001The sooner we start, the sooner we can finish. Good afternoon. I would like to call this meeting the Bowman Independent School District Board of Trustees. Order. Today is Thursday, November 20, 2025, and the time is 4:38. Roll call, please. Trustee Sige >> here, >> Trustee Dunn, >> Trustee Avery >> here, >> Trustee Evans >> here, >> Trustee Hickman >> here, >> and Trustee Wallace Spooner >> here. >> Okay, we will now convene to close session to discuss agenda items posted on the close session agenda as authorized by the Open Meeting Act under sections 551.071, 071 074 and the Texas government code. Let's go do it. We are now ready for the meeting. The board will now convene. reconvene. It is 6:20 p.m. The pledges and the recognitions will follow. Please stand. Good evening. Tonight's colors
002are presented by the Bulmont United NJOTC cadet Jasine Garcia, Cadet Tyrell Johnson, Cadet Monica Hernandez, and Cadet Ethan Provost under the direction of Gunnery Sergeant Michael Triplet, United States Marine Corps retired. Tonight's pledges will be led by Urelli Garcia. She is a Regina How prek student and was recently recognized as a charger of the month for putting forth her best effort every day, listening to and respecting authority, being on time and prepared, and treating others the way she wants to be treated. >> Yeah. I pledge aliance to the flag of United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, one indivisible and liberty and justice for all. Texas. Okay. >> Under the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. [applause]
003Come on. Ready, cut. >> [applause] >> We will now turn it over to Miss Simeon. Good evening, President Sige, board trustees, Dr. Allen, and audience members. We begin tonight with a presentation from GF Coast Educators, Federal Credit Union. The financial institution hosted a drawing at this year's Texas Edcon, the joint convention of the Texas Association of School Administrators and Texas Association of School Boards. Trustee Yolanda Avery entered Bumont ISD into the drawing and last month she was notified that we were a winner. Joining us tonight to present us with a check for $500 is GF Coast Educators Federal Credit Union Business Development Coordinator Lamanda Johnson. [applause] Good evening, board members. Dr. Allen, I must say, Yolanda, I never work so hard to give money away. [laughter] We both know each other by nickname. So when
004I sent the email, she thought it was spam. So I had to work hard to get in touch with her [laughter] through Facebook. But I just want to say thank you for entering and it's an honor to be here back home and I'm glad someone from my hometown, you know, entered and won. So we present this check of $500 in recognition of that. Yes. Thank you, Yolanda. >> [applause] >> Here we go. Ready? And don't worry, I have the real check. Tonight, Bowmont ISD is honored to recognize a community member whose generosity and commitment to public safety have made a lasting impact on our district. Former Jefferson County Sheriff and former county judge Carl Griffith has stepped forward with a gift that has brought Bumont ISD one step closer to meeting new state school safety
005mandates. Bowont ISD police are the grateful recipients of four level three ballistics shields generously donated by Mr. Griffith. At a time when such lifesaving tools are outside the district's planned budget, we are deeply thankful for Mr. Griffith's dedication to protecting our students, staff, and schools. Please join me in expressing our heartfelt gratitude tonight, Mr. Griffith. [applause] >> Oh, thank you. I'm truly honored. Uh, Mr. president, board members, and Dr. Allen. I am a product of BISD many, many years ago where I started school right here in this building. Not this building, but over there. I think about your office maybe. Anyway, um when we saw what happened in U Valley that next week, this was three years ago. I had several people ask me, I at the time, we didn't ask for any recognition and
006didn't want any. and I understood now you've got mandates and it's important the community knows that you have the shields here. Um Lori and I and our group at GMJ, our company, um immediately when it happened after 24 years in law enforcement, we started calling around to see what agencies that were going to be first responders to our children, not just at BISD, but also Port Arthur, Mid County. We did every school that didn't have shields. We made sure that at least they had a shield there that they could go in because in my whole career, 24 years in law enforcement, I was never so hurt to see what happened to those children in Valley. And if a shield would have made a difference in that split-second decision, I wanted to be here with our
007police in Jefferson County. And so, um, thank you, VD. Um, and hopefully we don't ever have to use them. >> [applause] >> Thank [applause] you. Bumont ISD is proud to recognize a partnership that continues to elevate STEM learning across our district. Thanks to the leadership and collaboration with Exxon Mobile, the 2025 family STEM night became the most successful event of its kind in district history. Our [music] support really stems off of the fact that [music] we want to continue to fill our pipeline of engineers, technology majors, you know, biologists, geologists, people that enter [music] the STEM careers. We need the the students to continue to go to the universities and get educated in STEM careers. [music] But it really starts at the early childhood age. I'm an exom over intern and I'm thankful that I
008received this opportunity my last year in high school and I think this will really expose a lot of kids to new opportunities that they haven't heard of or haven't yet seen with my degree. I plan to go on with XMO be a process operator and a co-op opportunity that they're giving me. That would be great. Excellent Mobile has done a really fantastic job in sponsoring this program and we hope they continue to sponsor because it affects it it transforms the kids in this district and it's extremely important for this to continue. Uh what we find is is that kids [music] that aren't included in STEM type of activities or don't really understand STEM in the [music] early parts when they get to high school they don't take the right classes and then when by the
009time they get to college they're already behind other people and so they they [music] don't choose STEM careers. So, we're trying to really get immersed into BISD, partner with BISD, and really kind of [music] continue to build that relationship to get the students involved, [applause] Exxon Mobile, Bowont Area Public and Government Affairs Advisor Tyler Gustafson, and Bumont area public and government affairs contractor Olivia Malik played a key role in ensuring the event's success while Bumont ISD STEM coordinator Landre Cobb Eagland brought her vision, leadership, and passion for STEM to every aspect of the evening. Tonight, we proudly recognize their teamwork, generosity, and dedication to creating meaningful learning experiences for our families. Speaking tonight on behalf of the group is our STEM coordinator, Lashandra Cobb Eaggan. [applause] Um, Exxon Mobile isn't here yet, but I wanted
010to say on behalf of Bowman ISD, the CTE department, and our STEM programs, our STEM programs, we extend our deepest gratitude for our continued partnership with Exxon Mobile. During STEM night, Exxon Mobile presented BISD with two checks symbolizing the remarkable investments that they have made in our students and their futures. One check was for $195,000 which represented $50,000 distributed across Exxon Mobile fence line campuses to support STEM education. And if the those principles would stand that are recipient of those of those funds, please do so at this time. Charlton Pard, PAMAC, Vincent, Westbrook, and Bowmont United. [applause] $50,000 was to support the annual BISD Exxon STEM night, allowing our campuses and community partners to expose students to STEM, and to make connections to what they are learning in the classroom, to higher education, and to
011the workforce. $45,000 was for the Marshall Middle School STEM bridge uh summer bridge to STEM program. Miss uh Dr. Stewart, if you would stand up. Provided it provided targeted support for students advancing in math, science, and reading with field trips to fantastic labs. George OB observatory where they had to complete a simulated mission on Mars or the moon and behind the scenes STEM tours to Astro Baseball Park. What I loved about this this summer and the simulation was that it was so real for the students that there was a record uh one of the teachers had recorded and you could see one kid saying, "Guys, we've got to make it to to Mars." And like he was so serious. I loved it. And $50,000 uh went to Charlton Parard Elementary Literacy Initiatives to enhance students
012uh literary knowledge and skills. The second check totaling $175,000 was given directly to STEM to support curriculum enhancements and technology upgrades. These funds have allowed us to provide our engineering practicum students with a work-based learning project focusing on electric vehicles in the spring. Uh it also integrate we were allowed to integrate Doughbots into robotics 2 curriculum strengthening students understanding in industrial robotics. We launched the seventh grade bridge to STEM program designed to support struggling students in math and reading while immersing them in the stu uh STEM experiences. And we offer highly high qual uh quality professional development for STEM teachers providing uh empowering them to the skills with skills to prepare students for the workforce increasing uh their drive in STEM. Beyond Exxon Mobile's financial generosity, we also acknowledge and appreciate the tremendous human capital
013they invest in Bowman ISD. For example, each year Exxon Mobile hosts Introduce a girl to engineering day. Made possible through the time through made possible through time and commitment of many Exxon Mobile volunteers who devoted countless hours is inspiring our eighth grade young ladies and showing them that there is undoubtedly a place for them in STEM. These volunteer hours also translate into additional contribution to the district STEM program with the most recent being $3,500. I want to thank on behalf of BISD Exxon Mobile again and again and again. We appreciate you. And at this time, we are excited to announce the winners of the STEM night attendance contest in the elementary division. Regina Howell Elementary with 90 students in attendance. Principal of Regina Howell, if you're here, if you'd come, accept your check. [applause] And
014our secondary division, Marshall Middle School, earning the victory of a third consecutive year with 243 students. Congratulations to our winners. >> Congratulations to our winners and thank you to all the campuses that supported and participated in this district-wide initiative. Your commitment helps make STEM night a continued success for our students, families, and community. Thank you. >> [applause] >> and our Exxon Mobile representatives have joined us now. Do you have a few words? Once again, I want to thank each of y'all. This is the third year that we've done this and we welcomed over 5,000 people this year. Once again, we keep raising the bar and I'm excited to see how many people will welcome next year. This is a historic year for the relationship between Exon Mobile Bulmont and Bowman ISD. We all should all
