001Call this Brian Independent School District meeting to order. Let the record show that of board members is present, that this meeting has been duly 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 6:00 p.m. Mr. Extend a warm welcome to those of you who are present. Uh, I ask that you please turn off the sound on all electronic devices and and stand for the pledges, please. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands one nationy and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag. I pledge algiance to the Texas one state under God one and indivisible. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> All right. We have uh we provide
002opportunity for public comments um at this meeting uh for agenda items only. Do we have anybody? >> All right. No citizen comments. For future reference, citizens may make comments about topics relevant to district business and they would be limited to three minutes and comments concerning specific student or personnel are heard in close session. Uh first information item academic calendar development for 2627. Uh Dr. Ibara. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Stazznney. Uh good evening board. I'm here tonight on behalf of Donna Willlet who normally um conducts this presentation but she is ill today. Um so I offered to step in um thankfully I know that two of you at least are very versed in the development of the school calendar for the 2627 academic [clears throat] year. Um and so I'm hoping that you can
003I can phone a friend if I if I need your help. [laughter] But tonight we're going to talk just about the options that are about to go before the community for consideration and feedback. Um so first and foremost uh you guys know Donna has been in here several times talking about how the committee was formed, how the committee works together. It's a cross-section of staff members, students, faculty members, parents, and then of course district and campus leadership. And the purpose is to design a calendar using all of the different rules that TEA gives us for how many minutes we must have and what kind of days we can use and when we can start and when we must finish by and make all of that work within all of the calendars and the wishes and
004wants of all the different stakeholders. Um certainly not an easy task but certainly one that um does provide for fruitful conversation and dialogue. Uh so the timeline began in October and feedback was gathered from not just the committee itself but from other committees as well the district leadership team um the calendar committee itself board meetings and then also feedback from various stakeholders um throughout the district. The idea of the timeline was to come to this board meeting to present to you the two options that the committee has come up with so that we could then present those two options to the community at large for feedback and input and then come back to you at the December 15th meeting for possible consideration of the calendar for the upcoming academic year. Um so that's kind of
005the timeline that we're on right now. Uh we do have two calendars that have surfaced uh based on all the different versions and renditions of them. A calendar one and a calendar two. They are relatively similar in composition um with some slight changes and and differences between the two of them. Uh most notably uh calendar one begins on August uh the 12th and calendar 2 begins on August the 17th. So that start date for students is pretty different on those two calendars, which then um does play into what the holidays look like for the remainder of the school year. Uh so the big change between calendar one and calendar 2 really occurs in August. September is relatively similar with minor changes. October's very similar. Uh November is very similar with the exception that calendar 2
006does not have a staff development day at the beginning of the month. Uh December is identical. January is identical. February is different between the two calendars. Historically, the district has taken off President's Day on on in February, which is a Monday. Um, this year as the committee looked at all of the options and all of the data, we recognized that the date would be better suited to be February 11th and 12th or February 12th um because that actually is a time period where many students and staff are away at conferences um state still uh skills USA competitions and so the number of absences is uh for students and staff missing instruction on those days is significant. Um, so this would be a a a savings for both the kids and for the staff by moving
007that day ever so slightly to the week before on a Thursday, Friday, or just a Friday day. Uh, March, I wanted to go ahead and draw your attention to March. Um, it is a little up in the air at this point. Uh, we are anticipating when we believe Texas&M University will be on spring break knowing that it's important for our community that we sync up those calendars. They don't they're not anticipating to take action on that until the spring. We anticipate it to be this particular week. So, we put that on the calendar. Should that not be the case, we would bring back this calendar to the board of trustees for consideration of an adjustment if spring break is not what we anticipate it to be um to sync up with&m. You'll also notice that
008Good Friday happens relatively early this year. It's immediately following spring break on this calendar, the Friday after spring break. Um, so Good Friday would of course um be off and then we head into assessment season in April. Um, and then May, uh, the timeline is ever so slightly different at the end of the school year by one day. Um, so again, the calendars are relatively similar. When parents and community members go to the survey to provide input, they're also provided a side byside of those two calendars, kind of a little cheat sheet about what's similar and what's different on those two calendars to help them u just really make the decision that's best for their family and giving input and what works best for their situation. Um if uh the the survey opens tomorrow, December
0092nd, it would go through the 10th and then that feedback would also be shared with the board of trustees um on December 15th as you discuss and consider the options. Uh so we can come back again and tell you more about uh the feedback. Uh but hopefully we'll be able to bring to you on the 15th uh a clear recommendation for moving forward with the academic calendar for the 2627 school year. Could you go back to the two calendars? [clears throat] >> Uh do you know any history about uh the possibility that when you have three days the counter starts on the 12th which is just three days that people are some people are going to just treat that as well just three days we'll just not worry about school till the 17th. So, um,
010I mean, do you know that >> we've actually had, it's a very good question. We've actually had midweek starts for several years in a row now. We've not seen that to be the case. Um, there seems to be a a soft start, a soft opening that gets everyone in the door and gets them settled and then the next full week, we haven't seen a massive change in students attending that first day or not. But three days, I think if it were two days, I would be concerned. Three days doesn't concern me. >> Okay. Yeah. Obviously, I'm fair question. >> Partly concerned about ADA and even though it's a soft start. So, yeah. >> Okay. Well, thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> That spring break, >> that following Friday, that's the one that's good Friday. >>
011Yes, ma'am. >> And then Easter is that 28th. >> Yes, ma'am. >> So, that Monday, they're not going to be off. Correct. >> Correct. And that's that's consistent with current year and prior years as well. >> Okay. Anything else? >> All right. Well, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Our next information item is [clears throat] advanced academics update. Dr. Christina Richardson, welcome. >> Good evening. Um, so the state plan for gifted and talented requires me to come to the board each year and update you and provide you data and show you how is advanced academics doing um to this point in time. And so that is what I brought you. So to remind you what is advanced academics here? How do we serve students K12 for gifted and talented as well as advanced
012academics? We have our K4 GT services which is push out and pull in. We also have our explorer academy for highly gifted um dual language. We are at the tail end of inquire and odyssey but they are still in eighth grade. We also have our Aspire Academy now. Um and then we have advanced courses in grades f uh 5 through 11th. We have preap and advanced um placement courses. The AP capstone diploma program is at Rudder High School. International Balora diploma program is at Brian High. We have dual credit at both of our big high schools. And then we also have Brian Collegiate which is a designated early college high school. And then we have AVID. and Abbott as a support program for kids in all of those above. So what are our goals um
013as a advanced academics in our district? So first is identification and enrollment. We want to be sure that we're um not missing students and so we carefully look through uh number uh different data to identify kids and get them enrolled um into services starting as young as their spring of their kinder year. um curriculum and service design. This is something that we're constantly working on with our CNI team um to try and up the rigor and um make it more accessible to teachers so that they understand the level of rigor they're supposed to be at. Professional development. We're required by the state that every teacher who serves GT students has to first do an initial 30 hours professional development and then each year after that they do a six-hour update in um advanced academics topics
