Regular Board Meeting 11/17/25

001Hold on. Good evening everyone. [clears throat] In compliance with the Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, chapter 551, I call this meeting of the Mayor Independent School District to order on November 17, 2025 at >> 50:02 p.m. >> Let the record show that a quorum is present. This meeting has been duly called and notices of this meeting have been posted in accordance to the open meetings act. Um close session. The board will now adjourn into executive session at >> 502 p.m. >> Pursuant to the following sections of the Texas Open Meetings Act 551.071, 551.072, 551.074, and 551.129. Thank you. Hello. Good evening everyone. We will now reconvene in open session at >> 6:08 p.m. >> And we will begin with the pledge of allegiance and Texas pledge. Leading us in the pledge of allegiance tonight

002is Maddie Rose English, a fifth grade student at Blue Bonnet Troll Elementary. Maddie is a wonderful example of leadership and school pride, always kind to others, hardworking in class, and representing her school values with a smile. Please join me in welcoming Maddie as she leads us in the pledge of allegiance. >> [applause] >> I pledge allegiance to thee 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. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. >> Thank you so much. [applause] All right, team of eight. One of you, if you could please uh read the vision statement. >> Mayor ISD is the best district in Texas where we provide an equitable education for all scholars

003and graduate them ready to be leaders in our community. >> Thank you, Trusty Rodriguez Barnett. And I have one for the mission statement. Collectively as a community, Mayor ISD provides equitable resources, a safe learning environment, and highquality educational services for all scholars to successfully achieve and reach their full potential. >> Thank you, Trusty Howard. We're going to move on to item number six, recognition 6.1, November staff of the month, Maritaga. Yes, >> team of eight. That's right. Okay, we're starting off with our staff recognitions, which is our monthly segment where our staff members from across our district are highlighted for their amazing work. For our staff members here this evening, when your name is called, if you'll just walk up to the lefth hand side of here, uh you'll shake all the hands of our

004trustees, but don't go anywhere. Just stand right there just for a little bit. And when everyone wraps up, we'll gather in the middle and take a photo. Take a group photo. And then once you're done with that, you're going to head outside for your individual photos. So, we're going to get started. I already did that. So, next slide from uh Blake Mayor Elementary. Jessica Reyes, second grade teacher, and Karen Hernandez, parent leaison [applause] from Blue Bonnet Trail Elementary. Melody Thomas, prek through fourth grade, and William or PreK4. And William Purcell. [applause] from the CDC, Alexis Cardinas, who works with our infant through preK students. [applause] From Decker Elementary School, Artensia Mendes, special education, and Samantha Valdez, aid from Logos Elementary School. Monica Chambers, fourth grade language arts. and Connie Squire's tech [applause] from Oak Meadows

005Elementary School. Shannon EB, first grade teacher, and Myra Morales, fourth grade bilingual assistant [applause] from Pioneer Crossing Elementary School. Carlos Ortiz, first grade dual language, and Denia percastuay, life skills. [applause] from Presidential Meadows Elementary School, Britney Sutton and Kayn Reyes. [applause] From Shadow Glenn Elementary School, Leewanag Brussas FAC and Bonnie Garcia [applause] from Mayor Rise Academy. Roel uh Romel Revaseo uh elementary resource inclusion and Kaia Jackson fourth grade sore assistant [applause] from Decker Middle School. Arshu Walton counselor and Selena Crane counselor [applause] from Mayor New Techch Middle School. Alejandra Rodriguez, RLA, and Dianelli Harmo, receptionist [applause] from Mayor Excel Academy. Johnny Lewis, secondary photography. [applause] From Mayor High School, Julie Carwell, medical terminology, and Danielle Keller, nurse. [applause] And from Mayor New Tech High School, Leslie Delejon, our teacher, and Jessica Lassard, social worker. [applause]

006We can start getting closer. I might have to do two rows. Those two gentlemen right there. There >> awesome. [applause] For our next recognition, we do have a special guest with us and I'll go ahead and welcome him up. It's Waco ISD Police Chief Craig Goodman. [applause] >> Good evening, President Cortez, Superintendent Dr. Smani, board members, and citizens of Mayor ISD. My name is Craig Goodman. I'm Chief of Police with Waco ISD Police Department. I'm honored this evening to be representing the Texas Police Chief Association and the accreditation program. The Texas Police Chief Association is made up of hundreds of police chiefs and command staff throughout the state who are dedicated to professionalism and policing. I'm proud to be here this evening to present the Mayor ISD Police Department with a certificate of Texas law

007enforcement accreditation. Approximately 20 years ago, the association developed an accreditation program for Texas law enforcement. Many of you know about the accreditation programs for schools, universities, and hospitals. There are all programs of professional excellence and require entities to prove compliance with a set of professional standards. Our programs seek our program seeks to accomplish similar goals and objectives. It is a voluntary program where agencies must prove they meet 173 standards. The standards are based on Texas law, Texas court decisions, and contemporary best practice for law enforcement. These standards address the full range of operations such as use of force, protection of individual rights, vehicle pursuits, property and evidence management, patrol and investigative operations, and proper training. ISD policing is growing so much that um the association understands that we need a chapter specific to what we're

008doing and what will be coming out in the near future is chapter 13 that addresses educational uh policing and universities ISDs and so forth. So again, this is a very important step in the right direction. The program has become the gold standard for professional law enforcement in Texas. Police agencies across the state are working diligently to meet these requirements. The Mayor Sastdy Police Department has now achieved the accreditation status number 223rd in the state out of 224th thus far. And it was not easy to count to accomplish. The agency spent over two years auditing and modifying all of its policies, procedures, and operations in order to meet this these rigorous standards. This culminated with trained assessors, law enforcement experts from from other areas of the state make an on-site visit here for several days to

009physically check every policy practice and procedure. They interviewed staff, inspected facilities and operations, rolled with officers, and ensured compliance with each standard. Their report was then taken to the accreditation committee which is comprised of nine teacher police and one sheriff from around the state who reviewed the assessment and they voted to award accreditation stat status to manage DPD and the vote was unanimous of the over 2700 law enforcement agencies in Texas. Again, there's only 224 agencies that have actually accomplished this irreplaceable goal. You should also know that Mayor ISD police department is one of 31 ISDs in the state that has achieved the success. Our largest accredited agency is about 1900 officers and the smallest is about four. Regardless of agency size, professional policing is an absolute must. The citizens of Texas deserve this level

010of professionalism and the entire community will benefit from this accomplishment. This evening we officially recognize Chief Clarence Yarro and the Mayor Ashdy Police Department for their outstanding performance in achieving accreditation. Special recognition is also needed for the difficult role the program manager Nita Smith had in achieving this accreditation status. The role of a program manager is vital in accomplishing this professional achievement and it takes individual with the ability to be patient and goal oriented. What does this mean to your community? It assures both the school district and the citizens of this community that their ISD police department is operating in a manner that reflects the current best practices of Texas law enforcement. It means your police department is continually striving for professional excellence. It means your police department is one of the very best in

011the state. The certificate we present this evening is symbolic. While it is clearly the mark of professional excellence, the real value of the program is in the process they must comp complete to receive the c certificate. And this is not the end of the process. The department must submit annual reports to prove continued compliance and in four years TPCA will be back for another on-site inspection to ensure the agency is continuing to comply with all standards. The mayor Police Department is a leader in law enforcement in Texas. You should be very proud of their accomplishment. Chief Yarro, if you would please come forward. I'm going to read to you real quick what the certificate says and then if I want to do a photo, that'd be great. Okay. To all that see the certificate, know

012that the mayor ISD Police Department, having fulfilled the necessary qualifications and mandatory requirements of the Texas Police Case Association's Texas Law Enforcement Best Practices Accreditation Program by voluntarily proving their compliance with the Texas Law Enforcement Best Practices. The Texas Police Chief Association Foundation board of directors does hereby award this certificate accreditation effective September 30th, 2025. >> [applause] >> COME ON. >> Let's go, family. [applause] >> CONGRATULATIONS. Thank you so much for coming all the way over here. >> Way to go, Chief. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Wow. >> That's right. >> Wow. >> Way to go. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Hug. Hug. a hug right >> congratulations all the tests I was telling you about on the end >> way to go congratulations thank you >> thank you >> I haven't seen you in a while >>

013congratulations I know we made you do all the work so congratulations to me you >> congratulations Did you see that? >> I know. >> Just climb up on [laughter] >> Oh, yeah. >> We don't have a pole here. You climb up on that. [laughter] You guys need to get a ladder. >> That's cool. [laughter] >> Everyone look over here. One, two, three. One more. Just keep smiling. Awesome. [applause] >> One of 31. >> My kids love it. Smiling. 31. [clears throat] >> Mayor ISDP. Thank you so much, Chief. This is a great accomplishment. the vision and now look at where we are now. So, thank you very much making us proud. >> All right. So, now we're gonna move on to Oh, we have no public forum. No, nobody signed up. So, we're going to

