001I'm doing it. >> I call this premeating briefing of the Carolton Farmers Branch ISD Board of Trustees to order at 6:00 p.m. on December 4th, 2025. The purpose of this premeating briefing is to conduct a briefing session with administrative staff regarding the posted agenda for the regular board meeting scheduled at 7 p.m. on December 4th, 2025. For the record, board members present are Kim Brady, Iliana Garza Rojos, Marjorie Barnes, Carolyn Benvitas, Paul Gilmore, Randy Shackman, and myself, Cassandra Hatfield. The next item is audience for guest. Um, persons who wish to speak during audience for guest need to submit an electronic form by 1:00 p.m., which is the posted deadline. And um, we do not have any speakers for the premeating. So, we'll move to administrative reports. Agenda item number three, Dr. Aldridge. Okay, we have
002two reports tonight. The first one is Miss Carla Settle item 5e about purchasing major budgeted items. And I do believe this is to do with utilities. And so, Miss Settle, if you'll explain um that information for us. Uh yes, every um month you receive a report regarding the major budget items to keep you informed on uh some of those larger ticket items uh as they operate within the budget. Um we did um change our energy contract. Um it was became effective in January of 2025. So we have seen an increase overall of electricity uh due to the fact that inflation uh affects that rate. Uh the other piece I wanted to really celebrate the work that the facilities and maintenance uh uh department has done is you know they've done a lot to mitigate the
003kilowatt usage and the with the replacement of all the rooftop units uh that has drastically reduced our uh usage. I think I have a number of 30,000 BTUs um between August 24 to August 2025. Um but the utility cost does increase over $2,000 during that same time period because of the fact that the contract has changed. >> Great. Thank you, board members. Any additional questions? Was it 2,000 or $200,000? >> I'm sorry. $210,000. Sorry. Um but in in the um on a monthly basis it was it was about averaging um some months it was as high as 2,000. >> Okay. Board members, any questions about that item? All right. Thank you, ma'am. >> Thank you. >> I would like to say on the utility usage, Mr. Merch and I met yesterday and we're going to
004put together a task force to study what else we can do to save our energy costs. So, um look forward to getting all that information coming soon. Um the next information item um Mr. Hunter um he is going to talk about our innovative course um proposal. >> Good evening Dr. Eldridge, President Hatfield and board. My name is Chad Hunter and I serve as the executive director of advanced academics and post-secondary readiness. I'm here to briefly describe an additional innovative course that we believe would add value to the district educational planning guide. The career technology education course would be an additional level one entry course in the engineering program of study. Uh the course is introduction to aerospace and aviation. And as you can see on the screen and I believe you also have a handout
005in front of you, it would be a partner strand to the engineering robotics pathway. Students would take a different course and then the same level one and level two robotics course. And then for the practicum course, their field experience would be differentiated between robotics and drone aviation. uh which is all in alignment with TEA and CTE course um sequences. Uh one of the reasons we feel this additional strand would be beneficial to our students is it mimics the job markets innovative changes. The FAA estimates over 90,000 jobs in remote aviation by 2029. We believe this will help us find the right partnerships as well as that uh industry grows. Uh we believe that we can um make sure that our students also pass the certification test which would come with an FAA part 107 remote
006pilot certification. Additionally, we are grateful this opportunity will come with very little funding resources. We have an amazing engineering team at Ranchu High School. We already have a certified teacher to teach the course and Mr. Barry. Um and so they're already invested in this uh next step for that course. We believe this minimal investment will pro provide a very big opportunity for our students and ensure that CFBISD is aligned with the career opportunities for our graduates. What questions do you have? >> Board members, any questions? I believe this is in line with uh like the Amazon drones that like deliver food to your house. Is that the kind of >> I'm learning a lot about drones and they are in um they're in lots of different industries. Um and and yes, uh that is one
007of them. I mean, who knows? A CFB student could be producing our our engineering that brings food and things to my front porch without breaking the eggs. >> That's correct. >> So, it's very exciting. All right. Any additional questions, board members? Thank you, Mr. Henry. >> Thank you. >> Um, no additional reports from Dr. Eldridge. So, board members, uh, we'll move to agenda item number four. Are there any other questions regarding the consent agenda at this time? All right. Seeing none, uh, we've reached the end of the premeating and the time is 6:06 p.m. going to be there right there. Yeah, perfect is there. Excellent. >> Yep. There. I call this regular meeting of the Carolton Farmers Ranch ISD Board of Trustees to order at 7:00 p.m. on December 4th, 2025. Board members, district staff
008members, and members of the audience, you're free to join me in standing as Elizabeth Ree from Hope City Church provides the message, followed by the leading of the pledges by Ilana Garza Rojos, leading the pledge to the US flag, and Kim Brady leading the pledge to the Texas state flag. Thank you so much. Father God, I present myself before you in the assembly of the CFBISD board of trustees to honor and exalt you. We gather this evening with grateful hearts for the opportunity to serve our students, their families, and our community. As we begin this meeting, Lord, we ask for your guidance and your peace. Bless the members of this board. Grant them clear understanding, compassion in their deliberations, and a share commitment of doing what is right for this district. I also lift up
