001Good afternoon everyone. It's great to see so many people here. It is Tuesday, February 24th, 2026, 5:30 p.m. We are here for our regular board meeting of the board of trustees, Mcana Independent School District. I want to thank you for your patience as we were finishing a meeting prior to this. So, thank you all for sticking around and I'm going to go ahead and call this meeting to order at 6:12 p.m. And at this time, I'll ask that you join us for a moment of silence. Thank you. If you'll please rise and join us for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Super fast. >>
002That was all over the place. >> I pledge allegiance. >> I think if I was on camera, I'd want to go fast, too. >> We got to practice. All right, we are moving on to our public comment section. Before we call our first speaker up, we are going to play a short video. Here are the public comment procedures. Number one, individuals who wish to participate during the portion of the meeting designated for public comment shall sign up at mckelenisd.org at least one hour prior to the start of the scheduled meeting. Number two, an individual's comments to the board shall not exceed two minutes per meeting. Number three, the board shall not tolerate disruption of the meeting by members of the audience. Thank you. ISD. Okay, I am going to go ahead and call our first
003speaker up, which I believe is Mr. Hershel Patel. Mr. Patel, you will have two uninterrupted minutes. >> I brought props. I'm sorry. Um, hello again, trustees. Dr. Gutierrez, Hershel Patel, um, dad of three Macallen ISTD students. I'm joined by a number of parents today concerned about food and fitness at our schools. We never [snorts] ever want a child to go hungry. If a child needs food, uh they should have access to food, period. And our district has done a great job of ensuring access. I want to thank the nutrition department for removing five sweet items. That was meaningful. It happened quickly and parents appreciate it. March's menu, however, now includes tags like whole grain, reduced sugar, low sodium, and low fat. All of the same concerning items, but they have simply been relabeled. From the
004documents I handed to you, you'll see that this tactic comes straight from the marketing playbook of companies like General Mills. We're marketing processed foods for them at our schools. Who are we working for? Meanwhile, a sugar cereal with 25% less sugar still has the same number of calories as a supermarket version. We're replacing the banana chocolate bar with a oatmeal chia bar that contains the same amount, actually more sugar in it. [snorts] I've handed you a list of over 50 products that concern parents. When we have sharing, then we have sharing tables. The intention is good. Unopened food is placed there and and children graze from it all day, day after day, month after month. Excess calories quietly accumulate. In a region already struggling with obesity and type 2 diabetes, that matters. I reject the
005idea that food insecure children should receive lower standards. Our most vulnerable children deserve the highest quality nutrition. Equity is giving all children real food. So quick math. The federal added sugar limit for cereal is six grams per ounce. A two gram a 2 oz serving has 12 grams of sugar and that's before the chocolate milk. The new dietary guidelines, by the way, limit us to 10 grams of added sugar per meal as adults. I'm I'm urging Macall and ISD to use common sense here. Let's aim to uh let's aim below upper limits, not press against them. Let's teach our children the difference between treats and real food. Let's put the nutrition back in child nutrition and let's make Macallen ISD the gold standard in Texas. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. [applause] >>
006All right, our next speaker will be Arnold Varel, [clears throat] >> Mr. Variel. Okay, we will move on to Kenneth McCclary. My name is Dr. Kenneth McCclary. I am a physical therapist and a father of two daughters at McAllen ISD. I am also the founder of a nonprofit organization called Live Better RGB, which is a community health and wellness initiative I started about four years ago. It is no secret in the medical community that diets and high in sugar and ultrarocessed foods are large, if not primary contributors to the epidemic of chronic disease in this country. Part of our mission at Live Better is similar to the purpose of my presence at this meeting today and that is to help improve the foods of community members in a way that will help have a positive
007impact on their health. Over the past two years, we have focused on going to elementary schools across the valley to provide students with bags of produce and education for their parents. In McAllen, we have served the elementary campuses of Roosevelt, Rayburn, and Sam Houston. Through these events, I've had the opportunity to speak with many administrators, parents, students, and cafeteria workers. It's nearly unanimously agreed that school lunches are unhealthy and rife with ultrarocessed foods and sugars. Unfortunately, McAllen tops the list of the most overweight and obese cities in the United States. We're also amongst the highest rates of obesity for children and teenagers. McAllen ISD is the biggest restaurant in the most overweight and obese city in this country. I'll say that again. McGawan ISD is the biggest restaurant in the most overweight and obese city
008in this country. The people sitting before me have the power and capacity to make real change to the health of our children. This is a solvable problem. It should not be a matter of if we address this problem. It's a matter of how and when. McAllen ISD and its administrators have a very unique opportunity to be pioneers in changing the way that schools feed their children. We're here to help you solve that problem. and think of it as a way for instead of this being a big problem, think of this as an opportunity, like I said, to be a pioneer in changing the way that schools are feeding their children. So, thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Our next speaker is Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, not here. Okay. Annie Miller. Good evening. My name is
009Annie Holland Miller and I'm a parent in McGallen ISD. My mother, my mother-in-law, and my husband all graduated from McGallen High School. I graduated from McGallen Memorial High School. And now my two children attend McGallen ISTD schools. For generations, my family has benefited from the strong moral foundation this district provides, one rooted in character, integrity, respect, and academic excellence. I'm here tonight regarding Senate Bill 11. I want to be clear, this is not about opposing faith. I am a person of faith. My family belongs to Temple Emanuel here in McGallen where I serve as president of the congregation. Faith is central to our lives. But public schools are not houses of worship. They are shared civic spaces that serve children from many different religions and children of no religion at all. When a school formally
010sets aside time for prayer and religious reading, even if participation is voluntary, it can create an environment where some students feel different. uncomfortable or singled out. For minority faith families like mine, that concern is real. Schools can and should teach ethics, character, and respect without advancing religious exercise. McGallan ISD has done that successfully for generations, including for my own family. I respectfully urge you to vote against implementing any designated period for prayer or religious reading during the public school day so that every child regardless of faith or background feels fully equal, supported, and valued in our classrooms. That is the McGallan ISD my family has trusted for generations. Thank you for your time and for your service to our community. Thank you. [clears throat] All right. And our next speaker, uh, Tai Gayso. >> Sorry.
