001Thank you for coming to our first ever meet the candidate event here with our uh individuals that are running for the board of trustees at Conley ISD. For a couple of quick ground rules and our candidates have all been informed about all of this. Every candidate will be allotted three minutes to introduce themselves to the crowd. After that, every candidate will be allotted two minutes to respond to a question. Each candidate will respond to every single question. So you will be able to hear all four perspectives on each topic area. Candidates will rotate their speaking order after each question so that we don't have the same person answering first every time, second, so on and so forth. A big ticket item here is that this is not a debate. Candidates are not going to be
002offered the opportunity to cross-examine one another. We will warn you when you are approaching your time limits. When you have 30 seconds remaining, you will hear one gabble tap. When you are at the end of your time, you'll have two and I will give you a verbal stop. For everybody that is here watching, please be aware that while the candidates did receive the topic areas of questions that they will be asked, they have not received the questions themselves. They will be hearing them for the first time today. And with that in mind, we are ready to begin our introductions. Mr. Lowry, if you would like to begin. I'm Keith Lowry. Uh I've actually been on the board for four years now. Um I I did I do this because I want to give back to
003to our kids in our schools. I I've got two girls that have gradu both graduated from Conley and uh so I've been in the in the district for about 26 27 years. Uh I I was part of the little league for many years helping uh been to give back to the community and that's that's what I'm all about is just I'm here for the kids and I'm here for the for the the staff and and make sure that we do what's best for them. Wonderful. Miss Ger. Yes. I'm here for the children. Oh, is it on my time? Okay. Yeah, I'm a teacher and I can be longwinded sometimes. So, this is really a challenge to keep it to three minutes. I'm here for the children, the teachers, the administrators, and our community. I've knocked
004on doors and we have a pretty good idea of what our community wants. Um, I taught for 30 years. Taught everything from preK through 12th grade, English as a second language, special education, mostly math and science the last two years that I was here. And then I substituted. Those 30 years include substitute teaching as well. And as a former military wife, I taught on the east coast and west coast up and down and overseas. I've lived Switzerland and France for brief periods in the Philippines. I've seen a lot of different school systems and how things work at other places. I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Okay. Conly fortunately, when when we were here, it had a fantastic reputation. And what motivated me to throw my name in the hat was some comments
005that I had read on social media. And it broke my heart. I want us to be proud of our school district and I want our kids the priority is for them to learn in a safe environment and I have some ideas of how we can do that. That's it. Thank you, M. Hello, I am Heather McCarti Johnston. I've been on the board now for three years. Um, I've lived in the district for 28 years. Had four kids go to this school. Um, I grew up also in the military and moved Texas into 92, graduated from Stevenville High School in 95, moved to Waco, went to TSTC for dental assisting. I've worked in dental labs and some other jobs here and there, but for the most part, I've been a stay-at-home mom. Um, I have volunteered,
006I started volunteering in 2001. I have been room mom, booster club, helped with chemical free, helped with fall festivals, everything. Um, I've already participated in the committee for the community community committee for the bond elections. I have done just about every volunteer position you can think of here. And I love this district. Um, I came to every single board meeting for an entire year before I was on the board because I really wanted to know what I was getting into. And um I have invested a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this. Not so many tears, but a lot of blood and sweat definitely. And I I really want to continue to be on the board and help lead this community, a community that I love and believe in. Mr. Evans. Hello. My name
007is Cyrus Evans and I've lived in this community for 16 years. I'm a pr proud parent of two students in this district and I've deep and I'm deep been deeply involved in our schools as a parent um as an employee in the past um as a mentor because I did coach little league football here and also as a student advocate um I am a pastor um in the Waco area. I also own a business that's not less than 10 minutes from here and I current and I'm currently employed as a uh teacher in another district. I have over 17 plus years of large team experience which for with a Fortune 500 company with which is AT&T. Furthermore, um I'm also very proud that I've served my country as a United States uh Marine Corps in
008the United States Marine Corps. I'm running for school board because I believe every child in our district deserve access to high quality education and a safe, supportive learning environment. I deeply care about student behavior, student academia. That's not just limited to STAR testing. I'm also believe in preparing students for success outside of the classroom, which in turn impacts our community. Furthermore, I'm very uh interested in teacher growth and retention, district transparent, transparency, district visibility, and restoring the cadet pride within our communities. Here's what I bring to the table. With a background and degree in business management, education, finance, and organizational leadership and years of hands-on involvement in our schools, I bring the collaborative mindset and strong commitment to to listening to our community voices. In closing, I'm looking forward to hearing from our parents, teachers,
009students, and neighbors as we work together for the future of our schools. Thank you so much for this opportunity to serve. Thank you very much, everybody. Okay, we're going to move on to our first question, which if you look to your reference sheets as you were emailed, deals with the topic of the role of a board member. Since we have the microphone down with y'all already, Mr. Evans, you'll be the first one to answer this question. And if it's okay with our reporter, I'm okay with us just cycling it from person to person as we have right there to make sure that our audio is good. Um, you hold the microphone. Sure. Yes. And please. Yeah. Good. Okay. We're going to make sure that we're holding the microphone with it as well. Um, so Mr.
