001Where's >> Good evening everyone. It is 6 o'clock p.m. We have a quorum of the board. Board of trustees of Brennham Independent School District is now convened. I wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present. In collaboration with our families and community, Burnham ISD is committed to providing an exceptional education for all students in a safe environment. As a Burnham 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 responsible 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 their matters discussed. Audience participation is limited to the public comment portion of the meeting. These proceedings are recorded and I respectfully ask that you
002please refrain from talking while others are speaking. Thank you for taking the time this evening to join us and for your interest in the Brennham Independent School District. >> Who's doing pledge? Who's doing okay leads to the pledge and the invocation by charger. Please bow your heads with me. Dear and gracious God, thank you for this day. Thank you for the people in this room. Thank you for the opportunity to come and advocate on behalf of our community, Brigham ISD, our student, faculty, and staff. And we pray that tonight we will be able to make sound decisions that benefit everyone that is impacted by Bernham. That we will guide the future of our district. And Lord, as the holidays approach, we pray that we keep you at the focus of this season and truly celebrate
003the birth of your son because we are so grateful for his sacrifice on the cross. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. >> You know, had I just read the sheet, it was right here that Sean and Arch were doing that. So, it's the holidays, guys. We're We're doing the best we can up here. Uh we did not have anyone sign up for public comment today, so we're going to go right into a BHS choir presentation. Um, my name is Lauren Shelton. I'm the new choir director here at Brigham High School. And I just want to say thank you for the opportunity you've given us to share what we've been doing in the program this year. I'm joined by one of our seniors, Alva Sanchez Sundal, who has been um just a complete treasure. Uh we
004are uh a program that shares a lot of wonderfully talented students which is why we are going to be listening to a recording from our Christmas concert which was a roaring success thanks to the many spirited efforts of modeling ugly sweaters by so many in the community. We really appreciate that. Um but many of our singers are actually preparing for the second showing of Cub Company's Christmas Carol which if you have not seen it please make time to do it. We saw it yesterday. It is absolutely stunning. Um I'm very proud to be a part of this performing arts community in this district. And I've asked Alvier to share just one thing as a senior u something about the choir and what that means to her. >> Thank you so much. Um I think the
005choir means a lot to me. It's given me a lot of opportunities to meet a a lot of new people, learn a lot of beautiful music, spread some beautiful cheer. Like today we went caroling at like the nursing homes and all that stuff and I thought that was so beautiful and I had so much fun with Michelin and learning all the songs. It was beautiful. I think it was a very touching moment. We Frost Water like a >> [music] >> star. [music] Our [music] [music] God [music] saint. Heaven shall be when [music] he [music] sing [music] the Lord God Almighty Jesus. [music] Jesus Christ. [music] [applause] Let me just say thank you to Mrs. Shelton. Uh I know she want her students here. uh they are uh very busy with uh a Christmas carol uh
006that is uh they are performing the 14th through the 18th. So we encourage all of you to to go see that. Very appreciative of uh Mrs. Shells and the work she's doing. I've said so many times that uh I feel like extracurricular activities are really my philosophy of education. It's why kids show up uh whether they're in band or choir or athletics or you know whatever it is they're into. there's there's something for everybody. Um it it truly gets the kids in the seat and plugged in and gives them accountability group and partner at school beyond their parents at home. Uh we're so thankful for her um her excitement about the choir program. As she mentioned, she's the new um head director here for the high school and she's just on fire about the choir
007program and I'm so excited to have her. Thank you. [applause] Okay, next we will have special recognition for the Bham High School and the Brennham Junior High band. >> We'll do the high school first. Okay. Uh, good evening. My name is Thomas Lesh. I'm a senior obo drum major and uh we'd like to extend our deepest gratitude for inviting us here tonight. Uh we are so excited to be celebrating a fantastic fall for the Burnham band program. We're also very glad that you have the junior high attend tonight. As a high school band, we know that everything we accomplished today uh began back in sixth grade with Miss Collie and continued at the junior high with Mrs. Reig, uh Mr. Turnup Seed, and Mr. ShraMM. All of our band's focus on fundamentals and on helping
008us become the best musicians we can be. that consists in focus over time helps us succeed both as individual performers and as ensembles. This past weekend uh many of us participated in the all region clinic and concerts at the new sci fair performing arts center and it was the cherry on top for just a fantastic fall. Those concerts marked the end of our fall individual audition product part process. In those auditions, 16 band members earned chairs in one of the four all region bands. And uh tonight, if you're here and made an all region band, would you please stand and be recognized? >> [applause] [applause] >> AND CONGRATS TO ALL THOSE that auditioned. Uh, and two students performed well enough to earn spots in the region orchestra bands. Unfortunately, White Crarampton cannot attend tonight, but
009we have one Payton Sakura who made uh all region orchestra. So if you would like to stand and be recognized. [applause] When we audition for these groups, we compete with students from the 12 SciFair high schools as well as the Spring Branch and Waller high schools. As you know, those schools are much larger and have more resources. But one of the keys to our success in Brennham is that we have learned, we have nothing to be afraid of, and nothing to be intimidated by when we compete from with students from much larger metropolitan districts. Uh, hi. My name is Haley Clicker. I'm a senior clarinet player. We also had 32 students advance to the area auditions which will be held on January 10th. Please stand up if you are going to [applause] area. We will
010compete with 5A students from Brenham all the way to Bowmont. The top students on each instrument can earn a position in the all-state band. Many of our students are committed to practicing over the holidays as they work toward one of those highly soughtafter spots. Those individual accomplishments are fantastic, but they aren't even the highlight of our fall. We are incredibly proud of a fall for the ages for the Cub band. We began working at the end of July and quickly realized our marching show was going to be something special. We loved the theme from the start and once we began working on the music, we knew we had something awesome. We made great progress through August and September. Hello, my name is Trey Gates. I'm a senior clarinet drum major. We also knew our very
011first contest at Vista Ridge would include many large metropolitan schools. We felt good about our performance and also learned we still had plenty to refine. The following week, after strong rehearsals, we had much better shows at Katie. Very few 5A bands compete there. So, sweeping all the 5A awards was exciting. Even more exciting was that despite being surrounded by huge bands from Katie, we placed high enough to earn a spot in finals and a better even had a sorry and had a even better finals performance. At that point, we knew we were on track and we also knew it would take a lot of hard work to be ready for the bands that we face at area. At area prelims, we had a great show and felt confident coming off the field. The long wait
012for results was stressful and many of us will remember those moments for a long time. We were one of the last bands to be announced as a finalist. Once we saw that we had placed six in prelims high enough to qualify for state, we knew we had a a real shot. At the start of finals, the weather got a little wild and getting to warm-ups tested our organization skills. But we pulled everything together and had a fantastic warm-up. After listening to the judges prelims critiques, we made a few key adjustments before finals. We had a great performance and we felt that we truly had a chance during full band retreat. As they counted down counting bands down from 12 to1, the excitement kept growing with each name that was in Brennham. When they reached seven,
013you can feel the tension among everyone around us. When it was finally clear we were in the top six, the joy on the field was incredible and we still had to stand there for the rest of the announcements. When Leaport was announced in sixth place, we felt immense pride knowing we had moved up a spot from prelims to finals. That celebration is something we will remember for the rest of our lives. >> Hello, my name is Maddie Bean and I am a senior color guard lieutenant. The week leading into the state contest was also special. We knew state would be extremely competitive, but we kept the same goals we've had all year. Make every performance better than the last. entertain the audience and let the judges handle the rest. Our warm-up at state was excellent.
