001The board of trustees for the Berles Independent School District is now called to order at 5:30. This meeting was duly posted according to legal requirements and a quorum is present. We welcome employees and guests to the meeting. Now it's time for the public comment section of the meeting and I have one card. So I would like to call uh Susan Ko. Hey, Miss Ko. I'm gonna when I look at my phone, I'm just timing and I'll try my best to give you a heads up when you've got about a minute left so you know how much time is remaining. >> Five. >> Oh, okay. Okay. >> So, anyway, if this goes off, it's just the timer. Okay. >> Appreciate it. Okay. I'm sorry. When you start >> Okay. Sorry, I didn't This is only my
002second time speaking here. So, >> making this more difficult than >> It's all good. >> I have that sometimes. >> Um, there's two things I wanted to bring up today. The first one is regarding the walk out that the students at I believe almost all the schools, middle schools and high school did a few weeks ago. Um, the walk out that the students took place was a pivotal moment in their lives. You teach our children about peaceful protest in your history classes. The civil rights movement marches back in 1963. The March on Washington in 1963, also when Martin Luther King said, "I had a dream." The Woman's March in January 21st of 2017. All children have learned that they have learned about these marches and more. Taught how important they are to create change without
003needing to hurt people. They have seen the injustices that ICE is doing to our country. They're seeing their friends of color become scared and worried to be grabbed, detained, hurt, separated from their families, and in some case killed. These are kids in our school district that you're responsible for that's being affected by this. They have seen other schools stand outside handinand with their students in a show of support and saying out loud that this is not okay. But what did you guys choose to do? You guys chose to punish them. All because they're scared of you guys are scared of Greg Abbott pulling their funding. And I understand how bad that would be for the school, but you could have found a way to work with the students in a safe way and an educational
004way to show them that their voice does matter. We were emailed a statement that said, "Campus staff may not physically prevent a student from leaving. Students who leave their classroom during the school day to participate in the walkout will receive an unexcused absence in according with the TEA um guidance. Students who leave the building during the school day will not be permitted to reenter the building. And actions to disrupt instructional time or pose safety concerns may result in disciplinary consequences as outlined. That is quote unquote from the email that the principal sent out to all parents a day or two before the protests happened or the walkouts happened. Then at school they make announcements to the students about how if the student participates then they could get suspended. They never tell the parents that just
005a threat over the announcement and then call the parents the next day after the protest to inform us that our children have been suspended. Three of my kids have been suspended. One of them especially has never been in trouble a day in her life. AB student never suspended. ISS, detention, literally nothing this entire time. She's been in BISD since kindergarten. Not a problem. But she chose to stand up for what is right. And I did not punish any of my children for getting suspended from because of what you guys did because it's a just cause. And parents were never informed beforehand that that was even remotely a possibility. Unexcused absence. Sure. not allowed back in the school. Sure. You guys didn't tell us that our kids would be suspended for utilizing their free speech, which
006you guys should be, you know, happy that you're teaching our kids to stand up for, you know, kids who are being punished for simply their skin. The other issue I wanted to bring up, I don't know if you guys have voted on this already, but I do hope that That's not God bless. America. Okay. Okay. At this time, the board of trustees of the Burlesen Independent School District will adjourn into close session at 5:36 PM for the purpose of consideration of matters for which closed sessions are authorized by title 5, chapter 551, government code 0172084, whereupon the superintendent at the request of the president of the board of trustees will present for the board's consideration or discussion the following matters. Consider teacher administrator employment or other appropriate personnel matters. Deliberate a negotiated contract for prospective
007gift or donation. Deliberate the use of security personnel devices and/or audits including the intruder detection audit. Deliberate matter regarding a student or student discipline deliberation regarding real property consultation with attorney. So at this time we will go into close session. Welcome. The board of trustees of the Berles and Independent School District will reconvene open session at 653 p.m. We have one item to take care of from the close session today. I recommend that the board of trustees grant the board president the authority to approve new hires between now and the next regular meeting in April. The board will consider ratifying those hires at the next meeting. I need a motion. >> Ryan second. Second, Dallas. All in favor? I see none opposed. The motion passes. So now, let's all stand for the pledge of allegiance.
