001and I call this meeting of the 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 man required by law and we apologize for the for the late thought. Uh at this time we'll recite the pledge of allegiance. Good evening. At this time I'll invite uh Miss Staples up here to introduce our high school students who are going to lead us in the pledge. >> Good afternoon, President Mitchell. Dr. Ritter, members of the board, I have with me this afternoon I have Tyler Salah, Benjamin Canton, Bella Nejas, Sophia Gueretta, and Matthew Ko. You ready? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,
002one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Next item is public comment which we have none. Next we'll move to item C. Being asked to approve the minutes of the August 18th, 2025 board workshop and regular meeting. So move >> motion by Mrs. Waltershy second. >> Second by Mrs. Reese. The question all in favor said motion respond by I. I. >> Any opposers? Motion passes 70. Thank you. Uh next item recognition. Good evening President Mitchell, Dr. Rder, members of the board. My name is Al Rodriguez. I'm your executive director of communications and community engagement. Tonight we have uh student recognitions as well as staff recognitions. And we're going to begin with Miss Staples again to recognize some of our students. >> Good evening again, President Mitchell, Dr. Ritter, and members
003of the board. I am Armitri Staples. I am the proud yet humble principal of Elgen High School. Tonight, I have the honor of presenting EHS's recipients of College Board's national recognition programs. We have 33 Elgen High School students who earned a whopping 52 recognitions. This is an 85% increase from last year. The students recognized tonight have earned one or more of the following. The first generation recognition. This recogn recognition recognizes students who could be the first in their family to earn a college degree and whose PSAT scores place them within the top 10% of the state and or who earned a three or higher on two or more AP exams. The same is true for those earning the national rural and small town recognition. These students earn the top 10% of scores in the state
004and or earned a three or higher on two or more AP exams and are coming from a rural and/or small town in Elgen. The school recognition program is for the top 10% scoring students on their PSAT here at Elgen High School. Both cohorts 2026 as well as 2027 are indicated on this list. Tonight we are proud to introduce some of the honores to you. First, I have Miguel Aguilar Flores, who earned the first generation recognition award as well as the school recognition award. Next, I have Miss Caitlyn Anderson. She uh received a designation in the rural and small town recognition award as well as a school recognition award. Matteline Bradford earned the rural and small town recognition award as well as the school recognition award. Valerie Bradford also earned the rural and small town recognition
005award as well as the school recognition award. Sarah Kadena also earned the school recognition award. Crystal Koentos earned the first generation recognition award. rural and small town recognition award as well as the school recognition award. Gabriella de la Cruz earned the school recognition award. Mia Dunn earned the rural and small town recognition award as well as a school recognition award. Madison Elder earned the school recognition award. Jason Gia Baraga earned the first generation recognition award as well as the school recognition award. Aurelia Gueredo earned the first generation recognition award as well as a school recognition award. Sophia Gueredo earned the school recognition award. Yaro earned the first generation recognition award as well as a school recognition award. Benjamin Canton earned the rural and small town recognition award as well as a school recognition award. Melinda
006Leva earned the school recognition award. Emmanuel Padilla earned the rural and small town recognition award as well as well as the school recognition award. Emmelia Emilio Padron earned the school recognition award. Joshua Parks earned the school recognition award. Elise Rose earned the school recognition award. Cassie Rice earned the school recognition award as well as well as the rural and small town recognition award. Caitlyn Rodriguez. Oh. Oh, did I miss some? Okay. Um, Pearlto Kamacho earned the first generation recognition award as well as the whole small town recognition award and the school recognition award. Alejandro O'All earned the first generation recognition award, the rural and small town recognition award as well as the school recognition award. Juan Ortiz Lenev earned the school recognition award. Paloma Ortiz earned the school recognition award. Emmanuel Padilla earned the school
007recognition award as well as the rural and small town recognition award. Emlio Patron earned the school recognition award. Joshua Parks earned the school recognition award. Elise Rose earned the school recognition award. Cassie Rice earned the school recognition award as well as the rural and small town recognition award. Kaisen Rodriguez earned the school recognition award. Jose Solace earned the school recognition award. Tyler Solless earned the school recognition award. Xavier Seday earned the school recognition award. And I have two more. Haley Winsel earned the first generation recognition award as well as the school recognition award. And Hayden White earned the school recognition award. So I don't know about you all, but I am so so proud. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. You're doing good. You're doing good. Congratulations. You
008hang it in. Congratulations. I'm the first one to spell. Congratulations. Congratulations. Making a difference in your family. Congratulations. Congratulations. You're doing well. You're doing well. I'm going to take a moment to just emphasize I don't know if you guys remember you remember that recognition when we got the list this year of this recognition the increase and you heard her say 85% increase from last year we had students up here but nothing like the number that we had this year. And this was all from how they scored on their PSAT and SAT. It's just phenomenal. And I also want to say thank you to Allison Keller for her work with advanced academics and um just all of our folks in that curriculum department, administrators, teachers. It takes everyone pulling together to make this happen for kids.
