001[Music] The board of trustees of the Harris County Department of Education is now convened in a regular board meeting on Wednesday, May 21st, 2025 in room 401 at 6300 Irvington Boulevard, Houston, Texas at 10:03 p.m. We wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present at this meeting of the board of trustees. As trustees, we are here to set goals, listen to reports from the superintendent, approve budgets, contracts, personnel appointments, and set policy for the district. It is not the role of the board to make day-to-day operational decisions. The management and day-to-day operational decisions of um sorry, day-to-day operations of the department are the responsibility of the superintendent. We have policies and procedures in place to resolve concerns and issues. This is a meeting of the This is a public meeting of the board of
002trustees, not a meeting of the public. Prior to this meeting, board members receive information related to agenda items. Agenda items will not necessarily be handled in the order listed on the notice. The meeting is open to all who wish to attend and hear matters discussed. During the course of this meeting, the board may determine that a close session is necessary. In that event, the board will meet in close session to consider matters duly posted for this meeting as permitted by section 551.071 071 to 551.084 inclusive of the Texas government code. I respectfully ask that you please refrain from talking while others are speaking and that cell phones are turned off or in silent mode. Thank you for taking time to join us and for your interest in the Harris County Department of Education. Welcome everyone.
003We will begin with invocation with Donald Mims, records technician, driver and records management. Shall we bow? Eternal Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for this board of trustees. We thank you for all staff and all Harris County Department of Education. We ask your blessings over this meeting and this fellowship. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we'll move on to the pledge of allegiance with Dr. Shandelle Bonner Hancock. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to thee Texas. One state under God. One and indivisible. Okay, we have no one in open forum today. So, we will move on to reports
004and presentations. And we'll start with recognition of Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Thank you, President Henosa, members of the board. Every m at various months throughout the year, we recognize the contributions of the different cultures and um ethnicities in our community. And so today for for May, we are going to honor the AsianAmerican Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander culture and uh give you a little history lesson. So our comm's team has made a short video for you. [Music] Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month evolved from AsianPacific American Heritage Week. In 1992, May was officially made Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. The name later became AAPI Heritage Month. In 2021, the Native Hawaiian community was formerly included, giving us the name we honor today, AANHPI Heritage Month. With nearly 50 countries in Asia,
005there's so much culture to celebrate and many great achievements to recognize from leaders through [Music] time. [Music] Here at HCDE, we take pride in the diverse backgrounds of our employees and the communities. ities we serve. We celebrate and honor our cultures together. HCDE proudly celebrates Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. [Music] [Applause] Thank you for that. And next we have recognition of teacher appreciation week. Thank you, President Henosa, members of the board. Every May we take a week to set aside some time to honor and appreciate the work um of educators in our schools. This is a national effort. And so here in Harris County Department of Ed, we like to take a moment and let our all of our instructional staff, our teachers, our aids know how much we appreciate them and
006the hard work they do with our students every day. We have a short video for [Music] you. Have we told you lately? [Music] We don't say it [Music] enough. You work day in and day out with the mantle of educating the student who sits before you. A job that is only for a select few. You are called to lead and encourage, but most of all, you are dedicated to this profession. The challenges you face in the classroom are few compared to making sure your students are successful, seen, and sure-footed for the future. We thank all of our HCDE teachers for their dedication and hard work. You inspire, you encourage, you impact the future. [Music] [Applause] Next is employee of the month. Madame President, board of trustees, Mr. Colbert. Today we honor our final employee of
007the month for the 2024 2025 year, Miss Quina Jones. Miss Jones is a teaching assistant at Dogen Head Start, but her impact on children is felt throughout the entire division. According to Venita Peacock, senior director of Head Start, Miss Jones exemplifies the mission and values of Head Start through her commitment to excellence, integrity, and service. A true agent of positive change, Miss Jones embraces her practices, new practices, and values, using them to effectively meet goals and solve problems. Miss Peacock wrote in her nomination, "She is always willing to offer support to the teaching team and goes above and beyond in her daily responsibilities." Miss Jones can often be found not just helping students with one-on-one support, but updating classroom bulletin boards, conducting small groupoup instruction, assisting teachers with lesson plans, and setting up classrooms that
008promote engagement and inclusivity. But Miss Jones's contributions are not limited to Dogen campus. She often lends support to other sites, being known for demonstrating professionalism, kindness, respect, and grace in all interactions. Her supervisors say she is exceptional team player contributing to the positive culture while consistently recognizing and celebrating her peers for their hard work. Miss Jones has cultivated strong, positive relationships with teaching teams, partners at Dogen Elementary, and the families we serve. Miss Miss Peacock wrote, "Her contributions have made a significant impact." Our comm team has prepared a short video highlighting Miss Jones work with students and staff in his start. [Music] Duncan Head Start teaching assistant Quina Jones moves fast, thinks fast. And today during the Earth Day field trip to the Houston Aquarium knows exactly how to turn a bit of chaos into
009tons of joy and laughter. You're not even thinking. You're just doing it. Just comes natural like hey you got to be quick swift because they move fast. They really move fast. So you have to, you know, have eyes all over your head. As a Head Start teacher's aid, one must have so much energy, patience, and heart. and Queen makes it look effortless. So, first of all, you got to build a relationship with them. Once you build a relationship with them and get to know them, hey, they're going to like they they just want to know. They want to know what you know. And then once they know and get it down, they're going to be teaching you. Wow, Jose, good job. You can read. Nobody can do it like Miss Jones does it. She does
010things just with that nurturing spirit just the and it's just I don't even know if she realized that she is making such a difference in some of these kids life. I love them. I love them. I love every last one of like mine. Come on in. When I notice that they're hungry, I'm going to take them to go eat. If I see that they haven't, you know, bathed, like their face is dirty, I'm gonna clean that bait, I'm gonna go to the Head Start office. I'm gonna get some clothes. A true definition of how Head Start operates, our values, our missions. Miss Jones is that person. It was 12 years ago when Quina walked in a Head Start parents shoes. Her son attended Sheffield and it was during this time Quina was going to cosmetology