014Our and our performance was the best one we gave all year. Performing in the dome is very different, but we trusted our training and adapted with no issues. Even though it would have been amazing to be a state finalist or medalist, we understand that Brennham faces different challenges than the other schools. What matters most is that our hard work resulted in a great performance and the lessons we learned in perseverance and improvement will stay with with us for the rest of our lives. Regardless of placement, we feel proud of what we accomplished this fall. We also recognize that many Brennham bands before us came very close and set the groundwork for our opportunity this year. We are grateful for their efforts. We appreciate our school district for supporting us financially and making the trip to
015state so memorable. We want to give a special thank you to Mr. squats. Back in July, he came out and told us we had to make the state marching contest. We are grateful for his trust and support. We are also deeply thankful to our parents. Without the ef without their efforts in countless ways, we could not be the band that we are. And finally, the support we received from the community was unbelievable and something we will never forget. It felt great to have the community come out and cheer us on for such an incredible achievement. Thank you again for inviting us tonight so we could celebrate this amazing season one last time. [applause] Before we all sit down, y'all aren't getting away that easy. So, anybody that's in the band, y'all come up here in
016front of us for a picture, please. Y'all y'all thought you were done. Okay, next we will uh recognize the Britam Junior High Band region qualifiers. Hello. Um, my name is Carla Reig and I'm one of the junior high band directors along with Josh Turnupseed and Chris ShraMM. We are very grateful that you invited our students to be recognized at tonight's schoolboard meeting. I would like to take a moment to share a little bit about our junior high band program and more specifically the achievements of the students who are here with us this evening. Our junior high band program includes over 240 seventh and eighth grade students. We have three concert bands and one symphonic band. While it's quite an undertaking, all four bands participate in pep rallies, an eighth grade football game, a high school
017pregame performance, and a fall concert in October. Most recently, all four bands participated in the Brennham band holiday extravaganza, and presented holiday concerts that will be rebroadcast on the radio. In addition, students in the symphonic band have the opportunity to audition for the TMEA all region band. Each August, they are given challenging music and scale requirements and then compete against students from Scyfare, Springwoods, and Waller for placement in the region 27 all region band. More than 1,100 students audition each year, and just over 300 earn the distinction of being selected. Our philosophy in the symphonic band is that every student works on the music and scales because growth is possible for everyone and many students choose to audition. These auditions take place in Cyprus where students perform in front of their peers and a panel
018of judges, an experience that is certainly not for the faint of heart. The students being recognized tonight placed high enough to earn district or region honors and recently represented Britam at the region 27 TMEA band clinic and concert in Cyprus. This is an outstanding achievement. It is not uncommon to see these students in the band hall before and after school practicing their instruments and seeking extra help. They balance these commitments with other activities such as swim, tennis, girls athletics, golf, additional outside school responsibilities, all while maintaining a high level of academic success. Along the way, they learn how to manage their time effectively, remain coachable, practice even on difficult days, and maintain composure during high pressure auditions. The hard work is worth the reward. These students got to work with some of the top band
019directors in the state and top students to perform a high quality concert. They also got to eat their weight in bread sticks at the Olive Garden and they put a huge dent in the topping selection at the frozen yogurt place. As a side note, it's really exciting to know that these students will one day become leaders in the high school band. As the soul feeder to our band program, we understand the importance of sending students who are prepared to maintain the excellence that has been established before them. We love watching our students grow from sixth graders who are just learning how to open their instrument cases and make noises to musicians who go on to represent our community as members of a high school marching band that qualifies for state. The students we have with
020us tonight are Charlie ShraMM and Carter Smith, both who placed in region band as seventh graders and eighth graders. um which is an incredible accomplishment. Uh we are recognizing Shelby Wheeler who is not here tonight. She's home with the flu. Um Kaden Zint, Kaen Zint, Wyatt Kart, and Win Clark. Win is a seventh grader. It's a huge accomplishment that she's here with us tonight. And then we also have Jamie Flores who is an eighth grader who has been in region band two years and also placed high enough in region band um to qualify for region orchestra. He was fourth chair overall in the whole region. So these are OUR STUDENTS. >> [applause] >> OKAY. NEXT, UH, consider possible approval of a monetary donation from HB. Chief communication and communication engagement officer Brook Tran will present.
021So, I have uh two ladies uh here tonight from communities in school who partner with HB. Um this is the second year uh we've been able to do this where HB takes the collections at the checkout center for supplies and uh lowinccome and then make a donation to school. But I'll let them tell you a little bit more. >> Is there anything else you want? Um we just drove from Houston. Very grateful to be in front of y'all. My name is Lisa Descant. Um, I serve as the CEO for Communities and Schools of Houston. We partner with school districts in greater Houston to provide support services campus-based to students. Um, and I am joined today by Lacy Del Corsales who is both a board member for Communities and Schools of Houston, but also has been
022with HB for 25 years. um and is able to I think speak um do the very best job um to tell you all about the gift that HB um is facilitating through communities and schools to Brennan ISD. >> Hi, good evening. Um Lacy Del Corales, HB Public Affairs. Um just you may already be familiar with this checkand campaign. um we are known for it at HB, but specifically since it's being filtered through CIS, we want the funds that are gathered in every community that we serve to stay within that community. Um CIS is our statewide sponsor or partner, excuse me. Now, I am a member of the board, but that is not why CIS is chosen. They stand alone and the work that they do, they are incredible. Um so the they're our partner statewide.
