RMA Board Meeting 07 26 2024

001Pearson Mrs. Thompson Mrs. Thompson, I believe you're here. Mr. Thompson, I think you're muted. Can you Rose Thompson present? Uh, Mr. Bon. Am I pronouncing that correctly? Yes, sir. I don't see him online yet. Well, we do have a quorum. Uh what's the pleasure of the board? Do you want to begin the meeting? And the uh this person I know is on the agenda. So, I'm sure she is going to be going to be here. Mr. Bon, I'm not sure. with a quorum present. I I suggest we proceed. Yeah, I concur. We proceed with meeting and uh we have a quorum. Meeting is in session. Uh do we have any public comments? No sir, we do not. M uh Julius says that he is owned. Yes, he just joined. Okay. Okay. I believe Mrs. Pearson

002is on now. two and uh Mr. Bound. So we miss Pearson, do you hear me? Yes, sir. Uh Mr. Bound, I don't see it looks like he's connecting to the audio, sir. I see his name, but I You may need a little technical support on this process. Go ahead with meeting the first uh we do not have any public comments. review and approval of the minutes uh of the annual meeting Thursday, June 13th, the special board meeting on Friday, June the 14th, and special call meeting or the functional budget amendment on Friday the 21st of June. We have any uh comments? Does everyone have time to review those minutes? Rose Thompson, I've had time to review the minutes and I have no corrections or suggestions at this time. I noticed on an earlier version that

003there was a uh typo on a date and I was going to look at that to see where it was. When I looked at the latest version, it looked like it been corrected. So, I don't have any any corrections. I'd entertain a motion that we accept the minutes of these three meetings as presented. Donald Demick, I move that the meetings for the I'm sorry, the minutes for the meetings held on June 13th, 14th, and June 21st be approved as written. We have a second. Rose Thompson second. Uh, Robert Clemens, yes. Uh, Mr. Nimick, yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Miss Thompson, yes. Bon are you? I'm here. Yeah, I can hear you guys now. Ah, can you hear us? Okay, perfect. So, we have a approval of the minutes of these three meetings as presented. Motion to

004pass. Uh, next item on the agenda, information item. Uh, Dr. Anson, I believe this is your uh your introduction on this item. Yes. Um good morning again. Um, I was introduced uh some time ago um to Miss uh Armen Darez Adriana. Um and she is uh she works with Valentin Texas uh which is a volunteer program and um she uh has um experience uh years of experience with uh the formation of of working with foundational uh educational foundations and forming foundations to uh help raise money. If if you recall, we were working with uh Miss Julie Porter. Uh however um we just it didn't work out and so I reached out uh to Miss Armen Darez and uh she and Carrie and I have been working together to um to draft up a a a

005path forward uh in order to create the uh educational foundation. And as uh those of you that uh are uh have been on the board since I came on um you know I guess would be just Miss Thompson really it was part of the 2020 uh district strategic plan uh to create an education foundation for RMA. Uh however as you all aware COVID did delay that and so we picked it back up in 2023. Um, however, we did not make much progress due to, like I say, the partnership, uh, that we had with, uh, Front Porch. Um, and so, uh, we're still trying to, uh, get the, uh, educational foundation implemented. I, I still believe that it is a valuable, uh, piece of the, uh, success, um, of, uh, you know, the the success to

006for the future of RMA. And so at this time I would like to uh introduce uh Miss Adriana Armenarez uh with uh Volentex uh Volent Texas. And at this time um you'll see later in the meeting uh board we will be asking you to uh approve the contract for us to u officially engage in in in working with uh Miss Armenarez. We were able to cancel the contract with uh front porch so we did not spend any money. um on that uh with that um organization. So u u that's a good thing. So uh Adriana, at this time I would open the floor to you to just uh introduce yourself, tell the board a little bit about you and your experience and background and um the path forward for RMA and the educational foundation. Yes.

007Hi everyone. I'm here with you all today. Um I am really excited about all the work that you all been reading your strategic plans and everything so I can make sure that um have for the foundation really is in line with this school district. So first and for oh no says my internet is unstable so y'all stop me if anything gets first and foremost I'm an educator um as well. I did about in the classroom. So I definitely understand the needs of a school district. Everything just really works together. You know, one of the big goals you have is for teacher. I think that the by setting up the foundation, it's really going to help with that because we want to be able to grants to teachers and all sorts of different things. So after

008teaching um communication um and public relations, my passion really is engagement. And beyond that, my other passion is nonprofits. And so through our nonprofit, we're able to support other organizations through nonprofit consulting services. And I've set up numerous nonprofits. I'm excited to announce we just got um IRS determination for a nonprofit in Robstown today. Um so I got that news. Um but um you know being that it's um you're a charter school system and you're serving so many different communities I do realize you know that has its own set of challenges but it also has a wonderful unique set of opportunities. So digging into all of those individual communities to bring about a strong foundation. And then the other big piece is of course going to be to have a strong memorandum of understanding between

009the foundation and between the school district um because they're there to work together, right? So that's what makes it different than most other nonprofits um is you have that that middle piece working together. So I'm really excited. Um, I've taken on lots of big projects to help the community for organizations like the Salvation Army, HB HB in North Texas, which does encompass Khen. So, I'm familiar with some of the areas. I grew up in the Leach area. So, I've been, you know, doing my diligence trying to check out all the different communities that you serve because the number one piece is going to be to recruit a strong and diverse um board that's going to work collectively together within themselves, but also with you guys, right? So, um I'm really excited. Um I think uh

010we have a strong plan. Carrie and I have been in constant communication and like I said um you can see on my background I did win a research writing award. I'm a researcher. I've already been looking to see what are all the other education foundations doing and how can we use what they're doing to better impact the goals and the visions that you guys have. The other thing I just want y'all to know is I'm I'm in this for the long haul. I believe in what you're doing. I have an educator's heart. So, I I kind of, you know, I get I get some of the things that um that that entails. And so, um I think any recommendations y'all have, any notes you have, any follow-ups you have, any candidates you have, I will

011be the one that would be following up with them, putting them through a vetting process because I want to make sure it's a good match. So, if there's any of that that you want to push my way once we start the process, I'm happy to take that from you guys and keep that ball rolling. Thank you. Um, might the board have any questions uh for Adriana? Um, I know Miss Pearson can uh vouch on her uh abilities and skills. Miss Pearson, did you have anything that you'd like to share with the board or if there's any questions from the board? If not, then we'll move on to the next agenda item. Sorry, hold on one second. I was on mute. Okay, I apologize. Uh, no. Um, no. Uh, thank you, Adriana, for for your introduction.

012Um, no, definitely. Adriana has done a lot for the community here in Corpus Christie. Um, and so I definitely see that it's going to be a really good match. But, uh, Adriana, I do have a question for you. As far as the timeline of putting together a board, what does that look like or putting together the foundation? Let's start with that. Okay. So, traditionally, anytime I file a nonprofit, it can take anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks, but that's in the event that people already have their board members in place. So, the board member recruitment component, it's a little bit um undetermined. Once it is once everything does get approved, um it's in there that um Carrie and I are going to work together to to develop a more a tighter timeline because it, you

013know, recruitment is just kind of like a variable factor, but um it we want to really take 6 months to really get that going. of course, um, in order to file, we'll have to get the bylaws as well as theou um, approved as well. So, however long those processes take, um, that also will impact the timeline, but I do want to make sure we are potentially able to help meet the deadline you have set out in your strategic plan to really get that going, which I think was um, 2026, I believe, is what you have in there. Um, but you know, so we're going to work really diligently and like I said, we're going to come back with a an updated timeline to really help define that. But like I said, um, we filed that

014nonprofit for Robstown this summer and they already got their status this summer. But again, you know, that's when you have all your members set up and things like that. So one thing we can do mirza is if we can identify those first three individuals we can go ahead and file and then we can continue to expand the search to really round out the board if that's a route that um we feel we want to take. That could be potentially ideal so that we can already begin the you know any kind of fundraising type of things. We could already begin working on that in tandem with the search. But I do feel it is very important to have just as you guys have a pretty wide diverse board. So those are the two options. All right.

