001[Music] I now call this special meeting of the Conroe Independent School District to order. It is 7 p.m. on Wednesday, August 27th, 2025. A quorum of the board members are present and this meeting has been duly posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. We will now begin with our agenda. The first item on the agenda is the invocation and I will ask Trustee Duncan to lead us in the prayer. Please stand. Dear heavenly father, thank you for bringing us here safely this evening. Bless our time together as we make decisions about the future of Conro ISD. Continue to be with the students and staff of our district and allow all that we do to be rooted in you and to glorify you, Lord. Thank you for your continued
002guidance and presence here and just ask that you be with us always, Lord, and bless all of our future decisions, Lord. Amen. >> All right. Join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. and the Texas flag. >> Honiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. I now have a duplicate there. We will now move to citizen participation. However, seeing as no one has signed up to speak, unless someone has walked in unexpectedly. Okay. Then we will move on to um the next item on our agenda. At this time, the board will consider action to name a loan finalist for the position of
003superintendent of schools for Conroe ISD Independent School District. Do I have a motion? >> Yes. I move that the Conor ISD board of trustees name Dr. David Venson as the loan finalist for the position of superintendent of schools. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. A motion has been made and seconded to name Dr. David Vincent the lone finalist for superintendent of schools for Conra ISD. Is there any discussion? >> I have some. I don't know who wants to go. Go first. Go right ahead. >> No. Okay. Okay. I just I have some prepared remarks because I want everyone to understand where I'm coming from with this decision. So, um, just give me a few minutes here. So, this superintendent search process has been quite the journey for our district
004over the last 90 days. Dr. Landry has done an outstanding job in calming the waters as interim superintendent. Thank you, Dr. Landry for your steadfast leadership during this time. I just want to applaud you here. [Applause] I also want to thank the community and staff for your patience as we've done our due diligence to understand what you desire in a superintendent. This has taken the board time to comb through the data while also recruiting and interviewing the best that the state and nation has to offer. It is a responsibility we have taken very seriously because this district deserves the very best. From the uh 5,300 surveys submitted to candid cabinet feedback and multiple community forums across the feeders, there were some consistent trends. You desire someone with deep experience who can build trust and unify,
005be visible and fair, manage growth, communicate well, retain and support our teachers, balance fiscal resources well, and manage new initiatives like curricular rollouts. These are quite a lot of traits for one person to possess, but Dr. David Vincent encompasses them all, plus more. He has 20 years of cumulative experience as a superintendent, 15 years in which he has overseen WY ISD, an A-rated district since 2019. This district was on academic probation when he started and is now the only district to my knowledge across the entire state to have all A's in all 20 campuses. As someone who ran on improving student learning outcomes, this was crucial for me personally. He has worked as an assistant superintendent, a principal, and a teacher. He has a PhD in curriculum and instruction and also a bachelor's in business.
006So, he is a well-rounded candidate who also understands the numbers. And this is very important because school finance is a complicated topic. Uh, speaking of numbers, this one is for the teachers listening. Uh, he improved WY's financial standing from 9 million to 78 million over a decade, which enabled them to move teacher pay from the bottom three to the top 25% in DFW teacher pay. This is huge, y'all. And we want this in Conra ISD. Uh, WY ISD was also cited by Commissioner Morath um to the Texas Department of Government Efficiency Doge Committee as the example of efficiency and effectiveness. He is nationally recognized for character education initiatives, college readiness partnerships, and proactive safety reform with a leadership style rooted in transparency, stability, and community trust. I will say this to wrap up. His resume
007is stacked and I don't have time to recite it all unfortunately. Uh but out of all of the truly impressive things that he's done, what impressed me most about Dr. Vincent was his heart for people. It's not just about the data for him. It's about character. He sincerely cares. He wants the best for our district and the people in it. He will be highly visible, inspirational, and adaptable leader who I have absolute confidence will take this district to a level it's never seen before in excellence. All I ask for the district is to embrace him with an open mind and open arms. He is here to listen and learn. Let's give him the same respect. Thank you. >> Any other discussion? Okay. Go ahead. >> I would like to Can you hear me? >> Yes.
