001Good afternoon everyone. Um it's 5:31 and we'll begin with our board workshop. Thank you uh Dr. Vera, Mr. Pñena, Miss Garcia, and Mr. Solis for being here today. We'll begin with um item 4 a finance report. Sorry, I'm going to go back to item three. Do we have any public comments on agenda items, Miss Gonzalez? Thank you, ma'am. 4A finance reports uh 4A1 report on tax collections for the month of April 2026. >> Good evening. The tax office collections report for the month of April is attached for your review. The report provides collections for the current month as well as on a year-to-ate basis. In April of 2026, the district had collections of M and INS of $270,000556 $100,241 delinquent and $99,592 in penalties and interest. Other collections were $110,19 for a grand total of
002$580,499. Item 482, report on budget balances for the month of April 2026. For the shell nutrition program uh for the month ended April 2026, we had total revenues of $9.2 million, total expenditures of $9.1 million. Right now we have an excess of revenues over expenditures of $133,000. For the general fund through April, we have received total revenues of 96.2 million, total expenditures of 79.7. Right now we have an excess of revenues over expenditures of $16.5 million with other net changes also uh and this will have in excess of $19.3 million for the debt service fund through April. We have had received total revenues of $12.2 million total expenditures $12 million. Right now there is an excess of revenues over expenditures of $146,000. Okay. >> Item 4 A3 report on monthly check register for the month
003of April 2026. >> The check registers are presented as a report item on a monthly basis for your review. If you have any questions, please let me know and we will try to answer those questions after the meeting or um during the next board meeting. >> Item 484, report on district staff data for the month of April 2026. This monthly report provides a summary of the total number of permanent staff employed across all campuses and departments within the school district at the end of April along with a breakdown of overtime payments issued during that same period. The purpose of this report is to inform you of any notable trends or variances in staffing levels and overtime utilization that may have budgetary or operational implications. For the employee count, we are seeing a decrease compared uh
004from last year at this time of 110 uh employees. And then we also have the overtime uh expenses as you can see. [snorts] And again, I'm just going to clarify, we see the [snorts] employee count has always been decreasing and and and it's been maintained. There has never been an increase in staffing in the past couple of months or in this year. >> Correct. >> Just to make sure. >> Yes, ma'am. Item 4 A5, report on budget workshop 2027-4. This budget workshop will provide board members with an overview of the district uh budget process and will also allow for an in-depth review of budget assumptions, revenue projections, expenditure priorities, and key objectives. And we do have an attachment there. Mrs. If you can >> I have an attachment here. >> Yes. To well to open.
005>> Okay. Hold on. I'm a little bit confused here. You want me to open it? >> Yes. Okay. Go ahead. We can >> I have it open. >> Oh, you have it open. >> The one that's connected. >> That one. >> Is that right there? >> Yes. >> Oh, sorry. >> I'm sorry. I thought you were the one. >> Yeah. No, that's I was like, wait a minute. I see you moving. I'm not moving it. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. So, uh this work in this workshop we will focus on the proposed tax rate for this coming year and revenues. However, this is not the final one as uh you may remember. This is based on uncertified or preliminary values uh submitted by the appraisal district and we will not be able to
006adopt a tax rate until August whenever we submit some data that is required to TA as they are the ones that um adopt or set the tax rate for us. And the following slide focuses on the student enrollment and ADA trends. Again, we've seen a decrease in enrollment along with the average ADA. And I just want to provide an update on this year's or the current ADA. Right now we are at 8,246 and this is including the flexible attendance and this budget for this coming year in 2026 2027 we will also be uh proposing a budget based on 8,300 average daily attendance. The following slide for the proposed tax rate for maintenance and operations of 6752 interest in sinking 477 for a proposed tax rate of $1.1529. Again, this is based on the certified estimate
007uh provided by the appraisal district. This is not um the end of it. However, we are seeing a decrease of close to 7 cents in the total proposed tax rate. Maintenance and operations is going down u by a cent and interest in seeking uh 6 cents. The following slide, the effect of local and state property values. Again, uh remember proposed tax rate right now is based on the preliminary or uncertified by the appraisal district. Uh however, uh school districts are funded based on the controllers uh values, certified values. And so it doesn't matter if our values are low or high. the state will be funding us on whatever those property values they say they should be. So, uh, as you can see in 2024, we have an appraisal district certified net taxable value of 1.4
008billion dollars compared to a preliminary value of 1.6 million uh billion dollars. And then the certified or the final value by the state was at $1.4 billion. This is the first time that I have ever seen our local values being higher than our state values. And so for that year, we saw a good um final number for us in collections and revenues of 199,000. If you look at that uh last column, the shortfall between local share, whatever the state says that that's what we should be collecting and our local collections, we've always seen a shortfall. And in 2024, that was the first year that we ever had a a number higher than what they were expecting us to collect. And then in 2025, uh the appraisal district certified $1.8 8 billion and right now the
009preliminary value uh by the state is at 1.8. So it's pretty close uh uh 007% above our values. So we are we feel confident that it's probably going to be if not what they predicted for us to be collecting um maybe a few dollars above that. And for 2026, our preliminary values or uncertified values by the appraisal district is at 1.7 billion. And right now, the controller has not issued preliminary values. However, we're estimating uh the preliminary values to be around $ 1.9 billion. We're using the estimated percentage that is used by TA or that was used this year which is 5.6%. Up above. So um again this determines also the funding that we receive or that we are projecting to receive. And then the following slide we have the overview of the proposed revenue
010budget. based on again the ADA of 8,300 and the proposed tax rate that we have and the property values that we have received. And right now for 2627 we're projecting uh local revenues of $12.2 million, state revenues of $98 million, federal $943,000, and other resources 549,000. for a total revenue budget of $111,769,000. If you compare it to last year or to the current year right now, we have budgeted in revenues $115 million. Uh the difference in that of course is that we are seeing um a TIA the Texas incentive development increase by almost three or more than $2 million. Uh last year we also or current year we also budgeted uh for the proceeds of the bus buzz lease. So we had to include that as revenues even though we're paying that off. and the
