001The message that they are giving is is really important, right? And and we we made it to where it reflects that and reflects their stories. And it really touches the hearts of them and also of all the board members. So, they're going to actually perform that today for you all so that way you all can can can see, right, what what they actually did. So, I'm I'm personally very proud of of both of them. We have Delilah Avalos. And we have actually Delilah's a sophomore and she's actually one of our top performers in theater. She did the musical. She was actually one of our leads in in the musical for School of Rock, right? So, she's she's she has a lot to come. Interesting fact about Delilah when she first started in theater, she was
002very shy, timid. She was in the corner. She was a student that didn't want to be a part of theater until she started opening up and started seeing that this was really for her. So, it actually opened her up even more and she blossomed into this great performer that we're going to be seeing in a little while. The other actor that we have here is Josue Longoria and he also has done an amazing job this year. This is his senior year, unfortunately, so we will be losing him, but he's going to be going into theater and he wants to become a fine arts director as well, too. >> [laughter] >> So, he has actually done an outstanding job this year. Again, he was our lead in the musical School of Rock and he's actually done
003You were outstanding performer for Two shows in a row. Two shows in a row, but for UIL you were Top performer. Top performer, but for what? District? For zone and district and then by district about all star cast. THERE WE GO. SO >> [applause] [applause] >> YEAH. SO WE ARE WELL, JOE, HOW CAN WE SET IT UP SO everybody at home can enjoy on YouTube? So we can face them that way. Yeah. I mean Do we go sit over there? >> We could definitely go over there, yeah. Check, check, check. Good evening. My name is Oswaldo Longoria, and this is my friend Zelaia Avalos. Tonight, we're not here to complain. We're not here to criticize. We're here to say something simple. We're here to say I need you. I need you because your decisions don't
004just sit in board packets. They sit in our classrooms. They sit in our lives. They sit in our futures. When you vote, when you plan, and when you approve, you're not approving line items, you're building confidence, and I need you to remember that. I need you because I come from a family that depends on this school district. My parents work hard. They don't always understand the system. They don't always know how to advocate. So sometimes, I need you to advocate for me. I need you to make sure my classroom is a place where I feel safe, seen, and supported. Because when you invest in schools, you invest in students like us. I need you because not every student walks into school confidently. Some of us walk in carrying stress from home. Some of us walk
005in translating for our families. Some of us have special needs. Some of us walk in wondering if we're smart enough. Some of us are English learners. Some of us are first generation students. Some of us are just trying to break cycles that have lasted generations. So, with the programs you protect, with the resources you fund, you are building the opportunities that help us cross into opportunity. I need you because my friend almost gave up last year. He thought school just wasn't for him. But because the district funded tutoring, because there were intervention programs, because a counselor had time to talk to him, he didn't drop out. He's passing now. He talks about college. That didn't happen by accident. That happened because of decisions made in rooms like this one. I need you because when you
006support teachers, you support us. When teachers feel valued, we feel it. When they have the training, the resources, and manageable class sizes, we learn more. When you prioritize professional development, when you protect academic programs, and when you fund extracurricular activities, you're not approving line items, you're building futures. I need you because I dream big. I want to go to college. I want a career that makes my family proud. I want to come back one day and give back to this community. But dreams need structure. Dreams need opportunity. Dreams need access to advanced classes, CTE pathways, dual credits, fine arts, athletics, and support services. Dreams need leadership that believes students are worth investing in. I need you because representation matters. When you sit at this table, you represent our families. You represent our culture. You represent
007our values. You represent hope. We may not sit in those seats yet, but one day we will. And we are watching how you lead. We are watching what leadership looks like. I need you because sometimes students feel unheard. But when you listen, truly listen, you remind us that our voices matter. You remind us that we are more than just test scores. We are more than attendance numbers. We are more than accountability ratings. We are human beings trying to grow. I need you because the future of this district is sitting in classrooms right now. The future nurse, the future teacher, the future entrepreneur, the future engineer, the future board members, the future superintendent. And whether we reach those futures depend on what you protect, what you improve, and what you prioritize. I need you because students
008like Miranda, one of our own, an eighth grader at our middle school campus, right now she's in Houston fighting cancer. And even from the hospital room, she's still our classmate, still our friend, still a part of our story. I need you to keep building a place she can come back to, a place full of support, of hope, of care. Because when she walks through those doors, she deserves a school that never stopped believing in her. I need you to make courageous decisions, even when they're hard, even when they're unpopular, even when they require sacrifice. Because leadership isn't about comfort, it's about commitment, commitment to students, commitment to equity, commitment to excellence. I need you to remember the student who sits quietly in the back, the student who's too afraid to ask for help, the student
009whose parents work two jobs, the student who doesn't have Wi-Fi at home, the student who needs school to be more than just a building. School is stability, school is opportunity, school is hope. I need you because when you fight for funding, when you advocate at the state level, when you push for resources, you are fighting for me. You're fighting for my classmates. You're fighting for students you may personally never meet, but we feel it. We live it. I need you because this district isn't just a system, it's a family, and families look out for each other. Families invest in each other, families believe in each other. We need you to keep believing in us even when we we make mistakes, even when challenges arise, even when scores dip, because growth takes time and we are
010growing. So today, we're not asking for perfection. We're asking for partnership. We're asking for vision. We're asking for courage. We're asking you to not just see us as students, but as potential. Potential that deserves support, potential that deserves opportunity, potential that deserves leadership that says, "We see you. We believe in you. We will not give up on you." Because when you succeed, we succeed. When you lead well, we rise. When you invest wisely, we thrive. From the classrooms, from the hallways, from the cafeterias, from the gyms, from the stages, from the buses, we say this together, "I need you. I need you to lead with integrity, with heart and with courage because our future depends on it." And we are worth it. Thank you to our board members. >> [applause] >> I I do want
