May 5, 2026 at 5:30 PM - Special Meeting and Board Workshop

001Ready on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2026, I called special meeting and board workshop for the Eugene School District Board of Directors. We We roll call. during the minutes. Ryan Uphaus >> Here. >> Matthew Chapa >> Here. >> Marlene David Gutierrez Jacob Benavides >> Here. >> Yolanda Salinas >> Here. >> And Joseph Ruiz is here. Let the record show that there is a quorum of board members present and that this meeting has been posted in accordance with Government Code Chapter 551, State of Texas Open Meetings Act. We move to a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Texas flag. >> 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

002Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. >> We now move on to item number four, public participation. Do we have anyone that wishes to address the board? >> Yes, sir. Michelle Lerma, and the topic is in reference to the agenda items. >> Mrs. Lerma. >> Good evening. Good evening, board president, members of the board, Dr. Martinez, Dr. Walter, administration. My My is Michelle Lerma. Before I begin my comments, I want to place something clearly on the record. Today, May 5th, 2026 at approximately 3:40 p.m., I submitted an open records request to KISD. The request includes communication involving school-related topics and including, but not limited to, personnel decisions made within the district. I'm also giving oral notice tonight to each school board member, Dr. Luis Martinez, and Dr.

003Joseph Walsh that all communication tied to KISD-related matters must be preserved. This This request has also been emailed to each of you with detailed information uh to your KISD emails. Mr. Kucpal, Mr. Pettus, and Mr. Reese, and Mr. Garcia, I still have hope for you because you know my heart through the years of confidential donations to this community that you have personally been a part of. Please understand that all of all of you are included in this request. This is not personal. It has become necessary. With that being said, I want to address why I'm here tonight. I am deeply disappointed by the announcement published on April 26, 2026 27, 2026 stating that the H.M. King High School principal had been placed on administrative leave pending an ongoing investigation. I understand that the the district

004may need to make uh temporary leadership decisions. I understand that certain personnel matter matters are confidential. I am asking you tonight not to disclose private information, but I am asking that this board to consider public impact of how this was handled. That announcement reached news stations almost immediately. In my opinion, the timing, the tone, the public nature of that announcement created the appearance of a targeted attack and continued retaliation. When someone is placed on administrative leave pending an ongoing investigation, that should not become a public spectacle. That kind of announcement can damage a person's reputation before the process is complete, before the the are known, and before any meaningful due process has occurred. Due process. And this happened in a with a real leader who truly cares about the well-being of our children. Was this

005Was this decision made due to personal agendas? It really appears so. I do not say this lightly. I have personally seen what I believe is a pattern of retaliation and political behavior in this district. My company, Rogue Medical, donated through the athletic booster club for the benefit of the children of KISD. Those donations should have been welcomed because they supported our students. Instead, I and the booster club were questioned in a way that, in my opinion, appeared to be part of an effort to target somebody else. I was not the intended target, but I became collateral damage. And because of how the situation was handled, this district has not received another penny from my company. Ultimately, that did not hurt the board members. It hurt the children of our district. Our children. That's what we

006are here for, is our children. The person who appeared to be the real target was an asset to our athletic department. Someone who brought value, support, and energy to our students. And that person has now been pushed out by the actions and culture surrounding this board and administration. As school board members, your obligation is to serve the community and the children of this district. These positions are not meant to be used for personal agendas, retaliation, political payback, or protection of favored individuals. The public sees what's happening. We see when people are pushed out. We see when certain people appear to be protected. We see when new positions appear appear to be created and adjusted while other employees are placed on placed on what the community views as a hit list. Tonight, you are going behind

007closed doors to discuss resignations, retirements, renewals, non-renewals, legal and personal matters. I understand the legal reasons for executive session, but behind closed doors should never mean beyond accountability. Before you take action tonight, I ask each of you to consider this. I I'm asking you from deep in my soul because you you are elected for to be an advocate for a computer our community each and every one of you for our children. Are these employees being evaluated fairly? Are these decisions based on documented performance and student needs or are they based on politics, retaliation, and personal relationships? Are there other positions that these employees can fill that they can continue to be an an asset to our district? Are good people being pushed out while while others are protected? Are positions being created and preserved for

008certain individuals while other qualified employees are eliminated? Are you following due process? In a court of law, this is detrimental to outcomes. And most importantly, are your decisions helping our children or are they helping adults settle scores? The children of KISD should not suffer because of retaliation, personal agendas, or poor politics. This community deserves transparency, fairness, and leadership that puts students first. I am asking the board to set up Is that 3 minutes? >> It's 5. >> Okay. All right. Well, >> Go ahead and finish your 5. >> Okay, thank you. I am asking this board to stop the pattern, stop discouraging community members and businesses from supporting our our students, stop running off people who are assets to the district, stop allowing decisions to be made in a way that causes public to lose

009trust, and please make sure every decision tonight that you have has made in an executive session is of fairness, facts, transparency, and the best interest of our children. Thank you all. >> Can you give us Is there anyone else who wishes to address the board? >> No, sir. >> We now move on to item number 6A, discussion and possible action regarding the interlocal agreement between Kings Mountain School District and Communities in Schools a contract for 2022-2027 school year. Uh Dr. Luis Martinez >> Good evening. I'm a graduate of Pflugerville ISD. I'm here to present to the board your proposal. Thank you. >> Good evening. >> Hello. I don't really need it, but is it on? Is it on? >> Yes, talking in front of Justin. >> I'm so sorry. >> That's fine. >> You lie.

010>> I have a presentation, yes. >> I have a short presentation. Thank you. >> Okay. Oh, now it's working. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Martinez, chairman, Board of Trustees, and leadership of KISD. Um reflecting on the past year, I feel a deep sense of pride in the spirit, resilience, and achievements of our students, families, and community. I'm excited to share the impact of our collective efforts. In this report, you will find details of the growth and accomplishments of CIS and our school communities during 2024-2025 school year, last year. We will also provide some sprinkles of what we have accomplished this year. Although it those numbers will not be validated by TEA until October. We all recognize that behind every statistic is a story. Each number represents a student, a family, and a community striving to

011overcome challenges that could have jeopardized their education and future aspirations. Together, we are addressing needs and removing the barriers to create safe, supportive environments where students can thrive. Over 31 years, we've been serving this community, so I wanted to just review our mission again. Communities and Schools surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Communities and Schools has been a committed partner with Killeen ISD in its goal of lowering the dropout rates and increasing graduation rates. CIS currently serves four schools and one food pantry program here in KISD. All of our sites have one full-time staff member. CIS served 2,474 non-case managed students last year. And case managed 376. Each day, students arrive at school carrying a multitude of challenges, concerns, and obstacles, often grappling with

012trauma that impacts their education journey. Our commitment is to stand alongside students, addressing the barriers they face, which may include poverty, hunger, stress, anxiety, resource limitations, and much more. We strive to provide the support and resources necessary to empower them not only to succeed in school, but also to thrive in life. This slide depicts the demographics of the students we serve in the intensive case managed program. So, what we do is we are a part of a national organization that ensures every student, regardless of who they are, their ability, their zip code, or social economic background, has what they need to realize their potential in school and beyond. How do we do it? We have three tiers in our model. The CIS model is focused on helping students remain engaged in their education and ultimately

013graduate from high school. We identify the specific needs of students who are at risk of dropping out of school. And once these needs are identified, we customize support for students and their families, offering individualized case managed services that often encourage the students to fully engage in learning. We are involved We involve the community as part of this process. CIS carefully monitors student little level data and tracks educational outcomes for the students we serve. And all of those outcomes gets uploaded to the Texas Education Agency database, and they validate our numbers. So, last year, we had numerous supports through our program. And here you see, we provided 500 Excuse me, 5,122 services in supportive guidance, 3,000 and and health and human services, services in parent and family engagement. We had 209 enrichment services, 1,527 academic support,

014and 4,605 attendance and engagement. So, how did we do? Our results for last year. I'm happy to report the validated numbers from the Texas Education Agency for the 2024 20 Excuse me, 20 Yes, last year. It's a full year. CIS enrolled and case managed 376. Out of those, 92% of the students improved in academics. 98% of our students stayed improved in behavior. 71% of our students improved in attendance. 99% of those 376 students stayed in school. 96% were promoted. And those that were eligible to graduate, the seniors we worked with, 95% did. So, what were some of our other supports? I'm happy to report that we provided over $900 in uh family support for families, and $5,737 went to help pay for utility assistance. We took kids shopping for school that totaled to 3,000. We

