001Okay, the time is now 5:00 p.m. I call this meeting of the Granberry Independent School District to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present, that this meeting has been duly called, and that notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. The board will now adjourn into executive session. Pursuant to the following sections, personnel under Texas Government Code 551.074, real property under Government Code 551.072, 072 and consultation with attorney if needed under government code 551.071. And the time is now 5:00 p.m. We will adjourn into close session. We'll wait. better watch. >> You're allowed to call me now. >> I don't want to call. I'm not going to do that. >> We will now reconvene in open session
002by beginning with an invocation led by Miss Barbara Townsen. Please bow your head with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight for those who make Granbury ISD a great place to work and learn. Thank you for our school marshals who protect each campus and treat each person they encounter with dignity and respect. Papa God, we have students and staff traveling extensively this title year for UIL district meets and other competitions. Tonight in particular, the Lady Pirates basketball team was traveling for a district play. Please keep all safe in their travels. Give this board your wisdom as we make decisions for our district. Help us recognize unintended consequences to every agenda item we tackle. May we all treat each other with respect and kindness. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. >> Amen. >>
003Okay, we will now have the pledges and our presenter is Actton Middle School. Excuse me. I am Off we go. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. >> Please remain standing for a moment of silence. >> Thanks, girls. All right. My name is Daniel Cuentes. I'm here with um Aaron Wright. >> Come on. Stay here. Stay here. I'd like to introduce some of our unified robotics students. I have like with me Kendall Huggin, Alli Cabrera, >> Callen Buffkin, Aubrey Steel, and a couple that couldn't make it. We had Ryan Tracy, uh Ellie Thorne,
004Alexia Wheeler, and Eden Whitten who made up our unified robotics team this year. So with our unified robotics um if you are not sure what that is um that is actually a division of special Olympics and what this does is it pairs um some of our athletes with some of our gened students where they able to compete in a multitude of different events. Um these range anything from flag football, basketball, volleyball to things like robotics um which is what we are representing here tonight. Um this is um making up our two teams here at AMS. um they had an opportunity in January. Um they had been working over the last several months um to actually get their robots ready and in January they were able to compete here in a qualifying match um which both
005teams from AMS um were able to advance um to the state level um competition. And before I talk about that state level competition, there's a couple people in groups that I want to thank just for helping us this season. Uh, I'll keep it brief. The first one is Miss Sandy Simarini. She's an occupational therapist for the district, but she goes well beyond her her job title and make sure everything is smooth for us every single year. Uh, second, uh, Granberry High School's Optimus Club who was able to, uh, provide funds for us to get to the competition with our students and our robotics kits. Um, Mrs. Moss, Miss Misty Moss, she's a pair professional at AMS, and the way she's able to help our students build their relationships and just be there for us day
006in and day out. couldn't have done it without her, especially at the competition in in Austin. Um, our principal, Miss Pennington, for always supporting our program. And lastly, our students, like, uh, Coach Wright said, starting in August, uh, from learning how to build a robot, to code the robot, to perform, uh, to make it past the, uh, regional round, and then to compete in Austin at the state level was amazing. Um, one of our teams, Super Smashers, they got second place in state and our other team, Robo Ragers, got third place in state. We are also represented We are also represented by uh by GMS and a mebral team and GMS actually took the state title home. So we are well represented across the uh across the district and so we're just so happy for
007our kids. Uh just so happy that our unified program is growing and we're looking forward to uh just everything that that we can do in the future as well. Thank you for for the time. >> Thank you. Let my parents smile. Ready? And if we have any families or friends in the audience, would you please stand and be recognized as well? I can't hear you. >> Okay, next we have our Actton Middle School update presented by Mrs. Pennington. >> Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Moroski, members of the board of trustees, and distinguished guests. Thank you for the opportunity to share a glimpse into the heart of Actton Middle School tonight. My name is Jennifer Pennington, and I'm honored to serve as the principal of Actton Middle School. I'm joined this evening by Angie Payne, our
008special programs coordinator. Miss Carrie Jones, uh, one of our outstanding counselors, Miss Meredith Bremer, our special education department head, and Tana Lucky, our instructional specialist. Our assistant principal, Mr. Michael Picket, is not with us tonight because he and his wife welcomed a beautiful baby yesterday. We are celebrating right alongside them as they begin this new chapter. Our other assistant principal, Mr. John Defoe is also not with us this evening as he is proudly cheering on his daughter and the Lady Pirate basketball team in Denton Ryan. At Actton Middle School, we believe family isn't just something we value. It's part of who we are. We believe life's biggest milestones. We show up for one another. We stand in the bleachers just as confidently as we stand in our classrooms and hallways. That sense of connection doesn't
009stop with our staff. It extends to our students and to our families. When parents entrust us with their children, whether they're nervous new sixth graders or confident eighth graders going up to the high school, we take that responsibility personally. We partner with families. We communicate openly and we walk alongside them through both celebrations and challenges. I am incred incredibly grateful to work alongside such a dedicated team. Their collaboration, heart, and commitment to students allow us to continue building a campus where relationships come first, families feel welcomed, and valued, and every child feels seen, supported, and empowered. >> Thank you. Okay. Okay. Good evening, Dr. Moroski, members of the board of trustees, and guests. My name is Angie Payne, and I'm the special programs coordinator at Actton Middle School. I'm honored to serve our students, staff,
010and families alongside an outstanding leadership team. Tonight, we're excited to celebrate what makes Actton Middle School a place we are so proud of. At the heart of our work is our AMS value statement created collaboratively and embraced by our entire school community. Our AMS family is committed to using words of encouragement, creating a safe, protective environment, and treating others with kindness and respect. We all belong here. read aloud each day on morning announcements. These values guide our culture and our decisions. And as we share tonight's highlights, we want to do that through the lens of what matters most to AMS: belonging, kindness, and pride in our community. At Actton Middle School, encouragement is woven into our daily culture. As a proud capturing kids heart school, we believe strong relationships among staff, students, and families create
011the foundation for student success. Our capturing kids hearts process champion team models encouragement by planning interactive professional learning and meaningful community builders that strengthen staff connections. Staff members also affirm one another through messages in a bottle and through our sunshine committee which recognizes array of sunshine recipient each month. Families are encouraged to share affirmations for students and staff which are highlighted weekly in our staff and family newsletters. Students practice encouragement as well through stars of the ship. Teachers nominate students who demonstrate the character trait of the month. Our crewmate stars initiative allows students to recognize peers for showing outstanding character and supporting one another. Our student council also recognizes a teacher each week for going above and beyond. The following quotes come directly from our students as they share how these and other capturing kids
012hearts practices positively impact their everyday experiences at ACT Middle School. I feel like my voice matters when I help my class create a social contract. Olivia, sixth grade. Being greeted at the door helps me feel more ready to learn because I feel I have a better bond with my teachers. Tristan, seventh grade. I feel more connected to my classmates when I hear their good things because I know what they like and what they like to do. Gavin, sixth grade. When my teacher greets me at the door, it makes me feel welcomed and it makes me want to be there. Cooper, seventh grade. I feel confident and encouraged after being launched from class because it speaks to me on a personal level and it helps me. Claire, eighth grade. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name
013is Carrie Jones and I'm a counselor at Actton Middle School. Thank you. Creating a safe and protective environment is a key pillar at AMS. We are proud to share that our campus passed all 27 requirements on this year's district vulnerability audit. The auditor made special note of our use of best practices through annual safety and health trainings led by our campus nurse including CPR, stop the bleed and other health related preparedness training. The auditor was also impressed by our comprehensive security binders which house all safety and security procedures and by the readiness of emergency kits in every classroom. Our administrative team works closely with our social our social security our school security team to ensure students and staff are safe each day. This year we welcomed officer cross to our team. Officer Cross and Officer
014Everetts are integral members of the AMS community and are frequently seen engaging with students, staff, and visitors, helping everyone feel safe and supported. I am grateful for my incredible counseling partner, Miss Deubberry. We support students academically, emotionally, and socially through initiatives like cookies with counselors and thanks Games Week, which promote gratitude and connection with support from our community. Because of the intentional work poured into creating this safe environment, we are seeing positive results in attendance. Our current ADA for the 2025 2026 school year is 95.38%, an increase from 94.96% at this time last year. This year, we implemented a truency workflow system that allows us to closely monitor individual attendance and engage in conversations with students and families earlier when attendance becomes a concern. Together, these efforts reflect our deep commitment to creating a safe,
015protective environment where students feel supported, families feel connected, and learning can thrive every day at Actton Middle School. Thank you. Oh, I was not going to do that. Okay. Um, I'm Meredith Bremer and I am very proud to be our uh special education department head. And two things that I'm going to talk to you about tonight are kindness and respect. And those are very near and dear to my heart here at Actton Middle School and also essential part of our culture. We intentionally teach students and staff to take care of one another while providing meaningful opportunities to lead and serve. Staff leadership is strong at AMS. Teacher leader teams support campus initiatives and our CKH process champions model and promote the CKH framework. Department leaders meet monthly to collaborate on campus decisions and our CTC
016also meets regularly to support campus goals. Students are given many opportunities to serve. Student councils supported Toys for Tots and Mission Granberry through candygrams and a food drive. National Junior Honor Society served at elementary Thanksgiving feast, sponsored two AMS families during the holidays, and plans to recognize local law enforcements in the spring. Junior Optimist led a sock drive, planned Veterans Day assembly, and supported a local women's shelter during the holidays by donating toys and hygiene items. We are also proud to be a unified champion school. Students committed to inclusivity by signing an all-in banner, participated inclusive programs like BA baseball with buddies and our much anticipated basketball with buddies upcoming this spring and completed together in our unified robotics team with heart and respect and got that second and third place state champion. And these
017experiences help ensure kindness and respect remain at the center of AMS core values. I mean, I feel like I could just drop the microphone and leave now, right? That's okay. That's okay. At Actton Middle School, we're committed to educating the whole child and ensuring every student feels a sense of belonging. We take pride in guiding students through important transition from elementary school to becoming a high school ready, supporting their academic growth while also nurturing their interests in individuality. We are proud to share that AMS earned an overall B rating with academic achievement in English language arts and reading, social studies and post-secary rate readiness and placed in the top 25% for academic growth last year. Beyond academics, our electives continue to shine. AMS advanced band was invited to perform at the Music for All National
018Concert Band Festival Festival in Indianapolis in March. Our varsity choir performed at the TMEA conference last spring, a rare and prestigious honor. Our theater productions continue to impress with shows such as Shrek Jr. and our AVID program is thriving and preparing students for high school and college success. and we have an upcoming college and career night um combining with our sixth and seventh grade parent night. Our agricultural students continually continually excel in FFA and showing events. Additionally, our student athletes continue to demonstrate growth and success across all sports. Our girls basketball team just did pretty good as well as our boys basketball team when we just finished up. Our seventh grade girls took se first place and our boys basketball won district chance. So together these achievements reflect our commitment to developing well-rounded, confident, and
019capable students. We all belong here. That's what we have. Do you have any questions for us? No questions. Um but I do want to say thank you so much for hosting us the other day. It was a pleasure to get to walk around the school and see the amazing things and how creative y'all have gotten with the space you have and what you're able to do with those kids and animals has chickens, y'all. >> Yes. That was that was pretty amazing that FFA program and just all the amazing things y'all are doing with our kids. And I'm I'm grateful that our community has the opportunity for those learning experiences. So, thank you for everything you do. You're >> welcome. We have duck eggs, too. >> Yes. >> That's my goal. A duck on a leash.
020It's going to happen. It's going to happen. It is. >> Thank you, board. >> Thank you. >> Okay, next we move into our achievement spotlight. And first up is our district Spanish spelling be winners, presenters Melissa Ship and Dan Allard. All right. Good evening, Dr. Mosski and school board. Um Renee Jackson is over the spelling be for our district and is out of town with a um work trip. So she asked me if I would present and I was had more than happy to do that. And so um today we're going to announce all the students that were the winners of their campus spelling bee. And so if you are here, students, come on up. That way you're ready to go. And then we'll also announce who our winner was that will be representing us
021in March at the Scripps Regional Spelling Be. Okay. So, we'll name all of them um and then uh hand out certificates to these young men. Y'all can stand right here above me. All right. So, representing Bakus Elementary, we have Isaac Fuentes. Representing Greenberry Middle School, Luke Llewellyn. Representing Bronner Elementary School is Raphael. Um, Keno, I'm gonna say that wrong. Yeah. Can I Can I say can Okay, perfect. Um, representing and this is Hayden right here. Representing Oakwood School is Hayden Piggrren. Representing Actton Elementary is Kaden Stutz. And representing Actton Middle School is Harper Fox. And then this is Dne McCarthy representing the Steam Academy at Manino. Um we're happy to say that Harper is this year's runner up from active middle school. So she'll serve as the alternate and Mr. Dane McCarthy will be serving
022as our Granberry ISD area champion and he will be representing us at the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee in March. So please congratulate these students. If if you've ever watched the one on the TV, that's what he's headed to. So please uh wish him well and give him all the good luck and then we hope to see some good results in March. All right. >> Sure. >> You want to pop up first? >> And good evening uh board president Gore, Dr. Mowski, esteemed trustees. I'm Dan Allard, GISD's emergent bilingual dual language instructional coordinator, and I have the privilege of presenting the 2025 2026 Spanish uh spelling be campus winners. Our district champion will compete at region 11 on March 6th uh with an opportunity to advance onward to the state level. Uh students, when I call
023your name, just please come forward and uh receive your certificate and your photo and join me uh everyone in congratulating uh and I'm going to speak in Spanish for my Spanish families. Okay. First of all, we have is Elas Duk and that is from Bronner Elementary School. And then and next we have Da Moreno Bardo from Netty Bakus Elementary School. And Da is this year's Granberry ISD champion and will represent us at the regional B next month. And thank you for celebrating these outstanding students with me. Come on, let's go take a photo. >> All right, y'all look here and smile. Ready, parents? Y'all get jobs. If we have any family, friends, teachers in the audience, please stand and be recognized as well. Hope you're looking forward to watching that on TV. Okay, next up
024we have our Texas Dance Educators Association Allstate Honores Stowaway presented by Shelby Sarant. >> She was so sure. Good evening, GIC school board. My name is Shelby Sergeant and I am the Granberry High School Stowways dance director and pirate dance educator. Tonight, I have the pleasure of introducing Paisley Cogburn, the captain of the Granberry High School Stowaways. In January, Paisley represented GD in Granberry High School as a member of the Texas Dance Educators Association, TDEA Allstate Dance Team. It's quite a mouthful. To become a member of the TDEA all-state dance team, a dancer must be of the highest ranking officer of their high school dance team and meet all criteria set by TDEA through academics, dance, and leadership requirements. In addition to becoming a member of the All-State dance team and its 300 members, Paisley
025was chosen as one of five high school dancers to receive a college scholarship. She was awarded the founder Scholarship for her academic excellence, service to her community, leadership, and overall dance accomplishments and talent. She has worked hard, led, and given her all to the Stoies for the last four years, and is the epitome of a servant leader. I am so honored to be her coach, been able to watch her grow as a dancer, leader, and young woman throughout her time as a stowaway. Paisley is the model Stowaway. She cares for her teammates. She's heavily involved in her school, through high school drill team, student council as a spirit coordinator, member of National Honor Society, a top 25 student. She's involved in the musical theater productions and more while also serving as a student leader at
026her church. She fully commits to everything she does and she's everything that the TDEA allstate dance team represents. Thank you for allowing me to be here to be her coach, introduce her and recognize her for this amazing accomplishment for being selected as a T Texas Dance Educators Association Allstate Dancer and All State Scholarship recipient. Oh, okay. >> Get a better picture. kids watch. >> And if we have any family, friends, teachers in the audience, please stand to be recognized as well. Okay. Next up, we have our Texas Music Educators Association Allstate Honore presented by >> Miss Dwayne Fish. Yes. No. Yes. Well, where are we? >> What are we What are we doing? >> Well, hi. Hi, everybody. Good evening. My name is Lindsay Vyram. I'm one of the assistant band directors at Granberry High
027School. Um, our head director, Cody Hadock, he couldn't be here today. There seems to be a trend. He's waiting on his fourth child. So, so any minute now, he says to everybody, um, >> yeah, wow, man. Look at us go. But, I'm here to present Brilland Desermo. Uh the past week and weekend all the band staff and Brilen were at the Texas Music Educators Association in San Antonio, Texas and it was so much fun. You you go to clinics, there are the uh all state bands, choirs, and orchestras and it's it's really one of the biggest music conferences in the world and we're so lucky to to have the opportunity to go there and have the opportunity to compete in such a prestigious award. um over 70,000 students in apply to to compete in in
028the TMEA all-state uh competition circuit and and Brilen was ranked third in bassoon out of the entire state which is is pretty nuts so crazy and we were just beaming with pride um she performed in the Symphonetta Orchestra and that's that's some pretty high level stuff that they were doing there and and to put it together in only a few days with all of these people from all over the state is is really such a special experience um and you remember it for the rest of your life. So, so we're so proud of her. She is such a leader. She works so hard. She is kind. She's involved. Um, she is just the the star Granberry student. So, we're so proud. What? What instrument? >> Bassoon. Okay. >> And if we have any family, friends,
029teachers in the audience, please stand and be recognized as well. Congratulations. Okay, next up we have our Shenkirk senior of the month honore and that is going to be presented by Shottenkirk. Hello GISD board. Um, my name is Denise and this is Misty, our general manager. And we're here to congratulate uh Joyce Lane, Joy, Ezra. Um, looks like you're going to be um aspired to attend Charlton um and plan on majoring in psychology with social work as an alternative area of interest. uh also a member of the GHS varsity mix and trouble choir. Awesome. And uh in addition, you participate in the UIL spelling and vocabulary team um and also uh part of the internship at the Bronner Elementary. Awesome. We are so proud to for you to be um the student of the month.
