001Hello. Hello. >> Thank you, Luke. Thank you. >> Good evening. >> The time is 6:37. I call this regular board meeting of the Edcow Chelsea Independent School District Board of Trustees to order. Today is Monday, December 15th, 2025, and we are meeting in the Francis S. Rocha Performing Arts Center at North Yellow Jacket Drive, Ed Couch, Texas. As we begin, I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being conducted in accordance to the Texas Open Meetings Act. Roll call. >> Call here. Here, here, here, >> here. >> Let the record reflect that a quorum is present. >> With a quorum established, we will now begin with the pledge of allegiance followed by the prayer. >> Good evening. At this time, I would like to present Mr. Cesar Salenas. Mr. Selenas was an electronic
002technician and the second class uh second class Navy. >> He was born and raised in Edinburgh, Texas. He enlisted in the US Navy shortly after graduation in high from high school in 1998. In the US Navy, he was an electronic technician. He maintained, operated, and installed any comm communication equipment. He was deployed overseas as part of the operation enduring freedom soon after the 911 attacks. Mr. Selena's earned medals in the Navy Marines Corpse Achievement, Navy Unit Commenation, Navy E Ribbon, Good Conducts, Navy Fleet Marine Fleet Force, National Defense Service, Sea Service Deployment, Navy Marine Corpse Overseas Service, Rifle Marksmanship and Pistol Markmanship. Thank you, Mr. Selenas to your service for to our country >> to our country to our country. >> Thank you, Dr. Thank you. Will you please uh place your right hand over
003your heart for 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. Thank you. Please be seated. Excuse Excuse me. Please stand for the prayer. Miss Ro. >> Hello everyone. >> Ro, would you lead us in? >> I'm sorry. >> Hello everyone. I'll be starting with two verses and then I'll proceed with a prayer. Proverbs 3 5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight. James 15. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to
004you. Now if you will join me and bow your heads. Thank you heavenly father for this wonderful afternoon you have given us father god before I ask you for anything father I thank you for everything and anything lord for you bless us every single day father god and you are with us at all times I ask you father that you cover every single one of us with the blood of Christ and put your heavenly angels all around us father I pray over everyone today Lord and that you will give every single one of us the guidance we need and strength you provide us father god You will be the lamp to our path, Father, and you'll protect us in everything we do, Father. I pray that we will always open our hearts to you, Father,
005and that your presence is here this evening. Thank you, Lord, for all for giving all these people the opportunity to be here and praying with me this evening, Father God. We will always love you, Father, and listen to what you have written down in the book for us. I thank you, Father, for these people doing this event, Father God, and putting the time and patience into today, Father. Bless them Lord and may your glory come upon us. Give us the guidance we need Father and the understanding of your doings Father. May we have the trust and faith in you that everything you do is for the better. Give us wisdom not from this earth but from the heavens above. Lord, thank you Lord and in the almighty name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen. Thank
006you so much. >> Thank you so much. Thank you so much. >> Please take your seats. >> Please take your seat. So, please take your seat. >> Um, public comments. >> Comments. >> Nobody signed up for public comments. No. >> Do we have one? Do we have one? Do we have one? >> I believe there was one person signed up. Is there an Ariel Ruiz signed up for public comment? No. Okay. >> So, no public comments. >> Next item on the agenda are recognitions. recognition. Recognition. >> So before we do the recognitions, I want to do a very special uh recognition for our board president, Juan Jose Ibara. He just received his doctoral. Um and we are now changing his name plaque to say Dr. Juan Jose Ibara. Congratulations Is it? There we go. >>
007Thank you so much. >> Uh we have plenty of recognitions tonight. A lot to celebrate this evening. So, we're going to get going. First recognition is recognize Linda Guuard for the donation of the American flag to Edcow Chelsea ISD. Say something. I'm kind of short. Good evening everybody. Bear with me. I have a little case of laryngitis. President Dr. Juan Seara, members of the school board, Dr. Sandra Garza, Choa, students and staff and community members gathered here today. when I'm from San Antonio, but when I come into town, which is the the school district in which I graduated from, I enjoy walking along the Edcow Chelsea walking trail as part of the wellness, and I normally take my dog, Chewy, who is my loyal Labrador of 13 years. On one of those walks, I noticed
008a small flag gently blowing in the wind at the Joey Torres Softball Park. In a quiet moment, I realized I had a flag that had flown proudly over the United States capital. On one, I thought of, "Hey, what a better place to bring this flag home to." Chewy passed seven days ago, but just as this flag will soon fly high above, I know Chewy runs free in heaven. It is with a great sense of love, remembrance, and hope that I stand here before you this evening. It is truly an honor to present this very special symbol, a United States flag that flew over the United States capital in January of 2021. This flag is more than just red, white, and blue. It represents freedom, opportunity, and courage to rise. As it waved in the Capitol,
009this flag bore witness to leaders shaping the course of our nation. And tonight, it reminds us all, students, educators, community members that each of us hold the power to make a difference. It flew in a very defining moment in American history, carrying a message that mirrors the mission of public education to open doors, spark opportunity, and empower every student to rise, lead, and reach the highest once thought impossible. Dr. Guardo Choa members of the school board. Your leadership and dedication reflect the same spirit of progress this flag represents. Through your guidance, students are inspired to lead with confidence, act with compassion, and pursue the purpose with determination. May this flag inspire everybody in the school district to look upward, to lead with integrity, to work with a purpose, and to dream without limits. This flag
