Granbury ISD Board Meeting - August 21, 2023

001published in currents with Texas education laws there is a quorum present the time is five o'clock at this time uh at 501 we will go into executive session with uh under the following sections private consultation with the board attorney 551072 discuss purchase exchange lease or value of property [Music] discussion of officers employees and Personnel matters and and find the uh safety five five one oh eight two consider safety standards this time 501 Miranda executive session foreign it's now 5 38 we are back in the open session and we're being recess until six o'clock foreign I call this meeting at the Granbury Independent School District to order back to order at this time I would ask you to Bow your heads and be in prayer with me father God we come to you tonight with heavy

002hearts and with sadness for the loss of our beloved family member precious teacher who's devoted her life to students we pray for her fellow teachers her family Lord we pray for those children that she just began to get to know but we're thankful for her and for the services she did give to us but we know that doesn't make living today any easier God we're thankful for the opportunity to come before you and tend to the business of the school district tonight is a heavy serious agenda I prayed that we will use the same and that you will be with us as we go through these budget items through these bonding items through everything on this agenda because God they make a difference for the kids in this District meet each and every one of

003us to examine each of these things carefully and make decisions that we know that are in the best interest of the children and God we thank we're thankful for all the people in this community who care about our community who are here tonight we're here to for the betterment of our district and our children father God be with us as we leave here tonight be with those teachers when they return tomorrow well that empty spot is where they had a beloved co-teacher tomorrow God we are so thankful these things I pray in the Name of Christ Jesus my Lord amen at this time will you please stand for the presentation of colors [Music] he said so [Music] actually the United States of America stands one Nations justice for all [Music] ah congratulations to leave Texas

004a state for God invisible everything [Music] over up [Music] Sergeant don't run off they gave me something to read [Music] next week next month we'll have the Granbury High School mcjrotc back but tonight uh I want to let you know that the Granbury High School Marine Corps JROTC led by Lieutenant Colonel Casey and first sergeant rositis has been selected as a naval honor school for the 10th consecutive year the uh the Granbury High School Battalion also received the Marine Corps Reserve association's outstanding unit award for the third year running this award is the highest recognition of mcjrotc unit can receive and only four given out worldwide each year yeah it is uh out this is a great honor for Granbury High School it is the it's only the third time in the program's 23-year history

005that they have earned this prestigious designation uh the ROTC was chosen as the best program uh from among over 270 jrotcs program programs worldwide so congratulations on being number one first sergeant we appreciate you and trustees we'll have them back next month to recognize them appropriately public hearing at this time we will open our public hearing on the budget and the proposed tax rate for the 23-24 school year Mr Whiteville [Music] already budget [Music] that was not on [Music] it is now thank you um and and they'll be color coded the maximum compressed tax rate will be coated in yellow and then your voter approved tax ratification election will be coded in in green you see this first page here and you do have those booklets on your desk and you can go follow along

006there's probably a little easier to see the maximum compressed tax rate Revenue would generate 82 million five hundred and seventy three thousand dollars which is eight hundred and eighty one thousand dollars less than last year the voter approved tax ratification election would generate 93.1 million dollars which would be an increase of 9 million six hundred fifty five thousand dollars in Revenue to the district thank you the next page breaks it down by functions this is the area of the district where we will be spending the funds the first one is going to be your highest one that's going to be in direct instruction you can see that uh net of recapture under the maximum compressed tax rate that's 60 percent of our budget and then under the voter approved tax ratification election that would be

00761.3 percent of the budget you can see that down at the bottom that those are about since it's a balanced budget there would be a reduction of expenditures of 881 thousand dollars under the maximum compressed tax rate and an increase of 99 million 655 000 increase in the voter approved tax ratification election the next slide breaks it down into the object code which is well we're spending the funds on you can see that the First Column is 6100 that's the salaries that is where the majority of our budget is and that of recapture with a maximum compressed tax rate is 84.4 percent of our budget with the voter approved tax ratification election that would be 85.1 percent of the budget you can see there that um the the salaries the voter approved tax verification election

008the majority of that fund those funds will go into salaries the increase in the maximum compressed tax rate and salaries from last year would be nearly five million dollars and then if the voter approved tax rate is approved that's an increase of 11.369 in salaries for our for our staff [Music] under the MCR I General operating Revenue would be 82 million five hundred and seventy three thousand and three dollars the expenditures would also be 82 million five hundred seventy three thousand and three dollars for a balanced budget this balanced budget includes 1850 for teachers raise it includes a three percent increase three percent uh increase on all salaries to the midpoint on all other employees and in addition to those salary increases uh we brought drivers up to eighteen dollars an hour and we brought

009bus driver leads up to 19 an hour and all other pay scales were brought to a minimum wage of fifteen dollars an hour under the voter approved tax replication election the general operating Revenue would be 93 million one hundred and nine thousand four hundred sixty two dollars and the expenditures at that same amount for a balanced budget about um the balance that budget would increase nine million six hundred fifty five thousand dollars in addition to the above raises that would be a salary increase plan for ten percent for every employee except for the administration scale and that would only be another additional three percent at the end of that year so today is a balanced budget the fund balance would be 21 million eight hundred and four thousand dollars and that would on your next

010slide you can see that will bring us down from last year's current of 30 million two hundred thousand dollars so the balance budget should stay equal the next budget that we'll look at will be your debt service budget this budget is based on 14.5 cents it generates about 15 million a little over 15 million dollars in revenue and the total expenditures will be 13 591 402 that does include a defeasants of six million one hundred and forty thousand dollars of Prior bonds um it is set for 14.5 cents The Debt Service budget will produce approximately seven million seven million six hundred forty six thousand dollars at that rate making our fund balance approximately 10 million four hundred thirty four thousand dollars I'm reminding you that we can use this Ephesians which is the Six Million

011one hundred forty thousand dollars which would save taxpayers nine hundred and thirty eight thousand one hundred fifty three dollars and thirty five cents in interest the next slide show the bonds that we're going to be doing that to this is schedule has our series 2015. unlimited bonds and our 2020 a unlimited bonds and you can see that the first of that schedule will be paying off three million dollars three million thirty five thousand dollars and then on the 2028 we'd be paying off 3.1 million dollars and then the next page will show you that the the uh present value savings is the nine hundred and thirty eight thousand one hundred fifty three dollars and thirty five cents in your debt service budget and we'll talk about that later on in the meeting but that's just

012the pro for The Debt Service there the next budget Will Be Your Child Nutrition budget this is a side-by-side budget as well because the uh the vatre budget would affect them as well because we would we would do those 10 raises with them as well the first pay the First Column is the MCR you can see that they will generate four million 422 811 in revenue and their expenditures will be four million 497 711 for seventy four thousand nine hundred dollar loss on the vatre side they would generate 4.4228 11 again in revenues but their expenditures would be four million 668 432 dollars for a loss of 245 650 621 dollars uh just to remind you that their fund balance is a little high and they are spending that down so that is acceptable within

013that budget range expected to decrease as well as expenditures the fund balance at the under the MCR would be 1 million 157 000 20 at the year end and under the vatre their fund balance will be 986 299 dollars at your end and the district will participate in the community eligibility provision program for the 23-24 school year and all students will eat for free the current tax rate is at 99 and the proposed tax rate under the vatre that we're closing is 93.42 which is six and a half cents lower than it was this past year the budgets that is being presented to you as a proposed design we'll be dropping our tax rate for about the ninth year in a row [Music] that is the three budgets that are required to be presented to

014you and in public hearing and I can answer any questions that you might have yeah and I'll just like to add add just a little bit of just maybe bring it to a more layman's terms on the the v-a-t-r-e so there's some some unique things that work as it relates to to school uh funding and and Taxation and a lot of that has to do with what happened in the slides legislative session so what you're seeing is districts across the state compressing their m o tax rate and in addition to that you're seeing the advantage of a hundred thousand dollar homestead exemption and so the district is looking for the opportunity to capitalize on This Time by compressing our tax rate but not not the full amount which we historically have done which is one

015of the reasons we have the lowest tax rate in Hood County School tax rate and in one of the lowest School tax rates in in the Metroplex and certainly if you look at fast growth districts our size across the state we continue to have an extraordinarily low tax rate and and so we want to lower the tax rate again and we're were able to do that with the homestead exemption and the the compression saving I believe the the average homeowner uh oh at least just over 500 was uh published in the paper and um and so that's a good thing uh the The Challenge and the reason that uh that we're wanting to have the voter approved tax ratification election is because an area where we've struggled is taking care of our staff we historically

016have had an extraordinarily low tax rate but we historically have not taken the best care of our teachers when it comes to salaries in the state of Texas and certainly in our area Wes Jones and the HR department a couple years ago did a salary study and we rank uh 10 percent at least some areas more below our peers and so we're looking at this as an opportunity not only to take care of our teachers but our bus drivers our cafeteria workers our custodians those people that give so much back to our community and they live here and they work here and we're the largest employer and we want to make sure they're taken care of in addition to that we want to lower our student teacher ratio it's not fair for a classroom teacher

017to have 25 30 kids in their class we know that learning works best when we can lower the student teacher ratio research has shown that time and time again and and so it's going to provide us funds to do that moving forward as we grow and uh and so that's that's the v-a-t-r-e and then the other proposition on the on the ballot will be a bond election and so we'll talk about both of those in in more detail but the combined tax rate for a district most people on your tax bill you just see GISD tax rate but it's really two tax rates one is an operations tax and one is a is a debt tax so it goes to construction and and those two together combined make up our tax rate so we'll be

018lowering the operation tax rate six cents and we'll be leaving the debt tax rate the same even with the bond and and so the question comes and and hopefully I've I've been able to provide a little clarification on how compression and the exemption allow us to lower the mno tax rate while capturing additional funds from the state but on the debt side if you think of it like a home mortgage it is uh it's the equivalent of leaving your mortgage rate the same but but extending out your payments in years so you know we know that we owe about nine more years worth of debt payments uh well if we go build a new school we're going to owe longer but the rate won't go up and and so that's how we're able to keep

019our ins or debt tax rate the same and uh and lower our m o tax rate and and ask for a bond and a vatre did I did I explain that in layman's terms amen yes sir are there any questions I do want to say that Emmett spins he and I begin having preliminary conversations probably in February about six months of his entire year as devoted to this along with his team in the business office and they do a phenomenal job he is extremely conservative he cares deeply about our budgets and and he scrutinizes over the numbers and is recognized as an expert in the state of Texas we are very fortunate to have his leadership in our district the other half of the year he's doing audits from the state to make sure that

020we did what we say we're going to do and proud to to announce that again this year we're a superior rated District financially and that's because of them at Whitefield thank you for your leadership in it thank you sir at this time we will close the public hearing and go to a regular agenda and Dr Graham superintendent's report please thank you madam president and trustees I will tell you it has been a a roller coaster ride for us as we've opened the start of the school year I'll first speak to to our new uh our new principals Mr Robinson at the high school Miss Ruiz Broner and in this ship at manbrino they have been full of energy and it has been a joy to watch them come into our administrative team and Lead those

021campuses last week we started off the the year on a high it was it was exciting to see students and teachers back after a after a long summer really feels like covet has been pushed behind us and uh and there was so much energy on our campuses and and truly that's a a credit to to our not only our teachers but but also the parents and and the staff and the community members we just have so many great Community Partners that make the start of school so special um the challenges with the startup school also are there growth is a huge uh Challenge and for those of you who've been driving around in the mornings and afternoons you feel the impact of GISD being back in session on the roads and uh so we apologize

022for that but we do have plans to try and mitigate some of the growth that we have due to uh to transportation and the transportation impact also buses have been a challenge for us uh just speaking uh on behalf of our drivers it's been hot and it is hard to run a bus when it's 110 outside and you got to open the doors and let kids off every every three or four minutes and you're running older buses with air conditioners and you got 50 to 60 kids on those buses it can be trying and so I want to thank all of our bus drivers and our transportation staff I know it has been a hard week for them and they are doing their best when it cools down it'll get a lot better but but

023thank you bus drivers they don't hear that often enough and then finally I'd be remiss if I didn't uh speak to the leadership of Maggie Walton and her staff at AES you heard in Dr Harrington's prayer we had a tragedy lost a staff member yesterday I won't get into to details about it but uh but anytime you lose a staff member it's uh it's it's painful it's painful for students it's painful for parents and it's painful for those Educators that they work with day to day and in this particular individual was a was a pillar at Acton Elementary School and and she will be deeply missed but I'm thankful for the leadership of Maggie Walton and her entire team of teachers and paraprofessionals and support staff I was on that campus this morning and they

024were hugging on each other they were sharing positive stories and most importantly they were making sure that the needs of our kids are met and so I it speaks volumes when you see what a person's character is in times of Trials and uh and certainly the the character it act in elementary school is strong and so thank you to those Educators who work in that school and our Educators on every campus that have been there to to support Acton Elementary during this difficult time so Madam president with that that is the superintendent's report I'll be happy to answer any questions you have any questions Dr Graham if not we'll move into the open forum and tonight because of the number of folks who have asked to speak we will hear the those that are speaking

025on agenda items we will hear it this time I would ask you to be cautious about how you speak um Be Kind Show Grace and we will watch your time because we have a long night ahead of us and so when you're three minutes is up you're three minutes is up so uh we we appreciate you but that's that's the way we have to be tonight uh the first person to speak will be along oh one other thing that I would like for you to like to point out if you are speaking on an agenda item restrict your speaking to that agenda item and the first person is Laura I have a finger and she's speaking on item 11 I hi I just like clarification um on Texas is a big state and are there

