001e spe you e for e e for it's 50:3 I'm going to call the meeting to order Miss Anne could you give us a roll call please miss Hickman here Mr leis Miss Spooner Mr dun here Mr Evans here Mr Reese Mr sige the date is Thursday March 20th 2025 it is now 5:3 p.m we will be going into Clos session to discuss agenda items posted on the Clos session agenda as authorized by the open meetings act under sections 551.071 attorney consultation 551.071 and 551.074 Personnel of the Texas government code e e e stand and join us for the pledges to the US and Texas Flags good evening tonight's Color Guard is presented by the bont United High School Navy junor Roc it is commanded by Cadet Elena Gara Cadet Monica her Hernandez Cadet Guadalupe
002Delgado and Cadet Jasline Garcia Under the direction of Gunnery Sergeant Michael triplet United States Marine Corps retired our pledges will be led by Fletcher Elementary fifth grader nelli Reyes she is the cheer captain part of the national Elementary Honor Society and an anchor for the Panther press Junior journalism Club I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America into the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all honor the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to the Texas one State under God one indivisible forward [Applause] thank you you may now have a seat for tonight's recognitions please welcome Jackie Simeon good evening president Hickman board trustees Dr Allen and audience members tonight we are delighted to introduce our District's National math Stars finalists [Applause] these
00336 second and third grade students scored in the top 2% of the [Applause] Nation on the northwest evaluation Association math assessment this qualifies them to apply to become a national math star 100 students will be admitted as Stars this year G giving them access to 10 years of support so that's through high school graduation for them this support includes math coaching advanced math courses family advising and financial assistance in pursuing enrichment opportunities in total the national math Stars program offers more than $10,000 in resources for each student who is accepted over the course of a decade these boys and girls represent Achievers from Blanchette Charlton Pard Calwood C Curtis Dishman guest Martin Peach MacArthur and Regina how Elementary Schools board MERS and Dr Allen we invite you to step down and join these young students
004for a photo s you know [Applause] and parents those photographs will be available in tomorrow's weekly wrapup they will also be posted on our social media and the BISD website and now it is with great appreciation that we recognize two incredible Community Partners for their generous commitment to supporting steam education in our schools thanks to the dedication and investment made by the Bowmont Children's Museum and indorama Ventures four outstanding bont ISD Educators have been awarded steam teacher grants securing nearly $20,000 in funding to bring Innovative and inspiring learning experiences into their classrooms those recipients are Dr Lorie threatz of the Career and Technical education center with a $4500 Grant Wendy reard of Fletcher Elementary with a $4,200 Grant shade Nolan Vons of Jones Clark Elementary with a $5,000 grants and Stephanie alantara of Westbrook high
005school with a $4,600 grant we extend our heartfelt thanks to the bont Children's Museum and indorama Ventures for their continued commitment to empowering Educators and students their investment is not just in projects but in the future of our children our schools and our community speaking on behalf of the bont Children's Museum tonight is executive director Amanda yarro hello you guys thank you so much for having us here to present this full check we are very very proud that bont ISD teachers applied for our annual Grant um so you guys know this is from a special event that the Children's Museum and the bont uh indama Ventures come together to do a fishing tournament we have now after three and a half years raised almost a million dollars to go back into the sou SE Texas
006schools and districts in different ways the great thing is a huge chunk of this money goes back into the school classrooms which is very important to us we know that the teachers need help with resources and the best thing that we can do in dama and the children's museum is provide an an opportunity to enhance the resources in the classroom so these four Educators were able to get 8,372 and3 to enhance the steam resources in their classroom so please encourage your I your teachers and Educators to apply again the grant opens August 1st so we want them to apply we want to give out more money and we hope that we can give out a bigger check next year thank you thank you that means a trip to the big Bank thank you very much
007finally tonight it's starting to feel like all we do is win and the the feeling is great we are very proud to present the high school student athletes who are 20204 25 state qualifiers or state champions first introducing the Bowmont United girls powerlifting team state qualifiers [Music] [Applause] I stand up and have a picture come on you might as well [Applause] and now a round of applause for the Westbrook girls swim Relay Team state qualifiers [Applause] a e please congratulate the Westbrook wrestling team State qualifiers [Applause] right everybody [Applause] ready presenting the Westbrook girls powerlifting State qualifiers w all right everybody ready over here and please help me congratulate the UIL 5 a D1 state championship Westbrook boys basketball team [Applause] want okay board members because you have a height deficit we are going to
008ask that you join us here on the floor for a photo or they can back up or come on guys don't come around the front here us and now speaking on behalf of these magnificent student athletes tonight are Ariana pidor of the Bowmont United girls powerlifting team and Terry satcher of the Westbrook boys basketball team hello good evening come closer okay I'm sorry y'all I'm nervous good evening boor boor president and Dr Allen we had an amazing time at State and we are sorry we are proud to I'm start over I'm so sorry got it okay oh my God okay good evening board board president and Dr Ellen we had an amazing time at State and we are proud to represent our school in Bulma ISD and we would like to thank you for our
009recognition good evening everyone my name is Terry satcher Jr and on behalf of the Westbrook Bruins basketball team we are honored to be here today this is a huge accomplishment that me and my teammates have worked hard all season for being recognized amongst our school board shows the love and care our community has shown towards us we app appreciate all the constant support that has been that has brought us to this point today this group of young men was special and the dedication it took from each one of us made a huge difference this season it has been a blessing to showcase our talents across the state of Texas and to be known as a champion that will forever be legendary I want to thank my coaches and teammates for an amazing season I wish