010may also serve as a daily reminder that perseverance, hope, and excellence are always within your reach. It is my honor to dedicate this flag to the Edcow Chelsea School Board, to Dr. Garza Achella and to every student here, staff member and the district. May it remind us that when we aim high and support one another, then new heights can be re achieved every day. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss >> Board. Just take a picture, please. Thank you. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> We're going to Stay calm. >> Yeah. >> All right. Everybody ready? >> Ready? Everybody ready? >> Let's do this. Right. >> Right. >> All right. Our first rec student recognition is going to be recognition of the elementary secondary campuses with the highest attendance rate for the second six weeks. First up
011is Garcia Elementary. [applause] Congratulations. Way to go. >> For our secondary perfect attendance, it is Thruan Middle School. Next, we're going to recognize the students that have the perfect attendance for the first semester. >> If they can all come up, they can all come up. >> It's JRG [music] >> Early Childhood. child. This is the perfect attendance for this classroom. >> [applause] [cheering] [applause] >> Congratulations, JRG. And next we have Garcia Elementary. We have Miss Cynthia Ramos, the class with the highest uh attendance. Attendance. Let's give him a round of applause. Applause. Congratulations. [applause] Okay. Our next group is from JFK, Miss Elsa Rosett's uh class and Miss uh Jennifer will be receiving that award. >> Sorry, Miss Monte Longo. Congratulations, JFK. [applause] >> Next, we have >> Miss Brenda Kavasu's class with the highest
012attendance for the second six weeks. >> And this group is from >> RCR. >> Congratulations station. congratulations RCR. [applause] Next we have Miss Sora Alvarado from LBJ who had perfect attendance for the second six weeks. [applause] Congratulations students from LBJ. Okay, we do have uh we just want to congratulate Miss Victoria's class for having perfect attendance for the second six weeks and Mr. Ruben Noyos for high school uh perfect attendance second six weeks. They couldn't be with us this evening. So now we will proceed with our students with perfect attendance for the first semester from JRG JRG JRG. [applause] Come on, sweetie. Come on, sweetie. Come on, sweetie. >> And these again are the students from JRG with perfect attendance for the first semester. [applause] I'm coming. A big round of applause for our students
013from JRG with perfect attendance. [applause] Once again, congratulations for students uh from JRG. Next, we have Next, we have >> our perfect attendance students for the first semester from Garcia Elementary. Elementary >> and they were present every day for the first semester. [applause] Excellent job, boys and girls. [applause] Next we have next we have we have and next we have our students from JFK who were in school every day for the first semester. Congratulations boys and girls. [applause] Wow. Large group. [applause and cheering] Hey, Good job, boys and girls. [applause] [cheering] Oh yeah. Okay, our Next group is from RCR Elementary. These students have perfect attendance for the first semester. >> No, we're not. >> Good job, boys and girls. >> Boys and girls. >> So again, these students were present every day since day
014one. >> [applause] [applause] >> Congratulations, [applause] boys and girls. And next we have our students from LBJ with per who had perfect attendance since day one. So that means they were here every day for the first semester. Congratulations boys and girls. [applause] Wow. LBJ large group. Congratulations, boys and girls. [cheering] >> [cheering] [applause] [cheering] >> Paris, just a reminder that uh before you leave, we do have cake and punch in the lobby. So feel free to uh go by there by the table to get your cake and punch and punch. Cake and punch and punch. >> Okay. And our next group is uh from Carlos Ethran Middle School. And these students had perfect attendance for the first semester semester. First semester semester. [applause] >> It's okay. It's okay. >> Way to go students. Good job
015through one. Our next group is uh students from the high school who had perfect attendance for the first semester. First semester. >> Excellent students. Thank you for coming to school every day. Our next group is our students with a top eight R and they are on the way. Enter. Hey Okay, so we have our top AR for Santiago Garcia Elementary. >> Hold those certificates up. Be proud. [applause] Three inch. Congratulations, Santiago Elementary students. And next we have our students uh the who are top accelerator readers from RC >> I'm sorry JFK >> JFK JFK JFK JFK JFK >> JFK Fine Arts uh Fine Arts Academy top accelerator readers readers hold your Congratulations, JFK students. [applause] Next up, we have our students from RCR Elementary. Uh we have the students uh that have that are top
016accelerator reader students. Good job, boys and girls. congratulations RCR top accelerator readers. Next up, we have our top accelerated readers from LBJ. [applause] >> Good job, boys and girls. Congratulations top accelerator readers from LBJ. And next we have our Top two AR students, top accelerated reader students from Klothan Middle School. [applause] [cheering] congratulations students. [applause] Next we have um our Edca Chasa High School honoral students. [applause] >> [applause] >> Uh, next we have our National Honor Society from LBJ Elementary. [applause] I just um I just want to announce that this is the first ever in the district that we have a national elementary honor society. So, we're really proud of this group. [cheering] They're doing a lot of volunteer work. They're outstanding students and so just once again, let's give them another round of applause
017because this is such an honor. Thank you. I do want to u recognize the chapter advisor, Miss Moreno. Moreno Way to go students. Congratulations [applause] And next we have our Carlos Etheron Middle School National Junior Honor Society. Congratulations. Next we have our Edcow Chela High School National Honor Society. Thank you students. [applause and cheering] >> And next we have our Carlos Eran concert band. Uh they are being recognized for being a commended winner in the 2025 citation of excellence. Excellent. Excellent. Congratulations, Ben. Next we have our mariachi students who advanced in the middle school TMEA all region orchestra editions edition. [applause] congratulations students. Next we have uh the eighth grade basketball girls, the A team and the B team. And congratulations for receiving uh district champs. [applause] Hey, congrat Congratulations. Next, we have the all-American