009And guys, congratulations to all of these students. This is such a huge honor. Parents, congratulations to you, too. It's always nice when there's enough room on the stage to uh honor our all our outstanding students. Uh I told you earlier in the workshop, you'll get to hear again from Miss White. Uh she gets to present our one team, one dream awards tonight in honor of our staff. >> Good evening. I'm back to present an award tonight for our one team, one dream. So, good evening, President Mitchell and Dr. Ritter. As you all are well aware, our theme for 2025 2026 is we're all in this together. Each month, we are going to honor an EISD staff member. And you already witnessed this a little bit at convocation. An EISD staff member or team who goes
010above and beyond to embody this spirit. The one team one dream award celebrates those who work collaboratively to solve problems to care for or support others and hold high expectations for themselves and our students. Today we are celebrating our colleagues Taylor Kavitzki from teaching and learning and the fabulous EMS counseling team. Here is what a colleague said about Taylor. Taylor will always help out anytime she's asked. She is a tremendous help to purchasing and helping others figure out purchase orders or quotes or just general questions. Just general everyday help. That's her thing. And I can attest to that being a new person. She's fabulous. So, congratulations, Taylor. And now this is what a colleague said about our EMS counseling team. Following the devastating tragedy of the loss of one of our precious EMS students to
011a car accident over the Labor Day weekend, Mrs. Cox, Mrs. Mendes, and Mrs. Ramirez were instrumental in supporting multiple students and staff members upon their return from the holiday weekend. They worked tirelessly through lunches and throughout the day to ensure that our students and our staff were able to receive support and they helped they helped all of them navigate through grief and loss. Please welcome and thank our fabulous counseling team Lyanna Cox, Zenata I'm sorry, Zanetta Mendes and Cynthia Ramirez. That concludes our recognitions for the evening. Mr. Mitchell, you can have your board meeting back. [laughter] >> Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez. I appreciate that. All right. Next item. Uh, superintendent support. >> All right. Um Gosh, I'm still giddy from all of those recognitions, seeing all those kids. So exciting. So, um, [laughter] my board
012president's going to say, "Come on, get on." He said, "A talking superintendent." Yes. Yeah, we do. Do this month is Hispanic Heritage Month. It reminds us that our thrive, we embrace diversity, build cultural understanding, and learn from one another. Um, Hispanic Heritage Month honors the diverse histories, cultures, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans who have shaped Texas and the nation. and we are celebrating our own Hispanic heritage that really strengthens our district and um many of our students who are up here tonight, their heritage, I mean, they're the first in their families to be going, you know, being going to college, be doing so well with their PSAT, ACT scores. It's such an exciting time in our district to see such great success. So, celebrating our Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15th to October 15th.
013All right. Thank you. Next, grandparents day. We celebrated grandparents day. Um, for exactly what day it was, two weeks ago, a week ago, but uh these are just some of the great pictures I got to go around and see on some of our campuses. We had such an incredible turnout with the grandparents who were there and um they it was just so much fun. they come, they'll bring the kids something to eat and just spend time with their students there on the campuses. And it is such a special day. We had a great turnout at our campuses. And I want to thank you to all of our principles who made it such a great day of recognition and involvement for our grandparents because that's a really special day for them. Fall sports. We are in
014full swing with fall sports. And football season is underway with student athletes in the community engaged for Friday night games. We have homecoming this week. Volleyball has begun competition as well with teams already representing our schools strongly on the court. Cross country runners and tennis teams are competing across the region, showcasing their hard work and preparation. So, we look very forward to supporting all of our student athletes as they represent Elgen ISD and all of our sports in our middle schools and high schools. Exciting time. Last week, we had uh the first pep rally of the year and look at how many kids. Oh my goodness, it was such a great time. Elgen High School brought the Wildcat spirit to life during the pep rally on Friday. Students, staff, and community members packed the gym
015to cheer on the Wildcats ahead of the big game and performances by the cheerleaders band and purple diamonds fueled the excitement. Um, the event was filled with school pride, chance, and energy, showcasing the unity of one town, one team, and one family. So, thank you to everybody who attended and planned such a great time. Those pepperies are really fun. So, if you get a chance, I highly recommend getting over there to see one. Okay, Hall of Honor. Um, Elgen hosted its annual Hall of Honor last banquet last week, celebrating outstanding alumni and community members who have made a lasting impact on the district and community. The evening was filled with pride and recognition as honores were celebrated for their achievements, leadership, and dedication to Elgenist D's legacy of excellence. The banquet served as a reminder
016of the strong traditions we hold dear in Elgen. Thanks to Jens Anderson for bringing this tradition to life, our athletic director We had our Legacy Oak Middle School groundbreaking last week. We are so excited to break ground on Legacy Oak Middle School, a project that reflects our district's growth and commitment to student success. Designed with innovative learning spaces and modern resources, the new campus will provide students with opportunities to thrive while helping to ease overcrowding across the district. Um the main legacy oak symbolizes strength, deep roots, and lasting growth. qualities that represent both our community and the bright future of our students. And this milestone was made possible through the support of our families, our voters, and community partners. And we look forward to the day when Legacy Oak opens its doors and begins building
017new traditions for generations to come. We will be opening Legacy Oak Middle School in an 2027 school year, and that's going to be just around the corner before we know it. So, things are moving quickly over there. We also had groundbreaking for our transportation center. This is a very um waiting a while for this one to happen. This was a great celebration. And this one is also it's moving along now, moving quickly. And we are so excited to break ground on this transportation center, which reflects the district's growth and commitment to student safety. Our this modern facility will improve efficiency, enhance reliability, and provide upgraded workspaces for our dedicated transportation staff. Made possible again through the support of our community, our bond voters, and this center represents an investment not just in buses and buildings,
018but the daily journeys of our Elgen students. With this new center, we are building the foundation for continued growth and success across the district. And coming up this week, we have our homecoming community pepy at the high school stadium. That will be the September 17th starting at six o'clock p.m. and we are encouraging everyone to attend. Bring family. This is open to the community and it's a really fun time to get out and support our kids. Uh the homecoming football game will be against McCollum High School on the 19th this Friday at 7:30 p.m. at our stadium. Um, it's just a reminder of the Hawkeye celebration coming up in October 23rd through 25th. That's down the road. We always have a bunch of uh kiddos involved in that and staff as well. Um, the high