010to I wish it had never ended may God be with you all and continue to do great things in the next chapter of your lives thank [Applause] you let's have a final round of applause for all of tonight's honores we now close with invitations to the 2526 Elementary Pegasus program informational meetings the next two will be held Tuesday March 25th at 5:00 pm at Regina how Elementary and Thursday March 27th at 5:30 p.m. at Roy guest Elementary and it's a great time South Texas State fa there and our qualifying Elementary School students will get to enjoy the festivities on Tuesday April 1st and our middle and high school students will attend on Wednesday April 2nd get more information on those and other events in bont ISD by visiting our social media platforms subscribing to our
011new YouTube channel and exploring our newly enhanced website BMT isd.com thank you C e e laugh next we will hear the superintendent and cabinet report and we will then have public comments Dr Allan good evening m madame president to our school board and our bont community I'd like to begin tonight's presentation with our vision and mission statement can you please join me in recite 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 in tonight's present a focuses on core belief number one all children
012can and will learn and core belief number six we will be fiscally responsible and accountable to the public tonight I'd like to focus on two major updates and a few smaller updates number one our STAR testing number two a budget update and just a few additional updates in just a few short days actually in less than two two weeks our students will begin taking the star assessment as you can see our testing begins on April the 9th this is a critical time for our students and teachers I want to commend all of our teachers who are working and have worked so hard over the course of this school year along with our our staff our administrators all of our team members to prepare our students for the upcoming assessment here you see the assessment dates
013on April the 9th will begin with third graders third through 8th grade reading language arts assessment and English one assessment and we test all the way through the end of April so we still in a short amount of time have work that we can complete while we are focused in the classroom ensuring that we get those last that last minute preparation in we still need and want the support of of our families I'm excited that we have launched a resource for our parents on our on our website a parent website that is strictly devoted to supporting our students at home if you go to Ryan can you actually go to that tiny URL site for a moment so there are three main areas where parents can actually get support and we're encouraging all of our
014parents to access the website one of the things if you click on there are three key areas online practice video tips for success and additional resources that are available for parents to help support their students at home if you click on online practice click there for me please and click in that first box it will take them to the actual online practice materials that students can actually engage in at home also giving them practice on utilizing the online testing tools just a reminder to our to our community our our students take the star test online it is completely online so we want to make certain that our students have additional practice they have Chromebooks and they have the ability to access these resources at home can you go back to the second uh go back
015video tips for Success click there this is an entire library of by content area if you click on any one of these playlists there are videos with strategies and tips for how to be successful on every single content area that are compiled for parents so I just hope that our parents really and I encourage them to take an opportunity over the course of the next several days and really engage in these Resources with your students to give them that extra push that they need the extra practice that they need we want our students to be successful in the state of Texas you do not graduate unless you pass the star assessment we want our students track working to start really strong in third grade with them being successful passing the star test so we wanted
016to make certain that we rolled out additional resources and support and shared and showcased this with our families so miss Angelo how do you get here if you go to our website is it actually built on our website or do you have to go directly to the link a a button on our homepage bmtisd.com and it'll lead you directly to this website okay thank you so Ry if you could go back to the presentation the second part of my presentation We are continuing to work on the 25 26 school year budget I want to talk briefly about Revenue which is of course the resources that we have at our disposal to actually meet the needs of our students like many districts across the state we are waiting to see if anything what our state may
017do or what will emerge for additional funding for Texas Public Schools currently as our budget stands we do anticipate if everything stays the same we anticipate a reduction in Revenue estimated decreases in our local Revenue approximately $1. million reduced primarily because of Interest Revenue reductions that we expect and a reduction in our chapter 313 payments by about 1.1 million total we also anticipate at this time decreases in state and federal revenue down by about 3.5 million with decreases in our 1882 partnership indirect cost Revenue as well as school health and related Services reimbursement Revenue that we expect a decrease in so when you look at all of this collectively about close to $4.8 million doar in reduction in Revenue that we're anticipating for the 2526 school year budget so when you do a side by
018side for this year our total revenue was 183 million next year the reduction by 4.8 we anticipate right now roughly 178 million so I know many are asking well what about the Vader didn't we just pass a Vader didn't we just ask our voters for an additional $1 million which I'm so thankful that they granted I want to remind our community and our board that the Vader funds are what reoccurring expenses so we utilize the board approved that money to be utilized the bulk of that money is already utilized for our increases in salary that we gave this year which was the 5% raise continuation of programs and positions to about $4 million and then of course that 2.2 million that we set aside this year for increases I mean for improvements uh in our