015And as far as your vision for the board, can you kind of uh tell me what it is that you're seeking and what you know what ideally you would like to um see on the board? Yeah, for sure. So whenever um we whenever I'm going to go out and be recruiting um I do intend to make some different community visits because I have always felt that personal u meetings and personal introductions and being able to talk with some of your campuses and to see what are their local connections, right? Well, who do they know in Lebec? Who do they know in Colleen that might be a good fit? we might find and then being very intentional about attending some community events there just to meet more and more people as well as meeting people through

016LinkedIn. But um at the end of the day, I use what we call a board member matrix and y'all are going to be able to have that and keep that and use it if you ever need to use it um for anything else. But it really looks at a diverse background in terms of um their professions, right? So we can make sure we are having um some expertise from legal, from accounting, from marketing, from um different sectors so that we can really get their expertise to help us grow the board. And of course, at the end of the day, they will be signing a board commitment letter outlining their expectations, which will include some form of either personal donations or commitments for um the types of donations they intend to pursue to bring to the

017foundation. So definitely, you know, um whether they're more skilled in creating connections that um I can follow up for through the foundation and follow up with those introductions to get those donations or um doing some training with them as well on how to secure those donations for the benefit of the foundation. I'm also going to go do that. So, anybody that has that talent where they're just really passionate about the work that y'all do and really crafting that message to them so that I can make sure, you know, they're in it for the right reasons, they understand the work you do is a little different, right, than traditional school districts, right? Um, I want to make sure that they understand that so they can communicate the message and really get the word out to those

018local communities and their connections so that they can support the foundation and support the school district. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, comments? I understand that you want us to uh be actively involved and seeking. So if you had some guidelines that you could send to us about, you know, possible people and things to look for, I would appreciate that. Absolutely. was a com if I may ask um you know um y'all are a wide diverse group yourselves. Maybe just one or two people want to tell me you know what drew you to serve on this board and um you know maybe how how did you get approached on joining this board? I'd love to know that just for a little bit of more information on you guys. I am uh Trisha Martinez and I

019saw this uh meeting posted up in words. Um I had a student go to your school. He was my son. And um I'm not really sure if this is where I'm supposed to be, but he hasn't gotten his diploma. Uh ma'am, Miss Martinez, uh Yes. Uh if you could uh you're trying to get your son's diploma. Yes. Uh, Jennifer, if you could take if you would take Miss Martinez's information and we will reach out to you and call you um and help you with that process, Miss Martinez. Would that be okay? Yes. Thank you so much. Hold on just a moment. Uh, Jennifer, yes, Miss Martinez, I'm going to send you a message here via Zoom. If you could provide me with your contact information, um, and then we will definitely reach out to you.

020Okay. Okay. Thank you. And I promise you someone will be in touch today, Miss Martinez. Our meeting should be over by noon and I promise you we will be in touch with you immediately after so much. All right. Thank you. Any other comments on the uh presentation by Mrs. Armen Armen Dares. Yes. So, I just wanted to find out, you know, a little bit about why y'all do what you do because I want to look for some like-minded individuals. Um, so if there was one or two people who just wanted to share a tidbit, I I would greatly appreciate it. I volunteer. Miss Thompson. Miss Amigos. I'm Rose Thompson and I have been in the Colleh Colleen community for over 50 years. I have a strong connection with the the city council and when I

021was a director of a school for over a decade and because of my love for working with parents and students and the community, that's why I'm on the board. Thank you so much, Miss Thompson. I love that. I def definitely think obviously, you know, anybody that's former um educator types is always a good fit. I think we also want to use this as an opportunity to really round out and start developing uh the alumni network. I think it was always a great idea to have at least one alumni seat, potentially one parent seat. um you know that may not necessarily generate a ton of funds but I think those voices and those um interactions and participation are important. Um so so definitely um you know I think we're all a a you can tell from

022my background I love learning. I just keep learning and learning and learning and I've been learning a lot more for the benefit of this uh of this project. I do have extensive experience setting up the nonprofits, but I want to make sure for the foundation that it has a longevity. So, I'm am going to be creating a a strategic plan that will be able to be viewed and reviewed because it does take a lot of components. And again, at the end of the day, you know, it's only going to impact the work you do more when there's more funding available that's unrestricted. Traditionally, you know, a lot of the funding that's available comes with a lot of restrictions. So, we really want to try and seek out those opportunities for unrestricted funds to um aid

023the schools with the scholarships um with teacher projects um whatever it is y'all feel are top priority. Those are just some of the things Dr. Anderson has shared that he wants to the foundation to support. So, thank you for that. And then Mr. Julius, I I think it'll be a good time. He's our newest board member, too. Um, so I would like to introduce Mr. Julius and then if he can also give us a little bit about why he joined. That' be great. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, I've been on the board for a couple weeks now. Uh, not as long as the rest of the other board members. Uh, it's a pleasure, Adriana, uh, to have you here. Um, I'm in Houston, Texas. I've been here for, uh, 10 years now. Houston is home. Um, I

024also, uh, have a nonprofit myself that focuses on young men of color, uh, as far as college readiness preparation is concerned. Um the reason why I joined the board um is because they have a state they they have a reach across the entire state and to be able to impact the lives of of of young students, young scholars in the state is very important to me. Um pouring into them. Um providing um an excellent academic program for them. Um providing creating an environment for them that allows them to thrive and be successful um outside of school uh in life in general is very important. And so also uh joining an experience board where um you know um just learning from them uh being a student of the game and and coming in and adding value

025where I can add as a as a new member of the board is important. But um everything I do is going to be centered around the students uh number one because uh that's why we're here. Thank you so much Julius and welcome. And what is the name of your nonprofit? Yeah, it's called Mission Transformation. And so we've been uh in existence for uh nine years now. And so uh we uh we partner with with the Houston Texans and Microsoft um a couple local um agencies as well to do uh again college readiness. Uh we have two two programs. One starts um 11 to 15 is called mission ignite. Uh the other is the fellowship initiative again which is the college readiness program where we provide tutorials um take them on college tours. We're getting ready

026to go to North Carolina on a camping trip before school starts. And so, um, it's all geared around, um, college readiness to prepare them for college. And, and again, I was I grew up in income based housing myself, first generation college student. So, you know, programs that I was a part of, I wanted just to to bring that uh to the city of Houston. Um, and I feel like I needed the resources. And so, again, being a part of this board and doing this work um, aligns with with that mission and vision that I have for the for uh, those kids. What an amazing story. Thank you so much. I really love that most of my work has been with title one students when I was an educator as well. So, um I know it

027was very eye opening my first year teaching. They took us on a bus tour of the homes of the students we would be serving. And so, um you know, it's just it it's really it really centers you and to get them from that lifestyle into college readiness. I mean, that's a big jump, right? It's a lot of work. Well, Miss Miss Armenz, we we certainly appreciate you joining us this morning. Um, is there anything else? No, I think that's it. Um, I just want to let you all know that there is probably a thousand questions that come up regarding um, nonprofit work and getting things set up. And so that's where we just put the, you know, it's going to be an umbrella. It's a catch-all. So whatever comes up, you know, Dr. Anderson and

028Carrie are going to be able to come to me and we're going to figure out the answers to those numerous questions that might arise during the process. So that that's what that just the consulting piece, it's an umbrella, so we're going to catch it all and and do the right steps. But as far as the nonprofit formation, yes, like that those steps are pretty linear. All right. But thank you all so much for having me. I really enjoyed meeting you all. Well, thank you. And at some point u you know you'll have an opportunity to uh visit with the board directly and we will be able to do some brainstorming and you know as part of this whole process. So can't wait. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Mr. Clemens. Um I I I notice that

029Kelly uh is available and on right now and so I propose if it's okay with you sir that we go into close session so that we can uh let Kelly get on uh with her day. If the board doesn't object sounds good to me. Uh time is it is 10:26. Uh we will move into close session now. Uh off mute. It's 11:11. We're uh returning from executive session. Uh we got our 20 participants back. So we're all board members are back. We have a quorum. Uh a motion uh to cover the Donald. Sure. Donald Demick. Um, number one, I move that the board authorize the superintendent or his designate to negotiate a resolution with Gonzalez Contractors LLC on the Midland Phase 1 project as discussed in close session and further authorize the superintendent to execute