019school dance um for homecoming. Okay. September 20th from 7 to 10 p.m. I don't think all of y'all are invited to that. I don't know. I just I'm like I don't know. Maybe maybe I heard we have some dancers on the board. I They might want to go. we might call y'all out to go be there. And then Elgen Education Foundation talk golf fundraiser September 24th from 1 to 5:00 pm and that is at talk golf and we're excited about that with supporting our foundation. Um again, Hispanic Heritage Month celebration September oh September 16th was the celebration 6 o'clock to 8 o'clock at the Elgen High School cafeteria for anyone who is interested in attending that event. Lots of great things coming and we're just in the swing of it. things are moving forward. Thank
020you. >> You don't think we're gonna crash the party on the 20th? >> I I may go pick you up and take y'all to the dance. >> Y'all just don't know. Get You better get ready. Get those dance moves ready to go. >> I I did want to mention enrollment. Okay, sorry about that. We are at 6,267 students, which is up 439 students from the first day of school. Right. Thank you. All right. For the president of support is concerned, this past weekend several of us had the opportunity to attend another successful uh FA Casby school board conference. And as such, Mrs. Ree was our representative the [clears throat] delegate assembly as Mr. Baker. Mr. Baker was the alternate. And so I've asked Mrs. to kind of give us a brief tell she learned that
021the same go >> I'll start >> I appreciate all that support I was just given >> you back >> it was definitely a um very interesting time so I would say that uh TASBY did a great job uh with moving everything along and making sure that all 196 uh school ISDs were represented in their regions. And so it was definitely a lot of fun. um for TASBY. This was their 2025th uh TASBY delegate assembly. And the business at hand was to install the president, which our new president for TASMY for 2025 would be Mr. Tony Hopkins of Friendswood ISD. And he's going to assume that office as president. And he assumed it at the end of the TASBY conference that we just um completed. The other business that was also done was there were six
022recommended proposed changes to TASBY bylaws. There was um one advocacy agenda cornerstone principle recommendation for changes and then another act advocacy agenda priority. So those proposals all passed. We had the opportunity of using some great electronic voting little doohickeys. And that was very, very interesting. And I thought the other thing that they used, they had us used to vote with was you guys know those little fans that you unfold the little hand fans? So, there was a vote that was taken where everybody had to raise that hand fan. So, I'm proposing that our board get some of those to put out in the audience. I'm just joking. They'll never go for that. But in any case, it was definitely uh very interesting. I learned a lot and uh participating in it was uh a great
023opportunity to represent Elgen ISD. >> Thank you, Mrs. Ruth. I appreciate that. All right. Next item uh is the consent agenda. Being asked to approve tax report refunds and adjustments for August 2025. Approve financial statement and budget amendment list for August 2025. Approve investment report for August 2025. Approve budget amendments which there were none. Approve purchases greater than $50,000. A consideration and approval of guaranteed maximum price. Uh number two for middle school number two. And then Bodesski uh the Fortnite firewall subscription renewals. Uh number six, approve staffing recommendations. Seven, approve investment officers uh for the year 2526. Approve the school health advisory committee better known as SH membership for 2025 26. Uh that makes up the consent agenda. Are there any questions about those items? I have a question about uh G5, the purchases over
02450,000. Uh when we I know we're approving the middle school thing. Is there going to be a penalty cause in there? You know, I'm trying where I'm going with this is the problem we've had with the auditorium fine arts. I mean, we can't do we have a a clause in our contract with these people. >> Um Mr. if you want to take the microphone, you can respond. >> Good evening, uh, Mr. Mitchell, Dr. Ritter, board of trustees. Um, in most of these clauses, we do have a what would be known as a liquidated damages clause. Uh, depending on the value of the contract. That clause um varies in amount. Um, sometimes it's as small as a $100 a day, sometimes it's as large as a thousand a day. um that clause um cannot uh by
025by statute cannot be punitive. Um it can only recover um charges or fees or amounts that uh the district may be out should that project be delayed. But uh to directly answer your question, yes, there are liquidated damages clauses in this contract uh should they run past their substantial and completion dates. um know those uh amounts I I don't know right off, but I'll say um I believe they're $1,000 a day for substantial and an additional $500 a day for final completion. Um that's generally in our major projects. That's our um standard amounts for a project of this size. Um I can I can verify that, but um that would be our standard liquidated damages amount um for a project of this size. >> Okay. Thank you. There >> any other questions as it relates
026to the consent agenda? >> I move that we uh approve the consent agenda. >> Motion by Mrs. Waltershy, >> second >> by Mr. Boss. Person. All in favor said motion respond by I. >> I. >> Any opposers? Motion passes 70. Thank you. Next, moving to information items. Uh number one scorecard update priority one objectives one.3 1.4 four and 1.5. Bridget Cornelius, assistant superintendent, student services by the time she gets the vote. >> All right. >> Good evening. So sorry about that. Apologize. All right. So we are um going to present on priorities 1.3 which is student readiness, priority 1.4 which is engaged well-rounded students and 1.5 student safety and well-being. Presenting tonight on those priorities will be myself, Bridget Cornelius, assistant superintendent of student services. We'll also hear a presentation from Maggie Howard who is
027our director of CCMR and CTE and then our athletic director Jyn Anderson will be sharing some updates as well. So to start, Maggie Howard is going to begin our session with an update on priority 1.3. While Maggie is unable to join us in person today as she is in Washington DC accepting a grant on behalf of the district, she wanted to personally share this important information. Maggie is especially proud of the progress made in advancing student readiness. And in her absence, she has prepared a video presentation to deliver the priority 1.3 update. So, please join me in viewing her portion of the presentation. Good evening, Dr. Ritter, President Mitchell, members of the board. Good evening, Dr. Ritter, President Mitchell, and members of the board. My name is Maggie Howard, and I'm the director of CCMR,
028CTE, and PEK. I apologize for my absence tonight, but I am thankful for the modern technology that allows me to share exciting updates from afar. Tonight, I'm sharing with you an update on scorecard priority 1.3 student readiness strategic action 1, which is to enhance, ensure, and increase student CCMR programs and opportunities. I'm happy to share that we are making significant progress towards our long-term goal, which is that 85% of our graduates will meet CCMR indicators by 2027. CCMR stands for college, career, and military readiness. And these indicators measure a graduate's preparedness for interest in college, workforce, or the military. This is part of the student achievement domain in school accountability. This chart highlights our CCMR graduates over a 5-year period compared to state CCMR data. For the 2425 accountability year, 83.9% of our students met
029CCMR indicators, putting us just below our goal of 85%. I do want to note that CCMR is a lagging indicator. So 2425 numbers are reflective of the 23 24 academic year. College readiness indicators are measured by meeting criteria in collegebased assessments like the TSI, earning college level credit, earning credit for college prep courses, or earning an associates degree. We provide opportunities for students to meet these indicators by offering programs like early college high school and PEK where students may become eligible to obtain associates degrees. We also offer courses like dual credit, on-ramps, advanced placement, articulated courses, and careermies that allow students to earn college credit through Austin Community College while simultaneously earning high school credit. These opportunities are offered at no cost to students. College prep opportunities like TSI, SAT, and ACT are offered regularly
