Bryan ISD School Board Workshop Meeting, May 4, 2026

001Wow. Sorry. I now call this Brian Independent School Board uh school district meeting to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present, that this meeting has been dually called, and that notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 551. The time is 6 PM. I wish to extend a warm welcome to our guests this evening. Um, please turn off the sound on electronic devices and let's stand for the pledges. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to the Texas one state. Okay, we'll start with our spotlights. Um, our first spotlight this evening is recognition of the

002Brazes County Health District presenter Doc. Uh, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Brian Merrill. >> I appreciate the opportunity to recognize the health district and just for the amazing uh partnership and relationship. I think that's on display almost every board meeting. Uh, it's definitely true tonight. the the health district does an amazing job of not only serving our community uh and our students and our families, but they come into our buildings and they are the first to uh to help. And uh I know the other day we were talking about the physicals that were performed and um just having those resources really uh at our disposal is just incredible. And so we're incredibly excited to bring up if I could have the health district join me real quick. Um, I know that. Come on up. I don't know

003who all is going to be here tonight. Felicia, come on down. I'll let Felicia, she's going to take off her board member hat and be recognized for just a minute. It's good to see you. They're heavily involved in our campuses and not only do the principles know them, but so do our students. Um, they when I say they get their hands dirty, uh, that is most definitely the truth. they are helping put together uh gardens um on multiple campuses and their role in this community extends not only just in the day-to-day they go above and beyond. Um I I look at these individuals behind me and um I find them on campuses so often and it's just uh remarkable the the work that they do. Felicia is always so generous in making sure that our

004kids that there's not a barrier standing in their way. Um so often in life uh that is the case and if we can eliminate the eliminate those barriers then we have a much greater opportunity for success and um truthfully just one of them is a physical in some cases kids aren't able to get there and uh in this case they've taken care of it. So I'll let Felicia say a few words if you want. Thank you for all you do. >> So really want to recognize and thank John. Um John is my right hand. Um, I thank it and John accomplishes it. When John came on board to work with me, we had one garden in Brian ISD over at Anderson Jones. And I said, "John, we've got to get a garden at almost every

005school in Brian ISD." And he said, "Okay, how many is that?" Said, "Oh, we only need to do about 26." 26? My god. I think we have about 15 on board so far with plans of uh more coming to every campus. We'll have a garden. um even creating gardens for our kids in special ed so that they can be able to go out and participate in the gardening. But not only that, it's what they're the gardens are doing for the community. It's for the families to be able to come out and get whatever is in the garden that they might need. John has his students that are going to be giving out recipes. They're going to be teaching cooking classes to teach them that when they receive these items from the garden, this is what

006you do with them after that. And so so thankful all of the team that you see here, everyone supports him. He's always there. He's always willing to do whatever it is. And he got to Brian ISD as fast as he could. I can't say he's one of us, but he got here as fast as he could to partner with us. And he's on all the committees Ginger has. Um just any way he can give back to our school district, he does that. And so I want to thank him for everything that he does for not only Brian ISD but for our community, our students, the families. We are so thankful for everything you do, John. And I want to thank the team that stands behind him that supports him with whatever he might need. And

007I just can't tell you how much it means to us, how much it means to the board to have individuals that go in our schools and go above and beyond. So, we just want to thank you for what you do. >> Thank you so much. >> You know, Felicia or John will reach out and inevitably they'll uh 18 plus was I think one of their last projects when we moved them over to the old MC Harris building. They put those gardens up and it's fun to watch the students just actively involved um in the growth there. It's a wonderful thing. Yeah, >> I know what Miss Felicia was talking about. John, when I first started teaching my first year, it was at&m consolidated and that's what she was saying that he left college session and

008got to Brian as fast as he could. But the first day I ever taught school, my very first student to walk in the door was John. >> Thank you. >> All right, Dr. Merrill, you'll come back up and um director of CTE, Laura King. >> Absolutely. I'm going to turn it over to Miss King. We we if you didn't get a chance to be here a little early and see the amazing projects. Um that's just reflective of what's happening on all of our campuses. We're so very proud of of our great CTE department. Uh two years in a row district of distinction. Uh top 3% of the entire state. Two years in a row. I don't even know if there's any district in the state of Texas that can claim that. We're very very excited

009about uh the work that you've done. Thank you. >> Good evening. Uh, thank you for allowing us an opportunity to spotlight some of our amazing students and programs tonight. Um, before we recognize Breast County Youth Livestock Show participants, I want to briefly acknowledge that May is typically when we bring our parade of champions through the boardroom. Um, as our CTE programs have grown, so is our success. So, because of that, we're doing things a little differently this year. You've already had an opportunity to hear from some of the outstanding middle school programs, including esports and TSA. At the high school level, we want to make sure that every student is recognized in a setting that allows us to truly celebrate their accomplishments. Because of that, I can get my clicker to work. There we go.

010Um, we would like to invite you to join us at our upcoming award events where we will be recognizing our champions and students earning industrybased certifications. The dates are up on the screen. I will make sure that those are also shared with you. We would love for you to have the opportunity to help us celebrate these students and the incredible work they've done this year. Now, tonight we want to highlight a group of students that extends beyond our CTE classrooms. Our students who participated in the Brazes County Youth Livestock Show. This year, we had 110 Brian ISD students participating. These are third graders through 12th graders. They represented a wide range of projects including livestock such as cattle, swine, rabbits, goats, lambs, turkeys, and chickens, as well as a mechanics, horiculture, photography, baking, and so

011much more. Their hard work earned over $580,000 at the auction to support their future projects and college expenses. Many of you likely saw some of our ag projects displayed outside this evening as you came in. While we were able to showcase a few of those, we certainly couldn't bring everything. Our livestock exhibitors, horiculture students, and many others would have loved the opportunity to share their projects with you as well. So, you'll just have to come out next year and see the show in the full scope of the incredible work our students are doing. This experience represents months of hard work and is one of the most meaningful ways our students develop leadership, technical skills, and strong connections to our community. At this time, I'd like to invite some of our FFA students who grab champion

012titles at BCILS along with their adviserss to please stand as we recognize them. You want you want them to come up and hold it that way? Yes, please. They may or may not have a few grand champion signs in their hands. >> Signs and belt buckles for sure. >> So, this is just a fraction of our student success at BC Wallace. Like I said, this is our FFA group. Um, we have students all the way down to third grade that participated and had lots of success. These are champions. you see all of their champion banners and buckles. Um, many many more award winners. Um, I talked about not having the parade of champions because of the size. We could have easily filled this boardroom with the number of um, blue ribbons and success that we

013had there at the show. Guys, I want to thank you. We are so proud of you and thank you to everybody coming tonight. I would now like to invite some of our FFA officers to share a little bit more about two additional events that occur at the BCS each year. That is the special edition show and the ACUATE. Good evening. I am Mackenzie McKeen and I am the Brian FFA chapter president. Every year we put on an event called Acucate which has second graders from College Station and Brian ISD come to the Brazes County Youth Livestock Show and they get to participate with a bunch of other students from different um FFA and 4H chapters who put booth together to teach the different agricultures in everyday life and they get to interact with our FFA

014members and 4 members and get to learn about it. This year we had elementary school students come which is the most that we have ever had. And this is an event that everyone looks forward to every year that Brian gets the privilege to help put on. So thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Olivia Davis. I'm from the Rudder FFA chapter and every year we get to put on the special edition show at the Brads County Youth Livestock Show. The special needs students come in and they get to show lambs and goats and they get to walk them, talk to the judge just like we would get to do. And they also get to see rabbits, baby lambs, different activities like that. And this it's a continuously growing event and we had 200 special

015needs students come this year, most of which were from Brian ISD as well as 95 volunteers. And so it's an event that we really look forward to every year. Thank you. >> Yeah. Slide this over. You want to get it? >> We can just slide it back. Thank you. There's a bunch of adviserss, teachers back here. Thank y'all for coming. I was going to recognize you as well. It's the long hours, countless uh visits, trips. It's it's wild. Uh thank you for all that you've done and do. It's really remarkable. Truly. You called it. >> Yeah. Not only are they wonderful in their program, great in the classroom, great across the board. Thank y'all. All right, Dr. Merrill, we going to recognize some of our guests. >> I'm going to come back. I'm sorry. Um,

016I'm excited though. Very, very excited. Thank you for allowing us this wonderful opportunity. We appreciate the idea of getting all our partners together. You know, over a year ago, we kind of dreamed of this moment. We were hopeful that it would happen and we had strategic planning. What came out of strategic planning about halfway through uh gave birth to the the bond projects and um we were so excited to be able to bring it to the community the great work that everyone had done and um we were so thankful for the community support to be completely honest with you. When you think about the state of Texas only 46% of all bond referendums passed and all three of ours passed. So there's a high level of trust that we don't take for granted. Uh we

017always want to honor that. We always want to be transparent. Um and getting to meet people, not just uh to see a face on a piece of paper or know that someone's back there, but uh to get to meet everyone and um to shadow our students, to get to learn from them, and uh thank you. Congratulations. We're so very uh proud and honored that you applied uh for the job. uh over 22 different architectural firms uh applied that wanted to come out and I'm sure they were great but they didn't measure up and so you did and out of that we interviewed an additional 12 and then the wonderful people that are behind me were selected and we're just so pleased and so excited to get started on the projects. Uh we haven't even sold

018the bonds yet and and uh we're not spending money yet, but nonetheless uh to the architect's dismay, but we're doing our best to and they're even working with us and still designing everything. And so we're we're very thankful for the relationship and we really do view it as a partnership. Um we know you got into this business uh to build these incredible buildings and to see what you saw up here tonight. I mean, we know that that came through in the multiple rounds of interviews that you all did. And so, thank you for that. Thank you for pouring into our students in that way. Um, you know, it's fun to get to come back and to see it, you know, generations down the line. And so many of the students that stepped up, they uh

019they're working in outdated labs and you're going to get to see that firsthand. And in spite of that, their teachers and instructors are doing amazing work and I can't wait to see the projects that they do. Every campus is going to be touched by the bond uh over time and uh we're excited for that. uh we're going to see up upgrades across the district which is just immeasurable. So, thank you so very much to the community uh trusting us and voting it in. And we're going to take just a second to bring each one of them up and call them by name. Uh they're going to spend countless hours away from their family just like tonight. Uh some many of y'all are local, but nonetheless, you're here and your families are at home. So, thank

020you for your service that you're giving us uh with Brian ISD. So when I call your name, if you if you'd come on up and I apologize if I if I mispronounced them, but from Arcadus, Aaron Sanders and Jean Simmons, come on up. Architect Studios, Eva Reed Warren, Paul Martinez, and show I'm I'm gonna get it right. I'm gonna learn it. Uh GLS, Courtney Kelly, Brett Rice, and Shayla George. Pack Design Group, Matthew Faulner, Brian Gibbs, Matthew Meyer, Zachary Martinez. PBK Architects, Manny Torres, Sean Pentin, Elizabeth Amanda Zire, Zack Sergeant, and Jason Mooney. >> That's clearly her building. >> Yeah, I told y'all she had energy. Yeah. Uh, PBK Sports, Juan Lopez, Lauren Morgan, Rick La Point, uh, Pachchi, I apologize, Pachchi, uh, Barbie, Jonathan Dear Rosa, and Andre. Uh, SS architects, Jim Singleton, Wade

021Zimmer, and Kelsey Serski. I do my best on that. VLK architects, which are Charles Johnson, Yander Ortiz, and Todd Hangar. And as you can see, um, by your presence tonight, it shows the excitement that you have for Brian ISD, to be completely honest. And the fact that you would find a night to drive out here and to be a part of this just says volumes for you as individuals and as architects. And we can't thank you enough for just the investment, not only in your time, but your giftings and just what you're going to be able to produce is going to create just such excitement. Um, this community is just brimming with that excitement for the projects. You could see from their reaction to the band trailers, all of them are just I mean they're

022just so excited to be able to get to do this. So, thank you for coming out. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your work. Thank you for all of the amazing amount of uh just work that we're going to get to see. So, Miss Caroline, I'll turn it over to you. Oh, >> I I just echo that. We're very excited uh and can't wait to get started. I think this is very indicative of the strong team we have formed. And when I say team, we're all in this together. So, again, much appreciation. Thank you. Absolutely. Okay, we're going to grab one picture. So, if y'all could We like pictures here. So, yeah. >> And take a doggy bag home with you through your on your way out. >> This is probably Okay, everybody.