014move on to close session action items. 8.1 Consideration and approval of educator chapter 21 contract abandonment. >> Madam President, >> yes. I move that the board make a finding that there is not good cause to support Norman Morin's resignation from their position at Mayor ISD. >> I have a motion but by uh Trustee Rodriguez Barnett to uh for uh no good cause for 8.1 Norma Do I have a second? Okay. Second by trustee Dr. Mary Thomas. All those in favor >> I >> seven passes seven zero. Thank you. >> All right we're going to go down to 9 9.1 superintendent update state student safety update. >> We have a new feature today. They gave me a clicker. I know I heard the and from the audience. [laughter] >> All right. Well, board, as usual, we

015want to have our monthly student uh safety. Uh the one thing I do want to point out to um we do now have three of the recommendations that were dependent on a funding source and we were depending on the 2025 bond. I'll talk about those a little bit um later on. Uh but I do want to know that there are three of these that we cannot do without a funding source at this point. Uh there are six still in progress. One of those will take into the spring. Uh another three of those u are looking to be completed before we leave for winter break. Uh so we are nearing the end of all those. I got some points of pride I want to show. Um and this is the first um I've gotten to do

016since volleyball season ended. I don't know if you knew that the Lady Titans set a school record for wins this season and went to the playoffs. So, good quality, Lady Titans. [applause] And we even managed to embed video this time. So, you're getting to see the the walk through the hallways of the volleyball team. Uh, I also want to recognize a couple Lady Mustangs who also got honorable mention, all districts volleyball ladies. So, give them a hand out. [applause] So, I got to say their names. I always tell them I'll shout out their names if they watch. So Mila Wright and Simone Mendes [applause] and I and I have to shout out to Oak Meadows Elementary if you didn't know uh along with the food service. Ryan Sangel, would you mind waving uh with the

017food services and director Sangel Oak Meadows has been growing food at their their school and they harvested some. I sent him a picture. I had a sandwich with the lettuce. It's very good. Um you I I HB you run for your money. I'm telling you that lettuce was better than than you get there. Uh but I want to thank um Miss Cobb. I don't Oh, there she is. There's Miss Cobb. Miss Cobb, raise your hand, too. So, I want to thank you for that. [applause] And then finally, I just some since Halloween was there, central office got into the spirit. Um I put those up there. This is what happens when I'm out of the state, when I'm at a wedding. Um, they all had some fun. Um, in good spirit, but we thought we'd

018throw that up there just to to show uh the costumes. >> All right. Uh, now down now to some business. Uh, want to talk uh bond 2025. Um, of course, we had a bond election that didn't pass and so I've got some some comments I want to make about that and then some steps moving forward uh for the community and for our staff and our trustees. force uh you know one of the things I always tell people you it was interesting after the the election um there were a lot of people that that in the community even at football games were ask me are you okay are you mad I'm like no I mean I'm part of this community the community spoke to me now it's our job to interpret what that message was and

019what does that mean for us moving forward and so you know I don't like to lose elections so I was upset to be truthful I was upset for a little while but you know I remember you know this is a community and they spoke and that's fine um the initial conversations we've had that there was a lot of economic concerns on people's mind uh as you knew at the time of the election the government was shut down there were SNAP benefits ending and anecdotally we heard a lot of that um that that was a reason for a no vote that being said I'm going to tell you a few of the things we're going to do uh to listen to the community because it's not enough just to get the anecdotal stories we hear we

020need to get some survey data and some other data to really understand what is it that our our community wants us to spend the money on um for our students and we need to understand uh what about our messaging didn't work or whether they want the money to be going in a different direction. Um and then finally, I I I want to emphasize and I said this during the election, I'll say this now. Uh just because a bond election fails doesn't mean the needs went away. >> We still have ACs that are breaking. We have a foundation that we need to fix and we got a couple of roofs that are going to go bad over time. So that has not disappeared. And I do believe our community wants our kids to have those things.

021And so we're going to have to think about when we should move forward with those um future bond proposal. As I always say, it's not a question of when we're going to have a bond proposal. I'm sorry. It's not a question of if we will have another bond proposal because that is the way the state of Texas requires us to raise funds in order to fix buildings. There is no other way to do it. So there will be a bond in the future. It's just a question of when. and that's what we're going to be listening to our community for in the future. So, for the community out there and and our our um staff, uh there will be some stakeholder groups to talk about it and there's definitely going to be some um surveys

022and that uh first one you can see we're going to be surveying our staff to get their perspectives on what they thought and how they voted, but also some surveys of course to the community at large. Uh what we're going to do with that information is over the course of the next month and a half or so, we're going to determine are there any changes to the content of the bond that we need to make. We didn't have a lot of negative feedback about what was in the bond itself. And so I'm curious to see if maybe there was it wasn't expressed and so we want to listen for that. Uh my intention um trustees is to by the January board meeting to bring forward some sort of recommendation to you about where I think

023we need to go as far as a future bond whether that's May 2026 or May 2027 or some other date in the future. Now ultimately uh the board decides whether we have an election or not and so it'll be up to you but I will bring that recommendation to you from administration by January. >> Dr. Smani, are you done with this? I've got more, but I'm happy to answer questions the whole way through. >> Well, I I think it's important to know and it's been on my mind to to really acknowledge our staff that worked tirelessly throughout all these months, 18 months to plan this bond. And I just want to say that your hard work does not go unnotice. We know it took a lot of hard work and I just want everybody to

024know that, you know, we I'm grateful. We are grateful and just because of these results doesn't mean anything on your part. We're going to continue supporting you and you know, we're going to we're going to do better and we're in this together. So, I just want to make sure you know that we value your hard work and your hard work did not go unnoticed. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. And uh also um the citizens groups that also supported this uh this work doesn't not only does it not go unnoticed, but this work is actually a foundation of all future bonds >> because the work that was identified doesn't disappear. It's just we need to decide which groups of that work we go forward with when. So that work doesn't disappear. It's valued work and

025it was needed work and we're just going to build upon it. Um but since we're post election, there are some things some factual information I need to put out there and this is um for the trustees because this is going to help inform decision- making and for the community is to help to understand why we're going to have to make some decisions we've got to make. Um we are estimating there's about a 4% escalation cost. Um so a $385 million bond will cost more in the future uh just because of inflation. And so that's just an estimate up there. And not everybody realizes that costs are increasing rapidly. If you you see what's happening at the grocery store, it's happening in construction also. um the three safety um projects that are delayed. Uh we h

026were going to attempt to address um Joyce Turner uh with this bond, changing the layout of Mayor New Techch High School to improve the safety. Um and there were some safety features including fencing and camera that was in this bond uh for elementary schools. Um there's not a funding source at this time. Blue Bonnet trail elementary school. Just a quick explanation. Right now, it is estimated to be a 30 $32 million renovation for Blue Bontra Elementary School. There is a point where it makes more sense to build a brand new elementary school, which will be about $60 million um in future costs. Uh I can't, somebody asked me, I can't tell you when that's going to be. It really depends when the systems all start to fail. Uh and I can't tell you when that's

027going to be. uh engineers will just tell you there is a point where we will recommend to you don't even bother trying to fix the building to rebuild the building and so that's informing part of our timeline as to when we need to address this uh included in that 100 million is the 30 million for bubon trail but there is $und00 million in deferred maintenance over the from the past and maintenance needs to be done in the next 6 to8 years that does not have a funding source at this time that doesn't go away um deferred maintenance is things from the past and so every year. As we move forward, more of that maintenance becomes deferred maintenance because we haven't done it yet. And so we estimate $und00 million over 68 years that needs to

028be addressed. Uh then finally, we do have uh student and staff technology. It is beginning to fail. Uh is going to begin to fail at a faster rates. And I'm going to give you an example. It's not even just uh David gave me this one. I don't think David's here, but um there is software that the education a uses to do testing on on devices. Uh a number of our devices no longer will even update to use that software. And so it's not even that the device fails. The companies don't update those devices any longer to be able to to take the software that we're required to use uh to implement the program. But we are going to have to find a way to address that as well. And so if if you hear us

029doing different things, a lot of this is going to come back to you. We don't have those funding sources right now. So we're going to have to do something different. Uh I also want to talk a little bit about the financial constraints that the district is moving into. Uh this this was slide was always going to be in November because we're about to turn our attention um or actually already have to the 2627 budget. Um, as I've told many people, we balanced our budget, which is a huge, huge accomplishment. I I don't pretend like we balanced the budget the way we want to for the future. So, we are going to start making those adjustments and start gathering that feedback, but everybody needs to have a clear picture of the constraints we're under. When you

