001[Music] this meeting to order at 1:04 p.m. the Board of Trustees of the Harris County Department of Education is now convened in a regular board meeting on Wednesday February 26 2025 in room 401 at 6300 Irvington Boulevard Houston Texas at 10:04 p.m. we wish to extend a warm welcome to 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 personel 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 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 public meeting of the Board of Trustees not a meeting
002of the public prior to this meeting board members received information related to items on today's suest agenda 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 the matters discussed during the course of this meeting the board May determine that a closed session is necessary in that event the board will meet in closed session to consider matters duly posted for this meeting as permitted by section 551.071 to 551.074 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 today to join us and for your interest in the Harris County Department of Education and so
003we will get started with the invocation with mark Perez good afternoon afternoon would you pray with me yes Heavenly Father this is the day that you have made and we rejoice and we are glad in it we thank you that your mercies and grace are renewed to us each day the fact that we are here is evidence of this father we remember that many among our family our colleagues our friends are in need we recognize that there are many others who are hurting and bewildered as they listen and as they watch what is happening in the world around us we pray God that we may bring all of our cares to you and be anxious for nothing but instead remember that you are The God Who is all wise all powerful and always good and
004that our hope is in you and not in man father your word tells us to pray for those in leadership we thank you for the dedicated leaders that we have here at hcd we bless and honor them we pray that you would grant them wisdom to plan and the grace to execute their vision for this organization finally father we pray for the most vulnerable in our community Those whom we are called to serve May their lives be uplifted may they find Hope through the work that we do May the the impact of changed lives motivate each of us as we fulfill our roles all of this we ask in Jesus name amen thank you and then we will now have the Pledge of Allegiance with Thomas plap I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
005United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands One Nation indivisible under indivisible with liberty and justice for all I honor the Texas flag I pledge allegiance to thee Texas under God one and is indivisible we don't have anybody for open Forum correct okay we do not have anyone for open Forum so we will move on to reports and presentations and we will start with recognition of Black History Month good afternoon president HOSA members of the board Mr colber periodically throughout the year we honor the contributions of various uh cultures in our community and in February we are proud to celebrate Black History Month so we have a short video commemorating the month and the celebration [Music] celebrating and honoring the contributions of African-Americans and the culture is Paramount to our nation
006[Music] here at hcde we are dedicated to celebrating black excellence and empowering diverse leaders through education and support to our community our commitment to diversity ensures that every student educator and leader has the chance to thrive and make an [Music] impact hcde is proud to celebrate Black History Month [Music] [Applause] all right and so we'll move on to employee of the month president HOSA Board of Trustees Mr Colbert today we honor Miss Rachel Moser hcd East technology trainer as our February 2025 Employee of the Month Rachel has a thirst for learning with technology actually being her third career she started in the classroom as a culinary teacher and moved into Technology support during covid she joined ACD a few years ago and has quickly transformed the culture of Technology support throughout the organization Rachel was
007eager to take on the challenge of building a technical an end user training curriculum from scratch using her prior teaching experience as the foundation for the difficult but enriching task of empowering others with knowledge Tanica Henderson IT project manager wrote in her nomination she built our entire training program by herself and was able to be successful from day one Rachel defines the term go get her she never sees a problem she cannot solve only a challenge that requires thought an effort to overcome through her daily work she not only supports basic level IT training but ensures implementation plans for technology projects have the appropriate staff support built in so employees can understand and use new systems efficiently Rachel's ability to teach and UE others with knowledge is a skill and an attribute that many would
008aspire to learn but seems to come natural to her denomination reads Rachel is is the epitome of professionalism achieving everything she gets out and his task with doing thus elevating the it division's image and standing with the rest of the hcde community our coms team has prepared a short video highlighting Rachel's accomplishments and customer Centric mindset [Music] it's lunchtime on a Tuesday thank you for joining me for today's technology lunch Inland training hcd East technology trainer Rachel Moser is teaching staff all about the complexities of Microsoft Exel Auto siiz your rows or columns I get to help people every day with their technology applications um some of that is you know Microsoft related some of that is apps that we've built inhouse through our IT services division to make sure our staff have you know
009the tools and the resources they need to be successful in their role they'll go down to save ads my favorite thing about Rachel is the way that uh she's able to communicate complex technical processes and tools to the lay person she's able to learn about it doesn't matter how complex it is and distill it down into a format that people can understand it and that's a skill that not many people [Music] have Rachel grew up up in Katie and graduated from Taylor High School it was during the summer before her senior year she persuaded her parents to send her to a weight loss camp and there she met a counselor who influenced her to consider teaching so I wanted to be able to you know teach students or kids like myself at that time how