023>> Please. >> Thank you all for joining us this evening. Okay. Item number five, public comment on agenda items. Citizens may make comments about topics relevant to district business. Topic should be limited to three minutes. Comments concerning specific student or personnel will be hel he heard in close session. We do not have any comments this evening. So, we'll move to item number six, board member reports. Our executive uh committee report will be provided by Miss Ruthie Waller. >> The executive committee met uh April the 15th at 200 pm. In attendance was President Joel Bryan, Dr. Brian Merrill, Vice President Felicia Benford, myself, Secretary Ruthie Waller, uh, Superintendent Ginger Carib, our accountant controller, Norma Friddle, uh, HR person, HR man, Tommy Roberts. Our first topic, everything people, >> HR man. >> Um, sorry, Tommy. He was

024a teacher and a principal. So, he's done it all. And the building that Desiree is so excited about was his building. We had a a discussion, Miss Carbine, about this meet and greet today and it came off just wonderfully. I don't know of another district that might have ever done anything like this. And we're just so pleased that everybody showed up. Uh we discuss finance with Miss Friddle, current year budget to actual forecast update, status update for budget development process for next year. We reviewed timelines for budget adoption for 2006 2007 and then Dr. Merrill gave us an overview, status of programming and discussion about our bond and everything related to the design of the Merurl Green uh fieldhouse and that's it. >> Thank you. Our intergovernmental committee report will be provided by Miss Felicia

025Benford. >> Yes. Our intergovernmental committee met on April the 20th at 12 noon. Myself, Miss Waller, and Miss Carabine were there. Um, what they talked about, they had a representative from Baylor, Scott and White, and a representative from St. Joseph Hospital. And really what they talked about is the upcoming changes um for the years and what's going to be happening in health care. How many people they um saw, how many people they anticipate on seeing in the upcoming years. Um St. Joseph is changing. They're getting a whole new color, a whole new brand, a new name. They'll be common spirit St. Joseph's in October of this year. And so they talked about the growth in health care growing rapidly. Um they talked about Scott and White acquired the physician center um December the 1st, 2025.

026And they talked about bringing on more freestanding clinics, what that would look like for our communities, the number of people they're hoping to employ, and what kind of u money that would bring to our community. So really about health care um coming on board. I think in this region we were rated number 65 for national growth in healthc care. Waller is number one. >> Wow. >> And so a lot of growth coming on um in the healthc care field. >> Thank you. Finance board committee report. Uh Mr. Pavas. Uh good evening. Uh finance committee met on April 22nd. Um committee members in attendance were Superintendent Caravine, uh Norma Friddle, Mr. Stazzy, Mr. Sennis, Steve Adams, and myself. Um Mr. Adams uh talked about bond sales competitive and negotiated. Uh specialized in public finance and the

027district financial advisor presented on bonds sale methods and provided updates on current bond sale parameters and reviewed key IRS con uh considerations. Mrs. Friddle uh we talked about health insurance first quarter updated delivered first quarter financial update for the health insurance fund. She also uh talked about the efficiency audit update. Um shared examples of efficient uh audit cost of two different firms. Also, Miss Friddle update us on the ground building sales of property. Uh there was one uh issue bid on 421 which will follow up receive bids on 519 and then board will talk about that on u that's June 1st. Also, Miss Riddle talked about our budget to actual forecast update, presented current yeartobudget uh actual outlook as uh as of March 31st. And then Miss Brittle talked to us about pre uh prelude,

028excuse me, per due Brandon invoice. It's a shared invoice uh that on for the property of 2324 property audit value forthcoming and the due and the that audit also results in additional funds for the district. That's all. Thank you. Moving into information items. Uh we have a change to our agenda this evening. We're going to postpone item 7B regarding wayfinder writership system and bring it back at a later date. So, we'll start with 7A um Texas school finance key concepts and current landscape. This is a continuation of our um our uh educational series from Chief Financial Officer Norma Friddle and joining her will be deputy executive director at the Texas Association of School Business Officials, Dr. Amanda Brownson. >> Thank you. Good evening, Mr. President, board member, Superintendent Carbine. This evening we are joined by

029Amanda Brownson from the Texas Association of School Business Officials, Center for School Finance. She is here to provide a broad overview of the current financial landscape in Texas Public Education and to discuss some of the challenges the school districts are currently experiencing. She will also be sharing some interesting survey results gathered from the school districts across the state. Thank you, Amanda, for being here. We appreciate her this evening. Thank you, Norma. And I'm really happy to be here with you guys today. I was trying to remember when I was last here, and I want to say it was right after we did our first annual, what we now call annual uh survey of school districts around school finance. Um, and it was because we were detecting a growing trend of um upside down budgets and

030and significant struggle in the budget process. And so we started surveying members and uh we recently finished our third uh survey and so wanted to come bring those results back to you and talk a little bit about some statewide um patterns that we're seeing. Um so we got uh 263 responses from 244 um school districts. we removed with with we go through the responses and um remove uh those that were redundant where we had multiple people from the same district responding. So we got one response per district and those districts that are in our sample represent almost half of the state's students. So we feel like it's a it's a good representative sample of what's going on out in the state. Um roughly equal proportions of small, medium, and large districts which we were glad

031to see. So, we feel like we kind of have at least a decent handle on what's going on statewide. Um, one of the things, uh, the the reasons that we do this, if you, if you sort of think about where we are in the budget process, um, we just got data on how districts did in fiscal 25 and you guys are being asked to build your fiscal 27 budget. And so one of the things that makes this very hard in Texas is we always feel like we're running really fast in a forwards direction while looking at data from behind us. And so to try to help shine some light on that, we started asking districts what's going on sort of before they closed their books. And some key um takeaways, you know, one is you're

032going to see some data here in a minute that shows a difference between how people if you ask them halfway through their fiscal year how they thought they were going to end the year and then how they really ended the year. Um and one of the trends we're noticing is some increased volatility in the budget process and in the revenue estimation process. Some of that relates to the school property value study and sort of not knowing what property values the state's going to use to fund you on um until you're sort of roughly halfway through that budget year and then having to go back and do property value audits after the fact and get some of that money back if the property value study didn't go how you had expected. And that can create some

033volatility in that budget process, which it sounds like listening to to the reports coming out of the finance committee that that's happened a little bit here. Um we're seeing that across the state. Um but but essentially um that's a fairly common thing. Uh we think fiscal 25 seemed to represent sort of the high point in deficit budgeting. And what we're seeing now is a real concerted effort statewide to make those budget reductions or find that revenue to rightsize those budgets because districts are sort of running out of that excess fund balance that they were relying on. And so we're seeing those trends statewide of really having to dig in and rightsize those budgets. Um and then decreasing reliance on that planned use of fund balance. People are are really recognizing that they can't do that

034any longer and they've got to figure it out and make the adjustments needed um to get to a stable budget picture for the district. Um so but the sort of big takeaway was um 70% of the districts responded said they were going to make some budget cuts in fiscal 27. So very much kind of the norm out there. Um so looking at will the district end the fiscal year in a deficit. You know we asked this um when we put this survey in the field it's halfway through the fiscal year and we asked them about the year that just closed and we also asked them about the year that's ongoing. So when we put this survey in the field um we were halfway through fiscal 26 and 44% of districts said they thought they would

035end up needing to use fund balance in the current year fiscal 26. So, still some reliance on that deficit budget um strategy, but you can see it's down compared to fiscal 25 where halfway through the fiscal year, 63% of districts thought that was going to be the case. Um you also see that sometimes as we get to the end of the fiscal year, there's a smaller percentage of districts that really end up in a deficit. That's a fairly normal um phenomenon, I think, due to conservative budgeting, frankly, which we think is is a healthy thing. Um, also if you think about it on the spending side, your budget is a legal ceiling. You are not allowed to spend more than that board adopted budget says you can spend. So you're always going to spend equal

036to or less than what's in that adopted budget. And so sometimes um because of that, we see the the deficits decline a little bit by fiscal year end. Um but still as we ended fiscal 25, nearly half the district spent down fund balance some. So we're um glad to see a decreasing reliance on that uh for fiscal 26 and we hope that trend holds. Um the other thing we ask districts to do is to put themselves in this matrix. So are you making cuts and are you using fund balance? And um what we can see is the planned use of fund balance while it's still going on it's declining. So if you look at the total across the bottom there um in the in the sort of lefth hand column on the bottom row um

037we had in fiscal 25 at the early stages of the budget process almost 74% of districts said they were going to use fund balance that's down to 55% now. So that increasing reliance on making the budget cuts or finding the extra revenue rather than using fund balance which I think is is frankly because that's the place people are in. They don't have a choice. Um, so going across the top there, um, you can see we're still at 70% of districts looking to make cuts as we go into next year. Um, and then we ask, you know, how significant are those cuts? Um, and so, uh, just over a third are saying that the cuts they're planning to make are significant. Um, and then 43% saying those cuts are minor. um it's the minority of districts

038uh 20% that we're saying we don't need to cut our budget as we look towards fiscal 27. The other thing we've become increasingly worried about as that fund balance has been spent down is cash flow. So our districts uh running into any trouble paying bills um you know we measure fund balance at the end of a fiscal year but what about at your c your worst cash uh point in the district? Usually that's right before property tax revenue starts to come in. And so are you are you worried about cash flow? Um we're still not seeing that as a significant concern for the year we're in, but as we asked districts to forecast ahead, 10% said they're worried about it next year. And then about a third are worried about it sort of if nothing

039changes um within the next three years. So um that's why presumably districts are are digging in and working on this issue. Then we asked them what they've done to try to rightsize those budgets in terms of cuts. Um, the most often already done cuts, just so you can see how these items are sorted, are on the bottom there. So, reductions to central office staff and reductions to campus staff are most often cited as already done, central office being first. Um, but uh, less often are they having to do reductions in force. Um, and and that's because we're doing the hard work of of planning through attrition, right, to to solve that budget problem. And that's a that's a good thing. um you can see uh more interest in looking at the campus and really looking

040at that master schedule um at the high school level. Um and so you can see that elimination of underenrolled classes is a strategy that didn't get very many had already done it, but an increasing percentage are looking at maybe needing to do that next year. We asked them how likely they are to give a raise. Um only 17% of districts felt like they had the resources they needed to give a pay raise for next year. Um, more often the answer was yes, we're going to try to find some revenue to do that, but if we're going to do it, we have to fund it out of other cuts or no, we we are having to make other cuts and there won't be enough left over to provide for a raise for next year. And then

041we asked our CFOs, what are your top challenges? Not surprisingly, again this year, uh, deficit budgets and lack of resources was the most often cited top challenge. And then declining enrollment was equal there. And presumably part of the reason declining enrollment was a challenge, right, was its impact on the budget. That revenue drops fairly easily and fairly quickly in a state straight line as enrollment drops. Um, but sometimes it can be hard for costs to to decline as quickly, right, as you've already issued contracts or the workload doesn't necessarily drop in that linear fashion. And so that can be a hard a hard challenge. Um, so what are the causes of the budget challenges? We're seeing declining enrollment. Um, a lot of districts budgeted for flat enrollment, which seemed reasonable at the time given their

042history. Um, but that hasn't turned out to be the case. And so we have a lot of of CFOs I'm talking to um where those budgeted um ADA counts haven't uh come to pass. Um, and then much of the new revenue we've seen in recent legislative sessions, while it's been helpful and funded things we want to do, it's provided to buy specific things. And so that revenue then isn't available to fill a budget hole, right? So you get money for a pay raise, that's great. You give that pay raise, but you still have the same budget hole you did because the revenue is offset by an equal cost on the other side. Um, so what are our recommendations? You know, first and foremost, start the budget process early. If you have a significant structural deficit,