030have a balanced budget, if you're going to spend money in one place, it's got to come from somewhere. And in that we have some increased costs and considerations that I have up here that's important for people to be aware of. So one of the things that's new on this list though is all the deferred maintenance projects. So at some point if an air conditioning fails, we either have to abandon that classroom or we have to fix the AC. So we've got to find the money to be able to afford to fix the AC or literally we will abandon classrooms. Uh that it's just what's going to happen. Uh the other thing that's new here and uh Mr. Santiago can talk more about this later on is in talking with uh one of the rating agencies,

031they want to see us replenish our fund balance over the next two years to avoid them dereasing our rating. Right now we have a strong financial rating and for the public that's your credit score basically and we're good. but they want to see more money in our savings account uh in the next two years or they will consider us for downgrading our credit rating and of course that impacts um future bonds and future loans. Uh the good well the good news is we're moving in that direction of increasing our fund balance but the thing people need to understand we can't just balance the budget. We actually have to have surpluses in order to build up the fund balance. So that's got to be put into some of our long-term uh planning here. Um then of

032course we always got to be competitive with compensation. Uh we want to manage the workload of staff. I put classroom sizes up there. Uh but even our maintenance staff we need to think about and the amount of workload we're asking them to do as well. Uh and then finally uh our our healthcare providers are saying we should be looking at for a 20 to 30% increase in health care premiums. and we're going to have to make a decision as a district how much of that if all of it we absorb or are we going to pass that on. So all of this put together is what the constraints that are on our budget that we're navigating moving into 2627. I know I see some long faces out there. So let me give just give you

033the one good thing is you balance the budget. I say it wasn't just me, it was all of us. We balanced the budget. That means we at least have a choice is what we want to do to accomplish these things where other people are just slashing and burning because they don't have a choice. We do. Which is why we're going to enter this next phase in conversation about our priorities so that we know which of these things we're going to do. And uh President Cortez, I think you were going to say something. >> Oh, no, no, go ahead. Okay. Uh, I do have some things that independent of that conversation about how much are we going to address workload versus compensation versus healthcare, there are some things that that I'm going to recommend that we

034we do and that we're going to start considering and I want to just go ahead and put that out there. Um, currently we have $1.3 million in 2019 bond interest um that has not been spent and that was uh right now it's earmarked for povolt and discus at newk high school and an amphitheater. Uh I'm going to recommend that we don't do those projects and we hold that money back in order to pay for any deferred maintenance that may come along. Now that is that is money that has been allocated already to those projects. it will require a future board vote to allocate that money in a different direction. Um, but I just want you to know I'm going to recommend that. Uh, the reason we never started those projects is pending a bond vote.

035We were going to master plan the whole area to find out where is the best place for those locations for those items. But obviously without a bond, we're not master planning or don't have the funds to master plan the area. I am going to be looking uh we already have started looking at the transportation system. Um we're looking at whether we reduce some more routes uh in different places in different schools in order to decrease the number of riders and of course the number of money um and the amount of miles that our our buses are going. Um that's another place that um I'm hoping to bring some dollar amounts that that could save us. Uh we need to consider consolidating some of the programming. I believe that we can improve student achievement by uh

036combining some of our dual language programs. And the reason for that is it it is very difficult in central Texas to fully staff um dual language programs at every single campus. And just like other districts, we have vacancies. And so collapsing those vacancies by combining programs at uh schools in the neighborhood, you have an opportunity to reduce the number of teachers you want and increase the efficiency while improving student achievement. And so I'll be bringing some some real numbers to you in the future to give you some idea of what that impact would be. Uh uh finally uh we there we're still looking at other things we can do internally. Uh some of those are ending contracted services and I and we they already know I'm going to say this and we agreed for me

037to say this. So I've been talking with Breakthrough. Uh I know they provide a lot of things from tutoring to counseling to some summer programs. It is a two 200,000 plus a year um program that we're paying for and they are going to work to try to find other funding to continue the program but they know that we're going to scale back that program significantly or rather our funding of that program significantly. So, in return, um I did say that if they can find the funding for their summer program that we will provide the same building. We're doing summer school, so it's not a lot of overhead cost to us. Um but they would provide the transportation costs and all the costs for the programming. Um so, I'm just using that as an example. We

038are going to have to um reduce some of the services that we have been offering through these contracts in order to be able to free up more money for the other things that I believe are a higher priority for our students. and for our staff. Um and then finally, um we want to maintain that low, uh lower than average central administration to campus ratio. Um I don't have those numbers flushed out. Mr. Santiago and I have been doing some data I'm going to provide the board and the committee in the future. We've been compares ourselves to low to other districts and and I'm proud to say we are um where we need to be. In fact, we are a little bit lower than some of our peer districts in our ratio from administrative expenditures to

039um campus instructional expenditures, but we have to stay there and that's always always a thing that's difficult sometimes. Um but we are in the right spot there. And so we'll bring those numbers, some nice graphs that Mr. Santiago has been creating, but we'll bring some of those forward so that we can show the community where we stand as far as our spending goes with other districts. Um, but I want to stop there and open to any comments or questions the board has about these or about the timeline as far as um future bond recommendations. >> I have question and just looking at what's on the screen right now. I mean, one that is a quick pivot and probably some families are out there thinking what does this mean possibly for transportation, right? I know we

040recently increased um the walk to um a bus stop. What are you thinking aside from minimizing perhaps routes? Are you in the team even considering further than we already are? Help us understand what that might look like because I'd like to put a pin in that and ease some mind so that families aren't thinking about that right out of the gate. >> Well, I I think the most I feel comfortable talking about is it's not going to happen this school year and so there will be a lot of lead time. I don't want to bring something up where I find out later it doesn't really save us that much money. [clears throat] So why did I even bring it up? >> I do intend in December to bring it up and say here are the

041dollar amounts that I think we can save. And so if uh people hold on um till December so I have the actual savings um then I think it's worth talking at that point. >> Perfect. I think that that helps. Christy Patterson, did you add >> comment is just uh public needs to know that um the inability to pass the bond is going to um cause superintendent and the board to make very tough decisions. U um the bond was necessary really. It was no fluff in that bond. So when the superintendent says things like abandoning classrooms that might come to fruition, uh we are very um uh frugal and responsible with public dollars as a board. We're going to continue to do that. Uh but just know that, you know, 85 to 86% of any school

042district budget is people. So, we just have some tough decisions coming up in the next year or two. >> Thank you, Trustee Patterson. >> All right, Dr. Sarmani. information items [clears throat] monthly 10.1 monthly financial report >> team of eight. >> Thank you. >> Have any questions on the financial report? >> We're good. >> [clears throat] >> We're good. >> Okay. So, um touching up on the subject of long-term uh finance financing. Um refers mainly to our credit rating. Um last year uh we were uh audited not audited but um basically checked our our financials were um advised or by the um police agency and uh the financial uh result of the uh of that agency wasn't as harsh as this one. Um this is a different rating agency um S&P Global Financials. Um a

043credit rating basically it's is it's an informal opinion of what our financial position is and if um an external view of whether we are going to be able to meet our um liabilities whether shortterm or long term. short-term meaning um operating um expenses um our uh pay off our of our loan um this one year uh debt um and long-term um our uh bond um debt. And so uh this uh credit rating report provides transparency to the public to investors to anybody who wants to see our financials how we are navigating um through this turmoil times. Um it um depicts um what actions the administration is taking um to correct uh this um it also depicts uh what uh the well let me go through the presentation what uh S&P um a results uh were

044um they will not downgrade us um at this time uh our current rating is at a uh double A uh stable uh it will go from a stable uh position or outlook into a negative. Now uh they did tell us and they were very uh clear with us um that if we do not um if we do not um put our uh fund balance back to in a uh solvent position there is a possibility that we will be downgraded in a period of two years. So uh what the report highlights uh it does uh reflect some positives for the district uh which is a strong base uh text base that we do have uh it is increasing uh based on the uh continual commercial and residential growth that we see in there. So that helps

045uh with uh maintaining our uh tax revenues flowing in and increasing and making up for some of those um other losses in other areas. So that's good. The other thing uh that we have positive in the report is our enrollment. We have uh a steady enrollment. Um we have not reached to a point where um it is um it it declines to a level where um our wealth per student uh becomes uh less than the value and then recapture hits. We're not at that point. Um so uh our level of enrollment is keeping up with the at least with the level of uh growth that we see um in our uh property values. Uh the report did highlight uh financial weaknesses um in our in our uh net worth uh values or net worth position.

