. As we celebrate her efforts, let us also commit to supporting our library and recognizing his value in our education and personal growth. Miss Smith, thank you very much. >> Very good. You want to say anything? >> Thank you. Um, sure. Um,

012I just appreciate um how welcoming everyone has been. And I mean, every time I ask for help, everybody's so helpful and kind and considerate. And um, I just thank you all for the opportunity to allow me to join your team this year. >> We're glad you're here. Appreciate you. >> Thank you very much. Next, we're going to recognize our uh cafeteria, and we would like to have Miss Brooklyn Reader come forward, please. >> Congratulations. It says, "We are proud to recognize Brooklyn Reader, our outstanding junior high and high school cafeteria manager. Your leadership, organization, and unwavering commitment to excellence make a daily impact on both the team and everyone who walks through our doors. From ensuring smooth operations to creating a welcoming environment for staff and students alike, your dedication sets a high standard for

013us all. Thank you for your hard work, positivity, and the countless ways you go above and beyond. Miss Brooklyn Reader, >> would you like to say anything? Okay. All right. Good to know. >> I'm not much. >> That's okay. Next, we will recognize our custodian employee of the month, Miss Maria Martinez. Congratulations. Yes. Says Maria consistently goes above and beyond to ensure our schools are clean, safe, and welcoming for students, staff, and visitors. Her attention to detail, strong work ethic, and positive attitude set a wonderful example for everyone around. Whether it's early mornings or unexpected challenges, Maria approaches every task with pride and professionalism. She plays an essential role in creating the healthy, supportive learning environments our students deserve. Thank you, Maria, for your dedication, reliability, and care for our schools. Your hard work makes

014a tremendous difference in every single day. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, Miss Maria Martinez. Thank you. >> Want to say anything? >> Thank you. >> Our next gentleman that we're going to honor is one our maintenance personnel, but I don't think he is here because he's probably on a bus. Nick, I'm not missing Nick, am I? >> No. I'm going to read anyway what was said about Nick Jeffers. And uh Nick exemplifies dedication, craftsmanship, and pride in every task. Whether it's repairing buses or equipment, ensuring our facilities are safe, or lending a helping hand wherever needed. His positive attitude and willingness to go the extra mile make a real difference in keeping our schools running smoothly and our learning environments welcoming. Students and stike benefit from Nick's dependability, skill, and commitment to excellence. We're grateful

015for the care and effort he brings to the job every day. The maintenance team appreciates his cooking every week, too. Thank you, Nick, for your outstanding service and for being an essential part of what makes Mount Vernon ISD shine. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. And we'll make sure Nick gets this, but we did want to share with you what was written about Nick. So, our employee of the month or maintenance is Mr. Nick Jeffers. And also, we honor we have started honoring transportation p or bus driver of the month as well. And uh as you know, they're not quite off a bus route yet, but we're gonna honor this month as Miss Renee Aken. And so this is what we said about Miss Renee. Says, "Every morning and afternoon, Renee goes above and beyond to

016ensure our students arrive safely, on time, and with a smile. The their professionalism, punctuality, and caring attitude make a lasting difference for our students, families, and schools. She consistently demonstrates patience, reliability, and genuine care for the children on her route. Qualities that reflect the very best of our district's values. Thank you, Renee, for keeping our students safe and for your dedication to excellence on the road every single day. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor. So, our October bus driver of the month is Miss Renee Aiden. So, at this time, I know we have some student recognition. So, I'm going to ask Miss Lacy Steve, the high school counselor, come real quick before we do so. Sorry. All you staff members of the month, if you'll come forward before I

017forget this, take a big group picture. You going to bring a plus one? >> You might not. >> That's okay. Come on down. Just right in here. Anywhere. >> Okay. I can move around. Yeah. >> Okay. Everybody ready? >> Very good. >> Congratulations again. >> All right. So, um, this evening I get to recognize seven of our high school students that have been given recognitions by the College Board. And so, I want to tell you a little bit about what this recognition is. The College Board National Recognition Programs award academic honors to high achieving students based on their performance on the PSAT, NMSQT, PSAT 10, andor AP exams, along with maintaining a minimum grade point average of 3.3. These awards are aimed to help students stand out to colleges, celebrate their hard work, and are

018particularly designed to connect with students from under reppresented backgrounds like first generation, rural, and minority students. It is important to note that this recognition is an honor. It's not a scholarship, but it can sometimes help. And it is used uh by colleges to help identify promising students. So, this year we have seven students that are receiving these awards. So, first up we have Sie Burns. Whoops. So Satie is receiving the rural and small town recognition award and the college board school recognition award. >> Very good. >> Stand here and we'll get a picture at the end. Maybe I get over there. All right. Our next student is Callie Clark. All right. Congratulations. Okay. And then Calie is receiving the College Board Rule and Smalltown Recognition Award, the College School the College Board School Recognition Award,

019and the College Board First Generation Recognition Award. >> Congratulations. >> Next, we have Kayen Decker. He is Kayton's receiving the small the rural and small town recognition award and the school uh the college board school recognition award and the college board first generation recognition. >> Very good. >> Wyatt Faulk. He's our next recipient. Wyatt's getting the trifecta as well. the rural and small town recognition award, college board first generation award, and the school board uh the school recognition award. All right. Next, we have Kate George. He's getting the rural and small town recognition award. Miss Katie Tobar. Katie's receiving the first generation recognition award. And then Griffin Standard. And Griffin is receiving the rural and small town recognition award. over here. >> Y'all kind of come in here like the staff. >> Great job, guys.

020>> Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. information. >> Okay. All right, we're going to move down to our information items. We're going to uh switch up the agenda a little bit and move um campus department updates to first. I think we've got some a big event down at the elementary might want to get down there for. So, do you want to go ahead and go? >> Sure, I'll go first. Yes, someone had port planning. That someone was Miss George. We always plan on by week so it's easier for the football team to be there. So, we'll do better next year. Um, so we just completed a successful fundraiser. So, we will earmark those funds. We're going to find something, you know, that really is special that we can use those funds for. Um, I think I said

021last time, we're really trying to look at our kiddos that are showing up doing what they're supposed to be doing and so that they know that they're not overlooked. the kiddos that are needing some behavior help. So, we had um picnics. I may have mentioned this last time, I can't remember. Um so, just our teachers chose students that, like I said, they show up, do what they're supposed to be doing. So, we had a picnic for them. The kids just absolutely loved it. It cost nothing, but they were recognized for doing doing the right thing. We had a homecoming um poster contest for grade levels and classrooms. made posters for the homecoming and that they looked so good up on the um on the fences and the football captains came over and judged. They took

022their job very seriously. They talked about, okay, how much of it was teacher made? How much of it was student made? The student piece needed to go into account. So instead of just picking a winner, they picked a first, second, third, and honorable mention. So they were sweet about it though. Um I think I told you last time, we're just really trying to build leaders on our campus, our student leaders. um for our awards this for this first six weeks they were led by students and they did they came in they practiced they were chosen because of their leadership skills obviously but they did a really good job there um we've tried to celebrate teachers to make them know how special and how much they're appreciated so we've had a bubblegum contest where the winner

023received a sonic drink we celebrated national cookie day we ordered these really cute cookies for them we had a taco uh Tuesday bar last week and then kindergarten is going to do a celebration um in November. Of course, dad's night is kicking off in just a few minutes. So, we hope that that's going to be a huge success just to get our dads involved. We just pushed out our uh parent survey and our staff survey and the parents really want more more opportunities and we do try to provide opportunities for them to be involved. I was telling Mr. Clayton that um daddy daughter dance is a hot request. So, I guess that Miss George is going to be putting on a a daddy daughter dance in the spring. So, we'll get that done and just

024really focusing on our, you know, our reading and writing and math. And we're, like I said, we're tracking data, making sure our kids are growing. And our first round of MTSS meetings are coming up next week. So, if those kids aren't getting the help they need, we'll step in and provide them some intervention. Hopefully, some of them have made some gains so that we can back off on that intervention there. So, it's going good. It's I mean, it's been an adjustment. our kids. It's it's really heavy good solid tier one instruction and that's what we've been missing and our kids have really risen to the occasion. So we a matter of fact we so it breaks it off into knowledge and skills and then which is our reading language arts piece of it and then

025a foundational skills. So we've got kiddos that they have had trouble with the reading part of it but they can sit they can listen and they're learning and soaking in so much information. And I walked into a second grade classroom the other day and two of our behavior students from the behavior classroom and were in there. They were having a conversation about Hercules. Was he truly a um a hero or was he not? They were defending their answers and you never would have been able to pick them out of that classroom. So, it's really including a lot of students. So, we're we're very happy. >> So, and I'm again I'm proud of our teachers for rising to the challenge because it's been hard. new is hard sometimes, but um we've they're working hard and I'm