015helped 425 households and 1,840 individuals through our CIS pantry. We also um provided 125 of our students participated in the Walk with Pride, where they and their siblings were able to get um free shoes before the beginning of the school year. That totaled to $6,500. We gave out over a well, 100 holiday HEB cards, that was 14,000, and 25 caps and gowns, that was 11.98. That was last year. So, now I want to give a sprinkle of what we've done this year. For Bettes Elementary, we have helped 10 families with a total of 1670, and that included their water and electric. At Harold, we did nine families 1419. At Harvey, 14 families at 1973. At Gillette, we helped 10 families 1990. At H and King, we helped 18 families with a little over $3,000. Total

016to date, 10,174 dollars helping KISD family and students. We also have conducted 213 home visits, 1800 parent phone calls communication, weekend food packs, 620 clothing assistance, uh a little over 1,000 school supply assistance, 167 hygiene support, which totaled to $667. We have purchased this year seniors, 25 of them are receiving their caps and gowns through CIS, which is a little over 1,000. School supply assistance totaling to 1,700, attendance incentives uh totaling to three 3,750, and we gave each school um a limit of $500 to go and get hoodies and winter coats so our kids could stay warm. Also, our King as a Living Legends Committee also awards each campus 1,500 in the spring and 1,500 in the fall and they use that for what they need um on the campuses. Often going to um do

017some celebrations, parent meetings, stuff like that. And we also uh pay for a full-time prevention educator through a grant that's no cost to the district. She's housed um in Gillette but provides services to both Gillette and HMK. So, now our um food pantry. This is a chart showing the months and the foods that we've been providing. Um total to date, we have spent 4,900 in buying food and hygiene to stock our pantries for KISD families. We also pay for a part-time position that costs CIS and this has um outside of the KISD contract. We pay this on our own. 19,102 to run the pantry, but also when she is not running the pantry, she's been conducting attendance phone calls and home visits alongside the KISD parent liaison. Um through our partnership with Driscoll Health Plan,

018we hosted nine health presentations and so this is an actual slide from the fall where parents came and then they go shopping afterwards. We have proudly provided 335 families with food boxes containing nutritious meal options as well as household necessity and those families end up being 1,444 individuals that have received assistance. Some additional partnerships and support, uh we are very excited to be announcing that this year we have uh created a formal partnership with Del Mar, which we are going to we did this year and of course next year increasing awareness of the Del Mar College dual enrollment programs and also collaborate and foster creativity and innovation in connecting our K-12 classrooms to community college experiences. We were very grateful through a foundation that continues to support CIS and that gives KISD and neighboring school

019districts, we have a um a little golden pot that we use to pay for all of these family supports. Um and so we are then very appreciative to them. I'm not going to go through all of the little success stories um cuz I know you guys have such a full agenda and I want to leave uh room for any questions that you may have, but we have some great um success stories and I will be glad to give this to Sylvia and you can send it to Dr. Martinez, Dr. Welch, and the board of trustees. And I think that we're going through the end. Yep. So we have one for Pettus, one for Gillette, and then in H&K High School. So in closing, Dr. Martinez and members of the board, I want to take a

020moment to sincerely thank you for your continued partnership. The work we do together supports students and is meaningful and we are we truly value the trust that you have placed in us. We understand that the upcoming year may look a little different as the district navigates financial challenges, but please know that even with these changes, our commitment has not wavered. It has only grown stronger. We are more dedicated ever to giving our very best to the two campuses we hope that we will continue to uh serve. One hopefully being funded by KISD and one being solely funded by a grant that CIS has written. Our focus remains on showing up, supporting students, and ensuring that they have every opportunity to succeed. It's been a great 31 years and we hope we can count on 32.

021I will entertain any questions. >> Thank you, Ms. Taylor, for everything that CIS has done for our district. We appreciate >> Thank you. >> your presentation. >> Thank you, sir. >> Do you have any questions for the board? If there are no questions, um is there a motion to accept the interlocal agreement between Kingsville Independent School District and Communities in Schools contract for 26 27 school >> So moved, President. >> Motion made by Mary Garcia. >> I'll second. >> Seconded by Nelda Salinas. By roll call vote, Joe Mireles. >> Yes. >> Ryan Rulon. >> Yes. >> Martin Chapa. >> Yes. >> Mary Garcia. >> Yes. >> Jacob Perez. >> Yes. >> Nelda Salinas. >> Yes. >> And Joseph Reese, yes. Motion carried 7-0. We now move back to superintendent update item number five, Dr. Luis

022Martinez. >> Good evening, board president, board members, and members of the public and staff. Uh testing has been completed here in Kingsville ISD as of last Friday. We had a total of 26 missing tests, which is very remarkable. Uh thank you to our students, our parents, our staff for really showing up. Showing up, and I know our students were doing their best, and we look forward to their results. Um we will provide a report to the board as soon as we have the opportunity to receive the scores. Our internal team um will calculate the unofficial results, and then we will present them uh to you. Results should be available for all high school EOC June 10th, for grades 3 through 8 on June 16th, and start alternate 2 June 24th. Parents can view their own

023children's testing results on the TEA portal. We will put information on the website. You can always call the school the counselors to get information on how to access your children's score. This Friday, May 8th, we have a wellness day, so I remind everyone that all district offices will be closed. There is no school for students and I hope our employees have a relaxing and wonderful day. By the same token, this weekend we celebrate Happy Mother's Day, so to all the mothers, Happy Mother's Day to Salina and all the board member spouses. Um attendance continues to be an issue in our district, so we continue to encourage our parents to please ensure that their children show up for school and are ready to tackle the day. And although we will be having many celebrations, student events,

024activities till the end of the school year, which is Thursday, May 21st, we will have high quality instruction till the last day. So, we will continue to ensure that our students work on their Yaks and reinforce their learning. We have 11 days left in this school year. Can you believe it? 11 days. Um high school graduation will take place on the last day of school in the afternoon on Thursday, 21st of May. This is also again the last day of instruction and students will be dismissed early. So, parents, please plan ahead. We will dismiss students according to our regular schedule for early dismissal. We are excited for all our students and I know there's a lot of celebrations going on uh during the month of May. So, we look forward to seeing the community and

025the parents and the students in this celebration. I also take this opportunity to congratulate the class of 2026, particularly the top 10 students and our 2026 valedictorian, Sophia Aguilera, and our salutatorian, Elizabeth Longley. We look forward to their amazing speeches during graduation. Lastly, we are in the process of planning for summer school. Very important, parents, uh your children are invited to attend summer school. Please ensure they attend. Our goal is to help them reinforce areas of need, as well as strengthen their readiness for the next grade level. And summer school will run from Monday, June 1st until June 19th, exactly 15 days of great and intense intensive instruction from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. That is my report for today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Ms. Martinez. We'll now move on to item 6B, discussion

026and possible action regarding purchases of over $50,000 for the district. >> Thank you. >> Which one is it? The question is which one is it? Don't go back. Uh I don't know. Actually, right there, purchases over 50,000. >> Oh, okay. That's it. >> And then, the See you down right there. >> Okay. Okay. >> Thank you, President Ruiz, Dr. Martinez, members of the board. We have four purchases over $50,000. The first one is for two buses and uh the transportation department um uh under the um direction of um Otolario Aguilar um with um under the direction of Ms. Nava submitted this grant and and we received funding for this grant. Whenever you receive a grant like this for buses, it's by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Um they expect you to buy the buses

027first, but then they give you a reimbursement for part of those buses. And you see how much they're going to reimburse. They are going to pay for 180,000. The district will have to pay for 139,000 um for it for these two buses. Uh these buses uh are already built. So, uh it should take hopefully a month for them to arrive and then in the summer we can work on prepping the buses, getting the cameras installed so that they can be ready for the 2026-2027 school year. So, uh these buses will be purchased with your approval with the 2025-2026 budget as the budget still >> will go through August the 31st. >> Uh the next two are um LSSP's, licensed school psychologists. These are uh student evaluations that uh need to be completed um and uh

