Belton ISD Board Meeting February 23, 2026

001Good evening. Tonight's student showcase features students from the Lake Belton High School automotive technology program who will share an overview on their hands-on learning experiences and how the program is preparing them for careers and skilled trades. Through rigorous coursework and realworld application, students develop technical skills in vehicle maintenance, diagnostics, and repair while also building problem solving, teamwork, and workplace readiness skills essential for success in today's workplace. These students are supported by their automotive teacher, Mr. Brent Sharp, whose guidance helps connect the classroom learning to industry aligned career ready experiences. Please join me in welcoming the Lake Belton High School automotive students as they begin this evening's showcase. >> Hi, my name is Adania. I am a practice student in um automotive. Today we're just going to be telling you a little bit about what our

002program is and how like some of our equipment works. This is Ashley. She's a junior and that's Mana. He's also a pract a dongle. So, this goes into the car. This is a 2003 um Chevrolet Equinox. So, the dongle goes in and basically what the scan tool does is it basically tells you all the codes that pop up uh the diagnostic trouble codes or DTC. It basically gives you like like a hint of like what is wrong with the car. So Ash's going to pull it up. Ashley's going to pull it up and we're going to set a code on here. Um, we flip a couple of switches like here. Switch it back off and then it'll show a code. Um, but once she gets that done, she's going to show you the code on

003the camera and then kind of explain what that does. Okay. So then we're going to go to engine. going to go to codes menu display the codes and that's what's going to show you what's wrong with the vehicle. So what that says is cylinder 3 injector circuit problem ect circuit in sorry intermittent high voltage. So what it's going to do you're going to turn the key on turn it on. Can you see the injectors in here? So that's basic the injectors in here. Okay, moving on to the DTC. I mean the DMN. The DMN. This is for your battery. Um, positive and negative. I am really good at electrical. I love electrical. It's one of my favorites. Um, oh, and a shout out to our Raymond Garcia. He won first place at U Skills USA.

004He got gold medals. So, okay. So, I'm gonna ask one question. Does anybody know like what a good battery percentage like voltage is like by any like a good battery? It's going to be 12.6 volts. So, that's a good battery. Um, going down to a battery is like maybe 10 volts. You want to get a new battery. 11 volts. You're kind of pushing it. 12.6 volts is good battery. Um, so right here, this is what showing. It says 13.49. You got a really good battery. Um, probably like a brand new car. Um, moving on. This is our thermal imager. What it does is it basically shows you um like the temperature. I'm going to turn it on real quick. Hold on. Takes a minute. Sorry. Okay, here it is. So, here is the Here's the

005like thermal. So, it's like yellow light. And can I use that as an example? Okay. So, what this is going to do, it shows you it's going to do. Okay. So, right now you are 93 in the 90s F. So, yes, it's a good temperature. It's a good temperature. Okay. So, also not to mention we can use this tool for many other things. We can use it on certain like cylinder heads to see if there is any heat coming towards it or if there's anything that's working. So, if there's no power or heat going to something, we can use this Identify what exactly it is. Yes, I did. I took the actual start. I didn't know what I was doing, but end up learning real quick's four different like categories I guess there's basics and

006that's basically like book and then you have tech one which is like 5050 you're inside the class and then you're outside the shop working on cars usually like the teachers or anybody get a lot of teachers students Sorry students, sorry. And then there's only two practice Basically, I'm just a teach I grew up with my dad a lot and I was kind of just like random things. Fun fact about me. I also do like 15 years and then I started helping my dad like that's why I like what cars he has and I remember it when it was just a stock little car and uh he grew I grew up with us uping it and is a full drive car now and this is my second year in this program. So I joined last year

007and it probably decision I've ever got into this program and I'm so happy I did this car. program. >> We have an email that do you want to send you the email? >> All right. All right. So, our email is lbhs.bd.net and the students are running the email account. We email you guys back. We usually do call as well sometimes. But yeah, that's the email. So, any other questions? What's up? >> My question check. All right. My question is um it sounds like we you won gold. Um was it who They're not here. >> Uh I was just kind of wondering and and maybe someone here will know how many were in that competition and what that look like. >> There was 77 students total and he managed to make first the test and very

008Okay. All right. Thank you to Lake Belton High School automotive program. Y'all probably didn't notice, but we have an entire piece of a car here. So, if you can give us a brief commercial break to move that out of the way, we will continue with the recognitions. Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us this evening and for your interest in Belton ISD. I hope you enjoyed the presentation by our Lake Belton High School automotive students. Give him a round of applause. The time is 6:20 p.m. and the Belton Independent School District Board of Trustees are now convened in a regular board meeting on Monday, February the 23rd, 2026 at the Pittinger Fine Arts Center located at 400 North Wall Street in Belton, Texas. A quorum of board members is present. This meeting has been

009duly called and notice of the meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. I want to welcome the members of our audience and our live stream viewers to this meeting. As the Belton ISD board of trustees, we are here to set goals, listen to reports from the superintendent, approve budgets, contracts, personnel appointments, and make policy for the district. This is a meeting of the board of trustees held in public. However, it is not a public meeting. Prior to this meeting, board members were received information related to items on tonight's agenda. Agenda items may not necessarily be handled in the order list listed on the notice. This meeting is open to all who wish to attend and hear the matters discussed. These proceedings are being livereamed on

010the district's YouTube channel and will be available for review in the days following tonight's meeting. for the video to adequately reflect the proceedings. I respectfully ask that you please refrain from talking while others are speaking and that cell phones are on silent. Please rise for a moment of silent prayer or meditation. Please remain standing as our students from Southwest Elementary lead us in the pledge of allegiance and honors to the Texas flag. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to thee, Texas. One state under God. One and indivisible. >> Please be seated. >> The first item on the agenda this evening is recognitions. And

011we'll turn it over to Christine from our communications department to to lead us off. >> And our first recognition is our pledgers today. Okay. So, if you guys will come to the front and take pictures. We are pleased to have this evening with us brother and sister Rosie and Ian Block. Uh Rosie is a second grader. Her brother Ian is a third grader. And Rosie um her favorite subject is art. And when you ask her friends uh to tell a little bit about who she is, they say she is a great friend who is very helpful, especially when she's not talking. and that she's very dependable some and someone that they can truly rely on. Um and Rosie, we've been thrilled to get to know you tonight. Thank you. And Ian, his favorite subject is

012math. And his friends, they what they say about him and that is that he is one smart guy and always helpful. So Rosie and Ian, thank you all for being here tonight and thanks mom for bringing you. Our next recognition this evening is our our students from Lake Belton High School Automotive uh who participated in our showcase. And as you were able to see tonight uh there is so much technology that is involved with cars today. Uh, and we were just excited to be able to see a sneak peek of what they do. And we of course have Brent Sharp, their teacher, with us this evening as well. Thank you guys for being here and participating in our showcase. And we have some allstate recognitions this evening. The first one is we have an all

013state band student from Lake Belton High School. We have Adam Nem here. Adam achieved five 5A allstate band which is the highest honor a high school musician can achieve. He is here this evening with his instructors and uh where's and Mr. Gear again is right there. Thank you. So, congratulations to you, Adam. We are super proud. Congratulations. Congratulations, you guys. And we have All State Choir students to recognize. Actually, five this evening. We had five students from Lake Belton and Belton High School to earn their highest rating that they could achieve as a vocalist in the state 5A competition. They advanced through a rigorous multi-round audition process and attended the allstate clinic last week or two weeks ago now. We are so proud of them and to their instructors, Terrence Livingstone, uh Tanya Leavourne, and

014Charlotte Woman. Thank you guys. Congratulations. And we have Texas Music Educators Association all region Jazz Band students from middle school. We have 13 students. We are recognizing 13 students this evening from Belton Middle School and Lake Belton Middle School who earned this highest honor that they can achieve through this process. We have directors Chris Pulley and Grant Shane with us as well. Congratulations to you, our middle schoolers and state jazz, all region jazz, sorry. Congratulations, guys. And now we have our uh Texas High School Coaches Association Academic Allstate Football. We have 25 students that we are recognizing from Belton High School and Lake Belton this evening who were named to the Texas High School Coaches Association academic all-state football teams. Congratulations to you guys for your outstanding uh achievement both on and off the field

015and especially in the classroom. Congratulations to you all. And Lake Belton is going to stay up there. Belton High School you go and our Lake Belton football players are going to stay up there because Lake Belton High School earned the National Academic Excellence Award. They were a finalist for that award. There are only uh seven teams in the state of Texas who earned this um honor for 5A programs. Uh it is an honor uh uh nationwide and uh this is the fourth consecutive year that Lake Belton High School has earned this. So congratulations to our Lake Belton Broncos again for your achievements on the field and in the classroom. Congratulations guys. We have many CTE uh students that we're going to recognized today. In fact, 45 total. And first is our business professionals of America

016State qualifiers. 33 students qualified in 24 competitive categories. These students demonstrated skills at the competition in accounting, business, finance, information technology, health, digital media production, and applied computer applications. Congratulations on our state qualifiers for BPA. Congratulations. Next, next we'll recognize our students who participated in the health occupation student association uh competition and our state qualifiers. We have these students uh 12 students who qualified in 12 competitive categories uh demonstrating excellence in content knowledge, clinical skills and professional presentations. These students uh will represent Belton ISD at the state HOSA competition in March. Congratulations state qualifiers. Congratulations. >> And we have a journey of a graduate milestone award that we'll be presenting this evening. But if we can call your attention to the video what really sets TJ apart if we're thinking about job competencies, journey of

