001Good evening. Welcome to the Belton ISD Board of Trustees meeting. Students in the audience, are you ready? Because tonight is for you. So, tonight's showcase is a special winter showcase showcasing the um art of our elementary students. They've all worked really hard to create Christmas cards that are available for purchase right out front. And so the 12 finalists are here tonight. And our elementary artists went all out with huge ideas, bright colors, tons of holiday cheer, and very awesome entries from all across the district. The judges had a really, really tough time choosing one of the winners. So, let's do this. Give yourselves a huge round of applause. >> [applause] >> Okay, so this showcase is different from our others. It's interactive. You're welcome to come and check out the artwork that's on display here.
002And so, welcome to our winter showcase. I'm using represent. >> You're doing great, Charlie. Okay. Cheese. [laughter] Uhoh. [laughter] >> [laughter] >> Great job. So, I'll make >> [laughter] >> I'm always amazed at all the things that y'all do because y'all make me um look at my life because I'm like, "What are y'all doing?" Like, she's in second grade. >> Talking with her hands. I can't eat. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> The bad thing about creators, my daughter was a creator. >> I had to do some work around my house because it's her creat, you know. >> How you doing? >> I'm doing all right. What about you? >> I'm good, thank you. >> You too. [laughter] I love your jacket. >> Isn't it fun? >> If y'all go stand behind her, I'll take a picture
003of y'all whenever they're done. I am not so [laughter] that way eventually it's fine. She's so cute. >> [laughter] >> She thinks I'm anime. >> How are you? How's it going? >> Standing next to something. I got a picture of her just with there. red. >> If she steps away, I'll tell her picture. >> What about a picture of you with Charlie for the Facebook? >> You know, I don't like the >> Yeah, but when you're >> She wants a picture with you. >> With me? This is so good. >> So good. Let's just get more animated as a good song. [laughter] >> [laughter] >> It's so cute. >> They gave us They gave us too go out. >> Like we're going to have to frame one of them and put him on. They're gonna
004send you with that. >> Oh, really? [laughter] >> Star girl. >> I am almost >> I represent. >> We got three of our awesome students who represent. >> What did you say? >> Yeah. Um I I didn't know who you were. I'm like waving to me. Stranger like >> I'm like, >> who's that? And then I came over and I'm like, "Oh." And then I was like, "Wait, who's that again?" >> And then I saw and I'm like, "Oh, that's >> Then you got it." >> Yeah, I recognized you. [laughter] >> It was the hat. The hat's so soft. >> Although it's a Texans hat, so I like it even double. I grew up in Houston, so I'm kind of a loyalist. >> You did? >> Oh, so much fun. Oh, man. >> You got
005it free. Oh, even better. [laughter] We took our son to a Texans game for Christmas or it's his birthday, but it was Christmas time a couple years ago. Is that what you did? >> Look right here. >> Yeah. I like it when they all yell first down. >> You don't get to hear that on the TV. [laughter] >> That's funny. >> Um I'm sure just enough for them to go through and talk and got her concert. It's like >> So they usually ask you to wait till recognition's over, but just slip out like just go right away. to say for the meeting. >> No, I know. >> That would be a long time. >> You wish what? >> Basketball. >> Practice the pledges. >> I like you. >> [laughter] >> We went to um Dallas
006for chair like the first place yesterday. >> Yay. That's awesome. >> Is this hair from yesterday? Is that nice? >> I worked an hour on it. [laughter] >> No, they gave it to me. >> How cute. It's so cute. That's amazing. [laughter] I didn't even know. I didn't even know it was >> I guess Hannah just facilitated because I didn't either. I just got an email about it and I sent it to you. >> I don't know. >> Thank you everyone for enjoying the winner showcase. As a tiny token of our appreciation for your hard artwork, we'd like the artist to take these framed photos with you to keep for yourselves. Can we please get another round of applause for tonight's showcase? [applause] Would you double Oh, this one doesn't hurt. It wasn't a great
007question. Yes, this one always come together. That'll be good. Excuse me. Dad just brought me back. So my She's going for business finance. >> [cheering] >> ready to go. >> Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us this evening and for your interest in Belton ISD. I hope you've enjoyed the holiday card showcase. Let's give these kids a a round of applause if you will. >> [applause] >> The time is 6:27 p.m. and the Belton Independent School District Board of Trustees are now convened in a regular board meeting on Monday, December the 15, 2025 in the Pitter Fine Arts Center located at 400 North Wall Street in Belton, Texas. A quorum of board members is present. Believe there are six of us tonight. Uh Mr. Nurwood will not be with us this evening. This meeting
008has been duly called. The notice of the meeting has been posted in accordance with chapter 551 in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. I want to welcome the members of our audience to our live stream viewer 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, personal 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 received information related to items on tonight's agenda. Agenda items may not necessarily be handled in the order listed on the notice. This meeting is open to all wish to attend and hear the matters discussed. These proceedings
009are being livereamed on the 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 request that you please refrain from talking while others are speaking and that cell phones are on the silent mode. Please rise for a moment of silent prayer or meditation. Please remain standing as our students from Alice J. Carver Elementary School lead us in the pledge of allegiance and honors to the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Please be seated. >> The first item
010on the agenda this evening is recognitions. And let's see. Oh, Chris Christine Christine from our communications department is going to lead us in that. Good evening everyone. And first item to recognize this evening are our amazing students from Tarver Elementary who did our pledge tonight. You guys can go on to the front. We have um fifth graders Breen Crosley and Charlie Warick from Tarver. Breen says his favorite subject is math because he really enjoys problem solving and taking on challenging questions. His friends describe him as respectful, funny, smart, and kind and as someone who is a good friend and shows sympa and shows empathy for others. And Charlie, her favorite subject is also math. Um she loves solving multiplication and division problems. um when she's not in the classroom, she enjoys playing soccer. Her friends
011describe her as smart, funny, responsible, and kind. And thank you both for being here tonight to lead us in our pledges. [applause] And now we will want to recognize again and formally though our holiday card showcase finalist. This year the showcase featured holiday card uh uh contestants from elementary school. And these these 12 entries were selected from hundreds of cards submitted from across our district's elementary campuses. And so our 12 finalists, we have from Charter Oak, we have Barbara and Evan, Hubard Branch, we have Carly and Cassie uh and uh Zalen. From Tarver, we have Charlotte. Southwest, Denise, Liliana, and Selena and Rosebud. And from Purle, we have Emily and Ellie. And you guys truly did an amazing job with the help of your art teachers. We have uh Candy Crocker, Duke, Anna Bastinelli, Rachel
012Pond, Rebecca Hannah, and Kristen Bernstein. Congratulations. [applause] And before you move, everybody stay still. We had our staff vote on their favorite, the staff favorite from all of the 12 designs. And Zalen, can you hold up your picture for me? Hold it up high. Zalen's Cardinal was selected as the staff favorite. [applause] So, congratulations to you all. Y'all did an amazing job. Thank you so very much. [applause] and and tonight we are going to recognize a very special group of students who have never been recognized before at our board meeting, but we want to recognize our middle school students who have earned all region. Uh tonight, the first group that we recognize will be 96 band students from across our three middle schools. These students competed in an individual competitive event and all uh and
013all 96 from our four middle school bands um uh earned all region honors. We typically recognize our high school students for this achievement, but as you can see, our excellence in fine arts starts very young and we are truly so proud of these young musicians and to be able to honor them for this extraordinary achievement. Congratulations to our 96 band all region students. >> [applause] >> Yeah, perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Just Yeah. Just Just bend your knees. Perfect. Perfect. Congratulations all region band. [applause] Nope. Nope. Nope. This way. This way. This way. This way. This way. And while our band students are leaving, we are going to in just a minute welcome the 20 orchestra all region recipients. If you're counting, that's 112 middle school all region recipients from our four middle school band programs. Congratulations,