028there there is a large number of referrals and again, our diagnosticians are not able to do the same type of evaluations that the LSSP's are able to do. Um it's just uh the number. Um then the last one NWEA, that is a growth assessment software that we plan to use. This is over 3 years, so it'll be a little bit over 17,000 per year, but over a 3-year period it will exceed $50,000. So, just full disclosure, if if the board chooses to approve this, we will sign a 3-year agreement with NWEA. I'll take any questions you have. >> I have a question. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Uh items three and four psychological evaluations >> Yes. >> Will they be performing FIEs or what? Are they completing referrals, just regular student referrals? Or LSSP, are they

029speech pathologists or what are they going to do? >> Do you want to come up here? >> It's on now? >> Yes. >> The LSSPs are licensed specialists in school psychology, and they are the only ones that can perform those those evaluations. Our diagnosticians can't. I know we have tried to um have advertised for an LSSP in our here in our district for a while while and we do not not have one, and that's the problem that we're having is that we're we are mandated to test >> Right. And I totally understand. I just wanted to know what it was. So, it is >> Uh we had our own LSSP now. >> Okay, ma'am. >> Unfortunately, we don't, but if we ever did, I would be >> That's a lot of money. >> And are

030these two they're individual contractors that are working for anybody but themselves, or are they hired by somebody? >> And that's where what we're finding is what is a lot of these LSSPs do work for themselves. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Are there any other questions from the board? >> So, Dr. Fields, are we going to be paying the 52,000 with this budget, or are we going to break it up 17 >> That That'll be 17,000 each. The The 81,000 and the 56,000 will be this year. We have already been paying those two individuals this year, and they're approaching the $50,000 mark, so they're about to go over. The 320,000 we will be paying this year, but we will be reimbursed that $180,000. >> So, all these are expenditures for next year?

031>> They are expenditures for this year through August 31st. >> Okay. >> For this year. >> So, you anticipate this is going to have to get up We're going to use 100 and 30,000 on evaluations this summer. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. They We have already We're already close to 50,000 with both of those individuals. So, we're bringing it here because it's about to go over. >> Are there any other questions from the board? Hearing none, is there a motion to accept the recommendation by administration for the purchases of over $50,000? >> So moved. >> Motion made by Jake Fields. >> Second made by Joel Fields. >> Recommendation made by administration. >> I need I need to really ask him about myself. >> Okay, my roll call vote. >> Motion made by Jake Fields. >> Second.

032>> Vote. Bufal >> Yes. >> He made by Gus Tavo >> Uh actually here calling in. >> Eric Buttress >> I'm sorry. >> What's the name of my local vote? I'm showing my James Kennedy. Brian >> Mr. Schuler Gomez >> And here is my local vote. >> Bufal >> Yes. >> He made by Gus >> Yes. >> We have a second motion, sir. Have you Have you heard us? We have a second motion. Second. >> Schuler Gomez >> He just muted himself. >> Okay. >> Mr. President, we'll just count him as absent for the vote. >> Okay. >> Uh David Garcia >> Yes. >> Jacob Bedez >> Yes. >> Thomas Salinas >> Yes. >> And Joseph Ruiz >> Yes. >> Motion carries 6-1. >> No, I cannot. No, I can't. >> Might be lagging. >>

033So, the board will enter into closed session in accordance with Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551.071 and 551.074 to deliberate and consider the following. Item 7A, consider deliberate regarding the resignation, retirement of contracted administrators. Item 7B, consider deliberate regarding the resignation, retirement of contracted employees. Uh Item 7C, consider deliberate the proposed non-renewals of probationary term, dual, and non-certified professional contract teachers for 2026-2027 school year. Item 7D, consider and deliberate regarding the one-year renewal of probationary term and non-certified professional contract of teachers for 2026-2027 school year. Item 7E, consider and deliberate regarding the proposed non-renewals of term professional and non-certified professional contract positions of principals, directors, and coordinators for the 2026-2027 school year. And also item 7F, consultation with legal counsel regarding legal and personnel matters. No action will be taken until we

034return to open session. We are entering the closed session at 6:06 p.m. >> 6:06 >> Mhm. >> We are now returning to open session. Uh take necessary action on matters which the board may have discussed in open session. We are returning to open session at 7:58 p.m. One, two. We will now take a discussion of public action regarding the resignation/retirement of contracted administrators. Uh do we have a motion to accept the administration's recommendation? >> So >> Motion made by Delma Salinas. >> Seconded by Brian Krupa. My vote will be no, sir. >> Yes. >> Brian Krupa. >> Yes. >> Marty Chapa. >> Yes. >> He said yes. >> Arturo Liv said yes. David Garcia. >> Uh President, I like to accept the resignation of the retirement. I really don't want to vote on that. >>

035Is there your microphone on? Excuse me. >> Can I get that mic on and uh >> Let's try to convince >> Yes. Yes. >> I abstain. >> Rebecca Salinas, yes. Delma Salinas. >> Yes. >> Angel Cabrera, yes. Motion carried 7-0. >> Dr. Lopez, thank you so much for the work you have DONE THIS SPRING. >> WE NOW GO TO ITEMS 8B through F. There being no action, no action required. I do There will be no further action. Do I hear a motion to adjourn the special meeting? So moved. Motion made by Jane Petitt. >> Seconded by Delma Salinas. Uh Joe Morales. Yes. >> Yes. >> Brian Krupa. >> Yes. yes they were yes yes yes. So I guess we'll now conduct a workshop we're going to start with 25 phone numbers. >> So we're beginning

036our budget process in the budget will be approved in the end of August and today the primary focus is going to be on compensation. Compensation we won't vote on today we will bring in two weeks compensation is 80% of our budget so that's why we are starting with that but in order so that you have all the information and you can make the decisions with everything that surrounds the rest of the budget I'm going to kind of give an overview of where we are and where we stand before we go ahead and get to the compensation. So we're going to start with their fund balances to review where we are with their fund balances. Could you please put that up here it it should be the first item. So we'll start with M&O our M&O

037fund balance currently as of August 31st of this year was 9.7 million dollars. The board adopted a 4.2 million dollar deficit if that holds we would end up with 5.46 million dollars at the end of August. It is very hard to determine where we're going to be at the end of the year because of a couple of things. I I can tell you what we're doing well. We're we're doing well with property and casualty insurance this year. We are doing well with um large expenditures. We are doing well with reducing expenditures that um department expenditures as well, too. What What we do not know is what the end result is going to be of the property value protests. That's what we don't know. We will know in September. And that can be anywhere from $600,000

038all the way to about $1.8 million. So, right now, will we do better than $4.2 million deficit? Absolutely. How much? That depends really on the property value protests that we will not know until September. Um but we will have at least $5.46 $5.46 million in >> Mhm. >> We don't need that particular one at this >> Hello board. Good day to y'all. And number one, congrats on all the moves y'all been making to make our school district better. We appreciate it. We're behind y'all 100%. Uh as for the health insurance, we went from a self-funded plan to a fully funded plan. We save We're saving like 1.6 million a year just by going with the self-funded I mean the fully funded plan. And they're going to guarantee that rate for 3 years. So, you're going

039to be able to have 1.6 million * 3, that's 8 carrier one 4.8 million extra that you wouldn't have had if we would have stayed self-funded. So, just to lay that out. But we did have problems with Morneau Shepell and the health care and the health highway health network. And so, everyone was giving them you know, punches in the ribs because we're having problems with communications with the doctors and the employees and the third-party administrator. But now they made a move and they brought in the news to us to use United Healthcare network, which is a fabulous network. Where employees couldn't go to MD Anderson, they can go to MD Anderson in San Antonio. At first they couldn't, but now they can under the United, which is great. And the third-party administrator there that's real

040important, too. They're making a change there. So, and they promised us they're going to make it go back and get all the claims that they had and will come back and follow through with getting them all paid via the United Health Network. Am I right, doc? They they promised us they'll do that. >> They they did promise that. Um they they have not Uh they have not about MD Anderson yet. So, but but they have they're going to take care of all the >> They did say yes San Antonio MD Anderson. I'm used to >> Yes, but I I followed up with them and they they said that they do they're they cannot confirm that at this time. >> Oh, so we have to go twist their arm again. Okay, so we know we've been

041pushing them to provide quality service for our people. And so, they listened and they made a move themselves. They got rid of Marpai Healthcare Highways and now they're bringing on United and they listened to us, which is excellent. >> So, so let me clarify that they're proposing the move June 1st. So, we wanted to first bring this to the board and then the next step is to notify our employees. So, we're going to have a time where a time after school and a time before school where we can notify them and have ask questions. Um there should be no delay in services, but they are going to need new ID cards. So, we're going to talk about that and make sure that they they feel comforted and and try to tell them that we believe

042this is a net positive for the district because we believe that the third-party administrator will provide much better service to our employees, which was our lacking and we believe that the network will be a stronger, more recognized network for our employees as well. So, we've been we've been trying to work hard and and again um thank you Sandy for all the work that you've done because sometimes there there are she's on the front lines. And we we believe that these changes will be for the benefit for our employees because overall you cannot argue with with the savings in in price. I mean saving possibly you know up to 1.6 million dollars a year but at the same time we want good service for our employees. We we don't want them to have problems and issues.

