001Welcome everybody. Thank you for coming. I call this meeting of the Sherryland Independent School District to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is currently not present and this meeting has been duly called. A notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Opens Meeting Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. We will now move to the invocation led by Dr. Noe Oliveira. Please rise. We ask that everyone present please pray in your own way. Our prayer for the district is, Almighty God, we come together for the good of the children in our schools. Give us your wisdom as we make decisions that will affect them today and in the years to come. Help us to work well together, recognizing that each of us, students, parents, educators, and community
002members are here because we love children. And we want what is best for them. We ask for your blessing and your guidance. In your name we pray. Amen. If you'll please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. Today the pledge will be given by Sylvia A. Rivera from Sherryland North Junior High and Mauro Guerra from BL Gray Junior High. Thank you guys. Please stand and kindly remove all headgear as we honor our national with the Pledge of Allegiance. Followed by the Texas Pledge. Good evening, President Venetia, Superintendent Dr. Howard, Board of Trustees and community. My name is Sylvia Alana Rivera and I proudly represent Sherryland North Junior High. And I'm Mauro Guerra from BL Gray Junior High. It is truly an honor to be here with you this evening. We are grateful to stand before
003you. As students support the Pledge of Allegiance, we are grateful to stand before you. As students support the Pledge of Allegiance, we are grateful to stand before you. We are supported by dedicated teachers, strong leadership and a community that believes in us. Your support encourages us to grow. And to look ahead with confidence. At this time, please join us for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the Texas Pledge. 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 pledge allegiance to the stack of gold, one nation, under God, one and indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the. Texas. One state. Under God. One and
004indivisible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, guys. That was very nice. Let the record show that we established the quorum at 6 o 2 p.m. I will take a quick roll call. Meagan Sullivan, Dr. Noe Oliveira, Andrew Riddle, and myself, Hector Rivetta. We will now proceed to the Pledge of Allegiance. We will now proceed to the Sherryland spotlight where we celebrate our shining stars. Good evening, Vice President Rivera, Superintendent Dr. Howard, members of the board, and guests. Thank you, Sylvia and Mauro, for representing your campuses so well this evening. You remind us of the pride and promise found across Sherryland ISD. We are proud to recognize these two exceptional students who embody the same spirit through their leadership, their character, and commitment to excellence. First, we recognize Sylvia Lana Rivera from Sherryland North
005Junior High. Sylvia exemplifies dedication, poise, and her journey reflects the impact of a strong academic and supportive environment. Roll the tape. The Sherryland ISD student spotlight where students believe, shine, and inspire. Hi, my name is Sylvia Rivera, and I am a student at Sherryland North Junior High. I love being involved in school and challenging myself in different activities. I am an ESL student. I am an SNJH cheerleader that was recently selected as a varsity pioneer cheerleader for the 2026-2027 school year. I am also vice president of student council, and I participate in tennis, swim and dive, UIL listening skills, and CKH ambassador. I am an honors student, and even after facing my spinal fusion surgery, I stayed determined and worked hard to reach my goals. Outside of school, I enjoy volunteering for my community, so,
006particularly, I enjoy volunteering for my community, so, it's really great to be here today. I am proud to be a member of Sherryland North Junior High, supporting causes such as the MS Walk, the GoGold Foundation, and Disco Children's Hospital. I am proud to be a band member, and to represent Sherryland North Junior High. Awesome! Thank you so much, Sylvia, for being here this evening, and thank you to your family as well. Next, we honor Mauro Guerra, from Beale Grey Junior High. Mauro represents leadership and determination, demonstrated what it means to make the most of every single opportunity. Roll the tape! Hey! I'm the council president, representing students and promoting school spirit. I compete in UIL math and number sense, and I'm also involved in athletics, representing Bill Gray in basketball and tennis. One of my
007favorite activities is chess, and I'm proud to be a two-time national qualifier. Outside of school, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, playing sports, and participating in community events. Congratulations, Michael! I'll give you a high. I'm Sherri Landa-Ia. Let's hear it once again for Mauro. At this time, both of our students that led us in the pledge, and we'll recognize as their student spotlights, we're gonna ask them to please join us on stage with our board of trustees, so we can recognize them. With their families, you can go to these cameras. While we get everybody situated, we do wanna give a special shout out to Ms. Becky Savala and the Jensen Elementary Choir that delighted us with some music prior to the start of the board meeting. Let's give them a round of applause.
