001It is 7:06 p.m. and we call this meeting of the Elvin 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. At this time, we'll recite the pledge of allegiance. Good evening. We have Miss Worley and Harvest Ridge. Students, come on up. >> Good evening, Elgen ISD School Board, President Mitchell, and Dr. Ritter. My name is Megan Worley. I'm the principal at Harvest Ridge Elementary School. With me here today are some of our outstanding students to lead us in the pledge. From fourth grade, we have Ka Stewart and Evelyn Lopez Harmo. From first grade, we have Miles Moore. And from preK, we have Edwin Garcia. I pledge algiance to the
002flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank those young people. Uh, next item is public comment, which there is none. Next, we're calling for approval of the minutes of the September 15th, 2025 board workshop and regular meetings and September 16, 2025 special isolation motion by Mr. Moss, second by Mr. B. Are there any questions? All in favor say motion respond by I. I. >> Any opposers? Motion passes 70. Thank you. Next item recognition. >> Good evening, President Mitchell, Superintendent Ritter. My name is Al Rodriguez. I'm the executive director of communications and community engagement. Uh tonight we have four recognitions and we're going to start with Miss Keller. There we go. Yeah. >> Good evening, President Mitchell,
003Dr. Ritter, and members of the school board. My name is Allison Keller. I'm the director of fine arts and advanced academics. Every year, our coral students across the state have the opportunity to challenge and expand their individual musicianship by preparing a handful of pieces to sing in front of a panel of judges and compete against their peers for a position in the all district all region area and hopefully for a very few a selection to the allstate ensemble. Our Elgen High School choir members recently competed in this extremely competitive competition and six students earned a position in the all district choir and we have some awesome young men that are representing those six uh right here. Otini vonmz, we have Bo Harris and we have Drake McCoy representing our all district choir members. These same
004students competed in the all region round this past Saturday and four of them earned a place in the all region choir. not here tonight, but Brooklyn Mitchell, Bo Harris, Drake McCoy, and Gabrielle Vay. After last Saturday's competition, three now move on to area round on November 18th. Brooklyn Nickel, Bo Harris, and Drake McCoy. And hopefully we'll hear about some Allstate members here soon. So, please give them a big round of applause. It's a big honor. Good evening again. I now have the pleasure of talking about our awesome human resources team. Uh, Governor Greg Abbott proclaimed October 8th, 2025 as the Texas Education Human Hum human Human Resources Day. A day set aside to recognize and honor the important contributions made by school staff who work in human resources. Today, we recognize and celebrate the dedicated
005HR professionals in our school district. Their hard work behind the scenes ensures that our schools are staffed with talented, caring educators and supportive staff. From recruiting and onboarding to supporting employee growth and well-being, their efforts are essential to the success of our students and staff life. Thank you for your commitment, professionalism, and with positive and for the positive impact you make. Allow me to introduce Sarah Faras, executive director, Tony Mendes, director, Jackie Gre, compensation and certification coordinator, Isabelle Baderas, position management specialist, Himea Rebelar, human resources specialist, Lorena Gomez, administrative assistant, and Julia Anderson, district receptionist. Good evening, President Mitchell, Dr. Ritter, and board of trustees. My name is Rick Reyes, and I serve as the executive director of school leadership and campus support. This month, we celebrate our principles and the incredible work they do
006every day. They lead our schools, guide our teachers, support our students, and ensure that every campus is a place where learning and growth can thrive. Being a principal is not an easy job. It takes hard work, patience, and a lot of heart. Our principles show up every single day with dedication, care, and passion for helping students and teachers succeed. It's an honor to publicly thank them for their leadership, dedication, and the meaningful difference they make in the lives of their students. At this time, I'd ask that our principles approach the podium, please. >> Thank you, Mr. Reyes. I I just wanted to say uh on behalf of the district how much we appreciate our principles. Um, I cannot say enough about this incredible group of professionals standing right here. They tirelessly work for the benefit
007of the students of this district. We could not do what we do in this district without you. We appreciate you and and you guys are just the heart and soul of our district. Thank you for everything you do and um we just appreciate you. You guys are are amazing. I cannot say enough. So, thank you for everything you do every single day. And in addition to that, I want to say that on behalf of the board, we want to publicly thank you guys for everything that you do. You manage to take chaos and create calm. Uh you've taken challenges and turned into something to cheer about. And we want you to know that we notice that every day. Uh you work long hours. We can't say thank you enough. Uh you've had to pivot. Education
008bill seems like a war zone here lately, but you guys dust it off and keep going and keep going. And we are very very proud that you are serving with the district and we pray that you continue to be the very best that you are. Thank you all. And now I would like to individually introduce our fantastic principles as they approach the stage. Starting with Paul Coronado, principal, Naidig Elementary School. Dr. Arthur Martinez, principal, Trinity Ranch Elementary School. Michelle Martinez, principal, Elgen Elementary School. Linda Damez, principal, Booker T. Washington Elementary School. Megan Worley, principal, Harvest Ridge Elementary School. Randy Mat, principal, Eagle Elgen Intermediate School. Not with us today because he is taking care of his new bundle of joy at home is Bobby Joe Truhill, principal of Elgen Middle School. Dr. Jason Rodman, principal
009of Phoenix High School at DAP. And last, but certainly not least, our Mria Staples, principal of Elgen High School. Thank you. Good evening trustees, Dr. Rutder, President Mitchell. I'm Emily White. I am the communications coordinator here and I'm happy to uh present to you our one team, one dream recognition. As you know, our theme for the 2526 school year is, as we just mentioned, we're all in this together. Each month, we will honor an EISD staff member, team, or community member who goes above and beyond to embody that spirit. The one team, one team, a one team, one dream award celebrates those who work collaboratively to solve problems, care for or support others, and hold high expectations for themselves and our students. So, first up, we have three nominees or three recognitions tonight. We're really
010excited about that. And first up, we're going to be celebrating one of our most active community members, Miss Megan Howard. Miss Howard, who is a lead Trinity Ranch Elementary School PTA member, um, is very, very active in that community and we appreciate her very much. Here's what Dr. Martinez, uh, Trinity Ranch's principal, said about Miss Howard. Megan has been a tremendous support to our campus, serving as the lead PTA member. She has volunteered her time to be present at all events and has provided food for our staff. Always very important. She always asks what is needed and how she can help and she shows up. She is the epitome of being in this together. She cares about all of us at TR and it shows through her actions. She is deserving of this re of
011this recognition. Way to go, Mrs. Howard. >> Congratulations. Thank you. I'll try to call again. Thank Thank you. >> Next, we are delighted to honor two members of our transportation team. Miss May, who drives bus 79, and Miss Leticia, who drives bus 80. I'm hoping that they are here tonight. We have a special Yeah. If you want to stay here for a second, it's okay. Come on up. >> Yeah. Um here is what their colleague Diana Glenn said about these outstanding team members. These two teammates show love every morning and afternoon to our Wildcats and myself and Amberly Linderman at EIS. They are both always so cheerful and they always show love to our kids. They make bus duty not so miserable in the heat and Miss Lenderman and I adore them both. Please show
012your love for Miss May Freeman and Miss Leticia Kinchin Irving. There we Oh, good. And now we'd like to we'd like to honor another truly hardworking team in EISD. Day in and day out, the EISD child nutrition team ensures that every student has access to nutritious meals that fuel their learning and of course their growth. Their commitment to serving with warm and warmth and positivity creates more than just meals. It creates a welcoming experience that students can count on. They work hard day in and day out with smiles on their faces. Please welcome the one and only amazing EISD child nutrition department. Yeah, we'll get y'all up here and get your pictures up. Congrats. That's funny. Well, Oh, handshakes. What are you Well, how about that for a prime example of us all being in