023So what that means is as part of our back to school campaign, for every donation that's made at our check stands in Brinham, that total amount raised will go back to the school district and um be provided to you all to use in the form of purchasing school school supplies of your choice. So we hope that you would consider that. Um while you don't have a CIS program yet, hopefully that'll be a conversation for the future. They're an incredible partner um and we're grateful for their partnership and the work that they do um on all the campuses they support. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? Okay. What is the will of the board? >> I will go ahead and make a motion to approve the $1657 monetary donation from HB
024as presented. >> I second that. >> Justin Collie made a motion seconded by Bonnie Brink Brink Meyer to approve a $1,657 monetary donation from HB as presented. All in favor? >> All oppose? The motion carries. Thank you'all so very much. very very very thankful. Okay, next we have uh Washington County Food Drive U Bam Education Foundation board member Carl Perota. Floor is yours, sir. >> Thank you, President Krennic, for having me out tonight. Um just wanted to give an update on the 30th annual KBTX food for families food drive that we recently held um Wednesday, December 3rd over at the Washington County Expo Food Court uh from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. a long 13-hour day. Um but Brennam ISD has taken a strong active participation in this event. Um and so I I couldn't
025have do it without the support of you as board members, um our staff, our students. Um taking taking pride in their community and giving back. Um and so um going to give some results kind of some history as well of where we are at. Um for Washington County, we've been in um in the loop for 5 years now. We started in 2021. Um, in this past um this past drive we were able to raise $14,255 and 13,39 pounds. Um, not quite the record. I know the media when we were talking, I had told them that we were close to maybe hitting a record. Um, but 2021, our first year, was the record year uh with a little over $18,000 and 16,635 pounds. Um, and I think we all can understand that was coming out of
026COVID a big need. Um, but I think with the community support, um, this can get back to those numbers and exceed them. Um, overall with the other locations involved, um, Washington County ranks three, um, in the dollars uh, out of the six locations, but number two on the poundage right behind uh, Brazes County. We will never catch Brazis County. I'm not anticipating that. Um but uh Burlington County on the dollar sides um they raise about 60,000 plus. Um so we got a ways to go to catch them but um one day we'll get there. Uh who does this benefit? I mean it's uh the the Brazes Valley Food Bank is the ultimate beneficiary, but we have local partner agencies here in Washington County. Bread Partners of Washington County, Bridge Ministry of Burton, Texas, Faith Mission
027and Help Center, Prairie Hill Food Pantry, and Washington Mobile Pantry. So after that day, uh 13,39 pounds, you figure um that's 3,327 pounds going to each of those partner agencies. Um because the Washington mobile pantry gets funds, they don't get the they don't have a physical um pantry. Um, but that was roughly three and a half pallets of food going out to each of those locations. Tremendous amounts of support and food. Um, I know each one of those agencies thanks you for the work. Um, the students are doing a great great job here. Um, and we can't emphasize that enough. I do have some special thanks. Brooke Treyan. Um, everything that we're involved in, she puts her best foot forward and I don't know how she does it. She doesn't know how I do it
028either, right? We always question that. Um, but as volunteer coordinator, communicating with the school district, getting the ball rolling on this side. Um, the day of the event, our social media guru, I mean, we're just running around. Hey, the hour is done. Let's update totals, get them to KBTX. Let's make sure we're recognizing businesses that are um putting out big dollars. Um, showcasing the students as well. Um, so I thank you, Brooke, for your efforts. Uh, Principal Watts sitting in the back of the room there with the rest of the troublemakers. [laughter] Um, I don't know if you give the approval on this, but allowing those kids the day off um is is very appreciative. Um, that workforce is needed and starting the green cord initiative uh to showcase community service um is going to
029be a great thing going forward. and and getting the kids involved, showcasing that, you know, you can accept the donations. There are students of theirs and classmates that um might benefit from this as well. We know we're a greater than 50% economically disadvantaged population here. So, um the need is here right in in Brenhamd. Um so, I want to thank you, Principal Watts, for again getting your students motivated um and getting them out there even on the worst condition of days. So, uh, and then our student organizations. Um, I don't want to name them all off because I know I will forget one of them and that's not, uh, that's not right. Um, but from the unloading of vehicles, the sorting, the band, providing some entertainment, um, and then even like the baseball guys at
030the end helping out the partner agencies load to their warehouses. Um, because those boxes aren't light, you know, 40 to 50 lbs each, three and a half pallets. and we're talking about volunteers that are senior citizens. Um, so for those kids to go out and help out with that as well in the in the missing rain, again, can't thank them enough. Um, also wouldn't be able to do this without KBTX obviously uh for hosting this, choosing the Brazes Valley Food Bank and their partner agencies as the beneficiaries. Um, want to thank Mr. Joshua Blowski, Cowboy Dave is um Nick with the Brennan Banner Press for the promotion of the event uh prior to throughout it and even post uh poste event. I mean, thank you all for you know that's what community is all about
031um is supporting one another and we couldn't do it without them. Um, I will say maybe one thing our students could work on are interview skills with media. Um, if there's a class for that cuz some are pretty good and others put a TV camera on them and uh they fumble the words quite a bit. So, but uh again a great successful day. Um, when we go into that, you know, what's our expectations? Well, we start the day at zero. Any dollar, any pound elected is a win, right? Um so for that to come in to being our second best year uh collectively again after the the record co year um is a outstanding feat. Again thank you Brenam ISD for supporting this cause. I'm just glad to be a part of it. Want to
032wish you all a merry Christmas. I see a lot of festive uh costumes in here. Sean ran outside to to run his down. But uh the date it's always going to be the same. That's the question that's usually asked. Um, save the date for Wednesday, December 2nd. That first Wednesday after Thanksgiving, it always feels rushed. Um, but Wednesday, December 2nd, 2026, we'll be back out at the Washington County Food. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Berota. Okay. Next, uh, consider and possible approval of a policy update 126. Superintendent Gillantine, the executive staff will present regarding the policy updates. >> Uh yeah, good evening. So, um you know, we saw the 89th Texas legislative session, uh education policy was was driven by a clear conservative agenda emphasizing parental authority, uh traditional values, limits on ideological
033influence in public schools. Law mark lawmakers advanced school choice through the uh ESA or education savings account program, expanded parental rights, restricted DEI practices, promoted values-based measure measures such as requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms, uh and of course increased uh school funding with reforms focused on local control and choice. Uh these priorities are what uh shape your your policy update that was sent to you. Um, it translates the legislaturator's conservative directives into district level governance by tightening parental control consent requirements, limiting student organizations and programming tied to gender identity and sexual orientation, uh, increasing oversight of curriculum and instructional materials. And again, y'all all saw this through the summer. It was a very, very busy summer. uh biggest legislative session we've seen that was um again a clear conservative agenda uh which is reflected
034in this this update. All the legal updates that I I mention here they happen uh you know they're they're just uh they're written into the legal policy. The local of course you have to adopt. The local are a reflection of again this conservative agenda. So, uh, I've got the cabinet up here to, uh, highlight maybe a couple of those things, um, that you may or may not have a question about. Um, I'm going to let them run through a few of those, uh, more significant updates now. And, uh, if you have any questions, uh, please please let us know as they wrap up. Would y'all like to go ahead? So, if you skim and scan the 1,692 page document of policy, um you'll see there are some updates. EP local, EFA local, um EIA local,
