School Board Meeting: April 27, 2026

001Good evening everyone. I'm going to call this meeting to order and I start with the pledge of allegiance from Miss Quintanilla. 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. I have invocation by Mr. Villegas. Good afternoon. I'd ask everybody to please bow your head. Dear Lord, as we deliberate tonight on several agenda items, we ask you that you preserve the integrity of the board, that we continue to focus on the 30,000 students that we have and our 4,500 plus employees, that we maintain the vision for quality education, integrity. And as we get ready to close the year out, we also start a new chapter where we deliberate on our budget. So we

002look forward to having your guidance as we focus on that. We thank everybody that attends these board meetings from the community and those that are viewing in public as you have a vested interest in what's going on in the education of your children. Give us the strength to focus. and the integrity to preserve that what is in their best interest. In God's name we pray, amen. Okay, moving on to the next item, item three, consideration of impossible action to appoint a person to fill the vacancy in the office of trustee place two pursuant to Texas Education Code 11.060 and beyond board policy BBE legal and local. I need a motion. I'll make a motion. I'll second it. I'll make a motion to nominate Mr. Romeo Robles to replace the vacant seat as we now have

003it. I have a motion by Mr. Villegas and I have a second by Ms. Castillo to appoint Mr. Romeo Robles. All those for the motion, six and five are raising their hand. All those against? All against? Okay, we'll have motion passes. Next we're going to go to Part B, administration of the oath of office to the trustee appointed to place two pursuant to Texas Constitution 16-1 and Texas Education Code 11.061. Mr. Robles, you can come to the front and Judge Palacios. Up here, over here, up front. Mr. Rodas and I graduated back in 1979. Once a bear, always a bear, right? He told me, he says, don't make it long. And I think he knows I like to talk a lot. Can you please raise your right hand and state your name? I, Romeo Rosendo

004Robles Jr., do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the duties of school board, trustee place two. Of the state of Texas. Of the state of Texas. And will. And will. To the best of my ability. To the best of my ability. Preserve. Preserve. Protect. Protect. And defend. And defend. The Constitution. The Constitution. And the laws. The laws. Of this United States. Of these United States. And of this state. And of this state. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Take a picture. We'll let him sit. We'll take a picture. We'll have you standing. I'll have you by the cube. And then we'll get one of you all sitting down. Ready? There we go. One, two, and three. Big smiles. There you go. And you can sit down. I'll take one sitting down

005as well. I have an extra drag. Welcome Mr. Roles. Thank you. I look forward to working with you. Hopefully we can continue building a culture of teamwork and so I'm excited. So I'm looking forward to continuing to create a stronger team. Thank you for joining us and wanting to be part of this board and answering the call. Thank you for welcoming me. Mr. President, I would also like to say something. Mr. Robles, we work together. He was great, always, always spoke for the students, always had their best interest, especially our FFA program. And I welcome him. And regardless of my vote, I felt that the seat might have been best to remain empty. But being that it's not, I have to say that Mr. Robles is a great addition to this board. And welcome. And

006I hope that those lines of communication remain open between us as opposed to... the previous person that you're replacing. So thank you and welcome. Thank you, Ms. Quintanilla. And I'm sitting up here with two of my former bosses, so I don't know how that's going to work out. You're an equal, sir. Once again, I'd like to congratulate and thank Mr. Robles for accepting our invitation to this board. I know that he brings a lot of experience to this board. And eventually and very soon he will start seeing all the great stuff, things that are happening here in PSJA and the wonderful people that are behind all of the great things that are happening. So, but I'll let him be the witness of all that. So once again, thank you very much for accepting our invitation

007and we look forward to working with you. Thank you, Mr. President. Well, neighbor, what can I say? I've been trying to get you to serve on the board for the last four or five years. And you said, let me not just see that. Well, it happened. The opportunity arose and we talked about it and I had asked you to consider. but I do want to say something that means a lot and it'll show off in his service to the board. He comes from one of the finest families that our communities have ever known for many, many years. They've invested in the growth of PSJA. They've invested in the in the attention that PSJA rightly deserves. I've always known you, Romero, to be a man and a person of integrity, and I know that you have

008the best interest in mind, so I'm looking very much forward to serving with you on the board, and I know that you're going to be a tremendous addition to it. God bless you and welcome. Thank you, Mr. Villes. Welcome. I appreciate that you accepted to join us here on the board. I've also known Mr. Robles. I'm also from the class of 79. So I've known him for a long, long time. And the thing that Mr. Villegas said, person with a lot of integrity and is always student-centered. And that's the kind of people that we need. So I'm very grateful that he agreed to it. And I want to thank you and welcome you. And like Ms. Barron said, the school district. and the staff doing a lot of great stuff and you'd sit back and

009enjoy all that because the district is doing exceptionally well. We've been recognized all over the place. I just want to thank you again for accepting to be on the board. Thank you. If I may just real quick, I know time is short, but I am humbled by this opportunity and I look at this invitation as an opportunity to continue to serve my community. You know, we talk, several of us talked about the 1900s, you know, when we were in action. But I have been serving this community since 1978 as a volunteer fireman. I was in Kiwanis. I was... beef syndicate person. I recently got off of two boards at the city, so service is one of those things that I've been taught. with my family and my in-laws, my father, a former city commissioner, and

010I look forward to this opportunity in working with administration and the fellow board members in keeping this thing going because that's what it's about. And I am student-centered, and so that way you know where my focus is. Thank you very much, and I guess it's time to get to work. Mr. Rodriguez. Go ahead, Ms. Gutierrez. Yes. Mr. Robles, I tried to speak a couple of times right now, but they didn't see me. But I want to also congratulate you on coming on the board. I hope that you continue the great work that I know you did when you were a teacher and sponsor at Bears. That's the experience that I have with you. I know that the students loved your class, loved what you did with them, and I hope that you continue that great

011work with our district. As you know, these are challenging times. We have many, many issues with especially the vouchers, you know, with, you know, populations moving and all of that. And so I thank you for taking this challenge and for the great work that I know you will do in favor of the community. Again, congratulations and welcome to the board. Thank you very much. And yes, we did teach together way back when. Exactly. And I have nothing but great things. As I told you in our latest conversation a few weeks ago, I have nothing but good memories and good things to say about you, Mr. Robles. And I'm excited that you're here with us. Thank you. Mr. President, I just want to say a few words also. Welcome. Thank you, sir. Welcome back to PSJA

012family and to be part of the PSJA family again. I know you were still active in doing what you had to do with PSJA, but I thank you for serving at this capacity because you will get to see so many things that... are really involved behind the scenes to get PSJA running and to get PSJA to be very successful. And at the end of the day, it's the way as a teacher always thinks the student. The student is number one always. And that's what we advocate for. And to me, it's always about the students. And I thank you for choosing to be part of this board. And I know we're gonna. Work and you're gonna be able to approve great things for the students always. Thank you. Yes Mr. President we move on to recognitions

013and Letter a is introduction of members of the Crimestoppers program and this will be presented by our chief of police Rolando Garcia Good evening members of the board, Mr. President, Dr. Elias. Dr. Elias tasked us at the start of this school year with creating another layer of safety and security aside from the notify application that we have currently in the district. So he tasked us in creating a campus Crime Stoppers program that's going to be rolled out district-wide. This was a very... Long task we had to one create a board and then once that board was established We had to fill out our application to be recognized as a campus Crimestoppers District so that we can start running that a few months ago We got our letter from the state and we are fully recognized

014as a location that will be offering campus Crime Stoppers again This is going to be focused on maintaining safety and security in the district. They're able to report anonymously any threats to the campus any bullying cyberbullying any kind of Topic that they deem is an unsafe situation for them or the student population within the district So tonight is a recognition. I want to present our board if they can come up and stand behind me. They're here They're coming over here. And again, this is all voluntary this these are citizens from the district They are Gonna be doing this we meet every other week I believe at our police department and growing our Our little program from from the beginning so I want to recognize our president Lori Solis Secretary Nadia Gideon our treasurer Alyssa Rodriguez

015Sergeant at Arms Agustin yado and our coordinator from the department Jacob Garcia And I want to stress that this is totally voluntary on their part. They do not have to do this. And they've been meeting with us after hours at 6 o'clock at our department, creating this and getting it off the ground. We have a lot of experience on the board in the Crime Stoppers program, and it's really accelerated the process. process of getting recognized. So we wanted to present them to the board. This is something that's going to roll out here very soon. So you'll be seeing a lot of different logos coming out there from the police department and from the campus Crime Stoppers. So, are there any questions? I have a quick comment and I want to thank the... volunteering board members

016because I know it took a year in the making and I thank you chief for pushing on to it but what I look forward to is that our students are going to be able to voice our students are going to be able to know what's happening throughout this district and the communication. I know we started a committee at first with some of our student council and some of our students at the campuses, but now I can see it expanding beyond that. And I know that the role is. for you all is more to be the advocates for our students and to be able to see what can we do and what can we bring to this district so that we can continue to be one of the safest districts out there. And we pride ourselves

017in that. We pride ourselves in what we do, the grants that we apply, but I truly thank you for electing to be part of this board. So thank you very much. Mr. President, I just have a question. Chief, how will you be working with the safety committee or is this part of the safety committee or not? This is separate from the safety committee, but our district coordinator, Jacob Garcia, is our liaison between the board and the district. So if there's any issues that may arise or any topics that come up, Officer Garcia is to go between the board and our district. Thank you. And my next question is, how are we going to inform parents of the program? and build trust and support. Working with Claudia Limos' team, we have been working since day one

018on the rollout. The board elected and voted on a graphic on what our logo is going to be for that. It's always a teamwork effort between Claudia's tremendous team and our department and pushing it out toward the district and getting the most that we can out of that notification. I have another question. And I know that you're still in the process of rolling this out. So let's say we have a student who has a concern. Maybe he took a field trip and he saw something that he wants to report. Does he report that to the Crime Stoppers? Do you work in collaboration, you know, like along with... RPD? Is it all handled in-house? So this is another layer. We have the Notify app, and this will be a second layer. All the tips will be

019forwarded to us, and we'll investigate from that. Okay. So then you will investigate, and how would the student that calls it in, or is it only for students, or is it also for parents? It can be for students or parents. It doesn't matter. The one thing that we're going to find out is the jurisdiction of where it occurred. So if it occurred in the PSJA jurisdiction, we will investigate. outside our jurisdiction, there's really our hands are tight. There's nothing that we can enforce outside of Hidalgo County. So what is the degree of enforcement that you can do? It's just depending on the tip that comes in. It's a case-by-case basis. Okay, so let's say the student suspects the teacher of being on some kind of substance. What do you do? We would immediately notify the

020proper chain of command, and we'd start working with central office. Okay. So then you, at this point in time, let's say it proves to be true. What happens then? You then turn this over? As we have in other cases, you know, there has been action taken. Of course, we can't say what action was taken, but we have had calls where we've had to make some sort of... you know, criminal investigation offense arrest. So they are investigated again on a case-by-case basis. If it meets the elements to substantiate a crime, then we'll, of course, follow through with it and make the arrest. If it doesn't, then, you know, there's nothing criminal on our end that we can do. Well, I'm very happy to have and thank you to the board for volunteering to do this because

021I do believe that at this point in time there is a need. But I think the community needs to make sure we need to we need to make sure they trust you as a whole, you know, to do the right thing, to do what is in the best interest of our students and the community. So I'm hoping that in the rollout, you know, that like. Ms. Castillo said that the parents are informed, but that there's also, that they also, there is, they can see what the consequence of what is being reported, because if there is no consequence, then what is the point? So I welcome this initiative, and I hope, in fact, that it becomes, you know, another feather in PSJA ISD's cap. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Ms. Quintanilla. Thank you, Chief.