008>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge algiance to the Texas. One state under God one and indivisible. >> Next, I need a motion that the board of trustees adopt the order of items for the March 9th, 2026 agenda as presented. Hear a motion. Okay. Second, Stacy. All in favor? Seeing none opposed. Motion passes. Now it's time for our special recognition with Dr. Hill. >> Evening everyone. Tonight we have >> Y'all never talk back to me. That's nice. >> Uh tonight we have four items. >> Good evening. Tonight we have four items for special recognition. I'm going to begin by turning it over to Coach
009Davis from Berles High School. That's impressive, coach. >> How everybody doing? Uh, I want to recognize our wrestling team from this year. Some of the accomplish accomplishments they accomplished this year during the season. Um, what I want to do, I want to do a little something different. So, I'm going to introduce all our young wrestlers first. Uh, uh, Michaela, you got to come up here now. She's a sophomore. This is our first time earning her way to state. >> Kinland. >> She's a new phase two. Uh Andrew Holly. One reason I want to introduce these young individuals first because they're all sophomores and we got a bright future. So, we're going to have them a couple years. Hope we can keep recognizing them going forward at these events. All right. So, this next group is
010very touching to me because this is the group that started with me at BHS. This is the first Berles High School wrestling team wrestlers that wrestled four years. Uh Gavin >> and Alyssa >> and and Cassidy Hill. >> We had a zool. She couldn't make it tonight, but she was also one. But uh these three individuals been with me since I started here. They trusted in what we brought to the table and they worked hard and and succeeded in everything. Did everything we asked for them to do. Uh and also Alyssa went above and beyond. End up she placed two times since she's been here and uh ended up getting on third, but she should have won it. She should have won. I know she didn't want to hear me say >> third what? >>
011Third place >> in what? >> Wrestling in the state. >> In the state. >> State of Texas. in Texas. I like it. Where's the medal? Why didn't you bring it? >> I don't get to see those often. Come on. >> So, this is our 25 26 Bison High School wrestling team. They went to state. All right. >> Anyone else? Anyone? I knew there was a late. >> Okay, you got it. Congratulations. At this time, I'll turn it over to Berles High School swimming program. Good evening. I'm Coach Jiren Ward for the Berles High School swim team and I have the distinct honor to celebrate uh one of our seniors tonight, Gavin Markle. Uh this is my first year at Berles High School and the year started off with uh an an email and a conversation
012that Gavin had actually gotten hurt and we weren't sure if he was actually going to get to swim again at all. And I sent him a message saying that, you know, let's discuss things and figure out how we can keep you involved. And Gavin's response is quite telling of the the young man that he is as well as the student athlete. And it's if I couldn't get you a gold medal, coach, I'll get you as close as I can. And that's exactly what he did. um end ended up uh finishing first and second his individual events in region and uh competing in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke at the 5A state swim meet. He has been a pleasure to work with this year. Uh leads his team in character and in excellence and couldn't
013imagine a more awesome kid to celebrate. Did you get it? >> I'll get it first. Now I'll turn it over to Kelly Utterbeck. All right. Good evening everybody. Dr. Jimmerson board. I'm super excited to be here today to celebrate one of our Burles collegiate students for winning a competition that was put on through the keep Berles beautiful uh the friends that we have from there. We have some people here today. But I also want to give a shout out to Mrs. Shocki back over there. You may know her as our our BISD secondary teacher of the year from last year, but she came to support uh Aninsley and she actually encouraged her to get into this competition, but I'm going to hand it on over to our friends from Keep Early and Beautiful where they
014can give us a little uh a story of what Ainsley won. So, ladies, if you want to go ahead. >> Yeah, sure. >> Uh good evening board. My name is Jessica Martinez. I am from the city of Burlesson. Um this is Griselda Vet. She's also from the city. She serves as our secretary with the Keith Burles and beautiful board. And so we're here uh like Principal Utterback said to give some spec special recognition to one of your students for winning our um t-shirt contest. Just a little bit about Keep Burles Beautiful. Um we have a little a couple notes for you. We started in 1984. Um, an Herbaly, which some of you may know, uh, started the Burlesen Beautifification Council and then later we got affiliated with the Keep Texas Beautiful, uh, organization in 1996.