011>> Good evening. My name is TA Gosso and I am a senior of Macallen High School and a proud student of Macallen ISD. I am here tonight to respectfully ask you to vote against implementing SB11 in our district. I have been blessed with educators who have supported me as a Jewish student and I will always be grateful for that. I believe we can all agree that a student's religious freedom should be protected. It is something our constitution protects the state recognizes and something that this district has consistently done throughout my time as a student. It's important to recognize that SB11 does not create new religious freedom for students. that freedom already exists. More importantly, I believe it draws unnecessary attention to something deeply personal, faith. As a Jewish teenager, I already sometimes feel like an
012outsider, especially around the holidays, in conversations where my faith is misunderstood, or when I am the only Jewish person in class and become the go-to person for anything Jewish related. As someone who was almost an adult, I can process those feelings of being different. But I worry about how this law would impact younger students like my 10-year-old brother at Gonzalez Elementary. Younger kids don't always have the confidence, the language, or the voice to advocate for themselves. By requiring families to opt in or opt out, the district would effectively identify which students participate and which do not. That creates a visible line between the majority and those who are different. My concern is that this could unintentionally lead to isolation, pressure to conform, or even bullying. Now, this isn't about whether students should be allowed to
013practice their faith. They absolutely should. But this law is not necessary to protect that right. Our district already does. This bill does not make me feel more comfortable embracing my faith. Instead, I believe it highlights differences in a way that feels unnecessary and divisive. Faith at its core is meant to bring people together, not separate them. More than a student, I am speaking to you as an older sister. Please consider how this decision could impact younger students who are simply trying to learn, make friends, and figure out who they are. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] [applause] >> All right. Our next speaker is Rabbi Nathan Farb. >> Thank you, Dr. Gutierrez, members of the board, I am the leader of the Jewish community of McAllen and the surrounding areas in the upper valley. And
014I'm also a parent uh as of this coming fall when my son will be starting at Macallen ISD schools. I'm also particularly wellstudied on SB11 and I have some questions and concerns on behalf of my own family and families in my community. I'm grateful for this great country in which students and teachers already have the right to pray and read the Bible at appropriate times such as free periods or even appropriate class times. This particular bill has some major issues, however. It takes teachers out of their classroom role and turns them potentially into preachers and ministers. Students who choose not to participate or whose parents opt them out of this program could potentially face isolation or bullying. This program creates a forum for exclusion. Now, parents who do choose to opt in, sign away their
015first amendment protections. The teacher preaching to your student could be Catholic, evangelical, Baptist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu. And there would be uh legal protections for teachers, any teacher of any faith to lead prayer, to uh teach their own particular teachings. And any parent who objects to what is being taught or shared in the classroom has signed away their legal right to object. I love our American rights to practice religion in public and without fear. This bill is badly written. It's wrong for students, for parents. It's wrong for teachers, and it's wrong for McAllen schools. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Our next speaker is Jose David Gomez. Hello everybody. My name is Jose Gomez. I'm pediatric endocrinologist working with Trriscoll. I'm here in the valley for the last 12 years. I'm also the medical director of the
016South Texas Journal Diabetes Association. Very active participating in the community with kids with diabetes. As endocrinologist, I say I see every single day the consequences of obesity in our kids. Diabetes, fatty liver disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, etc. We're becoming a hot spot for studies in type two diabetes because the prevalence of diabetes in our kids is ridiculous. It's too much and it comes down to several factors but mostly a limitation and the food that we serve in the schools. A lot of families rely on this food to get u the daily nutritional needs and we're not meeting those goals. We're raising a generation that is sick. We need to change this and I want to offer my help and the all community members here so we can do the change together. It is
017time. It is time. It's never too late. We need to change our limitation. You can see data that every single people is coming here bring it to to your board about all the dangers of the processed food ultra processed food and sugar containing drinks we need to do that change now I'm I'm here just to add two more sense in the conversation so we can do this change together thank you for the attention to your topic and I want to share with you some statistics about these medical issues Thank you, DR. [applause] Our next speaker is Miss Daisy Gonzalez. >> Hello, my name is Daisy Gonzalez and I'm a parent in Mechan ISD. Um, I am here today to support the conversation about the food in our schools. And I'd like to build a little
018bit on that in regards to uh food security from a child's perspective. Food security is not only about whether food is offered, it's also about whether a child truly has the time and ability to eat enough to make it through the day. So today, I invite everybody to be a child. Eat breakfast at 8:30 in the morning, but only eat about 80 70 to 80% because you don't like it. Um, then wait until 12:30 to eat your lunch. Again, you have 25 minutes. In re reality, you might only have 15 minutes because you still have to get your tray, get in line, and all that good stuff. Again, only eat 70 to 80% of that. Then continue learning and focusing for hours um until after school snacks. and make sure you're sitting in your chair.