030a settlement agreement in a form approved by legal counsel to resolve the matter as discussed in closed session and to report report back on the negotiations and any resulting agreement to the board. I second that motion. I second that motion. We have a motion in a second. Uh uh roll call. Mr. Neck. I vote yes. Miss Pearson. Here's a Pearson. Yes. Miss Thompson. Yes. Mr. Bound. Yes. Robert Clemens. Yes. Motion carries. Um, do we have any other actions resulting from our executive session? Uh, yes. Uh, second motion. I move to authorize the superintendent to re-evaluate and adjust the salary expense issues discussed in close session to better align salaries according to our organizational chart. We have a second. We'll second the motion. We have a motion and a second uh that we authorize superintendent to

031adjust salaries be better aligned with organizational chart. Uh Mr. Nimick, I vote yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Miss Thompson, yes. Mr. B. Yes. Robert Clemens. Yes. Motion carries. I think on our agenda we were information items to number B superintendent report. Dr. Anderson. Good. At this time, um I would like to just uh uh share with the board some things that are going on. As you know, we don't have any enrollment or retention numbers or anything like that as we shared those things with you at the um uh annual board meeting. However, uh there are some things that I would like to share with the board as far as uh district updates. Um the uh 2024 RMA convocation. Um the dates for that will be August 5th uh that Monday uh through August 9th. Uh the

032board is invited to any sessions. Dr. Given will send links uh send out well Jennifer will send a link out to all board members if you'd like to pop into any sessions just to kind of uh get a glimpse of what's going on in the district and what uh staff uh will be learning. Uh the convocation week is the PD week uh where we'll have a lot of good trainings um and um uh been on benefits, academic things, uh HR issues, payroll, um technology safety, school safety, and all of those things. Now, on August the 5th, that Monday, uh is usually when I will do the uh annual state of the district address uh to the um entire district. And this will be a virtual meeting uh this year, a virtual convocation uh rather this

033year. Um but I also welcome the board to join um and and u have greetings or if you would like to u you know have have uh have some words uh please do that. If you just want to get on and say hey we wish you a successful school year or if you would like to give some deeper words of encouragement just let Jennifer know and we will communicate that to Dr. given so that we can uh plan accordingly uh for you guys. So please uh let us know. Um and again that date for the init for the kickoff and the speeches and welcomes and all of that will be Monday, August the 5th. Any questions about convocation? Do you have a time for that August 5th meeting? 9:00. Is that correct? Uh uh Jennifer,

034Dr. Gibbons, it starts at 9:00. Correct. Yes, it'll be starting at 9:00. Okay. So, we invite you to join us. Um I think it would be great for the district to see all board members in uh cohesiveness and uh to support them on that particular uh for the particular for this uh that particular day for the school year. Um the other item I wanted to share was the Texas Public Charter School Conference. Um that conference will Excuse me. That conference will be Sunday uh will start uh Sunday, October 20th. Uh registration will open at 4:00 p.m. And um so and there's a welcome reception at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 20th, and it will go through um it will go all the way until uh Wednesday um well, excuse me, actually uh it'll uh yes,

035till Wednesday um at noon, 12:30. Uh if you would like to join us Wednesday, October 23rd, that will be in San Antonio at the um what is that called, Carl? The Marriott out there. The It's the JW Marriott. Yes, the JW Marriott. It's the resort. Uh very nice resort. Um it's I think that's where we have the best uh charter conference because it's all secluded and all of the um the receptions and happy hour events are all right there. So you don't have to get in cars or be trying to travel far. So uh if you're interested board uh we encourage you to reach out to Jennifer uh well Jennifer will reach out to you excuse me and uh to let you know because Jennifer you want to talk a little bit bit about that

036and the date uh that we have to cancel if they're not going and all of that. Yes sir. So, um we actually already have the board um registered because we did our group registration um to be able to receive a um full percent uh refund. We do need to uh make those edits by August 1st, which is Wednesday coming up. So, um I will send out an email or if you would like to tell me, but I will send out an email with all the information and if you can just confirm if you would be available or not um and we can go ahead and continue from there. So, please uh let us know of course um and as I get any event uh in uh u event opportunities for you know I will send

037those Jennifer will send those out to the board. uh and you feel free to register um for those uh you know they have a lot of um social events and nature at the conference and so we'll be sharing those reception um uh op opportunities with with the board as well. Any questions about TPCSA? And for those that are new um um to the board, this is the opportunity for you to get a lot of your board hours. you're required to have um a certain number of board hours each year. Um you have one year to get the the the board hours. However, TPCSA is the biggest opportunity for you to do it in one u one event. Um and so uh we encourage all that can to attend. Um summer school enrollment. Uh Jennifer, if

038you'd scroll down, I just want to share with the board um our summer school enrollment. And Dr. Given, would you please talk about um the enrollment uh for summer school and and what went on there? Just to give the board an update, please. Good morning, everyone. Can you see? Okay. Hi there. Yes, this year we did something different. Um uh again due to uh budgetary reasons we ended up having a uh virtual summer school in which we employed some of our top teachers to provide uh the EOCC instruction and then we had all of our students that were um that had egeneuity classes that they either uh failed or uh needed to complete. So that's because we don't allow any new or novel credits for summer school because it's only at the most three weeks.

039So um so this year we had a total of 366 students participating in our summer school. uh the breakdown uh you can see by campus of how many students participated in the Texas college bridge which is of course our college prep course which gives us uh impacts our CCMR and then we had the egenuity which is the vast majority of egeneuity classes are elective courses. So, uh, and then the EOCC prep, those are the students that logged in to prepare for the June administration of the STAR test. Any questions about summer school? I think that was a smart move to have the virtual summer school. That was very good. Smart. more smooth because we we looked at last year's attendance and it was so so sparse um with the EOCC prep and um that way

040we just used um four teachers to support the whole district rather than four teachers per district which is what we normally do. I mean four teachers per campus. So we saved a lot of money very cost effective. Thank you. Any other questions for Dr. Given about summer school? All right. Then at this time, I'm going to ask Carrie to come on. Excuse me. Back to Dr. Given. Did you uh kind of do a roll up of completion rates opposed to when they were inhouse? Just a little overview. Uh for summer school? Yeah. Were we more successful with the online summer school than before when we had not not the money? I would say we were more effective like I said before, especially with the EOCC prep, our numbers are about the same of how many

041students showed up for prep. But if you had, you know, what is it? All those teachers over 40 teachers for 62 students would would have been the issue. Uh, as far as our EOC scores, unfortunately, they went down, I think, by what, 2%, Jim, over last year. Is he on for the summer school? Is that what we're talking We're still talking about EOC? A little bit more than that. I think it was closer to 5% decrease. Yeah. But it was our lowest participation is the summer administration. So, yes. And then and there's ways with with summer school and the way it impacts us because they don't they don't how do you put this it's a double dip. So, it it doesn't hurt us if they fail if they've already failed. You see what I'm saying?