019facilities mainly working on our on our roof projects which we are actually doing that but when you look overall so the Vader money has been committed that money is already spent so every year we still need what we need new money we need additional Revenue so that we can do what continue to meet the needs of our students inflation costs have not decreased that's one of the reasons why you know during this legislative session there's such a push for increases to What's called the basic allotment that $6,150 per student to increase significantly so that we can have additional resources to put into what our district actually needs flexible resources to meet the needs of our students in bont Texas so of course we don't know there are several proposals being pushed out right now throughout
020the legislative session but we are still operating or we are planning our budget as if we're not going to get any money so how do we make everything work with 4.8 million less dollars at our disposal so how do you do that well we continue to do what we do every year reduce staff when you look at enrollments and you look at uh through attrition positions that have been vacant we continually we always analyze sta we look at what whatever additional areas we can reduce budgets and of course we won't have our 1882 partnership so we expect that they that may yield an additional decrease in in revenue and expenditures that are actually going out so I'm hoping that's going to yield a a cost savings there so again we are deep in the work
021of working on the next year's budget but but the money the process doesn't get any easier every year in fact it's getting more challenging because of the cost of inflation I'm I'm op optimistic about and well I'm hopeful I should say about some bills that would possibly give us relief for example there's a bill that I saw regarding property insurance and you know our property insurance in this area has escalated to I think we're at about 8 million eight almost eight million that we pay in property insurance so there was there's a bill that's being circulated that may give us an allocation per student for districts that live in this area that could help offset the cost of that so I'm hoping that passes I hope something passes where you know our teachers receive additional
022uh revenue from the state and I'm also hoping that we get an increase to the basic allotment which gives us flexibility as school districts to do again what we need to do but again as we stand today we are looking at a continued reduction in our Revenue questions yes sir yes ma'am thank you Dr Allen um out of that 4.8 can you say what percentage of those what what impact would those that decrease in 1882 Partnerships uh what kind of impact would that have on that so that's what we're actually analyzing right now to know well we know that the the pass through money the 1882 Partnerships receive additional revenue from the state that's passed through to the partners but because we will be maintaining or resuming operations of those schools some of the fee
023money or some of the things that we pay them should be reduced right now we're working on what the Staffing allocations will be for the campuses and how that will compare to our campuses and really working those numbers through massaging working and analyzing to see what the the end result will be right now the estimate is 4.8 I mean I hope it's not 4.8 I hope it's actually less than that but right now that's where we are I guess my next question is I'm always concerned when I see reduction in work so is that just we do that every year so I want to clarify that we don't we're not I'm not I'm not talking about a riff or laying off employees that's not what I'm talking about when you have reductions in student enrollment
024or attendance you always we always analyze our positions we analyze positions for the length of time they've been vacant and we analyze based on student enrollments so we do this every year this is nothing new and this is not a scenario where I'm saying oh we're getting ready to cut $4 million worth of positions our jobs our people's positions because that's not what we would do and that's not what I'm at all recommending we're not even at that point but we every year multiple times throughout the year we analyze our positions we cut positions this year we cut a million dollars worth of positions this year I don't know if you recall that but I cut a million dollars worth of central almost a Million worth of central office positions that have been vacant are
025just reorganizing and reassign in duties to different individuals so that we could hey we need we needed to cut we do that every year well I I appreciate you mentioning the fact about um attrition take you know of course set sett in and of course one of the you know misconceptions is that we're really really topheavy in BISD and that the administration is just a weed organization and it's just growing like a weed so I I appreciate the fact that you mentioned that you know you continue to um not bring some of those positions back in ad me that you do have a watchful eye over that so I think that's important for the community to know so thank you for that yes sir any other questions about the revenue anything you want to add
026Miss Hernandez okay just a couple of more updates you know when you talk about advocacy and what what's happening right now in the legislature I gave you know last month just a review of our District's priorities you know we had a a great opportunity doing in Golden Triangle days you know our district and our board Is Still Remains actively engaged in conversations with our legislators about funding about the concerns or the things that concern Bowman ISD we had the opportunity the week prior to spring break you know to visit with our representatives and this is just a sample of some of our meetings where you know we discussed the Bowman isg story and the unique needs that our district and our community have and really talking to to you know uh representative Christian Manuel we
027met with him we actually met uh Senator Nicholls and met with his actual uh uh legislative team as well as the legislative team for Senator kraton so you know we had productive meetings and you know still working to follow and track and make certain that our legislators the individuals who are making decisions for us understand the impact of those decisions and how they impact bont our district is unique our district is not like other districts across the state of Texas and that's one of the things that you know we worked really hard to share and express that to them so hopefully uh we'll get continue to get traction I still encourage our community to follow and pay attention to what's happening during the session right now my next update is a rezoning update we have