011school. She had a serious car accident and it was HCDE's Head Start program that helped her family. I knew he was safe so that helped me out a lot. And then plus it opened my eyes up to things to help him with, you know, as far as like uh blending words. He's an honoral student. He's been an honoral student from kindergarten all the way to the 10th grade. Her son Cameron loves basketball and now she spends most of her weekends watching Cameron play for a AA club basketball team. He plans to join the Navy and play basketball for the military. Usually Quina is in the dog classrooms. Kiss your brain. But since January has been floating around to different Head Start campuses to lend a hand 50. This year one thing that I have learned
012Rever is to be flexible and to go with the flow and to do it with grace and a smile. I love working with Harris County Department of Education. It is so cool. It's like a It's a fun place. I've never thought in my wildest dreams that I would become a teacher. But like I said, God's plan is God's plan. You can have all the plans that you want in the world, but God's plan is God's plan. So, I'm doing his work. Give me some. Give me some. All right. I love it. Okay. I am pleased to introduce to you Miss Queen Jones, the May 2025 employee of the month. Congratulations, [Applause] All right. Superintendent's monthly report. Thank you, Madam President. Hold on real quick. I want to know how uh before you leave. Hold on.
013Hold on. Now, hold on. I I saw something in that video I had never seen before. I have watched I don't know how many movies, have been to how many classes and graduate classes, but I'd never heard or learned a skill on how to kiss my brain. Now, how H how do we do that again? Everybody, let's kiss our brain. There we go. Congratulations. [Applause] The best. I need to kiss my brain more often. Um I have a few things to update the board on. We have a lot of stuff going on. We're at the end of another great school year and certainly Harris County Department of Ed has had a fantastic school year. Um, just some important dates. First, we have the celebration of excellence uh awards ceremony tonight from 5 to 7. That's
014going to be in the 500s. So, if you can make that, that'd be great. This is where we recognize all the employees of the month. Each division will have different individuals. They will get recognition. And the really good thing about that is they'll bring their family with them just like they come to the board meetings. That's also an excellent thing. Tomorrow, uh, ABS West will have graduation at 10:00. So, if you have an opportunity to make it out there, do so. Uh, on the 23rd, uh, Foris has a graduation ceremony at noon. So, if you can make that, um, and finally, the on the fourth thing I have is Adult Education has graduation June 21st, which is a Saturday at noon. That's always really fun to go to. It'll be packed there. I mean tons
015of family. Um so you have an opportunity to make that. Two things I want to bring to the attention that have happened in the past few weeks. First uh our campus forest academy went through an accredititation process. Uh there are about 40 recovery schools in the entire United States. Um maybe less than half of them are public. And so this process of accrediting campuses started what three or four years ago Mr. Parker? Oh, I'm sorry. 10 years ago. Um, but there's not many of the campuses aren't accredited. So, Fortis went through like a multi-day process. It started off with a dinner. Uh, Trusty McGee was able to accompany us with that dinner where we got to eat some cooked ants and uh crickets, little legs sticking out appetizers. Very interesting restaurant. Yeah, you missed that.
016Um uh but not only did Fordis get accredited, they got a score of 95 95 out of 100, which is [Applause] [Music] exceptional. So, we're really proud of that. Uh the last thing I'd like to do is recognize a special individual here that has won an award. Danielle Clark. Well, hold on now. You don't even know what you're clapping for. You just clapping for the person. You need to clap for the thing. So, Daniel Clark has uh at first won the statewide award for top mentor for the comm's department, which is a very unique and and distinguished award. But then she was nominated for the national level. And this award is called the Barry Gaskan Mentor Legacy Award, which she has actually won that award at the national level and received that in July. So,
017let's give her a hand. [Music] Now, I'd like to end it on that just because a few years ago, we made a dynamic strategy at Harris County Department of Ed where one of the prongs to that is that we were going to be out front and center and that Harris County people and programs were going to be at the local, state, and national level and being the content experts on some of the subject matters that we specialize in. We keep getting evidence that we're actually making that happen. and Clark's recent award is that. But we've had a number of national awards and presented all over the country where we are definitely making strides to that very very thing. So this has been a great year. Um it's been somewhat of an uneventful year which is
018good for public education. I'm going to knock on some wood real quick because we got a few weeks left. But um we will spend this summer in planning and figuring out how we can be audacious for the next school year. Uh we are bringing convocation back uh which we gave me a break last year because I went to the Olympics but we're bringing that back. So we hope that all the trustees can attend that. And with that that's all I have. Thank you. We will move on to our annual division update and we're going to learn all about center for educator success. Good afternoon trustees Mr. Colbert and general counsel. My name is Andrea Craves and I'm the senior director for the Center for Educator Success. Many thanks to you all for your belief in
019us and our potential impact. I'm honored to present our division's update. And when I share about our division today, I am sharing on behalf of an incredible team and I'd like to introduce them to you. Team, if you will stand when you hear me say your name and remain standing until everyone is till I've introduced everyone. Okay. Amy Thompson, Chandelle Hancock, Deborah Harris, Johanna Sanchez, Julie Vu, Lauren Gray, Michelle Kavazos, Monica Goffnne, Rosa Murio, Shannon Treadville, and Caris Wand. Yes, you can give them [Applause] [Music] Thank you team. You may be seated. Okay. Forgot to open my PowerPoint. Okay. The CES team believes that students deserve the very best education and so we provide the very best support for our teachers and we strive to stand in the gap for educators to support them with
020their most complex challenges so that we can make a positive impact in the lives of those children across Harris County. We do this by building partnerships, providing professional learning, and recognizing students. So, we'll look at our Oh. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Next, we'll look at our highlights from the year. Here are the services that our team provides to educators, and I will go into more detail um in the coming slides. First, we are the regional affiliate for the Scholastic NA uh art and writing awards program. We hosted the 39th annual RT Garcia Early Childhood Winter Conference in January. And our biggest initiative currently is our educator preparation or alternative certification program. We also provide leadership development for principles, supplemental professional learning for both teachers and leaders, as well as online instructor training.
