School Board Meeting: November 17, 2025

001I'm calling the meeting to order at 6.09 p.m. Mrs. Barron, can you have the great allegiance, please? Well, we need to return. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry about that. A regular school board meeting of the Board of Trustees of Farsan Alamo Independent School District will be held on Monday, November 17th at 20.25, beginning at 6 p.m. at PSJ Early College High School Lecture Hall at 805 West Ridge Road, San Juan, Texas. Ms. Ramona? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Ms. Castillo? Heavenly Father, we're here again at another school board meeting. I ask for your blessings. I ask that you enlighten us with insight so that whatever we discuss tonight may advance

002in the future. May we be for your honor and glory. May we stay focused in what we were elected for. May we be here totally present to the needs of our students, our staff, and our community. Allow us to have an open mind so that whatever discussions we have, they're all on the best interests of students and kids. We ask again that you be with us tonight as we celebrate success, successes, as we celebrate this wonderful young girls and boys that we have in front of us. May we celebrate accomplishments and may we always strive to enhance what we already do so that we can continue to give students the best opportunity possible to acquire a good education. For all this I pray in your name. Amen. Yes, Mr. President, we move to recognitions and

003we have letter A under recognitions, PSJA, Thomas Jefferson T-STEM, Early College High School as the 2025 Lone Star Ribbon School and this will be presented by Dr. Nora Rivas Garza and of course we have the administrators here present. If you would like to stand behind. Board President Mr. Ricardo Rodriguez, Superintendent Dr. Lino, and esteemed board members, it is an honor to stand before you to recognize PSJA Thomas Jefferson Early College High School as a 2025 Lone Star Ribbon School. PSJA Thomas Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School has made district history as the first high school recognized as a 2025 Lone Star Ribbon School. The recognition was announced by Governor Greg Abbott on September 29th and I do want to share with you that only 28 Texas schools out of the 9,000 public schools in the

004state of Texas were named 2025 Ribbon Schools and T-STEM was one of them. This recognition comes for their outstanding academic performance and progress in closing the gaps. We are extremely proud and honored to have our first ever high school recognized as a Lone Star Ribbon School. And today, present today in front of you, we shine a spotlight on one of our finest examples of what is possible when visionary leadership, dedicated teachers and staff, and hardworking students come together with a shared, shared purpose, academic excellence, and opportunities for all. The Lone Star designation is not just a title, it's a testament to the relentless pursuit of high expectations, academic excellence, and closing the achievement gaps. Congratulations to the students, teachers, staff, and the families who continue to make PSJA Thomas Jefferson T-STEM early college high school.

005A true beacon of academic excellence. We are also extremely thankful to our superintendent, our school board, and the district cabinet for their unwavering commitment to excellence as demonstrated by PSJA Jefferson Early College High School being recognized a Lone Star Ribbon School. Congratulations. I just want to congratulate all your team, Dr. Garza. Great job. I want to let you know that this is a big deal. I don't know if you all know how hard it is to get a blue ribbon in school, but it's first of its kind that we've gotten it at a high school level. We've gotten it several times in the elementaries, but it's the first time that we've gotten a high school level recognition. So congratulations, excellent job. Anybody else want to say any comments? No. No. Anybody else? Ms. Steele. I

006just want to say that you all are setting the standard for the whole ISD school district. So congratulations, your vision, your excellence, and of course your leadership, your leadership and just working together as a team. It reflects on everybody. So again, congratulations, and we've got to continue. And I know we're going to learn a lot from you all. Thank you. Yes, Mr. President, I want to make a quick comment. And I know you alluded to blue ribbon, and just to let everybody know that this was actually a blue ribbon that they got awarded, but the national blue ribbon was done away by the federal government. So the federal education system did away with the blue ribbon. So that's the reason that the state of Texas adopted the Lone Star ribbon, which is what they're receiving

007now. But really, out of those 28 campuses, they were up against nationwide over 50,000 different high schools. So it wasn't an easy task. I know that they're said on the rubric that really they have to be way up there. So out of 28 out of 50,000 nationally. And then the state selected them here at a state level because the state did not want to do away with blue ribbon. The state decided. we will call it the Lone Star Ribbon. And that's what the state is doing now instead of doing away with that recognition. So again, it's a huge honor to have a high school that gets it. That does not happen very frequent. And to me, that's something that the ISD needs to celebrate because we have that quality of students. The students, the administration

008does the work, but at the end, it's the students that make the district shine. And that's what happened here. The students are the ones that put T-STEM on the map and the students are the ones that put PSJA-ISD on the map. So again, congratulations, T-STEM. Ms. Gutierrez, are you muted? Give your hands up, Ms. Gutierrez. I'm not muted. You have me muted. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead, Ms. Gutierrez. Yes. If you could please unmute me because I've been raising my hand for a while. I just wanted to congratulate everyone on this. It's a job well done, an amazing work by the teachers, by the principal administrators, everyone at every level. It takes a team, that was me, to accomplish what they did. And the students could not have done it if the teachers, without the

009teachers, who day in and day out guide them and help them with their classes. And without an amazing principal and assistant principal administrators that make sure that they in turn lead the teachers. Congratulations again. It's a team effort. It's the students, the teachers, and everyone. Thank you, President Rodriguez. Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. Mr. Rodriguez, go ahead. Go ahead, sir. Thank you. I just want to echo what our president, Mr. Ricardo Rodriguez said. It's not an easy task to go out there and get this kind of designation. Just picture in your mind that you've got, like we're talking about, both Dr. Elias and our board president, thousands and thousands of schools that want to be in T-STEM's place. But it's a tribute for several reasons, and it should warm our hearts that a school like T-STEM

010is being congratulated tonight and appreciated for the work that they've done and for the achievements that they received because T-STEM is an icon, formerly Memorial, formerly Jefferson, like that gentleman sitting right there, he used to go to many years ago, Mr. Guajardo. It's a beautiful school. It still has its wooden floors, how it's been preserved, the integrity of it, and now the staff that is there that is continuing to maintain its excellence. It's a fitting tribute to all of us, the staff that you have there, Dr. Sandra Garza, all of them. So congratulations from the bottom of our hearts. This board is so, so appreciative of the recognition. We take credit for it sometimes because of what PSJA, and you know, but it's those individual schools that go out there out of their way and

011do what you've done. So congratulations and keep up the great work. Yes, Mr. President, we moved PSJA Early College High School, Lady Bears Volleyball Team to the top five district champions for the fifth consecutive year, and this will be presented by Athletic Director Orlando Garcia. Mr. President, Dr. Lillas, members of the board, we'd like to thank you for giving us this opportunity to recognize our student athletes. Today we're going to recognize the PSJA Lady Bear Volleyball Team. They truly have set the standard of continuous championships and established themselves as one of the better volleyball programs in the program valley. We are very proud of everything they've accomplished, and they've set a goal of trying to repeat it every year, and they've matched it, and we thank them for everything they've done. The PSJA Lady Bear

012Volleyball Program had an outstanding 2025 season. The Lady Bears went 9-1 in district play and were the 31-6-8 district champions and the bi-district champions for the fifth consecutive years. The Lady Bears had an overall record of 30-10. When I call your name, please raise your hand. Starting with number one, Senior Ava Castillo, number two, Isa Zamora, number three, Junior Aubrey Garza, number four, Senior Catherine Herrera, number five, Senior Juliana Guajardo, number six, Senior Camila Figueroa, number seven, Senior Nayeli Ostolaza, number eight, Junior Annalise Ostolaza, number nine, Senior Lexi Adena, Number 10, freshman Julianne Lopez. Number 11, junior Miranda Zamora. Number 12, senior Nia Sanders. Number 13, sophomore Camila Lopez. Number 15, senior Ava Dominguez. Manager Josiah Montelongo, Nina Guerra, and Isaac Arredondo. The Lady Bears are coached by head coach Carolyn Cuellar-Mendoza. Assistant coach Stephanie

013Crispin, Sarah Hernandez, Alyssa Garza, Nelly Rodriguez, Samuel Talga, and Nelly Rodriguez. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you. Thank you. How are you? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That way the podium doesn't come. You can't see the camera. The camera can't see you. So make sure you find the window. You can look over here. Ready? One, two. Smile. Thank you. I just want to congratulate you all. Five championships in a row, that's unheard of. Congratulations. That's really great. And coach, you just told me that out of those five championships, you've been coaching them for eight years. Is that correct? That's great. So congratulations again, girls. Congratulations. Mr. President, we move to item C. PSJA North Early College Raider Band has made it

014to UIL State Marching Contest four times. 2006, 2008, 2023, and 2025. And this will be presented by Director Mr. John Taylor. President, Dr. Leis, members of the board, thank you for giving the Fine Arts Department this opportunity to recognize the outstanding achievements of our fine arts students. Thank you also for your continued support of our programs. This year, all four PSJA ISD marching bands earned first division ratings at the UIL Pigskin Jubilee Marching Contest and advanced the UIL Area Marching Competition. Tonight, we are presenting the PSJA North Raider Band that tied for first place. At the UIL 5A Area Marching Contest, thus earning a trip to San Antonio where they competed at the UIL 5A State Marching Contest on November 10th at the Alamo Dome. At stake, the band came in 21st, placing them among

015the top 8% of the 253 5A schools in the state. The Raider Band has made it to the UIL State Marching Contest four times. In 2006, 2008, 2023. In 2020, 2025. Head Band Director Jeremy Rowe was with the band all four of those times. As an Assistant Band Director the first two times and as a Head Band Director the next two times. Representing the band tonight are the seniors, color guard officers, and drum majors. Seniors are Sophia Acosta, Denise Araujo, Itzel Arroyo, Eugenia Bautista, Noemi Cantu, Tristan Castellanos. Oasis Contreras, Mariella Esquivel, Nicolas Flores, Denisa Garcia, Gavin Garcia, Gael Garza, Carlos Gomez, Ryan Guerrero, Derek Gutierrez, Giovanni Guzman, Cesar Hernandez, Mariah Hernandez, Noah Herera, Javon Jimenez, and wife Ezequiel. At the UIL 5A Area Marching Contest, thus earning a trip to San Antonio where they tied

016for first place. At stake, the band came in 21st, placing them among the top 8% of the 253 5A schools in the state. In 2012, they were with the band all four times. At stake, the band came in 21st, placing them all four times. At stake, the band came in 21st, placing them all four times. At stake, the band came in 21st, placing them all four times. Javen Jimenez, Cassandra Juarez, Mikaela Lindeza, Lauren Longoria, Madison Lopez, Madison Marquez, Osiel Martinez, Evelyn Mendez, Austin Molina, Armando Montes, John Olivares, Emily Ontiveros, Eliana Reyes, Alejandro Rodriguez, Julio Santillan, Gerardo Torres, and Eric Vera. Color Guard officers are Senior Eric Gavaskas, Captain, Senior Amy Guerrero, Co-Captain, and Junior Natalie Gonzalez, Co-Captain. Drum majors are Senior Julian Covarrubias-Favella, Head Drum Major, Senior Edwin Nevarez, Drum Major, and Junior Adam Lozada.

017And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez, Senior Edwin Nevarez, and Junior Adam Lozada. And the Drum Majors are Senior Edwin Nevarez,

018Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. I want to congratulate all of you. Good job. Real proud of you. I know it's not easy to make it all the way to compete over there in state. So, I mean, that's a big task, just getting there. So I want to congratulate you. And all your hard work, that was the outcome, so I congratulate you for that. I also want to say that now I know why you did so well, because you're all in sync when you were clapping. So, good job out there. Really proud of you. before we continue with the next item. If you guys want to go home already, I know you, you don't want to keep them here too long because it's a school night. Okay. We're going to go ahead and move to the next

019item. Dr. Yes. Mr. President item D superintendents cabinet presentation. And this will be presented by Mr. Marquez and some of his executive officers. Mr. Marquez is the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Mr. President. Mr. Rodriguez. President Rodriguez. Go ahead. It was Ms. Quintanilla first. Okay. I'll go ahead and go first. Trustee Gutierrez. I had, I was going to say, I received an email from Ms. Quintanilla where she rightfully voiced her concern about us not getting this presentation. In advance. So I, I wanted to know what, what we're going to do about that. That's a violation of open meetings that we, we don't, we didn't get any, any information, neither on the agenda nor on our package about what they were going to present about. So we would, so that we could prepare. Yes. And

020I want to second that. And I believe that my fellow trustees who were at the same legal seminar conference, this weekend, that was a point made that items on the school board agenda need to be more descriptive. It should have at least identified a topic. It should have identified maybe who was presenting and it should have been part of our board agenda packet, which we didn't get. I heard it wasn't ready at the time that the agenda went out. And if it was not ready at that time, then it should not have been included and, or it should have been included even right now. And I just look forward, I'm not sure if it's in our agenda packet and it is still not there. So I am requesting to table this item. And if not,

021then I agree with Josh trustee with the other said it would be yet another open meetings act violation. Well, I'll make a motion to table the item. I second. I have a motion to table the item in a second. All those for the table. Raise your hand. I got to all those against raise your hand. Five, five, four, five against. I'm sorry. So we're going to continue the next item. Mr. President. So just there, Mr. Mr. President, there's no violation of the open meetings act here. Their item has to be of sufficient specificity to give the public a notice of the topic to be discussed. In this case, you're getting noticed that the topic is going to be talked about the superintendent's cabinet presentations. And so the item is not, does not need to say

022exactly what it is. You're going to be doing just sufficient description to know what it is you're going to be talking about. So the topic here is a presentation by the superintendent's cabinet. I'll also notice that it's not an action item. It's just a presentation item under superintendent reports. Thank you, Mr. President. Now, I'll echo what you said, council. Um, it's quite obvious that we have presentation that is going to be had tonight and that's to enlighten us on what's going on in our district. It's a learning experience for us as board members to find out certain issues that are developing in our district presentations, work habits and things of that nature. Again, I agree that there's no violation. There's no secret agenda here. Uh, there's no specificity that I see needs to be had.