013it together? That concludes our recognition tonight. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> All right. Great job. Of course, we knew who the loudest group was. >> That's okay. They feed us well. >> Thank you. >> Uh, next item, we're going to move to the superintendent report. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> We've had a whole lot going on this fall and since our last meeting, we um the week of our last meeting, we had homecoming. So, just a brief uh just some great pictures. Our own, we noticed McCoy, he was king. Homecoming king. He was just up on the stage a minute ago. Yes, it was so exciting. And Maya, wait, Papazanu, I want to say her name right, was our queen. It was a great evening. We had um the
014community pep rally that week on Wednesday with a little parade with students, student involvement in student clubs and community clubs. Um it was just a wonderful evening. The football game, it was packed. The stands were just packed. We had so many people come out for that game and support our kids. So, it was a wonderful evening and it was enjoyable for everyone. So, that's fun. All right. This month, we also had our district advisory council. This is the group that gets together under direction of Dr. Stormmy Hickman, who obviously was taking a selfie in that picture, but um yes, those are her fault. it was and I think Miss Wilson and Miss Walter Shine were in in attendance as well at the advisory council. This is a really important group. We have folks who come
015from our campuses. We have um all of our representatives. This is the group that helps us make lots of very very important administrative decisions in the district. So, we really appreciate them. Okay, you can change it. I did not get a picture. She shared it too. Okay. All right. On October 14th, we had a professional development in the district. We so appreciate the days that the board approves when we do our approvement of our when we approve our calendar. Um we believe in and our school district believes in our board supports embedding professional days into our school calendar so that our teachers and staff can receive much needed support and learning and days that are protected for that. We also had our elementary campuses had um parent conferences embedded in th in one of those
016days. They had campus time where they did professional learning communities and learned about their students and really looking at data and trying to plan instruction based on the student needs. Such important time. And then um all of our departments provided training for their groups. It was just a really uh those were great days that we had in the district of time that our students got some time off and we all got that Monday off that they were working hard on the days that we were here without the kids. So we really appreciate that great professional learning. Our Elgen Education Foundation Topgolf event was such a success. We and I see some of our some of our members out here and just um and we'll have them up here for recognition also, but this event raised
017$70,000 for the school district. >> Yeah, I think Cherish and um thank you to that Elgen Education Foundation board and to our vendors. We have lots of them also in the audience who were there. We couldn't do it without you. Uh this will go to support our teachers with innov in integr innovative teaching grants that we will use to help promote our compelling purpose in our district that we want all children to have access to that engaging and innovative instruction learning experiences. So it was a wonderful event. Thank you to everyone who had a part in in that and the organization supported that day. We have had lots of fall open houses. Um most of our campuses, if not all of them, some of them are still coming up have lots of so many parents
018coming for parent involvement with open house and it's always an exciting time to have them come into our buildings and see the amazing things that are happening and just our parent involvement numbers are off the charts. I'm so proud of our campuses. Thank you all for the job that you've done with our with our open houses and opportunities for them to be on campus. Next we have custodian appreciation day. This is a wonderful group of folks of course near and dear to our hearts. We um we recognize them every year. This happens in October and this was a time for each campus and department to recognize their custodians with with gifts or meals and those things. But really it's just our time to say thank you for what they do for our buildings for our
019schools. We couldn't do it without them, right? and the work that they do keeps our school buildings in tip-top shape where our kids are and our teachers are working as well. So, thank them for that. We had uh the Toyota Express Maintenance Contest Competition. This was October the 10th when our Elegant High School automotive students competed and it was hosted at the ACC College in Roundrock. Um we had seniors that got third out of eight teams brought them a trophy. And a shout out to Michael Silkit and Brandon Persner, the teachers and club adviserss to the EHS automotive program. We're really excited to see our kids doing more and more and expanding competition opportunities and they're all just performing so well when they go out there. Elgen ISD, Elgen High School is really showing up
020for these for these opportunities. Here's another one. It was the Wildcat Barbecue and they are now statebound. So that's exciting. And we will have these guys up to the stage at a feature board meeting. They on Friday the 10th we hosted for the first time we hosted this contest at the high school and it was a day that the kids were out of school but lots of adults were here. I did get to judge steak. I think we had some other judges. I know like grilled cheese. I know it was amazing. and our kids. I'm going to see because we got third place overall, regional champion. Oh, ribeye, third place overall, and we got we won regional champions. So, congratulations to our students and our programs, Maggie Howard, our director, and I look forward to
021hearing more and really honoring those kids who are doing such a great job in that program as well. All right, this was a very nice event once we were Eagles at Booker T. Washington High School alum event. I know Mr. Mitchell was a major part of this and the organization of this. It was um an opportunity for alumni from Booker T. Washington High School to come out and they were at the Wildcat Stadium for a pregame event and then on Saturday this was at the campus and just a time of recognition and it was like a reunion. It was amazing and some of the educators even who had taught in that building and taught these when they were kids. Um, then we also had a surprise visit from our coaching staff at the high school
022and they brought a helmet for Mr. Shorty. Shorty Russell who is a a longtime volunteer for our football team and athletic department and surprised him with a helmet that had his number from when he was in high school on the helmet. So, it was a really special day and it was a great great time. Looking ahead, we have Hawkeye coming up and that's a big thing of course in Elgen. We have lots of our students and teachers um staff who participate in that event for the weekend. We have Pearls before swine art show opening gayla October 23rd. Again, lots of student entries. Dia de los Muertus Festival November 1st. Thanksgiving break, we have that week of November 24th through 28th at the district will be closed. And then we have the lighted Christmas parade on
023December 6th with again plenty of student involvement and organizations represented in that parade. So great opportunities. Come out and enjoy. Great time to enjoy our community and the support that we get from our community. Thank you. Oh, enrollments. I thought I was done. I'm not done. Our enrollment were up to 6256. our first day this year 5828 and end of year last year we were at 5965. So roughly we're working on about 300 kids net new um since the end of the school year last year. So lots of new faces, lots of new kids and lots of new opportunities. So lots of little elen wild cats there. Now >> thank you Dr. Ren. We appreciate that. Only thing I have to say that we were eagles. I'll get that to short Russ deal with that
024the rest of my life. But it's all good. It's all good. Uh next we talked about the district advisor committee. I didn't want to steal Mrs. Walker's thunder. Uh Mrs. Walker is going to report on those activities. >> Well, I think Miss Wilson also was at the meeting. Uh I think when I came in we were discussing the uh scorecards and uh I think everybody was alert to what the score scorecard is. Uh also we divided up into groups and worked on each individual uh part of the scorecard. But I think there were two things that I went out there or left meeting with. Um, one of the things that they talked about was having the district leaders meet on the campuses with the superintendent that they felt that that was very important and I
025I think that that came out. The other thing was that the uh c everybody seemed to have the same be on the same page that the president uh or the people that are the parents that was hard to get the parents involved and I think there were a lot of ideas that were put out but uh I think it's it's a universal problem that you have with uh the the parents getting them involved. uh they're busy. Some of them are very busy, but some of them have time to wait in line for an hour before school is out with their kids. So, it's maybe that's a resource that that probably could be used. But anyway, that is basically I don't Miss Wilson, do you have any to add? No, >> I think that was good.
