001Good evening. If everyone could take their seats, please. It is now 6.03, and I call this meeting of the Sherryland Independent School District to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present and that this meeting has been duly called, and notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. Board members that are present today informing the quorum are Mr. Julio Cerda, Mr. David Key, Mr. Hector Rivera, Mr. Andrew Riddle, Ms. Megan Sullivan, Dr. Oliveira, and myself, Maritza Venezia. For items three and four, we will have the invocation by Mr. David Keith, and if we could remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance given by Hinojosa Elementary Student Council members Adrian Saenz, Lexi Berry, Miku Tsusaka, Ana Patricia Treviño, and Danielle
002Rivera. Please stand for the invocation. Please bow your heads and pray. 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 each of us, students, parents, educators, and community members are here because we love children and we want what is best for them. We ask for your blessing and your guidance. In your mighty name we pray. Amen. Dr. Howard, Board President and members of the board, we are the Student Council officers of Ruben Hinojosa Elementary. I am Migu Sissaka, Vice President. I am Danielle Rivera, Secretary. I am Lexi Berry, the Treasurer. I am Adrian Saenz, the Parliamentarian. I am Ana Treviño, Historian. Thank you for
003granting us the privilege of starting this meeting with the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one indivisible. Thank you. Thank you, Inohosa Elementary. Now we move on to item number five, which is Sherrilyn Student Spotlight Celebrating Our Shining Stars. Miss Nancy? Good evening, Madam President Benicia, Superintendent Dr. Howard, and esteemed Board of Trustees and distinguished guests here. Tonight, we proudly recognize three exceptional scholars, our class of 2025 valedictorians, through a special edition of our student spotlight. The video, titled Three Stories, One Tradition of Excellence, United in Celebration, highlights the voices
004of Aileen Monserrat-Roman, Madison Hernandez, and Garrison Austin Byram. Three students whose journeys reflect leadership, resilience, and the power of mentorship. Play the video. At Sherryland ISD, excellence is our tradition. The student spotlight honors individuals who exemplify leadership service and the highest standards of moral character. This year, we proudly recognize three exceptional scholars, our class of 2025 valedictorians. My name is Aileen Montserrat-Roman, and I'm the proud valedictorian of Sherryland High School. This fall, I will be attending Texas A&M University. We've spent so much time thinking about the future. but I've learned to appreciate the present. This moment, right here, right now, is a gift. Eileen Roman is an extraordinarily young lady who's endeavored many, many lessons in life, and I can't wait to see what else she's going to write in the next chapter of her
005life. There's no doubt in my mind I'm going to see great success, and she's going to accomplish much more than what she believes she can do herself. I'm Madison Hernandez and I'm the proud Valley Victorian of Sherrilyn Advanced Academic Academy. I will be attending the University of Texas at Austin this fall. If I have learned anything from high school, it's to take risks, a lot of them. Don't wait for the perfect moment to start, but instead, create it. We are extremely proud of our daughter Madison and all of her accomplishments. Her strength, kindness, and determination continues to inspire us every day. We can't wait to see where life takes her next. Madison embodies steadfast leadership, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to everything that she does. She will no doubt be excellent in all of her
006future endeavors. My name is Garrison Austin Byrum, and I am the proud valedictorian of Sherri-Land Pioneer High School. In the fall, I will be attending the University of Texas at Austin, and I am so excited for all our hard work to finally pay off and see what our future holds. Garrison is someone who leads with integrity, both inside and outside of the classroom. He's always someone who people look up to. He's an exceptional young man, and I have no doubt that he's going to soar. We are so proud of Garrison, and we look forward to what he's going to accomplish in the years ahead at the University of Texas at Austin. Three unique voices, one shared tradition. Their stories reflect the power of mentorship, the support of family, and a district that believes in every
007student's potential. From Sherrilyn ISD to the world, congratulations to our 2025 valedictorians. Let's hear it for them. Please join me in congratulating Eileen, Madison, and Garrison. At this time, we invite them, along with their families, their mentors, and their campus leaders, to join our team of eight on stage for this well-deserved recognition. While they're taking their places to remember this moment, and so we can memorialize this moment, let's give them another round of applause. All right, thank you so much. Congratulations to our three valedictorians. This does not wrap up our student spotlight series. Next month we will bring you our junior high student spotlights. Our team of eight, our board of trustees, together with our superintendent, we do ask them to stay behind because we're gonna dive right in into our commendations. One second while
008we all get organized. All right. If you notice, there is a QR code on our screens. Parents, families, please make sure that you're following us on all of our social media channels. All the pictures that we take this evening will be posted tonight. So you can grab them from there, share them, as well as the pictures that you take. Before we begin, I'd like to take a heartfelt moment to recognize some of the most important guests with us here tonight. And I bet all of you are wondering, who could that be? Well, it's y'all, our parents, our guardians. Thank you for being here. We give you a Sherry Lott ISD round of applause and thank you for supporting and believing in Sherry Lott ISD. Our Board of Trustees are ready to pose with all of
009our students as we begin our commendations. First up, we have our 2024-24-25 CKH National Showcase School District. Our principals are going to be joining us on stage to receive this award spearheaded by Dr. Loreen Bassan, our Director of Counseling. a little synopsis while they get settled and situated for their picture. On April 2025, Sherrilyn ISD was recognized as a Capturing Kids Heart National Showcase District for the 24-25 school year. This prestigious designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate exceptional implementation of the Capturing Kids Hearts framework, prioritizing strong relationships, student connectedness, and a culture of trust and safety across all campuses. This distinction highlights our commitment to creating environments where students and staff thrive socially, emotionally, and academically. Let's give them another round of applause. Congratulations. While they exit the stage, I'm glad to call up
010our next group, our Ruben Hinojosa Elementary Spitzo Team Officers. If they can please join us on stage. Today we proudly recognize them for their dedication and hard work in raising $25,000 to install a canopy at Hinojosa Elementary. This incredible effort ensures that students enjoy a more comfortable environment during outdoors activities with equipment protected from the heat. Thank you so much to our Spitzel officers. Thank you so much Ruben Hinojosa Spitzel. Congratulations. Next up, we're going to be recognizing our chess teams that went to Super Nationals and represented Sherrilyn ISD with pride. SISD is proud to announce that our chess teams competed at the Super Nationals Chess Tournament held in Orlando, Florida from May 9th through the 11th. This prestigious event brought together top players from across the country from kinder to 12th grade. Several of
