001Mike is hot. Welcome everyone. That's just a small reminder that thanks to our legislators, esteemed legislators, we have to record these meetings and post them. And so if you ever go back and listen to yourself, uh they're posted on our website uh somewhere. Uh and so it's a live mic, a hot mic. Uh so welcome. Happy November. >> Oh yeah. >> Uh we had some nice cool weather. It's kind of slipping away again. It's back to but still not like >> it's not like August >> and so I'm excited about that. Thank you all. Um we have a packed agenda so we're going to get started but one of the things I want to remind everybody is uh we're going to talk about the calendar towards the end or draft for next year. Uh, and
002today you experienced one of the things that we plan in to help teachers do a good job teaching your kids, which is this midweek early release where you guys as parents have to scramble to figure out what to do with your kids. I get that it's a inconvenience. However, it's really important to give time to our teachers cuz we don't really have a lot of time and that's kind of the tradeoff of that. And it's one of those unique things that in terms of the state rules, we get to count the day as a full day of instruction. So it doesn't count against our minutes. And that's why we do it. We don't just do it randomly. Um if they let us take the whole day and still count the whole day, we would do
003that. But anyway, so thank you for your patience. This is one of those uh big days. Uh let's go to the next thing and give me give you an outline. So, we're going to do this it and I'm going to be literal like this is a compliance piece because of um the Texas rules about food and nutrition. I told you guys at the very beginning of the year, this group functions as our school health advisory council. So, I don't have to have a whole another committee. We do both those services. And one of the things is we have to give input on the menu. That's why there were two sighting sheets because when we turn in our records that we did this, they need to see a sheet that says it's about the menu. And
004so even though the whole menu meeting is not about that, it's a clearly a red tape thing. >> Uh and then after that, hopefully that won't take too long, right, Matt? >> That's right. >> Uh then we're going to jump into some fun data with Jimmy. Yeah, Jimmy, you can do whichever order you want. TIA first or this or >> I'm going to surprise you. But you have to but Jimmy has the next two things. Teacher of innovation stuff and community based accountability. Then I'm going to come in and come back and talk to you guys once more about the district of innovation. You guys remember I talked to about that last time? I got some special fun stuff to follow up on. >> Clarification. It's a teacher incentive aotment, not teacher of innovation. >>
005I was obviously district of innovation. >> That's right. Teacher incentive a lotment. We'll change that in the records. And then um the last thing is we're going to end with the draft calendar. You guys saw that I kicked out a survey and I'm going to show you some what we drafted and then what the feedback was. All right, Matt, you ready? >> I am. >> All right, take it away. Thanks for being here, by the way. Thank you. I gave you a hard time. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so um I'm Matt Straer. Uh I'm the chief financial officer and I know you don't see me very much but um our uh food services director. He would be here and talking to you about menus and probably doing a little bit more of a talk
006to you about menus than I I do. Um he had a family emergency to take care of this afternoon. So I said I'm there for you. So, um, so, uh, basically kind of going through the agenda here just a little bit is a couple things and and like Frank said, the the u there's a requirement that, uh, a group of uh, teachers and students and uh, and and citizens uh, review the meeting uh, that we have uh, and and talk about food choices and things that they would like to see or maybe things that aren't working and stuff. And so um that input can be received not just within the confines of this meeting but at any time if y'all want to reach out and and and you know to either myself or Frank and
007uh and we can get that information if you think of something later we can get that information back to the food program uh so that we are making the best changes and best uh food options available for our students and and that's what it's all about. So, I know uh Ering was going to talk about uh well-liked menu uh items that we have right now and then new menu suggestions. Uh but I guess first let me just ask uh in terms of uh uh y'all's perception um how how do y'all feel or how aware are you of the menu items that are provided uh you know in for on a daily basis to our students? or uh do do you kind of have knowledge of that or and I asked that question because then maybe
008at the next meeting or so we'll we'll we can kind of uh dive into uh and and provide you information on the current menu items and stuff much more than we are at this meeting. Uh and so uh but uh do you have a general awareness of the of the menu items or or would you like to learn more and from comments? >> So I'm aware just cuz I go through I don't really check the menu. You know, I don't look at the menu online, but on Tuesdays when I'm visiting campuses, I generally go into a cafeteria and have lunch. And so, and I literally eat what the kids are eating. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> I'm I'm aware because I'm a mom and a teacher >> and we check weekly, you know, there right now.
009>> Yes. And we are there right now. Um, >> so we see to see it every day. >> Yes. We pretty much know the prices and >> everything. Yes. >> Okay. Well, good. >> Yeah. I know. Um it just you know when he gets lunch it just says you know regular lunch and then I can tell you what snack he gets cuz it tells you like ice cream. Good. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> But yeah. So >> Okay. >> Well, good. Well, thank y'all. And um so are there any u suggestions that you would like to make at this time or or or uh voice and things or maybe uh provide comments that uh that you like about the menu or the food choices that we have? Uh or do we need to make changes?
010Do we need to expand it? Do we need to have more food choices or or is there something that u that particularly is not working? I would love the feedback. >> Yes, please. >> What's the criteria for it to be on the menu? Currently, >> there are um uh definitely uh we have to follow the uh standards at under the United States Department of Agriculture uh USDA standards for the national food lunch program. Uh so they have like certain uh bits about you know how much sugar can be in uh in the food. The daily intakes of sugar is is has got a lot of attention over the last few years. Uh sodium as well. Uh so each of those uh food products um have to uh you know confine to that and when the
011menu is structured uh that has to you know a certain amount of grain uh protein um and and fruit and vegetables uh that has to also be those have to be present. Now typically at our uh campuses we do uh uh off you know we do offer versus serve. So, and meaning that we uh present choices to the students, but we don't uh like force the choice on the students, you know, like, oh, you got to have, you know, these five things or whatever. So, a a student does have the ability to step back and say, hey, I, you know, that's not something I want, but they're going to be offered that, you know, as part of the National School Lunch Program. Um, >> yes, I I'll add uh that there from my perspective, it
012really limits what we're a able to offer given that you have it has a max of this much sodium and that much sugar, that kind of stuff. >> But is there something that since they do have the ability because I I just know >> ours uses all the money. That's about as much as I know about the menu is constantly refurbishing what's in her account. So, I don't know if she's actually eating it. I don't look at it that far, but is there like a surplus of stuff that just seems to be getting thrown away because the kids just aren't >> going after it? >> We do try to um uh really, you know, look at what what the uh students choose and uh and and then don't um you know, because it get it
013turns costly if we have too much surplus. And so, uh, we do our ordering or cater kind of cater our ordering accordingly, uh, to to the to what's being done. So, uh, that's probably the biggest risk when we have a new menu item that we're putting out there is like, okay, well, is that item going to be well received? And if it's not, then we might have some extra during new menu item implementation. But, uh, but, you know, over time, uh, when it's a repeated item that appears on the menu like every week or, uh, every few weeks, then, uh, then we gain knowledge in that. We like, okay, we can we can nail down the ordering uh so that there's minimal u you know spoilage >> like an an example. It's not a menu
014item, but it's kind of an example of of pilot and then adjust. I was at the junior school uh Tuesday or Monday actually and I didn't notice that they have this grab and go breakfast in the >> drop off. I had seen that and I was like why it's kind of neat. >> And he said yeah uh we do and they study the data. is like the kids are buying the the breakfast, they keep doing it. If they're not, then they pull that back in because they don't they can't, you know, so they're always monitoring that. And the other thing I would add is I want to pat ourselves on the back because last year, those of you guys were on this team, we did a deep dive in snacks, >> right? And we know