015Um, and so Keep Rose and Beautiful does a lot of beautifification activities around town. Um, environmental education, sustainability, like those those sort of things. So, um, a couple other key things are our adopt spot program, which basically we we adopt spots around the community or residents do and they are responsible for those spots and they take pride in them and they take pride in the community. Um, and then our trash bash, who has been to the trash bash event, um, is very important. It's one of our one of our most important events. Um, we do two, one in the fall and one in the spring. And we have a t-shirt that is unveiled with every trash bash each season and we partner with the school district to get the design for that shirt. And so
016we come up with the the theme as a board. This year's theme was nocturnal creatures. Uh we got 42 designs. And if Angley will come up, we want to give her some special recognition. She was our winner. Um, so she came up with really awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And it was it was great. So we just want to close and and give her some special recognition and say thank you so much. So please, >> she also won. How much did you win, Aisley? >> Mrs. Shocky, come on up here too for this picture. Ready? >> She's a martial artist, too. I shouldn't be just slowly back away. Congratulations. >> Well, Anny would be proud. I knew Ann. And because of her, we've got a lot of crate burdles in Berles that we wouldn't have had if
017it hadn't been for Annne Hairbully. So, she was quite a lady. So, she'll she'd be proud. >> So, the last item we have on the recognition agenda is for me to turn it over to Miss Pat to talk about the character council. And we have some photos for you to share. And I get to do it from my right where I am. Uh since 1999, Berles has been participating in what we call the the character council. It is the cooperation between the city of Burlesson, the ministerial allowance alliance, not allowance, alliance, the s the uh chamber of commerce and the school district. And um we have um developed through the years different ways to identify students who show espec es especially um admirable character qualities and we have it down to four characterh qualities that
018we look for this each each year now and these are the students that we recognized. They were recognized um at a lunchon that uh that was attended by 282 people. The parents got to come, grandparents got to come. We had each depart each campus provided centerpieces for the table carrying out the the theme of good character. And these are our winners from each of the four uh character qualities that we're looking for. So let's go to the next slide. This one we have we honor a student an elementary and a secondary student who get the John Mark Stallings award. John Mark Stallings was the son of u the Alabama coach that uh uh coached Alabama for years. Many years ago he came to Burlesson and spoke at our character council and at that time he
019shared with us about John Mark. His son was born with Down syndrome, but he had amazing character and um he was very helpful, lovable, highly esteemed by the coaches and the the charact the uh athletes and um his dad told us about him. Um there's a book about him that that tells about his story. So, we recognize our um one special needs elementary and one special needs secondary student that were recommended by their teachers. And these are the two winners and Dr. Jay does a great job of getting to cheer those kids on because it's it's quite a highlight. And then we have our very own uh Jerry McNair who is our board president. She received the Byron Black Character Award uh each year. the uh the committee come uh chooses someone from our community
020who has displayed consistently good character through years through the years and uh this is the fireman that uh got it last year and he's presenting it to Jerry so we are very proud of her but the character council is one of the best one of the happiest events that we have because it's celebrating uh our students we want them to be successful uccessful. We want them to do well academically and athletically, but if they don't have good character, we have missed the mark. So, uh, we really want to encourage that. We want to celebrate the families that send us those kids because it takes a village. And, um, so, thank you for letting us celebrate them. So, let's hear it for all our winners, especially Jerry. Thank you very much. I'm very humbled. >> Did
021you know that was coming? >> No. >> Did not. >> You never do. >> Thank you. Thank you. So, now it's time for comments from individual board members. Does anyone have anything else that you'd like to share? Yeah, I just want to uh I want to say I know that this this week uh in elementary school PE was a big week had both both sides had field day. Uh luckily the rain stayed away and so it was a good time had by everybody. I thought it was a great event. I know that um I went out and watched my son play and um he he he got to hear his name a couple times on the big on the big PA system and his friends names and yeah, coach Tom Chess and >> so it
022was it was great. Great. I know that that takes a lot of work by a lot of people, the PE teachers at each school. And I just wanted to say that it was a great event. I think a lot of the parents and the community members that came out had a great time. >> Miss Okay. Next on the agenda is a safety, security, and intruder detection audit update with Mr. Steve Logan. >> Now, if the visitors, this is the perfect time to exit stage left. Now, we do have the financials coming up. You're welcome to stay. It's always exhilarating. Poor >> grandad. >> Well, good evening everyone. Um, tonight I got a couple quick updates to share with you all on our TEA random intruder detection audits and our school safety officer training program. Um,
023since our last board meeting, uh, we did have one intruder detection audit at Norwood Elementary. Have to report that they passed with no findings. And just once again, I want to thank our administrators and our staff and our students for continuing to follow those safety protocols and doing everything we can to keep our schools safe. Um, and then on February 13th, our SSOs took advantage of our student holiday and they all went to a training session at the Fort Worth Police Department training center and range. And each of them went through a rifle qualification course while they were there. and our lead SSO uh Kirk Brandon reports that all members of the team passed that qualification with very high scores. That's what I have for tonight. >> All right. Thanks y'all. >> Thanks D. >>