014and then we also we go beyond that which I'll get to here in a few minutes and then community and parent engagement. And so we want to be sure that parents see those GT projects that they've been working on um that they hopefully see their student making successful progress into a college preparatory program. So professional uh professional development I already said the 30 hours and the six hours and that's the state requirement. We go well beyond that. Um our teachers have lots of opportunity uh for professional development in depth and complexity which is uh certain um specific strategies to get students into that deeper level of thinking. Um our instructional coaches are also trained in these strategies as well so that they can support teachers in growing and using those strategies. Um we have GT
015specialists that work with our K6 teachers. um they plan with them, they model for them, um they come up with activities for them, they also do our pushin and our pull out. Um and then we have our AP and IB teachers which are on a three-year rotation to stay up to date with the College Board curriculum. And then we also have our AVID instructional strategies. And these are um strategies that support students who are in advanced academics. So advancement via individual determination is I just said what aid is. Um and what the impact for this is it helps students perform we've seen it they perform higher on star they increase the number of advanced academics courses that they're entering because this provides support. So, within AVID, students are learning about academic skills. So, they're learning
016note-taking. They're learning how to organize their time using a planner. They're using um binders, and some of the teachers have even gone to ebinders trying to get them into that digital age of organization. Um, and so they take those skills and then apply them in all of their other courses. um they focus on reading, they focus on writing, and that's why AVID is making a difference in our STAR scores and our TEAOS scores because they're supporting the work of those other content areas. We have AVID um in all of our secondary schools. We also have it in sixth grade at our intermediates. And then um Jones and Henderson are our AVID elementaryaries. They do not have an AVID class like um you may be used to hearing about, but they do AVID schoolwide strategies. So,
017for example, we went to Jones um right before Thanksgiving break and we saw their third graders participating in philosophical chairs and those students had done a reading. they had written their text evidence and they got up and they debated their reading using u kind of a scripted language for that grade level of I hear what you're saying but here's what I believe and then they had to use their text evidence and so those are the types of strategies that AVID teaches the teachers as well as students and so we're really excited to see those strategies starting as low as elementary and these these kiddos who will already have note-taking skills and as they how it'll uh help them as they progress up in their uh grades, gifted and talented K4, we have Explore Academy at
018Ross Elementary. Um at all of our other elementaryaries, we have cluster classrooms and what that means is that students who are identified as GT are clustered six to eight kids in one teacher's classroom and that teacher is the one who is has that 30 hours of training that they are the GT teacher. Then the two uh gifted and talented specialists can push into those classrooms and help those teachers facilitate special projects. Um and then they also will pull out um at third and fourth grade and do projects with those students as well. Um we use a variety of different resources. Um Texas uh performance standards project is provided by TEA for gifted and talented students. We use depth and complexity. We use project lead the way um for STEM activities. Um every every elementary has
019Lego robotics um that you guys have supported for multiple years now. And then um every elementary campus also does a GT showcase sometime during the year for students to display their things for parents to come uh see what they've been doing. >> Dr. Richardson, just a quick question. What does pull out and push in mean? What is that? Yeah. So pull out. So uh for example, one of our specialists or Stafford has a time of day when she goes and pulls out a small group of GT kids in fourth grade and does specific projects with them. Um they've written books that they've then published. They've done robotics um a number of different projects and then pull uh push in is when they are going into the classroom the teacher conducting things and they may help
020in a small group during uh the classroom time. >> Gotcha. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Dr. Richardson, did you want to elaborate to share that if if for example the person is not pulling out or pushing in that the teachers are equipped to differentiate instruction and serve >> and that's that is part of that 30 hours is um differentiation as well as depth and complexity. And so those teachers during core curriculum time should be using strategies or um altering the assignments so that students are getting that level of rigor that that's appropriate for them. Um after elementary school that's where our academy starts. So we have Aspire. >> I'm sorry since you're moving on from elementary let me ask a question if you don't mind please. Uh the explorer has always been interesting to me
021and and I I I guess now I'm going to be less concerned about capacity uh because we're doing as you said they called it clusters uh in the other elementary >> u I guess I uh since we still have explorer I I'm I guess going to assume unless you tell me otherwise that it's it's a a more robust program for >> Yes sir. So those students um there are students who are selected for GT and then out of those students we then invite the very top of those students. So students who are scoring in that 97th to 98th percentile um who are who are demonstrating GT characteristics in all core content. So not just I'm GT in math or I'm GT in English. These kids are all around demonstrating characteristics of GT. And so we
022invite them to attend explore. They're in a self-contained classroom, so they have the same teacher um all day long for all subject areas. And they have um um some time built in where they do project-based learning. Um those teachers have more training. They actually have the certification from the state for gifted and talented um to specialize in the needs of those highly gifted students. And so it it is different. I would make I would equate it more to being in like an IB type class in elementary school >> and so those students are immersed in that all day long. >> So is it in any way flexible on numbers or or how is it just one classroom or how many class? >> So right now there's one classroom in fourth, one classroom in third, one
023classroom in second. This is our first year that we do have two classrooms in first. um there there were that many students that we invited and agreed and so we went ahead and grew to meet the needs. A lot of times we invite a number of students but they want to stay in dual language. They want to stay in their neighborhood school because that's where all their friends are but this particular year we have almost all of them wanted to come and so we did go ahead and open up to two classrooms and we'll kind of we're waiting to see if that happens again next year. Does does that grow to two second and 23 or does that is it going to be a singleton? So it's based on the number of kids who are
024going to accept the offer. >> So we do have some flexibility about possibly having another classroom. There's room there at Saul Roth. >> Yes, Miss Caravine has has supported that if if we [laughter] need to grow that then we grow it. >> And then last question this is always one that's uh involves economics of course but but transportation do we do we transport? >> We do transport those students. Okay, that's that's good to hear because u it's always been a philosophy of our district to try to do that if at all possible so that it's not limited to just those kids who have >> right have the ability to to Yep. >> So that's not a barrier. Um, like I said, the biggest reasons why students would turn it down is they've already spent a
025year of kindergarten in a dual language program and they like their school and they, you know, that's where their friends are and they want to stay or because it's their neighborhood school and again they that's where the little league they play is on and that's where all their friends are. And so, um, we don't always get all the kids that we invite, but this past year we we got almost all of them. >> Great. >> But just to reiterate, we do offer gifted and talented services at all schools. So should they meet eligibility criteria, >> they are still not be selected or choose not to go for any reason, we do provide services at any one of our campuses. >> That's we talk about the cluster. >> Yes, that's the cluster. Yes, sir. >> Yep.