010to cook and how to eat healthier and that somewhere like changed my life Rachel graduated from Texas State University with a bachelor's in family consumer sciences and a teaching certificate ific I'm certified to teach nutrition culinary arts fashion merchandising interior design Child Development and education and prep classes for students who want to become teachers but before entering the classroom she got her Masters in educational technology and during CO's turmoil she got creative and began using schoology with her students and helped her fellow teachers do the same even though I was focusing on nutrition and culinary technology has always been in the back of my mind and in early 2023 while plan ing her wedding she learned about an opening in hcde IT department and determined to be on time for her interview she arrived just
011a bit early it's embarrassing to say this um but I showed up to my interview a week early for this job and I was like I like called my friend I was like I'm definitely not getting it I showed up a week early that is the case that we want to have it on a calendar she started the day after she came back from her honeymoon and she literally hit the ground run she has taken the IT training to a level but I don't even know that we expected it to grow in the way in which she has really pushed it we're going to look at how we can start analyzing our data so last year one of the biggest projects that I was most excited about the implementation of Power School uh schooo I
012hadn't really known about professional learning but now that's kind of like my baby and Rachel values hdd's mission of giving Harris County students and families Second Chances one of the amazing things about Harris County Department of Ed is that they actually have a special school for students um dealing with addiction and I think if my younger sister would have known about that program or would have been a part of it um she may have still been with us today cuz I feel like sometimes those students feel like nobody cares and I think that only furthers their addiction and so I truly love the fact that hcde is is there for all students just in the last two years I've learned so much about myself so much about hcde I'm just so grateful so thankful for
013the opportunity she does above and beyond and I can't I I can't imagine that there's anyone in acde that has not been impacted that has not had the opportunity to experience what she does as far as training goes literally creating a lot of this out of thin air and she has just been a rock star at it like like I couldn't ask for a better person to be on my [Music] team I'm pleased to introduce to you Miss Rachel Moser acds February 2025 employee of the month [Applause] as we prepare for the picture I want to acknowledge her family that's here her husband her mom and her in-laws that are here with her supporting her today [Applause] answer I had to request tissues for that one if anyone else needs some y'all let me know
014[Applause] [Music] [Applause] goodness all right so we will move on to superintendent month report thank you madam president just want to say to Rachel if we ever have a need for some vacancies being filled um I didn't know we had someone with like nine different certifications so appreciate you and we're proud of you can I add really quickly it's amazing to see these stories week by week your background knowledge everything that you're bringing to this role is just beautiful to see I'm so appreciative of you being here and bringing all of that that heart to what you're doing and I have to say one of my favorite things is watching your family adore you in this moment thank you all for being here thanks for all you're doing you okay I have four things to
015update the board with the first is this Friday we will have hcds 2025 chili cook off and so this is where we get to identify the Grand Puba of Chile for Harris County now we'll be calling on some of our board members to help us I think you Mr McGee Dr McGee has helped us in the past we will have three different categories who has the best Chile with Harris County Department of Ed a category I created because I actually don't like chili who has the best cornbread with Harris County Department of Ed and then we've added a third category this year look at look at look at kantu he's sitting up here sh he's like yeah what's the third category who has the best dessert oh and then we also who has the best
016station you know that does the best decorations that will start Friday at 11:30 it's going to be in the 500s where we traditionally have it uh the theme is go Texans I think so you get to see me squeeze my big feet into some cowboy boots and I've got my custom cowboy belt buckle and hat so we'll be all cowboyed up so hopefully y'all be able to U come by with that uh next week March 6 case for kids has its City connections uh grantee recognition event event that will be at the in the 500s uh what time does that start do we know off in Lisa 10:00 uh traditionally we've done this down in City Hall but it'll be at this location next week so that's on the 6 spring break for us will
017start on the 10th and so it will be the week of the 10th so we will be out of the buildings from March 10th through the 14th and the final thing is on March 27th we have our Scholastics art and writing award ceremony and y'all may or may not know this we do have an actual uh uh award that the board members uh have basically co-signed so it's in y'all's honor you may want to show up for that because you'll have an opportunity to go on St and help present that award um that's all I have oh hold on what is it oh so our president just sat here and wrote a note not knowing that I don't have my glasses on so I can barely read what she wrote but I saw a big
018V for vegan at the chili cook off and so wondering there might be I don't know I mean there might be some vegan chili there I don't know we'll have to see I just know that the cornbread they get very creative and you don't know what's inside some of that cornbread thank you that's all I have all right thank you and we will move on to the annual division update construction Yay good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of the board Mr cobbert all right here we go and so Construction Services consist of three people Thomas plat Albert Valadez and myself Joe Caron but I do want to say that it's not just limited to us three we have a culmination of all divisions that support us from it to Communications and REI grants we all work
