Aug 3, 2020 – Board Meeting

001good evening the time is now 6 03 p.m welcome to the goose creek cisd board meeting monday august the 3rd mr sampson was the meeting properly posted yes it was and do we have a quorum [Music] yes we do okay at this time i would like to ask mr ricky clem to please lead us in prayer all right i i'll stand please and join me in prayer [Music] dear heavenly father we thank you for this time we have to come together and make important decisions that will guide our school district in the future we ask for your guidance and your wisdom as we navigate the waters of tonight's meeting and ask for your leadership uh bless each person is here and everybody that's going to give their input tonight and we ask for safe travel

002home in jesus name amen [Music] good evening dr price thank you good evening president woods board members superintendent o'brien guests and visitors in virtual land welcome to our board meeting tonight tonight we're going to have our pledge led by ava flood a fourth grader at austin elementary where the principal her principal is miss duhan we will follow abel's bridge with the texas pledge led by david worth a junior at rossett sterling high school where his principal is mr nathan chadwick i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the power of one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice wrong hey god put your hand on you go ahead please join me in the texas pledge honor the texas flag i pledge allegiance to thee texas one state under

003god one and indivisible okay board members we have one more special um thing for you all tonight i just felt like it was a time for us to have a song that would uplift us because we've gone through so much this summer so we want to just have something that's going to uplift us so we have mackenzie com como who is a recent graduate from rothes sterling and her brother bryce como who's recent who is also a junior at rosses sterling and they're gonna sing to for us you raise me up by josh gorban [Music] um hi before we get started i just wanted to um dedicate this song to all the teachers and administration at gcc isd [Music] when i am down and all [Music] am still [Music] waiting in the silence until you

004come and sit while with me you raise me up so i can stand on mountains you raise me up walk on stormy seas i am strong when i am on your shoulders [Music] me all to more than i can so [Music] seas i am strong when i watch your shoulders [Music] raise me up to more than i can be you raise me so i can stand on mountains [Music] you raise me up to walk on stormy season [Music] i can be [Music] seas i am strong when i am on your shoulders [Music] you raise me up to more than i can be [Music] thank you mckenzie and bryce to mention that mckenzie is on a full ride to baylor university with academics and music and they both were texas all state choir members thank you

005bryce and mckenzie again [Music] back over to you president woods thank you dr price at this time i would like to continue with suspended oma laws concerning telephone or video conference meetings on march 16th governor greg abbott granted a request by attorney general ken paxton to temporarily suspend a limited number of open meetings laws to the extent necessary to allow telephonic or video conference meetings in response to the coronavirus coveted 19 pandemic for more information about the suspensions see tasby legal services article texas governors suspend certain provisions of open meetings act due to coronavirus covet 19. in accordance with those suspended rules we certify the following notice notice of this meeting has been posted online for at least 72 hours number one although members of the board may not be gathered in a central physical

006location we do have a quorum in attendance at this meeting by video conference or telephone call number two we are meeting by use of cisco webex software application which allows two-way communication for members of the public number three as we would at any in-person meeting members of the public who have followed the instructions on the meeting notice for registering to speak during the public comment portion will be unmuted for a period of time to speak if the speaker submitted written comments in advance the board secretary or other designee will read the comments into record before or during the board's consideration of that item if you would like to provide comment at a future meeting conducted by video conference or telephone call please follow instructions on the meeting notice number four all other meeting procedures will

007adhere to board adopted procedures to the extent practicable number five an audio recording of this meeting is being made and will be made available to the public at a later date number six this software application allows for one thousand people to view and interact at a time we apologize in advance for any unforeseeable difficulties and ask for your patience as we navigate unprecedented conditions number seven if you have questions about these suspended laws please call the office of the attorney general at 888 two six seven eight seven or by email at t o m a at oag.texas.gov [Music] at this time we will go to agenda item number three citizens participation in this section of the agenda for this regular meeting the board permits public comments on agenda items or items not on the agenda

008posted with notice of the meeting individuals who have signed up registered prior to the beginning of the board meeting shall be recognized and provided an opportunity to speak other individuals who have provided email submissions to the board for consideration will also be noted when addressing the board i encourage you to note your topic issue and to please refrain from attacking the personal character of any individual student staff member or board member in this section of the agenda board members may only listen to the individual's statement and may not discuss the item with the patron or take action on any matter during this portion of the agenda normally public participation time on the agenda is limited to a total of 30 minutes and each individual herd is allotted no more than three minutes for the presentation

009however in light of the number of citizen participation speakers and submissions and the board's desire to hear from as many citizens as we reasonably can tonight as board president under the local under the authority provided by the goose creek cisd board policy bed local i'm going to extend the overall time limit for public comment past the standard 30 minutes and i am also adjusting the time allotted for each speaker to two minutes each if there is no conversation or objection to this by my fellow board members we can move forward um personally i feel like to shift the time frame for each person that's prepared something uh significantly impacts our ability to hear what their experience is on this kind of topic [Music] any other comments or suggestions from board members [Music] my only comment

010would be that sorry my only comment would be that um because it wasn't um announced beforehand that maybe we would have continued to three minutes maybe limit the amount of speakers and then for the next meeting adjust it i don't know when they started signing up the people that signed up that's what i have to say how many people do we have signed up i believe we have 29 signed up to speak live and we have 20 email submissions to be heard for a total of 49 mr flood can you confirm that yes so and those are ones who properly submitted their requests beforehand in order to be heard so under the authority given to me as the board president i would suggest that we hear from all of them who asked to be heard

011tonight but i would ask that they limit their words to two minutes instead of three um if they can't get their point across in two minutes they that they could in three uh there's there's nothing we could limit them to one minute but i think that that's not enough time to hear what their point would be that's why i feel like as a board we could go to two minutes instead and that way we're not here for three hours we're talking an extra 29 minutes oh 49 [Music] okay and i appreciate that um uh and if you i i could entertain a motion if you all would like to vote on this but actually uh the decision rests on my shoulders i'm glad to make it with all of you i could entertain a motion

012that we uh extend our time past 30 minutes and limit it for each speaker to two or any other motion that would like to be presented at this time i just have a quick comment i i do agree with um mr connor that a lot of people have prepared a three-minute time frame so in order to articulate that i think we should do the three minutes since there's no action tonight maybe the ones that we read into the record we could do that the next thing that way they can still be heard but then we allow those that have signed up to speak a full three minutes i like that idea personally okay so the 29 who have signed up to speak for the full three minutes and then the written submissions are in our

013record but you want to read them into the record fully tonight i didn't catch them i would say we would read them at the following meeting since there's no action item tonight that still allows them to be written in the following meeting with any additional public comment speakers at our next meeting before any action will be taken at all [Music] i don't think we can hear you mr clinton mr hodgins i think we were checking to see what the legal validity of that request is could you restate the request madam president or have it restated [Music] mr poppy go ahead the question was since we have 29 at least 29 people that signed up to speak instead of limiting the time less than three minutes down to two minutes would it be possible for those

014where we would read in emails and the record at a different meeting prior to any action the for public comment on agenda item the agenda item is this evening i believe for most of those and so it has to be presented and considered prior to you know consideration action on the item so would be my recommendation that you actually receive them tonight now from a written standpoint your your procedures do not require that underboard policy that they that those be physically read into the record they can be received by the board and reviewed i believe copies are made available so your other option there is to hear the speakers for the amount of time and then here and then read what you can for what some other portion for example but it's it's within the

015presiding officer's discretion when you have this number of of um speakers that would like to be heard and i suspect those that also did email suspicion submissions would like those considered so would be my recommendation that you that you go ahead and receive them tonight if you're going to be considering and discussing the item tonight okay thank you yes okay so mr hodgins if um the emails that were submitted to be read into public comment tonight if each one of us receives a copy of those at the board tonight were satisfying that requirement yes there's not a requirement they'd be read in there there's a requirement the way that you search it is to have them considered and so yes my recommendation to the board would be that they be received i believe they have

016but that the board [Music] consider them prior to taking you know prior to any detail any action or uh you know considering fully the um as part of the consideration of the agenda item so okay so that being stated we are um we're to the 29 uh public speaking comments that have been requested to be heard tonight and then we each are receiving copies of the emails that were submitted for the meeting tonight that being said then i would go back and rule that we are going to extend the overall time limit for public comment past the standard 30 minutes i will not adjust the time for those speakers uh down from the regularly permitted three minutes and we will continue until all that have properly logged on uh have been heard and at this

017point i will turn it over well first of all i would like to ask for your cooperation and patience with me and the webex technology i would also please implore you to mute your phone or your computer or your headset whatever you are logging in with this is a enormous task for our technology department so if you are not identified by mr matt flood to be the speaker of the moment please make sure your your computer your screen your headset whatever you're on is please on mute button um we will continue at this time uh mr matt flood i will turn it over to you to log in your speakers all right thank you madam president uh um i'm sorry but before before we do that um mr sampson as secretary would you like to

018keep time for the speakers or would you defer that to assistant secretary or myself no i can't hear you no sir [Music] try the button on the headset wire [Music] got me now i can hear you now sir yes so would you like to keep time for our speakers or would you like for mr clemmer myself to do that while mr flood um lines them up for us i guess i got it are you time keeping for us okay so at the at the one minute mark mr sampson will um give notice that uh there's one minute remaining on your three minute time so please be courteous all right mr flood president i am going to try to go down the list and i will look for the names as they were filled out on

019the form if i don't have them i'm going to skip and move down to the next person [Music] okay my first one is kevin craven i am going to unmeet you sir can you can you speak yes can you hear me yes sir we can okay you may begin [Music] good evening um my statement is in reference to the renaming of romney in the clinton school i am a 1988 graduate of the high school the blacks are immeasurably better off here than in africa morally socially and physically you will never prosper with blacks and it is abhorrent to a reflecting mind to be supporting and cherishing those who are plotting and working for your injury the relation of mastering slave is the best that can exist between the white and black races these statements are

020the embodiment of these principles they do not comport with the mission statement of the gccisd and the core values attached to it these words were penned by lee yet his name was memorialized on a building a institution public of learning in this city we have come to know who lee was no friend to a man of color except his own he stands in stark contrast to others to whom we have given such distinction and honor in baytown ef green and george washington carver in other cities barbara jordan phyllis wheatley and thurgood marshall all of these names are good honorable black men and women whose reputations are beyond reproach and who are admired for their contributions to a more unified nation let us just be honest neither this district nor any other american city would have

021dared to celebrate any of these individuals have they shown an iota of the of the contempt toward whites that lee did toward blacks the fact that lee has been honored for decades in this city in spite of his hatred is another example of how the grace and the forgiveness of the black community is recklessly taken for granted you must begin to live up to the core values you state and stop looking the other way stalling and pretending our scars do not exist the memories of the individuals who attended lead should not outweigh your responsibilities at tres as trustees to be good stewards over the district ensuring in all facets of the district's matters that we have one man to the norms of a decent and cohesive community we are part of this community we are

022doctors lawyers mothers fathers sisters brothers lastly we are registered voters the time to act now the time to act is now where it's remaining we urge the renaming of robert e lee high school without delay as this is the last city in the state having a name with his name inaction is not an option do not allow history to look upon you unfavorably for in history each of you shall reside thank you mr flood do we have a next speaker yes one second [Music] all right my next speaker is just i'm gonna say this wrong so salient heard you should now be unmuted can you hear me can you hear it yes ma'am you can start speaking it keeps going back to mute go ahead you can you can speak now you can hear me

023yes ma'am um hi good evening i don't i will need the entirety of 20 minutes i am a proud 1984 magna laude graduate of robert e lee high school where i was a four-year member of the league of leaders and rifle captain my senior year and i i point that out because um along with my sisters one was in the band one was also in the brigadiers we had a very good experience a rich experience we have lots of friends from robert e lee that we still cherish of all races today many many years later and so i don't come to you lightly um because this is my history and i do have lots of pride but we've got to do the right thing i remember um going to college at the university of texas

024i have a minor in history i recall being sufficiently mortified when i started to take classes focusing on the history of the civil war i felt like my education at goose creek had been outstanding and [Music] i was just it was a lot to take one when i realized the complete gap that under the heading of southern heritage i had been taught that the civil war was not really about slavery it was about states rights and therefore folks like robert e lee who were the confederate generals and so forth that these were good people um you know they just wanted states to have their rights and the right that they wanted the states to have was to own slaves and that's very real and so that has been painful for me for all the from

025all these years one minute oh so i did in my three minutes so the next point i want to make this men was a white supremacist revered by the kkk if you look at the timing of the naming of this school in 1928 you will see that it coincides um with the clan having come into baytown and wreath have it and and my third point would be guys this is about economics this is about making my hometown something that i can really be proud of as the town continues to prosper and grow and to the individual who said i have no say in this because i don't reside in the town i was personally offended by that i have been a substantial contributor to the united uh way of baytown for years and my entire

026family still resides in baytown so i want you to hear me loud and clear this is this is black gander pride and i've been talking to some of my other non-black gander friends time is up and they agree with me change the name thank you miss heard um mr flood do we have uh next speaker in line [Music] yes ma'am we're trying to find them [Music] my next speaker is seth james and speakers when you please try to stay stationary so that we can hear you um close to your mic that you're not going in and out for clarity purposes so um mr james seth you should now be unmuted all right thank you i'm dr james seth i'm an alumni of robert e lee high school an alumni of lee college and a formerly

027college instructor i'm here to address the consideration of renaming robert lee high school i'm in favor of renaming and encourage the board to move this issue forward while the economic implications of this act are undoubtedly a source of anxiety for board members i would argue that this is a matter not just of the immediate cost but the long term certainly having left baytown in 2012 to pursue a doctorate in english i have lived in oklahoma alabama and washington state when i tell people the name of my high school there is always a look of shock or surprise how could a school uh still be named this and i have to remind myself when the school was named it was a different time but we are now in 2020 that you're marked by the unjust murder

028of black americans which has forced educators and administrators to confront to confront the uncomfortable truths of southern americans glorification of the confederate past we have to think not just about the history and the values that we teach our students right now but about the pride that they take with them wherever they go after they graduate from robert e lee high school so i encourage the board to consider uh the renaming of this very seriously and not just the immediate cost but also the long-term reputation and what students carry with them after graduation thank you very much [Music] thank you dr seth mr flood if we have a next speaker [Music] okay my next speaker is going to be samuel woodard um and you should now be unmuted good evening uh this is samuel woodard and

029i appreciate y'all um invite me in and allow me to make a statement in reference to renaming robert e lee high school just as mr craven and the other two just stated um it's just time for a change it's been it's been long past it and um i'm just asking each of you to look in your heart we i love the fact that we opened up this meeting with a prayer in jesus name and that really touched my heart and i just asked that each and every one of you take that into consideration to do the right thing do what do do what's best for society in general we all know the truth of what robert e lee was about and a lot of that was evil and not to dig into it but we

030need to make it right and i just ask you school board members to do the right thing and speak the truth while i was a graduate in 1988 from robert e lee high school i was not taught anything in reference to robert e lee being a slave owner and i believe that should send sound waves through the district because they don't want to teach the truth why are they even teaching at all so i just ask that the truth is taught and the truth is to be known and i appreciate y'all allowing me to speak thank you god bless you thank you mr woodard mr fled you have a next speaker uh sam compton is our next speaker you should now be unmuted [Music] uh yes my name is sam compton i graduated in 68

031uh i'm gonna mention the name of the school it's like what would you do with the bible if the first thing was jesus sent me books while you're at it um [Music] thank you mr compton mr flood do we have a next speaker our next speaker is linda hendricks you're now unmuted miss linda hendricks are you online we can't hear you [Music] miss hendricks um we are not able to hear you perhaps you could try to reconnect and we'll come back to you at the end mr flood would you like to go to the next speaker [Music] our apologies these are the technical difficulties we are referring to over webex meetings so if you will be patient mr flood will find our next speaker our next speaker is brian patterson you should now be unmuted

032uh mr flood can you hear me we hear you mr petterson thank you thank you so much good evening to the gs gcc isd school board my name is brian patterson robert e lee class of 99 i'd like to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to address you it is truly a tumultuous time for our country as we're fighting a global pandemic and in the same regard another battle continues for the equality of all americans the recent senseless murder of george floyd indicates that a dialogue in exchange needs to continue about what's wrong in our country this dialogue falls in step with the framework of the united states constitution which states that life liberty and the pursuit of happiness should be an inalienable right for all we should all be equals yet the realization

033of such a notion is not so it's absolutely deplorable that we're having this discussion about equality in 2020 despite all those who have given their lives for cause that requires justice for all i'm speaking to you today because it's time to right or wrong i wholeheartedly support the removal of the name of my high school alma mater robert e lee that nance that name stands for segregation classism hatred bigotry and most importantly slavery slavery is this country's unforgivable sin that help america evolved into the negatives it maintains today retaining the name would put this school district as well as the city of baytown on the wrong side of history it is now time to do what's right you may ask why now why hasn't this concern been brought up sooner with the world on paws

034and little room for contemplation now is a better time than ever before to invoke change to a world that is so unjust i'm a proud alumnus of robert e lee but this concern has always gnawed at the corner of my mind i wonder to myself why would someone want to put this man of his race on a pedestal when he deserves no honor yet today justice troublesome has a question why has there been so much support to retain the name none of the reasons my fellow baytonians have stated are plausible enough yeah one minute humiliation in black america today i put before the words of the late honorable congressman john lewis saying this tireless fight for civil rights to get in good trouble necessary trouble and help redeem the soul of america that is our

035assignment how so our country soul needs redeeming baytown's soul needs redeeming my alma mater's name still needs redeeming i'm causing trouble for every class of black students that ever walked the halls of robert e lee and i'm causing trouble for every single alumnus who supports this initiative to change this name it's time to eliminate the name from my high school right now thank you thank you mr patterson mr flood do we have the next speaker [Music] yes our next speaker is joseph uh i'm gonna say theory or theory and you should now be under thank you um yes uh i'd like to address the board can you hear me [Music] can you hear me yes sir yes sir we hear you okay i'd like to thank you all for allowing me to address the board

036my name is joe thierry i was a graduate from lee in 1988 and i like to talk about the the topic of a name changing of the school today i just decided to change my whole uh speech here i want to talk about the the man we've chosen or they town chosen to be the uh name the school named after being named after robert e lee to describe this man as a hero we have to ignore a lot of grief and pain for a lot of people requires us to all neglect the fact that this man was involved heavily in enslaving black people uh throughout that process really breaking down fragmenting families hiring them out to other plantations and after the war was over these folks were struggling to find their loved ones that were

037uh lost at the slave trade we also have to ignore that he had hostility and hatred toward people of color he ran the terror campaign against newly emancipated freed slaves to the discretion that he in fact went and basically kidnapped preach black americans and took them back in the south we also have to ignore his betrayal of the country through his oppression uh desire of oppression of black people and black americans and his devotion to white supremacy which was more important to him one minute than the loyalty to his country um what i'd like to say in closing is please consider why we would not at this time after 92 years renamed this school it's time for baytown to be on the right side of history and consider the moral and ethical decision here that

038school is predominantly 90 people of color it's time to make the correct decision and rename the school i was always proud to be a gander i was never proud to be a robert e lee student thank you mr theory mr flood do we have a next speaker [Music] wow [Music] yes my next speaker is dawn queen dawn you're uh unmuted hi can you guys hear me yes yes thank you mr queen you bet um so i'd like to offer up some different viewpoints on the potential name change for robert e lee and i'd like to be not for the change but not necessarily for the reasons that people have stated walter e williams a nationally known black economics professor at george mason university asked in his most recent essay i would like someone to explain