043So, we believe that these changes that we are providing will will be have give much better service for our employees. >> Dr. Pitts, real quick. I mean it's always good to save the money, don't get me wrong, but this When we first started this plan Mr. Escobedo offered his services from his from his staff for our people to call them has have they done that when there's issues like this? Uh have we have we utilized them so they can intervene and make the process a little bit easier for our for our people? >> Can you want to answer that Mr. Escobedo what you've been able to >> Yeah, you know when when Sandy needs help, you know, when their hands are full she'll call us and we'll knock it out. You know, Michelle got on

044it she had problems called her, handled it, took care of her. You know, there's been like three or four employees that we've helped out. >> Right. >> So, we're there. You know, and we're right there at the bank on the third floor. All the employees can go there if they need help or we can you know, we like we'll call them direct. Right Sandy? And we'll Sandy will send me the phone number and Phil can you help these guys out and we'll call them and we'll solve the problem. You know, but we're there for y'all, you know? Utilize this. >> There are a lot of things that you've helped with going into doctor's offices locally as well. But unfortunately, there's some things that that really the insurance company needs to fix. It's on their side

045like if it's with a medication or something like that, then that's something that the insurance company needs to fix. So, um >> Well, I heard that Jaron wasn't taking our employee. So, when I heard that, I went over there the next morning and said, "Hey, what's what's the problem?" I called uh Mark Pine Ben and talked to him directly and I went over there to their office and I went to explain to her and I said, "Look, I got the main guy here that owns the claims department." She's like, "Phil, don't worry. I got it under control now. I found out what I did wrong." So, it's like, "Okay. So, everyone's welcome now and every Yes, sir." I said, "Okay." I just wanted to make sure that our people could go there. You know what

046I mean? See what was the problem. >> We also do include Mr. Escobedo in all the correspondences. >> Oh, yeah. >> he's aware of what issues we have and whether or not >> I'm going to be coming to the meeting. >> We also do include Mr. Escobedo in all the correspondences so that we can ensure that he's aware of the issues that are happening. And then we tag team like uh we had an issue with Castaneda and he went in there there the next day and then with uh Ms. Bryant, too. Dr. Bryant, she So, he went. >> Take care of it, you know? When when big situations like that affect our people, I'll be there, you know? So, we're there with you. And you know, and we're getting them to work on that Global

047RX too. You know, I mean there's there was some major problems there with several employees and they're you know, like we're holding their feet to the fire, too. So, you know, like I told these guys, if you want us to recommend you to anyone else, you got to prove to us that you can play the game and take care of our people. And I think that's why they went out to get another network. So, >> still going to stay the same price for us for the next 2 years if we go into United? >> Yeah. >> Yes, if the board decides to do that, yes, it it will >> Jesus. >> it will stay the same. If we have a We have a contract with them and the contract is a 1-year contract with the

048option for two 1-year renewals at the same rate. >> Can't beat that. And we can tweak it as we go along, you know? So, that's going to be up to you all, but right now it's running Well, it's not running as good as we want, but I think once United's in place and the new the third-party administrator, we're going to be all right. >> Thank you. So, I I have a concern. I'm I'm a little confused. My understanding was when we left self-funded and we went with this company that they were going to take care of the insurance claims and so forth. Why is it district getting involved with that business? In other words, I feel and and I don't know a lot about insurance other than, you know, I need coverage. Uh and I

049do have United Healthcare and they are great with insurance. But anyway, um that we were just going to stay away as a district from the insurance business and you you would, you know, handle that or whatever, you know, the third party administrator and so forth. So, I'm confused. Why are we still and I know it's customer service, I understand that 100% if you have an employee call finance finance, you know, you you want to, you know, try to help them out. But, you know, my concern is too many people involved. You know, can you clear that up for me? >> Absolutely. So, that's how it should operate, Mr. Bettencourt. It should operate where when an employee has an issue, they call the insurance company and it gets resolved. In this case, the customers they our

050employees tried that first. They they called customer service and they were either giving them incorrect information or not able to help them and and sometimes at the beginning, they were even telling us the customer service was telling them you need to contact your school district. Um so, and that was Barbee, that was the customer service and and they were telling us them to contact the school district and at the same time, they were sometimes giving them incorrect information such as your doctor is not covered in the network when it was covered in the network. So, and we we first brought up those issues with Barbee and then we pressed it with the insurance company ESC 100 and they were pressing the issues with Barbee. It seemed that they made some progress, but there were still

051too many issues, too too many not giving our our employees the customer service they they desire. So, that's when ESC 100 is pushing for a different third party administrator and that's what we are hoping. We are hoping that an employee when they have an issue, they pick up the phone and they call the third party administrator and the third party administrator gives them the exact information that's correct and is able to help them because and not sit tell them to call the district, which is what what the third party administrator was telling them to do. So, we're we're getting all these calls because of that. >> What is there Is there any way, I mean, since we're we paid for a service that we obviously didn't get or part of it because they're still calling

052this office. Is there any way to straighten that out as we move forward? >> Oh yes, yes, and and and it has gotten better. It has gotten better, but but we think that the big change is going to happen after June the 1st because really we're not satisfied with the third-party administrator and neither is ESC 100 who's satisfied with the third-party administrator. In the end, we we brought them issues and they they they were delayed response even for us when we tried to go to the um when we tried to go to our representative, there was a delayed response to us and we ended up going to ESC 100 because they were going to be able to help us more. They were doing the service when when they basically hired uh Marpai to do the

053uh the third-party administrator, but they should have been taking care of it, but in the end, ESC we ended up doing it with ESC 100 because they didn't really do a good job of it and and we didn't want our employees to go without and to have the issues not be resolved. Um so, uh we worked with ESC 100 to try to help employees on a one on one basis, but you're right, Mr. Pettus, moving forward with the new third-party administrator, that's how it should work. It should work where they call them and they help it and and we're out of the loop. We don't have to do it. >> But you know, my concern is on this other I don't know a lot about insurance, but the bottom line to me is employees. They

054need to be taken care of. They really do. And and I know I'm not saying you're not doing this. That's just my concern, you know, and I've had calls about the insurance and what's, you know, some of these issues. You know, that's that's my concern because if we don't have good insurance, we're not going to attract good good individuals in this district. You know, they're going to say, "Well, the insurance plans over there at KISD, they're not very good." And that's a big part, you know, that's a big part of it so It's the employee that that I'm concerned about. You know, we save the money to the district, but I don't want to do it at the cost of our employees. >> So, we move it forward, though. I guess we just just nip

055it in the bud. >> Yeah, you got to build it or you're not. I mean, that if we're not into another year of of renewing uh cuz we we don't have to pay for something we're not getting. >> Yeah. >> And and then, you know, we have all these calls I'm getting. A lot of calls on the insurance. So, my thing is I I want a happy staff, happy group of people here in KISD. And uh cuz you know what? Cuz if we're not clear contract to see later, we got to do something. And we're we're making all these calls on y'all uh and taking you from your work. That's a big problem for me because then your man hours are you're you're up here on weekends. So, uh they got to fix it or