015we had a general sense of what and and by snack, that's like the alle cart line at elementary or just junior school. >> Elementary. >> There's a >> Yeah, elementary, junior school. Yeah, both. Yeah, both. >> We did a deep dive about sugar and what's in those and protein and we actually added six or nine like high protein uh options and that's the other thing that he was going to check is say like well I'm offering this is it going to sell because otherwise that's one of the interesting things about contracting because you know we contract with food services. >> Yeah. >> Like that's uh so they have to make they only make money off of what they're able to sell. Did it sell? >> Oh, yeah. For most for most part. I haven't checked
016back at the very beginning when he did those. Most of those things sold. But remember how he made a like a fruit a fruit thing? That's the one he's like, I'm not sure that's going to sell. He had to check it. I had to check back to see if that. But like the jerky that ended up being a popular item as well. >> Yeah. Go ahead, sir. >> Yeah. So, um, like Frank was saying, there there is a separate line for all the cart items at junior school and then, uh, the all the cart items are in the same line at the elementary. Uh so I mean there's separate fall apart areas but um >> basic meal that's covered by some some nutrition. >> We made a video about how parents can restrict right. I
017was some earlier this year I was at Woodidge eating lunch and a kid went up there and grabbed the cookie and was like >> hey he's cuz he finished his lunch and the the cashier said oh sweetie sorry you only have those on Fridays. He said oh I that's right I forgot. Never mind. >> He said, "That's okay. I'll give it on Friday." I do appreciate that. >> Yeah. Those are very helpful. >> Yeah. >> Anyway, sorry. Go ahead, man. >> So, um, any other comments, uh, regarding food service that you'd like to make now or or if you think, please, if you think of something later, please, uh, >> was there a survey you have to hand out? >> And we do have a survey. Yes. >> I can also add that when especially,
018well, at school, we um, at Woodridge, I'm sure you guys something like that, too. But the kids cannot have the alocorto the the snacks until after a certain amount of time because a lot of we were having the problem of the kids eating the snacks and not eating the food. >> So they were having the cookies and everything else but they were not eating the food. So because now when we were we're not going to be in the cafeteria while we all >> thanks to PTO we're not going to be doing anymore. Yay. We had a a party at school. um >> we let them like they have to have like 10 15 minutes with their lunch before they can get up and grab a snack. So that helps with that. >> Thank you. Thank
019you so much. So, what's being passed out right now is a is a survey and >> feel free to uh as you go through the uh further part of the DAT committee uh that's coming up uh to comments down on the survey and uh and share and then uh just turn those into Frank afterwards and uh and we will make sure those get back to the food service. I just want to tell you all thank you so much for your time and thank you for allowing me to to talk a few minutes about the food service program. So appreciate that. >> So this for the surveys, hang on to them at the end. I some Christina will remind me to pick them up because we do have to have those as a written record and
020uh just please fill it out as you can. >> Thanks Matt. Jack. >> All right. So, as we're doing this shift between Matt and myself, I just want to uh Martha, I'm going to call out your comment to make sure everyone knows what we're talking about. >> So, if you did not know, when we did budget advisory committee last year, and we had to make pretty substantial cuts. One of the cuts was to cafeteria monitors, which were the adults we hired to be in the cafeteria while students were eating lunch, who opened milk cartons and kind of helped kids. And so we no longer had those positions which means our teachers and our parents were doing lunch duty. And uh it's it's a difficult thing. And so thanks to PTO's stepping up at Woodridge, Cambridge,
021and Howard, we are now uh remploying some cafeteria monitors to help. >> So it is a huge a huge deal. Yeah. Yeah, I'm the treasurer at Howard and so I'm thrilled that we get to to do that and help. But like is that going to be an expectation going forward that it's going to be PTO funding it? Because like that's just less money we're putting back in the classrooms when I think I don't know. I just I'm happy to do it this year. I don't think it's like >> Well, so it's definitely a cut that the board made. >> Yeah. And there's no >> and so uh in absence of that the principles came up with a duty schedule and so they also asked parent for volunteers. So my understanding is as the parents were
022volunteering and giving feedback to PTO they're like I don't I'm not sure we can sustain the volunteer part of it. And so that's really up to the PTO's. It's not like if you guys want to sustain it then you'll sustain it. Well, I guess >> if you don't want to sustain, it's going to go back to >> Well, the parents that the Howard parents, a lot of them showed up and there were teachers, you know, teachers helping, >> but it wasn't like when we showed up, they left. So, then we felt like feedback from a lot of the Howard parents were like, I'd show up to help, but there were two teachers in there, so like I wasn't really that necessary, so why am I going to sign up again? Well, the teachers were like,
023no, we need But like it wasn't like they were tapping out when we were there, if that makes sense. And so like >> yeah that's very much uh it's a PTO decision. >> Yeah. >> But I will also wanted the teachers there's no building it back in >> right. So I think the teachers have heard this before and if they haven't I will say it and the parents want you to say it again budget situation hadn't gotten better. >> Yeah. >> But the cuts we identified are bianium cuts. That means this year or next year because that's the next time the state does a budget. And so as a district, we're trying to be maintain our fiscal discipline to be like, "No, we identified it as a cut. We've got to stick to it." >>
024And so how we adjust for those and how PTO's help us, that's kind of really up to you all to negotiate how you feel like is best use of your time. But I will say a heartfelt word of gratitude for this year just um time is our most valuable resource and I think teachers love being able to talk with kids but having a few minutes to eat lunch and plan the next lesson and prep is just >> a huge gift. So thank you for that. >> Yeah. >> All right you guys I'm going to switch from uh what we were talking about snacks and jerky and cafeteria monitors. We're gonna talk about some academics now. You good? So, I've got take one, pass it around. Goodness. This is just every year we make and this
025is a mule shoe and it's got just some stats for this year. And so, I'm going to be talking them through one of the functions of this group of DEAC is we do present some academic data and then ask for your feedback on how are we doing. So today I'm going to be talking about data from the end of last year because I haven't come to you yet this fall. Um and this is going to be about college entrance exams, AP exams, and star scores and ask for your feedback. And then this is your it's written here and you can take this to go share with families, neighbors, friends. So we'll start with college entrance exams and you guys take a look at this. This is historic. As we go through, Alma Heights is going
026to be blue. Texas is going to be gray. National is going to be red. Those of you that have been in high school, Braden, I'm looking at you right here. We saw a lot of star scores. This is PSAT, and we'll see SAT scores. After the pandemic, a lot of universities went test optional, which meant a lot of students went test optional. >> And so, the importance placed on SAT, ACT kind of went down. and fewer kids were taking it and we saw that in our data. But here looking forward the last three years like our this is a test we give every junior in school. So we know every student is accounted for in this data. Our scores went up. So that is a positive. I will say that our language arts scores tend
027to be a little bit higher than our math but overall they're ticking up and substantially above national and way above Texas for PSAT. PSAT is also the test that feeds into National Merit Scholarship Program, which is a huge big deal for our students. We have 10 commended scholars in this year's graduating class. ACT is uh a college entrance exam. And again, you can see that scores took a bit of a dip here, but have continued to go up here. And again, Texas way above National. You can barely see Texas. It's kind of in the shadow of national here, but way above. We do not have a school day SAT. So, this is only students that elect to take ACT. This is about 178 kids. >> SAT, and this is school day SAT. We offer SAT
028during the day, so students don't have to come on a Saturday. It's free of charge for every single junior that wants to take it. And that's the data that's here. Likewise, again, here's where it went test optional. We can see the uptick again. And again, we see Alamo Heights way above Texas and National. Any comments here on this? I'm going to go to AP in a minute, but any comments there? >> Yeah, absolutely. A good job. So, AP courses, anyone that is high school students or is a high school student, what was the big change we made to AP last year? required those exams >> required taking the exam. I'll give you a stat from the year before. In English for AP, we had 138 kids who took the class. We had 88 take the
