Elgin ISD School Board Meeting March 23, 2026

001It is 7:06 p.m. I call this meeting of the Elgen Independent School District to order. I'd like to announce that there is a quorum of the board present that this meeting has been duly called and posted in the time and manner required by law. Next item, we'll recite the pledge of allegiance. >> Hill who will be introducing our middle school students to present the pledge. >> Good evening, President Mitchell, Dr. Ritter, board of trustees. My name is Bobby Joe, proud principal Elga Middle. I'm gonna let my students and members of Boy Scouts of America introduce themselves. >> Kimmy Jones. I'm in eighth grade and is that >> oh troop 473. >> My name is Paxton Louier. I am seventh grade and I'm troop 182. >> My name is Alex Gretzner. I'm in troop 182 and

002I'm in eighth grade. >> Marshall Wool, Troop 472, 8th grade. All right. Thank you for that. Uh, next item is public comment. If there is none, move to the next item. Calling for approval of the minutes of the February 23rd, 2026 board workshop and regular meeting and the March 9th, 2026 board workshop. Thank you. >> I second motion by Miss Reese, second by Mr. Baker to approve. Any questions? All in favor said motion raise your right hand. Closes. Motion passes 70. Thank you. Next item. I'll have recognition. Mr. Rodri. >> Good evening, President Mitchell. Superintendent Ritter. I'm Al Rodriguez, Executive Director of Communications. Uh, tonight we have several recognitions and I'm going to start us off with Mr. Eric Bondela. Eric, if you're here, won't you come on forward? Okay. They're gonna check out. Well,

003I'm going to go ahead and read the recognition anyway. Uh Eric uh participated in the 2025 high school senior essay contest. He was a a winner uh for the Lost Pines groundwater conservation district. Uh his his story, the old pipe, took second place. He was one of three from the from the area that also won. Uh the executive director was quoted as saying, "These students shared powerful personal reflections while also demonstrating a clear understanding of how water shapes the strength, resilience, and future of the communities. We're proud of our accomplishments. We're definitely proud of the way he represented not only his school, but his community. Now I'm going to turn it over to Miss Keller. Good evening, President Mitchell, Dr. Ritter, School Board of Trustees. My name is Allison Keller, director of fine arts and

004advanced academics. And tonight we are going to kick off with Mr. Caleb Heinman, who had a great piece. And Miss Cornelius, you do you mind grabbing She'll be our beautiful Vanna. All right, here he is. Hi, Caleb. Come on out. Awesome. Caleb, stand right there by Miss Cornelius for a second. I'm going to talk about you and then you can shake everybody's hand. All right. So, TAA sponsors youth art month activities across the state. One of the pinnacles of the month is having your piece selected for display at the state exhibition. Caleb, a first grader from Naid Elementary School, had his piece leaf peeper selected for exhibition at the Bullocks Texas State History Museum during the month of March in celebration of youth art month. The exhibit will also be featured on their website. And

005a big thank you to Naidigek art teacher Miss Jennifer Graemes for all her support of her talented students. And Caleb's award ceremony is actually going to be this coming Sunday at the museum. And his parents and all sorts of dignitaries will be there to celebrate him. Everybody give a round of applause for Caleb. Awesome. Caleb, you want to come and shake everybody's hands over here? They got the best smile ever. There we go. All right. Future president Thank you, Caleb. All right, in keeping with our art, so you see some of our youngest artists and now we're so excited to celebrate senior Nikki Sirills. Every year across the state, thousands of visual arts students submit their art pieces for competition in the visual arts scholastic event or what we call VACE. The students not only

006create their artwork, but write about their creative processes and understanding of visual art and articulate that information about their artwork during an interview with a base juror who evaluates their work using a standardsbased rubric. This year, Elgen High School had a whopping 17 medal winners who are all students of Mandisa Martinez, Megan Buren, and Mary Riiera. And this year, one of Miss Buren's students, senior Nikki here, was awarded the regional award medal, meaning it placed in the top 10% of all artwork. This recognition represents the pinnacle of artistic success, as you can see in her piece here, and the vase program. And Nikki will compete at state base on Saturday, April 25th at San Marcos High School. and teacher Miss Buren. Miss Burson here. Oh, she please give a round of applause for Miss Bur.

007>> Awesome. Miss Bur, do you want to come say just a few things about >> Can everybody hear me in the back voice? >> I meeting Nikki three years ago through our art program and the day we went to the first I think about me. The following year she drawing and I say she is the student who all teachers wish every year. She is eager to learn. She pushes herself. She also pushes the students that sit by her and in her classroom. And she even pushes me not only as a teacher but also as artists. When we went to base last year, we had a minor outset, but was beyond resilient and came back this year fighting and said, "I'm not taking that newspap. to tell her. I was ecstatic. And so I called her

008on the bus ride home and I asked where she was and she says, "Over in the library." And I said, "You know, library bookstore." And I said, "Then put me on speaker because everyone needs to hear this." >> And they did. And I announced she was going to stay and the excitement not only from me, but her family supports her in her art endeavors and everything that she does for our school. It was beyond exciting. And so these screams of excitement and then when I got to see her that Monday and show her her medals and tell her her piece would be waiting for her, I my heart was beyond full. And I cannot say enough about her. And so before I started bringing up any here, um please congratulate her and wish her well.

009April 25th as approaching and she is going to leave all of that there for the state of Texas to see and say that we are from and we are here to show up. >> Woohoo. Thank you, M. this person. Come on over. M Re, if you want to bring the next group out while I'm talking about them. >> Are they I don't think fire is here. You just bring folks. >> Yeah. All right. Next up, we have some state advancing band and choir students. UIL solo and ensemble contests in the vocal and instrumental division give high school students across the state a chance to showcase their individual and small group musicianship skills. The contest does not pit students against one another, but instead they must meet a rigorous rubric to attain the division one or

010superior rating. Even more challenging is to perform a solo or ensemble to a level or difficulty that it qualifies for the state UIL competition. Elgen ISD is so proud to recognize our EHS choir and band students who have met this unique challenge. The choir students couldn't be here today, but those are Brooklyn Nickel, Bella Nejas, Drake McCoy, and Devon Shepard. They've advanced to state in May, and we have some band members here who I'd love to introduce if you want to come on over. First up is our trombone quartet, Zachary Oenshshire, Meer Campuno, Jonathan Costilla, and Jose Sanchez is the trombone quartet. Please give them a round of applause. And not to be outdone by the T-bones, the percussion ensemble could not be overlooked. This is our percussion ensemble. Not all of them are here,

011but this here is Roger Lopez, Jalia Price, Miss Lauraai Louvier, and here we go. There we go. Please give them a round of applause. >> They are also headed to state in May. Next up, I'm so excited to talk to you about the Purple Diamond season this year. If you've been in and around Elgen for any length of time, you already know about the fantastic performances the Purple Diamonds put on year after year. led by their outstanding directors, Miss Ashley Sangavon and Miss Lauren David, who I tried to in have them introduce, but they didn't want to speak. So, it's gonna be me. Um, these young ladies bring passion and power to each performance. What makes this year most even more special is that this team was younger and even more determined uh in experienced

012than most. Miss Senavon let me know before the year started that they were determined to meet the girls where they were at and help them grow. But following last year's team accolades, it may prove to be a bit more challenging. But not only did this team make amazing strides in their growth, they slayed the competition at every contest they attended, including awards such as overall top officer dances, overall top hip hop, no matter the size of the team, overall grand champions in their division, platinum ratings across the board, best in category awards in all their dances, and best of the best, which means they won the whole contest. regardless of team or school size, which you guys know is a big deal going against those 6As. Not only that, but they competed for the first

013time in Texas Dance Educator Association spring dance assessment, basically the UIL equivalent of sports and music, and earned a first division or exemplary status on their first showing just recently. Tonight, representing the whole team are purple diamond officers Rory Ruiz, Cheyenne Hunt, Miss S. Savon is here, and Miss David. Please give them a roaring clap. Next up in the advanced academics category is National Math Stars is a nonprofit initiative that identifies talented second and third grade students across multiple states who demonstrate exceptional promise in mathematics. Nominees represent the top 3% of their district or score in the 98th percentile or above on nationally or state recognized exams. Being recognized as a nominee is a remarkable honor that highlights exceptional mathematical promise. What's even more remarkable is that all five of our elementary schools have students

