School Board Meeting | May 4, 2026

001I call this meeting of the Castleberry Independent School School District Board of Education order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present, that this meeting has been duly called, and that notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. As a reminder, we are here for what is best to promote and encourage achievement for every student in our district. At this time, we will My computer just went crazy, sorry. Let's do that. Let's go go through paper. Jump down to item number three, communication from citizens. Uh we appreciate you being here before here this evening, and we always welcome communication from citizens of our district. Individual individual who wish to participate during the portion of the meeting designated for public comment

002shall sign up with the presiding officer or designee no later than 1:00 p.m. the day of the board meeting, and shall indicate the agenda item or topic on which they wish to address the board. Ms. Branch, do we have anyone who wishes to speak to the board tonight? No, we do not. Thank you, ma'am. Then we will move directly to item number four. Ms. Smith-Faulkner, were there any questions called in regarding the consent agenda? Uh yes, Mr. Board President. There was one clarification on the roofing uh project, and uh that I don't No questions, Lenny. No Yeah. So, the clarification was um the funding, and that is in the soft cost uh for the bond election from the bond election, okay? Thank you. Now, we'll move on to item five. Uh we have 5A, fine

003arts recognition. Mrs. Faulkner. Yes, at this time we have our fine arts students and they are going to recognize how staff and students in Castleberry ISD in the fine arts programs are in route to destination success. Good evening, members of the board and Superintendent Smith Faulkner. It is our pleasure this evening to discuss the road map for our district's continued success in fine arts. As we look across our classrooms, we don't just see students. We see innovators and leaders preparing for a world that demands their very best. Castleberry fine arts proudly maintains a commitment to an expectation of excellence in every lesson delivered and performance. This year, we have officially cleared the runway for our district theme, destination success. Like any great voyage, the path to achievement this year required a clear map and the

004most dedicated crew of fine arts teaching experts that anyone could ask for. Tonight, we will celebrate the most recent achievements of our amazing Castleberry secondary students and in the spirit of teacher appreciation, we must acknowledge how these talented fine arts teachers have provided them with the skills and motivation to reach their highest potential. In visual arts, destination success begins with the courage to fail until excellence is achieved. This year, our artists didn't just participate in the TEA visual arts scholastic contest, they dominated. Students at Irma Marsh Middle School competed in Junior VASE with 28 students earning perfect scores at the contest. At Castleberry High School, 56 students earned perfect scores at the VASE contest. Both schools achieved the most winners uh recorded in Castleberry history. Over high school winners, three students advanced to state bass

005earning perfect scores at state. This standard of brilliance is anchored by our teachers. When we call your name, would you please stand? Ms. Gonzalez, Mr. Gonzalez, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Robinson. You don't just teach technique, you teach resilience. You are the architects of their vision. We appreciate you and all that you do. Let's give them a round of applause. If Destination Success had a soundtrack, it would be played at 120 beats per minute by over 600 teenagers in perfect formation. After the most recent UIL contest multiple sweepstake wins, it's clear that the Castleberry band program doesn't just follow the roads to success, they are the road. Recently, at the Region 30 UIL band contest, IMS band students received straight ones from all judges in concert performance and sight reading. Castleberry High School wind ensemble and

006symphonic bands earned the same superior performance and sight reading recognition as well as the coveted sweepstakes trophies. Students also performed this past weekend at the UIL State Wind Ensemble Festival at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as earned national recognition for the wind ensemble as they were named this year's Mark of Excellence Commended Winners. We are especially proud to recognize the following students who earned prestigious UIL State Gold Medals for their exemplary individual musical achievement and outstanding section performance. Please stand students when I call your name. Audience, please hold your applause until the last name is called. Raul Vital, Kristopher Fernandez, Heidi Ramirez, Emmanuel Cardona Martinez, Jesus Rico, Cassandra Salas, Xiomara Garcia, Emiliana Gutierrez. And to those who couldn't come, Emilio Hernandez, Francisco Trejo, and our drum major, Ruth Juarez. Congratulations to this

007outstanding accomplishment. We are so proud of you all. Another success to note, Irma Marsh Middle School bands were recently recognized by the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation and awarded a donation of instruments from their Adopt-A-School campaign. The total retail value of the donation was $34,827 and was made possible through generous funding from the Van Halen family. Yes, that Van Halen family. To our directors, when we call your name, would you please stand? Mr. Perry, Mr. McCall, Ms. Sampley, and Mr. Wall. You demonstrate that excellence isn't an accident. It is the result of consistent effort and intelligent execution. Thank you for never lowering the bar. Let's give them a round of applause. We continue our journey with choir. Destination success is reached through the perfect blend of voices. Whether it was earning superior and excellent ratings at

008UIL solo and ensemble contest or the full ensembles performance at the UIL concert and sight reading contest. These choir students have proven that when you work in harmony, you arrive at your goals faster. To our vocal pilot, Ms. McNeal, would you please stand? You teach students that even when the notes are high and the air is thin, they have the breath support to reach the summit. Thank you for all that you do. Let's give a round of applause to Ms. McNeal. Enter stage left, theater. Our drama department doesn't just put on plays, we build worlds. From the lead actors to the techies who make sure the lights turn on, these students embody the show must go on spirit. After our recent UIL one-act play success, it's clear we have some future Oscar winners in our

009midst. I.M.S. theater students also earned individual recognitions for outstanding technical work and all-star actors. Congratulations, students. To our theater educators, when we call your name, would you please stand? Ms. Benoit and Ms. Daria. You are the directors of our dreams. You push us to be vulnerable, to be bold, and to be professional. Thank you for showing theater students that success is a performance of character. Let's give them a ROUND OF APPLAUSE. FINALLY, WE CELEBRATE MARIACHI. HERE, Destination Success is a vibrant fusion of heritage and high-stakes performance. There's no average in mariachi. There's only passion and precision. Their recent award-winning performance proves that when you honor your roots with commitment to excellence, the sky is truly the limit. Castorville High School Mariachi Los Leones was awarded superior straight ones for performance at the state UIL Mariachi

010contest. Both Irma Lerma Middle School and Castorville High School's five Oh, sorry. Five mariachi ensembles earned division one ratings at the recent Fort Worth Mariachi Extravaganza contest. In addition, both the high school and the middle school received the converted best in class trophies designating CISD Mariachi as the overall Extravaganza winners. To our mariachi instructors, when we call your name, would you please stand? Mr. Segala and Mr. Salazar. You instill a tradition of excellence that our students will carry for a lifetime. Thank you for teaching our students that excellence isn't just about how you play the vihuela, but the pride and corazon you put into every performance. Let's give them both a round OF APPLAUSE. IN CLOSING, WE TOLD everyone the goal was destination success, but Castleberry students took it too literally. Our trophy cases are

011currently undergoing a structural integrity check because they cannot hold any more trophies. Our teachers have also forgotten what a weekend is and what quality sleep looks like. But that is the tradition of excellent we excellence we built. Success isn't a place we visit, it's an atmosphere we breathe. To our fine arts teachers, again, thank you for being the conductors of greatness. To our parents, would you please stand to be recognized? To our school board, thank you for ensuring our flight is always funded and our destination is always high. We look forward to another year of making beautiful music together and reaching new destinations. Thank you. We're going to take some pictures. So, we want all those smiling faces up here. And Angela will direct it if anybody else wants to take some pictures. We will

012take pause and take a few minutes. Mhm. I'm on the packet. We're going to get back go ahead and get back on to item 5B. A draft of proposed compensation plan. Ms. Walker. Yes, Mr. Board President. At this time, Captain Walker, our director of talent acquisition and development, will share a draft of the proposed compensation plan. Good evening school board trustees and superintendent. Tonight, I present to you the first draft of the proposed compensation plan for 2026-2027. And I would like to step you through some updates and I'm going to do it quickly cuz Ms. Walker said I had to turn my novel into a reader's digest episode. Our strategic plan links educator quality directly to compensation. We are shifting to an incentive-based culture where competitive compensation fuels our mission to recruit, retain, and reward

013the high-performing educators that our students deserve. Don't be alarmed by the red in the draft. To ensure a consistent voice, we have simplified and shortened the text to make the policy more accessible and transparent for our staff. Most of these updates swap jargon for clarity without changing the policy intent. I'll be focusing today on a few strategic adjustments made to clear up vague areas and to keep our compensation aligned with the current market. H6 now reflects our full compensation landscape, integrating ACE, ADSY, additional day school year, and the teacher retention allotment into our master plan. We've used this opportunity to align grant-funded pay with district standards, simplify stipends, and connect job descriptions to the evaluation process. To protect our budget, we've added formal overtime oversight procedures on pages 10 and 20. These steps ensure supervisors

014can effectively monitor hours and prevent the unbudgeted costs associated with unauthorized overtime, ensuring that our spending remains within our fiscal constraints. Our modified salary chart on page 23 introduces two strategic talent pipelines. The residency program is a partnership with Texas Wesleyan and Texas Christian universities, providing six residents, each with a $20,000 salary, 50% of which is state-funded through the Lasso grant. They earn a year of service and can provide weekly sub coverage for the district in the second semester, another cost savings for our district. With the intern pathway, we structured pay to incentivize alternative certification candidates to meet House Bill 2 deadlines. Higher pay dangles the carrot for interns to earn their standard certif- certificate by the time they start year two. Next, on page 22 and 23, we've also added the state's teacher retention

015allotment to reward longevity. $4,000 for teachers with 3 to 4 years experience and 8,000 for those with 5 or more years. And we've locally funded librarians because we know how important they are as instructional leaders. Regarding the retirees, we've removed the 20-year pay cap and in alignment with House Bill 2, the mandatory 16.5 TRS surcharge will now be passed through as a salary reduction. On pages 24 through 29, you'll see a couple of places where we've made some changes. These key plan updates include the shift to art the art facilitator model to save money and a refined pay scale for our speech language pathologist assistants. We also adjusted pay grades for technology, auxiliary, and high school assistant principals to ensure our compensation reflects both current market value and increased job responsibilities. On page 32, you'll

016see where we've increased the number of TEA eligible assignments for 2026-2027. We are dedicated to maintaining the program as a way for our educators to earn up to six figures. Now, more details on the specific modif- modifications will follow in the strategic compensation section. Our perfect attendance incentives on page 33 are a point of pride for the district. While these are financial incentives for teachers and aides every 6 weeks and for staff annually, they actually save us significant indirect and opportunity costs. We were are one of the few districts offering this and strongly recommend continuing the program. On page 34, our longevity pay remains another key differentiator for the district. It is essential for meeting our 18% retention goal by rewarding employees who return year after year. Additionally, we are right-sizing through administrative decentralization to

017shift decision-making authority from the central office directly to the campus level. This transition ensures that leadership is closer to the classroom, allowing for more responsive, student-centered outcomes, and greater site-based accountability. To support the Blue Bonnet curriculum rollout, we are decentralizing elementary leadership by shifting from central office coaches to campus-based academic leaders. These roles are strategically funded through grants to provide direct site-based support for our instructional transition. At the middle school, the campus academic academic leader will provide daily support alongside a Title funded English language arts and reading instructional coach. This ensures a dedicated focus on literacy through a strategic site-based leadership. At the high school, the academic dean role will transition to a campus academic leader to sharpen instructional focus, also supplemented by a title funded English language arts and reading coach. At the Alternative

018Learning Center, the assistant principal role will transition to academic Dean of Alternative Education as we explore new virtual learning options. Our next step is using Skyward to finalize budget scenarios, ensuring that the 2026-2027 compensation plan is optimized for fiscal health and final approval. Pending any questions, the details of the strategic compensation plan will be covered in the next presentation under agenda item 5C. Any questions? I have just one question. On the Bluebonnet campus leaders that will be financed through grants, you know, we always have to ask that question. How long is the grant? What happens when the grant is up? Well, let So, um we know the Lasso grants for 3 years, and so that's how we're covering the math portion. They have a one they've had one cow now, so they have two. So,

019I can foresee if we do not have the funding, we after the initial implementation, that it takes a lot to implement it um with fidelity, then we would downsize back to one campus academic leader like we've had like we have now. But, we felt like there's a very heavy lift with Bluebonnet. So, we wanted to be sure that we gave our teachers all of the resources necessary and the support at the campus level. So, okay. And then when I looked online on the packet, there was lots of blanks on what the salaries were. Is that going to be Blanks? The high school principal salary was missing. Middle school salaries were missing. So that's I don't know but that is part if you look at the strategic compensation plan it could be very various and I

020think that we're going to cover it in this next presentation. And and I can show you later. Okay. Okay. And could you go back about you I missed what you said about a salary reduction? I missed who was having a salary reduction. I I don't remember. Was that about the local librarians? No. after that. Right after that. Um no, I mentioned that um the one things that we're shifting to is the equity adjustments. So we're moving to an art facilitator position shifting from um diagnosticians to art facilitators. They require less certification and we can hire them for uh a lower salary. The um diagnosticians that we have will remain where they are. We're not down like downgrading anyone. It's just for future hiring. Okay. That's the model we're moving to. Could you go back to

021when you were talking part of your presentation we were talking about people here at 20 plus years and what came right after that? I think that's when it happened. Cuz I wrote that same note also. Okay. I think if you clicked your UEA link that you provided in your presentation we could show that we're working on the experienced teacher salary and where we fall with UEA. See if that's in Uh this has been kind of a purposeful um movement within the salary structure. I Did you find it? There you go. Yeah. Can you make that just a little bigger Angela? And I think that when um as we're looking at zero year uh teachers Calsbery always went after beginning year teachers and what we're noticing is we have less turnover rate and I'll show y'all

022that a little later. And when we look at it, Angela, go all the way to the top back and look at uh once we hit 5 years of service, Castleberry's within the top two or three in pay uh or four and you'll notice we've worked tremendously in the years of 20 uh 25 and 30 because we were at the bottom of the list previously and so what we're doing is we're honoring our teachers that have more experience in the district. So, I don't know if that's what you were talking about at the time, but our residents uh once they have 1 year, they actually jump uh once they complete a year with us, they actually jump on 1 year of service instead of having to start at zero, which also boosts their pay. But, I'm

023not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure on the longevity pay. Is that what you were talking about? Where they I just wrote myself a note that 20-plus years salary reduction {question mark}. And so So, originally, okay, I know what you're talking about. Originally, we had capped any retired teacher who was being rehired at 20 years. So, if the the teacher was coming back and they had more than 20 years, we were capping them at 20 and we weren't paying them higher on the salary matrix because we were having to recoup some losses from that 16.5 TRS uh surcharge that we um get charged whenever we hire a teacher that's retired and then comes back into the profession. Because the House Bill 2 removed that um surcharge had to be paid by the district, it now can

024be um paid by the employee that we hire, we took off that 20-year cap so that they can get onto a higher matrix cuz now they're going to be responsible for paying that 16.5% surcharge. Yes, that's what it Is that what it was? Okay. Thank you. I think is that what you were talking about? Yes. Yes. Everybody good? On to item 5C, please. Okay, so now we're moving on to the strategic compensation update. As one of only a dozen districts selected for the state's strategic compensation grant, we started piloting a model that pays with educator effectiveness and student outcomes. This initiative allows teachers to earn raises at rates comparable to other professional industries moving away from the slower um pay scales step by step by step. Castleberry is now among over 50 Texas districts following

025human capital structures to financially reward measurable student achievement. Angel, if you'll move on to the next slide. Thank you. So, why are we one of the districts who are part of this shift? Well, first off, I love giving away money. I mean, seriously, they say money can't buy happiness, but in my experience, when you give someone more money, it sure makes them happier. The whole point of strategic compensation is to be able to give people chances to make more money through performance incentives directly tied to district goals and priorities. But first, we need the money to do this. While enrollment and attendance drive our base funding, we proactively use grants to enhance our compensation model. Though these funds usually come with specific requirements or strings attached. Strategic compensation is more than just score cards. It

026is financial stewardship that aligns how we generate revenue, how we get that money, and how we intentionally invest in staff. Tonight, I will show you how we are mapping these resources to high-impact positions that directly support our mission and student needs. In our compensation plan, we highlighted targeted funding like the TXRL and the Lasso grants that support early literacy, um and extend our school years extended school years through ADSY, and the teacher residencies. Similarly, the teacher incentive allotment allows us to funnel state funds directly back to our highest-performing educators. Now, TIA, or the teacher incentive allotment, remains a primary driver for our strategic compensation. And we are thrilled to announce a new round of designations that's going to be coming out this week. We have 25 new recipients and four redesignations. We will now have

02754 locally designated teachers and four additional designees who transferred from other districts. These TIA funds stay at the teacher's campus to support instructional staff, serving as a powerful retention tool with an impressive 96.67% return rate among our designated educators. We only lost one of our TIA designated teachers uh transitioning from 24-25 to 25-26. I think that's amazing. Yay. Now, as promised, we are also expanding TIA eligibility to include nearly all elementary teachers. And we have a broader range of secondary core and advanced staff. While the data management is increasingly complex, and I've linked the TIA tables in here for you. And it shows um each grade level, content level, what specific tools we're using, how we're actually measuring, and it's pretty um detailed, and it's not a simple It's not a simple formula anymore. Um

028but, we feel like this investment is vital to ensuring all teachers have a path to higher earnings. By the spring of 2027, this expansion qualifies us for enhanced TIA. That's going to provide us increased state funding and greater flexibility in how we distribute both retention and incentive allotments. And I'm going to show you in the next uh timeline on the next slide. So, our timeline highlights our progress in generating TIA funds and launching the initial strategic compensation phase for principals. This fall, we began data capture for our principals, and this upcoming fall of 2026, we'll begin data capture for assistant principals, campus academic leaders, and elementary teachers with an effective effectiveness pay schedule to launch in the fall of 2027. Now, you may remember this graphic. These three categories, student performance, instructional leadership, and campus