011copier's lease also lost payment of $1 million that we received more than what Mo Casec had estimated because they did not have the final tax rate or the adopted tax rate um in August or September whenever they sent those uh calculations. And then finally we have the debt service. On this one, we do have uh revenues and expenditures equal uh $12 million, which is comparable to last year. Uh in 2025 or the current year, we had seen an increase of over $1 million of in debt service payments compared to 2024 to 2025. So again, um these are the totals that we have right now. And I don't know if you have any questions. >> Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Item 4B. Consider and take possible action on donations to Rand City Gria ISD. The following donations
012have been received by the school district from Evalgo All-Star Screen Printing, JF Communication Construction, Medina Electric, Nissi Auto Sales, Medium, Surita, RGC Baseball Booster Club, and the Candy Hoop Promise. [snorts] Thank you. Item 4 C, consider and take possible action on tax refunds for the month of April 2026. >> We are requesting approval of tax refunds for the month of April totaling $63,42646. Item 4D, consider and take possible action on list of bids of agreements coming up for renewal. The list attached or is there for your review and we have the solace waste services for the shell nutrition uh program coming up as a renewal and uh we have the option to extend. This would be with Granny Garbage or no? >> Yes, sir. >> It's with Granny Garbage. I know that uh there had
013been a time when we were looking for other options and I guess that we were never able to find somebody with a better quality of work or the best price other than Grandy Garbage. Uh up till now and I'm I'm directing my question to Mr. Lopez Marin. How has Grandiy Garbage uh worked out so far Marin with our services to the district? Madame President, members of the board, Miss Gara, superintendent of schools, uh again, he has been great for us, always has been. Uh goes above and beyond. I guess where we're very lucky is that he is local. Um so we have cases and this is a perfect month uh that I can use as an example. When we're finishing off a school year, we have so much trash. the bins get full and then
014by the time you know it within a few days we need them to be again uh picked up again. Uh and what I mean by him going above and beyond is he never charges us extra. So whenever we call him whether for cafeteria, for campuses, for the fort, he sends a truck immediately and uh helps us out. So again, our relationship with them has has been great. >> So would you recommend just a renewal of services or would we have to >> renew that there is to it? He's the lowest vendor >> and I know that he is very we see him. We see them out there in the community. They're giving back to our scholarships and it's always nice to have these vendors give back because they don't have to and they sometimes don't.
015We have a lot of vendors we sent thousands and millions of dollars to that will not give our kids a single scholarship. And so I'm glad to see that he is the the the best u the lowest bid and that he's providing good services. So I think the recommendation is to renew. >> Uh I'm I'm okay with that. >> Okay. >> Thank you >> everybody. Yes. Okay. >> Item 4. consider and take possible action on requisitions for 5,000 and over. We are requesting approval of these requisitions after you review them. [snorts] >> Men, I I recall we had the last meeting we had a conversation based on the billboard and I don't know if you or Miss Gara was to follow up with Coloro uh on the services for the billboard and the charges. Uh
016did were you able to work out something with him or was he still uh charging the same amount? >> I know uh the board uh directed Miss Gara uh to meet with Chloro and she did uh and he did bring uh after she met with him, he went from uh 29,500 down to 25,000. So he reduced the cost by 4,500. >> Thank you for that money uh for going out, Miss Garcia. Thank you for going out and and and you know, we always want to get the best price, you know, the for the services that they provide for us. And of course, we're not shy in paying, but if we can get a better deal on on on work that we know we can get for for less of an expense, but we'll go for
017it. And even at that, just try it. You know, the worst they can say is no. >> But I'm glad that he agreed to it. So, thank you for that also. >> Yes. Thank you. And also I wanted to say um seeing that we're getting um volleyball uniforms um cross country uniforms uh girls basketball uniforms gua high school cross countrya high school volleyball and so uh that being said I want to make sure that we reach out to our coaches if we haven't our our ID uh because I'm I'm still hearing you know some people uh out in the community um wondering why we haven't gotten some of the kids but I don't know who My thing is I get, you know, comments, but I I don't get the complete. They're just saying that the
018kids aren't getting they're they have old uniforms that they don't look good that compared to other schools. And so I'm getting kind of just half of the information. But uh I want to make sure that this is very clear. We're going to get anybody that needs uniforms. Um we're we're here to do it for them. The only thing is we need to make sure that our coaches are telling us, telling the AD and and bringing this to us. Um and if it's possible, we'll we'll get it. But, uh, we need to make sure that that that that that gets to us because sometimes it's not getting to the AD or to us. And so, we just need to make sure that they they they speak up for their kids that they need something. We're not
019always going to be able to get everything for them, but for it not to stay like just without being set for them to come forward, tell us what it is that they need for all the programs, and if we can do it or we can compromise and get some, um, then we'll do it. >> Yeah. And and I'll add on to Dr. Barela's comments. Uh m Dr. Vela, you know, we're getting all this uh new uniforms for our volleyball team, our athletic teams, right? But one thing also that we need to concentrate on is our our our fine arts department. I think that our our bands also, I think they're up for renewal with their with their with their uniforms. They've been uh with those uniform for quite a few years. And I think that
020uh we need to look into that as well cuz I mean, I think that our focus should be on our kids. If we're going to invest on anything, it should be on our kids across the board cuz that I mean and I'm thinking I'm talking on the bands on the on the fine arts and the bands behalf and the mariachi because uh that right now aside from baseball, you know, and softball has put it on the has put us on the on the on the map again, you know, and I think that that uh we need to consider that those fine arts program as well. uh there's any need out there that these kids may need and we can help out you know whatever we can help out with uh to provide for them as