026>> Okay. Um so Aspire Academy starts in fifth grade and is now up into seventh grade. Um it will go one more year next year into eighth grade and that will uh finish out our inquir and odyssey and Aspire um is is growing every year. They're refining the curriculum. They're adding in project-based learning. Um and so it's it's really evolving and and I'm excited to see what comes next with eighth grade. Um and then this is the last year for Inquire. They are currently eighth graders at Davala and the last year for Odyssey who are currently eighth graders at SFA. >> Dr. Richardson, I have a question. Uh, how do you identify students for Aspire? What's the criteria recommendations? >> Yeah. So, we don't use recommendations, we use academic data. So, we um last year
027and it'll probably be the same this year, we used their fall semester grades. We used their benchmark scores from the fall. Um we um used previous year STAR. Um since we're kind of phasing out MAP, we've now um replaced that with the fall benchmark. >> Thank you. >> So as we move up into 8th grade, this is where we're going to continue to develop our projects and what Aspire looks like in middle school. One of the things that um is continuing so when they were in sixth and seventh grade they had an enrichment period and during that enrichment period they explored six different units. Um they looked at computer science activities um engineering, biomed activities, fine arts, global studies. Um oh my gosh like you on the last one. Um, and those six lead into
028career tech courses at the middle school. And so they kind of got to pick as they were doing registration, oh, I want to continue in engineering. That's the one I really found that I like. And so that engineering then they can pick up principles of engineering as a seventh grader or robotics as an eighth grader. Biomed now has classes at um seventh grade and eighth grade. And so we've expanded those course offerings which has several benefits. Not only do students continue on with what they found they were interested in, but it also helps the high schools because those students are now participating in level one or level two CTE courses, which starts their path that they can continue on into high school. Um, one thing parents ask, well, what if they change their mind? That's
029fine. They can change their mind. Um, you know, we hope they change their mind in middle school and have a better idea of what they want to do in high school and stick with it instead of exploring a bunch of different things in high school. So, our advanced academics recognition, we were here in October with a full boardroom of students. And so, I just put the the numbers up there for you. 13 College Board National Recognitions, 114 AP Scholars, nine scholars with honors, 21 AP scholars with distinction, 16 AP capstone diplomas and certificates, 15 um international balorate diplomas, five national merit uh commended and two national merit semi-finalists. Our college readiness testing, we saw increases at all of our high schools. um especially in the percentage of AP students getting a three or better on
030their AP exams. Um we also saw um increases in PSAT, SAT, and Brian Collegiate had increased ACT. For AP Capstone, they're slowly but surely continuing to grow and that's exciting. So they actually have 48 kids this year. [clears throat] In the first class of AP Capstone, they have 48 kids. Um, and then 28 kids currently in AP research, which is the second class. They have to complete those two classes plus pass four other AP exams in order to get their AP capstone diploma. Um, for our 2026 group of IB students, it was it's the 15th graduating class for IB [clears throat] and we have 26 senior diploma candidates and 35 junior diploma candidates. um 10 of the IB courses had greater than 90% pass their IB exams and then these students also have a number
031of requirements to get that final diploma. So they have to pass seven courses um in the specific areas they have to write their uh at their 4,000word extended essay and they also have to do their community action service project. And then Brian Collegiate High School, our early college high school. So these students have the opportunity to get 60 college credits by uh by graduation. So that is an associates degree. Their goal for all kids is the core 42. Um because that transfers easily to whatever your major may be. So they don't have as many kids getting the associates because they really want to focus on that core. it transfers a little bit easier than associates and it gives them more time to kind of explore what their options are in college than going with that
032full 60 hours. Um, but that 75% of the graduating class was first generation collegegoers. They earned an average of 39 college hours, um, 12 associates, 41 hit that core complete, and they completed 14,800 community service hours. For enrichment, we continue with our academic UIL, which starts actually at second grade, goes all the way into high school. And then we have our elementary and intermediate robotics. And in May, we do um an exhibition event where every team from all of the schools bring their stuff that they've been working on and kind of show off what they what they've learned and how they can command uh their robots. And that's it. Any questions? >> Questions. >> All right. Thank you'all. >> Well, I do have just maybe a comment question. Uh it's we have a lot of
033people of course coming to the community and uh we we probably still deal with a perception issue with that. We have when they look at our socioeconomic level percentage and and some of that translates into uh students that are obviously struggling, not necessarily because of low socio economic, but there is a correlation. uh and you've already pretty much answered it, but but how how do you how do you in in a few words uh convince people that you're going to be able to get what you need and Brian no matter what? Because it's it's as I said, I think you've answered the question, but you might just summarize that a little bit about where are we compared to other districts uh in terms of the opportunities. So, we have more opportunities here. One of the
034things, you know, as a former AVID teacher, I was always, let's give these kids a shot. Get them in classes, give them support, get them an opportunity. Um, and so we have kind of different opportunities for everybody who want that college path, but may need a different way to get there. So, we have advanced courses for students who I just want to try one. I just I just want to try the one I think I might be good in to build their confidence. We have ourmies like Aspire, Odyssey, and Inquire that those are all advanced level courses. So, I'm going to take all four core because I feel like I'm that level of student that I can do that. I'm also going to have some additional projects. Um, we have the AP and IB. Um,
035we also have dual credit. So, the great thing about AP is that you have great instructors. You go through, you take your test, you get college credit. Well, if you're a kid who's very anxious and all that pressure on one test is too much for you, well, then you could do dual credit and you get it's taught by a blend instructor, so then you get the college credit if you pass the course. So, we have just depending on the need and the goal of the student, we have lots of different options in advanced academics for them. >> Right. Thank you. And I would argue when you look at the kids when they graduate, uh, they are flooding into Texas A&M University, University of Texas. Right now we have kids at MIT, Brown, Yale. I mean,
036the list goes on and on. So, um, we are steadfast when it comes to differentiating instruction. >> We've sent kids to Ivy League all over the nation. We've sent kids into militarymies, um, as well as our top tier schools here in Texas. And I just talked to a uh former Brian High School graduate. He was in the press box a few weeks ago and he's at Texas A&M right now in the engineering department and I was asking him how are things going and he bragged about the IB program and how Miss Preene and others prepared him. You were standing there Rudy. Yeah. >> And he said oh it's a piece of cake at Texas&M in the engineering department because I survived the IB program at Brian High. He said I was more than prepared. >>
037Yeah. And then we have Bryant collegiate students who are graduating college two years after high school. Um, and so we have we have a lot to offer any student at depending on what their goal is. >> Well, you probably know this about me. Sometimes I ask a question not because I don't know the answer, it's because I want to make sure >> I absolutely >> other people hear that. [laughter] So, thank you very much. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Thank you'all. >> Okay, we'll move on to 5C board policy update. We're back to Dr. Rivera. Thank you, Mr. Stasnney. Uh, I wanted to do this presentation in advance of our next meeting because at our next meeting, um, we'll be bringing to you some policy updates from the Texas Association of School Boards. Um,