014that were nominated, which is just amazing. And a very cool thing, too, if these if it's now up to the parents if they'd like to pursue this opportunity. Um, the program if selected supports these kids all the way through graduation and I think it totals up over $100,000 of support in like camps and programs and college readiness. I mean, it's just incredible. So, keep your eyes out. I'd like now to hand the mic over to our principles who are going to introduce their talented students. And we'll start with Miss Tamez and BTW. Good evening. Uh, it was so nice to get these awards in the mail and passed out to our wonderful, hardworking students. So, I'm going to go ahead and introduce them. We have Kennedy Henry here. She is in third grade. Then we

015have um Danielle Costia. Then we have Costa. Go ahead. Go ahead. And then we have from I was like I don't >> I know I was like so let's give a big round of applause to these really hard Next up, EES. >> Good evening. Michelle Martinez from Elgen Elementary and with me I have John Carpio Gonzalez, third grade student. Go ahead. and Ivan Morales Mondreon. And in absention, go ahead. We have uh second graders Colton Lohano, Jose Rees, Shelby Riverree, and Jonathan Jen Parsons. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Mr. Gordonado. I'm the principal at Night Elementary and I'm proud to um have my students introduce themselves. They're going to tell us their names and what grade they're in. >> Emanuel Rosas. >> What grade? >> Second. >> My name is Payton Silka and I am

016in third grade. My name is Cooper Davis and I'm in second grade. >> My name is Jonathan. I'm in second grade. >> My name is Harani and I am in third grade. >> My name is Bobby and I am in second grade. >> My name is Vincent and I'm in second grade. >> And we are missing Travis Patterson, Lacy Astein Bridger and Wolf Gang Mat who had prior engagements. So congratulate these students. Very proud of them. Good evening. My name is Megan Wley, principal at Harvest Ridge Elementary School. Tonight we're honoring three Harvest Ridge Elementary students. Aurora Olivivera, third grade. Matias Dominguez Cherino, third grade. And Matteo Pera, second grade. Thank you. Now it's our turn. >> I'm Arthur Martinez, the proud principal at Trinity Ranch Elementary School, and I have with me three amazing

017students who uh are here to be recognized for their math star amazingness. We have Milton Rodriguez, Charlie Herrera, Joshua Casus, and not with us tonight is Alex Hernandez. Good job, guys. Good evening. Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Ritter and members of the board. My name is Maggie Howard, director of CCMR and CTE. Tonight, I'm proud to recognize our students who recently advanced and competed at the 2026 Teach Tomorrow State Competition hosted by the Texas Association of Future Educators. This statewide event brought together more than 3,500 students with competitors from across Texas participating in a wide range of education focused events. Our students represented Elgen High School with professionalism, talent, and Wildcat pride. Before I call them out by name, I do just want to reiterate that these students are future teachers. A lot of these

018students um will most likely come back to Elgen as teachers one day. So, I kind of want to celebrate that. So, it's a really great thing. Some some of our competitors challenge multiple events. So I will announce competitors by name and teams by event and award. So their names may be called multiple times. Um I want to invite each student to come forward the first time their name is called to be recognized. I'm going to start with our national qualifiers. Uh Ella Jasheki exploring noncore subject teaching careers. Ella is also a freshman. Caitlyn Anderson, exploring support services careers. Caitlyn also earned the judge's choice scholarship. We also learned recently that she earned a perfect score in her event, receiving the esteemed designation as state champion. Gold Certificate Award winners, Interactive Bulletin Board Elementary, Daniellea Villa,

019Interactive Bulletin Board Secondary, Ala Martinez and Noami Gonzalez. Teacher Creative Materials Elementary, Liliana Costana, and Zui Perez. Chapter Yearbook, Shamira Williams, Camila Perez, Azula Solis, and Haley Hill. This team also earned a perfect score in their events, receiving the statewide designation as state champion as well. Silver certificate award winners, children's literature K through three, Haley Hill and Kiara Vbble. Children's literature prek Spanish, Crystal Esparza and Joanna Warz. Children's Literature K3 Spanish, Camila Pon and Diana Visano. Interactive Bulletin Board Secondary, Haley Hill. Teacher Creative Materials Elementary, Camila Perez and Aul Solis. Bronze Certificate Award winners, children's literature prek, Zoe Aguilar, Interactive Bulletin Board Elementary, Kiara Vbble. lesson planning and delivery STEM, Azul Solis. And then a few other events where we competed with distinction include Shamira Williams in creative lecture and job interview and Camila Perez

020lesson planning and delivery humanities. Additionally, per our state records, this is the 10th consecutive year Elgen High School Taffy chapter has advanced to the state contest. Their success and the continued success of this chapter reflects not only their hard work and talent but also the strength of our CTE education training program and the leadership of TAI teacher leader Ashton Howell. Well, I know that speaking on behalf of the district, we're ready to give them some contracts right away. >> Hello again. Uh this evening, it's my pleasure to introduce Judy Maywisk, president of the Friends of Elgen Public Library, as well as board members Maya Baker and Dr. Laura Strong, who is also the busbook grant director. In recognition of their continued support of our students and schools, the Elgen ISD would like to extend a

021heartfelt thank you to the friends of of the Elton Public Library. Their recent event is a wonderful example of how our community coming together to promote literacy, learning, and a love of reading. During Elgen Reads across America, the Friends distributed over 4,000 free books to Elgenist students, grades K through six. That's over 500 more than last year. Support comes from the friends of the Elgen Public Library, the city of Elgen, the Texas Methodist Foundation, and the incredible logistical and administrative support of the Elgen ISD librarians and our Dr. Stormmy Hickman. The friends is also they've also approved another book free book giveaway for Elgen ISD at Dia Nino's day of the book at the Elgen Library on April 11th. Additionally, they plan to pass out another 500 books to be distributed to Elgen ISDA students

022this summer. Next, we'd like to take a moment to recognize and thank the Elbian Education Foundation for their continued dedication and support of our Elgen IC students and teachers. The foundation plays a vital role in strengthening our schools by bringing together community partners, local businesses, and supporters who believe in the power of education. Earlier this year, the foundation surprise patrol srise patrol, not surprise, don't get sued. Sir Priceville delivered an incredible gift to our classrooms, awarding more than $32,000 in teacher grants across the district. These grants help innov help bring innovative ideas to life, provide additional resources to our students, and support the creativity and passion our students bring to their classrooms every day. On behalf of the board of trustees, our staff and the students, we want to thank the members of the Elgen

023Education Foundation for their commitment, their leadership, and their belief in our schools. Your work makes a real difference in the lives of our students and our educators. And I believe we have Mr. Noble Smith here, president of our foundation. He's going to come talk to you briefly and then he's got a gift for us. >> Good. Good evening everybody. I'm Noble Smith. I'm the president of the Elgen Education Foundation. Many of you up here know me, but a lot of you back here don't know me. Um, we are the nonprofit arm of the district. What we look to do is raise funds for teacher innovation grants, educational programs, and educational scholarships for the district. U I'm just a small piece of the pie and the puzzle that it takes to put all this together. But

024I do want to say a quick thank you to everybody. Not everybody that's involved. That'd be a lot. I don't have that much time apparently. But uh to some of our key players, uh Dr. Ritter, I want to thank you for the trusting me to lead the foundation. Um it's definitely been a big learning experience for me over the past year, but as you lead our district, you lead our foundation as well. And we greatly appreciate you. Uh Al, you've been a partner and a mentor to me through this process. So, I greatly appreciate you and your time and your patience with me as I've learned everything that there is to know about the foundation and more as we go to our conference next month to to enrich oursel and give us even more knowledge

025of what we can do for the district. Um, big thank Martin back there, our secretary who keeps us on task and our agendas and make sure that hey, we have stuff to talk about and progress at our meetings. Um, some of our VPs that aren't here, our VP of finance, Dr. for Sarah Gutenoff. She keeps us on budget, make sure we're not, you know, trying to do anything too crazy, but keep everything, you know, under wraps for us to, uh, again, progress forward and raise more money for the district. Um, our VP of marketing, uh, Robbie Cup from the Cupird family, he is our VP of marketing and communications and keeps lets everybody know about the things that we have going on. Side note, we have a crawfish festival coming up April 11th that I'm

026sure y'all seen circulating online. If not, you'll you hear about it a little bit more later. Um, like to thank our VP of development, Veronica Sver. She helps us uh get in touch with additional businesses and community organizations to help us raise funds for the foundation and for the district. And then our VP of program programs, Cherish White, who I know is here with us this evening. Uh, thank her for helping her and Dr. Hickman for putting together all of the uh, teacher grants that we did this year. That's a big part of what we do. And all those pictures and all that stuff up there that um, they were 85% of the work. I promise y'all, you know, we helped them, you know, with the through the committee and things of that nature, but

