Brenham ISD Board Meeting 2-17-2026 Regular Board Meeting

001Hi, good evening. It is 6 o'clock. We have a quorum of the board. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Just one second. Sorry. I am the board of trustees Brenham independent school district director is now convened. I wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present in collaboration with our families and community. Brigham ISD is committed to an ex to an exceptional education for all students in a safe environment. As a Britam ISD board of trustees, we are here to provide local citizen governance and oversight. The management and day-to-day operations of the district are the responsibility of the superintendent. This is a public meeting of the board of trustees. Schoolboard meetings are open to all who wish to attend and hear the matters discussed. Audience participation is limited to the public comment portion

002of the meeting. These proceedings may be recorded and I respectfully ask that you please refrain from talking while others are speaking. Thank you for taking time this morning to join us and for your interest in the in the Burnham Independent School District. I'll lead the indicate uh the uh pledge of allegiance and then Justin Collie will lead us in the invocation. Please stand. 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. >> Please bow your heads. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to serve our community and thank you for the ability to gather this evening. And as we begin this meeting, we ask for your guidance, wisdom, and

003clarity as we make decisions which impact our students daily and the future of our schools. Help us to be thoughtful, responsible, and united in purpose. Give us this discernment to make choices that are forward thinking and centered on what is best for our students, staff, and families. Grant us patience and discussion and respect for one another and a shared commitment to doing what is right. In your name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> What's up, as soon as we can. >> So before our regular meeting, we do have a public hearing to discuss the public comments on the 2024 2025 Texas academic performing report or the taper report. Um one, we'd like to thank everybody for coming tonight. It's fantastic to look out and see all the kids here. Uh we will try to get

004through this as quickly as we can, but this is something that we have to do uh from the state. So uh Miss Bohart, if you don't mind. >> Yes. >> So just to be clear, they're not all here for the taper report. Is that what you're that's what you're saying? >> Yeah. >> Right. This is this is a big crowd to to do the taper report with, but we're excited to do it. So, um part of what you have in your board book and for those in the audience, the taper report is posted on the BRMISD website and this is just our Texas academic performance report public hearing so that we can receive comments um or questions at the end. Um, I think what's important for us all to know is that this data is

005lagging data. So, some of this data is going to be from the 2324 school year and some of the academic data we look at will be from the 2425 school year. The financial report that's attached in this taper is I think from 23 24. So, it's all lagging. So this is all information that the school board has seen or been presented mostly in some of our reports. So taking a look at the taper that you have in um before you in your board book, you can see that it's broken out into different sections that I'm going to go over with us now. Um section one has to do with our Texas academic performance report which is compiled by TEA for every district and campus. Um, it's published as a PDF. Again, it's on our website

006and in your board book. It starts with the cover page that gives us our accountability rating and then also states um on the cover page, our special education determination status. Our accountability rating currently is a C and our special education determination status is needs assistance. What I wanted to add when you look at how um some of the special education needs assistance is also from our results driven accountability which is federal accountability and they break that into different determination statuses. So you see we're at the needs assistance place which is like the second level and really digging into our results driven accountability that has a lot to do with Burnham closing gaps from like what a regular student that receives does not require special services and how that gap is closing. So um we are

007working intentionally to make sure we close those gaps. Then the next part has to do with our star performance and that's where as you follow along in the taper you can see our approaches meets and masters. It's reported for each assessment subject and grade. I just took a screenshot of the very first page which shows you know grade three, grade four and you can continue all the way on in the taper report up into our English 2 US history um high school EOCC courses. Then you'll see that their school progress is the next part of the taper report for 25 and 24 annual growth and then accelerated learning. And then our those two together make up our domain 2A and accountability which is a combination of annual growth and accelerated learning parts of that from

008that 1416 for students that have failed and are required to have 15 to 30 hours of um academic intervention. One thing I think that's important when you look at our growth scores in the taper and you compare that to our achievement, what you will notice the trend through all grade four um through our EOCC courses is that our growth is trending higher than our achievement. So eventually what will happen is that growth will catch up to the achievement which lets us know that all the systems and structures that we have put in place in Brennham ISD are growing students. It's just getting the growth caught to that achievement which I've shared before um with y'all. The second part of the taper or whatever section we're on at this point following along has to do with

009our bilingual education program. And it really is looking at how this specific subpopul is performing and you can see of the different areas in which we service our bilingual education and English as a second language students and compare that performance so that we can track that. They are right in the middle of starting Telpas for this year. um just getting ready to kick that off as well, which measures their English proficiency. And so those are those scores. Then moving into star participation. Um that section literally just tells you the amount of students that participated in taking the STAR assessment. We move in then to our attendance, graduation, and dropout rates. And then also looking at our profile, again, lagging data. So you can see it's from 22 23 23 and 24. And then the graduation

010profile is for the class of 2024 graduates. Here you can see um where our attendance, graduation and dropout rates fall. I think when you look at over all that data, you can see our attendance was at 93.6. Um chronic absenteeism was at 17.9 and then the dropout rates are very low. So really thinking through that chronic absenteeism is something that the district has worked very hard on with our ADA and our attendance and we know that students need to be in the classroom to learn and so the the efforts that the district has made there. The next part goes really into our high school looking at our graduates and how future ready our graduates are in the Bernham ISD diploma and the integrity of that. So, it's going to go into our college, career, and

011military ready. Again, lagging data. This is from the class of 24 um 2023 graduates. And then our CCMR related indicators um and other post-secondary indicators. So, you can see here at the very top um looking at the taper, our college, career, and military ready. We were at about 69%. And then as you move through the taper, you can see the percent of our college ready. and then moving into our career ready. So of that 69.9 almost 70% around 50% of those came out of our career in military ready. So our CTE program services over I don't want to quote wrong but close to 1,00 something 800 students. And so in that you can see how many are leaving Bernamist D with what the state would call is a career ready. Um and then it breaks

012it into the level of certifications, industrybased certifications, um and then those that are enlisted in the army. So then we move into a lot of student staff and program information. As you follow along in the taper, it gives you a snapshot of the students in which we serve. You can see in the district about 60% of our students are economically disadvantaged. Moving into the EB students with about 14% of our students EB. It breaks it into the ethnic distribution and the grade level. Then the PE's financial standard report. At the very end of the taper report, there is a link and if you click on that link, it gives you the 232 24 financial actual reports which is something that you received already in an audit that when they closed out those books and that

013Daryl comes and reports on monthly to y'all. But if you click on that link, it'll lead you right to all of our financial data from that year. Then we move into district accreditation status that has to do with academic accountability, financial, data integrity, all of that. And the district's 23 24 accreditation status is we're accredited. Then we move into our campus performance objectives. The good thing about that is we in October brought you our district improvement plan and our campus improvement plan. Those are also posted on the website every campus and then the district improvement plan that um has those performance objectives as well as how we're going to periodically measure that. And then also section five moves us into following our graduates into one, two or three years of postsecary. So, you can see

014what that report looks like. And you can see Brennham ISD, um, how many of our students from that graduating class went to a 4-year public university, two-year, what their average GPA was. So, this is also data that we follow and track as we look at that college career military readiness status. And then our House Bill 3 goals, these are goals that we brought to y'all in our district improvement plan. We have um early literacy goals that are connected to our prek students and their ability to use the CLI circle data. And then we have goals tied to kindergarten and second grade as well, early literacy. Last year, your House Bill 3 goals. This is for our kindergarten, first and second. And basically, we you can see that we trended less red and more blue, right?

