001I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. >> All right. All right. Well, good evening. Let's go ahead and uh jump right in with no public comment, no public participation or recognition, right? All right. Uh we've got a continuation from last board meetings. Item number three, discussion and approval potentially of Little Vikings. >> That's me. Um some more recon on this as you guys requested. Uh last year our daycare rates from our audit said that we uh changed our net uh position $24,000. Uh we started the year with a $30,000 fund balance, ended the year
002with a $54,000 fund balance. That makes the daycare operating fund balance about 50 days, 55 days. uh we go back to like co times and how long the daycare can operate with without being in um with with kids. Uh I think the sentiment was that we'd like our daycare to have the same sort of fund balance as the actual district. So in the event that the school district has to close the daycare and still operate as as well as the school uh the same at the same time. Uh if all things were the same, the the we were planning on putting another 24,000 or so back into that, which would make that a little bit closer uh to so where we are as a district. We're trending to break even about this point, maybe run
003a little bit short. Uh the reason being is that we've had three to four children, I can't remember if it was three or four, uh sign up, take a spot, anticipate federal reimbursement. When the federal reimbursement wasn't there, uh they were then removed. So, we're running uh less than budgeted capacity at this point because the kids that have had bailed out of them or had dropped out of the daycare and then there wasn't somebody on the waiting those on the waiting list went and found other places for daycare. And when those kids dropped off, there wasn't anybody available to to take that position. So, uh, another, uh, rabbit you asked me to chase was, uh, tuition in terms of can we get that pre-tax versus post tax. Uh, we've spoken with First Financial, our benefits
004provider, and they do have an opportunity for school district employees to pay up to $7,500 pre-tax. uh and we're working out the details with that, but the from our end, but that's going to be a relationship with the employer and First Financial to set that up and then we will just honor that through how we uh how we work that situation out with that employer or with that employee. So, all that said, I I still maintain that we keep the rates the way they are. I've spoken with Elvira, the daycare director. She assures me that we're going to run slightly over budgeted capacity next year to make up for any potential shortfall that we have this year to get back on track to make sure inevitably that we can be in a situation where our
005daycare can operate uh equally with the school district in the event that we have some sort of catastrophic situation where uh kids need to be looked after, but school's not in session. So the shortfall of trying to put away $24,000, you're just going to fall short of putting away $24,000. >> Break about even on a year. And the reason the reason for that is a couple different reasons. We've had a couple new employees that have taken on day taken on our benefits that had the people that they were replacing. We didn't cover their benefits and these student employees that we we've hired since. So that's about $11,000 that wasn't in the books last year. We're running at less capacity than we had a year before as well. So well we're we're trending to run about
006balance budget maybe a little bit deficit but it looks it really is strongly depend on what our August tuition looks like for school year 26 27 26 27 school year in August line lands on 2526 books and that federal funding didn't come to fruition and thus the the funding you said the federal funding didn't come in. >> Mhm. >> Was that cuz they didn't qualify? >> I don't know the details on it. They said I could they couldn't do the they couldn't continue to operate in our daycare because the reimbursement that they were anticipating from the federal government for daycare. >> Oh, before the Okay. So, it's a private I didn't I make sure that funding has nothing to do with us. >> Correct. >> Okay. So I think rather than maybe making a what
007I would feel like is a sort of a quick decision to change rates without seeing maybe what occurs after one year. I'd rather stay the course and see where we're at and then and then make decisions with a better the better lens in 26 27. And we still um is it you still think it's about 50/50 staff kids? >> Actually closer to 6535 this year with private kids being 65%. >> So the staff is lower than 50. >> Okay. So I I personally and and I hope I've proven this over the couple years. We've worked together highly value your opinion. This is one I personally disagree with. I think we just even if it's in the spirit of it's a spirit of like a signal even if it's $25 or $50 where we take and
008lower our staff's tuition and then increase the the public's and again getting a better deal certainly on the infants roughly a comparable deal on the non-infants I think it's meaningful from a signal in trying to be a destination district for staff and administration. Me personally, that's my perspective. >> What's the potential impact of moving the needle by $25, $50 to show that type of signal? >> Uh I mean, you're jeopardizing potentially 65% of your population, right? like your your kids, uh it's cheaper for them to go somewhere else as it is for the full year. Uh for us to per certain age demographic, uh if we raise the rates, would those students go somewhere else? I don't know. >> So, we up the risk of the 65% losing a potential piece of that 65% going