029test before we instituted this policy. So, it really did bring in a lot more students taking the test. So, you see that reflected here. 2024 we had 731 students sit for the test. We had more students who were in class, but 731 sit for the test. This last spring we had I'm way short, but you kind of know what I'm pointing to. 913 students sat for the test. Okay? So, you would think the kids that chose not to take an AP test weren't the ones that felt fully confident in taking that test. But y'all, when I look at the percentage of students who made a three or higher, a three means you're eligible for college credit. It stayed pretty stable. And look at this. We had 572 kids who walked away with college credit. When
030we started requiring kids to take the test, we had 701 kids walk away with college credit. So, I think we did have some kids who potentially if you know you're not having to sit for the test, you don't necessarily have as much skin in the game as when you know you do have to sit for the test. That's extraordinary. Anyone want to add to that? Like you guys have some lived experience on this. >> Well, I I already took the AP test before my for my English class last year and I actually scored exactly the three. >> Yeah, it's college credit. It is college credit. So I'm satisfied with my what I have it already. But what I can say is that I mean it's decent graph you can see over here. But it's understood
031not every single AP student take the AP exam because >> no starting this starting last year you have to. Prior years you did not. >> It was a big change. >> So in addition to more students taking it and scoring a three there's also a recognition program called AP Scholar. It's a big deal. It recognizes students that earned a three or higher on three or more AP tests. We happen to offer 28 AP uh classes in our high school. So you can track kind of year to year going back over time. So 2019 before pandemic total students who earned that recognition was 183. Total AP students 567. Y'all, here's where we are now. Total scholars, 335. When we hit 200, I was like, "That's it. That's our ceiling." students earned a three or higher on
032three or more AP exams. Y'all, that is college credit. That means families aren't having to pay tuition. Students are walking in with the confidence. If I did it in high school, I can absolutely do it in college. 913 AP students. Y'all, that's extraordinary. Our high school has I think we're at 1563 students. That's extraordinary. >> Hey, Jenny, real quick. So, like as a parent with AP kids, we have to >> sign our kids up and pay the cost and whatnot. >> So, how do you ensure that every kid that's taking AP classes gets that done? Great question. What is that? >> All right. So, I'm going to answer it in two part. I'm going to do the financial and I'm going to do the reminder part. Financial. any student who is identified as economically disadvantaged,
033there's already a discount on the cost. It's about half. In addition, we also have um Almo Heights academic support group that has a scholarship fund. So if we do have students that are struggling to pay for it's about, you know, hundred bucks. Yes. And so if you've got four tests, that adds up quickly. So we do have a scholarship fund that's managed by our counselors. That's the financial part in terms of the reminders. And uh they do go through counselors. They are in Monday mail. They do come from teachers. As a matter of fact, y'all, we had quite a few that missed the original AP date, which means there is a late registration. It adds a $40 to the cost, but that's open till November. And I think Corey Smith sent out that reminder about
034late registration on this week, I think. >> Yeah. But yeah, it is it is the responsibility of families and students. The the information goes out, but if you don't read it and put it in your calendar, it's really easy to overlook it. >> But somebody's watching too. >> Someone Oh, absolutely. Yes. Watching. All right. Questions on AP. >> Well done, high school. All right. I'm going to go on talking about star data here. All right. So we'll start with general and then we're going to get more narrow. So overall again, Alma Heights is going to be the blue. Here's the state. We outperform the state and every grade level, every content area. That's kind of I don't want to walk past it because it's a big deal, but it's also what we expect of our
035students and their teachers that we do outperform the state across the board. So when we talk about there's star scores and then there's accountability. So in star scores you have just a calculation. 70% of kids pass algebra 1. But then you turn it into state accountability which is when they say is this 71 an A, a B, a C or a D. So when you see in the news ABC D that's not a straight calculation. That's a manufactured kind of calculation that they do to rank things. So I'm talking about calculations right now with star. Oh, this is what I just said. All right. So here we're just going to do this section at a time. So this is we're looking at reading. We're going to go reading and then math. What you need to
036know here, here's grade levels. And I know from your point of view, this is like a font three and kind of hard to see, but just look at the colors. Yellow is it stayed stable. Up two percentage points, down two percentage points, but I call that stable. That's yellow. Red is going to be anything that declined greater than two percentage points, which means the inverse. Anything that's green is an improvement greater than 2 percentage points. So when you look at reading pretty much here we have a couple little pockets that went down three percentage points but overall pretty stable. Approaches is there's three levels of passing for star. Approaches is um I'd kind of call it like making a C. Meets is like making a B. Masters is like making an A. So here approaches
037pretty stable. Meets pretty stable. We come over here to masters and we have a lot more green. That's good to see. All right. So, overall, there's got some pockets we need to work on, but reading is fairly stable. I'm going to show you Matt. What do you think you're going to see here? >> All right. We're just gonna we're just going to look at this little man here. >> So, this is we've got again in masters, kids who are doing well continue to do well. Over here in the meats, we've got kind of a mixed bag. And over here at approaches, we've got a mixed bag as well. So, there are some points of success. There are some points of needed intervention. Um, but we're just not as consistent as math as we are seeing
038in language arts. So, I'm going to show you, and teachers, you chime in. This is the most missed question on the third grade test. So, when you look at this, tell me all the places you think a child might get it wrong. What what might be going on in this question? >> The numeric keypad. >> It's Yeah, there's a keypad here. There's one. >> Is it an ABCD? >> No. So, you could just one. The first is content. It says Frank. Congratulations, Frank. Uh, put 90 pictures in a book. He puts six pictures on each page. How many pages does Frank put pictures on? So, one, you have division. >> You have a keypad. Uh, this was the most missed question. All right, I'm going to show you the seventh grade question. Now, I got
039to read it to you. I'm going to try to read it to you with a straight face. Ready? So, the vin diagram shows numbers placed in two sets. Set K represents rational numbers. L represents integers. One of the numbers is placed incorrectly. Okay. Which statement shows how to correct the error in the diagram? Remove8 from set L because it's not an integer. B. Remove three from set L because it's not an integer. C. Remove -35ths to set L or move -35th to set L because it is an integer. D. Move -12 halves to set L because it is an integer. What are all the places a child could go wrong on that? Right? Like you can see that a child may have Erica, I'm looking at you, my friend. a child. First you need to
040know integers, rational numbers. There's a whole lot of reading on here and it is close reading. >> It's it's a lot. Right? So when we say this was the most missed question, did they miss it because they didn't understand the difference between integers and rational numbers or because it was close reading or because >> was a set >> the set and looking at the diagram like there is a lot going on in that question. >> What's the answer? >> Double the other thing I'm going to switch from math and I want to talk about writing for a moment. So this is one of the things that changed two years ago. Before that there was a standalone writing test in grades four, seven and then in high school. Two years ago it switched that there is
041something now an essay called extended constructed response every grade level. I happen to be a writing teacher. I think writing is exceedingly important. This is the English 2 extended constructed response prompt. So, what kids who were sophomores last year took and it says, "Read the article falling into place along the fall lines. Based on the information in the article, write a response to the following. Explain how geological features have helped shape the history of human civilizations. So, this is a very specific type of writing because you're not just writing what you learned from human geo class. you're having to go back into this piece of text and use only that information as your textual evidence. So, it is a different kind of writing than what we had previously seen before. So, here's our writing scores.
