Pearland ISD Board Meeting - February 10th, 2026

001This meeting to the Pearland Independent School District Board of Trustees to order on February 10th, 2026 at 5.01 p.m. 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 Texans Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. Let the record show that Trustees Johnson, Stuckey, Shuffler, Carbone, Weimer, Murphy, and Carter are present. At this time, I'll throw the mic over to Trustee Sean Murphy for introductory remarks and pledges. Thank you. If you all stand and join me for the pledges. All right. Welcome, everybody. I'll keep this brief, but I just wanna take a moment today. Last month, January, was school board recognition month, and we all up here got recognized for the whole

002month, but our teachers get recognized a lot of times, but I wanna take a moment just to recognize the administration and the staff that's in this room today. As I kind of reminisced last weekend about the job that Dr. Berger does and his employees, And I think about my schedule and my vacation time, you don't really realize how much time that our administration gives up when you think about how many hours they spend here at the district. And then Friday night football, and then Saturday volleyball, and then Sunday band. I mean, some of these people work, you know, seven days a week to make sure that our kids get a good education. So not including any of the... other fun stuff that goes on in the world of discipline. So I just want to take

003a minute and recognize you guys and just say thank you. I know February's not administrative thank you month, but I think there should be one. And thank you guys for what you do. Ms. President. Thank you, Trustee Murphy. All right, now on to our favorite part of the meeting where we get to recognize students. Let's move up to the front. Download. That's working. Good job, guys. Photos will be available for download on the District Flickr account later this week. At this time, I'd like to welcome Dr. Larry Berger for a special recognition. We are not trumping the students, but without these groups of workers, passionate people that care about kids, our students may never, ever get to school. So I have a proclamation here. It's Love the Bus Month. If you're not aware of what

004happens... About 4.45, 5 o'clock in the morning, the transportation department turns on. Dedicated workers come, make sure the buses are safe and secure. They do their pre-checks. They make sure the buses are warm, they're safe, the lights are working, and the kids are ready to be picked up. They get their routes from their leadership, and when people show up late or don't show up at all, they raise their hand and say, I'll take an extra route. I'll do an extra duty to make sure that those kids get to school. They are the first face and the last face that many of our students see. And they decorate their buses like the best classroom teacher dex-rates their classroom. Because that is their learning environment. That is their culture. They want to make sure that every kid,

005when they step on that bus, gets a good morning, good afternoon, how are you doing, we care about you, welcome to Pearland ISD. So this proclamation talks about how the Board of Trustees and our community sees them as a symbol of public education and safety across all of our communities nationwide and especially here in Paralympic ISD. School buses compromise the largest form of mass transportation in the United States, safely transporting millions of students to and from school every day. It goes on to highlight what they do, but what I want to tell you is thank you. Thank you every day for leading the most dedicated individuals because without you, education would stop. You build Pearland Proud every day, and I just want to honor you with Love the Bus. I would just like to say

006that I'm proud to be a part of Pearland ISD, the community that I've grown up in, lived my whole life in, and I'm proud of the team that we have. I have Laura McAllister, our Assistant Director of Transportation here, also representing our department and the great team that we have. I just, I want to recognize the fact that in a day and age where many communities across the nation are having to make some very difficult decisions regarding the availability of transportation and the support of students, I really appreciate the fact that as a board and that you provide the support and recognize the value of school transportation in education. I appreciate the support for that. So thank you. Oh, and we're on. Good. Pearland ISD recently celebrated students earning places in Texas Music Educators Association

007All-State Performing Groups. 19 high school musicians proved that practice makes perfect by reaching the highest level possible for Texas music students. These all-state students participated in three days of rehearsals directed by nationally recognized conductors before performing for thousands of attendees at the annual TMEA convention, the nation's largest music educators convention. From Dawson High School, led by band director Aaron Brown, we have Cade Brown, Patrick Lee, Simon Robin, Aiden Sedai, Devin Salyund, Constantine Sinyak, Austin Tatwaka, and Dylan Wagner. We also have our TMEA All-State Orchestra student, Efren Zou. It's Mr. Brown. All right, next we also have from Dawson High School, led by choir director Roxanne Silva, Camden Baker. Ethan George, Kate Kennedy, and Sophia Muller. All right, now moving on to our successful students at Pearland High School. From Pearland High School, led by Band

008Director Ryan Demkovich, I have Josh Anino, Morgan Chan, and Samuel Frederick. Congratulations. Congratulations, guys. Also from Pearland High School, led by Choir Director Michael Kessler, we have Armando Cabrera-Ontiveros and Jaden Munday. Congratulations guys. From our administrators, teachers, and staff in the community, we take this moment to thank each of you for the hard work and for helping us build Pearly and Proud. Good evening. All right, now we're going to move to the board comments portion of the meeting. This is the portion of the board meeting where the board receives input from patrons. Each person who addresses the board will have three minutes to speak on his or her issue. In accordance with state law, the board must prioritize the comments of those patrons who are addressing specific items on tonight's agenda. Patrons addressing items not

009listed on tonight's agenda will also be heard provided that the total time allotted for public comments does not exceed 30 minutes. Because of topic posting requirements of the Open Meetings Act, board members will not ask questions of the patron and not answer any questions posed to the board by the patron. No action can be taken on any issue presented during this patron comment segment of the board meeting. Patrons addressing the board will be notified when they are approaching the last 30 seconds of their allotted time to speak. And before we get started with in-person comments, I wanted to mention that the board had been contacted by three parents on an online portal, Ms. Patricia Gardner regarding educational resources, Mr. Jacob Norman regarding grading integrity, and Ms. Leticia Gomez regarding questions, Ms. Leticia Gomez-Tariq regarding questions

010about Senate Bill 11. And now I'll call to the podium, Ms. Kiana O'Leary. Will you please help me pronounce your name, Kiana? Thank you for being here tonight, Ms. Kiana. Good evening, members of the board, superintendent, cabinet, and district leadership. My name is Dr. Kiana O'Leary, and thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I'd like to frame my remarks with one offering, one announcement, and one ask. First, my offering. I'm the founder and CEO of Menti Educational Services, an educational firm that partners with school districts to support teachers, leaders, and students through culturally responsive professional development, wellness retreats, and instructional coaching. I want to sincerely thank Dr. Berger and Dr. Allen for your support of our educational wellness retreat last fall. Your presence and partnership matter. Because of that success, we are scheduled

011to host the retreat again this September, and we would love and welcome your partnership for more teachers to experience wellness. Second, my announcement. Menti Educational Services is proud to partner with TechFest Live, a nonprofit organization expanding access to STEM exposure and career pathways for students. This November, TechFest Live will host a large-scale experience at NRG Stadium, anticipating 5,000 middle school and high school students for a free, free, free. immersive opportunity to explore STEM careers across industries. Rather than go into detail today, my partner, Kahlil Vinson, founder of TechFest Live, will be sharing additional information and points of contact so you can learn how your schools and districts can partner with us. And finally, my ask. I'm also the executive producer. and showrunner of the Blackademics Academy, an educational-focused film project centered on student voice, teaching

012excellence, and innovation in learning. Beginning in March, we'll be holding auditions for 40 middle schoolers. We will also be selecting four teacher contestants and three judges to participate in the film project. The film production is slated for this June, and all cast members will be compensated for their time. My ask is simple. Please share this opportunity with your schools, your educators, and your families. Your support in spreading this word will help elevate students and educators in a meaningful way. Thank you again for your time and leadership. I wish you a happy Valentine's Day and a meaningful Black History Month. Thank you so much, Dr. O'Leary. I really appreciate you being here tonight. Excuse me, Ms. Kim Harrington. Welcome, Ms. Harrington. Thanks for being here tonight. Thank you. My name is Kim Harrington. I'm a parent

013of a seventh grader at Junior High West, the librarian at Turner High School, and a member of the Library Material Review Committee for All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson. I'm here to talk about why you should vote to keep the book on the high school library shelves. First, I want to encourage you to respect the review committee's decision. The committee was made up of two parents, two teachers, two librarians, and a principal. We read the book in its entirety and completed a rubric that used the language of SB 13 to help us make our decision. Five of us voted to retain the book as is. I would hope that the voices of five people would carry more weight than the voice of a single challenger. All Boys Aren't Blue is an important award-winning

014memoir. It is not a piece of fiction. It is authentic and age-appropriate. Teens go through puberty, some grapple with their sexuality, and some are sexually abused. Teens need books that reflect their experience and help them learn and discover ways to cope with adversity and to know that they are not alone. In telling his story, Johnson doesn't use a lot of euphemisms, instead opting for plain and in some cases clinical language. The sensitive content serves an educational purpose. In writing his memoir, he hopes that readers will learn from his experiences. When people share... read or share what they think are salacious excerpts from any piece of art. They are not appealing to your reason, your sense of reason, but instead are appealing to your emotions and fears. The review committee's job and your job here is

015to apply the law rationally to the content of this book. To be compliant with SB 13, which is the crux of the challenge, library materials must be age appropriate and cannot contain indecent, profane, or harmful material. Johnson's depiction of his sexual assault is authentic and not overly detailed. His discussion of puberty and his sexual development are age-appropriate and not excessive or prurient. He is not celebrating or encouraging readers to engage in sex, but merely relating experience. At some points, there's a distance in the depiction as if he's trying not to show too much for his intended audience. His sexual experiences are such a small part of the book, used primarily to explore the idea of how better sex education could have helped him. Focusing on the sex in the book overlooks the story of his

016family, his love for them, and his community, and his drive to become an educated, positive adult. At the time of its publication, the book filled a distinct gap in young adult literature. Johnson says more than once that his intended audience is teens who are... black and queer, especially queer black boys, and points out that there aren't many books available for that audience. He wrote the book he needed when he was a teenager. I had read this book previously and on rereading, I'm convinced that its replacement in the high school library is lawful and appropriate. All Boys Aren't Blue teaches good lessons that all teens could use. I hope that you will trust the review committee and the high school librarians and make the rational choice to retain All Boys Aren't Blue in high school libraries.