030We have a certificate for you and a little spending money. Congratulations. >> All right. Okay. >> And if we have any family, friends, teachers in the audience, please stand and be recognized as well. Okay, next up is community donations presented by Mr. Steuart Neil. Thank you, ma'am. This month we have received number of donations. First, we have a donation from the Granberry Optimus Club to the Actton Elementary Campus Activity Fund for future ready leadership t-shirts in the amount of $500. A donation from Greybeck Custom Homes, Tyler Greybeck, to the Actton Elementary Campus Activity Fund for Future Ready Leadership T-shirts in the amount of $1,000. A donation from Vibe Realy Eric Wilkins to the Actton Elementary Campus Activity Fund for Future Ready Leadership T-shirts in the amount of $500. The donation from Scooters Coffee to the
031Bronner Elementary Campus Activity Fund for the fourth grade Austin field trip in the amount of $650. A donation from the Blackbod Giving Fund, Horus Man, to the Bronner Elementary Campus Activity Fund for the fourth grade Austin field trip in the amount of $2,500. A donation from the GMSP PTO to the campus activity fund for general campus purchases in the amount of $1,7311. A donation from the first national bank to the AMS theater arts student activity account to support Shrek the musical in the amount of $250. a donation from Kristen and Josh Taylor to the GHS FFA student activity account for CDE scholarships in the or sponsorships in the amount of $500. A donation from Granberry Young Farmers to the GHS FFA student activity account for CDE sponsorship in the amount of $500. A donation from
032the Granberry Optimus Club to the GHS choir to supplement travel to ACDA conference performance in the amount of $2,000. A donation from the Granberry Optimus Club to the Junior Optimist Club Student Activity Fund to stock the athletic freezer in the amount of $400. A donation from Heartache Barbecue, Miss Vicky Niven, to the GHS barbecue student activity account as the grand champion sponsor of the GHS barbecue team. The amount of $2,500. Donation from Blue Bonnet Meat Company to the GHS barbecue student activity team for team t-shirts, $300. Donation from the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo to the GHS barbecue student activity account in the support of the program for $3,000. A donation from the Granberry Pirate Tennis Boosters to the GHS Tennis Campus activity account to supplement their travel, $4,300. A donation from Granberry Pirate
033Boys Golf Booster to the Boys Golf Campus activity account to supplement their travel in the amount of $5,000. A donation from the pirate softball boosters to the ghs softball campus activity account to supplement travel 1,886.86 86. A donation from Neighbors Feeding Neighbors Josh Morrison to the Children's Charity Fund for outstanding student meal debt in the amount of $5,000. And a donation from the Bridge Church to the Children's Charity Fund for outstanding student meal debt in the amount of $2,000, which brings the monthly total of community donations to $33,859.97. Thank you very much. Thank you to all of the community members and organizations for your support. If you see them out and about, please remind them and think that how thankful we are for their support and what a great job they're doing in supporting the
034kids in our community and our schools. We couldn't do it without their help. Thank you. Okay, next item on our agenda is public comments. And with the new law in place, we have to start with parents and then community members. So our first public speaker tonight will be Adrienne Martin speaking on board election terms and prayer resolution. Hi, can you all hear me? Okay. Okay. Um, like I said, this is agenda item 13D. Um, my understanding is the other item is no longer on the agenda, or is it still they're on the agenda? Yeah. Okay. Um, this is just regarding some of the arguments that I've heard about uh against uh changing elections to odd years. Um, there's a lot of talk about silencing voters. The silencing voters argument against against oddyear voting is revealing.
035If a candidate cannot motivate voters to get off the couch and go cast a vote, then the issue is with the candidate, not the calendar. If a candidate cannot earn teachers votes, then again, that's a candidate problem. No voters are being silenced. All registered voters have the exact same opportunities to vote no matter what number the calendar ends in. Since when do we advocate for the government to hold voters hands in performing the most basic of civic duties? Yes, general elections do bring out more voters. Do these voters research the schoolboard candidates? Some do. Many do not. As someone that works uh in our county elections, this is apparent in the sheer number of people who skip schoolboard races on general ballots or just pick the top name. uh look at the number of Beetto
036Karen Lowry voters in 2022 if you want to see evidence of this. The people who argue against extending the terms with oddyear elections display an us versus them mentality. They are not looking out for what is best for the district. They are looking out for what is best for their own political interest. And with the um the agenda item with the resolution for the prayer, I just ask that you use inclusive language um for all religions including non-religious students. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next up we have community members. First up is David Rogers speaking on board election terms resolution. Uh good evening madame president board members um speaking on the terms of elect change proposed changes to terms of elections of our trustees. Um Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said our lives no
037longer matter when we say stop. Our lives no longer have meaning when we stay silent about what matters. A right to a free and fair election matters. A right to the First Amendment matters. The First Amendment's widely regarded as the cornerstone for open debate, pushing back tyranny and transparency and voices being heard. Through open debate and free exchange of ideas, the truth becomes known. Changing the terms of elections to odd number years goes from an average of over 5,000 registered voters participating to under 2,000 voters participating. It is silencing and suppressing the voices of conservatives in this community. All lives matter and all lives deserve safety and deserve to be protected, even the ones you politically disagree with. Right now, according to the Texas Secretary of State, over 90% of registered voters do not participate
038in schoolboard elections because of the very policies that the incumbent trustees here are proposing. Tonight, there's been a reckless assumption by some of the incumbent trustees that by increasing revenue, you guarantee skill level achievement and academic achievement. And that's just simply not true. If you look at South Lake Carol, they have some of the best scores in this state. They have some of the most best grade level competency and academic achievement in the state. They don't have their elections in odd number of years. I I understand the need to go to a 4-year term for efficiency, but going to an odd year only guarantees suppressing the vote and it silences the voice of comm community of conservatives in this community. Again, in Texas, we've spent over $90 billion in public education this year, a record-breaking
039amount. And yet, we only have 24% of eighth graders that can read and do math at grade skill level. This these policies have not they've weakened and deteriorated public education every place they've been implemented. Why would you not want to go replicate the policies and procedures that have guaranteed success in some of the best districts in the state? Why implement this change? again that this is not suppressing the vote is not the way to go here. We need to get inclusion from the community and we need to get buy in from the community not suppress and silence the voices of everybody we disagree with where if they go to an ardu election only the people the the government employees are going to control the influence of the election. This is not a representative democracy and
040this is not a free republic when you stop free and fair elections and you stop the first amendment. Every voice matters, especially the ones you disagree with. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Rogers. Next up, we have Devin Hash speaking on board term elect uh board election terms resolution. Good evening. I'm here for a second time to ask you to move schoolboard elections to on cycle years. Frankly, it feels strange to have to explain basic civics to the very body that oversees education. You are elected officials. That means that your first duty is not just governance. It's democracy. Offcycle elections produce chronically low turnout. That's not speculation. It's a pattern everywhere they're used. Fewer voters means fewer voices. And when a small fraction of the community selects leadership for an institution that serves everyone, that's not
041a broad representation. That's a narrow outcome by design. Our schools belong to the whole community, parents, non-parents, taxpayers, educators, students. If we truly believe in public education, we should also believe in public participation. On cycle elections dramatically increase turnout, they lower barriers. They expand access. They strengthen legitimacy. That's not partisan. It's structural. Higher participation makes the result more representative. Period. You were entrusted with oversight of civic education. The fundamentals are simple. Democracy works best when participation is maximized, not minimized. Systems should invite voters in, not quietly filter them out. Choosing to keep elections off cycle is a choice. It's a choice about who shows up and whose voices count. As elected officials, you have a responsibility to design a system that reflects the full community, not just the most organized or the most motivated few.
