001All right, it is 6:30. A quorum of the board is present and this meeting has been duly called. of this meeting has been posted in accordance with Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code 551. Will you please stand with us for the invocation? Mr. Ramirez. All right. Heavenly Father, we're just grateful for this night together uh Lord, and we're just humbled by the continued opportunity, Father, to serve this great district, Father, this community, these students, uh this administration, all of our staff. Lord, as we move forward in a new season for Maple ISD, I just ask that you be with us, Lord. that we be a united body, Father, not just at this table here, Lord, but across this district, in the community. Help guide our conversations, Lord. Let them be healthy and let us
002uh ultimately have the students at the at the forefront, Lord, in every decision we make. We trust you. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisibley and justice for all indivisible. com. >> Do we have any public comment? >> Awesome. All right, then we'll move on to recognition. >> Second at this time and do you want to bring your So, tonight we do have some kiddos we want to recognize. Um, and Miss Ballard and Miss Davis are both up here to help recognize as well. Um, because this year, and last year we talked about our fourth grade announcement kiddos. This year, Mrs. Ballard and Mrs. Davis have brought back the Panther Safety Patrol. And
003so we do have some kiddos up here and there are a group of fourth graders. So, if y'all could come on up and um they're going to tell you a little bit about what they do because they're a lot more interesting than I am. Um, my name is Riggins and I'm in fourth grade and I was and my job is to do the Panther Patrol and open the door for the little kids. And my favorite part about that would probably be um setting a good example for them and um and being the older kid in campus and um and just seeing those kids. Hi, my name's Ella Barfield and I do the panther control. And probably my favorite thing was like um be able to like open the doors and like greet them and like
004telling them have a great day and like just being kind to them. Hi, I'm Luke Bennett and I'm in fourth grade and I do pan patrol. And my favorite part about it is opening the doors and being the bigger kid that lets them know that they can do it. >> Hi, my name is Bryce and I'm in fourth grade. I do pan. My favorite thing about it is opening the doors and being the older person. >> They also said there are some really cool cars that they get to open up. >> So, they have taken on a big job for us this year. They have I mean, they've got their hands full in the morning and they have done it with grace and patience and we are just so proud of them. So, thank you
005for all that y'all do for our campus. I do want to give a shout out to um we do have Benny Cox here. He is a one of our fourth grade announcement leaders too. So, he is Thank you. >> Thank you so much. recognize the people at your teach. >> I would love to. I've got one email and one on my phone. So, I will start with our teacher that we're recognizing at May Pearl High School. We are recognizing Miss Gonfeld. She could not be here tonight, but we still think she deserves to be honored. Um, so we'd like to share some of the great things that she's doing. Miss Greenfield being recognized at Maple High School for her unwavering dedication in countless ways. She continues to support our campus. She continuously steps in wherever
006needed um often before anyone even asks and does with a positive attitude, professionalism, heart for students and the staff. Her willingness to go above and beyond makes a true difference in our school and our community community, excuse me. We are grateful for everything she does um to help our campus succeed. Biskinfield's really stepped in and helped us um in an area of need that we have right now and she came to me with a plan and ideas. Um it's requiring a lot of extra from her, but she has the heart for the kids. And so I think Miss Gfield is awesome and we're so happy to have her on our campus. So she sad she couldn't be here, but I told her we would still make sure to give her a good round of applause.
007All right, so now we're going to recognize some great students. You see some of them around here tonight from New Pearl High School. Um, again, I'm going to read kind of a little blurb so I don't make sure I don't want to mess anything up. During um, a student's junior year, they had the opportunity to take the PSAT National Merit Qualification Test. Last year as a junior, Kate Bolton, Sophia Ramsey, Jacob Caesar, Levi Joffrey, and this year as a junior, Sarah Rodriguez all scored over a,200 on their test. Jackson Underwood and Kase Ramirez both scored over a 1350 out at 1500 on their PSAT during their junior year. Since then, K, excuse me, has taken his SAT, scoring a 1280. Le Sophia, Levi, and Jackson scored a 1300 or higher, and Jacob and Kase scored
008an amazing 1400 on their SAT. We are very proud of our students who have the courage and initiative to take these challenging academic exams, but especially proud of those students for demonstrating their dedication and excellence to their academic abilities. And just to kind of go off script a little bit, we're really trying to push our students for high achievement. And we're super proud of them and they represent our campus wonderfully. So I'm very proud. I'm going to call their names and then if they're here, they can join me. Um, Kaden Bolton, Sophia Ramsey, Jacob Cic, Sarah E. Rodriguez, Levi Joffrey, Jackson Underwood, and Casey. We also have another group of high school students. Um, Mr. Davis, do you want to come up and and talk a little bit about your amazing group that you're representing
009tonight? That's true. Uh uh thank you for allowing us to be here tonight to recognize our outstanding Map Pearl High School band students. Uh this fall the marching band presented our show titled That 70s Show which featured music in the style of the 1970s included 25 or 64 by Chicago. She's Always a Woman to Me by Billy Joel. Uh Disco Inferno by the Tramps and Fly Me by Bruno Mars. The band finished the year strong, earning unanimous first division ratings from all three judges at the region 30 UIL marching contest. Uh that's the highest possible score. Uh this qualified us to advance to area marching contest in November the 1st where the band placed 12th out of 24 bands, narrowly missing the final round where they only take the the top 10. Uh this is
