001While the board makes its way to their chairs, what you just saw is a tradition that we started about a year ago where we meet potential new employees before we vote on them. It's been a tradition of this board for last year then we always like to put a name with the face. So, when you see us gather out in front of the dais and meet people, that's what we're actually doing. That was louder than I thought. That was awful on mic four. Check, check. All right. I'm going to pause just a little bit. Check, check. I'm now on mic four. I now call this regular meeting of the Goose Creek CISD Board of Trustees to order. One more time. Bear with us just a moment. Check, check, check, check, check. I'm back on the
002mic. I'm green. Check 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1. Check 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1. >> [clears throat] >> All right. We're going to take two. I now call this regular meeting 6:04 p.m. Good evening, Mrs. Guy. Was this meeting properly posted? Yes, it was. And do we have a quorum? We do. Thank you so much. At this time, I will turn it over to Miss Kendall David for opening exercises. All right. Good evening, President Campeze, school board members, and Dr. Rivas. We will begin this evening opening exercises with the pledges to the American and Texas flag. The pledges will be led by Mr. Clem followed by a prayer led by Mr. Samson. Everyone, please rise for the pledges and remain standing for the prayer. Please join me in the
003pledges. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. At this moment, if you have a hat on, uh please take it off unless you got bad hair. Uh My heavenly Father, I'm so thankful for us to be here meaning everyone in this room. I'm glad they made it safe and we'll be honored if they make it home. Father, I'm glad that everyone take a moment to think about their daily daily uh routine. Father, thank you for everything you give us. Bless our students, our staff, and our teachers. Thank you for each and every day. And
004I say this in your name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. Now, I'll turn it back over to you, President Campeze, for citizens participation. Thank you so much, Miss Kendall. And for those of y'all that are following the agenda, we are reversing items number three and four on the agenda and I'm using president's privilege to do so. Miss Garcia has indicated that we have two speakers to speak tonight. Is that correct, Miss Garcia? Nod of the head says yes. Citizens participation is the time that the board will hear public concerns or public comments from those who have properly signed up to address the board. At regular board meetings, the board shall permit public comment regardless of whether the topic is an item on the agenda posted with notice of the meeting. General public
005comment is limited to no more than 30 minutes per meeting. At all other board meetings, public comment shall be limited to open sessions open session items on the agenda posted with notice of the meeting. Each speaker is reminded that he or she is limited in his or her presentation to a maximum of 3 minutes, which can be further reduced or limited by the presiding officer, and that he or she should respect confidentiality concerns and refrain from attacking the personal character of any individual student, staff member, or board member in addressing concerns or comments. Pursuant to state law and board policy BE legal, the board cannot consider or take action on concerns at this meeting unless they pertain to an item on the posted agenda for this meeting. Any deliberation or decision on an item that
006is not posted for consideration at this meeting shall be limited to a proposal to be placed to place a subject on the agenda of a future meeting. Thank you. With that, we have two people signed up to speak. When I call your name, please approach the podium, which is now in the middle of the room. I'm going to keep moving it around. Um and state your name, the topic you're speaking on. Our secretary, Miss Guy, to my left will keep time. You'll have 3 minutes to speak. When you get to 1 minute, she'll chime in and say 1 minute remaining. And your time will begin once you start speaking. So, at this time, I'd like to call up Brian Walenta. Thank you for joining us tonight, sir. And the floor is yours. Good evening. My
007name is Brian Walenta and I teach at Robert Lee High School. This is my 40th year in education. I've taught large schools, small schools, Texas A&M, Lee College, and an administrator in Clear Creek at the junior high and high school. I've been I have seen many different educational changes in my career. I come tonight to speak about the 5 by 5. When I was a battalion commander, we would plan operations and ask input from all participants, including those who had the boots on the ground. With the 5 by 5, I've not heard of one teacher being asked how they feel about this system nor how it would affect our students. And we have lots of questions. To help you better understand my classroom setting, I have about 130 students, 50% sped. In fact, I have
00825% of all the US history sped students in the district. 30% educational uh emerging bilingual, 85% economically disadvantaged, and I also have the deaf ed co-op. I complete almost 60 pages of sped paperwork each and every week. I have done the scope and sequence and in looking at the 5 by 5 in order to teach a year of US history in one semester with 127 TEKS, we would have approximately 55 instructional days to cover post-Civil War to 2020, which means World War I in 3 days, World War II in 4 days, Civil Rights in 4 days, and if everything worked perfectly, 4 days for STAR review. These days do not include class meetings, BOY exams, students being pulled from testing. And if a student or teacher is absent, they can miss an entire unit. And
009if said to point, they can miss two to three units. Plus, in 2030, the curriculum will change to include Columbus all the way to Trump. One reason why our kids do achieve is that we do have the ability to chunk information into small bites. It's just like how you eat an elephant, one bite at a time. We have students who have a difficult time in English and now you want us to push them harder and most likely fall behind. I implore you to consider the individuals who must carry out the orders that you're about to give. And for those who fail to have uh and fail and have to retake the class and STAR uh research shows higher anxiety, frustration, lower uh confidence. Students who fail multiple classes have a higher dropout rate. Here's an
010option. Since English II STAR may be going away, have that 10th grade English focus on the need to pass TSIA. Have them pullouts and boot camps. I've heard that the high school are the ones that keep our ratings high. Why push just us? As our superintendent has stated, what about the junior high and elementary? If you are set on passing the 5 by 5, have a pilot program, one school to start. If students in the district want, apply to transfer and have a truly open district. If they don't, they can transfer to another school. I truly believe that this will hurt a majority of our students and I implore you to consider all possible ideas and outcomes. As one of our board members has stated, why can't we let our students enjoy their high school
011career? And another was asking about the need to hire more teachers and budgets. The bottom line is, please consider our students. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Walenta. Our second speaker is Mr. Nicholas Rice. Mr. Rice, the microphone is yours when you're ready. All right. Good evening, everyone. I'm Nick Rice. I'm secretary for Citizens for Stronger Education. I was really not planning to speak tonight again about our next meeting, but on the way here, our president, Jesse Harden, called me and asked if I would again remind everyone that next Tuesday, the 21st, at 6:00, we are meeting at Luby's. Um we'd like everyone to come. We are a group of problem solvers. We're just looking at doing what's best for our school district. We want everyone, you know, to join us. Um speaking of
012Jesse, I know many of you know her. Um please continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers. She's really going through a difficult time right now, but she is still, even in this time, still doing a lot for our school district and when we to come tonight on or perhaps you really regrets that she couldn't make it, but again it's next Tuesday the 21st at 6:00 at Luby's here in Baytown. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rice. That concludes citizens participation. We'll now revert back to item number three, recognitions and acknowledgements, and I'll turn it back over to Mrs. David. Thank you, President Campezi. At this time, please welcome Dr. Anna Espinosa, our Goose Creek's Director of Education Foundation and Partnerships for a recognition. President Campezi, members of the board, Dr.
013Rodriguez, it is always an honor to take a moment to recognize partners who invest so intentionally in our students and our staff. So, I am pleased to share that the Goose Creek CISD Education Foundation has received a $15,000 corporate designated donation from Exxon ExxonMobil in support of the Baytown Chamber of Commerce Partners in Education Program. Um this initiative, it connects our local businesses with campuses to provide mentorship, um volunteer activities, as well as resources that strengthen our community and school partnerships. So, this donation will um directly support the following campuses: San Jacinto, Travis, and Victoria Walker Elementary's, Baytown Junior and Cedar Bayou Junior Schools, and Lee High School. So, we are so grateful to ExxonMobil for their continued investment in our students and our schools. And and we are also honored tonight to have Origenel
014Lewis with us. She is from ExxonMobil's Public and Government Affairs team. So, at this time I would like to invite Ms. Lewis to join us for a photo. Thank you, Dr. Espinosa, and thank you, ExxonMobil. This concludes our recognitions and acknowledgements. Congratulations to everyone, and Mr. Campezi, turn it back over to you. Thank you, Mrs. David, job well done. We'll move on to item number five, approval of minutes. Prior to this meeting, the board received a copy of the March 23rd, 2026 regular board meeting meeting minutes. What is the pleasure of the board? I'll move to approve the minutes. Mr. Sampson, say it one more time into the microphone, please. Second. Now it's official. Have a motion by Mrs. Guy and a second by Mr. Sampson to approve the minutes for March 23rd, 2026. Is
015there any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please signify by a show of hands. Seeing six for and zero against, the motion passes. That concludes item number five. We'll move on to item number six, which is discussion item, superintendent report. I will turn it over to you, Dr. Rodriguez. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh tonight we have four superintendent reports. Uh the very first one is going to be a transportation updates, followed by board policy EIE local, academic readiness framework, um followed by budget update, and then last we have the district of innovation amendment recommendation. And administration is getting prepared for the very first one, which is transportation update. Thank you, Dr. Rodriguez, and welcome to the table. Good evening, uh President Campezi, members of the school board, and Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Rodriguez. My name
016is Patricia DeCoudres, I'm the Director of Transportation for Goose Creek CISD. Today I wanted to briefly speak about Senate Bill 546 that amended Texas law. The new amendment passed September 1st of 2025, and it replaces Transportation Code 546. Um it created um next It created It was created to strengthen and expand seatbelt requirements for buses um that transport students to and from school. The Board of Trustees may determine that our budget does not permit compliance with seatbelt requirements. September 1 of 2029 is the compliance due date for the seat uh due point seatbelts. Um next slide, please. Um TEA established a reporting requirement guideline, um and at this point TEA is in the data collection process. So, I'm sharing with you an overview of GCCISD transportation fleet and estimated costs for retrofitting the buses. Um
017the overall breakdown, um currently we have 252 school buses um broken down by general education um buses, which is 189. We have 48 special needs buses, and we have 15 dedicated filter buses. Out of all of those buses, 241 buses are out of compliance. For the uh three-point lap and shoulder belt retrofitting costs, we have an estimated projected cost of $8.1 million. Um for our International Corporation school buses, we have a total of 11 buses, and that's about uh $336,000. Um and then for our Thomas Built school buses, we have an estimate of about 209 buses, and that is roughly about $7.8 million um for the total of um $8.1 million. Next slide, please. Um retrofitting considerations, uh the process is intensive, involving tool seat removal, flooring replacement, and new seat covers. Additional costs, many
018buses require um expensive floor repairs before and because of retrofitting needs. Recertification, manufacturers will not recertify buses to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Carrier Safety Standards or VM VM FMVSS requirements for seatbelts. Um So, given the existing budgetary constraints, retrofitting school buses is neither practical nor advisable at this time. We questions. Questions from the board? It's Apparently it's an unfunded mandate that they have Yes, sir. Yeah, I was just thought I'd bring that up. Uh once once all the buses are outfitted, whose job is it to make sure the students wear them? So, um based on what we've we've known and come to practice, um so, the school district will have to implement something in our student code of conduct to just basically emphasize that students are to wear seatbelts. Um the only requirement that a
019school bus driver should would have would be is that they have to walk their bus prior to departing the campus, um making sure that the student has that seatbelt. And once they've established that all the students have their seatbelts, then they can proceed. Um and as they proceed onto the route, they just have to continue to remind the students to put on their seatbelts. Um at that point, if we see a student or we can verify that student did not have a seatbelt at that time, um we would move forward with disciplinary action, like uh a referral process. Make the last buses, sir. So, how long do we have before we have to have these ready? So, the retrofitting um of all buses should uh the date due date is September 1 of 2029. Okay.