030on site and at no cost to students. Texas College Bridge is also a college prep course available to our juniors and seniors to meet this readiness indicator. In addition to the academic opportunities, the College and Career Center in Elgen High School provides weekly recruiter visits during lunches, hosts ongoing advisement sessions, shares information on scholarships and upcoming fairs or events to seniors, and showcases student decisions on a bulletin board titled Leaving the Wildcats Den. Something to check out next time you visit EHS. Career readiness indicators are measured by obtaining approved industrybased certifications in aligned career and technical education programs of study, earning level one or two certificates through partnering institutes of higher education, or graduating workforce ready and receiving special education services while in high school. The military readiness indicator is measured by enlisting in the
031US Armed Forces. We are not short on career-based opportunities for our students and we are continuously searching for ways to expand so that every student is reached. We currently offer 17 CTE programs of study. In spring 2025, over 180 students were awarded one or more state recognized industry based credentials across 10 different programs. This year we aim to award credentials from all eligible programs. Work-based learning opportunities are expanding as industry partnerships grow. We continue to seek out new partnerships and strengthen relationships with businesses and industries within Elgen and surrounding communities so that students have the opportunity to secure internships through practicum courses in their senior year of study in each CTE program. We have expanded opportunities for competition and leadership by adding new career and technical student organizations. We have six organizations working through state
032affiliation at this moment all with membership ranging from 30 to 70 students. Stay tuned for competitions and other events taking place with these student led organizations. The college and career center at EHS has included career and military recruiters in their weekly visits. The what's next Wednesday showcases during lunches include recruiters from trade schools, military branches, and employers in addition to those two and four-year colleges. Though the year has just gotten started, conversations are ongoing about program showcases, career fairs, and CCMR weeks to reach our youngest learners and ensure all students in EISD are exposed to choice and opportunity for their futures. Thank you. >> All right, great job, Maggie. Jens Anderson will come up now and present on 1.4. I didn't know that video was an option. So, I'm just get you just get me.
033Uh, good evening, President Mitchell, Dr. Ritter, and school board. I appreciate you having me. My name is Jensen Anderson. I'm the athletic director for Elgen ISD and we will be jumping right into it. 1.4.1 Promote Involvement Extracurricular Programs. Um, that graphic is actually a graphic that we put on social media. Um it may look a little bit out of the place, but we have to start athletics with having a physical. And so we provide free physicals each spring. We we actually provided 484 free physicals on May the 14th for 7th through 12th grade students. Um we coordinated with the Elgen PT, Elgen Family Healthcare or Elgen Hamley Family Health Center and Ally Medical and Bassrop. And so we do that each year. So that's a huge start for us in in getting our kids. That
034also includes those kids that could be in band. Um they may be in cheer or dance. anybody that needs ROC, anybody that needs a physical. Um, we also have our middle school and our youth nights at our varsity games and our high school teams. Go as a group to watch our middle school teams. Um, our Elgen Athletic Facebook page has close to a thousand followers. And then we also have other social media um sites for our athletic events um that share information directly for their actual program. So, the girls side has has a a Facebook page, the football team has a Facebook page, those kinds of things. Um, we also do elementary visits. We help with field days. We read the elementary students and then we welcome students to school. Those are some of the
035fun activities we've gotten to do. And then obviously we have a lot of public events such as meet the Wildcats that help us drive involvement in our sports programs as we surround our athletes with positive energy and support through our school pep rallies, community events, and having our high school athletes visit our younger campuses. Other things we do to promote involvement maybe Can you hit Can you send me to the next one? There you go. Um, this last year we actually as a district provided uh practice or competition space for over 1,000 youth league practices and games, which is something we've really tried to push and coordinate with our youth leagues. So, that's hitting kids from Elgen ISD from kindergarten all the way up, especially second grade um through seventh grade. So, we're super proud
036of that. that includes sports such as football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and track as well as um we had our offseason and summer league team for baseball and softball using our facilities. Um this summer we held eight different youth sports camps and we welcomed 282 campers. And then we also had our summer strength and conditioning or our summer workouts where we had seven weeks of workouts for our athletes with two sessions a day as well as skill work for 7th through 12th grade. And we usually have between 200 and 250 athletes every single day this summer. So, our coaches put in a lot of extra time, a lot of extra work to work with our kids and continue to promote involvement and advance our kids in athletics. Moving on to district scorecard 1.4.2, increase opportunities for
037student voice. Um, we have a healthy variety of programs to choose from. We currently have right at 785 athletes. And we also have 38 students that serve as managers and 35 students that serve as trainers. We have 18 different sports at the high school which consists of 39 different teams. 12 different sports at the middle school which consists of 32 teams. Um and last year our home events we actually hosted 241 games here in Elgen. So we have a lot of kids involved a lot of the time in the evenings, afternoons, and weekends not just at practices but at games. Um we also coordinate with other groups such as the trainers band cheer dance especially Friday night football games. We get all those people get together. we get more recognition for our different student groups
038in front of a lot of people that wouldn't necessarily normally get to see them. We also share a lot of students and and athletes with them. My own daughter who's a freshman, she's played volleyball the last three weeks and then made it to the varsity football game. So, we do a lot of coordination with those groups to allow opportunities for students to be involved in multiple things. Um, we also in our programs have leadership councils and captains programs where we're trying to develop more leadership and character. U, we've started something this year, we've really kind of, I guess, dove further into it called the Texas way. It's an initiative with tour development, a guy named Steven Mackey, as well as the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association, Texas High School Coaches Association, where we're trying
039to build respect for others, control of self, and the spirit of competition that provides us video lessons, um, as well as some curriculum that our coaches use to grow our athletes and themselves um, in character development and leadership. And then of course our signing days that we have up at the school, we have those at the end of the day so that all of our athletes can be recognized in front of their peers and inspire younger athletes to achieve. Finally, 1.4.3 enhance opportunities for students to learn and serve beyond the classroom. Um each of our athletic programs is supposed to complete at least one community outreach program every single year. Um those include a lot of different things. We go to the elementary schools a lot. Um, we coordinate with the sped department for a