010the highest finish in the history of the Mapro band. Uh, not only have our students had an impressive year in 2025, they've contributed to our excess success every year since I arrived in May Pearl six years ago. During their time in band, they've also been a part of earning nine out of the possible 11 first divisions between marching and concert band and earning three sweepstakes awards. Uh, this is where the band earns a first division in both marching and concert band in same year. The students have led uh the band to earn more accolades in the last six years than the program had earned in the last 20 pri prior to that. So they show incredible dedication and effort rehearsing six or more hours per week outside the school day not including our football games
011and competitions and they lead others to create a positive culture of our family uh of a positive culture of family in our organization. Uh the unending support of our parents enables these great students to do all these things year round. They help feed them, help move equipment, plan events, and support us in so many other ways. Without such a supportive group of adults, it would be impossible to sustain the level of success over this number of years. We also appreciate the continued support of our administration and school board to allow the band to be one of the most successful organizations in May. So, I'm certainly looking forward to the bright future of the band in May. So, thank you for your time. We have uh actually so Sophia Ramsey one is one of our drum
012majors from this season. So we're happy to have her here as one of our student representatives >> and brought some of our hardware to show. So >> those are the first trophies on the new trophy case under here at the hospital. >> Oh uh I don't know. I'm not sure if they started stocking those up yet. We can certainly go All right. Next off, we're moving on to the consent agenda. >> Any discussion? All >> in favor? >> Post. Okay, the enrollment report. Um, can y'all hear me back? Um, okay. Um, this is as of 11:13, our elementary campus has 495 students. Our middle school campus has 374 students and our high school campus has 357 students for a grand total districtwide of 1,226 students. the finance report. Mr. Boom is gonna talk to us
013a little bit about that. >> All right. So, if you'll open up your finance summary sheet, we'll look at it um same as we always do. So on the ADA chart, we're we're looking at uh TEA's paying us on 1140 ADA. We budgeted our school year budget on 1111 ADA. And you can see right now, as of the second six weeks, our ADA is coming in at 1138.26. So we're doing pretty good on 88. on our revenue and expenditures as of the month end of October. Uh you can see that these numbers are based on the former budget that was adopted that we've recently changed. So keep that in mind. But um for our revenue realized, we are at $4,510,535, 28% of that original budget. And then on the expenditures, um, we are at 3,710,460
014for 23% of that original budget. So, um, just keep in mind that that is based on the first adopted budget that we've recently changed due to the election. And then going on, we're looking at the comparison charts from as of this time last year. And you can see in the revenue column we are up from last year this time about $355,000. And then on our expenditure side we are up as of this time last year about 149,777. And then if you go to the child nutrition comparison uh for their department, they are uh down in revenue 25,680 compared to this time last year. Um there's I know some of that has to do with some of the claims from um previous months of child nutrition federal claims that Michael has to put in. but he's
015working on getting those and I think they've already been submitted actually. And then on the expenditure side, we are down $17,431 from this same time last year. And if we keep scrolling down, we're going to look at the bond construction report. And this is as of October 2025. And so this is our report that we give y'all. And it's um based on the month end. And so you can see the expenditures listed out there for October and then you can see what the total balance of revenue remaining is at the top of that sheet. And a question on I can't remember did we we made a furniture purchase did we include do we make that purchase for this or we sought to do >> once this portion of the campus is complete >> for the
016CTE. Um I'm not 100% sure on that. >> We just delivered today furniture. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. D. >> And so that will be all on the finance summary piece. And then the next uh item up is the bar 2023 monthly report of expenditures and project progress. And this is the report that we get from Gallagher, the construction managers. And so from this report um you can see that they've listed out uh some updates that the CTE one-sided installation installations are complete and the underground plumbing installations are in progress. The CTE wall framing is in progress and mechanical electrical and plumbing overhead rough bins are in progress. And then they have uh the cost summary listed out. And uh you can see that the high school contingency um we have construction contingency balance
017of 66,171. And then the owner contingency balance is 145,968. For the middle school project, we have a construction contingency balance of 147,602 and owner contingency balance of 66,962. And so you can see their breakdown for the total budget and total completed and stored to date. And their percentage is 85% complete. Any questions on Gallagher's report? And then next up is the check payments list. Did y'all have any questions on check payments? >> Thank you all for your time. >> And under discussion action items aa is adopt the 2425 financial audit report. are busy tonight. Sorry for that. >> So, unfortunately, our auditors are not able to present tonight. Uh, not on any fault of their own, but due to the government shutdown, they had some delays in getting a government supplement compliance report that they
018need to release the audit to us. Uh, so they are going to be pushed to next month's meeting. Uh but I did get the draft from them uh of the audit and we are you know complete and without any findings. So happy to report that and we'll hear from them next month. >> Excellent. >> Um for the 2025 official ballot for the appointed Ellis County Appraisal District Board of Directors, um there is an attachment in there that you guys need to look at and determine um you know how you want your votes to count. You can separate them out and div them out or you can use them collectively after looking over the candidates. >> Anybody have any strong opinions towards any? >> No. No. I suggest unless there's a strong candidate for >> I
