001In the interest of time, we're going to go ahead and get started. Good afternoon. I'd like to call the meeting of the Bowman Independent School District of Trustees to order. Today is Tuesday, December 16th, 2025, and the time is 4:42. Okay. >> Trustee Sige >> here. >> Trustee Dunn. Trustee Avery. >> Trustee Evans here. >> Trustee Hickman. >> Trustee Wallace Spooner. We will now move to a close session to discuss agenda items posted on the close session agenda as authorized by the open meeting acts under 551.071 551.072 and 55.074. Let's do it. My name is Maze. presence I will say >> [music] [music] [applause] [music] >> We're now ready to start our board meeting. Would everyone please stand? Ready. Good evening. Tonight's colors are presented by Westbrook color guard. It is commanded by Cadet Senior
002Chief Petty Officer Carter Deerhog, Cadet Chief Petty Officer Ezekiel Robels, Cadet Petty Officer First Class Christian Tenorio Rios, and Cadet Petty Officer Third Class Caden TR under the direction of Commander Mitchell Norman, US Navy retired. Tonight's pledges will be led by Zara Halt, a fifth grade student at Peach MacArthur PreK through 8th grade center. Zarn is a great student who daily exemplifies PMAC's theme this year of stepping into greatness. He displays character traits such as kindness and leadership in everything that he does. He is an active member of the STEM club and National Elementary Honor Society. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to
003the Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Hey, good up. >> [applause] >> That was outstanding. Let's hear it again for those kids. And the band. And the band one more time. That's kind of weak. Miss Simeon. >> Good evening, President Sige, board trustees, Dr. Allen and audience members, we are proud tonight to recognize the Westbrook High School band for exceptional achievement in our fine arts program. For the second consecutive year, the Westbrook band advanced to the area round of the UIL state marching band competition, an accomplishment that reflects sustained excellence and dedication. to advance to area. The band earned a first division superior rating at the UIL region contest, placing them among the top marching ensembles in the region. This achievement represents countless hours of preparation, teamwork, and commitment from our students. We
004also commit the outstanding leadership of the band's directors, Stephanie Alcantara and Garrett Adams, whose guidance and high standards continue to elevate the program. Please join us in congratulating the Westbrook High School band on this remarkable accomplishment and thank them for representing our district with pride and excellence. We compete in UIL marching. There's uh we first do UIL region marching and this past season or this season uh was the first time since 2010 that we made straight superior ratings from every judge. Uh so they call that like a clean sweep. So, and it qualified us for the second round of UIL called UIL area prelims. So, this year made the second year in a row of us advancing to UIL area. Um, last year we advanced for the first time in eight years. So, all of
005that together kind of indicates that the program is growing and improving and we're headed in the right direction. [music] We got last place in Ariel, but this year we've did better. We did better than the last year, so I'm kind of happy for that. >> Makes me feel very good. It makes me feel accomplished, like I can be better and do better. >> I'm I'm happy that we did better. >> Yeah. >> If we were to be recognized, I think that would be a big achievement for [music] the kids. It would just recognize all the hard work that they put in, all the time, all the practices. [music] >> That was just a warm up. >> And in one, top of three. [applause] And now, trustees and Dr. Allan, we invite you to join us
006in the audience as we are once again entertained by the Westbrook High School ensemble. >> [music] [music] [applause] >> Trustees and Dr. Allen, please join the band for a photo. Thank you. Mr. Alantra, can I play with y'all next week? I play a gazoo. >> You might need to audition first. President >> me in my kazoo. [laughter] >> Tonight we are >> [applause] >> We are proud, very proud to celebrate a major national accomplishment that brings honor not only to an individual but to our entire district. Bumont ISD's career and technical education director. Dr. Donna Prudam has been named the 2026 National Administrator of the Year by the Association for Career and Technical Education. [cheering] This prestigious award was announced at the ACT National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, and recognizes Dr. Prudin's outstanding leadership in
007advancing career and technical education programs. Under Dr. Prudin's guidance, Bumont ISD has expanded CTE opportunities, strengthened partnerships with industry leaders, and created innovative pathways that prepare our students for high demand, highskll, and high wage careers. Her dedication to program excellence, teacher growth, and community engagement has made a lasting impact on students, educators, and partners throughout the district and beyond. As ACTE's national administrator of the year, Dr. Prudin joins an elite group of leaders whose work shapes the future of career and technical education nationwide. In her own words, "This recognition is quote," a reminder of why I do this work. Bumont ISD's CTE programs have become my heart work and we will continue building on our foundation to prepare students for careers that can change the trajectory of their lives. Please join me in congratulating Dr.
008Donna Prudam on this remarkable achievement and in celebrating the continued success and national recognition of Bumont ISD's career and technical education programs. Good evening, Dr. Allen, President Sige, and board members. I am truly honored to stand before you as the recipient of this award. I actually had to ship this trophy home because it would not fit into my suitcase. But what makes this award even more special is that it was designed by Sam Trong, a 10th grade STEM student from San Diego, California, using AutoCAD, the same software our engineering students use, and printed on a 3D printer. So, Dr. Threes, I've done my research. We are entering this next design contest. But for so many people in this room, I want you to know that you share in the fruits of this award. I'll start
009with Mrs. Avery who was my dance sponsor at Lamar University. We started the Lamar University dance team back in 199 something and I don't know why we came up with this name. It was called the Lamar Sensations. I'm not I don't know where that came from but it didn't last long but your leadership lessons did because you were tough. You were very very tough to senior chief Dunn. You were always available at Ozanne whenever we called for your assistance and chief warrant officer sales and our RTC students. You never said no, even though I know sometimes you wanted to, but thank you for always leading a leading and lending a hand and for your service. Mrs. Segment, when we were when you were still the principal at ODM, you led our secondary principles, our little
010group with strength. When us baby principles were too scared to speak up, we would say, Dr. Jackson can vouch for this and Dr. Valdez, Tilly, you tell them. So, thank you for your leadership and guidance because we knew that you would not get in trouble, but we would. To Mrs. Denise Wallace Spooner, thank you for always uplifting CTE and for keeping our community informed. And how do I know this? I can count how many times I've received a call or email that started with Mrs. Wallace Spooner told me to contact you. To Mr. Ree, you know, he knew me since I was a little girl and he would always tell me how proud my parents would be, you know, uh, of me and the accomplishments that I've achieved. and I know they're looking down. To
011Mr. Evans and Mr. Sige, although I haven't known you as long as I've known some of the others, thank you for your support, for speaking up for CTE, and for believing in our work. Dr. Allen, thank you for seeing something in me years ago when we worked together at Ozanne. Your mentorship and support have meant more to me than you will ever know. I truly appreciate you. When I became director of CT in 2018, that was seven years ago, we rebranded and rebuilt this program from local recognition to state to regional and now national. The number seven signifies completion, divine order, and fulfillment. To my CTE family, our CT staffs, teachers, and students, this award belongs to you. Thank you for your hard work, dedication, and your belief in what CTE can do and make
012possible for you, all of our students. And last but not least, I would like to thank my family for always supporting me. Both of my children are Bowman ISD graduates. And last week, my son graduated from Lamar University with his mechanical engineering degree. It has been an exciting time for me and my family. And thank you again for always supporting Bowman ISD CTE. Thank you. Miss Prom, did I get a free coupon to get my toes and hands done this year? >> All right, then. Finally, tonight, this Friday, students will enjoy an early release and all campuses and offices will be closed from December 22nd through January 2nd, 2026. Students will return to class on Tuesday, January 6th, 2026. Keep up with what's happening in the district by following our social media pages, subscribing to