039how tearing down statues of christopher columbus thomas jefferson and confederate generals help the black cause destruction of these symbols of american history might help relieve the frustrations of many and the frustration by the 2016 election of president donald trump problems that black people face give white leftists cover for their anti-american agenda condoleezza rice former secretary of state recently said i'm a firm believer in keeping your history before you and so i don't actually want to rename things that were named for slave owners i want us us to have to look at these names and recognize that they did a current social studies teacher at lee said in a recent letter to the baytown sun currently our school board is contin is considering a name change based on what is the past i tell you now

040that if the name change is based on that idea our students and our student body will change it will change because it will now be all about race and that will be in the forefront of their minds do not make race or the past hurt the future of our town our students and our schools we are better than that the baytown sun recently conducted a poll of the public on keeping the name versus changing the name seventy percent of the respondents voted to keep the name and finally i have several questions to ask the first being will this name change materially alter the lives of goose creek schools and students the city you have one minute in the past will it provide opportunity for all students will it halt the real issues that face the

041black community like fatherlessness and black on black murder will it change the fact that goose creek high schools are at the bottom of the 1200 districts in texas will it change the fact that goose creek high school students average a surprising 35 percent proficiency in reading will it change the fact that goose creek high school students averaged just forty percent proficiency in math it seems to me that the timing and the discussion of a named change is taking president's precedence over the actual needs of the student this conversation has certainly divided the community deal it has divided the community though where it wasn't just divided before baytown taxpayers and students deserve better from the school board and superintendent thank you very much for your time thank you mr queen mr flood do we have a

042next speaker you're on mute sir sorry my next speaker cynthia pizzano you are now unmuted hello can you guys hear me okay yes thank you so much hi my name is cynthia pissana i am a graduate of gcc isd schools i'm going to be reading an excerpt of a letter um that was sent to each of the board members um by the beta rasa alumni it was a group um formed in solidarity with the black alumni group um having public institutions like schools named people likely simply convey a bad message it's bad for big town's image future and economy many of us have chosen to raise families launch our prevent professions or grow our businesses elsewhere because of this very issue regarding baytown's social climate the symbolism of beiton schools conveys that baytown's past and

043present leadership find some pedagogical value in the ideology of white supremacy this is not only illogical um as long as names likely remain it's more disturbingly conveys that baytown's leadership discounts the lives and contributions of the city's past and present black or brown people this is not a good message to convey for a city that has long suffered from a negative reputation as an industrial backwater in the houston area and gulf south without change beiton's current civic leader bear the responsibility of keeping the name and thus furthering this symbolism associated with the and the confederacy the images and ideologies associated with lee furthermore do not correspond with how we want our hometown to be seen or understood we cherish a lot of our childhood memories in baytown because they are the only childhood memories we

044have our families did their best and made the most of what baytown offered it can always have it could have always offered more however our families could and should have thrived without being psychologically tormented by symbolism and structures that devalue them because of their ethnic traditions or phenotypes many of us feel that we've found success in life despite our hometowns and its schools not because of it or that one minute as you are elected officials responsible for the success and health of baytown schools and the city's children we feel that changing the name and sound of public schools should be an urgent imperative to you if the very names of your schools bear the symbolic burden of a racist past we suspect that the curricula of your schools also bear much room for improvement beiton

045should leave the state and region in advancing a diverse multicultural and anti-racist curriculum it should not be expected to be the last place that such learning and pedagogy transpire the current names of your schools are a source of that very expectation schools should not should be refugees for from societal trauma not the source of them schools should help produce a polity capable of practicing democracy not one that helps to further uh obstruct it a lot of this contradiction can be mapped within the visible symbolism uh of our hometown's institutions must less much less in the confederate flags that are still your time is up thank you thank you miss pizzana mr flood do we have a speaker number 10 yeah dr victoria marin uh you're now unmuted thank you um very much uh good evening

046regents i'm speaking george of sterling a lee college alum and a lifelong beetonian at the roots of who i am and all that i have done throughout my life has been centered and shared education to young people and improving their access and inclusion in this system today i'm here to ask you all to consider to think deeper about not only the name change of robbery the history of our community and its influence on our future this is not a plea to erase history nor does this request have anything to do with erasing the memories of those who attendedly such as my own mother aunt father-in-law uncles friends students that i've worked with this is a plea to just consider three things when one looks to buy a home or make a decision to move into

047a community such as baytown they look at the school district they have school-aged children or they plan on it they look at a school district i have known many people who make decisions based off what they hear of this community and oftentimes is based off of racial division contrary to what another speaker said the racial division occurred long ago based off the establishment of this community i myself as a latina have experienced it myself i have seen it i have witnessed it i have lived it returning to school and being in the midst of a pandemic is a priority i do agree with mrs woods about that and that being a priority for this board but there's another pandemic that's gone on very long and that is the impact on this community that has been

048rooted and raises oppressive practices behaviors and microaggressions so if not now then when will we have this conversation addressing the renaming of robert lee high school has occurred at least at least three times so in closing i just asked for a continuous conversation for this not to be tabled till january as an educator i understand history but i also understand that history has been written for many many years now through the lens of not only wealthy white individuals but on the basis of southern white supremacy i asked plead and beg of you to consider what legacy are you leaving as a board member as a school district that has been elected to represent the citizens of this community i thank you for your time [Music] thank you dr maron mr flood do we have our

049next speaker yes our next speaker is stephen cox you're now on muted can you hear me yes yes mr cox thank you i am a graduate of robert e lee of 1981 i'm calling in about the name change i have listened to the stories people have had about being psychologically uh warped by the name property lee one of the proudest moments i had was when we were standing in the middle of stalwart stadium next to my brothers in arms who were asian hispanic and black and we all sang a dream of dixie pardon me and we all sang that song it is an honor to be a robert e lee graduate i just feel that if you renamed school you will not only hurt the honor of the students who called each other brothers and

050sisters but you will basically cave to outside influences of the name change thank you very much thank you mr cox mr flood we have another speaker [Music] yes my next speaker is neil mendes you're not remuted hi can you hear me yes thank you mr flood and thank you trustees as a lifelong beetonian and a 2014 graduate of leap i would like to express my support for renaming the school currently known as robert e lee high school members of the board there comes a time when a right decision it's not always the popular decision i'm actually here to tell you this is both the right decision and the popular decision in our in our community there is no excuse the time is now not january not spring i encourage each and every one of you

051to be brave to be honest to be swift on this matter the time to reckon with our city's racist history has come and beetonians both near and far are observing what you would decide to do next with our votes and our dollars in mind of course listen i understand the initial resistance to this change for the folks who have uh who have never considered this an issue at all like the gentleman who spoke before or you know i get it it's in our nature as human beings to resist change at first it's it's scary i get it however this idea isn't new to the community nor to the network of schools named after general lee the dominoes have been tumbling down one by one from fairfax virginia to houston texas tyler texas midland texas and

052our home of baytown texas we are the last uh high school in texas with the name robert e lee that says something so it's not a matter of if but a matter of when do not delay please embrace the future embrace diversity embrace inclusion embrace what we all know is morally right as i said it's in our it's in our nature as humans to resist change but it's also in our nature to listen to one another empathize with each other and ultimately support one another that is who we are and that is the beta i am proud of the beethoven that i know works hard we care for one another and both in our school not in our communities come what may we join together during hardships whether it's hurricanes public health crises and so

053on and so forth these are not my man-made and yet we rise to the occasion and face them head-on racism is man-made and it's it's an ex-culture one minute by black americans every day in america why do we drag our feet on this issue including subtle forms of racism like the one in discussion today i believe it's time we come together around against this existential hardship of racism no more honoring racists who brutalized enslaved and stole the liberties of black americans no more the enablement of white supremacy of hate and of exclusion let's face this issue head on too as i call as i close i call on the trustees and most importantly the members of our community listening today to come together in support of this issue let's have a name we can be

054proud of such as john lewis dolores huerta and so many brave americans who appeal to our better angels to the better angels of our nature here and i yield my time if i have any i see it thank you mr hernandez mr flood our next speaker please [Music] my next speaker is alberto conteras you're now on youtube yes my name is albert contreras can you hear me yes sir yeah i'm a 1970 graduate from robert e lee i'm proud to be a graduate from robert lee high school i i been around my black friends my white friends at robert lee there's i didn't see anything going on that uh that showed anybody doing anything but wrong we played together we worked together the teachers are great at robert e lee you couldn't ask for better

055teach you could ask for a better principal armstrong they had everything going right i don't see why anybody want to change the name just because this happened years ago what's happening now it's different from what back to them slavery days that happened but it didn't it don't mean that i suppose have hate for for for that robbery name because he was a human being just like you and i there's no reason to be doing changing names how would you like to change your name to a different name you wouldn't want it right but what i'm saying to you all these people that went to leave for years and years i've got a lot of a lot of brothers and sisters cousins and nephews that graduated from robert lee and played football played in the band

056all kinds of uh graduates from robert lee and now i'm proud to be a a graduate from mobile league that name doesn't do anything to me it's just as you was gone to a lee high school from baytown texas that's all it means it don't mean nothing and now if you you got hate in your heart well that's different you know you got hate but what happened years ago you know we have to change and to better ourselves not to come back and start doing things over again that's what they're doing you're stirring up than what they are one minute so i thank god that you know i was born and raised here in baytown my daddy worked for onboard refinery and he seen a lot of things but that still don't change you for

057change the name of robert lee thank you thank you mr contreras mr flood we have a next speaker please my my next speaker is susan cummings you're now unmuted miss cummings yes hello can you hear me yes ma'am okay great hi my name is susan cummings i'm a lifelong resident of baytown texas my family goes back here 100 years more than a hundred years and i'm a graduate of robert e lee i am graduate ross at sterling high school and i support the idea that we should be changing the name of robert e lee high school this is the time if we cannot make this right then we need to rethink what we're doing here i yield my time to the next member of the unity alumni thank you thank you miss cummings mr fled

058do you have a next speaker yeah my next speaker is brandon terry you are now unmuted yes i want to thank the board for the opportunity to speak tonight uh again my family goes back to the great depression and the actual uh naming of goose creek and a certain board member uh instead of stirring the pot here in baytown goes into houston and has the nerve to compare baytown's founders to nazis my grandfathers both bytonians fought in world war ii and actually fought the nazis there is no nazis found among our founders that just isn't true as much as some people here want it to be true to force this change um one of baytown's brightest moments was from the school burned in 1987. i was there i was a freshman we went half days

059uh sterling went in the morning lee went in the afternoon we were one sterling except this with open arms that's what this community is about it's lee and sterling not one or the other my parents went to lean my grandparents are here i still have relatives they are aunts uncles cousins this is not what baytown's about and dick olin career coach was at lee for 17 years he made a comment not once in the hallways of lee high school was generally mentioned or the confederacy never came up it is baytown lee we do not need to censor our history you learn from it all of this stuff with the confederate monuments there's actually a i believe it was a historian on 60 minutes one man said all of these monuments that are gone what are

060we gonna do burn down monticello next we cannot censor our history it's a slippery slope we shouldn't be naming schools after anyone anymore if this is like where we're gonna go and we're better than that and with the money we were gonna spend to change the names of the schools let's do it for scholarships let's invest in our kids my grandsons are just starting school in goose creek and you're going to punish them and take money earmarked for their education to change a name on a building a name of a building doesn't influence anyone's success or failure but you take money away from their education your success and their and their failure is on your hands i yield the rest of my time thank you mr terry mr flood our next speaker in line please

061[Music] our next speaker is jenny grimsley you're now unmuted hi yes this is dr jenny grimsley i'm a 1985 graduate of robert e lee high school and i'm calling out in support of the renaming of the high school i wanted to speak today even though i am in tallahassee florida where i've lived for 25 years though my parents still live in baytown and pay taxes there and vote there and live among that community and i wanted to speak to that because i think there are a number of people actually i know there are a number of people who don't feel that they can speak out who live in that community because of a lot of intimidation that's occurred over this very heated topic and of course i understand the heat behind the topic because it

062is some in our community um that has been there 92 years um and and longer so it's something very deep and something very important at the same time i think it's important that we consider um and the board consider and the people in baytown consider that children who go to school there now currently children who will go there in the future need to be the focus of this renaming because there were those of us in the hurt by this um that were harmed by this and there's no reason for harm when we can help um and the situation could be a reset it not changed things immediately but it's a good start for baytown um one of the reasons i no longer live in baytown is because of this sort of situation right here um

063in which you um are struggling against a long-held belief that um that is wrong and that one man is sort of a stuck as a feeling of being stuck in the past and an inability to move into a future that could be brighter for people um for all people and all the children who go to school in baytown it's not a something that's closed everybody graduates and they move out into the world all of us who are speaking who no longer live there we have a right to speak for those children too um so everything that everyone has said previously is important my classmates who've spoken brilliantly about this i'm very proud of them and i couldn't say it any better so thank you and i yield the rest of my time [Music] thank you

064dr grimsley mr flood do we have a next speaker yes our next speaker is jolanda jones you're not muted miss jones can you hear us yes i can hear you can you hear me yes ma'am we can thank you please proceed okay so i'm gonna set my timer so that i don't go over the three minutes so my name is miss i'm sorry mr sampson will also give you a one minute warning thank you okay uh good evening madam uh board president uh the board and the superintendent my name is jolanda jones and i was formerly a trustee at the houston independent school district and we went through this um in january of 2016. um we were called racist we were talk we were accused of wasting money um we were accused of of somehow

065trying to change history and all i will say now like i said then is i wanted to be on the right side of history then so i'm speaking to you as a former board member who actually did this so we had a robert e lee in houston we changed it i actually attended lanier middle school which was named after sydney lanier he was a confederate as well i went like i said before i went to that school and i changed it and i got called all kind of sons of god but at the end of the day you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything and what is really sad is the world is talking about this because this is a worldwide problem and i hope wish and pray that baytown does

066not want to be stuck on the wrong side of history white privilege and white fragility is real this is a human rights fight for uh i can't explain to to people who aren't black and who don't live the black experience uh what it's like but the vestiges of slavery are still here the police were started to catch slaves after they were emancipated so i say that to say this i'm a criminal defense lawyer by day get a lot of cases out of baytown because uh some of it is in harris county and we have a lot of problems with racial profiling of black and brown people in baytown with the police so anyone who wants to embrace someone who you got one minute yes thank you anyone who wants to support that i i'm gonna

067pray for you but i would i will say to you like i said when i was on houston uh on the school board that i i proudly changed i think there were eight school names we spent the money hisd is still educating kids nothing died and i also said for my latino brothers and sisters if we wanted to change names of of schools where people took land from mexicans because texas was mexico i was all for that as well and if schools were named after nazis and yeah i said it and i meant it there's no way anyone would accept that because people value the innate uh importance and humanity of jewish people all we ask is black people and people of color is that you give us that same level of dignity and respect

068so i respectfully ask for you to be courageous do what's right on the side of history and rename that school from being robert e lee to something else that's more indicative of a district that loves everyone and respects everyone's humanity thank you the time is thank you miss jones mr flood do we have our next speaker guess our next feature is i'm going to say this wrong to kalasha blanchard you're now unmuted there was a question whether changing the name will change the experience of black americans as a black american allow me to answer that yes it will good evening many of you know me respect me and have even cheered for me in one aspect or another whether that be when i was voted miss lee note the irony as a cheerleader or homecoming

069queen on the track or running for city council today however i implore you to do more than listen more than simply clap for my accolades i want you to see me and feel my message a common standard resonates today in the best interest of the child the ultimate act of selflessness is to exhibit compassion and understanding sympathy and or empathy and expectation we hold those who volunteer to make decisions on behalf of children too our children your children baytown's children it too is expected for these decisions to be made for the masses not just those who identify with a particular culture decisions that are thoughtfully and purposefully inclusive forcing minority families to swallow their integrity by couching the ideologies of a man who had an opportunity to be on the proper side of history when

070offered the position to lead the union but chose rather to lead an army of men who believed that an institution of slavery was appropriate the very institution that considered people of african descent to be chattel and nothing more than a tool to aid in southern economics thus as history proves an institution that also withheld the opportunities for those who look like me to seek a formal education this is the same history advocates to keep the name have such a deep admiration for and wish to preserve in a symbolic fashion educators and people with distinguished titles i don't have to impress upon you the importance or detriments a symbol can cause i trust that your vision is not clouded by invalid arguments or misconceptions it is disrespectful and an insult to the intelligence of this board

071that advocates for the name change and the general public to have the opposing side continue to perpetuate an argument led by heritage and pride of some as a standard for all i anticipate you will hear very passionate arguments from the opposing side about how lee was well decorated you got one minute and highly protected by his peers and foes alike while this is true it seems yet again the pride of some is expected to be the standard for all there will be points about the deep and grain history and connection individual families have to the school and the confederate symbols the school has already sought to do away with the brigadiers the dixie song and the confederate flag that once flew on campus grounds quite possibly an indication that those in power such as yourselves

072have already acknowledged the pain and harm these things have caused as justification for their removal a vote to keep the name sends a message to the community that hey we've already done enough remember your job is to consider the students of today and tomorrow they are your priority it is a fallacy that people have been silent regarding these issues the reality is the discussion has circulated for decades in communities of color take into account the very real experiences of the students from yesterday to create a standard that base in fact and inclusive for all in closing i want to remind you that the history is not tangible therefore it cannot be erased yet as we live in the present we hold the power to appropriately analyze what once was and create for our students moving

073forward time is up thank you miss blanchard mr flood do you have our next speaker [Music] yes our next picture is the hector vela you are now in muted yes hello uh can can you hear me yes sir thank you wonderful thank you guys for your time my name is hector bella i'm a 2012 graduate from robert lee high school and i'm here in support of changing the name of my alma mater um in particular i have many points i want to start off with one that i think that although important it's arguably the least important economics the truth of the matter is is that no one's going to want to go to beiton you know beethoven lee high school because it's named after robert e lee right no one's going to want to move

074to baytown when we have this conflicted racial past in particular i'd like to bring up a um document that was created by the aia center for communities by design this document was created in 1990s essentially a report for urban development of baytown and um to those of my uh the previous speakers who mentioned this is a new thing this race is a this race problem is a new thing that is not true at the very least as of 1990s this particular group of urban development planners mentioned that mexicans and blacks lived in a separate and most probably unequal company town from those white uh from the white workers lived in and that same report they mentioned how beethoven's black and hispanic population are widely perceived as a problem either to be solved or to be

075ignored depending on the person speaking these are just you know two examples from the same report that list how race has always been an issue in baytown's past and to say and to argue that this is a new race issue is uh frankly insulting to those people who have lived uh in baytown have inspired have experienced race issues and the past is one thing let's take into consideration the race issue with the police right mentioned by the most recent speaker i believe um officer brown was recently called out and believe i believe at least relief from duty at baytown police department because he harassed and assaulted a black man in baytown texas for no particular reason i understand that black man has not been charged with the crime yet to this day right so baytown's

076racial history is not a new one and if if we want beethoven to be successful we can't depend on exxon forever we must change our ways in order to to court people to move to core businesses to move there i'm second i believe you as a school board have a more responsibility to support all of your students robert e lee high school is predominantly black and brown students and if you continue to leave that name one man you insult and thank you for my reminder you insult their uh their legacy their history their ancestry every single time they walk into those doors right mr bollinger respect i remember you being one of the ap's of my high school during my time there and in that time i know you and the rest of my admin

