001meeting to order. The time is 6:30. We will begin with roll call. Keelan Lewis Jennifer Roach present. Heather Barrett >> Present. Karen Thomas Present. Lisa Collis >> Present. Philip Chapman Present. J.R. Humphreys Present. We have six out of seven board members present. We have a quorum. Please rise for a prayer led by Dr. Patterson and posting of the colors and pledges of allegiance led by Master Sergeant Elizabeth Spencer and Sergeant First Class Alexander Finnegan. >> [clears throat] >> Please bow your heads. Father God, we come before you at this end of the year time and we pray that you continue to be a hedge of protection around us. We ask for protection over our kids, our staff members, our community members. We pray for a quiet and safe end of the year. We thank you
002for bringing us here on tonight. We pray that you will be in the midst as we make decisions for what is best for each and every student. All of these things we ask in your son Jesus' name. Amen. Forward march. Mark time. Mark. Halt. Seat. >> [snorts] >> Go. Present. Halt. >> [clears throat] [snorts] >> Order. Halt. What's the drill? Mark. Left face. Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Texas pledge. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. Pledges complete. Forward march. >> [clears throat] >> You may be seated. We'll begin with board remarks. Does anybody have anything they'd like
003to share? I just wanted to say briefly that I had an opportunity to go to the um special education student expo and it was just a great showcase of all the wonderful things our students are doing. And then I also went to the um distinguished scholars night, which is hosted by our Crosby Education Foundation. Just wanted to give a shout out to those individuals in the education foundation. They pulled off a great event and just really honored our top seniors. So, thank you for that. >> [snorts] >> Any other remarks? Uh we just want to give a shout out to the entire Crosby ISD administration, staff, teachers, principals, everybody that works every day with our students and our parents. Um so, thank you for your hard work. I know we're on the downside and uh
004just hang in there. We have a few more days, but uh congratulations and thank you. I want to say something real quick that uh this morning I was passing through town and it was about 10:30 and I was um on Runneburg passing uh Crosby Kindergarten. And as I approached the stop sign, I saw cars everywhere, right? Really didn't know what was going on until I went through the intersection and I saw a bunch of little kids in red caps and gowns. It was Crosby Kindergarten graduation. And I was reminded of something. And it was uh the joy that's in these little kids' hearts, right? And so, these kindergarteners, the smaller kids, they started school and it was a major thing in front of them, probably a lot of fear, right? And it was going to
005take forever for summer to get here. But they did. Right? So, congratulations to the kids, but but what I mean by that is every once in a while just just stopping for just a moment to see the pure joy. And and realizing that that these little kids had a lot of fear in front of them probably, right? Showing up to school for the first time, not knowing the rules, having to probably put your hands behind your back, and do all kinds of crazy things, right? But But also I also saw moms, dads, grandmas, grandparents dressed up. They are supporting their kids. And so it was a another subtle reminder to myself be present. Right? This was a major accomplishment for these kids, and they were so excited, and I know it meant a whole lot
006to those kids for parents or family members showing up. The high fives were great to see. A lot of selfies being taken. And so anyways, it was just a good reminder to myself just to be present. Anyone else? All right. Well, we will get started with Cougar Excellence presentation presented by Brandy Gosney. Good evening, Madam Chair. Good evening, members of and Board of Trustees, uh Superintendent Dr. Patterson, and fellow Cougar community members. Tonight I have the distinct pleasure of recognizing the students who participated in the Colleen Walker Relays on April 29th, 2026. Truly one of the most meaningful and memorable days of the year for Crosby ISD Special Education Department. This incredible event brought together 210 of our special education students for a full day of fun with engaging activities designed specifically to celebrate them.
007From face painting and dunk booths to interactive games and activities, the day focused on celebrating abilities, building connections, and creating joyful experiences for every student involved. The Colleen Walker Relays are also a wonderful example of community partnership. Each year Crosby ISD proudly partners with our neighbors at Huffman Independent School District to help make this event possible. This year's event was hosted at their stadium and we are grateful for their support and collaboration in creating such a memorable experience for all of our students. What makes this event even more special is the overwhelming support behind it. More than 275 student volunteers representing a wide range of Crosby High School organizations dedicated their time to lead activities, encourage participants, and build meaningful connections with their peers. We would also like to give special recognition to Gabe Salazar,
008a member of the class of 2027 who has participated in the Colleen Walker Relays every year since PPCD. Watching Gabe grow through the years and continue to be part of this special tradition has been a meaningful reminder of the lasting impact this event has on our students, staff, and families. The Colleen Walker Relays are much more than a single event. They are a powerful reflection of inclusion, leadership, compassion, and community. It is a day that reminds us what is possible when we come together to support and celebrate every student. Tonight, we are proud to recognize the students who helped make this year's event such a tremendous success. So, if you, a student, or any faculty members that did participate in the Colleen Walker Relays would come to the front to have a photo. Any students
009or faculty. >> [clears throat] [laughter] [crying] >> All right, you ready? Say cheese. Cheese. Good job, everybody. >> [applause] >> Come here, Miss Evelyn. Thank you, Evelyn. You know what else he said to me? We haven't heard that all year, right? >> Thank you to all the teachers, care professionals, students, and families for joining us this evening to celebrate this wonderful accomplishment. If you would like to depart before we proceed with the reg- regular business, please feel free to do so at this time. However, you're welcome to stay if you would like. We have one request to comment in person. Um so, at this time, in accordance with BED local, the board will provide an audience with individuals who have signed up to address the board. Audrey Anderson, our board clerk, will serve as our
010timekeeper. And for those requesting to speak, a timer will be visible on the screen. Public comment is in person only. Anyone wishing to speak in person at the board meeting must register 5 minutes prior to the start of the board meeting with the board clerk and or sign in sheet. Citizen participation is limited to hearing of the citizens portion of the agenda. The The board is not allowed to respond to comments pertaining to items not included on the agenda unless the response is limited to specific factual information or reciting of existing policy in response to the inquiry. Each citizen is limited to 3 minutes to speak. Um we have one person, Ms. Megan Black. Would you please come forward to speak about firearm safety? Can you hear me? Yes, you can. You can raise it