017Thank you for your time and for everything that you do for our students and staff. Thank you, Ms. Harrington. Ms. Cindy Rackley. Thank you, Ms. Rackley, for being here this evening. Thank you. Good evening, members of the school board, administrators, and members of our community. My name is Cindy Rackley. I reside here in Paraland. My spouse and I are both in education in neighboring districts. I, as an educator, have a duty to serve and protect children. Sorry, it's like I've never public spoke before. I'm here tonight to speak about student safety transportation policies and access to free public education, specifically as it relates to Rustic Oak Elementary. Rustic Oak is located along county-type roads that pose documented safety concerns for children. According to an email from John Palumbo, which I've also been in talks with

018Keith Kopp, the Director of Transportation. But this statement from John Palumbo, the director of safety of operations, students are not permitted to walk or ride bikes to school due to hazardous nature of the route. In a follow-up email, it was stated that there is no formal no-walker or rider policy for Rustic Oaks from Mr. Palumbo. However, if students are not allowed to walk or ride their bike, because it is unsafe, then in practice, there is a no walk or ride policy. Regardless of how it's labeled, there's a no walk or ride policy. And when the restriction comes from the district level, families are left with only one safe option to get their children to school. district provided the bus transportation or their guardian, which most parents work two jobs. So with the transportation, if you're

019not low income and there's no route to get to school by bike or walking, there's a $640 a year fee, which therefore denies access to a free public education. This goes beyond my family as far as the concerns. I know there's many districts facing cutbacks and it's really unfortunate that districts get bombarded with negative things all the time. And this is not where I wanted to take this to this level. However, at this time, I do feel like it's beyond my children. It's for the district. I know Friendswood ISD allows it and they're in a kind of a situation like we are as far as rustic being out in the county. So just with that said, I have a lot more, but I hope that y'all can, let me hit these, clearly define and formalize

020walking and biking policies to rustic. reevaluate transportation fees when the bus service is the only safe option, and align district practices with other school districts that provide a safe, no-hazard route. Ensure that no child is excluded from educational opportunities due to transportation-related debt. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Mrs. Rackley. I appreciate you being here this evening. All right, we are now moving into the new business portion of the meeting. Oh, I'm sorry. And you want to start with the taper, Dr. Berger? Okay. We're going to move into the taper, which is the presentation of the 24-25 district annual report, including the Texas academic performance report. Perez, excuse me. Thank you for being here this evening, Ms. Perez. Good evening, Dr. Burger, Board of Trustees, and the Pearland community. It is my

021privilege to be here tonight to present to you the 2024- I'm sorry, Ms. Perez, if you'll give me just a moment, I need to open the public hearing at 5.29 p.m. Thank you, dear. Good evening, Dr. Burger, Board of Trustees, and the Pearland community. It is my privilege to be here tonight to present to you the 2024-2025 Texas Academic Performance Report as required by the Texas Education Agency. The full report for the district and each campus in the district will be made available to the community through the district website. Texas Education Code Section 39 and Texas Administrative Code Section 97 requires the publishing of an annual report. The data being reported in the annual report is not new. It's simply the finalized data being reported by TEA for the 2024-25 school year. Listed here are

022the eight sections contained in the annual report. Section one is the Texas Academic Performance Report, which I'll be referring to from this point on as the TAPER. The TAPER is published as a PDF and was released by TEA in December 2025. It comprises the main part of the district's annual report. STAR data in the taper reflects the previous two school years. However, this presentation will focus mostly on the 2024-25 school year. The most recent data for CCMR, post-secondary indicators, attendance, and graduation rates are from the 23-24 school year. The cover page of the taper includes the district's 2025 A through F accountability rating. I'm so excited to be able to announce that Pearland ISD earned an A rating with a 91 accountability score. Accountability ratings... I know Mr. Berger is, or Dr. Berger is just

023as excited. Accountability ratings for the 2023 and 2024, which would normally be released by TEA in the fall of those years, were delayed due to ongoing litigation. Since the 2023 and 2024 ratings were not available in time for the 23 or 24 public hearing presentations of the taper, they have been included in this year's presentation as shown here. And you can see they were released very late. So we didn't get our 2023 ratings until last spring. And then we got our 2024 ratings the same day we got our 2025 ratings, August of this year. A through F is committed to recognize high student achievement and highly effective educators while maintaining focus on the students most in need. The following series of bar graphs on the next several slides will compare Pearland ISD's star performance to

024that of Region 4 in the state of Texas. The green bars represent Pearland ISD, the purple bars represent Region 4, and the blue bars represent the state. The numbers displayed are the percentage of students who achieved each of the performance levels, approaches grade level, meets grade level, and masters grade level. The first graph is comprehensive and illustrates Pearland ISD's performance versus the region and state for all grade levels and all subjects combined. Pearland ISD performed 12% above the state at the approaches grade level, 19% above at the meets grade level, and 18% above at the masters grade level. And it's not shown on here, but Pearland ISD also had 100% participation rate in STAR in 2025. This chart will show you the disaggregated data for the student groups that are reported in federal accountability. These

025results are compared to the state at the meets grade level only for all star and EOC exams. As you can see, Perryland ISD is significantly higher than the state in each student group. And one thing to note. With the exception of special education, each student group in Prairieland ISD by itself outperformed the all students group from the state. So the left hand column is all students combined. Region four was at 52%. The state was at 50%. And each one of those green bars, with the exception of special education, is at 52 or higher. This next display represents the performance of each student group on all STAR tests combined at all grade levels, or at all performance levels. The numbers displayed are the percentages of students in each student group at the respective performance levels. Approaches

026on the left, meets in the middle, and then masters on the right. This next chart is all grades English language arts and reading, which includes all students who took grades three through eight star RLA, plus English one and English two, and of course exams. The next several slides will cover reading, and then we'll go through math and science and social studies. Pearland ISD was 12% above the state at approaches, 20% above at meets, 17% above at masters. And then the next several graphs will demonstrate the consistency of performance at each of the grades in English and reading language arts. Just for the purpose of efficiency, I won't discuss each grade band slide, but feel free to stop me if you have questions about any one of these. One thing to note is that each grade

027level's performance level standards vary. In other words, the cut points for what percentage of questions a student has to answer correctly to get approaches, meets, or masters. So please keep in mind that results cannot be easily compared from one grade level to the next because those cut points do vary. Shown here is grades three and four, RLA. Grades five and six, RLA. In English 1 and English 2 end of course exams, these figures include first time testers and students who retested to meet graduation requirements. And here's how each student group performed in the English and reading language arts. This is all grade levels combined. Again, approaches is on the left, meets is in the middle, and masters is on the right. This next graph includes grades 3 through 8 star math plus algebra 1 end

028of course exam. And it also includes the accelerated testers, their SAT or ACT scores. Accelerated testers are defined as students who completed the Algebra I STAR EOC at the approaches grade level or above standard prior to the ninth grade. Prairieland ISD students performed 13% above stated approaches, 20% above at meets, and 17% above at masters. The next several slides will break down math performance at each grade level. I'm gonna stop at this one. Grade seven STAR Math is the only assessment where Pearland ISD's performance is inconsistent in relation to the region and state. Approximately 50% of our seventh grade students take an above grade level STAR exam, either grade eight STAR Math or Algebra I EOC. And I'm gonna be explaining in a couple slides forward, I'll show you the breakdown of STAR Math by

029students enrolled grade level. Once students enter fifth grade, we do start having some students taking above grade level, and that includes an above grade level star exam. If I can interject right there. Seventh grade is my thing. So we have been working on seventh grade math because although we do have many of our students that are elevated and taking advanced coursework and advanced tests, we need to make sure our seventh graders that are in seventh grade math are learning the seventh grade math and showing mastery and meets in that area. So that has been a focus of our junior highs, that has been a focus of our CLT, and I am committing. that the taper this time next year will show the work that has been done in teaching and learning and CNI in our

030classrooms that we will change that green and it'll be above the state. This was the first year that we were able to compare to another district, Tomball ISD, where I believe that they're doing the same thing we are as far as which kids take above grade level math. And in previous years, it was hard to really truly compare that one seventh grade score to anything else. But last year, Tomball ISD did the same thing. And we saw a huge drop from their previous seventh grade star scores to last year's seventh grade star scores. It's just an interesting. Can I ask, on the same grade seven information, you're breaking it down. How many other, like what do we have later on? How many percentages? I figured that, but what about other school districts? Because what concerns

031me is, yes, we have students that are taking advanced tests, but we're still comparing our students that aren't at seventh grade to other districts' students in seventh grade that aren't, and that's where we're behind on the taper, I guess. Well, when we pull results from the TEA's research portal, it does not show the students enrolled grade level. So I could only see results by, like when we were looking at grade seven math, it doesn't say what grade level those students are enrolled in. One thing that is telling is we can usually tell by the number of students that tested. If it's a very small number, it's like half of a grade level. That's one indicator if we look at other districts to know if they're doing something similar to us. Now. We do have, it's

032probably easier if I explain it on the next slide, but I'll kind of get into that there as far as where kids test and which grade level. And I would just say the way I, don't rationalize it, but the way it makes sense to me is that some school districts have all their seventh graders take the seventh grade test, regardless if they're taking advanced courses or not. So they're in the calculation to where we do not. We do not force. to take an eighth grade test and a seventh grade test. Some districts do, so they're in both counts. So that's why it can be augmented. But again, I go back to, I don't care, and my team has heard me say this, I don't care who's in seventh grade, we have to make sure we

033are meeting them where they are and bringing them to be successful. And also to answer your question, when we're looking at accountability ratings, each campus' rating is based on all students' math, regardless of what test they took. So it's just kind of combining every single junior high student, whether they took the 7th grade math test, 8th grade math test, or Algebra 1. We're looking at benchmark data later. Will we see a difference in benchmark data? on that seventh grade? The benchmark data in seventh grade math does show some upticking, so we believe that's why we think what we're putting in place is working. Thank you, Dr. Berger. The next slide is the Algebra I end-of-course exam. That includes first-time testers, both junior high and high school students, and students who retested to meet graduation requirements.