077were were kind respectful and professional amongst all black and brown students but when you let this name consistently stay you are ignoring that past that you and i live mr bollinger uh moving on when talking about baytown um let's not forget that this school board pardon me i shouldn't say this school but i don't know who is a new school member or not but members of this school board let beethoven sit and says bully you kicking out dr cavazos a brand new school board member because he adamantly successfully and wanted to advocate for latino students and instead you guys let citizens boot him out all right you guys have a responsibility to your students to your community to continue to change the name of robert lee high school to show them that you are no

078longer going to support systems of of racial supremacy for all students thank you for your time and i yield the rest of mine thank you mr vela mr flood do we have our next speaker please yes our next speaker is uh margaret matthews you're now admitted hello my name is morgan matthews and i graduated from robert e lee in 1976. no no time was i at lee high school was there any kind of race problem i did not see it and there's no racist at all the only time there's a racist issue is when people keep pointing at it they need to quit living in the past and see what's going on now some people come up here and start complaining about little things about you know removing history if we don't have history what

079are we going to do better for ourselves we have to look back to do better and this robert e lee has always been a good school and everybody that went there loved each other there was no hate so i don't know why they're bringing this hate up and it's just you know i don't i just don't understand i was in the concerned citizens of baytown and i was involved with civil liberties and there was no hate there's you have to sit down at the table and you have to discuss and do things and move forward you can't be looking at the past and be pointing at people's names and monuments and tearing them down just because they offend you i thought if things offended me i wanted the the the alamo the monument i mean

080it's ridiculous people need to grow up and knock that chip off the shoulder life goes on and you make better of yourself you know this races there is no racist you see blacks and and whites and mexicans and blacks and they're all mixed i have a granddaughter that's mixed it does not there's no racial race at all everybody loves each other until people keep pointing at it and bringing it up and it's ridiculous and the only time they bring it up when there's politics involved and that's the only reason they're bringing this up they're bringing hate into baytown and baytown is not hate and robert e lee was given an award uh for historical mark in 19 2013. what's all that about they were proud of it of robert e lee now they're trying to

081take it away we're all proud of robert e lee that's that's something we grew up with we were proud to be a gander so they're trying to take that away from us that's not right just because few are mad at politics that's all what it's about it's politics and they need to quit being bringing all this hate to baytown because that's all it is but bunch of people that are hating on this and people that are speaking up that are white really they never felt any kind of race i was a mexican and i was at the robert e lee and there was no hate there everybody cared for each other they're just bringing this up now because of politics and that's all they're doing so they need to stop because baytown's not about hate

082it's about community it's about being glad that you went to lee high school and ross sterling and we were all teams your time is up thank you ms matthews mr flood do we have our next speaker yeah our next speaker is orlando laura you're now in muted hello can you hear me yes sir mr lara hi um i am calling in actually from california i'm a graduate student out here but i taught at lee college for three years um and then uh taught at tcu uh for for for another another year but while i was at lee college something that stayed with me is i i read a lot of essays by students whenever i asked them to write about race and and their experiences and they brought up these confederate names in addition to

083all kinds of microaggressions and before i got my new job at tcu there was a growing group of students that wanted to begin to change these names this was three years ago so this is not new there's a long legacy and what's happened is that communities of color have been silenced uh into into being quiet but i'm writing today again uh as a member and co-founder of the ethnic studies network network of texas a network dedicated to advancing ethnic studies and racial equity uh in public schools throughout texas i come directly from the kickoff of a week-long ethnic studies web series that is supporting the preparation of more than 70 educators from the throughout the state to teach mexican-american studies and african-american studies and develop a strong understanding of ethnic studies frameworks and the positive

084impact they have on student learning that's to say i'm excited for the future of texas however i remain concerned that there are too many voices uh in places such as baytown who want to succumb to the specter of regionalism not as a valid argument but as a shield from legitimate concern and criticism not just from local community members but at the state and national level as well the issue of confederate names is a national issue it's a state issue and it and and race itself as a global issue because uh this involves because it involves how we narrate the history of an entire population a war that nearly divided the country and because baytown is quickly becoming one of the few places that has a school named after robert e lee robert e lee is

085not a neutral historical figure and the choice of naming robert e lee high school was not a neutral choice in 1928 black and mexican-american members of the baytown community were not polled they did not have the chance to testify at a public hearing like this one or even vote for for their decision makers um so the decision to name robert e lee high school after confederate general was neither democratic nor innocent of racial bias it was part of a concerted effort to keep racial superior superiority in place therefore the decision to give the school its current name was never legitimate it is a stain on baytown's history and it needs to be corrected the board can make that decision today um i ask that you do what you know is right and part of your

086job duty mission of the values of goose creek isd and respect diversity and education for all of children thank you mr lara mr flood do we have our next speaker please [Music] yeah my next speaker is felicia young you're now unmuted um hi my name is felicia young and i grew up in highlands and in baytown i'm a graduate of rossa sterling high school and i'm here today um uh also as a a former employee of lee college and a graduate of lee college as well um i'm just here to speak in support of the name change i wanted to join in solidarity with my primarily black and brown alumni that have called for this to be uh changed uh for the name of robert e lee to be changed um you know i'm hearing

087a lot of discussion about oh none of this was an issue when i went to school there and actually a lot of us that live here know that this has been a continuous point of tension in our community for many years the discussion has come up time and time again for the the name of robert e lee to be changed and i think that um just because it has been able to be effectively squashed down does not mean that there is not an issue um you know this this uh this desire for there to be an absence of tension doesn't mean that there's actually justice um you know occurring and so uh you know i think that if you you've lived your life in baytown feeling as though there was no issue or that this

088hasn't been a point of discussion i think that that is a testament to your privilege and and probably your white privilege um because intimidating people into being quiet about an issue um you know is not the same as there not being one um and then uh to the point about us wanting to erase history it it's not in a race of history we want to be true and honest about history and really um you know come to terms with our local history i think that there's quite a few people um speaking this evening who are not aware of our local history um in the 1920s baytown was a huge hub for the kkk um my alma mater ross's sterling high school it's named after ross sterling who was a member of the kkk here in

089baytown um so that is deep deep in our history and what we're asking um our community to do is really have uh you know a long look at ourselves and be honest with ourselves and to decide to to do better because we do know better and we need to do away with the whitewashed version of history because as we can see here it has been successful in in whitewashing history and making people believe that um these great tarnishes on on our character our nation's character never happened or were not as they were um so so uh please i implore you to to do the right thing um and to please listen to the black and brown students that have come forward to to say how much that this has affected them for a better uh

090you know a better environment for the the students coming in now thank you so much thank you miss young mr flood our next speaker please [Music] our next speaker is carrie dewitt you're now invited hi i would like to i was born and raised in baytown i grew up there graduated from lee in 95. i was a brigadier um missing not one game marched every friday night and with it was a very diversely racially brigadier group we did not have it was not racial in any matter whatsoever um i feel that changing the name takes away the history of baytown it was it's i mean there's been a tarnished past everybody everybody has a past the things we have to do is change from here forward not then changing the name doesn't change anything it's

091the attitude of the people that need to be to grow and change i did not experience anything of racial at all through school um and i never knew of anything and growing up there so i don't see i guess i just i mean i don't understand i mean i understand some certain things but i just don't with the history if we take the history historical mark away and it just changes a lot of other things and it would be hard harder for the people who graduated in the tradition of it then i don't know this isn't to me it's not going to make any sense i think that it should be a a vote if it was to be changed i think it should be a city-wide vote for all the citizens to choose or

092to have a say in it not just one what not just the board you guys it shouldn't be just on y'all's shoulders it should be on the whole city should take it it should be a vote of the city that's my opinion i feel that it would be fair if it was to move forward and y'all and to be done to be changed it should go to a it should go to a group like all the schools should be under one kind of blanket all the high schools not named after anybody it should be under goose creek or the ganders or you know i mean however it is changed it has moved in that i had to say thank you for your time thank you miss dewitt mr flood our next speaker please our next

093speaker is paul erico you are now unheated hi can you hear me yes um dear gru's board members thank you for giving me time to speak although i'm not a citizen of baytown i have spent a great deal of time working at lee college i support your efforts to rename robert e lee high school it might not be a popular decision but it will be the right thing to do just as the closing of older school buildings and integrating blacks and whites into new facilities was in the early 1960s this was a proactive move by the board of trustees taken prior to the passage of the civil rights act now is the appropriate time for goose creek isd board to take another proactive step by changing the name of the school for most of us

094white americans the name robert e lee is not synonymous with hatred or someone we hold with great disdain the only analogy i can come up with would be if we had named robert e lee high school after adolf hitler or joseph stalin just thinking of naming a school after these men makes me physically ill i ask you to take a stand by renaming robert e lee high school to something we can all take pride in i support your deliberations and will pray that you have the courage to make the right decision despite great offer opposition thank you for your time thank you mr arrigo mr flood our next speaker please next speaker is christopher rincon you're now unmuted good afternoon can you all hear me yes sir okay well thank you for inviting me to

095speak um i'm from i graduated from robert e lee high school class of 1988 and i'm calling about the name change i'm letting you know i stand in solidarity with the black gander alumni you know i think about this and the future and i want our children to be free of the evils of this world such a high ideal that is not realistic i understand but when you can come together to do one thing however small this is always the right choice by changing with these changing times our baytown student demographic has also changed and it is no longer appropriate to honor a confederate general it was a symbol of segregation which re-resolved in brown versus board of education long before many of us were even born so let us leave the past in the

096past and cast a final vote against segregation i yield my time thank you thank you mr rincon mr flood our next speaker please our next speaker is linda hendricks this hendrix you're now unmuted hello yes can you hear me hello yes ma'am we can hear you okay thanks for having me i'm a 1959 graduate of robert e lee high school and quite proud of it robert e lee is the foundation of baytown uh miss hendricks your sound has cut out uh is there any way that you can can you can you hear me now yes ma'am we can hear you again okay i changed apparatus i'm sorry changing the name may not seem so important to newcomers to baytown but we who have spent all of our lives here and away feel much disappointment our

097nation and other nations are in the middle of the coven 19 pandemic several loved ones have also died we're also on the eve of a very stressful election schools are closed and now someone wants to change the name of baytown's most reliable foundation we celebrated our 60th class reunion in and one of our highlights was our picture taken in front of robert e lee we had graduates from all over the united states and they talked mostly about our time at robert e lee not to forget we have a texas historical marker dedicated on 2013. the purpose of the school opening in was to become the center of the community activities including churches civic events and so forth the school has modernized both academics academics and athletics to remain a much needed high school named robert

098e lee please consider keeping this name changed at this time in all our lives we can use something positive to keep us going once a gander always a gander thank you mrs hendricks mr flood do you have some more signed up okay our next speaker please all right our next speaker is brittany standoffer you're now admitted my name is brady standing for r1 hey y'all hear me yes ma'am okay i just want to say that once upon a changing the name and since my grandfather me my stepdad and his father went to all the lakes and so if my sister-in-law went to leo as well just enough because they had his as nia virtually i went to it it's just not fair to change the name after all these years and that's all i have

099to say about it thank you miss stanifer mr flood do we have a next speaker please [Music] what did i say [Music] misty gray is my next speaker i'm gonna unmute you now okay mr fled who was our next speaker please those are all that i can find based off the names there may be some that just signed in with their first name only or just their last name that's always trying to guess at this individual so i don't know how you want to handle that do you have three or two or three more maybe i thought we had 29 and i think we're at 26. huh i've written down 26. you got 28 well i'm sorry okay i've got one there's two more okay one more is here and thomas let me see if

100i can go ahead and coach thomas come on can you hear me yes yes sir we can thank you i'm coming to the school board and superintendent to ask you to change the name of robert e lee high school i'm a lifelong resident of baseline and serve this creek first as a student athlete a substitute the teacher the coach and as an administrator many people will tell you lee hospital was a great place to be and that no one has ever had a problem with the school being named after a racist confederate general but would have had someone to look like me and slay for my entire life please don't be naive or listen to people that assume just because they never had this conversation with their families and many families did in fact talk

101about this situation often as a student i had to toe the line and keep my opinions and thoughts to myself for i would be punished and labeled as a troublemaker similar to slavery and jim crow time people who spoke out or went against the status quo were made examples of sadly this is the same feeling that many african-american employees feel still to this day the symbolism and honoring the general lee has been and continues to be a slap in the face to all of those that feel that racism segregation and hate now belong in our wonderful community soon the board will send a message to the community and we will know what values you hold based on the way you vote we continue to honor a general that symbolizes hate racism inequality and a school

102named at the time of its original construction did not allow people of public the name was wrong then and it's wrong now the district sent the message out and stated loose creek c isd must address racism head on our students and our staff members deserve nothing less our community deserves nothing less we must all speak up when we hear of an act of intolerance especially in one of our schools classrooms or facilities we must confront the situation and immediately take action now is the time to back those words up and prove that you believe what you say and take immediate actions to rename the school sadly we're the last district in the state and still this confederates one amendment which sends a clear message that this district still wishes to uphold an ideology that aligns

103with the painful and hateful time period that embrace white supremacy hate and inequality those of you who think we should wait and take a back seat should study dr martin luther king who said the time is always right to do what is right many are watching and observing this decision as well as a sign that we are valued or we are not our district's legacy depends on your vote so please change the name once again they're always a gamble but never a confederate sincerely a proud class of 1999 undergraduate thank you i yield the rest of my time thank you mr thomas um that was 28 speakers did we have another no ma'am we've tried to gone through the list and we tried to contact everybody that we had to skip on the list to

104see if they were able to speak or able to connect so i think we've done the the best we can for tonight yeah miss hendrix uh from the beginning was able to speak here toward the end so we didn't skip anyone else i had some other people that were sorry i had other people that were signed up that we've gone down the list and either tried to call them to see if they wanted to and some have passed on their time so we try the best we can to get them connected or see if they wanted to be connected okay um all right so at this time we have concluded the live portion of citizen participation and i would like if the board would agree with me to take a five minute recess at this

105time uh so moved so moved any opposed okay so five minute recess uh don't go away folks we'll be right back and we will continue with our agenda thank you okay thank you everyone for a short quick break we will now return to the agenda item number three citizens participation the board has received several communications from individuals who signed up through the proper channel with an email letter submission uh with the request that those be in the public comment portion so at this time we have decided that we will honor that by reading their letters into the record um i believe we have 14 and we're sharing them so we're going to begin with mr klim if you will begin with your two letters and three letters and we'll just go from there and mr

106samson is time keeping the submissions at three minute maximum so if you will begin all right uh and i'm on you are okay thanks just making sure um i'm sorry sorry if everyone else will please mute so we don't have feedback uh mute until your turn to read into the record i would appreciate it thank you all right this first one is from leonard shoemaker dear gcc isd board members it has come to our attention that one california self-described activist history revisionist agitator has requested demanded that you erase our history because some two percenters are offended by the general robert e lee history is a great teacher and those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it my wife and i attended goose creek independent school district schools and graduated from robert

107e lee high school in 1956 and 1958 respectively i graduated from texas a m in 1961 and my wife holds a ba from virginia intermont college and an m.a from seton hill university our education in goose creek independent school district schools and robert lee lee high school has enabled us to succeed in life and live the american dream in my 83rd year i find it astonishing that you would seriously consider this request demand to destroy our history where does this end following the anarchist line of reasoning perhaps we should change the name of the state of texas texas university texas a m university texas tech and the cities of houston austis and numerous other texas cities because someone is offended by their names but why stop there why not rename all of the 254 texas

108counties that are named for patriots who died so there could be a state of texas and or a united states of america but because someone is offended by their names why not change the name of all former confederate states or even the united states of america because someone is offended by them i am sure these radical marxist accidents act sorry activists who are attempting to destroy the united states of america as we speak can come up with some even more destructive ideas and will if not stopped on behalf of the thousands upon thousands of proud robert e lee high school graduates since 1928 we urge the school board to vote to retain the name of our beloved school thanks in advance for your positive consideration and vote to retain respectfully leonard w shoemaker and bobby

109jean foster shoemaker the next one is from craig hall i am a 1989 graduate of rel and my brother and my father-in-law and my mother and my daughter all went to lee high school leave it alone there is nothing wrong with the name he was a good man who did good things the school has been named this since 1928 it is time to take a stand and leave it alone mr poppy this is from keith hatch mrs woods i have recently read your response to several people in opposition to removing the name of robert e lee from rel high school and your implied support in keeping the name as it is and jerking your duty as a member of the board tasked with guiding the district through issues and obstacles both simple and difficult none

110of your excuses for not taking up the issue are valid or acceptable the current pandemic situation closed district schools in march and if there has been not been work done on planning for eventual reopening until now then you are complacent in an abject failure to the students and faculty of the district however i do not believe that this topic has gone without discussion or planning the response also implies that the board is unable to handle more than one topic at a time i don't believe i need to go through the minutes of every meeting and passages to find proof that only a single topic at a time is handled your assertion also implies a lack of fortitude and capability of the board to perform the duties necessary to leave the district if it is unable

111to handle these issues concurrently there is a suggestion that the subject of the name of name change and its effects deserve a deeper dive and discourse within the community here you present another false assumption that the legacy of robert e lee what he fought for and represented and the reason buildings were named for him and fellow confederates and monuments erected at the same time period in the early 20th century as the name was chosen for the campus in question what deeper dive is needed in a bloody warfare to defend slavery by lee that it ended in his surrender and the defeat of the cause he betrayed his country for slavery was constitutionally abolished in 1865. even with this there was no equality and legal protections from discrimination were not enacted until 1964. several hundred years

112of dealing with slavery and its legacy has been researched and dissected many times over there is no deep dive needed and rather disturbing that some people feel it is not settled matter that slavery and those that thoughts who support it do not deserve idolation especially false idolation based on one minute any other action as if the law of human bondage was not enough to sustain whatever reputation they have carried in their community which brings me to the importance of lead to this community there is no link to this building and this region other than that he commanded forces of rebellion for the csa he did not reside here he did not fight here and he did not con contribute in any way other than a symbol of unjust rebellion to keep the southern institution of

113slavery and as a figurehead of white supremacy in the post-civil war era districts in his home state in the state of government of his home state which he was so interestingly valued more than his country in the lives of those held in bondage are now removing his name and monuments is a figure reviewed by the kkk and white supremacist fitting for the institution of learning this is a question that requires no deep dive at all the campus was built in 1928 the district did not integrate until 1967. why wasn't the name of the black school chosen to carry on as the integrated high school the school named and who made a more positive impact to society than rel next is from gene and claudette washington we support removing robert e lee's name from robert e

114lee high school in 1928 in the tradition of texas mandated segregation the goose grip consolidated independent school district founded and named baytown's first high school in robert e lee's honor this was a white majority segregation decision for the black community and especially for our black students robert e lee's legacy legacy has been both a simple and also a vivid reminder that slavery segregation racism and more importantly right white supremacy will release fundamental convictions unfortunately black and white students were not allowed to attend robert e lee high school classes until 1967 due to texas segregation therefore for 92 years the baytown community paid a tremendous price in taxes for segregation segregated education the black and white students could not have been attending schools together and would have saved the community thousands of dollars robert earley was