021At the end of March, we wrapped up another successful regional scholastic art and writing awards season with a fantastic celebration at the Woram Center downtown. This program is the nation's longestr running most prestigious recognition program for creative teens. And this the awards give students the opportunity for recognition, exhibition, publication, and scholarships. This year, students across Harris County submitted over 12,000 original works in 28 different categories, and our team coordinated the adjudication of all of those. The program has grown tremendously over the years and our team is honored to continue to be make this a part of HCDE's legacy of making an impact. On the slide, you can see that students earned a plethora of awards and scholarships both on the national and local level. We are so grateful to our sponsors and donors who generously
022contributed to nurturing the talent of the students in our region. Planning this celebration to honor these exceptional students and their teachers was a collaboration with our wonderful communications department. It was a joyful event and we are very thankful to everyone who made it possible. And in just a couple of weeks we're going to be going with uh close to 30 of our students and then I think there's maybe 75 in our whole group to New York City for those students who are national gold medalists to be honored at Carnegie Hall. So really excited about that and thanks to the foundation for securing some funds for five students who were not able to pay for that. And so just want to give a special thanks to the um foundation. Next up, we had our 39th annual
023RT Garcia Early Childhood Winter Conference. This year we focused on AI. We had over $27,000 in um sponsorship sponsorships that we secured. We had over 480 educators in attendance from 29 school districts and overall conference satisfaction was 96%. This coming year's um conference will be on January 31st. So mark your calendars 2026 and our keynote will be Jerry Brooks. So if you know who he is um it's kind of a big hit among educators. So that'll be our keynote. in our teacher certification program. We're going to you'll see a little bit more about each of these programs in our video, but we um are happy to announce that we have extended our district partnerships to Channel View, Scyfare, and Goose Creek, as well as continuing that partnership in spring for the fourth year. We have
024a Houston Endowment grant that we receive um over the next three years. So, we just in this year um received our 150,000 of that grant. And so that's where you'll see um the contract that's actually coming up today for um the non-revenue contract and those seats will be given um to our new partners in the school districts listed above. Our teacher preparation inspection, we opted into an audit of our content. So we go through an audit with the state for all things compliance and certification. What we did is opt for an additional one to look at our content. And with that, we received $40,000. We are partnering with the with Teach for Houston which is an local organization that helps get the word out about alternative certification programs. And lastly, uh we are a part
025of each quarter the Houston region teacher pipeline community where we where we meet with school districts and other EPS educator preparation programs to collaborate and problem solve. a couple of opportunities for us to deepen our footprint and spread the word about the great work happening at HCDE. Uh three members of the Center for Educator Success presented at TASA mid-winter alongside our partner uh from Spring ISD and then eight members of our CES team combined for three presentations at the state um consortium of state organizations. So a lot of other teacher preparation programs were there held in San Marcus. I'm really proud of my team for both of those. Next up is our video. The Center for Educator Success is transforming lives. One educator certification, one professional learning conference, and one student recognition at a time.
