001Good evening everyone. Welcome back from spring break. Hope everyone enjoyed much needed rest. So um I will call this meeting to order. 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 Tuesday, March 25th at 5:02 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 with the open meetings act. The board will now adjourn into executive session at 50:03 p.m. Pursuant to the following sections of the Texas Open Meetings Act 551.074, 551.071, 551.072, and 551.129. We'll be back. We have good evening everyone once again and welcome back from spring break. Hope everyone got some well much well-needed rest. And so before we open
002um I would like to welcome back Dr. Mary Thomas. Look at her amazing recovery. So blessed to have her back. And guess what she brought? She brought this Fortuna award for the education business woman of the year. Dr. Mary Thomas. Thank you. And um would you like to say any words? Um the mic. I would just like to say thank you to all of the mayor students, the parents, the staff. This award was actually went before a a panel that based it on all of the things that we do in Mayor. And so this is not my personal award, but it was earned because of all of the work that this district is doing for kids and the mission and the vision. And um I had one of my friends to tell me that that
003is it was on it's on LinkedIn and you know there was all kinds of information on there. I know that when I sent in the the nom the information in that that was out there, but I did not realize how in debt it is. And I just can't thank you all for encouraging our students, our parents, and our staff because this is a a a major deal. And because it is in the United States, the United States that I received this on behalf of the Mayor School District. So, thank you. Thank you so much, Dr. Thomas. Continue to put Mayor ISD on the map. Thank you for making us proud. I would also like to before I I open um say a happy belated birthday to our money man CFO Moyes and and our board
004secretary Laura Perez whose birthday is tomorrow. All right. So, now I um we will now reconvene into open session at March 25th, 6:02 p.m. All right, we're going to start with the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America to the stands andice. Honor the Texas flagged. All right, I will take volunteers for the mission and vision statement. Do I have a volunteer for the vision statement? How many of our volunteer? Okay. Uh, Mayor ISD is the best district in Texas where we provide an equitable education for all scholars and graduate them ready to become leaders in our community. Thank you, Trustee Martinez. Do I have a volunteer for the mission statement? I will. Collectively, as a community, Mayor ISD provides equitable resources, a safe learning environment, and highquality educational services
005for all scholars to successfully achieve and reach their full potential. Thank you, Trusty Rodriguez Barnett. Um, we will move on to number six, recognition. We'll start here. So, team of eight, we have some exciting recognitions for you guys this evening, both in fine arts and athletics. But before we get started, for our students who are here today, once your name is called, if you'll walk up to the left, you'll shake the hands of our board of trustees. But stay put until the end where we're going to take a group photo. And then once we're done taking that group photo, you'll head right out those doors for your individual photos. Now, let's get started. So, tonight we're going to kick off our recognitions by honoring those who hit the right notes at the UIL band solo
006and ensemble contest. These students we're showcasing tonight went through a rigorous audition process to be named to their respective state solo or ensemble group. So from Mayor New Techch High School, we have uh Garrett Bellinsson uh tener sax solo. For saxophone quartet we have Trinity Kain, Maya Diggs, Garrett Melson again and Maya Wilkins and forgive me for this pronunciation. Um, Ira Lua Adia for French horn solo, Juan Perez for bass trombone solo, Ellen Guerrero, uh, Guerrero Melendez for keyboard percussion, Domo Mjarez for keyboard percussion solo, and Julian Vasquez for Sarah drum solo. Do we have any of those kiddos with us here tonight? Well, congratulations to them. That's not all though. We got some from Mayor High School. So from Mayor High School of Hale Haley Garcia for mech clarinet solo, Christopher Rendez snare snare
007drum solo, Eduardo Rodriguez xylophone solo and flute quartet. We have Katherine Anderson, Joy Austin, Mia Garcia and Amelia [Applause] Martinez. Next we go from uh fine arts to athletics and powerhouse student athletes. So, tonight we're highlighting three student athletes who earned a coveted spot at the Texas Women's High School Powerlifting Champion Championship. Right before spring break, these young women showcase her strength, determination, and resilience on the state's biggest stage for high school powerlifting. Congratulations to you from Mayor New Techch High School, Ariel Spence. And for Mayor High School, we have uh Valyriia Granados and Ashley Mousinho. and guided by their coach Joel Velasco. These athletes work tirelessly to prepare for this. [Laughter] [Music] Congratulations Good. [Applause] Mhm. Ready? One, two, three. [Applause] Awesome. From students, we go to our staff of the month. Our staff