026very proud of our staff and our students. >> Thank you, Miss George. >> Yeah. >> Well, I just I kept thinking about we don't have nothing to talk about, but we really do. >> Like I just started making notes, so I mean I'm just going to kind of roll down it. Our attendance, I know y'all probably get tired of hearing out about that. It's constantly 95% or better right now. Um, of course it's about that time when sickness starts rolling in and we've kind of seen it a little bit, but not so bad. Um, in our sports world, it's a by-week of course that is a break, a nice break for everyone. Um, coaches and admin get to go home for and enjoy dinner at a decent time. Um, I know we have two more

027volleyball games left and then we roll into basketball season. Um, I can't believe it's already that time of the year. It's crazy. our girls cross country team are district champs. Um second year in a row, so they rocked it this year. Um pretty proud of them. Let's see. I know we have a couple of things coming up. We have an internet safety meeting that we're having for parents and students. Um I believe that um Miss Walker is partnering with our sheriff's office and Mr. Jones. Um to make sure that that's something that we can, you know, use to help our parents kind of because we tend to see the internet issues in in the middle school for sure. Um we recognized our custodians on the National Appreciation Day. We um got them some goodies and

028took care of them. Um kind of like Miss George, we've been taking care of our staff. Um we kicked off our first full fall week with Little Debbie snacks. You can't go wrong with that. Um celebrated National Coffee Day. We had Starbucks come and bring coffee for all of our staff. Um we have Red Ribbon Week coming up. We have student council is in full force. They are doing their and it's it's cutthroat this year. They're actually having to um make posters and speeches and stuff. So we're having our food drive against uh Winssboro. I believe that the whole district is doing that if I'm correct. Um and that's starting to pile up. I know that we are we just got all of our survey stuff back for our campus improvement plan that we've been

029working on that will be ready for you guys in the November board meeting. Um we plan on meeting on the 24th to get that in order for you guys. Um and our peak at the week that we've been sending out. It's kind of a schedule for what's going on at Mount Vernon Middle School. We've gotten some really positive feedback on that from parents and staff and even the kids are like thank you because I get they get it in the mail in their email. So um I think that's about it for us right now. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but next time. >> I lost that rock, paper, scissors. >> All right. So, um, but I hope y'all don't mind me taking a little bit of time to tell you a little bit bit about

030some of the things that are happening happening in the counseling world. So, um, first of all, I'm going to update you on CTE, though. Our health science students visited Baylor Plano and toured the facilities and spoke to several different representatives. Um they are beginning clinical rotations tomorrow at Titus Regional. So we're excited about that. Very excited. Uh Miss Shu has been doing a great job with those kiddos. She's very gung-ho about the program. U floral design students made floral arrangements for the Farm Bureau banquet last week. Life skills students um helped to create them as well. So we're excited to get them involved. Um and then also um our our life skill students are our self-contained students. They will uh be traveling tomorrow to VoteNet with Miss Buck and Miss Russell to uh go view

031the the VoteNet Center in Mount Pleasant to help show them some some post-secary opportunities that are available to them. Um we also had at Countryfest, if you guys go to Countryfest, Hector Mendes. He's a senior at Mount Vernon High School. He uh received the honor of winning the Franklin County Flag Creation Contest. His design was made into a flag and was presented and raised there at Countryfest. All art students last year participated and created their flag for the idea and the historical society voted for the flag for Franklin County. So if you Yeah, it's really cool. I was excited for him. Um he was a little nervous on his speech. He said he got put on the spot, but he did a great job. So, um, now on the the counseling side of things, I

032do, uh, want to let y'all know that, um, we, uh, this is going to be our fourth year to receive the effective advising frameworks grant. So, that is something that has allowed us to be able to, um, start implementing our college and career fair. Uh, this year will be our third year to to have our college and career fair in March. Uh the first year we had it, we started with 44 uh vendors, I guess you would call them, and then last year we had 72. So we we had to move it down to the new gym, and we're hoping hoping to add more uh this school year. Um and then we have already um we're already in the process of completing two of our priorities for this school year. U one of our priorities

033was a resume writing workshop for all of our juniors and seniors. And so all of our juniors uh participated in that. Um so we had 90% participation. Let me put it that way. When you look at attendance and everything, but we did have about 90% of our students participate in that presentation from Jimmy Smith from Northeast Texas Community College. Um they learn the importance of a resume and how to create a resume. And then all the students in uh their English three class are going to write a resume and then they'll keep that and update it for their senior year. Um that same day that we had Jimmy come uh present to the juniors, he also stepped in and presented to our seniors during flex. And um he did a great job on working on

034some job interview skills with them. He even had four of our students come up. He had CJ Shelton, Dawson Witherspoon, Wesley Selenus, and Andreas Diaz. They came up and interviewed for a job on the spot and just kind of showed everybody interview skills and and what that looks like. So, uh, that was entertaining. The students really all paid attention and and liked it. And so, um, on that day, we had about 86% of our seniors in here. So, we, uh, we got some good participation. And, uh, the senior English teacher, Miss Canada, has already had all of our seniors create their resumes and write their scholarship essays, uh, for the school year. So, that was those were some of our goals, you know, that we really wanted to start at the beginning of school. And

035um another goal we have implementing those resumeéumés and interview skills is this year we plan to have all of our seniors participate in a mock interview process. So we'll be doing that in the spring. So we're we're excited about that. Um some other things uh that are happening with our effective advising frameworks grant. Just so y'all know u I told you about the um the mock interviews. That's something we want to do at middle school. Miss Walker is working with a couple of our CTE teachers down there to help uh implement the programs of study, like the teaching of that so we can help get them more aligned with our CTE programs as they come into high school. So, she's been coordinating with them to provide lessons. Um this next one is um a big

036thing that's coming up in November. We uh have our generation Texas week. Uh we'll be doing that November 3rd through the 6th. And that is where we just are putting a spotlight on on college or careers, just trying to get them focused, the students focused on uh what they're going to do after high school. And so we have uh contracted with Karen Denny. She's the scholarship lady of Central Texas. And we have actually this year purchased access to her website. She has a great website. It is password protected, but if y'all would like to see the password, I can share it with you. Um but she has a lot of college and career resources. She also has a database of over 200 pages of scholarships that students are eligible to apply for. So, and it's

037not just seniors. I mean, it can be freshman through seniors and even some college students. Um, so, so it's a great opportunity that she's going to be coming on November 3rd. She will do a a presentation for parents about paying for college. We're going to have it in the auditorium starting at 6 pm. Uh, that'll be on November 3rd. And then on November 4th, she will uh November 4th and 5th, she's going to be here to meet with our students on campus and she'll do a scholarship workshop with them, just showing them her website, but then also information just about applying for scholarships and what they need to do about that. So, she'll meet with 9th and tth grade students on November 4th and 11th and 12th grade students on November 5th. We'll also be

038taking our juniors on a a college fair trip to NTCC on November 4th. and having NTCC come to our campus on November 5th to help with FAFSA completion. So, we're we're really trying to meet some of our goals early this year and uh we're looking forward to it and we're encouraging the kids to wear college t-shirts um all that week of November 3rd through the 6th and probably have some little prizes and stuff like that. So, all right. Thank you. >> Thank you so much, >> Mr. Stevens. Thank you. >> Is that all for our campus update? So, we'll go back up to the top now and back to information item A, which is the emergent bilingual student. >> Peterson's going to give that. >> Good evening. Um, most of y'all probably know who I

039am, but I haven't ever been up here to speak before, so I'll introduce myself. I'm Stacy Peterson. I'm got a new role as director of special services, which means I support students in special education, the emergent bilingual, and our 504 students. So, I wanted to um come today and just kind of share a report on our emergent bilingual students on how they're progressing. I know um Miss White I'd given her this report so y'all have this information, but I'm going to touch some of the highlights. We do have 258 emergent bilingual students um throughout our campuses. 87 of the students are served through the bilingual program where they're learning both in English and Spanish. And then we have 138 that are learning um through ESL, English as a second language, either contentbased where they're getting

040it in the classroom or some students are having pullout services. So we did want to look at the growth of our students. And so we reviewed the star data um from 2003 um 2023 and 2024. And you can see um we stayed the same under the approaches at 75%. We increased from 23 to 24 um to 43% and then we stayed the same with master. On the next page um we do break down our EL scores and our math. And you can see um some of those highlights. we did grow in our ELR um 3% for the meats and then a big jump was 5% for the masters and so that was a really good improvement and then in math we um improved in approaches and meets but we did have a drop in our

041masters and so we always want to keep track of our data uh to see academically how are these students doing and what can we do to prepare them and so the other part that we want to look at are their tail pass scores because we want to see are they progressing to become proficient in the English language. And so um we did review on closing the gaps report from TEA that they have. We looked at the tail pass progress rate and so um the data on that is from the last three years and you can see we have improved 44% in 23 24 was 45% and then in 25 it was 54 and so we're moving in the right direction. As of October 1st, we had 33 students who were reclassified. And so that means

