001Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to the Texas one state under God one and indivisible. Thank you. [Music] >> Okay. Uh Paul Roberts, you are up. You have I'm sure you know the drill. You have your three minutes to speak. And just remember that we typically can't respond back. because we're not listening. We're not engaging, but it's on the agenda. So, >> that's fine. No, the guidance we did at council is is you can speak, you can respond matterofactly, but don't engage in something because it's not on >> a little. How many of y'all have any of y'all ever heard of on your mark? >> Anybody? >> I don't believe so. >> Okay. I have a house down in Rockport. Rockport Fton Independent School District their newspaper talking about an organization that is partnering with
002the district around there and they get funding from the local um nonprofit organizations for education. It's a neat idea. Came across it 30 minutes ago. >> Wanted to drop it off with you guys. Let you look into it. >> Great. >> I know a lot of our local organizations are excited about helping education, whether it be grants, um scholarships and stuff. So there's something there. Yeah. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. I'm Diana Roberts. Yes. >> Should I just >> Yeah, you cover up the the audio. >> Yeah, believe it or not. The audio. >> Okay. I'm Diana Roberts. I've emailed all of you before. Now you can put a face to the name. I saw on your agenda tonight, teaching and learning accountability update. I'm eager to hear about this because as a
003mother of three children in the district, I'm concerned that our schools are rated a C. A drop from a A to a C should be alarming to all of us. Honestly, I think more should have been done when we first slipped from an A to a B. I'm not certain exactly how much authority the board has in these matters, but with such a steep decline, I believe it's time to step in. I would ask each of you, as well as administration, do you take the time to sit and talk with teachers? They're the ones in the classrooms every day. They know what's working and what isn't. Even as a mom, I can see deficits, and I've shared some of them with you before. In spring of 2024, when I noticed that eighth graders were not
004adequate adequately prepared for 9th grade, I met with Miss Pasik at the time, she told me the board had passed a budget amendment to purchase curriculum to streamline learning across the district. I'm curious how much that cost. Has it been fully implemented? Can teachers use it effectively or is it just materials without direction? Either the materials or the implementation has not been enough to affect positive changes in student performance. Um, one administrator cited onboarding a high number of new staff as a reason for the decline. I would disagree with that. I think if you bring in new teachers, someone should be directly involved in making sure they know what res are resources are available and how to use them. If you want to retain teachers, they need to feel equipped and supported. Otherwise, they won't
005want to stay in a district that's ready to see. Last, I still don't see the benefit of going to an 8 period day at the high school. I was told the change was for budget reasons and other options were looked at. I'm just wondering if this was the best. I haven't heard any teachers say they like it, nor have I heard kids who prefer it. I can say firsthand that my daughter is a junior and of her friends all are in the top 10 of class are inundated with homework every night because there isn't enough time in class to cover the material. I raised the question before and will ask again. where our teachers given the time and tools to successfully overhaul their lesson plans for this structure. Um, they're used to teaching 90-minute blocks
006and are now trying to fit in 45 minutes, including things like science labs. And even today, like my daughter said, she couldn't finish her AP test cuz she didn't have enough time. Um, so I just am hoping you guys consider all these things. Thanks for listening. All righty, Michelle. hear us. Um, okay. Um, good afternoon everyone. Uh, my name is Michelle Readis and I have a kindergartenner in um, Logista Elementary um, with amazing principal Walker. Um, and so I've met several of you uh, before the within the last two years. Um, my topic is school safety and how I want to help um, make the school districts as safe as possible. Um, so a few questions I have. One of them, and I'm sure this has been discussed before, so apologies uh with my ignorance,
007but um I'd like to know what has been done um since the issue or since the event that took place in May uh 2 years ago at the high school, what safety measures have been taken place at the high school. And also, I'd like to understand what the uh the district has and the schools have in terms of keeping doors inside all the buildings closed um and what that looks like. And that's it. >> Okay, we can provide that information to you since it's not an agenda topic. We're can't dialogue back and forth, but we will make sure they'll take note of it and send you that information if you don't get it. You've got all my contact information. >> Okay, great. Thank you so much. I appreciate Michelle. >> Okay. Consideration andor action to
008approve an agreement for the purchase of attendance credits. Option three agreement is to delegate contractual authority to the superintendent. >> Yes. Um so this is something we have to do each year. Uh it's uh basically it's the recapture uh Robin Hood as a lot of people know it. Uh it it changed from a chapter 41 to chapter 49. And so each year we have to enter into an agreement uh with TEA. And it it changed uh last year kind of the way we uh we do it. It used to be a form that we would sign here at the board meeting, but now uh TEA recommends that the board gives me the authority to go into the uh excess local revenue uh module that TA provides. I I go in and check a few boxes
009and then that uh pretty much obligates the district under uh chapter 49 uh to to submit the contract via the uh excess local revenue module and that will commit us to paying our recapture uh amount back uh at the end of the year. So uh we'll need a motion to uh put the motion language there. is pretty wordy. Uh but it's to uh delegate the authority for me to go in and uh uh sign the contract and check off the boxes. I move uh for the 2025 2026 school year, we delegate contractual authority to obligate the school district under the TEC code 115 uh 1511C4 to the superintendent solely for the purpose of obligating the district under TEC 48.257 257 and TEC chapter 49 subchapters A and the rules adopted by the commissioner of education
010as authorized under TEC 49.06. This includes approval of the agreement for the purchase of attendance credit. >> I have a motion made. >> Second. >> Kevin seconded. Any additional comments, questions? >> All those in favor say I. I. opposed 50. Uh okay. Teaching and learning accountability update. >> Okay. Uh want to provide information on accountability update. Uh kind of uh you know provide you uh our our scores uh which you guys know. Also want to provide you things that we are doing actively right now. Things have been uh implemented in place. Uh want to thank the principles for being here. Uh and so I'm going to let Miss Posac uh get started and then uh at at the end our principal will also have uh a little time to speak on behalf of their campus.