015And so that's kind of the trend that we want to see. That was part of our House Bill 3 goals. It's part of our data. This year, we don't have our EOI yet for our House Bill 3 kindergarten, first and second grade goal, but you can tell that in kindergarten, 40% of our students entered kindergarten well below. And then you see 17% entered kindergarten above. And so our goal is through our structured literacy and our math. And all that we're doing is to make sure that more students move into the yellow, green, and blue than red. And so we're working hard on that. The other House Bill 3 goal is our CCMR. You saw that 69% of those seniors were CCMR ready and our goals to increase that by 10 points to 79%. Um our

016response to all this data we've shared with you over and over again. We have created our literacy framework which really ties to the science of reading. We have high quality instructional materials being implemented. Our PLC instructional cycles are something that our campus PLC facilitators um campus principles leading and learning team are continually working on and we have that teacher leadership development instructional coaching occurring. So the work is well underway um aligned to improving student outcomes that are reflected in the taper. And then section 8 is our taper glossery and that just helps all of us to understand what all those terms and all that data means. And so that is also posted on our website and in your board book as well. And then resources and availability of the annual report. It's posted on our

017website. Paper copies can be picked up at our central office or on each campus. And if you have more questions or information, you can certainly reach out and email me. How was that for fast? That's the fast I've ever talked. I think y'all never heard me talk that fast. >> That's not true at all. Well, that's definitely not true. >> I mean, if if that report doesn't excite the room, I don't know what y'all want, people. >> Hey, let me just say for the room, we do have to annually do this uh academic performance report. Uh we appreciate your attention to it. The truth is is the board gets information on this uh finalized summarized annual report all year long. Uh really none of this data reports is is new to them, but it is

018considered a public hearing. Uh so we had to open that up to the the floor. Does any of the board members have a question before we open it up to the community? >> Does anybody in the audience have a question about the report? >> Okay. Well, >> um Oh, you have one. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Well, with no further business before the board, we will adjourn the public hearing at 6:14. >> New paper. Okay, it is now 6:14 again. We're going to call our normal meeting into order. Uh, and we've already done the pledge. Uh, what we're going to do is go straight into special recognition. Uh, if I could have Steven Seamstless to the front. Miss Bohart, we were here for the taper report. Just

019so you know, we were here for it. >> We were here for it. >> Where' case go? >> All right. Thank you'all for letting me be here today. Uh, Mr. Gillantine, Bernste members. We have a lot of fantastic people in the audience. I'm going to start with these three right here. We'll start with our teacher of the month. We are excited to recognize Kayla Martinez as our February teacher of the month. She has spent the last couple of years as our steam teacher. Miss Martinez brings enthusiasm and deduction on to everything dedication to everything she does. She introduces students to engaging hands-on steam activities that spark their imagination and strengthen those allimportant critical thinking skills. Beyond her classroom, she is always willing to lend a helping hand and embodies what it means to be a

020team player. Kayla does an an incredible job of keeping schedules organized and ensuring everyone feels supported. We are so grateful for the leadership and positivity she brings to Brennham Elementary each day. Brennham Elementary teacher of the month, Kayla Martinez. >> Thank you. >> Now, our par profofessional of the month, Mr. Snotty has truly hit the ground running and made a meaningful difference with our students in a short amount of time. He brings positive attitude each day and models the kind of character we want our students to see. His calm, steady presence stands out. He is a p he is patient, kind, and approachable. Mr. Snotty has quickly become a wonderful addition to our school community, consistently checking in with teachers and students. He is often the calm in the storm, helping create a supportive and

021encouraging environment across the campus. His up uplifting words go a long way and the strong relationships he is building reflect the dedication to our students and staff. We are truly grateful for the positive impact he has had on Brham Elementary each day. Brennham Elementary prepare professional of the month, Derek Schnady. You ready, Case? I told him he had to make a speech and he didn't believe me. Case Andershack is a kind is a kind of 10-year-old who steps up to the plate in life and s knocks it out of the park every single time. In the classroom, he is a spectacular student who tackles his work like it's the bottom of the ninth inning, focused, determined, and never swinging at a wild pitch. When Case sets his mind to accomplishing something, you can bet he

022will be tracking his goals. Kind of the way he likes to track a buck. Case is a team is a teacher's dream. Always paying attention and soaking up every strategy he has shown. Case is kind to the core, treats others like a valued teammate and smiles the biggest smile, especially when he's talking about baseball or hunting. Case makes the world around him and Bernham Elementary a better place. One inning, one field, one classroom, and one good deed at a time. If you ever need if you ever get a chance to talk about deer hunting with Case, just listen to him. I know I've learned a few things. So, our student of the month, Case Andershack. We also want to recognize a special group, our library helpers. And I'm gonna let Miss Cox go ahead and

023kind of talk about them real quick. >> Okay. Thank you. Oh, good evening. So nice to be here. And we filled the seats, didn't we? Our school is full of superheroes and we have a great staff from custodians to our principal, none of whom could do their jobs without the support of our school board. So, we are donating a book in your honor. School is full of superheroes and we'll put this in the library in your honor as our school board supporting us. We have some unsung heroes with us tonight. We have 38 fourth grade library helpers. They all applied for the job and when Mr. Seams said, "Can you bring a few library helpers to the meeting tonight?" It's like, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, we can. We can do that." So, they give up, they

024applied using an essay, and they applied to work in the library to give up their recess and part of their lunch once a week. And they're here to tell you their why. >> Helping Helping people is a good thing to do. Helping people makes me feel good. I like to help others find a good book. I always try my best and follow directions. I am responsible and helpful and work hard to help and learn. My parents taught me that helping is good when students and teachers can find what they need. It helps me their it helps make their work easier. I I have also learned to face challenges in my life and that makes me a stronger person. I help organize the books for other students so they can find the book they want to

025read more easy. I enjoy being helpful. I am smart, honest, reliable, outgoing, hardworking, and a good person. I love helping. >> My name is Jordan. Jordan Silvis. I want to learn responsibilities and get ready for when I grow up and get a job. I do my best to learn what I need to do to help anybody. >> My name's Aory Watson. I make sure work gets done and I also like to make people happy. I've always liked it when it's library day. I have been going to Brennham Elementary for 4 years and I like the library because it's educational. I check out books, show different genres of books, and help others find them. >> My name is Austin. I make sure to treat the library books with respect and others do the same. I listen

026carefully and do my best to follow directions. My name is Ken and I want to help people pick out books that they are looking for and I want to be successful at it. My name is Camilo and I help by watering plants and helping kids to find books. I talk to kids and show them which section to find their which section to find their books. >> I am Oscar Got Van. I am a hard worker and always strive to do my best on any task that is given to me. I do my job efficiently and utilize my time to assist others. >> My name is Lazaria Kima and I love the library and I like to read and I always wanted to become a library helper. My My name is Leslie and my dream was

027to help and organize the library. My name is Olivia and I love to help others and I also like to read and write. I learned how the library was organized. My name is Jamea and one reason why I wanted to be a library helper is because I liked helping others no matter how hard the task is. >> My name is Robin and the reason why I wanted to be a library helper is because I love books. When I read a book, there are many lessons to learn from it. >> I'm a great helper in the library. I help others find the book that they want and keep the library tidy. I want to make more friends and be a library helper. >> This is my last year at Brennham Elementary and I want to do

028everything there is in fourth grade. >> I'm a fast learner and my job at the library will give me a opportunity to learn more. I'm willing to make any sacrifices to work at the library the best I can. I think it's best to be 100% honest because I because I know it's the right thing to do. >> Thank y'all. We have some amazing kids. We'll come take a picture real quick. So before we move on to the next recognition, I wanted to tell Brennham Elementary kids, thank y'all for being a good example for the football players fixing to come up here. We appreciate y'all standing in orderly and being nice. So in saying that, Coach Yog, you want to come up? Got it. >> Yeah, that's uh wait all that time and uh you get

029here to February and you got to follow that. That's a that's a tough act to follow, but uh we'll we'll do our best to do it. Uh want to thank the school board and our superintendent, Mr. Gillantine, for having us here tonight. You know, we always get to this time of year and a chance to recognize our kids and uh you know, I will say this, as as successful as the football season was, the best part about these kids aren't the football players that they are. It's the way they represent our community and our school district and the way they carry themselves on a on the football game and in a sport that, you know, there's a collision every uh train wreck every 15 seconds. these guys, you know, they do the right things in