038so just as a brief reminder because this is going to be a very big update coming to you. Uh, when we look at our board policies, there are local and there are legal and the board's discretion is what those local policies look like. All of the legal policies come from the Texas Association of School Boards. Um, so they release those policies through numbered updates. There are a lot of different ways we can update our policies, but they do numbered updates. The next one that's coming to you is update 126 from TASBY. Number just the sequence, but it is from the last legislative session. And because there was so much legislation that transpired in this last session, um, it is quite extensive. Um, hundreds of policies will be coming to you for discussion and consideration. Uh,
039many of those are legal which you don't have to take action on, but there are local policies embedded in there. So, just as a review, how do we update our board policies and how do we maintain them? Uh, the local policy updates are the ones that we can bring at any time at the board's discretion for making adjustments to policies to firm up how things are done in practice. Okay. The policy alerts come from TASBY. they have a new alert, there's something new and different that's urgent coming from the state, they let us know about those. The numbered updates come from TASBY as well. They're typically after a legislative session, but they also come throughout the year for clerical changes that they see based on their legal analysis of the policies. We went through the
040comprehensive policy review last year. Um, board might remember us coming in with a whole slew of policies over a period of months. Um, every five years or so, it's good to look at all of your policies and make sure everything's still in alignment. Uh, sometimes we tend to drift away from the policy when practices change over time and we don't update those local policies. This keeps us true to that to make sure that our policies are reflective of the way we actually conduct business. And then each year we do basic annual maintenance. There are certain positions that have to be updated and locations that are in board policy. So just simple things that are clerical in nature. Uh when you look at the board policy, I know I'm preaching to the choir, you guys recognize
041this, policy is organized by sections. Those sections have letters. Um so we always tend to joke that Norma, Miss Friddle, has everything in section C. Everything is business and support services. She shares a little bit with Dr. Merrill there. Personnel goes to Mr. Roberts and HR. So we kind of divvy up by our areas of of oversight and influence. And so we do cross over quite a bit, but we each have our own section of policy that we are directly responsible for making sure is in alignment. When we look at our policies, there's legal and there's local. Again, legal comes from the state of Texas and through the Texas Education Code and Administrative Code. The local policy is our interpretation of those parameters and what it looks like in our district. I'll explain a little
042bit more here in a second. Um, when you go to our website, you can look up all of our board policies. There's a link there on the website. It says board policies. And when you go there, um, and you click there, you have the screen you have in front of you right now. This is where sometimes people maybe go into the wrong search window. So, at the very middle where it says filter, many times people think that that's the search window where I can enter a keyword like promotion or grading uh class rank, graduation ceremony, whatever it might be. That's not actually where you would go. You're going to go to the very tippy top of the screen and that is the search for looking at all of the board policies. The center search bar
043there is only if you know the name of the policy and unless you remember the naming convention that TASBY used, that probably isn't going to be helpful to you. But you can simply go to the very top and enter any keyword in pets, whatever it may be. You want to know about pets in schools, type in the word pet. You want to know about miniature horses and if those are permitted, that can also be in there. But you look at that search window at the very tippy top. Um, as you go through the policy, like I said, there's legal and there's local. So let's take uh the board policy uh be as one of ours that we look at on the legal side. It includes the statutes regarding um the governance of board meetings and
044how board meetings are to be governed. The local version of the policy gives all of the specifics on agenda preparation, meeting times, what days of the week we meet on typically for a regular meeting. So that's where that local policy uses the legal for what are the parameters, what's permissible and the local is now what does it look like in Brian ISD. Okay, without getting into too much regulation of what administrative would look like. So you always have to read them together. Um when we did the policy review, it's very similar to when we look at any numbered update that's significant. We bring a committee of people together. We run it by the people who actually work with the policies. So if there's a safety policy, Dr. Merryill is going to involve Mr. Himmel along
045with campus principles. If there's something in local practice that we have to review and discuss, we'll bring the people to the table and we'll do the edits together. If it's something that's pretty significant, we will bring it to a board committee that's appropriate. Um, for example, if it has to do with class rank or grade point average calculations, I'm going to bring it to the teaching and learning committee. Um, if it has to do with business services, it'll probably come to the finance committee. Whatever's most appropriate for the policy that's being reviewed will come to a committee whenever possible if it's new and different and significant. If it's something we've already been updated on, for example, many of the policies that are changing this time under update 126, the board is already wellversed in. You
046had Miss Moore uh from Walsh Gyos come and give a legal update as a part of your annual training requirements this summer. that gave you a preview of all of the policy changes that you're going to be seeing coming up in this numbered update. It's now all of the paperwork is catching up with the legislative session. Um, so at any rate, that then all comes to the board of trustees uh for consideration and action. Again, just the local policies require action. So, next meeting on the 15th, we hope to bring to you update 126. The way we typically handle it is we will attach all of the local policies that are changing. We'll also attach all of the information from that numbered update. So if you want to see the explanatory notes from TASBY, I'll
047actually give it to you a week or two before the meeting because it's about 1,400 pages right now. So rather than at your leisure, you might want to just peruse some keywords in there. But we'll also bring to you some highlights. If there are significant changes in policy that we feel like you need to be aware of or we need to update you on or get your guidance on in terms of the wording in the local policy, we will highlight those during that board meeting. Everyone will be up here presenting a different portion of the policy to you that evening. Uh but we certainly will attach everything at one time. Um which I know is extensive. Again, 1300 pages is not a small amount of changes. Um, some significant, some minor, but a lot of
048change all at one time. Are there any questions I can answer for you? >> So, Dr. Yabara. >> Yes, ma'am. [clears throat] >> Typically, we would all read every word of that. >> I know that. >> It's just right before Christmas, so we're really a little busy. >> Yes. the things that you know because you're so close to us. [clears throat] The things that you know particularly that we um would be maybe skimm over but we need to really >> we would definitely bring to your attention >> the nitty-gritty of that. >> Yes ma'am. >> Will you please do that? >> Absolutely. Yes. until January when our lives all slow down and we're able to read all those 1,400 pages. >> Now, the good news, most of those 1400 pages are legal updates. The local
049update is much less um overwhelming. Um but just like I said before, if a legal changes, does our local or even does our regular practice and regulation need to change how we do business? And so, we will definitely bring that forward to you. Do you uh I don't remember if you typically try to do a red line. Uh >> we have that for you. Yes, sir. >> Okay. Just want to make sure because that sometimes it's such a minor change that it's uh we don't need to read the whole thing. We need to see what the change was and that that helps a lot. >> And TASBY has since started giving us the red line of the legal policy as well so that we know what's popping out on that legal polic like what do
