001All right. The time is now 50:01. I call this meeting of the Granberry Independent School District to order. Let the time let the record show that a quorum of board members is present, that this meeting has been duly called, and that the notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, chapter 551. Uh, this board will now adjourn into executive sess session pursuant to the following sections. 551.072 072 discussion of purchase, exchange, lease or value of real property. Uh section 551.074 discussion of officers, employees and personnel matters. And I believe that is it. The time is now and we will adjourn. into executive session. is 610. The board is reconvening following executive session. We will have a short recess and then we will reconvene in open
002session. All right, we will now reconvene in open session and we will begin by an invocation. If you'll bow with me, please. My most gracious heavenly father, how thankful we are for this day and for each and every blessing that you have given to us. We're so thankful for this Christmas season. And Lord, we just pray that you will give us this heart for love and faith and hope each and every day of the year. Lord, we just thank you for the opportunity to make decisions for this school district that would benefit our students, our teachers. And Lord, as we go through the holiday season, Lord, we just pray that you'll help remind us how fortunate we are to have each other and to remind each other that we care for each other. Lord, we
003are reminded that our lives are short. And Lord, we just pray that you'll be with friends and family that are suffering during this time. Lord, I just pray you'll be with us during uh our meeting. Help us to make decisions that are wise and we thank you for the opportunity to be here. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, we will now have our pledges led by students from Oakwoods. [clears throat] All right. >> All right. Good evening, Dr. Mosski, board of trustees, and our community. I just want to take thank you for this opportunity for our kiddos to lead our pledges tonight. And I'm going to let Miss Hunt, our student council representative, introduce you to our kiddos. Hi everybody. This is Davis Moore. He's the president of our student council this year.
004And this is Tate Marian. He's our vice president. Lily No is our secretary. And Emma Frederick, she is our public relations person this year. >> Okay. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Okay, I'm good evening. Um, my name is Chelsea Gibson and I'm the principal here at Oakwoods and I just want to say thank you for this opportunity um that allows us to brag on our campus and to tell you all the wonderful things that are going on. Um, with me tonight I do have our assistant principal, Mr. Daniels. Um, the one
005thing that makes Oakwoods truly a special place, it is the people. And um, over the past decade, our people have built a legacy of academic excellence. Um, over the past 20 years, Oakwoods has been re, excuse me, over the past 20 years, Oakwoods has been in the top 5 to 7% of um, of elementary schools in the state of Texas. And that is just because of the staff that we have, their commitment to excellence to our students um, and to the community that we have as well. um whenever our educators they're high they set high expectations for our students our students rise to those expectations and that is a norm that is within our campus um this record of success it's just a testament to the spirit of our teachers of our staff and of
006our families and it highlights the commitment [clears throat] to maintain a culture of excellence and at Oakwoods excellence is the norm it's not the exception on this slide right here. Um here we are to talk about um our staff members. And whenever we talk about a staff of excellence in what we have at Oakwoods, that is what walks our halls every single day. We're fortunate to what I will say is one of the top sta it is the top staff in the state of Texas that we get to work with every single day that educate our kiddos on a daily basis. the passion, the skill, and the excellence that they have for our kiddos. It shines and it's what truly makes us stand out. Um this year, um we have five staff members who are
007going to be retiring and we are excited for them, but we're also sad for us. Um of these five staff members, they have 158 years of experience in the in education. of those 158 years, 81 of those years have been dedicated to Oakwoods. And so they have mentored, they have um taught, and just the impact that they have made on our students and our staff, it is nothing that any report card or anything else that you're able to look at will ever be able to truly explain. [snorts] Um and just their talent, the passion, and just their unwavering support that they have for our students, it's evident. Um we have a picture just the years of experience as well. Um majority of our staff as you can tell they are anywhere from 11 to 20
008years of teaching in the field. Um this year we did have a first year teacher and we did unfortunately lose her to another campus that had numbers where they needed another teacher. And so we know that she is thriving where she's at. Um and she's being loved on with every opportunity as well. And so um that is just for our staffing and retention. And so now I'm gonna hand it over to Mr. Daniels. >> All right. So, Miss Gibson talked a lot about um you know, our academic achievement um our staff, our incredible staff and teachers. I'm going to focus a little more on our school culture uh and the opportunities we give students uh outside of academics. And so, one of the areas that we try to emphasize at Oakwoods is um community engagement.
009And so looking um for opportunities and providing opportunities for our students to love and serve their community um in a structured way. Um and so one of the things we do uh is our canned food drive. So students donate and bring uh food items that we then turn around and give to local um food banks and shelters. Um uh our student council uh tries to go outside of campus. Um and actually tomorrow they'll be visiting our senior citizens center. Uh they'll go sing Christmas carols. They have beautiful singing voices. I think uh we're going to find out and um spread some Christmas cheer uh during the holidays. Um our second grade raises money for an organization called Disabled American Veterans. And so you can see the picture there. They set up a field of flags.
010They um do a Veterans Day program. And so through all these different ways, we're just trying to emphasize the importance of um getting outside of our school walls and serving and loving on the people in our community. There it is. [snorts] All right. So, uh like the other campuses in our district, um we're also focused on capturing kids hearts, implementing that program. And so for us, it's been over the last year and a half. Um and based on our uh implementation year last year um and the success we had there, we were recognized as a rising star campus. We were proud of that. Um and along with all the things that go along with CKH um a few things that we're focused on this year in particular as our classroom ambassadors. So trying to put
011students in a leadership role within their classroom where they're actually, you know, leading their morning meetings. They're leading good things with their classes. They're greeting students at the door. uh they're kind of becoming the expert on the social contract in their classroom where when a visitor comes into the room, they'll actually pull you aside and explain what the social contract is and talk you through that. Um we also have a principal student advisory committee in which our students are able to meet with Miss Gibson uh and talk about uh the school culture and how that can improve and take a leadership role within that. All right. Um, so we want Oakwoods to be a place where students love to come to school each day. And so, uh, as you can see from our pictures, we
012try to have a lot of fun. Um, and, uh, a few things that I think as far as our, um, extracurricular activities, I think that we do really well. Um, one of those is our academic UIL competitions. So, anytime you can give our students an opportunity to show that they're better than other schools in Granberry, they're going to rise to the occasion. So, they love that. And teachers love it, too. Uh, so academic UIL gives us an opportunity to do that. And so if you weren't aware, um, as early as second grade, students can compete in academic UIL events and that can go all the way through high school. And so events like maps, graphs, and charts and, um, ready writing, which I coach and which we dominate at every year, right? Tate, it's one
013of my writers right there. And chess puzzles, which Miss Gibson coaches and also dominates every year. Um, but it just gives our students an opportunity to kind of get outside the typical academic areas that they have in elementary school and and show off uh how intelligent and awesome they are. Um, another thing that our I think our students really excel at uh is our musical performances. So, each grade level does a music program. Uh, but our fourth and fifth grade really takes it to the next level uh with theirs. And so, you can see some pictures there. Uh we have Dan Odell as Zazu in the Lion King from last year. Uh and uh the bottom corner is my daughter. I had to work one of my kids into this somehow. So uh it's my
014daughter as the Candyman in Willy Wonka from a couple years ago. Um and so uh every year I'm just so impressed by our students uh and their singing ability and their acting ability and the set design. Uh I think Mr. Neil has some personal experience in the costume design uh for our musical programs uh from a few years ago. A really nice teacup that actually has a picture on our wall at our school, a teacup costume. So uh so our parents step in and uh contribute to that as well. And so just one more way that we try to make Oakwoods uh a place that kids want to be and love coming. Uh, and at the end of the day, just trying to remember that um, our students are kids and they deserve to have
015fun and try to give them as many opportunities as we can to do that. So, uh, all right. So, we're going to wrap this up with our student council officers coming back up. So, we get a lot of, uh, feedback from parents. Um, and we wanted to end by sharing some of that feed feedback from our parents that we appreciated, uh, and wanted you guys to hear. And so, uh, our students are going to read some of the feedback that we've gotten from parents recently. Thank you. I love that Oakwood School is truly there to love, support, and encourage the children to be be the best versions of themselves. You can truly see the dedication from this team. The staff goes above and beyond to help these kids thrive and make them love school. They
016don't hesitate to help when needed and love the kids beyond belief. The absolute best teachers and staff. Oakwoods is home. It is so good for my heart knowing that when I drop my boys off every day, they are learning from the best, but more importantly are loved and cared for. Couldn't be more proud and grateful to be an um OWS family. I love the warm welcome from all the staff. Moving to a smaller town from a large sun city like Denver, we were anxious about the transition for my daughter, but I was pleasantly blown away. The love has shown from the moment we walked in is truly a blessing. My daughter feels loved, supported, and challenged academically. Thank you. Thank you for your time, your partnership, and your support of our students. Do you have