015be very thrilled with where we're going and the progress that we've made. I think this year alone, Exon Mobile has contributed more than half a million dollars to programs that will benefit Bumman ISD students through all kinds of programs ranging from literacy to health to sending students to Space Center Houston, which we celebrated earlier this week. There's all kinds of programs in BISD that are exclusive to BISD because of the great relationship that we have together. And so I want to thank each of y'all and all of our great teachers and students and parents in BISD. Thank y'all. [applause] Ready? One, two, [applause] Thanks. We are pleased to now recognize Westbrook Jr. John Fowler. John delivered a remarkable performance at the 2025 UIL state cross country meet, finishing 19th out of 152 competitors, [applause] improving
016from 60th place last year, John also shaved more than 40 seconds off of his time, showcasing tremendous growth, determination, and his status among the state's top high school runners. Please join me in congratulating John Fowler. [applause] It was an honor to represent Westbrook High School and BISD for the second time at the UIL state cross country championship. I'm already I'm already training for next year. I'm very thankful for the support I have and I'd like to thank BISD, my coaches, my teammates, and my parents for all the support. Thank you. [applause] two. [applause] Finally, tonight we celebrate National Parent Involvement Day by thanking our district parent teacher associations. Their consistent support, partnerships, and engagement strengthen our campuses and create meaningful opportunities for every child to succeed. Please join me in applauding these parents. [applause] Speaking
017on behalf of the group tonight is Blanchett PTA president Sonia Matthew Wilidge and she'll be joined by all of our district PTA presidents. [applause] >> Good afternoon. I am Sonia Matthews Wilridge. I am Blanchett's PTA uh president. This is my second year. Um, of course, today is uh parent teacher association, uh, parent involvement. Anyone in BISD who takes the time out to volunteer, we are this our day. So, [laughter] we want to thank you guys for allowing us to come and being recognized uh, just for our effortlessly time in the schools. I know a lot of I say, "Hey, I need an office because I'm here too much." [laughter] But we do have countless fundraisers, countless time with mentoring, uh sponsoring things, fundraising, um taking field trips. We are everywhere most of the time where
018we are asked to be. So, uh outside of myself, thank you guys obviously and anyone else that is a parent in and involved in BISD, thank you guys as well. Thank the district for allowing us to come today to be recognized. >> [applause] >> hairman. Just a hair. Perfect. All right. Ready? [applause] And a reminder, our campuses and offices will be closed next week for Thanksgiving break. Normal hours will resume on Monday, December 1st. We thank all of you for joining us tonight, and we wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving. And you can keep up with what's happening in the district by following our social media pages, subscribing to our YouTube channel, and visiting bowontisdbmtisd.com. >> Thank you, Miss Simeon. [applause] >> Before I turn it over to Doc, Miss Lung, you got it
019going on over there, huh? >> And Mr. Merrell bragging about a three. So, I hope the rest of you schools are going to pick it up next year and have more students there. Three repeat. We will now hear from the superintendent. >> Good evening, Mr. President, to our board, our Bulman ISD family, and Bulmont community. We'll begin tonight's presentation with our vision and mission statement. So, if you could please join me in reciting our vision statement. In collaboration with the entire community, we will create an inclusive environment of academic excellence that supports the diverse needs of all learners. And our mission statement, we will inspire and prepare all students for lifelong success by providing an exemplary education in a safe learning environment. Our vision and mission is founded on our six core beliefs. And tonight's
020presentation focuses on core belief number one, all children can and will learn. And core belief number six, we will be fiscally responsible and accountable to the public. So tonight's presentation will be discussing the 2627 budget. When I looked at my presentations from last year, this same time last year, we were celebrating the success of our voter approval tax rate election that our community supported us on to support us in the budget development process. And as a result of the success of that election, the district received an additional a little more than $13 million total added to our maintenance and operation revenue that we were able to utilize for compensation for our employees program continuation and maintenance and operations. I want to make certain that our community understands how much we appreciate their support in providing
021these additional funds for us and just reminding them of how we are actually utilizing those funds. We are doing the things that we promised our community that we would do. We set aside 2.2 million annually for maintenance and operations, including the replacement of roofs. You have a picture here. Miss Spooner will provide more information in her report, but [snorts] the roof replacements at four campuses this year and a couple of campuses last year with the silicone roofs. We've also invested in chiller replacements and boiler replacements. So, I just want to make certain that our community hears and understands that we are following through on our commitment to how we were going to utilize those resources because it did give us an additional 13 million annually to add to our budget. Now, currently we are beginning
022the process of working on the 27 school year budget. As we work to prepare next year's budget, you know, we utilize a system called Frontline Analytics, which allows us to compare ourselves to other districts or other local districts in different data points. And I chose to pull a few pieces of data related to our budget over the past five years and how our spending compares to several of our peer districts within our region. So when you look at this particular report in the next few slides, the data comparisons will showcase Bulmont ISD compared to Lumberton ISD, Netherland ISD, Port Arthur, Port Nes, and Vider ISD. And as you can see, comparatively speaking, of course, Bowman ISD is the largest school district. The data listed here is from 2024. So when you see a 16,349 students,
023that's 2024 data that was pulled from PES. But we are the largest district. We are about twice the size of the next largest district, which is Port Arthur. Also, when you look comparatively speaking at the number and percentage of ELLL students enrolled, we're at 16% closer to percentage- wise of Netherland ISD with 15.68%. And then economically disadvantaged percentage based on 2024 data, Bowman ISD was at 82.66 and the next district closest to us in economically disadvantaged percentage is Port Arthur ISD at 84%. So when you look at our just our overall budget summary and you know how are we how are our expenses trending in certain categories or have they changed in certain categories over the course of the past this is four years again and this chart actually shows just Bulmont ISD's expenses and
024the largest increase in expenses over the course of the last five years has been in instruction uh ancillary services and student support. So those three areas, these don't represent all the areas, just the major areas with the largest percentage in increase in our spending from 2020 to 2024. Now, this slide actually shows just Bowmont ISD and it depicts our revenue estimates versus our actual performance. meaning how has our revenue projections each year compared to the actual revenue that the district received. So when we're building the budget, and I've shared this before, we are actually guesstimating on the amount of revenue that we think we're going to receive based upon the number and percentage of students in average daily attendance. So this chart shows over the past five years, how accurate have we actually been in
025calculating revenue over the past five years. So overall, we've done a pretty good job. So if you look for 2024, for example, the actual budgeted amount was less than the actual revenue. So we actually received more revenue than what we budgeted. If you look at the percentages over the course of the past four years, you see some slight variances, but we've been down in our estimate no more than 2.5%. So that's really pretty good when you think about the fact that you never really know the percentage of time that your kids are going to come to school. We make these predictions and we make these revenue estimates and build our budget based on that. But the team has done, you know, we've done a really good job overall making those predictions. Now on the expense
026side, what did the expenses look like? The actual expenses compared to what we budgeted for. So ideally every year you want to see that your spending is less than or equal to what you budget. So as you can see we've been pretty consistent over the past uh five years listed on this chart with actually spending less than what we actually budgeted. And then this slide compares our spending to our peer districts. So in what areas of the money that we spent are we most above the average for the group I shared which was Port Arthur, Port Nes, Vider, Netherland and Lumberton. So BISD is the red circle. Okay. So the first line for example is instruction. BISD is the red circle and the gray circles represent those peer districts. The vertical line represents the average
027for all in in the peer group. So as you can see in this particular example instruction we are ahead of in spending. We spend more than just about all the districts in our group except for one. When you look at the next category which is instructional leadership we are ahead in our spending. Facilities which is the third we are we are ahead of the we are ahead of the group almost with a little bit uh above average. And then for the other areas, food service security, guidance and counseling, student transportation, community services, we're pretty consistent with what other districts are actually spending. So where you see the circles clumped together, we are actually in line. That means we're overlapping and we're spending pretty much the same amounts per student compared to those other districts. So
028what areas then are we where our spending varies more? So as you can see on this slide again Bowman ISD is the red circle. How do we compare to other districts? So when you look at for example the first one community services we spend more than all the other districts in community services. So as you go down the line, you can see kind of where we land in general administration, where we spend curriculum development and instruction, extracurricular, data processing services, instructional resources, school leadership, health services, social work service, and uh payments to juveniles. So you can actually see there's more of a variance in these areas and how our spending compares to other districts. So you want to see, you know, the purpose of these slides is to just show, you know, kind of where