042As far as course completion, we did really well because that's how many students actually completed courses uh in Egenuity and Texas College Bridge. So though they finished up, they either improved and they recaptured a course that they had failed or they completed a course that was an incomplete because we don't roll over incompletes to the next school year. So that part is very successful completing courses and and and getting recapturing credits. Thank you. Any other questions about summer school from Dr. Gibbons? All right. At this time, um, I wanted to share I asked Carrie to put together a presentation of where we are for our 20, uh, 24 enrollment. Um, we have been meeting to discuss initiatives and things. Um, and you'll hear Miss Pearson um, in just a a moment. She'll be presenting her

043um, presentation on on on retention, enrollment uh, and recruitment. And um and so at this time, Carrie, would you talk about where we are and uh what the expected number is at this point in time and what we're doing um to continue to build upon this? Um yes, sir. Uh good morning board. The the numbers that I have for you here, um we'll start at the top. We've had 1,751 students that have filled out an application since May of this year and we're averaging um around 35 applications uh per day that we are receiving. Now the 1206 is the total number number of students that have been rolled over from last school year. We had 500 applications that were completed and in process and then 35 applications waiting to be approved. Um now this number

044was as of the 23rd. So every day our number increases when it comes to the applications that are processed and the ones that are waiting to be approved. Um, the one thing that's important to point out is the day that we did these numbers was the day that ascender actually rolled to the new school year. And so that's why we had um the number of applications that were completed and in the waiting phase because we did not have the new school year open in our software for the district. So, I'm quite sure that the the ones waiting to be processed have been moved over at this point. Um, every year there's an expected number of what they refer to as no-show students. Um, and Sylvia, I spoke to Sylvia in depth when we I was

045creating this report and she said to plan on between 100 and 125 um of no shows. So, we're looking at 1741 as of the 23rd. Um but it is our hope and anticipation that that number will be higher. Um and we have uh really amped up our um our engagement and our community um information. There's a lot of different things that we are working on in order to increase enrollment and to increase our visibility as a district along with forming relationships with those that have the ability to refer to us. Um, we're doing mailers. Um, I've been in uh contact with some of our newspapers. Uh, we're doing a press release that talks about all the things that RMA is offering to try to highlight our school district. Um, we've also got a software that's

046going to be installed on our website that will capture phone numbers and demographic information along with names and numbers of prospective students so that we can call them back um to ask if there's anything else we can do to assist with them filling out one of our applications. So we we are covering every single area and are taking the information that was shared through our enrollment task force um and implementing that across the board. And we anticipate our enrollment uh to be much higher this year than it was last year. And I think that's it for me unless anyone has any questions. I do. Um Carrie, so let me understand really quick the 7 to51 uh that is including students that are being rolled over from last year basically into it as well or are

047these all new applications? Those are all new applications. Okay. So then who is following up on those other applications that are pending basically or that has showed interest? That would be something that is at the campus level that is handled by the registars. Okay. So, they receive all of that information as they um vet each student to make sure that they're within our boundaries to make sure that um they have everything turned in. Okay. Um and Dr. Anderson, do we know how they accomplished this at the school level? How they accomplished following up? Well, usually the um and Sylvia uh can talk a little bit. Silia, are you on Jim? Silia. Jim. um it's up to them to call those students and try and get them to come into the campus. Jim, do you know

048any other things that they would that they're doing? It is it's the campus staff. So, the principles, the counselors, registars. So, if a student does or a parent shows interest um but they don't actually complete the full application, then the campus staff will attempt to contact them and let them know that we're interested in their student enrolling with us and want to follow up and ensure that you have all what you need to make a decision. And they get emails right Jim of that something's missing like they'll there's automatic emails or either the registar will email and say hey we still need you know proof of residency or whatever it may be and sometimes the parents will respond and sometimes they don't but usually the process is to follow up and say hey these are

049the missing documents if it sits so long then usually they will reach out to the parent and say hey this is you know uh Miss Ring with RMA Fort Worth birth and I was just calling because you had expressed interest. So that's usually how the process goes. Okay. Thank you. And can someone remind us what the enrollment was for last year compared to this 1741 number? Uh Jim, what was the the enrollment? Now the enrollment is not what gets us. Usually it's the ADA that kills us, but Jim, can you share that? What was it at 16 something at the end of last year, right? en at the end of this year. Yes. Um I think it was but ADA had gotten down to like 1172 or somewhere in there. Mr. Nikki. So I'm trying

050to pull up Sylvia's attendance report. Uh I'll open enrollment was around 1500 though. Um it was low 1600. I thought it got like Did it drop down to 15? I know was the end. I'm almost there. Sorry. I have it. Attendance report 2324. It was at the end of the school year. Enrollment was 1450. Okay. I thought I know that 16 before the end of the year. What? When were we then the March? On average it was Yeah, it was 1429 on average. ADA 1124. Make sure I'm looking at 2324. Yes, I am. Okay. Thank you. I believe that uh we don't really know what these numbers going to be until the uh first day or the first week of school. the uh I believe the no-show number the 100 125 is a number that

051is applied to the 1206 who are rolled over from last year. They were in in in school the last day of last year but we don't really know and I I'm sure that's a good number 125 who we would expect to come back since they were here on the last day of school. they would say a 10th grader, 11th grader, but some won't. And the 1751 or the number applied, but I believe in prior years, that's kind of an unknown how many who applied who will actually show up on the first day or the first week of school. So, all right, but and so we're speaking about two different things. I mean, one is enrollment, which will be be at the beginning of every semester, and then the final number basically is the retention number

052of those kids who are actually enrolled at the end. And so I'm kind of looking at the gap and I just want to make sure that um I don't know I mean we've I've been speaking with uh u working on this actually but how you know increasing the enrollment basically kind of increases our chances to retain them as well and that's really what we need to strive and go for but making sure that these applications that are kind of in the air of interest are actually being followed up and touched on. Yes, I have on here for the for the no-show students. I think there should be strong communication and visibility of how we are communicating with them to find out the exact status. And I'd like to see a report of the list of

053those students, whether it be 120, 125, whatever that is. I'd like to see who their students are and what follow-up action has been taken on the new show students. And that's one of the things uh Miss Thompson too that uh I've had discussions with Dr. Given um because we have our principal counselor retreat coming up next week. And I shared my concern that I think sometimes our campuses wait to snapshot day to try and follow up with those no-shows and I want that done much much sooner as you've said. You know, that needs to be done immediately and consistently. Right. I'm with Miss Thompson on that one. It's actually a a report of how are we following up with those no-shows? um what is the you know how often are we touching base? How are

054we following up with them? I think it's important to kind of see um just just to give a few numbers. Um as of August 18th of 2023 at the beginning of last year, our average enrollment was 1155. And then if we go to the end um of September, so September 22nd of 23 um the average enrollment was 1507. So that just gives you um a benchmark on where we were last year and what we're looking at going in with this year. Thank you. 1507. Okay. And I think the bottom line on this discussion is we need to have data to show how we came to this conclusion and what we did to eliminate and correct some of the issues. Yes, ma'am. And we can bring that to the next board meeting in September once school

055is started. We'll carry if we can work together and get some hard data and what what you know who are the no-shows and Jim and uh Sylvia um again we'll have some discussions about the followup and having the campuses submit documentation and just real quick it is part of the process we have a lever log so when students do withdraw they um are identified on the lever log at the beginning of the year. All the no-show students are on that log. And so it is the campus and the campus staff that begin to begin trying to uh contact them and attempt to have them reenrolled in in school. And we just like Miss Thompson's saying, you know, some data and some some that you know what's been done to follow up. And so we need

056to come up with that and I think documenting that so that we have that information just have a comment log as to what we did for the follow-up purpose who and what was done. Yeah. Any other questions for Carrie? Our goal is to have 2,000 students. Um, you know, I've I've went back and forth. I use the analogy of a bucket. Carl's heard this before. Told them the bucket has a hole in it. And for so many years, you know, we've just it's been, you know, water dripping out and we've just been refilling the bucket to keep it full. And it's getting harder to refill the bucket. And so you have to look at the whole and so then the focus has become the hole in the bucket. And so we we we um you

057know we appreciate Miss Pearson and we appreciate Mr. Marquez and the others that Mr. Dr. Bourgeois working with us. So we are taking this very seriously to try and get um get these numbers up. Miss Pearson, then I will turn it over to you and uh for your presentation on recruit on enrollment and retention. All right. Thank you very much. And uh really quickly, so I we from based on the last meeting that we had in Richard Marquez, I've I've spoken to Mr. Marquez a little bit more about um you know his findings and basically the experience and how to um how to move forward basically. And there's two topics, right? It's one of them is uh enrollment, the other one is retention. Um so there's you know there's a couple of things on there.