019don't know. So your write ups I assume they should >> or you need a motion to even chair >> evenly distribute >> make a motion to evenly distribute the votes across the board second discussion. All in favor? >> Okay. The next discussion item is for video surveillance in a special ed setting. Um you guys will remember last year you uh requested that all special ed self-contained classrooms have active video equipment. Um the administration recommends that these cameras be activated. Um they after talking with Miss Wolf >> sorry I need to kind of revert back to that last discussion item. If we split the 26 available votes at 6.5 candidate so I think we're going to have to I don't know if they'll take a half vote. >> Is it 26? We have to >> we
020have 26 available votes for April. >> So we don't have to use all of them. I don't think we have to use them all. >> So we can just split it evenly. >> Six. >> Um do you guys have any questions about the camera system? Um or um have anything clarifying things that you want to talk about before um was happy to answer questions that again it was just at y'all's request and we will be turning them on this year. Um it does sound like there's some a few things that need to be taken care of in order to um fully turn them on and I know that um that's our technology department is working very hard to finish those items up. Um but we wanted to go ahead and have this conversation now so
021that once those items are complete there's no there's no laps in time. I do have a couple questions on that. Maybe we can clarify. So what how are they activated? Are they motion activated or is there always on? >> Always on. >> And then the second question is what's our retention policy like timewise? >> I don't have a an immediate answer for that. Um we store them on prem. Uh but I'm not sure exactly how long. I can find that out. >> Months. >> Three months. That has to be >> and that's a minimum. Okay. >> If there were an incident then we would keep on but it's just on and it's on its own server >> remotely. It's not on one of our servers. >> It is on one dedicated server that that's all
022that's on there. Yes, it's here in our buildings. >> Do we feel that retention policy that timeline is good before that data is written over or should we extend it? I'm just I'm asking for you. I don't think there's a what I'm hearing I don't think there's an actual retention policy that just we have to have it for three months. I don't think there's an actual policy written where it's overwriting every >> I I am sure that if there is a requirement to hold them for three months then that is programmed to do that. >> Okay. So currently it's set up to say 90 days and then >> those files are written over. >> I can confirm that. >> Okay. And these videos aren't I mean they have to be requested to see these videos,
023right? These aren't just there's not a monitor up somewhere that somebody always watching. >> No. And there's a form there's a whole process that the parent or whomever has to go through in order for somebody to view it to see if it's even an incident. So it's not just an automatic, it's a definite process. >> So the administration recommends So second discussion all in >> favor. All right. >> HD consider Texas Education Agency regional athletes network partnership. um after um having conversations with M Kumrod who had been meeting about all the other rural communities in regards to this partnership um and with after talking to Mr. James and Miss Cox um we recommend at this time that this is tabled until we are able to um really get a lot of our systems and protocol
024for our own CTE program in place um and finalize that and then um look into this at a time when it's not going to um when we feel like we have the better capacity to do it well. Um and so um at this time our recommendation would be that we revisit this at a later time when it's more appropriate for our district. >> All right. And the next item we have is authority of the acting interim superintendent. Um since we need to make sure that the acting interim has the authority to do what the superintendent is able to do for spending and hiring. So we just need a motion to allow that motion. I move to approve the authorization for acting interim superintendent to hire contract contractual employees below the principal level and to approve
025purchases and contracts up to 50,000 effective immediately and continuing until a new interim and or permanent superintendent is appointed or until resended by this >> board. Any discussion? All right. All in favor. All right. So, next, um, we've got a couple of firms here to discuss the superintendent search. So, I will invite George Tasby to come up first. Give us a presentation. We'll get you. Feel like just throwing some. >> Well, good evening everybody. Uh my name is George Kazanis and I'm with the Texas Association of School Boards and my able assistant there was a St. Cruz uh with also a TSV. We're really excited to be here this evening. I believe I recall I met several of you at the summer leadership institute uh this summer and uh one of our workshops. So appreciated
026uh visiting with Mr. Wright about our services and being invited tonight to talk to you about superintendent searches that we do at St. So just real quickly about me real quick about myself. Uh I have been now with TASBY about three years. I am a public school educator. I was a teacher, principal, assistant super and superintendent. I did that for 32 years now uh before retiring and now working for TASBY full-time. I've been doing the search part of TASBY for two of those. And so done a number of different uh districts and sizes. Uh and I live in the central Texas area. I live in Waco. Uh my last district was at Waco Midway. So the him is very familiar and we were also Panthers. So enjoyed seeing that as I as I came in.
027So uh so today uh this evening I think I just have a short presentation for you to go over a few of the components of our search and I hope that uh I can answer any of your questions uh along the way. So please feel free to to jump in there. Be more than happy to. So who are we again just real quickly? Taspie I think you all know about us. We appreciate your uh participation in our association but we had been around for 76 years. We were uh created uh by school boards for operational efficiencies and effectiveness 76 years ago. But in 1988 you see there that we were formed by uh school board members at their request to form executive search services meaning to help boards with uh with with with that task.
