001Good evening. The board is re reconvening after executive session and now we will have no we have no action from executive session and so we are ready for the prayer and pledge as we always do and it's your turn Mr. Befford. So would you please stand? Loving Father, we come to you tonight to give you thanks for another school year in the books. Thank you for the teachers and the staff that showed up every day for work this year and poured their love into our students. We pray for their continued passion and love for their job. And Lord, let us as a board do all that we can to support them at times when it seems like they're being unappreciated in our current political climate. We pray for the graduating seniors who will go out
002and face the new challenges of the real world. We pray that they will turn to you when times get tough. And lastly, I pray for wisdom and understanding by this board. Please let your son be seen through all of our actions in every word spoken and text or email sent. Please forgive us where we fall short. I pray this in the name of my savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. 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. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge algiance to thee Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Thank you for that um awesome prayer. Do we have any public participation? We do not have any public participation
003this evening. And so now for the greatest part, I know you all are here to see us, but um we have special recognitions. Good evening board members and Dr. Crawford. We want to begin the special recognition part of our meeting by announcing our district students of the month. The elementary student of the month is Silas Stevenson, a fourth grade student at Jones Elementary School. And our secondary student of the month is Ariana Griffin, a seventh grade student at Three Lakes Middle School. Please join us now in watching a video about these two outstanding students. Student success can be achieved in a variety of ways and it's a journey that looks different for every learner. In Tyler ISD, we witness the remarkable transformation of young lives every day. Let's take this moment to applaud their successes,
004share their stories, and inspire one another. Together, let's celebrate the journey of student success in Tyler ISD. Let's wrap up this 2025 school year as we introduce our elementary student of the month for May. Hello, my name is Silus Stevenson and I'm elementary student of the month for May. Silas is a dedicated fourth grader at Jones Elementary. He believes in the importance of putting in the hard work before enjoying leisure time as it makes him more responsible and helps him stay focused on what matters most. But first things first, do your work and then you can play. Outside of the classroom, Silas is deeply involved in his community. He actively helps around the house and makes sure to contribute to the cleanliness of his surroundings by picking up trash. Silas wants to be remembered as
005a good, honest person who always makes others feel welcome. He exhibits leadership roles every day by helping clean up. Um, if he sees pencils on the ground, if he sees trash on the ground, he's so quick to help with that, helping me organize, helping me keep the classroom tidied. Um, he's never reluctant to help at all. He's very proactive. Now, let's honor and recognize our secondary district student of the month. I'm Ariana Griffin. I'm the district secondary student of the month for May. Ariana is an exceptional student athlete who balances her academic and athletic commitments with dedication, discipline, and grace. It's been a great opportunity. I love being here. I've had a lot of support and stuff throughout being here at Fairlakes and friends stuff supporting me through my sports and stuff. What truly sets
006her apart is her ability to inspire others through her work ethic, integrity, and unwavering positive attitude. She's an excellent student athlete on and off the field. uh she's very much so a leader when it comes to being in the classroom and being on the court or track or field. Let's honor these remarkable students as we acknowledge the outstanding achievements happening throughout our district. This recognition is brought to you by Christa's Trinity Mother Francis Health System. And at this time, we'd like to invite the board to come forward. Will you grab that? And at this time, we would like for Silus to come to the front as we honor you as our elementary student of the month. [Applause] [Music] You got to say hi to all of them. And next, we would like to welcome Ariana
007to the front to receive the secondary student of the month award. [Applause] Great job. Up next, we would like to congratulate Katie Anderson, a senior at Tyler Legacy High School, for receiving an exemplary rating at the 2025 State Vase, for which she received a medallion and is also now named an allstate artist. Her work will be featured on the Texas Arts Educators Association website for the 2526 school year. Katie, come on [Applause] down. Congratulations. [Applause] We have a big congratulations to Khloe Wade, a sophomore at Tyler High School, for earning third place in the 5A UIL state tennis tournament. Chloe has completed the most successful Tyler High School tennis season in more than a 100red years. Come on down. Congratulations. [Applause] We want to say congratulations to the following bands who earned the highest honors