011our teams and individual players placed in the top 20. their respective divisions. Up first who you see on stage is our group from Ruben Hinojosa Elementary. The chess royals placed 15 are led by coaches Aracely Rios and Luis Rodriguez and competed in the division K6 under 600. Let's hear it once again for the Hinojosa chess royals. I would also like to note that the great city of Mission has also recognized the great chess work that Sherrilyn ISD has made and will be recognizing all of our chess teams next Tuesday at their City Council meeting. Congratulations students! Up next we have the Lloyd and Dolly Benson Elementary Benson Chess Knights. The Benson Chess Knights placed 20th. They are led by coaches Jose Guerrero and Jose Silva, competed in the K-1 Under 500 and Unrated Division. Let's
012hear it once again for the Benson Chess Knights. Congratulations students. Up next joining us on stage are the chess teams from Harry Shimatsu Elementary. The Shimatsu Knights. The Shematsu Knights placed in 16th place, 10th place, 13th place, 14th place, and 16th place respectively. Their coaches are Ailani Morin and Claudia Garza. They competed in the K6 under 1000, K6 under 800, K6 under 600, K3 under 1000, and K3 under 600. All right, we're looking at the center camera first. Smiles, everyone. A special note, we do ask Samuel Cifuentes to please stay behind for just a second. Samuel Cifuentes, please stay behind. Where's Samuel? Samuel Cifuentes? There is Samuel. We're going to ask him to pose with our Board of Trustees. Samuel earned 14th place in the K6 Under 800. Let's hear it for Samuel. Congratulations. Up
013next, joining us on stage is RD Martinez Elementary, the RDM Knights. The RDM Knights are led by coaches Carla and Salduan Marichu Alvarez, Avila, I'm sorry. They earned sixth and 17th place respectively. That 17th place was a tie, and they competed their division in K-3 under 600 and K-6 under 800. Congratulations. If we can please ask Gael Balderas to stay behind. Gael Balderas is going to stay behind from our RDM Knights. Gael earned 21st place with K3 under 600. And let's hear it for Gael. Congratulations. Up next, from Sherri-Land North Junior High, we have North Chess, coached by Coach Robert Benavides. Competing in the K through eight under 1400. And we have David Culberson with first place. Congratulations to Mr. Culberson. Up next, Beale Gray Junior High, we have the Beale Gray Chest Knights. The
014Beale Gray Chess Knights earned 5th place team and 12th place team respectively. They are led by Coach Hugo Alfaro and Christina Skwerka. They competed in the K-8 under 1100 5th place and K-8 under 900 12th place team. And they look sharp. Congratulations students. Joining us on stage is Sheridan Pioneer High School. The Pioneer chess teams, they earned 30th and 17th place respectively. They are coached by coach Atif Farias and Cristobal Carrizales. They competed in K-12 under 1900. And Diego Lorenz Gonzalez earned a 17th place and is joining us on stage. Congratulations. And last but not least, from Sherrilyn High School, we have the Castleman Chess Team, who earned a 14th place and are led by Coach Ann Marie Priolo and Felipe Torres. They competed in the K-12 under 1600, and we have Noel Gamboa in
01530th place under 1600. Congratulations! February 1st, the Sherrilyn North Junior High UIL academics team and One Act proudly represented the district at the Junior High 315A district meet, earning second place overall. They also earned, in District One Act play, they earned first place with honors. They are joining us on stage now. So both our UIL district and One Act play from Sherrilyn North Junior High are joining us on stage. Congratulations. We're going to switch gears onto our Sherrilyn North Junior High Choir. They are joining us on stage now. On Saturday, April 12, 2025, the Sherrilyn North Junior High Choir competed at the TMEA Regional Choir Auditions at Rowe High School. We are thrilled to share that five choir members secured spots in the esteemed TMEA Regional Choir. They took part in the regional clinic and
016concert where they were led by outstanding conductors. Congratulations to these students! Up next is our Beale Gray UIL team. The District UIL meet on February 1st, 2025 and the one act play on February 5th. The Beale Gray UIL team proudly earned first place in our district. A highlight, we earned over 632 points as a campus representing our team, our UIL captains. We also have one act play and speech and debate that are on stage. Moving on to B.L. Gray, TMSCA. On March 29th, 2025, the TMSCA scholars proudly represented B.L. Gray at the TMSCA State Competition in San Antonio, earning eighth place as a team. Dennis Kwan placed second in Calculator Applications. Arturo Leon Alvarez placed second in Science, and our Calculator team placed fourth overall. Thank you for representing Sherryland ISD. Congratulations, students. We're switching
017gears to our secondary campuses, to our high school campuses. We have Sherrilyn High School BPAs. They are joining us on stage. On May 7th through the 11th, our Sheridan High School Business Professionals of America attended their 2025 National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida. We had seven members placed, Regina Valdez as national champion, Eva Salazar second place, our small business management team in fourth place, and Renata Suarez with sixth place in the nation. Congratulations, students. They're taking a few more pics, your parents. Thank you. Up next joining us on stage is the Sherryland Indoor Percussion Ensemble. They had an unforgettable season going undefeated and claiming the Tekka Marching Scholastic, a state championship on April 5th. This marks the program's sixth state championship, a testament to the team's dedication and hard work. With precision and passion, they
018delivered outstanding performances. Let's hear it for these teams. Congratulations students! Up next, we have our SHS baseball team! Your regional quarter semifinalist team who have captured an area and by district championship. These athletes show grit, teamwork, and heart on the diamond. Congrats on a great season. Let's hear it once again for our baseball team. Up next, we have the Sherryland High School Boys Golf Team. On April 2nd, 2025, the Sherryland High School Boys Golf Team proudly represented the district by winning the 31-5A District Championship. They advanced to the Region 4 Tournament on April 17th, placing third and earning a trip to the UIL State Championship. On May 5th, the team competed amongst the best in Texas and finished sixth in the state. Thank you for exemplifying SISD excellence. Congratulations. Up next, we have our tennis
019team. On May 8, 2025, the Sherrilyn High School tennis team made history at the UIL 5A Region 4 Regional Tournament by qualifying eight players to the state tournament. A first in both program and SHS history. Among the standout achievements, two regional champion teams, two silver medalist teams, and for the first time ever, a girls doubles team qualified for the UIL state tournament, marking a major milestone for our program. Congratulations to these student athletes for their hard work. Congratulations. Up next, the Sherri-Land Boys Track Team. On April 18th through the 19th, 2025, the Sherri-Land Boys Track Team advanced nine athletes in eight different events to the regional track meet in San Antonio, Texas. These boys exemplified a true competitor by making finals and placing fifth in all of these events. They showed true grit and determination.