029environment, will now drive principals pay. As shown in the October scorecard example, point criteria vary by campus level, while the category weights remain the same. To address concerns regarding pay, we have ensured that the principal scoring at proficient at proficient one, that's 65 or more points out of 100, will earn more than they would under the previous 2025-2026 plan. The following slide outlines the specific salary bands for each level. Again, points are tied directly to principal effectiveness with those salary bands designed so that proficient one earns above their current pay. We have also designated 2026-27 as a hold harmless year allowing principals who land at the progressing or unsatisfactory levels one year to improve while maintaining their current salary. Additionally, we are introducing up to $7,500 in incentive pay above the base salary for meeting

030district priority goals. These incentives directly align with House Bill 3, special education, and CCMR goals rewarding leaders for driving progress in these critical areas. As we expand strategic compensation, we begin the data capture year for assistant principals, campus academic leaders, and elementary teachers. While the scorecards are still in the design phase and subject to refinement, the next two slides show our progress in aligning student outcomes and district priorities with educator point values. The first slide outlines the proposed breakdown for APs and CALs and the next slide shows the proposed breakdown for elementary teachers. To wrap up, we are exercising intentional fiscal stewardship by leveraging targeted funding to support our district initiatives and by strategically right-sizing our staffing and aligning pay with high-quality performance, we're ensuring every dollar supports educator effectiveness and student success. Our goal

031is to return next year with measurable results, improved student outcomes higher retention rates, and a thriving well-compensated workforce. Thank you. Any questions? Do you have a question? Go ahead. Is are the measurements for the principal incentive allotment state given by the state or is that a local or those local measurements? These are These are local measurements. So, part of the strategic compensation is for us to work with a third party and design this based on our campus priorities, campus needs, and district goals. That's part of the grant with steady state that we have that TEA is implementing and so they give us a starting point so that we are pretty much aligned with other districts that are implementing this. So, the measures are still based on A through F and star. It's just what is

032the What is the formula for what's important to Castleberry's district and our needs. That's where we have some ways that we can adjust it and we aligned it with the board's House Bill three goals as a start. And we will be voting on this, correct? The the strategic compensation plan? It will be in the overall compensation plan. Okay. You mentioned that we're expanding TIA eligibility. So, is that just a district decision that we can make or is there also guidance that we have to follow? Um it's guidance. In order to get to the point where we can sustain the strategic compensation, we need to have as many eligible teaching assignments as possible through TIA to generate revenue so that we have money to work with. In addition, it adds extra money when we reach a

033certain threshold, we get enhanced TIA which provides additional funds from the state and more flexibility with how we can spend the funding. I want to clarify though, I think what um what the question is is that and and Scott can kind of help with this is there is a a lot of formula figuring and we have to meet a certain threshold to be approved to be able to issue TI. You have maybe heard of other districts around us who they did not meet what is the word? It's not compliance validated. validation. Thank you. They did not meet their validation and so some of them are not going to move forward with TS so far we've been able to meet the validation and we have moved to star for the measurement in many areas and then

034we're still exploring to be sure that we can make within validation cuz if you don't meet validation the state is not going to give you the additional money to as a pass through to your teachers. So they do regulate it very closely and it is a lot of extra work on creating the data, ensuring it fits the formula, and then ensuring again that we can validate the growth measures within that. So there is meetings that are happening with TEA steady state. They have a TEA rep steady state. They oversee the process that we're doing and approve basically give us approval to move forward. And then this is a larger question that probably has a lot of different factors and response into it. I'm but I was curious what were the trickiest parts of just this

035process? On top of the time that it takes the data collection, the plugging it in, like the the the time or the hours that goes into it. What were the biggest challenge areas and then what kind of gaps do we still see even with this? Knowing that roll out takes a few years to happen. Gosh. It is a big question. Yeah, I'm going to say it is a lot. And so our roll out TEA I just said look, we're a small district. We're rolling out. We want to be sure that what we roll out is correct and that we do it. We're able to take the data in and validate it." So, they actually in our last meeting gave us a document that said, "How much time do you need? We're We're going to be

036expanding on the timeline to give you a little more time cuz I literally told them, "You know, we we don't have a lot of people that are able to digest the data, ensure all the testing is going to, you know, be valid." And so, we are submitting to them a new a new timeline so that they can give us a little more time to ensure that we're doing this correctly. And so, um I would say just implementing it and ensuring that the data points we have meet validation so that we do not make a mistake and we're the reason that teachers do not get their TI. That is what lays heavy on our heart. Thank you. And I think too, as when we started small, it was very, very manageable. And the more and more

037data that we're collecting, we're trying to utilize tools that we're already using in the district. But that just creates a large pool of tools to pull from. And so, the management of that is pretty uh overwhelming at times. I think the the proudest thing about it is if you look at our experienced teachers that have been here who are being successful and where they are in the 10-years, the 20-years, then you put the TI on top of it. We have teachers that make over $100,000 in the district now because of these incentives. Quick question. Um I think as we move into the advanced part of it, um just want to distribution-wise, where where are the bulk of the teachers and are we using that to kind of drive how to scale and improve across the

038district? That's a great question. Um, as you see and you look at who can get the designations, we have very strategically put it where the greatest needs are for the district and then also the incentive pay. You'll notice that it's also in the areas where we want to see student growth and improvement. And so we're we're doing that first, laying the foundation and expanding in college and career military readiness will be the next portion for college readiness. And so we have a plan for that. So we kind of started small and we're building but there's not always we had to find test because not everybody has a star test. What are the measurements that TEA is going to allow us to utilize? And so that's been another growing pain because there's been some changes on

039what they allow us to utilize and what's out there. There's a list of Well, there's not very much out there. Um, I'll be honest with you and some districts create their own but we're not we don't have the manpower. So what's available is what we usually take advantage of after it's kind of someone's been that's gone through the growing pains with it. And just one more and you talked about this earlier but if a principal were to get an end satisfactory and now their salary is decreased. I mean, this is some heavy decreases that we're looking at. So are we being fair to our principals and what are what are what are some of the Is that an unfair question? No, no because we, you know, I think that the principal sitting there has that

040concern also but I believe that we wrote a hold harmless that they get a year before their salaries decrease so that they have an opportunity. You know, things can happen. Uh you know, that's not there within their control with especially if you have a small teaching staff at Joy James. You have two or three teachers in one grade level. Let's say something happens to a key teacher. Well, that might be something that's out of their control that uh we can always sit back and go, you know, uh that is a hold harmless year and so we're going to move forward. But when we looked at it, we felt very good about where we landed, where they are currently in their success, and what trajectory we see in our benchmarks. And so we will be meeting

041with them individually to let them uh know what their hold harmless year for next year is. You said there's only one year of hold harmless. What if there's a bad year another year? Do we have that local flexibility to You you could you could, but um I think that it there comes some predictability and staffing and hiring that we all have to look into, but if there is something that is out of their control again, that's certainly for the board to decide. Okay. Thank you. I remember this hearing this how many years ago? Five years ago. And I thought it was a great idea. And now when it's here, it gives me a little bit of a pause. So that's why I'm asking those hard questions. Thank you. Item 5D, budget work session. Mr. Wooten.

042All right. Good evening, Mr. President, Board of Education, and Superintendent. Uh tonight I'll walk you through where we are financially and more importantly what will drive our budget moving forward. And so we believe what will drive our budget moving forward is student enrollment. And that's going to be the bulk of our discussion tonight cuz as as you said before, more students come to school, it increases ADA and ADA increases uh state funding, state aid. Next slide. So, the key discussion points tonight are year-end estimates, which is a point in time as of April 30th, budget drivers, and we said those budget drivers are are enrollment, ADA, and weighted average daily attendance. Uh and then we're going to talk about the enrollment impact. What if we What if we gain 100 students? And what if we

043lost 100 students? How would that look? And then next steps. The quick essential question is where do we expect the district to end the year financially? Uh next slide. This is a uh This is as of April. Right now, we believe that we're going to collect 99% of of our budget. And we're also going to spend 99%. So, the net change is positive. Uh that's of April 30th. Uh April hopefully will get better. Uh next slide. So, this is this is what we're doing now. Instead of cutting the budget, what we're doing now is taking a strategic shift to increase enrollment. Uh cuz we want to keep our students, we want to we want to grow our brand and strengthen our community, and build build for long-term growth. And this is going to help us

044academically, but also more students will help us financially. Next slide. So, the the uh this slide shows our full pre-K through graduation pathway. Our focus is keeping our students and attracting new families. Uh events like our open house support that effort because enrollment drives our financial stability. This is probably my favorite slide here. Uh this is a cohort progression. Uh this this slide, in my assessment, it the full story. Each band represents a grade level and the total height uh the total height pretty much you go to the top it's going to tell you how many students that we have in that particular uh bandwidth. Um the cohort line uh this line follows one group of students all as they move through our system. So, basically what what we're doing here is that uh we

045track every student as they enter the system and what this does for me is that this helps me figure out exactly what my staff uh student uh ratio looks like, teacher to student uh uh uh classroom sizes. So, this helps uh with with the budget. It tells me exactly what's what kind of uh uh enrollment uh that I'm going to have. So, I want to make a point. If you look at every student enters this cohort in pre-K and then we have 196 students and you can see the progression to kindergarten. The the numbers are getting stronger and stronger and then first grade and then second grade. All of a sudden we start dropping. So, this tells us exactly what data points and what uh uh pressure points in the process that we need to

046kind of focus on. Um next slide. So, this this slide um pretty much this slide tells us the financial impact. I want to draw your eyes to the red uh square over there. If we pretty much if we lose 100 students uh our net change from the base year $800,000. So, if we if enrollment drops by 100 students we're going to lose funding of $800,000. Uh look at the green portion. If we Conversely, if we increase students by $100 I'm sorry, with 100 students. Uh we're going to gain $1.1 million if we were to increase enrollment by 100 students. Uh subsequently, if we increase enrollment by 200 students we're going to gain about 2 million dollars. Um and so uh that that's the the key takeaway for this for this graph is that student enrollment

047is important. Uh ADA is important. Uh basically uh we get paid off of both basic allotment and weighted average daily attendance. if we were to increase our our average daily attendance by 1%, we would uh we would earn three $735,000 just by that 1%. That that would uh mean that every student had to come to school every day. Um and so basically I'm going to stop there in case you got any questions about uh this chart. I have one quick two quick questions. I think we're going to get a lot of students because it looks so great. So, we're going to have room for them. And then the other question, are we privy privy to how many students are leaving our school because of the vouchers and I can't remember what it's called, the freedom

048I I can I I can answer that. So, um something came across my desk the other day just for our area. There's really not any approved very many approved areas that serve other than uh pre-K or kinder that was approved in the voucher. But, the key to that is going back when you look at the uh cohort progression is that we have to capture them as a pre-K student. And when you capture them as a pre-K student, you see that we can predict the numbers. And so, that's that's why we have the pre-K roundup. And then we've added because we have um June gave me the numbers today on our transfer students. And so, we're looking at uh increasing close to 100 if we and then but we have to keep our transfer students and

049they're going through a process, so it takes a while for us to process them and check uh uh their eligibility. So, if you see this on May 14th, anyone that's a transfer student has been invited to a pre- preview. I've had parents call me from other local school districts who have emailed me about what's going on on uh preview day, and we've sent out 15,000. Uh Ms. Offenbacker has targeted uh students from 4-year-olds to 16-year-old houses, and there's 15,000 of these that have gone out uh advertising uh our preview. Uh because what we feel best is for our staff and our parents who already transfers to be here uh to be able to talk to our parents and uh our new transfers and for uh them to decide if Castleberry is the best fit for

050them. If you also look at this chart, I would it's here during the day when we had over 4,000 students, our district is probably built for 2,000 elementary and 2,000 secondary at a max. And so, what we will can do is uh we jumped on the transfers early so that uh we can uh and we process them, and we're watching our overall enrollment because we can only have so much so many kids in elementary that feed into middle school and high school. And so, at the times that we had about 4,000, 4,050 kids, we were really full as a district. So, we really cannot accept more than that. Do we have empty classrooms at the elementary level? Yes, we can empty some classrooms at elementary level. Mr. Wooten, what um ADA is being projected with

051the numbers here? That's uh at 92%. Good question. Now, we're on to 5E. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. You good? All right, board. Mr. President, board, Mr. Cason, uh Superintendent, thanks again for allowing me to present the budget update uh as of uh from July 1st to April 21st, right? Next slide. So, today's discussion points, we're going to talk about the budget snapshot, budget financial performance, next steps, action plan. Next slide. So, as we said before, uh we feel pretty good about uh where we are in our projections. We believe that we're going to collect 99% of our budget, and we're also going to spend. We believe the net change is going to be positive. Next slide. So, here's a uh here's the budget financial performance. Please draw your eyes to the green uh

052square. Uh obviously, uh we look good in every other category. Uh myself and Chief Praiser will talk about the 96% is due to because of a drop in our levy. Uh next slide. So, this is the the one of the things that we noted uh in December. Uh Chief Praiser will come come up here and talk about this one. With with a drop in the levy and because of uh increased exemptions, and I asked Chief Praiser to come up here and kind of give us a debrief as to what what unfolded. Uh good evening. I'm I'm Jordan Bobbitt. If you I've been here before. Uh glad to be back. Um So, it really came down to one property. And there was a $72 million apartment complex that was a public property. And so, in in

0532024 and prior, it was totally exempt. It was owned by Ironwood uh Public Facility Corporation. It sold to um H or FW Street Facility Corporation. And so, that sold in in May of 2025, that exemption automatically comes off because you can't carry over an a total exempt property. It it it prorates, essentially. And so, once we saw the ownership come through, we had to remove the exemption. It wasn't enough till October that we received enough documentation to show that the new owner was a public facility corporation, also. So, then we had to put the exemption back on. It's just a $72 million property, so that's a a fairly large property, and we have to grant the exemption. And so, it it briefly came off the roll during certification, and then then the exemption came back

054on. So, timing-wise, not optimal. How does that impact us in layman's terms? Well, when when we certified, you had 72 additional million dollars, so when the rates get set and everything, you're you're assuming you're going to have all this extra money when the rates get set. And then that money gets taken away. And so, now I think it's roughly a $500,000 impact. Yeah. So, so basically But will it come up in the state aid side now? And so, it's really we're going to get the the same amount, it's just what bucket it's coming from now. I think that's what I was getting at. Yeah. We did a presentation maybe uh 2 months ago that the entitlement the state has made statute that we will get our full entitlement. Uh I think the next step next

055step is to work with our tax attorney to make sure we uh uh self-report to the state that uh this has happened. Um and then so, they're going to make there there's provisions in the law to get us paid. And so, this year this budget year we will take a slight hit, uh but in 7 to 8 months, we're going to we're going to see that money back in our coffers. So, but it's a it's a shell game right now, right? So, tax tax roll is always fluid. So, the moment we certify, there's always like homesteads coming in up to 2 years late. Late total exemption come in 5 years late. And so, there's all this stuff that can hit the roll. Very rarely does anything get added to the roll after we certify. It's

056just a trickle down from that point on. So, it'll affect our budget a little bit this year. It won't cuz you just said 7 8 months we'll see that So, it will hit the it will impact the 25 26 budget. And we're we're estimating about $500,000 hit. But, the offset of that is that interest earned. We've all we've also made money on interest earned. So, it's it's it is it will help soften the blow a little bit. But, um But, then the state will give us back that money. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am, they will. So, a little hiccup. We just want to make you aware of of what transpired and that the mechanisms that are in place are working. Uh and so, hate that it had to happen to us, but we'll we'll

057wait our time and we'll get our money back. So, Mr. President, any any questions? I think that's all we have. No more questions. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Wood. Thanks, sir. On to item 5F. Mr. Holloman. Good evening, board, President Toliver, Superintendent Smith-Faulkner. Uh I'm going to change things up just a little bit. We are going to speed it up, but I'm going to on the uh celebration of year old 2-year anniversary of passing the bond, we're going to do a quick video that's going to be a time lapse from start to finish. So, I hope we're excited about that. It's uh it's been a lot in a short amount of time. So, hopefully the video will do it justice to show you all what kind of progress

058and success that we've had. Okay, go ahead, Angela. Okay, our strategic plan remains the same, 3.2.2. On time, within budget, and with all safety protocols. We're actually a little bit ahead of time and under budget, which is uh something to celebrate each and every month. That's why I'll keep bringing it to you. Okay, go ahead. And here uh we have some white outs. So, that's the first month we've had that. So, we've completed uh some of our infrastructure, which is our transformer and our power lines. We also completed, of course, the band hall uh last semester. So, still to go is a few items, uh and then we'll jump into the final phase this summer, which hopefully we will complete uh in the fall semester and be ready for the spring semester um with all

059those originally designed uh items completed. Okay, go ahead. Uh real quick with the financial overview, not a lot of change because we had actually just paid on our pay app last uh month when I came to you all, and we've had one come through Friday, but we um have a couple of weeks to get that paid out. So, not a whole lot this month. Uh go ahead. And so, here we go with our video. If you have any questions on that before we do the video, cuz this is going to be so exciting, you might forget your questions. So, and I'll try to narrate um with the best narration voice that I have. Here we go. Okay. So, this is uh of course uh two years ago. This is last summer, and we will begin

060grading. Go ahead. So, during this time, and this is last summer, uh well, when obviously with a little bit of the stabilization. We actually removed 47,000 yards of dirt. So, as you can see, the crane's coming in. We're going to start drilling our piers, getting our slab on grade ready. So, we'll also pour and set our elevator pits in place. You can start seeing a little bit of our piers coming up. So, this would be last summer because we are starting our slab on grade. You can see a little bit of our brick coming up. So, this would have been going into a little bit of fall, and there's our elevator shaft being built. So, that's just in a short amount of time. That was the early package was complete. And now we're erecting steel.