010Mr. Evans, this question will be for all four of you and if you forget it, it's going to be up on the screen for you to be able to see. We also have it on the screen for everybody else. And our first question, dealing with the topic of the role of a school board member as a member of the Conley ISD board of trustees, you represent just one of seven votes. How do you feel that your perspective and voice can help the board as a unit or team make the best decisions for our students, employees, and our community? First of all, I believe that um any board, you know, in an effort to remain professional, I believe I will bring professionalism um to the to the board. But I believe more importantly, I think my
011role and responsibility would be um to to hold the um what I would consider the uh integrity of what a board member does. And what is that? That's ensuring that we are we are there to set policies, develop and approve of policies. Not only that, but also think about one of the struggles that we've had in the past in terms of what the community sees. And that is what I would consider fiscal oversight. And what is that? Um making sure that I'm present, readily available, and educated in terms of budgeting, um spending allocations. But furthermore, I also think evaluating school leadership in terms of making sure that everyone um that is responsible for our children u are accountable. Um not only that, but also think that um ensuring that as a person that is one
012of the seven voices, I think um community engagement is very important holistically. It doesn't it doesn't matter which side of the fence we're on. you know um my my role and responsibility would be to ensure that uh we are fully locked in fully engaged but not only that but I think with my previous experience um it you know one of the things that I think that I would ensure that is done while serving on the board is ensuring accountability and quality how by monitoring student performance um I also believe that the role of the board member No you can go okay you got 30 more seconds okay is to make sure that you know resources are allocated which I think is one of the big elephants that are in the book. Mr. Hardy Johnson. Um
013I um really believe that it's very easy to make a lot of decisions. We put the kids first. What's best for kids first? Um after that, I mean it's that's a hard decision to make sometimes, but it's the easiest decision at the same time. Um I am a fierce advocate for our kids, what is best for them and their families. Um, as well as everyone that works in this district, doing the very best we can for all of our employees and our community as a whole. Um, especially teachers. I'm a big advocate for teachers because if we don't have teachers, we don't have school. Um, so that is my dedication is the is really the teachers, but also just being an advocate for everyone in the community. Um, Thank you very much. Oh, do you
014need to hold? Yes, if you can hold. Oh, okay. Sorry. No problem. I thought we were just finger. I have a lot of experience uh serving on different boards, being a leader in different groups throughout the years, even before I started teaching full-time. And um that perspective, I've known a lot of people from across the board, economically, geographically, all of that. And I'm usually a peacemaker. Okay. Usually I don't hesitate to butt heads with someone if I feel like they're wrong. If they can justify to me that I'm thinking wrong, then I will accept that. But you got to prove me wrong. And um so I I saw a social media comment made by the mayor of Waco. She said she wasn't running again because she didn't feel like she was getting things done that
015she wanted to get done. And she says sometimes you need agitation. Like if you do your laundry and you throw your dirty clothes in there, all you're going to get is wet, dirty clothes if there's no agitation. Now, I'm not here to advocate agitation, but I don't At the same time, I don't shy away from it when it's justified. Well, being on the board for four years now, um I feel that that's one thing about this board that we we like is that our voice is heard. Um it's it's not our it's not one person's way or the highway. Um I know that's a lot of things that's been said before, but that's not true. Um, if I don't agree with something, I'm always very able to speak my mind about it. But I I
016feel like, you know, my voice and what what I'm here to do is do what's best for these kids first and foremost. And then we want to take care of our staff because if we don't have good staff, we can't have a good education. So, that's that's my first two main priorities. And then and then the community. We want the community, we want to be transparent with the community and let them know what we're doing and what's going on at all times. And I can promise you if you ever want to know anything, come to a meeting. Just come to a meeting. Thank you very much. If you can go ahead and pass the microphone down to Miss McCarti Johnson and then you will get that first one for our next question. Our next topic
017area that we'll be discussing are potential priority projects that you might have as a board member. And the question is, each year campus administrators lay out a series of goals and priorities for their campus to tackle as part of their improvement plans. I challenge you as potential board candidates. What do you consider to be the three biggest priorities for our district? And how do you propose that the school board tackle those priorities? Obviously education, um obviously safety. Um we are I would say third one. Um and then for me teacher support. Um I think we do a really good job with safety right now. I think we are making good transitions into with our with our curriculum. we're making some changes that's are going to bring some really positive changes. Um but um overall um
018those are the three things and then you know and and I don't know we we want our kids to be happy, healthy, educated and safe. So that is those are my three guesses. Thank you Miss Finger. Okay. My priority is getting a hold of the discipline in the classroom. That is the number one complaint that I have heard while campaigning is that discipline is is a huge problem. And one way to do that is to hire more teachers, make our classroom size smaller so that the teacher is only dealing smaller groups of children that will cut down on discipline problems right there. It doesn't matter if you have the biggest, shiniest, brand new building in the world to put those children in. If they don't respect, if they're not disciplined, they're not learning. And that's
019what we have to make sure is that the children are learning and are motivated to learn. So my solution to that is hire teachers. Also give these teachers some assistance. I know we can't afford a teaching assistant in every classroom, but why not hire some to rotate among the classrooms to ease part of the burden? Never in the history of education have teachers had so much to deal with. You've got your individual education plans. Okay, you have five or six of those in your classroom. How are you going to deal with all those plus everybody else in the classroom? How are you going to keep up with the paperwork? Teachers get frustrated. Even before discipline was a crisis across our country, teachers would we'd lose them within the first five years. They'd go to other