035like you can continue. I think if I were to summarize most of them, it really has to do with parental rights and transparency on the district to ensure that we are being transparent with the instructional materials that we use. Um, we have posted on our website what our vetted instructional materials are that we are using. Um, as well as really, um, making sure we're transparent and communicating that with our syllabuses to our parents. Um, so that's that's pretty much overall kind of the theme. We've been putting all of this in place since September. I think when you look at Brennham's initiatives in continuing to adopt highquality instructional materials and then when you back that up against this localized policy manual and what you see regarding instructional materials, library materials, resources, books, um transparency in that,
036you can see why it's so important that we have that vetted material and that it's the agreed upon instructional material being used in our classrooms because that is what has been vetted by the state, the state board of educ education um and placed in. So that's kind of just to summarize what I saw big themes coming out with instruction. Um I would like to echo I sat through the whole webinar of all the updates and that was the common theme was uh transparency and parental rights. Um as y'all know since I've been um over at central office we've done a lot work of transparency. We built the transparency page um we've been a lot more um diverse in our communication um easy to find and clicks and really that's what I saw like for example
037if you look at FA local it's under parental rights and policy this is actually a new um section um but it's basically asking for a portal on the district's website where you can parents uh can submit comments to the school board administration um we've already had a contact us on all of our district websites. So, um, all we did was add a clarifying drop-own box on if they want it to go to a specific group so we know with certainty when we get those. Um, that workflow already operates very similar to our open records um that we would get. Um, so it's really nothing new. It's just because of out of legislative session. Um, we are having to formally adopt that into policy. Um, so working through all the policy update, you know, um, after
038the legislative session this summer, it was a lot of drafting of local policy. So that's why we're bringing it to you today. However, we've been implementing a lot of this since, you know, the start of the year. One thing I want to point out is our employee standards of conduct. There's been some additional language which Clay referenced, and it um, prohibits the diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. And there are disciplinary actions for employees that do engage in that. And so that is additional language on that policy. Another big update has been our grievance policy. And so it's employee grievances and parent grievances. And so a lot of the timelines have changed on those policies. And so looking at that, um, the amount of time parent has to file a grievance really gives them a little
039more time. Um and so it's lengthened that timeline from previously it was 15 days and now we're looking at whether or not they um participate in the informal process. They have a longer time as if they try to resolve it informally. They have 60 to 90 days to file that grievance. Um our response time has changed a little as well. Um previously we would respond in 10 days following their grievance and now it is 20. So, it gives us time to really think through and make sure we're um taking meaningful action and making good decisions in regards to student and employee grievances. One additional um revision to that has if a complaint or grievance is filed against an employee, that employee is made aware of it and has an opportunity to um provide a written
040response to that to to be included as part of that grievance. So, really just considering parents rights, students rights, and employee rights in that grievance process. just uh you mentioned DEI. How is that defined within this with within this update? >> Sorry, there's a lot of pages. >> It is a lot of pages. >> Page 34 and page seven. I have them highlighted. >> Right. So, um yeah. So, if you're looking on um employee standards of conduct, which is the one I have, it just says prohibited diversity, equity, and inclusion. An employee shall be um subject to disciplinary action including termination of employment if the employee intentionally or know knowingly engages in um diversity, equity, and inclusion duties, assigns to other individuals DEI duties. And then um it's further defined in BT legal. I don't
041have that in front of me at the moment. But then it also um references social transitioning. An employee shall be prohibited from assisting a district student with social transitioning as the term is defined in law. It includes providing information to a student about social transitioning or guidelines intended to assist a district student with social transitioning. And so it's a definition from law and I don't have that definition from law in front of me at the moment. How do y'all communicate this to the teachers? uh is I mean do you have to do a breakdown every so often or do you have it in some in some place where they can find it if they want to know what what's so we will share all this information with our principles as we update board policy through
042our and then they will share with teachers and then as we um implement the employee handbook that information will be included in there and then a new employees sign off on that employee handbook and part of our new hire orientation reviews that employee handbook as well. >> Okay. Does anybody have any more questions? >> Uh, no question for me. I'm just happy the legislature did what they needed to do to pass a bunch of very good, I don't know the right word, laws, policies, what have you, um, to force this to change. It was really nice to see and um it's a good it's a good policy update. Just happy to see it. >> Okay, there are no more questions. What's the uh will of the board? >> I will go ahead and make a
043motion to approve the addition, revision, and deletion of local policies as recommended by policy services and according to the instruction sheet for localized policy manual update 126 as presented. >> Second. Okay. Okay. A motion was made by Justin Collie, seconded by Archer Archer to approve the addition, revision, and deletion of local policies as recommended by policy services and according to the instruction sheet for localized policy manual update 126 as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries. Good job, legis. >> Okay. Next, uh, consider and possible approval a membership renewal with the Texas Association of School Boards. Uh, Clay. >> Yes. So, it's that time of year, uh, where we, uh, you know, take a look at that membership. Again, that membership, um, gives us policy updates. Uh, policy update serves as a mechanism
044through which um, a legislative session is, uh, is implemented across school districts. So as you saw uh this this past summer again was a very conservative leg legislative session and you you see that in the language. So um the mechanism in which we receive that is is through a policy update and um you know they protect the district right uh they keep us in line with with uh with legal policy. So um and we've got access to that that team of attorneys that helps interpret uh those policies as as we need it. So, um it's my recommendation we we move forward with that support. >> Okay. Thank you, Clay. Um comments, questions. >> I um seems to be an annual thing for me. Um first question. I feel like this is later than normal. Don't
045we usually vote on them in September? >> We didn't I don't think we got the We were talking about this at the last agenda. I mean, we didn't get the update until when? >> Yeah, it was a busy legislative session. It's not uh I don't know. I asked Debbie about that what was done before. It's not it's not due until now. Um it's it just come it just came up. Uh >> just due to the busy uh busy legislative session. >> Yeah, Kyle, I asked the same question because I thought we did it previously, but it just hadn't it hadn't come in yet. We didn't have anything to vote on. >> No, I knew the policy update was going to be coming later. [clears throat] Um but uh I'll keep it short because I know
046that um I'm in the minority um or probably am. I am still very anti- renewing. I know that we have to uh because of our insurance. Uh but that being said, just because the legislature forced them to remove DEI doesn't mean they don't believe it anymore. Um it's just rebranding it. They they had three keynote speakers that were pro DEI in their um at their conference. So um it's still a a wolf and she's a wolf in sheep's clothing is still a wolf to me. So, I'm they their their guidance on transgender policies, I think, was terrible. And I'm still going to I'm still going to hold them accountable for what they did, in my opinion, was terrible for not leaving National Association of School Boards a couple years ago back in I believe it
047was 21. Uh there have been nine Congress people who have urged school boards to leave TASBY. So, I could go on and on and on. It's kind of a moot point. Um, but I guess it's more of just stating the fact and putting out there on on record that um I know that we need to renew because legally I believe for our insurance to be uh through them we have to. However, I do think that we should explore other options and there are more districts that have done that in the last two years and so it's it's refreshing to see other districts take that what's considered a risk. um to take that step. I wish that we would consider it. Um but I'll leave it at that. I'm uh I'm very anti- renewing and joining,