056or we got to >> Well, this is this is a a big um a big change, for sure. And and we we hope that this is a fix. And if it is not the fix, then again, the board does not have to renew that. Well, we have a we have a contract with them till December the 31st and it's basically either they fix it or >> If we get those people here to look at us on what we're So, we can ask them questions. I don't want to work through emails. I don't want to work through uh you know, on online stuff. I want to see these people and I want to talk to these people. I want to look at >> Yes, sir. >> and ask them questions. So, get their rear ends here

057so we can ask them some questions. >> But can we save that money, we go somewhere else? >> So, that's the question. So, we we went out for bids before. And when we went out for bids, um the the So, we're looking at 2.4 million. There were no other bids that were really much lower than 4 million is the issue. So, the chances are probably not because um because health insurance keeps rising every year. Um but I mean it it it doesn't hurt to try, but but uh So, 90% of the districts have TRS, and the issue with TRS is that TRS is on a September to August year, and they're going to charge you a lot for those 8 months because they rate you individually based on your claims for those 8 months, and

058they know that we have high claims. So, they will charge us a lot for those first 8 months that you go on. Then then we will be uh probably in a much better place. Um it won't be 2.4 million, but it'll be um it'll be less than any of the other big carriers because the biggest reason why is because with TRS they have 90% of the school districts, they have such volume to spread the claims around. That's why most of them go with that. That's really the most affordable option unless you go with the co-op like we're going with right now. >> But TRS, if you put all that money into at the end of the year we'll use it, do we get it back? >> No, you don't get that back with any district,

059but that but again, we >> Well, this is the thing, Dr. Vince. >> Yes, sir. >> We we've got This guy here, though, I don't want to do anything to which would inspire anything, but you do a pretty good job for us. >> Thank you. It's a It's It's a job. It's a position. Okay? We We've got to make calls. You know, we got to stay late. That's what That's what we get paid for. And we can bank some some money. I mean I don't see a problem with that. But maybe it works out with United. I don't know. >> But change of the third party as well because I think And who makes that decision on the third party? Is this this came >> ESC 100. They They They're the ones that recommended it

060to us and and um we we agree that the current third party administrator is not cutting it for sure. Um so um again um I think it's going to be a a big uh shift and I think that the network and the third party administrator is going to make a difference, but again um time will tell. >> What sort of If they can't come here, like you know, as was mentioned, then I think they need to put them on notice. Like this is You you got two strikes. You're coming in. Is this what you you know, you're promising? So, you know, it's it's time to put up or or you're gone. >> Yeah, but the reality is we got fired. >> That's right. >> He's He's representing. >> Yeah, and let me tell you, we

061put the pressure on when we saw it wasn't working and the doctor or superintendent had two meetings about, "Hey, what's going on?" We let them know, "Hey, you got problems here. You got to resolve this stuff. And if you don't resolve this stuff, we ain't going to use you all next year." And the thing is they know that if they don't resolve it, they're going to have a bad name for themselves throughout the whole South Texas area. Cuz they're going to call us and want a reference. You know, how was How did they perform? And so I we're putting them under the gun to perform, and this is why they made such a drastic I don't ever I've never seen this before where they change 3 months into the year with a new network and

062a new third administrator third party administrator. They listened to us, and they made the move. And we now we got the United Healthcare Network at no extra cost. >> And that's what we're depending on you guys. You guys >> Yeah, well, that's what we're doing, man. We're going to we're going to bat. >> We vote depending on what you as an administration recommend. >> Yeah. I hear you. >> If they were to come in here and start talking to us, I don't know what kind of questions to ask them. >> Right. >> You guys did a turn up. >> And that's what we're doing. We're trying to tweak it to be a fine-tuned machine. And that's the way it's the first 3 months. So, we expect this stuff to happen. >> You know, anytime somebody

063buys a brand new car and it's the first year that that vehicle has been made, you're going to have problems. And then they find the problem >> And they tweak it. >> for the next model that comes out. >> That's it. >> I I >> Just bear with us. We're getting there. We're getting there. It's getting tweaked to where it's going to work out. >> Sandy, you go ahead and >> Yes, uh Castañeda Quick Care called super early this morning. They They did call me. They were uh Peter Mormon, he's the ESC 100 rep. Um did reach out to them let letting them know that we were going to propose in with board approval or that we would change over to United Healthcare. 90% of our employees see Castañeda Quick Care. It's very very important.

064That's the most important one here in Kingsville cuz employees can come in and out. And so, I heard from the Castañeda and then I heard from the employee this morning and they're very excited about the change because it's going to be a big factor. You know, and employees are beginning it it is a process self-funded to fully funded, they're two different worlds. But, uh one of the things that we also were able to negotiate through the push and the shove about what they were not doing and uh you know, using words as unacceptable. They also agreed to have the injectables in as part as the copay. So, that's a $45 cost savings for every employee. So, like myself, I would go to the doctor, I would pay $60, now it's only going to be $15.

065So, the employee is going to see a return also in their paycheck when they go and get like I get into injections. If I'm going to go to the doctor, I'm going to get a shot. So, that's two injections, that's $45. So, they're also going to see a better network and they're also going to see money in their own pocket by not having to pay for injections when they go to the doctor. >> Thank you, Dr. >> Okay. >> Please, don't get me wrong. I do appreciate what you all are doing. You got to say that changes coming changes coming around for the betterment and you know, that's great. >> We're we're trying to get it tweaked to where it's fine-tuned and people feel aligned. And and here's the other thing, we're committed, my group

066and Dr. Pitts and Peter Mormon and their group are committed to go give the workshops to the employees. So, if they have any questions how to operate their program, we can help them right there and then. >> I I I'm totally agree with uh Mr. Ellis. Bring them over here. Have them come talk to us. >> Yeah. You know what, we'll do that. We'll get him to come next meeting, Doc. >> Yeah. >> Get Mormon over here and he'll come. >> Okay. >> He'll come. And maybe he can introduce the new network and the new third-party administrator. That way you can feel comfortable with. So, we'll get him here. >> Thank you, Dr. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Please, thank you for that. >> Yes, sir. >> Mhm. >> We're just fresh on the

067job right here. So, this prior years. You see that at zero years, we are $450 below market value. At five years, we're actually $50 above market value. And then we're below at 10, 15, and 20 years. And that's why they are recommending uh additional adjustments at those years so that we can be competitive at market value. This is where we are with the stipends. So, the stipends, you see that we were higher in secondary math and science. Part of the reason is it's it's harder to get math and science teachers to come to Kingsville. If you're in a larger city, it's easier. Um but when you are in a smaller city like us, you almost have to offer more. Same thing with special education. Very hard to get special education teachers here. And we have

068got to offer incentives in order to get them to come to our district. So, we are paying at or above for those level stipends. This is where we are as far as currently with market value. So, the first column is employees paid at market um and the second column is the midpoint. So, the first column can vary greatly. If you have first column takes into account years of experience. So, if I have somebody in one position that has 40 years of experience, we're probably going to be over market value in that position. If I have somebody that has zero years of experience in one position, we're probably going to be under market value. So, the the first column varies drastically with years of experience. The second column is our pay structures. Is our midpoint uh

069equal with other districts' midpoint. So, really the second column is um the one that you want to make sure your pay structures uh are sound because the first one varies with years of experience. So, you see central administration we're about 2% below uh on our pay grades compared to other district pay grades. Campus administration, we're right about where other districts are. Other professionals like we're talking uh counselors um uh and um diagnosticians, other professionals that are we're we're actually a little bit above right now. Uh instructional support, uh just a tad bit below. Clerical and technical, a little below. That's why TASB is recommending a little bit of a change to their pay structures, increasing that. And the same thing with auxiliary, 3% below. So, they're recommending a change to those pay structures as well.

070>> Well, with the first Yes, sir. Do I understand you? All these pay grades, these adjustments in the max made and uh with the midpoint they're based on market value. >> Yes. >> Some of them increase and some didn't. >> Yes. >> So, as far as uh the midpoints and the and the pay rates. >> Yes. They're trying to make it match market value. Okay, so their recommendations are to number one, improve starting salaries. Um number two, align the midpoints. This is just what you brought up, Mr. Pettus. Align the midpoints to market value. And then they have brought three different pay increases, and we're going to take a look at the cost for each of those in in just a moment. Either 1%, 2%, 3%. And again, same thing for teachers. The teachers normally

071follow They recommend if you give 2% to everybody else, then you give 2% to teachers. You go ahead and match that. That's why there are two three teacher pay scales right there um to match what the board might choose to do. Um so, teacher pay scales, you adopt the scale, and the other ones, the uh you adopt an actual percentage. Recommendation number three. So, again, you saw how teachers were a little bit below market value in years 9 to 24, so they recommend correcting that. Um to and to increase um everybody to at least above the minimum by 1% if anybody's Once we adjust the new pay grades to the new min mid max, if anybody is below uh the minimum, they recommend moving those people to 1% above the minimum in that pay grade.