020Congratulations to all of our athletes. Congratulations! Up next, On the stage, we have Girls Sherryland Track. On April 18th and 19th, 2025, the Girls Sherryland Track team proudly represented at the Region 4 Track Championship in San Antonio at the Kiro Stadium. A highlight, both of our regional qualifiers competed well and made regional finalists. Perez Gomez placed fifth in the 100-meter hurdles and Bella Quill eighth place in discus. Thank you for exemplifying SISD excellence. Congratulations. That sums up SHS commendations for tonight. We're switching gears and moving on to Pioneer High School. Up first, we have PHS Construction Trades. Make a special mention, they are not here present, but we do want to recognize everything that they have done, led by Mr. Espinoza, their Construction II class, with the challenge of completing a sidewalk to help aid
021our custodial team at Pioneer High School. Let's hear it in a round of applause for them. The students were willing. They asked, where can we start? And they didn't even hesitate to help out and make sure that this project came to fruition. We want to make a special mention to Ms. Carranza, Mr. Doherty, and 57 Concrete for their dedication, teamwork, and making sure that this could get done for our students, but moreover for our custodial team. So let's give them one more round of applause. All right, now we're switching gears and moving on to athletics. Academics? Academics before athletics. All right. So we have on April 24, through the 25th, 2025, the Shalem Pioneer UIL academic students proudly represented our district at the UIL academic regional competition hosted by the University of Texas at San
022Antonio. We commend all participants and sponsors for their hard work and dedication. They're looking sharp this evening. And we're going to have them pose with big smiles and certificates and plaques up. Congratulations students, a job well done. Joining us next on stage is Pioneer Baseball. Our bi-district champions, area champions, and regional quarterfinal semi-finalists. These athletes showed grit, teamwork, heart, and are full of dedication, discipline, and teamwork. Let's hear it once again for PHS Baseball. Congratulations, students. Up next joining us on stage is our golf team. On the week of April 14th, 2025, the Pioneer High School participated in the 3158 Golf District Competition. We had 16 of the students participate and six advance to regionals. Congratulations to our golf athletes. Up next, we have our tennis athletes that are joining us. On May 6th through
023the 8th, PHS Tennis participated in regional competition. We had three students participate, including Allie Gonzalez, Josiah Guerra, and Zarek Solis, all regional qualifiers. Let's hear it for them. Congratulations. Up next, we have the Pioneer High School Boys Track Team who are joining us on stage. On April 18th through the 19th, the Pioneer High School Boys Track Team participated in the regional competition. We had 11 students participate and two advance to state. On May 1 and 2, the Pioneer High School Track Team participated in the state competition. And a special note, David Suniga, who is on stage with us, signed with UTSA today. And our last commendation of the evening, last but not least, we have the Lady Diamondbacks Girls Track who are joining us on stage. On April 9th through the 10th, the Lady Diamondbacks
024participated in the Area Tack Meet competition. The Lady Diamondback track team and more. had more area regional qualifiers than in previous years with a combined number of 11 and eight regional qualifiers to participate and advance to the 2025-5A Regional Championship Track Meet in San Antonio, Texas. Let's hear it for them. Congratulations. That sums up all of our commendations for this evening. Thank you so much to our team of eight. Board members, Dr. Elaine Howard, thank you so much for allowing this space to recognize our students. Okay, are we on item seven? We are. Thank you, ma'am. Doc? Smell like lemon and fresh. Thank you. Okay. Okay, so we are going to move on to item number seven, which is public comments. No public comments. Perfect. So now we are moving on to item number eight,
025which is our mission statement by Mr. Riddle. Sharon ISD's mission is to inspire, educate, and empower all students to reach their full potential and become leaders with the highest moral character. Thank you. On to item number nine, board reports. No board reports? No, we're all good? Okay. On to item number 10, consent agenda. Okay. So this is consent agenda. 10A, April 2025 month-end bills. 10B, April 2025 financial reports. 10C, April 2025 tax collection reports. D, April 2025 investment reports. E, budget amendments. E1, general fund. E2, food service fund. E3, federal funds. E4, state grant funds. 10-5, 10-F, I'm sorry, previous meeting minutes. F-1, regular board meeting, April 21st, 2025. 10-G, approval to authorize the procurement methods, selection criteria, wage rate, and authorization to seek proposals for the resurfacing of Garza Elementary parking lot and special
026education 18-plus building. 10-H, approval to award Medicaid claiming and billing services to Onward Learning using a cooperative approved vendor. 10-I. Yep. I approval of out of state educational travel for Sherryland high school, mariachi to perform at Carnegie hall in New York city and 10 J approval of dual credit memorandum of understanding with university of Texas, rural granny valley for 2025 27 cycle. We'll now entertain a motion motion to approve is red. Thank you. I've got a motion by Dr. Libato. I will second second by Mr. Hector, any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 7-0. We will now be moving on to item 11, which is our closed meeting. In closed meeting to be discussed are 11A, personal matters, Texas government code 551.074, 11A1, resignations,
027A2, employment of personnel, A3, discussion of employee, public officer, and or board member, A4, deliberation regarding the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal, or proposed termination of a district employee or public officer or employee pursuant to Texas government code 551.074, 11B, student discipline, 11 C, deliberation regarding security devices or security audits, Texas Government Code 551.076. 11 T, deliberation regarding real property, Texas Government Code 551.072. And 11 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 of the Shreya and Independent School District under the Texas disciplinary rules of professional conduct of the State Bar clearly conflicts with Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code, Texas Government Code 551.071. I will now entertain a motion to go into closed
028session. Motion to go into closed session after a short recess. Okay, I've got a motion from Dr. LaVita, a second by Julio Cerda. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. all opposing sign motion passes 7-0 we are not going into closed meeting after a brief recess at 6 48. thank you thank you my little microphone over here get my life together hector i've got your it is right there okay we are now back in open session it is 7 59. We're moving on to business item number 13, 13A, reorganization of board officers. Oh, I'm sorry. We do need to do 12A. I'm sorry. Come back from open session. We need to do 12A, discussion and possible action on closed meeting items. I move that the Board of Trustees approve the administration's
029personnel report, including the assignment of certified staff. resignations, and employment contracts recommendations for the 24, 25, and 25, 26 school year. Do I have a motion? I second. No, I'm asking. Oh, that was a second from Megan Sullivan? Yes. I've got a motion from Andrew Sullivan and a second. I mean, geez. Sorry. Hold on. Take a deep breath here. I have got a motion from Andrew Riddle and a second from Ms. Megan Sullivan. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. I'll oppose, same sign. Motion passes 7-0. Now we move on to item 13, business 13A, reorganization of board officers. All right. Madam President, I move that all board officers for the 2024-2025, well, it says 2024-2024. It's 2025-2026. Right from now in school year, the president, vice president, secretary, and