018mascot, Buzz the B Somara Caba [applause and cheering] and she will be at the Citrus Bowl representing Edasa. Way to go. >> [applause] >> Next we have our >> Edcow Chosa High School cheerleading team who earned two bids to nationals. Way to go girls. [cheering] Congratulations, [cheering] girls. And our next recognition is our EdCow Chelsa College and Career Center student spotlight. Spotlight spotlight. Spotlight. [applause] This recognition is for their outstanding performance. Amen. Amen. Good evening. I would just like to say that these kids are amazing. They've taken this second chance and they've been very focused and they're up here today on the stage because they're meeting all their goals. I do want to say that most of these kids the first couple of weeks of school have recuperated several of their credits and they have
019registered for CTE courses to get an industrybased certification. So once again, a round of applause for these excellent students. [applause] Next we have our Edcow Deltsa High School community health workers and they are be being recognized for their community service. >> [applause] >> Thank you for your service. Service for your service. Next, we have our Ed Calosa High School varsity volleyball girls. [cheering] and they are being recognized also for the 2025 state of Texas volleyball playoff by district finalist. Congratulations, girls. And our next award goes to the 2025 RGV Volleyball Allstars Showcase. [applause] Congratulations, girls. Next, we have the boys and girls cross country regional qualifiers. >> [applause] >> Congratulations, boys and girls. [applause] And next we have our V varsity football team, all district selections and all state academic team. congratulations boys and thank
020you coach. This concludes our recognitions for the evening. Uh I just want to congratulate all students uh for their accomplishments. >> Thank you Miss Da. >> Thank you Miss Della. >> Thank you Miss Da. Next item on the agenda is a superintendence report. A EISD enrollment and attendance report. B assessment results. C student advisory committee presentation mentor program. D 2024 2025 annual bilingual ESL report and E intruder detection audit report findings. Dr. Ooa. Thank you for the attendance report. Um this is for the second six weeks. Uh I just want to call attention to our enrollment. It is 4,77. Um our ADA is at 3 3,694 uh66. Our attendance rate uh for the second six weeks was at 93.56. um our ADA goal is 3,76. So we are below 11.34 um for the second six
021weeks. The next slide is uh the district ADA daily attendance here. The number that I want to really just call out to you. As you can see, um it is by campus, but I'm just going to call uh your attention to the overall district um absences. And this again is for ADA budgetary purposes. We did have 12,639 absences from uh September 22nd, 2025 through uh 12525. The other area that I do want to call your attention to is by campus the visits by the community aids. Um and then I separated it by the visits uh by the truency officers through campus. Uh for the community aids we had 983 visits and then for the uh truency officers 39 visits. Um there have been several meetings and we're going to continue to uh meet with both
022the community aid the truency officers. Miss Olivarez, Miss Vela are working with this group um along with the campus principles and um the the plan of action has been set up as well as looking at whether or not we need to make any changes um in terms of the the staffing for this group. Um any questions? >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um the next item is assessment result and uh Dr. Garza will be presenting. >> Good evening. Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Garza and members of the board today. We're going to be sharing the district-wide performance summary. We want to talk a little bit about that. So what we have is the Renaissance Learning Star Assessment. It's a proficiency assessment that measures where the students are at with uh measuring them against grade level
023skills. It's a computer adaptive test meaning that the uh questions the that the test itself adjusts based on the level of difficulty of the question. So as the students are responding to the questions and the they start getting a little too difficult for the kids that's where the assessment actually has an algorithm that where they adjust themselves to meet the uh to to measure the level of the students. Uh it has covers different comprehensions uh doc covers different skills. I'm going to go over those in a bit. It provides reports that support goal setting for our students uh targeted interventions and personalized learning. So the staff uh at the campuses will use the data to make sure that we personalize the learning for each of our students. Uh another thing that it does do it
024identifies student needs and tracks growth throughout the year. So we're lucky to have this instrument that we will be using to be tracking the growth and reporting to you periodically. It is a match with the state standards and it is also offered in English and in Spanish. Uh, star reading measures vocabulary, [music] comprehension and literacy skill and we have that for K through 12. Star math measures number sense operations, algebra, geometry and data concepts and we also have that assessment K through 12. And the star early literacy that we offer our kindergarten students measures foundational reading and uh language skills. Next slide. Just so you can have an example as to what the uh questions would look like. For example, this is a comprehension skill test or test question or item. In kindergarten, the students
025are read one or two sentences and then they select uh the what the stu what the story is going to be about. This is for reading. In sixth grade, they are giving a small passage where the kids have to read it and then they have three answer choices and they select the actual answer choice uh that corresponds to that uh to that comprehension skill in sixth grade. In 11th grade, the passage gets a little more complex and of course there's long it's longer and again they have three answer choices to respond to that. The next slide uh shows you how the students are measured in the area of mathematics in kinder. They're given a story problem using p pictorial models where the students have four answer choices now and then they select the correct response.