023So I think that it's frivolous to call it out at this time. And I think that we should go ahead and just conduct, uh, the, the, go on with the presentation. Thank you. It was voted on. So President Rodriguez, we had, uh, go ahead. Yes. Uh, legal on the agenda. There's not sufficient information. So, um, and again, uh, everyone on the board is entitled to their opinions. There's no need to, to be, uh, making those comments, Mr. Villegas and, uh, legal in the, or, uh, Mr. President, rather, if you can direct the superintendent to in the future, uh, disclose what the topic is going to be because legal, there's no topic on the agenda or on our package. The clarity will be found in the agenda item as we discuss it. Thank you. During the

024presentation, I still stand up the comment that it was frivolous. Thank you, sir. Uh, just wanted to say that, uh, I'm the one who brought this, wanted to bring this item to, for it to be presented because there's a lot of good things that the, the district is doing. Our staff is doing a great job. Students are doing great. And I wanted to head of a spotlight on a district as far as all the great things they're doing. That is a purpose why I brought this item so that we could, uh, have a spotlight on all the staff, the great job they're doing, like I said, and also how great our students are doing in, uh, in the athletics that we had today and also the scores and everything. There was a whole reason. Why

025I brought this, nothing else behind it. Mr. President, I just want to comment that it is a presentation and therefore it's not going to require any action and that we need to know what it is. It's going to be presented. We're going to find out now and we have questions we're going to ask them. Yeah, we already made that. It's just a presentation. I really made that clear. So, uh, go ahead. Mr. Marcus. Yes. Good evening. Uh, board president Rodriguez, uh, esteemed members of the board and superintendent of the schools, Dr. Leas. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, tonight, we're really excited to be here to share with you two important initiatives that are happening in PSJA. First, our team will provide an overview of our cradle to college conference held

026earlier this month. Uh, this event reflects the important work happening in PSJA and the leadership. Our district continues to demonstrate and preparing students for college and career. For the last two years, we've been proudly sharing our success with educators across the state and the nation and the reach of our work in PSJA. Our students are thriving. And what is even more impressive is that the work happening in PSJA is now influencing practices beyond our district, helping improve outcomes in surrounding communities and well beyond now on the national level. By strengthening early learning, building a strong college going culture and expanding purposeful connections to post-secondary opportunities, PSJA is setting a model that is making a meaningful difference for students and their families. For students here at home and across the broader educational landscape. Following that, our

027team will present an update on our blended learning initiative. This work advances how we support every learner through innovative instructional practices and aligns directly with our district goals of academic excellence opportunities for all and our commitment to becoming an a rated district and a statewide leader in academics. Blended learning does not replace traditional teaching. It enhances and enriches it. It allows us to personalize instruction, meet individual student needs with targeted supports, and engage students through the thoughtful integration of in-person teaching and digital tools. As we conduct our learning walks every day in support of our campuses, our team is excited to report that the work that we are seeing in our classrooms by our teachers is nothing short of extraordinary. And we are confident that it will yield great results. Thank you. results. These initiatives

028reflect our ongoing commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and student success. So at this time, I would like to, it is my pleasure to introduce Dr. Linda Uribe, who will present on our Cradle to College conference, and she'll be followed by Dr. Iris Guajardo and Dr. Susana Arredondo, who will share an update on our blended learning initiative. Thank you, Mr. Marquez. Good evening, Board President, Dr. Elias, and School Board. I am delighted to be here this evening to present on our Cradle to College conference, advancing our mission, vision, and the impact that we're making, not just across PSJA, but the state of Texas and nationwide. About our conference, our conference was held November 5th through the 6th. We had a pre-conference, and we also had the two day and a half conference, right? And so we

029had different tracks for this, and we were so excited to see all of the participants that came to the conference. We had a lot of people that were coming to the conference, and we had a lot of people that were coming to the conference, and we had a lot of people that were coming to the 東西 were going to the conference, and we have the best practices the PSJA has to offer. In the next slide, you're able to see how the Cradle to Conference really is advancing our mission, vision and the impact that it's making. It's aligned to the work that PSJA is currently doing through early childhood and college. And it's really creating that seamless pipeline for our kids starting in Pre-K and even before that. It really empowers educators to be perspective and

030partners to drive innovation and make sure that opportunities for all are seen throughout. And it celebrates student opportunities for all success through early college and the workforce pathways. It also helps strengthen our community with our higher education partners by really providing our students access and opportunities throughout. And so we're really, really excited to be able to bring our district mission and vision to life and impact the lives of our students across our communities. In the next slide, you're going to see that it's also making that statewide and national impact because PSJA has established a P through 16 alignment that is replicated with districts across the state of Texas and the nation. We are recognized nationally for transforming college and career. For every single student, it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, our

031PSJA family is here to serve. And it also has a widespread influence. It engages educators and leaders statewide and amplifies the stories that PSJA has to offer. I know that during our pre-conference, we had some participants that had been here who said, we never had a Go Center before, but because we came to PSJA, now our students in a different state have access to a different kind of education. They have access to college, to people to serve them. So you're able to see that impact. During one of our sessions, our PTI staff was also presenting on their entrepreneurship model. And we have a young girl that graduated last year. I'm pretty sure you all remember her. Gabby, she was an entrepreneur. She started a family business, Gabby's Fury Sweets. During our session, Gabby donated some

032of those sweets. And someone from Illinois. of state reached out to Gabby one of our graduates from PTI and is placing orders so you're really able to see how this conference is opening doors for educators and even our students of all abilities. In the next slide you're gonna be able to see our registration we had 277 participants at the conference and 50 at our pre-conference. We also had 38 dynamic sessions for all of our participants. Our sponsorship for 2025 was over $9,000 and so we were able to make a total of sixty two thousand four hundred and twenty five dollars through our conference. So this money is what's used to pay for the conference and to make sure that we have everything in place to continue to leverage on the mission that PSJA has set.

033Once we looked at the money that we spent we had a profit of over $70,000 from this conference that's gonna go back to our students in ensuring that we're able to continue to support the College for All. In the next slide you're able to see that our conference had participants from across Texas and beyond. We had states from Arizona, California, Indiana, Maryland we had several participants from Texas and also the grand total of the registration was fifty three thousand six hundred. hundred. Our registration by region you're able to see there as well and you're able to to notice that Texas had two hundred and eleven participants and Indiana had forty seven. And of course you see the other numbers there as well. Our pre-conference sites included PSJ Early College High School, the Dr. King Center

034featuring our PSJ Academies, PSJ Thomas T-STEM Early College High School, and Soto Mayor Building Blocks. So they were really able to get the essence of the cradle to college that PSJ has in place. We're also very thankful to our donors and sponsors. They donated over nine thousand dollars and so we had seventeen of them and we're very grateful for the continued support that they offer PSJ to ensure that we're continuing this work. In the next slide you're able to see all of our participants throughout Texas. And we're really proud to say that for the first time we had over eight local districts. This is the most participation that we get from our local districts really wanting to come and learn from the best practices that PSJ has to offer. And then you're also able to

035see all of the different districts from across Texas that engaged in our conference. The next slide shows you all of the different roles. So we had educators, from all different roles. We had administration and leadership. For example, we had regional VPs for special programs. We had technology and operations, communications and community engagement personnel, regional, external, and higher ed partners. We also had campus leaderships like principals, superintendents, deputy superintendents, to name a few. We had different instructional and academic personnel like coordinators and several teachers. We had a number of different departments that were involved in our work. We had a number of different departments that were involved in our work. We had college and career readiness specialists, counselors, advisors, and several counselors, like I mentioned as well. We offered six tracks in our conference. So our

036participants really got to roll up their sleeves and learn from the practitioners themselves that are doing the work day in and day out in our schools here in PSJA. Our first track was our PSJA early college track, where they came in to learn about how does PSJA work in our schools. And they were able to learn about how does PSJA work in our schools. And they were able to learn about how does PSJA work in our schools. And they were able to learn about the skill opportunities for every single student in the seat, and offers them an opportunity to graduate with more than just a high school diploma. The following track highlighted our career and technical education, how we're meeting workforce demands and are really able to build that pipeline where students can come in,

037earn an industry certification, and then build that to a college certificate, associate's degree, and beyond. Our dual language enrichment program, was also highlighted where we're building bilingual brilliance. So really having that opportunity to see how we're doing it from the early ages all the way through high school. And it didn't end there. Our back on track was highlighted as well. And so here our participants were able to see how we bring our dropouts back and put them on a path to college and career, as well as our PTI students, how we're able to really have opportunities for our PTI students as well that engage them for job and workforce readiness. The next one was our babies, our elementary kids, right? The cradle concept. So really listening and learning from those practitioners to see how do

038you start that early embedding that college culture with our students. And the last one, of course, this work wouldn't be possible with all of our supporting systems that we have in place. So essential systems for educational education. So we had a lot of excellence. We had presentations from HR, finance, technology, safety, communications, and marketing. Our participants even got to visit our bus that was part of Chief's presentation. So he told them about the best practices that we had in place, and then they got to see the bus. So that was pretty nice because they're able to really see what the practitioners are doing. But let me not just tell you, let me show you a little bit of how that went. Educators from across Texas. And the nation had the opportunity to attend our cradle

039to college conference where they witnessed our best practices in advancing college and career readiness for our students were able to really build them up when they're in elementary. They really start building that curiosity. They move on to middle school where they become leaders innovators and then transformed to high school where they're actually in the college seat presenters spoke about programs such as the Texas success initiative, our dual language program pathways towards independence. And more in hopes that our guests will implement such practices within their own school district. We got some nice feedback in terms of the program structure, how we can make sure we're tackling and supporting our early learners as well as our English as a second language students. Participants also have a chance to witness hands on learning by touring different schools and

040visit our PSA family shop to support our students. The more we try to expose what he is doing. The more that we can help. Other districts and at the same time we learned from other districts. Also, that's what education is about. It's about changing lives and it's about helping each other out Continues to invest in resources that will help our students and nationwide school districts succeed. For more information about the cradle to college conference visit the following website. So in the next slide. You're able to see how participants and our staff. Showed up shined and inspired see a lot of happy faces ready to learn from our PSJA educators. The next slide says it all. We had a 4.9% participant satisfaction. So we gave out surveys in every session and you could see the participants

041were really, really happy. And I know Mr. Rene Garcia, who really played a major lead in leading these efforts, told me that it should have been a 5.0 because he says that when he looked at it closely, he's like, they put a 5.0 at the end, but I'm like, okay, we're going to put a 4.9 because that's what we got. But we're really, really excited because it just shows that people were happy. They left with best practices. And what makes our heart really proud is that it came from our educators. On the next page or slide, pardon me, you're able to see that results tell the story, right? So our PSJA family rolls up their sleeves. So we're able to see that with our four-year graduation rate, we lead the state at 97.6%, 98% when

042you round it off. Our five-year graduation rate, because we don't give up on our kids, Dr. Elias did bring CCTA back. So we're able to continue to serve our kids. And 99% of those students graduate compared to 92% in the state. Our six-year graduation rate, we're still here for them, 98% versus 92%. And our dropout rate, less than 1%. So we keep our kids. You're able to see that all of these efforts of Cradle to College brings our students back and helps them graduate. The next slide also shows our strengths when it comes to CCMR, right? We have an A. And so we're leading the state in getting kids college, career, and military ready. We're leading the state when it comes to graduating students with associate degrees. We're at 18%. The state is at 3%.

043We're leading in dual credit. 46% of our seniors walk away with college hours compared to 25% in the state. Our college certificates, 5% versus 1% in the state. And our industry certifications, because of our Dr. King Center, because of all the opportunities that we offer, through CT 52% compared to 35% in the state. Because of that, it translates on the next slide to students graduating from college. You're able to see that last year we made history having 693 students graduate from college with our partner South Texas College. This year, it's even more grand. We're breaking our own record. We're projecting 793 students that will be marching the stage before they receive their high school diploma. And so we're really, really proud of all the work that our principals and our teachers are doing day in

044and day out to make sure that we have those support systems for all our students. This conference wouldn't have been possible without our district committee. So there's a lot of people that put work into this. We have Mr. Rene Garcia, who led these efforts, our early college strategist coordinator. Ms. Chloe Garcia, Mr. Puff core, sorry. Darlene Gracia, Cynthia Ibarra, Carlos Garcia, Adriana Garcia, Olivia Martinez, Claudia Limas Campos, Anel Pena, Hector Rodriguez, Stella Sanchez, Melissa Marvin, Seneida Elizondo, Alfredo Carrillo, myself, Dr. Davalos, and Mr. Rafael Gonzalez. This committee really helped us put all of this together. Because it takes everybody to make this happen in PSJA. In the next slide, you're also able to see how our subcommittee was leading the way. They showed up. They were there every step of the way, supporting our leads

045to make sure that we were able to really highlight the best that PSJA has to offer and to ensure that the conference ran smoothly and that everybody had what they needed to be able to focus on that. And we're really, really grateful to our superintendent, Dr. Elias, because he really has put this vision at the forefront and given us all the support that we need to be able to not only help our PSJA students, but to really make an impact throughout the state of Texas and the nation. And in this last clip, I just want you to see how happy everybody is when it comes to our conference. On three. One, two, three. Career of the College. For you, Mr. Rene Garcia, and... Mr. Marquez will help me pass it. This is just a copy

046of our conference handbook and our note catcher and our little bag. I know some of you were able to join us and you got to experience it yourself, but we wanted to pass this along to each one of you. Thank you, sir. And we were hoping to have our committee members that are present take a picture with you all because they put so much work into this, if it's okay. So I know we have a few here, Mr. Carrillo, Dr. Davalos. Mr. Rafael Gonzalez. Mr. Rene Garcia, if you can join me. Ms. Claudia Limas Hector Rodriguez. Mine's here on this side, Claudia. I know, right? Yes, Ms. Claudia. If you can't see in the camera. Open your eyes. I got to get closer to that. Smile, smile. Cool, sir. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank

047you all so very much. Thank you for your support. Thank you, Dr. Uribe. Good, awesome presentation. And that's why I had requested for something like this because the district is always doing something great. I just wanted to highlight it to let our community know, you know, this is what being done. It's a lot of good stuff. Real proud to be serving the school board, having a staff and students and all the, everybody working hard and we even getting nice from other areas that they want to come see, okay, what are you all doing? We want to do the same thing. So I thought that was really great. So kudos for all the committee that worked on it. So y'all did a good job. I was there and the sessions were great. I went to a

048couple of them, but the atmosphere was very positive. Everybody was just, you know, very positive. Like they were really enjoying the conference. And so I just, again, like I say, you know, good job, all of you on doing this. So. Hopefully we're gonna see it again next year. Hopefully. Yes. Yes. Every year. So again, thank you. Thank you for that. And I appreciate everything y'all do. Thank you. The next presentation that we have is on the blended learning initiative. And so good evening, President Ricardo Rodriguez, Dr. Alejandro Elias and esteemed members of the board. Dr. Susana Redondo and I will be sharing an update on PSJ's blended learning initiative for this school year. Under the leadership and guidance of our superintendent, Dr. Alejandro Elias and our assistant superintendent, Mr. Ranulfo Marquez. All of our executive

049officers are grateful for the strong collaboration between our academics team, including our amazing curriculum coordinators and specialists and the technology team. Thank you to Dr. Davalos, Melissa Marvin, Senayda Elizondo and their teams for coordinating efforts with us and supporting our incredible teachers, through this work. Because it truly is our teachers who are the champions behind the success that we have seen so far. Before the transition to blended learning, instruction was primarily delivered through traditional teacher led approaches with technology programs functioning as supplemental tools rather than fully integrated components of the instructional design. During the 24-25 school year, the same technology based programs, such as the and the were used to support the instruction of the students in the K-8 reading, I-ready also in K-5 math, and Mathia from the Carnegie Learning Center in 6th through