017a graduate competencies is perseverance. Uh TJ defines what we like to see in students which is that grit, that determination. if he makes uh a mistake or uh in terms thinks thinks what he's doing is is failure, it's not. It's learning. It's the process. It's the struggle. And he accepts that. But not only does he accept that, he then says, "Okay, now how am I going to work through that?" It's really cool to see how TJ has grown through these courses that he has taken and not just kind of passed along making those grades and moving on from course to course. He's really grown in that determination and that perseverance to make sure that he understands what he's working on and how can he apply it further. >> One big thing that has changed is

018probably like how I approach things. Cuz when I first came into sixth grade, it was like, "Oh man, this is easy. I don't got to work hard. It's like it this is nothing." But now, like moving up to seventh grade, I was actually challenged. And my biggest jump from seventh grade and eighth grade is probably like how I start to adapt to things because in seventh grade was seventh grade was really hard for me because I didn't actually didn't understand it. I felt like like I wasn't smart. I just felt this wasn't like my path. But I really feel like Mr. Ever helped me with things like that. It's just he was he's always been a really great mentor for me and it's just helping me through things. I've been changing like changing mentally. I

019approach things differently and I can just like handle it way better now. I see my mistakes as like a room room to grow. What perseverance means to me is that it's not just about if you can do it now. It's that if you can continue to do it, do it later. If you fail, are you going to keep going or are you going to stop? What I've learned is it's harder to like get things and learn new things when you when you have a bad mindset. If you're not willing to fail and willing to grow, then it's it's going to be way harder on you to learn things. It's really like you have to be easy on yourself. Being hard on yourself just make everything hard. Please join me in welcoming and recognizing TJ Davis

020Jr. North Beltton Middle School student. Uh TJ, you've consistently shown grit and determination in learning and uh just reflect BISD's commitment to preparing students for success beyond the classroom. Truly, truly, it's an honor for us to honor you with the journey of a graduate milestone award. Congratulations. >> Yes. Next, we would like to uh recognize our recipient of the Congressman John Carter Career and Technical Education Award. Ethan Curtis was selected to represent Belton ISD, uh reflecting his dedication and achievement to career readiness. This honor recognizes Ethan's professionalism, technical skill development, and preparation for future success in college career and the workforce. Ethan was unable to attend the official recognition ceremony with Congressman Carter. So, we wanted to make sure that we uh provided you with an ample recognition because it's so welld deserved tonight. So,

021congratulations to Ethan. Um uh we are so proud of you. Congratulations. So can he can go too? >> Yeah. Congratulations. >> Next we're going to honor Temple Rotary Educator of the Month, Miss Gabby Manibusen. She is a teacher at James L. Burrella Elementary and obviously a mom of two precious little boys. Um be beyond her classroom, she serves as her grade level team leader, represents her campus in the district science cohort, and partners with the Bell County Farm Bureau to bring innovative hands-on learning opportunities to students. She also supports her colleagues by sharing strategies. We are so proud of you, Gabby, and all that you do for your campus and Belton ISD. Yay. And thanks for sharing your mom, guys. Yes. Our next recognition this evening is Belton New at Wascow has been named for

022the third consecutive year an AP school honor honorroll school. So Belton uh Wascal, would you all please come forward? This recognition is the high highlights the campus's commitment to expanding access to advanced placement courses, strengthening college, career and college readiness and fostering a strong collegegoing culture. Congratulations to the dedicated AP teacher whose work makes this possible. Congratulations, Belton New. And our department showcase this evening is our career and technical education uh department. If you guys want to come forward through hands-on learning, real world learning, CTE prepares students for future careers. Through these experiences, in the past year, 930 students earned over,00 industry-based certifications. Belton ISD is also recognized as a CTE district of distinction, reflecting the strengths of its programs and its dedication to its educators. led by Denise Ays. We are thrilled to be

023able to showcase uh the CTE department this evening. Congratulations And last but definitely not least, we have a community partner recognition this evening which is Johnson Brothers Ford and Lacy Adams is with us this evening to accept this award. Um you we started this evening with the showcase for our automotive students and uh they got to tell you a little bit about their field experience. We are so blessed to have multiple uh partners in the community that bring our students into their business, allow them hands-on uh time and develop them in the industry. And Johnson Brothers Ford is definitely one of those partners helping to connect classroom learning to real world industry experience. for all you do. Thank you so much, Johnson Brothers Ford. And I said last but not least, but that was only

024uh to throw off the scent of uh two colleagues here. We ha uh h ear earned four star awards last week at the Texas um at the Teespr awards which is the uh state uh group for communications. And I'm calling Marty uh Sullivan up and Candace Griffin to come up and accept those awards. Uh the three somebody's going to have to learn how to take pictures apparently while Marty comes up. So we'll do that. That's fine. But um this this is >> Well, they Yes, you do. Um um that's not the only time I get corrected, but it's all good. Um uh Marty and Candace uh throughout the year selected four entries that they uh put forward to uh a state panel to be judged. And all four of the entries that they uh submitted

025earned uh uh recognition. We had four go, three gold and one bronze star award uh this week at the state level and we could not be more proud of the work that they do and um just thank them for all that they do to recognize all of you uh every day in and out and we appreciate uh their time, their talents and their commitment to telling your stories. So, thank you Marty and Candace. And that really was the last one. If you will stay seated for just a moment. So, as our board's coming up, I just want to tell you, sitting here today and listening to the different awards, we have the most amazing students in Belton ISD, we have incredible parents who are committed and supportive of their students, and we have the most

026amazing team of teachers and coaches and directors. I just standing up. I was looking at our CTE staff members who I don't know if everybody understands how many hours outside of a regular school day that they um pour into our students and into the programs. I see them up here at events on weekends. And um I did mention in the back we probably ought to put on professional learning for teachers and adults, other educators because some of us need to know how to change our tire. would love to know how to make a robot work. Um, I'd love to be a better cake baker. Um, but just the incredible professional skills that you're pouring into our students, the industry-based certifications that are really helping our students be career ready thanks to you and from our

027youngest learners from our pledgers all the way up through you see how much people are pouring into our students. Our journey of graduate competencies are super important and you can see our students are growing academic skills, communication skills, they collaborate, they have to persevere. Where's CJ? Um, when it gets a little hard and I was really happy to hear that it got hard. Um, you don't want learning to be easy. That's how you learn and you grow. So, just super proud of our students and our staff and just want to say thank you to all of our parents and friends who showed up tonight to celebrate this incredible group of students tonight. So, thank you all. How about now? Oh, okay. Well, that concludes the recognitions part of our meeting today. Uh, we're about to

028start our other stuff and conduct some business. So if you guys want to stay, you can. If not, you can make an exit now. >> My gosh, y'all were >> this one. >> They did great considering That's right. They're making us Next on the agenda, public comments. In accordance with policy BED local, we'll take public comments regarding items on the agenda at the beginning of the meeting and comments regarding non-aggenda items will be heard at the end of the meeting to allow the board to conduct the business of the district. Moving on to item three, public comments regarding items on the agenda. Uh I believe we have three folks that are going to speak to us tonight. Um I'm going to call them in order that they're going to come up to the podium here.

029It'll be Amy Longfield, Barbara Huffman, followed by uh Anna Huffman. So, M. Longfield, if you'll make your way up here and before you begin talking, uh, let me read this into the record. Okay. In accordance with district policy beed local, any person wishing to address the board of trustees during public comments shall sign up before the meeting. In order to comply with the Texas Open Meetings Act, the board may not respond to comments or otherwise discuss or act upon any issues that are not posted on the meeting agenda. Participants will be allotted three minutes for public comments regarding items on the agenda. We have a timer on the screen that shows you a lot of time and a sound will occur at the conclusion. The board shall not tolerate disruption of the meeting by members

030of the public. Um ma'am, if you'll state your place of residence and your name, then you may begin. >> Um Amy Longfield from Belton, Texas. Um I have two children in the school system. I just wanted to um address um the SB11 that would that um y'all are voting on um as required by the state. Um I just um I wanted to mention my kids have been in the district since kindergarten and um we have felt like this is a a district of great respect and appreciation of um each of our deeply held beliefs and traditions. Um I um encourage you to decline um this um this option of um perioded prayer and religious reading religious text during the school day. Um mainly because I'm worried about the burden on our teachers and staff. It's

031another set of optin opt out forms. Earlier this year uh staff and teachers already had to do that for attending clubs um having minor injuries tended by a nurse. Um and those were were all really important forms that they spent a lot of time um getting and I I worry about the requirements that are built into this option. Um also it would need to be uh done in a separate space at school and we don't have additional funding for that. Um I know in our school system we really care about uh students feeling comfortable at school in a place of academic learning. Um especially we have a focus I know in my kids schools on welcoming the military community. Uh, military chaplain already support service members of any faith or no faith. And we all

032have um our places um of our sacred spaces that we appreciate. And um y'all have always u stated time and again that um we are partners, parents, um community members, uh the board, um teachers, staff, um in um teaching our kids. And I appreciate that y'all allow me to teach my values at home to my kids. And then I appreciate um sorry, I appreciate the academic role that the school takes in teaching my kids um from that perspective. So thank you again for um providing respect for each of our families um and the way that we choose to do things um allowing for moments of silence during the school day, allowing for um other activities beginning uh at the school day and at the end of school day. So, I I feel like our kids