040big uh district-wide field day at the end of each school year in the spring. We support a hog eyee and we've done a lot of other elk and community events and work with other organizations. We also have our academic all district selections and academic all-state recognitions. This last school year, we actually had 43 different academic all-state recognitions, which means that they were a senior and that they had um a 92 or above average for their entirety of their high school career. So to have 43 kids um acknowledge there just shows you that athletics and education completely work together. And finally, we have our team academic plans um where each team has specified tutorials um and then incre increased communication with teachers and have other incentives for athletes to excel in schoolwork and behave in the
041classroom. Um, and it's hard to put put it on something, but if you were to ask me, um, what do our kids I could I could speak all night about what our kids learn through athletics. Um, but in a time of of division, we have kids from different races, different ethnicities, different socioeconomics, different backgrounds, different political views, and different religions. They get to come together and work as a team. and athletics and public education. Athletics serves that better than anything in our society and I'm proud of that and I thank you guys for your support and all that you do uh to be at all of our games and uplift our kids here in ISD. Thank you. >> All right, next up a part of um one point 1.4 four is engaging well-rounded students and
042that includes um increasing average daily attendance rates for students across the district. We added this um I think a year ago and so we're really doing a better job now of tracking attendance and making sure that we make that a priority here in our in our district because we understand the importance of students being here every day. Not just for financial purposes, but most importantly, we want them here so that they are engaged and that they're learning. and we miss them when they aren't here. So, I'm talk a little bit with you about attendance and some things that we're doing with attendance. Overall, last year we did see an increase um and I I attribute that to the work of the campuses and what the principles were doing on their campuses. We're we're looking forward
043to continuing to monitor attendance so that we can ensure that we continue to make those increases so that we reach our goals which we know fundamentally will um make our students better and provide a better learning environment and engagement for them. So 1.4.4 again is about increasing average daily attendance for all students across the district. So last year, if you recall, we talked about those attendance incentive plans that we required all campuses to create and we're just building on those this year and enhancing those even more. So included in those campus attendance incentive plans, the principles are required to have much smaller incentives. So those one to three weeks incentives. So like examples, home room competitions, drawings, things like that. Um and also those nine weeks attendance incentives. So those are more significant and staggered
044out. Some campuses are doing an attend dance or the kids get to go to a pep rally or they're awarded with certificates. And then we also want to make sure that our campuses are focusing on those dip days, those days that are usually before after an extended holiday. Those kids that those days that we know that some kids just don't make it to school because they're still wherever they were. And so our hope is that by creating these exciting days, creating these exciting days and they're encouraging their parents, hey, I want to come to school because it's going to be fun. And so I we saw a lot of that last year. I have to shout out the middle school who did a great job with planning like those those student staff games on those
045days so that kids do come to school and are able to enjoy and engage. Um you'll see here just an example of some things that that's an HRE example there where um this was from the first second week of school where um all the kids that were there for that week were invited to attend a popsicle party. So no excused or unexcused absences for the week. See you at school. Just really great incentive. Really great way to get the elementary kids to tell their parents, hey I need to make sure I go to school so that I can be involved in that popsicle party. And then there's an example there looks like a popsicle party at EES. From the district perspective, you'll see that um we'll be doing more family communications. So we have our
046weekly um newsletter that goes out now. So you'll see that we're including updates not only on social media, but there as well about encouraging our parents to get our kids to school and making sure that that they're at school and that they're at school all day and just highlighting the incentives there that many of the campuses are implementing. Uh we also have those campus attendance data trackers. So this is really getting down to the student level and we're campusing we're we're tracking campus daily attendance by grade with day or average providing those year-to- date ADA by grade and campus and then identifying target students who are chronically absent. So those are some real examples of those attendance data trackers that we're using. We're looking at how many kids are showing up every day and for
047in that we can look at trends so we can be more strategic as we target interventions to get those kids there every day. There are regular campus attendant check-ins with the family support coordinator. You met John Estrada earlier this evening and so he's involved on all of these meetings. he's involved. He creates these trackers for the campuses and has regular meetings with the uh attendance committee on the campus to ensure that we are talking to those students about those students that have chronic absenteeism and then strategizing on next steps and interventions for the student and the family. This is an example of um I believe this is HRE so who's really created a culture of attendance. So you'll see there that this is their plan and it is it is quite extensive and not only
048is it great on paper but it's something that they're implementing regularly. So you'll see that they have plans set up for not just nine weeks not just further on but during registration what they're doing to focus on getting the kids there in attendance before school starts. What are they doing? and then daily what that looks like because we understand that it takes all of us to ensure that our kiddos are getting to school every day. So the campuses are really really doing a great job and uh taking the lead on that while we provide support. This is another example of a classroom incentive where um every day they get a letter and then when they spell out Wildcat um then the whole classroom's a prize and an announcement. So, just really great incentives that are
049non-threatening but are encouraging to really get those students to talk to their parents, especially those elementary babies. Talk to their parents about getting them to school and how important that is. So, really excited about the work that's being done. Um, this is another sample of um schoolwide celebrations that some are implementing. So, if the total number of student absences is 31 or fewer in a in a day for the whole school, then the entire school earns a prize. So, really individualizing that. And again, it doesn't stop there. But after this step, we drill down on those students who are chronically absent and do what we can to find out what's going on at home and connection with the families and all the things so that we can see what we can do to provide support
050so that the students are there at school every day. 1.5 um is about uh student safety and well-being. So, I want to highlight some of the things that we're doing, our ongoing plans to ensure that our campuses are safe and secure. So as you know our tier one approach to behavior is all about um it's we use captioning kids hearts and so we understand that if we have that child's heart um then we can have their mind. So it's so important and we monitor the implementation of capturing kids hearts regularly but that's the start that's where we start the day that's where we end the day every day and so our hope is that by really addressing the wellness the overall student that the behavior will will improve once we build those relationships. So, something