0508th math. They were used to support math and RLA instruction by providing TEKS-aligned practice and helping meet accelerated instruction requirements through targeted interventions and extended learning opportunities. The program also learning acceleration supports opportunities, cycle three grant. PSJA ISD applied for and was awarded to participate in the blended learning planning cohort for 25, 26 and 26, 27 school years. It is a two year grant. This grant supports districts in designing and implementing a high quality blended learning model in math and English. It is also a two year grant for the K-8 reading language arts aligned to a high quality instructional materials curriculum. And we are extremely impressed at the transformational work already underway in just the first three months of school. With the blended learning grant, we have partnered with a technical provider, K-12 Coalition, who

051has supported professional development for both our leaders and our teachers. They've participated in learning and learning walks with our teams, as well as facilitated the development of a functional vision and mission to guide this work. You see it here. The blended learning instructional vision, PSJA ISD empowers all learners to be innovators and determine problem solvers through high quality blended learning experiences in reading and math, equipping students with personalized pathways that foster deep understanding, independence, and critical thinking. Our learners will thrive as lifelong readers and mathematicians in a competitive global society while confidently pursuing their aspirations in college, career, and beyond. Our blended learning mission is to deliver innovative and equitable blended learning opportunities in reading and math that meet the unique needs of every student. We foster personalized learning environments where students develop deep understanding,

052critical thinking skills, and academic independence. Through targeted instruction, technology integration, and ongoing collaboration, we prepare our learners to become confident readers and mathematicians equipped to succeed in college, career, and beyond. To further clarify what blended learning entails, this here describes how the teacher continues to lead Tier 1 instruction for all students. The student's learning goals are to improve learning performance while also leveraging adaptive technology to differentiate learning in small groups. The key benefits focus on student-centered instruction. It allows teachers and students to use data intentionally to address individual needs, adds personalized learning opportunities, and it increases student engagement. It's important to highlight that PSJA implements blended learning through a station rotation model because there are several models of blended learning but PSJA through the committee has chosen that station rotation is the one we would

053implement. In this model students rotate through three to four learning stations typically including one teacher-led station, one or two student-led collaborative stations, and one technology-based station. In our elementary grades from kinder to fifth grade blended learning is implemented for 20 to 30 minutes daily within their reading or their math instructional block. In our middle schools sixth through eighth grade blended learning occurs twice weekly during the reading language arts block and is strategically integrated with the blue bonnet mathematics pacing guide. The learning individually component which is also approximately twice weekly. So again in elementary 20 to 30 minutes daily in middle school it's about twice weekly within their reading block. So tier one instruction and the pacing guide of tier one instruction is continued to it continues. I will now turn the presentation over to Dr.

054Arredondo to share more about the progress that we have had with blended learning. Good afternoon. Thank you Dr. Guajardo for grounding us in the PSJA mission and mission for blended learning. Now moving on to the next slide. We're going to go ahead and build on the foundation. And I would like to share an update on the professional learning monitoring systems and external validation that are supporting and strengthening our blended learning expansion district-wide as part of our commitment to ensure can are strong and consistent implementation. industry working and tomanuel and all the other sow boys currently listed and Inner To imparting zero as part of our commitment to ensure strong and consistent implementation to teaching and learning instruction for district-wide as well. product as part of our commitment to ensure strong and consistent implementation for district

055wide as part of our commitment to ensure strong and consistent implementation to teaching and learning instruction for district-wide or any other assistance poor valley best state intelligence here is to reach blood so i'd be happy I'd give you a couple more questions if you have any questions. On September the 2nd, our principals, assistant principals, and CLLs participated in a half-day training which was facilitated by CAFE 12 Coalition. This session helped establish a shared understanding of expectations and it also equipped our campus' teams to lead and support teachers effectively. In addition, ongoing professional development for teacher continues to be provided by our curriculum and instruction coordinators and instructional specialists. With strong collaboration from the technology department, campus learning leaders, and also campus leadership teams. This layered support ensures that teachers are not only trained but also

056coached continuously as they refine their blended learning. To monitor progress and ensure fidelity, we are proud to say that we have official monthly learning walks that are conducted across campuses. These walks allow us to observe instruction, provide targeted feedback, celebrate successes, and identify areas where additional support may be needed. This cycle of observations and feedback is central to our continuous improvement. We are very proud to share that this is a collective effort. It is a team that involves not just curriculum and instruction department but also the technology department and also someone that comes from CAFE 12 Coalition. We are also engaging on ongoing learning beyond our district. We have participated in summits and inter-district visits that have been instrumental in helping us observe best practices, refine our model, and strengthen instruction. We have brought more

057students and teachers together. These flyers include an estimate of what has been and how well their teaching has improved, break-back speeds, and smart peoples evaluations and implementing students who have attended online classes. Recently the district committee was able to participate in the latest summit that was held at Edgar County. We are very proud to come back and say that we are truly leading the way. These opportunities reaffirm that our approach aligns with high quality blended learning standards and that our schools are progressing as intended. Finally we are very proud to share that the Texas Education Agency has blends كلiendo el Loco And Through The Aut Iraqャmeza, Education Agency has expressed interest in PSJA hosting the Fall 2026 summit. And this is a significant recognition of the innovative practices our district has put in place and

058the success we are seeing in our blended learning rollout. Hosting this summit would allow us to showcase the exceptional work happening in our classrooms and position PSJA as a leader in blended learning standards statewide. And this is not a surprise since last school year we're proud to share that we were also had a very successful implementation of new programs. Last year we were part of the Strong Foundation planning for mathematics and we developed the framework for mathematics. And we developed the framework for mathematics and we developed the framework for mathematics and we developed the framework for mathematics and we developed the Plaese Uva-Pope XD and ple Cristo F 25 and which this particular framework is being showcased at the state level and we are using it at an exemplar. Actually TEA is using it as

059an exemplar district statewide, I'm sorry, for future frameworks that other districts are being developed. So we are here showing that we have a systemic way of doing things here at PSJA. We have strong systems of implementation and so we know that this is one more that we have to celebrate. Together these efforts of professional development, structure support, rigorous monitoring and collaboration beyond our district ensures that our blended learning initiative is meaningful, sustainable, and beneficial for all students. Like Dr. Elia's vision, we are providing opportunities for all of our students. Now as you can see, our blended learning work is truly a district-wide effort supported through training, ongoing coaching, continuous monitoring, and collaboration within and beyond PSJA. To highlight this work and to help our families and community better understand what blended learning looks like in

060action, our public relations department has developed a short video. This video showcases the collaboration between our curriculum and instruction team and our technology department, and it captures the authentic experiences happening in our classrooms every day. At this time, we would like to share the video with you. It is the seamless integration. Today is a blended learning day, so we're going to go ahead and do our centers. I'm going to go over the centers with you. Blended learning is an initiative that we started this year in 25-26. It is the seamless integration of technology programs with our HQIM, our curriculum in all reading language arts and mathematics classrooms from kindergarten to eighth grade. That is what we implemented this year through a lasso grant. How many pounds are in 48 ounces? So what are my words?

061You need your W. The way that it's going to benefit our students is for one that that we're going to have more continuity from elementary to middle school so that the transition is a lot better for our students. Another thing is that in these small groups the teachers are able to intervene. The teachers are able to intervene and they're able to intervene very quickly. So they want it as a fraction. Did you write it as a fraction? With blended learning, it's kind of a perfect mix of using classroom instruction face-to-face and technology or online learning. And our teachers already are equipped and they kind of know about rotations in the classroom, especially our elementary teachers. You know, it lends itself a lot to the early years. But even our middle school students are also doing

062the station rotation model. When we started as project managers, it was all on paper at first. And then when we started doing the walkthroughs, you were able to see the benefits of the students actually in the different rotations. So it's very beneficial to break up the classroom into small groups and then have them work on whatever it is that's challenging them and really focus on those skills. I think that was like the toughest part for me to kind of release, like let go. And I think that's probably one of the harder things for a lot of teachers is we want to be with them and do everything whole group and assist them. But when we release them and we give them the opportunity to collaborate and talk with their peers, they sometimes learn better than

063from me. Or one student will have a better explanation than what I even explained. Or they have a different way of solving a problem. Especially with math, there's so many ways to solve problems. And when they talk to their groups, they can figure out ways that maybe I didn't even teach them. The blended learning does empower the teacher to have the small group instruction, but also still supervise and control the classroom. It's a really powerful tool. the other stations while students are getting that differentiated instruction. There is collaboration amongst our groups in those classrooms that are incorporating the blended learning. We have seen powerful, powerful instruction going on while students are taking that ownership of their learning and teachers are empowering their students. I believe that smile said it all, right? It wrapped up the

064great things that PSJA is doing, but not only that, it was a, you guys were able to see that teachers are happy, students are happy, and that learning is happening. So without further ado, I'll pass it over to our next presenter. Thank you so much. Thank you very much, Mr. Marquez. I want to commend on this blended learning and Dr. Guajardo, Dr. Claudia Gonzalez, Dr. Redondo, Ms. Zenaida Elizondo, and Melissa Marquez. I want to thank you all, commend you all on this. So great job. I really liked the presentation. Thank you very much. A couple of things. My heart is full. I'm very excited to see wonderful things that are happening. I think that this is just amazing. I can see your dedication, your passion, and your genuine love for students. So thank you for

065all that you do. I think that's, we are... setting the way, leading the way. I do have a question for you, Dr. Elias. You did say that we're under a grant. So what happens after those monies are gone to continue doing blended learning? I think as a district, we'll find ways to continue to supplement it. And I think as we move into next year, I think eventually those LASO grants will continue to extend. I know Dr. Guajardo's in charge of grants, so she'll continue to look at that. I think that's a great idea. We'll have to look out there and find ways so that we can continue as a district because we see a lot of positive results coming out of it. I can see the integration. I can see the, just the small group,

066the individualization, just working together, and the teacher doing the rotations. And I think there's a lot of power to that when you have children collaborating and learning from each other. And then again, the technology, which is... It's just amazing. So thank you, thank you. You all are doing amazing. I also have a question for Dr. Uribe. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, ladies. First, I do want to say, Dr. Uribe and all the committee members, and of course, Dr. Elias, for your vision. Um, that conference is really just amazing. It's, it just, um, we, we, I'm very proud to see that we are... here serving for a purpose. And this, this is good for me. I, it makes me feel good that we are really focusing on children and, and

067students and, and our community. So thank you again. I, I do have a question for you. Uh, you did say, and I'm going to quote you, the collaboration between parents and partners is, uh, is credited for success. And so my question to you, I know that the conference focuses on educators, on, um, leaders, educational leaders. I wanted to ask, moving forward, is there any thoughts, do you have any thoughts of, uh, inviting parents? I know that it's, um, And do I have time for a statement? So just a question. I think that's definitely something that we could explore. I know we also have parent conferences where we have college readiness teams that go out there and provide the information, but it's definitely a strand that we can explore in the future and maybe, um, we

068can do that. So I think that's definitely something that we can explore in the future and, and we'll have some seats available for that. Mr. President. Thank you. I also want to congratulate you. I did go. Um, I want to congratulate you, the team, um, the ladies that just presented on blended learning and everything. And I want to clarify that it is not that you don't deserve the recognition. It's just, it should have been under curriculum and instruction because of all the data and all the greatness that you shared with us. It wasn't just a recognition. You did share with us a lot of data, a lot of good stuff, and more power to you. I understand we've had a very similar conference. Do you know what year this is that it's been happening? We

069actually started the conference back in 2014, and then we stopped doing it until Dr. Elias brought it back. Okay. So it started in 2014, and it went for how long? It went for six years. So then we had stopped around 2020. Yes. Okay. I applaud you, and I believe that Trustee Castillo's recommendation about parents is great. I do believe that we do need to find a way to involve them, either highlight some of the great things that our parents are doing. And also so we can showcase that to all the other schools that are visiting. We did have Ms. Vecchio presenting on the great work that we're doing at the Ballou Learning Center. So we did have some work on that, so that we're able to hear about our great parental program. Thank you. I

070just basically wanted, again, to congratulate you because I did go out there and didn't expect to see you. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to be here. I'm so happy to be here. And I did. And I went to some of those sessions, and I was amazed by the knowledge that our presenters, which are our staff, had. You know, the questions coming in from people from all over, you know, and they were quick to answer. And I was very, very impressed with the attendance, the questions and answers, quick answers. And so it was an awesome conference. And I know I spoke to you a little bit about being the second year and when it

071had started, you know. Yes. So, yes, because when I was here last, I mean, we didn't have that. So it was something that I really admired and the hard work and of course, congratulations to everybody involved in that conference because we really do need to keep it. I think it's got a lot of benefit to it. Yes, the committee is outstanding. The conference belongs to the teachers and all the practitioners that are doing the work. We just help arrange it, but all the glory goes to the teachers and the students. Thank you, Mr. President. Yes, and I was also there and left very impressed with what was going on. But I think it's so important and I want to thank you, Mr. President, for bringing it as an agenda item because I think that while

072some of us were at the conference and knew what was going on, I think our community deserves to know what the presentation was about, what the conference was about, and I think that's what we need to do. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. and then you all went and had the you voted to have a bond election when you did that i went to the county elections department and let them know about what you all did in 2022 you let me on the ballot which was illegal and you guys haven't done anything about it and then this board went on and gave teachers raises and all our teachers are under contract

073and they have the same moral Here are supposed to report crimes so it is concerning to me that people are still employed with this district that violated the law." Mr Chavez I'm sorry to interrupt is that I'm just part of the Texas yeah okay I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm a little confused because you were gonna be speaking about the appraisal district and about the collections but you have still haven't tapped on that can you just start tapping in that please I signed up for several items. Okay yeah yes enter 3 items. sanka Yeah yeah when you're seeing a close right looking at this I'm sending the Craigslist I'm repeating wrong Pass 10 or 15 you are Mr Chavez and poisoned Remove. Okay I signed up for several items okay yeah you signed up for three

074items. The resolution for the appraisal district, the canvassing of the election return. So that's the canvassing of the election. It's all part of the elections, right? The canvass of an election, you can only canvass an election if you call for an election, right? That's what I'm talking about. We are out of time already. Yeah, because you keep interrupting me because you guys don't follow the rules. You don't let me come to speak. So we are out of time. We have a second. We have a second. This happens. This happens every time I come. Can we have someone? Can we give them an extra minute? Go ahead and speak. It always happens. I've been coming the last four years and two years that I couldn't come because you guys said that I trespassed here. How can

075I trespass here? It's an open meeting. You guys make up laws. You make up rules anytime I come because you don't like what I have to say because you're criminals. You're breaking the law. That's going. And it's public record. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Mr. Yes. The next public comment we have is from Miss Cynthia Flores. She will be speaking on agenda item 10 a 3 e regarding the level 3 grievance of GQ. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, President, board members and superintendent. My name is Cynthia Flores. I'm a union organizer speaking on behalf of PSJA AFT American Federation of Teachers. Tonight, I want to address a core issue of PSJA AFT's all in campaign and an issue closely tied to the items before you. Fairness, accountability and the fundamental right to due process

076for every employee in PSJA ISD. At this time, the district is significantly delaying level 3 hearings for several of our PSJA AFT members, including cases that have been pending since last school year. Meanwhile, other cases have moved forward much faster, jumping the line. These inconsistencies raised concerns, serious concerns about the equity and transparency of the process. When some employees wait months longer than others for their hearing, it creates a perception and the reality of unequal treatment. Now, this isn't just a procedural issue. These delays, they impact people's lives, their professional reputation and their ability to move forward. Employees deserve clarity, respect and consistency. They don't deserve uncertainty and extended silence from the system that's meant to protect their rights. PSJA AFT is calling on PSJA ISD to establish an agreement and enforce a clear, consistent

077timeline for level three hearings and to apply that timeline fairly across the board. This is not an unreasonable request. It's a basic expectation of a system committed to justice and transparency. Your employees show up to this district every single day with dedication, professionalism, and care for the students and families that they serve. They uphold their responsibilities. So it's time for the district to uphold its responsibility to them by ensuring fair, timely, and a consistent process for all. The motto for this district, we heard it several times today, is opportunities for all. And we're assuming, obviously, that's for students. But let's go all in and apply that concept for all employees as well, for all employees of the district. And not just specific employees like central office employees. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Torres. Mr. Chairman,

078there are no more public comments. Yes. We move to, Mr. President, we move to the next item, item five, consent agenda items. And this is a request as per one of the board members to be pulled. And that's the minutes of school board meetings and or workshops. Mr. President, that was me. Again, and I believe that if we were both, you know, at these, like, again, at the same legal seminar where it shows that our minutes need to be a little bit more, a little, have a lot, a little bit more information. It needs to go ahead and not just say that, like, the vote was unanimous or anything. But it should actually document how each board member voted. So that was the only reason I just wanted to discuss it because it became effective.