009elsewhere, thus impacting the entire program retention correct and I agree with what you're saying with regards to Sydney because we need to do that right for me it's all about retention strategy what it looks like in the future but at the same time if it was the other way around 35 65 the other way potentially but if we're leveraging the 65% to pay the majority and we lose them then to me That's that's risky. >> No, an enterprise fund by definition in terms of TEC, you know, education stuff is that it has to be able to fund itself. And if without knowing what those numbers would be, upping the rate, I mean, ultimately, I think your bottom line is going to end up being the same, but if you up those rates and those kids
010leave, then I'm not sure it's going to fund itself, you know, anymore and puts in position or >> Last question for me. What would change next year if we decide, hey, let's just wait till next year to make a more data-driven decision about if we want to increase the rates or would we be in the same place next year? >> Well, I I think the the federal funding portion without those three kids, you know, you're looking at $24,000 with those three students that didn't pay for the year. that that flips the script completely, right? Those kids would pay the entire year and we would be in a position where we were would be have it more than good. So, giving th those folks a runway to figure out like I do have it or I
011don't have it or I don't have it. So, these three people on the waiting list can now get in who would have otherwise been in without those three people taking that seat. Would it operate differently? And then the the comment around uh operating above budget capacity that's not the same thing as capacity, right? >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> 77% we're building budget capacity on. >> Got it. >> And we're running at 75%. So we just run at 80%. We should be fine. >> Do you have any idea the links between the infants, toddlers, and prek? Say that again. >> The mix between infants, toddlers, and prek. >> We have uh three infants, we have seven toddlers, and we have 12 preks. Cuz the other uh if if my memory serves me right, we are substantially
012cheaper on the infants. I think you said it was something to the tune of four figures for the year, several hundred a month and one of our competitors in the community doesn't even do it. So the other alternative, and by the way, I don't know if you remember this, right? The most stressful financial times of a parents when the kid's a baby, you're young, you're not making as much. So maybe we make a move there and we say any staff members who have infants will get this rate and non staff have a different rate and then it's the same across the two. And then your risk is almost obliterated because there's no competition. were cheaper than the one that's there and we can give our young parents some help. >> What do you think about
013that one? >> I think North Shores. >> Yeah, I think I have to run those figures again on what that number would be, but it would it so the suggestion would be to up the infant rate 100 bucks at the same time lowering it for employees. Correct. >> I think you said I I watched the video. I think it was $300 a month. It was a lot. is shockingly high. >> I think our our our public rate is something like $300 a month, not a year less. >> I think it was 1,200 to a,000 a month. Like 1,200 a month versus a,000 a month. >> I say $200. >> So I think what you're saying because they don't offer infants, we're mitigating risk. >> Well, one of our two competitors don't. >> And the one
014that does is considerably more expensive. So even if we raise the public rate by 100 or 200, we're still at or below the competition. And then and I don't I didn't even ask the mix. I'm not going to, but maybe we don't have any staff right now that have babies, but that changes every year. I have one community infant and two teacher. >> Yeah. >> What's our max capacity for invent? Uh we budget capacity at 75% for and then cements three of so there's four seats. >> What's the difference moneywise between budget capacity and operational capacity >> if you were full? >> Uh I think last year we operated at just under 80% uh and we made 20 making money as a typical way of saying it. We we put 25K in the fund balance
015at 80 low 80%. So, and we operated fine, safely, no issues with staffing or or surveys were were fine in terms of workplace balance and things like that. So, to to answer your question, what's capacity? Uh for the infant would be capacity. Uh and then we had 12 for the toddler room would be capacity and 16 in preschool would be capacity. >> Full capacity >> and we're at 80% of that. >> Yeah, we're right now we're just 75 total. Uh so we're running low on the in the toddler room. We're essentially six short in the toddler room to capacity. My question is more about if you're pricing it so where you're actually trying to reach occupational capacity to to make the money, you know, cuz I I would assume that most people that work for
016the district are taking advantage of it. So I I don't know if we're getting 100% saturation on the people that have, you know, those and we don't necessarily have to move much on that. Also, if it's a 6535 split, for every $50 you lower it for a employee, it's only a $25 increase to the others, right? Something some something along that line. So, you could send a strong message without really, you know, a 50% decrease for an employee is a 25% hike to the others that share our industry. Well, I can do some recon again and uh look to increase the infant rate 100 to $200 for the community and then reducing the rest of the teachers from uh at every level. Is that what >> that's only that's only four >> four babies all