017any questions for us? I don't think we have any questions, but boy, we sure are proud of you. Y'all have done a fantastic job, boys and girls. Fantastic job. We are very proud of you. all the things that you have accomplished. Parents, do we have any of your out in the audience? Any parents that want to claim? Would you please stand? Grandparents, we want to thank you so much for being here. We're very proud of Oakwood. I am proud because I helped open that school in 1990. I was one of the very first teachers there. Yes. I taught fourth grade and I was so proud to be there with our very first principal, Tom Taylor. And it was a fantastic place. It was so fun getting to open that school and be one of the
018first teachers in those brand new buildings. So, um anyway, we want to invite y'all all all up to have your picture made. So, if you'll come right on up, we have our superintendent and assistant superintendent to have your picture made with. We got to get the sweater. >> Ready? You look here. Ready? One. >> Of course. >> Say Christmas. One, two. All right, thank you very much, Oakwoods. All right, we will move on into our achievement spotlight. We have the American Volleyball Coaches Association best and brightest and academic all state coach Desiree Shahan. Come on up. Good evening everybody. Want to say thanks for letting us not know that it was dress up day. Super sad. And and then we have to follow that. No, I'm just kidding. No, we appreciate you guys having us
019here tonight. Um we have some amazing girls that we want to honor tonight and so um we could I could talk for a long time about them on the volleyball court and everything that they bring in the locker room. Um, but we're here to talk to them about what they bring to the classroom and that's the most important thing and so we're super proud of them. Um, academic all state is awarded to seniors who meet the rigorous student athlete qualifications. This is an award that shows the determination and strive for excellence in the classroom as well as on the court. To be recognized at the state level and receive an all-state honor is most prestigious. I'm very proud of our student athletes on this team that meet the following requirements as set by the UIL,
020the THSCA, and the TGCA coaches associations. Good to citizenship, finish the senior season in good standing, and have a cumulative GPA grades 9 through 9 through 12 of 94 or better. This award this year goes to all three of our seniors, which is Remy Chastain, Jayla Hayes, who couldn't be here today because she's at choir concerts. she's over at the high school. She's sad she couldn't be here today. And then Maddie Weaver. And um Maddie Weaver was also named to the AVCA best and brightest. Um and they have a little bit different standards, but they all made it. They're all three of them are fantastic kids. We're we're going to miss them so much, and we know that they're going to they're going to do awesome on their next chapter in life. So, thank you
021all so much. And while they are getting their pictures made, parents and family, we'd like for you to stand and be recognized at this time as well. And if you want to take pictures, come on down. All >> [laughter] >> right. And next we have the Shot and Kirk senior of the month. And we have our shot and kirk representative that will be presenting this award. Hello everyone. My name is Misty Sneed. I am the new general manager at Shot and Kirk Ford. Um I'm very excited to have discovered that we do a student of the month and this month it is my Moore. She is a proud Granberry P pirate that has had the honor of attending Granberry schools her whole academic career starting at Oakwoods, followed by AMS and then currently at the
022high school. She's part of the soccer team. She has been since her freshman year and served as captain her sophomore and junior year. In addition to her dedication to sport, she's also dedicated to academics. She's a member of the National Honors Society and is in the top 10% of her class. In addition to this, she's also participates in the leadership council, the optimist club, and she volunteers each summer at the uh vacation bible school. She this past summer she went on a mission trip to Queens, New York, and volunteered with ESL Community Outreach Center. She currently works at Bab's Restaurant and loves the interactions that she has with her customers. She has been accepted to attend the University of Arkansas after graduation and is hoping to study hospitality and is excited for her future. So,
023congratulations. And we have her proud parents here tonight as well. One sitting next to me and one in the audience. So, we want to recognize them. And in case you didn't notice this is ugly sweat or not >> two look here's [laughter] Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Thank you. We are very proud of all of our students, the parents that back them up and support them all. And uh it's always our pleasure to start our meetings out this way. We also have a lot of community donations that we're also proud to recognize. And Barbara Townson, would you read those for this month, please? I would be happy to. Donation from Audrey Dake Edward Jones to the GHS F1 student activity account for a sponsorship $1,000. Donation from the campus PTO to the Bronner campus activity account to
024fund the first grade field trip to Kasamana $1,312.50 donation from the campus PTO to the Oakwoods campus activity account to fund the fourth grade field trip to the stockyards. $1,760. Donation from the Granberry Pirate Basketball Booster Club to the basketball campus activity account to fund the Round Rock tournament. $2,938. Donation from Lady Pirate Soccer Booster Club to the Lady Pirate Campus Activity Fund to fund the Midway Waco tournament. $3,61. Donation from the Lady Pirate Basketball Booster Club to the Lady Pirate Campus Activity Account to fund the Corpus Christi tournament. $2,900. Total donations from our community to Graanbury ISD this month $13,51150. Thank you all so much. All right, we'll move right along to our superintendent's report. >> All right, thank you so much. Couple of announcements. We always like to celebrate kids when they do
025something either at the state level or national level. And we just found out, I believe over the weekend, that Viola Allen earned a third place in the USA Shooting Winter Air Gun Championship for our JOTC program. So, super proud of her and that team as always. Uh, as a reminder, our Stars graduation happens this Thursday at 7:00. We'd love to have you there. It is at Granberry High School in the auditorium. Um, also, we had two great middle school performances. Um both of them, both Actton and Granberry Middle School had um some musical performances and did a wonderful job. Um another exciting announcement is that our Golden Pirates, which are 55 plus group, um is going to start meeting tomorrow at 10:00 and we get a performance by the GHS choir singing Christmas songs. So,
026if you haven't signed up, we'd still love to have you. 10:00, show up, you get a gold a golden pirate t-shirt, which is super exciting. And then um we as a reminder we have early release on Thursday for both staff and students. We hope um that everybody here and all of our staff and students have a joyous Christmas season and we will see uh our staff back on January 6th and students back on January 8th. So merry Christmas to everybody in the audience. >> All right, thank you very much for that. We will move right along to public comments. Our board of trustee values hearing good directly from our community and appreciates those who take the time to share thoughts and perspectives during the public comment portion of our board meetings. Your input helps guide
027our work and keeps us connected to what matters most to our families, staff, and community members. Here are a few reminders about the guidelines for patrons wishing to speak during public comments. Each speaker is limited to three minutes. Speakers must state their name and any organization they represent and direct all remarks to the board. The board cannot hear complaints about individual employees in open session as those matters must be addressed in executive session. Thank you for your participation. Our first speaker for tonight is a parent Sheree Wesland. Thank you, trustees and superintendent. I wanted to speak on item 11, the calendar. Um the calendar I've noticed the last couple of years have left the election day off and I'd really like us to consider that in the future for election day for our teachers. This
028time it's already too late but I would really like for that to be considered when we have options. Second, I'm speaking in support of moving Granberry ISD trustee terms from three years to four years, shifting the elections to oddnumbered years. This isn't about governance. It's about stewardship. It's about building uh stability in the district long after this board has been rotated off. Four-year striker terms give trustees time to learn before they before they have to lead and lead before they have to exit. The structure gives strength and relationships between the board and the superintendent and the staff. Stable governance supports stable leadership. Stable leadership supports staff retention. Staff retention supports students. There is also a clear financial benefit cutting administration costs in half and the opportunity cut costs even more than that because of the
029barrage of public information requests seen spec specifically during election and the time that the staff has to devote to it. Cutting costs in half is a very conservative mood. This surely gives voters a break in Hood County because voter fatigue is very present in this county. less political distractions for our community to be focused on and more learning. The shift to odd numbered years um helps school board races um continue their plight to be a nonpartisan by design. They should stay focused on students, classrooms, and community values. This allows voters to focus on direct issues um that affect the district, and this encouraged thoughtful engagement rather than politics over students. Many Texas districts have already used this staggered four-year term and this model reflects common governance practices across the state. It prioritizes stability continu continu
030continuity sorry and long-term planning. Most importantly, this decision invests in the future of trustees. It gives incoming board members time to learn the district. It gives them time to contribute meaningful meaningfully and it preserves to the districts um does not reset the direction of election style. This is not about power. It's not about politics. It's about responsible governments again cutting election costs in half. For this reason, I support the move to a 4-year trustee term on odd number election years. Thank you. Our next speaker is Renee Shardy. >> Good evening board. Again, my name is Renee Shahardy and it's a pleasure to be in front of you guys. I'm I know you all most of y'all fairly well. I want to talk about the moving of terms from 3 to four years tonight. There's four
031points I want to make. Uh the first one I want to talk about is the cost. Just real quickly, there would be a reduction in overall cost. I think that's intuitive and we know that. However, there's another cost that needs to be factored in and that's the human cost. And what I'm talking about there is when we take this move, we know about we know our county's about split in half and how they think about the school district. And so if we just go that way, um, we we're going to cut we're going to have them think we're cutting them out. That's a possibility. So a compromise I'd ask you to think about is that we go with um the extended terms, but we move it to the congressional to the even years and that