021well both in Rio Grande uh Gurua and early college for those kids who attend early college >> and I just want to say Miss Garcia was very generous um and and the board to um allow two buses >> we allow two buses >> to go out >> the fans buses for our baseball uh team uh moms reached out I think they were charging every child $24 to >> go on that fan of uh bus and Miss GarcA was nice enough to wave the fees and we're taking care of that. You know, like you said, our kids are already did uh above and beyond and it'd be awesome for our students um to be able to go and support them. So, we're very proud of them and um and they're very grateful for it. >> Another
022thing that stands out, Marine, and and and the list is too long, but you know, the lights at Gria High uh look amazing at night. I mean, it gave a totally different picture to that area there. And I'm seeing that now we have uh the other schools, the other campuses that are there. Uh I just want to commend Miss Gara and your staff for the work and the investment that uh you've taken. Uh that time to go and do a an evaluation of the campuses and uh seeing what the needs are. And I think that once we get all the campuses done, it's going to speak volumes to the community uh that we are about kids and we're about the adults, the the the the staff safety. And at the same time, we give these
023band uh uh band uh programs the opportunity to practice under their lights. Now, I know at Gurua, they used to, you know, have to quit early because they didn't have any lighting out there. Now, I go out there, it seems like a daylight. So, that's awesome for them. So, thank you for that as well. >> Thank you. >> And Miss Garca, thank you. Because we ask her to save, but then we keep asking her for more and more things, but she's really good about when it it's about the kids. And really, it's always what we ask for is always for the kids. But we do understand that there has to be sometimes there's going to be a no and she knows that we're okay if there's a no. She's the one you know miss she's
024we're always gonna pass it through through Miss Diana Robles to make sure that it's something that we can do. But I know that it's like a give and take and we always if we could we would do everything you know that >> we could possibly that everybody would ask for. But um it's al so like kind of a balance and making sure that we stay within budget and that we don't overspend. Uh but thank you for having to juggle that. Oh, thank you. >> And and just the state of our facilities. I mean, the state of our facility is something to look at. Um, you know, I know that right now we're going through a period of time where we're having some adjusters going out to the campuses and uh doing an evaluation of our
025facilities. Martin, have you gotten any feedback from those adjusters? >> Yes, we we have uh I know uh they they started uh doing a free walkthrough. I know our priority and and we've mentioned it here to the board. Um I have two principles at at their respective campuses that have done a great job. Um you know, principal at RMS and the principal at Early College with what they've had to face every time it rains. Uh uh you know, props to them. They they do a great great job. the calls are limited in what we what we get um just in in what they've started because we did tell them to start unofficially doing uh an evaluation and we sent them to RMS and early college uh and again this is just an estimate but what
026they're looking at and just what they've seen on the outside of RMS they were at $11 million >> for one campus Wow. >> But again, when you go to RMS and you walk into the gym, you're going to see trash cans everywhere. >> You go into the band hall, you're going to see issues at the band hall, issues at the fieldhouse. You go to early college, again, credit to these two principles for for just, you know, keeping that staff morale >> and and I did tell them that that was going to be the focus. It was going to be those two campuses that we started off with. But again, we we I mean a great start to to what they're telling us. >> Are we going to have to wait for the funds to come
027in from like or we are going to be able to start working on that >> and then get reimbured? They're they're going to give us direction. Uh you know, if the board officially once they're officially approved, they do they did talk to us to the cabinet that there are ways that they can start working and doing patch jobs to fix the complete roof. We will have to wait till everything is said and done. But anything that we have, let's say the issues in RMS are the main hall. I mean, there's a lot of issues, but just one example, they can come in, they can do the patch job. We don't pay a dollar, you know, and then they will take care of that once we get that's the reimbursement if everything goes as planned. So,
028again, they can help us, which is what we do right now. you know, we don't have the funds to go out there and do complete jobs, uh, but they can help us with pat jobs. >> Now, with this in mind, Marina, and just to clarify for the community and for our our our people here that are here live, this came about from the storm that uh that's kicked it off, right? The the the storm and hail that did some damage and then they found uh what kind of damages were done and that kicked off where we're at right now. Is that correct or am I being >> This happened be it it started before this hail storm because we've had other issues. We've had other weather uh events in the district. It was just something
029that we was never addressed. Uh so these issues we had them before. Uh, of course this hail storm like other, you know, issues that we've had with uh with wind, with rain, with hail in the past, of course, this it just contributed to the issues that we already had. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Now, also here I see a lot of [clears throat] uh train company, Martin Tumari, >> Mr. Lopez, train company. What are they working on? And can you explain I see something of uh what they call a VFD. Uh can you explain a little about that? What's going on there? And uh then I'll have a follow-up question for you. >> Okay. What what VFDs are is they're variable frequency drives. So basically what a VFD does, it protects the motor and
030the chiller. And right now all these VFD VFDs are not working. So the chiller is just going constant. >> It's not stopping. It's just going and going and going. You can get to the to the degrees that you want to. The chiller does not stop. It's just constant. What a VFD does, it'll protect it that once you get to the temperature you want to be at, the VFD stops it and slows it down. >> Like a shut off. >> It's like It's kind of like the shut off. So again, it's a protection for the chiller. Right now that we don't have these VFDs, the chiller don't matter what time you go and check it, >> it's going it's going. So again, it's something very important that that the component needs >> and and and I
031guess that's good to understand why we're investing once again. We're investing back to our to our campuses. We're investing back to our students. And you know the complaints have air conditioning have simmered down a lot I want to say because it was something constant. Now right now how are we doing with the ACs at the different campuses? Are they holding up for now or are they being still worked on or what is going on with the with the >> again and you are correct we're not getting the amount of calls that that we were getting in the past. So again, uh the board did approve uh a company to come in and service our our HVAC every month. So of course that helps keeping everything oiled, the bands, everything. So that was a major help.