046So uh over the last three years highlighting here we see a strong decline in the general fund balance and the main one uh hit our books on year 2425 last year. So um as you were talking about this um initiatives that we're going to take uh moving forward last year at the same time you were in a worse position. We did not have a plan. And I look at my our budget kind of like kind of like a driving a car approaching a curve where if you don't have any control, well, you see the budget at that point. I see that we have control over the budget. We know what we can do to keep that car from or getting out of control. We know what we have to do at this point to um

047not um wreck our car or our our financial or budget decision. So um it does reflect um a rapid deterioration of um reserves um as compared to our peers uh schools similar size. So um because of those uh things our creditworthiness um is in a uh right now in a negative position. Um they are really looking at our what the district is going to do uh to correct this. Um the report highlights what actions um we are taking. We try to convince them uh with everything that we are doing. Uh even from bringing other sources unaccounted for everything uh we did our best to try to convince them. Nonetheless, we were uh not successful as the other time as we uh convinced uh Moody's. So uh this uh radio agency is a little bit more

048hard on us. Um so um we have two years uh to correct our fund balance. Um there will be no uh direct impact into operations uh but as Dr. Smani mentioned there will be a higher cost in the future uh on top of inflation cost um cost to issue new debt or even borrow on the short short term. >> Questions? >> Trusty Patterson and then Trusty Rodri. What what should our reserves what percentage should our reserves be? >> Based on the um unodudited uh report uh from 2425, what we are looking at right now is a um a reserve of 1.2 months, operating months. Our reserves have to be at least no less than four months. or we I we are way more. >> And of our peer districts that um they compare us to,

049do they take into account whether those districts are have balanced budgets or they go into surplus budgets? >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. They do. Um and uh in fact I looked at some of our districts and uh their fund balance is in the 40 millions where we were about four years ago where we did not had to dip into the fund balance. So yes um it has to be at least somewhere in there uh to enable us to operate uh within a four to five month uh period. Oh, I had another question. Um, based on the forecast that you see for us and knowing the direction, you know, a year or two out, even three years where you've had us, um, when we've sat down to do budget workshops and things like that, um, we're

050headed in the right direction. My question is, what's the delta from like here now to this two years that's looming? Are we going to be at that point where we may not even be asking for the the borrowing like we have been? So help me understand what that looks like. >> I don't think we have any other options. We have to correct this in a period of two years. Um Dr. mentioned uh just a balanced budget is not going to do it. We have to pass surplus budgets or we have to be more frugal than what we are currently are and at the end of the year expect to put more into fund balance. >> Go ahead. >> I know Mr. Santio doesn't want me to say it, but I'm going to say it anyway.

051So, um, in in the tonight you have a an amendment um in consensity vote on it shows a balanced budget on there. Uh, Mr. Santiago purposely did not put in there all the one-time dollars that are coming in because we're out of sight, out of mind. It goes straight into our fund balance. And so, um, you know, Mr. Santiago did a fantastic job of auditing past years and, um, he's recouping almost $4 million from TEA and over payments and recapture. And so, that's not reflected in that amendment. That's we're going to run a surplus. Um, I wanted to point that out because it doesn't show that on the amendment, but we are actually technically running a surplus, but we're trying to we're trying to take all one-time income and put it aside so that it

052we don't spend it. We live within our means and keep growing that fund balance. >> I think it is point to uh it's it's a good point to um go into detail on this uh report because there's a lot happening right here uh that was not happening last year. Last year at this same time we were not getting the same amount of state um uh funding um we got new funding our ADA was increased the basic aotment uh the other thing that's happening this year that was not happening last year is our state payments were not coming in on time which is a reason why I had to come uh to you all and ask for a 30 uh million loan uh last year in May but as a result of those estate payments coming

053in, I still have about 17 million on reserves of untapped loan proceeds which is going to allow us to pay our our note easier or sooner that we had anticipated going to be some cost uh savings in there and interest cost. The thing right here is what uh Dr. Somali mentioned uh we did not put in the budget that we adopted that we were going to appeal the state controllers values that brought in more than 4 million back that's two years of uh unappealed uh state control. We are in the process of appealing uh the 2324 and the 2425. So, we should expect a little bit more and we're not anticipating uh we're not accounting for that in the in the operating budget, but that's going to help us increase those. >> Well, thank you

054um Moes for all this in-depth um conversation on the credit report ratings and everything. I remember September of last year, October of last year when we were going for loans and we knew we were going to go loans again. I kept on asking if it would affect us and I knew, >> you know, for the credit rating and that was a concern. But what I do really appreciate is that um we knew we kind of knew this was going to be happening, but I what I really appreciate is all the monies you found helping us balance the budget and then continuing to find areas like underneath the rug, the sofas, where [laughter] wherever you're finding and helping us identify uh opportunities where we can um see more revenue, re recapture more revenue. revenue. And I

055really appreciate that because um I have to say in the state of the climate that we are in in public education, we're one of the few districts that have been able to balance a budget despite of all the setbacks and all the needs that we have. And and I just can't thank you guys enough. It's it, you know, and we're already in progress in a plan moving forward to make sure we put more money in the in the fund balance. And I I just hope that um you know um everybody knows all the hard work that has been done behind it and the support of of the board, the team of eight and and all the hard work you've done. So, thank you. pretty been a pretty tough ride, but uh it's a collaborative effort

056here and I feel that we're heading in the right way. >> Thank you. >> I'm going to go into the >> So then um so that was 10.2 on the first rating. >> Oh, 10.1. Okay, wait ahead. I'm going to continue on the first rate. You can continue. Go ahead. Yes. >> Yes. Okay. So, this is the 2425 uh first financial uh report card and um it's based on the 2324 uh data. Um a lot of this that I'm going to present um of course is a year behind um but uh some of these indicators that we are passing might not be the same situation for the 2425. So I'm going to reference this uh as um I'm going highlight those indicators when we get to those. Um of course uh the purpose of this

057uh rating is to provide um school districts and encourage them to better manage their finances and uh provide uh the maximum allocation possible uh for direct instructional purpose. Uh there are um four different types of ratings that school districts receive and u uh a um superior and right after the above standard and then c standards and substandard achievements and uh for this um the first rating also has uh three different types of indicators. Uh the first five are critical ones uh which if a school district fails one it is immediately uh put as a um the uh above standard uh category uh the solvency indicators and then you have your financial competency uh indicators uh from 15 to 21. So there's a total of 21 indicators. Uh the school district received a superior rating um

058increased by two points for um over the previous So this is the third time consecutively in the um that the school district has received a superior uh achievement. So for our financial status [applause] so uh let me go into the uh critical indicators. Uh the first financial uh was if the uh audit was completed uh and submitted on time. Yes. And uh was there an unmodified opinion? That's the highest a school district can receive or opinion can receive. Uh so yes. And then indicator number three uh has to do with um with the district u pay being uh in compliance with all payments of all debt agreements during the fiscal year. So yes. Uh indicator number four did the district make timely payments to the organizations such as TRS uh workforce commission the IRS and

059of course we uh made all timely payments. So we received a yes. Uh indicator number five um was the net position of the district uh was a positive or greater than zero and yes it was uh we actually had a 43 uh 9 million net position during this particular year. Uh indicator number six, uh was the average uh changed fund balances over the last three years uh less than 25% um decrease or did the current year assign and unassigned fund balances exceeded 75 days of operational um expenses and yes uh it was actually 98 days. So this was a good year. Um um was the number of days cash cash on hand uh and current investments in the general fund for the school district sufficient to cover operating expenditures and uh yes it was sufficient

060was actually 118 uh days almost about four four months in uh was a measure of current assets and current uh liabilities ratio for the school district sufficient to cover short-term debt. Uh this one um measures if we're able to meet our uh short-term or less than one-year obligations. And so we uh scored 10 on this one. Did the school district's general fund revenues equal or exceeded expenditures um excluding uh facilities and acquisitions. So yes, uh we had a um a surplus uh revenues did exceeded expenditures in this particular year, but this is the one that's going to affect us in 2425. So there's a possible uh chance that this rating might uh or this indicator might decrease as a result of the of the um deficit at the end of the the year. So I

061just want to u make aware of that. Uh was a ratio of long-term liabilities to assets and this one measures whether school district is able to pay long-term debt um meet our bond obligations and um this one we scored a a six and um actually our total assets changed from 75 to 80% which is good um and um but we are looking at more or less of a ratio of uh 60% and we are trying to achieve this with a continuing defeasence of bonds. So that's our only way that we can improve this one either increase our assets or continue defeasing uh was the correlation between future debt requirements and the district's assessed property values. Uh this one we scored a maximum of eight uh points. This one is a brand new indicator. So um

062as values rise here um the this ratio uh should help um increase. So the the ideal uh ratio is to be somewhere in the 4% point average in order to uh generate those 10 points. Indicator 13 was the school district's administrative cost ratio equal to or less than the threshold ratio. This is the one that um we normally look and uh we want to compare our peers to. We want to see what the administrative cost ratio is to the uh cost of providing instruction. So um here we did uh make uh an improvement uh from 11 uh% to um down from 13% to 11%. uh the ideal point uh is to be uh somewhere within the um within the 10% uh area. So the lower the better. Indicator 14, uh did the school district not