043that's not a problem that gets solved in the last month or two of the fiscal year. I know you guys have been looking at this for multiple years. And so that's healthy. That should be something you're looking at all year long. Um be mindful of your staffing ratios. So as people leave the district, really look at what was that person doing? Do we need to fill that position? You know, how do we manage uh staffing changes through attrition, especially if you're losing enrollment or ADA? and then consider new sources of revenue in this system. There are a handful of ways you can get additional revenue um including increased attendance, increased student counts or a tax ratification election. Um but there there there are only sort of a finite number of ways you can look at

044toward to get additional revenue. Um but proactive approaches um both on the spending side and the revenue side can help you avoid more painful solutions down the road if you kind of get started early. Um, so that's what I had for you guys. I'm happy to stop and answer any questions if you have them. >> As you did this, do you also and you I'm not asking you to show us, but I bet did you also break it down into size of the districts? >> We have that data and I haven't pulled it apart in that way, but absolutely can and and probably should at this point. I wasn't sure if our sample size was big enough. Um, but I do think there are some differences in size, especially because the legislative session, you know,

045had differing impacts depending on district size. So, I could imagine there being some differences there. It's a good question. Any other questions? Thanks for having me. >> Thank you, Dr. Brown. >> Let's see. Item 7 D, update on the exploration of flexible learning options. This will be associate superintendent of teaching and learning, Dr. Barbara Borrow. >> No, I skipped one. >> Miss Friddle has another one. I'm sorry. 7C budget budget development series related to budget planning and expenditures. Chief Financial Officer, Mrs. is normal friddle. Sorry, I thought the previous was the series. >> My apologies. Good evening once again, Mr. President, board members, Superintendent Carbine. Uh tonight we are continuing our budget development series with a focus on budget planning and expenditures. Building on our previous session about revenues, we will walk through some common

046expenditure types, how budget codes work together, and how each piece supports the bigger budget picture. As I'd like to say, a budget code tells a story. So, tonight we will learn how to connect those pieces together. Once again, just a reminder, this is the TASBY toolkit that I've been referencing throughout this series, the resource that all of ourformational sessions have been based on. As I mentioned at our last session, we started this work back in December and have been following the table of contents in sequence and I've been teaching directly from this guide. So tonight's topic is all about budget planning and district expenditures. So tonight we are shifting from planning to purpose by looking at how school districts organize and adopt their budgets. It's important to note that this is the standard accounting language

047used across Texas school districts which is required the required structure that we must all follow. Budgets approved by the board are adopted at the fund and function level. Again, what you see here is the account code structure. We won't cover every single segment tonight, just the most common ones. So, for example, when you hear us say function 11, that's code for instruction. It's also important uh to note that only certain segments are reported to tea for PE's purposes. So the first three digits of the account code structure represent the fund and these numbers may look familiar. Fund 199 is the general fund, 240 is child nutrition, and 599 is debt service. There are three main funds. These are the three main funds formally adopted by the board each year. Other funds such as title programs,

048grants, education, foundation funds are all considered special revenue funds and are not board adopted funds. So the next set of numbers in the account code structure is called the function. This is where the expenditure starts to gain more definition and tell us the purpose of the spending. For example, function 11 represents instruction. Function 12, library and media services. Function 13 is professional development and the remaining functions continue to define the area where the expense is occurring. It's important to note that this is the level at which school boards adopt budgets by fund and function. Because of that, districts must ensure that actual expenditures do not exceed the approved budget amounts at year end. If they do, the district can be cited for being out of compliance. That's why it's very important to monitor expenditures throughout

049the year and amend the budget at the function level if we anticipate spending more than originally budgeted. The next segment in the account code structure is known as the object code. This may sound familiar because we commonly refer to them as payroll and non-payroll categories. Since payroll makes up the majority of our budget, these codes can help define the type of the expenditure. Campuses and departments are allowed to move funds between object codes within the same function and those are called budget transfers. This is different from a budget amendment which requires board approval because it means that the funds are being moved between different functions. So for example, if a campus has extra money in supplies and wants to move it to contracted services within the same function, they can do that through a budget

050transfer. But if money needs to move between different functions that requires board approval. This pie chart pie chart may look familiar uh from some of our previous sessions. One common question we hear is where does the money go and this gives us a district-wide visual by the object code category. So as you can see here the majority of expenditures are in the 6100 series or the payroll series. 6200s represent our contracted services. 6,300s are supplies and materials. And the remaining categories represent other operating costs. This is simply a visual to help show where the district funds are spent. Now, when it comes to expenditures, this is really the big picture. You've heard us say several times that payroll makes up the majority of any school district budget. That includes positions, stipens, extra duty pay, overtime,

051and all other related costs. The non-payroll side is where the rest of the budget lives. And this includes campus budgets, department budgets, instructional programs, and other district-wide allocations. In just a moment, we're going to look at what all is in there. All right. So looking under the hood, when we look more closely at the non-payroll expenditures, we see campus budgets, departments, instructional programs, and other district-wide allocations. Campus budgets are based on a per student dollar amount. The remaining budgets are built using a combination of zerobased budgeting and sightbased. Every campus, department, instructional program, and district allocation shown here had a budget manager complete a budget planning worksheet. These worksheets were then reviewed by our cabinet members so each cabinet member could look over the budgets in their area of responsibility and understand what was being

052requested and why. And here is an example of our new budget template that was used during the planning process for next year. This example shows the budget planning worksheet for Jones Elementary. The campus had a has a projected enrollment of 611 students generating a budget allocation of just of just over $63,000. My apologies. Uh the template allows campuses to compare the current year budget with proposed expenditures for next year. One of the biggest additions this year was the priority level section where budget managers identified whether an item was mandatory, critical, or discretionary. They also provided a brief narrative explaining the purpose of the funds. This gave cabinet members better visibility into budget requests and helped identify any duplication of efforts or overlap in other budgets across departments and campuses. Overall, the new uh model brought

053more transparency and visibility to the process. And this slide may look a little familiar because we've shared it at several strategic planning meetings and other discussions. It is simply a reminder that we are now entering the second year of the bienium. So we are not expecting any new funding from the state. Because of that, we've taken this budget process very seriously. Across Texas, many school districts are adopting deficit budgets and making very difficult financial decisions. And we know those same challenges are impacting us as well. So in summary and at the most basic level, one thing remains true. Average daily attendance is one of the biggest drivers of revenue in any school district. As I'm preparing for next week's budget workshop, I'm building revenue models using our actual current year data. At the end of

054the day, we only have so much revenue available, and that revenue has to support both payroll and non-payroll expenditures. It's important to remember that every dollar counts. A small savings here and there may not seem significant on their own, but together, these savings add up and can make a meaningful difference in our overall budget. So, here we are continuing down our road. We have learned a lot about a variety of school finance topics that all play a big role in budget development. At our next regular board meeting, we'll spend some more time talking about fund balance, why it's important, and some of the common misconceptions surrounding it. We'll also look at a graph that shows how fund balance naturally fluctuates throughout the year from month to month. With that said, I'd be happy to answer

055any questions. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Okay. Now we'll move to 7D. Update on the exploration of flexible learning options. Associate Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Barbara Eubara. >> Thank you, Mr. Brian. Thank you, board. Uh we're here this evening and we have some pretty exciting news for our school district and for the board to consider. Um, we have been on this journey for the better part of this year, but it actually started way before this year. Uh, we started talking about virtual learning opportunities way back in 2009. Um, it has developed over the years, but we are finally at that point where we're positioned to take advantage of some new legislation um that makes it for more more opportunities for our students. I'm being joined by a much larger team.

056As you might expect, um something to this magnitude does not happen in isolation. It takes a full team to uh come together and propose what could be an option for our families. Um so again, this started well back into 2009 and be and before that before then even. Um but most recently, we came to the board this past fall and we talked about options for optional flexible school day at MC Harris. We talked about flexible learning um and we started exploring what's out there now that the legislation has passed. The legislation that I'm speaking of is Senate Bill 569. And with that Senate bill, it opened up opportunities for school districts that were not previously available to us. Um in fact, that's why you're seeing a record rapid adoption of virtual learning schools across the

057state of Texas. I think well over 200 have launched this year alone for the coming school year because of this legislation. So it gives us that opportunity to do a little bit more within our existing schools without going to TEA and having a separate schools set aside as just virtual learning. Um the students can be blended into the traditional campus setting. So why would we consider virtual learning? Um, you know, it really comes down to something I think the legislature was focused on this year. They were focused on parent choice and opportunity and making decisions that are best for their child and their family. Um, we have previously had our hands tied with a number of those options. But this is one that we can afford and one that we can provide to our community

058members. Um, so it allows us to expand that access and that flexibility. We can recruit those students who live in Brian ISD school zones but for whatever reason have chosen a different path for their own children. Perhaps we could recapture some of those students and go into a hybrid arrangement with them where they come to school and they also do online school at home. Uh we want to retain and re-engage our current students. These options are going to be available statewide and we want to make sure our students know that we're going to provide those options for them as well. They don't need to go anywhere else. they can stay right here in Brian ISD and have all of those same opportunities. But most importantly, it positions us to be responsive to what stakeholders are

059telling us they want for their own children. Uh so I'm going to invite up Mr. Justice, Mr. Jacob Justice, uh to talk about stakeholder feedback, please. >> Good evening. Um so in doing this of course we want to get feedback not just from what we think what our community thinks, what our students think, what our uh teachers and parents think. Uh back in fall of 2025 we did a community survey that we put out. We had approximately 700 responses to that. Uh and we saw sort of a shift in that of people sort of wanting a choice uh for their students. Uh we also talked with our district leadership team, teaching learning departments, campus administration and then we have our strategic planning committee. Um as you all know the strategic planning committee um is the

060one that produced uh the bond but there were a lot of questions and so we came back to the table and Dr. Merryill led us in that and we uh started trying to answer some of those questions. From that we broke up into teams and so we had a strategic planning committee for academics and for operations to get feedback on what this virtual learning would look like as well as uh feedback from our parents. Now some of the things that we got were um some quotes in a survey and so there's some feedback. One of the ones that I want to uh point out to you is in the top right corner. Uh we have a young actor in Brian ISD and um their parents said this is more opportunities to get coursework completed. He

061also is a professional actor and has to miss in-person classes for chunks of time and this would be an option for him to stay successful and participate in UI activities which he excels at. He's a straight A student and we would love for him to not have to unenroll in homeschool every time he is on a set. So, it talks about things and opportunities our our students have, but that they also would get to stay tied into Brian ISD no matter what those opportunities are. >> There are a few more quotes on the screen. I'm just going to read one more for you. Um, aside from opportunities for students to participate in gymnastics or acting or what have you, there are also some health considerations that families are asking us to take into account. Uh

062both of our students have a myriad of health concerns that stop us from being comfortable with them being in school 100% of each school day. We want to do more than homeschool on our own, but we do not want to fully commit to 100% school day attendance every day. For some families, it's not possible with the child's health situation and circumstance, but they do need the support and the academic rigor that comes through a school district and through Texas certified teachers. But virtual school isn't for everybody. And so knowing that, we've put in place what we believe are some thresholds of what we would expect of a student who's considering virtual school uh with their family. That would be a student that is academically successful in their courses. They have prior experiencing passing prior experience

063passing STAR or comparable assessment. Um, and then they're obviously willing to come and take the mandatory state testing because that is not within our purview to change for them. Um, so that being said, there are going to be a few exceptions to all of this. So there's always an opportunity for the family to provide us additional detail, providing a circumstance and a background as to why perhaps maybe one of these metrics isn't quite where we would want it to be, and then a commitment to work on that. Um, this is all pending TEA's rulemaking. TEA has not made the rules for all of this. Um they are still in development. They were supposed to be released earlier this spring and they are not out as of yet. Um most districts are doing something similar to