019together everybody has a construction team so when a construction project comes down the pipeline they assign their members to the team and we all work together for these projects and Construction Division provides services and support for all our HDE buildings and collaborates with our fellow co-workers to understand and fulfill the needs of each individual Division and our fixed asset clerk does our Capital inventory every year our environmental spe specialist who just recently retired he's now working with us part-time but he does our safety inspections and our playground inspections and myself I serve as the leaon for The Architects and engineers and I also assist assist with land acquisition appraisals and environmental reports and uh so some of our current projects consist of the admin building this building we have our ongoing projects which are leport
020Head Start playground and our Tidwell Head Start playground and some of our completed projects for this fiscal year are the Barrett Station playground and the coolwood head start project and so here's just some pictures of some renders of uh of the restroom here at the on the first floor you know on par with the you know fstar Hotel restroom yeah that's what we're that's the look we're going for our lobby is is just the same you know this is H the the first impression that the public gets when they enter our building and we want to make sure we uh we make an impact and these are some finished uh uh some pictures of the finished product over at the coolwood Head Start great design Great Furniture selections that we had a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen
021we've got a little garden a great playground and I wanted to recap some of the trends that we talked about last year and so one of them was at the first time in over two decades the US bought more goods from Mexico than they did from China that's still true then us steel was was was going to sell itself to a Japanese company that's been on hold all of these things impact construction prices keep in mind us is still involved in M multiple proxy wars the AI related electricity consumption is still on on track to increase by 85% the EV charging stations uh will also lead to more electricity consumption it's still true but that Grant has been on is now on hold and the infrastructure investment and jobs Act is also on hold so
022these are just the some of the variables that we look at when we're we're trying to uh forecast what to expect for next year and so a local architect brings together all this information and I was able to put together this chart to kind of show the over the last couple of years where if you look at the light G green bars where that's going to be your office building and parking structure prices and you can see how it's increased from 2020 to 2023 but now it's it's starting to kind of level out so what we're seeing is is on average the cost trends for 2024 about on average 9% increase which is still high you know the the inflation go is right around 2% so some of these other Trends consist of uh the
023prices of Steel and lumber and roof materials have stabilized those were you know Sky High right after Co the prices for glazing and curtain walls which is structural Glass Walls is risen the lead times for HVAC components and a and electrical components still facing delays on those components and the price for corporate Interiors has also increased due to the Adaptive reuse and upgrades to existing office spaces and so some of the factors that could affect construction inflation prices in 2025 is are going to be you know if the interest rates decline it could lead to more construction projects supply chain issues that continue to interrupt to disrupt the industry will increase prices and cause production delays there maybe a shortage of skilled workers to meet production demands and the threat of tariffs from imports from
024Canada Mexico and China could ignite inflation so what do we do do the same thing we've always done we stay resilient and as inflation prices stabilize and the global economy steadily improves there's still a great deal of uncertainty so the biggest challenge is to predict what happens next we don't have that crystal ball so we have to build resilience and that is the willingness to think differently to make time to work together to analyze and account for risk and potential consequences for every project and to become more agile and adaptive to New Opportunities and that's that concludes my presentation thank you [Applause] I just like to say that our Construction Division has been very responsive to not only the Dynamics of what we do at hcde but the kind of individuals the students that we
025have you know it's it's really important for an organization to have internal people who can be a project manager who get to know the students that are on our campuses and so they take it very personal when they build a building like coolwood and they happen to be the Super mentor of coolwood yes sir yeah so I mean you know the the person who's out there reading to the kids was also the person who built the building you know and so that's powerful and so I just I think the world of what your division has done and how it's responded I think kid is a great example I've learned that Houston is not an easy place to build buildings in permitting is a jigsaw puzzle you know and trying to get things done and we've
026seen this time and time again from the adult ed building to the cool woods and to the ABS East and it takes Joe to be able to navigate the politics that's a whole different brand of politics and getting the fire inspector to come out and inspect a building so you can start working on it or get people in it so kudos to you sir and your Division and I appreciate you and I hope to get you some more work to do yes sir likewise thank you [Applause] and our next annual division update is from Adult [Applause] Ed good afternoon um Madame President board members Mr goldbert it is my pleasure to um do the um update on the adult education division's performance for the past year but first I'd like the U members of the
027adult education division that are here to stand up and be recognized [Applause] uh on behalf of the 181 members of the adult education family not all them could could be here this uh this afternoon but uh I'm sure they would like to um this is a very special year for Adult Ed this is our first year of our direct Grant with the Texas Workforce Commission and we're very excited to be able to um have the support of the Texas Workforce Commission in serving the adults of Harris County and Liberty County and um I wanted to spend a little time looking at our team and what they do but also to uh emphasize the fact that this year we were able to add eight key new members to our team that are providing the quality of