024Okay. Board members should have received the uh consent agenda in your packets and I need a motion to approve tonight's consent agenda as presented. Do I hear a motion? Pat. Second. Second. >> Dallas. All in favor? Seeing none opposed, the motion passes. And now it's time for the monthly financials with Miss Brenda M. I am here to present the financials. Hold, please. Michaela told me to go abracadabra. >> Michaela. She told me to go abracadabra like like was magic. But >> the screen >> I'm not going to anymore. I refuse. >> Um, okay. So, oh, hold on. Sorry. So, general fund point screen. Uh, comparing January, so we're doing January financials compared to last year. If you look at revenues, we're at 87.7 million. That is an increase of about 6.8 from last year. Majority
025of that is in state program revenues. If you remember, we have the teacher retention aotment that comes through the state and so it's increased and so we'll see more state funding than we do local funding than we did from the year prior. So that puts it at 87.7 and our expenditures are at 63.1 about 1 million up from last year. Food service uh revenues at 4.2 million um slightly up from last year and then also our expenditures are at 3.9 million. For debt service, uh you'll see our revenues at 30.7 million and then our expenditures are at 18.9 million. So we have made both of our payments. The remaining amount be the remaining amount of our expenditures will just be our dues that we have to our banks. Special revenue funds, we're at 36.8%. Um
026you'll see them listed here. Our biggest ones are title one and um idea B that are big ones. And then we also have title three and four. And then our strong foundations implementation. We're starting those as well. school for early learning. You'll see revenues at 465,000 about the same as last year and then revenues are at 495,000 which are also about the same as last year. Capital projects which is oil and gas uh revenues at 460,000 um our minerals and then our interest and then you'll see our expenditures at 4.2 million. The majority of that is the capital outlay which is the mound gym. which by the way, >> I think we have a little ceremony coming up as a week after spring break as a reminder >> is uh that we're going to be
027uh kind of opening that thing up. So, >> yeah, it's going to be exciting. >> It's exciting. >> Yeah, spring break will be a good time to finish up. So, the grand opening um payments over 10, the list is in your packet. Uh up here is just the summary of it. So the majority of them out of 199 food service, a couple out of our state programs, um, and then our workers comp claim at the end. And then our tax report, January collections are one of our larger collections of the year. So we received 49.7 million in the month of January, 29 for M, and 19 at INS for the year. That puts us at 68.1 million. And then the construction update for mound. Um, if you'll see here, uh, total project is just below
0288 million. It's about $7.9 million project. Um this is showing the majority of that we have spent by the divisions. Um we do still have a couple of pays um until the project is complete. And that is all for me. If you have any questions, that's it. >> Thank you, Brenda. >> Thank you. We have uh several action items this evening. First up is to consider the memorandum of understanding with Hill College to include two new pathways early college high school program and college preparatory classes with Dr. Lindseay Bird >> to join me because this is a whole team approach that couldn't I didn't do this on my own and we are excited to finally share news. So from Hill College I have Dr. Mills, Miss Ross, uh Miss Banero and D McKenzie and then
029from Health Hill Fort Worth I have Dr. Dr. Z Cavage and Dr. Kerr joining us. And so we >> Can you say that one again? >> No, I can't. I actually was like, I want to make sure I don't mess this up. >> And you know what? And she was so gracious and just >> she just gives me that encouragement. >> That was awesome. >> Uh we have been working together as a team obviously for years. We're so excited with the dual programs that we have. But we've been in conversation about how do we continue to offer uh new opportunities to both our community, our students, and meet the healthcare needs. And so with that, we've been in talks and so I'm going to start with the first program that we've talked about which is
030and built and hopefully you guys approved tonight which is our uh structured dual credit which would allow our students at the traditional high schools more opportunity to gain more dual credit and graduate uh core complete which would mean they would have their basics in 45 hours by the time they graduate high school. Why that matters? because they can go into public universities. Having those cores and those core classes basics taken saves them money, gets them on the right track, and it helps us foster this relationship that we continue to have. >> Is it the old phrase of weed out is a bygone thing now, right? >> And it's a beautiful thing. >> That's right. It is. And we're taking those classes anyway, so we might as well get that college credit in with it if
031we know we're headed to a public university. >> And not to mention the fact of how good it is for our our local parents. What a great opportunity. I I Lindsay and I have been talking about this with along with our our wonderful colleagues at Hill about how great an opportunity and and I got to tell you selfishly uh my older three have have gone they won't get to benefit from this but I got my last one coming and the thought of getting core completes starting his freshman year doing it is is exciting to me as a parent. great opportunity and I just thank Hill College for bringing that to us and partnering with us. Uh you alluded to something we're going to start with our current eighth graders and build that out from there.