032way more people are brought in as opposed to pushed out. The second point are terms and performance. I looked at studies done. There's one study that correlates board terms with student performance. It's not out there or I couldn't find it. District success is based on strong governance, accountability, and a relentless focus on student achievement. I'd propose another compromise in this area. If we go with the four years, I propose that we have a two-term limit. So, go two terms, but put a limit on it. Stop it after 8 years. In fact, school board members their their most efficient time is a 5 to sevenyear period on a school board. That's when they that's when they perform the best according to the studies I saw. The third thing is timing. We just came out of a
033really hard fought fought election. This is not necessarily the best time to bring this up because there's a half of the community that you know feels really lost, let's say, if you want to look at that way. So if we want to move ahead and we want to consider unity and healing, it might be a good time just to back off on this just a little bit. maybe a few months, give time for people to uh focus in and anyway. And the last thing is classroom impact. The proposal does not directly support teachers or improve outcomes for the students. It does affect the board and it does affect stability. I agree with the the young lady who spoke before me in that sense, but we need to be relentlessly focused on our school teachers, the
034classrooms, the teachers, and the students. I'm out of time. You all have a wonderful Christmas. Thank you. Our next speaker is Devin Hash. >> Oh, no, David. Oh, I'm sorry. David Rogers. Good evening, board. Dr. Morowski. I'm David Rogers. Thank you for allowing me to speak with you this evening. I signed up to speak about item 12A, which is changing the terms of the election of our school board trustees. Um, one of the concerns I have with this, if you do what everybody else did, you're going to get what everybody else got. And in Texas, that's not necessarily a good thing. According to the Texas Education Agency, Texas this year ranks 41st out of the 50 states in education achievement. Only 24% of eighth graders in the state of Texas can do math and read
035at grade level. Given to Governor Abbott, over $90 billion, the highest amount ever spent spent on public education in Texas. So most of the other school districts that's implemented going to these elections in really odd number of years. It's deteriorated. It's weakened public education. And I could see the effectiveness of going to a 4-year term. I I could see the efficiency of that. My concern with this is by going to only odd number of years, you're going to suffocate and silence the voice of the people in our community that want accountability. They want transparency and they want truth. It's hard to get a buy in from the community when you're trying to silence half of it. And you know, even though everybody doesn't agree, per se, everybody should have a voice. You know, I've heard
036that they're going to give some cost savings by going to the uh changing this. I could again, I can see the four-year term, but what about the cost savings of the three failed bond elections in less than 24 months when it was obvious that the work was not done to get a buy in from the community? They wasted thousands of dollars during these bond elections when the the credibility for it when the community was not there. What we need to do is increase transparency and truth and get a buy in from the community so that the next time you do a bond election, you actually have a reasonable path forward. This doesn't do that. What this does is try to silence again the first amendment rights of people in the community that have concerns about
037transparency and truth. I understand Dr. Mowski's been here a very short time. She's not been here long enough to to change the ship in the right direction. I understand Mr. Neil and Dr. Lawrence are new to the board, but we have incumbent trustees on this board that have been here. They have rubber stamped things that were against the Texas Texas Ethics Code and that were wrong. You know, the first amendment, the only reason it exists is for people you don't like saying things you don't agree with. How much is the first amendment worth? Going to these elections in odd years is going to silence conservatives in our community. Our trustee Tim Bolton in 2024 set a record for Wood County for over 17,000 votes. He set the all-time record. Going to this would eliminate that.
038That stopped the conservatives from having a voice on the board. Everybody should have a voice whether you agree with them or not. Thank you. >> All right. Uh, now Debon Hash. >> Good evening, trustees. My name is Devon Hash. I am a Hood County taxpayer and registered voter. I recognize that the board has an obligation to be fiscally responsible and I respect that duty. However, I want to be very clear that I am deeply concerned about the proposal to move ISD trustee elections to an offcycle or odd year. While this change may reduce administrative costs, it will almost certainly come at the expense of voter participation. Texas has a long and wellocumented history of dramatically lower turnout and offcycle low visibility elections. Here [clears throat] in Hood County, voter turnout in 2022 was over 50%.
039And in contrast, in the 2023 offcycle election, turnout dropped to under 5% of registered voters. That is not a small difference. That is the difference between broad community participation and decisions being made by a very small fraction of the public. When turnout drops that low, elections stop reflecting the will of the community as a whole and instead amplifies the influence of small organized groups. The concern that concern is especially serious given that GISD is the largest employer in the county. Even if no influence is intended, structuring elections this way creates the appearance that those with direct employment interest could have disproportionate sway over who governs the district. Public trust matters. Community confidence matters. I strongly urge this board to cons reconsider this proposal. The community is paying attention and we expect decisions that strengthen and
040not weaken our democratic process. Thank you, >> Donald Johnson. My name is Don Johnson. I'm a resident of uh Hood County. I appreciate you putting out the background information on these topics cuz that's what I found that was put out here. It was put out just before and it references House Bill 3546. Did y'all read that bill? You did. Everybody read it, right? What that bill talks about moving the election from May to November. Have we already done that? Yeah, we already done that. Why would you reference a bill like that when you wanted us? I think it was put on there to impress everybody that this is being legislated. And I wish somebody would ask a question. Read that bill. It's a short bill. And just read it through and see if it talks
041about anything except moving the the elections from May, which most people still have until November. You've already done that. So it has nothing to do with last presidential election. 70% of registered voters turned out in this county. 56 turned out in the previous election in in uh 2022. The odd number of years, you know what you get? 20% of the people turn out that the odd years are what I call the amendment election. I served on a scoreboard. I sitting on those chairs many years ago in 1980, believe it or not, for six years. We had three-year terms. So two years and I was out. So that is not the place to put odd number elections. Nobody looks at that. That's the amendment election. That's what everybody called it. I call it I've been in
042working election for 40 years. That's the amendment election. You got a few things you the amendments all pass. 99% of them all pass because they're all Republican elections and they all put forth by you got to have some Democrats to support them. But that's it. Now, four years. I don't mind four years. Two terms. Two terms. Pimp shouldn't sit there with two terms. If you put him in for four years, everybody should be happy with with two terms. And that's fine. All that's crazy. You're not doing anything good for people. You do it for you cuz you want to control who gets to vote. Cuz you know, everyone of you have followed elections. You know, the odd number of year elections are very small, small turnout. You don't need that. We need more people voting
043for you people. So, go check that bill and see if that really relates to what you're doing. And I appreciate it. I appreciate you working on this. I don't think this is the time to do it. I know you're under pressure, but there's nothing in that particular bill that relates to what you have to do right now. Do you understand that? Read the bill before you vote. Thank you very much, >> Alison. I am here tonight to speak in favor of lengthening the schoolboard terms to four years. Our community during election season becomes a war zone. Currently, we are going back to the polls every year, which I believe does not give our community time to heal. Voter fatigue is high. People are exhausted. It seems that as soon as signs go down, new signs
044go up. Every year there is another set of door hangers, another round of door knocking and door answering and another year with tension and no end in sight. The community as a whole needs a break with time to cool off and men fences. Extending school board terms to four years would allow for a more stable and less contentious election. I I would encourage all governmental policy uh bodies to do the same. Thank you. Zeb alum. I do just want to address the uh elephant in the room tonight and let each and every one of you know that y'all look amazing. [laughter] I need to know where Steuart gets his clothes. Uh I come to you today uh just in simple support of item 12A the consideration in the trustee terms from 3 to four years
045in length. As an actively voting citizen in H County and in the city of Granberry, it is my experience that the voting public experiences what we call election fatigue as it seems that political signs and social media ads flood our eyes and minds for what feels like a majority of the year every year. If we want to increase voter turnout and have more voice voices in Hood County using their voice and their vote in every election, I strongly encourage making this move so that voters experience less election fatigue and feel more like getting out to vote when it is time because those days are special and not so redundant. By making this change tonight and setting a new schedule, perhaps other elected bodies in Hood County will be inspired to make a similar change and
046we can get Hood County on a collective schedule that avoids that avoids election fatigue and in turn encourages elector vote turnout. Thank you. >> All right, thank you very much. We'll move right along. We will now consider uh items discussed in close session. First, we will consider staff recommendations. >> Do I have a motion? >> Uh Madame President, I move that we approve the staff recommendations as presented. >> And I think I have a second. Barbara, we have a motion from Matt Moore and a second from Barbara Townsen. All those in favor, raise your hand. All right. Motion 6. We have uh Courtney absent. Motion carries. And our next item is uh personnel. We have a catastrophic leave request. Do we have a motion? Madame President, I'll make the motion. >> Second. >> All right.
