001You're welcome. I don't know where the restroom >> I think it is starting to pop on it. Yeah, >> I know. I I've been using it, too. >> I don't know if I'm blowing or not. >> That is so nice. I'll be using that. Lauren, I uh got the pleasure of unpacking your lunch box after I sit up and get your house all weekend. >> It could have been worse. Could have been worse. >> I'm sorry. I told you. >> Well, I was supposed to come get it and I completely forgot. Sh was out of town. >> I forgot about this. Louisa was the one on Sunday afternoon. She was like, I mean, you may have come and I was like, okay, we can go drop it off. >> They were so cute. Friday, >>
002right? Where is over there talking to the kids out there? >> I don't know. You just never know. And I did not Do we have anybody? No, no, no, no. I don't worry. I'm I'm out running around. So, um, no, no. CL was put together. I mean, that is like the pain. Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to begin. We have a little confusion with our signup sheet as far as who wants to speak. And so currently the only person who is officially signed up to speak tonight is Allison Hartney. Okay. But if anyone else would like to speak, would you please meet Dr. Palasios over here and she'll get you ready to go. >> Good evening. Is this on? >> Yeah. But appears half our district's here. So that's great. Um, I'm going to call
003us into our meeting. Where are my notes? >> Okay. >> Uh, can I have everyone's attention? It is now 6:01 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. and this is a duly filed and posted regular meeting of the Alma Heights Board of Trustees. Thank you all for coming. I'd like to welcome anyone listening to our live streaming broadcast if anyone would like a recording of this meeting. We will post a link on the district website within 24 hours after the end of this meeting. In addition, we also post the materials being presented within 24 hours so you can review a copy of those as well. The recordings are under the schoolboard icon on our Alma Heights Independent School District.net website. If anyone in the audience would like to address the board tonight, we welcome your input
004during our citizens to be heard item on the agenda. Please fill out the yellow form. >> It's kind of yellow. golden rice >> golden rice >> and uh uh read the instructions and indicate the agenda item if there is one so we can introduce you at the appropriate time. But at this time I'm going to turn it over to our fan favorite Dr. Alar Thank you. Well, welcome everyone. We're excited uh to do all of our recognition. And I do want to let you know that um it's such a great crowd to come out here. We ask that everyone please stay until all the groups are recognized so we can spread the joy and celebrate everyone. When that's done, I'll let you know we're done. And uh you're welcome to stay for the business part
005of the meeting, but if you're just recognition, I'll let you know when it's time for me. And so uh we are excited. Now, the other thing I want to point out is the great body work that has been done in this room, right? You can't tell that we've got 150 back there with doors closed. The sound is a lot better than it used to be. >> True. >> Uh but when the doors open, beware. All right. First, but first, actually, we start with an adult. We'd like to shine our spotlight on excellence on Christy Christopher from the junior school. COME ON DOWN. ALL RIGHT. SO, WE STAND THERE AND HOLD THAT UP SO EVERYBODY CAN SEE YOU. YEAH. And I'll say nice things about you. So we every month we shine the spotlight on an
006employee who works often behind the scenes to fuel our tradition of excellence. Now Christy Christopher is a longtime instructional coach at the junior school. Now what that means is her main job is to run around helping teachers to be better teachers. That's what she does. She never run around helping kids to be better students but in effect she is by helping teachers. Well, we had a very unique situation this year at the junior school. We had an unexpected prolonged absence in 7th grade ELA, that's English language, uh, arts and reading. And Christy Christopher jumped out of her instructional coach role and into the classroom, six periods um, breaking speed uh, to fill in. Now, she's immediately saw the need. She said, "I will do it." And she's done a great job teaching critical concepts, grading
007lots of papers. We all know as English teachers that that's a big deal with it. Um, but also uh implementing her instructional expertise as an instructional coach with those students. Now, it's been a lot. I know it's been a lot. That's why we're recognizing you with this. But she says it has been a lot. but she's enjoyed connecting with the students which has been a joy again this year. Thank you so much. It's a big deal what you did and you're still DOING IT. But also if you don't want to say anything, let us know if there's anybody special with you. >> Well, I've got Stew and Kim. >> And I think Jenny, I won't walk in. I'm sorry. Oh yeah, there they can do instructional coaches. Um, no, it's been fun. It's been a