048but I feel like we have no other option. And I let I want to respond to Kyle real quick, and he knows where I stand with this. We have this conversation every year. I'm uh I I've said over and over again, I'm not I'm not pro TASBY, but I'm not anti-Tazby either. Uh I look at it as any service um you know uh any any insurance uh any product I'm being provided uh they provide uh in my professional opinion the best product for the price and uh to me it's the best uh fiscal decision as as well as uh protecting the district. So I just want to make that so very clear and Kyle knows this. It's not that uh uh he's anti-tasby and I'm protest, but that's not the case whatsoever. Uh I don't
049I I'm all for healthy competition. I I just it again it's it's my professional opinion that uh this is um this is the best decision for this this school business that that we run. >> I just want to kind of echo what Mr. Havner said. I feel like everybody knows where I stand on Tazby. I feel like most of their values I don't necessarily align with. And one of my big issues with them and Clay and his team have done a good job of mitigating this in the past, but it hasn't happened yet, is as Kyle mentioned, the insurance is a big issue. And so now on an annual basis, we are um forced to renew with this organization because they have very much a monopoly on the school insurance business, which quite frankly I
050feel is wrong and um anti-American in my opinion. Not only that, but I also don't align with a lot of their values as an organization. And so for that reason, I will be begrudgingly supporting this because as Kyle and Clay said, we have to at this point. Um, but I feel like when our district joins or cosigns to pay an organization for services, whether we believe those things or not, we're co-signing to, which means that we are presented or seen as believing the same things. And I don't necessarily believe a lot of things that they believe. And so that's just kind of where I stand on it. I'm not going to beat a dead horse because at Kyle and Clay said, we have this same conversation every year. Um, and unfortunately again, we're in this
051same position, but I just wanted to let everybody know kind of where I stand on it. >> Okay. I'd like to ask for a point of clarification just because again, I'm I'm learning on this. What are our options? I mean, if we're we we've looked at other it's not like we haven't researched other organizations, but as far as a holistic for running a school uh a school district and otherwise, what are we putting forward because we can be against it, but again, what's what's the other good option that actually ticks all these boxes? Cuz I I mean, I want to know. I mean, I I listened to it last year. I didn't see I saw one that was still in beta testing, but to get everything that we need in order to operate our school
052district and also not to put ourselves in a financial bind or to put ourselves make us vulnerable. What are the options that we could look at? U because and not not saying that it's a right now thing, but I hear you all both saying that and we can take a stand against something, but what are we standing for then? So, I'd love to just hear the viable options that line up line for line. Um well two meetings ago we had them here. T Te um teachers for excellence on education uh is a viable option. There are two districts who have completely left Hazby and um they do more they've changed their their structure now. It's more of an allocart. You take what you want, use what you need. Um there are two other districts, one
053right down the road from usberg who has started to use them and they're transitioning away from Tazby as well. Conro is as well. Um, so there are other there there is another option which they go by t te e but uh yeah they're new. Yeah they're in the embassy stage. They've been doing it for three years now, four years. Um and they offer the exact same stuff uh just in a different capacity. They um they do policy updates. Their their policy update that we just voted on was available a couple months ago and it was cheaper than what we were paying TASBY. But not arguing about it. I mean ours it's a needed policy update. TASBY just did it later than they did but and it was a little bit more expensive but we're we're
054already members of TASBY so we're going to go through their uh through them through for theirs. But the the short answer is TE offers it. So currently right now, I'm not sure if y'all are aware of this, but there is a lawsuit pending between TE and TASBY where TASBY is actually suing TE for copyright infringement because they did stand right here in front of us and say that we can just continue to use TASBY policy as our own even if you're under TE, which TAZBY warned them to stop doing that. They did not. So TASBY has filed suit against TE for copyright infringement for using their policy. And again, if TE does not believe with T does not believe TASBY's what it needs to be, why is the policy update that TASBY created good enough
055for them to use as their own? It's something to think about. >> Yeah. I guess my my question would be, you know, >> so you don't have to replace your old policy is [clears throat] what that's about. And they're not going to >> but it's not it's it's TASBY's policy. It's not TE. Te is using it. >> TASBY created it. It's still pointless argument, but I'm just saying it's local policy. It's [clears throat] it's that's what it is. It's it's being having to rewrite your local policy and it doesn't it's using numbers instead of letters and using bullet points instead of dashes. That's what they're arguing about. >> Okay. Let let me just I guess let me let me further clarify. So Mr. Archer and Mafner, you believe right now that TE if if we
056were to swap it out and replace TAS with it, we would be on just as good a ground. We'd be just as viable. We'd be just as strong and all the needs of our district would be met as TE stands today. Yeah. >> You believe that? >> Yeah. 100%. >> Okay. Even even with the the policy, even with the the lawyers, even with all those things, that would still have to fall. Okay. All right. Appreciate the clarification. >> I uh have been around for a while and we've been around with TA with TASBY for a while and uh it's a good product. It has good products. We know what we have with them and it's I I know it's not perfect. Uh maybe someday there will be a perfect way to do this, but for
057now I think TASBY is what we need because they've come to through for us several times when we wouldn't have had anybody else there with us. And so uh for that reason, I'd like to make a motion. I make a motion to approve a contract renewal with the Texas Assessment of School Boards TASBY as presented. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Bonnie Brmire. >> Bonnie Brinkmire made a motion seconded by Justin Collie to approve a contract renewal with the Texas Association of School Board Tasby as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries. Okay, next we have the superintendent's monthly update. Okay, >> I'm going to be very brief here and uh say today was just an awesome experience and uh I want to say thank you to all seven of you uh for making
058that happen. uh to this administration, this cabinet, these principles out here, directors. Uh you all know we've worked um two years to get to that point uh to get get ourselves back on this tra trajectory. Uh we are absolutely not out of the woods. Um we've got to continue to put money back in our fund balance. Uh, but I could not be uh more proud of the path that we're on and uh the ability to um to give uh that check to all staff, all staff across the district uh in person uh with Buddy the Elf and uh with Santa Claus was um was just a lot of fun. So, there's a there's a lot of uh great uh Christmas uh festivities going on this week. Uh I've we've sent those to you. Um different
059programs. I'm not going to read through them. Again, a Christmas Carol um here at the high school as well as other uh programs across campuses. So many great things going on uh you know uh basketball season and soccer season and things kicking off that uh we could talk about. But again, really just want to focus on today and and and how much fun that was. So uh merry Christmas. >> Okay, next we have a board member reports comments. Uh Archer, you want to start us off? Yeah. So, I've been here for three years now, and today is probably the best day that I've ever had as a board member. Um, got to go to the ECLC and be with my staff and students over there at that campus. and being able to give them the
060um Chris's bonus of $500 that we did across the district. Just um the joy, happiness, relief, and even some tears that I experienced today was unmatched, unlike any other experience I've had in this role. And you know, for me it was kind of a sigh of relief because the new guys don't quite know yet, but we take a lot of bullets up here. Um, and so to be able to experience a day where it was just pure positivity and pure joy was just amazing. And I want to thank Clay, but especially Daryl and his team for all the work that they did to scr up that money after we passed the Vader. I think it was a fantastic, fantastic day. And I hope that it is really the boon that drives the rest of the
061future and the direction for Burnham ISD because people were pumped up today and we need to keep that energy and that momentum going. Um, and so I just had so much fun and it was just a joy to be there. So that's it. >> Yeah, Kyle, I'm gonna I mean Kyle Archer, I'm gonna piggy back off of what you said. Um, I was in this very room. It looks a lot different now than it did earlier. There was Santa Claus and Buddy the elf for here. And uh, but I I just wanted to take a minute to um, not only thank Clay and his team and everybody else that had involved with it, but also I wanted to say thank you to the community uh, that stepped up and and voted yes for the bond