042So, every grade level from third all the way up to English 2 uses the same rubric. So, the most points you can get is 10. So, here's our Alamo Heights average, 2023, 2024, 2025. And then this last line is the state. Again, we're higher than the state. But what I want to point out is this percentage right here, I'm going to use third grade. Their average on the rubric was a 2.9. State average was a 2.1 above the state. But at Cambridge, 47% of those student compositions scored a zero. at Woodridge 28th. Now y'all, do you really think almost half of the third grade students at Cambridge got a zero out of 10 points on a rubric? >> Like that doesn't quite pass the sniff test. >> They're scored by AI. And so there is
043this little bit of concern about wow because statewide this is the whole reason why school districts took TEA to court was because of computer scoring of student essays. Now can we get better at teaching our students to write? Absolutely. But do I think this is a fair and valid number that almost half of our third graders at Cambridge scored a zero? No. I think our kids are better writers than that. comments on this. >> It's kind of borne out by the other grades as you go above it. >> Yeah. So, here's the greens are where it's stronger. The reds are where we kind of took a little bit of a dip. So on that writing one that you just showed on that previous slide, um was that like a separate sheet that they had to
044go back to reference? And this is all digital and then when they're writing, because I have my oldest is third grade, so I don't think that she's got into this yet, but >> when they go to write this, they're writing this on a computer as well, right? Mhm. >> So, what what is the ease of the student being able to go back to the original essay and have the actual writing process? Like, do they have two screens, but they have to save and minimize? Like, >> no, they're not having to save and minimize. It's kind of a split screen where you can tab over here and go to specific pages of that and then what you're writing is here and then the keyboard's kind of at the bottom. So they so they do have access
045to be able to be reading and typing at the same time. >> They do. But is that easy? >> Well, and it's on one single screen. I assume >> it is on one single screen. That's exactly right. >> iPad. >> Yeah. iPad in third grade and then in middle school, high school, it is a Chromebook. >> Yeah. >> But it's still pretty. >> Yeah. >> And I like I'm assuming that means nothing to anybody that's scoring it. there's nothing being done to >> so the decision to move all of Star into paper was made at the state level like that's not an Almo Heights thing that's a state and if you just look at it pragmatically like you can see why it's so much less expensive to have a statewide test online than it would
046to have it on paper >> like you can see why they made that decision. Parents do have the option to choose for their child to take on take a test on paper. every parent. It's in Monday mail. You can ask for that uh and have your child test on paper, but otherwise everyone is online. >> Now, if you did it on paper, the AI side would >> still I'm not 100% sure on that. >> You could look at handwriting, but I don't know if this state would want to go to that. >> Yeah. So, back in the day then to get a zero was really hard. meant like you couldn't read a child's writing or it was just illegible, >> right? >> But now it is if you don't directly address this in the first
047couple sentences >> like you can't get all creative and have evidence evidence building to a thesis. You have to begin with your thesis. Otherwise, when AI grades it, there's like you're not addressing the prompt. That's a zero. Even if it's beautifully written and semicolons, it's beautiful. But if you don't directly address this in the very beginning, it scored a zero. >> And I assume that's in the teaching curriculum to prepare going into it. That that's >> absolutely absolutely. But you know, on day of teachers can say nothing to kids other than great job, keep it up. Like there's no remember remember your prompt. Like >> got it. >> There's none of that on day. Do you know the st I mean because I know that that's been a big uproar of the AI usage of
048grading this and so like do you know you said they fought TIA or they're like is TIA just kind of said like tough luck we're going to stick with AI because as a because as an English teacher in charge of a department I'm looking at all these zeros and I'm thinking like >> where do we go from here right like what instructional pieces do we give but like I don't we're in this thing where I'm trying to teach good writers but then I'm also trying to teach so AI can grade it like that feels It does feel weird and so and we're sitting here looking at data which is important but is just a piece right so it's like >> as an instructor in the classroom like how do I even use this data knowing
049that AI has given so many zer like how is this help >> so here's what I think because if you do go this is a in the house kind of if you go into edgeoria like we can get you composition so you can read what students write parents if you go into the tea portal you can read exactly what your child wrote so teachers, if you're like, "Wow, I'm really surprised that Brian got a zero." We could read what he wrote. And I think that is helpful, putting student exemp exemplars in front of kids. This got a zero. Why? Rather than teaching to just get a score. >> But then I guess my question is is like I can look at what got a zero, but is there a way for me to discern exactly
050why that got a zero? >> There are comments in there. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, there's comments that say here's >> Yeah, they are. But there are comments in there. So, at least it gives you what criteria. I tried to turn this down, Brian, and I didn't get it. Will you have my back? >> Colder or warmer? >> Yeah. Look, my cheeks are getting warm in here. All right. Um, so here's the summary kind of to take tie a bow on this. Here's things that we know we're working on. Uh, one I said get across the board Almo Heights we do exceed state and Texas. Like I don't want to walk past that in our constant goal of get better, get better, get better. We do have to sit and go, we're doing pretty well and we
051want to improve in writing across content areas and grade levels. And math achievement is uneven. strong improvement at M's level, but there was additional support needed in grades 3, 7, and then high school algebra 1. So, those are things this year that we're working on. I started by saying the role of this group is to give us feedback. So, I'm going to ask you to turn and talk just with a neighbor and I'm going to give you about 3 minutes. So, not a ton of time, but just if you have to say Alamo Heights, from my perspective as a teacher and as a parent, how are we doing with college entrance exams, PSAT, SAT, ACT, AP scores, SCAR? Are we on track? On track means student outcomes are as expected. No changes needed at this
052time. Or are we sitting in adjustments being made? There are specific plans, interventions in place to improve student outcomes. Time is needed just to see how those plans are working. Are we at support needed? Student outcomes are below expectations. we need to allocate additional resources whether that's time, materials, expertise to support students and staff or are we in crisis where we really need all hands on deck to address something. So I'd like you to talk through these three areas and kind of assign them one of those ratings. So if you'll just turn and talk for three minutes and then we'll have a group discussion >> and I'm happy to come around and answer your question. I was I I'm sorry. Watch me start years. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. addiction. Oh my god. Heat. Heat. Yeah.
