Duncanville ISD Board Meeting January 20, 2026

001Good evening everyone. So good to see you all here tonight. We're going to go [snorts] ahead and get the meeting started. So I, Jacqueline Coloulton, president of the Duninville ISD School Board of Trustees, call this meeting of the Duncanville ISD School District to order. Let the record show that there is a quorum of trustees present tonight, that the meeting has been duly called, and notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, chapter 551. Trustee Vice President Vera Cruz will now lead us in the invocation as we start the opening ceremonies. Thank you, Madame President. Please join me for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, as we begin this new year, we ask for wisdom in our decisions, compassion in our discussions, and unity in our

002work. Guide us to serve our students, families, and staff with integrity and care. May our efforts promote learning, safety, and hope for all. Lord, strengthen our partnerships with families and the community that we serve all in your purpose. We ask these things in his name. Amen. >> Amen. Thank you, Trustee Bear Cruz. So I will now turn the meeting over to Miss Aila who will introduce our wonderful students who are leading us in the pledges tonight. >> Hello and good evening madame president trust trustees and Dr. Gory. So tonight we have students from Fair Meadows Elementary who will be leading us in the pledge of allegiance and the Texas pledge. Students, please face our trustees and introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Juliet Vargas. I'm in third grade and I go to Fair Meadows Elementary.

003>> Hi, my name is Alexia Mendes. Uh, I go to I am in fourth grade and I go to the Fair Middle School. >> Hi, my name is Andrea Hernandez and I I'm in fourth grade and I go to Fair Meadows Elementary School. >> Hi, my name is Alejandra Leon and I'm in fifth grade and I go to Fair Meadows Elementary. >> Hi, my name is Sophia Felix. I go I go to fourth fifth grade and I'm in uh Fair Meadows Elementary. >> My name is Kayen Washington. I'm in third grade and I go to Fair Meadows Elementary. >> Hello, my [snorts] name is Angel Lagona. I am in fourth grade and I go to Fair Meadows Elementary. >> Thank you students. Everyone please stand. [clears throat] To the flag of the United States of

004America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag. >> I aliance to the Texas one state and indivisible. >> Thank you. Everyone may be seated. Trustees, can you please remain standing for a quick group photo? Students, if I can have you come turn to the front, face me, and we're going to take a quick group photo. >> And everybody right here, big smiles. Two, three. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you, students. Wow. [applause] Great job. Thank you, Miss Aila and students. Great job. We will now move on to the superintendence report and I turn the meeting over to Dr. Gorie. >> Thank you very >> That's a little better. Thank you, Madame President and other trustees. Uh,

005it is certainly my pleasure to present the superintendent report for this January board meeting. I'd like to start off by stating that this month, January, is school board recognition month. January is schoolboard recognition month and today I would like to recognize our outstanding board of trustees who serve with me each day. I want to thank them for their dedication and commitment to Duncanville ISD. This year's theme, our future is public, reflects the vital role that each of you play in strengthening our public schools, our workforce, and ultimately our community. Thank you for choosing to serve UIL 6A divid D1 state championship. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our Panthers football team in competing in the UIL 6A division 1 state championship game. We're incredibly proud of these young men, their coaches, and

006everyone who contributed to this remarkable championship run. It certainly was fun watching them go all the way to the state championship game. Congratulations to our football program. 2026 District DECA Championships. Congratulations to our Duncanville High School DECA students who competed in the 2026 6 district DECA comp competition events under the leadership of Dr. Michelle Williams and Dr. Swanda Smith. Our students represented Duncanville High School with an exceptional professionalism and sense of pride. Seven stu 17 students have advanced to the 2026 state DECA competition events. taking place February 19th through 21st of 2026 where they will compete for a chance to advance to nationals. Way to go Panthers. Congratulations to those students. And last, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite everyone spec more specifically and intentionally our families and community members to attend the

007Champions Choice School Shopping Event on Saturday, March 28th from 10:00 to 1:00 p.m. at Duncanville High School. This event will feature booths from our choice and signature programs across the districts, students performances, kids activities, and more. To learn more about this event, I encourage you to visit the Duncanville ISD website at dunanvilleisd.org/choice. If you attended this event last year, you will certainly put this on your calendar as it is a super fun event for our families and our community to come out to see the wonderful choice opportunities that we have within our school system. Thank you very much, Madame President, and other trustees. That does conclude our superintendence report for this month. Thank you, Dr. Gory. We will now move to recognitions and I will turn the meeting over to Miss Leila. >> Once again,

008good evening, Madame President, trustees and Dr. Gory. I'd like to report that there are no donations for the month of January, but we will move on into our recognition portion of this meeting. So, as you know, January is school board recognition month. And to celebrate our trustees and to thank them for their tireless service, we are pleased to share two special performances by Duncanville High School students. First, we are honored to welcome DH High School sophomore Destiny Davis, who will recite an original poem she wrote especially for our trustees. Destiny, please come on up. >> [applause] >> Hi, my name is Destiny and today I'm going to present you a poem I wrote titled As an ordinary student. [clears throat] As an ordinary student, I worry about homework and deadlines. I rush through the halls

009just trying to make it on class on time. As an ordinary student, I'm still trying to figure out who I am and who I want to become. But at Duncanville High School, being an ordinary student comes with extraordinary opportunities. As an ordinary student, I am challenged by my AP classes that push me to think and aim for a higher future. As an ordinary student, I'm in band learning uh discipline, teamwork, and confidence. These opportunities don't take away from my ordinary life. They strengthen it. They turn every day they turn everyday moments into preparation for the future. And that future doesn't just happen by convenience. It happens because of our board of trustees who choose to invest in the lives of ordinary students. They invest time to make decisions about the halls I walk down every

010day, our safety, our futures. as an ordinary student who was given the chance to experience a school district so extraordinary. Thank you board of trustees for the time and care and commitment you give because my future might not be so ordinary. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you, Destiny. [laughter] >> Yes. Thank you so much, Destiny. And thank you, Destiny's mom, for bringing her out and encouraging her. >> That was wonderful. trustees, we're going to move on to our second surprise. So, I am happy to welcome uh please join me in welcoming the Duncanville High School band saxophone ensemble for a special performance. [applause] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Hallelujah. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Amazing. [music] [applause] Amazing. Thank you so much, students. Before y'all head out, we want to take a

011group photo. We're going to bring Destiny back on up as well. And trustees, if you could please stand in your spot so we can take a photo. Once again, y'all, round of applause for these amazing performances. [applause] >> We love being able to showcase our talented students. and two three. >> Thank you so much, >> trustees. I'd also like to point out that the posters in the boardroom are from our campuses. So, we had uh we reached out to all of our campuses. We asked their art teachers to please get some students to do some fun, creative uh beautiful posters so we could display for the month of January just to thank you and to recognize you. So, please whenever you have a moment after the meeting, go ahead and take some photos, read through

012them. We are just so grateful to have you all here with us and we're thankful for your leadership. [applause] And that concludes this portion of the meeting. Thank you all. Thank you all so very much. Thank you, Miss Destiny. Thank you for the ensemble. Uh all the beautiful posters, we're just overwhelmed. And um it is uh truly our pleasure to serve this district. Uh it's my pleasure to serve with each and every trustee. They're all very special and hold a very special place in my heart, but we all have the same focus. We love the students and the staff of Duncanville ISD. And our goal is that I will excel academically uh you know in every way um on the football field in the band uh concerts in you know uh oral contest. We just

013want each one to live up to their highest potential. So thank you. They're no ordinary students. So yes. Yes. They're extraordinary to us. So, um, with that, I know that we have, um, other trustees who might want to share a word, uh, this evening. And, um, I know that, uh, Trustee Phillips has shared that she would like to make comments. >> Thank you, Madam President. >> Okay. Um, I just have a few words that I want to share about our coat drive. I wasn't here last month, but I have I just want to give an update and and just share some some words. Madame President, members of the board of trustees, Dr. Gori, I would like to take a moment to thank to sincerely thank everyone who has supported our annual code drive in partnership