020areas to work in because they were so frustrated. And that's even more true today. And it's a proven fact. If you have smaller numbers in that classroom, those children are going to learn better. Why not go with something that's already Thank you, Mr. Okay, our three biggest priorities I would say top is education for the kids. Getting them getting our kids where they need to be right now. Uh getting our our uh campuses where they need to be right now education wise. Um, I I feel also teacher retention. We need we need the teachers need more money. They don't get paid enough. Not not doing what they do every day in day out. I'm I'm sure you can probably vouch for that. Um, but anyway, that's probably I would say the top two priorities. And
021our third top priority is we have to figure out something with our elementary. Not necessarily build a new one, but fix the problems that we have and get the that we'll be able to do that with which you know where that comes from. I guess it'll be from up to us to figure out but anyway that's my three top priorities. Thank you Mr. Lowry. Mr. I think um when I think about my top three priorities that um that I would like to massage um we are a district of innovation for a reason. That's not something to necessarily be hyper proud of. uh multiple factors that go into uh becoming a district of innovation. Of course, um test scores, grades, attendance, and etc. When you go and pull our PES report, which is a local something
022that everyone has access to, you know, you can look at some of the behavior issues that are um within that report. To me, by me being in the in the classroom, I believe all of this trickles down to my next priority. first priority is get us off the district of innovation and let's be a district that we can be hyper proud of. Right? That's one or massage it and let's make it to where we are a performing school uh of excellence. Second, I think teacher retention if you go into the human resources portal every year. there is a hyperinflux of teachers um that are constantly turning over and what's sad about it is is that they are going to other districts that pay less or there's even more headache you know in terms of class
023classroom spans. So trying to figure out what we need to do to um retain teachers. I think the third thing I think um a lot of people here are interested in um as one of my peers said let's really talk about the uh the building of the elementary right what are some things that we can do what are some of the things that we cannot do and and I think one of the things that I would like to see happen is is that it drives all of us together as a community so those are my ms we can now get the mic down to his finger she'll be the first one to answer this I could have found a more fluid way to do this but it's Okay, I taught speech and debate. Um, the
024next topic area that we're going to be discussing is facility maintenance. And the question that I have starting for you, Miss Finger, but it'll go to everybody. An independent facility survey was conducted of all Conley ISD properties in the spring 2024 semester. The results of this evaluation, which are available on the district's website, indicate that some district facilities have significant area of need, including major plumbing, electric, and foundation concerns. These concerns have resulted in these facilities having a facility condition index of over 70%. What is your proposed plan of action to maintain, renovate, update, and/or replace aging and deteriorating facilities within our district? Okay. First of all, I think money that is allocated for certain areas should stay in those areas. They should not be reallocated to others. I visited the building that you're talking
025about. I taught in that building and spent long hours in that building and it's gotten a whole lot worse in the last 10 years. I feel like it's been neglected because the desire was to build a new building rather than to take care of what we needed to take care of. I think a leaky roof is a pretty major repair that needs to be done and why we put astroturf on the football field instead of going to that building and fixing that roof. I don't know everything. There's a whole lot I don't know and I'll be the first to admit it. I don't have the documentation and so but if you've got a problem with the building, fix it. What are you gonna what are you going to do in between time? If you want
026to build another school later, great. Make sure that the money that is raised for that goes for that purpose and not some other purpose. Um, I just think it's tragic that the building is in the condition that it's in. And I am not opposed to building a new elementary school if the when a bond comes up, if it's written the right way and those funds go for that school, not bells and whistles for something else. Thank you. Mr. Lowry, well, of course, I think I've already touched on this on my last one, but um the main thing, our biggest concern is the is the elementary school and I know that there are plans that we're we're working on ways of how we can fix the problems that there are that are there especially safety concerns.
027That's probably one of our top priorities that we should have is the safety concerns that we had with that school. Um luckily this school has a a fairly healthy fund balance. So that will help alleviate some of the pain of doing some of the repairs that we can do, but it's not going to be enough to repair everything that needs to be done there. But we'll just do what we can to, you know, make make do with what we can with what we have. So that that's that's my thing is just fixing that. And then the road over at the uh junior high, that area road over there, the circle, it needs some tender here. We can get the microphone down. All right. Um I had the opportunity to look at the fiscal budget proposal
028for um believe it's this coming upcoming school year. I think there's a 3.3 million $3.3 million that we spend on just overall general maintenance. And so, you know, if I were to come on the board, you know, I would love to see where we putting those 3.3 million. So, if we're not going to build another school, I would love to see, you know, what part of that 3.3 million is being placed at the school uh that is in question. Meanwhile, I think another thing that I think is very important to me because I did have an opportunity to work in Marlin, Texas, which by the way, per capita, we kind of mirror them. They did pass a a bond, you know, that was 20 point something million dollars to renovate a school. But beyond that,
029even if we don't pass a bond um that is 20 plus million to build another school, here's what I would like to propose. We have a grant writer. There are several grants out there that I think that we need to be hustling to try to get to put back into our school. That is one thing that I have not heard, you know, since listening to some of the proposals. So, I think my my objective would be if we're not going to pass a grant, let's go up. Let's get past it and let's go other methods to see what grant money is available to improve our schools. Thank you very much. Um being a part of the school board the last three years um I've become acutely aware of how amazing of a maintenance department we
030have. Our maintenance department fixes so much. They have built buildings. They have repaired so many and taken on so many projects um themselves uh so that we don't have to hire out. Um we have five campuses that they service in addition to the field and all that stuff. Um it is very clear that the community does not support a bond. Uh so we are doing the best that we can and I just I'm sorry. I believe that they are doing the best that they can and with what they have. It's not a maintenance issue. it's a lack of maintenance at that school. It is the age of the building, the way it was built, and where it is. Um, so we we're just kind of doing the best we can with that with that school.