058One of the things that we want to go ahead and discuss and kind of promote is how we're promoting and talking about our RMA. Um and I think um you know one of the list is that us having kind of a little refresher because it's really just about owning RMA and having a DNA basically that we're proud to be RMA. Excuse me. So I have a my background noise here. Um, so yeah, so I kind of want to give you kind of really quick synopsis of what I'm doing here uh locally and promoting RMA. So really quick, one of the things that I kind of go in when I go into group into group meetings or into um into to you know coffee talks or things of that nature, community events and presenting RMA. Um,

059a lot of the things here locally that we find here in West Christie is that only a select few know what RMA actually is. And so it's actually a benefit for us at this current moment because we have a way to kind of change what RMA is going into the future, right? So I apologize. One of the things that I say is basically is I start off with you know RMA is located. We are a a drop by recovery school known as drop by recovery school are located on Staples and again the location of where we're at. Uh I do present that as a public charter school and we are actually now currently enrolling and kind of giving them the information of the enrollment process of it as well. Um now I'm giving them the

060background of RMA is that RMA is for everyone. Just give me one minute. I'm sorry. Let me take care of my dog real Yeah. So, I'm sorry. I apologize about that. Um, yeah. So, one of the things is trying to make sure that we pick stories basically from successes that have happened from our schools, right? Um, a lot of the times our our students basically don't necessarily thrive in a normal education system. So, this is where RMA, which is a 4-hour um school day, basically comes into into into um into effect. But there's also different graduation options. Did you guys know that RMA has different four different graduation dates that they can go ahead and graduate throughout the year? And so, this is what sets us apart. So, kind of understanding what sets us apart

061as a school uh or as a district basically is one of the key forms of it. But the other thing is as well is kind of giving reasons as to why kids would benefit from this. So for example um army here corpus Christine my first year there was a gra young lady who graduated actually who was who kept having to drop out of school because of her illness and so she wasn't really going to be she wasn't thriving in the normal academics in school system so RMA did allow her to kind of continue on you know with her school system at the age of 20 basically she ended up graduating and walking a stage there is no kid in the world that aspires to drop out there's no kid in the world that aspires to

062get a GED so Billy to give that you know ability to a student to walk the stage basically under whatever circumstances they might be. This is the dream basically that we're also trying to create and create as an RMA as you know as RMA but also giving out to our community giving that ability to know that we understand our students and that we want and thrive uh and be you know be successful for everyone basically. So it's important that when we're talking about RMA that we bring it back to the community and the successes and the stories that the storytelling portion of it, right? So now going into it, it's a very basic introduction. Uh right now one of the focus and the key factors is making sure that we're talking about um getting people

063to know and understand what RMA is. Right? So that's basically the strategy. It's year- round engagement. Basically starting with our with with everybody our our admin, our board, our principles, the you know key stakeholders, our um you know our as our our counselors making sure that each every individual are at touching base but also moving forward and being able to talk about M RMA. You can go ahead and scoot down Jennifer. Thank you. So um Mr. Mr. Mariss did kind of align and put together a a kind of an implementation strategy basically on times that we should be touching year round um and what you do basically. So for example between the the times between August and September it is our high time where we are going out into the community and kind of talking

064about and engaging in advertising and things that nature. So currently right now we do have a press release that is going out in which we'll be actually engaging with radios and local markets. Uh now it's not going to be the same marketing concepts are not going to be at every school. Let's get that correct. It has to work for that particular community, right? So for example, Corpus Christie might thrive better on radio versus another one might thrive better with having a billboard a certain location. So just to kind of be very um you know making sure that our marketing strategy is going to be positioned basically according to that market, right? But the other portion of it as well is making sure now that at the local level this is what's going to be this

065is where most of your impact is going to come is what is being done at the local community or what is being done within the school basically at that you know within that within that particular school because there's nobody else who can talk about it better than a school. So while the while um you know uh the campus basic or sorry the district can talk about it at on the masses basically on the PR aspect of things uh we cannot be you know the people that sit there and talk to the community itself. So this is where it does become the responsibility of the principles of you know your teachers of your um counselors basically to understand and really I do want to take a little bit more um stress basically on making sure that

066the principles are out there touching to their peers basically other principles in the community other educators in the community uh making sure that they're actually visiting and making rapport with their judges in that community as well that is going to be those most uh vital portions of it. So whether it's something as simple as once a quarter um you know going out and making a day out of visiting um it's going to be important. One of the things that I do want to say is that we have to go to them not necessarily them come to us right uh because we have to go to them for them to understand who we are you know versus us sending out an invitation oh come and visit and then not expecting anybody to come in when they

067don't know about you. We have to get out there into the community and it's vital for us to kind of talk about that as well. Um, can you can you continue to the next page, Jennifer? All right. So, basically now we're going to go ahead and start. We're talking about uh the marketing strategies basically and how we're go go ahead and implementing. So, I kind of touch base a little bit about that. Uh, one press release will be sent out per semester basically making sure that we are touching with the masses in the press as well. um event management is going to stay at the at the where I'm suggesting basically that this is going to stay at the school level making sure that it is uh promoted through the school created by the school

068and um and actually implemented by the school right and then of course media engages and opportunities will what what happens is basically one of two things it's um making sure that we're working with our communication manager which is going to be Carrie but also making sure that you are prepared to know what the conversation is going to be about and making sure that it's um that it's done appropriately as well. It's going to be something that's important as well. So, it's always, you know, you know, um I'm sure Kerry has communication um strategy in place, but it's always making sure that we go back and understanding um how do we engage with media as well. So, uh but that's pretty much it. The community engagement is going to be your highest report basically on making

069sure that we are talking to our audience and making sure that we're they're coming into coming to us um after us engaging out to them. So the very first step is just really this is the grassroots efforts going out there and touching the community, principles to principles, educators to educators, uh you know um making sure that the principles are actually making rapport with city officials, uh judges and things like that nature. And then also the important portion of it is that I believe is it the SLC or sorry um I got my acronyms incorrect. uh but making sure that they are working else making I mean that's really should stay with the working directly with the students and making sure that you know they're working with students and parents but above that it's going to

070be uh you know based on um that we're getting the word out and go down there and of course you always have my support and the and the support of the board as well. So I do recommend also the principles reach out to their local board member um in the area and kind of make a rapport with them as well and invite them to the events. kind of important as well because they already know community members in the area and this is basically the best way to kind of move forward. But we have to work together on this. That's it. Thank you. Questions? Go ahead. Go ahead, Mr. Clemens. I wonder if we had any questions or comments. I I do want to say that I appreciate Miss Pearson um for her involvement in this.

071You know, we had a good discussion the other day and she really shed light on the um significance of focusing at focusing on recruitment and enrollment at the campus level. She she really helped me understand that it's not anything that can all be done from the top that it eventually has to be a strong I call it grassroots um marketing recruitment and enrollment process. And I think she said it best. She said the principles know they they need to get kids but I don't think they really know the importance of the role that they play uh in getting them. Is that correct, Miss Pearson? Did I summarize? That's correct. I mean, it's it's vitally important first of all that that we reach out to, you know, right now we're kind of what I'm seeing is

072that we're just kind of waiting for kids to come and enroll basically based on what their needs are or based on recommendation of other students and that's really who's recommending them right now is other students and parents is what we're finding. But it's not necessarily so much of uh okay well we went into the community and we spoke to X Y and C judge or we spoke to council member so and so forth. The first thing is you should know who your council member for your district is. That's I mean and you should have a tie relationship and comm relationship with them no matter what. That's that's number one. But the other thing too is that there's not enough information out there about what RMA is and it doesn't have to be a negative commentation.