013our YouTube channel, and visiting bmtisd.com. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Simeon. We will now hear from the superintendent and the cabinet's report followed by public comments. Good evening, Mr. President, to our trustees and our Bowman ISD community. We'll begin with our vision and mission statement. Can you please join me in reciting our vision? In collaboration with the entire community, we will create an inclusive environment academic excellence that supports the diverse needs of all learners. In our mission statement, we will inspire and prepare all students lifelong success by providing an exemplary education in a safe learning environment. Tonight's presentation actually focuses on all six of our six core beliefs. All children can and will learn. We can achieve higher levels of performance within every facet of our organization. Every classroom will have an effective teacher
014and every school and effective principal. All school and work environments will be safe, secure, and supportive. We will work collaboratively with our families and community partners, and we will be fiscally responsible and accountable to the public. Tonight's report consists of an update on the commissioner's decision and our recent one-time stipen distribution. So, over the past probably course close close to 10 years, the the district the board have approved a one-time stipen to be disseminated to employees. And the intention and purpose of the one-time stipen was to be given to employees in those lean years when the district was unable to actually fund a raise. So probably maybe it started back in 2016 2017 and the onetime stipen was funded from 313 funds which are fluctuating funds that the district receives over the course of the
015year and the amount has fluctuated over the course of the past several years. But we have continued to really work diligently to provide this stipen even though we have been providing raises for the past several years but still make this investment in our employees to number one you know show appreciation but it is an investment. So I wanted to you know share with our board and community you know what that investment actually looks like this year. We paid the stipen out during the first week in December. This year, 2472 2472 employees received the onetime stipen, ranging from 200 to $1,000 for eligible employees with a little over 2,300 employees actually receiving the highest amount of $1,000. And the total investment by the district to provide this stipen is was $2,439,282. I want to publicly thank
016the board for the past several years for continuing to improve I mean to approve our employees receiving this stipen. You should give the board a round of applause for their continued you know approval of this stipen. You know it fluctuates. you know, there may be years in the future, we hope to always be able to give the stipen, but there may come a time when we're unable to give the stipen. So, uh, just to give a little history lesson, you know, to our new employees, you know, this is not a guaranteed benefit. It's something that, you know, we've made a concerted effort at the really sacrifice of other things that we could do, but we choose to make this investment in our employees. So I definitely wanted to again publicly thank the board for approving
017the stipen for uh 2400 almost 200 employees. So thank you. Before uh I conclude my presentation tonight, I wanted to you know just you know share a little bit about what happened last Thursday. So I left my home. I was running late. So, I think it was right at right at 8 and I backed out of the garage. I'm in the truck. Backed out of the garage, turned around on Winterberry Street. Phone rings, call ID pops up on the screen, and it says Mike Morath. So, immediately, you know, my heart just plummeted because I knew what the call was about. I knew exactly why he was calling me and I should not have been shocked, but I was because I really had been lulled into this false sense of assurance that the call he was
018making really wasn't about what it was about. And he delivered, you know, the news with compassion. I will say that he had made the decision to implement a board of managers and a conservator replace a superintendent and I was in a state of shock. So I actually turned around, went back home and sat in the driveway and talked to him in the driveway. And I couldn't really ask questions because really I was I was really I was so surprised because I felt in my mind I'm thinking well why why do you make this decision that is the most disruptive decision that you can make when you actually had an another alternative that was less disruptive. and it made logical sense to me to that he would consider making a different decision. So very very frustrated
019and not able to really ask the questions that I need to ask. So I said, "Hey, look, I'm not in a good place to ask the right questions on the timeline and the next steps and all of these things. So let me call you back. Let me call you back." So sat in the driveway for a long time. I prayed and I cried and I cried again and prayed more and then I did what? I came to work. Sent a text message out to the team team. Meet me at 9:30 in my office. Well, I don't call emergency meeting so I know they knew and everybody showed up and I shared, you know, we prayed because we pray before every meeting. So we prayed and then I shared the news and just uh the level
020of frustration that I felt sharing news with the people on my team who I work with every day who I know pour blood, sweat, and tears into Bulman ISD. One of the hardest things, you know, you ever have to do is to share that according to the state of Texas, you know, we didn't do what we were supposed to do, right? Even though I know and I want our community to know, we've done a massive amount of work. We have done a massive amount of work. And I've said this many, many times that I don't agree with our school districts being judged by one snapshot or one moment in time. I don't agree with that. But there's part of this narrative that I want to make certain is well articulated to our community and it's
021a critical fact that is not mentioned in any of the correspondence from TEA in the way that I really want our community to understand. And that's the fact that the decision that the commissioner made was based on the performance of two campuses, Felp Price and ML King. And these two campuses had not been operated by our school district because of 1882 partnerships for since 2019. Since 2019, we have not had control over the operations of these two schools. So what does that really mean? Well, they were our students. So we have to take and we do take accountability for how they performed even though we never had the ability or the authority to control staffing to control leadership to control curriculum to control anything on the daily operations or interventions. So we have no control
022but at the end we have to take what full accountability. So when I think about the fact that you know we are held accountable it's unfair right I mean to me logically that's not fair that this decision will be made and you are holding me accountable for a performance of other people that I didn't have control over and the uniqueness of our situation because I don't believe that there's another school district in this situ situation that we're in that actually is subject to this decision based on campuses that they did not actually what operate. I don't think there's another school district in our unique scenario. I don't think there's another school district who's already gone through this type of disruption to their community other than Bowman ISD. So I was really again lulled into a
023false s insecurity based on the uniqueness of our situation and the visit from the commissioner back in September, his campus visits, our dialogue, the discussion that uh he engaged with with the board. So I didn't feel like this was something that was actually going to happen. I didn't think so. And and I and I recognize and don't dispute the fact that as a district, we've worked really hard, but we still have a lot of academic challenges, but I I've said this and I'm going to say it again. And despite the challenges, we haven't been sitting still. We haven't been playing. We've been working and implementing new initiatives and new interventions and new curriculum. Like, we have been working tirelessly for years. Okay? And I I want to make certain that our community understands that the
024challenges that we're facing, I've said this before, they didn't start this year. These are ongoing systemic challenges that we face. But despite the challenges every single day, Bulmont ISD shows up to work with kids without fail. all of the people that you see in here, our leaders, cabinet level, our board, despite the challenges, despite some of the most honestly, I can't even articulate some of the obstacles that our campuses face, that the challenges and the trauma that our students are faced with, that they bring to the learning environment. I can't even really articulate it all the time because it just blows my mind some of the scenarios that our kids are living in and we still show up every day. 15,817 kids every day. And the hurt of this decision, I'm just telling you, it's
025it's just not it's not going away. It's not going away. But I just want to make certain that our community hears that, you know, and there's a lot of commentary going on in the media and people all have their thoughts, but you're not working in our shoes. That's all I can say. It's easy. It's real easy [applause] to to to give your to give your peace and your, you know, your uh your side of the story when you don't step or walk in our shoes. And it's going to take more than just Bulmont ISD to fix and change the problems that we are faced with in our community. And it's going to take parents doing their job. I'm sorry. We can't do everything. We take responsibility for educating our kids and taking care of our