042This is about legitimacy and it's about trust. And it's about modeling the democratic values our schools are supposed to teach. You have the authority to fix this. I urge you to move our elections to on cycle years and demonstrate clearly and publicly that you believe in broad inclusive participation. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Jackie Lopez speaking on board election terms. Good evening. Today I urge you to reconsider the motion to move trustee elections to offy year November elections and amend the wording of your motion to move trustee elections to even your November elections to show a desire to build trust with the community and transparency. Tonight you will discuss and take action on extending trustee terms from 3 to four years. While longer terms may promise stability, they erode accountability. The beauty of
043local government is we the people are involved in the community every day rubbing shoulders with you. When you make decisions we disagree with you are more accountable to us. Some may dismiss the change from 3 to fouryear terms as being minimal, but it is an extension of your terms. Since the co lockdowns in 2020, parents all over the nation heard for the first time at their kitchen tables what was being taught in their children's classrooms. This sparked a national outcry from parents and communities for more transparency from the people's local school board trustees. You have all campaigned in some way, shape, or form on bridging the gap between the school district and the community and bring transparency. Unfortunately, all of you and I know that off-year elections draw out fewer voters than even elections. In
044Hood County, evenear elections have historically seen high participation, such as 72% in 24, 56% in 22, and 72% in 2020. In contrast, odd year elections like 2023 and 2025 drop to just 27 and 28%. Voters are engaged during even year races, but oddear isolation leaves most disengaged. This will re reduce accountability and scrutiny. Fewer people voting means fewer eyes on you and your governing PR principles you campaign on. Moving schoolboard trustee elections to off-year years have been shown to empower special interest groups, giving more sway and say to lobbies and unions who sit over um who um over who sits in your seats. GISD is the single largest employer of Hood County and this has been all the appearance and hallmarks of a collaborated push to intentionally disenfranchise and suppress voters by holding elections on
045offers. It appears to the average person that most of you only want those who use the system or who are employed by the system to have the biggest majority say that you don't want an accurate representation of the school community's voice of who they want to see directing their district. Schoolboard trustees are at large positions elected through the democratic process of being elected by directly by the people. All property owners are stakeholders in the GISD system. So therefore they have direct interest in the outcome of those who we invest in. I concede to changing the terms from 3 to fouryear terms. Honestly, I think that's going to reduce uh voter fatigue. But if you cared at all about the true representation of the community more than the appearance of control by an indifferent minority, then
046the clear path forward would to be have a school board trustee elections only on even years in November when the larger percentage turn not to vote. Thank you. Next up is Francisco speaking on board term elections or board election terms. I apologize. Before y'all start my time, I want to thank AMS. We moved here. My grandson was a nervous little middle school kid, scared to death, and you gave him wings, and I appreciate that. Now he's in college and he made the president's list his first semester, I might say. Um, I'm Patty Cisco and I live at 5701 Chalkaw Drive and I appreciate the opportunity to speak on item 3D as the others have. Um, changing the trustes terms from 3 years to four is in my opinion a good thing. Obviously, more experience equals
047more knowledge, and I think everyone agrees. The point of contention, however, is holding an election in oddnumbered years. And I'm in favor of that for several reasons. First of all, holding an election every year is expensive and timeconsuming. And let's face it, a more frequent beatdown for voters and candidates alike. But my support for the change also comes from personal observation. Sometimes I work as a pole worker in our elections. During the 2024 election, I spent a good deal of my time in a parking lot where the voters were lining up to vote. What I observed was workers from the political tent approaching voters as they ex exited their cars with a list of preferred candidates, each labeled quote conservative Republican unquote. And that's certainly okay. But two of the conservative Republicans on the list
048were schoolboard candidates. The complete list of Republican candidates were not included on the guide. It is no secret that the majority of voters in the general election are more likely to be interested in national and state outcomes. Unfortunately, many are uninformed about local election candidates and tend to vote for the first person listed on the ballot. Data shows that or from the last minute flyer they received like the one distributed because the candidates listed are touted as conservative Republicans. And obviously Hood County voters are by and large Republicans. My problem with those skewed results is that schoolboard candidates are listed on the ballot as neither D or R because the schoolboard candidate is supposed to be nonpartisan given our student population comes from all walks of life. And in truth, all candidates in the sever
049last several years have been Republican. But that shouldn't matter. In oddnumbered years, the voter turnout may be lower, but the voters tend to be more well informed and interested in the outcome and thus the results more reflective of voter needs. And finally, to campaigns that spend most of their time sle, the voters are tired of it. Please stop. Thank you. Next up, we have Don Johnson speaking on board election terms. Thank you, President, and the board for allowing me a moment to speak to you. I have only been in Hood County for two years, so I'm probably not qualified. I have sat in those seats for six years in another school district and I've been involved in elections for 47 years, more than your age probably in most cases, but that is my deal in
050election. Now number two on your procedure says we believe the success of a district depends upon shared vision. You hear that? A shared vision. Who do you want a shared vision with? School board staff parents and community. And we'll strive the best of our ability to uphold those aspirations. So you need a shared vision between four people. And I'm a community. I have kids in school or anything else. But you know what's happened here in Hood County? County government has lost the shared vision vision of the communities. They did it over data centers. If you ever look at the vision of some what's happening with in the county court these days that they support data centers in communities that do not need data centers, have no need for them. Now, uh the uh the election,
051you're going to go to a lower turnout. That's just the way it is. I call the off amendment election. People go to vote on amendments. They don't think about school board or the city. Those are the amendment elections. Then you have the presidential election. Odd even number of years. Then you have the governor election. State election even number of years. That's the way the system is built out. And when you work in those things, you've got to understand that. So you don't destroy the vision with your community. that will cause you to have less and less support as a school board if you destroy that vision. Now, I'm assuming, Miss Gore, are you aware how small the turnout is on odd number of years? Are you aware of that? Are you aware of that? >>
052We we can't answer questions. >> Oh, that was a rhetorical question. Are you aware of that, Kim? Everybody is aware how rural people turn out for amendment elections. They don't come out for anything by vote on stupid amendments. Those amendments have no meaning. They all pass anyway, 90%. That's why people don't turn out because they're put out by the Republicans and the Republicans control the state. So that's just the way it is. But remember, go to even number gears. when people turn out and vote. If you don't want people, if you want to control the elections, you can do it by going to odd number of years and you control everything that's happened. But let the people in this community participate. Don't destroy the vision of the community. You need the community support and and
053usually our county government was pretty good until data centers came up to them. But anyway, I'm out of time. I could preach for you another hour, but I'll get out. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that concludes our public comments. So, we will move on to um agenda item number nine, consider action on items discussed in closed session. So, I'm going to go through each of these individually. First one is staff recommendations. Do I have a motion? Madam President, I move that we accept all of the staff recommendations as described in close session. Okay. I have a motion by Miss Townsen. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> A second. And that's a second by Miss Alana. Any further discussion? Okay. Hearing none. All in favor? Raise your hand. Let the record show that is
054seven in favor and zero against. Motion passes. Next item is 9B, superintendent contract. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make that motion. >> I have a motion by Mr. Bolton. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> A second by Dr. Lawrence. Any further discussion? Okay. Hearing none. All in favor? Raise your hand. Let the record show that is seven in favor, zero against. The motion passes. Next one is item 9C, administrative contracts. Do I have a motion? >> So moved, Madame President. >> That's a motion by Mr. Moore. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> And a second by Mr. Bolton. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Raise your hand. Let the record show. That is seven in favor and zero against. The motion passes. Next item up
055on the agenda is the superintendence report. Dr. Courtney Moroski. Okay. And thank you, President Core. Couple of items to share. Number one, we've had some questions about the weather days that we experienced and how we will make those days up. So, I want to make sure this the parents and the students hear this. We don't have to add any days to our calendar. So, that's really great news. We have extra minutes that we've built into the calendar already and then a professional development waiver that we have included. So, um, we do not need to extend the day or add a day. We are good. Now, if there's another weather event in February, March, we may have to discuss it again, but for right now, we're good. So, that's good news. Also, it's been mentioned several
056times, our girls basketball team is playing at the by district game today um against Nitton Ryan. I'm not even sure if it's over yet or when it starts. So, it just started. Thank you for that. So, congratulations to that hardworking team. Also last weekend um we had a part debate team that w was uh the Grand View UIL speech team champions. So congratulations to them. Um today we had our Greenberry ISD elementary students competing in the 4th annual district URIL academic meet um at Actton Elementary. So students in grades 2 through 5 showcase their talents in a wide range of events. Things like social studies, art, spelling, oral reading, storytelling, dictionary skills, maps, charts. There's tons of things in here. Um music memory, number sense. We are so proud of all the hard work that
057the students and families put into that competition today and the events. I think the awards are posted if you're wondering. Um today also we have the privilege of welcoming Chris Gro Gronick who's the CEO of active shooter prevention project for a powerful and information informative pres presentation with our staff and also our local agencies. So um thanks to John uh Mueller and your team for getting that set up. Chris is a nationally recognized expert in active shooter prevention and we're grateful for the opportunity to learn from his expertise along with teams like Alto ISD and um our police department and different agencies that came to learn from him. Uh there's some new a new face here. I want to make sure that we know that Dr. Tim Roi is over here. Uh which leads me
058to my last agenda item and I'd like for Wes to come up. I have a few words to say. So come on up right here. So tonight we say goodbye to Wes Jones. For the past 10 years, Wes has been a steady and trusted presence in our district, a true staple of our team and our culture. As he closes this chapter, we also honor his remarkable 39 years in education. Nearly four decades of service represent countless lives impacted, lessons taught, problems solved, and relationships built. Wes, thank you for what you have meant to this district and for all that you've done for our students, staff, and community. Your legacy will remain part of who we are. It's my honor to present you with one of our challenge coins. A small token of our deep appreciation
059and respect for your years of dedication and service. I'd like to say thank you to the board, previous board, Dr. Broski and Dr. Glenn and Dr. L. This has been a great 10 years. This is a wonderful district and I've just been lucky to be a part of it. Thank you. >> THANK YOU. MY GOSH, he's a maniac. Sorry. Okay, moving on to district reports. First up is in the enrollment report, Dr. Courtney Morowski. >> Yes, thank you, President Gore. And u I'm going to start the presentation, but then I'm going to invite very quickly um up to the stage Amy Vasquez. And so, um she'll join us in just a minute. So, board, I want to make sure that I include you in the conversation that we started, I believe, in January um possibly
060even December about making sure that we're paying attention to our enrollment numbers. Um so on the screen you'll see that there's um many things that uh we count on for enrollment numbers. And so this is some of the Texas education code that deals with enrollment and our average daily attendance. But really the thing that you need to know why we are doing why it's important that we talk about it is that as we begin our budget study, we want you to be aware of where we are. Um and so uh I'm excited to show you the presentation and explain where we are. Um and to make sure that you're fully aware before going into the budgeting season. Okay. So, um, come on up. I'm going to go ahead and hand this over to, um, Amy.
061She is brand new to our district, well, brand new in the last few months. Uh, and she is our district team's coordinator. And so, I'm going to let her take over because she is much more of the expert in numbers, um, than I am. So, I'll let you take over. >> Did you? >> Good evening. So I was asked to gather some information and documentation and just our data points for enrollment numbers and I believe we started that in December. >> So what we pulled originally was our snapshot data. So what snapshot is is our enrollment numbers as of the last Friday in October that is set by TEA and it has not ever changed. It won't change moving forward. Well, it's TEA so you know. Um, so as of right now, we pulled 5
062years. And as you can see, starting in the 2021 school year, we had an increase for the next two school years. And then we kind of balanced out and remained steady. And so after we started looking at these data points, we were thinking, okay, so we can see one point in the year what we're looking at for enrollment. Let's dig a little deeper and drill down. So at that point, we wanted to look over those five years. What did that look like on a month-to-month basis? Based off of that, you'll see these graphs or on this line chart, and we are looking at the last date of every month period from August to May so that we can pull that true enrollment data. So, kind of what I wanted to really focus in on with
063Dr. Morowski was we're seeing that original blue line from 2022 where you see that low number and then we see the increase and it remains pretty stable throughout and then we notice this current school year starts to look a little different. So we wanted to kind of dig deeper on why that might be that we're seeing a change of enrollment numbers. So based off of that we wanted to know where are the students going when they leave us after they withdraw from a district where are they going. So, one of the things we pulled, I'm so sorry, was Premiere because we do know that's somewhere local that a lot of them will go, but we have noticed that our number for this year is a lot lower than it has been in past years. So,
064we're doing something right. We're keeping them from going there. Then, we're saying, okay, virtual and other public schools, what are our numbers looking like there? So, we noticed, you know, the from and we started this in 2023. when they withdraw, where are they going? That is another virtual academy, which we know there's been a lot of those openings since then, or a public Texas school. So, those are what those numbers are looking like. This year, it is a lot lower than we've seen in past years. Now, that is as of I believe January, last week of January. So, it's pretty accurate because we'll see a little bit of change, but not too much moving forward. Um, homeschool. So, this is another one we really wanted to look into is why are they leaving for homeschooling?
065What do those true numbers look like? And so, that's what this graph will show. And then after they've withdrawn from us, if we have if we don't know where they've enrolled since then, that is what this number is showing us. So, these are kids who withdrew and we're just not sure where they've gone since then. Um, and so that is the data points that we pulled and all that information. And so now we're going to kind of discuss what's next. And did you want to go over that? Sure, I'll do that. And I want to make sure that um our community and the board knows that those four graphs were really the top four numbers, but there were other um numbers and different reasons students had left. Many different reasons, but those numbers were a
066little smaller. So I can give a more detailed report if the board would like that um to the board in the future. Um but these were the four biggest categories. So the things that we learned really is that we need to do a great we do a good job of monitoring but we want to make sure that we're staying on top of it especially with the trend that we're seeing. Um and you did a great job of explaining that. So thank you Amy. Um and she's been uh integral on us thinking about our processes um since I uh she has uh she came new to the district in October and so um really looking at the way that we do things to make sure that we have accuracy in our um uh coding. Uh she's
067also training campus staff has been important to her and so we support her in that making sure that they know how to code and that we're all coding the same uh when we're talking about students. Um also she's uh suggested a pre-withdrawal review process so that way we can have just a moment with parents to think about um what happens before their student uh uh withdraws. So she is training staff. I think art have you started that already? Is that right? Yes, already started that. And then also, as we've talked about before, this is a great opportunity for us to explore innovative instructional models. So, um, I'm going to let her stand up for questions that you may have and things, uh, guidance that you would like, um, going forward. And thank you, Amy, for
068coming. Thank you for breaking that down for us and going over all the data. You know, I'm looking at these charts and we had so much tremendous growth overall. I mean, losing some enrollment is expected on average, and we may have lost a little bit more than normal. Um, but the majority of that growth that we've had over those past several years is the majority of it is still here. Um, but I I do agree with this. Um, thank you. This chart here, that drop in enrollment is a little more than previously, but I wouldn't I wouldn't call this a crisis level. Would you call this a crisis level? I would not. >> Okay, thank you for that clarification. I've heard some chatter about that and I just didn't think that was correct. The numbers
069weren't showing me that, but maybe there was something I was missing. So, thank you for that. >> I do want to say one thing about the crisis level. We are not at a crisis level. We are not closing schools. We are not cutting teachers jobs or staff jobs at all. We are monitoring. I would consider if someone were to say um declining enrollment that is a trend over time and we have not seen that trend over time. We're watching it and it I it may or may not come but I just want to make sure that especially our staff knows that no jobs are being taken, no buildings are being shut down. Um and that this is justformational just like we take our common assessments. Here's our common assessment as a district. Let's see how
070we're doing. Let's let's monitor and get better. >> Yeah, thank you for that. Yeah, I think it's it's great to have this data because then it gives us an indicator of what are we doing great? What could we be doing better and what is it that parents are looking for so that we can offer those educational opportunities to them and if we're not monitoring that data then we don't know when to start asking those questions. So thank you for putting this together and getting us all this information. >> I was very Oh go ahead. >> You sure? >> Yes. >> Okay. This is my first question as a board member. Um, big deal. Uh, so Amy, I'm curious to know if you have an idea of your your pre-exit interview questions. How are you going
071to do it? When you're going to do it. I think it's really important. I think it's it will help us with the data. And I I shared this with Dr. Morowski and I'll share it with the the audience uh the other day. And this is a a quick analogy. I think I I think it'll be quick, but it it's kind of close to what we need to do here. I was getting ready to get rid of my phone carrier. We had a conversation. They talked me out of it. They did a couple of things really. I needed to be listened to. They needed to hear me. They needed to hear me out about the problems and they fixed the problems. And so sometimes it's just that much, but that could uh amount to, you know,
072I don't know what the numbers would be in terms of people deciding that this is where I need to stay, but the the exit interview I think is is very powerful and very important. >> So to respond to that, we have already created um the exit interview process. We've created it to where originally it starts with our PES clerks who receive the intent to withdraw form. And we're always going to call it an intent to withdraw because that's the intent, but let's see if we can keep you. Um, and so part of the questions are where are you going next? That is always going to be our first question because if you are not moving out of our district, then we want to go ahead and say, okay, let's pause. What can we do? And
073you're right, some of it is just a big majority of it. I just want to be heard. I want to feel like my concerns are being met. And so that is just something we're putting in place. So the questions have been um the interview questions have been kind of this is the baseline but we are leaving that to the counselors principles and APS to dig deeper to make sure that we can address the issues. um they have been trained at a meeting, our campus staff has been trained to say, "What red flags are we looking for to hand that off for that exit interview?" Because if we're moving, if I am moving and I'm leaving, you're not going to keep me if I'm moving 45 minutes away. So, I don't want to waste valuable time
074in those circumstances, but we are definitely looking for those red flags that we can adjust to. >> Thank you. Of course, his question, your answered my question. >> Awesome. I think it's also significant to that's only a difference of 85 students and when you look at that number uh and spread that across all the campuses that we have that's really not much that's not significant in my opinion. Uh we have hear on the news about all the different uh uh large cities that are shutting down campuses or combining campuses or whatever. And I think so many times we we uh begin to hear that if our numbers are dropping, oh no, we're have a campus that's going to close. We are nowhere near that in our district. Nowhere near that. And I I think it's
075just very significant that we look at that number and realize that it's really a very small number. So, thank you very much for this report. >> And I think the intention behind this is to make sure we're meeting the needs of our community because if you are choosing to go somewhere else, where where do we need to improve? What can we do better? What opportunities can we offer that we're not currently offering? This this isn't because we are in a position like some other districts are where we're having to shut down campuses and close schools. This is because we're trying to be intentional about offering educational opportunities for our students that our community wants. And so really that is the spirit behind this. And so thank you for doing this work. It's important work and
076it's data that we need to have to be able to do that and be intentional about it. So thank you. Of course. So, I I want to reiterate the comments about how it's not incredibly significant, at least not to the point that we're laying anybody off or that we're closing campuses or even closing a single classroom. So, that's that's good to know. I want to make the point though that enrollment has a proportional relationship with ADA and ADA has a direct relationship with revenues and so uh 111 students or whatever the number is is it's not significant enough to lose a a teacher but it is significant enough in terms of dollar values that a half million dollars will hire seven new teachers. So that that definitely has an impact on us and it's worth
077noting and so I appreciate you Dr. Maroski about um some of your um the exploration of some innovation and some innovative programs and where we might be able to hold on to those students. I have a question. Am I correct in looking at these four bar graphs that the year trend line is smaller? The numbers on the 26 bar graphs are all smaller than the 25s, >> but that's because it only dates to January. The others are full years. >> Is that is that correct? >> Okay. I'm so sorry. on the snapshot data or on the lineraph these four bar graphs here. >> Okay, so these are our withdrawal numbers. So these are students who have withdrawn from our district and gone somewhere else. And so the breakdown of these is where they have gone.