026Fully certified teacher. We're actually celebrating the long journey of uh certification, teacher certifications. The journey itself is something that I would never trade for the world. It was a certification celebration. We have a celebration of growth for our candidates who are at the very end of their certification journey. They have been with us for a couple of years and by the end of this semester they're going to be fully certified teachers. We introduced these two gentlemen to you a year ago. I came in it was only 13 people and it was a pretty much small group but we since the first day it was uh family oriented. So that's what stood out to me for sure. Two cohort members working towards their teacher certification as a part of the center for educator success and spring
027ISD partnership. They really put you at the center. you know, exactly what they say, the center of education. They really put you at the center as you, you know, you go through, you know, figuring out whatever your purpose is and, you know, achieving your goals. The event recognizing the 14 cohort members was filled with speakers, memories, and lots of encouragement. For all of you, I'm proud of you and I love you and congratulations. A muchdeserved celebration for candidates who balance teaching full-time while fulfilling every requirement for becoming a certified teacher. Definitely worth it. Every minute of it, the students are simply amazing. To see them be able to do something that they thought they couldn't do. Doing the alternative certification route is really tough. Uh these candidates especially are in the classroom as full-time teachers
028throughout this journey. So, we want to make sure they feel honored and celebrated and then that the community knows about the work that they're doing. Talk about it being hard, it being a three-year journey, a three-year marathon. That's exactly what it is because we want to make sure that the best version of that candidate is in front of that student day in and day out. [Music] [Applause] Early Childhood Winter Conference is an annual conference where we come together with early childhood educators from across the state of [Music] [Applause] You as educators have such a special role in sharing these books with young people. [Music] We also have sentiment indicators here to tell you how they're feeling in this. So you get an understanding of are they frustrated, are they doing really well? And it was
029predicted that by the end of the decade perhaps we will have more AI agents on the planet than humans. AI is something that for some people is a little bit scary to think about or to embrace. And so we really wanted this conference to be anchored in that. Right now the world is changing. Everything's changing. Everything's developing quicker. We just kind of have to ride with it. And coming to things like this helps me kind of try to stay up to date. motion. [Music] We try to come every year. It's been every year we are fascinated. The speakers, the out the breakouts, everything has been wonderful every year. [Music] Oh my goodness. Come enjoy yourself. There's lots of things to learn and do here at the winter conference. You would want to be here. You
030can enrich your classroom and it will help you in your own personal life. [Music] So waiting really surprised me. I'm really happy to be here and like see it here. I feel like really professional. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] God. Heat. [Music] The center for the center. Any questions for Yeah, you can clap for that video if you like. [Music] questions for me this afternoon? Go ahead. Yeah, I'd just like to say that, you know, CES is very, very important to Harris County Department of Ed. Um, I see that division is giving us symmetry and balance. You know, we do a lot of work with atrisisk populations and we do excellent work with those populations. But there's another sector to this community that we also work with too. And sometimes they're
031our best, brightest, most talented students who get almost no recognition because they can't throw a football or dunk a basketball, but they're incredibly unique, artistic, and special, and they deserve that recognition. But the other thing that CDS does is it's been charged with finding the blind spots of public education. Public education has areas that school districts can't fill and address themselves. And so being a blind spot, they're not easy to see. And so they are the seekers. They have to go out and find those things. And that's not the hard part. When you finally find a blind spot, then you've got to create a solution for it. And it's it's a it's a challenge because the school district couldn't find a solution for it. And somehow we need to try to do that. And so
032you see that with this alternative education program of us trying to crank out not just people with certification. We want to ensure that they're going to be good educators. We're going to follow them and we're going to support them through the process because we want them to have an impact on on young people. And that's what's not happening enough in this country. That's why we have such a huge turnover. So, I really want to compliment you and your staff, your soldiers over there that, you know, I appreciate every single thing that you do and I know how hard it is to do it. Um, but I want to hope to inspire y'all to keep at it because there's still a lot of work that needs to be done and I promise you our profession needs
033it. So, thank you so much for your leadership and thank you to your crew. [Music] Thank you. Okay, before I go, one more quick v. Wait, any more questions? Questions. Okay, kiss your brain. Yes. Love it. Okay, before I go, I want you to meet our newest cohort members. I'm going to play a quick video in Scyfare. It's It's a great cute little sweet short video. Here you go. We've had the opportunity to come out and congratulate and welcome our first cohort to the Scyfare CES. uh certification program that's being sponsored through the Houston Endowment [Music] Grant. Usually certification programs are quite a few thousand dollars and these are pair professionals and long-term subs. So money can be a barrier for them to pursue their teacher certification. So the fact that they don't have to
034pay anything for this program is absolutely amazing. my content area. There's there's two that's near and dear sped being one and anything technology being engineer by trade, but I also love my sped [Music] kiddos. To let you know that you got accepted into the teacher certification. Well, I know that they said that there was only going to be 10. And so, um, I'm just so excited that you all have faith in me to be able to participate in this pilot program and I plan to make you proud. Congratulations. But since working here, it's like I could be a counselor. I would love to be a counselor. And that's really what made me apply cuz, you know, you need to be a teacher before you're a counselor. And and it gives you a a huge understanding
035of what you're doing as a school counselor to be a teacher. So they'll be in the program for three years, two of those years teaching. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] All right, our next annual division update is records management. How do you How do you How do I continue to follow stuff like that? I just Everything we do here is amazing. I I don't get I don't Every year I went against Head Start one year. I cry. Now Curtis, you got all those exciting videos like they had. I'm going to show you. had the opportunity to come out and no Toms didn't put together a little medley of videos for you with them boxes. A I can get a box. I can bring a box and just keep recording that box, moving it, you
036know. Every year he's going to do the presentation. Yeah. Yeah. I could I could get Anthony to do a dance. U Thank you. I'm sorry. Uh it just it just it warms my heart to see all the other divisions doing all this stuff. It's a lot. It really is. It's a lot. Then I'm thinking, man, we must be the the the the gruts or something. I mean, we get we we in there slinging boxes. I mean, it's it's what we do. It's our profession. We chose it. So, but we in there slinging boxes, but we also slinging information. So there's a lot of information about ACD getting out through my group. So that that's a good thing. So but it's like that was a I thought that was a little simple one, but it turned