014[applause] >> [applause] >> And again, this is an individual competition. These students are judged on their individual performance. And these are our 20 orchestra students from middle school that have achieved all region. And we want to say a special thank you to our high our middle school band and orchestra directors Chris Pulley, Patrick Treyan, Dne Worman, Caitlyn Paniro, uh Matthew Vide, Jordan Delant. I can't read. I'm sorry. Jordan, um uh Mr. Arandondo, Chris Ross, Evan Simmons, Kevin Allejandro, and Alyssa Meyer. Thank you to our band and orchestra middle school directors. Our [applause] fine arts future looks very bright. High school, get very excited. Next, we want to recognize our state qualifiers for cross country. We have Lake Belton High School freshman Kiara Denowski who made history. [applause] She made history as the first runner to
015qualify for the state country meet. And did I mention she's a freshman? [applause] Truly remarkable, Kira. And thank you to your coach, Lisa Dehart. And now for our academic all-state recipients. We have 31 high school student athletes from cross country, tennis, and volleyball who qualify for this honor. They are they must be seniors who are in good standing with their team, demonstrate strong moral character, and maintain an overall GPA of 92 or higher. These incredible athletes both on the field and court and in the classroom um are supported by incredible teachers and coaches. Their coaches include Holly Lombberte, Lisa Deart, Corey Smith, Nikki Morgan, Haley Johnson, and Allison Weights. Congratulations to our academic all-state recipients. [applause] And as these students exit, we want to welcome to the front Abigail Matson as we recognize her with
016our journey of a graduate milestone award. [applause] Abigail is an eighth grader at Belton Middle School and she was nominated by tennis coach Karina Capron for her exceptional perseverance. Abigail is known for her maturity, determination and strong work ethic. Whether in the classroom in orchestra orchestra or on the tennis court, she approaches challenges with focus and resilience. Her coach describes her as a thoughtful leader who supports her team and contributes with quiet and steady empathy. Abigail's perseverance and character reflect the spirit of the journey of the graduate and that is why we are so proud to honor you tonight, Abigail. Congratulations. [applause] I don't know. Nobody said anything. [applause] Perfect. Stay here and watch your video. Abigail stood out to me with uh perseverance because um we have a lot of conversations in the mornings
017on the tennis courts and she will share her struggles with me but also how she faces them [music] and what she is going to do. She has never shied away from a struggle or a challenge [music] and she always meets them head on and more often than not will find a [music] solution. No matter who you are, we all know that students kind of fall into categories, but Abigail crosses all them. So we have the the [music] sports oriented kids. We have the really academic uh students. she can cross over all those different [music] categories that students sort themselves into and can speak to all of those students. This year, one of my goals is I want to walk 2 miles every morning before tennis practice. And [music] Abigail saw me out there one morning
018when her parents dropped off and she asked me, "What is it that you are doing?" And I said, "Well, I am walking." So, she changed her routine to coming in earlier than she really has to and she walks [music] with me. So, cuz she was like, "Well, I don't want you to be alone on the trail." >> To me, it just means really when you have perseverance, [music] you just don't half step it. Like, if you want to do something, at least see it through. [music] And that was always a major rule for us in my house is if you're going to start something, finish it. So, it just don't if you want to start something, at least have the gut to finish it out and don't quit halfway. It's just if you want to
019do something, do it. in high school and college and whatever I'm planning to do, it can help me a lot because perseverance is one of the main traits. Like if you want to do something and not giving up and having all those like the mentality to actually want to do something, it can help me a lot past just, you know, the sport I'm in and friends. It can get me throughout more like academically. And yes, it can help me in the sport, but it can help me past like get through college and high school and classes every day. It just it'll [music] help me with just getting there knowing I have that. [applause] Congratulations. [music] Congratulations, Abigail. And now we would like to uh recognize our Temple Rotary Educator of the Month, Miss Emily Edelhouser.
020Is Emily here? Emily, come forward. Emily is here with us. She is a teacher at Belton High School. She consistently encourages students to pursue their goals and develop the skills needed for post-secary success. Her impact extends beyond AVID. She supports students across campus, contributes to the Tiger Media program, helps train staff who assist with AVID, and willingly steps in whenever needed for this and so much more. We thank you, Abigail, and we're glad to recogn Emily, and we're glad to recognize you tonight. Congratulations. [applause] and our Belton Rotary Educator of the Month, Melissa Badget from Sparta Elementary. Miss Badget is known for her compassion, dedication, and unwavering belief in her students. Her commitment to her craft and the success of her students is evident for their strong performance in the positive impact she has across
021the campus. Congratulations, Melissa. [applause] Congratulations. And our department showcased this evening is our special education department. The special education special programs teams is a group of 98 educators who support more than 29 students with disabilities across the district. Their work includes behavior support, therapy services, speech and language support, counseling, assist of technology, and program coordination. This recognition also aligns with National Special Education Day that was back this month on December 2nd, which honors the educators who make inclusive learning possible. And we are truly so fortunate to have each and every one of you serving each and every one of our learners who have special needs in the district. Thank you to our special programs department. [applause] Thank you. And our final recognition this evening is our community partner, Grace Art Gallery. We're proud to recognize
022Grace Art Gallery as a valued community partner that provides meaningful opportunities for our students across the district as well as our staff to share their artistic talents through exhibitions like Emerging Voices on November 14th and the upcoming staff showcase on February 5th. The gallery offers a professional platform for artists across our district to be celebrated. We are so grateful for Grace to Grace uh Art Gallery for opening your doors to our students and our staff to showcate their talents to our community. We are very grateful for your commitment to uplifting the creative voices of our students and educators. Thank you, Grace Art Gallery. [applause] Thanks everybody. If you would join me just congratulating our incredibly talented students, the teachers and staff that work so hard to bring out the very best in our students. And
023to me, one of the greatest examples of community partnership. they have given up their space and time to allow us to show off our students artwork and soon our staff's artwork. So, please give everybody a round of applause. [applause] >> Well, that's the fun stuff for us. Uh, it's time for us to get to work. So, if you want to stay, you can. If not, you can exit. [laughter] Anyway, Are we on? Are we live? Next on the agenda, public comments. In accordance with policy beed local, we will 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 have been handed to um folks that want
024to give us public comment. And I will first uh call Sarah Cox. Miss Cox, are you here? Oh, where is she? >> Ma'am, before you begin, let me let me read a couple of things into the record. All right. Okay. >> All right. I'm not going to cut into your time or anything. >> You're good. 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 allowed three minutes for public comments regarding items on the agenda. We have a timer on the screen that shows your
025allotted time and a sound will occur at the conclusion. The board shall not tolerate disruption of the meeting by members of the public. Miss Cox, if you will uh just identify yourself and where you are uh from and then the timer will begin. >> Okay. Um hi, I'm Sarah Cox. I'm in Morgan's Point. So, I'm a parent here in Belton ISD. Um, I am here to inquire about some budgeting concerns that were being addressed in January. Uh, the board was discussing cutting staff, including librarians, and replacing them with pair of professionals due to budget restrictions. Um, we haven't heard much about that since. So, um, I just wanted to say, um, librarians are not just managing books. They are trained educators who teach our kids how to read deeply, do research, and tell the difference
026between reliable information and misinformation. Um, and those skills affect every student, every subject in every grade level. Um, while pair professionals are important, they [clears throat] are not trained or licensed to provide instruction. Um, and for many students, the school library is their main access to books, technology, and academic support. So, cutting librarians hurts the kids who already have the fewest resources the most. Um, I understand that budget challenges are real, but cutting certified librarians means cutting into the quality of our children's education. Um, so if that's something that you're considering still, um, I urge the board to protect librarian positions and look for solutions that don't harm student learning and make the community aware if you are considering cutting those positions. Um, and if there's anything that the community can do to prevent that.