026kids, but it's going to take parents doing their job. It's going to take the community to stop with the negativity and the fighting and the craziness and the the just negativity toward children in our community. You know, it's going to take a concerted effort by everybody to recognize we all have a role and we all have a responsibility in in making a difference. You know, I just feel like moving forward as a Bowmont community. What's best for kids is always going to be in the forefront of my mind and my leadership until the last day I'm here. And I'm here till the last day until God says, "Hey, Shannon, your day is up." And then you're gone and then I'll be gone. But until that day, I think every decision that we make still has
027to be what's best for the kids, what is best for the children that we have all committed to serving. And I know that, you know, our team and I hate it so much that our team is anxious and frustrated and fearful, but I want to encourage our team right now. You know, this is a time where we have to remember why we committed to the work and why we're doing the work and trust that there's a bigger plan and a bigger picture in this that we don't know about because that's what I'm that's what I'm telling myself that there's a whole plan that I don't even see that I don't understand that I can't articulate right now because it's easy to, you know, fall in the corner and cry. But at the end of the
028day, I still have to get up and work. We still have to get up and we still have to do to do the work because at the end I'm going to be held accountable and not to man. I'm just telling you the truth. I'm not accountable to man. I'm accountable to God for the work that he has entrusted and called me to do and I'm going to do it until the last day that I'm supposed to do it. So I'm asking that our trustees, first of all, I want to encourage you And thank you for what you have done and what you continue to do and for how you stand tall in this community and face a lot of heat for some decisions that I talk you into. Okay? and you you stand and you
029support, you know, and you challenge us and you hold us accountable in the way that a a a a board and people who care in the community are supposed to. So, I I want to make certain that nobody walks away from, you know, these next few months with our heads down and disappointed and thinking that we didn't do anything because, you know, I struggle with that. You know, that's been a personal struggle over these past few days. Well, what have we done? You know, and and several team like we've done a tremendous amount. We've done a tremendous amount because if we weren't doing what we were doing, we don't know what the system would look like because everybody cannot do what we do in this community. I'm just telling you that. I believe that wholeheartedly.
030Everybody cannot do what it is that we do. To to our staff, I love you all. I appreciate you. The work that you do makes a difference. the work that you do matters. And I just really and truly want you to know that. Don't lose sight. Don't lose sight during these next several months. I'm so glad you have opportunity for the next couple of weeks to get a little break. But don't lose sight on why the organization exists. The organization didn't close. Okay? The organization is still here. the organization is still operational. The organization is still functioning. But don't lose sight of why we exist as educators, and that's to take care of and do our very best to support the the children. So, you know, my my commitment. I'm be present. I'm going to
031continue to work and lead and work and lead until the last day for me to work and lead. But I just want to tell the community, the board, uh, Bowman ISD family, uh, thank you, you know, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for the opportunity to serve. We have a revised date on the timeline for our next steps with this process. Initially, when we received the communication from the commissioner, we were expected to be at an informal review tomorrow, but I requested to move that date. So, it's actually Friday at 11:45. An informal review is an opportunity for the district to share if there are any legal arguments or the commissioner has takes this opportunity to really take a step back and see if there was any misinterpretation of the law and the decision
032that he made. Is there anything that we can argue on that side to say, hey, this was actually a mistake and you should have made this decision versus the decision that you made and make any plea that we choose. So right now our plan is to present uh information on Friday and then from there the commissioner has an opportunity to review uh the information that we submit and present and then he makes a decision on whether or not he maintains his uh position or whether or not he will uh make a different choice. But in the meantime, you know, we have uh still have work to do and we'll continue to do our our very best until until the last day. So, right now, this concludes my presentation. Uh any questions or comments from the
033board. I'd like to take just a second to talk about what goes on behind closed doors in the closed session. And it's not something we're supposed to bring out, but I think this is fair game. This is the first time we have all been together to be able to talk about the commissioner's decision because we're very good about following the open meetings done up, but we can't get together. So as we closed the door, a little ranting began and carried on for a few minutes. And in fact, the whole feeling of the room reminded me of a Dolly Parton song. Do you remember in 9 to5 and what she said about her job? And that pretty much fell where we were and would have liked to have been able to say. But of course, the
034community elected us to take care of our children. And so after we vented for a few minutes, we got down to business to talk about what our responsibility is in light of the commissioner's decision. And I think I can speak for the board to say we are committed to the children of the district. And that means to each of you, to all of our teachers, all of our employees, we will go as far as we can to make this better. And we will be here until, as Dr. Allen said, they waved us out the door. So, thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve. And we support Dr. Allen to the fullest. Anyone else? Go ahead, Mr. Evans. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, just to kind of follow up on uh Dr. Allen's comments
035and of course Trusty Hickman's. So, while we don't have an approximate timeline um as to when our last days, we do know that as a governing body, our time is near. Um, we suspect sometime in the spring that we'll get, you know, the nod to tell us to hang it up, but until then, we plan on serving with valor. And we need you all to do the same. And we need it now more than we've ever needed it. Um, and what's occurred to me is that, and it should have occurred a long time ago, but it was never about us. It's always been about you and it'll continue to be about you because boards come and go. Politics takes a toll. But you all have been in the trenches and I I really I really
036expect you to remain in the trenches because I know your hearts and I know your souls. So you have to lead now and your leadership once again now is more important than ever. The way you carry yourselves, not that you don't already carry yourselves way above repro approach, but the things you say, the messages that you convey to your staff and your peers. Now, it's far more critical than it's ever been before because behind every number and every statistic, there's a real child, a real life, and a real future. So, once again, your leadership through your service now is far more important than it's ever been. You know the challenges that we're faced with and everyone has to step up. Community members, elected officials, industry, they all have to step up. But you, Bulmont ISD
037family, principles, administrators, counselors, you have to lead. It's incumbent that you lead. Once again, politicians come and go. This was never a forever thing. It was just a season. But for you educators, it's always the season to save lives and educate our future. So, thank you all. I love you very much. Board, we don't always get along. But I tell you what, what I know is this, your heart and your commitment, Dr. Allen, has never been that question. So, I love you all. Thank you. Keep marching. And uh this this train is still bound for glory. >> Mr. Dunn, >> I'll be brief [clears throat] to say that um the information that we received from the educational commissioner was just not something that we really wanted to hear. Uh not something that we thought that
038we were going to hear. uh kind of caught me off guard. And after serving 26 years, United States Navy and teaching high school for 16 years, I got on this board to help. We had some discipline issues. Uh when you teach in the system, you know what's going on. and for you to elect me twice for your term to be here to represent you because we're at large, uh, Miss Spoon and I at large. So, all of you had an opportunity to vote for me. And like Trusty Evans said, we didn't always disagree, but it was always about the children. Always about the children. I can't see uh bringing in some other folk to replace all seven of well six of us, but all seven of us can make that big of a difference. I