062that this is what we were wanting to do with it the entire time, which was give back to our teachers that are so deserving. So, uh, just everybody in the community that voted yes for this bond. This is this is your victory as much as it is ours because we could not do it without you. and uh y'all put us up here and we're trying to do everything we can for this community and for these teachers and everybody in BISD, not just the teachers, the paras, uh custodial, bus drivers, everybody got a check and um absolutely amazing. So again, community, thank you'all for stepping up and doing the right thing for BISD and for our teachers. They deserve it. Every penny of it. >> Yeah, nothing feels better than to know that you're helping the
063teachers and the kids. And they were so they were so appreciative and also they were so happy. And and these are teachers who work hard every day. And this is just a little way of us telling them that we appreciate what they do. But also you principles over there. We appreciate you doing what you do with your kids every day to make it a bit big difference in their lives. And so that feels good. And uh like like you said, Arthur, occasionally Yeah. we take a few bullets, but this was an opportunity for for us to see that we could do something and then the community has been very very uh optimistic. It seems like we don't have too many people fussing about things right now because they know we are doing everything we can
064to be transparent and to do what we can for our kids because it's always about the kids. Uh got to see so many uh programs so far. Uh we've seen a lot of dancing, a lot of singing, a lot of all kinds of stuff that that they have planned on the campuses. Thank you'all for doing that. Also to the parents, the PTO and everybody who support these kids all the time. You see a lot of our folks uh going out of their way to make it better for for our kids, too. So, it just makes me feel joyful. Thank you for uh allowing us to do that today. It was fun. >> I'm sorry. I want to add one more thing. I feel like Clay owes me some money for keeping the secret for as
065long as I did because I had um teachers and staff blowing up my phone like we know something is happening on X day tell us what's happening. I even had somebody text me this morning and say we have a mandatory staff meeting at 1:30. Am I getting fired? And I said no you're not. But I can't tell you what it's about. I promise it's good. So, you owe me some money for for keeping that secret cuz it was hard to hard to do. Sorry, Justin. Go ahead. >> No, you're good. I appreciate it, Archer. It's It was uh uh this past month has been fun between the band concerts and I don't think I've ever seen as many people as packed in the Brennham Middle School gym as I had that band concert. Right, Miss
066Tibido? Um she's back there working in the back. She's not even listening. [laughter] Uh, but that that that Brennham Middle School sixth grade band concert is always a fun one when you start hearing those kids play their instruments as a as a full band and when you got 200 students on that gym floor and then probably a thousand people in the stands and surrounded by those surrounded all throughout that gym. It was it was a great experience and the holiday extravaganza for the band is always a fun one with their holiday dinner on uh a couple Sundays ago. So, and then reflecting on today um participating at the middle school and then and at Alton as well with Buddy the Elf, Mr. frog back there in the back running the hallways like a wild child.
067Um, it was fun. It was fun. Uh, but just reflecting and the shock on the teachers faces and the awe and the relief and then the tears um and then the excitement uh you know that they be able to you know use that check for for something beneficial for their family or or for their own for their own kids and own students. Um it's just it's it's excitement and I I look forward to the bullets up here. haven't we we've been blessed thus far and have not been >> Kevlar got his Kevlar Santa suit on over here. Uh so uh you know it's we've been blessed up here the past six months that we've been on the board and and things obviously are trending in the right you know we hope we feel like things
068are obviously trending in the in the correct direction for the Brennham ISD. Um so thank you to the staff and and Daryl and Clay and and all the central office staff. Um, even the surprises at the central office. I mean, a lot of people there had no clue. Had zero idea what was happening today when we all started showing up this morning for a picture and then, you know, the wheels started turning and like, hey, don't say anything until 3:00. We got to we got to get through all the we got we have 700 more checks to go at that point in time. So, give us a chance. But, uh, you know, just reflecting on today, it was a great day. Um, I think we all experienced, uh, excitement for the district, excitement for the
069staff, um, and just excitement to, you know, continue forward on this path. So, thank you. >> You know, the heart of a community is seen whenever you have a choice to make the right call or to do something that no one's going to fault you for not doing, but it would have been easy just to kind of hold on to it. And um we saw our community step up uh in November and do the right thing uh to expend themselves, expend understanding that what our what we need uh for our school, for our teachers, for our future and did that. And so I want to say thank you to our community for having the heart to do that and and it it takes courage because you're not quite sure how it all looks, but it's
070the right thing to do. But also, Clay, your team uh did the right thing today. Um some people would could have taken money to say, "Well, we're just going to pack put it away here and do all these things and find something else to buy like a new whiteboard or whatever it might be." But the fact that we valued our people and we looked at them and we said, "No, we see you. We're here with you and uh here's something tangible. so you're uh so that you're reminded that that's the right thing to do. That shows the heart of of what we're trying to do. And uh you know, it is it's my first, you know, uh time to be a part of something like this. Arch, I'm with you, man. That it just was
071so exciting to be a part of that. And um and and I look at what our community is doing and it's what we're telling our kids to do. Do the right thing no matter what. Uh even if it cost you something, do it. And I think that that's as a community, if that can become what we're known for, uh showing up doing the right thing, I think that's a beautiful thing for us. and we send kids out in the world that'll do the same thing. So, uh, grateful to our community, grateful to our our leadership and, uh, principles, man. I have so much love for you guys and respect and, uh, man, my favorite Santa sitting back there, Mr. Watts, my my man. Uh, you know, people don't understand what you all do after hours,
072but being willing to get out of school, run over, to get on a helicopter that you've never been on before, dress up as Santa Claus with special those boots from where they're amazing. and then to fly h fly fly across the county so you could drop in on a group of kids and not just make their day. They'll never forget what you did. You didn't have to do that, but you did. Thank you. And they're still talking about to this day. And uh you and I love the fact that it's like, "Hey, hey, I got to get going. Why? I got a soccer game. Y'all don't stop. We see you." And so, thank you so much for y'all for making that happen. It just shows uh the heart that you have for it. Thanks for
073doing the right thing continually. And we're at the choir choir concert the other night and uh just listening to these kids up there working hard to do it again doing the best and uh it it's great to be a part of this community for people who really do want to do the best to be the best and to give the greatest future our kids could possibly have. So thank you for being people like that. It's great to surround ourselves with that and I'm proud to raise my girls in this community and in our schools uh where they're going to learn to do the right thing as well. So, thank you so much. >> Well, going last means I everybody already said everything. Um, couple of couple things. Uh, you guys haven't taken a lot of
074bullets because for the last couple years, we took a whole lot of them. So, I think we turned this thing around and got it on the right track. Um, so happy to take bullets for you, Chess. No problem. Um the uh the bonus was I I'd really agree with what Archer said. It's kind of one of the greatest feelings we've had in two and a half years of being on the board. Uh almost three years. It it was a really cool feeling. Um, and when we were talking about pay and trying to figure out what to do with if we were going to do a Vader and uh how much money we would be able to uh to raise, so to speak, and and and accumulate and then what we would do with it and
075what percentage goes to who and all that. We spent a lot of time and a lot of us worked really hard with I mean, we were crunching numbers at the noon meeting for a while. I remember doing that, Justin. We had a uh we had a lot of numbers to crunch and I I know that I wanted to do some type of a retention bonus and it didn't work out and then that that ship sailed and then all of a sudden it's like oh hey by the way we have this idea we can maybe do this and then it really felt good kind of coming full circle and being able to give everybody that that bonus check and I did get to see somebody uh cry tears of joys today and it was it was