034These percentages do not include the SAT or ACT results of grade 12 accelerated testers. This is straight Algebra I EOC. All right, so as I previously mentioned, when discussing grade seven star math, approximately 50% of our seventh grade students take an above grade level assessment. This breakdown right here is showing the students enrolled grade level, and this is in the taper report. And you can look at this with any grade level, but in any other subject, our students take an on grade level test. It's only math, and it's typically just fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade where it affects scores. In the fifth grade, 95% of our fifth graders, and these are approximate percentages, but 95% of our fifth graders take the grade five star math test, where 5% that are in the highly gifted math

035class take the sixth grade star. So why is there all of a sudden a 50% 50-50 split at 7th? Okay, so then, so 6th graders, same thing, 95%, and then just those 5% that take the above grade level. Once we get into 7th grade, we have no 6th graders taking the 7th grade star because they take our 6th grade. Sixth graders that are above grade level take the eighth grade star. They've covered half of the, in fifth grade, they've covered the sixth and half of the seventh grade teaks. And when they're in sixth grade, they cover half of the seventh and all the eighth grade teaks. So our highly gifted students in sixth grade actually take the eighth grade star math test. And then when they're in seventh grade, they take the algebra one. When

036they're in eighth grade, they have to take the eighth grade star again. Even though they already took it in sixth grade. The DEA requires that. But our score went down in eighth grade. You said you can't compare grade band to grade band, but yeah. Yeah, well, and a lot of our, yeah, so, yeah, and it's also the, yeah, the test, the cup points are different. But once we get into seventh grade, we do not have any students that are in sixth grade taking the seventh grade star. So 100% of our students that take the seventh grade star are on grade level students. There are no advanced students that take the seventh grade star. And that's really the only grade level. It's kind of where it first hits. So 50% of our seventh graders take the

037on-grade level, and 50% take above-grade level, which about 5% of those take the Algebra I EOC, that same group of kids that in fifth grade took advanced. And then with eighth grade, about 58% are on-level, and that does include those students who took the eighth grade star in sixth grade and had to take it again, and that's probably why that percentage is higher, and then 42% are taking above-grade level algebra. So in the motivation to have them taken above grade level tests because you have to pass the EOC in order to move into the next stratum, right? So those really accelerated learners that are doing algebra in junior high. If they don't take those tests early, they can't take that higher level course. Well, TEA requires that students take the STAR exam that aligns with

038the TEKS that they've just learned. So if they've, like, for example, that group of sixth graders that completed the eighth grade TEKS already, that is the most appropriate assessment because it's testing them on what they just learned. So it's more on, you know, what TEKS are being covered in those advanced classes. And then... we're required to give star tests based on what is covered in those classes. Does that requirement get relaxed at eighth grade then? Because if the sixth graders that already took the eighth grade, they had already covered those TEKS two years prior and one year prior. Why are they taking it again if it's supposed to cover the relevant TEKS? I agree with you. I think it's a little bit ridiculous that they should have to take anything in the eighth grade once

039they've already taken the Algebra I. But TEA has a requirement that all three through eighth graders have to take an end of course, I mean a star test in those subjects. So it's a requirement of TEA that. they have to take an assessment. They don't get to exempt from that. I'm gonna win some student votes here by saying we should contact Representative Barry. I don't understand it, but it's just a requirement. But I thought it was important to show this chart because it does show that. Our seventh graders are performing well above the region and state, even though on the seventh grade star test, it appears that we're not. And I just wanted to help explain kind of the percentage of students that are taking above grade level exams. Any questions? And here's a disaggregated

040data of each student group's performance in all grade levels of math, star, and EOC. Science performance includes 5th and 8th grade star science and the biology end of course exam. Again, Perryland ISD excels above the region and state in all three performance levels. Grade 5 Science Star assesses students' mastery of grades 3, 4, and 5 science content. Grade 8 Science Star assesses students' mastery of grades 6, 7, and 8 science content. For the 2026 administration, TEA has renamed these tests Elementary Star, which will be assessed in the 5th grade. and middle school star which will be assessed in the eighth grade so it's the same test but they're wanting they're wanting to make it clear that it's not just what they've learned in fifth grade that it covers third fourth and fifth and that the

041eighth grade covers six seven eight what those students have learned the biology end of course exam includes first-time testers and students who retested to meet graduation requirements and here is how each student group group performed at the three science star exams combined social studies includes two exams Eighth grade STAR Social Studies and the US History End of Course Exam. Pearland ISD continued to perform above the region and state. Here are the two Social Studies STAR Exam results. US History End of Course Exam results include both first-time testers and students who retested to meet graduation requirements, although Pearland ISD typically has very few US History retesters due to the very high initial passing rate. Here's each student group's performance when combining STAR 8 Social Studies and US History EOC exams. So, Ms. Perez, when you look

042at the different scores here, Why does none of them equal 100%? Like... Oh, like what's up right now? Mm-hmm. Okay, so approaches grade level includes students who are at the approaches grade level or above. They were either approaches meets or masters. So you're saying that basically 4% of this population did not meet that threshold. Correct. That did not, yeah, that got a did not meet. And so then 80% just taking the blue column, the 86% is included in the 96, but also exceeded. And then the 70% of the 86 met all three criteria. Yes. Okay. Yeah, there's two different ways to look at this and different reports we pull. Some will show just the percentage of students that were only approaches, the percent that were only meets, and the percent that were only masters. But

043I think most of the time our teachers like to look at, you know, what percentage of our kids passed. You know, so the 96 on this chart would be. approaches are above the 86% would be would include meets and masters and then 70% would be just at the masters level. And the state when they consider passing is they look at the approaching grade level where we've been focusing mostly in Pearland ISD on that meets grade level. So yes the state considers approaches grade level for high school EOCs approaches grade level will count as a passing for a graduation requirement and students are only expected to retest if they did not meet. that approach is standard. All right, this next graph represents student growth between 2024 and 2025 for reading and math. The district's growth score

044is determined using a transition table that assigns each student zero, a half, or one point based on their star performance level between two consecutive years. Last year was the first year prior to the cancellation of STAR in 2020 that we had two years to compare. From 2024 to 2025, Perryland ISD's math growth score increased by two points and its RLA growth score by five points. So this is the... Growth is not necessarily exactly a percentage because some students get a half a point and some students get a full point. And then there's also like another kind of bonus points for students who had failed the previous year and then passed. They get like 1.25 points. So it's not just a percentage, but they take like all of those points and divide it by the total

045number of testers and give you a growth score. This display shows student growth between 2024 and 2025 for reading and math disaggregated by each student group in each subject. This is using the same transition table model explained in the previous slide that assigns each student 0, half, or one point based on their star performance level between two consecutive years. GT is represented in the taper as a group for the first time this year in growth, so that is included there. Although the taper only reports performance from the past two years, I thought it was important to show the impact of COVID and the new star redesign on star performance overall. Pearland ISD performances in green and the state is represented in blue. As expected, star performance declined between 2019 and 2021, but by 2022, performance

046was almost back up to where it was prior to the pandemic. Student performance percentages have slightly increased between 2022 through 2025. Even after the star redesign for both the state and Prairieland ISD. This chart represents all grades and all subjects tested at the meets grade level standard. Ms. Perez, can you talk about, or maybe Dr. Berger can talk about, what is the effort included to increase the district by one point on a total totality score like this? I mean, I know that's a kind of a vague question, but I guess what I'm getting at is. This is significant work. I mean from what I see in talking to you guys and what I know about how much effort goes into improving our curriculum and meeting students where they are making sure we're meeting the teaks

047Maybe it's more of a statement than a question. Thank you for the hard work and knowing how much goes into Moving that every point up on this scale Well, as you know, in our strategic plan, we talk about the component score and what it takes to move that. And we have a... lofty goal to reach by 2029. And so I've challenged our team and they have again challenged me, Mr. Berger, are you sure we're not setting ourselves up for failure? And our cry is no, we cannot rest. We have to continue to push to get there. But the amount of student growth that has to take place for that component score to move one point is yeoman work. everybody has to be moving in the same direction and everybody has to be growing. That's why

048that calculation has been placed in our strategic plan and that's why we value it. Thank you for saying that so much better than I articulated. Okay, and also I think it's significant to show the difference in how reading and math were affected differently by the pandemic. This chart shows English and reading results at the meets grade level over the last six years. You'll notice that reading performance is actually much higher now than it was in 2019. Whereas math performance has only slightly improved since the drop in 2021, and it remains lower than it was in 2019. The 2023 star redesign did not have much of an impact on student reported performance in either subject. Is there any kind of a equalizer metric that has been applied to that test across time where you could say

049like kind of like adjusting for inflation? Yes, probably. It's hard to tell. When they did the star redesign, it was a different test. It added different item types. It added writing to every single grade-level RLA, science, and social studies. So with it being a new test, they have to adjust cut points because students aren't going to perform exactly the same. Some people initially felt like it was a harder test. I think it's just different. And so, yes, the cut points have been... adjusted quite a bit since that 2023 redesign. They fluctuate each year, but it's based on the difficulty level of the test. So TEA has all these formulas they do to kind of show what the, you know, how many students passed, how many students met a certain level, the difficulty level of the

050questions, and that's where they determine the cut points for that year. So yes, do I think that some years we might see a huge growth, for example, in one grade level RLA, but so did the state. Or we see a decline in one grade level, but so did the state. I actually shared a report with Dr. Berger earlier that shows a lot of our comparison districts. Katie, Tom Ball, Friendswood, Elvin, Clear Creek. And like if we went up a point, so did they. Or, you know, we're within a few points. So that shows a little bit about how when the state adjusts standard cut points that, you know, it does make a difference in comparing over the years. I don't know if that answered your question. It does. I mean, it just basically clarifies that

051every year it's really hard, even if you have the same test, to compare year over year because the cut point is going to be at a different place and it's all based on whatever formula they're deploying. And it kind of, I mean, it almost makes it feel like how is this even relevant, you know? It's a really blunt tool, I guess, is what I'm getting at. Yeah, I understand. Like, you know, when Dr. Berger was talking about setting these goals, you know. if they were to just cut points higher, then sometimes that can work against us. We do all this work, but I do think that the purpose of them adjusting the cut points is based on the difficulty level of the tests. So they don't wanna have a high percentage of students failing if

052they realize that maybe that extended constructed response was maybe something that third graders did not identify with. And so when they see things like that, I think they adjust it to make sure that the test is fair for all kids across the state. And then in 27, 28, it all changes again. I wasn't going to get into that. It's just job security for her. Okay, the next portion of the taper is the CCMR, is the College Career and Military Readiness. The most recent data represents students from the class of 2024. It lags one year because they allow students up to October after their senior year to take certain exams and count. So the chart on the left is the percentage of seniors who met at least one CCMR indicator. I would like to highlight that

053the percentage of Prairieland ISD seniors meeting CCMR increased more than 10% between the class of 2023 and the class of 2024 that is represented here. So this is just showing the most recent, but in the taper, if you look at the class of 2023, it was at 80%. And so we went from 80 to 91% in one year. So I think that's significant. The chart on the right highlights that our students are more likely to pursue the college pathways. However, many students have met the criteria to be considered both college and career ready. Each of our high schools continue to track their current seniors to ensure that those students upon graduation are ready for college or the workforce. This graph shows how students earn their CCMR indicator. TSI criteria, the one on the left, includes