008minute since I've been in the classroom. So, um, jumping back in is a little nerve-wracking, but I like riding a bike. Uh, first love for sure. And so, it's been fun to get back in and do it. So, >> thank you. >> You're awesome. >> Congratulations. Now, speaking of great educators, our next recognition is for high school students who participated in the Texas Association of Future Educators. They are National Qualifiers. Wherever they are, come on down. UH now uh these this competition it's called Taffy for short uh they're studying and learning to be educators and uh they qualified for the national educators rising national conference. Now to do so they competed against over 200 uh schools at the state level and this is the fourth year of our students that have students have qualified for
009nationals and it's the second time students have competed in the JV level. There's a varsity level and a J level J comp level. So tell us your first name and last name what grade you're in uh and what you and what category you competed in and tell us a little bit about what you did. >> My name is Lily McCrae. I'm a junior at MI. Yeah. and um we competed in the middle school and high school uh interactive bulletin board. >> I'm Paisley Dusk and I'm a junior. Um and we are in the same group so we both compete at the same thing. >> Hi, I'm Ella Martin and I'm a 10th grader and I did exploring administration careers with Dr. Walker. >> I forgot about that. You were walking around central office in all
010of our meetings. >> That's right. Uh, and you can attest to how hard Dr. Walker looks as well. So, are you guys are you going to become educators? Are you just curious? >> What can we expect? >> I think it was like just to kind of see what like what it was about. Um, our board like we um targeted like kids with disabilities and that was really fulfilling for us. Um, like that was like kind of like is guiding I still don't know what I want to do but it's like helping me like make my decision. >> How about you? I mean, pretty much the same thing that she said. Um, we took child development our sophomore year of Coach Williams and I mean, I guess that just really influenced us and we had a
011great time while doing it. >> I am planning on majoring in education and hoping to go to administration eventually. >> NICE. >> We also want to recognize the teachers that they mentioned, Jackie Moore, Lindsay Williams, and Katie Hog. Thank you so much for all you do. All right, I think a lot more are here just from volume. Next, we have nine teams who participated in Odyssey of Mind who qualified for the next level. Come in. Come on in. Look at this group. What they're very quiet. So, as we're coming in, I'll explain that Odyssey of the Mind is a program that encourages students to use their creativity to solve unique problems. In addition to solving unique problems, they also come up with unique names. I won't read all the names, but I'll give you a
012sampling of some of them. We've got the discoorms. That's a unique name. andases prek DJs. Oh, preppy pickles baddies partygoers and from the junior school kids, Epics versus Society. They're they're bookended, I think, by the adults uh who helped prepare them all. Uh get this rolling. Uh Cheryl Duckers, Julie Draper, Carol Walters, and Selene Borderline. And then uh Miss Milliger, Theresa Milliger at the junior school helps out there. Uh those of you that are involved know that the parents are the coaches and so they do a ton. Although I don't have them listed here, but I do want the kids to re uh introduce yourselves, right? first name, last name, and what grade you're in. They're all grouped by teams here and in uh campus. So, I'm going to give it to you. You say
013it loud and proud, and then you pass it mic down to the end, and Miss Borlo will be the last person to get it. >> Um, my name is Max For. >> I'm in fourth grade. >> I'm W and I'm in fourth, too. >> I'm Andrew Per. I'm in fifth grade. I'm Braden Draper and I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Phoenix Jackson. I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Alex Porter and I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Alicia and I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Catherine Hall and I'm in fourth grade. >> I'm Sal and I'm in fourth grade. >> I'm Maya Woo. I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Liz Gr. I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Kelly. I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Ky and I'm in fifth grade. I'm David and I'm in fifth
014grade. I'm Dennis B and I'm in fifth grade. I'm Maros and I'm in fifth grade. I'm Miles and I'm in third grade. >> I'm Da D and I'm in fifth grade. I'm Alex and I'm in third grade. >> I'm Rama and I'm in third grade. I'm Chado and I'm in third grade. >> I'm John and I'm in third grade. I am Max King and I'm in eighth grade and I'm coaching Simon Steam for coaching. >> Um I'm Simon King and I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Emily Fox and I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Rebecca Finky and I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Noel and I'm in fifth grade. I'm Emily Rose and I'm in fifth grade. I'm Camila Nichols and I'm in fifth grade. I'm Ella Richardson and I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm
015Llaya Cook and I'm in fifth grade. >> I'm Casey Casey and I'm in and I'm in eighth grade. >> I'm Charlotte Porter and I'm in eighth grade. >> My name is Zoe and I'm in eighth grade. >> I'm Catherine Loop and I'm in eighth grade. >> I'm Little and I'm in fourth grade. >> So, Miss Borling, just hold on to that for a second. We're going to hear from Julie Draper about in general. First, tell us, do the coaches have a a funky team name? >> Uh, the coaches are part of these teams. So, they are all in one. They're all one. >> Um, the parent volunteers that coach these teams need a round of applause because they have these TEAMS that coach have these teams from October through March. These teams at the state