008We are so proud of our student spotlights, and we wanna thank our parents and our families that are joining us on stage for believing in Sherri Landa-ISD and making today a possibility. And once again for Alana and Mauro, go student spotlights! We're gonna ask our board of trustees to please continue being on the front of the stage as we start with our commendations. And don't you just love it when we see Dr. Howard play photographer, some of the pictures that you see throughout our district are taken by her. We're gonna get started with item six, board commendations. Today, first on the agenda is we recognize developmental disabilities month. This March, Sherri Landa-ISD proudly recognizes developmental disabilities awareness month. We celebrate the strength, talents, and contributions of individuals with developmental disabilities who enrich our school and
009community every single day. This month serves as a reminder of the importance of inclusion, understanding, and creating opportunities where every student feels valued and supported. Together, we continue to build a culture of respect, acceptance, and empowerment for all. We ask our students to please join us on stage. And let's give them a round of applause, please. I know we can do a little bit better than that. Sherri Landa-ISD community, let's hear it! Special education educators that are present this evening, please join us on stage as well. Does he wanna go up? Yes. At Sherri Landa-ISD, we are proud of the culture of respect, acceptance, and empowerment for all. Sherri Landa-ISD, excellence is our tradition. Congratulations, students. Moving on, this March, Sherri Landa-ISD proudly recognized our Special Olympics athletes from elementary, junior high, and high school
010for their outstanding participation in the Special Olympics basketball competition. Our students demonstrated incredible effort, determination, and pride on the court, reminding us of the joy, teamwork, and strength they bring to every event. Their hard work and sportsmanship truly inspire our district. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to the parents, coaches, and staff whose support and encouragement made this experience possible. We are truly proud of our athletes and grateful for everyone that helped them shine. At this time, we ask them to please join us on stage. Let's welcome them with a round of applause, please. Once more for our students, we are so immensely proud of you. Congratulations, students. Next up on the agenda is Chaz, which we know is so big here at Sherri Landa-ISD. Let's give a round of applause to Chaz. As they went
011on stage, the Sherri Landa-ISD chess teams competed at their respective chess championship tournaments. The secondary chess teams competed on February 21st through the 22nd at Longoria Middle School in Edinburgh. The elementary chess teams competed on February 28th through March 1st at PSJA Memorial High School. Congratulations to all the students that qualified for national competition. High school will compete in Chicago, Illinois on March 27th through the 30th. Junior high will compete in Round Rap, Texas on May 15th through the 17th. Elementary schools will compete in Baltimore on May 1st through the 3rd. Congratulations once again to all the students and sponsors for a job well done. Sponsors, please make sure that you join us on stage as well. Give Shimatsu Elementary a big round of applause. The high school is now open. Congratulations. Those are the
012kiddos that you see on stage right now. Congratulations students. Next on the stage is going to be Benson Elementary with Coach Jose Guerrero. Exiting the stage is Shimatsu. Congratulations. On stage now is Benson Elementary. Congratulations students. We are so very proud of you. Big smiles, everyone. You're going to hold that pose not just for the PR team, but you're also going to hold it for the kids. You're going to hold that pose for your parents. As a reminder, parents and families, you can find all images taken today of today's board meeting on our social media pages. Please make sure to follow. Congratulations Benson. You exit the stage. We give you another round of applause and we welcome Hinojosa Elementary to the stage. Their coach is Gina Garza. Let's center ourselves a little bit more. Let's
013hold up those certificates and a big, big smile. Hold the pose for your parents. Hold the pose for your parents as well as for the Sherrilyn ISD PR team. Congratulations students. Next on stage we welcome Martinez Elementary with Coach Carla Anzandula. We're going to use this time to thank you for believing in Sherrilyn ISD, for allowing us to serve your family, your kiddos, and for believing in the dream. For believing here and what we do every single day changes lives. Big, big smiles Martinez Elementary. Congratulations RDN. As you exit the stage we welcome Sherri Elementary, Melissa Ochoa. So immensely proud of all of our students from our youngest little learners to our oldest kiddos. We are so proud of you. Students, let's hold up our certificates. Let's splash those big Sherrilyn ISD smiles. And we're