028And so we've been doing it ever since. We have well over uh 8 to 900 districts during that time that we have served. Uh and uh we're proud of our of our track record. So uh for full-time folks in in the in the division is myself and then Marian Strauss. Dr. Strauss is a senior consultant. So we work uh the executive search side and my rest of the team there you'll notice from that graph are my team of field service representatives and that's what one of those is Mr. Cruz. And so again, that was one of the benefits of TASBY and using Executive Search Services is the fact that we do have a full network. It's not just me and and Dr. Strauss, but it is a full network of of of teams that are
029going to be assisting along the way. So, this is the group. Uh we have field service reps all across Texas. Uh Mr. Cruz is here in this region 1011 area. Uh but as you can see, all of the different field service reps will be assisting. uh their experience, former superintendents, former educators. Um, and they will assist me with the recruiting and screening and referencing of our of our candidates along the way, too, because they they're in the offices of of superintendent and the offices of districts all across Texas. They call on them um daily uh about our certainly about the services offers, but they also are going to talk about all the different uh openings that ESS is working on. We also have a program coordinator though there in Austin, Joy Rivera. And Joy will
030be available to all of the candidates if they have questions about the application process as well as each and every one of you if you have questions all the time. She's available to assist you. We already talked about our our track record. Um again, we're going to be with you throughout uh the entire process. Uh and our fee is all inclusive. We don't have any hourly rates and things of that nature. It's one fee. You're not build or invoiced until the the search is complet. So, not even at loan finalist, but at the contract after that time. So, it's all one all-inclusive type of fee, too. So, what do we do? Um, again, we're here to serve and customize it. So, one of the things to think about uh with your search is, of course,
031there are some standard recommendations we have as your search firm for the process, but we al also want to be sure that you have the input as a board and uh share with us what that looks like. We do that if we're so hired at what's called a planning meeting and visit with you about that because we want to be sure that we meet your needs and if that for example a lot of times that's community meetings, town halls or forums to develop the profile or some other things of that nature. Certainly your timeline. I did place in your folders there not only our materials but a sample timeline. It's just what it is. It's a sample. Um I don't want to be presumptuous about that. I just wanted to show you that it could
032uh what what one could look like, but uh in general those are about a 90-day process, sometimes a little longer, just depends on uh the things that you're discussing tonight. Your acting interim type superintendent, what you have in place, things of that nature. So again, uh with our decades and decades of experience of doing this, we do have a I think a deep understanding of the search process. But one of the other benefits is is our network. is us as former colleagues and our ability to to network with our city superintendents as well as aspiring superintendents. One of the things we're proud to do at Tazby that um that we have kicked off again over the last couple of years is development of what's called mock interviews. So we have those a couple of times
033a year to look at candidates to talk to them. Uh it is very low cost. It's not a fee other than 20 $30 to come in and we can in terms of having a sample interview, talk about the resumes, but the best part is for us to meet a lot of potential talent all across Texas at those things. So again, over 35 years that we've been doing this. Uh we do have a strong strong uh track record, a 90% success rate, retention rate. Um so with that uh for some reason if things do not work out well then uh we're back. So in two years uh we have that guarantee for two years. If for some reason um part ways or just not a good fit we will be back at no charge to the
034district to to finish the search. We've already talked about that customizing your search. Every of course school community in Texas has you know their own needs and priorities. Um but uh we are there to do that with you. We want to be a partner with you. Uh we want to communicate strongly with you, often with you so that you uh you understand each step of the way and that we understand your community. Already talked about this about relying on our network uh to help narrow the pool. One of the things though that we do um again uh that we feel is important is is is an open and transparent process. So what does that mean? It just means once all of the candidates have applied for the position uh they apply with us. we're not
035burdening the district whatsoever. That application system comes through our our vid recruiter system. After that point though uh then uh we will provide a password to you in the portal it's called. So you have an opportunity to look at them all but just know on on the back side with us with your team of consultants. We are screening we're making we're we are uh looking at the profile for ISD and hopefully we definitely will have some recommendations for you. We want to hear from you. We want to hear what who stood out to you uh when we have that particular meeting to review applications and kind of see what kind of match we have at that time. Okay. The search kickoff that kind of alluded to this. That's our call our planning meeting. So, we
036want to review your timeline. Um that works for you because it's it is a commitment of dates. Um I'm going to just be open with you. There's a you're going to have a lot of meetings coming up as a board. a lot of time uh dedicated uh to not only reviewing applications but after that having interviews possibly one round two rounds of interviews things like that. So we want to see your calendars. We want to be sure that all of you are participating in that so that everyone has that that voice in this process. Uh we also want to at the planning meeting look at qualifications characteristics. Um, from our research, we certainly have those that we find are very critical uh in superintendence, but we want to make sure that there's not anything else
037unique or tweaks or anything of that nature that we want to be sure our candidate pool understands are important. In addition to that though, we can also customize the application and ask some questions, things like that within the application system just for you. And then finally, the community involvement. We we highly recommend a couple of ways to involve the community. We will always provide an online type of surveying for you that those results come come back to us, but then provide that report to you uh with some some questions to hear from the community about their hopes, dreams, what they like, what's going well in your district, maybe what could be some things that could be addressed by the next superintendent, and then what are some qualifications that they're looking for, things of that nature.