037out to be a big old thing. All right. Sorry. Sorry. Good afternoon. Um President and Hosa board members. Dr. Cobert. Dr. Cobert. Mr. Cobert. See, I'm delirious already. [Music] Um, I am Curtis Davis. Been here for over 20 years in records. So, we know the trends of records up and down and up and down for years and years. What we're trying to do right now is to reinvent ourself in records so we stay with what the districts are doing. So if something new is going on, we want to be the first ones to know about it in the district in here so we can go out and tell it to the districts. Okay. So I am not going to present the presentation. I am going to have my operations manager Anthony Washington first time. So
038I mean I'm going I I'm in the background. I'm gonna help with him. But y'all please don't help with him because I'mma be doing it. Anthony, please come up. [Applause] I stand. Okay. We were going to do step brothers, but I couldn't get my hair right. Okay. Well, the first thing I'm going to do is um kiss the brain. There you go. We should put We should all have that one now. Okay. Who Who are we? We are Harris County Department of Education Records Management and we we provide services to all any educational institution or government entity. We do not do uh anything public. We uh we try and focus on making sure that we can get with these districts and make sure we can save them money, help them cut cost. As we know
039in this day and time, all school districts trying their best to cut cost. Who are we? This as Curtis told this he our director. I'm the operation manager. Our team consists of 15 people. We have uh seven females and eight males. And this is a very very exceptional crew. We do a lot of work with these small people and know and serve so many district and we are in the habit of uh providing exceptional customer service. I know we like to use that word a lot exceptional. So we get we're in the habit of using exceptional and intentional customer service to all our clients. This is our years of service. We have uh at least 11 employees with more than 15 years of of combining of of experience in records management. We have a combined
040uh experience of over 350 years in records management. So we are very experienced in making sure that we can provide services to all our clients that we serve throughout the district and outside the county. These are some of the benefits that that our customers enjoy by being by allowing us to be their record management uh provider. We have secure vehicles uh transport transport which mean all our vehicles are GPS track. We have the ability to know where our vehicles are any any time and in real time, you know. So that gives the customer some type of a confidence where something was to happen and god forbid somebody take a vehicle, we'll be able to tell the authorities where that in real time and be able to get that information retrieved, you know, in a in
041a timely manner. You know, we we have we have the ability to uh keep the records information in a in a very secure system, very well organized. When customer come and visit us, they are impressed at how organized the warehouse is and how we can uh with the click of a button go to to the shelf, find their box and get it to them just like that. Some of the other benefits that um what what most school districts are doing now is that everybody trying to cut back on paper. So schools are doing more shredding. So what we have did is we've uh increased our uh providing the customer with consoles and shred bins. So instead of creating boxes, they can take the paperwork, put in the a little shred console and we come out,
042pick it up and and shred it for them. Uh we also create an opportunity where we can take, you know, send trying to get rid of boxes, we can take the information, create it in electronic form and store the information for them electronically. Of course, our record center still have a lot of paper in it, a lot of boxes. So uh when those boxes in the rec center reach their retention then we also provide the sale we can pull that box in uh shredded form and help them stay you know within the government regulations as far as retention of the of their records. These are some of the people that some of the uh entities that we serve. Uh one thing I wanted to point to you that in either county we're at 23% of
043district county and we're looking at trying to expand our business and grow it. So, we're hoping that for this time next year to be up around 30% out of county. You know, uh the word the word is spreading, people calling each other because of our exceptional service. So, as long as it's uh obtainable, then we're going to try and get out and provide those clients with ACD's exceptional records management services. These are just some of the school district that we serve. data highlights. Now, this is where it be it becomes very very exceptional for uh records management. If you notice down here for the images scan, we have uh scanned over 15 1.5 million images this year. Now, what makes that so exceptional that we have basically three women that do most of the scanning.
044So th those three women have scanned 1.5 million documents. That's exceptional. Now you look at the second column, if you know, we have 2,972 transportation stops. We picked up over 16,000 new boxes. We've destroyed 19,697 boxes. Now these are by that are on the shelf in the record center where the customer requests for us to shred it. We pull them down one by one and get them shredded. Uh recycling bin we we have service 823 bins. That's up 200 from last year. Last year is about 600 something. And we sold 25,000 supply boxes. And here's where we get exceptional. We do all that with just six guys. Make make over 3,000 stops. Pick up over 16,000 new boxes. That's not counting about 20,000 shred boxes we'll pick up this summer starting around about next week.
045That's what make these guys and these ladies in records management exceptional. More key highlights. Uh we're moving from u we're trying to create opportunity for customers and our clients that want to have their their record scanned and they're trying to stay paperless. So instead of printing that document, put in the box and send it to her, they're able to create the electronic file, send to us electronically, reprocess electronically and put it online so they can uh you know view them and uh use their record, keeping everything electronically. All the contracts we have, we have uh renewed 100% of all contracts. To date, we've uh scanned over 29 million documents into our paper vision database and we are continuing to grow business up to and including Liberty County that we added just last year. These are
046some of the trends. Uh as I mentioned earlier, district and agencies are looking for ways to cut costs and we have become very exceptional in helping them uh cut that cost. Uh the more district are trying to remove boxes from uh inventories trying to cut their cost. That's where they know 16,000 bikes come from where they're trying to reduce their box sitting on the shelf and and uh we're trying to help them increase their electronic storage. or electron documents are being moved from system to system. This what I talking about a while ago to where they can take electronic document out their system send to us we process form index it and send it back to them all done electronically you know like uh Curtis said earlier we as as the uh industry is changing
047we try to make sure we can change with it and try and get ahead of it and offer that service before you know anybody else can get into it and we can keep being an exceptional service to all our clients that choose to use uh Harris County public education as their records management provider and And then customers are looking for a quality service without cost. Only thing I want to change there is that uh our customer looking for quality service but instead of giving them quality service we give them a exceptional service without the high cost. And as you can see we I do want to take time to thank y'all for the new vehicles that we got. It's gonna come very handy as we get into the summer and pick up these 20,000 boxes.