061We had about $5 million worth of steel and labor that we erected in about I say we, they erected in about a four or five month period of time, which is outstanding, especially considering that we were below grade when we started B and two stories high. Also to mention here is that we added the storm shelter, which is a lot of extra labor. So, here's our framing going up. This would have been going into the early spring. As you remember, our waterproofing around the edges. Here we go. I think you'll see a little bit going in with our our weather coming up as soon as we start the uh the stairways. A lot going on in the interior that's not going to be able to be shown on this. There was our January 29th snow,

062and there goes our brick veneer. So, in about a six-week period of time, we completely dried in both edges of that building. I want to remind everybody this is well over 100,000 square feet that we're doing at one time here. And here goes our learning stairs. Now, we're coming up into late spring, and there we go. So, we weren't quite that fast. But, that's what I have for you this month. Again, I've done a few of these, and this has probably been the most successful to this point. I'm going to knock on wood with both hands. But, I still will entertain any questions that you may have or questions moving forward. Otherwise, we'll come to you with some more updates next month. Is that video available to the public? Or somewhere? Sure, we can make

063it available to you guys. That's what we're here for. Is it on you Was it on YouTube? Is that where it is? Uh no, that one's not on YouTube. That one is something that BTC created, but the videos that WRA does with the drones are all on YouTube, and we can send you those links as well. Great. Anybody else? Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Item 5G. Mr. Faulkner. This next presentation does We have several people that have been working on this project that's with me. Also, saw Humberto Aguilar come in. So, he's also here in case we have any questions. He's with our bond council. He is the person that wrote the ballot language for us. So, first, you know, I just want to say that it is amazing to see the progress

064that's been made since the approval of your 2024 bond project. The The progress, the work that's been done has all been outstanding. Before we know it, the connector, our science rooms, that storm shelter, the drama theater, the library, and the cafe will be ready and furnished for our students to occupy that in August of this year. That is amazing. Uh, in December, the CTE, the CCMR, and the office area will be completed, and students will be out of those portables. We've gotten rid of some in our new state-of-the-art CTE facility built with a college and career-going focus. And so, that will be coming in December. Uh, because we've been ahead of schedule, and because we have uh, worked many hours on the project, it leads us to our next uh, exciting chapter. And it gives

065us a little more of an opportunity than what we thought we might have because of the savings uh, due to the time frame and the fact that we're on schedule, and we've avoided um, some things that uh, come up during building. And so, um, this leads us to being able to talk about the remodel of the existing main entrance or the north end of the existing building. This is the original building when you look at it and what was the first part of the school built. That's also what many of the voters said, "Please do not get rid of where I went to school." When you walk up the stairs and where the main office of Mr. Barnes was. Due to careful planning by WRA, the execution execution, uh, BTC, and many many many many

066owner meetings, Derek can attest to that, I am thrilled to report that we are on schedule, ahead of schedule, actually, and have saved money to ensure that we can provide modern modernized and updated spaces within the traditional building footprint. We weren't sure how much we would have left and what exactly we could do and uh, we kind of have a clear idea of some of the needs that we need in our district. So, we're going to start with looking more closely with the needs of the students who currently attend Reach and Truth or what you might know as the alternative learning campus on this area in this area. Our enrollment is growing. We are adapting the best we can within our existing building and within the budget to meet the needs of our more diverse

067students who thrive in a non-traditional learning environment. We have more and more students who seem to thrive better in the non-traditional setting. But at the same time, we also still encounter a lot of challenges and we encounter new challenges than when Reach was first built or actually when it was in the portable behind my English classroom at the Irma Marsh Middle School. We need to expand our services that are provided. We need to expand on services that are provided by employees on other campuses. For example, we have employees that must leave their home campus to come and travel to Reach and Truth from high school and some other areas to help meet the needs of our students in Reach and Truth. And then we say, how do we provide special education services or case managers

068that diagnostician from other campuses? Are we going to continue to ask them to be at one campus and travel to another campus because we have diverse students that all need have needs and to that are more successful in a non-traditional classroom. We need to ensure that each student has an individualized graduation plan based on their needs and their goals and their dreams and has the same access to post secondary readiness. Let's think about this. It is now developing that our reach students and the thinking that we previously had in what we offered for students has changed where reach students need to have the same opportunities for CTE. We don't have any beautiful CTE post secondary opportunities. And what about college classes? Our reach students are attending more and more college but have limited access uh

069to college courses whether it's the teachers we can provide. And again, just limited to what we're going to be providing our high school students with the CTE pathways. How can we better align Truth's curriculum with the students CHS teachers classroom? Right now, they're very uh because of um the the teachers uh being at the high school or the middle school and they and the students are at Truth's, we must put them on a different curriculum. But what if we could bring the teacher to the students at Truth's and continue the high quality instructional instruction uh that they deserve from their original teacher with touch points. More students work. We find out I was talking to uh Mr. Molinar about this. Many have family obligations. Some have medical needs and would benefit from more flexible scheduling

070or even uh virtual learning opportunities. However, Reach is successful at building strong connections with students so we worry what would happen if we change that. Well, we uh they're they're successful and by giving them individualized attention, uh many times we see them through graduation. We don't want to We want to carefully think how do we keep that intact when we think about what are some of the needs that we need to provide for the students. So how can we address all of these needs or challenges, these new challenges that when the building set in a portable behind my English classroom in in eighth grade are very different today. Kids are different, their needs, the way they learn are are very different. And so we want to continue to build strong connections with our Reach students

071and our True students. We want to give them individual attention. How can we still do that and allow them to tap into the affordances of our new high school, our high school spaces, and the many uh programs uh that we're adding such as a P-Tech early college high school acceleration uh and uh actually more college courses. Um in addition, Reach and True are housed in a aging facility. Do we spend money on an aging facility that will need roofing, HVAC, and modernization in the future? Cuz if you look at the picture that um Mr. Wood provided that was on our flyer, you one of the schools probably stand it out or stood out over the others. When we uh when we can remodel and provide would we put more money into that when we have

072an opportunity to remodel and provide a new innovative learning environment that addresses the existing instructional challenges that we can now provide, provides flexible and non-traditional learning environments for both Reach and where we can expand offerings to target CHS students who need additional support. There are many CHS students that want to accelerate more than we can, but we can't offer the classes. But maybe that could be offered through virtual learning and have personal touchpoints for those students so that they can also earn more college credits. We can do this by providing virtual learning, flexible learning times and spaces in this area. Many attendance issues at CHS, when talking to Mr. Molinar and his team, are due to student obligations or challenges beyond the students' control. Some want to take more college courses than we can provide.

073Or it's second period and I'm I'm in band second period. I'm in mariachi. And so I have to make a decision. What if they had another flexible opportunity within the campus footprint? And how can we reimagine reimagine the existing aging Breach and Truce building to meet the needs of our students? We have an increase in youth sports participation and green space needs. The requests for facilities come across my desk. And when I first became the superintendent, there were very few youth activities coming across my desk. We have worked intentionally with Mr. Matthews and built helping to build the youth cuz when our youth is active and our parents are here in the community, they stay in our district. We don't want them going next door uh to play sports or soccer. And so requests for

074facilities have increased and uh they need places uh to practice in our district. Uh many times there is a fight over who can use what uh field in our district. In addition, um we have an opportunity to remodel existing building and to take advantage of or pilot or look at how we can utilize Senate Bill 569, which is the uh introduction of expanding how we can look at virtual learning and we get funding for virtual learning or hybrid uh learning options. Um how can we use this Senate Bill to increase access to advanced coursework that students might not be able uh to take because we simply can't offer it or it's not it is not at their building or we do not have a teacher. And create more flexible student pathways where students can choose

075their pathway and work at their own pace because many parents might have other obligations that students might need to take care of based on student needs is what we're hearing. And so if they're missing time, how can they make up time and attendance doing doing these things? We can leverage Senate Bill 569 by the plan or the proposal that we're going to present because it truly comes from a student instructional need not to just remodel a facility. We can leverage Senate Bill 569 to meet the needs of Reach Truths and expand our Castleberry high high school students with some opportunities they've been asking for. I can think of a valedictorian who came to me and said, "I want to take more college classes." I had no way for them to take the classes and I

076had no way for them to get credit or us to get funding. And so if we take advantage of this, we can also fulfill that guide and have a place for students to check in on their virtual learning and someone to oversee it. Again addressing the need for the non-traditional, there's more students who need non-traditional learning environment. Not only just for Reach and Truths and some of the challenges we're trying to overcome for our Reach and Truth students, but also how can we tap into those for those students at the high school that also are looking for non-traditional because if we don't offer it, we're in a very competitive area. They will go somewhere where someone does offer these types of services. These challenges that I've gone over present I never look at a challenge

077I look at a challenge as an opportunity and I think it presents us an opportunity to look at our operational efficiency of the current reach and truth. As much as I love reach and knowing the first portable was behind me and what we've done since then, there's always time for innovation and change and it should be driven by the needs of of our students. We need to expand our student opportunities. We need to modernize the learning environments. Where do we want to put the funding and and we need to be sure it's in ways that directly support student success. So in looking at the needs assessment, it all ends up with where do we want student outcomes to be and then most of all this is really been as we look at the budget and

078we're planning with Mr. Wooten as we're we're looking at bonds, how to get the most cuz it's a one-time thing. I would not say we need another bond anytime soon based on everything, but how do we capitalize on what we've done such a great job on on saving funds and building the the the um the instructional areas that we need for our students and make a long-term district financial sustainability by doing this. So I've met with Mr. Salimas, Stephanie Martinez, Dr. Darla Barnes on how the district can address student needs and how we might capitalize on the remodel. This isn't just me um thinking uh by myself in a silo. It's actually listening when uh Mr. Lemus came to me about uh some of the challenges and what what he had heard about. It's strategically

079moving Darla Barnes uh over as the academic dean into a new position to explore more uh virtual learning with her background. It is Ms. Martinez who is was instrumental in the early college college high school and the P-Tech that's coming and the growth in our CTE programs and uh pathways that we all came together to see what are the student needs and how might we take this one opportunity at this time to ensure that we put our money where our students are going to benefit the most. So, this is going to be what we think about what we can do with the challenges, how we can utilize and rethink and reimagine what we provide for students. So, I took a piece of paper. Jacob was embarrassed about how we did this. We drew out a

080simplistic footprint of classrooms, offices, a grab-and-go cafe, and we shared it with both BTC and WRA. I said no, we're going to turn it over to them. Jacob said, "You sure you don't want to make this look better?" I said, "No. Don't They will be able to look at this and figure out what what works." And Derek is with us here tonight and his team at WRA took the drawing, gave input with BTC about what's most cost-efficient about the walls and how we do this and where's the plumbing, where's the bathrooms, you know, all those things we can't get into spending a lot of money. So, what I've asked is Derek to come. He had They put something together, a schematic design taking all the input that we talked about and that uh that little

081draft that we had and this is kind of what um they were able to come up with. So, Derek York, if you'll come on up. Good evening. Thanks for having us here again. Um I do have to give huge kudos to Ms. Smith Smith Faulkner, Jacob, uh Cameron, and Lenny. As Renee mentioned, we've had many meetings throughout this construction process with BTC and our team, and just their attentive attentiveness to the details um has really, you know, been able to realize some cost savings through the process, and we've eliminated a lot of risk. I think that's what Cameron and Renee have touched on um with the bond program. So, with the image you see in front of you is the master plan that we had put together, where you can see um where number seven

082is. That's your current entrance to uh the Castleberry High School. And we already had planned for some renovation in the original scope, but um if you go to the next slide, you can see the area in pink is where we're envisioning, and we've worked closely with, as you mentioned, um Mr. Lemus and Stephanie and uh Ms. Barnes and Jacob as well um on this layout. So, we have, like Renee mentioned, a schematic layout for you. Um we also are planning to upgrade some of the finishes in the area in yellow, which will be repurposed as will continue to be used as classrooms for the high school space, but this would create a space for REACH to come over from their current building into the old 1958 wing of the high school and and refresh that

083area. Slight modifications to some walls, some ADA upgrades for restrooms, and we're fleshing out those details and cost estimates with BTC currently. The next page shows the second floor, where um we're also planning to upgrade some finishes, some paint, flooring, things like that in those classrooms. We're also probably going to study some furniture upgrades there. And then the TRUTH area, which you see in blue, um is on the second floor, and it and brings those spaces into this building as well. The next page, um, this may be a little hard to tell, but that is the current REACH Truth Building. The REACH entrance is on the south side. So, that's just right out here. The Truth entrance is off of Merit Drive, and then where you see existing multi-purpose building, that's the Castleberry Elementary gymnasium

084and kitchen. So, if you zoom up just a little bit, you can see or sorry, if you scroll up a little bit, the yeah. So, that is a service yard entrance, um, off of Merit Drive where you can go in for deliveries for the kitchen, um, service HVAC, dumpsters, things like that. We would need to maintain that for sure, but our everything that you see in red is what we're proposing that could be torn down. Um, Avi, Reuben, Ariel, myself, um, and even BTC have come out and looked at this building. It was originally, I was looking at the drawings this past week. The original drawings were stamped in 1950. I have the scans of that original building. If you remember when we built Castleberry Elementary, we tore down half of this building. There was

085a an addition that was done, I think, in the '90s, and then we tore down half of the 1950s building to make room for the playfields at Castleberry Elementary, the service yard entrance, and create that, uh, green space that that playground sits. Um, so we have an expansion joint. We would maintain the area in in gray. Um, I believe there's plans there you could use it for professional development. There's still restrooms there. There's a meeting room. So, we feel like that building could still be serviceable with that entrance that exists that you see the main entrance for REACH. If you go to the last slide here, um, this just gives you a vision, um, with that building removed and that parking lane, if you scroll up just a little bit, you can see we maintain

086the service entrance and for deliveries and things off of Merit. But to make it safe, we wanted to fence off where the kids can come straight from the gymnasium or the cafeteria space out to a elementary soccer field. Um so this would create what Renee was alluding to, a space for after hours and for um during school hours where students would have a place to to run and roam and um we believe with that building gone, we can make the grading and the topography work to have a a a level playing field, if you will, um as you come out of the gymnasium there. So, any questions on the early plans? We are still working with BTC to price things out and uh crunching the numbers with all of the the bond dollars that are

087um remaining. Yes. So, my question is, how many classrooms do we have at the current REACH building? All of the classrooms six, seven. Seven. Okay. And then in the high school or the In the new plan? Yes. I don't know if I have the tally here. I believe it's the same. Okay. But they've just changed some of the Yeah, I believe it's the same. Five. Five, but they're bigger. Bigger. Okay. Okay. And two are very flexible to adjust to whatever the needs are in the future or currently. One's a PLC room that can go can be a classroom or uh learning it depends on what is happening. Could be the virtual learning room. Okay. Thank you. So, I guess Mary Lou, you're asking if it's going to be big enough to house what we currently

088are using. Are we what we currently currently Dar- Darlene can probably answer that question. Yeah, tell me what you want. Um so within the design, really looking at the needs for as we have Truths upstairs and we have the Reach downstairs. So, the way the space is designed to make sure we can house all of those students. To make sure we're also meeting them where they're at. So, that also gives them access to the teachers that need to come visit the content and the programs that they need to access to as well. To to build that. But, all of the spaces in the rooms are built in large enough to house more than what we currently house at Reach and Truths. That's what I wanted to know if there was room to grow. Yes, there

089is. But, then also I forgot also wanted to know. So, like with Truths, they'll have separate entrances and exits? Correct. So, um, if you look at when you look at the drawing, you see Reach is downstairs and that also includes that space for virtual learning and to build that program. And then when you look at the upstairs, it'll have the upstairs that has its own facing entrance and that is the Truths. And so, it's separate from the others to keep that, um, its own program. Okay. I think the question, I'm sorry Darlene, was also do we have enough rooms for high school cuz Darlene Oh, yes. So, I've I've uh, blocked out all rooms for um, Reach, for Truths, and for the high school. So, actually when everything is done and the new building is

090there, we actually have a couple of classrooms that are open that give us opportunity even at CHS to expand on our programs as well. One last thing. It would also have It would have the ADA compliance. Would you have an elevator for that area? We do have an elevator for the upstairs and there will be a door that gets to that portion of the building as well. Thank you. Mhm. I think, uh, the other questions that come I'd like to ask, uh, Barto, if you'll, uh, come up. I think the other questions and I definitely want to be sure I'm not doing anything wrong, but I wanted to double-check my understanding is that, um, I I looked at how we can use funds uh, once we satisfied the bond. It is on the debt service

091side. They yes, you have certain things you have to use it on, but I think that in talking I said, I'm going to reach back out to the person that actually wrote all the language because he can explain this and reassure everyone about the funds. Thank you very much. Good evening board members Humberto Aguilar with Escamilla and Ponic. We serve as the the district's bond counsel. Happy to be back again. So yes, what the superintendent was alluding to there is the the proposition language that was approved by the voters was uh generally broad is the construction renovation and equipping of school buildings. So with that in the case law is very strong on this and there's it's a whole long history of case law that the voters are necessarily putting into the hands of board

092members the ability to prudently act as fiduciaries of public funds and make determinations as to what fits in those broad categories of of projects. I think Castleberry finds itself in in a in a great position where you guys are actually under budget and now have you know, additional bond proceeds available to expand upon what was approved by the voters. Often times we see the converse of that. It's that we've run out of money or there's been unforeseen construction challenges where now we need to make board members have to make hard decisions as to what to change, what to cut, but you know, you're very fortunate to be in the in the converse situation, but again the the proposition language necessarily affords to the board members the discretion to to use those proceeds in the in

