001this regular meeting of the Waco Independent School Board is hereby called to order all items which may be discussed or voted upon this evening have been posted as required by state law I really want to extend a warm welcome to those present and to our television viewers the board's purpose is to set goals listen to reports of the superintendent approve budgets contracts and Personnel appointments and to make policy for the district we are not here to make management decisions or solve problems of individuals manage ment is the responsibility of the superintendent and her staff and I would just ask right now if you have not already done so if you could please turn your cell phones to silent and we really do appreciate the time that you've taken to join us and for your interest
002in w YouTube interest in W um the board is held by by a set of Ethics pulling it up right here and uh so one of those uh ethical standards that we are held to is trustworthiness and stewardship so we as the board of WD will be accountable to the public by representing District policies programs priorities and progress accurately we will be responsible to the community by seeking its involvement in District Affairs and by communicating its priorities and its concerns we as the board will work to ensure prudent and accountable use of District resources and we as the board will make no personal promise or take private action that may compromise performance or responsibilities of the district moving on to item number two public comment do we have any public comment okay seeing as we
003have now we'll move on to item number three moment of silence and Pledge of Allegiance would you please pause with me as we take time for prayer contemplation reflection Andor meditation thank you and the pledge leading our pledge tonight our University High students Emily pagazo and Aliso chuna ready begin I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all great job if the board members would meet me here in front of the day and now for our special Rec recognitions in tonight's Schoolboard meeting our first pledge leader tonight is Emily pagazo who is a University High School basketball manager National Honor Society president and also plays in The Mighty Trojan band if that's you
004can go Ahad and give her a round of applause if that's not enough to keep her busy she's also enrolled in dual credit classes Emily enjoys spending time with her family watching movies and trying new things she plans to attend Texas A&M University to become a niku nurse thank you Emily picazo our second pledge leader tonight is alicio Zuniga who serves as University High's National Honor Society vice president is enrolled in dual credit colle dual credit college classes and participates in the lighthouse leadership program he also enjoys spending time with his family and plans to attend Texas A&M University to become an electrical engineer thank you elicio [Applause] Zuniga and thank you to our University High School principal Dr quinisha Johnson for sharing her students with us [Applause] tonight we're now ready to recognize our
005community partner of the month the Cooper Foundation is recognized with the Texas Association of school boards standup For public education award as Waco isd's March Community partner of the month as a dedicated partner to Waco ISD since 1947 the Cooper Foundation has invested in our student schools and Community for nearly 80 years its generosity has made countless opportunities possible including the recent GW Carver Middle School Legacy art installation project and funding for new uniforms for University High School's mariachi band the Troy hanos tonight we proudly recognize Felicia Goodman director of the Cooper Foundation as she accepts this well-deserved Honor on behalf of the foundation we are profoundly grateful to the Cooper foundation's unwavering commitment to Waco ISD and the lasting impact it continues to make on our students lives thank you Cooper [Applause] foundation and
006it is spring which means our students are competing and showing off everything that they have learned this year we're going to begin with some Fine Arts Awards and the first is our Mo mock trial courtroom artist Waco High School student Tyrone McNary Advanced to the State mock trial contest representing region 12 in the category of courtroom artist we have his original artwork on display tonight you can also see it up on the screen Tyrone plays sixth in the state of Texas for his live mock trial illustration wake oh high has advanced a courtroom artist to the state contest three of the last four years Tyrone's art teacher is Mr Joel colosimo and his principal is Mr Joseph Alexander congratulations Tyrone McNary the Texas High School Visual Art Scholastic event draws more than 35,000 entries across
007the state each year with less than 3% advancing to the state level we are excited to share that we have several students whose artwork earns Superior ratings at the regional level and advance to the state contest we begin with the recognition of our vas qualifiers tonight with wakeo high school several of them could not join us this evening due to their work schedules but we have with you this evening Lydia Gilmore a junior at wake oh high also a state Bas Medal winner in 2024 you also see her artwork in the boardroom tonight these students are instructed by wakeo high art teachers Joel colosimo Tracy winter and Bonnie Holstrom Mr Joseph Alexander serves is the Wake oh High Principal our next Honore is University High School student Ariel Stone who advanced to the state contest
008with her piece reading toward Big Dreams you see it up on the screen before you and it is currently being judged so it is not with us this evening and we have our fingers crossed for Ariel Ariel is instructed by UHS art teacher Holly catville her principal is Dr Kenisha Johnson [Applause] congratulations to all of our Fine Arts winners tonight um from both University and Waco High Schools [Applause] and this is a banner year because For the first time in several years people were trying to count back but I don't think they had enough fingers we have not qualified students for the state speech and debate competition but this year we did wo high school students and Yellen Marcato and bana Herring advaned to the state debating competition this year these young women began working
009in November three times a week during their win time to prepare for the February competition again this is the first time that we have qualified students in at least a decade at the state [Applause] level the students are coached by teacher James settles and Mr Joseph Alexander serves as the wakeo high school principal and we have one more vase student who qualified for state to recognize tonight jackellen Travino is a junior at wo high school and a state vase Medal winner qualifying two years consecutively for vase now remember fewer than 3% of the 35,000 actually make it to the state level Jacqueline's artwork is on display here tonight congratulations to Jacqueline Travino of wo high [Applause] school and now we're ready to recognize some of our staff who have also excelled at the state level
010the Waco ISD purchasing department is honored with the Texas Association of school business officials purchasing Award of Merit this department is one of only 77 districts out of more than 1,200 in the state of Texas meeting this criteria this is the 17th consecutive year that the Waco ISC purchasing department led by director Michelle Tish has earned the award Waco ISD is one of only two districts in the entire state of Texas to have accomplished this congratulations to the purchasing team [Applause] receiving the award tonight are director Michelle Tish Judy Monroe Valaria Simmons and Shelly yashik congratulations [Applause] the wo ISC Communications Department staff recently captured 29 State awards at the Texas school public relations [Applause] conference television producer Jesse Beto won two best of show awards so those are medals four gold and five silver
011Awards and has captured listen to this approximately 200 tsra Awards during his 27 years with wo [Applause] ISD I believe Jesse celebrates his 27th year here on May 5th in Waco ISD media specialist Michael Anderson could not be with us this evening but won one gold one silver and one Bronze award in his first year at tspra and you just shook the hand of Executive Administrative Assistant quenta Robinson who won three gold Awards and one silver award in her first year at [Applause] tepra and the communications team collectively won one gold and three silver Awards the team also earned two Crystal Awards the highest tpra honor that you can receive including a crystal certificate of Merit award for its publicity surrounding Advanced academics and for its Partnerships with coordinator Stephanie Hines Quinta Robinson and Wendy
012sled [Applause] okay the Miss Wendy sled here won six gold Awards one silver one bronze resulting in Wendy earning 140 taspa Awards in her 10 years of public educ education please give her a round of applause the communications team colle itively won one gold and three silver Awards the team also earned two Crystal Awards the highest honor including a crystal certificate of Merit award for its publicity surrounding Advanced academics Partnerships coordinator Stephanie Hines Quinter Robinson and Wendy sled earned the coveted Crystal Commendation award for the publicity of wakeo isd's partnership with Stars book club what we that isn't written in here is there are only five Crystal Awards and every every District within the state competes for those and our district won two of the [Applause] five and I want to thank um Dr ker