031But in addition to that, we are doing things that are cheaper than we could hire them out for. And we are saving a lot of money doing it. and we don't want to break the bank because we want to keep a healthy fund balance and we want to stay um we want to be good stewards of the money that we have for a rainy day because a rainy day can be really expensive. Thank you very much. This question will start off with Mr. Lowry. This topic area that we'll be discussing now has to do with budgeting and school finance. Y'all are doing a great job of transitioning us from topic to topic. I really appreciate it. Um the question that I have for all four of you and Mr. Lowry, you'll be the one to
032start us off. The Texas legislature is currently debating potential changes to the school funding formula in the status quo. Public schools are faced with major financial gaps requiring many districts, including our own, to operate on deficit budgets. Absent a major reform of school finance policies, how do you propose that the district move forward in terms of funding our day-to-day operations? Well, I think I'll be honest with you. I think the school's already doing this and I know that I heard that we, you know, we need to make classes smaller, but unfortunately with the funding that we have now, that's impossible. We can't do that. um unless the state wants to to do their do the right thing for for all schools not just ours but all schools and start giving more money to the for
033the kids making classrooms smaller is not going to happen. Uh so if we don't get this then then they're going to have to hire less teachers and make classrooms bigger is the only way that we're going to be able to get out of a deficit budget to Mr. Evans back. All right. All right. Um what I believe you know of course there's nothing we can do about policy but what we can do is control the controllables. Um currently right now I my average classroom size based on the classroom class space that I have taught in the past has been 30 up to 40 with great classroom management. Right? So here's what I believe. I think hiring the right people for our students, right? Making sure that we have good interviewing interview questions in place and
034in play and not just hiring people just we hiring them to wheelchairs. I think that is the way that we keep the main thing the main thing which is student learning. Question again. Um, okay. So, um, I think that I mean I I know the voucher uh bill has come up and um it hasn't passed 100% yet, but there's supposed to be like a $400 increase on our basic aotment, which is currently 6160. $400 is nothing. We need about $5,000 of child increase just to just to make just to give back to our kids more. Um, Unfortunately, it's going to get a little nasty. It's going to get tough. We're going to have to cut positions. We're going to have to consolidate classrooms. They're um we might have to cut programs for the kids. Um
035and this is not just with Connley. This is statewide. This is belt tightening that is even being felt by the the richer school districts. Um, and it is not going to be fun, but it's going to have to be a necessary um, evil if we're going to keep these doors open and really be able to keep thinking about what we're going to do with getting our kids educated and getting them out the door and getting them into uh, society. We're going to have to really streamline everything and cut out all the waste. Every even stuff that doesn't really feel like waste, we're going to have to get really tough on stuff. It's it's not going to be fun. She's correct. It isn't going to be fun. It's going to be it's going to hurt in
036a lot of places. But it's just like your family budget. You have to operate on what you have, not what you wish you had. I think parent involvement is another key for helping our funds. If we have parent volunteers that have have background checks and we know it's safe for them to be around our children, we can get parent volunteers to come in and help where we can't afford to hire teaching assistants. We can retain our teachers more. A teacher would much rather be in a district where she's getting some help. It's even more important than pay because you will take less pay if you can be assured that you're going to get some help that you're not in there all by yourself trying to handle everything. Um, you know, we came together as a
037community when West had their explosion. We had teachers, students, community members in these buildings, painting it, getting everything ready for those students so we could welcome them with open arms. Why can't we do something like that for ourselves? We have carpenters, painters, architects, plumbers. Let's get out there and try to motivate some of them to contribute their time and we can pay for the supplies. We're going to back down to Mr. Evans. Our next topic area that we'll be discussing has to do with instructional quality in our classrooms. The question for all four of you, starting out with Mr. Evans, teachers and administrators of Conley ISD are working closely with the region 12 education service center to improve the quality of curriculum and instruction in our classrooms. Part of these efforts have involved adopting a
038more rigorous curriculum in math, science, and English language arts classes. What are some ways that you believe the school board can help ensure that students receive high quality instruction from appropriate curriculum resources? Well, I you know, this kind this this question is kind of a two-headed sword for me. I don't think it's more so about the rigor in terms of improving the rigor when we're behind, you know, in terms of a deficit. I think we adopted the four day uh four day um school week to focus on some of the remediation, right? So, I think continuing to add more rigor and rigor and rigor I think is going to continue to put us further and further and further behind. So, I think a couple ways to do that, you know, y'all, let's be honest, as
039a teacher, we're exhausted. Okay? So, I think finding a way to ensure that teachers have the strength to continue to teach regardless of the class it's 45 minutes to an hour. But I think as a board member, one of the things that I would concentrate on is really ensuring that all teachers, you know, there's something in place to help teachers um to to continue to to provide quality instruction. I don't think it's necessarily about rigor. I think there has to be a lot more effort in terms of the remedial side of it to help to get everybody um up to speed. Um let's see. Um how do we Let's see. Appropriate curriculum resources. Um, honestly, we the TEA has a lot to do with that. They have a tendency to dictate what we're allowed to
