001it's now 5:00 I call this meeting of the granberry Independent School District to order let the records show that the meeting that there's a quum of the board present that the meeting has been duly called and that notice of the meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas open meetings act Texas government code 551 at this time the board will adjourn into executive session presentent to the following sections 55107 2 discussion of purchase exchange lease or valueable real property 551.074 discussion of officers employees and Personnel matters and 55107 6 consider the deployment specific occasions for our implementation of security personnel and devices the time is now [Music] test turn it up the time is now the time is now 5:49 uh we are back in open we will recess until [Music] 6:00 is [Music]
002for [Music] the yeah the time is now 6:01 we are reconvened in um open session and for those of you that might have a little interest in it about 5 minutes ago it was 53 Rangers the bottom of the sixth um at this time I've asked Dr Glenn if you will deliver the invocation thank you madam president if you'll bow your heads and pray with me most gracious Heavenly Father we uh thank you for this opportunity to come before you this evening uh we come with heavy hearts for the nation of Israel uh we pray for all of those who have had their their lives destroyed um we uh ask that you just lift up uh the entire nation Lord uh we pray for the men and women in our armed services Lord uh and
003we we thank you for the uh the freedoms uh that we have in this country and uh and those who protect it and and Lord we're thankful for for our school system and uh the teachers and staff uh who who serve our kids our parents in our community uh we lift them up to you and we pray in this meeting T night we bring you honor and we bring you glory we ask for forgiveness where we fall short for is in Christ's name amen at this time I'll ask the AMS choir to stand and you are going to lead us in the pledges with the rest of you please stand to the United States of America to the for it stands nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please face the Texas
004flag honor the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to thee Texas one State under God one and [Music] indivisible thank you the rest of you may be seated and uh we will go right into our Spotlight tonight and the AMS CL it's my pleasure to introduce to you the active Middle School varsity chamber uh sorry uh AMS Varsity trouble choir under the direction of myself Randall Walters and my co-director miss Emily Ross the students were named commended winners in the 2023 Mark of Excellence National Coral honors project one of only five choirs to receive this distinction this year the mark of Excellence competition received 442 entries from 40 States this is the second year for the AMS Varsity treble to receive an award having achieved National winner distinction in 2021 2022 so we're here to sing
005the star sple banner if you rise and face the flag you see the light [Music] so whoes and bright fight the we [Music] streaming [Applause] the through the night that your flag was still there [Laughter] [Music] oh [Music] oh can I get a picture and you with them [Music] also one two I'm going go this angle all right one two three all [Music] right [Music] oh wait no [Music] yeah [Music] Mr Walters can tell you and I've talk to some of you all I am a consumate choir mom I mean that that that was my life the whole time my kids were in school and the the fullness of you're all singing when you're together wow I don't think I've ever heard anything so beautiful thank you so so much for being here we have
006any uh any parents here tonight of these amazing kids right here hands in the air yes all right at this time uh we're going to call up Jamie Robinson is that right for The Bigs Club good evening everybody uh you know it's um I this summer I got here and I was off to a a fast start and I get this email from Dallas peek and he's reaching out with this idea he said I know you're the new guy but I have this idea for a club and how we could change the world and so um I said you know what let's make an appointment so I'll let him kind of tell the story but him and Kelsey they're both up here and they came and they made a they had a presentation they pitched
007it to me and there was no way I could say no it was such a beautiful wellth thought out program and it's getting traction and making the difference in life on our campus and it's going to start trickling through our community so with here I have Dallas pek that I'd like for you to kind of share what you're doing my man come on up all right hello my name is Dallas Beck and I'm the founder and president of the Grandberry bigs Club so before I begin our mission statement I would like to say how we came up with this club so the first like really thing for us is we want to be an upstander not a bystander and that's a main thing that we have noticed in in the district is that we need
008to be upstanders and not banders and we really want to make the community a different place so to um really summarize our club I'm going to read our mission statement The grber Bigs Club is designed for Student Success we want all GISD students to strive not only in the classroom but in their daily lives as well we believe that the key to Young students that are bullied have mental issues or just need someone is having heartfelt moments with them we will continue this message in Every Act we take changing the world one positive interaction at a time # we are change at this time I would like to acknowledge a few people that have made this club possible our principal Mr Robinson trustee Gore our sponsor Mrs ditto Kelsey ehart who is also the co-founder
009and vice president and finally all of our leadership other members in the club and community members thank you to you all in the last month we have hosted a suicide awareness day at ghs we have passed out our bracelets for students to wear during this day which I'm wearing right right now we also made shirts that I'm also wearing right now are you matter shirts had to had to do a little 360 for yall to show what we put into this and still today I see multiple students on campus wearing these bracelets we have also accepted in total 33 members for the club in the near future we will be actively working to partner with other gists campuses to host a Big Brother and big sister day during this day club members will go and
010be a big to younger students see what I said big cranberry big S on this coming Wednesday the 18th which is Unity day we'll be passing out bracelets and stickers and we have a few for y'all when we're done talking and I'm wearing that one also right now and we will be entering a can food drive at the end of this month and we will be collecting red cans to build to heart shape and submit this for contest before I end speaking I would like to leave everyone with in this meeting with a quote change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time we are the ones we've been waiting for we're the change that we seek that comes from Barack Obama thank you all for your time and
011that is Grandberry big [Applause] Club thank you [Music] are the parents of uh Dallas and Kelce in the room all right in the back great job y'all raised two outstanding kids at this time I'm going to call up Wendy Kennedy with shot and Kirk to uh talk about our senior of the [Music] month thank you for having us um as most of you are aware we adopted the uh teacher of the year um last year and we're very excited about that we know that the teachers and the students are important to granberry and they're important to us and so um I wanted to um take this moment to tell these teachers that you you make a difference and your work means a lot and these children they're our future and so anything that we can
012do to pour out into this community for the teachers at the ISD as well as these students we here to help so thank you for this opportunity and you know I can expand on other things that we're doing with shot and Kirk with the um the the technician program um I wish that I had uh Matt how here to to make mention of that and what we're doing there but I believe last year we hired um seven of the students in that program so I'm super super excited about that not only not only we um you know we realize that sometimes these kids they they kind of really don't really know what they want to be when they grow up right and so um this program with the automotive uh technicians of it's It's humbling
013to know that we can change the lives and these kids and give them a career path and so um we're super excited about that um we're going to keep marching forward and being a part of this organ being a part of this community and um I'm super excited to be presenting these awards today so Valerie will you come up and take um your award for um I guess it's September or student of the month [Music] [Applause] okay congratulations Valerie W Wendy correct me it's a a $500 scholarship and y'all be awarding awarding them every month to a to a different senior is that correct that is correct all right well thank you guys so much way Harrington please come up and take your um award for October [Applause] [Music] all right congratulations both Reed and
014Valerie are y'all's parents here I see some hands up all right well done and Wendy thank you we uh value the partnership with shoten Kirk and not only y'all supporting our teacher of the year but also the student scholarships uh and everything y'all give back to our community we are very grateful uh Madam president that is all we have for achievement Spotlight this month we'll move right to the superintendent's report all right thank you uh would let you know uh ordinarily we would like to come to you with the uh first report the financial Integrity rating system of Texas we've actually delayed that and I'll delay my report while while our choir and anyone else who would like to leave after achievement spotlights goes ahead and leaves so this would be a good time yeah