115a segregationist of and his washington college presidency barred black students from attending lee is on record for stating before the u.s congress that black people were inferior and did not have the intellectual capacity to either participate in politics or vote in elections surprisingly with little or no input from the black community of the baytown white community was comfortable with lee's beliefs and agreed that placing his name on the high school was an honorable image for the baytown community finally robert e lee's nephew robert w lee iv pastor of uniform church and is june 7 2020 washington post opinion editorial entitled robert e lee is my ancestor take down the statue and let his cause be lost his nephew offered insight and thoughtful criticism that that adds considerable relevance to our recommendation that we remove his

116name from robert e lee high school we conclude our recommendation with the five key statements that robert w lee iv his nephew shared in the above reference opinion we quote won the civil war response for states rights to enslave african people in the united states of america to the statue of mind minister has stood for years in richmond as an idol with his white supremacist mindset the statue is a hollow reminder of a painful ideology and acts of oppression against black people taking it down will provide new opportunities for conversation relationship and policy change three the new cause of this country is about justice equality peace and concord or we can give the gift of southern hospitality and community instead of passing on whose judicial historical and oppressive understanding of the world five we must

117begin anew each morning to redeem the world and atone for the past we embrace these courageous words from robert w lee iv lee's nephew most importantly in the same context we support the removal of robert e lee's name from robert e lee high school i'm done okay and just a reminder these letters are being read by uh trustees that were submitted through the online participation portal i have a letter from miss helen barrett's tims july 20th 2020 goose creek cisd board of trustees school is a place where every student should feel safe and valued and where the best of leaders are presented as role models to that end it's perfectly reasonable that those who are the face of an institution should be able to identify with that institution and not feel ashamed to proclaim its

118virtues boldly and to have their names associated with it sadly this is not the case for robert e lee high school where the vast majority if not all of the students do not share the views or have much in common with the late general robert e lee it isn't now and never should have been acceptable for one who fought to destroy the union and enslave a people he esteemed to the point of affixing their name to a public institution we've moved beyond the time of the not so distant 50s 60s and 70s when monuments were raised schools streets parks etc in response to white resistance to equality for all and a portending change in demographics resistance born of brown versus board of education and the civil rights movement after the supreme court unanimously struck down

119segregation in public schools it is time to move forward and look at rebranding schools that honor confederate icons now our efforts must be to remove rename change mascots and images in our schools and communities that herald a dark period because america can and must do better school districts and other public institutions should examine public facilities emblazoned with the names of confederate leaders and in the case of goose creek cisd and robert e lee high school note the school ethnic breakdown 88 minority and 10 percent non-hispanic white we owe to all our students an inclusive and nurturing environment one that stresses the value of everyone and the principles upon which this country was founded on freedom equality and justice for all sincerely helen barrett thames my next letter is submitted by yolanda irby smith and derek

120r smith july 29th gccis school board with the current climate in our country and the renewed focus on correcting racial injustice now is the time to change the name of robert e lee high school which was built in 1928 during a time of governmentally enforced segregation at that time many people supported the values of the confederacy and looked upon robert e lee as a hero but that is far from the truth robert e lee and the confederacy as a whole committed the act of treason in fighting to break away from the united states of america and despite attempts at revisionist history the impetus for that split was the institution of slavery the name robert e lee along with other representations of the confederacy is not a welcoming symbol for many citizens of our country particularly

121african americans so much has changed since the days of segregation and the enforcement of jim crow laws and now is the time to acknowledge the history of unfair treatment of african americans and other minorities in our country robert e lee is not the virtuous hero that some people would like to portray him as for the sake of brevity we will not go into further detail but instead suggest you read the article the myth of the kindly general lee by adam serwer for the atlantic magazine website given the atlantic.com currently people of all races across the united states are protesting to bring about a change in systemic racism in order for positive change to come about the removal of symbols that represent inequality and the sin of slavery is vital these symbols belong in museums in

122which they can be displayed under the proper context and not as public displays for the citizens of our country there is a myriad of reasons that can be presented in favor of changing the name of lee high school but what defense is there for preserving it other than a misguided sense of tradition based in racism and white supremacy school names should represent the diversity of our country and leaders who respected and promoted the ideals described in the u s constitution namely that all men are created equal robert e lee is not the only racist and slave owner who has a school named after him but as a confederate general he is one of the biggest symbols of racist propaganda and a cultural icon for confederate apologists we are asking that you take a stand against

123racist iconography and change the name of robert e lee high school to one that all baytonians can be proud of reflecting both fairness and equality sincerely yolanda irby smith retired gccisd teacher and administrator derek r smith cfisd teacher and rosses sterling class of 2001. mr cotter you're up okay here all right let's try that i was just saying i won the lottery to have three to read so um this is uh from judy milhouse graduate of carver high school and baytown resident mr randall o'brien superintendent of schools it lists the rest of us july 26 2020 we as a nation are in the midst of change it is change that is due time to happen when people of color are standing arm-in-arm shields by shielded by walls of moms dads and veterans in order to

124bring attention to systemic racism and police brutality then maybe it is time we all take heed maybe it is time we all stop and listen better yet maybe it's time we act as we know recent nationwide protests began with the jaw-dropping killing of george floyd in minneapolis in may it's been over two months since floyd a houston native was allegedly killed at the hands of a police officer the aftermath in some instances has been explosive protesters and police have clashed there have been arrests and confederate statues have been toppled over of course there are those people who are not ready for change that represents equal for a change that represents equality for all those people have plowed through marching crowds using vehicles as a weapon those people have pointed weapons and made threats of harm

125still the demonstrators for equality continue and rightly so so let me ask you a question will the goose creek consolidated independent school district board represent itself as the inertia needed for a push towards change or will it be a driver behind the wheel of a deadly car determined to kill a dream deferred today you make that decision today you determine whether baytown and the goose creek school district head in the right direction those steps begin with officially voting to change the name of robert e lee high school an honor that is not deserving of a man who had ties with the confederacy in its ugly civil war a war fought to keep black people enslaved when you vote to act on this change do it for future generations of students who must learn that the

126past is the past and the future is the future show them that slavery was wrong that the civil war was wrong the confederacy was wrong but don't just agree one minute don't just say it change the name and show it with your final vote that way you change the future for the better it's time we act sincerely judy milhouse graduate of carver high school and baytown resident this next one is from gene cartwright history is written in indelible inc who i am is not important that i am a native of baytown and proud graduate of george washington carver high school named for an american patriot professor and inventor born in 1860 in the slave state of missouri is but a footnote that i am a former engineer a pulitzer prize a pulitzer named author and

127an inactive marine is dwarfed by my role as a father and as a son of late lifetime baytown residents elmer and marie cartwright what is important is where you stand at this pivotal crossroad regarding honoring the confederacy those aim whose aim and mission was to preserve slavery what will be your contribution to the history being written today what will be your testament statues monuments naming of structures when a statue or monument is erected when a street building bridge school or other public structure is named after an individual or event a resounding statement is made for all to witness by such acts those responsible proclaim agreement with unqualified belief in and forever embrace all acts beliefs and attitudes of those so honored no matter how despicable or heinous this is no trivial thing god bless america

128in god we trust you've heard these words you've repeated them the latter is on our money you've claimed you claim to revere those who have paid the ultimate price in defense of this country some of us whose descendants arrived in the bowels of slave ships filled with humans made by that same god many caked in their excrement and still chained to deceased fellow slaves have also fought for america and freedoms yet denied or grudgingly granted so how does any patriotic god-loving american praise and honor those who fought to destroy a god-blessed america america's soil was drenched in the blood of 650 000 dead scavenger picked bones lay bleached and searing sun how do you honor someone who condoned and ordered the enslavement torture and fellow humans created by the god in whom you trust why

129where do you stand will you engrave your name alongside someone who dishonored and sought to destroy america or will you stand on the right side of history your descendants will respect america thanks you for renaming robert robert e lee high school even racist traitorous robert e lee as recorded in his writings would approve george washington carver high school gets my nomination respectfully and last this is from robert swanegan my name is robert swanigan i grew up in baytown texas and had an active role in several non-profit commit community-based organizations in baytown i'm also a proud graduate of george washington carver high school lee college and the university of houston at clear lake i was always proud to work with organizations that wanted to improve the lives of baytown senior citizens and young people in the

130most positive manner i support the issue of changing the names of academic institutions in baytown i see this as an opportunity to make a positive change that will enhance the whole community and demonstrate progressive thinking it is inclusive for all citizens of baytown currently our nation is struggling with this issue and taking actions which have resulted in both positive and negative results i support efforts that are truly based upon positive change and also attempts to correct past mistakes this course of action will not be easy but it will be correct sincerely robert swanigan okay can you hear me yes okay perfect okay first one is from j warren singleton um and it's titled letter blackmail's perspective on confederate symbols and renaming of schools as a black male and longtime resident of baytown i want to

131share a harsh reality with you i am someone who grew up with those confederate statues in the south that are being toppled as young blacks we had learned to ignore them not think about them and go about our business if we had thought more about what they stood for we would have been very angry now that we all have experienced violence together we are more willing to believe that black people are not just trying to cause trouble about many things they were simply begging for help often in the frustrating way that they had to do things many of my friends asked me if i was going to get involved in the movement to rename the baytown robert e lee school high school many of them asked me to write an article or letter to the

132editor being the individual that i am and after reading and hearing some of the nonsense that is being written and said by many who are defending the traitor robert edward lee a confederate general who fought to continue slavery in the south i would like to begin by going on record as saying it is time to rename the robert e lee high school and lee college at first i did not want to get angry and say things that make me angry and sad only black slaves understand what i'm about to say it is not your fault or your larger family's fault please believe me the anger is not directed at all white people although it really does feel exactly that way no one wants to falsely be accused you don't have to like it i personally

133would not like it we all have emotions but for just a few moments let's put them aside and focus on facts slave masters do not represent all white people in the world only specifically do slave owners not all of them were cruel to their slaves they just treated them as if they were not equal as a black man i cannot get get it out of my mind that most slave owners would routinely take a female slave to have non-cons consensual sex then she would go back to her husband and her children and shame and helplessness her husband would be so hurt and demoralized if he knew yet there was nothing he could do to protect his wife from the master there was a deliberate act to remind male slaves they were not men i don't

134know how many of them actually raped female slaves but there were many mulatto children born to female slaves to do the work of slave owners often a slave woman would not tell her husbands what they suffered because they were afraid the husband would be so angry he would attack the master if he did he would be automatically brutally beaten killed or faced something like castration when i first heard a route about reparations i thought it was crazy because i did not understand how it could be done i was not too analytical and thought it was all about money and i could not get my head wrapped around how could they go back in history to find out which slaves had living children that could get the money i studied what it really meant and i

135support reparations hold wholeheartedly they are long overdue taking down those statues is a form of reparation that is not about money it's about respect for our suffering over so many years of ill treatment support getting rid of anything you would not want your children to be reminded of that was demoralizing is the right thing to do as a black male who has resided in baytown for 70 plus years graduated from the historical baytown george washington carver high school in 1963 has witnessed the confederate flag flown at the robert e lee high school and during football games i attended a confederate flag flown behind trucks and witnessed the playing of the night they drove old dixie down i and many others support the renaming of robert e lee high school in baytown and any other facilities

136named after the trader robert e lee okay okay my next one uh is from dave holland to the goose creek cisd board of trustees subject letter of support for changing the name of robert e lee high school i believe the name of the school should be changed to west bay town high school and leave the mascot as is ganders respectfully submitted david holland rss graduate 1993 and number three and this is dated july 27 2020 baytown school board in germany today public buildings and memorials are named after and dedicated to those who suffered at the hands of the nazis not to the nazis themselves i believe it is a slap in the face to have black students immortal immortalized and celebrate robert e lee a man who did not believe in the humanity of black

137people who whipped black people and owned slaves and did not see a right for their citizenship this is not about erasing confederate history but the need to erase the immortalization of hatred bigotry and instilling of black inferiority on the predominantly minority school body that excuse me that occupies robert e lee high school today holding on to the confederate name robert e lee shows that the current student body is undervalued asking black students to chant the school song praising robert e lee what can be more demoralizing for a young black black athlete scholar or artist we should not lift up the names of traders who fought against american values like equality and tolerance therefore i'm calling for the permanent removal of the confederate name robert e lee from the high school in all public buildings to

138include lee college respectfully alfred f fontenot a black native of baytown sorry i didn't want to be the heavy breather on the oh can you hear me now yeah okay great um my first one that says renaming of institutions commending an era that should have long been buried gear goose creek cisd board of trustee members as the founder president of the baytown carver high school recognition and preservation society we would like to go on record as being a group of former baytown george washington carver high school graduates who support the renaming of robert e lee high school the consideration currently being given to renaming robert e lee high school and lee college is something that is long overdue we don't that it will go far beyond just considering to actually change the name commemorating a

139figure that has had the sole objective of enslaving the whole race of people in order to maintain power has no basis in a democratic society it doesn't matter how hard one tries to dress it up by feigning it was a states rights issue or that such a dark history deserves to be honored it is still a disgusting proposition that should never been have seen the light of day robert lee will forever be remembered as a traitor to the union a figure that took up arms against the union and fellow citizens under a false and dark pretense whatever exploits he enjoyed on the field of battle are forever stained because they were not an honorable or just cause for a nation that was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and by the

140decree recognizes god's providence how in god's name did we ever think it was righteous act to memorialize those whose actions fly in the face of what our religion teaches us religion is not something of convenience but requires that it be actively practice silence is not a profession of faith in the face of injustice but is a call to stand in the gap and stand up for what is good and right we are our brother's keeper benedict arnold is a historical figure but not one that we name institutions after or otherwise memorialize we have an opportunity at this point in history to write a past injustice rather than just turning a blind eye to a dark reminder respectfully jay warren singleton society founder and president aubry woodley society assistant secretary my second letter is from ronald

141alderson i support the renaming of robert e lee high schools to another name i support the name of an individual in our history who stood up for the freedom of peoples in texas and the united states general robert e lee stood for and risked his life for the con continuation of the institution of slavery in texas and the united states slavery where black individuals were owned by white individuals as slaves slavery where individuals were beaten mutilated and murdered for not wanting to be slaves slavery where individual families were destroyed at auction where husbands and fathers suffered the molestation of wives and daughters by white men with no recourse slavery where wives and daughters suffered molestation by white men without recourse slavery where black individuals were barred from reading writing math and science and punished if

142they were discovered attempting to become educated high schools are educational institutions for everyone two names come to mind for renaming robert e lee high school rename the school after john r lewis who is referred to as the conscious of the united of the us congress u.s representative lewis stood and risked his life for the civil rights of all peoples of the united states and engaged himself in actions to end legalized racial segregation in the united states i am a native texan neither robert edward lee nor john robert lewis were texans the second individual who comes to mind is was a texan named juana pemuseno colonel seguin stood and risked his life for the establishment of the state of texas he fought for texas throughout the state which includes the battle of san jacinto about 13

143miles from the high school which can honor his name colonel seguin was spanish tejano political and military figure of the texas revolution who helped to establish the independence of texas colonel seguin was elected as a texas senator in 1837 and served from 1837 to 1840. let us rename the high school for juan ensign a native texan i appreciate the opportunity to address you sincerely ronald alderson george washington carver high school class of 1966 mr laredo is that conclude the letters you have yes my mom we have two okay so that concludes the letters that we received through public comment submission okay at this time we will move on to agenda item number four approval of minutes um july 6 2020 regular board meeting can we take them together or do we need to take those

144separately we have july 6 2020 regular board meeting and july 13 2020 special board meeting i think we could take them together do i have a motion i would move to approve both sets of minutes as presented so i have a motion by mr clem in a second by mr cotter on approval of minutes as submitted for july 6th and july 13th all in favor of said motion please raise your right hand or say aye do i have any abstentions any opposed uh motion passes seven zero so we'll move now into number five discussion items uh a we have superintendents report so i will turn the meeting over to dr o'brien thank you very much madam president um can you hear me yes okay um we have several reports to present to the board this

145evening uh you'll see the strategic plan is the first one up and that will be presented by mr matt bollinger mr bullinger are you online yes sir i'm sharing my screen we good to go we are you're good to go okay great okay good evening members of the board and dr o'brien tonight i will be presenting an update for the strategic plan which will include our newly developed facilities vision guide you should each have a copy of the strategic plan as well as the facility's vision guide and also a document called the gcc isd supplemental property manual so we'll be referencing these items throughout the presentation as a as a reminder we get to the powerpoint so these are the key items that we want to highlight tonight uh talk about a few initiatives and

146goals from the strategic plan also share some relevant data and then again introduce the facilities vision guide quick background as a reminder our strategic plan was created in 2017 uh based on board feedback at the time and was developed with the help of a consultant named dr mike maguire from quality texas who who pulled elements from the baldrige framework for our strategic plan we had various staff and community members who helped to create the goals and strategies within the plan as they served on committees it's important to know that our district plan did not take into account a worldwide pandemic so uh we didn't plan for that however elements in the strategic plan did help our decision making guide our decision making during crisis situations such as the one we're facing now things like our

147mission our vision our core values really help to determine how to meet the needs of our community and also our students um during covert 19 we have seen and learned several lessons one is that equity gaps have widened as a result of limited resources for example for for some of our students and it's our obligation as a school district to to do whatever we can to meet the needs of all of our students and we're striving to do that when we look at our core values we have a component such as children first and service before self and diversity respected so we want we want as a district to make sure that that those core values push what we do so that's one thing that we have learned from cover 19 we've also learned how

148dedicated our teachers are during this time and what a difference they make for our children in our strategic plan we have five goals and i plan to highlight a few of these goals goals that are not addressed tonight will be addressed at a future date once we receive updated data for example with our financial stewardship goal we we have an audit that's completed usually in mid to late october and so we'll provide more information about that um at that time also when the taper report comes out we receive updated data as well so we we won't hit on all the goals tonight but some of the goals our first goal is the academic performance goal we have several key initiatives if you go to the strategic plan document board members on pages four and five

149in the strategic plan you can see this goal written out in detail so it shows our goal it shows our strategies our targets and our key measures again on pages four and five so hopefully you can reference that i didn't want to point out that we have several major initiatives listed here that align and support the district's instructional vision and so on in the back of the strategic plan document on page 10 we do have our district instructional vision listed there for future reference but our key major initiatives include professional learning communities visible learning instructional rounds and also cultural culturally responsive teaching as we know we do not have star testing this year again due to cover 19 or state accountability this year so our current district score at 87 remains in effect i will

150say that in regarding our response to coven 19 in the spring and summer our curriculum and instruction department as well as our technology department we're required to act swiftly to serve the needs of our our students and our families in goose creek several things happened right after spring break and i know you're aware of this because you've heard this in previous presentations but i think it's worth noting the scope and sequence was quickly revised to make up for lost instruction during that time teachers were quickly trained over a three-day period to learn the online platforms that they would be using for virtual instruction our technology department and our district staff and campus staff issued over 2 600 ipads during this time for students who needed a technology and also our technology teams insisted in making

151phone calls providing hot spots making sure that the parents and teachers and students were familiar with how to use the technology that they had received and also we had staff who met with students and families to provide not only technology assistance but also home visits to make sure students were completing the assignments um so as a result and i know you've seen this statistic before but it's uh we're proud of this statistic 96 93 percent of students participated in virtual instruction and then we had 5.1 of students who completed packets and projects in their classroom assignments so i think it goes without saying that our but our teachers went above and beyond to serve our students this fall we are continuing our push for virtual instruction and face-to-face instruction and you'll hear that later on