042that they met the criteria that they no longer have to receive support as a student with learning a second language. They're able to, you know, receive all of their um instruction in English only. And so that that's good. It is important with everything changing, we always have to have professional development and our um teachers and our aids um they participated in that last year. We had 10 teachers and four aids um go to region 8 for different trainings. Um they attended 16 workshops combined. And then our bilingual teacher went teachers, five of them at the elementary went to a two-day um bilingual program training on that. And so um we do have um two teachers at the high high school who are not ESL certified. So at this time we are going to apply for

043a waiver for them. Um I have sat down with both of those teachers and we have made a plan of professional development for them to be learning while they're working with these students and then for them to get their certification um by the end of the year. Um the last thing that I wanted to talk about is we are having a change in tailpass that will impact our school. And so Tailpass is looking at the their language proficiency and it looks at listening, speaking, reading and writing. So in the past it has been a strengthbased composite. So of those four items that our students are tested on, the two highest scores were taken and that's where what we were graded on. This year it is changing to a composite score. So, they're going to take

044all four of the areas. So, what that means for our students, um, historically, the speaking area of Tailpass has been one of our weakest areas. One, there's technology involved and the students have to speak into the, you know, the computer. A lot of these students are quiet by nature and so they, you know, are not comfortable speaking out. And so, um, this data that I have on the graph, it shows from our EEL proficiency scores last year, the elementary met, the middle school met, and the high school did not meet. It was um below by 6%. With the new criteria, taking our data from last year, with our new criteria, our elementary would not have met. It would have been under by 9%. and then our high school would have been under by 10%. So,

045um, we are partnering with region 8 to look at all of our data from last year and seeing the areas that we need to work to improve. So, we're trying to get ahead of the game because we know the changes are going to happen this year. And so, we're looking at our middle school and high school, bringing in some tutoring. There's some grants available that we could bring in some tutoring in those areas. and then working with our elementary teachers to um improve their scores. So that is what is happening in the emergent bilingual world. Do y'all have any questions? >> Okay, thank you. >> Thank you. Good information. >> And we will now move on to our uh enrollment totals. >> Enrollment totals. Currently we have um 612 in elementary, 454 in middle school,

046and 458 in high school with a total enrollment of 1524. So the majority of we're down about 20 in elementary and just a couple in middle school and down about um 40 in high school from this time last year. And then our construction updates. >> We have Lou here >> in the flesh. >> Lou is here in the flesh. >> I had a presentation. >> She just left you. >> Yeah. >> So, okay. >> That's all right. >> Just real quick. Um, we've been here since June of 24, believe it or not, and we've got until December 2026. So, we've been here, man. Oh, thank you. >> There you go. >> Um, >> just another quick note, we have had safety is a big issue to us and we've had over 104,000 man hours on

047this campus and not not one not not even one minor energy. So, >> good. Uh that's a that's a blessing in itself the way it is. So this is a an aerial shot y'all can see of the uh campus that we're tearing up. Um there on the left is your administration uh facility on the left and right see those covering those up. So one office area will be Dr. Collins and the other office on the right side is uh Mr. Watson. Uh we're currently uh in that area. I know that all most of the stuff overhead is in the rough. The mechanical electrical plumbing is installed. I know we've got all of our inspection. So we just sheetrock that area. We've got some step build there. Once we get out of that space, we'll make

048our way south where that pile of dirt is where stairs were there. That's an overall view of the aerial shot. The picture on the go down to the second page. Okay. So, that picture in the upper left is your your act facility. If y'all been over there and seen that we're almost done topping out on the walls, they waterproofed and they started brick up against the new building, the storm shelter west side. Um probably by the end of the week they'll be break out. So all the way up to the top. I don't know if you've been over there yet, but that's the act facility. That's just detailed picture down below. U probably towards the end of February, mid February, try to wrap that a facility up and then there's just another picture of building

049that addition that we're added at the administration that that area right there. We got a lot of slabs. scheduled Wednesday and Friday. And then this is just another aerial shot. Your kitchen's over there on the left side. And then those two photos are inside your uh your firearms building, which is also known as your tornado storm shelter. So that's what's going on. Reconstruction, we're moving along >> and a lot going on. So, that's where we're at. I know some of you guys are excited to get back into your old spaces. >> What's the timeline on the administration? >> We're going to shoot for mid January. Yeah, we're going to shoot for mid January to turn that to we're Dustin and I superintend this this area E which is your kitchen so we can come tackle

050this kitchen hopefully get out there but we're still got our heads wrapped around so >> good job >> that's where we're at. Any other questions? >> We appreciate all the work y'all are doing. Thank you. >> Thanks, L. Thanks for being here tonight. >> Yes, sir. >> Yes, ma'am. >> So, we will move on to the open form for public comments. Uh, we have three people signed up. Uh, Miss Bailey, I'll let you go first. Um before that let me read this. This is our uh policy regarding public comment. We will begin the open form of this meeting with a few remarks to clarify what is appropriate and not appropriate for public comment. Mount Vernon ISD board policies are the law of the school district and the board of trustees. We follow the law. policy

051beed local governs the public comment portion of this meeting. Audience partic audience participation is limited to the public comments portion of the meeting. At all other times, the audience shall not attempt to enter discussion, debate, or ask questions on matters being considered by the board. At regular meetings, the board permits public comments relating to the district, regardless of whether the topic is an agenda item. At special meetings, the board limits public comment to the agenda items. Individuals who want to participate in public comment must sign up and indicate their topic of choice before the meeting begins. If you have not signed up already, then you will not be allowed to speak at tonight's meeting. Each speaker is limited to five minutes. If you require the assistance of a translator to the English language, then you

052will receive twice the amount of time if you're speaking on an agenda topic. Board policy allows me to adjust the amount of time for public comments when necessary for effective meeting management or to accommodate large numbers of individuals wishing to speak. Each person is allowed to speak individually. Do not expect to debate with the board or individual trustees. Public comments cannot be used to discuss a specific complaint or grievance grievance. For example, if a parent has a specific complaint regarding his student, a decision relating to his or her student or against specific school personnel, then the complaint must go through the process in board policy FNG local. Employee complaints regarding their own work or other employees must go through the process in board policy DGBA local. These topics cannot be discussed in the public comment

053forum of board meeting. Anyone who violates this policy will be given one warning. If the speaker violates this policy a second time, then that speaker's time will immediately end. Refusal to abide by this policy may result in the speaker's removal from the board meeting. Thank you in advance for following the policy of Mount Vernon ISD. Ma, I will have your time here if you need it. Okay. Okay. All right. My name is Elizabeth Bailey. My husband and I have two elementary age students enrolled in the district. I've been in education for over 10 years and I sit on Mount Vernon ISD safety and security committee in parent capacity. I also do not like to be ignored. On Monday, October 6th, I sent each of you a letter expressing my concern and disagreement with the Guardian

054program. Not one of you responded. So on Wednesday, October 8th, I sent the same letter to all 30 plus safety and security committee members, including administration and local law enforcement. Only one member responded. The lack of preparation for an effective and informative discussion at our safety and security meeting on October 1st was appalling. Zero questions from the committee were able to be answered from the district and instead left to the response of how Guardian worked would be determined on how the board writes policy. Let's talk money. $63.9 million is the amount you all requested in the 2023 bond. I recall one of the main pushes of this bond was to increase the safety of the district. What has blown my mind about this entire Guardian discussion is that with that dollar amount spent with the

055construction still incomplete, our district is considering Guardian without seeing the safety improvements already delivered and soon to be completed in action. It continues to blow my mind that even with that amount of money, we still had multiple items within our district to correct. I am in the classroom every day. I have been told to wear a belt because you never know when you need a DIY tourniquet or make sure you keep scissors by the door just in case. I have set through stop the bleed trainings, AED trainings, active shooter drills. I have cried dropping my kids off at school and I have listened to my kids describe their drills. Have you ever had your 5-year-old kindergartener describe how scary these drills are? I come to you from the place of both a teacher and a

056parent leveling with you that I know, I see, and I feel the dangers of today's world for our children. I cannot support arming civilians in a gun-free zone. I cannot support arming classroom teachers. Our teachers are burnt out. Our retention rates are low. We're down to advertising four day school weeks and jeans every day only to hire uncertified teachers and hope for the best. You cannot directly or indirectly ask our educators to add another literally liferisking responsibility to their plates. Educators got into educating, not into law enforcement. If you truly want to increase the safety of our campus, you have to invest in our ISD police department. Fully staffed, our ISD police sit at three officers on good days. Currently, we're operating with two officers. What happens when an officer is unable to come to

057work? What does our campus coverage look like? There's only advantages to having more officers. Even now with an elementary event going on, we're low on officer resources to cover both this meeting and dad's night. Remember, we don't even have a district police officer at this time. Can we afford it? You can figure it out. Could we utilize district funds differently? How much money does our district save in operations from going to 4day? The district spent twice as much money on athletics than security last year. Let me say it another way. The district spent 5.8% of our operating budget on athletics and only 2.9% of our budget on security. I'm asking you to run the numbers and then run them again. You're going to hear that x amount of districts within region 8 utilize guardian. I

058couldn't care less. Okay? You're going to hear that guardians attend the same alert trainings as our campus officers. I could not care less. They will not be able to serve in the same capacity as certified police officers. Mount Vernon has got to hire more certified officers. We have to invest in our own police department. Not only do our kids deserve it, but our police department, Heather and Blake, they deserve it. You will hear where our district is lacking within our vulnerability assessment. And you look me in the eyes and you tell me that we are doing everything that we can do to protect our students, to protect my kids. I trust law enforcement to protect my kids, but I'm losing faith in Mount Vernon ISD to educate my kids. See you next month. All right.