020And and what we're going to do is we're going to bring back to you guys a a recommendation that one, we can't replace 220 buses, right? And we can't afford that, and so that'll be one of the recommendations. The other recommendation is is to not spend that $8.1 million. Do you want It's really Do you want to invest in a 13- or 14-year-old bus that's about to be expired or replaced versus just moving forward that we will plan on replacing buses with seatbelts um on them. You thank you just read my mind on my next question. So, um so, we we'll do a waiver or whatever we have to do, a resolution to say we're not going to do this, but all buses forward will come outfitted. Right. So, basically that's what we're going to
021do. File an exemption that we don't have the funds to replace all the buses, and then um that we don't have the financial means to be able to retrofit the buses that we have, but moving forward, we're going to um plan on purchasing buses with three points. And then basically this data that we're collecting or presenting tonight, we'll present it to TEA, and that's what they're gathering data from across the state to figure out school districts that can't meet this mandate, and then there may be grant funds in the future to help um some of this stuff. Well, and then at the due date, they'll be in a legislative session or just post legislative in [clears throat] '29. Uh Ms. DeCoudres, I want to thank you for not reading the slides to us cuz you
022summarized them. It's really what we need, cuz we've already read them, and I really appreciate that. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Ms. DeCoudres does not present to us often, but preach. You got the award for tonight. I echo Mr. Clem's comments on that. When Mr. Clem commented that moving forward we need to look at three points on all of our new buses. I saw some heads nod. And I'd like to if that's the way you feel, nod again and let's let's give direction on that. That any purchased buses moving forward we need to include seat belts on those. Right. So so I I would like to know I was still thinking after we talked is what would be the difference in cost with the new buses versus you know retrofitting the old buses. Cuz if
023it's a real big difference then then we have an issue that we have to to take care of but I mean if we can save some money with the old buses, you know, I'd like to have a new car too there every year but I can't do it. So what I'm telling you is that it sounds nice to buy new buses with new seat belts on them. But you know, we have to do what we have to do to survive and live within our means. So I would tell you that I would like to see some numbers before I make a decision and give any guidance. That's why I interrupted Jim but I know where he was going with that but I want to see some numbers before we make those kind of decisions, you
024know. Yeah. Cuz if we can get 10 years out of a bus or 8 years, you know, that's quite a bit of savings, you know, to put a seat you know, put a seat belts. Can't be that difficult. And just to re-clarify Mr. Entry, I wasn't saying we go out and buy new buses. I'm just saying when we do buy new buses in the future we don't make it an option. We will include seat belts on future buses. It's mandated. I mentioned that when I said this that you know, I think we just need to look at you know, how much we're going to spend with the old buses versus the new buses. Yeah, it would be 8.1 million now to to retrofit all the buses that we currently No, I know. Right. Compared to
025the buying a new bus with seat belts. You don't have those numbers I would assume. No, it would bus costs what? 125 to 150,000? Roughly from 130 to 150. So it's about 220 is what the fleet currently operates at. So it would be a slow progress over the next 10 to 15 years as we phase out the current fleet of buses to replace them with buses that that have seat belts on them. That's what we were saying. We don't think it's a 13-year-old bus that's about to be retired doesn't make sense to go put $50,000 into a retrofitting it when you can buy a brand new one for 130 to 150, right? Thank you. Any more comments, Ms. Clem's? Um yeah, actually it said what because I like the idea that you all are presenting
026in regards to with a 13-year-old and older buses that makes all the sense in the world. So I would definitely like to see us move forward in looking at that when you make your report the next time as you present the old fleet versus what you have and needing to let can be retrofitted now. Cuz that that averages I think cuz I just had a discrepancy in the number but I read it after your next page of retrofitting and all the work that goes to it came out and we looked at about $3,700 but with all the work that has going to it it's about $2,000 more when you on the whatever page that is. But that makes sense now to me. I just I was just making was going to ask that question but
027you answered on page six. >> [laughter] >> It makes sense. So there's a bullet in there that I think is very important and it talks about warranty and the warranty being voided if this if we put the seat belts on there. Can you expand on that so the board and the community can fully understand what that means? Yes, so once we retrofit buses any buses that currently have warranty would be voided completely and so the warranty wouldn't be able to be honored. But aside from that I also mentioned that manufacturers will not be able to recertify buses to meet federal motor safety standards FMVSS as to that that they that's the bus is certified to meet the Texas state specs for that bus. So once they dismantle it and retrofit it it won't be guaranteed
028that it meets that standard. Okay, so what does that mean in regards to when you say void the warranty is that all parts of the bus or is it just the safety component The safety component of that bus. Thank you. Mr. Sampson, Ms. Guy, anything? I'm good. Thank you. All right, thank you all so much. Senate Bill 546 does require a board vote on this item coming up I believe at the next board meeting. Is that correct? Yes, Mr. President. What we're doing is we wanted to go ahead and share this information first and then bring that at the next board meeting bring it up for a vote. We will at that time once again share this information and then have the board take a vote on it. Just we want to ensure that the
029board is reminded of Senate Bill 546 and some of the items that were contained in the bullets. Thank you so much, Mr. Cody, Mr. Floyd. Thank you so much for a very expedient presentation. You you set the standard for the next group. Dr. Rodriguez. Yes, next we have board policy EIE local academic readiness framework. Okay, it wasn't that big of a presentation. Welcome. Good afternoon, President Camp Easy, Dr. Rodriguez and board members. I have the team here. We're going to go over a very short brief presentation to meet the requirements. I'll turn it over to Jennifer first. Good evening. I'm Jennifer Fierro, Director of Counseling and College and Career Readiness. Hi, I'm Sarah Fluche, Elementary Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Carrie Smith, Director of Student Services. Okay, we come before you tonight in our collaborative
030effort in establishing an academic readiness framework that is grounded and rooted in our already existing EIE local policy. So our goal with this framework is to ensure that we are promoting students with the essential skills that are required and necessary for the next grade level. Coming up in May as an action item we are asking for a very small change to the current policy but I'm going to just review just some of the key points that we've been working on and then I'll point out the change. If you'll look at curriculum mastery under promotion the top part says promotion and course credit shall be based on the mastery of the curriculum but the next sentence talks about the expectations and standards for promotion that shall be established for each grade level. And then when we
031look at the standards for mastery and it states in addition to the factors in the law that must be considered of course we're considering course assignments and unit evaluation but we are also working on the mastery of the skills necessary for success at the next grade level. So we really are working on that. What is the promotion eligibility for a student to be promoted to the next grade level. We will be asking for a small revision and it will read without the the wording in red in grades 1 through 5 promotion to the next grade level shall be based on course level, grade level standards, essential knowledge and skills and for all subject areas in a grade of 70 or above in English language arts and math. And we are asking that the overall 70
032be removed from policy because a 70 is elusive and it can mask gaps that are that are critical in the foundational skills that students need as they are promoted to the next grade level. All righty, so these are the core questions that we're looking to kind of answer as we're going through this. Are students ready for the next grade level? And we're going to address these bullet points really more in depth in the next slide but mostly we want to make sure that we're consistent in our policy alignment. We want to clarify our processes. We want to really make sure we're addressing learning gaps and this is going to help us interconnect a couple of systems to do that. We want to prioritize readiness versus promotion and again we'll talk more about that in a
033minute and then address that chronic absenteeism. And so right now like Ms. Fierro said we have a policy about this but moving forward what we'd really like to do is get more transparent with the community about some pieces of this policy. So for instance when she was talking about that academic readiness and mastery of skills we need to create more parent friendly community facing document that says in second grade in math these are the most important skills that the students need to obtain. And this is how we're going to know that the student is ready for third grade. And so we want to have that for our really for literacy and for numeracy that readiness criteria. That will also help us with early identification and intervention. We're already we already know what our readiness and
034promotion standards are. We already have our intervention processes but this is just going to let everyone be very clear. These are the most essential standards for the student to be ready for the next year of learning. Ongoing data review cycles which we'll talk about in a minute and then again that communication with parents and guardians. We had done a board update where you saw us saying, "You know what? We're going to send out parent square updates so that the parents know, here's the upcoming learning happening in math. Here's some videos that can help." This is just another extension of that like making sure our families know what most important learning is happening. So, for those ongoing data review cycles, we are going to have progress monitoring of those skills. Once we say this is the
035most important 15 skills you need or 13 in whatever grade or content, um we want to progress monitor for those. And we want to use multiple data points for that. So, we don't just want to look at unit assessments, but also benchmarks, also um any diagnostic test that we have. Like Ms. Fierro said, sometimes um STAR doesn't monitor fluency. It does It's not able to. And so, if a student has a gap in fluency, that can mask um them being grade ready or not. And so, we want all the data points to show us if a student really is ready. And so, what this will do is it'll give us that whole child approach because you're looking at yes, your age and developmental readiness, but you're also looking at grade level academic readiness and then
036learning gaps and those causes, while also partnering with your families to be transparent about what matters for each grade, especially in reading and in math. And so, Carrie's going to talk a little bit more about the attendance portion. So, as it is stated, according to the compulsory attendance law, students um must be in attendance at least 90% of the classroom uh days, which is approximately nine absences uh per semester, uh but not less than 75%. That's going to equivalent to about 21 absences. So, any student that falls between that nine and 21 qualifies for what we call the principal plan. So, therefore they can come in after school um for um sessions um or on Saturdays uh to make up that time, which will include tutorials. It's not just seat time. We're going to ensure
037that that um learning engagement is happening during that time. And of course, when we're looking at that, you obviously have your campus committee, which is not only your principal or their designee, but the parent or guardian. And then they discuss the eligibility for that plan together to ensure that the students are meeting the compulsory attendance law. So again, some of our next steps are going to be that we need to have those academic um indicators ready for our families for the fall to say, "Great, K through 5 reading and math, this is the most important learning that needs to happen." And those need to be in family-friendly terms, um and public-facing. And then we also want to make sure we train our staff on those. So, that's our next step for us in curriculum instruction.