026no suitable pigs here why is it that we need to approve travel out of state for FFA pigs I'm just you know I know there's pigs in Texas that's an agenda item okay so so um that's for the the purchase of the pigs yeah so I you go ahead now and so open forum is not a back and forth It's the The public's opportunity to talk to the board not ask questions of the board so uh but what I'll tell you is if you uh call uh to our career and Technology education director uh Todd Gibson he can connect you with an AG teacher and they would be happy to speak into why they purchase uh livestock out of state for shows for a lot of times it has to do with the quality they

027get also here to support Karen Lowry I'm sorry MSD member thank you [Music] the next person to speak is Nanette Samuelson to speak on 12 a okay getting on board and I'm speaking tonight as a concerned citizen mother and grandmother of future GISD students I encourage you to stop and think about the Optics of the past year and especially the last few weeks I'm going to skip some of this because you probably will say it's not agenda item but there have been several things that have happened in the last year that do not emit transparency [Music] so jumping to the current situation it makes it makes an outside Observer wonder why the board is concerned about a due elected trustee researching books in the school libraries with Samuelson I'm sorry you may speak to to

028the uh General item books no it is how that we are going to go about purchasing the books okay so you will restrict restrict your uh speaking to that please all right so um Senate House Bill 900 is the blue bill that was passed to restrict to change the way books are purchased so that the books that we don't want in there the books that are inappropriate for school children to read or to observe will not be selected for schools that have entered that they're inappropriate for that age one thing that it doesn't address is what is currently in the library so that came to my attention today as I was researching that bill on this is it for future books not for books that are currently there so I would encourage you as school

029board members to address that for the books that are currently in the library because that bill is only about future books thank you thank you Miss Samuelson the next person is Elizabeth Mercer she wants to speak on the bond issue 12 J [Music] so of course it was at the back of the room sorry took a minute to get up here first of all I just want to say that y'all have a great School District I was lucky enough you do seriously I was lucky enough I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute what little I could as you began to get a Citizens comments about the bond there is absolutely nothing about this bond that shouldn't be passed it's not going to raise taxes it's going to address so many issues and the

030school district just does a great job of managing itself I just wanted to give you all an attaboy and also although my support probably means nothing just to let everyone know that you do have it thank you thank you Miss Mercer Jim Brown to speak on efb policy [Music] hello board thank you so much for your time my name is Jim Brown I'm fortunate to be Monica Brown's husband but to talk directly about the purchasing of the books I just would ask that you would have a very a very full understanding and a vetting of the books that you purchase we've discussed this over and over again I was hoping to explain how my wife Monica has spent multiple hours has read 70 of these books it is amazing the kind Mr Brown that is

031not Donald thank you Mrs Brown Monica Brown if you speak on that sign policy thank you Barbara Harrington for saying you appreciate the work I put into this morally eternally Eternal issue about those books any support or glamorization of transgender ideology to minors is child abuse no it's efb it's about books being bought I mean I can go to social media if you want me to I can talk right here right now about efb that's what my notes are you may speak about efp I'm talking about efb Leah Dawson mentioned manga on here half no more than half it was mentioned but I think it was Mr Wimberly last time that more than half of those books are erotica they're sexually explicit that's the truth and we have 351 of those books in our high

032school not to mention the middle school and the other Middle School the two middle schools zero books about Ben Carson zero books about Ben Franklin so I'm asking you right here to make sure efe was talking about Interruption this is my three minutes items I have one thing to say that and then you can have the rest of my time haa tells you how your school is accredited it mentions your Shack policy about sex ed you have books that directly oppose your sex ed so if you're teaching sex ed through your instructional materials which you are Water for Elephants is one of them okay you got a book called The Witch boy if you are teaching please um ehaa is your accreditation policy your books your instructor resources are opposing that your book your situation

033with Mrs Dawson that needs to change you need to look at your ehia policy you're going to let it do that are you going to speak to her because you shut down other people just a few minutes ago yes I'm going to give it back to you now ehaa is all you need it's beautiful thank you you're welcome Sharon schulander who will speak on throughout a [Music] good evening I've spoken here on several occasions about the non-age appropriate books that remain in our GSD libraries State library and archives due to their ideology is a huge leap forward in your choices I believe in purchasing books excuse me as you go forward in purchasing books for our school library no longer should you be following the guidance of the Ala we'll be watching for your actions

034going forward um I know that um some of the books and I believe Barbara Harrington and I spoke one time and she was talking about the books that they purchased for the library is in that for a moral reasoning and sometimes these non-appropriate age books are there for that moral so I just ask you guys to look at them make sure if you think that that book is for a moral reason that you understand how that book is going to be presented to the children so they also understand the moral reasoning that you guys see they can't just pick it up at the library and understand that thank you thank you Mr Linder Mr daughtery Jerry daughtery to speak on BBE local policy and the impact impact of items 12 I and J well with

035full disclosure I'm I'm coming to talk to you tonight with a somewhat heavy heart and also a great deal of angst and even some anger over what we're doing that is going to have a direct impact upon what a hundred plus people worked most of the summer to try to put together and built up a substantial amount of Good Will toward this we left on July the 25th with a very positive feeling about the bond election and the vatri issue and by August the 3rd all of that is under risk of being flushed down the toilet in order to try to take action against one of the existing school board members that is what has caused me my concern is that that we would be doing this at a time I consider it an act

036of political stupidity to tell you the truth because the person that you're seeking to take action against Mr daughtery would you restrict your comments we're talking about the fact that you're about to destroy the work of a hundred people that took place this summer because you're picking on a person who when elected in November the work of that group but is jeopardizing the students in this school district who are going to be deprived if this issue doesn't pass I'm a staunch supporter of this but this Board needs to wake up to the fact that you are taking action in a situation that is not on the agenda tonight and uh if you would like to speak to the bond you certainly may I'm speaking to the bond issue and and the danger that is being

037presented here had Dr Glenn they don't want me to talk about this situation but what we've got here I think you're the person that is the greatest risk of what what's going on here because we're looking at a very serious possibility that we're going to have two failed Bond elections a failed uh voter approved tax rate and the real possibility that we're going to have a tea investigation of harassment against the school board member thank you Mr daughtery Jody gelker efb board book policy [Music] gerker or deck gelker and and for those of you that want to speak on non-agenda items I invite you to stay because you will have a full a time to full speed to fully speak to that at the end of the meeting and certainly we will listen to all

038those comments and Mr daughtery I'll give you back your 45 seconds if you'd like it yes ma'am hello [Music] um after I gave you your millstones I wasn't coming back but when I heard sorry I'm emotional because it's so wrong what you're doing is so wrong with this community are you uh are you speaking about a book it's okay thank you for getting me on track thank you um I heard what you're doing to Karen Lambert and I came back and I picked a book that's not in the library but I believe has been in the curriculum was or and is it's called Water for Elephants I spent the morning reading it and well written very well written and uh but it is um the reviewers in Amazon say that is not for children so

039Granbury can take pride in having it if it is still in the curriculum of the upper level high school um they can have the distinction of having children and reading it it has racial and ethnics sellers animal abuse cruelty mass murders fluent foul language senior citizens neglect stereotypical everything and of course age and appropriate sex so why would Granbury keep it that's been the question on all these books why and um I I can't think of anything other than your answering to tasby and the other state and National organizations that control School boards libraries Etc and I charge you with um The Stolen innocence of thank you Paula McDonald to speak on the 12j election for the bond [Music] Madam president and members of the board I was excited to serve on the long-range planning

040committee throughout the summer the process was a vital part of coming together as a community in order to fully understand the needs of this school district and for the 8 000 students that we serve I'm expecting that all seven members of this board to vote wholeheartedly a yes in support of this Bond if you are truly here in the capacity of placing our students needs first then any other vote other than yes will plainly show the entire Community exactly where you stand regarding GISD students this bond is not about politics it's not about being Republican or Democrat it's about our students this bond has nothing to do with single-minded agendas this bond is essential as this community continues and will continue to grow we cannot ignore the demographic data that clearly show each and every

041campus is busting at the seams the growth is here whether you like it or not we as a community must do the right thing and support this much needed Bond the safety of every student is at stake portable buildings are not the answer as they are not safe they are a disadvantage to the students and the teachers who are forced to be in them in fact portable buildings are very expensive and add no long-term value to the district do the right thing tonight and vote Yes to accept this bond proposal every student in this district is depending on that vote of yes thank you thank you Mr McDonald thank you Dave eagle [Music] Mr Eagle is going to speak on 12 G and 12 J and even though you've submitted to uh two Farms you

042you will be restricted to three minutes oh Dave eagle 2615 Hillside um truth and Taxation and I see there's useful idiots in the office I appreciate so truth and Taxation I'm not going to talk about anything as glamorous as the books what I want to do is clear up a misconception about the proposed tax rate the proposed tax rate of 93 cents is on its face is lower than last year's rate I agree last year's rate was about a dollar with the new compression Concepts our glorious legislature voted in there was a 20 reduction in the m o rate that is supposed to be supplemented by the state of Texas this compression only goes to M and O so last year m o the m o component of a dollar was 0.855 using this for

043illustrations a 20 reduction would be taking eight point or 0.855 down 0.171 uh 17 cents in a pen or 17.1 cents what that if you subtract it from point eight five five you end up with 0.684 as your M and O which it should be or in that range uh if you put the 14 and a half cents ins back on it your tax rate should be comparatively speaking 82.9 or 82 82.9 cents so it's about a 10 percent you're showing a 93 Cent on your on the face of it but the truth of the matter is is you're raising the tax rate eleven percent when you factor in the 20 percent compression that the state's going to kick back so as far as the net effect goes as stated by Mr Whitfield with the

044tax voter tax approval rate you'll be looking at bringing in bringing in almost 10 million dollars more Revenue um so this is an increase in the tax rate that's why you're putting it up for election and just to be clear for the record it is a tax increase it is a tax increase and uh you even put it on your publication that this is a tax increase the conclusion here is the state giveth and the school district taketh away and uh the reason I'm bringing this up because I think that people need to be clear on what this compression means and what is really going on here and that's why you're going to be putting it for a vote on the 93 cents [Applause] the state by the way the state government does not generate

045income neither does the county neither does the school district every penny that comes through any government entity was in our pocket at one time so even with the state kicking money back they're getting it from us in the first place so I'm just I'm not even going to go the next topic because I was thought I would get each topic and you're not going to let me do it but you've been shutting everybody else down so I conclude my speech thank you Mr Brett deason to speak on 12j as I said I'm Brett deason and I actually live at 3217 cross Bridge Circle so uh the 212 I want to talk about the bond election but I want to talk a little bit about history in 2012 we had our last Bond that was passed

046is well tuned and a couple years later the board and administration made the decision to become a district for innovation and I had no idea back then I wouldn't engage and I had no idea what the impact we would have on my family or the kids today but I'm very fortunate I get to speak in front of several classes I get asked to speak in front of several student groups and it amazes me I also serve on several scholarship committees and I read these applications and I see what our students are doing here and uh the opportunities that they were taking advantage because of those decisions back then impacted the students today as well as those in the future it had an impact on my own family my son from the time he was literally

047could start speaking I think his first word was airplane and not mama or data and as he entered the high school the decision to become a a school of innovation or District of innovation impacted him because we had the flight program here as well too he took his first flight in his dream through this through this organization there was also a mentor there was a lot of mentors that as a result of those decisions that came in to help our students here and there's one in particular named Tom Wood he passed away a couple years ago after that but he took my son under his wing and he he arranged for him to fly and he got his first 20 hours under his belt and then coveted hit and went able to finish his private

048positive classes but he went on and last week he passed his instructor's license and next week he goes to work for Brazos Valley flight school instructing his first student and I say all that because we don't know what the impact we didn't know what the impact on students was back then but the decisions in tying that into this current Bond and the thoughtfulness needs to be commended Dr Glenn during the last bond election we failed there's no doubt about it but one thing you did and the administration did was listen to the voters they listened to the the moms of young kids they listen to teachers they listen to the citizens and they listen to those that criticized them harshly and for that it takes a lot of guts and there was a lot of

049thoughtfulness that went on as well too we need to pass this Bond for the future of Granbury ISD in the future of the kids because the decisions you make today are going to impact those kids as well too so I encourage all of the trustees to vote for this Bond thank you Connie Wimberley on 12th J good afternoon board and thank you for allowing me to speak why is the bond so important I'm going to tell you why that bond is important IT addresses the problems and it supports advancements of the students achievements does Granbury ISD have problems yes we have major problems we have outgrown our current facilities our teachers are some of the lowest paid 50 percent or more of our students are from below the poverty line and we have board members

050that have personal agendas we need to put that Library debacle behind us and move forward does Granbury ISD have achievements that the bond will approve will support by all means we have students that are beat that bring home High honors in UIL competitions our ROTC program is ranked top in the nation we have preschoolers reading prior to going to kindergarten we have many athletic and academic scholarships we have one of the top CTE programs in the state with students set to be employed upon graduating for hype from high school we're providing a nutrition program for every single student we have teachers that are committed to educating supporting and giving of their precious time for our students we even have the region 11 top educator of the year two years running the bond is designed to