028been working on this project again we're almost to the completion of this project so major work of course has gone going on through the course of the past two years we are now at a stage where on Monday we will release the lookup tool so on Monday parents will will be able to go to our website they will be able to type in their address and it will tell them which campus they are zoned to according to the new maps we plan to send letters to All Families in mid April with their specific campus but if they want to know on Monday that tool will will be live we will begin getting the registration process which you have to verify all parents will have to verify their address because of the transition in the system
029with our rezoning efforts so I know Dr Frank wants to add a little bit to this especially with that lookup tool that will be live on Monday yes ma'am thank you Dr Allen I just want to add that if a parent if your address has changed it needs to be updated and the way to update your address is to go to the school you will need to um make sure that you do a change of address form and provide two proofs of residency also for parents when we roll over students those students that are promoted to the next grade it is going to roll them over according to the address and teams so if you have moved but you have not changed your address you can go to the lookup tool enter your address it
030will tell you a school that your Zone but if your address has changed and you have not updated that address when you receive your letter it is going to be according to the address that we have in the system so it's going to be very important for you to update your your address so any questions about our lookup tool and lastly just uh a reminder Miss siman already shared a reminder about the ybl fair days I'm really excited because we have of course eligible students in grades three through 12 will be able to attend the fair we were able to qualify 90 at 94% attendance 4,857 students in grades three through 12 so I'm really excited about that because last year we had to lower that percentage rate to get more kids eligible to actually
031participate so the fact that we have almost 5,000 students in grade 3 through 12 only who qualified meaning they didn't miss more than eight school days they have passed the third nine weeks assessment they have had no out of school suspension days or da days so I'm really excited about this I think this is our fourth annual opportunity coming up not next week but the following week we have two days Elementary on April 1st and then our secondary day on April the 2nd so of course you have an opportunity come out if you work for BISD it's not open to the public okay it's a private event just for our students but I still am very appreciative and thankful to the ymbl for continuing to support this incentive for our students so that concludes my
032reports this evening any questions any additional questions thank you I believe we have board outcome goals Mr cheetah good evening president Hickman board Dr Allen tonight we are excited that our cabinet report focuses on board outcome goal updates for goal number three the percentage of graduates that meet the criteria for ccmr will increase from 38% to 65% by August 2025 and I hear them coming up our fabulous ccmr task force committee leads are going to share those updates with you tonight so good evening everyone so with me I have our team of course I am Lydia Sylvester director of counseling Dr prudom Who is our CTE director and our fabulous ccmr coordinators Jennifer Moore and Olivia duglas so tonight we'll be presenting to you uh our board outcome goal as it relates to ccmr of
033course you see our vision and Mission that is stated here everything that we do of course in our district is related uh to directly related to our vision and Mission next we have our core beliefs and this particular outcome goal directly relates to our second core out uh core beliefs which is we can achieve higher levels of performance within every facet of our organization board outcome goals is stated by Miss cheetah our goal is to increase from 38% to 65% by August 2025 so we are we are here there are many many people within our district uh that M have made the increase that you'll see tonight possible so from the district level admin level um on our campus definitely our boots on the ground our ccmr coordinators all work together so they're listed here
034with the positions that they hold within the district um and we all collectively work together to make this possible so as you see each year we have a yearly Target so since 2022 um we have started with that 38% and all the way up to 2025 we have indicated yearly targets for this year in 2025 with the class of 2024 we have surpassed our goal with 66.6% % of our students meeting that tcmr criteria long journey well worth it um so we are very very excited uh to share that with you tonight now we want to make sure that everyone understands that there are many many ways to earn a ccmr point so you can see that there are college ready indicators there are career ready indicators as well as military and special education uh
035areas in which we can ensure that every student has an opportunity to earn a ccmr point for our accountability measures tonight we're going to be focusing on areas that relate to our Texas success initiative which is our TSI assessment college prep and industry based certification however before we get into the actions that has led to this increase we do have to give a shout out for the class of 2025 this year's gradu ating class they are on track at Bowman United with 81% and Westbrook right there along 88% of their graduating class is on track so you know we struggle with the delayed gratification because there is a twoyear lag in this data so we won't see this in black and white for accountability until 2027 accountability year but we we have to just take
036this blessing as it is and uh congratulate the team for for all of their efforts in this so as it relates to college ready performance objectives there are two objectives that we focused in the air focusing on on the area of college readiness so the first one is the TSI criteria for Math and English we want to increase uh from 25% to 28% for the students that meet their Readiness college readiness with TSI for the performance objective two is the percent of students that complete dual credit classes so as you see we collaborate with other partners to make this happen for TSI which is a way that we make sure our students are ready for college College Prep course we have connected with Texas College Bridge um and then for dual credit we offer many
037dual credit courses and that's in collaboration with Lamar Institute of Technology as well as Lamar State College Orange so as you see our performance objective targets are listed here so for TSI dual credit and industry based certification for 2025 you can see in the far column our targets you can also see each year we have each year we have had an increase but in 2025 we've surpassed our targets with TSI meeting exceeding the target of 28% with 45% dual credit 16% and industry based certification with 26% uh the way that we've accomplished this is first our first action which is through Texas College Bridge which is an online college readiness program however this has been embedded into our senior level classes so as our curriculum supervisors are working in the summer and scoping out what