026It was um it's fun for me as a new board member. I'll keep using that. I'm new. Um, but it was a great opportunity in those discussions like you can show someone the data. You can show some or tell someone this these are the things we're going to work on. But when we broke out to that those groups, we were really able to say if I were a parent, you know, if I'm a community member, what are those things that the district can actually say we this is what we did to achieve that outcome. And then there were some some uh conversations when we said there was this district speak language and for some of us we're like what does that really mean? You know what does that mean? And so I think it was
027an eyeopener of how we can use some plain language to make sure that when we're reporting out to the community we're really all on the same page and knowing exactly where Elgen ISD is going and what that looks like. >> Right. Thank both of you for those reports. Uh so this concludes the school board uh president's report. Next item, we'll move to the consent agenda. Being asked to approve tax report refunds and adjustments for September 2025. Approve financial statement and budget amendment list for September 2025. Approve investment report September 2025. Approve CTE courses for 2025 2026. Approve virtual home balance waiver. Approve campus improvement plans. Consider approval of electric easement for transportation center. Approve purchases greater than $50,000. A the Apple tree curriculum and resources for pre kindergarten. Uh B special education staffing from emerges.
028And C consideration and approval of guaranteed maximum price GMP for CTE press box project. And then finally approved staffing recommendation. That's our consent agenda. Are there any questions regarding any of those items? Second that motion. you want to ask question about it or you want to bring it to a later >> uh we don't have executive session on the agenda for employment >> correct >> so that's why I'm suggesting table >> okay so you have >> for that and then for G.4 there is no dollar amount associated to it other $50,000 Miss Howard. Okay. Miss Howard also take it. Yeah. which is the class. >> Oh, there's no dollar amount associated with the CTE classes >> other than >> So, are we hiring new people? >> No, we have staff for those positions for those
029classes currently. >> They're certified. >> They are certified. Yes, sir. The only dollar amount associated is the funding revenue that we would be generating by adding those courses. >> Some may not understand how CTE actually makes money for the district. that many know that >> is this a good opportunity to explain how that works. First, this is Maggie Howard, our director, and she didn't know. I'm sorry. >> My name is Maggie Howard. I'm the director of CCMRC. >> You didn't know you were coming to the mic tonight, so my apologies. >> Um, >> yes, I I can explain how CTE funding works. Um, so for every CTE course, there's additional weighted funding that we receive depending on what level of course it is. Um, for a there's three different tiers of courses. Um, a tier
030one course receives an extra 10 cent on a dollar for every student enrolled in that course. Um, second tier receives an extra 28 cents. Third tier receives an extra 47 cents on the dollar for every um, student in that course. The Kinesise one and Kinesise 2 courses that are on the agenda for tonight um are level two and level three courses in a program of study. So for every student enrolled in those courses, they're going to generate an additional um 28 cents and 48 cents on the dollar for every student in those courses. We currently are already offering a class that is similar to those, but they are not generating CTE weighted funding. These classes um have similar ties associated. Um, it's just a way for us to generate those funds while allowing students to
031become CTE program study completers while also having a chance to earn an industry based certification. So, the purpose of these courses, this is what you do annually. So, as a growing district, as we continue to offer additional courses to be able to serve all of our students with increasing enrollment and provide them all of the pathways that we need to be provided through CTE courses, we have to add courses. So, we need to approve this this evening in order for us to move forward and move forward with our course guide and class selection, course selection, and all of that process that we follow through with at the high school. That's what this is about. >> I'll amend my motion and exclude G. So, just a table of G. >> Thank you. >> To if we
032table it, then how long we have to absolutely bring it back again. >> So, um G and we can uh pull up it's staffing. It's certain staffing positions that we have. One of them being Mr. Brian Cage's position who is he's retiring and so we have recommended to the board um hiring the replacement for his position. Um that will be executive director of technology. So that is after a process followed that we always follow and interviews were done and recommendations have been made. Um also his wife is coming as an instructor into the district which is a very common practice. That's something that we do be need positions teaching positions across the district. So the only thing to be determined is exactly where that person would be able to go but we do have openings
033at different levels for instruction positions. Again, if we do not approve that, it would be unless we call special board meeting. This would be something that we would have to wait another month to approve. >> Right. Right. None of them are new positions. >> So, he could this person could go and find other positions while they're waiting for us to approve. >> We could lose that. or could we call a special executive session to go ahead and discuss the salary and whatnot that goes along with it? >> Well, before we go before we go there, we'll need to address the the motion that's at hand. Um, so Mr. Bar has made an amendment to the motion to keep item G4, but he's asking to move to table G9 and that has been second by Mrs.