022Thank you very much for volunteering. I know it takes a lot from your family and home, and so I am very grateful for you to volunteer for this organization, and I know it's going to be very successful. Thanks again. Mr. President, I have a question. Go ahead, Mr. Beggars. Chief, and this is addressing it to your board. I'm glad that you're doing this, especially in coordination and conjunction with all of the safety protocols PSJA has taken to protect our students and our staff. So I appreciate what you're doing. I'm hoping that you're going to expand a little bit in the number of your organization. But have you already started requesting that maybe Jacob has grant money or things of that nature? Well, we had to be recognized as an official campus Crime Stoppers team. Thankfully,

023we have several on the board that have tremendous experience with Crime Stoppers and already working on funding sources to pay out those tips that are coming in. So there's grants from the state through Crime Stoppers that can be awarded to us, and then there's going to be other funding opportunities that everyone here on the board has already recognized, and the big part was getting recognized, and now that we are, we can start applying for those funding opportunities. Thank you for that. Will you be working and coordinating with... with the different municipal crime stopper organizations also? Yes. Anytime, you know, our department works well with the Tri-City Police Department. It works well with the state and county authorities as well as the federal. So that partnership is just going to continue over what we do on

024a regular basis to this new program within the district. Well, thank you, Chief. And I applaud all of your committee members for taking on this task. Thank you. Chief, one more thing. How many other school districts have a district? Here that I'm aware of, I believe there's only one. There were several that did have it, but they discontinued the program just because they didn't have the manpower to do it. Here, our officers wear many hats in that Officer Jacob Garcia is assigned to the patrol area in the FAR schools, but he took this task upon as an extra duty to make sure that we get the best coverage as far as safety and security within the district. Mr. Rodriguez, just a few comments here and a question. I know this is fairly new, and I

025trust you. I've worked for the last two years along with you, and I think what we've ever requested, you've come truthfully. and answer to the questions. So most of this board really trusts you, you know, that you're doing what you need to do and that if ever we need to get involved, you're gonna come to us, you know? And so I just wanted to compliment you on bringing this. to get this Crime Stopper to us and for approval or for recognition. I know most of the members here. So my question is, will you be meeting and how often and where? So Jacob, we meet. You want to come up and answer that one? Sorry about that. Yes, ma'am. We meet every Monday once a month at 6.30 and we meet at the training portable at

026the police department. Every Monday? Every third Monday, sir. Every third Monday at PSJ training office. Okay. Thank you. That's my comment. Ms. Gutierrez, do you have a comment? Yes. Okay. Mr. Well, first of all, thank you to all the volunteers that signed up for, you know, to serve on this board, on this committee, rather. Chief Garcia. How many are they all community members or are they staff or you know, what is the composition of the committee? So a majority of them are community members with the exception of Miss Aguirre. She is within here with the district, but the rest of them are members of the public. They're not district employees that, you know, took on this task of making sure that this was created as quickly as possible. Was it, what's the process for recruiting,

027for recruiting these community members? Was it open to the public or how did you recruit members or? Yes, ma'am. We started handing out feelers and just kind of getting. People who were interested in this again. We wanted to hire or not hire. I'm sorry. We wanted to give volunteers that had previous experience with running a Crimestoppers program and the majority of them here have that experience and that's what that knowledge is going to really impact our Crimestoppers program And so it was not open publicly. It's not announced on the advance. We put it on social media. If anybody was interested to reach out to the police department and they could apply. We had several applicants, but a lot of them couldn't make the time to do it. Everybody here behind us really took that on

028and are going forward with it. Okay. Again, thank you so much to the volunteers. I can't see you. Nevertheless, I'm sure that you will do a great job in keeping the accountability and the transparency with those reports. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Oh, I'm going to take a picture. Ready? One, two. One, two. Thank you. Mr. President, may I do excuse, sir? Yes. Go ahead, Mr. Palacios. Thank you for the honor. Thank you. Thank you, Jake. Once a bear, always a bear. Okay, we're going to move on to the next item. Yes, Mr. President. The next item, B, and letter C, I believe, will be addressed by Orlando Garcia, Director for Athletics. And it's PSJA Southwest Early College High School, Lady Javelina's Powerlifting, and PSJA Early College High

029School, Lady Bear's Powerlifting. Mr. President, Dr. Elias, members of the board, thank you for giving us this opportunity to recognize our student-athletes. Our student-athletes, just like our fine arts students. They multitask and that's what I think is unique about students that participate in UIL activities and other activities in the district. Today we're going to recognize our power lifters that advanced to the state meet and were medalists. So if I could have them and their coaches please come stand behind me please. We're going to start off with recognizing PSJA High. Gladysa Pena, if I can please raise your hand real quick. Thank you. This evening we're proud to recognize the excellence, dedication, and determination of an outstanding student athlete whose hard work and commitment have led her to remarkable success in the sport of powerlifting. Clarissa's

030achievement at the state level reflects not only her strength and discipline, but also the pride and high standards of our district. At the state meet, Clarissa was a state medalist at the Texas Women's Powerlifting State Meet. As she finished in fifth place in the 198-pound weight class with a total weight lifting of 970 pounds. Her head coach was Ms. Lisa Cantu and assistant coach Nick Mendoza. Next, we're moving on to PSJA Southwest Senior Luna Valderrama. The district is proud to recognize Luna as a senior at PSJA Southwest Early College High School. Luna is a dedicated three-year letterman on the powerlifting team and has consistently demonstrated excellence, qualifying for the regional meet three times and advancing to the state competition twice during her high school career. At the 2026 state meet, Luna delivered a truly exceptional

031performance. She went 9 for 9, successfully completing every lift attempted, and achieved personal records in all three events. She recorded an impressive 455-pound squat, 245-pound bench press, a 350-pound deadlift for a total of 1,050 pounds, and... to won the state championship in the 165 pound weight class. Her performance was highlighted by setting the new state record in the squat, and she was also awarded the best overall squat in the heavy division. She earned the title of Texas High School Women's Powerlifting Association Regional Champion in the 165-pound weight class. We congratulate Luna on an incredible high school career and wish her continued success in all her future endeavors. Her head coach, Miranda Guajardo and Dina Sanchez. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you sir for all that you do. Thank you sir. Congratulations. Thank you sir. Good. Proud

032principal. Now bicycle. Find a window. There you go. Give him smiles. And one, two. One, two. One, two, three. One, two, three. On behalf of the school board, thank you for all the students, athletes, for representing PSJA with pride, determination, and excellence. You inspire our community every day. Thank you very much. Going on to the next item. Yes, Mr. President and Council, any public comments? Yes, we have some public comments lined up. Before we begin, the PSJA Board of Trustees welcome members of the community to speak on agenda items that will be voted on during the meeting. Members who sign up before the 5 p.m. deadline will be asked to speak in the order the form was received. If individuals signed up but are not present when their name is called, the submission will be

033voided. The PSJA School Board permits each person to speak within an established three-minute window. Please remember only items on the agenda may be addressed by the individual speaking before the board. Individuals intending to speak on items not on the agenda will be directed to the superintendent or designee. As part of the process, specific factual information or recitation of existing policy may be used in response to inquiries presented, but keep in mind the board will not deliberate or enter into dialogue with members of the public during this portion of the meeting. If a member of the public causes disruption by his or her words or actions during the meeting and continues to do so after at least one warning, the presiding officer may request assistance from law enforcement officials for the individual to be removed from

034the meeting. The first person signed up for public comment is Mr. Michael Chavez. Mr. Chavez, you'll have three minutes. Good evening, mr. Elias and board members. My name is Michael Chavez Tonight you may be hiring teachers you want to make sure That what happened to 11 students that happened to the children during a recent district related trip and Galveston I'm gonna stop you I ask you to stick to items that are on the agenda specifically, please Okay, if you can stick to speaking about employment matters specifically, but not any other specific incidents that are not on the agenda before the board today. Okay, this is part of my speech though. Legal, legal, may I ask a question? A legal question? I'm going to go ahead and allow him to continue because his time is running.

035Trustee Gutierrez? Okay. So when he finishes, I have a question. Okay. Okay. So... I'm speaking tonight because the system was supposed to protect our children and failed. This is not about politics. This is about personal conflict. This is about student safety and the duty of adults to protect minors. Teachers with DWIs and official operators charges were placed in charge of 11 students. Mr. Chavez, again, I'm going to ask you to stick to the employment only. Yeah, this is all I have. Thank you, sir. Yes, thank you. The next person. The next person signed up is Ms. Claudia Munoz. Trustee Gutierrez, I believe you had a question before we... Right. So before the person starts so their time does not run out. So if there's an item... Because I got a lot of calls from parents

036and from members of the community. So if there's an item on the agenda placed on Friday, which is the deadline to post before one of our meetings. And so parents or community members sign up for public comments. And they don't know what is going on with the board and administration and, you know, all of the operation. So if they sign up, it's technically on the agenda. So they should be allowed to speak, correct? On that item, because it is not there. I mean, they don't have the information that we have. So we may not have anything to discuss after, you know, for whatever reasons, but they signed up for an item that was there. Right. And so, you know, their First Amendment right is to speak their mind. And I think it does no harm

037to listen to the parents. That's how us elected officials find out what their concerns are. So I want to know that. If it was placed on the agenda on Friday and they signed up, you know, they're not going to be aware of the changes that are made between Friday and Monday that the meeting is held. So are they... I mean, shouldn't they be allowed to speak? The agenda is posted, I believe the timing is three business days ahead of the board meeting. So it's been posted since before Friday for a Monday meeting. Members of the public also have until 5 p.m. the day of the meeting after the agenda has been posted to sign up for public comment. So we're merely enforcing a longstanding board policy that says that members of the public are only

038allowed to speak on items that are actually on the agenda. And that's what we're enforcing right now. But I understand your comment and I thank you. I'm going to go ahead and let Ms. Muñoz speak now. Yeah, I don't think you understood my question. There is an item on the topic that the parents are speaking on. There is an item that was placed on Friday and that's the one that they signed up for. So whether we, the board, move forward with discussion, action, no action, no discussion, whatever it is, the parents are not informed because it's our private information. So shouldn't they be allowed given that? Again, there's no way that an item was placed on the agenda on Friday when the agenda was posted well before then. So I'm gonna continue to enforce the

039board policy the way that I have been and I would like to ask Ms. Claudia Munoz to now come up and present her public comment, please. I call her name out again. Ms. Claudia Munoz. Okay, the next person signed up for public comment is Josephine Valdez. Ms. Valdez, you'll have three minutes. Good evening, members of the board. We are students, but we understand what accountability means. It means telling the truth. It means protecting the vulnerable, and it means doing the right, even when it's hard. We are asking that you show us that PSJA ISD can do better, that students matter, that safety matters, that truth matters. Thank you. The next person signed up for comment is Sofia Rosales. Ms. Rosales, you'll have three minutes. Good afternoon members of the board. My name is Sofia Rosales.

040I'm here today to speak about something very important, doing the right thing when students are at risk. Tonight, you may be hiring teachers and we want to make sure that what happened to me and 10 more students from PSJA Memorial doesn't repeat. During the Govership trip, there were moments where our students... I'm going to ask you to stick only to items that are on the agenda. The matter that you're referencing is not an item for discussion before the board today. If you have anything further to say on an item on the agenda, please proceed. We are here tonight because we believe that should never be the message in this district. Students need to know that teachers who advocate for safety will be protected, not targeted. We need to know that the district values integrity, courage,

041accountability, not retaliation. I am asking this board to publicly commit to protect the educators from Southwest High School, which acted in the best interest towards students, to ensure transparency, and to make it clear that doing the right thing will never cost someone their career. Please show us that PSJA ISD with those who signed up for students. Thank you. The next person signed up for public comment is Aisha Infante. Aisha Infante. The final person signed up for public comment is Polo Flores. Unfortunately, this sign up does not identify a topic to be addressed or an agenda item to be addressed. Mr. Flores, is there an agenda item? Are you the same young lady for San Juan representing? Do you have an agenda item you'd like to speak on? Can you please identify the agenda item? It's

042the same agenda item in leadership. Our leadership is failing our future. Is that viable? No, sir, that's not an item to be discussed before the board today. That's not on the agenda, but thank you. As I was mentioning, it's in the same role. I may not express myself properly. Is that okay? This is to the board. Sir, we do ask and board policy does require that you identify an item on the agenda by 5 o'clock on the day that you want to present a public comment. So since you have not done that today, I am going to ask you to please take your seat. Okay, that's fine. Thank you. Either you listen here or you just head out in the street. You all choose. Have a good day. These are all the people signed up

043for public comment. Yes, Mr. President, we move on to the next item, Superintendent of Schools and Letter A, Presentation on Pathways in Technology, Early College High School, the P-TECH Planning Year, Designation for PSJA Early College High School, PSJA Southwest Early College High School, PSJA Memorial Early College High School, and Provisional Year for PSJA North Early College High School. And this will be presented by Executive Director, Dr. Uribe. Good evening, Dr. Elias and school board members. What a privilege to stand in front of you today. Today we have the opportunity to celebrate P-TECH and PSJA. Our commitment to student success, PSJA ISD continues to expand college and career readiness opportunities with multiple campuses earning the opportunity to advance like Dr. Elias mentioned. With our pathway in technology, early college high school P-TECH designation for 26-27. And

044I just want to mention that this would not be possible without the leadership of Dr. Elias who had a vision to ensure that we met the call of workforce readiness. So as national early college leaders, we will continue to have the opportunity to celebrate. So tonight again is a happy evening. We're celebrating our P-TECH planning year achievement for P-TECH at PSJA. Let me tell you a little journey that really started strong when our superintendent, Dr. Elias, came on to PSJA. Our PTET designation formalized what we were already doing with our PSJA academies. So I want to take you through this journey because we are so excited to have this PTET designation, but we can't forget where it all started. So we're going to play a little video for you. The other video. where potential meets

045opportunity. 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 industries, 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 were your skills for forging paths and make an immediate impact. For those who answer the call to serve, the School of Public Service and Health Services is your arena. Criminal justice,

046cosmetology, 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. In the Graphic Arts Academy, unleash 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. is where it all began. We created strong pathways through dual credit, industry certifications, and college certificates for all of our students to experience. And the next slide. you're able to see that we

047offer more than 20 specialized programs with 12 plus career pathways. Each one of them leading to high wage, high skill opportunities for students with associate degrees, college certificates and industry certification. And this wouldn't be possible without your support. In the next slide, you're able to see that today's P-TECH success is... built on a very strong foundation, allowing students to expand their opportunities for every single student in all of our comprehensive high schools. Collectively through a cohort approach, they experience success in the field of their choice. In the next slide, you're able to see that P-TECH has been rooted through our PSJA academies. And I want to give you a little glimpse. 2425 data shows that we had 597 unduplicated students enrolled in a PSJA Academy. Over 208 of them earned an industry certification. This school

048year... we have 1,131 students participating in a PSJA Academy. And the best is yet to come because our kids are currently testing and we're excited to share those results with you in the near future. That's an increase of 466 students in a PSJA Academy. And that is just marvelous because we're really transforming not only the lives of our students, but our community and all of those that follow. In the next slide, you're able to see that this impact moves beyond the industry certification as well. With our strong partnership with South Texas College, you're able to see that we had 186 students earn a college certificate in 24-25. This school year, we have 260 students that are candidates for a South Texas College certificate. That's over 74 students increase and we are so very proud of

049every single student who has walked this path. In the next slide, you're able to really take a closer glimpse at our associate degrees. So through our associate degrees, you're able to see that in the fall of 2025, we had 82 students earn an associate degree. This spring, we have 465 candidates, a total of 547 associate degrees. This is an increase from the year before and we're so excited to offer that to our students. Two years of college under their belt. Most of these young students are graduating with a bachelor's degree within two years and continuing with masters and beyond. Our district graduates in the fall was 174 students. Our main candidates, and I'm talking about graduates with college certificate and associate degrees, is 633. Totaling a perspective 807 graduates from South Texas College. That is