0791st so we can of course proceed with approving the minutes I just wanted to clarify that I wanted for all to be in the same page that the reason I'm doing this is I just want to make sure that we're in compliance and but even here looking at the board agenda the one says regular school board meeting minutes September 22nd 2025 at 6 p.m. followed by regular school board meeting minutes October 20th 2025 and then there is no at 6 p.m. so those are little things that I think we need you we just need to work on aside from that that is the only discussion is the only thing I wanted to share I just want to make sure that and then you know that our agendas are a little bit more that include a

080lot more information not just for us board members who sometimes we don't get to participate in agenda review but as well to the people that our community that may we don't get to participate in agenda review but as well to the people that our community that may we want to speak on during public comments so just to make it clear for them as well so they can know what it is that they can sign up for to speak and that was it aside from that mr. president we can proceed to to vote on them mr. president I can make a motion to approve the minute I just wanna on record aba so we are legal I don't know we would be in charge of that I have zero idea what's being discussed since I was

081unable to attend this training so I'm not too many get a copy or you know you know what missing familiar discussing I don't necessarily know you have the you know the rules at the referring to distance in the des the website Ms. Gutierrez. Right, but they, thank you for saying that, Mr. Rodriguez, but they put on their website all kinds of information. So it would be good if I can get the ones that are provided timely so that I am aware of what's going on. Thank you. I'll ask them to send you, because it's a link and in that link, you're able to get into all the items that were discussed with all the slides and everything. So I'll ask them to make sure to send it to you, Ms. Gutierrez. Thank you so much.

082And, but I, unless you tell me that there's a link, I would not have known. And that's why, you know, in the future, and then if you can please make sure that I can get the same information as the other four members. Thank you, President Rodriguez. Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. Okay, so we have a motion to approve and a second by Ms. Barron. All those for the motions signify by raising your hand. Aye. All those against, same sign. Aye. All right, good. Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. Yes, Mr. President, we move to item seven, student services, letter A, presentation and discussion of district-wide intruder detection, audit report findings, and this will be presented by Dr. Noyola, student services. Are we going to? We can present this one in closed session, unless there's something. Oh, after

083that, we don't, okay. Yeah, all right. Now it's just a presentation. Okay, thank you. Good evening, President, Dr. Nunez, and members of the board. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present the Texas Education Intruder Detection Audit. I'd just like to start with by saying that the top priority of PSJA ISD is keeping students and staff safe every single day. And the Texas Education Agency has been conducting intruder detections at several of our campuses since the beginning of the school year. Now these audits test whether a campus is accessible to an unauthorized individual. And these audits also help districts identify how campuses can improve the safety for students and staff. We are working closely with Chief Garcia, Dr. Borrego, Dr. Davalos, Mr. Rafael Gonzalez, Ms. Zulema Solis, and their departments to ensure that all

084of our faculty and staff are trained in making our campuses safe. We appreciate the school boards and Dr. Lee's continued support in this initiative. And with that said, I'd like to bring your attention to this slide that when the intruder comes into the campus, this is what they're looking for. Phase one is intruder access. In other words, they're trying to see, can I go into the building without being detected? Not only that, are all the fences or gates locked around the entire campus? So this is what they're looking for under phase one. Under phase two, they're looking for the exterior door audit. In other words, they're looking for all the exterior doors of the building. Are they locked and in good working conditions? And then number three, while the teachers are teaching, are the classroom

085doors locked? That is essential. Whenever the teachers are teaching, their classroom doors need to be locked. And then the last one is door logs. Every week, there's a team at each campus, and they go through all the exterior doors to make sure that they're working in good, proper conditions. And if they are, they signed the door log, and then they keep it in file. They keep it in a binder for three years, and the auditor will come in and ask them, you know, let me see the logs so they can see that those inspections are going on. If you go to the next slide, this is what the teachers, I'm sorry, the schools get. After they've been audited, they get either green. If it says green like this, so the color green with nose, that

086means it did excellent. The intruder was detected on time by whom? Usually, it's the guardian in front of the school, the police officer, security guards. They're the ones that see them. And if it's in green, they're the ones that see them. If it's green, we passed, phase one. Next slide. Phase two, what they do is they go and open doors to make sure that they're in good working condition. Are they locked? Are they always being locked? These are all the exterior doors. And if it's green like this one, we passed phase two. Go to the next one. Phase three is the interior door audit. What they do is the auditor comes in, they start checking the teacher's doors, classroom doors. If the teachers are teaching, and their doors are locked, then we're in compliance. And

087this one is telling us that we do not have an official school board policy. And if we don't, we'll always pass this one. Now, if you all decide to make it, then we might fail this part. My recommendation, let's not do it, but it's understood in the school district, and we practice it, that all the classroom doors have to be locked at all times. Go to the next slide. These, again, is the sweeps. The door sweeps, they look for the exterior doors. Are they in good conditions or not? And if it is, and that log is in that binder, we get a green, which is no. There's no corrections that need to be made at this time. Go to the next slide. Now, if we fail one of those phases, or the last one, if

088we don't have the binder with all those logs, these are the things that need to happen. What we do is, we go to the school district, we go in person training on the intruder access, just like what I said, which is phase one. It has to be also an in-person training on the exterior door audit, and then in-person training on classroom doors. So we go to each campus, and we have to do these corrective actions in person. Also, what we do is we meet together as a district safety and security committee. At the district level, the president, the vice president, are present. We show them what the results were for each campus. And then here is what I'm doing at this point, to tell the board that this is going on. Audits are going on.

089The schools are passing, and they're doing well. So that's what I'm here for. And if we go to the next slide. Oh, that was it. Okay, so actually, if you go to the previous one, I know that some of the, probably parents want to know, who didn't pass. We usually do not say that, because we could compromise the safety of our students and staff. However, if the board would like to know, then we can go to executive session, and that's where we discuss the schools, and if they pass and did not pass. Okay, so I just wanted to give you a little introduction as to what happens during audits, and the phases that happen. So I'd like to thank you, school board members, and Dr. Elias once again for his support, in helping our campuses

090to be safe for all students and staff. I'm Mr. President, I have one question. Well, I got Ms. Quintanilla first. Go ahead, Ms. Quintanilla. If I can ask, and then, if I would like to hear the information that he has, would it be at another time that we would put it in executive session? No, we have executive session listed here with the exemptions. And so this is just a matter of bringing him back into executive and reporting that to y'all. Mr. President, I would like to know which schools may need some... Yeah, but we're gonna have a presentation like that. I thought we were gonna be in closed session when that presentation comes up. I can bring... We can come back to closed session right now, and they can give you that information. Right. I

091was gonna suggest before you spoke that, I know that when there's something that we want to know, and I'm very familiar with this committee, and I love serving on it, and whenever there is something we want to know, you can always drop by his office, just call him. I'll be there at 1, and he will sit with you and show you what it is. Unless y'all want to take the time and do it in executive, but he's done that before. Yes. And exactly that is very true. As board president, well, board members, if you would like that information, I can share that individually, right? Like Ms. Serna said. But if you have any questions at this time at the executive, then we can do it as well. Okay, thank you very much. Yes, Mr. President,

092we move to item eight, finance. Letter A is cast votes by written resolution for the Hidalgo County Appraisal District for Board of Directors for 2026-2029. And this will be presented by our Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Ms. Rebeca Gonzalez. Good evening, Dr. Elias, Board of Trustees. Tonight, PSJA has 112 votes to cast. The candidates are Richard Garza, George Martinez, David Moreno, and Joe Olivares. There's no provision for writing candidates. The 112 votes can be divided amongst the cabinets, and the votes equate to about 16 votes per trustee. Okay, Mr. President, I have a question. Go ahead, Ms. Quintanilla. So how do we vote again? You just tell me who to vote, and we'll turn the vote. Okay. We'll turn that into the county. Okay. So if you all wanna vote all differently, you each have 16

093votes. If you wanna vote as an entire board, you have 112, no write-ins. Yeah. So then I can go down one by one, and they tell me, I'm gonna use all my 16 votes on this person, or, I go, okay. Yes, and there were resumes in the packet. I did notice that the county didn't send us one of them, but the others were there. Mr. Lutke. Go ahead, Ms. Lutke. That, I know that in the past, we've looked at like pulling our votes together, so that they can make a difference at that level, because if we're gonna do 16 for this one, 16 for that one, then it's not gonna carry much weight when it comes to the entire, to the big picture. Right, it's a good thing. So lots of times we've done that.

094They also send a tally sheet, so that way we can, in case we wanna give it to, well, me individually, we want to give somebody versus whatever, like that, so we can do that. Yes. Correct? So I'm gonna go down, I guess, one by one. I'll start with Mr. Villegas. Sorry. Council, is that legal? That way? Yes, so the way the appraisal district does is essentially the board gets an allotted number of votes, and each board member can do their divisible votes. Individually, if you have your tally sheets with you, you can literally just fill that out right now, give it over to us, we'll tally it, and then you make a motion and approve the tallies as presented, or one of you can make a sweeping motion right now to just give all your

095votes to a specific candidate, and if it passes, then they get it. Have we been given a tally sheet before, where we do it? It's in the packet. It is in the packet? Yeah. I think my question was, I mean, publicly. Yes. We can do that? Yes. Okay. In this case, it has to be publicly. Yeah, I'd rather just have the ballot myself. Or we can do it in executive. I wouldn't wanna go for it. We can skip the item for now, if y'all wanna fill out your ballots individually, and then we'll pick them up, and when we come back out of executive, we'll count them and come back to the item and just approve the ballots. Yeah, because it's just a single item. I agree with Ms. Butler. So they have to be open,

096I mean, they have to be announced in open session? Yes. So it does have to be shared at some point in open session? Right, so what we're gonna do is that, if you fill out your ballots right now, before we go into executive, just give them over to us. We'll tally them while you're in there, and then once y'all come back out, we'll come out here and we'll announce candidate so-and-so got this many, candidate so-and-so this many, so on and so forth, and then we'll approve that. Okay. Okay. And then Trustee, you can go. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Trustee Gutierrez, if you like, just go ahead and text me how you wanna allocate yours, and I'm happy to give them over to Becky so we can tally them. Okay, thank you so much. Yes, ma'am.

097Yes, Mr. President, we move on to letter B, public hearing on the financial integrity rating system of Texas, the first report for 2024-2025. And again, Ms. Gonzalez will present this. So tonight we're presenting the official first ratings. I know we did some recognitions in September, but we're required a public hearing once they become official. We're gonna go over the first objectives, the first goals, how ratings are assessed, the determination of the rating, and the school first indicators. The objective is to implement a rating system that fairly and equitably evaluates the quality of management decisions. It provides an analysis tool for assessment, assesses the quality of financial management. It publicly reports this assessment and the financial data reported from is from the following. The first two ratings are the following sources, are audited financial statements ending

098August 31st, 2024, and PEMS information, specifically student and staff for fall of 2023 and budget of fall 2023. The goals of the first rating are to strengthen the physical accountability, improve performance in the management of district finances, and facilitate effective and efficient use of resources. The ratings are assessed on 21 indicators. The district, should the district fail any of the critical indicators, one, two, three, or four. The school's district rated is an automatic F. A, a superior achievement would be 90 to 100. B is 80 to 89. C is 70 to 79. And F is anything below 70. On indicator number one, was a complete annual financial report submitted within 30 days of the January 28th deadline? We scored a yes. Was there an unmodified opinion, which means that, did we have a clean audit?