078So are we seeing a decrease compared to Yes. But he's correct. It's as of January. >> Okay. So is the 2025 the full year? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. So we have a partial year in 26 on those graphs. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Mhm. But just out of curiosity, from January on, what what is the average rate that we see students withdraw? I mean, we're already over halfway through the school year. I would imagine from January on there's that number doesn't grow that much. So, can we go back to the line graphs? That one. So, if you'll see January where you're starting, if you look over the past years, you'll see it's not it's not a large number. Um, in my experience, you see a big shift between Christmas break because most parents don't
079want to withdraw their student in the middle of a semester. So, most parents are going to choose to withdraw their students at Christmas break or that break in semester. >> And that's just my experience in looking at data not only here but in my previous district. So, will we see some changes? Yeah, we'll see enrollments as well. >> Yeah. Right. Thank you. That's not exactly what's reflected in the in the purple line, though. The purple line doesn't show a big drop in December or over the Christmas break. It has a pretty steady >> decline throughout January. >> That's the big drop there. >> They don't withdraw. They draw in January. >> Yes. So, the number you're saying December was as of the last day of December, which was the 31st, and then we had our
080Christmas break. We don't withdraw during dates that students are not in in session. So that January number would have been when we withdrew those students who left that semester. So that slight drop you're seeing there from that uh December to January marker. That's in my experience that's when you usually notice a more of this than a this, you know, and it's just most parents are going to be cautious about withdrawing their kids middle semester. Thank you so much for answering our questions and all the information and explaining everything to us. We appreciate your time and effort and thank you Dr. Moroski and I'm I'm excited to see what we can do with this. >> That's a worthwhile study. Thank you. >> Okay, that concludes the enrollment report. Next up, we have our CTE report. Todd
081Gibson. >> Thank you. >> Good evening all. Thank you for uh allowing me to be here this evening to uh speak about our CTE program. So February is CTE month uh I think all over definitely in the state of Texas. So, it just gives us an opportunity to celebrate uh what technical ed does for our students when they leave us for uh post-secary success. So, um first things first, I just uh wanted to fill out some numbers, some statistics for you. Uh Granberry High School, we just saw an enrollment report. So, we're just under 2200 students at the high school. Um 93% of those students are in at least one CTE course. However, we have many students that take multiple CTE courses. So when you see my uh my number there with 3,800 course requests,
082those are the individual classes that those uh 93% of the 2200 will take. So we're averaging almost uh two CTE classes per student and some of those classes are even two period or three period classes. So uh a lot of traffic down in the CTE wing of the high school. Um have 38 CTE teachers at the high school as well. Um actually I added two more this year with uh with our JOTC teachers who now are officially under the CTE umbrella. So um AMS and GMS we have three different courses, one in seventh and two in 8th grade uh with almost 900 students enrolled and nine different CTE teachers there at each of the middle schools. So I promise I'm not going to read all these slides to you. That one was just really important.
083Um so here we are at the uh the different career clusters that are offered in Granberry ISD. The state recognizes 14 different career clusters. We offer 12 of those 14. And under each one of those career clusters for the most part we have different programs of study. So for example up there I have agriculture for sure but it's actually agriculture, food and natural resources. And uh under that we offer a plant science track, an animal science track and an a mechanics track. So, bunch of different ones there. The only two that we don't offer are energy, which I don't know of anybody in in North Central Texas that offers energy. And uh we don't do manufacturing either. A lot of uh schools that don't have an A program, they will do manufacturing and do their
084welding through that, but we we decided to keep that in our FFA program. So, uh we offer just about everything we can. So, next slide. So certifications and uh CCMR try to add things to this uh every single year. A lot of those are repeats for the last couple of years. But some some notable things that we brought on uh this year would be the security officer certification through our law enforcement pathway. Uh two additional certifications in engineering and then uh Miss Ditto in our education and training courses. She has got a great thing going with Charlton State University where we're able to offer kids uh up to nine hours of dual credit that transfers directly to Charlton. And again, there are several others. If you you see them, you can ask me questions about
085here in a bit for sure. Uh CTSOs, that is career and technical student organizations. I know Mr. Fish showed up uh at the beginning of the school year and he wants everybody to be involved and this is a great opportunity for our kids to get involved. Most again 93% of our kids are in at least one CTE course. So there are a lot of opportunities for them to get plugged in not just in the classroom but outside of the classroom and go off to uh different events, different competitions. You can see the uh the list there. And it's not an official CTSO, but I did want to mention that our auto tech uh group this year went to their very first competition at Texas Motor Speedway a few months ago and uh finished in the
086top half. As Mr. boat champs and he was very proud of finishing in the top half at their first ever competition ever. So, uh, good showing there. And then in addition to like all of our students can be in a CTSO and and get to compete a little bit, but we also have for our upper level kids, we have several school businesses and uh practical application type classes where kids can get involved with our our printing uh group, our floral design group, our school store, the restaurant, and the list goes on. Uh, some highlights. Again, I'm not going to read all of these to you. I've got a handful of teachers that watch schoolboard meetings, so I'm going to mention theirs and probably leave off the rest you can read later. Um, thank you for
087laughing. So, highlights from the year. We have uh 19 students competing at the DECA state competition later this week. uh as you can see there and we are we have already qualified several for the international competition that'll be back in Atlanta this year in April. Um again our FFA kids they they kill it at the Hood County Stock Show. We had uh I think that's probably a record-breaking that's about 20 grand more than last year. And I got a uh text message last Saturday. Landry Harrington uh one of our senior Amech students she won. She beat out 880 other kids who entered in the Amex show and she won the grand champion overall with her incredible smoker. If you didn't make it to the Hood County Stock Show to see it, it is something else.
088So, very proud of her and all the work she's doing. Uh, let's see. Uh, three barbecue teams this year and all three of them about midway through the season have already qualified for state. So, that's an exciting thing. And one of those teams, they got runner up at the Fort Worth Stock Show and runner up at the San Antonio Stock Show. So, very proud of those kids for uh competing hard. So, as you can see, our our kids, they they do a lot and they have a lot of success as well. So, this group I've always bragged about because I've been over their their travel and their budget and that's a chore. So, I get to take credit into some of their success. But uh thanks to House Bill 120 again they are now they
089fall under that CTE umbrella. So uh 10th year in a row they are a uh top 10 or excuse me a naval honor school for the 10th year in a row and they've won the uh MC outstanding unit award which makes them the best JOTC Marine Corps in the world for the fifth straight year. So very proud of those guys. Yeah. Uh, first sergeant Garrett is uh, brand new to us this year and he has hit the ground running. They have not slowed down in the different competitions and way they get involved with all their uh, service activities they do throughout the town. As a matter of fact, the very first thing he did when he uh, when he got to Granberry is he said, "I want to I I just got two giant telephone
090poles donated and I want to bury them behind the uh, pavilion for a competition we're going to do and I I looked at him like he was crazy. But they are going to a competition called the Raider team that you can see there and uh starting to figure it out and have a little success there as well. And our our JROTC is is is far beyond just uh competitions and trying to get kids ready for the military. They teach a lot of uh community service leadership and uh their curriculum is pretty rich and it's good for all kids. So, regardless of what their plan is after high school, this was an exciting piece of news that I got back in the fall and and we we did put it out there, but we're about to
091throw it out there again. We are a CATA, which is the Career and Technical uh association of Texas. They're the largest CTE advocate and uh uh organization in the state of Texas. They they hold conferences, PD, all sorts of different things. It's a it's a great group to be a part of. and we along with 70 other school districts. 70 sounds like a lot but I believe there's over,200 school districts in the state of Texas. Uh along with 70 others were um awarded the seat district of extinct distinction not extinction distinction program award. I'm just going to read this because they they put it in much better words than I could. says, "The CTE District of Distinction program was designated or was designed to celebrate outstanding career and technical education programs across Texas. Honored districts
092are selected based on their ability to meet rigorous criteria that includes innovative programming, industry-based certifications, alignment with workforce needs, and exceptional student outcomes. So, very proud of uh the teachers, the kids, everybody that's poured in uh you all for for allowing us to to do what we do. questions. >> I don't know that it's a question so much, but you know, I'm a big fan of your program. So, thank you for that. I I I credit a lot of I mean, I'm not afraid to take apart a car and I'm not afraid to do my own work on my I can do anything that you can do on a house and I credit that back to back then we called it vocational training, but >> Yes. >> but um I credit all that back to
093that kind of education and and what you're doing and I appreciate it. And my sons went through your programs, too. They loved it. So yes, >> while we're thanking each other, thank you for approving 9C along with the rest of the board members on the agenda. >> So I want to echo some of what Tim just said. Um my oldest daughter, well I have three daughters. One's graduating from the high school and then two are in the high school right now. My oldest daughter took advantage of the the uh health and career track as a senior in high school, was a certified uh pharmacy tech working at CVS while she was still in high school. And that has given her a leg up in college now where she's now on track to be nursing. And
094the nursing school told her it was her education here in the health science classes at Granberry High School that gave her a leg up. So you're doing tremendous work for the for the kiddos and I really really appreciate you. >> I love that. Thank you. Thank you. >> I was wondering um what are we hearing as far as the construction branch? So, it's very quiet right now because we just we're just offering the one class to freshman and sophomore. Next year, we'll add a course. It's the sophomore level course. We'll offer it to sophomores and juniors. Uh it's called construction technology. It's a 2-hour class where they get more indepth with uh all the different practices in carpentry. So right now it's it's just very very basic uh >> basic knowledge kind of like most
095of our freshman principal classes but uh they are working through a certification program through NCC which is the the standard for construction science. So excited to see how that turns out this spring. >> Yeah, I'm excited that we're adding that and absolutely see what that looks like in the future. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you for all your work and all the educators who pour their hearts into our kids. It's because our kids are big fans of this program that it's so successful. And it's the educators that help instill that passion in them to be involved and to find joy and find their their people in these programs. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'm gonna walk away before somebody says something else. So, Okay, next up we have the hybrid virtual
096learning model presented by April Allison and Whitney Schaefer. >> I'm excited to hear this one. I've been excited to hear all of them, but >> Okay. You ready? >> Yeah. Okay. Good evening, trustees and Dr. Morowski. Thank you for the opportunity to share an early look at a proposed hybrid virtual learning model for Granberry ISD. We are presenting tonight a pilot concept, not a finalized program. Our goal is to provide a high quality overview of why we're exploring this option, what it is, and just as just as importantly, what it is not. This work is focused on expanding student options while maintaining maintaining the rigor, accountability, and connection that define Granberry ISD. Why are we exploring this now? Across Texas, we are seeing shifts in how families approach education, whether it's homeschooling, virtual options, or
097other nontraditional pathways. At the same time, the Texas state um excuse me, the Texas Senate Bill 569 has provided districts with more flexibility to thoughtfully design hybrid learning models. Rather than reacting to these changes, we believe this is an opportunity to be proactive to offer a flexible option that keeps students connected to Granberry ISD, our campuses, and our programs. We are also developing a phased communication plan to ensure families, students, and community receive clear, accurate information as this work progresses. What the model is and is not. This is where we want to be very clear. This model is a hybrid approach for students in grades 9 through 12 that blends online coursework with intentional onampus participation. Students remain Granberry ISD and Granberry High School students with continued access to athletics, CTE, fine arts, JOTC, and
098other campus opportunities. Just as important, this model is not a return to COVID error emergency virtual learning. It is not a reduced expectations option and it is not a shortcut to graduation. The lessons learned from past virtual experiences are exactly why we are approaching this carefully and intentionally. All right. So this side is is our program at a glance. So this slide provides a quick snapshot of the concept at a high level. The model is designed for grades 9 through 12, uses the hybrid virtual format, requires an onampus connection, and maintains the same academic standards as our in-person programs do. Most importantly, this is being approached as a pilot. I cannot stress that enough. Um, with details still in development and refinement as we go. We've intentionally kept tonight's presentation at this level with supporting
099planning documents available separately for board review if desired. All right. So, who is this model designed for? This model is not intended to serve every student and that is by design. The hybrid virtual learning model is being developed for students who can manage independent learning with support who value flexibility alongside accountability and who want to remain connected to campus life and programs. The fit matters. Our goal is not to replace traditional instruction but to provide an additional pathway for students who are well suited for this type of learning environment. To protect the quality of this model, we are planning very clear safeguards, including an enrollment request process and a student readiness review that looks at multiple indicators of success. Because this begins as a pilot with limited capacity, participation will be guided by readiness review
100um to ensure students are well suited for the model. Our next steps include finalizing the enrollment request framework and readiness rubric, continuing sta continuing with stakeholder input, and returning to the board with updates as the work progresses. We appreciate the opportunity to share this early work and welcome your guidance as we continue planning. Ultimately, this work that April and I have poured our hearts into is about meeting families where they where they are while staying true to our standards and values of Granberry ISD. And we look forward to continuing this conversation with you and others. I just want to take a minute and brag on these two ladies because when they say pour their heart into it, they are being very serious. So, this is a very high level look, but they have gotten into
101the details and and they've had conversations and we meet every Friday and so I'm I'm thankful for your work and and I think you guys did a great job of presenting the overall concept. So, thank you. >> I want to stress again that it's uh that it's not the COVID solution. >> I'll let you speak to that more clearly. >> CO solution. >> Yeah. Thank you. I'm going to try to stress too that uh it you you really emphasize hybrid. I hope people understand that that it's not totally online. I don't know what percentage will be hybrid face to face versus online, but I know if you do hybrid well, you can do it very well. And this comes from someone who's taught hybrid classes at the collegiate level. Thank you. >> Thank you all
102very much for the information. Um, I'm excited with the about this program and what it's going to offer for our students. And and many times this curriculum with the virtual program, the rigor can actually be higher because it has that stigma of being a virtual program, it almost makes it mandatory for the rigor to be higher because of that. I know the university where I got my degree, that was the case. The rigor was so much higher. it was competency based and it it would have been easier for me to go into a classroom sometimes for those classes. So, thank you and appreciate all the hard work and look forward to what this is going to look like in Granberry ISD. >> I have a question. Is this something that could be used in summer
103school? >> Do you want me to talk about it? >> Just just a thought. Well, so the curriculum that we we are looking at I am going to pilot this summer in the acceleration program at the high school. >> Okay. >> So we are going to use that and go from there. >> It this is a pilot. >> It is it but the during the acceleration this the high school summer school there's three parts. We have the EOC retakes. We have the credit recovery and the acceleration piece. And the curriculum that we're looking at using we are going to use for acceleration this summer. So, that's where we're going to start it this summer. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next up, we have our taper report, Miss Stacy Brown. Oh, it's so
104exciting. Let's go. Jazz hands, everybody. All right, you guys. So I am here tonight presenting the annual report which encompasses the Texas academic performance report. Uh they are publicly presented as required in statute and the full taper report will be published for review on our website in the days following our meeting tonight. So every every bit of the taper will be online. All right. All right. So we're going to go ahead and we're going to get started and we're going to talk a little bit about academic performance. This first graph that you see represents performance at the elementary level in reading, mathematics, and fifth grade science. Of course, fifth grade science is only tested at fifth grade in the elementary level. And this is specific to STAR, and STAR, of course, is the state of
105Texas assessment of academic readiness. This represents data from last year. So, I would just want to make sure that everybody's with me. This is last year data. Um, and as you can tell by our elementary uh graph right here that we continue to perform above the state and region in all elementary areas tested. Awesome. Yeah. All right. Moving on into uh looking across our middle school data, we see several areas of continuing at or above state and region as well as a couple areas that we are targeting specifically for growth. Um this year, just to remind everybody that we initiated uh full implementation of an aligned math curriculum from kinder through algebra 1 as one of our district-wide initiatives. The only other thing that I'd like to point out is with regard to seventh and
106eighth grade math. Keeping in mind that our seventh grade accelerators actually test on the seventh grade skills. Our eighth grade accelerated learners test in algebra 1 and so those are removed from the population. All right, questions going on. I'm late. >> I missed a spot. >> Absolutely. >> It is and and that uh you know math has been trending for the last couple of years. Thus the reason that we went uh with a fully aligned curriculum. That was our our goal to make sure that um any specific um I guess any specific dips that come in, we want we want to make sure that we're addressing them with a TE's aligned standard that it's we're catching it before we get to the point where it starts to show. Does that make sense? >> And I
107just want to clarify that this is prelue bonnet math. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Right. So these scores don't reflect what we've now done with the blue bonnet math alignment. Correct. All right. Moving on into our EOC for our end of course exams. We continue to outperform the state in the region. And although we had a slight dip that you're looking at in biology, it really it really is not in the biology comparison because our students continue to perform at the 90th percentile. Uh, so it looks we went from uh 94 to 90, but still an A. That's right. Still an A. All right. The next thing goes on to a little bit of a closer look at the taper itself. So in looking at our graduation rate, we're at 93.6% again above the state average.
