001Good afternoon, everyone. The time is now 6.01. I call this meeting of the Sherryland Independent School District to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present, that this meeting has been duly called, and that notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. Establishing a quorum today is David Keith, Hector Rivera, Dr. Libera, Ms. Megan Sullivan, Andrew Riddle, myself, Maritza Venezia. Next, for item two and three, please stand. We will have the invocation led by David Keith, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Benson Elementary Student Council Vice President Catherine Botello, Secretary Marcela, you're going to have to help me, sweetheart. Is he at his microphone? And Historian Regina Reyes. Please remain standing. All right, let us pray. Almighty God,
002we 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 the years to come. Help us to work well together. Recognize that each of us, the students, parents, educators, and community members are here because we love children and we want what is best for them. Lord, help us to make decisions. with your heart and mind and what you want for our students, what you want for our teachers, what you want for our community members. Help us to continue to put our love and our hearts into every decision that is made. We ask for your blessing and your guidance. In your name we pray, amen. Good evening, Board President Maritza Venizia, esteemed board members, and Superintendent Dr. Howard. It is an
003honor to be here tonight representing our sixth grade student council at Lauren Dolly Benson Elementary. We are Catherine Botel, Student Council Vice President, Marcellus Categui, Student Council Secretary, and Regina Reyes, Student Council Historian. We are truly grateful for this opportunity to express our appreciation to each of you. As school board trustees, your dedication and leadership steer our district forward, ensuring that both students and staff are supported and inspired to reach their full potential. Your hard work does not go unnoticed, and we deeply thank you for your service and commitment to our community. At this time, please join us for 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. And
004now the Texas Pledge. On our Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible. Please bow your head for a moment of silence. Thank you. We appreciate your time and for allowing us to be here to represent our school Thank you ladies. You may now take a seat We are now moving on to item number five Sherry land students spotlight celebrating our shining stars miss Nancy. Thank you Good evening. Madam president Vanessa superintendent. Dr Howard board members and distinguished guests tonight We proudly recognize an outstanding student who exemplifies leadership positivity and a commitment to excellence. Congratulations to Miss Alondra Esquivel, a remarkable fifth grader from Benson Elementary. Her dedication and inspiring spirit shine both in and outside of the classroom. We commend Alondra for her achievements and thank Principal
005Jose Silva and the Benson Elementary team for fostering student success. Roll the tape. The Sherryland ISD Student Spotlight celebrates students who exemplify leadership, service, and the highest standards of moral character. Hi, I'm Alondra Esquivel. I'm a fifth grader at Benson Elementary. I'm all about trying new things and making the most of every opportunity I get. Whether it's school activities or helping out my community, I love staying busy and learning along the way. I am part of CHEAR, UIA Arts Mart, and Honor Choir. I enjoy being creative and working with my teammates. I also love being part of a radio club and competing about the books. It is so much fun to team up with my friends and discover new things together. Outside school, I stay busy with tennis, dance, and helping my church. I also
006have a hula record. Remember, you can use your voice to change the world. Congratulations! Thank you, Seattle NIC. I am proud to represent Benton Elementary and my community. Thank you for shining so bright inside of school. You make us all proud. Let's give a big round of applause to Alondra Esquivel. Alondra, we are incredibly proud of you and all that you have accomplished. At this time, we invite Alondra and her family to join us on stage for this well-deserved recognition with our Board of Trustees. One more big round of applause. Congratulations, Alondra. We're gonna ask our school board members to please stay in the front of the stage. We're gonna start with item six, which is commendations. And we're super excited. This evening, we have 22 commendations. But before we begin, I wanna take a
007moment to recognize some very important people in the audience tonight. That's our parents and our guardians. Parents and family members, please raise your hands. Please raise your hands. All right. You are the true MVPs of your child's journey. Thank you for believing in Sherrilyn ISD and for allowing us the privilege of serving your family, your little ones, your big ones, everybody, and being part of this extraordinary community. So we have our board members in place already. We're going to sit back, relax, and enjoy tonight's program with 22 commendations. Our PR team will be capturing pictures of... all the commendations this evening but you are more than welcome to take pictures as well right after they finish taking their the pictures and they will be posted on social media this evening so without further ado we're
008going to get started with chess recognitions this evening on february 1st through the 2nd the sisd elementary chess teams competed at the regional chess tournament at de leon middle school in mccallan Benson Elementary, Shimatsu Elementary, Hinojosa Elementary, and Martinez Elementary qualified to compete at the Super National Chess Tournament in Orlando, Florida from May 9th through the 11th, 2025. On February 15th through the 16th, our SISD secondary chess teams competed at the regional chess tournament at Brielle Gray Junior High. Sherri-Lynn High School, Pioneer High School, B.O. Gray Junior High, and Sherri North Junior High also qualified to compete at the Super Nationals Chess Tournament in Orlando, Florida from May 9th through 11th. Let's give it up for all these groups. First up is Benson Elementary. Thank you to these students, sponsors, but more than anything, our
009parents that take them to and from practice and to all their competitions. All right, big smiles, everyone. Certificates holding up, big smiles. Let's hear it for Benson Elementary. Thank you, students, and congratulations. Our next group is Inokosa Elementary. We're gonna be exiting to the other side of the stage. Thank you. Our next group is Hinojosa Elementary. Let's hear it for Hinojosa Elementary. Let's hold up our certificate. Thank you Hinojosa Elementary. Next group coming on stage is Martinez Elementary. Big, big smiles students. Congratulations Martinez. Our next group joining the stage is Shimatsu Elementary. Good evening and thank you for joining us as we recognize our chess students. All these campuses did qualify to compete in Orlando, Florida at the National Chess Competition. They are all currently fundraising. So any support, financial support, would be greatly appreciated.