027So, that's all I had. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Cox. The second person is um I believe Amy Longfield. >> Did I pronounce your last name correctly, ma'am? >> Okay. Just identify yourself, ma'am, where you're from and the timer will begin. Thank you. >> Sure. I'm Amy Longfield. I'm from Belton, Texas. Um and u my kids are both um in Belton. >> Go ahead, ma'am. Oh, sorry. Um, I also am here tonight because about a year ago I attended a meeting that um um there was a little bit of talk about budget cuts for librarians and I've heard um like Sarah said um that this topic is still kind of in flux and that concerned me as a parent. Um my kids have been beld since they were kindergarteners um and they're in fourth and
028sixth grade now. Um, something we talk about in the ISD is having a world-class education for all children. Um, having been homeschooled as a person and having taught private schools, um, we never had I never had the library collection that my children are exposed to every day at school. Um, I think it's really important and something that sets us apart, especially as we see our kids um, carrying around computers to have physical books in a special place outside of their classroom within the school, I think, is super important. I know that we have a wonderful library in Belton. I know we have a wonderful library in Temple. Temple is adopting a $40 fee for non uh, Temple um, community members this next year. Um, and so I will pay that, but I don't know that
029all uh families can afford to or we'll make that a priority and I think it's really important that we have access to those books at our schools. Um, it's important to support our our teachers through our librarians. Um, literacy help for through all students. Um, these are trusting and caring professionals. They have many hats. They have instruction. Many of them have been teachers. Programming, coordination, collaboration with our educators, super important. I think it's important as a community that we not lose our way as we're um looking at different flashy things that our kids can get involved in and not get really excited about all the innovation that's happening in our district, but just to remember like the building blocks, the foundational members of our communities like our librarians. Um also, um this is something that
030teaches kids responsibility, care, it um it shows them, you know, what I like, what I don't like. um what what level am I on? Um what's easy for me? What's hard for me? Um and again, our classroom teachers work so hard, but to have another professional, this is their specific duty is to care for our children in this way through their reading and through their learning. So, I appreciate your time as you continue to look at this matter and I urge you um not to cut this. This is something that sets our district apart from other schools. As as families are looking and making decisions, it's very important that we be able to offer this experience. Just like we have a counselor, just like we have a nurse, just like we have a nutrition team,
031we have things that we offer that other schools may not. And this is something that's special. So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you, ma'am. Okay, that brings us to our action items for this evening. Item 4 A in particular, consider, discuss, and take appropriate action regarding adoption of the 2026 2027 academic calendar. Dr. Golden. >> Yes. So, um, Gabby Nino, our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, has led this process, um, and has facilitated this with our, um, Dwick committee, which is made up of teachers from across the district as well as community members. And so, Gabby's going to quickly walk us through process and recommendation. Absolutely. So, let's just start with the process that I alongside our DWIC um committee have gone through this year to bring forward to you a recommendation
032for our 2627 academic calendar. This all started with um an input and feedback process. We surveyed our community and had over 79 well we had 793 participants. So, almost 800 people weigh in on our academic calendar through a feedback form. Our DWICK committee reviewed all of that feedback as well as parameters that we use that inform um the construction of the calendar including um education code including guidance from um the education agency related to instructional minutes and um time and instruction in order to make recommendations. Um we reviewed district calendars from around us. many districts are in this process right now. So oftentimes you don't have what the districts are proposing. Um and so we look at historical calendars, but also um Todd and I actually sat down at the table with surrounding districts to
033help plan together because that's a priority in our community that there's some alignment. And then we also review university calendars as well to work towards that alignment. So that Dwick committee with the parameters and the survey input um designed multiple options for consideration um for calendar for the 2620 uh7 school year and they came back to it multiple times redesigning um based based on feedback and challenges that they faced. Ultimately the um design of calendar that is being brought forth to you today um really prioritizes instruction first. Um there's a shift in this calendar to add additional instructional days, two instructional days for students. Um which is why we all exist to provide that instruction. Um but on the feedback um from all of our surveys, they also prioritized a balance in the calendar that
034would get give time for natural breaks for students, families, and staff that included not only a break, but also time for planning and designing instructional experiences for students. So balance was considered, alignment was considered in this calendar. Um meaningful spacing of professional learning. One of the greatest challenges that we faced in our 2526 calendar is that um we reduced the amount of time at the very beginning of the school year for professional learning and teacher prep. And so in response to feedback, we added back a day at the beginning of the school year um in response to feedback. Um and again just working towards balance in the calendar for our our staff. So again we have brought forth an option for you that includes 170 instructional days for students um and is in alignment with
035these priorities outlined by both our community and our DWIT committee. Those this uh two final options were taken to campuses to weigh in and give their preference. And the final choice is the one that is in front of you today. It is our option one draft of calendar. So I want to answer any questions that you have about our priorities in calendaring um as we move into the 26 27 school year. >> Thank thank you Gabby. Any questions for for Gabby? >> Yes sir. >> I just have a I com maybe a question but um first of all I'm glad to hear 800 participants. That's amazing. Like that that's a good representation of our community. Uh the next thing that I liked hearing was that the university alignment. I I'm assuming that means a especially
036with like Temple College as we just got out of the workshop and and a lot of our our students uh juniors and seniors make hopefully more and more as we go on will will be attending there. So, it'd be great if those two if our if our school district can align with spring break, fall break, those sorts of things with them as well, so families can can participate together. >> Absolutely. We also looked at other universities beyond Central. Um, and so we do our best in alignment. It's not always perfect, but we've worked really hard to get as close as we can. >> Anyone else? No. No questions. Okay. All right. Do we have a motion to adopt the 2026 2027 academic calendar as presented? >> All right, I got two hands over here. So,
037Riley, number one. Number two, Mr. Preston. All those in favor, please raise your hand. That passes 6 to zero. Okay, moving on to item 4B. Consider discussing take appropriate action regarding approval of new courses for the 2026 2027 school year. Dr. Golden. Yes. So, um, Gabby is staying at the podium. So, she also led this process and is here to bring two practicum courses to you this evening for consideration. >> Absolutely. >> Um, over time when we are considering new courses to add um into our uh selection for students, we consider is this a need within our system? It might have some sort of requirement associated with it or is it a want just a desire to expand opportunities for students. Both of the courses that I'm bringing forth to you tonight meet both of
038those. Um, so let's just start with the very first course that I'm going to ask for your approval on. It's the practicum in law, public safety, corrections, and security. In light of the conversation that we had in workshop, we want to have fully developed pathways for students. And in this pathway that we um have fully built out, almost fully built out at New Tech High School, the practicum experience was missing. And so we have the courses planned out without the practum exper experience. And so um it's really just your permission to approve that. There will be no implications on um specific costs related to that. We have the personnel in place for it and we have the students and so this is allowing them to finish their pathway. The other course that we ask for
039your permission to is really to honor this is very much a need but it's to honor experiences that students are already having. This is the extended practicum in health science. Many of our students [clears throat] specifically who are doing ridealongs in EMT spend 60 hours in ridealongs um in a direct career workbased experience learning and they do that beyond the school day and they don't currently get credit for that. So by providing approval for this course and our catalog, we can honor the experiences that students are already having, potentially expand them and and give credit for the experiences that they have that'll extend into higher level um course credit specifically [clears throat] in health sciences and our ENT students. So those are the two courses that we are asking for your permission tonight on. Um
040this is a unique situation where our students are already accessing these experiences except for the practicum but are already in the pathway. So what it would look like from here is that we will provide communication following your approval to our campuses um including the families who are engaging in these classes or experiences that the courses have been adopted. We will add them to our course catalog and advising practices. Um and then when our our counselors are working alongside our students or also our CTE um instructors specifically, they will be able to support students in course selection for the coming school year. And so with that, I want to answer any questions that you all have. >> Any questions for Miss Nino? >> I just think, you know, I just want to confirm what I heard,
041right? So um there's no cost implication, right? So there's no additional cost due to to either one of these programs and we're really doing this to honor what honor and be able to recognize and give credit for the work that the students are already doing, right? And and to some extent the what our staff is already supporting. Um so like from my standpoint, I think this is a no-brainer. I will say there's potential positive um cost because currently in particular with our students who are um engaging in the extended practicum that also it we do generate G uh GT CTE funding for that and so there's potential positive costs. >> That's great. >> Anyone else? Okay. Um, do you have a motion to approve the new courses for the 2026 2027 school year as presented?