016continued working all the way through March. So for 6 months, these teams have been working on their long-term problem and coming in early once a week to work on spontaneous creativity uh problem solving. Uh we started with 14 teams that competed at regionals and now these nine teams went to state and we have one team still competing and going to worlds at the end of May. So we're really proud OF CONGRATULATIONS. How about Mr. Spontaneous? You don't know which way to go back. I'm going to tell you right now. So, you guys go back that way if you would please. And she's going to loop you back over there. And you're going to wait patiently until I come back and tell you it's time to go. since 1999. So, as uh they make their exit,
017the next group we want to recognize are the Spurs state and national competition uh qualifiers and winners. Uh yeah, we were talking backstage whether they should come in kicking or just walk in that they chose to walk in even though they wanted to do a routine. Well, you and this is of course our Spurs dance team under the direction of Lu Lago uh who earned state and national recognitions this year. Now at the state level, there's a variety of awards. Their officers won first and they had second place in team with numerous judging awards and sweep stakes recognitions for choreography, showmanship, technique and precision. Now at nationals the the officers also won a national championship award in contemporary and then they got first runner up in novelty and as team awards at nationals they got
018first runner up in jazz, palm and hiphop. Right. All right. So let's meet this team. Tell us your first name, last name, what grade you're in, and we'll pass it down to the end. >> Hi, I'm Mariah Garner. I'm a senior and I'm a colonel. >> Hi, I'm Maddie McDonald. I'm also a senior and I'm captain. >> Hi, I'm Addison Richie. I'm a senior and I'm co- captain. >> Hi, I'm Jameson Cummings. I'm a junior and I'm lieutenant. >> Hi, I'm Debson and I'm a senior. >> Hi, I'm Ava Lake and I'm a sophomore. >> Hi, I'm Mrs. Bella and I'm a junior. >> Hi, I'm Caroline Drake and I'm a junior. >> Hi, I'm Kylie Atinson and I'm a sophomore. >> Hi, I'm Ellie Delo Garza and I'm a freshman. >> Hi, I'm Jessica
019Tober and I'm a junior. >> Hi, I'm Juliet Drake and I'm a junior. >> Hi, I'm Riley Dver and I'm a freshman. >> Hi, I'm Sophia Toce and I'm a freshman. >> Hi, I'm Elissy and I'm a sophomore. >> Well, congratulations, Lisa. Lisa, tell us a little bit about this team. these girls. I want to I want to start by thanking them for being so passionate about dance and about this program. They are so hardworking. They are the best girls. I am so blessed to have them. And my seniors, thank you so much for giving us this amazing year. We we truly appreciate you. I'm going to miss you so so much. >> Well, congratulations. We appreciate all of you. So from dance we move to music. Come on down and next recognize UIL state
020solo and ensemble qualifiers. Come on down. Yeah, we got teachers down here too. Now, in order to qualify for UIL state solo and ensemble, students must perform a class one, which means the hardest difficulty solo or ensemble and receive a superior rating, which is the highest score. Solos must memorize. The solos must be memorized while performing. Wow. The state solo and the ensemble contest is May 23rd and 25th. I can't say enough about how challenging this competition is. Um, but before we talk a little bit more about that, let's see. We've got band, choir, orchestra, and piano represented up here. Anybody double in double categories? Yeah, a few in double categories. So, can I say this? Give us your first name, your last name, your grade, and what category you're in. like that and we'll
021go that way. >> I'm Richardson. I'm a senior at Elmo Heights and I'm an orchestra. >> I'm Aiden Williams. I'm a senior and I play violin and orchestra. >> I'm Helena Castano. I'm a junior and I play viola orchestra. >> My name is Chloe Wppel. I'm a junior and I play the violin in orchestra. >> My name is Elena Kent. I'm a junior and I play the viola in orchestra. Hello, my name's Andrew Pedes and I'm a bass in choir. >> I'm Maddie Bod and I'm a senior and I'm in choir. >> Hi, I'm Katy Allison. I'm a senior and I'm a soprano in choir. >> Hi, I'm Abigail Winshuffle and I'm a senior and I'm a soprano in choir. >> Hi, I'm Sebastian and I'm a sophomore and I'm a tener in the choir.
022>> Hi, I'm Elanar Yun. I am a senior and I sing soprano in the choir. >> Hi, I'm Julian Hendrickx. I'm a junior and I'm in piano. >> Hi, I'm Mason Versado and I'm a freshman and I play profession in band. >> Hi, my name is Julie Mendoza. I'm a senior and I play obo in the band. >> Hi, my name is Caleb Dardy. I'm a freshman and I play alto saxophone in the band. >> Hi, my name is Scarlett Alvarez. I'm a senior and I play percussion. Hi, I'm Miriam Nathan and I am a sophomore and I play clarinet. And >> we had we had two additional band students not able to make it tonight. Parker Franklin, a freshman, plays tuba in band and Logan Thompson, a senior playing trumpet in band. >> Great.