030the classroom, they do the right things in the building, and they do the right things in the community. And that's probably the proudest thing I can say about these guys. Now, the guys we're going to recognize tonight, uh we're going to recognize two different uh uh groups of people. One being uh the academic all district people in the academic all state, and then we're going to recognize the first team all district. We have not gotten the Brazis Valley all county team yet, and we haven't got the all state team yet. So, we'll be back. So to start that, I'm going to let Miss Maples come up and announce her girls uh who are as very much as a part of the football team as anybody else is. >> Yes, I do. >> I'll do the

031same. I'll do hers. >> Who do you want me to do? Okay, we have academic all district Kaden Lewis, academic all district Abigail Adams, and academic all district Vienna Gomez. Watch out. They're going to keep you up here for a little while. So, stand and smile. Okay. So, academic all district football. Uh, boy, time has come. All right. >> Why? Y'all don't laugh. That's not nice. Okay. Academic all district uh football wide receiver Tristan Sugar. Uh, Hback Hagen Frank, defensive end Jace Miller, defensive tackle Mason Sber, center Andre Moika. No, that's not right. Offensive lineman Andre Moika, offensive lineman Papo Narra, offensive lineman Carter Pullman, punter Landon Zelinka, defensive tackle Owen Robinson, uh, guard Brock Binker, linebacker Brooks Roznoski. Uh those are all academic all district. Uh we have a couple of academic allstate uh

032athletes. Uh first one we're going to recognize is the honorable mention academic all state which is Tristan Schugert, uh Jace Miller. A lot of these names are going to be repeated. They're going to be up here already. Uh Mason Sber, uh Brody Jensen, Andre Moika, Caleb Landry, and Jordan Dixon. All them are honorable mention all state uh academic. Second team academic all state is Papa Nara. Papa go ahead and raise your hand. Uh congratulations to you guys. Now we're going to uh bring up the first team all district football players. Uh, quarterback Zyron Upshaw, running back CJ Glover, Hback Hagen Frank, uh, offensive lineman Dawson Moran, offensive lineman Andre Moika, uh, offensive lineman Paponara, wide receiver Chris Gry, wide receiver Cartel Brown, defensive tackle Mason Siver, Uh, defensive tackle Joe Rodriguez, defensive end Chase Miller,

033defensive end Dole Brown, uh, linebacker Caleb Espinosa, a linebacker Christian Prosper, safety Quincy Adams, cornerback Ledric Walker Jr., Uh first team all district kicker blue Senega, partner Landon Zelinka, and snapper Owen Robinson. So you can see we were well represented in the all district meeting. These are guys were all our first team all district guys and our academic all districts. Uh the last one that we saved were our superlatives. Uh the offensive player of the year was Chris Gidry who broke pretty much every record in uh Brennham school wide receiver history. So yeah, you can give him a round of applause. Um, backto back, uh, defensive player of the year was Caleb Espinosi. Won it as a junior and he was unanimous as a senior as well. And lineman of the year, uh, this was

034between offense and defense. Unanimous was uh, Mason Sber. >> All right, find your ways to the front men and get a picture. Yeah, I know. Okay, we had no one sign up for public comment, so we're going to go straight into consider and possible approval of a donation to Burnham Elementary School. Uh, chief of communications and community engagement, Brook Tran, will present. >> Hello. Good evening. Uh, this evening we actually have representatives Ross Perry from Velocity. If you'd like to come to the front, Mr. Mr. Seamless, if you'd also like to join us. >> Hey, how are you? >> Good to see you. >> Uh, good evening. Uh, for those of you that don't know, I went to school in Brennham a long time ago. I know know Kyle. Um, so I'm in uh educational

035furniture and I've been uh wanting to work with you guys for a while and um Stephen reached out and gave us the opportunity and so um just glad to be able to help out where we can and I'm looking forward to anything uh down the road that you guys may need. >> Tell them what you're getting. >> Yeah. So, we want to thank Ross. We were looking for some chairs and so we kind of called Ross and see what we could do. And so, uh he gave us we talked to him a little bit and he called me back. He said, "Hey, how about we donate these 24 chairs to you?" So, saved us a lot of money. We sure do appreciate Ross and uh them for doing that. So, thank you, Ross. Sure appreciate

036it. >> They got to make a motion. >> Yeah, I will. I would like to make a motion to accept a donation from Ross Perry with Velocity Business Products in the amount of $2,4384 to support Brandon Energy School as presented. >> I second. >> Okay. Archer Archer made a motion seconded by Bonnie Brinkmire to accept a donation from Ross Perry with Velocity Business Products in the amount of $24384 to support Bridam Elementary School as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you so much, Ross. We appreciate it. Next, uh, consider an consideration and approval of an order by the board of trustees of the Brennham Independent School District authorizing the issuance of Brennham Independent School District unlimited tax school building bonds series 2026, levying a continuing direct annual advorum tax for the

037payment of the bonds and providing an effective date. Uh, our financial adviser, Steve Perry, will present. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I sent over a presentation earlier with some information uh regarding the bond sale. I don't know if you're able to pull that up. Okay, great. I've got it on my phone, but that'd be really small to read. So the the long and the short of it is uh we went out this morning uh to offer roughly $39 million worth of bonds and I would say we had an outstanding result. Uh the bond market has not cooperated uh at times over the last few months but today we had great reception. Uh we had about $150 million worth of orders for your bonds which is great because in the end we only accepted roughly

038uh a fourth of those. And what that allows us to do is decrease the interest rate. So from the time we started to the time we finished uh we were able to reduce about 90 million or 90,000 worth of proceeds. Uh so that you know with debt service you can roughly almost double that. So uh had great reception. Underwriters did a great job this morning. Uh and I'll walk through uh just a couple of pieces of information here on the front cover. Uh you'll receive uh funds on March 17th. So, from here, you've got a big stack of documents that you can sign at some point. Those will all go to the attorney general's office for approval. Expect no bumps there at all. Uh, your average interest rate, we call the true interest cost, 4.46%.

039As you recall, we were budgeting roughly 5% uh when we called the election, you know, to give ourselves some room, make sure that we come in under budget. Uh, and we negotiated a a call feature on the bonds in 2035. So, as opposed to a 10-year call option, we were able to get a nine-year call option, which gives you the ability within, you know, at a nine-year point to refinance the bonds if if it's possible to save some money there. So, uh the the credit rating on the bonds was a AAA from Moody's because of the permanent school fund guarantee. The district's underlying credit rating is an A1. It's the same rating that you had before we sold these bonds. I included a copy of the report uh in this uh this file here so

040that you can see if you're interested in some of the things that Moody's has to say about the district. Um I will say your superintendent and CFO did a great job of representing you when we talked with Moody's. Uh obviously they have some questions about your fund balance declining over the last few years. Uh but in particular you turned that around in fiscal year 25 and then of course your community supporting you with the Vader. You'll see in their report they talk about how their expectation is that uh maybe you don't restore all the way that you were uh previous to to the draw downs but you know that they think that you'll continue to restore fund balance. So uh realistically I think that uh in short order you know next couple of years that

041rating should move up to the next category which will help you uh moving to next page next uh page after that. So here uh you can see we've got actual numbers inserted in the yellow that column those are the bond payments. Uh those are uh those will be final in roughly a month but those are the rates that we've locked in today. Uh staying under 8 cents uh if if you were to go out another decimal place u then you could see that's you know roughly 7 12 cents as opposed to 8 cents is is what we're projecting. So able to stay in uh under budget and um you know again I think an outstanding result the next page. So as I told you before this is a lot of information here but and I

042was preparing this really quickly. This all happened this morning. We priced the bonds. So uh but in this detail here what I'm doing is comparing you to three other bond sales that occurred within the last few days. Uh these are your comps, your comparable issues. So, we lined you up to these three bond issues, took an average, and in the middle column that I I put a box around uh where you have I just labeled it better or worse. So, if there's a positive number there, you did better than the average. Um there are no worse. So, some of that's because in the last, you know, roughly week, uh there was a great CPI release last week. Uh that helped interest rates come down. We've seen 10-year Treasury in the last month or so down,

043you know, almost a quarter of a percent. So, we had just a great market today. Uh the tone from last week continued over this morning into the bond market. And, you know, there are points we were onetenth of a percent or higher better than the market. So, this is my job to make sure that whenever we're determining what interest rates are that you got a good deal. So, I have to send this to my firm. this gets reviewed by the SEC to make sure that that we did what we said we would do and and price the bonds on the market. So, I'm comfortable that we did as well as we could uh with your credit rating. On the next page, again, just this is very granular detail. Ask me if you have any questions.