047Is that motion to approve the request? >> Yes. >> All right. We have a motion from Calvin to approve the catastrophic leave request and a second by Tim Bolton. All those in favor, raise your hand. All right. The motion passes. 60. We'll move right along to um the consent agenda items. Does anyone have any consent items they want removed? If not, I will accept a motion to approve consent agenda items. >> So moved. >> All right. We have a motion from Tim Bolton to approve all consent agenda items as presented. Do I have a second? >> A second. We have a second from Mike Moore. All those in favor, raise your hand to approve consent agenda items. We have a vote of 60 to approve all consent agenda items. None. Um against. All right, we're
048moving right along. We will go on now to our discussion items. uh 12A discuss and take action on proposed changes to trustee term and election dates. Dr. Morowski. >> Yes, sir. I do want to say a couple of things. I did put together this memo on behalf of um two board members and um the I want to make one comment about something that was stated about the timeline. Originally, we did look at Senate Bill 1494 which specifically had a trigger date of December 30th. So that's how this agenda item ended up on the um December agenda. So strictly on the the Senate bill I mean I'm sorry Senate Bill 1494 talked about moving to oddnumbered years but you had to do it by and fouryear terms you had to do it by December. So that
049began and we put it on the agenda and you know the new law we have to post things on the agenda much um 72 hours business hours we have to post it last Tuesday and then as we're learning more we actually figured out we didn't qualify for that one because we already were in the November election. So we used um House Bill 3546 which does allow us to move from three to four years. So that's kind of the um the timeline or the thinking behind it um is that we thought we had to do something in December and it ended up that we we don't have to do something in December, which is why we changed the wording instead of discuss and take action. We changed the wording on the agenda item to discuss and
050possibly take action if that's what the board chose to do. So I just wanted to give that update to the community. Um and then as you mentioned most people have already identified there's two parts that are being proposed based on house bill 3546 and it is changing terms of the board members from 3 to four years uh and then moving the other part of the proposal is to move to oddnumbered years. The moving from 3 to four years causes a bit of a transition problem and so uh you'll notice that included on the memo it doesn't really impact the current board. it would take be fully into effect in 2031 is when that first um implementation would be on track for that. So that is uh in the memo and I'm happy to discuss and
051answer any questions or um give it over to the board members who um would like to talk. >> All right, we're open for discussion. >> Well, I'll I'll I'll start. Um, I think I agree with just about everybody who came up here. I could acquies to the four-year terms and move away from three-year terms. I get that. I I like the idea of giving the people a way to keep elected government accountable. And so, more frequent elections certainly accommodates that, but I also understand having been here that I can appreciate the idea of uh the continuity of the board and being able to carry that forward for more than a year. um as uh as the entire board sitting. So I can appreciate that. It's the oddear elections idea that gives people angst and anger.
052I think we heard from several people who made that point. Uh we're elected by the people to represent the people and as such the best way to represent the people is by taking larger sampling of the will of the people and that can only be done during even number of years because they always have greater voter participation. If you can give me a slide please Ryan. So just uh I I I went and looked at the numbers and so here in Hood County and this only counts Hood County. This isn't the other counties that also participate in our elections, but um because our footprint is bigger than the county itself or certainly expands into other counties. And so if you look the most recent election was a fairly big one for an odd year election
053that there were 28% or roughly 28%. And then um in the year before in 2024 71 plus 25% in 2023. So the contrast is there. Hit me one more time please Ryan. So you can see the contrast in those numbers is that they're very low on the odd number years. And I don't think that's a very good sampling of the will of the people when we do that. we can uh as uh I'm sorry uh Miss Hash pointed out that you're not taking a very good sampling and then special interest can certainly take a special interest in those elections and have undue influence there. So the next page for me please. So in terms of evenear and odd year elections you can just keep hitting them and bring them down. So the idea of improved
054government's continuity is the same in even year and odd year elections. So that benefit is there. The reduced election frequency is there in so much as you have the same and even and odd year. The cost savings for the district. >> Hey Tim, sorry I didn't get this in advance. Is this something you submitted in advance? Graphics. I didn't get these in advance. How did >> No. How far in advance do you want? >> Well, I think the board operating terms are to submit them in advance. >> Okay, we'll take that down. >> I'm fine with that. I just I didn't I didn't know that it was >> Yeah, that's fine. So they're all So the point is that it's the same on both sides except when you want to address the voice and the
055will of the people when you're in odd number of years just based on the election turnout is down to less than 28% and greater than 70% and the odd number please. >> Yeah, that's fine. You can take it off one more time. There you go. So the the point is that it's the cost savings and all of that are all the same in the years that follow. >> Yeah, that's not true. >> We say take the graphics down. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> All right. So, that said, I'll submit the compromised position and move that this board adopt four-year terms beginning November of 2030 and continuing to coincide with November elections on even number years thereafter with a term limit of two years. I mean, excuse me, a term limit of two terms. >>
056Can we legally do term limits? >> Yeah. Okay. So, I'll I'll strike that last. I only added it in the in light of the several uh uh public comments that said that. So, let me uh restate. So, I'll say that uh I'll submit to the compromised position to this board that we move to adopt four-year terms beginning November 2030 and continuing to coincide with the November elections on even number years thereafter. >> One thing uh what we're looking for today is guidance. I need to know which direction the board wants to go so that I can bring back some motions for you to approve. So, what we're doing is gathering information. This is discussion. You can possibly tell me to take action, but this is um I I don't even know what to bring to
057the attorney or any our policy people. So really today is about gathering the direction that you want me to go and then I can bring you guys back some things to vote on. So does that help your motion? >> Sure. >> I mean because we don't have to vote. You can just have a conversation about it and give me guidance. >> Right. >> I thought it was I thought we were in discussion and take action. It's discussion and possible action if you want to. Um, we originally thought that we were going to have to take action because of the December timeline, but that bill does not qualify for us. So, we don't have to take action today. So, I have not proposed a policy or resolution. I'm trying to get guidance from you guys if
058you'd like to move forward. >> That's my guidance. >> He can he can uh make a motion and if there is a second, we can vote on it. according to the Robert's rules of order. >> I make the motion and someone else can second. >> And someone will have to make a second. >> Is there a second? You want to repeat your motion? >> Certainly. Uh the motion is that that this board adopt four-year terms beginning November 2030 and continue from that point to coincide with the November elections on even years thereafter. four-year terms starting November 2030 coinciding with November elections on even years thereafter >> in what year? 2026 >> 2030 >> I think that's beyond the term of anyone who's currently on the board. So we're not influencing our own or extending our
059own terms. >> Madame Vice President, I have some comments. Okay. Um All right. Is there a second? Okay. So, your motion dies for lack of a second. >> Okay. Discussion. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Um, last November I hit an anniversary of sorts in that um, last month I passed 22 years since I passed the bar exam. And in the last 22 years, one of the things that I've done virtually every single day is review complicated statutes and try to analyze those. And I have some concerns about this proposal. Not necessarily the four-year term or even putting on odd years. I think those are actually good things and I'm in support of those things. What I'm concerned about is the actual statute that we're looking at, House Bill 3546 was codified in the education code
060as section 11.059. And there's a specific part in there that says the transition, if we vote to approve this transition from a three-year term to a four-year term, the statute literally says this transition must begin with the first regular election for trustees that occurs after the board adopts the resolution and trustee who serves on the date the resolution is adopted shall continue to serve the remainder of that term. And the legislature is usually, well, not even usually, every single time they write a statute, it includes either a shall, a must, or a may. And when it says may, those things are optional. You can do those things. If it says shall or must, you don't have a choice but to do those things or you're in violation of the law. Right? So my my concern
061is not not the transition itself, it's the waiting till 2031 because I think that if we agree to extend these terms from 3 years to four years, it has to take place at the next election, which would be next year, right? Because that's what the law says. It says this transition must begin with the first regular election. So I kind of took some notes and my proposal what I thought when I mapped out for my to be in accordance with this statute if we wanted to extend to four years and put it on odd number years what I think we would do is places one and two would be extended to 2027 and there'd be no election next year and then places three and four already on 2027 so they would just stay on 2027
062and then five six and seven would be extended one year to the four-year term and would run in 2029. And that would that would immediately put the transition in place like the law says and would also um give you the four-year terms that we're looking for. Now, the other thing is that you don't have to make a decision. We don't have to make a decision. >> The law says we don't have to do anything until 2030. So my recommendation right now would be that we table this idea, we talk to the attorney about this idea and we ask what does if they can give us an opinion as to what that sentence specifically means. Does that mean that we have to put transition right now mean the elections have to switch right now or does
063that must begin with the first regular election? Does that mean that we could simply have a plan in place? But I think we need an opinion on that and I'm not comfortable moving forward until we get an opinion on that because I don't want to do anything that's going to put us in liability or in direct violation of what that statute plainly says. So I'm just asking that um we slow it down a little bit. We maybe talk to the lawyer and get an interpretation. >> Help me understand your concern again, Dr. M, about uh that we had a December deadline, but now we don't. >> Yeah. So, um, originally there were two bills that kind of, um, go hand in hand. And so, Senate Bill 1494 specifically said that organizations that were having their
