001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening. The meeting is now convened. It's 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. I would ask everyone to please silence their cell phones or any other electronic devices. Uh my name is Jeff Wheeler. I will be presiding over this meeting until a board president is formally elected later this evening. This is a public meeting. However, it is not a public forum. Audience participation is limited to the designated comment period. To ensure the meeting can proceed in orderly manner, disruptions or commentary from audience are not permitted. The presiding officer may issue a reminder or warning if needed to maintain order. After two warnings, the presiding officer will ask for the audience member to leave the meeting. A quorum of the board is now present in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings
002Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. They are Desmond Bridges, Darian Graves, Elias Abeara, Lori Leaser, Arthur Lewis Jr., and Daniel Parker. We will start our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States and the Texas flags. Please stand with me. >> 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 allegiance to the state of Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. >> Thank you. You may be seated. As the community is aware, the Texas Education Agency intervened in Beaumont Independent School District on April 29th, 2026 by appointing a new board and superintendent. Through the transition, this new government governance team is committed
003to focusing unrelentingly on improving student outcomes. We look forward to working with the newly appointed superintendent, Sandy Massey, to give our students the tools they need for a successful future. Our next agenda item is a public comment. We are glad that you are here tonight and look forward to hearing from you. Only individuals who signed up to speak will be able to address the board in accordance with board policy. Any person who did not sign up will not be able to speak during public comment, but we do invite you to sign up to speak at our next meeting. I'm requesting that each speaker limit their remarks to 2 and 1/2 minutes. We ask that the speakers refrain from naming individuals, especially students, because the identity of students is protected by law. You may, however, say
004the name of your own child if you wish. Please note that board member board members will not engage in dialogue or respond to comments during the public comment portion of the meeting. I ask you to Please respect the procedures that are in place and others and the other speakers and audience members and end your comments promptly when your time is expired. Mrs. Smith, please call the first speaker. >> Bridget Smith. Good afternoon, board. My name is Bridget Smith. It's 10:50 Bingman Street, Beaumont, Texas. I am a teacher at Peach McArthur. I am standing up here with concerns. Our concerns as teachers, we're concerned for a couple of reasons. For number one, when TEA took over the district, they took over district, but they didn't give us any guidelines. They didn't give us any headway of
005what they was going to do and how they was going to do it. The last time TEA took over the district, we came in the next year, we had 30 kids in our classroom because the teachers got scared. They looked for other jobs and they was gone. I said this year, we are the teachers now are worried. Number one concern is now we have to leave our door open and locked. Is that any safety if a intruder come in? How can I get from the back of the room to the front of the room before somebody done came in? God forbid nothing happened to our children or us. I believe in uh all the schools having the same curriculum, but is the curriculum and aligned with the the TEKS? We have found out that they're
006not aligned with the TEKS. We are teachers. We went to school. We went to school for all the times that we have we're not robots. We don't believe in just giving our children a script and then let them go. I I believe in creativity. We was taught that every child we have to teach by the by the style of the child, not by just a script. We are here. We're here. We've been in the trench. We've been here. The last time when there was nobody there, we was here. And we stayed here. We fought for our kids. And we're going to fight for our kids again this time. But, we want y'all to give us the respect to talk to us. Understand us. Stand with us. Don't show don't come up showing that y'all are
007in charge. We want to be in charge with y'all. We want to walk with y'all. We want to talk with y'all. But, we want to have the respect that's given. We're standing up day-to-day. We're tired. We are at the We are doing everything that we can. But, the number one problem is if we need to get the children here, get the school children to school. Truancy worked. Let's bring that back. It worked. Getting behave Getting control of behavior is number one. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Ms. Smith, for your comments. >> The next speaker, Delynn Mitchell. >> Hello. Hi, everybody. Thank you for having me. Um so, I'm speaking tonight specifically as a representative of Tiffany Perkins. She's a candidate for Texas State Board of Education Position 7. She can't be here this