099The answer is yes. Was the school district in compliance with the payment terms of all district debt agreements at fiscal year end? The answer is yes. Did the school district make timely payments to the teacher retirement system, Texas Workforce Commission, Internal Revenue Service, and other government agencies? The district failed that indicator. On number five, was the total net position in the government's activity column of the state in that positions greater than zero? Was the total net position greater than zero? We passed. Number six, was the average change in assigned and unassigned fund balance over three years less than 25% decrease, or did the current assigned and unassigned fund balance exceed 75 days of operational minutes, minutes, I'm sorry, expenditures? We passed that indicator. Was the number of days of cash on hand and current investments

100in the general funds sufficient to cover operating expenses? We received a score of six. Was the measure of current assets to current liabilities ratio for the school district sufficient to cover short-term debt? We received an eight. Did the school district's general fund revenues equal or exceed expenditures? We received a 10. Indicator number 10 was not graded, so all school districts received a 10. Was the ratio of long-term liabilities to total assets sufficient to support long-term solvency? We scored a 10. Was a correlation between future debt requirement and district success property value? Positive, that's missing a word, I apologize. We scored a 10. Was the school district's administrative cost ratio equal to or less than the threshold ratio? We scored a 10. Did the school district not have a 15% decline in student to staff ratio

101over three years? We scored a 10. Number 15, this indicator is not being evaluated, so all school districts received the maximum points of five. Did the comparison of the PEMS data to like, and positive, and the school district's audit result in a total variance of less than 3%? The school district passed. Did the external independent auditor report for the annual financial report free of any instances of material weaknesses? The district passed. Did the external independent auditor indicate that the AFR, the annual financial report, was free of any instances of material noncompliance for grants and contracts and laws related to local, state, or federal funds? We received a 10. Did the school district post a required financial information on its website? We received a five. Did the school district administration and school board members discuss any

102changes and or impact to local, state, and federal funding at a board meeting within 120 days before the district adopted its budget? We passed. Did the school district receive an adjusted repayment schedule for more than one fiscal year? We do not owe, we do not have a payment schedule to the state, so we passed. So the school district received an A, superior achievement. We scored a 94 out of 100. For more information, you can see the Texas Administrative Code Chapter 109. I don't know how those graphics got on there, but, okay. And, thank you to Dr. Elias and the Board members for your support. Thank you. Okay. No questions, Mr. Villes? Oh, okay. I just have a question. On indicator number four, that it said that we failed, are we expected to correct it? What

103is the protocol? It was a $61 invoice from a campus activity fund to the Texas A&M University for some books. Somehow the campus just didn't pay it. By the time it came to central office from Texas A&M, they had already placed a hold on our account. So we failed that indicator for $61. So as long as we provide them with that information, we're good? No, we still failed, yeah. But we didn't get the automatic F. We spoke to the principal, we spoke to the secretary that they need to pay their invoices on time because we cleared it within 30 days. But that is a very critical indicator that if you don't clear the invoice within 30 days of being reported... we do get an automatic F. And so we did speak to the principal more

104than once. Absolutely. Go ahead. So on the other numbers, like a 5 or whatever, they're between 1 and 10? Or 5 is the highest number? On the ones that you see a 5, 5 is the highest. The two indicators that we didn't get perfect 10s were the 6 and the 8. Okay, so 5 is perfect, so okay. Correct. Mr. President. Go ahead, Ms. Coutinho. Just to clarify. So this is for fiscal year 22-23? It's for fiscal year 23-24. Okay. Okay. Management report 24-25 rating based on fiscal year 2022-2023 data. I did see that. Oh, so the typo, I apologize, yeah. The booklet has a typo at the very front. It says 24-25 rating based on 22-23 data, but it's actually based on 23-24. Okay. I just caught that typo. Thank you, Ms. Quintanilla. Okay, thank

105you. Okay. And I think next we have Mike Gano with the delinquent tax attorney. I think it's no. No? It's the canvassing. Oh, I'm sorry. Hold on. We move to item C. Getting closer. Yes, canvassing of election returns on the bond election. So we just need to canvass the election results. Basically, it's just a motion that you all understand the results of the election and that you acknowledge them as being. Official. Proposition A, the totals for were 2,196 against 2,588. And on Proposition B, we had a total of four, 1,984 and against 2,721. Both propositions failed. Mr. President. Go ahead, Mr. Villegas. I'd like to make a motion to accept the canvass results. I have a motion for approval. Second by. I'm sorry. I have a motion for approval for Mr. Villegas and a second

106by Mrs. Serna. All those for the motion is to signify by raising your hand. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Now we have Mike Gano with the delinquent tax attorney. Yes. We move to Mr. President to item D, delinquent tax collections report September 1st, 2024 through August 31st, 2025. And this will be presented by Mr. Mike Gano. Thank you, Dr. Elias. Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board. Just for the record. Mike O'Connell, Leimberger, your delinquent tax attorneys. And in the interest of time, I'm going to be as short as possible with the data in the front of the report, which you should have in your package. And that is obviously we contact all your delinquent taxpayers who do have a delinquency with the district. We reach out to them

107by telephone. We visit them in person. We send a mail. We even do text messaging now. So there's no excuse. And everyone does hear from us. And we've always taken our direction from this board. And, you know, as attorneys, you know, we work not only at the discretion of our clients, but also at the direction of our clients. So that means, you know, we listen to what Charles needs are. And that has always been to work with your delinquent taxpayers, especially those resident homestead taxpayers. And that's what we've done for the past 15 years that I've been overseeing this account. So I'm very proud to report that this year we've had another successful year. So I'm going to dispense, like I said, with the beginning data information. I'm going to go straight to the meat

108and potatoes of what we do. And that is how much money we can get. Collect for the district. You'll find that on page number three of the report. And we always benchmark to the prior year. And obviously that is because Mr. Gonzalez, you know, expects us to collect what we collected the year before. Even though our industry is changing quite a bit and the property tax, you know, picture has kind of gone down a bit with the homestead exemption. But nonetheless, that's always our goal to collect what we did last year so we can make budget. Last year we collected $2.7 million. This year we collected $2.8 million. We had an increase of about $111. And again, I think what I'm most proud of is not just so much the increase in collections, is that

109we're able to, you know, achieve these results by working with your taxpayers. And like I said, I'm very proud to report that in the 15 years that I've been representing this district, I've never had to displace a family from their designated homestead for not being able to pay their property taxes. We always get those families on payment plans, you know, and we work with them, even though sometimes it takes a little longer than we'd like for it to take. We still work with them and we get them paid off eventually. So, you know, I just want to make sure that that's clear. And again, you'll see on the top part of that page, we did have some foreclosure sales. All those foreclosure sales are actually what we consider to be very beneficial foreclosure sales. These

110are all either empty lots, abandoned properties. Most of them are always abandoned properties. And these are nonproductive properties that, you know, really the cities have the burden of having to maintain. They become very unpleasant. They're unsightly. Most of the times there are safety. There's a safety concern for the cities and the neighbors. So those are the ones we go after. So you do see in the paper, you know, in the advanced news every month, we're conducting anywhere from, you know, 50 to 100 different foreclosures across the county. Just know when you see those, we're not displacing families. We're actually getting rid of some of these nonproductive properties. So again, I want to keep it short and sweet. If you have any questions about the homestead exemption, how it's impacted us, let me go back to

111the collections real quick because there's something kind of important here. You'll see that. Well, we can see that. The collective was $2.8 million. There's three different, you know, shades of blue there. The bottom part, the navy blue, that's the base tax. That's the original tax that was owed to the district. The $570,000 in the middle, that's what we call refunds. And I always get asked, you know, why are you, you know, including the refunds and why did you have to refund this money? This is money that the district had to refund. Primarily about 95% of it is due to the increase in homestead exemptions. You know, it used to be $40,000. It went up to $100,000. And you'll see that for the last couple of years it had been, you know, before when it was

112at $40,000, $10,000, many, many years ago, we had these refunds that were being issued of about anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 a year. And then it started to spike. Last year we had to refund $616,000 in taxes. Now, the reason why it's displayed here in delinquent taxes is when Mr. Villarreal collects all your taxes on a current basis, he's depositing that money literally on a daily basis with the district. And to the district. And to the district's account. So when someone goes in and applies for their homestead exemption that perhaps has been entitled to it for many years but never went in and applied for it because it just wasn't that big of a deal back then, now at soon to be $140,000, a lot of people read about it, hear about it. It's a

113significant increase in savings. When they go and apply, it gets retroactively applied for two years. So instead of Paul's office coming to the district and asking you all to refund that money, which you already received and spent, that money is taken out of the delinquent collections because it's for the past year. And you certainly don't want to take that out of the current collections because that's very important for, you know, the financial readiness for the school district. So that really, you know, dispenses with it having to come back. So again, this is money that we collect. We get paid for collecting that money. But it doesn't come to the district because Paul had to use it to issue people those refunds. Hopefully that made some sense. So I know it's a little complicated. And we're

114happy to see that number of the refunds. It's finally going down. But unfortunately or fortunately, depends on how you see it, the homestead exemption did increase to $140,000. It's going to be $200,000 for either people over 65 or someone who's disabled. So that's a positive. And it does mean the district is going to be getting less in property tax revenue up front. But you are able to recapture that at the end of the year once it's accounted for, you know, through the state. It just means that you don't get it up front. You eventually end up getting it at the end of the year. So hopefully that made some sense as well. But if there's any other questions, I'd be more than happy to answer. I do have a question. Go ahead, Mr. Villegas. Thank

115you, Mr. Cardozo. Explain a little bit on what you all see out there regarding the collections and the fact that we're going to $140,000 exemption. And in terms of the impact it will have on school districts. And especially in an area that is more. Less wealthy like we are in South Texas. That's a loaded question, Mr. Villegas. And I can actually speak a little bit about that. I'm sorry it was loaded, but I mean. Right. So I'll tell you this much. And generally speaking, about half of the state, the traditional home in the average school district across the state is about $200,000. So and the $140,000, you know, homestead exemption only applies to school districts, not to the city and the county. Right. Right. So when when us Texans, you know, voted on that and

116passed that increase in homestead exemption, not being included for determining someone's taxable value. It only impacts the schools, not the cities or the counties. So the cities and counties are still seeing a very generous, you know, generous growth in property tax revenue. We're not seeing that at the school. Obviously, it's less and less. I want to get to the policy reason for I personally don't agree with it. But we are finding that schools are having a harder time because the state tells us that, you know, we are primarily financed through our local tax revenue. But at the same time, we're getting, you know, the rug pulled out beneath us in the sense that, you know, we can't tax as much. So it's putting a lot of school districts in a position to where you have

117to tighten the belt and consider raising the tax rate if there's room to raise a tax rate, which is obviously a very improper thing to do. So. It's tough. I mean, the short answer is it's a very real consequence. There's really no need to debate the policy behind it because it's been passed. You know, it's part of the Texas Constitution literally now. We just got to deal with it. But I think what's important, and, you know, Ms. Gonzalez is very aware of this, is look at the trends, you know, and see how much it's impacting us year after year after year so we can start forecasting ahead of time. Right. Well, the reason I ask, Mr. President, is because of everything that we're hearing. And you explained it well, tightening our belt. And I'm glad

118that we've had the solvency that we have at PSJA so that we can maintain our current staff and our resources. But then we're also talking about potentially the political climate begging that we do away with property taxes altogether. And that's an additional burden. So it's tough. It's just going to be year to year, I guess. It is. You know, it took a long time for the homestead exemption to get from 10,000 up to 40,000 and probably well over a decade to get from 40,000 to 100,000. I never thought we'd see it go to 140,000 in two years' time. It's pretty crazy. But that's the political climate that we live in today. Again, I think the only thing we can do is continue to monitor. Forecast as best we can. And again, you know, I'll tell

119you, I represent several school districts across the valley. And I don't have to tell you all this. PSJA has been in an incredible position over all these years when most school most or a lot of school districts are shutting down campuses and having a hard time giving raises. You know, I'm an alumni from here. I'm always very proud to know that PSJA is at the forefront of actually giving raises. You know, I was a little bummed to see the bond issue. Not pass because PSJA has always passed their bond issues, unlike other surrounding districts, which have sometimes put these bond elections five, six times before they can get them passed, you know, for new facilities. But it's a difficult climate, you know. As best as I can from our office, we'll continue to work with

120Ms. Gonzalez. And I'll give you that commitment to make sure that we anticipate any potential losses. And if I see, at least from our end, that there's going to be a... decrease year after year versus an increase, we'll certainly convey that to your financial office so we can plan accordingly. But somehow we're resilient here in PSJA. We always find a way, right? We always find a way to make any... Well, I want to thank you for sharing that with us. That's a tough question. Yes. Mr. Cano, I guess it's a couple of questions here. I know that you mentioned that you don't displace people and it's more like empty lots or properties and stuff. Now... My question is, how delinquent should... could people get before they get displaced? So we look at a couple of

121different things. One is, it's hard to answer that question because when you say how, I don't want to quantify it. How many years? Right. Well, see, because I can quantify neither. We look at two different things. When I have what we call the delinquent tax roll, we can run it two ways. Either I can look at the number of years people owe and I can look at the amount that people owe. But someone may have a property or home that's... worth quite a bit. They're two years delinquent and may owe $50,000 in taxes. And someone who hasn't paid their taxes in 18 years, the house, because it has all these exemptions, eh, you know, it's $500. Is it worth filing a lawsuit? So it's really hard to quantify that. So what we do is we

122take a balanced approach between the number of years that's owed and the amount. Obviously, we target both. You know, our top accounts are the most delinquent in years, the most delinquent in dollars. And then what we... We also look at where it becomes somewhat of an art form, if that makes any sense, is we look at the equities in the property. And that is, you know, what's the value of the property? Are we talking about an $85,000 home? Are we talking about a $250,000 home? You know, and then what's the balance due on the account relative to the value of the home? So what's the racial? You know, what's the debt ratio to the value of the home? Okay. So we... We never like to go past 50, 60%. You know, back in the day,

123we would... You know, when we foreclosed on a property, we would get pennies on the dollars at foreclosure. Today, because the real estate market is still relatively hot, it has been since post-COVID, we sell properties at tax sale every month for more than the appraised value by the appraisal district, which is a little crazy, but again, that's where we're at. So once we see that someone's balance is about 60, 70%, of the value of that property, whether it be a home, commercial property, that's when we start looking for foreclosure, just to ensure that if we have to sell it and it doesn't sell for the full amount, that we still protect the school district's interest in recovering 100% of the tax that's due. So the other thing that I didn't get into, the other... The

124top color in this chart, you'll see that that's what we call penalty and interest. So we collected $155,000 plus the $570,000. You know, actually, the $570,000 includes base, AMPI, and I. So the district basically collected $701,000 in penalties or fees, interest, on $1.5 million of debt. So basically 50%. So when we're talking about delinquent taxes, everyone knows that the interest on delinquent taxes is extremely high. This is actually healthy debt for the school district. Had we recovered that, or had everyone that $1.5 million had, those people... If you had made it on time, you would have already had spent it years ago, and it would have only been $1.5 million. So all this money here, this $2.8 million, we recover it, and 100% of it goes to the district. Okay, so instead of having $1.5

125million, it's like you put it away in a savings account. When you collected it, you got an extra $701,000. Again, we don't want everyone to go delinquent. There's a balance between... You know, right now we're running about 95%, 96% of most people, 95%, 96% of tax... Taxpayers from the NPSJ pay their taxes on time every year, which is remarkable. So we're talking about a very small segment of the population that goes delinquent. But for those who go delinquent in this amount, when you do recover that money, you achieve an incredible rate of return on that debt. So it's a balancing act. It's tough, but I wish I could give you a hard answer and say this dollar amount or this many years, but it's a little bit more complicated. But I'll tell you, we take...