038are students going to learn in their senior level English and math classes they have taken the time time to embed this program as a part of our students daily scope and sequence in their class um so any student that does not have a ccmr point coming into their senior year so as you can see um 2024 and 2025 at Bowman united we had two 227 students and at Westbrook 216 students that entered their senior year without a ccmr point but due to this online Preparatory course being embedded many students were registered in math and El AR as needed um now there is a discrepancy in numbers and you may be wondering why those students left out remember there are many many ways to earn a point and some of those students are our special education
039students that have a designed graduation plan that are allowing them to meet the meet the ccmr indicator in another way uh so with ccmr points an incentive for students to earn that point before their senior year I do want to acknowledge our BISD plus program which is an opportunity if a student the end of their junior year they've earned a ccmr point they're on track for graduation they passed all their star exams they can have an opportunity to come to school lake or leave early their senior year and so we really encourage and pump up our students like hey we want you to earn this opportunity before your senior year but if not we've embedded this in their courses so that they up Ain their point the second action is dual credit of course with
040House Bill 8 House Bill 8 uh allows our economically disadvantaged students to take dual credit courses for free so financial assistance specifically for those students so we're searching we're finding we're finding targeted students um to enroll and have that opportunity with lit uh so you can see in the far column the number of students that have been enrolled for this school year at Bulma United Westbrook early college and also with the bulk of our students having a lot of dual credit at our Career and Technical education system center I do want to point out that moving forward starting in this spring semester TSI assessment is the main way that we make sure students are ready for dual credit courses which leads to our next action of embedding TSI preparation very similar to college Bridge as
041we do for seniors for juniors we are embedding it in their courses their English and math courses to make sure that they are ready for the TSI exam because that will be their pathway into dual credit courses and at this time I'll turn it over to Dr prudom okay so for our career ready performance objectives you'll notice that initially when we Creed this goal um I believe it was in 2019 before covid you'll see that the target was 8% and that was because industry based certifications were not initially a part of IND accountability at that time and there were only a few ibc's that were offered and as we continue to progress through the changes with tea every year when it comes to programs of study they add ibcs to each program of study so
042you'll see that we've increased from 20 21 every year with our industry based certifications it's important to note that all of our programs of study end with an industry- based certification and they're Capstone for our Juniors and seniors what we did starting last year was create strategic plans so we can get buyin and feedback from our teachers who are the experts in those fields so we actually created 30 strategic plans for each IBC we sat with with the teachers we extracted information from them put it on paper so that there's a plan in place just in case a teacher leaves the next teacher can come aboard and follow that plan and you'll see that we offer several different industry based certifications it is not like Star where you just taking a STAR test for English
043one English two or biology or US History they are all different different testing entities and it's very frustrating when you're dealing with 30 different vendors when it comes to testing because they all have different rules and regulations so that's why we thought it would be important to put the plan on paper so that we have a guide to follow as we progress each year and adjust to the changes from tea so with that being said what we did uh this year was create an IBC C uh calendar or testing schedule I should say in collaboration with our testing coordinators at Bowmont United and Westbrook high school so we would get more Buy in from the campuses we had our first round of testing with NCC ER core at Westbrook on December 19th he's due to
044finish testing I believe in two weeks we should be at about 90% passing rate for NCC food safety and sign certification we are on target to meet our goal and also for engineering technology foundations we actually had a round of testing I believe it was Monday and Tuesday Miss car eagland shared her uh her passing rate of course you know she loves data and with bont United Westbrook and the career center students they are at 90% passing with the second round of testing and remember I always like to say that these are tests that we as grown people take these are actual industry- based certifications that our students are taking that adults are taking in the real world world we also had our first round of testing for entrepreneurship and small business for Adobe and
045for non-commission officer level two now because we were having great passing rates our teachers did not want to wait for the second round in may they wanted to test right after spring break so I have some more data for you for engineering I'm sorry for entrepreneurship in small business at Westbrook high school we just finished our second round of testing I think we had about 10 students that were absent and they are at 77% passing and that's our largest IBC um that we offer with our students so I think we can give them a round of applause we have one more round of testing for for Westbrook and so I believe Mr Philips set the go for 90% but the email that I received from the teachers is that they're going to get 100% so
046let's go ahead and clap for that because I know they're going to achieve it cuz they are definitely excited so now let's segue to the career center and so I just said let me just list everything that we offered there in the actual ibcs that our students take at the career center either they earn an IBC or a level one certification but I received the passing rates for the CIS Center we offer 13 programs of study nine of those programs of study have a 100% passing rate for a culinary we are at 96% and three of the remaining programs of study they will be testing in the next few weeks so basically the final round of testing is in May but because the teachers are excited we've moved that second round up and so we