048They have good running vehicles that we can uh get in, get out, and service our class. Any questions? Any exceptional questions? Well, you know how to use the right language, don't you? Got to make a comment. Yes. Um, I would just like to say that was an exceptional uh presentation. But you know, our records management when I first got here, I didn't even know we I all I saw was a little thumbnail picture of records on the website. This is when I had interviewed for the jobs. And so I didn't think anything of it. I was thinking about all the other divisions. And then once I got the job, I was visiting all the sites and locations. And I went to records management and I still was like, "Oh, okay." I I really didn't think
049about what records was. And then Curtis walked me to the back and I saw like 150 yards worth of shelves in 600,000 boxes at NO and I was blown away. Um I think you you Curtis, you made comments earlier that you know you don't stack up to the other divisions. I disagree with that. Yeah, records is what makes us exceptional. But seriously, it's it what it's what makes Harris County Department of Ed unique. Unique. We we support school districts and other governmental entities in multiple ways. Yeah. And although y'all are seeking out and looking for new clients, they're coming to you because they need to save money. This is the era of budget cuts and we're getting down to the part where people start counting paper clips and you've got to start making copies on
050back of other forms. I mean, and so then they're looking at cutting and saving money anywhere possible and they have to store some records. That is a fact. And so they're going to go with the people who provided not only the cheapest but also provides exceptional service. So um great job, great presentation. You did a good job and um I think your division is excellent. Keep up the good work. [Music] Hard All right. Any reports from board members concerning attendance or participation in a board or HCDE related event? Trusty Duhan. Hi y'all. At the end of last month, I was able to attend Case for Kids Ecobot Challenge, and it was just so cool to watch everything that this organization is doing to put those together for the students and the work that the students
051are putting forward and learning from it. It's so amazing to see it in action. And um I'm grateful for our teams for putting everything together, working so hard, and I advocate for board members. if you get a chance to go to these events to go check it out. It's enlightening and I appreciate it. So, kudos. Thank you. Thank you. Any board committee reports? No. And we'll move on to monthly financial reports through April 30th, 2025. Dr. [Music] Musca. Okay, these are the financial highlights as of April 30, 2025. All our information is posted on our web page and uh the uh summary of the highlights for u this month uh we have 294,000 in uh in re tax revenue. Our next debt service payment is until August. Uh revenues are are at 64% versus a
052target of 67% as of this month. uh expenditures are below that at 58% budget to actual. Our uh fund balance or equity is at 51 million. Uh March's donations were 9,379 and values. Uh we'll see later on in the in the slides uh where they're at in terms of the property values where we started. We're at 660 billion where we had projected 665 billion. uh choice uh running at 6.9 million benefit variance. We have foundation uh 335 uh,000 in equity. Um I will have a report in a few minutes uh for the 10% small business uh uh report uh participation and our capital projects are at 99% uh including just pending release or retainage for our our projects. Our budget process is underway and uh our budget amendments uh there's a couple budget amendments uh
053on the that we'll present in a in in several slides uh due to revenues not being realized. As far as budget calendar uh in uh next week we will have the budget submission electronically. We will send that to you uh via email through Miss uh Miss Jessica. uh June 24th is the first uh budget workshop uh targeted and then a second one as needed uh on July the 16 and then budget adoption as well. the uh tax uh property values uh to be received around August the 25th and uh tenatively the uh tax rate adoption on September the 17 and we have a couple of grand spending. Uh so that's why we have the uh um budget submission until May May the 30th. Again, our equity is at 51 million. uh we have $16,826,67 of
054excess of revenues over res over expenses that we will utilize between now and the end of the year. And then our indicators of um as of April 30th are percent of fund balance to general fund we're at 50% versus 40% last year. Working capital ratio um remains strong at 51 million. uh unassigned fund balance ratio we're at 43% versus 37 from last year. Debt to income ratio slightly above at 4.69 uh versus 4% last year. And this is our combined debt. Uh we will have our our payments and you will see uh payments at the end of the year of 3,691,000 that we would have made by by the end of the fiscal year. Uh in terms of our tax to uh total revenue ratio, we're at 32% versus 27 from from a year ago.