015and if people want to move to the uh the reserve seating now would be a good time [Music] oh my God [Music] me [Music] think got you [Music] the we're good all right welcome and uh we'll jump right into the superintendent report uh the financial Integrity rating system of Texas we had hoped to present that to you this month uh unfortunately that'll have to wait one more month we got to make our required postings uh in the newspaper for that uh it'll also be a public hearing I'm proud uh to remind everybody because I know we've mentioned it before that uh we did receive a perfect score uh from the state of Texas so Kudos and shout out to everyone in our business office this is a uh this is a busy time uh we
016do have Auditors in the district uh every year in the fall uh Auditors come in uh perform an independent review of all the district's Financial practices uh and they will provide our Auditors will actually come to the meeting in December and uh present that report uh to the board and the community uh also uh you probably read in the paper about the ADF ratings uh being delayed and also the a to F ratings uh um lawsuits that several districts have filed we are not a part of that uh but we do anxiously await the scores uh they are not uh we haven't even seen preliminary scores at this time so uh it'll likely be next month uh we certainly are hoping uh by next month we can report the the ADF scores uh at uh
017at this meeting um a special session is currently in progress uh my I know our teachers have been following that we're following that to see uh what's going to happen as it relates to uh school funding that is uh currently tied up down in Austin uh that we're hoping to be released um two other things one and I don't think she's here tonight but I can pretty much guarantee that uh that Cadet Allen will be recognized at a future meeting for setting the jrc National Record in shooting which is just awesome and um had the uh had the opportunity to visit with her today and uh she's a sophomore so she's going to be shooting for us for three years which is I'm sure Colonel Casey is pretty excited about that uh also uh just
018a reminder it is National principal month I see some principles in the audience so thank you guys for what you do we appreciate it and uh I see a few staff in the audience so I'll remind and parents I'll remind everybody that Friday is a staff Dev day the 20th and uh yeah yeah I know you don't mean that and Ron Fox will actually be our speaker and I want to invite our trustees that program will begin at 8:00 a.m. uh ghs Auditorium and I look forward to a uh an eventful day of professional development and so Madame President that is your report for this month thank you Dr Glen at this time we will go to public public comments on agenda item uh because our campus Improvement plans addresses bullying those of you that
019have signed up to speak on bullying will be allowed to speak during this period of time uh Beverly chinii does that mean we get a little longer oh thank you thanks for allowing us to speak and thanks for the little bit of extra time I know there is bullying in our schools unfortunately I believe that there's been bullying ever since there have been schools my daughter was bullied I was bullied and unfortunately because I was a seventh grade girl I probably was part of a group that did a little bullying cuz I wasn't immune to it I think it's important for our schools our teachers our community and we as parents and grandparents to work together to address the problems of bullying it takes a concerted effort to heal kids not just those affected by
020the bullies but in all fairness most Bullies Are wounded people that's why they hurt people hurt people hurt people and they need care and healing themselves I also know it to be true that bullying doesn't just happen with kids adults bully social media and the internet don't seem to help there's even bullying right here in this room as a matter of fact in reading through emails obtained by a friend through a fo you request I've read some of the most brutal bullying I've ever seen and it was directed at the board president my mother I'm going to try to get through this now she has no idea I'm speaking to this tonight tonight she would have likely said it's no big deal because she knows her worth she's been in education her whole life and
021she sees the true fruit of her life labors and the people who surround her and lift her up and love her but here are a few things that have been written or said to her in the last 3 months you are old and you're used up you will burn in the pits of hell you should crawl in a hole and disappear your fruit is putrid you are classless and ignorant instead of buying a plane you should have taken the school's money and gotten reconstructive surgery so the public doesn't have to look at your horrible appearance oddly not only were most of those things written by people right here in this room but they were written some by people who have taken up the mantle of anti-bullying anti-bullying is such a worthy cause and I can
022hope that those people who have now joined that cause have done so because they realize the brutality of their words and their actions maybe instead of the cause of anti-bulling be something that causes further division we should all just try to be kinder we should try to live a life that makes people around us happy we should all try to be better thank [Music] you Aaron Davis [Music] is um before you start the clock uh Miss Davis have you pursued the uh the issue with your son's bullying through the have you been with the principal have you filed a grievance yes the grievance one I filed and that's kind of my question in that I'm sorry I filed the grievance one I have the um appointment with Dr Smith on the 19th at 1 pm
023okay uh just for your information and we this will not keep you from speaking tonight but advice to you is if it gets to level three you will have all the time you need and an open session if you want to at that time to speak to the issue uh it would be much better for the board if we heard your whole story rather than three minutes of it however that choice is yours okay is there any way to skip level one and two if I have emails with Dr Smith and Dr Glenn I mean I don't see the point in having another meeting with the same people that you're disputing with well by state law and board policy you do you make your dispute at level one uh if you're not pleased with the
024the result you get there then you move it to the next level if again you don't get the res the the desired results then you move it to the board at that point so that is the state law and the way it's done and I I just want to caution you that at that time you could have all the time you need to tell your whole story but that's the way that the procedure works okay so we follow the procedures when it comes to y'all but when it comes to my son he has to wait more time he's I mean he's still being bullied by the same group of kids so well if if you want to speak to it here Miss Davis then we'll start your time but once again I would I my
025best advice would be that's fine I think I understand your advice thank you ma'am thank you don't trust thank you Miss Davis and I assure you if it gets to uh level three it will be heard how you want [Music] it uh Michael [Music] Davis 353 oh the one that works that lives at 3542 Oak Meadows gosh I I'm taking these one at a time on bullying and code of conduct my name is Michael Davis my son is Jaden Davis he was assaulted at GMS School the one that assaulted him received I would say two days of ISS which is a very minimal minimal punishment for that I um I do believe that the code of conduct for the district is uh the removal of the child from you know removal of the child from
026the school period to whether it be BTC or somewhere else not just for um his actions but for the safety of of our son that is in the code of conduct and it also is in the state mandated law for that but that that was also ignored my son had a hard time adjusting to Middle School very very hard time we had to push him to go and now that he's back in there now we're having a hard time getting him back used to school because the same people that were hurting him and teasing him are still back there with him again so now it's another struggle and we claimed and and and asked everybody for help but we're not getting the help that we need we need something now not tier one tier two
027or ask everybody's permission we need this now because it's our son and if it's not our son it's somebody else's son later on this is an important deal for us and we will continue and continue to push until y y'all finally hear us somebody's going to hear us somewhere whether it be this County or this state it makes no difference our family is important to us regardless we're going to push until everybody hears it until we make a noise it's going to be heard thank you thank you Mr Davis Shelby [Music] Parks hello my name is Shelby Parks I am a sophomore at grber high school I'm up here to comment about the issue with the bowling situation as well as the recent events that have happened on social media in the last week yeah