073it it could be very positive as to many elements of what RMA does and what it offers and giving that ability to bring in also um you know new students into the area and kind of extending that uh that demographic too. But our principles need to be a little more very bluntly I mean very active in the community. I was uh reading over your report a couple of days ago and uh what it brought to mind to me anyway is that uh we've talked about before that we have more and more competition. We have ISDs that have established dropout recovery programs that are very active and they have uh found out that if their students are going to a charter school, any kind of charter school, it's butts in the seats. It's dollars going out

074of their district. But I feel like in our nine or 10 areas, we have anywhere probably from eight to 15 or 20 different districts in each area that we serve. And I would dare say that some of those districts do not have dropout recovery programs and do not work as hard to retain their students as others do. I never thought about that necessarily, but I think somebody might take the time to look at um love and see if the districts that are in the love service area, how many of them have really uh effective dropout recovery programs that we have a hard time competing with and how many don't have a program. or we might call on them to say, you know, if they lose students and they can't account for them, then they get

075dinged by TEA. So maybe those districts who do not have dropout recovery programs that are effective might be ones that we target to try to enroll students or get their dropouts, we can work with them. We cannot work so well with those who have their own program because they're not going to necessarily want to send students from their dropout recovery program to ours. So, and they're and they're growing rapidly. Um, you mentioned Leach. Um, Mr. Clemens, I when I was in um Leic a couple of months ago, I remember Miss White sharing with me that now um Loveland, I believe, uh has opened up um DS DRS. And so, um, competition is getting tighter and like you say, the whole thing is we we've got to scout those schools that don't have them, you know,

076and but it's getting it's getting tougher and tougher to find them. Yeah. I mean, here in Corbus Christie, for example, there's there's three other drop by recovery schools. It is kind of competitive. Um, not to mention the IC's are always willing to keep them. But I'll tell you what it comes down to. It comes down to building that relationship. um because even like for example you have principles in the middle school level or even in the high school level that are they they they want to do for the students irregardless of the politics or irregardless of what what it is. So touching base and making sure that we're talking from the heart first of all and believing what RMA is and what it can bring to it is going to make a difference as well

077and I think somebody touched base on this but it is it's really about how we communicate it. any other comments. Appreciate your presentation. I thought it was excellent. Thank you very much. Uh just one more thing before we jump. Miss Clemens, I was I had one more item. Um uh Jennifer, can you go back up? Um two things. One, uh the executive retreat. I did want the board to know that um the principles and the the uh counselors are meeting on um that Tuesday the 30th uh is a is a uh is that correct Dr. Given? That Tuesday through Thursday the 30th through the 2nd of of August. Correct. Yes, that is correct, sir. And so, um I was out sick uh for several days and so we had to reschedu the executive retreat. Um

078and so that executive retreat will be taking place on that Monday and Tuesday. Um and so the board will I mean the executive team will be working to um uh strategically plan and and look at everything that's going to be rolling out and taking shape in the district to make sure we have everything tight and tidy uh to make it operate as effectively as possible. And then also um the board retreat again, we're trying to schedule that. Um our board meeting is on the 27th. And so I believe we're trying to uh Jennifer, tell me if I'm out of out of uh off my calendar, but um we're trying to schedule the board retreat for the board members that we talked about in June uh for the 25th and 26th. Is that correct, uh Jennifer?

079Uh the 26, sir. We decided on one full day. Okay. The 26th. Okay. It would be Thursday. Okay. And then the board meeting on that Friday. Um and so that will take place in Fort Worth. Um we're trying to put you guys down in the stockyard so that you can get out. I know Miss Pearson's anxious to buy a cowboy hat and some boots. And so we her and Miss Thompson and ride the bull. Isn't there a bull down there, Mr. Nimick? A a bucking bull or something down there? There is actually. Yeah. And Mr. I know he's anxious to try that as well. So, and this is September 26th and 27. Yes, ma'am. 26 and 27th. So, we decided on one Yeah, one day. Jennifer, you say it? We did. We decided on one

080full day and then um we would have the board follow up the next day. Okay. Okay. And Mr. Clemens and I will be working closely um on the board agenda uh on the strategic plan agenda for the board. And so I encourage any board members that have any uh suggestions or things that they would like to see on the um agenda. And again, remember this is strategic planning. So we want to keep it you know strategic items that not so much just you know to discuss things but that things that we you know we we want to strategically look at. Um and so if you have anything that you would like to see uh please send it to Jennifer but copy Mr. Clemens, if you would, because I would like for him to be in

081the know of what the board is asking to be added to the agenda. So, when he and I speak uh sometime in August, we will have these items and we can kind and he'll know if he has any questions, he can have already reached out to the board members before our meeting to finalize the agenda. Is that okay, Mr. Clemens? Sounds good. Okay. All right, then. That is all that I have. Thank you all. Uh Tammy, I think you're next up on the agenda. Tammyy's out um uh this week and so she has done a recorded presentation and so Jennifer uh will present that or play that recording at this time. and please let me know if you have any trouble hearing the audio. Good morning. Today we'll be reviewing uh the 232 24 year

082to date financials. Uh these financials were um calculated uh around July the 10th when we started pulling the reports for this presentation. We are currently still receiving payables for dates of service within the 23 24 fiscal year and we will continue to record those transactions up through the time that we provide our financial auditors with the final trial balance. So looking at the average student enrollment chart, we see that the enrollment data by month for the past 3 years is indicated here. And as of this report, the highest date in 2324 was 1,58 58 students for the month of August. If we compare this to 2223, we can see that the enrollment was as high as 1,653 students in the month of September. Looking at the average daily attendance chart on the following page, we

083saw higher attendance rates for this year over last with the month of August being our highest at 85% attendance. The budgeted revenues versus summary of finance chart represents our foundation school payment revenue that we received versus the amount that we budgeted. We budgeted 17.25 25 million and we ended 2324 with revenues of 13.38 million based on our average daily attendance. That final column for June reflects the approved uh amendment uh from that the board approved last month um bringing our budgeted revenues uh to be aligned with actual revenues at 13.5 million. On the following page, we're showing 123 days cash on hand. As a reminder, this is calculated by breaking out our annual expenses into a daily amount and then dividing that amount by the cash balance at the end of the month. So, if

084oper if operations were to cease today and we no longer received any funding from the state, we would be able to continue to pay our current expenses for 123 more days. The cal the cash balance at the end of June is reflected on our balance sheet. But for the purposes of this slide, I wanted to let you know that our our cash balance was based on um a an amount of $5.6 million. The administrative cost ratio chart shows that we would receive a score of 097 for these financial statements. TEA has adjusted this indicator to compare the administrative costs in function 21 and 41 to our overall district costs. This is a change from comparing those same functions to just academic costs which were recorded in functions 113 and 31. That score would give us

08510 points for this indicator. When we're looking at actual average daily attendance to projected average daily attendance, we can see that we have been under that estimation for this year. Uh this school year, uh by the end of the year, we were at 6% under what we estimated uh that we would be for attendance this year. Our estimated charter first rating is 90 out of 100. We are missing points on our budgeted revenues to actual revenues which were off by more than 10% from the amount we reported in October at our snapshot date. Uh that is indicator 10 on this chart. Um where you can see we're missing points for that for that one indicator. Looking at our income statement, we are at or under expensed for all of our functional spending. The functional amendment

086that was approved by the board last month was estimated at a deficit of 680,000 and currently our deficit is 510,000 going into the audit. We should be very close to recognizing all of the expenditures for this year. I don't expect any more large swings um from the numbers where we are here. There may just be a couple of invoices that still continue to um to trickle in, but I I don't expect them to be anything large. Our balance sheet which is a reflection of um the organization's assets and liabilities is shown here. Uh we can see from this slide that our net assets is reflected at the bottom of the page and that number is 15 million. This number represents 374 days of current operating expenses and our cash balance um reflected on this page

087is 5.6 million as well. The last item in my presentation is our summary of finance which is dated on June the 11th. Uh we have um recorded all of our revenues according to uh this report and all of the uh the the latest information that was updated uh by [Music] TEA. Thank you for your time today and have a good day. Well, our next go ahead, Dr. Henderson. I was going to say if I would ask if you have any questions, but I don't think that would work too well at this point. But if you have any questions that we can answer, we will definitely try. No comments from my end. Next item on the agenda is facilities update. Coral. Yes. Okay, we'll go to the the slides, Jennifer. So, um on our Amarillo project,

088we have completed our demolition work and we now have a blank canvas to to work with there. Um we're currently working with Frost Bank on the final financing for that project. Uh we were delayed a little bit with the financing because the city of Amarillo requested some additional fire safety measures be added. Uh which the architect did. Uh we had to then go back to uh the contractor who bid the project project as well as our cost estimators and and also that triggered Frost Bank to um redo their their estimates. So we're running just a little bit behind on that. However, as soon as that is completed within the next two to three weeks, um we have our contract ready to sign with tri-state contractors. Um and we'll be uh going over this a little

089bit further um as an action item. We have a resolution from that needs to be covered. So, the next three slides are just some uh images of the the project uh as it's designed. Go ahead to the next one. Um the gray area there. I will just make you aware that we do have to have a um storm shelter built into this project because of its location uh in in Amarillo. And so uh that that will be something that that we at RMA have not had to do before but um uh we will have to do this this time around. So go ahead next slide and the following one. So, at our Fort Worth location, um we've completed our asbuilts and the architect uh has completed the programming for space allocations and now the architect