054SAT, ACT, the TSI A2 test, and the college prep class. So any one of those students have to meet a standard in reading and math to be considered having TSI criteria. Pearland ISD's percentage is 182 total because some students met CCMR criteria through more than one indicator. That is our total. The next several slides will also be reporting from the 23-24 school year, which is the most recent years reported in the 2025 taper. Pearland ISD exceeds the region and state in the percentage of students completing dual credit courses, meeting the criterion for AP exams, and meeting the criterion for SAT or ACT. The last two rows highlight that Pearland ISD's average SAT and ACT scores are both significantly above the region and state averages. Last year, March 2024, we began providing the opportunity for all

055juniors to take the SAT on campus during the school day. And then this upcoming spring, we'll begin providing opportunities for any junior or senior who has not yet met CCMR criteria to take the TSI A2 exam during the school day. Is that, the TSI A2, is that a free exam? No, but it's not very expensive. And, yeah. We have some money in our testing department budget, and we'll be... Right, because we want to target, we'll be targeting some students that did not meet the criteria on the SAT. Also, TEA has a reimbursement program where students, they will reimburse a district for every student on either test, SAT or TSIA2. It has to be in the spring of their junior year or senior year, but we get reimbursed for any costs we spent for one of

056those. We may have some students that don't take the SAT because it might not be an appropriate assessment if that's not what they're planning on doing and they choose to take the TSI instead, then we would get reimbursed for that. If we have a student take the SAT in the spring and then they don't meet the standard for CCMR and we give them the TSI, we would be paying for that. It's not a very expensive test. And you can pay for parts. So say a student does well in the SAT reading but not math, we can pay just for the math portion of the TSI. Can we go back two slides? I apologize. On the CCMR indicators earned, there's three areas that were below the state average. I think there's three on-ramps, industry-based certifications, and

057it looks like military enlistment. Are there any work in those areas, especially industry-based certifications? I couldn't figure out what on-ramps was. I just did a quick Google search, and obviously we're half the average on military enlistment. So any work being done? in those three areas to see us above the state average? Yeah, so on ramps currently, our district doesn't have that because we have dual credit courses through ACC. It's an alternative to dual credit. Now, we may be looking at that in the future because CCMR, TEA changes this every year as well. Initially, CCMR was created to make sure that every student was ready for college or career beyond high school. But over the years, there's... some districts and some campuses that were kind of cheating the system to get their points. And so TEA

058adjust this every few years to make sure that it's an honest system. And that so we may be going to on ramps in the next. year or so because the college prep class might be no longer an option for earning CCMR. So there's some changes there. So that's why we don't have an on-ramps percentage. But I wanted to include it because the state does. And if I didn't, it wouldn't accurately reflect what the state has. And then military enlistment, that's kind of one of those, you know. We get those points where we can, but it's hard to encourage a kid to enlist in the military if that's not what. Is there a period of time that they have to enlist after graduation for that? Yes. So they have to enlist by the winter of the,

059right after graduation. So the graduates of 2024 would have had to enlist by December of 2024 for us to get credit. And at one point. TEA had gotten rid of that even as a component at all because they couldn't get the information from the Department of Defense. In the last couple of years, we were able to submit to TEA students DD Form 4 paperwork if the student was willing to provide it to us. And so that was the last couple of years. This upcoming year is the first year that the Department of Defense is working with TEA to provide that information. So that number might go up because the last couple of years we had to work with just the kids who provided that to us. And the part of the industry-based certification, while we

060continue to push that with our CTA programs, more of our students are still geared toward the college and not the career. So that's why that fluctuates a little bit below the state. And then on these percentages, we're at 182, which is 24 points above the state. Is there a max points? I mean, is there a max? I mean, is that potentially a max score? benchmark on this compared to other districts in the region? I think this is one of the graphs that we don't see compare or does it, am I missing that? Not necessarily because if a student earned, they could earn it in the TSI criteria, they could earn it in dual credit, industry-based certification. There's only one area, it's on the, in the key, it's the far right, the advanced diploma or IEP

061workforce. That is only for students who are identified as special education. But those students could also earn it any other way. So there are, I guess what I'm saying, if a student is not coded as special education, they wouldn't be able to earn that one. But they can get this in as many as they... Okay, that's what I just maybe, I don't know, is there a possibility to see this compared to the region too? And most of the other graphs we see compared to the region, this is one of the few that we don't see compared to the region. I wish I would have caught that sooner, but just food for thought. Thank you. Yeah, I could pull that. It is in the taper. On some of these graphs, I'll just do Perryland ISD and

062state just for space. And typically, the region, foreign state are very close in numbers. But yeah, I could pull that for you. All right, the next one, Pearland ISD has always had an excellent attendance and graduation rates, but we had even an increase from the previous school year. Chronic absenteeism is defined as a percentage of students K through 12 who are absent from school 10% or more days. The graduation rate includes students who graduated, students who completed a Texas certification of high school equivalency program, and continuers through special education. Much of the credit for these percentages can be given to the Pearland ISD's outreach and attendance team for the remarkable efforts for our most at-risk students. So we literally had zero dropouts? Yeah. If you count those who, in that school year, if you count

063those who got their GED or they were special education IEP. But they would have to get their GED within a certain period of time in order to count for a zero. Okay. This chart shows our student information in comparison to the state from the 24-25 school year. Pearland ISD had a slight increase in the percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged since 2024, about 0.9% drop. We saw about 1% increase in student with dyslexia enrolled in Pearland ISD. The other numbers were fairly consistent. This is the student enrollment by instructional program in relation to the state from last school year. And here's the last year's ethnic distribution of students in Prairieland ISD. Between 24 and 25, there were slight increases in enrollment of Hispanic students, Asian students, and students of two or more races. Next

064is our staff information. This is the breakdown by position or title as it compares to state percentages. And additional information about our teachers in regards to years of experience and turnover rate. Note that Prairieland ISD has a higher percentage of teachers with six plus years of experience. than does the state. Also, our teacher turnover rate is more than 4% lower than the state, and it's also down 0.5% from the previous year. This next reference is the ethnic distribution of teachers in Pearland ISD and teachers in Texas. Similar to the increase in our student minority enrollment, Pearland ISD has also increased the percentage of minority teachers, specifically African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander between 2024 and 2025. That concludes the information reported in the taper. Section two is our district's financial report. This report is

065from the 23-24 school year, so you most likely have seen more recent information presented by our CFO since the figures in this report. The top section will show you Pearland ISD's revenue and expenditures per student compared to the state. The bottom figure shows how our operating expenditures are allocated by the main function areas. Also included are the links to the campus and district financial actual reports. Section 3 is the district accreditation status. TEA awards an accreditation status to each public school district and charter school. A district or charter must be accredited by the state to operate as a public school. The accreditation status is based on the TEA academic accountability rating from the prior school year and financial ratings from the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas. The first rating is based on analysis of

066the district's financial data. And the two years where there was no issue was due to there being no accountability from the 2020 and 2021 years. Also, this is behind because the most recent one in 23-24 is based on our 2023 accountability rating. We just got our 24 and 25 in the fall, so those are expected to be issued in the spring of this upcoming year. Next slide is section four of the annual report, which is the campus performance objectives. Each campus has developed and is implementing a campus improvement plan. Each campus improvement plan includes performance objectives that are based on the data analysis and needs assessments. Campuses periodically measure progress toward the performance objectives. The campus performance objectives for the 25-26 school year were approved at the October 14th school board meeting. Updated campus improvement

067plans are available on the district and each campus' website. And that link there would take you to all campus performance objectives. Section 5 TEA requires that the district's annual report include a statement of the number, rate, and type of violent or criminal incidents that occurred on each district campus. A campus is identified as a persistently dangerous school if its mandatory expelable incidents equal 1% or more of its enrollment for three consecutive years. No campus in Pearland ISD had an incident rate of 1% or more during the 24-25 school year. In fact, the total incidents for all campuses combined was less than .01. The incidents considered are the most serious such as possession of firearm, felony controlled substance violation, and sexual assault. Because we had so few, we can't actually post those numbers because it would

068violate FERPA. Section six is student performance in post-secondary institutions. Texas statute requires every school district to include with their performance report information on student GPA in post-secondary institutions during the first year enrolled after graduating from high school. The most current report is for 2023 graduates. The report for 2024 graduates is expected to be released soon. Usually by this time we have them. Last year they were lagging and like the week after this presentation, the 2023 came out. So we're anticipating the 2024 report will be out shortly. They're a little bit behind on these the last couple of years. Let's see, student performance is measured by the grade point average or GPA earned by high school graduates who attended Texas public higher education institutions in the following academic year. They combine their GPA from semester, the

069fall semester and spring semester and summer semester of their first year. And this data is only available for students attending public higher education institutions in Texas. That's the only information that they release. So if you note in that chart, there's some that say not trackable or not found, and maybe students that are attending out of Texas. Section 7, progress toward meeting Board-adopted House Bill 3 goals. House Bill 3 requires school boards to adopt and monitor early childhood literacy and math proficiency plans and CCMR plans. The goals in these plans set targets for the district and also each campus and student group over five years. The original goals were approved at the June 2020 board meeting and were revised and approved at the August 25 board meeting. setting targets for the next five years. These goals

070will continue to be monitored and progress will be reported each year in the district annual report. The taper glossary available both in English and Spanish provides definitions, describes methodologies, and lists resource for each data point in the taper. The link to the glossary is available here and the glossary will be added as part of the annual report. All sections of the annual report will be posted on the district's website within two weeks of this meeting. Does anyone have any additional questions? I appreciate the time. Thank you, Miss Perez. I know that's a lot of dense information to share in such a short amount of time, but I really appreciate the way you've broken it all down and showed us by grade level and other nuances that we needed to know. So thank you for this

071report always and for the information. All right, now we're going to move on to the consent agenda portion of the meeting. Are there any items to be pulled from the consent agenda this evening? We need to close the public hearing at 6.13 p.m. Oh, excuse me. Gosh, where's my head at tonight? Are there any public comments about the public hearing this evening? I'm sorry? Oh, thank you. All right. Hearing no comments, seeing no one, move that direction to the mic. Then we'll close this public hearing at 6.13 p.m. Thank you, Ms. Guzetta, for that direction. All right. Now we're going to move to new business consent agenda. Any items to be pulled from consent agenda this evening? I'll motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. I have a motion from Trustee Scheffler and a second