027without them, it would not have ran the way that it ran so smooth. And we appreciate y'all. And then I want to give a special thank to all of our board members, to our educators, to our board of trustees and everyone, our parents and the students that might still be here for just being a part of the district and helping our kids and community grow. And without further ado, um, Cherish, are you still here? >> Could you come up and help us present help me present this check? We have a check for uh $35,000 to the district from the funds that we've allocated for the teacher innovation grants for 2025 and 2026. You got it. Next, we're going to turn over to Miss White, who will be presenting our One Team, One Dream Awards. Good

028evening everyone. Tonight um as you know we are honoring for as part of our theme for this year for uh the one team one dream award. Each month we're honoring a staff member or a team or a community member who is contributing to our theme, which as you know is we're all in this together. And we want to honor someone who has gone above and beyond to embody that spirit. And so our person for this month is um nominated by Jenna Rose at Booker T who says that Michelle teaches math yet is always willing to help us with reading, writing, and science ideas. This is my first year teaching. This is Jenna, of course, and um she teaches third grade. and she has helped she's helped us navigate testing, new websites and programs, offered ideas,

029encouragement, and helpful tips throughout the year. She has a cheerful disposition, remains enthusiastic and upbeat every single day. I'm so grateful to her every day and glad to get to know her and work with her this year. Congratulations to Michelle Gonzalez. Sorry. Here we go. One, two, three. Congratulations. That concludes our recognitions for the evening. Thank you. Thank you. >> Great job, Sally. It's nice to recognize those individuals. >> Next item, superintendent report. >> Righty. >> So, um, lots of celebrations. I mean, we use our board meetings for our community to have opportunity to enjoy the celebrations with us and to recognize students, staff, community, parents. Um, it's just an important time. We if we don't take the time to recognize, then we're just I think that's a big part of our job. So, thank

030you all for being patient as we went go through all of that. It's just a really important part of our um culture here in Algen ISD. Um, highlighting some of the things going on in our district. We've had our winter sports. We're closing out the winter season. Uh we want to congratulate our Wildcat student athletes and coaches for representing Elgen High School with dedication, sportsmanship, and pride. Basketball and soccer competed hard throughout the season, continue to build a strong culture of teamwork and resilience. Elgen's varsity boys finished fourth in the district and made the playoffs uh in soccer. This time the Wildcats reached the playoffs was in 2014, the last time that that happened. uh they they weren't successful. We played Lassa last week and um it was still it was a great opportunity. We

031had a wonderful turnout. So, thank you to everyone who turned out to the game to support our kids, but it was a really a great um experience for everyone involved. So, we appreciate all of the parents who supported these kids and our community as well. And we're going to have those kids at a future board meeting to recognize them in person as well. So, spring sports, they are they're going. So, we're excited to see our Wildcat athletes back in action with baseball, softball, track and field, tennis, and golf. We encourage you to get out there, see some of our brand new facilities, the things that we have worked on, and it's just a a great experience to get out and watch the kids. Um, recent improvements at the athletic complex, including new turf and upgraded

032facilities. Our teams will benefit from outstanding playing conditions this season. We're looking forward to a great spring of competition and continued Wildcat pride across all programs. So, it's a very exciting time and lots of opportunity for you to come out and support our Wildcats. I want to draw our attention to I brought this up at the last month. Um, but the Texas Promise, our vision for public education and handed these out to the board and I said I homework like go go go and read these things and we are trying to connect this to everything that we do in our district. Recently, I worked with our district leadership team. It's a picture of that work together where we went through the Texas promise and if you some of you heard me talk about it last

033month, but this is the vision for public schools in the state of Texas. I was fortunate enough to be invited to be an author of this document and to help with this along with just input from our district that I took back and helped to frame this. So Elgen ISD's voice is strong in this whole document. This is the new vision for Texas public schools across the state. And so it's our job to bring it back and to implement it, make sure that we are using it with goal setting and strategic planning in our district. So the vision is rooted in that conviction that all students regardless of background or circumstance deserve access to learning that is rigorous, meaningful, and transformative. It it reflects the collective wisdom of educators, leaders, families, and communities across Texas

034who believe that public education must inspire learning and curiosity. Equip students with essential skills and prepare them to contribute boldly in a rapidly changing world. There's a short video that I wanted to show um so that we are getting just more familiar with what the Texas promises and we are a leading district in moving this work forward in Elgenistic D. This summer we brought together over a hundred people who had different positions all across the state who represented different kinds of districts in size and geography. But we came together with one goal which was to recast a vision that reflects our challenges today and more importantly opportunities for tomorrow. Our vision like the vision of those original 35 superintendents requires us to be willing to challenge the outdated systems that are no longer working for

035our students. >> The visioning document really was born out of the idea that we don't drift towards excellence. Moving towards excellence requires courage and the ability to state what we truly believe in as a public school system. The visioning document should provide a unified vision and direction so that each individual district can make the best decision for their community. What we're doing in here really is going to take some courage. Takes courage to put your mark on the ground and say this is what I believe and this is what I for. It's incredibly important to move away from the way that we traditionally stood up schools in the past. Our students are facing a very different future and it's important to create learning experiences and design meaningful instruction that best meets their needs. >> When

036we think about the technology innovations that are driving our classrooms today, from AI to the things that are yet to be discovered around technology, those elements are now present in this document and adds to the power of the refresh. There's still fundamental principles that will remain the same, but this new refresh cast a vision for the whole scope of work that we do as we serve our communities. From inspiring curiosity to preparing students for a future that we don't know yet to serving mental health needs to making sure that children are safe, it addresses more than just academics. TASA has been so collaborative and invited many people to the table in this refresh to continue to create the best document that we can that will provide an ongoing blueprint to ensure that all students find

037a place to belong, a passion to pursue, and a love for learning that serves them well beyond the years they are with us. Often times rural schools in Texas feel like we're not part of the conversation. And what is so empowering about this visioning work and also TAS's work with the small school network is the acknowledgement that our schools matter and the great work that we're actualizing every day for the children of our communities part of this larger vision of exceptional public education in the state of Texas. >> No industry can survive without listening to the voice of the end user. And so as we crafted this document, it was really done so based on the feedback that was provided to us from students who are currently experiencing education in the state of Texas. >>

038My name is Shalo River. I will be incoming freshman at Shannobi High School. I like to be involved in many things. This work with the vision and document truly provides a path for the next generation of school leaders as a collective public education system. This is the document that will bring us together to serve all students. >> And you've got a lot of tough work ahead of you, but you're capable of getting it done. There's no doubt in my mind about that. If you have not yet engaged in this work as a school leader in Texas, I encourage you to pick it up to read, to reach out to TASA, and to find a way to connect your district to this powerful work. This is a document that is going to continue to guide our

039systems and education, but all of our educators in Texas need to bring it to life, and all of our members in TASA are more than willing to help. Over the last 15 years, the visioning document has guided everything that we've done. My hope is that this visioning document will help to set the direction for our organization in terms of what we provide in professional learning and the services and all of the advocacy work that we do on behalf of the 5 12 million children in public schools. And beyond that, I hope that it inspires schools to serve their students the very best that they can. And if we've done that, then we've done something right. and we've done something that will last for another generation. So, exciting work. It's legacy work. Um, and I'm so

040proud of our administrators who took took this and they are now moving it forward in their departments and on every campus. And we're already seeing the results and getting feedback from our campuses and departments about implementation of the Texas Promise. So you'll be hearing more about it. We're going to implement it and embed it into the work that we're doing with our future strategic planning that's coming up and our visioning work across the district. And part of that is also with Elgen Essentials. You're seeing this um we're doing one last push for input with the Elgen Essentials board. All of you have a little thing that you can share. I think all of you have already given your input for it. I will tell you our campuses again and our departments we are getting input

041about what are the characteristics and the things that we expect or know that they will it will help to make our kids successful as they become adults and I think as you can see when they come across for recognitions we are being very diligent and intentional about teaching them skills like how do you shake hands with someone look him in the face say thank you and we're seeing that in our kids and I've seen an improvement just since we started started talking about it. You have to be intentional to teach our kids those skills and those are skills for real life and um we're already moving forward with that and the educators that are doing that. So, thank you so much. But we encourage everyone to put in give us your input so that we