017together is total operational >> right now. Mhm. Well, I think his question were we thinking infant to infant or infant across the board, right? What I think you don't have I mean, you could send that message like I said, even if it was just $50 across the board and everything, it's really only a $25 increase to everybody else. And it sounds like we're significantly under, you know, at least our our comparables in the in the market. Um, I think also that a pre-tax payment is a savings as well. >> I think that's that's two of them. And I don't think you'd have to scare anybody off because I think you want to get closer to operational capacity than just budgetary capacity%. >> For the pre-tax stuff, that's that would certainly fall in >> and it's
018available to them now. Uh, it's just hasn't hasn't been utilized by employees. And we're considering rates for next year. >> Yeah. >> Starting as well. >> Yeah. >> Kevin, your suggestions to study increasing the rate. >> No, I was just I was brainstorming. I don't think I had a suggestion. I mean, I think um for me the conversation the the information really hasn't changed much. Um, I would consider an idea of you. Sorry, one last question. Staff get preferential admission. I mean, if we if we said infants were staff rate 900, community 1,200, we're still way advantaged, not way in market or better. Uh, and passing a considerable savings to our staff. And then just $850 for toddlers and 750 for for preschool. Put the $50 like just do a $50 swing. Um, I can't
019speak to any parent that's got a kid enrolled today, but if my toddler's there this year, I'm likely to have them come back last year, tomorrow, or sorry, next year, unless there's a bad experience, and that's a different topic just for continuity. And so, I think that that 6030 split or 60/40 split is fairly protected. I could be wrong. Um, and I know we also need to get rates out cuz then this if we wait till May think well we would have made a decision but then board couldn't make a a call price so we went somewhere else. I think we have to do it tonight. >> Any recommendations? I would like to see a I mean a proposal for >> you know I I think it's important that we get it right. I mean
020it's another year. >> I don't want to push it another year. >> I think just just to see something I would agree with Rich. I don't think if you go up 25 or 50 that's going to say I'm changing because of that. I think it's my own personal opinion. If you have continuity and if you're happy with the service you're getting >> Yeah. >> I don't think that dollar amount's going to would sway anyone. >> Yeah. almost everybody you talk to if they could be part of a school district daycare center they absolutely would be and the fact that it's still would be cheaper and there's availability I mean I think that this year we try and push it to occup operational capacity >> what uh what if we decided to wave the maintenance fee
021and the application fee for employees >> what are those fees >> 100 bucks each $200 and keep the tuition rates the same, but then they don't have an application or fee every year. >> Do you know what percentage of teachers are actually taking their child somewhere else other than the district? >> I would think it would almost be 100%, but I don't know that. >> So, what is the drop dead? I never thought about that. But what what what do you think the drop dead rate is to have those those rates >> the date >> proposed? I like that out. >> Mr. Stone mentioned that we've gone as late as April in years past. So I think if we go to May >> Yeah, agree. >> We're getting a little late. me around real quick
022on this and see where we >> Yeah, because if we did a wave the initial fees that he's talking about and just did a blanket change $50 less for employees, $50 more for non-employees. If you wave 200 bucks, you're basically saving whatever 200 divided by 10 is 20 bucks, right? >> Yeah, it's something. And is that fee like a onetime fee or is that an annual fee? >> Annual fee, >> but at the beginning >> anything to help upfront cost be less. That's always >> maybe it's up for now it's the fee and then next year we look at negotiating the rate. Let me let me throw something out to to react to and then we can have formal discussion. So, I'd like to move that we approve the fees as Mr. Stoner's packet suggested
023with two changes. Staff members are exempt from the two fees that you were two. I think it's $200, Mr. S. I think so. Okay. And the infant rate for staff is decreased to $900 and increased to $1,100 for non-stick >> just for the infant. >> I'll second. >> What is it now? 3,000. So you're basically just shifting. I understand it's 2 to one. So it's not quite but it's going to be a wash >> you're saying infant to infant or infant to cross >> just infants. There's three there's in the packet there's three bands. >> Yeah. >> So the infant band would be 911. >> Mhm. >> Everything else will remain the same and equal and we would reduce the exemption fees for staff for the whatever the application application maintenance. Okay. Motion's been made
