001Good evening everyone. I now call to order the special meeting of the Rio Grande City Guru ISD School Board. The time is 5:30 p.m. This meeting was properly posted on December 12, 2025 at 4 p.m. We begin with roll call. Uh Mr. Pñena >> present. >> Mr. Eddie Ramirez >> present. >> Mr. Noi Castillo absent. Miss Paty Garcia >> present. >> Mr. Jesse Solis absent. Mr. Mr. Vasilo Dariel absent and Mali Quarza uh present. >> Thank you. And we will move to invocation led by Mr. Pñena. Now go ahead and bow our heads. Dear heavenly father lord we want to thank you father for giving us this opportunity to be a blessing to others. Father that we may run our district father in the most effective manner and efficient manner we can father that you
002give us the knowledge the guidance to move it forward. We ask you to give us a blessing over Christmas vacation, Father. That you give a restful vacation to our teachers, our students, our staff. Father, that you may just bless them over this holiday and bring them back energy. I ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. >> Thank you. And now the pledge of allegiance by [clears throat] Minister Ramirez. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. And any public comments, Miss Gonzalez? >> Thank you. Uh, we will continue to section six, superintendent's office. Item 6A, discussion and possible action to adopt resolution on matters related
003to employee retention. Typin 2025. >> Good evening, Madam President, members of the board, superintendent of schools, Miss GarcA. uh before you in a memorandum dated December 18th, you have the recommendation to our superintendent on the eligible to receive the retention stipen and the criteria not eligible to receive. So this is a recommendation that we're making with several factors. We're looking at the retention of staff. Number two, we're looking at uh our parameters with budgets obviously and uh those are the factors we took into account in developing this plan before you. We for the record we recommend this for the resolution for this uh one-time retention stipen. >> All right. >> Okay. All right. Can I have a motion? >> I I so move, Madam President. >> And can I have a second? >> Second. All
004those in favor raise right hand and motion passes. >> Thank you. Y [applause] >> any public comments? All right, Miss Garasa. Uh announcements. >> Uh well, I'll have an announcement. Before I say that, I just want to thank the board tonight. Um you know, for really considering in in this time that we are like Dr. Alina said, you know, we do have budget constraints, but you know, even though we we are faced with that, you all took, you know, the initiative and the leadership to give back to the people that matter most, those uh that are our our teachers, our, you know, bus drivers, uh uh you know, our custodial workers, everyone that makes a difference in the lives of our students. So, I really want to thank you all from the part of administration
005uh for thinking, you know, of our employees. So, once again, thank you for that, for passing that tonight. >> All right. And I just want to add to that that this board uh since the beginning we've said that we're uh we want to get back to our teachers. We want to compensate them, our staff, our uh staff in general. We want to compensate them for all their hard work. We really really do appreciate them. This is just a little token of appreciation. We wish with wish with all our heart that it could be bigger stipens that it could be to more of our employees, but because of um financial constraints, we're able to give a a small retention stipen. Um, so we're very grateful for each one of our our employees. Um, and we just
006want to wish them a merry Christmas and and we hope that this this small um uh token will be a token of appreciation and that they'll make use a good use of it. >> Mr. Pñena, >> uh I just want to emphasize three things. When we ran on this board, we said we have set three goals. To put this district in a better situation that's been financially second, that we would take care of our students, which are our number one priority. And third, that we would take care of our staff. I think that so far we've done a good uh job of doing that. And I'll end with this. You all have a merry Christmas. Enjoy your your your holidays. Uh have a restful uh vacation and let's get back ready to get back to
007work. >> Uh I just want to reiterate something that uh Dr. Bar said. You know, a lot of times, and I've said this before, you know, we wish we could give everybody a ton more. you know, uh, most of us up here are very generous. We give back all the time. We donate as much as we can. So, it's not because, oh, we're being tight wads, uh, so to say, and that we're holding on to something we don't have. It's there's an academic portion, there's a curriculum portion, there's an athletic portion to running the district. And then, as you can ask, Mrs. Rob sitting right there, there's an financial aspect to running the business. So, there's there's financial integrity. And if we don't maintain that like a like a house, like a ton of bricks,
008it falls. And if it falls, then we all go under. So, at the end of the day, we have to do what's fiscally responsible. And I'm just glad that Also, let's thank the superintendent, the business office for being able to to uh count and allot for some of this money because my understanding is the budget is not going to the bottom line won't be affected because there was some monies available uh from other areas. But so, thank you for for doing that. Uh, and as far as the Christmas and New Year's holidays, I tell everyone that a lot of times you spend more time with your work family than you do your personal family. And it's not lost on us as to what your family members do. U the time that you're not around, the
009time that you're not there because you invest so much into the school and into the our children here. So spend time with them, you know, reflect. uh be grateful, be have gratitude, and let's not forget that you all do one of the most important jobs around which is take care of our our kids. You know, there's no there's no better uh trustees than that. So, thank you for what you do. Uh we appreciate it. Again, it is a small token. I wish it could be a ton more. I hope that it could be able to use for some good use. And u just merry Christmas, happy new year. We're here if you need us. We're not going anywhere, I don't think. It's just a vacation, per se, but a lot of us are still around.
010So again, happy New Year's, spend time with the family, enjoy your loved ones, and have a merry Christmas, happy new year, >> Miss Paty, >> thank you very much for for everything you have done for us, and thank you very much for everything you have done for the students, for the district. You deserve this more than anyone in this uh district. And merry Christmas and happy new year. >> Thank you. All right. Merry Christmas everyone. [applause] Being that there uh that there are no further items left on the agenda that I now declare this meeting adjourned at 5:37 PM. Thank you and have a great evening. Merry Christmas and happy new year. >> [applause]