053Heat. Heat. Heat. All right, I'm going to pull us back together. two one and a half one and a quart. >> All right, you guys. >> Right. Right. One, two, three. Eyes on me. Um, if you don't mind, let's just go through these words. So, conversations you've had about college entrance exams, PSAT, SAT, uh, ACT. Where do you all feel as our community? How are we doing on this? >> Great. On track. >> On track. >> Okay. >> All right. I'm going to move to AP scores. >> Great. >> On track. >> I'm going to move to star >> adjustments. Some support. >> I agree with both of those. >> All right. All right. You all, thank you for that. I'm going to turn now. Look, I get two at bats today. Jimmy, I will
054say I do I do think of that though like as a parent >> I would rather my kid be taught skills within whatever it is that they're studying rather than to pass the test. And I know as a district that's something that we always have said we've prided ourselves in. And I would much rather my child be able to write a full complete essay that is argumentative or you know descriptive or whatever it might be rather than writing so that AI can grade it the right way. So I I do think that there's as a district we handle that well and I think it's important that we continue to keep that in mind. Abs I appreciate that. Um, I think I have my own personal feelings about state accountability as you can well imagine, but
055I do think one thing it does help us do is look beyond averages. And we do find that there are groups and specific students where we should be doing better. And I think that looking at it that way does help us use this data in a meaningful way. >> Thank you for the comment, though. All right, y'all. I'm going to switch topics now. You ready? >> That was students. Now, we're going to talk about teachers. So this is a teacher incentive aotment and these are just some updates. How many of you I know you all have heard about teacher incentive aotment but parents how many of you heard anything about this so far? Anyone? >> Have we heard? Have we heard? >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Um >> so I'm going to start with this. You
056do you know what this is up here? This is my grandmother's teaching certification written by hand in 1919. >> Wow. >> It's my grandmother's teaching c like amazing, right? This is mine. So, I put the two of those up there to say and all of that time the way that teachers have been compensated hasn't changed a whole lot. It has historically been based on number of years of experience, level of educational attainment. So if we both had 10 years of experience in a master's degree, came in to teach at Elmo Heights, we would have the same salary and we would go up step by step together. So that's the way it has been. In most other fields, employee compensation is linked in some way to employee performance. teacher incentive aotment kind of combines the two
057so that there is an opportunity for teachers to earn additional compensation based on the work that they do with students. So I'm going to walk you through what this looks like at Alamo Heights. So teacher incentive aotment it is a statewide initiative that school districts can choose to do or not. It was created so that uh communities that are hard to staff, they're rural, their communities in poverty could offer their teachers additional incentive. That was the original um goal of it, but it does benefit any school district that wants to do it. There's required components. One is every year teachers are evaluated by an administrator. So part one of the criteria is a score on an annual observation by your uh observer. The other is a student growth component and this is what percentage of
058students in this first grade class or this marching band class or this economics class made a year's worth of growth in a year's time. and wherever you fall. So, if a teacher has a 3.7 average on their observation and 55% of their kids uh show growth, they're eligible for recognized designation. But you have to have both. So, if someone is here for their observation and here for growth, the place where they had both would be recognized. So, there's three levels. recognized exemplary masters and the reason there's a range here remember I said this started so that rural communities communities of poverty if you are Alamo heights means you're closer to the lower end of this threshold if you're natalia you're potit uh you're closer to the higher end does that make sense how this works
059just in general so just so you all kind of put this in perspective TEA TIA supplements but does not supplant teacher compensation. There is a base salary in Alamo Heights. The base salary for teachers. There it is. Here's what it is. What it was last year. There was some legislation that did add uh a raise to teachers that had five or more years of exper or three or more years of experience, but that did not include counselors, librarians, nurses or teachers who are just beginning in the profession. So, we always have to have a rock solid base salary and TIA sits on top of that. If a teacher does get a designation, it's good for five years. So if they're earning that additional money, they'll earn it this year, the next year, the next year
060for five years. So again, I said it was a state thing, but we in Almo Heights call it, we alohightified it because most school districts that are doing this are only doing it for star tested teachers. And it's not even third grade because you had to have a a prior year score and a next year score. So fourth grade through algebra 2, English teachers through English 2, biology in grades 58 and bio, but nobody else. Imagine what that would do for the culture at Cambridge if teachers who are first grade, second grade, third grade aren't eligible for this at all and only fourth and fifth grade teachers who teach STAR are. Imagine what this does at the high school when we say we're about the whole child. But if you're a band teacher, a drama
061teacher, uh incubator teacher, you're not eligible. So we almo heightified it and found a way to create a pathway for every single teacher. We created 78 pre and post tests ourselves, validated them. We sought out an independent like we're using Apple test for world language precision exam for CTE. We spent a year in planning finding a way that we could have a path for everyone because our staff said this will kill morale unless we can do it all for one, one for all, a path for everybody. So, north side, our neighbors, these are the only teachers eligible. Northeast, it's only teachers that give MAP or STAR. And Bernie is two years behind us and hasn't even started yet. So, this does create a nice um lighthouse, if you will. If I am the best marching
062band teacher, I'm going to Elmo Heights because I'm eligible for TIA. So, this is a very unique way that we've done it. We took two years just to get out of the gate so that we could do it this way. The other thing I'll say about while absolutely we want to attract and retain the best teachers we can one of I think the core benefits of teacher incentive a lotment is it changes our conversation from being all about achievement we've always been the tradition of excellence to being about growth and when you talk about the growth of every student in every course that's a good thing for kids it is absolutely a good thing because it benefits every student high achievers they need to grow a year. Students who are struggling below, they need to
063grow a year. In marching band, in preK, everything all students across the board expectation is to grow a year in a year's time. So, for the first time, we sent out a scorecard to everyone. And this was a big deal because it did quantify what students in your classroom made a year's worth of growth in a year's time. And it was, and y'all can chime in on this, it was the first time we have done this. Pulling in data from 14 different places into one report was no small feat. We worked through errors, but this was a big deal because areas that have never seen a scorecard before. I don't mean to keep using fine arts. I love fine arts, but in guitar, there had never been a pre and post. How do you know
064if all of the students in kinder PE have made a year's worth of growth in a year's time? So this was our first foray into quantifying that. Here's where we landed. In year 1, we have 30 M's teachers. We have 71 exemplary, 42 recognized. That's 143 teachers. That's going to generate over a million in funding. We pull out 10% to offset the cost of all these assessments we're buying, but that's going to put $989,000 directly into the pockets of our teachers. This is a big deal. I How many times have I said it's a big deal? Like, anyone keeping tally marks there? Quite a few times. So, legislative session, we keep working through all the new things that came out, but one of the things that did come out relates to teacher incentive aotment. I
065see it as a positive. Remember I said there are currently three levels recognized exemplary masters in the new legislation. How many levels do you see? Yeah. Now there's four. So they increased the funding recognized which was 3,000 to 9,000 is now 5,000 to 15. Exemplary is 9 to 25. masters up there is 12,000 going up to 36. So they raised the amount of funding and if you remember back to that first chart, the student growth was at 55%. Now it's at 50. So you get that acknowledge category if half of your students make growth. But I'm going to tell y'all, our growth expectations are high. It doesn't mean I got seven questions right in the fall, I got eight right in the spring. We're setting it at about the 60th percentile of national norms. It
066is a high bar to meet. So if and remember I said it's helping communities in poverty and rural Alma Heights is neither considered neither. So we're right here. So for data we collect this year. If someone is acknowledged it adds about 4,500 recognized will be 7,000 in Almo Heights. Exemplary is 13. Oh, am I Oh, I'm in the wrong category. Right. Yes. Right here. Sorry. 37 6,250 11,000 15,000. So, it is substantial and it stays for 5 years. So, it's it is not without bumps in the road, y'all. But how can you walk away from the opportunity to put a million dollars into salaries for our teachers? You can't walk. It is worth every eedran I have had to take. every cuss word that may or may not have been said. Um but it is
067an opportunity for teachers. >> So this is these numbers are happening for this year like so >> this change is not what we heard but this >> yes this is right now the data that I submitted a month ago >> was for the three tiers >> for this for this. So if I'm if I am if I wasn't and on agenda it was only a th00and but now I can see that it's going to be 37 if I am that teacher. >> Okay. Gotcha. >> Yep. >> I have a question about um collecting data for growth. Is it just like math scores or what do you >> No, it is uh so there's a whole lot of assessments in prek. It's an assessment called circle. It is mapped for most of elementary and mclass. It's
068locally written assessments that we validated ourselves for band, fine arts, drama, uh, social studies. It's precision exams, for CTE. >> It's a lot of different things. >> And that's all coming from the state. >> The money comes from the state. >> Yes. So right now as I said 143 out of 290 teachers who were with us last year uh we had about 49% of teachers that have were submitted for designation in year one. If I applied those standards Martha for those four categories the new we would have had 193 teachers. So y'all we're going to get and that's 67%. We're going like we're going to have 70% of our teachers eligible for this in very short order and that's say it with me a big deal right >> is it required by for every teacher
069to to do this >> it is required >> because you can't like with math I can't say no I'm going to opt out of math for my class >> and we do use it instructionally because you give a pretest it helps you know >> in this class what a kid's already what have they already mastered >> all right This is a yearly like is this happening every single year? >> Every because we'll have new teachers or a teacher was acknowledged one year and the next year they want to try to get recognized or exemplary. So this is every year teachers trying to improve. So we're collecting data every single year. >> Gotcha. So they're not locked in at $3,700 for 5 years. They have the option to go back through it again. >> Great question.