042Mr. Floor one, Mr. Bzon two. All those in favor, please raise your hand. Passes six to zero. Thank you, Gabby. That concludes our action items this evening. Next on the agenda is reports. >> Yes. So Todd Schiller, our assistant superintendent for human resources is here to give a quick update on the work we've been doing around goal three. >> Good evening board. So tonight I I am going to clicker. So we're going to provide a quick update on goal three in regards to relating to a goal setting and then we'll talk a little bit about onboarding as well. And so with the goal three uh and the goal setting. So our goal three KPM was achieve 80% staff participation in creating and pursuing a professional learning goal aligned with our builtin ISD leadership definition by
043May of 2026. And so sounds pretty easy, but when you dive into it, like we we really understood that we before we approached this, we've got to provide a deeper understanding what our buil built ISTD leadership definition is and what it's all about and what those competencies are. And so we started that in the summer um with our leadership team. Um we focused on our all each one of our competencies um and our categories, which I'm going to show you a slide of that here in a second. Um but really just deepening that understanding. We broke down into groups. Um, our cabinet members took a took took a particular category Dr. Borggan and I had like building culture and we really dove in to those competencies surrounding building culture. Um, one of the questions that
044we asked um, as an example is that if you had a groundbreaking idea that could significantly benefit the team, but it's complex, how would you approach it giving those leadership definition competencies? And so that's just an example of kind of how we dove into kind of understanding the competencies surrounding um our leadership definition. And so other teams did similar type of work during the summer. Um so once we did that we also communicated our expectations for um what we wanted to see in goal settings throughout the course of the year and we asked our our leadership team to take the examples that we provided during the retreat take that back to the campuses and have similar types of learning as well and be able to communicate that expectation of creating professional learning goals that align
045with our leadership definition competencies. Um, we also established a small committee to come together just talk about the the evaluation goal setting document kind of what that would looks like and what we want to be able to get out of it for future use as well. Um, and then be able to provide communication to all staff regarding those goal setting expectations. Even though the leadership team went out conversations with their um employees regarding goals um and those go those competencies, we also communicated from the human resources office too about what those expectations were. um through district-wide communications. And then we we uh also are aligning professional learning um in all of our sessions um to our to our competencies throughout the year. So you'll see agendas um within our leadership team meetings and each one
046of our agenda items is tied to a leadership definition competency um as well as as well as our goals. So just as a reminder, this leadership definition competent the competencies um that you see on the on the slide deck right now. So there's [clears throat] there's a lot of work that went into this. There's a group of individuals that came together to create these competencies. It was all part of a Holdsworth um um learning that we went through um couple of years or I think it was course was 18 months and really dove into what it means to be a leader in Belton ISD. And so [clears throat] the groups came together um lots of chart paper and and and information flying around about what it really means to be be a bel leader in
047Belton ISD. And so those are the competencies that that rose to the top. Um just a reminder for that. And so it's not just leaders in Belton ISD because every employee is considered to be a leader in Belton ISD. Whether you're serving in an administrative role or a custodian or school nutrition employee, we want all of our employees to exhibit these types of competencies. And so the group that came together to work on the evaluation instrument um really there's two types of goals. We asked for a a learning goal, a professional learning goal and then that last part there which I'm going to show you a slide here in a second which really d dives into it but just aligning that goal to um to a competency and we're able to break that down which
048I'll talk a little bit more here about in a second. So we said 80% in that KPM. We are currently sitting at 81.4%. That's number right at 81%. And that was as of December 1st. And we do expect that number to to to increase over the next several weeks and into the early part of January. But right now we are we are meeting that goal for the KPO. All right. This is this is the part that I'm really excited about. And so we're we're able to take down this this leadership definition and what people's goals were and what it's tied to um in terms of those leadership definition competencies. So communicating for impact um was the was the number one thing um that the goals were aligned to. Um after that it was promoting growth
049and then focusing on what matters most. The good part about this is we can even break down this even further and we can break it down by campuses as well. Um, and so when you think about professional learning as a as a system, um, we can start having trainings around this type of this type of work, um, as well. And so I've shared this information with Christy Chandler, director of professional learning, so she can be thinking about kind of where do we go, how do we use this information to help our employees out in these particular areas that they that they've established goals for. I'm going to stop there. That's that's the goal setting information. going to see what questions you may have regarding goal setting um in regards to the KPM before we move
050on to onboarding >> questions. Chris. >> All right. Hey, I've got a couple. Um how is the expectation to have a documented professional learning plan? Like how is how's how does that expectation manifest to the teacher in the classroom or the or the staff member? Like is that part of their like annual like documented annual performance expectations? are they like how does how does how does the staff know they need to do this? >> So so again um through that communication that we had over the summer months we asked those campus principles and leadership team to work with their employees provide the training and engage in conversation about that goal setting and the expectations there and then we also did district-wide communication regarding as regarding the the need for the goals that they established to
051be tied to these leadership definitions competencies. Does that answer your question? >> Yeah. Yeah. So is that so is it part of their like annual performance? >> It is part of their so there's it is part of the annual evaluation. Yes. There's two phases to the to the annual evaluation. The first one happens in September October time frame and that is where you establish goals for the year and then at the end of the at the end of the year the evaluation is is >> right >> aligned to these goals. How did you do that? Did you accomplish those goals that you establish that you set out to accomplish? >> Okay. Is there a deadline for folks like for the folks in the no bucket at the moment? Is there a deadline for those folks
052to >> Yeah, when we get start there's so constant emails are going out right now just reminding individuals to make sure that you're doing that and so forth. So I would think by mid January we probably have our percentage. It's not going to be 100% because you're going to have people that are on on >> leave or those types of things. They're just not around to be able to accomplish those things. Um and then um obviously staff changes too throughout the course of the year. So they come and go and so you're not going to ever be at the 100%. >> Yeah. Yeah. I should have thought about this when I was looking at the slides in advance, but is there anything in um that the folks in the no bucket currently today have in
053common, right? And what I'm thinking about like is there maybe like a department that's not necessarily in the classroom, right? And so we're struggling around like that area. I don't know if that's a >> Yeah, it's a fair question. Absolutely. Um I think what you'll see is when you look at who's in the no column, there's going to be a lot of our support services areas and so we're working with them. Cassandra's aware of it and she's working with those leaders over there to see what they can do about increasing that percentage. I think some of it is just the access to system, access to computer to be able to do this type of thing and so we've talked about hard copy evaluations and those types of things to be able to get that information.