029are we in line with how we actually utilize our resources compared to uh other districts. So I like looking at this data and and of course, you know, going deeper into it. This is not telling you every line or every it's telling you the general function and how we've coded our different expenses, but overall you can see kind of where we line up with other districts. So, as we continue to work through the process, our 26 27 draft budget priorities, these are draft priorities. They have not changed from last year's priorities, which is to continue to focus on highquality learning experiences and engage instruction by building a culture of literacy, equipping our schools with resources to increase the number of high performing campuses, utilizing and maintaining technology to enhance the learning for our students. Our
030second priority is to recruit, retain, and support effective teachers and leaders in every school. Our third priority is to provide a safe, secure, and supportive learning environment. Fourth priority, upon graduation, every student will have the option to attend college, start a career, join the military or workforce, and lastly, ensuring that financial resources align with board goals and priorities. Again, these are draft budget priorities that are based on the district's core values, the district's vision, mission, and the district's strategic plan. We'll present these during our next uh budget committee meeting. And if there are any recommendations for changes, we'll certainly bring those back to the board, but currently these are our draft priorities as we begin the process of working toward the 26 27 budget. Are there any questions? The last thing that I want to
031challenge our community to, you should have a document. Did you all have this little document at your seat? So, thank Miss Angelo for providing each and every one of us with the 100 things challenge, which is to list out a hundred things for which I am grateful for. And if you haven't had an opportunity to do that, I hope you do during this Thanksgiving season. Matter of fact, before you leave on Friday to our team, take time to actually complete this list. You know, there are so many things that we have to be grateful for. And it is just such a powerful activity and a reflection opportunity to sit down and just start listing them out and writing them down. And I know I will certainly be working on my list, but I'm I'm most
032certainly grateful for our kids, our team members, and the opportunity, you know, given to serve our community and serve our kids every single day. So, I do hope that our team takes time to complete this reflection activity. Well, even if you don't do it by the end of the day tomorrow, do it do it on Sunday when you know you don't have to get up Monday because that's something to really be grateful for to start your list off with. So this concludes my presentation. Any questions? >> Thank you, Dr. Allen. We'll now go into the cabinet reports. >> Who's first? Come on. I was waiting for the >> I have a hot date. >> Thank you, President Sige and um Dr. Allen and the board of trustees. I will be giving a brief overview of
033the vision week report. You have the full report in front of you if you wanted to um view that. So vision week is a two-week long series of events to gather input from critical stakeholders about ensuring great outcomes for students and creating campuses that thrive. This report unpacks the hopes, excitement, and areas of opportunity as named by the BISD parents, students, teachers, and community members. And it also addresses board goal number four that be Bowmont ISD will improve its perception with all stakeholders by ensuring all students are safe, supported, and able to develop self-management skills as measured by the survey and other data. In this survey, we utilize three different strategies in order to reach the maximum number of uh participants. We had our traditional outreach um which leveraged uh district flyers, yard signs, callout
034blasts, emails, and social media posts. This year we actually put the vision week survey up on the scoreboard at the Bowmont Bowl, which was exciting. The second way that we um reached out to the community is uh looking at student groups. In previous years, we had focus groups. This year we utilized the superintendent student leadership council um in order to help craft questions, look at the questions and they actually added some additional questions that they felt like uh the committee would benefit from. And then our third uh outreach is that we had community marketing where we had tasked uh community members and community leaders such as yourself in social media posts and we also had QR tents at community events and displayed our vision board. Last year we only had 105 community members to fill
035out the survey. So this year we asked for your support and y'all actually bolstered our numbers and we greatly appreciate that because then that gives a broader perspective as far as what is our perception in the community. So we were able to receive community constituent feedback which is an increase of 320% from last year. So thank you guys for that. And so I wanted to let you know, I know that y'all been waiting for a whole month to know who actually had the most engagement. And it was esteemed President Sige [laughter] [applause] with 85 engaged community members. But Miss uh Yolanda Avery, you were just two away. Two away. every day I was looking at the numbers I was like wow and so this is um a phenomenal achievement because we had so many more
036uh feedback from the community and then that way when we're looking at the top one or two priorities that we're going to um engage in for uh the upcoming school year we have a more broader perspective of what the community wanted also would like to recognize the campuses for their student and staff participation. And so for our elementary campuses, they had 100% of student um completion Cwood Elementary, Charlton Pard, Sally Curtis, Dishman, Fletcher, Roy Gest, Homer, and Martin Elementary were our elementary campuses 100% student. And for our secondary campuses, we had ODM Academy with 97% and then Dr. King Collegiate Academy with 100% of their students. And then finally for staff 100% completion, we had Dr. King Collegiic Academy and then the Career and Technical Education Center would had 100% of their staff complete the
037survey. And so when you look at it, we had a total of 8,187 responses. Uh so that's quite a bit that our team is going to look through in order to drill that down to what are going to be our top priorities. If you notice that we had every single area this year to imp increase in community engagement. The only area where there was a slight dip is in third through fifth grade but only by about a hundred students. So that was really um impressive. So when we look at our BISD supporters you will see the distribution of the data here. 59% of the people who took the survey overall out of the whole 8,1887 59% of them were supporters. This data is going to be our baseline number for our new board goal and
038we will be tracking it um over the course of this year all the way to 2030. So I just pulled out just a couple of slides, not many. Um, like I said, you have the full report just so that the community can see um some of the responses. So, our third through fifth grade had the most um support with 71% of them as being supporters. One of the highlights is that I have a best friend at school was at 85%. And then that I've learned something interesting at school in the past 70 uh seven days was 76%. When we look at our sixth grade and really our secondary is trending about the same with almost 50% of the students um survey that completed the survey are supporters of BISD. And they had one example of
039the data is that 78% of the students have many goals. You can see that high school has the same percent. And one of the things that I wanted to highlight here was that 50% of them uh want learn uh love learning through hands-on projects and 46% love to learn about different jobs and things that they can be when they grow up. Our parents had strong supporters as well. They were at 65%. You can see the distribution there. We had quite a few high likely to um uh say that BISD that they would uh recommend BISD to a friend or a family member. And so 73% of them say they feel welcomed in our community schools in our school community. And then our uh community members, we're at 56% supporters. And three of their top um
040ranked priorities that make a good teacher are building strong relationships with all students, maintains an organized and safe classroom, and then supports students self-management, interpersonal skills, and decision making. If you look at our teacher data, you'll see that it was pretty broad across. So we got a good sampling of teachers in different grade levels. We had a high number there too of supporters at 63%. And in their data, one of the points I wanted to point out is that 78% of them say there's someone at work that encourages their development. When we look at our employee responses, they were also high at 62% of supporters. and they said 80% of them have the materials and equipment that they need to do their work right. Overall the sentiment from all groups um is represented in this
041word cloud here. And when you look at what are the hopes and dreams the BISD do we have for BISD students you see that they want them to be successful have confidence they want their dreams and wants them to be productive. Give you a moment to look at that. And so our next steps is that the NPS committee is going to unpack this data using the executive summary and the raw data that you have before you. We will meet monthly to choose one to three action steps that will address our board outcome goal in order to improve the perception of all stakeholders. We have MPS posters at all campuses already and so we'll be sending out communication to the principles on making sure that they have whenever they have any kind of event that they
042utilize those NPS um posters that were provided in order for us to get feedback and track throughout the year what is our um net promoter score. We'll get more information about that once we get our um our first collection of data beyond our baseline data for from today. Then also our next second next step is to hold a stakeholder meeting in January. So once we have narrowed down to focus to those action items, we will then open it up to the community for them to be able to give some additional feedback on if they feel like that that is the direction that we should be going. I also want to make acknowledgement um special acknowledgement to the people that helped me put this survey together. Of course, I don't live on an island. So, Miss
043Chavis, which is our uh coordinator for at risk, uh Miss Shantel Mangum, and who is the assistant director of community uh community and media relations, Miss Henrietta Seavoy, which is the coordinator royer and parent liaison. Uh Miss Tisha Smith, our coordinator board affairs, Miss Lydia Sylvester, the director of school counseling, and Dr. Diana Valdez, which is our director of leadership development and student discipline. Thank you so much for your time. Do you have any questions for me? >> Any questions? Thank you, Miss Leverne. >> You're welcome. Can I go ahead and give you your >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I want it cuz Miss Avery thought she needed it. >> I'll pass it to her. >> Thank you. >> Uh oh, we got a challenge. They say it's on next year. [laughter] I like competition.