028you know I know about being bullied as I have been bullied by other students since elementary school to my face and behind my back whether they about be it be um me me being plus-sized unathletic or simply for being a part of the lgbtq plus Community it just it does not feel good it does not feel great it does not feel awesome and I can confidently say that me and any other student that has been bullied in this District do not feel com comfortable with the way the direction the buling is going on and in the district and the way it is being handled well not being handled in some situations [Music] you see I am the gay trade Alliance Club secretary despite what some people may think the GSA is not the high school
029for indoctrination purposes or to learn anything sexual the GSA is a club for all students in grammar High School to have a safe space to feel welcomed and feel safe some of you may not know or care to learn but the GSA Club at the high school is student Rand All by students little no teacher involvement other than to let us use their classroom for the meeting after school ends and be the teacher sponsor like all clubs in my opinion the GSA is the most safe space in the school free of bullying harassment and teasing why would anyone have a problem with that what I'm trying to get out here is that the board and all citizens of granberry need to accept and get attuned with the way granberry is changing we have queer students
030acknowledge that we have students that are being bullied and no one's doing anything about it acknowledge that every student belongs here and should feel safe acknowledge that every student should be treated equal that's all I'm asking as a student of grber ISD thank you thank you Emily [Music] Davis hi I am Emily Davis I'm a seventh grader at GMS and is related to the victim Jaden Davis and I don't think it's fair for one of the guys to get in the gang to get one day of ISS when he hit my brother and put a chemical in his eye and when he asked when he got asked why he said I don't know I don't even know him so how is it fair for some kids to suffer even though that they've been getting bullied
031and I think that what he's doing is wrong and so why should the kids suffer from him doing that even though he and his gang are the only ones doing it thank you [Music] by thank you Jaden Davis [Music] hello my name is Jaden Davis I attend GMS I am the victim of a kid at GMS that claims to be in a gang that kid came up to me from behind and hit me two times in my eye and then rubbed hand sanitizer in my eye ever since then him and his friends had been called me cry baby and kept flicking me in the back of my head at lunch I told my principal this and I want to ask one question and would like a answer before my time is up please why w
032why won't you help protect me Jaden that took a lot of Courage for you to speak thank you thank you Michael [Music] Davis all right I want to thank you guys for everything you do all right I it takes a lot to sit up there and listen to all this nonsense that's coming up your way so I'm going to commend you for that much better than I am so let's be honest y'all there's always going to be bullies all right I was bullly growing up I was a skinny run of a kid and we didn't have a whole lot of money you know I was bullied so I took care of it I wasn't bullied anymore you know when it comes down to it you know you sit there and spin a lie so much
033straight out of Joseph gbl's Playbook you know Hitler's propaganda Minister he said if you tell a lot enough over and over and over again people start to believe it that's what you two do yeah you laugh I'm sure you you know you sat there and actually went to the Sheriff's Office and actually told them that I was falling you around the gym yeah I look down [Music] too you've made disgrace to this board and you've made disgrace to this board yeah I wouldn't look at me either the nonsense you guys have brought to this place is ridiculous you know right out of solinsky Playbook don't let a good crisis go to waste you guys just you know take your crisis and just run with it I'm not saying bullying is not wrong but zero tolerance
034is made to protect the [Music] victim or I'm sorry excuse me it's supposed to be made protect the victim it doesn't the person that cries at first he's want to get gets the free pass so that hurt your feelings good probably should appreciate it thank you sir Monica [Applause] Brown Miss Brown you will have three minutes to speak on both of your topics the district Improvement plan and what how public comment total of only three minutes for [Music] both okay thank you very much appreciate that um I had a question it's not on the bulling topic and I will speak to that but as just a citizen and I'm curious and I hope it's a fair game question we're in a school and we have a bond coming up and it is going to be
035listed as a tax increase on our on our election ballot why can't this building right here be used as a school you I know you can't answer me but it's a curious question others are asking me I don't know so I'm curious if you have space issues I know it's on the right side of town but it seems like in a pinch it might work and I'm understanding there's a building right across the street that's two stories that's empty that might could be turned into an administration building so that was the one question um about Improvement plans and as far as the bullying goes I know Mike Davis from a while back and um not the Davis whose child was bullied in the school system but the other one and he has been bullying people
036and I'm sorry to say what he just did just now whoever clapped for him I can't imagine why he would do that and I am for you enforcing your code of conduct and every one of you like Mike Mo you spoke the other day at a forum and said the books are taken care of and that isn't true it's not true and there's been bullying from Billy Wimberly from day one that he never recanted it's documented it's in the Hood County news so Melanie Bravo to you Karen Lowry Bravo to you and all other people who are going to stand up and speak up until somebody listens I've got a grievance filed against Dr Glenn right now and also Billy Wimberly for bullying for bullying so I have really nothing else to say but I
037am curious about this building and that building and why that couldn't be a short-term solution instead of a $151 million Bond uh Miss Brown just for your information the last time classes were held in this St building it was for one class of 9th grade students would not serve for a an elementary school for five or 600 students because of the number of kids that were here at the last time it was used and at that time it was overcrowded um dve vagle [Music] you good evening trustees Mr Glenn I'm I'm talking today on the jisd GISD resolution regarding vouchers and school funding first of all which two trustees put this on the agenda where did this resolution come from I will share with you where this resolution came from it came from tasby March
0382023 bulletin brief that has a hyper length to appe PDF which is this resolution that You' got on the agenda this is nothing but taxpayer funded lobbying how is this taxpayer funded lobbying you may ask because you're are taking a position on a potential legislation and you are using tax dollars to do it not only are you using public resources to do this but you are going to send this to a lobbyist to use it to influence legislation if you pass this tonight what you're doing goes against the 2022 Republican platform of Texas that 5,000 plus of us went down to Houston last summer in of the summer of 2022 and passed plank number 101 school choice I will read it Texas Family shall be empowered to choose from public private Charter or homeschool options
039for their children's education and the funding shall follow the student without strings attached we also support tax credits and exemptions for education Choice within the public school system plank number 232 we oppose tax dollars to hire lobbyists or pay tax dollars to associations that Lobby the legislature plank number 123 Republican party of Texas calls on all isds to sever all ties with taxpayer funded lobbying groups including tasby Tassa and tax yes the Texas Association of school boards is a lobbying group whether you want to admit it or not back to the brief you have a resolution on this agenda to oppose school choice if you vote Yes and pass this resolution you will then forward this to tasby and they will use this resolution to Lobby the legislature in an attempt to affect the outcome
040of a school choice bill that goes against the Republican Party platform of Texas this arguably goes against more than half of the taxpaying citizens wishes in this County if you're a true Republican you will vote no on this resolution and by the way being searched and wanded coming in here reminds me of Thomas Jefferson quote when the people fear the government there is tyranny but when the government fears the people there's liberty and y'all are scared to death of us thank you ZB [Music] ol I've got a note of positivity last Friday last Friday I had a cooworker come to my office and she said my daughter goes to ghs she's being bullied I don't know what to do Facebook isn't solving my problems so I said have you talked to the principal yet she
041said no that's really intimidating I said he's a good guy I've met him I trust him I uh don't know what's going to happen but I encourage you to reach out make an appointment he's a really nice guy you won't regret it so this morning at 9:00 a.m. she went to go you and uh I don't know exactly what happened in the meeting but she came back hugged me around my neck said it was the first time that she felt like she had really been heard and that there is an action plan in place that he was taking immediate action and so I just want to commend you on your hiring of our ghs principal and thank you very much that's all I've got Nancy Alana good evening um it it really and truly breaks