011Okay. >> So, um, last Tuesday, I'll start with, um, hi had the opportunity with our PD day to spend about an hour at each of the campuses with all of the staff doing a deep dive data dig into the specific accountability scores per domain. Um, that took four hours. Um I think the best use of our time is to look at the overall the big picture overview and what we're doing to improve. Um so I did want to remind um everyone that you know accountability has changed significantly over the past seven years. Um and you know I think the most we'll see on on another slide but the most recent prior to co scores in 2019 stood for 3 years. So um when we started getting new scores recently we'll talk about like comparing apples
012to oranges because they're not quite the same. So in 20 20 and 21 no new scores were reported. The same 2019 scores carried over. The 2022 ratings were impacted by the pandemic. The 2023 accountability ratings were released at the end of last school year in April. And those ratings were delayed due to litigation lawsuits filed by a number of districts. uh challenging changes because not only did the accountability A throughF ratings methodology change but also um a new STAR 2.0 with new item types uh was introduced and also at that time the U CCMR requirement to to um to get an A like the cut score for an A changed from 66 to 80%. So that was a huge shift. Um and then 2022, 2024 and 2025 ratings were only released uh on August 13th
013to district administrators from TEA of this year and um to a made available to the public August 15th, the second day of school release. those ratings were delayed um because of challenges to AI grading for the extended constructed response and short constructed response. So, um I've just said that we haven't gotten ratings in a while, right? We got ratings in 2020 2023 ratings just at the end of last school year. But while we weren't getting the accountability ratings themselves, we were still receiving star scores for each and every student for the assessments that were given. Um and we have actively been looking at those star scores, analyzing the data and working hard to uh improve our practices to move the needle for each and every student. In 2023 and 2024, we did implement new curriculum
014documents resource system and text guide. Those cost us about $15,000 per year uh which is paid for through instructional materials and technology aotment. So it's not a part of the regular budget that we usually talk about. It's uh money that is earmarked and allocated for instruction. Um at that time um that was the major area of focus tightening up the what we were teaching and the when. Um having a consistent scope and sequence at that time we brought in trainers from region 13 for the roll out. um spent days and at the beginning of the year um PD digging into what we were now provided and it's a lot of stuff right our principles know it's like going from you know just being handed this huge um bundle of resources so you can't implement everything
015immediately you start small and we start with the scope and sequence and the vertical alignment documents um in 2024 and 25 to um shore up the the need to grow each and every student. We implemented MAP growth assessments. That was last year. And again, those are nationally normed assessments that we can give beginning, middle, and end of year, K through 12 for RLA and math. Um, in high school, it does look a little different. They are by subject um or by specific course. So, we uh give those for algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2. We recognized that um we had two needs. One was to get better at the what we were teaching and providing our teachers better resources to tighten that up and then also at the same time not relying on a single
016measure um provided by TPA the STAR assessment. We wanted what we felt was something that was more um useful to teachers. So last year we again we brought in trainers from NWEA MAP growth multiple times throughout the year to launch map growth assessments to help teachers understand how reports were used to drill down to growing each and every student to set goals. So I feel like we've done some foundational work in the past two years and this year is our launch year to bring it all together to tighten it up. Um there has been a lot of learning that has occurred in the last two years for our staff and our principles. Um my expectation is that this year we are able to really make some ground based on that foundational work that was done
017at a glance. Here are our ratings from 2019 to present. um you know in 2019 as a district we were a 91 um we had a couple of campuses that were also a um then co came and I'd like to point out 2019 Logista looked a little different our population has grown since then um we've experienced some changes in staffing across the district it's harder to retain teachers than it has ever been um So we're looking at that and then we had two years with no ratings. So anyone you know pulling up Logo Vista ISTD in 2021 the most recent score would have been the A. Although that might not have been a true reflection of where we were at that time. In 2022 it was the last year for the last accountability framework as
018well as the last year for the regular STAR test. Um and so we did see you know from precoid to postco a dip that we saw across the the state pretty much and across the region. Um I don't I mean I think that is a manageable dip but we did see a dip. Then we get to the 2023 through 2025 ratings. Again I mentioned those ratings from 2023 were released in April. And the analogy I use with many of our campuses is that is like having a student sitting their junior year at the end of junior year and handing them their freshman report card and telling them, "Okay, let's figure out how you're going to be in the top 10% and get into college." They don't have what they need in order to make that
019happen. It's incomplete information and it's delayed information. So 2024 2025 um ratings were released just recently about a month ago. Um again we've had the scores, we have the methodology handbook, but it is quite a complicated beast to figure out for sure with lots of nuances. Um and in a district our size those nuances are even compounded in their impact. Um so I feel like my goal with going to each and every campus was to make sure that each and every campus and each and every person in that school understood this framework by which we are measured. Um that has not happened in the past 3 years because we haven't had the resources we needed to make that happen. Um so we were on that immediately maximizing the September 2nd day to look at that
020uh educate um our teachers um and then provide them some time on campuses to do further work to to do a little bit of digging because when you're a 77 and you really want to be at least a B three points is extremely attainable. Um and those points can be found everywhere. So every little bit counts. Of course we want to be an A. No one is excited about being a C. We would be happier to be a B. The goal would be an A. But to say that we are just a few points away is very hard when we know had we now know um how the system works a little bit better. Uh we could have maybe and we have plans for this year to pay a little bit more attention to the
021details in the data. Right here are our ratings um across the district. Um you can see it's kind of hard to see from here, but that middle column that's highlighted is our overall rating. Um I'm going to have to look at my in front of me because that's a little hard for my eyes. Uh as a district, we are a C. that is comprised of 70% of uh of that score is calculated by using the student achievement score which is a 79 and the other 30% comes from closing the gaps. When calculating the overall score, closing the gaps will always be 30%. And closing the gaps measures how a student population performs year over uh no how a student population performs in relation to what the expectation is set by TEA >> for that student
022>> for that for that student population. Okay. Um the 70% could be the better of any of the other columns, but honestly the the easiest way to calculate and the one that most districts usually capitalize is student achievement. Um that is basically all star tests lumped together. How many students got to approaches meets and masters divided by three plugged into a scaling score provided by tea. So that's star at space. Um and we can talk a little bit about the other columns as well. The um academic growth is stu one student year-over-year. So, elementary can never show that growth because their third grade is the only grade that's tested. Um, and then relative performance is um how we compare um in our column one student achievement in relation to districts with similar economically disadvantaged percentages.
023Uh high school also includes CCMR in that factor. And then closing the gaps is is like I said looking at specific student populations. Um there's a point system involved that I won't get into, but there's some great resources to help you understand it if that's really something you're you're fascinated by. You will notice um so our scores are here. Um overall, um elementary a 73, intermediate a 78, middle 70, I'm sorry, I put my glasses on. Um and um high school 79. Um you'll notice that there is a label by Waggo Vista Middle School that says additional targeted support. This is just a notification that our economically disadvantaged population in the middle school has been underperforming for three years in a row in multiple um in multiple areas. So, this will be a focus of
024our work as well um at the middle school level this year. Comparing us to um other public schools in region 13, we do fall below that line from B to C. Um, we are in company with a lot of other districts that I feel are awesome school districts as well. Um, I won't call any out in particular. Um, but, um, we are in good company. Um, and and I know that great things are happening at those districts as well. Um, the A's are pretty slim pickings, right? There are a couple up there. um lots of bees and as I said um with just a few tweaks we could have been above that that line I believe and and uh we will settle for nothing less than that next year. So this is a points game.