019Don't get up. And wait until 5:00 p.m. When food is highly processed, high in sugar, or when time to eat is limited, children are left hungry. And that shows up in our classrooms every day. And I say this respectfully, we often focus on ratings and scores because that's what I've been hearing on the news. And a child who's hungry or rush cannot fully focus or perform at their highest level. Nutrition and adequate time to eat are fundamental in learning. So, as you discuss improving food quality, I ask that you also examine the student eating experience, protecting eating time, meal schedules, and whether students are truly being nourished. Because tonight, we are not just talking about menus. We are talking about children trying to learn while hungry. And no child should have to work harder to
020focus than we would ever expect an adult to. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> OUR NEXT SPEAKER IS MARIA YOUNG. Maria Young. Okay. Our next speaker is Selia Huarez. >> Good evening members of the school board. My name is Auarez and I am a member of the executive board for Macallen AFT. I'm also a Macallen retired teacher. I am speaking today to urge you to opt out of prayer and reading a religious text in public schools. Because of the diversity of students in our schools and the many religions that exist, not excluding those who have no faith, it would be unfair to everyone. One cannot make a person believe or not believe. believe has to come in a more natural way. Besides, accepting prayer and the reading of religious text
021would require documentation. That is more paperwork as if teachers do not have enough already. In addition to that, students and adults who should not participate in this would have to go to a gym or auditorium. This obviously will take away instructional time from the students. I ask that you consider a moment of silence before the day begins. In this way, everyone will feel respected regardless of their personal beliefs. Students already have the right to voluntarily pray anyway. Clubs like FCA, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes are already in effect. There should be a separation of church and state. With so much violence in schools at this time and day, we do not want to give an opportunity for chaos to arise. Thank you. >> Thank you. NEXT SPEAKER IS ANNNE ROLAND. Anne Roland. >> Okay. Our
022next speaker will be Lenor Tyler. >> Good evening board members. Um Superintendent Thank you for the opportunity this evening. Both my children are graduates of Memorial High School and have gone on to lead very productive lives. We are grateful for the education they received here at Macallen ISD. It is high quality and we never had to think about whether they were going to be forced to pray or to study the Bible. We are Christians. My husband and I raised our children as Christians. But as they grew, they knew that their choice, whether to be a Christian or not, was always theirs. And I feel that um this law, this school prayer law will take that choice away from them and should never be implemented in the school system. Both the first amendment in the US
023constitution and article one of the te Texas constitution protect our right to religious freedom. Texas public schools serve families who practice a rich diversity of religions as well as many families who do not practice any faith. This policy meaningfully threatens student belonging and inclusion. Schools should be in places of belonging that welcomes differences. Our schools should dedicate their limited time and resources to instruction and leave religious instruction to families and houses of worship. Texas public schools are not Sunday schools. Schools should be for education. Decisions about whether, when, or how to pray and read scripture has and should always be left to parents, students themselves, and faith communities. Please consider voting no on Texas prayer and public schools. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Okay. [snorts] Lette Parker. >> Miss Parker. Stacy Soliss. >>
024No. Stacy. Sylvia Tanguma. I see Miss >> She's here. >> Good evening, President Ria, Dr. Gonzalez, and trustees. My name is Sevet Anguma and I'm the president of Macallen AFT. I am here tonight representing our members, the educators and school employees of this district to serve Macallen ISD students every day. I want to speak plainly about Senate Bill 11. Our schools already respect religious freedom. Students in Mallen ISD already have the right to pray. And our schools already begin each day with a moment of silence for reflection or prayer. Senate Bill 11 is not about protecting prayer. That freedom already exists in our in [snorts] our district. Senate Bill 11 would require school districts to set aside time during the school day for prayer or religious reading with parental permission from an already tightly packed
025instructional day. What our members see every day are students who need strong instruction, stability, support, and care. Our responsibility is to make sure students are learning, that they are safe, and that their needs are being met while they are in our care. That is what the school day should be focused on, not adding statemandated prayer time. Public schools serve every student and every family regardless of their beliefs. That is why respecting both religious freedom and the separation of church and state has always been important in public education. School employees come to work every day to educate students and meet their academic needs, not to turn the school day into something it was never meant to be. Our schools should stay focused [clears throat] on students and their learning. For these reasons, I urge you to
026oppose Senate Bill 11 for Macallen ISD. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Lee Lan. [clears throat] Good evening members of the board and Dr. Gutierrez. My name is Leelan Hu and I'm speaking as a parent of a student who graduated from Memorial High School. As a former high school teacher and a concerned taxpaying community member, I'm respectfully asking the board to oppose SB11 because it risks creating division in our schools. While it's presented as supporting values of freedom, allowing or promoting school sponsored prayer can make some students feel excluded based on their religion or lack of one. If this decision passes, it creates additional administrative burden for the school district. As educators and parents, we know that students learn best in environments where they all feel equally respected and safe. Public schools
027should protect every family's freedom of belief by maintaining neutral by remaining neutral, not advancing one faith over another. Let's focus on what truly unites our students. quality education, respect and community. We want to invest in creating a supportive, safe environment, invest in quality teachers, more mental health counselors, and trained support staff. Please keep our schools inclusive and welcoming for all. And vote no on SB11. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Our final speaker is Angel Torres. >> Good evening board members. My name is Andreel Torres. I am here today to address the upcoming March 1st deadline for SB11. The state has provided this board with an instrument to hand authority back to the parents. By voting no, you are not maintaining neutrality. You are choosing institutional domination over parental rights. Each year, this district signs
028a certification for the TEA claiming you do no harm and deny and you know do not deny constitutionally protected pair. If you reject SB11 today, that certification becomes a falsehood. You are denying the specific expanded rights to the students to pray and read the Bible as authorized by Texas legislature. You may claim no harm is done to the secular students, but you are causing direct harm to families who want their children to honor God through this specific period. You are acting as a gatekeeper of faith rather than a servant of the community. I urge you to adopt the SB11 resolution that signed the do no harm agreement with parents and stop acting as surrogate parent for our children. Trust the parents with the authority the law intended for them to have. Thank you. >> Thank
029you. That concludes our public comment section. We will go ahead and move on to item number five, consent agenda items. And unless they're >> Mr. President, I'd like to move to reorganize the agenda and move up item 6B1. >> All right. I have a motion by trustee dear Lopez and a second by trustee Pena to move up 6B1. >> Correct. >> To move up item 6B1. All in favor? I >> I any opposed? Motion passes 6. [clears throat] >> Okay. At this time 6B1, discussion and possible action of Senate Bill 11. Dr. Gutier. >> Yes, Mr. President and Board of Trustees. Uh, Senate Bill 11 requires that each district's board must take a record vote either to establish the daily prayer time and reading a religious text by adopting the resolution set out in the
030new statute or to decline to establish the daily prayer time. Dr. Gonales, our chief human resources officer, will have more information and we are uh administration is recommending action on this item by a record vote. >> Mr. President, I move to decline the daily prayer vote. >> Second. >> I have a motion by trustee de la Garcala Lopez and a second by trustee regal. [clears throat] All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes 6. Right. We will now go back to the consent agenda. And unless anybody would like to pull one out and discuss, I'll entertain a motion to approve 5 A through F. >> So move second. >> I have a motion by Trusty Regalado and a second by Trustee Logara Lopez. All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion passes 60.