047know that we'll definitely reach our goal by the end of the school year and I'm extremely proud of our teachers and our team because we work hard every day trying to convince our students that this is what you need whether or not you believe you need it at this time any questions yes Dr prudom Dr prudom I have a question yes ma'am uh it piggybacks on what you just alluded to uh the program of study child care you all do have that do you are I'm not sure if you have something like that yes that they get certification yes ma'am to work yes we do um well this is kind of broad but the board as a whole we were discussing uh when we have uh demands for more employees what can you all do
048I mean it takes putting your minds together brainstorming to enhance what you are already doing to get our students prepared to become our future teachers our so I'll let you talk I can see it all over your face okay but we're we're looking what can enhance that program to facilitate the district with our needs understood and so with those two programs that we offer at Paul at Paul Brown It's a a different program it's early childhood but at the two high schools um we also have a high percentage U passing rate for those but those students that's why I'm looking at Mr Samuels have to be fingerprinted and we finally um actually have that procedure in place so thank you Mr Samuels Mr LeBlanc is responsible for getting those students there first of all the
049students have to want to become a teacher that's the first thing and so when we talk about students in their programs of study um sometimes they'll say I was just placed there but if they truly want to be a teacher there is a program that program will prepare them for that because all I have to do is sign off and say hey they've met these qualific qualifications they can be an education Aid and then if they want to continue on to become a teacher we've met with u miss Emily Collins Davis I think there's a plan in place a program that can help those students fulfill those obligations to become teachers yes ma'am thank you and I'm thinking now like our uh teacher work uh teacher work fair you know like even have something there
050that uh you know to let talk to the students about we've done that I believe um you guys miss it you all do so much but we were just brainstorming which you all do that but just to see how we can and Mr Samuel was in that conversation to see what we can do you know to have that maybe on the campus Because I hear you in the distance in my ear saying it's by demand to you normally solicit what's where the need is at right where the need is at yes so yes and so if we I mean there's no way everyone should is a teacher or should be a teacher so we as a board we were just saying how can we you know make some connections there to help it facilitate the
051need of employment so miss LeBlanc just held the industry connections here I believe it was uh maybe the week before we left for spring break in the boardroom last year she also held the industry connections event where we connect industry with our students and so one thing that um she is very um consistent with is making sure that students know the opportunities that are available so we on our BISD web page for CTE we actually have the Help Wanted posted so students know where they can go and apply for jobs whether it's here in Jefferson County or not because I'm just really speaking facts that when we talk about students and enrolled in these programs of study we're asking students to at 14 or 15 say this is what I want to do I want
052to well actually in eth grade when they sign up for their program of study they have to select an eth grade and so they cannot change after 10th grade so you expecting we are expecting them to make that decision at an early age and so when it comes to our students in those programs of study I'm just thinking back to last year there were a few of those young ladies who wanted to be become a teacher and then change their mind and so what we can do as Educators is present the information to them this is what's available for you yes we want you to stay in Bowman ISD but we're trying to fill those pipelines as best as we can because we get phone calls we get emails it's like what are y'all doing
053to prepare you know our future you know employers here in bont we're trying but y'all have to help us fill that Pipeline and so it was I want to say pulling straws to get people to really participate in the industry connections this year I don't know if it was the timing or what it was but the the problem that we're seeing is that we have the supply you guys need them but we need y'all to be in partnership with us so what we tried to do this year differently for our CT advisory Council was to include many um additional people on our um on our board our Council I should say and we had four meetings already to try to continue to put the word out about what we're doing and how we can be
054of service to you but because we receive federal funds we have to have feedback from the community and what can we do to help you fill your pipeline and so we're trying but when we talk about saying hey you know we have these positions available is up to the students whether or not they want to become a teacher and what we have found is that many of them do not want to and I'm just being honest okay we have a lot of work ahead of us thank you Dr prud appreciate that any other questions no questions but I do have a comment I remember about two years ago you know we were sitting up here presenting the information and we feel like we was just falling from off the face of the earth when we
055found out that we had over 80% % of uh level one certifications and then the state of Texas was like well no we're not doing that anymore right and I just want to commend you guys and your team just for bouncing back right because the these numbers are very impressive and one of the things that I'm thinking about you know while you're going over this is the fact that you guys actively are right now building the community like you are bridging and building the next Workforce active time right now and that's commendable so I really want to say I really appreciate the work that you guys are putting in thank you don't leave yet I have I I want to do a comment as well um because of the ability of Juniors to choose not
056to go to class first period or last period and because of the outstanding a program that you all have not not advertised as well as it might be advertised I have a granddaughter who's had the most wonderful year of her College High School experience um although it may not be so wonderful next week when Slim Shady has to go in front of the judges and perhaps the the um lamp chops but it has been an amazing they're Market Lambs they have to be sold that's true um but it has been a phenomenal experience for her I don't know that she's going to give you a point from that perspective she'll give you some in other areas but it is truly a life-changing experience for her and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you