008sweep stakes at their respective UIL concert and site reading events. We're going to ask that representatives from each band come forward to receive a certificate and take a photo with the members of the school board all come together at once for one photo. So, up first we have the Bolter Middle School Varsity Band. [Applause] All right. Yeah. Come stand right in the middle. Did you need There we go. All right. Squeeze. Ready. Up next, we have the Hubard Middle School Varsity Bands. Come on [Applause] down. And if there are students from Hubard, y'all come up here, too, for the photo. All those Hubard band students, come on down. Ready? Everybody ready? [Music] Also winning sweep stakes is Tyler High non-varsity band. [Applause] Tyler Legacy High School non- varsity band also won sweep stakes. come on
009down. And also the Tyler Legacy High School Varsity Band. [Applause] Good job. [Music] One, two, [Applause] Tyler ISD would like to recognize the F students for placing in the state competitions for career and technical student organizations. As I call your name, please come to the front of the room to shake hands with the board members and take your photo. Up first here tonight is Joseph Ostein, fourth place robotics and automation from Tyler Legacy High School. [Applause] Up next, Brent Walker. A fourth place, robotics and automation from Tyler Legacy High School. [Applause] And rounding out our Skills USA students placing is Nathan Gutierrez, fifth place, robotics and automation at Tyler their high school. [Applause] And as you can see, we had several more students placed, but they are already on to the next chapter in their
010lives being seniors, having graduated this past weekend. Next, we have the technology students association, and we have Gavin Lden. Gavin Lden, second place, mixed materials manufacturing, and fifth place, Camper Trailer Manufacturing from Tyler Legacy High School. Gavin, come on down. [Applause] Tanya Gonzalez, fourth place, Exploration Models and ninth place, architecture, Tyler High School. [Applause] Up next we have Joshua Dunham. 10th place Catapult and Trey Bush. How do you say that? Trey Buché. Yes. Trey Bucher. A little French there. Okay. Tyler High School. And finally, we have Diego Castro, 10th place, Catapult Trebuche Legacy. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Okay, now it's time to recognize our staff. We would like to recognize our elementary district of the month, Caitlyn Villanoeva at Remy Elementary School. And here are a few comments from her principal. She exemplifies what it means
011to be an outstanding educator. Through thoughtful planning and data-informed instruction, she creates opportunities for every student to succeed. With a blend of empathy and high expectations, she fosters a classroom environment where students feel supported both academically and socially. Her passion, creativity, and unwavering dedication are evident in all that she does, and she consistently goes the extra mile to ensure students grow and thrive. Come on down and collect your [Applause] award. Congratulations [Applause] We're actually gonna take. Um, we're going to go back to student recognitions. We uh missed one. Checking in. Michael McKini, 10th place at Catapult Trey Bush Legacy High School. Sorry that we skipped over you. Come on down. Congratulations. Now, we're going to talk about our fabulous secondary district teacher of the month, who is Shirley Chandler at the Career and Technology Center.
012And here are some of the comments that her peers at administrator had to say about her. Miss Chandler is an incredible support system, especially for new teachers. She is always present, ensuring her colleagues have the tools and encouragement they need to thrive. Her lessons bring life learning to life, sparking curiosity in her students, while her willingness to share innovative ideas. She is a warm, cheerful presence and her smile and positive attitude create an environment where both students and staff feel inspired, supported, and welcome. Come on down. Congratulations. Don't hold that again. [Applause] For this next recognition, we would like to call Tony Raymond with the Texas Association of School Boards up to present this recognition. Good evening. So, welcome all of you board members, parents, teachers, staff, admin. My name is Tony Raymond. I am
013actually a board member at Sabine ISD, but I'm also the region 7 director for the Texas Association of School Boards. And so, we just concluded our student, what's it called? Our student video contest. is designed to highlight and successes of individual districts and showcase what makes Texas public schools the best choice for our students. So, so many videos were submitted and school districts all across the street had entries, but you had to you could be categorized in either small, medium, or large. And I'm delighted to be here tonight to honor Tyler ISD who happened to submit a meaningful and engaging video which received high scores and ended up winning first place in the large school district. So we want to congratulate Tyler ISD and we'd like to take a look at that video real quick.