063receive a 15% decline in the student uh to staff ratios? And uh no um our enrollment increase so we were able to stay there. So we miss uh received a score of maximum score of 10 and um uh indicator uh number 16 uh did the comparison of uh the pimp's data uh to like information the school district f resulted in a variance of less than 3%. So uh we passed that one. Uh what this one um measures is the accuracy of the data that we submit in teams versus what's reported in the audit. Uh indicator number 17, did the external auditor reported the F? Um the um annual financial report was free of any instances of material weaknesses and uh there were none. So we pass uh this indicator. Uh number 18, uh did the

064external uh independent auditor indicate the F was free of any instances of material non-compliance for uh grants, contracts or and loss related to local, state, and federal um uh funs. This one has to do more with the management uh and administration of uh programs and and operations. So, uh maximize 10 points on that one. Indicator 19, did the school district post a required financial information on its website? And yes, we um uh met all of the u all of those um public uh legislation requirements. Did the uh school district's um administration and school board discuss any changes and or impact to local, state, and federal funding on a board meeting within 120 days before the district adopted its budget? Uh yes, we do. And that is critical that we discuss this information because it is

065uh what our revenues for uh that we operate with our based on. Uh the last indicator uh did the school district receive an adjusted repayment schedule for more than one fiscal year or an allocation of fun of FSP funding because of a financial hardship. Um we did receive an adjustment to our state um funded but not as a result of a financial hardship on this particular year. Most mainly had to do with more the over projection of ADA. Um but school districts fail this uh usually fail this rate when they are not able to repay uh or reimburse the state over a period of two to three years. Uh other disclosures right here are have to do with the superintendent's contract and there's a link right there where uh anyone can click to view the

066superintendent's contract and uh right here is your um expenditures as it relates to travel uh meals, lodging, transportation and um this is all the board present at the time uh for this uh rating report. And then we have uh right here uh more disclosures and the continue disclosures right here. And again uh the district did pass this rating with a superior uh achievement and a score of 92. Any questions? Do we have any questions from the audience? Any question from our trustees? All right, guess we're good to go. Thank you, Moyes. Thank you very much. >> Um 10.3 2019 bond update team. So, I'm going to call up here Armando in case y'all have any questions for me. Um, like last time I >> So, so we do have a just to highlight Arand will

067highlight a couple of uh fencing projects that we have at the Mayor High School. We had uh three additional fencing projects. So, I'll talk about >> Good evening, team eight. Uh the ongoing projects we have right now are going to be at the Mayor High School uh complex. Actually today uh it met with access control and I'll have my um hardware by the end of the month and we'll be have it installed during our Christmas break. Uh so that's pretty much it for the ongoing projects we have now for the 2019. >> Good additional questions. I just saw a bunch. Complete, complete, complete, complete. >> It's getting better. >> So, pretty much. No, I guess we're all good. Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Um, we'll move on to 10.4 GM GPM number three,

068CCMR, board monitoring report. Dr. Williams Hill. Good evening, team of eight. Good evening. I >> have the pleasure of presenting to you tonight an update on our goal progress measure three. And so we will start with the class of 2023 data. The last update you received was April 2025. And so since then we've received some updated reports on this particular slide for 2023. The only update that you see are that there are actual numbers instead of rounding up from April. So these are the numbers on the actual taper report. That's the only difference for the class of 2024. If you take a look at the college prep course credit, that number remained the same at 17.5%. And the TSI assessment criteria for reading and math, for reading, it remained the same. And for math, it

069increased to 35.7% whereas your last update you received, it was 15%. If you look down at the career section in blue, that data has increased from 4% to 11.5%. And over to the far right where it says met both TSI criteria at 43.1%. That number remained the same. And as we get deeper into the presentation, I'll talk about some of the adjustments and findings we've made over the last several months. We do have an update on the military slide. We had previously reported 0% and that was one of those data points that we talked about during the taper report that we did not have a mechanism to accurately report military data because Texas had not yet had an agreement with the federal government. And in January 2025, that agreement was made and so they're working

070out the details. So, we've had some students and families report uh since the last update. Any questions about school year 2024 or graduating class 2024 for the class of 2025. As you know, CCMR is a lagging data lagging in a year. So, some of the most notable updates for the college section and the college prep course credit, we have 30%. For the TSI assessment for math, it's 50%. And our data sources for the 2025 grad graduating class of 2025 is our on data suite, our early warning indicator in which we keep track of data on students so that we can see which areas of CCMR our students can meet that criteria. This data on this slide is as of October 31st, which is our snapshot date for this year. And so we do expect for

071those numbers to be updated. >> Madame President, can I ask a question? >> Yes, go ahead, Trusty. Sorry. I was wondering um of the college prep assessments that are showing here, which ones are ones that we make a point to provide accessibility for our students to take? Um which are more just if they happen to take it, then that data comes in. Um it looks like numbers are going down for meeting ACT criteria, but that could be that that's just not the assessment that students are preferring now. So I was just wondering about that. >> Right. So this is as of data of October 31st. So what you're seeing for you are students who have met this criteria as of October 31st. And so the assessments that the district is working on is primarily TSI

072and TSIA to get students to increase their performance levels and proficiency in TSIA. And so that's the focus that we have. the SAT and the ACT test. That is student select and choice, but the district is focusing on TSIA for all students. >> Thank you. >> So, so the total CCMR credit from one year to the next went from 62 to 71. Is that significant? that is significant, but that's also based upon the data as of October 31st. >> And so there will be some updates to the data as the year progresses. >> I would say that that's that data is already trending very nicely and it's impressive that we're only talking about the fall semester. So, thank you for all of this work. >> Thank you. Remember that's the class of 2025. It's already

073graduated. So, >> Oh, okay. Yeah. >> But, but we can collect CCMR indicators through October 31st. So, we don't necessarily have everything for the class of 2025. >> Okay. >> So, we're about to look what you're talking about. We're about to look at now. >> Okay. So for the class graduating class of 2026 what you have before you still data as of October 31st 2025 and you can see there that we are at 31% and that's of as of uh 31st 2025 >> but hopefully we'll probably reach 80 some >> yes and we will get to that in the upcoming slides. Yes. >> And Dr. Williams, on that slide, I just want to remind everybody in order to keep our data clean, this is literally if the school year start stopped today, this is what

074TEA would give us credit for. >> But of course, kids haven't completed their coursework. So, we're not claiming them until we can claim them. Now, we uh she'll talk about any any future predictions they may have or may not have. So, I just want to be clear, that's not the data. That's like right this second. Can I ask a question on the military piece? Um, do we do do principles know anybody that's already made a commitment to the military? Do we know in continuing to work with our relationships with all branches? Do we know if there are any seniors that their junior year over the summer they did boot camp? because that is definitely one way to get them get them in and and to know that number and then you've got somebody recruiting, right?

075It's on your campus and actively already in the armed forces. >> I do not know that number, but I can provide an update in the in the Friday report. >> Okay. >> M Rodri, I did have an update from our our Marine guy. I don't know if I'd said this here, but he told me that the Pentagon is now open for ROC official junior ROC applications. they haven't for really long time. So, I'm excited to try to make sure we get in on both campuses. And so, that'll help that number as well. I think that's a no-brainer for us to get into that. But, um, he was waiting for the government shutdown to end before he could do anything about it. So we have our overall CCMR goal um in which you have set the

076metrics for us to strive towards and so you will see some updates uh to the numbers that you were provided in April of 2025. And so our last report for 2024 was 59%. So we're at 62% and 71% with the 2025 beta questions. >> I know I just killed one, too. I will move fast but not as quickly as the ants. We're moving. So goal progress measure uh 3.1 that's for the TSI compliance in English and math and one of your questions is what is the test that we are focusing on and that's an indicator of college readiness for students. We know and we know with how they score on that test determines what courses they have to take in high school or in college. And so you'll see that the metrics that you set

077uh for 24 and 25 that we have met those metrics for the past two years and are striving to meet that 50% or more for 2026 as well. For progress measure 3.2 that is the dual credit course indicator. You see for the past two years we have not met that criteria by double digits and our goal for 2026 is 40% and we'll talk about what we have found over the past several months. Then GPM 3.3 regarding IBC's you see that in 2024 our numbers were 11.5% which is well be below the goal that was set as well as for 2025 6.57% which is well below the 15% with 2026 a goal of 20%. So if we take each of the goal progress measures by um 3.1 3.2 by subject area for the past uh few

078months the team has been identifying what are the challenges what are the interventions if we apply those interventions what are the expected outcomes and how will that impact the goal progress measures. So when we talk about TSIA, if we when we looked at the data, the team realized that there needs to be more targeted instruction for students at the A through 12th grade in both English and math. And so what the CIA and uh academic support team did is that they created an intervention plan that um utilizes time in class during intervention periods in which students can access at home to increase their reading and math fluency and comprehension on the TSIA. So the district has purchased uh software to use in those four different areas so that students can actually see and teachers can