014with our Duncanville ISD Angel Tree over the past eight years. We began this initiative in 2018 by partnering with more than 20 local businesses. And when CO required us to pivot, we moved to an online fundraising model through our partnership with Operation Warm. Because of our community's generosity and adaptability, we have been able to provide nearly 900 coats and slightly over a hundred pairs of shoes to our students in need. [applause] And I want to offer a special thank you to our Duncanville ISD family, our community partners, friends, family, and members of the board of trustees for your continued support and leadership. This is a powerful example of what we can accomplish when we when we com when a community comes together. Excuse me, y'all. Um, this is a powerful example of what we can

015accomplish when a community comes together for its children. Thank you all for your generosity, your time, your leadership, and your heart for our students. >> Thank you, Secretary Phillips. Um, are there any other comments from trustees? If not, uh, we will Oh, >> we have a birthday. Wow. Dr. Flowers, happy birthday. Yes, that's great. And you're sharing it with us. Yes. Yes. >> Yes. Okay. If there isn't anything else, we will now move to to conduct a public hearing on the 2025 district annual Texas Academic Performance Report or better known as the taper. And the presenter is Dr. Nicks. >> Good evening, Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Gre, and happy birthday, Dr. flowers. >> Tonight I will be presenting the Texas Academic Performance Report commonly referred to as the taper. Um, as we

016know that this is an annual report that uh we are required to give within 90 days of receiving the taper. And we received our taper December the 19th uh the day before we went on break. And so it's uh it's important to note that the that the taper is a descriptive report, not a rating system. It compiles data from multiple sources in multiple years, including star performance, graduation rates, CCMR indicators, and student group outcomes. Taper does not provide direct accountability labels. And much of the data reflected in the taper report is outcomes from previous school years. This is lag data and some of the data is from multiple years um ago. And so that's just uh it's it's important to note that as a result taper should review be reviewed as a historical snapshot that

017informs our current and future strategies rather than a real-time performance report. So here on slide one you'll see that this is the um the taper report uh process that we're going through. They get the information from PS of course it's communicated out through the Texas Education Agency and it's given to the district districts in two ways. it's on they post it on the website for everyone to see and then of course they provide the campus principles and the district with a PDF with more um intricate data for per student to look at. So those are the two ways that the data is uh provided to a district. I want to pause here just to make the board aware that we are required and we have as of now updated the taper report to not only

018our district website but to also every campus website. So all of the information is posted on each campus and district websites. What you see here board is the cover page for the 2425 taper report that was released. If you'll notice, you'll see uh two things that stand out to me anyway, and that's that the district score is a C, and that for 2025, special education determination status is needs intervention. You get that needs intervention status once a um district reflects that one or more state performance indicators was not met. So, I want to uh just communicate that here in Duncanville ISD, I'm proud to present that all of the metrics for our special education department were met in terms of our processes and our procedures. So, for an example, there was nothing that was procedural.

019Uh for example, how we conduct our arts, um our constitutions, our processes, all of those things met standard. The reality is that everything that we're doing for our general ed students uh pertains to our special education students and our students just have to perform. And so the indicator that wasn't met was performance. And so we um have been working diligently on just making sure all students, not just special education, uh but have what they need to perform. So that's the indicator that has to continue to improve. Here is a slide that this chart is based on the taper information released in December and it simply indicates where we fail in relation to several of our surrounding districts. As you can see here, our student demographic data which has remained pretty much consistent for the past

020three years. In addition, we see our economically disadvantaged populations at 78.1%. And just to be clear, these are families that qualify for free and reduced lunch. as well as we see our at risk population is very high. These are state defined criteria to show if a student is more likely to struggle. This is what at risk means. The state defines at risk as a student who's maybe failing a class or a student who has chronic absences or a student who's overaged or a student who's economically disadvantaged. And what the state says that this student is at risk of not graduating on time. So as you can see our at risk and economically population are are quite high for the 24 25 star performance data. Here we see that our performance for all grades and all

021subjects in comparison to the state and the region relating to approaches to meets and to masters. And uh the qualification there is just to make sure that we're clear about you know did not meet is not on here but when a student has did not meets that means that they did not meet the criteria for the test. Approaches means that they pass the test but the state looks at the meets level. Meets meaning your ongrade level. Okay you a student can a student I'm sorry the state looks at the meats level for calculation when it comes to domains one two things of that nature. Approaches is a part of the accountability system for some of the domains, but where we want is our students at grade level. Students can get at approaches, but that's not

022what we're looking at. We don't want to approach the grade level. We want them learning on grade level. And then of course, when you have masters, that means that students are mastering the content. Um, they can move on without a lot of intervention. Um, they're going to be fine. That's where we want to see our students in that meets and masters category. For this slide, you'll see [clears throat] a breakdown of you'll see a breakdown of our star performance broken down by content area and performance level in comparison to the state and to the region. It's a highle overview of kind of where we sit in each of those categories. For graduation rate, this is a breakdown. It's important to remember that this is lag data. All this data is is lag data, if you

023will. Uh meaning that it has already occurred, which tells us how students performed in the past. It looks backwards and shows results after the learning has already happened, such as graduation rates, things of that nature. Our graduation rate is, as you can see, on par with the state. When you see that Texas CHS, I just want to be clear that that means that that's the Texas certificate high school um equivalency, much like a GED. Okay? And so our students who dropped out, our graduates and our graduates and continuers, what really helps us here is pace uh to make sure that we capture all of our students and that our graduation rate continues to to climb. This shows our CCMR college ready. The Texas Success Initiative is a program that helps determine whether a student is

024ready for college level coursework in reading, in writing, and in math. And then you can see there we have the API IB. We don't offer IB in our district right now. So AP is of course is advanced placement criteria in any subject and our associates degrees and how we as a district compared to both to the state and to the region. And then it has a multi-year comparison there. In addition to academics, the taper report also includes a PE's financial standards report. The taper report includes the 2023 actual financial data. The financial data in the taper report is one year behind the current fiscal year. And this includes revenues and expenditures for the school district, dispersements, tax rates, and the fund balance. There's a link on all of our systems for our stakeholders to access

025to view that report as is required by the state. And just as a reminder to the board, the board approved the annual financial report that's being presented to the taper for the 2324 school year during the board meeting on November the 18th, 2024. Once again, this is a requirement. This has already been approved and vetted by the board. Final component is a report of violent or criminal incidents. And as you can see for [clears throat] a multi-year trend there where we are falling for the exhibit or use uh possess a firearm you see that for the 2425 school year there were three incidents. Now um looking into this we have determined well I have researched that this was one incident with three students for that particular year. When we go to use exhibit or possess

026pro a prohibited weapon that was one incident that occurred within 300 ft of one of our campuses. So the way that works it's on campus. Aggravated assault on a school employee. Uh zero there. Aggravated assault on a student. We had one incident, felony controlled substance uh violation. There was one incident there. Aggravated robbery, robbery, zero. Deadly conduct zero for and then arson. Of course, there are not any situations there. board as required we have just shared the taper report um for the public hearing and it is my pleasure to answer any question that I may answer and if I'm not able to answer I'll have to shift over whether it's pe or something to one of my colleagues to help me to answer so it's my pleasure to answer any question that you may have

027at this time >> are there any questions ma'am >> Dr. Dr. Nick, will you go back to slide 23, please? >> Yes, ma'am. >> So, I wanted to say a couple of things for clarity because I think uh the approaches, the sentence that's next to approaches can be a little misleading, >> please. um with approaches. Yes, the state considers that passing, but what that also means is this student has several gaps and needs a tier three intervention to be successful in that next class. So, it it's not like having a C and you understand and pretty solid. the students, the percent of students that we have in approaches, they have several gaps and they will not um are not likely to pass the next class um without intervention. >> So, >> thank you for that

028clarity, Dr. Flowers. Absolutely correct, 100%. >> So, I just don't want us to think that we're 60% is the state minimum for passing, but that doesn't really describe those students, that group of students. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Thank you. So my understanding is approaches means not on grade level. You at least one grade level behind >> at least. [clears throat] >> At least. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yes. And you could be up to two grade levels. And and to Dr. Flowers's point, one of the reasons why the state is looking at, you know, meets instead of approaches, to Dr. Flowers's point, the state is saying if you're at approaches, you're going to require a certain level of intervention. And the more students that we have that require that intensive intervention, it takes away