072from Trustee Carter. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. All right. Now on to the regular agenda, consideration and approval of additional personnel. Dr. Berger. Yes, ma'am. As I've shared with the board and with our district, I am requesting three new positions to start July 1st, 2026. They are the positions of executive director of curriculum instruction, director of special education, and a special education specialist. If these items are approved, they will be posted. But once again, they will not start until July 1st, 2026 to help us with some reorganization and needs that we have for the district. Thank you, Dr. Berger. Any questions on this item? These are the ones that we've discussed. Okay. Dr. Berger, I appreciate your leadership in identifying the needs that

073we have in the upper-level administration, and I know that there have been a lot of positions that have been tasked with taking on additional work, and I think that this will reallocate and help strengthen the upper-level administration significantly. So I appreciate the work you've done to be very thoughtful about these new positions. I'll make a motion to approve. I have a motion by Trustee Stuckey and a second by Trustee Murphy. Any further discussion on this item? All right, hearing none, we'll call for a vote. All those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. Dr. Berger, regular agenda item number two, consideration and action of related to the library material challenge appeal. Yes, ma'am. So in accordance with the board policy a formal appeal was submitted requesting board review a decision made by the Pearland ISD library material

074review committee The challenge material is all boys aren't blue by George M Johnson following the district's established review process the library material review committee convened Reviewed the material in its entirely applied the district's evaluation rubric and voted to retain the material in the high school library collection The appellate has exercised the right to appeal to the committee's decision to the Board of Trustees. The appeal was submitted in writing within the required time frame and requests that the Board reverse the committee's decision. The appellate has chosen to send all the information of the appeal to the Board in written format with all the documentations provided from them as well as the Library Review Committee and will not be presenting here tonight. In accordance with the local board policy and Texas law, They are permitted to present,

075but as I said, they will not. The board has reviewed all of the material and has it before them tonight. What we are asking the board to consider is to take action, which will be final according to the local policy and Senate Bill 13. The board does have all the material and the rubric that was used by the library committee. The board has been tasked to use the same rubric based off of the material, All Boys Aren't Blue, and determine if the library review committee's decision will be upheld or if the board deems based on the rubric and the law of Senate Bill 13 in our local policy, if the material should be removed from our library collection. Thank you, Dr. Burger. Okay, I'd like to open up the table for discussion on this item

076tonight. Who would like to get started? I'm happy to. I just wanted to put in that when we first got this challenge, I've read the book. I read it about maybe two years ago. And I remember it being very important. I remember that was the first thing I thought when I read this book was, wow, this book is really important for specific kids experiencing similar things. And I was very impressed by that. But when we got the challenge, I definitely had memories of passages in the book. And I was like, okay, well, maybe, you know, let's take another look at it because I don't want to run afoul of the law. And so I absolutely don't have a problem with the challenge. And I was kind of on the fence as to, I didn't really

077get to finish rereading the entire thing. I was on the fence as to how I'd feel about it. Then I realized it's not my choice, it's the library committee's choice. But then it's been appealed. Given that the library committee so diligently, like I looked at the rubric and so diligently went through this, my opinion is to support the library committee. And like I said, I wasn't even 100% when we got the challenge that it wouldn't be a problem. But I trust that this committee of seven people or five that voted to keep it on the shelves, it looks like they really did a lot of work on this. So my vote would be to support the committee. That's just my two cents. Thank you, Trustee Carter. Yeah, thank you, Trustee Carter. As you did, as

078I've read the book, I looked at what the work of the library committee meeting and myself filled out the rubric that they used and used the same guiding principles that they did. If I look at one of the questions in here, I think it's question one, two, three, four, five. Does the material contain indecent content defined as content that describes or portrays sexual conduct? And I stop there. Because then when I went and re-read the book, there are passages in here that if I'm using my observation of that as a member of the board, I do believe. the material does have indecent content. The side depicts sexual conduct. That is my observation and that's my evaluation of the book. So I do trust the work of the committee and five members felt that it was

079not sexual content and two members did. Thank you, Trustee Johnson. I'll second what Jim said. I read the book and I do want to point out A couple of things. Ms. Harrington spoke earlier. I do think this is a book that could be very important to some people. Specifically, it applies to them. I thought it was well-written. It's easy to read. If you know me, I'm not much of a reader, but I found it pretty easy to read. I ended up in the same place that Mr. Johnson did on question five, and just to make sure I understood Senate Bill 13, I did speak to three. legislative offices, two legislators and one staff member, and kind of came to the conclusion that I was, my assessment was, I felt that I was thinking correctly on

080that. I ended up on the same question with the same answer. Yeah, I think that on the rubric, The rubric, if anybody hasn't seen it, it's kind of a step-by-step process. And on that particular question, if you answer yes, one thing that hasn't been stated is that it's a mandatory pull. If you think this book contains sexually explicit material... If you vote yes there, and I actually spoke to a reviewer that was in the room, and the conversation was hard, and it should be, right? We're considering removing material from a public school library. I don't think any of us take that lightly. This one obviously is not just sexual. There's other characteristics that people feel very strongly about this book and why it either should or should not be there. But that question pertains to

081Texas law and we are the ones that are charged with upholding that law. And frankly, so are our employees. They're all here to make sure that our school district obeys the law and follows the law. You know, the review committee is five. district staff and two parents. The vote went 5-2. And I don't know, because it is a secret vote. I don't know how that fell. But it was interesting to me to see that. And I think that that just kind of demonstrates a little bit of just kind of the, I don't want to call it a divide. That's the wrong word. But just the different way that we all approach the same problem. You know, if we all look at it, we all see it in a different light. And again, coming back to

082what Ms. Harrington had said, to just pull excerpts out of somebody's art does do a disservice to the art. I read the whole book, and I found it a lot of times very engaging. And I can say, personally, I disagree with a lot of the conclusions the author came to. But that doesn't change the fact that those are his interpretations of the things that happened to him in his life and the way that it shaped him. And it's a compelling story. two very graphic chapters that if they were turned into a movie and someone depicted the acts described in those chapters, it would at very least be R, if not an X-rated movie. And it could go to either of those categories depending on how the artist making the film would do it. Even if

083two characters discussed the content that's written, if they used those as lines just to talk to each other and relate something that had happened, this would be a rated R movie. And where I fall is that we've got 14-year-old children in high schools. We cannot restrict this book by grade band. It's either in or it's out. And I don't think my 14-year-old children are ready for that quality of content, but that's not the only ones. There's a lot of people out there. In fact, Rasmussen did a poll in 2022. 69% of Americans polled in 2022, right in the middle of all the controversy and all the rights protests and all this stuff. 69% of people said they're against sexual content in public school libraries, and that's in the high school level. It gets to be

084a higher number as you go to lower levels. So I will also vote yes on that question, which means mandatorily I'm gonna end up voting to pull this piece. Any further comments from the board? One thing I would like to remind everyone of, it sounds like everybody pretty much has their mind made up, but the one thing I do want to remind everyone of is this is not a mandatory text. We still have the option to prevent your child from checking out this book, and I think that's something we should keep in mind. Between that and the fact that it's already been through the committee process, those are the two reasons why I feel... about going ahead and keeping this on our shelves. But that's all, I just wanna remind everyone. Thank you, Trustee Carter.

085Any further comments on this item? For what it's worth, this is a very black and white issue for me as well. The law in Senate Bill 13 states that we are required to remove sexually explicit material from our libraries. The definition of sexually explicit is written here, and I don't think there's any argument that there is two chapters of very sexually explicit material. This is not about the characters of the book, the reflection of their experience. the memoir status of it, it is specifically, it's nothing about the ideology of the book. And our libraries reflect a wide variety of ideologies, including those that are reflected in this book. My vote is strictly based on the black and white question of is there a sexually explicit material in this book? And I'll be voting accordingly. All

086right, hearing no further discussion, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor of the, let's see. I'll call for a motion. I will make the motion that we remove this book from circulation in Pearland ISD in the library system. Second. Motion from Trustee Scheffler and a second by Trustee Johnson. Any further discussion on this item? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries 6-1 with Trustee Carter voting against Trustee Murphy, Weimer, Carbone, Scheffler, Stuckey, and Johnson voting for. All right. Dr. Berger, we're moving on to approve adopting the order called for the May 2nd School Board of Trustee election and canvassing results of the election. Yes, ma'am. As we know, we have an election coming up May 2nd, 2026 for the school board of trustees. Election

087and canvassing, there is a link to the election order. It is required as stipulated in law. And so we have to go through the process of approving. We ask that the board of trustees adopt the order of calling the May 2nd, 2026 school board trustee election and that the date to canvass this election will be set for May 12th, 2026. Move to approve. I have a motion by Trustee Johnson, a second by Trustee Murphy. Any further discussion on this item? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those, seven, zero. Motion carries, seven, zero. All right, next we're gonna approve the joint election agreement and contract for election services with the county clerk, Dr. Berger. Yes, ma'am. Now that we've approved that we will have an election, we have to prove the fact that we

088will enter an election agreement with Brazoria County to hold the election. We are asking that the Board of Trustees approve the joint election agreement and contract for election services between Pearland ISD and the County Clerk of Brazoria County, which allows the officials of Brazoria County to conduct and supervise the May 2, 2026 Board-ordered election. Thank you, Dr. Berger. Any discussion on this item? Hearing none, I'll call for a motion. So moved. I have a motion by Trustee Murphy and a second by Trustee Weimer. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. And Dr. Berger, number five, consider approval of library material. Yes, ma'am as we've done in the past since this school year started thanks to Texas Senate bill 13 Which requires that all new library

089materials purchased or donated to a school district must be? Publicly posted for at least 30 days and approved by the school board prior to distribution as we have done previously our librarians have submitted to us the Purchases they would like to make we have posted these lists on our website for public comment no public public comment or objectives Objections have come in and so now we are at asking the board to approve the library material listed by campus and grade level as presented. I have a question. Thank you, Dr. Burger. Trustee Carter. Are we adding to this list the two that we deferred last month? No, ma'am, those will come up next month. I thought we had just deferred them for a month. They were not included in these lists when it was posted, so

090I can't ask you to approve them because they are not listed. So that's just two more months that they earn on our shelves and our librarians can't order them. Which is the problem that I have with the constant deferrals. I feel like we should be able to do our research and vote accordingly. Okay, so next month, can we please have them on the list? 100%. Any further discussion on this item? Move to approve. Second. I have a motion by Trustee Johnson, a second by Trustee Stuckey. Any further discussion on this item? Yeah, I had some, again, surprise that I would like some more time to look at. So it's all the real crime ones. And I've tried to pull summaries of them. I have not been able to read them all. I've tried getting copies