064officer elections in May could switch it to November, but the trigger date was you had to do it and and it specifically said oddnumbered years, which was interesting that it said that. Um, but the trigger date was December 31st of this year. So that was our original like we have to do something fast if that's what the the board chose to do. We don't qualify for that because we already have our elections in November. So that does not pertain to us. So the other one that goes handinhand with this is um HB3546 which talks about shifting from 3 to four years. And then it doesn't say specifically odd or even. It just says you have to have a transition plan as [snorts] must have a trans or must do it after the next election. >>
065Mhm. >> So that's 2030 2030. So to use [clears throat] that Okay. You can't just switch from three to four year terms. You have you either have to have like a legislative approval or a reason to do it. Which is why we slowed this down originally because we knew the election season was happening. And so this bill was I'm gonna use the word trigger again um for being able to switch. You can't as a board decide all of a sudden to switch from three to four years. You have to have either a legislative approval or a resolution from a legislator we all know or a bill that's just been enacted. Um and so that's what this is and it does give us till 2030. >> So Stuart, give me again please the I'm sorry. Are
066you finished? >> No, I'm done. >> Yeah, thank you. So, so your uh kind of opening remarks was that the problem with it, the way that it reads is that it would start in 2031. My suggestion was 2030, but you said it has to start next year. So, the same se the same subsection that talks about changing the term, and I've got the statute in front of me. The same subsection that talks about changing from three years to four years. The last sentence of that subsection says, and I quote, "The transition must begin with the first regular election for trustees that occurs after the board adopts the resolution, and a trustee who serves on the date the resolution is adopted shall serve the remainder of that term." Now, I interpret that as being if you're
067going if we sign a resolution in February that that transition process happens at the very next election for trustees, which would be November of 26, not November 2030. And so, what I'm asking is we need to get clarification on what that means. >> I'm happy to do that. So, um, it is your >> right business. I move that we empower Dr. M to go do further research on those options as discussed. >> We have a motion to allow u Dr. Mowski to do some more research on this matter. Is there a second? >> I'll second that motion. >> All right. A second by Dr. Lawrence. All those in favor raise your hand. Okay, just to make sure they understand, I'm going to go and research um if that's a little trust. Um and we don't
068have to vote on it. You guys, when we have discussion, you can give me guidance and we don't have to vote. So, my guidance from you is that you'd like a little more information about Stuart's um bringing this proposed this idea of a must. Let me um get some legal opinions on that and bring it back to you. And then we are not under the time frame that we initially thought when we put it on the agenda item. So, um, there was originally a rush, but there is no rush right now to make this decision. So, I'm happy to bring you back more information. >> Um, >> should I further We want to put a time box on that. Should I further move that we have an answer by February? >> Yeah. Okay. >> So,
069I can bring you back something in January for us to discuss again if you'd like. Um, February. >> Christmas. >> Oh, yes. Let's do February. Yes. I would also like to read a a statement from um well it's a long statement. [laughter] Never mind. >> Let me well I'll summarize it. uh our president Courtney Gore uh is out of town and basically what she wanted to for us to know is that she supports the idea of a 4-year term basically because it it adds to the team building of a school board and um that it allows us to work. It it builds uh consistent leadership. It allows for st uh strategic uh focus that it allows uh that team to work uh directly with the uh superintendent better and that uh it allows them to
070work uh more fully to complete the vision and mission of the school district. And uh so she wanted that uh us to know that that she does support a four-year term. And um I would also like to say that I support that as well and that the plan that was originally drawn up was uh to uh really not to directly impact any of us. That we see this as a plan that would direct the school board on down the road. That this is something that we see as a decision on down the road that would impact uh the school boards in the future. and um and so >> I feel like it would help. >> May I add to that? So I think that one of the things that I want you to find in
071terms of the research you're going to do in the next two months or so um is the question on the closing statement on the legislation that Stuart read to us where I I can't decipher if that means that those who would be elected next November would come in with four-year terms or if it would retrofit us to an additional year term. Correct. >> Yeah. >> I wouldn't think that would apply, right? >> Yeah. [laughter] >> She wasn't want She didn't sign up for four years. >> No, not so much that is we the the thing that bothers me with that is the the public elected us for three years and to then come back and say, "Oh, we changed our mind. We're going to make it four." >> Yeah. I >> I have a real
072problem. >> That's right. Me, too. If we're going to do if something like this is going to happen, it needs to happen after us. >> That's right. >> All right. Thank you for that discussion. All right. We will move on now to item B, discussion and review of legal policy changes in update 126. Tammy. Good evening. I know you are excited to get the legal policy update 126. This was a pretty meaty legislative session and so I have a small notebook to go through. Don't worry, I hit the highlights. All right, so there are so many education related laws and the shifted legal policy and some of our local considerations that are going to come up in the new year. There are a few. I picked 12 with Dr. M. We looked over and and
073found 12 of higher interest to discuss with you that we thought were probably of interest to you or of interest to our community. Um, this policy that's legal is not required for board approval. It's a discussion regarding some of the new ones so that everybody is on the same page and the legal will be updated online after this meeting. So board policy structure has different sections. Section A is all about accountability. So in update 126 there were seven different ones just on the basic um district foundation and accountability and I'm not going over any of those. Section B talks about local governance and so things that um drive your board governance. There are 13 of those and there are a couple in there that we picked. Section C is about business. There's a couple that
074we have already been looking at that we're going to remind ourselves of, but I'm not going to go through all 34 of those. You're welcome. Section D is about HR and personnel, and there were 20 new legal um policies for either new or new legislation that um altered other um personnel policies. 20 of those. In [snorts] section E, instruction about teaching and learning, special programs and testing, there were 30. Section F is all about students and student discipline and and a lot of different student things. There were 32 new board policies um for for section F and then seven that um were through community and governmental relations. So, that totals 143 legal policies that I could stand up here and talk to you about today, but I um am going to hone in on 12
075with you. So, for local governance, I'm looking at be and I'm only going to go over the parts that have changed in each one of them. Um there the policies are super meaty. There's a lot that you can talk about about board meetings, but for this purpose tonight, I'm only going to go over the changes. I have some things that Dr. M and I are going to talk about that are um highlighted in pink that are interesting, but I'm only going to talk about the changes. So, um board minutes are going to now moving forward um reflect each member's attendance and each member's vote on any item that is voted on. And so, that is a change that was made legislatively. And so that is something um that you are going to be seeing and
076also that we have to p post the board agenda three business days full business days instead of 72 hours. Um so that's the general board meeting. If you move to BEC legal that talks about closed meetings um BEC talking about closed meetings they added a couple there's a lot of things that you can talk about in closed um session. Um the one that there's a couple that are new. It added cyber security meaning any measure taken to protect a computer, computer network, computer system or other technology infrastructure against unauthorized use that can be talked about now in closed session. And then any um critical infrastructure facility, the ones that um govern us that apply is mostly communication infrastructure systems, cyber security systems, electric grid and power things, water intake structures, water pipelines, um related support
077facility equipment and property. Those are the ones that probably might come up in school board meeting closed session. So those things were added as closed session topics. That's all I picked for governance. So under business and support services, there were a few different ones that we need to discuss. CH legal talks about purchasing. We picked this one because there was a change in the competitive um procurement threshold from 50,000 to 100,000. our local practice is going to still bring the items to the board between 50 and $100,000 um forformational purposes and that we feel like is a good practice to maintain the transparency. That's a discussion we've already had this year and so um that's coming from CH legal. CH legal talks about vendor disclosures and contracts. The important parts there um really circle around
078the te Texas ethics commission with um the vendors. And so it makes it a criminal offense for any vendor to bid on or enter in a contract with the district if there's a close relationship with the trustee. They define the close relationship. If you um if you want to look into that deeply, it's in CHE legal. I think that's not really a problem, but if you're interested in that to know how close you need to have as a relationship for them to be, that's actually the vendor's um responsibility. CK legal safety program and risk management. Um the change here is to ensure that the plans are our emergency operations plan um [snorts] for specific campuses or facilities include recommendations um for the accommodations for a student on an IEP or plan cons um created under
079section 504. This is a practice we've been doing for a few years in GISD. And so, um, that's not a huge change for us, but now it's in legal policy and a best practice. CNC legal, transportation management, and transportation safety. Um, the big change here is that by September 1st of 2029, buses need to have a three-point seat belt for each passenger. Um there are also some required reporting that is between now and then, but by 2029 that is a requirement. So we'll be talking about buses a lot between now and then. >> Sure. >> I believe that um Oh, Emit. So did you do know >> what? >> How about we get back with you for that? We are working by March. So we have O'Brien. >> Yes. So the requirement is to bring
080it to the board by the end of the 2526 school year. So we are going to be early January 12th. Good job team. All right. So for personnel, there's a few that stand out. um DBA is really really um long, but there were some changes to um teacher certification requirements, especially with teacher permits, um emergency permitting and things like that, as well as some changes in who [clears throat] has to have um CPR certification and um so now mandatory CPR certification includes CPR and AED. Sorry, I did this so that it would be really easy for me to find. Um, school nurse, assistant school nurse, athletic coach. Some of these are not different than it's been before in the past. Um, athletic coach or sponsor, physical education instructor, marching band director, cheerleading coach, any other