032Um do we have issues? We still have some. I know here in your packet, Guya High School, we are also requesting for approval uh for two motors. So again, each chiller has two motors. One of the chillers is running on one. So we need that other one again because it's putting a heavy burden on that one motor that is working and doing double the job. So we are requesting also for another motor, but again uh we're we're not receiving the calls that we were in the past. And and the reason I asked is that because it was eye opening for me when I saw that prior to us coming on board uh the total cost for refrigerant uh we had the R22 in in in 2425 at $172,560. We had the 410A at 19,338 and
033the R134A at $15,666 for a total of $27,564. In this year that we've been on here, it's been $10,800 on R22, $12,871 on 410A, and 12,419 on R134A for a total of $36,90. That's a huge difference. So, I'm thinking that the problems with the air conditioners have come down if we're we've cut our cost on refrigerant by that much >> or we were just overspending on Freon before. >> So, again, It's a lot. It's a big big chunk of money. It's a big a huge difference. >> It feels good that, you know, in one year we've saved, >> you know, over 170,000. >> So, you start multiplying that by 2 years, 3 years, four years. It it'll it'll add up quick. >> Yeah. That's only money, you know, for our kids. So, so very good.
034Very good that we we were able to save in that. So once again, I just want to thank you, Miss Garcan, and your staff for being uh, you know, very diligent in in in how you how you invest in our in our in our district and how you you you also uh take into consideration where the money goes. And I think that I'll always repeat this, when the money follows the kids and the staff, there's nobody [snorts] that can fight against that, you know. So I'm I'm glad that that that you're headed in that direction and we keep moving forward. So thank you for your your great job that you're doing. Item 4F, consider and take possible action on requisitions under taskby policy ch local purchasing and acquisition. We are requesting that you wave the
035policy and to approve this requisition. Of course, when you look at the athletic department, it's all about students. It's about travel. It's about uh their gains. It's also the officiating if I'm not mistaken. There's officiating there that that we had not uh uh been able to address uh due to some issue with the what is it called? >> arbitrary. >> So, uh I know that that's something that was out of our control at the time, but I'm glad that we're currently getting up to date with that. I think that's that's something that regardless I mean we have to we have to pay. Uh so, Other than that, I see everything going towards kids. And you know, kids got to eat, they've got to travel, they've got to, you know, be able to perform for if
036we expect them to to perform at the highest level. I mean, we've got to provide for them. So, I see nothing here but uh servicing kids. So, I'm good with that. I don't know about the rest. >> Yeah, we're good. >> Thank you. Item 4G, consent and take possible action on RFP number 26-35, vehicles for Rogan City, Guri IC, Transportation Department. Proposals were opened and read aloud on Thursday, April the 30th at 3 p.m. and three three proposals were received from Spikes Ford, Calwell County, Chevrolet, and Kulie Holdings OTD. uh administration. It's recommending uh approval of RFP 2635 vehicles for the school district transportation department and we are recommending to award spikes Ford and again um I think they were the yeah they were the the best um bit the the they had a score
037of 91 the other two 81 and 76 and also again they always help us with um scholarships. So I know that that they were very generous in scholarship. So it's always nice to give business to those vera that um >> and and aside from that I guess that who we deal with there is a native of Rio Grande uh Michael Ramirez. Uh in the past when they had their own uh car dealership here uh they always uh treated us well. Uh unfortunately he's now working for Spikes and he still continues to treat us well. So, uh, not only that, but if he's the one with the best if Spikes is the the lowest price that we can get it for, uh, it's not local, but it's very close to being local cuz we >> and
038I think we tried opening it up. We opened it twice for the reason that we want it more local, right? Yes, ma'am. >> But, um, it was still the best one. >> Okay. >> Item 5A, consider and take possible action on request to use of school facilities from United Way for annual day of caring project fresh start. This event is for the packaging of school supplies for 900 freshmen in Stark County. Bags will be distributed to children from uh Rio Grande City ISD, Rome ISD, and Sanicedro ISD. And it will take place on June 15 uh 2026 and June 16, 2026. Item 5B, consider take possible action on request to use of school facilities from Lonear National Bank. Lonear National Bank uh representative Joanne Sto is requesting to visit campuses uh with uh school employees
039to present and talk about their smart partner perks account. Um and they are requesting approval from us. >> Do we what does this entail? U list their program >> I believe they do have some benefits for any employees that open an account uh with them >> with >> yes >> and they are our depository >> and we've done like this happens every year or they're barely starting this >> they're starting this >> and that's during like their conference or when do they do these >> they'll during meetings >> I guess meet up with the principles and the principles would decide when they can go in and it's mostly most of the time either during a principal meeting or maybe during their conferences as with the staff. It usually happens during their planning periods. They meet