011up if you like. So, you don't have to bend down. Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Patterson and trustees. My name is Megan Black. I'm a parent of two students in Crosby ISD. Several months ago, I raised a concern via email pertaining to a Texas law on firearm safety. I'm here in person tonight to bring additional awareness to this. Texas Education Code section 37.222 requires school districts to provide parents with safe firearm storage information and resources. It says the information should be distributed by the district at least three times per year about Penal Code section 46.13 and ways to prevent children from accessing firearms. The texas.gov website has several great resources on gun safety. Additionally, I have found many Texas school districts have posted resources that Crosby board members can view as an as an
012example to use. This law was passed after repeated tragedies in which children gained access to unsecured firearms. I'm here because it continues to happen and we cannot allow it to happen again in Crosby ISD. I think it's important to use the opportunity to sincerely educate parents and guardians for the sake of student safety rather than to simply satisfy the law. Please ensure these resources are sent through multiple formats. Parents cannot use resources that they never see. Please ensure that this is obvious information and not hidden away in a handbook. Greg Abbott signed this bill because secure firearm storage can reduce youth homicides, suicides, and accidental shootings. I encourage everyone listening to visit gunviolencearchive.org /school-shootings to see for yourself that firearms are brought onto school campuses nearly every single day in this country. What we see
013on the news is only the worst of the worst. It is imperative that we ensure that all firearms, knives, and other weapons, excuse me, in the home are securely locked away and that parents and guardians are actively aware of what their child is bringing to school each day. March 2nd, 2026 at Myra's Elementary in Georgia, two parents were charged after their 8-year-old son brought to school a handgun with a loaded magazine that he found in the console of their vehicle. Excuse me. April 27th, 2026 at McIntosh Elementary School in Alabama, an unloaded firearm was found in a student's backpack. May 14th, 2026 2026 2026 at two separate high schools in the same district in Florida, two firearms were found in students' belongings. September 18th, 1991 at Crosby High School, 15-year-old Laquita Kadori killed 17-year-old Arthur
014Jack with a .38 revolver in the cafeteria. Crosby ISD conducts safety audits and lockdown drills, but what happens when the call is coming from inside the house? It doesn't happen to you until it does. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you, Ms. Black. >> We will move into reports now and we'll begin with the TA Intruder Audit by Mr. Mitchell. Good evening, Dr. Patterson and board members. I'm here tonight to present on our final TEA door and intruder audit for this 2025-2026 school year. We received the audit on May 6th at our final campus and I'm happy to report there were no findings in phase one, two, or three. And we have completed this school's year with 100% passing of no findings. Yay! >> [applause] [laughter] >> Well, but that is I mean,
015just Yeah. That's worth saying something about because we were having issues with that. That's been corrected. Thanks a whole lot for that. We charged you with that, asked you to make that better, and you have. So, thank you very much. Thank you. So, our next update is also from Mr. Mitchell. He'll be providing a transportation update. All right. I'm here tonight to give a quick update on transportation, only focusing on our daycares that had come up the last time I presented. And so, I want to come back with some data for you to consider concerning our daycare routes. So, as of right now, we service seven daycares through our transportation department. And that equals to 147 students on 11 different buses and routes that we use. Um so, pretty much a summary of that compared
016to other districts is no other districts around us provide this service to our families. And we are losing valuable minutes on our routes stopping at our daycares because they don't always have the students ready. And so, we have to wait for them to line the students up and walk them out to the bus. And when we're dropping them off, they're not always out there ready to receive them. And so we're already losing some valuable time there. Crosby does receive funding on these routes to pick them up just based on the miles that we travel. And that's only because they are already on approved routes that we use. However, as we continue to grow, this is going to become more and more hard to manage because of the overcrowding of these students on the bus and
017having to create more routes in order to service those because we have one particular um daycare [snorts] that is almost at a full bus already. And so that's going to cause us as we continue to grow to have to to readjust and add more routes. And so I just wanted you to know exactly what goes on with our our daycares. Any questions? As we move forward from this, have have you evaluated yet the the money's received, the funding from the state for uh these services if that was removed out? So it wouldn't be removed out because it's already on an approved route. And so we get funding based on the miles. And so it's already included because it's a route that already picks up kids. And so it's just on the way. So we don't
018go out of the way at this time to pick up any of those kids. They're already on a route that we would pass by those daycares. Okay. So right now there's there are no routes specific to daycare only, even the one that's almost full. Correct. Okay. Correct. And there's no financial incentive for ridership. No. No, cuz we don't get to count them in head count. So there's two ways we get funded. And we don't get funding for them in head count, but we do get them because they're on a route that's already created for the bus to pass by. And so we get to calculate it on the miles. So are you bringing up proposal >> So, we So, I wanted to hear you guys' thoughts. It's It's not a policy, so it's not something
019we vote on, but I would like to know your thoughts on continuing that or discontinuing that before we make decisions. I I want to weigh out your feedback. So, my thought is these 147 students have to get to school. So, the only way it takes any load off of us is if a parent picks this up because these are already on routes. We're not going out of our way. So, I'm just not seeing like how is it going to make it better if we are not going to get these 147 kids to school? Would we expect that the parent is going to do that? Yes. Or the daycare facility. Or the daycare facility. To provide transportation. >> was done in most districts. They provide their own transportation from the daycare. And I guess because I
020would have to guess that because Crosby has traditionally picked up at the daycares, the daycares have not like sought out or prepared to get vehicles to or get these kids to and from school. Um I mean, I do see uh two routes on in Barrett and I do know they're on their way to Crosby, so I just I don't really see it being a a big issue if it's already in route. [clears throat] It is not. They're able to manage it right now, but as we continue to grow, it could cause us to have to build more routes in order to be able to just get the kids on the bus. But, as of right now, they're managing it and it works right now. But, we're just thinking forwardly as we continue to grow. Don't