042can have this to finalize our Elgen essentials and you'll be hearing more about roll out with that in very uh the coming months. Thank you. And we have our Wildcat showcase coming up. We want everybody to attend. It's April 9th, 5:30m. Um, it is also in conjunction with Sip Shop and Stroll and the Elgen Music Festival, right? No. Yes. Okay. I want to say all the right things. And, um, Pearls of Youth Art. So, those things, we're doing it all together so we can get more people out. This is kind of our state of the district is our Wildcat Showcase. We have our kids telling the story for us and our staff. And, um, very excited about was a super event last year and it's going to be even better this year. So, we're really

043looking forward to that. We encourage all of you to come out that Thursday evening at 5:30. And then looking ahead, we have um our board candidate forum April the 1. And I also will include uh candidates for mayor and city council. Um April 2nd, there's chamber lunchon with district update. We are going to be providing a district update at the chamber lunchon. It's always a a favorite at that lunchon and we get lots of input. We're going to have them do Elgen essentials for us as well and we we we update them on the stuff that our kids are doing. April 5th, Easter, uh April 9th, Wildcat Showcase, the Pearls of Youth Art Show is 9th through 11th and the Elegant Education Foundation Crawfish Festival is April 11th. So, it's also built into that same

044weekend. So, we've got a lot to do to support our our great kids and staff. Lastly, our current enrollment and um it's still enrolling kids every day in Elgen ISD and it's going so well. So, thank you to all of you principles, everything that you're doing to make that successful. >> Thank you, Dr. R. >> All right. and uh president's report. I'll just cover briefly uh the board operating procedures that we've been talking about for the last several months. This is a li living breathing document that we examine every year and we get together as a board along with the TASBY facilitator to talk about the things that helps us uh operate together in meetings and and how do we conduct ourselves. And so one of the main things that we did this year, we

045all signed a a social contract because, you know, we realize we come from different skill sets, different experiences and and sometimes we cover difficult topics, but even in the midst of that, we want to make sure that we continue to uh work in a unified manner. And so the social contract simply says treat each other with respect and dignity. uh communicate openly and listen to understand, collaborate as a unified team, value each member's contribution to the team's success, and focus on our shared mission. And so, you know, we take that as individuals and kind of do a self assessment to make sure that we're still within the realms of that that social contract. And also part of this document we have a code of ethics uh which simply says equity and attitude uh trustworthiness and

046stewardship, honor and conduct, integrity of character, commitment to service and student centered focus. And so I think this helps us as a board to remind us why we are here and who we here to represent. We are here for for the students and we all were elected by a body of individuals to to serve in an honorable and a respectable manner and to to make those tough decisions when necessary. And so this is why we have these board of operating procedures to kind of keep us all on the level playing field and uh hopefully we can continue to progress and move along uh and doing what's best for the district. And so just want you to know that's what's happening. It's a lot of this in here. until everybody has a copy and uh we'll

047continue to revisit the document. So, thank you. >> All right. Next item is the consent agenda being asked to approve the tax report refunds and adjustments of February 2026. Approve financial statement and budget amendment listing for February 2026. Approve investment report February. Approve staffing recommendations. Approve contract renewals for teachers. nurses, counselors, and librarians. Approve aotment and tak certification for 2026 27. Approve agreement to conduct joint election between Bathstrap County, Elvin Independent School District, and other name parties for the May 2nd, 2026 election. Approve notice of election for the May 2nd, 2026 Elvin ISD board of trustees election. Approve donation of classroom libraries from the Elgen Foundation. uh Elgen Education Foundation acceptance of the Elgen Education Foundation grant award. I think R got that money so it's done deal and and finally approve and adopt a

048board operating procedures. Uh that is the consent agenda for procedure. >> Second motion by Mrs. Ree second by Mr. Barker to accept the consent consent agenda as printed. Are there any questions? All in favor said the motion raise your right hand please. Any opposers? Motion passes. Seven up. Thank you. Got some information items. Uh first up, district scorecard update priority two goals professional learning and highly effective staff. Mrs. Cornuse. So, I will preface this by just drawing the board's attention to in our community that when we do our scorecard updates, these are in alignment with our board goals that we have adopted through a strategic plan. And so, we break down those presentations monthly to our board and the community so that you can see how we are carrying out those goals and the progress

049that we're making on a regular basis throughout the school year. So at this time um Miss Cornelius is going to be starting with priority two goals professional learning and highly effective staff update and Miss Pettius will also be helping. >> Yes. Well good evening board president Mitchell Dr. Ritter and board of trustees. My name is Bridget Cornelius and I serve as the assistant superintendent of student services. So like Dr. Ritter said tonight we are here to present on our scorecard priority goals 2.3 and 2.4 for which are about staff safety and well-being and staff satisfaction and engagement. So, um referring back to our district scorecard goals, these are um some of the highlights that we look for as we monitor ourselves to see how we're doing. So, um using multiple points of data to identify

050needs and inform activities to support staff well-being. Um, we hope to implement an annual staff wellness program and really focus on how our teachers and our staff are doing. Sustain and enhance school emergency operation procedures. Ensure district leadership gathers feedback on staff satisfaction through visibility and availability. We use feedback and provide transparency as part of the continuous improvement cycle, recognize staff at all levels, and increase annual retention staff rates. So, we're going to talk to you guys a little bit about some of the things that we're doing there in these categories. So, first up, I know that we've talked about the Texas Promise um and that visioning document. And so, we felt like it would be a good idea to align our priority goals with that Texas promise. And so, you'll see here that the

051alignment is there. Tonight, as we talk about priority two, you'll see the alignment there with the promise. So staff feedback and data systems. You'll see that article one in the Texas promise is about because I know you've all read it and combed through it and all the things. So this you probably already figured this out, but I just wanted to highlight that you'll see that organizations that cultivate excellence um is in article one and it talks about gathering feedback and those things and those are some things that we're going to report to you tonight. Um professional learning and leadership support. So, priority two talks about coaching systems, mentorship, leadership development, and then there it is in the Texas promise. Article one is about elevating and sustaining the profession. Um, school safety and emergency preparedness. We

052know we've talked we talked about that ongoing and all of our priority goals. Um, so we talk about our security officers, how we're making sure that we are keeping campus safe, our emergency operations plan, our threat assessment teams, our standard standard response protocol drills. And then there you see in article six is about safety, wellness and well and wellness and belonging. So it talks about schools must provide physically and emotionally safe environments supported by strong safety systems. So again, you see that the things that we're doing are certainly aligned with um the vision of Texas public schools. Um lastly, their staff recognition and retention efforts aligns with article one, culture of care and professional respect. All right, so let's talk about staff safety and well-being. So as you know, we use data um to support

053our staff and we have a continuous cycle of getting information so that we know how to respond. So, we did conduct a fall staff survey in 2025. And these surveys help the district leadership identify staff needs, inform wellness and support initiatives, strengthen leadership practices, and guide that continuous improvement, those efforts. And so, some key areas that this particular survey takes a look at is staff well-being, staff leadership relationships, feedback and coaching, professional learning, and school safety. Again, all those things align with our goals and the Texas promise. So, these results help us monitor staff engagement and improve working conditions across campuses. So, we basically give the same survey and we we see how we're doing and we constantly look at those results to see what we need to change and how we need to respond.

054So, again, those are those areas that the survey takes a look at and you'll see that we've improved in all areas from this time last year. So, we're excited about that. Um, if you look at school safety, we're up eight points. staff leadership relationships is up four. Um teacher well-being is up four, feedback and coaching is up nine points and professional learning is up five points. While we know that we certainly have our work to do, this helps gives us a glimpse as to whether or not what we're doing is working um what we need to tweak and what we need to do differently and respond to um staff needs and their feedback. So particularly some of the positive indicators for staff experience um from this particular survey there was a strong staff commitment to

055the work. So some of the things that came out that were lifted positively from this survey is that 90 98% of staff report that their work is meaningful. So the heart is there. We know that the folks that are in there doing the work are doing it because they know that it's meaningful and that they're making a difference. 81% report feeling engaged at work frequently or almost always and then 70% report feeling happy at work most of the time. So while um we may say well 70 that's 30% who are not happy these are favorable responses from 70% of the folks that responded. So in looking at the positive perceptions of leadership which is another category 77% favorable responses say that staff leadership relationships is it's high. 77% say it's favorable the leadership on the

056campuses and the staff is is high and positive. 85% say school leaders are friendly. 80% are confident that leaders act in the best interest of the school. And 76% say leaders are supportive when challenges arrive. And we know that we are certainly in challenging times and so it's really nice to see that so many of our staff feel supported while we know we want to grab that other 24% as well so that we can get we can make sure that we're supporting them. These are indicators that we know that we're doing well on but that we need to continue pushing. So these indicators demonstrate strong relationships between staff and leadership across the district. So some growth areas that were identified through the staff feedback is professional learning. So as I mentioned we are up in