033um and our staff have plenty of opportunity to practice whatever freedom they need to. Um and again, I thank you for your time. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Okay. Next is uh Miss Huffman. Barbara Huffman. Ma'am, when you get up there, if you'll just state your city of residence and your name, and then you may begin. >> Sure. Uh good evening. My name is Barbara Huffman. city of residence is Belton, Texas. Um, I'm here tonight on behalf of my two children who are proud members of the Lake Belton High School wrestling team. Um, and we want to just thank you for your time and opportunity to advocate not only for my son and daughter, but also for the other athletes in the program. Uh, this is only the second year Lake Belton High School has

034had the wrestling program, and in its first year, there's a concern that there would not be enough students to actually have interest in the program. Uh that concern was quickly silenced when more than 50 students went out for that team. This year that number grew to nearly 70 students, a clear sign of how strongly this program resonates with students who may not have found a place or in a home in another sport. My children have trained in grappling for nine years and in the first time they've had a platform to demonstrate and dedicate the dedication to their hard work that they have put in. We understood that the first year would come with challenges. We understood it would take time to fully equip the program. What surprised us though, however, was seeing that Belton High

035School, also a first year program, was provided with an additional mat and dedicated wrestling space as well as an additional or as well as a wrestling period. All of those were not afforded to Lake Belton High School. We were only allowed one mat, no wrestling period, and not a dedicated wrestling space. Despite limited equipment, inadequate mat space, and far less training time than the other schools in the district, our athletes excelled. Lake Belton High School sent eight athletes to the regional tournament and produced one district champion, an accomplishment that speaks to the grit and talent dedicated to these students. Unfortunately, the second season has brought new challenges with nearly 70 students and athletes not without a d without a dedicated space. Coach Grim works tirelessly, but as a single coach, he's not able to maintain

036what it takes by himself to provide adequate resources to his athletes to train properly. Because of that, he struggles to stay competitive. So much of that time is lost simply setting up and tearing down mats every day. The students spend valuable practice time moving tables and chairs in the cafeteria before they can even begin training. By my estimate, this setup and breakdown time takes up to about three hours of loss of practice time. That's the equivalent of an entire practice day. This year the team sent seven athletes who qualified for regionals. And to put that in perspective with the three hours during the middle of the season there's a dual night that happens on a Wednesday and typically a tournament that happens on a Friday and a Saturday. So that three hours or that loss

037of day practice is a lot. >> Thank you, Miss Huffman. Next is uh Anna Huffman. Anna, if you'll state your city of residence and your name. I understand that you're a student. >> Yes, sir. I am. >> Okay. All right. You may proceed. >> Uh my name is Anna Huffman and I live in Belton. I am a senior here at Lake Belton High School and I'm also the team captain. I'm here to address a recurring issue, the wrestling program's consistent lack of recognition and resources. Too often we feel like an afterthought, pushed to the back in favor of other sports. This isn't just about feeling unappreciated. It directly impacts our ability to compete and succeed. The lack of funding affects everything from equipment to training opportunities. We're often working with outdated gear and limited accesses

038access to essential resources. This puts our wrestlers at a disadvantage and hinders their development. It's disheartening to see our athletes giving their all only to be held by by inadequate support. We're asking for a fair allocation of resources that affects the dedication and hard work of our wrestling team. Increased funding would allow us to update equipment, provide better training, and ultimately elevate our program to its full potential. By investing in wrestling, you're investing in the success and well-being of our student athletes. meaning a second mat could be the difference between seven people going to regionals and 14. Thank you. >> Thank you, Anna, for your comments >> and for your participation. So, I've enjoyed watching our wrestling program grow and I actually was watching Lake Belton recently practice on their mat. So, just congratulations to

039our students. They're working really hard in that program and we'll be following up with you. >> Okay, that takes us to um item four, moving on to a public hearing. Item 4 a public hearing regarding the 2024 2025 Texas academic performance report. Dr. Goolan. >> Yes. Thank you, board. Um Gabby Nino, our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning has come to the podium. Um as y'all recall the um taper report um we are required to do a hearing when this report comes out. Um just as a quick reminder and Gabby will probably restate this is data from the actually the 2425 school year. So, this data is presented to y'all in August as that data starts to come in and then have since been doing academic updates on our student performance as we've entered in

040the 2526 school year. But this is a compliance requirement in the state of Texas and Gabby's going to go through and just hit some highlights on what's in this report and where our community can find our report. >> Great. So, I'll do my best not to restate too much of what Dr. Golden said, but just fill in some gaps. Again, the the purpose is to review that the report has been released for you all and share what the contents of our report are. Um, and all of the data that um is available within this report is historical, some even prior to the 2425 school year, but it is consolidated in a single report for 2425. So, I'll review with you what the multiple sections are. And as soon as I name the contents, you will

041recall that we have um reviewed these contents um throughout the year as we report on our progress. The first section is always on our academic data um both the district data as well as each of our campus reports. Um there's a second section that is based on our financial standard report, our first report. Um and you you'll find data both for the district and campuses related to their financial standard. Um the third section is our accreditation status. Belton ISD maintains their accreditation for the 23 24 school year. So you can see that's a couple of school years back that you get information in this taper report. Um there are additional sections. One of those is our campus performance objectives. So those are our improvement plans that you all um provide um you're provided annually and

042you approve our objectives although we give the the comprehensive um improvement plan to you. There's also an inclusion of a report on violent or criminal incidents on our campuses. This year we have zero reportable incidents um in our taper report. Um and then the final two sections are on our um student participation and performance in post-secary institutes. If you look there, this data comes from 2223. So it's several years behind um and it follows students performance after their first years enrolled in Institutes of Higher Education. And then we have a section on our House Bill 3 performance. Um these are our goals from last school year 2425 in both reading and math. The percentage of students in third grade um who met standard on both reading and math. We have been reporting to you all

043this year on our current goals for the 2526 school year, but those are included in the report as well as our um status as it relates to our CCMR target. And as you can see again, we have exceeded our CCMR target um in Belton ISD. At this time, I'm going to transition to the public hearing to answer any questions that you all have. Again, the purpose of this report is to tell you what's in the contents um as well as how to access the report which can be found on our district website. Thank you, Gabby. The time is now 7:01 p.m. and we will open the public hearing for the 2024 2025 tapper report. Uh Becca, no public comments. Okay. So that takes us to the conclusion of the public hearing at 7:01 p.m. and

044now entertain any further discussion from the board. >> Anyone have a quick question? >> Yes. Go ahead, >> Gabby. I know you're you're talking about how to access the the report and I know when people do open it up for families, there's a lot of numbers, a lot lots of pages. What would be two or three data points that for families that just I'm interested in looking at this? What would be um just some good valuable points to look at or point their attention to? >> Sure. There's um a couple of things. The primary data that I think is super meaningful to our families is the academic performance. And so they can find both the academic performance for the district and their campus. And then I would say the um the campus improvement plans connected

045to that. that is something that the families will most um importantly relate to within the report. >> Any other questions from anyone? Chris? >> Yeah, I mean just to add on to that, right? I would also encourage folks to look at the materials from our last meeting, right? Um we did a pretty comprehensive academic uh overview in the last meeting. Um and the moral of that was, hey, we're the ship is moving. The ship is moving in the right direction. Now, we're going to pick up steam and uh and keep going, right? There's still some work to do. Um, but you know, if you do have an interest in this, I I would almost tell you to go look look at last last month's materials and you may get a better idea of where we

046are. >> I would absolutely say reach out to us as well. Me, Holly Moore really helped bring this together. So, yes, you can watch our reports, but it is complex and we are happy to sit down and work through it with anyone. >> Anyone else? Okay, then we'll move on to the next public hearing. I guess Gabby, you're you're up again, right? Yes, sir. So, let me read this into the record. Item 4B, public hearing regarding accelerated instruction report, >> and we're gonna let Gabby take it from there. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, again, this is a um annual public hearing of um how our students are doing who participate in accelerated instruction. I want to be really really clear about which students were referencing in this report. um our students in high school

047um primarily must meet standards in five different content areas on their end of course exams, their star end of course exams and those are the areas of algebra 1, English one, English 2, biology and US history. And so this report this evening um is to talk to you all about the students who did not meet standard and how we are working with them to intervene and accelerate their progress. This visual here is our overall passing rates on each of those EOCC exams. Um, and so this is just a visual for you to highlight that the students that we're talking about are between the passing and the 100%. So it's that smaller group of students. You can see, oops, that our um students performance in um all of the areas um listed here either exceed the

048state um average or are right in line and also exceed where our regional performance is as well. So, we're going to talk about what we do um with the students who are not experienced success on their um star end of course exams. So here are the percentages of students who are at or above um approaches after we've intervened with students. And so the percentage here um in each of those content areas reflects the progress after we've intervened. And I'm going to show you how we are analyzing the effectiveness our interventions that have resulted in growth with student passing. This visual shows you the different ways that we intervene. The large red portion of the pie chart is interventions in the classroom. So the teacher in the classroom is just targeting instruction, targeting standards with students

049who have not experienced success yet. The other three um portions are related to um pull out tutoring. So we've pulled students out of their core class to put provide tutoring experiences. One of the small slices, the green, is actually done during their advisory period, what we may call fast focus, bronco time. Um, and then the final one is called a remedial course. And so this visualization here is just to show you the percentage of students who took part in each of those interventions. And then this shows you the effectiveness of those. So on the left side of each of the interventions is the pass rate after the intervention. The gray bar is the growth rate after intervention. And so what you can see is that in each of these intervention strategies, we saw students grow

050um after their um interventions were provided. However, we can absolutely see that the intentional small groups and the advisory tutorials were more effective than the others. So students do not just get a single retest opportunity. So our actions now are to go back to that student list and any students who have still not experiencing success and plug them in to the most effective intervention strategies we see which are our intentional small groups or in our advisory tutorials which um whichever works best for the student based on the needs that are reflected in their data. And with that we will transition to a public hearing as well. All right, the time is now 7:02 p.m. and we'll open the public hearing regarding the accelerated destruction report. Understand there are no public comments, so we're going to