031Okay, we are on 6 A1 report regarding the CTE department. Dr. administration will report on the career technical education department. Mr. Leo Science, our director for career technical education will have more information on this item and this is for information purposes only. Mr. Science, >> good evening. >> Can you hear me? >> Kind of low, right? >> How about there? Better. All right. >> All right. Long awaited my CT report for you guys. >> Promise not to take more than two minutes. >> I'm just kidding. >> Thank you for your patience. >> Ah, of course. Thank you. Thank you for letting me uh speak to you about the best thing that's going on at at Macan ISD as far as my I'm concerned. Right. >> Better than the trustees. >> Well, you know, one and
032a half. Um, so I I I went ahead and put in here our mission and and vision for CTE, but I just highlighted a few words in there that really stand out should stand out to you and to our community. Uh, we are looking to empower our students and of course provide them hands-on opportunities. Those are the main components of our CT department. And that's what puts us ahead of a lot of people because we do a lot of great things here. We have some amazing teachers and some amazing students that that are doing some tremendous work. Uh, and you'll see it in in my presentation here. But we do have 24 programs of study. So when you get asked as a community in the community, what do you what do they offer? What do
033we what do we offer here at Macallen? We offer 24 different programs of study. They fall under 13 different clusters that that's what the TA gives us. And so under there, we have all these different programs of study that students can take. So when we say we have it all, we pretty much have it all. We we don't have a few programs that are in there, but those are programs that don't pertain to our area. So when they ask you why those programs might not be there, it's because it's not a high demand program that's needed in our area and as you know um a big population of biggest part of our population is Hispanics and normally what happens they try to stay home right they don't try to leave just like a lot of
034us and so again that's why we provide these these programs of study for them and then we do offer over 40 industry certifications so you'll hear a lot about certifications when it comes to us we want to tie a student to at least one if not multiple certifications in their years of high school so they can have a leg up when they get out. We hear a ton of stories where the students are saying, [clears throat] "I went on to college and thank God I got that pharmaceutical uh tech certification because now I can work at the Walgreens down the street while I go to college. If not, I wouldn't have been able to go to UT or somewhere like that." [clears throat] And so those are super important to us. Super important. It should
035be super important to our community that we're we're making our better by providing these certifications to them. And so we're going to look at it by the numbers real quick. Um 85% of our all our high school students are in CTE, some type of CTE course. So that's a good amount of our students. And again, we are so happy to be able to help those students get a certification in something that they like and then keep them going the whole way through. So what you'll hear a lot too recently is how some students used to like to explore right they used to explore like one year they went to one thing and then I really don't know about that next year we'll go to something else and we're trying to avoid that the state is
036trying to avoid that as well why because we want to have them focused so that they can complete a program of study and get that certification and complete something that's uh some type of career right um do they always follow that career no but I've heard from students that But I was in hospitality and tourism and I learned a lot when I went to go visit those hotels and had some my hands-on practice there. But now I'm a lawyer. But those practices that I had there and that focus and that you know all those disciplines helped me when I went to go to law school. Some of those things and so again networking and things of that nature also helped. So again when we look at the numbers 85% of our students are CT students.