126That part of our job very seriously before we go to that extreme. Thank you. You mentioned the political landscape, and I know that our governor is running on eliminating the property tax. In your world of tax collection, what do you think that's going to fly with our voters? And what impact would that have, not only in your business of tax collecting, right, but... As well as to school districts. Right. So I think there's a certain segment of the population that would like to see the abolishment of property taxes. And it sounds great until you... Again, but... It sounds great until you realize what's the option after that. Either a much higher value-added tax, sales tax, or probably the most likely component would be a state income tax. And so the only thing people hate more

127than property taxes are state income taxes. Income taxes. Income taxes. Income taxes. Income taxes. Income taxes. Income taxes. So it's a very lofty goal for those who are anti-tax. Do I see it happening? No. I think there's going to continue to be these revisions to it. From my personal professional level, you know, I hope it doesn't ever go away. Obviously, which is... My interest is the same as the school district's interest, right? I don't think it's ever going to happen where we get rid of it. And again, when you look at the state of Texas being one of the strongest... fiscally sound states in the union, in the United States, you know, in the record, you know, surpluses we've had over the past few years, how we attract business, our system cannot be that bad

128in Texas if everyone's coming to Texas and everyone's doing business here because it's far more advantageous to have a property tax system that we have today than it would be if we had a state income tax. And most of the corporations that do come from out of state come here because we do not have a state income tax. Thank you. Mr. Cano, thank you very much. It's a report. So, thank you all. Move on to the next item. Yes, Mr. President, we move to item E, approve the 2025 tax roll totals. And again, this will be Ms. Gonzalez-Persen. Tonight, I'm presenting the 2025 tax roll. According to the property tax code, section 26099E, the assessor shall enter the amount of tax determined as provided by the section in the appraisal roll and the appraisal roll

129in the appraisal roll. And the appraisal roll is to be approved by the assessor. And the appraisal roll is to be approved by the assessor. And submit to the governing body of the unit for approval, which would be the Board of Trustees. The appraisal roll with the amounts of tax entered is approved by the governing body constitutes the unit's tax roll. For 2025, our maintenance and operation tax rate is .7869. Our debt service tax rate is .2241. For 2025, the total tax rate is 1.011. For a total tax levy, the total tax levy is .68521.330. And at the very bottom, you can see that they calculated our average residential value at 42,813. We need a motion. Yes. I move. I have a motion for approval by Ms. Serna, second by Ms. Barron. All those for

130the motion, taken by raising your hand. Aye. Motion passes. Aye. The other motion passes. On to the next item. Yes, Mr. President, we move to item... F, approve awarding a proposal for charter bus services, and this will be presented by Mr. John Taylor. Mr. President, Dr. Elias, members of the board, you have the charter bus services proposal for your approval. Typically, the district uses charter buses to transport large groups of students to destinations outside the valley. And the purpose of this proposal is to provide the school district with a wide range of qualified vendors for charter bus services. On August... There we go. Nope. Sorry. There we go. And you can see some statistics there of how many invitations were sent, how many entities submitted bids. And then on the next page, of the eight

131companies that submitted bids, we are recommending that seven of those be accepted. You can see the... You can see the... A line crossed out there with Embark Coach Line, El Paso United. And the reason that that... We're recommending that they not be approved as a vendor for charter bus services is because of a lack of experience of working with school districts. Any questions? Any questions? Are we talking about how many buses? How many buses are we talking about? Well, it's a little confusing when you look at the response totals because the way the bid is set up, the vendors are asked, what's the cost for 52 passenger bus? What's the cost for 54 passenger, 57 passenger bus? And some of these companies only have 52. So it's a little misleading on the amounts there of

132what... Of comparing prices. And typically what we do is when we have a need for charter buses, we reach out to primarily... Well, first of all, the local vendors to see who has buses available. And if several buses companies are available, who has the best price for what we need. Does the price go down as you add more buses? No. No. It does not, unfortunately. Just to give an example, the Raider van that we just transported to San Antonio for several days for five buses, it cost just under $27,000. Mr. President, a question. So your focus was in selecting these particular bus services. Was the focus also just their daily rate? Like if you would kind of rank them? Like which would be your first choices? And sometimes it's just based on availability. Historically, we

133would award... Or you all would award the bid to all vendors historically. And you'll notice that some of the vendors, for instance, Star Shuttle out of San Antonio, OK Tours out of San Antonio, Freedom Charters from Dallas, those are excellent companies, but they're not our first choice because whenever we go with bus companies that are out of the valley, we're having to pay deadhead miles because they're having to come down here to pick us up, take us wherever we need to go, bring us back, and then go back to their destination. So those can get very expensive. So our preference always is to use local vendors when available because they're so much more advantageous economically. Mr. President, so what we're saying is we're approving your recommendations here and it's up to the district to find

134out which is going to be more economically advantageous to the district. Yes. But they're already on board for us to go ahead and make a selection. Plus, are they available at the time that we're requesting, right? Yes, sir. So we're approving the vendors. Pardon me? We're approving all the vendors. We're approving the vendors. Yes. And as... Historically, I think I'm correct in this, we've always recommended approving all the vendors so that we have choices because sometimes those local vendors that we would like to use because they're cheaper and the buses are just not available. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to approve the recommendations by Mr. Taylor. Move by Mr. Villegas. Second. Second by Mr. Serna for approval. All those in favor, raise your hand. Aye. Aye. Mr. Tierras. Thank you. Morrison passes.

135Any other misdemeanors? Thank you, Mr. Taylor. Next item. Yes, Mr. President, we move to item G, approval awarding bids for T-shirts, screen printing, and embroidery equipment, services, and supplies. This is a continuous solicitation, so it's just approving new vendors that have applied and are going to be part of the catalog. Ms. Perron. Aye. Second. Second by Ms. Castillo. All those for the motion, second by Mr. Villegas, raise your right hand. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. Yes, Mr. President, we move to item H, approval of interlocal agreement with Central Texas Purchasing Alliance, and Ms. Gonzalez will present a little bit on that. Good evening. We're asking that the school board approve the Central Texas Purchasing Alliance interlocal agreement. We

136also call them co-ops. It enables PSJA to participate in a cooperative purchasing alliance with other Texas school districts. It'll expand the school district and expand our access to competitively bid contracts and shared procurement resources, promoting cost saving and efficiency. It supports compliance with the state purchasing laws. Currently, CTPA is comprised of 263 school districts and several ESCs across the state. There is a $100 fee, $150 fee, I'm sorry, to join the cooperative. Is that yearly? I'm sorry. The fee is yearly or? Yes. Questions? Go ahead, Mr. President. Yes, based on the rating that we got, it means that you've got so much efficiency going with our budget department. PSJA is in fine hands. I appreciate all the excellent work, and we've got so much auditing going on in our district that we police ourselves, and

137that's good to know. So certainly, I will make a motion to accept your recommendation, Ms. Gonzalez. Thank you. Do you have a moment? Oh, I'm sorry. I just, I have a question. So it seems by joining the other school districts, you know, we're, like, you're saying, improving. So tell us what would be one of the best improvements that you see by following this, by approving this. Currently, there is several vendors that don't answer our bids directly, and so this will give us access to those vendors and hopefully increase competition in our bids once they get to do business with us. A lot of the times we put out a bid, and we have two responsibilities, and we have to rely on co-ops to see, okay, are those two responses, are they good prices, are they

138related to each other, and they're inflating the price. And so the co-op gives us another opportunity to meet the legal statutes that are required, but it's been vetted by other school districts. In this case, I believe the main one is Round Rock. I second the motion. Okay, I have a motion for Mr. Villegas, and I have a second for Ms. Quintanilla. All those for the motion, signify by raising your hand right here. Aye. Aye. Ms. Gutierrez? Aye. Okay, motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. Thank you. Mr. President, we move to item 9A, under curriculum and instruction, and it's approval awarding a proposal for instructional curriculum consulting services, and this will be presented by Ms. Quintanilla. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, board president, members of the board, Dr. Elias. You can go

139to the next slide. Oh, it's thinking. I'm gonna begin with our vision. Our vision with our special ed department for PSJA school district is to create an inclusive and supportive educational environment where every student with special needs is empowered to reach their full potential and contribute meaningfully to society. The mission is that PSJA's special education program will ensure that students with disabilities are educated with non-disabled peers in the least restrictive environment determined by each individual education program and by providing a high quality education. So today I'm gonna present to you a request for contract services. It's with the Salubrias Therapeutics Associates, LLC, and this is contract services with this company or this business to provide speech therapy, speech therapy, speech therapy services to these campuses that currently do not have a speech pathologist. We have

140a shortage of speech pathologists and currently we have Ford Elementary, we have Building Blocks Academy at Sotomayor, and we also have PSJA Memorial Early College High School who have been without a speech language pathologist during this school year. And so despite having 11 speech pathologists and 11, well, currently we have 12 speech, and we also have a number of speech therapists that are not able to meet the needs of the students at these campuses. And so for these students right now, we have our speech people, pathologists and therapists going in and out trying to provide the services, but we're still unable to meet the complete needs of all of our students. And so we're requesting approval to continue to contract with Salubrias Therapeutics Associates to provide the speech therapy services in accordance with the students

141IEPs at those three campuses mentioned above and at other campuses necessary. So Salubrias Therapeutics Associates will provide the following services. They provide direct services to students. They do consultative services also based on the students IEP with the teachers. They also develop and update the IEPs for the students. So our staff can take those to their ARD meetings. They submit progress reports that we give out to parents. They also bill for these students for SHARs through SHARs billing. And they also supervise some of the SLPAs assistance that we have if that is needed. So here is a breakdown. We currently have about 132 students currently identified needing these services, right? That we're supporting these services through the staff that we have, but they have tripled the caseload that they're supposed to be carrying. But the direct

142and consult, consultative therapy services that would estimate about 55,400 because they're charging us about $30 or they're $30 a student for these services. To do the IEPs and to bill for Medicaid, which includes the Medicaid paperwork and to do the progress reports, that is 42,500. So they charge $15 a student or an IEP. They also charge $15 to do the SHARs billing. And they charge $15 to do progress reports on the students that they're serving. So the total estimated cost here is 101,540. And so these costs may increase depending on the number of students that we need them to provide the services for. And a portion of this is offset by the SHARs reimbursement funds that we do receive. So the district. The district is continuing to advertise and actually we've gotten a little creative.

143It's very difficult to find good speech language pathologist, even though our salary is competitive. We, you know, we lose two, we gain two, we lose two. And so we really, to be fully staffed, we probably would need about an additional nine more, you know, speech pathologists. But we also posted, I think for part time to try to recruit. Our salary is very competitive. We do offer the $5,000 sign on bonus, but it's difficult to find them. I think the hospitals and the rehabs really take them. So this is what I'm. Salubrias has been a contracting company that the district has used since 2003, all the way to 2012. We've used the company. We used them. We used them in 2022 and then last year. So we've had them for a good 12 years. So they

144really do do good with us. Last year we did use the company. We did spend about 100,000. We're estimating about the same cost because we need to ensure that we're meeting the students IEP. Go ahead, Ms. Castillo. So it appears that they're very reliable and we're very satisfied with their work. If we had a personal long. Yes. So I don't have a problem. I think that it's we need to continue. And being that we're so limited. Yes. You know, it's not like it's very competitive. So my question to you is, out of those $42,000 that we collect through Medicare, is it Medicare? I had through the charge. So my question is, how much of that do you struggle to collect the money or is, are you pretty, is it pretty, is it regular that we're

145able to collect those $42,500? We do have a very good system on building. We have to ensure that we get the consent from the parents to allow us to bill for reimbursement through the Medicaid. So we know that every student that we don't bill for, if they're eligible, I mean, that's money that can be going back into providing supports also for our students, right? Making sure we hire enough staff. So we're pretty consistent. So, you know, we do make all the money. We have the money to cover that. Great, yes. Okay. Well, I move to make a move. I just have a question. So you're saying that it's 132 students currently identified that need the services, but not when I look at it, 132 students that are gonna be served by them. So it is

146about 132 students average with those three campuses. It might be more or less, you know, we're growing, you know, with students, with special needs students, every day. So it could roughly be that it could be less because we don't wanna compromise our services. So we kind of ask our own staff, will you do these evaluations, right? We don't wanna miss the timelines. We wanna ensure that we're compliant with that as well. Okay, so the 101,540 is to serve 132 students. Okay. For any of these particular services that they may need. Okay, so yes. Yes, so salubrious. Salubrious. Okay, salubrious. Okay, so they collect for us. This is, we used to collect it long ago, right? We used to do our own billing. Did we not ever? So no, they submit into the SHARS Medicaid billing

147system. So they submit their time. If they provide 30 minutes or an hour of services, they- So ever since we took on SHARS, then it's been done that way. Yes, they'll submit. And then it helps us, right? So we don't, our staff doesn't have to do the billing for them, they submit the bill. And then I do have a question for the speech pathologist. They work with which student? Like those that are semi-verbal or do they work at all with kids that are non-verbal that just make sounds? So we have a total of 1,680 students in the district that receive speech therapy services. Okay. Whether it's language, articulation. But part of that, there's 372 students that are speech only. They just have a speech impairment. But we have 1,308 students who are speech plus, meaning

148they're speech with an orthopedic impairment or speech impaired with an intellectual disability or they're speech impaired where they have other health impaired or specific learning disability. So the speech only students are the 372, but we have 1,680 that have a speech necessary service on their IEP. Okay. No, she answered my question. I'll second the motion. I move. Before Mr. President, I have a question. Mr. President, can I make a quick comment? Because I know Ms. Castillo was alluding to the SHARS and the building of the SHARS. And I know Ms. Gonzalez, can you give us more or less an estimate? I know you don't have the numbers there, but last year and the previous year, how much did we lose based on SHARS building that was not compensated back to the district? We lost. Why

149was that, sir? There's changes in the laws and interpretations of the law. And they went back to an audit of 2011 and said that all the school districts were doing it wrong. And it's been a struggle. All school districts are struggling right now with that recovery of SHARS revenue. And it all has to do with an audit that goes back to 2011. Many districts did file. I know that event, I know we filed through, we asked Ben to be part of the filing for the SHARS. So there's many districts that have filed against. There is a suit? Yes, there's a lot of districts who've all filed this. And actually just this past month, we've had some who started receiving some answers with their initial appeals that they did. And so we've been working through those.