050they actually change? We can actually see it. Local definitely has a red line. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you for all of this. Thank you. It's a everyone that's their policy that they uh they're in charge of. It's a team approach. >> I think our attorney said this is one of the most u significant amount of changes in uh many many years. Yeah. Coming out of this last session. >> Well, I hope somebody besides me can memorize it all, but I'm not going to say that I can. But I can get We all need to be familiar enough to know when to when to go looking for something. So that's and you've helped us with that. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Next, we have strategic leadership update and we have I see
051why you didn't walk off. Barbara [laughter] again, >> I'm still here. >> Barbara and and Norma Fiddle is gonna help us with that. I think so. You want you gonna come up or you want >> I think she's the next one. We must have had a typo. I apologize. >> Um Oh, you're right. She's always welcome to come up. >> Well, [laughter] I think it's on here. >> Could phone a friend. Uh so I wanted to do this quick update in advance of the team of eight training that will be this Thursday as we prepare for uh your annual training. It's a little bit different this year. Um we have different trainers that are authorized to provide the annual training to the board of trustees for the team of eight team building. Uh this year
052we are working with region six as a part of Texas strategic leadership. And so they will be here on Thursday. They're an authorized provider to provide that that training uh for all board members for team of eight. Um and the focus is going to be all about the academic side of strategic planning for Brian ISD. Um so this is a quick review. We're going to do the quick review now so we can get to the business on Thursday night um and save you some time. Uh so the Texas Strategic Leadership is something that is put on by the state of Texas and Texas Education Agency. Um it is aligned to what we call the effective district framework. I'll explain a little bit about that in a minute as a high level, but essentially this is
053a project of the commissioner of education and quite honestly um it is one of the better programs I've ever seen come out of TEA. It is very well done. It is it is the right kind of work that school districts and school leaders should be doing. Um and it certainly is um there's a lot of value in the work that's being done through this program. Uh so just as a quick reminder to be selected for this process it it isn't something or for this program it isn't something that you're automatically can contribute to or participate in. Uh poor Mrs. Carabine had to go through a pretty extensive interview process with TEA and a panel of individuals. Uh we had to be recom uh recommended by our region service center. there are only about 3% of
054the of districts across the state of Texas that are involved in the in this TSL program um because they do it as a cohort group. Uh we are this is the third year of them doing this. They take one maybe two districts per region each year. Um and we were fortunate enough to be selected to be in this year's cohort. Uh we are one of the larger school districts that's ever participated. Um, so they very much are taking feedback and wanting to um dialogue quite a bit with Mrs. Caravine and the the TSL team. Uh, it's really helpful. But they also look at our school board and they look to see is our school board about effective governance. Is our school board engaged in student success? And overwhelmingly they saw that as an absolutely true
055statement from our board of trustees. Um, so they were very thrilled to invite Brian ISD to participate. The whole program is centered around student outcomes and student experiences. And so essentially whatever you want the outcomes to be, how have you designed the student experience to get that outcome. So it looks at the district lens and the system lens of how are we designing what the students are experiencing every single day to get the outcomes we want for students and that we want for their futures. And so it it challenges us to look through that lens at all of our decision- making and at all of our systems and structures. Uh so again it kind of this is one of their little graphics here and it's you know the old geography teacher and world history teacher
056and me loves this one. Um you're a system of islands. It's you know that geography the archipelago is is a little bit different um than a singular island. It used to be before all of the current accountability programs that a school is pretty much its own entity and they could basically be a little island. That is not the case any longer. We have to be a tightly aligned system of entities and it's our job as district leaders to make sure that we've aligned our system to serve all kids. Um again, a nice a nice fit for our our vision statement with children first. it it just fits naturally with what we do. So this whole process looks first at effective governance and what that looks like in our board and they saw that it asks
057us and challenges us to align our district systems and when I say district systems just take a little hop over to the right there and that graphic when we talk about the effective district framework these are the key components of that framework. So on the far right hand side, we focus on the student outcomes and then we work backwards from there to design what needs to be in place to get to those outcomes. So the whole premise is that everything that we're doing, all of finance and operations, all of Mr. Robertson talent and development and HR, everything in my division with student academic experiences and integrated student supports have to be perfectly situated and aligned to feed what we all agree to be the student outcomes. And so it helps us refine what that looks
058like. It also helps us on that, you can see on the far left there, planning and performance management, oversight, checking throughout the year that we're on track to get those outcomes in ways that maybe we haven't thought to look at before rather than looking at, for example, star performance. That's a lag indicator. It's after the fact, right? So what are all the lead indicators moving up to star that tell us we are on track or we need to make an adjustment and making sure that the entire system is looking at those those lead indicators in the same fashion in the same way and in the same time frames. So all of that is a backwards design model and the effective district framework is the tool at which we look to inspect how are we performing
059to get to those outcomes. This is a little bit of the timeline overview. Um you can see we are well into that big second uh chunk of time frame there. Uh we have completed the landscape analysis. The landscape analysis says okay well where are you starting from? It it's not an audit. It's not anything other than here is your current state of the district so to speak. And so the landscape analysis was conducted in September, concluded in October as a draft and we're ready for it now. We have it completed. um that information is used to say are these the outcomes we want, what needs to be different or changed and how are we going to design the system to make those changes. So right now as we come up to the board of trustees,
060we think about the board goals, we think about what those key performance indicators look like. All of those things need to be in tight alignment and aligned with the governance aspect of what the district expects from the board of trustees. So, that's kind of where we're heading with some of this. Um, especially as we move into the spring semester. Uh, that's just a quick review of what we did during the landscape analysis. And I I mentioned it like, oh, we did a landscape analysis. It was intensive. We walked uh hundreds of classrooms in a month. We had over 1,500 artifacts submitted to TEA for review, lesson plans, student assignments, all of those things. grades K through eight and then also a few high school courses as well. Uh we know that uh the board allowed
061us to do the surveys a little earlier this year. So we did those surveys in September so that that data could also be included in the landscape analysis. Um, and so that formal report we'll be bringing to you on Thursday evening so you get an idea of where is the district currently in terms of that landscape analysis so that we can have a conversation about what those outcomes might need to be in the future as well. Okay. Uh, so one other aspect that we're going to be looking at uh, the board of trustees has already adopted our our vision, our mission. We have guiding principles. Another piece to this is what should those student experiences be? Then they have student experience statements that they challenge the committee to draft and bring to the board for