026In sixth grade, again, they're given a problem. The students have to read it on their own, and they select the correct answer choice. And in high school, the same thing. Just so you can have an idea as to how we're measuring the students. Next slide. So, we want to share with you the reading proficiency uh results for December 2025. We assessed all of our students, kinder through 12th grade. And just to give you an idea as to what the reports look like. I'm not going to go over through uh I'm not going to go through all the data because they are it's an extensive report, but we want you to have an idea as to how we read these reports. As you can see to the left, you have the all student group. In the
027middle, we have the special education group and then we have our emergent bilingual over to the right. And we break down the data for you there so that you can have an idea as to where the students are at. For example, if you look at the all student group for kindergarten, you're going to see that uh 11% of the students are at the did not meet, 16% of the students are at the approaches, 14% are at the meets, and 60% are at the masters. And as you can see, they are colorcoded. You see the key at the very bottom. It has the did not meet, the approaches, meets and masters. The colors are red, purple, uh blue, and the green. And of course then to the right you'll have the um the special education group
028and the emergent bilingual. Next slide. And in first grade just to give you an idea as to how we're doing now. Uh we have uh 60% of our students are at the did not meet. We know that this the the assessment does get a little more difficult in the upper grades. 12% are at the approaches, 13% are at the meets and about 15 or 15% at the masters. And um I guess we can go ahead and move on to the math so that we can see how that goes. That's several slides over. Mr. Torres, I just wanted to give you an idea how we're reading these reports. So if you look at math, uh kindergarten students will be testing in the spring. They are not yet developmentally ready. It is a developmentally appropriate assessment for
029Renaissance Star Math due to the test assigned. So we don't have a baseline for them just yet, but you will have a baseline in the spring. Next slide. And as you can see, we are sharing the math for uh first grade. And you can see on the left hand side, just like we did the reading, you're going to see the students uh how they fared in comparison to the subgroups. So you're going to see that in first grade for example we have 51% at the did not meets 29% at the approaches 11% at the meets and 5% of the masters and uh all of the reports are read the same way we drafted them like that so you could see that as you know we do have a lot of work but we're excited to
030move forward with the work. This is a great assessment. It's measuring our reading and math skills. We know that our principles are going to utilize these reports to help us guide the direct or guide the instruction for each of the kids. Uh the beauty of this is is that we get to personalize the educational plan for the students. Any questions process uh the good thing about it is that Dr. did bring this uh test because we knew that we were not there. So, we needed to identify the areas of concern. So, this really pinpoints what our are areas, what areas we need to focus on. Uh also included in your packet is the tutoring plan. What we also did with the tutoring plan this year, we analyzed each of the week or the the objectives
031that we needed assistance on and we were very prescriptive with each of the campuses letting them know which are the skills that needed to be targeted and then we identified the resources that have been purchased to help support that. But right now, we're just laying everything on the table so that everybody knows where what we need to do. We feel comfortable enough that we've provided the amount of resources and support to this campuses. Uh the next thing we need to do is just continue to work with the campus principles to make sure that this does happen. Is uh right now I can tell you and I can thank you that you know for everything that you've provided. there's nothing that we have not provided. Uh the only difference I do see now is that Dr.
032Garoo is more uh precise with u what we're having to do. Uh doc, if if I can add uh on the tutorial on the tutorial portion, uh can we put a schedule out like via social media and so parents are aware of and I and I'm speaking for myself. So we're aware of times of tutoring's available, what days they're available, what classroom they're available because a lot of times, you know, some of our students are not aware as to what classroom to go to, when to go to. So we can make a just put it out on Facebook, put it out on social media, put it out so parents are aware of exactly what the resources are. Uh because I think that that goes a long way too. I appreciate everything and I appreciate everything
033that's being done. Uh it it's and we're turning the corner. >> That's a great idea. I know that we have them uh individually by campus, but I think that we need to put it out there and push it. Yeah, we do keep track of attendance as well. Uh we also visit the campuses during tutorials to make sure the students are there and that they're following the plan that we prescribed. We're very intentional about what we're doing right now, but we will put that out there. That's a great idea. >> As an added note, um we are doing it at the same time that the ACE programs are going on so that we can use the same transportation. And in terms of the the report, you know, the data does show that, you know, some of
034these students are two to three grade levels behind. Uh, but this is true data. It's it's hard to look at, but it's true. And with this baseline, we know what we need to build up to. So, this is very prescriptive to each individual student. You are. Thank you. So, it is my great pleasure to now introduce um a student who is a senior at our high school. She's part of the superintendent advisory committee. She's part of Mariachi. She's part of the honoral. She's an all-American student. And I could go on and on about all her accolades, but one thing that she talked to me about was that since she got to um Ed Calchulsa, she had been trying to uh form a mentor program. And so she she pulled me aside. She told me about