051open and close the hearing at 7:02 p.m. And board uh any discussion or questions for Gabby? No one. Okay. All right. Thank you, Gabby. That takes us to item five, action items. Consider discuss and take appropriate action regarding an order authorizing the issuance and sale of Belton Independent School District unlimited tax school building and refunding bonds. Levying a tax providing for the security and payment thereof authorizing the execution and delivery of a purchase contract paying agent registar agreement and escro agreement relating to such bonds. Approving the preparation of the official statement and enacting other provisions relating there too. Dr. go. >> Yes. And I pushed back several times on that title. Um and was like, really, does it have to be that long? And um Glenn Opel uh our attorney says yes, it did. And

052so, thank you, Glenn, for your patience on that. Um this is a really awesome opportunity tonight to share um some good news with you. As you know, Jennifer Ritter was with us in the last meeting providing you with some information that we were wanting to move forward um with refinancing um bond series as well as going out for our technology bond. And so Jennifer, I'm going to turn it over to you to share the great information tonight. >> Well, thank y'all. Happy to be here. So, we have a brief presentation. The bond sale was this morning with your underwriters. B, which is the Bank of Oklahoma and Samco, uh, were the two underwriters on this transaction. They did an excellent job for the district. Um, in your packet, I believe you have the full rating

053report. It wasn't able to be up here on the screen. It'd be quite wordy if it was either way, but the point here is that you have a double A minus bond rating from standard and pores. And through this process, uh, they affirmed that rating, which means they they kept the same rating in place. Uh, just some credit highlights that I'll read here. It says, "The rating reflects our view of Belton ISD's growing local economy, increasing enrollment, healthy reserves, and moderate debt burden." So, it's always nice to hear from an independent agency that you have a moderate debt burden. I'm sure sometimes it feels like um that's not the case, obviously, when we're when we're looking at all the things that you have to fund. They talk in several places about um you know there

054were a couple of years when you had deficits in the general fund and that was a statewide issue that the district was having to address with with funding cuts uh globally that were happening across the state and public education and how you were very proactive uh as a board and addressing those getting ahead of them and having a plan in place to make sure that you had a balanced budget um going forward. So there was a lot of you know positive sort of discussions around that and that the leadership of the board and the administration is really what kept this rating at the higha minus level that you currently have. Um they talk about u maintaining reserves that's in there several times. So obviously just something to to reiterate to the board that that is

055a hard thing to do I'm sure when you've got lots of things to fund but it does help with this credit rating which ultimately helps with your with your interest rates. And so as a reminder here of the timeline, um, we came to you with with a brief update and assuming that you decide to move forward tonight, and that's too small for me to see here up on the screen. Everything is too small in my presentation at my age now. But, uh, essentially, if you decide to move forward tonight, this is for the new money and the refunding, which we'll talk about. If you decide to move forward, we'd be in a position to close on March 24th. That's when the six million from the technology bond will be transferred to the district, as well

056as that refunding would take place. and then the old bonds will be paid off and and replaced with the new bond series uh that you would approve tonight. So, I'm going to skip that one there and go to the next slide which talks about the the refunding uh ultimately where we ended up. So, again, as a reminder for the community, the 2015 and the 2016 bonds are currently callable. Those have interest rates of 4%. Uh we were able today in the market to replace that with a true interest cost. It's the average interest rate of 2.49. 49%. So, we're taking that 4%, not extending the term, not doing anything um you know, unusual to make it look like they're savings, taking that 4% and replacing it simply with the 2.492%. And what that ultimately means

057here on the right hand side is savings of $759,000 to the district simply by exercising this refunding. That's 5.3%. If I go back to the prior slide here, you can see that when we came to you last month, um interest rates, we were obviously being a little bit conservative, but we were expecting at that time savings of $446,000, which weren't terribly conservative, but then we were able with the underwriters and getting the bond rating affirmed and just the attention that that Belton ISD has to increase that um from 446,000 all the way up to 759,000. Okay, skipping ahead here. So essentially what you did as a reminder is you sold the refunding that was current in conjunction with the technology bond. By doing it that way we're able to econize some uh or see some

058economies of scale by sharing the cost of issuance between the two issues. It helps the new money. It helps the refunding to be stronger. Um as you can see here if you look down at the use of funds there's six million going toward the technology bond and the construction bond you can see there. And then the remainder of that is going toward paying off those old existing bonds. So next slide here shows and not to get too detailed or too into the wi wood uh weeds, excuse me. This is the debt service schedule. The whole thing uh is non-callable because it's under 10 years, but it pays off in 2034 with what we call a sort of descending scale. It's higher in the the payments are higher in the early years and then lower as

059we go down. Some of that's a result of the technology bond being paid over five years. And it's the structure of the refunding bond ultimately. I simply point that out to show that if the district were to need additional capacity for future projects because this is essentially descending as we go down the road here in a couple of years and paying off quite quickly one way or the other. Because of this structure, you are able to have some future capacity should you need it for future projects for a bond election down the road. And then just as a last note, we don't usually include this here, but um just in case you're interested, this is where the bonds went today. Uh the the bond sale started at 9:30 this morning. We went out for an

060hour and a half order period. Um you received for your roughly $17 million that you were offering to purchase. You received over 50 million in orders. The underwriters go in and they fill those orders on their own priority basis, but these are the investors who put in the orders across the country. So, Belton ISD bonds are going out all over the United States to anybody who has an interest in in investing in strong school districts with good management. You can see here Breenriidge Capital was the was the big purchaser or big interested party here, but it goes all the way down to that last line that says individuals. So, there was an order that will be filled for almost $300,000 of people uh not not companies or mutual funds or insurance companies, but just individuals

061who want to hold your bonds, which I think is always a testament when you have actual mom and pop people who are buying your bonds and holding them, that means they think that's a safe investment and and a good investment to be in. We don't know if they're local to Bell County. They may be. Uh there's certainly a good chance that they are, but just wanted to point that out to you to see it in case you're interested and we can certainly provide more information. So happy to answer any questions. Obviously the the Federal Reserve didn't change interest rates when they met at the end of of January. Um there is some discussion now about potentially inflation being a concern again and interest rates starting to be raised by the Federal Reserve, but the market

062didn't react too much to that. We had a lot of tariff news over the weekend. So it was kind of a strange day in the market in general, but a but a good day in the market as you can see given the results of the sale. So I think it was good to go out this week ahead of some of the large volume of school districts that will be coming out in the spring and summer. So happy to answer any questions. Glenn Opel is here, your bond attorney, and he can actually talk to the order itself if you have questions for him. >> Any questions and or comments from Mr. Ritter? Anyone? >> A couple comments if I could. Um, I mean, this is great, right? I mean, thank you for being the partners that

063you are, um, you know, with us and kind of talking through this whether it's, you know, from a budget committee standpoint or in a workshop setting, whatever the case may be. like I I think you've always been, you know, very open with us about what some of the options are. Um pros and cons. I I I really value that partnership. Um you know, I think this this body has done a really great job over the last I don't know 10 years um almost the entire time that I've been here of really like taking the bond responsibility extremely seriously, right? And over the last 10 years, we've saved almost $15 million, right? I think it's like 14.9 or 14.8 8 million in in refunding that goes straight back to our citizens, right, in the form of,

064you know, not having to increase an INS tax rate, right? Like it's actual savings that like people see. Um, and so we've done a really great job of kind of staying ahead of that and sort of I don't know if it's I I know there's a lot of skill on that side of the microphone and maybe a lot of luck on our side of the microphone, right? Great advising. Um, you know, to to make that happen, right? But it's happened over and over again, right? And I think, you know, it's really important that we continue to stay on top of this. um to make sure that we have the tools that we need in our toolbox when we need to use the toolbox next time, right? Um and so I just want to say thank

065you to to this group and and prior boards like over the last 10 years who who have allowed us to to do that, but then also the advising to to help us move in the right direction and and like I said, keep as many tools in the toolbox as we can when we need them. >> Yeah. Yeah. And and just to to echo on that as well, um when I said that you have a low debt burden, when excuse me, when Standard and Poor said that you have a low debt burden, especially for a fast growing district, they reference you paying off bonds early, uh refunding bonds when the interest rates are higher by lumping it in together with a new money issuance. You weren't doing a refunding that was relatively small. I mean, you're

066still saving almost a million dollars, but it's still relatively small. Uh but by joining them together, those sort of conservative leadership from the board and from uh Melissa's team, obviously you're getting the the most bang for your buck and not just doing something because you can. You're doing it because it makes sense for the district. So it's really credit to you all. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Ritter. >> Yeah. I just >> did you have did you have a question Riley? >> Yeah. Not really a question, but I just wanted to kind of echo what's already been said and congratulate our superintendent who's had to really reduce help reduce the budget as with all the board. And then the whole community has absorbed it um of of all of our schools. But that gave us

067and helped us maintain such a great rating which then allowed such a great interest rate and and so a lot of work and effort went into this all across our whole school district. So, and and then Melissa and our financial team just what a phenomenal job. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Beck. Anyone else? >> Can I just say thank you for entertaining all of my questions. Um Jennifer's very um patient with me and so is Glenn and Melissa's most days. So, I just really appreciate this has been an incredible team to work with and so just want to say thank you. Okay. So, I guess we can do some business now. Do we have a motion to approve the order authorizing the issuance and sale of the Belton Independent School District unlimited tax