042my heart that um we have a student that has been bullied and I'm sure that it happens from time to time in our schools simply because it happens from time to time everywhere we go and it really breaks my heart that this student hurts and and and the parents as well because bullying is not acceptable anytime or any place either by children or adults I encourage um the board the administrators our counselors to uh really look into uh character education programs that really focus on today's type of bullying bullying today is so much different than what it used to be and I think as uh those of us that work with kids each and every day uh we see that um sometimes they're not sure how to get along with each other because because their
043head is always looking at a device of some sort and I think our kids need to learn how to communicate better with each other sometimes maybe they just don't know how but I think by working together we can start beginning to really focus on respect and kindness and I think that as adults we need to be modeling that for our students for our teachers and for our staff and for the community and I think that as a school district we can begin to really see a difference in the kids when they begin to see a difference in us as adults thank [Applause] you because there are only three other speakers rather than hold them till the end of the night uh I will go ahead and recognize Todd Daniel Mr Daniel um Jerry [Music] doy
044that way you don't have to wait for your minute Mr do he can go ahead and have it here the vatri election that is coming up is designed to correct an a uh disparity in wages for the teachers in this school district I want to make the point tonight that these didn't get that way overnight it is the neglect of this board over close to a decade that has caused this to be necessary to do and this is not something that can be laid at the steps of M Lowry or Miss graph or even Mr Wimberly or Miss Gore but there are people here tonight that are responsible for this and that would be Dr Harrington Dr Glenn Mrs Townson and Mr Moore there is at least one other person in this room that has
045responsibility for this and that would be Miss Alana and I would say to the teachers assembled here you need to do some critical thinking about this situation because you get a chance at the election to also send a good message to Mr Moore and Mr Alana Mrs Alana as to just how much you appreciate the neglect that you've given them for a decade thank you Mr doy I think Michaela Anderson hello my name is Michaela Anderson and I'm a teacher at Oakwood School I tend to ramble so I'll keep it brief within the time frame that I have I've been teaching here at granberry ISD for six to sl8 years now I say sl8 because I was a long-term substitute for two years prior to being hired some say that I still have a lot
046to learn and that's right I do but I firmly believe that we are all lifelong Learners some say I've made mistakes who hasn't that's how we learn after all making mistakes the most important thing that I have learned through the years that I have been teaching here is that these wonderful people both teachers and parents alike not just at my school that I work alongside each day are the strongest the most determined and the most passionate people I've ever seen I'm so privileged to call them friends as well as colleagues they give everything they have and more for their students each and every day and they Remain the top priority no matter what is going on in around the world let's just agree our kids are the ones that we are fighting for we need
047to work together for what's in their interest not ours thank you m Madam president if I if I could just say a word uh because I know there were several speakers on bullying tonight and it is uh bully prevention Awareness Month um we have uh we approximately 1,200 Educators in granberry ISD and I I assure you that uh that no no uh member of our staff whether it's a a bus driver or a custodian or a teacher or administrator ever wants to see a kid bullied or a kid not to feel safe in our schools but we also recognize that it happens and uh I want to encourage uh parents that may be watching online or with us tonight uh that there are opportunities for kids to report not only to their classroom teacher or
048to their Administration on campus uh but they can also use our online reporting system which is on our district website we also identify uh not only uh Define what bullying is on our website but we talk about cyber bullying which wasn't discussed tonight but is also a a rampant problem among uh kids at at all ages uh with the The prominent use of cell phones uh we provide tips uh to parents and Educators to stop bullying uh we discuss what the investigation process looks like uh and then we give contact information to our counselors so uh so parents and students uh and community members have the opportunity uh to discuss problems that might be ongoing in our school uh we also as a district have committed to capturing kids' hearts and training teachers on how
049to work with kids and work through uh The Bullying process uh and how to prevent it and mitigate it in our schools uh and then most importantly we follow the Texas Safety Center bullying process as we investigate these incidents because likely a lot of the time uh we're talking about very young kids kids that can be 6 7 8 9 years old and uh and we want to make sure that that every child receives their their due process through this um if you have any questions about it or if you're watching online with questions send an email to your principal or or just reach out to your kids classroom teacher uh we're happy to provide you with that information I know the heart of our staff I know uh the heart of our teachers in
050granberry ISD we care about kids um I know the process works slow sometimes but we make every effort to make sure kids are protected and safe our board unanimously is committed to that uh and our staff is unanimously committed to that so thank you to all the speakers who came up to speak on bullying especially this month while bullying prevention month is going on so Madam president that's all I have well did you fill out a form IED out the and your name I'm Sorry Miss l [Music] I'm sorry we do not you remember who you filled out your form with I filled who did you turn it into I didn't know suppos oh okay I thought it was just the sheet to sign your name no you'll turn in so we have we have
051little forms and you'll turn those in at the begin name yeah I'll I'll be around after the meeting if you'd like to visit all right thank you thank you very much we certainly wouldn't want to overlook you uh we'll move to the consent agenda which will approve the minutes from the September 18th to 20 2023 meeting consider out of state travel request OH Close session back up cons consider action on items discussed and close session thank you Madame secretary um Dr Clint thank you madam president you have before you the HR report of personnel uh recommendations for October 16 2023 want to thank Wes Jones and his staff uh for putting this together it is our recommendation tonight that you approve as presented uh excuse me go ahead again you have the HR recommendation is
052that you approve as presented do I have a motion regarding the HR recommendation Madam president I move that we accept the staff recommendations as presented in close session motion by m Townson do I have a second a second second by Miss Lowry you have a motion in second to approve the staff recommendations is made by uh Mr Jones all in favor show of hands oppose same sign let the record show um B the deliberations regarding security devices or security audits thank you madam president uh we have had three intruder audits at Oak Woods uh Elementary School T SARS accelerated high school and Acton Elementary uh there were no findings and we recommend that you approve uh this as presented and that makes a dozen or so where they've had surprise visits and we have passed
053them all with fine colors right that is correct and we do anticipate they will hit every campus this year that is the goal of uh the school Safety Center do I have a motion to accept the uh findings so moved motion by Miss G I'll second I'll second by Mr Moore any discussion all in favor show up hands oppose same sign let the record show 70 now moving to um the rest of the consent agenda uh budget amendments and the approval to delete cke local policy and adopt ckb local policy anybody want anything uh removed from the uh consent agenda or want to speak to Ed abbit yes I'd like to speak to the uh Granbury High School choir I to pull it out all right I have couple questions about it um the um
054is this going to be a school sponsored event I I I'll miss Fisher is coming forward yes ma'am um I just had couple questions on it um as I was looking over at your sheet for the request for out of travel um this is a school sponsored event School sponsored and the since that yes I mean it is the Grandberry h School choir School sponsored but not funded by not funded by the school it's funded by only the people who choose to attend to go okay so it's not a performance event it is a performance event for the ones who choose to go for the ones who choose to go yes yeah yeah um okay that was um just a question that I had there there is one complimentary um ticket um do we know