035it. And I'm like, I think that the board needs to hear this because before she leaves, we want this to be a part of her legacy and something that we start now and and allow her to be the one to start the process. So, I'd like to introduce to you Andrea Gonzalez. [applause] Hi everyone. My name is Andrea Gonzalez and I'm extremely excited to be presenting my project to the board tonight. I started this project in late July after returning from Texas Blue Bonnet Girl State where I had the ability to encounter young female leaders from across Texas who inspired me to bring this project to life. In this first slide, you're going to see my mission. My mission with this project is to help incoming freshmen socially and academically navigate their first year of
036high school, setting them up for a successful remaining three years. This will be achieved by pairing freshmen with mentors selected from the top 10% of the senior class and the top 10 students from the junior class, focusing on support for meets and approaches academic category for the freshman. Freshman year is no joke. It brings new friends, new teachers, and an entirely new campus culture. Navigating this transition alone can be overwhelming, and falling into the wrong crowd can alter a student's trajectory exponentially. Having an older, experienced peer can provide guidance, accountability, and encouragement. It'll promote stronger academic focus and increase student participation. My vision is to cultivate a school culture rooted in belonging, empowerment, and excellence. You can I'm just going to continue. B is spelled B E. If you see on the screen, my core
037values are belong, empower, and excel. Our district is founded on strong core values. So it's essential to me that this program is built on a clear and meaningful foundation. Belong. Every student deserves to feel valued, important, [music] and included. This program fosters camaraderie, connection, and a sense of belonging while supporting positive mental health in an era where depression and isolation is at an all-time high. Empowerment. There's a leader within everyone here at Ed Couch Elsa, whether they're on the football field, in the classroom, or in speech and debate. By having established student leaders mentor freshmen, the classroom by having by having established student leaders mentor freshmen, the program creates a ripple effect of confidence and empowerment throughout our campus. Excel. Encouraging students to be their best selves at all time will build healthy self- relationship
038and promote positive and uplifting school culture. It's focused on growth and achievement. My program would consist of monthly meetings which will be held with mentors and mentees as a group to check progress, address concerns, and ensure participants remain on track. Outside of group meetings, mentors are expected to maintain consistent contact with their mentees. Whether it's through academic reminders, study support, or simple, how is your day doing? How's your day going? Group study sessions, or study swarms, as I'd like to call them, are highly encouraged throughout the year to make sure our students are receiving the academic support that they need. Community service opportunities will be available to allow both mentors and mentees to prepare for college and career pathways while building up their resumes and personal portfolios. Mentors are upper classmen preparing for college, military
039service or trade school pathways. Participation in this program allows them to develop essential soft skills like communication, leadership, responsibility, and professionalism. These skills directly translate to future success when interacting with their professors, supervisors, sergeants, and colleagues. It makes the program both beneficial for mentees and mentors. Mentors are expected to lead by example. They are expected to maintain strong academic standing, consistent attendance, and demonstrate leadership in their everyday actions and decisions. They are also expected to show full commitment to the program and dedicate meaningful time to support their mentees. To ensure a sustainability and a long-term in cultural impact, 10 students from the junior class will also be selected to serve as mentors, helping continue this program and positively shape the culture of Edelch Elsa High School. This program is intentionally designed to support students who
040will benefit most from additional guidance. My targeted demographic includes first generation high school students, students who are on the edge of the top 25% academically and students recommended by teachers and social workers on campus. By working closely with these support systems, we can ensure that students who need encouragement, academic support, and mentorship are identified early and given the tools they need to succeed. Peer mentors create a sense of trust and reliability because they have faced similar social and academic challenges. They understand the realities and hardships of student life. The connection makes freshmen feel more comfortable asking questions, seeking help, being engaged, making a peer mentorship a powerful tool for both academic and social growth. I want to touch on how mentors and mentees will be matched. Pairings will be based on shared social and academic
041interests. For instance, a senior who is committed to a university for biology or premed may be paired with a freshman aspiring to become a doctor. Similarly, a student a junior maybe in themies which is the dual enrollment program of medical science academy, the dual enrollment program for engineering, criminal justice, etc. Those students will be matched with aspiring freshmen who want to continue down the same path. Social interests will also be considered. A mentor who is passionate about music can be paired with a mentee with similar interests. This intentional matching fosters stronger connections, enhances the relevance of a mentorship, and helps mentees envision their own academic and career successes through their mentors. I understand the financial burden that new programs can place on a campus, which is why this initiative was intentionally designed to be lowcost