108And our students of our students graduated on time. The 1.5% that is listed there um actually has to be um is represented specifically as the continued high school students who didn't graduate in the four years time but are still enrolled and actively progressing towards graduating. We would call them a five-year. Does that make Okay. um our advanced placement and dual credit course completion trends. Um although it looks like they are below the state, when you add in our dual enrollment course completion, it's triple the amount of what the state does. And so when you add those two together, uh our students are taking and completing advanced coursework more than the state average every year. the college career and military ready data of course you heard Todd as well as the CTE industrybased certification um those
109are lag data so those are coming from a 23 24 school year both continue to be significantly above the state and regional level level indicating that our students not only earn a diploma but they demonstrate the readiness for college or career or military through all of the indicators such as TSI scores, college credit classes, um earned IBC's completing and approving the CTE cohort sequence, etc. SAT and ACT average scores also continue to be above the state average as well. >> Give me again that I'm sorry, >> give me again that 1.5. the the 1.5 represents continued high school students um who did not graduate in the four years but are still enrolled still continuing to pursue that degree. >> I got you. And as a 1970s Hard Rock kid, I just want to say APDC.
110I don't have a reason. >> Metallica rules. Just saying. Okay. All right. The next one that we're looking at um it it is titled as uh demographic numbers. However, the state calls them reporting categories. They're used to monitor academic process and progress, um identify barriers, ensure accountability and access and target supports or resources for where students need the most support. The state uses these specific reporting categories to help shine a light on how our systems are working with different groups. And then of course the next one is your special program information which describes how instruction and support are delivered to students. Um the data that comes from these specific programs are used to help evaluate our effective programs and the structured instructional pathways or services that we offer. So cohorts represent shared characteristics while programs
111really are about instructional pathways. Okay, this is a very very busy slide, but I'm going to tell you guys remember in the fall of this year, we approved our campus and district improvement plans uh which highlighted in great detail the performance objectives and areas to target for our campuses and our district. Uh this chart is just another way to look at those opportunities. Uh highlighting one or two areas of we would call them not opportunities but just opportunities of future growth as well as the glows or the highlights for our district. Um we have so many great things to brag about in Granberry ISD. Um but we don't rest on our laurels. We always push to increase student success in all areas. One of the mandatory annual report information talks a little bit about district
112accreditation status. It be it basically is we're meeting state standards for operating a public school system academically, financially and operationally. So what encompasses the district accreditation status is specifically the first rating uh which is financial rating which I think is superior. Is that correct EMTT? Oh, okay. Um, it also has our 2023 accountability rating. Um, and the last one that was posted was 2324. Um, and we are accredited. Um, our special education determination status is based upon multiple indicators. Um, it talks specifically about compliance, student outcomes, as well as systems and monitoring. So, this designation means we're meeting all state and federal expectations for special education in compliance and in how systems support our students outcomes. How y'all doing? Wake up. Okay. All right. So, this is one of the great slides that we talk
113about that has to do with campus distinctions. Not only does taper indicate how our campuses in our district are doing compared to the state and the region, but it also highlights campus distinctions, which is basically how our campuses compare to a list of 39 other comparable schools. So things that are much like themselves. Um, campus distinctions show where campuses are outperforming their peers. And so it's a big list, multiple distinctions, but you guys already knew that. It's all good. All right. The next thing that is a mandatory annual report specific to uh safe schools and the discipline action summary. So in school year 2425 uh there was one disciplinary action noted under the safe schools violent or criminal incidents and the action was reported under code 35 which is a false alarm. Um the majority
114of our discipline actions are general sto student code of conduct infractions just over 2,000 of which nearly about 1500 are general codes of conduct. So, disrespect to another student. Um, a variety of different things handled on campus. And of course, we have a ton of preventions. We, you heard, uh, AMS talk a lot about the CKH character traits and the lessons. We also have can do lessons that our counselors have access to, leadership opportunities on all campuses, which is expanding next year to the high school. Um, we're adding in, I believe, a leadworthy course at that level, education, uh, regarding dangers of drug use and abuse, Red Ribbon Week, partnership with Hood County Substance Abuse Council, many community entities, etc. Um, we continually shift towards restorative discipline uh, practices to make sure that we are
115building that connection with our students so we'd have less discipline issues. All right, here's another one. Psyched to see this one. So, the data, this data right here is from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Uh, it breaks down the data of student GPA for the first year of college for our graduates um that began college in Texas in the fall of 2024. This gives us information on how our students do when they leave us. Um, and give us a little bit of information uh regarding how we prepared our students for what came next. Not just to graduate, but to persist and to to succeed as well. What questions do you have? None. Okay. Thanks. No, I really wish we could get data. I know this is only four-year and two-year public uh colleges and
116universities, >> but I mean, we have so many students that go out of state, so many students that go to private schools, and I would like to make sure that they're doing well, too. And there's just really no way for us to get that data, is there? They actually um t we were looking up all the different is it not trackable, is it not found, is it, you know, uh independent colleges and so not found are those students that are enrolled in private colleges, out of state colleges, military service, workforce, all of those different areas. The uh thcb um chalks them up to not found. >> Yeah. table, please. >> Um, no, thank you. No, I'm sorry. >> Which one was that, Mr. Bolton? >> No. You know, you had the Yeah, that one. You
117just passed it wherever it went. >> Special program information. >> Oh, our glow. I apologize. >> So, so just looking at the first line where it says we have an opportunity in fifth grade math. Um and then glow is our approach to address that opportunity. Is that what my other column is over there? >> So, uh our opportunity means that this would be kind of a target area. And so, uh for example, the first one on the on the opportunity is, uh the fifth grade math at Actton Elementary. The meats category is a different level of of uh completion or not really completion. It's a different level of achievement on the star test and so it's a higher level of achievement. So uh is that that what your question was? Well, no. I just want
118to So I And when you go across, >> okay, >> from from left to right >> Yes. >> at Actton Elementary School, fifth fifth grade math represents an opportunity for us to make additional improvement. Is that what we're describing there? >> Absolutely. >> And then then in that glow column, is that what we're doing to address that opportunity or >> those are actually achievements that have already happened. We're highlighting those achievements that the campus was able to make specific to >> this is where we have more opportunity. This is where we're excelling. >> Yes. Opportunity. Yes. >> So I want to say then where we're excelling in third grade math has to have a ripple effect downstream on fifth grade math. And so then that >> Yeah, >> it absolutely does. >> Yeah. Thank you.
119>> Okay. >> All right. Yeah. A >> very nice. >> Thank you, Stacy. Appreciate all the information. I know this is a mountain of information to try to just simplify down into bits and pieces and chunks that we can actually digest. So, thank you for all your hard work and putting this together for us and helping us get a grasp of the bigger picture of where we're at and how we're doing. Absolutely. Thank you very much. >> Okay, next up we have 2026 2027 budget assumptions. EMTT Whitefield. Thank you, Madam President. Board in front of you, you do have the 2627 uh budget assumptions. I'd kind of like to start where we are this year currently. Um we do have a just over a hund00 million budget um that does show a $2 million uh
120deficit budget that is for our six buses that we purchased this year and the HVAC project that we have that is that's fixing to go on this summer. Um we do have um presented last month we did have our AFR our annual financial review that showed that we had a $30 million um fund balance. of that fund balance, $19 million of it was committed. Of that committed fund balance, we did have the frozen levy retention fund, which is at $16.8 million. One day, we will get to stop talking about that, but that won't be today. We will bring that back to you and we will uncommit that fund balance before the end of the year for the next annual financial review. And of that, that $16.8 $8 million. We remember that that was the 24
121audit that we filed with the comproller on frozen levy loss that by we had to commit that in August, but in October they did an audit and they were they reviewed their uh values and found that they did not update our T values when they paid us that $16.8 million and found that it should have been $1.7 million and they moved that $15 million to this year's revenues. So we're now carrying that in our deferred revenue. So it kind of made our our committed fund balance look inflated for our annual review last year. Okay. So we're going to move that at the end of the year. So that's kind of where we are for this year. That's kind of that first page and it kind of explained that to you when you looked at that.
122So we'll talk about our revenues for our um assumptions. We do expect taxable values to go up as we do every year. But if you'll remember, House Bill 3 and Senate Bill Two from past, the legislators did change the way we calculate our revenues, and they did put a two 2 and 12% cap on that. Um, and and then in addition to that, this year's Senate Bill 4 and Senate Bill 23 put an additional homestead exemption from $100,000 to $140,000. Senate Bill 23 increased the um elderly and disabled exemptions from 10,000 to $60,000 in addition to that 100 to the $140,000. So we have to take those in consideration as well. And then we talk about maximum compressed tax rate that we always talk about every year. There's two calculations and you have those calculations
123in there. There's the compression from state and there's compression from um local compression. And the two calculations are there and there there's a little typo in the paragraph for state compression but the the uh formula there is correct. You start with the maximum compressed tax rate that the state used last year which was 63.222 cents and then you do the 2.5% calculation. If you calculate the state is uh assuming a 5.6% 6% growth in tax and um property growth and you do that calculation, you end up with a maximum compressed tax rate next year for the state level at 61.36. If you use a local compression, which we started with a 61.46 cents, and you do the calculation, and I just calculated a 12% tax increase. Sorry, am I moving too fast? >> Oh, sorry.
124I didn't I didn't know he was doing that. He's never done that with me before. Sorry. If you do that calculation, it brought us to a 56.25%. Now, that didn't take us to the floor this year. I use that percentage on purpose. The floor for next year, if we use this calculation, would be a 55.22% uh tax rate. Now, I use a 12%. We usually grow more than that, but I use a 12% because this is a second year of bienium. I expect us to be more in line with that. So, it wouldn't take us to the floor. So if you compare those two, we have to use the lower of the two. So we would use the 56.2525 cents as our ma our maximum compressed tax rate. However, we get to add the 17
125cents that the taxpayers approved in November of 23. So you would take the 56.25 cents and add the 17 cents. That would be our M tax rate. Now having said that, the 26 formulas have not been approved by TEA yet. So this is just an assumption at this point of how we would calculate. Now this is a second year bianium. So I expect the formulas to be pretty close to that but until TA um approves those we won't know that for sure. Again this does include the 2 and 1 half 2 and a half% cap that house bill 3 put in place back in 2019 whenever that legislation came out. It's a pretty good um assumption that that's going to be the same this year because there's not a legislature that's going to change it
126at this point. So, but until TEA puts it out, this is just an assumption, but more than likely it's going to happen since it's the second year of a banium. We will use a 99% collection rate because historically that's where we end up. We will at this point use a 0% student growth. Now we will we will um keep analyzing um PE's data and use that as we go along. We will for lack of a better word watch those numbers. They may move up or down depending on where those numbers land. Um, but right now we're going to use a 0% student growth depending on where those PE teams numbers land cuz um principles are going to come in and they're going to say, "Well, I need more teachers." And we're going to sit there
127and they're not they're not to prove it to us. And if they do and then they can prove that to us, those numbers may change. But again, revenue is based on ADA, as we heard you say earlier, and that's that's the the truth of it. So, we'll see how that goes and we and we'll take their consideration if they agree with my numbers or if I agree with their numbers. We'll see how that goes. Uh we do we will receive some state aid under HB House Bill 3 from 2019. Again, um this year currently we are scheduled to pay about $3.8 million in um recapture and u with the numbers the way they are, we expect to pay about that same amount in 2026 2027. I don't expect that to change because we are a
128property wealthy dis district and that we do we we will we we will have to pay recapture again in that in that year. Um the expenditures just like I talked just a minute ago I will do a beans data roll up. I will bro uh draw their numbers down. I will roll those numbers up into the next grade level and then I will do an assumption and a calculation of what their kindergarten numbers and prek numbers will be. And that's what we'll do for each campus. And that's what we'll project their numbers to be. They will get a per pupil allocation at that point. And then that's what we'll base their allocation for. That will not be their salaries. We'll base that on their staffing um what they will need for to staff those classrooms.