039was under the impression we was going to get at least to the end of this uh exam cycle to see the different changes that we made and that you guys have done and the hard work that you have put in and we won't be able to see the fruits of our labor. And it's disheartening, uh, upsetting because if they come and sit down and all of a sudden our scores drastically go up, it's not going to look like we did it cuz we're going to be gone. And so I just want you to know that what you do is important and we appreciate it all the hard work you guys do. So don't worry about it. we're going to we're going to continue to do what we've been doing uh for you until they tell
040us that we can no longer do it. So, I just want to thank each and every one of you and especially Dr. Allen uh for her service and making these things happen even though we've gone through all these difficulties throughout the years, but we have started to improve and it seemed like we're finally beginning to get there and now this pops up. And though we didn't have uh direct input on these campuses since the 2019 year, it has affected us personally. So I just want to thank you guys once again. Thank you for everything that you do. >> Thank you, President Sige. I just like to say that I concur with the trustees that have spoken. Every now and then I do become speechless and I'm thinking about Dr. Allan, as Miss Hickman said in
041close session, expressing that this is family and that Doc, how many years did you say I know I don't want to give the wrong number that you've been told this has been your only job for for 30 years. And I share that sentiment with her and we are proud of her. I happened to be on the board uh with the managers when we hired Dr. Allen and I have been very proud of her. I shared that when she received her most recent award and no one knows how things will end up trickling down but from the spiritual realm and I can't help but go there because that is our every substance that destiny has already been set in motion. All of you sitting out there to we're just here. We're just here. And if we
042look to where we get our strength and our source, this story, as I mentioned, it's not over. This is a neverending story. And like Trusty Dunn said, we are empowering each one of you, the employees, the parents, the students, you know, because students, they get wind of things and they have their own little opinions. But we're going to stay on this battlefield. And in the end, we will win. We win together. Not divided. Not divided. We have to stay together with this. And definitely like Trusty Evans said, especially for the children, they are looking at us every day. It's not what we say, it's what we do. And back to another sentiment with Dr. Allan, I started working in this district in 1986 and every now and then I take a peek and I'm going
043to slow down. I take a peek of the comments that [clears throat] are being made and Miss Hickman was here way before me and they said, "You mean Miss Hickman and Miss Spooner are still kicking. They're up there now, you know, and retired from this district." But I do want to say we have your best interest. That's to everyone concerned until the very end. And uh our presence, I pray that it will always be felt in this district. And even though we may be somewhere else, our hearts and our minds are with you all. And I'm sure if there's anything we can ever do, this is bittersweet, but we're going to stay sweeter than more bitter. And so, thank you, President Sag. And I thank each and every one of you. Hang on in there
044with us. Keep us in prayer because God listens. I want you to do that. Do that for Miss Spooner. You can, somebody can say, you know, she's always talking about God, but God, he's number one in my life. And I know we separate church and state, but I'll never separate it. It's personal to me. And so, we'll be praying for Dr. Allen as she uh commences to make a final petition. We don't know what's going to happen, but she's going to stand for you all, stand for us until the very end. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Boon. I'm about to say amen. Come on and say amen. [laughter] >> Amen. Um as a tender new one, I learned a lot in a short period of time, but I had much more to do. I
045came here to serve and as I told my husband the other night, this doesn't stop. I'm going still serve. May not be in this seat, but it's going to be in this community because I love this community and you all do, too. And I love y'all. And Donna, Dr. Prudin, you got me tonight because started there and on. But we have a lot of work to do for our students, our future. We have a lot to do. A lot to do. But board members, thank you for your input, for your patience. Thank you. It's been a short period of time. It's been a quick, fast whirlwind, but I'm not done. Dr. Allen, I'm not always quiet. Got a lot to do. You'll see more. Staff, thank you all. Cheryl Hernandez, thank you for keeping this
046with your with your staff. this not the reason we have a takeover because you've done a good job. I appreciate that. Good job. Thank you. Let's do some work y'all. Let's make it happen for these students. Let's make it happen because you know one thing that does change some things prayer. Thank you. Okay. Now we will move to the cabinet reports. I'll save my remarks until the end. Good evening, Dr. Allen and board of trustees. >> Before I begin or introduce our cabinet report for tonight, Dr. Allen, we want to take a moment and pause and thank you for your leadership and your commitment to Bowman ISD. And we want to make sure that you know you don't have to worry about whether or not we're going to keep going. We are going to fulfill
047the commitment that we made at the start of this year. You ask us to do something and we are committed to going all in all year long. Recognize our superintendent and show her the love she deserves. >> [applause] >> We appreciate you so much and it's my pleasure to present tonight Dr. Lori Thes, the proud principal of our career technology and education center. if you would come to the podium and introduce our FFA. >> Thank you, Miss Cheetum. To our phenomenal superintendent, Dr. Allen, a faithful supporter of our Bowman FFA floral of the month subscriptions to our esteemed president Sige, board members, cabinet audience. I am grateful for the opportunity to introduce the Bowmont FFA LDE public relations dynamic duo team members Alex Gorsuch and Whan Maize. These two young men made Bulma FFA history,
048competing amongst over 400 teams across the state of Texas. And they're not split up like athletics 1A to 6A. They had to compete amongst all of them. And they became the top 24 in the state. I'm just saying, Dr. Jackson. You know they are coached by none other than the spectacular Stephanie Hoppy lead a teacher. [applause] >> It is my pleasure to present the Bowmont FFA LDE PR team to share their state qualifying presentation all in all year. Good evening school board. I am >> and I'm Alex and we're the public relations team all year. >> Exactly. This year Dr. We gladly accept this challenge here. We have learned over our time at that started in 33 states because they know it overion members nationwide as million members. That's a wonderful stretches from the state
049of Alaska to Virgin Islands and from the state of Maine to Hawaii model. This model integrates three essential which provides students learning real supervisely This is a member of all four years of high school that she found the vice president science teacher at our very own middle >> [applause] >> Murray Mr. Murray became a member of attending academy for over six years over his time in our program. multiple offices here selling that for $36,000 and is now pursuing his education state of agriculture and at first I didn't want to be in agriculture class but I decided to stay agitating all the way officing. presentation organization has prepared our members once again. Yes, we know for a fact of leadership chapter district and national district officers since 2020 elected to the rice district four times. These
050members and most recently our own leadership by being all year longers development events also known as these competitions include advocacy demonstration radio as well as various other team here at the state level as well as the leadership campers. Last but not least, our leadership retreat for our newly elected officience ready. The world would be humanity. What is that saying again? Exactly. I mean, imagil that land, right? Guess what develop structures did I mention from academy all year? career development event across the state. Our program also offers industry based certifications and hands-on learning for students include designers. It takes business transology. Speaking of technology, did you know that most of self-driving? We not only strive to make the industry but in our communities as well. Over the last years and resources such as the police department
051to drive Texas and finally multiply Texas program import. city. Now I'm not so sure what normal city are there going on as we speak. Ask yourself this. where it takes to feed America. And when students have to vote on the localism school organiz to make an imp. >> We have demonstrated the vital connection between teaching city to become farmers. This is about equipping urban scientists, policy makers and world. Biological science, environmental stewardship and global economics. We transform security and technolog school by planting the seeds of understanding and opportunity in every >> year with FFA. >> Thank you for your time and we hope you enjoyed our presentation this evening. [cheering] [applause] That was awesome, Miss Hoppy. Miss Hoppy, we appreciate what you do. We definitely appreciate what you do. >> These these kids are awesome.