081employee um, specified by the commissioner has to have CPR and AED. And so they are they are lining that out. Most of those were already on it. There are a couple of additions, but that's it. So that's it for DBA. DFBA um is for term contracts, suspension and termination during a contract. And the change in that section is more about the reporting um provisions um that are in effect. So, the principal of a district has to notify the superintendent no later than the seventh business day after the date of an educator's termination of employment of an alleged incident of misconduct described by a certain education code. And then also no later than 48 hours after the principal becomes aware of evidence of a misconduct described by a different part of that education code. And you
082can look up those things. That's our job to know which ones those are. and I have it here but um misconduct 7 days or 48 hours depending on the misconduct. All right. So for DG legal employee rights and privileges um this is a new um provision that you may So here's where your may come in. The board of trustees may adopt a policy requiring every campus of the district or school to provide students and employees with an opportunity to participate in a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text on each school day in accordance with this section. [clears throat] This is requiring a board decision by March 1st. So it will come back to you in January whether you think that there needs to be some time out of the
083school day for that moment or if that's a family moment and that's going to be completely up to you. But we will bring you some local policy to consider under in that regard and there has to be if you don't do a local policy then you have to make a that decision by March 1st. Tammy, don't we already have a moment of silence at every single one of our schools every single day? We absolutely do. But this would be I think the intention of this is to be um time for uh reading as well. Regardless of whether you adopt a policy, it still doesn't prohibit any student or employee from participating in prayer, reading the Bible at any time during their free time. >> Um that is not designated as a period of prayer. Right?
084So that doesn't keep them from doing it. It's just designating a stop and silent and read or pray time. If you want to designate that time in the school day or not, we do have a moment of prayer. I mean a moment of silence >> silence. >> And that doesn't that would not change if you did if you did nothing. But if you choose to not adopt a local policy, you have to make that decision before March 1st. But you're saying that our moment of silence does not do this. >> Well, and that's for you guys to discuss. If our moment of silence is intended for that, yes, then then we'll make it that time and then we'll designate the moment of silence for that time and then it'll have to probably be designated a
085certain period of time. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. All right. It's not going. I'm trying. Did I turn it off? Oh. Oh, you got me. Okay. So, students, the student section on FA legal parent rights and responsibilities. Um Oh, [laughter] in my jersey. Awesome. I love that. I'm excited. [gasps] Okay. So policy on um parental engagement. So this policy and we already have this um provides for an internet portal through which parents of students enrolled may submit comments to the campuses or district administrators in the board and we started that at the beginning of this year. It also requires the board to prioritize public comments presenting parent comments at the beginning of each board meeting and requires the board meeting to be out held outside of typical work. So these are already things that
086we do. Um what I would like to say about this one is I we would really like everyone to understand the use of the parent portal is a um is a good way for if they have a concern especially if they have a concern that is not a board um on the board agenda that they can certainly put it in the portal and they will get a response much faster than the non-board agenda meeting times. Okay. If they've gone through some of the all of their um conversations with their campus administrators and or if they have a concern that doesn't really fit that but they want to have some discussion about it, that portal will get them um quick response. So, so plug for the internet portal that we have put up please. So, that
087is FA. Also under FA, it talks about the new student club rule where you have to have parental consent for any of the student clubs. So that's also found there and that's also a difference um from prior FA policies. FFG um the changes in FFG, student uh welfare and child abuse and neglect are um are most about the report of suspected abuse timeline that has moved up. It it didn't used to be um uh 24 hours. It was 48 hours and it has moved up to report suspected abuse or neglect within 24 hours of knowing. And so um any all of us are mandatory reporters and so that timeline um is faster than it's been before. All right. FOD. There's some changes in FOD student discipline and expulsion. Um is what and there's a couple
088of things that we'd like to talk about on that. One of them is the consideration of virtual education as an alternative to expulsion. We are right now um looking into that option um because we're looking at virtual education for not only that option but also some um other options to capture some of our students who that would fit best for. So um but virtual education as an alternative to expulsion is a possibility and that's an FOD. Um it talks about how um when you are sending those students that are expelled under certain um under certain areas which ones can be considered for that instead of we usually expel to DAP here in Granberry. So and one more uh we have to ensure that to the extent practicable the virtual setting um the virtual expulsion program
089complies with the requirements for a disciplinary alternative education program. So that's part of our decision-m for what virtual program we are going to look into. All right, I'm ready for G. We're getting close to the end. community and governmental relations. Um, GKA legal um talks about the refusal of entry. This is mostly about our new law for um um our sports officials, but actually it extends to the to the campus proper. A school administrator, school resource officer, or district peace officer may refuse to allow people to enter persons to enter or may eject a person from a property under our control if the person refuses to leave peaceibly upon request and they pose a substantial risk of harm or they're behaving in a manner manner that's inappropriate for the school setting. We have to if
090we are not a school um athletic official, we do have to issue them a verbal warning and the person has to persist in that behavior. And if they persist, then we may um we may uh yeah, eject them off of our property. Um the verbal warning and person's persistence are not required for anyone serving as a referee or a judge at a UIL. um if it got really spicy at the spelling bee or something like that. So um that's a new one there um that especially is going to be interesting probably um in the sports realm. And so those are the ones that I picked to go over. So right now we're going to update the policy and post. We're going to tell um TASBY that we're ready for our legal policy to post. We're
091going to review our local policy updates at the board meeting and revise them as necessary. We'll bring all of the different local ones that that are changing because the legal policies are changing. You'll have a lot of time to look at all 143 of them or however many it is. And then we can adopt the local policy at the be uh February board meeting with any revisions that you think are necessary. So that's the next steps. Do you have any questions for me? There's a lot more. These were just the um top 12. So >> I I think that the idea that you all are going to be able to have the local policies ready for us for the January meeting is extraordinary [laughter] for your review. >> Still, even for it to be at
092the point for our review, that that's extraordinary. >> Okay. Well, you could um I think that all of you have access on your board um your board policy online. You can start looking at the whole update and you can start digging in right now if you'd like. But we are going to have some discussions in January about some of those local policies. There are some that need revision. And so, um, I do, you know, your nice Saturday morning coffee time, if that's what you want to do with it, look at that and see what reviews, what revisions you want us to have because if you bring them to us in January, that'll make it really easy. Any other questions, comments? Thank you. >> Thank you. Good job. >> Thanks. >> All right. Our next item
093is discussion and take action to approve the 2026 GHS course catalog. Stephanie McKithan. >> Good evening. Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the school board. Thank you for having me this evening. My name is Stephanie McKethan and I'm the academic associate principal at Granberry High School. Tonight I am bringing forward our recommendations for the course catalog additions for the 2627 school year. The Granberry ISD Board of Trustees approves the high school course catalog as part of its authority to approve the district's curriculum and courses of study under board policy EHA local and Texas Education Code 28.002. In order to make these recommendations to the board, a small leadership team made of GHS and GISD administrators along with campus counselors met to review and draft these proposed course additions to the GHS course catalog. These proposed
094recommendations are being made in order to expand our current course offerings to ensure alignment with our campus and district goals, our student enrollment needs, as well as local and state graduation requirements. I'm going to begin with our academic um our proposed academic course catalog editions. The first or sorry, the first course is our AP pre-cal course. This is being proposed in order to um accommodate our larger AP enrollment numbers. This um is also indicative of our need to um have an AP pre-calculus option for our GHS students. Pre-calculus in high school is one of the greatest indicators of students success and completion of a bachelor's degree in post-secary education and it is also um as a means to continue to diversify our offerings for our students and increase our CCMR accountability indicator. Our second proposed
095course is creative writing. This will offer a valid English force substitute to meet our diverse needs at GHS. It will help to prioritize the recursive writing process required for success in college and career readiness and allows for flexible assessment alignment to teas writing and CCMR measure measures. Our next proposed academic course is college prep math. Um this will again allow us to provide additional opportunities for students to gain CCMR status. College prep is another course that is being proposed. This will also provide additional opportunities for our students to gain CCMR status. Finally, our last academic course addition is our um leadworthy course. This um is a course that will help to strengthen our school climate and culture. It aligns with our campus and district goals and initiatives with CKH and helps to promote future readiness
096skills for all of our students. for our proposed CTE course catalog editions. Our first course is kinesiology 1. This is being proposed um to increase um our course offerings for student interest in exercise sports science. This provides an alternate an alternate route in lie of traditional medical or nursing avenues. Our second course um that we are proposing is construction technology one. This is the second course in the construction pathway that was um begun this school year. So this is just the natural progression for that particular pathway. Our third course is advanced culinary arts. This is similar to our pract practicum course that is currently being offered. Um the TEACs of this course are aligned to an in-house practicum experience and this will better serve students who do not have an internship placement off-campus. Entrepreneurship one.