040with staff. They're in their their staff development room. They express their express their or present their their their platform and then the teachers decide whether they it's not pushing it. They just present and the teachers will take the initiative whether they want to participate or not. >> All right. >> Okay. Good. Item 5 C. Consent and take possible action on request to use of school facilities from baseball team Little Heats. We received a request from Ricardo Rodriguez for the use of the practice baseball field at Rio High School. He's one of the coaches for the Little Heats baseball team. They request to use the field Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. >> And this is for everybody. I know I've had um another person ask me and I always tell them to come,
041you know, straight to the superintendent's office and request that because it's open. you know, we're lending our parks, we're lending our auditorium, our MPC, uh to everybody in the community that really needs it. If it's available and it's something, you know, for our community, um we're willing to, you know, have them use it, but they do need to come out and request it. Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Okay. Item uh 6A. Thank you, Miss Robles. Uh consider take possible action on summer feeding programs. Madame President, members of the board, on item 6A, we have a proposal for you on the seamless summer option. This is to feed our kiddos ages 1 through 18 over the summer. You see a proposal of $100,000 in expenses. However, I do want to make it clear, we do anticipate the
042revenues being higher than the expenditures. And the designated sites will be mobile sites and we have designated areas that we're finalizing. As a matter of fact, we just finalized one about an hour ago. So, once that's finalized, we'll set that out. But again, this is a summer program uh feeding our our kids in the district. >> Is this where they go and pick up a warm meal at the cafeteria? >> It'll be Yes, sir. It'll be breakfast and lunch and it'll be mobile sites, designated sites. So, we'll be out there in the community. >> Awesome. Very good. >> Ages 1 to 18. And we'll get all that out to the community. >> Of course, now that we're opening up the Gria Middle School gym, uh I mean, we've been getting about 70 to 80 people
043on certain days. So, uh, we can get there before the time frame, uh, that that limit. I mean, I'm pretty sure that you could generate quite a few. >> Good idea. >> You can fit there. They're all under 18. >> Is were we ever going to have a site out there? >> We we we can definitely jot that idea down. That's a good idea. I mean, our kids are out there 1 to 18. I mean, that's definitely >> okay. >> What we're looking for. >> Yeah, >> we'll write that down. >> We got kids there from prek through high school and beyond high school. But uh I think that we the majority of the target would be that. >> Yes sir. >> Great idea. >> Thank you. Item 6B. Consider and take possible action on
0442026 2027 employee working calendars. >> Members of the board, this is just a housekeeping item. It's just the calendars for all our employees for the following school year 2627. They range from the lowest calendar of 180 to 226. Once our instructional calendar set, these are a lot easier to fill in. So again, it's just a housekeeping item to that we recommend approval for next year. Item 6 C, consider and take possible action on principal certification scholarship. >> Thank you, ma'am. On this item and and speaking to our superintendent when she came in, she wanted us to have pipelines for talent within the district. And I wanted to show you a visual just so you can and there's a lot of initiatives, but just kind of picture it. Uh we can go to the other one,
045please, I think I sent them to you. or follow the the the previous one that I sent you on that. Okay. So, here these are initiatives that you have in the teacher pipeline and and and you look at the uh uh teacher aid, the starting pay for no experience would be $9.25. However, of course, if they come in with more experience, that pay rate goes up, but it'll be a pay grade one in the parah pay scale. But but we get them motivated to get their degree. And you can see it that that step two if you're degreed instructional aid you jump to a midpoint of a Perrygrade 6. That's 1825 an hour. So it's an incentive to jump from a from a non-deree to degree teacher aid. And uh I'm sure principles can tell
046you you do see a difference when when you know when these the in these classes staff development you got to be a student of the game getting better each and every day for our kids. Well now these teachers we have what we have the grow your own program and and what I'll talk about today the residency program. So you have that teacher pipeline of we have our talent in our district that's coming in to become future teachers. So it takes me to the other one that that Tuito just placed up the other handout please. And what's missing I want to call it the missing piece and the missing piece is we don't have a pipeline for our assistant principles principles and deans of instruction. So, we're offering here is through the TIA funds. We're offering
047the qualify scholarship for future administrators, campus administrators, and the proposals in front of you. It's attached and we have a course resignation. Anytime you you you register for courses for your principal certificate, those will be paid by the district. You bring the invoice and that gets paid. If it's fall, if it's spring, summer, whatever it is, upon completion, we're looking for a 3.0 GPA, you will have a $1,000 stipen. And this is the pipeline for future administrators at our campus. Again, this is budget neutral. It is through the TIA aotment. And uh we're allotting $200,000 for 10 candidates that we look as future assistant principles, principles, and deans of instruction. >> So that kind of completes the puzzle for our talent pipeline in the district. >> Good. Thank you for your help. >> Any questions?