038Any questions for the team? Yeah, I've got a question. Uh obviously, if they're not in attendance, their academics are going to go down. What are we doing right now to hold them accountable? Are we filing? Yes. Yes, sir. Right now, we have approximately 250-plus cases that have been filed with the court um across the street from Sterling. So, yes, sir. >> how soon are we filing if we are filing? When are we filing in terms of like is there a certain amount of days cuz I understand that there's some kids that have missed 80 days and never been filed on. So, the problem is going to be that all the steps have to be followed. The court will not take the case unless all of steps have been followed, including triad referrals, which means they
039have to have reached out to that parent. And the triad, sometimes the parents do not return those phone calls. And so, some of the situations are that we do have situations where the the courts won't take that because each of the steps have to be followed. And they try to do all the interventions um in between all of this. >> So, we just let them fall between the cracks. Is that what you're saying? Because we can't get a hold of the parents? >> No, we do home visits. Yes, sir. There's home visits conducted um and obviously, they We've even had parents that go to court. I'll just be honest, they pay the $100 fine and then students absent the next day. Right. So, >> So, I mean we >> When do we intervene, I guess
040is Oh, after 10-plus absences. At 10 because they're allowed nine at number 10. So, how does a student get to missing 80 days and we haven't filed on them? How does that happen? Who's dropping the ball right there? What The campus. You mean the principal or the Is it Who does that fall on? The campus principal or the Or grade level. Because the grade level at the high schools uh file on those. >> position is accountable for those kids that are that were not that are not being addressed? Like what Is it a counselor? Is it a academic Is it the principal, the vice the >> Ultimately, it's going to fall on the campus principal, but the grade levels separate out their grade levels and each grade level is responsible for >> So, on each
041campus, who's responsible when a kid has already missed 10 days to start, you know, The grade level office. The grade level office. Now, at the elementary, it obviously >> And when you say the grade level office, >> Yes. >> is there Who's in charge of the grade level office? The campus >> Cuz I don't hear anybody being accountable. You're saying the grade level office, but who's in the grade level that's taking care of this? The assistant principal in the elementary. Okay. But ultimately, the campus principal is responsible for the Right. the principal and the secretary in that office. Okay. So. Let me interrupt the second you were about to say about elementary. At the elementary level, it would be the principal. Um we have CS3s, our campus student support specialists. And so, they work hand
042in hand to work on. Um now, I will say our pre-K and kinder students are not filed on. Um the courts have already said they will not take those cases. Even though it says the law says we can, they will not take those cases. So, we only file on students first through 12. I I uh Thank you for helping me understand. I just I really believe that this is really affecting our academics. I think that we need to look into this and do some research because my understanding is there's a lot of campuses that that are on a high school level or junior high level that have never filed a case. We got kids that are missing 80 days and I really do believe that, you know, this is really affecting us academically. Of course,
043if they're not here. And uh so, we need to And that conversation has happened. Um I've actually discussed that with Dr. Rodriguez. Yes, um my truancy department uh gave me some data um that reflects back on the campuses that have filed and those that have not. So, the truancy department, obviously, there There are three people that work that, you know, um feeder pattern and they support each of those feeder patterns in their campuses, but um they do the best they can in order to get all the paperwork filed. Mr. Andrea, I do want to say that what you said is perfectly correct. If you've got a kid who's missed 80 days of school, the academics are down low. So, sometimes if the court isn't um doing what they need to do in in our opinion,
044then we have some ability to say, "Hey, you've missed that mark and because you didn't bring your kid to school or enforce that, then we're going to have to keep your child back to get them caught up on their academics." So, this at least we've already had this in policy. We're just saying we're going to make it very relevant prevalent to the to the parents. My old deal is, I think uh is that, you know, this social promotion stuff, you know, you got a kid that's missed, "Oh, well, you you're under the limit. You missed 75 days, but you can still graduate." And they let him go by or her by, you know, and that's unacceptable. That kid is not, you know, doing what they need to do. And I'm glad that we're changing some
045of this so that they get held back. Uh this, you know, just letting them go and, you know, ignoring the fact that they miss 60 days, you know, that's a lot. You know, and I I I feel like that's an area where we've dropped the ball on it and they're getting away with it. And it's time to change that. And we've had the principal plan in place at the high school for for years now. Um and those students that missed over those number of days do not receive credit. That's how they end up in ingenuity to have to re- redo those credits. I will say that I can't say that we've probably implemented it with fidelity at the elementary. And that is one of the things that we are going to be focused on this
046next year. And the junior highs have, but again, um it's definitely with this plan, it's going to be part of the whole conversation so that we're not only holding, you know, our students accountable for their academics, but and especially with our younger ones, we have to hold the parents accountable, as you said, for their attendance cuz a a 8-year-old can't get themselves to school. I know and I I mean, I'm old school, of course. My parents, they would make me get up even when I was in high school. If I was out partying all weekend, "Oh, you're going to school." And, you know, I I think that our society has lost that where, you know, "Oh, you can miss a day. You can miss two days, you know, it doesn't It's no big deal." You
047know, uh so, uh you know, I I think we really need to look into that. I I'm I'm really I think that it can help us improve, you know, uh our academics. Yes, sir. And uh we appreciate that cuz one of the things that we've talked about is and I know I shared this with the board, but the days of earning a participation a participation ribbon just for doing the bare minimum and below, like those days are gone. Yes. So, that's why we're bringing this to the board >> so that everybody can truly process that it's all going to be about merit. You are going to have to attend school and you're going to have to earn your way to the next grade level or to graduation. Right. Is your attendance is cuz you're getting
048the grades, but those participation ribbons, those ribbons are going to be gone. Right. As far as Why did I bring this out in public? Because I want the public to know what we're doing. We don't We don't even discuss that too much, but you know, I I know that it's a factor in in some of our kids' education. And so, we're making the right changes, but you know, it doesn't hurt to discuss it either, you know, so. Any other comments from the board? I have a question. It Are we focusing on like the retention part when it comes to mastering the the grade level material? Are we focusing that mostly on the elementary grades or are we going to start retaining in middle school and high school as well? Right now, our primary focus is
049in um especially earlier elementary grades. Um we know that I mean, if a student leaves third grade and doesn't have decoding skills in place, they're likely never to have those decoding skills. So, when it comes to academic readiness, my charge has been to prioritize elementary. Obviously, that's my my world is, but I mean, there is a policy and we have to comply with the full policy and it doesn't specify just elementary. You know, it specifies for secondary as well. And so, my understanding is we will be looking at academic readiness across grades, but we want to get more specificity, especially in like I said, primary elementary because they don't have readiness and supporting standards in K2 because they don't have a star testing and so, we need to get more concrete with our staff and
050with the community about what matters most in those grades. Mhm. Yeah, we are going to emphasize learning how to read. That's been an issue. Mhm. Uh cuz you have to learn how to read, then you read to learn. Right. Uh we're having an issue with uh learning how to read part and we have students that are being promoted and moving up to the other grade levels, but um Mrs. Flushes correct. That policy is for all students. So, yes, we are going to be retaining at the middle school or at the junior high uh at the high schools as well. So, this is for everyone. I'm asking because I noticed it says grade level advancement for students in grades 9 through 12 shall be earned by course credits, but I don't believe that the current practice
051is that we are retaining high school students for lack of credit. We do have um and it's unique in some places, but we do have um a process in place where the students are traveling with their cohort and not necessarily with the credits are being earned. Mhm. Um I have had conversations with the high school principal. So, the example is a student that has been in high school um and has only earned, let's say, 12 credits is being considered a senior Mhm. just cuz they're following the cohort. So, we have had to have those conversations and we're looking at uh revamping that as well. Yeah. I see kids that they it motivates them when they have their little badge on and it says 10th grade instead of 12th grade, it's a little more motivation for
052them to kind of you know, get that momentum Mhm. So, we are working on that. We are looking at and working with the counselors on the number of credits, the minimum number of credits for the next grade level and that's something that we will we will be addressing. Okay, perfect. Any other comments? I only have two. The first one is communication, communication, communication. Um that's the most important thing. I think what you're seeing is this board really is in alignment with this. It It It ties directly to achievement. Um and the second part is I thank you for your honest, candid answers uh because that's what we need to hear. Um with no further questions, thank you all so much. Dr. Rodriguez, item number three. Yes, Mr. President. Next, we have uh an update to
053the budgeting process that has been occurring. And just a reminder for board members, after this presentation, we will be taking a vote related to this item. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. Good evening, Mr. President and trustees and Dr. Rodriguez. This evening is April the April installment of the budget review series that we've been conducting over the last few months. Um Tonight, we're going to talk about compensation and the TASB study and then of course, go over the budgets and then we'll talk about next steps in the calendar. And with that, I will turn it over to Dr. Bollinger to discuss compensation. Oh, yeah. Okay, good evening. Uh so, each year we present uh a a snapshot of uh TASB's recommendation and it really just the data on if we were to uh recommend a raise,
054what what that would cost the district and and how how we fall compared to other districts. So, this first slide um shows Goose Creek uh in a in a group of comparable group of 21 other school districts that are in uh region four. So, you can just see a a similar similar loose term similar uh makeup with uh student enrollment, staff um so, that's that's it. Uh this slide right here we're we're at the bottom. This next slide shows it it's sorted from high to low um on zero year salary for teachers. So, so teachers don't have any experience and so, you can see that New Caney is at the top, uh Brazosport is at the bottom. Um Goose Creek is orange and so, for for zero year teachers, we fall uh right in the
055middle of this group. Um you've seen if if you if you look at this from year to year, there's been a lot of shifting at at the top end. Um I I don't believe New Caney was at the top last year and so, it's a it's a very competitive group that we're in and uh one notice from the very bottom to the very top on the zero year salary, that's a difference of $5,000 and so, it's not a not a huge range there and so, so there is competition within. If you look at the bottom, um it it shows of course where how Goose Creek falls. We're not we're not ranked in the in the chart, but but we are with the lines. Um but at the very bottom, you can see that like we
056rank 12th out of out of 22 school districts um in in zero year salary and then for for five year salary, we rank 11th. For 10 year salary, 15 year salary, and 20 year salary, we rank nine. So, so we we I'm going to show you a chart on the next slide that shows that that illustrates that. And then also, if you see, well, you know, why are we so low on the average teacher salary? Why do why do we drop to 16? And what that is, that's not what we pay, that's just that we're hiring uh younger teachers and so, the overall average of our teacher salary, we have more of a younger teacher base and that average uh they're they're they're lower on that teacher pay scale. Okay. Uh I do want to
057commend the district and and the board for for uh some progress that we focused on and made over the last three years. You can see that two years ago, uh the blue line on 23-24 is the uh the the median pay for for those same increments, zero year, five year, 10 year, 15 year, 20 year, and then the orange line is uh how how Goose Goose Creek falls um on on that chart. So, two years ago, you can see we're slightly below the median in each category and then it spreads up uh the further you go down the line with with years of experience. And so, we made a lot of efforts to um add equity adjustments on top of the raises for more experienced teachers and you can see that reflected in the chart.