028the services and are improving the quality of the services and improving the quality of what we do and um we're very excited to have them on board and contributing to the adult education division so our management team um we've had our managers here for a long time mostly them have been here for a long time but uh we have been able to add a performance coordinator this year and a quality assurance coordinator as well as a professional development and digital literacy coordinator so these uh individuals are already making an impact on the quality of the service that we have and in our ability to comply with all the rules and regulations that um are required of this grant but uh we have a large academic and support team and we've also been able to add
029some some new positions that are supporting or helping with the quality of our program for the first time we've had we have two curriculum coordinators we've never had a curriculum coordinator in the past and it's already having a huge impact on the quality of what we offer to our students if you want to take a look at some of the things that they've been doing go to the adult dead portal in the hcd portal and uh look at what the adult dead is um doing there in terms of curricul development in terms of curriculum support great stuff we also were able to add three new career Navigators who are basically working individually with students to help them with resolve issues that they might have in terms of their um own personal lives but all more
030importantly in helping them transition to jobs to post-secondary education and to taking the next step forward um this is a new addition for our grant and for our program so we're very excited to have them But ultimately the uh heart and soul of our division are its teachers and we have 114 part-time teachers 14 program assistants and 16 AIDs that are basically the ones who are meeting daily with our students and having um teaching the classes and supporting the students and they are the heart and soul of our program let's look at our enrollment Trends last year we served almost 6,000 students 5,702 um and um which was a significant Improvement an increase of about uh 28% from the previous year so we saw an important increase in our enrollment and um this year we're
031currently six months into our program and we have already served about 5,000 students we are at 90% of our Target for enrollment for their contract with the Texas Workforce Commission so we expect to be able to serve almost 7 7,000 students by the end of the year so we've seen a significant increase in our enrollment Trends and we hope to be able to serve more people um next year as well this is what we do uh we as you can see from the numbers we offer ESL classes English is a second language for 3900 students last year English for professionals classes that are basically specific to individuals who have a degree from another country workbase uh classes basically that are targeted to uh employers GD prep for about 1100 students and Vocational classes for about
032646 603 students last year you want to put in presentation mod so that they can okay thank you all right now we offer our classes in a variety of modes face to face and virtually in the Past coming out of the pandemic we were offering most of our classes online virtually last year we were able to revert that Trend and 66% of our classes were faced to face and uh we moved away from essentially being an online program to being a more balanced program that offers both face Toof face in Virtual classes we believe that distance learning and and self-directed learning are an important component of adult education and um right last year 67% of our students engaged in a distance learning program on their own so whether they were in a face-to-face class or
033in an online class they still did extra work on their own through distance learning our goal this year is to reach 75% of our students through distance learning we don't do it alone we have uh a lot of Partners in the community that help us um host our classes in different School District areas is including spring Spring Branch Pasadena Liberty ISD Klein ICD Katie uh Houston ISD and Goose Creek Cypress Fairbanks Cleveland ISD and aaf ISD those are the um programs we served we the partners we had last year this year we're adding Goodwill Salvation Army City of Houston milk and honey Church First Baptist Church um Community Family centers and amama so our Partnerships keep growing our ability to reach the community keeps growing and we do it through Partnerships ultimately it's all about
034student performance and student gains um the state requires that our students demonstrate progress towards a goal that's what we call a measurable skill gain they can reach a measurable skill gain by passing a test a state assessment test by getting a g by getting a certification and uh last year we had two 238 students or 46.7% of our students who achieved some kind of gain some kind of um measurable skill gain through their education with Harris County Department of Education that exceeded the state Target We Beat It by almost 5% and um uh we will continue to to improve that percentage and let's look at some of the specific components of student performance one of the things we're most proud about is our vocational program and you can see there some of the vocational programs
035that we offered last year certified nurse assistant photomy EKG medical billing coding Health Des uh business office technology and pipe fitting and course and construction so these we have a wide variety of vocational programs and um last year 23 24 478 of those students achieved some kind of skill Workforce skills gain or certification so almost 80% attained some kind of gain towards their certification or achieve the certification itself um so we certainly want to continue that Trend uh this year we're also extreme extremely proud of our GED program and we've seen some dramatic improvements in what we're achieving with our GED students if you look at 22 23 the year before I came here we had 119 graduates um that year um last year I sat not in this building I think it was on
036the fifth floor and I told you guys that we were GNA we were hoping for 160 graduates last year Well we exceeded the number we had 175 so we've seen a dramatic increase in that number I'm G to stand here today and make another promise probably foolishly um but uh we hope to have another 200 graduates uh by the end of this year so we're hoping to continue uh exceeding our expectations we've seen good great success with our FastTrack GD program where we really focus on getting our students to test more quickly and more effectively and it's really working some of the highlights well I already mentioned it but um we are extremely um proud to have been the awarded both two grants one for $5 million and one for almost a million dollars and