034Reese. All right. So then we'll have to make a vote on the motion. You're voting. If you vote yes, that means you're voting to table. Vote no. The recommendation. So motion has been made. All in favor said motion respond by I. >> I. >> Raise your hand. I'll make sure the right three yeses. Uh no. One, two, three, four. The motion denied 43. Uh we'll move forward. >> All right. Next item. H information item. >> Mr. I make a motion to approve. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Got the rest of it. Yes. >> Yeah. Now the motion to approve the consent. >> I make >> motion by Mr. B. >> Second by Mrs. Walter Sh. Any other question? All in favor said motion respond by I. >> I. >> Any opposes? >> Nay. Motion passes
03561. >> Thank you. >> All right. Information item bilingual report after Hickman. >> All right. Good evening, President Mitchell, Dr. Ritter, members of the board. I'm Dr. Stormmy Hickman. I am the deputy superintendent here and I get the pleasure of working with our bilingual department. So, I've asked Dr. Lisa Clark to come up um and be my backup here as we provide this report to you this evening. This is a required report that the board has to receive once a year uh just that details our bilingual program. Please know that every time we come to you with information regarding our student performance, we include information about our bilingual students. This particular report has information about uh teacher waiverss which is something we have to provide specifically. So first I just want to quickly go through
036the campus programs that we have here in Elgen ISD. So you'll see at our elementary campuses four of them have oneway dual language bilingual and contentbased ESL. And then at Naid Elementary we do have two-way dual language programming. Uh, and currently that is for grades first through fifth grade. Uh, at our high school campuses or secondary campuses, I should say, we serve our bilingual students through a pull out ESL program. That means that we have someone who goes into the classroom and supports those students and that we have teachers who are certified in ESL as well, so that they can support students with strategies that specifically help them as they are acquiring English. Just a quick note about the difference between one way and two-way dual language. One-way dual language is essentially all students who
037have one particular home language who are all learning to acquire English at the same time. A two-way dual language program is actually where you have integrated students who are native English speakers and uh in our case native Spanish speakers who are in the classroom together learning both languages. for our ESL contentbased and pull out. It is it's actually quite similar and we offer through um all grade levels, but primarily this is um in our secondary levels. It is essentially saying that we understand that emergent bilingual learners need specific strategies in their instruction and we want to make sure that our teachers are equipped in order to provide them with those specific strategies for language acquisition. This is just a quick model of our number. EB stands for emergent bilingual. So, this is the current number
038of emergent bilingual students we have enrolled. You'll see that um we have 31.1% of students enrolled in emergent bilingual or who are classified as emergent bilingual. And we have 2.2% of our students who are monitored. That means that in the last two years, they have exited. They're no longer considered emergent bilingual, but we still keep an eye on them. So we monitor them for a couple of years to make sure that they're still being successful. And then that all students there that actually is the the rest of the students who are not classified as EB. Reclassification is something that I know Dr. Clark has been working really hard on the last couple of years. The goal is that our students are proficient enough in English that they essentially exit the program. Okay. So that's called
039reclassification. And so as you can see um in 22 and 23 we had a very small number of students who exited. In 23 24 we were up to 86. We saw a great jump. And then last year in 2025 we actually exited 104 students. In order to exit a student has to score a cumulative score on the Telpass exam of advanced high. And that's a test that they take annually that uh measures listening speaking reading and writing in English. So they have to be advanced high cumulatively. And then additionally, they have to pass their state assessment or their star in language arts. If they accomplish both of those things, then a committee called an ELPAC committee, it's similar to, you may have heard of an art committee, makes the decision about them exiting the program.
040So our goal is that the longer the students are with us, the more they're acquiring English and becoming proficient and therefore are exiting. hiring and recruitment. It's no secret that finding bilingual teachers is our biggest challenge. Uh finding teachers who are appropriately certified. That's not special for us. That is true across the state of Texas. Um and we gosh, Dr. Clark and I probably talk about this three times a week, like where are we and what are we doing uh to make sure that our teachers are appropriately certified here. We do offer stipens for our bilingual certified teachers. $7,000. It's a pretty hefty one because that's how important how difficult really it is to find these particular teachers. That helps us be competitive with surrounding districts. And then if we have an ESL certified teacher
041serving in our dual language program, we offer them a stipen as well. Additionally, we uh do exam fee reimbursement for teachers who pass the ESL supplemental exam. We want our teachers to be ESL certified because it it just documents that they're equipped to work with our emerging bilingual students. So, we support that. And then I will also really commend Dr. Clark in uh some of her staff in the bilingual department are almost finished becoming train the trainer uh for the ESL Academy. So, we will be able to hold our own in-house training to help people get ready for that ESL test. It's kind of a tough test, but if you know what you're in for, then you do better. So, we're going to be able to really support our teachers helping them go in to
042take that. And then of course we do recruit at job fairs through social media and through various recruiting uh companies if they happen to find someone to help us. This is really um one of the things that we're required to report to you in this and that is those teachers who are on bilingual or ESL waiverss and exceptions. Um we will f we have to file that waiver with tea by November the 1st. we will have 32.5% of our teachers uh who will be on an ESL waiver and 8% who are on the bilingual exception waiver. Um and then you can see close to 60% of our teachers who need those certifications have them. So this is not um ideal or where we want it to be. I will say um it is in line
043with what you can expect to see just about throughout the state and perhaps even a little better because we are um we're doing everything we can to get our teachers certified in ESL specifically. Bilingual is a little bit trickier but ESL for sure. We also uh are providing professional development for teachers. We actually had 312 teachers and staff attend a professional development this summer. Um that was provided by our service center and also our bilingual department. That again is that what are the specific strategies that we have that that we use when we work with our English language learners. Parent engagement is uh the next item on the list. Uh we do have Leslie Mononttoya coming. She comes in a couple next two weeks. In two weeks she starts again a October 30th. Um she
044uh does parent engagement workshops for our bilingual families. Um she's come to Elgen to do these for several years and is quite popular. So we're excited to bring her back uh just to do some some seminars and and learning to connect with those bilingual parents. So we feel like they're being supported in our community as well. And then we uh additionally have parent engagement uh sessions coming up. Uh you can see October we've got literacy and math in the parent portal. Uh perhaps one that I I'm most excited for. I know the bilingual department's been working really hard on is in November they're going to be really helping parents understand what it means whenever your students take the TEP pass exam and what it means when they take the STE assessments and why those are
045important and what they can do to help support their students in those. Um unless you're an educator, I would say TEPASS is probably like just one of those acronyms out there that nobody really knows what you're talking about. Um, and so we've we've had a lot of work this year in helping our students to understand its importance and help really starting to prepare them for that. And then with that, we will take any questions that you have. And I have backup. So let me know what questions you have. Do you ever work with the library with that? Because I know that they have the Spanish and bilingual programs there, too. Do you ever have any contact with those people or >> the public library >> or Elgen public library? >> Um we we have not
046uh but um that is definitely something that we will take into consideration um because I did not know that they offered that. So I will make sure that I reach out to them and see what they do offer and how we can work together. >> Right. I think they've had a program for several years, but I think, you know, if if they're working with the same parents, you know, there's there could be some collaboration. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I also would just like to highlight the progress that our students are making and say thank you. um when you showed the slide about the number of our students who are who are passing their toll pass and showing success there and growth, it's it's very remarkable considering that we had I
047think my first year here we had two students that were actually showing proficiency out of the program. So for that to have just um quadrupled or more, it's just amazing. Thank you. and we just are excited to continue to see the growth of all of our kids and the success that we're seeing. We see it in the classrooms too and in their work that they put on the walls. Appreciate it. >> Oh, I wanted to say that that's the principal's hard work. We can't take credit for that. Uh we will help them with a lot of the processes of course with ELPAC making sure that we we uh do follow those processes and we do exit students at a very high rate. But um all the hard work was these people sitting in here. So
048um I want to thank them because they're the ones that that got us where we are. >> Thank you. Thank you. Wait, we have one more question. >> I have one question. On one of the slides you showed that there was 104 in 2020 2025 that exited the program. Mhm. >> How many total students were they or how many total students are do? We have >> total students who are emergent bilingual. >> Yes, >> I think I have that number written down on these notes pages. You sent it to me. >> I want to say more than we did last year as far as being enrolled in in language programs. 104 of the students that um those that's the actual number of the students who reclassify. >> I would have to pull that number for
049you. It's about 31% of our students who are classified as emergent bilingual. So quick math it would be about 2,2500. Um so obviously we want to see that number go up, but we also know that um we don't expect them to reclassify in their first year. And so where we would really like to see those reclassifications going up the most for us would be in upper elementary by like third or fourth grade, students who've been with us since preK, we should be seeing them reclassify at that point. And then of course any students who come to us um as they're older, we want to make sure that before they leave our system, then they have um acquired enough English proficiency to exit as well. So uh 104 students is way better than it was before.