013Dean for filling in as our photog grapher tonight thank you very much if we could just clone ourselves we've been talking about that today thank you all um Board of Trustees Dr Spicer that's all of our recognitions tonight for oh d it is always fun giving awards and recognizing everyone's hard work and to our Communications team we are so deeply grateful for all of the hard work you guys do that and it and I think the entire State can recognize that with all those Awards okay let's move on to item number five superintendent report Dr Spicer yes ma'am thank you president courtwake this month more than 300 students and many of our campus and District staff enjoyed another successful year of wo many men's and empowerment and women's empowerment Summits students attended informational breakout sessions
014heard from motivational speakers and had the opportunity to engage with district and Community leaders as a first time attendee to these special events I was filled with so much pride at how our community's investment in our students often stretches beyond what we can see many thanks to our Bay University the Junior League of wo all of our distinguished speakers and the many Community Partners and volunteers that provided the incredible experience for our students I would also like to thank those of you who were able to attend and finally I would like to thank our executive director of student Support Services Miss Yolanda Williams for coordinating all of those events for us where she [Applause] at tasby governance right before spring break I have The Humbling opportunity to attend the TB governance camp with some of
015our seniors these incredible students from both wo high and University High spoke to board members and Educators from across the state of Texas to say I was proud as an understatement speaking in front of adults is difficult as an adult but for our students it takes an extra level of courage to share their perspectives and their experiences during their session it was Tech te teaching with electronics and its impact on cognitive Horizons I was blown away by their observations their insight and their wisdom the audience audience was just as impressed they asked so many questions afterwards and even requested their slide deck listening to our students challenged me in the very best way and it was also a great reminder we are here to serve not only our faculty and staff but more importantly our
016students every decision every process we put in place must always come back to our students I want to thank Mr McAdoo Miss milikin and Miss Clark for supporting our students in developing this impressive informative presentation and they will be sharing this presentation next month well it's not April yet in May with our principles because we think they need to hear what they share too so we're very excited about that um our students uh superintendent student advisory committee meetings seeking out student input and making sure we are elevating their voices is at the heart of the superintendent student advisory committee these meetings are always the highlight of my work on most of the days especially on the hard days last week students from both wo high school and University High School provided input on block schedu
017block scheduling and ways that we can improve it for the coming 25 26 school year the block scheding place that currently was a topic came up frequently throughout my initial visits through thought exchanges and from our students and parents and our staff so that's something that we have the opportunity to modify next year I look forward to speaking with my middle school ssac group next week before taking recommendations back to our principles for some final planning discussions as we work on Master schedules for the upcoming school year legislative update on Tuesday trusty Davis trusty Patton and I had the opportunity to repr represent Waco ISD and our community at the state capital to advocate for our students our staff and our families this visit was an opportunity to build relationships and have important conversations with
018our elected officials and their staff we spoke with key legislators legislators sat in on public education hearings and had the opportunity to be recognized by representative Curry on the house floor while the conversations were valuable it was listening to Osmar Diego Jazelle and Stephanie our University High and wo high students that accompanied us that truly made the impact each student had a unique and important story to share about the choice and opportunity to have school in Waco Independent School District they spoke directly to our legislators about the quality of Education they're receiving and the incredible Educators that serve in our schools at this time uh Mr Patton or Mr Davis would you like to say anything about our trip to Austin um we logged well over three and a half miles in the capital uh
019burning those calories and probably about 25 flights of stairs um it was it was it was good we had some really positive uh interactions with uh our legislators um we shared pertinent information to the that applies to the district and um our students that went were probably not probably were definitely better than the adults at conveying the message the importance of funding and making good solid conscientious decisions for public education I was impressed with the students I was impressed with our visit um we still have work to do and as a board I Challen alling us to be more uh of an advocate uh when it comes to us going to Austin and talking to DC and that's something that we will put as a goal for for this board uh but it was a
020good experience and um overall a very positive one Jeremy um I enjoyed the trip I think uh we went down there with a mission and that was to have clear conversations with our legislators about school funding and um that was my main purpose of um attending and I think we were able to communicate that message well to our legislators uh thank uh representative Davis and representative Curry and representative or and representative tell Rico for taking time to speak with our students it meant a lot to them and us and we look forward to the work that they will do for public schools uh in the future thank you uh for going and doing that I know that it can be time consuming and um looking for ways to kind of help um advocate for students
021I think is always top priority for this board um okay moving on to number six information items and reports uh Mr Grant do you have any questions no any discussion Mr Davis no any discussion Mr viia no any discussion Mr Giller no any discussion Mr Ooa no any discussion Mr Patton no ma'am okay Cheryl I have one question for uh year to date where are we supposed to be on the percentage points on the sorry I I didn't have a chance to ask you earlier well it actually just depends on like the function Function 11 you'll be much further ahead in your spending than you would say on a function 41 where you're full year uh so it just kind of depends on and whether you're talking about revenues you're talking about expenditures on expenditure
022side okay so yeah that would just depends on the function and the the pattern of expenditure for the year okay would you say if I'm looking at it probably in the 50s 50 percentile well you probably should be a little bit ahead of that for Function 11 but you'll probably be a little bit behind that for like function 41 or 21 of Y perfect okay are we on are we on a normal yes normal schedule that's great yeah I just couldn't quite remember where we would kind of beish okay great thank you that's it okay moving on to item number seven consent agenda Mr Grant would you like anything pulled no uh Mr Davis no uh Mr vdna no Mr Giller no Mr Ooa no Mr Patton no ma'am okay hearing that I will entertain
023a motion to accept the consent agenda as presented so moved thank you Mr Patton and I'll get the second from Mr Davis um all in favor vote I I any opposed passes unanimously M Davis sorry about that I made you get up and sit down if you come on up for number eight review and discuss budget updates sorry about that she definitely is getting her steps in okay so we just have our rather short presentation tonight um it's uh I'd hope we might have a little bit more information from the legislature on some revenues and all but um we don't really have anything and we're still working through a lot of our projections for costs as well so we're going to look a little bit again at what it looks like our enrollment and attendance
024will be for next year and then uh well for current year in our en in our revenue and expenditure we looked at revenues last month this month we'll look a little bit more at where it looks like at the end of January we're going to end for expenditures and so kind of the impact on fund balance and when we do this remember I'm always really conservative because this is a very volatile time to try to do it in January um and then we're going to talk a little bit about another problem we've had with uh the reporting of our property values is going to impact us some that we've had to appeal then we'll look at some prelim preliminary um estimates for 2526 as we know them and then talk a little bit about some