129But that will be what their peril allocation for their needs for supplies and those things. It'll be what they get for that on their for their allocations. um central office uh departments will get the same as they got last year except for um the additional allocation last year of $106 for enrollment. Those numbers will go to utilities and the fuel cuz that's what we allocated those to last year instead of having to amend those later on. We were going to go ahead and put those in those uh department allocations. Um and I plan to put those in there at the beginning of the year this year. And I want to say it was about $500,000 for additional utilities. And I want to say it was pretty close to about $350,000 for fuel. And we're going
130to go ahead and put those in those departments. And um I think those are the exact numbers that I put in there. But I as we move further into the budgeting, you'll let those numbers for sure, but I think that's what it was. It's about $850,000 in additional funds they got for those. Um this is the second year of banium so there is no additional monies coming for towards us for those things. So when we talk about staffing formulas we'll use the same staffing formulas unless there's some new things that we have coming towards us that we don't know about. But uh anything that's going to be coming towards us will be the teacher salaries and the only thing we're looking at right now will be steps that the teachers get for their years of
131service. Um, we think we've made great strides for our teaching salaries and our teaching and our other uh salary schedules with the especially with the BATRE. We think we've met uh made pretty good strides and getting those into bring us kind of in line with other districts around the area. We know we still have some work to do in those areas, but I don't make think this is the the year that we can step out there and make those corrections. I think we'll know more in the next in the coming years when it's a legislative year to see if there's more money coming towards us to be able to make those adjustments, but we'll work together to see where we can be more competitive in those areas. Um the district uh has we still have
132the uh the intention of contributing $378 towards health insurance per month for all district employees or all full-time employees. Um and then for ongoing fis uh financial management, we intend to identify programs that we don't need to get rid of or if there are uh financial needs that uh programs that we need to to look at those individually and add those as needed. Um when we start having those meetings with the departments and the the uh campuses, anything that's outside of those programs, they bring them to the superintendent and the executive cabinet and um we evaluate those and if they're needed, then we make adjustments where we have to to bring them into the budget. So, we're all here. If you have any questions, we can do our best to answer those. All right, I'll
133go. Um, so I appreciate the the 0% growth um assumption of in your calculations. I worry that we're seeing uh enrollment and the equivalent or the proportional amount of ADA tapering off. And so I worry that we might be setting ourselves up. I appreciate that it's zero. That I think that's a conservative assumption. I don't know that it's quite conservative enough. I don't want to be in a position where we overspend more than ADA uh brings us in revenues. We're not in that kind of situation, though. I think I think if you look at my budgets in the past, I'm pretty conservative in my budgets. >> I think so. >> I think when you look at my FRS, I don't think you see uh very many uh financial reviews where I've had a deficit come
134through. So, I'm I'm pretty conservative when it comes down to the nitty-gritty. Um, I push uh Miss Clark for 968A and I I >> I don't I I get close, but I don't get what I want. Usually, >> is close. >> Yeah. >> I like it better if it was a cake. >> It was a good idea. I promise. >> All right. I appreciate that. I just wanted to give you a chance to say that. >> Thank you, Mr. Rottford, for as always. It's a pleasure to go over this with you. And >> yes. >> Oh, and you do you have Sorry, you do have a calendar in here. >> That's what I want to say. So, um uploaded on the agenda item also you should update out the calendar and it lists um in
135detail what will happen all the way until you approve the um tax rate at the very bottom. So, um thank you to Emit for making it so clear exactly how the budgeting process works. So, this is only the beginning. >> Yay. I love it. Thank you so much. >> Hey, so I love that calendar. You know that I do. So, um, thank you for that and and having, uh, I wasn't prepared to speak on this, but but, but I love this in concept and I love it in, uh, that it's manifest like it has. And so, thank you again for that, both of you. All of you. >> Okay. Next is financial statements for period ending in January 2026. Mr. Whitefield. >> Thank you, Madam President. board in front of you, you do have the
136financial statements ending in January 31st, 2026. These are the transactions that occur between September 1st, 2025 and January 31st, 2026. Revenue collected to date does equal 66.97% of the budgeted amount compared to 65.85% in 24 and 25. The expenditures to date represent 39.88% of the budget compared to 42.09% in 24 and 25. There's nothing really too significant in there. Um there was a uh I noticed this morning whenever I was going through it under um other local income there was 117% >> that actually uh had to be moved under um had to be moved down under um state funding and um that had and it just moved it down to under state funding which moved it up to a little bit more than 111. But that has to do with the uh 16.8 eight again
137because we it's still carrying into this year. Um, but that was just a uh they they moved a deposit into the wrong area and I c I caught it this morning. Sorry. >> You're not supposed to tell them until we make money. >> Well, no, no, we're still making money on that on that, but it was just it was put in the wrong category and I didn't catch it till this morning. Well, >> thank you. >> All right, moving on. to the cash flow and investment report for period ending January 2026. Mr. Woodfield. >> Yes, ma'am. Uh you do have the investment in the cash flow report in front of you. Um in the month of January, we made $311,17961. This time last year, that amount was $247,596. Again, we're making that money, that uh
138$16 million, actually it's $15 million now, uh work for us. Um the total that we've made for this year is 1.174 million and last year at this time, we had only made $786,000. So again, that money is working for us. Um, it will it will eventually be our money, but at this time it's just money that we have in our deferred revenue and >> it's just working for us. >> That's all right. I'll take it. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Can I put in a plug for Brent to get us some big screen so we can see this tiny print? >> I had to print it out on legal paper. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Watfield. Moving on to consent agenda. Does anybody need to take a break? Are we good? All right,
139let's let's keep on going. All right, moving on to consent agenda items. Does anybody need to pull any of the items for discussion? >> Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as presented? >> Uh, Madame President, I move that we approve the consent agenda items as presented. Right. I have a motion by Mr. Moore. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> And a second by Mr. Bolton. Any discussion? All right. Hearing none. All in favor? Raise your hand. Let the record show that is seven in favor and zero against. The motion passes. Next on the agenda is discussion action items. 13A discuss transportation seat belts SB546. We have Brian and Husine and Emit Whitefield. I'm not sure who's coming up to speak, but okay. Thank you for giving me
140the opportunity to talk to you a little bit about uh some some of the I guess gift the Texas legislaturator's given us. um uh kind of tongue and cheek is seat belt requirements for school buses. Um what this uh SB5486 does, it requires seat belts on all buses that transport students. So if they're transporting students, they got to have seat belts on them. And that's beginning I'm kind of getting this the bullet points a little bit out of order, but that begins in September 1 of 2029. This is being implemented through transportation code 547. And re this is going to make a little bit more sense as we go a little bit more into this, but districts have to make budget limiting decisions on whether it's possible to replace the school buses by the end
141of the school year. By the end of the I'm sorry, by September 1st, 2029. >> Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I got got a got a little bit confused there myself. 27 buses. We currently have threepoint seat belts. >> You have a question. >> Yes. So, let's let's go back to that cuz I think that you said two things. Yes. >> But I think two things are true. That that the legislature has put it upon school boards to make an assessment of where we are and to be able to answer. What's my deadline for being able to answer? That's this year. So, so the school board, I guess school boards in plural across the state have to make a decision this year. >> We have to decide if you can replace the school bus.
142>> If we can if we can replace the school buses or otherwise comply with the threepoint seat belt, >> yes, >> what will happen and we'll talk a bit a little bit later on in the presentation. If you can't afford to replace the school buses, then we have to report to the legislature what's going on. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you. I think that's an important distinction. >> Um 27 of our buses are fully equipped with seat belts. 59 buses do not have three-point seat belts. 44 have none at all. 15 have twopoint lap belts. Those are pri those are specialists. So >> it says 56. Is it 56 or 59? >> It's 59 total. >> 59. >> I have 59. >> 44. No seat belts. >> 15 2.3 in. >> Yeah. >> Oh,
143okay. We may have updated some and sometimes we have to update a little bit as we move through the week. Sorry y'all. >> Yes sir. >> So the the it may be updated because we we did add six buses this year. So that could be where the discrepancy is. >> We didn't we didn't add six buses that don't have seat belts. >> No, we did not. So I don't So I don't I don't know. So So I'm I'm I'm not sure where the where the disconnect is, but we're going to go with what's on the screen. >> Okay. I know. I'm sorry. >> I apologize. I apologize. But we're going to go with what's on the screen. >> So the 44 and 15 together is the 59. >> Yes, ma'am. Okay. >> Yes, ma'am. Those
144require installation of threepoint belts. Total estimated cost to replace those 59 buses with buses that have threepoint belts is $8,736,000. >> Okay. I just want to say right here that this is just an estimate right now. We have more more costs coming in that we will have a better estimate next month for you of what this will be. This is just a ballpark at this point. Got it. >> Yes. That's a straight 72 passenger school bus. That doesn't include the uh specially equipped uh special needs buses that 15 of those are. >> Right. >> And this that number that 8 million number 8.7 million number is more likely to go up than down. >> Yes, sir. Most definitely. Thank you. because that 8 million was based upon when we bought the six buses and I
145went with the high price which was 159 and from my sources they say that number is going to go up significantly >> and so I don't just to put a little perspective on it isn't necessarily bad that that let me figure out where to start that sentence. um know knowing that that number is as high as it is and it and it looks ownorous. >> Yes, sir. the the the responsibility that the board has is to make these this kind of assessment and then carry that back to the state to say you've put this responsibility on us and it comes with a with a heavy dollar uh expenditure on our part and then we we make a plea then to the state or the state will come to some decision that they may or may
146not help to fund these things. >> Yes, sir. One minute we finish this report. I'm going to read a piece of the law to you so you can make a informed decision. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Well, I'm going to turn the legal stuff over to Mr. Hussein right now and he's going to talk a little bit more about what y'all's responsibility is and what you need to do. >> Thank you, Brian. >> Board, uh, Dr. M. Um so under transportation code uh 547701 the board must determine whether purchasing or contracting for buses equipped with threepoint seat belts is financially feasible for gram ID. This determination will trigger subsequent reporting requirements by tea that SB 546 dictate on. So board action must be taken in a public meeting such as this one. So this is
147to your question Mr. Bolton. So if budget does not permit full compliance then um then the information must be presented in the public meeting and I will have recommendation at the last slide. The number of buses by seat belt type, no belts, two points belt, and three points belt. Uh, three points belts. An estimated cost to equip each bus with three points seat belts. So, right now, the cost to retrofit the current buses we have is about $2 million. This is an estimate. Some of these retrofits will also void the warranties that we currently have on those buses. This is also mentioned in SB546. The board minutes and agenda from the from the meeting that we vote on will be required for tea submission. Um so the reporting the reporting timeline it's opened in November
14811 and um I know this date sounds early but we are way ahead of the game uh in comparison to other school boards. Um the reporting deadline is the last day of uh academic uh year. So May 29, 2026. It has to be submitted through TEA Sentinel uh as the bus reporting model that they just opened. And then we will have to include all up to-dates documentation including board minutes where the board approved or denied the approval for the budget and cost estimates for um replacing the buses. only required districts making a budget only required for districts making a budget limitation determination. So, this will only be needed if the board decide to not fund the estimated $9 million to replace the buses. CA is collecting this data for potential funding. Okay. Um so the
149that's the that's the reasoning behind SB546 and that is mentioned in the law. Data will be used to evaluate potential state funding mechanism. School districts may be eligible to participate in grants program for seat belt installation. All additional details on grants program will be provided by TEA in the coming months. And I know for a fact that TA has a deadline of January 1, 2027 by the legislature to submit and combine all the data they're collecting from us. So what's the next step? Next step administration uh would be presenting a detailed visibility report and final cost information to the board. Next month, um the board will review and discuss the implications for the district budget and operations. The board will take action on physibility determination at that public meeting. If the budget constraints apply, board
150will present required information publicly. The district will submit required cost reports and supporting documentation to TEA by May 29, 2026. Um there was a question earlier about the numbers. So the the number of the buses we we have the same buses. However, SB546 defines what's a bus and it's more than just a big yellow bus. So there are activity buses. So every bus that transport students that is owned and operated by Grand ISD has to be on that list. So we went back and made sure that all those buses per SB 546 are reflected in the number we shared with you. >> Okay. Okay. So, he kind of mentioned what I was going to talk to you about and but okay. By July by January 1st, 2027, the Texas Texas Education Agency shall collect the
151information submitted under subsection F, calculate the total amount of financial assistance needed for all school districts, all school districts to come in full compliance with subsections E and summarize and make available to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of the legislature the information described by subsections one and two. What they're doing is they're collecting information to find out how much it's going to cost to help supplement this for all districts because, you know, this is costing us $9 million, but a district that has a lot of buses could cost them $40 million to $50 million. So, they're trying to figure out how to fund this. >> Um, >> it it's $9 million that we hadn't otherwise planned for. >> So, yeah. Right. So, we talked a
152minute ago about our budget is $100 million. Okay. We talked about we have a $30 million fund balance. Now, this year we actually had an issue where we sold some land. So, we're going to have a little bit of money. But even if with that, if we were to spend $9 million, that's going to put us about 24 or 25% of our operating budget. Okay? So, bud policy, we have to be at 20. So now we've we've depleted our fund balance down to a situation that if we have an emergency >> that costs us if we have a roof go down, we're going to be in a situation where we depleted us below board policy. So that's the kind of things that you have to think about whenever you're answering this question. Can we spend
153$9 million on these amount of buses in two years? >> Plus these are older buses, correct? >> This is true. Yes, ma'am. So, these are older buses that we're not going to have for that long. And we're going to put all this money into these older buses. >> This is true. And this and this this $9 million is replacing buses. So, we're already in a situ we're already in a process where we're replacing six to eight buses a year. >> That's where we're going to go to next to >> what we're going to what we can we're going to be in a situation where we're going to have to replace these buses. But this answer that we're going to give them is going to have they're going to help us step up to help supplement.