050We are continuing to look for ways to increase that as well. I want to add to that uh we have had a lot of growth within the different campuses as well and that means like growth like one one level and then uh we had one of our one of our campuses that even grew students two levels. Uh so we we have that growth also to look at other than just the the 104 here right but we are actually making a lot of progress or they >> all we're all this together. >> That's right. And of course that is the focus, the things we put in place, people we hire and everyone who pulls together for student success. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Priority two report professional learning and highly effective staff executive
051director of human resources. >> Good evening, >> President Mitchell, Dr. Rder, board of trustees. I'm here to present uh priority 2 update uh specifically priority 2.1 and 2.2 and that is professional learning and highly effective staff. So looking at priority 2.1 uh we are showing significant progress in sustaining and enhancing our grow your own teacher program and in our annual review and update of pay structures that reflect a high commitment of high high commitment to high quality staff at all levels and some progress in our innovative support systems for new to profession teachers and new rural staff. Uh you may remember last fall I presented uh the teachworthy partnership. Teach worthy is an alternative certification program that uh anybody with a bachelor's degree can enroll in so they can start working on their teaching certification.
052But in this case, we've partnered with them on a a a bigger program and that is a an additional partnership with the Indiana Wine University and it helps us to provide uh support for our pair professionals, our class classroom aids, our administrative assistants, long-term subs who've shown a commitment to Elgen ISD and want to become teachers, but for whatever reason, whether it's time or financial constraints, they have not been able to complete their bachelor's degrees. And so what we do is we provide them with a salary that it's lower than a teacher and we use the the difference to pay their tuition at IND Indiana West University. We cover their tuition, their fees, their books and in return they are taking on all the responsibilities of a teacher. They have a teacher um job description.
053They get the same observation as a teacher. Uh and it's very successful. They are showing a lot of progress. At this point we have three cohorts. Uh the third cohort just started their classes last month and uh we've got principles reaching out to us all the time wanting to recommend someone for the next cohort. So we've got additional classroom aids, admin assistants, and long-term subs who are wanting to become teachers and expressing that interest. So an opportunity to grow. Uh once they complete their bachelor's degree, they moved into the teachworthy portion of the program, which is the alternative certification. And so now they're got their bachelor's degree. They're earning a teacher uh income and they are participating in the ACP or alternative certification program like any other person who wanted to become a teacher but
054maybe didn't take that route originally. Uh mentor program uh we are doing an in-house mentor program right now. We provide mentors to all of our first and second year teachers. Any teacher who's in an alternative certification program and our classroom instructors. The classroom instructors are the ones that I just spoke about with the Teachorthy and IW partnership. Uh we have 52 mentors right now. Those are teachers who are certified, have at least three years of experience, and have shown success in their um test evaluations. They're have highly productive classrooms, great classroom management, and they're supporting our brand new teachers. Uh we you may remember before we were part of the mentor program aotment. That was a grant through TEA that we no longer qualify for because we've lost our rural status. But another way that
055we can qualifi qualify for it later is by having a great teacher pipeline program, which is what we're doing with the Elevate Elegant Teachorthy classroom instructors. And so we're hopeful that we will be able to be a part of the mentor program aotment in the future and the next cycle for that opens up in 2027. So be our program should be pretty solidified. We'll be able to um apply for that at that time. We've also continued our partnership with TASBY in our salary studies. We did a big T salary study a few years ago and since then we've been doing pay maintenance and because of that we were able to get a 3% increase at midpoint for all of our employees who were not granted the state funded raises uh which was our our teachers.
056Um we were also able to make some adjustments for some of our staff members who their positions and years of experience may have been offm market. We were able to make those adjustments. Last week we submitted our pay averages to TASBY so that we can continue to uh use that our data in statewide comparisons and this week we have submitted our data for uh our stipens. So we're continuing this process with TASBY uh to make sure that we are staying on target with our our our market comparisons and be remaining competitive in the area. Uh the teacher incentive a lotment there's been a lot of talk about that. Uh on October 12th, we submitted our 2425 teacher performance data and student growth data. Uh we were submitted for review and we that data will be
057forwarded to Texas Tech for data validation and we should hear back in the early spring semester. I looked at the calendar last year. We got it about February 5th, 6th, somewhere around there. Uh so we're hopeful we'll hear back from them in early February uh whether or not we passed the the validation process. And if we did, then we'll be able to designate several teachers this spring. 2.2 is our growth in development and we are showing significant progress in our professional development calendar and PD plan and implementing leadership development programs for staff so that they can move to the next level of employment. Uh you can see our calendar here. We've got 12 days uh as Dr. Ritter mentioned earlier embedded throughout the year at least one day per month uh for professional development and
058our professional development is intentional based on the needs of our teachers and it varies of course by campus and and by teacher. So we're making sure that we're providing those learning opportunities for all staff. It also provides campuses with time to work with their teachers. Uh it provides us with time to um support the implementation of our initiatives like professional learning communities, capturing kids hearts. Our instructional coaches, whether they're a campus or district level, are able to work with teachers and help them to help support them in their instruction. And then have our our teachers give time to work with each other to make data informed instructional decisions. We also have a partnership with Texas State University. We and several of the surrounding districts have a cohort of teachers who are already certified but are
059working on their masters in educational leadership with principal certification. They attended a information session last December. It was several people across the district that expressed interest. But three of our teachers uh committed to this principles uh re recommended them and they are doing well in their classes right now and are excited about what the the future holds for them with with uh school leadership. Uh I also reported on the assistant principles academy last year which was new last year for all APs. Uh it's led by Rick Reyes and he supports our assistant principles and prepares them for that next level of leadership. Uh there are five sessions this year and they're focused on just um leadership development but also developing those technical skills that they'll need in their current job and in jobs in the
060future. And you might remember last year I had Randy Mat come up and speak to you about um how he was doing in the AP Academy, what his experience was and how it was preparing him for the future. And I've asked him to be here again tonight to tell you about how it prepared him for his current role as principal. >> Good evening. Um good evening, President Men Mitchell, members of the board, Dr. Ritter, and members of the cabinet. Uh thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to speak to you about my experience in the AP Academy. Um I spoke about this with many of you last year but a lot has happened in the last six months and I just want to thank everyone um for the trust and belief that you
061had in me to uh give me this new role. Uh when I entered the academy, I thought I had a pretty good understanding about leadership in school, but I dis I developed a deeper understanding of leadership and learned that it was more about learning together and acting together than leading alone. The academy had created a space where collaboration wasn't just encouraged, but it was essential. And through deep discussions, case studies, and project work, I learned to connect with the leaders in meaningful ways. Uh those relationships help me uh to see that while every campus has unique challenges that we are stronger when we share ideas and share solutions. And that sense of teamwork has shaped how my approach to leading on my campus. Just this year I've already um been to two campuses and watched