029opportunities for that student. It it really creates an environment for us where we have to create all these intervention periods, intervention times, and we have to have, you know, all the intervention support at the campuses, which is not a problem. But the more that we have to do that, the more it takes away from that tier one quality instruction opportunity. And that's where we're trying to get. We want our students to get it right the first time and we want our quality instruction to be focused on that first time instruction. What we hate to do hate to do is [snorts] limit students opportunities for elect all kind of things because we have to you know because of the interventions. They're there we support them but that should not drive our structure. One thing I'd like

030to add to that too though and to support uh the comments made is that even when you look at our district improvement plans, we design all of our goals around MET's standard because again our goal is for all of our students to be on grade level. >> And that's pretty much if you look at the work that we're doing even at our uh most struggling schools that tier one instruction uh that First Teach has been our primary focus and what we've looked at. And you'll see that as we start to look at our preliminary benchmark data as well. >> Yes. >> When was the last time we had a special education audit? >> We were audited this year. It's it was this year you know for RDA we were audit we were audited this year

031and just at the end of last year we were visited by TEA for an actual site visit audit for our special education. >> Okay. >> Dr. GRE and myself was a part of that at the ending of last year to tie into action steps for the beginning of this year. So that's why I said this year uh TA actually came visited and worked with us on our strategic plan to not only meet the needs intervention challenge but also our um outcome focused measures for sped. So that was very recent. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Are there any other questions or comments from trustees? Okay. Are there any public comments on the 2025 district annual Texas academic performance report? Okay. So we do not have any public comments and the hearing has ended. We will

032now move to communication from citizens. >> Okay. So good. So we do not have any communications from the citizens. We will now adjourn to close session under the Texas Open Meetings Act sections 551.071. 551.074 to deliberate on the purchase exchange lease or value of real property. deliberate on the annual superintendent evaluation and superintendent contract and consult with board counsel on any subjects or matters authorized by law, including any matter listed on this notice agenda. Okay. Should final action vote or decision on any matter considered in close session be required? Such final action, vote or decision shall be taken once the open meeting covered by this notice reconvenes or at a subsequent meeting of the board. So we are now journ to close session. Thank you. Good evening. We are back from close session and we'll

033continue with our agenda item. We will now move to take action on items from close session. Do I have a motion to approve the superintendent's recommendation that we hire and issue a one-year contract to Jeremy Greco for the position of director? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been properly moved and second. And that is for director of transportation. Are there any questions, comments or discussion? There being none, please cast your vote electronically. Okay. Motion passes unanimously. Do I have a motion to approve the superintendent's recommendation that we hire and issue a one-year contract to Shaa Pumprey for the position of chief financial officer? >> So move. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been properly moved and second. Are there any questions, comments, or discussion? There being none, please cast your vote electronically. Okay, that

034motion passes unanimously. We will now move to the consent agenda. A trustee has requested that items 8 D, Clint [snorts] Q. Smith Early Learning Academy change order number one and item 8E approval of purchase over 50,000 be moved from the consent agenda to the action agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items 8A, 8B, and 8 C? So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been properly moved and second that consent item agenda numbers 8A, 8B, and 8 C be approved. Are there any questions, comments, or discussion? There being none, please cast your vote. Okay, that motion passes unanimously. Okay, we will now move to agenda item B. >> Shouldn't we discuss 8, D, and E before going to the regular? >> Uh, yes, ma'am. We can do that. I was going

035to consider them after we had talked about the others, but we could take 8D. So, is there I guess uh Miss Amora. >> Okay. Good evening, President Colton Border and Dr. Gory. So, in accordance with the board policy, CV and legal and local construction contracts with change orders valued at 50,000 or above shall require board approval. So, in August 2025, you all approved you, the board authorized a district to enter an agreement with Nash Industries for the renovations at Clint Smith Early Learning Academy. And tonight we're coming with a change request to the original contract by a cost not to exceed $700,000. Uh the change order will address unforeseen conditions. Um additional needed abatement that we discovered during demo. Uh interior sanitary sewer replacement, renovations to sanitary sewer requested by the city, additional demolition of

036interior walls due to deteriorating conditions and exterior building upgrades due to the existing conditions of inadequate weather protection. Um this is to meet energy code compliance for the exterior building envelope. Even with this additional cost of $700,000, the Smith Elementary is still $3 million under its estimated renovated budget. Uh therefore, recommended the board take action to approve change order request number one for Clint Q. Smith Early Learning Academy. Uh please let me know if you have any questions. Also here tonight is our architect from Huckabe, Elisa Kamacho, and our bond management company, Ellen. Okay. Are there any questions trustees on this item? >> Okay. I I have a question. Um would you please provide additional information regarding the scope the additional scope for this project? >> Yes. Actually, I'm gonna call our architect. And the

037$700,000 that is an estimate. We have estimates on some of the items, but not all. We believe the $700,000 will be the max we would need to cover all of those issues that we listed. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. >> I'm happy explain some of the issues that we've encountered. >> Good evening, trust. >> Good evening. Um sorry the question was that what is the additional scope? >> Yes the additional scope like there's an additional astus abatement uh discovered during demolition. I guess if you can just provide more details regarding you know each of the four item well >> five items that you've mentioned. >> Yeah. So for the additional abatement I will to the end to come over and explain that because Hakabe didn't handle the abatement part. Um for the interior sanitary sewer

038replacement, they were found like a lot of problems um in the existing sanitary line. Also the city as part of the city comments, they requested a replacement of the existing sanitary line because they were aware of those problems. Um and the revision to the sanitary line requested by city of Dunkville, they also requested the upgrade um currently the existing sanitary line connection is 4 in um diameter and now they requested to upgrade to 6 in the connection to the main city line. That's part of the scope. Um that was a city request and demolition of interior doors. During the abatement process and the demolition, it was found that a lot of the walls that we thought that were uh you know in good shape and they were um structurally sound. They were not. Uh when

039they removed or all the gypsum board, it was found that they didn't have any bracing. they were built on top of carpet. So, we have to make the decision to demolish all of the existing uh CMU walls uh that were planned to remain initially. Um and then the fourth one. Um okay, so the exterior building upgrades. So, as part of the scope, we didn't have any upgrades on the exterior. And when they took all the interior walls covering the the building envelope, it was found that a lot of the area behind the fascia, metal fascia of that building didn't have any weather protection. So we need to not only bring that to code, but for the building performance, it needs to be uh replaced. That's part of the scope. >> And can you talk about

040>> we talked? >> Thank you. Good evening. >> Thank you. Good evening, >> Colton. Uh the board members, Dr. Gory, the abatement, we studied the abatement prior to the bid. Uh we investigated as far as much as we could go and take the walls down and do sampling. Uh but there are some areas which were hidden behind and we couldn't get to those. So once those were uncovered, we discovered additional abatement. uh they were tested and they were in. So that's the surprise we got on the abatement and we once we know that it is we have to do it. We don't have a choice. Contractor is already there. We had budgeted some amount but it's above and beyond and that's the reason we're asking for more funds. See the seven the 700,000 is that

041the contractor's estimate or is this does it have a little u contingency? >> It it has some contingency built in but it is an estimate at this time including all those items that we have uh mentioned. Um we are confident that this will cover and that's the reason we're coming one time. We're not making five different trips. So, um these are unforeseen conditions that we encountered. Some of the city items that the architect mentioned, we discussed during the design phase and they said it's okay. But then when we went to the final detail, oh, change this from four to six. Change this to do this. It's for the betterment for the campus and some of the existing lines back design 10 months ago when we do that they didn't have all these configured. So they