025of the bills we're watching from a finance standpoint so looking at this real quick um again our enrollment we had a revised budget of 13294 um our act projected actual is 13366 that's up 72 kids in enrollment if you recall and last month when I was reporting this our average daily attendance was also up about 70 we at the end of the third six weeks at the end of the four six weeks after we had those uh very cold weeks um we're now down two but it's very close to what I had projected for um budget purposes we I don't know if we're going to apply for some waivers on some days I believe we are so that might improve our attendance somewhat when pardon me M Davis when do we U do that for
026the tea waiver for the absences okay so there is a delay on that super thanks and as we talked about last time and I'm going to talk about this a little bit more our comp controllers property value study uh we were very close only uh 3.03% difference from what um our preliminary values came out at the end end of January we won't get final values until the end of July but remember those values that we get at the end of the July are the ones that impact the current Year's Revenue not next year's Revenue so we don't really know that till the end of the year but we're going to talk about those because there's a problem with them um our revenues again we're it looks like right now we're up about $4 million got
027a concern with some of the student counts that we're looking at into just to make sure on that um our foundation school program is up about 3 million three and a half million mostly special ed about two a little over two million of that is special ed at this point our um maintenance and operations property tax collections are down about a million and a half but our earning on earnings on investment are up one look like they're going to be up about 1.7 remember we have lowered that a lot because there's supposed to be lowering the interest rates that didn't really happen just started to happen a little bit now so we have earned a lot more money than we thought we would so we're up there on the expenditure side right now we did
028amend in uh about 15 million at this point so well sorry we we amended in enough to take us to about 50 million on budget deficit but we're underspending that by about a million three so let's look at kind of well our other resources and uses are about the same so the change in fund balance right now looks like um the revised budget is $12.9 million deficit we started out with about an $8 million deficit when we amended in those other so carryover of projects that we talked about buses and all which all the buses have now come in um it brought it up to about 13 million right now it looks like we'll only underspend about 7.3 million which is more what we kind of expect we always under spend four or five million
029um again that's early that's July that's January okay so don't hold me to that number anyway so the variance right now is about four 5.7 million so what happened with the comp trollers office um they have on March 14th they sent something out notified the districts that the a portion of the self-reported data was reported incorrectly it's specifically that value lost due to the freeze compression on the over 65 homesteads this they have opened it up for districts to appeal these values that tells you that it was the controller's office mistake because they never do a special open appeal for something like this usually have to go through the regular appeal process so our um delinquent tax attorney notified us right away and we have already filed that appeal we did that immediately because they
030are going to look at U dist on a first come first serve basis to get us new numberers so um not sure what the impact of that is going to be all he would say is we'll pick up some money so I don't know how much or anything else but that was um again they did say that they sent it out to they said some districts they told them in the letter that it happened to some districts when they asked for the list so they could contact their clients there was 1,200 districts on the list so that's pretty much all district okay so looking a little bit at our preliminary estimates for 2526 um we do have some look we have some early estimates these will change as we go through the next two six
031weeks of the of uh attendance but right now it looks like we will be projecting an attendance of 11526 compared to the attendance we're projecting right now of that 11643 so that would result in a $2.2 million loss in state Foundation School uh program revenues under current law now you know depending on what happens in the legislature I think there's going to be in any way you look at it there's going to probably be some funding coming but under current law that's what we where we would be not good news when you already have a deficit and didn't do salary increases last year so some of our preliminary cost increases that we have already identified we do have some some good news here on utilities um they look pretty flat overall for this coming year
032as I talked about last time you know electricity we don't have big huge increases because we've bought electricity out so far the big increases were really more in water and gas particularly gas but I want to relook at that because it seemed uh higher than I thought it would be um fuel um we also have a decrease in telephones we bid telephones this year so we've got a significant savings there because of the Savings in telephones I think that'll offset the gas and water increases so I think that's going to be very flat at this point on um gasoline we're looking this is also projection from the US Energy Information Administration they're currently projecting a decrease in both gas and diesel for 2026 so um hopefully as much as 6% they're saying so you hopefully
033we won't have any increase there um so they give us we don't have a lot of gas but should give us about $25,000 savings the health fund after the first six months is currently breaking even we did increase our contribution last year we didn't do it the year before but we did increase it this this year um we are going to we're we've only got two months of that increase because the increase started January it didn't increase in the first four months of the year so um the fact that we're breaking even looks pretty good right now our um we've met with our consultant we meet with them on a monthly basis and so they're already starting to do some projections we'll probably have something late April or early May from them on what they
034think it's going to look like and then the increase in our the one thing that we will have a cost increase probably is that increase in state Revenue the increase in the numbers of students for special education we will need to put some of that money back into special ed as we have the last couple of years so um that looks like that could be about 1.3 million to be allotted in next year we're working I have calculated this week um our maintenance of e of effort that we have to do for special ed we look good in the current year but we may need to put some money in for next year Miss Davis does that going back the slide to special ed does that uh also include the money that's being taken away
035for by the government for the incorrect State across the state for special ed that well I think that's already that has that already been done for Char's yes ma'am okay yes that is a separate um budget that Revenue Source it's a federal revenue Source now that is something I did not include on here at this point in time um I kind of talk about it a little bit when we get to uh legislation I mean we don't talk specifically about chars has that already occurred though has that money already been taken we've already lost what we are going to lose under that 2011 audit and it did reduce us built into the current Year's budget was just about a million and a half in Revenue where we used to get about two and a half
036million so we've got that built into the current year but of course chars is under Medicaid so that's going to be uh a question I think in our minds on whether we'll have Char's funding for next year or not okay thank you anticip those have already been projected in those utilities and I think that's also why you don't why they're rather flat because we are seeing Savings in those campuses we did with Carver this year and I think we'll see that again for next year and will we see an offset on insurance as because they're new buildings well yes there will be some increase in the insurance they are saying though that they they're not expecting the kinds of increases we had last year so I've got about a 10% increase that that and I
037kind of skipped over that one but you know 100,000 150,000 maybe with those new schools we have already brought Carver and Tennyson on in insurance so it will be really Kendrick and wake oh high but yes wake oh high is a big project so okay so then some identified cost savings right now we know with the closure of altav Vista there will be some um savings with fixed costs you know principal librarian nurse those kinds of positions that will be eliminated as they are um moved out to Kendrick and South wo the kids are we most of the teachers will move as well but we do have some of those fixed cost savings estimating around $700,000 right now with that and then um depending on the decision that the board makes the contract for the