044>> Miss Smith, do we have anyone? >> Yes, sir. We do. >> Comment. >> Yes, sir. >> The board will now hear comment 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 2.5 minutes. Those who signed up after that time and prior to the public comments today will be allowed 1.5 minutes. During public comment, the board will listen, but it is forbidden by the Texas Open 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
045public comment is not the time to bring board complaints about a particular program, employee, or student. Should the speaker's remark include complaints directed at a particular student, employee, or program, I will respectfully ask that the individual stop speaking and utilize the board's grievance procedures. >> Miss Smith. >> Yes, sir. The first speaker will be Fel Hurt. Good evening. Every generation deserves the right that a school can learn without fear, without limits, and feeling protected in mind, body, and spirit. When I walk through the schools for the past few weeks, I noticed these are not just our students. This is the future of our next generation and community. Good evening, BISD board members, administrators, and community partners. Something that matters to us all is safety. I want to first acknowledge it and be thankful for the
046work that has been done by the board already around security guards, improved cameras, security checkpoints, and the safety procedures. But as we move forward, let's remember safety is just not physical. It's also emotional and also spiritual. Across our district, I've seen dedicated teachers, counselor, and staff who deeply invested their time into the students, which are our next generation. Physical safety uh requirements around cameras, alarms, and security entrance around the entire campus is a non-negotiable. Peach MacArthur has four doors with no alarms. Emotional and spiritual support is also critical. Students have a safe place. We've noticed and statistics show that 7% of students wrestle with stress and anxiety during the normal school day. This is why partnerships with faith-based organization, community groups are very powerful additions, not replacing the current council or security system, but also
047supporting and strengthening them. This is why it's important to have studentbased le faith groups on each campus. When students have a place to grow spiritually, whatever that looks like for them, they develop confidence, empathy, and a deeper understanding for themselves and respect for others. In closing, my message is simple. Let's continue to build schools where students and teachers are safe from the outside in through security, but also safe from the inside out with continued emotional and spiritual support. The solution for more cameras and alarm system are just the beginning to support and keep our campuses safe. In closing, the Bible reads and reminds us, "In the abundance of counselors, there is safety." Proverbs 11:14. This is why strengthening partnership with teachers, staff, and faith-based organizations helps protect our students not just physically, but emotionally and
048most importantly spiritually. Peace and blessings. >> Thank you, Mr. Hurt. [clears throat] >> Jennifer Moore. >> Hello. >> Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to address the board. This will be the seventh time that I have come before you seeking cameras in all self-contained classes across the district. Thank you so much for considering the statements, my statements, and putting this topic on the agenda for open discussion. I look forward to the conversation and hearing all of your thoughts on the matter. I hope and pray that this is the beginning of much needed forward movement in protecting our children with disabilities and the staff as well. This quest started with my daughter's claim of abuse in January. My first request for cameras was made to the principal on February 3rd. On April 10th, I took
049my daughter to school and she came home with bruises down her leg. Even with a delayed approval for cameras in her classroom, it was not installed until after the year was over. that turned this mom's mission into protecting the rights and bodily autonomy for every child in special education classes by shining a light on the difficulty of getting the cameras and the need for them as well. Cameras can only benefit the district by providing immediate and accurate information when claims arise. When the pre the presence of cameras fosters transparency between school and families, giving parents additional assurance of their child's environment is safe and monitored. It builds trust between the parents and stakeholders as well. I know for me, just knowing a camera is there provides a measure of safety that can't be granted by
050words or promises. Cameras can also be used as an amazing training tool for real life scenarios for teachers and aids. They could also assist the behavioral team in assessing and understanding a child's behavior that may seem to be struggling over time. In conclusion, I would like to thank you again for bringing this to disc to discussion tonight. There are cameras on the buses. There are cameras in the hallways. It's time to protect our most vulnerable students by placing cameras in all self-contained classes across the district. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Moore. >> That concludes public comment. Now ready for our cabinet reports. >> Good evening board. >> Evening. >> You have a report uh before you this evening of uh newly hired and separated employees for the month of October. Uh, this is around
051the time we slow down, but last month we did hire 16 new teachers and 11 new aids. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Samuels. [clears throat] >> Hey, Cheryl. >> Good evening, Mr. Sige. How are you? >> Good. >> Fab. So, um, we started a new year with the tax office. So, uh, this is the first month that we're reporting into the new tax year for them. So, they collected just over $180,000 in uh, debt service and $816,000 give or take in maintenance and operations. But you'll look and see the percentage collected is a little bit higher than it was last year. And maybe people are excited because their taxes went down because of the extra $40,000 exemption. Possibly, maybe. >> I don't know. But it's kind of exciting. Um, for the uh month of
052October, the general fund had 63,937,55 in revenue and expenditures at 56,311,792. and we had outstanding purchase orders in the amount of $5,377,860. Typically at this time, we're showing a a a negative, but the way that our school funding works now with the lower amount of taxes that are collected, the state is now paying us more in our state funding. So, we receive two of our payments. So that's why our revenue is a little bit higher than in past years. And then for the month of October, our campus activity funds collected $117,552 and we had a number of monetary donations. Um Schweitzer Engineering donated uh $100 to Bowmont United. Um Mr. Evans donated some money to Westbrook High School, $400. the law offices of Brittany Holmes donated to the Career and Technical Education Center, $180. Jarrett
053Cologne to um the same center, $135. And then we had $45 donations from Priscilla Peditan, Dan Lee, Lori Threats, Marcus Johnson, Jada Sevet, Dan Danell Lewis, Shantel Jones, and Jamie Smith. and Drillon Cole. And then for Guest Elementary, they um got a donation of $340 from the Cades Corporation and Stellar Bank donated $250 to Caldwood Elementary. And then we had some tools and equipment donated by Bectal Energy from the Port Arthur LNG project to the Career and Techn Technical Center automotive program which was valued at $18,617. And then we have one construction delivery method to report to the board. The stadium scoreboard replacement project is um now going to be done by competitive silk proposals. We thought that we could go out and just get um um quotes to replace the scoreboard, but it appears
054that the electrical is going to have to be upgraded, which will require it to be engineered, which causes us to have to do a competitive seal proposal. Any questions? >> Questions? >> Thank you, Miss Hernandez. >> Intruder detection report. >> Good evening, President, Superintendent, and Board of Trustees. As we are aware of the tragedy of UValdi um several years ago, as a result of that, our governor along with our Texas school safety center as well as state officials have put in place intruder detection audits. As of today, uh our district have had 11 intruder detection audits. Roughly 45 46% uh of the campuses have been audited already. Uh we still have 15 more campuses to go. Uh we have started off real good uh this year and hopefully in the second semester we can end
055strong. You guys have any questions in reference to that? >> Questions? >> Thank you chief. >> Thank you sir Spooner. >> Thank you President Sige. The facilities committee met on Tuesday November 11th 2025. The following members were president superintendent Dr. Allen, myself, President Sige, Robert Dunn, Cheryl Hernandez, Randall Maxwell, Dr. Ron Jackson, and Mark Mlelen. The following items were discussed. BISD new silicon roofing projects have been completed with Amelia and Charlton Pard being completed this month. A rendering of the Paul Brown outdoor signs was shown. An update on the building improvements at Austin was given. The transition of Paul Brown to the Austin site is on schedule for the month of December. An update on the Dogget Stadium scoreboard and natiatorum timing system was discussed by Dr. Jackson and Miss Hernandez. A committee was formed
056to review the three bids. You just heard her elaborate on that. Uh we will be continuing that quest. However, the timing of the purchase will be delayed so that an engineering firm can assess electrical and concrete needs. This will also necessitate the district rebidding the project. high school baseball and softball fields uh were discussed. An update on the Austin gym floor and the Smith Middle School gym bleachers was presented. BISD Treyan transportation complex construction continues on schedule. The interior walls continue to be constructed along with the installation of mechanical equipment. Three cameras were installed to record activity on the construction site and after hours. Now, I'm just going to do a little yay cheer for uh the transportation site, the Trey Han transportation site. That is uh the namesake for it. We were privy to
057a walkth through Wednesday of this week and we should have received uh media or paper coverage. people were on site to document and document uh this occurrence. Now, this is impromptu, but Mr. Corey Mets, where are you, Mr. Mets? There you are. [laughter] He is our transportation director. What a handsome man. Let's give him a hand. If you will do the honors of coming up and just some of the highlights that put that puts us on the cutting edge of our transportation center compared to other facilities throughout uh this area. We would love to hear from you. Thank you. >> Hold on, Mr. Smith. I want to remind everybody I got a hot date. >> Keep it to the point. >> Okay. >> Well, it's a good thing I'm pretty uh shortspoken. So, uh no,
058uh the transportation facility, you know, it's state-of-the-art. It's um you know after working in three different locations for several years, it's really going to uh improve our operations and improve our uh logistics as far as getting kids to school on time, getting our uh keeping all of our district vehicles up to date, repaired. Um you know, it's really uh improved the morale around the dis around the the department um you know, transportation. They see the building going up, they see the progress, and they're excited. So, we appreciate it and thank you for supporting us. >> Thank you. We appreciate you. >> Thank you, Mr. Mitch. >> Mr. President. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Can I ask Mr. Mets a question? >> Don't go nowhere. >> I really just want you to brag. One of the problems
059we've had for a long time is lack of bus drivers and that is that continues to be a struggle. But you told us some really good news yet the other day when we were at your facility. So tell us where we are with bus drivers right now. >> Well, thanks thank you to the board again for approving a raise for our bus drivers. Uh we started the year about 10 drivers short. All right. Uh we're now now down to about three. I believe we have uh we have some in training, but we're actually today we're we're 10 drivers short, but I think we have six in training. Okay. We've hired two. So, we're we're well on our way to being 100% uh 100% at capacity for our drivers. >> Thank you and congratulations. >> Absolutely.