014[Applause] It was you who inspired us to believe in ourselves when we doubted our abilities. It was you who saw potential in us before we saw it in ourselves. It was you who celebrated every small victory from tying our shoes to mastering multiplication. It was you that taught us that teamwork, discipline, perseverance, and dedication matter just as much as talent. It was you who pushed us to give our best effort on the field, on the stage, and in the classroom. It was you who made science feel like magic. Who gave us high fives when we did our best. Who helped us to learn big words. It was you that taught us that there's a recipe for successful student outcomes. And it doesn't always take place in the classroom. It was you who told me I
015could be great. It was you who told me I will change the world. It was always [Music] [Applause] you. So we applaud you for producing such an excellent testimony to the educ quality found in Tyler ISD and we hope that your support of Texas public schools continues to grow and is contagious which spreads throughout the state. And now I would like to present to you a big check for $5,000 for first place in the student video [Applause] contest. [Applause] Congratulations, Jacob. That video was amazing. They will see your real one. And now for our last ann uh special recognition for the evening. We have Tyler ISD is proud to announce that the National Association of Music Merchants has named uh the district a 2025 best communities music education award recipient and this is the seventh
016year in a row that the district has received this honor. So at this time we would like to invite representatives from the visual and performing arts to come forward to receive the diff the certificate and take a photo with members of the board. So if you are associated with any visual and performing arts group please come forward. All of y'all y'all can do [Applause] it. Students too. [Applause] And that concludes our recognitions for this evening. Thank you. Okay. We tried to get started, but it was booked already. Yeah. Yeah. Please see it too. Smells like pineapple. That would be good. [Laughter] Like sun lotion in a bottle. That's the only thing. Pineapple. That's only pineapple. All this one. usual. Sorry. [Music] Sorry. Okay. Okay. We ready? I was waiting for them to get out. Do
017I have to wait for them to get completely out? Hey y'all, if um you're not going to stay for the remainder of the business meeting of the district, can we ask you to move outside please into the hallway? Thank you. Recognitions are always a great part of our meeting. Now, we'll have approval of the minutes. Could I get a motion for approval of the minutes for the workshop and the regular meeting? I move we approve April 10th and April 21st meeting minutes. Second. All in favor? Anybody oppose? Okay. The motion carries. We have business legal financial consent agenda. We're going to pull item B. But can I get a motion on A, C, and D? So move that we approve items A, C, and D. Second. All in favor? I. Any oppose? And we'll talk
018about B, gifts and donations. always proud to provide this to the board uh because of how benevolent and philanthropic Smith County and Tyler ISD and the city of Tyler and surrounding communities are towards our school system that provide enterprising funds that go above and beyond what the normal budget provides. Tonight, we are proud to provide to the board for action or consideration and inaction uh $5,520 from the Caldwell PTA toward the Caldwell Arts Academy. what an an outstanding booster program they have there with the friends of Caldwell Arts along with their PTA and what they provide there. Also here, Mr. Davis is in the audience tonight is the outgoing principal at Owens and the incoming principal at Three Lakes Middle School. Um an award of $35,000 from the Hazel Owens Elementary PTA for future playground
019updates. All right. Wow, that's a lot. Pretty cool. both those communities providing the the dollars above and beyond to go back towards their kids and their teachers. Can I get a motion? I move we approve these amazing gifts and donations. I'll second that. All in favor? I. Any any opposition? Nope. The motion carries. Now to curriculum instruction consent agenda. Did we have any items we wanted to pull? I don't think so. Did you want to pull XB or do you want to just let it go? Go ahead and pull XIB. We'll have a quick discussion on that real quick. We can do that. Yeah. Okay. So, you've got a A through F except for B. B or D? B or D? What are we pulling? B or D? Exile exi B as in boy. Okay.