055And our indirect cost uh ratio, we're at slightly above 2.3 versus 2.2 from last uh year. Uh fee for service ratio, we're at 20% versus 19% from a year ago. And then our growth ratio, we're at a negative 9% uh due to our slowdown in some of our grant um contracts uh in uh in some of our um um divisions. Uh in terms of uh fund balance activity, we had 391,000 amended in in uh uh in the fall and we're going to have some amendments in a few minutes that we will review and present to you. Again, budget to action, we're at um at 64% in terms of uh revenues, expenditures at 58% and then our um donations at uh year to date at 38,396. And this month we're primarily Choice Partners and Head Start,
056the donations that we received. And this is the one that I wanted to take a little more time to talk about. This is 660 billion right now as of April. When we projected at the beginning of the year when we adopted the budget, we were at 665 billion. And so it's about a 5 billion loss. And so we're going to have to amend the budget to uh to adjust for that revenue shortfall. Uh and so that uh would mean approximately $674,000 in reduction um between now and the end of the year. year-to- date collections, we're at 95% um and uh overall 94.7%. And so this uh basically we have 1.537 to collect and uh we may not get to this budget. So that's why we're we're preparing the the amendment for for your consideration. We're
057at 95% versus last year at 98% at the same time. um almost the same or more in terms of taxes but in terms of percentages uh it is below the the rate from from a year ago. In terms of our dispersements, we are at uh 6,20,83 721 transactions um um for all funds and 795 and six transfers in our um benefit variance for the segment divisions for CES 1,135,791 uh records management 549,058 therapy 1,887130 and schools was at um uh 2,89,551. That's the uh tax subsidy variance for year to date. In terms of choice partners, it's at 317% ratio or 6.9 million uh transfer to the general fund. Uh the first amendment is a uh an adjustment to uh adult uh education for 44,000 for um funds um increase in no impact to fund balance.
058And this is just a transfer between uh between accounts for uh additional local match for for the grant. And then we have uh general fund expenditures for 230,000 for overtime for various departmentwide uh um allocations. and then the decrease in the property values uh for 1 million um in the uh revenue and then we'll set out uh some u appropriations aside so that we will not spend u those revenues that that we didn't receive. In terms of our grants, uh we receive uh additional funding from adult ed 267,717 and 16,287 for uh adult ed uh education program capital projects. We're allocating uh some of our interest 249,472 for capital outlay projects that are coming up in the fiscal year 2026. And then also in facilities uh overtime that will be allocated among the divisions $230,000.
059Uh education foundation we have 337,572 in equity. Um and we made the adjustment that the foundation uh consolidated some of the accounts and so that has already been made and that the net amount available is $335,818. uh in terms of our lease revenue projects update and um we have a small business uh uh program uh for and so this is our April report for small business or contractor or construction uh and basically what we have is uh these are the definitions for some of our contractors hub MBE uh small business enterprise woman business enterprise the certifying agencies are usually the city of Houston Metro, Port of Houston or South Texas uh regional certification agency. As of April, we are at 10% ratio from small to large. When we take into account um government and utilities
060and only uh you um um apply the ratio between small and and large, uh it is a 10% um a small to large ratio. The majority of the businesses are certified through the city of Houston uh also Port of Houston and Metro. And then in terms of the majority of the certification type, uh small business and enterprise is uh the largest uh at 1,ion56,546. Uh here's a list of 1,771599 of all the small businesses that we've done as of April 30th. In terms of the the uh projects uh cash balance um we have as of April 30th 1,990,949 uh available or um still uh set aside for capital projects and we have some retainage that are that is pending to be paid of 1,257,381. Um in terms of the 2024 maintenance notes, uh we still
061have 10,39,997 that are set to uh uh be spent in the in the projects for Urbington and some of the equipment that is being uh identified for for the program. Uh in terms of the capper project, we have retainage at 304,445 year to date for for this building. Uh again everything is 99% um we're just pending some of the retainage and final close out. Uh in in our maintenance notes uh we have um available 6,896,324 uh as far as the maintenance notes and projects that were approved by by the board. And in Urban the when you combine 20 the 2020 and the 2024 maintenance note uh totals to 11,781,515 and again it is uh uh the the first notes are 99% the second ones have been committed at at the 99% level. That's the report
062for the month of April. What questions do you have? Thank you Madam President. Uh Dr. Meco, another exceptional uh presentation. You mentioned a couple of things. Overtime uh 230,000. I guess we're amending the budget for overtime. Was that a specific event that occurred or uh just a number of uh a large of that was construction. Uh while this building is under construction, we have to assign staff to be here as well. Makes sense. Makes sense. Okay. And then mention in revenue uh you mentioned of course being down five billion. Have we received the certified estimate for next year yet? I know some districts of course that operate. Yes, that Okay, we are um at 673 billion. Really? Slightly higher than 660, but not uh there's actually a range from 673 to 709 billion. Um and
063so we're trying to uh project what it will be the final one in August, right? But the preliminary 673 billion to 709 billion um is never gone to the highest. Right. So So we're trying to focus on what uh what it will be uh for next year. Gotcha. So they're still estimating that property values are increasing for Harris. Increasing but not at the same rate. Okay. Yeah. Increasing not at the same rate. So at this point in time, if we were just to go with a low, it would be about a $13 billion increase in values, right? Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you, man. The next uh report is uh investments. Again, all our information is posted on our web page. Um the Fed has not moved. It is still targeted at uh 4.25.