051allow these achievements to continue and to grow the bond is focusing on the needs of Granbury ISD allowing for growth overcrowding maintaining great teachers and deal dealing with the demographics of this community how do you as a board make GISD best and gain a great honor by fulfilling the true needs of our students and our teachers by supporting The Five-Year Plan by getting a bond approved to provide for the classroom space and upgrading our facilities your vote your actions and your commitment to Granbury ISD will say it all if you're not behind Granbury ISD committed to Granbury ISD voting for Granbury ISD then I'd ask for you to step down from the GISD board please board please be on this for the right reason thank you thank you Julie Pennell to speak on the bond

052and the teachers I'll now take off my glasses I have an eye infection so people you know stay away from me but it's not contagious sheep and technically and trustee chair Dr Harrington and other trusting members sitting on the diocese my husband Bob and I live at 403 West Doyle Granbury Texas while we have no children enrolled in GISD we are tax paying citizens that believe it takes everyone everyone's involvement to make our community a great place to live Bond tonight we stand before you in appreciation of the hard work that has been done to resent such a bond possibility to our community and we encourage you to vote Yes spoke of salaries for the staff and hiring the best staff I'm going to share with you one of those staff members I am currently

053working with Renee Jackson Jackson on a project to enhance the upcoming remembrance of Veterans Day such teachers as Renee who work with very positive attitudes and who work to bring honesty and integrity to their jobs she stands as an example as most of the staff and teachers do working for GISD thank you for hiring such people who influence our students on a daily basis the best use of buildings I heard speaking some of the Community comments about how the community is involved and how we best use our buildings one of those is I encourage you if I may do so to ask you to mark down Friday November the 10th on your calendars beginning at 9 30 a.m you will want to come and see the use of the GISD Auditorium what is it used

054for it's filled up to show and have an awesome and inspiring program remembering our veterans and I will also be attending the special car meeting in the same room this company this coming Wednesday at 6 PM we plan to stand up and speak out thank you for giving citizens the opportunity to voice both praises and concerns thank you thankfulness for now that concludes this portion of the open forum and we will go into the consent agenda items I would like to pull number uh 11k for uh consideration separately and anybody want to pull anything else I'd like to pull 11e I'm sorry 11e 11. c e oh Echo okay yes okay I have a comment that I'd like to speak when we get to 11b okay yeah you said 11 B is that right yes

055all right [Music] and Miss Townsend of course I would like to speak on donations okay uh let's start with 11b uh Larry would you like to oh from the executive session oh yes let's back up a bit it's not on my agenda but let's let's uh number 10. consider there we go consider action on the this uh Adams discussed in executive session thank you Mr Moore thank you uh thank you madam president and uh I will start by thanking Mr Jones for putting together the HR report uh you have it before you uh we will pull out specifically Sandy Ruiz uh Prince of Broner and take action on her separately but we'll ask that you approve the human resources report as presented something that was not discussed in closed session was the salary stipend salary

056schedules for the special education staff we'd like that to be approved as part of the HR report tonight as well and I'll ask Mr Jones to speak into that briefly okay thank you Dr Glenn yes the special education department has had a difficult time this year or this summer hiring a lssp a licensed specialist in school psychologist and uh we had one but we lost it to another District because of a higher salary which was unfortunate but through the creativity of our special ed director Shelly kurtzinger she talked two of our lssps into sharing a load of of the position that we weren't able to hire and so through her efforts those two accepted the position and they'll divide those duties between them to keep us compliant and uh with that uh that would help

057us very much so I would ask for you to prove that also we have a special education teacher on staff that is getting his um board certified behavior analyst a bcba and he's willing to sign a three-year commitment to uh work for the district in this capacity that deals with challenging behaviors and having him on this will help us deal with those problems and so we ask you for those two stipends Madam president you have the recommendation from the HR department it is uh my recommendation night that you approve is presented do I have a motion so move Madam president to accept the recommendations from this score we'll have a second I'll second we have a second from Mr Moore any further discussion all in favor show of hands opposed same sign thank you board

058also it is our pleasure tonight as part of the HR report to recommend separately a new principle for Broner Elementary School Sandy Ruiz has been with the district six years her previous capacity was assistant principal at Bronner and she has done nothing but outstanding things and uh her previous role and certainly in the the month she's been on the job in the new role and so uh if you it is our recommendation tonight that you make that a a permanent position with your official capacity to do so by vote and so we're proud tonight to recommend Sandy Ruiz as the next principal of Broner Elementary do I have a motion so moved emotion I Miss Thompson Sega Townsend sorry Matt that Barbara I have a second really thank you Mr Wimberley any discussion all in

059favor show of hands hold the same sign like the record shows 7-0 now let's get to the consensus one more thing all right Madam president I apologize a couple of other things going on uh in closed session night we did discuss under 551.076 uh the liberations regarding Safety and Security audits uh two items were presented to trustees the audit findings and executive summary and the school Marshal roster update these are privileged and confidential items that are not shared with the public I'm sure that the audience understands why but it is the recommendation of administration that you approve both of these security measures as presented in closed session do I have a motion been president I move that we approved both security agenda items as presented in closed session yeah I have a second question by

060Mr Wimberley Second Amendment showed any further discussion all in favor show of hands follow the same sign like the record show 7-0 thank you board and uh thank you to uh Chief Clark in the back and his team for all they do in our security department thank you Wes Jones and your HR department putting that together and now I'm Adam president we're ready to go into consent it's got to be a long night you notice I'm hurrying us along um Miss Lowry you want to speak to item 11b consider the annual renewal with Walt's Gallegos do you want that pulled or do you just want to speak to it I just have a comment since we're going to be asked to consider the annual renewal The Firm presently has a me under investigation for my

061library visit and under invest under review of President Harrington's investigation I've attempted to get information regarding this investigation from Walsh and Gallegos when I contacted attorney Joy Moore to find out information she refused to share any details with me unless president Harrington gave them permission to do so therefore I believe my vote either way would possibly appear tainted due to this unfortunate and unnecessary circumstance so I would be abstaining from that vote [Music] I would like can I would like to request you that we could vote on that um yes please what it pulled and I have a comment to make as well okay we will pull item 11b um item e was pulled as well Madam president in K yes and then I think Mrs Townsend is speaking to one other item yes Miss

062townton okay this one isn't being pulled but it's always my immense pleasure to talk about how our community is supporting Granbury ISD and so for the donations that we received uh this month from our community we ended up with 1 550 from the pirate softball booster club for the ghs ladies softball program and then from Rodney and Kim Carlson two hundred dollars for GISD robotics program from Tom lawhary from Taco Casa 500 for the GISD robotics program Ben Griffin Kia one thousand dollars to the GISD robotics program Optimist Club uh brought in 360 dollars which they do once a month to stock the athletic freezers with frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so the kiddos have something to eat after working out and then for convocation this year we had the community help support the

063convocation and came in and were able to share what they have with uh all of our teachers at all total I'm not going to read the whole list because we'd be here for quite a while but our community gave 10 750 dollars toward the convocation so that all the teachers and staff and bus drivers and cafeteria workers everybody who is part of GISD had lunch and had a chance to see how our community supports GISD and so I just want to thank everyone for what they gave the time that they gave as well as the money and thank you so much for supporting GISD thank you president at this time we will act on items 11a for approvements from July the 17th August the 2nd and August the 14th consider approval of the taxi policy

064at 121 update considering take possible action on the board resolution on Safety and Security ratify the true 23 2024 region 11 ESC contracts consider approval for renewal of IXL Services consider approval law at the renewal of a curriculum and Associate the i-Ready software consider approval of two GISD State out of track two staff out of state travel ratify the filming location and material releases for the ghs barbecue team considered the 2023-2024 conference station plan revision for Esser funds consider budget amendments considered the approval of supplemental ctes in instructional supplies consider the approval of the mro maintenance repair and operations under CSP 2023-11 consider approval of the transportation supplies equipment under a CSP 2023-12 consider the renewal of the property crime General reliability Educators legal liability and automobile insurance with Texas political subdivisions and to consider

065approval of the purchase of a minimum of 1 000 Chromebooks under RFP 2023-18 do I have a motion so moved Madam president motion by Mr Moore I'm not going to read all of this and on a second you have a motion for Mr Moore second from Miss Gore are there any other further discussions regarding those all in favor show of hands but with everything except I'm abstaining from 11b we pulled it so so all in favor show of hands opposed same let the record show 7-0 then we will go to uh 11b consider the annual renewal with Walsh Gallegos Dr Quinn thank you madam president the renewal for Walsh Gallegos is an annual retainer agreement between us and the firm that represents Us in all legal matters and as you know in probably most of

066the people in the room know Walsh Gay Ghost is one of the largest and most reputable farms in the Texas so the thousand dollar retainer agreement is certainly a very reasonable considering the services they provide to the district which are outlined in your board book [Music] do I have a remote I just can I make a comment sure we'll do it either way or right ahead the comments I wanted to make is that I also tried to contact the attorney as well and she told me that she represented all of us yet she was unable to answer my questions that's the comment that's the only comment I wanted to make according to our our contract with them and I will read this portion of it it says and this has been in our contracts for

067a number of years the report container agreement does not impose any Duty upon the law firm to provide advice or work to the district regarding legal matters absolutely requests by The District's board president superintendent special education director are designed me for such advice or work on the matter and you reached out to me and offered to reach out to them for on your behalf and uh exactly some of the issues with the contract yes okay any any other discussion all in favor of approving the contract with Walt skyego's oh I do I'm certainly moving right along how about emotion I so moved Madam president to approve the contract with wash Gallegos thank you Miss score do I have a second second uh motion Madness score second by Mr Wimberly now any further discussion all in

068favor show of hands opposed same sign let the record show uh one one abstention and one row vote the extension by Mrs Lowry the no vote by Mrs uh craft [Music] moving to the next thing we pulled is uh consider approval a revision of the 2023-2024 school calendar by adding two early release days on general election day November 7th and primary election day on March 5th I just have a comment on that um we have two weeks of early voting plus a weekend so it um my issue with it is it gives the appearance of electioneering and it disrupts the school day for students that's my comment I'll speak into that as a former teacher you know we have some teachers that don't live in the district and I have been that teacher trying to

069get to those polls because I I never early voted I would always vote on Election Day and running up through that parking lot getting there as they close the doors didn't make it in time [Music] Port our Community to be able to vote on Election Day if they choose not just during early voting because some people don't like to vote during early voting and to promote this culture of you know civic duty and voting among our teachers and students that's why uh Me and Mrs Townsend put this on the agenda for your consideration tonight another thing I would like to mention on that is going through the student handbook I noticed that our students who are of age can be election clerks and can be give them an opportunity to also see how our election

070process works from that standpoint and I it would be much easier for them if they were able to get out of school early so that was a second reason it creates the opportunity for our teachers to include this into the curriculum and teach about voting and you know it's a basic principle our nation was founded on so I think anything we can do to promote that culture in our district is a good thing what time would the release be from school we do 11 30 for elementary and we normally do one o'clock for secondary on early release days Mr Dawson how does this affect the minutes uh for the school calendar uh currently we have 2.65 extra days built into the calendar this would just bring it down to 1.7 remaining days left but the

071border is gracious enough to approve the staff development waiver days which gives us 2100 minutes additional and we'll be going through those staff development days throughout the year so we'll have 2100 extra minutes on top of that thank you here to your comment about electioneering we do not tell teachers how to vote we don't tell anyone how to vote that it's just an opportunity to do so if you choose but everybody votes how they choose to vote okay any further discussion do I have a motion so moved I'll second that motion let me score a second by Mrs Townsend further discussion all in favor show of hands opposed same sign let the record show a vote of five two with um Mrs Lowry and Mrs craft voting no the last thing that we have to

072put that we pulled was the um item on uh delegating authority to the superintendent to obligate the school district under chapter 49 and we actually are while it reads that way perhaps we are only authorizing him to submit that application but Dr Glenn you want to speak to that please yeah thank you madam president the state uh inadvertently this should have actually been an action item because there's specific language that's needed for approval it does say uh delegate authority to the superintendent but essentially what you're giving me is permission to submit the form online which is uh the much simpler way to submit our our attendance credits is as part of recapture and so Mr Whitefield do you want to elaborate on a little bit on that yes sir the attendance purchasing of attendance credited

073was agreed on and voted on by the by the voters of Hood County or actually GISD in October of 2006 this is one of the the options that they they chose for us to use in the past we had you sign it or had the board officer sign it and then we mailed it in DEA has since said that we are going to upload that and to do that they have to give you the authority to upload that into the system they still on the agreement but we upload it to the to the thing um there is highlighted uh uh Boardman language that has to be exact or they will kick it back to us so that's the reason it's highlighted in your packet yep so you have that line and just for since we

074have so many taxpayers here would you would you share the uh the tax dollars that will be sent back to the state and recapture this year this year we sent back 11.484 million dollars huh if you will look forward on page 73 and 74 you will find the language of the um that we must use when you make the motion yes it's highlighted in yellow okay Madam president I move that for the 2022-2023 2024 school year excuse me we delegate contractual authority to obligate the school district under Texas Education Code 11.1511c4 to the superintendent solely for the purpose of obligating the district under Texas Education Code 48.257 and Texas Education Code chapter 49 sub chapters A and D and the rules adopted by the commissioner of Education as authorized under Texas Education Code 49.006 this