038wraparound services does end in June and that could be a possible Savings of about $740,000 as well is that transformation wo yes contract okay so looking a little bit again at that school Finance legislation um House Bill two is still the one that I'm you know I really don't like the Senate um finance bill that doesn't do a whole lot for us but House Bill 2 would increase the basic allotment $220 and would generate approximately $4 million um of that if they do increase the basic allotment what's in the bill we would need to put about 40% of that increase into compensation and I know last time they said that of that when we did House Bill three back in 2019 of that it was 30% at that time but 75% of it had to
039go to teacher salaries and then the other 25% to go could go to other employee groups so um that would basically 40% of the 4 million would be uh and 75% of that would be about a million three which would do somewhere around two and a half to 3% teacher salary increase also included in that bill is an increase in the Copper Penny yield from 4 $928 to 514 and then enhancements to the teacher incentive allotment um the bill was supposed to have been heard last week but right now it's still in committee and still has not been heard on Senate Bill 4 and sdr2 vehicles um to increase the homestead exemption from that 100,000 to 140,000 and they do now include hold harmless for districts there was a point in time when those bills
040were not holding harmless districts uh holding districts harmless but that is now included in these bills then Senate Bill 260 which increases the safety allotment we kind of talked about that um I think this one I think the house bill is a little bit better gives a generates a little bit more money no maybe this one this one is 15,000 to 30,000 per campus and10 to $28 per 88 I think the house bill is 14 um two of the legislators we talked to said it would probably be about $14 difference and they also two of the legislators we talked to in Austin both said that it would be the the basic allotment would be 220 and it's going to be on enrollment not on attendance like we were hoping so um that'll be good it's
041I mean it's still up in the air but that's what on not on attendance not not right right I'm sorry not what we were wanting but not what we were wanting but um but two of the legislators told us that it would be uh 220 and that the house was expecting like 14 bucks more for uh security I know there's a little bit difference in the per campus amount on one and the per student amount on between the two of of them I think the per student amount on the house bill went from 10 to um maybe 18 rather than 28 but there was a bigger growth on the per campus amount so I have not checked those to see what difference it would be at this point house one that's of concern is House
042Bill 19 because it will limit local government debt to a maximum annual Debt Service in any fiscal year may not exceed 20% on an amount equal to the average of the amount of property tax collections for the three preceding years this can be will be very problematical especially due to variations in property values so and then there's a lot of other things in this bill about notifications and all sorts of things they're really trying to limit I think District's ability to issue debt and then on the federal budgets one of the things that we have had a little bit more um con at this point I'm not sure how concrete it is but because of the uh what we do know that came out of the continuing resolution that they were going to maintain current
043funding levels on certain of our federal programs and that will that's funding for the 2526 school year Title One title four title three are idea for special education and Perkins for CTE are all supposed to the basic programs are supposed to remain very flat and so we're not expecting any more money but at least at this point we're not expecting cuts to those programs in next year however there are some components not identified in idea and our CTE that might be reallocated and then they said the title two would be reallocated as well and we did receive even an entitlement of $525,000 this year at title 2 so if we don't get title to um we'll have to find another source for some of those that is used to be what was called the Eisenhower
044professional development Grant um so it really it does special uh professional development for the district and we do have a couple of positions I think funded out of that but again um I don't know I don't exactly know what reallocate means either and where it gets reallocated but um anyway so that's kind of where we're at right now not a lot of news to but we'll H have another presentation next month hopefully we'll know what the revenues are we will not have our local values by the April meeting we won't get those till the 30th but okay okay any questions thank you Miss Davis appreciate you uh keeping an eye on all those bills and everything coming through okay moving on to item number nine consider discuss and take appropriate action on committee recommendations for
045new attendance boundaries Dr Spicer yes ma'am Madam president um first of all good evening again I would like to invite two guests to the podium tonight we have a parent and Community member Mr Clint harp and we also have one of our special education teachers from Dean Highland Miss Randy Fowler they're going to be uh co-presenting with me um as they were some of our um members on the committee who served with us all right so we're going to kind of walk you through some historical context first and then I'm going to pass the mic so they can kind of go from there um so in 2021 we had a bond program as you all know um where we looked at uh 355 million Bond we had some reconstruction we had some renovation um five
046campuses and then we also had two campus closures and this is conversation is about one of those that's coming up with Alta Vista um this information was um we had a long-term I'll say facilities plan that did take place prior to this and that also drove some of the work that you're going to be hearing us talk about today demographic projection so as you know and if you don't I'll make sure you minded a lot of our districts outside of wo WD even are having declining enrollment um we are not I'll say exempt from that and so um as we see job growth we still have low unemployment rates as well but our graphics with our students is also decreasing and so that is also playing a part into some of the conversations that we
047had with facilities but also with um placement of our campuses which ones stay open which ones closes and which ones we have opportunities for in the future and so that did inform the work that we're leading today at this time let call thank you um some of the considerations that we were asked to look at as we met were um optimizing the space and using those efficient those buildings more efficiently to reduce the overcrowding and the under utilization of areas um as well as the natural boundaries um to for the awareness of the neighborhoods the culture in those neighborhoods and um the historical context um one of the big things that came up during our conversations with our considerations was the feeder pattern alignments where students will stay together as they move through the elementary
048middle school and high school levels and balancing for the program equity and funding for those things um and maximizing the school programs at each campus as well as the future needs to support those campuses and moving forward through the years as part of that bomb program um we would meet once a month to review the different maps that were proposed we split into groups combined of uh 60 parents staff and community members um over those five months we met each week and discussed a different level so we first started out talking about those Elementary Maps the Middle School maps and then going into the high school Maps um we discussed how the maps compareed to the conf uh considerations that we saw on the last slide um talked about what we saw what we liked
049what we wondered um a lot of discussion that came around the community culture the natural boundaries the uh student transp transportation and how those boundaries apply to the transportation for students as well as again the fer programs and the program Equity we looked at what others thought and ultimately what we felt was best for our kids thank you in addition to um the attendance boundary committee we also um hosted a thought exchange and so that's something new that we have brought to Waco Independent School District because we want to make sure we get everybody's voice so yes she talked about 60 people in the space in this space right here we went back out to the community and we said hey this is what's going on we're going to give you an opportunity to give
050us feedback what do you like what do you don't what concerns do you have what suggestions do you have and we had over a th000 participants give us feedback 462 thoughts and then 12,99 ratings and what that means is anybody in our community who had access to that link could put a thought out there and all of us can go and we can rate thoughts I like it I disagree one star I totally disagree all the way to five stars I extremely wholeheartedly agree and so we got their feedback we did have over 700 parents also respond in that data what we found in the feedback is our community their uh feedback from us aligned with what you all asked as a board so the considerations that you mentioned earlier those things were in alignment