048Item 6D, consider take possible action on standardizing SLOs's institute. >> Thank you. Uh before we move on to this item, what I want I want to explain what an SLO is and obviously it stands for student learning objective. But an SLO is you have two pieces for teacher incentive a lotment the TIA that you've been hearing about when our teachers get designated. You have two pieces of the pie. First piece is you have the evaluation and the evaluation is we look at planning and implementation of activities or the instruction. Okay. So you have the planning and instruction that's their test what we call t test and then the second part is we bring in the student data and student data can come from various sorts of information for example AP teachers we have our P
049teachers of fitness gram you have the programs you have all this data coming into the puzzle to determine whether the designation is there and at what level so we have teachers that don't fit into what they call sections one through seven. So what's sections one through seven? That means there's a pre-EST and a post- test. Okay, the STAR exam, there's there's a lot of information I just mentioned that have a pre and a post. So, if you don't have a pre and a post, you have to create what we call a student learner objective. A student learning objective. Student learning objective creates data. A teacher says, "Arcadio starts here, but we want him here." So, it'll measure growth or student uh academic growth. Okay? So again if you don't have a pre and a post
050test then we have we need to get data from somewhere okay and that is what a student learning objective is an SLO and with that SLO what we want to do in this proposal we want to bring in a teachers to develop standardized SLOs's so we don't have all these parameters being spread out everywhere these are be standardized per discipline by teachers so they can tell us exactly what our parameters are so we can have something that we can send out to the district okay so again at the end of the day You have a teacher who's being evaluated t test but may not have a pre and a post test in their discipline and I'll give you a perfect example. I taught bio but sometimes I had I had sections of of let's say
051environmental science. So bio is star so you have a pre and a post but environmental may not have a pre and a post. So you have to have an SLO. Okay. And the rule that we put for this proposal is if for that example that I gave you, if there's two sets of data, the the the the standardized pre and post will override the SLO. If there's just an SLO, then that's what it is. Okay. So, make a long story short, this is for this is a system for our teachers who don't have the pre and post to bring in student data to finalize the piece of the puzzle to hopefully get them designated as TI teachers. Now, let's say, and I don't know if you all thought about this or not, but let's say
052a kindergarten teacher, uh, and we have pre and post data, are they just required to meet it? Let's say like a math teacher that teaches third, fourth, and fifth is only required the data from math. When you have a prek or kinder teacher, they teach all subjects. They're they're self-contained. Are you asking for data and SLOs's for just one subject, or are you asking for multiple subjects? because I find it very difficult if we're we're demanding from them more than one subject area. >> I have no idea. Great question. [laughter] >> Do you understand? >> So they had the pre and the post the early childhood. Is that what we're talking about? >> I understand. But are we requiring it for one subject area for math or are we requiring it for more? >> Great
053question. >> Go ahead, Miss Kam. >> Good evening. Uh to answer that question, um good evening board president, Mrs. Gatsa and the board. Um, so SLOs's will be only one subject. For preK, for example, they will follow an SLO uh on one subject. >> So they're really, even though they teach all day with kids, they're only required for one subject area. >> Yes. Uh, I know what Mrs. Bonas wants to do through this initiative is to standardize um so for example, a first grade reading teacher will have the same SLO across the board because we saw a lot of issues this year. But when it comes to our preK3 and pre-K4, it is through SLO, kinder first, second, it's accumulative through the pre and the post. So SLO is actually just a small bucket of
054teachers that it's going to um tackle. >> The only thing that I want to clarify is that [snorts] and and I'll fight for my teachers any day because I know the struggles that they have day in and day out. It's like a teacher who teaches math only plans for math or only plans for reading. But when you have a pre-k and kinder teacher that teaches all core area all subject areas throughout the day and to develop a lesson plan for each area and then to expect for them to perform at those standardized levels and reading, math and science was it that be unfair to them. So I my suggestion would be hey do it what what subject area are you going to to [clears throat] focus on >> and the focus would be um along
055with our reading coach initiative is reading in the [snorts] lower grades. Yes. cuz I don't want to hear and I hear it where teachers are going to come to me. Well, how come the upper grades only have to meet their their SLOs's or their standardized test and just math or reading science while we have to meet it in more than one area because we're self-contained. So as long as I hope that it's it's like that >> and and in the past the SLO has been kind of like choice you know where we teach everything pick your 20 students pick a subject and but uh moving forward especially with SLO moving into the C1 system and this year and everything that we went through this year uh it is going to be standardized where you know
056we've met with principles and teachers alike everyone agrees that we need to just be more uniform streamline the SLOs's so curriculum writing uh this summer will include developing those SLOs's And I'm glad that y'all are developing those SLO training because I left the campus and I still didn't know what an SLO was. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> So >> that's very difficult to understand based on where somebody sets the standard, you know, what are you expecting from it, you know, and teachers towards the end were catching on, but but it was hard for them to keep track throughout the year, you know, on their SLOs's. But so as long as as as we're being fair across the board and it's just one subject area like everybody else, uh it should be good. >> Appreciate that,
057sir. >> Yeah. >> It just seems like it's more all-encompassing. >> Yes. >> Correct. Yes, sir. And again, this is budget neutral. The total expense 21,1 199 reimbured by TA funds. So we're excited about that, too. Item 6E, consider take possible action on new teacher residency program implementation. >> As you saw earlier, we do have the talent pipelines for our teachers and one of the initiatives is the new teacher residency program and we're allowing 10 candidates to come into our teacher residency program and this is a total of $80,000 which will be paid to the district by the prep aotment and we have partnered up with region one and project pace those are alternative education certification programs to bring on the job experience. It's basically there's student residents, teacher residence and what the thresholds are