057that category but we realized that we need to continue working on that primarily that was one of the lowest areas. So staff staff feedback indicates opportunities to increase relevance of professional development provide greater staff voice in PD and professional development planning and expanded job embedded learning opportunities. So, I will say that in response to this, this coming week um or early next week, a survey will be going out to staff members asking, "What is it that you want to see in PD? What more do you need? What specifically do you think that we need to focus on so that we can ensure that we're meeting their needs?" So, excited to get that feedback so that we can continue responding appropriately um so that they feel so supported. Another area of growth that we need to

058continue to focus on is staff well-being. So, some staff reported feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted during the work week. So, while um we certainly understand that that's sometimes part of part of the work that we do as educators every day, we certainly want to make sure that we are taking care of our staff members, our faculty and staff members, because it's a hard job. And of course, we know that it's not always glorified, but we do certainly appreciate the board's support um in ensuring that they feel appreciated, but we continue to do what we can to ensure that there are mechanisms in place in the event that they need support um and just celebrate them as much as possible. That goes a long way. So, um we certainly use the feedback to improve staff experiences.

059So, some of the other things that we're doing is increasing that leadership visibility. So those regular campus visits by the district leaders are taking place. We're having direct conversations with staff and campuses leadership campus leadership teams. Dr. Ritter has gone out to all the campuses for the lunch and listen visits and sit and stays and have open dialogue with the staff um to see if there are any concerns, anything they want to raise or lift for the superintendent. Um we also provide opportunities for staff feedback during meetings and walkthroughs. We are on campuses a lot visiting um weekly meeting with campus principles those happen every Tuesday where the campus principles come in and we talk about what's going on some of the some things we need to lift some of the things they need additional

060support on and then some of the things that we perhaps need to highlight for them to move forward and then we of course have our monthly district leadership team meetings or DT meetings. We're also focusing on strengthening support systems by improving coaching and feedback systems for educators. Um aligning professional learning to campus and staff needs. Again, that's one of the areas that we know we need to focus on um based on this feedback and we're really being intentional in doing so. And monitoring staff well-being indicators. We know we need to take care of our people. So, our commitment is to continuous improvement. So, staff feedback is reviewed continuously. So, all of these mechanisms, we don't just wait and do it annually. We have those conversations regularly because we want to hear what's going on. Um

061we know that the principles hear what's going on. We want to hear what's going on. We want to support the principles so they support the teachers and in turn of course the teachers support our students. Uh this data is used to guide district and campus decision- making and leadership remains committed to supporting staff engagement, well-being and retention. Uh staff safety and well-being. So, as you know, uh we have uh we're required to have at least one armed security officer on every campus. We are doing that um consistently since uh September 2023. We also utilize Raptor for um visitor management and emergency management. We also use it for drill management. Basically, all that means is every single drill that we do is scheduled at the beginning of the school year. So, we know when those drills

062are taking place. It's logged into the system. Every time it happens, we everybody um all of a cabinet along with the campuses get notification that hey this drill is taking place on that particular campus and um first responders as well and then we do afteraction reports because of course these drills are practice and so campuses meet talk about what went well, what are some things that we need to plan differently as we move forward. These things are housed in this raptor unilate raptor visitor management and emergency management system. We also collaborate with the Texas School Safety Center, which is the hub for all things school safety in Texas. And so we utilize and follow their lead on emergency operations plan development um review and approval. We utilize the standard response protocol, which you often will

063lovely hear respond uh referred to as SRP. We have our safety and security committee meetings. We have one coming up on April 16th. And then also we have our uh threat assessment protocols which I've told you in the past how effective those protocols are in the systems that we have in place this year to ensure that we are um looking at students who may perhaps pose a threat or have seen some some behaviors that are concerning so we can dive into that to make sure that they're supported to prevent anything from happening. So, um, before I turn it over to Sarah, I want to talk some about, uh, campus security planning for 2627. So, it's about that time to start having that conversation here pretty soon. And so, as you all know, uh, House Bill

0643 states that we must have at least one armed security officer to be present on each campus during regular school hours. So, our current implementation that was approved by the board um and we went through a whole process back in uh September 2023 um taking a look at all of the what the state says that we have to do and then the different options and determine you guys determine what it is that we were going to do moving forward. It's time to take a look at that moving forward to see what we want to do for 2627. So currently we we fulfill this um armed security requirement through contracted security services. So for planning considerations for next year, we're working on gathering feedback from you all the board of trustees. A survey will go out

065uh we'll send it out to campuses as well. We'll discuss it in our safety and security committee meeting regarding the current security model and then go into detail about discussing available opt options under house bill 3. So with your guidance, we'll determine what we want next year to look like. So just a timeline, um prior to that April board workshop, which will go into detail about those options, those House School 3 options, the leadership will gather initial board input and campus feedback. So we'll be prepared to discuss that in depth um and those security options and planning considerations in that board workshop in April. And then hopefully we'll be prepared by the May board meeting to recommend campus security plan and get approval for next school year. So more more details to come on that,

066but wanted to lift that because it's time to start talking about it. Before I turn it over to Sarah, are there any questions comments? >> Right. Thank you. Good evening, President Mitch Mitchell, board of trustees, Dr. Ritter. I will be presenting our update on our goal regarding staff satisfaction and engagement. And I want to start by talking about the ways that we recognize our staff at all levels. And you saw a lot of that tonight. We had lots of recognitions. Uh one of them is social media platforms. We use Facebook X, uh, Instagram, not just to present, uh, campus things, but things that are happening district-wide because we want to know all the great things that are happening in our district and the the grown-ups who are behind all these great things. We also have

067our board meeting recognitions. Uh, end of year awards, we're kneedeep in that right now. I believe the due date to have all of our end of year award winners into um, Mr. Rodriguez is April 13th. So, our campuses are currently conducting their their voting, turning in their ballots. teacher incentive aotment that is a huge thing right now. We've got 36 of the top performing teachers in Texas here in our district and this is another way to recognize them not just with a with you know way to go and you got great scores but hey look we've got a not a designation on your certificate nice little there's some examples there of what it'll look like on their actual teaching certificate and on top of that compensation that ranges between 3,000 and 17,000. Uh we have

068the one team, one dream which we had we have at each board v uh meeting where we have a a teacher or staff member come up and get recognized for something great that they're doing in the district. And then our regular campus recognitions. I've got an example here of NIDAG. We're all in this together. They do these constantly. They put them out on on their social media platforms just recognizing all of the great things that are happening on the campuses. And then our state and national level staff recognition. We saw that tonight with U. Miss Howell. Yes, our kids are doing absolutely wonderful things, but there's always that grown-up behind them that's helping them get there, supporting them through the process, and we want to make sure that the staff that that moves our our

069students is getting recognized as well. Uh we are also working on increasing our staff retention rate. We have several pathways to certification. There is been a teacher shortage for a while, but being a fast growth district, teacher shortage and us getting lots of students is is a kind of a double whammy. Uh we need teachers and we need them fully certified, but unfortunately they don't always come to us that way. So we've got several pathways to certification. The first one I want to talk about is Elevate Elegant, which is a grow your own program where we take our pair of professionals or substitutes that have a lot of them are from our community, grew up here, went to school here, um and just did not have that opportunity to go to college and complete their

070their uh bachelor's degree and teaching credentials. And so we're offering them a competitive salary. They are covering a class with all the responsibilities that a teacher would have and we are fully covering their tuition fees and books. Once they have completed their program, they're committing to to Elgen to serve our students as fully certified teachers. We also have clinical teacher placement. It's a traditional teacher student teacher one semester. Uh but what makes our program is unique is that we are one of the few districts in Texas that pays our clinical teachers. So, we do uh offer them some compensation as well because we know how much it takes to teach all day and for our student teachers to get off of work and have to go to work so they can pay their own rent

071um is not going to do our students any justice. So, we do provide them with a financial compensation. We also have a teacher residency program. We have one teacher in that program right now and it's very similar to a u student teacher type thing, but it's a year-long residency. Uh, and this person is from the University of Texas. But next year, we're we're growing our program. We have already got two commitments, one from CMF to Austin and one from Texas State University. And our new teacher residency program is going to um be grant funded. And so we we applied for a grant last year. We were approved for it. And so we'll have some additional funds coming in to help support us through this program. Uh, our current resident is receiving regular clinical teaching pay.