097This will allow us to shift away from content specific marketing courses in order to help broaden the umbrella in our business and marketing pathways for our students. It complements our practicum and entrepreneurship class that was added last year as well. AP business and personal finance. This is a new course that is being um brought forward by college board. This would allow us to um diversify and expand our business pathway. We are not quite sure just yet how TEA will place this or if they will approve it like they have done most other AP courses. Um personal financial literacy is a requirement of House Bill 27 and we are hopeful that this course will qualify to meet that requirement. If not, we would like to offer this as a local credit in hopes of giving more
098students opportunities for college credit and CCMR status through AP exams. Our final CTE course is our uh forensic science 2 course. Um this will um help us meet the demand for enrollment within this pathway. Currently we have 150 plus students in forensics 1 and this is also a science credit course um that um is offered at the high school. Overall, these courses are being added um as a way um to continue to diversify our course offerings, promote academic excellence in college and career readiness. It aligns with all district and campus strategic goals, and it helps support our continued measures to increase state accountability ratings at the high school. our CTE courses. Um we we want to continue to diversify all of the opportunities that we um provide for our students and these offerings will help
099to meet some of the enrollment trends um or new TEA graduation requirements. It also supports any shifts or additions of courses and pathway progressions and provides additional avenues for student practicum opportunities that don't currently exist. What questions do you have for me? Stephanie, I've got one. >> Yes, sir. >> Um, and I look at the the credit offerings for all the courses. There are some that are one credit. I would I believe most of them are one credit and there's only one that's two credits. There's one that's a half credit. Uh, what's the difference in the differentiation for those credit offerings? >> For different credit offerings. So for your advanced culinary and or your construction techn technology, those are offered in one or two credit increments. Oftentimes these courses are double blocked which allows us
100to offer more than one credit for a course. >> Thank you. >> I'm very excited about the courses that you're adding in the CTE area. I think that um starting in to get more into the construction is going to be exactly what our businesses around here are looking for and we have a good percentage of our kids that are not going to go to college and having this as another area for them to get in CTE is really great and the entrepreneur real excited about that and I know the number like you said the number of children that we right now have in forensic science one that they want more. So having that for a 12th grade, we really think that y'all did a good job looking at what the community needs and what our
101students need and it was really a great addition. Thank you for the work. Thank you. >> I just want to echo what Miss Townsen said. I've seen the benefits in my girls lives of what the CTE program is. I'm a big fan of it. Thank you for what you're doing to uh expand that program for our kids. All right, Stephanie, thank you so very much for your presentation. Well done. >> Well done. So, we are going to entertain a motion. >> So moved. I move that we approve the course catalog. >> All right. I have a motion and I need a second. >> I'll second. >> All right. We have a motion by Barbara and a second by Kelvin. Uh all those in favor, raise your hand. All right. The motion passes 60. Thank you
102very much. Was that was that right? >> Tim. >> Oh, Tim. That That was Tim. Oh, y'all shared it. Okay. >> We like to share. Okay. All right. Thank you very much for that. We'll move on to discussion and possible action to approve a temporary construction easement uh offer over GISD property in Hood County. Emit. >> Thank you, Madam Vice President. board in front of you, you do have the temporary construction easement that's offered to GISD by Atmas Energy Corporation. It's approximately 1500 square feet in the east southeast corner of the Bronner property. Um it's actually pretty much closer to a a piece of house property than it is to our our campus. Um but they did approach us and there is a resolution in there allowing um um Dr. Moroski to uh negotiate the
103contract. It's for two years. They do expect it to only last about 12 months and they'll have it finished. Um they will pay us $2,000 for that temporary um easement. I do do have the exhibit A. It shows where that uh particular easement is. Um there is a resolution in there that you will have to state um word verbatim word for word in in minutes. um included with the u easement that we did have our legal team did have a side litter agreement where they will provide insurance. They are self-insured so they they are covered by that. They will also um require we are also requiring fencing to go around it so that it would be will be safe. Um legal teams went back and forth. They accepted all of our red line. They didn't
104have any problem with it. So, it's just we're just being good partners with them to get everything like we need it and like they need it so they can get their work done and it's safe for our students. >> Okay. >> But you will have to read the like I said the resolution word for word. It's kind of long but it's required. [clears throat] >> Madame Vice President, I move that we let Stuart read into the [laughter] G. Thanks. Um, can I ask a question first? >> Certainly. >> Um, the location of this easement, does it in any way impact operations at the school? >> Absolutely not, sir. Um, in fact, the Husin went and took a picture and I sent it to um, Dr. Moraski. It's it's out of the way of the playground.
105It's actually, like I said, it's closer to a to a residence than it is to any operations of the school district. It's not even close to the playground. >> Was Husene in the photograph he took? >> He was not, sir. Also, I did ask it if it was within our playground fences, and it is not. It is outside of our playground fences. >> All right. Do we have a motion? >> Madame Vice President, I'll make the motion that the board of trustees approve the resolution, which reads as follows. Whereas the Granberry Independent School District in quotes the district received an offer to sell the following temporary construction easement property to with in quotes the easement to Atmos Energy Corporation quotes Atmas approximately 1,500 square ft at Bronner Elementary School as more fully described in exhibit
106Attached here to and incorporated herein. Whereas the district desires to sell the easement to Atmas. Therefore, be it resolved, one, that the findings and recitals in the preamble of this resolution are hereby found to be true and correct and are hereby approved and adopted. Two, that the board of trustees approves the sale of the easement to Atmas and delegates authority to the superintendent to negotiate and execute an agreement, including any offer any other documents necessary to affect the conveyance of the easement. Three, that is hereby found, determined, and declared that sufficient written notice of the date, time, place, and subject of the meeting of the board of trustees at which the resolution was adopted was posted at a place convenient and readily accessible at all times to the general public for the time required by
107law preceding this meeting as required by chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code, and that this meeting has been open to the public as required by law at all times during which this resolution ution in the subject matter thereof has been discussed, considered, and formally acted upon. The board of trustees further ratifies, approves, and confirms such written notice and posting thereof finally passed and adopted this 15th day of December, 2025, signed by the board president. >> Second. >> Who is that? >> Was that Tim? >> All right. We have a motion by Stuart and a second by Tim to approve this resolution to Atmos. All those in favor raise your hand. It is approved. 60. Those against zero. All right. This appro is approved. 60. Thank you all. We will move on to reports. Strategic
108plan capturing kids heart update. Carla Wil. >> Good evening board and Dr. Moroski. Um I'm going to be giving the capturing kids hearts update. Then our goals of the update are to review the district's progress of implementation to demonstrate how our investment in CKH is fostering a safe, supportive, and connective learning environment to connect CKH to our strategic plan priority one and report on how CKH is a proactive approach to reducing bullying. So this is our CK journey on a timeline. But before even what I put on the timeline happened um back in fall of 2022, our secondary principles uh came to I believe Stacy Brown and identified a need for character and relationship initiative due to several um substantial or severe um incidents that occurred that year. So in spring of 2023, we started
109researching different character building program options and determined that CKH was best to fit our needs that we had and we implemented in 2324 school year with secondary. We started the CKH implementation then with just our secondary and that spring we were super excited because stars and AMS uh within their within their first year received the CK rising star award and then um the following year 2425 our elementaryaries began the implementation of CKH and this that same year all five of our elementary campuses and Emma Robertson if you'll remember were all named CKH H rising star and we were so pumped because our stars campus was named national showcase school and that's the highest honor you can get from CKH. Um capturing kids hearts gave us a grant in uh this year as well in September
110of 2025. That grant paid for our culture shapers training which uh was for all support staff, our bus drivers, our uh cafeteria workers, um our extended school day workers. And so they have the same language now as um all of our classroom teachers in our campuses for capturing kids hearts. And then CK also gave us a grant for your schoolboard training that you guys had last week. So, our GISD principles collectively establish district-wide non-negotiables to ensure consistency across the campuses. And you can see those in the upper leftand corner. There's four non-negotiables that every school does. Then below that, we have our CK word of the month for December. And each month we highlight a different character word and our counselors and advisory or quest teachers deliver character lessons reinforcing those character traits. Uh this