030assistant secretary remain the same. I second that motion. Okay. I've got a motion by Dr. Olivaida, and I've got a second by Julio Cerda. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 7-0. On to item 13B, discussion and consideration. You're welcome. Thank you. Didn't want to say too much about it, but for me, thank you all very much for just your trust in me as president of the past year and allowing me to continue to do the work. And I've been really excited to work alongside all of you, including the officers who have been really supportive. And to say that I've ever worked with a more unselfish group of individuals would be an understatement. So thank you all. You're welcome, and we're excited to have
031the same executive work that we've had. We haven't had a problem for the past year, so we want this to continue as is. We love it, and we'd like to make sure that we continue kicking some butt. Keep up the good work. Thank you. Yeah, Marisa, I think you've done a fantastic job as president. Not to say that any prior president didn't, but I know that... We'll continue to do a great job and support you as president, and Hector does a fantastic job as vice president with his presidential experience as well. And I can do secretary again, and I know Megan would be fantastic if I'm not here, and I know Hector would be fantastic if you couldn't make it. So I know this is not something that's common, but I was in complete support
032of it, and I'm excited to see what's coming this year. Thank you David, okay great guys We'll move on now to Discussion, I mean we'll move on to item 13 be discussion and consideration to approve 2025 26 compensation plan and Siller salary increase On behalf of the administration, we did share with you all at our recent staffing and compensation workshop that we would be coming to you with some possible recommendations for increase for next year. As you all are aware, we are currently awaiting some decisions at the legislative level. And rather than waiting and having our staff and employee base wait to find out if they're going to get an increase, one of the marching orders that I was given when you hired me was to ensure that we were approaching our budget with increases
033at the forefront of the conversation. Based on that information and after we've gone through an in-depth audit of our current staffing and current compensation, we are prepared to present to you. a salary increase for the 25-26 school year that could be achieved without additional monies from the state. I want to say at the forefront that we are not holding anybody to this if the state comes through then I would be more than happy to come back and add to this but I do also want to give our employees the opportunity to have the comfort of knowing that something is coming to them because we've we've approached the budget that first we will address these increases and then all other major initiatives and purchases will be done with whatever's left and so I just want to
034put that out there For your review, we are bringing forward three options, the first beginning as option one salary increase that will be a total fiscal impact to the budget of approximately $726,000. That would bring our starting teacher pay to $54,985 and would reflect as an increase for all of our teaching nurses and librarians at about approximately $583 as part of the step, not in addition to. Auxiliary paraprofessional and professional employees would also receive 1% of their pay grade midpoint. I would like to stress that is not of their salary that they're receiving individually, but of the midpoint of the pay grade, they would receive 1% of that. For hourly individuals, it would be on the hour, and then for those in daily paid positions, it would be at the daily rate amount. Option B
035is a 1.5 salary percent increase with a fiscal impact of a little over a million dollars, bringing starting teacher pay to $55,272 and would reflect as a teacher pay increase of approximately $872 as a part of the step. 1.5% midpoint increase for all other employee groups, auxiliary, paraprofessional, and professionals. The last option. It can be done. It will be a stretch for us, but we could do it in current budget. That would be a current budget under current law, meaning that no legislative change would be for an option C at 2% salary increase. with an approximate fiscal impact of $1.4 million, starting teacher pay at $55,570, and a 2% increase for all others from the 2% of the midpoint auxiliary paraprofessionals and professionals. At this time, we would make a recommendation to the school board
036for a 1.5% increase, but certainly if you have any questions or would like to talk about any of these options, I... I'd like to entertain your questions. I have a question. Yes, ma'am. At the workshop recently, we looked at options up to 3%. Yes, ma'am. Why is 3% not? Right. So at the time when we brought that to you, we had not tied it to actual staff planning or the projections for next year. So after we've gone through the process and have done the analysis of what people's pay would actually, how this would actually reflect in actual pay. I feel more comfortable with two or under at this point, just to make sure that we don't run us into the red or that we aren't able to do anything else. Okay, so this would be
037the... what we can comfortably do if the state does not do anything else for us. Three percent, we might need to have some assistance from the state. We absolutely would have to cut initiatives. And when I say cut initiatives, it's things that would directly impact instruction that would not, in my perception, help our students at that point. Rather than putting everything into just salaries, this still does allow some of the wiggle room so that we can get some of the instructional needs met for the district and not compromise the quality of education that we're giving. But two is doable? Yeah. Two is doable. I'm not going to make eye contact with my chief finance officer because it's doable with some tightening of the belts. which we absolutely can do. I'm not worried about that. I
038also do believe that, you know, we will have a better reality of what things look like, you know, in the next coming weeks. And so we can revisit that. But it is doable, very tight, but we can do it. So we should know by mid-June? You know, I'm going to be really transparent. I don't ever. set an expectation during the legislative year that we will have a decision at any point before the start of the next school year. If we do, great. But at the point it's going right now and the level of changes going back and forth between the House and Senate, I'm not going to make any assumption that we will see anything before August. I could chime in a little bit on the 2%, 3%. You know, one, keep in mind this
039is without any state help. You know, this has been found by basically, you know, I'm still amazed at how Dr. Howard's been able to find this and cut it, but at 2%, you know, that... You know, I think that's a reflection of really going out for our administrators and our teachers, because correct me if I'm wrong, Jaime, but at 2%, I mean, she says we're going to run thin, but I don't think we have ever run that thin in the six years I've been here. That is correct. So at 2%, we're still in the black, right, as Dr. Howard mentioned, but it is tighter than what we've seen other years. Yes, and that does make me a little nervous, but I do feel that that is a priority. That's what we tasked Dr. Howard with.