009their families, those who support them behind the scenes, who carry additional responsibilities, and who give them the strength to lead. Pour out your protection and peace over their homes. Where there is weariness, bring rest. Where there is sickness, bring healing. And where there is brokenness, bring restoration. Lord, I ask for a special blessing for our superintendent, Dr. Wendy Eldridge, whose leadership and dedication help guide the direction of this district. strengthen her with courage and insight and encourage her as she supports both people and programs across our schools. We pray for our educators, our staff, and our administrators who give so much of themselves each day. Renew their strength, inspire their creativity, and surround them with steady support. May the resources and funding needed to sustain and expand opportunities be used wisely, open doors for additional
010support and provision, and bless all who work faithfully to steward and advocate for this efforts. Lord, we also lift up our students, the reason why we're here, each one unique, full of promise, and deserving of safety, care, and opportunity. And tonight, we give special thanks for the students being recognized for the achievements. May their hard work be rewarded, their gifts nurtured, and their futures filled with open doors and divine favor. Tonight, grant us calm spirits, open hearts, and a vision that looks beyond today toward what is possible when we serve together with integrity and hope. We ask all of this in your name. Amen. Thank you. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nationy and justice for all the flaggis. Welcome to the last uh board
011meeting of the year, except we have a work stud next week, but the last board meeting of the year. It's a very holiday festive time of the year that we get to celebrate with our students and staff and the schools. Um, and as a district, we dedicate all of our efforts and resources to our goal of high expectations for all. The board uses these goal this goal to guide every deliberation, decision, and action. As elected trustees, the board is responsible for providing oversight, strategic direction of the district, and ensuring accountability, all in the service of student achievement. You will witness the board conducting its work in open session, except for specific items that may be discussed in closed section as permitted under Texas government code section 551, commonly known as the open meetings law. These
012items typically involve personnel matters, consultation with our attorney, or real estate transactions. As we move through our agenda tonight, it's important to remember that we're in the business of supporting kids. With that in mind, we ask that everyone present uh everyone present model this respectful, responsible, and constructive behavior as we expect of our students. For the record, board members present are Kim Brady, Iliana Garza Rojos, Marjgerie Barnes, Carolyn Benvitas, Paul Gilmore, Randy Shackman, and myself, Cassandra Hatfield. We constitute a quorum and may conduct business on behalf of the district. Our next agenda item is item number two, special recognitions and presentations. And I'll turn it over to Miss Rodriguez. Good evening, President Hatfield, uh, esteemed board members, and Dr. Eldridge. Tonight we have the honor of being in the presence of a very brave young
013man. Perry Middle School 8th grader Jonathan Ivara displayed extra extraordinary courage during a fastmoving house fire taking action quickly and rescuing his grandfather. His bravery was recognized by both the Carolton Fire Rescue and the Carolton Police Department who recently presented him with a life-saving certificate and challenge coins during a school pep rally. Jonathan's heroism reflects the strength, compassion, and character we are proud to see in our CFBISD students. Please join me in congratulating Jonathan. We are so proud of you and in awe of your act of courage. Remaining board members, please stand and move toward the center of the dis for a group photo. Indeed, we want one with the family as well. [Applause] Baby's adorable. >> Thank you. [Applause] So for our CFB champion um award tonight um we are thankful to have a
014partnership with Chick-fil-A Trinity Mills. Um we are able to honor and those who demonstrate excellence with this award every month. This month we have the special opportunity to honor our very own Bobby Shaw, the director of facilities for being nominated, selected, and recognized as a 2025 Tasbo Pathfinder Award recipient. This award celebrates operations leaders who demonstrate innovation, quick responses, and a strong connection to students and staff. Bobby was nominated for his compassion, support, and development of his team and for playing a pivotal role in fostering growth and excellence across the district. Bobby was actually formally honored um for the at the Tasbo operations conference in Galveston last month during last month's board meeting. Um so we are now grateful for his presence and uh for him to accept this exceptional service and positive and uh
015be recognized for the positive impact that he continues to make in CFBISD. So, let's give him a round of applause and congratulate Bobby with the family. >> Oh, yes. Yes, if the board can stand and move toward the center of the DAS as well. [Laughter] Yes. And I believe we have some words from our >> Oh, sure. >> And and I believe that we do have some words from uh TASBO Representative Sheay Adams. >> Yes. >> They went away from me. >> Good evening. And I'll try to be as brief as possible. You covered that all so well. So, good evening, Dr. Eldridge and board and administrators and and community of Carolton Farmers Branch ISD. I am Shay Adams. Um I am here to represent and we say Tasbo, but that means the Texas Association
016of School Business Officials. Um, we are a 9,000 uh member strong uh community and we um I I was a CFO for school districts for 27 years and I retired last December and I served on the board of directors for TASBO for seven years and I proudly served as president when we created the Pathfinder award and this is only our second year to uh to actually distribute those awards and so it is a small group of prestigious uh recognitions and um but we really during that time period, the board recognized that although we're a financially driven membership, we have lots of CFOs and other school business officials. Um, we really we recognize more than anyone that the school maintenance and operations are the heartbeat of our campuses and we could not take care of our