064to the parameters that you're seeing on the screen right now. So what are the program options? Um this started as a predominantly high school program option and it has expanded um since then based on parental feedback and stakeholder feedback. Um, we have had every rendition of it go through the people in this room and beyond. Um, and really it came down to it is the parents choice. It is the parents choice to determine the best fit with their own child. And if we can provide them that opportunity and work with them, then then why not? What can we do to help position ourselves to be relevant and competitive in keeping our kids and recruiting our kids? So the proposal this evening is to look at grades 3 through six for fully virtual online instruction. Now

065I want to preface that with one thing. That does not mean the child is home alone. Many of our students are home that are homeschooled have a parent providing care and providing instruction. The mothers that we've spoken to just want like the one the quote you read a few moments ago want additional support through curriculum resources and instruction to partner in their education for their child. So that means that a third grader isn't going to be seen at home alone by themselves learning to read. It is in partnership with the family. Um and when it says asynchronous there it means it's on their own pace. But then there are live or synchronous sessions that provide direct instruction to the child in a virtual setting again in partnership with their families. For grades 7 through 12,

066there are two options fully virtual and then also a hybrid version where they could come on campus for things like fine arts and extracurricular activities such as athletics and even extension activities with CTE and entry-based certification pathways. Um there is defined attendance expectations all of that for both modalities. Um then of course the students would have access to before and or to after school activities and our family events. Um which our high school principles will speak a little bit to what it would look like for their campus. Um that those are the things that we're hearing as we do the surveys, as we talk to stakeholders. They're wanting choice and voice in the education of their child and we believe that we can provide that through this program. With that, I'd like to bring up

067Dr. Christina Richardson to talk about academic readiness for potential students. Okay, good evening. So, what we want to stress is that this is designed for college and career readiness. This is a rigorous academic experience and we will be looking at students who are prepared for that experience. um looking at their academic performance in courses as well as standardized tests. We know a lot of our uh families that may be looking at this charter schools, home school, private school. Um we would handle those just as we do our Aspire Academy where we can give them a MAP assessment and get a gauge for where are they in their academic progression. And so students who are in specialized services such as special education, 504, bilingual, um those would have to be looked at individually and considered uh

068what do they need and can a virtual school support that is an appropriate setting for them. If students don't meet all of these guidelines, like Dr. Dr. Yubar said we're willing to talk to them and and get an idea of what is an exceptional circumstance that they may have and do we need to make an allowance for that to allow them to participate in the virtual campus. So, our student and family readiness, what we're asking of our families, um they will be given a district provided Chromebook. Um they need to have access to high-speed internet. Students have to have some of that self-management. And again, this isn't for every student. Parents need to gauge, do their ch children have that ability um to keep focused on that virtual coursework. Strong attendance. Daily engagement is required.

069This is not a oh, it's Tuesday and I feel like just doing it today and I'm not going to do it the rest of the week. They must log in every day of the school week of school days. Um we're looking for strong uh parental support. They've got to provide a dedicated workspace and they have to be willing to bring their students on campus or designated area for our required testing um for STAR benchmarks as well as when if you're a high school student our CCMR testing that we do. And now uh Laura King and Rachel Leighton are going to come up and talk specifically about the high school experience and the CTE options that are available to our virtual students. Thank you. I'm just going to talk about the importance of CTE in the

070high schools and the skills the students learn. Uh so a lot of them are hands-on. Um and so the kids need to be able to come on campus for welding and construction parts of the a lot of the A program like you saw out front, the trailer, the Amech floral and all of those programs. And so what do the kids learn and get out of it? A lot of them can graduate uh and have a very competitive ready uh career at that moment or take those skills into college. Um and so we love the CT programs and we think it's vital in what the kids um that are going to be in these virtual schools can add when they come on campus. They can be part of our teams that go and compete with FFA

071and Skills USA and our career demos. uh because not only do you learn a lot in class, but you learn a lot when you go compete because then you see what is excellence uh when you go and you know how to improve. And so um we would with these CTE pathways, it's going to be very vital. We like the hybrid option and so that anything that is hands-on that the kids can come on campus, work in our labs, in our classrooms, um then they're going to be able to get even more of these uh industry or college ready skills. As you can tell, CTE is so valuable and we want to give that opportunity to as many students as possible. Uh if you look at the screen, we have some f fully virtual options for

072our students. So in the first year, fall 2026, um we just have a couple full program virtuals. Uh that's going to be computer science, business management. We do however have a lot of level one and level two courses within the other programs of study available virtually. So level one, level two are typically the ninth and tth grade courses, but since we do have CTE down at the middle school, that would be available to them as well. Beginning in the fall of 2027, our curriculum provider is expanding the CTE offerings. And through that expansion, we get a lot more TEA approved, fully virtual programs that are going to lead to high career, high high wage career opportunities for our students. Um, this includes things in the business, marketing and finance cluster, information technology, arts and AV,

073graphic design, photography, education and training. Um we are working through animal science as well because we know agg is going to be a a a big um a popular program within uh virtual school. Um as well as additional level one and level two courses. Um but everything that we do virtually we still have to keep in mind of the important in-person CTE classes. So like welding, automotive, construction, cosmetology and barbering. Um our other a programs. These are all really important that the students are in the classroom learning those hands-on skills. These are lab spaces, clinical spaces. Um, and we will really want to leverage our opportunity here. Um, we do have these practicum courses in the upper levels and with a students schedule being a little more flexible through the virtual program. That gives us

074opportunity for extended practicum experiences. These are things like internships, clinicals, realworld experiences that these students can experience during the daytime. Um, which opens up so much more opportunity. And now we are going to bring up Mr. Bush and Mr. Boheis. Dr. Bohis. Good evening. Um, as far as the extracurricular participation that we have on our campus, things with our clubs, robotics, student ambassadors, chess, art, dances, and sporting events, um, you know, we went through that, there were several reasons that students might not be able to be a full-time student on our campus. And whether that's hybrid or they're virtual, um, our belief is that we want as much student engagement as possible and options for our kids. Um, I believe in Brian High School. I believe in Rudder High School. And I think that we

075also can have these opportunities for students, should they be virtual or hybrid, to come to our campus, it's our chance to showcase what we can offer as well. So, I think if we're looking at the students that are currently not attending our district or students that are in our district right now, um, who might not be able to make it as often, having the activities available to them is critical. Um, I know that once we get students through our doors, it's our chance as leaders of our buildings to really sell our campus and what we have to offer. Um, just the homecoming dance alone, I'm thinking about at our campus this past year, just the fun that our students had. We want students, whether they're virtual, hybrid, or in person to be able to enjoy

076those things. So, for us, a lot of the activities that we want are to make it all-encompassing for students that are Vikings and that are Rangers. And so that's important to us is are we offering opportunities for kids to get in our doors whether that means it's after school, during school or on the weekends. And so for us, and I'm going to let coach Rush talk about the athletic part of it and even some of our academics and fine arts, but opportunity is key for our students. And I think the more opportunities that are available to them, the more lives and children that we can reach. >> Good evening. Just wanted to talk uh briefly about the virtual school when it pertains to UIL uh eligibility. Uh uh number one, I think it's uh awesome

077as far as being able to uh reach every uh student uh in the city of Brian from that standpoint of things. But when it comes to to the eligibility piece of it, uh the Brian SD zone students will remain UIL UILO eligible at their home campus. uh meaning if they meet all uh UIO requirements from that standpoint of things and so they will remain eligible at their home campus meaning the the campus that they're zoned to uh from that standpoint of things and uh further information will be coming concerning the FDA local uh where which deals with the out of district transfer information pending board consideration uh from that standpoint things. So let me coach Rush. So right now if if a student lived in Robertson County >> and was doing virtual with us and

078they were involved with UIL, they would participate in Robertson County. >> Correct. Gotcha. >> Yeah. So if a student >> but hold that thought, we're going to talk a little bit more when we get to a different agenda item. I don't Yeah, I guess tell me how that works. >> I guess I was operating under the assumption that it was like you have to live in Brian >> to participate. So their their homeschool that they would normally be going to if say it was hear. So if they're going to if they're enrolled in our district for virtual or hybrid if they are a UIL say they're a football player. >> Uhhuh. >> They can't be a football player for Brian ISD. UIL says they can be in our virtual academy but they have to be

079a football player for Hearn Eagles. That is correct which we we'll begin in in the developing that in in a few minutes I think from that standpoint of but yes to answer your question uh you're exactly correct as far as it goes back to their home uh attendant zone. Uh so for a full-time virtual student who again is out of district as far as at Hearns uh if they decide to in enroll at a virtual school in Brian ISD they will be eligible only at their home school in Hearns but it's another caveat to that and so we will get to that a little later. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> And coach Rush has been in constant communication with the UIL. this we are navigating unchartered waters across the state of Texas right

080now. So we're going to make sure that we're completely compliant with the expectations set forth by >> UIL. Can can I expand on Ruthie? And I just want to make sure that I understand this clearly. >> So a student for that example can live in Hearn which is Robertson County >> and enroll in Brian ISD >> virtual. Yes. >> Virtually. >> And they graduate from Brian ISD. >> Yes. Okay. So, just to expand on that, you could live in El Paso >> physically >> and enroll in Brian ISD and graduate from Brian ISD. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Also to clarify that as well. I know it's probably out there that those students will not count uh towards our URL enrollment, >> but there is more to come later on the agenda when we talk

081about the hybrid version and the number of hours and things like that. Um if the board decides to move forward with a later agenda item regarding FDA local, >> can you go back a couple certainly a slide? I want to ask questions about the CTE, >> Miss King. um help me understand. Yes, ma'am. >> So, you have a student that's full-time virtual that's doing CTE and they are limited by what our partner institution who's offering online courses for us. But how in the world will they get a coherent sequence of courses? They're very limited clearly in what they're going to be able to take. >> Yes, ma'am. So, this is going to be very similar to what we've done with our MC Harris students this year and the expansion of CTE. Um, if they are

082already in a program, then we are going to work with them, find solutions for them to complete the program that they're in. If they're coming in as, you know, a ninth grader, eighth grader, we can talk through all the options available. Um, the limited options, as you see there are really in this first year. um fall 2020 2027 and beyond um the the courses available within the CTE um course catalog expands a lot and so we're looking forward to that opportunity to build on um but at least we have something that this first year every student can take. There are a few courses that TEA put in place um throughout programs of study uh across all the clusters. Um, entrepreneurship is a great example. So, we would at least have one class that those students

083can take if they need to be fully virtual for that first year. Um, we're also really thinking through our families, um, and thinking about if they can't drive yet, um, options available for that. Um, I know we've talked to our curriculum provider about if there are additional courses that we need to look at, they want to work with us and build something. Well, and while I appreciate all the um efforts to be flexible, I'm very concerned with pragmatically, logistically, how will this be managed for students? I mean, I I I just have questions. I I mean, I understand when we have students on a home campus, making sure that they are doing the things they need to do to be remain eligible so they can participate in the things is challenging enough. I I'm have

084questions about how will this work in these different environments. >> Well, and I know from a CTE perspective, I go back to to our awesome MC Harris students. They're they're popping into the campuses for two periods a day to attend these courses and then they go back to do their coursework. Um, and it's it's really worked out very well. >> And that was my other question as I look at the hybrid from a scheduling perspective. How in the heck does that how how do you manage that? How does that work? So, we've talked to the high school principles and to the other principles as well. And if they were to do hybrid, ideally those courses would be at the bookends of the day, so it's easier for the student to come on site. Um, but

085it is the the burden of transportation would be on the family um that's wanting to do the hybrid version unless it coincides with the start of school. Then of course they could go on a ride if they're in a zone and they're eligible for transportation. Um, we do have a little bit I think Dr. Harland, to your question about monitoring the students um in the virtual program, we're going to assume a lot of that at the district level for this first year while we figure it out. And Dr. Richardson's going to take the lead on it um before we turn much of it over to the campuses knowing they've got students in front of them that they need to process and take care of as well and make sure that they're fully engaged with. Um