025This new accountability A throughF framework um is heavily based on one assessment on one day. um at the high school there are some other things that factor in but for the majority of our other three campuses it is student achievement on the star test. So to get better at that column that I said we were 70% um that made up 70% of our score um it really is about getting kids to higher levels of achievement and on the star test that is denoted by achieving meets and masters performance levels. Um and that is absolutely what what we want for each and every student which is why we implemented math growth because we want to show that growth. We want kids to get better. Um that assessment also has a star projection um measure to help
026us gauge where kids are throughout the year to help us better understand what's working, what's not, and what student needs are. Can >> I ask a quick question? Isn't it true that the people that the the students that are opted out of STAR we get they get zero? >> They looked at the matrix. Yes. So people with low population student population numbers and high number of students whose parents have opted them out. We're getting zeros. >> Absolutely. And I have a slide that shows how many we have to all that information that that does in um it takes our student population >> and numbers of students who get approaches meets masters. So they count as nothing. >> Yeah. >> I saw that. That is frustrating. uh high school uh with student achievement high school. Um
027this is where the um number of graduates meeting CCMR college career and military readiness indicators can also help move us forward. Um I have a note here on the significant progress that we made in that area a little bit later in the slide deck. Can you what can you just briefly tell us what are the key measures of CCMR? >> Uh college and career milit college college career and military readiness um that would be students meeting TSI um which is shown through um cut scores on SATs, ACTs and the TSIA instrument. Um then we also have students um dual credit students students achieving credit in those areas. Um now military they submit form there's a form um we can count them in the past those were not really counted so that's a new positive for
028us and then uh industry based certifications which is like our students um achieving a welding um certification and so forth. And we do really we have we have made some huge gains there. >> Yeah. So it's a military are they taking the ASVAB or something? I mean is it >> the ASVAB wouldn't count. >> Okay. I was just curious. I mean >> it's just confirmation that they have enlisted. There's a form that we would get at the end of the year and we file that form to show that they have um they have >> if a student enrolls I mean >> and they follow through. Yes. we get we have a form >> okay >> to complete um in order to count them as part of our CCMR score >> and they are raising the
029bar on industry based certifications each year. So yes >> they have to be um a concentrator in a CTE program of study. So in order for it to count they also have to have taken a number of credits in that same pathway so that if we if they take it early on and don't finish the pathway it doesn't count. and then the following year they will have to have been a completer >> in order to count. So that bar is continuing to go up. >> So with the SAT ACT component of that is that because when we look at our scores we typically our our average is higher than the state or there. So I mean how does that is it a number of kids that are taking in a pass >> individual students or
030points? >> Yes. There's a ton of colleges that still not even looking at that since co they're doing all they're doing is that TSI um >> so and TSI counts as well but it is you get a point you wouldn't get multiple points for for a student. So if they they met the criteria for TSI and they had an IBC it they're only counted once so it's per student. We do have some kids that they seven times, right? They get on ramps credit, they pass TSI, they, you know, get an IBC, they're going, you know, like, >> but they still just count once. >> Um, okay. So, domain one was academic achievement pretty much based on STAR measures. Um, school progress is growth. Um it's it's interesting because you'll see words used in multiple places
031and they mean different things. But here growth means that um you have a student and you have last year's star score, this year's star score. There is a set expectation by TEA of what growth looks like year-over-year and points can be earned. Um you would hope that each and every student earns one point, right? That's showing that they are making one years of grow one year of growth. there's an opportunity to get half a point in certain circumstances and um I know I shared with you um board members the the campus slide decks that's included in one of them um and then you there are accelerated points that we can receive that's a 0.25 25 for a student that goes from did not meet and we get them over that hurdle. So it's like a
032bonus for for for making sure that um every student improves. Uh this is a growth model for every student. So it doesn't just focus on getting kids to pass. It is if that student comes in and they were at masters keeping them there or growing them to get that point. So points are still earned for keeping the progress going year-over-year. Um in school progress as a district, we we do struggle with relative performance. Um like I said, there's a you know um a arc that you can look at with the x-axis and y axis, one being economically disadvantaged percentage and the other being um your student achievement score for for um domain one. Um we we do tend to looking at that underperform in how um how we are meeting the needs. That shows that
033we we need to do a better job of meeting the needs of our economic leader. our campuses know that um we we have students that would qualify um but we just struggle with getting uh families to complete the process and that our percentage lowers uh where we would need to be on that arc to get a higher score. Um, of those three things that I discussed, um, two will always kind of be excluded from our overall rating. It will always be on the highest of those three um, different scores that we get. And for us, it was um, pretty much student achievement across the board was our highest. So while we'll see an F in in a relative performance or or something here or there, it is not used in our overall calculation, it's good
034information for us to know what we need to look at and do better at. Closing the gaps is um you you'll see the word growth here again. Um, but this does look specifically at uh specific student populations and specific content areas and looks at are we getting our students to not just the approaches which is passing but getting them to the meats mark. Um, and also for our ESL students um getting showing progress on till pass right. Um, so this is much more um like thinner slices of of more honed in detail of about like where we really need to to uh to make some improvements. And there's a whole point system for that. That will always be 30% of either a campus or a district score. So the way to get better there is
035getting more kids to meet no matter who they are. And that goes back to the idea of we need to grow our students. I mentioned that another way to maybe see a little a little bit of growth um or a little bit of improvement in our calculations is decreasing the number of opt outs. Um I ran the numbers for the middle school because that that number of optouts is 11. That's that's a lot because when you think about that um a sixth grader would take two assessments. So that could be 22 uh 22 assessments. But if it was an eighth grader, that would be 44 assessments. Um, that would be used in overall calculations for middle school alone. Uh, running that on student achievement, right? Um, assuming that they only took two assessments, bumping the
036number of assessments up to 22 that reached masters. Um, that would have gotten the student achievement score up two points higher. it would have gotten the campus up to 80 but and that's only looking at the impact that would have had in one of the domains. There would have been residual effects in the others um in closing the gaps in student in uh in school progress and such. So, um, while I understand parents have feelings about the STAR test, I I have feelings and our campuses have feelings. Um, when we see our ratings and know what they they might be able to be should they not opt out. >> So, only requirement is parents just has to come in and say, I want my kids to be tested. >> They they they can't show up
037on test day otherwise we present the test to them. So they they conscience conscientiously like >> do not bring their kids to school on assessment days to prevent them from being assessed for a test. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I mean it's unfortunate. I mean I'm not a fan of the STAR test either, but it's that's the the discussion I've had with multiple parents that are concerned about it is that this is this is what happens. >> Yeah. Kids do get sick, right? >> Yes. Um accountability areas to celebrate. And so I go back to my campus presentations and this was elementary, you know, they only have one one star test. Well, one grade level tested third grade or math. And I'm sitting there looking at preK through third grade teachers. And you know, my goal
038is to we want to improve absolutely, but we also want to acknowledge what our teachers are doing. And so when we talk about accountability, to me it found it sounds like if I were a parent, right, and the only thing that I ever saved from my kids' childhood, the only thing that that I stuck on them on the fridge with a magnet would be the star test. And we know, right, that is not the reality. I have boxes of stuff from when my kids were in school. I have wonderful stories they wrote. I have examples of great work. Um those are what I saved. And and we we can't forget that that is so important. Even though even though our goal is to improve our accountability rating and improve our scores, we can't forget that,
039right? Yes, we will play this the star game a little bit better this year, right? having this information that we have now digging deeper into that specific data point but we will not we will not sacrifice the joy of learning right so things to celebrate um high school this uh 2025 data that was used for um calculating CCMR it's actually year lagging right we always know that what was reported in uh 2024 counts for 2025. Um that was the highest that we've had the percentage in a in the 7-year history that I could find um at quick glance. So the next highest so we had 77% of our students achieving college and career and military readiness CCMR. Um the closest was 72% I think that was post precoid. Um, so we've done some hard work
040there and we received a distinction designation for academic achievement and social studies. Um, our scores were off the charts. Um, and that again we're compared to relative schools about 20 schools that that they deem similar to us and uh make up basically how we're made up. And if we get in the top 25% of that that grouping, then we receive the distinction designation. middle school and closing the gaps. Um that that final column that I said, you know, is looking at student groups and specific content areas. We met the 2025 targets for the majority of the student groups in RLA. And for TELPASS, we um we met that as well. So strength definitely in those RLA um scores by student group. That's super uh strong showing there. In the intermediate calculations, there was a dip
041in our scores in our ratings um in 2024. Um I just want to say like campus buckled their I mean strapped on their boots and got to work, right? Put their work boots on. Um they had a 10% increase from 24 to 25 in academic growth and a 15% increase in closing the gaps. and they met the long-term target which is a 2728 target. No, no, it's not the long-term target which is probably 5 years out. Um, for our till pass progress. So, um, I think what I'll say and Bonnie can speak to this too is like they are a year ahead of us and a couple years ahead of us in understanding map growth. Um and I think they have last year they did some great things in looking at specific um serving students
042more specifically through small group um flexible grouping um to really give students exactly what they needed to make growth. And so I'm excited to see that work continue. And the elementary, you know, I mentioned that economically disadvantaged students um our relative performance um tends to be a little bit um low there. Uh because we are, you know, we we tend to through this data look as if we are struggling with meeting those students where they are. But you can see up from the star performance, our economically disadvantaged students, student groups in third grade were on par, like lock step in RLA and math for U third grade. And they actually exceeded all of the student groups in RLA in the mast's category. These students were achieving masters at higher rates than the all student group.