054>> Okay. Is there anything you need from us in order to make that piece of it easier? >> No, I I think just continued support continued support regarding the leadership definition and the work we're doing around it. I think that's I think that's great. >> Yeah, I mean I think this is incredibly important, right? I mean, we talk a lot about teaching being both an art and a science, right? And and and not ever really being there, right? Like there's no the goalpost is continuously moving, right? And this is a really important way to be intentional, you know, for each and every one of our staff members to be intentional about what what those growth areas and stretch areas are, right? So, this is an amazing opportunity folks have um and they really need to
055take advantage of it. So, absolutely. Okay. Thank you, >> Els. All right. We're gonna move into onboarding. And so, onboarding just as a reminder. So, so two years ago, I'm going back here. Oh jeez. So, two years ago, we started onboarding um kind of working with our employees or our leaders about de developing onboarding plans um for individuals that are joining Belton ISD. And so, um did a lot of work surrounding that um and started I think two years ago we created the onboarding plans. Last year, we kind of started a process where we're we're evaluating those plans or or gaining information from employees about their experience in the onboarding um process. And so we did that at 30, 60, and 90 days. And so the work that you're going to see here um is
056really pertaining to teachers in their 30-day compare from the previous year compared to this this current year at that 30-day mark. And so a a teacher with 30 days of exp um 30 days in their experience with the onboarding plan, you'll see the four questions that are asked is kind of what was your overall experience regarding onboarding? Did you have the appropriate resources when you started your job or within that 30 days to be able to be able to do your job effectively? Did you have the right support? Um and then did you feel valued? And so you'll see there um that first column there the overall that's an increase of about 6.2% went from 90.3 to 96.5%. Really proud of that one. Um you do see a big increase there with resources as well
057as well 10% increase there. Um support dropped slightly. Um but then the uh the value kind of 91.7 to 92.9%. So, um, we are seeing seeing a difference. Still a lot of work that needs to be done, um, to be able to to be able to increase these percentages, but that's the 30-day compare. And then I did the same thing for 60-day compare. And so at 60-day, um, you'll see an overall um, it increased from the previous year about 4.8%. Resources increased 2.6% support roughly flat went from 73.8% to 74.4% 4% and then valued fell just slightly. But again, that overall experience is continuing to increase um compared to where it was last year. Um at these mark um this represents we've probably 120 I think individuals that receive this survey and we're getting about
058a 30% on average um return rate in the survey participation each time we send this out. Um, and we send this information out every month. And so, so if you're hired in October, you're going to get one for 30 days in November. Um, and so we'll you'll see it all throughout the course of the year. We also do a a 90 days and we're get gathering all that information right now. Um, and then we do an end of the year comparison as well. So on the feedback, um, couple of things that we're we're looking at. One, just highlight campus support and mentorship was was outstanding. Um, we had a lot of positive feedback regarding campus support and just the mentorship um of of the staff helping people grow into their new positions. Um, a couple
059of things we need probably need to be working on. Um, training and professional development. Um, it's kind of weird. Like two years ago, we heard there was too much time at the beginning of the year. A year ago, um, and now here in this year, we're hearing there's not enough time at the beginning year. So, the calendar that that Gabby uh asked y'all for approval of tonight has a little bit more time at that beginning of the year. Um, and so that'll accomplish some of those things. Um, some of it's like skyward training, things of that nature that we still need to be um, you need to grow in. Another thing that I think stands out in that is probably need to focus on late starts a little bit better, too. Um, because somebody's missing
060that first seven days or so or so before the start of the school year is missing some valuable training. So, how do we work with them to be able to get them the information they need to be to be able to be successful? Um, then workload workload and work life balance. Um, some of the comments we we had is, you know, in regards to grading, planning, meeting, and paperwork, just being cognizant of of what the expectations are, what we're asking them to do, the training that's being provided, and just some latitude um flexibility in terms of in terms of implementing um that information um to them over time. So, any questions regarding onboarding? >> Todd, I have I have one. Um, I hope this doesn't put you on the spot too much, but you talk
061about the positive feedback about mentorship and campus support. What specifically are you hearing? >> So, you know, all teachers are assigned a mentor, and I think that's specifically with teachers. Um, I think that's really helped. I think that to have somebody that walks them through the day-to-day classroom management, those types of things, I think is specifically what we're seeing in comments in regards to that and just the the support from the administration administrative team on the campuses as well. There was a lot of comments regarding administration. I I um we'll get to it later, but campus visits earlier this week at schools. I mean, that was certainly something I heard at both campuses, just the amount of support from the administration on campus and then up uh on the administrative level for the district to
062just teachers saying that they feel it. Um one was a first year teacher, I think at Lake Belt Middle, um just saying she didn't expect this kind of support and another one I think was a a new teacher from to this district and felt the same. So, it's great to hear. >> That's awesome. I have quick question. Um can you circle back on when you on the feedback the 30 60 90 days you me mentioned that only about 30% of the the people that are that are doing these surveys why so low is there any incentive for them because I mean I would imagine the more feedback you get the more you can better plan and intervene and and just better serve them but why such a low turnout and >> yeah so we're looking
063into that um I don't know specifically why they're not responding we we send all the information through email um and um and and track the we don't track the individual. This is all anonymous, but we try to track um kind of the percentages of it. Things we've talked about is do we need to change this up a little bit, maybe do some live kind of um you know divide up and and ask some questions with some new maybe gain the data in a different way um except through a through electronic means like this. So that's some of the things we've been working on. >> Can can I pull the thread a little bit? Yeah. So, um, so 30% is actually not a bad turnout, uh, just from a like in the corporate space, right? So,
064so the number actually is maybe a little bit higher than you might expect in like a corporate environment. So, that doesn't that didn't sound too bad to me, right? You always want to have more feedback, right? But, um, the number just human behavior is kind of right on. Um, one of the things that we do though in the corporate space is we do two-stage this, right? So, we do have a face-to-face conversation, right? followed up by the anonymous survey, right? And so it sounds like that's something that you're looking at doing. Um when I looked at the 30-day and the 60-day, that's also not uncommon to see just from like a change management theory standpoint, right? Like not uncommon to see like a little dip, right? Um you know, 30 days everybody's still like, let's
065go. 60 days is like, oh my gosh, it's really set in. What have I gotten myself into? Right? And the reality set in a little bit. And so I would I would expect that as we go on like that to actually kind of come back up. So that's also somewhat normal too. >> Um, so I've been again happy to hear the area the sort of improvement areas that you've got so far. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> Aaron, do you have a question? >> Okay. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. Just a quick comment just as a reminder. Um, so Todd and I found ourselves at a conference and we were asked to attend. We were the only educators in the entire conference there. It was all um business, corporate and the whole focus was
066on onboarding and just the importance no matter the industry in um as we're bringing new team members into our organizations. And so this was a key progress measure a couple of years ago and um it doesn't stop just because it's no longer a key progress measure and we want to ingrain it deeply into this is just the way we do business and so really appreciate Todd and his leadership for this um and really listening and listening sessions and so um the fact that we are hearing better feedback on mentoring teacher mentoring super important because that was a common thread we were hearing across the system um when we do listening sessions. And so I just want to say thank you to Todd for ensuring this is the way we do business and not just a