093the manner that it it sees fit and appropriate. happy to address any any questions. It's a Do you see any issues with the plan that we have presented? No, so those would all of the uh what is being presented uh this evening as as a discussion item, I don't see any of that being a problem. So, what could be a problem is, you know, based on the new law that uh Castleberry ISD's bond election was subjected to was that we have certain categories of proposition. So, this was a general school building proposition. However, if we were to have done a a football stadium, for instance, it had to be a separate proposition. If you would have done an auditorium, separate proposition. Teacher housing, separate proposition. Performing Arts Center, etc., separate proposition. But, in this case,

094uh the proposed uh relocation and even the elementary soccer field, all of those are projects that fit within the general proposition language of construction, renovation, and equipping of school buildings. Does that also include the demolition part? So, a demolition if uh so long as it's a reasonably necessary component of effectuating a project, that's the language that they look for. Something that effectuates a project. Uh if it's necessary, it's an appropriate expenditure. And I can give you an example. There's a an attorney general opinion on this matter uh that speaks to uh mediation uh legal fees for a mediation that that resulted out of a out of a construction dispute. And in that opinion, they speak to the fact that this mediation was a necessary step in order to complete the project. So, it's not necessarily

095an expenditure that you would think uh may fit under this construction uh category, but because if a district determines that it's a necessary component or a necessary step to finish a project, then it would be appropriate. I have a quick question. Yes, ma'am. Um like if I look at the bond what Cameron just presented, we have 41% not complete on package two. We have 62% not complete on package three. And you know, I'm a well, optimistic girl, but just like we're in the positives, we could also be in the negatives. So, I I think my question is, does it make financial sense to make this decision now when we still have this much to complete on package two and the soft costs for the initial bond? Yes, sir. I'll speak to that real quick. Um

096one of the things that every project we carry forward, and with BTC, we have the um owner and contractor contingency dollars. So, we've carried um that amount just for any unforeseens and things There's things that come up, but there there's significant funds left in that. That's part of why you see the percentages aren't as high cuz it's unspent money. Um so, when you're talking about the 41% and things that Cameron showed, it's not fully built out, um and they have to complete the work before they can bill it. But also, um there's the owner Part of the bond dollars is also the owner direct expenses, which is furniture, uh you know, engineering fees and all of that. So, Renee and Jacob, Lenny and Cameron, they managed those dollars very well, and we kind of had

097realized, you know, the furniture package that we brought. I think there's another one tonight for phase two. So, that all allows you to operate within that. And then also, this wouldn't have to be um final approval, and probably wouldn't even start construction. The final phase would be starting wait. after we finish the Yeah. So, what this is in the in the planning to uh be sure that we can move in the planning cuz the one reason we saved money is cuz we planned before the bond and they hit the ground running on day one. So, that always saves money. So, as we're going through finishing up the office area, which I've been in there, it's pretty much all the part that at risk is there unless, you know, there could always be something crazy that

098happened, but you plan as we move kids. The minute we move kids out, we need to start because that cost money. Every day that you do not uh start your construction project, you lose money. So, the idea is we plan it out with the intention that we're going to have the funds. Certainly, if something catastrophic happens or something uh beyond our control, you would stop that because the voting of the of the board members is on the uh contracts. So, we're presenting schematic and uh you would not until you felt comfortable go ahead and approve that, but that at least gives BTC and WRA, they need time to develop the plans for us. So, I would say by developing the plans, getting the bidding, and letting us know what the price is, that's the step

099we're at as we're finishing cuz when we move kids in, we want to be ready to the minute they move out of these areas to start uh the renovation because it does nothing but save us money and makes our dollar go further. So, best case scenario, everything's perfect, life is good, you guys have a plan, we move forward. Worst case scenario, something falls off the rails, materials are cuckoo crazy, whatever it is, right? We have we're in a deficit. We have gotten bids and so on and so forth. We're not tethered or tied to married to uh somebody giving us a bid and saying, "Well, we're in contract." Correct. And Besides you guys, obviously. Correct. And And this is just kind of authorizing us to to finalize the plans so that we with construction manager

100at risk, which is what BTC Construction is doing for us, they would be able to bid this out, give you the numbers. They would bring these numbers back to you with the adjusted costs, so you would see all of that um before anything's authorized to move forward. This would just be authorizing us to complete the plans so that they can bid it. And we will even get budget checks before we finalize the drawings, so we'll know roughly what it costs as we're starting to eliminate that. The cost of the material Yes. Yes, that's their guaranteed maximum price that we brought to you initially. I believe it was 79 78. Roughly 78 million and um I believe we had I don't remember the exact amounts, but of contingency. So, they they bring to you a guaranteed

101maximum price and they're not allowed to go over that unless uh there's a change order that's approved by the board. So, we're operating within that guaranteed maximum price that through the construction manager at risk delivery method. Not at this point. This would be You could if there was owner direct expenses like for furniture, anything like that, you could move those funds into the the GMP and that could be added as a change order, but it wouldn't change your total bond. Which I believe was 98. 98 million. We're still operating within that 98 million, but yes, if you did add more construction costs for BTC to build because there was savings on the owner direct expenses, then you could approve a change order for the construction. Because we're just we're still phase three was something we

102already planned to do as far as classrooms go. So, we're not Partially, yes, ma'am. We're just kind of adjusting the way it's laid out. So, we did plan to renovate part of this building, but we're expanding it a little bit to accommodate Reach and Truth. So, does it So, it's not change order. Okay. Correct. All right. So, would those schools go away, Renee? Like, would that be Like, I know we have to have like an officer at each one of the schools. Like, how does that help us? Yeah, and it does help us because it's a really large building and I think that in part of the plan, the police officer Reach's police officer would be at the front door. So, there are times when a police officer might need to go to lunch or

103whatever. Well, that would give us the ability to have two officers at the large at the large campus. So, we did look at that also. And also, maybe their times could be staggered so that we're always having a police officer there. And then I have one more question for Mr. Lemus. Mr. Lemus, just thinking student-wise, and I know I've gone and been, you know, recognized by your students and had conversations with them, and they really enjoyed the the lack of having to use social bandwidth with a regular high school base. Um, how do you anticipate students will will respond to this, and how do you anticipate this will help or hurt what you have built at um at that school? Well, I think one of the first things I told Mr. Faulkner is that we

104have to protect what Reach does for kids, okay? And so, when you look at SB 569 or or whatever it was, all it's doing is being able to provide those services for more students, okay? And we have students who who who need that space and that type of environment. We're going to protect that, but we're also going to We also have kids that And once we hit 60, we start getting tight. But, we also have kids within our building that can, uh, benefit from virtual learning. So, we're able to serve more students. It's just going to be It's just going to depend what it looks like for each student. And so, each student won't look the same. And I think we have we we got to get a little bit away from thinking, um, uh,

105in a classroom, in a setting, and numbers in a classroom. It's really what does each kid need, and how do we build a plan for each team for each student. But, one of those was one of the first things I said we had to protect what Reach does for students because that's how they That's how they're successful. And yet, we still have to have enough enrollment in Reach and Truths to fund it. Well, this is actually going to reduce the cost, if you look at it honestly. Um, the cost of operating that building compared to that building, we're actually going to minimize the cost. So, it ends up helping the district in being financially fiscal. One more question. I said one more a while ago, I know. I don't have no concept of numbers. Um,

106so, student allotment, if the students are enrolled virtually, do we get the same amount of money for that student? Yes, ma'am. The way The way that the rule's broken out is the the ADA for the students in in the school is the ADA for the students virtually. So, if for that day we have 100% attendance, it's 100% virtual. If it's If it's 70% at the in the building, it's 70% virtual. So, they just match whatever you have in the building. So, are we specifically having any hybrid, or is it all or nothing? It's hybrid. It could be It could be hybrid. It could be Honestly, you can design it however the student needs. Of course, there's going to be some measures we take to which students allowed to do that, and how each one responds.

107And And that's what we do already in our building. It's just going to be, uh, much more, uh, detailed for to serve more students. I think Steph also has one thing you want to address. So, as we've been able to, you know, accept more kids at REACH and take more kids in, um, just one story in particular, and I'm going to look back at Ms. Fluellen. We had, um, just an example, we had one of our PCT students that really needed to go to REACH, but she also really wanted to finish out her PCT program. She was a full senior. And, um, it it was a difficult challenge to get her She was because she was very dedicated, she still went over and did her hours with Ms. Fluellen and was able to get her

108PCT certification. So, this allows the kids to have access, our most disenfranchised kids sometimes, to have access to the programs that are making making them be successful in the future. So, they can have that modified setting, but they can still be very close proximity to the programs and the direct instruction that's needed for those trade programs. And that's That's very important. I don't know about the rest of the board, but I think this is exciting. I think it's It's a change, so that, you know, you I can hold my breath a little bit, but I can see the virtual learning being something that sets us apart from the area and will expand to even the traditional students. So, I think that y'all got a lot to You're going to have to think about. And cuz

109I know that if I was a traditional student and I have to miss school that day, I want to be able to go to virtual class, maybe. And, um, so I think that, um, this is really some fun things, good things. So. I'd be anxious to hear how the rest of the board is feeling about this. I love it. I think of the kid who has to get a ride over to REACH, even though they may live in Samson Park and they have to They're They can't ride the bus to high school or whatever. So, I think it's just going to be easier for those kids to get in school. Excuse me. Get in school, be at school, and, uh, help them. So. Yeah. And especially with what Mr. Lemons said, he he's still looking

110at the students. So, thank you so much for your great questions, Linda. Cuz I think that's so important because we all cherish REACH and TRUCE. And so, I think that that dynamic will not change. So. And can I ask one more question that I should know, but I but I don't know. Do our REACH students impact our CCMR and special ed accountability? Yeah, they do. And as as the new system comes out in tiered systems, it's going to be much important much more important for them to have those resources that we're very limited to right now. Yes, ma'am. So, this will just help Yes, ma'am. reinforce that. Okay. And one more last question. And this is a kind of a silly question, but do we pay our teachers who have to travel back and forth?

111Do we pay them to do that? Okay. That's it. Thanks. Linda, do you have a last question? We're going to go to item six now. Close session at this time. The board will retire to close session under Texas Government Code sections 551.071 through 551.076 and 551.083 to discuss the items listed on the agenda. The time is 7:47 p.m. Mhm. We're out of closed session at 8:01 p.m. I call this meeting back to order after our recess. It is 8:01 p.m. As we continue tonight's meeting, we welcome all who have joined us as we keep asking how we can best promote and encourage achievement for every student in our district. The mission of Castleberry Independent School District is inspiring and empowering all students to be innovative thinkers in the global community. At this time, we will

112begin with the pledges of allegiance. Ms. Faulkner, who do we have? Yes, we have our ninth-grader, Joel Reese, and will lead us tonight. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, a nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God, one indivisible. Now, we will move on to item 7C. Uh Mr. Ruben Molina, principal of Castleberry High School. All right, good evening, President Talbert, Superintendent Smith-Faulkner, and the Board of Education. This evening, we will be presenting to you the class of 2026 valedictorian, salutatorian, and the highest ranked senior at Reach High School. This year's valedictorian for Castleberry High School is Pedro Alejandro Villafranco. Pedro is the son of

113Pedro Alejandro Villafranco and Marta Juarez. He has been a lion for 13 years. He has attended AV Cato Elementary School, Erma Marsh Middle School, and Castleberry High School. Pedro has shown a high level of involvement across a wide range of organizations. He has served as a TCU college ambassador and as a president of the National Honor Society. In addition, he is an active member of the Spanish Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society, and Student Council. Pedro also participated in marching band for 1 year, competed in UIL academics and computer science, and gained hands-on experience as an intern with the Castleberry ISD Technology Department. Pedro has completed 24 hours of OnRamps courses through the University of Texas and 15 hours of dual credit coursework from Tarrant County College. Presently, he has accumulated 39 college credits with

114an outstanding high school GPA of 5.253. Additionally, Pedro has completed 21 21 hours of AP coursework. Pedro will attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, in the fall and will major in electrical engineering with computing. He earned this opportunity through the highly competitive QuestBridge National College Match Scholarship. Congratulations, Pedro Alejandro Villafranco. Will Pedro's parents and family please stand to be recognized? All right. This year's salutatorian for Castleberry High School is Jacqueline Aguirre Torres. JACQUELINE IS THE DAUGHTER OF HUGO Aguirre and Nora Torres. She has been a lion for nine years. She's attended A.B. Cato Elementary School, Irma Marsh Middle School, and Castleberry High School. Jacqueline has demonstrated strong involvement at CHS, serving as the class of 2026 vice president. She is also an active member of the National Honor Society and has served as a TCU

115Ambassador. Additionally, she has participated in Mariachi, earned four years of varsity letters in volleyball, and three in basketball, and competed in both cross country and track and field. Beyond school activities, she has volunteered at the Tarrant County Food Bank and gained valuable experience through internships with Integrated Machinery Solutions and the Tarrant County Court System. Jacqueline has completed 21 hours of OnRamps courses through the University of Texas, nine dual credit courses at Tarrant County College. Presently, she's accumulated 30 college credits with an impressive high school GPA of 5.235. Additionally, Jacqueline has completed nine hours of AP coursework. Jacqueline will be attending Texas Christian University, TCU, in the fall and will study political science in the pre-law track. She earned this opportunity through the prestigious The Gates Scholarship. Congratulations, Jacqueline Aguirre Torres. Will Jacqueline's parents please stand

116to be recognized in family? I also like to take a moment to recognize excellence. Reach High School continues to provide opportunities for students to accelerate, overcome challenges, and achieve at high levels. And tonight, we're proud to highlight one of those outstanding students. This year's highest ranked student for Reach High School is Abigail Windia. Abigail will be an early graduate. She'll be graduating her junior year. Abigail's a daughter of Brenda Marquez and Miguel Windia. She has been a lion for over 12 years. She has attended Castleberry Elementary, Erma Nash Middle School, Castleberry High School, and Reach High School. Abigail's graduating with a GPA of 3.4. Abigail has excelled completing six credit hours in AP Computer Science and AP World History. She has also completed six credit hours at TCC with art appreciation and speech. Abigail will

117graduate with a CTE pathway endorsements in business and industry and multi-disciplinary studies. Abigail will attend the University of North Texas where she will work towards a bachelor's of arts degree in Japanese language and culture. Congratulations, Abigail Windia. Will the parents of Abigail Windia please stand up and be recognized? Thank you guys for this for this moment. Thank you guys very much. Do we Do we want to stop down and take a picture and get back with the athletes? So, in a minute, in a minute, let's uh stop and we'll take come back and take a picture, so don't leave. We have some uh more recognitions tonight and we don't want you to leave because we want to get a good picture, okay? And congratulations to everyone. We're going to go on to item 7D, uh

118recognition of athlete athletics and staff. Uh Miss Pierce. Good evening. I would like to thank the CISD Board of Education, President Oliver, and Miss Smith-Faulkner for the opportunity to recognize the accomplishments of the Castleberry High School winter and spring sports programs. Joining us tonight, we have athletes that have received academic and athletic honors, athletes who had record-breaking performances, are UIL regional and state qualifiers, as well as athletes that have committed to playing college. My name is Layla Paredes and I'm a senior cheerleader and powerlifter. I'm going to share with you about our boys and girls basketball players that excelled this year on the court and in the classroom. Our programs are led by Bart Beasley and Kenneth Ibarra. One highlight for the boys basketball program this year was senior Julio Rojas, who took the second

119spot in school history for block shots in a season with 69. This performance came up just four short of breaking the record. This year's boys boys district award winners are second team all district Ethan Chapel, honorable mention Julio Rojas and Eric Medina, academic all district Eric Medina, Julio Rojas and Jonah Wright, THSCA honorable mention academic all state Julio Rojas and Eric Medina. The girls district award winners are second team all district Diana Gonzalez, honorable mention Janelli Ortiz and Camila Resendez, academic all district Isabel Campisi, Victoria Espileta, Janelli Ortiz, Camila Resendez, Layla Rivera and Dominic Navarro. My name is Dominic Cruz and I'm a senior football player, powerlifter and track athlete. I have the privilege of sharing with you the accomplishments of our boys and girls soccer program tonight, which are led by Shawn Fano and

120Paul Smith. The CHS girls soccer team finished fourth place in district and qualified for the UIL state playoffs for the 10th straight year. In the bi-district round of playoffs, we defeated Fort Worth Southwest with the score 6-0 to advance to the area round versus Stephenville. We played a tough first half and we were tied at halftime, but we were falling 2-0. Our all-district honorees were midfielder of the year Alexa Rivera, first team all-district Araceli Arriola, Jaylene Guerra, Gina Saldana, Jazlyn Patterson. The second team all-district honorees were Geraldine Palacios, Emily Rivera, Sarah Caldera. Honorable mention Alondra Reyes, Genesis Diaz, and Samantha Perez. Additionally, Alexa Rivera was recognized as second team all-region midfielder for her outstanding efforts throughout the season. She also received an exclusive invite to participate in the THSCE All-Stars All-Star game, which will be

121held May 10th in San Antonio. The CHS boys soccer team finished as district champions for the second straight year and entered the playoffs as the number one seed from District 8-4A. The Lions played Fort Worth Southwest in the bi-district round and shut them out 6-0 in the area round. The Lions battled a tough Life Waxahachie team and fell 5-6 in PKs. Additionally, we want to congratulate Paul Smith who reached his 150th career win in the 1-0 victory over Springtown on February 10th. The all-district honorees were co-goalkeeper of the year Caleb Castaneda, co-newcomer of the year George Hernandez, first team all-district Gerardo Garcia, Geo Saldana, Uriel Pereira, Sebastian Garcia, Christian Gutierrez, and Santiago Guerra. Second team all district, Israel Arriaga, Richard Montes, Johnny Herrera, honorable mention, Juan Correa, Luis Suarez, and Daniel Bustamante. Coaching staff of