032We're working together to get enrollment up. They're going to uh give us those professors and work on scheduling to make it more conducive. Now listen, we still might have to make choices between all the great choices that we offer in Berles, but we're going to try and make that schedule work for as many students as we can. The second option that we have which um is the one we've probably been working on the most at least couple years now I feel like a minute >> took a minute took a minute but we are in full celebration mode right now because this is such a great opportunity but it's called the accelerated biomed career initiative and that is where we have partnered with Hill and our students that choose this career will get their associates degree
033in science um and when they leave us they have the opportunity to go straight into health Fort Worth online to start their bachelors. So, we could shave off a good year or more depending on their case load that they take each semester to get started to then graduate and head right on to whatever choice it is, whether that's I want to be a doctor, an optometrist, a dentist, a physical therapist, a pharmacist, then they can enroll, right? So, those students know that they're on that track. They know they're going to be in school for a while. So, not only is this going to help them save time, if they know they're on that path, we can help them. We know that we need people in those industries, but then also, um, they can do it
034from home and it's straight from us with Hill straight to online. >> That's impressive. >> I really want to say kudos to this whole team because we all have different um requirements of what we have to meet, right? public school, we have certain graduation requirements. Hill has their requirements, and has their requirements. And so that's why it took so long. But the reality is, I think we've built such a strong program that other people can look at, model after, and now hopefully after we get approved tonight, we've already been talking in this team about what does marketing look like? How do we get to our kids? How do we start letting them know we have this program? >> Well, I'm >> Oh, wow. We're we're all here. if you can hear us or not. We're
035going, "Oh, wow. This is amazing." And we love our partnership with Hill College. Thank you so much for your hard work, all of you. We appreciate you. >> Thank you. >> Well, I'm excited. I'm excited that as we begin to educate our families about these new opportunities. Uh I'm excited for the students and the futures that they have for students depending on which direction they want to go. and uh and and of course a a great affordable education right here in Berles. And I I you guys know I'm a dual credit guy. You know, all of my kids participate. Matter of fact, uh her kid London was uh graduated with all of her core hours, if not more so. And it would have benefited London and she did it the hard way. >> Absolutely. >>
036And now we have an opportunity beginning of freshman year. Uh I guess in the fall incoming freshman have a chance to graduate 45 hours core complete as we used to call it the basics, the weed outs, the so on and so forth. the ones that all the kids roll their eyes at and moan and groan at. And they have an opportunity to get that done effectively, efficiently, coste effectively, and ready to begin in their upper level work as soon as they get to college. And that's exciting >> with a key support that Hill is giving them with that. Go ahead, Dr. Mills. This is you coming. >> Do they need extra support as freshman and sophomores in high school? Do they need that? Really? I'm just kidding. You got to teach them how to be
037college kids. Yes. Yes. Dr. Mills. >> Thank you, Dr. Jimmerson, members of the board. Uh, this is a tremendous partnership that we have with Birdless ISD. And I think what sets these two programs apart and wasn't necessarily obvious is that these students simply take one class at a time throughout high school with us. Uh, what's different is we supply all the teachers, all the administrative support. All we need is the space and a time to offer these classes. And the most beautiful thing about it is these students get to have a more just a pretty much a traditional uh high school experience. It's not like the specialized uh PEKs and early college high schools where students have to make a tremendous amount of sacrifices. They can have a normal high school experience and they just
038take one class a day throughout high school to accomplish this. So this is a very this is a one-of-a-kind. Uh we don't know of any any other college uh ISD partnerships that are doing this. Say that again, Tom. >> And so >> we're kind of breaking the mold here. I like that. I like that. And don't get me started with the program. Yes. This is I'm digging this. >> And and then the third thing is exactly that, the fact that we can go from basically middle school to medical school uh without ever uh taking a step taking a missing a beat and and do it in accelerated amount of time is also one of a kind and maybe the most amazing things. And last of all, I want to give a plug to uh my
039partner in crime, Brett Jimmerson. Uh we work with 28 ISTDs and this guy is the yes man. We come to him with ideas and he's like, "That sounds great. When can we start?" And that's >> I wanted to start this this fall. >> That's part of And then Lindsay got a hold to me with me like, "Are you nuts? That's not even possible." But anyway, go ahead. >> So, thank you for your partnership and your open mind. So go ahead and Marcel Kerr. Both of my sons are proud graduates of Centennial High School and have had just an excellent experience and are now in >> they they're where now >> they are both my eldest graduate from Texas Tech but now they're both in graduate school at Denton doing very very well. So just amazing