079see in real time their level of proficiency and progress and anticipate how they will score on the TSIA. the expected outcome by focusing on that and leveraging the software is getting real- time data in that moment to where teachers can work with students, parents can also see and students can work at home and counselors and teachers can have those conversations about what needs to happen next for Tammy because she scored this on the assessment on the platform that is calibrated to student learning. By doing that, we hope to catch our students early in the process and provide interventions rather than waiting. And the expected outcome is that for the 2526 school year, our students will demonstrate a higher proficiency levels on the TSI assessment resulting in an increased TSI assessment scores. So for 3.2 2

080dual credit TSIA also plays a role in the dual credit. What the team found is that in order to increase dual credit access and create and credit acrruel, students must first pass the TSIA test. That was one challenge that the team discovered. Another challenge was that the percentage of students meeting the dual credit indicator has remained unchanged for the past couple of years. And so what the team decided to do was to leverage that software that they purchased and to um have the interventions at those four opportune times for students during their intervention courses during the day, during enrichment time, during advisory and at home. And so with the same expected outcome by having students focusing on the TSIA, the teachers and the counselors monitoring that data real time will also impact the dual credit

081opportunities and access for students. >> What is the enrichment time during during the high school? So enrichment time uh during high school is their um some people call it advisory some campuses call it um enrichment time um I don't know of any other names that they might call it >> enrichment time. >> So enrichment time and advisory [snorts] >> are basically the same thing. >> Yes. Is that right? >> Advisory lasts how long? How often is it? It varies by campus. So, it's anywhere from 30 uh to 40 minutes >> and it's every day >> on some campuses. Yes. On other campuses modified schedule. So um are the um are the plans as varied as the schedules are? >> So good question. And so that um is one of uh my questions as well as

082I learn about this process. How do we know that the time allotted is meaningful enough to produce the results that we want? And so part of the work that this team is doing is figuring out what each campus is doing, how often and when so that we know that what has been put in place as an intervention will yield the results that we want. one of the uh platforms the papaya learning I can't remember how many minutes uh per day is it 10 15 minutes how many oh 45 minutes uh twice a week um guaranteed to help students um with their reading fluency and so we do know that based upon that platform's promise and how the system is set up that if we do that then x y and z will happen the next

083part um is Actually on the last slide that we'll talk about is each department is addressing the issue in a different way. The question is are they complementing each other and not overlapping and creating duplicates and that's our next step as a team is that interdep departmental collaboration because the counseling guidance knows what work to do. The CIA knows what work to do. Curriculum instruction assessment team knows what work to do. Um the academic team will do and they've had conversations and now it's time are we yielding the results that we are desiring as well as bringing in campus administration part of that conversation for that exact reason. How do we know that the advisory enrichment time the 20 30 minutes or 45 minutes is enough time to build those results? I have a question.

084Um, the interventions that we're using, the software that we're using is increasing the test scores, which allows these students to take the dual credit classes. Is there a plan to address the dual credit course itself and students getting credit for those courses versus first getting in, right? And then once you're in, do we have interventions in place to help them pass those classes? >> That I don't know if we have interventions to uh for the students then dual credit courses. That's part of my exploration um into this area because part of that piece if we do one part and we don't have supports for the next part, it doesn't really help us much if we do not have a plan that we can articulate and we don't have progress monitoring. Best part of my work

085that I need to learn from the team is if we do this with our next step with our intended results, how do we know that for dual credit that we are actually getting what we want? And if we're not successful during our progress monitoring, what is our backup plan? What do we pivot to? I'll have an update for you. I have a wondering but I don't think this is a question for you Dr. Williams. So um I I suppose my wondering leads me back to our discussion around technology and the capabilities of our students technology to be able to handle the software that they're being asked to utilize. My wondering is centered around the intervention software and other softwares that we're having students utilize both at school and at home. Um I'm just curious where

086we're at in the number of students that are we are ensured that they have the technology they need that it's able to meet the needs of the programs. I think that'd be a good one to bring forward in December because we are that $1.3 million that I'm recommending we do something different with part of that's got to be allocated for Armando and his team for maintenance and failed systems, but we're also working with our bond council to see if we can divert some of that to critical techn technology needs. I I do just know just kind of a hallway chat that they do we do have a backup plan. Uh it's going to be I hate to use this resource this way, but we have to we would have to move a large number of

087devices from upper grade levels down to lower grade levels and switch out some newer devices up to the upper grade levels in order to address exactly what you're saying because it's the upper grade levels that the software is becoming a problem. And so there is a backup plan. Um, I just I'm I'm hopefully going to avoid it because that is a lot of manh hours we're dedicating to just shuffling devices from one instead of going on a regular refresh schedule. >> So, I know the tech people know exactly what I'm talking about. >> All right. for GPM 3.3 for IBC's. Um, one of the challenges um that was discovered that in 2019 to 2022 EA sunset some IBC programs and Mayor ISD did not adapt to that change and update its uh courses. And so

088what that means is generally when TEA sunsets uh programs they give us about two to three years to make any adjustments to make sure that students can complete a pathway. We did not do that um in 2019 and so that left us with some singleton classes or kids not able to complete the pathways and so the CTE offerings as a result of that um we have to be mindful of when those changes uh come to fruition. Just like last year in 2425 there were some that were sunset again and so we need to adjust. So my question is what did we do last year in order to prepare for this change that we know that was implemented last year? And so knowing that um we did not do that in 2019 2022 and one just

089came out um last year as part of the conversation that I'll have with the team. What have we done to make some of those adjustments given that these changes are there? And I'm told some adjustments were already made this year in aligning some of the courses that are parallel and have made sure that students pathways will not be interrupted by putting them in the new similarly um programmed pathway if that makes any sense. And so I'm digging a little bit deeper into that to make sure that we do not have another 2019 2022. The interventions for uh this challenge is that uh counselors have or will be conducting strategic student advising sessions to make sure that students are in the correct pathways according to their schedules and course selections and that teachers our CTE teachers

090will also promote the programs and IBC opportunities for our students. And the expected outcome of that is that campus personnel they're better positioned to be able to guide students in CTE pathways that reflect the current labor market trends and the changes from TEA about the IBC's and our anticipated impact to goal progress measure three point three is that students will gain the skill sets and increase preparedness for the workforce so that we can meet that 20% goal progress measure. Another anticipated is that our teachers and counselors can speak to what the pathways actually are and be able to look at students schedules to make the appropriate adjustments and time so that they are on the best pathway that is for them and so that students are aware of the different pathways um that they can

091be a part of. If I go back to this slide as an example for IBC's. So, I was uh sitting in uh my office today working um through this process with um one of the directors and we were talking and my question was what are we doing for our students who receive special education services as I'm looking at the numbers? And so, it just so happens that um the executive director walked by and I called him into my office said, "Hey, we're having this conversation. What are we doing to make sure or students who receive special education services are on the appropriate pathways. And so I'm listening to both of them have a conversation. As I'm listening, as someone who's new to the department, what I hear is that [music] we know what should be

092happening. Um, one of the directors said the counselors will meet with the students. The executive director said yes. and during the transition art and they had a conversation about what happens in eighth grade and ninth grade. And so what they realized as they were talking was who's progress monitoring and who's checking and how are parents and students being informed of the different options for them not just for the CCMR credit but something that they're actually interested in and that it's attainable. And so through that conversation today and just over the past couple of weeks, I think we are realizing that people think things are happening and have good intentions for happening. But how are we intentionally checking to make sure that that's happening and what systems do we have in place? So at the conclusion

093of that meeting, we're having another meeting to figure out to make sure that what we expect and think is happening is actually happening in a way that is designed for for students. >> I would like to thank you for addressing that. Uh the last update we had was April of this year. Um and Mr. Patterson had asked how are we informing families about these pathways not specific to um students in special education but overall and there was no answer. So still maybe no answer but I'm glad that it's being addressed >> and I think that's part of um our learning experience. I know for me um our uh team is well intentioned on making sure that things happen. Sometimes we just forget to pause and do some intentional checks or and rewind and maybe go

094back and adjust a few things. So I think everyone is working in their best capacity. We just have to learn for this particular process that it is cross departmental and we have to put the measures in place to get the results that we want to see. So those are our next steps. So which goes actually uh to the next slide. what um the findings have been um for me in particular and a little bit for the team that there are basically three categories of work that we need to do um for our goal progress uh monitor goal progress measure three and one of them is the CCMR resources and so the team has been working on those for months uh to make sure that um students have the resources that they need that uh campus

095administration They're meeting with the counseling and guidance department and so Miss Butler has been leading that charge and making sure that administration and counselors are on the same page and the district CCMR team. Who does that who comprises that team and what is the ultimate goal of that team? We know that district central office is here to support campuses, but what does that look like for CCMR as a concerted effort and then via our individual departments um using school links, the post-secondary platform to support the data tracking. The district had the software last year but added an additional component this year that will help us better track in real time and give us data about where students are in their pathways. And it also um the hope is to increase our data integrity and making