111month it's responsibility and that's to own your thoughts, words, and actions. Then to the right we have our poster that further supports the alignment and consistency of CKH. And this was created by Ryan Payne, one of our CTE teachers and GHS process champions. Um, and our process champions are like our campus cheerleaders, motivators. They keep the energy going with capturing kids' hearts. And he, um, went on a campus visit, saw something similar, and he created this, and it's now displayed in every single one of our classrooms, preK through 12th grade. The teachers refer back to it. So, it's just creating that common um, those common procedures and language all throughout the district. Um, CK focuses on building relationships which you can tell impacts discipline in a positive way. This is our secondary discipline data for
112out of school suspension and inschool suspension and all areas have declined since the implementation of CKH. Elementary discipline has shown improvement as well since the implementation last year both out of school and in school rates in school suspension rates are on track to be lowered this year. Also, our bullying reports that parents and students can access through our website um are down 85% in the 2526 school year from the number of the reports that were filed last year. >> [snorts] >> So, um, in your board book that you received, it was a different chart. Our, uh, I pulled numbers today because originally our survey was supposed to close today, but CK has extended it a little bit for us, but I wanted you to have the most up-to-date numbers. So, if you'll refer to your
113screen, I've got the comparison for the last three years for, and this is from our middle of the year survey for CKH, and this is from our family results. And over the past three years, our family survey results have continued to rise, showing families overwhelmingly feel welcome, connected, and confident in their child's school experience. And I was talking to our CK strategist Nikki Shipley the other day, and she said, "Gisd's family feedback is truly exceptional. Some of the best scores that CK has seen." So that was very exciting. Um then we can move on to our staff survey and this reflects um meaningful growth in almost every measure as well and um this shows district-wide climate and culture uh has improved significantly and it's just um a collective um celebration so we can see what's
114happening over GISD. Our principles shared an overwhelming number of examples of how CKH is transforming their campuses and I wish I could showcase them all but we just put a few here. This is from secondary campuses. Uh first in the to your left that's from Actton Middle School and they just were highlighting how small moments that happen every day by implementing CKH strategies have really changed their their campus culture. In the middle, we've got a Granberry High School Facebook post about the responsibil about responsibility, our character trait for this month. Up in the right hand corner, we've got um Granberry Middle School is doing affirmations and filling each other's buckets with little notes. They also did some service projects. And then the bottom part is from STARS BTC. And those are their student leaders who
115are leading their launches and different aspects of CKH. Miss Rodriguez, the principal from Stars BTC, said, "Because of our consistent commitment to CKH, our campus is a place where relationships thrive, students feel connected quickly, and learning can take root. Here's some more great examples of how our elementary campuses are using CK to shape their culture um and makes make everyone feel welcome and want to smile as soon as they get on their campus. Uh we already heard from Oakwoods, but right up at the top at the left um they've got student affirmations, studentto student affirmations that they write in their journals, I think daily. Uh then we have a couple of examples of Facebook posts from early Emma Roberts Robertson Early Learning Academy and uh from Bronner. Then if you move to the right, we've
116got from Embrino their daily dose of something good. Every day they start off with good things and that's amazing. Down at the bottom we have positive phone calls and service projects from AES. And if you move over to the bottom left uh Bakus is highlighting their social contracts and character awards. Dr. Pageant said, "Capturing kids hearts has made a meaningful impact at Bakus Elementary. Most importantly, our commitment to the process has supported academic growth, helping Bakus move from a C campus to a B campus in accountability with significant gains in student progress. As you can see, Capturing Kids Hearts is making a strong positive impact in our district. It directly supports our strategic plan by strengthening priority 1.3. That's safety, well-being, and connection while pro positive, I'm sorry, while proactively reducing bullying and ensuring that
117students feel valued and supported. What questions do you have? Any questions from the board? >> Great job. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I think it's doing a great job and we enjoyed the presentation that we had the other night. It was very good. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, Coach McCoy. Yeah, it was fun. All right, let's move on. We have a strategic plan update, the annual technology report. Brent Wilson, >> I'll figure it out. >> So, Dr. Marski, ladies and gentlemen of the board. Thank you for having me. Uh, twice a year I get to come up here and stand in front of you. One is to ask for money. The other is to tell you about our technology plan and what it is. [snorts] So, according to TEA, district technology plans must be
118based on district goals and needs and aligned with -ate requirements. The no child left behind act requirements and the TEA longrange plan for technology. Technology plans are required in order for an organization to participate in an ATE. So, how does technology help? So, 89% of all teachers believe that technology use in the classroom enhances student learning. They believe it it maximizes a child's potential. It fosters creativity, enhances collaboration, and allows the students to communicate effectively and think critically. In this slide, you'll see a snapshot uh both of our student devices uh and our student counts. and understanding that these device counts are both staff and student devices. So [snorts] in order to safely administer a 1:1 district, we need to have at least 20% more devices than we do students. And this is just a
119like a repair aotment because we know walking through the hallways as these things get knocked over, keyboards get popped off and things of that nature. And if we look at our district as a whole uh as an asset replacement life cycle, this is a quick snapshot of recommendations of what we should do if we had all the finances in place to replace the devices across a district. This is the things that we juggle on a daily basis. And as technology, our our main focus is to minimize our digital footprint. We want to teach staff and students about online safety. We use filters and alerts through our SIP filter to teach kids how to be responsible, to be saved, to be respectful, how to be legal and ethical. And these alerts go to the campus principles
120and counselors to to redirect children that are getting off task. And then one of my favorite sites, cyber security. Love it so much. >> So once a month we send uh annual sim simulations for fishing training. Um these are these are geared emails trying to protect trying to trick you into clicking on something that you're not supposed to. Uh the whole intent and purpose of this is to guide you on how to detect, assess, report, and address. And if you look at the little screen image on the right, we have in December alone greater than 41,000 network intrusion prevention blocks. This is on a per minute basis. And more than 35 attempted administrative access gains from outside the district. And again, this is on a per minute basis. In the screenshot you see is 568,68
121attempts over 5 minutes and 86 people trying to get into our system in 5 minutes. So in summary, as technology evolves and our district grows, we must continually monitor and adjust our resources for all grade levels on a regular basis. Technology must support teachers as they move from be simply believing in the power of technology to leveraging it in the classroom. And the technology plan is a living document is evaluated semiannually to ensure goals and objectives remain aligned. Do you have any questions? >> Good try. >> Thank you. Brent wins the best sweater award award. >> Yeah. >> All right. We appreciate that very much. >> Hey, are we broadcasting live? >> Okay. I got a few text messages said we're not. >> Okay. All right. We will move along now to our Oh, we're
122already at financial statements. >> Thank you, Madam Vice President. Board in front of you, you do have the financials for the month ending November 30th, 2025. The statement includes only those transactions between September 1st, 2025 and November 30th, 2025. Revenue collected to date is 26.53% of the budgeted amount compared to 10.39% in 24 and 25. expenditures today represent 25.98% of the budget as compared to 27% of the budget in 2425. The only outstanding thing on those uh financials you'll see is under state uh funding and that has to do with that $16.8 million that's still hanging out there. that we're going to wait and see how that kind of works itself out because they're netting that against our state revenue or for this year with they've kind of already overpaid us a little bit and
123it's going to kind of flow over in next year. But we're still collecting that interest revenue. So, we're going to just let that ride and let it work for us again. And I can move straight and if you have any questions, I can answer those or I can move straight on into cash flow. >> Okay. Uh the next report you have in front of you is a cash flow report for November 30th, 2025. Um you can see that for this month we did earn 218,531 in interest. Last year at this time for November we earned $116,000. You and that that has that is attributed to that $16.8 million. And um for the total for this year at this point we've earned $641,6554.97 total. And at this point, last year we only had $49,695,000. So $695.
124So we're ahead of the game still because of the $16.8 million that we're having work for us. And that is your cash flow and investment report. >> Fantastic. Great job. >> We should. All right. With no further rises, our meeting is adjourned at 8:07.