001Well, we board meeting last night and you know, it was it was a quick one and I think it was the fastest one we've had since 2016 on in May. I was looking at the little digital clock up on the dais that Andrew has there for me now since the other one went kaput. And I kept looking at it going, is that right? >> There's a lot of work on the front end from this. A lot of the things that we've been establishing were things that we've been working on for several several months. And in fact, we redesigned some different things even especially with with regard to how you receive construction information that helped y'all get the questions and y'all had a lot of them before we come to the board meeting and so we
002could help facilitate those things. The one thing I don't want the the public, for lack of a better word to use, um to think is that we're not being transparent, that we're having discussion and asking questions from behind the scenes and so they're not aware. However, there's only so much time in a board meeting and we cannot be prepared to make fiscally responsible votes if we're not asking questions on big dollar things like this in advance. So, I I appreciated the new fact sheets on planning and construction because it gave us an overview of each project and then it allowed us to follow up with questions that then we were able to address last night. And so that was a that was a big deal. Um also, I realized that uh we didn't have a
003lot of presentations last night. >> No, the thing is that's intentional. Now, get ready for June cuz there's a lot of them. I was holding off on a lot of those because we're going to be spending the next five days in graduations together. Yes, we are. >> there's a lot and we actually had a board meeting 2 weeks ago. Yes. >> And so through all of those two things, you know, organizing these in a fashion where y'all have time to think about it, talk about it, and get organized about it is great. In fact, if anybody wants to see that fact sheet about construction, it's a thing of beauty, it really is and it really helps uh you know, for y'all to be able to ask the questions and understand better because it's complex. Oh,
004it's very complex, and it's the biggest, besides educating our our students, it is our biggest responsibility is to be fiscally prudent and >> [clears throat] >> and make good wise decisions with the use of bond money. >> Yeah. And planning and construction is a huge part of that. >> Well, the thing is is that even like last yesterday we we last yesterday evening we had the chance to uh you know, at least kind of finalize our our board operating procedures, realizing we've been working on about for about, you know, 5 or 6 months. And uh the other thing is is that it's a living document. This is something that we're always going to look, and this is We have not had one for a while. Nope. And so, it's going to be a document that
005we'll continue to come back and it's I've always went back and looked at this, and y'all really took it seriously, and so before then, you know, we we wanted to get that bulletproof, and so I consider it a a gentleman's or a lady's agreement in this case. It's a It's a great way for us to just have the information there on how you do things, and I'm always impressed too that you guys can ask good questions, and it helps, you know, I scratch my head sometimes and and go back and look and do different things, so it's nice to have this opportunity to to to come together and discuss these things openly and and get some decisions. So, and then we had the wonderful Boy Scout Troop 889 come and and visit, and they just
006love They just they they bring in some extra, don't they? I absolutely love that Jen Thomas came to us and and asked about the Boy Scouts presenting colors and leading us in in the pledges. I love it. I love seeing the kids. I love getting to meet them, and they shine, and they bring they bring joy to us when we see them come in and do it. So, I really appreciate it 889 coming in. I'm an Eagle Scout, so it's really important to me, too. So, you know, those I enjoyed visiting with them. And you know, then we invite invited a new couple new principals, you know, got a lot of campuses, and you know, people are moving up, and we're moving things through keeping it in the family but that means openings happening so
007we have an opening at Rice and Catherine Dr. Catherine Brennan Yes. And then then Wendy Spears is this is going back to McCollum. I am excited about both because they both bring such a specialized um amount of experience and both with uh struggling students or Yeah. campuses or whatever it might be that they can then take and improve where they're coming in and make it even stronger and better and Wendy Spears has been over at McCollum before and she's like going home and um Rice is just so blessed to have her coming over from Grangerland where they've really been working hard and strategically for several years now and Rice is going to benefit from it. Yeah, I really do believe so too. So the thing is is that with all that being said you know,
008we're going to be coming back in in in the middle of June and and talking about a lot of the things but you will see us soon on the graduation stage and with the the most favorite time of year it's like Christmas for me. It's honestly it's one of the favorite times for the for the trustees as well. It it's the culmination of what we do. Seeing those kids come across the stage and some fearful, some excited, some funny. They just [clears throat] are so for us it's seeing them in their moment and then their parents being excited for them. It is one of our favorite times too. Madam President, happy birthday. Thank you very much, sir. See you next time.