044um this is how each bond priced and uh from the year 2027 all the way down to the very last year there are investors coming in and buying each of these bonds. So we were out this morning determining how many uh investors were available in each year and uh you know in some years we had four or five or seven times the amount of investors available. Um in the last say 20 years of this bond uh where last week people were not participating. This week they all of a sudden decided that from 10 years out where we're really interested. So we saw a lot of orders coming in there. a couple of maturities in the first few years didn't have as much interest, but the underwriters just bought those bonds. They did what we asked

045them to. They underwrote bonds as opposed to asking us to increase the rate, go back and attract a new set of investors. That's a reason we work with these groups is they don't put us through that and and I would have pushed back if they had asked for that. Um, so if they're if they believe in the interest rates that they put out that we negotiated, I expect them to live by those and they did. So, I think it was a million and a half or so that they used of of their balance sheets to take down bonds for the district. So, um all that uh is good information. Next page, sources and uses of funds. Uh you sold $38.6 million. Uh we sold those at a premium more than 100 cents on the dollar.

046And you'll see the the sources and uses the the uses are very much in line with what we talked about last month. you'll get $39 million for construction and um you know that the underwriters discount that what we paid them is is less than what we talked about last month. So uh we're able to save a little bit of money there, too. Next page. This is just for your records. This is a backup uh debt service payment. I have a a deeper or more in-depth set of schedules that I'll update and send to Daryl so that he's got a complete debt book of all the districts outstanding debt. But just for your information what the the payments look like. Uh this is detailed cost of issuance. Again this is uh information I presented last month

047but uh just in full disclosure what all the the different parties uh earned on this this transaction. So the the next few pages I won't go through these in detail. This is for your information. But I think it's insightful to see what a third party credit analyst thinks of of the district and and these have comparisons. you know, you against their median data that compare school districts across the country. Um, you know, they do note in here, like I said, that the improving finances were were something that they relied on. Had you not had that increase in fund balance in 25, I think the outcome could probably would have been different. I think as opposed to staying in your rating category, one of the things they'll do is put a negative outlook on your credit

048rating, which it hurts. um you know comparing different rating categories. If you're not in this rating category or if you have a negative outlook you can expect what five basis points 05% higher interest rate and uh we may not have as attracted as many investors. So staying where you were having a good credit rating report uh we do get funds looking at those and so um you know good job being able to to stay where you are. Uh it's it's a good credit rating. That may be the end of of the prepared information I've got. But all in all, like I said, a very positive result. We we've had times in the bond market within the last year, last summer in particular, uh when the bond market was flooded and and investors were just getting

049tired of seeing T uh Texas school district bonds coming to market. Uh we were not in that market. So got a great response and I feel good about this. questions. Thank you for the update. That's good news. Yes, sir. >> I'll go and make a motion to adopt an order authorizing issuance of Brennham ISD, Brennham Independent School District Unlimited Tax School Building Bond Series 2026. >> I'll second. Justin Collie made a motion seconded by Kelvin Rabin to adopt an order authorizing the issuance of Brennham Independent School District unlimited tax school building bonds series 2026. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you for all your work. Thank you all. >> Thank you, Steve. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next, Superintendent Klay Gillantine and Chief Financial Officer Gerald St. Claire will present information regarding

050the RFQ process and the architectural firms best qualified to represent the district in the upcoming bond projects. >> Yes, thank you. And uh Brooke and Christy, if you'll join us. Well, Scott uh was also a part of this process. Um our maintenance and operations director uh but he's he's not with us here this evening. Uh just know and I've shared this information with you board. Um we began with the public posting of the RFQS. We received a very strong field of responses from firms across uh the state of Texas. Uh submissions were reviewed by u me and this this team here um as well as Scott uh for responsiveness and eligibility uh to ens to ensure compliance uh with the published criteria um as it was was laid out. So we utilized a matrix uh

051included in the RFQ documents. Each firm was evaluated against the weighted criteria as published including experience, past performance, all the things you would expect, team qualifications, reputation, capacity, and then uh this cannot be overstated just an overall fit uh for the district. So um as I have communicated with you uh for our architectural uh recommendation um we are recommending a pool of two rather than selecting a single firm after interviews and evaluation. Uh we feel like two firms um will uh really give us more flexibility to match expertise uh with specific projects. you know that we've got HVAC systems, roofing, uh renovations, uh plumbing needs, uh as well as future long range planning conversations that uh we're very excited to have with uh with one or or both of these firms. Um team, am I

052leaving anything out about this this process before we ask the board to make a a motion or ask them for any questions? >> How many RFQS did y'all receive? for Oh, for this one. >> Yeah. 15 for this one. >> 15 for this one. Okay. Clay, can you uh kind of explain for the public and for all of us kind of some of the um state requirements around the bond processing and RFQS and hiring an architecture firm versus a project manager and kind of the requirements that we have to meet whether we're doing a new build or not. Does that does that make sense? You understand my question? >> Yeah, I I I think understand your question. There are definitely uh regulations with municipalities, whether it be school district, uh city, county, where you do

053have to hire an architect. Uh uh you know, we meet we we meet that criteria. uh we we need a an an ar we're going to work with an architect and uh we had uh you know some some great organizations that put in for it and uh we were excited to interview uh was it five or six six uh who who were all really outstanding in their their own way but have narrowed it down to to these two that um again can fit uh uh some of our our current needs with deferred maintenance but then planning. Remember, you were charged as a board by that strategic planning committee uh to put a Vader um to the voters, put a bond to the the voters, but also to keep talking about what's next in way of

054the junior high. Um what what are our future plans and let's be more strategic in our planning. Um let's not wait until it needs needed to be done yesterday. Let's let's plan on what needs to be done over the next um few years, 5 years, 10 years, etc. So, um, feel great about this whole grassroots process. Thanks for bringing that up. Um, just the process in general. Uh, I I know that, uh, several were surprised that we did not work actually with with a firm through the strategic planning. Uh, we did that, um, on our own with this community. Uh, we saw community members uh, from across Brennham step up and really lead this process. So, uh, excited where we are and again, as I said just a second ago, uh, really excited as much

055about the planning of what's next and to to see some of this work that needs to be done. Uh, you know, us jump on that. I know the the firms we we spoke with, um, you know, understand our situation. We have aggressive timelines, Archer. We feel like um, you know, as soon as uh, we have access to the the money. Steve said March 17th. Is that correct, Darl? March 17th. So feel like uh this late late spring early summer some of these deferred maintenance needs we can we can jump on. >> Let let me just follow up to to Archer if I can jump off of I think also everyone understanding you can't just go with the lowest bidder. There's certain things that they have to be able to do for a public school and

056there's certain qualifications that right? So you could have 40 firms out there, but only 10 of them actually can be approved for the type of construction that we'll need or the other things because there's a lot of regulations that go around having a public school and that we have to tick off, you know, uh, within our school district. Is that correct? And that kind of brought it down the rubric as far as exactly who we could work with that could actually deliver the product at the end. So >> right now right now the rubric yes is about the scope of work and qualifications um experience doing that. Um so as you can imagine um there are uh several >> firms uh that that really jump off the page that do that kind of work across

057the state and we were happy to to meet with with several that uh that we were were very excited to talk with. So >> yes sir. I don't want to overstep, but kind of to tie off of what Archer was asking and to help answer your question. Um, a lot of people don't know the process of events or timeline, if you will, if we were to bullet point exactly what happens and when. Because after a bond passes, a lot of people think, okay, well, then you get the money and then you do the repairs. Uh, well, obviously that's what Steve had to do, go out and get the money, which now we have that in March. But I think part of what Archer was asking and I'll do my best to fill in a second