055who or I guess not the way to ask that um we have one then who will be paying for the other one if is it going to be for the teachers or is it going to be for students those tickets um generally travel companies will just put those in there and we are able to use them however we would see fit yes well that's fine I just had a couple questions thank you I have some questions too um for the children who may not be able to afford to go is there anything set up for them to provide for them to like a fundraiser or we will set up fundraising through the booster club as many as we can do following the guidelines of the district so there is something set up for them to
056provide a way for them to go okay thank you good thank you thank you and since you're up there this is something my kiddos did the whole time um can you talk about how many I mean what what grades are we talking about how many kids end up going and talking what's happened in the past uh grades 9 through 12 it's open to anyone who is in our choir and our kids will sign up to go and we may have about 50 we may have more you never know it depends on the location it depends on the it just depends on a lot of things but we will go and we will perform at these events we will also go and um learn cultur Al uh relevant things from different parts of the world we've
057been to um Canada sung in Canada we've been to um Disney World we've sung there we've been to uh New York City we've sung there we've sung in Boston we've sung all over and it's always a great experience for the kids who go and I love the fact it's freshman to seniors and putting those all together that's uh quite a job for you with yeah different skill levels in there so thank you anything else any any comments on anything [Music] else nothing on budget amendments I do want to talk about budget amendments my favorite part these days thank you Miss Fisher wait till you hear what our community has done this month we have a donation from gch materials to Emma Robertson for sand for their sandbox $2,000 worth of sand a donation from the
058Grandberry Masonic Lodge Bernie beckworth to netti bakus for batteries for their flashlight reading program $225 donation from First United Methodist Church to nety bakus for student water bottles $672 68 donation from pirate crew Billy Martin to GMS to assist in student recognition celebrations $400 donation from Bright View Windows Brent Holdridge to GMS for the Avid t-shirts $250 donations from Christian Brothers Automotive to ghs Automotive program two two RTI AC servicing machines and a parts washer $8,000 donation from Granbury Flower and Gifts to the ghs pirate blooms which is one of our CTE programs for homecoming mom supplies $500 donation from gch material again to Granbury FFA they have sand for the agricultural Barn Pig Wing pens again $2,000 in sand donation from Granbury pirate softball booster club to the ghs softball for a four-wheeler to
059drag the softball fields $2500 donation from the star of Texas Farm John Hughes Family Farm to ghs robotics Student Activity account to assistant travel expenses $500 and lastly but not leastly donation from element glow Richard Guerrera to GISD custodial for gift certificates for outstanding service Awards $80 the total donations for this month from our community $ 17,120 68 thank you our community shows their love for us please you show your love back to these organizations thank you thank you Miss Townson do I have a moment motion regarding the consent agenda I'd like to add one more thing please I'd like to um take out the CK local until next month after we've been able to have uh Mr Clark come speak to us the DH local just has one change but the cke local has
060a lot of different information in it and I'd like to hear Mr Clark first are you asking it to move it to remove it completely from the agenda yes the cke we can do the DH part of it but are you putting that in the form of a motion I am putting that in the form of a motion I'd like to have table or remove the cke part of the local policy until we can hear Mr Clark speak to us on that due to the extent of the changes I have a motion to remove that from the consent agenda do I have a a second I'll second it is there any discussion and and this is just to get more clarifying information from Mr Clark correct I had a hard time hearing you I'm sorry
061yes I'd like to get more information from Mr Clark as to um what exactly all of these mean and why all these different changes when on the front page it just says that it is a uh adoption um with something that's been changed or added to the DK policy i' just like more clarification from him thank you any further discussion so we're just moving until next month and we'll discuss it then oh yes okay good yes all in favor of the motion to remove uh item D I would place it on next month's agenda place it on the November agenda yeah all in favor show up hands post same sign at the record show 61 um oppos and we will uh put that on the agenda next month with Mr Wimberly objecting um going to
062discussion and action approve grber ISD district Improvement plan we have to approve other all the rest remaining consent agenda you're right thank you uh we'll approve uh the minutes the out of state travel and the budget amendments do I have a motion and DH local and the what and DH she just removed the cke local so we're still approving the DH local the only part that got tabled for next month was the cke local and the uh the one that we just tabled was cke local so we're still approving the CKC and the DH local with this consent agenda CKC yes yes that is correct I only have CK and CK B CK she's looking at this sheet yeah I don't have DH listed on mine so I that was in our board book one
063yeah have CK and ckb all right so to clarify we're removing CK and CK just CK CK local and we are considering CK B and DH right C CKC and DH this is the agenda that was placed out here it's right here all right oh that's to clarify thought I wasn't reading in it these old eyes darn it um but mine said says CK and CK B so we are going to remove C K E Local and approve everything else okay do I have a motion for the entire cons just for that one okay no for everything I I move that we accept the consent the consent agenda items as amended do I have a second I'll second thank you Miss Townson for the motion Miss Gore for the second um is everybody clear except
064me we're we're approving the consent agenda as amended that's minus CK local policy which has been table to November everything else we are accept absolutely all in favor of that motion show up hands poose same sign let the record show 70 I apologize to Dr Harrington that that error on hers is a mistake from our office not from her so oh blame me it's okay she does get a larger print version so that is true that is true um moving right along then Miss Tammy Clark do you want to come tell us about this District Improvement plan I do thank you Madame President I'm super excited to um present the district Improvement plan um just like last month uh when we were doing campus Improvement plans we were waiting on the a through F refresh
065for some of the information and so you'll see some of that that will be updated um as soon as we get it but we made it as complete as possible um Jimmy and I and EMT as well as all of the directors got together and set performance objectives and strategies to align with the long- range planning goals from this long-range planning session we had this past spring and summer and so that we addressed everything that was applicable to every single department and so you'll see um I did the out of glance just like you have for campus Improvement plans um so that it can be a little bit easier to digest um but if you have questions about the stuff in the bulk of it we'll we can address that but under the first goal
066um of uh grade level proficiency and Future Ready skills um we know that we need to work on um of course math and English and our ccmr but we're waiting for the a through F to set those goals for that particular section in college readiness it's called college readiness but we like to call it College Bound industry bound and Military bound so um we are going to continue our AVID program um continue to explore ways to increase our AP dual credit and dual enrollment classes um like we did this year um with another partnership with Tarlton um we want to increase our tsia um offerings that's the college ready um test and so they can then take College Bridge courses if necessary so that they're ready for college if that's the P track they choose
067and then we're working really hard on ccmr tracking in coordinated Health that's that's looking at the whole student and we heard a lot about that tonight um we have some really good goals from our um strategic planning groups in that area we have a culture committee that's been working already and are going to meet again um this week uh to address some of that but it's just to take care of the whole child their social well-being their physical wellbeing and their mental wellbeing so we'll continue our Partnerships with tat with um community and schools with our um children Advocacy Center the Brees Pregnancy Center and all of the all of the presentations that they do to make sure that our kids get what they need um and that of course goes through sha and then
068we also are um launching capturing kids hearts for the secondary campuses this year which um was part of the process to make sure that we are um setting up Social contracts and making sure that mutual respect is is important in every setting in the school and we will push that down to elementary schools next year and then um we are doing C do youu for secondary campuses those are some those are some um um short um sessions that help them learn some character building traits and some um problem solving traits and some Conflict Management traits and they do that um through their advisory classes and then of course on our elementary c um campuses we do character education so um that's our coordinated Health in a fast nutshell but um for the highly effective and