042are also making city is also making some changes to accommodate this new line. The sanitary line has been an issue um from the records from the maintenance records we got for the last 15 20 years. So this has been an ongoing issue that we need to fix it. So once you fix the line, you fix the connection, you do everything as you know. So it it just it involves a lot of items but by the time we are done there's a lot of things happen. The fascia we talked the architect talked about it didn't have any waterproofing didn't have anything. So it's not like the previous regime didn't follow. Some of the details didn't didn't follow 25 years ago, 30 years ago. We have no idea. But again, these things were on the drawing but

043not physically there. So I don't know. We don't know what happened. But we are making sure once we found out we have to make it to the current code and the energy requirements to this. So that's the that's the added cost for all this >> was for the sorry for the performance of the building itself >> overall. >> So when they took a lot of the partitions as part of the do you >> mind uh stepping towards >> Oh sorry sorry yeah when they um demolished a lot of the existing partitions. So we also um realized that there was a lot of water intrusion because it didn't have water protection. So some of the exterior framing has to be replaced as well. So and that's embedded as part of the scope. Yeah. >> Any other

044question? Are there any other questions? So um I guess construction is going to be complete when it's still we are still predicting to finish um by end of July. It'll take a little bit longer. So yes the original schedule has moved a little bit forward but it's still to open in August for the school. >> So we're still targeted for that. uh we're expediting few things and uh we're working in phases. We're doing some abatement here while the construction is going on here. So we doing multiple activities are happening at the same time. >> Okay. And then I know that um you all are you know cutting cost or you know as much as you can on our behalf as far as you know these projects are concerned. >> Yeah. This project came under budget

045uh before. So, we are still under budget, but we're making sure that the building is built properly to the current codes and we don't have any issues in the future 25 years and that's that's the intent to make sure that these are all sound buildings. >> Thank you all. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. Okay, there being no further questions, can I have a motion? >> Um, I make a motion that we approve the change order number one for the Clint Q. Smith Early Learning Academy. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Okay, it's been properly moved and second that we approved uh change order number one for Clint Q. Smith Early Learning Academy. Um, would you please cast your vote electronically? Okay. Motion passes unanimously. 70. Thank you all very much. Okay. Item

046E, approval of purchases over 50,000, Mr. Graham and um Mr. Scott. >> Mr. Scott is the director of >> Oh, okay. And he's not >> standing in place of the CFO. >> Oh, okay. Madame President, to all trustees, and to Dr. Gorei, district policy mandates that all purchases that exceed $50,000 receive board approval to maintain transparency and fiscal responsibility. These purchases support a variety of programs and needs across the department. Each recommended purchase has been reviewed by the appropriate departments and adheres to the procurement standards. Um, [clears throat] today we only have one item on the vendor list and that's tutor by teacher online tutoring for all elementary schools and one middle school at $144,000 9 $980 I'm sorry. All purchases will be made via the operating funds for title one at this time. If

047you have any specific questions about the program, I will bring up um Dr. Nicks about specific questions about the program. >> Okay. Okay. Are there any questions? Okay, I do have some. So, is this a new program? >> This is a new contract. Yes. But it's not a new program. >> Dr. Nick, you want to step up? It's actually a program that we utilized last year, too. This is a new contract, but it is a program that the district utilized probably about this time last year uh to support uh some schools quite frankly where we need higher capacity support in the classroom. >> Dr. Nick, you want to speak to and I'll be happy to help you. >> Thank you. Absolutely. This is a program that we used and partnered with at the end of

048last year. As we know, once we got [clears throat] to the end of last year, uh these are title funds. So this is not local funds. This these are not funds that'll hit our local budget. These are funds that have to be spent and these are funds that are spent out of title funds for tutoring and intervention purposes. We used this company last year with three of our campuses. All three of those principles felt as though that it had they had more time, had they had more quality instruction that they would have seen even larger gains. So now you see more campuses wanting to partner. Actually this company came to uh present to our principles at the beginning of the year. The limitations were just the funding the the title one funding. So [clears throat]

049funds have been released. They now have the funds to do that and that's what they're wanting to do to support uh some of the students with intervention now. >> So how many campuses? >> We had all elementaryaries and one middle school I believe. >> Okay. And then how can you provide additional information regarding you know the operation of the program? >> Absolutely. We can get that to the board. In terms of operation, how the program works or what that looks like. Absolutely. I can share now and if you need additional information we can get it to you. >> Um tutor by teachers is a virtual program and so they work with uh students one on- one or in groups of about five. I'm sorry, in group groups of about five where there is an actual

050personal tutor virtually set for a group of students that works with them with specialized and individualized learning, knowing specifically where those kids are specifically what they need to work on and then in those small groups. Ideally, it's three times for 30 minutes per week. That's the ideal timeline uh that they would work with the cohorts. And so for for each campus it's no more than about 100 kids that they you know that they work with. So they're specially they're identified and then it's online uh for for those students. >> So how is progress monitored? >> Progress is monitored in several ways. First is a pre and post test. They pre-est the students with what they know prior to the intervention to the learning to the lessons. Excuse my voice. And then of course after that

051there's a post test to see if there was growth intervention things of learning and things of that nature. There's also the MAP test that's used looking at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. And then from the middle to the end of the year trying to see if the teaks and things that were covered if there's growth there and then of course their star but that's a finality. >> Okay. And so how do you know that? Um I So there is pre and post test is that what frequency is that? >> Every lesson. >> Okay. Every lesson. Okay. Oh, that's good. >> And then that way you know if they're getting the information or if you need to repeat something or >> Absolutely. There's no sense in moving on if they didn't get it.

052>> Yes, sir. >> That's great. Yeah. One thing I'll add though is when we began the conversation last year around uh the tutor by teacher that this organization this company they recruit highly certified teachers all certified teachers and the conversation came last year as we approached the test and had concerns around really changing our modality of providing intervention to students. uh as we go into this year and as we look at our uh preliminary data uh really looking at how can we more be more intentional quite frankly with our teacher shortages that we face to make sure that we are putting highquality certified teachers in front of our most fragile students as much as we can. Uh and again we're trying to get this started quicker this year and again because I agree with Dr.

053Nix in the respect that there's some limitations when we've received some title dollars because technically we we should have started this sooner but we're trying to start this as soon as we can. >> So the funding that we received last year it was just for the end of the school year. >> You want to explain how those rollover funds work? >> Absolutely and thank you. So, the funding that we received last year, our campuses, uh, keep in mind we have a new person in position this year that is over our, uh, federal funding. Our campus had not used or allocated properly their title funds last year. So, this time last year, they hadn't planned for the expenditures. They had a lot of money to spend, if you will, and so they had the funds to

054purchase. Well, that's not how that should work. uh campuses should plan for the year, if you will. And at the semester, we have what's called rollover funds, funds that uh have not been used that the state still owes us. That's what we received. That's what the campuses will be spending on tutoring. They're going to be spending money. They were going to spend local funds on tutoring anyway. So, the title fund rollover funds just came in at the perfect time to help with that. I'd like to invite I just had a conversation with Mr. Hernandez about the teaks that we had identified. Uh if you're comfortable with presenting that, Mr. Hernandez, would you please come and present that information around how we've been so specific as to identify exactly what they're going to work with our

055students on? >> Happy to. So what we did this year was a little couple of different things. We identified our lowits and high leverage [clears throat] tees. So these are the teaks that we fill are power standards. So we do these eight TESS, we are most like and we're successful with them. We're most likely to move kids from do not meets to approaches, from approaches to meets and from meets to masters. We were very strategic. We have 525 kids. We've identified the three um we've identified the different groupings. So 525 kids in total, five per group. Each campus has anywhere between 10 to 21 groups. BIRD being the largest, they have 21 groups because BIRD is middle school and we have four subjects. Um, we've identified the teachers. Um, we will be doing this during

056win time. So, we're very specific about the time. Each campus has an six 30 minutes to 60 minutes depending on how we use the wind time. Um, so we've identified the win time, the three days for each of the seven campuses. um identified the time they're going to push in the mentor buddy that's going to be with the online person. So there's someone teaching maybe at the small group the table the main teachers teaching at the table 10 kids are doing their I ready pathway and then the online with the five kids in the group then we identified the focus taks I had I worked with teaching and learning with um our math and reading because we're only focused on math and reading for the elementaryaries and we identified about six to seven and it

057varies for per grade level six to seven high leverage peaks that they will only focus on because last year we they were kind of using their program. We kind of got ahead of it this year and we said based on our data in Duncanville, this is what we need to be taught. So, we're very strategic with that time. Um, so we have it mapped out for every grade level and every subject. We have a spreadsheet that that has every kid already grouped. So like we have our EB kids, we have our sped kids that we want to work with because RDA sped is an area as you saw earlier that Dr. Nicks identified. So from the school leadership side, we wanted to pick certain kids that we know we can that just need some extra

058one-on-one time. So we have sped kids, we have EB kids, and then we have like Dr. Flowers was saying earlier that approaches isn't working for us. How do we get them to meet? So really being specific with those groups that we really could get those eight points on the table for us and we can close those gaps. So it's very strategic, very studentdriven and this year Dr. Nick's charge was Hernandez, how you going to monitor it? So, we picked the teaks for them, which is why we didn't start a week ago because we were very, we're starting February, let me give you the dates because I think you asked, February um 2nd to April 6th. And the reason why they need three weeks to do it, but also we identified our TEICS unlike other districts.