091of the two that Ms. Carter is asking about and I've had a request for an interlibrary loan for three weeks and so it might be good to get deferred because it doesn't seem like you can get your hands on them anyway, at least not through the library system. I mean, Edmund Kemper, and forgive me if you've got kids that are watching this on a live feed, I'll give you about 10 seconds before I start talking about some of the things that are in some of these books, but just... These are real humans that did horrible, horrible things. And these are factual accounts of what they did. And we're putting them again into a high school library with kids 14 to 18 from all sorts of different backgrounds. I hope nobody needs to read about dismemberment

092and necrophilia and sexual violence, rape, torture, pedophilia. I mean, that's what's in a good number of these that I have some concerns about. And I've never read one, just being honest. It's just not my genre. So I would like a chance to pull some of those off the list if we can amend the motion or make a new one, whichever one's more appropriate. But there's about 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 that I was looking at. Of those, one, two, three, four, five, six. Six of those are these accounts of very violent, horrible, nasty crimes. There is a graphic novel about a teenage boy that was raped and sexually assaulted. And it's a graphic novel. It's kind of a mystery from what I have found. It

093just seemed really strange. This one's called Trigger. But again, it seems like it's kind of hard to find and difficult to get your hands on. There's no reviews that I can find online. I don't think it's been out for very long. There's another one that seems to be another graphic novel and it involves grooming of children and sexual assault of a minor and adult minor predation themes and to me that's again not something I necessarily want to put in front of people and it's not these books can't exist and they can't be written and you can't get access to them. I don't think they belong in a high school library. I don't know. I've got a list of them here, and I can go through it. But number 35, number 65, number 66, number 88,

094number 107, number 129, number 124, number 125, number 110, number 111, 112, 113, 114, 128, 27, and 28 would all be on my list of things to take a closer look at. Dr. Scheffler, was number 75 included? I did not mention that one. So, Dr. Shiffle, I'm just trying to kindly understand. A lot of these ones, you're talking about serial killers, and number 75 is about a murder trial. It's O.J. Simpson, the trial that captured America. So I'm just trying to better understand when we talk about your thoughts on these books, which ones are coming, because I think using that rubric of killing and serial killers, number 75 might. also meet your personal definition. Yeah, if you wanted to throw that one in there to be looked at, I suspect that that one does not

095have the same level, because the OJ Simpson case was not a serial killer. This was a crime of passion that happened kind of at the spur of the moment, and the trial, I mean, we all kind of watched it unfold on TV if you're old enough to see it. I suspect that it doesn't contain the same level of detail and violence, but that's what I'm saying, and I think... We need a little more time to look at these and see what we're putting in front of children. Respectfully, we did have this list up for 30 days. We've had each list up for 30 days, and it seems like every single month we're kind of moving towards a... one person pulling a bunch of things and so they get floated along down the line. We have

096the time to look this up. I understand we have day jobs. We have things that we have to do. But again, I will remind everybody, nobody is forcing any child to read this book and everybody can opt their child out of whatever book they want. So on that note, I'd like to move that we approve the library purchases as presented. We actually already have a motion and a second on the table. We were just in a further discussion portion. I'm sorry? Yes, and I asked for further discussion, and that's when Trustee Shuffler added additional thoughts. Oh, we have a motion and a second to approve the list. Yes, ma'am. All right, okay. Never mind. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Were you asking to clarify the ability for a kid to... the age, this keeps coming up.

097Like, is there a system in place, you said, that now the parents can block things? Okay. They can block one book at a time, but we haven't got to the point where parents can, can they block by total, okay. In our current system, there's a parent portal to where if... The numbers and we will ask dr. Sheffler to say him again because I wasn't able to write him down Say for example book number 65 John Wayne Gacy the killer clown if someone listening if the list gets approved as presented and the book is on the shelf and someone's listening They're like, oh I agree with dr. Sheffler. I don't want my kid to read that book they can go in the parent portal type John Wayne Gacy the killer clown and say I don't want

098my child to have that book or they can type in some cases certain subject type murder serial killer and it will pull up all books that may mention or be a part of that and you have to go through and click each book and we are working on a select all process but parents have the right right now to go in a portal that is part of our library system to take books away from being able to be checked out to their children Yeah, could you maybe somebody can clarify I believe John Wayne Gacy we already approved that book we did the we did a Rubric the the librarians filled out they there are several forensic science classes at our high schools And these are being used for those to kind of show the crimes

099and the investigations and the techniques used and things like that I thought we already did that and I thought they were on a list that we voted for already Yes, sir, that's what I was trying to scramble here. I was texting Dr. Allen because at, and I may be wrong, at Pearland High School, the Searcy Library, Ms. McManus, she had them on a previous list where we talked about it was on her first list, and Ms. Carbone brought up the serial killer, and that's when we did the review process and asked the librarians to provide more information. They did, and ultimately some of the books, I don't know if they're the exact same ones, but some of those books of serial killers, the board has... already approved just to clarify from dr allen who was

100off mic if it is the same book but a different isbn number then it has to be bought brought back to the list for approval again is it possible to see that and is that something we can see in the future books that were purchased already from the board that we just for i mean because that would just be helpful to know like if we already if you're buying the harry potter book and you bought the hardback and it's a new and it's a softback, it would have to come back to us. Is there a way to, yeah. I just hate adding, I mean, we keep talking about this month after month and we keep tweaking this. every month and I know it's a new process and I know the last couple meetings as a

101courtesy when a board member has expressed the need to pull it as a board we have given that additional grace period which I'm comfortable with on that and as long as the books are to trustee Carter if we're seeing them the next month so there's not a major delay trustee car trustee Scheffler needs additional time I'm willing to give that in a short notice. Yes, 100%. And it would also help us with this process as we are going through all these books. If we could get sooner recognition that maybe a book is being pulled, then we could have information readily available. So we will continue to refine this process. And could you clarify as well, when the two books that were pulled last month, we made the motion, we amended it, we removed those books,

102because of the timing of the meeting, they could not make it for 30 days? No, they did not have to go back up. They've already been for a 30-day review. Just this agenda item and the item was put together, I did not include those two books. It has nothing to do with the processes. I just did not include them. That was a mistake on my part. Oh, no worries. So these books can go up next month if they are removed this month. I would agree with you, Superintendent Berger. If we as a board can give that information to staff, I know it's a big laundry list a little bit earlier, so that we're all aware of those books, that would be helpful. Because if there's a book that somebody wants to look at and I

103already can do further research and feel comfortable about it, it might not be. I'm willing to amend my motion based on the books that are on there to allow you additional time if needed. I just don't want to be doing this every month. I think that's the challenge we're running into. And what month do we stop delaying it another 30 days on that end? I thought with our process in place and basically the librarians going through looking at this, I thought we agreed somewhat to just take the appeals because of our process. So I don't know why we're still pulling stuff. We've done it the last two or three board meetings so that. So there's a point of order just to clarify because you made a motion to go ahead and approve this and there

104was a second so But then I heard trustee Johnson make an amendment to remove the books that trustee Scheffler I Said I might be I'd be willing to do that, but I did not do that in a formal motion president Carbone so you need to clarify your motion so we can move move forward because We're continuing this every month. We have a motion by Trustee Johnson and a second by Trustee Stuckey. Are you willing to amend your motion or are you leaving your motion to go ahead and approve everything as presented? I'm going to go ahead and leave my motion as is to approve as presented. I have a motion by Trustee Johnson, a second by Trustee Stuckey. I'll go ahead and call for a vote. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries

1056-1 with Trustee Scheffler dissenting. Trustee Johnson, Stuckey, Carbone, Weimer, and Murphy and Carter are in favor. Can I ask one more question while we're on this subject? Sure. So what is, I know that these are posted on the district website, and I know that everyone has access through Destiny. I know that you can actually get into the library catalogs without even going in and logging into Destiny. That's public information. When people have asked me about these and why it's coming up and why I'm interested in all that, I have some really engaged parents that are telling me they have no idea when these lists come up. And I say, well, you can literally put a reminder in your phone every second Tuesday they're probably popping up. Like that's just kind of, that's going to be

106the routine. Is it possible or are we already doing anything to alert people to say, here's the lists, take a look at them? Yes. It's a much more engaging post than it used to be it used to be a very flat like non-engaging color graphic. Now it's a much more graphic. I mean, it's there for those that are looking for it. Yeah, and I don't do social media, so forgive me. You know, I do it when I absolutely have to, and I cringe every time I open any of those windows. But I appreciate that the district is trying to make that, is put that out there. So my message to parents would be, if you are concerned, because people have asked me about some of these. When I brought up, they're like, oh yeah, you're

107putting that in the library? You can't. You know, that kind of reaction. Like, are you looking? Do you care? Because we haven't had any parent pull anything. And I know that people are concerned when they find out what's there. But you have to look. And I've even gone as far as I do an e-news blurb from the desk of the president every month as a part of the e-news letter that goes out to every parent via email. And even last month, I said that we had an engaging discussion on library matters. These are the lists posted. We'd love to hear your feedback. Gave my direct email address and haven't had any. Well, and I know I'm going to get labeled book banner and all that other stuff, whatever. That's fine. The point I would make

108is you would never have this list going into the junior high library. This wouldn't be going into the elementary library. We all make decisions about what's age appropriate and what's not. No one's banning a book. We're just saying that's kind of questionable that you would want that in front of children at this certain age. That's not a book ban. That is judicious application of what we know as adults in trying to take care and safeguard our kids. So if people are concerned, we need to hear about it. If not, it's a subject that I will drop. I will try and be more diligent about getting to the list at the beginning of the month instead of the end of the month if I have any concerns and see if I can turn that over back

109to administration. Thank you, Dr. Scheffler. Dr. Berger, we're moving on to administrative reports, specifically the district benchmark report. All right. A little technical difficulty with the link of the benchmark report. It doesn't open, but so what happens is Every year we do benchmark and people may be asking, well, what is this? At the end of the first semester, students participate in benchmark testing that allows teachers to track student progress. So we just did the taper report and it talks about all the end of the year scores. Well, that's an autopsy. That's at the end of the year. The kids took the STAR test, and for us to go back and try to figure out what's going on and make any corrections is a little bit difficult. So during the school year, we want to make