060Thank you. >> Okay, Dr. Allen, Miss Brooks discussion on the cameras and special education classroom. Yes, I asked Miss Brooks to, you know, just share some information on, you know, the policy, the procedure on uh cameras in the special education classroom. I know Miss Moore has spoken, you know, several months with her concern and they're certainly valid and and well understood and I want to make certain our community understands that we want to make certain that all of our kids are safe, that they are well taken care of whenever they are in our care. So, I'd ask Miss Brooks to just share some information and then of course we'll open up for any board discussion on special education cameras in the classroom. >> Thank you. Um, good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to explain
061why our district does not install cameras universally in all self-contained special education classrooms and how our current approach both honors the law and supports families. First and most importantly, we fully comply with Texas Education Code section 29.022. This law clearly outlines that cameras are installed when a parent, staff member, or board member requests them for a specific classroom. The model is intentionally requestbased. It's not designed to place cameras everywhere, but to provide targeted protection where a concern has been raised. We've had six parent requests this school year. We have more than 500 students in classrooms across the district that meet the criteria as self-contained special education settings. The intent of the law is very important. When the legislature created this statute, they balanced three priorities: student safety, student dignity, and privacy. Many of our students
062in self-contained settings receive personal care, medical support, and other sensitive services. Universal cameras in all rooms, regardless of parent request, could compromise those students dignities in ways the law was written specifically to avoid. At the same time, the law strongly protects parents rights. Any parent with a self-contained child in a self-contained classroom has the right to request a camera. And when those requests come forward, we take them very seriously. We install the cameras. We store recordings securely. And we follow every legal requirement and timeline. Universal camera installation assumes all parents want cameras for their child. But the law is clear. It is each parent's right to decide. Installing cameras without a parent request would override that right. I also want our families to hear this clearly. We deeply value and care about parent concerns. We
063understand that when parents ask about cameras or safety, it comes from a place of wanting reassurance that their child is safe and supported. And we share that commitment. We listen. We investigate and we work collaboratively on solutions. Importantly, the law is very clear that these recordings cannot be used for teacher evaluation, appraisal, or routine staff monitoring. They're not designed for supervision or performance review. Recordings can only be viewed when a specific incident is reported and only by individuals legally authorized to review them. This ensures both student protection and staff privacy. While cameras are one important tool, they're not a substitute for the supports that protect students every single day. Well-trained staff, appropriate staffing ratios, strong behavior systems, and ongoing communication with families. Our focus is on building environments where students are safe because of the
064people and structures in place. Not just because a camera's in the corner. In short, our current practice follows the letter and the spirit of the law, protects parents rights, preserves student dignity, and ensures we remain responsive and compassionate when concerns arise. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Brooks. Now, we're going to discuss it. Anybody has anything they want to go ahead, Mr. Evans. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate it. Um, I want to premise my question or I guess my statement by by acknowledging Miss Moore. You know, I I appreciate your diligence. I appreciate you consistently for seven months bringing this, you know, idea back to the board. And we hear you. I promise we do. And I also want to thank my a few of my fellow board members for for for taking
065the time to add it to the agenda for discussion. I guess Miss Brooks, my my question is is we hear Miss Moore and and and we understand what she's requesting, but how do we I guess what what how does that impact the rest of the students and do we need to hear from other parents? And I guess the example I give is is if we do it for Miss Moore, can you blur out the faces of the other students if she requests to see it and then or do the other parents have to say yes as well? because I know it can get kind of complex or convoluted to make this happen, but and I got a bunch of questions, but this is just one I I really want to know just >> so I
066think the most important the most important part of that question is can we watch the videos? We do not monitor the videos. We are not allowed to watch the videos. The only time that we can look at that video is if there's an incident that is reported, meaning um there's something that happened. We have evidence that something happened. So, we have to review it. And then there are only specific people who can review that. And then we just determine if there was something if there is was an incident and if you want >> and I want to jump in and be more because it's even more specific than just an incident reported. It has to rise to the legal definition of abuse or neglect. So it's actually defined in this statute very very narrowly. Um
067and it's not abuse and neglect like you think out of the family code. it is in this section of the education code and even then it has to relate to a BIC employee. So if it's a non-emp employee we still don't have the authority to look at it. Um so it is ext it's an extremely prescriptive statute that is frequently misunderstood because the perception is that we can look at it at any time and therefore when the camels are implemented that we should just be able to go and pull the footage. But it's a violation of law for us to look at those to look at the footage except in very narrow instances. And even when we do look at the footage, it cannot be utilized for human resources uh purposes, evaluation or anything like
068that. It's limited even in the scope of use. >> So if I if I may, I don't want to dominate the comment. Couple more things. So I guess one here is there's no continuous monitoring of of video footage, right? And if so, let's just say Trusty Avery says, "I want to see my child's stuff." She doesn't get to see it, but maybe Dr. Allen does or someone from the admin does or who who gets to see >> No one does unless there's an incident, >> right? review. >> So what if there's multiple students involved? Does that parent still get to view? Because what if I say Miss Moore wants to see her child, but I don't want to looking at my kid. You know what happens in that case? Or is that even Great question.
069access. >> Thank you. Wait a mistern of years of law to justify what we've done with special education. But I think the is there to protect children and I think our primary job is to protect children. Sorry, is to protect children. I am certainly not in favor of putting cameras in every self-contained special ed classroom. Most of our special ed children can speak for themselves and are safe without a camera. But we have um academics for life classes where children are nonverbal who are dealt with by physicians and physical therapists and all kinds of people. And I think those classrooms where the children do not have a voice need to have cameras. Not in all the special education class rooms, not in just self-contained classroom because there are a lot of spe self-contained classrooms that
070are just fine. But those classrooms with the weakest of our children who are also frequently the children of parents who had a problem in the first place, which is why the children are so u debilitated. I think they deserve to have cameras in their classrooms under these very specific laws. They are not Thursday night movie night. Uh they cannot be looked at by whoever feels like they want to. If there is an obvious incident, if a child comes home with bruises that he shouldn't have, parents should have the option of having somebody speak for their child besides just the school district saying, "No, we didn't do anything." because I have seen people who do do things. >> Thank you, Miss Hickman. Anyone else? >> Go ahead. >> Just so and Dr. Allen, you may not
071have the answer to this because I know it's we're kind of working through it and and I understand what Miss Hickman is saying and I appreciate that the nonverbal students. Do we know how many actual classes we have or and and I guess my next question to to follow that is is when we have nonverbal students are those classrooms only non-verbal students? >> No. And I we know how many we have. I can't I can get you that data to tell you the exact number of classes and we'll make a note of that. But it's not a classroom where there are only non-verbal students. No. I guess where I'm going is is I as I I feel Miss Moore's pain and I know there's other parents also and I I want to make sure that
072we're doing everything we can to protect the students like Miss Hickman say that are the most vulnerable. Um and and and maybe it'll take a deeper workshop than what we have right now. But I just you know and I and I think all of us share the same sentiment that we want these children and these students protected. uh that I think that goes without saying, but I'm just trying to figure out how do we narrow it down to to get exactly what we're looking for and without creating some type of almost crisis so to speak because we know everyone can't look at them. We know the law is in somewhat ambiguous as to to to you know what the intent is or you know it's confusing. So I just I don't know where to go
073from this. Miss Hickman and I thought I was clear until you brought your point up because it's it's a great point. Um, and and you know, I'll be quiet and listen, but I'm just trying to figure it out, trying to wrap my my my brain around the whole thing. >> Anyone else? Well, I'd just like uh in summary of Miss Brooks, what I'm hearing because we have discussed this in great length. A based on policy, a parent with a concern can request a camera. The great divide is that because of privacy, we don't want to place cameras in every special needs class. Is that what I'm hearing? Am I hearing a >> because of that and because of the parents rights they also have the right they haven't requested a camera so and and there
074is privacy there are there's a lot that goes on in those classrooms in terms of medical needs and um changing diapers and those and while you can't have a camera there's audio there if you request a camera. Now I will say that every request that has come through my office has been approved if it's if there's a if it meets the criteria of a self-contained special education classroom. We're not trying to deny the rights of the parents who request that. So, if it comes through our office, it is approved and we install the cameras. Um, but it's overstepping the the statute by saying we're going to universally place them. >> Ziggman, >> we may be installing the cabinet the cameras, but I believe we're supposed to do it within 10 days of the request and
075it took >> within 45 days. >> Okay. 45 days. That's 45 days when a child could be hurt. And we can manage to put it off for every single second of those 45 days. And we do >> regularly. No, I've been doing this too long. >> My other concern is no. Every child in an AFL is not non-verbal, but they are barely most of them can barely communicate or they wouldn't be in the AFL class in the first place. Well, I disagree with that because I mean I've been a principal and had many many I was in a campus Wednesday, no yesterday, walked through all the AFL classes and many of those kids were talking and communicating. So, and and and I want to make certain that our community and our board understands, you know,
076if there's any misconduct when it's brought to our attention, you know, we are working really swiftly to address that and we're not developing a culture of employees who are abusing children. I I really want to make certain you have employees, I think, who make bad choices and make mistakes and they are held accountable for those mistakes. We investigate when we are made aware of any situation. We investigate that and we move quickly when the evidence is there. Now, everybody may not agree on the situation because you don't know all the facts regarding that individual incident, but we do investigate those situations and we have terminated. I can't tell you how many individuals have been terminated for doing something that's inappropriate with a child. >> And I just want to make one statement about our AFL
077students. We have AFL students who graduate hold jobs. So I don't want anybody to think that every student in there is incapable of a full life. I'm not suggesting they're incapable of living a full life. I'm only suggesting that particularly the little ones are not capable of protecting themselves. >> Go ahead, Mr. Evans. So, we've had requests and we've granted those requests. >> Yes, sir. >> Is there is there another step we can take to just reassure parents and the community that we are in fact, you know, can we, you know, can there be an audit of some kind? what what can we do to you know because I I hear Miss Hickman's passion and I tend to agree with her just purely based on the fact that she's been in education so long and
078I know she wouldn't be so passionate about this topic if she didn't have a concern. So, so in this particular instance, her concern becomes my concern. So, what can we do to tamp down those concerns? Is there anything we can do? And it doesn't have to be answered right now, but I I do want to make sure it's in the front of our minds and that we are doing something to make sure that parents are comfortable, that the community is comfortable, and that my fellow trustee is also comfortable, that we're we're getting the job done and doing exactly what we can do and everything we can do to make sure the most vulnerable of our student body is is taken care of and properly treated. So just and that's that's I rest my case on
079that part, Mr. President. Thank you >> again. I thank everybody for the input. We may have to visit this later, but Miss Brooks, thanks for the education. >> Thank you >> about how it works >> and what we're supposed to be doing. We can get better. I don't care what it is. You can always get better. >> And that's what we're going to try to do. My question was like Miss Hickman said 45 does it actually take us 45 days to get a camera installed? >> It's and um Ryan can speak to this. What we were using an outside vendor but now we're doing it inhouse so it's not taking that long. >> So currently we keep the cameras in stock. So when it when I get a request it happens within two weeks. Thank
080you. >> Can I ask a question to you Ryan about that? The storage of that you not storage is literally but the storage of of the of the tape of the recordings. >> Is that been an issue of having that storage all the time? >> No. So these cameras are a completely separate system from our normal security cameras. There's a server that is only used for these cameras. Uh, and we keep the required amount by the law. >> How long? >> Three months. >> Thanks, Ryan. >> Thank you, Miss Brooks. >> We're now ready for the consent agenda. Does anyone wish to pull any item off of the consent agenda for discussion? Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Mr. President, I move that we approve the consent agenda. >> I second.