059They have like a pre-written program. We wanted to be very fine-tuned with what we were doing with kids. So, it took us a little longer. We just didn't want them to give us the normal u recipe. We wanted our Duncan Mill special recipe. So, we asked them, "Hey, this is what our babies really need. Can you meet us there?" So, they they're doing some programming for us. And we want to make sure when we start, we have the rooms. We have everything. We're rocking and rolling. I walk the spaces with our principles. We just want to make sure it's tighter this year. And we will be monitoring an exit ticket every week with those TES. So we'll be able to track, hey, we taught inferencing for all three grade levels. How we doing on inferencing,

060which is one of the lowest TES that we want to target. Does that make sense? >> Absolutely. >> Is that help? Was that helpful? >> That was very helpful, Mr. N. One thing too I'll add is that the company because this is online and everything is uh itemized, they provide reports almost constantly around how the students are performing. So it's really um can be very intentional about how we support students. >> Great. I appreciate the the details and information. Are there any additional questions or comments? Okay, there being none, can I get a motion to approve this item? >> So moved. >> Okay. >> And was properly moved and second that we approve item as presented for the purchase of online tutoring system for more than 50,000. Okay, are you ready to vote? Please cast

061your vote electronically. Okay. Did someone not vote or did I not vote? Okay. Well, that vote um passes unanimously. Thank you all. All right. So, now we're going to the um action item agenda B to call the school board election for May 2nd, 2026 to elect trustees for places four and five. Mr. Graham, thank you. Greeting once again to president, to all trustees, and to Dr. Gore. This item is to call the Duncanville ISD school board election for May the 2nd, 2026 for the purpose of electing trustees in places four and five. As required by the Texas Education Code, the board must formally order the election to fill trustees positions whose term expires. The action tonight ensures we remain in full compliance with state law and allows Dallas County Elections Department sufficient time to administer

062the election. The proposed election order includes the following components. The election date is Saturday, May the 2nd, 2026. Positions on the ballot are trustee place four and five. Applications must be filed by February 13, 2020 2026 at 5:00 p.m. The early voting period is April 20th through April 28, 2026, including the required weekday and weekend voting dates. The dates and times are located on page 61 of your board book. At this time, the board president will authorize and execute the election order and any other required contract or documents on behalf of the board. If there are no further questions, the administration recommends approval of the order calling for the May 2nd, 2026 trustee election, including the early voting dates as authorized by the Dallas County Election Committee. Do I have a motion that the trustee

063election be called as presented in the election order establishing the trustee election for May 2nd, 2026 and early voting for April 20th through April 28, 2026 with Dallas County Election Board conducting the election in all precincts and the board president or designate be authorized to sign on behalf of the board of trustees? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been properly moved and second. Are there any questions, comments, or discussion? Um I do have a comment on the order of election. Um in the we need to correct it to say that um an election is hereby ordered to be held on May 2nd, 2026 for the purpose of electing two school board trustees for a three-year term. So, we just need to make that change. Okay. >> Um, are there Please cast your vote

064electronically. Okay. Motion passes unanimously. 70. Next item on our agenda is action item C 20 2526 target improvement plans. Miss Hernandez is the presenter. Good evening, board president Coloulton, board trustees, superintendent Dr. Gory, and guests. Today, I present to you two target improvement plans, two additional target improvement plans for Central Elementary and Brandon Bird Intermediate. I'm going to apologize for my voice. I'm kind of losing it, but I think we'll make it. [laughter] and happy board appreciation and happy birthday, Dr. Flowers. Um, in alignment with board policy, AIG legal and TA guidelines, district and campus leaders have collaboratively developed, reviewed, and refined these target improvement plans to ensure strong align alignment with the district improvement plan and our strategic priorities. These plans serve as a comprehensive framework to design and strengthen our educational and instructional

065systems, accelerate student achievement, and build sustainability through leadership capacity across our district. Today's plan intentionally reflects the unique context of Central Elementary and Brandenburgg Intermediate. While both campuses are operating offline this school year, our students continue to be served across four campuses. >> [snorts] >> Central elementary students are primarily at Harden Elementary with a few sprinkled across our district but predominantly at Harden. Our Brandenburg Intermediate students are spread across our three campuses. Bird Middle School, >> Kenir Kr. >> Keny Kmer >> Kinn getting that one wrong. Kinnamer, we were practicing early. Apologize. Kinnmer and Reed. Due to the unacceptable accountability ratings in 2425 for Central and Brandenburgg and the significant number of students, we are required to report um a tip plan for these campuses and track those students. TA requires us to submit a

066trick a tip plan which I'm presenting tonight to monitor and report the accountability data and the milestones for these four campuses with those specific students in mind. This monitoring um that the the state requires will provide high quality instruction will ensure that we provide high high quality instruction to all impacted students regardless of where they landed and also maintains accountability status for all students that were previously enrolled in these two campuses. The tip strategies presented tonight specifically address how we're ensuring quality tier one instruction at the four campuses. Again, these four campuses are not TIP campuses, but we're following the students that are on these campuses to ensure that they all receive quality tier instruction, targeted academic support, and a commitment from the district and supporting all kids who were previously were were zoned to

067Central Elementary and Brandenburg and admin intermediate. These plans demonstrate our unwavering commitment and consistency to ensuring every student regardless of where the campus they land receives high quality instruction, strong leadership and meaningful learning opportunities. So that's the context. So tonight um in compliance with board policy AG legal a camp these following campuses have been identified as unacceptable unacceptable for two consecutive years by TEA and are required we are required to submit a turnaround plan a target or target improvement plan and for this purposes is a target improvement plan for um central and Brandenburg. Um, this slide identifies the specific students TA will be asking us to track. That's about 253 students at Harden Elementary, 52 students at Bird Middle School, 66 students at Reed Middle School and 43 kids at [clears throat] Ken Kmer. Did

068I say it right? Kenmer. >> So, a total of 161. So, we will be tracking these kids. I'll be working closely with Dr. Wyatt as the other deputy chief as we pull data every time we benchmark. Um, what's really really great is that Dr. White have been working in partnership throughout the year. So, many of the things you're going to hear we presented last time at the November board meeting and we're working very closely. the things that we're doing for school improvement is is very similar to things we're doing with non-school improvement because good instruction is good instruction. Good tier one leadership is good tier one leadership and we're trying to ensure that quality is at every campus and that every child receives that. Um, with that in mind, our um, TIP plan aligns with

069the district um, and district and campus CIPs and strategic goals. The four district priorities, student academic success, student families and community, personnel and professional development, [clears throat] and physical stewardship serve as our foundation of our work. Our school improvement plan outlines systems, structures, and instructional actions we will implement with consistency and fidelity across our campuses. In short, our plan consistently creates sustainability and impact across our district, providing a unified roadmap for supporting principles, coaching teachers, and accelerating student outcomes regardless of where our students attend. Our all of our campuses are getting this And um I just wanted to lay out the four areas of the focus because nothing's really changing from the November meeting. We're just really extending those same four key priorities to these schools. And again, we're already doing it at Bird because