037um I have to thank the Grants Department and other divisions for helping us to write a great Grant and for um having for the next five years hopefully the ability to continue uh our services we're also extremely proud of our Construction Division and for our leadership for providing an amazing building which which have made a huge difference in the lives of our students and in the lives of our staff last year the new adult education building in its first year served 1684 students in its eslg and vocational classes so from from the very beginning know we hit the ground running and made full use of that building we hope to serve more than 2,000 students this year uh in the building but it was also open to the community we had about 80 meetings and
038uh different community activities that were hosted at the adult education building so it's become not just an adult education building but really a building for the entire community signing day has become one of the uh Hallmark activities of the adult education division um every year we have a ceremony to celebrate the when our students or vocational students get a job and uh we bring the students the employers and staff to celebrate that and we collaborate with uh 25 employers to make sure that our students who go through a vocational program get a job and these are some of our partners there are many more in the list and GD graduation is always exciting um we always appreciate when our board members show up absolutely and uh we hope that uh you'll make it to this
039year's graduation uh as well and uh finally I do want to as construction did h highlight our shout out all of the divisions that have helped us achieve what we have achieved including our leadership but grants REI technology business office Communications client engagement all do an amazing job of supporting the adult education division that's the end of my report thank [Applause] [Music] you Dr ano I'd just like to say to you and to the people who reside in your division how proud I am of y'all uh the board took a tremendous risk in investing so much into a facility to honor our adult learners but they did it because of the confidence that they have and you and the people who work in that building and that's proven to be a gamble worth taking you
040know our biggest issue that we have right now with Adult Ed is people parking in front of people's houses out there lined up around the block to get a building that's going to provide service so often I talk about how you know hc's Mission should be to reshape the perspective of alternative education you know where there's so many groups of people who get forgotten about and all we focus on is on the people going to college the athletes and this that and the other but we never think about those Fallen Souls those people where life got in the way but they have the grit to press themselves back up and to get back in the race if only someone were to throw them a hand or throw them a rope and try to help them
041and that's what Adult Ed is and so we want to be at the Forefront of that not only for Harris County but for the State of Texas and so we have a group of leaders in adult ad who have traveled out to San Diego uh we're looking at a phase two for the building to try to expand service in different regions in the county to get in where we feel like we can provide service not for a profit not for popul but to be able to have a positive impact on the people who reside in this County and we're hard fast going to do that and so I'm I'm really happy with what I'm seeing I'm glad that the numbers are going back up you know Co really put a dent into everybody's enrollment throughout
042the country and I think that we were able to rebound from that very positively um and I'm really excited about what I see in our adult ed division so I appreciate your leadership and most I appreciate all the people sitting behind you so thank you hey I just have a couple of questions I'm looking at the um distribution of the different services on your St student services with ESL and ESL for professionals work-based GED prep and Vocational can you talk to me a little bit about why it is that we have such a large percentage of our students that are ESL is it because that's what the market is is it partially in how we are marketing our programs um and then a second part to that what are we doing to Market our other
043programs to these ESL students if you can talk to me a little bit about that that's those are great questions um it is demand so basically this is a demand driven program and the uh the greatest demand for services for adult education not just in Houston but really state are are basically English language Learners um and um the now we do have great demand for our other services and we would like to be able to expand our vocational programs more resources absolutely right so one difference between regular programs uh is that right shocking shocking but one difference between our regular classes if you will our ESL classes or G classes and our vocational classes is cost so it's much more expensive to run vocational classes and U so we have to um um Balance cost
044and the number of students that we serve in order to reach our enrollment Targets in order to reach our our goals but um in terms of the mix it is basically defined by um the demand for for the services absolutely these mics I fight with them um am I hearing that there is potentially a waiting list for some of the vocational services oh absolutely there is a waiting list could we get information on what the the market demand is for that could we get some kind of a report on how many people have been looking into these programs that have not had the availability for our capacity to be fulfilling it absolutely yes that and just to add to that like what are the metrics that equates to that demand so just so we can
045know and understand it a little bit better and it's just for me maybe but what what gives you that knowledge to know what metrics you need for that so we have um what's in our website a um what's called an interest survey so there's a QR code and you can go in there and basically type your name and your address and and um and the subject that you're interested in or the the particular service that you're interested in so over the past year um we have had um over 4,000 students express interest in our vocational program there you go thank you so it's from the public aspect that you get the information for the metrics of the demand and how how do we and forgive me if I'm if you've said this before how are