011to say something that when when they presented at Rosva and for those of you that don't know what Rosva is, I don't know what the acronym is, but it is school board members Region One School Board Association. So, there was uh board members from across the valley and even some from the state of Tex- from across Texas and I have to tell you when we were looking around, even [clears throat] I'm emotional right now, there was not a dry eye in the room. So, um they represented our district, but they were the voice for every board member across the valley and the state. So, thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> One more minute, look. All right. Right here. Ready? 1 2 3. 2 and 3. Can we get the parents in the back of the
012room? >> [applause] >> All right. Right here. Ready? 1 2 and 3. One more. 3 1 2 and 3. >> [applause] >> I don't know. I don't know. >> It is 6:30. I call this special board meeting of the Edcouch-Elsa Independent School District Board of Trustees to order. Today is Wednesday, May 20th, 2026, and we are meeting in the Edcouch-Elsa ISD Administration Building Board Room at 920 West Santa Rosa Avenue in Edcouch, Texas. As I begin, I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being conducted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. All board members present? Uh, with the board established, we will now begin with the pledge followed by I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
013under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mrs. Rocha. Amen. >> [clears throat] >> Any public comments? Item number four, board monitoring. Mr. Kelly. Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Antoine, members of the board. Tonight's presentation will be on the monitoring of our Lone Star governance goals. Next slide. And as you can see, we have the goals here, but we also posted them up, um as we were told yesterday for the our LS from our LSG coach. We will get larger posters, but we at least now know we can check that box. Uh they're at opposite ends of the the walls. Um so, we're just a reminder what we have what we'll be monitoring, we will be or we stated that we would be monitoring the third grade reading scores as per House Bill 3.
014It is a requirement. And we will be monitoring the third grade math scores well. And another HB3 requirement is the CCMR, the college career military readiness. We're also monitoring their CCMR. And then of course, our fourth goal was a district goal that our superintendent and her team decided to include due to the fact that our math scores were still struggling, especially in the at sixth grade, that transition from fifth to sixth. So, we included that as a monitoring goal as well. Next slide. And just to uh remind you that we are keeping in line with our LSG board monitoring calendar. And as you can see, May we have goal four, which is GPM. You will be getting uh the monitoring on goal four, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3. And of course, the overall targets um will be
015shared with you as well. Just a reminder that you do have a copy of the presentation. It's right in front of you, as well as uh all of the data from uh kinder through 12th grade that we're not going to cover today cuz we're just doing the board monitoring goals, but you have all of that information in front of you. Next slide. So, for goal one, we are monitoring the third the the third grade performance. So, keep in mind that this is uh we're monitoring the third grade STAR performance, but in utilizing in in monitoring the third grade actual A-F STAR accountability performance, we have to use an instrument. So, our instrument that we chose was the third grade or or the reading STAR Renaissance uh score uh program. So, that's not to be confused
016with the A-F accountability STAR, but we have a separate program that's Renaissance STAR. So, to my left right here, you see the reference chart that we use to establish uh to outline the different goals that we have laid out and set for ourselves from now until our target year 2029. So, this is the 2026 is this year that we are monitoring right now. So, we're trying to see how we compare uh as for the you know, how we compare with the actual goal of the 29% for all students. Over here to my far right, you have the third grade Renaissance star reading proficiency. This is real data. What we did was we included for the all student groups, which is at the very top, you see the approaches and it says MOY, that's middle of
017the year. Then you have the approaches EOY, which is end of year. And those exams were just take or those tests were just taken this month. So just to show you just to walk you through the all student group. So what we're saying there that the middle of the year, which was in December because as you remember we did not assess the beginning of the year because we purchased the program in November-December. So what we have was the middle of the year data. Third grade students, we had 33% of our third grade students scoring at the approaches level as opposed to end of year, that number is now 29% of our students scoring at the approaches level at the end of the year. At the meets, middle of the year we were at 28%. At
018the meets end of year we're at 23%. At the masters middle of the year we were 11% and at the masters end of the year we were at 9%. So basically what we do is we take the data. As you can see down here we have the 23% or 23% at meets, 9% at masters and remember we're monitoring all students that are at the meets or above. So the 23 plus the nine gives us the 33 32% at the meets or above, which we compare to the 29 and we see that we are on track. Okay? Next slide. And I have the sub populations on the bottom just so that you can, you know, but I'll just take the all students. So the next slide is the third grade third grade math uh comparison. So
019what we have here is our target is the 30, which is 26 2026 all students is a 30%. As you can see our far right at the approaches or middle of the year, 32% were at the approaches. End of the year, 26% were the at the approaches. And then meets, at the meets level we had 18% for middle of the year, end of year we were at 23%. The masters level we had middle of the year at 11% and masters at the end of year. Masters at the end of year. So what we do there too is we come over here, we look at the Renaissance overall meets or above performance. We were at 23 at the meets, 12 at the masters gave us a 35. We compare that to the 30 and we're 5
020percentage points above. So we're doing well there as well. Next slide. The next slide gives us our college career military readiness. So what we did here is we did a fall count and we compared it to the spring. Now keep in mind that the numbers that we're going to share with you today are not they're they're live numbers because our high schools are still entering the data. A lot of the data has not been entered. We're still collecting how many of our students met IBC. So but we're doing really well. Just to give you an example of where we're at right now. Our target was for 2026 was at a 70%. If you look at the blue lines, that's your all student in the fall. So all students in the fall, this is 12th grade.