010And again, I'd like to thank the coaches, our campus administration, central office. And most importantly, our parents for their continued support. Thank you, parents. Thank you, Mr. Carr. And there you have it from our very own district coordinator, chess coordinator. Joining the stage, congratulations, Shemotso Elementary, as Beale Gray Junior High. Congratulations once again to Beale Gray Junior High. Our next group is Sherri-Land North Junior High. Congratulations to Sherri Landmore Junior High. Next up is Sherri Land High School. Congratulations Sherri Land High School. And last but definitely not least, we have Pioneer High School. Congratulations. That wraps it up for our chess qualifiers this evening. We're going to switch gears a bit and now we're going to go on to Ruben Hinojosa. In February, the Ruben Hinojosa Book Dragons participated in the Battle of the Books
011competition. We had four students participate as a team and win the regional championships. This is the first time our district participates in Battle of the Books Junior Regional Competition and we won. Students on stage are Alma Mendoza, Edith Matthew Gutierrez, Jude Vela, and Charles Orszakowski. Congratulations, let's hear it once again for our Battle of the Books Junior. Switching gears, on January 24th, the Sherrilyn North Junior High Battle of the Books team competed at the district meet held at the District Service Center. The team placed first, the team of four girls advanced at the regional meet. Woo-hoo! Students are Aralyn Ramirez, Elizabeth Benson, Vanessa Villarreal, and Bella Salas. Congratulations, students. One more. There we go. Congratulations, students. Thank you. Now to shine a light on our fine arts on December 6th the Beale Gray band participated
012in the TMEA all-region middle school band competition. We had 55 students participate and 28 earn a chair in the TMEA all-region middle school bands. Hear it loud and clear for Beale Gray band. Let's hear it once again. Thank you so much students, congratulations. On February 4th, the Beale Grade Jazz Band students participated in the Middle School All Region Jazz Competition in McAllen. Four Beale Grade Jazz Band students earned a chair in the Middle School All Region Jazz Bands. And they are joining us on stage now. That's Hania Tellez, Dennis Kwan, Dante Navarro, and Glenn Utrera. Congratulations students. On March 5th and 6th, the Beale Gray Bands participated in the UIL Concert and Sight Reading Evaluation Contest. All three competing bands earned a superior rating in both the concert and sight reading portions of the contest,
013bringing home three more sweepstakes awards to Beale Gray. We do have a student from each band that's representing the concert band, the symphonic band, and the honor band with their respective trophies. There we go. Let's hear it for these students representing the entire middle school bands from Beale Gray. Let's hear it once again for our Beale Gray bands, our Concert Symphonic and Honor Band. All right, we're switching to sports. The 2024-2025 Lady Diamondbacks are back-to-back district champions, bi-district champions, and area finalists. We finished with 15-1 district record and an overall record of 27-10. In addition to the team accomplishments, coach Nicole Sandoval was named the 315A coach of the year, Ebony Chapman hit 1,000 points as a sophomore, and Cassandra Garcia was a state assist leader and signed a letter of intent to playing basketball
014at Division III Geneva College in Pennsylvania. Let's hear it for our lady Diamondbacks. We continue with athletic recognition. So in February, the Pioneer girls participated in powerlifting regional competition. We had six students participate and one girl advanced to state. Maya Mendoza also earned a silver medalist at our state competition over spring break. And you see their picture depicted up on the projector? Maya Mendoza earned a first place. Lea Luna, third place. Tara Tapia, fourth place. Destiny Rodriguez, eighth place. Vielka Rodriguez, tenth. And Sofia Segundo, 13th place. Miles, ladies. Congratulations, ladies. In March, our Sherryland High School Business Professionals of America chapters participated in their State Leadership Conference competition. We had 86 students participate and nine advance to the National Leadership Conference competition and 16 as national alternates. They are joining us on stage now. Congratulations
015to these Business Professionals of America students. All right, looking right there in the center. Big, big smiles. Congratulations, BPA. Let's have our parents take a few pictures. All right, if you are a national qualifier for BPA, please stay on the stage. And from those regional that competed at regionals, these are the students that advanced to nationals. Congratulations. Thank you, students. Next group is our Sherryland High School band who participated in the UIL solo and ensemble competition. We had 67 students participate earning 97 first division medals. 12 students advanced to state competition with their solos and 41 students advanced to state with their ensembles. Many students competed in multiple events. Region UIL solo and ensemble competition allows students to compete at a level appropriate to their abilities. We are excited to have so many students attempt
016the competition from each grade and from each of our three bands. UIL state solo and ensemble will be held at UT Austin on the weekend of May 24th. All right, everybody looking right in the center first. Big smiles, back straight, here we go. And now a few more pictures from our parents. Congratulations students. Thank you so much parents. Congratulations to our dedicated sponsors as well. And as our band members exit, we're on to our SHS Diamonds dance team. Back in November 2024, they participated in the first ever TDA Field Dance Assessment Competition. We had 26 students participate and the SHS Diamonds earned a division one. Let's hear it for our SHS Diamonds dance team. While they're posing for their picture. I do want to note that the SHS Diamonds dance team also participated in the