067one year for a key progress measure. Um we really want it to be just the way we do business in Belton because we want people to come here and we want people to stay and be a part of the team. So thank you Todd. >> Thank you. Hey Todd, I do have a question that um just entered my mind here a few minutes ago and I don't know if it's if if it's proper for for this particular discussion or not, but um you know we got the leadership discussion that you gave us and then you talked about the 30 6090 the onboarding when do you come back to us again? I don't remember now on on the onboarding reports. >> So we'll do a I think we do a midyear check-in in January. Um we
068should have the 90-day information by by that time. Okay. >> Um and then I know we do an end of the year um assessment as well regarding that. >> With these two these two issues that you presented to us today, how does that help you guys and human resources as it relates to um teacher retention? >> Yeah. I think people that have great experiences, I think you'll see the results of increased retention. Um no doubt about it. when people feel supported and they feel valued and they feel um the the the room, the space to be able to do their jobs effectively, I think they're they'll grow. And so I'm hoping to see um an increase in retention um as a result of all this work. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, sir. >> You
069bet. >> Yeah. I mean, I really want to echo like the the growth aspect of it, right? The bit like supported and the and the the growth environment, right, I think is really important. And so I just to the folks in the no bucket. I know I talked about the no bucket for a minute, but if you're listening and you're in the no bucket, this is on the board agenda. This is on a board goal and there's a KPM because we believe that this is the direction that we should be going and this is the this is the culture that we're in. And so this is part of the program. Um and so you need to participate in >> get in the bucket. >> Yeah. Be a part of the be a part of the
070growth. >> Jump in the bucket. >> All right. Thank you, Chris. Uh that takes us to 5B board committee reports. Uh first one we have is policy. >> That's me >> Aaron. >> Yeah, that's Riley and I which Riley and the committee if I there's we went over a lot of policy saw that >> um we this was the first reading of policy update 126 which a lot of it was >> we're still filtering through all the legislative changes and how they're affecting policy. So y'all correct me add because I certainly don't want it to to mis um uh provide any misinformation. So uh DGBA and and this is also in your consent agenda. So you these five policies you are you already have it but this is that was what our our policy meeting
071was about. Um DGBA on employee grievances. This was a legislative change that basically just standardized the due process and timeliness of um grievances. And really thankfully um much of what we were already doing our practice is in line with a lot of the changes. So that was that was encouraging. Um FNG the student parent grievance um also there was just a standardized um in the process for the complaintants to have timeliness and there was some significant changes in the timeliness and uh for example uh level one and level two complaints must be heard within 10 calendar days. Um and so that's a shortened amount of time. Uh and then they have 20 days the complainants that to file an appeal and then they have to still and even receive an administrative decision within that 20
072days. Again, correct me if if if I'm if those are wrong. Um but they're also in your board packet. Um FA local, this is a brand new policy, so we're still talking a lot about that. Um Christine is leading a lot of this work because um the legislature wants us to establish a parent portal for parents to be able to s submit comments and so they're exploring different ideas um about that and so there's more conversation to come on that um FFG which is on student welfare and safety and this was a change in the reporting um on suspicions of abuse and neglect. It used to be 48 hours and now there's you have to report within 24 hours. Um and then the last one FFF which is still on student safety safety and this
073was there has to be a a much more swift disclosure to parents um of no later than one business day after an employee suspects a criminal offense has been committed against a child. Again, correct me if I'm wrong on that. Um but that's just to strengthen the child protection and and parent notifications. So, those were the five. Um, there were some language change changes, but that those were really the significant um changes in those five policies. Riley, did I miss anything? >> Anything else that I to add? >> On the um the FA local, you talked about the portal. >> Yes. >> Um, when does that have to be up and running, >> Christine? When does that have to be up and running or it Go ahead. >> Right. We have seen some new ideas
074that probably >> but that was technically supposed to have gone into effect September one and so we're still and again that it's a brand new policy that they're working through. >> Thank you. Riley. Um, that takes us to budget committee. >> All right. Now you're talking to the left side or the the right side depending on your point of view. [laughter] >> All right. Uh, man, we went into bonus time. Uh, you know, the hour meeting turned into an hour and 15, hour and 20 very quickly. >> Um, so we hit four primary areas. So, uh, in last month's board meeting, we talked or board workshop, right? We talked about, uh, board goals, our budget goals, right? And so we started off the conversation really um you know sort of taking what we came out
075uh what came out of that workshop and what we heard um and kind of talking through what those were knowing that um there is no way that we can meet every single one of those goals, right? And so how do we how do we refine that? Um so we had a conversation around that. Um we did take a look into 2627 and just a couple different scenarios um from a budget standpoint. So where where do we think we need to go from a from a haircut standpoint? Um and uh you know just from a top dollar amount standpoint there's right now there is no hard and fast um this is what's happening. Um from a u from a reduction standpoint I think the only thing that really came out of it is we're likely going
076to need to reduce something. Um and so again we looked at a couple different scenarios for how steep does that does that actually need to look. Um so I think we're going to come you know expect additional conversations coming um on that. Um we then uh took a look at our the reimbursement resolution that we talked about uh passed a couple months ago um around some of our athletic facilities just kind of based on the way that Prop B turned out. Um uh really put the brakes on and stopped uh some of the work uh that was gone on in that space. So um and so nothing really more to to share on that one. I think every everything's on hold until we figure out how we how do we move forward. Um, we did
077take a look at the Prop C, right, the technology piece of it. And we looked at a couple different options for uh that we have to actually issue um the bonds that that go with that um and what some of the initial pros and cons might be um uh for that. Uh no decision has been made um on the date around that. And then we took a look at the um existing debt that we've got um and you know, always looking to find ways to save money for the taxpayers. I said there are a couple um couple issues that are out there um that could be refinanced uh to saved uh the taxpayers uh money. So um so we started looking at that um and you know like we have done in years past. We
078have refinanced some of the debt um and saved millions of dollars. So um I don't there's not a target that I that we can set out there at this point but that conver know that that conversation is underway to see if there's ways that we can save money for everybody. >> So >> thank you. Can I miss anything? >> No. >> Okay. It's a good question report. >> Well, it's never a good report when it comes to that, but yes, >> I understand. >> Thank you, Chris. Um, Dr. Golden, superintendent report. >> Facilities facilities. >> Oh, facilities. I'm sorry. >> Jeff's not here tonight. Uh, so I'm filling in as the junior member. Uh, but, uh, just two pieces really. reimbursement resolution that Chris had touched on already about uh you know we've already uh
079made decisions on moving forward on the lights at Tigerfield and then we talked through options on the turf uh really just options about the future um and then the other main piece that we discussed was closing out Delta program facility which are really really close um so we're really really to the very near end of closing out all the 2022 bond projects >> including Delta Okay. Thank you, sir. Dr. Golden, >> you're up the back. >> Yes. So, couple of highlights I'd like to share since we met last. Um, as you know, I will tell the month's story through mainly images. Um but wanted to start with this one because really entrenched in the vision that came out of the voices of our community, our staff, our students, um is what you see before you.