070Bird is a target in a turnaround plan. So they have already a plan in place. So these kids have already been getting it specifically at bird because bird is a turnaround campus and everyone else has been getting it indirectly because Dr. Wyatt and I when we provide professional development we do that together as a team and it's districtwide. So we're all taking f well let me go through all of them. So number one foundation of leadership practices and systems. Two of the main ones that we're doing within this focus area is building leadership structures and leadership capacity. And we do that through our principal meetings, our AP meetings, our professional development. And we're doing that to all kids, elementary and middle school. Then we're setting up strong progress monitoring systems from the tutor by teachers

071that we just approved to professional development to each campus having a data tracking system that not only monitors the campus data but also each individual student so that whether you're um whether Dr. Wyatt's supervising them or I'm supervising them, we can talk to every student within Duncanville. Second, we're do um going into datadriven instructional practices. That monitoring kind of flows into our datadriven instructional practice and student cycles. Um we're doing fall and spring data conferences regardless. So there won't adding this won't add any additional burden to these three schools. We're already doing it regardless of the state asked for it. So it was a really easy conversation with Dr. Alexander, our TA, because we're already doing it for all campuses. We're making quality instruction our standard across all campuses. Um the third one is leader

072um lasso capacity building supports and that really is our sustained ed partnership and building PLC's making sure that our teachers are unpacking the standards and really understanding how do I deliver that tier one instruction and how do I do it quality the first round so hopefully we don't have to do tier two and tier three. If we deliver it the first time and um and our teachers understand how to do that then we're building their capacity. Um our partnership will continue. These schools already receive a half of two half days um a partnership with um teaching and learning and sustained ed. And then last is our performance management site. So this is going to look just a little bit different because again these schools are not target improvement schools but we're tracking the kids. So

073what that means with TA is that when I have those TA visits I bring that data in into our conversations. So, I report out, okay, we had fall benchmarks besides the seven schools I presented in November. I'll add where these kids are going and we've pulled those students. We've started creating a tracker and then we'll pull the data. I have a TA meeting with them later this week and I'll get more information, but basically we're tracking that data for them and those milestones. So, did you hold the spring conferences? Did you hold the data conferences? Is Dr. White and you walking to those campuses? And then I have to fill out some of those data. And so we have submitted that and then making sure Dr. Wyatt and I are providing effective coaching cycles that

074each of those schools and principles are receiving weekly coaching visits and feedback. So basically what we presented in November, a shorter version, we're we're extending our family out to those those um four schools. Um and then last but not least, I am presenting the tip plan the tip plan today. And with that we have to um outline um four asurances. So as the DCSI which is the district coordinator for school improvement I assure that I have met um and conducted a needs assessment and met the requirements in section 39A.053 of the Texas educational go um code. As a DSI, I assure that we had a campus um intervention team that created a public meeting and those were held last week for all campuses and that we involve me campus members, campus leaders and parents in

075this um community meeting. It was a virtual um three, as a DSI, I assure that all written notice of public meetings were posted on our school website. In fact, you can go there today and you'll see Central and Brandon Burden. We've received um a good amount of feedback that we will be uploading to TA. And then um last I once you guys approve tonight, I will submit a um approval that the board presented and that um you've approved the plans. At this time, I will be happy to answer any questions or qu comments that you guys have regarding the new submission of plans. >> Are there any questions? for Dr. Hernandez. Okay, there being none, can I get a motion to approve this item? >> Second. >> It's been properly moved and second that we

076approve the item. Would you please cast your vote? Motion passes 70. Thank you, Dr. Hernandez. Okay, we'll now move to action item D. Consider annual approval of DHS Panthers impact summer college tour on July 18th through August 1st, 2026. Presenter Dr. Nicks. >> President Colt, members of the board, Dr. agree. It's always my pleasure to bring for your consideration uh and approval the opportunity for our students to travel to uh Ivy League colleges, universities, HB.CU all across the nation. And what that allows us to do is provide students with opportunities that they would not normally have. And so the information is uh there for you uh to to view the fact that we have opportunities so many opportunities for our students to visit these colleges. And year after year we have students who when they

077visit these colleges and universities end up going to these colleges and universities and the exposure just the pure exposure to these universities is mind-blowing for our students. In the past, we only included 11th graders. I believe it was one of our trustees that asked for the expansion of that to be 9th, 10th, and 11th. And we have just seen tremendous opportunities for our students. U Mr. Kaine is here every year because he just wants to make sure that he can uh speak to answer whatever questions you may have about the trip itself. But I love every year when I get a text from Mr. Kane, hey, we're headed out. And then I get those updates and those just those pictures and when they make it back just to hear the stories and of course he

078wants to bring so many kids. I can I can bring a room full of kids to talk about it. So I said no we don't the board knows how amazing this opportunity is. So board once again just a pleasure to bring to you for your consideration of of approving the uh opportunity for our students for this travel. No school days lost all summer. Um, and to be clear, what is different about this trip is there's a flight element. In the past, everything has been traveled by bus and as you could imagine, uh, that's that's wonderful. Um, but Mr. Kane talked about just maximizing the time. So traveling there through bus, coach, you know this so well, you know, traveling that through through through bus, but then ending the trip in Washington and flying back. >>

079And so that's the only amendment uh to to to to years past. >> So it would be my pleasure to answer any questions that you may have or uh specifically if I could bring Mr. Kane up to answer any questions about the >> Mr. K, why don't you come up just so we can uh give you an opportunity to just say something because you've put so much time and effort into this. >> Uh good evening, uh President Colton, board, Dr. Gory. First of all, happy uh board appreciation, happy birthday. Right. Uh obviously, if you can tell by the photos, the beauty of this trip, as Dr. Nick uh Dr. Nicks love to put it is the kids that go, you know, we saw it last year. Three of the kids that went on this trip

080end up going to Princeton. Jazelle's right there in front of the gates. She's there now. I just talked to her a week ago. She's doing great. Dean student, right? Preston is at Columbia. That's him right there in the back right at Columbia University >> playing in the snow tonight. >> Playing in the snow. Saw his mom's post. Guys, that's what it's about. You know, we can't expect students, right, to dream big if we don't give them that dream, right? And what I try to do every year is give these students the opportunity to dream big. And, you know, once again, like Dr. Nick said, really the only change on the trip this year, obviously, we'll uh go in our SUVs from Dallas, leave from here, but I really want to try to maximize many colleges

081that we visit. So because of that flight back, you know, on normal trip we visit anywhere from 18 to 20. This year we were able because of that flight to visit 24 campuses. So you're getting an extra, you know, four or five campuses, two a day, right? And then obviously bringing it uh to the board early, right? That gives us more time as a district to promote because I know that's one of the things that I've talked to some of y'all about. Well, I didn't even know the trip was happening. So now that I've got it early, right, we can promote the parent meeting at the end of this month. And it also the thing that's most to my heart, it gives parents more time to find the funds to pay for the trip, right?