122the year, Carl Smith and Brian Correa. Several Lions were recognized by TASCO on a regional and state level for their impact throughout the season. First team all region midfielder, Gerardo Garcia and Uriel Pereira. Honorable mention all state forward, Geo Saldana. Second team all state goalkeeper, Caleb Castaneda. In addition to these awards, the boys and girls both had TASCO academic all state recipients. They are Gerardo Garcia, Uriel Pereira, Araceli Arriola, and Victoria Flores. Gerardo Garcia and Uriel Pereira were also honored by THSCA and received honorable mention academic all state. My name is Uriel Pereira and I am a senior cross country runner and soccer player. And I am here to help recognize our Castleberry boys and girls powerlifting programs, which are both coached by head coach John Turner. For the boys, we had a four lifters

123compete at Decatur in the regional meet. Our girls program had five athletes qualify for the regional powerlifting meet, which was also held in Decatur. Throughout the season, 100% of our participants achieved personal records in squat, bench, and deadlift as they increased their strength and power each week. This year, we had a one lifter qualify for the state meet, junior Sebastian Huerta. This was the first time since 2017 that KHS had a lifter qualify for state. In addition, we had another school record broken this year. This time, it was senior Dominic Reese, who set a new school record for back squat at 650 lbs. This year's regional qualifiers for the boys were Daniel Benitez, Anthony Garcia, Sebastian Huerta, and Dominic Reese. Regional qualifiers for the girls were Amelia Farmer, Cindy Mendez, Leila Paredes, Jaylen Russ, and

124Genesis Segovia. Regional medalists were Anthony Garcia, who got third place at regionals and state alternate, and Sebastian Huerta, who got second place at regionals and state qualifier. Good evening. My name is Sarah Caldera. I am a cross country and track runner and also a soccer player. I am going to recognize our Casa Verde boys track and field program. Our boys team qualified in two events in the area track meet. The area qualifiers were Joel Ruiz who threw a personal best of 46 ft 3 and 3 1/4 of an inch at area for shot put. And our 4 by 400 m relay members were Giosol Saldana, Julian Valdez, Anthony Duran, and David Duran. The eighth grade girls 4 by 100 m relay were the big 12 middle school meet champions and also broke the school record

125with the time of 52.6. That was set back in 1992. The members of this relay were Dia Preciado, Soy Preciado, Bernice Canales Hernande, and Mariah Salazar. In addition, Mariah Salazar also broke the 100 m dash school record three different times throughout her season. With their fastest time being 12.87 seconds. This record was set back in 1992. In addition to all of the outstanding things you already heard, we also have two athletes that are committing to continue their athletic careers to the next level. They are Alexa Rivera, soccer at Navarro College, and Dominic Ruiz, football at the University of Saint Mary in Kansas. These two led many of our programs and were both multi-sport athletes. They will continue to represent Casa Verde as they compete at the next level. Congratulations and good luck to both of

126you. While most of our service projects take place in the fall and winter. Our CHS football team recently participated in the 53rd annual River Oaks Easter egg hunt. These girls helped stuff and hide the eggs, as well as helped as helped as helped the little ones find some prizes. We are proud of our student athletes for investing in their community and representing Casa Verde athletics. Thank you. At this time, we would like to ask the CHS staff, our coaches, and parents to please stand and be recognized. We thank you for your support throughout all of our seasons. We recognize you for your dedication to your children in helping them succeed both on and off the playing fields. On behalf of this Department of Athletics, we would like to say thank you to the Board of

127Education and Ms. Smith-Falkner for your investment in, committing to, and support for our athletic programs. We appreciate you allowing us the opportunity to share with you tonight about the accomplishments of these student athletes and their future endeavors. Well, Mr. Toliver, that's a lot to celebrate tonight. Congratulations, everyone, on your accomplishments. We're so incredibly proud of you. Give yourself a nice round of applause. We're going to start with some pictures at this time. If we can have our bow and sal come up and our highest ranking. Mhm. under item 8A presentation on Senate Bill 546 reporting on school bus seat seatbelt cost. Good evening, Board of Education, President Talbert, Superintendent Miss Smith-Faulkner. Tonight I'm going to give a quick report on the Senate Bill 546 as it relates to reporting school bus seatbelt costs. That's a

128mouthful, so I had to slow down when I said that. So, Senate Bill 546 uh states that during the 89th Texas Legislature uh that it would strengthen standards for school buses transporting students in Texas. The bill amends uh Texas Transportation Code 547.701 with addition of subsection F requiring that all school buses operated by or contracted for use by a school district be equipped with three-point seat belts for every passenger including the driver. So, two things I want to talk about tonight as far as data points. Uh one is the number of buses in our fleet um that we have that A are equipped with seatbelts, uh B are equipped with a two-point seatbelt, or C equipped with a three-point seatbelt. So, there's a diagram. Um I had to go back and look at it because

129um to actually look at what a two-point versus a three-point, which would be the shoulder strap, uh constitutes in in a bus as well. And then the second data point that I want to uh clarify is the estimated cost to the district to equip all the school buses that we currently have in our fleet that do not have um the three-point seatbelt. Okay? So, the the chart in uh in front of you will show that we have 21 buses uh in our fleet. 11 of those are equipped with uh three-point harnesses, and 10 of them are uh with no passenger seatbelts um as well. So, the question is when did it really come out as far as school buses having mandatory seatbelts? And that came out in September of 2018. So, I'll I'll talk a

130little bit more about that here in a little bit. Okay? So, the number of buses we have by years, um we have seven within the last uh 5 years. We have five from 2015 to 2019. Nine of them are the bulk uh falls within that 2010 to 2014 range um for a total of 21. Uh school bus inventory by type, we have 14 regular school buses, seven sped buses. Uh 19 of those are are diesel and two of them are gas. Then the column on the right will just uh indicate the number of passengers that um we can allow in that bus um with those numbers. So, this chart may be a little bit harder to read uh but it's I think it's very important because it breaks down the 10 buses that we have

131uh based on year, based on mileage, uh what type of bus it is, and what the retrofit cost would be for those buses, and the cost of a new bus today at this age uh or this day of what it would cost to replace. So, as you can see, um our lower mile or I'm sorry, our older buses have um some miles on it. You'll see bus uh uh 57, 58, they have the majority of those are our what we call of our activity buses. Those are the ones that go out for uh UIL trips the most um with athletics, fine arts, things of that nature. Uh that's where you'll see the more milo- mileage. It's a little bit bigger bus, not in terms of passenger size, but just space-wise in there um that's a

132little bit more comfortable. That's why they're they're considered those activity buses as well. Um and then you'll also see uh down as well, lower miles on our older buses. And the thing to think about too is usually we don't have buses that go over 100,000 miles. And it's not because of the miles. It's based on um the wear and tear of the buses, um the the normal activity. So, what you'll see with a bus and especially a diesel engine, those they're they're they're meant to be moving more than stopping and starting. Okay? It's just harder on that engine. So, what we'd normally see is uh replacement of parts are hard to find on those older buses. We can get the milos because we're within a a short radius, but it's just the wear and tear

133of that bus itself. Okay? So, some key some key details, um um regarding this mandate is Senate Bill 693, which was in 2017, which mandated requiring all buses purchased after September 1. Um and they they flexed that to the the 2018. So, some of the school buses that you'll see that we have in 2017 were purchased before that September date. So, what you'll see is if we're bringing something to you that's either in the replacement plan, that's usually uh a June item in which we can order it and receive it before school starts of that September date. So, that's that's why you'll see uh that. Number two, the upcoming 2029 deadline requires that the full fleet be in compliance, including retrofitting older buses by September 1 of 2029. And I'll I'll expand on that a

134little bit at the end. And then number three, the 2029 mandate is a unfan unfounded unfunded mandate, um meaning the districts must cover the cost. And we've got some more information on that I'll cover at the end as well. And then number four, uh that we must report these costs and fleet to the TEA uh by May 29th of this year and we do that through Sentinel. That's the same portal that we use for our safety and security. So, I went back and looked at the bill analysis of this because what this bill will do is by January of 2027 TEA must report all the findings from local ISD's and charters to the state. That information will go to the governor and lieutenant governor for review. So, there's also the bill states that if a

135school district determines that they cannot feasibly adopt the three-point seat belts on their fleet of buses to assist with this implementation implementation, school districts are allowed to accept gifts, grants, and donations. So, the grants is where the key word that comes into there. So, they're gathering all this information now in terms of there's going to be a lot of school districts that can't afford these retrofitting cost. And then the question then becomes is at what point do you replace a bus versus retrofitting it? So, our next steps will be we will have to do a cost index to see A, how much money we've already put into that bus for parts, repairs, things of that nature, what parts are available in the future for like our 2011 2010 buses versus actually you know, replacing that

136bus. So, we still have a replacement plan for our buses. That doesn't go away. However, the ones that we do have that don't have the seat belts or the three-point seat belts, we will have to we will have to have an action plan for that based on what we hear back from the state as well. So. So, at that point um our pathway to reporting um is we uh obviously the three boxes that um we've we've got everything in Sentinel ready to go. Uh we acknowledge what is required of these um this study. Um we've determined the cost and then we will do obviously do the presentation tonight and then what we will do tomorrow is submit the board agenda with a notice that we we brought this to you as well. So, there will

137be more information to come once we hear that as well. Okay? Any questions that I could entertain? Have you heard of any anything on the state level of them being willing to fund their mandate? we have um but I will say that not with a great amount of confidence. Uh similar to what we thought we were going to get with our police officers um as far as that funding that never came through. So, uh there is there's hope. There's uh some speculation but nothing firm. So, your chart is for the big cost. That's the cost? Yes. Yes, ma'am. So, $37,832.48 for 2010 buses. Yes. The age of the bus has no indicator or has no relevance on the cost. It's just as a district, do you then you know Yeah, so yes, we would replace

138buses that don't have the seat belts which would be our older buses anyway. Mhm. Yep. Go ahead, Marilyn. Mr. Lasher, um the replacement plan that Tracy mentioned, is that how do you designate which bus will be up for replacement? A lot of things that we had talked about here is looking at the age of the bus, the mileage of the bus, how much we've put into it as well. And then can we actually upgrade from that bus and possibly use it more than just that route, you know, in other areas of the district as well. Okay. Thank you. So, this is not a either-or option. This is a we could hybridize it and we need to get rid of two or three buses and maybe we retrofit two or three buses or whatever it is,

139right? And I think right now, obviously, we stick with our plan with replacement. But I think there's some more information that we're going to have to uh see, but have an action plan in in our back pocket if we need to as well with that because we're talking about a very short period of time. Is it possible that we could go back to the state and say, "Hey, this is just not in our budget"? Well, that's what So, we we actually you have the option of yes, this is not a problem. The district will have it or no, we do not have the money and that's the option I I chose. So, they're going to know A or B. that. Yes. Yes. So. And when you And you probably already said this, but And when

140you chose that, what was their response? We It's We have to submit it first. So, it's it's in the portal ready to go. We just need to upload it. So. Okay. Yeah. There's going to be quite a few, I think. So. I have a question. So, the A and B seat belts, the difference, the A and B, is it the same price, the 350,000? Cuz you had the A, which is just a Yeah. No, you can go like like uh Mr. Toliver said, I think you can have a hybrid that you don't have to go one or the other. You can either hey, we're going to do these three four buses or we're going to replace those, you know, so it's I don't think it's and maybe I'm misunderstanding your question is it it's not

141all or nothing. No, I was thinking about the seat belts one across and then one it's Oh, they have to be three point. Three point, yeah. Yes, yes, I'm sorry I misunderstood. car seats All right, thank you. Item nine. At this time we will consider the consent agenda as presented. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. Is there any further discussion? Please indicate your vote. Who hasn't voted? Yeah, yes. Dewey Might have been me, I hit it. Hit it twice. Motion carried 7-0, sorry, thank you. Uh, we're on to 10 action items and for brevity and it's 9:00, we're going to jump to 10F for some visitors. Um and that is 10F consider approval of 2026-2027 professional new hire contracts. Ms. Smith-Faulkner. Yes, I have recommended a blessed professional new hire contracts for teachers, librarians,

142nurses, and other professionals for the 25-26 school year as of May 4th. Is there a motion? I move to approve the superintendent's recommendation to hire teachers, librarians, nurses, and other professionals per attached list subject to assignment. Second. Is there any further discussion? Please indicate your vote. Motion carried 7-0. Congratulations. They're sitting out in the audience. If you're one we just hired, please stand up. And Ms. Katherine Walker's going to grab you so you can sign that contract tonight. Welcome to Castleberry. That's fun. We're going back up to item 10A. Consider approval of Castleberry High School phase two furniture bid. Yes, Mr. Board President. We have Derek York and Monica again with and they have provided uh some uh pictures of the furniture for phase two. There we go. Sorry. Good evening everyone. Thank you for

143having us. Like Ms. Faulkner said, we'll be going through some renderings for the phase two furniture package for Casper High School addition and renovations. Hopefully. They better not be putting that furniture in trash. I promise you they're not. Yeah, yeah, where? No. I can try and resend it. I do have my laptop with me if you want me to try that. Mr. Bowser, what are you what do you think we need to do? Yeah. I can go get my laptop. I have it with me. Great, thank you. Yep. It will take a few seconds to turn on. So, it takes a bit, sorry. It's all right. It's not going to all right. It's like I don't know how to run this machine. Are you able to resend the email to Angela cuz you're CC'd on

144the email? It's just I know this might take a while. I'll try. Yeah. See if you can re-forward it. From you? Yeah, it's from me. My second-grade self would say, "Johnny, be good." I sent it to myself. Not my 42-year-old self. I'm not sure how long it will take. not download See if I can access this. There we go. All right. I promise it was worth the wait. All right. So, here we have renderings for phase two for the furniture package for Casbury High School renovation. The first rendering you'll have Um you see here we have the at the main entrance, we have the reception space, warm welcoming space with furniture that is um comforting lounge space for those parents and students that might be awaiting for anything there and complementing all the architectural features

145to that room as well. Uh the next space we have Um here is the um lounge room for the teachers and staff here in the admin area as well. Again, this elevated look that we have throughout the building but still bringing in the school colors with that nice accent of red throughout the space as well. So, it does remind you are in the Casbury home there. And here is one of the larger collaboration spaces that you have as well in the addition space here. This is only one side where you see the collaboration areas where we have a large variety of different seats where students can do large group work, individual work, and really just make it work for them in whatever best way that they work. The second rendering is another view of this

146area just showing the multitude of different furniture items that we have here, large chairs, high tops. We do have accessible um height tables as well. Those are on the other side. So, there's a large variety and areas that the students can choose from while they're sitting in this area. Here we do have the spirit store. We chose some great pieces here so the students really can choose how this space is going to work for them and how they want to choose how they showcase the merchandise they will have in this space as well. Here is the go center, a very exciting space. So, this is a place where the students will come and work with their counselors to talk about their after high school plans. The furniture that we chose here is also extremely versatile.