008of the month are recognized by their campuses for their tireless efforts and the things that they do for our scholars each and every day. Let's go ahead and kick off our recognitions. Um, same thing for our our our staff recognitions. Once your name is called, if you go up to the left, shake the hands of our trustees. We'll take a group photo at the end and then once we're done, you'll head out those doors for an individual photo. Start kicking off our recognitions from the Child Development Center, Joselyn Kasanova, PreK. from Blake Maynor Elementary. Amalian Vareno prek bilingual and Alandre Luna prek instructional assistant from Blue Bonnet Trail Elementary. Tunisia Olivia uh kindergarten and Yan Yania McKini inclusion support from Decker Elementary School. Alandria Garza and Shalora World's long-term sub. And fun fact about Allesandrea,
009you're going to see her in the Mayor ISD enrollment commercial that we just shot today. And spoiler alert, she's awesome. So, teacher of the year. Teacher also teacher of the year from Logos Elementary School. Hannah Ryan, third through fifth grade grades FAC. And Amber Thorne, assistant principal from Oak Meadows Elementary, Ruth Garcia, pre-K through fifth grade's music. And Rebecca Portio, fourth grade. AR from Presidential Meadows, Phoenix Walton, third grade self-contained. And Carmen Gonzalez, cafeteria manager. [Applause] from Shadow Glenn Eto Al-Nawas fourth grade reading and language arts and Edna Paria the [Applause] registar from Mayor Rise Academy. Kaia Brooks fourth grade self-contained and Anita Johnson prek educational [Applause] assistant from Decker Middle School. Pedro Vosquez, sixth through 8th grade, Spanish teacher, and Katrina Randolph, receptionist from Mayor New Techch Middle School. Carson Wright, seventh grade social
010studies, and Danielle Py, the school nurse [Music] from Mayor Early College High School. Stefan Fischer, 10th through 11th grade science. and Angela Abuafi, senior administrative assistant. For Mayor High School, Allison Cruzer, 9th through 10th grade English. And Jesse Schultz, whole child, social worker. And for Mayor Senior High School, Jeffrey Lumen Singh, 11th through 12th grade psychology. And Alexander Gomez, attendance clerk. Awesome. We get you guys in the middle. We're gonna go ahead and take a group photo. All right, we can come to the center. One, two, three. [Applause] Awesome. All right. Go to public forum. And we do have one signed up. Hey, we went through it pretty quick. Thank you. Okay. For each person present in the boardroom who wishes to address the board, you will have three minutes to speak. There are timers
011on each of the screens and one in front of you. Mr. Martinez, will you please let them know when they have one minute remaining and again when their time is up. When necessary for effective meeting management or to accommodate large numbers of individuals wishing to address the board, the presiding officer may make adjustments to public comment procedures, including adjusting the time allotted to each speaker. Because of topic posting requirements of the open meetings act, board members are not permitted to answer any questions posed to the board by the patron and no action can be taken on any issue presented during this time. With this being a regular board meeting, you will be allowed to speak on any topic, whether it is on the agenda or not. If you wish to ask questions of the board,
012you may submit them in writing, address the superintendent's office, and the board may consider them at a subsequent meeting. If you are an employee or employees representative, please be advised that the grievance policy deadlines are not waved. If you have documents to pass out to the board, please identify those documents. Finally, please be aware that rules of decorum will be enforced during the public comment period. Please refrain from making comments directed at specific individual employees, scholars, or board members by name to avoid any potential breach of confidentiality. If you have complaints regarding specific individuals, please provide those in writing addressed the superintendent for his attention. Each participant is legally responsible for the content and consequences of his or her own statements. And this evening we have one speaker uh Miss Trisha Blackland and the topic
013of discussion is accountability when you're ready. Good evening board members, Dr. Smani, members of the community. First of all, I would like to start by saying I'm here as a concerned parent and community member, not an employee of Mayor ISD. Accountability. It's a word we hear very often. But what does it really mean? At its core, accountability is about ownership. Owning our actions, decisions, and their consequences. In its foundation of trust in our personal and professional relationships. Imagine a workplace where no one takes responsibility, deadlines are missed, mistakes are ignored, and blame is often passed around. What happens? Progress stops, teamwork fails, and success becomes impossible. The same applies in our personal lives. Without accountability, relationships break down, progress fails, and growth is limited. If parents aren't held accountable for their children's actions, teachers aren't
014held accountable for their students learning, and principles aren't held accountable for those teachers actions or inactions. The cycle continues. This chain reaction is difficult to break. And in my view, this lack of accountability is what has led Mayor ISD to where we are today. Accountability isn't just about admitting mistakes. It's about learning from them. It's about saying, "Yes, I did this and this is how I'm going to fix it." True accountability transforms failures into stepping stones. We've all heard the saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Our kids' education is suffering. When will we as a community and a school district say enough is enough. I challenge all of you to take res take responsibility for the role we each play in these issues. Parents,