017Showtime International Dance Competition at Pioneer High School. They had 26 students participate and the SHS Diamonds wowed the judges. The crowd wore their remarkable talent and teamwork. Here's what they were awarded with. Solo finalist, Daniela Milanes. Division one, Officer Lyrical and Officer Novelty. First place team cake second place team jazz second place team novelty second place team palm They also earned a best-in-class officer lyrical and officer novelty and officer supreme award highest scoring and category There we go Next on the stage and also led by sponsor Monica Martinez Lopez on March 8th, 2025, the SHS Grupo Folklorico Cascadel participated in the Competencia Folklorica de Texas, Folklorico Competition in Corpus Christi. We had 32 students participate and the SHS Grupo Folklorico delivered outstanding performances, bringing home several wins. second place competing from the state of Veracruz,
018Chicotadepic, La Petenera, third place competing from the state of Yucatan, Las Mujeres Que Se Pintan, fourth place competing from the state of Nuevo Leon, Linares, La Capsula, and Viva Linares. Congratulations to this team. Let's hear it with a round of applause. Congratulations, students. Moving on, on February 26th, the Girls Power Lifting Team competed at the Regional Meet held at Burdough Ogden Arena. The team placed third overall. Nine girls participated and three girls advanced to the state meet. On February 29th, we had one boy compete at the Regional Meet held at Edinburgh High School. Lexi Gonzalez received three additional awards, best squad, best bench, best overall lifter, and also first place at the state competition recently during spring break. Carla Guacardo earned a third place at that state meet. Andrea Santiago earned a seventh place. Let's
019hear it for this team. While they're posing, Lexi Gonzalez tied the squat record 435 pounds and now holds the overall total record with 1,035 pounds. She also received an award for best squat and best overall lifter. One more, proud principal. Thank you so much ladies and congratulations as well as to their sponsors as well. Our last item on commendation's agenda this evening is a group that is very close to my heart, and that is our SISD media team. In February, the Sherrilyn ISD media team attended the Teespur State Conference, bringing home an impressive. 18 star awards including the prestigious best of category gold medal in photography. This is one gold medal in the entire state. The team also took the stage leading two dynamic sessions on strategic plan and their media partner round table initiative.
020Joining you on the stage is Sergio Esquivel and Rocio Landin. And that wraps it up for commendations. Gracias. Okay, where are we at? We are on item number seven. Okay, item number seven. We are on to public comments, and there are no public comments, so we will move on to item number eight. Ms. Sullivan will now read our mission statement. Sherrilyn ISD's mission is to inspire, educate, and empower all students to reach their full potential and become leaders of the highest moral character. Thank you. And Madam President, hence all those award winners we had on the stage right there. Just read that statement and then think of what just transpired. Incredible. Thank you all so much. Definitely. We are on to item number nine, which are board reports. Anything, item 9A, legislative update? Well, there's
021a lot going on at the ledge right now. I'm going to be posting a lot on social media about some of the bills that are there, but in the interest of time, I will not go through all of them here. But there's some really good and some really maybe not so great bills being presented. Regarding school safety funding, preventing trustees from benefiting from vendor selection, kindergarten readiness, personal finance, financial literacy requirements, banning cell phones. There's a lot of stuff. So I'll be posting little summations of what I think are the really key ones to watch out for. Awesome. Thank you so much, Megan, for that. Item 9b, committee reports. I know we've got a couple of board members who want to give some comments on committee reports. We'll start with Andrew. Sure. I got to
022sit in with Nancy's team, and they presented quite a few things to us, especially having to do with the cafeteria. And I want to give an accommodation to Irish Pettis and her... team of 90 that serve over a million meals throughout the school year. That's crazy. A million meals will be served. All while maintaining the safety and sanitation set by the state. That goes a long ways. This was supported by an award they just received. A zero findings report that the state comes in and does for us. It was truly amazing to see all the work and everything that goes behind that. I'm just going to say that full-blown kitchen they've got back there. It has come such a long way since I was here in the late 90s, early 2000s. But they've got, you
023know, some of the kids were saying some of their favorite meals. They've got everything from pizza to Chinese food to the chicken flautas were a big hit. So my hat's off to them. I also want to say my hat's off to, you know, Dolores, Sergio, Rocio, and Nancy. At the end of the meeting, they passed out some. grocery bags type deal that you take to this grocery store and put your items in and things that nature coin purses and things like that and that really was touching to me only because you guys really wear the badge you guys really just I can't believe how far y'all are going to get sure you're nice to be out there and support it and live it and just engulfed in it so I we're truly grateful for all
024of y'all thank you thank you Andrew and I've got some committee work. Yes, we had a finance committee meeting on the 13th of last week. Two of the main items that were on there were we approved 418 iPads for our pre-K classes. They currently had Chromebooks, and that's not really age-appropriate, kind of hard for them to navigate. So that was approved. And every year we are updating furniture at each campus, and this year it was Benson Elementary who we allocated $230,000 for new furniture. And those were the key points of the Finance Committee. awesome thank you hector next dr no on safety yeah madam chairman we did meet on march 4th and emphasis was on getting any new faculty and staff trained and also taking refreshers for the veteran staff that is here on our