086so I do have some of that on there to answer some of your questions, I think. Um but hopefully that um will be coming up very shortly. >> Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Um, so we've talked a little bit about uh the partner selection process. There are a few providers. Um, there are several providers actually for the state of Texas and the nation. In Texas, they do specify and customize the curriculum to meet the Texas state standards. And so that's why uh, as Mrs. King was just sharing certain courses are going to come in the next year for this particular provider once they get approval from TEA that it meets all of the Texas standards for those particular courses. But they do have a very robust course catalog. Um so here's the process we went

087through. We screened providers who offer Texas specific courses. Uh narrowed it down to three and then the top two. The top two did a full presentation um to the teaching and learning team which includes directors, coordinators, etc. as well as school leadership and campus high school administration. The criteria there that we uh used a rubric to determine um viability is also there for you. Most importantly, we were provided a sandbox uh a login as a student, a login as a parent and as a teacher so that we could see what the student would experience. We were highly concerned with the rigor of the coursework itself and the ease of navigation for the student that it was intuitive and it made sense. Um, in doing so and looking over all of the the information, the group

088was unanimous in selecting the provider um and recommending it to the board. The provider we're recommending is Connections Education LLC. Um, they are a nationwide company. However, they do have Texas specific courses and Texas certified teachers. I think it's important to note here that the provider also provides the teachers. So, they have their own learning platform, their own learning management system. The curriculum is theirs. It's been specifically designed for an online learning experience. And the teachers that are Texas certified have been specifically trained to deliver instruction at a distance, asynchronously, and synchronously. Um they have been a virtual partner with Texas Virtual School Network since 2013. Um and you might have noticed from the first slide, we've been with Texas BSN since 2009. Um taking some rendition of courses with them and through them. Um

089they are in several school districts across the state of Texas with strong outcomes for students as it pertains to STAR outcomes. Uh B ratings for those schools and for those districts. Um and then again they do provide the teachers. What we'd like in addition to this and this is this is true of many districts who maintained a virtual school is they started with a provider and then as more students enrolled and they had enough to prove up the concept. They transitioned to their own teachers providing the direct instruction at a distance. And so we can do that through their platform and they will train our teachers to utilize their platform, their curriculum and their methodology. And then eventually many districts end up taking it on their own doing it through their own learning management system.

090Ours is schooly and providing the instruction. You just have to make sure the staffing numbers make sense to offset um that teacher's time during the day. That's why companies like this are able to be successful. Um the students are from many different schools and they they coalesce in these courses with these teachers. Um so the later on the agenda um the board will have an opportunity to consider a contract with connections education um about and I'll talk about pricing in just a little bit and and how many students we can do up until that contract needs to be approved. Um, talking just briefly about the student experience, Dr. Richardson, if you wouldn't mind, what does that look like in this particular setting and with this partnership? So, talking about asynchronous courses and what does that

091mean? It does mean that students move at their own pace. So, they can go as fast as slow as they need to. There are calendars that outline here's when assignments are due and they keep they want to keep students on pace to finish the course by the end of the semester. Um they as you've seen from the CTE they have a lot of different course offerings. Um they offer on grade level they offer advanced academics um for advanced courses and then they offer advanced placement courses which have been audited by college board. um the CT and electives, they have world languages. Um their courses has also been approved through the NCAA. Um and then we're also meeting with Blind and they have been working with us to offer dual credit to uh our virtual students.

092They are not alone. So asynchronous means they're working on it, sitting there trying to get it done, but they have lots of support through the platform. So there opportunities for live instruction. Um, third grade students, we just actually found out a little while ago, uh, there's going to be a new offering called a literacy session where three days a week they go on and it's just it's a small group, um, for reading comprehension, uh, writing assistance and then you can see uh, weekly live synchronous classes and those are courses where they are teaching many lessons to students. Um, small groupoup intervention sessions. Um, teacher time is offered. So kind of think of it as like an open office hour. So they are online there waiting for students to come into the virtual setting to answer

093questions. And then um student teacher onetoone. If you couldn't meet any of those other things and you still need help or maybe you went to all of those other things and you still need help, you have the opportunity to reach out to the virtual teacher and get one-on-one help. In grades three through five, they have um a part of that social emotional learning support called DISH. Drop in and say hi. And so they offer that twice uh a week for 3 through 5. And then for our 6 through 12 students who are full-time virtual, they get a advisory teacher who's going to be watching their progress, communicating with them, meeting with them um at least once a week, checking in on them and how they're doing. and then supporting our students. So within the platform

094itself, within their system, our partner, if they're approved, has a tiered system of support. So if they see somebody, oh, they're not submitting assignments in a timely manner or they don't seem to be spending very much time, they have three levels of support that they start putting students on to and doing more reach out, more things trying to help those students. um giving them relearning opportunities, more teacher support time, um the live lessons and targeted check-ins and progress monitoring. So on the Brian ISD side, what are we going to do? So like Dr. Yubar said, for this first year, it will be through central office. Uh myself and several others here, we will be monitoring attendance. We will be looking at their course progression and then if we see an issue, we will also get

095involved and be reaching out to those parents. How can we help? What can we do to make this uh work better? And then tutoring and interventions can be offered in person as we see the need and be specific to the student. Um and then the counseling services, the director of counseling has been involved in all of this and so they are ready to offer these students um counseling the same as we do as our Brian ISD students. And if all of these things don't work, it may come down to um that this isn't a good fit for you. if if everything we've done and you've done everything you can do, then maybe returning to in-person learning is the right thing to do. And that's something that we will be working with our parents. So, Dr.

096Richardson, the progress reports and report cards, this is saying that Skyward will produce them through the parent portal. So, everything will merge with Skyward. So it it does not merge but they give us the reports and we will be entering it into Skyward. >> Okay. So on every student >> can just the high level grades though. >> So the high the high level grades not every single daily grade. No >> the go ahead. >> Where are the students going to go? So here we say they're going to be required to go back to in-person learning. >> Well what if they never were in person with us? where are they going to go back to? >> If they choose not to come to Brian ISTD schools, they they would need to withdraw. >> But we would

097hope they would have liked our schools as Dr. Bohis mentioned and that they're ready to come to inerson learning. >> So they would go to where they're zoned. Yes. You know, depending on their neighborhood and their address, etc. >> So if they're from Hearn, they go back to Hearn >> if the board adopts FDA local updates later on this evening. Yes, ma'am. And how long during the how long in the semester are we going to um wait to say I don't think this is working. You need to go back to in person before they've fallen so far behind and then they come back on campus and then they're struggling and that teacher is trying to catch them up. What's that look like? How long period is that? >> You know, our group has had a

098a a lengthy conversation about the appropriate timing of that. is specific to the child, but our our modality there is as soon as possible when there is a red flag, you come back on campus so that we're not we're not losing ground with you and that'll be in partnership with their parent. >> Well, and there's 31 states that are already doing this. So, it's not like we're going to have to reinvent the wheel. It's many districts across the state of Texas studying what's worked. I mean, our kids are our kids and they're totally different and they're unique and perfect, but we don't have to wait till things like that happen before decision. >> Not we don't want to lose ground with them. So, if at that point the family thinks it's right and we think

099it's right, then they they come back to in-person learning. Um, speaking also to what the family has access to, um, beyond the Brian ISD family engagement activities and events and all of the things that our district offers, um, the provider provides a parent observer role. And so the parent can see when and if their child logged in, they can see their progress. Um, they can see their activity in their grades. They can see their interactions. They can contact the teacher. All of that is available to the parent, including um the web mail with the teachers and a family orientation that's done in conjunction with the district to help them understand how to set their child up for success in the virtual school and the virtual setting. Um so that is is an ongoing learning moment,

100but all the districts that we've talked to about this um thankfully we don't have to reinvent the wheel as you mentioned. were able to glean uh learning from what they've experienced and their where their points of of growth were and um hopefully begin on a different setting than what they did. Uh in terms of the finances of it and and just reiterating that this would be free to students and families. Um so we are a public institution and we have free tuition. Um but it would come with a cost to the district. The district's commitment for a full-time student is $2,800. However, when the students log in and receive um attendance for being present in general, that's six $6,215 a year. That doesn't include anything weighted. Um but that's if they have good attendance. So,

101it is we also have the cost of the laptop and the cost of the services such as Dr. Richardson counseling services, the go center and all of those things. Um but it does mean that we are able to provide this um without it being a budget consideration of concern and that we're able to provide that opportunity. Um they have other as you'll see on the agenda later for that contract. They have other options where they'll offer um different price points for single courses or a semester only full-time. We have had parents ask us if their child could go for a semester only because they do club sports and that's a difficult travel time for them, but they don't want to withdraw from Brian ISTD, but they know they're going to miss a lot of school.

102Um, this would allow them to stay engaged with the school district to stay enrolled and to progress in their academics while still participating in those club sports and activities. So, if we move forward with all of this um with the contract on the agenda, um that that contract um allows us to go beyond 15 students if it's roughly $3,000. The board approves all purchases and contracts over $50,000. Um so, we could do about 15 students, but if you would like to grow it more than 15 students, then we could consider the contract that's on the agenda later this evening. Um, if that does move forward, we have virtual and in-person informational sessions for May. We'll have more throughout the summer as well. These are just the first ones there. Uh, we have a website ready

103to launch for the virtual academy, including FAQs. Um, we would like to get early enrollment um concluded now and then all the way up through August. And then beyond that, of course, we would consider um later enrollments um as they became available and became interested. Um, next steps for the board and for the district is to consider the partnership, the virtual provider. Later on the agenda, we have considerations for FDA local should you want to open this program much like we do for collegiate out to outside of the district along with other programs. And then we would of course go through and and publish all of the requirements andformational items um and then make sure that we're there to answer any family questions. So, the group is here. I'm sure there are additional questions and

104we are happy to answer them. >> I have a quick There's some challenges and also some opportunities in this. Uh, but what I did really enjoy was >> um the students that uh have health issues or concerns and aren't able to attend. I think that's very a positive side on that side of it. But I do see some other, you know, challenges. Sure. that that are out there that you know are just going to be out there because it's it's a lot to take in and a lot to to advance on this. >> It's very different um landscape in public education this year. Um and I think in the coming years it will continue to diverge from what's been traditional um and that this is the first step in that direction. um with regard to

105the fact that we're competing with other districts, uh which is obviously a reality and something it's not a bad word because we we want to >> we're proud of our schools. >> Yeah, we want people to come use Brian. Uh and we when we talk about some of the things that you're doing and some of this was kind of one-on-one that with uh Dr. Richardson and and you as well. But uh we we want to try to maintain the integrity of the testing and some of the testing will be online. Not in fact most of it will be except got to take the end of year the the star or whatever state >> assessment. Yes sir. >> In person. >> So and you also mentioned that rule making is ongoing. So I my question is

106really this did if we want to maintain integrity obviously we we want to have a great reputation. Uh but there could be other districts that are just making rules that are different than ours. So how how how many if any of the rules you've talked about that we're going to uh require that that students and families follow? How much of that is already ironclad and and everybody's got to do it and how much of that is just Brian ISD? Is that a fair question? >> It is. Currently, TEA will not answer questions regarding the rule making. And so, while we're setting parameters for entrance, they they may come and say you can't put any parameters on entrance and enrollment in your virtual academy or they may say you must have parameters. It really could go

107either direction. they've not really given any information regarding that um other than you you need to consider the needs of the child and that's of course what we would do. >> What about the UIL rules? >> So that uh we that is pretty specific right now. I know they are meeting in June to discuss further since there are so many of these programs opening across the state. I'm sure they have a lot of information to discuss. Um but essentially as Mr. Rush shared uh virtual students who are within our zone go to where they're zoned and compete where they're zoned. Students who are full-time virtual from out of a district must compete where they live. The caveat is the hybrid learner who comes on site and on campus. And we again we'll go over this

108with a later agenda item, but if you meet a 4-hour threshold of onampus learning, perhaps you take a welding two-hour block and you take a choir class and you take one other class and you're there for four hours of instruction, you are considered a full-time student at that campus and there are UIL eligibilities um that you can take advantage of. Um again, Mr. Rush is the expert on that, but he has been schooling all of us on the rules so that we we speak with clarity on it. Um, now that may adjust as the UIL meets this summer. Um, but those are the current rules in in practice right now. Does that answer your question? >> Well, yes. And and I just want to make sure Well, I hope Let me word it this way.