023And of course, we have all supported by the adults. Um Mike Visco there, I know Troy Chester was is not here, but he's played a part in this. Matt Moreno, Carlos Kudos, Jack Nagel, David Short, Linda Wilson, all help support these kids and prepare them. I'm going to put David on the spot to tell us give us in general a sense of how uh uh sophisticated all of these performers are. >> Well, they're just the very best. We're so proud of them. The to uh the level of uh rigor that they've undertaken to perform a class one solo is these are pieces in each of our disciplines that you would be comfortable seeing at a college recital. Um, and then, uh, in in the choir world, we always perform memorize, but in the instrumental world,
024making that choice to say, I' I've made that rigorous choice and I'm going to up it by memorizing to, you know, increase the artistry, it's really a testament to these these students and, you know, the way they embrace hard things and and, uh, just shine on stage when they get get the opportunity. >> Well, uh, congratulations and we'll take you along. THIS IS the bonus from the arms night. Right. So the next recognition is for color guard state bronze medalist. Come on down. I love you, >> Anthony. >> So, this group competed in the Texas Educational Color Guard Association state competition. Uh, they're known as Wintergard. I don't quite know why, but I just know that's what they call you sometimes, right? And so, of course, we have directors Matt Moreno and Louisa, which we
025were met earlier, and then uh Yila Salo helps out as well. And so, uh I'll let um Matt tell a bit about the performance. I understand that the performance was titled Skateell >> Skate land. No, it's got a cut off. Skate. Oh, yeah. It looks like skate land. skate land and yes they were wearing roller skates apparently right so uh let's get a sense of who's tell us your first name last name what grade you're in and we'll let tell us a little bit more about uh choreographing roller skates >> hi I'm Isabella Veva and I'm a senior >> hi I'm Kate Bartlett and I'm a senior >> hi I'm Kira Igas and I'm a senior. >> Hi, I'm Alexis Shelton Bon and I'm a sophomore. >> Hi, I'm Fagen and I'm a sophomore. >>
026Hi, I'm Michaela Isaac and I'm a freshman. >> Hi, I'm Lydia Fly and I'm a freshman. >> Hi, I'm Angelie Zuna and I'm a fresh I mean I'm a senior. I'm a junior. >> Hi, I'm Charlotte Miller and I'm a sophomore. Hi, I'm coach Luiso and I'm their dance coach. >> And I'm Matt Oeno and I'm also a coach. >> So tell us about this unique performance. >> Yeah, so this year's performance was called Skate Land, uh a tribute to 70s, '8s, and '90s roller race, especially Skate Land here in San Antonio. Uh we did we tried to pay homage to all of that kind of vibe. Kids were on roller skates, uh disco balls were involved, and it was a really fun time. These kids are such hard workers and we love to see
027them perform and really give us a good show this year. Uh so can we give them one more round of applause? >> All right. Well, we're we're I think we're down to our final recognition of the night. And this is uh one of the recurring ones, which is to hear what the high school student council is up to and to tell us Lindsay Lamb, vice president, what's going on. >> Hello, my name is Lindsay Lamb. I'm the student council vice president. We've had an amazing month. To recap some things we did last month, we had our blood drive, which we got 16 units, which is about 45 lives saved, which is amazing. It was so fun. I was out there, there's this big old truck in our courtyard area, and I was doing a little
028check-in. It was an amazing experience, and I'm really glad that we did it, and I hope to do it again. And then we had our festival of learning where we fundraised by um selling snow cones at the junior school. And it was that one was great as well. We got to see a ton of different cultures and celebrate. and then obviously make a ton of snow cones for kids which was super cute. And then next Friday we have our battle of flowers where we have our little float called the mystical reef. Beer's going to be um the trident guy and I'm going to be a little jellyfish. So we're working towards that. We're getting all of our costumes ready and we're super excited for that which will be super fun. And then the major event
029next month is prom which on May 2nd the theme is Once Upon a Time. It's so it's going to be so fun. We're trying to up the Annie on that. Get prom tickets. We're doing a prom puzzle account which is super fun and we have fun prizes for that as well. And then um our first Friday that month, we are kind of substituting for the talent show because unfortunately that didn't work out. So we're doing our open mic which we did last year when the same things happened where kids can come in sing do their talents and it'll be a super fun experience. Well, thanks for all you do. And you mentioned Ver Patel, the president. He un of course he couldn't make it here today because he's at the pitch night reveal. He's CEO
030of his little team. So, we wish him well. Thank you so much for being here. Let's give a round of applause. Thank you so much. What great students we have and employees to celebrate. That's the end of recognitions. So, if you're here for just that portion, this is the time to exit. begin. I love you. Remember when we used to meet in here and there was just all over the carpet. So that's it. Okay, we're going to move forward agenda request for transparency when your name is called join us. Each person will have three minutes to speak and Christina talk loud will have a card when there's one minute left and another card when the time is up. In making your presentation, we ask that you do not refer to individual students or personnel by
031name or position. Especially in a public setting, it is best to be careful with comments about specific people. In addition, mindful of due process and legal obligations. The board will not respond to your comments tonight. However, we welcome and appreciate your input and as an important member of our community and will follow up with you separately as necessary. For anyone else listening, please know that if a member of the community speaking tonight raises any concerns or questions, we will have a member of the staff contact them directly to follow up. So, we are going to begin with Allison Parker. >> Hardy. Hardy. Sorry. >> It's okay. >> Okay. >> Ready? Go. >> All right. My name is Alice Hartley. I was in the audience at school board candidate forum yesterday and I heard something very
032interesting and I'm not going to name any names, but anyone who was there would have heard it. Uh, one of the schoolboard members said, and I quote, "I honestly don't see how there could be any more transparency from this board." And I want to accept uh that invitation to demonstrate just how deficient the board's public facing information is compared to school districts that I would consider our peers. So, uh, I've circulated, uh, some sample agendas. The first one on top is our agenda for tonight. And I've also included Bernie, Carol, Highland Park, and Ean school districts so you can compare and see what they present to their communities as opposed to what Alamo Heights does. So, we'll start with the agenda. I pulled up the Almo Heights agenda today and I compared it with the