025safety policies and protocols we also visited the eagle eye which is really cool and if you any of y'all if you haven't seen it yet i really recommend you get together probably set a time with David or they can give you a tour of the eagle eye it's the cameras that watch over all of sherryland isd it's really spectacular what they do so thank you okay on to 9c region 1 education service uh support service center board elections madam chairman can we uh postpone that till after executive session absolutely all right thank you okay we're going to table item 9c till after executive Okay, so on to item 10, superintendent reports. Madam President, at this time I would like to invite up our chief instruction officer, Pam Montalvo, to present our mid-year reporting. Good evening,
026Madam President, Dr. Howard, and board members. Tonight I am bringing before you our progress morning middle of year, or MOY, just to give you kind of a spotlight on where we are with some of our data. The first thing we're going to look at is our early childhood state assessments. We did go over these at the beginning of year, and now we're bringing you the middle of year so you can see the progress from where we started to where we are now. And then all of these assessments will be actually given again for a third time. So these early childhood assessments, which are from pre-K to second grade, look at measuring progress, informing our instruction, complying with state statute, and they also guide our decision. Every time we have this information, we go through it
027and guide our instructional decisions based on this data. The first thing I'm going to put before you is this. Yes, the state has three different assessments in early childhood. So the first one is pre-K. This is in English and in Spanish, and you'll be able to see in the columns where the B.O.Y. is in pink, the M.O.Y. is in blue. And you're going to see where we have the number of students tested, how many are on track and how many The software is telling us they need support. And as you can see, what we were hoping to see is where the green number is increasing and the gold number is decreasing. That was our English for pre-K. We also test our pre-K students in Spanish. So you can see the number of students here, the
028same premise by the number in green that are on track. And those are increasing as the ones that need individualized support is actually decreasing. That is the pre-K circle. Our next is the TEX-KEA. This is how the state asked us to assess our kindergarteners. Once again, there are more categories when we start looking at TEX-KEA. But once again, you have beginning of year and middle of year. And here we actually have on track students that we're monitoring, and then we identify students that need support. And those are all the different components of reading, early reading. And then we also have these results in Spanish. So there you have, once again, the beginning of year, middle of year, and our on-track number of students are increasing, still have some to monitor, and then need supports are
029decreasing. Then for first and second grade, we have TPRI, which is the English assessment. It's the early reading assessment. And then we also have Tejas Ley, which is Spanish. So here for first grade, you're going to see In this measure, there's going to be developed and still developing. So this is where you'd hope to see the green increasing and the orange or the still developing decreasing. So once again, that is our English assessment for first graders. The Tejas Ley is our first graders in Spanish. Once again, they are developed, on track, or still developing, according to the Tejas Ley. When we get into second grade, you're going to see here, once again, Same premise, developed and still developing. And then last but not least for our early childhood assessments, the middle of year is the
030Tejas Le, that is the Spanish for our students, EB, or emergent bilingual students in second grade. Any questions on early childhood? I have a question. Those look really good. Most of them are going up. The one pattern I noticed at the beginning with kindergarten was phonological awareness and letter sounds. It was consistently not higher in the middle than it was at the beginning. What's what do you attribute that to I think it's the measure itself and then also knowing just that our students Some of them they're progressing along the way, but it's it's a manner in which Some of them we are still struggling at that. It's it's counterintuitive That's one of the things I noticed as well in the data that it's like okay. They're increasing everywhere else, but we're still Not seeing that
031change in the letter of sound really cut the comprehension one up, but Right, but that phonological awareness is the, I mean, that's the foundation of the house. So, yeah, comprehension in kindergarten and first grade. It was up. Yes, it can, and that is, that's important, but that's not sustainable long term without phonological being really solid. Yeah, I spotted that. So we need to just keep, I guess, kind of keep an eye on that. I'll keep an eye on that and I'll also go back and I can bring you more of their fluency rate and then fluency and comprehension going through after they've mastered those skills. Thank you. The next piece I'm going to be presenting on is our academic accountability. This is once again our middle of year monitoring and this is more geared toward
032our third through twelfth grade students. Just to give you a little refresher in accountability just in case. We refer to these as our Pac-Man's of accountability. So the first three columns you're gonna look at, that determines 70% of the accountability. So whether it's domain one, domain two, A or two B, whichever is the highest of those three domains, that counts for 70% of the campus's accountability. And then for both elementary, junior high and high school. domain three counts for 30% of their accountability. So you're going to see in a minute, I'm gonna walk you through data and what if scenarios for each campus looking at domain one, domain two, A and B, and then domain three. So knowing just a reminder that we take the highest of the first three, which is 70% and then