040use. Um, in the past, a lot of our uh school our campuses have chosen their own curriculum. So, there's been a little bit of discord between campuses like from one campus to another. It's not the same stuff. So, teachers are constantly like, "Hey, you should have taught this kid this last year. No, it's your responsibility this year." and we are moving into a new curriculum that's going should correct all of that. So there will be um more flow and it will just the children will have to learn a different way for each curriculum at each campus and I think that that's going to just improve things by leaps and bounds and um that's something that should have been done years ago. We have to be cautious in this area. I taught on one campus that
041had adopted a curriculum and everybody on that campus had to teach from that curriculum, had to use those lesson plans, had to be on a certain page by a certain date. Doesn't always work. In fact, a lot of times it doesn't. As it turned out, that curriculum was written and successful in a town that was a college town and most of the children that used it that were successful came from upper middle class families. You have to consider everything. I think the judgment of the teacher. We know our kids. We know our students. And just because it's in a curriculum that we're supposed to be following, it doesn't that it's necessarily the best thing to do. This is a tough one. Uh with curriculum, I mean, we've we've already the school's already started with this.
042I mean, Miss Johnson, she she touched on already, but um we're already going into a new curriculum, and I feel with this new curriculum that we will be going into with with the help of region 12, it will better our students. It'll get them more prepared for the next grade level each time. And that's something that's really important for these kids is to make sure they're ready for their next grade level. And I don't think I don't feel that we've we've done that in the past, but I feel like we're doing that going forward with the right leadership that we have. Thank you very much. M Johnson, you'll be the one to start us off on this next question. The next topic area that we're discussing will be on staff recruitment and retention. The question
043that I have for all four of you, beginning with Mccardney Johnson, schools throughout the nation are struggling with a teacher hiring crisis. In fact, Conley is One of the few schools in the greater Waco area that actually managed to start the 2425 school year fully staffed. The district currently has over 25 openings across all campuses, departments, and contract types. What is your proposal for ways to effectively recruit and retain strong employees in the district? Well, money is a really good start. Um, um, being competitive with our pay um, and any type of bonuses or stipens that we can give. Um, other districts can't always do it. We were able to do it with our ESSER funds. Unfortunately, that money did run out and did not get replenished. So, um, as as much as we can,
044um, give those teachers a little extra, a little Thank you. Um, let's see what's And honestly, we've already done some of this. A big reason, one of the many reasons we went to a 4 day a week was because we wanted teacher retention. I've had people tell me there's not a shortage of teachers. There's just teachers that are they quit because they're sick and tired of being sick and tired. They're tired of being overworked, underpaid, and disrespected. And I think that with every year, especially with um more accountability, we will be able to bring some of those back out of retirement and maybe back to the district. We've been told several times that Connley is like a family. People leave, but they always seem to want to come back. That happens. That story is we
045hear that over and over and over. And I think as long as we stay the course and we continue to be competitive and keep a community atmosphere, a family atmosphere. I think we will still we will continue by the time we start this next school year, we will be fully staffed again. Well, I'm going to go back to those teaching assistants and less kids in the classroom. Teachers are teachers because they love the children. They want the best for the children. Money can motivator, but that's usually not the motivator. If they were interested in money, they would have chosen a different profession all together. I still say helping them with the discipline problems, putting an extra pair of eyes and hands in there, if somebody's disruptive and needs to go to the office, pull them
046out, take them right there, and then the teacher can keep teaching what she needs to teach. And the kids that want to learn, if the kids are in there, Everybody's entitled to a free education, but if they're just going to sit there and cause problems, let's find a trade school to put them in. You know, not everybody is meant for college. We need trades skills. And you know, some kids just they're not into the academics and that sets them up for behavior problems a lot of times because they want to do something where they're working their hands and stuff and it's not always possible to do that. We're using a cookie cutter model. Put all these kids in one classroom. You know what? If they put all of us in a classroom together, I bet
047you we'd be disrupting the class, too. After a while, you're expected to sit at this little bitty desk and behave and listen and and not talk very much. You go to the cafeteria, they tell you in the cafeteria, "No, you can't talk. It's too loud. You know there there are solutions to this and behavior again that is that's stumbling block that we are facing that our kids are not learning. When I was in Rhode Island if we had kids that were misbehaving guess what our parents went to parenting classes. Uh, I feel like the school is already on the right track as far as the 4 day work week. Uh, it to recruit quality teachers and to keep teachers. Um, I know that it shows we have a big turnover, but there are other uh
048there's other factors of why they left, not just because of us not paying enough or because of our work week or whatever it is. You know, there's a lot lots of reasons why they leave. Same with getting out of teaching. A lot of them are just tired of teaching. I mean, really. But, um, I feel like the the 4 day work week and then maybe maybe a small signing bonus or something like that that would uh be attractive to them to, you know, make it worthwhile to come check us out and see what they think. All right. So, I'd kind of like to flip that model around. I think the the best people to ask in terms of how to retain them is the teacher themselves, right? Uh you know when you know we we