057thank you well thank you for that and we definitely appreciate Miss hoppy and her team because they work really hard they were at the Houston Livestock Rodeo as you know during spring break okay so our SUVs are going back and forth so I appreciate you guys supporting the work that we do it is not easy we get frustrated but we know we're trying to convince students that they need this and I think when they graduate and they move on and years down the line they'll remember us saying that and so we'll appreciate you all thank you and they'll have they'll will'll have kids out there showing all day Thursday right yes yes ma'am yes ma'am and your baby yes but I figured she yes she she probably probably can give us more than one but
058we can only count one for accountability yes ma'am thank you and I just want to just want to add that you know this the team has worked extremely hard when you work working in a system that is continually changing and adjustments are continually being made and the bar is contining to rise we're going to of course over the next before prior to the end of this school year you know go back and revise our board outcome goals so we're going to continue to raise the bar for our students and again you know I I think Dr pram had her ear on the on the closed session door because she literally said exactly what we talked about as far as how we're trying to we want to expose our kids to what's out there so that
059we can really and truly get them to want to take advantage of the opportunities that are in our community and it's really challenging today because you know kids today have so many opportunities for distractions and other things that they're focused on and unfortunately you know I I I don't like that you have to make these decisions at 14 13 14 years old and be roped into a a pathway however you know there are so many students who will and can benefit from taking advantage of what is right here so you know we want to continue to encourage parents to really educate yourselves take advantage of what's being offered at our schools the information setting so that they can really know how critical it is for our kids and every kid doesn't have to go to
060college every kid does not have to go to college you can graduate high school and you can earn nearly six figure salaries yes and that's what we're trying to tap into our kids knowledge and understanding so again you know the team is doing phenomenal work so you know when you reach the bar raise the bar you know so thank you team great job thank you sorry public comments it is now time for public comments Miss Antoine do we have anyone signed up to address the board not that we don't love to hear from you but it means I don't have to read the script tonight Mr Samuels do we have an update on Personnel activities good evening board uh I think it first order of of business is uh I want to say that Slim
061Shady doesn't have anything to worry about I don't like lamb chops but moving on uh you have in front of you a listing of newly hardened separate employees for the month of February as you review I want to remind you that next Saturday is our educator uh job fair uh we have uh 200 people signed up a 100 of those people are overseas so I don't think they'll be here uh but we do have 100 that are here about 40 uh certified uh uh Educators that have signed up uh to attend uh mind you this uh this job fair is a little different as uh we'll be uh interviewing for par professional positions and other positions uh uh that uh that are on our uh camp on our campuses uh and then I actually want
062to uh before I walk away shout out our elementary principles who will be working two Saturdays in a row so this Saturday they have UIL and next Saturday with a job fair so uh thank you uh Gladiators for your hard work any questions thank you Mr Samuels just one question as we are interviewing are we offering positions immediately and clearing yes ma'am sometimes we offer positions before we interview are you ready for the tax office report okay for the month of February the tax office collected another 18, 284,000 in maintenance and operation taxes and four , 96,000 in debt service and we are 93.98 per collected which is more than we were last year and for the general fund we have revenues of just over $151 million expenditures are 118 million and outstanding purchase orders
063are just over $4 million for um campus activity funds they collected $2 53,8 180 and we had some donations from the GTH house to Career techn Technology Center for $200 reading for education to Curtis Elementary for $519 Nolla Petri donated $200 to Blanchet Elementary School and we had some donated items to guest ele from Lakeside Apartments um that valued at $180 and um the monogram shop donated letterman jackets to Bowmont United High School in the with a value of $200 are there any questions we do have three projects that we want to draw the attention of the board that um we're going to do competitive seal proposals for the chiller replacement at bont United the firearm replacement at um ML King and the HVAC Replacements at odm Academy and Smith Middle school and that's just
064a report to the board to let you know what um purchasing avenues that we're utilizing thank you are we about to get through with chiller Replacements We'll never get through with chiller Replacements because sometimes they just go out so the these are things that um he he um Mr dult has um needs uh he knows which ones have the higher needs and when he has funds available he will replace them unless something happens like we had at um Brown where the copper was stolen and and so he tries to do U A a rotation on you know as as much money as we can give him we try to give him as a lot he needs a lot more roof Replacements we have high needs in that area over $50 million in roof so so
065as much money as we can we give it to him thank you thank you Chief District R Intruder detection and audit report findings good evening board president Dr Allen and Board of Trustees after traged of ugal uh Governor along with tea and the Texas School Safety Center put in place the Intruder detection audits these audits of course were designed to help keep our students as well as our staff safe uh to date we have had all 20 of our campuses have been audited and we have six more campuses left to go any Campus of course that were cited were required to put in corrective action plans do we have any questions at this time thank you thank you chair we're now ready for the consent agenda does anyone wish to pull any items from the