096sure that not only are we using the CCMR spreadsheet that many school districts use, but we have an added resource that allows us to make projections and predictions about student performance and goal planning. and then also the intervention tools um such as method learning eduporia and uh papaya tutoring as some of our CCMR resources in the middle what um I also found is that for professional development um for our teachers our CTE teachers as well and making sure that they understand the scope and sequence of their courses and how IBC's uh when it it comes to testing, what should be done um advising students when you have them in their advisory classes. Um for all other nonCT teachers, our administrators, what does this actually mean? Slow down. I couldn't see you. >> Oh, no. It's

097okay. I'll just tell you to summarize it. >> Oh, summarize it. Good minute. So for our professional uh development we do know that our registars actually need some training as well because combing through this we found that there are some course uh coding errors that we need to fix um and be mindful of. So it's a comprehensive approach to professional development. And then last and most importantly, we can do all of those things, but if students and parents do not know their options or why they're choosing a specific pathway rather than a school, um that is what we're working on as well. A comprehensive plan to make sure that parents and students are not only informed, but they are connected to the different pathway options. Questions? When is this plan going to be implemented? Where

098like especially for the the right side when when a when are parents and students going to know what they need to do? So, we had a meeting before fall break to talk about when that would be and started planning that. And um we know that information roll out is important and it needs to be done um correctly and not be rushed for this next course sheet um planning cycle which starts right now. And so right now what the plan is is to make sure that students who are in their pathways and their parents know um what the next scope what the next course sequence is. And for those incoming going to have to brush it up um a little bit better with a full roll out next year because we do not want to rush

099that information. But be very intentional about this upcoming course uh sequence to figure out how to get parents informed and students informed on the appropriate courses. So that is a general plan but the actual planning process and project management tool that will be forthcoming. So we have two project leads leading that. So our next step is to put that plan on paper. Uh what about uh for seniors who are graduating uh 2026? Are there some um interventions for them to uh for us to get our our data trending in the right way? So, um, what I asked, um, one of our directors to do is to audit, um, back to the sophomores and tell me where they are, um, which students are lacking in one or two courses, who's on the pathway for completion, how

100many students do we have, what can we do, um, starting with the last three year students to map that out. And she gave me some data to start working with, and we've already begun working on that. Go ahead. >> I would just like to um reiterate if I think it was last last month that when we are discussing what it is that we're going to do that it's in the vein of that we inspect what we expect and if you don't have a way to do that then anything could come out. hope to use that as a guide for all of these areas here. >> Thank you. >> Well, the good news is um everyone is uh committed to students um which means that we are committed to meeting the goals that you have put

101um before us. And so now it's just working a little bit more intentionally and differently to make sure that we are progress monitoring and are able to pivot or say this is good and keep sailing or posting or if we need to abort mission and try something different. >> And uh I just wanted to to add one thing and one of the things I insist with the team and with Dr. Williams Hill is they only bring to you the scores that we know we have as opposed to predictive ones. So I don't want people to walk away thinking we're not trending in the right direction. We are trending in the right direction and I fully expect us to to get over 70% class of 2026 if not higher than that. Um the uh I don't

102do you remember how many students who potentially can get an IBC this year? >> Yeah, it's three >> 262. So there there's 262 students who could potentially get an IBC. That's roughly two out of every seven students, which it's almost 30% in which it was at 6% for the class of 2025 potential. But I think it speaks to what you were just saying, which is the next step. How do we make sure they get across the finish line? That number itself is a huge jump because we never had the numbers who could even get it because they were going zigzag through all their CT. Now you actually have a group that's coming through that can actually get it. And so what you're saying is right um that's the next step. East Lake. >> Yes. East

103Lake. >> Another question. >> Thank you very much. I guess we'll move on to 10.5 public hearing targeted improvement plan. Blake Blake Mayor Elementary, Dr. Matt B. >> Okay. Good evening, team of eight. >> Good evening. Um I know I stand before between you and your consent agenda. So I will I continue to work on my brevity. Last month I came to you with the turnaround plans. Um that is that's the the most urgent tier that we have in terms of improvement planning. Today I am coming to you to discuss the targeted improvement plans which is that next um tier down. And we are starting with Blake Mayor Elementary and I'll have present briefly. We'll open up for questions and if there's anybody from the public that wants to speak as well. This is the

104public hearing um portion of our of our requirement. Oh yeah, as I said. So I just wanted to give a brief explanation and then I'll be able to fly over this slide in the next couple presentations. But Blake Mayor Elementary is um required to complete a target improvement plan based on federal um rating from 2425 of comprehensive support and improvement. And the reason for that rating is um uh chronic underperformance of um one or more um student demographic groups or what people used to call as subgroups. So question I get asked is does this replace the campus improvement plan? No, they work in tandem. The campus improvement plan is much more in depth. um the strategies and the target improvement plan are embedded within the campus improvement plan. So what's required um for the TEA

105submission is talk about those strategies which I'll I'll chat about in a second um share about how re what resources are needed in order to improve or implement the plan and then um how stakeholders are going to be engaged um within the plan and to provide input. So, school improvement strategies, couple of these are going to look familiar from the turnaround plan, also in the targeted improvement plan, and that is intentional. Um, since coming last year, we've had a lot of conversations about um how to build systems and the consistency. And so one of the the the center points of any of of the turnaround plans and school improvement plans is the blue bonnet blue bonnet math implementation and our partnership with region 13 um to facilitate continued and ongoing training for both teachers and

106the um campus leaders and district managers and also um that embedded support and then ongoing observations back also papaya tutoring um getting ready to be to fully jump off and I saw emails going back and forth on Friday about when that date is. It's it's sometime I think this week Miss Austin who's in the audience today was really pushing um to get that started. uh over at Blue Bonnet, I mean over at uh Blake Mater, they're in terms of reading, um part of their school improvement strategy is focus on the daily fluency routines and then uh guided reading in small groups. And finally, Miss Austin has been working to strengthen that the MTSS framework and implementing it with fidelity. So that is in a nutshell and you saw the full text of the 50 plus

107page target improvement plan is um found in your board agenda. Opening it up for questions. >> Do we have uh any questions from the audience? Trustees, any questions? >> We're good to go, sir. >> Onward. >> Six. Uh we now will um take a look at the Blue Bonnet Trail Elementary School uh target improvement plan. Uh purpose for the presentation is the same. And they also fell into the comprehensive support and improvement uh federal rating. And so the school improvement strategies for Blue Bonnet Trail, again we talked about we built a system around improving math with the Blue Bonnet math implementation. Um Blue Bonnet Trail as well. Um we made a healthy investment in Papaya tutoring with them and u Mr. Rodriguez is working to get that implemented. Uh one of the um things that

108Mr. Rodriguez has brought to the table and has focused on at Blue Bonnet Trail is um really building a data-driven process during professional learning communities so that when teachers are meeting together at each grade level that they are um looking at the performance data of the students on a regular basis and using that to inform their um their instructional planning. And then um we're also engaging our campus leaders at Blue Bonnet Trail with um some principal coaching um both through uh using a consultant and and with me to focus that instructional leadership and build that capacity to develop to really have a keen eye for classroom observations and um and to be able to deliver bite-sized um help uh if uh just coaching that's effective that teachers can implement. right in the moment. That's blue

109on a trail. >> All right. >> We see a question possibly from Patter. >> Yeah. not necessarily for either one of the two schools you just spoke to, but in general for all of these turnaround schools. Um, what is the method of of inform of informing parents where the kids are academically like um I guess the next would be the MOI data coming out How is that communicated to parents and and and how is a sense of urgency that the kids do well on these standardized assessments? How is that communi communicated to the parents to the public prior to the real thing? >> Is an excellent question. So, one of the things that we're messing around with is the idea of, you know, in our budget situation, but still I think the most effective way

110to do that would be to print out hard copies and send them home with parents. Um in the absence of that what we have done is um working with our our calendar committee have made sure that we have the um the conference dates the print the parent teacher conferences um built back into the calendar and have really worked towards 100% attendance and whether you know you try for that in person but then you're trying for that um Zoom call and then you're making that third and fourth parent call just to make sure um that that right? You know, that was at the end of September that we um are communicating with the parents because that's that's so tough. And then you got the title one parent input meetings and things like that. But my opinion

111would be that if we were able, you know, we can email information to parents and things, but sometimes it's that piece of paper in your hand um that the kid has in his folder that he might not even realize he has in his folder. Although the next step is also to really have those discussions with kids so that they are aware of their data and are setting goals. Um those are things that I um Mr. Rodriguez and his team are having conversations about in PLC's and that we do need to build as a structures. >> Great. Do we have any uh questions from the audience for the Blue Bonnet Trail Elementary uh targeted improvement plan? All right, we'll go on to 10.7 Pioneer Crossing Elementary Principal Gaston School and go right to the right to

112the meat of it. So got the first two we've talked about and she's jumped right into the papaya tutoring. Um one of the things I want to say it's not just about blue bonnet math implementation but campus leaders on Pioneer Crossing have really um dived in um in terms of those classroom observations and providing feedback to the teachers. And so that's something that I know she's focused on as well. But in terms of the main pieces for the school improvement strategies on this targeted plan, um reading small group interventions twice a week, um targeting students, looking at looking at data in um in the Amira learning platform and how students are doing on their HMH modules. And then once again with um Pioneer Crossing, they are looking at strengthening their PLC processes um as well.