062how Dr. Martinez and Miss Worley lead their PLC's. they do so with uh such professionalism that I wanted to learn what they got going on. So I want to thank them for allowing me to go and visit them and continue to mentor me and that kind of teamwork is uh something that I learned in this AP Academy. Another powerful takeaway from it was working with the cabinet and they introduced me to this concept of a culture of criticality and problem solving and it's really about letting go of the ego and just letting the problem be at the very forefront of what you're addressing. Uh we learn to move past surface level problems and really dig into root cause analysis and that discipline shows up daily. uh when we face challenges academic uh on my campus
063or behavior or attendance, we really slow down. We try to think about it, analyze it, plan and then act upon it and try to answer the questions. Why is this happening and how can we make systematic and long-term change? The academy also deepened my understanding of educational law and systematic thinking and decision-making through leadership lens that is grounded in empathy. That knowledge allows me to lead with confidence, advocate for my staff and students, and ensure choices are always centered on those students and staff members. I've also been fortunate to have both formal and informal mentors along at Elgen Independent School District. Mentors like Mr. Reyes who modeled what it means to listen first, seek understanding, seek different perspectives, and then act with purpose. Uh so thank you, Mr. Reyes. Uh he's always been a great
064model for that for me. and also Miss Staples who taught me last year that I don't need permission to work. I only need permission to not work. And this really illuminated the idea that you have to trust the people that you work with and empower them to make great decisions. And she did that for me. So lessons like those paired with the structure of the AP Academy has shaped me as a leader that I'm becoming and one who listens deeply, collaborates intentionally, and leads with trust and purpose. So I want to thank you for supporting programs that prepare administrators for advancement and develop principal leaders ready to serve our schools and our community. Thank you. While you're checking the mic, I just want to add on to that. We now have um you know, when
065you come into a district and you start assessing and after co things are very difficult, but just with instructional leadership and how you find leaders, leadership positions in school districts right now, it is not easy to find good leaders who are willing to pick up and move and come to a new district. Um therefore it's very important that we do grow our own and that we develop our own bench. That is what we are doing in our district and because we have that we also do we have the ability to attract people who want to come to our district and that's very important. We never want to lose sight of that. So all of you, every principal in this room, you serve as a mentor to your APS who are in that program that with
066us and we are developing a bench of leaders, future leaders and providing opportunities for we have this pipeline of leadership that we've developed in this district and are continuing. So we appreciate you. Thank you. >> There's some additional leadership development programs. We have Elgen High School teaching and training program. Uh that is a program where high school students who have expressed an interest in becoming teachers uh have the opportunity to take classes to prepare them for that, but they also go into the schools and work with students under the supervision of our certified teachers. Uh when they come out of this program, if they've completed all of its requirements, they do come out with an educational aid certificate. So they're ready to be hired on as pair of professionals. I spoke earlier earlier about the
067Elgen Elevate program. That's our partnership with IWU and Teach worthy. Uh into learning professional development is something that district leadership participated in last year. Uh we worked together on in a book study and uh how to make change happen in your department or on your campus and so this year we're working on implementing our learning into our respective departments. Uh Dr. River leads weekly principal collaborations. That's a time for principles to come together. They can participate in professional development. Sometimes they're informative sessions. Uh but there always opportunities for principles who to to collaborate with each other. Um they're the only ones experiencing what they're experiencing. And so it's a good time for them to come come together and really talk about being a principal. Uh highly qualified pair professional training. Uh that is a program
068where we hire pair professionals. uh they don't always have an educational aid like the ones coming out of the Elgen High School teaching and training program. Uh they come from other walks of life, other experiences and so we are required before we can put them in front of kids to provide them with that um certification opportunity. Typically we would send them to the region center uh the service center and it's $300 a person. Uh it's very costly. So what we've done is we've invested in our own person. Jackie, she's already gone, but Jackie Ruiz is our uh coordinator for compensation as certification. And so she's gone through the training so that she can turn that training around. And this year, she has saved us a little over $10,000 just by training our new pair of
069professionals. And now they all have a educational aid certificate. And we're now uh kicking off fall recruiting season. Job fairs are happening at the universities. They just started last week and we are going to be attending several throughout Texas. Uh we'll be hoping to bring back some certified teachers because that's where the the brand new certified teachers are is in at the universities. And so we'll be kicking that off u over the next few weeks. >> And that that's all I have. You have any questions for me? >> Thank you. >> Next item priority four update certain projects including 2021 and for >> uh good evening, President Mitchell, uh Dr. Ritter, board of trustees. I'm excited to be with you once again tonight. Uh before I jump into my regular presentation, I just want to
070uh give a uh a quick uh introduction to one of our excuse me, a new employee of my small team. We've talked a lot about local folks tonight. So, I just want to introduce uh Eli Salazar. He is a a local Elgen graduate. um worked with his uh just a quick background uh Mr. Salazar worked with his uh with his family's contracting business all through high school and uh following high school uh went off and got his degree and and made his way back to Austin. worked a few years in commercial construction for a large concrete and uh commercial construction business as a project manager and you know after a few years got tired of uh Austin traffic and found his way back to Elgen. So we were very fortunate that he found our job
071posting and um he filled a replacement position for us for a construction project specialist. So he's working right now basically as project manager um over some of our projects here with the bond and some of our capital projects that are uh safety grant funding and some of those types of things. So we're certainly glad to have him on board. He's only been here a few weeks but certainly already proved himself worthy of being uh back on board as an Elen Wildcat. We're glad to have him. >> Um all right, jumping right in. Um the high school I'll be I'm glad to say we are we are moved in. Um we we got moved into the auditorium last week. Uh there are still uh a few punch list items that the contract is working out on
072weekends and after hours, but ultimately uh the pro the project has been turned over to us. Um uh Allison Keller and her team have been able to move in and uh we're getting equipment and things set up. We're uh getting things that have been stored in our warehouse delivered over to them. Uh so that is a project that uh we'll see coming to a close now with closeout documents and uh final punch list items. Uh there in the bottom left you can see the the office and the auditorium there. Uh one thing that did uh get wrapped up here is some final graphics across the campus. That was really a finishing touch not just in the auditorium but across the campus uh at the multi-purpose facility and then you'll see in the large picture there
073at the auto tech lab. Uh those were all ordered as just one package. the graphics so it waited till the end of the project till each facility was uh was finalized and ready. But it's just a really nice touch across the campus to see these graphics going and just kind of puts the finishing touches across multiple buildings. But um overall we're just wrapping things up there getting closed out documents done and excited to see that project finally coming to a close. Um transportation facility u just a little ways um on the backside there. Um some utility boring in progress. A lot of underground work right now getting site utilities in place. Um concrete work on the detention pond is still going in. Um that water line there in that large picture you'll see that is