015take responsibility for your children's learning. One minute. Their behavior, their discipline and their attendance. Teachers ensure quality education, mentor students, and communicate with the parents on that progress. Administration, use funds wisely and create safe, effective learning opportunities for all students. How do we build this accountability? Three simple steps. Be honest with ourselves and others. Take action. And then take responsibility for those actions. When we embrace accountability, we earn trust. We improve our skills and we come we become stronger individuals and a stronger community. Moving forward, let's challenge ourselves to be accountable not just for our mistakes, but for our commitments, our words, and our growth. Be accountable to ourselves, our students, and our community. Accountability is not a burden. It's a key to success. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. And we
016only had one. And that concludes public forum. Thank you so much. All right. We'll go to 8.1 superintendent update. Dr. Smani. All right. Team of eight. I have a few updates. Uh Mr. Clicker is there. Um, from a point of pride, just uh want to point out that uh we do have an EMT program that we started about a year ago. We have some students getting their EMT basic certifications, but more more exciting is ACC has decided that Mayor IST is going to be the pilot of their new EMT program that they're rolling out. So, we're real excited that our partner has chosen us and our kids and that we are going to be produced um some emergency medical technicians. And by the way, that's one step away from a fire academy. you got to
017do your EMT first, then you can go on to a fire academy. So, we're looking forward to partnering with ESD12 in the future to try to make that happen. So, um good news there. Go forward one. Uh right now, as we speak, Mayor New Tech High School is competing in the playoffs. So, I just want to give them a shout out. Unfortunately, they've got to win. They need to win tonight because I got to see them at least once in the playoffs. So, um they're doing really well. Good team. And we're excited for the second year in a row. They're making a deep run into the playoffs and so hopefully um they will defeat Elcampo tonight. So shout out to my new tech Titans out there. Way to go Titans. You go forward. And we
018also just want to point out we hosted uh the first robotic syntax meet um this uh past spring break. Uh you know, here's the most amazing thing and I told the audience this. There are hundreds and hundreds of teenagers who got up at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning of spring break to go drive robots around. And I think if that tells you anything about the excitement that this um this uh event um garnered, I I think nothing will. But uh just wanted to point out that it was a great um showcase of our school district and our facilities. And also want to shout out to our two robotics teams, one from Mayor High School and one from Mayor New Techch High School that were competing and it was great to see the two high
019school teams help each other out during the competition because you were allowed to actually support each other and of course they chose to support each other which was nice to see. So I look forward to seeing more of our robotics teams in the future and we'll hopefully be hosting them. They liked us so much I offered to host it every year. I figured why not? Yeah. So, um, we'll be giving you an invitation next year to to come to see the meet. It is something to see. So, thank you to those teams. As always, want to give a student safety update. If you go forward, uh, Dr. Harvey, uh, there are two more uh, of our recommendations that have been fully implemented and completed. Uh, there is now intensive counseling taking place at MAP for
020students in need of that. Uh we also have started uh something students requested to have a drop-in counseling service. Uh and just to be clear, students could always drop in to counseling offices, but they expressed to us that they needed something different for that. And so we have staffed it and providing um at their recommendation of what they wanted it to look like um at the senior high school and early college high school campus. So that is in place now for them as well. Uh if you go forward one, we um also we've been uh we've looked at eight different weapons detection systems. We have had a clear number one that we ranked. We are practicing with that system this week to make sure it does exactly what we want it to do and what
021it looks like and how it works. Uh so once that's done and we're we're happy with it, we will begin to deploy it at the high school. Well, first we'll sign the contract and then we'll start deploying to the high school and then work on looking at the middle school. Uh just to be clear, I haven't forgotten the elementary level, but I really do think that there's a different type of system that we're looking at elementary. I think there's a very big difference between what you want at a high school level, secondary level, and what you would want at an elementary level. Uh also, we're third party auditor, Center for Safe Schools, contacted me. Um one of there's two reports coming. One of them is done. They have not sent it to me. I should