06425 to four and a half in terms of the Fed funds rate. And in terms of the yield curve is still kind of getting a little bit flat. Uh when you uh start seeing that the low end still has not uh uh dropped and and the long end has not uh usually a a a normal um yield curve uh that is upward rising. Um and so um depending on what the Fed does, it may get inverted or it may go back to what uh what a normal um yield curve would certainly would look like. Our uh portfolio is at 64,460,784. out of that um 13% is in Texas class, 7% in Chase, 29% in Lonear, 19% in text pool and 25% in techstar um budget uh in terms of comparison from a year ago our
065portfolio has u been used by 13% uh basically with its uh use of the construction projects by 9.4 4 million. Uh again, all our funds are overnight and so we're uh yielding the three-month T bill at this point in time. And we've earned 1,649 48,726 and PFC 9,138. Um and so year today we are earning at 43 4.31 and on the average we average about $200,000 a month. The rates are at between 419 and 437 uh in terms of the uh what's available in the market at this time. What questions do you have in investments? Thank you. [Applause] Okay, moving on to consensus items. Would anyone like to pull any consensus items? I'd like to pull uh C1. Actually, I don't have to pull it. We'll just we'll just have I'll do discussion. Okay, perfect.
066Okay. Work. Hello. Okay, thank you. Um on behalf of administration if we could please 6C12 just a minor change to 6C12 um to remove Sheldon ISD. This is the consider approval of interlocal non-monetary agreements with the center for educator success. Um to please remove Sheldon ISD from that one. And then if we could please have a separate vote because I need a more specific motion on 6C5 which is the case for kids leadership academy. Do you have that motion? Okay. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve remaining consensus items? So moved. Uh movement by trusty duhan seconded by trusty GU. Any discussion? I have a question about uh C1. I just have want some explanation on what's happening there. So, in light of the fact that we've had we've had some difficulties getting students
067enrolled in East because of the TA hold, we've made some adjustments with some districts just as an act of good faith. Uh most of most of those districts have come back on board now that East is reopened to even increase the number of contracts that they have for the 2526 school year. Okay. All right. Does anyone have any questions about that? Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. All right. Um, all in favor? Motion passes. 6. And for yes for 6C5 um if the motion if somebody would please move um to approve um the item as listed and to delegate authority to the superintendent or his designate to negotiate finalize and execute the interlocal agreement. So moved by trusty McGee. Do I have a second? Seconded by trusty Dick. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion
068passes 6. Moving on to non- consensus items. Our first item is 71 approval of 11.6 new FTE positions to be included in fiscal year 25 through 26 budget to recruit and fill positions for HCD schools and divisions prior to the start of the school year. We have an explanation for that. Yes, Madame President. This is um we've done this several times um in the past. What I'm essentially asking is that we could for the board to preapprove new positions for HCD prior to the budget approval. This is because this is the peak season for hiring right now. Uh the board wouldn't approve the budget till sometime in July and by then there's really no one to hire and so um we've done this I think in the past two or three years. So this is
069why I'm asking for this item. Right. Do you have a motion? Motion by Trusty McGee. Seconded by trusty Ku. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes 6. Action item number 72. Consider approval of service agreement for the center with safe and secure schools and West Ed for the period of 5225 through 9:30 2027 in the amount not to exceed 300,000 for providing a multi-phase approach to technical assistance to support districts and schools with covering the concepts and processes taught in the National Threat Assessment Center training into practical application funded by a department of justice grant. So moved. U moved by Trusty Duhan, seconded by Trusty Dick. Any discussion? No. All in favor? Motion passes 6? With that, under the Texas Government Code pursuant to any and all purposes permitted by sections 551.001 through 551.084, including
070but not limited to 551.071, 5551.074. We'll move to executive session at 2:15 p.m. We are now reconvened from executive session at 3:09 p.m. I need everybody looking up front here. You ready? You ready? It's showtime. I I'm going to fix a lot of things real quick with this. I've got the hammer. Just call me Thor. [Laughter] All righty. Let's see what we got here. All right. Uh where am I at? uh consider election of president uh and one or more vice presidents of HCD of trustees. Do I have any nomination any recommendations? Motion. Any motions? I motion or I move to elect Amy Inohosa as president of the board, trustee Richard Canu as vice president, first vice president of the board, and trustee Erica Davis as second vice president. Do I have a second? Second.
071Okay, I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor raise. Oh, okay. Go ahead, trustee. It So, I don't I don't think it's a good idea to vote for someone wanting to be president of the board whenever they're actively voting running for another election to leave the organization. So, I'm not going to vote for this. I don't think it's a good idea. Any other discussion? Okay. Having said that, all in favor, raise your right hand. What do we have? Five. Okay. All oppose. One motion passes five to one. Heavy. It's It's heavy, but I've got big muscles, so I I could take care of that. Okay, we'll move on to 10 two. consider proposing non-renewal of a teacher's chapter 1 term employment contract for one or more reasons outlined in policy DFBB
072local and determining whether any requested hearing of the proposed non-renewal will be conducted by the board or by an independent hearing examiner. Do I have a motion? Okay, there we go. I move to propose non-renewal of Lauronica Johnson's chapter 21 term contract for one or more reasons outlined in HCDE policy DFBB local as discussed in executive session. Determine that any requested hearing on the proposed non-renewal of Ms. Johnson's term employment contract be conducted by the board of trustees and direct the superintendent or his designate to notify Miss John Johnson of the board's decision in accordance with applicable law and policy. Moved by trustee Malik, seconded by trustee McGee. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes 6. All right. Uh the last item, discussion and possible action regarding any future agenda items. Do I are there
073any from the board? Okay. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn by trusty McGee. Seconded by Trusty Duhan. All in favor? Motion passes 6. And we are adjourned at 3:13 p.m.