062consideration and discussion. We'll be doing that on Thursday as well. And they align to the effective district framework. But what do we expect students to experience every day? every student will have access to high quality materials with an educated and certified teacher, whatever it might be. Those are those student experience statements that have been drafted under each of those effective district framework categories. And so we'll bring those to you on Thursday as well, but they kind of coincide with the vision, mission, and guiding principles so that ultimately we get to this little graphic here, strategy on a page. This is basically the the cheat sheet of what the strategic plan will look like in the coming year and will be monitored in the coming year. So, at the very top, vision, mission, guiding principles. We're
063drafting those student experience statements. And then we get to what are those student outcome goals. Uh, one thing they do require is that we use those House Bill 3 goals that are required by the board of trustees to adopt. I know I'm getting a little technical on that one, but it's House Bill 3 early literacy, numeracy, and CCMR. [snorts] those are included and have to be in here, but we can also include other things and we can also include lead indicators to know that we're heading in the right direction to get to those outcomes. Um, so we'll be talking more about that on Thursday. Um, but it helps us as we solidify what those outcomes need to be, then we know what our priorities need to be to get to those outcomes. So, same thing
064here. you're kind of doing a backwards design of what do we want the end goal to be for students and then how do we design our priorities and our initiatives to get to that end goal. Uh then the last part there is just reminding us all that it is in tight alignment with what the board goals are and hopefully and we're going to bring to you on um Thursday our current board goals and key performance indicators already align nicely with the effective district framework. So, we're going to bring you a vision of what that looks like under the umbrella of the effective district framework um indicators and levers so that you see how they are aligned and then we see what the opportunities are to make adjustments or maybe add additional goals that more completely
065cover all of the effective district framework um levers. So, that's kind of a preview of Thursday night. Uh Mrs. Carbine, is there anything that you would add to that? Now I'll just uh reiterate that the ultimate goal is to have an academic strategic plan. So imagine right now all of us as a team of eight at the disast is uh planning the work. Yes. >> So that we can work the plan and we can be very intentional and it's data driven. So, we hope that we don't overwhelm you or inundate you in too much data, but um we did spend uh days and hours and hours and hours walking every single campus in and out of every single classroom collecting data and artifacts to uh to drive the work ahead. Uh so, I feel good
066about it. Uh it's been a lot of work. I'm not not going to lie. Uh but it's also an incredible opportunity for Brianste. We're the only school district in the Brazes Valley that uh or anyone around really even among the region uh that's been selected. This is not just a local decision or a region six decision. This is a Texas education agency initiative and uh we are uh fortunate to be on the receiving end of it right now. So tight alignment expect a lot of tight alignment so that we can have a plan that we actually use to drive all decisions going forward uh for student achievement. >> Yep. So [clears throat] next year July and August when we have professional development will the teachers learn the results of this year. I mean this is
067such a big deal. So 3% of all the districts how many is that? >> There a little over a thousand districts in the state of Texas >> right? So we're in this, you know, minute percentage to get to do this. And it's important that all teachers, staff, everybody realize one, we were selected by our leadership and everything we had to offer, which includes them. And then another thing once, and I know we're letting them know this as we go along, but by then we'll have some things to show them and let them know this isn't just one more thing that we're >> making a left turn to try to do as another program. Next year it'll be we turn to the right and do another thing. This is a huge deal that will last for
068a long long time. And it's it's so driven on the real data of our kids and our teachers, our schools, like Jackie Cheryl said, how clean our schools are. I mean, everything. Um, by the way, I I thanked him for saying that. That was really nice of him to say that. And um so I think it's I know you're already going to do that, but I think it's important for us to shout it from the mountaintop to our people that um this is going on. And if they don't understand it, they can ask questions to you guys that are leading it in professional development that we have stumbled into by being as really talented as our leadership is something that's not just a program, a two-year program. >> It's completely custom to Brian ISD and
069what the goals are of this board and of the district. And so it it's a it is completely customized to our students, our experience and and what we design for our student experiences. >> Yes. To your point, Miss Waller, we have a core team that meets a lot. >> Yes. >> And then we have a comprehensive group that has met multiple times. And then we've also had every single principal and our district leadership team involved multiple times at this point as well. So they're out helping tell the story. And of course, hundreds of teachers saw us firsthand because we walked in and out of their classrooms uh collecting data and uh just taking in uh notes for observation. So I I I agree with your point though. We need to make sure everyone understands this
070is not just another notebook on a shelf. This is the real work at hand. And another thing, not that I ever said this, but I've heard that, oh, we're paying this person to come in and change our ways, or we're paying this person to come in and teach us how to do something we're already doing. And you know how that goes, right? And it's not like that. We're not having to pay anybody to >> completely sponsored by the Texas Education Agency, >> right? And so, we need to also let them know we're not paying them to do this. It's um it's It's a really It's amazing. >> Thank you for recognizing that. They even picked up the tab to send a team of us all the way to Dallas. U all of our travel and
071uh accommodations were taken care of. So if if we weren't selected, we were actually looking at a consultant to possibly lead this [clears throat] initiative and this effort. So u we're very fortunate. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Dr. Ivar. And I think I think it's worth noting too that basically what y'all did was put yourself in a position to do more work than you were doing before. [laughter] >> Uh and if if my understanding is correct, it's we're going to be expected to make ourselves available to other districts to come see what we're doing right after we get this process going or when it's completed, [snorts] which is going to be more work for y'all. But but at the same time, we all learn by teaching. So, it's going to be uh an opportunity for
072us to continue to improve as we work with other districts. And I hope we we do have that opportunity. And I hope we do have districts coming here saying we need to go to Brian to see what what they're doing. So, that that's going to be more work, but also a feather in our cap and and a way for us to keep doing better. >> I agree, Mr. Stasny. You actually went to Dallas, Miss Kerbine mentioned, for what they called a learning lab, and you got to pick from several different time frames and places, but a group of participants chose that one. So, we were there with other districts as well and got to visit schools and talk to two different superintendents, Dallas superintendent and uh the Richardson ISD superintendent and go visit the classrooms
073and just think through how they're approaching CCMR high quality instructional materials and all of those things. And it was exceptionally good dialogue um and certainly able to learn from each other. >> Great. >> Well, thank you again. >> Thank you. And next is budget development process update and this involves you Mr. P. Good evening Mr. President, board member, Superintendent Caribine. Uh tonight I am pleased to introduce our budget development series which will come to you as an information item at every board meeting December 15th continuing through budget adoption. We'll be using the budget development toolkit on your dis as our roadmap looks just like this. And each month we'll walk through the essential parts of our budgeting process. How revenues and expenditures take shape. how the basic aotment works into the state funding formula and