081>> Motion was made by Mr. Evans and second by Miss Avery. All those in favor? What is there any discussion? Okay. All those in favor? Motion pass 5-0. >> Mr. President, I recommend that the board approve budget amendments GF5 and accept amendments from special revenue 11, 12, and 13. >> We need a motion first. First >> now the motion. >> Yeah. So, so move to approve. >> Motion was made by Mr. Evans and second by Miss Hickman. How are you doing, Mr. Hernandez? Again, >> I Hernandez show, huh? >> This is always the Hernandez show. That's right. >> Most esteemed president. Um for GF5, we are asking the board to approve an increase in the revenue. The um through House Bill Two that was approved um right when we were trying to get our budget
082done, there was a program change on part of the u regional day school for the deaf funding. Usually we would receive a separate um local allocation. Now, they have put it into our foundation revenue and so we're going to receive it that way. So, we had to take those expenditures and the revenue that was recorded in fund 435 and move it over into 199. So, that's why you're seeing the increase in the million309 with the corresponding expenditures for that program. Then we're also um moving some correcting some um functions to some personnel in the curriculum instruction department. We actually pulled job descriptions and compared them to what the VASREG says the coding should be. So we're correcting a couple of um salaries in the amount of 212,854. So, we're taking them out of function 21
083and moving them into um function 13, which is staff development. And then we're also um moving some funds between function 11 and 21. And then we're asking the board to approve the um $160,000 for the new bleachers at Smith Middle School. There's some safety issues going on over there. And then um the increase for the concrete slab and driveway for the scoreboard at um 150,000. And then the um special revenue amendments are just moving funds between functions. Are there any questions? >> Discussion. >> All those in favor? Motion carries 5. Mr. President, I recommend that the board approve purchases over $50,000 from the general fund in the amount of $318,860 from federal funds in the amount of $113,980 and from state grant funds in the amount of $446,799.81. >> Is there a motion? >> Second.
084>> Motion was made by Miss Hickman and second by Miss Avery. Thank you, Mr. Sige. We are asking the board to approve the purchase of two 12 passenger vans. This is for um uh the campuses to be able to utilize them instead of a big bus for like the sports like golf, um tennis. They have smaller teams and they can transport them much easier. Um, we looked at the cost of one of the the smaller buses, but we could actually purchase two of these and only purchase one of those. So, we were trying to um utilize our funds to get the best bang for our buck. And then we're asking the board to approve the engineering fees on the scoreboard replacement at $60,000. And then of course the bleachers at Smith Middle School in the
085amount of $148,860. Under our federal funds, this is part of our spendown requirement through the child nutrition program. We're um purchasing two power soak sinks um at Westbrook and at Vincent, both at the amount of $56,990. And then for um our lasso grant, we received um I guess just recently we're you utilizing $372,000 for the blue bonnet math implementation through great minds. And then um we're purchasing 22 active shooter ballistic shields utilizing the um safety and security grant number two at $74,799.81 >> discussion. >> Who drives those 12 passenger vans? >> Um any of the coaches can. Um we we have um different uh procedures that you go through to be able to drive a school vehicle and they can be driven by anyone with a regular license. It does not have to have a
086CDL. >> Thank you. >> Any Go ahead, Mr. Evans. >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, Miss Miss Hernandez, can you walk me through just the basics on the on the engineering on the score because this is not the purchase of the scoreboard yet, right? >> It is not the the purchasing of the scoreboard. The engineer is going to design the electrical. We are having to upgrade the electrical because we're going um from old technology to newer technology. So the LED you would think it wouldn't pull as much uh voltage and I could probably talk about this >> miss Hernandez if I could interject right now. >> Yes. Uh Mr. Evans due to facilities you know we have some in-depth information uh on that that Mr. Mlullen can share about that cost with the
087engineering which so I'm I'm aware of that service and the new one has a 400. So, we got to pull all the way from the concourse around to the new the new sign. >> And so, when we put it all together as a package, when we put it out for bid, then we know that that electrical is going to come on and power up that scoreboard. So if you do it separately, you know, if you're working independently with the contractor for the scoreboard and the electrical company, you may not get it and they would be pointing fingers at one another. We put it all in a package and we know it's going to work. >> M talk about the concrete because everybody need to know spend [clears throat] money on concrete. >> Well, the concrete
088just for service. The ground out there is so soft. We can't can't get trucks to it majority of the time. So, got to wait for a drought. >> Trucks. >> Most of the trucks are pretty heavy. >> You understand that? >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor? >> Motion carries. 50. >> Mr. President, I recommend that the board approve the 2526 district improvement plan. >> How are you? >> I am doing wonderful. >> Yes. >> Hold on. Dr. Frank, get a motion. >> Second. >> Motion was made by Miss Hickman and second by Mr. Ed. >> Good evening. Tonight we are pleased to present the 2025206 district and campus improvement plans for review and approval. We will bring them separately for approval, but this presentation will go through the flow of both plans.
089These plans represent months of collaboration and strategic alignment to ensure we are driving measurable gains for all of the students in BISD. Tonight's presentation focuses on three core objectives. To present both our district level and campus level improvement plans for board approval. to demonstrate how these plans are aligned from district priorities all the way through to our campus actions and to highlight key district and campus actions that will directly contribute to improving student outcomes in the areas of literacy, math, college, and career readiness, perception, and overall accountability ratings. As we begin, I think that it's important to understand our planning structure. So before you you can see that we have a tiered and coherent system of planning that documents our work. First at the top you can see our district strategic plan sets our long-term
090vision for the district. Then we have our district improvement plan which we are bringing tonight for approval that operationalizes the strategic plan. Each campus then develops a campus improvement plan aligned directly to the district priorities. And campuses also implement 90-day plans which break critical actions into manageable cycles for campuses that require additional intervention. The targeted improvement plan and turnaround plan provide intensive structures for rapid improvement. and the turnaround and uh turnaround plans and tip plans were brought for board approval last month. Again, all of these plans work together to ensure that we are focused, that we are aligned as a district and accountable. So, when we look at the district and campus plan, there is a consistent structure for both plans. We begin with a needs assessment that is grounded in data. Then, we have
091clearly defined goals and performance objectives. Next, we have strategies and action steps that we use and implement. And then there's monitoring and evaluation that continues throughout the year. This particular slide shows you the process overview. It shows you starting from the needs assessment through implementation and all the way through monitoring. And the true value of both the district plan and the campus improvement plan is strong planning but also making sure that we are monitoring progress and making any adjustments that are needed. So how do we monitor? We have formative reviews that occur in November, January and March. And during these checkpoints, we basically ask ourselves, the district level committee comes together on campuses, the campus level committee comes together and we ask ourselves, are the strategies working? If they are not working, this is the
092time for those committees to sit and talk about what changes or revisions need to be made. Then we also have the summitive review. This happens in June. This is when we evaluate the plans and determine did we meet our goals and our targets for the year. So again, the district level plan has the district strategic plan which is our multi-year vision and the district improvement plan which is our annual plan. What we are doing this year to make sure we're on target to meet our 2030 goals. And you see before you right now our 2030 goals. These goals are also included in our district level plan and on every campus improvement plan. The next slides that you will see gives you the district actions that are included in your plan. In your board books, you
093do have a campus of the district plan that has our goals and the priorities. our key actions that we have included in our plan that is driving literacy and math. You can see we have our BOI, MOI and EOI screeners that we administer so that we can make sure we are targeting instruction. We this will tier our students and we know exactly which students we need to work with. We also have or provide targeted phonics in interventions for our students K5. We conduct regular campus walks for reading and math. This gives the opportunity for us to provide feedback to teachers on how we can improve instruction in those areas. We ensure daily practice in reading and written responses implementing small groupoup instruction so that we can meet the needs target needs of individual students. We
094have intervention time that is embedded within the uh day and we use programs some online programs such as a miral for reading also zern for math and of course we always want to make sure that we are improving instruction. How do we do that? We as we monitor and we see areas that teachers need to grow in. We provide uh professional development for them. For reading, we host readathons. We also have roar. We have our book vending machines. And we are excited about our community outreach where we go out to our apartment complexes, also our district citywide partnership, and then we just promote literacy on all of our campuses. The next slide gives you an outline of the strategies for college career military readiness. Just to summarize, we are targeting increasing TSI access for students,
095expanding Texas College Bridge, strengthening AP rigor, increasing dual credit opportunities with Lamar Institute of Technology and Lamar State College Orange, supporting our CTE program of study completion, and offering ASVAB testing. This these initiatives ensure that all of our students are prepared for college career or a military pathway when they graduate from BISD. Next, you can see on this slide for our perception goal, the district emphasizes multi-tered systems of support, restorative discipline practices utilizing our behavior interventionists and wellness coordinators. also providing trauma informed strategies to our teachers grounded in SEAL social emotional learning and then also mentorship and engagement programs. And as we drive to make sure that we are reaching our goal for AM rated campuses, increasing the number of AMB rated campuses, our focus is strong tier one instruction. We do have intervention in