058uh a little bit in a second, but is what's the next timeline now after this happens? What's next? And then what's next? And then what's next? Am I correct kind of with what you're asking? But to tie into what you asked, Sean, is we're not talking about fees yet. We were interviewing companies is kind of like looking at a resume and not talking about the salary. >> Um we're going to get a chance to talk to them about their fees. I'm assuming that's them here, right? Um, I don't recognize y'all. So, I'm assuming that's who they are. But are not the fees, but what's the what's the word I'm looking for? Um, >> word. >> No, there's there's another word. It's I'm It's >> Well, just to just to answer your question in layman terms

059that after you approve a pool, I mean, you could be approving just one. We we chose to bring you a pool of two. Um, we'll have to come to an agreement with that firm. Um, >> right. That's what I was getting at. Okay. So, we'll we'll start really what uh the motion is, when you look at the motion, it's to designate give me the the authority to to work on the district's behalf to try to reach um an agreement with with a with a firm >> and just >> a firm that you have approved tonight. >> Sure. And I just ju just to clarify, not just anybody can do this work. I guess that's where I was going from. And so there's there's only there's certain people can do this work and and do it

060well and that have a long history of it. And so that goes into the uh into the uh uh the choosing phase of what we're doing. And obviously obviously the fees come. >> Yeah. All all these all the firms we spoke with that chose to interview have a wealth of experience in the the K12 u uh building process. understand that um as you have all learned being on the board um it's a it's a different kind of business, a school business and uh all these these firms um have have done it many times over. So really like I I say again you know uh when you when you work through the interview um and you you look at the matrix uh and then overall fit for the the district as well. So >> yeah, because

061basically they're doing the the archite these are the architects, right? Because next is the next thing we're going to do as a project coordinator basically and then after that that's when the construction manager, the the GC basically would come in and do all that stuff. So um I will say that I looked into at le uh a lot into one of them and I'm really impressed with some of the stuff that they've done for uh surrounding communities uh Caldwell and the other one in Belleville. um a great resume, great track record, and I'm really I'm for lack of a better word, uh impressed with both of these and some of the stuff they've done. I I feel like we've kind of hit the jackpot with the two of these, and hopefully they can help us

062out not just with this, but in the future. So, um it was really, really exciting to see both of these. What? >> I was I was going to echo basically what Kyle said and kind of looking through the paperwork was provided to us, the documentation they submitted and seeing the projects that they've had their hands in and designed and and and worked on. Everything from uh you know, special ed special education buildings to sports facilities to you know just full complete school builds um and then other minor remodels. I mean it's there's a lot of information here in this uh 38 pages in this document and 60 pages in the second document. So, I greatly appreciate the information provided by uh by these architecture firms and the work that you guys did. Um, if no

063one else has any other questions or comments. Um, I will go ahead and make a motion to uh get the right line item to to enter a contract with GLS Architect and Park Hill for architectural services RFQ number 251-2025 and delegate authority of the superintendent his and designe to negotiate finalize and execute a master agreement and related work authorizations with GLS architect and Park Hill as presented. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Justin Collie made a motion seconded by Shaun Coun toward the enter into a contract with GLS Architecture and Park Hill Architect Services RFQ number 251-2025 and delegate authority to the superintendent his designate or negot to negotiate finalize and execute a master agreement and related work authorizations with the GLS architect and parkill as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries. Thank

064you'all. Well, we're nailing these words tonight, aren't we? I'm killing it. So, um, next we will have, um, superintendent and his team will also present information regarding the RFQ process and the program manager best qualified to represent the district in the upcoming bond projects. >> Yes. So, really, uh, not to repeat myself, um, the very same process. We we put out an RFQ for program manager at the same time as we did uh for for an architect. Uh program manager comes in and works uh on behalf of the the district. Uh you know I um I don't have time to be your program manager. Uh Scott does not have time to be your program manager and I sure don't have the knowledge or uh experience to be your program manager in this regard. So program

065manager comes in and and works uh for the the district um on be on behalf of of the district on behalf of you and the superintendent. Again, followed the same RFQ process. Uh again, a very thorough process. We were very pleased with the number of people that were interested in the work. Um I can say that uh these last couple of weeks and I think this team in front of you and Scott, I wish Scott was here. Uh and that's my fault for uh just overlooking. Hey, Scott. Yeah, he's probably working he's probably working on a broken HVAC system right now, actually. Um >> I hope not too, Archer, but that's the that's the reality that we've we've been living in. So, uh happy to bring uh this recommendation to you for a program manager.

066As you can see, this is not a pool. This is one program manager that again represents uh this district uh in this work. Um, where I was going with that a minute ago is I I really think I can speak for the small team that these last couple of weeks, as busy as these last couple of years have been, uh, these last couple of weeks were really just as busy as any, that this is a very exhausting process and you absolutely got our full attention with this and, uh, we're we're excited to take this next step with you. Can you help clarify the liability basically protection that a project manager brings to stuff like this when it comes to I guess just overseeing the district? So does even what I'm ask the question I'm asking

067here is like what >> they do fiduciary responsibility to the district right I mean they look out for our our best financial interest that is in fact what what they're here for is to uh to um be our eyes and ears and uh again have have a fiduciary responsibility to us. So is that does that answer your your question? Am I leaving something out guys? I guess with what was happening in um Burton where I don't know I don't think they had a project manager the first time where kind of the liability of the downfall fell on the district by having a program manager it actually would fall on him and the district wouldn't be liable for that. Is that my understanding of what >> uh I could not speak to the like legality of

068that language. Um I can say in uh through our interview process um Jared you're seeing like more and more uh program managers being involved. My understanding is you're seeing more and more program managers uh being involved uh as far as sort of running point for the district. >> Okay. >> The program manager is the one that's going to do the reports to the board and they're going to be the one that does the budgets basically. But the next person that they hire is going to be the one who's carrying the builder's risk and doing all that stuff. That's a general contract. >> That's exactly what I was asking, Kyle. Thank you. >> Thank you, Kyle. >> Construction. >> All right. I'll make a motion to award and enter into a contract with Ryson Gardner for

069program manager service RFQ number 151-225 and delegate authority to the superintendent or his designate to negotiate finalize and execute a master agreement and related work authorizations with Rice and Gardner as presented. I'll second. >> Kelvin Ra Kelvin Raven made a motion seconded by Kyle Hapner to award and enter into contract with Ryson Gardner for program manager services RFQ number 151-2025 and delegate authority to the superintendent his designate to negotiate, finalize, and execute a master agreement and related work authorization with Rise and Gardner as presented. All in favor? >> All oppose? Motion carries. Looking forward to this. >> If we could have him come say a word, we would love that. >> Brooke. >> Yeah. Would you go ahead and >> Yes. Um, representatives from GLS and Park Hill would like to come up first and

070introduce themselves. And then we have a representative from Rice and Gardener as well. Hi, I'm Courtney Kelly, uh, vice president of architecture at GLS. Uh, and with me I have Keith Smith, uh, former superintendent that I'm not sure the name of your role, but he goes around and, uh, talks and helps us out. >> Translator. There you go. And then Brett Rice is um, out of our Brian office, one of the architects in that office. So, we're excited to uh be working for you guys and looking forward to what we can help you with in the future. >> Thank you. >> Nico Gender. I'm with Park Hill. I'm uh principal in charge for Brennham ISD. We're really excited. You know, Park Hill's been doing this a long time with a lot of districts in the

071region. Um and we're just excited about the opportunity to serve Brennham and see what we can do here for you guys. So, thanks for having us. >> Thank you so much. Thanks for being here. Howdy. My name is Eric Deepasquali and I'm vice president of Rice and Gardener. Very excited to be chosen tonight. We're very excited to get get started and hit the ground running. Um got a lot of work to do and looking forward to working with our partners from the architectural group and uh finding the right contractors to uh be good stewards of y'all's dollars. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. We appreciate y'all being here tonight and taking the time to come through the taper and the football and everything that y'all had to sit through for this. So, thank