150And then there's a broader suit that the districts are contemplating putting together for purposes of this issue of the collecting part. So what is the status in our district? What is this as far as have they responded? I don't know if you all done an appeal or anything like that. We did the appeal and we're still awaiting, correct? We're still awaiting an answer from them. Yeah, some of them are just coming in. I had one who just came in like last week. And so I suspected they're barely getting around this because so many districts appealed. So in reality, we still provide the services for the student, but the district has to pay for them. So if we don't get to recover that money, then the district is short that amount of money. So that's money

151that we have to find different areas where to recover. So that puts a lot of districts, which it did already put a lot of districts into deficits or that shortness of their funds. Also that they have to pull out from their fund balance in order to compensate for charges not given as cut. But if this happened in 2011, so the audit, we just got audited and we found that discrepancy? The 2011 audit that was just completed, I'm not sure why. That school year is what's affecting all the school districts now. The federal government came in and said that it was being done incorrectly based on the year that they audited, which was 2011, which is one of the confusing parts, which is how are you now telling us all these rule changes when we've been

152doing it this way for 14, 15 years? So a lot of school districts are suing and appealing and we've appealed ours. We haven't heard back though. Yeah, that's my question, you know, since why up until now? Yeah, and that's hard to answer just because it's not something the district did, it's... Right, right. Yeah. I just have one question. We have three campuses right now that are not receiving services? They are receiving services by our staff. So they're going in and we've paid some of our speech pathologists extra duty pay to take on some of those evaluations. Sorry, that was... We've... That's... That's... That's... We struggle sometimes with trying to get them to do more work than they're already doing. They do get the services, it's just that they're spread thin. Now they're having to work

153even where they could be servicing a student three times a week, so now they're only doing two over there to come do one over here. So they're spreading themselves very thin. We're still giving the services, but not at the rate that we're meeting the IEP. That's why I just want to make sure that those three campuses were not, the students were made sure they were getting the services also. I didn't want to be left out. That was the question. I had a motion by Ms. Castillo for approval, second by Ms. Quintanilla. All those for the motion signify by raising your right hand. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Unanimous. Thank you very much. Next one. Yes, Mr. President, we move to item 10, letter A under superintendent of schools out of state travel request for board members

154to attend the 2026 Texas federal education program. This is the Texas federal advocacy conference in Washington, D.C. Mr. President, is somebody moving? On this one, it's just a board member request to travel to this conference for the Texas federal advocacy in Washington, D.C. What board members? It was only one board member, Ms. Quintanilla. I requested it? It would be open for any trustee who wants to go. So it's open to the board. Okay. I wanted to know. Mr. Rodriguez, I want to just remind everyone at this time that it is board policy that we can only attend one out of state conference. So if another one comes up, then if you go to this one, another one comes up, then you're Correct. You'll have something your board operating procedures for. Yes. Only one per year

155for out of state. Out of state. So the year is over. Define year. Is it your fiscal year? Yes. It's your fiscal year. Okay. So I have a motion for approval by Ms. Gutierrez. Do I have a second? I'll second. I have a second by Mrs. Quintanilla. All those for the motion, six to five are raising up your hand. All those against, raise up your hand. Motion fails because we had a two, four, and five against. Okay. Next item is one executive session. Code 551.071 through 551.084. During the course of the meeting, discussion of any items on the agenda should be held in a closed meeting. The board will conduct a closed meeting in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. Texas Government Code Chapter 551, Chapters D and E, or Texas Government Code Session

156418.183F. Before any closed meeting is convened, the presiding officer will publicly identify the section or sections of the act. Authorizing the closed meeting, all final votes, actions, or decisions will be taken in open meeting and the board to the PSJA board policy. And we are going to executive session at 8.52. Your child's future starts at PSJA ISD. Now enrolling students for our PSJA Building Blocks Academies. Through an innovative approach, these academies... It's never too late to achieve your goals. At PSJA CCTA, we're excited to support you in every step of the way. If you have any questions, please contact us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you're between 18 and 26 and want to complete your credits or pass your

157state exams, we're here to help you graduate and launch your career. Thanks to our partnerships with South Texas College, you can also gain valuable industry certifications in phlebotomy, welding, HVAC, education, and more. With flexible schedules and the laptop provided, you will have everything you need to succeed. Take this step today. Enroll now and start your journey. ¿Sabías que puedes registrar a un estudiante de manera fácil en PSJA? Solo te daré un paso a la respuesta. tienes que seguir estos cuatro pasos. Visita nuestra página web donde encontrarás el botón que dice inscríbete ahora y haz clic en registrar. Si eres un estudiante nuevo o de reingreso, PSJA tiene una opción para ti. Si eres un estudiante de reingreso, tu padre o tutor deberá ingresar sus credenciales donde tendrán la opción de actualizar la información o crear

158un nuevo perfil para otro estudiante. Si eres un estudiante nuevo, todo lo que tienes que hacer es crear una nueva cuenta e incluir toda la información acerca de tu hijo o hija. Para más información visita psjaisd.us slash ypsja o llámanos al 956-354-2167. Did you know it's easy to register a student at PSJA? All it takes is four simple steps. Visit our website and there you'll find the enroll now tab and click to register. Whether you're new to the district or if you're new to the state, you can register at PSJA. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, have your parent or guardian fill in their credentials where they'll have the option of updating any information or creating a new profile for another student. If you're new

159to the district, you'll need to create an account with us and include all the information about your child. To learn more, visit us at psjaisd.us slash ypsja or contact us at 956-354-2167. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, you can register at PSJA. All it takes is four simple steps. Visit our website and there you'll find the enroll now tab and click to register. All it takes is four simple steps. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're

160a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If you're a returning student, PSJA has the option for you. If in order to have access to the campus. So follow me. Every campus also has a PSJA guardian security guard. So he is here every day. We also have a PSJA police officer who monitors our campus on a daily basis. All our doors are locked. There's only one way in and one way out the building. And this is where our guardian is

161stationed for safety reasons. Come on in and I'll show you the rest of our campus. Here at Marcia Garza Elementary, we're part of PSJA ISD where every student is taught using rigorous state, high quality curriculum. And all our teachers are state certified. Here at our campus, we're big on empowering our students and planting that seed for college readiness. So each grade level is assigned a college where they research it. They get to find out what careers they would like to be, what programs are out there for them. We do have college Fridays where they get to wear their college shirts. We have career fairs. And we bring in various speakers to be able to expose our students to what's out there so they can start preparing for the future. As we go down the hallway,

162we're going to take you into one of our pre-K-3 classrooms. As you can see here, pre-K-3's college is Baylor Bears. Baylor University. And if you look to this side, we also have our pre-K-3. We're big on hands-on activities. So our kids learn using their hands-on activities, planting outside, going into, creating. That's one of the biggest things that we do on our campus is the hands-on. We want them to be learning like a la fun. They're learning, creating, thinking, getting those high critical thinking skills. So let me show you one of our pre-K-3 classrooms. Come on over. JA safety is our number one priority. So as you can see, we are in phase one where all our classroom doors need to remain locked at all times for student safety. And come on in. This is one

163of our exemplary pre-K-3 classrooms, one of two, where our students are learning hands-on. We do have our certified teacher and our paraprofessional that assist in making sure that the kids are learning. Morning, Damon. A feature that I would like to share with you is that we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. And we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. And we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of

164students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. So we have a lot of students that are learning hands-on. equipped with a safety film, a shadow film to give us in an emergency the PSJA police can buy more time for our kids for the school safety. Every classroom is also equipped with a stop the bleed kit. Lockdown, night lock, night lockdown. So in case

165of an emergency, in case of a lockdown, the teachers are trained to use it and to lock the door to buy us more time for our PSJA police to come in and assist. Another great perk of PSJA is that we do have an armed guardian in every campus and we do have a PSJA police officer that visits our campus daily in case we need assistance in any way. Parents, and don't worry if your students, if your babies are not potty trained because we will assist with that. Our teachers work together in partnership to create a schedule where we will work hand-in-hand with you to make sure our students are ready and potty trained. I'm going to move on to our kinder classroom. This is one of our bilingual classrooms. We are proud to say that

166we are a one-way dual language campus where our students learn to read and write in their native language empowering them to get stronger. Our goal in kinder is for our students to learn to read at least 30 words per minute, their read, write, speak, and write. present so as you can see we want to make sure that our students are ready for first grade if they go in reading first grade we continue with their meeting up to 60 words per minute and bring in the comprehension the writing the presenting our kids love to present so they work on a lot of hands-on projects that they get to present into the classroom if you follow me I will show you one of our second grade classrooms common instructional framework is strategies that we use to empower

167our students to work to collaborate and learn how to work with partners in groups how to present teamwork so as you can see some of our around throughout our campus you will see our walls do the talking here we have them here they worked in groups of twos threes where they're working are you know your week of math in solving addition problems we're big on writing we do you know you're working on your work and you know you're working on your work and you know you're working on your work and you know you're working on your right across pre-k three to fit across content every single content but we do bring out our journals we'd want our students to be well-rounded students where they're reading writing critical thinking using those skills daily throughout the day

168every day as you can see on this side we know we have a reading activity where our students were describing the main characters and again this time to work in groups of course so you can see that we have a reading activity where our students are describing the main characters and again we're having them have that productive struggle those critical thinking skills that they're gonna need to be successful throughout their not only elementary careers but throughout their educational careers so I'm gonna take you in to visit one of our second grade classrooms at our high quality instruction this year we are implementing Eureka throughout our district which is a very hands-on curriculum our students are learning with manipulatives again they're running with manipulatives again they're running with manipulatives again they're running with manipulatives again they're

169running with writing they have their math journals and they are working in groups so they're seated in a way where they can collaborate and speak and have that critical thinking with each other I love it I love the learning that I see great job PSJA ISD no solo entrenamos at let us creamos campiones en el campo nos levantamos juntos en el aula avanzamos juntos una de los programas deportivos de PSJA ISD donde se forja la grandeza en PSJA ISD entrenamos como héroes enfrentamos cada reto rompemos límites nos levantamos juntos jugamos con mucha pasión desde betas completas hasta victorias en campeonatos PSJA ISD forja líderes estudiantes y campeones tienes el poder hazlo contar una de los programas deportivos de PSJA ISD donde se forja la grandeza en PSJA ISD entrenamos como héroes enfrentamos cada reto rompemos

170los programas deportivos, todos enfrentamos cada reto en cabeza we push limits we rise together, we fight like there's no tomorrow we push limits we rise together, we fight like there's no tomorrow victory is earned not given victory is earned not given from full wired scholarships to championship victory PSJA ISD builds schools to championship victory PSJA ISD builds leaders scholars and champions you've got the power, now make a count PSJA ISD has the athletic opportunities you need to unlock your full potential en PSJA ISD, nos garantimos el poder ahora haremos un salto PSJA ISD tiene las oportunidades atlánticas que necesita para lograr todos susديos En PSJA ISD, brindamos un mundo de oportunidades. Nuestras escuelas primarias son el lugar perfecto para que su hijo crezca, prospere y tenga éxito. PSJA ISD, donde comienza su camino hacia el

171éxito. Imagine your child's journey starting with a strong foundation. At PSJA ISD, our free pre-K-3 programs spark curiosity, inspire learning, and prepare them for a lifetime of success. PSJA ISD, where their future begins from cradle to college. At PSJA ISD, we believe every child deserves a head start toward success, and it starts in our pre-K-3 programs. Our classrooms are designed to spark curiosity and lay the foundation for lifelong learning. With play-based activities and nurturing educators, your child is more than just prepared, they are inspired. Our building blocks academies, elementary schools, and partnerships with over 40 child care centers create a seamless path, making early education accessible and of the highest quality. Choose PSJA ISD, where the journey to success begins from cradle to college. At PSJA ISD, we believe every child deserves a head start

172toward success, and it starts in our pre-K-3 programs. Our building blocks academies, elementary schools, and partnerships with over 40 child care centers create a seamless path, making early education accessible and of the highest quality. At PSJA ISD, we are committed to taking the first step in the path to a bright future for your child. At PSJA ISD, our high school schools prepare students for success with pre-K-3 classes, university preparation, from sports to fine arts, we inspire students to achieve their goals for early and further universities. At PSJA ISD, we are committed to empowering high school students for success. Our schools offer comprehensive education, providing academic preparation with pre-K-3 classes in algebra, geometry, and Spanish, as well as high school success classes. At PSJA ISD, an area of full or teorical excellence with a student environment,

173we offer areas of high일ness to our students. And PSJA ISD is such a pre-K, graded program, a relaxed environment, and a world of tools for one person, nuestro-o translator de lenguaje. At PSJA ISD, each step is just one step to success. PSJA ISD sets up kids' success with a safe and学-promountain line, Pre-K-3 courses, college prep, and focused social-emotional growth. From athletics to fine arts, PSJA ISD— empowering students to succeed, from cradle to college. In PSJA ISD, PSJA ISD, 8 Raki, którą pero belief in conclusión. At PSJA ISD, PSJA ISD, 8 Raik, unknown interest. At PSJA ISD, PSJA ISD, 7 Raiki, by chance. to empowering middle school students for success. Our schools provide a well-rounded education, offering academic preparation, enrichment opportunities, and social-emotional support. With pre-AP courses in algebra, geometry, and Spanish, plus college success courses,

174we give students a head start on their future careers. From athletics to fine arts, destination imagination, and the dual-language program, PSJA Middle Schools prepares students for early college and beyond, from cradle to college. At PSJA ISD, our award-winning elementary schools lay the foundation for a bright future, from dual-language to robotics and AVID. PSJA ISD, opportunities for all, from cradle to college. In PSJA ISD, our primary schools lay the foundation for a bright future, with high-quality and inspiring environments, offering opportunities for all students to explore their potential with programs such as dual-language, talent and equipment, robotics, sports, and AVID, and schools recognized as National Blue Ribbon and Honor Roll leading the way. PSJA ISD, opportunities for all, from cradle to college. At PSJA ISD, our award-winning elementary schools lay the foundation for a bright future, in

175high-quality, inspiring settings, we offer opportunities for all students to explore their potential, setting them on the path to college careers and beyond. With National Blue Ribbon and Honor Roll schools leading the way, we provide programs like dual language, gifted and talented, robotics, sports, and AVID. PSJA ISD, opportunities for all from cradle to college. Every note we sing tells a story. Every movement we make, Every note we sing tells a story. At PSJA ISD, we don't just create artists. Every move we make echoes with meaning. We create visionaries. Every stroke of the brush brings our vision to life. Our students shine on stage while excelling in the classroom. Together, we transfer the ordinary into the extraordinary. Every role I play, I've become a new version of myself. Join PSJA ISD's award-winning fine arts programs, where talent

176meets opportunity. At PSJA ISD, we know that speaking two languages opens up a world of possibilities. By learning two languages, English and Spanish, you're worth double. PSJA dual-language graduates earn the prestigious Seal of Biliteracy, which demonstrates their proficiency in two languages and their ability to navigate between cultures. At PSJA ISD, dual-language transforms lives, strengthens identities, and builds a future full of opportunities. Don't wait. Enroll today. At PSJA ISD, we don't just create artists. Every move we make echoes with meaning. Together. We transfer the ordinary into the extraordinary. Join PSJA ISD's fine arts programs, where talent meets opportunity. At PSJA ISD, we don't just create artists. We create visionaries. Every note we sing tells a story. Every move we make echoes with meaning. Join PSJA ISD's fine arts programs, where talent meets opportunity. PSJA ISD isn't

177just setting the bar. We're raising it. The PSJA Class of 2024 earns a degree in art. It earns more than $130 million in scholarships, over $37 million in grants, and saved nearly $8 million in college tuition. This is PSJA ISD. We're not following the path. We're carving it. Are you ready to be part of something extraordinary? Join us at PSJA ISD, where we're not just envisioning a brighter future. We're building it. PSJA ISD isn't just setting the bar. We're raising it. Feed the region and the state in graduating more students with associate degrees and degrees. We're building it. More students with associate degrees and college certificates than any other district. Before they even leave high school, our students have already begun their college journey, saving families thousands in tuition and book costs along the way.