072Um strategic adjustments um and placement scale adjustments to align people to market value. Um upgrade adjustments. There were a couple of positions they they recommended moving to another pay grade. Uh and then additional days adjustments. So, some of our um some of the pay plans included less days than other districts. So, they recommended increasing the number of days to match what other districts have. But when you increase the number of days, then you also increase additional pay because they are working more days. So, this is the cost for the three models. If the board chooses a 1% model, look at the bottom right-hand corner. Uh oh, yeah. This is working. So, the $562,000, that is what it is just for salaries, not for benefits. That would be the increase um that it would cost to

073raise everybody's employee 1% and then do all those other adjustments for In other words, align people with market value, align the midpoints for the different pay grades. >> Wait, wait, wait. I'm sorry to interrupt. >> No problem. So, these increases are going to be based off the new minimum, max, and pay grade. >> Yes. So, that's 1%. That's 2%, 771,000. And I've got a uh a slide that compares all three together in just a minute. 3%, 935,000. Now, this is just salaries, not for benefits. So, when when you increase salaries, certain benefits also increase. Not health insurance, but we have to pay TRS. And TRS is always a percent. We have to pay workers' comp. We have to pay Medicare. So, so all of those increase when you increase salaries. So, um I put together

074this slide that shows if you do a 1%, what you're talking about with salaries, what you're talking about with benefits, and then the total for the 1%, 2%, and 3%. And you can see the difference between 1% and 2% is 250,000. And percent between 2% and 3% is 197,000. The reason why it doesn't go up by the same amount is when you give a higher percent increase, like a 2 or 3%, then less people need additional adjustments to reach market value because you have already given them a bigger raise, so you don't have to tweak as much to make sure that everybody is being paid accordingly. >> So, what we need to keep in mind that they we give them a 1% They've also at a certain percentage where we make where we all bumped

075up the the pay rate. And and and you said we're going to bump those up 1% though, right? That didn't get the the bump up in the market value. Did Did you just say >> Yes, but but the the way that it's recommended to do it is to first do the general pay increase. >> Okay. >> And then if anybody needs to be adjusted because they're still below the minimum of the new pay rate, then go ahead and make those adjustments. Um uh any questions on this slide? So, you can see the total amount of what it would be for a 1% or 2% or 3%. And again, this is the first thing that we really need to make decisions on. So, uh we are bringing this in 2 weeks to the board for uh

076a vote. Um and if you have any questions in the meantime, you can uh again send them our way and we will be happy to address them. >> Well, essentially, I think what what Jacob was saying is I guess by default by getting them to market value pretty much not everyone, but any of the employees that are already already in the new pay range. You get to keep your pay because they're getting the pay increase as they're getting into the market value, their pay range is going up, so they're going to get the 1 and 2 and 3%. So, if we were just to stay with the pay rate you have now, all they're getting is the 1 and 2 and 3%. But you didn't adjust >> Right, the market value rate. >> There's some

077districts that will do a 1% 2% adjustment in each pay grade on the minimum and maximum, and then you an additional 2 or 3% which you know, is not a good incentive but they're getting an increase based on the market value and then plus whatever the board decides on the on the percentage you give them. Am I taking it right? >> Yes, I I in other words it's like a double but but but but again the recommendation that has been made to us by CASBO and again they work with many districts is first you do the general base and you see what it is and then if somebody is still below market value then you make your adjustments after that. >> But CASBO is just a suggestion. >> That's true. That's true. We we can

078do what we want. Or the board can do what they want. >> We're going with your recommendation. >> Okay but but we just want to give you the the information so that you can make an informed decision. So again we'll be bringing this back in two weeks for a vote. Please send any questions in the meantime so we can be Okay so we only have one more well we have two other items tonight. The next one is the stipends. Could you bring up the next um the next item? Um So we are only bringing in voting in two weeks on the academic stipends. We are not voting on the athletic stipends. Um that will hopefully be coming um >> Oh Jesus. >> in June to you for a vote. Um So um the the legend

079or the key right here. Green are new stipends. So we're going to talk about the new stipends and you can ask any questions. Red are eliminated stipends and blue is where we are changing the amount of the stipend. So we're going to start at the top. Academic uh tutoring core. So we are proposing a tutoring stipend that is aligned with the the the teachers will be incentivized to tutor a certain number of days a year and it's probably going to be somewhere around 16 to 17. We're going to make it to where it is very close to what we currently provide per hour for tutoring to make sure it matches that but they would get that stipend contingent upon doing all the tutoring sessions. If they don't pay you all the tutoring sessions, it would

080be prorated based on the tutoring sessions that they would do. Hopefully, this will incentivize our teachers to to work with the students that that need additional assistance. And again, it is it is optional. It is something that they can choose. They can choose this is in core areas. They can choose if they want to tutor for a stipend in math, science, social studies or ELA. They can choose to get that stipend and work with the kids after school. But again, yes, ma'am. >> Can I just have it in writing please? Ours is not going to be because you can maybe provide us with color copies. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, I will I will email that to you. Okay, so the red ones we're proposing being eliminated. The avid and the band director head stipend again.

081Band director had that that was moved up to two pay grades and that should have no decrease in pay but that's what most districts seem to do with both the athletic director and the band director. They put them in the appropriate pay grade and not pay them a stipend on top of that. But shouldn't have a decrease in pay for that employee. Band director elementary music. So, we are going to have one of the band directors that is going to be specifically working with the elementary schools instead of working with the middle and high school. Currently, we don't have that. >> So, uh you're going to take What do we have? We have the director and what, four or five? So, we're going to lose one full director. So, what what's that going to do

082like through the jazz bands and you know, jazz one, two, and three? Uh all the extras that go after school and morning. But, uh Well, we're going to be losing programs there, too. Because uh they're kind of stretched right now as it is. So, uh what what are we going to sacrifice by taking one guy out? >> So, there will be a loss of of the services to the band. Currently, as it stands, if you look at the music schedule, they have a lot of vacancies. So, what what will happen is we will be more effective and efficient. And also, we'll have to build the program. Um that is that is the biggest piece of this. Not only does building music to the elementary levels, but these are shows that that the kids do things

083like that besides. Um based on that, it helps us create a program. So, that we will have more kids that will participate um in the music and choir as they get in the high school. And then, we introduce them to music and choir at the elementary level. We can get to the middle and grow them back to the middle school. And get our program back up to where it used to be. Um currently, we have less than 100 kids kids total in our Since that's the math, that's about 100 kids at the elementary program. So, we have a growing program. >> Is that the total band from 7th to 12th? >> No, it's high school. >> High school. >> And you got to you got to consider the middle school, too. >> Well, no, that's

084what I was Well, that's what I was saying. We want to grow the program so middle school from elementary to middle school to middle school to middle school to high school to high school to high school. And you want to put some more So, and because of that additional time that they're learning, we'll have My goal is to have more first years when they get to high school. >> So, great question. Mr. Director To teach music at the elementary level, what type of certification do you need? You can just use a EC-3-6. Could they teach music at the elementary? I know that's not ideal, but they're able to do that, right? >> Theoretically, >> Yes. >> Okay. Well, I know it's not ideal, but you want somebody with background. >> I think that's one of

085the big big things that that we're looking at as we make that step when we look at what we're doing instructionally. Is making sure that we get the highest quality best prepared people in those positions. So, that's why we were looking at music certified teachers. >> Thank you. >> Dr. It's If you can talk about in the past you have already had conversations with Mr. Mendez about the staffing ratios for the bands and the positions that were depending regarding that. >> Right. For the last 2 years, we've actually been overstaffed by two personnel. And so, we've talked about attrition. And then this came up over the last couple years also. We had a redesign fine arts class. Once one teacher to aids, and then went back teacher reading purchase program uh for art and music,