050the most we have ever had in PSJA. So that's something to celebrate. That's an increase of 114 students and these kids will be walking the stage next week before they even earn a high school diploma and that's thanks to our district who is the national leader for early college work. So you're probably wondering what is P-TECH? We're already an early college district. So the way Ms. Lima's put it, and I really loved it, it's early college plus, right? Like I mentioned, we've been doing this work for years. And now that we have this opportunity to really frame and designate it, we're able to really provide more opportunities for our students. So P-TECH really integrates high school, college, and career, allowing students to earn college credit and industry certification. So if you look at the first

051part, it shows you that it combines high school, college, and career training all together. It also allows students to earn a high school diploma and an associate degree. It focuses on high-demand, high-skill careers. And the difference is that we also partner with an industry partner, and ours is DHR for all of the high schools that are in the pathway to P-TECH. and of course, South Texas College. And you're probably thinking, aren't we doing that already? And the answer is yes, yes, yes, we are. But this is just really framing the work that we've been doing and that we started with our PSJA Academy. So we take a lot of pride in just being able to also include this P-TECH designation for all of our comprehensive high schools. So the difference between early college and P-TECH

052is very slight. They both are able to earn college credits and associate degree. P-TECH also is a plus in career training. We have a strong partnership with South Texas College. And like I mentioned, P-TECH now brings in DHR, our industry partner. DHR, where they have so many different traits. Do you want to be a doctor? Do you want to be in healthcare? Do you want to be in computers? Do you want to be in culinary? We're able to find all of those different occupations and more with our partners. It also emphasizes on academic acceleration with early college. P-TECH adds that workforce readiness. And again, P-H- is always ready to answer that call and that demand that is so much needed across our nation. P-TECH also includes internship opportunities, mentorship opportunities, and job shadowing that will

053be very strategic for every student as they move up the pipeline from every single grade level. And of course, it's a pathway to employment and continued education. All of this is free and that's what makes PSJA such a game changer. Our students are able to engage in all of the early college and now P-TECH work for free, no fee. We're really committed to ensuring that we're changing students' lives. I wanted to also mention that like Dr. Elia said, the campuses will enter planning year focused on building systems, partnerships, and program alignment. In year one, campuses will be implementing this with their first cohorts. In the planning year, we're really looking at all our systems to make sure that we're prepared to serve our students. Early college remains a key foundation. alongside P-TECH to ensure that

054every student is college and career ready. I wanted to share that we were all so excited for this opportunity. In the previous slide, I'm going to start a roll call. And we do have our principals here with their staff. They can't wait to start this work that we've already been doing. And so I want to start with our first campus. Leading this school is our principal, Dr. Rowdy Bella. So please help me in congratulating PSJA Early College High School. Please join us. PSJA Early College High School is so committed to this work. Dr. Vela said yes as soon as the call to action was brought. And so we're so excited to have a representation of his campus here just to show the excitement. And so we want to really celebrate this moment by having them

055come forward and take a picture with the people that are making it happen. And that's you. We also have our... CTE and college readiness team here. Thank you, thank you In our P tech planning you year we also have PSJA Memorial early college high school led by dr. Raquel Garcia Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you,

056sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank Thank you. And next, our planning year designation, PSJA Southwest Early College High School led by Ms. Sylvia Liscano. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And next year we'll start year one with PSJ North Early College High School. Thank you. Thank you, miss. Yes. Thank you, sir. And again, congratulations to all of our comprehensive high schools, but this celebration doesn't stop there. We're still so very proud. of our other campuses that are designated early college. So I wanted to call up Dr. Sandra Garza and

057her staff to celebrate our early college work at T-STEP. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. And next we have PSJA Collegiate School of Health Professions Early College High School led by Ms. Maddie Saenz. Thank you. Thank you. One, two, and three. Mr. Robles. One, two, three. One, two, three. Thank you. So again, we're building pathways for college, career, and future success from cradle to college. And we have one more video we wanted to share with you. But before we start the video, let's do like a really loud roll call. Aren't we excited to be P-TECH? High school, what do y'all think is next? For the middle school Mondays, what we do is we bring in each of our eight middle schools. We have a schedule in the fall for eight weeks for

058the eight middle schools. And what we're doing is we're selecting students that we want to make sure we expose to our career and technical education programs that we offer here at the Dr. King College University Center. Because you guys are the future. We do this all in the fall really to make sure that we have enough time so in the spring when the students are doing their pre-registration they know exactly what they've seen and they can actually make a better selection. We're not going to push you all like oh you're going into welding or you're going into cosmetology or you're going into culinary. No, you guys get to choose what path you guys want to go into. Sometimes the students it's harder when they're younger to understand what that field is so we want to

059really move away from the typical I want to be a doctor I want to be a policeman you know they want to know like there's phlebotomy technicians there's EMT technician they can go into carpentry and the different levels that that offers manufacturing welding. All of the programs that we have and we want them to visualize themselves in the classroom setting. That to us makes more of a memory in their brain, right? To be able to know that as I get older, that's what I want to do. I want to be a part of that. I want to learn how to do that when I get older. And so early exposure is what we've really been shooting for so that way we can have great success when they're graduating high school. Any high school they go

060to in PSJA is welcome to be part of these programs. You do not have to come to the Dr. King College University Center as their primary campus. We have students that have moved to our district specifically for some of our programs to take advantage of that maybe other districts don't offer and save them a lot of time and money after graduation. I learned about all the things that the kids learn here. Everything that they do is free like medical, technology, welding. It's fun. the early college and P-TECH provide a comprehensive system of support and opportunity from cradle to college. Our mission is to continue to build these pathways for our students. Thank you so much to Dr. Elias for his vision and to each one of you for your support. Thank you. On behalf of

061the school board, I want to thank our incredible educators and staff for the passion and care you bring each day. Your dedication shapes the future of our students and we are truly grateful. Thank you again. I wanted something to add something and actually I have questions for Dr. Uribe. When is the planet when did the planning year start so for PSJA North this was their planning year this school year was their planning year for the other three comprehensive high schools It's next school year. So next year will be planning year for the three and then next year PSJA North starts year one So what plan have you designated or have you designed to go ahead and make sure they meet their outcomes-based measures? So one of the things that we've been doing is, of course,

062we've been meeting periodically with the early college directors, and we do look at our data, and we also ensure that we have all the different kits in a pathway, so it's really data-driven. Every single high school has plans, whether it's for early college and now the rising P-TECH. How is this, how are you coordinating with CTE? P-TECH has been around in Texas since 2017, so I'm glad that finally PSJA is getting on board on this. But it is very, it goes hand in hand with CTE. So how is P-TECH going to be funded? Are you using CTE funds? And how, you know, how are you going to differentiate? You mentioned academies. Are all these academies also being funded through CTE? So the academies are being funded through CT and also through our money that we

063get back to our college readiness, right? So our CCMR. And so one of the things that we're doing is we're expanding on the work. And that's why I mentioned, you know, we're grounding ourselves on the PSJA academies because we've already been doing it. It's nothing new to PSJA. Now we just have the designations. So we're looking at really being intentional, working hand in hand with CT, like you mentioned, because P-TECH. The driver is CT. So our director, our coordinators are very involved in the process in supporting the campuses. But again, it's something that we've been doing and it's just about ensuring that we continue to streamline it. Yeah, because I thank the administration of all the schools for accepting this additional. Almost responsibility because just as in early college high school, it is very similar.

064So now you have an early college high school side by side with a P-TECH. And there's funding sources for both. You get funding for students who participate. But there are outcome-based measures just like in early college high school. So just so... Everybody's clear that and as well as our CTE. I know there's our CTE staff is here. I want to thank you because I know that in that role, you've been in that role and it's going to continue. It's probably going to expand now with P-TECH. But it is something that I think that can be done and I just want to make sure that that that we provide the support that the board does support this and but thank you to our CTE staff as well as the administration for accepting that additional I guess

065title. because it doesn't change the fact that you all are still in early college, high school. This is just another pathway towards that. So thank you. Thank you. Real quickly, Dr. Deva, so in some of the pictures, was that you building? Yes. What did you think? Some of the things that when I went away that we were working on, I didn't get to see them. I'm glad those things got done. To the teachers, thank you very much. I was a career in tech guy for a long time. Thank you very much for the work that you do. Yes. Thank you. Dr. Uribe and all of you here. It takes passion, compassion, and talent. I'm excited and I really want to thank you because you're taking on this huge initiative. And like you say, it's been

066happening, but now we're officially making sure that we're having the system in place. Thank you all. This reminds me why I'm sitting in this chair. It's a sacrifice to serve because we have families and we come and we have meetings. It takes time. But just sitting here, I can't help but feel good about what I do. Thank you and I know that we're going to be walking right along your side. It takes all of us. to support each other and really build that team, that culture of teamwork and collaboration. And so just looking at all of you here today, it gives me a lot of hope, especially because we serve our students, many of our students that will be. in this programs, I'm sure there are needy students and they need the support. They need

067all of us. So again, thank you. I commend you for what you do. And let's think about that passion and compassion and that talent. Thank you again. And just coming from a different perspective, echoing what everybody else has already said about all the hard work, congratulating our teachers, you and your administration, all our campuses. It's an endeavor that is not easy. But Dr. Elias, it's because we always try to focus on making sure we're ahead of the game and PSJA is always doing that. I want to thank you for your leadership as far as that's concerned. Our global society is changing right now. And as we look at all the addition to our certificates for our students, we're going to put them in a better posture to receive whatever resources they need to have a

068better life. And I don't mean this in a down way, but not everybody's gonna go to college, to a four year institute, and things are globally changing. The country is changing. And anything that we can offer our kids to graduate from PSJA because of these programs and still go and make potentially. three-digit salaries. Well, kudos to everything that you all do. So to all the students that are out there, get involved in these programs because... They're there for you and you can have a great, great career with them. So congratulations to all of you. And I just wanted to add, it goes with what you said, right? I know we've sat in meetings with President Solis from South Texas College. And one of the things that he keeps mentioning is. it's changing. And so that

069blue-collar worker is now that gold-collared worker. So it's very important for our kids. And this wouldn't be possible also without our principals and all the staff. Well, but just the enthusiasm of all your staff here, all your principals, all your campus people, and how they're excited. We're excited for you guys. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Levy. Appreciate it. Go ahead. My comment is, first of all, I know we keep saying it takes a village, but it truly does, and it starts at the campus level. I know that the vision drives on, but CTE is involved, of course, because it's PTIC, PSJA. It's always finding ways to bring new initiatives and new ideas. And it's all about the students. That's why we chose to be educators. And I want to thank the counselors, the CTE advisors,

070the CTE coordinators, the assistant principals, the principals, because it's an initiative that takes a lot out of everyone. But at the end of the day... This was meant because what happened with the early college, it was supposed to serve the underserved, the underrepresented, but it got driven towards... the top 25%, which is our tier one students. That's what ended up happening. And they're the ones getting served. So again, it was meant for your tier two, tier three type of student, and it got driven away. So by going with the P-TECH now, is PSJA providing opportunities for all now? Yes, we are. Because now we're going to serve through our P-TECH, and our expectations are high still for associate's degrees, if it's in engineering, if it's in welding. But now we're serving our tier two, tier

071three type of student. They deserve that attention. They deserve to have high wage, high earning salaries just like anybody else. And our communities are going to prosper from this. And that's what it's about. It's about the students always. It's about the students. So I thank you all, principals. I thank you all, counselors. CTE advisors, CTE coordinators, assistant principals, it takes everyone. I truly see that this is truly going to change PSJA. We know that the state is driving towards the 2030. You all have heard that. And it's more about the skilled worker. What can we do for the skilled worker? We have SpaceX. We have ING gas. I've gone out there to the port to visit and see what else can we do, what else can we provide. The city of Pharr is with their

072area that they have the industry area. I'm connecting with the EDC because we're seeing future jobs. What can we provide for our students to fill those spots? And PSJA is always a trendsetter. PSJA is always on top and it's because of the staff we have. All our CTE teachers, thank you for taking on that challenge also because you're in the classroom. And I just see it that I know Mr. Robles brought up a good point. He saw that, you know, when he was still here as a city coordinator, that the Dr. King Center was barely starting and then it went away. It died out. That whole area became a storage area. That's what it became. And I'm proud to say that it's not just one person, it took everybody in this district to revive it

073in six months and then bring it up to par and offer it back to the students with all the different areas. And of course it took a lot of bending arms and trying to get what's right through our partnering IHEs, but they're always willing to work with us. They're always willing to see students succeed and that's what we came down to. So again, it takes time, it takes years in action, but now we're seeing that now we're in that step where we're gonna take that step into not just early college, but peak tech. Hardly any district has other comprehensives being PTIC and I pride on that because PSJA deserves it. PSJA will make sure like any other initiative that it's gonna succeed and we're here to support and I know that the board is very

074supportive. So again, thank you to every single one of you. Thank you. Mr. President, any other comments? Yes, Mr. President, I wanted to... Before we move on, I wanted to ask politely for your permission because I know the staff is here and they probably would want to exit out at this point because I know they work and they got to go in very early. Unless you all want to stay to hear also the good things that are going to be presented by our curriculum site of the success on benchmarks also. But you're welcome. Thank you everyone and thanks again for your great job. Appreciate all of you. Thank you. Thank you. It was over here. I moved it over there. Thank you. Yes, go ahead. Mr. President, still under presentations, we have the presentation of