043Um that's a huge celebration and if we continue whatever we're doing there to to see that trend um happen uh for through EOCC's then um then we'll be in great shape. [Music] um high focus areas just at a glance. Then this is in the lens of how do we get from that A to the from from the C to the A. For high school, the most bang for it spot is going to be looking at academic growth. Uh that first column, maintaining high levels of individual student performance from year to year. I'm sorry, the the final column. um looking at, you know, our algebra 1 students, how they did on 8th grade um math and making sure that we know where they were and know where they need to be. Um and using multiple data
044points to do that, not just the STAR test, using our um classroom and instructional data that we collect as well as MAP growth and RLA as well. Um middle school huge focus is performance of the economically disadvantaged student group. As I said, um the campus was identified uh for targeted support in this area, which just means that our campus must in its improvement plan show that we are putting steps in place to uh to improve in this area and both the intermediate and the elementary. If we just get more students to meet some mastered standards on all the STAR assessments, like setting that goal, not just getting them to approaches, which is passing, getting kids to the highest levels of learning possible. um as measured on the STAR but also as measured on our maps
045assessment that we now have. Um we can jump that line on the list of schools from that are a C to a B and hopefully even make even more growth than that. I've seen some success stories and dug into um couple of uh campuses and districts in the area. So, I think um this is where I struggle because I want to like commend you and your team's hard work and the great work that's happened in the district, but sometimes the best feedback's the hardest to hear. This actually means nothing to me. There's no how, right? Mathematically, okay, we're going to maintain higher levels of individual student performance from year to year. Totally get it, >> but like what are the things that we're going to do to enable that end goal? And I think that
046starts to put the plan together where parents who take the time to show up to board meetings because they care have a level of confidence in this administration to turn us around from a C to a B to an A. Um because we definitely are going in the wrong wrong direction, right? So I think that's what's kind of missing for me on the work here is like mathematically I understand how it works but then like what are the things that we should go >> which is why one of the reasons I invited the principles to share because it looks different by campus. Sure. And I've taken the time to go through all the campus level decks, too, where there's a little bit more information, but still a lot of data. >> Yeah. >> Well, and
047I tweaked this slide deck based on some feedback last time saying like, I don't need to know the calculations. I need to know what we're doing. >> So, um, this is our attempt to do a little bit better at explaining the why behind our score, the the way why behind our score, and the what we're doing to to grow. >> Cuz I understand the rules of the game changed. Yes, >> they changed for everybody. >> They did. >> And 60% of our peers in region 13 scored above us, which means we were in the bottom half, right? So, >> it's not a good place to be. And I don't think anybody in this room was excited to see that. >> I I I guarantee it's probably not the or that probably is the case that
048no one was excited. >> There may have been tears involved, too. Like, I mean, we care very deeply. >> Yeah. >> So, we are um reacting right to new information. Um, as I said, getting this information, um, and then moving very quickly to make plans at the campus level. Um, we have not, um, you know, yeah, the reality is 23, 24, and 25 have been stagnant, right? There's not been a dip those years. It's been pretty relatively flatlined. And so looking a little closer at the things that we've already done and how we can continue to um support our teachers and our campuses to to move that needle. Um so each Oh, next. >> So sorry, real quick. It's an interesting point around that stagnation. Fair point, too. Um but I think maybe Mrs. Robert's
049asked it like I am curious like when you know we rolled out new curriculum at a cost of >> $15,000 a year. >> Yeah. But it's not crazy big. No. >> And we have a math like we point to these things but do we have >> kind of a an understanding of whether they made a positive negative or no no impact to kind of our students performance. So I think what you're going to see is is in one year's time um that's not really like okay this is last year was only the second year of implementing a new curriculum and when I say that like that's not a instructional resource that is the scope and sequence that is um documents that provide um instructional focus documents for units um teachers still craft their own lessons
050based on that. So, it has been a a learning curve for our teachers uh veteran teachers who have been here um for a long time and have been left to kind of um craft their own year at a glances. Um it every um instance looks a little different based on the staff that you're looking at, right? New staff onboarding them. Um and again that is only for RLA, math, science and social studies. Um when we talk about TE's resource system um but to to your point um do we have hard data to show that that's making a positive impact? Um that's one of the reasons why we on uh brought in macros last year is because we didn't right we we couldn't necessarily definitively say um yes or no. Uh that allows us to look
051at the student level, at the classroom level, at the grade level. Um and last again that was a year of learning as well for our teachers to better understand how to even give the assessment let alone what do these results mean? So this year all that comes together. Um and and um one of our focuses this year is um edge PLC's. Um I said so what knowledge is power right? Like like you said yeah thanks for telling me that this is our rating. What are we going to do about it? Right. um campuses by far um staff, teachers, principles were very um eager, right, to show everyone out there who looks at our ratings and makes judgment based on a letter awarded by TEA, right? Um to show them that we are better than the
052score that that has been awarded. Um, and so we were fired up. Um, not having those scores for 3 years probably didn't help us get fired up, right? Um, but like I said, if I was a junior sitting in my high school class and I got a C and I learned that my average for like freshman year was a C, I'd be fired up, right? I'd be disappointed that I got news a little late. Um, but I'd be fired up and that's where our staff is. Uh, we I'm going to be collaborating with the principles for almost monthly. We're skipping the month of December because that's kind of a busy month. Um, working closely with principles to craft um, excellence through data growth and engagement specific to star tested areas to uh, to move the
053needle when it comes to accountability. um but also not losing track of the whole goal of that is not just the test. It's looking at our map growth data. It's looking at what our systems are in our classroom um to to make some gains. Um so month over month this is what we have crafted so far growing each and every student focusing on closing the gaps. um really looking at what our high lever teaches are and make sure our teachers have a thorough understanding of the level of rigor and how to um teach and assess at that level. Um as well as getting better at our constructed written responses. Um looking at those um I you know my heart hurts when a kid types in I hate the STAR test. Um I don't care. Um
054but the reality is those are some of the responses that are submitted. And so um looking a little bit better at at how we um help our kids understand. Yes, it's one test one day, but we always do our best no matter what we're doing. Um in January, we'll be excited. So campuses are just finishing up um if they have not already our beginning of the year map growth assessment. Um I'll be bringing that data to the board in um October to show you where we compared nationally um based on those. But in January our campuses will have um give by January mid January campuses will have given the midyear assessment that will show growth. So we'll look at that um with teachers um look at specific tees, specific students, specific um star projections and
055make plans using that to uh move the needle, move kids forward. And it is about growing each and every student. Um and then like I said, we've never been a district that um played the star game. We have always kind of stepped back and said great teaching is great teaching. and it is, but um if we don't keep in mind how we're measured um and what goes into our rating, then I think we set ourselves up for disappointment and that is not an option. >> So at the middle school or intermediary campus, they at least the kids come in with their first assessment. >> So they have the third grade. So they they understand how those kids help me understand what are we doing for the elementary's kids because they don't they're third grade. They're