070You can't go down. >> Gotcha. So if I'm an a recognized teacher and then the next year my observation is just I've said this a million times there's a renegade possum in the room it just goes bad badly. I can't go backwards. You can only stay where you are or go up. >> So here's just so you all know. Um I sent everything out. I checked it's always like Santa Claus. I made a list. I checked it twice thrice making sure that it was all accurate. teachers when there were mistakes sent them to me and I worked through it, submitted everything in October. Uh I will let teachers know before Thanksgiving like here's your final designation designation after we work through find it fix it. We're not going to find out that we got final
071approval for this until late February. We'll let teachers know around spring break. But y'all, I want to be really clear about this. When we do find out exactly who got a designation, it is not a prize patrol. It is not walking down the hallway going whoop whoop master teacher exemplary. Good job. See you at lunch. Hey master teacher. It's not that. You can imagine what that would do on morale. This is going to be the quietest, happiest moment of my life when this happens that we get to designate teachers, but it does have their confidential evaluation in it. So, there will not be signs on doors or a video or anything about it. Um, but it is it's going to be worth it. >> So, does that go into effect for the teachers the following
072school year? Is that how that works? >> It's always lagging indicator. So, the data I submitted this October was prior year. >> So, there's no like back pay >> meaning like >> it's one lump sum. Oh, imagine that comes across like a bonus of the school. >> Here's a $7,000 check, which I always say is either goodbye visa bill or hello Disneyland. So, it's uh that'll be nice too that it is a lump sum rather than divided over 12 pay periods for. >> So, they'll work 2024 to be able to get that >> bonus if you may for the start of 2020. >> Correct. Does that get taxed regularly? I mean, is it >> it it does. And here's the benefit of that. It is part of teacher retirement. So the way teacher retirement is
073it's based on your top five earning years. So if you add this into that that helps. This is the gift that keeps on giving. Not just the one year you get the check but for your retirement as well. >> And the teacher feedback is all positive or do you survey? Do you ask questions? >> I'm going to let teachers speak to that. It's been >> we've worked through it. It's been a lot of work. >> Uh we've worked through it. You can't change compensation without having some bumps in >> Do they have the ability and time to express like their >> oh yes >> okay like this is working this isn't can we fix this or I don't like this or I didn't know continuing conversation >> yeah Jimmy went and uh did presentations at
074every campus >> 32 of them individual team by team >> right >> yeah because if it's something like this If it's in a big faculty meeting, no one Well, no, I'm not gonna say no one's raising their hand. People would still raise their hand, but you're more likely to have conversations small group and we had a lot of robust conversations. >> Yes. >> And it's also the first year, so there was a lot of frustration. I was one of them. I'm not going to lie about that. But um >> but like with anything new that you start, there's good things and there's crazy stuff and then you clean it up and there's a lot of scary points >> and a lot of like Yeah. And I was like, "Oh, come on." You know, and then
075you come to realize that, you know, >> as you get used to it, you know, and and but the main thing I think we're trying to keep focused and we keep saying about it that this is not about scores because we're still out on heights and it's not about my kid can make that score and give me that number, but we're looking at the whole child. So, we're trying to keep ourselves centered on that, too. I mean, it's nice to get that money, but you know, we don't want to look just at that part. Right. I will add also like because it was the first year last year. I had no way to predict here's the number of points you'll need to grow in this specific class cuz we'd never done the assessment. Now we
076know we've done it a year. The benchmarks are more clear >> uh than they were last year because it was a shot in the dark until we had a year's worth of data. >> What else? >> I assume just like everything else though that can unfortunately go away with some sort of legislation to change. >> Yeah. In the last session, uh, so it passed several sessions ago. In this last session, we only saw positive stuff. And so, so long as the lieutenant governor is the lieutenant governor, the governor is the governor, the commissioner is the commissioner. This is like they just keep adding money to it. Uh, >> and they wrote it into Texas Education Code, so it can't be removed without >> a congressional. >> Yeah, they changed it. Is is there, and I
077mean this is the teachers money, um, but is there a thought process in being proactive that if it does go away, the school district keeps some sort of a cushion to be able to continue that for the teachers? >> Well, there's not enough money locally to to do it. It's got to be state. >> But I know with the education foundation and all the stuff that >> is that something to think about to >> Well, in this one of the things that is that is codified is with the aotment 90% of it has to go to the teacher. >> So we couldn't say you earned 5,000 25. So what and that 10% just helps this keep from being a cost to the district. It's net neutral at the end. >> Okay. still money while it's
078coming down >> and with the foundation I mean with the foundation we're funding >> I mean basic budgetary items so >> even with the growth that we have planned from now to 2030 there's not >> there's not funding for I mean we're we're we're trying to cover what states caused us to cut just to for the like to keep the lights on. So we would love to continue like funding all this stuff, but yeah. >> Well, yeah. I just I just bring it up to, you know, >> given given what happens, you know, that would be a real big detrimental for the teachers if that leaves. So trying to think proactively >> as a worst case scenario would be wise. >> I just wanted to say that we we we know the the times that
079we're leaving with the province that are not ours but are or brought to us because of the state. So like we celebrate this next year I might not but at least I like like the uh monitors right now. >> We might not have it next year. I might have to go back to do it next year but hey come on then you know. So the same thing with this you know it's not up to you guys. It's it's this is coming from somewhere else. >> I think it's also strategic if you think about this just from the perspective of a legislator. they can now stand on we're funding teaching excellence and it is a lot less expensive to do this than across the board raises like the one they just did. >> So I feel
080like pragmatically they're putting eggs in this basket um just for >> the way that they can promote it >> those lobbyists >> pushing hard on that. >> All right. Any other comments? >> I mean it's here. We all feel it. I mean, it's it was it was a morale squish like squasher at the junior school particularly. Um I think the ones who who were hopeful that they're going to get it are obviously on a little bit of a you know a high and then the ones who aren't. Um things did change for us data wise when we looked at it. So there were some people who felt like wo when they came back after summer but I think we're over the hump of it being a morale until people start getting paid out. And I
081think at that point then because there's not a prize, but that part feels a little weird. But like it does, but it doesn't like we get the reason why we're not publicly recognizing, but at the same time, it's also like when you have that master teacher, it also kind of stinks to not it's like >> it's like a hush thing like we don't want to tell anybody that you're a master teacher >> kind of thing. So it it feels very double-edged sword >> that's cut, you know, both ends. >> I don't love that. But I loved like us. But I think we can get creative and find a way to recognize in a way that's meaningful even if it's not public. >> Yeah. >> I think that there's an opportunity there. But I appreciate I
082appreciate your candid has been a ton of work. So we tap for Jimmy. >> Yeah. >> Jimmy's quick to say it's a team effort and it has been, but uh there's a lot rested on her shoulders. And so >> Jimmy, can I ask her >> what I I mean, I know you don't know it. I know you sent it off to Texas Tech, but I mean, >> what are the odd like, is it looking good to be approved? >> All right. So, here's what I'll say. So, there >> there's three steps to get it approved. >> Step one, check. Which was the technical review. We passed that. Step two, programmatic review check. So, now we're in the statistics review. I myself have run all the statistics and it looks promising. I am not a psychometrician.