082Instead of coming to the board in March or April and the trip is in July, then it's like, oh, you only have three months to come up with the funds. Now they'll have almost six months to come up with the funds. So, if you have any questions, I be happy to answer them for you. >> Don't play with me. [laughter] >> That's one thing I'm always ask I talked to docu Mr. Colbert uh today. I'm like, "Hey, can we send out an email tomorrow morning if the board approves it trying to find chapros?" One thing that actually was added uh this year is uh adding CPE hours, right, for the student I mean for the chaperones that go like I mean we visit you know two campuses right and we take a tour and we

083sit through an hour presentation on that campus you know we should be able to give our you know chaperrons some CPE hours for visiting those 24 campuses. >> Okay, >> Mr. Kane, you are amazing. >> Thank you so much for what you're doing for our students because you're right. If they don't if they can't get there and see it, they probably will never get there. So, thank you. Um I'm just Yeah, I'm so emotional because I wish there was something like this when I was growing up. You know, we didn't have opportunities or people like you to step up and take take charge and say, you know what, no, our students deserve better. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And and I might be on your list for sure. >> Hey, I do expect

084you that parent meeting on January 29th, but I I think you I think you have I think you have I think you have a granddaughter at the high school that's a sophomore now and ready to go. >> I think this I think this is one of our best programs and no, I don't want to go with you. [laughter] >> Hey, you spent many of years chaperoning kids. >> I'll listen to your stories when you get back. Yeah, but once again, you know, I know y'all are thanking me, but thank you for continuous uh support. This is actually year six of doing this. So, I mean, it literally started six years ago with one student, me and his dad, and then from there, you know, grew to what it is now. And like Dr. Nick said,

085"My dream one day is, you know, as some of y'all know, to be able to get that charter bus and, you know, be able to raise the funds to, you know, take 50 or 60 kids because more kids we expose, more kids we allow to dream." >> So, I do have a question. I It's a wonderful program. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much. you know, for all of um you know, your your time and because it's it's bigger than a trip. You have to do so much planning, >> you know, to get them there. We just are seeing the end result. But it's hours and hours and probably weeks of time. But I do have a question regarding the airfare. >> Okay. So, so you purchase you will purchase group airfare on your on

086your district credit card. >> Well, that's the thing. We don't have a district credit card. So, we had the same problem two years ago when we took the Amtrak train. Uh we realized that Amtrak isn't a board approved vendor and the district doesn't have a credit card that we can say, "Okay, buy this." Right? So what we had to do is I put it on my credit card and uh the CTE department uh you know obviously we're raising money throughout uh but in that point they were able to refund me the money. Same thing I checked with Southwest Airlines already right obviously they're not an approved vendor right the district still doesn't really have a credit card right to purchase it. So obviously I have no problem putting on my credit card and getting you

087know reimbursed. If that's what we have to do to make the trip work, then that's fine. I think we can help you with that. >> Yeah, we can help you with that. We should be able to help in some of the credit card part of that. >> Yeah, I have no problem with that. >> We'll take care of that part. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Yeah, that was [applause] okay. Are there any more um questions? There being none, can I get a motion to approve? >> So, but just think about it. Wow. How incredible that you're willing to put that on your personal expense card. Mr. K, just publicly thank you. Thank you. Thank you uh for all that you do for our children every day. >> For sure. >> Like I said, I thank

088y'all for y'all support. Can't do it without you. So, you know, like I said, with one thing, you talk to people in the community, you know, let them know about the trip, let them know about the pathways to college class, senior year, like I was talking to Mr. uh Graham earlier, you know, it's all people perish lack of knowledge >> and more knowledge you have, more exposure you have, right? Greater things you can do. >> That's true. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, can I get a motion to approve the DHS Panthers Impact Summer College Tour as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been properly moved and second. Um, that we approve this item. Uh, are there any further questions, comments, or discussion? There being none, please cast your vote electronically. unanimous. Thank

089you very much. Thank you both. >> Appreciate you. >> Okay, we will now move to information and discussion items. >> The first item is academic calendar planning process for 2026 school year. Presenter is Dr. Nicks. Well, it's that time of year again where we start to plan for our academic calendar for the next school year. So, all I'm providing for you today is an overview, a timeline so that you are aware. Um, of course, be ready to answer any questions that you may have as we start our process. So, as you well know, the most important thing for us is voice. Voice from our educators, voice from our community, from our parents, from our students. And our goal ultimately is just to have a quality calendar for our students for the 2627 school year. So

090what that means is there are a couple of non-negotiables for a calendar. So for a calendar we have to adopt a calendar with 75,600 minutes. That equates to about 7.5 hours a day, 4440 minutes a day, 168 at least um per year. three teacher work days, 175 instructional days, and 187 teacher contract days. This is simply a timeline of what this looks like for us as we move forward. Today, of course, we're bringing it to you as an information item. If as as we move forward tomorrow morning at 8:00, we are ready to send information to invite committee members. We always have to invite more uh because not everybody shows up all of the time and we want good representation. And so we will include right now we have a list of over 65 individuals

091which includes teachers and principles and parents and students at every level and um just so many stakeholders. And so uh that first calendar meeting will be February the 3rd where we start to take a look at our process and and vet out all the information. February the 4th to the 9th is when we'll go back and capture all of that information, start to massage all that, bring it together, and then we'll go back to the committee on February the 10th with all of the uh revised calendars. Then they will uh give us our feedback. And then from February the 13th through the 28th, we'll of course partner with communications because that information will then go out to our community uh as a survey. So, we usually put that on all of our media, our websites,

092our post, working with communications to send out surveys just so that we can get as much voice as possible to vote on those calendars. And then on March the 23rd, board, we bring that back to you to let you know what our stakeholders have said, to let you know what uh the um the overall opinions are of our our stakeholders, and then you ultimately approve the calendar or share with us what needs to happen. So that's an overview of our timeline. Uh so as as we look at it and it will be my pleasure to answer any questions that you may have about that timeline. >> Are there any questions or comments? >> Yes, ma'am. Just wanted to remind the committee to include the Dallas College. Um >> thank you. Yes, absolutely. We have three

093representatives that we are inviting from Dallas College. And really I I believe it was your recommendation last year that really helped us for the alignment piece. >> So yeah, absolutely. So great job. And we have three of those individuals that we're inviting for for this year. >> Are there any additional comments? >> Okay. So, I I have a request in light of what we're doing academically. Um, if I [snorts] guess I and I don't know how we go about doing it, but I think our calendar needs to reflect our goals. and if there is a way to add additional instructional minutes within the school year as you know as long as it aligns with what the superintendent is trying to do. I think that that would be a great idea. um you know yeah so

094my request would be that we prioritize more instructional minutes and I know last year I believe um a schedule was presented that I guess the proposed schedule had less instructional minutes than some of the others that I'm that's not a good thing for us where we are now and you know the goals that we're trying to achieve. So if you could just you know keep that at the forefront. We need more instructional time and then I don't know if the uh participants you know in the discussion are fully aware. I know school staff is but you know some of the other community partners I don't know if they're fully aware of where we are academically. So if that information could be shared with them in conjunction with us, you know, um designing our schedule, I

095think it would be a good idea. And one thing I'd like to add just to appreciate that uh even at the administrative level before we go to the comm committee uh we are looking at even when our breaks are and how we're organizing those uh to maximize time because again we want to certainly have as much in want to increase want our instructional minutes pre-EST to be as large as they can be. So >> thank you. [snorts] >> Okay. Are there any additional comments or All right. So, can I get a motion? >> Oh, okay. [clears throat] >> Oh, okay. Thank you. So, we will now move to the information discussion agenda item B, district reconfiguration plan phase two. >> All right. Greetings once again to Madame President Colton, to all trustees, and to Dr.

096Gory. Seems like I am in between everyone in their bed tonight. So, I will try to be as brief as possible. Um, again, I don't think I did say happy birthday to Dr. Flowers and happy board appreciation week to everyone. Um, [clears throat] today I get to present the phase two of our building the future raising champions plan. And this is a recommended plan um that we want you to see tonight and all of our community to see tonight as we will bring it back um to the board on the February 16th board meeting for approval. Before we get into the actual plan, let's review where we've come from. Last year, we did phase one of this particular plan. In that phase one, the goal was to look at these $170 million that the Duncanville

097community gave to Duncanville ISD to ensure that we renovate, reconfigure, and reszone our district. Some of the renovations that we did last year, or the reason for those renovations was to ensure that all schools received up-to-date and state-of-the-art um areas in those particular schools. Next, we transformed some schools into specialized campuses. And of course, we established our school choice and and act andmies and signature programs. We now understand the difference between those three. We know that our signature programs are programs that belong to that particular campus and students on that campus attend those programs. Our choice programs are programs where any student in the district can provide their own transportation if they are applied to that particular program. And then finally, our choice schools of course are our new schools which will be our central

098fine arts that will open next year. Um it does not have an attendance zone and it's by application only. So now we do have those because of that phase one of this particular plan. Next in the reconfiguration of the plan we took all of the elementary campuses and we added fifth grade. that way, reducing the number of intermediate campuses, in fact eliminating the intermediate campuses in our district. We also added sixth grade to our middle school this year and reszone the entire district to ensure that there are efficiencies in our transportation department and easier um um easier ways for our our community to get to our schools. All of that was supporting the instructional and fiscal and operational efficiencies of our district. Now, let's look at the renovation updates. Our maintenance and operation team, led

099by Miss Zamora, has completed approximately 75% of the renovations that we started um back in the fall for these particular campus. We are well on target to complete all of those campuses before we start next year. You can see the campuses that have been completed. You can look at the renovations that have happened on the campuses, the new flooring, the paint, HVAC replacements, restroom upgrades, and many other items that they have completed. Um, currently we have several campuses that are still undergoing renovations, and you can see that it's Smith, Duncanville High School, and Brandenburg. All of those are scheduled to be completed, of course, by July of 2026. Today we'll talk about a few other future renovations that we look forward to having, which is the Duncanville Community Support Hub and the Mansville Educational Complex.