058So, for 24-25, you can see we're slightly below the median for starting your pay, but then we are right on the money as far as the median for for the other uh other um increments. And then this year, you can see that um there is even an adjustment. Uh we're we're slightly above the median for those more experienced years, for 10 year, 15 year, 20 year. And so, the going from two years ago till now, there there's been a there's been progress with our more experienced teachers especially. And that has been a focus. So, what I want to show is just the the cost for a a a 1 a 1% uh pay increase and then also uh what what would a 2% pay increase cost the school district. And so, here you see it
059broken down by category. And so, the teacher group is is a the highest number of staff we have, 1,474 on the books. Um And so, for a for a 1% increase, uh the cost is $106 million and some change. And then you can go through each category for administrative professional, clerical professional, uh paraprofessional, manual trades, and also police. And so, you can look at that the the total sum. I'll also want to point out that there are several equity adjustments for each category. Uh the reason for that is uh there are several reasons for that. One is if there is a a placement uh scale adjustment, what what what TASB recommends is we look at our our lowest pay, our minimum pay, and our maximum pay and you divide that by 30 to make sure
060that after you apply that raise, there's a good spread from year to year based off experience to make sure that it's it's evenly distributed distributed excuse me and so you see that for certain professions or certain job categories that that placement scale adjustment is is expensive because they're they're basically adding equity to make sure that we have we don't have pay compression that the years don't fall on top of one another. Another reason for some of the adjustments is either we requested them or there there issues with positions right above teacher pay so last year the teacher retention allotment added $2,500 for teachers who had three and four years experience and then then $5,000 was added for teachers that have five or more experience and so because of that um that that TRA teacher retention
061allotment addition positions right above a teacher or we're either right at teacher pay or even sometimes below so adjustments were were made to just to keep that keep that equitable and with our police department we have we've been more aggressive in requesting equity adjustments to make sure we attract and retain police officers and so there's been a substantial placement scale adjustment for our police and then also there's been an adjustment for our security as well okay so the total uh the total cost for for the the pay increase is 3.6 million dollars and the column all the way to the right would be the will be the actual cost for for for for payroll plus the raise but the just a 1% pay increase alone is 3.6 million dollars okay So if 1% is 3.6
062million dollars you would think that 2% is 7.2 million if you if you just double it however that's not the case you get a little bit of a savings on the 2% raise because when when the 2% pay increase is added it it catches some of those equity adjustments and so some of those those um pay compression issues are taken care of whenever you apply a 2% raise and so the total cost for a 2% raise is 5. almost 5.4 million dollars okay so there's a little bit of a a discount so to speak This last slide and the same same concept applies for all for the adjustments for for each uh uh category. This last slide is just a summary slide and so it just simplifies some of the data from the from the
0631% raise and the 2% raise and so the top section where it's 1% you can see again um for for each category with the with with with the teacher retention allotment would cost for those teachers who are moving from two to three years or from four to five years there's an adjust uh there's an added adjustment there you have the general pay increase which is actually the 1% and then you have those adjustments to to to make sure that we don't have pay compression issues and so you see the total cost um in the right hand column for model one which is 1% and then you see the same thing for model two which is 2% Okay then I can answer um compensation questions now or we can we can do it at the end
064but that's that's the compensation piece There's no 3%? We're not presenting a 3% now let Bridget Clark talk a little bit more about >> Cuz we have in the past We have um the cost we did have them run the model of 3% and it's going to put us at about 7. 7.2 million dollars I think it is for a raise and that I would caution you um because that would push us into a deficit number one so And we're right on par with other districts and most districts are giving 2% 1% 2% some are not giving any raises at all and then there are some that are doing three Two questions on Go ahead the ratio of benefits as well so that wasn't in this so benefits would bring them to that if I'm
065not mistaken it's about a 3% Uh yes I mean it'll bring it yeah an extra 10% on whatever that cost is yes So you kind of answered a question already has anybody in our market committed to the what raise they're giving yet? Yes there's been quite a few that have committed there's quite a few that are not giving raises because of declining enrollment but two one two and three percent has been the amount for those that are giving raises everyone's being very conservative >> And then tagging on to Ms. Brock Timm's we pay a certain percentage of TRS contribution right? We pay exactly yes yes >> Okay and then so when we raise a salary that increases based on a percentage are there other benefits that are tied to the salary number as a percentage?
066Um just in the aggregate all of it together is about 10% and it's you know like Medicare Is that showing in in these numbers or does it show somewhere else? These numbers are not going to have those numbers in there these are these are base salaries right All right thank you So Matt you mentioned the teacher retention allotment okay it sparked the some in me about the teacher incentive allotment Is that in this number here the that the okay The teacher incentive allotment is is money that we receive from the state that's applied to the to the teacher bonus and so that doesn't impact our fund balance That's money that we receive from the state based off the number of teachers that are awarded TIA and so if if you call TIA a bonus then
067if we had 100 teachers that received that bonus the state pays for that >> So where are we at with it with all the the error that we made or how many We had errors with with with four teachers that were were awarding but on top of that we had 100 I think it was 147 teachers who who received that that allotment They've received it already? >> They're going to receive it we'll get that in late April that's the next disbursement >> been ironed out with the teachers that weren't even on the list Yes sir Okay Yeah so we're not going to hear no complaints from teachers going oh well you know they didn't I I earned it and I never got it I mean just like we heard it right now I mean before
068this I don't think so Okay I hope not That's why I'm bringing it up because [clears throat] they are complaining about it Some do don't Well let me clarify I think a teacher may clarify that that they felt like their data should have earned them and they they didn't get it but that's that's what we have we have very specific metrics on who received that and who doesn't so we have all the state guidelines on that >> But we did make a mistake on some of them cuz There was a there was a clerical error on a spreadsheet for I think it was four teachers and so yeah we we've we've applied those funds to make sure that they're >> covered you alluded to the fact that some teachers they think they earned it but
069didn't but we some did and didn't get Right so the ones who who have a question about it we have someone in our department who who deals with them and goes over their data and shows why they didn't quite hit the mark because it's your your evaluation plus your growth measure so if those two things add up then they hit the mark so so most of the calls we get they thought they they would they hit that mark and they didn't right And this and I'm bringing it up because this is how we're going to retain our teachers and recruit some of the better teachers that's why I'm bringing this up and if we're dropping the ball with with this teacher incentive allotment you know people teachers notice that and they they will not come
070here Now here's a point to note that last year we we weren't approved for TIA and then this year 147 teachers are receiving it that didn't get it last year so I think I think we made gains on that Cuz teachers you know they every dollar counts for them I know y'all said well you know 3% you know you know but you know they they are appreciative of any money any stipend that they earn you know they work for it and so you know they're going to bring it up you know that's that's how they make their you know that's how they make their money and I think I I'm addressing it again to bring it to clarity for some of the people that are out there you know wondering you know why they didn't
071get it cuz there there people out there saying I got it they just didn't want to pay you see these kinds of issues come up and uh Yeah it's it's approximately 25 to 30% of our teaching staff who's awarded TIA so that means 70% do not get it Okay I just want to make a comment on slide four real quick and it's more kudos this board was very intentional since I've been on it and we as a board have adopted deficit budgets three years in a row to recognize our employees and our teachers and because we did so today's payday we are in the middle of the pack because this board intentionally uh committed to raises for our employees for the past three years in one form or another we didn't get to the middle
072of the board on the previous slide slide four we didn't get to the middle of this pack accidentally it was very intentional so I just want to point that out Any more questions on compensation before we move on to the budget? No I I mean we're always hurting for money you know and again I hate to harp on this but I have to harp on it uh you know all these properties we bought and have and that's money that's held up you know I I personally believe if if there's some way that we could sell these properties and get our you know the money that's just sitting there for no reason uh we would be able to do a lot more for of teachers Dr. Bonger can you expand and share with the trustees the
073work that we're doing regarding the properties? Sure. Yeah, we we met with Bernadette White who works with real estate and we're we're doing our best to put properties up for sale. Make sure we're advertising for that and and so there are properties we're adding signs to to some of the land that we have. The issue we have is is finding buyers for some of the large scale lots that we have. So, if we have a 20-acre lot or a 30-acre lot depending on where it's located, some of the properties are hard to move, but um we get calls and then we we we follow up with those calls. I understand and I appreciate it. I just don't think that the school district should be in this position. We shouldn't have to be advertising to sell
074these properties. We should have never bought them. We should If we didn't need them, we shouldn't just buy them to buy them cuz the Bob Hope school is going to buy something. You know, that's not a good way. We're not in the real estate business. We're in the academic business and I think that, you know, some of our priorities there also need to change and I think they will. I'm just bringing it up. All right, let's let's move on to budget. Okay, so everyone's aware in the last legislative session the governor's landmark voucher bill passed and it is now coming to fruition. So, March 31st was the deadline for applications and we have There was a lot of interest. There were 274,000 applications, but there are only 100,000 spots. The state has set aside a
075billion dollars for the voucher program for the biennium, so that's the next 2 years. And that's how many spots they were able to cover, but but there has been quite a bit of interest. Priority is given to students with disabilities and our low-income families. Students generally receive $10,474 and those with disabilities can receive up to 30,000 and homeschoolers can receive around 2,000. Families will be notified in April. I'm not sure exactly what day in April, but I assume by the end of April they'll be notified and so we'll have more information at that time. Approximately 75% of applicants are currently enrolled in private schools or home schools. So, that means most the lion share of the applicants were from private schools and home schools. So, the district Goose Creek has about 713 applications within our