090is working on the CDs um for for this project uh which we'll have shortly. So, um, the next four slides, Jennifer, if you could scroll through those are, um, just some some images of of the project and kind of where we're at at this moment. Go ahead. One more. And then the next slide. Um, we have something new that's popped up this this time around. We um are in need of doing some roof repairs at our Leach campus. Uh there there was uh a big storm that hit not too long ago and um we received um some heavy water damage and in um Lach. So we're working with the insurance company and we've already got uh contractors lined up to uh to get this repaired. So, as soon as we get the uh insurance company

091to um finish up their work, uh we can start repairs on on this project. Uh the next slide actually shows um let's see. Uh no, that's not it. So, I think I think we missed a slide there, but anyway, uh I'll forward it to the board. There's some images of the the roof um and the the standing water we have on there right now. So, uh go down one more uh one more. And so, with our uh SRHVAC project, uh just to to let the board know, but we've been working on this for a couple of years now. All the equipment has been ordered. However, there there are still some delays with receiving HVAC equipment. Um, all of that equipment is expected to be delivered before October the 1st. Um, everything has been encumbered. All

092of the the costs have been encumbered. So, uh, we needed to do that by November 30th, but we did that, you know, probably a year and a half ago. Um and then uh like I said, we'll look to be completed with that project on October 1st. Um all the equipment should be delivered by then. And our last date for completion would be uh our drop dead date is 122924. So, uh that's where we're at with that project. And that kind of wraps up where we're kind of the big the big ticket things. Um, I will say along the lines of the the public roof, uh, with the heat that we had last year, um, we we have had and also the the weather, uh, we've had quite a bit of of roof wear and tear.

093So, um, I would expect we're going to have additional problems with roofing going forward. And that that's it for my presentation. Any questions, comments? Carl, do you have any failed yet on this uh roof work due to storms? Uh how's the insurance going to handle that? Are they going to cover most of it, all of it, or do you have any idea? So, so the the insurance company um they did their initial inspections and uh they they felt like they they couldn't make a determination. So, they've called in uh an engineer to uh go up there and do some additional work um to to find out exactly what the cause, whether it was hail damage or wind damage. Um so, that's where we're at at the moment. Uh we we did have a an estimate

094that that that roof was supposed to be good for um I think it was 17 to 20 years and we're right at probably the 17-year mark. So um we're Bob, we're just waiting on on on the in uh the insurance company's uh evaluation to see exactly where we're at. So, it could be any it's anywhere from $20,000 um up. Any other comments, questions? Okay, action items. Uh Dr. Anderson, I think you're up again. board approval of and replication of district contracts. Yes. At this time, um I would ask the board to uh I'd call their attention to exhibit one. Um and two there, if you can see, it's time for insurance renewal proposals. Um all of our insurancees went up. Um just about all of it. We're right now we got our and this has

095nothing to do with the contract, but we got our our health insurance premiums uh back and so they're back out shopping those as well. You know, we've been with Blue Cross for a long time. Um and so uh Epic is out shopping those as well. But this is uh most of our property and casualties and uh uh insurance there, the contract. Um, and so I call your attention uh to to that contract for $282,618.85. Um, do you have it down there? Uh, Jennifer, is are there any questions about the U renewal, the insurance renewal? And that's all for property and casualty insurance. Okay. Any questions about that? The board. All right. Then if not, our uh excuse me, our second uh contract that we have um is going to be is um our consulting agreement

096for um um Miss Armen Darez uh who you met today uh with Voliantex uh Violent Texas um and this is an agreement um the amount is for $22,000 um and that includes the following if you'll scroll down uh to the Price breakdown must be back up. Miss. Okay. Yes. Right there. Thank you. Keep going. Right there. Um this is the scope of work. Um as you can see for her formation of the nonprofit 9,850. Um and then for the consulting and helping us uh with the board members doing the trainings um creating the found u the foundation uh budget and development of that. Um also helping us raise uh funds uh for the foundation as well is what she would do and be serve in an advisory role. And so we would pay 5,000 to

097commence the services and then 2,000 um each month um until the foundation um is established and set up. I can assure you that this was way more than we were going to get from Miss uh Porter. Um so this is to to me I think is a win-win deal. Fact that she's going to help us find board members. She has a board member matrix. Um, and she's going to um help us raise money um in the initial year as well, which is huge because the the goal, just so the board will know, the goal is that the foundation has to raise money, enough money so that it can hire a director of the foundation. um because there there has to be an executive director of the foundation that would be the one responsible for hosting

098the the uh fundraisers and and all of those things. And so um as I share the goal is to get enough coming into the foundation that it can afford to pay an executive director of its own to because that's not supposed to be a part of RMA. It's supposed to be a a branch off of RMA that supports RMA. So, our board and the superintendent, it's not our responsibility to run that foundation. There any questions about these this foundation contract? Yeah, I have a question, Dr. Anderson. Um, is there a break um as far as the nonprofit formation costs? Um, is there a breakdown specifics of what that all what that entails as far as filing for your your your tax exempt status and everything like that? Uh, Carrie, you want to talk about that,

099but she would do as far as the breakdown of cost. Um, I I I know that you have to, you know, the the uh I don't know exactly what the paperwork cost is to to file for all of those, but that would include all the filing fees and all of the work. um you know any cost associated with that. Carrie, is that what you understood? Um yeah, she went over the specifics with us verbally on everything that she would be um taking care of as far as the formation um federally and with all state um entities for our 501 or 503C for the education foundation. But we could get that um from her in writing if we need to. the breakdown. You're you're asking uh the the breakdown cost, correct? Yeah, for the for the

100formation. Um I'm looking at that cost and uh just want to look a little more into to to the breakdown of that 9,850. Yes. Yeah. You know, I'd also like to see that. I think that's a great question. I I raise my eyebrows a little bit with that. I I personally do these and I charge a lot less than that and I'm an attorney, so just saying. Yeah. Okay, I'll reach out. Well, but now let me let me say this too out of fairness to Miss um Armed that's not just the f the formation of filing it. That's also the work that's put into the structure of it as well. You again that goes into because you got remember the consulting piece really and that's what Miss Porter was going to do. Miss Porter is

101going to say, "Okay, um, here's what you need to do to fill out." Because consulting technically would be, "Okay, here you you somebody in your organization needs to go fill out this paperwork and once that's done, you all come back to me and now, okay, somebody in your organization should go find board members." So, when we talk about the formation of it, we're not just talking about the filing of the paperwork, you know, and that's a lot of time. So, you know, I mean, you know, one to fill out the paperwork takes time. So no one's going to do it and say here oh I'm going to do it just at the cost of filing the documents. So you got to remember it simply says so the formation is the board members creating the documents

102and doing the interviews for the board members um filing the paperwork um you know uh she's going to also what is it Carrie create a website just for the foundation is that correct? Uh yes, she is. And she's also going to do all the training for the board members and um go through and develop the budget. And so it's really a year's worth of work on forming the the foundation and the actual education um foundation piece. So she's going to build it. Now the consulting piece comes in where now she's doing the fundraising for us. She's going to do a golf tournament for us. That that's where the consulting piece comes in. She's going to serve as an advisor. Um she's going to you know so th those are two different pieces and um you

103know um and I can assure you that like say Miss Porter was going to charge us what was it carry 12 grand just to basically we would do all the work and she was going to be the advisor so to speak but it was 25,000 for the year. Miss Porter said 25 for the year. We paid 12,000 upfront and it was I I don't even think it was a full year. I think it was more along the lines of 10 months. Yeah. So, it's not just filing the paperwork. It may only cost $500 to file the paperwork. You know, I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is that because one, we don't have the time in central office to do this at all. I mean we don't have the the the the resources

104you know uh we don't have the skill set um you know to to so that's really when she talks about the formation she's going to create this foundation and basically it'll be structured from you know top to bottom it'll have board members it'll have events already starting to take shape so I think that when we look at that piece now the consulting piece is really the part where you know she she um advises she does the interviewing of the board members and things of that nature. So, I think we can't just look at it as what it would cost to file the paperwork. Now, if if if one of the board members want to file the paperwork, maybe I can go back and say, "Hey, can you take something off?" Uh, you know, we got