066consent agenda for discussion hearing none is there an MO is there a motion some move to approve Mr the it has been moved by Mr Lewis and seconded by Mr dun to approve the consent agenda all those in favor raise your right hand signaling I those opposed same sign the motion carries 60 with one absent is there any action on items discussed in close session yes ma'am Madam President we have two um on the Clos session agenda item regarding contract renewals I move the board accept the superintendent's recommendation to renew professional employee contracts for 2025 2026 school year as reflected in exhibit a attached to the minutes and direct the superintendent to issue the appropriate contracts and accordance with policy and law second it's been moved by Mr uh Evans and seconded by Mr Lewis
067to approve the Su the uh recommendation to allow the superintendent to address the Personnel issues is there any discussion those in favor signify by right hand those oppos same sign the motion carries 6 Z with one absent Madam president on the close session agenda item concerning the level three parent grievance filed by vs I move the board uphold the decision of the administration at level one and two is there it has been moved by Mr Evanson seconded by Mr Lewis to approve the close session agenda item uh to uphold the administration decisions in both level one and two is there any discussion those in favor right hand those opposed same sign the motion carries 6 zero with one absent we are ready for Budget amendments Dr Allen Madame President I recommend that the board approve
068amendments from the general fund 9 and accept amendments from special Revenue 26 27 and 28 so move to approve second it's been moved by Mr Lewis and seconded by Mr to approve the budget amendments as presented to the board thanz thank you Miss Hickman we are asking the board for $250,000 to cover overtime that we have in police security and then the rest of the amendments are to change between functions we also have three um special Revenue amendments that are moving funds between the functions as well any questions if there are no questions all those in favor raise your right hand signaling motion carries 6 we're ready for purchases over $50,000 Dr Allen Madam president I recommend that the board approve purchases over $50,000 from The General Fund in the amount of $154,000 someone approve
069second Miss Hernandez thank you Miss Hickman we have two purchases um the Whitley pin is are our outside Auditors that we hire each year in the amount of $ 76,1 and then for region five we use them for our content filter and teacher classroom management and the amount of 78,000 is there a a um time limit to the Auditors do we have to change Auditors every so many years we don't have a requirement to change Auditors we um had to do um a RFP or an RFQ you really don't do uh you can solicit for who's qualified to do the audit and we did that after um G P I think it was GPA or something uh GPR they could no longer come and do the audit so we did that and then we um
070hired Whitley pin we've been pleased with them they're easy to work with they um They do change Auditors each year they don't assign the same people so you always have a fresh pair of eyes looking at our system we have had the same partner though that she's like the overseer of all the audits but we feel really good because they send different people that do different things and ask different questions any other discussion all those in favor signify by raising your right hand those opposed same sign the motion carries 60 with one AB thank you I'm almost afraid to say this we have completed our business for the evening so Mr sige would you like to start closing us out hopefully each of you are recharged revitalized and ready to power through to the end
071of the year you know I have the utmost respect for what each of you do each and every day throughout the year for our students and our community I thank you once again for what you do uh education is not easy I know it I'm married to an educator come home she fall asleep on the couch so I know it's not easy but I appreciate what you do and our community does as well they may not tell you that but they appreciate you if you're nothing but a babysitter for them they appreciate you so continue to power through through the end of the year thank you well as usual I won't be long winded I want to thank each and every one of view our community uh our parents especially because when our children are
072out for spring break of course they're having a wonderful time but it's always good to see them back in stride again and so I'm just thankful for everyone I'd like to say to the board I tell you uh we had to pull up our muscles if you all don't know we along with Dr Allen we've been on the move I tell you we started out in Austin at the capol taking care of school business and then uh Galviston for a superintendent School Board conference which was Dynamic and then to San Antonia Antonio for a state championship and then back oh and I'd like to give a shout out to my hubby tonight from the board we celebrated 35 years of marriage almost as long as I've been with BISD you know so I'm excited about
073that and uh just thankful for so many things president Hickman uh you should have seen us coaching at that basketball game we was coaching yes I'm finished yes thank you is that the same as as Saturday Morning Quarterback oh wait a minute wait I did I I didn't forget how could I for forget it well we were all over the place but we celebrated and the continue uh the celebration continues uh two Mega birthdays our superintendent Dr Allen and our president miss Hickman let's give them another round of applause yeah yeah yeah yeah yes yes enjoy the rest of the month yes Mega takes on a whole new meaning at my age Mr Evans just just um major shout out to the CCR committee ccmr committee um anytime you blow through board outcome goals I'm
074just static uh if you don't look good we don't look good so keep on Shining and keep on looking good so thank you Mr D I am so proud of all of you out there and the work that you do and it is really really really appreciated we literally we got we have weeks to go so let's just power on through get to the summer so we can put on our shorts and flipflops and take a break thank you again um you know what's crazy about this we haven't had an audience that we said public comments in like a few months so it's actually good to see you guys hey you guys keep pounding the pavement doing what you guys doing but you know I mean BISD team is just Superior you know second to
075none and I really believe that in my heart and my spirit I mean we could work anywhere but everybody can't work here and that's a god honest truth and I stand on that no he just dropped the mic I have nothing else to say that was it thank you that was it nor do I but thank you all for all you do we appreciate you it is 805 have a good evening