024second. >> Motion's been made and seconded by Mr. Scott. Any discussion? >> And Mr. Sto, please feel free to participate in the discussion. Trying to cross the numbers here. See where we go with those red staff. >> We're going to approve as presented. >> I got that >> two changes. Remove staff fees, which is maintenance and application, >> right? existing >> and alter the infant rate to reduce staff by 100 and increase public file. Yeah. The one guy I believe when you say it will work. So I said thanks. >> No come back. But you say the capacity is four, >> right? So even if we went 100% staff and 0% and got to four, we're actually net positive than we are this year. So we have three this year. So I think mathematically yeah
025and if it's zero then it's zero it's actually no change. So I think we're okay too. >> So Kevin just throwing this out there right now staff members could or teachers can get free prek like through the school system without going through the the Viking little Vikings. So really the only one where there's still getting hit for the difference would be in the toddler age. So to your point, even making a $25 shift down for one category, up for another category would kind of make that statement of value in each of those areas. >> Got it. >> So there's I'm assuming prek is almost 0% staff. >> Uh it is one one staff 11. So you're suggesting we also make a toddler training. >> Yeah. Even if it's a small one because the small one
026we're not going to notice in the budget to to your point. >> But you >> what was the what was the staff versus community ratio and toddler >> staff was one toddler or >> toddler is four communities three staff 5050. Yeah. >> So you did 25 bucks. It's you know $75. down just >> no >> just hearing what your argument. >> Yeah. >> Is there anybody want to go down that route? >> I like the reasoning behind it. I think that it sends a signal to staff that are using the services that >> I hate water. Okay. So, how do you We're going to uh >> we're going to amend the motion like to amend the motion that we approve as presented with four three changes reducing fees the two fees for staff increasing staff
027sorry decreasing staff for infants by 100 and toddler by 50 and increasing the same amount for non- staff across those two bands. We'll write this down but >> so what was 900 becomes 950 for community >> exactly 950 to 950 for community 9 to 850 for staff 1,000 to 12 sorry 1,000 to 111 for community 1,000 to9 for staff but uh exempting from the two fees for staff but keep the prek prek is going to stay the same at eight for everybody. Okay. Do you need a second on amendment? >> Do you need a second amendment? >> Second. All right. We've got amendment and a second. Any discussion? So, what you recommended this for me 100%. I'm all about teacher retention, strategy, and working through that. So, I appreciate you bringing this up. just want
028to make sure we're not going to crater the system to where we're at a point where we now we're losing money or we're not going to be able to sustain what we put together. And so with what you communicated first about fee and the infants, I totally understand because infant it's hard to get around here, right? From a toddler perspective, are we running the same risk or more risk losing people because of the increase? We're still a couple hundred cheaper competitor, >> but in the toddler room, there's a competitor that's that's cheaper than we are in the toddler area. >> But it's 50/50 in the in terms of teacher to community, it's four and three. And to Kevin's point, if they were here the year before, will they come back? Those four >> and we
029don't know what they're doing. But everyone's costs are going up. Insurance is going up. Facility costs are going up. Staff costs are going up. >> If they keep the rates flat, I'll be shocked. >> That's a bet, right? It's not a guarant. I think we're talking kind of small budgetary numbers. Yeah. I mean because the crater you have to assume everyone's going to flip because of the $50 capacity of the whole system is 30. >> So minimal risk. >> I think it's I personally think it's minimal. >> I think it's the right risk. >> I think it's >> because I think it's the right risk to to send the right message. It's minimal, but you also have to remember again whenever you know assuming that you're younger, whenever you have kids, like you know, and
030you're not established in your career and you have two two working parents, >> $50 and it's not probably going to make or break, but it still can be significant amount especially with just like you know, every everything cost of living, groceries, everything going up. Um, but >> similar to Kevin, I would be shocked if others aren't raising their rates. >> Yeah. They're not happy to do that again. >> Any other discussion? >> All right, we have a amendment on the floor that's been seconded. Uh I can re reread it if I need to. Uh but make this second set of changes to the original motion. All those in favor? I opposed. All right. Six. So, we're taking now we need to vote on the original motion which has been amended. >> Is there any further
031discussion for that? All those in favor? Opposed? 60. All right. Thank you for that lengthy discussion. I think it was worth it. Jason, thank you for all your work on this. All right. Next, we're going to go to Is it TA? I didn't have >> Yeah. Let's just make sure we market this very well, letting >> our teachers know what we've done so they understand that we appreciate that we're thinking about them every turn >> and make sure we highlight the pre-tax option as well as part of it. >> Put it all together and bundle it and share it with >> Thank you. >> All right, Dr. Kern, he's doing T chat. >> Got Tina. >> All right. So, I just have some information for you that's hot off the press. Um, last week our