049have a lot of surveys that go out uh do we do we take an opportunity to read those surveys and really do something about those those teacher surveys that come back to us? In fact, um I I you know, I kind of watch our peer groups, you know, different independent school districts. Their retention rate, you know, is very high and they have less pay. We need to figure out what they are doing. In fact, right across the road from us, you know, uh their retention rate is very high, very high. Um, not only that, but you know, often times when teachers leave, uh, do we take an opportunity to read those exit interviews why they left, right? Um, I've always been taught this, and this is not a let down, a put down. People don't,
050you know, we have a great district. I think we have a great district that pay bonuses and etc. People don't quit good jobs, they quit great leadership or or or not so good leadership. I'm not saying that that's that's that's the case, but what we need to do is really pay very close attention to those exit interviews to see where we as a district missed the mark for those great people that decided to be here for a year. We have a good front door opportunity, but we're losing them out of the back door and that's not fair to our kids because they have to come back to brand new staff year after year. Thank you very much. Our next topic area deals with community engagement. The question Connley ISD's district boundaries encompass multiple individual communities
051including Lacy Lake View Chalk Bluff Elmont and more. I could have list them all. It's pretty big list actually. As a school board member, how would you work to represent the needs and interests of all of the different communities that our school district serves? We need to get to know each other. need to be brought together and unified. Um more opportunities for the people to come together, maybe carnivals, maybe festivals, get to know each other on a casual basis. Um we all have two two legs hopefully and two feet. We're not that different even though we live in different areas. Someone said, "Oh, we're all in the same boat." I'm sorry, we're not. Some people are in a sailboat. Some are in a yacht. Some are in a canoe or paddle boat. There are differences
052that exist. We need to smooth over those differences because the best way is for you and I to get to know each other. If we have differences of opinion, fine. Talk to each to understand each other and get to know each other. I think through community fundraisers um that can be something that can find people um involve the students in a lot of different activities that the parents are able to be involved in as well and pull the communities together doing stuff like that. I mean, maybe that sounds too dismissive and too simple, but communicating. Mr. Lowry, uh, I'll have to agree with Maker on that. I agree. We do need to have more community involvement and we do need to have more community functions here at the schools. I know we have the lunch
053in the Valentine's lunch uh, for the for the senior citizens and From what I've heard, it is a tremendous success. So, I I feel that we should have more more of those type functions. Uh but not just for senior citizens, for everyone uh to get them involved in the school uh and like like she said, unite, bring us together so that that we all have one common goal and that is just what's best for these kids. I'd like to say that I'm proud of of over the years I've watched how we as a community and our leadership that currently serves does a good job of communicating especially with um events like this as you can see that was a I mean that was phenomenal. Um I think we you know we continue to do things
054like that. Uh but more importantly I think as Miss Lowry said about the Valentine's I think that was phenomenal. I was able to see photos of that particular event. So, I think we're going down a good trajectory, but I would say as a board member for me, I'm very loud and proud about anything that I do. So, I'm an open book. You know, um social media is a big platform for me. So, um I'm there, you know, I'm an open book. You know, I think my open door policy stands wide open whether we whether we agree or or not. But I think for me to reach Lacy Lake View, Chalk Bluff, El and beyond. I think it also is going to require um us partnering with the leadership in those specific areas, you know, in
055terms of mayors and etc. So, for me, I think strengthening those relationships and also being very vocal, letting folks know what's going on u in the community with the platforms that I currently use. Thank you very much. Um, currently we do we organize our homecoming parade, Christmas parade. Um, we do trunk or treat and just the last two uh Valentine's Days we have had a really amazing Valentine's Day lunch for our senior citizens. Um, I I know there's more that we could do. Absolutely. But I want to challenge the community a little bit. Um, we have meetings once a month, sometimes more. And with the year that I came to all the board meetings before I was on the board and the three years I've been a board member, only one time has anybody come
056and spoken at open forum. Come and tell us what you want. Come and tell us what you think. If there's something you don't agree with, we're not going to have you arrested. We're not going to send you into exile. Come be a part of what we have going on. It's really difficult to reach everybody all the time. We can mail things out. We can put things on social media. We can send email all the time, but we always miss somebody. And I would really love to see more people, even just a little bit, be more interested in coming and being here with us when we do things on a regular basis. Tell us how you feel about stuff and tell us what you want. Thank you very much. Our next topic area for everybody will
057involve student extracurricular activities. That question studies show that student participation in extracurricular activities, be they service organizations, fine arts programs or athletic teams boost student engagement in school. Students who are part of such activities learn important life skills such as teamwork, conflict resolution, and the ability to grow from constructive criticism. How do you propose that the school board show support for all of these different programs? Well, I'll speak for myself. I'm I'm in a lot of sporting events, football. Um I I'm actually on the football helmet crew, as we call it. Of course, it's not a helmet anymore. Now, it's a it's an inflatable, but uh I'm at every football game. I'm at a lot of baseball games. I try to make softball, basketball. Uh I feel like the board members, that's that's something that