021some of the daycares have their bus have facilities then? Some do. And I was told that some of them even charge parents for transportation, but they don't but they use our transportation. Wonder how many of students are actually in those buses like compared to this 147. I'm curious to know. The average on the other buses, how many students from daycares? Is it that the daycares that we service here? I don't know that. That we carry on our buses on the other buses other than the kids. >> ones that are that are provided transportation by the daycares, do we know how many students are are receiving that? No, ma'am. Currently, they're actually carrying students that are outside of their attendance zone. So, in order to keep them on an approved route, they have to be within
022the attendance zone. So, those daycares are transporting all the other campuses. They have students that are not within the attendance zone. Okay. So, they don't have them. I don't know. I mean, you know, I don't want to make it difficult for a parent that's trying to drop a child off and and get to their job, you know, if if it's not going to make a significant it's not going to add significantly or take away from our issue. Um I just I don't know. So, did you say currently the daycare is charging parents for transportation? >> that I don't have I don't have concrete I was told that there are some that charge parents for transportation. It's in their rates, but we transport. And just to just to clarify on the same subject, what you're saying
023is currently they're managing. I got that. But, proactively forecasting now, as we grow with the student increase who potentially could be dropped off at daycares that it would exceed the amount of kids that could go on to that bus of a currently approved route. Or just regular kids who ride the bus could increase and now we don't have room to pick up the daycare. Okay. Yeah, we have to add routes. Okay. Well, thank you. Yeah. The only other thing was >> [clears throat] >> when we had the we had a third-party survey done what, a year and a half ago, something like that? What This was one of the items they brought up, too, wasn't it? Yes. Yes. What we had them do the audit of of the transportation department. >> was Region That was
024Region 4 survey. >> When they came to offer Mhm. ideas of how you could improve >> streamline. They said, "Well, y'all pick up daycares, and nobody does that." So. Yes. Okay. And it's providing a hardship because parents are dropping students off at a location that's way off from their normal route where they live. Not sure. We don't know where they're picking up from daycare. Mhm. Not from the house, so we don't Right. So. know the location where they live. And I think it's probably more so parents that are going to work >> and drop them off really early. Mhm. It's the early parents, yeah. I see both perspectives. I would just say out of respect for both families and and our community's businesses, if we're going to make this decision, we need to make it
025early and communicate it well, because they're going to need to make concessions both at the you know, like that for our small businesses, but also for families. You know, like how it impacts their ability to get to work, and then for the for the daycares, you know, if they're going to offer that service, they need to, you know, find staff to do that and purchase equipment to do so. And that's why we're having the conversation now to kind of make because now is the time. You know, we can't go on any any more. And so that Yeah, and this is going to be something that ultimately we wouldn't vote on anyway, but y'all are just trying to see where we're at. That's because I mean, obviously not tonight, cuz it's not on the agenda, but
026at all, we wouldn't This isn't something This isn't something the board would rule on. You know, they're just Okay. So, it would be for the 2027-2028 if you go forward with it? We were thinking 2026-2027, but that I mean that has not been decided. What we were trying to gauge tonight is your feedback on discontinuing. I would not >> Each thing we've made Each change or revision we've made to the transportation department we brought to you for kind of your thoughts, and so that's that's what we're doing. You would not like to change >> just saying I would think a daycare would have a hard time like if you're talking in August and you know, it's May to start lining up and figuring out if you're going to have to budget in you know, transportation.
027And I guess if you're stopping for four kids versus your daycare that almost fills the bus you know, it makes me wonder you know, I don't know. I don't I don't I don't know. I just don't think in my opinion that's just me I I don't think school starting in August and telling all of our daycares they have to have transportation seems like a too short amount of the time. That's my opinion. What would your thoughts be if we changed for 2027-2028? Change in the middle of the year December of next year. That's fair. >> I think that's fair and Just one person with an opinion. I I think giving the daycares if this is the decision that you guys go with, I think giving the daycares enough time [clears throat] and I don't think
028August is enough time. Um But, what would your feedback be for 2027-2028? Um Either we I mean, you know, I I'm not a mid-year person. Okay? So, um I [snorts] would say, you know, the of the school the next school year at the at the earliest or latest. Yeah. But not in I agree. Not mid-year. >> [laughter] >> I'm late to the party. I'll go. Um I have done when this was first brought to our attention a while back ago, I've done a lot of uh questioning and looking into and researching. Um I can only find one school district that provides transportation. And that's Orange. Um I think that with the growth that we are experiencing, I think it would be um crazy if we continue to provide this um from day cares. I think
029what I'm seeing and finding out is it uh most day cares provide it to to the schools on their own. Um And I think anything that we can do to ease the burden of even more for transportation is I mean, that's something that everybody has complained about. Everybody sitting up here has monitored and and you know, harped that it was important for kids to get to school on time and um anything that we can do to ease that is what we should be doing. And with the growth, like I said, there's going to be even more day cares that are going to be popping up in our area because the day cares we have already full. And I think that um my vote would be absolutely we need to stop doing it. And I would
030think um I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to mid-year next year, but for sure the next year I think it should be imposed. Is it creating a hardship because the day care is not on the child's route? You know what I mean? Like if I live one street over, that would be my kids route anyway. So, is it creating a hardship because the day care some of these students are at a day care that are not on their normal route? >> No, it's only creating a hardship right just based on timing of loading because they're not always ready. So, it slows as we've been talking about fixing the tardy situation. And so, it's slowing us up when we have to stop at these daycares cuz they're not always out and ready to go. And so,
031we're spending time waiting on them to come outside to load. Same thing on dropping off in the afternoon. And then the other hardship is just the mere numbers. Eventually, it's going to cause a hardship because we would have to create more routes, which means more drivers. Well, we're having to double up routes again in order to get it accomplished. But those are the only two. It doesn't have to do with the location of them. And the region four and the region four audit is coming from a place of most places don't have to figure out or don't or choose not to figure out transportation. So, if you remove them, that's fewer students you would have to I'm saying like My kid used to ride the bus for daycare, now I'm just going to have somebody