075includes approval of the agreement for the purchase of attendance credit I have a motion do I have a second second by Mr Wimberley do I have any discussion all in favor show of hands oppose same sign let the record show seven zero having worked our way through the consent agenda we will move right on into the discussion and items [Music] discussion of approval of efb Library local policies Miss Brown and Miss Dawson thank you madam president good evening board at our last board meeting you received a draft of the changes to our library policy that was prepared and voted on seven to zero by the policy committee members thanks again to Dr Harrington and Karen Lowry for serving on the policy change committee and along with the other seven volunteers that represented Elementary Middle High

076School parents teachers and Librarians the policy and collection development guidelines were posted on the GISD website immediately following the July board meeting we have not received any direct questions comments or concerns regarding the changes and have brought it back as an action item to be voted on tonight thank you Stacy I appreciate you and Mrs Dawson appreciate you putting it out there um I guess it's a good thing we love Community feedback but it's also a good thing when the community doesn't provide that feedback and we'll take that as a as a green light but but we know you've worked hard on it you've done your research and and we are grateful to all the effort uh the two of you have put in but also your entire team and also the community members who

077are involved in this so thank you thank you sir I have a quick question um in the summary it said the consist the committee consisted of nine people and then at the end of the summary it said the changes suggested were each voted on all of the 7-0 vote in favor of the updates was that a nine or seven vote seven to zero seven zero but there were nine people that were on the committee oh well you know what that's a great question but there was why is it seven to zero I think that we did have all people there [Music] it should be nine to zero sorry that was my mistake nine to zero on all the things that we voted on changing there were nine numbers and all were in attendance yes sir

078so it was approved in unanimously correct all the changes that we made on the policy were unanimously approved yes okay thanks so that was my bad discussion for you guys I believe that this uh needs to be tabled at this point I'm going to tell you why it's uh premature right now to approve any changes recommended by everybody the HB 900 intern report was delivered this month with specific new recommendations for updating the State Education Code specifically chapter 4.2 School library programs collection development standards these recommendations for this policy change we talked about and developed before HP 900. encoded in HP 904.2 C parental access to library and online library to include a process to determine and administer student access to material rated by Library material vendors as sexually relevant as defined by the Education

079Code 35.001 this requirement encourages schools to provide Library transparency discussion votes should be taken to leave the Ala since the sboe voted to reject several ARL policies and the Midland County Commissioners the state of Montana Arizona South Carolina and Pennsylvania have voted to leave to the Ala and the as the president is a proclaimed Marxist our policy of reading the entire book and doing a report on it is recommended by the Ala and because I was in the library books are still being found that are inappropriate on the edge Gene drinking gang violence homeless man kicked to the ground gasoline poured on him Sat On Fire foul language drive-by shootings attempted murder of the witness of the killing of the homeless man teen depression drug use no it's not pornographic but these are totally uneducational

080and unacceptable books so I'm suggesting and there's more there's I'm suggesting that we table this we do it and look at it again to make it more appropriate thank you this is crap do we need a second for that table no it's not a motion no are you making a motion mrsari yes if we can table this and yes I think we need to make a motion to table this to pull it off of here this needs to be looked at again and redone and so yes I'm not making the notion on it and then at this point I would second that motion we have a um one of the things Miss Dawson I would like to ask you at this point you and I discussed whether this was in line with the new regs

081that have come out from the state would you like to address that sure House Bill 900 does not change anything with policy it changes the collection development guidelines and what they have put out so far are very in line with what we have for our guidelines though those are two completely separate things our policy has to be in line with the policies that are already set out by tasby and they're set out by tea so we are in line with our policy collection development guidelines are completely separate House Bill 900 as of April 1st will have a list of any sexually explicit books that are rated by vendors and if we currently have any in our libraries they are automatically pulled by law legally and so that will for sure happen if there are any

082still there regardless of what happens tonight then we have to be in compliance with HB 900 by September 1st anyway yes ma'am okay okay that improves the point of order there's a proposed table of the motion and seconded and we need to take a vote on it enabling this item show of hands post same sign let the record show that the motion will not be tabled all right failed two to five so now I will entertain a motion to approve the efb library local policies Madam president I move that we approve the local efb policy as presented and I'll second okay motion by me score taken by Mr Moore any further discussion [Music] all in favor of show of hands at the record show of five file a post but the record show broke five

083to zero to two that this motion has passed with uh Miss Lowry and Mrs grafta posing thank you ladies very much for your hard work we'll move to consideration of approval of the 2023-2024 technology department recycling processes okay ladies and gentlemen on the board you should have a memo in front of you um every year my team goes through the entire campus and District repairs what they can and pulls out what they cannot um we use STS electronic recycling to to disregard all of that old equipment that we cannot resurrect and the reason that we do recycle that equipment is because it could contain potential information regarding students or or data so there's no reason for us to try and receive monies for those items it's actually safer for us to destroy those things so

084it is our recommendation to approve STS recycling again for that 2023 2024 school year Madam president I move that we accept the recommendation to approve the recycling of expired and damaged devices as needed by STS electronic recycling for the 2023-2024 school year men's Townsend oh second a second Monday score is there any discussion I just have one question I know at one time y'all used some that were not functioning and robbed parts to help others to continue to do that we still destroy and Frankenstein as much as we can to make sure that every student has a device in their hand our last resort is to throw something away that is usable okay to approve this recycling procedures all in favor of show of hands opposed same sign but the record show 7-0 vote consider

085technology purchases local requires a board approval on a purchases in excess of fifty thousand uh in front of you we have expenditures that we know will exceed uh one hundred thousand we've actually attached those to you we've also attached a list of expenditures that we know that we're going to spend throughout the year um things like Skyward for our student information system things for the internet usage for for students blus and access the internet any type of computer equipment they'll have to purchase the the purchase of the Chromebooks teacher devices teacher carts things of that nature so or we recommend that you approve as presented any questions a one thing that you will not purchase all of this at one time but you'll purchase it through the year you're we're just improving this approving this

086so that as the occasion arises you have the authority to make these yes ma'am and and when these when the occasion arises we will still bring it back to the board for approval so there will be in excess of one hundred thousand dollars thank you thank you do I have a motion regarding the technology purchases Madam president I move that we approve the technology purchases I have a motion from Mr Miller do I have a second in a second by Miss Johnson any further discussion just one quick item just for the public to know on this first agenda item we have to approve all votes for a hundred thousand dollars more this this is a big expense for our school district this shows how much we are into technology this first agenda item amounts to

087one million fifteen thousand dollars which I think is well spent on these computer items and Technology items for our district foreign sign let the record show seven to zero consider the 2023-2024 student code of conduct and handbook Madam president thank you our student handbook is updated every year to reflect the legal changes and the procedural changes that are made for our district the student handbook does not have to be board approved but it needs to be reviewed annually and we have brought that to you for review with our redlined and green highlights as the addition of student code of conduct must be board approved every other year concurrent with the legislative session to reflect the legal changes and so this year the student code of conduct is up for an action item for your approval

088so it's recommended that the 2324 student code of conduct be approved as presented with the required changes and updates [Music] comments or questions [Music] I do have one comment for those of you that are interested our student code of conduct is 108 pages additionally uh our student handbook our student code of conduct is another 20 oh no 30 39 40 pages so uh these folks do a lot of hard work trying to put this together for our parents so that they understand or have a place to make references to what is actually what our expectations are of our students so thank you so much for y'all working on this thank you and Courtney Henry does a great job helping take care of Miss Clark and I and Miss Clark and I work hand in hand

089with Miss Henry and she's done a great job so thank you for saying that which I would I would I would be remiss to say that um was Henry went to the hospital today and I certainly should have prayed for her too we we are thinking about her do I have a motion regarding the student Code of Conduct Handbook or any questions [Music] Madam president I move that we approve the student code of conduct as presented second I have a motion and a motion by move score a second I'm Mr Wimberley all in favor show pants probably the same thing like the record show 7-0 discuss and consider adoption of an order authorizing the deficiency and Redemption of a portion of Granbury ISD unlimited tax refunding bonds Mr Whitefield thank you madam president I'd like

090to preface this with 12E through 12 I will kind of build on each other and um as we move through here you'll see how they affect each other as we go through however the first one is the bond Redemption order attached to your memo you do have the defeasants order and then you do have a schedule that um Bok did put together for us show them which bonds we would be diffusing which is our series 2015 in our 2020-a we need to talk about this during part two of the prior to the meeting this will refund or prepay I should say the fees 6 million one hundred and forty thousand dollars of existing bond debt that we have now saving taxpayers nine hundred and thirty eight thousand one hundred and fifty three dollars and thirty

091five cents in interest I will say this will add on to since 2005 we have refunded or redeemed 153 million 239 thousand dollars saving taxpayers a total of 26 million 580 905 dollars we saved that amount again 26 we have saved taxpayers since 2005. 26 million 580 905 dollars it is the recommendation that uh the board order the order authorizing to the seasons and redeeming a portion of the Granbury school district's unlimited tax refunding bonds series 2015 and unlimited tax refunding bonds taxable Series 2020-a in all matters incident or related there too is there any discussion is there a motion I just have one thing I want to say it it sounds like it's so easy we pick a couple of bonds and okay we'll pay these off it's it's really not um Mr Whitefield

092and be okay get together they look and see what each one is at as far as the interest is concerned which one is going to be the smartest one for us to pay off what is the timing it's not like we could just decide any day to go ahead and pay it off this is something that they work very hard on very diligently and what they have been able to do over the last 18 years is truly amazing and it's it's because of good fiscal responsibility and I thank Mr Emmett for that right now then president I move that the board adopt the order authorizing the defeasants and Redemption of a portion of the Granbury Independent School District unlimited tax refunding bonds series 2015 an unlimited tax refunding bonds taxable series 2020a and all matters

093incident or related there too I have a motion from Mr Wembley do I have a second I'll second remember second by me score any further discussion other than to say thank you very much Mr Whiteville thank you all in favor show of hands oppose same sign but the record show 7-0 vote consider adoption of the 2023-2024 general operating Child Nutrition and Debt Service budgets thank you madam president again we're still building on to get to the end game here uh the boy in the presentation earlier we did go over the general operating the food service and The Debt Service budget you just did uh approve the defeasants so The Debt Service budget will be set and as attached to your uh sheets there you will be able to see that that six million 140 000

094is included in that the general operating in the Food Service budgets did change from the budget Workshop but not from this this afternoon earlier based on certified values so there were a few changes there but it uh it we are going to uh present these budgets as one budget with two uh compensation plans compensation plan A would include the 1850 increase for teachers the three percent increase on the midpoint for all other employees and in addition it would include the drivers to a minimum of 18 an hour driver leads to 19 an hour and all of the pay scales raised to Fifteen dollars an hour minimum wage Compensation Plan B if the vatre were to be approved would include all of those plus an additional 10 percent raised to every pay scale in the district

095except for the administration scale that would be at three percent so we will be we will be adopting one budget for General operating with two compensation plans uh contingent on the vatre being passed in November and those budgets are in your packet and it's just like the slides that were on your um for the hearing earlier any questions or do you have a comment Dr Flynn no again I just want to thank Mr Whitefield and in his team for for their hard work in putting together not one but two budgets that will be adopted simultaneously tonight and uh and then again is uh as he mentioned earlier this will actually build not only through item a but actually through item L and uh so we'll talk in in Greater detail about the the impact of

096the second budget uh when it comes time to discuss the Batre you're a happy motion some left motioned by me score do I have a second my Mr Wimberley any further discussion all in favor show of hands oppose same sign let the record show 7-0 this passes consideration and possible action to adopt the 2023-2024 Granbury ISD tax rate thank you madam president again as we move forward on this uh the budget that you just adopted for the general operating fund did include two scenarios with Compensation Plan B that would be the the uh Vader the v-a-t-r-e voter approval tax verification election that would uh be uh needed to fund that plan you do have that in your memo there the mno rate would be at 78.92 cents and you and uh then I'm your ins

097will be at 14 and a half cents for the defeasants the total for that would be a 93.42 tax rate and there is um suggested language for you use for your Motion in that X thank you uh Mr Whitefield and I'll just I'll speak into this briefly because it does tie into the the vatre that we'll be discussing later on so uh the the district is uh the district is compressing the tax rate six cents on the operation side uh that's not the full compression allowable with the state uh so those those additional funds are going to allow us to to have additional golden pennies that are not subject to recapture as well as additional state revenue to the tune of of an estimated 8.2 million dollars because we do anticipate there will be some

098recapture coming in even though I know Mr whitefield's templates indicated closer to about nine million dollars but it seems like every year this time we uh we underestimate uh what recapture is because when they when they send us the uh the reconciliations throughout the year it tends to go up so we're trying to be as conservative as possible in this approach but um truthfully the District could could compress more but we do that on the backs of our staff and uh and we continue to pay low low wages we will continue to have large class sizes and uh and we'll continue to struggle uh to meet our operations budget and so adopting the tax rate of 93 cents will in essence trigger the vatre which we'll speak to below essentially this will allow us to

099have an increase in the tax revenue but not an increase in the tax rate so it still lowers the tax rate while allowing the more of our local dollars to stay local we we not only lower the tax rate but there's also a homestead exemption that I'm going to assume most voters in the state of Texas are going to vote to approve in the November election so voters uh we'll see their their taxes go down and that's something that we're competent in and probably more than that the 93 the 93 Cent tax rate that we're proposing is is low it is the lowest School tax rate in Hood County it is one of the lowest in the Metroplex and if you compare us to District Statewide that are uh around seven eight thousand nine thousand