03330% for domain three, which is closing the gaps. What we've tried to do here is give you a very clear picture of our accountability and also reminding everyone that the last time the state released scores for as of A through F accountability was back in 2022, which has been a few years since that's been made public. Also, just a reminder that when they did do that, that was the year after testing was optional in 2021. So our... our growth was very high but that was also due to the amount of participation we had the year before of students that actually came in to test during covid or after covid so when they had a choice when they came in so when we look at our data for the elementary and junior highs we're looking at
034benchmark two so i want you to think of this as a point in time And this is just a snapshot. If we took our benchmark two scores and said, okay, this is the end, this is the finish line, this is where we would land, that's what these what-if scores are. I do want to be very clear that these scores don't reflect the concerted efforts and dedication of our teachers and our administrators. This is, once again, a point in time, and the efforts moving forward are not going unnoticed. They're really... really working and I'm pleased with what we're seeing with that said with our benchmark to that was a full release star test so they were given the entire test this is to test their stamina their endurance and then also to make you aware in
035science, math, and social studies at least four to ten questions depending on the test and the content area the teachers had not taught so that's another reason I know that these scores will increase dramatically as we move forward knowing that not all of the concepts have been tested. I can tell you now confidently that they have been and then after we have two weeks this week and next week until star hits us that second week in April so just to kind of see where the campuses are. Also, you're going to see a little different with these what-if scores. You're going to see an ECR and SCR scoring. Our teachers scored those, and sometimes our teachers really want to make sure the students are ready, so sometimes they may... Score a little more difficult just to
036make sure that we'd rather the kids say oh that was easy miss instead of oh, yeah, I didn't so Compared to the state actually has an automated scoring engine They say it's not a I but an automated scoring engine that grades them domain three also to let you know that that is a very rough estimate that data is It's very intricate and we went through and did our best to give you an estimate of where they would land because it is 30% of their accountability. So we wanted to give you a picture. Also, just so you're aware, star alt two scores are not included in this subset of data because we don't have a benchmark for star alt two. Our assessment calendar, just so you're aware, we have a lot of assessment, not by our
037choice, but by the state. We tested our benchmark in between two weeks of TELPAS. So it was TELPAS, benchmark, TELPAS. So just so you have an idea. And last but not least, I know y'all are aware of this change, but we're seeing it changing the dynamic of our math classrooms. The state put forward Senate Bill 2124 and where they asked us to not asked us we were directed all the top 40 students in fifth grade starting in fifth grade are automatically advanced in advanced math pathway where they're on track to take algebra as an eighth grader in hopes that our students will be have a greater success in high school and beyond. So that is starting to make an impact as we move forward once again with the dynamic of our math classrooms. And then
038last but not least, you will notice a difference between our elementary and junior high scores and our high school scores. The main difference for that is high school. Those are their official scores. Those are their December EOC. We did not put benchmark data in there. And also several of the high school scores are lagging indicators. So we already have their accountability probably More than 60 70 percent of it is already set because they've already had their December It's just going to be our spring testers their 2024 CCMR is already there and their 2024 graduation rate and I do want to come in those because those are amazing and beautiful so with that said Once again, these are what if scores and they're also to let you know that this is where we are But it's
039just a point in time and I know that our campuses and our teachers are working so hard to get that So where it will be Pam before you share them. I have a question Last I heard there's still no word that scores would be released this year, right? That's still pending litigation Where the last two years is still penny litigation They won't until it gets they try to we don't know what will happen with litigation But this is this is just to give an awareness in case it does come right? My point is I think this is fantastic that you did this what if when we may not have a score to share but we're in the spirit of transparency and you can't fix things you don't know need fixing thank you With that said,
040what you're going to see here on the report card is when we use the word component score, that is, I guess in layman terms, a raw score, and then there's going to be a conversion. So you're going to see a star 2023 score, raw component score, a star 2024 component score. If you remember, the state actually took down the scaling tool and the calculator so we could not figure out our own accountability. They have posted it back, which I think is a sign that it's coming and it's unavoidable. But so you can see we did go back and put the scores in the calculator. So you'll see the bottom, the overall score for 2024. And you're going to see our benchmark two composite scores. And then once again, what if. We closed the year out.