017core mission, which you've already stated, taking care of kids is our core mission, all of us. And we just absolutely could not do that without the support and the the professionalism of our school uh maintenance and operations. And so, um, we wanted to have an award to recognize the innovation of these phenomenal men and women such as Bobby. And, um, one of the things I'm most proud of during that time period was the award structure to recognize that subset of our, um, membership. Um, we have another subset of our membership during that same time period that we were recognizing those who were rising up through the ranks um, to become the the current leaders and to become the future uh, really experts in that field. and you happen to have one of our rise winners,
018which is a very small uh number of people throughout the state. And one of our rise members happens to be your CFO. So, Miss Carla Settle. So, you guys are rocking it over here at Carolton Farmers Branch. Um, and so she's already covered the things um that that I would say to you about the history of the award and that we recognized Bobby and in Galveastston. Um, but also wanted to make sure that you knew that E3 was here. We have representatives Jake and Curtis from E3 who are our strategic partner with TASBO who support this award and uh we appreciate them being here as well. So um we really are very appreciative of this. I want to share one other comment with you that came from a colleague here in CFB. Uh Mr. Shaw
019is a great leader. He loves to recognize and publicly praise his team when they go above and beyond making sure that our district is taken care of during bad weather and never makes us wait for services. He teaches and leads by example to show his department what customer service really looks like. One of his team members suffered a great loss and he pulled together resources to help that family uh during that time of need and that's a great boss. Robert Shaw has been a pivotal leader in the district fostering growth, leadership and excellence within the custodial department and through his dedication he has implemented key leadership development initiatives including TASBO training. Thank you for that. um and to equip future leaders with the skills needed for success. And his unwavering encouragement inspires staff and uh
020to keep striving. And beyond leadership, Robert has cultivated a strong sense of fellowship, ensuring supportive and collaborative environment that strengthened the entire teams and and creates a resilient and forward-thinking custodial work staff. So again, thank you for allowing us to come and celebrate him once more because it deserves more than one celebration to have this. And I'm so glad this family was here to to do that as well. [Applause] And with that, that concludes this evening's recognitions. Well, what a celebration to celebrate one of our alumni um and the great work he does in that department and then our student um Jonathan for his heroic efforts. Um what a great night of celebration. So, we'll move to item 2B now, which is the president's report. Um, and I just want to take a minute to
021express a heartfelt thank you to our community for the various ways that individuals and businesses have stepped up to really support uh, families in CFB this uh, holiday season. Um, as you know, many families have varying abilities to be able to enjoy the holiday season and um, see excitement out of the holiday season. And so it has been so uplifting to see how we came together for the day of giving serving over 500 families Thanksgiving dinners, our operation warm in ensuring students have a coat and then the giving trees that are around the district to really um ensure that kids are able to see the the magic of the holiday season. So just want to thank our community for that. Um, and then in the spirit of focusing on uh growing lifelong readers, I wanted
022to encourage all of our students and families to engage in our Blizzard book challenge um where it started in November and it runs through January 6th and um when we welcome students back um for the spring semester. And the challenge is a wonderful opportunity to encourage reading this holiday season and add a little bit of friendly competition thanks to the district. Um, they're going to have some prizes for kids that read the most minutes. Um, so be logging your minutes or actually logging on to some online programs that log your minutes for you. And information on that is on our social media, on our website, and I'm sure they'll repost it on Parent Square. Um, as we head into the holiday season, I'm sure some board members would love to go give some prizes out
023after the holiday break for reading. Um, so please, uh, engage in the Blizzard book challenge. um even if you're adult engage in the Brosard book challenge and set a great example. So our next item is item 2C which is our committee reports. Uh we'll begin with the board subcommittees. The purpose of our board subcommittees is for a subset of the board to work collaboratively to support a particular focus area by preparing draft documents um or work products for the board's review and adoption. The three standing subcommittees and the board members serving on those subcommittees are shown on the screen. Board members, do we have any updates from our subcommittee since our last board meeting? Anybody like share for subcommittees? Yeah. Um the governance subcommittee met on November 12th. Um we discussed um we discussed our
024uh some changes to our BOP and we discussed um also some potential changes with the legislative the 126 update and um following that meeting we are going to be having another meeting this month. So, >> thank you, Miss Barnes. And the Bob is our board operating procedures, just for reference. Um, other updates, Miss Garza Roas. I am going to provide an oh, sorry, provide an update based on the leadership, which is the legislative committee. We're trying to get an action plan in order for us to be prepared for the next legislative session. Uh our intention is to have listening circles with stakeholders regarding future priorities and uh preparing just priorities over the next over the summer so we can push through hopefully in the next upcoming year. We are very excited everybody. This is the
025first time we actually are doing something like this and we have support from our council PTA as well as a local PTA to be able to kind of gather everybody and put everybody together to have a wonderful plan for CFB. >> Thank you very much. Any other updates? All right, we'll move to our uh district liaison committees. Um the role of the board liaison is to facilitate regular and smooth communication to and from the board and provide board support and information in the support um the committee operations. Board members serving in this capacity are listed on the screen. And then are there any updates um focus on student achievement that anybody would like to share? Miss Barnes? Sure. Uh the district improvement council me uh had their first meeting yesterday and they are going through