014going to hold the pose for our parents. Our students that you see on stage, that's what excellence looks like. Congratulations Sherri Elementary. Exiting the stage now, joining us on stage is Coach Nilda Palomo with Wernicke Elementary Chesting. Let's hear it for Wernicke. Let's hold those certificates up. Big smiles. Here we go. Proud parents snapping pictures. Congratulations Wernicke. Let's hear it for them once again as they exit the stage. And we welcome Jensen Elementary, coached by Camila Avitoa. Congratulations Jensen Elementary. Let's hear it for them once again. And now we welcome Beale Gray Junior High, coached by Hugo Alfaro and Christina Skirka. And now we start seeing our secondary students. So as you see, the legacy continues from elementary through secondary. Big smiles. Hold the pose. Congratulations students. Next up is North Junior High, coached by
015Roberto Benavides. And they're bringing in some hardware with them. Congratulations Sherri North Junior High. Now we welcome Coach Ann Marie Priolo with SA3 and SHS Combo Team. Let's hear it for them. And as you can see, that tradition of excellence continued from elementary to junior high. And now we welcome our high school students. Believe it or not, Ms. Priolo is joining her students on stage, although they are all very young. And they are all very young. Congratulations. They are all very tall. Congratulations SA3 and SHS and Coach Ms. Priolo. And last but definitely not least, we welcome PHS, coached by Cristobal Carrizales on our stage. Let's hear it for PHS. Big smiles students. Congratulations to all of our CHESS students and scholars. At this time we also want to recognize our CHESS coordinator, Mr. Ivan
016Carr. If you saw him, he was running up and down between all of the teams. So thank you Mr. Carr for everything that you do. We want to thank our CHESS families for all the time you put into the weekends, the practices after school, and for believing in the Sherri Lonn ISD CHESS experience. Thank you so much. Let's hear it for our parents. We're going to switch gears a bit. And this evening we welcome Daniela Macias, her family, her principal on stage. As well as her little brother. On February 13, 2026, Daniela Macias de la Vega proudly represented Harry Shemotso Elementary at the 2026 South Texas Author Con as a distinguished Texas rising star of tomorrow. Daniela achieved the incredible honor of being a published author, people. That's right, a published author for her heartfelt
017and inspiring story about her younger autistic brother, Ale. Through their powerful words, she beautifully expressed her love for her family. Through their powerful words, she beautifully captured the love, understanding, and unique bonds they share, touching the hearts of readers and shining a light on the importance of empathy and inclusion. Daniela, we are so proud of your talent, courage, and dedication to storytelling. Thank you for exemplifying the spirit of SISD excellence and for reminding us all of the power of the student voice. Congratulations. Let's hear it for Daniela. This time we're going to switch gears and we're going to go into our athletic commendations for this year. We're going to start with the Let's hear it for our basketball team. We are so proud of the Lady Rattlers. We want to make a note that they
018advanced to the Sweet 16 round for the first time in over 20 years. The girls competed with toughness and courage in the third round, but fell a few points short in advancing. But we are so very proud of them. Congratulations to the staff and the coaching team. Next on the stage is our power lifting team from Sherryland High School. Please join us on stage. On March 4, 2026, nine athletes represented Sherryland High School at the Girls Regional Power Lifting Championship. With four earning medals and securing spots at the state meet. Leading the team, Lexi Gonzalez was crowned regional champion for the second consecutive year and swapped the specialty awards for best squat, best bench, best deadlift, and best overall. Also on the podium were Karla Guajardo, third place, Bria Barnes, third place, and Andrea Santiago,
019fourth place. All four competed at the state championship on March 21st at the Burt Ogden Arena. Lexi Gonzalez successfully defended her title as the state champion, shattering state records for the squat, bench, and overall total in her division. That's right. Also placing in the top ten was Karla Guajardo, sixth, and Bria Barnes, seventh. Our boys team also saw success as Joshua Tanguma and Ricardo Arias qualified for the unequipped power lifting championship in Kingsville. Joshua earned a bronze medal while settling new personal records, and Ricky placed ninth. Additionally, Alejandro Stolberg qualified for the equipped regional championship, placing seventh overall. Woohoo! Let's hear it for the coaching team as well as they exit the stage. Today is the PHS High School Boys and Girls Power Lifting Teams. On March 4th, 2026, the Sherrilyn Pioneer Girls Power Lifting
020Team qualified nine girls in the 5A Division II Regional Championship Final. The girls placed sixth place out of 13 teams. On March 14th, 2026, the Sherrilyn Pioneer Girls Power Lifting Team qualified nine girls in the 5A Division II Regional Championship Final. The girls placed sixth place out of 13 teams. On March 14th, 2026, the Sherrilyn Pioneer Girls Power Lifting Team qualified nine girls in the 5A Division II Regional Championship Final. The girls placed sixth place out of 13 teams. The girls placed sixth place out of 13 teams. Sophia Vega entered the meet ranked fifth in the region. Everything came down to her final bench press attempt. Missed it, and she would have been disqualified. Under pressure, Sophia delivered. She secured the lift and used that momentum to push herself all the way into third place