042and sustainable. By prioritizing people, passion, and existing resources, the program minimizes expenses while still creating a meaningful impact for students. As I worked on this project, it was important to me that I receive feedback from my peers to ensure this program can cons. I want to recognize the top concerns of my peers starting with that students may be too busy to commit to being mentors. No one will go into this blind. Everyone will be aware of the connections, the time commitment and the necessity they and the need they and the qualif and the the time management skills they need to be a mentor. Not all freshmen may want a mentor. You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. Students will be strongly encouraged but they will not be forced to participate in this
043program. What if students are mismatched? As I mentioned earlier, strategic and thoughtful pairing will be taking place. Pairing will be checked, double-checked, and triple checked to ensure compatibility between mentors and mentees. Will students even take this seriously? The goal isn't to change culture overnight. Long-term change takes time, and it's a process that requires tough skin and determination, which are qualities I'm looking for in mentors. This initiative not only benefits mentees by helping them navigate the challenges of high school, but also provides mentors with valuable leadership and life skills that will serve them well beyond graduation. With a foundation rooted in belonging, empowerment, and excellence, this program has the potential to strengthen our school culture, promote student success, and create a longlasting impact at Edelch Elsa. Before I end, I want to mention that this program
044is not just another bullet point on my resume. It's to help students who just need a positive peer role model and it's meant to change our campus in a positive way. I am where I am today because of the mentors in my life. No matter how many times I moved schools, I was surrounded by continuous support from my parents, my peers, my teachers, and my counselors. I want students in Edouch Elsa to experience the same sense of support and belonging that I experienced. Thank you for your time and support and I look forward to answering and speaking about this program and how we can help our students thrive in the hive. Doc can I say a few words f first of all uh congratulations and thank you for that presentation. Uh congratulations to your parents
045uh Dr. our chro administration. Uh thank y'all for fostering a environment that allows our students to come and present things like this. Uh it would have been easy for you to just kind of push the program through and get it through get it going in the high school, but we would have never known about it. So thank you all for fostering this type of environment for our students to come up here and be able to present some of these projects. Uh again, congratulations and thank you uh on this awesome awesome program. Uh, doc, I also would just like to reiterate if if we can, and I know you're doing a lot already, uh, but I know she mentioned girl state. Uh, girl state, boy state, I think it's very important for us to make it
046accessible to as many of our students as we can really get out. I mean, it the boy state and girl state is a really, really, really good program. If some of y'all don't know about it, please let's look into it and see if we can get as many of our kids involved with Boy State and Girl State. But again, thank you. And I just want to say thank the administration, thank the staff at the high school, and thank you ma'am and your parents. Uh really appreciate it. >> I just want to make a a little announcement that back in was it last month, Lisa? Um we met with the organization Dr. Reyes and the uh Elsa civic group and they're the ones that um actually uh send the girls to girl state. So um they're
047working with us and um they already have uh some funds for that and um Dr. Ooa actually uh donated to send an extra three students this year. So yeah, we're working real hard with them. So thank you. >> Thank you, Andrea. just want to commend you on how driven you are and how positive you are. And we're so lucky at Kulsa ISD that of the different school districts that you've been in, you're going to graduate and you're going to graduate as a yellow jacket. So, we're so proud and lucky to have you. >> Thank you so much. Um, as part of compliance reporting, uh, Mr. Jesse Ramos will be presenting the 2024 2025 annual bilingual ESL report. >> Good evening, Board President Ivara, Madame Superintendent, and esteemed members of the board. This evening before you,
048I do have our EISD annual bilingual report. It's basically anformational item. Um we have condensed it. We understand fully that this evening's um meeting is very lengthy. So we've uh condensed a a brief PowerPoint for you. But please note that in your packet you do have a very extensive uh bilingual report over 67 pages. If you're ever bored and really want to look at our bilingual information, it's all in there for you. So I will begin um this evening with our classification data. Next slide please. Um so basically our our our classification data lets us know uh how many students uh are non-EVs versus our emerging bilingual students. So, as we can see here in this figure, figure one, >> [clears throat] >> um, our non-EB population last year 2425 was 3,184 stu students versus
0491,162 EB students. You see some letters there, M1, M2 all the way through 5. Those are basically students that we reclassified. So what that means is that students met criteria to exit out of the bilingual program and they're being monitored either monitor one which is year 1, monitor 2, year two, etc. all the way through year 5. If we take a big picture look at our um EB students versus our non-EB students. So if if this pie for example was our school district, we're looking at 73% uh non-EB population versus 23 27% EB population. Uh so again, if this um represented our district, you know, we're basically the numbers that we just reviewed earlier were basically at 73% versus 27% uh emerging bilingual students. um some noteworthy data that I wanted to quickly review so
050that we can see you know um all the work that we're doing to ensure that we close gaps and um I know that there's a lot of data that we could look at. Next slide please. Um, but I did want to just make a note of, for example, our star reading, ELA, EOCC, you know, from grades 3 to 12. As you can see here, are all students, and I'm not going to go through each and and and uh every one of these, but for example, third grade, our all students approached at 56% versus our E students that approached at 51%. Um, so if we go down the grades, we can see that the gap starts to increase more and more. But just know that we're working very hard and very diligently to continue to close