075benchmark two results, and this will be presented by our coordinators that are here and our strategists also. All right. Good evening, Board President, Superintendent, Board members, trustees. It is my pleasure to begin the presentation of the Benchmark 2 results. My name is Patty Delgado. I am the math coordinator for elementary, and I am honored to represent our elementary instructional team this evening as we share highlights from grades three through five. Before reviewing the data, I want to recognize our standing team right here behind me. We have Carla Rodriguez, the RLA coordinator. Sandra Salinas, SLA Coordinator. Velma Sanchez, Science Coordinator. Laura Diaz-Góngora, Social Studies Coordinator. Mariela Castillo, Social Studies Specialist. Sandra Gonzales, Science Specialist. Becky Garza, Math Specialist. Veronica Rios, SLA Specialist. Mirna Martinez, RLA Specialist. And again, we truly are a power team and I

076am grateful to work alongside such dedicated and knowledgeable educators including Dr. Gonzalez, Dr. Arredondo, and Dr. Bassan. So today, as we present our Benchmark 2 results for grades 3 through 5, I do want to note that this assessment was administered the last week of February for reading and science and the first week of March for math. We used the 2025 STAR release questions. Since that time, of course, targeted improvement efforts have begun already implemented and we're confident that the meaningful instructional adjustments underway will meet our star goals. Okay, so looking at our all-student data, our all-student group, several positive trends stand out. Fourth grade reading is our strongest performing level already at the 80th percentile range for approaches. Our fourth and fifth grade reading is also demonstrating solid performance at the meets level. And compared

077to benchmark one results, our third grade math, third grade reading, fourth grade math, fourth grade reading, and fifth grade reading showed an increase of more than five points per performance level from benchmark one. So we do anticipate growth on our star results. When reviewing the emergent bilingual data, we do see encouraging alignment. As you see, they kind of look very similar to the previous slide of the all student. It is overall the results look very, very aligned. Fourth grade reading continues to show strong performance. comparable to the all student group and grades three through five in math shows outcomes comparable to the overall student group, highlighting the impact of our dual language department's efforts to close achievement gaps. So overall the performance transfer emergent bilingual students closely mirror those of the general population, which speaks

078to the effectiveness of all our current instructional strategies. The special education data reveals both strengths and opportunities for growth. A major highlight is our fifth grade math where students continue to perform particularly well. While there's a noticeable gap between the all student group and the special education population, it is an active focus of our work. We do continue to collaborate closely with the special ed department. through targeted instructional planning, co-teaching models, and implementations of supplemental aids and supports. This partnership has already strengthened classroom practices and will continue to drive improvement. And then our final slide here compares our Benchmark 2 with our STAR results from the end of the last school year. And one thing that I did mention, remember the Benchmark 2 was the 2025 STAR. released from the last time. So if you

079kind of start looking at that in the fifth grade, the performance at the approaches level, it's already in fifth grade math. The performance at the approaches level, it's already higher than last year's star results. So that's one of the real positive points. In fifth grade reading and science, performance at the meets and master's level is already higher than last year's star results as well. So that's kudos to all of the work that's happening at our campuses. This comparison is very encouraging and indicates that last year's students' performance gains are already evident. Continued growth is expected as we move closer to our star results. These results confirm strong instructional implementation and our continued focus on data-driven monitoring to improve outcomes for all student groups. Thank you for your continued support and I'm going to turn it

080over to Carla Rodriguez who will share our next steps moving forward. Good evening, Board President Rodriguez, esteemed members of the Board, and our Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Elias. Thank you for your time this evening as we reflect on the focused work and dedication that has taken place in response to Benchmark 2 data. Our curriculum and instruction team, in collaboration with our executive officers for elementary and guidance under Mr. Marquez, took immediate and intentional action to address student needs across our campuses. Our next steps for campus support and guidance has been grounded in one clear goal, ensuring that every decision we make directly impacts student success and moves the needle towards stronger student skill mastery and star results. We begin with a deep strategic data analysis. We didn't just review scores. We engage in meaningful conversations

081with campus leaders using district-created reports to break data down by standards, by teacher and by individual students. This allowed us to identify precise focus areas of each campus and ensure that our response was targeted and not generalized. From there, we moved into intentional instructional planning. Our CNI team works side by side with teachers, planning, supporting, lesson internalization, and narrowing in our standards that mattered the most. We provided detailed countdown to STAR along with the aligned materials and resources and embedded online practices that mirror the rigor and format of the actual assessment. This ensures students are not only learning the content, but are also prepared for how they will be asked to demonstrate that learning. At this time, we strengthened our intervention systems. We worked with campuses to develop targeted plans based on their specific needs,

082creating intentional student groupings and structuring small group rotations by performance level. Tutorials were prescribed based on specific TEKS, ensuring that intervention time is focused and purposeful. Our team has been on campuses modeling instruction, working directly with small groups, and providing real-time coaching to support teachers in delivering high-impact instruction. And just as important, we have remained focused on progress monitoring. We continue to leverage online resources to support individualized learning pathways, giving teachers the opportunity to meet with small groups and address targeted gaps. The CNI team has developed targeted assessments to spiral, review, and reinforce skills for mastery. In addition, student data trackers are being used to build student agency, helping students set goals, monitor their progress, and take an active role in their learning. This work is not isolated. It is collaborative, it is intentional, and

083it is driven by a shared commitment to student success. Every layer, from data to instruction to intervention, has been aligned to ensure we are meeting students where they are and accelerating their growth. This is what it looks like when we are truly all hands on deck, aligned in our work, intentional in our actions, and focused on one goal, ensuring every student is supported and successful. Thank you very much. Up next, our marvelous middle school team. Good evening, Dr. Elias, Mr. President, members of the board. I'm Maria Mariscal, the Middle School Math Coordinator. The Middle School Curriculum and Instruction Team, under the guidance of Dr. Iris Guajardo, will be presenting Benchmark 2 results. Before we begin, I would like to recognize our team and thank them for the continued dedication and commitment to supporting our teachers

084and students. We have Cynthia Santana, our Math Specialist, Kimberly Ortega, our LA Coordinator, Jessica Moore, Science Coordinator, Yomara Garcia Ramos, Science Specialist. Vanessa Garza, Social Studies Specialist. Not present today, Laura Salinas, RLA Specialist. We will begin our presentation by looking at Benchmark 2 results for all students across all content areas and grade levels. As you review the data and the information that follows, it is important to note that Benchmark 2 was administered in February and serves as a key midpoint indicator of student readiness. All four content areas utilize the 2025 STAR assessment as our Benchmark 2 exam. The data provided campuses with an opportunity to identify strengths and gaps and implemented targeted support prior to STAR administration. Looking at the all student data, several key trends were seen. Starting on the left side of the

085graph, you will see data representing our sixth grade students' performance. Despite historically facing challenges during the transition to middle school, this group has demonstrated strong achievement in both assessment subjects. Notably, 51% of the students achieved the meets performance level in reading. Now before we review the seventh grade data, it is important to note that the percentage for math represents approximately only 60% of the student population. The remaining 40% are enrolled in advanced math classes and algebra and are reflected in the eighth grade math results. With that context in mind, we are proud of this group's improvement in the approaches and meets performance level when compared to benchmark one. For seventh grade reading, we are confident we will meet or surpass prior star performance with our continued efforts and targeted support. And finally, our eighth grade

086students remain our highest performing group. With algebra surpassing the district's goal of 51% at meets performance level, and math, reading, and science only a few points shy of that goal. Moving on, we will take a look at a couple of our high-focus demographics, starting with our emerging bilingual students, which reflects approximately 51% of the middle school population. Across all grade levels and content areas, these students perform within 5% to 8% points of the all-student group, indicating strong alignment and support for this demographic. Now looking at our next demographic our special education students which reflected approximately 15% of the middle school population While gaps are seen at all performance levels this demographic remains a priority for our collective support to strength inclusive inclusive and equitable practices Most notably in algebra special education students outperform the all

087student population To continue, we will compare our 2025 STAR data to better understand how students' achievement is trending towards our 2026 STAR performance goals. Through this lens, we will highlight student performance that reflects the impact of our instructional efforts. For example, in grade seven reading and grade eight social studies, students surpassed the 2025 STAR achievement across all performance levels. The gains in social studies were significant, reflecting strong mastery of content and consistent improvement across approaches, meets, and master's levels. Finally, I would like to share the intentional and strategic steps our curriculum and instruction team implemented to support our middle school campuses after Benchmark 2. Our work was organized into four key focus areas. Administrative support, teacher support, progress monitoring, and curriculum enhancement. Beginning with the administrative support, our goal was to create shared clarity around

088what strong instruction looks like in all content areas. We coordinated instructional learning walks focused on targeted grade levels and content areas, providing campus leaders with clear insight into instructional practices and areas of need. These efforts help guide support for teachers and strength overall instructional consistency. In supporting teachers, we recognize the significant demand on them and focus on providing meaningful practical assistance. Teachers engaged in data review sessions and implemented personalized learning plans to target student needs. Additionally, we provided focused TEKS resources to ensure instruction remained aligned to priority standards. Monitoring student performance across multiple data sources was essential to improve academic outcomes. Teachers utilized platforms such as IXL and iReady, along with the teacher dashboards and pseudo data tracking forms to monitor progress. Teachers and administrative student conferencing was also implemented to foster student ownership and

089ensure that data conversations led to clear instructional next steps. Finally, we enhance our curriculum by providing tools and resources that directly supported data-driven instruction. This included SC performance targeted resources, the implementation of blended learning protocols, and updated STAR review materials designed to reinforce readiness and improve student outcomes. Overall, our next steps focus on the systems and structures that connected administrators, teachers, and curriculum, ensuring every middle school student is supported to reach their fullest potential. With that, I will now turn it over to my high school colleagues. Good evening, Board President, Dr. Elias, members of the board. Congratulations, Mr. Robles. Nice to see you there. This evening we are reviewing the Benchmark 2 high school data that was administered in the last week of February and the first week of March. This was a critical checkpoint

090for us because it measures our progress towards the 2026 STAR EOC goals. As you will see, the story of this data is one of unprecedented momentum. We aren't just seeing growth from our first benchmark. But in several key subjects, our students are already outperforming last year's final state test results. This data reflects the hard work of our educators in closing achievement gaps for all students. And before I proceed, I want to introduce my dream team. Starting with Dr. Rivas Garza, our executive officer. Ms. Denise Garcia, Science Coordinator. Alicia Alejandro, Social Studies Coordinator. Debbie DeWang, Math Coordinator. Connie De La Rosa, ELA Specialist. And Ms. Mayra Salinas, Social Studies Specialist. Next slide, please. We begin with our all student population with this benchmark. And we start with ELA 1, we were at approaches at 75% meets

09156, masters 11. ELA 2, 79% at approaches, 64 at meets and 7% at masters. Algebra 1, 88%. at approaches 62 meets, 39% masters, biology 90% approaches, 53% meets, 14% masters, 91% at U.S. history approaches, 50% at meets, and 18% at masters. The trend is overwhelmingly positive. Our teachers are phenomenal. The strategies are working and we're successfully moving that needle on student proficiency. We now go to our emergent bilingual population and like our elementary and our middle school, they mirror very, very closely what our all student group is doing. Again, with our ELA1 approaches 71% meets 52. and Masters 9%. At ELA 2, 75% Approaches, 61% Meets, and 6% Masters. At Algebra, 86% Approaches, 58 Meets, and 35% Masters. Biology, 89% Approaches, 48 Meets, and 12% Masters. U.S. History, 89%. Approaches 45% meets and 16% masters.

092We are closing that achievement gap. We're seeing that language isn't a barrier to high-level achievement in our district, and this is a testament to our dual language and ESL support programs. With our special education, we have 32 at ELA 1, 32% approaches, 15% meets. ELA 2, 38% approaches, 18% meets, and 1% masters. At Algebra 1, 75% approaches, 40% meets, 22 masters. Biology, 69% approaches, 24 meets. and 2% masters, US History 77% at approaches, 22% at meets, and 6% at masters. While ELA remains a challenge, these results provide a clear roadmap for where to double down on our literacy interventions, and this is a focus of our work. Serving these students takes a team to ensure the closing of these gaps and we have a strong team under the leadership of Mrs. Ronnie Quintanilla that we

093have been in close working relationship with since our benchmarks. And our last slide is our comparison from our 2025 EOC to our 2026 Benchmark 2 and like elementary and middle school, our Benchmark 2 was the release test from 2025 April. The defining takeaway from our benchmark two data is a significant strengthening of our meets grade level performance. We've seen a remarkable 10 point surge in ELA 2 jumping from 54% in last year's finals to 64% today. We're also seeing growth in biology, where we've moved from 49% to 53%. This indicates that our core instruction isn't just helping students pass, it's moving a larger majority of them into the meets category, ensuring they are truly on track for college and career success. We're within striking distance of last year's final master's numbers in all subject areas.