074a waterline boring under FM100. Um I had somebody on site did joke with me that they they had not seen that. So they they wanted to go out and see that and they said it they said it was boring. It's it's that's that's that's extremely it's interesting, but it's a very slow process. It it doesn't go quickly. So, it's it's neat to see, but it doesn't move quickly. So, um but we are excited to see the the metal building components show up. There's a uh shop going up there, so they'll start erecting that. That'll go pretty quickly once the the metals start uh going vertical. So, that'll start happening there within the next week or so. Uh but overall, we've still got coordination going with Tex Dot. There will be FM1100 expansion going in there,
075not just in front of our building uh but in front of all that uh subdivision developments there along FM100 really from about countyline road uh back west of us past Brier Wood. So that's something that'll be happening within the next 6 to 12 months as well. And then um also we're getting a jump on FFN the uh equipment and the furnishings that go in that building. We want to start looking at that uh before we get too close to the end also. So things are moving well there. a lot of activity on the site. Um I'll share some additional photos with the board uh through other avenues, but uh exciting progress on that site. Uh priority maintenance projects, we did see some flooring go in over the professional development um few days there that we
076talked about at Elementary. Um we snuck in there with the team and got flooring in the cor corridor in the 500 wing completed. Um we do have some additional flooring throughout that building in the corridor and the cafeteria. We'll try to get back in during the Thanksgiving break. If they're not able to complete it, then they'll also sneak in there during the winter break and and get that wrapped up. Um, additionally, in the high school front vestibial, they'll get that taken care of during upcoming breaks. Um, Elgen Elementary, they did get the uh window shades completed in all the classrooms. Uh, those roller shades are are able to go up and down, give the uh uh classroom staff members uh some visibility to the outside, reduce glare, but also give them the ability to raise
077those up and down as needed. Um, the fiber optic project. Uh, this is to BTW and Trinity Ranch. Wow. This this project has been just short milestones. We were we were scheduled to get this fiber pulled across the both railroad tracks uh Union Pacific and Cap Metro this past weekend and and that got pushed to this coming weekend. So that's that's our new target, but it's just been incremental. Um again, this has been another really small project with a lot of uh really small milestones involved. So that's that's our next one. and then um getting a bore permit to go underneath FM uh US 290. That's the next one as well. But overall, we have made some progress. We got uh fiber pulled into Trinity Ranch now. Uh so that's that is good news. And
078we've got the fiber on the other end terminated inside the technology building. So uh we continue working on that, but there's a lot of red tape and permitting involved in this project, but uh we'll continue moving ahead. um HVAC improvements. A lot of these projects um were in the final stages. Um Elgen Elementary um we're just really working out the final closeout documents for that project. But I do want to note that we are bidding right now on the next phases of Elgen Elementary's projects to wrap up uh the remainder of their bidding uh their building uh efforts there to get their HBAC completely renovated uh in addition to uh administration building. Uh both of these projects would uh come back to the board in November for award and then potentially start um maybe as
079early as spring break, but most likely next summer. Um Nad Elementary, Elgen Intermediate, uh Booker T. Washington, and the high school. Uh all of these uh campuses saw renovations over the summer. Uh the units have all been uh turned on. Uh they're working. Controls are all working. Uh but right now we're working through our commissioning effort and uh test and balance teams uh to get final punch list working. Uh we think we may have a little bit of uh rework to do at Booker T. Washington. Uh some of the units are sitting a little crooked. Uh so we'll continue to work with our commissioning contractor and the contractor remains engaged with that. They're they're not going anywhere. So we continue to have weekly meetings with them to make any needed corrections and and get those
080uh uh units exactly as designed. But overall, we're looking good. All units have been tested for heat cycle as well. They've been tested on the weekends to make sure heat fires as we get into the cooler weather. All of that has been checked out. We're uh ready for any cold front that we can be helpful for. So, we're ready there. Uh moving on to 24bond. Uh this project is moving incredibly fast. So, Legacy Oak Middle School, you can see there in the large photo, that's already the building footprint. And I'll say I I put this slide deck together a week and a half ago that project site Dr. Ritter and I were looking at it today. It looks significantly different already. You can see the uh if any of you remember me sharing some overall
081site plans where you can see the driveways and the roadways. All those are already in place just in the week and a half since I put this slide deck together. Um from FM100, our driveways are already uh the base is poured not not concrete but all the base work is already poured for the driveways. Um it it looks like a complete site. So, um the site work crews, they're moving incredibly fast. Um right now, we're pouring uh footers, concrete footers for the building slab. Uh we've got our first underground utility inspection this Wednesday uh for underground electrical, underground plumbing is also starting. Uh so, these teams are moving really quickly. You know, we started this project with an aggressive schedule, about a 21 month schedule to get this project open by June of 2027. And
082to be honest, we were all kind of nervous about that. But right now, things are are still looking good. We're still holding the schedule and um we're committed to that. Um but one of the other things I wanted to point out here was the irrigation water well. This is the the first campus I've tried to do this at a couple of sites since I've been here and and I could not honestly get a well driller to commit to to finding water on any of our sites, but we did here. We we dug a test well and and we got good water. So, we we think we'll need another one for the amount of irrigation that's going to be on that site. Uh, but this has saved us already significant money just in what uh we
083know we would have paid in irrigation over the life of the school. So, um it's uh it's just something that we uh did a little bit differently, but just wanted to point that out. We try to save what we can and approach things a little bit differently on each of the projects. Um, overall we're still working with uh Tex DOT. Uh, we we did get our our new driveway alignment in this past week. We moved the construction driveway to the north. That is where the permanent drive is going to be. We know there's been some uh hiccups in uh getting folks in and out on 1704. That's a busy road, but we do have our permanent drive in uh right now in the proper location. And uh we'll continue uh efforts with text dot as
084we work through what that signal is going to look like at that uh intersection. We know we have to put in a turn signal there. Um and then with TCQ also if any of you read the paper, we uh put out some uh um notifications for TCQ for the wastewater permitting system. So we'll continue working through uh permitting efforts on that. Uh moving back to the high school athletic improvements. Um we are still working on site work there. Uh chemical injection process is really what's happening there on the baseball field. Um if any of you were here long enough back, you may remember the chemical injection process for the uh football field. Um and then obviously we did that for multi-purpose as well. If you drove by there just 18 months ago. Um, it really
085it makes a mess for a little while, but it it it preps that subgrade so we don't see a lot of movement with this with this black clay. It shrinks and swells with the uh with the different weather patterns. We try to get that mitigated before we put down that turf. So, that's the process they're going through now uh for baseball and softball. And then we'll get tennis taken care of as well before we pour that slab. But you can see uh some effort there on the uh baseball field. And in that bottom left picture, they take core samples for that testing to make sure the chemical injection uh took uh it's a certain proprietary chemical they put in there. They go about 12 ft down for the chemical injection. So, it's not a small