008>> Hi. Hello. I'm just coming to you virtually from uh uh Dubai right now, but I just wanted to um just echo a trustee. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Great. just wanted to echo Trusty Dawson's comments and um and just although I'm I'm unable to be there physically um this evening, but my heart is with you all with the community and um this big decision that um is coming for recommendation from the board. Um, I I although I can't be with you guys in person, I want to uh let the community know how wholeheartedly I support the recommendation for the loan finalist for Conra ISD superintendent that will be presented to that's presented tonight. Um, I believe this decision represents what is best for our students, educators, and families. And
009I'm confident it positions Conro ISD for continued success in many years to come. So, definitely wanted to say thank you for uh Dr. Landre's hard work and um being a a a force and a strong presence for us through our through this time and for our community. So, thank you all. >> I I also want to thank Dr. Landry. I want to tell you that we put um our trust in you and you put your trust in us and we appreciate your leadership over these last few months. That was huge for us and getting us to this point. Um I want to say a special thank you to T. That was um a huge bridge um a big gap for you guys to step in and lead us through this process and that was very
010much appreciated from me personally and I'm sure the other board members um really appreciate all that you did not only to bring us quality candidates um but to help us go through those and throughout the process of determining our final um candidates. I also want to thank these ladies sitting alongside of me. Um, this was a a process we didn't we didn't understand when we going into it and I think we all can say that we learned a lot moving through it and just your your dedication and your um perseverance through the process is um greatly appreciated by me and I respect you ladies very much and I just thank you all for um working together to get to this point. No other comments. >> No other comments. Okay. Uh before we v vote, I
011want to recognize the significance of this moment. Selecting a superintendent is one of the most consequential responsibilities entrusted to us as school board members and we have approached it with diligence and respect. When we named the interim, we had two goals. Retain a highly respected Conro ISD leader and ensure calm, steady leadership through this transition. Dr. Landry, you delivered exactly every one of those aspects. You have been outstanding, an outstanding interim superintendent. truly an eighth member of this team. We respect you. We value the work you're doing and the work and we look forward to continuing that partnership with you. To Dr. Vincent, your record in WY ISD and your service at the state level speaks for themselves. As my colleagues have already eloquently shared, with gratitude to everyone involved, I now call the vote.
012All those in favor of the motion show by the uplift of hands, four, five, six, seven. And I don't need to do the oppose because the motion carries. 70. The board has voted to name Dr. Vincent as the lone finalist for the position of superintendent of schools for Conroe ISD. As the lone finalist, Dr. Vincens's, would you like to say a few words? [Music] Christy, maybe my pants I pulled my my they're adjusted. Do I look fine? So, thank you. My wife Christy of 32 years, she's my treasure and in my life. And uh the thing is is that uh we come here, we come here as a family and I'm leaving a family of 15 years >> and I'm a person of faith and I've always said one thing that uh I want to
013be in God's perfect will and Christie and I before we walked in here or we we prayed and before we interviewed with you guys, we prayed and I really believe that God has his hand on on this decision and on Conro Independent School District and that heartens me and it gives gives me strength and I know it's the strength that we'll need and there's lots of great things that are going to happen and um Christine and I raised kids in WY we did life in WY was going to take a lot for us to move from WY to come to a place that we felt just as special and um the deal is when I I'm leaving a board where we had this this system and this process and this leadership plan of doing what's
014best for kids and I met I met Maryanne and Nicole And uh I just was just so impressed with their heartful, thoughtful, you know, focus on kids. And I met y'all and it was the very same way. It was just this this laser focus on kids, on character, and your focus on teachers and making sure we're taking care of our teachers in our community. I mean, that is vital and they're essential because if we have shared values, things are going to go well. I I truly believe that. And um I can tell you this, I'm know from your words and your actions, y'all are proud of Conrod. And it's my sincere hope as a servant that that I can uphold, you know, your high standards. And I am so grateful for this opportunity. And Lord,
015thank you. Thank you for considering us. and we're going to be ever part of this community because we know it's going to be really important and we're going to put put our whole heart and soul into this process. And the other thing I wanted to make sure is doc Dr. Landry. Uh these guys have mentioned you several times and uh it is evident that you are among the heart and soul of this this school district and your servant, thoughtful, kind, immeasurable love of this school district is evident and you need to know that uh people there is not an unkind word. You can look on social media, everybody likes you. I mean, it's very important that you know that and you're a man of character and uh it's so essential and so thank you. Thank
016you so much and I'm just going to say I can't wait to learn how to conra and so let's giddy up. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Vincens's. As required by Texas law, the board must wait at least 21 days before taking final action on the superintendent's contract. This period allows our community, our staff, and our stakeholders the opportunity to learn more about the finalist. On behalf of the board of trustees, I want to thank our community for its support throughout this process and we look forward to the next steps in this transition. There being no further business before the board, I declare this meeting of the Conro Independent School District Board of Trustees adjourned. And the time is 7:16 p.m. Thank you and have a good evening.