072our next year residents will have a little bit different pay structure that is required within the the grant. Uh alternative certification programs, we our teachers have access to any alternative certification program that they want to as long as it's approved by Texas. Uh but we have two that we partner with Teachorthy and I teach and we've invited them to our job fairs and our onboarding sessions so that they can work with our teachers um and get them help to get them certified. Having that partnership gives us access to their platform so that we can monitor the participants progress throughout the program and itach actually offers us a reduced rate or our teachers a reduced rate um if we have a certain number of peoples participating with them. We have the delayed teacher certification program which

073you approved last month. I did submit that to TEA and it was approved. So thank you for that because that's going to really help us. it it doesn't make it go away, but it does give us a little bit more time to work with a lot of teachers who are actively working towards their certification but just aren't there yet. And then we have one one-on-one certification meetings. Uh all of our teachers who are hired under DOI who are in their first or second year get quarterly meetings. Our DOI, we call them DOI3 plus. Anyone with at three or more years does get a um monthly meeting where we track their progress, make sure that they're signing up for their testing or completing their modules within their alternative certification program. And then some things that we

074are doing outside of uh for for retention outside of the the teaching spectrum is uh teacher mentorship training. Now you may recall we used to be a part of the mentor program a lotment. We've lost our uh we don't qualify for that anymore because we've lost our rural status. But we do have an opportunity with that Lasso 4 grant to have the teacher mentorship training and that training will start this summer. Train all of our our mentors so that they can provide support to all of our first and second year teachers and uh they will also be providing us with uh financial support so that we can make sure that we're providing our mentors with support. Uh we takes a state leadership development. Uh we've got a couple of classroom teachers working on their administrative

075certification right now and so they're in that cohort with surrounding districts. The assistant principles academy there uh is run by Rick Reyes and this year there are five sessions. In fact, there's one this Friday that uh Dr. Martinez at Trinity Ranch is going to be hosting and he's going to be working with them. I had to write down because I want to make sure I get it right. uh he's going to be working with them on curriculum and instruction systems and they're going to be making connections between planning, instruction, student data, and TESS and learning ways to make fast but sustainable student growth. Um during workshop today, you learned about our TASBY pay maintenance. About two years ago, we partnered with with TASBY had them come out and and do a complete review of our

076our pay structure and give us some feedback. and we've been working with them annually since then to make sure that we are staying on or as close to market as we can be and providing competitive uh compensation for our staff. We are hosting our own uh job fairs. We are deep in um job fairs right now. We are actually we've got some people headed out tomorrow to the valley. Uh we've got it we're right in prime hiring season. So we'll be attending quite a few job fairs over the next couple of weeks and then we just hosted one a few weeks ago. We'll have another one in April. And then to support our staff with professional development, we've got 12 professional days embedded in our calendar. 15 for those who are new to the district

077because they do get the Wildcat Academy days at the beginning of the year. And we make sure to have that same number of days in our upcoming year calendar. And that is all I have for you. Do you have any questions for me? >> Thank you. Next item. >> Next item. Update regarding >> Good evening, President Mitchell, Dr. Ritter, members of the board. I'm Clark Mley, Elgen ISD CFO. I'm here for introductory purposes only. Tonight, um, Elgen ISD partners with MVBA, um, which is McCreary, Vasilka, Brig, and Allen. Sorry, I should have put my glasses on there. Um, they help us with our tax collections and delinquent taxes. We are very pleased to have Noi Reyes here with us tonight to provide that presentation. So, without further ado, here is Nope. >> Good evening and

078good to see you all again, Dr. Ritter, uh, President Mitchell, members of the board, uh, always good to see you all. Um, we bring this report to the board once a year. Uh, and of course it's, uh, an update on delinquent tax revenues. I only have four or so percentage collection figures to show you. Um, so I'll keep this pretty brief. And of course, if at any point you have any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. uh if you I place a packet on each of your uh spots and uh the first figure that I want to share with the district is total revenue from tax collections. Uh this is uh fairly simple. It's the the adjusted tax levy during the fiscal year uh compared to all tax revenues collected during the fiscal

079year which includes current year collections plus all delinquent year collections plus penalties and interest. So if you look at tax year 2024 for example uh fiscal year ending 63025 your adjusted tax levy was 38 million63,000191 total current plus delinquent tax collections was $ 37,719,17 and I'm sorry I have that up on the screen as well. uh penalty and interest collected 605,252 for a a cumulative uh total revenue from tax collections at 100.69%. Now, why are we reporting on 2024 when it's 2026? Well, uh the 2025 taxes, the tax bills went out last November and those are still being collected. So, we are still in the middle of collecting those. So, we don't have a complete year of collections. Uh, that's why we're still on 2024. Um, as you can see, going back to 23, 100.48%.

080Uh, 2022 fiscal year ending 83123, 99.44. 2021, um, fiscal year ending 83122, uh, 101.25%. um we we want we we have to keep this number above 95% uh because of Texas Education Agency requirements and of course we're well above that. So are there any questions about this? If not, I'll move to the second chart. This is cumulative tax collections. This is your individual tax levy by year collected over time. So the 2024 adjusted tax levy was $ 38,63,191. Uh the uncollected amount as of February 28, 2026 is 839,000. Uh your cumulative collection so far, $37,224 uh at for 97.80%. Uh as you can see over time because of uh because of payment plans because of uh lawsuits uh it increases in three or four years to over 99%. And so what you want to see

081here is an increase each year uh where it eventually reaches close to 100%. A very healthy progression there. Very good collection numbers. Any questions about this? All right, let's uh go to the next chart which is on page five of your packets. Uh this is purely delinquent tax collections for tax year 2024. Uh you recall on the previous screen the tax levy was $38 million. the amount that went delinquent on July 1st, uh, which is when my firm begins collections procedures for that delinquency, it was 1.519 uh million dollars. As of Feb February 28th, and I think these should be uh these two should this one should be first, which is what we've collected so far uh which has been $680,199. We have $839,57 outstanding. Uh we've been collecting for a total of eight months.

082Uh the 2020 20 the 2024 delinquency. Uh a healthy a healthy percentage is after 12 months around 50%. Uh we usually uh reach about 60% or more during the first 12 months. And as you can see again over time you see an increase in uh in the amount of delinquent taxes collected. If you go back to 2021 97,000 was went delinquent that year. We've collected all but 140,000 which is a very very good u collections percentage 84.54. Any questions about this? One last uh chart. Um this is the total amount outstanding for all tax years. Okay? Uh 1.881 million which of course is um a lot of money to all of us, right? Um so but let's break that down. U of that 1.8 million 1.88 88 roughly. Um, I'm sorry, this chart is incorrect.

083Yeah. Uh, this this should be deferrals. Um, on your packet, the tax deferrals is is 460,000. And that's what this should be here instead of the pre-litigation payouts. 460,000 is in tax deferrals. Tax deferrals are taxes that we cannot collect by state law. Uh tax deferrals are when an individual that is over 65 or meet certain disability requirements applies for a uh tax deferral to the appraisal district on the resident's homestead of that individual. And until uh that tax deferral is removed, we cannot collect those taxes. Uh that's about 25% of everything outstanding. So right off the bat, um 25% we can't collect at all. Um we have about $640,000 in active lawsuits where we are um doing judicial foreclosures where necessary. Almost all of this gets resolved uh prior to um execution uh of

084of any judgment. Uh we also have um let's see yeah this uh teal portion instead of uh tax deferrals should be uh pre-litigation payouts which are payment plans that individuals uh enter into with the tax office um and get paid overtime. So, u all of it's being actively um collected. Uh and um we've had another great year of collections. Uh so we appreciate our partnership with the district and uh we will continue to keep working hard. Any questions? >> I was curious on the deferrals. >> Yeah. >> Like will they just dismiss that or will there be a time frame that they'll have to pay? uh those get collected eventually. Uh and that is when the individual no longer occupies the property as their principal place of residence, for example, a death or uh or

085a conveyance of the property to someone else, a sale, then we begin collecting those taxes. Any other questions? That was easy. >> Thank you, sir. >> Good to see you all. >> Next item, have update on construction projects including the 2021 and 2024. >> Uh, good evening, President Mitchell, board of trustees. Dr. Rar, um, got a brief presentation here tonight showing a number of construction projects across the district. Uh so once again excited to bring this and uh please uh stop if you've got questions along the way uh transportation facility. This is uh really the largest project that we still have ongoing from our 2021 bond. Uh we're we're making a lot of progress with this. As you can see on this uh slide show here, we've got um Encore finally arrived to the site