037Again, by the numbers, um, how many students are, uh, students taking CT courses right now? About 7,975. That's middle school and high school. We do eighth grade and then high school. It dipped a little bit, but that's also our population. We lost some students along the way. As far as TA approved industry based certifications, um, you can see where we're at. We're getting a little bit more focused. when it was 2223, we had some certifications that were on the approved list but were given through this through our partnership with STC as well. We went away from some of those because we wanted to be more focused on the ones that are of bigger value and that's why we did that. I know the number for this year over there says 689 but I can tell
038you right now that we're over a thousand already for sure. I know we're almost at 1,200 as of today. So we're fastly approaching a lot of them have we have to wait till the end because they have to be a certain age and so that's why you'll see the big jump back into the 3000s and so so we're looking to bring you that number again that big number again affording our students multiple certifications throughout their high school career and then students earning college credit hours the first semester 458 college credit hours and we're looking to expand that as well. Uh, and in my next slide, you'll see one of the things that I'm super super happy about. I actually I drove in from Corpus today because I was at a conference in in Corpus for
039CCRSM, which is our early college. And so, we are starting PEK at Row next year. Dr. Noise, you don't know, but we already have 12 applications that are approved and ready to go. So, that's 12 students that are already in the program. So, >> Mr. Mr. Um, for the sake of the community listening, can you define PEK or at least tell us what it means? >> Pathways and technology early college high school. So you take your early college high school like our achieve that's super successful and I'm super proud to be a part of the district with that school that particular school too because I tell you our community having come from al obviously coming from the region and looking at the the region they always look at achieve and the other school districts might
040lie to us that say they don't but they do because it's so successful. It's done so much great things for our community but this is an extension of that. What we're going to look at is a school within a school at row and we're going to bring skills that are so it takes the early college component and it adds the hands-on to it the workbased learning part of it and that's what's PEK and we're starting PEK at RO and we're starting with the ninth grade the first cohort next year. So we've been recruiting at the eighth grade level [clears throat] to get that those students to come to this P ticket row and what it is it's uh we're providing two different things there two things that we see a high need here construction management
041which is tied to SDC because we have to tie it to our higher education partner and electricians are aging out they're older folks and it takes a long time to become that master electrician and all those things. We're giving them a leg up. And so this is something that we see. You cannot step anywhere in Macallen and not see some construction going on or in the surrounding areas or just take the drive that sometimes we take to the island to see how much construction is happening from here to the island. And with all those other things that are happening, this is something that's going to be super big. Um, I know that in the meeting that I was at today, I was hearing about there were a lot of people from the north side, even
042from San Antonio, were talking to me about RGB, I LG, RGB, and then also they're saying, well, now it's Texas LNG that's starting there to break ground. Guess what they need? Electricians, pipe fitters, welders, construction folks to build those things before they can move on. So, that's why we're doing this. Um, again, the application is open for those are out there in the community. Miss, thank you for that asking me that. But the application is still open. It will stay open till August. There might be some students at the end that say like, you know what? I I thought about it now. I really do want to go. Okay, we can still take you. The reason we're trying to take them up until April is because we're going to have a bridge that sets them
043up to be successful. And so, it'll be a school within a school. So, we're very happy about that. And that's pretty much my presentation. These are our folks that that make it happen. my three CT coordinators and also my CCMR coordinator that uh we're doing some uh great work behind the scenes and helping me out to make sure that we're successful. That's what we have for you. We always want to make our kids college, career, and military ready. >> Thank you. Questions? >> 35 signed up, but 12 approved applications. >> Mr. S is that PEK is also grant funded. It's a through >> It's grant funded. We we did a something called a lasso grant. So, like for example, my trip that I went, I I I also went uh had me our assistant principal
044from Row that went Miss Sanchez because she's going to be kind of spearheading it at the campus. She went with me today as well. So, and all that was paid by that those grants. Anything that we do for that is paid by the grant. Uh marketing for the for the for PEK is paid by that grant. A lot of different things. We can include salaries. We haven't included that yet, but we're working on that as well. All grant funding. >> How long is the life of the grant? >> The life of the grant goes uh up until the end of this year, actually middle of next year, but we can apply for a secondary lasso grant which is our for our first year. So once we get it established, >> yes, CT selfunded. Well, it
045will be What specific programs are we offering through PEK? Again, >> through PEK, it's u construction management or supervision if you want to call it. Um they do receive a level one certificate from STC through it. We're working with the numbers. Um, I will say that we're breaking ground because STDC has told us as well that they currently don't have a full program for uh like a PEK campus to fulfill the needs to make it an associates. So, we're working together to create that pathway so that we possibly could be providing them an associates in that pathway. The other one is for electrician. >> And are either of those programs already offered at um achieve? No, >> neither one of them. >> Neither one. >> And what is >> if I can explain for a
046chief early college high school, we focus on academic associates and this one is an applied science associate. So it's more of a technical side. So that's why we went this route so that we wouldn't impact the enrollment at a >> um and forgive my ignorance but what is the distinction or I guess reason to do an early college high school model like the school within the school versus just offering the programming at a campus that you already have or like a within the the regular high school context. >> So this one is more the the school within the school model that we chose. The reason we chose that because we already have achieve right and we wanted to make it where we had the facilities that we could utilize. One, we have limited facilities as
047we all know. We're going to fix that soon, [clears throat] but that's going to happen. But what what we're looking at is what when we bring a school within a school, it's just building that population in the school. We did not want to disrupt what we're already having at Achieve, right? And so this doesn't compete against achieve. Okay? It's completely different because this has a hands-on component. Has the workbased learning where at the upper level classes where at achieve they're taking upper level courses, let's say in English or whatever it may be. Here they're taking upper level courses in construction where they actually have to physically go to a site and work like an internship part. >> Okay, >> that's the biggest difference. And if I can add also um we in order to to
048apply or get designated for a P tech uh school within a school, it allows us to be able to apply for additional grants like the Lasso and that was the opportunity that we saw and so we wanted to go for it as well. So, extra funding. >> And so, within these two programs, how many more um people are we going to have to hire >> as of right now? Zero. >> Okay. >> As the partnership with >> because of the partnership with SEC, the the the first cohort is going to be part of what we already have with the we're we're going to use utilize the first set of classes are going to be still our basic classes that everybody takes, but they're going to be separate. these students will be will know that they're
049part of this cohort. They'll be set aside like for example, they'll have the same teacher for let's say our foundations pro uh class or our entrepreneurship class. They'll all have that that same teacher and they'll we're going to try to put them all together. Pretty much we're going to be in a two class type deal because there's not there's more than the limit that we want to have for a teacher. >> So they'll be together at all times. They'll know they're part of PEK. Um once we keep growing because every year we're going to add some more students then that's when we might have to hire some some some teachers but as of right now. >> Thank you Trusty allows us to start also with the students. >> I could go first. >> Um Mr.