076boundaries, but if we align with the state averages at 75% being from home school or private school, that would equate to about What did I say? I wrote it down here. 178 students if it were 75%. Let's say it's 178. 20 Excuse me, 25% of 713 would be 178 students. So, if we follow state averages, it would be about that amount of students that we would have within our boundaries that are currently enrolled at Goose Creek that would have applied. But of course, we don't know that data. We're just speculating based on the averages. If all 713 were in our school district right now or were slated to be in our school district at the start of the school year, that would cost us about 5.3 million dollars. If it's just 178, approximately it would
077cost us about 1.4 million dollars and we've already got that incorporated into the budget numbers. So, that I'll move on to the projections. This is a repetitive slide. You're just seeing here the revenues and expenditures and our unadjusted surplus being about 11.2 million and our unadjusted expenses being 271.5 million. This is the slide that was updated from our March 30th workshop. And you see the items in green here are the items that changed. Um we have pretty much eliminated any extra our mar Our margins are very tight and so we have pushed the envelope to make sure we get a balanced budget because that is my number one job is to bring you a balanced operating budget. Um but we did make some reductions here. We reduced department budgets by another substantial amount here. We
078added staffing reductions at 323,000. Um we adjusted the special ed positions a little bit and now it's just over a million. We also added the reconnect center behavioral paras. Um and then we also added in the additional funding requests that became that were submitted and compiled. Um That number was a million dollars last time if you remember. Now we got it down to 97,000. So, those are the numbers that changed that enabled us to bring our line 23 surplus prior to 5 by 5 to be the 2.250 2.25 million cost for the 5 by 5 itself. And then the next slide here is showing no 5 by 5 in scenario one and the full 5 by 5 in scenario two. And you see in scenario one we would have online five a surplus of about
0792.25 million dollars and and I just urge understanding that if I'm off by 1% on revenue or expenses, that's almost 3 million dollars. So, um 2.25 million, that's almost, you know, almost a percent right there, right? But so I'm very conservative when whenever I do my projections. Um Scenario two is the full implementation of 5 by 5 and you can see online five there that's going to be a balanced budget. Our reserves are very healthy. Um if we went with scenario one, we'd have, you know, almost 110 million dollars in fund balance at the end of the school year next year. And um if we went with the 5 by 5, we'd still have 107.6 million dollars next year. Far exceeds the three months required operating expenditures to be held in fund balance as in
080accordance with CE local. So, um we had a robust conversation on the 30th around the 5 by 5 and um you will be asked to vote on this in in the action item following in in the in the action item section of the board meeting. But with that, I will open up any questions thus far. If you're conservative, why didn't you why didn't you put a scenario with 1% in there? You're good, Alex. >> Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> You can always You can get some information. Yeah, you can always request it. >> [clears throat] >> I'm good with it. I think at the budget workshop we these are the two scenarios that we looked at. The only difference is is now you're presenting a balanced budget on it rather than a deficit. Correct. With
081the full 5 by 5. So, with that being said, I would like to point out that we're still cutting the same amount of positions. Like you've just moved up I mean, what's happened is that some of the things that were in like the deficit we were going to have was going to cost what like you all said like 38 positions or something if we implemented 5 by 5. So, now we've put those teacher reductions and staff reductions up in like the what's it called the the adjustments. And so it's not I mean, it's really kind of the same. It's just the way it's moved the lines. So, it's really we're really still talking about the same amount of money. Right? The cost is the cost of 5 by 5 is 2.25 million dollars regardless of
082yeah. So, yeah. Okay, and so and I know this it's not on the agenda anywhere else, but we're talking about 5 by 5 because it still costs 2.25 million dollars and so you know, I'm going to have to to I made some notes because I I have talked to some people in North Shore who have been in the 5 by 5 this year, right? And so they're concerned I mean, they're concerned about what it's going to look like when it rolls out also when you're talking to teachers and stuff like that. I feel like there's a little bit of a scare tactic has been used to make us all feel like this is what we have to do. Um but, you know, Miss Sierra mentioned the other night that she was able to see gains
083in TSI scores at her old school on a traditional schedule. Um But I also feel like I don't know if anyone has ever looked at the TSI test or taken the TSI test, but it's not an easy test. Not every child is going to pass the TSI. We've spent a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of money on building CTE programs that I don't think we're taking advantage of. I think that we have kids that could earn CCMR through those CTE programs, but we're not using those. Um and so concerns from CTE teachers that are in the the 5 by 5 now are that a lot of these certification exams are skills based. And so when you're cramming it into one semester, they don't have time to practice those skills
084to pass the certification exams. Um another concern is that some of these some of these certifications expire. And so we're setting kids up in pathways for careers that they want to be in after graduation and with the 5 by 5 they would be taking these certifications potentially in 10th grade. Well, they expire in 2 years and so by graduation they're no longer certified. Another concern is that some of these certifications you can't even take the exam until you're 18 years old. Obviously a sophomore is not going to be eligible to take an exam and so you've taken welding classes for four semesters because the pathway is four four courses and so you've taken the four courses which puts you at the end of sophomore year and you can't take your welding certification exam because you're
085not 18. And so those are just some big I I just want to lay it out there y'all I I feel like we can serve our students well in the in the traditional schedule and I think that it's not going to that would make cost us 2.25 million dollars and I think that it could it would be more beneficial. I think that we can serve our students and get those who can't pass the TSI we can get those cross out across our line by embedding some of this TSI practice into our current courses, our English courses, our math courses. So anyway, that's just my two cents. Any more comments? I don't want to be the only one talking. Mr. Renteria is taking over for me. Well, I was just going to say you know in
086addressing what she said that that they use scare tactics to implement the 5 by 5. I didn't feel that way. I I felt that they worked really hard to come up with an alternative way to educate our children and and to be successful at it. And uh you know to to say that it's a scare tactic is not we're we're doing that because we are forced to do that. A lot of our kids are failing academically and we're trying to make a go a different way with educating them. That's that's my personal opinion. You know, and if we can spend a million dollars on an old church over there, we can spend 2 million on education. You know, I don't have a problem with that. I don't have a problem with spending any money on
087education and uh so you know, from that perspective I know that that uh that they worked hard to get you know, to get that in. Now, I did hear Brian Walenta when he came and talked about the 5 by 5 and his concern. There's concerns right now, greater concerns right now that TEA may take us over. Is that what we want? That's not what I want and you know, we that's why we hired the new superintendent to come in and make some great changes. You know, and uh so that's just my my take on you know on the 5 by 5. I I think it's being proactive. I think that we'll be heading the right direction with the 5 by 5. I'm not against spending 2.25 million dollars on education by the way, but I
088feel like we could benefit from smaller classrooms. Keeping some teachers and having smaller classrooms. Well, whether smaller or larger is irrelevant. I think the effectiveness of our of our academics is what is is on the table right now. Are we going to be Are they going to Are we going to make them be successful with smaller classrooms like we have right now? I don't think so. You know, I just you know, just like we did repurpose this school over here Lamar. It Is that going to help with all that money we spent what 5 million over there and to repurpose that school and you know, that in my opinion that ain't going to help. But I I I think that you know, we need to support the people here that are that are working to
089with this 5 by 5 and to move forward with it because we've we've been really in a bad situation here in Goose Creek ISD with academics. When you have all these schools failing this on the elementary level and junior high level and now they're taking the CCRM away from the high schools that's going to drop all of that. >> taking it away. They're changing it. Yes. They're not taking it away. Well, it's not going to be something that we can utilize as a tool. That's why they brought it up. That's why that's what's been our grudge. I know that and what I'm saying is we have these fabulous CTE programs that we're not taking advantage of. And and so and you know what Mercedes is I if there were with more than one district in
090this state that's actually done this, I could maybe be more on board. But we've got one district on in the state that's done it. We've got one that's piloted it and going to it next year and that's all. And so there's nobody to ask like in in the district that's going to it one of the administrators has a father who works in the other district that's done it. And so there's it's I don't know. It's just it's I don't know. I just I don't I'm not feeling good about it. Any other comments? Okay. Okay. My my only comment on it is more of an observation. We have a new superintendent that came to us back on January 1st and I think he's looking at the 5 by 5. This is literally probably five times now.
091I don't think that's accidental. I think it's intentional um and and it shows us the direction that our superintendent wants to go. We wouldn't be looking at it again for the fifth time or more if it wasn't something that he believes will better the department. >> [clears throat and cough] >> And Mrs. Guy, I want to agree. I am concerned Every one of your concerns you brought up, they're valid. Um and if we do approve it with the 5 by 5 I think even you hope that you're wrong on every one of those concerns. You want our district to succeed. But for the observation that I have is we brought in a new superintendent um to tell us what we need, not what's comfortable. Um and I think if it does go that route um
092there's going to be a lot of people that want to prove some of us wrong. Um but it's not it's not accidental that we've seen this at least five times now. That's my only comment. No other comments? Thank you. Um so next steps um we're going to bring the compensation plan back for approval on the May 4th meeting. And we're on the home stretch. So on the May 4th meeting that that compensation plan action item will appear. We'll also discuss the other legally adopted budgets. Um and then on the 1st we'll discuss any any other items and then on the 15th we will have an action item to adopt the entire budget. Financially we're in a good position. Yes, we are. Done a lot of work over the years to get my staff public. Yes.