026um looking at the goals from the CV 2030 and really just took a deep dive in smaller discussion groups with uh what the plan was, what the actions are from the district and how um those are progressing. And so it was very exciting and I thank everyone who uh presented >> awesome >> and who's serving. >> Absolutely. Any other updates from committees? All right, then we'll move on to district announcements. Dr. Eldridge. >> Well, I would like to also say I'm so thankful for our community and our day of giving for CFB and how many meals we provided to our families is just overwhelming and such need. Um how we all work together. It's such a blessing. Um, I also want to share one of our academic goals. We always set academic goals for our
027students and we celebrated two of our campuses this week. Um, Kent and Roseme, we had a dinner for the teachers and it was amazing. They they were the recipients of what used to be called the Blue Ribbon Award. Now it's called the Lonear Award from the state. And we are the only two campuses in um, Dallas County that received that award. So they they outscored their student achievement beyond measure. And it was just such a blessing to have all the teachers there. And I have to give a shout out to Blleax orchestra because it was amazing to hear our eighth graders how they are performing. It was it just was a nice touch. Um also as one of our goals is our finances. And so earlier this month, CFB received an A rating, which is
028superior achievement in our TEA, financial integrity rating, also known as the first rating. And so only only 81% of school districts in Texas received this. So I want to thank our business department and all of our departments for um their just clean guidelines and expectations that we all follow. And I have to give a shout out to Dr. out and our technology department because while everybody is enjoying the warmth of football and being at home over Thanksgiving, our technology department never sleeps. So there were lots of cars at the building and people working and um making sure that everything's running and we're backing things up and also with the construction we're also putting in technology into different places that we have to have technology due to construction. Um, and I also want to say this
029Saturday, uh, um, no, this Friday night, um, Miss Lewis, thank you for being here. Um, there's a big PACE scholarship award, um, banquet at the Marriott and, um, what they give scholarships back to our students. It's so meaningful. So, um, we can share that information. It's it's it's truly a blessing when everyone from our community supports our students. So, thank you for being here, Miss Lewis. And that's all I have. >> Thank you, Dr. Eldridge. some very exciting updates about the academic progress and financial progress and just the way everybody's pulling together to support our community. Our next item is our update from PTA which is agenda item 2E and I'll turn it over to Miss Ethridge. >> Good evening uh Dr. Eldridge, uh President Hatfield, the esteemed board. I'm Diane Ethridge and currently serve
030as the secretary of uh CFB Council PTA. Uh currently we have 5,25 members and are at 84% of our members from last year. So we're just asking let's continue to work on increasing our membership this year. Uh the best way to join a single PTA is through uh join PTA.org or or another great great way to do this is to go out to our website and you can become a champion member, join all 32 PTAs or just join a feeder school high school PTA. Um so you can find our uh Square store at cfbta.org. Uh, I want to say a big thank you to all our schools that participated in the national PTA uh, reflections contest and council judging will be completed soon and the winners families will be notified with the invitation to our
031celebrations ceremony on January the 14th at the Nancy Watton Center. Our next delegate meeting is on January the 14th prior to the reflections ceremony at 5:30 and the reflection ceremony will start at 6:30. Um if you haven't already done so, haven't seen it or or not, uh please take time to read our new uh advocacy newsletter. Uh it's available on our Facebook and our Instagram page. Uh at this time it's, you know, it was our first time doing this, pulling the newsletter together. And so we'd really appreciate any feedback or comments on anything uh about the uh newsletter because we want to make sure we're providing the necessary uh information the community is looking for going forward uh as the new legislation session will be coming up. Um and so now to our winners of
032our November challenge. Uh the challenge was school, family and uh school uh was school, family and community connection. So for our primary award, this school hosted a family education night using the national PTA's smart talk presentation which guides families through digital safety conversations. They also uh spotlighted their uh reflections entries and their winners. So, the congratulation goes to Kent Elementary. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Uh at the secondary level, uh the students hosted a Friendsgiving on Thursday, November the 20th in the cafeteria of the school. The students coordinated as a team to cook, bake, and serve a Thanksgiving feast to their fellow students. So, congratulations for this goes to Creek View High School. Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Uh so, thank you for your continued continued support and advocacy for our children. [Applause] Thank you
033so much, Miss Ethridge. Um, stealing an old quote from Les Black. We could not do PTA or school without PTA. See, we couldn't do school without PTA. So, thank you guys for everything you do to support our schools and we're really excited about the advocacy work you guys are joining in on um as we hope to make a big splash in the 90th legislative session. >> All right. Um, at this time, we'll have a brief pause to allow anyone who would like to step out of the meeting to do so. Anyone wishing to remain, you're more than welcome to stay for as long at the meeting as you would like. All right. Our next agenda item is item number three, audience for guests. Persons wishing to speak for our during audience for guest must have