051so we're pleased with that because that helped us stay focused on the work and not to kind of stray or go in a different direction than what the board had asked of that committee another key Point um Miss sled had brought forward when she shared with us was that near nearly every single comment including those that were rated with a Singler star um reverted back to our students so everybody said just make sure we keep students first in our decision and I think that was the challenge of the community and I think we kept that wholeheartedly um in our discussions and so I was very pleased by that feedback but also proud of um what they said because that it's all that matters our kiddos so thank you for that um within the I'll say
052community meetings we did host three public hearings and this was our time to go to three um School campuses across our district um at three different times and just have a hearing and so what happened was we provided a script and just said the same thing to make sure they understood this is what the committee is recommending please give us feedback and so in those sessions um some committee members even came and we presented and then we stood around the sign so people could just talk and give us feedback they were a able to give us note cards and on those note cards they said hey these are my questions that we want you to go back and take to the committee so we did take those we also thank you Communications made a video
053and yes they did script me and I did follow the script and I stayed on it I struggled I didn't like the video but I did it thank you um but that was also our time to get feedback again because if you weren't able to make it because if you noticed um we had bad weather one night it started like rain Sleek kind of weather and another one was cold and something else but we still had them and we did have people come out but we wanted to make sure that nobody in our system can say we didn't ask for your voice and your opinion and so we wanted to make sure you push that out we did uh create a superintendent um email address for people to send in correspondents and some people took
054us up on that so we did use that feedback as well um based off the public hearing feedback thank you Dr Spicer yes sir um on March 18th we all got back together um once we had all the public meetings and um and went over all the information um and together we all reviewed and discussed what was discovered through all of those uh meetings and the feedback um I'm always amazed when a community comes together especially when you have teachers and principes Mr Al Alexander uh Mrs Freeman Dr Henry Travis with the school buses you know everybody that's working hard all day and everybody's still coming showing up even tonight um to continue to support this work because we took it really serious sitting down once again on March 18th just to go back over
055everything and make sure that we really put our attention and focus on everybody's conc concerns and needs and uh voted at that uh meeting to advance uh the recommendation uh to present to you all tonight so uh Mrs Fowler we were we're going to go over the maps now and uh Miss Fowler is going to kick it off with the Elementary uh rezoned Maps thank you so the map that you see here is the current boundaries that we have and as we were talking earlier um this is where Altus is coming in and will be that campus that is closing um so those kids will actually be uh split into the South Waco and Kendrick boundaries if you can go to the next um the changes reflected here show that focus on the alt Vitus
056closure and the increased capacity at Kendrick and South Waco the green zone you see is going to Encompass the South Waco area South Waco Elementary attendance Zone and the cranberry colored will represent the Kendrick Elementary Zone uh the portion of the current Alisa Zone that is east of I35 woodon South Waco and that is again taking into consideration that natural boundary for where we split those kids to move into either altav Visto or sorry into Kendrick or into South Waco the southern boundary follows the loop of 340 until you get to uh East to the east at Tinsley Road and then follows Flat Creek uh um if you look at the Kendrick Elementary the recommendation Kendrick Zone follows South Valley Mills and then follows Franklin down to 340 and then again follows the southern boundary
057line of the district which is at North Flat Creek um yep moving on to well actually do we have any questions about the elementary zones we're going to do that at the end okay great so moving on to the middle uh School attendance zones um the West Al uh West Avenue Elementary attendance Zone will be moving from the former Indian middle uh Indian Spring Middle School which is now all the GW Carver uh Middle School Zone in the brown uh on the map to the Caesar Chavez Middle School Zone in the light blue uh on the map you will notice that its location is closer to Caesar Chavez and it is to Carver and uh it's going to help with some of the balancing of the enrollments both for middle and high School feeder patterns
058the recommended Caesar Chavez attendance Zone would be expanded down 17th Street to West Waco Drive just for one block uh and then it follows Texas to Spur to Gorman Avenue until it hits North 21st Street then the boundary follows North 21st Street until it hits cord it follows cord Street all the way to North 9th Street and then it follows 84 to the brazus river and then it follows the river to I35 uh where it meets up with its current Zone um the boundary that I just described um is the boundary for the West Avenue Elementary School which is shifting from g w Carver to Caesar Chavez uh middle school and that was one of the most discussed uh boundaries that we really uh had to work with um because of the split and choosing
059to keep West Avenue all together instead of splitting it uh in half like it has been um at the high school level it's the same changes so the same street names are changing to include West Avenue Elementary and the Caesar Chavez Middle School to University High School um feeder patterns all right now moving on to the high school for the high school recommended zones you will see the green shaded area is all University High School and this attendance Zone will now include the entire current um West Avenue Elementary Zone that is also shifted to Caesar Chavez Middle School hopefully all that makes sense um maintaining this Peri feeder for our West Avenue and Caesar Chavez students uh was important to the committee the orange section of the map is the Waco High School attendance Zone
060finally um this last map for your viewing pleasure is all of it all in one glorious map so very easy to read as you can see um the final map shows the recommended attendance zones in one single View Elementary lines are shown in the red outline high schools are shown in the Bolder blue/purple outlines and the Middle School uh uh are in Sol solid colors uh Brown pink and light blue all right so the hope uh would be uh with the implementation of these uh new maps would be that they we would actually uh put these in place for 2025 2026 um school year um um one of the discussions that we had um was focused around the grandfathering um issues that need to be discussed and those are things that are currently being talked
061about uh and uh considered um for the upcoming transfer window that's going to be coming up in uh 2025 2026 um also being reviewed is the Caesar Chavez Middle School facility review so that is something that is being discussed because in our disc discussions um Caesar Chavez was well represented and there are great concerns um due to um overcrowding that they feel could be happening they're nervous about that and we understand that and so as a committee um we all discussed that at length and uh threw out some recommendations um to hopefully help with um those concerns um there was discussion and will be further discussion um over um assessing the special programs at Kendrick South Waco and West Avenue elementaries um to ensure the support of the impacted students uh and as well um
062developing um updated bus routes and if you've never talked with Travis who is over there in the green uh about um the bus routes and the team that makes up uh the transportation um you know team in this this city you should um he's a great guy and uh his team is great uh and they work really well together and do a lot to move a lot of kids safely all throughout this town uh and we're really proud um of that work Mrs fer the additional committee priorities um we're looking at are the Middle School Advanced academic programs something that was brought up consistently in both um our meetings as well as the public hearings was having those programs available at all of the middle schools versus just having one dedicated campus which would also