021All of our 12th grade students we had 29% that were meeting CCMR. Right now in the spring we're at 72% for our special education. We were at 24%. We're at 55%. Emerging bilinguals we were at 21. Right now we are at 65. So if you look at the all student group, we're at 72. So we're 2.2 percentage points above. We're thinking this year we'll hit the 80s mark. So we're really excited about that, which is a growth of last year we were at 68%. So now we you know, we're at two points above, but we know that we'll hit the marks once we all of the data is in. Okay? So, again, we're on track on that. Now, for goal four, next slide. Goal four is our sixth grade uh performance and how we're doing
022in comparison. So, we look at our goal for sixth grade is 29%. So, we look at the Star Renaissance, we look at the approaches middle of the year was at 35%, end of year we were at 34, meets for all students we were at 14%, meets for end of year we were at 11%, meets for MOY we were at seven, and um ma- I'm sorry, masters for middle of the year we were at seven, masters for end of year we were at 11. If you look at the data right here, we were at 22. We are below uh the goal that we set for ourselves, so we're not on track, and that's what we marked there. But, just a reminder, next slide, that we continue to work with our campuses and continue to outline all
023of the resources that we have in place, remind the principals, remind the teachers, we have all these resources, whatever supports you do need, we are here, and we'll continue to be here. So, we are um hoping that we do come out of this. I know that uh I know that we had we worked closely with the middle school, and I know that our principals here and he's, you know, we we we gave all the supports we could, we had so many Saturday tutorials, we were there on Saturdays making sure that uh the teachers were there and the students were there. And when we offered pizza, they all showed a lot of them showed up. All the ones on the list showed up, so we're excited about that. Any questions? Thank you. Questions? Thank you, Joe.
024Next item are the consent agenda items. We will now move to consent agenda. All items under consent agenda will be acted upon in one motion unless a trustee requests to have a specific item removed for separate discussion and action. Are there any items that we're pulling for from consent? There's no items being pulled question. I'd like to make a motion to approve all consent agenda items as presented. Second. There's a motion made by Mr. Lozano, seconded by Mr. Torres. All those in favor signify by saying "Aye". Aye. All those against? Motion carries. Uh we will now convene into executive session pursuant to Texas Open Meetings Act chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code. Board will meet in closed session under the following provisions. 551.074 for personnel matters, 551.071 for consultation with legal counsel. The time
025is 6:40 and we are in executive. >> Mhm. >> 7:27 and we are back in open. Um A 551-7-074 for the purpose of discussing personnel considering appointment, employment, resignation, retirement, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public office or ordering pool. Termination? Yeah. It wasn't on my desk. Yes, Mr. Board President, if you could just reread that one real quick. Well, let me have that one. Consultation of legal with legal counsel regarding A, pending or contemplated litigation, B, settlement offers, C, matter in which the duty of an attorney of record counsel some independent school. Am I reading the right one? Okay. There you go. A, 551-074 discussion and action regarding personnel considering appointment, employment, resignation, retirement, evaluation, reassignment, duty, duties, discipline, termination, or dismissal of a public officer or employee. Need a motion. So
026moved. Second. There's a motion made by Mr. Torres, seconded by Dr. Ochoa. All in favor say "Aye." All in favor Aye. All those against? I vote nay on the terminations. The ayes have it. Next item is B, discussion and action regarding consultation with legal counsel. >> sir. No action. Next item is adjourn. So moved. There's a motion made by Mr. Torres, Second. seconded by Dr. Ochoa. All in favor say "Aye." All in favor say "Aye." Also, before we leave, guys, this was Dr. Ochoa's last official board We adjourn. OH MY THIS IS THE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. YOU WANT TO DO THE SAME THING?