147It's highly adjustable tables with varying height tables as well. So, how you see it here is like a lecture style that you'll see in many different college courses as well. But if they want to group work or want to section off in different areas to talk with their counselors, they're also able to do that. This is a secondary view just looking from the back of that classroom there and behind them will be that glass panel that opens up and opens into that larger collab area as well. Here's your TC CTE shop that we have. Durability was the main focus here while we were looking at these pieces here. So, you do have stainless steel chair tables, apologies. Tables here that are ready for any type of projects that your classroom will be taking on in

148this space. Here is one of the classrooms adjacent to that CTE shop here. They have cable management. These are areas ready for flexibility and versatility for the students. And able to provide them with a nice balance of color here so they're able to focus on the curriculum that they're learning. And again, another classroom not near the CTE shop and not in that exact curriculum there, but again versatility. As you see the two seating tables there, something you'll see in a lot of college classrooms. So, also giving that elevated and more higher education look to the classrooms as well. Here is one of the lounge areas that we do have for staff. If you have a quick meeting, you're able to pull someone in there. It is welcoming, comforting, gives the teachers a nice break from

149the craziness of the classroom here and still bringing in that spirit of Cassbury there as well. And last rendering we have is one of the spy classrooms just showing the amount of versatility and different types of furniture pieces that we have so that any child can find out which way works with them, um whether it's a wiggle stool or a comfy area there as well. So they can fit their needs. And that's all we have. Thank you. Any questions? Yes, it is a vinyl um upholstered bottom piece and we have the laminate running up on the back piece. Mhm. It's cleanable. Yep, bleach cleanable and everything there. So we checked the durability, cleanability for all of the finishes there, double-checking with the reps and everything. Mhm. Yep, if those tear or anything we'll be able

150to work with the reps on that. Oh, okay, good. And warranties as well. I love the blues. Love the air. Yeah. Anything else? Thank you very much. Thank you. So is there a motion? Is there a specific motion? I move to approve the Castleberry High School phase two furniture bid awarded to Interior Resource Group in the amount of 905,421 dollars and 9 Is there any further discussion? Please indicate your vote. I don't have that. I think we have gremlins tonight. There might There might be. You having trouble, Angela? Okay. By the Okay. Please indicate your vote. Motion carries 7-0. Now, on to item 10B, consider approval of the request for qualifications, RFQ. Yes, I've asked Mr. Lasher to come up and Cameron Holloman so that they can provide some information on the RFQ process. Uh

151Board President Oliver and Superintendent Ms. Smith-Faulkner, um I'm here to at this time to address 10B, consider approval of the request of qualifications, RFQ, and award of the energy savings performance project to Centrics Energy Partners LLC through the TIPS purchasing contract. Um over the past 4 months, we have provided the board with updates regarding the scope and cost of of the energy savings contract. During the past month, Cameron Holloman and I have worked to complete the request for qualifications, the RFQ, for the project. At the recommendation of legal counsel, which included our bond attorneys, our construction attorneys, and the TIPS attorney, the district elected uh to pursue the project through a competitive RFQ process rather than relying solely on a co-op selection. The district solicited and reviewed qualifications from TIPS, and based on those submissions,

152along with checking references, and the district's experience with Centrics and their personnel, Centrics received the highest overall ranking based on the evaluation tool. We believe the district has uh exercised appropriate due diligence throughout the RFQ process and therefore recommend Centric as the firm most qualified to meet the district's needs. In addition to that, uh as we go um move um as you'll see later, the the pricing of this initial project was roughly around 7 million. Then we got it down to 5.5 million. Then um Ms. Smith-Faulkner engaged JMS and we also looked at possible cost-savings opportunities through thermostats and um the availability to use some of our current thermostats that are uh compatible with the systems that we are looking at, the the open or the non-proprietary, to get the final uh cost down to

153uh roughly 4.97 million. Um so, that's where we're at with the RFQ process and what we've did what we've done from from the beginning beginning to now. The first approval, there's two approvals. So, the first approval is uh to name uh the request for qualifications the company, correct? That is correct. Is there a motion? I'm sorry. I think the first question I have, is this the first time we see this RFQ scoring rubric? Yes, so similar to what we've done in the past, for example, when we went out to the start of the bond project with WRA, we we did a RFQ process there. We've done an RFQ process with our um material testing group. So, typically what we do is we we bring it the same meeting that we do both the approval of

154the project, but prior to that the approval of the RFQ process of leading that up to it. I guess I really don't understand the table on that page around the award. It's got Centrics, E3, and McKinstry. I'm assuming those are competitive. Can you pull it up? So, it's our evaluation criteria um that outlines what we're looking for at the at the throughout the RFQ process. Um and then we've got um the evaluation or the rubric that's that's associated with it as far as the weight of it. So, then what we then do, if you'll scroll down Angela, is we will take um the percentage of what that of of what that amount is into the formula that is created to get an actual 27.75 or or what have you. So, it's instead of a point

155system, it's more of a percentage system, similar to what we do in our in our other RFQ processes as well, based on those uh four five criteria. Five criteria. So, if you scroll down then to it'll give you exactly bullet points of what constitutes a excellent, a good, a fair, um scoring system. I think the the my challenge, and just to be quite transparent on this one, is that this is all very qualitative, which is great, but I think I would like to see more quantitative data to support that this is like the right choice. And again, that's my I mean like I'm looking at this and I say, "Okay, well relevant experience, credentials, and organizational capacity." And then I kind of go through and it's just it's it's very qualitative. There's nothing tangible that

156I can say they've done this project and it's given us this reward. Or this other company's done this and it's it's this is the outcome. So, I don't see outcomes on this. So, I And again, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but like to spend that kind of money, I think that's my first gut check is like Centrics, E3, McKinstry, have we done business with all these, or this is what this RFQ people told us? So, actually, we have done business with uh E3 and McKinstry. So, in 2020, we did an HVAC replacement um with McKinstry around the you know, the the COVID time. Uh we also in May May of 2021, we did a replacement plan with E3 um for roughly about 300,000. Uh our McKinstry project was roughly about 578,000. So, um it's well,

157I will just say this. Um which I was involved in both those projects. Uh one of the competitors or one of the one of the vendors, I would not use simply because they overcharge uh for a lot of the services. Um and by checking our references and we've checked references on on on all three, that's a common denominator that we're hearing. So, I don't want to go into as far as, you know, each vendor and and what that is, but we have done uh recommendation checks. Going back to what you were saying as far as it being very vague, I think RFQs can be that way sometimes versus an RFP, which is totally different. That's an actual, "Hey, this is what the price is for this this amount." RFQs are a little bit different because

158they're really more for services um that's associated with the project more than the solid goods or what you're getting out of it. Yeah. And then I think Mike one of my questions was um is Centrics NAESCO accredited? So, can you respond to that question? I don't think I got a response to that. Yes, I can. Okay, do you want to talk to Uh Centrics is not NAESCO accredited. Uh that's a national accreditation. Uh it's definitely not required for this type of project. Uh we did some research on that. There are several uh companies in the state of Texas specifically that have done hundreds of millions of dollars worth of similar projects uh that are not accredited. Uh and going back to why we chose the specific companies that we did is past history, but also

159because they are smaller, they have local um offices, and their history is working with small to mid-size districts. NAESCO is a national accreditation. Uh and so it's more um suited for larger companies that are more nationwide and provide larger projects for bigger organizations. I think I just think you know from the consumer perspective if I can choose a business that's from the approved or accredited with the Better Business Bureau then I'm probably going to choose that over someone who's just tell me problem I'm promising that it's you know and again nothing no no offense to Centrics I'm just trying to be you know a responsible steward of the district's money and and decision making and so I think as far as accreditation I think that's it's it's worth us saying there's some credibility to that.

160I know the contract is 15 years and the last time I asked the company's been in business six. So again what is what's the evidence to support that we really can do this over the course of 15 years if you haven't done it for 15 years I guess is my question. Yeah I think there's always a bit of trust but I will say there are other companies is specifically ones that we also solicited qualifications from that are not in IESCO qualified. We did a little research on that and they've been in business for 20 years and never have been so um I feel like it's uh I'm not going to say that IESCO qualification does not do any good for companies but I think it's more suited for larger organizations that do bigger work nationally.

161And you said there's there they've worked with districts around us I think the last time I asked and it was North Northwest is are there other districts that not Centrics has worked with around us that look like us and sound like us here in Texas? Um in Texas yes actually I drove out to Fort Stockton and did some research on a project that they had done there. They got good reviews. Also Beaumont ISD that they've worked with and they showed us a few more at the previous meetings that they had done work with. Mr. Holloman, the risk for us is backed up by the state legislature, is that correct? That is correct. Okay. Say more about that. I think I I would like to hear more on the state legislature. So if we can't pay

162our our loan payment, the state's going to step in and pay our loan? No, ma'am. The The company takes the risk on that. What the state has done is created this um created the ability for districts to take a loan with the guarantee from a bank. The district then takes ownership of that money and that loan and distributes the financing to the company just like you would on any standard construction project. The reason they have allowed that is for districts that don't have three, five, six, ten million dollars available for maintenance and operations upkeep uh in their fund balance. And this has been going on since the mid-80s. That's why it was developed. Um there's obviously been abs and flows in the economy and in the 2000s it probably wasn't used as much because districts

163had more funds available and fund balance. Uh we are seeing much more of a trend of it being used over the last four or five years with the state of funding for the school districts in the state of Texas. So let me just make sure that I understood your response correctly. So if if we have our first payment of $461,000 in year one and we don't have enough savings, Centrics is going to pay the difference of that bill of what we don't save. Well, that's true of a question, but I guess it's not just from savings. So, um we will be guaranteed by Centrics that we will meet the energy savings. If we do not meet that energy savings, they will pay the balance. That's part of the risk that they're taking in this project

164that you wouldn't see in a standard design build or construction project like we're doing in uh other places in the district. So, like I was looking at the contract on page 29, there's a table and it shows utility savings, O&M savings, and then capital cost. And I don't know Angela if you can I mean, I don't know if we're there yet, but I think my question is the utility savings is $153,000. O&M savings is 98, and capital cost avoidance is $220,000. I get the savings piece, the 153, but our our payment will be $461. So, if we don't have columns B and C, the O&M savings and the capital cost avoidance savings or cost, Centrics is going to put that money in our account so that we can pay our $461 thousand dollar payment, I

165guess is what my question. No, their guarantee is on the energy savings. So, what the district is agreeing to is that, for instance, last year we paid uh about $190,000 on maintenance and operations repair. So, what we're saying is with this project, what I have done, Lenny has done, uh the subcontractors has done, has gone to each campus and looked at where those needs were needed most, where we have risk in HVAC, roof leaks, uh controls that uh no longer worked remotely, and we addressed those most needed areas so that we could reduce that maintenance and operations. The same thing with uh funnel three, which is capital cost avoidance. So, with Lenny's replacement uh schedule, you would ideally be spending anywhere from two to 400,000 dollars a year on replacement of this equipment, right? So,

166that over the course of 15 years, if that's the life expectancy of the equipment, you would be going through one complete cycle and replacing all of the HVAC in the district. So, what we're saying is we're addressing a lot of those needs now, so that we don't have to spend as much in either capital cost avoidance or maintenance and operations repairs. But, this is a 100% that you won't have some breakdowns or have to replace a unit here and there or have roof leaks, but it's going to reduce it dramatically and the idea behind it is that you can budget accordingly and you don't have years where all of a sudden you have 800,000 or 900,000 worth of roof and HVAC repairs cuz we've addressed that at least over the next 10 to 15 years.

167So, those two columns, O&M savings and capital cost avoidance, that's that's on this contract or this agreement as non-measured project benefits. What does that mean? Yeah, thank you for the question. Uh and your One second, Mr. President. I'm confused cuz now we're talking about the contract and that's We're not there yet. Oh. So, I'm a little confused about 10 B, C, and D and how all those work together cuz I have a lot of questions for all those three things, but we've separated them out now for a vote. Yeah. We have to vote on the three separate things and yet I have cumulative questions. So, I don't know how to I wouldn't know how to vote on 10 B. Because I don't even understand why we have to approve the request for the qualification and

168award. Because what is that in connection with the contract? And so I'm a little confused on how I could vote for any of this tonight. So at this point I'm almost ready to table it and say uh come back until I can get some explanations and then ask my ask my questions that I had for B before I can say yes to Okay. So I think what I would suggest, Mr. Board President, is Adrian Galvan to come up and go over his presentation of um that's the third item because it actually explains the interest rate, how much it's going to cost in those columns before and then go back to the first one and have Cameron explain what a RFQ is again because I think it will start to make the connections. So my suggestion

169would be to go to Adrian's explanation and his presentation, then go back to the RFQ and keep it just RFQ, then it will tie into the contract. That's how I best understand it. And and this that was these were your questions, so is that okay with you that I interrupted your questions? I want to make sure that that's Yeah, and I think I would like Mr. Wooten to kind of piggyback off of Adrian and just are we okay? Are we What what is your opinion as our chief revenue officer to tell us financially is this feasible for us and or is this something that the district wants to commit to for 15 years because I mean, obviously we want it to be we we know it needs to be done. And that I don't think

170the question is is is the what, it's just the how we're approaching it and I think is where my good And to and to to piggyback off that, we are already committed to these repairs the next 15 years because we're going to we're going to have to do it when all so to step back even a little further is when we built the last bond election and all the schools went in at once. Guess what? That also caused a lot of HVAC, a lot of roofing problems and a lot of things they're going to have to be repaired. So we'll repair it and and pay it over time and then the bonuses is extra is taken the savings into account over time when we do this, but those are all great questions. I've had 6

171months to wrap my mind around it cuz I you can ask them. I have been asking a lot of the same questions, but I want so one thing that's out there that is that um we had a really good experience Friday and then I want to also say what the total cost of this is based on Adrian's numbers because I think that also helps with a little bit of the overall relief cuz I was having a little bit of this is a lot over a period of time, but after going back and studying it, I felt really good about what happened Friday. And then Adrian, I think you and Humberto can explain a lot the numbers in your presentation. Perfect. Mr. President, board, superintendent, my name is Adrian Galvan with Baker Tilly, your financial advisor.

172I prepared a couple of slides to go over the financing that's that's tied to this project. We we proposed maintenance tax notes. If you go to page one of four, that's a list of the items that we went over last month when I was here with you. The it totals to 4,997. That's 452,000 less than what we were looking at a month ago. But the superintendent tightened up the automation systems for the air conditionings. Page two of four. So, what we we did on Friday, we collected competitive bids, went through competitive bid process. We took the the last month to put a bid spec sheet, to get it out to to 40 or 50 banks to gauge interest, to generate interest, and we received four bids. When I was here last month, I was showing

173you an interest rate of 5.25% and we were able to secure Simmons Bank at a rate of 4.19%. We had and Huntington Bank is the cover bid at a 4.61, Capital One at a 4.62, and then TRB at a 4.82. So, what does that mean? 4.19, 15-year financing for the projects listed on the previous page. You go to the next sheet. This This is a recreation of what's in the contract that that you were referencing. This is me modeling the information. Columns C, D, and E are the columns the exact columns that you're talking about, the savings columns. So, I as your financial advisor, I'm relying on the information provided to me from Centrics for that part. That's not our expertise. That totals to column F. So, that's the total benefit before the financing. Can

174I please add and also the third party review that has also signed off on that. That is what holds Centrics accountable for producing these savings. Remember, we brought that third party agreement to you and I believe Ms. Goman, you asked, "Why do we need that?" For our safety. That insures us in the savings. So, just trying to help bring it all together for you, but yeah. So, that's Before Before you go on, my slide four is I cannot It's not loading. Is anybody else having trouble problems with that? With that thing? I have it right here. Yeah, mine's just not loading. Oh, I have So, everybody's like So, I'm just going to get a little bit closer. Okay. So, column F is the sum of the three columns of savings. I label that the total

175benefit. So, that's if these projects are put online. That's the the calculation the total benefit. I put a dark line to different to separate the benefits from the cost needed to cover the benefit. Column G is the financing that we locked in at a 4.19% to fund 4,997 in projects. Annual debt service is about 462 461 461,000 a year for 15 years. That's column G. Column J, that there's a one column of just some additional costs that Centrics has in column I, 6,000 for 4 years. Column J is the total payments. Adrian, what are those four? What are those four? I'd have to turn to Centrics on what they're what those are figures are for. Um the column J is the total payments. So, I compare column J to column F to get column K.

176K is what I'm calling future value net annual benefit projected. And if you look at the the first 1 2 3 4 5 years, you're negative 23,000 16,000 16,000 10,000 and then it flips to positive. At a certain point, you it's cash flowing. It's your your your benefit is outweighing the cost of the the tax notes. If you look at the total of column K, bottom line, 481,366. That's the total future value savings. So, you have these projects. You funded the projects, they provided savings, you borrowed money, and at the end of the day, after you paid the money that was needed for the projects, you're 481,366 on a future value basis over 15 years. So, it's it's paying for itself, and over the 15 years, you're 481,000 better. That's the summary of of the

177whole package. I have a question. So, it doesn't go we we don't start getting money till 2032, right? Cuz everything that's in the negative Yeah, William is going to have to go into the the budget to cover that the shortfalls for those first five, six years. savings guaranteed? Are we just taking a risk on this? If they if that didn't happen. Yeah, I've got a So, the third-party agreement that they reviewed their savings is the person that says these numbers are accurate compared to all the other people they do this with millions of, you know, people. Uh this isn't something new. So, they then say we validate this, but if it doesn't happen, that means you need need to come up with the savings that did not happen. And also, if I could point out,

178Adrian, if you'll bear with me, those first few years, um we you can financial financial engineer those and put the interest sooner or later in there to make those positive, correct? Uh typically, we do these uh these competitive processes on a level debt service basis. So, this this is the structure that we've got. So, sometimes we've seen it where you don't levelize the payments, you kind of adjust them just to make it, you know, look like it cash flows early on, but either way, you'll get the same number at the end of it. But, Ms. Smith-Wagner is correct. You're covered in two ways. A third-party engineer has looked at these. He works for you, not for us, and he said these numbers are sound. It's going to perform that way. If it doesn't happen, if

179something breaks down, if something goes drastically wrong, then you're covered by us. We write you a check for the difference. And this will get to your questions a little bit later, ma'am, about the specifics of this. Okay. And then I have another question, Adrian. The last time we saw this some what this chart, which was last month, um the total savings was $37,000 over the course of 15 years on your chart. And now we're at 406 like explain the math to me. Like how did we magically get here when just a month ago we were at 37,000? The the the mar- the markets are very hard to predict right now. And I I I was I needed to go out to get competitive bids to find out what best rate I could get to you.

180And what was the other one on? What what was the 5.25. And this is now the 4. 4.19. It's all Well, it's the the reduction of the 5,000 of the project. 5 Also the the total cost is less cuz the Yeah. You you lowered the cost by or about $5,000, but the rest is interest savings from going from 5.25 to 4.19. And we wouldn't know the market until we actually took the bids. Got you. And went through the the competitive process. Can you also point out the amount of interest that will be paying and then when we add the savings, what the cost over time actually how we could look at it? When I was asking you questions, the 1.8 million in interest and then if you apply the net positive, it's really about 1.3.