032counselors were trained in um how to refer a student to a new resource that we have connected to and that is TCAT. I did include um from our meeting last week uh with TCAT a couple of flyers and the board book uh but I did put some of that into a slide deck so that we can look at it together real quick. Um, TAT is Texas Child Health Access through telea medicine and our partnership is with Del Medical School in UT. Um, and this allows us to partner with TAT to provide free access to behavioral health services for our students. Um, you some of you know, some of you don't, but my first step out of the classroom was as a counselor. And so, um, I understand those struggles when parents come to you in
033our remote location and ask for resources. Um, getting kids to appointments, um, just managing and finding the resources is is a barrier. So, this is breaking down that barrier. Um, TCAT is part of Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium and it was created in the 86th Legislature and we are a little slow jumping on this bandwagon. Um, if you look at the map of of um, school districts that participate. Um, every just about everybody around us already does. Um and so again, this provides um options for families to connect to to opt into to receive support for their kids. It is focused mental health support and care for students after preK through 12. I would believe that has been added. Um it's free. No insurance is needed and it begins with parent consent. Um if
034a counselor um gets a question from a parent about what resources are there for their students, the counselor can make a referral or if the counselor sees a need in a student, they can reach out to the parent and ask if the parent would like to build. But parent um parents partnership is key to the process. Um and then once a family is set up the student can receive those tele medicine tele medicine visits from campus. Um parents are always welcome to attend. They must attend to the first initial intake appointment. Beyond that um parents can either opt into or allow the child to be set up in a in a space at the school to um engage in their visit. uh it's virtual you know a lot of us these days my first step
035and if I can solve a problem that I've got I do it virtually and this is a great way to bring a resource to our kids rather than um connecting them outside of outside of our community. um services include therapy that includes um psychiatry now case management support and also lifeline for our counselors. If our counselors are struggling with a you know they notice a student with behaviors that are like avoiding the lunchroom or or whatever it is they might be seeing. they now have a lifeline, you know, trained professionals to consult with that can give them some ideas on on what we might put in place to support our students. So, it also supports our counselors as well. Um there are actually three areas in which they focus. One is anxiety, um the other
036is trauma and grief and um substance abuse as well. So, I was excited to see that addition. And I think that is something that that we've been um struggling to find resources for. You can see across the state the different partnerships. Um we are in that little slice that partners with uh Dell Medical or UT. Uh these are meant to be short-term health services with um visits sessions being like five to eight sessions. It is not long-term. If they get to the point um the the counselors are working with um a student for 5 to eight sessions and they have not been able to make progress, then they will get with the parents and refer them to a medical professional to continue back here. Um but um I have had experiences with this. They not
037only help students, but some of our youngest um kiddos when they are struggling, it it's really the parent that needs the support and the coaching and the skills. So, um usually five to eight sessions is is what um tends to work. Um in a circumstance where they might refer out to psychiatry, those sessions tend to um extend into longer sessions. The session is about 30 minutes. Um student doesn't miss much class. counselors help strategically schedule it in the students day so that they are not missing out on important instruction. Some possible reasons a counselor might refer um acting out oppositional behavior, ADHD, anxiety, decline in hygiene, depression, poor grades despite strong effort, self harm, school refusal, substance misuse, peer conflict, and more. And um there are two types of services they provide. They provide mental
038health counseling. That would be with an LPC or an LCSW. Um and additionally they've added psychiats psychiatric support. Um and those of course um are more intense and um they are meeting with a an actual doctor in that circumstance who can write prescriptions if that is something that a student might need access to. So again, this is just breaking down barriers for our students and supporting our counselors and giving them an additional resource in in our little little lakeside community. Um connecting us to the outside world. Um, like I said, this is hot off the press. Counselors were trained last Tuesday, April 7th. That was Tuesday. It's been a long long time ago. Um, but anyway, they are now ready to get started. Um, they will be pushing out information to families as well. Um,
039but they counselors were very much an advocate for uh bringing this to our community and to our students. So, um, they deserve some praise for that as well. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about TAT, but really this is just anformational um announcement to to give you information about what's going on in our campuses. >> Yes. Um so with this pairing with Dell Medical School, I'm assuming these are people that are going to be doctors. Is this kind of part of their education also? Is this part of that? >> Um not necessarily. Um they are LPC's and LCSWS. Um the oversight is just through Delm um and definitely the psychiatry piece because these are not students working. These are credentialed professionals. >> And do we know how big the pool is? Because