086just before spring break. So that was a welcome addition there. they're uh getting the pole installed and then we do anticipate uh their technicians being back on site this week to make the final connections uh to the building. You can see in that bottom left corner some of the interior renovations or or completion rather. Um that's really about to where we've uh got to. You can see right there some of the tile is there. Um some of the overhead um ceiling tiles is completed but um some of the flooring and things are not completed. So, a lot of the things we've gotten to a stopping point within a building until we get power and get conditioned air within the building, we've kind of got to a stopping point. But, um, now that we've got encore

087coming this week, we'll be able to resume construction. But, uh, there are a few things, final paint, uh, carpet, um, certainly start up on the the lighting and the air conditioning, those types of things. Um, we're just kind of right there at the cusp of being done until that final connection comes from Encore. So, we're excited to see them on site this week and and we'll get back to work on finishing up uh that that final phase there. Uh but overall, the site um is mostly completed with landscape installation um being wrapped up just before spring break. We've got some grass going in right now with uh irrigation, both permanent and temporary. Uh so, that's a good sign. Uh we could do continue to work with uh Tex DOT and the uh neighboring uh subdivisions

088related to the FM1100 expansion that we know is going to happen soon. Um and we're currently continuing discussions with our our neighbors to the west triata where we'll end up tying in our wastewater connection. So those are all active conversations uh that'll need to be resolved before we can move into the site, but we're right there at the end of this project and excited to be there. Um, Harvest Ridge Elementary also with uh 21 bond. We talked a bit about this briefly last month, but uh we have issued a PO to Ram Tech uh the manufacturer for two portables. Uh we'll work to get those set on the back side of the property. Uh we are working with Fluger Architects who ultimately designed Harvest Ridge Elementary. They'll help us to produce just a few drawing

089sheets that show utility connections for water, wastewater, fiber, uh fire alarm, PA systems, all of those types of things. Um and then we'll have a separate uh small bid package um and we'll award that to a small general contractor uh to get all of those uh utilities and those service connections implemented uh once these buildings are set. Uh we'll have a small design uh planning session rather with RAM techch just to make sure all of the interior sections of the building are just the way we want them for um interior connections for our our own fiber MDF locations. Uh where do we want water fountains? Those types of things. But overall these buildings are fairly simple. So we don't anticipate a long process there. Um we have reached out to our um permitting authorities uh

090both our fire marshall the city uh the municipal utility district as Harvest Ridge sits in Altest Mud. Uh so those are the partners that we'll be working with to make sure this project is uh permitted. Um and then uh we'll talk to the campuses of course and administration about um FFN furniture packages as we get a little bit closer. But uh uh this project is on track to be uh in place for the fall semester. So we'll continue moving along with this one. >> Uh priority maintenance projects. We have several here uh to talk about on 21 bond. Uh on the left side you see we've got um HVAC upgrades for this building and Elen Elementary. We have continued ongoing meetings with the contractor. These are both assigned under one general contractor. Um it's a

091contractor that we worked with last summer and had great success with. up. Uh so we do anticipate this project going well again. We've got equipment on order for the admin building. So that's good. Uh that we're already cutting down some lead time there. Uh they did get started during spring break at Elgen Elementary. I just saw some pictures as I got back today. They made a lot of progress in that. What you see here is that gray uh section or that gray wing at Elgen Elementary. They took out a lot of duck work and overhead areas. That wing right now is isolated from students. there's no students in that wing. So, uh we've allowed them to get started in there and they made a lot of progress uh just in the week during spring break.

092So, uh it's good that they got a little willing to jump on that. Uh playground replacements. Uh this will impact most of our elementaryaries. Uh certainly the uh ones that are not brand new BTW Elementary um and and Elgen Elementary and we'll also see a new courtyard canopy at Harps Ridge. But uh we're making product selections there and making sure those get ordered. uh with TF Harper, the vendor that we've selected for this uh to make sure these arrive in time for a summer installation. Um and then on the right, we've got a couple of projects um outdoors bleacher repairs and upgrades. Uh we saw drawings come through uh just today. Um 90% drawings for some bleacher and ATA upgrades here at the old stadium behind us. Uh we did see also uh during spring

093break um some reports come through for technology roof replacement. Uh this project will be a little bit more involved than we initially anticipated uh that that roof and that building the technology building's been added on to over the years. Um not always the way that we would have hoped honestly. So it's going to be a little bit more involved. There's some code upgrades. So um it's going to cost a little bit more and be a little bit more intricate than what we had initially thought. But, uh, regardless, it needs to be done. Um, as you'll know, we got, you know, every, uh, bit of fiber and and network gear in the district ties back to that building. So, we want to make sure it's secure and watertight. Uh, so that's a project that we'll move

094forward with. Um, and then we're working to get um, under the 24 bond, still priority maintenance project, we're working to get uh, bleachers replaced in the gyms at Elgen Middle School um, and do some significant repairs to some of the ones at the high school. Um, our M team had done some pretty significant repairs last year to one of the ones at the high school, but we want to continue that and get those refurbished um and make those really stand out and uh and hold up. We think we get another 10 years out of those. So, uh that's something that's on the books uh for the summer as well. Uh moving to the 24 bond Legacy Oak Middle School. This project is really advancing quickly. Uh we've got great partners on this project. You can

095see here in these photos, of course, are a couple of weeks old. So, it even looks a little bit different, but um exterior framing is going up on this building. We've got a lot of steel. If you drive by there, you can really see it from 1704. But, u you know, just a couple of weeks ago, we were looking at masonry uh going up around the gyms, which you can see in that large picture, but now we can really begin to see that dual uh two-level uh building take uh take shape there. So, uh cranes are still large joists in place. They're in that bottom picture over the gym. Um, right now they're talking about going ahead and pouring the uh uh second level uh concrete flooring on the decking. So, this uh building is

096really moving along quickly. Uh we've seen exterior framing going up all the way around. Overhead MEP work. That's our mechanical um electrical and plumbing inside the building. Uh we've uh taken walks with our commissioning agent on this project and walking our own uh district maintenance, our plumbers, our electricians, our AC staff through this building to make sure they're familiar with where everything is before it gets uh covered up with drywall. Um and then of course we're coordinating off-site fiber uh with previous project. You remember we ran fiber to Trinity Ranch and that was successful. Uh we did run surplus uh connections there and we'll pull off Trinity Ranch and run fiber all the way out to this uh facility. So that's a another project we're working on. Um and we just got confirmation over the

097last few days with Tex Dot that uh this project will uh have a traffic signal. So we we've kind of gone back and forth on that on whether uh traffic signal was going to be implemented or not and uh that has been confirmed now. So uh that's good for us. So we think that's the safest option. um it's it's always been in the budget to have a traffic signal there. So, it's it wasn't a shock or you know a negative impact to our budget. Um so, we're going to move forward with that and continue planning uh for everything that's evolved around that. Um overall, we're scheduled for completion next summer, early next summer, June 2027. Um athletic improvements, uh this is a project we're really wrapping up. Um right now, all the sports facilities are

098being utilized as you saw in uh Dr. R's earlier report. Uh we've had uh baseball and softball games um going on well there. But some of the last uh images you see here, drainage improvements are around that site. Once we get all this turf in, it really uh you know improved the drainage in that area. That was one of the things that really hurt us on these fields. When they were natural grass, they didn't drain very well. So uh what we've seen here is these fields have already taken on a lot of rain and we were able to play almost immediately. So uh that's been a great improvement. uh during spring break uh well actually last Thursday and Friday the uh press boxes were delivered and those are uh wrapping up installation today. Uh that's

099one of the things that was trailing a little bit behind. So we're glad to see those on site now and being installed. Um there was some concrete, some deficient concrete that was also replaced during spring break. Um our contractors were committed to making that right. Uh so they pulled out some concrete that uh had uh fractures and cracks throughout it and they got that replaced. U shade canopies are installed. A little bit hard to see there, but between the tennis courts, we've got uh spectator seating and shade canopies. Those have been installed. And ultimately, we're beginning the closeout process on this uh project. All the paperwork that's associated with that for warranties and closeout documents. Um just adjacent to this, the uh the press box there at the football stadium. Uh moving along quickly. you