094In short, momentum is on our side. And now we have Mr. Denise Garcia. Thank you. Good evening. I'd like to take a moment just to share how our curriculum and instruction team has been working alongside our comprehensive and special purpose campuses to support our students as they prepare for STAR. Our work really centers around four key points. First, we start with the data. Also, we call it our data unleashed results achieved, DERA. After benchmark two, we partner with our campuses to take a close look at how our students perform down to the specific standard. This helped us clearly identify where students are doing well and where they need more support so we can focus our efforts where they matter most. From there we went to adjusting instruction and pacing. Campuses refine their plans using instructional

095tools like TCMPC and the lesson internalization guide to make sure the most frequently tested standards are getting the time and attention they need. Through collaborative planning, teachers are being very intentional how lessons are delivered with an increased focus on rigor and meaningful student thinking. We're also making sure that review is built into daily instruction so students continue to revisit those key concepts over time. At the same time, we work to strengthen teacher support. This includes targeted professional development, one-on-one coaching, and provided practical strategies and resources teachers can use right away. These resources include actively learned, iExcel, blended learning, Zinc, gizmos, and vocabulary strategies. The goal is to make sure every teacher feels supported and equipped to meet the needs of their students. And finally, we focused on targeted student interventions. Campuses are using data to

096group students and provide personalized support, whether that's during the school day or through additional opportunities like academies. This allows us to meet the students where they're at and help them move forward. Overall, this work is very intentional. It's aligned, it's focused, and it reflects a strong partnership between the campuses and our support teams. We're confident that these efforts are not only preparing our students for STAR, but also strengthening the quality of instruction and learning in our classrooms every day. Thank you. I just got a quick question. It's probably because I've just been out for a while and don't know. Let's say that I take a benchmark and I'm labeled as an approacher. Is that line broken up? You're five points away. You're ten points away. How is that figured? What does it take for me

097to become a meets? It's different at every subject. Okay. But we do have the numbers, the raw scores, and the percentages that will tell us how many points away you are from meets or masters or even from low approaches. Okay. You do far we can hear you Going off of what mr. Vedder was saying we are provided with a targeted list by our data specialist and with that targeted list It tells us how many points students are away from the next performance level Okay, like what mr. Vedder had mentioned is that every test has different performance levels and different raw scores So with that list we can be very intentional This student is only two points away from the next up on performance level or maybe five points away. So teach get those in their

098hands and they can make plans and be very intentional on helping moving those students forward. Thank you. You're welcome. They do have all these data sheets and stuff that they use to target those areas. Yes, Ms. Sedna gives them their data right away. Within 24 hours, it's in their hands for the most part. I know with ELA, the teachers have to score their ECR, so it takes a little bit of time to get that data into their hands, but within the week, they have that data in their hands. You ensure that they're using the data to incorporate data-driven instruction? Correct. And that's why we go and support our campuses and we bring that data to them as well and we sit with our teachers side by side to make sure we're really targeting students who

099need to be targeted to move up to the next performance level. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President. Go ahead. You know, it's great that we have... all these recognitions all the time and very deserving that we do bring our students in and all the teachers that help them achieve whatever they're involved with. But I don't know as big as our district is, how much our totality of our staff fully understands the role of our specialists and our coordinators. You're like in the middle in a closet. And the people that you affect the most, which are our staff and our students, sometimes don't know how important you are to the district. Sometimes the people on top, maybe they've gone through that pathway, but people on top sometimes forget. And we don't thank you enough. We don't

100thank you enough for what you do in assessing data analysis, prioritizing student needs, the data tracking. It's just unbelievable the work that you all do that goes unrecognized. And I say it because I value you all so much. and I appreciate what you do. And I know that our executive officers work very closely with you, but it's that plateau that's in the middle that people really don't know about how much a part of the district you are and how much you mean to the district. So I want to thank you for everything that you do. I will echo what Mr. Villegas said. Thank you so much for those wonderful presentations. First and foremost, I do want to acknowledge your bosses, your leaders that work side by side giving you direction. So thank you, ladies, for

101all your commitment. However, you did mention that this assessment, this benchmark was administered in late February and the first week of March. I would have liked this presentation, sir, possibly on our last board meeting. We could have provided more support and even maybe funding resources if needed. I think that moving forward, it might be, in my opinion, I'd like to see this presentation earlier because I know that we're almost finished with the assessment with STAR. So it would have been more beneficial for us to have had this presentation earlier. So I'd like that. I would like to recommend that. Also, I see a lot of value and I really, It's a good predictor. This report, the data that you presented, according to what I saw here, we're already surpassing how we did last year. So

102this is a very good predictor that we will be doing well in the start. But yes, sir, moving forward, I recommend that this presentation is done in a timely manner so that we can support you even further. Thank you. Mr. President, may I have a response? Go ahead. Thank you for the feedback, Ms. Castillo. It's a very quick turnaround once we finish testing to turn the data around and compile these reports and get them into the hands of the teachers and develop a plan, strategize a plan to get in there right away and support the campuses at the classroom level. So we'll definitely make a better effort to get you that presentation right away. but it is a really, really tight window. Just hoping you have patience with us in that regard. But we do,

103our priority is to, one team you don't see out here, this is a fantastic team. And they don't work in isolation. They work together across grade levels. But you also don't see dual language here and special education here. They're part of our team. And together they do fantastic work. I mean, they're, especially in this part of the game, they're in the classrooms working directly with kids. Throughout the year, we support, we coach, we provide feedback. We do work somewhat with students directly, but if you go to any of our schools in March and April, you see our coordinators, our specialists, our executive officers, our directors working in classrooms with small groups, with individual students. So that's the level of work and detail that this team is providing. And that's why you see the results that

104you see from year to year. Not to say that we've arrived and we're where we want to be, but you definitely see progress every year. We set aggressive goals. And I think the data you're seeing today. is very promising to where we're going to finish this year. We're really believing that our kids, our teachers have all come through for us and we're going to see great results. Correct. And I don't doubt it, sir. I believe it. But for me, I would have been more beneficial had I seen it earlier. This is the last week of testing, correct? Or are we still, right? This is the last week of the testing window for mathematics, yes. That's all I'm saying. We can have it earlier. Yes. Yes. Just like all the rest of the board, I want

105to thank everybody that takes... does something having to do with our testing. Having been there, I also want to not just thank all of you specialists, our executive directors, everybody, but the teachers, the students, all the staff at a campus that comes together, whether it's a benchmark or whether it's actual testing, because it's a lot. And I want to thank you for this presentation. I do have a couple of questions and this is for the superintendent or maybe assistant superintendent. What role do the consultants, the educational consultants that we hire, what role have they played in assisting our specialists in their campus, assisting specifically those campuses that are still rated Cs and Ds? Over the years we've had several consultants. One of the most impactful consultants that we've had is Ms. Irma Duran, and she's

106done less and less work the last few years. This year she did not work with us. But prior to that, that consultant, along with the expertise of our executive officers who have all been successful principals and our directors, has had a great impact in having systemic practices across our district. The way we look at data, the way we utilize data to inform our instruction and to set aggressive goals that help our campus move forward. We moved away from those types of consultants because now the expertise that we have here is a lot greater. But we work now with through the LASSO grant, for example, through our lift partners. to better incorporate our high quality instructional materials into our teaching. So those collaborations, which have been with not a single consultant, but with a, like, call

107it a company, have been very successful also in helping us have a smooth transition. Our Blue Bonnet transition has been great for math. The first year was Eureka and Carnegie math and it transitioned into bluebonnet then we adopted Savas for our lay So those have been very successful transitions due in part to the work that we've done with some of our providers and the expertise that we've learned from them in transitioning Yes, and I do remember working both of us. I think working with miss Duran and yes, she made us work That was good. And how about specifically to the campuses that As hard as we work, as great as these benchmarks are, having one campus with a D keeps us from an A rating. So what I want to know is what are we

108doing specifically to address the campuses that need the support? And while I'm looking at you, I guess, sorry, Mr. Marquez, I don't know if the superintendent wants to answer or you. Go ahead, Mr. Marquez. Sure. Every year we have different schools that require specialized attention. This year our D campus was Trevino Elementary and we do have a handful of C campuses that have received extra attention. Just based on the benchmark data alone for those campuses, Trevino, for example, there's an outside chance of an A for that campus. They were a D. And based on benchmark results and all the work that's been provided and the tremendous work of the principal and her staff, we have high hopes for that campus, as well as all the other... focused campuses. So our goal for this year is

109to be an AB honor roll campus. We want to be all As and Bs. We don't want any Cs and definitely no Ds. So right now the data looks very promising. We're on track for that. But we do provide specialized support to those campuses as you mentioned and the results are evident every year that we do. In the past, we've had Farias Elementary, for example, one year had an 18-point jump from one year to the next because of the specialized attention that we gave them. So the next year, it's another campus that maybe regresses. So that's the effect that the work has. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Marquez. And I also want to not just thank you because you've always been able to answer all my questions when it has to do with academics. So I

110appreciate that and I appreciate, again... It just so happens, I think, are they all ladies? Yes, which explains a lot. Thank you so much, ladies. Thank you so much for all your work. I just wanted to make one comment. Because we have such an awesome staff, awesome teachers and awesome staff here. we have been able to slowly but gradually move away from all these consultants that we got before. So I want to commend you all. I want to thank you all, especially the teachers out there. Great job. It's good to see that the other districts see that we don't have to go out as much to bring some specialization because we already have a specialist here. So I want to commend all of you. Yes, Mr. President, we move on to the next item under

111finance, and it's approved a functional budget amendment. And if there's any questions, our assistant superintendent for finance, Ms. Rebecca Gonzalez, will answer. So we received two of them for CNP and one of them from Dollar General for Palacios Campus 136. Mr. President, I have a question. I just need, can you explain that to me? We're actually adding to the budget, like it's a plus. Okay, so you said it was a grant and... There's three grants. Two of them are for child nutrition and one is from Dollar General to Palacios Elementary. Okay. Explain that Dollar General to Palacios Elementary. In our child nutrition... No, they're separate. There's three separate ones. Child Nutrition has two, one for equipment and another one for $54,000. I mean, that one is for $54,000 and the other one is for $13,000.

112It's for teaching children healthy habits. And then there's a $3,000 one from Dollar General, which is going into library supplies. So being that food services at the end of... In the budget audit of 2024 was 2.4. We went 2.4 over budget. And in August of 2025 in the budget audit also finds that we were 2.4 over budget. Where do we stand now even with these grants into that account? They are within budget. The overdrawn at 8-31-2025 has to do with They didn't overdraw revenues minus expenditures. They just didn't present enough money for the school board to adopt the budget. So as we stand as of right now, because I know that we have a workshop coming up Thursday to look over next year's budget, is it safe to say that we will not have to

113dip into our fund balance this school year? Currently, we are within budget, correct? And so is child nutrition. Good to hear. Okay. Thank you. Mr. President, on this item, I'd like to make a motion to approve. I have a motion for Pujo, for Mr. Villegas. Can I have a second? Second by Ms. Castillo. All those for the motion, second by raising your right hand. Aye. Motion passes. I'm going to respectfully abstain. I don't have any background information on this. One abstention. Motion passes. Thank you. Next item. Yes, Mr. President, Item B is approved Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative, TCMPC, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Resource System for the 2025-2026 school year, and it's for $137,741. Hi, thank you, Dr. Elias. Good evening, Board President, members of the Board. Welcome, Mr. Romero. Thank you. Good to

114have you. It is my pleasure to stand before you to really ask you for the approval of an amazing program that is used in every single classroom at PSJA ISD. As we look at benchmark data and we're really looking at the rigor. and really moving our students from the next performance level that it was discussed. This is a program that really supports our teachers in doing that. As you can see, the Curriculum Management Program Cooperative is a statewide partnership that was developed by 20 other regions, including our Region 1, that knows our students really, really well and understands the needs. of districts that serve a lot of students that are economically disadvantaged. And with working with districts in aligning. and managing a high quality curriculum for every single classroom. And this curriculum is designed to

115really align the work that we do and the partner that we have in our district to develop rigorous curriculum. So as you can see in the PowerPoint, these resources that are included in this management program is really aligned. to guide our teachers in what they teach and how to align instruction and assessment effectively in every single classroom. The resources that we find available in this program is across our core contents and you're gonna see listed is English language arts, K through 12th grade, Spanish language arts is also included, K through fifth grade, mathematics K through 12, science K through 12, social studies K through 12, and Spanish translate version of mathematics, science, and social studies in K through 12. And who participates and who uses the curriculum to really facilitate teacher work, you know, to

116make our teachers' jobs easier? through is by using this program to help us align what we teach in every single classroom. So it's available for every single one of our teachers in the district at their fingertips and it has instructional materials and it is paid through the instructional materials technology allotment. Some of the highlights for the TCMPC formerly known as TEKS Resource, is what it does is build to promote deep understanding of the state standards. It really looks at the specificity of every single standard. So this program really allows when we find standards that we continue to maybe have challenges with, is to really look deeper and really have that deep collaboration with our teachers. and looking deeply at the specificity of the standards to help everyone really understand what needs to be taught in

117the classroom. It covers all core content areas across K through 12. It includes Spanish instruction, like previously mentioned, in K through 5. It's fully aligned to our Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, our curriculum, our state curriculum. It's a synthesis of current research-based practices and it's flexible and customizable to meet the district and campus needs. It has target integrated assessment center to support student evaluation and progress monitoring including items that I can use in my classroom to assess the student progress. We go on to the next slide, Dr. Davalos. It guarantees, of course, it's by our curriculum, like I mentioned, it is fully TICS aligned. Can you go on to the next slide so that I can quickly talk about? These are the components that our teachers have access to at their fingertips, like I mentioned.