083So I I if I were a betting person, I would say we're looking favorable. Like if I had a what what are those things called? >> Eightballs. Uh all signs point to yes. But until I see it in black and white, um I wouldn't lay down ready to cash money. >> But I feel good. So far so good. >> Yes. So for So the parents in the room, if it wasn't clear, like it still hasn't been a form, our plan hasn't been formally approved. >> Yeah. >> Once it is, >> but the ones that got it last year, nothing will change. If this new plan doesn't get approved, they're still going to get out for 5 years. >> Uh well, it has to get fully approved by the state of Texas. They're just making sure
084that no one in a district is like 100% of our teachers got it. >> So they're just checking the data to make sure that it's above above board and and clean and you should do well. >> All right, we have two more things. Hang with me. Uh they're not long. Um I don't think the first is the calendars. You guys recall I asked for volunteers to be part of my calendar committee. So some of you guys were there. We met on October the 22nd. And I also asked PTO's to give me some PTO folks. So, we had uh a a slew of staff and parents and um you saw hopefully that I sent out the survey. Now, I'm not because of time I'm not going to read all of this, but part of why I
085put it in the survey is so that people understood all the different considerations. Some might call them constraints of why were things fall where they fall. Now, what I'm trying to look for that I was trying to think of a good analogy. So, if you have one, uh, tell me. But, cuz the ones I have are so dated, nobody, uh, can relate to them anymore. But those of us that remember back when, uh, you had stereo systems and they had equalizers. They have all these they have a lot of things, right? >> All these little knobs and when you p when you pulled one, the other ones would move. >> Yeah. >> Right. So, whatever analogy you can tell me is that with the calendar, once you when you touch one thing, it it affects
086something else. And so uh it's pretty it's stressed pretty tight now. That is in terms of the number of days that we go and the for teachers and for kids like I have it stretched to where I don't have a lot of give. And so I I don't know what to give you a good analogy but that's how it is. And so all of these things that we do those are all the things that are stretching it to be where it kind of landed. and I don't really have a lot to give one way or the other which is like people's like hey can we have an extra day off uh no only because I don't have another day to give or uh you know hey can we start later sure if you want to
087go beyond Memorial Day you know that so it's all kind of like tied and that's what all of that is meant to say and there's also like there really are reasons why we do certain things like I mentioned the half day release um but and so by the way um I met with the PTO presence the day and they said, "Hey, thanks for putting that in there. I actually read it and it was helpful because I I was wondering why are you doing this that way?" So now you know. Now again, I always make this big point. I made it earlier so I won't dwell on it too much. But both the teacher work days and these half days like today are really something that we can give to teachers to say, "Hey, we're trying
088to make this, it's a such a hard job. We're trying to plan out times to help you." And that's what it's really meant to be a retention tool. And so we really really appreciate all the teachers that work towards that. Um now this is the draft that that was in the survey and everybody saw it. I didn't make copies because it's not final yet but uh everything is it's essentially the same as this year with the exception in the committee. We talked about this cuz this was the big deal in the is that uh this back end here because of where Easter falls earlier than normal that pushes back the good Friday holiday back closer to spring break. Now traditionally we take spring break on that spring forward the time change >> right because it's
089like oh who wants to come to work that week because time changed. Well, that's this week. So, if we would have had spring break then and this teacher work day has become pretty important for us to like give teachers a day to get ready after spring break. And I was like, well, then it would be like a three-day week. That's weird. And so, as I I talked about it both with staff first and then I went to the committee and we looked at spring break during that week or spring break during this week. And even though um we felt like it was a uh spring break during this week had less bad things about it where I'm not saying it's perfect, but it had less bad things. Spring break during this week had more bad
090things about it. And so that's why we decided only to go with the one option. The committee was very helpful in that regard. So that's why we put that out and that but that's the only that was the weirdest thing about that. Otherwise everything now the other thing that's it's the same calendar spread but one thing was different that some people noticed and it is true I didn't do it but I'll take credit if you want to give it to me is that Memorial Day weekend is a week later just because the way now what does that mean? Well, that means because it's a week later, we could push the whole school year one week later. And so that's how we're able to start on the 19th, which is a week later than normal. Normally,
091we're starting like on that week of the 12th. And so that was all pushed back by Memorial Day. So on the feedback, I got a lot of people, hey, I'm I'm love starting so late. And I was like, great. Don't get used to it because that it's all it all just remember how how tight it is. It got pushed back. So that's another thing that's different, but the structure is the same, which is kind of all that pushes back. >> So the last day is May 206. >> That's kids. >> Mhm. >> And then that's teacher work. >> Okay. Usual. >> Yeah. >> Did you have a lot of people fill out the survey? >> Uh let me see. I have I have that data. >> Okay. >> Oh, I just went over that. Uh
092of the staff, it's 137. That's it's just about what it is. Uh, generally mostly teachers filling it out. >> Okay. >> Um, and it's mostly like every year it's about like 90% of people say, "Yep, I'm good." And about 10 people say like, "I just don't like it for whatever reason." Um, parents was 97. That's about the same, too. Sometimes we'll get up into a hundreds. We don't ever get like a ton of parents, but you know, but that's about the same. Notice the whole approval thing. It's about the same. Now, uh, I get I had like u on the on the the staff survey I had like four pages worth of comments. This is the open-ended. >> Uh, and on the it was like one of them was three pages worth, one of them
093was four pages worth. And so a lot of them were oneoffs like how why don't we get the veterans day off, you know, that kind of stuff. But I tried to think the ones that kind of kept coming back up that are considerations. And so from the staff end, uh, teachers say, "Thank you so much for those teacher work days." Like that's super helpful, especially after the breaks. Um, most people really appreciate starting midweek. some don't. >> And so it's by the way that's the nature of the calendar. And so um some people like I love kind of easing into the week. Some people like man why don't we just start on Monday? Like I can't get anything done. So uh that's but that's the same thing with parents too. Some people like that. I
094will say since we started starting on a Wednesday cuz remember this is the first year we did it on Wednesday. Last year was a Monday >> and and I got like a the change was like a lot of people said yes. Thank you. Um, and most people prefer ending. Uh, but some people like, push back. I don't care. Let's keep going cuz I would rather start later, you know. But most people really enjoy getting done before Memorial Day. Um, and like same thing with parents. Most people enjoy where we when we start, but a few don't. Um uh now the one thing I didn't put it on this but it but it's an important bit of bit of feedback but it's not a common one but it's important on the calendar I meant well on
095this calendar I took off the uh the nine weeks marks like for teachers that's really important I don't know parents care when the nine weeks get I took them off the actual calendar those little brackets >> but what I didn't do is on the little legend. I mistakenly kept the little nineweek thing things. And so I got a lot of feedback from teachers about that. I thought, "Oh, I meant to take that off because I need to work with teachers and administrators to figure out when the good nine weeks ends are." And so I got some good feedback from teachers, some suggestions like um because we're pushing back the start a week now. They're like, "Uhoh, we're not pushing the winter break back." >> And so now that kind of compresses, so how are you
096going to do the 29 weeks? And so I'm going to meet uh we have a standing meeting with instructional coaches and deans. Uh that's Friday this week. I'm going to talk to them about it. I'm going to be like, "Hey, let's work with teachers and let's figure out the best way to do it." I'm not changing the whole calendar, but where the nine weeks ends, we certainly can talk about that. And likewise, uh on the spring, >> I I had one mom this week was talk I was talking about how we're starting a week later potentially, and I was thrilled with that. and she just was like, "There's no camps in August." You know, a lot of parents who are like working like put them in camps all summer and then August like can't stop.