051that I'm excited to talk about too is our counseling and student support services. I'm so excited about the work work that we've done and we've built such a comprehensive counseling and student support services program for our students in order to be successful and to be most importantly supported because again this relates to everything their attendance what they're learning how they're doing and some of our students need an extra level of wraparound support in in order to be successful and to thrive. So the goal of our counseling and student support services department is to ensure equitable, accessible, and comprehensive counseling services to support student academic success, mental health, and overall well-being. And we know if we get there, then they just need to come in the door and we can teach them and they will learn
052and they will grow. So we have um comprehensive coverage across all of our campuses. We have specialized support roles on every campus and across the district. And most importantly, there's accessibility. We have Spanish speaking staff across campuses. We have licensed counselors. We have campus uh school counselors. We have LPCs. We have LCSSWS credentials to ensure that professional standards are met as we support our students holistically. In terms of um sustaining and enhancing the school emergency operations procedures, as you know, we have an armed security officers on every campus. We also utilize raptor visitor management and emergency management to make sure that our campuses are secure and that people coming in our campuses are safe enough to come in. Um we use drill management. So all drills for the school year have already been logged. We
053know when they are, we know when they're taking place and most importantly after every drill we uh go through an afteractions report. So that's again it's a drill. It's a practice. So it's not just done in isolation. We say okay bye. I will do the next one on the next date. These afteraction reports allow the teams to reflect on the effectiveness of the drill and what tweaks we need to make in order to move forward in the event that something serious does happen. We want to make sure that we as prepared as we possibly can be. Um lastly, we have our emergency operations plan that's reviewed and approved annually. We utilize the standard response protocol which is recommended by the Texas School Safety Center. We have our safety and security committee that meets as required
054and then we also have our threat assessment protocol. I always highlight this because it it's I think it's great that we do this here in Elgen. We're required by law um to have threat assessment a threat assessment team for the district. But here in Elgen, we have a threat assessment team on every single campus. And so we'll be talking more about that in future meetings. But the threat assessment protocol that we use and the the teams that we have in place are trained um and they're led through a process to determine one whether or not it's a threat and two to make sure that if it's not a credible threat that we're putting all of the resources in place to make sure that it does doesn't turn into something. And so um we'll talk more
055about that but excited about what we've done so far in um this priority. Any questions or comments? Just one question. Yes, sir. The center programs that you have at the various campuses on the ones that have been very successful, do they share that with the other campuses or does everybody kind of create their own unique thing? >> Um, we share the incentive plans with, if you're asking whether or not we share them, we share them out with the other campuses. So, one thing we did this year that we hadn't done last year, but we did this year is we we combed through every attendance incentive plan much like uh we do with lesson plans and we provided feedback to the campuses. And so, John Estrada sent those separate emails to campuses. Hey, it looks great.
056Here are some things that you may need to work on and then we shared out here's an example of a great plan, some things you can use and move forward with that possibly you can implement on your campus. So I believe I know they're pretty competitive principles but but they talk to each other. >> Yeah. But they are pretty competitive but they talk to each other and share because they know it's great for all kids. >> You're welcome. Any other questions? >> I would like to ask on the um incentive days you have the hat day, sunglass day, pajama days, bring a stuffy day. Have you noticed the attendance being any higher on any of those days or being less on any of those days? on those dip days. Is that what you said? >>
057Right. Are those the dip days um that you have hat days, sunglass day? >> Oh, yes. Yes. >> So, have we noticed that on those days attendance is higher? I don't have that data. >> Higher or low? >> I would assume it was higher, but I don't have that data, but I can get it from those campuses that implemented it on those specific days. >> Just wonder, >> it's certainly an incentive to get the kids there. So, I would think I'm hoping that it's higher, but I don't have pajamas, so maybe I don't go that day. So, I'm just wondering. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. >> Any other questions or comments? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next item number two, priority four update. Update on construction projects
058including the 2021 and 2024 bonds. Right. >> Uh yes. Good evening, Mr. Mitchell. uh Dr. Ritter, uh board of trustees. Um excited to bring a presentation again to give you an overall project update. As Dr. Ritter mentioned, u just with this image here, we're excited to uh get started with middle school number two or Legacy Middle School. Uh so as we continue each month, you guys will continue to see some updates there. Um jumping in with the middle with the high school uh campus, we are coming down to the tail end of the the project with the auditorium. We've got about 30 days till move in. Um some of you that participated in our facility tour um there in that image there got to see the uh the facility the auditorium. Um at that time
059they did still have some seating corrections going on. Um those have now been um finalized. Uh those look much better. Um final trainings are are taking place. In that upper leftand picture there was some sound and light training um ongoing. We do still have a couple of trainings left. Uh we do still have some um stage lighting um and spotlights that have to be placed. Those are to be owner placed or by the district. You know, they don't know exactly what kind of shows we're going to put on. So there's a a great number. Um I don't know the exact number, somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 spotlights uh for us to place, but uh I can tell you our fine arts department, they were just ecstatic when they saw the number of spotlights that
060they had to work with. Um but uh regardless, we'll we'll get to place those all along the sides and up in the catwalk and they'll be able to utilize those for each of the shows and then finalize their training um across the campus. Uh steel coating and striping along the parking lot that happened um just before school started. So some of those um included um also um finalizations to the uh band marching pad. Some of those stripes were getting um deteriorated and faded with all the construction work over the past couple years. So uh that got a refresh as well. Um then across the campus with this overall closeout, we're just finishing punch list and this includes work throughout the uh classroom additions and and certainly in the auditorium as well. Okay. Uh moving over
061to the transportation facility um along FM100, you can see there utilities at the building pad are underway. This is where the actual pre-engineered metal building for the offices uh will be. Um storm drain infrastructure um is there. There's a lot of that ongoing with the amount of flat work and concrete uh that we're placing. There's a significant amount of um storm drain um off-site uh water infrastructure going in as large as large um detention bonds can also be seen there and that uh bottom right hand photo. Um overall making really fast progress here with the amount of concrete. We've had great cooperation from from all partners here. Um, we do still have some changes that will be taking place on FM1100. We're working with Tex DOT um and actually coordinating with all the adjacent developers.