040uh instructional experience here in Berles ISD. >> So again you're hearing accelerated and accelerated is exciting. Saving money is exciting too, but the rigor is still there, right? And so when students are having to move faster and the rigor is still there, there's that's tough. It is really, really tough. So we want you also to hear that when they come to us for their upper level college courses, so that's the 3,000 4,000 level. We have a lot of wraparound services and they have direct contact with the faculty. So they will be assigned immediately a faculty adviser that helps them with career counseling and everything else. So we will not let them stumble. I would say we really maternally not in a stalkerish m fashion but we really >> we weren't going there but since you
041did >> and we have early alert systems the second we see a change in any type of behavior because it might be absences for one student it might be you know just something different going on with their assignments and what they're talking about we're going to reach out and make sure they get that support so we can keep them on track. Just want you to know that things and that's that's what because they're young. Yeah, >> they're younger than usual >> and the maturity level. We got to we got to mature them fast. Yes. >> Which means we also got to do a little more handholding as you were getting to so that we ensure success. And I appreciate you bringing that up. I I know we had talked about that in the past certainly.
042>> But just highlighting we're not going to let them fail. >> We're not going to. >> And that's what I like when they join in this program. We're not going to let them fail. And I and I appreciate that from our partners that you care about your future students as much as we care about our current students. So >> absolutely. Thank you. Thank you all so much. >> Is she here? >> Caitlyn's still here. Caitlyn, can we can we get a pick with our group here? And it's a monumental night, I think. So, can we get a pick? Is that all right? >> I feel like we need to have a a concluding pep rally or something, you know? So exciting. Yes. I'm excited. I mean, this is the stuff I wish I had an
043opportunity to take advantage of. >> I want to thank you all for being here. Thank you all very very much. >> Thank you. >> Awesome. >> Okay. So, uh with that, I'll need a motion from the board of trustees to approve the memorandum of understanding with Hill College for the 2026 through the 2028 Earlage College High School. the 2026 2028 partnership agreement for college preparatory classes and the dual credit partnership agreement program as presented. >> Uh Dallas second pat. All in favor? See none opposed. The motion passes. >> Thank you. >> See you time. >> Okay. Next is to consider library book purchase and donation but with Miss Leanne Author. >> Good evening. So this is a new item for us to bring to the board. Um as a part of Senate Bill 13, we
044now have new procedures and processes for us to go through before we purchase or accept donations of library books. So I want to go over those a little bit before we uh look at the list. So the first thing is to know that any new title that we are to purchase or that we would like to purchase has to go before our local each campus has a parent review committee. The committee has to be mostly parents and they have to be parents of students in the school at that time. So any book that we want to purchase has to go before them. The second thing is that a list of the books that we want to purchase has to be posted in the front office of that school for 30 days. Additionally, we put it
045on the district website um on the library services page and that has to be posted for 30 days to give opportunity for anybody to uh talk to us about it. And then the final thing is that we bring it to the board for approval. So there's several steps. I will say the group that we have tonight, uh, Ker Middle School has gone through each one of those steps, has provided lots of information to parents to look at the titles and, um, and then presented those in a list. Additionally, we have a list from Barnes & Noble. They u allowed people to purchase books to donate to us, and some of these were titles that we did not already have. So, I wanted to pro provide both of those lists to you tonight. >> And our
046parent review committee has has reviewed and approved or recommended that we accept Yes. and buy all of those. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, now I'll need a motion that the board of trustees approve the list of books uh for purchase and donation as presented. Hear a motion. Mike second. Ryan. All in favor? See none opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. >> Okay. Next up is Mr. Tom Dyer to consider cancelling the May 2nd, 2026 trustee election due to unopposed candidates. >> And you just said it. It's time to cancel the election because we don't have any opposed candidates. >> Okay. So, thank you, Tom. I'll need a motion to the board of trustees to approve the certification of unopposed candidates and the order of cancellation for the called election which would have been May 2nd 2026.