109I hope that that TA and whoever is making all the rules is takes into account that that there's going to be temptation perhaps to make things uh easier than it should be uh to maybe even take shortcuts or whatever in testing and so on because that's that's maybe what the student wants. I mean, we we've seen it at the college level. We know that happens sometimes and and at all levels and and I guess it's well for one thing for sure. I don't want us to take shortcuts or to say, "Well, we're going to make things easy because we we got to compete with everybody else." You know what I'm you know what I'm trying to say? So, so we we got to maintain our reputation. I hope like I said the state does a

110good job of making sure everybody is playing fair and that we we are not uh letting kids get through the system and they really have not done what they need to do and I know the star is going to help a lot with that >> certainly but to your point that was one of the reasons we selected this provider. Um, one of the things they also do in addition to their random in academic integrity types practices is that teacher also does one- on-one check-ins with the student about content and it's a red flag if the student can't answer the content independently or without assistance and then they work with us and with work with the family. Additionally, Dr. Richardson mentioned it earlier. We would like the we're going to require the students to come on

111site once in the fall and once in the spring semester for a benchmark assessment. And if it's not aligning with their course performance and their performance on that benchmark, then we are going to have a family meeting because continued enrollment in the virtual academy is predicated on outcomes for both academic courses and state assessments. And you shared some of that with me privately, but it is good to hear it publicly too. Certainly. Yes sir. I think the public needs to be reassured. >> Agreed. Completely. >> Dr. Eboro, could you elaborate speaking of acade academic integrity and the historical performance of connections academy in particular? >> Certainly. We're concerned about accountability. The the kids when they take the state assessment that will be a reflection of Brian Sist. So how did they perform? So the largest

112um implementation of this particular partner, Connections Learning, is in Houston ISD. Um they have their own standalone virtual campus. It's called Connections Academy. I believe they have roughly 10,000 students enrolled in that campus and they are a B-rated school. Um so high outcomes on star performance gets you that B, which means the rigor must be there in the coursework. It's been open for years. the rigor must be in the coursework there for them to be able to obtain outcomes on STAR to that level of um excellence which is where we would like to be >> come in person >> they do have to come in person for the star assessment >> staff the you know whatever we decide would monitor to ensure academic >> yes I believe they even have satellite locations all over the

113Houston area where they can go test there are a number of things but it's proctor just like everybody else >> if we decide to move forward with this is it a permit thing or Is it year to year or is it a fouryear? Like >> it's year to year. That's a great question, Mr. Pavas. Um, if we go down this road and we try it and and we determine that there are hurdles that um that we're not comfortable with, it's a year-to-year commitment and we can transition back to fully in-person learning for our district. That is certainly the board's discretion. I see on slide 15 um it talks about advanced courses, advanced placement, CTE electives which we touched on. >> Yes, sir. >> Um in world languages. Are there are there any programs uh dual

114language advanced academics that that would require in-person learning that we didn't touch on today? >> That the provider offers or that we offer >> that we offer? or that the provider does not. >> Um so for example um one thing they do not offer is anything for international balorate that cannot be on a virtual setting. It must be on campus and in person. Um they do offer AP coursework but they do not offer AP capstone. So if the student was seeking AP capstone diploma they would have to come on site to Rudder High School. Um does that answer your question? It kind of depends on what those programs are, >> but there are certain ones that they certainly do not offer that are only offered in Brian ISD and on-site. >> Thank you. >> Yes,

115sir. Thank you, >> Barbara. I have a question. >> Yes, sir. >> And I see the benefit of this. I really I really do. Um, and this is kind of expanding upon my previous example question of >> Yes, sir. >> the El Paso situation. And I and I guess where where my mind is trending is let's let's say for example you have three families in Cyprus >> and their students are on the bubble of the 10% top 10 of their class. >> Yes sir. And for whatever reason they I have a they have a connection to Brian ISD and it's like hey well if our three families go and enroll in Brian ISD well then voila even though we live in Cyprus >> um we have enrolled in the virtual learning of Brian ISD we

116graduate from Brian ISD and we are in the top 10 now now we are in the top 10% of that >> graduating class. >> Yes sir. whereby bumping uh potentially >> resident students. >> Um that might be the outlier and that might be a dramatic example. >> What are possibilities there? >> Um are there any guard rails? >> What are your options? >> Say, "Hey, wait a second. We got some people people here that are maybe trying to do something, >> lack of better term, nefarious." So, one provision that's currently in board policy, it's EIC local that the board already has in place, is if a student is to be the validictorian or the saludiatoran, they must be enrolled at that high school for four consecutive semesters preceding graduation. So, you can't transfer in and

117take over validictorian or saludiatoran. We could expand language similarly, but I would need to get some legal counsel to look at it for the top 10%. Right now, it's restricted to val and s. >> Yeah. I mean, I I I think at the end of the day, um I >> I think I'm just trying to be mindful of families certainly live in Brian ISD that, you know, um participate in Brian ISD, be it whatever example you >> you want to throw out there. Um as opposed to somebody who's just kind of gaming. >> I will say as they enroll, it boosts the number in the class, which boosts the number of kids eligible in the top 10% as well. >> Okay. So that also helps and sometimes it rectifies itself. >> Yeah. And again, I

118think that's a dramatic example. I think just >> there's there's a concept or a thought I guess from from my standpoint of being mindful of >> certainly and and >> Brian families, >> remind me if they're fully virtual, are they at one of our high or are they in the >> They're at one of our high schools, right? >> How do we determine what high school they're associated with? So, for right now, it would be where they are zoned to attend because we're only talking about Brian ISD students. Later on the agenda, when you look at FDA local, most districts, if you open an programmatic transfers from out of district in utilize a lottery system where it just ping pongs back and forth, you don't get to pick one typically. Um, you're randomly assigned to

119that setting. >> And I know we're not on that agenda item, but >> but it is all related. Absolutely. >> So if it looked like we were doing like Balorat uh AP Capstone. So how does that work on a lottery? >> So if they're going for a program, that one would be specific to those schools in particular. Yes, ma'am. That's correct. The virtual academy would be the lottery. >> Okay. And from uh back to the UIL question, I know we have had the option for the last several years that we have not done it where homeschooled students could pay $1,500 a year to the district and would be allowed to engage in our UIL. We've not done that. So ma'am, if in the case that we're talking about in El Paso, like I just don't

120understand how the funding works and does the district, the home district have to take action to allow the student to do it. >> So there are some districts out there and and Mr. Rush can certainly hop up and help me uh explain, but there are some districts out there that have set for board policies prohibiting students who enroll in outside districts to come back and participate in their campus for UIL purposes as I understand it. Um so that is a possibility >> because I know we're thinking of it from the side of someone's enrolling in us virtually but zoned somewhere else but the flip could be true. >> It's true. Yes, ma'am. >> Yeah. And and again back to the homeschool, it's a lot of that centers around the eligibility and making it even for

121our resident kids and then students who are not enrolled with us having the same provisions for participation uh for grades and academic um performance. >> Rush, would you add anything to that? Sir, >> you covered it well. >> You have been teaching me very well. Thank you. So, Coach Rush, um, what does what does what is the precedence been to schools that have done this for that student to not be in their athletic class or is that a prerequisite for them to be eligible for if they're in Hearn or El Paso and they're playing they're with us enrolled as our student, but then if they're going to play basketball, what is the what have other schools done about that student participating in their basketball class? H how does that work? >> So, you're referring to

122a uh in-person uh out of district inperson learning as that kid coming from her, right? Enrolling in in whatever school, Ruer, Brian High, and they're there. I'm just curious if other schools blow that off or is that >> No, they participate. And so the basically the rule on that is if they give you your example, if we uh open open enrollment to a out of in-person learning and so if a kid enrolls in a in-person learning, Brian ISD enroll for four hours, they considered a full-time student at at that campus. Uh the first rule is they're going to be ineligible for one calendar year to regain eligibility for varsity participation. They will be eligible to participate in subvoic the athletics. Uh but it takes one calendar year 365 days as for one calendar year for

123that kid to regain eligibility uh to participate in varsity athletics. And so that's how the UI that's the UI rule and that's what uh districts uh that's how they handle that. But to I think more to your question, should should this happen, >> there would be an expectation from the coaches or the band director or the choir director that you participate in that athletic period for that band program, etc. You come to after school practices, you show up for the games, you go to the tournaments, etc. Um that that would be an expectation. >> Yes, that that would be% >> just like a kid who is born and raised here and is zoned to our schools. Yes. >> For them to participate. So it's not just as easy as a kid showing up at for

124after school practice. >> No, they would have to come to the athletic period to participate. >> There's a lot of commitment. >> Yes. >> For an athlete to be in virtual here, but be it athlete in another district. It's not as easy as it sounds >> for that district to have our kid. >> Does that make sense? >> Yes. >> Yeah. But then the other thing you said, are we going to look at that later? >> Yeah. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. There's there's more on the agenda. >> Just two things I I just have to say. >> Certainly. >> Um and Barbara knows this uh because we had a conversation earlier. >> I do. >> Last week. And um you know, one of my concerns is that uh this company is a Pearson company. And

125though I am very supportive of our staff and their due diligence and making this recommendation as a board member, I am very concerned about expanding a relationship with Pearson. And u for those who don't know, Pearson is the company that does the testing um in the state of Texas. Um there have been efforts to um expand that to teacher certification testing that didn't happen. Um, but that concerns me. Um, I also did a little due diligence on research into this particular entity at Pearson and some of the reviews are concerning. So, um, I'm glad we've talked to some other districts. But what I worry about is this is the the kind of program we are going to have to have our thumb on every minute or students will not have a positive experience and families

126won't have a positive experience. On the flip side of that, I also worry about who this serves. I feel like it's going to serve a very privileged sect of our uh populations and that's concerning to me because um we serve all students and um yes I want options and choices for folks but I'm concerned about um investing more into um those who clearly have the privilege to move their kids throughout the day um bring them to practice practice, supervise them during the day while they're doing all of these things. Um, that's not true for for most families. Um, so I just felt like I needed to say that publicly. >> Thank you, Dr. Harland. And and we did have a lengthy discussion about it and I I recognize um your perspective on where on and

127where you're coming from and I know it comes from a good place. Uh I will say one thing that um the team appreciated about uh the entity um the connections education is that it did have familiarity with what students would experience on state assessments and so that students were more it was an easier transition for them into an actual state assessment because they had familiar tools to them. Uh especially um when in that moment of of the assessment itself. um the references that we spoke to spoke very highly of the responsiveness of the partnership um and that they had higher references than the other entities that we looked at. Um and and then just additionally, we we recognize that this is going to be a learning experience and in the future it's quite possible that

128Brian ISD teachers would take over these courses to have more control over them um and possibly even launch our own LMS. Most districts again do that do a partnership at least in year one in the first few years until there's enough sustainability of student enrollment to be able to justify um seeking out teachers who are interested in picking up the courses um and we have enough familiarity with the operations of it. So certainly something to explore in the future as well. And my concern was I it did not go to teaching and learning for the board. So they could have explained it a little bit better um to the other board members and we wouldn't have been not caught off guard. I read about it because some a lot of things about it um I