113So we know that when those teachers are planning as a team and looking at data together and sharing their expertise that that is the kind of that's the just in time learning from each other that really can um grow a team. >> It seems that um u pa tutoring is a major component in these improvement strategies. Could you kind of explain to the public papaya it's not a drink you know it's >> Yes sir. >> Thank you. [laughter] And pardon me for not doing it um earlier. Uh Papaya tutoring is um really a I think kind of a paradigm shifting tutoring system uh for a couple of reasons. Number one, it's an international company and um it is virtual. It's one- on-one with students and they h they are able to pair um a student

114um and they've been great about it so far in whatever language they speak. Um so like the the one of the I should have brought photos but this is a short presentation. and I can share them off my phone, but um I saw student I was at Decker the other day and I saw with my own eyes um a couple of students that I've seen um I've seen multiple times that I've never seen I've never seen them talk before and they're very quiet and um and they speak PTSO and I saw both of the students that um there's more than two but the two I'm I've been kind of keeping an eye on and I saw these you know seventh grade girls chatting it up with their tutor. I mean, I'm like, "Oh, see, they're

115not quiet. They just, you know, are waiting for somebody to talk to." And I saw them doing math, too, which was even also an added bonus. And, um, so it's one-on-one, it's virtual, it's also outcomes based, so they receive a portion of their pay. Um, and then if they if they meet our goals, which if we meet our goals, going to be awesome. And um a couple of us have committed to getting tattoos of papayas on our on our on our shoulders if if we get there. But um if we get an A, I'm I'm in. I'm in. I'll get one right here. [laughter] >> But um it's outcomes based, which means if we make our if they make their goal, if we all make our goals, um there's a bonus in it for them.

116If we don't make our goals, they don't get all their money. And so [snorts] we we all have skin in the game with this. and Papaya has skin in the game and um and they've been able one of the things we wondered about and it's a work in progress but how fast could they scale up because this is a pretty big project and um and they have been doing an exceptional job and not just with getting tutors um but also with um even though it's international we have boots on the ground um here in Mayor that are showing up at campuses and having faced face tof face meetings um Dr. Adams and Dr. Gonzalez. Dr. Gonzalez is a former former superintendent and just met with them last week. I've had like eight meetings with the

117Papaya um own the CEO and owner and um so even though they're all over the world, they're right here with us and getting it getting it set up. And they kicked off the three main campuses from the turnaround plan some weeks ago. And since whence you voted in the last the plan last time, um we're spooling it up districtwide. So super exciting time. >> Okay. Sorry, I'm going backwards. We don't want to do that. Any public? >> Uh do we have any questions from the audience? We already got some clarity here on the papaya. >> Yes, ma'am. Um I think if we don't if we there's no questions we can move on to the last one 10.8. >> Yep. Mayor High School. So um same same reasons for the target improvement plan. Um when we

118get to the strategies you'll see um there's some systems pieces but some are a little bit different. So blue bonnet math implementation it's algebra only. Um although uh geometry and algebra 2 are going to be available next year. So, we'll have that conversation um over the next couple of months. And um Papaya tutoring, we are really um making I think we have the opportunity to make a substantial impact with our first time testers um over um at the ninth grade center with algebra 1, English one, and English 2. Um it's I mean almost every kid's going to be getting some action on the tutoring. And really I think that's the kind of um investment you got to make to make something um different happen. And that will be happening during advisory. Um we've we are

119really conversation for another time maybe after the meeting but we've got a lot of different interventions happening during advisory as well and Saturday school. We just have to make sure staff utilizes advisory for academic reasons and not nonacademic reasons. >> For sure. And I honestly think the tutoring portion of advisor will be the easiest one to stand up because kids show up and log in and get on. That's the easiest one to manage. the more flexible grouping where students may be at, you know, going to one class to get the this English support even for like this English like you know um unit assessment and then you know next week ideally you're get you know you'd be moving around a little bit but that's hard that is hard to coordinate. Um, I'm going to be

120super happy to see the propriety tutoring going and then see some maybe some even semi we're working on some semi-permanent um intervention groups for students who are not first time EOCC testers our second time and third time. Um, we've also been working much more starting but I think we're I don't need it anymore. Um we are much closer or we we're working much um continuing to strengthen our relationship with MEA too and getting um some of our seniors uh some earlier support there and even even attending there if they need to. So we're we're making sure that they graduate and so super excited about that too. >> Wonderful. >> And can't see it but it would say public public hearing. >> Yeah. Uh if we have any questions from the audience regarding Mayor High School

121um public hearing targeted improvement plan. Any additional questions from our trustees? We're good to go. Thank you so much. Now we're going to move on to consent agenda items 11.1 to 11.12. Do you have a motion? Madame President, uh I move that the board approve the consent agenda items 11.1 through 11.12 as presented. >> I have a motion by Trustee Patterson for uh consent agenda items 11.1 through 11.12. Do I have a second? >> I have a second by Trusty Rodriguez Barnett. All those in favor. Okay, it passes 70. Okay, now we're going to move on to action items 12.1 consideration approval of renewal of good cause exception exception for Mayor ISD. >> Madame President, I move ahead. [laughter] >> I move that the board approve the good cause exception of lack of qualified personnel

122and direct the chief of police to continue to implement the alternative plan allowed under House Bill 3. I have a motion by trustee uh Lowry for item action item 12.1. Do I have a second? I have a second by trustee Patterson and trustee uh Thomas. All those in favor I passes 70. Now I go to uh action item 12.2 two consideration and approval of policy GKD local facilities. Do I have a motion or uh I hear Mr. Martinez is muted? I can't hear him. >> No. >> [clears throat] >> We can't hear him. >> He's what? Muted off. What? You're muted on your side. >> It's still muted, but um >> we put him on maker on speaker and then put the mic to him. >> We're uh Dr. Sarmani is calling you so we

123can hear what you're trying to say and he's going to put you on the mic. Okay. >> Uh okay. Uh yeah, Madame President, um I wanted to do uh both actually. I I wanted to maybe make a comment and then make a motion uh regarding action item 12.2. Uh so with many of the the many examples uh that we've had tonight uh on uh some of the district financial challenges uh that we have in front of us u including rising costs of operating and maintenance. Uh this is one of those areas that uh when we're adopting policies uh we are adopting policies that are a responsible use of uh taxpayer funds and maintenance on on on facility use. So, this is one of the many things I think that we're going to have to look

124at very closely uh when we're meeting these challenges so that uh when in the future we're faced with uh some tough decisions that we may have to make that we try to minimize the human impact. So, uh, having said that, I wanted to make a motion to table this action item, uh, for further discussion before we vote on it. >> Okay. So, um, Trustee, uh, Martinez is, um, making a motion to table the consideration approval policy GKD local regarding facilities. Um I guess he wants to uh look at everything a little bit more in detail. So um I have that motion by Trustee uh Martinez to table the um 12.2. Do I have discussion or do I have a second? >> I'll second that. >> Okay, I have a second by Trustee Lowry. If there's

125no further discussion by any of our board members, I can already um take that vote now since we have a first and a second to table action item 12.2. So if all those in favor to tableing item 12.2, please raise your hand. One, two, three, four, five. Okay. Trustee Rodriguez uh Martinez it passes 70 and then we'll bring it up forward. Can you also make a comment Dr. Sarmani if this is not a such a pressing issue on the uh policy? Yes, Madam President. Uh, GKday local, although there are some changes that need to be made um based on our legal council um recommendation, uh this is not something that has to be done tonight. And so we can certainly talk more um and I will um certainly review in one-on-one with any trustee who

126wants to um with the intention to bring it back on December 17th, which is I think it's not December 17th, I'm sorry, December 15th. That's the next board meeting. And the good thing is that we've had a lot of good m minutes. So, we should be good [laughter] in this. So, um I really appreciate everybody's time here. And I guess if we don't have anything else, um I'm going to uh do the next confirmation of the regular board meeting which is December the 15th. And I can entertain a motion to adjurnn if anybody wants to make that motion. I have a motion by >> trustee Dr. Thomas >> or two. >> Do I have a second? >> Second by Trustee Howard. All those in favor? I pass a 70. We're good to go. Good night.