118Not only teachers, our administrators. It really focuses on the standards. It really gives us a vertical alignment document for every single content. And it also provides TEKS clarification document for every single standard so that our teachers can go really deeply dig into the standards. It has a year at a glance also document that we use to really develop our district curriculum and really supports the work of our teachers. It has... instructional focus document that allows our teachers to really align their instruction. And then it has performance assessments. There's assessments, there's assessment items for our teachers to use, again, at their fingertips. And of course, it's a TEKS resource system that is... that has allowed our teachers to really use any way they want in the classroom. So as I work here, I am here standing

119to ask for the approval of the TCMPC so that our teachers can continue to dig deep and continue to align every single classroom instruction so that we can have that rigorous curriculum in every single classroom for every single student. Yes. I see that there's a cost of $137,000. You know, $137,000. Is this annually that we pay for this? It's like a renewal. It is annually. Every year we pay, depending on what we want to use from that curriculum, we pay that annual fee. And my second question is... Well, this one was the cost, but how long ago have we had it or how long have we had this? This is about our fourth year that we have used this. It's been very effective, as you can see in our results, to really understand the standards

120and align what we teach in every single classroom. It also has a Spanish component, which we love. Thank you. I have a question. Thank you, Mr. President. Doctor. Yeah, I'm familiar with this because we've made that presentation before. And so you're comfortable with it. So it's basically a website that is provided to the district that we take advantage of. Let me ask you, so... I'm sure it's effective, as you say, because the scores are beginning to show that. However, internally, who monitors the usage of the website as far as how many teachers are out there actually? getting onto the website and taking advantage of this resource. Our district monitors the usage and also our administrators, right? Because this program is used during planning time with our teachers. As you saw during the presentation, we put

121it in one of our data sources that we use is to really look at... use the TCMPC as a guide to help us guide instruction in the classroom. If you were ever to find something that you would need to talk to a teacher about because of, say, a lesser performance than other teachers, could this website give you an indication that maybe they're not taking advantage of it? Exactly. I mean, this program really allows us to come together during our planning time and really look at which other standards where maybe one of our teachers is not doing well on and really dig deep into the standard and really look into the specificity of the standard and make informed decisions for next steps in the classroom. Okay, ma'am. Thank you so much, doctor. Thank you. Dr. Rivas,

122is this like a lead forward? No, this is not a lead forward. This is a cooperative that we have with 20 other regions and many other districts where they develop all these components and all these resources for our teachers to use, from standards to assessments to progress monitoring to really looking deeply into the standards. That's what it allows us to do. It appears like it's very complete. It has a year at a glance. It has units. Scope and sequence. It has everything. So we use it as a great tool as we're sitting down to develop our district curriculum. And the teachers like it? They like it a lot. They use it a lot. It's a great resource for our teachers. As we always talk about our teachers, you know, doing a lot of work, it

123really facilitates a lot of the work that they're doing. If it's working, if the teachers use it, and... the principals want it, I don't have a problem. I think this is an additional resource. And as educators, as teachers, we're always looking to make it easier for the teachers. So I don't have a problem. Thank you. It is, you know, it is a little bit over $137,000, but just think of all the teachers that we have in our district. It's worth it. We have close to 3,000 teachers that can use this. You know, they all get a username and password. I can use it at any time. I can open it at any time. I can do it during planning, during my own time, that I want to look at maybe a specific standard that maybe

124I'm still not understanding. I can look at items that I want to assess the next day. as bell ringers, I mean, it's at their fingertips. I have a question. I'm sold on it. I think it's something. Any new teachers that come in, do they go to the specialist training so they'll know how to use this? This tool? So our curriculum teams, our specialists and our coordinators spend a lot of time training our teachers and we can now always call Region 1 and through this cost, they provide as much training as we need. You know, right now we're planning training for administrators as we're starting the new school year, right? Because the administrator also needs to do, you know, and be well-versed on these tools, right? And then training all our teachers. train them every single

125year, give them kind of like an overview all over again. We bring it back during the curriculum rollouts. We bring it back every six weeks when we roll out the next six weeks curriculum so it doesn't go away. So they also support, give support for the teachers who ever need or administrators who ever need it. Yes, region one is readily available. I mean, right now we're calling them about certain dates that we need in August so they can come and train our teachers and it's inclusive in this cost. Mr. President, just a quick comment because as we are looking at moving into the start refresh, which is coming 27. and this is an important resource that we are gonna need because as we know even now as we speak every year, TEKS are interchanged from

126grade level to grade level. So this is a great tool for our teachers. One is to know those TEKS that are being moved and how can they implement them and use them in their instruction with the students. And two, as we move into the refresh, it's gonna be very important. to utilize because we don't know which TICS items might be moving, from which grade level to what grade level. And then of course the resources that it comes with is going to help our teachers and facilitate with their instruction. And for the sake of the community, you want to explain what the STAR Refresh is? The STAR Refresh is going to be what TEA is bringing as the new STAR assessment. So it's going to be where... PSJA and maybe other districts are already doing it

127where you have your benchmark one, benchmark two, and then the star, but now TEA is dividing it where you're going to have your begin of year assessment, your middle of year assessment, and then your end of year assessment, which is what we call the star. But all three are going to be graded through TEA. And this will be when? This will be starting in 27, 28. Thank you for saying that, Dr. Elias, because they're constantly providing updates. If there's any changes, maybe a standard moves from 5th grade to 6th grade or from 5th grade to 4th grade, they're constantly updating it so that we're able to see that. Yes, so same thing. touches on what Trustee Villegas mentioned on the usage. So because we do, like Mr. Marquez said, we do still have some campuses

128at a C and at a D who we want and we're hoping and they will become, as long as there's progress, I think we'll be happy with that. But definitely wanted to make sure that as a district we reach that A rating. Are you specifically or who is specifically looking at the usage reports of those campuses that are in need of that extra support? The executive officer alongside our technology department. We have an instructional technology department that also supports us in looking not only at this program, but any other program and its usage. Okay. So you can say that you are, you know, Mr. Marquez can say that at this point. you feel very comfortable that those campuses that have that, you know, your focus campuses that they have in fact used this particular program

129and it will be a benefit. I'm going to allow Mr. Marquez to answer the question because I work closely with the high school. Yes, we can say very confidently that that's one of the key responsibilities of our specialists and coordinators is that they support teachers in planning and instruction. And this is the tool that they most frequently use because it works alongside our curriculum, whether it's the HQIM or locally developed. It's aligned and it helps our teachers internalize what they're teaching. So it's really about the standards, understanding the standards, and it helps them also plan vertically so that they can see from year to year how the standards connect. So I know that when we spend extra time at a campus working with teachers in need, we use this program and we see the benefits.

130So this will be the fourth renewal or this will be the fifth renewal? I believe it's a fourth, but I'm not sure. Okay. And the only reason I'm asking is that this is a fourth, let's say fourth renewal, then, you know, for the past four years, some of these campuses have needed that help. you know, where is the growth? So I just want to make sure that in fact, those campuses are utilizing. It seems like it's a great program. And so we want to make sure that they are in fact utilized. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yeah, and just to echo Ms. Quintanilla's, that's where I was going, you know, because, I mean, we do. Oh, my two minutes are over? No problem. I'll talk to her later. I'll make a motion to approve. Okay. I

131have a motion for approval from Mr. Villegas, a second from Ms. Quintanilla. All those for the motion, six or five are raising their hand. All those against, same sign. Motion passes. Yes, mr. President we move to item C still under finance approval awarding the proposal for the second year renewal of standardized dress code polo shirts for students at all campuses for the 2026 2027 school if there's any questions Becky Gonzalez from Assistant Superintendent for Finance can answer that. I had a question. Go ahead, Ms. Barron. Yes. I read on this one, but we had a Eurotex. Eurotex with an additional $2 cost on that. Was there a change on the T-shirts? No. It was just inflation? Yes. Okay. So we... Good evening, Dr. Elias, Board of Trustees. Welcome, Mr. Robles. We are asking that the

132school board renew the bid that we awarded last year. We awarded it with one year and an option to renew for two. We awarded it to two vendors. The campuses can choose which vendor they would prefer. One of the vendors did hold their price and one of the vendors did increase. Duratec increased it for $2 per shirt for elementary and middle schools. They held their price for the high schools. So it's going to be up to the campuses to decide which company they want to go with? Yes, we do let the campuses decide. Any questions? Go ahead, Ms. Cantanillo. So in fact... I have questions. Go ahead, Ms. Quintanilla. So in fact, okay, we're renewing, but not at the same price that they had originally, at least that one company had originally proposed. So when

133the campuses, they can choose either vendor. And I know that I had a parent concern. These either vendor will they once an order is made will the shirts come in on a on time because I'm trying to remember the concern the parent had I believe was that they had placed the order and it was taking a while. He took it upon himself to do some research turns out the shirts were coming from somewhere in Florida and that was that the delay. I believe I reached out to Mr. Marquez and Mr. Marquez provided me with some answers on that. So as part of this renewal, both companies, I know one is more expensive than the other, but both of them should be able to provide those uniforms to our students within a timely manner. Yes, I

134do remember that situation. We do work with the schools because... Sometimes they have more of one size than another and so the parents may need the size that they don't have any of. So it gets a little complicated for the campus to try to predict how many of each they'll need. So we do work with them to look at their historical, but we can't promise that every size will be in stock. per campus. It's something that we just kind of use a historical data. Okay. But yes, one of the companies is based in Florida. Yes. Yeah, I just, and I would just want to make sure that, I mean, it should be, and I know, and there's two different amounts that were awarded to each one. Could you explain that to me? Why they're different

135amounts? One of the companies did not bid on every single school and the other one did. So that's why you're seeing a difference. And you also see a difference because one of the companies is more expensive than the other. If that was the case, why did we not go out for bids again? We can. We're asking the board to renew the bid that we awarded last year, which was one year with an option to renew for two. What you're asking us is to approve the renewal or to approve the, to go out for bids again? The renewal. Thank you. Mr. President. Go ahead, Mr. Behr. I think the distinction has to be made by the campus. What we're doing as a district is approving both of those vendors to sell uniforms to our district. The

136campus can decide on which company they want to go with. There's a distinction sometimes because the fabric is different. There's a distinction, like you say, because sometimes they don't have all the sizes. There's a distinction. One company is from far, the other one is from Florida. So the campuses have that ability to decide who they want to go with. From what I understand, they can also order from both companies. Absolutely. So all we're doing is saying we've got these two companies, Capas, you decide. You've got a history with one or the other. You decide. Is that right? Yes. All right. Thank you. That's correct. Is Gutierrez the other question? Yes. Good evening, Ms. Becky, Ms. Gonzalez. Good evening. So something that confused me last year, and I apologize for that. So the amounts that we

137see there. Last year, I asked the same questions that Ms. Quintanilla just asked. And I don't remember if it was you or who presented and they said, because each one has up to that amount. to get orders. But we did have several complaints about uniforms not coming in on time from I believe or whatever. And then I called and asked a question about it. And I think you explained to me that it's because Duratex had been approved as an alternative that... that Ably had been approved as the main vendor and that that's why they, because they, my understanding is the schools were not ordering from Duratex and they were being encouraged to order from just one company. And so I have the same question and it's confusing when you put those two and then they

138end up only ordering from one. What Mr. Villegas mentioned is true that I have seen because of the complaints, I have seen the quality of both. the quality of one and the other. One is a manufacturer, the other one is a wholesale that orders from China. Duratex from far manufactures so they can provide at any time. So, Lico, is it possible to do a motion to go out for bids again? Or we have to... That item is not on the agenda, so what's being presented is just to approve awarding this proposal. That's the recommendation of administration at this point. So that would have to be brought at a later time if that's what the board wants to do. Okay. And on this bid, we wanted to make any changes and change the recommendation in any

139way. It would have to be done, it would have to be voted down and then changed? Or what is the process? Yes, that's correct. Because I also did get a lot of complaints from parents, and then we got emails where they, I believe all the board got those emails, and it's because of that, because they order wholesale legal from China, so they have to order way in advance in order to get their orders. Trustee Gutierrez, your time has elapsed on this item, but just to clarify, the question that was asked was whether or not this item allows the board to go out for bids again. It does not, so that would have to come back before the board at a different time if they do not approve this item. Okay, so we can't say I

140make a motion for this other way? No. I wanted to suggest that for next year, like early, bring it to us. Go out for bits and then bring it to us with the best one bit for that way We have enough time the schools have enough time to order that way they can have the order in time for school right and about the quality we had a committee that Physically inspected the quality of each of the vendor shirts, and so we picked campus principals one high school principal, two middle schools, and I think three elementary principals that came and inspected the quality. So we did have a committee that inspected that. And no parents? No, we didn't have parents on the committee. Okay. I need a motion. I'll make a motion. Mr. President, I have

141a question. Will they increase up to $2? impact the amount they're going to be sold to the parent, the shirts? Last year, we did not allow any school to increase the price of their shirts. So that stays the same? The prices are going to be increased? No, it stays the same. Thank you. I have a motion by Mr. Villegas. Can I have a second? Second. Second by Ms. Barron. All those for the motion, signify by raising your right hand. Motion passes. Gutierrez? okay that's okay thank you motion passes next item yes uh mr president the next item is uh under curriculum and instruction and it's approved the request for out-of-state travel request for eight students and five teacher sponsors from the career the cte program to attend the 2026 business professionals of america and this

142is for may 5th through the 10th And it's a national conference held in Nashville, Tennessee. Go ahead, Ms. Gutierrez. Before anything, I just want to, Dr. Lee, as a recommendation, the agenda does not show the budgetary impact for each of the next five items. They're all out of state travel for KPTI, KK, Destination Imagination. The total is for $43,498, so it would be good. This one is almost 30,000, correct? So I would like to once again recommend that next to the item on the agenda, the amount that is going to be spent is shown. I think we discussed this in the past. I'm sure there was an oversight. because the reports and the requests that we get in writing, the public are not able to see. And I think it would be fair to show

143how much is this going to affect our budget. Yes, we can go ahead and add the amounts. I know it only shows on the report that you all get, but we can go ahead and add those amounts. Thank you. Mr. President, I'd like to make my motion to approve. Second. Second by Ms. Gutierrez. All those for the motion. Six by five for raising right hand. Motion passes. Next item. Yes, Mr. President. Item B, approve the out-of-state travel request for one student, one teacher sponsor, and it's for Pathways Towards Independence to attend the 26th Special Olympics Texas-USA Games in Minneapolis, Minnesota from June 20th through the 26th. Motion to approve motion by Mrs. Gutierrez second second by Ms. Barron all up on the motion second part of raising right hand motion passes unanimously okay next item