022be getting it this week. And that is their behavioral and climate assessment portion. So, we'll have that their physical um the physical um safety and security audit. They did tell me is going to be delayed. The person who was doing it actually left their company and didn't finish the report. So, they're going to have somebody else finish the report and he's actually going to do a follow-up site visit. So, that one's going to take a little bit longer than the behavior one, but I want to go ahead and at least get one of those reports in and then when we get the other one as soon as possible, I'll pass it on to trustees. Uh just a reminder when you do get those types of reports and a lot of it can't be made public
023because we don't want to provide anyone public knowledge about how to um get around our safety procedures because that's the whole point of that for them to tell us where we need to do better. However, you may see new recommendations that appear on the slides and in the district improvement plan based on that although I'll couch those in words that doesn't give away what exactly we need to um upgrade. Um so more to come on that. Uh, and that's all I got for you, uh, team of eight. Um, we're on to the info items. Thank you. Okay. Information, uh, items 9.1, March monthly financial report. If we don't have any questions from our trustees, I can move on to the next agenda item, information item. Okay, no questions. Um, 9.2, two con constraint progress monitoring
024report teacher retention if there's no questions or Dr. um she does need to run through the slides for our monitoring report part of our lonear governance Dr. William Hill. Right. Good evening, team of eight. Good evening. Good evening. All right. So, we like to keep the format simple so that we can follow the progress in a way that's meaningful and that communicates uh to everyone. And so, you've seen this chart a couple of times um intentionally so that uh the information can be followed. So the last update that you received for the retent teacher retention rate and turnover rates was in July and so October 2024 we were still around that 76% retention rate at about 74% and the um turnover rate was about 26%. And so for the 232 24 school year, our turnover
025rate is below the target that you have set for us. As of January 2025, we know that's still early. We start calculating the retention rate for this school year. After snapshot, which is October 2024, so between November and January, our retention rate was 98.38% with a turnover rate of 1.62% for teachers. One of our other um strategies or goals and objectives is to that MISD will attract and retain by 2026 highly effective staff. And so our strategy number one, we started on that year and a half long prog uh journey to get our salaries competitive with surrounding school districts. And so the last update that we had for you all was our special education pair of professionals. They received their salary increases to make us more compatible with surrounding school districts as well as our
026campus administrators, our assistant principles, and some of our principles. So we have completed that part of the project. And so our next phase is to go back through all of our salaries to make sure that we caught everyone who needed to be caught. And so this July, we'll have an update from TASBY. We've invited them back to look at the work that we did this past year to make sure that our pay grades remain consistent across the board for all employees. For our multiple pathways for employees, we're still working on that. Tonight, you got to see one of our Texas State teacher residents be recognized as employee of the month, um, Miss Brooks. And so that is part of our strategy of establishing multiple pathways. What that means is last spring she started with us
027as a student teacher. And so she completed her schoolwork, her coursework in college and Mayor ISD teaching residency with us last spring and graduated in December. And now she's a full-time employee with us. And so that's one of the pathways that we've established over the past couple of years. And I think some of you were able to attend that ceremony. and we had seven this year signed with us to become teachers. Another uh professional pathway, the past couple of years, we've had an average of about 27 of our substitutes for the past two years become full-time employees with the majority of them becoming teachers. And so we are getting more folks um into the classroom and into full-time positions in our different pathways. We also had 12 of our seniors attend the job fair this
028past or earlier this month and we had 12 of them complete the signing day. I think last year we had was it seven seven last year and we had 12 and so our seniors have the opportunity to come and work with us when they graduate from high school this May. They can work as a pair professional if they choose to attend college locally and part-time while they earn their teaching degree. We also give them a letter of promise so that when they graduate from college to become teachers, we invite them back to become part of the mayor ISD team for our uh professional development to improve our staff capacity and skills. Um we have some data collected that we'll show at that we will share at an upcoming meeting about how staff feels about the