0584,000 upon registration when you get picked up and 4,000 upon completion in a one year we hopefully have a fully certified teacher with lots of great experience in the classroom. >> How many people have signed up? >> We I don't know how many people have signed up but we did send out the the application and there's a QR code but that's a great question. I can give you that answer. Ma'am I I have >> four days from now. Yes, we have them. >> Yes. Four days from now. May the deadline is May 8th. Correct. And >> um so all this is with the TIA the money that we keep right all these initiatives. >> This is specifically Dr. Betta is coming from I believe the the lasso the prep a lot. Okay. >> Yeah. It's
059a >> the previous one was uh WTI >> right and it might not be lasso but it's a prep aotment that I don't know what prep stands for but it's a lotment from the state. So it's not coming from >> district funds. And once again, you know, I want to commend you guys because I mean, this is totally new. The the the pipeline for for principles, for staff, you know, this having the teacher residency program, these are programs that were not in existence, uh, at least in my tenure at at the district and seeing this come along the way, uh, I think it's very beneficial for the district and to be able to entice teachers to stay with our district as well. Yes, sir. >> So, congratulations on that. Item 6F, consider and take possible
060action on TIA ambassador for counselors. >> At the beginning of the school year, you do recall we brought in the principal ambassador program. We followed up with the library ambassador program as a district and it looks like we finalized the counseling ambassador program. And I do want to point out that we come back to TIA with the teachers. You have the TIA that is well established. We're well on our path. But counselors like every other employee, they bring in that support. They remove barriers by addressing discipline problems, emot uh work with uh seal uh initiative, social emotional needs. So what we have here is attached. I'm not going to go through each one, but there's rubrics for our elementary, middle school, high school, the C's program, and special education counselors. There's a rubric there. And
061what I do want to point out is it's a max pay of $5,000. And again, this is $1 199 reimbursed by TIA, so it's budget neutral. So, I guess you could say the the last piece of the puzzle for administrative support. You have the campus principal, assistant principal, dean of instruction, facilitators, counselors, and librarians. Correct. I know there's a lot of talk out there and and because I heard it this weekend where teachers are are are concerned because the rumor out there is that the state or at least they blame the district because they think that we're the ones that control TIA or we set the we set the standard for it but the one that provides the money is the state and uh our question was that how come we were doing away with
062TIA and I guess it comes with the changes that are coming uh moving forward. So, I'm not saying that that right now to explain it, but I think that as you get to meet with your staff, uh, when you have your in the summer during your your trainings, uh, clarify some of this information for them so they realize where TIA stands now and what it looks like moving forward to their staff because I know that's a big concern for them. >> I appreciate that. Yes, sir. And actually, we're expanding TIA, so we're going the other way. >> And that's what we tell them that it's expanding and they're thinking that they're going doing away with it. It's just the I think the method that it's or the the whatever it is how the program is
063set up that they're questioning. >> Okay. Thank you, sir. >> We'll definitely look at that. >> Item 6G, consider and take possible action on data warehouse platforms. >> So, we thank the board for approving our our district dashboard with all this all these sources of data are coming in. Uh that was approved at the last board meeting and we're excited about how that's moving. on this item there's just I don't know how to explain it because I'm not a tech person but there's just huge amount of data pools out there and what this does we have Google saying we can bring in this data for you so you can put on that dashboard okay so the people who do know about programming and computers have told us what we're asking tonight basically is we want
064to take a district credit card of a $300 limit put it on Google I guess Google does that to see who's serious and who's not and It will be no cost to the district for Google to compress all this data and send it to our dashboard. Actually, we think it'll be free for the next three years because what we use, I mean, compare Google's systems compared to what we need. I'm sure they're way ahead of the game. So, we're going to use that to compress that data into our district dashboard. Okay. So, basically, I don't know if I explained it well, but that's basically what it is. We want to use Google to bring in I don't know so much massive information to put into our dashboard >> and that information will be used for
065what purposes doc >> great question sir so on the dashboard what the designated individuals will be able to see you'll be student information systems stu uh information from students employees for example I would have access to okay might be retiring in the next couple years he's the only u geometry teacher okay what do I need to do I need to start >> the tracking Exactly. It's a tracker. Tracks student data tracks trends in in staffing. You know, we we right I mean we struggle sometimes with with seeing trends in in in especially in special education. It's very difficult to staff. I mean you know you you you went through it too. So those are these dashboards will allow you to see these things at at at your >> you can foresee more or less the
066future as to what and and to prepare and be be proactive about recruiting your staff where your needs are at. Yeah. >> You hear a lot of data driven data. Well, this is exactly what that is, but we can't compress all that file and it's $300 credit card that we're asking for. Chances are it's not going to cost anything. So, >> awesome. Sounds good. >> Okay. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Item 7 A, consider intent POS, excuse me, possible action of a contingency fee contract with Daily and Black PC Ordonius Law Firm, a PLLC and MAX claims to provide legal and consulting services for the pursuit of insurance recovery claims with fees structured in accordance with Texas government code chapter 2254 and authorizing for the superintendent to execute this agreement. >> And and