056the last year they're on your campus. They're getting assessed. So how do we determine readiness? How what what steps are we taking identifying shortfalls because you guys mentioned and I believe in this packet spiral >> spiraling the tapes. >> Yeah. Well, I mean there was something there basically. So, it's basically making sure you're covering the foundational elements of this um lesson so they remember, hey, if I got to do this level of math, I've got to be able to remember, hey, I've got to do addition, I got to do subtraction, that sort of thing. So, what do you do on the elementary school campus? I think the biggest thing, and this is where the math growth has really come in handy, is because prior to last year, we were using a lot of district created
057assessments to try to determine where our kids were, which while they were made with the best of intentions by very skilled people, they weren't of the, you know, um, you couldn't count on them. They weren't valid and reliable in the way that the MAP assessment is where it's nationally, right? So when our kids are doing well now, we're able to assess our kids with math beginning at the beginning of kindergarten, right? We don't have to wait because that's that's part of the disappointing thing or the challenge for us with STAR is we don't get STAR scores until those students are no longer with us, right? So it's like we get data on kids that are gone and now we try to use that to improve our instruction to the best that we can, but it's
058a lot more powerful. We can look at individual students, how that child is performing across the year. Some of the power in that growth is the um it gives you the growth percentiles for students. So, not only do I know what your achievement is, but I know how you're growing across the school year. So, I can very easily target, you know, that yeah, David's performing in the 80th percentile. That's great, but David's only growing at the 10th percentile. That's not great. And if we continue that, David's overall achievement is going to fall over time. Right? So I think we just started that last year. So there was a lot of learning in last year around this idea. You know, we didn't have growth measures until January. Um now we're really learning how to look at
059that data and how to make it actionable. And so now we're getting the information that we need to target students. And we just didn't have it before. >> Yeah. Um I think it you know again to see the impact it's going to take a little bit of time right last year was learning year the all of the the work the kinks out let's just say and and how do we even give this assessment to kindergarteners right uh to make it the most valid reliable assessment that we can um so that when the results come back we have confidence in them. So this year we we launched feeling confident. Last year we launched with we're going to learn. We're going to learn and grow as we go. Uh we had, you know, teachers who who immediately
060knocked it out of the park and and really could synthesize and understand. um they they kind of grow and spread their knowledge and expertise because what we get now is such a robust level of information um down to um specific um tiques and specific um areas in which we can group students in order to meet their needs. So it's good stuff but yes that is how we do that. Um, next it's a blank slide. So, we all row. Um, I I did want to come and talk about okay, what are we doing? That begs the question and and that question can't be answered in general generalities because what needs to happen at the elementary is very different than what needs to happen at the high school. Um and so asked each of our principles to
061share a little bit of their story um about some of their big rocks this year in terms of how they are going to um support their campuses and making games. And first up is our high school. All right. Well, first I want to say that um when our scores came out, of course we were disappointed and uh I'm a winner. Like and people that know me know I'm competitive and we're going to show up and show out every single time. And my parents were very My dad was super hard on me. I have a twin sister and we were athletes and played college tennis and um we did not lose. It really wasn't an option in my house. And so that's how I grew up. And my dad instilled in us that you work hard,
062you get the job done, and you leave everything better than you found it. And one of the things that I told Dusty when um these scores came out was like, "Okay, let's go. like we're a C but you don't know me like it will we will leave it better I will leave it better than I found it and so that is my charge to our teachers that is our charge to our students I have not gone to classes and talked to kids yet about you know you've got to do better because I'm not going to put that kind of pressure on kids this early in the game but they are going to know that this is important and they are going to know that this is targets and things that we need to do and
063we need to show up. when I saw some of like what Tina was saying um some of the essays that kids literally wrote I don't know or I hate this test there there's some work to be done there because I would not disappoint my teacher like that like I somebody who's poured into me I would want better for my teacher than IDK on a test so some of the things that we going going to focus on which I really do feel like the 8 period day is helping is the engagement piece and learning bell to bell. I know it's been a lot at the beginning and we're still getting our bearings in terms of pacing, but kids are learning bell to bell. We are not seeing a lot of hallway traffic. Um, and that increases
064the engagement piece and that's been huge for us. before we even knew these scores when we did our um retreat this summer that was Dusty and I we talked about what our goal was going to be and it was going to be engagement um our emergent bilingual students and even though we've made huge gains with that population um and our special education students we're going to continue consistent instruction for them and meeting their needs and making sure that their accommodations are met that they get what they need to be successful And so we're seeing really good work there. Um we're going to use the map growth assessments for for what they can offer in terms of um just celebrating with kids like look where you started and look where you are and look where you
065can be and have those positive conversations with students. we are going to um strengthen our our support for students working to recover credits. When we talk about our economically disadvantaged students or our students in special education, when we look at those kids in egeneuity or in a learning lab, those are our kids. Th those are the targeted kids. And we have two teachers that are working on um it's called a Passel and it's the program to become uh an administrator. And so they have taken that on as their project to increase that level of performance by those students. It's like you're taking the kids who have the hardest time in school and you're giving them targeted um instruction even though it's computer-based and building relationships with the teachers that are responsible for them and getting
066them where they need to be. So I think we're going to see those kids be more successful than they've ever been before. We um again we're going to maximize the impact of our PLC's and collaboration time. Uh we've switched our schedule um to help kids and and give it them a break during the day and have advisory. You all got that information. Um but what we looked at is that advisory where we have done PLC's during advisory before. that's still going to be a a very short amount of time. And our teachers know it and they um have agreed to come before school and meet and not use that advisory time where we're waiting for announcements and then they're kind of getting settled and then by the time they do and have a few short
067conversations, it's time to go. they've um they want to do better and so they're going to um meet before school to with their PLC's to maximize their collaboration time and then we're going to continue writing it across the curriculum. Those scores, we don't give ourselves a chance if we put I don't know or I hate the star as an essay. If that's what we're writing, we don't we don't give ourselves a chance at passing that test. And so we have to stop looking at writing. Um the other day I was talking to coach Gonzalez and u a sub had left a note for her saying that the kids in one of her classes weren't great. And she said the first thing I thought of was I'm going old school on these kids and they're going
068to write sentences. And I was like do not. And she was like no I'm not because we are not going to make writing punishment because when you when you do that like you've also like date us several decades. Um, but kids need to write with a purpose and I think taking cell phones has been great for us in terms of their communication. We're getting Bark alerts on some of the docs that they're sharing cuz their workound is let's open a Google doc and we'll just type back and forth in the Google doc. I'll share the doc with you and we'll send each other notes all day long. So, I know they're writing um um so I I do think we're going to be more intentional in that and that we're going to see the outcomes
069at the end of the year, the ones that we want. So, I appreciate your support. >> That's awesome. Thank you. >> On on that note, if they catch kids doing that, does the teacher have the ability to chime in on that chat? >> We I call them in. The teachers don't get the bark alerts. We only get them and I will say this um we only get them if they and Russ you can speak more to it but um just specific words um racism uh weapons, sex, drugs, all of that. Um English is doing poetry. >> Yes. >> Any self harm um we get that. And last week the word of the week was lockdown. And um we got all the bark alerts from kids who were emailing their parents that we were in lockdown.