032at the house to be to pick my kid They would be added to the ridership. So, how's that different than picking 10 kids up from one street, you know, compared to making one stop? That's what I'm saying is the hardship only because I live across town and my, you know, that kids my kids daycare is not on my normal route, otherwise it shouldn't be a hardship. It's stopping at 10 houses compared to stopping at one daycare to pick up 10 kids. >> But I see what you're saying, but I truly think it's there is a lot of kids that are zoned that would be zoned to one area that are actually in a different area at the Right. But I think she just said that they didn't do that. They have to go to school
033in the school they're zoned to. >> in their zone. It's in their attendance zone. >> So, if they live in Crosby Elementary attendance zone, they have to attend a daycare in Crosby Elementary zone so they can be dropped off Right. to and from Crosby Elementary. Correct. So, it would just be dropping and picking up the kids from different locations instead of centralized daycares. Yes. Yes. Yes, and I'm I'm going to add I know many many districts offer before school daycare and after and we're not doing that. Um because you know, it helps parents get to school they pay I mean to work. They pay for it, but there are great number that do and I'd be curious to know the ones you know, how many are doing that. Something else to think about. I guess
034I'm confused like Heather said how is this going to solve the problem because if the same 147 kids are spread out on different routes, there's still 147 kids that need to be picked up. We're just hoping that more parents pick up. Well, I don't like that plan. That's more traffic for me. So, we just want to feedback. Yep. So, thank you guys for offering the feedback. I just want to record that um Keylin arrived I believe at 6:54. Let the minutes reflect that, please. All right, good evening Board of Trustees, Superintendent Dr. Patterson. Uh tonight we'll take a look at budget workshop number three for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. So, we will cover budget assumptions, review what we've covered in previous workshops, take a look at the compensation plan, staffing, summarize the compensation and staffing,
035take a look at property values, and then wrap up with the budget calendar. So, to review some of the budget assumptions for fiscal year 26-27, we are projecting an enrollment at snapshot date of October 2026 of 7,450. Enrollment on the last day of school in May of 2027 at 7,500. Average daily attendance of 6,700. With an attendance rate of 93%. No increase in the homestead exemption, it'll stay at 140,000. Anticipating some property value growth. And we are working on a balanced budget for the general fund and debt service fund. There will be a deficit budget for the child nutrition fund. Texas Department of Agriculture allows six months of operating expenditures for um the child nutrition fund. They are currently over that amount. They have an approved spending plan with TDA to spend that down. So,
036they will adopt another deficit budget to spend that money down. So, next we'll take a look at compensation. So, Crosby ISD contracts with TASB each year uh to take a look at our pay structures and compare it to the local area districts and also the market uh just to make sure that we're staying competitive. So, you will see Crosby ISD's data down towards the bottom in the um row with the orange on the left. So, that is the data for Crosby ISD. That would slot in at the um between two and three, between Galena Park and Barbers Hill. So, that column is sorted based on the teacher first year salary. So, Crosby ISD's first year salary 25-26 is 66,300. That would slot us in third place uh behind New Caney and Galena Park. So, you
037will also see down at the bottom in the blue the blue row um that is the median data for this table for all the districts. If you summarize them and average they would be that would be the average amount which we'll compare on the next slide. So the next slide takes the 2025 2026 teacher plans teacher salaries compares the average local market value in the blue row and Crosby ISD in the orange row above and you will see that Crosby ISD for each 5-year increment outperforms the local market median. So later on in the agenda the proposed compensation schedules will be brought um for an action item. Within those proposed compensation schedules uh is included a 3% of midpoint raise. If [snorts] we were to take that 3% raise and apply it to the teacher
038salary the 2026-2027 teacher salary would bump Crosby ISD temporarily up to number one. I do say temporarily because other districts may also include have pay raises that will improve. But the goal is to get to around the two or three area the 75th percentile uh to stay competitive. So also in the compensation schedule that will be um reviewed tonight is a bus driver hourly rate increase of $3.90 per hour. This would bring the starting pay from up to $25.15 per hour. And in an hourly um comparison this would be the highest among area districts. When you take a look at the annual salary this would make Crosby ISD the second highest among area districts. As I mentioned earlier the compensation schedules also do include a 3% raise a midpoint for all other employees other than
039bus drivers. The increase in teacher pay for this 3% raise would be 2150 which would be an additional um just under $90 per pay period. And just under $180 per month. And the starting certified teacher pay would increase $1800 from 66,300 to 68,100. Also included in the proposed compensation schedules are the addition of the following job titles. A discipline coordinator, principal for the sixth grade campus and a general legal counsel. The proposed compensation schedules also include a visually impaired stipend for special ed. This was an ongoing stipend that was removed in error in previous compensation schedules. We're just adding it back to the face of the compensation schedules. Next we'll take a look at staffing. At the previous meeting we added the following positions for growth. Uh two bilingual elementary teachers, a special ed elementary
040structured learning teacher, and two special ed structured learning paraprofessionals. The compensation schedules and staffing will proposed positions added will include district discipline coordinator, principal for the Crosby sixth grade campus, a past professional for special ed, a pre-K through five science instructional coordinator, a teacher for PE weight training with also coaching, and general legal counsel. And did want to mention that this position would not increase the total budget. The legal non-payroll budget would be repurposed to payroll. And summary for the compensation and staffing, total increase to salary and benefits would be 2.9 million. This would include the bus driver pay increase, 3% pay increase for all other employees, and the addition of positions. And the 2.9 million will not be allocated to one specific fund. We'll use grant funds where we can to offset those costs.
041And we'll take a look at property values next. We are required by Schools First to review property values with the board. So we received the certified estimates from HCAD on April 30th. You will see on this table major property category on the left, 2025 taxable value in the next column, the percent change between 25 and 26 in the next column, and on the far right the projected 2026 taxable value. And on the second row from the bottom, you will see the projected 2026 taxable value of about 3.5 billion, which would represent about a 4% increase over 2025. I did want to mention historically this number does go down based on the property protests. I'm sorry, what what did you The property protests. That number usually does go down since it is an estimate from HCAD.