100kids that are growing you're going to be hard-pressed to find a district with a lower tax rate uh you get credit to all of the trustees up here every one of them for the last we'll say decade have been extreme family good stewards of taxpayer money lowering the tax rate at every opportunity as much as they possibly could this this time we're asking for a reprieve with so much compression on the line and a homestead exemption on the line where taxpayers get a win and the district and our teachers and our most importantly our kids get a win and so that is the recommendation you have before you tonight trustees Madam president I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 0.9342 cents which is effectively an

101increase in the tax rate do I have a second uh motion memory score second by Mr Moore any discussion all in favor show of hands opposed same sign let the record show seven zero um consider a resolution committing fund balance thank you madam president uh you do have a resolution in front of you that will come well decommit or commit or uncommit uh fund designated funds that we've committed last year we did use those funds so we are dropping from the uh the last year's committed fund balance to just a little over a million dollars in those areas and um that will just keep us in line with our audit Uh current the board policy requires us to be at 20 percent on our fund balance and uncommitting and then at the end of the

102year we will be at about 24 on our fund balance so we'll be well within limits this just uncommits those certain funds so even though our resolution says committing we are uncommitting we are uncommitting those are the those are those that million eighty thousand one million eighty thousand will be committed okay unbalanced or yeah any questions do I have a motion Madam president I move that uh we approved the proposed resolution to maintain the committed fund balance as presented I think Miss Townsend do I have a second a second thank you Miss Gore we have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor show of hands opposed same sign like the record show seven zero in favor consider and possible action to order a voter approved ratification election a Batre or biter thank

103you madam president uh with the attacks uh rate that you did adopt uh in a foreign agenda uh will will trigger a voter approval tax rate of verification election and you do have the order in your packets okay and I'll speak into this because it was in the score's motion uh the end of a motion says it's in effect a tax rate increase and it is because we're not compressing to the maximum allowed under state law we're asking voters for a partial compression and we're asking to use the remaining dollars to be able to generate additional not only local Revenue but also state revenue and uh and the first thing that we're going to do with that revenue is take care of our staff for many years our district is underpaid our teachers comparative to

104other districts our size in the area it's an opportunity to give them a raise of 10 percent if you can think back in your lives to a teacher that has impacted you know that uh um this is an opportunity to take care of those who take care of our students and I can tell you just having uh had the opportunity uh to to walk our halls and talk to our teachers we have a lot of what I'll call Family teachers that means Mom and Dad both work in our district they both teach in our district and they've chosen to live in this community work in this community and they know that they're making a lower wage than what they would make and Weatherford or Cleburne or Burleson or Mansfield and and we want to use

105this as an opportunity to catch up and reward those individuals so there will be a 10 pay increase not just to our teachers but also our secretaries our bus drivers our cafeteria workers our custodians these are people that live amongst you they work amongst you we are the largest employer in Hood County and we want to make sure that our employees are taken care of so they can go out into your businesses and spend money so they can go into your churches and tithe so they have the ability to support their kids and raise their family in our community I think this is an important issue I hope that voters will get informed about this issue and it is our recommendation tonight the trustees approve the v-a-t-r-e voter approval ratification election on November 7th 2023.

106any questions you only the comment I would like to make is if if the audience could see the two proposed budgets the with the VA Tre and without every single department is at the exact same amount where the money is being spent where the money is being put if we get this voter approved tax rate election is in salaries the only other place it is is increasing security by about five hundred thousand everything else is going into salaries it is not going into anything else so when we say this is for salaries we mean it and also think it's important to note that this is something that that grows in perpetuity with the district so as our district grows we'll continue to generate more money so as we build new schools as we add staff

107to accommodate students we'll be able to take care of that staff at the same level it's not a one-time shot for the district do I have a motion Madam president I move to order a voter approval ratification election to be held on November the 7th 2023. motion from Mr Miller a second from Mr Wembley further discussion from anybody if not those in favor show of hands those opposed same sign like the record show 7-0 moving right along discuss and consider adoption of an order calling for special special election for Granbury Independent School District including the aggregate principal amount of one 151 151 million seven hundred and twenty five thousand dollars for the purpose of acquiring construction and construction acquiring constructing renovating and Equipment equipping school facilities Dr Glenn thank you madam president and I'm going

108to ask Caleb Prince to come to the podium it was it was mentioned in public comments earlier we have several members in the audience who had the opportunity to serve not only on strategic planning but also on long-range planning and it was it was a uh there was a lot of Goodwill um to have the opportunity not only to break down uh the bond from May of 2021 and in the areas that we needed to to improve upon before going back to voters but also to uh to have really serious in-depth dialogue about the goals of the district the future of the district and and where we would want to go to to address the growth of the district so it is my privilege to have Caleb at the podium tonight he is he is

109a husband he is a father he is fairly new to Granbury which is not uncommon for a lot of our parents they they chose this as a destination because they wanted to be in this school system and raise their kids here he and I share share that story very similar early and he was in Midlothian and I was right down the road in Waxahachie and and so Caleb had the opportunity to be a part of strategic planning and long-range planning and it is my privilege to allow him the opportunity to speak into this agenda item tonight thank you I'd like to thank you all for having me again my name is Caleb Prince my family and I have been here for about six and a half years we don't have any family here ties here

110uh we settled in this community because we like it we like the schools we're proud to be residents here we've found family within this community in a lot of ways the school district the school district is just one of them I tell that story how much I care because I'm not speaking for myself tonight I'm speaking on behalf of roughly 80. I believe it was individuals that took part in strategic planning also facilities committee and then on the long-range planning committee which came up with this bond proposal that I'm going to bring to you tonight try to keep this brief the strategic planning committee consisted of four subcommittees one of which was facilities we also had culture human capital which is employees and student achievement and from that the facilities uh group it branched off

111into another meeting which I was not a part of where I believe they Dove deeper into the facility needs updated playgrounds updated schools HVAC equipment possible new facilities that led to the long-range planning committee which I came back for along with many others uh we reviewed demographic data and facility needs that were found through the facilities committee meetings uh I'm going to highlight some of the big points you all have the information there and the details of this bond proposal I'm going to hit the high points from demographic data all of us we're seeing the growth through I've been here six years and we see it since we've moved here the town has grown people have been here even longer I'm sure what it looks like to them but currently three out of six of

112our elementary schools are at or over capacity I'm going off some of the the older numbers I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but I know that three of our elementary schools have Portable Buildings which we know is a security risk we don't want our kids in Portables that's a problem uh all of our elementary schools based on the demographic projections are going to reach capacity by 2027 that means total enrollment not that all of them are going to hit it but the total enrollment at all of our elementaries will reach the total capacity at all of our Elementary's in just a few years back in middle school is currently at or over capacity as well and will be addressed in this so after this review we have decided that a bond

113election is necessary at this time the proposed projects the easy way to break this down would be to look at elementary schools middle schools and transportation and security the high schools left off and I'll get to that elementary schools we recommend a new elementary school be built ideal I think this the idea is to have it on the northeast side of town to accommodate where most of the growth is within the county and also to accommodate kids from Crescent and that growth on that side there'll also be updates to the existing elementary schools from the Architecture Firm speaking there there's carpet that's out of date there's walls that need to be painted there's gyms that need to be updated and so on a case-by-case basis the elementary schools will use this money to update their

114facilities as well uh the new elementary school is the Big Ticket item on this proposal it is over a third of it I think it's a very easy to notice that that's necessary when you look at the demographics middle schools we're gonna have an addition to Acton Middle School it is at our near capacity as well so new Wing will accommodate I believe it's 500 students that could be off on that number but that's to accommodate the growth on that side of town now we're not going to forget about Granbury Middle School there will be updates it's an older facility there'll be updates to that school along with a resurfacing of the track uh transportation and security piece 30 additional buses and there will be a fuel tank replacement at our current Transportation Center which

115is in need of uh and also a new Transportation Hub on the North or east side of town that will alleviate traffic through Granbury and 377 hopefully to reduce busing times for our kids if there's more buses on the road and condense the school schedule was the idea so instead of elementary schools going so early High School getting out so late with more busing opportunities hopefully that provides a window to condense the school schedule and alleviate that a little bit as well uh the high school was left off of this proposal and that was very intentional by the long-range planning committee the reason is I have it here based on the demographic projections it'll be over capacity by the 2027 or 2028 school year that will need to be tackled down the road whether that's

116multiple high schools one high school night sentences whatever it may be that'll need to be tackled at a later date so any improvements additions the high school was left off completely knowing that we will need to come back to you to solve that problem later hopefully through more of getting the community involved in these committees I agree with what a gentleman said earlier is very gutsy I think of the ISD to bring in the community you know there's a lot of people with a lot of different viewpoints we didn't agree all the time and that's okay but I think the thing that we agreed on is that we do care about our kids and I do speak for this group as a whole not myself so on August 28th or sorry August 8th 2023 the

117long-range planning planning committee came to a consensus that a bond election is necessary at this time and the proposal we have given to you is adequate and necessary for the needs to be met right now you know the idea is we will come back for more hopefully as we need it this town is growing and this point is a personal one for me I'll say it quickly we moved didn't know Dr Glenn but we did he lived in Waxahachie I was in Midlothian when we moved to Granbury we bought a house substantially more in cost but paid substantially Less in property taxes and at first glance you think great that's awesome Until you realize our teachers are paid less our cafeteria lady as a as a son of a lunch lady it may be very

118sad to hear that our lunch ladies are driving to Cleburne because they make a couple more dollars an hour it makes you very sad it makes that little bit more in property taxes easier to swallow that's not the case with this one this will have no tax increase I did not mention that so the ticket of 151 million 725 000 with no tax increase at this time we recommend this bond proposal for your approval thank you and I want to thank everyone that took part in the long-range planning and strategic committee a lot of them are here tonight so thank y'all Caleb that was well said and uh and just in case there are questions for you guys that you said at the podium but I do say you have one for you uh please

119uh you have a son in the district grade uh fifth grade at Acton Elementary it's great at Acton Elementary so it takes really three years to get all these changes in place so maybe maybe if your son is lucky the the AMS renovation gets done when he's in eighth grade but for the most part uh is apparent uh these this Bond won't have an impact on your child but uh but you and your wife are both in strategic planning and and you put a lot of hours into long-range planning and I just think that speaks volumes is a is a parent and a Community member that uh that you're looking back at uh at the kids that are going to be coming behind your own son and so absolutely so thank you thank you for

120your service thank you we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have I have a couple of things I'd like to to ask was it ever considered um to the fact s of the of the bond I went to the strategic planning meetings and I'd listen to both sides and I I understand the needs and the wants of fiscal conservative so I'd like to know um is there uh was there ever a thought to pull out the elementary school and put it on a separate line as a proposition and then all the extra things that are needed to fix up like if your house is falling down you're going to want to fix something and then the teacher is that any of that ever been suggested I know there were there was an extra

121meeting tacked on at the end because there was a lot of discussion as to what should be included what should not be included certain schools needed improvements that others didn't and we tried to make that as Equitable as possible and I and I can speak into that we asked the specific question of whether we wanted to have two two propositions a prop a and a prop B and it did not I there there did not seem to be consensus for foregoing multiple propositions I just want to say thank you for all the time that you've committed to this it's been a pleasure serving with you and the rest of the community during a strategic planning process and on a long-range planning committee and I really appreciate your thoughtfulness your time and all the ideas that

122were shared whether we agreed on all of them we've worked through that process and came to consensus on this and thank you yeah thank you I'd also like to uh thank you and for those of you that are in the audience that participated in these committees will you stand and let us recognize you and give you some Applause we know you gave a lot of hours we know you gave a lot of thought we really do I really appreciate everything that every one of you did so thank you I don't have a question I just have a comment I talked to a lot of community members and they've reached out to me and they're feeling very overwhelmed they do they do it hands down want the teachers to therefore the Tre absolutely but there's an

123issue of trust with this District a lot of that was mentioned to me by many of the community members was you know the aircraft that was purchased and um also the money and time that's being spent to go after a trustee and so I did promise that I would make their concerns known and that's my comment you do know that the airplane sold for profit correct I made my point um I'm not I'm not here to argue I just promised that I did so I just saw your profit so it wasn't a big loss for the GISD I just promised that I would make their concerns hard okay all right Caleb thank you very much thank you appreciate you being here Madam president uh you have before you the uh the recommendation uh from Administration

124uh to to call for a special election uh including that group get principal amounts of 151 million 725 uh thousand dollars for the purpose of acquiring constructing renovating and equipping school facilities I'd like to make one make one estimates so if you're interested in specifically what has been uh determined by the these group this group of individuals that just stood up that will be available so uh someone said I'm not in I don't I don't think I trust this District to have this money to just do with what they want this is not the case in this bond issue in this bond issue there are line item estimates for every item in here Dr H I do want to uh go ahead and score I'm sorry being on the long range planning committee there was

125a lot of stuff that was taken out that the community said no this is we don't need that right now or this is a this is a want this is extra we don't need that they were very intentional in coming up with this and making sure that we had these light items so it was as transparent as possible for the community give me score and and so I want to take a second when we actually hired our new communications director Ryan Cox who's sitting right down here 2009 graduate GISD um great left-handed pitcher although I don't think we can use him as eligibility is gone uh Ryan Ryan's been with us from the beginning and if you're interested in in seeing what the long-range planning committee did and the strategic planning committee did you have