046we ensuring that communities have this survey to fill out as a need it is on the website um so if you're looking for information about vocational programs or about adult education in general you go in there and you're prompted to fill it out if you're interested in a class if you're interested in a in a program okay thank you thank you madam chair Dr great job uh and certainly appreciate uh all of the hard work that you you doing your staff we really really love all that you're doing um I know uh public service is not uh being viewed too highly these days but I'm glad Mr kber that we are still uh valuing and everything that uh staff brings to the table and I want to specifically ask you about guess a little followup
047you said lack of resources as far as space is concerned or the expertise in teaching or providing instruction great question um I would say it's both uh we certainly in terms of our the growth of our vocational program um it is in part resources U we have to balance out how much uh resour how much money we get from the state for vocational programs um the current Target that the state provides gives us to shoot for is about 600 students and we we are going to meet that um we can try and exceed that based on the current resources that we have and we we can shift some of those resources to to try and meet that demand the part of the limitation is uh finding enough uh uh qualified staff and vendors who can
048offer vocational programs that are in high demand for our students and uh so that that is also a limitation I was excited to see the pipe fitters on there are we working with the local unions uh we are that was not a that was a program not a union program but we certainly could look into working with the unions it was a um um a different organization great thank you the high school equivalency the GED graduation was really the highlight of last year has there was a riveting commencment address by Mr Parker so it was outstanding job uh really was look forward to attending again this year appreciate it as well yes Dr H yeah I also have a couple of questions uh truste Duhan beat me to the question about capacity and so I'll
049look forward to your report on that can you define what distance learning is sure absolutely so um our Direct Services are basically either online classes or face-to-face classes those are our Direct Services which are offered by a teacher either teaching online to directly to the students um on a particular on a schedule or distance learning is students working on their own on state approved curriculum that uh and earning hours on their own in those in that curriculum and adding to their total number of hours that they participate in our program so it's a supplement to what they're doing in the classroom and but it's U over and above what they're getting an instruction from their teacher um I was surprised um I didn't see more churches on on your list of Partners um and um
050also I may have missed it but I I don't remember seeing aling aling ISD as one of our partners aling is uh is not one of our partners right now mhm I know there's a big need out there uh yes so his do uh Al has been um taken care of by uh by the lonar college that's been there historically their area of service um so it's not that we couldn't be out there but um many of the services are being offered by lonar college in that area got it and then uh you talked about the grants a $5 million Grant and a and a separate $1 million Grant how do those grants relate to our contract with TWC that is the contract yes those grants the contract for that that funding is with directly
051with dwc okay so we apply for it every year we don't have to apply for it every year we we were we were awarded the grant last for this year with a possibility of extending it for up to five years so typically it's just an extension process we don't have to reapply for it then uh another issue I'd like to bring up and I was going to direct it to Joe but he slipped out but it's about your building sir uh I noticed we've got a leaning flag pole uh and a a dead tree that I've noticed for several months do we have a warranty on on those items are we working to get those issues resolved I understand I'm not going to speak for I can address okay talk to us about the warranty
052on the dead tree tree um there is no warranty on the dead tree if there was a warranty has expired so um our maintenance director has gotten somebody under contract for that flag poll and we were on a a list so we are supposed to be next week that poll is supposed to be fixed so hopefully we will see that that's happening they told us it would be 6 weeks from the time they got under under contract until the time they could get it fixed and we are at that six week point so that's where we are on that can you briefly explain how the poll got that way it was hit by a Community member with a car with a vehicle yes yes with a ve with a with a vehicle um yes sir
053the as far as the tree goes so we have asked we have asked somebody to come look at that so that we can replace that tree so we noticed it as well so thank you for bringing that up any other questions yes um the Metro bus stop that's right there in front of our beautiful building and and in front of those beautiful oak trees looks kind of old and tired uh could I ask that we reach out to Metro to see if we couldn't get because I noticed they're putting it putting up new bus stops all over the place absolutely and they will actually they will actually work with us and wrap the glass with u something related to our adult dead maybe some pictures of our graduates that that's a great point I will
054note that and make sure that I contact them thank you other questions thank [Applause] you thank you trustees very good okay so we will now move on to are there any reports from board members uh concerning attendance or participation in anything trusty I just want to commend high points um Black History Month celebration today I stopped by I was not able to see the show was a little late but it was a beautiful setup and I'm grateful that you guys are working on that and taking care of that so thank you for putting that on okay and now we will uh report of any board committees I don't think we have any uh I'll just give an update the governmental Affairs committee met today and I'm very thankful for uh the superintendent and the chief