034submitted a form online electronically for this purpose prior to the deadline and the closing of the form at 1 p.m. today. As of the posted deadline today, we had one submission to address the board. Before I begin, I will remind our audience members of the board's procedures for handling audience for guest. Each speaker will be allowed to speak one staring audience for guests. Speakers designated as a stakeholder will be allowed a maximum of three minutes and speakers designated as non-stakeholders will be allowed a maximum of one minute to address the board as dictated by board policy beed local. Because the board wants to hear from as many of you as possible while keeping the meeting running efficiently, groups of five or more people who want to present on a particular viewpoint on a topic should
035appoint one person to speak on behalf of their group. Please remember that the board cannot deliberate on any subject that is not included on the agenda for this meeting. Board members will listen to the comments but will not respond or answer questions. Recognizing that students are at the heart of our work, we ask that speaker model your respectful and constructive behavior we expect from our students. Please keep your comments civil and courteous and avoid profanity or personal attacks. Refrain from discussing children who are not your own child. Yelling, disruptive behavior, or discriminatory remarks will not be permitted. In the event that your comment in the adjudgment of the presiding officer constitutes a complaint or a charge against an employee or officer, it may be necessary for me to interrupt you and ask you to stop
036or direct you to proceed to the school's district formal grievance procedures. If a speaker is seeking board resolution on a specific complaint, that concern should be addressed through district's grievance process, which can be found online and includes policies DGBA, FNG, and GF. Grievance forms can be obtained online through the district's website. In compliance with the Open Meetings Act, please note that the board will not respond to public directly and will address any agenda items as deemed necessary when they're listed on the agenda. The timer will be shown on the screen in front of you and you may begin when you arrive at the podium to speak. Again, the presentation will be li limited to the allotted time. We'll begin with our stakeholder comments and it'll be limited to three minutes. And our speaker tonight is
037Nicholas Ornelis. Nicholas, address 1117 East Vander Drive. Welcome back. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving break. Uh, prior to addressing item 5Q, I just wanted to congratulate this district on their selection as a case study for the new oversight and accountability laws being composed for the 90th legislature. Um, you've changed your speaker participation guidelines at least three times within the past year with the latest amendment occurring between the last board meeting and now. I'm puzzled why you're so adamant and worried about disruptors and saboturs. Has there been a lot of disruptions? Has there been people coming in and stopping the hearings and causing trouble? Because every board meeting I've been at has been extremely civil. So, it's just really confusing. And I'll quote your executive director of Advanced Academics. You seem paranoid. All of
038your quote unquote guidelines and procedures are just suggestions. As you're aware, your custom guidelines are not legally enforceable. So, you're really just wasting everybody's time whenever you're talking about uh slanderous and def defamation. If you'd like to charge somebody with that, I would love for that to happen. I would love for that to be adjudicated and you legally be known. If you try and stop anyone following the Open Meetings Act guidelines, you will be the one disrupting the board meeting. you will be asked to leave. Back to 5Q. I'm not sure what special board meeting you saw or participated in, but the board meeting I viewed on November 13th did not close until after 6 p.m. So, this is this is just a suggestion. I would look at those minutes that you're trying to approve.
039You know, it was did you close the meeting at 5:31 or 5:34? From what I saw and a lot of other people saw, that's not correct. So, I don't know what's happening here. I don't know. I literally am confused as to how you think you can get away with this. It's blatantly a lie or you're omitting facts or it was intentional as retaliation against that father and daughter. or you can admit to being incompetent and accidentally doing it. So you pick because you violated Furpa. You're going to get a letter from the Department of Education. These are all facts, right? Because if it's not, this would be slander and I could be liable to be sued. Correct? I'm very comfortable with what I'm saying because they're facts, which y'all choose to ignore. and all this
040nicities, all this everything on paper, right? You you have the intention of doing good for this community. >> Sir, your time is up. Thank you for your comments this evening. We will now move to the next agenda item, which is item number four, non-action items for discussion. We'll begin with item 4A, the construction update. Dr. Eldridge, would you please introduce the item? >> Yes, Mr. Blackburn is here to discuss um some of our updates and things that are happening. We have a lot of construction going on in our district and new and exciting times. So, Mr. Blackburn, >> good evening, Dr. Eldridge, President Hatfield, members of the board. It's good to see everyone tonight. Uh just wanted to give everyone a quick update on all the things that are going on. Um, as we've uh
041discussed before, we're proceeding with uh three different buckets of work. The renovation work, the replacement campuses, and the safety and security work. This is a summary of what's going on at the various campuses. Uh this past summer, we had work ongoing at 19 different campuses. Right now, we have active construction at six campuses and next summer, we're planning construction at 20 individual campuses. And just a quick overview of some of the work that's been completed or is ongoing. Right now, we have a limited renovation happening at Creek View. We're about 50% through construction there. Uh the picture you see is preparation for new epoxy flooring in one of the instructional areas there. This is work at Kent Elementary where we also have a limited renovation going. We're about 50% complete there. This is Roseme. Again,