063help with those numbers and spreading out those students throughout the campus ver versus having overcrowding at one campus um as well as looking at the transfer policy and practices that come from that along with the new buildings and everybody wanting to be at those new places um the timeline communication Implement implementation plan are all going to be discussed and those will come out as they're made um one of the questions that was asked um at our final meeting was what is everybody looking at it and one of the things all of the questions that came through the uh think think share and within our things all revolved around student need and ultimately those were the discussions that we had and why we felt comfortable making the decisions that we did and bringing this to you
064guys as our recommendation thank you you can stay if you like we're going to have to do questions and open up to the board yeah I do I have one Mr Giller yeah Mr Giller yeah okay yeah you talked about um I know y'all took this in um consideration Advanced academics I know a lot of our students were one from like East wo South wo over to West Waco to go to tennis and for like Atlas are we looking at putting those programs or like an adlas like program at our other middle schools as well so the discussion was TW fold one we could make I'll say GT programs at every campus and or we could look at say a stem program at one school or a Fine Arts Academy at another school and so
065what the plan is this is once uh the board says yes this is what we want you to do and um approve the maps we're going to go and research so what would happen is this we have 25 26 coming those programs are not start next year that's our research and work year and we kind going to come back and say hey this is what we learned this what we found this is what we recommend and so we'll bring it back to you guys and say these are the options that we have for these two campuses and or that's what we want to do across all three so for now our students are still going to commute the ones that are involved in thatl it stays yes sir yes sir I have a question on
066that I think it almost would put us back in the same situation if we went and had a fireing Arts Middle School and a CT then you would still be limited by where you live so I would want us to explore how do we offer the same things across the board no matter where you live CU I I think it's great to say we have this steam middle school but if I live in South Waco do I miss out if it's at Carver so I think that would just kind of put us back in that same situation and that's what we're looking at we're looking at whether we do do also say multiple GTS across or if we have those cies what would happen is you apply to the academy you go to that Academy
067so I'm making this up if the steam Academy and we say we're doing that at Carver and I'm zoned to Caesar travez you would go to that school because you want to be a part of that and that's what your your pathway would be as you go to high school I think one thing we have the opportunity to do that I think we can improve upon is um our Pathways right we have opportunities to start them in middle school because if you put principal programs in the middle schools then by the time they get to high school they have more opportunities and they can explore more so those are some things that we're going to be looking at as a team and then we're going to bring it back and say hey these are here's
068two different Pathways you want to consider let's talk about that so we will bring that back to you all but right now what I tell the team is nothing's off the table if we have the opportunity to do something great for our kiddos let's talk about it let's do some research and then let's bring it back to the board and Dr Spicer I just want to go ahead and Echo what you just said I think what you're hearing from fellow board members is we want you guys to be Innovative we want you guys to be creative we want you guys to provide best services for all of our kids and so I just think you know take this next year really dive into programs look at what's Innovative Cutting Edge look at what will really
069serve our students um in terms of rigor academic excellence and and really uh just want to give you the green light to dream big in terms of what we can provide our students in every area of our district so I have a question um the committee talked about grandfathering and and the transfer situation can U is that something should the board approve this that y'all will or have yall already started looking at the the kind of framework for grandfathering and transfer so right now what we have started is just looking at our transfer policy and practices in general number one because we know there's opportunities for growth there um what would happen is once the board says yes we approve we will be looking at grandfather so example that we talked about in committee but
070also as a leadership team um Tiffany the student is in seventh grade at um how do I say this right she's at seventh grade at Carver right does she have to go to Caesar travez in 8th grade the answer and again we haven't put this in place but this is just an example she could stay there eighth grade year and then ninth grade year she would go to her correct High School okay so we're talking about kiddos who are already in that school already right if I'm a fifth grader and I'm rising to sixth grader you go to your assigned school but if you've already started you're like in sixth or seventh we're like you got to stay so but we're going to do Case by case but we want to put some procedures in
071place so we're consistent and fair and we have equity and access for everybody I would just encourage the administration um because what you're describing sounds very uh logical um with the exception of Angelo Keith and I are all brothers and I'm in fourth grade he's in fifth grade but Keith is in sixth grade and splitting the family to two different correct areas that would be a an inconvenience and would be a difficulty I would assume for family absolutely and we've talked about that too so we do we we we went through scenarios literally in leadership but we said hey if the sibling is fifth grade Rising the sixth but you're in seventh and you're going to be eighth they're going to be sixth they're going to go with you right because that is you know
072I wouldn't Stephanie the mom take kiddos from two schools you know what I mean so we are thinking about that yes sir how do we uh combat overcrowding CU I know you guys mentioned about Caesar Chavez being nervous about that so I'm thinking if if we have so many students who would have to go to Carver that's at Caesar Chavez now and their grandfather then and so are their siblings um how do we deal with overc so two of the things that we talked about in the meeting if y'all want to you want to take it or you got me go ahead okay so one of the two of the things we talked about was um OK Conor Roberts they have been at um almost all of our meetings they're going to look at our
073facilities and they're going to give us feedback so sometimes in buildings you say it's um at 90% capacity well we have wasted space sometimes where we can move a wall or do these different things like that that's one way the second way is look at our process and procedure so when I was a principal all kids knew that when you go down the A- Hall everybody's walking this way when you're in the be Hall this way right so currently you have traffic going both directions in Halls so if we say we change the flow that's a systems that we can do and fix so just different things like that so they have the numbers to hold it but they're just talking about the space because the their hallways are not as big as the other
074two middle schools so that's what we would be looking at I I would just um add to support what Dr Spicer is saying and and and U just to give you a little bit of insight from the meetings um it was almost overwhelming the response from the committee from the first meeting to the last in terms of discussing um special programs expanding whether it be Atlas programs or whatever it might be um the grandfathering discussions all of that um almost to the point of Dr Spicer having to saying okay remember we got to talk about the maps you know we we we got we got to decide on the maps and and because we weren't there to discuss the grandfathering in that's going to that's a discussion for later we weren't there to discuss any
075new Atlas programs how ever it was very important um almost to every single person in in the room that we talk about that stuff um hearing from um teachers at Caesar Chavez you know and and from other teachers from across the city saying yeah I I know that these kids started here and then they go all the way across the town because of this program I would love to keep them over here so those were definitely uh topics that were discussed at length um and I think we all were like we wanted to like dive into that too but the point was really the maps um for this um so if yall approve this then I think the hope is that then we get to do all that work uh on the other stuff that
076is really important to a lot of people Clint did um Mr Hart sorry uh did the committee talk about resoning on of any School boundaries because I know that we've got some elementary schools that are really really tight and then I know at least of one school that is roughly at half capacity did you guys talk about expanding or Contracting Elementary School boundaries so elementary schools I remember it pretty much stayed largely the same um Dr Spicer I'll let you we talked about everything so when we put the maps out initially nothing was off the table um there was everybody could kind of draw and say Hey you know and so what we did initially is um we did like a gallery walk ofy will everybody gave us feedback and so um if you could