110sure that we are tracking, we assess what we teach, and are the kids learning what we're teaching by that assessment? And the benchmark is one of those, and we give those out as well as a simulation. In the link, once we get it working, the attached benchmark data shows approaches, meets, and masters percentages for English language arts, grades three through 10, math, grades three through nine, science, grades five, eight, and nine, and social studies, grade eight and 11. And I will highlight for you that we truly focus on meets. And what we have done this year with our benchmark assessments is we also got in the habit of having fluctuating Meets approaches and masters standards on our benchmarks and so when we were looking at our data It was hard for us to track it

111very much like the star does like dr. Sheffield was talking about if you're always changing the standard and you're always changing the level of performance How do you truly have data to compare year over year? So dr. Allen and his team said let's stop doing that So what we did is let's set the mates standard at 70% Passing in a class is 70%, so let's put it at that threshold. Knowing that STAR is not at 70% for the meets. But if our kids are hitting that mark or reaching that mark, STAR shouldn't be a problem. We are truly teaching the content. We're truly teaching the TEKS, and we're measuring what our students are learning. If they are successful, STAR won't be a problem. So we're not teaching to the test. We're teaching the material that

112the test is assessing us on. And so the benchmark reflects that for us. And so in looking through this, we look at all of our elementaries, our middle schools, our junior highs, and our high schools. This is our tool. So I will keep rolling. We will make sure that this gets published and corrected. What we have seen in third grade, we compared year over year, this year's benchmark to last year's benchmark and made sure that all the standards are at 70%. In third grade RLA, there we go, all of them. So as Gina, our new technician, is working on bringing this up, thank you Atul. So at our elementary level, and you'll see the scores and it won't reflect this as much as I'm saying. We had progress in our third grade RLA comparing this

113year to last year. A majority of our campus all performed at a higher rate on this benchmark as compared to last year for third grade. Fourth grade RLA, it's about a 50-50 split. to where 50% of our campuses performed better and 50% of our campuses did not. Third grade math is struggling a little bit in performance, but fourth grade math, again, all of our campuses are performing better. And so what we do with this data, while you have it up here, you can see the approaches, meets, and masters, we break it down to a point to where we wanna pinpoint what campus, what grade level, what subject. what teacher, what student is showing struggles, that they are not getting the curriculum at the level we need them to to close those educational learning gaps. As

114you saw in the taper report, we can look at all students and that can kind of gloss over the data. We don't want to do that on our campuses. All of our campuses have data meetings. All of our curriculum instruction works. Our instructional coaches work in those data meetings. And we want to get down to the individual student. We want to make sure that we're closing those gaps to where our Asian students and our white students aren't outperforming everybody. But all students are performing at that high level. We want to make sure our African American students, our Hispanic students, our two or more races, our special education students are all hitting that mark. So we use our benchmark scores to guide our curriculum, to guide our interventions, to make sure we are honing in our

115assessments. So this data is presented to you to show that we are paying attention, not at an autopsy level, but at a real level. So when the scores came back from December and January, our teams immediately went to work and going, okay, what's our intervention plans? What's our tutorial plans? But more than that, we want to make sure we are correcting and improving tier one instruction. And what we mean by that, we can do interventions and tutorials, but where the magic happens is when the information is first presented. where we have great tier one instruction taking place for all of our students, and this benchmark data informs that for us. And at the bottom of this page, it will show you the performance cut points like I talked about. We set it at 70% and

116it shows you that STAR 2025 was at 57%. So while some of these markers you may look at and go, well, man, you only have 36% of your RLA hitting meets, but that's at 70%. Whereas if it's a 57%, we will be blowing out the state and the region as we as done on the taper. This is reflective, we continue to do this. Simulations are going on right now for our STAR assessment to make sure that we are prepared for the April test. I may have word salad that. Dr. Allen, are you good? So I have the same dumb question every time and I don't know why I can't wrap my head around it. We're looking at, pick any one of them, grade three math. 54% of the students are approaching grade level. They're approaching

117grade level at this point during the year, or they're approaching what they should know by the end of the year? A little of both. We have questions on there that we would consider stretch questions, that maybe we've covered the material but not in depth and fully, and maybe in the next lessons they will get to those. And then we have some questions that are material we've already covered. And then sometimes, to be honest with you, we look at these benchmark exams and so maybe we will break it down by TEK. So each question is aligned to a TEK, and that's the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. So if you have question 12, that's to TEK 3.78, there's a certain skill the student should have been taught. We may look at that, broke down by TEK,

118and every class, every campus struggled with that TEK. Well, then we have a curriculum problem. But if we look at that and maybe only one teacher struggled with it or one campus struggled with it, well then we need to go look and see what's going on in that campus. So yes, to answer that question, it deals with what has been taught and it may be what is going to be taught. Dr. Berger, thank you for that information. So first time I'm seeing the benchmark and compared to the taper. So if I went back to the taper report and it's the 2025 star performance English and reading language arts, all grade levels, and it gives me approaches, meets and masters compared to the state. If I took the 88%. approaches grade level on that topic for

119English and reading and language arts. So we had 88% of our students, based on the 2025 star, approached grade level. And if I go look at the benchmark in December, we're at 71.5. Am I looking at similar data or completely different? I'm looking at Dr. Allen and you, Dr. Berger. Because that's how I'm looking at it. I don't think I'm looking at it apples to... Pecans. So if you will scroll down to the bottom of the sheet for the benchmark, the approaches that you're looking on the benchmark is at 55% cut score, where the star was at 38%. So where you're looking on the taper and you said it was 80%, and now we're at 70%, I'm rounding numbers. 88, yeah, and 70. Right. We're using a higher cut score for our benchmark. So we're

120hitting a 71.5% for all English test takers at a 55% cut score. where the star was at a 38% cut score. Does that make sense? We're using a higher threshold to meet approaches on the benchmark. That helps a little bit, yes. I'll ask more questions later. I need to better understand cut points and cuts and that. That will help me better understand the data. So we go back to the taper when Ms. Perez was talking and Dr. Sheffler asked the question about how they adjust the scores and all of that. So each one of the tests has different cut scores that's determined by the state. And previously to this year, what we were doing, we would take those cut scores from last year and when we do our benchmarks and simulations, we would use those

121same scores. for the test that we're doing. What we decided for this school year was to. Hold everybody like dr. Berger said to that higher standard so that we can see have a better idea of where our students are and it's also more of you know on level where a normal test would be within the classroom to a certain extent with 70% being the meets level and that's where we want all our kids to be and 70% is for a passing rate. So that's how we adjusted ours. So you're gonna see that discrepancy. So if you're saying comparing the apples to apples not so much really now we are looking at from our perspective then we're looking at these individual students, right? And how those students performed in STAR last year and how they're tracking

122on the benchmarks. But I think that when we're looking at the benchmarks and the simulation data, the more important part of that is those individual questions and identifying those ticks and where the supports are needed, not so much the overall percentages. Yes, we want all students to pass, and that is ultimately our goal. But when we're going through those checkpoints, where are the areas where our students are struggling so that we can adjust instruction in real time so that they can catch up the time we get to the start. So Dr. Allen, I have a question about that then. What's the correlation between our benchmarks and our I ready scores? Thank you. We did just have a M.O.Y. meeting with I-Ready just last week. I can be able to create something to be able to

123provide to you. I don't have that tonight. I will say now, remember, I-Ready is we only have that K through four for math and reading. And then when we get into five and six, we only have it in math at two of our campuses. But we can definitely look at third and fourth grade math and reading and put a side by side with that and the benchmark scores, which will be pretty good indicator because they took the benchmark in December with those M.O.Y.'s being in. in January. So we could be able to look at that. And the MOY for iReady as they promote it is a good indicator of how students will perform on STAR with that MOY. So I can be able to get Dr. Berger that information that could be shared with you

124all. Yeah, I guess I'm thinking about that for multiple reasons. But if we're using iReady and we're using benchmarking and we're using STAR simulation, we're testing our kiddos a lot to get all of this kind of benchmark data and if we can minimize the amount of time that we're spending in testing versus Instructional time it seems like that would benefit our students in the long run, but I don't think we yet know What the correlation value is between all of those assessments and how they're tying to the teaks that we're being held accountable for I feel comfortable about how they're tying into the teaks and I already does create I mean, it's very star Driven in the questioning and the way that they are presenting however it is like you just said do we really

125I mean this is year two that we've had it last year even with the first year not every campus not every student had it so this was the first time that we really have to be able to see how all students are performing so that is something that over the summer like we get our overall data we're looking at the I ready data and if I understand what you're saying is if we're using I ready can that just be that total benchmark without that I don't know that that's something we can make a decision about right now and maybe even not this summer, but it's something that we can at least start looking at if it's given us the same information. Yeah, I appreciate that because just for my own kids and watching how they're

126navigating through, and I don't know if this is at every... every campus that they're doing this, but like my kiddos have to get 50 minutes on I-Ready because some of the data is showing that if they can get 50 minutes kind of in the system, that it will help appreciate their score later on. And I wonder what the correlation is if all campuses are doing that. Are they all seeing the benefits of that? So the sweet spot for I ready whether math or reading is between 30 and 49 minutes. All of our campuses right now are meeting that I think first grade math is right at 30. Everybody else is about between 32 and 35 minutes from what I remember on the data. And that's averages. But then when you look at the students who

127are actually within that sweet spot, they are performing higher on the diagnostic than those that aren't. So there is a correlation to spending that time within it. weekly and how they're performing on the diagnostic which again should be an indicator of how they perform on start well then in from a monetary standpoint then we should we be having some discussions about I mean where we invest more money in this if if this is truly a highly correlative to our benchmarking and it's moving us forward to make sure that we have that much to Dr. Scheffler's chagrin that I'm not, I mean, I'm kind of advocating for more screen time by doing this, but if we're seeing an ROI on that, it seems worthy of having further discussion in that area. I think we'll know if

128that's something to have more discussion about in June when we actually have that data and really be able to see if it's telling us what we're seeing so far. Okay. And maybe even another year of it. I mean, I understand that we want to be sure about the decisions we're making before we jump to that, but I think it's something to start talking about now as we approach those decision points. Just for the record, would you tell us the benchmark? Do we use some of the star tests? Do we use the advanced one? Do we do locally, and do we change it up when, you know? Benchmarks are created by the specialists. Now, simulation are true, more star release, but the benchmark is created by the specialists. Now, they are also utilizing star release test