055of staff I'm optimistic and speaking of Metro we spoke on Partnerships and so I look forward to um the future so thank you okay and monthly Financial reports with Dr OS can you hear me yes okay um you able to see the screen yes okay these are the financials as of January 31st of 2025 all our information is posted on our website and uh the top 12 highlights points for January 2025 is from for the month of uh January we receive 16 5 million in tax revenue uh 2.6 million in debt of resp forments were made this month uh revenues are at 39% with a target of 42% expenditures were're at 41% with a normal linear Target of 42% our Equity is 41.2 million in equity as of January 2025 uh we had 145,50 in
056donations values are um trending at 662 billion out of 66 65 billion projected for the year um we will uh uh get that probably uh in the next couple months to get that uh you know for the for the budget uh choice is at a $4.6 million benefit variance which is good for for the general fund a foundation uh Equity is at 525,000 um we had a foundation audit with a nonmodified opinion that was presented and it will be uh posted on website our business plan uh business Small Business program is at 10% as of January 2025 uh urbon project is at 93% and phase one projects are just pending the release of retainage and the close out our budget process is underway in fact uh tomorrow we'll start with a budget uh instructions uh
057manual for all the division managers uh taxes revenues are being received in our Trend uh revenues and expenses are below Market uh normal operations are are on target a policy stable and legislative process ongoing between now and the end of the of the spring uh that's the summary of the financial statements uh uh what questions do you have unless you would like to me to go through every detail in the financial statement any questions okay no questions then the next uh financial statement is the uh investment report okay this is the investment report as of January 31st 2025 um all our information uh is posted on our website a brief uh overview of the fence funds rate from the from the fed and where we're at in terms of the the rate that they have
058set 425 to 4 four and a half they did not do any Cuts in the federal funds rate and uh this is the the yield curve right now we are um in the uh neighborhood of 4.6 to 4.2 in terms of our investments and so this is the yield curve for treasuries uh and so that what basically gives you the the trend line is kind of flattening where it used to be inverted a few months ago um and so now it's kind of being beginning to take shape as a normal curve that you would normally see it up uising so we will continue to monitor that our portfolio as of uh January 31st is 61 m6411 25 um 14% is in the Texas class 5% in Chase 35% in lonar 27% in Texas Star 19%
059in TX poool so it's a um basically the the moving the monies around for the for the different investment pools to uh spread the uh the the money around within within a different pools our portfolio for the PFC we have $339,800 left uh that um basically the primarily they're invested in texpool and also Bank of Texas funds in comparison from a year ago in January 31st we have 9.5 million more in in portfolio than a year ago or 18% more than than last year at the same time all our funds are overnight at this point in time are waiting to see what what uh will happen with the interest rates whether they'll be continuing on the same Trend or would they be uh a cut or or extend so we will monitor those uh for
060the next next month and the next uh six six months as well year to date we have earned 98271 um for the general fund and 4,926 for the PFC we are earning an average of 434 which is above the uh The Benchmark of 431 and this is the history of all the rates that have been available for us uh we have 4.28 and 4.39 um the range and rates that we're able to invest in January of 2025 um again these are the the pools rate uh the range is 436 to 439 that that's available at the end of uh January and so those are continuing to be monitored um every day questions on the investment report that you may have at this time nope don't see any thank you okay so we will move on
061to our action items our consensus items do we have any items to pull today um excuse me president HOSA yes can you guys hear me yes okay great um I just have one correct minor correction on item 6 D1 this does not require a separate vote it's just a typographical um correction that needs to be reflected in the minutes um for under 6 D1 which is consider approval of contract award for job number 2512 MF at the very end of that um sentence after Robert ferelli LLC DBA ferelli that it should State 2512 MF instead of sg-2 okay all right so do we have a motion to pass consensus items do you want to pull one okay we're going to pull C12 that's it okay all right uh do I have a motion moved by
062trusty Davis seconded by trusty gantu and discussion is there anything you want to discuss on that item 12 well you pulled it already yeah never mind okay that's fine um all right uh All In faor motion passes 60 all right so then we will move to item what is that 6D no I'm sorry 12 6 612 no it's C C12 C12 consider ratification of inter local agreement between the adult education division of the city of Houston for the period of 1125 through 63025 the for the provision of the hsse and Vocational classes do I have a motion so moved by trusty Duhan and seconded by trusty ganu and um discussion clarification okay yes we're having uh a class an HSC class a GD preparation class that will be hosted at the EB Cape center from
063the city of Houston um the city contacted us a while back and we've been working on this contract it um is going to be a class that's going to Target some city employees who do not have a GD and uh are hoping to obtain one but it will also be open to the public so it'll be a class that's um open to the community as well how it it's non-monetary U because um we're not paying for their space and they're not paying for our classes we're just having they're hosting the classes there for free thank you okay all in favor motion passes 60 for our non-consensus items we'll start with 71 consideration and possible vote to appoint up to two directors to the Harris County Department of Education public facilities Corporation do I have a