042we're about 50% complete with our re limited renovation. This is Blleac Middle School, which is one of our major renovations. Construction is about 20% complete. We'll have a total of about uh seven phases that are planned for this campus. Um, we're really excited about what this is going to be like when it's completed. Uh, just one thing to note, uh, because of the extensive work that's needed for the kitchen, we will be starting the kitchen renovation work, the heavy renovation work in the kitchen, supporting the kitchen space, uh, about a month early this year. So, we're working closely with food service to make sure they're taking the kids are taken care of, but that should help us be able to complete that work on time. Davis Elementary, we're doing a limited renovation. We're substantially complete
043at that campus. Thompson Elementary, uh, another limited renovation and we are substantially complete there. Turner High School is a major renovation. We're about 19% complete with construction there. Um, a lot going on. We've got, as you can see in the picture here, we've got steel erection going on in one of the courtyards. Most I think um all of the steel with maybe a couple of pieces u the exception of a couple of pieces has been delivered to the site. So they're making good progress working hard to uh keep the cold air out and the warm air where it belongs in the areas where the students are. So um we're continuing to work on that. Um but making good progress there. Pleased with how things are going so far. Um, Blandon Elementary is a limited renovation,
044uh, substantially complete. Smith High School is probably the winner for the most complex renovation project. It's got 13 different phases, um, working in most parts of the campus. Um, a lot of coordination going on, uh, including outdoor ADA improvements. So, um, that's a big effort that's getting basically getting getting up to speed right now. Uh, so they're rolling. Pulk Middle School, um, has got it's a minor renovation, but right now, if you drive by there, and if you have driven by there in the last few weeks or a couple of months, you've seen a big hole in the ground. They're doing what we call moisture conditioning to prepare the soil before we replace the the field there. So, they're making good progress with that. Um, and there you see the bulldozer doing its thing. It
045goes back and forth and back and forth. Takes a while. Um, Countryplace Ele Elementary is a minor renovation. We did some work this summer, this past summer, and we got some more work going on next summer, but right now it's we're paused um at that campus. Child Development Academy was a minor renovation. That work is substantially complete. Riverchase Elementary, another limited renovation. That work is substantially complete. Bush Middle School, limited renovation, substantially complete. Freeman Elementary School, limited renovation, substantially complete. Landry Elementary School, limited renovation, substantially complete. Ranch Engineering, kind of a cool space. If you haven't seen it, I encourage you to go by and take a look. Uh, that's substantially complete. Blair Elementary, limited renovation, uh, substantially complete. Vivian Middle School, uh, doing some critical maintenance type work and that is substantially complete. Clofflin
046Strickland, uh, limited renovation and substantially complete. Stark Elementary, limited renovation, substantially complete. And if you've noticed uh around here, this particular building and across the street, we're getting ready, we're getting mobilized to start the work on Carolton Elementary School replacement. Portables are uh put together. They're finishing all the services that go into those portables. Technology and lighting and uh fire alarm and all those sorts of things are being finished up right now. So students, fourth and fifth grades are planned to move into those portables uh after Christmas break. So that is uh getting rolling. Uh we actually actually the technical site plan for this campus is in front of the planning and zoning committee with the city of Carolton right now as we speak. So moving along there, uh you'll see some project signings showing
047up. Here's an example of one of the signs. Uh so those will be going up at various places around the district. And then um quick update on the bond fiber project. We are getting really really close to being done. Um vast majority of the work is complete. We've got a few items uh remaining. But as you can see uh the most of the work has been done. And just as a shout out um to the foresight of our technology staff uh and the planning that was done for this uh because of the work that's been completed even though one of our local municipalities lost connectivity when there was a fiber cut at 35 in Valley View a few days ago. We did not. Teachers didn't notice a difference. Students didn't notice a difference. Uh we
048rolled right on and had no issue because of this work. So, we're really thrilled about that, that it's paying off uh already. So, with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions y'all may have. >> I mean, I think you need to be having some celebrations. Um, when you said 20 going to be under construction, you didn't sound very enthusiastic. >> It's a lot of work. >> 100% 100%. Board members, any additional comments or questions? >> Yeah, great job. And I'm excited to see the signage. um as I hear people in the community, they ask questions about why are there portables and is it what's it due to? And so I think it's really important that the community understands the this is their dollars at work. Um so I really appreciate the signage and excited
049to see when we're going to have some celebrations to um see some of the completed work. >> So thank you very much. All right, our next agenda item is item 4B, the academic calendar development timeline. Dr. Aldridge, would you? >> Well, I do have one comment for Mr. Blackburn. So, at our uh Lonear dinner for our teachers, our fifth grade teachers who have been there at Rosemade quite a a significantly amount of time. They weren't happy about packing up all their stuff, but when they saw some of the finished products, they just can't wait to move to the new space. So, a lot of teachers were, "Oh my gosh, we have so much stuff." But when they see what it's turning into, it's so exciting for our teachers. So, thank you for all your work.