154I I believe I don't know. >> They don't believe any yet, >> right? They haven't promised any dollars yet, but this sounds like they're going to help us get there. >> We're going to continue doing what we're doing. >> Yeah. >> We just may have to do it at a faster pace. >> Uhhuh. But I think that for them for us to say we can't do $9 million or $9.5 million in two years. >> I mean these are these are things that we need to think about. Yeah, we can't we can't >> these are things that we need to think about at the dis say >> well and it and it feeds back trustees it feeds back to the uh to the calendar that we saw saw at the end of the last report that
155we already have a go forward plan for replacing those buses on at a regular intervals. And so that that being true, then some of those might already be slated to be replaced in the next couple of years. And >> all things get rid of, >> right? That makes no sense, >> right? But isn't it isn't it kind of the of Austin to tell us how to spend money and then not give it to us? >> But either way either way, it's taxpayer money, right? We're either spending it out of the budget we have or the budget they augment with the additional monies, but it's still taxpayer money >> to buy buses with seat belts that kids don't even wear. What's what do we know? How many kids really wear seat belts, >> right? I mean,
156they don't all pile into a bus and throw on three-point harness. >> Do we have numbers for that or >> we um the drivers before they head out um they tell everybody, "Buckle it up, guys. You got on." if they're standing up, they don't have their seat belts on. So, that's how they address it. Now, >> we don't have any kind of uh special screen up there that says seat 16, seat belts unlocked or anything like that. >> Yeah. >> But we we start the game off with everybody buckled up. >> Yeah. >> And where it goes from there, >> right, >> is anyone's guess that that >> still Thank you, Austin. Yeah, that's right. They're going to make us buy something that has that. One thing I have mentioned when we first got into
157the seat belt thing years ago is if I have a child in the car with a threepoint belt and they are 7 years old, I better have a booster seat. But we don't need to do that. And I just had the hardest time with this Austin mandate for something that is supposed to work for a sevenyear-old and a 19year-old or an 18year-old. I mean, it's just crazy. >> Yes, ma'am. And part of what uh you'll experience if you've been on a bus with a seat belt, try to put those on. They designed those for that to go down. So the littles are safely belt buckled in. But the problem with that comes is the bigger high school students, those uh belts are down below and they've got to squeeze in underneath it. So um it's
158hard to be a one sizefits-all. >> You can't do it safely. You just >> not safely. No. >> All right. Let me ask about this point that you made about um that retrofitting those buses comes in cheaper at $2 million to do that instead of $9 million to replace them, but and that I know those are early numbers. I don't mean to hold you to that in any way, but the notion that it voids the warranty to add seat belts to the buses >> sounds like something that we could negotiate with the manufacturer to say, "Come on now. Laws requiring me to do this. You can't say that my they I don't guess we have carburetors anymore, but you can't you can't say that the carburetor is out of warranty because we bolted in another
159seat belt. >> What we're talking about with the warranty, it's not traditionally the warranty that you and I think about when we take our car in to have it serviced for the 2-year warranty or whatever. What that is is the manufacturer is not going to stand behind their bus if something bad were to happen. >> And so that's where and it's uh right now it's just Bluebird buses that they are not standing behind which we have lesser of those but we've been getting more of those. But if the incident is such that the that the seat belt tears away in an accident, they they're saying that's not that's not covered by that's not their liability. >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. Yeah, I get that. But it doesn't void the warranty alto together. >> No, sir.
160Yeah. Okay. Most of those those buses that are affected like that are passed warranty by the state. >> That's what I was going to say next is they're probably they're out of warranty anyway. Yeah. >> And I don't want to go away from that question, but that's not the first question TEA is asking. The first question they're asking is >> can we afford to replace all those buses? >> That's right. Fair enough. Thank you for that. >> Yeah, >> that's good to it's good to kind of come back to the ground >> because they have to expect that there are 1,254 or how many however many school districts we have are going to say, uh, sure we got it. >> Yeah. No, they know that, right? Yeah. Thank you so much. Appreciate all the information.
161Okay, moving on to the next thing. Discuss and possible action on the demolition of the technology building located at 600 West Bridge Street, Granberry, Texas. And it might build. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um, this was put on as information to discuss and not necessarily action, but can be action if you would like it to. Um, this was put out this this is the old technology building across the road. Um, we had a young man who wanted to make it a drive-thru. Um, and um, we actually did get insurance money from him in the amount of $50,000. This happened in March of last year of 2025. Um, and um, the repair on the building was going to be extremely expensive. Um, so we looked into what it was going to cost to for the abatement
162and for um, the management of that abatement. and then the um actual um convention of that building. So when we did that, we came up we did we put it out for bid. U Mr. uh Shabbi and um Haley went in there and did did a complete uh bid on all three of those projects. The uh the management of it um they came up with farmers um environmental. It was $22,32 for the management of it. The abatement came in, which was the most expensive, at $90,625. And then the actual um uh demolition came in at $45,000 for a total of $157,657 for the total demolition of that building. And like I said, we did receive $50,000 in insurance money for that. So, the total cost on that would cost us about $107,657 to do the
163demolition of that building. So, it's just for information at this point. Um, but uh Mr. Shabby's here and he's like, so we can we can try to answer any questions you might have about that building. >> Can we get that guy to crash through it two more times? I do want to remind the board that we discussed this at a work session in October and it was the will of the board at that time for us to bring back to you this information about um demolishing this building. It's it's not inhabitable to get it up to code and to um for us to inhabit it would would be very expensive for a taxpayer. So >> I have a I have a best use study from years ago that they talked about demoing that building years
164and years ago. This never happened. So, >> and this would removes the concrete. >> This takes it down. Takes it down to the ground. Takes the foundation out. Everything regress it to the ground level back to grass. Yes. >> Madame President, I move that we um accept this opportunity in this bid and go ahead and demolish this building. >> I second. >> Okay. I have a motion by Nancy Alana and a second by Mr. Bolton. Do I have any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor, raise your hand. Let the record show that is seven to zero. In favor, motion passes. Next item, discuss and possible action to nominate a person to fill the vacancy on the Johnson County Appraisal District Board. Dr. Moroski. >> Yes. So, we um got information that there is I
165think an unexpected vacancy and um I did have one name submitted to me uh and the name they have submitted to me um for the board to consider from um Timolton Shane McNeel. So, um we're happy to to add any names that the board would consider or would like to add for um this process. Okay. Do I have any other nominations? Okay. Do I have a motion to nominate Shane McNeel? >> So moved. >> Okay. I have a motion by Mr. Bolton to nominate Shane McNeel. Do I have a second? >> No second. Okay. And a second by Miss Alana. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Raise your hand. Let the record show that is seven in favor, zero against. The motion passes. Moving on to the next item. Discussion. take action on
166the board election terms resolution. Um, yeah, that's that one. Okay. So, as we have we have two on here. Actually, it's on here. One, two. >> This is the first one. The election. This is the election. >> Okay. Discuss and take action. Okay. That's this one. >> We're on D. >> Yes, we're on D. Discuss and take action on the board election terms resolution. All right. So, this is at the board's pleasure. >> I'll um go ahead and just start this conversation just to bring our community and and um the board as reminders. Um so, this was brought to us um the first request by Barbara Towns and and Nancy Alana. Just in review, we started the conversation in April last year. We did put it on hold based on waiting on the legisl legislative
167updates. In December, we brought the conversation back up um with some more information about HB 3546. In January, the board did meet with uh legal counsel in close session to discuss it. One of the things that we discussed was whether um if you did uh choose to transition to either even or odd, either way, would that happen have to happen immediately? And so, I did underline the word must as a reminder. If you choose to move to a a four-year term, we must start um at the next election cycle. So the chart below um that you're looking at is the updated information that we have available after our um council with our legal advice and then really it's up to you guys to and we are uh we are prepared to respond either way as
168the district so you guys can discuss and and give us guidance about what to do next. All right. So this will be our fourth meeting to talk about this agenda item. It's something I know that this board has considered carefully, has been very intentional about, has not rushed this process, and has made sure that we have all the information that we need to be able to make an informed decision and do what is best for this school district. Um, the floor is open for discussion. >> I would like to uh >> Oh my good. Maybe we should take a motion first. >> Let's take a motion first. Yes, I'm out of order. Point of order on myself. Okay. Do I have a motion for this agenda item? Do I have a motion to approve the
169election terms resolution? I move that we approve the proposal that is in this package. Okay. I have a mo I have a motion by Miss Townsen. Do I have a second? >> I second it. And I have a second by Stuart Neil. Okay. Any discussion? >> Yes. So I can acquies to the four-year terms. Um I I agree with the interest in uh the improved governance continuity having experienced it here on the board. I I I'm slow to do that because I I like to hold government accountable and so more opportunities to do that voting for shorter terms for anybody that I don't just I'm not just talking about school board or trustee terms but anybody in government I want to hold accountable at the most frequent opportunity that we can do that. Um, I
170think that just goes with uh responsible and transparent government. Um, but having been here, I understand and living in this county where it gets a little bit cutthroat in doing that every year and then also the not only the frequency but the fatigue that that puts on voters as well. So, I can appreciate that. Um, so I get there. It's the odd year election idea that gives uh people angst and anger and um we heard some of that from the people today um that >> we are elected by the people to represent the people and the best way to represent the people is by taking a larger sampling of those people and the will of the people to be reflected in that. Um, and we know that even number years has always had always had
171greater voter participation. And so that also reflects a larger and I'll stop short of saying what some people have said, voter suppression that makes it sound like it's that it's um, uh, aggressive and purposeful. I don't think that it's necessarily that, but uh but in light of knowing that that's the effect and the outcome of that coupled with moving forward to uh to approve this motion today, um I think is it it betrays those words and reveals those intentions that that oddyear elections uh take a smaller cross-section of the of the community where greater participation represents a larger cross-section of the people and the larger cross-section of the people better represents the will of the people. And um I know that that speaks to I know that that speaks to um having uh the comment
172that that we had um earlier today about about catering to special interests because we have less voter participation and that those who participate in those activities are voting in odd ers um have a special interest in doing that. And so that said, I'll submit to the compromised position that we have four-year terms, but I am still disagreeing with the notion of doing it in odd years. all the things I I'll go on to say this that that all the things that we listed as being uh advantageous to going to to fouryear terms um are the same in oddyear elections and even year election that we improve government continuity that we have reduced election frequency and thus voter fatigue that we have the cost savings because we're only conducting elections every other year where the district
173pays for those elections um I don't there's also a line in there about best practices I I don't know who has assigned that um that feature that um characteristic to four-year terms, but so be it. It would be the same either way that it would affect even terms and oddear terms affect um equally. Uh where we lose that is those four things being true would be true of both oddyear elections and evenear elections. But it's only in oddyear elections that we ignore the will of the people and taxpayers. I think that uh we say that we're interested in the will of the people and we want to see more participation in the lower um voter participation years in odd number of years. Um but I worry and to it was Don Johnson's point uh who
174said to us from the podium that uh that we lose community support because we are not taking uh a a sampling a a larger sampling of what the community really cares about. And so by doing that and taking it to some uh esoteric interest in um oddyear elections that we're losing the will of the people and taxpayers have an interest in these in these I mean I 73% of my property taxes go to the school district so taxpayers and I don't have any children in school anymore and so it's not strictly what teachers and parents and school admins care about but we all have a stake in the game and we are all stakeholders in it. And so where we vary is that the will of the people and taxpayers and versus the will of
175special interest and um and just general accountability and transparency to the to the people. >> Can you clarify for me who who are you calling special interest? I I think that when when we go to to an odd year election that you're only talking about the people who have some certainly I'll tell you that everybody who has a GISD paycheck uh GISD logo on their paycheck would have an interest in what is going on in those elections and so they would be more compelled to show up for >> wouldn't the parents and the families and communities at large be more compelled to show up as well? I mean, do GISD employees only vote in odd years? >> No, but I'm saying that we know that fewer people do vote in odd years, >> right? But
176I'm asking you're using the terminology special interests. I'm just asking for clarification here. >> That's it. >> So, you're you're saying it's the GISD employees that we're trying to cater to. No, I'm not suggesting that it's strictly them, but but you said it yourself or I'll let you say it for yourself that that when we go to oddyear elections, you are talking about people who have a more vested interest. And I don't I don't want to put words in your mouth, so you say it the way you think. >> No, what I'm saying is an odd year in our conversation earlier. >> Yeah. >> You don't have all the other noise going on with the national and state level elections. It's very hard for any school board election to get through that noise. And so
177by going to odd years, we're actually able to better inform our community about our local school board elections so that they can make the best choice for their their school district, whoever that candidate may be. But it's for me it's about a getting information out to the community in a way that isn't overshadowed by the rhetoric and the the ugliness of the national and state level politics. Because when you have the oddyear election and the school board election is the only one on the ballot, then you're able to better inform your community about those issues in your school district. And when your community is involved, well, when your community is informed, they're going to be more involved. So, I don't I don't I don't necessarily agree that an odd year election, we're going to continue
178to see lower numbers. There's going to be lower numbers no matter what because people are going to vote for the president cuz sometimes that's all they get out and vote for and they don't vote for anything else. We have no control over that. But what I think we're going to see is have more local participation at the local level because we're going to be able to get our community better informed about school board races. >> You think that oddyear elections, we're going to see an uptick in voter participation in oddyear elections because we choose to put school board trustee elections. >> I think the opportunity is there. I think well in the schoolboard election obviously I think the opportunity is there. >> Okay. I think it does damage to us in the general community and
179we're going to great I I'll give Dr. Moroski credit that she is going to great lengths to have community outreach and create those programs and talk to um create advisory committees and uh bring in like Golden Pioneers and the rest of that community outreach and those things are happening because we want greater community participation. Those are all great things. >> And now we're going to cut that off at the knees because we're going to have fewer and less people who are represented by their votes because fewer people we know in advance that fewer people are going to participate in those in those uh oddyear elections. >> We have always had elections in odd years. >> Yes. >> Well, we have elections in odd years right now. >> I know. >> We have always had those.