072you'all for sticking in there. Okay, next we have the superintendent's monthly update. I I'm going to be extremely brief. As you know, we have a packed agenda tonight. Uh my update is that we have a packed agenda and we we've been very busy getting uh getting uh ready for it. So, um excited also tonight of course to to bring you uh the calendar and we'll talk through through that you know uh not to mention the work that that you know has gone underway with uh the sale of bonds and of course the uh the hiring of a couple of architect firms as as well as our our program manager. Uh just a quick reminder of uh Brazes Valley Educator Awards. Has that closed yet? The voting for the Brazes Educator Not yet. It hasn't closed

073yet. So, very happy for those nominations. And just a plug then to uh to be sure and and do those uh do your your voting. Um you don't see our principles in the audience tonight. We've got the spelling bee going on uh which is always a lot of fun. It's over in the auditorium right now. So, uh that's that's a that's a good time to watch the spelling be. It really is. I I hope you get a chance. I don't know what time that's projected to end, but I hope you get a chance to walk over and catch a little bit of that here in the auditorium. Other than that, guys, uh we're a couple of ways weeks away from March, if you can believe it or not. And uh uh that is uh you

074know, springtime in the school business. It's it's just about everything uh except volleyball and football seem to be going on at one time. Uh it's just it's a busy time from academics and uh and testing and uh and our our athletics and our fine arts and if you can compete that tends to be the time when we compete. Uh again, whether you're talking about academics or or arts or athletics, it's just a very very busy time in the school business. So if you're not plugged in out there, get plugged in. Uh there's plenty to plenty to be a part of and and uh we are so uh proud of the partnership with this Brennham community. It is it has really uh paid us back over this past year. So that is my superintendent update. >>

075Okay. Next we will have uh board members reports and comments. Um, Archer, >> nothing for me. >> Same. I'm going to follow suit. >> This is the time of year. >> This Thank you. >> Start the clock. >> Okay. Black history on the campuses. We've got some really nice programs coming up. Uh, it is testing season. March the 13th is the end of the six weeks. Spring break comes March 10th to 13th. And uh don't forget to vote. >> Thank you for that plug. >> Thank you for not making fun of me. >> That the don't forget to vote was in my notes. Thank you for plugging that. Yes. Go vote. >> I always have notes, don't I? >> That's the school teacher ending, Bonnie. We appreciate you. Um, obviously it's a busy season with

076for everybody. So, I uh had the opportunity to to partake in some uh uh baseball and softball games so far. They had some scrimmages kicking off the season, so it's always a good time. I know Jared's been to some soccer games. He's not going to say that out loud, but he's been to plenty of soccer games this season. So, um but get out and support these students. Uh we've got band concerts coming up. Pancake supper coming up this week. Um the the band will be going on their band trip uh in the uh at the beginning of spring break. So, get out and support the students. We've got one act theater and plays and things going on. So, there's there's a lot of activities, a lot of opportunities to get out and support the students.

077So, I hope to see a lot of the public at these events and and I'm wishing these kids a lot of luck at the spelling be right now because I'm glad I'm not on that stage. So, um but they'll do fantastic. >> I can't even read it. I let's spell it. >> You guys covered it well. Thank you so much. No comment. >> Um actually, I do have something. Um Clay mentioned it earlier, the uh strategic planning committee uh they being on it um they we tasked you know we the board with three things and one of them is done which is the Vader the other one is in process or progress which is uh the bond that we passed but yet the work hasn't been done yet uh but the third one is to

078replace a junior high and I don't want that to get forgotten because it it needs to be um I don't know the right words to use, but it needs to be something that is not put on the back burner. We need to uh stay focused on that and it starts with the location and I think that's part of what the community needs to help with. We're we're going to need to find some land and we're going to need some find some land pretty soon. So, uh, as far as a board member comment and and finding, uh, the city of Brennham and the community members to step up, uh, and help find land or that knows where land is, but we need to get to that next step of finding a school and and we can't

079build a school until we have a place to build it. So, um, there's a lot of work that's been done behind the scenes. uh strategic planning committee's done a lot and there's other uh subcommittees that are doing things but bottom line we need to get that out in the uh in the public and in the forefront of that's what's next and it's not what is next in five years that's what's next this year and so that needs to be a focus and I want to make sure that that is mentioned um because the strategic planning committee is not finished and there's more to do that's all >> okay and now it is time for our monthly public hearing on library books. >> Miss Po, if you don't mind, >> excuse me. Head librarian Charlotte Pocresent.

080>> Okay, let's see. >> Do you live here? We've seen you a lot. >> Not at this particular campus, but I do feel like I live at the other. >> Um, okay. So, um, I'm back again. um in front of y'all. Um we are hoping that the March board meeting will be the last one for the year because at that point budget needs to be spent for us to be able to purchase after y'all approve. If you approve then we can get the items received before the end of the school year. So I won't be back after March until the fall, probably September. Um, if you looked at the list, there are likeund and let me I don't want to lie to you because I've got too many numbers in my head. 179 different um

081items on the list that I submitted to you. Most of them are either like new books that have um wonderful reviews on them. They've they've recently come out. They're by um reputable publishers or it's amazing authors that have come up with new books or it's addition to series that we already have. Um, there are some books I believe. Um, most of them of course are like my level because I'm the one that's looking at a lot of stuff to purchase. Um, and there are some of course for middle school. Um, but basically there's everything I've gone through. It's it's it's meeting our criteria for our selection that we've approved with the district. And there's not really anything on here. There were no public comments posted by the date that was supposed to be yesterday that

082nothing had been posted for that prior 30 plus days. So, um I removed the list off the website and now there's a new list for the March board meeting up already. Um but everything seems to be in place. So, I don't know if y'all have any questions regarding the books that are in the list or >> I don't have any questions. But before we take a vote or take action, I do want to point out that um in this >> selection of books, there is a memorial for Betty Hafner included in this, which is the mother of uh board member Kyle Hafner, who was a pillar in this community that she would be greatly missed. And I think it's fitting that >> kids for generations will be able to pull this book up and see

083her name on it. And so I just want to make sure that Kyle, again, sorry for your lost, man, but she was she was amazing. So I'm glad this is here. I just wanted to make sure everybody knew about it. Yes, those are included. >> You stole it, but I'll make the motion. >> You want to do it on it? >> You can do it. You want to do it? Do it. >> Well, I wasn't planning on getting choked up either, so here we are. Thanks, Jared. Um, man. Okay. Uh, make sure I click on the right thing here. Uh, yeah, it's simple. Move to approve the purchase of library books as presented. I'll second. >> Kyle Her made a motion seconded by Justin Collie to approve the purchase of library books as presented. All

084in favor? >> All opposed. >> Congratulations. >> Thank y'all. >> Okay. Next we have um information that's going to be presented regarding the board resolution uh SB11. Um Super Clay, are you doing this or it says you and your team? >> Yeah. >> Or do you just want me to read the uh um resolution? >> However youall want to do this. U we can um discuss anything you would like to discuss. There is a resolution there uh for the board to read. Um, I can answer any questions that >> Would youall like for me to read the resolution first and then if there's anything that comes about, we can ask questions about it? >> Sounds great. That's what we'll do. >> Um, there Okay. >> Has everybody read the resolution? >> Is everybody in agreeance

085with the verbiage on it? Okay. Clay, can you maybe dive into a little bit more SB11 and and why we're doing this? because this was a late ad to the agenda based on timing of the >> Yeah. So, everyone out there's kind of scrambling to get this done uh by the as as I've called other uh superintendents in the area. I know you had called some other board presidents in the area as well. Um we all seem to be kind of scrambling to get get this done. uh really really trying to work through the process to to be sure we fully understood um what uh you know what what we were agreeing to or or not. Um we feel very pleased with our our current practice of uh freedom and religion with our students. Um,