033Bernie agenda, both for board meetings this week. Both agendas had a consent agenda, but Alamo Heights's consent agenda has no details, no attachments, no links. Bernie's on the other hand attaches the minutes for approval, the contracts, theus under consideration, the presentations the board will hear, the summaries from administration, and everything else the board will be considering. Parents and Bernie know going into their meeting exactly what will be discussed and even what recommend recommended actions the administration is asking the board to consider. Then we can compare what happens during the regular board meetings versus special meetings. Alma Heights, as you know, uses special meetings to discuss and uh make decisions, leaving only the final approval to these monthly board meetings. I only know when the special meetings are if I remember to check the tab. Uh
034today I found out that you can actually sign up for uh an email alert, which is great. Uh but you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find that the agendas for the special meetings are just as vague. Not only does Bernie have these discussions at their general regularly scheduled board meetings, but Bernie makes all the presentations available ahead of time with easy links on the agenda. Finally, with the minutes themselves, the Texas Government Code requires that the district prepare and keep minutes or make a recording of each open meeting. Bernie's meeting minutes are detailed. They're easy to find. They also post videos of each and every meeting, regular or special. In Elmo Heights, the recordings of the regular meetings are also easy to find, but there are no posted recordings
035of the special meetings and again that's where most of the decisions are made. I was able to only find a handful of minutes at all for the special meetings and the vast majority have no minutes posted at all. When the minutes do exist, they give no information about what actually happened in the meeting. The only way I can know what the board discussed at the special meetings is to go in person or to talk to someone who went in person and I would have to make a public records request for every presentation and document and even for most of the minutes. If you want to know how the board could be more transparent, I encourage you to spend 10 minutes on the Bernie ISD website. You will learn more about what the board does and
036how it operates by attending every regular board meeting of the animal height than you would by attending every regular board meeting of the animal heights. district. >> Thank you. Okay. We are going to move to uh next item on the agenda is section four items for presentation or possible action. Um our next item is student learning and progress. And it appears well it's I don't know who's doing oh senior gift and then we have a presentation of sebass communication part Miss Julie and >> so first we're doing the consideration of the senior class gift invite them. >> Oh I'm sorry didn't say that I'm an Aggie. >> So y'all >> come on down. >> There's a lot of Aggies over here. >> Are there any Aggies in here? >> Oh you got a fan club.
037Yes. >> Is this the one? >> Yes. >> Sorry. Thank you all so much for having us. Um, >> I am Joseph Vanulo, the class president for the class of 2026. Here with us, our wonderful student engagement officer, Michaela Cunningham. And then we have our treasurer, Emma Foster, our historian, Lane Cra, secretary, Kaden Alvarado, and our vice president, Hela. Um, >> I'm so sorry. It's Michaela Brown not >> Michaela Brown just me. >> And on that note, um so for our gift, our class has spent the last couple of years in a pretty unique position. Um we've been on campus while everything's been changing. A lot of a lot of what used to define the school physically isn't going to be there anymore when the new building opens. And with everything new being built, it's
038easy for the roots of the school's history to get lost. The campus is going to look completely different. And over time, people forget what was there before. Um, but one thing that has been there for a long time and will continue staying are the trees. They're kind of constant on the campus. So instead of trying to add something new that competes with all the construction, our idea was to add something that emphasizes an important space that's already there. With that in mind, our senior gift proposal is a circular bench that wraps around one tree in the oaks area accompanied by a commemorative plaque. On the surface level, we think this gift creates more seating, gives students a place to gather, study, and just connect with um connect with each other. Um but it also does
039something small, but it's something small, but we think it matters a lot. By centering the space around something that's been there for a long time before this new school even started being built, it keeps the history visible. It gives the students a reason to slow down and a place that carries the past with it. Our cl Oh jeez. >> You want to do another one? >> Yeah. I'm so sorry. >> You're good. >> Okay. Our class our classroom kind of has kind of existed in this in between space between the school what the school was and what the school is going to be. Um and this is just a simple way to reflect that. um not by necessarily replacing anything, but by building around it and celebrating it. With the addition of a small commemorative
040plaque, we hope it represents a lasting addition that people will pass by every day, something new built around something that's been here a long time. >> Great. Thank you. >> Good job. >> Anybody have any questions? No question. We have to do a motion to approve. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the 2026 senior class gift to >> carry? >> Yes. >> Do I have a second? >> Aaron. Thank you. Any further discussion? >> All in favor, please say I. >> That's awesome. >> The motion carries. Thank y'all. >> That's a great idea. >> I hope to sit there soon. >> Yeah. Great. Um, okay. We're going to move on to B, presentation of SEAB bass communications department. Uh, Miss Julianne, hello. >> Thank you for the opportunity tonight to present
041about the work of the communications department over the last year. Uh, the communications department is a mighty team of 1.5. Um, you know, me and then our our videographer Casey Vieier. So, we make up the communications department as we talked about last year that we're trying to do an elevated vision and story of our district and really emphasize the people and emphasize what makes this a wonderful place to live and work. Um, and it's something that we strive to do in all aspects of communication. And I think you'll see that we've been evolving, making progress, trying new things, and building what's been there a long time in this district. And so for me, the pillars that I tend to focus on are community engagement. Uh to what degree does the community feel informed and engaged?