070And y'all that was hard to read because some of these kids were they were truly scared and they wanted their parents to know how much they love them. And so I know their writing and I know their words are powerful. So I think we've got this. Thank you. >> Real quick, are they going to present those slides or >> No, they're just doing the summary of this, but we have all that their their full uh presentation for our dissemination. >> Um, well, I can I can go along with what Jandanda said. you know when when I we got these results. It went from uh anger a lot like a lot of frustration and then uh it went to you know I took it personally of like well this is on my watch so this is
071on me so like maybe I should like I'm not doing it right and so um but then I then I took a step back and just said well okay this is a this is a challenge right and I felt like our staff has always been up to a challenge and so that was the that was what we had talked about um and I appreciate it Tina they come in. Um because just the way that it's changed so much, a lot of the teachers like were worried about teaching and not necessarily like how many points can you get, right? An accelerated instruction points or whatever. Like there's just so much. So anyways, now we've got a feel for the game and I feel like we're going to be okay. So, one of the things that we
072um we've decided to do is so every sixth grade, 7th grade, eighth grade elective um has classes that they have to go to, right? So, like sixth grade goes to Viking Valor and um um tech u no that's seventh grade. I'm sorry. But so they go to a they go to a class and so those elective teachers met with the math teachers and the ELA teachers and said, "Okay, like give me the teaks that you guys are really struggling with and let's build those up." Right? So it's just those those students are going to have more time practicing with with TEIC. So that's in seventh grade, 8th grade, and sixth grade. Um, we have a professional development in November that the the somebody from region 13 will be coming out with teaching p teaching with
073poverty in mind. And so that will that Oh, that's you. Okay. I'm sorry. Uh Dr. Loftton, if you've heard of her, uh she will be coming. And what we also talked about is um you know that schoolwide effort to to find those economically disadvantaged kids. We are trying that. So, um like we uh Miss Greenley, our counselor, me, we met the other day and we met with uh Miss Porter, the director of the cafeteria services and we p we pulled the list of kids who are over $10 or more already, right? And so we're trying to figure out like who those kids are. Can we contact just so we identify those kids a little bit um more uh intervention groups have already started doing that during advisory. We're pulling groups who did not do well
074on the map test. Uh so we've started doing that with MAP and or with ELA and math and then math data talk to each other. So when they do uh a map test, we're able to upload that information and then will say here this here are the uh skills you're struggling with and so here's a practice plan. uh because we don't want um uh we don't want to do the instruction right but anytime you have uh skills that you know need support so when advisory we tell the teachers to say hey if they don't have any other classwork to do jump on and will teach them uh you know work on give them more practice uh so that's something we're doing uh with that uh we do have common PLC periods during the day and
075So, all of math has a conference period together, all of ELA has a conference period together, all of science has a conference period uh together. Um, and that's something we've done for a while. And I think that's um, you know, they get together um, and they'll ask me a question, they'll say, "What about this?" They've contacted Tina and said, "Hey, can you come answer this for us?" And so, they've done a really good job uh, of using that to benefit. And now that we've had this challenge of this is what we're looking for, they were there, you know, like I said, challenge accepted. Uh, and then we did also have the idea that our NJHS students will s serve as tutors. Uh, and I think that's a twofold thing because one, you know, if you
076teach it, it will help you uh learn the material even more. So that might move some of those kids up into the master's category, which I think is great. Uh but then it, you know, hearing it from students as well, I think that might help some of those, you know, economically disadvantaged kids or any kids just hearing from a kid. Um and so that's those those are the big things that we're doing. >> So good good. >> Thank you. >> Go Bears. So I want to start with just saying how amazing the intermediate teachers are and um you know they we we saw a increase this past year some growth and that's a testament to how hard the teachers worked and I you know unfortunately see is not what we wanted but um what it
077doesn't show you is just how much um love and care and time and heart the teachers put into this. Um, so what we're doing this year, what we we learned from last year, what we're doing is making some tweaks and just being more strategic and playing like Tina mentioned the star game. Um, where I think in years past we've never really played the star game, but this is the year where we've said like Jana said, game on. Um, so something we've already done is taking the time and kind of doing our data digs. So we spent all day last Tuesday, the entire day just combing through the star and identifying what our lowest scoring teaks were and then making an action plan and going back and looking at our scope and sequence and deciding like
078okay what do we need to tweak knowing what we know now um for example um we didn't do well on writing and we discovered that in RLA it doesn't come up till unit 7 so deciding to spiral earlier and get that in before unit 7, just things like that. So, we're being way more strategic and making sure that we're really hitting those standards um hard that we that were um we scored low on. And then um so this year what we're doing something different with MAP and we haven't done this in years past, but every single teacher is sitting with their students and setting goals with MAP. So, they'll set a stretch goal, a typical goal and a stretch goal. And this will be something that the student will do with the teacher. It takes
079time, but making a student have ownership of their math data. So, it's not just something we take the teacher looks at and nothing happens with, but really having the student have accountability with it. In math, we were going to continue this and this something that I felt was very successful last year is we did grade level flexible grouping. So, during our power hour, students moved all over the campus and every teacher that was possibly available was teaching math. So, our lang uh reading language arts teachers were teaching math. um our aids were teaching math and so we did that so that we can make our students that need the most help have the smallest group for that hour with a teacher. So we're going to continue that again this year. And then the other thing
080that we did that I thought was very successful is we partnered with region 13 and brought in region 13 for one of our PD days. So we'll continue that. Um I think region 13 came out twice last year and then we went there for math training as well as science training. So we'll continue that. Um, something that we do is we have dedicated common planning time. So, our teachers plan once a week together for math and then they have another day for reading. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but there's a lot of meetings that happen during the school week. And this is a one day that's untouchable. We can't have an R, we can't have a parent conference, nothing. I can't bother them. This is their common planning time where they just meet with
081their team and plan their subject matter. Um, science is an area that we need to grow in. Um, something that we've kind of gotten away from is hands-on learning. So, being mindful that we're bringing that back. Um, putting money aside, putting time aside to make sure that we are doing those labs, we are doing those experiments, that it is hands-on. It's not just paper and pencil. And then another piece of it is the spiral review. Making sure that we're not just teaching it and then putting it away, but that we are spiraling throughout the year and bringing those teaks back up so that they don't forget it. And then in language arts, we're going to continue doing our guided reading. Um because what we don't want to do is for students, I think we've sometimes