064motion recommendation first yeah who's going to start can we get on note on record who the current directors are yes Sarah looking up yes sir have one second and and Sarah are they making uh a motion to they need to identify the two people who are going to serve moving forward right correct because their terms had expired correct give me one second it's myself and Ken to okay um So currently um the secretary treasure and director Dr jesusa mesa's term expired January 18 of 2025 um as well as director Mr Colbert's term also expired January 18th 2025 um and therefore per the U Articles of Incorporation and bylaws of the public facility Corporation the hcde board um nominates and approves directors for the PFC board um and so I believe if somebody would like to
065make a motion to reappoint um Mr cert and Dr amesa as directors of the public facility Corporation um for the next 3 years um that would be acceptable uh Dr amescua and superintendent Colbert would you like to plead your cases to be on this PFC I can only say I promise to do better it's time please elect me again if you have something that you'd like to discuss I I will state that um it dresa and superintendent Colbert are integral parts of this PFC board and we need their input on that board all right so we have if you would like to wait and discuss it later I'm fine with that yeah okay Sarah do we just need to say that we're moving it to Clos session say that one more time I'm sorry trusty
066Davis would like to discuss this in closed session um for what purpose I want to discuss this in close session so I don't think so so this isn't a Personnel um it would this would not fall under the Personnel um exception for closed session um because we're talking about appointments to the PFC board not in their employment um matters and so you have a legal question is there something legal about this that you want to talk about it because if it was a legal issue you talk about in Clos session no we we will proceed okay I'll make a motion to appoint Dr amescua and superintendent Colbert back to the PFC board okay we have a motion by trusty Duan and seconded by trusty McGee and now I'll bring it up for discussion any discussion
067just to clarify for a ter for three years correct oh three years thank you no discussion we're good y i just not with any okay go ahead I just know with any appointment really really the if you have uh I believe and Sarah can correct me if I'm wrong that anything that is done with uh the the board four members can undo it so I just note that or a majority can undo it if there was an appointment couldn't we not resend the appointment if we so wanted to not that we should but the the bylaws do govern um and have Provisions with regards to recension um or or of of members of the PFC board there's bylaws and if we didn't like the bylaws I imagine four four board members could change the bylaws
068would that be correct the PFC board adopts its bylaws okay well I'm sure if what I'm my point is to Erica that if you're unhappy with the the way if if there's if there's issues with it I think it could be resolved with other board members if there is issues I don't know that there are I'm just I'm just pointing that out cheers clarification I have no issues I just had other things I wanted to discuss and that's all I'm perfectly fine okay any further discussion from anyone okay so we'll put it to a vote all in favor motion passes 60 item 72 consider adoption of resolution concerning emergency administrative leave with pay for HD staff in accordance with pay DEA local associated with severe weather on January 21st through 22nd 2025 do you have
069a motion a motion by trusty McGee seconded and seconded by trusty Duhan and any discussion seeing none all in favor and motion passes 60 item number 73 consider approval of the Harris County Department of Education Head Start Early Head Start student selection criteria for the 2025 2026 school year do I have a motion motion by trusty Duhan seconded by trusty McGee any discussion all right seeing none all in favor motion passes 74 consider approval of the service agreement for f for fiscal year 2025 case for kids Leadership Academy for the period of 3125 through 83125 and the aggregate amount of $185,000 with the following entity black professionals Cowboys and cowg girls Association or 60 students are served do I have a motion motion by trusty Davis seconded by trusty canu any discussion all in favor
070motion passes 6 Z Item 75 approval to resend terminate change order number two with geofill material technology DBA geofill construction to increase scope of work to install a natural gas standby generator and gate operators in the amount of 1,313 687 do you have a motion motion by trusty Davis seconded by trusty canu any discussion all in favor and motion passes 60 and with that under the Texas government code pursuant to any and all purposes permitted by section 5511 through 551 084 including but not limited to 551.071 551.074 We Now move to Executive session at time please at 2:14 thank you that okay all right we now reconvene from executive session at 3:6 p.m. and do we have a motion from executive session you got read the first item what deliberate the what have two items
071oh right here I see okay all right so we're going to start with 10 a possible action regarding pending litigation against hcde do I have a motion yes ma'am Madam president I move to authorize the superintendent to take take action regarding the pending litigation involving cltd as discussed in close session and to negotiate finalize and execute any agreement there too I have okay so motion by trusty Mig seconded by trusty Duan any discussion seeing none put it to a vote motion passes 60 and the next thing is 8B no I'm sorry 10B discussion and possible action regarding filling vacant hcde trustee seat position 7 at large you have a motion I'm uh Madame President I move that the board have a called meeting on Monday March 31st 2025 at 1M to discuss and take possible
072action regarding filling the vacant hcde trustee seat position seven at large including permitting individuals who have submitted applications to fill the vacancy and to give them a brief opportunity to speak at this call board meeting moved by trusty McGee have a second seconded by trusty Duhan any discussion all in favor motion passes 6 all right and so I think we have one more about any future items for the agend you want it's number nine it got switched it's wonky for some reason on the agenda okay if you just want to go back to number nine yeah I want to go back to number nine uh any discussion for any possible action items regarding future agenda items does anybody have anything all right okay so with then with that um we now adjourn motion to motion
073to adjourn I'm so off today okay moov by trusty Davis seconded by trusty Duhan and all in favor 60 meeting adjourned at 308 thank you