059Thank you, Miss Bailey. Uh, next up we have Miss Pers. Thank you everybody for having me. >> My name is Amy Brisco and uh if you all don't already know where I stand on arming civilians in a gun-free zone, we can discuss that together privately. I feel like I've made myself clear. I'm utterly and completely against it. Uh but it's ignorant and it's reckless. But today I want to share with you my concerns as a sitting member of your safety and security committee. Uh at our fall meeting on October 1st, Dr. McCulla asked the committee to make a recommendation to the board to adopt the guardian program. We walked into a meeting. We have three meetings a year. We walked into a meeting and this was an agenda item. Uh, as a committee, we have

060not discussed this since you all voted not to adopt the guardian program in 2023. So, I was really surprised to see it on our agenda and I was even more surprised to learn that we were being asked to make a recommendation to you. Legitimate questions were asked and none were answered. There was no plan. There was no policy provided. Just that the board would write the policy once it was approved. And Dr. Mala, as I understand it, would be the top of the chain of command uh in a secret program that has no regulatory oversight, no independent review. In our discussion, one committee member said, and I quote, "It's not fair that I can't defend myself at work. This is problematic in so many ways, but mostly that it shifts the focus away from protecting

061children, preventing mass casualties, stopping a shooter, it moves it back to self-defense, which is everybody's second amendment right. So, if we're going to apply that second amendment right in a gun-free zone, it should be applied to everybody, every American. This is an amendment. And if we're going to make an exception in a gun-free zone, then it applies to everybody. That's pro problematic. I want you to know that the committee was not provided a copy of the district's vulnerability assessment full report prior to our meeting. I feel like this is important. I feel like as a committee member, we needed this report way before the meeting. We needed to see it. We needed to read it. we needed to have that information before we came in to a meeting to discuss our safety and our security.

062Um, in fact, that uh report it took over a week and three separate requests to receive it. It's mandated by the TEA that as a committee and as a board we receive that. We all received it late on uh October 8th. It's a 46page report uh that none of us had ample time to review. None of us did. I didn't. You didn't. Um, and we all should have had time to review that less less than a week. You guys had it less than a week and it's 46 pages. I'm here today to ask you what is the urgency in this? Why why does it feel like we're trying to push this through so quickly with with little discussion, with no plan? Why are we trying to rubber stamp this? I ask you um to please

063uh well, without the push back of a couple of committee members, this would have been an action item on your agenda tonight. This would have been a a vote yes or no. And that leads me to wonder, is there something as parents that we're not aware of? Is there a threat? Is there something here that's going on that we're not aware of that this is so important and so urgent that we've got to put it back on not as a discussion but as an action item? Uh it just seems like a dramatic measure. It seems like we're skipping right past the obvious. the minimum measures like locking our doors, filling our open seat for the chief of police, and even waiting until our $60 million plus bond renovations are done. We're just going to go

064straight to deputizing the staff. It's atrocious to me. Uh the committee's request for a follow-up meeting when we were like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. We didn't get this 46 page report until after the fact. We'd like to have a chance to review it and meet again. That request was denied. Uh I can't help but feel like that this is just a token committee and we're there just to sign in on a on a login sheet and check some boxes and make some rubber stamps not to ask questions, not to have meaningful discussion prior to making important recommendations to you, the board. It doesn't sit right with me and honestly it shakes my confidence in our leadership. I'm asking you to table this idea. I'm asking you to table this idea until the next meeting in the

065spring, please. Thank you, M. Brriscoll. >> All right, Mr. Brisco. I just want to add a couple of things to conversation. I won't need all three minutes. The um I'm I'm confused like Amy and Miss Bailey about it feels like we're jumping steps on the board. We're spending some money and doing some things to uh secure the campus, which I agree with for sure. Um, one thing that concerns me is I want to read something to y'all is is the lack of training when you arm a civilian and you put somebody in a classroom or you put somebody in officer on campus in what I think is probably one of the most vulnerable environments that exist and that's a school in the Ricky and Blake. people know, but my voice messes up. But anyway, um,

066in preparation to be a Dallas police officer, we had 24 weeks of academy, so six months. It was based on a 40-hour work week. That's lecture, uh, field training, all kinds of stuff. After we complete that, we had to do 960 hours of field training with a senior officer. So when you break that all down, there was 2,000 hours of training before for an officer from the city of Dallas can be become a solo officer, which is what they're shooting, what they're no pun intended, but that's what they're going for is to be able to go out on your own. So that's over 2,000 hours of training. And every night when you rode out, you got an evaluation And that that person that wrote out with you for three months was looking for your psychological,

067what's your state of mind at the time, how you performed on calls, all of that. It wasn't 15 hours in some kind of hybrid handgun class. I said this in the last meeting. I'm not sure there's many people in this room that are going to run toward a shooter that's got a machine gun and you're carrying a pistol. It's not human nature that kicks in. There's all kinds of things that adrenaline dumps, things like that that happen to you. Um, I'm totally in agreement with Miss Bailey and Amy. I think this is a bad idea. Uh, the other thing for y'all to consider, too, is that workplace violence is way more likely than a school shooting. And you're asking someone to come onto a campus and carry a gun that's not trained. Maybe they can

068shoot. Maybe they've hunted their whole life, but that does not prepare them for what they're about to get into. So, I want y'all to consider that when you talk to conven. Thank you'all. >> Thank you. >> All right, that concludes our open comment or open forum. We'll move on to action um or the first action item to approve the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion made by Donnie. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Seconded by Kyle. All four. Six. So, >> all right. Action item A. Consider adopting NVISD resolution approving the investment policies, strategies, and investment officer training. real quick. It's our policy that we we have on our investments and how we are how we have those as well. Um, also we have to have

069training that is myself and Dr. Mcola. Um, if you're really interested, it is just extremely fun and entertaining. No, it's um, but it tells us everything that we've got to have in order to compliant with how we put our money. Um, as you know, all of our money that we have is in interestbearing accounts. We don't have any kind of investments that can lose value or anything like that. So, everything's FDIC protected. And we also have um Federal Home Loan Bank line of credit that the bank has that covers all of our deposits if something was to happen to the bank, too. So, that's all in in our policies and everything. Um, so my con my consideration is that we have adopt those policies again like we do every year. >> Okay. Any questions, Mr.

070Praver? >> All right. Do I have a motion to um adopt the NBIC resolutions for investment policy strategies and investment officer training? Motion made by Kathy. Is there a second? Seconded by Donnie. All four would be 60. Action item B. consider resolution nominating candidate candidates for the Franklin County Appraisal District Board of Directors for the 2025 2026 year. >> We have this opportunity uh before us. As you know, the current board members are Roger Jakir, Chad Wooten, Mike Ramben, Austin Prair, and Ralph Robertson. Uh we were provided uh a letter by Russell Mccertie, chief appraiser that Ralph Robinson has requested not be nominated again. So, it does open up a nomination. um gives us the opportunity to do so. And so is there someone that the board would like to nominate possibly? >> Brad. >>

071Okay. Any other >> any other recommendations? >> Um, so Josh, you'll make the motion for Brad Sears to be our U candidate for the Franklin County Appraisal District Board of Directors. Do I have a second? Seconded by Donnie. All four. All right, that's 6. Action item C. consider and approve procurement of elementary library materials submitted on September 4th. >> So we have there we have a a list of books that have been proposed. Uh they were posted on our website for 30 days. Uh they are being recommended by Miss Brandy Craraver uh our contracted librarian. They've been uh looked at from the elementary administration and um so those are coming before you tonight for approval. As you'll see, most of them are um encyclopedia um books or replacements for books that are already in in