074how all these components will come together to support the financial framework. I will bring clear and concrete examples each month so that you can see exactly how the pieces connect in real time. As part of this series, we will spend time breaking down the tax rate, its components, and how it interacts with state funding. We will look at property value trends, what rising values mean for tax collections, and how each part of the tax rate, MNS, tier one and tier 2, how those respond to changes. We'll also take a close look at the relationship between local tax collections and state funding because an increase in tax collections does not necessarily mean an increase u in district for the revenue in revenue for the district. In many cases, increased local revenue results in a reduction to
075state funding, keeping total revenue flat. Understanding this relationship is important as we plan for our future. Another topic that we will be talking about is staff planning and position control, the area where more than 85% of our entire budget lives. If we are going to close a $6 million deficit, this is where the meaningful progress will occur. Focusing solely on the remaining 15% in non-payroll will not achieve the results that we need. I will bring visuals to show how staffing and compensation fit into the full financial picture. I'll explain why strong position control matters and how payroll and non-payroll parts work together to form the budget. And this one goes beyond headcount, but compensation also includes overtime, extra duty pay, extra days, stipens, and all other kinds of supplemental pay. These additional payroll costs have
076a significant cumulative impact. So, when we talk about staff planning, we're talking about the full cost of compensation and not just positions. We'll also review how federal funds and special grants fit into the overall plan. Staffing, placing staff in the correct funding source is critical. A school district budget is not built from one pot of money. It is a Rubik's cube of interconnected funding sources. Many positions are funded through federal or special program dollars. and seeing all of these elements come together will give us a complete picture of what we need for budget planning. I will also introduce our new budget template which brings a level of transparency that we've never had before. It will show what we're purchasing, who benefits, why it's needed, and how it supports district priorities or student outcomes. Every line
077item will be ranked by priority. This lets us distinguish between what must be funded and what can be reconsidered if resources are tight. Just as important, closing a deficit is not a one-dimensional task. [snorts] It is not only a matter of asking where can we cut expenses, we must also ask ourselves where are the revenues lacking, what control do we have on the revenue side, and where are we not maximizing our dollars? Some of these internal conversations will be difficult, but they will be necessary to closing a $6 million deficit. As we plan for the 2627 school year, we must be intentional about building a balanced budget. This year, we lost approximately 300 students. and our neighboring districts have opened their doors for outofd district transfers with vouchers expected to be introduced and with no
078increase in state revenue. It will not be realistic to budget as though enrollment will remain the same. We cannot build a budget on revenue that we know we will not receive. Accuracy, not optimism, must guide our planning. Our hope is that this budget development series will deliver the information at just the right time and in a sequence that makes the entire process understandable and transparent. We want our community, our staff, and even our students to be able to follow our decisions and understand the why behind them. Most importantly, we hope that this series supports you, our board, every step of the way so that the budget process remains clear and easy to follow as it comes together piece by piece. Thank you and I look forward to the conversations ahead. Be happy to take any
079questions. >> Questions? Well, we're looking forward to [clears throat] knowing a lot more uh as we go through the year and we'll call it a new day because I think that's a good way to phrase it. So, thank you for all of your hard work and uh we're certainly hoping to get to a point where whatever surprises we we receive, they're little ones. [laughter] >> Yes, sir. >> And and we find out about them as soon as possible. So, and uh and I know with your help we're going to minimize those. So, the surprise is that is. So, thank you very much. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> All right. We have now the consent agenda. One item uh we don't need to deal with 6B. So, there's really just the one item and that's
080the minutes for the November 17, 2025 meeting. So, if uh one would like to discuss that uh or make comments about it, we can take it off the consent agenda. Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion. >> I move approval of all the items listed on the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Motion made by Miss Spenford, seconded by uh Dr. Haron Wolf. All in favor? It was you that Dr. Wolf would. Okay. All in favor say I. I. >> All opposed. >> Thank you. It was unanimous. Action item, optional flexible school day program application. You're back, Dr. Bear. >> I'm back. I'm back. Uh, so last board meeting, we came to discuss um an update on exploring flexible learning options. The option before you this evening is about what we're currently doing and it's only at MC
081Harris. So, this isn't the online school survey interest portion. This is about flexible school course enrollment at MC Harris exclusively. So just kind of pivoting to making sure that we're all on that page. Uh so the optional flexible school day program, lots of letters if they want to put an acronym to it. um is provided through the Texas Education Agency as a way for students um basically its purpose is to improve graduation rates across the state of Texas by providing flexible opportunities for either school attendance where it's a limited period of time as few as four hours or online at certain dropout recovery schools or alternative education settings. So what has to happen for this to take place is that the district must select a school we already have. MC Harris is our alternative education
082um campus AEA or AEC. Okay. Because they are focused on recovering students who are at risk of dropping out and ensuring their graduation success. They automatically qualify to be a part of this particular program through the Texas Education Agency. uh what's required um instead of a traditional school day but to move to maybe a flexible school day where you could come in the evenings, you could come on Saturday, come on Sunday, or you could go online is to bring to the board of trustees an application for you to discuss and to consider us applying to TEA to allow that to transpire. So, let me walk through a little bit and then I'll kind of tell you where we're at with it. Um so the board of trustees um would have to do this annually if
083we chose to go down this road. Um what it requires or what it helps us with is improving our graduation rates. For example, students who are at MC Harris who complete their coursework online but maybe can't come into school on Monday but they come in into school in a hybrid way every so many days or for a portion of the day but not the entire day. We don't collect any average daily attendance on those students. If they're not there during the official attendance taking time, 10:00 am. So, if they come and they do all their work and then they miss that 10:00 a.m. window or they come after that 10 a.m. window, even though they're there, we do not collect average daily attendance on them. This program would allow us to collect attendance on students
084through course completion. By completing the course at a distance in hybrid, coming online, coming to school, all of the things as they complete the course, we are then able to collect attendance on them that is mirroring the attendance rate of the school versus no attendance on that student. So, it gives us the ability to recoup attendance and increase the funding stream as Miss Friddle would probably appreciate um to address then we are serving the student but because they weren't there at 10:00 a.m. we didn't receive any funding for re for serving the student. This allows us that flexibility. Does that make sense? Okay. Um so what's required is for us to review the current situation the current data um on graduation rates and dropout rates um across the district across the state. So you might
085recall the Texas academic performance report affectionately known as taper. That's what we call it. The taper report comes out about this time each year. Although past couple of years it's come out at different times. It still is not out this year. Uh we're anxiously awaiting when that will be released. Uh last year it came out right about now. Uh we're anticipating in the next couple of weeks we will see it. Typically we see it before Thanksgiving, but it is the annual report of Texas schools and school districts about all of the data um from academics to enrollment to all sorts of things. The Texas academic performance report for last year is still published. Um and we can go over the different graduation rates. We talk about graduation rates. Remember, it's a cohort. So, it's not