008evening because it's May-vember and she has kids and I think band and all the other things were happening this evening. So, um she'd like the record to reflect that the first full week of the TEA takeover began during Teacher Appreciation Week. And that tonight's agenda includes proposed changes to board policy that would give the new district leadership more power to remove, reassign, or pressure teachers with fewer protections in place for educators. This comes after stripping of them of the autonomy, creativity, and passion that make children love learning in the first place. Policies protecting teachers from arbitrary mid-contract firings exist for a reason. Public schools can't function effectively when educators are forced to work in a constant climate of fear and instability. Yet the model that's being brought here to Beaumont ISD is the same model
009brought to Houston ISD in 2023. The new education system which has become notorious for creating a culture of fear that drives qualified educators from the district. We have precedent from the Houston ISD takeover that under the NES model teachers are routinely demoralized or threatened over issues like sitting down briefly during instruction due to medical concerns with no regard to those medical concerns, lights being off or being considered off pace in a scripted lesson. Educational research is clear that students perform best when teachers themselves feel supported, respected, and professionally secure. Healthy school cultures are not built through intimidation. When teachers are treated as disposable, constantly monitored, and fearful of arbitrary punishment students feel the effects, too. A district cannot create thriving learning environments while also demoralizing the very people responsible for our kids. I ask the
010new Board of Managers and the members of this community to reject the shame-based practices promoted through Lone Star governance and instead keep this community's teachers, students, and families at the center of every decision. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ms. Mitchell. >> [applause] >> Our final speaker this evening, Sabrina Winger. >> Sabrina Winger, 2345 Interstate 10, Beaumont, Texas 77702. Good evening, Ms. Massey, and to our newly appointed Board of Managers. My name is Sabrina Winger and I am a member of the executive board of the Beaumont Teachers Association. On behalf of BTA, we would like to welcome you all to Beaumont ISD. We would like to take this time to extend an opportunity to foster a partnership between you all and our association. We are the largest union in Beaumont ISD. We represent approximately one out
011of every three employees and we are growing. We are connected to the Texas State Teachers Association as well as the National Educators Association, which is the largest labor union in America. We are 3 million members strong. Ms. Massey, we would love the opportunity to sit down and visit with you and learn more about your plan for success for our students. What does the road map look like? How do you plan to support the staff and employees who serve our children to achieve these goals? Our association would like to help you all to build a bridge between the staff who will ultimately between you all and the staff who will ultimately affect the change for our students. I know that if we work together to build the morale amongst the staff, we will be able to
012create the best learning environments that will ensure success for all of our learners. Please allow us the privilege to help you make to help make you all successful. And to the community, I have stood at this podium many times begging you to get involved with educating the children in our community. Now is the time to get on board. We no longer have the luxury of sitting in the sidelines. It will take all of us working together. Our students deserve the best every one of us have to offer. So once again to Ms. Massey and our newly appointed Board of Managers, welcome to BISD. Now let's all get to work. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> That concludes our public comment. >> Okay. Thank you to all the speakers. Next we will move to
013item three, uh action agenda items. Our first item is to formally elect a president of this board. Uh are there any nominations for president? >> I nominate Jeff Wheeler to serve as board president. >> Do we have a second? >> I second it. >> Are there any other nominations? Seeing none, we will now move to voting on the nomination on the screen. Please bear with us. We're using a new system tonight. Trying out this. Okay. The nomination passes by unanimous vote. Uh just like to say I couldn't be more humbled and more proud to sit up here and be part of this amazing team with Superintendent Massey and to represent this community and the 16,000 kids of BISD. I I can't tell you how much this means. So, thank you all. Moving to our next
014agenda item, 3B, the election of the board secretary. Are there any nominations for board secretary? >> Mr. President, I nominate Arthur Lewis Jr. to serve as secretary. >> Do we have a second? >> I second the nomination. >> Are there any other nominations? Okay. Seeing none, we will now move to voting on the screen. Okay, the nomination passes by unanimous vote. >> Thank you for your confidence in me uh from my colleagues. I'm so happy to be serving on this Board of Managers. Thank you very much, and I will work very hard to represent BISD in a positive manner. >> Thank you, Mr. Lewis. We will now move on to the next agenda item 3C, which relates to the consideration for approval and ratification of our appointed superintendent, Sandy Massey. As acting superintendent and vote