040I feel it's sustainable, and I really hope the state comes and helps us out because we all know how things pop up, and having a $400,000 cushion instead of a $2.2 million cushion or so is a big difference. So it is a mid-risk move, but I definitely support it. I do want to touch on a really important word that Hector said, which is sustainability, right? And our ability to sustain the raises should the state not come through, right, is the terminology that we're using. So should they not come through? I know in the past we've visited pooling funds from other places to give a raise, but now we're talking about sustainability year after year, right? So we're having to pool it from somewhere that's not... obvious, then we're looking at year after year pooling from
041the same place if the state puts us in the same position. Now, I do want to put out there that, yes, we did. This was your first and primary task when we brought you on, and I think you've done an excellent job in finding the money. I do believe with all my heart that you've had to find it. However, once we hear from the state, we definitely want to revisit that. And should the state not come through as we're hoping, I would still like to revisit something mid-year that might be a one-time stipend that maybe not be sustainable year after year, but if we've got it and we can give it to the teachers mid-year once we see what the state is doing, that's not something I want to close the door on. We could
042certainly entertain that if you wanted to do an incentive at the middle of the year using fund balance, that might be something we can consider. Everything from, you know, if you wanted to do a $500, we have approximately 1,400 employees, so you're looking at about $700,000 for a $500 incentive. If we went all the way up to that $1,000, you're looking at $1.4 million. Again, it's not a reoccurring expense. It would be an appropriate okay use. I don't doubt that the state will come through. I just don't know their timing. And I think the timing will be key here. But if that is the situation, then we could always come to you for that incentive and request it. I've always been so excited to be part of this organization as a board member. knowing that
043we've always been in the top three in the valley as far as the school district. And this time we are the only school district that has a limited funds or limited resources as far as our tax dollars goes, as far as the fajita strip that we are from mile eight all the way down to Military Road compared to the other school districts. One of them is not a school district. One of them is an actual guy. Charter. Charter school. And I'm excited to know that our teachers have always, always pulled us ahead of the game as far as when it comes to everybody else in the Valley and Region 1. So I've always been excited and can't wait to be able to help, especially in these hard times that we have with the... with God,
044I lost the word. But it is hard times right now. And it's not the same thing as it used to be a couple years ago. But the actual budgets that people have are no longer sustainable with what we have now. So whatever we can give our teachers. And with that, I can make a motion to, can we make motions right now? Are we going to recommend or what are we going to do? If we don't have it, we've got some further discussion. Anybody? yeah I've got one there's two parts this approval there's a salary increase which I'm ecstatic about y'all were able to make that happen but there's also accepting the plan that was rolled out to us the compensation plan that was rolled out to us at the board meeting and as Julio stated
045right now we've got the third best school in the district just like we've got the best board and we're opting not to change it I've got to question some things of why would we change things if it's already going so well. And I put the kids at the forefront of that. We're doing really well with it. And, you know, I think I'm on board with it based off everything you've got, but I want some clarification on some things. There was some mention of full-time employees maybe being overstaffed on certain areas and campuses. I think there was some wording, and correct me if I'm wrong, that everybody would, there would be no job loss due to budget cuts. I just want to confirm that that's accurate. And number two is that the jobs that are in
046place right now, we use this word grandfathered in. We've also talked about things of being made whole. So we're not going to see any decreases in salaries regardless of the structure of the salary. I just want to confirm that people are keeping their jobs and are keeping their pay. Okay. So let me first address. the nobody's losing their job. Okay. Much of where we've been able to capture some of this money for the increased is based through attrition or positions that vacated this year or had not been filled this year. Okay. So that's where you're going to see some of this. There are positions in the district that have been discontinued. But again, I want to stress that when that occurs. We will preserve the person, find somewhere else for them to serve in the
047district, preferably at the same campuses and in the same capacities if at all possible. But absolutely, there's going to be changes to positions. We work from a place that we want to preserve the people we have here. It's easier. They know the system. They're good to go. So I can assure that positions are not being, people are not being terminated. to create an opportunity for us to give these increases. That is not happening. We have absolutely, through our staffing standards and through best practices, have now put into place how many positions we'll have. And so we may not create additional positions or open up positions to be filled just because they've always been there. We absolutely have to tie that to an instructional need or actual need to do the job. So instead of having
048four people that could do the job of one person, we're going to have one. But nobody has lost their job. Just to take that a little bit further specific, and it was a hot topic at our last board meeting, a pair of coaches got brought up quite a bit. Out of that, we talked about possibly bringing them back into the classroom as opposed to... athletics or something to that extent? So, you know, I think we're very unique in the sense that here in the Valley we do have paraprofessionals that coach. That has created some... processing difficulties for us from the sense of many of these positions and I won't say all of them but many of these positions are paraprofessionals that actually support in specialized areas of the district whether it's federal programs or special
049education when an employee is funded a specific way they are funded that way to provide services for a specific population of students taking somebody under that funding and having them cover athletics in the middle of the day is not an allowable expenditure. So we have gone through and worked very closely to ensure that our paraprofessional staff are providing services to the populations for which they are funded to provide those services to. So it does mean in most cases that our paraprofessionals are no longer doing one or more athletic periods or an athletic period at all during the day. The expectation is they're in the classrooms with the students that they are paid to, they're funded to provide the service to. However, we know that that's not a, you know, and that's in a perfect world.