051those gaps so that our EB students, you know, are just as successful as our non-EB students. Next slide, please. Again, we see the same pattern in math. Whereas, you know, we look at our all versus our EB students, we can see that there are some gaps there. For example, I'll look at fourth grade. Fourth grade, all students scored at the 55% passing rate versus our EBS who were at 47 for a difference of eight. And again, as we go down the grades, we can see that the gap continues to grow. So, just know that we're working very hard, you know, to put systems in place and of course work uh with our students, our HQIM that we've been very faithful to to make sure that we close these gaps. And then our next slide. Um,
052again the focus here is on our TELPAS test. Uh, TELPASS of course stands for Texas English language proficiency assessment system. And what this assessment does unlike the STAR it assesses language proficiency. In the four domains uh again those four domains are speaking, listening, reading and writing. So what this illustrates here is basically our composite percentages. Now, how are our boys and girls rated when they take this English language proficiency test? They're categorized in four categories. Of course, advance high, which is where we want all our boys and girls, advanced, intermediate, and beginning. And it's I I really love this illustration because, you know, data tells the story, especially when we add color to it, right? So you can see here very clearly that in the lower grades in K and one um we're training a
053little lower right than we would like at the advanced and advanced high levels. But once we hit our second grade all the way to fifth grade you can see a lot of green you can see a lot of purple and this was a very hard work that our boys and girls have done in growing in language. I know that we have a little bit of work to do in our upper grades 9 through 12. As you can see, there's more red and 9 through 12. But I just want to make a quick note that part of the work that our boys and girls did in in really increasing, you know, our composite scores at the advanced and advanced highest level was part of the reason that three of our elementaryaries grew a letter grade because
054tied directly to uh domain three on A through F accountability. Well, I just want to congratulate our principles who worked very very diligently with our EB students and and part of the reason that, you know, we were able to get grow a letter grade in three of our campuses was because they got all their points, you know, on on domain three on our A throughF accountability. So, um just something to to note. And then finally, our last slide, um professional development opportunities. As you can see here, we partner very much with region one. Region One is one of our strongest partners in terms of of providing you know our um our professional development from you know compliance ELPAC to Telpasmies that they came in. They worked with us very very well with our Telpasmies. We
055we brought Telpasmies or languagemies to our boys and girls in second through 12th grade and you can see you know that you know you can see the results. Uh and then of course we did work with our our TA uh partners and then of course our Gomez and Gomez uh who we use as our framework for our uh dual language program. And that's basically all I have again this is a very condensed version of you know a very extensive report that you do have in your packets. Any questions ladies and gentlemen? Thank you. Thank you. The next item is the intruder detection audit report findings. The top priority of Edcow Chulsa IID ISD and the state of Texas is ensuring that our students and staff are safe every day. The Texas School Safety Center recently
056conducted intruded detection audits at three of our campuses. These audits are required statewide and are designated to test whether the unauthorized individual can gain access to a campus. These audits help the district evaluate campus entry procedures, identify any vulnerabilities, and strengthen our overall safety practices. The audit process is part of the state's enhanced school safety requirement, including updates under House Bill 3, which increase campus monitoring expectations and requires districts to implement corrective actions when audits identify areas needing improvement. These requirements support our ongoing effort to keep facilities safe, train staff, and ensure all exterior door functions properly and remain secure throughout the school day. The EdCal Chelsea ISD continues to work closely with our district level safety and security committee to review all audit feedback, implement required corrective measures, and ensure that training and door
057security protocols are consistently followed at every campus. The support from the state is conducting these audits is one of several steps we are taking to maintain safe safe learning environments. We understand that parents and community members may want specific details about the audit findings. However, state law prohibits the public disclosure of certain campus security information if releasing it could compromise school safety. For that reason, the detailed audit results will be reviewed with the board in executive session and with the district safety and security committee uh committee as permitted by law. At Calulsa ISD remains fully committed to maintaining safe, secure, and supportive campuses for all students and staff. >> Thank you. And that concludes the superintendent's report. We will now move on to consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda will be acted upon
058in one motion unless a trustee request a specific item uh removed for separate for separate discussion or action. Are there any items? >> I have some items. >> No, we we apparently only one's working. >> Which items do you want to pull? Which B8? B8 is approval of Xerox lease payments for 2025 2026 school year. >> Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. that we uh update uh that list so that it reflects uh who who the equipment is actually assigned to. Um, and where where that uh machine actually is. >> Silia, is that something we could take care of? Right. But my my concern is or is is there are we going to update it so that it's accurate? Okay. Um that's that's my only concern for that item. You were going to pull another one.