129just don't like. You know, like Julie said, I looked at it and I saw only an elite group of students. And what does that say for the other students? And I'm I'm concerned that I don't want to get started with it. We're already saying that we're putting more work on our staff and now we're putting something else on our staff. >> So somewhere in that line, you can't tell me it's not going to happen. Something's going to slack and we can't afford for it to be this. >> So I'm actually glad you brought this up, Mr. Benford. I'm glad you brought it up. One of the things we've been looking at internally is redistributing our responsibilities and duties to be responsive to the changes that are being implemented. This is one of those. We have

130to be cognizant that it is more which is why we didn't want to put it on campuses this first year. We're reorganizing our current responsibilities on on my team in particular so that we're able to pivot and pick this up without seeing a a lessening in service in other areas. Um again, this is it is different. We recognize that u I think we've all gone back and forth over the what it could look like, should look like, may look like. Um and ultimately we landed here today based on the feedback from parents, students and stakeholders and what they're asking us to consider as an option for their children. Um and again we we have the full discretion to do it however we like. Um TEA has not made the rules. Um but we believe that

131we can launch this in the August um semester of the coming year um and do so successfully. >> Dr. Do you borrow Let me ask you who who do you know other districts close >> who who's doing this >> virtual schools >> certainly so there's actually several I know Bastrop just launched theirs Conro has one Huntsville ISD I know our neighbors to the south are seeking launching one um they're getting a survey right now together and may be launching one very soon uh Harmony locally has already launched theirs um Waco has launched theirs Um and then there's a whole sunundry of those in the Houston area. They are all launching them. >> Yeah. Fort Ben, Katy, Scyfare, A Leaf, all of them. All of them. Um we have u as you mentioned earlier recognized u

132that the traditional norms of public school are changing. So Brian wants to be competitive and re relevant and innovative and progressive and to have school choices for our kids here. We don't want them to go and choose another district. We want to best serve their needs here. And and I have received as superintendent more calls this year than usual for this opportunity. A lot of our homeschool parents have really asked about uh the opportunities to they want to learn at home, but they want to be able to come into our schools and take our welding courses or be involved with FFA or to play baseball. So, um, it is a very different way of thinking and, uh, I'm going to be completely honest, we we've labored over this. I I probably ask more questions and

133shared more concerns than anyone with academic integrity and u equity and making oursel available and even how we would bear the burden. So, uh, Dr. bar is is um accurate when she says we're looking at the org charts right now for redistribution of roles and responsibilities because we recognize the need to change with the times to best serve the students in Brian ISD. >> One one I just curious one one statistic stat statistic that I've pondered or scratched my head over with all these slides that we look at is the declining enrollment >> yes >> number. And I've, you know, I I think I suspect why um vouchers, all this stuff. Um and I've I've kind of always wondered, you know, what levers can we pull on our end uh to start swinging that back

134the other way? Is this one of them? >> In my opinion, yes, sir, it is. >> Okay. So it's like if those if if we don't make this available particularly because we have so much to offer those kids are going to go somewhere. >> We do have parents asking for this option and and they can choose to go somewhere else if we don't provide it. Now I would they maybe would they not maybe um but I certainly don't want to run the risk of not offering something that I think we can offer to them. >> And I think to Dr. Boheis's point because we want to invite them into our world. All the activities, the clubs, the dances, the pep rallies, the Friday night lights. I I would hope that they would come in and

135love what we have to offer in person with the brick and mortar and choose to be here in person or at least hybrid. I think that uh they're going to love all that we offer here in >> once they get connected, they may want to come all day long. >> Yes, we we've made that commitment. um as opposed to some other districts, I've not really seen them embrace virtual schools uh when we talk about, you know, all the clubs and extracurriculars and family and community engagement. So, we're excited to take it to another level with that in mind. >> Wow. I'll share a little bit. Um I I appreciate the discussion. I think there's been some um very interesting points made by our board and and and it was a good discussion. >> Um my

136as I've kind of processed this um um adjustment, change, opportunity, my heart kind of says one thing and and my mind says something entirely different. Um, I value kids in the building, value it for my kids. >> I think there's I think there's an incredible um opportunity and and I'm I'm an in-person learner personally. Um, but just the social aspect of of what that means for our youth. Um, I value it immensely and um I I love to see them flourish in that environment. At the same time, my mind says you need to be open-minded about change and where things where things are going. And I think there's a lot of uncertainty. It's hard it's hard to, you know, have a clear picture of of where this evolves >> over time. And there's there's a

137lot of questions and I think that um I think I think it'll be a learning process for us all if we choose to move forward. Um, but I do along with Ginger, I appreciate your comments, Dr. Bohis. Um, because I want to continue to pour it so much effort into creating those experiences in our building that can't be replicated elsewhere. I think that uh pride culture um social is is is good for our youth and um I think if we continue to uh forge ahead with those efforts um it'll be hard to deny those experiences of what it means to be in in the school building with other kids. Um, so I appreciate you saying that and I I just want to, you know, encourage leadership and staff to think outside of the box and

138be creative to to make those things happen to to draw the kids in. Um, but I also just see that uh, you know, we have to it's a changing world from a technology standpoint and these these opportunities are um, they're moving past us if we if we don't consider it strongly. So, um it's just I appreciate everyone's comments and and as far as Mr. Stazzney, >> I agree. It should absolutely be a um a fine program that offers a wonderful education for the kids. It can't be a shortcut. >> I agree completely. >> It's got to be strong. >> Any other comments or questions? Well, I promise I won't eat but about but about but about but about but about but about but a minute I I can speak from personal experience to some of

139my children u that whether it's just uh a little bullying or a lot of bullying or just some other safety issues so many parents that's their number one priority still is safety and I think we've made great strides in our schools to really uh work on that and and we have a lot going on that that helps kids to build character and and be strong and and not and not uh mistreat each other. And and the reason I'm bringing that up is that I think we're doing a great job with that. And until until some of these other folks that aren't going to Brian schools get a taste of that, then they may still have that perception that it's not safe, it's not a good place for their kids. and and so the hybrid program

140in particular gives them an opportunity to taste that >> invites them back in a way that's comfortable. >> Thank you, sir. >> And it's a no-brainer for me from a virtual school standpoint. Like I mean, yes, where I have concerns is in the hybrid model. From a logistical and pragmatic standpoint, I don't see how that's going to work. Um, if you're going to require a student to be on campus four hours a day in order to be eligible for things, how how will we ever do a schedule for for kids unless we severely limit it to a small number of students, which then defeats the purpose of the program. Um, so that's the part I'm I have concerns about is hybrid. And um again I'm a proponent of of of all the things but where

141I know like when I do programming at my institution we do in person and we do virtual but we don't do hybrid because sometimes you lose on both sides. Um it's very difficult to do well. >> So I will say um you're the complexities are not small. You're absolutely right. Uh the hybrid opportunity in in this design would not have to be for four hours. It could be for a singular class period. Um, but there are still those logistics of coming and going. Um, our high school principles already deal with a great deal of that with late arrival, early release, and all of those things. We've got students going to CEK and then coming back. >> So, when is the 4hour thing when does that come into play? The 4-hour thing is only if the

142board adopts out of district transfers and that student wants to be eligible for UIL and Brian ISD but they want to be in the virtual academy they would have to do four hours at that point. It's only for that small little group of students. So if they are a resident in the zone, >> they're already eligible >> and they just want to do baseball as an example, >> they can come just for that. >> They come in for athletic period >> and let's say that's in the morning. It's not in the afternoon and then they come back after school for practice. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Yes. A lot of the homeschool parents who've called us u are not interested in athletics. They're they're wanting the CTE program and we have availability

143because some of our regional partners have since moved on. Uh Snook, Caldwell, and College Station have built their own facilities. So we had a great run and we served them well, but now we have some space to entertain these out of district students at CEK in particular. And if we have more seats than we needed there, then we have Rudder and Brian High. Well, and I also want to say I can see it from the classroom perspective, come in for one class where it gets really hard, I think, from the teacher perspective is when you're also doing um afterchool programming through TSA, FFA, whatever it is, >> keeping track of who's doing what, when, and where they are. I mean, then it gets more challenging. Not that it can't be overcome, but I also worry

144about in these days and times putting more on our teachers. And it is teacher appreciation week. So we want to appreciate ma'am. >> Yes. We we want to do everything possible. In fact, uh Dr. Ibara sent a message out to all of our staff to let them know that we were talking about this tonight and that uh we would not expect them to do anything with it in year one. I we want to slow roll it and the team has agreed to shepherd the process uh again with some reorganization and redistribution of duties because if we're going to do anything, we're going to do it with complete fidelity. We want there to be integrity because um we we just you know that's a non-negotiable. We will not compromise that. >> But thank you for clarifying

145the four. Absolutely. I I was not understanding that we had to do four hours for everyone that would be quite the beach. >> That makes sense though. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> When we talk about slow rolling it, are we talking about number of seats or are we talk what do we mean? What do we mean by slow rolling it? Uh well, we didn't want to place any of the burden on our school campus teachers. So the the platform would provide Yeah. They'll provide the curriculum, the instruction, the >> We want to figure out all the logistics before we turn it over to anybody else. >> Are we are we limiting seats or are we as many want to sign up? >> We don't have any plans to limit the seats. It's based on

146interest and availability. >> Um just meeting the needs of of what parents want for their children. We don't really have anything to compare it because we don't have a lot >> and neither does any other district in the state of Texas right now. So, they're all adventures. >> It's different everywhere because everyone's in a different place. U and and to be honest, we didn't want to be late to the party. We we felt like we've been looking at this for a good two years and why not lead the way? We're we're loud and proud with all that we offer in Brian ISTD and we're ready to embrace uh some thinking outside of the box. Absolutely. again. So to to turn kids of eight would be honestly unimaginable. Um so we'll have to see what the

147interest is. It might be slow interest just because it's year one. >> Thank you for answering all our many questions to these are all questions that we've all lamented over as well. So please know uh we appreciate the dialogue and the you guys always make sure that the children are first in our district and we appreciate that very much. >> Yes. And and please know we we've met and talked about this every day of the week leading up to this moment and we've taken it to parents, students, teachers, uh we've had quite a few people weigh in on the possibility. So um and and we've used that feedback to inform a lot of these decisions. >> Thank you to your entire team. >> Thank you all. >> All right, we'll go to item number eight.

148Consent agenda. The board can remove any item from the consent agenda if applicable. If there are none, I will entertain a motion. >> Move approval of all the items listed on the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Motion was made by Mrs. Benford, seconded by M. Waller. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed say no. >> The motion passes. action items um 9A to discuss and consider approval of a purchase of over $50,000 um for Skyward. Uh executive director of technology services Julie Johnson and director of data services Jennifer Lemons will present. >> Thank you. Um, I'm actually going to turn it over to our director of data services, Jennifer Lemons, because she has been a rock in making sure everything gets implemented and would like her to kind of lead the presentation.