050Okay, our next item, our academic calendar. Everybody gets so excited about what do we get when do we get our days off next year. Um, so this is our timeline and our our meetings and how we um really come about making the calendar work. And so, I've asked Miss Miss Hulcom, soon to be Dr. Hulcom. She's working on that and um to explain our timeline and process. So, if you'll explain that to the board. >> Thank you, Dr. Eldridge and President Hatfield and distinguished members of the board. I am here to give a very brief um update on the process and the timeline that we do for our academic calendar. So, we are underway um for all of the things. And while this is a really tiny graphic to see, I've put this in more
051of a timeline for you um to kind of see the steps in action. Uh we started this process in November where we did a staff survey and the staff survey actually um gets feedback from all of our internal stakeholders on the current calendar, what they like about it, uh what they would like to see changed and what they would like to see for parameters in the 2627 calendar. We've had lots and lots of feedback. Um I think the last um that I was reading through there was like 255 comments and they were great. I mean, there really is so many wonderfully um informative things that help us to know what to put into the new calendar and what our stakeholders are wanting. Um so then um after that, the district calendar committee met. We reviewed
052the feedback from the internal stakeholders. We reviewed other ISD drafts of local school districts that have already put some calendars out there or at least the ones that they're considering. Um and then we also um set the district parameters for what we want to see in those 26 27 drafts. Then last night the third step was that the district um improvement council met and they have a calendar um survey as well. And so that is actually open um and for another couple of days and where we're going to receive their feedback and compare that also with the internal stakeholders and then that will also then advise the 26 27 calendar uh parameters. Um at the end of this week we will actually meet again as a district calendar committee. We will have three uh drafts
053that we will pull together. We will review those and see if they're meeting our academic needs and uh the parameters that were set by the stakeholders. Then we will then on December I think we have a button that's sticky. Okay. On December 10th through the 17th uh those three choices will go out to the staff and they will then narrow down to the top two. And those top two are the ones that we then put out for all stakeholders to vote on. So there will be a family and staff survey that will follow on December the 18th and it will be open all the way through January the 5th. Uh we do that strategically over the holiday so they have quite a bit of time to study and look at those drafts and find what
054they find is the most um their favorite and then cast their votes. And then on January the 8th we will bring the final two drafts to you for a board approval and we will bring of course the results of the survey for you to see what the most popular voted calendar is. And that is the timeline and so we are right in the middle right on target. And if you have any questions, I am happy to answer. >> Board members, any questions about the calendar. Well, I think that this uh overview will do it and we can put it on the consent agenda in January with a little summary and I have a feeling all this great work that's happening to get feedback from the community and staff will be greatly appreciated. >> Thank you.
055We appreciate the support. >> Thank you. All right. Um, our next agenda item is agenda item number five, the consent agenda, which is a mechanism that the board uses to approve a number of routine items together with a single vote. In compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, the public notice for this meeting includes a list of all consent agenda items and the board has been provided example ample information about these items in advance. Prior to taking any action on the consent agenda, board members may request withdrawal of individual items for clarification or discussion. Board members, are there any items to be removed from the consent agenda at this time? All right. Seeing none and hearing none, do I have a motion regarding the consent agenda? Miss Brady, >> I'd like to make a motion
056that we approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Do I have a second? I have a second from Mr. Gilmore. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? All right. Seven in favor, zero opposed. The motion carries. Our next agenda item is item number six, items for discussion and or action. Um, seeing that there are no items removed from the consent agenda consent agenda, we will skip from 6A to 6B. Um, 6B is consider the official ballot resolution to vote for a nominee of the board of directors for the Dallas Central Appraisal District. um board members, you have at the dis um the list of all of the Dallas County nominees. So um in this is the step two of the process that we engage in. First, we can nominate someone for the position.