126access to that on our district website so you can review all the information they reviewed but but more importantly Ryan is is preparing to launch a GISD election 2023 website tonight I've actually seen it previewed and so all the information related to the v-a-t-r-e and the bond election will be online along with frequently asked questions he also is going to have the opportunity for you to uh to email in and we will get you answers to questions that you may have about the vatre in the Bond so we want to be as transparent as possible we want to put out as much information as possible we feel like this is an issue that the community can come together on we can get behind teachers we can get behind schools for kids and we want to

127stand out and be a Shining Light in the community and and I just can't say enough about Ryan Cox what he has done since he's uh come in to the district been a part of our leadership team and I think that everybody is going to be pretty impressed with the the information that that he has put together and will be putting out over the the next four to five weeks Madam president there's one thing that was said that I want to make sure words have meaning so I want to make sure that it's said properly it's not that the taxes are not increased the tax rate for the debt part of our tax rate will not increase that you will have an increase in the taxes Dr Glenn described earlier instead of being paid off

128in nine years it will be paid off in a longer period of time so the tax rate stays the same for the debt part of our tax rate but the tax will increase it on the on on the ballot it will say tax increase the tax rate stays the same and that that really means that we just owe more as a district so that while the right doesn't increase our debt will increase our centuries in this in America people have taken care of their children people who didn't have children many of you do not have children but somebody took care of you when you were in school and so we're spreading this out over a period of time so that we can take care of the kids that need need it okay you've heard all

129of the comments any other comments do I have a motion to discuss the adoption of Bernard or calling for special election for an aggregate principal sum of 151 million 725 000 or the purpose of acquiring constructing renovating and equipping school facilities Madam president I moved the board approved the order of election is presented a second I'm gonna make a comment before I make my vote certainly um ultimately the job is not to decide on the bond success or failure my job is to represent the community and present key issues to them when appropriate so they may decide issues as they impact their personal finances in the GISD children therefore I will support this last motion to go before the public and not attempt to stand in the way the voters having a say the future

130of GISD I trust the voters of Hood County to make the correct decision any other comments all in favor of this motion show of hands opposed same sign let the record show that a 6-1 vote with Mrs Graf opposing we will go next to consideration and approval of the joint elections contract with hood Johnson Parker and Somerville counties including approval of order of election for school board trustees places one and two on November Madam president this should uh be an easy one uh we have now called for a Batre which will be proposition a proposition B will be a bond election in the amount of 151 million 725 000 also on the ballot uh cases one and two uh to be held on November 7th 2023 uh we asked for your uh consideration and approval

131of the joint elections with hood Johnson Parker and Somerville counties as presented any questions do I have a motion Madam president I move that we approve the order of election and contracts with counties as presented do I have a second I'll second that you have any further discussion all in favor show of hands oppose same sign let the record show of 7-0 this passes consider approval of the stantec architecture for the 2023 Bond program as the most qualified firm to farm services in accordance with Texas government code chapter 2254 and authorizes superintendent to negotiate and execute the contract Dr Glenn uh thank you madam president uh this uh this contract was worked out between uh stantec and uh whose representatives are with us tonight and uh and we also had our attorney and legal counsel

132Elizabeth Nelson I'll review the the contract uh it is our recommendation that we approve stand Tech architecture is our firm for the 2023 Bond program it's the most qualified firm to perform the services in accordance with Texas government code chapter 2254 not sure how many pages it went from page 407 in our board book to page I tried to read it all I finally called Dr Gwen and said did our attorney look at this um he assured me that I did and that you folks worked with them uh we worked Brett's in the audience tonight and he and I work closely on it against stantech has been a partner of GISD since uh the May of 2021 Bond uh they've helped us not only with demographic analysis but they've gone through and looked at our

133buildings they've sat down and visited with our campus administrators our teachers they poured into our community they've given back to our community they have incredible reputation Statewide and we are we're proud to recommend them tonight and I'm thankful uh that uh Brett was so easy to work with on the contract because I know that sometimes our our legal counsel can be kind of tough but uh but we were able to hammer out the differences and I think you have before you a a good quality contract to deliver a product should voters approve it any comments from the board do I have a motion that I'm president I move that the board selects stantec architecture Inc is the most qualified firm to provide services for the 2023 Bond program in accordance with the Texas governmental code

134chapter 2254 and authorize the superintendent to negotiate an executed contract with stantec architecture Inc a motion by Mr Wembley to have a second I'll second mom is gone any further discussion I just want to thank y'all for working so hard with our people and uh somebody asked me after the last Bond meeting I said do those folks live here actually Kimberly and I didn't see her she was blocked lives in Houston and drives in so we're grateful every time she makes the trip up here would you two stand so that these people recognize too that's new in here thank you you have a motion in a second all in favor show of hands opposed let the record show uh six to one with Miss Graf opposing consider declaring property look and again thank you folks

135consider declaring property located at 2900 Acton School Road Surplus and order an appraisal for the board to consider for future sale of property thank you madam president as you know um this last year the district purchased additional property for a future high school we had property that we were looking to liquidate that would not have a useful purpose for GISD facilities moving forward uh part of that was the property located adjacent AMS the board has previously declared that Surplus we are asking tonight that the board declared the pro property located at 2900 Acton School Road so that would be the property that surrounds little bucks all the way up to the road is Surplus property will actually work with a stantec architecture to plant out a a traffic Loop for that facility pending the passage

136of this Bond or a future Bond because we know traffic at Acton Elementary School Road and James Road is significantly impeded whenever we have a pickup and drop off but in addition to that we want to to be able to survey we want to be able to plant it and that then we want to be able to go out for appraisal we are not asking tonight that the boards sell the property what we're asking for is the first steps uh in in the process of being able to sell the property so to be clear the district would have to to get an appraisal we can't sell land for less than the value of the property uh then it would go out for public bid and then the board would have the opportunity to an accept

137a bid or reject all bids if they didn't feel the price was adequate and so it is all recommendation tonight that you allow us to begin the first step in this process which is declare that property Surplus will be planted and the the uh look for reducing the traffic will be taken and retained by the district and we will only look at the value of the other property correct after after we get an idea of where we want the traffic Loop will survey the remaining portion and then have it appraised do I have a moment I move that we declare the property located at 2900 Acton School Road Surplus and order an appraisal for the board to consider at a future for future sale of the property Miss score do I have a second I'll

138second by Miss Townsend any other questions or comments all in favor show of hands oppose same sign let the record show seven zero bar consider and possible action to name a task be delegate and Alternate for the 2023 Texas Association of school board's delegate assembly every year every school district that belongs to taxi which currently is almost every school district in Texas has an opportunity to designate a delegate to the annual conference where they determine what specific items Tatsu is going to support or the upcoming legislative session um it is our privilege if you so care care to do so to send a delegate to that meeting in Dallas in September what is it uh the dates are you would ask me they're doing this has been tacitas at the last week in September and

139if you're just looking for someone uh Barbara Townsend was recently named to leadership taskby selected uh among um about 20 finalists across the state is that right it's a cohort and so she will be at that conference but she cannot be a delegate she will be much too busy Madam president I'd like to nominate Courtney Gore as a delegate okay I have a nomination for Courtney Gore are there any other nominations all in favor of Courtney Gore being our delegate Philip hands you can buff the same I'm I'm Sorry Miss Lowry Miss Lowry miss school uh graft opposed okay thank you let the record show 5-2 thank you okay moving on to the financial statements thank you madam president board in front of you do have the statements for the month ending July 31st 2023

140they do include all activity between September 1st 2022 and July 31st 2023 Revenue collected to date equals 98.12 percent of the budgeted amount compared to 98.55 in 21 and 22. the expenditures to date represent 80.81 percent of the budget compared to 82.68 of 2122 budget uh you have that in front of you if you have any questions I'd be glad to answer those do any does anybody thank you for the reports Mr smart Bill how about what investments yes ma'am board in front of you do have the Investments for July 31st uh this this uh July 31st the interest was 286 000 35.92 bringing the total for this school year currently to 2 million three hundred and thirteen thousand sixty five dollars and forty two cents in interest earned as compared to previous years we

141know how that was not very well yeah something good about being interested any questions or comments someone will go back to excuse me we will go back to our open forum unlike the first section of open Forum you will have three minutes of uninterrupted you speak about any any item that you'd like and we'll start with Gladys O'Brien who wants to speak on uh Mrs Lowry Gladys O'Brien Mr Mueller does she happen to be outside are there any last call for Gladys O'Brien uh we'll move on to Mr Ed Elder just don't open comments good evening board and community the last time I spoke I talked about trying to love people that do evil people that have slandered me and attacked me in a lot of different ways and I come tonight to stand for

142Karen uh and we've got a board member here that's on a social media site that Slanders and gossips and I have to admit it's it's kind of a dark place but I go there every now and then just to kind of see who in this community what kind of evil they're fomenting and so much gossip and slander out there and uh but when I I try to talk and debate with some of these folks I realize that there's a proverb that says if you argue with a fool then you are a fool but I had some of the people that support the board majority and some of the more liberal people in the community that believe you can breastfeed that men can breastfeed and all kinds of crazy stuff so the opposition is is pretty

143clear the we have a a corrupt group of leadership in the in this uh administrators and Mr Wimberley talked about making a profit on the airplane well the airplane had to be sold because that was a whole corrupt uh wrong operation so people defend evil they they stand for evil and they attack and in a time when you want to pass a bond that you have somebody that professes to be a Christian how can you love God if you can't love your neighbor somebody that's sitting not too far from you you know I there's a term called Rhino Republican in name only I see a lot of people that are crinos Christian in name only in this community people will slander and gossip into evil uh some people are like Judas Iscariot themselves people that

144I supported for election that that betrayed other people just there's a spiritual battle going on in our country and it's heartbreaking and if we could just love one another and I try to debate some of these people and have conversations but you know when you have people that will defend like Mr Wimberley you'll defend evil and Corruption it's hard to have a discussion but I still pray and it was kind of neat tonight I saw several people that came here just to pray and I would just encourage our community to pray and try to come together but those of you that are fermenting evil people that are punching walls because they're so angry they have anger management problems and you know get help you know we have people that that are you know trying to

145suppress the truth just not help us God help our country God help this community thank you sir [Applause] Travis weatheried uh whether Travis weathering oh here we go Travis and I probably butchered your name and I apologize don't worry you're not the first one you want to correct me so next time I'll know uh weather read I pronounce it with two r's yes ma'am hello everyone I'm a new resident of the Crescent area my daughter attends the Acton Elementary School so unfortunately I'm unaware of many of the issues that have been discussed here this evening but it's already come to my attention in the in the first week and a half of school that there's action needing to be done regarding buses that don't have working air conditioning according to parents whose children share my

146daughter's bus to Acton Elementary this has been an ongoing issue that spans multiple years buses having poor air conditioning or none at all buses breaking down and nothing being done to truly resolve this problem I've been made aware that to combat the Heat this year the district is having kids roll down Windows once they get on the bus clearly doesn't solve issues whenever a friend of my daughter comes off the bus complaining they're having trouble breathing sweat is pouring off of them and their faces are blood red saying it was so hot that she fell asleep this sounds much more like passing out to me this is a seven-year-old girl most children don't fully comprehend the signs and dangers of heat exhaustion all they really understand is that it's too hot however when you have

147your own bus drivers begging parents like myself and my wife to speak on these matters and to speak against unsafe working conditions something needs to be done not in November once the Heat's dissipated now from my limited perspective oh I'm sorry if anyone here thinks that something like this is unreasonable to take care of our children six seven eight-year-olds who go to elementary in terms of excessive heat waves that we've had this year alone I suggest that you yourselves conduct ride-alongs on the buses with no air conditioning for a week to see how long you can last with the children and drivers dealing with this on a daily basis on a final note I was informed the last time the district voted on new buses it was turned down I wonder how those who turned

148their backs on our children would feel if it were their children passing out from this heat thank you for your time Mr Whitefield to help me make a correction here we voted last year to approve how many buses we bought four buses this past year how I think what uh Mr Weatherby was addressing was uh the last bond election oh okay that that the last bond election it was turned down because the board itself has not turned down busted we ordered the buses last December and they they still have not arrived in November November so buses were approved and four buses were approved but to the point of the speaker more needed absolutely I don't disagree with that we are trying to do something we just we've got four buses that were ordered in December

149and are not here yet so thank you sir uh Vicki Butler [Music] good evening this is my first board meeting to attend and I'm really disappointed in some of the things that I'm coming here to talk about I am a resident and taxpayer within the Granbury ISD I have grandchildren that have gone through all of the schools and graduated and parents and grandparents are I'll talk about myself I expect transparency and utmost Integrity of each of our school board members I don't know any of you personally but unfortunately allegedly trustee Karen Lowry was recently featured in a video in the school where she was found to have allegedly taken an unauthorized entry into the school library using her flashlight going through books and I'll understand a lot of this I mean it to me is