038But we also um certainly suggest town hall community type meetings. We do a number of those. It just depends on the district and board and and what you feel is most appropriate. We recommend meeting with staff at one point. We recommend meeting in the community uh as well so that we can gather that that face-toface opportunity and then we always prepare that for you and prepare summaries and uh we help identify the common themes that have come through it. So you ask what what is all that for? that that is a way as a as a board member to reach as as a corporate body to reach out to the community to get their input. But it also helps with us and our in our uh I guess recruiting efforts to look at candidates that
039match and it also helps us and you when you screen candidates and then finally it certainly helps uh when we look at your interview. What does that interview look like? What type of questions are posed? You want to hopefully delve in to things that are brought up through that process. So during the search, we're taking care of this. This is part of the reason why you hire a firm is all the advertising, the recruiting of it, the as I mentioned to you, the survey. One of the things that we feel like is unique about our process too is that we do have a video component. So that portal that you'll get access to will certainly have your traditional type of materials for you to review. But we do have a video and it's a very
040it's not too timeconuming but it's an opportunity for you to see face to face and meet these candidates that way where they answer several questions and kind of see how they respond to those. Um we come back at that point as I mentioned and get your input and talk about the interview uh design that interview schedule that interview that meets the all of your time commitments and go from there. And then of course that's the interview process. We recommend a a two-step process where you have a first round of interviews where you're very consistent with that asking the same questions of every candidate so you have a an ability uh to compare each and every one of those and then after that uh you decide who you would like to invite back. We highly recommend
041a second round. We always say don't fall in love on the first date. Let's come back. Let's bring somebody back in to kind of get to know them just a little bit better. It's a little bit less formal, more conversational. It's an opportunity maybe to meet uh your candidates, family, spouse, kids. It's like with a short reception, things like that. So, we'll talk about that. And then the other thing we can help help you all if you so choose. This is split between districts that they if if you're looking at a candidate, you could do what's called with your with your top candidate. They're not named alone finalist, but they're they are your your number one person of interest, we call it. We could arrange a site visit if you want to see that candidate's
042district, learn a little bit more, things like that. So all that could be could be arranged by us. So as you can see that that's the uh the process. After that you're naming a loan finalist. Texas law requires a 21-day waiting period. Uh then you go to hire during that 21 days. You're working uh to finalize the contract uh and things of that nature. And then after that um TASBY we offer a board superintendent transition workshop that comes with our fees. We recommend you doing that after maybe three, four, five months. uh and uh our our board development service team will come in and work with you and and gain your input as well as the superintendent and see how things are going. Uh certainly how the systems have changed. I am a provider of
043of credit. So you do receive credit for the review of application meeting three hours and then you will receive three hours credit team building credit there for this transition as part of our service. I already talked to you about our guarantee, but if they leave prior to the two-year mark, of course, uh we'll be back and conduct the search again for you, but we certainly don't think that will happen. So, here are just some some different testimonials you could. They're in the book as well from different districts that we could share with you, but I'd like to share the is there video capability? >> Uh there should be. Okay. As long as >> Great. So, I I've talked a lot, but one of the things uh I think it's important is not to hear from
044me, but maybe to hear from from other board members that have actually used us for the search. So, let me see if I here we go. >> So, when we were going into the the search process, we had not as a school district hired a superintendent from the outside very long time. everyone has such a vested interest in what decision we make and so we really wanted the community to feel like they were a part of the process and know what was going on um involve them as much as we could in be transparent with them >> and so we did listen and learns with community members you know different chamber of commerce and different government entities and county entities and people like that >> wasn't so much that TASBY had large district experience or
045not it was who has a lot of experience with diverse communities and Chazby has that space. >> We're not at work, we're chasing our kids somewhere after hours, too. And so to have a group come in and do all of the leg work and know all of the scheduling processes you have to follow. We don't we don't know that. >> Yeah. ESS did great job leading the board through the process. There's a lot of legalities and that sort of thing. We we needed somebody that could kind of coach us through that and make sure that we weren't falling in a ditch on either side. and helping us understand how that timeline works. >> I felt more confident in the decision making process because I didn't have to worry about all the timing issues or the
046scheduling. >> And so I would say if you're looking for um a group that's got a lot of experience with diverse communities that's cost effective that's willing to listen and work with trustees um is a good choice for you. It was the best decision for us to go with them to help us because they really guided us through the process, but the whole time it's it remained within our control. And now we're going to burn. Yeah. And she's going to be here for the next 30 years. So she never gets to retire. So yeah, >> that's the goal, right? All right. So let's see from current. >> All right. So again this is just a highlight of the different districts. Um, as as the the board members mentioned, that was just a sampling of a
047smaller district, which is Gweight. That's where uh that board president was talking about it. And then from a midsize district of Bernie, and then we've done large districts like like Arlington, too. So, we we do that. That's that's that's a representative there of those. But most currently, and within the last year, a year and a half, these are some I've pulled that are pretty close. heard your enrollment of,200 kids almost a little above that today tonight. So as you can see we do also are in that space as well for the size of districts that you serve. I think it would for us it would be a true honor to serve. For me personally uh as I mentioned to you where I live and where I retired but I I grew up not too far
048up the road in west. It was a smaller community there about the same size as you are now about,200 kids. I had about three 400 kids in my high school growing up. So I think I understand uh small town too and the district and uh how important it is and how important the superintendent is to the district and his or her vision for for for the children. So any questions that I might answer for you? >> Your two-year guarantee is that they leave for any reason? >> Yes. Um I personally say that just because uh I want to be here now. Right. Yeah, I can't think of another reason why I wouldn't come back. Even like I said, there's sometimes there are reasons that the candidate for some personal reasons or something like that, but
049still uh I would want to have known that going in ahead of time at least some type of a warning, but uh we we'll be back. We'll be back to questions. So, as you've done districts our size, what are some things that that you could kind of glean from that experience and kind of give us a heads up like, hey, this is, you know, you're, you know, the the different pools of candidates that we may have or whatnot. You know, what are you I'm just curious your your expertise. >> Yeah, definitely. Thank you for the question. I believe the size that you are is a for better word is a golden opportunity for some candidates. Um, I could see your pool being one pot of folks that are in districts, uh, maybe half your size