082get to the point where we're doing too many star passages and we want to make sure that we are instilling a love of reading in children still. We want them to leave fifth grade loving reading. And so we're going to continue with our guided reading groups um in every single language arts class. And then um the last point, and I mentioned this earlier, is we're going to begin our preventative writing, our opinion writing earlier in the school year. What we learned last year is that we started it too late in the year based on the scope and sequence and we need to start that earlier so that students have more time to practice. So that's our plan. Last but not least, not used to being last. When I'm not prepared to talk, they usually make
083me go first. So, um, okay. So, I want to start by saying, um, if any of you have ever gotten an email from me, I send all of my emails, proud principal. And I'm still a proud principal of my school, but I'm not proud of our score. And so our challenge this year is to make the score that the public sees match the great work that I see happening every day inside of our building. So one challenge that I've or the way I've tried to approach this is I do not want our teachers teaching to the test. That is a sure enough way to kill every 9-year-old's love of learning and make sure these guys aren't going to get anything good out of them. I feel very strongly that our responsibility as the elementary school
084with the youngest students is to build and maintain an excitement and a love for school that school is a place where good things happen, we are loved, we are valued and we can do hard things. So really looked at what changes need to happen through a lens of what things are just good for kids for their life that will also benefit them and star. Okay? because we could do star passages every day and we could drill and kill it and we would see an increase in our score, but I don't know that I would still be a proud principal of what we're turning out. Okay, so here's kind of our big very bird's eyee view of what we're doing. There's so many things that go into this. As people were talking, I was like, "Oh,
085I didn't put that. Oh, I didn't put that." Because there's so many other things we're doing, but here's just sort of our big four things that we're doing. So the first thing is we're really trying to, as Tina said earlier, move kids into those meets and masters levels. We know that that's really the standard of achievement that kids need if they're really going to be successful moving forward into fourth and fifth grade, right? When the approaches level is around the 50% mark, we know that that's not really going to lead to success. That's not really a score to be proud of, right? Um, so meet meats and masters is our goal for all of our students. Well, how are we going to do that? And I will admit that one challenge we have and have
086have had in the past and are going to have to really be creative to overcome is you got to remember that we're teaching kids how to read. And when we have kids who are having a hard time reading, it's very, very hard to prioritize a child who is reading over a child who is not. So, what we're going to have to do is use flexible grouping during our Viking time, which every grade level has a design designated hour during the day where we do all of our interventions. And we're going to have to get really creative with our human capital as far as the people that we have available on how do we not just focus on those students are having a hard time learning how to read or learning how to, you know, count
087and do math, but how do we also focus and have a purpose, a really intentional purpose for those students who are more in that meets and masters sort of target range. getting all of that information from that map data. We've already started to isolate with our beginning of year who are our kids in that 60 to 80th percentile who are really the target group to try to move into those upper you know levels of achievement that in the past just being honest would have worked a little bit more independently during those times. Right? So that's one thing that is going to happen. Here's a challenge we have too. We're judged by our third grade, but we know that we have prek through third grade in our building. So, we've got a lot of teachers and
088a lot of students who aren't represented in that number, but we know that every one of our teachers pours into those kids and it's kind of like the culmination of everyone's work at the end. So, everything that we're doing is from prek, kinder all the way through. everything we're doing is a vertical approach because so I will say I feel like we're definitely going to see big gains this year but I think they're going to increase year-over-year as this year's second graders get this focus all of second grade and then all of third grade and then first and second and third where our third graders this year are going to get one year we're going to get it done but year over year I feel like we're going to see increased gains the second thing
089that we're doing is focusing on strong read alouds. What we noticed is our students falling out some in the reading areas of basic comprehension. Right? When I say basic, it's not what we think of as basic, but basic comprehension of understanding the story, understanding vocabulary. And so we have started developing a campus model for what a strong readaloud looks like to us. What are the components of that? We already did our first training on that. I think part of the power is in this this one and the next one. These PDs are being led by actual teachers at our campus. So it's not me telling them what they need to do, it's them telling each other what they have found is is useful and helpful. So I think there's a lot of power in that.
090So we've started that. Another thing that we started this last Wednesday was we are beginning to implement a model for extended written responses. Um, it was pretty eyeopening, I think, for and I think it would probably be for you guys, too. If you looked and saw the writing prompt that our third graders have to respond to on the STAR test, they had to read a poem and an essay and then they had to write about the differences in the way the two people in the passages approached their problems. Okay? So, it's not right about a time you were sad, right? I used to teach fourth grade writing. I like to think I was pretty good at it. That's the kind of stuff we were writing, right? Narratives or describing a picture in lots of detail.
091That's not the writing that they're asking kids to do, which honestly is pretty good because it's the writing that you and I are asked to do in our daily lives, right? So, we are going we're working on it's called BATS. So, it's something we will use across the campus. So, BAT stands for Borrow words from the question. A answer the question, T provide text evidence and then C or C as support why that text evidence fits the answer that you chose. So we have actually kind of created a campus scope and sequence where kindering first are really working on the B and the A more verbal but able to answer a question in a complete sentence out loud or in writing. Then we add text evidence in second grade and then support in the third
092grade. So, we're really working as a campus to try to attack that. The last thing is our kids really struggled with multi-step word problems. And what we've discovered is we do word problems from the beginning, right, from kinder, the earliest of days. We do word problems, but we don't do multi-step word problems. And so, what happens, we kind of save those, right, for when they get older and more able to to do that kind of thinking, we think. Um, what happens is our kids become very ingrained in this idea that when you have a word problem, you find two numbers and you do something to them and you're done, right? There's not this idea that, well, am I done? Did I actually answer the question or do I maybe need to do something else? So,
093we're going to start with our earliest children in the most simple of concept, right? Context doing multi-step problems. Right? There were five birds in the tree, two flew away, one came back. Now, how many are there? That's a multi-step word problem, right? Um, so we want to make sure our kids are really flexible in their thinking and they don't think they don't get into this pattern of two numbers, one thing and done. So, that's kind of our overall focus on the different areas. Anybody have questions on >> I'll say that I learned a lot. I looked at elementary because, you know, that's the foundation piece where our kids grow, right? And we know all about these things that CO impacted this teacher funding shortages changes the scar school uh scar. We know all this, right?