047Do I have a motion? Okay, Stacy. A second. Sean. Thank you. All in favor? None opposed. The motion passes. Next to the podium is Dr. April Sharelli. Uh we're here to consider an application for the staff development waiver. Yeah, I know. That's >> I'm just planning to stay put. I'm staying put for a second. Um, every year I come to you all around this time of year because after this we're going to discuss calendar. Um, but tonight we're asking for a staff development waiver. It allows us to provide for a maximum of 2100 total waiver minutes to use for professional development in our calendar for next year, but we are only requesting use of,440 minutes next year. Um, so that that way we can have staff development for our teachers, make sure they're well prepared,
048and then use that to make sure we include all of our minutes, which we already do. Okay, good work. I'll need a motion that the board of trustees approve the proposed staff development waiver for the 2026 2027 school year. Hear a motion, Pat. Second, Dallas. All in favor? See, none opposed. Motion passes. >> Okay, so now I'm here for calendar, I think. Yes, it's to consider the proposed calendar for 2026 2027. >> Perfect. Well, I had the opportunity to meet with the district educational improvement committee to come up with our calendar suggestion for this year and um they I am on behalf of them bringing it forward to you. Essentially, we have taken this year's calendar and we have rolled it forward. A little bit of adjustments have been made in there. We start in
049August 12th, which um is coming quickly, and then we end on uh May 20th. It's a little bit different calendar this year because Memorial Day has gone back to the end of the month. But our teachers were very excited about getting out with a week full to enjoy before Memorial Day is there. And the other thing that we've added outside of everything else that was exactly like last year's is a break in April on April 23rd. That was different than we had last year because of the way that um the spring break and then Easter holiday falls. So outside of that, it's the exact same calendar and we're happy to present that tonight. And we know lots of people are waiting for it. >> And we are going to finish on what day? >> We
050are finishing on May 20th. >> Man, that's early. >> Well, this year it's very it's still like May 21st, so it just rolls over one time. Yes, that's right. It's just that this year the Memorial Day is like on the 24th 25th and so it's just it goes back finally next year's calendar to a normal time at the very end of May which is so we're excited for that. >> Okay, great. I need a motion for the board of trustees to approve the calendar for the 2026 2027 as presented. Your motion Ryan second. Uh Stacy. Okay. All in favor? See none opposed. The motion passes >> and by doing it on the 20th, as I recall, the Friday is a work day. >> Correct. >> Which means we end on a Thursday. >> Correct. Correct.
051>> We have a work day on Friday for teachers and campuses to come in and get their work done so they don't have to return the following Monday. >> That's exactly correct. >> And I want to compliment you and the DEIC for making sure that our teachers didn't have to come back on Monday. And I also want to say on behalf of principles, thank you. We're badgered to come in over the weekend and get it all done. >> It's very true. Very true. That's exactly right. Yes. So, yeah, if you come back on Monday, really, you're working Saturday. That's what that means. So, um, our final thing tonight is that we have received the last three years a grant award. Um, it used to be called LASO. This year it's called Leaders. It's called Lyft,
052which is leadership instructional foundations for Texas. It is a grant that we have been awarded that allows us to continue the work with our school leaders to work on bringing ensuring they have the best instructional support and we to do that we work on anou with region 11. We're already currently working with region 11. We'd like to continue that for next year with our grant and so we're asking for you to approve the liftou grant with region 11 tonight. >> Absolutely. So this is like April said, consider a memorandum of understanding with the Education Service Center region 11 to serve as an authorized provider for leadership and instructional foundation for Texas Lyft, which is a grant. Um, so I need that motion. Do I hear a yes, Dallas? There second hat. All in favor? I
053see none opposed. The motion passes. Thank you, April. Good work. Well, that brings us to the end of the meeting for tonight. And this meeting is adjourned at 7:34 p.m.