180And so we have never um we have never stifled elections in odd years. We have had fewer people come out. >> Correct. >> But that's only because we haven't had political uh activities going on at the state and national level that influenced voters to come out. People that were not interested in voting for school board. only those that were really interested in our schools and interested in the schoolboard election actually came out to vote. That is because it was not an a a political vote, >> which schoolboard elections were never intended to be political. >> This is getting us back to what schoolboard elections were intended to be. I appreciate >> they were never to be about politics. They were to be about education. And we are trying to get our elections back to students
181and education and take it away from the political part. >> This is not I'm not talking about politics. I'm talking about community involvement and those community involvement odd years as well as even years. They just have to be get themselves to the polls and we are not stifling them from getting to the >> I know. I appreciate that. That's the reason why I was careful not to use the word voter suppression because I don't think that's what's at play. I don't think there's the true intent of doing that, but but knowing in advance that that there is less voter participation in those oddyear elections, it has the same effect. We know that the outcome and the effect is that fewer people will participate and everything you just said describes catering to special interest. >> No,
182I do not agree. I think you have very I think you have more uninformed voters during for public uh for schoolboard elections when you have a huge turnout for uh presidential elections and state elections. You have more uninformed voters for schoolboard elections. Well, well, what you see is usually in those elections, whoever has the top spot on the ballot is who's going to get the vote and it's so because they're just voting down that ballot and whoever's in the top spot is going to get that that vote. Um, yeah, sorry. Go ahead. So, first off, just to make sure anyone who's listening right now, the way the spot for schoolboard elections is chosen is it's a random drawing. So the one two three position is just pulled out of a hat. So there's nothing special
183about that. So I went back and I looked at our trustee elections over the last 11 years. In odd elections, two sometimes wins, three sometimes wins, one sometimes wins. 2024, one and one. 2022 one one and one 20 uncontested one. 2018 was uncontested and that one was unusual in that Chris Willis won election and he had a lot of backing from a lot of people. Um he even had state uh articles written about him being the youngest person to ever run for school board. He was still in high school. Go to 2016 one one uncontested. Now when you go past 2016 you now have you're allowed straight party voting. When you had straight party voting then you started seeing twos threes. So what is happening is people aren't looking at who's on the ballot in
184even number years. They're just we are a Republican community >> and Republicans are number one on the ballot. So what they're doing is they're just going I am assuming they're going right on down the ballot. 2024, 2022, 2020, 2018, 2016. We've got a trend here. >> Mhm. I think you're right about that. So that's why I think that if you want to really have people take the time to know what's going on in schoolboard elections, it needs to be separated from national elections. So maybe my experience is a little bit unique in that I just went through this process and I'm still trying to decompress this process. Um, but over this past week, I've had a lot of conversations with members of the community um, who have called me and um, asked my opinion on
185this issue and tried to sway me of their thoughts. And that caused me to do a little bit of research and um, it's actually in the election code. It actually specifically says that in partisan races in 52.091, 1091 it says that the party for the governor the current governor is listed first on all partisan races and in Texas since dating back since Anne Richards was in office that's been the Republicans right and so I think what happens in even years and this is based on conversations I've had with community and then even based in in conversations I had with voters just less than 6 months ago there's confusion in the community about school board races and when we were knocking doors and talking to people, almost every person asked, "What party are you in?" And
186the reality is, we're all Republicans up here. But the truth of the matter is, these races are are nonpartisan, right? And so I think that gets lost in the shuffle sometimes when somebody comes and they know because they can see on their ballot it's Republican, Republican, Republican number one all the way down as set by law and then they get there and then they're starting to wonder who's, you know, they're going to pick the first one because that's the Republican because that's how it's listed. And it doesn't help that there are groups in the community that say they're real Republicans versus non-real Republicans and try to cast these elections into partisan elections, which they're not meant to be. I I also am a little bit disturbed by the language of voter suppression. We heard that
187tonight, fair and free elections, because I'm not aware of anything in Texas law that says certain people can't vote in odd number years. And if they choose not to vote, that's on them. But there's nothing that says that nobody's suppressing the vote, nobody is stopping the vote. But we heard that from two or three people tonight. And it's just it's just not appropriate. But the reality is that if we put these elections if we cycle them away from the president and the governor, the focus is going to be on who's best to run GISD. And that's what it ought to be about, right? It's not red. It's not blue. It's about purple. Pirate purple. And who's going to do the best for our kids and that when you put the focus on the schools and
188away from the noise, away from the nonsense of the governor and presidential elections, I think you're going to get a better better outcome. >> Thank you. >> Well said, Stuart. Um Stuart's still campaigning. I'm not going to rehash everything you said because I I the ballot placement was real important to me, but I too want to get back to odd years so we can get back to school board being nonpartisan and take the politics out of it. >> But the pe So the people don't want that according to according to Stuart's own testimony. >> The people when you knock on their doors want to know are you a Republican. I don't I don't care that we up here say that these are nonpartisan roles. These are nonpartisan seats. The people of this town want to
189know that you're a Republican and they want to vote for you as Republicans. So, we can say all day long this is nonpartisan, but it's not. >> It keeps the politics out of the schools. It keeps it keeps it keeps the rhetoric and the division and the ugliness of the politics in this county. and we've all seen it out of our schools. And if we're going to do what's best for this district, we've got to get the focus back on the kids. And this is a way to do that. And the intent behind this is rooted in doing what is best for the district to move us forward so that we can do the best for kids in our community. This isn't about suppressing votes. Nobody up here is trying. People in the community are
190saying that. Public comments tonight said that. Nobody up here is preventing anyone or trying to stop anyone from voting. Everyone has the right to go vote regardless of what odd or even year it is. This is about what's doing doing what's best for the kids in this district. The kids are responsible for educating and making sure we keep the noise and ugly division that we see in politics out of our schools. So the focus is back on electing the best candidate to help lead the district forward so that we're providing the best educational opportunities for the kids. >> Madam President, recall the question. >> Okay. Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> We have a motion on >> Yes. I'm sorry. We already had a motion. We have a motion by We have a
191motion by Townsen and Alana. >> All second. >> Um Okay. I'm so sorry. Townsen and a late. What time is it? Please. It's my bedtime job. Okay, we have a motion by Townsen and a second by Neil. We're done discussing. We have called for the vote. All in favor, raise your hand. Okay, let the record show that is six in favor. Any against? Mr. Bolton against. The motion passes. Thank you for the Thank you for the discussion even though we may not have all agreed on it. Thank you for the civil discussion and thank you for taking the time to to let your thoughts be known and I appreciate the civility. This is a great example of this is a great example of that. Okay, next. Can I make one comment about that? Um now
192that you've approved this um resolution, I'll make sure that we're certain about that. Then I will bring back the policies that support the resolution to you next month. So the resolution um will be approved tonight. That's what you all approved. Um, and then I will bring back two updated policies, local policies that will describe what that looks like in our district with the language update. >> Thank you very much. Okay, next item is 13E. So, I want to be clear because there's two items on here that kind of look like they're about the same thing. So, 13E is to discuss and take action on SB11 resolution. Now, this is the resolution from the state. This is the state resolution regarding um religious prayer and reading in uh in during class time. >> Yes. And we
193have I'm sorry, >> Tammy will kind of preview that for you if you want her to leave that conversation for you. >> Sure. That would be great. Okay. Well, um, by March 1st, it was, um, set in law that you have to record a vote, um, on the SB11 resolution as written by the state. Um, Granberry currently complies with state and federal law regarding religious freedom by providing a moment of silence during the day. Um, where they can reflect in silent reflection or pair or prayer and allows them to read any religious text during independent reading time consistent with instructional expectations and constitutional protections. So, if you choose to adopt the resolution um requiring a daily period of prayer, um there's a couple of things that are that would be required. I would bring back
194DGA local and FNA local next month of um of board policy that would delineate um the changes to be consistent with the law for the schools that apply uh and accept the resolution. Um the DEGA local would deal with employee rights and privileges and the FNA local would deal with student rights responsibilities and student expression of religion. Um and some of the things that go with this um for the implementation requirements is um a potential impact on campus master schedules because it cannot be part of the instructional minutes of the day. And so that's a um impact across the campuses. Um there's some other things in the um employee rights and student rights that would make um campuses have to have some different shifts that we can do if um that's the will of the
195board. But if you choose not to adopt the resolution, no new policy would be required. And the um you could look at a second resolution that's um driven by this board to um affirm the district's continued commitment to provide the moment of silence and allowing voluntary prayer and religious text reading um as currently practiced. So I'm open for questions if you have any uh regarding the policy or anything else in this regard. Otherwise, the decision for this resolution of SB11 is the will of the board. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Clark. So, do I have a motion? >> So, voting >> if you vote. >> Yes, we keep it like it is. >> If you vote no on this, we keep our current policy because we already allow for children to be able to read. If
196they want to read the Bible, they get to read the Bible, but we aren't setting aside specific time outside of instructional time. And there's all kinds of other things that go into that for specific reading of religious texts and prayer. This is this is keeping policy as is. If you vote no. >> Yes. >> Wait, let me clarify that a little bit that there's there's a some nuance there. So, should the motion be that we choose to decline the resolution, we would be voting yes to decline. We're so you can vote not to pass the SB11 resolution. >> Correct. And we would be voting yes. >> A yes. >> It would be a yes vote. Yes to decline. >> Correct. >> Right. >> I just want to make sure that's clear because we're not voting
197no, Mike. >> Okay. >> You're voting You're voting not to pass the SV1. >> Voting yes not to pass. Depends on what if >> depends on the wording of the motion. >> Yeah. >> Just do I have a >> I move that we decline the SB11 resolution as written. Okay. So I have a motion by Miss Townson to decline the SB11 resolution as written. Do I have a >> I have I will give you a second on that. >> Okay. I have a second by Dr. Lawrence. Any discussion? So, so Tammy took away a little bit of my thunder on that because I wanted to make make this some of the statements that she did that in this town and in this district, our students already enjoy the freedom to use any free time that
198they have to engage in prayer and Bible reading if they so choose. Um, this policy, our policy, the current policy includes daily moments of silence, which are a little wanting, but we'll work on that. um immediately after the pledges during the morning announcements. Um and that the policy would continue unabated. Um also it uh continues without additional incumbrances from Austin like we were discussing about buses and threepoint harnesses and the rest um and those unintended consequences. And so um I think those are all my comments. >> Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor to not accept I'm sorry. All in favor to decline the SB11 resolution as presented, raise your hand. Let the record show that is six in favor. Any against? >> 30 in favor. >> Okay. I'm sorry. >> Seven in favor.
199Motion passes to decline the SB11 resolution as presented. Okay. Now the second one is to discuss and take possible action on a prayer resolution. This was our own resolution that two board members had drafted for us to consider. I'm going to open the conversation with um this is the beginning of a conversation that we would like to have the board. It was brought up by Tim Bolton and Steuart Neil to say um to to clarify our commitment to um religious freedom when applicable and where it is. So, this is just a board discussion um about whether we want to continue that draft idea and refinement um if we need it or not. It's just really up to the board, but I'm going to let you two talk if you'd like because you're the ones that
200brought it to the agenda item. I >> I think my notes would be the same for that. You heard it already. And I would just follow up that we have a draft written um that we've sent to the superintendent and it basically just reaffirms in the uh in the resolution um the things that we do positively for the kids and for the community and points out the draft points out the uh the the um the issues with SB11 and why that would change how that would change policy negatively for our kids in our district. And um so it's a draft that Mr. Mr. Bolton and I worked on together. And like I said, we've submitted that to the superintendent for legal review. And then um certainly we will welcome your input and anything that y'all
201would like to see in that that as well. >> Do we have to make a decision on that this time? >> We don't have to vote on it tonight. We did have to vote on the SB11 resolution tonight, but this one we can we can vote on at the next meeting and take no action tonight or we can vote on it tonight. >> Or we could even just let it go. >> Yeah. Or we can let it go. It's up it's just the will of the board about what should you proceed. I didn't put the resolution on here. It came a little late and so um not not negative but no it's not negative. Uh but they gave us a chance to have the conversation about whether you want to continue that route or not.
202Sometimes we get an emotional response. Um so it's just up to you about whether you want to continue. We can't there there's no further action needed at this point. If it's something that you would like to do, we'll continue that conversation. You give me guidance about how you want to proceed. No no voting tonight on that. uh just give us guidance about what you would like to do next. >> So in fairness to the rest of the board, the the content therein describes the current circumstances that we already have the the freedom to figure so that the public doesn't think we're just like no cuz we already do this. And >> that's right. We're not we're not shutting down anybody's we're we're not denying them the right to read their Bibles or other religious texts
203if they choose >> or uh devotional or to spend that that time in prayer. >> Okay. >> They they already enjoy that and we only wrote that to add clarity to it >> for the public. I I appreciate that. Thank you so much. So, um, we can take no action and then we can bring it back next month where we discuss and vote on it. >> They can choose not to put it on the agenda for next month. >> Yeah, that's fine. >> So, is the guidance that we want to bring it back or the board does not want to bring it back? >> I would I would think it would be up to the if y'all want to put it back on next month's agenda, then that's >> Yeah. So, we'll table it for
204today. >> Okay. Y'all just let us know. >> Yeah, we'll table it for today. and if it within the next month we choose that we want to put it on. So, let me go ahead add I don't want mean to go back to the to the last agenda item, but I will make the comment that we uh we are under pressure to make a decision in this meeting because we have we have a a March 1st deadline >> for the SB11 which we just for us to have our own >> I just want to go back for a second because I failed to make this point but but um I I don't like that we get uh did that come with 126 policy 126 or warehouse regate 126. >> So we we were waiting on
205guidance. Um but we always try to bring things as quickly as we can. Most districts are discussing Yeah. Um it just this is when we have it here on the agenda this year. >> Yeah. No, I appreciate that. I I just mean that where wherever we're getting that guidance from, if we can give them uh an impression that we want to see these things so that we can deliberate over it more diligently, right? and to be able to make those decisions instead of under pressure. >> Okay. Okay. So, no action on this item tonight and then we'll move on to the next one. Discuss some possible legal discuss some possible action on local policies from update 126. Miss Tammy Clark. >> Yes. So, um we've been reviewing update 126. Um we two months ago brought
206the legal policies. They're not adopted by the board, but it was um it was uh great at great length. We discussed the all of the changes to the legal policies and then last month we brought the local policies that were um adjusted by the legal to answer. Update 126 is only going to be the ones that do not require board action to have extras. Does that make good sense? And so if you have to have a resolution, they're not going to include that in the normal update. And um so you're not wrong that we should we could have bought it sooner if we' have had it sooner, but we were seeking legal counsel about what that really looked like. >> Again, not a criticism of you. I know you got it when you got it.
207>> Yes. Yes. But for this one, this is the package of um policy update 126 and it is unless you have questions, then it is um presented for your consideration to approve the local policies in update 126. Madam President, I move that we um approve um the update 126 local board policy as proceeded. Thank you. I have a motion by Nancy Alana to approve. Do I have a second? >> I'll second it. >> And then a second by Dr. Lawrence. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Raise your hand. Let the record show that is seven in favor, zero against. The motion passes. Next is to discuss some possible action on local policy FD. This is the UIL home school pilot program. Dr. Moroski. >> Yes. As a reminder board, um we came to
208you last August. Um we had to make a decision at that time as well about whether to include homeschool students in our UIL activities. At that time, the board had careful consideration. We went to our um community, run a survey, we had a committee um and decided that in um February, I would bring to you uh a pilot plan for next school year to allow homeschool students to participate in some capacity in our UIL activities. However, um in December, we started noticing our enrollment. And so that stopped kind of the conversation and uh about allowing others to come in and really shifted our focus to uh focus on the work that needed to be done to make sure that we are meeting our families and students um needs here in the district. So I am
209proposing that we make another adjustment to this policy and to not have a pilot program for homeschool students to to participate in UIL activities next school year. However, my firm belief is that this law is changing. um the next legislative session. I believe that we're work that we're doing in virtual school is setting our school system up to be able to be nimble enough to modify and adjust and to be able to implement those homeschool students in if mandated by law. The district, of course, the board can always choose each year um whether to allow students to come and go uh from home school into activities. Um, I just want to remind us that with a with a dip in our enrollment this year, it wouldn't be a great idea, in my opinion, to create
210a system that might allow students to leave, um, we were trying to create a system that would be able to meet students flexibility needs and have them as GIS students here in the district. So, um, the vote would be whether you would um, accept the recommendation to not allow a pilot program in the, uh, school system for UIL students next year. >> Thank you, Dr. Moski. Do I have a motion to not allow the pilot program for homeschool students next year? >> Uh, yes, Madame President. I move that the board approved the revised FD local the homeschool students participating in UIL activities policy as presented. >> Okay, I have a motion by Mr. Moore. Do I have a second? >> A second. >> And a second by Miss Alana. Any further discussion about not allowing
211the pilot program for homeschool participation next year? Hearing none. All in favor, raise your hand. >> I'm going to abstain. >> Is that a yes or an abstension? >> Do you want to state your reason for abstaining? >> No. >> Okay. Let the record show that is six in favor, one abstaining being Mr. Bolton. The motion passes and with no further business, the time is now 9:07 p.m. This meeting is adjourned.