052Those two [applause] They sound like potential lawyers. It is now time for public comments. Miss Smith, is there anyone wishing to make public comments? >> Yes, sir. We do have members of the community to speak. >> Can you go ahead? Oh, I'm sorry. The board will now hear comments from those persons who have signed up to speak. This portion of the meeting is set aside for parents, students, employees, and community members to speak to the board about any matter of interest to them pertaining to the school program. Each person who signed up by 4:30 p.m. yesterday may speak for two and a half minutes. Those who signed up after that time and prior public comments today will be allowed 1.5 minutes. During public comments, the board will listen, but it is forbidden by the Texas
053Open Meeting Act from discussing any topic raised or making any decision unless the matter is already on the agenda for this meeting. The board reminds speakers that public comment is not the time to bring the board complaints about a particular program, employee, or students. Should a speaker's remark include complaints directed at a particular student, employee, or program, I will respectfully act that that individual stop speaking and utilize the board's adoptive grievance procedures. As a reminder, your time will be monitored. Miss Mick, can you call the first person? >> Yes, sir. Jennifer Moore. It'll be great and convincing if they could. Miss Moore, how you doing? >> Doing well, this. How are you? >> All right. Good. >> Take a break. >> I'm ready. >> I bet everybody is. Okay. I spent a lot of time
054and effort drafting a statement that fits into two minutes and 30 seconds in response to last month's discussion. Our cameras in the classroom and it's good and I can't wait for you to hear it. But I'm going to put it on pause because I have it on my heart to talk to you now more about just simply my request to clarify. I'm seeking cameras in self-contained classrooms in the district, AFL, SLC, ESCE classes, kids that are contained in education rooms that are this the same class the majority of the day with the same staff to help their every need. This is different than asking for cameras in every special education room. It would be wonderful for the board to come together to agree to seek change to make it mandatory for the district. And I'm
055all for that and I wish it could happen. and I'll keep coming back. But we can make this change tomorrow. You can. The law clearly states that a parent, principal, board, board member or admin can request can make the request. All you have to do is fill out the form. The district doesn't post the form online. All of all the policies and procedures that they post on the website, requesting cameras is not one of them. But all you have to do is email Miss Brooks and ask her for the form and you can fill it out. The principles in this room, you can do the same thing. If you've been here and you heard me and you see no reason for there not to be a camera in a self-contained classroom, you can I ask
056you to please submit the request based on the classes in your school. The board members can collaborate with the principles and ask which cameras in the class don't already have one. I understand that not every parent would want cameras in a classroom, but I have never met a special needs parent opposed to it. Never. I was the parent that didn't want my kids recorded because they were adopted and I wanted to protect their privacy. But in this circumstance, the law prohibits that anyway because it can't be viewed. Why don't I had blind faith. I believed in the goodness of people. I do believe in the goodness of people. I think that it takes a special person to teach in this room. And I feel that most people most teachers have a calling to do so.
057I believe that there's a majority that the majority of the teachers in these rooms have nothing but pure hearts and good intentions. But I also know what it's like to take care of these kids day in and day out with screaming and tantrums and needs that never end with deadlines to be met, buses waiting to leave, pinching, scratching, and kicks and knowing that you're all you're doing trying to do is get through the day and that tomorrow's going to be the same time. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Moore. >> Thank you very much for allowing me to speak. I appreciate it. >> Call the next one up, please. >> Sabrina Winger. How you doing, Sabrina? >> And before I begin, Dr. Allen, I think you were looking at some of my notes. That's just a
058confirmation from God for me. Okay. Sabrina Winger, 2335 IH10, Bulmont, 7771. Good evening, Dr. Allen, trustees. Tonight I would like to begin with a huge thank you to the entire staff of BISD for the work we we do. It is to be commended. We w we we have and we will continue to pour our blood, sweat, and tears into this district. Matter of fact, I had a child stretch me like was sweet and drew blood. So yes, our blood, sweat, and tears. And so from the top down, and that includes you, Dr. Thank you for the work that you do. I also rise to speak to you about one of our board outcome goals to improve the community's perception of our district. This is a wonderful goal. It is very hard to accomplish if we
059are only worried about how we are perceived. One of the ch one of the ways that we have been challenged to accomplish this goal is to reduce the number of referrals that students receive. has been reported to us that not all referrals are being turned in. If we truly want the perception of the community has of our district to change, then we have to fix the issues that are causing the referrals to be written in the first place. In order for us to accomplish this, we need the help of our village community. That is where you come in. We need you checking those folders and backpacks. We need uh we need you to get connected and join Class Dojo, a free app that you can download uh electronically on your computer or even your smartphone.