042So typically the projected taxable value does go down due to the property value protest. >> Okay. Thank you. The next slide has a comparison of the average market value of residence and average taxable value of residence. Both of those would increase. And then I just highlighted it total taxable value of 3.5 billion there. And lastly we'll take a look at the budget calendar. So we are on budget workshop number three. For your approval later on the new agenda will be the proposed compensation schedules. On the June 15th meeting, we will do the public hearing and also present a budget to adopt. Around August 30th we will receive the certified appraisal roll from HCAD. And then at the September or October meeting, we will adopt an order approving the property tax roll and also the 26-27
043tax rate. And with that I will open it up to questions. Do we have any information about insurance increases? The insurance is actually going to go down slightly. So. Wow. So we're staying with the private sector or are we moving back into the private sector? >> One more year. And in order we had there was a law passed I'm sorry, I was referencing property taxes. We do not have information on the medical insurance yet. So property tax is going to go down a little bit. Okay. Property tax insurance will go down. We don't know about medical insurance. >> Prop- property insurance, I said property tax, excuse me. Yeah, property insurance will go down. Medical insurance, we do not have those numbers yet. And we're staying with the pri- We have one more year. We have
044one more year. So there was a law passed that would give us the ability to go over early, but with the penalty it wasn't There's a financial penalty, it wasn't worth it. Okay. So we have one more year. Um I know there was a difference on the compensation schedule between certified and uncertified teachers. Are we hiring uncertified teachers? We try not to, but that is a a law that we have to pay uncertified teachers starting salary less than a certified teacher. So we did include that just to And then the discipline coordinator, is that a district-wide discipline coordinator or specific for transportation discipline? That is not labeled transportation, it doesn't belong to the transportation department, but it is to be the liaison between transportation and campuses. So they will report to student services. Anybody else?
045Out of history, do you have a um a percent change of the uh projected taxable value over the past 2, 3, 5 years? It It's ranged between 4 and 12%. Possible range. Yeah. I I'm not asking you to have this number and just tell me, but I'm wondering if our attendance improved by 1%, how much revenue increase would that be? And then how can we best communicate that to our staff and families because I feel like maybe if they had a better understanding of like when your kids come to school and attendance is better, we have more money to spend on kids and teachers because I think 93% is a lot. I do think that you would like it to be I do not have the exact number on that, but that is a focus
046for next year is to try to improve attendance. I know that 1% can equate to a lot of money and I I wish I wish that we could get that message really shared. That it would it would be a direct benefit to children. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next on the meeting on the agenda for tonight's meeting is the consent agenda. From the items that are listed, are there any items requested to be pulled from the consent agenda to be discussed? If [snorts] not, do I have a motion to approve? Move to approve consent agenda. >> [clears throat] >> I'll second it. I have a motion by Trustee Humphreys, a second by Trustee Lewis. Any discussion? I have a question about Tyler Technologies. Is that the software that families use to track students? Yes, it's
047all part of this a whole program. It's not just that part. It's the GPS tracking, it's the routing service, and all of it Okay. I I feel like we hear a lot of times that that service is not great or reliable. But I'm I'm I'm that's the best out there. It really just comes down to the sale [snorts] towers here in Crosby. It's the GPS is why they complain about it because there's a lag. So, when the bus loses signal, it lags from the time and they expect it to be like fiber optic. And that's why they complain about it. But yeah, it's not the program itself, it's more about the reception out here. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Okay. All those in favor signify Aye. Opposed by nay. Motion carries 7-0. Okay,
048moving on to regular business. Item A, discuss and consider approval of compensation schedules for the fiscal year 2026-2027. >> [snorts] >> I move to approve the compensation schedules for fiscal year 2026-2027. Second. Have a motion by Trustee Humphreys. Seconded by Trustee Thomas. Any discussion? I think that I um with the exception of the legal counsel, I'm in agreement with the compensation schedule and I wonder if the rest of the board would be more comfortable with pulling that and having further discussion before we approve the compensation with that included. Um and I don't know if we want to talk about that now or if y'all are in agreement. Is that Is that the question that you just asked him? Is it the same thing about on his presentation? I'm sorry. I'm not following what you're saying.
049Yeah. About it just being moved from one spot to another? Or was that something there? I don't know if I can ask that question, but it is in the presentation. It's moved from from the general fund to payroll. I think I mean I don't I don't know if y'all want to discuss it. >> you move that money, does that mean that that attorney would take care of all of our legal matters? Or would you still have to leave some money? >> Most of them, and we would still leave some for the bigger cases. So, I've done um some research, and I can't find any districts like close to our size that have our own legal counsel. And in in those conversations, even with larger districts, you know, like um with 25 to 40,000 students, they
050said they still pay an extensive amount because you hire an like on-staff legal counsel, but maybe they don't have expertise in real estate law, so they have to have an attorney on retainer for that. Or maybe they're not a special ed expert, so they're calling a legal attorney for that. So, I just um also, whenever like the data that you shared, we spent I'm I'm going to use rough numbers, like $80,000 one year, $70,000 one year, $130,000 one year. So, none of that even equates to what the minimum salary would be for this position. So, it just doesn't seem like the most fiscally responsible expenditure. It's increasing each year because we're getting more and more litigious. Um and also the other functions that they would the policy. If we have another legislative session like the
05189th, we need help with how to apply that in the district. Uh the policy that comes from the legislative sessions. The PIA requests have greatly increased this year. So, it's also it's not just the legal part, it's also a lot of other things that many of us are handling along with our other duties. You know, it's kind the duties as a sign. So, part of it is legal and the other part are some other things that that So, are there is there not another type of it does it have to be an attorney that can take some of that weight off? Can it be just somebody that can help with the policy and help with the PIAs and all of that? I guess that could that could be a resolution. Yeah. Yeah. My question is
052is it going to make y'all's job easier to have them here versus Yes. calling every time. Yes. And that's that's what I think of when you have somebody in house is I think of I mean obviously if you know, if salaries you know, the numbers get crazy different then that's one thing, but I'm thinking of is this going to help y'all having somebody on staff for these things versus everybody's fumbling around trying to figure things out and then you're going to decide which law firm to call now when you have somebody there that can answer a question right now real fast. I think it's That would help us a lot and and we have great great attorneys that we work with, but the other districts have them and so they can't drop everything at Crosby
053ISD's beck and call. And so to have someone who is on staff and can easily answer those questions, the things we would outsource wouldn't be emergencies. So, we wouldn't need I need an answer right now. This is this is a big case, but I don't need an answer right now. The things that we need now that are a little difficult, you know, for them to answer because they serve other districts. Selfishly, I would love for them and they do they do a great job and they respond as quickly as they can, but it can't always be immediate. I think the other hesitation too is also that um the district's attorney represents the board and the district. So, if the attorney that we hire is reporting to you, it to me it becomes a gray area.