150just mind-boggling and I don't think it's evil for a person to be concerned about the Integrity of our board like if these charges are true then she has proven she's not to be trusted and therefore she should resign immediately thank you Adrian Martin [Music] hello um I'm going to try to read fast because I got a lot to say uh thank you all for allowing me to speak first what I want to say is I support the upcoming Bond the improvements are bare minimum Necessities like buses safe buses anyone speaking about tanking the Bond as a political threat is showing a blatant disregard for our kids and their safety the kids are supposed to be the reason that we're all here but I'm afraid some in our community have lost that Focus many parents are

151fed up with this never-ending manufactured controversy about books and libraries I keep hearing they'll talk about removing above grade level books well my kid reads above grade level so do a lot of other kids what about their education did their needs not need to be met do they not matter this vocal group of extremists have proven there is no satisfying them with books or any other grievances they come up with [Music] it's quote unquote porn then it's CRT now it's Japanese Comics then it's racist babies give me a break to the board you gave them an inch they demanded miles I hope y'all have learned a lesson please look into the gray rock method [Music] these people are destructive Interlopers the board putting their demands above staff students parents has gotten us exactly where we

152are here today watching this group harass teachers Librarians wasting hours of time at board meetings so that they can hear themselves talk and Pat each other on the back most of the time speaking about things that have zero relevance in this District the entitlement ego the playing victim every month is astounding you don't have kids here your taxpayers woo so so is everybody else I would love to see how much of our taxpayers how much of our tax money has been spent trying to appease their never-ending List of Demands my guess is it exceeds whatever they're paying in yes we all have freedom to use our voice and our opinions but what you do not have the right to do is use your opinion as a weapon to control other people and control other people's

153children you don't like a book so what follow the reporting protocol and move on with your life [Music] um Miss Martin yes apparently our browser is not working I guess I'll have to be the buzzer tonight okay Andy thank you for your thank you Charles beard [Music] good evening board and audience I am coming here because uh I've been listening to what's been going on over this last few days since I'm speaking to the board as a concerned parent employee of Granbury school district and most importantly both of the Republican and Christian conservative I'm a God-fearing man and I have concerns on how this issue has been addressed I love the teachers of our school district I honor all our I honor the foreign teacher she was a mentor in Love by all I pray

154God Embraces her family doing this this challenging time I only deal with the facts and I say things as they are I don't wish to offend however I will call out those abusing their Authority I have watched continual negative social media from unnamed individuals I personally don't care why as much as how things are occurring I blame no individuals tonight is it only takes time away from solving the issue as a retired army military police staff sergeant I have truly concerned how quick information it originated in this from the school district on social media and released to a five-year-old conversations on breaking news an investigation has claimed to be unbiased has a video inside the school on social media and done so quick political campaigns do this kind of stuff so it's alarming to me

155what the intentions truly are in releasing this information a challenge is superintendent to look into censoring those responsible for the unethical distribution of information before all the facts are submitted anyone in a leadership position such as in this situation is expected to be unbiased why cannot basic information without negative tone be addressed to the community citizens of Grand Bay are not idiots and they're masqueraded as sheep there are wolves in this community I hope the community will recognize common elections I pray you take these issues before God if one cannot follow God he or she is going to how can he or she lead we need to make everyone accountable if they're abusing their Authority we need to praise those who don't in my hope today that we we recognize it will come and go

156today and protect our children there is just two separate approaches let's approach things respectfully and remember that we are positive intentions to be considered in my opinion long-term office holders disabled Community as it does not allow room for improvement ideas and beliefs and it prevents the causing of chaos to leave my recommendation Karen is that if you know you are innocent I would frame the censored document as an achievement or use it as toilet paper they land them [Music] [Laughter] about six years ago when my two daughters started skilled in another state I became very active in their school I was a very mother first did some substitute teaching even became the school PTA president in District PTA president and then to serve them with State PTA board I have many teachers in my family

157my mom my sister and several aunts my dad's only desire was when he quit working or retired from working in the oil field that he would become a public school teacher when I moved to Granbury my friends who have known me forever told me that I needed to get involved with the Granbury school system my daughters were 59 years old and 54 years old at the time and I said oh my goodness what in the world do I need to be involved in this school been there done that let those who have children in The Granary School serve in the schools I've done my share however folks folks kept fussing at me to get involved so finally last year I attended my very first Granbury school board meeting and have only missed I think one

158maybe since that time maybe two since that time and I finally saw that I needed to become involved it's an old gospel hymn says I Saw the Light employees of the Granbury school system I appreciate all you do for our precious students I appreciate the teachers the bus drivers the custodians the safety officers the nurses administrators and especially you Dr Glenn I have gone to admire and respect you Dr again over and over again as I watch you preside Street and pray at various meetings in our community teachers I know many times it's a thankless job and you wouldn't be here if you didn't love our kids because it certainly is not for the large paychecks you receive you are also loved and I like and I like many other Hood County residents I need

159to apologize to every employer in the grand Marine school system the entire recent events I have not previously expressed my appreciation for you and what you do to guide our students at our Granary schools you guide them to become all they can be and to fulfill their hopes and dreams and I applied you all and it's a PS tonight I heard Dr Glenn say you need me to give the teachers a raise so they can tithe in their church I don't think I've ever heard a school superintendent talk about timing and I appreciate that foreign Mercer [Music] oh okay good evening again I'm a generational native Texan as such I really don't appreciate it when other people tell me how to raise my children I don't care if you're from the Far West and I

160don't care if you're from the southeast I raise my children and I firmly believe that the majority of the parents at greenberry are perfectly capable of doing that I applaud you for setting up an email system where every time a child checks out a book the person who's responsible for that is the parent they can look at that book they can decide if their child should read it and they can decide if the content works for their home because that is actually the individual who should be making those decisions and those are the parents now I don't normally talk about my kids all that much but I will say this I got married very young had kids very young got divorced just almost as young so I was that dreaded single mother who couldn't do

161anything right and yet my oldest child got a congressional nomination to a service Academy he is a vice president of sales no last for a very large ad company my daughter wanted to be a non-com so she went into the army unfortunately her knee got blown so that dream died but she is as I speak a mom of two excellent children so I think that we parents do a good job I don't need any help with more I don't need anybody leading me or giving me some kind of moral lesson thank you but if I do need it I'll ask for it I also want to recommend that we actually as a board consider the two-tier justice system that is currently flagrant County it's distressing to me that individuals with far-right connections or political connections

162are far away for that matter don't face the consequences that those of us who just live in this community would face if I had been accused of criminal trespass I wouldn't be given a pat on the hand a pat on the head and a little private investigation I would have been criminally charged I failed to understand why that is not applicable to applicable to everyone and I was in it Because I obey the law and I think everyone else should too I understand feelings are high I understand that individuals are doing the things they do like screaming about books and things of this nature because apparently the citizens of Granby are too stupid to raise their own kids I get it comes from a place of love but what I am saying to you is

163that perhaps you might reconsider you might consider the fact that you were actually insulting the people of this of this community and take a deep breath and just you know raise your own kids thank you Greg Greg Harrell um thank you without getting any more once again how are you I wanted to let you know that before I get started um that I belong to a group that prays before the school board meetings we pray for each and every one of you not directionally but we pray for you to have wisdom and be blessed we prayed for the uh the family and the loved ones of the teacher who lost her life over the weekend as well so I just wanted to say that before I begin I also wanted to give kudos where Kudos

164are due because there's so much negativity in this room a lot of times um the new principle of Granbury High School principal Robinson instituted a policy regarding cell phones and I just want to applaud his uh his bold stand in that area I think it's great thank you so much for that a brave and courageous man obviously and uh Sonny Galindo the interim High School coach who is requiring some of his team members his team captains to perform service work for veterans around the community I think that's great as well so before I get started on some of the things that I wanted to address I just wanted to acknowledge those good things and there are a lot of good things I'm concerned tonight that um about the division that has taken place here particularly

165I'm among the members of the board what we see take place what we see developing particularly with the the situation with trustee Lowry I believe is just a continuation of a pattern of events that have been sewed by some of the board members and some maybe some of the senior administration of the district for example when Mrs Lowry was elected one of the first orders of business here among the trustees was to elevate the standard for placing items on the agenda to be heard by the truck Board of Trustees from one to three finally it was reduced to two thank God after after a lot of deliberation but I believe that that was just an effort to silence the voice of some of the trustees on this board and I spoke to that when it

166was occurring so much of what we're talking about here is not about books but I'm going to tell you that you guys are putting us in a position to where there's two camps and the one Camp is really just really labeled the book people that's not true at all that camp is really concerned about the children of Granbury maybe yes we do have some differences of opinion but with unity we can talk about those differences of opinion we can come to good conclusions we can discuss with each other and we can leave as friends quit being divisive here this situation with uh trustee Lowry thank you and just for thank you Laurie Bale [Music] good evening thank you for the opportunity I'm glad to be standing up here simply because I've been sitting a long

167time tonight in your chairs no not that comfortable um I've been spirit-led to speak tonight and that's why I felt to stay through the whole thing Psalm 133 1 says how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity Julia Pennell my good friend here coined the phrase community and Unity on the whole Granbury is a community in unity you see it in the number of non-profit feather here and the fundraisers that support those non-profits the people of this community that live together in unity are the heart of Granbury sadly this school board has trustees whose actions consistently show they have no desire to be unified with their fellow trustees they are so hyper focused on their hidden well not actually not so hidden agendas and focused on what they are being

168told to say that they are blind to what is best for the children of DISD when one is hyper focused on one's belief they resort to extreme tactics and they fail to see the big picture they fail to listen to those around them for healthy decision making and they fail to work in unity for what is best for the entity they're working for Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka Kansas is an example of such extreme this church is so hyper focused on what the Bible says about sexuality that they forget that it also says the greatest of these is love their tactics are a prime example of losing sight of what Jesus was trying to teach us during his time on earth that is above all else we are to love one another and live together

169in unity these trustees are so extreme in their beliefs that they are making poor decisions they are resorting to working in the dark they are not working immunity with their fellow trustees and they are losing sight of what is best for the children of God I hope when they go home tonight they spend time in prayer and ask for guidance from our heavenly father to reveal to them the right path the right decisions the right way to work together in unity I think the children of DISD deserve it thank you Miss Dale Sherry Westland board members Dr Glenn ladies and gentlemen first of all my daughter was a student of Miss Moore she spent the day grieving it's been a hard day for her very hard day that's not why I'm here today I come

170to you as a Christian a property owner and thereby a taxpayer and a parent of seven adopted fostered and biological children two of whom are still in gisds meaning I blocked the walk and talk the talk one of the reasons I moved here was for the schools in the moral compass of this community I addressed to you with a heavy heart and a concern for our communities moral fiber and the values we hold dear standing before you I acknowledge my imperfections and sins that I am no stranger to The Human Condition our faith teaches us that our actions our actions should exemplify our beliefs not imposing them upon others drawing for inspiration from Ephesians 5 11 which tells us to expose darkness and unmask evil I bring your attention to the recent actions of Miss

171Karen Lowry trustee who is on a crusade to shed negativity in our schools and our community and Christian values I have drawn inspiration from Miss Lowry words I thought I'd never say and brought a flashlight with me here today to shine light on the darkness Miss Lowry herself but the gravity of the situation I respectfully demand an immediate investigation and potential resignation of Miss Lowry due to her apparent breach of ethical conduct we with the board's time I will not rehash what my email on August 13th stated regarding what took place and undoubtedly what has been stated multiple times here to this evening we need to recognize the broader impact of these actions the unfortunate involvement involving the GISD library has generated National media attention tarnishing the reputation of our community and our education system

172again Miss Lowry's involvement in this debacle only deepens the false negative perception of our community we must remember Miss Lowry's previous denial of any involvement calling authorities to the school on the school's employees which is proven to be false sets instances erode the very Foundation our trust we place and our elected officials and especially those entrusted with our children's education and well-being in conclusion the recent actions Miss Lowry has cast a shadow on over over her professed values her role as a trustee and our children and dictate the majority of our tax property tax funds as a concerned Citizen and parent we demand transparency ethical conduct from our Representatives let us uphold the principles of authentic leadership by holding our officials to the standards we believe in our actions Guided by our faith and our

173values should be a beacon of light that illuminates our plan our path no flashlight needed [Music] Janine McGregor [Music] Janine McGregor teacher I made an important request at the main meeting I followed up with a letter to President president Harrington and as of yet no response I will try again with details last September I and my GED students witnessed the use of Ford Training Center which is school property as an outlet for political material for candidates Townsend and McDonald large signs were openly displayed were being delivered and picked up in violation of non-profit requirements and school property policy problems then started when they knew that I knew I had never met Miss Townsend but soon after my employer didn't ISD received a complaint about me from this Townsend as the superintendent of Granbury ISD not

174as a citizen not as a candidate but as a representative of the board of Granbury ISD the complaint was confusing as I was accused of Distributing material to my students which included my review of the book that I had conducted for Granbury ISD let me back up I was asked to review at GISD High School library book I turn my report in with over 400 disparaging phrases expletives including but not limited to Suicide depression pedophilia and animal cruelty I also examined for SAT vocabulary there were none I did a readability test fourth grade reading level I thoroughly researched the author slightly older than a teenager and researched the tainted history of the source behind the award then I type each and every questionable phrase 431 of them so there would be no in the or