080But this really highlights on that enrich their communities piece. The way we help support our students as they go prek through 12th grade is we give them experiences in which they give back to the community so that as they graduate and leave us, those will be habits that they will hopefully continue in this community or whichever community they land. And so um we start as with our earliest learners. Um these are our amazing Beck students. um they helped hand out blankets at um one of our nursing homes in the local area. Our students had a great time. Our seniors had an amazing time and it was fun to watch them give out these amazing blankets um to community members. Um to continue that, you'll see lots of evidence of that continuing. I'm going to start
081with Purle Elementary School. So, Purle students made winter villages to help decorate tables at HB's um feast of sharing event that happened December the 4th. Um our Ple third graders hosted their wax museum where they're learning about history and then bringing that history to life for um their peers to enjoy, but also their parents and many of us got to go in and see that. Um, not sure if you had a chance to go, but Sparta. Um, there's no place like Gnome >> was hilarious. They did an amazing job. I had a great time at this event. The students did a fantastic job just sharing um, holiday cheer for their families um, and our community. [clears throat] We also have students that participated in the Belton Lions um, peace poster contest. And [clears throat] so
082we have our first, second, and third place students here, all sixth graders from across our system. So super proud of our students. We also had on the bottom left, um I know it's hard to see that, but we are incredibly blessed to have a partnership with Baylor, Scott, and White. Um this is called Dare to Dream, and they came in and they support our students at Southwest Elementary School. And then finally, Hubard Harmony Hawks Honor Choir. So, they went to Belton Retirement Home and were able to share their incredible voices and talents um with some members that of our community that live in that retirement home. And it's not just for our students. While we create those conditions for our students, our adults give back across our system. And these are just some of the
083images of our district's leadership team, our campus leaders, um who went to helping hands. Helping Hands helped so many in our community. Um at one point in time they were serving a around 130 families. They are up to over 800 families. And so our leadership team went and helped stock the pantries. Um helped get bags for weekend meals. Um and we even had a few tree decorators to brighten the helping hands um lobby. And so I'm just really proud of our administrators for spending the time to support our incredible community partners who support our community. Um and then finally, just so proud of our Belton Education Foundation. We have so many people that give of their time. They have full-time jobs, yet they volunteer, they fund raise. And these are just some of the examples
084on the top row of the teacher grants that we were able to give out last week. We gave grants out all across the district to teachers who wrote um inspiring grants for innovative practices. This is to seed innovation across the district. And so just a huge shout out to our Belton Education Foundation board and all those that give so much and so generously to support our teachers. And then finally, you see some familiar faces. So um thank you to our board. Throughout the semester, you have participated in campus visits, um, getting into teachers classrooms, talking to students, and so our recent visits were to Chism Trail and South Belton Middle School. And just thank y'all so much for taking the time to really get in classrooms and see the incredible work of our teachers in
085action and our students in action. And then finally, Delta got to volunteer at Belton Police Department. And so, um, we were at Bel, uh, the cabinet team was at the Delta program today. Um, they were in the kitchen practicing their culinary skills and a few of us got to partake in a few cookies that they made. And so, just really proud of our Delta program and our adults who serve in that program and our young adults who are in that program and they work so hard to give back to the community and they volunteer for our police department. And with that, that's just a highlevel recap since the last time we met. [snorts] >> Any questions for Dr. Golden? You know, we're coming up on the end of the year. Dr. Golden, I want to
086thank you for everything that you've done. I know it's been a tough semester and uh you're just everywhere. So, I appreciate your hard work. >> Thank you. >> And also appreciate your your administrative staff uh the hard work that they've done. Um, so thank you for hanging in there. >> Thank you. >> Okay, that takes us to board highlights. Um, I was on vacation last week and I didn't get to go to uh the campus visit, so I'm looking forward to hearing about that. And anything else you guys want to share? Who wants to? There we go. Um, the the night after last board meeting, I got to go to the the new tech academic awards ceremony right here in this room. And um, and Dr. Dr. Golden, you were here and it was man,
087there's a lot of kids who are really achieving really really highly at all of our our schools. But um just the pride I think in the parents who were there at those of and I think a lot of us have been to those different ceremonies, but uh it was really really neat. Um got to go to the first soccer game of the year. I think it's still an exhibition part of the season. Um teams looking good, a lot stronger than they were last year for sure. A lot more uh rigor I think from the coaches. um special night last week was at Belton High School for the basketball game. Um a lot of people know about uh Marcus Wilson, a very beloved member of the staff there at Belton High. It was a packed house
088and the student section was crazy. It was awesome. And they're they're calling for Marcus's name uh through a lot of the game and it was a big win for the high school um bef prize patrol on Tuesday. just one of the best days of the year. Uh I know Aaron and Brandon got to go to and that was just really really amazing to see all of our teachers are working so so hard out there in the classroom. Um coaches, our our music teachers, everybody. Um and then get to to get to go into the classrooms to knock on the door and to say, you know, you wrote this grant, you won this money. Uh, but I think that makes it really special is the kids in the classroom who just love their teachers and they
089get around them, they take a picture and they're proud of their of their teacher in the classroom, but they're also uh proud to see the new things that were coming in as well. Um, and then getting to go to Purle. I got to go to Purle and Lake Belton Middle. Uh, Aaron, we were at Lake Belton together the other day. I mentioned that earlier. And, um, just some really great stuff. I got to spend time with kindergarteners, third graders, and then sixth and eighth graders, I think. And Aaron got me in trouble. So, [laughter] >> did you make the six seven joke in class? >> I didn't. That wasn't me. >> Oh, you made the face at me. You made a face. You said 67. I started bursting laughing. I felt like I needed to
090go to the principal's office. But anyways, the teachers and the students were amazing at both those campuses. So, >> do you guys know how much money was given out by both foundations? $118,000. >> $118,000. Okay. Just for teachers, >> teacher the teacher grants and whatnot. Cuz I saw Michael Krillo. Did I see that correctly? You got a check for like 10 grand. >> He did get a big check. >> He was a big check. Wow. >> Yeah. >> Um always love middle school band and sports uh and fine arts. So have gotten to do some of that um over the last month. But I think just three notable things that I'd like to share is is the the BEF prize patrol. Um just one notable one and it was right off the bat that morning.