054Are they Are they representing the district and the board or are they representing So, we would continue with the attorney that represents the board. We continue with that partnership. That doesn't change at all. So, that's even more money? We don't pay a whole lot for when he comes to work with you guys. I don't I don't mean I don't mean him coming to work with us. That I'm talking representation. But that's the money we leave in the account to cover that. Well, in the fund, in the budget account. And I I can't find a district similarly sized that has in-district legal counsel. And and if we're talking PIA, I in the 24-25 school year, we had one director covering communications and PIA, and now we have an executive director, not a director, an executive director
055and a coordinator. And so, you're telling me that we need another person helping with communications? Does it It isn't PIA in the communications department? It's in communications. So, previously, the director, Brett, was doing PIA and communications. Now, we have an executive director and coordinator. And we're going to have another person helping with communications. I'm not going to say helping with communications. I'm going to say helping with PIAs. Because it wasn't communications before we had communications. It I mean, it still has >> need Do you need an attorney for PIAs? You don't, cuz we don't have one now. Before Before it was in the communications department, it was the superintendent's secretary. That's who did PIAs prior. It was in HR when I came. Yeah. Well, yeah, some of the PIAs we get now are is probably
056involving six or seven people and and they're still probably going to, in a way, uh That's what People don't People don't realize PIAs cost money to the district to fulfill. Absolutely. >> But I wasn't So, nobody here, I'm saying. Well, I know we you and I discussed finding somebody at that salary with the type of expertise that we need, you know, even for policy. I don't know. I just question for what we're going to pay for that. And also still, I know you explained that it would kind of pay for itself because we'd be saving on the other end of outsourcing, but it doesn't seem like we're outsourcing to that dollar figure. You know what I'm saying? So, I feel like we're still adding quite a bit. Okay. Any other discussion? Okay. We'll have a
057motion to approve the compensation schedules. I'm I'm sorry. Yeah, compensation schedules by Trustee Humphrey, Trustee Tom, and Trustee Thomas seconded. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed by nay. Nay. I'm going to abstain. One. What are your vote What's your vote? Yes. Motion carries 4-2-1. Item I'm abstaining. I hear Discuss and consider the approval of the revision of the local CO local food and nutrition management. We have a presentation for that. >> Dr. Patterson, Madam President, I'm here to do a update to our nutrition services. Um I came in October with our directors, so this is another update to look at a few things inside of our our student nutrition. So, this is our historical meals. We're continually to feed quite a few students, over a million students meals each year. As
058of May 1st, we're at 913,000 meals served this year. Okay, the meal prices currently at the elementary level, they're $1.50 for breakfast, $3.25 for lunch. Same thing for breakfast at secondary, and $3.50 for lunch at the secondary level. And if you remember, in October, all free and reduced students got meals free this year. They don't know if that's going to go into play for next year, but they feel like it could also be again on next year, so we're just waiting to hear. Of course, food prices are going up, so that means we need to look at our meal prices. This is just a history, so we haven't raised our prices since 2022-2023. And we raised them a quarter at that time. And so, we're proposing for the next school year to keep our elementary
059the same, keep our breakfast the same, but raise our secondary lunch $0.25. >> [snorts] >> And then I want to bring back your attention about our charge policies, which is that local policy that we have in place. So, if you notice again over the years, once we passed the change, we've increased this each year. As of May 1st of this year, we're at $22,424.50. And these are the prices that we recover as a district from our general fund. They've done everything to try to decrease these. They send emails. Parents are calling saying, "Stop sending emails." They're calling. They're doing everything they can to get the families to pay. They refuse to pay. They refuse to pay their bills. The students are now learning the system, and they tell the cashiers, "I know you're not going
060to make me pay for it." And they grab their nice tray and walk right through the line. So, we have a problem, but we've tried everything we could think of to decrease these balances. But, those are just the 10 meals, but when we look at the meals after the 10 meals that the policy gives the students, we're looking at huge numbers each year, and they're steadily rising. If you notice from 2022 to 2023, and remember in 2022-2023, we made the policy change in December, so it didn't go into effect until January. So, that's why that number is so low for that school year. But, 2025-2026, so far as of May 1st, we're already at a $183,822.50. These numbers are being covered through student nutrition. They're having to pay this bill at the end of every
061year to cover all of the extra meals that students get past the 10. So, we're recommending tonight to change the policy, and we did some research at other districts around us, and we kind of looked all of some of them did some things very extreme like they don't get a meal at all if they have a budget a balance. Of course, we don't want to do that. So, what we're proposing tonight to decrease the charge limit to two days, which is four meals, two two lunch, two breakfast, and then to revise our procedure to serve an alternative meal to those students once they've used those four meals. The alternative meal has to be something we can charge at the lowest reimbursable rate. And it also has to be something that is served on the line
062to every kid. So, every kid has to have have access to that alternative meal. Our proposal is to give cereal and milk because we have a lot of students who eat that for breakfast and lunch. So, it's something that doesn't show shame, but hopefully those students who are really hungry and taking the free meals will tell their parents, "I'm tired of eating cereal. Can you please pay my bills so I can get a regular lunch?" And so, we're hoping that will help to decrease these numbers because if it keeps continuing like this, we are going to go through the roof. I did a total over the last three years of both of those together and it's over a half million dollars that we've spent and paid for these meals for students. So, is the suggested
063decrease by days or meals? It's both. It's both cuz the 10 meals were five days is what the policy breakfast not only that eat lunch, can I have four can I get lunch four times? >> Yes, you could. You could. It's just four meals. Mr. Mitchell, can you go back to the slide that said courtesy meals provided at no charge? Are those courtesy meals also the alternate meal or are we giving them a full tray? A full tray. Even after the 10 days? Yes, because we didn't have in policy to give an alternative the So, they get a full tray every single day. So, they get a full tray, but if we pass this policy, they're going to get the alternate meal, but this number is going to go up because it's going to start
064after four instead of after 10. But, it's a lot cheaper though. It's like a dollar instead of the 350 and 37 350 and Because it would just be cereal and milk. Right. And so, we hoping that they wouldn't want cereal and milk and they'll pressure their parents to be in paid a bill. But, even if they did, it's a it's a lower >> Right, it's a lower price. It's the lowest reimbursable price that they can charge. What can the other part of that thing you brought up where kids Kids actually just go go through the line and then just walk off with their tray. As I I'm fine with this. I think we should have done this last time we talked about it. But, what are we going to do with that part? I mean,