152tonight but um but we are we are moving to a one-to-one model for all of our junior high students which will mirror our one-to-one initiative for our high school so all of our junior high students have the opportunity to receive an ipad but we'll also be providing technology for elementary students who need it okay our next goal goal number two is our community engagement goals strengthening community partnerships this is found on page six so if you turn to page six in the strategic planning document you can again see that this goal is highlighted in depth the program honors community staff students and alumni um focusing on making sure that we're increasing community relationships and strengthening effective communications so we wanted to highlight a few programs here one is the giants of the month recognition and

153so this is a program where we have attempted to highlight and honor alumni educators and staff and also students throughout the year our district theme is here we grow giants and hopefully you've received a t-shirt and a heroic giant's mask so we did provide that for our board members tonight and we believe that these recognitions have been positive they've been meaningful and we believe they brought awareness to to the individuals who inspire us all to be giants and so this is one feature that we've uh one program that we have promoted that's that's hopefully again raised awareness and recognize those individuals in our community who are who are doing significant things also we have implemented several strategies and events that have focused on you know just during covet in the spring such as the to

154recognize students to to recognize staff and to honor our seniors and so you can see here we had a top 10 recognition parade that many of us participated in we honored our military students um we had updates from the superintendent we had information that frequently changed from week to week based off of what was going on with cobia 19 so there was a lot of communication happening at this time and then of course with our seniors we had the virtual graduation as well as the senior videos and the yard signs we're going to jump to our fourth goal of developing organizational excellence if you'll turn to page eight this goal is found here as part of improving employee satisfaction and retention we've surveyed our staff several times this year on several key topics our last

155survey that aligns with the um the uh the organizational health many surveys was done in april and it asked about staff satisfaction and experience with human resources questions were on a scale of one to five five being strongly agreed i'm going to show you that survey here so these were the five questions that were asked on this mini survey and then on the right you can see the responses to those five questions all questions scored relatively high many responses were positive i do want to point out the last two questions on the bar graph the fourth question highlighted in yellow scored the highest out of the five questions the question was the district has made adjustments during the kobe 19 pandemic to ensure the health safety and financial well-being of their employees and so at

156about five point scale uh the district rated this question is a 4.58 and then the last question considering your experience with human resources in our district you're likely to recommend your friends and colleagues to goose creek and the score 4.27 out of five and so those were the two that scored the highest but here are all their responses um from these questions and so our human resources team has looked at this data and they they've made some um actions ensuring that we are constantly meeting the needs of our staff and that's been our focus for this goal okay for the last skills that i want to highlight before we move on to the facilities vision document this goal is actually found on page seven this goal targets uh several several items listed here and again

157in the um in the strategic plan on page seven you can see those targets but i've also listed them here in the powerpoint one is to provide a safe and secure environment for all staff and students and then also to maintain and improve facilities safety and security systems so one thing we wanted to point out here is that our auxiliary staff our operational staff has gone again above and beyond in the spring and in the summer to make sure that not only our students and our staff have their needs met but also our community and so we're familiar that we've had grab-and-go breakfast and lunch meals that have been provided again in the spring and in the summer on average we're collecting this data each day and then we provide an average of almost 9

158000 meals per day so um that that's our that's our food service workers who diligently serve meals each day also our security and police officers assist at these locations they also provided support whenever there was a testing center at stallworth and also our custodial crews worked hard to continually provide deep cleaning for facilities that are being used as well as intermittent cleaning to make sure that as we phase workers back in over the summer that it's done so in a safe manner okay and for that second target in this goal that deals with improving facilities we've worked on a facility vision guide to highlight current campuses and facilities and to provide insight on future projects so you should have received a hard copy of this book in addition the board has been provided a supplemental

159property manual which shows our district properties and so dr demetrius mccall will be joining me during this portion of the presentation as we highlight this book so if you're board members if you don't mind grabbing this book or getting a hold of this book we're going to walk through pieces of it we're going to give you the fast and furious uh presentation over it so starting off the purpose of this document took us about uh four or five months to put it together but we wanted to make sure we provide historical perspective about the campuses the schools and facilities that we have in goose creek also this this document attempts to highlight each building with a narrative providing the origin of the building why it was built specifications how many students attend there the square

160footage the amount of acreage that it sits on and also we've included interior and exterior photos or renderings depending on the facility also our focus for this document is to provide insight regarding the design and location architecture and naming of each facility and our hope is that the facilities vision guide will provide a road map for future considerations as we continue to build facilities for our district turn it over to dr mccall for the prologue good evening madam president school board and dr o'brien if you turn to page three you will see information here on the prologue which speaks to some of the information that mr bollinger spoke about starting off with the history of goose creek and just talking about how the goose creek independence school district initially served three cities looking at the

161economic stability of the community and the boom of the 1950s as well as a bond issue that started the process of purchasing land and building schools and then when you get into the information about the district it talks about information such as student population size as well as the school district serving as one of the number one employers in the bay town area serving over 3 400 employees and then when you go to the mission envision it's really developing the whole child of that course our work here in goose creek and so all of that information is listed there for you on facebook moving on when you get to page six facilities at a glance this just serves as a guide to locate campuses by page number gives you information as far as the name

162of the school as well as provides a visual image of that school and the page number where you can find the school so starting with our elementary facilities on page 13 we will go to an example of what you will find on each page for our elementary facilities and that will be we'll use stephen f austin elementary as our example on the next slide so you will find information here on the school's origin which gives a brief history of the school and any information about its um its origins i'm just really speaking to you know how the school came about as well as maybe some information if it was a rebuild in this case it was with stephen f austin elementary also when you go down to the school name it really gives some information

163to the reader about the namesake of the schools what provides a brief explanation for the reader to understand why the school was named uh that particular name and then when you get to information about the school you'll find information here such as the architectural firm that may have designed it also the functional capacity for students and the approximate square footage and of course you'll find information there about the mascot and the colors of the campus and as mr bollinger stated there are also pictures of the internal and external portions of the building going to our secondary facilities which is on page 47 so i'll give you a few moments to get there after you're going through all of our wonderful elementary facilities but secondary facilities are starting on page 47 and the example that we're

164going to go through this evening is for highlands junior school so when you go to that page it's very similar to what we have for our elementary facilities also talking about the school origin really giving some information on its location any interesting facts there about the history of the school from there you'll get the school name you know provides once again a brief explanation of why the school was named the way that it was and when you go to information about the school it'll share you know information there for the reader about the capacity how many staff members are on the campus as well as the approximate square footage also giving the reader information about the mascot and the colors for the campus okay so if you turn to page 73 this is where we've

165listed our auxiliary facilities so again i'll give you a second to turn to page 73. at this section we've listed several of our auxiliary buildings you can turn through the next few pages and see the facilities that are listed here such as the technology building or the george d i'm sorry the john d george agri-science building or the transportation center and again like dr mccall referenced building origins or contained here and also the building name if it has a particular name and then also about the building giving the architecture the architect company the construction company and then specific features on on the facility as well and if you'll turn to page 85 give us some time there this this is the start of our future facilities and primarily the facilities that we are building now

166mostly with the 2019 bond i know brenda garcia will be presenting here in a little bit and will probably give you more detail but the idea is to show that facilities that are under construction are soon to be under construction such as the ef green junior school senior school number six and then also the new san jacinto elementary school as well and so this is uh again the facilities vision guide and the goal is to use this document to help guide some decision making again you also have a supplemental property manual we won't go into that document with this presentation but all of the district land is located in in that document what you see here on this slide is is projected two percent growth each year for the next 20 years now we know

167that as a district we typically grow between one and two percent so this may be a little aggressive but nonetheless it's two percent per year and we know that several new neighborhoods are going up in in our area such as the south winds phase one phase two we know that baytown crossings with asheville cove is being developed right now on kilgore parkway there's several apartment complexes also goose creek reserve so there are several new neighborhoods and apartment complexes that that are projecting that there will be growth also there's some development in our area as we know the same descent a marketplace the san jacinto mall being renovated and other businesses as well and so as we look at those projected growth patterns we as a district we definitely want to continue to plan our facilities

168to make sure we're meeting the needs of our students and our families in goose creek i would like to give a quick shout out these are the individuals that worked on this document i'll say that mima trujillo was the architect she created this this book she spent many hours we're very proud of it we think it's a good look we'll continue to update it as we have new facilities and also carrie pryor newman um spent a lot of time taking pictures and photos um adding them to this document so we're again proud of those individuals that we think they did a wonderful job okay and that concludes our presentation on the strategic plan update and i know that matt you'll hang around and entertain questions from any board members at this point time but i

169also wanted to extend that shout out that you just gave this our executive director of strategic planning and innovation mr bollinger referenced this goes back to 2017 when the board asked the administration to present a tangible document something to help guide our strategic plan and i just want to give a shout out to mr bulger in regards to his leadership but it wasn't him alone as he referenced there but it was also the director of communication susan passmore and her team that he referenced also dr price our chief operating officer played significant roles in many of the domains that we have listed here and of course dr mccall is one of the presenters this evening a final shout out to an old friend dr duarte who is no longer with us but she she did

170play a role in the development of this document and i wanted to give her credit as well so and many others that i'm not naming going down the name uh to list but uh i wanted to personally thank mr bulger and his leadership for pulling all of those people together to present a tangible document that like you've asked for i want somebody holding my hands look at and see what it is we have what what our past was what we currently have and what our future is and i believe that that uh he successfully delivered that to us this evening so mr bollinger dr mccall if y'all will hang on for any questions from the board just say thank you yeah i'd just like to say thank you for such a thorough report all right

171i believe we will hear from mr bollinger again this evening but uh next up i wanted to clarify so that you won't be embracing a two-hour meeting a facilities update it's not the entire 2019 bond it's not every single non-bond project that we have but miss brenda garcia our director of facilities in construction will be our next presenter and she will give basically an update to the buildings that we're about to take occupancy of and update you on those uh other buildings that we may be in in the future so ms garcia are you there i am here you're on thank you let me know if you can um see my slides not yet matt do i have control yeah yes you have a presenter okay let's see here i apologize no problem we've seen

172it in your office work before there we go okay okay good okay let's see um i think i'm actually sharing the wrong screen let's see here can you see this we can see your screen yep you seem to go into uh presentation department moves okay we see your powerpoint now i apologize thank you uh good evening uh president woods board members and dr o'brien um i as dr o'brien mentioned earlier i'd like to give you a brief presentation of some department moves that are very important that are coming up soon here within a month or so and just give you a quick a quick update on that um so i want to start off by um just kind of giving you a reminder of some of the work that occurred to renovate the grain center

173last year it was completed last year as most of you know uh our special ed department has had to um be relocated several times and um they're they are getting close to their final relocation um from the green center so just to give you a quick update on the purpose of the green center is um for three departments to move into this facility our police department will be going here and i'm just going to run through some of the images of the inside of the building for you our our police department will be going be relocating here from our facilities management complex here uh soon um the truancy department that is also currently located in a portable at sterling high school will relocate to the green center as well as the tax office that is

174currently located at the administration building and there you see some of the images of those finished spaces for those departments um there's also a couple of training rooms available in this facility so before the move-in um there's been a lot of coordination uh really over the past month with a lots of different departments on um a move this size is is um it's it's quite a bit and so it's kind of been all hands on deck uh getting people boxes to pack up all of their items uh coordinating moves with um our movers and our grounds department um our the tms department having to relocate electronics it's it's a it's a massive effort and so i'm very grateful to all of those departments involved um the the next piece um that we have going is

175um so our our green center the special ed department is packed up um and the reason we've had them pack up at this moment is because we need to get in there to do these items replace some carpet that was temporary what we what our goal was is to give those departments that are moving into this facility the feel of a brand new facility and so we have to touch up paint um we've got to finish some exterior building graphics uh building signage install their new furniture as well and so we'll look at that schedule as well here coming up um just to give you a quick idea um our special ed department was here in probably every inch of this building and then they were still spread out across the district because not everybody

176fit in this facility at the time that they were here so we're still relocating i think as of today we've moved the last of the of the furniture out of this facility you can see here we've had um several of their boxes that are packed and ready to move over to our new education service center and i'll talk about that here shortly so moving on to our education service center um so this is uh the uh what a lot of people know is the old hospital on north alexander or business 146 this building was in essence an office building it had some medical offices uh located within it um the back uh buildings were demolished and we have kept and completely renovated uh this building uh to house the special ed department all of them

177in one location our testing department will also move here from uh the current hasty or our current service center warehouse will move here this facility will also hold our health clinic it will also hold our um our new goose creek fitness center as well and some curriculum staff that has also been kind of spread across the district without a permanent location they will be housed in this facility um i i think you may have seen some of these uh renderings early on in the planning for this facility and i want to walk you uh through the progress of uh construction for this so um right now what's occurring is there are so many people on site at the moment um they're working around the clock um trying to finish all of these items mechanical electrical

178plumbing systems the demolition actually of the rear buildings just completed late last week walls are up painting is being installed carpeting tile work throughout and cabinets and mill work are being worked on so i'm going to take you kind of through a progression of the construction which truly began with demolition more than construction it was a complete remodel a complete gut of the existing building i think initially our hope was to have been able to use some of the spaces as is and when we sat down with um the the special ed department we realized that it wouldn't function as is um they've got a lot of specialty sub departments that need to work together in groups and to be more efficient for those departments and so when we sat down and programmed for this

179building we realized that it it really needed to be completely renovated and so in december we began some interior demolition that continued for quite some time there was a lot of a lot of work to be done here and then by the spring as the exterior or the um the back buildings were began to be demolished some of the internal the front office building began actual renovation work you can see there the image on the left hand side one of the buildings was demolished and on the right-hand side of the front building where the renovation is occurring and here we are in june where again demolition continues on the left-hand side for the buildings that that we were not keeping and then the renovation that was ongoing internally this was just two weeks ago i

180believe that these pictures were taken um kind of if you if you blinked you missed it it came down pretty quickly um i think this building came down within a period of a week and so we're here now to a lot of the internal images of the existing building that we're keeping so a lot of work is occurring on site and the work that's occurring is changing from morning to evening um i i don't know if you have this version of the presentation you may have gotten an earlier one so i've i've updated it um from the morning to the evening the pictures that we take are changing so that's how quickly they're working i'm just wanted to give you um some uh pictures that were taken i believe these were taken yesterday of some

181millwork and our goose creek logo there the entrance foyer and then as we finish up here just a quick aerial video i hope you can see that and it shows the existing building that we're keeping again we are starting to paint the exterior of the building uh the upper portion of the roof is also has some work on going and you can see the demolition of the buildings that were on site and that is all of the information that i have for you this evening let me know if you have any questions we're shuffling people and the buildings are all sort of coming together simultaneously the the green center the existing green center that was remodeled is taking on three different departments and then the special as you notice as you noted when the lease

182at the mall expired was relocated and again this will be their final home so they're excited about the possibility of having this new home um but but are anxious as well uh do you did you provide timelines for our board yes uh um again this has changed if you saw a version of this last week this has changed as of friday i believe and so um you can see there uh the items in in green um and this schedule is changing daily as well as we try to figure out when furniture is arriving um when our substantial completion date is for uh the education service center and so in working with all of these different departments these dates have changed quite quite a few times but as of right now we have our police and

183truancy department departments moving in to the green center on the second and third of september the tax office uh at a later date 11th and the 14th and then we have a special ed department moving into the education service center beginning on july uh 31st i'm sorry august 31st and then testing in cni will move in september i do want to point out that um during construction we did make some changes to the health clinic and the um the fitness center layout and so that portion of the work will be done a little bit later in october and so health clinic won't move in until probably the end of october and the good news is that this the either one of these facilities are not housing students daily they're they're designed for our staff that

184follows and travels across the district to assist our students so that's a good thing we're not trying to make the start of school september 8th deadline specifically but we'll be close to that regardless board members do you have any questions for miss garcia at this time into the only parking is the front or the the back part that's where the building was all of that parking is accessible for this building uh the phase two of the education service center does include another building behind the existing rebuilding building where the ones was torn down those buildings were 40 to 50 years old and we're not meeting ada compliance issues and concerns about just their overall mechanics antiquated air conditioning systems and things that nature so that was it'll be completely removed to green dirt i mean

185to the to the dirt and a facility behind that for future use phase two uh is likely to be forthcoming and so the parking yes um ms garcia you can point out yes i can point out that the district does own does own and we did keep all of this parking here at the back if you can see my cursor and then everything along the front edge of the of 146 or north alexander so that's quite a bit of uh expansive parking available okay you might note that the one building there to the right hand side of this building facing alexander is a doctor's building and apart from our property um that still exists but they have their own parking area and we we we do have all of the parking that's shown there furthermore

186in the far end of the the picture top left-hand corner there's a driveway that comes in on that side that will ultimately likely come around to the easternmost portion of this property as well give a circular egress okay is the property where that little yellow daycare building is that part of our property it is okay i thought so i just wanted to be sure ms garcia i want to thank you for letting us know what's going on at our major projects but i also know there's been lots of work at some of our school buildings going on during the shutdown maybe your future you can share with us all those things that got done and knowing that our people weren't just sitting there watching the grass grow absolutely driving driving around town i know there's

187lots of work going on other places besides these two major ones there is just ask everyone that was kicked out of sterling high school i i heard so ms garcia and her project managers that are goose creek employees and also we have lan our project manager third party that oversized oversees uh our progress have been working throughout the pandemic i might note there they've been classified as essential workers so there's not been a summer vacation for these people and we're thankful that we were able to keep the momentum of these projects going so that we could meet these timelines and get our our people back where they need to be okay i just also want to echo what mr trump said ms garcia i appreciate the update pull your mic down sorry i i just

188want to echo what mr clem said i appreciate the update and the buildings are looking really good thank you so much dr o'brien yes ma'am i know we have two more reports on your superintendent report here for the agenda but um i at this time i would need to ask for a five-minute recess if that's agreeable yes ma'am okay i thank you and we will be stay tuned we'll be right back oh i'm sorry we are back from recess dr o'brien take it away all right with us this evening we have the director of advanced academics and special projects hence she is the presenter for our goose creek city coronavirus disease coveted 19 safe return to school plan uh do i have miss leath on the line uh yes sir i'm here thank you dr

189o'brien welcome can you hear me yes ma'am all right uh good evening and uh it's my honor to share with you tonight uh some aspects of our safe return to school plan we have a large team that participated in this process and i'll share that with you in just a moment but before i go further i want to echo something that matt said earlier and that's the fact that i'm really proud to be part of goose creek and you know thinking about the response to the pandemic dating back to the spring and just the job that the teachers the students the parents did in adjusting as well as campus administration district administration and then the support of the board i'm just really proud to be part of this district so it's it's my honor to

190be part of this whole process in regards to the safe return to school plan with that being said i just wanted to review for you the tda requirement that we're too all school systems must post for parents and the general public one week prior to the start of on-campus activities and instruction a summary of the plan they will follow to mitigate coca-19 spread in their schools based on the requirement and recommendations outlined in the july 17 pea public planning document now since our start date our introduction is september 8th this really you know our date for posting this is no later than september 1st but our goal is to post our plan no later than august 10th so uh tonight we'd like to provide you with a preview of that plan we'll highlight a few

191areas and uh with a two a few of our team leads that are with us tonight we want to start with taking you through the process that we utilized to develop this plan and in doing so i'd like to reflect back just a bit dating back to the springtime when all of this began and then all the way up to mid july actually both dr price and dr duarte each had task force committees that really delved into you know planning for the upcoming school year uh dr price of course dealt with some safety protocols and had a team for that as well as the facility sanitation transportation and then you had dr duarte dealing with the instructional models and some other areas as well so our what we've done is we've now combined and cut