015uh as acting superintendent and vote on the acting superintendent employment and relocation agreement. The board will take action on formally naming Sandy Massey as superintendent of schools and approving her employment contract as superintendent of schools during a board meeting in May. But tonight, we will consider this interim title as acting superintendent and the contract that governs the inner interim time period. Is there a motion concerning this item? >> I move that we approve Sandy Massey as the acting superintendent and approve acting superintendent employment and relocation agreement. >> Thank you, Mr. Parker. Do we have a second? >> I second this motion. >> Thank you, Mr. Graves. Is there any discussion needed? Okay, seeing no discussion, we will move to voting on the screen. The motion passes by vote. Sandy Massey, thank you for agreeing to
016serve beyond Beaumont ISD. >> Thank you guys. I greatly appreciate your confidence and the vote. Um, I'm excited to be in Beaumont. I am moving here very shortly and I cannot wait to continue getting to know this community. It's it's a great place to be already. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Superintendent Massey. The next agenda item 3D relates to the filing of an application to waive the superintendent certification requirement. Sorry. Requirement with the Texas Education Agency's Commissioner of Education. Sandy Massey most recently served as the Chief of Schools at Houston ISD responsible for the instructional, academic, and operational success of 273 schools. Sandy Massey has also served in numerous educational leadership and teaching roles in her 32 year career. She is in the process of completing her superintendent credentialing and will be it will
017be available it will be reinstated before the next school year. For purposes of clarification, the waiver we are seeking is a temporary waiver for up to 3 years but requires Sandy Massey to obtain the Texas superintendent certification before the waiver expires. Is there any further discussion on this matter? Is there a motion concerning this item? >> I uh >> Motion at the board submit uh an application to waive the superintendent certification requirement with the TEA Commissioner of Education. >> Do we have a second? >> I second. >> For purposes of clarification, the waiver we are seeking is a temporary waiver for up to 3 years and requires Sandy Massey to obtain the sec the Texas superintendent certification before the waiver expires. However, Ms. Massey will complete this process before the start of the school year.
018Any further discussion before voting? Okay, we'll now move to vote. Motion passes unanimously. Okay, moving on to agenda item 3E. This next agenda item relates to the temporary suspension of local board policies. BDAA, BEE, BJA, DC, DCB, DCD, DCE, DK, and DP. Suspending these policies will allow the board and superintendent an opportunity to review meeting and dates and times and hiring practices. We are requesting that they be suspended until the board can move can more fully evaluate our local policies. This would be a temporary suspension and the board will review and make determinations on the policies in the near future. This suspension does not apply to any legal board policies or any requirements imposed by state or federal law. Any local policy provisions that are required by state or federal law, such as any local
019policy that affects due process rights, contract employee employee rights, reduction in force procedures, basis for contract non-renewals, government per- uh government procurement requirements, or student discipline procedures. To the extent necessary to ensure continuity of operation, the superintendent is authorized to rely on previously adopted local board policies as administrative regulations unless and until superseded by law or board action. This suspension shall remain in effect until the board takes action to adopt revised local board policies. Is Is any motion concerning this item? >> I move the board to suspend following local board policies effective immediately in order to allow for a comprehensive review and revision of such policies to promote district effectiveness and efficiency for BDAA, BE, BJA, DC, DCB, DCD, DCE, DK, and DP. >> Thank you Mr. Mr. Bridges. Is there a second? >> I
020second the motion. >> Any further discussion? We will vote on the screen. Okay, motion passes unanimously. Okay, at this time there are no more items on the agenda for tonight's meeting. I would like to close by saying thank you to the community members that shared with us today. We appreciate your participation in this process. Thank you for the vote to the Beaumont ISD parents for your partnership in the work ahead. Thank you to the Beaumont ISD staff for your professionalism during this time of transition. We look forward to seeing you all again at our next meeting in May. As there is no further business and we have no items for close session this evening, we will with the time being 5:50 this meeting is is adjourned. Thank you.