065can we Is that going to be added to discipline? Like, you're not going to Well, but do they do that because they know we're going to give it to them. I don't think it's they're just taking it and walking away. It is I know I'm still going to get a meal. a meal. Yeah, it's I think it's that more than >> Yeah. And we do have our administrators in the cafeteria too if it does become a discipline issue. I mean, it's mainly the high school kids that are rebellious like, I know you can't make me pay. I'm still getting in my food so I can go. So, are there are there accounts checked before they go through the line? Okay. Yes. Okay. So, currently, you said there's no policy on limit or a cap of
066courtesy meals, correct? >> No. So, is there anything by law that you cannot cap that? No. No, because we have some districts that say that after two times you get nothing. Period. So, I'm I'm pretty sure I can go back and check, but I'm pretty sure that there's not nothing that says that we can't cap the courtesy meals. I think we just have to write it in policy. So, we not feed children anything after they have a balance? There are some districts that are doing that. I don't That's not what we're proposing, ma'am. Oh. No. No, ma'am. No. Not us. It's just other districts that are going that far. >> No, >> [clears throat] >> but no, we're not turning them away and not feeding them at all. Right. Okay. Thank you. I think Trustee
067Chapman was asking if there was I was asking >> Can we cap it and say No, we Yeah, it's legal to say that that's what he was asking. Yes. Yeah. I'mma go double check, but I'm pretty sure you can. If these districts are saying no, so I'm pretty sure that we could put it in our policy that after 10 courtesy meals then it's nothing. But we would have to have it in policy. Okay. Well, I mean, it's just it's evident that we can we can say we're compassionate all day long and don't want to feed somebody good food, but it it's obviously it's exploited and abused like crazy. And at some point you have to say parents need to take responsibility for their kids. I mean, we we have certain responsibilities here as public school.
068But at some point you need to stand up and say enough's enough also. So. Mr. Chapman, I have two questions for you. I believe I heard you say that you were going to leave elementary lunch the same. Yes. But what I'm seeing is that's a quarter increase. So, we're going to take elementary and lunch up a quarter. Yes, lunch. Yes. Okay. So, Yes. Breakfast stays the same. Lunch [snorts] goes up. So, both of them. Yes. All right. And then out of curiosity, um I think page three of the presentation, meals served, [clears throat] do we know why it it looks to me pretty substantial why there's a lot less meals served this year than last. Well, we haven't finished this year, so this is as of May 1st. Oh, this is May 1st. I'm thinking
069of today, and we have to complete. Okay. It's May 1st. I'm not going to count 400,000 meals in 2 weeks. Okay, anybody else? That the student that qualify for assistant, is that free and reduced or reduced? Yes. It can be either. Yes, so when we talk about these numbers, these are just our fully paid students. Students because reduced didn't have to pay this year, either. Oh, okay. Either because they gave a waiver this year, so free and reduced ate for free this year. Makes sense. Okay, and then You say reduced, is that the same for any child that gets it reduced? It's the same cost? >> Correct. Yes, ma'am. What would that be, like? I don't know. I'll have to go back and see. I'm not sure what the reduced price is because we didn't
070have to do it this year. Yeah. Is why I'd have to go back and check what it was prior to this year. How is it decided that the reduced doesn't have to pay? It was TDA. It was TDA that gave a waiver. Yep, they just gave a waiver this year. So, they do the lunch application like they always do, and TDA came out and said, "We're going to allow free and reduced to eat for free this year." I I I heard [snorts] what you said, JR, that we have to hold parents accountable. I I guess for me, I can't think of anything more noble than feeding children who are who are hungry or who may go home hungry, so Yeah, these are parents that aren't qualified for free and reduced lunch. They can pay for
071their kids to eat. There's all kinds of things for them to do. We get We do food giveaways. There's free and reduced lunch. It's parents that are too damn lazy to even apply for that if they really can't feed their kids. And they're taking advantage of the system and overtaxing the system that we need to educate these kids. And I'm not saying never feed them. I'm saying things happen. People are short one week, that's fine. But people need to take care of their kids. I don't disagree that people need to take care of their kids, but I don't think it's fair to say that it's overtaxing the money that we need to educate the kids because that money is not coming from the education budget, it's coming from the nutrition budget. The The 200 $183,000
072is not coming from the general fund. It's coming from the child nutrition budget. That's fine, but it's still tax money. I cannot think of a single thing I'd rather spend my tax money on than feeding a child who might be hungry. I think, in my opinion, we need to do enough something where people just get apathetic and assume that they're going to be taken care of. So, um you know, I don't want to be cruel and I want to be understanding of the kids that really don't have the money to eat. But I also know that it's in human nature sometimes if you just trust that someone else is going to pick up what you're not taking care of. So, you know, I think uh you're saying are we If I understood this, we're going
073to do four meals. So, 2 days are four meals cuz all of this is in cuz I was thinking we were going to go from 10 to two. So, um I assume you know, I'm just going to assume you know the best. Is it there at all? Never a day for that. To complete the free and reduced form one time a year? No. So like for those kids who are over drawn, does the lunch lady hand that kiddo a free and reduced form? And I think it's part of the actual email too, if you need to fill out a form, please click here and fill out a form. >> I mean, do we have physical copies? Let's say that kid is coming up for the 13th time. Have we ever put a free and reduced
074form in that child's account? >> Probably not. >> [clears throat] >> But also I Okay, as a parent that puts money on my child's lunch account, um sometimes I forget. But I know the lunch ladies remind them, "Hey, you need to put some money in your account." And so they'll call me from school. And they'll say, "Mama, put some money on my account." [laughter] Can we get Can we get a no- I I mean They I forget and they do. And you know, I go in and I'm like, "Oh, Lord, I forgot to put money [clears throat] on their account." But I put, you know, I go in and put money on their account. And I do see that um they've gone through the line and, you know, they have like a negative balance. So
075of course I'm going to put more money so I can get where it needs to be because I know how much they spend a week. So they do get reminded. Um I think the lunch ladies do a good job cuz they call them from school when I forget, you know, and I say I have an account and I load the money on there. So I mean, I I know they're reminded and at least mine are, so I know mine are, then the rest of them are too. And you know, he may have come home, one of them may have come home and said, "Mom, you're forgetting to put money on my account." You know, so [clears throat] I've I've it's just something that we have to do. I mean, I do it all the time.