068school funding school building and refunding bonds series 2026 as presented? >> So move. >> All right, Mr. Bzon. Have a second. Mr. Underwood several hands here. >> Mr. Mr. Do you mean Norwood? I mean, Norwood, I'm just saying. >> Yeah. Where did I how did I come up with that? I have a great friend, uh, Underwood. All right. So, for the record, that was Mr. Norwood. All right. Um, no further discussion. All in favor, please raise your hand. That passes seven to zero. Texas. Item 5B. consider discuss and take appropriate action on a resolution regarding a period of prayer and reading religious text during the school day. Dr. Goolan. >> Yes. And thank you. Dr. Spearman has joined the podium. And so she is going to walk us through this is a requirement that came

069out of the 89th Legislature um through Senate Bill 11. And it does require each school board in Texas to take a record vote within six months of the effective date of that act on whether to um adopt a policy of a period of prayer and reading of religious texts. And so um Cassandra's been researching this along with us and she's here to um give you the big picture of this and then we'll make a recommendation from the administration on this. >> Good evening. Thank you very much. Dr. Goden has kind of gone over the purpose of the presentation tonight is to give you an overview of the requirements of Senate Bill 11 um and then a recommendation. So, as she stated already, the 89th legislator legislature for Texas passed Senate Bill 11, and by March

0701st, every school board has to take a record vote to determine whether or not to implement or adopt a policy um regarding a period of prayer and religious text during the school day in accordance to Texas Education Code. And so here in Belton, we value every student's right to engage in religious expression. When we look at our current state in Belton ISD, our students are already engaging in individual and voluntary um expressions of faith. We have several examples if you look around our district such as see you at the pole, good news clubs, fellow our FCA um students, young life, and then our students are currently able to engage in prayer and reading of religious text right now as long as it's not during the instructional day and it doesn't create a disruption on campus.

071If we were to adopt the policy to adopt a period of prayer and reading of religious texts, it has three main requirements that we would have to consider. One, it now requires a signed consent from all parents and staff members. It also must occur outside of the instructional time and it cannot be done in the presence in the physical presence of someone who has not given consent um for it to occur. So given all of that information, our students are already engaging in the right. They already have those rights. They're clearly outlined in our policies FNG FNA, legal and local. Um, the recommendation this afternoon is to approve the resolution declining to adopt a policy under the Texas Education Code section 25.0823 relating to a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other

072religious text. That was quick and dirty. What questions do you have? >> Okay. Um I I know that this was discussed in the policy committee meeting. >> Yes, sir. >> So So maybe we can start the discussion by Mr. Beck and Miss Bass since you guys have already had a long discussion about this. If you guys have any questions for Miss for Dr. Spearman or if you have any comments, if you guys will take the lead on this. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um our policy committee we met, I guess it was about three weeks ago. Um, and we spent a a great deal amount of time um, really asking lots of question questions, lots of hypotheticals, the whatifs, um, the legal aspect of this. And I think it's really really important to reiterate that whether

073we adopt this or not, under current federal, state, and district policy, kids, students and staff can already have the right to read their Bible. They can pray when they choose to as long as it's not during instructional time. Um it's not a disruption. So, uh for example, um a kid is in math class and and has finished their work for the day and they and there are no mother no other assignments, they could open up their Bible and they could read it. Um if they're at lunchtime right now, they could um bring their Bible and they could read it with a friend if should they choose to. Um so I think it's just really important to know that that the rights that that you've um shared. And I think it would even be just the

074timing um good timing to share with our families and communities what the rights are. Um maybe maybe some families don't know what what kids can what their kids can and can't do. Um but I but I think it's it's important then to look at so so what happens if we did um adopt this resolution? What does that look like? Um and it would look a little differently. Um and I think two kind of big um implications. Um even though it's only two, I mean there's a little bit more than that, but two really in in my mind. Um one is is really the logistical piece. If you recall in the fall, we had to get um the consent from every single student to receive health and counseling services. Correct. >> Correct. >> So we under

075under this resolution, if we were to adopt it, we would have to do that for not only every single student, but we would have to do it for every single staff. >> That is correct. >> And so I think there's a logistical and management piece of that. um we we is is a little concerning, a little daunting for me. Um but then it then how it plays out. So say a student wants to read their Bible at lunch. How does a student know who in the cafeteria has consented versus not consented? >> That's correct. >> Um or if they're in a classroom and they're in that math classroom and they have finished their work and how would they know that they can't read in front of anyone in their classroom who has consented versus who

076has not consented? So, there's just a lot more to this. um if we were to have adopted this, it it's just there's a little bit more heavier implications and and it really if you boil it down, it it kind of restricts a little bit more of the the when the how, the the who because then it ultimately you're you're having to separate kids who have consented, who want to read or pray their their Bible and versus apart from kids that and and even staff um if staff have not consented did it it even goes for them as well. And so I think it's just it's really make sure that you know to look at this very carefully because in the spirit of the law we you know we want to be able to have kids

077to have that ability and right but they already do and so there are some restrictions and implications um if we were to adopt it. So Riley, did I leave anything out? >> I think you hit it pretty well that I could I could say a few more things when you're done. >> No, I'm done. if if you have anything else you want to share. >> Um, when I went into the policy meeting, I I'd already had community members reaching out and saying, hey, do we need to be there for this board meeting? I mean, this is a very faith- centered community. >> And I said, I don't know. Let me let me we're going to dig in here. And we got to compare. I loved how um our administration did it because they compared our

078current policy with what this new one would bring side by side. And the way that I could see it, alls I see is the this new one would be much more prohibitive um limiting um and restrictive. I I mean I I am a very faith- centered person and and and I where where I would want my kids to be um and which policy I would want is the one that we currently have. I was completely impressed with the the freedoms that our district already has and and I think that represents the community very well. So, um that I guess that's as good as I can say it. I was just I I guess that what I was also I get pleased to see in that in in the policy meeting is as we had the

079different staff there um was everyone it's an awkward situation right like we're saying we're going to be you know recommending against um this period of prayer um but they were prepared and everyone was on the same sheet and I'm on that same sheet I could say as well um uh because I'm proud of where the policy currently stands. That's all. >> Can I can I add in something else? Can you go back to that slide that shows kind of what what the current state of of >> um >> Thank you, Frank. >> And I and I don't want to necessarily go into all of these things, but so here's just some other kind of hypotheticals. So like um Fellowship of Christian Athletes or even um some of those like See You at the Poll or

080National Bring Your Bible to School Day. Again, if if a a if an an athlete who's a part of FCA wants to bring a friend to an FCA event, but that they have to make sure that that friend has consented or not. Well, what happens if that kid has not consented? Well, they they can't come. That's correct. Um and so we we really tried to look at this at every which way, every which angle. Um because Riley's I I agree. Um we we are a pretty um heavily fa faith um centered um community. And so, you know, I even talked with several community and faith-based leaders in the in the community. And really, you know, when we when we when we we tell them that the this top line of Senate Bill 11, who wouldn't

081who would be against that? But as we explained more um they could see where there is some restriction. And so I I I even felt several of the the community and faith-based leaders that cuz I went out and I wanted to know like what would what would you do if I was if you were in my my position as a faith-based leader and and many of them most of them really um would agree with not adopting something like this because it it really I think bottom line does have a lot more restrictions and a lot more logistical a lot of a lot more management um that would be more of I wouldn't want to say a burden on our staff, but someone's got to manage who's been who is who has said yes versus who

082hasn't. >> Correct. >> Um because we certainly don't want to get an illegal >> issue if if we if we did not follow that correctly as well. So, I'll stop there if y'all have questions. >> Thank you. Yeah, Rucker. >> Um I want to thank you Aaron and Riley for all the work that you guys did. Um especially considering the amount of time and I really like what you said, Riley. um that our community is one that is uh driven by faith I think and certainly for me as well and we want to have those freedoms for our own kids and all of our kids in our district of course and don't want to put anything in in between that um for our own kids and anyone else especially like what you're talking about the

083logistical efforts for 15,000 students and teachers plus and faculty and staff um that's a lot I want to ask you a question because just make sure I'm gathering everything that you said correctly, it seems like what you're saying is the intent of SP11 is a good one, but it seems like it's counterintuitive, like is becoming more of a roadblock unintentionally because it's segregating our students who aren't having their parents sign this consent. Is that correct? I I I think it could it could have the tendency to do that to to I mean because essentially we would we would have to make sure that kids and even staff are not in the which you you've read it it's in they cannot be in the physical presence or the hearing of anyone who has not consented. And

084so how how would a student even know who they can and can't share um a Bible verse with on National Bring Your Bible to School Day? So, um I don't think that I don't think our legislature wanted to have any sort of negative intent. I I think the spirit of the bill was is positive and um uh and so I don't think that that there was um certainly a focus to make it that it was going to be this sort of restrictive. And and I'll tell you, we you know, we even it we certainly want to do what's right for Belton um and for for our students, but it I think it was important for us to even just see what our neighbors were doing and what's happening around the state. and and predominantly um

085I I would even go to say vast majority of school districts across the state aren't aren't adopting this for this particular reason that >> it it'll it will potentially have the more restriction restrictions than than what was originally intended for the bill if that makes any sense. >> No, I I agree. I don't think that there was any mal intent. I think it was a well-intended bill. um but seems more difficult and yeah I haven't heard of any district I'm sure there are some that have opted in but well thank you again for both of you all the work on it >> thank you guys great job on that uh anyone else uh Jeff >> just a couple of quick points first of all thank you all again on the committee and thanks for the