072the library for damaged books. >> Are there any questions on the booksh? All right. Do I have a motion to approve the procurement of elementary library materials as presented? Motion made by Kathy, seconded by Kyle. All four 6o. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we will move on now to our discussion items, which is the guardian program. And I believe we have someone here to present on that. >> We do. We have we've uh invited a couple guest speakers. Leil from region 8, Mr. Rick Jones, Sheriff. Um, as as you requested uh to get more information, we did talk to the uh had the conversation as as was mentioned before school safety and there were some questions that were asked in regard specifically for Mount Vernon as you heard. We didn't I didn't have specific answers

073to give uh in regard to what the requ the training or requirements would be for us. Um we the out of what came out of the meeting was was the um was the ask from the committee to to get more information um to talk about it again to not move quickly. Um initial when we took a vote what it was it was 24 um two against and 12 wanting more information. So it did not come at a high high recommendation uh at this time to move forward with that uh but to get more information uh specifically what would it look like for Mount Vernon ISD of basically the training and the requirements of what it would be. So we've asked Lee Gil from region 8 to come. He is um that's part of what he

074works with and uh partners with schools and school safety in the region 8 area. And um Ricky's here for you to be able to ask some questions as well. So, so Lee, would you like to come and and just share some give us some more information on what um what the guardian program looks like around the state, specifically in region 8 and what it could look like for Mount Vernon. >> Yes, Dr. M. Is that okay for me to stand here or would you >> like to come here, please? >> Can I by the microphone? That'll help. >> Well, my name is Lee Gil. I am uh the school safety and security consultant for region 8 education service center and uh been in this role for 16 years. This is my 16th year and um

075I don't know if or we want to start with questions or you may just start getting into what >> you talk won't you kind of share with us what what requirements are for training and what the guardian program looks like. >> Okay. Before I let me preface >> Sure. >> before I get into that. So, out of the 16 years that I've been in this role, um I've never seen anything like we saw starting last year, and it's already proving to be happening again this year. And that is the amount of credible threats that our districts are facing. All throughout the years, the most of the threats have been hoax threats from students all around in our area and then from overseas. Last year it was an amazing difference in uh the amount of credible

076threats from our very own students. And when I say our very own, I'm speaking of region 8 46 school districts and 12 counties. So my mind was blown and uh it there was a lot of >> question just for every clarification. What would define a credible threat? Like I know within obviously not like someone else >> a threat to kill and harm others. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, lots of credible threats. I don't have the numbers on that. I can tell you that probably the majority of the 46 districts, if not all, last year have went through multiple credible threats. A lot of newsworthy threats were on the news as well. Is that happening again this year? Yes, it is. and uh steps have been made uh statewide as far as uh dealing with these

077threats and um also within the region and I'll get into that as well. So the guardian program I have seen it and I work with them daily. Uh my job my role is to work with superintendent, schoolbased law enforcement, whether that be chiefs or other police officers, school guardians and school marshals. So, the state of Texas gives districts the affordability to choose whether they want law enforcement to man and have an armed individual at each campus or they can choose what is called or the state calls a good cause exception. And that good cause exception is either a guardian, a school marshal or an L3 security officer. The majority of region 8, off the top of my head, 42 of the 46 districts, now again, I could be off one or two either way, uh,

078utilize school guardians. We have one district that utilizes school marshals and um, and we'll go from there. uh schoolbased law enforcement. Off the top of my head, 40 to 42 of our districts have their own school-based law enforcement with the exception of two districts. Uh they have what is called SRO, shared resource officers. And um that is working with either a CDPD or a uh deputy sheriff's office in that role. So guardians, let let's talk about that real quick. And I've heard a lot of conversation here. I've been working with many guardians for many years and I see many different types of guardian teams at at the different districts. My recommendation so I'll just start there if you don't mind. Okay. My recommendation is to have a if if guardians is the way that Mount

079Vernon wants to roll is to have a selection process that is extremely similar to hiring law enforcement officers. So law enforcement officers must go through a psych evaluation. The guardians in my opinion need to do the same. Um finding the right guardians is a great step. In my opinion, teachers are not necessarily the right guardians because in a lockdown or in an active shooter situation, they need to be in that lockdown locks lots and out of sight with their students. They do not need to come out and present toward a threat. best in my opinion the best guardians are going to be those that are roving. It could be coaches, custodians, administrators, those that are not tied to a classroom. So they have that roving capability. They are a force multiplier to any law enforcement

080department anywhere. That's what guardians do. And they have two possibly three rows. First row is to stop the killing. Second row is to stop the dying. And the third, if possible, is to help with evacuation. That is it. And that is what they are created for here in the great state of Texas. Training is what separates guardian teams, school marshals or L3 security officers. And um you guardians will always fall to the lowest level of their training. So I am a big proponent in training. Now, the state of Texas states that guardians must go through a DPS school safety certification training. Uh, Mount Vernon is kind of set up in a great area because your former chief is a DPS school safety certified instructor and uh he or you can choose someone else. Region 8's

081lacking other than Max Kennedy right now at this point. Um Brian Howey, former superintendent of Detroit, uh currently working for Palestine ISD. Due to House Bill 3372 off the top of my head, he can no longer do that DPS school safety certification to be employed with Palestine ISD. So it's hard to find those instructors to get that initial training. But that initial training is not all that those guardians need. That is the first step to make them compliant here in the state of Texas. Now that's after you have already chose and once you chose that individual must have LTC he must have he or she must have their license to carry and then the DPS school safety certification and then my strong recommendation is training training with your local law enforcement responding agencies such as

082Franklin County Mount Vernon CDPD and DPS as well not to mention your Mount Vernon ISD police department training with those individuals on a regular basis. That is what needs to be done. I I could go on, but I I want to answer any questions that you may have. >> Can you go into what is in the initial training for the DPS school safety training? >> Correct. Yes, it is alert, advanced law enforcement rapid response training. And um it is a off the top of my head and I could be wrong but I think I'm right on it. It is a 12-hour training uh that's going to go over a certification uh process through firearms training and then there is a PowerPoint presentation that they'll go through as well. How much training would you say? Um

083I guess I I don't want to throw an average out there, but before someone has officially made a guardian, have they officially gone through >> because you named a lot of different >> different on so what I just told you is the bare minimum. Some districts are doing just that and that is not in my opinion, I'm just being honest and transparent, the best guardian program for a district. And then we have some districts that are going way and above, but whenever they do hire a law enforcement officer to come work at that campus, they got to get that law enforcement officer up to their standards. So training is everything. I I can't mention that enough. Another great thing about being here in region 8, we are unlike any other region in this great state

084in that I have a virtual reality active shooter trainer and I train schoolbased law enforcement as well as school guardians, school marshals on that. they are having to deal with live individuals and uh there is communication deescalation and learning how to deal with that threat whether it's an actual shooting or deescalate out of it. So I am also utilizing that as a gatekeeper or a screener I guess that's a better word to make sure that whomever that Mount Vernon or any other district has chosen has the right mindset to be in that seat. >> I work in Mount Pleasant right and we had the guardian program and it was the the criteria to be one. It was not just everybody was handed a gun. >> No. No, that's not how it works. >> That's right.

085That's what I thought. I'm not sure. >> No. So again, the minimum standards is for that individual to have their LTC their license to carry and then after that they must go through the DPS school safety certification. Once that is met, they are legally or the district is legally compliant with that individual. But that that in my opinion does not need to take place. The greatest thing that uh any district could do is have as many law enforcement as possible. But there's a cost to that. Not only is there a financial cost, there is a burden on trying to find law enforcement officers. They are in great it's hard to find law enforcement. Okay. Uh so therefore we have the guardians, marshalss and else security that the state of Texas uh has given the the

086option that you can choose from. But training is the great divide. >> So what's a school example where you've seen it done well where they're not meeting the min minimum? What are they doing? >> What school examples are doing? >> I'm just saying what's an example you would say like you've given us kind of the minimum. What would you say this is someone who's done it well and what training they've required after? >> Um, there are two schools that come to my mind. Miniola ISD is probably one of the top in the state that I have seen. They're in region 7 and uh probably two of the best that are doing outstanding jobs as well in the region 8 area or Bloomberg and Jefferson. Matter of fact, Jefferson and Manola are meeting up and uh

087we'll be having a training together Wednesday. I have Jeff Jefferson ISD. My mouth is so dry >> here. You bring that water. I got the water right. >> I got one. Thank you. I can barely >> while while Lee's getting that, he brought up Minola Minola ISD and um if you take a look at their website, they are very transparent, show a lot of information about their guarding program. And in regard to their initial training and selection, uh they go through a pre-screening where the person has to do a completed written application, a verbal interview with program director or chief of police. They do a personal history statement, which is a full criminal disclosure. They're subject to drug screening, two forms of current valid personal identification, approved psychological evaluation, current license to carry, um signed