050or smaller that are looking for their next, um, superintendency, looking for more responsibility, growth, things like that. Uh, so I think that that that's what you might see currently. You're also going to see a number of aspiring superintendents that are assistant superintendents, deputy type superintendents as well that are looking for for their first superintendency but have a a strong rich body of of experience where they are. Uh I think one of the things too that I always talk about is look with candidates is look at the district and understand many of them may have been for example in a large district now but started cut their teeth in a small district. I think it's real important that candidates understand um your size of district as well. Of course, the benefits of it. There are so
051many benefits for every student's a Panther all the way through a small town uh uh in terms of a place to to grow the candidate, his or her family and be a part, be able to participate in a lot of different activities, things like that too. Now on the other there are they're only but their experience is is in larger districts too though they have to understand there's a lot of hats he or she's going to have to wear too and so we want to be sure they understand that that is that is also part of the job. So I think that's why you hire us is that we we have many of those experiences and share that and uh and encourage those that need as many of the boxes as you can for your
052position. I would anticipate you would have strong strong interests in your in your district. It is also a location where you are. It's your ex tradition of excellence in this district at stability in the district. All of those things lead to candidates thinking this is a spot that I would like to meet. So, um I'm not having any hesitation about uh your candidate pool. But it it but it varies. People ask me all the time, well, how many candidates are generally applying? I tell you this, it only matter you only need one. So that's what's most important. But it just depends. It depends on um again all the factors I just described about you as a district. It does depend somewhat on location uh as well. So sometimes we may have as many as almost
05360 and sometimes 30 and 20 to 30 generally in the in the ballpark, but just a few more of you guys. >> Uh just a followup question on that. So, I know you have a screening process and you're I'm assuming you're kind of building a profile for that candidate. What does that look like to us? What does it highlight? >> Sure. Um, some of that of course building and screening will be based on that survey too and the and the community forums we come to. We learn just as much as you do oftentimes the community meetings of the survey and the face toface will probably affirm a lot of the things you know as a board member already but may uncover or at least highlight some things you don't. So I think that help that
054that does. So I think that's part of it is for us to be screening. I think the other part too is we we also for each candidate um when when you get to the interview stage we developed a candidate profile that that you will be provided to you about each candidate too. So that talks about their accountability, their success academically uh in the state accountability system as well as financial. U please tell us about uh we ask about some of the fund balances and finances of success or no success with bonds, no success or no success with Vader voter approved tax rate elections, things like that. So you get all of that. So how what we're looking though for the candidates is back to what I was describing is is your community the type of
055community it is we would look for as I said those would I think uh you would have a strong pool of sitting superintendent so we definitely would look in in that area uh those that again have that track record both on the financial end as well as >> one last question for me and then be done. >> Um, >> sure. >> Your your vetting process on candidates. What does that look like? Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the news and well stuff. So, >> so vetting vetting is one of our benefits that I have seen to be very beneficial for boards is the fact back to the fact that I have a full team. We have field service reps all across Texas where it's gathering information about candidates not doing it any other way than
056just knowing their track record. Uh they they or maybe in their offices they may know their successes as well u good and bad and things of that nature. So we we vet and and in that aspect of course we we're vetting uh also with our packages every candidate that uh that becomes your strong candidates will have a third party background check. So rest assured of that. We use a third party. So they will go through all of the criminal county all of those type of things of their record plus bankruptcy and uh credit reports things like that too. Social media review is also included. So we'll have that type of a scrub and just only inform you if there is something of that's in the system that's not green where I need to come is
057yellow or red caution you about uh then we share the information with you too. So yes sir that's a great question. Thank you for bringing that up. >> All right. Thank you all very much. Best of luck to you. Appreciate >> you >> and then this cross. Notorious. >> Okay. I guess you have a dog. >> The first time somebody asked me for a dongle, I looked at it and I said, I don't think I have one. >> Apparently, it's a real thing now. Okay. from the beginning. >> There we go. >> Oh, that's sure. Oh, okay. This rain brought in, but it got us all. So, my name is Rhonda Crass. Um, we are pleased to be here tonight to uh talk to you about your superintendent search. Um, question number one is who
058are we? Who is who is Lisa Krabs? Let me tell you who we are. We're a fullervice school law firm. Uh my partner Mike and I have been in business for 12 and a half years. Um Mike was a Mike's probably the only lawyer in the state of Texas that has a PE degree that got him into law school. He taught school for a number of years before he uh went to law school. I taught for one year before I went to law school. My dad was a superintendent and he didn't think you could get to heaven without a Texas teaching certificate. So I taught one year and then I said, "You know what? Y'all can have this. I don't really want this. There's a better way to make a living." And so I went
059to law school and then I realized I really do love working with schools. I just like working with the adults better than anybody else. So um this is my 37th year to practice law. I know. I know it's a long time. But um I've been doing this for a really really long time. My adopted sister was a school superintendent. My husband is a retired school superintendent. So I know the superintendent business. Um we um we represent public schools exclusively. We don't do this as a side business for extra money like soup searches. We don't do this to promote specific educators. Our goal is to help school boards find the very right candidate. Um we want you to have more control over the search. I don't have a stable of candidates. We want you to be
060invested in in who you hire as your initial candidate and we want you to be represented in all facets. So, let me tell you a little bit about our process. Um, the first thing you do is you establish a timeline. This is going to differ from school district to school district. Um, you know, you may need somebody quickly. You may want to draw this out. You I don't know what you want to do, but the timeline needs to be adhered to so that potential candidates can better manage their expectations. It also allows because we try to be as transparent as we can with the community. Although we can't release the names of the applicants, we do try to keep them informed of what's going on because everybody in your community wants to know what the
061next step is. So it allows your community and your staff to understand what's to be expected and what's coming down the road. And here's the thing, all of this is board driven. So it can be as fast or as slow as you want it to be. Now, all of this is board driven. We give you the opportunity to decide how much community key stakeholder input. I've had school boards that man, they they literally they they want to see everybody. I mean, like the cabinet, the executive directors, the principles, the district-wide staff meeting, the PTO officers, long range facilities planning, city and county officials. I mean, they want us to to have meetings with everybody out there. I've had some that said, you know, just put out a quick survey and let us know what they