192across all of our departments and created a district-wide task force that task force met july 22nd and our purpose was to complete the development of a comprehensive plan designed to respond to coven 19 during the upcoming school year and to clearly communicate a summary of that plan to parents students staff and the community christy we just lost your volume are you there if you'll go back a slide we lost you about 30 seconds ago y'all yeah matt bollinger we've lost your audio my apologies while we're waiting to regain audio uh with miss leath um i believe they're looking into it right now if you'll be patient with us they'll be back with us shortly i believe okay they're aware of it 10 years thank you miss passmore are y'all back on uh i am in

193here i think off in there i can okay can you kind of tell me where we dropped off about 10 seconds before you switch to this slide so if you go back one slide and pick up your closing comments from that one before you move forward okay thank you sorry about that it's okay uh our our team our priority was of course the safety for students and staff in the world of coca-19 and that's what we kept at the forefront of our thoughts as we developed this plan and the team developed a comprehensive plan and from that we extracted out a summary of a broad element that we will be publishing on our district website for our parents and community in regards to what we're calling our safe return to school plan we also developed

194an employee back to work manual which is going to fill out some very important information for all of our employees this plan was founded really the framework for the plan came from our tea update that came out july 17th i was called the public health planning guidance document and from that plan or from this planning guidance document i should say we've built 12 categories we extracted out 12 categories and have developed basically a plan for each of these categories one being the instructional models that will be implemented along with attendance and enrollment and then we have a personal protection and prevention protocol team or a category that will be actually explained in the document facility sanitation coped 19 response protocol and communication basically you know what do we do or what happens when we have

195a confirmed case of a case of coven arrival dismissal and transitions which we'll go over tonight classroom configurations and procedures what will a classroom look like now bus transportation what can we expect campus visits visitor protocols social and emotional support nutrition technology extracurricular pe and student activities so as you can see i mean it touches every single portion of our entire district so we're looking at new processes across the board within each of these categories we have a team lead that's been established and each of these team leads have had their own team they've been working with in order to come up with a plan in their area each team was composed of district and or campus administrators teachers as well as parents we also had parental input that was gathered through the goose creek

196website in the frequently asked questions area so as those teams worked to complete and finalize the plan lo and behold on july 28th a new update came out and this of course was the very same document the planning guidance document that we used to develop our plan around so on july 28th that wasn't the only document that came out actually as an update there was truly an avalanche of documents that came out at that point in time on the tea website underneath the cove at 19 area there are several categories that i'm sure you're familiar with if you're for those of you who are not inside each of these categories there'll be multiple documents that you'll see that address different things within that category and as days progress each of those areas will have various

197updates so you can tell on july 28th everything that circled here had at least one updated document so on with that july 20th update we then had to go back and make some tweaks to the plan so uh this is the best i know to describe this as a roller coaster at this point in time that you know we've all been on it really since spring but uh we've learned to adjust and also to hold on and um and what's great about is we have a great team you know that that's worked through this whole process and i don't doubt that we'll continue to have some unexpected things that happen this fall especially and we'll work through those together so tonight we're going to highlight just a few portions of the safe return to school

198plan we are going to begin with kevin foxworth he was the team lead for the arrival dismissal and transition plan but kevin i'm going to turn it over to you if you would uh you can unmute your mind all right good evening can you hear me yes okay great great okay as miss uh mrs lee said i'm going to go over the arrival and dismissals and transitions part with you if you look first at the first bullet under arrivals it says here when possible separate entrances will be utilized for car riders bus riders and walkers so the campus wants to establish patterns uh as they arrive you know at designated entrances bullet two here staff will be on duty to ensure distancing as students arrive on campus so we'll have plenty of staff to support

199that students will go straight to the designated areas set up by each campus next bullet parents will not be allowed to walk students to the classrooms so this was very difficult part for us in our committee but for the safety of the campus and to keep the integrity of the campus clean and the cleanliness and the safety part we did not want to allow the parents to come into the building so uh so we're looking at having teachers do some type of virtual tour of the classroom so parents know what the rooms look like and where their child will be and we think that's a pretty good compromise in order to let the parents know where their child is and keeping keeping the campus and the students safe and teachers safe okay next bullet parents

200should make an appointment when needing to meet with a teacher until further notice all appointments shall be virtual through webex or by phone all approved visitors are required to wear a face covering in the building and use hand sanitizer upon entering the building and then of course all approved visitors must follow the posted gccisd visitor guidelines when they enter the campus so that's the arrival portion the dismissal part is first bullet campus will designate staggered dismissal groups so of course staggering the groups of walkers riders bus riders and car writers into these cohorts or grade levels will help manage the student movement in the building and decrease the risk of potential crowding outside at dismissal time and then separate exits will be utilized for car riders bus riders and walkers parents picking up students during

201the day will be required to call ahead so that students can be sent or accompanied to the parent vehicles upon arrival that's just standard and then the last bullet office staff will sign the student out documenting both the time the student left the building as well as the time the parent requested for early dismissal again standard guidelines and then the last portion is transitions hallways will be clearly marked to ensure the flow of traffic and safety staff will be utilized for duty to maintain a line of sight in the hallway and distancing of callaway hallway cohorts and then our last bullet sanitizer stations will be placed at each entrance and around the campus so those are the recommended guidelines for arrival dismissal and transitions and wanted to send it back over to you christie that's

202right thank you kevin all right um now we're going to move to the campus visitor protocol section that team was led by ginger mckay right ginger ginger we can't hear you okay all right thanks matt um our core group worked on the visitors coming to the campus and the facilities and we also reached out to our campus administrators as well as other staff to gather information to make sure we kind of covered all the concerns all the concerns that we received which were lots be categorized and were able to place them into sections and that's how we were able to come up with a very specific visitor protocol so the visitors will be restricted to those essential to our school operations and until further notice due to safety precautions no outside delivery such as foods

203or gifts will be accepted during the school day visitors and parents will not be allowed to eat breakfast or lunch with their child at the school until further notice all campus visitors will utilize the intercom access device installed at the front door of each school all visitors must have a scheduled appointment hard 504 meetings parent-teacher conferences etc when possible the campuses will utilize virtual meeting options to limit campus visitors social distancing is expected for all meetings that are not able to be virtual visitors and parents are not allowed to exit their vehicles during drop off for pickup all approved visitors are required to wear a face covering which would include such as a face mask or cloth face covering in the building and use hand sanitizer upon entering a building upon entry into the building

204approved visitors will be required to complete a health screening to determine if they have any covet 19 symptoms or have come in close contact with an individual who is lab confirmed with covid19 any visitor who needs to go beyond the front office will be subject to a health screening which will include a temperature check any visitor who has coveted 19 or of symptoms or has come in contact with an individual whose lab confirmed will remain off campus until the 10-day incubation period has passed and christie i'll give it back to you with one last comment that our safety precaution piece was really critical to our campus staff and so i feel like our piece that we put together uh acknowledges that thanks christy yes thanks for your work ginger all right our third group uh

205that will be looking at today is the code 19 response protocol and communication team that was led by matt bollinger and matt bollinger will take you through that information and he's also going to give you a preview of what the website will look like um that he and the communications team have put together uh which will house the plan so matt okay once again good evening i'm gonna switch the share real quick okay so this is this website's not live right now it's it's a sample where we're finalizing um the website but essentially this is the design i want to give a shout out to brittany culpepper she spent a lot of work designing this we feel like it's very user friendly our goal is to make sure our families are able to navigate this

206portion we know that we have a lot of concerned parents and and family members and we want to make sure that they are able to see what the district is doing and so it starts off with our response levels chart and so this is very similar to the harris county threat level assessment where green is good and then it goes to yellow and and then orange and then level red of course is a severe response and so we know we've seen a few of these in other districts and we felt like this was a good component to add as far as our district response and our campus response whenever there's a cova case a lab confirmed cova case on at a school property so when you click the drop down menu and i will read

207all these items to you but this is basically the campus and the district response when there are no confirmed cases of cobit so all campuses will start the year on grant and then as as cases increase or as as a campus experience as a cobit confirmed covet case then then the levels move and so this lists mainly all the preventative measures that we have been taking as a as a district and then when there's a one or more confirmed cases of covid all the green level protocols are put into place plus a few other items tea on july 28th provided several updates as far as a district response and a campuses response one of those is making sure that we send communication to all staff and students regarding all confirmed cases of covet so that's

208listed in the yellow level response also the campus home page will show an updated response level anytime there's a level change there will be an email and a phone call that sent out notifying parents that you know the campus has moved from green to level whatever that whatever that change is just to make sure that our parents are aware of the restrictions that are put into place also you can see here this is from tea guidance schools will immediately separate any student who shows covet 19 symptoms while at school until the student can be picked up so there's a few other items here as well moving on to orange is a significant response and so this is whenever there's an escalated number of confirmed covet 19 cases at a facility and so some of the

209verbage that we've included here based off the committee that worked on this portion states that if we've exceeded 10 percent of the the population of the campus or a lower percentage if if local and state health officials deem it necessary then that facility will close uh temporarily for deep cleaning and there's other actions that will take place as well and so we've listed that here on the orange level and then finally if we have an outbreak so to speak and there's an escalated number of confirmed cobit 19 cases district-wide at multiple facilities and that may warrant district closure and so again we've listed what that would look like we listed here exceeds 10 percent of the district population or a lower percentage if local and state health officials are recommending that closure we've also included

210curbside mill distribution during this time what that will look like students will move to virtual instruction um and so throughout the levels and again i'm giving a quick overview but throughout the levels of a class in the yellow level if a class moves to virtual instruction for a period of time and that's listed here as well below that we have prevention protocols and so i know that dr price and some of his committee members worked on on this item as well so we wanted to make sure that we have put in writing several of the protocols here regarding ppes and proper hygiene and additional safety measures that the district is taking and then down below our safe return to school plan and and incorporates 12 sections or 12 areas that are addressed in the plan

211so as you heard from kevin foxworth earlier arrival dismissal and transitions if a parent or a family member or staff member is interested in reviewing that plan when they go to the website they can again we have a drop down menu that shares that information here and so i won't go through each each of the 12 categories and board members we will send you the link so you can review this in more detail but you can just see that that we've we've listed some information for transportation ginger mckay just talked about campus visitor protocols and so we have information there as well and so all the way down the line if there's a technology question for example we have device eligibility we have internet access and then other other documents linked to this section i

212did want to show one more piece on the website here on the on the kobit 19 response protocols this section here hits several several important questions that that again many family members will have what happens when there's a confirmed case of kova 19 on a campus and so this gives campus guidance district guidance but also it gives information to our to our family members and our students on the response and again this is from the tea update on july 28th that was that was released last week also gives information on identifying possible covet cases regarding staff guidance on cover 19 stephanie myers uh tish penny and her team have done a wonderful job of outlining how we handle uh staff responses and employee return to work and so we do have a document here's one

213document that is a back to work guide that gives specific information on different questions that that employees and staff may have as far as attendance on short-term work from the home guidelines and so on and so forth and so that in a nutshell that is the um that is what the what the plan will look like online and we know that as cdc guidelines change and tea updates come available there will be changes and so so we want to have it on the website so that we can make changes in one place so parents can can see those changes thank you [Music] and i just want to say a big shout out to the team leads as well as all the team members that participate in the process uh and again uh we're just tweaking

214and fine-tuning some areas and as soon as that's finished we will be publishing so that's uh that's a preview to the safe return to school plan thank you miss leath and i think that um it's me echoing you okay go ahead uh well i i wanted to ask mr matt bollinger a question um is this the time to do that are we okay okay all right so mr bollinger you had your screen of um uh risk level threat level i don't know if we can get back to that page you were referencing [Music] what level we would be at according to state and local health authorities and what might our procedures be under those yeah there we go so my question is um at each level we would certainly consider local closure due to contamination

215events or um uh yeah okay well basically yeah based on contamination events we would target either portions of campuses or campuses as a whole as there was a threat that that's correct and so for example um the the yellow level is where there's one or more confirmed cases of code and then if you if you move down a few bullets i'm not sure if you can see my cursor it shows that specific areas will be closed and deep clean if there was close contact and so there's some information from tea that talks about close contact and then if a targeted area or classroom exceeds 10 percent of confirmed cases then that classroom may move to virtual instruction on a temporary basis while that room is cleaned and so it does allow for partial closure of

216a facility or a building or an area or once you hit level orange it would it would indicate a facility closure if it got to that point and then also one thing that i failed to mention if this is listed by campus and so for example if a family member wanted to see where their campus is that when you click on that icon current campus level and they are to go to their school like say alamo it will list the level of that campus for that day and each level is updated each day by 5 pm so that's part of the uh safe return to school plan is updating that daily okay and so take me back to this here all right so that the yellow level is 10 you said that the yellow level

217is just one or more confirmed cases of covet so let's say that after three or four days at school there's a confirmed a lab confirmed case of coded then then we would implement several protocols for example if the student were at school then we would make sure that specific areas are cleaned if that student frequented that area we would we're required to send out communication that there's been a confirmed case and so that may be a staff member that may be a student of course we guard confidential information so we don't share any information about the individual but we are required to share that there has been one or more confirmed cases at your campus and so we would send out that communication and then change the level from green to to yellow okay and

218so then for level orange can we go over that one sure i'm sorry no take your time i'm yeah i'm just trying to swallow all of this here so if the cases exceed 10 percent so the way okay so here here's where i kind of um this is probably what jumped out at me if the cases exceed 10 or a lower percentage if deemed necessary by local slash state health officials who are we going to uh listen to so who gets to determine that that's a good question so so nurse pena and our benefits office and our hr office receives information from harris county public health and she can probably speak a little bit more in detail on this but i know that we're required to report cases to them and then they will be

219providing guidance to school districts um throughout the school year so if we're at a certain point where we're at seven percent or eight percent and where harris county public health is saying hey you're at a point where you may want to consider facility closure then then of course our executive council would have that conversation dr o'brien and the board would have that conversation it would be considered so it allows some flexibility if there is a need to close a facility okay all right and then red is let's let's go to red [Music] so red is uh very similar to orange but on a district scale so it's the same same verbiage that if we see ten percent district-wide um so if we're talking about students alone that's close to 2 400 students at that point

220district-wide or again if at a lower percentage if we are getting guidance that that we may want to consider district closure then of course dr o'brien executive cabinet the school board would have conversations regarding what's the next step okay all right so threat level red would not be campus specific it would be district-wide yes ma'am if we were to go to threat level red then it would be a district closer closure for a certain number of days [Music] just to be clear what we're saying is everyone goes home and receives their instruction virtually so it's not a shutdown does not mean we stop instruction it just means we do it differently right i was kind of under the impression that a district-wide shutdown would not be authorized by tea that it would have to be

221campus specific so that's kind of where i'm a little confused about level red being a district-wide so the issue would be if if more campuses than just one were shut down and it would not be a decision administration would make solely it would be a board decision based upon outcry from our local health authorities and the county and state health authorities uh we learned recently i was just going to make a comment earlier that miss lee started this program off with the roller coaster and i would concur with her on that but furthermore i would say that you could have put a flip-flop there because because the flip-flop has also occurred over the course of the last month and um we're um what happens is laws are packed and then they're interpreted the interpretation comes

222from our commissioner of education and sometimes those are interpreted correctly or incorrectly and we respond accordingly to the information that we have our objective is to keep our community and informed of our process what we're doing what we're looking at and more than likely if a district shut down it would have made the news you know based upon an executive order from our governor is the highest authority in the land so to speak so [Music] so if we go to a red level severe response and and the district shuts down and students are 100 virtual what impact does that have on the students uh endorsements any i can answer that but miss lease would you like to based upon our current protocol did you hear that sir i'm actually going to call in the instructional

223model team so that'd be kevin foxworth if you could address that for us having you there so i can start by saying waiting on mr foxworthy things start by saying those who choose 100 virtual currently are on the multi-disciplinary uh plan i do not know that that is what would be imposed on all students that would be the implication to me um of course we're hopeful we're never considering a level read that's our hope obviously but we have to be realistic go ahead i'm sorry it would be temporary also that shift you know to virtual learning at that point we also hope that it was temporary last spring break and we're still on spring break [Music] that's my only thought here so christy christie this is becky if i can interject um just real quick

224um this is kind of from the curriculum instruction inside um i feel that we would go to a place kind of where we are at where we're going to start school september the 8th ever we have all all endorsements are in place okay and then we would work on if if an endorsement included a lab we would work on provides it's time to to make up that lab time um with you know whatever whatever we needed to do kind of like what we're doing for all the kiddos that missed their lab time at stuart careertech high school they've been in school actually this summer um making that happen and so i don't i see that that we would just continue doing what we're going to do beginning september 8th with endorsements in place correct that

225would be my recommendation on the cni side and um and i think um if if if i don't overstep for kevin i believe we're looking at uh kevin are you there right i i was able to finally get unmuted uh so so yes as dr o'brien stated the the this the students who choose to go 100 virtual they unless if they were trying to give them the opportunity to come to the campus to do those laps so if they are unwilling to do that then then they can't meet the requirement of the lab then they like a cte lab like welding or something like that if they say they they ca they will not go to the campus that's where the counselor would reach out to that to that parent to that student and say

226we have to look at changing your endorsement because you're not meeting the requirements so we're trying to give uh as much uh as much head heads up to parents and students as as possible as long as they stop changing things on us i think we're going to be okay but i hope that answers your question mr carter it does mostly um but but for that small portion that it doesn't i would i would just add a follow-up question what about those endorsements that don't have a lab component uh necessary for like like the the welding um uh for instance different academies it shouldn't change that virtual option shouldn't change any other endorsements okay because the language has been all endorsements but it sounds like it's actually just some endorsements yes okay thank you for that

227clarification that actually answers all of my questions okay and thanks also um becky robin she was one of the team leads on the instructor model team and thank you kevin as well with no further questions we're ready to go to discussion item a4 thank you pleasure thank you very much team appreciate your presentation yes thank you very much for your presentation um dr o'brien i at this time have a few more letters that had requested to be read into the minutes tonight just a point of reference for the board members and anyone interested all emails that have been submitted to board members dr o'brien and any other school district email have been presented to all board members uh and they will be included um there the substance of the letters will be included in the

228report that we will have coming up but before we get to that i want to go ahead and read into the minutes uh letters that were submitted that were that specifically asked to be read during the board meeting tonight into public record so we thought we were done with the 650 or so we had earlier but there there's more and as i said there's a much even larger number of letters that have been received and read by board members and by the administration but these specifically requested to be read in so uh mr sampson if you would time time me do you do you all want me to just read them or do you want me to share them with you to be read i can just go through them or just read till you

229get tired read till i get tired that's what i'll do if i lose my voice y'all can stop me all right so mr samson uh i will begin with this first one and you can stop me when i go too long the first letter that i have here is from janet harrelson uh please present my email at tonight's board meeting good morning um board members my name is janet isom harrelson and i'm a 1970 graduate of robert e lee high school i would request that you vote no to any suggestion of changing the name of my alma mater it is my opinion that the name robert e lee or many times just rel is in no way indicative of racism it is simply the name of my school just as your name is the name

230your parents gave to you had they named you robert e lee woods would you if you wanted to continue to serve on the gccisd school board be requested to change your name because it supported racism never in the 54 years that i have been involved with rel has it ever crossed my mind that oh yeah we're supporting racism we're supporting slavery never it is simply the name of my alma mater and i am simply requesting that you vote against the change best regards janet harrelson also received uh august 3rd sorry july 31st from lisa crawford to the gcc isd superintendent and school board members please read my letter to the board at the august 3rd 2020 meeting i would like to petition you against changing the name of robert e lee high school i am