057In October, the board chose to take no action for a nomination on this position. And then this month is the second step of the process um which you will see there were 13 candidates and the information has been provided in your packet. Um, CFBISD has 64 votes that it can cast and the board may choose to cast all of our votes for one candidate or distribute them among any number of nominated candidates or take no action. The two candidates who received the most cumulative votes um across all taxing entities are elected. Um, board members, do you have any questions or comments? And um, this item is marked for possible action. Does the board wish to take action? Miss Brady, >> I move that we the CFB ISD board of trustees cast our 64 votes in
058for the Dallas Central appraisal district candidates in this manner. 32 votes for Mr. Kevin Carbo senior and 32 votes for Cassandra Phillips. >> Okay. Um board members, I have a motion from Miss Brady. Do I have a second? I have a second from Miss Garza Rojos. Is there any discussion? Okay. Um, I will say I believe it Miss Phillips currently serves on the Dallas County Central Appraisal District. Um, and so that's a continuation. Um, so that's just one comment about that. All right. Um, all those in favor? Opposed? Seven in favor, zero opposed. The motion carries. Uh the next item is 6C, which is consider by official ballot resolution to vote for a nominee of the board of directors for the Denton Central Appraisal District. Um just a little background information on this one. In
059October, the board chose to nominate Mike Kennefer for this position. Now, this month, there's also that same additional step where we can choose to um take action with our 39 votes that we can cast as a district. And there are four kinds that are nominated and you have those um in your board packet. Are there any questions or comments about this one? >> All right. Do I have a motion? You have a question? >> I have a question for this. >> If we choose to have another candidate, so if if let's say Miss Brady decides to make a motion and she casts her votes, can we split them? Can we make another motion? >> So, we can split the votes. So, we have 39 votes >> and we can choose to put them all together
060or we can choose to split. So, we can have a discussion about like here's the candidates and this is why I think this one would be good. I'd like to recommend this. Kind of talk through it. >> Um, and then it's open to the floor for anyone to be able to make a motion. Um, and at that time, we'll kind of see how it goes and we can amend it if we need to. >> Okay. >> Go ahead. >> Okay. >> I was afraid to make the motion. So, >> do you have is there discussion? Uh just a discussion. Um Jordan Variel would be a wonderful candidate for this. So I'm not sure how we could split or if we should split in a certain way. I don't know if it's weighed just down the
061middle or if it's weighted to one person more than the other. I don't have an answer for this. So my only comment on that was um since we as a collective group um nominated Mike Kenneifer that of the 39 since we can't have a half vote um that he be the weighted heavier since we nominated him as a a collective board last time. So my suggestion would be that if you want to split them >> can we understand a little bit more about why Jordan would be a fantastic nomination. He's just very involved in the community and I'm sure he'd be a wonderful asset to the appraisal district. But I can I can understand what you're saying that it's not going to go down the middle because not not an even number. So I was
062just curious about how this would work moving forward if we were to choose to. >> Any other comments, discussion about this item? >> No. Okay. Um well that I'll entertain a motion. Miss Brady, >> I'd like to make I move that we the CFPISD board of trustees cast our 39 votes for the Denton County Central Appraisal District candidates in this manner for I'll make the motion for 39 for my Kenneifer. >> Okay, I have a motion for Miss Brady. Do I have a second? Have a second for Mr. Gilmore. Um, is there any discussion? All right. All those in favor? Opposed? By a vote of seven in favor and zero opposed, the motion carries. All right. Our next agenda item is item number seven, closed meeting as authorized under the Texas Government Code, including but
063not limited to section 551.071, Consultation with Attorney 551.072, Real Property. 551.074, Personnel Matters. 551.076, Security Devices. 551.082, School Children, District Employee, Disciplinary Matters or Complaints. 551.0821 Personally identifiable student information. and 551.3084 investigation 7A is pursuant to 551.074 and 082 the Texas government code discussion regarding notification of the Texas education ed educator certification division of contract abandonment by teacher Cynthia Elena Jinx and 7B conduct the superintendent's formative evaluation. The board will now move into close session. You are welcome to remain in the boardroom as board members recess and move into the conference room for deliberations. The time is 7:51 p.m. The time is now 8:34 p.m. and we are back in open session. Um, we'll move to item 8A. Consider and take possible action regarding the notification to the Texas Education Agency Educator Certification Division of
064Contract Abandonment by teacher Cynthia Elena Jinx. This item is marked for possible action. But um, before that, Dr. Eldridge, would you read your recommendation? >> Yes. It is recommended that in accordance with the Texas Education Code section 21.210C 2110C and 19 Texas Administrative Code section 249.14. The board approve a finding that no good cause exists for Cynthia Elena Jinx abandonment of her probationary contract of employment, abandonment of her position, and attempt to resign from Carolton Farmers Branch ISD without consent of the board or design on October 27th, 2025, which was after the 45day penalty free resignation deadline and less than 30 days before the first day of instruction for the 2526 school year. It is recommended that the board submit a written complaint with the information required by 19th Texas Administrative Code 249.14J to the
065Texas Education Agency Educator Certification Division State Board for Educator Certification seeking sanctions for Cynthia Alina Jinx abandonment of her employee contract. >> Thank you, Dr. Eldridge. Um, does anybody wish to make a motion? Miss Brady, >> I move that the board render a finding in accordance with the Texas Education Code section 21.210C2 2110 C2 and 19 Texas Administrative Code 249.14J that no good cause exists for Cynthia Elena Jinx, a teacher on the probationary contract, abandonment of her employment contract, abandonment of her position and attempt to resign from the Carolton Farmers Branch ISD without consent of the board or designate on October 27th, 2025, which was after the 45day penalty-free resignation deadline and less than 30 days before the first day of instruction for the 252 26 school year. I move that the board authorize the
066board president to submit a written complaint with the information required by 19 Texas Administrative Code 249.14J to the Texas Education Agency Educator Certification Division State Board for Educator Certification seeking sanctions against Cynthia Elena Jinx, a probationary contract teacher for abandonment of her employment contract with Carolton Farmers Branch ISD. I have a motion for Miss Brady. Do I have a second? I have a second for Mr. Shackman. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? None opposed. With a vote of seven in favor, zero opposed. The motion carries. We'll now move to agenda item number nine. Comments from board members regarding posted agenda items. Board members, does anyone have any comments about the posted agenda this evening? All right, seeing none, the time is 8:37 p.m. and uh we are adjourned. Wow.