086the district leadership for putting together the I'm going to call it the snapshot because I think you know we live in a a society of snap headlines and you know I did not like last week just in my dream seeing the headlines you know belt and board goes against prayer and it's like oh no um and that's what but that's the way you feel and so I I actually did the same thing I reached out to the faith leaders of my own church and just said listen I'm I'm I can't tell you I'll be honest I told I can't tell you how I'm going to vote and I don't know how anybody's going to vote because that's not the way we do things said but I'm torn and here are my reasons I said I'm

087worried that there's going to be a perception in the public that we voted against it because I've already seen the headlines come out of some other school districts. I said, but and then I used the stuff that admin gave me. I said, here are the actual facts of what if we implement this, this is what this can mean. And I said, I in good faith I I I'm struggling. I can't do this. And actually, and in my own church, they were like, no, we agree. I said, okay. because I needed y'all to know um if misinformation gets out there, I want you to be armed to be able to talk to people about, hey, this, you know, this board did what they thought was right for the religious freedoms of everybody involved. Um, and then

088second, hats off, like you said, a lot of this is already in federal and state law, but I don't know how much research was done, but hats off to some former boards that actually put this policy in a long time ago that said, "Hey, here are the freedoms." Cuz I I I'll be honest, I was what you would call a young pup at that time, and most of that just went right over my head when they did it. But I do remember the talk being about um you know, hey, we want to be able to allow kids to express themselves for if a staff member wants to have a I remember the exact discussion. If a staff member wants to have a Bible on their desk, that's their right to do it. We're not going

089to restrict that. And there was a lot that went into that policy back then to craft it in the most wide openen way possible to say we're going to give all these freedoms you know like you said the you know at the poll that would be a logistical nightmare who's going to tell a kid well no I'm sorry you can't go to this you're you nobody could do that break my heart to hear that so thank you all for what y'all did and admin thank you all for putting together the snapshot um of just you know hey you know I we already have a very very open policy to that and I think that's the best policy that we can have. >> Chris Ditto. >> Ditto. Okay. All right. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Can

090I add one thing? >> Yeah. >> And just really appreciate our um board policy committee. Um later in the agenda on consent um FNA local is also on consent and thanks to our board policy committee um it's just being made explicitly clear it it already was a good policy um and very clear it now has a a item at the very beginning of it that makes it really clear and so um that's in consent and um just appreciate the board's work on not just we we didn't just adopt or potentially will adopt a local policy given to us. It actually is from the work of our policy committee and proud of that. >> Before we take a vote, I I want to make a couple of comments. When I first saw the statute back in

091the fall, when I read the title, I thought that sounds like a pretty good idea. Uh it sounds like something that this faith-based community would like. But then you you start analyzing it and the first analysis is you know what rights do our kids have now. So if you're going to analyze this thing, you have to you have to look very keenly at the at the at the policies that we have in place now, which um quite frankly provide a lot more rights than than you would think, right? Uh and like like Erin said, um you know, people need to if they wonder, take a look at the policy. I think you'll be surprised at at what what rights people have or our students have. Um, and the other the concern for me is the

092as Aaron was saying is the logistics putting the thing in place and then you know curbing uh the rights of of of certain kids and it's there's just a lot of logistical problems that we don't have with our current policy. Um, and like Jeff said um you know you you vote it down and go, "Oh, there a bunch of heathens over there on that board." Well, >> right. No, you don't want that to be the quote, right? Um, you know, these are all faith-based people up here, I assure you. Uh, and they make decisions based upon that. So, um, those are my comments and again, ditto to everyone and thank you, uh, Erin and Riley for digging into that and thanks to the administration for doing such such a great job because this is an

093important statute. Uh, people look and see why why did they vote that way. So, I think I think we're going to make that very clear. All right. So, uh, let's take, um, uh, a vote on this. We have a motion to approve the resolution declining to adopt a policy under Texas Education Code section 25.0823 relating to a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text as presented. Mr. Norwood, have a second. Mr. back. Actually, everyone's raising their hand, so so we could have six motions. All right. Um, all those in favor, please raise your hand. It passes 7 to zero. >> Can I can I just say one more thing? I know I mentioned it a while ago, but is it possible for us just with the timing of this to

094maybe send out some information maybe this FNA policy to our parents um just so that they know what our current rights what current rights they do have? >> We typically um it's now our habit to do a followup with our community, our parents on from board meetings. Okay. So, we'll make sure it's included in our followup. >> Okay. Great. Thanks. Thank you, Erin. Uh, that concludes our action items this evening. Moving on to item six, board committee reports, policy. Anything from the policy? Anything else? >> Yes, just just a few more. Um, so yes, uh, most of our time was spent on um, FNA local regarding Senate Bill 11, but then there was a policy update 126 which is in your consent, and I'll just give you the highlights on those. CQB local um which

095is on technology resources and cy cyber security. There was the biggest change really was that the compliance reporting and training requirements are now they're having to get their guidance from the Texas cyber command and not um it was formerly the department of information resources but there was an additional small updating on the notification um to those appropriate people um in the incident of cyber security um CQD local this is a brand new one um this is on technology resources with regard to AI or artificial intelligence. Um, and this is again brand new and it just centers around um the training that has to be done by training for students and staff and our amazing technology department. They're going to be maintaining those records because there has to be 100% compliance um as well as and

096it does talk about the AI use in the district. So, I mean it's a little short read um but it was a it's a again a brand new one. Um folk um which is on student discipline. There was a change in the section under the video and um audio monitoring. It it what where it says it they video I'm just going to say it so I don't butcher it. Video and audio audio recording equipment it changed from shall be used to may be used. Um even though that one little word that that does make a big impact. Um but also um if if uh if there is some audio and uh video recording, there has to be some required physical posting so that um parents and students u know that that it's being recorded. I'm

097sorry y'all. And then the last one we talked about was GKA local uh which is in community relations. This had to do with um conduct on school premises under the section where it um the exceptions for having a weapon. And so it changed from having a Texas handgun license to an individual who holds a handgun license as long as it's according um accordance with state law. And then of course they have to have them stored in their um locked vehicle and cannot be in plain view. So, um, we didn't talk as much about those because those were kind of minor changes. Again, we spent most of our time on, um, Senate Bill 11. Is there anything else, Riley, that from those four? >> Okay. Thank you, Ren, Riley. All right. Let's move on to the

098budget committee. >> The numbers guys. >> Always a fun time at the budget committee meeting. That's right. >> Always. Absolutely. All right. We talked about a couple items. Um, so first off, we kicked off looking at the 2026 2027 budget assumptions, right? Uh, and of course what we were talking about is non-binding in any way, shape, or form, right? No action was taken, you know, out of that meeting. Um, it's going to look very familiar uh to prior assumptions. Um, you know, we took a look at, you know, just a a sneak peek at the expected student enrollment or at least what we would look at um, you know, as the base. Um it's always typically looked at from a a conservative level. So 13530 um is uh is what we looked at. We again

099we looked at the the budget the budgeted attendance rate at 93% which is what we did for the last year. Um and I would say the only real the most notable change really is just around capital projects. Um the desire to put an additional placeholder uh for additional capital projects in there. And again this is a hey where does the conversation start for when Melissa and team you know start their formulation and bring this to us like what is just sort of what's the starting point that we want them to take a look at and um these are going to come back to all of us um I think in the workshop for March um and so we'll have a an opportunity as a group to um to look at this further but there shouldn't

100be anything surprising based on what we've talked about in the past in this um we did take a look at the uh a quick sneak peek a preview of the compensation market analysis. So, uh Todd brought us a bunch of charts and graphs uh and uh we took a look at where some of the source spots might be and again that's data that um is going to come to us as well as a full group. So, so no action was taken but I think the the one change in the data that was presented to us, you know, traditionally we take a look at that data across peer districts, right? Districts that look like us, feel like us, have demographics like us, things like that, right? Todd also brought to that data um a more local

101view as well so we can really get I think a little bit better full picture right it's not just the peer districts that you know might be some somewhere else but we also um are seeing a little bit more of that data for our our local peers so um so that was good so stay tuned for um more information if you've been through any of those there's not going to be anything surprising that that you see there either um we did take a look at um bond funds and capital projects so the work that we just saw a couple minutes ago, right? The results of the bond refunding. So, we talked a little bit about that and got a a closeout report from a dollars and cents standpoint um from the prior bonds uh prior

102um bonds bonds that's bonds and funds together. Um and uh you know, we did talk about there is going to be some surplus uh from the prior bond. And so what we're allowed to do um is is uh use those funds for projects that were similar that fall into the categories from already approved, right? And so what that what that will might allow us to do once we have the final accounting for that is address um you know some of the facility related items uh that are still out there because there were um there were bond categories uh where there's funds sat. So stay tuned for more information there. Um we were looking at it from a dollars and cents standpoint. I imagine the facilities committee will be talking about some of that and then

103that'll come back to the full group. Um and then we just got a roof repair update. Dollars and cents. It's good times. >> Always good times. >> Yeah. Anything else? >> No. All right. >> Sounds like a lot of fun. >> All right. >> Okay. Uh facilities. >> So, we're the last committee to meet because you know, budget has to do their thing first and then it trickles on down to facilities. And so basically, yeah, that's what we discussed is coming out of their meeting. Obviously, we're not together that quorum, but is looking at the bond savings that we're going to have and how we're going to allocate those over the next several years to be able to address things that we we've got to address, whether it be roofs, chillers, um, switch gears, BISD.