093Yes, we are. Thank you very much for that comment. Any other questions? That's it. Thank you all so much. >> Thank you. And we'll probably see you again in a few minutes. Yes. Dr. Rodriguez, the floor is back to you. Yes, Mr. President. We have the last superintendent report and that is district of innovation amendment recommendation. Okay, we're ready. Yes, welcome. Just me. Okay, so tonight this presentation is for informational purposes right now and then there will be an action item potential action item in May. And so you're not you're not voting on on these tonight. But it is setting up for a potential vote at the next board meeting. So we're recommending that two amendments be made to our district of innovation plan. One was presented by Dr. Jackson at the last board meeting
094on FDA local on the interdistrict transfers. Tonight you're voting on the interdistrict transfer. You're not voting on the the amendment and so uh I'll I'll share what that is here in a minute. And then the second recommendation the bulk of this presentation is is an exemption from the new agreements policy on on the the three board policies FNGD D D GBA and then also GF local which are all dealing with the agreements policies in the process. So from the last presentation from Dr. Jackson one thing that she mentioned was that with the interdistrict transfers there's a requirement for students to be here for one year period. And so that the amendment would say that we're exempt from keeping an interdistrict transfer student here for the full year. So if there down below if you see
095if there's an issue with discipline or behavior or attendance like we heard earlier then we wouldn't be obligated to do that. So that that's the that's the first amendment that we're recommending for the next board meeting. Just as a reminder before I get into the second recommendation the district of innovation plan is started in 2015 and it's where districts have flexibility where they can be exempt from certain educational codes and it allows the local board to have more control to to be innovative. That's why it's a district of innovation and to be forward thinking and also again flexible on certain policies and so there's certain educational codes that we are able to exempt from and in our DOI plan, you can go through that and see the the the items that we've been exempt from
096so far. So with that in mind in this last legislative session there's been several changes to the grievance process that many districts feel are restrictive or or problematic as far as how that policy is laid out and so there there have been some districts who have who have exempted from the grievance policy and reverted back to what it was before the last legislative session and we're recommending the same maneuver for this amendment as well. And so what I want to do is go through the grievance policy changes and then discuss those. And so the first change there there there's eight changes total. One is the filing deadline has been extended to 90 calendar days. And so before that it was 15 business days. The reason why that could be a concern is that if if
097there's if there's a big enough problem where I want to follow a formal complaint then that investigation should be timely, should be fresh on the mind. I think if someone follows a grievance on on someone 3 months later it would be more difficult to investigate. There could be recollection problems and so it can create a issue down the down the road as far as just how that how that grievance is handled. So that's the first item. The second item is that now after the level one grievance if I appeal as a complainant to to level two, I can add additional documents. And the reason why this is concerning is because there will be a lack of consistency between level one and level two and level three where the the the primary concern should be addressed
098in all three levels and there should be some consistency. And so if additional documents are being added that can that can prolong the investigation or that can even create some inconsistencies where the level two officer is dealing with a slightly different issue than the level one officer. Decision changes and so there's also a where a grievance can be decided on the merits even if a procedural error wasn't followed properly and so if I'm outside the timeline, there still needs to be a decision and again this can create some confusion or ambiguity as far as why that grievance was appealed or why it was not appealed. Response and filing timelines. This also has been extended with the with the last legislative session and so now if I hear a level one grievance I have 20 calendar
099days to provide a response. Before that it was 10 business days. And then the complainant has 20 calendar days to to appeal. Before again it was 10 business days and so this is sort of the same argument as the 90 calendar day issue where it it really creates a very long process and along the way can leave campuses and administrators in limbo as a grievance is being carried out for possibly 4 or 5 months if it goes all the way to level three. Okay. There's been several changes at the level three grievance again that we're recommending going back to the way it was before. One is a board cannot determine that a board committee hears the level three grievance of three board members. This could be concerned because if it gets to the level three
100level then each board member will most likely want to weigh in on that decision and also as a board you've been you've been elected and so each board member would have input. With the way it is now it could be really three board members to you know make a decision on a level three which could be a concern. Right now the complainant can decide if they want something in open session. Previously they shared their preference but ultimately it was the decision of the district if it should be an open session or closed session. The reason why this could be a problem is because certain privacy laws could be violated in an open session hearing in public. Also sensitive information could be disclosed for personnel or for for student privacy and so we believe that that
101could be a problem. Okay. The last two are are a little a little bit minor but still it's a it's a change that we're recommending not move forward. One is that the level three grievance must be decided by the discussed inside by the board within 60 calendar days. And while we typically do that already, it takes away control from the board before the board set the level three grievances on when when they wanted to have that level three grievance and so a little bit of control was removed from that. And then the last piece is that they must issue a decision within 30 calendar days. The board's practice in Goose Creek has been to issue a decision that night. However, there is lack of flexibility because the board did have some flexibility more so with
102the previous policy. So the process for amending a DOI plan. Every 5 years it has to be recertified so to speak or updated so we did that a little over 2 years ago. So an amendment is where it goes to the instructional leadership council. That's our council that serves as also the DOI committee and they vote and approve if they wanted to move forward to the board. And so we met with our our ILC on April 1st on both of these items and they voted I believe it was unanimous to to move forward with with both amendments and so that that's happened already. And so the plan is then to move to to the board for for an act potential action item on May 4th. One thing to note is it must be approved by
103a supermajority by a 2/3 vote and what that means is that we must have five approvals for it to to be amended. Okay? Okay. So that's the complete presentation at this time. I'll take any questions. The floor is open for the board. Right. Bring us your recommendation Sounds good. Oh, I'm sorry. Bring us your recommendation and we'll approve it. If my math is correct it could take more than a school year for a level three to be adjudicated by us. Depending on when it was filed. Yeah. It could it could overlap over to another school year. And that's not going to help anybody. All right, Dr. Bollinger. Thank you so much. You should probably go ahead and stay there for the next one. I have a feeling we're going to call you back up. Miss
104Clark, you'll probably want to walk back up as well. Um Dr. Rodriguez, I believe that concludes superintendent reports. Yes, Mr. President. All right. We will move on to action item 7A, Dr. Rodriguez. Yes, action item 7A is consideration and possible action of 2026-2027 budget reduction plan. What is the pleasure of the board? I make a motion that we approve budget reduction plan scenario one. Is there a I'll second. All right. Is it possible to pull that up and post it on the screen, please? Thank you. Just so we know what it is. All right. I have a motion by Mr. Clem and a second by Mrs. Guy to approve scenario one of the budget reduction plan. I'll open it up for discussion at this time. Yeah, I'll be voting against this. Mic mic phone. Start
105again, please. They can hear me. But I'll be voting against this. I think clearly scenario two is the better of the two scenarios. And so I will be voting against this one. Up until our workshop last time, I would have agreed with Mr. Enteria. However, after doing research, listening to some teachers, and listening to Miss Guy, and calling some people I know in United, I think we need more planning. I need we think we need to consider continue pursuing 5 by 5 or something similar to it. But I don't think we're ready to dive in headfirst. And that's kind of [clears throat] where I am, Mr. Clem. I agree something needs to be done. I'm not saying that we don't need to make any changes ever, but I think we need time. Hello. Mr. Enteria
106is helping me out tonight. >> [laughter] >> Any other comments? Any other comments from the board before we take a vote? Yeah, I I mean in terms of time we we don't have no time. We we we when we brought this superintendent in we said beforehand that we wanted to make changes. We wanted to That's why administration went to work to bring this out and propose this to us. That's exactly why they did it because we were mad as a board because we weren't getting where we needed to be with the school district. So now to me to hear this seems like they're you know we're not we're falling back. We're crawfishing if you will, because you know, that that the 5 by 5, you know, prepared preparedness. Is that a legit argument for scenario
107one, that we're not prepared? They did a lot of work to prepare to bring this up to us, or else they wouldn't have done it. So, in my opinion, you know, we're out of time. It's you know, the money's not an issue to me, because I've seen us vote on other things that were that I voted against that weren't even worthy of voting for, and I just I'm going to put my full support behind administration and their recommendation of this 5 by 5. Like I said, we're out of time. You know, you know, we have TA on our backs, and we shouldn't be there, but we are. You know, and I I think my vote will be against that for that very reason. Anyone else? I'm trying to go last moving forward. So, what is
108the time factor on this? I'm going to have to defer on that one, on the timetable for implementation. Is that your question, sir? Yeah. Dr. Jackson, do you want to come up and assist with that? And while Dr. Jackson is making their way, um I do want to share that we did have a meeting with the principals from the three comprehensive high schools and the head counselors. And part of the conversation for those that were there is I asked them individually what was best for kids. When they looked at the two scenarios and looking forward, what they thought was best for kids, there was no fear, at least in the room at the time. It was just a very simple conversation, but I wanted to hear from the individuals that were going to do the
109work. Now, I did hear the public comments, and I truly appreciate the comments that were made. I think those comments are are very important. There's been a lot of administrators that have been aware of this 5 by 5 for a very long time. These This conversation actually occurred before I even took the job a year as superintendent. This was a fall conversation. So, I'm coming in midstream on this, but Dr. Jackson, if you can go ahead and just share what the timeline is. So, yes, I do want to say we started this conversation in the fall, and we took a team two different groups or teams of of Well, that's central office staff. We did not want to involve teachers in something at that point that we were just exploring. Once we decided that maybe
110this is something we really were going to go down, I took it to the ILC and discussed the whole thing with the ILC as well. And then we talked to all the campus academic deans, we talked to the principals, and we talked to the lead counselors all together and then again separately. Everybody agrees, and I don't have all the answers, that this is not going to be an easy task, but and I definitely don't want anyone to think we're trying to use a scare tactic here. That's not what we're doing, but reality is that I think that we do CTE better than most districts, and I think we are utilizing our CTE, but we are not getting in some campuses in the traditional campus, we just are not getting the IBCs that we need to
111get to keep our ratings. We're going to do everything we've already crosswalked TSIA to Algebra II and to English III, and it's already incorporated into our curriculum, but we're still not seeing the results we need to see. So, we can we have a plan if this doesn't go forward, but I cannot sit up here and assure you we're going to get the same results. The plan would be that once you decide yes or no, if it's a yes, I'll already have a meeting on the books for tomorrow for all counselors, their schedulers, to meet at the PD center. They want working time together to work through scenarios. We've crosswalked exactly what we're doing there. We've incorporated some other individuals that can help us with the scheduling, and we've set two days aside already. If we
112don't go, they'll just remain on this and continue working on their schedules as is. The plan would be if we move forward to start out next year keeping year-long courses, work working those into one semester, and keeping semester courses at semester for the pilot year. So, that way it makes it cleaner. The counselors thought it would be easier to schedule, so it would be not there wouldn't be any non-week courses. Any other comments? Well, since y'all leaving the mic open, I'm just waiting my turn. Well, I got I I just, you know, I I think we needed change directions, and we've already, in my opinion, we're failing. We're in a bad situation with what we've been doing. And, you know, whether we took advantage of any programs that we had or not, I mean, we
113need to change directions. That's what we need to do. And that's what we we charged our superintendent with is to help us change directions, and now we're going to slap the whole administration in the face and go, "Oh, well, no. We're not going to do Let's just stay course. Let's stay the course. Let's go ahead and, you know, just do what we're doing." And to me, that's not that's not what we talked about. So, you're voting if you voted for or against, you said. I'm voting against scenario one because it excludes 5 by 5, which is what the administration recommends that they want to do to help change our circumstances with the academics, which are terrible. I mean, they're terrible. Like I said, we're we're almost a TA takeover like Houston. That's embarrassing for Baytown.