050We have allowed and will work and continue to work with our campuses. to make sure that we have the appropriate coverage we need for safety reasons in an athletic period and that if and when an employee is being used outside of the capacity of their primary role and function that that is not being billed to special education or through federal programs. That that in turn is going to be billed through athletics. So that will then cover. We are having, though, to address how many hours our hourly coaches work because I think one of the things that does become an issue is that people don't realize because they don't get paid stipends, they get paid an hourly rate. We are required to comply with the federal laws with regard to wage. when a person is paid
051overtime, how their pay is calculated. We have historically paid a coaching rate and then they have their classroom paraprofessional rate. The law actually requires that they are combined at overtime under a combined weighted average of those two different salaries or those two hourly amounts. And when that occurs, it actually, in many cases, is an extra expense that from a budgetary perspective, wasn't anticipated. And when that occurs, it's the local budget that has to bail that out because the employee has to be paid. So we are going to try and limit how many overtime hours our paraprofessional coaches are... working, that may mean that overnight trips, especially because that gets very expensive when you're paying somebody weekends and overnight trips, that we limit. Instead of sending four coaches, we may send two. It is a mechanism
052that we can get this better under control because I don't think what people have realized is the burden that it has put on the rest of the district to pay this combined weighted average. And in turns, what we thought we were paying, $20, really cost us $43 an hour to pay. So, yes, we are doing things to make sure that we're better monitoring. You know, my heart and intent, and I'm going to say this publicly because I believe it, these individuals have amazing talent and skills. I want to keep our para coaches here. I would love for them to become certified coaches even better, right? And I will work to create opportunities that they can certify. But in the meantime, we absolutely believe in what our para coaches do. We want them to be here.
053But I cannot. Let the faucet run I've got to turn it off at some point and say if we're gonna keep what we have we have to have better Practices about how we're managing the time so for clarification because I could oh I can go down a couple different roads there. I was what was said but real quick the highlight for me or a couple highlights for me was the paraprofessionals ability to go in assists in an athletic realm as opposed to being In their paid department is going to be decided at a campus level The standard is that they should not, but we absolutely will work with the principal when they need somebody in there for coverage. Because a lot of head coaches have two and three pair professionals, and that's all they've got
054assisting them. So if we take that away during an athletic block. You've got a safety hazard there with one coach and 35, 40 kids. But we can go down that all night long. Point being, the campus level will take that evaluation. They'll make that level at that level. And they know to work directly with HR when they run into those scenarios. And we will help them to make sure that there's appropriate supervision in those coaching periods. Okay. With this implementation, moving over to the budget side of things, you mentioned. And I don't know if we've, I don't know we haven't completed the budget for next year, but we're stating that we're going to take some of the para coaches and compensate them at least on paper through the athletic budget. Correct. Has the athletic budget.
055I'm going to assume that it's been taken into consideration and it's been adjusted and increased for that. It will be, yes. So that's something that we're still in the process of building out, but it will be. This is an entirely new model for the district. And so, again, this is just to create some transparency and awareness on the athletic side that they can fully see how they're utilizing staff. And I know you've traveled the nation giving conferences with HR and structuring school budgets and things of that nature. You've seen this budget work somewhere else, or you've gotten insight and put it together. Yeah, so... In a prior life, I have done a lot of consulting with districts across the nation with regard to compensation and pay structures, how to manage employee pay in a way
056that creates equity and transparency as far as knowing how employees are being paid, that you can budget easily when everything is kind of line-itemed out. So, yes, absolutely. We're not doing anything novel here with regard to how we want to be managing employees' hours and time. I think what we're doing is really bringing in some best practices. And in the end, that results in pay increases, stipend increases, being able to really put the money. Not just in one group or one set of individuals, but across the board. So it's not an easy thing to do, but it's not novel. It's not something I've necessarily made up. Again, this is best practice that you pick up when you work with organizations of any size. Payroll practices vary from district to district, but I can tell you
057that we've needed some level of... better monitoring so that from a budget perspective we can make more solid decisions. I'd rather be proactive than reactionary, bailing out departments to cover salary. Thank you. Let me respond to that real quick. So it's 13 years I was in at this school, Sheridan High School, and I had parents come in and I knew in talking with Coach Thompson for many years, our goal was to find professionals that were in the classroom. And when I got a para, I had some wonderful paras. I had them. But my goal was to try to find time for them to go and take classes to get their certification. If you needed to miss practice, miss this, miss that, as long as you were doing it for that reason. And I watched them
058go and get their certifications and become professionals and then move on to be even head coaches at other places. Success story. That's the goal of it. And I know we have wonderful paras. I love them all. You know, I guess it's a sensitive area in that that's the way we've done it for so long. How do you encourage to change? And it's good that we have somebody that has experience in seeing those type of models work all over the United States. And we have to trust in it and know, Perez, you're going to have to go back to the classroom more than you are on the field or in the gym. And it's not a punishment. It's simply what you were hired to do in the first place because your job in support of that
059special ed program or special ed classroom or whatever program you're a part of, that is important. Not to say athletics is not, but academics and... I want to say they're even, but I know academics is the reason why kids get their diploma and they graduate. So it's important that you're there. Don't miss. Go. I'll take care of this. So the weight on me as a head coach, if my parent couldn't be there, I got it. Go. Because you're here for that. I don't know if that helps clarify. They're all very good questions and good points. You had one last question, and I do want to publicly address it because I think it's an important question. And that was is that somehow all of this work could be done and people's pay would not be negatively