060Need you to make sure that your child's teacher can get a hold of you. You know, we wouldn't be contacting you if there wasn't a reason. Parents, grandparents, cousins, etc. We need you to read with your students every day. There's also a way for you to sign up to read with your child's class with ROAR. Community members, we need you to utilize your talents and get involved where you can I'm have sorry BISD. We have to hold our students accountable for their actions and not just worry about how we look. Until we do, we are not truly going to improve the community's perception of our district. We will just be putting lipstick on a pig. In closing, we are all on the same team. We all want the children to be successful. Thank you. >>
061Thank you >> for one and a half minutes. Bridget Smith. Hey Bridget. >> Hello everyone. I came to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Y'all have always supported us. We haven't always had the same view. We always arg. But that's okay. That's just our language. But I wanted to tell y'all that we stand by y'all. We love you. We know what y'all did and we know what you doing. We are being all in all year long and we're going to continue making it because you was the one that stepped up for us. Now we will step up for you. Britney Taylor. I apologize. >> Good evening. >> How you doing? >> Good. How are you? >> Good. >> I'm here today once again to speak on behalf of special needs kids to
062advocate for their rights and their safety. My son is 11 years old. I am my son's voice. I am here today to advocate for the need and concerns for every special needs contained to advocate for every the need of cameras in every sorry so I am here today to advocate for the need of cameras in every self-contained classroom to ensure us as parents whose child can't speak for themselves. Could you imagine going through life knowing someone could hurt your child and you would never know and that you didn't protect them or that you couldn't? That fear became a reality for me. But without cameras, you come to the harsh reality that no one believes you or the other children who are special needs and can't speak. Do they not have merit because they are special
063needs? >> We have we have to trust people with That alone is very difficult. And when that trust is taken away, it totally becomes almost impossible to put trust in the public school system. Our children were abused by special educators in your school system. And no one has been held accountable. So ask again to please help protect our kids. Cameras and self-contained classrooms is the least you could do, which would also protect your teachers from also being Thank you. >> I appreciate all the comments that were made tonight. >> We're taking some things in consideration. We will now move on to this cabinet report. Uh first up is Mr. Sanders. Uh good evening board. Well, [clears throat] in the spirit of the FFA uh students, good evening board. >> You have before you this month
064an update of listing of newly hired and separated employees for the month of November. And I want to call to your attention that our gladiators even at the clo close of the of of the year are always hiring. Uh we only worked three weeks in November and we hired eight teachers, one assistant principal, and one counselor. Any questions? No, >> Thank you for that spirited respect. I appreciate it. Now, we're going to move on to the Hernandez show. >> Okay, fun fact. I am a product of Bowmont ISD FFA. >> Y'all wonder where I get my speaking skills. I was >> I thought I knew you. I was Greenhand president and I was a chapter former president and y'all I like to talk but I don't really like to talk. >> Okay, so keep it
065to a minimum. [laughter] >> We will definitely keep it to a minimum. But, uh, the tax office report for November, they collected just over $4.1 million in maintenance and operation taxes, and just over $863,000 in interest in syncing, which is our debt service. So, we are 4.19% collected, which is uh almost double what we were at this time last year. So, that's pretty good. Um, for the general fund summary, we had 72,138,571 in revenue um, as of November and 69,000 69,427,788 in expenditures and outstanding purchase orders of almost $5 million. Any questions for the campus activity funds? Um they collected at the campuses 154,457 and we had some donations. India Sonier at Career and Technical Center $90. Victoria Gilbo $45 for Career and Technical Center. Uh Delta Sigma Theta Sorority donated $575 to Bowmont United
066High School. Ramona Lee to Bowont United High School $240. And then we had uh Ten Commandment posters donated by Shiloh Platt which amounted to $1,200 donated to all of our campuses districtwide. And then we have our report for federal grants. We're reflecting the budget to actual year-to-ate expenditures through October with outstanding purchase orders. And we have the title one, title two, title three, and title four. and then IDA part B preschool and the regular formula grant and discretionary and then we're also uh showing Perkins and Head Start. Are there any questions about our grants? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> We are now ready for the consent agenda. Does anyone want to take the P? Oh, Mr. Maxwell, I forgot about you, Max. Mr. Maxwell, Mr. Nandis, Miss Taylor, Miss Greenwood, we
067are all Bowmont Charlton Pilot Cougars. I want y'all to know how impactful we are. >> Thank you, sir. Good evening, board of trustees and Superintendent Allen. The after the tragedy of the Uvali incident, our Texas governor TA and the Texas school safety center implemented the intruder detection audits to help ensure the safety of our staff and students. The audits for our school district began on September 1st. As of date, we've had 15 audits with nine more remaining. Are there any questions? No questions. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you, Mr. Maxwell. Okay, we are now ready for the consent agenda. Does anyone wish to pull any item off the consent agenda for discussion? Is there a motion? >> So move. >> Motion was made by Mr. Evans and second by Miss Hickman. All those in
068favor? Motion carries. 6. >> Mr. President, I recommend that the board approve budget amendments from the general fund six and accept amendments from special revenue 14. >> So move second. Motion has been made by Mr. Dunn and second by Mr. Evans, Mr. Nandis. >> Thank you, Mr. Sige. Um GF6, we are asking the board for $60,000 for some reading academy training for our teachers and also we're asking to transfer funds between functions for school leadership and nurses salaries. when we created the budget and created the positions at Jones Clark when they were given out that they we're just correcting the account codes on how they doled out the PCN for that campus and um we have one special revenue um amendment is uh changing functions between function 11 and community services function 61. Any questions?
069>> Any questions? There any discussion? All those in favor? Motion carries. 6. Mr. President, I recommend that the board approve purchases over $50,000 from the general fund in the amount of $75,000 and from state grant funds in the amount of $122,582.50. >> So move. >> Motion has been made by Mr. Dunn and second by Miss W. Thank you, Mr. Um the general fund purchase is Mathnasium of Bowmont for $75,000. This is for targeted in school math tutoring at Peach MacArthur. and then um Lake Country Chevrolet that we're utilizing the um safety and security grant number two to purchase two Chevy Silverado trucks in the amount of $122,582.50 for the police department. >> Any questions or discussion? All those in favor? Motion carries. 6. >> Mr. President, I recommend that the board approve the 2425 annual
070financial report. >> Second. >> Motion was made by Miss Hickman and second by Miss Avery. >> Mr. and board, we actually have our auditor here, Selena Sarah. She's with Whitley Pin. They conducted our audit for fiscal year 2025 and she's going to do a presentation to the board. You also have the actual audit report in front of you. >> Thank you. The floor is yours. >> Thank you. Thank you, uh, President Sige, Dr. Allen, and members of the board. Can you all hear me? Okay, that's okay. Okay. Get closer. Okay, even closer. Okay, I can do that. I'm pleased to report the results of the 2025 U audit. Uh this covers July 1st, 2024 through June 30th, 2025. As your chief financial officer, Mr. Ernnandez, has uh gone over the the current November 2025. This
071is historical information, but this is what where you landed as of fiscal year 2025 and what will be reported to the Texas Education Agency um and will be evaluated for first rating purposes that would help. Yes, sorry. I'd like to take you through the audit process which began in March April time frame where we assessed your changes within the district. We conducted a risk assessment uh looking at not just your financial reporting but also your federal grants as you'll see through the presentation and we go over the federal programs that we tested uh this year. The district spent uh over uh well $ 39.6 six million in federal grants. Um and so we had to evaluate that any changes. Um since the ESSER funds have been exhausted now you're you're left with the traditional big
072three which I like to call the title one part A uh child nutrition as well as your special education funds that have to be audited every two years. Um, as we evaluate internal controls, we identified the key controls, tested those controls, and you'll see in the next few slides which controls we tested that are critical to the financial statements of Bowman ISD. After the district closed its books in the September and October time frame, we came back to do our what's called substantive testing. That's actually looking at the numbers, verifying with third parties, etc. to make sure that the numbers reported here can be relied on. All of these steps are necessary in order to issue an opinion. And there's three types of opinions that we can issue. And they worsen from left to right.