096place but we know it does not replace good quality tier one instruction of all our all of our classrooms. We do this by helping our teachers internalize the lessons that they are teaching coaching and supporting them also providing targeted intervention for students like I mentioned before increasing and always offering professional development opportunities. We have our campus performance reviews. This is where our departments come together and meet with principles and talk about data and next steps. And then data analysis with our office of innovation. You will hear principles talk about their win students. They have a win-win one pager where we have targeted students that we're are working with to push to meets and masters and also pushing students that did not meet to approaches. At this time, I'd like to pause and just ask the
097board if you have any questions regarding the district improvement plan. >> Any questions? >> Go ahead, Miss Higgman. What are we doing different differently this year than we did last year? >> This year I can tell you for when I look at reading and I look at math. Reading specifically um we do have um consultants coming in to support campuses. math for sure, blue bonnet implementation and again having our consultants come in and working with teachers internalization protocols. Um when I look at goal three for CCMR, this is one of our goals that I know that we hit our target for. So we're continuing our efforts for CCMR for uh improving perception. We're using our vision week survey, but we're really working hard and I can tell you we we've already met strategic planning. We
098are looking at uh discipline strategies that we can utilize to help and support our teachers with some of the aggressive behaviors that we're seeing this year. And then for AMB rated schools, this this isn't new, but it's something that we're really targeting hard, and that is identifying our students. I can commend our campuses, our campuses, our leaders. They can tell you if you walk up to them and say, "How many win? How many students do you need for reading? How many students do you need for math?" And they are also spreading that word. It doesn't just live with them. The teachers know and even going into students and they know the goal. So getting everybody on one page and that way we're striving to reach all of the goals that we have for this year
099and our 2030 goals as well. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> M. >> Well, I'd just like to say based on this plan, you can see the consistency from one from point A all the way through Z. And if we continue that, >> you know, it's inevitable to have success. Everybody, like you said, everybody on the same page. >> Yes, ma'am. We're trying really hard in sync. >> Yes. Thank you, Dr. >> Anyone else? >> Yes. Go ahead, Miss Avery. >> On your 90-day plans, do you have those uh reachable goals? Are they are they reaching those small goals? >> Yes, we just finished our first 90 days, November 7th. And so, we, Miss Cheetah, and I review those 90-day uh checkpoints with the principles to see where we are. And we have set uh
100second 90-day plan goals, and we're driving for the second 90 days right now. Yes, ma'am. We certain things that we have on the plan, they all tie and align. So lesson internalization looks great on campuses. Okay. We and we we do have consultants coming in giving us feedback. We know that interventions are in place. That's one of the things that we wanted to make sure we were solid on leaving for Thanksgiving break schedules. If we had to, you know, shift and make moves, we've done that. So the principles are on target. >> Yes, ma'am. You know what else? I heard the word discipline several times. What are we doing differently this year about discipline these children who are students >> social and emotional we're working on of course that is meeting the needs of our
101children. Our children have trauma. It is it is and I will tell you you know boots on the ground principles would tell you they are dealing more and more every day with students with aggressive behaviors and that is why that is a a new initiative that we just called we we have a meeting when we come back from uh Thanksgiving break actually where we're pulling together key people in the district to talk about what's next and what's next includes how are we going to help our students so that they can be in class, so that they can learn, but also how are we going to assist and help our parents? So, I'll add, you know, I've never, you know, presented and we'll share an update probably in the spring, but you know, we have community
102partnerships with uh Revision that's working with a group of students uh about my United feeder pattern in third through fifth grade that's coming in with additional these are, you know, students who have aggressive behaviors and students who are quote unquote heavy hitters. They'll be working in getting individual uh support from uh nine elementary schools. So, we're targeting a a large chunk of students. We we are still trying to figure out how to best support these students with this aggressive behavior. when you have little young students who are kicking and biting and punching principles and and and you know just doing these very aggressive behaviors. Of course you know we are allowed to now you know suspend those students but that's not the solution to the problem. It's not the solution. So we we don't have
103this magic I don't have a magic bullet right. I don't you know we have principles you know asking for corporal punishment. I know they're asking for it but we can't do it. We can't do it. We live in a culture right now where this is not the culture in the time. And they hear me saying it. I'm saying it to y'all. We can't do it. But they want to do it because the behaviors are so are so aggressive. And it's not just us. And I keep saying that every year, but this is part of society and the culture that we're living in with what kids are exposed to. But at the end of the day, we still have to solve the problem. I mean it's still our problem to solve. Unfortunately it's it's one that
104that I don't have an easy solution to it. So we are you know uh reactivating you know the task force and trying to come up with some additional strategies or some other strategies to help you know kids who have not been taught and trained on that you don't kick, fight, spit, bite, curse, you know do all of these things because they do all of these things. they see these things, so they think is this is the norm and this is what they're supposed to do. So, I I I wish I had this easy solution for you. Uh but but I really I really don't. Not yet. We're working. >> We're working trying to trying to figure it out. But I do appreciate the support from, you know, we do have more and more volunteers who
105are coming in our system. you know, we do have this new new program that's being implemented to see how it works with these students, getting, you know, uh, small group counseling. addition. I mean, this is in addition to what we already do, you know, really pulling kids and working with kids with our behavior intervention is, you know, with the calming corners and the support that teachers have in their classrooms to help redirect students when they when they experience, you know, u meltdowns and frustration because they don't get their way because they're they're never told no. That's the bottom line. Kids are never told no anymore. And when we tell them no, they don't know how to handle it. They don't know how to take it. So, you know, they react and they respond in these
106aggressive ways that makes it, you know, it makes it difficult, you know, to educate uh students, you know, with with those behaviors. >> But somebody give us a solution. >> Give me [clears throat] give me a solution. >> Go ahead, Miss Hickman. >> Help parents, help students, help principles. What are we doing to protect our teachers? Because this this behavior is killing them. >> It is. No, I mean that is something that's we really want to make certain our teachers know that we're not tolerating the behavior. You know, we're removing those students, but teachers are still very much I feel like they're very frustrated. And even though this last legislative session was intended to provide more tools, it really didn't provide a whole lot of tools other than saying that you could suspend kids more.
107Teachers can remove a student from the learning environment, right? They have the right to say that, you know what, they can remove this student. We still have to educate that student because that student is still going to somebody else's class exhibiting, you know, that same type of behavior that we're trying really hard to to actually fix. So, you know, I want to continue to encourage our teachers and let them know we're we're not uh ignoring, you know, their cries and their pleas. You know, I've meeting with the superintendent's teacher advisory council and they are sharing, you know, hey, this is this is real, Dr. Allen. Like, this is not this is not something that's that's easy. But I think it's one of the reasons why you we are we do see some teachers wanting to
108leave the profession because they don't want to be abused. I'm just being honest. They don't want to be abused and they shouldn't be abused. It's not acceptable for any student to be in a learning environment and curse out the teacher, hit them, fight them, kick them. That's that's not acceptable. But our students, unfortunately, this is how they come to us. This is the behavior that they see. So, you know, we're working we're working diligently to try to figure out, you know, what's the best way to protect our teachers and help our students at the same time because we all know too sending them to the street. That's not going to help our community. It's not going to help Bulmont, Texas. But there are some things I know we're applying for lasso uh this lasso 4
109grant that's coming up that we're going to explore some possible virtual options with some things that we haven't explored before because the legislature is now allowing us to to tap into some virtual programs. I can't tell you what that's going to look like. I'm just telling you we're going to apply for the funds to see what that might look like in maybe some extreme cases or you know what additional support we can we can try to provide you know to to these students when you look at the discipline data I mean the discipline data looks the same but it doesn't feel better if that makes sense so when you look at the numbers and you compare last year to this year the numbers aren't drastically different you know you have some areas where it's better
110with mutual combat with students one started hitting. It's slightly better trending than last year. But when you talk to leaders and you walk on campuses and you hear these same stories more than you heard last year, you see it more than you heard previous years. It's not better. It's not better. >> M I'm sorry. Doc, you done? >> Well, before we transition, I would like to recommend that the board approve the 2526 district improvement plan. Yeah, we already >> all loads in favor. >> Motion carries. 5 Z. So, principles, we you can't put a little wood in their life. >> Thank you board members for approving the district improvement plan. Each campus improvement plan includes measurable goals and aligned action steps. And again, principles take that plan and create a 90-day plan um that they
111use to drive instruction on their campus. I realize I jumped ahead. You want to make a a motion for the campus improvement plans? >> So move motion made by Mr. Evans, can I get a second? >> Second by Miss Hickman. >> Dr. Frank, >> thank you. You have in your board book the campus improvement plans for every campus uh in BISD. And at this time, we will have uh three leaders who will have been selected to highlight the key action steps included in their plans. I would like to invite uh Miss April Johnston from Blanched Elementary. She will begin the presentation followed by co-principles Miss Moore and Miss Adams of Peach Mack Arthur PreK through 8th grade center. And then we'll conclude with Mr. Phillips, principal of Westbrook High School. >> Thank you very much.