060impacted. Within reason, we are doing everything we can to get people on appropriate calendars, get their positions aligned appropriately. But it may still result that people are going to, quote, lose days. Within reason, we can probably. through equitization of their pay bands still keep them reasonably close. But there's going to be some positions in the district that there's just no way I can salvage. If somebody loses 39 days or 26 days that was not being paid to them as a stipend, right, and their role is changed, they're no longer a, I'm going to say, an elephant trainer, but now they're a office person, their role is completely changed. I can't necessarily preserve them at the pay they're getting. So, for example, I would not reassign, and I'm just going to use this as an example,
061I would not reassign Dr. Hinojosa to a high school coaching position and allow him to keep his pay. So I'm going to make it very clear here that when those types of scenarios happen, I cannot and will not commit to keep people's pay what they've been getting paid. If you're not serving in a like position, I can't preserve the pay. What we've done to grandfather is specifically for positions in our district not exclusive to athletics that have been paid extra days, unpublished extra days. So depending on the position, you may have gotten 15 days, you got 20 days, you got 25 days. And that in of itself was a disservice to our employees because, again, there's no property right to it. What we're doing in this scenario is saying we're not going to take that
062away from people. But we can't keep making the commitment to pay that to people. Because from a budgetary perspective, that's not a stable, healthy model. It's also inconsistent. Who gets to get what on those extra days? Okay. So what we're trying to do here is say that there will be certain positions in the district that have had extra duty days tied to their position for whatever reason. Okay. Those days will be preserved in a grandfather situation because their role is not changing, the job's not changing, and the extra duty that they're providing for those extra duty days did not change. So those people will be kept whole. We'll memorialize it. I spoke to the coaches and I said, it's like we're going to go to your payroll, we're going to take a picture of it,
063and that amount you will continue to get as long as you are in the same position providing the same service. So if you're no longer head coach and you step down, you don't just get to keep those extra days. What we're saying, though, is that there are other positions in the district that may be changing entirely. It's not the same thing about these extra days. Those positions are changing entirely. I cannot guarantee an individual will be kept at a current pay if they are no longer providing the services for us. They have an opportunity to continue to serve in our district. In a new position, we are working with them to lessen the impact by just simply using the new practice of how we're calculating salary and treating everybody under the same rules for credible
064years of experience, but it doesn't necessarily preserve them. And if I have had discoveries, which I have, of people who were reassigned but allowed to keep pay for positions that they're not serving in, that has to be corrected. And that I am correcting. And those individuals are notified that those corrections, they were notified when I first got here at the beginning, and they've been re-notified now. So that has occurred. Just promise me you're not going to reassign 80% of the staff. What's that? I said promise me you're not going to reassign 80% of the staff and they all get decreased. No, but with all seriousness, do you have a reassignment percentage? I mean, that's hard to ask. I just want to confirm that we're not using the reassignment as a way to lower budgets. No,
065and a matter of fact. you're going to find that in most cases, most of the individuals that get reassigned actually end up with a slight increase because their pay has not been calculated under the new pay grade or with the new salary calculation. Can't wait to see it. So aside from our great teachers and our great administrators, I'm super glad that we have you on board to help us to get through this. And I know this is your job, of course, and we're expecting nothing but lesson, nothing but basically what you're doing for better, right? So congratulations on continuing. Of course. Not 100% of the people are going to be happy anywhere, but we are trying our best to make sure that we comply to give our best to the teachers, which at the end
066of the day, the kids are the ones that come first, right? So the teachers are the ones that are going to be taken care of. David, do you mind if you put that sheet back? So the 2% salaries, the fiscal impact is $1.45 million. Increased by employee groups is the teachers, librarians, registered nurses. $809,000, the increased starting salary at $55,570. Where is it at right now? I'll call that for you exactly, sir. The 2% pay increase from $1,167.92 as part of the pay step. Auxiliary paraprofessionals at $642,140. And also the 2% pay grade midpoint increase. So the current starting zero-year teacher pay for our district is $54,985. Okay. So we have employees making 54. They're going to get 55 plus the 2% in addition to the 50? No, so it is as part of the
067step, not in addition to. Okay, got it. So they'll essentially get $872. Got it. So that's the 1.5%. I've been around Hyman for a while, and Hyman's always come back with the same. We have never been as tight as before, but we've always come out ahead like always. We've always been in the black, and we're a very, very conservative district. I've always congratulated Hyman and the soup, of course, for doing a great job on putting this together. So with that, I know that this is for the compensation plan salary increases for next year, and they should fall under the budget. But for here, I'll make a motion that we propose this to add it to the budget at the time when we're going to – you're going to present the budget for final approval next
068month. Am I correct? Yes, sir. That is correct. So with that, I propose that we present this with the budget so that we can allow this to be added to the budget for the following fiscal year. So with that, I recommend a 2% salary increase, which is option C. I will second that. Okay. So I have got a motion in consideration to approve the compensation plan and increase at option C for 2%. I've got a motion by Julio Serra. And I have a second by Mr. Hector Rivera. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 7-0. So now... Good start. Yeah, for sure. It was a good start. On to item C, discussion and consideration to approve to schedule public hearing to discuss
069proposed tax rate for fiscal year 2526. Madam President, Dr. Howard, members of the board, this is an item that we presented at the board workshop. In order to meet the requirement, we are requesting to schedule this hearing for June 23rd, 2025 at 530 at the Sheridan ISD administration Ratner Room. This will be 30 minutes before the regular board meeting. Have we gotten our tax rolls yet? Not yet, sir. The certified values won't come out until July 25th. Of course. After the budget, right? Yes, sir. But again, for this meeting here, that's where I needed that conversation approved so we could put it all together. Okay. That's the same day we have the regular board meeting. It would just be prior to. 30 minutes before. Yes, ma'am. With that, I'll make a motion for approval. I've