086we have a uh thriving FCA program uh that that I feel like is gaining more momentum all the time. uh see you at the poll uh which I feel like has gained momentum uh you know the the the way you as a board addressed uh the chaplain language um in this conservative God-fearing community uh students uh ability to uh to go to to prayer as they see fit as led by their parents uh by their their minister by their uh religious influence um is completely parent choice. uh Senate Bill 11 uh if accepted uh you're designating a specific period uh that cannot be during uh instructional time um uh specific area uh specific uh resolution if you will as to this is when uh you you pray. This is where you go to pray. Uh

087I I don't see what uh the district has to gain by trying to uh write a policy when um a thriving practice exists. uh sometimes not meaning to you can and I'm speaking in in broad strokes here but you can kind of paint yourself into a corner with policy language um which I just don't believe is necessary in the uh the again very conservative god-fearing Brennham community. I I believe that we have the the backing of a community uh of a board to to allow students uh their own freedom of religion and uh we have a lot of again current practices in place that demonstrate that. I I feel very happy with the resolution language. I think maybe um if and I know it was fairly lengthy, but if you read the resolution language or

088if one of you would read the resolution language, I think it really provides some some light as to where we feel like we are and and why we're happy in our current practices. >> I don't mind I don't mind reading it, but I I would also like to point out that I like I I did speak with some other schoolboard presidents from around the area. I reached out to some OKCO pastors in the area too and and it seems everybody's in full support of our resolution and what we're doing and and so it's a the community has rallied around this and and we're doing what everybody wants to not just for Brennham but uh Burton Belleville everybody around us. I mean Brenham's the hub of this area so it's just nice to know that we're

089all aligned top to bottom but >> yeah I I I've spoke with a wellrespected uh minister in in town. I know a couple of you or a few of you have have uh reached out to uh some of our our ministerial uh leaders out there in the Brennham community and uh I feel like we're all on the same at least the people I've spoken with. Um I feel like we're all on the same page with this. >> Okay. Well, just to have it out there, I'll go ahead and read the >> Who's you going to do? I I was just going to say I I don't think that the and just to be clear, I don't think that this is a theological debate we're having. It's more an operational logistics situation. And whereas, you know,

090we protect our our kids right to express themselves according to their own faith and religion and how they feel. Um just the logistically and not just about saying, well, why can't you give up 5 minutes of a school of school day? It's much more than that. Um maybe someone comes from a faith tradition where that's all they know. It's then everybody around them is the same faith tradition. you have different faith traditions that have different obligations that you must do in order to pray uh in order to pray in order to worship. Uh some involve uh you know uh ritual cleansing involve a lot of different things that come into play or separation of genders or different things like that. And so whereas we may see you know uh Brennham in a certain way we're

091also a growing community. And I think it's wise for us to think about what kind of space is going to be able to occupy uh all of these uh different uh students uh to be able to pray and then accommodate everything that they need. I think by opening it up to an established time of prayer may also also put them into an obligation point where oh if I'm called to pray I have to go pray but then I have to pray with all these other stipulations in place especially those come from an orthodox background of whatever it may be. So I think it's wise for us to think about that uh logistically of what it would do as as you said so well that uh again you know maybe from someone's faith tradition that uh

092is listening is it it would be very simple it's just bowing your head that's not the way it works for everybody and so how we uh open that up doing it wisely and uh and thinking that down the road so I think we we've approached this from a wise standpoint and also it allows us to uh still protect the religious liberties of all of our kids and so that they you know that they can uh be god-fearing people and uh they can bow their head at any point and talk to their god and I think there's time at the beginning of the day and throughout the throughout the uh rest of the school day where they can do these things as well. So having a structured time block I think would cause a lot more

093issues. So ju just understanding it it's bigger than just one religion and we have to think that way for the longevity of the school district. >> Okay. So what we're voting for next is actually this resolution. and is not in favor of SB11, but is the resolution of the Bruno Independent School District Board of Trustees regarding Senate Bill 11. Whereas, the 89th Texas Legislature enacted Senate Bill 11 adding Texas Education Code 25.0823, which permits a school district's board of trustees by a recorded vote on a specific resolution to adopt a policy requiring each campus to provide an opportunity for students and employees to participate in daily period of prayer and regarding of Bible and other religious texts subject to statutory conditions. Whereas Texas Education Code 25.082 already requires every campus to provide a one minute

094period of silence each day, each school day following the pledge of the United States and the Texas flag during which each student may reflect, pray, meditate, or engage in other silent activity not likely to interfere with others. Whereas the board recognizes and reaffirms the rights protected by the first amendment of the United States Constitution, including the free exercise clause, the establishment clause, and the free speech clause, which together protect private religious expression while prohibiting government establishments of religion in public schools. And whereas the Brennham School Independent School District, the district board of trustees, the board desires to reaffirm its commitment to respect and safeguard the personal religious liberty of students and staff. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the board of trustees of Brennham Independent School District, that one, the board reaffirms the district's commitment

095to the first amendment rights of students and staff, including their rights to free exercise of religion and to engage in private voluntary religious expression consent with the law. Two, pursuant to Texas Education Code 25.0823, 0823. The board has considered whether to adopt a policy established a daily period for prayer and regarding and reading of the Bible or other religious texts and after a recorded vote has determined to continue operating under existing law rather than adopt additional statutory resolution. The board affirms its views that decisions regarding religious belief, expression, and practice are inherently personal matters best left to the individuals and their families and not to the board of trustees or the district. The board believes in proper role is to respect and protect the constitutional rights of all students and staff by maintaining a neutral

096environment in which individual freedom of conscience is preserved. The district shall continue to comply with the Texas Education Code 25.082 by a providing the pledge of allegiance to the United States and Texas flag once each school day at campuses. B, observing a period of silence immediately following the pledge during which student staff may at their choice reflect, pray, meditate, or engage in other silent non-disruptive activity. And five, nothing in this resolution limits or bridges any rights of students or employees under the United States Constitution, the Texas Constitution or applicable state and federal laws regarding voluntary religious expression in the public schools. Adopted and on approved February 17th, 2026 by vote. So that is what we will be voting for is that resolution. >> Before I read the uh motion, I do want to make one

097small comment. It's sometimes less is better. And in this case, less government is better. We don't need the government to tell us every single aspect of what we need to do and how and when. And I'm always a fan of less government. So that's why I'm I'm a big fan of limiting them telling us how and when we can pray. We don't need it. We have already got it. So if anybody doesn't have anything else, okay, I'd like to make a motion to approve a resolution of the Brennham Independent School District Board of Trustees regarding SB 11 SB11 as presented. >> I'll second made a motion seconded by Kelvin Raven to approve a resolution of the Brennham Independent School District Board of Trustees regarding SB11 as presented. All in favor? All oppose. Motion carries. Okay.

098Next, uh, Chief Academic Officer Sarah Bohart will present information regarding the 2026 2027 district instructional calendar. >> Okay. So, the leading and learning team along with the communications team worked um with the DEIC members to come up with the instructional calendar that you see. Um, in your board update is the narrative. I'll just highlight a couple key things. DEIC met in January and we gave the constraints to the instructional calendar which you can see in your board doc where it talks about key non-negotiable requirements such as meeting or exceeding the 75,600 instructional minutes um scheduling the final instructional day no earlier than May 15th. also knew coming out of this legislation session, we had to designate the actual two bad weather emergency makeup days within the instructional year. We also were required to have two

099parent conference opportunities annual, one fall and one spring, now pre-K through 12. Usually former we designated one day in October for elementary parent teacher conferences but the legislative session came out and said we needed to provide it for all parents just an opportunity also was very important for our community to align with spring break with Texas A&M and blend college and then account for the state holidays compliance days tradeout days and operational considerations. So how the process worked is we met in January with DEIC went over the constraints and then the DEIC members worked had some workshop time submitted back to our team were three or four different drafts of calendars that DEEIC members worked on. From there, we sent out a survey to all Bernam ISD staff that had the four examples or the