042And our goal this year is to increase the number of parents who visit the AHISD website and find it easy to use. Spoiler alert, we're doing a new website for the district and campuses launching this summer. So that informs this work. Um when it talks about the actions of this pillar, we've continued to grow our social media presence these last couple years. years. We've more than doubled our followers on Instagram in the last four years, but we're also getting incredible views. In the last 90 days, we've gotten 1.2 million views on our social media. Last night or two nights ago, within 24 hours of posting the Strings Festival, 18,000 views on Instagram. So, clearly, we have a few more people uh watching and tuning into our social channels than are actually enrolled in our district.
043So, that's really powerful to see it being magnified on an even greater level this year. There's something new we've done is we've started some digital marketing efforts. This board uh expressed a desire for more tuition marketing and so we have partnered with a company called CISO Center for Effective School Operations. They are experts in this work and we have been working with them since the winter on a two-part um effort. One is exit surveys talking to families who have left the district and figuring out you know what reasons and what we could do better. um a competitive analysis of schools in our area um and seeing what kind of messaging is resonating with those communities uh and then kind of working on our brand positioning as a result and what are the messages we should
044be amplifying um and then taking what we learned and turning it into a Google ads campaign and so that's underway right now it has been from February to the end of April and what happens if you click on this Google ad it takes you to a micro site a special website just for this marketing effort. Uh, so it's very easy to track who's clicking on it. I can tell you the most popular keyword that we're getting traction on is best schools in Texas. And so the campaign evolves based on what's working. And so some other keywords have gotten some interest, but they're refining it each week based on that to start building brand awareness for us. And then the last prong of pillar five for us is we are developing new district and campus websites.
045Um, it's underway right now. Uh, with the goal it needs to be mobile responsive. It needs to be easily searchable. It needs to have easy translation and then meet those accessibility requirements um that we we are required to meet. And so we want to continue to engage with families who are current but also prospective families and be able to highlight some of the work we're doing that is unique. And I talk about the website as if you're moving. So before you pack up your old house, you're probably figuring out what to take with you and what maybe to leave behind that's not serving you. And then you get to the new house and you're not just throwing it all in the living room and walking away. You're figuring out where it's going. And so doing
046that is basically what building a website is. I'm finding out. Um so hopefully by the uh mid end of June, we will have this new website launch. That's a sneak peek at the top corner of one of those areas that we can really highlight the district and I can take you for a test spin on the development site sometime in the next few weeks if you're interested in that level of work. Um, so really last year we talked a lot about data and starting to get baselines and really look at not only the obvious that's built into social media and Google Analytics, but also February feedback questions and then pen and paper surveys that we give out at community engagement events. Uh what I'm talking about tonight is just a small fragment of the work
047we do. Um I'm talking about the things we've really prioritized this year. But if you attend granules, we're giving you a piece of paper before you leave and asking for your input. Um when we look at the website and Google Analytics, this is a look at last year's website use on Google Analytics. Top visited areas of our website, homepage, hack, calendars, staff, directory, jobs. So, knowing that information helps you make those priority items and easy to find on a new website. Uh, we had about 175,000 visitors. I'm hoping to keep that increased and moving. And then we've been asking every year in February feedback. Is it easy to find information on the website? And we've gotten some upward mobility and movement the last couple years, but I'm hoping we'll see that trend even higher with
048a new website. And then that graphic you'll see on that slide, that's what the Google ad looks like. It's not a lot visually to see, but it pumps you up to the top of those search and then when you click on it, it goes to the micro site, which was actually that center image in this screen. And that's what it looks like. It looks like our website, but it's tailored just to this work that we're doing. So, it's been really nice to see this campaign has already gotten 3,800 clicks for people going and exploring Alamo Heights tuition. Um, the demographics, mostly females, ages 25 to 44, are the ones that click on it. So, it runs again through the end of April. We've seen at least one family end up in the in the tuition
049funnel um and get some real interest going with the district. And so, if just one family enrolls, that covers the cost of this ad campaign. So, it's one of those things that is very unique. This company has never done a tuition marketing campaign. So, it's interesting to see where this work goes and will continue to evolve. Um, when it comes to social media, we've been asking for several years, what platform do families prefer? They keep overwhelmingly saying Instagram. And the number of parents who say they're following us is also growing. Um, these are some of those analytics from the last 90 days with more than 1.2 million views. Uh, but it's interesting to see what's the most popular content that resonates with our audiences. student achievements. You'll see some of those pictures with the cheer