062Um, ultimately um just as a uh sneak peek uh we'll have a uh expansion to FM100 almost from County Line Road all the way west. There will be a a center turn lane that'll be added um over the next within the next year, but likely sooner. Um and it'll affect where our uh driveway comes out. It'll affect that area there as well as the adjacent development. So, that'll be part of this project that we'll incorporate. Um and we'll continue working with text on that as well as adjacent developers for connection to wastewater um uh service uh just to make sure our facility is ready. Uh but right now we're still tracking for a completion date of uh next spring around May and then um we'll be ready to go. I know our bus drivers, our
063transportation department, everybody's eager to get this facility online. Uh priority maintenance projects uh we had a lot of construction going uh related to 2021 bond um over the summer. Some of those projects have been completed. Um some of them we still got work scheduled um incoming um winter break and and Thanksgiving break. um nighting and high school flooring especially. We were able to get a little bit of that done and we'll continue to uh get in there actually uh in talking with the campus. We think we'll be able to sneak in there at October the professional development days. We'll get back into Naidig Elementary and do a little bit of that flooring. But overall um by the time this uh fall semester is out, we'll have uh flooring replacement completed at night um elementary and
064the high school. um Elgen Elementary, they have uh installation of window shades um started over this past week and that'll continue and be finished out this month. And while that may not sound all impressive, um teachers have struggled over the past few years to to be really creative with crepe paper or whatever they could uh fashion themselves to cover windows uh just to prevent glare. Um so they could see, you know, screens like this or just to prevent the heat. So uh this would be a really nice addition to those classrooms. Um and then also restroom flooring at Elen Elementary should be completed this month. Uh you can see there the middle um completed installation of replacement water heaters at Elementary and there were a couple like this at the fieldhouse as well at the
065high school. So um always certainly nice to have a hot shower after uh practice. So we were we were glad that we were able to get these installed. On our fiber optic project, we are still continuing some work, but that project has slowed a little bit. Uh we're having to do a resubmission to text dot to get across um FM uh to get across 290. Uh we had initially worked to get an aerial crossing, but it looks like now we're going to board under 290. Um our initial text stop permit was denied. Um and that's okay. We'll we'll continue working. Ultimately, um going under 290 is better for us. Um that just keeps that uh that line from being pulled down by oversized loads in the future. Um, but it does require resubmission to text
066dot. So, we'll work through that process with our contractor and and continue on. Um, HBAC improvements. Uh, there's been a lot of, uh, discussion about this. I want to spend a little time here. Um, Elgen Elementary. Um, we have talked about this project in the past. Um, I want to, uh, clear some things up here. Elgen Elementary. While we did have a large project this summer at Elgen Elementary, um it only addressed one portion of the campus, um you can see from the graphic here, that yellow graphic, that's the 400 wing at Elgen Elementary. That's the wing closest to the gym. Uh work is completed in that area. That that work was done over the summer. Um new AC system in that area, controls and that work um is completed. They've got a couple of
067very minor punch list items, but that work is operational, fully complete. As part of the 2021 bond, we do still have scheduled remaining work in that building. Um, right now, the remainder of that uh facility is working on existing air conditioning system. Those units are running. Um, but we do still have plans to replace the remaining air conditioning system in Elgen Elementary. Uh, so we're nearing 100% construction drawings right now. We do plan to bid a project this fall that will be released um to the contractor. Um ideally we would schedule that project for next summer. Um if we could get them in there sooner. Um for instance the uh the wing right now we're considering to put CDC as empty. There's the consideration we might could get them in there a little sooner but
068ideally we would um get those folks in there next summer just based on the lead time of equipment and those types of things. And then we would continue that work uh just by moving some kids around in those empty wings until all of the HBAC equipment in that building um is completed. It would also include uh the upgrade of the electrical service and transformer to that building just based on the age of the um electrical service versus the AC equipment um that is going in. We'll have to upgrade the electrical service and switch gear at the same time. So that will also happen next summer. But all of that has been coordinated. Those construction drawings are almost finished and that project's about ready to bid. Um Nad Elementary um the projects on the right you
069see are some of the ones that were completed under this priority uh maintenance projects this summer. Nad Elementary um about 50 rooftops um they're replaced this summer. All but four. Um that project um is working through commissioning and test and balance right now. Um working through their punch list. Um Elgen Intermediate um those rooftop units have been replaced. U controls work is the uh is the big area there that has not been um taken care of yet. We do anticipate the controls contractor being back on site of an intermediate later this week. Uh they do have a couple of units um that were down. They had a contractor on site today and they expect that contractor to be back tomorrow. Um Booker T Washington um multiple units were replaced there. um controls uh controls contractors
070finishing up this week and they will continue to be on site as needed for any deficiencies or remedial work and then we'll get started on the punch list and our commissioning agent will be on site um and then Elgen High School there was a smaller number of units only a handful of units um but that work is uh working through commissioning and then the punch list as well but all of these units so we certainly have a warranty and then uh we will continue to work with our commissioning and test and balance it team uh to make sure our contractors stay engaged should any issues come up. Um we'll keep in touch with our principles to make sure folks are as comfortable as they can be and get any contractors out um as quickly as