059>> Yes. B12. >> B12 is approval of policy update to DEEC local. >> Yes. Uh I'm not in disagreement with approving this uh this policy update. My only question is um are these policies that we are approving, are they going to be uh uh updated on the on the school website? Um because uh a few months ago we had a TASBY policy review where we approved several policies and the website has yes yet to reflect uh those new policies that we that we've I mean they've been approved for some time now. Thank you. That's my only concern with that item. I'm also looking at C2 that I had a question about. C2 E2 is the approval of for Cynthia Flores to attend the TAS that no C2 and really I'm just inserting my question here
060because it's you know I saw 1882 I'm just wondering Dr. when we're going to get an update on how the partnership with region one is going with respect to 1882. We're December already. I would love to see uh how that partnership is going with >> Well, let's see if we can get it on the January regular board. >> That would be great. >> Any other items? I have one more. This is uh E6. I need a little bit of information with relation to this uh early termination of the program. And when will we find out if my funds are allotted? >> Oh, when if if approved today, we wouldn't it wouldn't be a termination. Uh I I I understand that the ones that are in the program right now, they're going to be allowed to
061finish it off, but if a if we terminate it's it's not terminated unless we know we have money for it or how does it work? So the 180 days just buys us a little flexibility to see if if the funds are alive. >> Okay. So the 180 days provides flexibility, right? be clear that this was a discovered item because from the research that I did since this started in 2022, none of the residents have stayed with the district and it is coming out of uh local monies and it is not part of our budget and although it's a good program, the district is paying to train students who are leaving to other districts and so The what we're doing as a cost effect measure is we are applying for a grant. If we get the
062grant, we will continue. What I am asking the board is to terminate because 90,000 is a lot of money uh that we don't have budgeted uh for this program. There is nothing in the grant that says that they have to commit to staying with us for you know x amount of time. It's just a you're training them and they can stay or they can leave. Um so the the benefit the the benefit and cost ratio is not adding up based on our finances right now but we are aggressively pursuing that grant. We are feeling confident that we'll get the grant and so that we can continue um and again um to be assured that the students that are currently with us will finish the grant. This is for the the the next school year. um
063if we don't get the grant then I am asking the board to consider uh not renewing because of the type of expenditure that it is costing the district. >> Oh, is this going to come up again in in a in a future meeting whether or not whether or not we got the grant and then we're going to you know terminate terminate >> if we don't get the grant. My recommendation is that we terminate. >> That's not the decision that's being made today. >> I'm sorry. >> But that's not the decision that's being made today or yes. Right now we have to we do have to give an 180day which is why I'm putting it there. So that that way if we don't get the grant then again I'm asking the board to consider termination so
064that uh we have ample time to terminate. So I just want to clarify then. So what's being done here is a termination and it would officially give that required 180day notice to terminate this current contract. And I think what the uh district administration is trying to say is that you would seek a new contract if you had the money for it later. But it would be and it would also be an opportunity potentially to negotiate new terms for that contract. But it would be a new contract. So this one does get terminated now and then you seek a new contract if you have the funds for it later. >> Okay. Thank you. I understand that now. Um and with respect to what you just mentioned, I think it would be great if we were to
065seek a new contract if we did get this grant money for there to be some sort of clause or agreement that if you know you're going to be here, we would appreciate for you to come back and teach. >> Yes. Like a commitment, a commitment to stay and teach here. Kind of like Teach for America. that when we pick them up, they commit to to stay with the district for two years. This current contract has no commitment. And to date, from what the research that I did, from the documentation that I was able to find back from 22 uh 2022 to now, no one has stayed. there out there just to make sure that all the technology equipment every year we have that run through >> it was that one year and I and >>
066we've been assured by Joe that it will not happen again, right Joe? >> There you go. Thank you so much, Joe. >> That's all I have. >> Any other questions regarding consent agenda? >> If no one has any other questions or comments, I'd like to make a motion to approve consent agenda item just presented. >> There's a motion made by Mr. Losano, seconded by Mr. Torres. All in favor signify by saying I. >> All those against. Motion carries. [clears throat] >> Next item is uh discussion and action items. a discussion and action to cast a vote in the election for the 2026 through 2029 [music] Hidalgo County Appraisal District Board of Trustees. >> Uh, Mr. President, I can make a motion to split our 10 allotted votes in half, five and five for the incumbents,
067uh, Richard A. Garasa and uh, Mr. Joe D. Olivar. >> There's a motion made by Mr. Losano, seconded by Miss Vosquez. All those in favor sign by saying I. Say I. >> I. All against. >> Motion carries. >> We will now convene in executive >> session pursuant to the Texas Open Meetings Act, chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code. The board will meet in close session under the following provisions. 551-074 for personnel matters. 551-04 for consultation with legal counsel. I believe I have to read these out right. One is discussion and possible action regarding level three DGBA grievance for of employee SH. Two is discussion and possible action or discussion and action regarding level three DGBA grievance of employee CG discussion and possible action regarding level three DGBA grievance of employee NT B. discussion and
068action regarding consultation with legal counsel regarding pending or contemplated litigation. It is 828 and we're in exe Hello. Hello. Hello. testing. Uh, they are requesting music. They are requesting music. That's Sylvia. Sylvia wants music. Australia. What's that? Hello. The time is 8:55. I'm sorry, 8:59. And the board is now reconvened in open session. For the record, no action was taken in close session. First item addressed in uh to address an executive is discussion and possible action regarding all regarding level three DGBA grievance of employee SH. No action. >> So the motion is no action for >> sh. >> Okay. No, no need for a motion. >> Next item is discussion possible action regarding level three DGBA grievance of employee CG. There's a motion made by Mr. Torres, seconded by Mr. Losano. All in favor sign
069by saying I. I. >> All against. >> Next one is discussion of possible action regarding level three DGBA grievance of employee NT. There's a motion made by Mr. Thor, seconded by Mr. Losan. All in favor say by saying I. I. All against. >> Motion carries. >> Next item is discussion and possible action regarding uh personnel consideration of employment employment. I'm excuation reassignment duties discipline or dismissal of a public officer or employee. There's a motion made by Mr. Torres, seconded by Mr. Dosano. All in favor by sign. >> My bad. I take away my own jacket. I take my own jacket. My bad. >> All in favor by saying I. I. >> All against. Motion carries. >> Carries. Carries. >> There is a one descending vote. Next item on the agenda is is adjournment. >> There's
070a motion made by Mr. Losano, seconded by Mr. Torres. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. All against >> motion carries.