086which could be it's it's very good for the to be delivered easily by someone, but we want that successful. Uh we need an aid, so it went back to teachers. So, we're thinking that with this move, it also helps. It still keeps doing the little bit we have Director for elementary so cute to know that they are able to work with jazz, mariachi, and symphony. I talked to Mr. Mendez this week, actually. He was looking at his staff and he was recommending to do that. And something that has experience with that is not a good plan. He was looking at redesign. He was asked last year also to look at that week. sign. So I could sign that with him in choir. So he's looking at how to redesign the program to make sure that

087those pieces are not going to get up in those pieces. It is competitive with some of the local schools not being offered jazz and and mariachi, but there's a couple. And we don't want to lose that because that's something that other places don't offer. >> I kind of agree with that because you didn't have these other kids going through other districts because we didn't offer jazz and they'd go over here or whatever. >> Yeah, and so if they offer a good band program, they might go over there, but if they don't offer jazz, they might stay here. >> Cuz uh right now, any any of the band members we have right now can go into our our our where we're losing kids. And you could probably count 30 or 40 in each district that were

088here that we have. And I I just fear that because some some kids band is their life. That's my kids. So I drop them off at 6:30, pick them up at 9:00. And uh very successful. They're all the way across that but we can't blame the declining band students when we have a declining enrollment in K-8 schools. That was the big problem. So you know, I you know, you don't have enough kids in the class. We don't have enough kids in the district. That's the problem. So we got to fix that. We got to retain kids. Yeah. >> And what we also lose that where were asked to get the travel time and try to cut that up a bit too so that we could get more sections out of the personnel that we had.

089And I'm still moving the personnel too. >> When you say travel time, you mean if they go to one school or another? >> If they start off at one school and then go to to a school and then go back to the school, try to look at the scheduling so >> You know, I I think what relationship that we have with the university like we have some social workers that were doing some some practicum hours with them. Could we possibly that be an avenue that we could tap into that to to bring these kids that are currently graduating with music backgrounds to come in and we do them a little something. They might not actually be the student teachers. They could be the aides. >> Yes, I've actually done that in previous districts as a

090principal and that that is an intentional desire. I would reach out to the music department and stuff. We've done that already with the city. We started working on those relationships there. But also with that moving university and we live in this area, so we also go look at our our music department because again many of those students in music So, some look for part-time jobs to make some money in their pocket. Others have a desire to what they become a teacher. And so by building that relationship, my vision is is that and I shared this with the cabinet and my team has always guided me to make sure that we do this correctly is to again, it's not taking away from our current situation. We're going to still be able to specialize and support all

091of our kids. But yet send all of our program videos at home and others then so that we'll get more personalized instruction for our kids cuz I I don't mean to be funny, but I've always lived up with the philosophy that second place is the first place loser. And so, I want our kids to have the best and our ideas to be the best. And I think by by doing something new that we're doing right now, it's going to really help our kids grow. Um again, it's about our kids cuz as you said, um you know, your children their life is band. And for me, every child has a desire to do something and music provides many opportunities as possible and I'm talking to you about what I did with the school story about band

092since the third grade. And I was Um when my parents divorced when I was I was in the third grade and we started moving to the area of Dallas and I had to follow my mom to work. I never forget my mother did not afford a $50 to buy me a rich kid. And I wanted to play my instrument and I didn't and I never played an instrument a day in my life since then. But I'm a 56-year-old man who still remember that. And I want to make sure that our kids never have to suffer through that again. We'll play on provide opportunities for our music program here. So, we're we're looking to maximize our businesses and also provide opportunities at very young ages so that we can really help our kids grow and be

093the best and provide all avenues of opportunities as possible. >> Will the master, I know y'all still working on it, but will the master allow for like the honor band, concert band, jazz band competition? Will that be a day where the NFL be into the >> event schedule? >> For the master? >> Oh, yes. Yes, yes. Listen, as I said, there was there was there was some opportunities within the master schedule that we could still effectively service our our kids without really Right. Now that we're really without disrupting the schedule. But be more efficient and take some take that FTU and reallocate it so that again, we can get those kids a lot earlier and have a better program. >> And just for your information, when we talk about the master schedule and the travel

094time, it's things like, for example, if I teach periods 1 and 2 at the middle school, and I have to teach at a class at the high school, I was perhaps given a whole period to travel from the middle school to the high school. And we know it doesn't take 45 minutes, right, to to go from one place to another. So, what we're trying to do is is we had additional personnel at the high school, they get the class started with the students while this coach or any um band director travels from the middle school to the high school, and the kids are already working by the time they get there. So, there's no wasted time, and we don't have to have an off period in between. So, those are the kinds of things, for

095example, that we're talking about. How can we maximize the team that we have to maximize their time as well? So, that's just one example that that we are are talking about in the master schedule. >> Mhm. So, moving on to the next recommended revision, um oh, sorry, no, back to that strategy. Um So, the next one is car allowance. The The blue, we're recommending decreasing that from $325 to $250. Can you make it just one more bigger, please? Uh one more. Okay, perfect. Um so, um keeping tier two the same, there are some employees that do have to drive pretty much every day with their job, and so we are recommending a tier three for those employees, $950. Um cheerleading, we are recommending a change in the amount. It has been hard to get cheerleading

096and drill sponsors, those two. So, recommending a change there. You see the amounts from four to six for high school, from 1,900 to 3,000 for middle school. CTE, health, um, recommend change the stipend from 2,500 to 5,000. It is That position we have not really been able to fill. We've actually had to have a nurse in there the whole year because that position's very hard because they are competing with making more money in the health care industry. So, um, we are hoping that that, uh, increase in the stipend will allow us to, uh, have qualified candidates that can teach our our health, uh, health science students because that is one of our our large programs that we have right there. But again, we're competing with the industry, unfortunately, for that stipend. Um, and then with

097media tech, there are a lot of events that that person is required to do, so recommended increase in that stipend. Uh, you see the new stipends for CTE competition, uh, district, state, and national. Those are not necessarily new stipends. They were paid out of the, uh, the perk Carl Perkins CTE grant before, but again, we've gotten new guidance that those really should not be, uh, coming anymore out of the, uh, Perkins grant. Those really should be coming out of the general fund, but that is something that we have been providing because the CTE teachers have to do extra work to It's kind of like UIL. The That's their district competition. They have to prepare, uh, students to get ready for the district competition. When they go to state, there's not much more work that needs

098to be done. It's just that they need to take them to another competition. The same thing for national, the work is already done. Uh department heads recommending removing those stipends. Recommending removing the diagnosticians diagnostician speech language pathologist lead, that got cut off. Not removing the diag speech stipends, but removing the lead stipends. The light blue drill team increasing that stipend because it has been a hard position to fill. Grade level teacher recommending removing that stipend. Instructional teacher coach, again we we started off with that, but we don't currently have anybody else in that position now at this time of year. Adding the Interact Club at $1,000. Uh math teacher having a stipend now for elementary school. So, before in the past we have had stipends for math for middle and high school, but now we

099are going to have elementary specialists that are teaching math the full day. So, to attract the best talent to go ahead and uh work with our students at the elementary grades, we're recommending that. National Junior Honor Society, that's a new stipend. We have a uh Junior Honor Society We have a uh at the high school we have one, but we don't have a National Junior Honor Society at the middle school. Um student council recommending decreasing that stipend at the elementary school. UIL coordinator recommending having one person that is a district UIL coordinator instead of having a coordinator at every single school. We will believe this will be successful because at the high school this year we only had three teachers competing in one event. At the middle school we did not have any teachers competing

100in any events. We did have the majority at the elementary school. So, we believe that one person is going to do that be able to do that job and coordinate and make it more fluid. We are only going to have two elementary schools next year as well. >> And that is the future of what's going to be there? >> Okay, um and then recommending decreasing um the UIL events stipend at the um elementary school. Um Any questions? I'm sorry, it recommending decreasing the UIL UIL events these probably should have all been moved at the at all levels to $500. Uh when we looked at the the number of hours that they were spending for UIL, they were getting paid more per hour for doing UIL sports than they were for tutoring. And we don't want