100four calendars that DEIC had drafted um with some guiding questions. We came back and gave the DEIC members the input from that survey as well as the four votes which had C the calendar C at that time leading. Then they met and did revision. So, we had the original C and then a C1 and a C2 that the DEIC worked to revise. We sent those three back out for a staff um vote and you'll see the calendar before you that had the majority of the votes that is we're asking for y'all to adopt. I think what's important to note, we um really let the DEIC drive this. They were put in teams and workshops given the constraints that we had and they created these calendars. >> What does DIC stand for? >> So it's the

101district educational improvement council and so good question. So D, yes, we're using all the educationes. DEIC is a combination of community um parents and then staff representatives from each campus as well as the executive team that meet to have district educational improvement council. One of the things that DIC is tasked with is helping design and draft because it has stakeholder input. >> Okay. So I think you answer my next question is is uh parents were involved in this, right? >> Parents that were represented on the DEIC. >> Okay. Very good. >> Yes. So if so ideally in the district education improvement council committee the parents and community members that are on there represent the parents represent the community and we also have DEIC uh committee list posted publicly on the website so that everybody knows

102who their representatives are so when those individuals go back to their campus if they want to get with you and ask a question for more clarity prior to answering a survey. Same thing for businesses and community uh representatives. >> Yeah, absolutely. The surveys that were sent were sent just to Bernham staff though. It wasn't a communitywide survey. It just went through those deic members. >> This is where we were. >> Sorry. >> Were there um major changes between because I I didn't really dig into exactly what it was. there wasn't anything that highlighted said well we changed this holiday and changed this day or what was >> there when when you look at uh the calendars the CC1C2 there really wasn't much change it was really when they looked at utilizing their staff exchange days

103so you can see like for example uh December when we get out they actually get out on a Thursday the 17th that was due to some of the feedback that uh DEIC got and if y'all did um look at your staff FYI which you get in your board report when We sent out this final survey to the staff. They actually had a copy of the slide deck that was provided to DEIC. So, they got to see all the assumption data that's required by law, but they also got to see uh the aggregate data based off of the staff survey as well. So, we were transparent with all staff with that as well. >> So, this particular uh calendar benefits the teachers who voted for this, correct? Or staff? >> Everybody. Yes. All of my staff

104have the opportunity to vote and this one came with 36% of the votes. >> Okay. >> Divided by three because there were three options they could choose from. >> Okay. >> Yes, sir. >> I make a motion to adopt the 20 26 2027 district instructional calendar as presented. >> I'll second. >> Bonnie Brinker made a motion seconded by Kelvin Raven to adopt the 2026 2027 district instructional calendar as presented. All in favor? >> All oppose. Motion carries. Thank you for all your work. Okay, Mr. Sinclair. We have our uh monthly finance update from our chief financial officer, Daryl Sinclair. >> Good evening. >> Okay, before we get started, just a couple of general comments. Uh for the most part nothing much is been volatile as far as ear investment earnings. We have received uh the

105bulk of our tax collections already but other than that everything else has been fairly status quo in this regard. Uh been as Mr. Gallentine said there have been a lot of things going on lately, but >> Oh, sorry. >> Now it is. >> No, I got So, other than the all the events surrounding the bond, sell the bonds and and RFQS, everything else in this area has been fairly consistent. Uh so you can see that we have uh received like I said the bulk of our tax collections there about uh $30 million worth roughly that now this again keep in mind this is all three funds y'all approve general fund debt service and child nutrition. Uh so it there's a bit of other local revenue other than just tax collections in this slide but the

106bulk of it of course is tax collections. Uh our state revenue has been I believe that was about the same amount we had last time. There hasn't been much change in that. Uh we won't get any significant state revenue again until uh this coming summer. And our federal revenue is about where we would expect it this year. Uh we should have our annual uh for lack of a better term catchup payment with um our yeah our cost report payment from our char program. That should be coming in pretty soon I believe in the next month or so. So that should be noticed in uh here pretty soon. Okay. Then we have our comparison of the adopted budget again for all three funds that you approve compared to expenses as of the end of January last

107month. Again, nothing uh alarming here. We're spending our our funds at about the rate you would expect uh at the end of this month. We'll be at the halfway point of the fiscal year, six months through. So, right now, these numbers should be a little bit less than half or about half. Again, we did talk about once before there are some front-end expenses that we have at the beginning of the year in the fall that are onetime payments for the entire school year. We also have a couple of expenses that won't come up until near the end of the school year, like our annual uh bus lease payment comes in, I believe, at the end of July. So, that one won't come in for a while. So, we have some additional at the at the

108front, some that wait till towards the end. Um the bulk of things of course happen monthly fairly consistently on our investments. Uh again nothing surprising. The rates did go down about a about a tenth of a percent again. I believe that's what I told you last month. It's been very small changes but just very small gradual uh downward changes. As Steve mentioned earlier, uh rates have been lowered a bit here several times in the last few months, but overall, we're not seeing any huge drops. We're being consistent. Uh and our our collections are are excuse me, our investments are are doing well. Again, as I've told you before, we do try to take the money that we collect, our tax collections, money that we don't need for immediate expenses, and we try to keep moving

109that over to our pool accounts as quick as we can. So, we did we did add more money to our pool accounts uh over the last four, five, six weeks. >> Hey, real quick on on that. When when the bonds are sold, is there a new account? Are you about probably about to tell me this? But >> yes, I have I've already checked to make sure that we I knew we had a construction account at Texas class. I believe uh I did had verify that it one thing that can happen I've dealt with in the past is if you don't have activity in an account, meaning money going in, money coming out, it can become labeled as dormant. And so then you have to like reinitialize it for lack of a better term to make

110sure that it's available. Uh we did already check on that. It is not dormant. We do have a construction account set up from years ago and it is ready to accept those funds and I've already talked to Steve about wiring those funds directly to that account uh as soon as they're made available to us. So yes, we should be able to get those funds in there and then what we'll do is we'll just bring those funds back over to the local construction account. We have a local construction account as well. We'll bring those funds over as needed as we move through our projects and need to pay bills. So, we'll keep it in the pool as much as we can unless there's a better opportunity. We'll that's the the plan for right now. And oops,

111wrong way. And then our our tax collections again, as you can see, uh right now we've collected about 83% of our current year uh revenue. So, you can see there about 29 million paid out of 35 million levy. Uh so we are about where we expect to be at this point of the year. We'll start seeing the uh delinquent payments come up in the next few months as uh the time passes for current collections to be uh made in a timely manner. We'll start seeing those increase and then our current our current collections will start to decrease over the next couple of months. Any questions about any of that? >> No sir. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next, we have our consent agenda. We can approve it all as one or

112pull any item if we want. >> I just uh Clay, I have a question about the inclement weather days. Um I don't forgive me, I don't remember. Did we have that second day already built into the calendar or did we have to wave it from the state? >> Uh I don't believe anything's been released yet for a waiver and we have to use our two that we have built in before we can even apply. >> Okay. So I think those are the signals I'm getting from the bench over there. So yeah, we have to use those that we built in. We did have two days built in. So, let's all >> cross our fingers that we don't need another day during these next couple of few weeks. So, >> I make a motion to I

113lost my place. Sorry. I made a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I'll second. >> Bonnie Brinker made a motion seconded by Kelvin Raven to approve the consent agenda as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries. Uh next we have monthly reports for information purposes and um executive session will be held for the purpose authorized by Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas government code sections 551.071 consultation with the attorney and personnel matters. The board of trustees went into executive session at 7:35 p.m. according to the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, chapters 551071, consulted with attorney 55107, and personal matters. All final votes, actions, and decisions would be taken in an open meeting. Thank you all. Okay, good evening. It is uh 8:15. The board has reconvened. Uh what is

114the uh what is the will of the board? >> Motion to approve the executive staff contract for the 20 26 2027 school year presented. >> Second. >> Kelvin Raven made a motion seconded by Justin Collie to approve the exact Hold on. Let me let me reread this because this is important to us. So give me one second. Kelvin Raven made a motion seconded by Justin Collie to approve the executive staff contracts for the 2026 2027 school year as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed. Thanks for all y'all do guys. >> Okay, it is with no further business before the board. Uh it's 8:14 this meeting is adjourned. It wasn't.