029professional development they've been provided so far this year. We have seen some prog some positive remarks about the just in time the appropriate level of professional development they have received. In particular, part of this strategy was also focused on HR and PES as we switch to the new PES reporting system. And so we have met our target for the HR department, everyone in the staff to complete at least three professional development activities for this school year. and we are in March. And so we'll continue to attend those professional development series as a department and interdep departmentally with the PES department to make sure that the data that we are collecting are accurate and that they're reported accurately. And then last, we're still working on our mayor ISD people experience to improve the quality of customer
030service both internally and externally. One thing I do want to note um in the center we have by 2026 the retention rate will increase from 57% to 80% as noted by the taper report. We did share at the last reporting that in 2023 in the last p system we did have some of our data reported inaccurately. So we will have a little bit of discrepancy but the real time numbers that you're provided are about what we should be seeing. We also have with our most recent budget updates and the changes that we're having to make in staffing as well as we we'll be coming up on our fifth year of having visiting international teachers. And so they will have to go back to their home countries as well. And so as we look at our
031retention rate by taper, those factors will impact it. And so we may need to look at that. We're keeping the data separately so that we could see if everyone stayed here, this would be our retention rate. But we do know that our fifth year international teachers will have to return to their homes as well as our budget um changes that we're making for this school year. So keep that in mind. Um this chart I just bolded um what was new as far as our progress and it's the equity adjustments that I discussed before. And on the second chart, the items in bold are some of the items that we've accomplished. And I'll pause here just for a few seconds. And then just in summary again, we know our data has varied over the years and
032this year's upcoming report will reflect that data that was submitted in October 2023. Um our current retention rate variables are the budget with our FTEES and our fifth year international teachers. some year round retention indicators because retention is year- round, not at the end of the school year, not at the middle. And so we've implemented something called stay interviews in which each supervisor visits with each team member that they have and ask them about seven questions to indicate if they will stay with Mayor ISD, if they're thinking about leaving, and if so, why. to give that supervisor time to intervene to get them to stay with us, whether that's professional development or other items that they might be seeking. And so, we received some very positive feedback from our supervisors engaging in that process for
033the first time. We also have our um 2526 intention notice in which employees let us know if they're going to resign, retire, or come back for the next year. uh based upon the results that we received, the 90 90% of employees said they will return to Mayor ISD for the upcoming school year. And then we also have our employee opinion survey which just concluded and TASBY will have those results to us and we'll provide you an update with that information as well. Um we also continue to learn and adjust to our new PE system. Um our PES team is fantastic. um our position management specialist in HR who work together uh with them as well as the finance department and CIA. It's just a remarkable thing to see and Dr. Smani saw them in action
034as we concluded the first submission and it is just um a different environment in which they collaborate and work and they all feel a sense of of pride and accomplishment and and teamwork and know that they can rely upon each other. And then last because of the inter interdep departmental collaboration we do expect that our data reporting continue to improve. Is there any questions? Did you want to make doc um trusty patter um TV land? Yeah, my mouth is big. I usually don't need one. um the retention report, will you be able to break it down for us by um certified teachers against all others in terms of who we retain. That might help us. Yeah. When it comes to the budget and all that. Yeah. So, as of the latest report for this school
035year for our ESPEC certified teachers, we've got about 98% so far for this year. For our international teachers, we have 98%. For our local SERT teachers, we have uh 92%. But moving forward in the coming years, be able to continue to do that. Absolutely. Provide you a monthly update on that. Thank you. Any other questions? Very great reporting. Thank you very much, Dr. All right. [Music] And I guess we'll move on to consent agenda. Uh I can't hear you. Trusty Patterson PV land. I move approval. It's an agenda. I have a motion by Trusty Patterson to um accept consent agenda items 10.1 to 10.11 as presented by administration. I second. I have a second by Trustee Lowry. Um if there's no discussion. Um all those in favor say I or raise your hand. Okay. All
036those opposed abstain. Um motion passes 6. And am I correct Dr. Cman? The next thing is um confirmation of the next regular board meeting. It's April 21st, and it is 6:35 p.m. and I will entertain a motion to adjourn. I move to adjourn the meeting. I have a motion by Trustee Howard to adjourn at 6:35 p.m. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second pie, trusty Rodriguez Barnett. All those in favor, it passes 6. A record. Oh my gosh. 35 minutes. Whoa. I got to post this. This is an amazing board and team and admin and everybody. Okay. Y