058we could all do is be there for those kids to watch them do these things, whether it be one act play or any of that. I'm not saying it has to be just athletics. Um, but anyway, to be involved in the school that way as well, not just at this these meetings. And I feel like that's one thing we have in common with our board now, is that everyone's involved in the school in one way or another with extracurricular uh, you know, events after after school. service. I was taught by uh a previous superintendent that most kids come to school, you know, especially those that are in extracurricular activities, that's what they're coming from, you know, coming for, be it band, be it football, be it baseball, whatever it is. So our job, you know,
059as an educator, their job is to get behind that vision for that kid to ensure that they continue to stay in school and participate in those programs. But more importantly, I think as a board member, um, I think the way that we can support those is definitely working closely with those coaches to find out, you know, what what do they need to be successful because I think once the coach feels very supportive, I think that that kind of flows down to the to the staff that they support and then um, intrinsically also down to the kids um, as well, which I know we do, we do that, but I think more of it coming from all of us. You know, for me, I think I I need to show up in more of the soccer
060games, although I don't have a kid in the soccer game, but it makes those kids feel good if somebody was there interested u in in their well-being as just a student athlete um representing Connley. But I also think that as a board member, um, if I were on the board, um, I would do something from a perspective of we know that budget is is kind of tight when it comes down to sporting, but finding ways that we can find sponsors for those kids, you know, in in certain areas. So, that would be something big for me. Um, I have done so much volunteer work over the years and been a part of so many different things. Um, mostly athletics. all my kids at athletics. Um I agree with Mr. Lowry. I think we a lot
061of us, well almost I think every one of us, we attend stuff. Uh we participate in the booster club. Um we work concessions. We do the inflatable. We're there cheering on our kids. As a matter of fact, sometimes I accidentally cheer on the wrong team because I get excited when someone catches the ball. It's a really good catch. It's a really good throw. And I agree that extracurriculars, whether it's ROC or it's theater or it's just getting a group together to go pick up trash on the side of the road, um you learn so much from each other. And it's really a good uh tool for life. Um and just learning how to accept each other, deal with each other, and um and help each other out. And so I there's always more we could
062do as a board to show up and uh be there, be present for our kids, but I do think we're we are doing a lot. Um and that's what I'm going to continue to do. This is a very accurate statement here. Definitely. And I think if not just board members but also teachers would come to events That gives the students a chance to see their teacher outside of that classroom, outside of that academic area and to interact. It's like they see you in the grocery store, they're surprised that you're at the grocery store. Oh, you know, teachers buy groceries. They see you at the movie. Oh, you're going to the movies. Oh, were you buying me some popcorn? I've had that asked before. But they see you as a person, not just as that teacher.
063And the board members as well. I think that's great. I think what we did at at the Valentine banquet and offering the community free passes to come to any of these events, you know, a picture ID for that. Fantastic. You know, and I don't know, maybe we could extend that to teachers. I do teachers get to come free. They come free. Okay. Well, maybe some of our kids that are on free breakfast and free lunch and stuff, you know, that their families are struggling financially. Maybe we could offer something like that to our parents as well so that the children can see their teachers as real Mr. Evans. We're now on to our last question. I'd like to thank all of our audience members that have been here. You all have been a great crowd
064working with us. Our last topic area is perhaps the hotest of all and it really gets to kind of the heart of what all of our community members care about, what our employees care about, what our students care about and that topic area is the cadet standard. The question for you, the district remains committed to setting and upholding what we refer to as the cadet standard. What does the cadet standard mean to you? I think the cadet standard means, you know, what I think it means to me by having a son who gradu graduated from here and and currently two kids that attend attend this school attend to this school. What it means to me is is student learning. You know, the student is is is first. And I think holistically u this school district
065has done a wonderful job throughout the years of ensuring that the student is actually first. Um also I think that uh providing a positive learning experience um being able to maintain that on a day in dayout basis and consistent and consistently uh do that. Um, furthermore, I think um, Miss Finger said it best. You know, when she worked here was more of a family. Um, I can say that because I've worked in this district before and that is actually what I felt was family. U, even being able to have um, access to some of the board members here. Um, you know, that treated me like family. Even when I walk through these doors, it it is a family. So, I think holding true to that and and building upon that, I think that's what the
066Today standard means to me. And I think that's just an overall commitment to excellence in everything that we do. Thank you very much. Well, the cadet standard means to me um we have high expectations for our kids in all areas and it is really important to support them and encourage them um not just in the way that we act, we treat the kids, but the way that we act ourselves. And to me, the cadet standard is about leading by example, leading our kids, being good leaders for our entire district, um our families of our kids, and our community to lead by example. I'm going to ask you a favor. I know that out in that hallway in a frame there is a document that says what the cadet standard is. Some of these people out