050accomplishments and um scholar athletes of the year, but also weather. That's a great time to actually have people tuning into your social channels and even building your following, which is kind of interesting. Next, pillar seven. Um fiscal and operational systems doesn't obviously scream this is Julianne's work, but we've tailored it to be to what degree does the community feel the district is open and transparent with bond construction progress. um we really wanted to increase the number of parents who felt well informed with our bond construction efforts now that we're seeing projects underway at multiple schools and so really this work um is very um impacted by the bond community council uh organizing that group that provides us two-way feedback. We met with them on Monday. This year we were able to add some field trips
051because there's more projects that are ending that completion phase. We are able to visit Cambridge classrooms, take them to Mule Diamond before it opens and really get them to ask questions that they want to know, but also that their neighbors want to know and that helps us inform what we're doing. We also provide monthly updates on our website, social media, here at board meetings, and we're designing a new page on the new platform to keep that work going. Um, and this year has also been another one of figuring out that cadence of communications. Obviously, we're getting to the point where we can have events when projects are completed or milestones are reached as emphasized by the topping out picture at the top that we celebrated last fall. Um, we asked for two years now how
052parents feel about the frequency of communication. We saw a noticeable jump this year, which is great, but there's still obviously a lot of room to go. Um, especially as we bring in projects with um the junior school coming up. That's a new group that hasn't been really probably as informed on bond communication. um and then keep it going for the other campuses. And then when we ask our bond council, what do you feel like we're doing? Well, this is just an example of how they felt about the process, the information, the transparency. This group is both staff and community members, so they all have interesting perspectives and questions that they asked us. Um so just to monitor where we are and where we're going next. I mean, the developing the new website, there's a lot
053to do before the launch, but after the launch, and making sure that we're adjusting, that we're getting feedback on what's working well, tweaking, and then tracking the analytics of who's visiting what sites, and if there's things we need to amplify or maybe pages, we can still sunset. Um, and we continue to partner with CISO on marketing efforts that can go just beyond tuition marketing into other areas as well. and then continuing that cadence of bond communication um just as opportunities present themselves with special events but also monthly quarterly with bond counsel in our school views publication and we've also been contributing content to the foundation's alumni magazine that they send out I think twice a year so those are just a little uh you know a glimpse into the work that we're doing in the
054communications department over this last year >> great work >> that's awesome >> you do such a good job >> any questions No. >> Come on. Someone asked that question. >> Good stuff. >> Well, >> I love the communication. >> Thank you. >> All right, we're going to move to section five of the consent agenda. Next item on our agenda is a consent agenda. There are items that the board considers routine and or that have been previously reviewed and discussed in prior meetings and that we therefore enacted one motion. Is there anything in the consent agenda that any board member would like to remove to consider as an item on the regular agenda? >> No. No. Okay. Well, and I also want to mention that we got almost $140,000 in donations just last month. And uh
055I mean that's like >> incredible. >> That's like really good. Um anyhow, if there are no items to pull out, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So move. >> Thank you, Ty. Do I have a second? I'll >> second. >> Thank you. All in favor, please say I. I. All oppose. Nay. Great. Motion carries. All right. We're going to move to section six, board members committee reports. Our first item is a DAP committee meeting. >> It's building on priority. >> And so we're going to go to building that week. >> Uh, sure. We met uh last week on Tuesday and it was the entire board I believe because it was during the GOP. Yeah. And um we got an update on the junior school status and the district community center
056status. Those are the two most imminent to start construction. We anticipate starting construction subject to final pricing that will be presented to us in May. Uh starting construction this summer. Um, and our architect was very thoughtful in setting up timing for rekicking off Howard, allowing us to push that decision until August once we have final pricing on junior school and DCC squared away so that we can be most informed on moving forward with that effort. >> End of report. >> Thank you, sir. Anybody on schedule and on budget? Yeah, the high school >> under under. Yeah, >> under is under. >> Um I got a story about the high school. I want to say >> um >> keep going. >> So uh thank any questions. No questions. Okay, we're going to go to item B,
057the D act. That will be Karen. >> Yeah. So we met on April 1st. Um, it was our final meeting for the school year and the bulk of that discussion was around the wellness and nutrition plan that we have for the school. That was really it. >> Well, that was a long report. Thank you. We're going to move to policy committee meeting. That is our favorite. >> Okay. So glad. Okay. The policy committee met with the whole board on Tuesday, April 7th, in which Dr. Alfaro provided an over overview of the items on the consent agenda in today's board book. Um we talked about the consideration of revision to CH local purchasing and acquisition. Um this removes the board approval for budgeted purposes purchases over $100,000. Since the board already approves the overall budget, it
058seemed redundant to also require board approval of budgeted items. to keep the board informed though we inserted language to have Matt report to the board for such purpose purchases purchases over 100,000 that are not from the budget such as um such as purchases from bond money still require board approval uh we also talked about the consideration of revision to DNA local performance appraisal evaluation of teachers um our current policy which we have had for over 25 years at least allows teachers to qualify ly for a waiver from a full for formal classroom observation for up to three years. This policy revision changes the criteria to match the new teacher incentive aotment which is TIA limiting the criteria to qualify for a waiver to those who earned the two highest TIA designations. And the final thing