231a graduate of the bicentennial class of 1976. it is not only because of my personal connection and heart for my alma mater it is for future generations that i request you to vote to keep the name robert e lee high school as a baytown legacy if we submit to social pressures to change our high school's name it is erasing history and enslaving this generation not to a plantation but to change that limit one's freedom to live beyond the sins of our past first slavery was an issue during the civil war but it was not the cause monuments erected in our nation are set forth as bringing a part of the past to future generations not to condemn or offend the future generations but to educate them of past happening the only way we move forward

232is to build on where we came from we no longer ride a horse and buggy because we have built a history in the auto industry visit that has advanced to hybrid transportation we cannot live as united free people if we continue to go back and relive a time when people were judged by the color of their skin haven't we matured beyond that during this pandemic our focus should be on the children of our community returning to school and implementing safety protocols throughout the district our tax dollars should be better spent on our children's education teachers auxiliary staff and schools not wasted on changing the name of robert e lee high school i am baytown proud i am robert e lee high school proud once a gander always a gander lisa crawford resident of baytown our

233next email um begins i grew up on harding street in baytown and as soon as i heard about the discussion about changing the name of robert e lee high school i knew i had to speak up and let my voice be heard robert e lee is a piece of history from as young as i can remember while growing up in baytown we were baby goslings attending horace mann jr and knew we would grow up to be ariel ganders i trained in the brigadiers and played the drums the confederacy was not on my mind while i beat my drum winning that football game and supporting our players against ross s sterling was what was on my mind i practiced all summer long and loved my school that i was so proud to support and two weeks

234before school started my parents received a letter stating that goose creek cisd was implementing some changes and were doing something that was called pocket zoning they explained that because we lived in a lower income area that was multicultural they wanted to divide the students to mix up the ratios and give my neighborhood a better chance at a new school at more success my mother went to the school board she tried everything to get them to let me attend robert e lee i didn't want to be a ranger all of my friends that i attended elementary with carver jones and junior high were all going to lee the school board denied my request to go to the school that i had prepared for all of my life i went from being proud and wearing maroon and

235gray and carrying a drum to walking into a school that didn't want me there any more than i wanted to be there and they didn't even have drums and bugles they had flags and wooden rifles and wore blue and white speaking of white i was the only white girl on that bus that drove me to sterling every day and at the end of the road every morning i watched as the robert e lee bus turned left and we had to cross the tracks to drive for 30 minutes on the other side of town to get to sterling all of our other friends of all colors got to go to lee thank goodness they didn't take away all of my friends i had about 20 kids on that bus from my neighborhood my friends of color

236were angry too some of them were more angry than i was it wasn't very long after that that robert e lee high school caught on fire one minute all of my ganders had to be bus to the white high to the white school and we split the day in half to accommodate the doubled population of students robert e lee high school has nothing to do with racism the civil war or slavery every single one of my black and hispanic friends that played on that football field played like they were fighting for their family because we were all family we grew up together rode bikes as little kids and walked down to the small mexican market to buy nickel candy that was chili powder salt and sugar the older the sweet older black men from the

237street over would sell us frozen kool-aid in styrofoam cups for a quarter and he always made sure that every kid that ran up to his bicycle with the basket in the back holding the little cooler got a frozen cup whether they had a quarter or not we all loved each other the name of the school is not what divided us the school board is what divided us anybody who has ever known anything about baytown texas knows about lee and sterling they know about our passion for our teams during lean sterling week time thank you that was jacqueline bailey next letter is from uh danette hall leave lee alone my husband father daughter and brother-in-law all went to lee there is nothing wrong with the name it has been named this since 1928 leave it alone

238danette hall the next letter submitted from wybra holland to the board of trustees to be read during citizens participation at august 3rd meeting of the board of trustees board trustees shea cotter and augustine laredo have made their votes for renaming robert e lee high school well known to the public via social media and other means prior to it being on the board's agenda mr cotter and mr laredo have not only made their votes public they have spearheaded a campaign to support their votes all of this before it was placed on the board's agenda both of them are philly are affiliated with three groups that are promoting the renaming of robert e lee high school mr cotter was promoting the name change on june 24th via social media which was before the july 6 board meeting

239where the request to rename robert e lee high school came from mr orlando lara who is a resident of irvine california and a friend of mr laredo on july 28th mr laredo was on a radio talk show where he spoke on many items including the renaming of robert e lee high school he told how he and mr cotter were both for renaming the high school and admitted how mr cotter was very vocal about it in the community and through social media and other means mr laredo should have never represented the school board on this talk show he was even introduced by the host as president of the school board which is incorrect as members of gcc isd's board of trustees mr cotter and mr laredo should not be allowed to go into a vote or

240discussion with their votes already known publicly i request that due to the unprofessional behavior of mr cotter mr laredo this discussion and voting on the renaming of robert e lee high school be permanently dropped as long as the two of them are on the school board respectfully submitted weber holland gcc isd taxpayer uh the next email uh comments for the august 3rd board meeting mike barnes uh dear miss garcia below are the texts of two emails previously sent to the previously sent to the board into the baytown sun if i thought for one moment that changing the name would lead to a better education for minority students i would be for it no facts support such a claim i wish this email along with the included text to be read at the coming board meeting

241i thank miss woods for being the only member of the board to respond to my previous email email of first july dear gccisd board members it has come to my attention that there is a push by some including some on your board to change the name of robert e lee high school and remove lee's portrait from the school as a 1961 real graduate and gander letterman i urge you not to fall prey to the current wokeness and traps of revisionist history being promoted by groups like antipa and blm their only goal is to seed chaos and tear down the structure of our country baytown is baytown because of rel it was the focal point of three communities the thing that united them best not to forget that bit of history and you will destroy it

242if the name is changed email of 15th july dear mr bloom as an real graduate and gander letterman i vampively opposed the renaming of robert e lee high school the woke counter culture seems to forget that it was arielle that was the cement that glued three towns east bay town goose creek and peli together to make baytown revisionists are always mistakenly trying to put actions in the past in terms of today's prism think of the other school names in baytown which need to be changed following the woke mentality the name of the capital would have to be changed change the name of ariel ha you would cease to have a historical designation and one might as well take a chainsaw to the baytown oak i have written the gcc isd board with no response it

243is time for them to grow a backbone and stop this nonsense they do no favor to the memory of great educators such as george gentry winnie brown beverly rockhold dan stallworth etc etc with their actions one minute um sincerely dr h michael barnes rel 1961 thompson distinguished professor at wood science and technology department of sustainable bioproducts college of forest resources and mississippi state university blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting board members hello my name is nicholas rice and i've been a resident of baytown for over 20 years i write today to vehemently oppose the renaming of robert e lee high school i would like to [Music] okay i would like to share a couple of reasons why with you today first our community is in time of crisis during

244an ongoing pandemic now is not the time to be wasting time and resources by changing a name of a school that has been in place for decades the focus should be on the safety and academic future of our students at this time we should not be wasting one minute discussing anything else until this pandemic is over cost is also a big concern especially during the pandemic the district is already discussing having to buy more school buses and technology equipment so that students can learn from home teachers already must spend out of their own pockets to provide supplies for their students and to decorate their own classrooms changing the name of a school does not come without costs wouldn't this money be better spent on resources for our students i 100 percent agree that with the

245board president that now is not the time to be focusing on school name changes second there has been absolutely no community conversations regarding school name changes guest columns in the newspaper some of whom are written by folks who do not even live in baytown should not be given much weight before any changes are made community meetings and surveys need to be done with all input taken into consideration in addition only two of the seven board members graduated from lee high school schools belong to the community and we should have a say-so in renaming schools just as we do when naming new schools i am concerned that several board members have already publicly supported renaming the school without taking any public comment into consideration third i am concerned that changing the name of the school will

246affect its status as a state historical site no objections were raised when this distinction was added almost 10 years ago the board needs to take this into consideration as well finally i would like to conclude by saying that changing the name does not erase history history should be something that we all learn from one minute not try to pretend it did not happen do not give in to the far left anarchists who are trying to tear us apart thank you nicholas rice and again okay all right uh please read at august 3rd meeting to whom it may concern i am a 1989 graduate of robert e lee high school i come from a long line of very proud ganders i have since moved from baytown but do visit as often as possible i am very

247concerned with the current issue at hand of wanting to change the name of a historical landmark i am curious as to why after all the years this institution of education has stood and as many of the citizens of baytown that have been educated here why does it seem like now is the time to attempt changing history history is a lesson that cannot be undone by removing names paintings or statues history is a reminder to keep us all from repeating the past we as a people of all colors have walked the halls of robert e lee high school we as a student and faculty body have loved and supported each other no matter our race in 1987 when our school burned we were devastated together we as a community rebuilt the legacy and carried on with

248our gander pride so why now baytown is a very diverse community and we always stick together and support our people of the community to my knowledge this has been our way as baytonians my entire life i cannot begin to wrap my head around changing the name of our school during a pandemic i do not adhere to the idea that a few people have the authority to make such a costly decision without truly having input from the past present or future students of this institution of education another concern would be if your decision is based on racism then are you not going to consider that rosses sterling was a kkk member i would think that two should be changed if you are all wanting to remove the name of rel then why not rss as well

249yet if you change the names of both schools you still in no manner have eradicated the racism of history instead you have simply cost the community money that should rightfully be spent on the real issues of teaching our children of today and tomorrow during a global pandemic history is not ours or the school boards to be changed yet it belongs to all to us all to teach and learn from teach humanity and compassion not hate and division in my opinion trying to make an unneeded name changes to any of our schools divides us and causes even more harsh judgment of one another i personally speak for myself and my family please leave the name of robert e lee on our school and teach our children to not repeat the mistakes of our forefathers before us

250leave lee alone respectfully dari l boyd bradford class of 89 once a gander always a gander um letter letter to the board on renaming rel hello miss garcia i saw in the baytown article that you're the point of contact that i should send my letter to uh to be heard by the board dear members of the board my name is jennifer thibodeau i am a 30 year old homeowner and taxpayer in baytown texas i was born and raised in this city meaning i also attended many of its public schools i graduated from rosses sterling high in 2008 and i graduated from lee college this may while attending goose creek schools my classes were extremely diverse i had fellow white students black students asian students and indian students to learn with and from i attributed much

251of my world view to growing up alongside so much diversity i'm writing to you out of an urgent sense of moral responsibility that i might convince you to rename robert e lee high school i consider myself sentimental and place high value on tradition over these things though i value humanity what is right and just and inclusion changing the name of this school will not erase memories or the meaning current and previous students have found within the halls of lee high school but instead it will foster a more inclusive environment for all of its students i know this is possible because it has happened before when baytown realized the brigadiers marching to dixie and carrying the confederate flag was harmful the tradition evolved leaving behind the harmful parts today the lee celebrities are a multi-racial company

252rich in their own traditions i argue the same as possible for the school as a whole i do not feel tradition and memories should take precedence over morality humanity justice and kindness baytown school should reflect hope for the future over the reverence of the past thank you jennifer thibodeau and i think this is the last one [Music] below is a statement i would like to be read at the board meeting if time allows thank you your time is appreciated whether people agree or disagree on the renaming of baytown's historical robert e lee the vote should only come from the alumni former current staff and the citizens of baytown whom which will bear the financial burden of the act as a proud 2000 graduate of rel an assistant drum major of the famous robert e lee

253band i vehemently oppose renaming my alma mater the only thing i ask is that the school board lead the decision to the people of baytown whom this decision personally and financially affects angel young brazil rel class of 2000. and that concludes the letters that we're requesting specifically to be read aloud into the public participation um as i stated we have a report that's been compiled by administration so that we can hear the volume of communication that has been received and reviewed by board members dr o'brien yes ma'am um our team has our communications team led by director susan passmore and i think matt bollinger probably jumped back on here with us as well has accumulated all of the information that was maybe not requested to be read before the board this evening and they will

254be giving a report somewhat of a historical report and then informational report to you just on the consideration of the school names so at this time i'll turn it over to you guys okay once again good evening hopefully you can see that that powerpoint slide there um so susan pass why doctor o'brien said susan passmore and i will provide a brief uh executive summary over the renaming inquiry has been discussed and so i'll start off by providing a summary goose creek has recently received communication both in support of and in opposition to changing the name of robert e lee high school as of today at 3 p.m uh the following communication has been received from noah amy garcia or vikki we've received 60 emails or letters supporting the name change and 130 emails or letters

255opposing the name change in addition the baytown sun and the houston chronicle have have run several opinion editorials or letters to the editor which are included in the board packet that you have received the binder on the renaming inquiry real quick history um for goose creek so goose creek high school was built in 1922 first high school in goose creek then after the passing i believe the first bond for the district a new high school was built in 1928 was was named robert e lee high school the former goose creek high school building was then converted to a junior school and enforced man junior school robert e lee remained the only high school in goose creek until 1966 when sterling high school was built and then lee's main building became a recorded texas historic landmark

256on april 27 of 2013 so that's a that's a real quick history of lee high school and goose creek high school okay good evening we have compiled a binder for our board members but with a great deal of help from naomi garcia and vicki actually some of the things in the the binder the packet are the board policy on naming a facility which is cw local it also includes a renaming policy information on uh protocol for retaining the historical marker status the texas historic landmark documents and um we took to robert scott the state marker chair and lydia boone architect reviewer about some of the protocol that we would need to go through if we wanted to retain a historical marker should the name be changed there's also additional historical marker information included in the

257packet letters to the editor and articles from the baytown sun an opinion editorial from the houston chronicle a letter from former prince lee high school regarding the portraits of robert e lee that would be high school and and they will exactly there emails and other communication for changing the school name and emails another communication for keeping this name although we've heard many opinions tonight these are just a sample what we're coming up with next um just a sample of some of the comments that we've received one was general lee had many good qualities unfortunately he led a fight that also quite obviously was intended to maintain the system of slavery that was legal in every state in the confederacy another one was changing the name of arielle from robert e lee is not about erasing

258history it's about removing the honor of an individual who fought on the side of slavery and against the flag that flies outside the front of our school so that's just a sample of some of the quotes in support of renaming lee then we have some other comments that were made in opposition to renamingly it the name of robert e high school does not portray the confederacy in any negative fashion no confederate flags no brigadiers no our band members in confederate uniforms the mascot is a gander and another one our forefathers thought it fitting to name the school for general robert e lee in 1928 i knew and went to school with their descendants tens of thousands of the children of baytown have passed through these halls and on to successful lives the school represents a

259historic landmark in their past okay we've been asked to provide an estimated cost for renaming a school and so brenda garcia our director of construction her team have reached out to other districts who have gone through the renaming process and also looked at different articles and so this is a ballpark figure it's um it's hard to give an exact number just due to the the age of the building and dealing with the graphics that are included so if there's if there's a lot of graphic updates for example the school names and the gym floor then then that's a cost or if there's a marquee that's expensive that needs to be changed so there's a pretty big window here is my point but uh in in general i'm giving you the low end and the high

260end based on the research we've we've compiled so at the elementary level if a school were to change names then it seems that on the low end it would be about 15 five up to fifty thousand for an elementary for a junior school that window goes up a little bit of course because of the size of the facility and some of the athletics um in the athletic facilities within a junior school so you can see that figure there and then for for a high school um it's it's at on the low end um about 140 000 up to on a very high end 434 5 per school and this is for the name change only some districts underwent changing colors and changing mascots and so that's a different uh ball game but if we're looking

261at just the name these are the figures that we've gathered okay in summary east creek cisd has a rich culture of diversity and pursues every opportunity to celebrate diversity and promote equitable outcomes for the success of all students we are pleased that dr roger cleveland will be training our school board and executive administrators in cultural proficiency instructional equity implicit bias and transforming school culture yes i'm sorry we have an interruption here he also has trained district and campus administrators finally we want the community know that goose creek cisd is deeply committed to equity and will address matters of inequality including the name of facilities we appreciate you letting us present tonight and the board will have these binders with a lot of information in it to look over and so if they have any questions

262they can certainly contact us thank you i've got a question um can you go back to that second slide about the numbers not those numbers the email numbers i believe it was the second slide yes 60 emails or letters supporting a name change um because i've and and of course our emails are public record um i've gotten 94 individual emails uh when i now when i say emails let me let me clarify this a little bit more clearly than the slide is here um i i don't know about everybody else but i firmly believe that you know 17 emails from one person counts as one voice okay um but so 104 emails from 94 different individuals for the change as well as uh what was the tally 120 emails from 93 individuals against the change

263so i'm not sure where there's a there's a big difference right there between those numbers and the numbers in my email box i'd be happy to just i mean i've got i've got a printout right here of all of them if anybody wants to look through them later but so that's a there's a big disparity there so the only thing i could think of is uh who's the addressed person in your emails is it just you right um there may be a few that are just me but i think the majority of them are to all of us i i've received some that were addressed only to myself i did not print them all out yet i was a boy scout for like a week so i was just prepared now um i'm i'm pretty

264much out of ink i i definitely ran out of paper today but uh to me um well i think the emails that they are um talking about right here are in this binder that we're provided with tonight so i'm i'm you know it would be a good practice to go and compare crossroads in here and what's missing from yours and then as we could see tonight because we are under the constraints of technology we have had issues with getting access to all the emails that were wanting to be heard through public comment because there are a lot more that we've been receiving that didn't specifically um ask for that so there's a lot of information to compile which shows me that the community is very interested in being involved in the process yeah we have

265a process as a board for communities to name a school we do um and i absolutely see that as you know there this is really a two-step process we're talking about um d naming and then renaming and and we don't really have a a community process for denaming a board that's that's that's our responsibility and we all we definitely have a community process for them bringing in possible names right correct um you know one of the other things i thought was a little bit of a shortcoming of this this report and not at all by the the people that put it together uh you guys did a great job um but in these reasons for leaving the name and and the reasons for changing the name this is all like a history lesson and and

266we could have a history you know we could talk about history ad nauseum um but i i really liked some of the emails that were sent in and i want to reference back to one of the emails that you read earlier jessica um excuse me president woods sorry uh the the email that you read from mike barnes he said baytown is baytown because of rel it was the focal point of three communities the thing that united them yet at the same time one of the emails i i got and i think it's one of the emails we all got i had a quote from priscilla wilson who was a class of 68 graduate she said i lived right there in the moment talking about the moment of integration the first day of school the kkk

267flag was waving in the front of the school to let us know that we weren't welcome we attended a ball called the confederate ball trying to fit in i was in a choir called the southern belles and we felt awkward i was devastated because it was my last year of high school there were riots in the cafeteria almost every day we lost our identity since it was only a few of us so we've got two different voices from history two different student perspectives one showing uh one feeling like it was uniting and one feeling like it it definitely wasn't and we see this pattern repeated over and over and over um throughout the the decades and and going back to those emails i know that there's a lot of uh contention about whose voice matters

268um residents voices students voices past students voices so i looked at those emails and i tried to parse them out as best i could to come up with some details about who was a a resident and who wasn't um and and honestly when you when you strip out the non-residence voices the residents were almost equal it was like literally one or two off of course that was as about two o'clock today and as we know there have been you know a dozen or so come in since then um but the the residents voices were literally one or two off um so yeah it's a contentious debate um i think it was interesting though that out of the residential emails of those residents opposing the change were alumni yet again out of the resident emails that