144yes Mr. President next item is approved the out-of-state travel request for one student one teacher sponsor for the Texas Association of Future Educators from CTE program at PSJA North to attend the 2026 Educators Rising National Conference June 19th through the 13th. That is, it should be the 23rd, 19th through the 23rd, yes. Motion to approve. Motion by Ms. Gutierrez. Second by Mr. Villegas. All those from the motion, second by the original right hand. Motion passes. Thank you. Next item, sir. Yes, item D is approved out-of-state travel request for one PSJA Southwest early college student, one sponsor to attend the 2026 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference June 1st through the 5th in Atlanta, Georgia. Motion to approve. Motion by Ms. Gutierrez. Can I have a second? I second. Second by Ms. Castillo. All those in

145the motion, second by my right hand. Motion passes. Next item. Yes, Mr. President. Item E, presentation of the allotment and the TEKS and approval of the certification of provisional of instructional material survey for the 2026-2027 school year. And this will be presented by Dr. Guajardo. Good evening. Superintendent Dr. Elias, members of the board, congratulations and welcome Mr. Robles. On behalf of our academics team today, I will be presenting on the TEKS certification and the instructional materials allotment for the 26-27 school year. This presentation outlines the required certification process, our district's internal protocols to annually evaluate and decide on our instructional materials for the following year and how this connects to the instructional materials purchasing through the EMAT system, which is the state's online ordering system. Each year, The district is required to formally certify compliance

146with state law regarding instructional materials. This certification is completed by the superintendent and board officers and confirms three key assurances. That all instructional materials collectively cover 100% of the TEKS for each subject and grade level included in the survey. that the district will provide documentation to TEA upon request regarding materials purchased and that all funds from the instructional materials and technology allotment that we receive from the state are used in compliance with Texas Education Code. This is not optional. It is a state-mandated assurance tied to funding and of course compliance. Again, The certification of provision of instructional materials is a required survey submitted to TEA. It verifies that our instructional materials fully cover the TEKS and meet compliance requirements including Children's Internet Protection Act, which is SIPA standards. It also provides TEA insight into our

147districts, how we manage the scope and sequence, what materials are used for either core versus supplemental materials, and which publishers and platforms are being utilized in the district. To support districts with this survey, completing this survey, this year the state also developed a resource list that included all of the most commonly used materials across the state. And so from that resource list is how we use to complete the entire survey. It's important to notice that the certification must be presented to and approved by the Board of Trustees in a public meeting like we are tonight. The board's approval serves as the district's official authorization that all requirements have been met. This certification must be completed and approved prior to accessing EMAT, which is the online ordering system. Without board certification, the district cannot proceed with

148purchasing instructional materials using those state funds. Motion to approve. I'm not completed, but if we're ready, I'm good with that. I have a motion by Ms. Quintanilla. I have a second. Second by Mr. Villegas. All those for the motion, second by Mr. Righthand. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Ms. Wahab. Next item. Yes, Mr. President. Next item is under human resources presentation and update on the teacher incentive allotment TIA program. Student services item. Oh, I missed one. Okay, let me go back. Student services and it's approved out of state. Travel request for seven students, three sponsors from Levis Elementary Schools and six students, four sponsors from Izaguirre Middle School. And this is for Destination Imagination teams to represent and compete at the Destination Imagination Global Competition May 21st through the 24th. And

149it's in Kansas City, Missouri. Motion to approve. Motion to approve. I have a motion by Ms. Quintanilla, second by Mrs. Castillo. All those for the motion, signify by raising your right hand. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay, now I'll move to human resource and presentation and update on the teacher incentive allotment program, and this will be presented by Dr. Garza from human resource. Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board. Welcome, Mr. Robles and Dr. Elias. Thank you for the opportunity to give you a quick update on our teacher incentive allotment. Here we go. You said it was the arrow, right? I also have to use the mouse. Okay, I got it. I'm going to kind of skip over these really important slides because I know we see them all the time. Unless you want

150to go through them quick and slow or you sort of forget. Okay. So I'm going to go to a really important slide. And it's a very appropriate... evening to present this. You had a great presentation that was done by our curriculum team celebrating the great success of our students' performance, you know, where it is with benchmarking and comparing it to last year's final year's performance and how we see that our students are doing well and making significant gains. And this obviously is attributed to what happens in the classroom. great teachers. We praise our curriculum team because they support them and I agree with you. But the rubber meets the road with a teacher, you know. And so the information that I have that in the slide that I'm sharing is really about celebrating the great

151work that happens every day in the classroom. This The teacher incentive allotment, the one slide that you have in front of you, reflects the performance and the success of our teachers and the amount of teachers that are being recognized at the state level. So we have 82% of our teachers that have received a teacher incentive allotment. That's 1,716 teachers. We approximately have a little over 2,000 teachers, so that's 82%. and totaling about $35 million annually for five years. But when you account and you do that five times and you go back and add the years that we've had, this is year four, we're talking about over $222 million into the district. It's huge, huge money. making huge impact. And I really want to focus on a quote that is written there on the left side.

152Our teachers are the foundation of student success, and this investment reflects our commitment to supporting them. And this is from our superintendent, Dr. Elias. Through the teacher incentive allotment, we can recruit, retain, and reward exceptional educators while continuing to deliver high-quality instruction for all students. We appreciate the continued support of our campus leaders, district team, and school board trustees. None of this happens without your support. With this latest designation, now we have over 345 teachers that are earning six-figure salaries. It's a huge, tremendous success. I'm not going to name districts, but I can tell you another large district in the Region 1 area has a little over 75%, and they're a larger district than us. And there are more teachers that they've earned, like 1,800, but they have like 2,400 teachers. And their amount was

153like $29 million. But our 35 million reflects that our teachers have higher designations. They're at the master level. And other districts neighboring, you're talking about 200 teachers, 300 teachers. Nowhere is it in this level, and certainly not at the 82%. It's a huge compliment to the great success of what happens every day with our teachers. So very proud of that. So I'm going to kind of turn back a little bit and I'm going to first of all share some really important information. Well, this big celebration first. I'll show you some great pictures that were taken at the celebration that we had this last year. So just some great, happy, very happy staff members that are showing off their signs. So now I'm going to turn it back a little bit and just share with you

154a little bit about some important information that I think is it's just to ensure that everyone we all understand about our teacher and sent a teacher TIA teacher spending plan and the mandatory requirements So the TIAA statutory requirement for the spending allotment funding. Districts must spend 90% or more of the allotment on teacher compensation on the campus where the designated teacher works. Up to 10% of the allotment may be used by the district to support local designation systems or to support teachers in earning designations. We are just now, we finally got our notice and we're reviewing the final allotments. They're not confirmed until May. At that point, the commissioner sends our teachers an individual email congratulating them and telling them, this is your designation, this is the estimated amount that you're going to be receiving.

155And that's happening very soon. Here sometime in May. Another important piece of information to know is that what is allowed with our spending plan. So permitted spending for the teacher compensation, this is the 90%, stipends and salary increases for the designated teacher, that's what we do. Stipends or salary increases for other teachers at the campus of the designated teacher, we don't do that, some other districts do. Compensation for other staff at the campus for the designated teachers who works, whose primary responsibility is instructing students. Again, that's not, we do the first one. The money goes to the campus and it goes directly, the 90% goes directly to the teacher. Although those are options that other districts do have. And this is where the teacher winds up with like 40% because some of the other money,

156some of the 90 is shared among the campus. So we do not do that. The teacher gets the 90%. Now, on the other side, the 10%, what is allowed for the district to use? We can use a 10% for professional development for the teachers, which is something we do. to provide central funding for an HR coordinator and HR staff, which we currently have a couple of people. And I'm going to show you the budget in a little bit. It could be used for compensation for district or campus staff with additional TIA professional development duties. This is for someone that is doing this in addition to their normal workload. We do not do that. We do not pay any additional stipends. for anyone else. You could use some of the funds to pay for rubric costs,

157appraiser trainings, rating certificate, trainer certification, other student growth costs, any other teacher and send TIA assessment costs, recruitments, job fairs. For the most part, we use professional development and supporting our now our HR department staff and a few of the others definitely training and some recruitment, very minimal. But that's what the 10% is used for. Okay, very important to note down at the very bottom. There's a little green check and it says benefits and retirement contributions for the teacher may be taken from the 90% or the 10%. Right now what the district does, they pull from the teacher's contribution their cost for TRS and so forth. Very generously, the district pays for the district costs out of the 10%. Although important to note, that it is allowable for both of those costs to come from

158the teacher and many other districts do. So really important. I mean, we really, the district has been very supportive of giving the teachers as much as they are, you know, with the TIA. So here's, and the reason why I'm sharing this kind of a delayed presentation, so to speak. This is what was earned last year. We don't have this year's yet. It's going to be significantly more, and we won't get this final payout and probably we'll get an estimate cost sometime in May. Final costs and payouts will happen over the summer once you approve when the payout is going to happen. And then the state doesn't reimburse us until September for everything. So the district is front-rolling some of this cost. So we won't get like a full budget or this kind of present total

159until possibly October, November. But we're presenting this now just to kind of do a recap of what generally happens with the TAs. For last school year, we had 1,523 teachers that were designated. Now we have 17, 16. With a total allotment of 30,539,193. The fee reimbursement, the district front rolled the cost submitted $485, $500. That's $500 for every teacher to have Texas Tech and TEA evaluate the results. We had 971 teachers that we submitted last year, which totaled this amount of money. Important to note here is that there are districts here that the teacher has to pay to get their scores submitted. Now, TA does reimburse you, not until after September, but they have to say, I want you to submit my data. And they have to pay up $500. The district has never done

160this. PSJA has always... paid this fee to get the data reviewed. So when you include the fee reimbursement and the total allotment last year, it was $30,844,693. And then on the right, you see we had 1,085 master designated teachers with a total master allotment of almost $26,025,724,688. We had... 268 exemplary with over with 3,523,003 and 170 recognized teachers with 1,111,502. So that totals a full amount. So you see down below, just wanted to kind of explain a little bit about the spending, especially in the 10%. The full amount was $30,844,693. The fees, $485,500. 90% that was paid out to the teachers last year was $27,323,274. The 10% that the district kept or was allowed to keep was $3,323,274. 35,919. And right below that is an explanation of where that money went. Fringes, district part of

161the fringes was 2,602,608. We have a system, the Texas Educator Management System. It collects all the data. Everything is put in there. We pay $88,000 for that. We pay for two... TIA positions, that's about $250,000. We pay for memberships for the educational centers consortium, that's $26,000. We spent on TIA celebrations $11,491. I'm sorry to interrupt. Where are those numbers? I'm really sorry, Ms. Becky. They're on the slide. I don't know. Right here. I'm not seeing that slide. Okay, Dr. Davalos is working on that. I'll sync right here. Okay, so I have to sync every single time? I don't have the sync button anymore. There? Can you see it now, Trustee Gutierrez? I'm seeing page 11 of 13 of a presentation. That's it. Let me see. Okay, right there. Okay. So I was going over these

162numbers. These numbers right here totaled $3,335,919. So I was explaining, I was right here with the TIA celebration. We paid $11,491 last year. Can you see those now? Yes, yes. Yes, I can. Okay, thank you. Newspaper about 2,460. Travel, there's a TIA conference, so there's money set aside for that. Consultants, this is what we pay for people to help do calibration support. Region 1 is a big supporter for us. How to write effective student growth measures. Tech C is a big supporter for us there as well as other consults. And then supplies, about 19,560. So all of this right here totals the 10%. So just for clarification. And that's pretty much the gist. You want to, I guess, give a little explanation how the state had kept us at a certain percent, but then you

163all sent in an appeal and you were able to get more teachers on that? Can you explain that? The concern had to do with... The validity of the data we had to rationalize and explain because I mean when you look at 82% and about 60% of our teachers are masters it I mean the the data is not run by us the data is run by Texas Tech and TEA and they compare our data to districts throughout the state. So when they look at a master's day, a teacher or a teacher at any level, they compare us to state assessments scores, which are value-added scores is what they call them. So they'll look at, let's say I'm a fourth grade teacher and I'm a master teacher. And they've accumulated, gathered data on my kids' performance over

164the years. And they'll say, okay, Dr. Garza, you are a master teacher. Your kids... should be at this level. When we compare fourth grade teachers that are masters, your students should be performing at a certain rate. And they do that for any teacher that has data, their state assessment collected, any like ELA, only for state assessment. If there's no state assessment, they're not going to have that kind of data. Fourth grade, they do. They start in fourth grade and they're going to say, okay, fourth grade, a master teacher at the state average should have had this kind of gain. Your kids did or they didn't. So they look at all of this data to make a determination to say, how does PSJA's designations compare to the rest of the state? And if there's some disparities

165or discrepancies, this is when they came back and say, hey, look at that again. And we had to show we understand there's some inflation, possibly. Maybe I shouldn't be a master teacher. But then... TEA was really good about asking us to say, okay, you understand this problem. How are you going to address it going forward? So we did that. We said, you know, we're going to do a lot more calibration training. We're going to look at student growth measures, ensure we put better protocol to ensure that we don't have, you know, these kind of issues going forward. So those are some of the things that we've done. Now, remember, we have 82% of our teachers that are designated already. for five years for most and i think the the question that mr rodriguez was mainly

166asking is because i know that based on the bell curve and and tia is not meant for a hundred percent but he thinks it's a hundred percent of the teacher no it was made one is for retainment of teachers and to have those instructional people that are at a master level or at a exemplary level or acknowledge level. to be within the classroom, but it's not meant for 100%. It was meant for 100%, and I'll say this again, the state would have just said, let's give this raise to 100% of the teachers across the state of Texas. It was meant, and based on, like, say, the bell curve, because once you reach the bell curve at 50%, the state says you can only reach to a certain point. We as PSJA have exceeded to 82%.