041This was the last week of February for our campuses. This is what the score scales to as of that date, which is not where we are right now. Since this data, we've done a lot. I'll go through that. But these are our report cards. The schools are in numerical order based on their school campus number. Oh, I'm sorry. The first two were Sherry and Garza. Like I said, I'm going campus 101, 102. Then we have Jensen and Martinez, Hinojosa and Benson, Shimatsu and Warneke. And those are our elementaries, the junior highs, the El Grey and North. And as I mentioned, the high schools are going to look very different from these because they, besides having different accountability system, we already have their fall EOC scores, their CCMR, and their graduation rate. So these are the
042report cards for SHS and PHS. Last but not least essay 3 so once again, these are our report cards What if the accountability ended for high schools? In December EOC and with our junior highs and elementary fit ended with that February benchmark, too With this said, some of the actions we've taken based on the current data is just letting you know that we did sit and meet with every principal, go through, we went through their data. They were amazing at creating very targeted plans by grade level, by subject course, and by teacher. and drilling down to the student and the student expectations. So they put a lot of time and effort in making sure whatever we're doing from that data point on, that was very intentional and focused, making sure we were tutoring on the
043right. and giving our students the best chances for success. Also, one of the big changes, those of you that have served on the curriculum committee, you know we are working very hard on transforming our content coordinators from content specialists to content coordinators. So instead of spending all their time in energy writing curriculum, we are really pushing towards their focus to be on professional development, modeling, best practices for our teachers. So right now, not only do we have all the content coordinators out, I also have directors, even Jennifer Martinez out there teaching math again, and we're providing daily campus support. As many things we can put out there in support for the campuses, we are doing that. We want to be all hands on deck and make sure that if they need the support, we're providing
044it as best we can. That is a shameless plug for more staff. Just saying. Ten day star reviews did go out. So like I said, we have ten more days of, well some more than ten days of instruction, but we did provide those. They did go out. And then also as we had those data meetings, we would come across and find additional resources needed anywhere from I need more, I don't know if I'm gonna say it right, but the mobis, so the math teachers can walk around and be in the target zone instead of tethered to a desk. Or we simply need mice for our students to test on the Chromebook because they're not proficient in with the finger tracking pad. Sorry, David, I don't know what that's called. So that is the actions we're
045taking right now based on or most of those have already been taken. And then part of our strategic direction. So with this data in mind, what are we looking at long term? One of the biggest things is we are developing a learning framework. We had our kickoff March 7th. We had more than 65 individuals from across the district come in and give us feedback and what they think sharing learning and sharing and ISD should look like. now five years 15 years so they really are focusing on the longevity of the district and the excellence in teaching and learning. We are also adopting the Texas Curriculum Management Program Cooperative TCMPC that is the statewide curriculum so we are adopting that and moving forward and then also the principals have been very forthcoming letting us know that
046the teachers are hungry. for outside professional development research-based instructional strategies called ARBES. If you didn't know that acronym, lots of new acronyms, but ARBES, not ARBES sandwiches, but ARBES, research-based instructional strategies. So we're excited with that strategic direction moving forward and knowing that our campuses, our principals, our teachers are working so hard every day to make our students successful. So we're confident moving forward that you're going to see changes in this data. very positive changes. Do you have any questions? I'm glad to see the coordinators going to the campuses. Are you hearing from teachers that it's useful to them? Is that the support they need? I haven't heard directly from teachers. I do hear from the administrators about the content coordinators, some of them. I know some of them have already been teaching for a
047while where we actually have teachers out on FMLA or so. The support is there. I don't, you know, how sometimes it's like we're all in that mode, straightforward, focused. So as I hear it, I will let you know. I know that they're out there helping as much as side by side. And they'll tell you if it's not, too. Yes. I haven't heard that. No news is good news. Madam President, I'd just like to make a few comments because I think that any time we are bringing news that doesn't necessarily look like today the shining stars that we know these campuses are, I want to put some context around all of this. One of the efforts that we are trying to or one of the goals or priorities for us this year is to really not
048just be transparent but to be good stewards of our story and we are as good on our great days as we are on our bad days but I want the consistent messaging here to be that this isn't a bad day for us at all this is a temperature check right before the break I wasn't feeling well I was in a meeting I think it's been that's who you were there And I just knew sitting in the meeting that I felt feverish. Well, if you would have asked me or checked me on that day, I was not at my best, right? This isn't even about our kids not being at their best. This is literally how prepared if we were to have to measure today, knowing that. elementary and junior high have not been exposed to