020I move we approve items A, C, D, E, and F. Second. All in favor? I oppose. The eyes have it. Now we'll discuss B. B is a waiver for staff development minutes for the 2025 2026 school year. Um, every year we go through the process of having community input along with staff input about what the uh the best plan of attack for for our instructional year is. That's why we develop a calendar. We also have some things in the community that we try to accomplish. Uh, one thing that our teaching staff really wants us to try to accomplish is being gone before Memorial Day. And uh, the way to get to that is through these staff development minutes to where we can actually have ongoing staff development throughout the school year. uh this year's those
021days are October 13th, 2025, January 5th of 26, February 9th of 26. Typically, they coincide with the end of a of a 9-week uh period, I believe. Is that right, Dr. Groel? Yes, sir. Uh why don't you take us a little bit through why these minutes matter? Uh this waiver matters. Uh the this is, as you said, a a waiver that allows us to provide provide professional learning for our staff throughout the year. Um these wi these waiver minutes uh go into the overall count of what makes up our student requirements. 57,600 minutes uh different from the traditional calendar that we were all on on which had a requirement of number of days. Uh the state made the change several years ago to actual student minutes on campus. Um, so this adds into that that
022uh pot of minutes for us um where students aren't actually on campus, but you're allowed to uh bank uh these minutes uh as as a as appropriate um into our overall count uh adding up to the the overall 57,600 minutes or however many minutes it is. Yeah. And if there's a concern about how many instructional minutes there are in a calendar, you just gave the the actual ballpark minutes that we do have. Um the reason we're able to let seniors go a couple of uh weeks early in our high school calendar is because of how many of how many minutes we have banked. It's the same thing on whether or not we make up a bad weather day or not. If if we have a you know a day to where we may have ice
023um here in Smith County, we actually have to take that day. Um certainly contractual days for our staff have to be made it but those instructional days do not. The reason this is important is we can have ongoing professional development throughout the school year. If you frontload everything, everybody forgets it by the end of the year. If you backload everything, everybody's ready to go home for the summer anyway. So, this is a strategy that's allowed for by the Texas Education Agency in an appeal to the commissioner via any questions. Just uh and I think Sorry, I'm um I think you'd already covered this. So, it's this is listed as a waiver, but we're not requesting lesser. We're just requesting that it be done throughout the year as opposed to the beginning or the end of
024the year. That's correct. And then the only other question I had was the reading with uh Trusty Nuome on the family deal. Yes, sir. That's going to be in uh the other item 12. Okay. Right. That's the only thing I have. Okay. We get a motion. Oh, it's just discussion. I move we approve item B. Second. All in favor? I I Any opposing? The eyes have it. Let's go to discussion of a tassy local policy DEEC. First reading. First reading of local policy DEEC. I think specifically the question was on page 31 in your packet. I'll let our policy contact with Tasby scroll through his computer to get to that. There you go. Dr. Gropel, the the uh the board has a a wondering about item number six, and that is a TASBY striketh through.
025That's not a district striketh through. And since this is a first reading, we need to get a hold of TASBY to ask them why there's a striketh through on that because we do could potentially have uh employees that that have other than blood related relatives or blood related folks inside of their house that they're having to take take care of. Um Mr. Nome specifically had a example. specifically. I had two aunts that didn't have any children and uncle had one that child lived out of state and I was responsible for them and I still am for the two that's still alive. So that would eliminate those people that's very close to me that doesn't have anyone else to take care of them. Okay. Yeah. So we're going to get an answer for them by the
026time we come back to a second reading. See if there's an adjustment needs to be made or type of explanation. Okay. We'll do it. All right. You good with that? Yeah. Okay. [Music] to ask you um legislation update. Yeah, we're we're kind of the clock is winding down. We're in the fourth quarter. Um I know everyone's interested in the funding uh uh situation going through uh there as well. Siny dies approaches us uh rapidly and we certainly are remain focused on making sure that all of our educators are provided some type of compensation relief right now. Uh as the C CSSB con committee substitute for Senate Bill 2 uh stands, it's uh it was passed out of committee today and they're still negotiating some of these things. Does it look like it's heading for a
027conference committee between the two houses, between the two chambers. Um the big holdup is obviously, you know, couple three billion in delta between the two plans. One specifically only addresses um teacher compensation with an a relief of about $55 increase per kid in regard to um uh the basic aotment. Dr. Dr. Gropel, any anything you want to add in regard to that between the two proposals? Yeah, the the big the biggest difference is just what you said. The the uh Senate's plan earmarks it solely for teacher uh raises and specifically on uh small uh districts compared to larger districts with the the number being 5,000 students uh and above have a different standard than 5,000 students or below. uh with a about a $2,500 difference in uh what that looks like in teacher pay for