101to incentivize UIL more than we do tutoring. So, that's why you see the UIL stipends now $500 matching the tutoring stipends $500 instead of being more than what they would get for actually tutoring our students. Uh you see at the bottom the the uh cost for that last year, the approved stipends were $614,325. This year, if the board uh uh votes on and approves the recommendations, it will only be $583,550. I'll take any questions now, but you can also send questions if you want to uh as well next week. We'll be happy to deal with those. So, if you want to >> You got it. >> Real quick, real quick and then we all have to go home. >> How would you get the vote? Do you get input from the department staff, or is

102it just I'm not saying just purely but how would you develop if there's so many here? How do you know them? >> So our whole team came together and we had we have been meeting I don't know continuously for the last five or six weeks and based on what we are seeing that is happening in the schools and prioritizing the areas that we're focusing on. We're still in areas where we have had more challenges in recruiting people for those positions but this has been an ongoing discussion that we have had for the last couple of weeks. >> Yeah, that's I mean that's a lot of work to put in a lot of this. I didn't know what I'm going to get you get depending on the board's ability to so. >> Yes. >> And the

103same thing with the pay plans. We've been meeting on the pay plans for many weeks as well too and um if you do have questions on those again we'll make sure that you guys have them so that you >> I'm done for tonight. >> You're done for tonight. Okay. So so we only have one more item for tonight and and that's a quick one so we are posting the paper a request for qualifications for energy performance um and that is going out in the paper Thursday. Uh it'll be posted for four weeks and then we will hopefully have something at the June board meeting. It probably won't be ready in time for the the workshop but so what this is is we have aging electrical equipment such as far as the the actual units and

104we have aging are a fancy word for the district thermostats that control all the HVACs district wide. In other words, you can program with the controller the thermostats at any school um to come on at a certain time, uh to go off at a certain time, to um make sure that it is at a certain temperature. And those are those are failing at and many campuses the controllers. So, now they have we have to have somebody manually go out there. Um and the HVAC equipment is at such a use that it is um it takes a lot to repair. Um and it is so we this is uh not only a request for qualifications for energy performance, but also uh a capital improvement in project as well, too. So, um uh I will let uh

105let me defer to legal who can talk about how uh this is something that we it is not um an INS project. It's not a bond project. You can pay for it on the maintenance and tax uh operation side. Um can can you address that a little bit, please? >> Yes, we can address this. So, the RFQ adopted by the board, it's very broad and right down the middle. And what do I mean by that? So, there's four different ways usually four different vendor types for energy savings. One is they offer some sort of a a loan finance option, and the savings off the top from their putting in the equipment pays back your loan and also puts money in your pocket. A very common type of vendor in this space. Uh it's regulated by

106the local government code. This uh RFQ is compliant with those types of vendors. There's also vendors that come in and put in all of their own equipment on their own dime up front and then charge a monthly fee for the use of that equipment. That's called energy as a service. So, this covers that kind of vendor as well. Then there's vendors that simply offer quality efficient equipment. You he just purchase them and sell right on own dime. Uh this covers that as well. And then lastly, it's just the pure installers. He will pick a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and bundle it together and install it in a way that saves energy. That is covered as well. So, none of this requires uh bonds or or any uh things of that

107nature. This is all general fund balance monies uh or finance monies, whether through vendors or another vendor. Uh but we have complied with all the legal requirements to capture a wider range of vendors so that everyone has an opportunity to weigh in on this project for us. >> So, the object is that we don't have to put out a lot of money up front because we don't have a lot of money. The object of all of this is when you're getting new HVAC systems, when you're getting new controllers, when you're I mean, let's say even LED lighting, all of these things are going to save money every year. We spend uh over uh a million dollars um in utilities every year. So, the thought is that they guarantee the savings and that the um savings

108every year, you you go ahead and either some people carry the loan or we can go out for a loan a a couple of Mr. T and it's very common for districts to go out for their own loan. Let's say that we need $6 million to upgrade all our equipment. You have 25 banks bid on, "Hey, all I'll lend that money to you for 1%. I'll lend it to you for 1.5%." So, you um you get a loan for that and then you pay it off over time with the savings every year. So, that like if we are saving $300,000 in energy costs every year, which is actually very possible, that that is our loan payment every year, $300,000 every year until the loan is actually paid off. So, you do not have to put

109the money up front. And then in the meantime, you get your equipment upgraded, you get your controllers upgraded, so you have less repair costs every month because less things are breaking down, and at the same time, also then, your maintenance is doing less work as well, too. They're not being called out all the time to to um fix uh air conditioners where they're breaking down, and then the controllers um are controlling the when it turns on, when it turns off, so we're not having to manually do that as we often are. So, that's That's the object of this, and we did this before. We we did this um about 20 years ago. Uh no, maybe 18 years ago, and we took out a 15-year loan where it did pretty much the same thing, and that

110allowed us to upgrade our our um HVAC equipment 18 years ago. I'll take any questions the board has. >> So, you're going to do a workshop, they have you going to go out for qualifications. >> Yes. >> And then, what's going to what's the process? >> Okay. Then, after we go out for qualifications, we will uh evaluate the qualifications, and we will bring that to the board. We will bring the qualifications to the board after we re-evaluate. >> Okay. Are those companies going to be able to come in and present? >> That's that's normally not part of the process, but >> but I think it needs to be part of the process so we can see what exactly we're going to be getting from each company. >> So, let me work then with legal counsel

111on how to fit that in and where that would go in the process. Um we'll kind of collaborate on that and see cuz it might be where, let's say, let's say that 12 companies bid on this. It might be that we bring you the 12 companies, and then the board says, "Hey, you know what? I want these to be the finalists. Bring in these four companies." or something instead of bringing all 12 companies in. >> But but we I think what we like to see I I would like to see I first of all, I'm glad this is coming up now, you know, it's something that I brought to the to the board before a while back. Uh but uh what I would like to see is let's see what the what the cost is

112really what I'm looking at. Uh cuz I know there's there's difference between each of these companies that are going to come in and try to offer us something, but the least cost-effective for us better. And then if there's others opportunities to supplement income through this process maybe setting up uh little mini grids or uh these uh electrical plants or something that they can offer our district. We can save some money that way. So again, depending on the residual income that might that might be able to come in. So those are the things that I would I would like to see on this type of project. >> So that and this this is a little bit different. So this is a request for for qualifications because in order to do a request for proposals, we would

113have to allow every different vendor to come in and and look at everything. They to to actually give us a price. Request for qualifications starts off the opposite. Every company they submit their plan. Um they submit their qualifications. These are the projects that I've done in the past. These are my references. Um so that starts first. So then we bring those to the board before we go ahead and negotiate price at all. So request for qualifications starts off with the plan and their qualifications and we will bring those to the board first. >> And just to clarify the process, to answer your question, I instructed Dr. Pitts to form a committee with diverse members across the district to look at those proposals, I suppose, that these companies will be presenting. And based on the criteria

114and what are we seeking to achieve, they they will vote. But based on your request and um and being the legal counsel, um we can then select perhaps the top three or the top four to do a presentation of what style you are looking for for um >> I know you've done it before or something. >> Yeah, and I have seen that being done in other, you know, the same cell. So, it's just a matter of making sure that we do we do our own protocols appropriately. >> Well, has the has the district been approached by everybody on a project like this, Mr. Christian? >> Uh I I laugh, Mr. Garcia, because since I have come into my role about 6 years ago, um it I have been approached several times. Uh this is this

115is a common thing that um uh the different companies reach out to do um and they do it in many different ways. So, that's the the first thing that we want to see is the approach and the qualifications. Because otherwise, like if we just went out, "Hey, give us a bid." People are going to say, "Hey, I want to do this much and it'll cost this much." I want to do something different, it's going to cost this much. You're comparing apples to oranges. So, um but but yes, I I've been approached quite a bit um and throughout uh my years uh >> Well, just recently, you brought up something about changing the lights. >> That That's another thing that's been brought up, yes. >> We need to compare. You just brought somebody and said, "Hey,

116I'm going to save so much money on lights." Well, you can't be doing that anyway. All right? Um if we're going to be frugal, okay, let's let's let's do it right. Give everybody an opportunity. Okay? >> And and that's what we're doing. We're putting it out there and all plans are going to be brought to the board. Any other questions? >> Thank you, Dr. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you, everybody. >> Thank you, everyone.