069well supported and valued staff um we there's a lot of things under there but of course the vat to um get competitive um uh payment schedule permitting voter approval we're also looking at um observation feedback training continued to support our staff our admin staff we're we're coaching them so that they can coach um their teachers and we are a leader in and a model for this um process in north Texas um through our long range planning we looked um to put a community for a committee for Recruitment and a committee to unify the district model for mentoring and those um committees have already been formed and are underway we partner with Tarlton for interns and we are a leader and model school for this as well um and there's lots of people who uh want
070to talk to Wes Jones and our our elementary principles um regarding our internship programs and um so number three looking at the community connectedness um there are some different things that were pushed down from our long range planning um the standardized teacher Family School family and school Community communication expectations so we're working on creating some of those templates and there's a committee for that um unifying branding policy for the district and creating some surveys um student surveys family surveys Community surveys and um and teacher surveys so that we know that we're meeting everybody's needs and um connecting with them the best that we can so that'll be working uh we'll be working towards that and then um we're going to continue our Purp star program I'm super proud of that so you have to listen
071to me brag about it one more time but we are a Statewide example for um for this tea when they talk about their purple star program they have added us to their slide to say granberry got 100% of their campuses so great job principles and as far as facilities being wellmaintained secure and prepared for future growth everyone knows that there's a you know if the bond passes in November there will be a bond oversight committee and things like that and so there's plans in place permitting that but um otherwise we are looking towards um successful achievement on All State audits our Emergency Operations plans being put um in place and continue to be updated um the continued Marshall Plan House Bill 3 um asks for a a guard at each campus um that that's their
072only Duty and we have been we were staffed that way and compliant with that before this year's legislative session so um we have been um having our our security our awesome Marshall program um compliant with House Bill 3 before it was up to date so but the goals that we're going to update after a through F we're going to look at the demographics um we know that our EB um our emergent bilingual population is growing our sped popul is growing and our economically disadvantaged population is growing so we're going to have to keep on um working towards meeting their needs and um and figuring out where their gaps are so that's going to be something that probably will have some goals surrounding that and then in curriculum instruction we're going to see if there's a
073deeper me like for math intervention or um for ccmr but we're we're looking to see exactly how the state is going to be counting those things to see where our efforts um need to be uh focused in on so it is my recommendation that you um approve the district Improvement plan as [Music] presented I have a couple questions go ahead nope go ahead M mine are easy first off thank you so much you spelled out a lot of the abbreviations this time I didn't have to go look up a bunch of abbreviations I tried thank you you're welcome um also uh the 20 hours community service as local graduation requirements is that done within their time in high school or yes ma'am so it is done in their time in high school and they track
074it with our counselors through a a Google sheet okay thank you yes ma'am ahead miss Larry yes all right my turn yay um first I just want to say that um I did put put in in a time a right time frame for an agenda item for bullying but Mrs um Clark I have a question on page 19 under the problem statement number seven it says bullying can contribute I would like to suggest that we say that it does contribute to a negative climate in our schools well this is a living document we absolutely can can you tell me oh I see it page 19 yes ma'am the uh root cause also it says bullying is present School settings than it can and I think that we should say that it does have serious negative
075effects for both victims and Bullies sure I can make that change and then on page 33 under strategy six develop systems to address bullying the uh strategy details um expected result and impact the staff will be trained and aware of districtwide bullying procedures and students will in turn feel safe safer and more connected at school um are those programs that you just were talking about were those the programs that are being identified yes ma'am okay um and we have a point of when they're being implemented Yes actually our um process Champions with um for CK for our secondary schools and when I say CK um capturing kids Hearts so I won't do that to you but um they were trained last um staff development day and we will be using this upcoming Staff Development Day
076for them to go out and um be the trainer of trainers if I'm understanding that correctly give me a thumbs up Stacy Brown okay yes so they will be training this Friday okay um this District I went and look I looked on the website we've got 17 policies regarding bullying at some point and the issue dates were 6723 um why are these policies not being followed to protect the students from bullying right now you want me to I think our policies are being followed Miss Lowry I think our teachers and our administrators do a good job but I think in a district with 8,000 kids occasionally a kid's going to get bullied and the administration is going to have to handle it well um would also like to say that in the first two weeks
077of school I was informed of three bullying issues so I think it is is a problem and strategies are really good but I think we need to look at what we can do right now to address the bullying issue Miss Miss Lowry I I hope if a parent comes to you with bullying you'll you'll direct them back to a counselor administrator a teacher so that we can help resolve the problem with with you yes I direct them back to where they need to go um first of all because bullying was on our our uh District Improvement plan that's why we allowed the bullying people to to speak uh on agenda items U as I look at it and it's mentioned not once and not twice but uh four times and it's obvious that not only
078the people who are put together the district Improvement uh plan but those of us that have looked at it we know that it's a priority and I know that we are are moving on that um doesn't mean it's going to stop all the bullying but I really appreciate all the efforts uh three other issues for me on page um 18 where more than 6% of our students in their families have no internet access at home and if you realize how much much the the world depends on internet and we have that many youngsters in this District who do not have access to that information that everybody else has those are the same youngsters that are challenged in some other way so uh I I don't know how I don't have a solution I just recognize
079the problem and thank y'all for recognizing it uh special education struggling with staff both recruiting and retention because of Statewide uh special ed and and emerging uh bilinguals or bilingual it's it's a major issue for us do you perceive uh help from the eat if it passes I think that will help attract more candidates to our doors there's a fight in Texas over these highly quality qualified people that work with our emergent bilinguals and our um students with special needs and um and so we have we have some phenomenal people here working but we need more hands uh finally I'm really glad to see that you you you are recommending a bond oversight committee a committee of both local citizens and uh employees of the district who will uh keep a close eye when when
080the bond passes uh over the expenditures to see that we have a total transparency for our community and I was glad to see that on page 36 of our uh plan and ma'am have one other tab here well the long range planning team or the strategic planning team worked really really hard to um there there were actually two sessions cuz we couldn't finish it in one determining exactly how to get all of all of the things that were needs and take out the things that were perceived as once and um get to what was actually needed and those things are outlined on our website but um so then a bond oversight committee making sure that that's where that money goes is logical very good great job thank you great job to all of the directors
081and these two guys uh do I have a any other discussion do I have a motion regarding the campus Improvement plan yeah Madame President I move that we approve the district Improvement plans for the 2324 for 2023 and 24 thank you Mr Moore do I have a second I'll second that thank you m Townson you have a motion and a second any further discussion all in favor show of hands oppose same sign let the record show 70 consider approval of the granberry Independent School District resolution number 1016223 regarding vouchers and school funding in investment policy yeah you skipped one would you give would you give me a correct would someone like to come look over my shoulder tell me that um oh consider resol resolution stating review of invest investment policy oh it's C on