086just who walked the stage that year. It's who entered ninth grade together and walked the stage in four years or in five years. So, it's your when you enter nth grade is is the magic number of what cohort you're in. So, for the four-year graduation rate, the class of 2023 for Brian ISD was 92.6%. That exceeded the state average. Now MC Harris was significantly less than that but you would expect that giving that it is specifically focused on dropout recovery and at risk students also with other pathways. So as you look at their five-year graduation rate you can see they are highly successful because their graduation rate went up to 86% with the 5-year graduation rate. That is expected when you're looking at an alternative education accountability [snorts] campus an AEA or an AEC. Same
087thing is similar there for the dropout. Now, the enrollment in MC Harris has been a little fluid over the past year or so because they've expanded their opportunities and options for students. They've allowed more students to come over to facilitate CTE expansion at that campus. Um I think Mrs. King was here just a few months ago, two months ago, one month ago. Um and provided an update to the board of trustees on what that looked like. So, because of that, we're seeing more students over there. um and more students who have these flexible learning needs and and opportunities. What this would allow MC Harris to do is to provide what they are already currently providing. They are already being flexible with their students where they're just not able to capture the average daily attendance for
088the students that they're serving. if they're not there at the magic time of 10:00 a.m. for attendance taking. This gives them that flexibility to move to a course completion and truly meet the needs of the students to ensure um high school graduation and a post-secary option for them. Students still come to school, they still come and do state assessments, they still come and do their CTE programs, but they have the option of coming at different times of the day or on different days of the week. This allows them, again, MC Harris is already providing this type of flexibility, but it allows us to also capture the funds we need to serve the students and to continue to allow that much flexibility for the students. >> Any questions? >> Well, refresh my >> Sure. [clears throat]
089>> refresh my memory on this. Is this something that was a result of the last session or has this already been on the books? >> It's been on the books for a while. We have not taken advantage of it to my knowledge. We previously had similar programs uh where you could collect um average daily attendance if they attended for at least four hours. U but again if they're not there during that attendance window um it doesn't you don't get to collect it. It was probably around 2015 maybe prior um the grad program the flex program Mr. Roberts probably remembers as well um that was at Lamar previously um more than a decade ago. >> Okay. Well, it does sound like a something that we especially since there's that bonus of the funding uh advantage that
090that's really good. So, I'm I'm glad we're taking advantage. I just wasn't sure it I didn't hear about anything about that being in this past session. So, I was I was wondering. So, >> I think probably what changed um the the hybrid opportunity has changed where I don't know that that was I haven't I don't know that that was previously in place >> because I would like to give the state credit when credit is due and this is sounds like something that uh is going to be uh advantageous to us. So, that's good. >> It helps us meet the needs of the kids that are already we're already serving in that capacity. >> Well, I think it's a viable option because to your point, we're serving them. We're paying the teacher. We're providing the content.
091We're grading the papers. Yep. So, it would be wonderful thing to leverage the funding source. Uh because there are life circumstances and some kids that's why they're at an alternative campus. They can't be there every day at 10 o'clock a.m. for whatever reason. So, this could ensure that they get an education, they meet graduation criteria, and we receive the funding sources for doing such. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I'm trying to understand if there's a downside. [laughter] >> Like, it doesn't feel like there is one. >> So, you know, it's funny. I was I was thinking through it myself and uh the students right now if they are not there at that attendance time we we don't get they don't get counted as present right and so the the way they determine what the attendance will
092be for the student who's in this program is to overlay the campus's attendance average on that student. >> So whatever that average is I thought oh could that be negative but no it's still not going to it's still going to be more than what we're currently getting right >> because we're [clears throat] getting nothing. >> Yeah. Barbara, when would this when would this go into effect? >> So, it takes 30 days for TEA to process the application. It could begin as early as January. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, no change to budget, staffing? >> No, sir. >> We just got to hit the switch. >> Just done. >> Well, and I was worried when I first >> read because I wasn't here uh at the last meeting. Maybe when we first >> It was
093the last one. Yes, ma'am. Um, you know, I I've converted a lot of in-person classes to an online platform and know that learning can still happen. It may just look a little different. And so I was worried that there might be some perception of downside with this, but it doesn't feel like I mean the students are doing the things they need to do. They're getting credit for the classes. The problem is the district isn't getting credit for serving them if they are not physically in a seat at a specific [clears throat] time. Um, which is really a discredit >> and it goes back to that that same argument that I know the board had on its legislative priorities. Fund us based on enrollment versus attendance. Um, this is one that um we don't receive the
094funds we need to support the students and their flexibility because we're doing what the student needs to ensure that they do graduate. Um and we're being flexible with them. This allows us to at least recoup some of those funds. >> And this is only a program that's at MC Harris. Yes, sir. Okay. [clears throat] >> So, basically they operate as they currently are, but we're able to recap some of the funding. So, the most students at MC Harris, I mean, I know we have the onetoone with our technology, but um there's not a requirement at MC Harris that students be in a particular classroom to complete the modules or activities. >> They have regular schedules each day where they do move from class to class. Um they they can move at a different pace for
095some of those classes um because they can accelerate through them. Some of the courses are direct instruction only. Um perhaps an EOCC course or something like that. So it really kind of depends on each kid's pathway. And then of course the CTE courses that they're attending are in person um and do need to be well most of them are in person. Not all of them. Some of them can be also online depending on which level it is. >> Right. >> So it's kind of a blend of all of the things. >> So this just allows us to really leverage an option that the state provides that actually to us. >> Yes. >> Awesome. Well, I move approval of the district's application for the optional flexible school day program as presented. >> Second. >> Motion made
096by Dr. Marlin Wools. Seconded uh by Mr. Stennis. >> All in favor say I. >> I. All oppose. It's unanimous. Thank you very much. Sounds exciting. >> Always nice to hear about something that doesn't seem to have a downside. Uh, okay. We're now uh we will now convene in close session to discuss the following items as allowed by Texas Government Code Chapter 551, 0072, 0.074, and 0821. No voting will take place in the closed meeting. Any actions board wishes to take as results of discussion in closed session will occur after the board reconvenes in the open meeting. The time is now 7:17. Board reconvene open session at 9:07 p.m. No action was taken in close session. Uh we have a couple of uh items to deal with. I move approval of the attach resolution declaring
097the 2009 East Highway 21 as surplus real property and authorizing the superintendent to proceed with the sale process of the property in accordance with chapter 272 of the Texas Local Government Code. >> Second. >> Uh motion was made by uh Dr. Harlon Wolf and seconded by Mr. Stennis. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Okay, it's unanimous. We have consideration of board officer nominees. >> I move approval of Joel Bryan for president, Felicia Benford for vice president, and Ruthie Waller for secretary. >> I second. >> Uh motion made by again by Miss Dr. Harden Wolf and seconded by Mr. Pabas. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. Unanimous. No further business. This meeting is adjourned at 9:08.