071we can should uh should issues arise. Um like I said, Oak Middle School, we were glad as Dr. Ritter said to uh to get this project started. We were exciting about the groundbreaking. We had a terrific turnout with lots of community members and um all the folks involved with this from our construction and design team. Um you can see in the bottom left hand uh with site work in progress, it did stir up some dust. That's a little bit of a a different site, you know, on that side of uh the district. We've got a sandy soil as oppo as opposed to gumbo clay on this west side. So, we did hear some um um community uh discussion about that, but I will say the next day our contractor was on site with a water
072truck. Uh so, we began to water down the site and that has helped. It's not going to completely take care of it, but it has certainly helped. And as they got down a little further into some red clay, it also um became a less dusty site. So, um things will change a little bit there and they'll continue to water that site to help mitigate that uh that dust disturbance. Uh but overall, you can see there with the aerial shot from our drone service, they're making quick quick work of that uh site grading and pad forming there. So, we'll continue that work there on the site. Um we will continue the TCQ permitting process for our wastewater uh coordination. We've got some mailers that have to go out to adjacent homeowners and things like that just
073as a part of the formal permitting process. But overall, we're confident about the June 2027 uh completion date. Um athletic improvements, uh switching back to the high school and uh we're excited to see how much site work has already been done on baseball and softball. Uh the turf is already gone. If you look out there at both these fields, uh the site contractors really made quick work of that. So, uh what was once just a green field is already gone. um disconnected the irrigation already and they've begun to uh get those fields stripped down. Um fencing has been laid down. So um you know there was a lot of alternates in this project. Um uh tennis courts are certainly a large part of it, but uh press boxes and those types of things are um
074something that they're able to tackle now. So our team has been able to go in and um get all the little amenities of speakers and um cameras off the press boxes. And now that we've got uh all those things out, we'll begin to start demolition on press boxes and all those things will begin happening in the background. But um overall, we're excited about this project. Um you'll start seeing some of the soil conditioning and soil injection happening over the next couple of weeks. So it'll be a pretty wet site as they start that. Uh we'll continue to be mindful of the Thursday night, Friday night games. Uh we've talked to our contractor about that uh fencing placement and uh cleaning up the site to make sure it's ready for our own home and home home
075events. Um you know, just to be mindful of uh cleaning and that type of thing. But overall, we're really excited about this project. They do still anticipate this project being completed on time. Uh that was an early concern, but right now everything is still looking positive for for January. Um the homestead uh we continue to have weekly design meetings on this. This is a very fasttrack project. Um a small project compared to some of the others, but we do have design development um drawings nearly completed u for a culinary arts kitchen designed to accommodate about 24 to 30 students per class. Um we're anticipating uh submitting this for permitting um in less than six weeks. Uh so it's a pretty quick turnaround. we do have to uh go before the city to get a PDD
076revision. Uh we've been in communication with the city on that. Um they're they're working with us very well. So we think this project will go uh smoothly. We still are uh planning to start construction in December. We've got a couple of things that need to happen between now and then, but we're optimistic that we can um get this uh get this approved and start construction in December. Uh Joris is our uh partner on this as a construction manager at risk and they've had some great input on cost savings and uh accelerating schedule and other areas. So um overall we're uh optimistic about a project move in for next summer. And lastly um our portables for the DAP uh just uh to the south of us here for this facility. We're nearing completion on this uh
077civil work um complete minus a punch list. We got new parking in ADA areas completed. Uh we walked the facility uh last week uh with Dr. Rodman uh to get input on furniture placement, whiteboard locations, um electronic placement in the classrooms for uh digital screens, those types of things. So overall, we've just got a little bit of coordination with our technology team and furniture placement and then we expect to uh schedule overall move in for a professional development or an upcoming holiday. Um, final questions. >> Two questions. >> We're going to still call. So, those are those are standard renderings off of uh the drawings from when it was uh the brewery, but uh certainly not. I would I would think we would change those. >> And then the last picture, is there going to
078be a fence around those >> these? Yes, there there will be a fence that is part of the remaining uh work. Uh in fact, I requested the updated uh drawing for that fence today. When I walked that site last week with Dr. Rodman um and I walked with Bridget last week as well, Miss Cornelius, we had both some ideas about fencing. So, we've asked for an updated site drawing. We always had plans for a fence there. Um but as the project um you know was completed uh there was some additional input on desired fencing locations and um boundaries and that sort of thing. So that's changed a little bit. >> Hey just a couple questions. Apologize everything on the auditorium. I was shocked by the height of the stage that Is that what they do?
079>> I to be honest, I I could not speak directly to the to the heights. Um I I I couldn't tell you how that was developed. >> Okay. >> Um I I can find out uh from our architects what d what drove that. >> I used to know >> certainly. Yep. I can find out. And then also the underground line that you haven't run on the 29. Is that an extra cost? >> Um it's an extra cost to within the project. Um we we always anticipated doing it. Um in this project we thought it would be faster to go overhead and it generally is. Um as as Brian Paige and I talked about this, it was always our desire to go under. um it just usually is takes a little bit longer and our goal
080was expediency in this project. We wanted to get um a fiber signal to Trinity Ranch as quickly as possible, but with the overhead u with the overhead route being denied by Texot, it o under um is now the option. We do have the budget for that in contingency. So the funds are there within the project. Um it's just uh becomes the alternate now. Yes, sir. >> Yeah, >> it's 30. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? 8:23 p.m. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Yes, sir. >> Motion by Mr. Mars. Is there a second? >> Second by Mrs. Wilson. All in favor say motion respond by I. I. The opposes. Motion passes. 70 8:23 p.m. We are adjourned. Thank you people.