100can see in that bottom left photo. All the steel that's involved with that uh structure has been delivered was on site just two or three weeks ago. Um and they once that got there, they started erecting steel right away. Uh so again, this project uh this photo rather is a couple of weeks old. Uh the the photos I saw today, this uh this facility looks a lot more put together. So if you just drive by that back parking lot, you'll see really the uh the outline or the shape of the entire uh press box. You may remember the uh the images uh the photo uh that we showed earlier where this press box is about the full length of the bleachers. So uh you'll be able to see that now if you were to drive

101out there today. Uh you can see the the structure uh with that steel in place. But um as they prep for that, they did have to do a lot of work that we had seen over the past couple of months. So getting storm drains in place and electrical lines. They've got those out of the way. Now they're moving on to the overhead work. So we're glad to see that moving along quickly. Uh we continue to coordinate with our local fire marshals um and some other permitting authorities about some uh site um uh issues related to fire suppression, but overall the project's moving forward quickly. Uh we'll see interior framing on that building moving ahead quickly and uh we'll still plan for a scheduled completion by November of this year. Uh the homestead, our uh new

102culinary facility. uh right there in that top left photo you can see was uh some flat work or sidewalk installation out in front of that building. We had some uh previously some temporary pavers in a little bit of this area, but ultimately for ADA access and just uh better access between the two exterior doors. This sidewalk needed to be installed. So that was completed a few weeks ago. Interior, we've got multiple trades working. That bottom left photo just shows electrical crews running conduit. But we've got plumbing crews, electricians, a lot of folks in there now. Really um an active uh site. A lot of overhead insulation and again mechanical, electrical, and plumbing uh going in overhead. That large photo there, you can see where some of the underground utilities were previously trenched in and they've

103got their uh their pour back there. But uh we did have a steel delivery come in during spring break so uh some of the interior uh framing can begin. Um, and that will begin to really take shape in that space to separate the culinary lab from the teaching space as that steel goes up. Overall, this project is moving uh moving along on track and we expect this project to wrap up in August of this year and have students in there. I'm looking forward to elementary number six. Uh, while we don't have um anything happening on the site just now, uh we are starting our our planning meetings. We have had uh some discussions with who was selected for this project, a kickoff meeting. We've got another uh meeting scheduled late this week uh to regroup

104with those folks and then we'll um sit together a scheduled set of meetings to uh gather input from additional stakeholders. Uh this project much like Harvest Ridge and Trinity Ranch will go through multiple planning sessions as we go through uh concept and schematic design and design development. But um overall we do see construction on the site from the developer. So that's good. We know that they've got to do some things before we get out there to get water and wastewater lines in place. So we're glad to see that uh that they're doing their work ahead of us. So we know we can meet that schedule. Overall, we have talked about this briefly before. We do need to sell additional bonds before we'll be able to fund construction for this school. So, right now, we're just

105moving forward with design with the hopes that uh by the time we get wrapped up with design, we'll have uh sold another inst uh installment of bonds and be able to fund the construction. Questions on any of these projects? >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. Uh the scoreboard has been ordered. Um I I can get back to you on the exact date uh that it's scheduled to be installed. Um they've they removed the existing one and and have ordered the uh new one. Uh we've seen a what's called a submittal or a proof uh that shows what the layout will be, shows the dimensions and all those types of things. Uh but I don't know the exact delivery date. I can follow up with you on that. >> I have a question. >> Yes, ma'am. >>

106Um well, first I have a comment. Uh I'm very happy to hear that you're working with text on stop lights or lights on 1704 because I think that's a >> that's a death trap that road. I mean it really is. Okay. The other thing is that I want to compliment you on the baseball field and the softball fields. Uh they're looking great along with the tennis that whole area. Um, even though it's not completely finished, but it it really looks nice and it's it's fun to see the the students out playing. Good. >> Uh, the other question I have is I noticed on the scoreboard on the baseball field it says Jack Fiser Field. What What's the history of that? being >> um I I I would have to ask somebody who's been here longer

107than me, honestly. That the the scoreboard before the existing scoreboard had Jack Fischer Field on it. >> Yeah. >> It was a a memorial scoreboard. So, we replaced as is. >> Uh that was the that was the request from my athletic department to uh to not have that go away when we replaced the scoreboard that had been there since, you know, I've been here 10 years and it was here before I was. So, uh, we didn't want to just do away with that just because we replaced the scoreboard. So, we we put that u that marker back on there. >> Okay. >> But I would have to ask somebody. >> Do you know those of you who've been around? >> I know. >> Who was Oh, you know, >> he was a long time supporter.

108He's he's a feast. But, uh, he he went to every game for years. >> And, uh, lifelong yoga night. And uh they they name >> they name the whole field or just the sport? >> No, I think just a field. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Coach Anderson may know >> that. >> Okay. old field used the new field. >> Okay. >> Yeah, that's interesting. I just that's the first time I noticed it, I guess, because the school the scoreboard looks so good. >> Right. Right. Right. The the banner at the bottom of the old school board had really had faded quite a bit. So you could the name was pretty faint. >> So that was as we went through this I of course coordinated very closely with with coach Anderson on on all aspects of this

109project and that's one of the things he wanted to memorialize was to make sure that we kept that on there and it's of course it's brighter now so it's more noticeable. >> Yeah. Well and we want to keep that legacy there you know keep that history. >> Sure. >> So thank you. Okay. >> Okay. So, another question. Har portables. How many classrooms? >> Um, there'll be four total. So, each class each portal is two classrooms. >> Okay. So, uh yeah, there'll be four total question. >> Thank you. >> Good job. >> All right. Go to the next action item. consideration and approval of a change order for the athletic improvements project. >> Yes, sir. Uh good evening once again. So, we we talked about been so long. >> We talked about this uh project uh

110briefly uh tonight. Um and I'll be, you know, upfront. One of the goals of our um our team when we start on any project is we want to get the most we can for the district when we uh start out on on a project, whether it's a renovation or or a new build. uh with this with this project though we admittedly the the timeline is a little bit further out than what we anticipated. We're we're excited about everything that the district has gained from this project. Um last July the board um awarded a u a contract to to the general contractor for this uh for this project. That contract amount was less than we what we had budgeted for this uh for this project overall. Uh so we have funds remaining. Um I I'll say

111when we started out the design for this project uh you know even earlier last year uh we were initially over budget. We were quite a bit over budget when we started the design for this when we were planning the uh press box for the football field. Um during that design when we saw we were over budget uh we we pivoted. Uh you you know a project uh can be delivered multiple different ways. there there's a what's called a CSP, a hard bid, and or construction manager at risk. There's different ways we can bid projects. So, when we saw it was over budget, um we pivoted to a different delivery method. Um surprisingly, I'll say it came in under budget when it on bid day, and that's that's great. That doesn't often happen. So, as a

112result, uh we were able to implement several bid alternates into this project from from bleachers, the scoreboards, uh fencing, the awnings, uh spectator seating, all those types of things. So, I'll be full transparency, some of those things weren't fully fleshed out because we didn't anticipate getting you usually are not able to award all of your bid altitudins. Uh, so you know, there could have been some additional work by us, but also every, as I mentioned in earlier presentations, every stadium I've ever worked around, you find every buried line, water line, electric line, everything that's out there. That that hurt us on this project. We've had to move a lot of lines out there. So, we we had we went into this project with some contingency, but we went through it also. Uh, so ultimately I'll

113say we come to tonight asking the board for a $100,000 change order, but we've still have money over and above that budgeted for this project. Uh that will that will more than wrap up the project and leave us surplus uh to work with. So how much of a surplus will still be there? Do I have to say that out loud? It'll it'll uh roughly 300,000 in in that project, >> which I think is a great thing to say. >> Sure. Sure. And there's some things that, you know, I I talked to coach Anderson, there's some things that that we still want to do with that. Um certainly not all of it, but um if you think about the uh for example the the tennis storage building right now. It's a little it's a little shed,

114you know, kind of skid mounted shed. We're wanting to much like what baseball and softball have. We're want to put a little Mueller metal building out there that more aligns with what the other sports have. Make it a little larger, a little more weather type, a little more vandal resistance, some things like that. that certainly won't eat up all of that surplus, but it'll continue to improve the facility and we've got the money to do it still in that project budget. So, uh some small things like that that we still want to look at questions. This is an action item. Is there motion? >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Baker, second by Mr. Moss to approve that change order. Other questions? All in favor said motion raise your right hand. Opposes there are none. Motion

115passes 70. We do not have a closed session this evening. So is there a motion to adjourn? >> I move motion by Mr. Mah, second by Mrs. Reese to adjurnn. All in favor say motion is right hand. No opposes. It is 8:54 p.m. and we are adjourned. >> Yeah.