076pretty neat. Um I I did see also somebody think they were getting fired like hey can you step outside real fast? Um, I was like, "Wait, are we getting what's going on?" So, it was uh it was all the emotions when they turned around and they got an envelope and just thought it was like a thank you Christmas envelope, you know, like a random Christmas card. They're just like, "Oh, cool. That's Thank." And then open it and come running around the corner and say, "What? Thank you." It was really neat. Um, so all the emotions, all the stuff. Uh but my only complaint is there were seven checks missing from [laughter] so no but for real um it was it was really neat. It was awesome. Um it was a great feeling and I look
077forward to getting the kids to go see the play because I know I've got a couple days left. Uh, I told him we're going to go and I I look forward to uh I mean everybody deserves an awesome Christmas break and to have an extra uh big bonus to be able to hopefully spend locally reinvest in the community because the Vader pass because the the community wants to help each other. We all want to help each other. So, it's it's voting for your teachers, voting for your parents, voting for your people here, and then turning around and spending in the community and it helps. So, um it was a big win today. Yeah, I get a lot. [laughter] >> Okay. Um, sounds like we all had the same day, which is fantastic. >> Uh, next
078we have required annual investment policy. Um, Chief Financial Officer Daryl Sinclair will present to us. >> And now for something really exciting. Let's talk about the investment policy. All right. Uh annually the board is required to review and if possible or if necessary make changes to the uh local investment policy. Uh would like to just start off briefly uh kind of summarizing the basic information that's in the legal policy. As with most of our policies, we do have a legal and a local version. The legal of course we are required to follow by state law statute. Uh the local policy that we have for the investment policy CDA is a very similar policy to the legal. It's a reflection. It echoes a lot of the same information. Uh but the legal policy does require that
079we have a local policy and we do have a a little bit of latitude to make some changes as long as we don't contradict or uh remove any of the requirements in the legal policy. Uh having said that the most important part of both policies, one of the most important goals is to ensure the safety of the principal uh funds that we do invest. Uh obviously we want to invest our funds as much as we can to earn as much revenue as we can, additional revenue in interest or other uh possible returns. But the primary goal is to ensure the safety of the original money that the taxpayers have entrusted us with. So the next thing on the list is to maintain liquidity. We want our funds to be liquid enough to meet our needs
080to meet our cash flow demands to be able to pay our uh bond payments uh semiannually when they they come due. Uh so there are restrictions on the length of the terms that we can invest funds so that we don't tie up our money to the point where we can't make our our obligations and pay our bills. And then finally the third most important thing of course is the uh the financial return that we can we can uh realize on our investments. Uh for the most part our investments uh reside in pools, public in public fund investment pools, which is one of the allowed u investments that we have. It's the one that a lot of districts use. Uh unless you're a really really huge mega district, uh there aren't quite as many options. There
081are a few more options for those really large districts that uh we don't even qualify for. there are some things we don't even qualify to to do for an investment. Uh we also from time to time will have a certificate of deposit that's on the the approved list uh both on the legal and the local policy and there are a few other options but those are primarily the options that we use and of course our local uh bank depository where we earn interest as well. Um, again, the the three main goals is are to maintain the safety of the principal, to keep our money liquid. And just by the way, I know we've talked about this before, but just as a reminder, the the pool investments that we have, they are just as liquid as
082the local bank accounts that we have, the checking accounts. Uh, the funds can be transferred in and transferred out within a day. So there's never any concern about if we move money over, can we get it back in time to make our payments or to make pay make payroll or any of the obligations that we have. They are very liquid uh and generally offer close if not a better rate of return than a CD investments which of course are tied up even for a few months, 6 months, 3 months, 12 months, whatever. Uh so since I've been here we have done more investment in the pools and less in CDs but we do have that option. Uh just another quick note u Mr. Gillantine and myself are the uh designated investment officers. Uh there was
083a board resolution I guess about a year and a half ago designating us as the uh the investment officers. So we are the the two that are responsible for making the decisions and um keeping track of the information and of course I present the information to the board monthly which actually is in our our report our local policy. I believe in the legal policy it says that it's only required to be presented uh at least quarterly but the local policy says monthly so we do it monthly. So, that's one of the restrictions that can be approved in the local policy that's more stringent than the than the legal. Um, unless anyone has any questions, again, I don't we're not re recommending any changes to our policy. It's been fairly consistent, I think, for a while.
084Uh, those are the main tenants that we need to be observing and that we need to be considering. So, if anybody has any questions, I'm open to whatever questions you have. I would like to make a motion to adopt a resolution related to review of investment poly policies and investment strategies as presented. >> Uh Archer Archers made a motion seconded by Justin Collie to adopt a resolution related to review of investment policy and investment strategies as presented. All in favor? I. >> All opposed. Motion carries. Thank you, Joe. >> You're welcome. >> Hey, since you're here, um, we're just like to go through the financial update. >> Yes, sir. [snorts] >> Oh, I've got another one. >> All right. So, as I just mentioned, we do have our uh our monthly report to the board,
085which includes the not only the investment, but also our look at our tax collections and uh our comparison of our budget budgeted funds to actual expenses. So, we'll go ahead and get started on these three items. Okay. So, you can see that uh our local revenue, [clears throat] excuse me, our local revenue is definitely up from last month. Um, with the completion of the election, the Vader and the bond election, uh, tax notices have been sent out. Uh, there is a significant influx in just in the last few weeks of, uh, taxpayers making their payments for the year. I believe we've seen, I want to say about four to$4.5 million just basically in the last month of our roughly $32 million uh, tax levy. So, it is significantly ticking up and will continue to do
086so throughout the rest of this month and into January and and even into February. Uh, our state and program, excuse me, our state program revenue, uh, is holding fairly consistent. Uh, again, I y'all probably have this memorized by now. We only get paper from TEA three times a year. We've already received two of the of those three payments. We won't get another one for a while. So really the only change at this point would be um our food service, our child nutrition program. They do get state funding. Uh well not so much state. Most of theirs is federal. So you'll see that in the other category there. Uh most of our state funding is pretty much going to be fixed for a while. So uh but we will get another significant payment next summer. Oops,
087wrong way. Okay. There are the investment information. the investment report information. Uh, as probably most of you aware, the interest rates have declined slightly the last couple of months. We just lost another quarter of a percent. I think it was about a week or so ago. Uh, so this is as of the end of November. So, you can see that the rates are getting closer to the 4% range where they had been about 4.1 to 4.3 in back in the summer. So, we're expecting it to drop just a little bit more, probably be in the upper threes consistently. I have a feeling for the next next month's report. Uh, as I said, we're starting to get uh significant tax collections in. So, we are starting to move some of those funds over to our pool
088investments so that we can earn a bit more interest than we do locally. Uh, with the bulk of that being at Texas Class, but we are starting to move more into text pool as well. Uh, most of the moving we've done is not really going to be reflected here uh because the the increase in the fund in the uh collections have just been in the last few weeks. So you'll see that more in next month's report. And there are the tax collections. Again, if you across that uh top row of information, you can see so far we've had about four and a as of the end of November, we've had about $4.5 million received. I think we've received another couple of million just in the last week or so. So that'll definitely be uh you'll