104you know, we we we have a comprehensive list that is going on right now that facilities looks at and you know, some of them are scheduled to be done and some of them are it's not if it's when it breaks and we've got to have the money to fix it then. And so although it's on the list, we all know, hey, it could happen next week and we get a call, we've got to move on it. Uh same thing with some upgrades to uh Belton football field as far as you know how that looks going forward. um mainly just those projects, bond savings, going over the timeline over the next several years. We know we're going to have x amount of money. How do we put money back into capital projects at the same time?

105Fix things that we need to have fixed. Uh and then last item on ours would have been basically closing out the Delta facility. Uh just some contract language between VLK and the uh the contractor that did the work and getting that closed out. So, did I miss anything? >> All right. Thanks, Jeff. >> Okay, that takes us to U superintendent report. Dr. Golden. >> Yes. Thank you, board. So, thank you first of all to the board and to the Leyon Heights staff and community um that came out to celebrate their 70th anniversary. And so one of the things that really struck me when I first came to Belton, I was in Leyon Heights and realized the age of that facility and um you know if there's ever a question are we maintaining the facilities that

106we do have, you need to come in to Leyon Heights. And um that's not to say that they don't have needs, but we have an incredible custodial team um and facilities and maintenance team and they got to shine on this day. Um it was really fun also just to see this legacy of past superintendent and multiple principles who were at that school and really be able to hear their stories and to um hear our students perform and know that that legacy of excellence continues. And so it was a really fun day. It was scheduled on the day we were ended up being out because of all the ice. So, um, it was really fun to be able to do that and what I think was >> got to be 80 degrees. It was, um, it

107was quite warm that day for that parade, but it was so fun. I'm so proud of them. So I I feel like when we come to board meetings and we listen to the student recognitions pieces, whether it's academic performance, CTE, athletics, fine arts, um our journey of a graduate recognition, it it's embodying how we're really working hard to pursue um our vision. And this these two pictures are just a little um picture of a couple of things. one, yes, these are middle school students that got to go to Belton High School, and it is trying to cultivate an interest in perhaps our students pursuing um a medical pathway, a health sciences pathway, but it's also our high school students giving back to our middle school students. So that enriching your community piece, it's just another

108example of our students giving back to younger students to really just cultivate a love of learning and an interest in healthcare. This was called the healthcare horizons program. In in this next slide, lots of pictures and so many great things have been going on since the last time we met up here on the dis. And um on the top far left side, just want to do a shout out. That's that's Tarbuk um for Tarver. And um we have a teacher that wrote a grant through the Belton Education Foundation. That grant was funded and has been able to create a student-owned um store, if you will, and um teacher. I was able to go online. I purchased a coffee, went to Tarver, my coffee was ready to go. and it's just the skills that are being

109very intentionally embedded into this experience. So, shout out to Tarver and the incredible work. And these next two slides uh images on the top row had the opportunity to go to um Temple College recently on a Saturday and listen to two of our incredible students talking about um their research project that they did um through their work through Temple College. That's the far right one. And then in the middle was um our Lake Belton High School interdisciplinary re research symposium. I know several of you were able to go. I I don't know about you. I and I think I probably could speak for you was completely blown away um by our students, the um hypothesis that they selected, how they did their research, um their ability to um synthesize the data they collected over time.

110And most impressive were their communication skills, how confident they were able to communicate what they learned through the process. Um, they loved it. I was blown away. I got to um talk to students about their next steps, where they're headed, and and just incredibly proud of them and the teachers behind the scenes that make this happen. Um, on the bottom, just shout out to the Superintendent Student Advisory Council. They are really trying to solve the issue of wanting to make sure students walk across the stage prepared to adult adultting I think is what they're focused on. Um I love their ideas behind that. It it's broader than the academic knowledge and skills and journey of the graduate competencies. But just like you heard our automotive team down here. Um students are coming up with ideas

111is should a student leave high school knowing how to change their own tire? Should they know how to cook? They go off to school or they're on their own and having never prepared a meal. What are like what are things we can do? It might not have been their interest through their CTE CTE pathway, but those are additional life skills. So, I'm excited to see what they come up with. I'm sure they'll be here presenting to y'all at some point. Big shout out. Bel County Youth Fair at Cadence Bank Center. Um, I had an incredible tour um at our a barn with students and then they went on to compete and I learned thanks to um Jeff Norwood and our students that you don't go visit the chickens before you go to visit the hogs.

112I got that right and I understand why and the science behind that. And so, um, just excited about um, we have turkeys, chickens, like it was incredible. Anyway, um, love that experience and I learned something. And then finally, digital learning day. So, you see that image on the bottom right side that's showcasing the innovation that is really happening in our classrooms utilizing the digital tools um that we make available to them. They did celebration walks really recognizing excellence and highlighting in classrooms where teachers are doing it and and really utilizing um tools well. So, shout out to our technology department um for making that happen. And then I know I saw many of you. I won't steal your thunder, but I got to attend the Bold, the Young, and the Murdered, Susicle, and The Wizard

113of Oz. We have the most incredibly talented students. They sing, they dance, they act, they perform. Um, our orchestra, our band programs helped um provide incredible music for these events. And I'm just so proud that our our talented teachers and our programs allow our students to have these experiences. And just finally, I will tell you, I I opened a school that had a namesake. It was dedicated to an incredible person in that community. And um and and we did that here in Belton ISD as well. and was really proud that um Miss Burell was recently Lwanda Burell visited Burell to get to tell them more stories about her incredible father and family, the namesake of Burell Elementary School and just how important it is for students to understand that's why their their school is named

114Burell. And so with that, thank you for letting me serve in this role. And it's been a busy month since we saw each other last up here. Well, as usual, you're everywhere, right? Um, any questions for Dr. Golden? >> I need to know why you don't >> go to Yeah. Yeah. Like, talk to me about the chickens and the hogs here. This is not knowledge that I have. I I need I need to know. >> Oh, I'm going to get >> We're going to test you right here. >> I'll get >> Will you get Will you get me through it, Jeff? >> All right. So, I I yield for Jeff's update. I believe that if you first go into chickens and turkeys and things like that, you actually could take um I don't know if

115it's possible diseases, but you could then infect your hogs that would be fatal to them. Am I close? >> Right on. All right. All right. Thank you, Dr. Golden. Um, that takes us to board highlights and everyone knows what that's about. So, if you want to share anything about your visits or anything to campuses or whatever, um, whoever wants to start off, start off. Rucker. Um, done some tennis, soccer, baseball. Went to the Lake Belton versus Belton basketball game last week. Saw Chris there. Saw Chris there. Made sure I sat on both sides of the court, not just with one high school. Um, and shout out to our Belton High School basketball team for winning district. We were on the road tonight. Playoff game. Um, >> they did win. All right, moving on. Um, I

116got to see Souakul as well. Another amazing performance out of town for Wizard of Oz, unfortunately. Um, got to go both Belton and Temple City Councils and just thank our city partners for the work that they did for us during the week of the ice storm and helping us clear the roads, driveways, um, and everything. Uh, I went to the Grace Gallery and got to see the performances or sorry, the artwork from our art teachers across the district. This is really amazing. I could have stayed there for a long time and looked at their work. So um it's obviously amazing to see our students artwork, but um that's the first time I got to see our teachers put their work on display at Grace Gallery. So thank you to them for putting it on. Uh

117met our new Belton High School football coach at BHS at the meet and greet. Uh got to be at the Tarver spelling bee with Brandon and Dr. Golden. So two spelling bees this year. Um Bel County youth there. saw some chickens students and um a lot of this is what you've already said, but man, the Lake Belton High School interdisiplinary research symposium, I was blown away. And I I mean, I I couldn't say I had to get it back to work, but it was unreal the amount of the quality of work that each of those students put into this. And I don't know how many kids were in that room. Probably 125. Um only got to see like six or seven of them. And each of those is about five minutes long for the presentation.

118And it was the kind of thing that you would see at a college level easy uh sophomore and junior year in college. So big shout out to our kids there and got a cup of coffee at Bean and Buckles Beans and Buckles at Lake. Um Leon High 70th anniversary was amazing just as you mentioned. And I want to shout out to our Belton Church of Christ which is a really good example of our faith-based partnerships. They were in the parade. I don't know how many people caught that. Um, the Belton Church of Christ has adopted Leon Heights Elementary and done one of the best jobs as being a faith-based organization to come alongside with our schools. Um, they do so much behind the scenes. They've been doing that for several years and they do it

119very quietly and I just think it's a beautiful expression of the church working with our schools. Um, and then lastly for Dr. Golden, I mean all these things that I was at, you were there too and um, I'm sure for the rest of us um, you are all over the place. So, thanks for all you're doing. >> I mean, I'm always game. Let's go. >> Yeah. >> I mean, how awesome was the parade at at Leon Heights, right? I mean, that was that was pretty awesome. Um uh you know, the the you mentioned the performances from the kids. Uh it was just amazing. Um, I loved hearing the stories from our guests, our uh prior staff members, prior um, uh, prior principles, uh, prior superintendent. Uh, just the history that was in that room. Man,

120if I could have stayed longer and just picked all of their brains, um, it would have been pretty awesome. But >> prior board members, >> yeah, prior board members as well. Um, and I think the community got a kick out of it, right? The houses immediately surrounding. I'm not sure that they were completely prepared for what was about to happen. All of a sudden the drum lines marching through the neighborhood and they're like they're coming out of the houses like what's going on? Uh so it was >> Chris prior students. >> Yeah. Yeah. It was a party intended or not. >> Yeah. Part prior student. Yeah. So I mean that was just a a a great overall community uh activity. U the Lake Belton research symposium. Unfortunately I couldn't make it uh but I have