028the smaller of those um not the larger of those uh those districts. You know, as a former superintendent of a smaller school system, I get it. And if you do talk to to a lot of smaller school systems, I think their starting teacher pay is still around 38,000. Uh I would say right at 40, but yeah, that that ballpark and we're north of 50. Um, so there is there is certainly a gap there as far as the rurals go. What we're finding is um they got rid of the old CI which was called the cost of education index when they were talking about formulas long time ago. It's been about 10 years since that happened. And uh they've grouped Tyler along with other school districts like us like Witchto Falls and Abene um maybe even
029Amarillo and Lev these central city school systems. they've lumped them into these to this uh bracket uh that looks more like a large urban. Um and even if you go down to the 5,000, if you have 5,01 students, that's a pretty small school system, relatively speaking, you would not qualify for that increase there. So, I think they've just arbitrarily pulled this number out of the air uh to to say that that's that's where mostly rural that votes a certain way. um to go back to say that they gave these huge increases. I get the increases, but uh when you start looking at these central cities, there's not a huge difference in what we're able to pay our starting teacher salary and maybe versus a Chapel Hill who would actually qualify under the Senate plan to
030receive a larger compensation boost. Um Troop, ARP, some of those other surrounding school system where there's not that large of a delta there. So that is very concerning for us right now in regard to that. Um still working on it and hoping that that something can come of that. Certainly with the basic aotment we are certainly uh prayerful and working with legislators our state senator Brian Hughes and our state rep that's already been voted out of the house. Not much they they have to do with it. it's over in the Senate side now so that they can fully understand um a $55 increase for um our students uh with our ADA is upwards of $700,000. Uh it's a little bit more than that. Yeah. Yeah. So, so we're looking at probably um an increase uh
031but not a very large increase. Uh now I will say this, the district administration's kind of seen this coming and we have gone through an exercise oursel this year of trying to lean up even more even though we rank at the highest of the state standards in regard to the first rating financial integrity rating system of Texas. um that we actually called out approximately two over $2 million by absorbing positions. So that these teacher raises do come, you're going to look at your other staff and be able to distribute some of those dollars to take care of that. Um if this happens again next year, obviously we probably can go a little bit leaner, but it's getting to the point now to where it's awfully lean. Uh again, I'll say this. I've said this maybe
032two or three months in a row. At least we're not in the shape where that a lot of our urban brothers and sisters in where they're actually having to close schools. Um we've right sized our school system over the years. Um because it's been the right thing to do and getting out of old buildings into new buildings, all of our students. Um and that's been part of the strategy. But at the same time, you know, carrying six middle schools when we were were really built for four, that was a strategy I think you probably to discussed whenever you were on the board years ago, Mr. Laya. Um, didn't ever come to fruition, but we we we finally got there. So, um, I think those are some strategies that we've been able to to take care
033of, and we've got some other things in our back pocket that if we can relieve ourselves of the the next year or so, we're going to be in decent shape. But but we sure would like the right thing to be done coming out of Austin, Texas to where they have we have not had a basic aotment increase since 2019. And that makes it awfully difficult to operate because it's not like gasoline prices are going down significantly. Electricity prices don't, gas prices don't, commodities that you buy as far as the food and supplies. Technology has gotten really expensive ever since COVID hit. Um those are things that are really really tough on us right now as far as purchasing power goes. Um just a refresher to the public. 85% approximately is in people in Tylerd 15%
034is in fixed costs. 5% is in discretionary. In other words, your budgets, how many shoulder pads and football helmets you buy versus how many pencils you buy, how many how many computers and tablets that you buy as well. So, um we're working on it and that's your legislative update right now. We're really keeping a keen eye on the next couple of weeks of what that's going to look like so that we can get y'all a compensation package to consider for next year. Question in regards to that. What's the timeline for the session ending? I know it's is it in June? Yeah. Siny dies the last day of of May. Okay. Yeah. So, if they don't get it done, they go they go extra session, I'm sure. Yeah. You know, really the only thing the legislature