070got a motion by Julio Cerdada and a second by Andrew Riddle. Any further discussion? All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 7-0. On to item D, discussion and consideration to approve to submit low attendance day waivers for January 2025 and January 22, 2025. Madam President, those were in response to the bad weather days. We had low attendance, so we are asking permission to submit the waiver to the state. Okay. I'll now entertain a motion. To approve, submit low attendance day waivers. Motion to approve. Okay. I've got a motion by David Key. Second. Second by Megan Sullivan. Any further discussion? All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 7-0. On to item E, discussion and consideration to approve district of innovation amendment. Madam
071President and Trustees, as you are aware, oh, we have Jennifer. Please. I didn't see you there. Thank you. Hi, Jennifer. No problem. Good evening. Madam President, Dr. Howard and Board, we are bringing to you tonight an amendment to the District of Innovation plan. Last year, you all approved the renewal of our District of Innovation plan for adjustment to the calendar. This year, we are bringing to you an amendment that has already gone through DEIC. to seek an exemption to the TEC codes 21.003, TEC 21.057A through E for teacher certification. And this is primarily for CTE STEM LOTE, which is language other than English, and areas in advanced academics. Special education and bilingual staff will continue to follow the SBEC certifications as required. Okay. Do you guys have any questions? Madam President, with that, I move
072to adopt the amendment of local innovation plan. Okay. I've got a motion by Julio Serra. Second. Second by David Keith. Do we have any further discussion, questions? I have a question. Okay. Do we have a guidelines policy, any kind of directives that kind of the parameters of? Who what requirements we do have aside from certification for these? Yeah, so absolutely so Really, this will definitely impact our ability to staff CTE-type positions. When a district issues a district-issued certificate, we do still have to report that to the state, that there has to be a statement of eligibility in place for the individual that we're certifying, and expectations of them to become certified also go into motion. Yes. I'm familiar with that about CTE, but there's languages other than English. So if you're not aware, programming is
073now a foreign language. So a student who is in the computer sciences. So CAD would be. Correct. Could use programming and code as a foreign language. Again, this would allow us to have a CTE teacher who could give foreign language credit because they're teaching. So it really does all fall under CTE, really. Yeah, this is not a mechanism for us to certify core content instruction, and it does not allow us, there is no mechanism to allow district certifications for special education or bilingual instruction. That's all. I wanted to make sure we're not dropping the bar on expectations of the instruction. And there already is a component for a bilingual portion of certification for teachers through SBAC anyway. Is that right? For bilingual education? Isn't there? Well, yeah, but you have to actually get the bilingual
074certification in order to qualify for a bilingual type position. So, yes, there are requirements. Like, we don't set those. And this actually, this does not allow any school district to touch those areas of certification, special ed and bilingual. No discussion? Questions? Perfect. Okay, I've got a motion by Leo Cerdo and a second by David Keith. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 7-0. On to item F, discussion and consideration to approve purchase of Texas Success Initiative Assessment TSIA teacher training and student e-books for ELA and math using cooperative approved vendor. Yes, we are requesting the approval to approve Princeton Review as our cooperative approved vendor to provide TSIA teacher preparation as well as student preparation. There were some recent changes with the Texas Higher Ed Coordinating Board
075in terms of what's... which type of students will be allowed to participate in dual credit. We used to qualify students with a 4000 EOC score in English 2. or in Algebra 1. However, now they are going strictly with some sort of TSI requirement, which is either the TSIA assessment, the SAT or ACT. So we want to prepare our students to give them multiple opportunities to take whatever advanced academic course that they would like. And so we will train the teachers and then we will roll out to all of our classes. And in addition, this will be as Pam mentioned last week at the budget workshop that this is an initiative for the CIA department that as part of the TIA, teacher incentive allotment, that we want to, that's part of our expansion plan that we
076did submit to the state recently. Any other questions? Mr. President, I'll make a motion. Okay, I've got a motion by Hector Rivera and a second by Julio Zarate. Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes. 7-0. Thank you. Thank you. Now we're on to Item G, discussion and consideration to approve purchase of HVAC and welding equipment for career and technical education, CTE, programs using cooperative approved vendors. Madam President, again, this is an item that was presented at the board workshop. Administration is requesting approval to purchase HVAC equipment from co-op approved vendor Advanced Technologies in the amount of $87,966 and welding equipment from co-op approved vendor Coastal Welding Supply in the amount of $141,280. We will be using CTE general funds for this purchase. As Mr. Ortega
077mentioned, we've discussed this item several times. I'm really excited about the program that's coming up with HVAC and welding equipment. Vo-Tech has always been a great instrument for all children, all children in the high school level. So I'm excited about that. So that's my motion to approve. All right, just a quick question. I'm sorry. Go ahead, guys. I just had a quick question regarding that. Dr. Howard, this equipment, I know it's a one-time purchase. Is this for Pioneer High School, Sherryland High School? The equipment would be for both high schools. I do want to stress here, though, that we have equipment for year one and two, probably level work in both of these programs. Obviously, wanting something newer to really get our program in the right direction. I have recently become aware of some potential...
078Access to equipment, a neighboring district of ours is consolidating some of their campuses and have complete classrooms already sets of equipment. So reaching out to see if potentially we could make some purchases from another district. So again. If you approve this, then we'll be ready to go if something else doesn't come up for us, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to exhaust this opportunity. We just need to get the approval so that if we, to get up against a time limit to get some of this equipment into our classrooms by the start of the school year, if we're not able to secure it elsewhere. Thank you for the clarification. How's the motion by Julio? Actually, that was Hector. Ask my question on to make sure it was available both sides pools and then
079we've made arrangements to do Okay, so I've got a motion by Julio said that Second by Dave Keith any further discussion all the favors can buy by saying aye. All opposed. Same sign motion passes 7-0 We are now on to item 14, and that is adjournment. Do I have a motion? I've got Julio Cerda jumping at the bit. Second by? So second. By Hector Rivera. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say aye. Motion passes 7-0. We are done at 847. Thank you, everyone.