175any in this interpretations I filled out the form and signed my name I was thorough months went by I was finally told it was removed from the Shelf then using for you I asked for any and all notes and reports from the other examiners who were required by the school board I wanted to combine all of those for a state representative I did not receive what a requested only a single pre-printed checklist no examples no signatures the Miss Townsend sent a copy of the summary cover sheet of my report to Denton ISD with a complaint about my behavior hence torture's interference with the contract I was interviewed my students were interviewed I was cleared of any wrongdoing but my students and I were still considered a threat and continue to be subject subjected to unusual

176demands at Ford Training Center one being a demand to move students to an unsafe portion of the building which was especially hard for two physically handicapped students as a result the class was canceled the students were left hanging Townsend Katie off it for a training center director and Paula McDonald currently on the Ford Training Center board were involved I asked you previously for an investing creation to what appears to be retaliatory conduct in abuse of office I got no response from the May request except from Karen Lowry and Melanie Graft who donated money to help the GED students produce 11 tests passed only Silence from our GST president I am repeating my request for an objective investigation my job as a Federal grant job should I go to them first since our book issues please

177include this problem in your special meeting McGregor your time is up thank you thank you Craig Mayberry and I'm sorry Mr Greg ride past your shiton and I had Mr Mayberry's in front of me [Music] good evening everyone uh Maya what a lively evening it has been say the least as well as this month especially on social media regards to the allegations of Miss Lowry's conduct the way that social media makes this thing out is you think that Karen and her cohort were all dressed in black in the middle of the night with blackface tunneling underneath the school and traipsing around the library with a flashlight in their teeth so why all the turmoil well to quote handle the pig from Toy Story I'm not exactly the sharpest spoon in the place where they keep

178sharp spoons but it seems to me that porn is not the issue nor is the airplane LGBT Dei CRT those are all but symptoms of a much much bigger problem now when there's as much skullduggery going on 99 times out of 10. that means there is something to hide I've racked both marbles I have left in my brain to see what that problem might be see Karen did exactly what she was explicitly told to do by several on the school board she showed up at the front office there was no principle to check in with and the only source of authority present was a receptionist who has the power to deny access she faced no resistance or questioning so why has the school board majority in social media goddess knows how to join well the

179quote mainstream media favorite buzzwords what I can see that there's a very systemic and existential threat to the current Bauer base meaning the school board system using good old boy politics to achieve its selfish agenda may be coming to an end this November the school board States it provides itself on transparency really the lineup has a single current GISD teacher who thinks like Miss Graf or Miss Lowry ever come forward to speak publicly on this forum I know several teachers in this district and all of them are absolutely afraid for their jobs and also for their family and their kids from speaking out rightfully Justified fear of retaliation against them and their kids and making their lives a living hell you have found out school board that the taxes you use to Swoon and convert

180both current and prior school board members to your side doesn't work on this craft and Miss Lowry the way you would like and that absolutely scares the crap out of you if there's transparency and everything's on the level then why is there a minion who deliberately jacks up and delays the school board candidate's paperwork for filing not once but three times me thinks that maybe if the two current candidates get elected the majority will cease to be just that and you'll actually be held accountable for your actions firstly to the parents the kids and the taxpayers thank you Shelly Waddell you're not in enviable positions there's no question about that our culture has changed radically and so have schools and so have school boards thank you Dr Glenn and School Board Trustees for this opportunity

181to share I'm going to read it and they cut me off because I'm too long-winded Ms Harrington to share my thoughts and observations relating to the recent handling of Karen Lowry in the library visit my hope is that you remain open-minded and objective in hearing my impression when your attention was drawn to this incident to me this incident was a public deflection to obstruct Karen's attempt to address the real issue and that was she was canvassing the library for possible potential sexually explicit books that her campaign clearly ran on and when she won her place hands down placed on the board I hope you can see this truth and create a future climate and culture of fairness by embracing a positive change this would Foster stretching and personal growth for all of you and all

182of us I hope in the future you will you will welcome robust debate honest discussions and genuine respect for seeking the ultimate good for all and that by not taking offense for the trustee's opposition just seek the truth I was distressed at the lack of good taste of your on your board demonstrating that your own teammate Karen Lowry by not publicly discouraging those public verbal attacks and the continued condemnations and gross mischaracterizations of her being a rogue trustee implying that she was untrustworthy and unprincipled an unprincipled person that she was to resign from her position I was struck mostly by your silence of all these attacks and struck that you lacked the Insight of the effects that will have on you as a board did you not recognize that by not speaking up publicly in

183the eyes of the community your credibility and and the Public's confidence in you would further be compromised your board's efb policy states all material should be appropriate for students you know the rules I don't have to tell them to you and Karen was elected by supporting that premise on on those grounds she is an extra pair of eyes that was just simply going to the library to see if that was being followed through sexually explicit materials was her purpose in that visit Governor Abbott made that uh thank you thank you I hope you'll consider all things that I've said thank you Beverly Chi is coming you are deferring to Wednesday night Paula McDonald Madam president and members of the board I come before you this evening in the capacity as a current GISD parent a

184former teacher and a former trustee the unconscionable actions by Karen Lowry on Wednesday August 2nd must be addressed because I served this school district as a trustee I fully understand what the title of trustee means I took an oath as each of you did to follow all policies and procedures set forth by the district as a parent how can I be assured that some Rogue School Board member who might have a vendetta against me might not plant something in my child's Locker what about foreign what about his personal records are those safe crazy you say not so in light of Miss Lowry's recent recorded actions teachers do you feel your personal items in space will not be violated by a sitting School Board member what Karen and her accomplice Carolyn Reeves who was a former

185police officer from California who therefore knows better falsely identified their reasons for being at the high school to volunteer for an event and then went in the opposite direction to conduct their own investigation that this community has now dubbed Library gate an hour and 20 minutes in the dark Library it just reeks of illicit Behavior there is no doubt that we while they were trying to remain undetected as the video footage shows them turning the lights off when the motion detector caused the lights to come on if they had permission as Lowry continues to purport wouldn't it make sense for her to be in the library with the lights on the ill logic you all continue to spew is just that illogical Karen you have screened transparency and demanded the district do better for two

186straight years I'm appalled at your behavior you are not above the law and cannot do what you wish as a trustee you are required to know the policies and procedures set forth for all board members your fibo exploration as to why you did this because Dr Glenn gave you permission will not fly the secret audio recording you and Melanie Graf were forced to produce has both Glenn and Harrington telling you numerous times that in order to go to any school library you simply needed to make an appointment with the campus principal and as of today you continue to expand upon that lie that you contacted the principal and you did not at this point I can't imagine anyone buying into your egregious lies as the video and audio tell the true story furthermore many of

187your people and yourself continue to brag how you want a decisive Victory well if it took the citizens of this County to see exactly how far you will go then that needed to happen I am embarrassed for you and I am absolutely sickened that you have desecrated the elected seat in which you see it and take note those who dig their heels in so deeply eventually lose their footing and topple backwards loser Deb alum said um oh yeah this is all on YouTube as the father of the ghs senior I've had a whirlwind of emotion since we all found out about Karen's stunt in the library at first I was amused my first thought was what's the funniest meme that I can put together to perfectly capture this buffoonery Over time however my amusement has

188turned to anger concern and fright as I can considered what all Karen and Carolyn had access to in that library in many of our libraries around town it is the Librarians who have records of student idps 504 documentation book rental records and of course emergency contact lists these records are protected under the family educational rights and Privacy Act known as FERPA board members I don't care if Karen Lowry was in the library looking for pornography as far as I'm concerned she can spend her entire tenure doing nothing but looking for Library porn but she has to be supervised as an outspoken critic of Miss Lowry it scares me that she had access to my child's private records which are protected under federal law along with any physical records that were present inside the desk there

189was also computer which can access all of our children's digital records Karen Lowry and her accomplice had nearly an hour and a half in the dark to work on getting those records it's fair to ask why I'm concerned about this my concern is that she could Target our teachers and other children of someone who challenges her actions and if she is willing to work in the dark to complete her Personal Agenda what else is she prepared to do are we really just waiting for the next shoe to drop I will never be satisfied with the outcome of this investigation because Karen has too much time to download any Student Records that they may have photographed she could and should walk out of here in handcuffs tonight with her cell phone and computer being subpoenaed as

190evidence but it still wouldn't repair any damage she did compromising her children's private records as much as I hate to say it the GISD security team needs to be a little more prepared for the threat coming from inside from the people like you whom we gift the title trustee than we do for any potential school shooting I ask that you consider adopting poor policy requiring The Chaperone to escort all board members on every ISD campus at all times Karen Lowry and loan has unfortunately broken the trust part of the title trustee in this chaotic Behavior cannot continue the district also needs to inform every parent of every high schooler that their child's private records were compromised by a board member and someone from outside the GISD family I'm coming Allison ullam [Music] Madam president members

191of the board my name is Allison Southern Olam I live here in Granbury my oldest son is the senior here at JHS my mother is a former School Board president I have witnessed firsthand the dedication and commitment required to make informed decisions that impact our children's life school policy plays a crucial role in the well-being of our children security measures dictated by that policy directly impact the overall safety and Welfare of students GISD has access to my children's private information on August 2nd our school policy was disregarded resulting in a breach of trust and potential harm to all of the children in our school district video evidence shows that a school board member and another individual were in the library for one hour and 20 minutes the individuals the video shows these individuals using flashlights

192on their phones it is concerning that these individuals chose to rely on their phones instead of utilizing the available overhead lighting these individuals were not the only ones on campus that day they could have asked for help turning them on it is more likely that the lights were not turned on because they knew they did not have permission or the authority to be there why were these individuals in the dark for that long in an area where my child's private information is accessible their explanation is that they were looking for inappropriate books I I'm rather proud of our school superintendent who brought national attention to inappropriate books in the Texas libraries when he was recorded saying if they want to get more information regarding sex go to the public libraries there is no place for

193it in our libraries the books were audited the inappropriate books were removed checks and balances were put in place to ensure parents were aware of their children's Library activities I have always felt welcome in my Children's Schools I have been taken on tours explored libraries and enjoyed good relationships with their teachers not once have I felt the need to sneak around in the dark John 1 4-5 speaking of Christ States in him was life and that life was the light of the world God always operates in the light therefore we as children of God must do the same requiring the same behavior from those We Trust individuals actions leave parents wondering what nefarious reason they had to be in the library in the dark I request that a full investigation be launched to discover what

194confidential information belonging to our students was compromised and that all parents be alerted to the potential breach the perpetrators should then be prosecuted to the full extent of the law thank you for your time [Music] good evening again board members I'm going to take a a quote of the recent long-range strategic plan positive Partnerships with family and Community are important part of Student Success students should be future ready like I said this comes from the Strategic plan that was put together by the long-range planning committees and there's one word that I want to point out and I did success the reason I point out success is because I can tell that the success of GISD bothers some people Granbury students are achieving phenomenal success because they were taking advantage of opportunities that are not afforded

195students in many other schools others here in Hood County don't have the same opportunities yet we have a small contingent of people that come in here every month with visions of porn dancing in their eyes and CRT lurking some dark empty space in the back of their empty mind uh despite every effort of the administration to appease these people it is never going to be good enough so why is that the answer is simple to me and it goes back to a conversation I had two and a half years ago with a local Republican party representative OverWatch one day and we were discussing issues with the school and he basically said in short the goal is the elimination of public education in Texas so there's your answer right there and we clearly have two trustees

196who always go is to achieve that as well as undermine and tear down their fellow trustees in Granbury ISD so let's address August 2nd and Karen Lowry's actions this is just not a single action but a culmination of actions that led to the deception of that day and the recording conducted by Miss graft weeks earlier in secret is only the tip of the iceberg we as a community will continue to unpack that recording for the public as it clearly exposes the both of you for what you are Larry you were clearly informed a policy regarding campus and Library visits and you have been trained on board policy but you chose to ignore it instead of using that day to help kids and families you chose to use the cover of operations school supplies to carry

197out another zealots attack on Granbury ISD these kids are students of the district who are supposed to serve and it was that you're supposed to serve it was a slap in the face to them and their families because they are hurting in this economy and trust me they are hurting you had an opportunity to do good instead you did this you violated statues of the Texas Education Code you violated numerous codes of Ethics too many of which I can't even have time to count tonight but yet the worst years you violated the trust of every employee and student in this District because they cannot go home at night to rest easy knowing a rogue trustee with an agenda might be rocking through their office or personal items congratulations because that equates to about 9 200

198people you should have already resigned in the fact that you hadn't smacks of an elitist arrogance an elitist that can afford to have their attorney until at their beck and call do you ever want a favor and step down now [Applause] [Music] um just for your information thank all of you for coming or I'm expressing your opinions the up at the our report will be delivered the that was originated by our attorneys will be delivered on Wednesday night at a six o'clock meeting and you are certainly it will be an open meeting at that time if that was from 45 seconds uh you certainly were thank you Mr die I am so sorry I I actually did promise you that yes you did I uh wanted to make absolutely clear because I was part of

199the 80 to 100 some odd people that worked diligently on this uh bond package and on July the 25th when I left that room I was firmly for that when I came here tonight I was firmly still for that and I'm going to leave here still in favor of that bond election because I think the children need it but I think everybody else needs to understand that what Karen Lowry did was not nefarious criminal or even unethical I took the time to go and read the policy BBF plainly says all she needed to do was to go to the school and the sign and follow the signage on the door I went to the school and looked at the signage on the door all that signage says is visitors must check in at the main

200office she did that thank you Mr Dalton for that this meeting gets adjourned at 9 15. thank you Lord