149So, >> thank you. Good evening. Um, I thought um that it would be wonderful because there's a couple of new faces that we just kind of take a second to say what is Skyward. Um, I've seen some of the previous board meetings and I hear you guys talking about Skyward. So, um, the, um, the Skyward system, >> sorry. Um, it's really kind of two sides of a coin. Um, we have our business side, which is our finance, human resources, fixed assets, payroll, warehouse. Um, I like to think of it as it runs the back of the house, so to speak. And then what we have been focusing on with all our heart and soul um, since last June really or actually probably last February um, is the student side of the house, our student information

150system. And that in incorporates all of our um grades, attendance, scheduling, discipline, um our parent portal, our student portal, um everything about the student is contained in our student information system. Um so speaking of our business system, I thought a quick update would be in order. Um they are everybody that interacts with our business system is learning so much every day. Um it's kind of like a mom watching her children. Like I have seen so much growth and confidence build in our our um staff that are utilizing that. Um we actually have a weekly meeting between technology, human resources, our finance office and it's a wonderful time to collaborate and problem solve and through that we are learning more and more about the software and how we can leverage it to be more efficient. Um

151and from those meetings then every participant gets to go back to their respective departments and and share what we talked about and what we learned. Hey, did you know or I learned today? And that's where wonderful collaboration happens. Um for our student side, um I wanted to kind of focus on the word team. Um it has absolutely been a team effort. Um training. We have spent literally, this is no exaggeration, over 500 hours on Zoom learning about Skyward and all that it contains. And it's a whole lot. Um, and that's been our implementation team. And then as times, you know, needed, we would bring in more people like we have, let's have the counselors come and let's have our master schedule staff. Um and Skyward's been fantastic at kind of meeting our every need. Customized

152training, standardized training. Um the E in team to me means engaged. We have spent 600 plus hours offering live help to our teachers. And this is one of the aspects that I'm absolutely the most proud of. And um Jana Winsel is our assistant director of um instructional materials and and and other things. I don't know her exact title, but um she helped create this model. And without that, I think we would have had a lot more stumbling blocks. But what we did was we had a live Zoom session and we said, "We're on it all day. We're here for you. Pop in whenever." And We know that, you know, teachers get to work early. They might not have a first period. I'm kind of nervous. I need help grading an assignment. Um, but it wasn't

153just teachers. We had assistant principles, um, principles, nurses, just anybody that wanted to hop on. So, our intent really was to just do it for like the first three weeks of school. We quickly said, "Let's let's make sure we are there for everybody through the end of the first six weeks." And then we said, "No, well, let's keep going." And so now we have scaled back a little bit, but we offer life help the week of progress reports and the week of report cards, and we still have people who are getting on just needing a little bit of reassurance or trying out something new. So, it's been a really wonderful thing. Um, the A in team to me has accomplished. And um launching Skyward was a very big lift and it required a lot from

154everybody. But you know what? Every single person rose to the challenge. They um stayed late. They came early. They didn't give up. They tried their hardest and we got students scheduled. Everyone's gotten their grades and their report cards. Students have enrolled. It's really been wonderful um to just see all that we've done. And then finally um just maximizing the software. One thing that we like about Skyward is it kind of puts the end user in the driver's seat to be able to consume the data that they need without having to call data services. Hey, can you get me a report that says blah blah blah? And so I want to share a quote with you um from Karina McNeely. She's our bilingual elementary program coordinator and she recently was meeting with someone on our team

155and she shared this in the beginning Skyward felt overwhelming. Um but I learned how to do my own filters of data which allows me to complete tasks quicker because I know how to access the data on my own. And I love that. That's amazing. Um, some other things that we did to maximize the software is we launched attendance letters. So, whenever a student's been absent so many times, the parent gets a letter, we piloted that um at two schools and it went great and we said, let's let's just launch it everywhere. And so even though it's a big lift and it's, you know, kind of consuming, but no one's lost sight of where we're headed and how we want to leverage the software. And so, um, with that, I just wanted to show you guys

156a picture of these faces have been there through the thick and the thin. Um there's not one person on that screen that if if I called and said I need help that they would have said um I'm kind of busy. They would literally drop everything because we all wanted Skyward to be a complete success. Um so kind of what's next? Um we're about to end the first full year and that it's flown by like in about a a second it feels like. Um but we are launching the Skyward online enrollment on May the 18th and um we've been working on that and wanting that to make um a good impact on our website and for our incoming families. Um, and then on the business side or um of the house, we um are going to

157be launching um a an online form for all of our employees to just verify their information, update your emergency contacts and utilizing that employee portal for that as um this coming fall. So, we are super excited about the way everything has gone. So, um anyway, um just the renewal that is um on the agenda for tonight, it includes our business system, our student system, as well as the hosting environment for the software. And so, um at this time, I'll be happy to entertain any questions. >> Well, I in some ways I hate technology more than anybody in this room, but but I I I like it when it works. you almost indicted it when you said how much trouble it was to learn it. But I guess what you're saying especially of course we've invested

158in it that it's worth it to to learn how to use it properly. >> Uh but I always wish it would be a everything in technology would be a little more intuitive because that's what drives me crazy is when you reach some you hit something and and you have to call because it makes no sense on its own. So, so I guess that's what you would say is that yeah, it's complicated. Yeah, you got to really work on it, but it's worth it. >> It is worth it. And it's, you know, when you're when you make a change like this, everything changes. There's really not a part that hasn't been touched. And so, um, it's it's I I see a lot of people being very proud of the work that they've done. >> Okay. And

159the estimate for the cost to renew is less than we expected. >> Oh yes. Yes, absolutely. That's always good news. >> Yes, it was. Thank you. I've um failed to mention that um kind of when we were projecting out like what's each year for the five years. Um this um year's renewal was $14,000 less than what we had anticipated. So that's a wonderful thing. Well, I know that Skyward has really helped us get more efficient on like the HR and the business side for sure. So, uh, >> absolutely. >> That's exciting. Um, and I know when we made the decision to move it into the student information side, there were some other things we were paying for that now we don't have to pay for. So, that's right. >> Hopefully, it's been a net gain

160in terms of efficiency, too. >> Yeah. I I keep hearing comments about it's wonderful for it to all be under one umbrella. >> Yeah. >> I move approval of the contract to Skyward in the amount of $278,41 for Skyward Enterprise Software annual support renewals as presented. >> Second. >> Motion was made by Dr. Harlland Wolf, seconded by Mr. Pavis. All those in favor say I. >> Any oppose say no. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Next, we will consider approval of Connections Education LLC. Dr. Barbara Borrow will present. >> Thank you, Mr. Brian. Um, so following up on our earlier presentation, this is the contract that I spoke of. Uh, the student cost for a full-time student is roughly $2,900. So to enroll more than 15 students in this type

161of educational setting would mean that the board would have to consider a contract um to allow us to extend that beyond 15 students. Uh the contract has been through our legal consult our council and team and the appropriate adjustments have been made um and it has been approved by um by that person. So it's for the board's consideration. I'm happy to answer any of your your questions. regarding the contract >> or anything else. >> I appreciate all of the many conversations you've had with >> Thank you. us on this and um putting us I think at ease to know and what I told Barbara is you know I may have questions and and some concerns but I trust the due diligence of our staff and of the what they have done to bring this before

162the board and at the end of the day what I hope that we always do is what's in the best interest of children what's in the best interest of families and ultimately the school district. So, um, yeah, with that, I'm happy to move to approve the contract with Connections Education LLC for virtual learning program offerings as presented. >> Second. >> Any additional questions or comments? >> Motion was made by Dr. Harlland Wolf, seconded by Mrs. Waller. All those in favor say I. >> Any opposed say no. >> Motion passes. Thank you. >> And 9C, uh, consider updates to board policy FDA local. Dr. Barber, you bar. >> Thank you, sir. Um, as the board is aware, we currently allow out of district transfers for students to attend Brian Collegiate High School. That's actually how it

163started u many moons ago uh under the leadership of Dr. Christina Richardson. Um, that is still in place in board policy today. Uh before you this evening is the option to consider expanding that transfer opportunity to out of district students for specific programs that are available only in Brian ISD. Uh for example on the edits you see for this particular item um it's again a non-resident student may apply to attend Brian Collegiate High School and then we add Brian High School's international balora program which would be fully in person and on campus. Rudder High School's AP Capstone, which could be either way. Uh the Explore Academy for highly gifted students at Ross Elementary, and then the Brian Virtual Academy. Um it's important to note here that um they would be considered for enrollment after all

164resident students have been considered first and that those transfers would be granted on a one-year uh basis and would be tuitionfree. Um, should the board like to go down um or go this direction? What questions can u I answer for you or Mr. Rush or anyone else? >> There's not a motion. >> I we I can make one, but >> are there are there any boundaries on a virtual learner? Does it have to be state of Texas? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> State of Texas. But but with with what you're presenting with the board policy, um Derek may have to come back up if we have questions on this. >> So if they're transferring in, let's say they live in Caldwell or Snook and they want to go to our IB program that's offered

165at Bryan High School, which by the way, we're the only public school in the Brazes Valley uh that offers the international baloria program. So, uh, so they would come in as a transfer student and be a Brian ISD in-person u, uh, student, uh, back to UIL eligibility, and this has to do with athletics or fine arts. If they're coming in as a freshman to take the IB program and they want to play baseball, they can't play first year as a varsity participant because they're coming in as a transfer and this was not their original um, place of residency. Do you want to elaborate on anything about that? >> Yeah, just just kind of what you just said there is that was absolutely true. Uh considering the UIL rules states that if you have a a

166a kid that's transferring in from out of district and in person uh they have to sit out one calendar year to be established residents and also to be eligible for voice participation. So if you have a kid coming in, uh that kid could be eligible to participate in subvoice athletics. Then after one calendar year, uh through all the UIL, uh residential rooms and things of that nature, that kid would be eligible to participate in varsity after one calendar year. >> Okay. So a calendar year would mean >> 360. >> They couldn't do summer. >> Okay. >> Yep. So if they came in, if they started school on August 20th, >> okay, but football started August 4th, the calendar year would be August 20th. So that kid couldn't prot if they went their freshman year as

167sub varsity. They couldn't move up until after the fourth, they'd have to wait till the 20th. Yes. So they'd missed their first couple of weeks of >> varsity practice. >> Is that practice or competing? >> Just competing on a in a varsity game. They can still practice on varsity or practice whatever the coach deans for that kid to practice at. And so but they will be eligible that >> so it's it's not being on varsity. It's just competing. And this is only for varsity. If you're coming in as a freshman, you could play on the freshman team or the JV team with no problem. The only time that this could be a problem and we would caution the family and the student is if they're coming in their senior year. Yes. >> Uh they would

168not be eligible for varsity. That is correct. A lot of our kids are not coming to play uh sports u or even to march in the band. They just want to get their hands on this program that is only offered in Brian ISD. Same thing with AP Capstone. We're the only public school in the Brazes Valley offering the AP Capstone program that you could find at Rudder. Same rules apply. This is very common. Most districts already offer transfers uh out of the district and among the district for academy programs. It's very very common. Uh so we are just getting up to speed with others. >> Yes. Totally. >> Coach mentioned so I can understand a little bit better because earlier I heard if they were like going and lived in Hearn >> and they did

169this program they'd have to play athletics in Hearn. Now you're saying that this is >> so what I was talking talking about earlier is virtual >> virtual academy. >> Gotcha. Thank you. >> But if they come and they're here four periods a day, >> they're considered before >> then they're considered. >> Gotcha. >> Okay. >> Yes ma'am. >> Yeah. >> Barbara, you you mentioned I believe the elementary gifted program in S Ross. >> Yes, sir. Pending availability of space. We have we have openings at >> Well, and and my understanding that's one of the more limited limited we have and and when you say well consider the locals first, but then you've got uh okay, you've got somebody from outside the district and they're seem to be more gifted. So that kid that would have

170qualified is now >> we would take our students first and then if there are available seats then we open it up to outside the district to be tested to see if they hit the threshold for um entrance into that academy. >> Okay. >> Only after everyone >> we're going to be careful to make sure we certainly Yes sir. And I don't know if it's this policy or where we put it, but you did hear some discussion about out of like students who are zoned to us >> but are enrolled in some in a virtual school somewhere else >> and then competing for us >> and then competing for I mean we haven't talked specifically about that but I'm going to guess we might have some concerns about that. >> Yes, ma'am. I would we can

171bring that uh draft policy back to the board for discussion. >> You want me to make a motion there? There's not motion language on here, but I think I can do one if we're ready. >> Yeah. I move that uh the dis that the board consider extending out of district out of district transfers to specific Brian IC programs that are unique to the district as presented. >> Second. >> Motion made by Dr. Harlland Wolf, seconded by Miss Waller. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose say no. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. The board will now convene in close session to discuss the following items as allowed by the Texas Government Code Chapter 551.074 and 551.0821. No voting will take place in the closed meeting. Any action the board wishes to take

172as a result of discussion in close session will occur after the board reconvenes in the open meeting. The time is now 8:25 Yeah. Well, that's what that's worth. >> The board reconvened in open session at 10:05 p.m. No action was taken in close session. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 10:05 p.m.