097And so she was like, "Man, so I'm going to have to come up with something for like extra long." So I don't I mean >> Huh. I I've heard it a different and maybe I misheard it, but like that when kids are coming back from summer camps that that gives them another week. Like >> these are like little kids. >> Oh, I see. I got talking kindergarten parents, but yeah. the really young like um you know a lot of the Hello Heights camps or whatever they're called end in they're just in June but like maybe like a kinder preview camp or like >> I don't know how far Summer Heights goes in July that's good that's not like like a weekl long you're get ready for kindergarten or is that maybe for the littleer kids
098not not I'm talking the older kids stay home alone >> that's a good money making opportunity for somebody that's going to be back >> who has control over right at school Uh well, we contract with them so technically we do. >> Is that something that we could prep? Cuz be honest with you, we're going to my family's going to be in that exact boat. >> Yeah, >> cuz we usually try to give the kid like we'll work from home for that week going back just to let you down. >> Have fun. But >> yeah, >> that's going to turn into two weeks of doing that, which is going to be a real >> Yeah. So, we'll follow up. That's a great point with right at school that uh just >> because they do some pre
099at least for staff, they do some pre right before school starts stuff. But they do for parents, too. >> Yeah. >> Use them. >> Yeah. They're inexpensive. That would be a super easy one if they're willing to >> Thanks for the heads up. >> But I don't I mean, is there any So, I I feel like the committee and the feedback. We run all the traps. Anything else I need to be thinking about before we we won't I won't go to the board for a final one until the December meeting anyway. I have a couple of parents to follow up with with some feedback that they gave, but other than that, I think this is kind of Anything I'm missing? I appreciate it. >> Okay, that's a good one. >> All right, let's go to
100the last one, which is now let's go back to the main agenda. You guys have been very patient. I'm not going to say I saved the best for last, but I saved this for last. I explained last time that we there's this special thing that state law allows us to exempt ourselves from certain laws. I showed you guys some last time. You were like, "Blessed it." I went to the board, they blessed it. We're good. I took it and I sent it to TEA and um technically we're good. But I but there's a couple of there there's one crazy thing that I'm going to and I'm not I'm going to try not to be grumpy about it, but I am going to throw a little shake. Okay, so um one of the things they Okay,
101so there's I told you this, but I'm sure you guys didn't memorize my presentation from last time. One of the laws that passed said uh in the last session says that you can't exempt yourself from anything having to do with with the laws that relate to school discipline. That's called chapter 37 in the Texas Education Code. You know, it's this thick and there's one chapter called chapter 37. And I knew that and I even told you guys that was in our thing. I took out this one exemption that we had about the campus behavior coordinator and I deleted that. Well, this is on me. It's a big bureaucratic plan, but I have these parenthetical references to various education code references. And I didn't notice that I had these random like three references to chapter 37
102in other places that I didn't delete. And so like, hey, you can't do that. I said, well, like I know I just forgot to take it out. Can I just take it out now? They go, nope, you have to go back to your committee. I was like, really? Like to me that's a typo. I can't just delete that. No. And there's and so that's one example. There's another kind of example that again I'm calling typo. I meant to write exempt ourselves from like uh at B right in Texas education code. And they're like that's not one you can exempt yourselves from. And I said oh sorry I meant 24. And they're like I said can I just change that? They go nope. Go back to your committee. And I was like okay. So that that's
103what I mean by like I'm throwing a little shade and I get it. Maybe I should have but it's just the pain. But you guys are so forgiving. But just know that there's those little changes I had to delete and I'm going just going to delete those because I wanted to be clean for the next time we do this. So that's that. And I have those redlinined by the way and I'm going to show those to the board and then the board book so the board can see it and trust me that I redlined all those. And that's all that that is. So that's kind of like just red tape stuff. But there's a new one though that I am coming back to you guys. You guys remember that um well, I'll explain it. In
104our September meeting, I talked about how Senate Bill 12 changed some things about our grievance process and I showed you how the it was the timing at that point. And I just said, "Boy, our timing is working now." And Senate Bill just kind of stretches it out. It's impractical. And so you guys like, "Makes sense, Frank, too." So I put that one thing in there. Now, there's some other changes to the grievance policy that I thought at that point we can live with. Very specifically, they require us to post our grievance forms online and they require us to accept them uh just via email. And I was like, I maybe we can live with that. But as we were talking about it with staff, uh we're like, well, that might actually be a bigger deal
105than I thought. Okay. So, here's what I mean. Right now, we have a system in which somebody who wants to file a formal grievance. That means like a formal complaint. We have forms. There's a process. It's a very formal thing. Now, you don't get a lot of those. Most people, I mean, people have complaints and we do it informally. They call, they want to talk to the principal, they try to work it out. That's good. People should talk, right? right now if they want to formally do something we say we don't post our forms online you got to come in and get them and the reason why I want you to do that is you got to have some skin in the game you literally have to take time off of work come up to
106the office and say hey I'm mad I want to file a formal grievance and then we slow it down and say was there something I can help you with you talk to the folks we slow down to see if let's talk it through to see if we can resolve your issue before going through the whole process cuz once you turn those forms in then it becomes this very credit thing you have to follow. So, we feel like that's been a good practice for us and it slowed stuff down. And often times people will like be like, well, like one time I remember I was talking to a a mom and I just kind of listened to what she said and I kind of helped her understand what the rules were and she's like, well, I
107guess I don't really need to file a grievance. I just need to talk to the principal about it. I said, good idea, right? And so that this has been working for us. And when they come in, they get all the three levels. They get the policy and they get if they have to appeal all the way up to the board, they get all of it. Now, the way the law says, and at first I thought we could live with it, but I'm like, it might transform the way we do things. Now, if they're posted online, somebody can be mad at something and not talk to anybody and not try to resolve it at all. Just download those things and turn in a form. And we wouldn't even know about it until we got the form.
108Uh that's kind of like we have we're we're a community. We talk to each other and we have disagreements but we talk to each other about them. That could fundamentally like transform the way we do things and we feel like that alone is worth like nah we're good with the way it works. We don't get a lot of them but we do get some and we follow the process but this would be too detrimental to our culture we so that's the the new substantive what I'm adding. And so any questions just about why why I'm adding that? >> Be like a Google review. >> Yeah, right. You can change. >> Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean like comments. It's like basically your grievance policy now is comments on social media. >> So what I just
109need as a formal I need somebody to make a motion that we recommend those two changes that I made. I need somebody to say what do how >> I second. >> I sec. Yeah. I second the motion. Any Okay. You make a motion. So you motion that we recommend to the board. Uh do I have a second? >> Great. So you want to say Amita did the uh motion. You made the second. Any more discussion? >> All right. So the motion uh all in favor say yes. >> Yeah. Anybody against? >> Great. The motion carries unanimously. So, I will now take this to the trustees and in the November meeting and uh once they do it, I'll send it back to TEA and I hope they don't find any typos. >> Well, that's the last
110thing we have for this meeting. >> Yeah, you have a question. >> I do have a question. >> Yeah. Heights indep independent school district is eligible for exemption from all these SP12. >> That's a great question. It's a law that the state passed several years ago. Any district that wants to go through the formal process can and there are actually more and more every year the districts that do this. They call themselves a district of innovation because it's just convenient to exempt yourself from certain laws based on your local context. There's a lot of districts that are in this vote like us, but it's a law that they allow us to do it. They passed it several years ago, maybe eight years ago. But there's like a special I don't know um something that we're
111supposed to have to be eligible for exemption like what exactly the >> Yeah. So the only criteria is you cannot be a failing district >> in the accountability. So long as you're in good standing with accountability then you can do this. >> Yeah. Thanks for asking. >> That's a good question. >> That's a great question. Hey, thanks for coming. Have a great November and a great Thanksgiving. >> Thank you. >> Meeting adjourned at 5:30.