035has to do, they have one action that's to to approve the state budget. That's all they've got to do. So, um, everything else that they've been working on down there is, uh, does not have to be done. They just choose to for it to be done. In fact, I have a long list of, since we've talked more, I'm not going to go down this list of other things that still could get across the finish line. Obviously, with assessment, House Bill 4 and the STAR test and the three-year assessment is something that's on our radar as well. Okay. That made it out of committee. Yes, it's over in the Senate. question just to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. So, it's a $55 increase for us or for districts that are rural Chapel Hill like No,
036the the $55 per kid increase is statewide. So, that's a little north of a million bucks if we've got 18,300 something. So, a little bit north of a million is what we're thinking the aotment will be statewide for us ballpark. And you're saying that the smaller rural districts are going to get in your opinion more than that? No, that that's the basic aotment. Okay. That's separate from what the teacher compensation packages look like. Okay. The teacher compensation packages are where they do have the 5 north of 5,000 plan and the the smaller than 5,000 plan. So Carthage Carthage ISD would actually for three years or more of teaching experience would receive $5,000. Yeah. the in the north of 10 is 7500 on that plan. Yeah. $10,000 or 10,000 years of experience would be a $7,500
037boost in Tyler ISD would be 2500 and 5500 respectively with those those uh two brackets. Now we've done some research once you get to past year 10 or 15 we're still competitive. Super competitive. Oh yeah. Yes. after I was wondering what you were where you were going with that. But locally, yes, after you get after uh year 10, uh we're very competitive. Even in that dollar range, if if Chapel Hill were to be get 7,500 for a teacher at that range, that 5,500, we would still be competitive at either the top or right at right next to the top locally. Yeah. the and lastly I'll be saying this that the work that we did if the house's plan was adopted the work that we did with kind of absorbing some things and moving some things
038around people getting new job assignments um not filling positions that they're needed but we could comfortably execute without um we were going to be able to really do some cool things across the board for everyone. Uh again, that was with the House's plan, but with the Senate's plan, and that looks like that's what's got momentum. Um because you know, what have they done? They've passed vouchers and then they're going to come back and say, "Hey, we gave teachers raises and then we did away with the star, right? So those three things right there, they're going to go back to their constituents and they're going to feel pretty successful." And for those that aren't coming to board meetings or live in this world that we live in, depending upon how you vote, up or down, you
039know, two of those three things are are pretty bipartisan and can go back to their communities and say, "Hey, look, that's a pretty good pretty good session." Talking about the star and teacher raises. I'm not talking about the vouchers. That's not if you're a school person, I don't care what side you vote on. That's that's not that's not good stuff, right? Okay. Well, there's your update. Question. Uh, Dr. Crawford, as you were talking about staying competitive, uh, with with the surrounding districts, are we staying competitive in our stipens as well for bilingual and math? Uh, the stipens that we give, are we staying competitive? You know, those things are so fluid from year to year and you you adopt a budget and you know, back in the most most of the times we've already adopted
040what our compensation package is going to be and we've released it and everybody else is waiting to see what we we've released and then they always try to go find $250 more than what we've released. So, we are looking at certain areas for stipens. Um, they were competitive at once. We need to reccalibrate and get competitive again for some of those hard to fill areas. Mr. Jones, you got anything you want to say on that? No, we're pretty competitive right now with with our stipen, but you're absolutely correct uh that we will retool and take a look at where we are. Uh and it is always that competitive push towards the very end where they they use us as the litmus test and then and outdoor us by 250 or so as you said. But
041we are competitive right now in our body pool and especially ahead and those type statements at this time. But uh just as with compensation packages throughout, we will take a look at that as we move forward. You know, we've talked about this before. Uh, one thing that we're sometimes we just can't afford to to do it is you've got some of these smaller districts that might only need one diag special education diag and they may strike a deal with them and let them work from home, you know, two or three days a week. Um, that's with the amount of students that we do have compared to some of the smaller districts that may not be doable for us because of the amount of load that we've got. So that's an interesting thing to try to
042overcome right there in itself as far as that goes. Now the good thing is that these smaller districts only need one whereas we need I can't tell you how many we need. How many diags do we need districtwide? Yeah, 17 district wide. So So the you know that's that's some that's a that's an an example of where the scale works against us. Usually scale works for us, but and in regards to a smaller school system, they might only need one or two work. They can actually uh maybe strike a deal with them. So, okay, thank you for the update. We have um school board workshop June the 5th and another regular board meeting on June 16th. Can I get a motion to adjourn this meeting? So, move second. All in favor? I. Anybody oppose? The
043eyes have it. This meeting is adjourned. Do I have to go?