050S. I'm sorry. um super excited about this opportunity as you know someone um that deals with a lot of uh work in construction and real estate and just seeing the growth in our area and you know myself dealing with finding the lack of electricians in our area that um like as you said are aging out. I have several uncles that are master electricians but very retired and and don't want to come back and help me. But I'm I'm excited about the opportunity and just like we do other programs at all three comprehensive high schools. How do you see PEK being able to grow to Memorial and Row or Dr. Do? >> Well, actually that is a conversation that uh Dr. Gutierrez and I started um earlier this week because there are opportunities that we could
051either open PEK campuses or programs within the other campuses or early something like school within a school early college. So those are things that we will be uh looking into and seeing what what is the interest really and with the students because we pretty much have it all here at Macallen ICD and we can continue to grow different programs that we have is really what is the interest of the students. So we are looking into those opportunities. >> So is that a decision that the student makes like first in like ninth grade like are these conversations your are counselors are having with eighth graders in middle school? It starts earlier. We have You want to explain about the matchmaker, the interest inventory? >> Yeah. So, we have uh a program that we use Zello that
052it's a matchmaker. But once even with that program, we still don't just uh talk to the students that have like for example, they take this, you know, test that doesn't grade you. It just tells you where you're supposed to be headed, right? >> Yeah. >> We we give them the those are kids we're going to want to talk to first, but we talk to all students. What we found going to the different schools is that there might be a kid that says engineering but they're really interested in this >> or there might be a kid that might be in something else, you know, but they're really interested in this. Why? Because maybe their parents are a part of it. That's what we're we keep finding like they find commonality in what their siblings or their
053household is doing, right? So, you might have some people that might be working for your construction company, uh, but they're our students and they want to continue that. So, that's where we're finding them. We intentionally made meetings at all the middle schools and we've been going through that and including what we did for just in general to keep them a breast because one of the things that I did not like was that before we used to take the kids and we used to do a career day. We still do career days by the way but I didn't like that we did career day in conjunction with CTE because think about this when you see those kids in middle school you put them in a gym and you put everything in the gym. How much can
054they get out in an hour? you really can't get that touch and feel. So, what I did is I took the component of us CTE out and I purposely sent my counselors with a set number of teachers to visit multiple times so they can have that one-on-one with the teacher. So now, if you want to go into health science, you're going to learn that we're going to have all these different components of health science, not just it's health science. They know about pharmacy tech. They know about the clinicals. They know about you know the medical assistant. They know patient care technician. All those different things that are components of it. Not just one part right or one little swift thing that they saw. Now they actually get uh the the big understanding. On top of
055that we did separate not only those in those we talked about PE too but then we did a special only PEK presentations at all all the middle schools. and did I'm sorry >> in addition in addition to the eighth grade uh presentations and efforts that happen throughout the middle school we also start the personal graduation plan in 8th grade for that purpose because once the student create counseloring student and family creates that personal graduation plan is based on all the information and exposure to careers and interest inventories that they've taken so that they can create is in collaboration [clears throat] with uh with the council. >> Did we choose row because of the proximity to STC first? >> Um we chose row one because we have the space to grow and bring more students. Um
056also is the lowest enroll campus and then we had a very eager [laughter] uh principal that wanted to start something new as well. So it was all a the combination of many factors. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Science. Thank you for everything you're doing with CTE. I think it's vital. I did have a couple questions. I noticed that you have uh so few uh information technology students or courses. Why is that? >> So I inherited a small information technology group to be honest with you. Um and the we did try this year to provide more uh classes. We actually opened up the principles of information technology class at all campuses and the results were very bad. Uh very low numbers and it's basically we offered it to all the students just like like we're offering
057any other program. And so we would love to grow that but as of right now that's not something that's in high demand with our students. I don't know why. I know I know that we used to have a partnership back a [clears throat] while back before my days here uh with SEC to do an internship as well, but that is long gone. And so we've tried to grow information technology. I can go back to see. >> Yeah. And I I ask well not only because I mean just today information technology is extremely important >> uh to the operation of any industry. I mean just look at our IT department here at MISD or the hospitals, the court systems, you name it. Um but you know we also have the AI revolution or whatever we call
058it ongoing now it's and we're on the cusp of some type of transform transformational change and I think it's it behooves us to look at what kind of AI certifications or how do we integrate information technology AI specifically into some of these other certifications or create new certifications because if if you know CT is trying to prepare our um high school students for a career for the workforce >> and I mean that's going to look so different you know just five years from now than it does today because of AI. >> Absolutely. Yeah. And we do some a little bit some of the EI AI and engineering and things like that. So there is components of it in different places but I agree with you 100%. That's why I put it out for this year
059try to try to attract all those kids. I even put a one said if you go the second year is going to be gaming >> which I tried like that think that's going to get them right and for some reason it didn't work out. >> Um they're create >> sports kids maybe I don't know >> and so we can look at that because we have a good pulse uh obviously we out of my office we run the robotics even out to elementary right so we can have a a pulse with those kids as well. >> Yeah. And then why do you think the interest is not there? And you said the fundamentals of I what was the name of the course? >> Principles of information technology. >> I want to say it's uh their their