067thank you again. I'll go back to uh the cabinet, Miss Garcia, and her cabinet met with uh with Mr. Gamus. Uh and again, we talked about just our issues that we've had for many, many years at the campus. Um my way of thinking was always I would just look at roofs. You know what? I need help with roofs. I need help to be able to do more than patch jobs. But in meeting with Mr. Gamus, he opened my eyes to it's way more than roofs. It's our AC units. Uh we're they're going to come in and look at all our AC units and we're going to be able to put, you know, a claim on that. All our fences, I mean, it's embarrassing to say, but just drive around the fort and you can see
068the fences are falling down. Uh same thing at, you know, thank God our our campuses, you know, with the safety fences and stuff, we've had an improvement, but we still are way behind with our fences. Uh that will be covered. I am uh sitting at our stadium seeing a track meet and I see bubbles on the turf. The turf will be covered. You know, those type of things. I look at the scoreboard, we're missing bulbs. We're missing we have issues with that will be covered and other things you know that again I wouldn't put much thought to that they could be covered will be covered. So again by the time this company is done we will have covered every single fence gate turf roof buildings uh AC units doesn't matter what building our old Gya
069Middle School everything that we own will be evaluated. I mean, what can we say, you know, when when when they can trying to help us and and and and I mean, we have it's like at our homes, we have insurance and we're afraid to claim put a claim in the insurance because we're afraid our prices will go high and we never use them, but we keep paying into it. The same thing here with the district, might as well take advantage of it. uh the need is there and I think that uh so as long as they're trying to help us and and we can improve our once again I go back to improving our students uh performance in the classroom they don't have to worry about you know uh raindrops or or leaks falling water
070leaking on their head while they're taking the test or whatever. I mean that that speaks volumes if if they're trying to help us out with all that stuff. >> We might bring a report to y'all on what we save on tiles alone. just tiles. >> Well, we have to do to replace tiles, you know, every time it rains. So, again, >> yeah, we we we are excited with with the possibility of what this will bring. >> Thank you. >> Very good. >> Okay. Thank you. Item 8A, consider take possible action on travel requests from CMP for the 2026 annual national conference for the school of nutrition association. Uh, this travel is requested by Miss Adabel Laudell to attend the 2026 annual national conference for the school nutrition association. Each July, thousands of school nutrition operators,
071directors, and industry partners come together for four energizing days of learning, networking, and discovery. ANC delivers the tools, ideas, and inspiration needed to elevate school meal programs and support student success. So, this is for one individual. No questions. We'll move on to item 9A. Consider and take possible action on rightway imaging ultrasound screenings. >> Good evening, Madam President, members of the board. We're here requesting um approval to have Rightway Imaging present to our campus staff and um our employees to see if they're interested in getting ultrasound screenings. They uh they have come in the past. In the past, we found about 15 to 20% of people that have found abnormalities in their bodies. Um, we are not aware of any of these results. They all go to the person that is um um getting those
072screenings, but we do hear from other staff from staff members that have said that they found a cancerous uh uh nodule in their thyroid that they had to get removed. We've had um employees that have had to get have their veins just um unclogged and they were at risk of getting a stroke within that week. So um uh we have had employees that have found out that they have fatty livers and now they're under the care of their healthcare provider to try to take care of that. So once again, we are hoping to offer these services to our staff members if they're interested and um we hope to do them in the summer. So, we like the summers for our students and for our staff members to follow up with their healthcare providers. You have
073that time to try and be as healthy as possible. And we're hoping once again to offer these services that we've had in the past already >> and that's going to be to the cost is going to be individual every employee. >> So, these costs are individually um um paid by the for the person interested. Once again, this is an opt-in. you know, not everybody would be interested in. The ones that would be interested in uh we would be able to um schedule these uh screenings and we usually do it in our summer summer school campuses that are open. Uh they just require a little room and um they do about four screenings an hour. So they come in at a staggered um pace so we don't get bombarded in the schools or anything like that.
074It's one person every 15 20 minutes. Um but yes, each individual would be in in charge of their own payment. >> Are they you know do you know they're covered by our insurance or not? >> So these screenings are covered for insuranceances when you go to your healthcare provider and there are symptoms. So if you go to the doctor and you say hey I have a pain here. They try to identify what's going on with that. Sometimes they might ult order order an ultrasound. But there are some things for example like I mentioned a little while ago a fatty liver. Some people don't have any symptoms. Some people don't have any symptoms of of uh your your your veins being a little bit clogged. So uh sometimes your insuranceances is usually covers when you are
075symptomatic. The point of this is to try to get everything early. >> It's more of a detection than early detection than a a treatment. >> So we usually have about 15 to 20% of people um findings that need to go talk to their doctor and they get you know treatment that they need. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Item um 11, Miss Gonzalez, do we have any public comments on non-aggenda items? Thank you, ma'am. Uh closing business. Item 12, announcements. We have a teacher appreciation week for May 4th through May 8th. And we just want to thank our teachers and of course our principles for doing what they're doing at the campuses for all our teachers. Thank you for their dedication and of course the impact that they have on our kiddos. So,
076we just want to say thank you. And we also have, correct me if I'm wrong, May 6. National nurses day, >> I think. So, National Nurses Day on May 6. All right. Very good. >> Teachers, >> it's May 4th through May 8th. It's the whole week is uh teachers uh week. Yes, ma'am. And we have a lot of student recognitions. I don't want to begin with them. We'll do those at the board meeting. However, I do want to say that our Rattler baseball will be uh baseball team will be playing at the playoffs versus Harleen South. We they have game one Thursday, May 7th at Haringen. Game two Friday, May 8th here for Ringle Rattler uh baseball. Uh and then game three if needed will be on Saturday back in Haringen. So, we want to
077wish our kiddos the best as well. So, thank y'all so much and have a great evening. Thank you.