040I'm assuming with this many areas around us that can utilize the service. I mean, you want to make sure they're not stressed or gifts. >> Um, they have they're they group us into like three different service areas and I think we ended land and and every time they onboard a new um district, they look to see where the space is and we landed in I think um service area 2. So, they they are kind of watching and looking to see where their resources can best be allocated. Is it advertised to the students or is it counselors pick up on it and they make the suggestion? >> So again, we we just got trained last week. We are developing what that plan looks like. Right now it is counselors looking and evaluating who their students are
041that might need these resources. There are opportunities for us to um there flyers and posters being placed throughout the campus and educate students and youth counselor um class visits about what this resource is. >> I usually suspect it's the folks that aren't actively seeking counseling that are sometimes most vulnerable, you know, so that it's out there, they have a conversation and they somehow it sounds like that their parents are involved to do it. They do. Uh it does start with parent, but um there are really some great graphics out there that we can put up around the schools. We know um from experience, our anonymous reporting systems that we push out when whenever we publicize them, they get used >> um as we've noticed with our new launch of um stocks. >> Yeah. I just
042want to make sure it was getting launched and not just counselors that deem it necessary that a student could actually >> initiate initiate search for >> how will we let how will teachers be informed about this? >> You know obviously they're they see the students firsthand I mean >> yes are they going to be how are they going to be made aware of this program? So counselors are going to um at at staff meetings um share this new resource with the the teaching staff so that they are aware of of this new resource. >> And then what was the delay in implementation here on the campus? You said 86 was in 2024. Um I think there was a misconception that adding this resource would create uh an a workload. Um but actually from experience it
043takes work off. There's not a a like I had to meet and and launch and and get theou signed and um be the trainer of trainers to like to learn before the counselors did. Um but other than that, I can monitor and I I'm aware with by use of the dashboard of what's going on and what referrals are being made. So, I think there was a a maybe a misconception that the management piece of this might be a lot to take on, >> but it really isn't. Um, it will it will actually provide a valuable resource and and um and I I think that it will it will work itself out in the management piece. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And this is just this isn't just for students. This is for staff. >> This
044is for students only. Okay. So, I'm sorry. I was just referencing the packet. >> Uh, the teach packet on the FAQ said school services direct consultations from all school staff. So, I'm wondering if this is another >> consultations. Yes, as I mentioned, a counselor mentioned I apologize. >> I just did that. I just mentioned that. I'm sorry if you missed that. But I did mention that a counselor who is noticing a behavior in a student now has the ability to reach out to TAT. that is a consultation. Um, but if they are a staff member with a student, um, they absolutely can benefit from this resource. Our staff does have the ability to utilize our, um, employee assistance program. Um, and that is available to all of our staff members, which does include free counseling
045as well, um, on the adult end. So, we have that we've had that covered for a while. Great. And I'm assuming I'm like there's an air gap in liability if so many districts have already taken this out like >> anytime you're referring yes >> I'll make sure that >> yeah we're good um we use this in my former district it's extremely beneficial to kids um it's highly used and very a very successful implementation. So I'm really excited that we're bringing this to our kids. Thank you. >> Yeah, it's information online. Um, >> okay, great. So, I'm I don't think just licensed professionals are going to be they'd be under the supervision of licensed professionals, but we may get students according to flyer. I just want to make sure they're open about that. Um, I think
046it's great. The kids, you know, they need to learn somewhere. Um, and I'm sure they're very capable. >> Awesome. Thanks for the update. >> Um, number five, we have a discussion and possible action on hiring authority through August for Dr. Curr. So, typically for those that are new on the board, um hiring during the summer is the busy time, but it's also very hard to pin down the board for quick action outside of our standing meetings. Uh so, we've typically and traditionally deferred our authority, which ultimately we have, to the superintendent during the summer months so that we can act quickly and make sure we don't lose great candidates. >> Is this primarily for teachers? Uh it would be all staff contracted or not at the district that would typically require our vote and authority.