112Miss John, hot date, >> huh? >> Hot date. >> Okay. >> All right. Remember that with the questions. Got a hot date. Okay. Okay. >> Excellent response. >> Sorry. [laughter] Goal one, literacy. Um, we provide effective phonics instruction and we actually have a targeted time daily 8:30 to 9:15. We do it four days a week and that's focusing on decoding, encoding, and phmic awareness. For math great minds, we have a campus support coach. So she comes monthly and we either have blue bonnet campus walks, grade level walks or and she's also doing 90minute PLC lesson internalization protocols. And with her she focuses on the end in mind. So we look at exit tickets. She's going through all of those with them, teaching them how to work the problem so teachers understand the rigor and the
113level of questioning. Um and then she also goes over the problem set. So that's all the independent practice the kids are doing with blue bonnet learning. So we do that monthly and then of course we have Monday assembly and this is a time where we invite the community campus speakers. So they come in and talk about their professions which supports college career readiness uh highlights the real world importance of reading and math in their work. So we have that every Monday. And then of course for attendance, this is um a challenge for us, but we spell out the word attendance. So of course if you um have perfect attendance for the day, you get a letter and then you're recognized Monday assembly. And then of course we have extra recess, popsicles, that kind of thing
114to incentivize our students. And then of course we're training teachers and staff with strategies to improve student engagement and reduce major discipline infractions. We have the win one pager um and this helps us to close achievement gaps in domain three. So it lets us know kind of who we need to target for our meets and masters and then we also look at growth. So mainly focusing on fourth and fifth. But this is really a gamecher for accountability for us to know our students who we need to target uh so that we can move the campus and I think this was very helpful for Blanchett to move from an F to a D. And so, of course, we're moving forward. Um, our goal is of C or even better for this school year. So, that kind
115of outlines our elementary goals for Blanchet. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Miss Johnson. Remember, I know your mother. Be careful to talk to her. >> All right. [laughter] How you all doing tonight, Miss Adams? Miss Moore, >> we're good. >> Good. I'm well. >> Okay. Uh for goal number one, literacy. We implement uh diagnostic assessments across all grade levels. for example, MCL class uh CLI for our preK babies just to identify the needs and guide targeted intervention. We also provide tier three students grades four through six with um resources such as a mirror and targeted phonics. Uh it's like a 45 minute lesson that our fourth and fifth graders also middle school gets daily. We ensure consistent use of highquality instruction such as blue bunnet reading to strengthen tier one instruction. Uh for math, uh
116we also implement diagnostic assessments for all grade levels even including preK. CLI um also NWA is used for those diagnostics. We are trying to strengthen tier one instruction by of course using HQIM, blue bunny math and Carnegie learning for secondary. Also we have uh increased instructional time to 90minute block on the elementary side as well as the secondary side. Uh provide ongoing professional development learning. Um, Blue Bunnet region five, blue bunnet um, math and great minds training to build teacher capacity and improve instructional practices. Also, the district have professional development um that they also supplies for our teachers as well. For goal three for CCMR, we are increasing students exposure to a wide range of career uh pathways including their visit to CTE to CEK campus. We also expand the STEM opportunities for students through
117the Exxon Mobile STEM initiative. For perception, the campus is reducing our discipline referrals by 30%. That is through consistent implementation of campuswide um behavior systems, capturing kid hearts. We've implemented those morning general assemblies where we're goal setting with students um to get them to self-regulate, implement the reverse suspensions, also to strengthen homeschool partnerships and provide families with proactive support. So, we've had 12 reverse suspensions so far, which is helping. We recognize and incentivize students who demonstrate um strong behavior and excellent attendance through grade level competition. So, at the end of each nine weeks, we have a celebration for that grade level who has the least number of discipline and the greatest number of attendance. For um goal five A and B- rated schools, we do use daily exit tickets consistently um to identify the student
118misconceptions and form those targeted interventions during that second part of that 90minute block. Implement monthly uh practice clinics to strengthen our teacher capacity and uh strengthen tier one instruction. Those practice clinics are designed based on common trends that are seen during walkthrough observations. provide ongoing professional campus-based um professional development through grant uh great minds in region five which is blue bonnet like Miss Moore said and leverage opportunity culture model which is a staffing model to extend the reach of highly effective um teachers and also accelerate academic growth for our students. Thank you. >> Good evening, President Sige, Dr. Allen and board. I had two pages of ancillary notes, but I've condensed it down when Thank >> when you mentioned you had a hot date, so I'll be uh very brief. I'm not going to read
119everything up there. Uh goal one and two, we were very strategic this year in placing our students in advisory classes so that we know our kiddos who um needed remediation in algebra. So they are with a math teacher in algebra, English one or English two kiddos that needed remediation in English one and two uh for star remediation or with English teachers. Uh so we're very strategic in doing that for advisory. And then also with uh December retesting coming up, we're able to uh do star blitzes in those classes with those kiddos because we know where our bubble kiddos are. We've had those identified. So our teachers are able to do star blitzes with those kids uh to get our scores up. And then with CCMR, um we set a goal uh to increase the number
120of our kiddos in our AP classes. And then within that, we've set a goal to increase the number of our kids scoring at three or higher. So our overall campus uh percentage last year was 44% of our kiddos uh scored three or higher overall. So our goal this year is to get 65% of our kiddos to score three or higher on their AP scores, which will give us some CCMR points. Um attendance uh and perception. We struggle with getting our kids to school on time. Um, so that is just an ongoing issue. Those of you that at our goals night heard that that's kind of an ongoing battle with getting our kiddos there. That's not really a kid problem. That's a parent problem. So, we talked to our parents about that on an ongoing basis.
121One of the things that I did last year was to move our official attendance counting period to third period instead of second period. So, that has helped uh increase our uh percentage daily attendance average. So, that's bumped it up a little bit, but we're still trying to get to that 95% mark for Miss Hernandez. And then goal five, uh, increasing A and B rated schools. Um, again, going back to our strategic scheduling this summer that we did with the advisory period, we're able to implement our HB1 14161 accelerating learning um, strategies into the advisory period and had those kids on those learning platforms. And so we know where those kids are in advisory and then we're able to implement the uh online platform to make sure they're getting those accelerated learning um skills in there
122and get their hours that they need. >> And that's all. >> Thank you. What kind of volunteers do y'all have? You have I mean uh ur people coming to your campus. How many you got, Mrs. Johnson? I have over 25 volunteers that come on a weekly basis. >> Good. Thank you. >> We average about 1820. >> Thank you. >> Well, you got one. >> At least you got one. >> Yes, sir. Does any anybody have any questions about the plans? Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. [applause] All those in favor of approving the campus plans motion carries 50. The last item on our agenda for tonight is for the board to cast their ballots for the Jefferson Central Appraisal District. And the recommendation is for the board to cast their votes tonight in any way
123they see fit. >> So moved. >> Motion was made by Mr. Evans, second by Miss Hickman. Discussion. >> [clears throat] >> Just a reminder that the board recommended Daryl Anwine and Eugene Landry. The board has a total allocation of 387 votes and can cast those votes equally between the two candidates that the board nominated or they can cast their votes for any of the other nominees, Donna Frank Burton Lamson or Mary Woff. In the past, the board has divided and separated their votes between the candidates that the board recommended. Discussion. All those in favor of Mr. Landry and Mr. Anwine. Motion carries. 5 Z. Okay, I might even make that date. Miss Hickman, go ahead. I hope your date knows about this date or that the other women in your life know about this date.
124>> Well, that date is with my wife. It's a good thing. Uh thank you all. If as we start doing the things for which we are thankful, I am incredibly thankful for all of you and for all of the people who take care of our children in BISD and who give them a future uh that they can be proud of and then I think more than anything you all can be proud of. Have a happy Thanksgiving and thank you >> Miss Boner. >> Thank you. And I'm going to be very brief. I'd like to wish everyone a happy and blessed Thanksgiving. And I'm going to yield to President Sige, Dr. Sige, Alicia Sige. Enjoy your date. [laughter] >> I appreciate that, Miss Bun. Mr. Evans. >> Uh, I'm I'm thankful for for all of you
125and happy Thanksgiving, >> Miss Avery. Thank you all for all that you're doing each day, every day. Keep it up. Keep plugging away step by step. Thank you very much. Have a awesome, awesome time off also. I will doc [clears throat] just again thank you to the team. I hope you all have an amazing break. But before you get to that break, tomorrow is going to be a great day. Make tomorrow a phenomenal day. going out into a welldeserved time. So, I hope you take the time to relax and enjoy with your families. I appreciate you and so thankful for your work and your service to my team, this entire BISD team. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> I think we done a Go ahead. >> And go Beu. be used in the second
126round of the playoffs. So, we want to make certain [applause] we're supporting we're supporting Bulmont United. And one additional thing, I want to especially thank Miss Sierra Fiser for her work for all of the years for Bowman ISD. Era is kind of changing her workload a little bit. So, she's not going to be with us as much. She's transitioning. And Mr. Kobe Willbanks is going to be supporting Bulmont ISD. But I certainly want to publicly say thank you for to Sierra for, you know, she has just been a member of the team for 11 years. You know, she says that she was a baby lawyer when she started, but she's a big lawyer now. >> She's an old lawyer, I should say, not a big lawyer, she's an old lawyer, but she's really one of
127the best, you know, in this state of Texas as far as school law and Texas based school law. And I just want to again tell her thank you and we're going to miss seeing you all the time every day almost and talking to you every day. Thank you. >> Hold up. But we got Cody. Stand up Cody. >> We've got Cody coming in. Yes. >> Cody is experienced in in school law as as well. I I think it's going to be a nice nice transition. You know, I think about the great job that that happened [clears throat] with vision week. uh the input I know we're going to use the information to better the district. I'm extremely excited and confident with you and what you do every day. Education is no longer easy. It's hard.
128It takes a lot of work. And I am appreciative to everybody in this district. It doesn't matter what you do in this district to make this machine run. I thank you for that because we need you all. Uh I give a shout out to Dr. Gedric. I went out and visited her and her staff at Mini Rod and I was impressed with what they do and how they go about doing it and meeting all of them. [applause] I got to meet, you know, the [clears throat] the teachers, the educators, and then I also interacted with the staff at Mini Rogers. And through her effort, it's been a seamless transition. She's made it easy. And I was wondering when I left when they was talking to him how much she paid them people to say all
129that good stuff about her. But they have high hopes and they have a lot of respect for. And it's a really good program that we have out there educating children because they do need an education. I thank you all when I go around to the schools. You know, I'm not looking for nothing. I'm just letting you know that I'm here and I appreciate it when I when I do come out and I'm received. Well, I want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. I'm the one with the long story tonight. I wish everybody happy Thanksgiving. Look, eat too much, take you naps, do whatever you got to do to recharge in order to get us to the end of this year. But again, I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart. Let's stay all
130in all the time. Let's make it happen. With that, I'll hit this with the big hammer. I'm sorry. I'm I'm sorry. I don't know where these come from, but I like them. [laughter] >> Okay, CEK. Thank you, CICK.