167I kept saying that previous years that the most we could reach was about 75 to 80 percent. Well, we've exceeded. And that's the explanation that you wanted. We've exceeded to the 82 percent. So that doesn't mean that next year we get to 90 or 100 percent. It could be. It could happen. I don't know. But that's up to, again, the state. The state did not say it's for 100 percent of all teachers. If not, again, it would have been a salary increase. for 100% of teachers across the state. That's what I want to highlight is that your department, because of your hard work and everything, you were able to get more teachers on the TIA. That's what I want to showcase. Sorry, okay. And it does correlate with our ranking with TIA as far as

168our start. Right now, this past year, we were at an 87. for being the third largest district and we're at an 87. I'm not saying we're perfect, we can do more and that's why we're aiming for that A this year, but it correlates with 82% of our teachers getting TIE and the teachers are the ones that deserve it because they're the ones that are doing the work with the students. Now, you can't give it to the other 18% because is that fair to the teacher that's excelling and trying to be a master teacher? or an exemplary teacher and then you want to give it to somebody that didn't meet up to it and that's where the state has a problem with it. Just wanted to tell you good work. your department mr rodriguez yes yes

169um dr elias i just um and uh miss garza i just want to say that i i the last time we i can't remember when it was that we talked about the tia possibly last year i had asked about that 10 percent and i am glad that you included the itemization of expenses and and allocations for the community to see you know i um just recently two days ago somebody asked me about that 10 percent and and i didn't have an answer so uh right now it's great that you presented this information it's as if you knew that that was the question that i was going to have so i'm glad that you included this information because then the public can look at it and see where the monies are allocated. I already know, I

170can foresee the questions that they're going to ask me from these numbers, but then those are questions that I'll bring to the board in a future time. But thank you so much, Dr. Elias, for including this information. Yes, yes, Mr. President. Yes, go ahead. Becky, I want to thank you so much. and I know that it's been painstaking to go through this. I don't know how many applications. How many times did you try to get this done? We applied with cohort A, and it was denied because it was inflation, not for any other reason. And then we had to wait. We had to sit out a few years, and then we applied with cohort D. Well, I can't thank you enough and congratulate you. And our staff is so deserving of these. You're talking about

1711,716 staff members. I think it was Dr. Elias that said that we're the third largest district in the region. And I think we're either first or second as far as TIA numbers and also TIA money. But our staff is so deserving of this and they've earned it. I'm glad that Dr. Gutierrez, Cynthia, you brought up the fact that... that it was great that it's been identified where the money is being spent as far as the 10% is concerned. I think that's a good point because it's disheartening to see sometimes people put posts, you know, and I try to, I shy away from reading those posts anymore, thinking that, well, what are you doing with the 10%? Where's it going? Who are you giving it to? Are you pocketing the money? It's absurd for people. to

172think that, so I think this was a great explanation of where it goes. And it goes in line with everything PSJA does year in and year out. For example, covering our employees insurance where many other districts don't do that. And secondly, when Dr. Elias was saying that there's an infusion of money that's $35 million, it could be $42 million, I think, Dr. Elias. Once we get the numbers, yes. The wealth of money that comes into our economy, it's just unbelievable. That's not what we're here for, but it has a side effect on the municipalities because of all that money that's coming in. So I want to thank everybody that's engaged in doing this, and I just want to say keep up the good work. Thank you. Mr. President, I have a question, Dr. Garza. First

173of all, I congratulate all the teachers that were part of this 82%. Great for them. I understand that the formula might have changed for this past year. Does the formula normally change or has it been the original formula of how you get designated? No, I'm not sure what formula you're referring to, but our designation plan. is such that, I mean, there's two pieces, the T-Test scores, and there's three levels based on, and then the other one is the growth on the SGMs, and there's three levels. There's no, no, we don't change it. That has been approved as our system. So I'm not sure where you might be saying, our data is submitted to Texas Tech, and they do all the designation. So I'm not- What data is submitted? A teacher enters their student growth pre

174and post assessment and it shows the gain or the lack of, whatever it is, the final scores. The other piece of information that is entered into the teams is the teacher's evaluation. Our teachers get evaluated two times, two full-blown evaluations. one in the fall, one in the spring, and numerous walkthroughs that are calculated. So those two pieces of information are in the team's management system. That data is collected for all the teachers that have those two components that have met, signed off, there's pieces that need to be completed, and that's the data that is sent. to TEA and TEA reviews it and then sends it off to Texas Tech so that they are the ones that designate. We don't do any designation. The data is uploaded into systems where they review it. They look at

175our data just like I was explaining slightly earlier where they compare our teachers comparable grades. to the state and to make a determination to say, yes, this data is valid or this data may be inflated or to determine the designations. But we've always had the same standards. Okay. And only because, you know, as you're aware, we always have teachers who are unhappy for one reason or another. And one concern that had been brought up, there was some kind of change and they had not been informed. Now, in looking, and I'm also grateful for having how the 10% is being used. So we have two full-time positions and we have 30,800 for consultants and another 26,000 for Region 1. How are the teachers, even our brand new teachers, maybe they're going to want to, for the

176very first time, apply? Does that happen? Like, do we have first-time people? Because I know it's our fourth year. Like, have you been keeping track? Like, how many have been in it for years and have gone from one, you know, started off with exemplary and now are masters? Do you have all that data? Because I would love to see it from the past since we've started, right? How many have stayed within the system? And then how many new ones and how many did not make it? So the teacher doesn't have to apply. I'm a brand new teacher. I get hired. I'm exceptional. The principal comes in and evaluates me in the fall. I do good. I do great in the spring. My kids showed huge gain because I did the pre-SGM, the student commission, and

177they showed great gain. It doesn't matter how many years I've been teaching. I could be eligible for a designation when my data is uploaded and reviewed by Texas Tech. So the teacher, it doesn't have to take it upon themselves to be part of it. You're a teacher, you're in the system. Your data is collected along with everybody else's data. So who submits all this information? The data? We collect it from the team system. We work with Region 18, Texas Center for Educator Excellence. They actually manage the team system. It was actually developed in collaboration with PSJA many, many years ago, and now they sell it throughout the state. So we work with them and they have statisticians that review the data and help kind of upload it up into TEA. Actually, it's a portal at

178Texas Tech. Our teams and our data people help us upload that. So as a teacher, I don't have to apply? No. But who submits my information to you? You individually go into you. Every teacher has an account in the teams. I have a class of, let's say I'm first grade, whatever, and I have 25 kids. I enter, I'm going to do my SGMs from reading, some for math. I enter all my students and I do a pre-assessment. I enter the pre-scores. And then at the end of the year, I'm going to go back and test all those students that are there. If I had 25 at the beginning or 22 and I only have 18, well, I only enter those and only those are going to count. It's not going to hurt you if you

179have students have left because our students are mobile. As long as you have a certain amount of students that the data can be collected. So the teacher enters that. The principal enters the evaluation of the T-test. All of this though, however, the teacher can log in and view. there's been a walkthrough, how did I do on my last evaluation? The teacher can log in and say, oh yeah, I did this. And they can present artifacts and say, you know what, I noticed I didn't do this very well. I'd like for you to come in and do a walkthrough so that you can improve those, show your score, your true performance if it's not something that is agreeable. All of that data is entered at the campus. We don't touch any of that data other than

180pull it off the system to send it off. Okay. Can I clarify something? Yes, sir. I have a quick question. Yes, sir. Dr. Garza, I don't know if I understood you correctly. So if I'm a teacher that I have a star test tied to my kids, is that like an extra hurdle they have to jump? No. It's just... Not for our system. The state does compare our scores to start testing. But those are some of the things. We're in the process of submitting a renewal application, and some of the things that we're looking at including are those kind of things. The application is a five-year application. This is year four, and they really want you to apply a year in advance so that you don't lapse your continuation of designations. So we obviously, with 82%,

181we want to keep moving this forward. We're looking at how we can improve our designation system. So some of the things that we're doing are looking to see how we can be more effective in SGMs. How can we support our teachers to write better quality? Maybe looking at standardizing the actual testing so that it's more aligned with state testing. So that putting some of these elements in place that can just enhance our system. With our system, this is what's very different about us. And this is why we've had so many people that have been designated. Ours allows every teacher to be eligible. You have other school districts that have started with state assessment only teachers, which what does that exclude? Your fine arts, your career in technology, your PE, your early childhood, because there's no

182state assessment for them. Our system allows every teacher to look at their students. Every teacher has teaks to teach those students. They create a test. based on the TEKS for the content and the grade level that they're teaching. And they administer the test and the creation of this test. has happened, I mean, it's under guidance because we have had CLLs that have been working a long line to help our teachers create the test. Our principals have a lot of training on how to create effective student growth measures. So it's not just, you know, any test. No, there's some, a lot of training and a lot of guidance on how to create effective assessments. So these are happening. and extensive training, that's some of the money that we use, and we've been doing this for years.

183So this is why all our teachers are eligible versus other districts that do not have that. Thank you for that clarification because I was thinking, well, I'm a star teacher. No, but the state does, when they check our data, they're going to compare it to data that they've collected, and that's going to be star testing. Okay, Mr. President. And really, the state likes to do that comparison to find correlation with the star test and how the teachers are performing. But then there's so many other components that come into play. And even now that, you know, when we get the teachers receive how much they're making, as far as, let's say, you compare a master teacher from Southwest to a master teacher at North, their amounts are going to be different. Yes. Because... Then you're looking

184at all the sub-demographics, if there's more ECD in one campus than the other, if one's considered urban or rural, if there's more SPED. So all those components come into play, and then TA, that's how they figure out where you should fall as far as the amount. So even that, just because you're a master teacher, doesn't mean I'm getting $18,000 or $22,000. It falls in different categories. So there's a lot of components that come into play. And then again, one thing to brag, you know, as a board, and I think, you know, this is something that you all need to mention, those... $2.6 million in fringes. The district could use that money. Otherwise, we could have brought other systems into place and used that money. Otherwise, but what did we do as a district? And again,

185it goes based on your support as a board. We decided to, you know what? These fringes, instead of taking them out of their, let's say somebody's getting $18,000, but now because of the fringes that we're going to charge you or the state is charging, Now we're gonna take out 2,000. So now you're gonna end up with 16,000. And as a district, we didn't see that fair. These teachers fought for that and they are excelling in their categories. their designations that they're getting. So then the district decided, you know what, let's pay their fringes. So we went above and beyond. A lot of districts don't do that. So this is an added $2.6 million that the district could be using otherwise, but we're not. So again, you know, thank you to the board for being supportive

186in this. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Mullen. Excellent. Thank you. Good job. Okay, we're going to executive? Yes. Okay, we're going to go into executive session. Government Code 551.071 through 551.084. If 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, Subchapters D and E, or Texas Government Code Section 418.183F. Before any closed meeting is convened. The presiding officer will publicly identify the section of section of the act authorizing the closed meeting. All final votes, actions, or decisions will be taken in open meeting. CPSA is the board policy. B is the local. And we're going to executive session at 926 p.m. Good evening.

187We're back from executive session at 1043 p.m. We're going to go into the item. Yes, Mr. President. We move to... Under human resources, approve one-year contracts for professional personnel teaching and non-teaching for the 2026-2027 school year. Motion by Ms. Steele. Motion to approve. I have a second from Ms. Gutierrez. All those for the motion, signify by raising your right hand. Aye. Motion passes. Next item. Yes, Mr. President, the next item is consideration of and possible action to give notice. of termination of probationary contracts at the end of the 25-26 school year to affected employees pursuant to Texas Education Code 21.203 and Board Policy DFA-B legal. Move to approve. I have a motion by Mr. Villegas and a second by Ms. Barron. All those for the motion, seconded by the raising right hand, Ms. Gutierrez. This

188one was, I was trying to look at the agenda. This one was professional or principal? The probationary. Oh, the probationary. Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Next. The item E is going to be no action. Then we move to letter F, consideration and possible action to give notice of proposed non-renewal of current term contract of principal at the end of the 25-26 school year pursuant to Texas Education Code 21.206 and 21.207 and board policy DFBB legal and local. Legal. Actually, the proposed motion here, the recommended motion here is move to propose the non-renewal of the principle of Henry Ford Elementary and to use the hearing process available under Texas Education Code 21.207B. Need a motion for approval? Moved by Ms. Barron. Second? Second by Mr. Villegas. All those for the motion, 6-5 by raising the right hand.

189Aye. Ms. Gutierrez? Mr. Rodriguez, I am not an objective part on this item, so I am going to recuse myself. So for the record, I will abstain. Okay. All right, so we have a majority motion passes. All right, next item. Yes, Mr. President, consideration of impossible action to give notice of proposed non-renewal of current term contract of administrative personnel at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. to affected employees pursuant to Texas Education Code 21.206 and 21.207 and Board Policy DFBB, legal and local. I have a motion for approval. So moved. Motion by Mr. Robles. Second. Second by Mr. Villegas. All those for the motion, second by raising right hand. Aye. Motion passes. Yes, Mr. President, the next item is for tabling, and it was a discussion and possible action regarding the level three grievance

190of AC pursuant to PSJ board, TGBA local. So it's for tabling. Motion to table. Second. Motion by Mrs. Gutierrez to table. Second by Mrs. Quintanilla to table. All those in the motion, second by the person right here. Aye. Motion passes. Motion for adjournment. I move. I move. Motion by Mr. Villegas, second by Ms. Gutierrez. All those in the motion, 6-5 by raising your right hand. Aye. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everyone. Everyone have a great evening.