073Um, every entity every entity wants to receive or earn an unmodified opinion, but I will hold the results till the end. So, I'll I'll um I'll it'll be a teaser here. Uh, but this is everything that needs to happen in order to issue an opinion. When we were out here in the summer in the spring time frame, we had to focus on all these different areas starting with information technology since it does feed all of these areas. We also look at PES or the public education information management system where we focus on attendance as well as your financial reporting that goes that is transmitted to the Texas Education Agency. In addition to non-payroll or accounts payable, we're also looking at procurement, making sure that we're testing for state compliance and federal compliance where applicable. We
074also look at other revenue such as your child nutrition revenue um and test those controls and of course payroll and human resources is critical because you do spend just in your general fund 73% of your expenditures go through towards payroll cost and of course for the major program that we tested we we apply certain um test um as promulgated by the office of management and budget the substantive procedures that I alluded to earlier in two slides previously. We start with basic analytical procedures. A flux analysis, what changed from one year to the next? Ask your management team what is the reason for it. We corroborate their responses. Then we move into a ratio analysis. Then the predictive test, the best example of that is looking at the collection rate of your property taxes for the
075last 10 years and then predicting what it should be in the current year and making sure that it's in line with our expectations. We also perform vouching procedures where we're looking at bank statements, invoices, etc. are the most significant evidence is confirmations from third parties where we get uh confirmations for your bonds, cash, and investments. And then we can also pull thirdparty reports from the Texas Education Agency payment report that will include both state and federal payments that flow through the Texas Education Agency. The controllers payment report will allow us to verify payments outside of TEA as well as with TEA. But we use that report to look at uh the Texas Department of Agriculture and any HHSC funds that flow through the district. And finally, for the large portion of your state revenue for
076state aid, uh we use the payment ledgers that are provided for us through the Texas Education Agency. Because you do spend more than $750,000. I mentioned earlier that you spent $39.6 million in federal funding. We're required to apply another level of auditing standards in addition to the generally accepted auditing standards. That's called the yellow book or generally accepted government auditing standards. I'm pleased to report that you've received an unmodified opinion over your financial statements. That means that any entity or rating agency, the Texas Education Agency, any granter can take the numbers presented here in this report and rely on the figures. uh you don't have any internal control findings related to financial reporting or compliance. So that means that you didn't have any deficiencies, significant material weaknesses, nor did we have a management letter comment
077for any control deficiencies. So kudos to Miss Cheryl and Nandez and Stacy Fish Fitch and all of your team members uh that take part in this and all of the uh departments within the district because we just don't meet with Mrs. Nandez. We meet with several departments and and we're quite disruptive, right? has to get done. But I appreciate Yes. [laughter] Yes, that's correct. Um, but we do have to get it done in order to issue this opinion. Um, and to to provide a true and accurate report of your financial statements and the controls. Uh, this year we tested title one part A, which was a type U A program, a large program. We are issuing an unmodified or clean opinion over this federal program with no findings over internal controls. Any questions before we
078move into the financial statement highlights? >> The governmentwide financial statements will be in exhibit A1 and B1 in your board packet that was delivered to you last week. Um, and and I'll make another note when we get to the fund balance discussion, but the governmentwide financial statements mimics that of a of a corporate financial statement, not a governmental fund, but that's required under Gazsby number 34. It's a standard within uh governmental entities. So, it takes everything that the district owns and everything that the district owes to arrive to a net worth of the district. So, when we look at your total assets, the the majority of these assets are made up of capital assets net of its accumulated depreciation and amortization, which total $43 million. The second largest is your cash and investments at $94
079million with receivables at $36 million. That receivable is primarily made up of property taxes that are still outstanding or were still outstanding as of June 30th, 2025, as well as any state aid payments that are still received in July and August time frame. You earn everything as of June 30th, but the state continues to make their payments in July and August for the 2025 aotment year. The total liabilities total 346 million with the bulk of that being the bonds payable at $182 million. The last two liabilities that are are very significant, but they're not worrisome because they don't represent a cash liability. They're not like an accounts payable, not even like your bonds payable where you have to make principal payments. These these two liabilities are your proportionate share of the liability at the state
080level for the teacher retirement system of Texas, right? Or the Texas retirement system of Texas, excuse me. The pension liability is that it's your retirement uh funds. The OPE is the other postemployment benefits and it's health care uh provided to retirees. So this liability is determined by your proportionate share um which means your contributions for the year divided by all the contributions of those that participate in TRS. So that total 52 million and $37 million respectively. Tomorrow you don't have to write a check for $52 million or $37 million. However, you will continue to pay into TRS as a district at the statutoily determined rates. The members, the employees will have to also pay in and then the state will also contribute which is called the on behalf payments. The ending net position or net
081worth is $223 million. Now we move into the general fund budget to actual. This is a true governmental fund. It's your operating fund. This is what you're accustomed to seeing as we as Mr. Ernand has just presented your monthly financial statements and the budget to actual results. You started the year July 1st, 2024 with $67 million. You brought in $183 million were which were under budget by $6 million primarily in the local revenues and federal revenue u categories. You deduct the expenditures of $173 million. Those came under budget at $11 million. Then you did transfer $9 million out to the capital projects fund for future capital projects. and that will help you uh not to have to issue bonds for future projects. You're using your chapter 313 uh revenues for those purposes and setting it
082aside. If for whatever reason you need that, you can simply transfer it back for operations. So many districts do that um in order to reduce the need for for long-term debt. Overall, the fund balance increased by $1 million, bringing your ending fund balance at $68 million. Before we get into what does this mean? Is it healthy? Is it not? Let's go through the different buckets of your revenue. You'll see that property taxes uh totaled $105 million or 50% of your total revenue with state aid coming in at $50 million. State aid is your available school fund as well as your foundation. There's always an inverse relationship between your property taxes and state aid. You bring in more property taxes, the state will reduce your state aid. That yellow portion of the pie is the TRS
083on behalf. So that that totals $8 million, but it does not represent cash. It is your recognition of TRS contributing on behalf of the employees of Bowont ISD $8 million into their respective uh pension plan. Uh for for that there is an offsetting in $8 million in the expenditure category by the various functions. So it's a net effect of zero to your fund balance. But I still have to to mention it so that no one thinks it's an additional $8 million in cash. Your local revenues totaled $17 million. 12 million of that are the chapter 313 agreements and the um the trade zones as well that you the federal trade zones or FTZs that you'll see in note 7 of your report. And that's a portion of that is what was transferred over to the
084capital projects fund. And finally, your federal revenue total $3 million. The majority of that is indirect car cost. Some of it is is the school health and related services or chars revenue. So again, the bulk of your revenue is coming from properties taxes and state aid. And this year too, you became a recapture district where you have to send back some of your property taxes to the state um as well. And you'll see that in function 91 of your general fund uh report. The functional expenditures, what I'll say is that the instruction and and related services totaled $91 million or 53% with your instruction and school leadership at 14 million or 8%. One of the uh largest uh areas is your facilities maintenance and operations. This will include any repairs and maintenance, your utilities, all
085of that is in in that bucket. Uh this year it was slightly lower or it was significantly lower from the prior year. Uh in 24 you had a lot of HVAC repairs or replacements. This year they were not. uh present in fiscal year 25. You'll also see in your um in your general admin or the the purple um magenta color, if you will, is 4%. That's your general admin as well. And then you have your other uh categories that make up the difference that you'll also be able to see in your C3, exhibit C3 of your financial statement. So, now we get to the the unassigned fund balance. So, we talked about the overall fund balance of $68 million. There's $5 million sitting in non-spendable uh fund balance, meaning that it relates to prepaids or