021in the region for the 2026 season. Thank you for exemplifying SISD excellence. Third for PHS Powerlifting. And as you can see, they are sporting their hardware this evening, and we are so very proud of you. Congratulations, PHS. Congratulations to our coaching staff as well. Mr. Vice President, that wraps up our commendations. Thank you so much. Thank you, Board of Trustees, for having our commendations this evening. Thank you so much, ma'am. For the record, Ms. Megan Sullivan and Andrew Riddle joined us at 6.02, and Mr. David Keith at 6.06. We had a student come in. If we can please join them, and we're going to have two more students from our special education department. Parents, this is your home. Thank you for bringing that to our attention, and we don't want to miss the opportunity to
022get a picture. Congratulations, students. All right, good deal. That was fun. So much talent. Okay, that will bring us to Agenda Item 7, Public Comments. I believe we have one public comment. Mr. David Vasquez, if you will just please state your name and address for the record. Mr. Vasquez. Hello, good evening. David Vasquez, Urgent Care by Workforce, 3900 North 10th Street. That's our corporate office, McAllen, Texas, 7501. David Vasquez. Welcome, sir. Mr. Vasquez, I just have to read a short little presentation right now before public comment. Audience participation at a board meeting is limited to the portion of the meeting designated for that purpose. At all other times during a board meeting, the audience shall not enter into discussion or debate on matters being considered by the board unless recognized by the presiding officer. No
023presentation shall exceed three minutes. Any individual who wishes to participate in this portion of the meeting shall sign up with the presiding officer or designee before the meeting begins. And shall indicate the topic about which they wish to speak. Specific factual information of existing policy may be furnished in response to inquiries, but the board may not deliberate, discuss, or make any decision on any subject not in the agenda posted with the notice of this meeting. Complaints and concerns for which other resolution channels are provided shall be directed through those channels. The presiding officer or designee shall determine whether a person who wishes to address the board has attempted to solve a matter administratively. The board may not be able to answer any questions or questions. If not, the person shall be directed to the appropriate
024policy to seek resolution before bringing the matter to the board at a subsequent meeting. Thank you, Mr. Vasquez. You may proceed. You have three minutes, sir. Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to address you all today. I just want to congratulate you all. That was awesome. You really exemplify that excellence. It really does live here. In one word to other school districts, checkmate. You are awesome. That was very impressive. I feel very humbled for my next comment because we want to be part of that. We want to basically introduce ourselves as a member of your community. We have been practicing. Our urgent care is fairly new, but we have seen patients in your area. We just want to basically introduce ourselves to your community and your school, basically saying we are offering medical
025services. We would like to see what we can do in forms of medical services, telehealth, also sponsorships and community engagement, preventative measures that we want to be taking as far as educating our public community members, our staff, students, bus drivers, anybody that's employed with the school district. We want to take this time, although it will be a couple of minutes, to explain the fact that we, want to provide a medical service that's more on the preventative side. By preventing illnesses and injuries and addressing them sooner rather than later and provide health care that's accessible to everybody including the special needs communities. One of the aspects that we do is that we provide mobile clinics. We come to the patient's house or we can come and have health clinics at your school districts. We had our
026presentation a month ago. A three-minute public conference. A public comment resulted in a health clinic. A health clinic resulted in us presenting with Texas Region 1, 12 school districts, just out of that three-minute public comment. So I do appreciate this opportunity and hopefully soon we'll be able to get on the agenda and explain to you a little bit more of what we're interested in doing. I'm going to wrap that up also by once again telling you, you all are awesome. That was very impressive. We've presented to other school districts. Since COVID, we've been doing presentations and offering our mobile clinics because we needed to get out there to our community. And we were one of the first ones to do it in a comprehensive way, in a multidisciplinary way, testing to right point of care
027treatment and giving you antibiotics. Sherrilyn ISD was one of the ones that we actually did testing and vaccines and antibiotics and the different things that we're offering with our doctors to other community. And we want to continue that and build on that. And basically kind of do what your students and what you all are doing. It's basically never being complacent. That was a pure example of never being complacent. Being leaders, those are future leaders right there, which you all are really producing out of this school district. And we want to be part of that. Congratulations to you all. Thank you for having me today. Thank you, Mr. Vazquez. Appreciate it. We will continue with Sherrilyn ISD's mission statement. Sherrilyn's ISD mission is to inspire, educate, and empower all students, teachers, and staff to be successful