121to share a story. So um so I'm it's possible that Proud Dad has got an a first place winner in that group. Um but uh but his team I got to see the sausage making of their project uh and how that all came together. Their the project was for the most part put together at my house which was yeah my house I think was a mess afterwards. Um and uh and so just kind of watching that experience with the kids going through the research part of it and and the preparation part of that and experiencing the um adaptability and perseverance when um one of the students um fathers possibly threw out their experiment and they had to redo it. Um it wasn't measur under the bus. >> No, no, it wasn't me. It wasn't my

122house. >> But uh but I mean they experienced all of it, right? I mean, and so it was like there was full-on real research. Um, uh, and so so proud of those guys. Um, I've been I've been to the event in years past. It's been awesome. Um, career fair. So I, you know, I'm maybe a little embarrassed to say like I think this is the first career fair we've had at least since I've been on the board, right? I'm like, why aren't we doing this? Um, so there was a career fair held at um, Lake Belton High School um, put on by Lake Belton PTA. I think it I think relatively late in the game it was opened up to everybody. I don't think that word necessarily got out to um all three of the

123high schools and so I I think there's bigger designs for what that looks like uh next year. Um it was an absolutely great event. It was held um you know after hours um and so parents were able to come with their students. Um I can't remember at this point how many academic institutions were there. I wait somewhere in the magnitude of like 20 or 22 I think academic institutions that were there. um had an opportunity to swing by and talk to every single recruiter uh that was there from the schools and uh there were a couple businesses there as well. Um and just to kind of thank them on on my behalf, on our behalf um for them being there at that event since since we hadn't done one again in my time and um

124and to just collect feedback, good, bad, and ugly from them. And uh I think overwhelmingly uh from the recruiters, the schools, they found it amazingly valuable. Uh they were uh most of the schools were in Texas. uh some of them far far parts of Texas, but we even had some folks from out of state. So um we had a school from Louisiana, school from Mississippi, um you know there. So so it was great. Um had the opportunity to talk to the students and the families. So valuable, right? There were connections made that I think that would not have been made and opportunities that people were made aware of and and open to that that um wouldn't have happened if not for that night. Uh so I think we learned a lot from that event. Um,

125I learned that I don't ever want to have to peel the mats up off a gym floor again. Um, I had blisters on four of my four of my knuckles just from just from cleaning the mats up. But, um, overall great event. Um, it seems like Rucker and I were going like this at at sporting events. Um, you know, Belton and Lake Belton. Um, I got to say just a shout out to the Belton High School basketball coach. Um, you know, I channeled I was channeling Bobby Knight but without the chair throwing, right? I mean, just the energy level, right? I mean, it was just absolutely insane. It was It was infectious. Um, so, uh, so that was pretty awesome. Um, shout out to the Lake Bel and girls basketball who are on a tear

126>> and so look out, baby. We could have something coming. Uh, >> tomorrow. >> They play tomorrow night. Uh, so look out >> tomorrow night. Where? >> Oh, I've got it. It's >> Do you know Ben? >> Okay. >> In Cleburn. >> Yeah. What about what about the Belton Boys? >> We'll we'll know after I mean >> Yeah. So, they're absolutely on a tear, right? So, we got a lot of special things happening there. And then lastly, from a fine arts perspective, I know I kind of teased these things, right? But man, shout out for uh Newekch, right, who did did the show here. It was absolutely amazing. I wasn't sure what I was getting into. I probably should have done a little bit of research so I understood what I was walking into, but

127uh it was a great show. Um and then the musical, the Susical um at Belton High School. >> Oh my gosh, >> it was really good. >> Right. Between the acting and the music, >> um it was just absolutely insane. Um so again, if you missed any of the three productions, you you missed a a great opportunity. So I think next up is you got a bunch of JV shows um coming up which are going to be pretty awesome, too. So That's it. >> Thank you, Chris. Anyone else want to share anything? >> Briefly, did uh yeah, got to go by and uh at least swing through and say welcome to Coach Man. So, that was uh that was really cool. Uh being at the Leon Heights 70th, I was had a previous commitment. So,

128I did not get to participate in the parade, but I did get to go to the uh listen to everybody tell their stories and see my former principles and several former teachers and former librarians. So, that was that was awesome. >> Were you there first to fifth or >> kinder through fourth? So, they they opened uh Principal Agne was there my kindergarten year and then she left to go open Beltton Intermediate School. So, that was the last year they had uh fifth grade when I first started there. So, >> uh well, last and then came back. um uh did also get to see uh go to welcome Miss Burrell uh and be at that event. So that was that was really cool. Uh and then man uh don't realize how much I rely on spellch

129check in my everyday life until you have to judge a elementary school spelling be and you're like oh >> okay I was out in like round four and I think they went was it 30 >> 32 rounds. Yeah, that was that was intense. So, uh really cool and and a lot of fun. So, thank you. >> That's right. >> Hey, uh Jeff, you know this our a program is the what? Fifth largest in the state. >> Fifth largest in the state. Oh, not our A. Well, FFA FFA. >> It's not just A, but it's all of FFA number of kids. >> And that's going from, >> you know, that's the whole state of Texas. So that includes places like Alleny which you know 6,500 students in high school, >> right? Okay. >> Yeah. Great participation

130there. >> Anyone else? >> I'll share a few. Um, you know, the nice thing about having your own kids in the district, I primarily attend a lot of their things and so I got to Chism Trail did a huge fundraiser and I'm talking like I think they ended up raising over $20,000 >> but just huge. And so it's really exciting what what they're going to be able to do with that. But the the um reward at the end is the kids got to participate in a color run. I don't know if parents were um prepared for their kids to literally come home covered in colored uh powder. Um but it was just I'd never seen a color run before. Um I was going to participate and I'm glad I didn't. Um but the kids were

131that I think and I really I really think that the teachers probably had just as much fun. Um so that was really that was really neat and fun. But just I think to share that our a shout out to our schools for you know they already do so much academically and with the families but fundraising is not easy. Um, and so I I know having kids at multiple schools, um, sometimes you just have to the PTA sometimes that that that the staff has to do them and I know those aren't they're not easy and so but I was just blown away that Chisum I mean they raised a lot of money. Um, and so and then it got to my daughter dances, but little did I know her her dance competition was at Builton High

132School with I don't know 30 other um schools around the the community. And so I watched dance for when I say 10 hours literally they kids were coming off and a new group was coming on but got to see Chis and Trails dance team, Purdles dance team, Sparta's dance team, some of our middle schools like Belton High School because it was hosted at Belton High School. Um um th those girls didn't participate as much because they were running the dance competition which is a huge undertaking. But it was really neat to see marching 100. They were there selling popcorn and um just a lot of the the different booster clubs come and they they do um things on the side. But that was a really just f literally 10 hours of watching dancing and it

133was just really remarkable um to see how um how talented not just our kids but you know just to see even kids from Ken ISD and from um Temple. So it was really fun to to uh watch the the kids dance. And another one that I it just popped in my head is I think you know giving a shout out to our our middle schools, you know, they're only there for such a short amount of time. And you know, when they enter into middle school, they're picking up a band instrument for the first time. They're picking up a a ball for the first time. You know, some of them playing sports, some of them do something for the very first time, oftentimes in middle school. and to see them grow from sixth to eighth grade.

134There's a huge drastic improvement in middle school. Um, and I say that I was got to go to Ethan's uh track meet. Are y'all some track fans? Got to go to a middle school track meet last uh last week and our eighth grade South Beltton boys came home with second place overall. They were like less almost 10 points behind first place. And I will say my son uh got first in the mile with a 519. Had no idea he was that fast. Um second place was about 150 yards behind him. And I don't know how many people turn and said, "Is that Ethan out there?" Um I we our family we're big track family, but but it it just it was just fun to watch, you know, all the kids, especially, you know, when when

135you've got a middle schooler who's now in eighth grade. Wow. to see like all those eighth grade boys and girls how much they have grown from, you know, they're this little in sixth grade and they're really competing and competing well. And so, um, just a big shout out to our middle school. Um, they just do a great job really helping improve the experience of our kids and and and they do they they make just such drastic improvements in just a short I mean, they're only middle school for that little bit bit of time. Um, and so I always love the middle school sports and fine arts because you do you see a big improvement from beginning to the end. >> Thank you, Erin. Uh, I just want to share one thing about the the play

136the susicle. >> Um, sat with Dr. Golden and and Dr. Morgan over there. Um, and I remember telling Melinda later, I thought this an amazing production. Um, I'm sitting there flabbergasted and thinking to myself, how much time did these kids spend preparing for this? And then not just the kids, but the the teachers that we have that are involved and staff that are involved in making those productions come to life. It's um it's truly amazing. We got some talented folks around here. >> Yeah. They made the props. They made the costumes. >> Yeah. You see that and I'm thinking, man, what And it just like adults out there doing things. I It's amazing. So anyway, um that will take us to our consent agenda. Does anyone wish to pull an item from the consent agenda

137for discussion? No takers. All right, let's um move on to a motion. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? Mr. Beck, Miss Bass, one and two. Okay. All those in favor, please raise your hand. That passes seven to zero. There are no public comments on non-aggenda items. That's item eight. Let's move down to item nine, close agenda. The time is 8:13 p.m. And the board will now go into close session for a student disciplinary matter text code section 551.082. B. Personnel Texas Government Code section 551.074 and C consultation with attorney Texas Government Code section 551.071. 071. The time is 10:04 p.m. and the board will now reconvene in open session. All action items, reports, and consent items for this meeting have been addressed. There being no further business, this meeting

138is adjourned at 10:04 p.m.