129questions, different test banks that they have that are giving us star questions. star type questions. We make sure that we put the new question types within the test as well. So they've made those adjustments. They're constantly looking at, you know, the questions and, you know, when Dr. Berger talked about, you know, if everyone is missing a question or something like, you know, do we need to go back to the curriculum documents? But they're also looking at that from the standpoint of, is this a good question? Sometimes, right? So we may need to make those sorts of adjustments. So that's a continuous thing. They usually work with teachers as well with coming up with that because they're the ones that are, you know, on the front lines doing that work. So we make sure that they

130are involved. in that process, but that's how we go through that. And just to highlight about the I-Ready, and correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Allen, another issue is we want to make sure we don't move too fast because we're still waiting for the state to determine what they are going to approve us to use as beginning of the year and middle of the year when we move into the new testing cycle in 27-28. So if we put all our money in I-Ready and the state comes back and says, no, you can't use I-Ready, you have to use something else. while we want to move fast and be prudent, we don't want to move too fast because the state may disrupt everything we were trying to do. Thank you, Dr. Allen. All right. This item

131does not require board approval, but was a good report to have in conjunction with the taper report this evening. So, Dr. Berger, thank you for that. The next piece is talking about 2026 graduation. Yes, ma'am. Before I kind of review graduation, the expert is Ms. Kelly Holt, who's in the room. I do want to say that in March, we will have another sit down with our strategic scorecard and get more of that data to you and information so we can make those correlations and alignments. So this one is just kind of community information for all of our tens of tens that are listening. The purpose of this is to highlight that the Paralympic ISD 2026 graduation ceremonies will not be at NRG. There's something called the World Cup that is going on, and they said,

132you're out. So we will be having our graduation at Pearland ISD Stadium. And so we wanna make sure that everybody understands that this is happening and that information is out there on our webpage. If you go just look at graduation webpage, the information is there. We wanna make sure that the facts are out there. So for graduation, there are no tickets. We are not issuing tickets. Students will not have tickets. What we are requesting is due to capacity of Pearland ISD Stadium that our students keep it to 10. guests that they bring to graduation. Graduation will be a live stream. It will begin at 7.30 at night, although it may be a little bit warm, so you may want to watch it from home. But you're more than welcome to come to Pearland ISD Stadium.

133We do understand you may think, well, I have 11 or I have 12. Okay, some family members may have five or six, so it should work out in the wash, but we believe we can accommodate everybody at Pearland ISD Stadium that wants to come out and watch our kids walk the stage. We want to make sure people understand there are prohibited items while we are in the stadium. This includes strollers, umbrellas, noisemakers, large signs, and balloons. We want to be respectful. Very similar to the rules of NRG, we will not have a concession at graduation. We are letting people know that outside food and drink, we don't want that to happen, but clear water bottles are available. You can bring your own water to make sure that you stay hydrated and taken care of during

134graduation. There is a clear bag policy at the stadium. It will be in effect for graduation. So just like when you come to the Pearland ISD games, there is a clear bag policy at the stadium. If you go to any sporting event, you do understand what the clear bag policy is. And if you don't, it is posted online. We want to make sure that everybody does know it is outside. Pearland ISD Stadium is not air conditioned. Guests are encouraged to stay hydrated. Once again, you can bring clear water bottles. Water will not be sold on site. Make sure you're wearing loose fitted clothing. We will also tell the students that you are walking outside on turf. So those five inch heels, those six inch heels may not be. the best footwear for you. You can

135bring hand fans or if you happen to have one of those wonderful battery operated fans, they could be available for you. The reason we don't want umbrellas and any of those portable tents or anything that some people put up at track meets is you block the view of other people. We want to make sure that everybody is able to see their child or their relative walk the stage. Parking for graduation. If you've ever been to a Dawson-Pairland football game, Parking is an issue at Pearland Stadium. We will follow the same process. We will have a shuttle system. All graduates, anyone that is graduating, will receive a parking placard. So that means students will be able to park in the home lot. Or what they can do is they can give it to their family member

136and have them be dropped off at graduation. Then the family member can carpool and they can have a placard and they can park in the home lot. There will be one placard per student. It can be used by the student or it can be used by the family members, however you wish. Other than that, we do encourage you to shuttle. The shuttle will be at the Turner South Campus or at ESC. You can park at ESC or the Turner South Campus and we will shuttle you to the graduation and bring you back. Parking opens at 5.45. 545 and the stadium will open at 6 if you want to get seating and the dates and times are for Turner it is May 20th 7 p.m. Dawson High School is May 21st 7 p.m. and Pearland High

137School is May 22nd 7.30, I keep saying 7. It's 7.30 p.m. is the start. Try to push it back as late as possible, but not too late to where they're all night. They are 7.30 p.m. starts. In further years, when we stay at Pearland Stadium, the graduations will rotate. So Turner will not always be first. It will rotate throughout the years to try to keep it fair for everybody, unless your graduation happens to not be on a Friday because it's not that rotation. Mr. Berger, can you talk about the... possible Pearland PD and traffic control just for the traffic during that time? Pearland PD will be doing traffic control just as they did with the Dawson-Pearland game. I believe it will be one-way traffic on Euler Drive. There will be blocked off in cones and

138no parking signs so you can't pull over on the side of the road either on 35 or Euler Drive. They will conduct it just as they do the Dawson-Pearland game. We will have parking attendants. There will be people at the front to help you get into the stadium. If you've ever used the elevator at Pearland Stadium, it is not the fastest. We recommend the ramps. We will have security on board. Only students and staff will be allowed on the field. Parents will not be allowed on the field. Pictures and everything will be taken just like at NRG, either in the concourse or outside in the parking lot area. Dr. Burger, the agenda says Parkway Church, but I heard you say ESC, so we're no longer using Parkway Church as a shuttle service. No, ma'am, this

139agenda item was created before we got notice. Parkway Church had to limit us to one side of the parking lot or the other. Speaking with transportation, it was not conducive, so we've moved it to ESC, and that will be reflective on the webpage if you go for graduation information. Thank you, sir. Dr. Berger, just also, this is for this year, but last meeting we approved the calendar. I know there will be tweaks, but just for those. Tens of people that are watching the 2027 graduation will follow. We might tweak some of the regulations for that, but are still going to be held at Pearland ISD Stadium. Is that correct? Our anticipation, yes. From this moment forward, we will do all of our graduations locally. Beyond the World Cup, the cost of NRG continued to escalate.

140We would have concerns from parents, the price of parking. and the travel and distance. So we are going to keep this locally at Pearland Stadium. The one thing that we risk is weather, being that it's not covered inside. If it rains, we do have to have contingency plans for that. So we will have to be flexible. That was my next question. What's the contingency plan for rain? The contingency plan for rain is we would move it to Saturday or Sunday. We would just have that depending on when it happened. If it was a light rain, we would just enjoy a light rain graduation. So if it rains, we'd move it to a different date, not move it indoors and limit attendance or anything like that? That would be a last resort. The last thing we

141want to do is limit the number of people that can see their student graduate. That may happen. It's happened in some school districts. We hope it does not. How does the light rain affect your umbrella policy? How does the light rain affect your umbrella policy? We're a poncho. We do not want to obstruct any vision. So regardless of rain, Trustee Murphy, the policy doesn't change. You still can't bring your umbrella. And just a reminder that it is a district facility, so there are other prohibited items that aren't on your list here, right? Tobacco, alcohol, firearms, all those kind of things as well. Yes, sir, that is correct. Dr. Pepper. That is correct. But we just wanted to bring this forward because we know it is new for our community. We wanted to make sure the

142board understood or anyone listening understood. All the campuses will send out the information to their seniors and to their families. And if you do have any questions, please feel free to visit the website, send emails to myself or Ms. Holt. We will be glad to clarify or provide the information as needed. Thank you, Dr. Berger. So all the other administrative reports here are for your viewing pleasure unless you have a question about any of these items. I do, but I'll ask two offline. So now we'll move into the closed portion of our meeting. The Board of Trustees of the Pearland Independent School District will now convene into a closed meeting to discuss the following items posted on our agenda as allowed by Title 5, Chapter 551, Texas Government Code. The superintendent will present for the

143board's consideration or discussion of the following matters. Section 551.071, 074, 072. No voting will take place in the closed meeting. Any action the board wishes to take as a result of discussions in closed session will take place after the board reconvenes an open meeting. It is now 7.12 p.m. We are going to reconvene an open session. Our board president is currently delayed, so I will reconvene. The time right now is 7.51, and I believe we have some motions. I move that the board issue of finding in accordance with TE's... see section 21.210C2 and 19 TAC 249.14G that good calls did exist for Danielle Carrington, a probation contract teacher to abandon her employment contract and abandon her position with Parolin ISD. Second. Okay, I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Any

144opposed? Any passes? All right, Trustee Johnson, we have another motion on the table. I move that the board authorize the board president to send a letter to the Texas Education Agency Educator Certification Division seeking sanction of a probationary contract teacher, Danielle Carrington, for abandonment of her employment contract. Second. I have a motion by Trustee Johnson and a second by Trustee Stuckey. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. I'm... I move that the board issue a finding in accordance with TEC section 2.1.210C2 and 19TAC249.14G that good cause did exist for Lydia Garcia, a probationary contract teacher, to abandon her employment contract and abandon her position with Parolin ISD. Second. Motion by Trustee Johnson, second by Trustee Murphy. All those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. I move

145that the board authorize the board president to send a letter to the Texas Education Agency Educator Certification Division seeking sanction of a probationary contract teacher, Lydia Garcia, for abandonment of her employment contract. I have a motion by Trustee Johnson, a second by Trustee Murphy. All those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. I move that the board issue a finding in accordance with TEC section 21.210C2 and 19 TAC 249.14G. That good cause did exist that Kelly King, a term contract teacher, to abandon her employment contract and abandon her position with Parolin ISD. Second. I have a motion and a second by Trustee Murphy. The motion was made by Trustee Johnson. All those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. I move that the board authorize the board president to send a letter to the Texas Education Agency Educator Certification

146Division seeking sanction of a term contract teacher, Kelly King, for abandonment of her employment contract. Second. Motion by Trustee Johnson, second by Trustee Stuckey. All those in favor? Motion carries 7-0. Gina, will you please let the minutes reflect that upon the president's return, I did cede control of the meeting back over to her willingly when she showed up. Thank you. And that time was 7.52, Board Secretary. And I'd like to thank Vice President Scheffler for moving this meeting forward. Motion to adjourn.