062want. And then I've had boards that have looked at me and said, you know what, they elected us to do this job. We don't really need their input. So, we're just moving forward without that. Again, all of this is up to you, the school board. You get to make the decision of what you want and what you don't want. I'm going to give you good advice. I'm going to tell you what the leading trends are and based on experience what you should or shouldn't do. But again, you know, just because I give you advice doesn't always mean you have to take it. Sometimes that's not a good idea, but you're the board, your kids, your town, your money. Um, we help you develop a profile. If you want us to go out and gather all
063this data, we'll do that. will will keep you focused on what are you looking for? What what specific characteristics are you looking for? And and then we also I mean just like we're selling candidates that that want to come see you, we're selling you to candidates, man, this great district right here. This is a district you want to be the superintendent because trust me when I tell you and I thank my fellow compadres out there that have done searches. There's a couple of districts that I have worked really hard to try to get a few good men and women to apply for the job because they're they're just it's not a great place to be at that time. Um the applications we give you the top 10 to 12. We also do a four question
064video. We do written responses so that um they're really not questions that are make or break, but they're questions that will give you an example of the the applicant's writing style. We're going to give you the name and the position in the school district where every applicant is employed, which means you have access to all the applications. Now, I may tell you a reason why that's not a good applicant. Maybe, you know, I've had the opportunity to help that superintendent separate from employment two other times, and I'm just telling you, it may look good on paper, but that's not who you want. Um, we've been in this business for a long time. I can tell you who's going to shut the bar down at the Midwinter conference. I'm going to tell you what you need
065to know. I'm not going to hide the ball. I'm not going to try to push anybody. I'm not going to tell you anything that you don't want to know about a candidate. And I'll tell you why our process works. It works because it's board driven. You get to make all the decisions. We facilitate the search, but we don't make decisions for you. I've had people say, "Well, I know that lawyer's coming in there telling them who to pick." You know, at the end of the day, I live in Glenrose, Texas. It's 1 hour and six minutes from here and I'm going to go home to my little house in Glenrose and light my fireplace tonight and pay my taxes to Glen Rose ISD. I want you to pick who you want and I want you
066to pick who is the best fit for you. My job as a consultant is to give you the best possible applicants that we can find. And so that's what we do. The other reason it works is because every board member has a voice. And I think that's critical. You know, if everybody gets to say their piece in the meeting and espouse their theory about why a particular candidate is a good candidate, then I think what you'll end up doing is you'll all be agreeable because you've gotten to try to convince your fellow board members otherwise. Um, this is a very honed, data driven process. We guide you to make datadriven decisions, not emotional decisions. And we try to keep you focused on remembering here's the characteristics you're looking for. Okay. Um, we have done every
067kind of search you can imagine. We have to develop a profile so that you figure out what you need, not necessarily who you want. We've worked with every kind of search firm. Every kind of search there is internal candidates only. External candidates transition from an external intern to a loan finalist. Transition from an internal interim to a lone finalist or a combination of both internal and external. Again, you get to decide what you want, but I can help you facilitate however it is. Our network's large. We've helped a lot of people. The thing about this process is it works for a great big district, works for a little tiny district. And I've done it in great big districts as big as Northwest ISD with I don't know, they got more campuses than probably there are
068schools in region 10. And we've done it for little bitty districts where there were 125 kids, but every board member got a voice, so they made sure. And the thing is, you have to recognize that that every search is a little bit different because it's based on what the board needs. What do you need to get the right person in here? We've worked with boards who have general in-house counsel. We've worked with boards who have their own separate attorney. Sometimes we call them, you know, the outside counsel. The board has their attorney, the district has their attorney, and you know, all that. We worked at boards that we don't represent. We're not your regular lawyer. You have another lawyer, but we worked with those boards, too. We work with those councils as well. We worked
069at boards that don't even have a lawyer. I know in today's times you probably find that difficult to believe, but occasionally you'll run across the school, but we don't we don't need a lawyer. Always want to go, yeah, you probably do more than you know, but that's okay. Um, board has lots of options. The timeline, the board gets to decide when do you want your superintendent in place? what needs do you want to consider in the timeline? You know, there are things like elections or bond elections or or schoolboard elections. Um, you know, the board gets to decide how many people do you want us to go out and talk to to help gather data. The board gets to decide after all the data you've collected, whether it's just you, whether it's a survey, whether
070it's, you know, everybody in May Pearl ISD, what professional and personal characteristics you want to see in your next suit, and what are the most immediate needs of the district. You get to decide how many after the application period closes you want in hard copy or electronic format. Now, I'm going to tell you, more than 15 gets a little bit wieldy because these are pretty thick, pretty intense applications. Um, you get to decide who you want to interview in round one. I don't bring you just six people and say, "Here's your round one." I'm going to bring you 12 people and you're going to tell me out of that. We're going to work the process where you talk it through and you figure it out and you decide which six. And after you interview six,
071you get to decide who comes back for round two. And after round two, you get to decide who you want to be the lone finalist. As far as recruitment, we direct recruit people. We solicit nominations through, you know, top leaders in the industry. My partners teach in doctoral programs at universities. We list all these there's all these websites you can list. Um, we take recommendations from board members. Let's say, you know, one of your board members says, "Hey, I got a cousin out in so and so and and they got a really good superintendent. Would you go out and talk to them to see if they'll come be our superintendent?" Absolutely. Because you as a board can't call them up and ask them, "Hey, would you apply?" That's just not really good. Um, we talk
072to people we know and trust that we represent. Hey, do you have somebody in your organization that's ready to step up and be a superintendent? Um we take recommendations from former administrators and people who were mentors. Our partnership with the board um you get to decide if you want to recruit us to recruit specific people. You review the candidates part of the interview and you and we assist you in ensuring that this is confidential. We're not going to rest until you secured a qualified candidate. If something happens to your superintendent within a year, we'll come back get you another one on the house. We've only had to do that once and unfortunately it was because a superintendent um passed away unexpectedly nine months into the job, but we were managed to secure another good one.