178Join us at PSJA ISD, where we're not just envisioning a brighter future. We're building it. In the realm where potential meets opportunity, PSJA ISD is your headquarters for becoming a hero of your own story. Whether you're destined for college greatness or a hands-on trade that transforms industry, PSJA ISD gives you the ultimate jumpstart. Dive into the school of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. From the biology academy to cybersecurity technology, our STEM programs are your launchpad to high-wage, high-impact careers. Ready to shape the future with renewable energy or become a leading veterinary technician? Your mission starts here. Or if hands-on mastery is your calling, enter the school of business and industry, precision manufacturing, automotive maintenance, carpentry and culinary arts are your battlefield. Diesel technology and HVAC are your skills for forging paths and make an immediate

179impact. For those who answer the call to serve, the School of Public Service and Health Services is your arena. Criminal justice, cosmetology, dental assistance and emergency medical technology. Prepare to make a difference in lives and communities. With academies like EKG technician and pharmacy technician, your impact is just beginning. For the visionaries and creators, the School of Arts and Humanities is your arena. The Graphic Arts Academy unleashes your creativity and light up the world with your innovative genius. At PSJA ISD, we don't just prepare you for the future, we ignite it. With pathways tailored for every dream and every aspiration, we're setting the stage for your greatness. Your future awaits. At PSJA ISD, step into your destiny. Jumpstart your career with us today. Every superhero has a secret to their power. Do you know what ours

180is? It's not a cape. It's not a mask. It's showing up every single day. Just like superheroes train daily to get stronger. Coming to school every day helps us expand our minds. And prepare for any challenge. When we miss school, it's like skipping a day of training. Our powers don't grow as strong as they could. But when we show up every day, we level up. We become unstoppable. Attendance is our superpower. So suit up. Show up. And let's be everyday heroes. Together. At PSJA ISD, we don't just educate children, we prepare them for a lifetime of success. Our journey begins before kindergarten through partnerships with more than 40 child care centers and our PSJA Building Blocks Academies. We serve our youngest learners from Pre-K through to High School. Here, children receive a strong foundation for

181lifelong success through play, discovery, and hands-on learning in nurturing environments designed just for them. Our teachers focus on early literacy, language development, and social-emotional learning to ensure every student transitions to elementary schools ready to read, ready to write, and ready to learn. We're here to help. We're here to help. We're here to help. We're here to help Because at PSJA ISD, opportunity begins at the very start of life. Elementary schools continue that momentum with rigorous academics and a college going culture. Students explore dual language and STEM programs. began taking college prep courses to succeed in our early college high schools. PSJA is one of the few districts in the region, state, and nation with a wall-to-wall early college model in partnership with South Texas College. Every student in all six high schools have the opportunity

182to earn dual credit and college courses, including programs in high-demand, high-wage fields such as healthcare, STEM, and specialized trades like welding and manufacturing. Programs not only prepare students for college, but also equip them with industry certifications and skills that meet local and national workforce demands. These opportunities are creating a historic impact. Last year, 715 students hosted degrees and workforce certificates through our partnership with South Texas College. Before graduating high school, setting a record for the district. When we say opportunities for all, pathways toward independence program empower students with special needs to build life skills and the PSJA Blue Learning Center. Parents can earn their education by earning industry certifications and building brighter futures for themselves and their families. And on top of all this, our students also have the opportunity to learn more about the

183future of their families. 표 requires ability to shine in award-winning athletics and fine arts programs, achieving state and national recognition while pursuing their academic dreams. None of this happens alone. It takes a team of dedicated educators, staff, families, and committed partners, all working toward one shared goal, creating opportunities for every learner. PSJA ISD, várias every family and every dream. Opportunities for all, from cradle to college. This is PSJA. Hello, this is the PSJA Tri-City Talks Podcast. I'm Claudia. And I'm Cindy. PSJA family, the school year is in full swing, and there's so much going on. At PSJA ISD, we train like heroes. We face every challenge head on. We push limits. We rise together. We play like there's no tomorrow. Victory is earned, not given. From full-ride scholarships to championship victories, PSJA ISD builds leaders,

184scholars, and champions. You've got the power. Now make it count. PSJA ISD has the athletic opportunities you need to unlock your full potential. At PSJA ISD, we give a world of opportunities. Our primary schools are the perfect place for your child to grow, prosper, and succeed. PSJA ISD. Where their path to success begins. Imagine your child's journey starting with a strong foundation. At PSJA ISD, our free pre-K-3 programs spark curiosity, inspire learning, and prepare them for a lifetime of success. PSJA ISD. Where their future begins from cradle to college. At PSJA ISD, we believe every child deserves a head start towards success, and it starts in our pre-K-3 programs. Our classrooms are designed to spark curiosity and lay the foundation for lifelong learning. With play-based activities and nurturing educators, we help you grow. Your child

185is more than just prepared. They are inspired. Our building blocks academies, elementary schools, and partnerships with over 40 child care centers create a seamless path, making early education accessible and of the highest quality. PSJA ISD. Where the journey to success begins from cradle to college. At PSJA ISD, we believe every child deserves a head start towards success, and that path starts in our pre-K-3 programs. Our classrooms are designed to spark curiosity and lay the foundation for lifelong learning. Our building blocks academies, elementary schools, and partnerships with over 40 child care centers create a seamless path, making early education accessible and of the highest quality. At PSJA ISD, we believe every child deserves a head start towards a bright future. At PSJA ISD, our high school schools prepare students for success with pre-K-3 classes, and university

186preparation. From sports to fine arts, we inspire students to achieve their goals for early college. PSJA ISD is committed to empowering students from high school to success. Our schools offer comprehensive education, providing academic preparation with pre-K classes in algebra, geometry, and Spanish. In addition to university success classes, we give students an advantage in their future careers. From sports to fine arts, Destination, Imagination, and the Dual Language program, PSJA ISD, where every step is a step towards success. PSJA ISD is committed to empowering students from high school to success. PSJA ISD is committed to empowering students from high school to success. PSJA ISD, our middle schools set students up for pre-K courses, college prep, and a focus on social-emotional growth. From athletics to fine arts, PSJA ISD, empowering students to succeed, from cradle to college. PSJA

187ISD, we're committed to empowering middle school students for success. Our schools provide a well-rounded education, offering academic preparation, enrichment opportunities, and social-emotional support. With pre-AP courses in algebra, geometry, and Spanish, plus college success courses, we give students a head start on their future careers. From athletics to fine arts, Destination, Imagination, and the Dual Language program, PSJA Middle Schools prepares students for early college and beyond, from cradle to college. In PSJA ISD, our primary school is the foundation for a bright future, with programs from double language to robotics and AVID. PSJA ISD, opportunities for everyone from high school to college. At PSJA ISD, our award-winning and innovative programs are established to be developing a future-growing chemistry and a future-growing architecture. At PSJA ISD, our award-winning elementary schools lay the foundation for a bright future, from dual

188language to robotics and AVID. PSJA ISD, opportunities for all, from cradle to college. In PSJA ISD our primary school is the foundation for a bright future, with high-quality and inspiring environments, offering opportunities for students to explore their potential with programs, such as language studies, talent and training, robotics, robotics, sports, and AVID, and schools recognized as National Blue Ribbon and Honor Roll, leading the way. PSJA ISD, opportunities for everyone, from RACUNA to the university. At PSJA ISD, our award-winning elementary schools lay the foundation for a bright future. In high-quality, inspiring settings, we offer opportunities for all students to explore their potential, setting them on the path to college, careers, and beyond. With National Blue Ribbon and Honor Roll schools leading the way, we provide programs like dual language, gifted and talented, robotics, sports, and AVID. PSJA

189ISD, opportunities for all, from cradle to college. Cuenta una historia. Cada movimiento que hacemos resuena con significado. Cada pincelada da vida a nuestra visión. Juntos transformamos lo ordinario en extraordinario. Cada papel que interpreto me convierte en una nueva versión de mí misma. At PSJA ISD. No solo creamos artistas, creamos visionarios. Únete a los programas de bellas artes de PSJA ISD donde el talento se encuentra con la oportunidad. Here, every note we sing tells a story. At PSJA ISD, we don't just create artists. Every move we make, it goes with meaning. We create visionaries. Every stroke of the brush brings our vision for life. Our students shine on stage while excelling in the classroom. Together, we transfer the ordinary into the extraordinary. At PSJA ISD, we create visionaries. Every role I play, I've become a new

190version of myself. Join PSJA ISD's award-winning fine arts programs, where talent meets opportunity. At PSJA ISD, we know that speaking two languages opens up a world of possibilities. By learning two languages, English and Spanish, you're worth double. PSJA dual language graduates earn the prestigious Seal of Biliteracy, which demonstrates their proficiency in two languages and their ability to navigate between cultures. At PSJA ISD, dual language transforms lives and strengthens identities, and builds a future full of opportunities. Don't wait. Enroll today. At PSJA... You mentioned a big game, a game they have to win after having lost week one against Philadelphia, and then the quick turnaround on Thanksgiving hosting Kansas City, which Post Malone will be performing at halftime. Look at you. It was just announced, which will be great. But, you know, then they get kind

191of another mini bye. So, you know, anything can happen, as we know. I think they'll leave... I think they'll leave this game feeling really good, at least. Here's the tight end made by Drevin Spann Ford. That's just his fourth catch of the year. Typically just a block, and it brings up third down after that gain of four. Yeah, good job by him, and he's... Everybody kind of has their role, and for him, it has been primarily a blocker, but even like, you know, he got an opportunity right there, and we've seen Hunter Lipke. Everyone's getting an opportunity tonight. This will be a nice flight home for the Cowboys. But agnostication skills outstanding. Javante Williams with 21 carries, 92 yards. The first to meet him, it brings up fourth down. But this would make it a

192three-possession game if you kick the field goal. 17 points were already there, so forgot about the safety. And then the free kick on the onside kick try, recovered by Pickens, and now here they are knocking on the door. Mark Davis, this team staring at a 2-8, beginning to the 2025 season. A lot of change in Las Vegas since the Raiders came to town. This is their fourth regime in the last five years, and as we mentioned, Joe, just not... The concession at 12.23 a.m. Of November 18th. Of November 18th. Thank you, sir, for the correction. Mr. Board President, we need to go back to under finance, under section 8. We have received a motion to approve the A, regarding the written resolution for the Hidalgo County Appraisal District. We have received all your individual ballots,

193and we have the totals, with the board assigning 32 votes for Jorge Martinez, and 80 votes to Joe Olivares. At this time, the board can entertain a motion to adopt the ballot as read. I have a motion by Ms. Serna, and a second by Ms. Barron. All those for the motion, signify by raising your right hand. Aye. Did we bring her back with us? Did we bring her? Is she there? Oh. She's on the screen, but... No, no, we're on mute, that's why. Oh, there you go. Ms. Gutierrez? She's still on mute. Yes, I'm here. Oh, there we go. Okay. Ms. Gutierrez, we just voted on the approval of the appraisal district nominee. It was 32 votes for Jorge Martinez, and 80 votes for... Joe Olivares. Joe Olivares. Okay. Everybody voted, who needed you to

194vote? Okay. 32 votes for Jorge Martinez, and 80 votes for Joe Olivares. You vote yes or no? He's voting yay. Yes, okay. So that was unanimous. The motion passes. Okay, next item. Yes, Mr. Chairman, regarding executive session, moving on to section 11, 11.8.2, consultation with attorney, 11.8.2a, legal counsel recommends that the board adopt a motion to approve the resolution as presented in executive session for cause number C-2823-19-J-1. Motion to approve such case. What was your question, Trustee Villegas? Delineate on the resolution, please. Oh, the resolution is just we're going to be approving the release of a particular individual in exchange for settlements. Okay. Delineate on. That's been, yeah. Motion for Trustee Villegas. Oh, yeah. Second. Second by Mrs. Serna. All those for the motion, 65 by raising right hand. Aye. Aye. Motion passes. Next item.

195Members of the board regarding 11.8.2b, regarding possible action on CG litigation, at this time, based on discussions with the board, legal counsel recommends the board take no action. At this time, that means there's no change to the status quo with regard to the current censure in place. So no action, we don't have to do anything. Correct. Is there another one, the other item? Then we go into personnel, which we have personnel matters. Under 11.8.3a, employment of instructional professional personnel, I believe the superintendent had a recommendation from the principal. Correct. And... So the board can... And that... Who is the recommendation? If it's a teacher, the name doesn't have to be... Doesn't have to be read out loud. So it's a teacher. Yes. Motion to approve. Motion to approve by Mr. Villegas. Second. Second by Mrs.

196Serna. All those for the motion, 65 by raising right hand. Aye. All those against, same sign. Aye. That was 4-3, right? Aye. Aye. All those against, same sign. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Motion passed. Any further comments? Okay. Motion passes. Mr. Chairman, with respect to non-teaching... I don't believe there was anything in there. Did you have non-teaching professional recommendations? No. No. So then we go to 11a, 3c regarding Level 3 grievance of VS. At this time, legal counsel recommends that the board adopt a motion to grant in part and deny in part. I have a motion. Motion. Motion by Miss . I second. Second by Ms. Castillo. All those for the motion, raise up your right hand. Aye. I don't... Signify by raising your right hand. Everybody. Okay.

197Ms. Gutierrez. She voted in favor. She voted in favor. I already voted. Okay. So that's six, one. Six. Trustee Quintanilla, are you abstaining? I'm abstaining. Yeah, so it's six with one abstention. Five, okay. Yeah. Six and one abstention. Okay. With respect to 11A3D regarding the level three grievance of SS, legal counsel recommends the board adopt a motion to grant in part and deny in part. I have a motion. So moved. Moved by Ms. Barron. Second by Ms. Castillo. All those in favor, raise up your right hand. Aye. One abstention. One abstention. I think there's two abstentions. Two abstentions. So five and two abstentions. Five and two. Okay. Okay. With respect to level three grievance, the grievance of GQ, at this time legal counsel recommends the board take no action due to the nature of the

198grievance and the requested remedies that fall outside the scope of the board's authority. Okay. So no action on that one? No. All right. Is that the last item? Yes. We took all the action items from executive. So they're listed as discussion and possible action. They're restated under human resources. So we can omit that and carry the vote over from the previous items. And we can do the same for litigation. And the same for CG. Yes. Because they were restated afterwards. But yes, it was the same items. So we're good. We're done to adjournment. I made the move. So that's it? That's it? So I have a question. Yes, ma'am. And it kind of goes back to the agenda itself. So what recommendation would you have on this particular, the way it was set up? Should

199we not have put human resources litigation? No, it's fine. It says I didn't realize that they were restated afterwards. That's why. Okay. Yeah. Okay. But it's the same items that we just took action on. Yes, ma'am. Move to adjourn. Motion by Ms. Quintanilla for adjournment. And second by Ms. Castillo. All those for adjournment. Second by raising right hand. Motion passed. Meeting is adjourned. Raise both my hands.