086effort. Um but ultimately that's the process they have to go through to make sure uh that that uh you know surface stays flat once they put that turf in place. Um, good news. Last week, we did get variance from the city uh to put the bleachers in at the tennis courts. If you all remember, that was something that initially was not granted, but we did get a variance approved. The city was uh uh very very easy to work with. They understood the situation. So, we'll have new bleachers, uh new canopy between the uh tennis courts, so that's good news there. But ultimately, it looks like we've got a lot of work ahead, and we do. Uh but we're still on track to to have the project completed before softball baseball start um in January. >>
087Uh Ray. >> Yes, sir. >> On the softball and baseball fields, when is the anticipated completion dates? >> Um right now we've got early January, like January 3rd, I believe. Um so we're and right now we're we're still scheduled um to get those wrapped up before baseball and softball start. We got a little bit of float in there is what they call it. So, we've got room for, you know, if we have some rain delays and some of those things, but I mean, and it's it it'll be close. I'm not going to say it won't, but >> Yeah, because they'll need it for the second part of January and all of February. >> Yes, sir. >> So, they can practice. >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. >> I have a quick question on fields are they
088want to regrade it very well it's turtle but >> yes there there will be a a drainage system put in for each one um and though it's not necessarily shown here where if you if you've been out there and you saw where our our other contractor S&P had that large staging area for all of the high school work that they've been doing over the past couple years where that staging area is currently fenced off and even where it's fenced off today they're going to do a drainage swell there that ties into the detention pond that's out there by Phoenix High School. That big modular the underground drainage for these fields will will have underground storm piping um that the storm piping is laying out there on site. It'll be taken underground and going to that
089detention pond. um staying there at the high school. Um just a reminder there just I don't think we've seen these two images together, but um you know, thank you tonight for awarding the uh the GMP for this project. Uh this will allow us to get started with with Bartlett Cox um to get them engaged, issue notice to proceed. Obviously, construction won't start until after our last home game, but this will allow them to uh to start engaging some of their trade partners to to be moving forward. But this gives you an idea of uh you know the existing facility there, the size of the the press box compared to what it'll look like as we begin to add CTE classrooms and a production studio and those types of um spaces into that uh into that
090new press box. And then of course on the right, we want to, you know, recognize much like we did with with S&P when we started remodeling the high school and adding on logistics is going to be key. We want to work with um not only our trade partners, but we talked to Coach Anderson and the team out there on logistics plan, make sure folks have access to the facilities they need. Um student safety is a priority, traffic patterns, all of those things. So, what you see there is just a draft of the plan. We'll work through multiple revisions to make sure uh student traffic doesn't conflict with uh contractor traffic and vice versa. make sure um folks are are where they need to be if we need to adjust boundary fences for for contractors, those
091types of things. So, um all of that is thought through um and we go through multiple revisions just to keep uh traffic and and contractors, everybody separated to the extent they need to be, but uh while also allowing the work to carry on, but also excited just really excited to to get the public fund kicked off. So, appreciate everybody's effort. um the homestead. So, this project um as we get uh get drawings completed, one of the things we'll be looking for is uh um the uh GMP similar to what we approved for the press box. We'll be looking to bring this back next month, a GMP number one, but we will have an early GMP for this project for some of the little bit longer lead items. Um with a second uh GMP2 in December,
092uh this will be a very tight turnaround. We got about eight months of construction once we award this. Uh we do have a uh a PDD, a plan development district uh revision that will need to go before city of Elgen that's already been submitted to them. We expect to uh go before the city council in November. We don't expect any challenges there. We uh we've already presented that and think we're on sure footing there. Um and so far all the pre-development meetings with both the Bastrop County Health Department uh city of Elgen have been very routine uh with no issues to uh to be concerned about there. Um our contractor, our construction manager at risk has been very involved in pre-construction meetings here. But overall, you can see uh the large spaces there. As as
093our design became a little bit more defined, we uh like a lot of projects, we've become a little bit more discreet with the uh overall layout. That's generally not something we like to put in in uh in meetings to uh to show. Um but you can see some renderings there of what that building may look like once we're finally complete. So again, this will be a very exciting project for our CTE students. Um giving a little bit of flex space for um them to serve, but also for PD sessions or after hours use as well. And then the facilities project. So, our our DAP portables, we were excited and thinking we were going to move in the uh during this PD break. So, we had our our custodial group ready, our our IT folks putting
094in cameras and and we got furniture moved in and you can see in the in the bottom left corner as our as our custodial team started waxing some of the floors that our our floor tile started coming loose in two of the three buildings. So, we had to press pause on those buildings and right now we're working to get floor tile replaced. So, uh we've talked to the the stakeholders, our folks, Dr. Rodman and those folks and and uh we're just going to hold where we're at for right now, but uh just know we we have everything in place to uh continue to make the move at the next opportunity. Uh as soon as this floor is in, I think we'll be ready to go. So, we're getting we're getting very close. Unfortunately, some of
095these small projects, you just uh seem to be the ones with the little hurdles in them, but uh we're still very close on that. Final questions. >> Yeah, we're still uh with Harvest Ridge, we're still meeting uh as a group um every Friday making significant progress. We've engaged uh the architects, their engineers, commissioning agents. We've got an independent commissioning agent that our architects hired on on their dime, not ours. Um but it's been a very collaborative process over the past six weeks and made significant improvements. Um their their controls contractor and their mechanical contractor um have identified some things that had been uh causing us concern over the past year. Honestly, they've began to make adjustments to those and we've uh Yeah, we've seen big improvements over the past few weeks. Yes, sir. >> Thank
096you. Next, we have an action item. Senator approval of campus name for Circle Brewery. >> Right. Right. >> Um yes. Good evening again. Um so I I think most of you know approximately a year and a half ago the district uh purchased uh the formal former circle circle brewery. Um at the time uh there was some question about what that facility would be but as we saw here tonight I think the goal for that uh property now is CTE um CTE mindset. Obviously the first project is a culinary arts facility. Um overall that project is is part of a 22 acre site. Um it's got a direct adjacency um to the Mary Christian Burlesen Homestead. A lot of you know that that building is identified as the oldest uh building or the oldest home in
097in Elgen. Um at one time that was all one that was all one tract. Um it's only been um in years past that that the two were subdivided. So our thought uh with the uh culinary arts effort that we're managing now and and with the potential growth of that uh program moving into potential gardening and foriculture um we think it would uh pay homage to the uh to the landsite and to the historical significance of that uh area uh to continue to call that building the homestead. That's what we've been fondly calling it uh for the past few months. So um right now that's going to be our recommendation that that recommendation does align with uh board policy as well uh tying it to a geographical area. So um at this time it's going to
098be administration's recommendation is to call that facility the homestead >> motion by Mrs. Walter Sh >> second by Mrs. Wilson. Are there any questions? All in favor of said motion respond. >> Ies motion passes seven. Thank you. >> It is 8:36 p.m. Is there a motion to adjourn? >> Yes, sir. >> Motion by Mr. Mars. Second. Second by Mrs. Reese. All in favor respond by I. Any opposes? Motion passes 70. We are ajourned.