269were requesting the change 67 percent of them were alumni that's to me that speaks volumes uh these are the voices of our past students um the first thing i notice is the disparity between the experiences of of people when they start talking about this and there's not a right or wrong answer to some of that but the question that that keeps plaguing my mind is is there a threshold of how many students we can accept that feel this way if it's if it's over and over this repeated thing that we hear it's it's not just one or two but how many students can we can we be okay with that feel this way and still sleep at night thinking that we're respecting diversity and fostering compassion that's that's the real issue in our board our

270core values at gccisd include providing a nurturing environment for all students with integrity respect and humility and transparency in an environment where diversity is respected those are our words those are our core values and so you know if we want to say yeah we'd like to hear from the students on this so let's wait until we can hear their voices that's one thing um but honestly i can i can say this that we've heard from students we've heard from students of yesterday in an effort to change the experiences of the students of today and tomorrow we're the leaders and i i believe it's our job to not wait for students to step out on a limb and to step up and to speak out it's our job to lead the way for them and to

271model for them how to live out those very core values that we say we believe in that our jobs rest on they deserve for us to show them that leadership and that leadership isn't doing the easy thing it's not doing the popular thing but it's doing the right thing and and trustees i i know i believe in your hearts you know what the right thing is you know it's not easy and you know it's not popular but it's still the right thing thank you mr cotter do we have comments from other board members well can you hear me yes sir you know this old saying you got to walk in my shoes and i don't think anyone here has walked in my shoe and i'm 64 years old i came up through going to sterling

272i saw the uh confederate flag the uh playing dixie and all of this and then so funny you know in i was in college i come back with some friends of mine who went to sterling went into a pool hall on texas avenue and my friends were white but the guy wouldn't let me play because i was black this is 1976. in retrospect you think about it that robert e lee you know there was always a hidden factor about the name of the school but you know you just gotta walk in someone's shoes to know that you either gonna say something about it or just go to school and just be there you know and i've had some experience in baytown but you know baytown i grew up in mcnair which is you know outside

273of baytown but i'm just you know at that point of saying hey it's time to move forward and not look at you know history is going to be there no matter what and marker we have a museum here in baytown of of old relics and everything else you know it could still be that but until you walk in my shoes you know you can't say you totally understand and i understand some of these people talking about they don't want to give up their heritage and everything like this but if your heritage is robert e lee and confederate flag and these things then you know you tell me something more about you and i want to hear so walk in my shoes and understand that thank you mr samson are there any other comments at this

274time or were there any questions for our uh report panel [Music] if not i'll just okay go mr laredo um i've been that's the echoing i've been 14 years on this school board and i'm the senior member of this board i've seen a lot of board members and i've been approached by a lot of people in the last few weeks in every years that i've been on this board i've been reminded of this issue and my answer some most of them some of them have been from out of town some from new york some from other parts of texas and my answer has always been when i hear more people that feel the same way we'll go after it i will support a group of people not that i i feel comfortable with the name

275because i don't feel comfortable with the name but just because i don't think it was time yet now we have a group of people and it's time my reasoning to be on the school board is to serve the community that i represent to serve students to make sure that students feel comfortable in an institution of learning i've heard a lot of people talk about you know we're not going to change anything it's just a name the name doesn't know it it means something and it's an institute of learning i can't speak for the board of regents but i found it you know in high school they give you u.s history and and you know i had a good u.s history teacher but they give you usa they give you history like at all levels you

276know it's not to go to college in the university where you get some deep good thinking and discussion and even then in those classes when i was at lee college i remember learning about the civil war reconstruction and walking out of an institution called lee college when i was at lee high school in 92 when i graduated i remember in the comments there was an area for the for them mostly mexicans back then where the mexicans stood it was an area where the where the african-americans stood and then all the white students were in the middle and looking back it means something different yeah i don't feel any hate towards any group you know the good lord taught me to love not to hate and i know there's a lot of people that are impassioned

277and have written and particularly one person has written about 17 emails i think uh some attacking some of this board and including i will say stand up for mr samson attacking mr sampson and just unjustly because he all he asked was persisting to be put on the agenda i i question when people have that much desperation and my kids have come home several times you talk about teachers and how things have changed no my kids have come home several times ms and ask me questions in regards to some of the things their teachers have mentioned and me being a teacher it's very hard when you hear teachers that are next to you or your kids talking about teachers that put their biases and on on display to kids and and we try to do the

278right thing and not do that to the kids that we teach because it's the right thing in regards to all the emails and correspondence i know that a lot of the board um the majority of the board hasn't answered and i don't i'm not going to speak for anybody but myself i haven't answered a lot of those emails because my words have been taken out of context i don't know if anybody took the time to listen to the radio show you know i was there it was recorded a few weeks before it actually aired and when they some of the people went as whereas petty has to accuse me of being called allowing myself to be called president the gentleman that interviewed me took the information off the website we got into the conversation i

279didn't correct them if that much offends you as a citizen of this town i don't know what to say about you that being said i appreciate everybody who has written an email whether it's one email or 17. i know it's not easy to speak up i know how hard it is that you want to say what you say is important and i know how you i know how i feel about kids being the biggest priority as a teacher as a board member and as a parent i've tried very hard to work with all schools and and you know you can say what you want um you know we had an incident at lee high school where you know dr o'brien and dr price and and some others were very helpful in dealing with equity because

280that's been the perspective from that school i mean if you can remember even as as short as two years ago some of the people that are arguing against this again before this we're calling that school the ghetto school i've dealt with that since we built memorial calling it the ghetto school my alma mater being called the ghetto school and all of a sudden you're going to come up and be the hero and defend that name and defend that school i don't it's important for large groups and this is an issue that affects large groups but ultimately if it affects one kid i think it's important enough to support i understand the concepts of tradition and i realize how important it is i mean not whenever we've we've had the issue before i love it when

281people call me on the phone and say hey you know uh mr loredo my family's been here since the 40s you know as if being here for any amount of time is worth anything well you know if you go back and look at the records my grandmother was registered at goose creek high school in 1924 my father was born in baytown in 1930 but i don't think that gives me an extra leg to stand on whether you got here a hundred years ago 150 years ago or yesterday you're still part of this community and to use that is shameful my tradition cannot be the sole motivator of what's seen as the right thing to do at the end of the day this school name just makes people feel uncomfortable it made me feel uncomfortable and

282i've got friends that that will attest to the same thing the name implies defending an era where human beings were kept as slaves where children were fed in trials and young ladies as young as 14 were raped in order to produce more slaves and people were whipped while being read passages from the bible just to justify vowel behavior to justify the fact that it was okay that you can own other human beings i cannot in good conscience remain a quiet spectator there is a place for robert e lee it is in books pictures and museums but not at institutions of higher of academic learning we can use the excuse that is just the name as i said earlier or that we can redefine that name but there is power in names once again how can

283we justify one student being uncomfortable in a place of learning because of this peculiar institution this stain on our on our country this lost cause worth more and we know much more as a community that's all i have to say i'm sure we'll continue to get emails in fact we all got one at 10 22 asking it to be read at the board meetings so um and it is from somebody out of town but you know we'll continue to to collect these and um and we'll certainly look at at your book mr cotter if you want us to try to cross reference everybody was pulling emails and you know trying to assemble these books and so you know i don't know why there would be a difference unless many of those just went to you

284or went to separate board members and didn't come to us and that's very possible yes thank you um mrs passmore for compiling this project and report i know there is a lot of emotion surrounding this issue there is a lot of community voice that should be brought to the table i know mr cotter pointed to the fact that this is a process it is a multi-part process if the decision is made to change names then a new name has to be decided and there is a process for that i think it would be not doing justice to the issue to make a judgment so quickly without having the solutions in place um with the community not able to really participate in a truly effective manner while we're trying to make decisions and get students back

285on campuses i feel we would be doing them a disservice to tear them apart on lee campus by creating such division as making a decision without including their voice i also feel like it would be unfair to have students attending a school formerly known as robert e lee without a sufficient and significant name to be in its place at this time i would like to move forward with our action items agenda album number six we have action item 6a consideration of consent agenda this evening administration has for the board of trustees consideration number one anticipated 2020 tax collection rate and excess debt collection proceeds number two asynchronous and synchronous attestations to tea number three revised 2020 and 2021 instructional calendar number four into local agreement with region four education service center for technology equipment number

286five waving up to five staff development days for 2020 2021 school year and number six resolution delegating authority to act in the place of the gccisd school district board of trustees during these modified operations number seven third option to extend rfp for specialized services for special education students with mental health and or behavioral disabilities number eight select competitive seal proposal csp is the delivery method for the elementary number 17 project number nine select competitive seal proposal csp is the delivery method for the junior school running tracks project number 10 endorsement of representatives for texas association of school board tasby board of directors region 4 positions bd and h number 11 rescheduling september 7th 2020 regular meeting and number 12 budget amendments i might point out the number 10 11 and 12 likely or 10 and

28711 need to be pulled before consent agenda is considered for a discussion moment and i'd like to pull number three yes please okay so mr klim would like to pull number three there was uh suggestion to pull number 11 for discussion uh and number 10 for discussion yes ma'am okay um do i have any motions for the other items i would make a motion that we approve action item 6a 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 and 12 as presented i have a motion on the floor do i have a second uh a motion from mr clem in a second from mr poppy for items six eight one two four 5 6 7 8 9 and 12. all those in favor of consent agenda items as named please raise your right hand or say

288aye none opposed and none abstaining seven four passes so let's talk about um agenda item number three mr clem did you have some questions or comments yeah probably probably some of both okay can we is miss leith on this yes she should be available for us thank you i'm here hi uh good question the calendar committee met what what's the makeup of the committee not names but just are they administrators teachers preparedness what all teachers with the exception of one administrator it was the okay exact same ilc calendar committee that put together the previous calendar okay so mostly teachers put themselves going to school june the 14th right actually i'm sorry that's okay i'm sorry my apple watch is going off i don't know what's wrong with it i'm sorry okay put it in theater

289mode in their discussion of this calendar did we just push everything back or did we take a hard look at some ways to save days and maybe end by the end of may uh we did our best we looked at two different drafts basically one that carried the first semester into january and uh then this particular calendar with some tweaks that the uh committee actually made to it so the the reason that the calendar that was pushed like the first semester into january um was not you know in favor the committee was not in favor of that was due to dual credit right you know what you run into a dual crew it becomes very complicated uh i i just want to remind everyone what i said last meeting and looking at this calendar that

290you know we don't have to take a whole week off for thanksgiving we don't have to take two full weeks off for christmas and this one year we don't have to take a full week off at uh spring break and i noticed there's only one government holiday on the calendar and we don't have to take that and lord knows why april 2nd is a holiday but we don't have to take that and if we just have the covid only calendar we promise never to do this to you again like i said we could be out of school at the end of may but i i just don't know that that was looked at and i made the same argument about the calendar when we approved it last year we we just set the same calendar

291over and over again because that's the way we've always done it so i will support this calendar but i'm going to vote against it okay thank you it's it's i don't have a vote i just want y'all to know that you know you're just a messenger and we know that but next time we sit down with the calendar committee let's look at this just don't go put it where it was last year because that's what we do okay thank you thank you okay so do we want to consider this item now or move on to our discussion of 10 and 11. i think you can hold off until we get the discussion on the others because they're pretty simple the number 10 is the consideration action is selected i'm sorry endorsement of endorsement of positions

292b d and h i want to make sure miss garcia if i'm not mistaken there's two candidates for position b and we're only able to select one so i don't know if this is an item that the board would like to consider for closed session or you have received this information in advance if you're ready to make a nomination between those two and then outside of that the other two positions are single person running so they would be endorsed by you likely [Music] are there any other comments or questions regarding item number 10 and the candidate positions do we want to really go to the back or does anybody have already uh suggestion for that region or position b [Music] the the only thing i would note is that representative district that's closest to us

293we we do communicate with that district a little bit more than a district across town that's what i was considering that way we can vote for these three items okay so uh then that brings us to item number 11 rescheduling september 7th 2020 regular meeting that is a holiday mr klim i'm okay with that one because school doesn't start till after the seventh but in order to catch the vote we would need to know which date you want for that um quite often the board will select the next business day and or the next monday so administration will serve you in either regard how about the 14th president i'm sorry uh president once can we go ahead and vote for the other two we're gonna have to vote for these separate we can't take that

294together so can i make a move for i typically we do our future board meetings and dates and all under b anyway so we we can take them separately and did you have a comment or a question or i was just going to suggest the next monday which would be september 14th okay so i was gonna hold on to that thought i'll run the motion for three you'll do a motion for item three yes and so your motion is approve the calendar on item eight three three six a three second okay so okay okay so i have a motion um to approve the revised 2020 2021 instructional calendar by mr laredo in a second by mr sampson was that not mr klim i'm i'm not sure was it it was not ordering the court dr

295o'brien i could theoretically the second emotion i'm gonna against [Laughter] if you change your mind sorry [Music] no problem any other comments at this time or forever hold your peace [Music] all right so we have the motion uh all in favor of said motion please raise your right hand any abstaining any opposed so six in favor zero abstentions one opposed duly noted thank you uh motion passes thank you miss lead and now we will move to item number ten endorsement of representatives for texas association of school board board of directors region four participants b d and h i would ask that the motion be in form of calling the position and the person's name nominated for each of these three positions so so we would entertain a motion that says what i got i got

296it okay unless you disagree but i would make a notion that we uh what are we doing endorsing thank you i haven't had had to find my work past my bedtime guys i think the motion that we in the following candidates uh on region four position b page rander region four position d and sung and region four position h rose avalos i have a motion on the floor i have a second from this guy thank you all in favor of or any any comments or questions about this all in favor of said motion please raise your right hand or say aye aye at seven four that would be zero abstentions and zero against most motion passes as presented okay so we can talk about number 11 now or we can go to agenda item b

297where we could discuss i would make a motion that we set our next next meeting for september the 14th which is that following monday i'm not available then um one of the uh suggestions i heard before would be the tuesday night september the 8th the first day of the first day of school yeah it's online that's an option if we talk about it how about wednesday wednesday the 9th of september even though it's online for administration they got other things to focus on yeah during the day on the 8th can we do the 16. i can't nope 16 17's out for me so we're back to the eighth or the ninth we can't do the ninth yeah we can do the ninth oh quick we're still gonna be virtual right we'll do it on the

298seventh it's that it's a holiday that's the only holiday it's the only holiday mr clinton allowed um did i have let's just try this uh was that a motion mr sampson on uh the seventh on the eighth was that a motion well first with the other motion [Music] okay so uh all in favor of the 13th 14th 14th okay so y'all get your story straight all in favor of that date the 14th the 14th raise your right hand or say i any abstaining any opposed okay motion fails fails so now i would entertain another motion making a motion for the ninth i'm making a motion for the for the wednesday the 9th second discussion okay so we have a motion on the floor to move the september 7th meeting to september the 9th same time

299same place all in favor please raise your right hand any opposed no abstentions seven against motion passes so the meeting date is set for september the ninth six pm okay and i just might bring to madam president's attention that there could be personnel matters that come up between now and then that we would request a meeting for that we'll we're going to wait and let that play itself out absolutely and we okay so now we are on to item b on the agenda which is future board agenda items board training and board meetings um let's take them in order if we have future board agenda items [Music] um based on the facilities report tonight i realize you have two facilities carrying the name of mr green and maybe at some point we should recon consider

300naming or renaming this facility on baker road that's correct and sooner than later since people are moving into it or it will be called the green center forever i also would like to bring up something report agenda item i'd like to for us to call for a vote on the lee high school and since there is such an urgency for a new name uh if when we go to the vote if the motion passes then in the october meeting we vote for a new name and between september and october have that public input is that what you're saying yes okay [Music] okay um [Music] so any other future board agenda items we need to address right now sorry um brian yes sir um never mind okay so future board trainings i know we have diversity

301training with dr cleveland next week on next monday on the 10th [Music] and we also have the uh tasa is it tasa convention it looks like it's going to be online in september i think the registration is opening up for that shortly when is what date is the first weekend of october is it october that would be the third is it october the third weekend uh it's highland's jamboree chestnut but you're doing it online the jamboree is online cool okay good okay all right so august the 10th and then we have september i mean sorry october the third weekend and i believe it will be on its virtual so they'll open up for 30 days as they did for sli training any other board training that we okay and so future board meetings we discussed

302rescheduling september 7th to we voted for september the 9th any other meetings or trainings or dates that need to be looked at at this time september the 9th mr sampson i'm sorry did i speak no today the 9th it's the 9th okay um do we have a meeting say that on what day 12th october is october meeting month yes um actually it would be october the 5th right it's the first day so then it would be the 19th miss garcia is that correct yes okay 19. september 30th through october 2nd for the online training with tasby and tasa 30th through october the 2nd registration is august the 18th okay okay so that is future board attendant items board training and board meetings um [Music] at this time the board will now recess into a closed

303session pursuant to the following sections of the texas open meetings act texas government code section 551.071 five five one point zero seven two zero seven three zero seven four zero seven five zero seven six zero eight two zero eight three zero eight four and zero eight seven the board will take no action while in closed session the time is 11 22 pm the time is now 1209 am tuesday august 4th 2020 the board will now reconvene into open session no action was taken while the board was in closed meeting please note that secretary howard sampson left the meeting at 12 0 am okay so let's return to our agenda we have agenda items e one two and three uh under consideration of personnel administration would recommend at this time that the board would consider e-1

304notification of elections those are uh teachers that have been hired in the interim of our board meetings also number two accept resignations and retirements as presented by administration uh administration would recommend the board to prove those two actions first move for approval i have a motion for approval by mr laredo in a second by mrs guy all in favor of e1 and 2 please raise your right hand or say i that's 6 4 we have one abstention mr sampson and zero against motion passes next administration would recommend for your consideration and approval um student support administrator heather tullison i'll move to approve the student support administrator before we act on ms garcia i was told previously there was two positions do you know if there's two or there's one okay if i could just verify

305if mr chapa is on the line uh mr trump is previously going to be two positions and i'm assuming one withdrew late in the year without able to get out of their contract can you confirm if you're online if not we'll move forward with this one recommendation okay i would say proceed please you have your motion in second i have a motion by miss guy in a second by mr klim for student support administrators all in favor please raise your right hand or say aye that's four one abstention and zero against motion passes our next position is academic dean at ross sterling high school miss julie bullitch i'll second i have a motion by mr clem in a second by mrs guy for academic dean all those in favor please raise your right hand we

306have six four that would be one abstention and zero against motion passes and we have a final recommendation for an administrator the principal at robert e lee high school dr ron crespo a second i have a motion on the floor from mr laredo with a second from mr cotter for high school principal at robert e lee high school all those in favor please raise your right hand [Music] i have six four one abstention and zero against motion passes okay so now we'll move on to item f on the agenda consider discuss and possible action regarding resolution and settlement of pending litigation titled brandon torres versus goose creek cisd and randall o'brien cause number 18-cv in the united states district court for the southern district of texas houston division i move to approve as presented in

307executive session i second i have a motion on the floor from mr clem and a second from mr cotter any discussion all those in favor of said motion please raise your right hand or your left okay we have six four zero one abstention and zero against motion passes that takes us to agenda item number seven surely there's more what was that mr laredo you have a motion on the floor for item number seven and a quick second by mr clem are y'all sure any discussion anything else bueller raise both hands all those in favor you may now leave the building bring your right hand any opposed mr klim put your hand down okay the time is now 12 15 a.m august 4th 2020 and we are adjourned