060thought process of it is different than what is the actual class. >> Yeah. >> They think it's a fun going to be a fun class to just do fun things on the computer. And we're teaching them which is what we're supposed to be teaching them is how to make those programs work. >> And that's the difference. Thank you so much. >> Sure. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Well, I just wanted to add real quick that uh well, thank you to you and your team. 85% participation in the high school students is amazing. It's exceptional. I think that should be noted. Um it's great that the kids are able to they're not just getting the classroom credits. They're walking out of there and being able to contribute back to our community with [clears throat] these
061certifications that they're getting. And that's important and something that I would really like seeing. I do want to mimic or echo what trustee dear Garcelopa said about the electrician uh pathway or trade. I've had numerous phone calls from a lot of parents in the Macist community mentioning that uh I do notice that you know we have that relationship through the HVAC right which NC what is it NC >> NCCR >> NCC are you able to do like if we are going to do an electrician program if we look into it are you able to run it through there through that program >> and I am a master trainer in NCCR just if you want to know that not that you need to know that but uh It is important because when you take a certification
062like for example if we're going through SDC it might cost us more to to go through SDC than us doing it ourselves but again we can work together with uh which is what we're doing for Hback right now with uh SDC to make sure that we get those certifications right. So all those certifications are right and I I want to be really transparent and just kind of say it out loud. I wasn't the only one that came up with this idea. [clears throat] I have to thank Dr. for giving me the us talking together about what we we would bring and construction was something that was big for us and we had no construction before this and I think when he came in and I now that I come here I'm like where's the construction
063folks right because we do need it and thank you Dr. Mutes because he gave us a green light and said yes this is really what I want and we we move forward with it. >> Thank you. >> All right, no further discussion from the board. >> Thank you Mr. Science. >> Thank you everyone. We are on discussion and possible action of the 2026 summer school programs. Dr. Ruth, >> summer school programs provide opportunities for students to enrich and or rec uh recover academic skills from preK through 12. Uh Dr. Cynthia Levites, our director of federal and state programs. We'll have more information. We are recommending action on this item since uh it may be February, but we're already planning for summer school. >> It's time. Yes. >> In June. So, >> start planning. Good evening,
064uh, board of trustees and Dr. Guutieres. I'm here to present to you, um, our summer programs for 2026. And there we go. So, the purpose and intent of our Macan ISD summer programs really is to provide remediation for students in grades three through 12 and enrichment opportunities for Macallen ISD students in grades K12. Um, this summer we would be looking again at a three-week program that would begin June 8th and run through June 26th. That would be Monday through Friday, 15 days, and it would run from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30, and that would already include lunchtime. Um, the bilingual program is required to have 16 days of instruction. So that program always starts the Friday before and that program does run from 8 to 4 and it's only at the elementary sites which I'll show
065you in a little bit. The the 8 to 12 um schedule excludes the SDC summer dual classes because those classes run um AM and PM. This is our calendar at a glance. So the last day of school is June uh 2nd. Then we've got uh we have to have a day of professional uh development and workday for all of the summer school staff. Um but this year we moved it to Wednesday because we have graduations Thursday and Friday and I don't want to um I don't want for any of our staff to miss out on a graduation or anything like that. So we'll move it to the third. Now you'll see there's a um asterisk there. There is a a national math and science institute uh professional development conference happening here in Macallen in the
066summer. So any of our teachers who have been hired for summer school but are attending this uh Nimsy conference would have to do their uh professional development or workday on that Friday uh once they are done with their conference. And then you'll see June 8th is the first day of summer programs runs all the way to the 26th. Starting June 23rd, we would start with our summer star um administration for our students who are uh retesting any any star EOCC exams that they have not been successful with. The sites for this summer are the same as we had last summer. We will have cluster sites at three elementary schools. Escondone Elementary School will have a a cluster site, Jackson Elementary School, and Mclliff Elementary School. We will have one uh middle school campus that will
067be at the Leyon Middle School. Each comprehensive high school will have its own programs um as well as achieve early college. Lamar options program will be housed at Achieve and we will have our STC summer dual classes again this summer. We had them at Achieve last year and we more than likely will have them at Achieve again this year. At the Nevada Parent Center is where we have our migrant education summer program and our parent and family engagement summer program for our parents. Summer sites for MAC fun. These are tentative. Uh we're still working to secure these sites. These are the sites that we used last year and last year was the first summer that we separated our MAC fun sites from our elementary sites and that was um a bonus. It worked out really
068well. there was less congestion um and the programs worked out really well. So, we want to do the same thing this summer at those same sites. We will have daily meals and transportation for all of our students. So, the Mallist child nutrition department will provide breakfast and lunch for all summer program sites as well as the MAC fund sites. And our Mallen ISD transportation department will provide transportation to all summer school program sites. Pickup and drop off will be from the students um homeschool campus. On the health and safety side, we will have our Macallen ISD health uh and services department provide five registered nur nurses. Um but there's been a little update on that. It'll be nurses or LVNs or actual medical assistants that will uh work in the summer. Um and they will