059we talked about was the rest of the local policy revisions are cosmetic changes, not substit substantive, I can't say that word, based on how the TA TASBY policy is now making district of innovation um citations in the policy manual. >> And that is my end of report. >> Thank you, Carrie. Any questions? All right. It's exciting evening. We're going to go to seven. Business recommendations. >> No business recommendations. No business recommendations. We're out of business, but we still have money, right? All right. We have um All right. Calendar review. >> Okay. So, Christina, put the calendar up on display for you all. Uh regular board meeting is tonight. And check that one off. Uh we're going to have be busy in April and May. What I um just want to make sure is uh that
060you all put on your calendar as a special called board meeting next Wednesday morning. I'm hoping to have a personnel um decision to bring to you all. So that would be at 8 o'clock on next Wednesday morning. Then we have um celebration of excellence on Tuesday, May 5th. That's the um opportunity for us to recognize those in our district who are retiring, but also every single one of our um staff members who we brought before you over the course of the year as far as board recognitions. Um we celebrate them that evening. That's a film lanca. Thank you to Bill Peacocks who um sponsor that for us every year. So that's at 5:00. Would love to see all of our board members there. Uh GMP meeting in May on May 6th. Senior awards on May
06115th. Um school foundation board meeting, David will attend that on May 18th. Regular board meeting on May, sorry, 13th, May 13th, regular board meeting. Uh back laurate on the 17th, senior exit interviews on the 18th. That's um for those of you who are new on the board, we um ask every third person in the class uh the senior class to come and visit with us over lunch and you all get to to hear some input from them about their experience as an alma. >> That's awesome. >> And so please make sure that's on your calendar. >> Um May 18th, our um end of year board celebration, >> huh? >> No, school foundation. >> Yeah, school. Yeah. David Warberger's house. No. Okay. Um, Excel graduation on the 20th and then our high school graduation on the
06221st. >> Any questions about any of those calendar >> and then the 8th. >> So, it's not a board celebration. >> No, it's a school foundation. >> We're all invited. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. >> Invitations. I miss the school foundation. >> Gosh. >> Okay. That's not something. >> Okay. Superintendent communication. So Julianne puts together great slides of celebration. This first one really highlights um some of our incredible students and staff members. First, the Cavaliers Art Contest finalist is Larkin Welder. Um she's a student at Woodridge and so we're celebrating her. We have a state finalist this year and the HB Excellence and Education Awards and that's Monica Lopez who will go on to um compete in Houston as one of the finalists. It's a really big deal um that she was named a finalist.
063And then also just some pictures of the festival of learning and the culture night that was hosted I think maybe two weeks ago um at at the junior school. And then next um we're celebrating the uh Odyssey the mind um students that you saw here this evening, one of which is traveling to worlds um as a qualifying team. We celebrated the month of the military child. Today is actually the day that we celebrate the military child with purple. And then we're celebrating our bronze medalists who are here this evening as well in the state color guard. I'm looking to see no roller skates on their feet. But I I got to actually go and practice a little bit with them. And that's such a fun group. Really proud of how they're growing that program. And
064then next we have a a full slide here that that honors um the celebration of our strings festival. Y'all, there were 800 string students in grades 4 through 12 um who played individually as groups and then played all together for the finale in our tradition um owed to Joy. And that is a goosebump moment for the superintendent of this school district. So, incredible program, great celebration. And then finally, just some of the updates that we highlighted for the bond community council uh work taking place uh both at Woodridge and at Cambridge. Um you can see the picture there of the the central plant in Cambridge. Um the blue tarp is over our electrical unit that will be taken offline and the new electrical unit will be um installed over the summer once everyone's gone. You
065can see the um visual of the work taking place at the high school. for um putting the you know final touches on the exterior of that building and you you know the north end of the building interior is pretty much completed and so this is just getting closer and closer and closer. It feels great. >> Um I I really need to get you guys in that building, you know, to see it just so that you can see the progress that's taking place. And then in the middle picture there is just our new cafeteria at Cambridge in the gym. So, uh, because of the renovations that are taking place, uh, we started in the kitchen and kind of consolidated the space in the cafeteria and then, um, just recently moved all of the seating out to
066the to the gym area. And, um, our our teachers and our students are being incredibly flexible, but that should all be back online, ready to go at the start of the school year. So, >> great. >> Any questions for me? What is the schedule for the high school teachers actually moving into their rooms? >> Yeah, we're hoping July. >> Okay. >> Yeah, it's scheduled mid July right now. >> We get certificate of occupancy like the 16th something, right? >> That's what we have right now. >> Okay. Push back. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> That's good. >> Okay. Before we go to our next item, there's no objections. We're going to take a short five minute break. Uh before we go into executive session per Texas Government Code section 551.01, >> thank you all for
067coming and help. Stark pie.