091Uh we walked over to DAP um to an elementary teacher over there and just the excitement and the passion that she has to be able to provide um some STEM kits for her kids. She got a little emotional um which then led us to all get emotional with her. but just seeing how committed she is to ensuring that her kids, even though they're going through some difficult things, that they're still having a great experience over there. And so, um, I just still think about, um, I've been thinking about her since and those kids over there. So, um, uh, the Big Red Heart Awards, I get to join Miss Ramirez. We got to go almost a couple of weeks ago to some elementarymentaries and um one notable one we went to Lake Belton High School to
092the campus tech because they can't seem to ever get him while he's here to give him his big red heart award. So we went to him over at Lake Belton High School. But just what stood out to me about him is he's a graduate of our school. Um went to school and then came back and he's been here ever since. And so uh so that was really neat to meet him. Uh and then the campus visits. Uh yeah, we we have incredible teachers doing some really great work and and to see them in in the moment engaged in their classes. Um I think a notable one we were at South Belt Middle School in a sixth grade science class. I I could have just stayed in there all day. She just she was just so
093engaging. Um like I wanted to sit down and participate with the kids teacher. >> Um yes. uh just super impressed and the kids just um it was just neat to see them engage with her um was just really it was really incredible at South Belt Middle School the sixth grade science teacher so >> first year. >> Yeah. Wow. Great. >> So yeah. >> All right. >> Mr. Floor. >> Let's go. Um yeah. Let's so let's talk about the campus visits, right? Um I mean you guys know this up here. I'm not sure if the audience necessarily knows, right? But when we go to a campus visit, it's not just like hang out and wave and like, you know, see what's going on, right? We go with a purpose and and that purpose, you know, [snorts]
094when we go, we get to sit down with the principal or or and and sometimes extended administration team to really talk about, hey, what's going on at school, right? What's going on at school? What's going on from a a challenge standpoint? What's going on from a success standpoint? Um from a um you know, academic improvement standpoint, you know, what are the priorities, right? We sit down, we kind of have that conversation. Um, and then we hear about, okay, great. Like, now let's go on a tour of the school and let's see those things, right? And so we take a we we I went to South Belton Middle and uh Chism Trail uh elementary, right? And we had those conversations and when then we got to go around to the classes to see, hey, look, here's
095this thing that we just talked about in action, right? As we go into this classroom, you know, here's what I would expect you to see. Um, as we come out of the classroom, it's, hey, okay, what we talked about, you know, seeing, did you see it? if you didn't see it like this is the feedback that you know is going to go back to the teacher on how we kind of do that right and so it's the improvement in action right um when we go see that I don't think people understand like that that's actually what we do when we go there um you know to to really see that um and you know and and for me in particular right it's really important to do that around South belt middle and chism trail um
096because last month's beating we were talking about academic improvement right and and it just and those visits went and cemented for me right again what I said last month there's a lot great things happening, right? Like we are doing I'm convinced we are doing the right things on those campuses and the leaders there know what they need to be doing. Now what it is is is keep the foot on the pedal and you know keep everybody energized, make sure everybody's on board and let's and let's go and we can get and we can do it. Um the indications from those two campuses were, hey, we're actually moving it in the right direction, right? And and we're going the direction we want to go. And so um I always get super energized uh on those visits.
097And so those were two amazing um two amazing experiences. Um uh had an interesting experience kind of surfing Facebook, right? Um made the mistake of looking at Belton City Watch. Um and you know, one of the comments there was, uh you know, what's wrong with Belistd? How come there's no holiday no holiday programs? Like I I I'm not sure whether this person was under a rock or not, but like I've been to probably I don't know eight holiday programs uh just in the last two weeks alone and probably over the last three weeks it's probably been closer to 10 or 12 uh at the middle school level and at the high school level. Um you know whether it's our bands or our orchestras or um our jazz bands or you know the the choruses that
098you know the choirs that are going on like oh my gosh there's so much going on from a holiday standpoint. I don't know how you could not hit a holiday event that is going on at any level. >> Five or six a night. >> Right. Right. Yeah. It's like five or six a night uh that are going on. And so, um I'm not sure how that particular person doesn't understand that, but um you know, you can't throw a rock in, uh this time of year at one of our schools and not find a holiday event that's going on. Um and those events are just so special uh you know, for our kids. our kids are so proud of um you know their their performances and and and presentations and recognition and you know the parents
099are so proud about what's going on, right? I mean that's it's almost like this is kind of the best time of year, right? To see all of that uh pride swell up on on on both ends outside of graduation, right? This is maybe the you know the the best time of year to kind of see that and experience that. So um and then of course all the athletic stuff that we have going on, right? I'm super excited as we get into soccer season around uh you know, we got uh two girls programs that are uh you know, early preseason rankings. So, you know, hopefully we're going to see them going on. >> Um I will put one plug in for a future event. Um well, I'm missing an event right now with my own kid,
100but um there's an event coming up on Thursday at uh it's being hosted at Lake Belton High School, but it's for all of the middle schools and high schools uh for the band in Low Brass, so uh Tuba and Euphonium. It's called Tuba Christmas, right? So, if you've never seen Tuba Christmas, it's like it's like the craziest concert you're gonna go to, right? Because the those guys the low brass never gets to play the melody, right? They're like always playing the, you know, they get the bass drop, right? Uh they never get to play the melody. And so, this is a it was started in the early 70s, uh I think in Europe, right? Where, you know, it's like if you're a tuba player, right, you kind of get together, you have a real short,
101brief, you know, practice, and then you go and and and you get to be the star of the show. Um, and so I I can tell you before I saw this like a year before we started this or joined it like two years ago, I had never seen a a stage full of tubas. Uh, it's really pretty cool. So if you have the opportunity to go see it, um, you should you should go see it because those kids are uh instead of being in the back row, right? They're kind of in the front row and and you What's that? >> Give us the date again. >> Uh, it is Thursday. Yeah, Thursday. Hold on. I can tell you the time, man. >> Yeah. Uh, Thursday. Thursday. Thursday. Now I can't find it. Here we go.
102>> Six to seven. [laughter] >> You started it. >> No, >> you started it for the >> Yeah, but that's a great opportunity. So if you haven't heard of any of the holiday programs that are going on and are aching for one to go to, a tuba Christmas is a great one to go to. So just saying, >> hey, Chris, you made a good point. When we go visit campuses, we're not just going there to to smile and wave. And uh we we do always meet with the principles. And what I think is really important is what we see here in the board meetings from presentations uh with Gabby, Ben, and Denise and their team working with the principles. You see the vertical alignment. You see that on paper. You talk about it throughout the
103year. And then we we talk with the principles. They say what they're supposed to be on on task for that day for whatever that class we're going into. And you go into class and you see it and you know that that's going to be the case at every single school. maybe give or take one day depending on some things that might happen, but o overall all of our students throughout the district are learning the same thing. They're on on task and on on uh on the right schedule to make sure they're learning right things. It's it's pretty cool thing to see that vertical alignment. >> Anyone else? >> Yes, sir. just uh wanted to quickly cover I also got to go on the BEF prize patrol and I've had the uh privilege to serve on
104that board for several years now and it um the teacher grants just so we know that's not money that goes it does have the teacher's name on it but it does not go to the teacher as like a bonus it goes to uh fund innovative uh teaching strategies whe it's a a STEM kit or certain curriculum that that's uh desired and they apply for it you probably saw one of the big checks is uh campus level down the teacher level, grade level. So, there's all all sorts of stuff in between. So, uh just want to say thank you to all the teachers uh that applied for those and um it's awesome to see their passion and them coming up with uh new and and innovative things to bring to their classroom. And then also thanks
105to all the members of the community that support uh BEF uh whether the directly donating to the teacher grant program or or just coming to the events or giving general donations. uh all of that part parts of that f find its way into the to the teacher grant program. So certainly appreciate all the support. >> Thank you Brandon. Anyone else? All right, that concludes tonight's report. That takes us to the consent agenda. Would anyone wish to pull an item for discussion? Okay, you have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Mr. Flor, Mr. Preston. All those in favor, please raise your hand. That passes six to zero. We don't have any comments on non-aggenda items, which takes us to our uh close session item 8. Time is 7:52 p.m. And the board will
106now go into close session for a student disciplinary matter text government code section 551.082. B, personnel text Government Code section 551.074 and C consultation with attorney text government code section 551.071 071. Sorry. >> The time is 8:36 p.m. and the board will now reconvene in open session. All action items, reports, consent items for this meeting have been addressed. There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned at 8:36