028in their careers. To reach their full potential and become leaders of the highest moral character. Item nine, board reports. And I don't think there are any board reports at the moment. Item 10A, superintendent reports, discussion of resolution regarding costs of installing seat belts in a school bus. Dr. Howard. Yes. Mr. Vice President and trustees, I just wanted to make you aware that the State did ask us to consider retrofitting all of our buses with seat belts. seat belts after we have researched the cost to do that it would cost the district over 1 million dollars to retrofit all of our current fleet of buses with seat belts at this time we will not proceed with retrofitting however we will comply with the new ordinance that requires that we have all newly purchased buses will be
029equipped with the appropriate seat belt so at this time the district will not be moving forward with retrofitting of our fleet thank you thank you Dr. Howard item 11 consent agenda is posted item a February 2026 month-end bills item B February 2026 investment report C January 2026 financial reports D January 2026 tax collection reports E previous meeting minutes one regular board meeting held on February 2026 23rd, 2026. F, approval of resolution amending authorized representatives with text pool. G, approval to renew RFQ 2324-08, independent auditor services. H, approval to amend order to call the May 2nd, 2026 school trustee election. I, approval of interlocal agreement with city of Mission for the use of the Mission Boys and Girls Club Gym at Banworth Park for upcoming board and bond elections. J, approval of memorandum of understanding with
030Hidalgo County Juvenile Alternative Education Program for the 2026-2027 year. K, approval of maximum class size exception. L, approval of out-of-state travel for students and staff to attend National Chess Championships competition. M, approval of out-of-state travel for staff to attend the National Forum Schools to watch conference in Washington, D.C. Do I have a motion for consent agenda item 11? Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. I have a motion by Andrew Riddle, a second by David Keith. Any further discussion? Yes, Mr. President. These items were all thoroughly discussed at BOF committee level, and I know as personally for myself, I had a chance to meet with the parties involved with the items there, and I got all my questions answered, just wanted that on the record. Thank you for that clarification, doc. If there
031is no further discussion, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion passes 5-0. That'll bring us into item 12, closed meeting. The time is 6.43. We will take a short recess and enter into closed meeting session. Do I have a motion for that item? I'll make a motion to go into closed session. I have a motion by Andrew Riddle. Second. Second by Megan Sullivan. Any further discussion before we go into closed session? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Motion carries 5-0. In closed meeting, we will be discussing the following. A, personnel matters, Texas Government Code 551.074, resignations, employment of personnel, discussion of employee, public officer, and or board member, deliberation regarding the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of proposed termination of
032a district employee or public officer or employee, pursuant to Texas Government Code 551.074. Item B, student discipline. C, deliberation regarding security devices and security audits as per Texas Government Code 551.076. Item C, consideration regarding real property, Texas Government Code 551.072. And E, consultation with attorney regarding A, pending or contemplated litigation, B, a settlement offer, or C, a matter in which the duty of the attorney to the Sherri-Land ISD under the Texas disciplinary rules of the professional conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflicts with Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code. We're back in open session. The time is 7.14 p.m. I believe there was a item A. Discussion of possible action on closed meeting items. Accepting the retirements. Personnel report. Yeah. I move that we accept the personnel reports as presented to us
033in executive. Yes, ma'am. Subject to satisfactory criminal background checks and reference verifications. Do I have a motion by Megan Sullivan? Second. I have a second by Dr. Noe Oliveira. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those in favor, same sign. All those opposed, same sign. Motion carries 5-0. The time is now 7.15 p.m. Do I have a motion to adjourn? I'll make a motion to adjourn. Have a motion by Andrew Riddle. I will second it and suggest we all head over to the soccer game. A second by Megan Sullivan. Is there a motion? Is there any further discussion before we adjourn the meeting? Who's the soccer game against? La Jolla. La Jolla. Pioneer. Pioneer in La Jolla. In La Jolla. In La Jolla. There being no further discussion, all
034those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. The meeting is adjourned. Motion carries 5-0. A second.