088non-disclosure agreement, signed acknowledgement of policies and procedures. Once they get through that part, then they do the initial training and selection, and they have a 20 they do a 24-hour DPS school safety certification program. They have to show 90% proficiency markmanship on a pre-EST, a 90% written exam pretest. They do eight hour classroom hours to uh to include written and firearms pre-qualification, eight hours of live firearms training on the range, eight hours of simulation training with live role players and force on force scenarios, 90% markmanship qualification, 90% final examination, and then a school board unanimous vote approval. Once they are um go through all of that and then become a member of the Guardian program um as they put on their website in their information, they do four hours of training each month that includes

089250 live rounds each month. So they do an additional 48 hours of training each month. Now, as Jeff pointed out, I mean, he's not here, but as Jeff pointed out, that's still that's still a lot less than what law enforcement or Ricky's folks probably do on a on a yearly basis, but that's just an example of what one school does. >> Great. That's a great example. So, that is what I'm talking about. A great trained guardian program at a at a good district. >> I talked to Michael Wal. >> Yeah. >> Great friend of mine. Yes. >> Yeah. Audrey plus and he explained he said you know he said I've got a good program so you need to come look at it. >> He's got an outstanding program. So his chief of police is a

090former uh game warden and him along with two others have their own tactical training company. So they are extremely well trained. Matter of fact they're coming to my VR uh training Wednesday. I can speak now. I apologize. I'm on medication and to make sure my dry and I forgot to bring my water down and my lips were just sticking. I could barely speak but uh uh so yes a very well-trained district and Bloomberg very small school but very well trained so it's all about their training you will always fall to the lowest level of your of your training no matter what we're talking about okay so uh again it's a force multiplier to any law enforcement department and it is a first response because when seconds count uh the police are always minutes away no

091matter even if you have law enforcement on your campus So understand this, in active shooter events, 86% of all active shooter events are by a current or former student. So they're well aware of the actions of law enforcement and where they are on a daily basis. Uh even though law enforcement are trained not to have any routines, but it happens because we're all complacent and we're all uh human. So they will find out whenever if their malicious evil intent does enter into their heart uh how to go around and get into that pathway of violence to put it. Now I pray to God that nothing like that will ever h happen here or any regionate or anywhere else in this nation as I speak but we we must be prepared. And I'm not saying that

092guardians is the way for Mount Renco. Uh I was asked to come and speak about it and I work with them daily. I train with them daily as well as law enforcement. And uh I I'll say something else. Uh Mount Vernon is in a Mount Vernon is in a great unique situation as far as law enforcement and safety and security goes. In that you have a a wonderful sheriff. I know he's right here behind me, Sheriff Ricky Jones, who I've worked with for years, and uh he supports Mount Vernon ISD very well. I go to all the um I go to all the sheriff's meetings and uh I haven't seen I'm gonna brag on you a little bit, Ricky. I haven't seen a sheriff get as involved with the school district as I do with

093uh Sheriff Ricky Jones. Uh most of them send their chief out to do that job and uh sheriff is uh very involved and so that that bids well here. Uh, oh, >> I was going to ask too, did you read over the monthly training? What does that look like? Um, because Minnola had a very detailed >> says program members are required to spend four hours on the range with their firearms instructor firing no less than 250 live rounds under supervised and documented training. These training days consist of small groups of guardians within their assigned teams and are designed to develop markmanship skills and abilities at a specific targeted pace to increase their proficiency each month. In alternating months with range training, program members spend hours minimum, excuse me, spend four hours minimum in a simulated

094real world environment, developing skills within the tactical response realm and working on increasing their proficiency within their role responding to an active killer event. Program members will train a minimum of four hours with a qualified instructor lead every month of the year uh calendar not school to ensure proficiency levels are continuously increasing. >> So they go to a great extent to find the right individual that fits that role. And every one of those individuals not just at Miniola but at I will say the overwhelming majority of our uh guardian districts are are wanting to be in that role. Have we had some um want to be in that role and shouldn't have been in that role or or were not selected? Yes. Due to that active shoot or virtual reality trainer I just spoke to

095you about because I do utilize it as a screener. We put them through real life gritty events and either they'll be honest with you as in this isn't what I thought it was going to be. I I don't want to do this or as in they're motivated I want to do this. I'm vested in this school. My children, my grandchildren, whatever it may be, uh go here and I want to protect against any uh evil act of threat that goes on. So Lee, since you spend so much time working with different schools and and in this program, you've given a lot of positives. What are what are some cons against the Guardian program that that you >> The cons is lack lack of training and and not finding the right individuals. So training number one

096or actually both of them are high number one says training and not finding the right individuals and then not necess I'm not saying 100% cancel all teachers out but teachers should not be the first choice in guardians um again administrators coaches custodians um roving individuals in my opinion are the best guardians and matter of fact if you call Miniola Jefferson in Bloomberg, they'll they'll tell you the exact same. Uh because teachers in any type of active threat or lockdown, they need to be in that classroom with their students. Locks, locks, out of sight. That's what needs to take place. Why am I harping on that? No one has ever been shot or killed behind a simply locked classroom door except for one exception. That was the 2018 Parkland shooting. So that just like you're looking

097at that rectangular window in that door that most uh classroom doors have. Um the students were behind locked doors but they did not follow the lockown protocol. The lights were on and they were not out of sight. That gunman saw them and he shot three individuals. I think one died and two survived it. Had they been following the lockdown policies, locks and out of sight, no one would have been shot to this day, uh, no classroom door anywhere in the United States of America has been breached. So lockdowns are extremely effective, which is allowing law enforcement, guardians, marshals, or L3 security, whomever the district has utilized for that good cause exception to go in and to stop that threat. What about um in region 8? Have you seen um misuse of firearms? Um >> has

098not happened. Has never happened in region 8. >> Has it been left out of anything? >> I have not heard in my 16 years here. No. And and I would hear very quickly if if it was. So >> what about like mental like do we I know we're talking about training about >> psych evaluation is a must in my opinion. I mentioned that in the very beginning. So you get x amount of individuals uh to start a guardian program. In my opinion they must go through the exact same thing that any law enforcement officer goes through that psych evaluation. >> Do we do that like do districts do that monthly or? No, it's usually annually or in districts do it differently because the the uh ISD has full control over any ISD police department as

099well as guardians uh however they want to run it. So uh the majority do it one time. Uh some require it annually which I think is a good good deal especially in this day and time. >> Yeah. Do you all have any further questions for >> Have any guardians actually prevented a shooting? >> Um I can't Are you speaking region 8 or nationwide statewide? >> Um I I can't re I do not recall of any prevention of like Guardian stopping a an actual shooting. Uh there have been many events that have been stopped not with the individual uh actually car trying to carry out that threat but carrying guns to school. >> We've already had that uh students like um a student's bringing a gun in and a guardian steps in or what's that? >>

100No, it's not necessarily the guardian. uh law enforcement uh the gun is seen or there is a student um that says, "Hey, I just want to let you know that such and such has brought a gun and they got it in their backpack and they get that individual. There's the gun." So, that does happen and it's not a rare occurrence. It does happen. How often? I I can't tell you. Um if I gave a number, I'm going to be off. Um it happens every year. So, has it already happened this year? Yeah. I know they want me to back for this. In your opinion, do you think if some districts have the program and there's knowledge of that they have the program, does it detour some of the could it detour something? Now, that's a

101great question and I can't answer 100% because u in my opinion and 100% of our district pra districts practice this with the guardian program is uh is anonymity. There's no no one knows who those guardians are. Are they figured out later in time? Probably. But that information is not given. Uh so signage is very important. Uh the the uh the size of your signage is very important. Uh, I've seen districts that have little bitty signs. Nobody's going to see that. I've seen districts that have signs as big as this podium. They're going to see that. So, uh, that could be a deterrence in itself. Uh, law enforcement is always going to be your your best bet at deterrence. And again, the role of the guardian is not law enforcement officer. The role of the guardian

102is a response to the active threat. They are there. They're not having to wait on law enforcement to arrive. Maybe um it happens in the cafeteria and Blake is not in the cafeteria at this time, but there is a guardian in the cafeteria that can stop the killing immediately until Blake and others do erupt. >> How long did it take for your your guys if there was Manhattan? How long did it take for y'all to get here? two seconds or 20 minutes. Just depends on where we're at. >> How many times have you seen something happen? You go, "Where's the cops when you need?" >> Yeah. >> If you're in elementary and happened up here, how long estimate? >> That's downstairs class. Something happens at father's room. I made that run long ago. Uh two