181I'm not the math. I was an English teacher. But I I think that's what how I look at it when I think of how much is this really costing me. Yeah, the the I guess the way I would look at it is the loan in total. The principal and the interest is what you're on the hook for for 15 years. So, I want to compare your total cost principal and interest. The interest cost came down. I think we're looking at 2.5 million before. So, that dropped down. So, that that coming down covers your debt and leaves you $480,000 in the positive on future value basis over 15 years. That big bold line to the right is the stuff that I'm uh reporting to you that I that I've got locked in, that I've got somebody

182committed to, but it's it's not official until you guys decide to do this. All we've All I'm doing is bringing the results of the of the uh competitive process. I have another question. So, um utility savings, if I can if I go back to the original, no nothing's changed as far as the scope. We're still trying to save electricity or energy at the end of the day, right? So, this one's 153,000, and now we're at 127. So, what's what changed in that? We we de-scoped some of the control scope to bring the price down lower. So, we lost a little bit of savings there. So, because of some of the changes in like lighting, per se, or The controls themselves. The controls. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, So, ultimately, we're spending almost $8 million with interest,

183correct? With a save but we'll get a return on our on our investment of 481,000. If you look at D7, it's your it's a par amount of 5.1 million, interest 1.8, total 6.9 million. 6.9. That's what So, that's what the project's um the debt service requirements over 15 years. And that's amortized over in column G. So, the first 5 years we won't see any um You you We'll have We'll show a net loss the first 5 You owe 462,000 the first year. 23,000 of that you'll have to pay on your own and the rest is coming from the savings. So, do we call that a net loss the first 5 years? Net Yes. Okay. All right. So, that with those that projection showing that net net loss through 2031 and I'm just trying to understand

184um the math as well. Um if utility rates change or our savings don't meet the expectations during those first 5 years, then what is plan B? Do we need a plan B to cover the debt? Mr. Wooten has locked in our a lower rate of utilities uh that he presented to the board last board meeting. For 15 years? Uh-huh. I think it was How long was it, William? It was 3.9 3.9 3.4. For how many years though? They're asking. 6 How many? 6 6 So, if you look at column C, it's the same number for utility savings for the first 6 years. And then there's an escalator of 4% uh So, the the model is is reflecting or has built in that utility rates will go up 4% after the first 6 years. Oh, okay.

185And that's why we're saving more money. Yeah, that's why you see a higher bill. Right. So, since it's built in, that's another layer of protection for us. Yeah, that Mr. Wooten was able to lock that in it was a big plus. Uh locking in the savings on utility rates for 6 years. Okay. I have a question. So, uh Mr. Wooten Mr. Lasher may be able to answer this. We have repair and replacement in the budget already. How much will this offset or will it offset the budget? So, I I can speak on that. So, in this project, we are looking at HVAC, we're looking at controls, I would go with the 200 I think Okay. HVAC, controls, and um lighting. So, just HVAC, we have a replacement plan. So, we currently have 429 units in

186the district. That includes our chillers, okay? If we have a $200,000 budget each year for capital improvements, 60% of that is going to be installation, and 40% of that's going to be the the equipment. I can take that all the way out to 2050, and I don't I can only cover 150 units. So, I still have roughly about 360 units that I have not touched. And I would have to come back at some point because a unit's not going to last throughout that time. That's just HVAC. I've not even addressed roofing or controls or anything based on what our numbers are right now. I think that to to answer Dewey uh on his question is um and I think if you went to pay there's another page in the contract on page 14 that breaks

187up the three the three columns even more in the contract. And we is $220,000, and we actually spend $200,000, but there's another line item that says, "How much did you spend on repairs?" They guarantee a $100,000 guarantee. We actually spent $190,000 repairing our old HVACs. So, then it really This is a very conservative look at our savings because we actually saved $100,000 We would have saved $100,000. So, to me, this was key for me to wrap my mind around those three columns. You have energy savings, maintenance savings. We spent $200,000 on maintenance. In our It's in our budget in in the auxiliary services budget. So, there's That's part of that savings less repairs, less manpower that uh you're going to need because we're going to have to If we don't, we're going to have to

188hire another HVAC person, which that's another $80,000. So, I just heard Mr. Lasher say though that we have 429 units, but we fixing With this plan, we'll still have 150 units that still need to be part of the replacement plan. Not with this plan. With our current plan. replacement plan, we With our With our capital improvements plan. Yes. So, so Okay. So, how then can we measure energy savings if we're not starting from ground zero by getting all new chillers, all new units? How are we going to measure energy savings without starting at ground zero? Well, there's And And I'll let Great great question. I'm I know. No, no, these are great questions. If I was in your seat, I'd ask the same. It's only on the ones that we replace that we measure those

189savings. Yeah. So, now now I'm We have a We're in a conundrum. We have 150 units, but what is Seems like to me that would be so risky for you because we would come back and say No, it's in the these savings. Yeah. It's It's very specific to what we are measuring and we you know, itemize it out in the contract very specifically. Um in other cases where I've done this 14? Yeah. In other places that I've done this um every HVAC unit in the whole building will be replaced and so, you know, it's easy to just take the whole and say, "All right, how did you know, what reduction did we see there?" For you guys, we're not doing that and so it's very specific to the unit, to the location. That's a great

190question. Thanks. So our problem is still the 150. Well, we're not Yeah, this project isn't solving every single problem that you have. It's just getting you a long way down. I think I think that's going to get at the root of some of my Sure. consternation on these things I brought up. We'd love to do every single thing in the district. I just don't think it's Yeah, I got it now. athletics Yeah. complex lighting, parking lot lighting Yes, ma'am. and bus seat belts bus seat belts So what I would like to suggest, Mr. Board President, is to go back to A cuz I think we needed a general understanding and uh I'm sorry, 10 B because that what 10 B is, it said we went and we used uh the tips RFQ process and uh

191they were all these companies are listed uh as people who qualify for this energy management and then uh in working with their attorney, our attorney, and uh walking us through how do you how do you um process and decide who has the best qualifications? So all 10 B is is we've decided that we chose Centrics to work with and deliver us a contract. We've worked with E3, we worked with McKinstry. We were not happy with the results. And so, uh based on other recommendations, based on other experience, the savings that they're bringing to us, the fact we had say-so about what the control is, I had say-so, I used my technology mind, nope, we're going to nail this down right here's what we need. What do we need in HVAC? What roofing? We were key,

192they allowed us to be part of this overall process, which that was a big complaint about the other companies. And so, when you look at the rubric, they did the work, they asked the questions, and they looked at the five areas, and they said, "We feel Centrics is the qualified person." So, the first thing you have is you're voting to say, "Yes, we feel Centrics, based on the TIPS contract, has the qualifications." Then you go to number two, and you go, "Yes, I'm approving the contract." Then you go with number three, "Yes, I'm approving the funding, it happens tomorrow." Those are your three decisions that I think that might help understand why do you have three decision points on the agenda. So, I think that at this point, having a bigger understanding the first 10B

193should be what we go back to and take the vote on. It's where we start. Is there a motion? I have one more statement before we vote, um or maybe question. I think my biggest question is, if if we weren't happy with E3 or F3, whatever it is, and McKinstry, why would we use those as comparisons rather than getting somebody who potentially could have given us an option? Like, for instance, if I have cauliflower, or I have broccoli or I have carrots, I would I love carrots. I'm going to have carrots. So, again, if I if I pick things I don't I wasn't happy with, like it doesn't make sense in my head. Cameron answered that. Do you want to reiterate on that again? On the size and and what you spoke about? Yeah, they

194are specific to these types of projects, but I think a lot of that goes to I've worked with these districts, I mean these companies, sorry. Um you know, it's never the same at each project and each district and even within the company, they can have good projects and bad ones. I have experience with them and brought them to the table. I was not here when um Castleberry had engaged and worked with them. So, while we graded them separately, the numbers might have come in differently. These are just the averages. So, Lenny had past experience here. I had past experience with other projects to me. Well, let me let me clarify. Are you saying that they made a decision before they they brought them in? No, I I I'm just questioning because they both or Lenny

195said like we we're happy with this one, we're happy with this one and here's our comparison. Here's our RFQ and the three. So, I think my question is it's almost like, well, we already knew, maybe potentially. I don't know that they already knew. I think I didn't get the impression that they already knew. Maybe I'm being naive. because it's so qualitative. I think because it's so qualitative, that's why I'm like that's why my gut is sitting there. Again, that's just a statement I need to make. We don't need to belabor it. Is there a motion? 10B, correct? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Um Mr. President, I move to approve the request for qualifications, the RFQ, and award the energy savings performance project to Centrics Energy Partners LLC as presented. Second. Is there any further discussion? I'd like

196to ask some questions on the RFP process and going back to the rubric. So, on our agenda item, it talks about how Centrics is the highest ranked and most qualified firm. And I think it goes goes back to like where's the quantitative data and Cathy's great question on like we're not really seeing any return or net not loss, gain um until years in. And so, if we're saying like they're the they're highest ranked and most qualified, I mean, of course, when we've got vendors experience at 30%, key personnel at 25%, where is the value driven or that quantitative piece of what we are going to be better financial stewards of? What was the question? The whole question? Sure. I I think that the in the contract is where you look at the financial uh piece

197of it because this is based on their qualifications to deliver their services. Yeah, and I'm looking specifically at qualifications at this rubric and how we're not putting weight to which item addresses the value that we're saving or like any cost savings there. And why doesn't it have a heavy percent that quantitative piece with it? Because we are all, I mean, $5 million is a lot of money. And I'm not sure if there's been conversation on like, "Sure, we're going to save money in 15 over the course of 15 years." But even potentially, what if we what if we tabled this and have this conversation another year and we we would have been net what is it? Lost 23,000 um and we wouldn't be in that situation. We can have further conversation of this. So, if

198we have older equipment, HVAC equipment, and we spend $190,000 this year, what are we going to spend next year on service? And now we need to get another HVAC, probably to work on it. So, I think that when you look at savings, um, it you're trying to predict what you're going to have, but this makes it very predictable on what you're going to pay every year, uh, for for those, because we are hitting the items that are at expired, have a refrigerant that, uh, is expiring, and and need to be replaced, and we can't afford to take a hit in one year based on what we need to spend to do it. If that helps. Yes, and I would just like to piggyback on that, too, is the numbers that we're currently working from from

199our capital improvement, I mean, we build in inflation, but it's we'll never catch up to that. If we If we stay with what we're currently doing, we'll never catch up with that, because those numbers from 20 years from now, I'm still basing that on two $200,000. It It's going to It's definitely going to go up. So, instead of placing four $20,000 units next year, in 5 years, that may only be two. Where this plan already eliminates the inflation part of it. With that. So, that's And then, like Ms. Smith-Faulkner said, is usually what we're seeing is trends about every 5, 6, 7 years, refrigerants are changing. So, we can only keep so much refrigerant on stock right now. So, a lot of our older units are R-22 refrigerant. We have enough for that, but at

200some point they stop making parts for that. So, now you've got a you've got a unit that's, you know, no longer compatible. There's so many different moving parts in the HVAC itself that makes it so hard to manage because, again, going back to replacing them all at one time when we built AVK 2 and CE, that's great, but at some point it's going to catch up to you, too. And isn't that called deferred maintenance? We're in deferred maintenance mode. Yeah. So, so my understanding Oh, I'm sorry, Eric. No, I was going to say So, Renee and Lenny both just spoke to like basically cost savings again, like the financial piece of it. And so, that's where my question is. It's not I know contract is separate, and we'll get there. It's really the RFQ, this

20110B specifically. When I looked back at the April board meeting, it specifically stated from your presentation, Renee, that cost savings is the biggest driver. Where is that weighted in the process for qual- RFQ? I didn't talk about the RFQ. I talked about the the contract last time. Yes, but so our cost savings is the biggest driver, correct? A cost savings is a driver when you look at the overall cost that it will cost us. This will be a cost savings versus what we cannot afford, or what if something happens significant and we have to take it out at M&O. So, yes, cost savings is one of the biggest drivers of why to decide to do it this way. Mhm. Because there is cost savings in going through this process. So, there's not really any concern

202even on the board side of like, again, the quantity I mean, I've heard Linda speak to it, of course. And Kathy I made a comment, and I'm not sure necessarily where that sticks with where I'm sharing. But again, this is also qualitative. When you look at like how did you assess opportunities, how did you assess what they're bringing to the table, I don't see any value there, any cost savings, anything that connects to that piece of it. And I just I mean, I'd even just be concerned that your experience is 30% of your rating. So, you're questioning the RFQ itself, the tool that they used? Yeah, like how that aligns with cost savings being our biggest driver. I'm not sure that that's our purview. Yeah, cost savings, financial stewardship. cost savings, questioning the RFQ, questioning

203their work. I don't know the So, I'm getting an understanding of how that connects to our work, financial stewardship. Financial stewardship would be me bringing a recommendation you to you to be able to afford the equipment to maintain the HVAC and the roofing and be able to control temperatures in the classroom so that the environment that the kids are in because right now we are setting ourselves up to not be able to afford it or predict how much it will cost because we're going to spend our time fixing broken equipment and the price of all this is just going to continue to go up. So, that's the the last thing I think that I can add to that, the big picture. Uh that's all I have. The RFQ states we believe Centric has the best

204qualifications for our district needs. Number two, we're bringing you what that would cost, and number three, it would be are you do you want to take a loan out to implement the cost savings? If you kick it down the street, we're not going to probably have the same cost, it's probably going to be higher. And so then then what do we do? Do we look back and go, "Well, we should have done it a year ago because in my experiences everything's going to go up. Just like what we just within the couple years of the bond election, we are saved the cost of things have gone up. We have saved so much money on our end. I can't always say on the construction manager at risk because they took the risk and we are getting

205to uh look at a two two years uh of what we can buy with that money. And so, my suggestion and then I'm going to just my suggestion, but you guys vote on it is recommending to move forward so that we can have HVAC uh that we can control and we can save on energy uh savings by being able to control. Otherwise, we our next move will be hire an HVAC equipment guy to run around the building and service it and also punch the controls on the wall uh when we're out of school, when when uh in the summer, uh somebody has to program everything. So, we're going to need to put it in manpower versus uh equipment, which the total cost of ownership then is just skyrocketing. So, I'm just saying you guys make

206the decision. We've done the best we can as far as qualifications uh in who is on the tips, everything that we've done, we followed, we had our attorneys look at it. So, um I guess I can just leave that on the table and let y'all make the decision. I think I just want to add to I I don't think I'm questioning the what. Like I know the what I I understand what you're trying to do and I 100% agree that we have to do that. I think I'm questioning the how we're doing it. So, Could you tell Could you explain what another how would look like? Well, I'm just I'm just I'm saying due diligence to like is this the best We've not seen anything as far as cost. Like this this would cost us

207this with McKinistry. This would cost us this with this next company. I think I can help a little bit on that. This might be confusing. So, we're directly working with train on the HVAC systems, right? So, we've taken out kind of like the middleman. The roofing needs assessment was done based on what our recommendation was. There wasn't a middleman in that. So, we actually are dealing with the same people giving us pricing that would give the other competitors the same pricing because we are using the same products that we've already bid on through a lot of the bond process. And so, there they have been established, and we have some background with them because they went through the bidding process previously, too. And we already are putting that type of equipment in our school so

208that we are 100% train. We are using the same controls. And so, it does limit so a little bit about what that competitive can be. And they're all on the competitive bidding tips so that they all have to fall within a certain guideline of competitive pricing. So, I that I think hasn't been explained if you haven't gone through this process before, too. I don't know if anyone one last person, our bond counsel, or anyone has anything to correct or add to the explanation of what a RFQ is that can help. Do you mind, Ms. Smith, on that? Yeah, go ahead. So, to your question, I wanted to answer that, ma'am, if I could. Having done this so many times in the past, I can't speak specifically to what was in there because I didn't I

209wasn't part of the creation of it. But, your question is, well, okay, if it's all about the savings this type of project, and it is, you're exactly right, then where is that showing up in here? And my response to you would be it shows up in all of them. Okay? So, when you evaluate the personnel that will be involved in this project, which you're doing right there, do these people know how to engineer, how to design towards energy savings instead of just low cost, for example, right? In number four, where have they done this before and who will speak to those things? What other school districts will speak to those things? It's right there. Number three, approach and methodology. You know, what is the way that this company and companies like them approach an energy

210project that relies solely on savings and offset costs. And so, while I guess you guys could have done a, you know, number six that says, "Okay, show me your energy savings." It's all through there. And I know that because I responded to this one, right? And that was the the crux of it. So, that was a very good question. I just want to point out that it is all through it. The the most important criteria there. And then Ms. Smith-Wagner, do you want me to say anything else about the equipment selection and all that? I think you covered that pretty well. Yeah. So, yeah, just just validating what she said. We are using people that you have vetted before. Okay? People that are known to the district that have done good work here. Your roofing

211company, train, you know, your HVAC people. The lighting company that we're bringing to the table is the best value for this subset of districts in the state of Texas. It's not one of the big guys with stacked margins and high overhead and things like that. We have our finger upon upon the pulse of kind of the the lighting market across Texas, right? And and we kind of have a short list of who would best deliver to a place like Castleberry. And so, that's the solutions that we're bringing to you inside of this project. Just want to speak to that. I think to your to your comments around like past performance and reference, like we just see a rubric. We don't have like we don't have evidence to support what you're saying, right? So, I think

212that's the other part that, you know, it's kind of like this blind trust thing that, you know, there's a little bit of, you know, hesitation. That's true transparency, so Um so, yeah, thank you. Thank you for coming. I wouldn't want you just to trust what I'm saying here. I'd want you to, you know, do that which these guys have, right? Run run the traps and talk to other people that we've done this with, so. And of course, it's in there indirectly in each one of those. We would think that we would want it more directly facing with the heavy weight. It's like a high number of them. Absolutely. With $5 million on the table. Yeah, you said call for a vote. Mary Lee? I'm in. Okay. I. I have just a few more questions. On

213B, so if we're we're voting to award Centrics this project, is that what I'm reading? No. Consider approval of the request of the RFQ and award of energy savings performance project to Centrics through the TIPS purchasing. We're awarding them their RFQ. They're saying they won the RFQ. Okay, that's all that's saying. We're not saying we're giving we're awarding them the project. That would be on the contract. Okay, that's what I was asking. That's what I was how I read that. Okay. And then B is uh C is the contract. So, this is what I was hearing um Superintendent Smith-Botner say is that um that well, and this this is what I wrote down and you kind of verified it that we can finance now and use Centrics um an outside project management group or we