114We were Baytown has always been a exemplary school districts, you know, doing well, and now look at us. You know, five of our elementaries have Ds, I think, and three of our junior highs, and the only reason our high schools are doing so well is because of college readiness, you know, and all That's the only reason, cuz when they take that away from us next year, cuz we can use it for next year, but after that, you know, and and and and I know you're saying that they're not taking it away from us, but they are taking it away from us. We're not going to be able to use it. They're going to Okay, they change it. Change it, but they change it, we it affects us. Change affects us. Just like if we go
115to 5 by 5, it's going to affect us, and hopefully in a positive way, not in the negative way that we're being affected now with all your planning and, you know, worries that, you know, this we need to worry and move in a different direction is where we need to use our energy, in my opinion, because we're failing. Who as a professional would go, "Let's just keep doing what we're doing because we're failing already." No, that's not That's not the way you fix the situation. We make some changes, and then go forward, is my opinion. And that's why I'll be voting against moving in the same direction. Okay, I'll go next. Um and Mr. Sampson, you can go after me if you want. For for me, um like I said in prior, the concerns that
116were brought up are serious concerns. Um but back in January, we brought a new superintendent into the district, and we we gave him one charge, and that Well, we gave him a lot of charges, but the primary one that we all talked about was accountability and achievement. Um and for me to bring a superintendent in, and then they propose something, and we say, "Well, no, we don't want to do that." That's where I struggle. I have every bit of concern that Mrs. Guy presented. I do, but equally, I have as much faith in our team that knows that Goose Creek is different today than it was yesterday, and it's going to continue to be that way. We we have new heights, new goals, and new accountability for all of us, and accountability starts with us.
117Um So, that's my struggle. Uh I said before that 5 by 5 did not come to us as a board multiple times accidentally. We can see it loud and clear that's the direction that our district wants to go, and that's We we talk about lead lead leaning on the experts. I'm not an expert on the educational side at all. Anyone that's heard me talk says I'm openly saying that that is not my strength on the board. My strength on the board is more of the business side. Um but also, I think it's very important that if we bring a brand new superintendent into this district, um we don't pick and choose the items that he recommends to us that is the direction we need to go. So, that's my only comment. I'll open it back
118up for more comments before we call for the vote. I just, you know, I want to add that, you know, it has an an on our school district. Whether these students and parents want to bring their kids to our to our district. You know, they see what's happening. They're the very ones that look up the school district and go, "Wow, they're failing over there. Why would I want to take my kid over there?" You know, and so we need to make the right decision tonight. You know, it ain't about a power trip for me. Uh It it's about supporting uh you know, administration and and their efforts to to help correct the situation we're in now. That's That's Thank you, Mr. Sampson. I see your microphone on. Do you want to make a comment? Um
119I'm I'm kind of, you know, uh I'm like Jell-O right now. I'm kind of all over the place. Uh cuz I want to give my head a little bit more time to think about this a little bit more. I know we need to have a vote. But I'm kind of like I'm at the point of saying I have to abstain myself. That's the way cuz I need to have a little bit more time to think about exactly what effect or what's non-effect it's going to have on us. Because if we vote on it again I would come back and then I'd know exactly what I'm feeling. But you know, I look at one spectrum of it, then I look at the other. Uh right now I couldn't I couldn't tell you. Right now, honestly. Let
120Let me just add to that real quick. Um Let me remind the board that we're voting on a a budget reduction scenario that the 5 by 5 has a huge impact on. The master schedule, as I understand it, is really an administrative decision. Uh but it's our decision whether or not we fund that through the budget. Is that correct, Mrs. Clark? Yes, sir. That's correct. >> Okay. So, we're we're voting on a budget that has an impact on 5 by 5. Uh last call for comments. I'm going to call for the vote. With no further comments, I'm going to repeat the motion real quick. I believe Mr. Clem made a motion and Mrs. Guy second the motion to approve budget reduction scenario one, which does not include 5 by 5. All in favor at this
121time, please signify by raising your hand. Seeing two, three, four. Any against? There's three against. The vote is tied. So, it does not pass. Correct? That's Yes, that's correct. So, that motion failed. I'll open the floor for another motion if the board desires. Well I mean The only other option is scenario two. I make a motion that we we uh adopt scenario two with the 5 by 5 in it. Have a motion by Mr. Renteria to adopt or approve scenario two. Is there a second? I will second it. So, I have a motion by Mr. Renteria and a second by Mr. Campese to approve budget reduction plan scenario two, which does include the full 5 by 5 funding. Is there any more discussion on this before we call for a vote? No, I just would
122hope my colleagues would reconsider and support. I mean, I know I'm I know that I'm not trying to say that you're not supporting them. But I I would ask you to reconsider because they worked hard on this and I think that it's it's it's in the right direction. We're going in the right direction with them and the superintendent. So, you know, I I would ask you to reconsider. That's it. All right. Thank you. Any other comments? I'll now call for a vote to approve scenario two, uh that which includes the full 5 by 5. All those in favor, please signify by show of hands. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Seeing two for, two against, two abstentions. That motion fails as well. What is the pleasure of the board? My recommendation would be to bring it back
123once we got a better understanding of how it's going to affect the district. And are we putting this in all the high schools or junior high or what? What are we exactly doing? No, sir. Mr. Sampson, um the Stewart Career Center and Impact is already running a college schedule. They're doing eight periods, but it's blocked like a college schedule. And junior high is doing a straight six period >> me interrupt real quick. Uh we need a motion to even discuss it any further, but before we entertain Mrs. Clark, would you talk about the vote tonight and the calendar of events that leads up to the budget reduction plan vote that you're asking for tonight? Uh yes, sir. We What we can do if we need to, if we continue to have the ties, um we
124can bring it back next time and we'll have it approved and and maybe there'll be seven here or maybe there'll be less, but we'll have maybe we'll be able to get a majority that will that time one way or another on May 4th. We can do that prior to the um compensation approval. Um so, we can have both of those um action items on next next month since we're at a stalemate. I would Can I ask Real quick. Uh where would that put us in our budget calendar? We have We have a little bit of space, so we we could do that. >> So, we could bring this back and look at it at our next meeting. >> Yes. But just with the knowledge that it's going to delay preparation to make it successful another
125month, you know, another few weeks, but Mr. President, uh because of time and the necessity and the work that is tied to the adults, I'm going to do the schedule uh administration is going to have to proceed beginning tomorrow without the 5 by 5. The board can go ahead and continue with their deliberation and conversations regarding but the adults need to continue the work. If not, we're going to be extremely behind. So, my recommendation for administration after hearing the vote is that we proceed with the current schedule with the understanding that we will monitor this and remind um the community of the vote that took place uh today. And there's any concerns in the future regarding uh CCMR and and accountability. But at this moment in time, my recommendation is going to be that we
126continue to work with the current schedule. What is the pleasure of the board at this point? I would make the recommendation to proceed as Dr. Rodriguez has just stated. And because they need to move forward and then we as Bridget stated that we will both uh continue for the next uh agenda item. I have a motion by Mrs. Broaddus to assumably approve scenario one. Is that correct? That was not a motion. It wasn't. Keep working. Okay. So, tonight we're approving a budget reduction plan. Correct? What she's really saying is she wants to table the matter until we find Are we still on seven eight? Yes. Okay. So, we can still make motions. We can. Uh Mrs. Broaddus, your yours was not a motion. It was a recommendation. Or were you making a motion? It was
127a motion that I was asking for that we proceed as recommended by the superintendent. And then to table the discussion for scenario one to continue as we present more to us at the as Bridget had mentioned for the next board meeting. Okay. To clarify that, the action item is to consider possible action on the budget reduction plan. So, how does that tie into that? >> I got you. So, that's that's where my confusion was. >> sorry. Then it's not. So, it's not a motion. So, I'll be meeting again on May 4th. Mr. President, and let me clarify because of the situation that we're in now, I want to ensure that everyone fully understands that administration must continue working on something. So, since there is no action being taken on scenario one or scenario two, the
128something is we will continue working on the current schedule that we have in place at this moment in time. Thus, allowing the board to continue having conversations regarding the budget itself. With that being said, the schedule for next year will not be a 5 by 5. Because of the action that occurred tonight here at the board meeting. But, it is critical that the adults working the master schedule work on something. That something is we will continue working with the current schedule as it stands this year. If scenario two automatically gets passed in a minute or not, or [clears throat] if it does, can we hit the floor running tomorrow on 5 by 5? Are we ready to do that? Yes, I want to go back to Dr. Jackson. She made the comment earlier regarding the
129schedule that it that she's prepared. Dr. Jackson? Yes, we have all we have reserved center for Tuesday. The professional development center on Tuesday. We have a team the entire CNI team will be there. All of the counselors, all of the academic deans and the principals that they want to come. It's a full day work session tomorrow. Uh we have Debbie Jackson with their schedulers um also ready in a room. And then on Wednesday we reserved the technology center to help with actually scheduling the counselors thought that the technology center would be the best location because they would have all the computers there for full screens. But, they felt like it would be uh helpful helpful for them to have Lee, Sterling, and GCM counselors together so we could work on three ninth grade counselors could
130work together, tenth grade counselors could work together. So, we have those already planned. At the end of the day on Wednesday they will let me know what they need if we move forward that way. And we have a plan to satellite out our SBIs to those campuses we've already worked with frontline. We know what they can do. All the course numbers have already been crossed. Everything is in the system ready to go. In fact, I spent Friday at GCM and they're actually running the mock schedule now to work out kinks. So, myself, director CTE, and our secondary CNI director all satellited over there with also with Ms. Fierro. Okay. Well, I'm going to let the people paper call me wishy-washy or whatever adjective they want to use, but I'm going to make a motion that
131we approve scenario two at this time. I do. I have a motion by Mr. Klem and a very quick motion seconded by Mr. Renteria to approve scenario two which does include the full 5 by 5. I'll call for discussion again. Hearing none, all in favor of approving budget scenario two, please signify by raising of hands. See 1 2 3 4 5 4. Any against? I'm seeing 5 4 and 1 against. Um so, the motion does pass. Um I want to thank the board for having honest, calm, fair dialogue about this. It It's scary times. Uh but, this board just made a decision and I think it's important that we follow through on that. Uh so, thank you for that. You all are excused. Now, don't mess Now, don't mess up. Mr. Klem's microphone was off,