103and a half minutes and I'm going to be in a world of hurt. >> Okay. >> What else? >> I've done some research. They said the most damage is done with the three first three to five minutes. >> Yes. And then it's over. It's over very quickly. >> I mean coming upstairs and getting there. I turned I mean it was two minutes and 17 seconds. I looked back. >> So I was I was supposed to the overwhelming majority of all active threats, no matter where in the nation, they are over when law enforcement responds. So again, I'll go back to that statistic I gave earlier. 86% are by current or former students. They're paying attention to what the school-based law enforcement is doing. And there are diversions that there are things happening. We try hard

104to stay out of I try hard to like today I flipped everything backwards and I mean you just do it how you can do it so nobody knows where you are. Some days I'm in this lunch, some days I'm in that lunch. Just doing what I can to mix it up because like you said, we that's how we did it on patrol since I did it here supervising to shift it all around. >> And let me ask you, so no one's supposed to know about the guardian, like who who is the guardian, but how does that work with working with law enforcement? And because don't >> one of the employees at the district should know whom that guardian is. Now again in time that's >> well that's kind of it's going to get out >>

105but law enforcement will be working with them hands and fist that 100% that's my recommendation >> is that they work with their local responding agency. So that's going to be uh which to my knowledge uh Ricky Jones is the only chief and sheriff in the entire state of Texas. So working with Ricky Jones DPS as well, not to mention with your own ISD police department >> that they all work together >> that they work together. So let me paint a nightmare situation to you and this is my greatest fear with those districts that are not utilizing or doing that you have an active shooter event at anywhere ISD. um your lo local responding agencies where whether it be city PD, sheriff's deputies or even your own ISD police department does not know whom those uh

106guardians are. Now that sounds strange what I just said that your own ISD because there is a district that I'm that I will not share but u they do not what for whatever reason which I think is it's extremely dangerous. So the guardian goes to neutralize that threat and then all of a sudden law enforcement comes in all they know there's an active shooter at anywhere ID they don't know that individual they see that individual with firearm that's the threat to them so that's a nightmare situation so I'll go back to what I stated it is it is extremely important it's critical that if you employ a guardian program here that they work with your local responding agencies that they know each other extremely well and uh that bodess well for the district for the

107staff and the students and the community. So, this might be be kind of a dumb question, but when I was looking at what Miniola was doing and they had like guardian vests like labeled and kind of in my mind I was thinking like, well, where do they store this? So, people a don't know where they're storing it and b get to it quickly so they put that on when is that a normal what schools are you familiar with? >> That is I'm very familiar. So, that is an outstanding question. Okay. And here's the and I think Ricky back me on 100% on what I'm about to say again and I've already said it. You will always perform to the lowest LFO of your training. If you're not performing that those guardians are not training with

108that vest or sash, there's many different things that they could do. I can promise you in a high stress event such as an active shooter event, fine motor skills are going out the window. You only have availability to gross motor skills. Cognitive decline. they're not going to be able to go back and get that vest, sash, whatever it is that they have. So, I feel quite sure that in any active shooter event at anywhere ISD, let's just say it's at many of them, God forbid, uh, how many of them will have their vest on? Probably the only one the only ones that will have because they are very well trained and I can promise you that are the ones that are not directly involved. Maybe they're in a different hallway or a different campus that's

109side by side the main campus where the attack is taking place. Those may those that are directly involved, they've got to address that threat. They cannot worry about trying to go and get some type of um vest or uh identity that says guardians or security or whatever it may say. You know, one of the superintendents I was talking to in regard to that question right there about how they were identified, part of their training is is when local law enforcement comes in, uh, one of the first thing law enforcement going to do to that guardian is basically tell them to drop their gun. And so that's so that's part of what they do when local law enforcement shows up. They said they're trained to basically drop it and get on their belly on the floor.

110Correct. Um, or get Yeah. Ask them. >> Yeah. Or Yeah. Before you even ask them. Yeah. So, >> so, so again, outstanding question that goes back to what I said, training with local responding agencies. So therefore, when that officer comes in and they're looking for that threat and they see an adult or even a a a child, it matters not, with that firearm, we we want them to understand, oh, that that's Lee or or that's Brad or whomever it may be, uh versus that's my threat and and then bad things happen from there. >> Le, I don't know if you know the answer to this question. I'm just curious in regard to, you know, because it was it was brought up in regard to hiring more officers, um, which would would not be negative either.

111I'm just curious, the school shootings that you can recall, um, did those campuses have, uh, campus officers there? I know it's a kind of it's a tough question to answer off the on the spot. >> I can't give a a confirmation answer on that. Uh, Dr. Makulla. Um >> I just think even in regards say the evolution >> there have been to in my knowledge but I can't pinpoint anything again I've been doing this for so long and I get one shooting mixed up with the other because it it it's getting worse out there unfortunately. >> Uh have there been where guardians do stop that threat? Yes, there have. But please understand that um you go to another part of Texas, they're not about guardians. They're about school marshals. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So,

112like your Dallas, Houston's, Fort Worth, your big cities, that's typically the role. It's your more rural areas. And I'm not saying that at 100%, but that's typically what you'll see. >> Um, so it's different in where you go. >> I'm just I know there was a lot of coverage and I know y'all saw a lot of information about the Yaldi shooting as well. I'm just curious. I I didn't know I don't remember seeing if that if there was a officer on that campus station there. He was he was not there at that time. >> He showed up after everybody else. >> Okay. >> Pretty quick, but he wasn't there. >> Okay. >> Are there any schools that kind of have a checks and balances in place where um you know, I guess the school has

113governing control, but then the like sheriff's office where they also would have or whoever they were working with. >> So th those would be your SRO's. Everybody uh tends to call uh schoolbased law enforcement SRO's. It just stands for shared resource officer. So a shared resource officer is someone like we have two districts in region 8 and that's Hooks and New Boston. So well let me restate that because there's a change. Uh Hooks until recently uh the Hooks City PD provided the SRO for Hooks ISD. That has changed the um that has been voted. They are trying to start their own schoolbased I independent school district police department such as like Mount Vernon has. Okay. Uh the other is New Boston. So the New Boston Police Department um shares their officer with New Boston ISD.

114The others are their own police department own ISD police department. So Jason has 100% control. Of course, he's going to work with Ricky on everything, but Ricky has no control on that. Does that make sense? >> No, it does. >> Sorry, Ricky. >> And so, Ricky, I'm going to put you on the spot. How do you feel about and we've kind of talked about this and um and have been in agreement that this is something like not to rush into that needs to be really done well if if at all. If at all. Yeah, let me say that. So, what is kind of your thought on where y'all stand now with being able to help the school with what we currently have? Just kind of your overall assessment. >> I can't argue anything other than

115what Lee said. I agree with him on the guardian program and that's what it's going to go back to the the policies y'all put into place. Uh even some of the ones that he's mentioned in the training they do. I would even go as far as making them go through some of the alert training that we go through and clearing the school uh which is a weekl long school >> in addition to what they're already doing. Uh I don't know if any schools that many of us doing that >> the psychological testing to me I said the other night is a big factor to me. U now you asked me Lee's talking about the garden you asked uh how I feel. I would prefer more officers. Uh but and then I think well but then

116if you had they're teaching us now stop the killing, stop the dying and then start tending first aid. And so if there's a way to stop them from killing more kids and the person has passed everything that the school has put before them and the training that they go through with law enforcement and it saves one kid, I can't say that I would be against that. U but me personally, I would prefer more officers in a school. What everybody's going to talk about is we have three officers here. they train us in alert is if something happens at on this campus on this when I say campus I'm talking about this hill uh and you got an officer at the elementary you got one here at the high school and you got one over at

117the intermediate if an incident happens those officers can't leave there trained and they're required to stay at that facility and guard those kids >> by law >> you have to stay at your >> at that campus at that assigned campus >> you have to stay at your post >> because if that officer leaves That's an unsecured campus. Correct. So therefore, I'm sorry. No, go ahead. >> Uh then go rose into what I spoke of earlier, the good cause exception. That is if you can't afford or find a law enforcement officer allowing the guardian, school marshals, or L3 security. So here's what can and does take place. Law enforcement sick one day or goes to a training one day or goes to fill their patrol car up one day. when that officer leaves and there's no

118guardian, school marshall or L3 security, that campus is out of compliance. Does that make sense? So therefore, that's why the majority of our districts in region 8 have a combination of school-based law enforcement and guardians. So therefore, the campus is always in compliance with the great state of Texas. Is that looked at? Yes. uh started last year. This is the second year of it of the district vulnerability assessment which Mount Vernon went through last year. They are looking at that right now. So >> y'all have an exemption. >> No, because we had the three an exemption right now with the two, but we have the we have the three wonderful campus >> because they require that yearly now instead. >> Correct. Yes. >> Yeah. That's that's that's my deal to law enforcement. They can't leave