077just dream and then after that we did bring back some Ms for them to look at we brought back a couple I'll say Elementary choices and that's how the conversation started and that's how we got to West Avenue so we did like I'll say just different activities like you're running a school lesson just to get feedback to just say hey what are some things we can look at across our system so we were just like yes we can look at elementary we can look midle we can look high you can look whatever you want to but tell us what you want to look at and we'll go from there and Elementary was the one that kind of fooled us all because it made us feel like oh this is going to be really easy and
078it was a little more simple and then it got a little more complicated as we as we went along but each week we dedicated to one to Elementary then to Middle then to high school so yes all those zones were presented to us and like Dr Spicer said we were given that opportunity to choose a couple different options each time and uh it was pretty unanimous each each time uh majority at least yeah and I would also add that as we went through each level we started at that Elementary but as we went into the middle school we always reference back to what we looked at the week prior so when we were doing the middle schools we looked at what we talked about with the elementary campuses in those zones as well as going
079forward at the high schools what did we do with the Middle School how does that affect the elementary schools so we kept all of that in Focus as we move through each level Mr AOA I think Clinton you said it perfectly about um how overwhelming it was seeing so many community members and teachers and everyone in this room uh helping make those decisions uh I just want to say thank you again to everyone everyone who who showed up um consistently and my only thought on this is when we do start talking about um grandfathering kids and transferring um that we also allow those principles and assistant principles in on those conversations so that they they can um give us some sort of ground floor feedback absolutely yeah and just to Echo that thank you guys
080for your work but I also think Transportation definitely absolutely I know they've been at the table but that's I think that could be a big issue for them especially depending on so thank y'all though I uh also want to say thank you I think it was the one of the first meetings when we were doing the elementary and we were talking about um or the Committees were talking about the students at West Avenue and they're like well how many fifth graders and oh they would have to be split and once I started hearing the talk around no we probably need theyd probably need to stay together we really want them to stay together they're going to be that small of a class they probably should stay together so they know people in their middle schools
081and I thought this is a great committee they're keeping kind of the needs of the students first and I just felt so reassured by that conversation and some of the wonderings and just some of the kind of insights and recommendations that you guys have brought back really great great work and I am just so I I really am so proud of the work that that you guys are bringing forth and so thankful and I also have to give a shout out to uh Mr cheim he is Amazon don't steal him because he's phenomenal at details and organizing and moving pieces so we're just so thankful for all of your work thank you um for playing a part and coming kind of week after week to be able to to engage in this work so with
082that I will entertain a motion um to approve the new attendance boundaries as recommended by the committee and the administration so moved thank you Mr Grant second thank you Mr gillery any discussion Mr Grant no any discussion Mr Davis no any discussion Mr vidana any discussion uh Mr Giller no any discussion Mr OA nope any discussion Mr Patton no ma'am great hearing none uh all in favor say I I any oppose passes unanimously thank you guys for presenting appreciate it okay now Dr Spicer your Administration has a lot of work to do listen I told them that I was like y'all Thursday night Friday it's gameid morning lot a lot of work okay moving on to item number 10 consider discuss and take appropriate action regarding the approval of the construction change directive number one
083to is on a construction for HVAC duck work upgrade to South Waco Elementary Mrs Baretta good evening good evening Madam president Dr Spicer members of the board um I would like to give you some additional background on the proposed hbac duct work change at South Waco Elementary School do you have my presentation there perfect Oh yay there it is okay if you recall back in August of 2023 we were really struggling to get the two elementary schools in budget in fact the board approved increased budgets at each school so we could fulfill the program scope at that time we identified several alternates that we could consider should bids be favorable we identified those at both of the schools thankfully Masonic received good participation at South Waco Elementary School and we were able to recommend approval
084of all of the alternates including the HVAC units well eight alternates which were past their lifespan because of the budget constraints we faced when we were putting together the plans and the alternates the thought of replacing the duct work did not enter our minds we were just thinking we're going to be doing good just to get these HVAC units done so this is uh where we replaced the um the alternates and then this one right here shows you the this is going automatic I don't want it to do that go back okay this was this is what we had in the base bid you see the yellow now it's going to change in a minute and so this is what the original contract was based on now this includes this shows the red shows the
085Demolition and I'm sorry about this I didn't know there was animation in there uh the green shows can you fix it thank you sorry okay the green shows what we are adding so how did this come about um as our quality assurance team was walking through the B the building which they do um every other week at least uh with an in-depth review they noticed this duct work and wondered if we could possibly replace it because we had some contingency funds with in that contract um so we asked o Connell Robertson and so they did the design we asked maic to price it and they gave us a price for the work initially when they looked at it they believed that they would need a 30-day time extension well as you know we don't have
08630 more days so we got back to Masonic and said no we need you to revise the price to include whatever resources it needs you need to get the job done so we can still move in on time okay so then they submitted their revised R RPC number 38 and that's what we're asking you to approve this evening this um RPC does include overtime but we don't know exactly how much overtime they're going to use yet so that's why we have have shown it this way this change is a challenge to the construction team at this late game at this late in the game and it's there's a lot of work to do this summer regardless of this HVAC change but it's better to come to do it now than to try to come back
087later and um the HVAC system upgrade means that basically South Wo Elementary School will be completely new um there was you know pretty much every alternate we wanted we've gotten um and that's really credit to the project team to the to Masonic to okell Robertson for really um keeping the project moving and stand in budget I have a question yes sir uh does the existing duck work require replacement well does it does it require we no we could not we could we could leave it the way it is is there um other than the fact it of it being brand new is there some downside to continuing has there been problems with the duck work is what I'm asking well that prompted you guys to relook at that so if you look at the two
088diagrams you see you see you're going to notice on the right hand side where the green is that there's four those are the supply ducts that's the air that comes into the building if you see the way they're positioned in the classroom this is going to ventilate the classroom much better you're going to have much better air circulation and temperature and comfort is going to be better with the new duct than it would have been with the old duct work again going back to my question has there been a problem with comfort and air circulation and temperature it is not as good as it could be there hasn't necessarily been a problem with it it's functioning it was functioning considering it's the constraints of the system no sir no sir I have a question what
089when y'all evaluated this at the beginning how didn't how did you not catch this back back at the start that's a really good question um I think we were so focused on just getting the project in budget that we just did not even consider we would be able to do this work I think it's just hard coming in at the final hour you know and asking the board to kind of put a blank check out there we don't know how much overtime we don't you know well we do know we have a limit on the top so we have a top limit on the overtime we just because we don't Masonic hasn't had time because we're moving so fast and they haven't had time to really plug this into their schedule totally calculate the hourly