076I mean, I I can't speak for anybody else, but I know I I mean, I put money on my kids' account when they need some money. Trustee Thomas, I can I can say the same thing. I hear my son say to my wife, "Hey, put money on the account." And that's a parent thing. And that's what I think we're speaking of here. It's not to feed or not feed the children. Um as Trustee Humphrey said over there, it's uh people that are eligible for free or reduced lunch. These are situations where parents are or exploiting and taking advantage of the district, and they're knowingly doing so. So, I I would like to make a motion, um but it's going to be different than what is written here. Um and it's going to be and I'll
077bring up the change. I move to approve the revision of CO local food and nutrition management allowing a student with an exhausted or insufficient balance on his or her meal account to continue purchase meals for up to school two school days or four meals. That's my change. Yes, it is. After which students will receive the lowest cost reimbursable meal and their account will be charged as follows: $1.25 for breakfast and $2.00 for lunch. I'll second it. Um I have I have one more thing before we move on. Um if you should have a student on a campus that is consistently taking the alternative like is there like a threshold where someone's going to I mean, are we just going to let a child eat like that for months on end or do we have a
078plan in action for They would eat like that for the rest of the school year. Okay. Okay, have a motion by Trustee Chapman and a second by Trustee Lewis. I I have another question based on on the actual policy. I just want to I just want to be clear that giving them the alternate choice reduces the cost to the district by 25 cents for breakfast and $1.50 for lunch. Thank you. Any more discussion? Okay. All those Question. Okay. So Mr. Mitchell Wait. >> [laughter] >> So if a kid, I'm just curious on how much so if a kid is going to eat cereal for lunch too, they're going to be charged $2 for cereal or are they going to be charged $1.25 for cereal? That's a good question. I'd have to go back and see.
079Okay. Do we need I didn't think about that. We need to clarify that before we vote, I think. Cuz I think that if Can you ask that again? I'm sorry. Okay, so if a student they're given, let's say, the four meals and what we're giving them what we're choosing to give them is cereal and milk for breakfast and lunch. So are we going to be charging, if it says lunch $2, but if it's cereal and milk, are we going to be charging $2 or $1.25? Can I try to answer that? We we tell them for cereal, we charge $1.25 at breakfast only. And if that same student decides he wants to eat it picky in at lunch, we charge him $1.25. Okay. So it's charged at $1.25. >> will that be offered though? What if
080it's not What Okay, so what if So will cereal, I guess that's my question, will that be the Only option. Oh, yeah, okay, that will be the only option. So if So we'll have to figure out and I don't think we can answer that today on how much we It wouldn't be no more than $2. But we need to talk to policy and what is it the department that that does child nutrition and we need to we need to ask that question to them. Okay. And see what we should do, could do. But is that going to reduce this? Because they're still going to get a courtesy mail. It's just instead of a dollar 50, it's going to be a dollar 25. Instead of 350, it's going to be $2. >> Right. So this still
081this number is not going to go down substantially because instead of after 10 meals, they're going to get it after four meals. Well, not at 350 though. But at $2. Right. Or dollar 25. Right. Right the dollar 25. For breakfast. Right. And lunch is all the same here. So that's where we're going to go back and see if it's 125 across the board. Because it's cereal at both at both times. So it should be the same price. >> [snorts] >> I would hope it's the same price. Right. Okay. So are we going to table until you clarify that or we going to vote on it and then you'll come back and let us know the info on that? We'll let you We'll We'll come back and let you know. Vote on it and we'll come
082back and let you know. We'll give you an update. Or it'll be on the newsletter. But we will provide an update when we find out. Any more discussion? Okay. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed by nay. Nay. Abstentions? Motion carries 6-1. And we're going to add for sure the wording of four meals. >> Yes. Four meals comes after days. Up to two school days or four meals. Item C. Discuss and consider the approval of the competitive sealed proposal methods of project delivery for administration building renovations. Motion to approve. Second. Have a motion by Trustee Chapman, a second by Trustee Humphreys. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed by nay. I'd like to abstain. Okay. Motion carries 6 uh 601. Item D, discuss and consider acceptance of
083the ballpark netting project and approve final payment to Sports Netting Systems in the amount of $15,359.31. So moved. Second. Have a motion by Trustee Chapman, a second by Trustee Lewis. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed by nay. Nay. Abstentions. Motion carries 6-1. Item E, discuss and consider the approval of deductive change order number two in the amount of $20,302, acceptance of the Crosby High School addition project, and approval of final payment to Gamma Construction Company in the amount of $295,166. So moved. Second. Have a motion by Trustee Chapman, a second by Trustee Roach. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed by nay. Abstentions. Motion carries 7-0. Time is now 7:47 and the board will move into closed session. >> Mhm. >> Time
084is 8:08. We'll reconvene from closed session. Moving back into open session. Um, discuss and consider. I move to approve the purchase of approximately 39 acres of real property for a future campus for other district facilities on the not to exceed amount discussed in closed session and delegate authority to the superintendent to negotiate, finalize, and execute all documents related thereto. Second. >> [snorts] >> Have a motion by Trustee Thomas, mean Lewis, trust second by Trustee Thomas. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed by nay. Abstentions? Motion carries 7-0. B. Consider contract renewals of professional personnel for the district uh for the 2026-2027 school year. I move to approve professional contract recommendations as presented. Second. That was Roach. Have a motion by Trustee Barrett, a second by Trustee Roach. Any discussion? All
085those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed by nay. Abstentions? Motion carries 7-0. Item C. Discuss and consider the hiring and contract of band director. I move to approve the contract of Zachary Sanchez for the position of band director. I'll second it. Have a motion by Trustees Humphrey, a second by Trustee Lewis. Any discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed by nay. Abstentions? Motion carries 7-0. I move to adjourn the regular board meeting for May 18th, 2026. Second. All right. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed by nay. Motion carries 7-0. Time is 8:10.