049all of the content that was tested knowing that we put a lot of emphasis and effort to really shore up any gaps so when we're thinking about our middle schoolers right now and how much they're struggling with math it's not because they will not be able to achieve it it's just giving us that honest look and I think that what's the bigger story here is you're hearing this today our principals and their staff and their their teams have already been working with this data making those really smart adjustments and getting the kids to where they need to be so even though we're hearing this for the first time today They are living it and they are doing everything that needs to be done and they're doing it well. And I don't want that to be
050lost in the translation here. My confidence in the competency of our leadership, of our campus leadership and the direction that they are receiving from instruction, I stand behind these. educators. They know what they're doing. They're taking the ownership for it. And they are also taking ownership of the story that the data tells. And I think that the beautiful part of this is that we are confident that when we come back to you with final scores that it is going to tell the story that we needed to tell. But I don't ever want to not tell a page in the book because part of our work is to compel our community and our families and the people that we serve to live this story with us and be willing to turn that page to see how
051the hard work pays off. So I want you to know that this is not Doomsday message this is just part of who we are and how hard the work truly has become especially in a system that Is still fractured and unable to determine how they'll rank us if they'll rank us when they'll rank us And so I'm proud of the accountability that this report demonstrates that we don't need somebody to rank us We'll rank ourselves and we'll make those adjustments to it. Thank you. Dr. Howard Yeah, I do I want to Thank you for the clarification because, you know, at face value, it's a little alarming, but it sounds like it's not necessarily a course correction, but more of like a we know where we're going and maybe a little bit of repaving, right, the
052course as we're going along, making sure it's more smooth sailing. So I commend you for not just giving us all the good news all the time, right, and a more realistic approach to where we're at and what we're doing and, you know, to the principals for doing the work. The admin team and Pam and just giving us all this data so we can answer the questions too and have honest answers and Also an honest solution and what we're doing to move forward. So thank thank you all for for all of it. Thank you very much Can I add one one little thing? Yes, I do want to shout out to our parents and our campuses we believe it or not over spring break we sent out an I excel challenge and so Imagine over spring
053break we put it out there just to see what would happen and I excel is one of our softwares where they get practice in RLA math science and social studies and I do want to publicly commend our top three elementaries our winner of the spring break challenge was Jesse Jensen Elementary Their average students completed 52.83 questions correctly. We only gave credit for correct answers. Donna Wartikey took second place and they had 30.02 questions correct. And John A. Sherry came in third with 25.34 questions correct. Once again, exemplifying that. Our students are in teacher's care because they're even working over spring break. We offer the same challenge out to our junior highs, and we have first place and second place. All right. First place goes out to BL Gray, who was 6.4 questions, and then just
054a little bit above Sherri Lynn North in 2.28. So we are... Once again, congratulations. We appreciate that hard work. And then the push, whatever. I don't know what the teachers promised the children, but we actually, the vendor is actually giving us incentives for the students. So the winning schools will have ice cream and all sorts of fun stuff. Had to put that in there because they're even working over spring break. Thank you all so much. Any more comments? No? Okay. We're on to item 10B, charter school expansion notification. Madam President, I did just want to bring to the attention of our community that we have been notified that premier charter schools will be opening up a 9th through 12th grade campus. They, at this point, have just secured property and have submitted the request to
055the state. The state is required to notify us when a charter school has decided to open a... a facility within either our school boundaries or right at our school boundaries. Again, as I would not be a good steward of this district if I did not publicly state that any entity that is opening schools that takes away from public schools in any form or fashion, whether it's students, monies, focus or attention, is not in support of public ed. And I just wanted to publicly share that information with you all that I have informed you that our community is now where. And again, I I'm working very closely with the existing charter school systems that are in the area, you know, just to to try to create relationships with those that are already existing to make sure
056that we are all working to. continue to improve education in the valley and that any systems that are trying to come in don't deteriorate the work of either the public or charter schools here. But obviously my voice will be in favor of public school and Sherryland ISD. Thank you so much. Can I make a comment? You sure can. The something to keep in mind too with these charters is they don't they are not held to the same standards and requirements that public ISDs are in terms of sharing their data doing doing what we just did with a what-if score. They don't have to necessarily provide even their final scores. It depends on what type of school it is but the requirements aren't the same and they take our students sometimes you know and that's a
057problem but reaching out to Austin to let them know we don't want that to happen is something that everyone can do an email a phone call a snail mail thank you Megan anybody else Okay, perfect. We are now going to move on to item 11, which is consent agenda. Item 11. A, February 2025 month-end bills. Item 11B, February 2025 tax collection reports. February 2025 investment reports. Item D, January 2025 financial reports. Item E, previous meeting minutes. E1, regular board meeting February 24th, 2025. 11F, approval to renew RFQ 2324-08 independent auditor services. 11G approval to renew financial advisors contract for 25 through 27. 11H approval to renew ICEV subscription. 11I approval of out of state travel to attend Black Hat slash DEF CON annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Item 11J approval of memorandum of understanding