090the hours that it's going to take because it is going to take some additional hours of work for us to feel comfortable with just a lumps some overtime number so that's why we're doing it this way I just I I wanted to thank uh John kazanas for being here I appreciate that I I do want to kind of keep in mind that Ma Masonic has been ahead of schedule and within Budget on this work and you know I look at this duck work in a classroom and I think most of the women teachers are going to love the extra flow in their classroom and if it's if it is right now if this is the time to do it it just makes sense to get this work finished and completed um do we you know
091I'm looking at the benefits the duck work prolong the life of the system um so is increasing kind of the duck work air flow with these new HVAC systems I'm assuming is going to be beneficial for this type of system I know when you have an old HVAC sometimes you have old duck work with that and maybe these new systems require more kind of intake is that kind of the thought process on that one well I mean if you think about this is original duct work to the building okay back in 60 something or 70 something when this was done they didn't have the indoor air quality standards we have now gotcha okay so the circulation wasn't top priority it was just volume get it in the room don't worry about it with with the
092four Supply grills the way we have now it's going to be quieter and so while we can push that air through two ducks it could be noisier and more distracting to the learning environment than if we have four right I think one thing um that's what the little clouds represent you have the same amount of air going into it but if you look on the left the red ducks are larger and so it's pushing more volume through that as you split the inputs you have the same volume but they're just smaller pipes and so it disperses it much better it's um the piping is going to be more efficient than what we have now for sure and um how many times have we said while I'm here why don't you take a look at this
093and we didn't think we would be on budget to where we this would even be a consideration um but we thankfully are uh this is an expense um we got 50 years out of however many years we got out of what we have South wo was built in 1998 30 982 82 at Google and it says 98 yeah Google's wrong I trust Miss Davis oh it's older than 98 43 years and so yeah I I think this is one of those while we're here we might while we're here we might as well get it done and and it's a it's a sticker shock but um I I'm in favor of it if we didn't do if we didn't do this and we kept the duck work that we have what do you anticipate happens do
094you anticipate that this will hinder the new hbac system that was put in do you think that students will be hid in the classrooms by the way I think both the male and the female teachers will enjoy more yeah I better say come on now yes but I'm I'm just wondering for the women what would what the alternative look like if we didn't upgrade um the duct work well I think uh the possibility is that that'll be noisy because we are putting more air through those two as opposed to four because the the circulation requirements have increased so we are can we do it yes but we can do better and so that's why we brought this to you where you sit in the classroom shouldn't determine your comfort either I mean it's a silly
095thing to say but Jim and I burn up on the ends and all you suckers in the middle say it's really cold um so okay hearing that I'm going to entertain a motion uh to approve the administration's recommendation so thank you Mr Grant do I have a second thank you Mr Vidia Mr Grant is there any discussion no Mr Davis is there any discussion no Mr vidani has there any discussion no Mr Giller has there any further discussion no Mr AO has there any further discussion well I just we have John here want to see if there's anything he wanted to add from Masonic end perhaps they're G want you to be on the mic sorry that's just for all of our television viewers I know for prime time Emmy Award Prime Time right here
096evening good evening so I don't think what was mentioned but the RFC that's in front of you also includes uh cleaning of the uh return duck so that's the opposite end of the supply that we're talking about so as far as overall comfort and just feeling like a new building like the new building that's just adjacent to it that cleaning is also going to be a big part of the feeling better about sitting in that classroom so I just wanted to add that that is an expense that's in that as well but we're still committed to getting on time you know we had to ask for those days but uh it's looking good so it's great any other question Mr thank you appreciate it John Mr Patton do you have any other questions discussion comments
097no ma'am okay hearing none um I will take a vote all in favor say I I any opposed passes unanimously thank you so much uh Mrs Baretta we are looking forward to all the newness of South wakeo the r and wait to feel the air in that classroom we need to get a desk in that classroom going to go from chair to chair to make sure I feel it okay um moving on to item number 11 announcement Miss Cox evening president cwig Dr Spicer trustees principal atnip was over here cheering with you all about that saw too they're always out tours so thank you thank you to Mr kazanis for being here as well um next week week is April how is this month flying by how is the school year flying by so next
098Tuesday April 2nd we will be back here in the wakeo boardroom for a workshop on the Strategic plan with board and the district's leadership team this is ahead of the next community meeting for the Strategic plan which will come up on April 23rd next Friday April 4th is a student holiday staff work day ahead of us also having Good Friday two weeks later um and on Saturday April 5th a first time event that I want to call your attention to is comicfest um this event will be hosted at UHS it's a partnership of a CTE teacher there and a lot of other incredible District partners that have stepped up to support him in this vision from 9:00 am to 3 P.M this free comic bookgraphic novel Festival will feature authors illustrators and workshops as a
099fun and engaging celebration of literacy in wakeo ISD again that's April 5th comic Fest 9:00 a.m. to 300 P p.m. at UHS free and open to the public can add comment to that um Matt miny who's the CTE teacher over at uh university has been working for over a year on putting this together so we're really excited about seeing what it what it looks like I hope everyone shows up I will say I looked at the uh vendor list and I saw all these authors and probably about 15 more that I've ever seen come through uh kind of the approved vendors list and I thought what is going on and it was just so encouraging once I heard that he's putting on this comic Fest I thought man that is just really cool and you
100can tell his putting kind of heart and soul into this so it should be really great event absolutely and I think a lot of folks have stepped up to support it so I'm I'm excited for it too um April 24th is our regular board meeting that falls in the April 22nd to April 29 early voting window for the May 3rd general election that's a lot of dates across the month of April we're already there yes ma'am um don't we have an Alta Vista I just told it's on that Saturday April 26 so when when we come back on the 24th we'll be sure to give you an update on what all is planned for the um celebration of Alta Vista in its great history on Saturday April 26th thank you so much I have some
101breaking news oh Lord uh Waco High School one act play was competing tonight in Red Oak at by District uh they are advancing to area which will be at high uh Colleen chaperel on April 10th uh Abby Sanders Won Won a technical award honorable mention Allstar cast was Lily Howell and the best performer went to Sarah Townsen and the play is an original play written by uh the directors uh which has been very well received by the judges the original play is entitled unsh Shackled and Untamed the legend of Anne Bonnie and Mary Reed fantastic moving on to area we pause and cheer for that break congratulations thank you trusty Patton I know we were looking at the time the the competition was at I think they performed at three and we were like how
102how can we get there and get back thank you for that news congrat wonderful thank you so much I appreciate all that President cwig I didn't mention earlier and I have too um the men's empowerment Summit was great this year and I I just want to give a shout out to Dr Nelson for his uh vision for starting the men's empowerment Summit and Miss Yanda Williams for working so diligently every year to provide that opportunity to our students and I just look forward to attending and participate uh in that for years to come just thank you great okay now um we are W go I see Board of Trustees not go into close session at 7:37 I guess is the time um pursuing of the Texas open media act Texas government code 551 Point um
103section 074 and 071 no action will be taken when we reconvention uh yeah so you don't have to stay okay and we are closed at 8:47