047We can do whatever we want like you you can amend that to to your but that's what we've traditionally done >> and traditionally they at the next board meeting they bring if there are hires they bring them back and let us know or inform us after you as they meet. >> Yeah I think Dr. uh Mr. Glad send I'm hiring this person. You've got 24 hours to call me if you have a concern. >> And that was how he handled it. I'm not saying that was the way you need to do it. Um but the authority reside with the superintendent. >> Definitely trust your judgment on this campus. >> Absolutely codified with the motion. >> Make a motion to authorize Dr. Curry to have hiring authority through August. must second motion on the floor to
048defer hiring authority from the board to Dr. Kurr through the end of August 2026. It's been seconded by Isai. Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? 6. >> Uh budget update. >> Yes. Um not a tremendous amount of new news to share uh as we set the table for next year. Uh gave you a pre-throw uh pre-throw analysis last month. No new changes at this point. Uh so we're holding firm a new template. Actually, three new templates have come out since our last meeting that have supported our budget uh a little bit, but uh nothing that moves tremendously. We're still anticipating to approach you with the deficit budget again in 2026, 2027. And that number is as it stands right now uh about 300 sorry about 410,000 to the to the negative to the to
049the vet. Uh we're still looking at every opportunity to to reduce that. Uh but as we plan next year the number exactly uh since the last template is $414,000 deficit about a negative 1.64% 64% uh still stays with under that two 2% deficits which is sort of the watermark that we like to to operate on. That will give us about 102 days of operating in our fund balance uh which is important for our first report to have that number uh bigger than 60 I think it is. And then our fund balance decrease over a three-year period is 13% with last year 24 25 and 24 25 26 and then this if 26 27 ultimately ends up being a deficit it would be 13% and the watermark there is 25% so still operate or a good
050amount of time with the deficit that we're anticipating at this point we're still looking at ways to to mitigate that but uh keeping with the idea of education first and making sure we do what's best for kids uh I think we're we're doing what we can to make sure that we're operating most efficient and effective way we can uh while keeping us as financially responsible as possible. >> Sorry, any questions for Mr. Stone? >> Mr. Stoner, how many more years do we have the rebate utility rebate from the city? I >> think we have four years remaining on that. Okay. >> How much is that rebate? It's 80,000 a year. Any other questions? Uh, no action. Thank you, Mr. Starter. Move on to item number seven, consent agenda. Um, I actually want to move to
051amend the minutes in the packet to include, and I'll get the exact language to Miss Holly, that we actually voted to approve the Little Vikings rates and then we struck that approval and tabled. It wasn't just a table. Uh so it wasn't administrative. We actually took action and took another vote. Is there a second? Second it discussion in favor. 70 on that or 60 on that. Sorry. Then we'll need a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Miss Kwell move to approve the consent agenda. Seconded by Brian. Discussion in favor 6. Dr. Kern. >> Okay. Um I'm just going to give you a little update on strategic planning. So far it has been really exciting. We had our first three meetings um started out
052with our teammate. We had leadership and then we did have our first community input session in this space here. 24 people showed and gave some really um good feedback. We did a strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities and threat analysis. And what we're doing is taking all that input. We also did a listing tour across each of the campuses with all of the staff. um to see what are those standout commonalities that everybody's kind of agreeing no matter what the stakeholder group is that these are strengths, weaknesses, options and threats to then turn around and address that in our plan. Um as we were going through that process, one of the things that came up in our leadership team in our conversation was we are doing this with all these stakeholder groups and about our opinions about
053what we think is our strengths, weaknesses and opportunities, but we're missing a critical stakeholder group and that's the actual end user of what we're trying to do. And so each of the campuses are actually going to conduct this analysis with student groups um to get their feedback and just really create that opportunity to have some student voice um as we look at the direction for the next four years. Um so we've been hard at work on trying to now take that feedback and start to kind of craft um that plan. Um and it's really coming together. The board did work on those priorities in our um time together. uh the community group did start working on some they did their SWAT analysis as well as um starting to craft those belief statements. What are the
054things that we believe to be true about our students or parents and uh faculty campus admin superintendent board what is it that they would like to see um from us and believe about us. So, um, they are working on that. And then the next round of meetings, our next, uh, community meeting is still going to be on April 29th at 6 p.m. in this space. Um, and they're going to continue to work in that belief statement, mission, vision of our district for the next four years. Um, so that's kind of where we are in the work. uh our student groups are happening this week um at the campus and the principles are working through that process with the students and then that will be the last bit of the input as we start to kind
055of work towards that draft. So um any questions on that before >> is the 29th community only >> the 29th is the community. We are still working on finalizing our date. >> Okay. um where every one of us can be there. >> We had that figured out. >> We're >> we did not >> we are going to uh we're almost there. We're almost there. Um any other questions on on that? >> Okay. But the good news is we should have a draft with our um in May we'll have a first draft of the strategic plan. Um okay. Other than that, we've got SLI coming up. Just a reminder, so the first day that rooms open up for that is Wednesday, and it's something you'll we would want to move on quickly. So, if you haven't