119once once that happens. they're to stay where they're at because as we said that if they leave there that's an unsecured building and say there's a second person that gets into that school and they're going down there. So whichever officer is on the campus that this incident is taking place on has to clear that start clearing that building himself or herself. And so that's the only reason I'm I I I suggest more officers because you have some that are stationed at a campus and then you have some that can rove. Uh what number does that look like? I don't know. It's going to I I'll tell you this. No county, no city, and no school wants to spend money on more law enforcement officers. Just the way it is. Uh I hate that. >> Can

120you find them? You can you can find but you the problem when you said you can't find officers it's the salaries that's driving officers. I've got two people leaving me now possibly um to for different jobs because they pay twice what I'm going to pay here. I can't argue that point with someone when they're going to they got a family and they got to feed their family. You know most everybody works here because they live here and they like it. But at some point in time that don't work. But uh anyway, so it's hard to it's hard to it's not a stigma. I don't I don't know what you would call it. It's just hard for government agencies to spend more money toward law enforcement when they got so many other things that they need

121to put money towards and you don't think about it until something happens and then you wish you had it. And then that last for a little while saying you're here and I'll say other we need to do this. We need to do this put off here. So, you know, everybody's this country gets acclimated real easily. Uh, but if we can stop the killing, we need to stop it. Uh, I I think before this board can do anything, I think these policies and procedures, the training, all that needs to be put in place, looked at, reviewed, talked about, >> and then looked at again if that's the way the board goes. Uh, and I couldn't agree more. >> And then, uh, and you can't do enough training. >> Just can't. >> Uh, I I I went

122soon as I started hearing about this, I've been over to Lee's office uh, to see what he his trainer, what do you call it? >> It's a virtual reality shooter. >> It's a It's on a TV screen. It's on the screen. Okay. But what happens is you think, well, it's just on screen. When you get involved in a situation and you're you're put into that, your adrenaline goes up just like you're in a real situation. >> It does. I've had >> I've had some hyperventilate. Uh this goes when I was utilizing it as a screener to see if they had that mindset. I've had hyperventilation. I've had one um and I don't share this, you know, in a negative manner. I'm just telling you, um, it's gritty. It's not for everyone. Not it's not the

123seat on the bus for everyone. Just like not everyone could be a law enforcement officer or a teacher. >> So, finding the right individuals and putting them through that screening process, not just the virtual reality screening to see if they have that mindset, but everything else, the psych evaluation, the training in itself. Uh, and find and those right individuals will love it. Uh if you got someone that's eh that's not your right individual. >> But in saying that his his trainer after I went over I've seen him before in different places. Wish I had the money to buy one. And uh now that I know he has one, I'm going to make all my people. >> I'm going to make all my officers go over there probably yearly or more often to go through that.

124>> I'm already working with DPS, some county sheriff deputies. He he can he can set a scenario up >> and an officer can sit there and watch and then the next officer come up and do it. The scenario be he with >> he can change it to where instead of a gun he pulls out cell phone or he pulls out a fan or anything he can. So and I talked to him about that that >> with these pro possible guardians have to go through situations. Can he make these people kids because that's what they're going to be dealing with. >> Can I have those scenarios? >> And can they do that? >> You know, that's a big thing big ask. >> I'm not sure if I can ask questions, but I'm I'm going to. >>

125So, my understanding is if as a class, they cannot if they're guarding, they're not to leave their kids. They're not they're to stay. Correct. >> They need to stay and keep that classroom secure. >> Where as our school officers are doing what they're moving to >> to the threat? the one office. >> If we have three more but if you have one at elementary >> but in answer your question about that you asked originally how fast could I get here and that's what Dr. McCulla and I came up with in the beginning. I've been it's always been sheriff's office and police right down the road see you can see the building from here go stand in the right place but I finally said but we're not always there and they finally registered that we're not

126always there I may be in Wsboro I may be down by your house uh from sproggen store to here running lights and sirens 20 minutes >> and uh so we're never wearing Hopefully I'm parked here on the campus when it happens. Usually that's not what happens because they see cars and that deters. But uh but that doesn't deter a sniper as we've seen. And uh so you know it's it's I'm glad y'all got the officers here. I think it's something that if y'all will consider it, y'all need to look really really hard at what's put into place. Don't don't skimp on the uh training. You don't go and say, "Oh, what' you do without that part?" If that's something that somebody feels like they need, I or Lee or anyone else feels like they need

127to go through that training, then they need to go through that training. And then later on, if we figure out that's not something that go with it, but everybody falls back to their training >> 100%. >> Where did these go? I mean, is it? >> You just brought up what I was about to to give. So, what an outstanding question. So, it's different in every district. The boards would do different things. Some some guardians are not allowed to carry. They keep it in a safe inside their room. Uh the problem with that is this. Uh first of all, they're a teacher. They need to be in that classroom. That individual, most likely, there are exceptions, uh does not need to be that guardian. Second of all, when that act of shooter starts, they may not

128have access to their classroom to go get that firearm. Does that make sense? So, >> you defeated the purpose. So, they need to be carrying. It's just like having a license to carry and you don't have your firearm on you and then you, your wife, your child's attacked at the movie theater, the gas station, Walmart, wherever it may be and it mattered not. So, do they carry only during school hours or like what about like events? >> Uh, so that's up to the district as well. So, the district has 100% and I would say that the majority do carry events as well. >> So, there's a chance we're sending our kids to these what 44 districts >> 46 districts >> and some of them >> possibly possibly >> and that's a question that could be

129asked of the superintendent andor the chief of police at that other district. And I will say on the Marshall program, I haven't looked at that at all. The only thing I know about the Marshall program is you have no control of >> zero. It is a TCO entity. It is an 80hour training. So, uh, the gentleman was given about the Dallas PD or any police department training that they go through. Please understand that law enforcement is doing a much larger role than just the act of threat. uh where guardians and marshals are 100% about the act of threat only. That's it. That's it. Nothing about well other than marshals, they do have arresting powers. Uh but it's very limited on that campus or on that district campus only. >> And I have again I haven't

130checked into the marshals just because I don't like the fact that nobody has control. You can't make them do psychological. You can't make them do a whole lot of training other than what Tiko requires. Uh but now in the larger areas, metroplex areas, I feel like a lot of those people are either law enforcement or probably retired law enforcement that has had training. Um I don't know if they can put those requirements on something if they put to put a marshall program into place or they just have to make to >> they just have to make TO >> but uh that's the only thing that worries me about Marshall programs. You don't have you can't require anything. And if you to me, you give up a lot just for that. >> We have one district

131that is marshals only and uh another district that has I think they're down to one marshall and the rest are guardians along with the schoolbased law enforcement. They're phasing their marshals out. There's restrictions on marshals. Uh marshals can only carry frangible ammunition. French ball ammunition is not reliable and will not stop a threat, especially if that individual comes in with any type of vest or plating system, >> which they do. >> Yes. >> So, the threats are getting uh more what's the word I'm looking for? Um, >> well, they are coordinating uh >> Sophisticated. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, >> they do their homework. They are unfortunately uh so much in that and I asked Ricky to help me along with uh a few other law enforcement. Just recently we have started the Northeast Texas

132School Safety Task Force. We had our first meeting last week and that's a conglomeration of federal, state, and local law enforcement coming together, meaning discussing the threats and the problems of the region 8 school area and and bringing resources in to help deal with this threat. So that's how much threats are growing unfortunately. And I wish I didn't have to say that. >> We're open. What we're what we did the other day is we did we did training but we're also going to build a information based edition say if school has questions they can contact this group is already looking at some different programs maybe for school to try out or not try like this here but it's a I was excited when he put that together >> it has federal I don't know if

133you said federal got on so >> from the top to bottom we got a lot in the room and we met with nearly all the chiefs or someone from each school district. >> We had about half there and I was uh tickled to death about that. Yes. >> Any other questions? >> Do you have questions? >> I appreciate you guys with us. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. All right, that concludes our discussion section for the agenda. So, we will now move into close session at 7:10 p.m. for personnel matters pursuant to Texas Government Code section 551.074 and to address legal concerns, implications, and questions regarding the posted agenda items pursuant to Texas Government Code section 551.071 071 and monitoring of school district safety requirements, including confidential vulnerability assessments pursuant to Texas Government Code 418.177

134and 4.18.181 as well as Texas Government Code Chapter 551.072. Got it out. 9:16 p.m. We are opening back up into open session. >> 9:16. Do you have any recommendations for us? >> On professional contracts, two recommendations. Uh, one is Tammy Gamblin for position at elementary and Leopoldto Herrera for the police chief position. >> Okay. Uh, do I have a motion to uh accept the professional contract as presented? Sorry. >> Motion made by Donnie. All four or second it. Sorry. Do I have a second? >> Second. Seconded by Josh. All four. That is 50. Please let the record show that uh Kathy had to leave us and is not present. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Any >> resignations? Um we have two JP Mosley as police chief and Virgil Van Venter as capier work order. >> It

135is 9:17 p.m. This meeting is adjourned.