073Um why does it work? Because it's data driven and it's board directed and it's detailed to fit this board throughout the entire process. Now, other things you're going to get, we're going to send an agenda to your interim and to your acting superintendent so that we make sure that your postings are correct because today everybody knows everybody's looking at agendas. Um, we're going to schedule the interviews. We're going to notify those who get get the job, those who don't. So, you don't have to go through all that process. In fact, the day you decide which top six to interview, by 8:30 the next morning, everybody else who didn't get an interview will be notified by mail, email, a letter, and an email. Um, included is the negotiation of the contract. We represent the district. We
074do not represent the candidates. We're going to help you get your best bang for the buck. Your school is on a mission. That's our little tagline. Started it 12 years ago. But every search is customized for what you need and it ensures that only the most highly qualified candidates are recruited. I can tell you and I know other search consultants can tell you. I can tell you who's applied for theirs because there's going to be three people that apply every time for the job. Whether it's Fort Worth ISD, May Pearl, Rising Star with 125 kids, they're going to apply for every open job there is because they just want a superintendent job. So we can we can tell you who the really good quality candidates are and our network allows us to um bring you
075the best qualified candidates. Now these are the hard costs postage, travel, meals, copying, posting fees for websites. The thing is the fee we quoted you in our initial letter. You familiar with that number? That's the flat fee. That's what you pay me. That's all the hard cost. Plus, we do a training after your superintendent's here to kind of get y'all all on the same foot and includes the negotiation of the contract. Now, some people will say, "Well, that seems a little cheap." Let me tell you why it's cheap. That's how we give back to the community of schools. When you're a lawyer, if you're a divorce lawyer, you go to the Battered Women's Shelter and you offer to do free divorces for three women who can't afford a divorce lawyer. Uh, if you're a criminal
076defense attorney, you agree to take on, you know, five cases a year for defendants who can't afford a lawyer. When you're a school lawyer and all you do is represent Texas public schools, you can't go, "Well, today we're going to give this client free advice and tomorrow we're going to pick another one to give free advice." So, you can't do that. So, that's what we do. We don't charge a lot for superintendent searches. We don't go out looking for them. We never do more than three at one time. And It's our way of giving back to you. It's our way of saying to school districts, "Hey, we appreciate what you do." And maybe it shouldn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. Um, everybody gets my cell number. Everybody gets to call me
077and ask questions. That's included in the flat fee and everything else you do. So, uh, does anybody have any questions? I think we talked quite a bit >> before you got here. So, you answer a lot of my questions. >> Okay. >> For those who haven't, this is a good time. >> I'll ask the same question I asked to be, right? How do you vet your >> your clients? >> We do a lot more vetting than we used to because one of our colleagues had some issues. Never before have I asked to see or prove to me that you are a citizen of the United States. But we had that issue. We do ask for transcripts now. We we used to ask for transcripts all the time. Then we quit asking for transcripts because it
078just seemed like a lot of unnecessary work. We now request transcripts again because we want to make sure that if you say you have a degree from a certain college that you actually have a degree from a certain college. We also represent the Texas Municipal Police Association and we do have some access to a few things. Um, you know, we make sure that there's not been that there's no criminal charges and we also make sure that there are no things like bankruptcies or weird things sitting out there that would be a red flag. I don't bring to you any candidate in the top 12 that I don't either know personally or if I didn't know them and I they look like a great candidate, I'll go meet them. I'll go wherever they are and I'll
079meet them and I want to talk to them and I want to get to know them and I want to find out if they're going to be a good fit. The other thing is I will take a recommendation from a trusted person. Um, but you got to go through a pretty hard screening to get into my top 12. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you so much. You >> now my my question to you is do you need us to stay or will you call us or >> Yeah, we'll we'll call you. We'll have close session here a few minutes. So you There's no reason for you to hang out in Old April, Texas. Well, >> I was just asking because no, >> I actually went to an interview one time where all the candidates
080had to stay and wait because as soon as they made a decision, they wanted the consultant to come in and start working that night. So, >> we're we're we're appreciative of you guys' time being here and we know that most of you guys have a little bit of a drive. So, uh you guys can head on back and then we'll we'll call you and let you know. >> Great. Well, thank you so much for appreciate coming and getting an opportunity to visit with you. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. And just for transparency sake, Impact Education Specialists couldn't be here today, but they are also one of the companies that we're looking at. So, just like to be transparent with everybody. >> Well, thank you so very much to see y'all. >> Okay, it is 7:41 and we
081are going into close session. All right. It is 11:44. I don't need this, right? Is it Do I need it for the cameras? >> Yeah, just leave it on. >> Leave it on. >> Yes, sir. All right. It is 11:45 and we are out of close session. Okay. Um, any motions coming out of close session? Cool. I'll make a motion to utilize uh the Doug Williams impact education search firm uh as our firm to find the super. >> Any discussion? Cool. All in favor? None opposed? No dension in Egypt. >> Go team.