082mine it's it's be on yours okay so we'll go to the resolution stating the review of investment policy I'll just Mark these numbers out I'll make CBB do is there any discussion or do I have a motion on the resolution stating the review of the investment policy I do have one question and I think is going to want to talk on it a little bit um under in okay so we're looking at this has to do with CDA local under internal controls number one says separation of transaction Authority from accounting and recordkeeping an electronic transfer of funds isn't that all within your organization how how are you making sure that's a separation of on the transfer of funds uh Dr Glenn and I are the investment officers we do have approval for Kathy the business
083maner to be uh the uh an investment officer as well however she's not signing off on it um I do the transactions Dr Glenn is aware of them and then Kathy records them in the accounting software so that's how you have your separation yes ma'am thank you I needed that question any other questions or discussion Mr TR feel we're going to present on this at all I can yes sir you mind yes I glad to board in front of you you do have the investment policy for the district it is CDA legal and CDA local CDA local is going to be exhibit a in your packet and then you will have a list of Brokers qualified Brokers as exhibit B in your packet okay um CDA legal states that the board shall adopt a written
084instrument stating that it has reviewed the investment policy and investment strategies and that the written instrument also adopted shall record any changes made to either the investment policy or investment strategies CDA legal also states that the board shall annually review revise and adopt a list of qualified Brokers which is exhibit B in your packet that are authorized to engage in investment transactions with the district CDA local states that the superintendent or other person designated by the board res board resolution Shall Serve as the investment officer and lastly Texas government code section 22568 A requires the board approve independent sources of investment training in view of these requirements a resolution is attached for your consideration as a board uh it is the administration's recommendation that the board ad adopt the attached res resolution stating the board
085has reviewed the investment policy and strategies adopted a list of qualified Brokers has designated the investment officers for the district and has approved the independent sources of in investment training as required by investment policy and Texas government code and and I'll just speak into this a little bit uh appreciate appreciate that uh um commentary Mr Whitefield but but at the end of the day uh we have probably one of the more conservative investment policies uh isds uh typically have very conservatives ours is extremely conservative uh all all Investments are uh um put together in such a way where they cannot yield a loss so you're never going to see us out investing in stocks that may lose the taxpayer money for the most part everything is protected it has to be insured and uh and
086again it's an extremely conservative investment policy uh which is why in in lean years like last year you saw very very very uh small yields on uh on interest rates and uh in this year it's a little bit better um but you still see pretty low returns as compared to maybe an investment banker that would take the sums of money we're investing in and uh get yields of probably right now closer to what 8 to 12% so we're we're going to be significantly under that because we invested zero risk do I have a motion Madame President I move that we approve the resolution stating the review of the investment policy do I have a second a second motion by Miss Townson second by Miss Lowry any further discussion all in favor show up hands oppose
087same sign let the record show 70 now consider approval of granberry Independent School District resolution number 10162 023 regarding vouchers and school funding thank you madam president uh you have before you a voucher uh that is a resolution put out by the Texas Association of school boards it's been signed off bond by I believe now 178 school districts in Texas I know that number continues to to grow uh as the session goes on um know if it would be easier to read it or summarize it I'll let the board decide I would like it read into to the record thank you vouchers and education savings accounts taxpayer savings grants and other mechanisms that reduce public education uh funding for the State of Texas the county of hood whereas article 7 section one of the Texas
088Constitution requires the Texas legislature establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient uh system of free public schools whereas the Texas Public Schools districts including granberry ISD accept every student whereas education savings accounts and other voucher schemes give private schools not parents the right to choose whereas the community has high expectations about how their children are served in our schools and how their tax dollars are used and the level of transparency we provide in all matters whereas granberry ISD schools and all Texas Public Schools adhere to State manded academic and financial accountability standards whereas private schools are not required to meet the same academic standards as public schools and they do not report test results graduation rates and other performance measures to the public whereas education savings accounts and similar
089voucher schemes eliminate public accountability of schools and tax dollars whereas school choice already exists in Texas via the public school districts Charter Schools transfer home schools virtual schools and private schools whereas during the 2023 multiple sessions including the 88th regular legislative session Texas lawmakers did not deliver on promised and expected increases in funding for teacher and staff compensation and safety to Texas Public Schools even with a $33 billion Surplus available to them at the state level whereas using tax dollars to pay for tuition and private and religious schools would grow into a costly entitlement program at a time when the state is not allocating enough funds to Public Schools including those in Grandberry ISD to D address its required increase and non-discretionary expenditures caused by the market forces and inflation whereas taxpayer funded Voucher Program
090would educe reduce the amount of State funds available for all schools harming communities like ours that are founded upon strong Public Schools whereas Texas parents who accept vouchers would lose out on a long list of important parental rights outlined in the Texas Education Code and in federal law ESP especially protections for students receiving special education services and whereas the Texas legislature may meet again in 2023 to discuss Public Schools if Governor Abbott calls another special session which he has now therefore be it resolved that granberry is Board of Trustees calls on the Texas legislature to reject any diversion of public dollars to private entities in the form of Education savings accounts and similar voucher schemes thank you Dr Glenn um they have called the special session specifically for esas um I think it's important that
091all the trustees look at each part of this resolution and see if there's anything you don't agree with just because this is the outlined resolution that was from tasby doesn't mean that we have to accept it as written so if you have any amendments or language you would like to change I would suggest adding that or taking it out I I think there's some valid points that are made in here regarding public education funding and services that students particularly parents won't really have the right to choose it really gives private schools the right to choose who they accept um you know we serve the majority of students in our community so any funding that they take away from our local public schools just hurts kids and ultimately that's why we're here we're here to do
092what's best for kids so anything that takes funding away from the kids that we serve is a disservice to the children of this community this isn't a republican Democrat issue this is about doing what's best for kids I think our legislator deserves to hear from us and where we stand on this issue whether that means we are going to see legislation or not this session um Abbott has made it clear that he's going to keep calling special session special session until something is passed so I think it's important to point out some of the fallacies that we see in vouchers so our leg legislators know what to look for with any type of voucher program that is brought or presented to them so that perhaps they can put Provisions or Protections in place for public
093schools to make sure some of these issues outlined in this resolution are addressed and also I hope that it puts in their mind what they need to think of from a parent standpoint that the parents need to understand that there will not be the same academic standards as what we have in public school there will not be the same fiscal accountability that we have in public school that there will not be the same um availability of public information as we have in the public schools the legislature is going to do what the legislature is going to do but from my standpoint I am a trustee of public schools that is why this is important we say I think it's also important to consider when when those accountability standards like STAR testing are used to devalue