105some people that's willing to file the paperwork for us. That may save us $1,000. Okay. Yeah, that's all I wanted to know. If we can if uh we can look at that and get that out on in writing, I'd be fantastic. Will you reach? Hi, Miss Armador. Dr. I was just asking Krie if she would reach out to Miss Amadaris to get that in. Absolutely. I I'll send her an email right now. Yes. Yes. Dr. And let me just say, Dr. I I appreciate that clarification and I think that that does explain a little bit of what that initial cost would be. Um, and you know, in my opinion, I think we could still accept this contract without um, you know, and then review what all it details later, you know, once we receive it

106in my opinion. Or do you if we if we need to, I'm sure, Miss Pearson, we can get Miss Armenarees back on. Correct. I'm sure she's available. Did you all want me to bring her back in? I I'd rather not. Okay. Other questions, Dr. Anderson? Yes. Whenever you start, you sound like you're in a well and then after you say a few words, you like you climb out. So there, now you're clear. Uh, I was going to say that our board retreat uh that we're going to have next uh in September, you might start dling that agenda by putting something on there. This isn't anything for today, but for at least me to understand a little bit better our relationship with the nonfor-profit board that's going to be doing this, what our responsibilities are with

107that, what we don't have responsibility for, and sorry, what that relationship is going to be, and how as time goes on, I know other charters have several not for profofits and how the not forprofits interface with each other and what our responsibility as the not for profit managing the uh charter school is in relation to the others. So yeah, as far as right now from what I understand as as our board responsibility is just to be able to recommend and I think that's where the urgency is and trying to recommend three board members. I recommended we reach out to doc um to Miss Hannah who recently retired and seeing if she would be interested in being part just because she's already I mean she knows RMA loves RMA and kind of u get her to

108kind of be part of that would be interesting to see if she would be interested in um and then it would just be two other two other board members that we have to get going to get this uh the registration on and start working towards um getting grants and um you know the rest of events rolled out as well. Yeah. And that's the other thing. She's going to apply for grants for us. So, she's going to write those grants and that in itself is very very very expensive to have to pay a grant writer and her relations are pretty I mean she has really good relationship. She's uh so she takes care just kind of giving you a background of uh the feast of of caring for HB here in Corpus Christi. Um she also

109takes care of uh crawfish for a cause and um she's had you know she's cleaned up Salvation Army and making sure that their events are kind of streamlined um and making sure that they're getting the rights sponsors in place as well. Um so I really do entrust um u Miss Armander in trying to get this. I wouldn't, you know, I mean, I think this is something that's important, but more than anything, I want to make sure that we have funds available um ultimately sooner than later. Um the 2026 outline seems a little far for me. I would like to see this happening within the year basically and getting scholarships and having a fund, an emergency fund for our teachers as well. Um, those are the things that are kind of for me that are really

110really important on top of everything else that we may need to to fund our students and our schools and our classrooms with as well. And Miss Pearson, just to clarify, 2026, if you look at the strategic plan, it's broken up how much money the foundation will raise by 2026. So, the goal is to get it established. Um cuz this coming year I think the goal was 50,000 for the foundation to raise. But we've already had conversations and Carrie you you correct me if I'm wrong because I don't want to mislead, but we're already looking at I made it very clear that we want to have a golf tournament for a fundraiser and um as soon as we get this set up, Miss Armenarez assured me that she was going to make that happen for us

111as quickly as but it's all dependent on how soon we get this we're able to move forward and get it set up. Is that correct, Carrie? Didn't we talk about that? Yes. and she's actually working on things. She sent us the the board member matrix for the education foundation board and she's working on an alumni piece. So, um and she has talked about the the golf tournament and a few other ideas for fundraising. I'll give you an idea of what I charge for event planning. I charge about almost $12,000 and $15,000 just to market. Um, just kind of putting it out there with the cost of um of just putting one event together. Dr. What uh do you just have these two contracts for approval today? Do you have any? Yes. For approval and then

112I will go to the ratifications if Okay. And then we just have the one uh contract for ratification which is power schools. Power schools is what we do um how we u maintain our employee records um and task and things of that nature. And the total cost of that this year is $17,682. Um but it uh is our applicant tracking uh piece. So when someone applies through our website that's that this helps us and it sends out the emails telling them that you know their their application has been received or if there's a task for them to do in order to facilitate the application process. Um it does all of that and it also comes with a u not so great but they're supposed to be working on making it better school spring job board.

113Um and so uh this is a crucial part of our organization and so uh for HR um and and employee um you know um connectivity if you will. Um so I'm asking the board to uh ratify that as we uh did have to go ahead and get that taken care of. Is this going to be the first year with power scale? Oh no. We've used them for years. Christina, is Christina on? I am. Um, they've been using Power School since before I started. Okay. And I started in the 1819 school year. Okay. So, this is just a renewal. Okay. We have three three contracts to approve. Do we have a motion? Donald Neck. I move the board approve the contracts as listed in exhibit one and ratify the contracts listed in exhibit number two. We

114have a second. Rose Thompson. Second. We have a motion to second that we approve the contracts as presented. U Miss Mimick. Yes. Miss Pearson. M Pearson. Miss Thompson, yes. Mr. Bon, yes. Uh, Robert Clemens, yes. Motion carries unanimously. Uh, next item on the action agenda, uh, Carl Amarella Campus Construction Project. Carl, I'm sorry. I was just talking away here. Um, so the administration is requesting that the board consider uh the proposed renovation of real property and all improvements thereto being at uh the address of 2400 Southeast 27th Avenue, Amarillo, Texas um 79103. And what we're asking the board is to complete our financing with Frost Bank. Um they're requesting a resolution that uh just states that we're going to combine the um the purchase uh building that we we purchased in September of this past

115year uh with the um the construction loan uh which we approved last week for 3.5 million. So, this will be uh the the combination of the two. This will be a one-year note. Um so that at the end of the of this note, um we will roll I guess both this project and the Fort Worth project into a tax exempt bond. But to get the construction started, um Frost uh is asking for a resolution to combine both the the purchase and the construction cost into one temporary loan until um such time as we we roll into the tax exempt loan. And so, um, the we have a a proposed motion there, and we would ask that the the board approve that resolution. Any any questions about about the resolution or any of the details thereof?

116You don't have any questions or comments? I'd entertain a motion. Donald Neck. Um, I move that the board approve the proposed resolution of the board of directors of the Richard Milbour Academy Texas, Inc., improving loans to finance educational facilities and the execution and delivery of certain documents related there too and containing other matters related thereto for construction renovations demolation demolition work at the Amarillo campus located at West 2400 Southeast 27th Avenue Texas as presented by the administration which includes but is not limited to the delegation of authority to finalize and execute loan documents and other documents to finalize the loan for this project and other authority as set out in the resolution. Do we have a second Thompson second? Is that correct? I think it was Mir but Rose Mir said second. Okay. Miss Pearson

117second. U vote. Mr. Mr. Nemik, I vote yes. Miss Pearson, yes. Miss Thompson, yes. Mr. Bound, yes. Uh, Robert Crimson, yes. Motion carries as percentage. Uh, close session. We have dealt with open session. Any other items that I've overlooked today? Do we have any um public comments at the end of the meeting? Look like we had one at the first of the meeting that we didn't know about, but that's okay. Uh no public comments for the end of the meeting. Upcoming events, principles, counselors. I think we've been through all of these. our uh any other comments, questions? Leave that up so I can screenshot it. I'm sorry. I just said leave that up so I can do a screenshot. Okay, just one second. I believe our decision on the uh uh board retreat was going

118to be that we were going to everybody was busy and tied up in August. So, we're going to have that in conjunction with the September 27th meeting in Fort Worth. We're going to have it on Thursday all day and as long as we need to cover whatever we have on our agenda. And uh so that's the next time that we'll get together as a group. No other comments meeting. I'll see you all next month. Right. Thank you all. Have a good rest a good weekend. Good weekend. Thank you. Have a good day. Bye bye.