056already let Polly know that you want to go, you want to let her know um so she can make sure and reserve those. Those dates are June 10th through 13th um in San Antonio or 17th through the 20th in Fort. And as Tina mentioned, uh I did send some information out to you all, but you are likely aware because some of you have kids in the district that we did switch over from a stay alert system to stop it. Um and honestly, it's been a really good uh implementation. Um I find it to be very strong in in what it's it's offered. I mean, I've even received phone calls from a human who has taken that in and said, "Okay, we're going to just go ahead and and alert." Um, I believe that Tina has
057also received Miss Fosak has also received uh phone calls, but there's a dashboard that's interactive that we can assign that follow up on. They've even chatted with parents when a parent has um put a report in. They've engaged in some back and forth chat to get additional clarification details. So, that's going really well. Our students and our parents are making good use of that. Um so, uh those are the big big things that I have. We have testing going on. Uh it's been we had unfortunately a little technology glitch on third grade reading star. 100% of our kids showed up on time. It was great. Uh we still had strong attendance when they came back the next day to take the test um with the technology problems that we had the day before. >> What
058actually happened? Whose fault was it? our fault or the like the >> it turned out to be uh an us issue. >> We have uh some equipment needs that we're working on. >> Specifically, uh we have servers that need to be replaced. They're native. Um and we have domain >> are they do >> they're Yeah. >> domain controllers. um that are as I was explaining to it by technology domain controllers that are from 2008 servers that are dated of course Rusty's here and he can pipe in with more information but uh they're the language they're not talking to each other well because of the age differences in the equipment. So, we got a couple of servers and a couple controllers that we need to work on, but now we know what the fix was for
059that particular issue to get us through um until the equipment comes in fixes. >> You guys, somebody's smarter than I am on this, but is this a cloud issue versus hardware issue? You say, >> Rusty, I assume it's domain controllers not talking to each other, correct? >> Yeah. So probably legacy domain controller talking to a newer legacy domain controllers are just not talking well that's hardware >> that's software >> but you need hardware to get the latest software so you get the latest domain >> okay you spend $8 a month service >> that's what I'm asking you yeah >> yeah I mean is this something that can be resolved by not making it a hardware issue It's definitely a question I couldn't answer. I don't know if Rusty could speak to that, >> but we're
060fixing the issue, right? >> He can't hear. We're working on it. Yes, we are. We got some We're in the process. >> Rusty, my question is is this something that can be resolved by moving to a cloud solution versus a hard actually owning the hardware or is this something you have to have the hardware anyway? >> No, you can do both. Just the cloud solution is quite a bit more expensive. >> But is it more sustainable long term? longterm yet just the upfront cost would be technology soon to see what we need. >> I agree with that. >> We've not purchased anything yet. We've gotten >> Yeah. And just from what I've seen in the industry, it's like maybe the server costs are going up quite a bit. >> I'm assuming if it's something we
061don't fix quickly, it's going to continue to repeat, >> right? >> It's going to continue to repeat. Um, but at this point with just even if we try to do it as quickly as possible, um, what I was told is, I mean, I'm kind of a fast kind of person. I was like, let's get this done. Let's get it done a couple days. It's like, no, we're actually going to have to shut it down for about a week as we move things over. So, if that's the case, we don't have that kind of time and we're going to have to wait till summer. So, we know what the issue was to be able to get through. It's going to take time to get the equipment and then time to fix it once it comes in
062>> and but we're able to bandaid it for the rest of the school year so we don't have a repeat or do we have no guarantees? >> Got it. >> Okay. >> What was attendance on the next day? >> Um for third grade we were missing two um that took it out of the next day. >> Oh, so they did end up taking it. >> They did end up taking it. Yeah. Our attendance overall has been relatively strong in our testing days and and actually what we did the next day is something that we have not done I think and we tested third grade on the same day that we were testing a couple of other grade levels. So we ended up testing more students at a single single sitting than what was originally intended
063and it handled it just fine. Good. Okay. And that's all my updates. >> All right, >> that's all my updates I think. >> Awesome. Any other questions for Dr. K? >> All right, we go and take a 5m minute break and then move into close session. Yes, sir. >> Ask a question. >> Depends what questions. >> Depends on the question related to technology. When I hear domain controllers are from 2008, which in the IT world is very concerning, >> um I would recommend that we do a full technology audit of where we're at end of life systems. Um because that's a major cyber security vulnerability if our DCs are are 2008. >> I 100% agree. I think that's >> yes and that's what I was communicating and part of the strategy that was some input
064that we provided is we do need that technology sweep and audit to understand not only from a technology perspective but a financial perspective are we doing the right thing >> financially as well so yes thank you for that >> no it's a great point thank you without any further adjourn sorry take a final break and reconvene at 7:05 for close session