132but what he said is do a great job. Thank you. Dr. Rodriguez, my Robert's Rules are being tested tonight. But, let's move on to 7B consideration of consent agenda. Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Uh we have uh 7B1 uh we have donation from uh GCCISD Education Foundation designated by ExxonMobil. Number two, a donation from the Education Foundation designated by uh Niagara. We have number three, board policy FDA local admissions interdistrict transfers. Number four, instructional allotment and certification uh provision of instructional materials for 2026-2027. Number five, delegation of authority to the superintendent for employment of contractual classroom teachers during the month of May. Number six, award uh CSPH bag rooftop replacement project for Harlem Elementary. Number seven, award CSP maintenance building supplies and materials. Number eight, award RFP automotive repair and collision services, part supplies, and
133related services. Number nine, superintendent's expenditures. And number 10, tax refunds. Thank you, Dr. Rodriguez. Are there any items from the consent agenda that need to be pulled for separate consideration? >> [clears throat] >> Hearing none, all in favor of approving consent agenda item 7B, Make a motion first. Oh, yes. >> I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. I have a motion by Mr. Klem and a second by Mr. Renteria. Thank you, Mr. Klem, for keeping me on my toes. I was excited and ready to move on. I don't know how to consent agenda. So, I have a motion and a second to approve action item 7B 1 through 10. All those in favor, please signify by showing May I have discussion? Yeah, you can have discussion first. Well, we we could. Yes,
134we can. May I have discussion? We We could, but I assume we won't have that cuz it was consent. Well, I just want to ask Dr. Rodriguez on number five, is that something that's one time or do we need to update our policy in the future? Uh this is Let me Yes, [clears throat] sir. This is going to be a one time. Uh typically what was shared with me is that this occurs uh from June through August. Uh we are asking for May because we are in a very uh good position right now hiring some more teachers. I believe we hired 18, correct me if I'm wrong, 18 on Saturday. Uh and this allows us to expedite the hiring process even in May, which is going to be a very critical month for us. So,
135when we get to future agenda items, I don't need to bring that back up. Yes, sir. Okay, thank you. All right, thank you, Mr. Klem. Told you my Robert's Rules are being tested tonight. Any further discussion on consent agenda items? Now, all those in favor, please signify by show of hands. Seeing six four and zero against, the motion passes. We'll move on to future agenda items, board training, and board meetings. We'll start with C1 future board agenda items. Are there any items at this time? Yes, I would like to know how many seniors do we have in each academy and as a whole, and I want to know how many of those seniors are graduating with tier one or tier two industry based certifications. And I want to know are all of our pathways ending
136in tier one or tier two industry based certifications. All right, I'll be the second on that. Dr. Rodriguez, if you can prepare that for the board. Anything else? Well, a presentation on uh on the number of people that have been filed on in terms of absenteeism so we can get an update. I don't know if we have we can do that in public open session or closed session, but I'd like [clears throat] to get some numbers uh on how many uh schools have filed, you know, just general information just to keep the subject current. And both requests, are these requests that you want presented here in public or is it just information you'd like shared with the board? The Depending, Dr. Rodriguez, on what is included in that. Uh I will let you determine the
137appropriateness of it. Um I'll see in public, people in private. Yeah, can I say that like for mine because we are having such big conversation around TSI, and I I just want everyone to understand what exactly because for for one, let's break in the heights that the state hasn't even finalized what CCMR is going to look like going forward. That's not going to be finalized until June. Um but, we can look at what they're looking at right now because they've already changed it from their original proposal. So, let's look at what what it's saying right now and let's look at the different ways that we can earn CCMR, and let's look at what we're doing to diversify that for our students because not every student fits in the same bucket. Correct. And and based on
138my criteria just now that would fall, I believe, in public. Uh and the other one I will leave up to you whether or not that is uh depending on the content if that'll be in uh closed session or open. All right, we'll move on to board updates. Um is there I'm not done with that one. I got another one. I wanted you to I want a presentation on the I know we've we've we've beat this one to death, but I'd like to uh have a presentation on the teacher incentive allotments. I want to know where we're at with that. How many teachers have gotten them? How many teachers qualified for them? And so forth and so on. Just general presentation. So, so you're just wanting basically the data behind it? Yes. Do you want that
139here in public or do you want that as a board update out of the superintendent? Public is good for me. Okay. That should be a fairly quick and easy one. All right, any others? Okay, I'll move on to uh Did I hear something? Okay. I'll move on to board updates. This is the part where we usually do a little share out of what the board is doing, what we've done since we met last. Um we had a team of eight meeting last Thursday. Uh lasted about 3 hours here in this room. Uh I'd like to start and open the floor up. I'll start to my left and move to my right. If there are any share outs, any carrots, anything you want to share from that training that we did. Ms. Guy? Mr. Klem? No.
140Mr. Sampson? No. Ms. Broaddus? Mr. Renteria? Yeah, I mean that training I really don't like to come to that training. I'll be honest with >> [laughter] >> It's not It's not the Tell us what it is, Mr. Renteria. It's not like going to an Astros game or nothing like that, but I think, you know, it does have an impact. I think that the guy was good and what he was and what he was sharing with us, the information. In fact, I think it had an impact tonight, you know, in terms of working together to accomplish something as a board and moving things forward. You know, so I know that we didn't all agree, but we got to the point A, you know, at the end of the day. So in that sense, you know, it's
141required training, but at same time if you look for the good and what he's his message is or her message is in all training, there's something that can help you and help us. And in fact, some of the policy things that we're going to look up and change because they're outdated or we don't have them in our you know, in our policy have have really had will have an impact with us also. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Renteria. My share out on that is we did a team of eight training and it was really about the dynamics of the board and how we operate. And we had this team of eight training intentionally, that's my word tonight, I guess, intentionally 3 months into Dr. Rodriguez's tenure here at Goose Creek. Uh and it was it was
142really building that team of eight. And I want to say it publicly, I've said this before, we really have a team of nine. Ms. Garcia uh attended that training with us. Ms. Garcia, you're our honorary ninth member of our team. Uh Yeah. I mean, ninth man, ninth person. So, I I just want to recognize that. Dr. Rodriguez, do you want to do a share out from the team of eight? Yes, Mr. President. I just appreciated that everybody was available that evening. I know it takes up a lot of time uh to have another meeting, but the information was positive. It was good for all of us to come together. Uh the information that was shared really uh continued to enhance our understanding of the different roles that the that occur when there's a relationship between
143the board and the superintendent and of course with administration cuz I am an extension of the administrators uh that are here. So, no, it was very much appreciated. It was a good good training. I don't know who selected uh Dr. Julian Trevino, but he was really smart That guy was smart, you know. He asked me if I had jumped out of airplanes or something. He says >> [laughter] >> I say, "Yeah, I did." I didn't write it down, Mr. Renteria, but I chuckled quietly on that one. Right. Yeah, he did. He I think he did do some background on us. He did. He vetted us before he got here. And in answer to question um or statement, Mr. Renteria, the team of eight training facilitator is always decided upon between or in collaboration between the
144president of the board and the superintendent because it is a true team of eight. And the one of the other things that we really focused on is uh the blinker comment uh and that's basically stay in your lane comment. And a real division of duties. What is a governance uh duty, which is what we do, and what is administration, which is what Dr. Rodriguez does. Uh one more quick share out on training. Mr. Sampson and I have attended the Region 4 Gulf Coast Association of School Boards meeting, which was also facilitated by TASB for uh a couple trainings. Do you want a quick share out on that, Mr. Sampson? Besides the 2-hour traffic. I know. On the same, 2-hour traffic. No, it was a great training. We learned a lot. Um I think the part
145that I was kind of interested in is that we started with the meeting and when I thought it was over, it wasn't over. There's another one. Yeah, it was the second part that really got me, but yeah, it was great training. It was agree My quick share out on that is we had yet another legislative update. We get these We're required to do some but there are carrots from everyone. And I came back from that meeting and hit Dr. Rodriguez with a long list of items. Are we doing this, this, and this? And Goose Creek is right on track and doing all of them. All right. With that being said, we'll move on to item 7D. The board will now recess into closed session pursuant to one or more of the following sections You missed
146board meetings. Board meetings. Thank you, sir. I'm going to I'm trying to move this along. Y'all said to speed it up. The next board meeting is May 4th, followed by June 1st, June 15th, and July 13th. Also, make note that we have This is a busy time for board members. There are a lot of invitations coming through our email, and there's a lot of events that board uh members are um requested to attend, so keep your eye on that. Hey, so my schedule is good for May 4th and June the 1st, but June the 15th and July 13th, I'm working nights. So, I'm available on that Tuesday, though, on both both months. So, we can if we're available for Tuesday on the what, the 16th of June and the 14th of July, if we can
147adjust the schedule so I can be here, uh I would appreciate it. Duly noted, and I'll allow administration to work on that and also when you're taking into consideration if those require a supermajority vote on those days. I'm not sure. Now, can I go into closed meeting? Yes, please. Okay. The board will now recess into closed session pursuant to one or more of the following sections of Texas Government Code, sections 551.071, .072, .073, .074, .075, .076, .082, .083, .084, .087, and .089. No action will be taken while the board is in closed session. The time is now 8:08 p.m. The board will now reconvene in open session. The time is 9:15 p.m. No action was taken while the board was in closed session. We'll resume the agenda. We are on item seven. Where are we
148at? This is two pages. Seven F. Consideration of personnel. >> No. 7F1, approve new hires. Dr. Rodriguez. >> [clears throat] >> Yes, Mr. President. Administration is recommending uh the new hire for educational diagnostician. A point of point of order. Are we going to do hires F1, not F3? Oh, thank you for the clarification, uh Mr. Vice President. Yes, you're absolutely correct. Uh administration recommends the approval of all new hires. Move to approve. Second. I have a motion by Mr. Klem and a second by Mr. Renteria to approve new hires. Any discussion? No. All in favor, please signify by show of hands. Seeing six for and zero against, the motion passes. Yes, Mr. President. Uh F2 is the recommendation is that the board accept the resignations and retirements. Move to approve. Second. I have a motion
149by Mr. Klem and a second by Mr. Sampson. Any discussion on this item? Hearing none, all in favor, please signify by raise of hands. Seeing six for and zero against, motion passes. Yes, Mr. President. For F3, administration is recommending the hiring for educational diagnostician Leslie Manley. Move to approve. I'll second. I have a motion by Mr. Klem and a second by Mrs. Guy to approve item F3A. Follow Any discussion? It's only 9:00, by the way. We met earlier. We did. Uh hearing no further discussion, all in favor, please signify by raise of hands. Seeing six for and zero against, motion passes. I'm used to working this at midnight, guys. Yes, Mr. President. For item F4, administration is recommending that the Board of Trustees approve the list of administrator contracts transitioning from probationary to first year
150term. And I move to approve that as well. I'll second. I have a motion by Mr. Glenn and a second by Mrs. Guy to approve administrator contracts as presented. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please signify by raising your hand. Seeing six four and zero against, the motion passes. Having no further business before this board, we are adjourned, believe it or not, at 9:18 p.m. Thanks for staying with us.