214can hold off on the debt and have our facilities managers build and run a comprehensive maintenance and replacement plan that would include the stadium lighting, parking lots, and the 150 other HVAC. Are those our choices? And then you said that if we do go go and do it ourselves. Those costs just are astronomical because we would be hiring a um we would it's another salary. Do we keep it in do it in 1 year. We And this is all done in 1 year, correct? This we were hoping to get it done by the end of bond, but I don't foresee that this could be done by the end of it it'd probably take uh longer now, but uh yes, if we go with um the company to uh basically run uh this project, they can

215get it done uh quickly so that we can uh have the equipment and the savings begin much quicker. There is no way that we could hire an HVAC person to oversee this uh to oversee this project, something like this uh at this magnitude. And and I believe I asked that last time, too. You didn't answer it, so Yeah. That's that's kind of where my brain has been sitting is comparing because which leads to my other questions about um front loading this $5.1 million I don't can't even read my own handwriting in replacements now. Replacements now doesn't mean that we're eliminating our regular maintenance plan. Correct? No, not at all. For the next 15 years. Okay, that's all. So, that's all. That's all. Just no. Right? Just no. So, so my question is how does this

216impact the daily duties of our current in-house maintenance staff? Uh if this is approved, is that what you're asking me? Yes. Yes. So, it really uh they would focus more on your your general work orders. I mean, obviously when you're talking about auxiliary services, you still got to have grounds, you got to have your electricians and things like that. So, it it takes some of the load off them where they can then um concentrate on other areas. We have um some that uh do multiple things such as a mechanic and an HVAC person. So, um So, is anyone losing their job? No. Okay. No. Um Uh, let's see. So, I think what I really need to see now I really need to see now a maintenance plan replacement plan. I need to see what that

217looks like and how we're going to address these 150 units going forward. I mean, I think that using Centrics probably makes um economical sense for us right now. Ms. Goins, I think I think you what the analogy I used on the 150 units I'm stuck on that, huh? Well, what it is is if we don't use a a person or a company, if we follow the $200,000 allotment we have each year for that taking that out, the 150 units that we wouldn't cover is solely based on our current plan right now. If we use Centrics, then it helps us we still have to have a plan for our HVAC units because it doesn't cover all of them. But, what it then does along with preventative maintenance of the current units and the new units we

218have to extend the life of them yes, we will still have to address that, but it won't be as such a burden because all these were built at the same time is what I'm saying. So, we'll still be able to find our maintenance plans. Even though we have we're incurring debt. Yes. And we can afford this debt. Mr. Wooten I believe told us last month that this is a this is a debt that is we can manage. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Um So, okay. I was going to say something. comment. I'd like to make a comment. Sure. I want to thank all of y'all that are sitting in this front row because y'all know what y'all are doing. Thank you for explaining it and dissecting it and detailing it. And I don't know how much further

219we can go besides reading the whole contract, but we're not going to do that. So, just thank y'all for that. Definitely. So, there's been a call for a vote. Yeah. I would like to just say also I would like to also thank the board for doing their due diligence and asking these hard questions because I'm not a HVAC person. I just know it better be cool when I come in here at night. And so, I think that I think that this has been a team effort and we had to work through some hard things to get to where maybe we're going to right now. And so, I think that that's okay that we did that. But yes, and you have worked four months. And I think and kudos to our superintendent is about solutions and

220she saw that we had this problem and so, what is the solution? And who likes debt? But um we are in deferred maintenance right now and we don't want to do that either. So, so thank you, Cathy. So, we have a motion and a second. Please indicate your vote. On 10B. Yes, on just on 10B. It's all we have a motion for. The motion carries five to two. On to item 10C. Consider of district energy saving performance contract for a total of 4,997,000. Is there a motion? Tennessee. Mr. President, I move to approve the district energy savings performance contract with Centrics Energy Partners LLC as presented. Is there a second? Second. Is there any further discussion? Tennessee. Yes. I have a question. I think I want to go back to the my question around columns

221B and C and where those where that money's coming from cuz I think they paused me at the last one. So, measured will be the column the first column, the energy savings. that one. Yep. Everybody's good there. The second column is kind of pre-measured and projected forward because you can't really we can't true those up, you know, year after year, which we will do. And that's the avoided cost from not having to change light bulbs and replace and service HVAC units and those things. That number was derived using industry standards, okay? Along with your costs, personnel costs, labor rates, that kind of thing. And so, that's where that came from. The third column is what we've kind of been talking about over here a little bit which is projecting forward the cost of things that

222you will have to replace. It's not a question of if, you will have to replace these things. Projecting forward the cost of those over several years, pulling them back into today's money, which I need to make the point so that we all hear this, that avoids any inflation going forward, right? Okay? That's the huge magic of that one. And so, working with your district, actually at the directive of your district leadership, we identified those scopes of work, monetized them, and then pulled them all back into today's money, so that you're now amortizing those costs over the years of the the project. So, those won't get measured uh in the M&V because they can't. Because you guys have said this is what we want to do, these are the costs, you know, we're we're all aware

223that that's what that means, and that's how it comes together. And what happens if we don't save that? Like, what happens if we don't if if we can't make our payment? Like, what what kind of guarantee do you guys give us? so the one the one that you just have to make sure that you come up with is that last column. Because we've all agreed that's the value of all the the future work that you're going to amortize over the years of the the project, right? The other two, that's what we're on the hook for. So, you guys are on the hook for the utility savings, column A, and you're on the hook for O&M savings, column B. Yes, ma'am. But C is where we That's where you guys That's where we Okay. You're signifying

224that yes, we understand, we're going to spend that money anyway, we want to avoid spending more of it in the future, so we're going to carve that out of our budget. And what we heard tonight is that you're already spending way more than that anyway. Because part of that $5 million includes equipment. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Very much. And so, the inflationary costs that you'll be avoiding really are threefold. It's the cost of equipment, it's the cost of labor, and it's the cost of materials. And new light fixtures. Materials, yes, ma'am. Okay. And is that all you Any more than that? Thank you for your question, ma'am. So, I have one more one more question, and um let me find it. It's about the contract. Does our contract include a legally binding performance guarantee where they

225must pay the district whatever amount that is in the total benefits if it's not if the benefits are not reached? Is that covered in our contract? It is. It is It is covered. And by the state statute. So, even if I didn't have it in my contract, I'd have to do that. Really? Yes, ma'am. That's what, Kevin? Schedule one. Okay. Just one thing, just for clarification. So, from year six to 15, we're paying you $7,000 a year to tell us about the energy savings we're having. Uh yes, that's the M&V column. So, we've only priced that out for the first five or six years. Typically, districts after that see the track record and say, "We're good. Everything's going, you know, as it as it should." And they they opt for us not to come back

226after that. It would if the cost would be commensurate if you wanted that to go forward. And that's in the contract? Uh yes, ma'am. Under measurement and verification. So, so we can both get out of the contract if we want to, as well. Yeah, you don't have to incur any of those costs. I I I would almost insist that you do at least one year with us, cuz otherwise, what's the point? But At least those five years. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, year six through 15, that's where we're all in some gray areas, like what's going on in those years? Yeah, that's your choice. And if you want us to come back year six through 15, I would love it. In fact, I hope that you'll say yes to that. But it's a yearly decision. So,

227my last question to you, Ms. Smith-Wagner, is making sure that we will have enough money for our replacement and maintenance plan moving forward. Dewey's face is like, "What kind of question is that?" I mean, that's I think that's where a lot of my consternation is. I'm worried about that. It But, remember um this is part of our replacement plan, and it guarantees that we're doing it. Um we have to look at it that way. Uh now, many times we're like, we're not we're making a replace a replacement plan each year, but what we're doing now is we're taking a really proactive approach, saying this is our replacement. We're not relying on uh someone else, but there will be other painting and, you know, things like that that have to have to happen in in you

228know, we have a legislative session, believe it or not, it's already about to happen again. And we didn't get a lot of money for these things. And that that's another thing that's put us in this in this bind uh because most of the money went to salaries for teachers, which is great, but inflation's still happening, and this is the best way we can find to take advantage like uh of savings, getting the equipment, and getting some savings back, cuz if we don't do this, we get what savings do we get? Zero. So, it to me, it's the best way that we can guarantee some replacement. And I can't say that we might have to cut on uh some things, because to me, HVAC and roofing, we can't let it leak and run the you know,

229the facilities. We have to have HVAC, cuz I get a call when we don't. I'm the HVAC uh technician, as a matter of fact, I'm the first call usually by when there's complaints. Uh I get it. And so, I want to try my best to eliminate that and not bring a cost of a million dollars, cuz the other thing we didn't talk about is sometimes you have to replace the roofing at the same time you're doing HVAC. So, how are we going to afford that? Then you got to wait how long to to replace it? So, it is a difficult situation, and I did not take this lightly uh because it comes out of the M&O side, but working with Lenny and uh Cameron and William, we work together and we are going to go

230forward then looking at the replacement plan um to ensure that we're covering other small items as our facilities are aging also. And unfortunately, $5 million isn't that much money. No, it's not. I hate to be quibbling over that, but uh I think I think that that's just part of our stewardship mindset. And um so It is. Um so but It's hard. And and I think that you have a good relationship with our people here, so. It is it is a lot and we want to um and yes, it's one pay app for a large construction project, but I want to answer a lot of questions real quick and just say while we brought it to you 4 months ago and if we're good with Centrics, I just want to say on my part and Lenny's

231part, we have worked for 11 months on this. So, when I got here, I noticed the old lighting and the leaky roofs and things. These are hard to address because they're not flashy. You're not going to see renderings like you saw earlier on this new project. These are things that we need, but I want to tell you one thing, the premise is not just about energy savings. Yes, we're going to save a lot of money on our utility bill. William can attest that's high, higher than average of most districts this size. The idea behind this is to take time that Ricky is spending walking around changing old light bulbs that are yellow and blue and orange and white and that Justin is spending on top of roofs replacing motors and compressors cuz we don't have

232the money to replace units and turning that around and spending that time on preventative maintenance, which is a little bit cheaper, but now a unit may last 12, 15, 18 years instead of 7 or 8. Now lighting with LED, it's actually got warranties in place, but it will last 15 years and uses 1/3 of the energy that the lighting that you currently have now in these buildings. So, when it comes to classrooms, it's less downtime. It's less time on our guys being on top of roofs and inside of ceilings. And now we're putting a true preventative maintenance plan in place that every year three times a year we will replace the filters. Four times a year we're going and doing roof assessments and patching areas that need to be patched before they turn into areas

233that we can't patch and have to be replaced. So, last summer we spent a lot of time uh doing x-rays and cores. We didn't bring all that to you, but we've probably employed about two or three hundred thousand dollars worth of work from contractors that they haven't charged us for in hopes that they would have an opportunity when the time come, which is tonight, to have the work to help the district. So, that kind of addresses a lot of things that you you all have been discussing. I think just the last thing I want to say is first, Mr. Wooten, do you think we can pay this $470,000 bill in addition to having a maintenance plan that we're saying we will be able to do? And then my third question is why don't we have

234a maintenance plan before now? So, I think that's the other part of it. I I can I can clearly address that. So, I'm going to go back to uh 20 2010, 2011. Even those we were working on a $1.5 million replacement plan. Over the cost of the years, with inflation, with uh lack of funding, over a period of time that 1.5 to 200,000, you you can't do much. Right. And obviously, instruction's going to take priority and staff. And the last thing that or the usually the first thing you get cut is is maintenance. And it's not only here, it's it's it's statewide. Yes. So, that that answers the question. I hear you and I think optics-wise, again, I'm being a a representative of of the community here. We passed a bond, we're building a new

235school, but our other schools are falling apart. I think that's the optics that I see. So, again, I'm not questioning the what. I I get the what. I think the what is definitely I'm 100% on board. I think it's the how. So, again, I won't belabor it, but I just want y'all to know nothing personal, guys, but I'm going to do what is what I feel like is my responsibility. So. Um Mr. President, we have board members left. Yeah, you may have a last question or something. Mhm. We're back at 10:23. please give me a chance to vote. Motion carries 5-2. On to item 10D. Consideration of possible approval of the resolution authorizing the issuance, sale, and delivery of Castleberry Independent School District Maintenance Tax Notes, Series 2026, and approving other matters incident and related

236thereto. Is there a motion? It's 10D. Yes. Mr. President, I move to approve the resolution authorizing the issuance, sale, and delivery of Castleberry Independent School District Maintenance Tax Notes, Series 2026, and approving other matters incident and related thereto as presented. Is there a second? Second. Is there any further discussion? Yes. And I have one question. So, um Adrian, we can if we had some savings, we could pay down the tax note. Correct. Yes, it's callable anytime at par. So, you could either refinance it or you could take cash and pay pay it down. And on that in my head already. Okay. To defeasance. Okay. Because and we've done that in the past. Yes, we have. So, that's why I really think this is Yes. So, yes with what you're saying, Tracy. My mind is already

237thinking about some savings. Uh I've already talked to Adrian about one thing I can't do, but I have some other ideas. Okay. And I would I wanted to point out that the winning bid, Simmons Bank had a 419. The cover bid, which is second place, is a 461. So, it's an outlier that they bid so aggressively. And the feedback I got from the placement agent was Simmons Bank is coming back into the market in Texas. And they wanted they wanted to win some deals. And this is the first one they had seen. So, we I'll take luck. Sometimes it's the day of taking the bids and somebody wants wants to win it. But, it's 419, and then second place is 461, 462, 482. So, that is playing a lot into the savings. Thank you. So,

238I think that explains what we're voting on. Um we're voting on I'm answering. Tomorrow with this recommended company. Okay. Sorry, I can't it's It's locked in at this time. Go ahead, Armando. Sorry, it's Yes, happy to address. Happy happy to address that question. So, yeah, the the matter before the board right now is a resolution that would authorize the sale of the notes. So, Adrian has presented the financial terms that were secured through the bid process, but this would actually be accepting those terms and you are selling the notes. Now, we will close. It's very similar to kind of if you think about it of selling your home. We're selling the notes today, but if it's the board's pleasure to move forward on this, I will then there's an AG review process that needs to

239take place. I will take the documents, submit them to the Attorney General's office, walk through that review process. The bank's attorneys will look at our documents, and then we will close. We're closing June June 2nd. And that's when the funds will actually be delivered. So this is a the motion is to approve the the issuance of those notes. And we're we're we're closing in about a month's time. And then we can start the work in June. All right, thank you. As clear as mud. Why do we need a resolution? Uh so that is actually a a requirement of the education code. So it's uh section 45.108 requires that these uh our maintenance tax notes are issued by resolution. It makes specific reference to resolution. You could probably technically do an order, but uh the convention

240is to do a resolution because a resolution is mentioned in the statute. But so for the bonds for instance, that's a very astute observation though. For bonds for instance, it's always done by order. But since resolution is mentioned in the education code, we use a resolution. Thank you. Mhm. Is there any further discussion? Please indicate your vote. Motion carries 6-1. Item 10E consider approval of proposed contract renewal recommendations. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion? I move to approve the superintendent's recommendations to renew teachers, librarians, nurses, and other professionals per the attached list subject to assignment. Is there a second? Did we not already vote on that? No, that was 10F. That was a professional you heard. These are teachers, librarians, and I know, but

241I thought that someone I thought someone read teachers, librarians. That one was for the new hires. This one's for existing staff getting a Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. It sounds the same though. Thank you. Thank you, Melinda May. Is there a second? Second. Any further discussion? Please indicate your vote. Motion carries 7-0. Item 11, information items. Is there anything we need to go over 10:30 at night? Anybody in anything wants to highlight anything in section 11? It's quite a bit. No? I'm going to jump down to 12. I'm not hearing anything. So, board key dates, there's there's two meetings next week. Start there. 12A. So, go to board workshop on next Monday. And uh canvassing election on Tuesday. And we also, just a reminder, just to double check on June 8th for the hearing. Who

242is going to be here or not going to be here? Or What time is that? 6:00. 6:00 June 8th I'm starting on June 8th. The first three Mondays the first three Mondays in June. Yeah. There goes my trip to Cancun. Drama night. I think we have that tonight. We have one on the 15th of June. It's on the calendar. The 15th is your budget. Anybody going to have a problem being here on the 8th? I cannot commit to the 8th yet. Anybody else? Okay. You're good. Okay. Okay. Good. Yeah. All right. That was the only big concern. Mr. President, can we change 12c to the next board meeting? Yeah. Let's do that, please. I propose we Sure. Even though it was really great and I mean I'm getting my second wind, so Sure. We will

243move 12c on to the next meeting. Um anything else in 12? What about graduation? Are we going to talk about that? Dr. Richland, do you have any news for us on any direction? Let me turn on my mic here. Yes, so you have to arrive at 6:30. You have We've only They were only giving us five parking spaces for the garage. However, do you remember last I'll make sure that you get a map. If you remember last year several of you parked in the back where the kids come in. That lot is now finished and it's much larger. Remember there was construction last year. There's There are plenty of spots and that is actually probably the preferable spot to park because it's literally across the street from the entrance. I think that's easier than parking

244in the garage. So, we'll get you a map so that you know exactly where it is. Completely fine if you choose to do that instead. I will make sure that you have a map. You're welcome. Anything else? Ms. McFaultner, are we wearing black or navy? What is your preference? Uh how about blue, black, or red? Blue, black, or red. You heard the lady. So, choices. It sounds like a bruise, but Anything else? Well, our next meeting is next Tuesday. No, it's actually next Monday. The 11th. Uh for our training. Follow that Tuesday, so. 3 hours. So. So, I move we adjourn. Yeah. Hearing no objection, we stand adjourned at 10:34 p.m. 10:34.