094public education instead of taking funding away from public education let's look at those systems and fix those systems instead of taking funds away you know one or two children leaving a public school has a huge effect on that public school because we the teacher still has to teach that class but we're losing funding on two three students even has a huge effect our bills don't change the salary for that teacher doesn't change we still have all those same expenses and it's it's it's kind of funny to me or I don't know if funny is the right word but it's it's strange to me that they would offer an $8,000 Esa program for people to choose to go somewhere else where they may not even be able to go yet they're not even looking at a
095basic en lopment increase a 75 I think is what the Senate proposed so we've got a huge discrepancy in the funding that they're willing to give to one program versus another and I think that needs to be addressed by our legislator well the financial fa fallacy of it all is what really gets me why would they give $88,000 when they to a student to go to a private school when they don't give us $8,000 per student to educate that student in public schools not only that folks I don't know how many additional people in this community could take $8,000 and enroll them in any private school for that amount if you have anybody in private school Che I don't know about our local private schools but I can tell you that typically a private school
096tuition runs about $25 to $30,000 a year $88,000 is is not even a drop in the bucket for most parents plus youngsters who go to private schools have access to a lot of other things that they do and somehow the legis leer is not or the governor or someone's not thinking about oh yes will these kids be able to make this field trip for this weekend for $250 or will they be able ble to make this activity for another $500 a year because in private schools and I can speak to this because my granddaughter attends a private school I will tell you that it cost them in the neighborhood of about $40,000 a year for that child to go to that school and for that child to um participate in in the weekend activities and
097that's not counting their trip to um the holy land that was scheduled for the spr spring term it doesn't count all of those other things and I don't know about anybody else but quite frankly I don't want my child having to compete with children that have that access to that kind of educational money when all I have is what the government gives me to the state of Texas says $88,000 that's not even a drop in the bucket so the fallacy of it all and I'm not bragging about my my granddaughter going to public school and my son will I mean private school my son will probably kill me for this but the reality of it is that youngsters that are in that school currently on a scholarship feel that that they do not fit and
098there's not anything in the world we've talked about bullying there's not anything in the world as bad as to have a kid come into a school where they do not fit for whatever reason so the whole financial fallacy of the thing just bugs me and you know when we look at the demographics of the community that we serve and over half of the students we serve are from uh economically disadvantaged families this doesn't really do anything to help them where where they need help is at their public school where they're going to get the services they need they're going to get access to the technology that they wouldn't otherwise have that private schools they're going to be required to have that on their own transportation private schools aren't going to provide it there's just there's
099a lot of discrepancies in here that I think these fallacies need to be pointed out to our legislators so that as they're looking at this in the house they're aware of these issues and so if a if legislation comes out and it does get passed at least they're looking at these issues to try and address some of the things that that need to be addressed so that they're ultimately doing what's best for kids I just have a question and a comment my first question is um I would like to know who put this on the agenda oh certainly I did okay and then my comment is um I'm really looking at this and Dave Eagle spoke on it but it's if it came from tasby it is a taxpayer fund it's taxpayer funded lobbying which
100uses School resources to Lobby the legislature it's a legal use of school resources um tasby is a Statewide tax funded lobbying group um dues are paid with tax dollars and actually 90% of all Texans Republican and Democrat oppose taxpayer funded lobbying of any kind those are my only comments thank you Miss that's kind of what the um delegate assembly is for so that the elected representatives from the local communities are able to go to tasby tell tasby what the local issues are that they care about in their school district and get them on as priorities so that they can put those to the legislators I we don't all have time to go down to Austin individually and meet with legislators all the time it's it's it's much like a I guess to compare it to
101something that y'all you would know would be like a County Convention where you gather together as a community you get those priorities that are prevalent to Hood County for the Hood County Convention and then from there you go to the State Convention it's very similar to that so that the the local community's voice is being heard and represented in in some way and like I said just because that's what this resolution says doesn't mean we can't amend it and change language or eliminate some of the language so if there's anything in here you don't agree with that you would like to change or amend or completely eliminate um open to any suggestions I'd just like to say there's a lot of good points in here across the board each one of these points are um
102points that uh the legislature has has dropped the ball on this this last session which is why we're in a special session now I believe that public schools as a whole Statewide are under attack and I think that this our approving this gives us good ammunition to go and and try and Lobby for ourselves if we have to for some of these points um they had a good chance to give a raise to all the teachers and they they they decided not to do that uh we're having to do a Vader to try and pick that up it's just that I believe that schools in General are under attack Statewide and I think these are good points no matter whether they came from tasby or anybody else I just think they're they're good points and
103uh I'll support each one of them well they're valid points and like I said it this is a chance for each trustee to give their input into this resolution if there's something you want to change that you don't agree with or you want to completely eliminate then make the amendment and we can discuss it um this is a chance for us as a collective board to put together a message to send to our legislator well if private schools follow the same rules that we have to I would probably be for vouchers but until they have to you know do the same you know acade academic standards uh accept people with disabilities with learning disabilities private schools they don't have to accept you if they don't want to as a public school we'll take care of
104you we'll take care of everybody my only comment is that yes it is taxpayer funding lob lobbying and I would prefer as an individual voter in person that I would just call maybe not have to drive down there but I can call or I can send emails and leave my information and what I feel with the uh legislators yeah certainly everybody has the right to do that and I would encourage everyone to do so absolutely at this time I will entertain a [Music] motion Madame President I move that the board approve the resolution is presented a motion by Mr wly do I have a second I'll second I have a second by Mrs Gore have a motion in second to approve the grand berry Independent School District resolution regarding vouchers and school funding all in
105favor show of hands oppose same sign let the record show it passes 52 with Miss graph and Miss Lowry uh voting no at this time we'll go to the continu uh continued education annual report for Schoolboard trustees uh I would like to report to you that every trustee sitting at this table has exceeded all of the annual requirements and most of the people sitting at this table have exceeded them by probably double of what they needed so thank each board member for your um participation training uh by training we learn something new every year I don't care how many years you've been here I learn something every every year so thank you all for fulfilling the requirements of training for our board trustees uh now we'll move to the financial statements for the period ending
106September the 30th 2023 Mr Whiteville thank you madam president board you do have the financials for September 30th 2023 in front of you that is the first month of this fiscal year so the revenue collected date equals 4.87% of the budgeted amount compared to 2.33% in 21 and 22 expenditures a date represent 12.85% of the budget compared to 10.62 and 22 and 23 if you have any questions I'd be glad to answer those how do you feel we're sitting in a in I know that we're we're behind on uh collection of taxes because the tax statements won't go out and till later but you see do you see any other problems no ma'am not at this time I do not any questions all right moving right along you're still on thank you madam president board
107in front of you you do have the cash flow and investment report um you can see that in September we did raise $134,800 and interest this month last year we only raised $62,400 so we're ahead on that and to the total for last year's investment interest was $2,494 610 so we are on track if interest rates stay the way they are to to exceed that very good there being no further business we are adjourned at 754 thank you for coming