069be available the entire time June 8th through the 26th. And the nurses will be assigned to campus um and then they'll travel as needed. and Macau ISD police department will have an officer at each summer site. Uh and then two officers will be assigned at each of the comprehensive high schools and at achieve. These are the numbers um of enrollment that we're inviting uh for each campus to have. So you'll see the clusters you'll have Mclliff um Escandon and Jackson. And so each campus we look at their total atrisisk population from third through fifth grade. And then we invite 45% of their students who need remediation in in ELA and math. And in some cases, some campuses do really well and they don't even fill their spots. Um but we do um offer an opportunity
070for the the McAuliff cluster would have a total of 370 students. Uh 20 classrooms at an 18 to1 ratio. Essandon is a little bit smaller because they only have five campuses in their cluster. That would be a total of 238 students invited there for 13 classrooms at an 18 to1 ratio. And then Jackson would have 304 students, 17 classrooms. At the middle school, we have at the Leon all campuses uh would be invited there. And we took again the number of students who are at risk from sixth to 8th grade and invited a percentage of those students. And the breakdown by each grade level is that same percentage. Uh, in some cases, some campuses will maybe have more students uh, in a certain grade level, which is fine. We can always accommodate. Every summer, we've
071been able to accommodate all of the numbers uh, that we've presented with. So, I I don't foresee a problem with that. And then the summer pay rate, uh, this is the same pay rate as last year. We are not increasing pay rates. We increased pay rates last summer. We're not um increasing pay rates for this summer. But I would like to note that we are making um we added if you'll see in the second column where it says remediation acceleration we are looking to uh provide acceleration courses this summer uh and that would be in geometry and in Spanish one and that would allow students who don't decelerate math at the ele at the middle school but get to high school and realize they want to accelerate. So they could accelerate and take geometry after
072their freshman year and then jump into algebra 2 and make room for an additional math their senior year. Um and so that would only be for the teacher that would be provided there and uh we're working on those details. I'm working with Dr. Oasis to finalize those details and that is it questions >> discussion for the board. Thank you. >> Thank you. Entertain a motion. There's action on this. >> Sorry. >> Move to approve. >> Second. >> Have a motion by trustee and a second by trusta Lopez. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion passes 6. Discussion and possible action on partnership agreement number 2026-235 with Western Governor's University for the pilot apprenticeship pathway related technical instruction. Dr. >> Yes. Uh this partnership agreement will ensure the provisions of highquality pathways uh to develop K
073through2 teacher talent pipelines designed to support employers and candidates participating in the registered apprenticeship program as register as registered with the department of labor's office apprenticeship. Dr. Canales is available to answer any questions. We're recommending action on this item. >> Right. >> Discussion by the board presentation you guys want to hear. All right. >> I have a motion by trustee Pñena. >> Second by trustee Kion. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes 60. >> We are now on board of trustee items. Discussion and possible action on nomination of candidate free the county appraisal district board of directors for the 2026 27 term and approval of resolution. If you'll look in the paperwork that we have in front of us, you do have form there. This item was tabled last time, so we
074brought it put it back on this agenda. >> Thank you. >> And we passing to you. >> Yes. Our board secretary is not here. So >> I misplaced mine. >> Do you want Oh gosh. >> Is there one on Lizz's desk? >> You were a messy student, weren't you? You see that backpack? >> Somebody can just write it. I'll just write it. >> I don't. >> You don't have one. >> I mean, I I don't have an extra. >> You want this? >> Yeah. Right. >> Yes. It believes that uh >> there's six total votes. >> All right. >> We're missing one board member >> and we are at an impass. So we want to take another vote or we just >> take another good one and it >> anybody need a page >> can
075only vote one time. This is the first round. Okay. Um, >> we're at an >> Somebody want to >> Yeah, we um >> we can go into close session and then >> Yes, >> do that. >> Okay, Mr. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to table item 6D1 until after executive session. >> I have a motion by trusty Kion. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> And a second by trust Lopez. All in favor? >> Any oppose? Motion table pass. Zero. We will Okay, we are on the approval of the board of education meeting minutes and the minutes are in your packet. If you've had a chance to review them, we'll entertain a motion to approve them. >> So move. >> I have a motion by trusty Hadad and a second by
076Trustee Pñena. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion passes 6. At this time, we're going to go into close session pursuant to government codes 551071, 551072, 551074, and 551076. 551089 of the Texas government code to discuss the items listed on the agenda. It's 7:20 and we are in executive session. All right, it is 7:49 and we are back from close session. We are going to go back to Well, there was a motion on the table. We have to bring it back. So, >> uh, do I have a motion to bring back item number 61? >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion passes 70 to bring back 61. 61. We have uh discussion and possible action on the candidate for the appraisal district. So uh we do
077have seven now and I will tally up the votes. >> Do you want to give? >> She already does. She does. Lizzy Oh, she does. I texted Mr. Balls. >> He walked it over. [snorts] Yeah. Three. I have four on this one. Yeah. Okay. Drum roll. Okay. All right. At this time, I would like to make a motion to nominate Mr. Mario Reena senior as candidate for the county appraisal district board of directors for the 2026 2027 term and approval of the resolution. >> Second have a motion by myself Aaron Ria second by trustee. All in favor. >> Any opposed? >> I >> motion passes 70. Congratulations Mr. Mario Reena Senior. >> Thank you. Bye Lizzy. >> Bye Lizzy. >> Bye y'all. Okay, at this time we will move on to action items in close
078session. We have the HR recommendations. Dr. Gutas, >> human resources submitted a list of recommendations for the 2526 school year under separate cover for discussion during close session. >> All right. And item B, the employee resignations. human resources submitted uh a list of resignations uh and retirees for the 2526 school year on a separate cover uh for discussion during close session. >> Thank you. And there will be no action taken on CD or E. So we will go over the scheduled meetings that are coming up. There's a budget workshop March 3rd. School safety and security meeting on the 10th of March. Our next regular board meeting is also on the 10th of March. And then we do have student recognitions on March 24th. At this time, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So
079moved. >> Second. >> A motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes 6. We're adjourned at 753. Thank you guys. Good night.