089be seeing a lot of increases in that as we move into the next few months. And finally our comparison of budgeted functions uh in the general fund, food service fund and INS fund all combined in these several functions here compared to the expenses again as of the end of November. So at this point everything is looking uh tracking the way we expect it to. Uh you remember we did have some significant budget amendments last month. those have been incorporated into these numbers and so uh things have been kind of rebalanced a bit since the last month when I showed this to you. Any questions about any of the financial updates? >> Nope. >> Hey, just real quick, we approved a couple months ago we approved computer purchases. So, is that why we're seeing is that
090function 53 computer services? We've spent almost half that budget there. >> I believe it's function 53. I'm pretty sure it is. >> Okay. Just wanted to verify that just I mean just following up on what we approved a couple of months ago on the on the the large laptop purchase for the high school I believe was correct. >> Yeah. And and the things like that of course that's not a normal uh routine type thing. So when we do something like that at the beginning of the year then it seems to spike the expenses temporarily. Any other questions? real quick. The um debt services seems kind of low on what uh our year-to- date. Is that because it does that cycle at a different time because that's a lot lower than I would assume it would
091be based on the adopted. >> Yeah. So, the the the majority of that, of course, is our fun our fund 599, our uh annual bond payments, right? Our semiannual bond payments. The first one's not due till February. Second one's due in August. So, we haven't paid either one of them yet. Uh, the only other significant expenses in function 71 would be our annual bus lease payment, which we don't do until July. It's usually about a million dollars, right? Right at a million dollars. Uh, so those three things right there. We do have a couple of other, but those are the the big ticket items. So, yeah, we we don't have the first bond payment of the year until February. Those are scheduled because, as everyone knows, we get our start really getting our tax collections
092in by then. So that way we're not responsible for making a payment before we've got a significant amount of our collections done for the year. So yeah, those are that's pretty normal for this time of year. >> Any more questions? >> Thank you, Joe. >> Thank you. >> Okay, next we'll have a public hearing for possible purchase of library books. Head librarian Charlotte Pulk will present. [laughter] Is this on? >> It's on. Okay. >> Okay. Hi board. I'm back. [laughter] Um um you have two list actually to look at for possible um approval for um purchase acquisitions. Um, last month of course we had the y'all had a a full agenda with the Vader bond, which I'm fine with since today I got my special little bonus. So that's um that's all good. Um, if
093you look at the November list, kind of going through the list, there are 287 items which are different titles and there are basically that is a list of non-fiction and then new books that are in parts of series that we already have like in the collection in our libraries. Um and then the let's see the December list is um Kray Elementary had a lot of Spanish titles that they were needing for bilingual students. Um a lot of those are either non-fiction books or they are the Spanish version of English books that we already have in our collections. Again, more new books and series that kids are asking for and then the new releases that are being published as as time progresses through the calendar year. Um, and that had 119 items on that particular list.
094Do y'all have any questions or >> Go ahead. >> No, if you have a question, that's fine. I was It was a public hearing, so before we did anything, I was I was going to ask if anybody in the audience had anything that they would like to comment on. >> Great job. >> [laughter] >> Oh, if you stood up with the question, I was going to kick you out, man. Good job. Good job. Anyway, um thank you, Miss Pulk, again for coming up and joining us. Can you briefly explain um your vetting process as you're going through the jails and what you look for and what you don't look for in terms of making sure that we're following the new laws that are in place. >> Okay. So, obviously one of the new um TASBY
095updates was EFB legal which went from six pages for library to 11 pages and we are in compliance. So, um we've been working on that stuff since it went into effect in September. Um, basically if you look like on the in the board stuff the links that were listed um there's a selection um guidance sheet and a lot of the books being that they're non-fiction or they're Spanish they're set up a little bit differently when I vet them than they are when it's just an English version of a book. Um, honestly what we looking at for non-fiction is a lot of times they don't do reviews on non-fiction uh titles. So, we have to look at the reputation of the publisher and the author and then we also look at the age that they say
096that the book is um appropriate for. So, I go through and look and see if there's any discrepancies and like different vendors um for like what they consider the age group and then kind of make sure that it fits like what our criteria is for the district under our policies for what is appropriate for each campus level. So, we have an elementary level, a middle school level, junior high, and high school. And that's also in our selection guidance um information like what we have allowed at each group, each content level I should say. Uh Spanish, same thing applies like if there typically is not a lot of uh reviews on the Spanish things, we also just go off of the English version of that particular text because it's basically it's just been translated into Spanish
097or another language. Um, so I go through the process of looking at what titles the librarians send me. I put them in the list. I look through and see if there's reviews. If there's not reviews, like again, because it's non-fiction or it's another language, then I have to go through that process and just kind of make sure that everything is in compliance with age and the reputation of the publishers. Um, and in compliance with our law, of course, both of these lists have been listed for posted for 30 days for public comment. Um, I checked at during my lunch today when I sat down to check emails. There have been no um review requests for either one of the books on either of these list. >> Thank you for the time. I know that's not
098a quick process, so thank you for the time and effort. That was going to be my only question is if you had anybody over the 30 days who has reached out and asked you to look at anything. Um, and then to follow up on that, [clears throat] excuse me. I really appreciate uh you spending a lot of time and there's not enough O's in that lot of time to uh explain how long it takes to the general public on how much time you take uh going through and reading most of these and browsing and doing the research doing the history doing this all the stuff you do. So um I really appreciate it and I'm very happy that uh considering we had some book We had a lot of bullets come at us due to
099books uh in the district not not not that long ago and considering uh we've got a new list and we had zero questions, zero concerns, uh that's that's that's very comforting and it and uh it just shows your hard work and dedication. So, thank you very much. >> Do you do all of that by yourself? >> You do? Whoa. Thank you. >> Yeah, if I'm coming up here and dodging stuff, I want to make sure that I've actually looked at it and made sure that it's okay. >> They have. Now, they send stuff to me, but it's like I want to look at it and make sure that everything is being followed to what our policy is and that everything is being done the way that it's supposed to be done. We do we do
100appreciate it because I mean we want the community to know that after what happened at that board meeting that we we how serious we take this and how we want to make sure that we don't have stuff like that happen again. And so your time alone should show then that that is something that the district and and everybody and all those sitting at the table and in the chairs that we do take it serious and we do appreciate your time again. So thank you and community know we're trying. We're we're trying. We got y'all. Yeah, thank you for the information. I know all the hard work that you do and I know that you do it alone and I wanted to get that on the record and make sure that our community knows that. So,
101thank you so much. >> No more questions. I just have to close out the public hearing. >> Okay. Oh, >> I got to close out. That's the end of the public hearing. Now, we can go into motion. >> I'm going to make a motion to approve the purchase of library books as presented. >> Second. Kyle Her made a motion seconded by Justin Collie to approve the purchase of library books as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed. Motion carries. Thank you so much for all your time. >> Thank you. >> Okay, next we have the consent agenda. We can approve it all together or pull any item if we need to. >> So we will need a motion. I make a motion to approve the ascent agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Bonnie Brinkmire made
102a motion seconded by Archer Archer to approve the consent agenda as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries. Next, we have monthly reports for information purposes. Um, we don't have anything for executive session. So at 7:39 with no further 7:29 sorry with no further business to come before the board this meeting is adjourned. Thank you all so much.