100Our next part is to talk about the recommended reconfiguration plan for Duncanville ISD. We know that this year Central Elementary is offline. Brandenburgg Intermediate will no longer be Brand Brandenburg Intermediate. It's offline as well. And Smith is offline for renovations. Um, Maryfield is currently a preK through fifth grade. Smith Pace High School is currently that 9th through 12th grade. And we know where it's located next door to Reed Middle School. And of course, the Summit Educational Center is our DAP. Will our proposed changes for next year involve one taking that number of buildings, which we have six there currently, down to five buildings. As we look at efficiencies, we want to ensure that we're saving money in several different ways going into next year. First of all, things that that will not take board approval

101have already been approved. We look at Central Fine Arts Academy that will open next year. Also, Smith Early Learning Academy, the preK3 campus and that's three year olds not not third grade will open next year as well and I'll talk a little bit more about that in the future. Um [clears throat] Brandenburgg Elementary is our first new campus that will open next year which is a prek4 through fifth grade. the Maryfield Education Complex, which will involve taking the Mary E. Smithy Pace Building and the Summit Building and putting them on one campus, which is our new Maryfield Education Complex. And we'll talk about how that will happen. Next, the Duncanville ISD Community Support Hub [clears throat] is at the old Pace campus. Since we're moving the Pace High School to the Maryfield campus, that building

102became open and we want to form our new Duncanville community support hub. And the finally there you have that the summit building right now will be offline for future um repurpose. Now let's talk about each one of these individually. Again, the first campus you've heard several times. Um, this has been approved and this campus will open next year as Central Fine Arts Academy. It will open as a K through five, kindergarten through fifth grade campus next year with the plan to add a grade level each year, 6th through 8th, for it to become a kindergarten through 8th grade campus in three years. This building has been renovated and updated with all of the fine arts theme, state-of-the-art fine arts theme. Um, the school is by application and has no attendance zone and again it is

103one of two current choice campuses on our district. Collegiate High School is our other choice campus. Transportation will be provided for all in district students to Central Fine Arts Academy. Again, that will open next fall. The next campus is our new Smith Early Learning Academy. Again, this campus will open next year and it will be a preK3 campus um with 18 new classrooms. You can see that in those 18 new classrooms, you have the experential learning environment. And when you have that, you have the themes that each c that each room will will show. These are some of the themes at each room or so from the farmers market, the zoo animals, the plants, the community, the space and transportation. A few um board meetings ago, they went through, Miss Moora and the team went

104through and showed how each one of these rooms will look, the renderings um looks very nice, and we're looking forward to filling those rooms with our wonderful three-year-old students. Now, let's get to the new items that are coming to phase two of this building the futures plan. First is the new Brandenburgg Elementary will be formed by simply taking all of the Maryfield students and staff and moving them to the Brandenburgg. We will reszone the entire Maryfield zone to the Brandenburgg Elementary. Why are we doing that? Maryfield is one of our older and smaller campuses. And now these students will get a state-of-the-art campus, a newer campus. And also that particular area in our district is one of the fastest growing is one of the only growing parts of our district. In fact, if we look

105at the demographic report from last semester um that Zander presented, you'll know that we only have two areas in the district that's growing. When we look at the enrollment numbers, we look at the number of students that that did not return to Duncanville, and most of them came from that area around Brandenburg, which was closed last year. So, it's very important that we ensure that a campus is open in the very east portion of our district, the district, the part of the district that is growing. Currently, we will have a signature program called the Collegiate Academy at this particular campus with future planning for this to become a full collegiate school with um with the attendance zone with no attendance zone and application. The next new complex is our Maryfield Education Complex that will house

106both the Mary E. Smithy Pace High School and the DA I mean the Summit Educational Complex. One of the major goals is to ensure that we optimize staffing through campus consolidation. Both of those are very small campuses and in order to support a campus that has a a small number of kids, we have to ensure that we have both campuses together. Now, some of that staff can be shared. Students will have access to a full cafeteria and a gym. Today I presented this information to the summit and it was presented to PACE and they were excited about the opportunities that they'll have now that they'll have gym and a cafeteria for those particular students. The renovations will include separate wings. The wings on the east side will be for Summit. The wing on the west

107side will be for the Pace campus. There'll be separate wings with separate entrances and we'll have the glass um um store dividers on the campus that students will have students and staff will have to badge in in order to move throughout the building. So it will be completely separated by those particular dividers at the campus. Next, I'm very happy to announce that the current PACE building will be transformed into our new Duncanville ISD community support hub. And this will allow our community to first of all have a one-stop attendance enrollment um facility. Right now, if you have a student in Duncanville ISD and you have multiple students, you have to go to multiple campuses to enroll that particular child. We also have normally a large number of parents that wait until the end of the

108till the first three days of school to enroll. Our goal now if we have this enrollment center throughout, parents can come enroll their their students and also get one-on-one support for help and help with enrolling their students throughout the year which could eliminate some of that large number of student parents we have at the beginning of the year and it also definitely helps them when they have multiple students going to multiple campuses. Um, next you'll also have the family and community support such as the food pantry that's currently at Maryfield. This will give the food pantry a larger area, more privacy for our patrons, and just a a a store-like feel when you come in. That's the plan for the pantry at the Duncanville ISD Community Support Hub. We'll also have specialized district services. when

109a student enrolls, if they need sped services, if they need bilingual help, um if they need counseling support, all of those things will be right on hand and we can give that parent the supports they need as they enroll, which will eliminate some of the time that students are out of school. And finally, the most the for the future for this particular program, we would like to add a school b school-based health clinic to this area. Um, this will provide wellness visits for our employees for a minimal price, possibly partner with health service students to allow them to rotate and help in the clinic, immunizations and routine sick visits for our students, and possibly a lowcost pharmacy. All of these things are being um worked on as we try to negotiate with several different providers

110to try to get them to participate in this particular health clinic. Now, this will not open at the beginning of the year. Um, this Duncanville support hub will open in January of 2027. Finally, what does the timeline for these items look like? Today, we did meet with all the campus staff that will be impacted by this particular change. Um the initial communication and next steps again are being presented to our board tonight. And tomorrow we will hold our naming committee meeting for um the campuses that are impacted such as the Maryfield um educational center I mean complex and the Duncanville ISD community support hub. Both of those are recommended names for those and again they'll go through the naming committee starting on tomorrow. Um in February we'll look at our community meetings. We have two

111of them scheduled for next month. We'll look at finalizing the reszoning boundaries. Um again we're looking at the facility usage in February as well so we can have everything prepared for you um for final approval on February 16th um 2026. After that board meeting, we will mail out notification letters to all impacted families and of course launch our district-wide communication campaign in March. At this time, I will accept questions that you have. Are there any questions? Thank you, Mr. Graham. We appreciate it and we look forward to receiving additional information at the next couple of board meetings today. Thanks. [snorts] >> Okay. Is there a motion to adjourn? >> Thank you. >> Good night. >> And again, happy school board appreciation month. And make sure if you have time to check out the beautiful posters.

112Yeah, they are beautiful. Thank you all.