058with Hidalgo County Juvenile Alternative Education Program for 2526. I will now entertain a motion to accept consent agenda. Madam President, I move to accept the consent agenda as read. Okay, I've got a motion by Dr. Oliveda. I will second it. I've got a second by Hector Rivera. Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, say in sign. Motion passes. Five, we're five, right? Six, six, zero. On to 11. Oh, I'm sorry. We are on to closed meeting, item 12. Closed meeting. 12 a personal matters, Texas government code five five one point zero seven four twelve one resignations twelve to employment of personnel twelve three discussion of employee public officer and or board member twelve for deliberation regarding the appointment employment evaluation reassignment duties discipline or Dismissal of proposed termination
059of a district employee or public officer or employee pursuant to Texas government code five five one point zero seven four twelve B student discipline 12 seed deliberation regarding security devices or security ox audits texas government code 551.076 12d deliberation regarding real property texas government code 551.072 and 12e 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 Sheridan Independent School District under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflicts with Chapter 551 of Texas Government Code, Texas Government Code 551.071. I will now entertain a motion to go into closed session. Madam President, I move that we go into closed session. Okay, I've got a motion by Mr. David Keith. Second second by
060Miss Megan Sullivan any further discussion all those in favor signify by saying aye all opposed same sign motion passes 6-0 we are now going into closed session at 719 it is 825 we were back into open session item 13 a discussion of possible action on closed meeting items Ms. President, I move to approve the personnel report as presented in closed session to include employment and resignations of certified staff. I will now accept a motion. Second. I need to accept it first of all. Oh, I'm sorry. Motion to approve. Okay. We've got a motion by Mr. David Keith. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, just kidding. Hector. I have a motion by Hector Rivera and a second by David Keith. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those. Opposed same sign motion passes 6-0. I'm
061going to revisit item 9 C which is 19 region 1 education service center board election the board will be submitting their votes today No action on to item 14 business 14 a discussion and consideration to approve purchase classroom furniture for Benson Elementary using a cooperative approved vendor Madam President, this is an item that was discussed at the BOF. We have received best and final. We are recommending indica in the amount of $230,740.23. Okay. I will now entertain a motion. I'll make a motion, Ms. President. We've got a motion by Mr. Hector Rivera. Second. Second by Dr. Rivera. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 6-0. On to 14B, discussion and consideration to approve purchase iPads for pre-kindergarten students using cooperative approved vendor. Good evening.
062Once again, this we are bringing for you tonight the purchase of 418 iPads that would outfit 19 pre-K classrooms and for a total of $135,472 from the early education allotment funds. Again, an item discussed in detail in the BOF on the 13th, and I'll make a motion as indicated on the agenda. Okay, I've got a motion by Hector Rivera. Second. Second by Ms. Megan Sullivan. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 6-0. On to 14C, discussion and consideration to approve RFP 2425-26E, rate category 1 and 2 services. Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Howard. This item here is for four E-rate projects that was advertised accordingly to the E-rate regulations and rules of 28-day posting requirement. The vendors have responded on these four
063different projects, which consists of 27 bus cellular services, which is what we already have in place. It's something that we installed last school year. We're going to renew those services, the cellular services for Wi-Fi on those buses. The second item is for 36 new installations, 36 additional buses. Then the third item being the district internet access secondary connection and our fourth item being the UPS battery backup replacements district-wide The vendors have responded We didn't get to go with low bid because those that were the low bid did not either meet specifications or did not completely bid on the full project being incomplete. So our recommendations here are the 27 bus renewal of services to CDWG for $15,000, $0.47 and $0.10. The installation of the 36 bus Wi-Fi, CDWG as well at $73,815 with $0.12. Our
064district internet access, a secondary connection to Foremost, which is $11,940. Mind you, this is one year. Everything that we're talking about here is for one year, one year of services. And the fourth project there being the UPS battery backup with SHI at $428,646.40. All of this is contingent to E-rate funding, so if we don't get the funding, then we're not moving forward with this. But our portion estimated, we paid 20 cents, 20%, I'm sorry, of the project costs. 80% is covered by E-rate. Our portion would be roughly about $105,889.72. The difference being covered by E-rate of $423,558,896. Well, 89, I guess that six does not belong there. This was covered at the same meeting as well, our BOF, so additional details. We do have a tabulation also in the next page. Okay great. Thank you
065so much for all that information. I will now entertain a motion. I move to approve. I've got a motion by David. I've got a second by Dr. Levita. Any further discussion on the side. Yes that's great. Hope it gets we get the 80 percent. Fantastic. Thank you. Okay, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 6-0. We are now on to item 15, adjournment. Motion to adjourn. I've got a motion by Dr. Lovita and second by Hector Rivera. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying aye. All opposed, same sign. Motion passes 6-0. It is now 8-31 and we are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.