086inventory, and it cannot be converted to cash. So, you're left with $63 million, which is available for appropriations. The best um indicator of of a healthy fund balance is looking at it from the lens of what does it mean in in in light of your annual expenditures. So if you were continue to spend at that 173 million uh$1 173 million level um you would and and all revenues were to cease. That fund balance would last about 132 days. What does tea require? TEA requires 75 days only. So you're well above what TEA requires. Uh you're almost double uh that amount. Um and then the the government finance officers association actually recommends 90 days. You have met or exceeded that. The critical or danger zone would be at 45 days or 12.5 days and you're nowhere
087where near near that. So this is a very healthy fund balance. You'll also notice that we replaced a page in the originally um submitted uh board packet to add the subsequent event for to address the commissioner's letter. regarding the board of managers. So we added that that note disclosure because it is significant and it falls within the line uh between the period of when we were issuing this this report. So that has been has been added in my review of the report. It does have doesn't have anything to do with with financial matters. As you can see your fund balance is is very healthy especially as it relates to your annual expenditures. Additional communications are are required and they're quite boring if I'm I'm frank, but we'll go over them quickly. Uh we were engaged
088February 20th, 2025. And then around to the July time frame, we issued a letter letting you know that the the audit was underway and we always identify uh risk within any any audit, which is management override, revenue recognition, and it's our job to develop uh procedures to mitigate those risks within our audit. We didn't have any issues otherwise we would have presented those earlier in the presentation. No disagreements or difficulties. Uh we have a lot of confidence in what Mr. Nandis and her her team does on an annual basis. They run a quite uh tight ship. I've been in the other room where I hear Mrs. Nandis say no no no. It's like okay she's tough and and she does because she cares and and I've seen this this district uh improve over the years
089uh especially as the control efficiencies diminished um and and there's nothing to report. We have to be independent of the district in order to perform our audit and I assert that here today. Uh this year we had to implement Gazsby number 101 or compensated absences. It had a very immaterial effect of under $10,000, but it required districts and governmental entities across the United States to almost have a crystal ball to say not only are we going to pay out employees x amount uh whether they they they separate from the district or they retire. But now we have to estimate how much of their leave will they use as time off. The way that that um we evaluated it and the assumptions flow, it didn't have a material impact, which was great. But you'll see discussion
090of that. You may hear your counterparts also discussing this standard. Um there was nothing uh of note in here, but we still have to uh identify it as as a new standard that we implemented. Um if you had to consult with other accountants as to opinion shopping, we'd be required uh to let you know, but we don't believe that was necessary nor that that happened. The last piece of audit audit evidence that we received was the management representation letter where your management team asserts that they've provided everything to us in order to conduct our audit and nothing was held back and all things were um provided to us. I have nothing further. Any any questions for me? >> Questions, comments? You are very good at what you do. I need to recognize my team because
091this wouldn't be possible without them. Stand up and those are the people who do most of the work. Just saying. They do it all and they do it very very well. >> Any questions for any of them? They would love to come up and talk to you too. We're good. >> No, no discussion, no question. All those in favor accepting the report. Motion carries 6. >> Mr. President, at this time I would like to formally congratulate Miss Lewanda Coleman, who has been promoted to principal of Dishman Elementary School. [cheering] Come on down, Miss Coleman. Come on down, Miss Coleman. Come on down. Miss Coleman has been doing a phenomenal job serving as interim principal and just really proud of the work that she has been doing for this semester. So yes, >> good evening. I
092would like to say thank you to Dr. Allen, our board, Dr. Frank, all my principal mentor friends that continue supporting to me, my family, my husband, and my children that have supported me on this journey, and I just look forward to continuing to do great things. Dishman has been amazing. They've adjusted to every change that we've had over, you know, the course of this beginning of this school year. So, I'm very excited to keep doing the work and showing up every day. Thank y'all. >> Thank you. know you're gonna be doing a good job. >> Thank you. >> Okay, Mr. Evans. >> Merry Christmas. Enjoy your break. That's it. >> Countdown. I'm counting down with you. All in all year for two weeks for sure. >> Once again, I'd like to thank uh Dr. Excuse
093me, Dr. [clears throat] Allen and and uh her cabinet and each and every one of you out there that continue every day to do an outstanding job want you to understand that we really really really do appreciate what you do and I know sometimes it's very difficult because it's not always pleasant but we have faith in you. So continue doing what you do. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Sige. Merry Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful holiday. You have certainly earned a rest and I hope you enjoy it to the max. Don't have my microphone on. Merry Christmas and have a blessed new year. And I'm I'm thinking about uh right now I'm thinking about uh Trusty Reese. You know, uh he would normally say, you know, Miss Spooner sings and she might say,
094"Merry Christmas. Let's bring some sunshine into the room and have a happy new year." Thank you, >> Doc. Just thank you again to the team, to my team, this entire Bulman ISD family for all of your work. You know, we don't believe in counting down, Miss Avery. We don't count down, right? We cannot count down. >> We don't count down, Miss Avery. We enjoy the moments. We work to the end. We don't have any dead time. We have a few more days, and we're going to enjoy those days working hard and making certain that we keep crazy away. So, thank you so much team for all of your work and I really and truly wish each and every one of you a phenomenal break. Please take that time to relax, enjoy your families, decompress, and
095don't think about it. Really, I want you to try hard hard to do activities and not think about it because you need that opportunity to just to just let it go and then everything will be here in January and we'll be ready to go. >> Okay. You know, I tried to uh take some notes and write down something to say tonight, but I'll just go from the heart. We were disappointed in the decision that the commissioner made based on a meeting that myself, Miss Hickman, and Mr. Dunn had with with us with him. We were disappointed, but we know that he had an absolute right to make the decision that he made. But it's not really going to hinder you. is not going to hinder you. You are professionals and what you do every day.
096As I go around the district and I visit the individual schools, I see professionalism at work. And when I come up here, I see professionalism with the cabinet, continue to advocate for children. By the Texas Constitution, they have a right to an education. We have to give it to them. We cannot rely on the parents or we have not been able to rely on them. But we have to stand in the gap and I encourage each of you to stay motivated. Stay up all in all year. Let's finish this thing. I am unconcerned about what they're going to do to me. I am unconcerned what they're going to do to the board. We're going to be all right. and so will you. Every board member is committed to you. I'm going to be here, like
097Dr. Allen said, until the day they tell me you're done. And I made some commitments to some schools. I am going to fulfill my commitment to those schools. I'm a man of my word. But you are professionals. All of you. You work hard, you grind, and you put the work in in order to make BISD what it is. We have fallen short. We're not going to argue about that. But we are on the way to correcting this. We have put so many things in place so that we have a good year in 2026 when it comes to that star test. And like Mr. Dun said, "I would have liked to him have waited until the results were posted, but he didn't. But that shouldn't hinder you. Continue to do the job that you are capable
098of doing because it's not for me. It's not for Dr. Allen. It's for the children of Bulmont, Texas, and BISD. These children are future leaders in this community. Some of them going to be in the county and some of them be state but they are they are in our hands. Do the best that you can do. Teachers are so selfless. They don't you ain't in this for the money. I get paid in peanuts but I know that you are not in it for money. You are in this business to help society as a whole because an educated child is an educated, productive individual in our community. We need you to continue on the road to success. That's what I expect for you to do. And I know you're gonna do it because I feel that
099you are amongst the best. The best never give up. They never quit. They run the race to the end. I need you to run the race to the end. But I will be still available. I will still be going around visiting the departments and the schools. Do the best that I can to keep you motivated. This can be deflating, but it is not a funeral. Ain't nobody dead. We're going to get up and we're gonna make it happen. I wish you all a merry Christmas. Hope Santa Claus bring you what you want. And you all have a great evening. To your surprise, we're