067here may have never heard it. Is there any way you can pull that up and read it off to them? So the document that we have posted in there is actually our mission and vision statement and our portrait of a graduate. Uh the cadet standard as a concept was a not a rebranding but it was a return to the original air force roots of our district that whenever we came in and we added the communications office we really are trying to do more to adopt the idea of what a standard is military standards those things like that. So the question here for all of us really on an individual level is what is that consistent standard that every day when I wake up I know I am a Waco Conley cadet this is what I'm
068going to do to care about each other number one um to reach those that aren't so lovely that aren't so popular to let them know that they are important. And that goes for adults, too. You know, maybe someone's not dressed so nice and like, "Oh, they came in with dramas on. I'm not going to talk to that parent." You know, but just to treat each other as we are, individuals, but yet people. And we love our kids. We want the best for our kids. And we want our kids to grow up with a certain value system and morals and um as Heather said, be that that example for them. And there's not a person on this board right here that doesn't care about our kids that wants the best for our kids. And to me,
069that is the cadet standard. What standard means to me is our teachers, our staff, they're they're well-rounded adults. That's what we want our kids to be, well-rounded adults when they leave here so that they can go to college and they can live in in the real world as we always tell them. Um, and and they know what to expect and and they know what's expected of them. That to me is what cadet standard is. Is you know what you know what to expect when you go out and you know what's expected of you. Thank you very much. We have reached the end of our questions but we now have an afforded time. If anybody would like to make a closing statement of any kind. We'll start with McCarti Johnson. If you wanted to take the
070mic one last time just kind of sum up your position where you're at. Okay. We'll go down the line. So, I want to take this opportunity to touch on a really sensitive topic in our community, and that is our school bond. It's no front page news that I have been a supporter of the bond the last three goounds. Um, but our community is not interested in supporting it. And that particular campus, for lack of a better term, has been on the struggle bus. Um we have changes we've already made there and changes that are coming in form of curriculum this next year that I believe will improve um all the things happening at that campus. Um but until I see a change I no longer support a bond. Um we need to be focusing on
071what's going on inside that building more than the building itself. Um I do still believe it needs to be replaced. Um, just I I think that before we go back and ask the community again, we need to take a look at ourselves and what's going on there and we need to fix some stuff. I have visited that campus and like I said, if you got a leaky roof where you got to put buckets in the hallway to catch the water, come on. You know, something can be done. And I advertised taxes to a lot of people. And part of that is because the people didn't trust how funds were being used, the people that I talked to. And raising taxes, getting more money, spending more money doesn't solve the problem if you don't solve the
072worst problem, which is discipline. That will attract more teachers. That will hold retain more teachers if we can get that under control. And I know our district tried everything in the world that they can think of to address that problem. But we got to do something different. And folks, parents, grandparents, y'all tell us what you expect, what you think we should be doing. That's different. Two heads are better than one. Don't expect seven people up here to solve all the problems. They're not going to. It's impossible. They can do the best they can with what they have. you know, but it's going to take people getting involved and helping us. You know, we can't be the psychiatrist, the mom, the social worker. We can't do all of that. It's up to the community as well.
073I just want to say I just want to say thank you all for coming out and hearing what we had to say and We appreciate it. We really do. And we would really like to see a lot of y'all, all y'all come to a meeting just every once in a while just just to see what we do and what we go through, you know, once a month, twice a month, whatever it is that we that how many meetings we have that month. But anyway, like I said, I just want to thank y'all for coming out, Mr. Evans. All right. In closing, um, I may not have had all the answers for you today, but I definitely will be. I will have them for you tomorrow. Uh my optimal goal is to contribute to the board
074and this community, not just the board, but to the community. That's to you, to the staff, to the students, and to any everyone that's involved in all of these communities. Uh in a positive way in terms of student learning, as Miss Fer said and reiterated, I'm with that. uh behavior uh from a behavioral perspective also to really uh be here for our faculty and staff you know in terms of improving their development and also improving the retention rate as well but more importantly I think it's all about accountability right u from the top down that's one of the things that I would do if I was on uh on this board but more importantly I think um by me being on the board is to do um is to hold each other to do what
075we said that we're going to do uh for our students, for our teachers, for our and for our community members uh that pay taxes. So again, I want to thank each and every one of you for coming out. And I leave it with this. Do not vote for who you like. You vote for what's right. Thank you very much for all of you guys for sitting here and really doing your best job and communicating your views and your uh thoughts on all of these questions. I'm very very thoroughly impressed with all four of you and I'm equally if not more impressed by the phenomenal turnout we've had from our community. This really is really outstanding. It shows that you guys are very deeply invested in what's happening in your school community and I thank you
076very much for that. I'd like to remind everybody that early voting opened up today. We are currently in the early voting windows. We have posted in the flyover on social media everywhere where the different early voting locations and times are. Um, if you want to skip the lines on election day, then early voting is definitely going to be the best uh way for you to be able to do that. I really appreciate everybody coming and this concludes our town hall meeting. Thank you very much.