094But I didn't know that you only have one grade to make the breaking. I didn't know that you're already behind the curve because the star score is the only data point that you get to use, right? You don't get multi data points. You have one weight. I learned that the students can opt out and we get zeros and that's not just you. This is across the board, right? There's one that I didn't get my head wrapped around and it was with regards to not rated impact. Don't know what that is, but I'm sure it is an impact. And I know that we are impacted by those economic disadvantage scores because they're not identifying themselves as such, right? But the one that I checked out just to go and look, those third graders with the make
095or breaking have been labeled as CO kids, right? So they're showing struggles in behavior, attention, and em emotional maturity. And so despite all these things, y'all are putting something together to move forward, right? You're implementing a plan and you're communicating all these things that you're going to do. And that's all we can ask for. and you have to move forward and yes, you have to pivot and it's going to take time and we know this. It takes time to normalize. So, if I have one thing to say, I'm proud of all of y'all for everything that you've done and understand that it's not lost on me the amount of pressure and stress and anxiety you guys must have. I know this. I get it, right? And I'm stressed for you. I really really am. And
096understand this is not an I thing. This is a we thing. This is all of us. And at the end of the day, this board is here to support you. That's what we're here for. And at the very top is Darren. And that's who we go and talk to about these things. And that's who you need to go and talk to about these things because it's not us that you should be explaining or justifying, right? We're not your dogs. So, just be proud of what you're doing, understanding that this takes a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of sweat, equity, and we appreciate everything that you've done. So, thank you. I think really um it's a great note to end on, but um there is uh a link on that final slide
097for anyone who um who wants to dig into the numbers and dig deeper. txschools.gov um is the resource for um getting into the work really. If if if A throughF accountability is is your thing that you really want to focus on and dig into, there you go. I'm happy to to share all of my knowledge with anyone in particular who wants to to dig um all I've learned along the way. Um but there's a wealth of knowledge there for you to access. I want to say also that you know really getting better is about great teaching. Um and our principles have done so much in the last year as well in taking on learning a new appraisal system. um to be in classrooms more to look with the lens of student um student engagement, student
098uh learning. Um and so I think that is one of the most powerful ways to keep this work going to to be in classrooms, right? And that's what our principles want to do. Um to to see the great things happening and see see areas of need, right? um doesn't happen at a PD session always, right? It doesn't happen um you know in a in a in a conference with a teacher. It happens when you see what's happening in the classroom. And so we've made a concerted effort to get in classrooms more and provide more feedback u to see to see what the what what is happening, right? and to see great things and also the areas where where we can swoop in and and and help the teacher and lead. >> That's all I have
099for y'all. Um if you have any other general questions for our meeting here, >> I just want to say I'm proud of of the principles and the team for what they do. Uh none of us were excited about the scores uh when they came out and you know, believe it. I mean, they live it every day. They're in the trenches. Teachers weren't excited. But we're going to we're going to turn this thing around. Uh I've got all the confidence and those five right there as well as uh Susie and Jason and you know, and everybody involved. Uh you know, we're going to get this thing turned around. And I appreciate y'all support. and uh you know our teachers are going to work hard every day and we've got a plan and we will see improvements
100at the end of this year. So um I want to thank the principles for what they do. Uh when the scores came out, it wasn't conversation because we were all disappointed and uh but I will say this, we're very competitive and >> it's going to serve all of y'all well >> and I know I know good things are going to come from this. So, no doubt. So, anyway, so that's all I got. >> Thank you very much for yall's time. >> Thank you. Appreciate your plans. >> Go get him. >> Little cheerleader Jan there. >> Thanks again, y'all. >> Thanks. >> Uh, need a motion to approve the consent agenda. I move we approve the consent agenda. >> David Scott made a motion. I'll >> second. >> Gerald second. >> All those in favor say
101I. >> I. Opposed. >> I vote. >> I do have one question, Jason. The any I know any surprises at the end of the month that I mean the budget. >> No, the consent agenda has us about maybe $700,000 deficit. that's paying what they asked us to pay in recapture. I think we're going to end up being about $150,000 less. We'll get that back, but then we have the accounts payable for the prior year, which is about the same. So, I think we're going to end up being about $750,000. [Music] We budgeted 916. So, to the good about 200 grand that's preliminary, you know, auditors will come in. Will we have the same auditors this year? >> Yes. >> Yeah. I think we have one more. >> Yeah. It's whenever we want. I felt that
102in this time deficit budgets and things kind of uneasy. Somebody that knows our systems relatively well. >> Yeah. I just remember we just talked about it though. We were saying that we were going to use them. >> They're coming in the end of October. >> All right. Superintendent report. >> Okay. Um just a couple things. Our inter uh intermediate school report. Uh so the the uh fifth grade or the the modular is complete. Um we are adding a gutter uh to to one of the side of the awnings. Uh adding a couple little things. We're adding uh hooks for our backpacks and and coats. Those should be complete uh probably by tomorrow. I think we're four or five short. Um, so the portables didn't come with any type of uh wall hooks or anything to
103hang the backp backs on. So we've got that taken care of. Our sped office uh we're adding uh two windows. Uh when we started closing off the offices, uh Heidi, our secretary, does not have a window that uh looks to the door. So we're going to add a a window there. And then we're also going to add a window in her office so she can see outside uh as people coming up. uh you know safety procedures all that has already been accounted for in the accounting side. So it's no extra money or uh extra charge above what's already been uh provided to us. So that should be coming in here the next week or two. Uh the only other thing that we're uh we're waiting on AT&T and apparently we've got other problems. Uh if
104you had >> you have AT&T >> uh we need a fax line put in for the sped office. So, uh, we're waiting on AT&T to give us a timeline on that. Uh, that way we get, uh, the faxes directly into the office. What's that? >> We still use faxes. Seems ridiculous, right? >> We still use them at our office, too. I mean, at the end of the day, those old school faxes are the most secure. >> Correct. >> Right. That's that's why, right? Uh if you remember a few weeks ago talked about the ceiling issue in inside the intermediate because of the water leak that happened during the flood. Uh WCR uh roofing company that we got completed that today. Uh so all that's taken care of. Talked to Adam this morning. He he hopes
105to have all the classrooms back in order uh by by the end of this week. And that way we can have push our classrooms back to what their original plan was. Uh, also in other items, uh, the tennis courts, if you've been out there, we've got the cover complete. Uh, they were missing one piece. Uh, just didn't bring it on the on the truck. And so, uh, there's still one piece missing, but, uh, it's covered. It's just the trim around it that they got to come back and finish. And they're waiting for the, uh, 16 benches that, uh, should be here in a in two weeks. And once they get the benches, they will come and and do it all at once. Instead of bringing a crew out just to work on that trim, they're
106going to bring uh bring it all out at once. It looks really good. Uh they've got gutters on the on the awning and they actually cut into the concrete and the water is flowing underneath the concrete out to the uh to the to the grass and dirt so it's not going to ever get on the port or anything like that. So So uh that was a lot of work. Um, and then we got uh two buses that came in uh last week. So, we're we're getting those registered and and hopefully we can have those ready to to run here in the next couple of weeks. And just know next month I will bring you a report on our bus fleet. It is starting to age. Uh we'll probably run recommendation for a couple extra buses,
107but I'll give you more information on our number of buses, the mileage, uh how many AC buses we have, and how many do not have AC uh in October. So that's all I've got on the superintendent report. >> Okay. All right. >> Yes. Close session. >> Close session. Just five minutes. 7:31. [Music]