001Have a nice agenda right in front of us. So let's get started. We were coming a little late. Coming. Had a work session and had a lot to discuss with that said, okay, then we make the announcement that we have quorum here on the board. So the meeting, it's following the notice that was presented, in, in the time and manner required by law. With that said, we are going to have our invocation by Officer Nate Snyder, who, by the way, is also an SRO with the district, very proud of that. And then we are going to have a pledge by our ROTC team. I guess it's going to be led by Miss Gabriela Rodriguez. And there's sponsor is Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Burton Jr., who is right there. Okay. So with that, let's start with the
002invocation. Father God, I just thank you for, for this city and all our leaders, our city leaders, our occasional leaders and teachers, staff and everything and everybody that makes the school days work. Lord, I pray that you guide them, protect them. And we have a safe school year in God's name. Amen. Forward march! The pledge. 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. The Texas pledge. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas one state under God, one and indivisible. Forward. Be seated. Thank you, Colonel, for bringing your kids here. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Officer Snyder, for that invocation. Okay. With that, we are going to go to the team of eight moment. Miss Collier,
003thank you. Have a presentation. All right. Yeah. I'm going to read it because it's written down. I have known this child since he was four years old. He is spectacular. But he does something amazing too. But I'm going to read it anyway. Okay. Tonight we have the honor of recognizing someone who's quick thinking and caring heart made a huge difference in the life of a student. Shaylen Slape, a MISD AVID tutor, was at home one afternoon when he answered his doorbell and found a young elementary student on his porch. She was lost in need of help and didn't know how to give back to her family. Without hesitation, Shaylen grabbed his district I.D. and escorted the student to the nearest campus, which is our neighborhood Rugel Elementary. There, he connected with the principal, who quickly
004reunited the student with her parents because of Shaylen's willingness to help. What could have been a frightening and unsafe situation into safely. His actions reflect the heart of MISD. Putting the students safety first, whether in the classroom or out in the community. Shaylen, thank you for showing us what it means to be a true difference maker. Thank you. Okay. On behalf of MISD Board of Trustees, it is my privilege to present to you the Certificate of Excellence. Glad you're here. Well, I thank you. Thank you sir. Thank you for that, Miss Collier. Anybody else want to share anything at this moment? Okay. Next we're going to go to students and staff. Guests? Dr. Rivera, Sabreana. And you? We are honoring is Jennifer Schumann. We are going to watch a video real quick. Ms. Schumann is
005a 6th Grade and Language Arts teacher with ten years of teaching experience, in Mesquite ISD. Let’s take a look at the video and what makes her an Apple Corps teacher. We are extremely excited to present Miss Shuman, our Apple Corps teacher, for what was in middle school. She is an amazing teacher that goes over and beyond every single day. She creates all these different learning opportunities for our students. Her passion just fuzes out of her own to the students and it shows to her teaching. She connects with our kids and like no other on our campus. And we're extremely blessed to have her as a teacher on our campus. Congratulations, Ms. Schumann. You are so deserving of this award! I teach middle school, which is a critical stage in students lives. It's my job to
006help students grow academically and to grow the whole child as well. I want to make sure that when my students leave me that they feel respected, that they were believed in, and that they know that they are worthy of success. All right, Ms. Schumann, please come forward and let us recognize you. Congratulations. It's my privilege to be able to present this proclamation to you. Whereas the Mesquite Independent School District Board of Trustees seeks to honor outstanding classroom teachers who demonstrate leadership, innovation, and dedication to the students of Mesquite ISD. And Whereas, the Mesquite ISD Apple Corps consist of exceptional teachers nominated by their peers to receive the school district's highest recognition. Therefore, be it resolved that the board officially welcomes Jennifer Schumann in the Mesquite ISD Apple Corps. On this eighth day of September, 2025.
007Jennifer. Congratulations. I'm really proud of you. Thank you very much. I guess I face the board. Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you to the Board, Mesquite ISD, and the administration of Wilkinson Middle School for providing so many opportunities to grow as an educator. I want to also thank my colleagues and my students who continue to inspire me. And thank you to my mom for all the support you've given me. I appreciate you all. Thank you. Congratulations. Our next honoree this evening is Brenda Travis of Rutherford Elementary School. Miss Travis is a fifth grade bilingual math and science teacher with 11 years of teaching experience right here, in Mesquite ISD. If you will turn your attention to the screen, we're going to learn more about, Miss Travis. To be nominated by her peers speaks volumes about
008Miss Travis. Not only what she does in the classroom, but also the influence that she has on our campus. She plans intentional lessons and creates learning experiences that yield high outcomes. Mrs. Travis campus influence extends to the time she invest with our Student Leadership program. Her student leaders have also been recognized by TASB for their campus influence. Rutherford is blessed to have a teacher like Brenda Travis. Felicidades y bienvenidos a Apple Corp. Teaching is important because we play a big part in sending our kids out into the world to be contributing citizens. I think that's a really important skill for our kids to learn, because it's not something that they're just going to approach and deal with in the math classroom. It's something that they are going to have to hit and know how to
009navigate. When they go out into the world. Come forward, Ms.. Travis. I present this proclamation. Whereas the Mesquite Independent School District Board of Trustees seeks to outstanding classroom teachers who demonstrate leadership and innovation and dedication to the students in the Mesquite ISD. And Whereas, the Mesquite ISD Apple Corp consists of exceptional teachers nominated by their peers to receive the school district’s highest recognition. Therefore, be resolved that the board officially welcomes Brenda Travis into Mesquite I-s-d applicable on this eighth day of September 2025. Congratulations and thank you so much. That's an important recognition. Good evening. So I'm truly honored to be inducted into the Apple Courts and to stand among so many dedicated educators. To be nominated by my colleagues means more to me than words can express. Because no one understands the challenges and joys
010of teaching better than those who walked this path alongside us. This award is not solely the reflection of my work, but it also reflects the support of my team members and the guidance of my leadership team. My principal, and my AP. Thank you for supporting me and dreaming big with me. Whether it's turning our school into a castle, equipping our student leaders, creating engaging room transformations, or collaborating together. Thank you for helping me make Rutherford the best. I'd also like to thank my. That's my baby girl. I'd also like to thank my students and the supports I receive from their families. My students are the reason I walk into the classroom each day with energy and purpose. Their curiosity, their productive struggle, their growth inspires me to keep growing as an educator. As a proud
011graduate of this district, it's especially meaningful to give back to the community that helped shape who I am today. Thank you to my loving parents who instilled in me the value of education and hard work, and my husband, whose love and support at home make it possible for me to give my best to my students every day. A final thank you to the Apple Corp's program, to Dr. Rivera, to the school board, and to my Mesquite family for this recognition. I'm humbled and inspired to continue striving for excellence in the classroom. Thank you. It's always great to honor our teachers. But I would ask Miss Schumann. Do you have any immediate family here with you that you would like to introduce so we could recognize them? Any immediate family? Parents? Brothers? Sisters. My mom. Have
012her stand. Good. Do you have school family here? Yeah. They're there. If you would please stand to be recognized. Please. There you go. Excellent. Thank you, Miss Schumann. Miss Travis, same for you. Your family. Immediate family. And my daughter. There you go. Then, father in law. Oh, excellent. Excellent. And your school? Excellent. Thank you very much. Okay. Okay. Each month, when we honor one of our outstanding paraprofessionals with the Star Para Award. Mesquite ISD is excited to partner with First Financial Group of America to provide the Star Para recipient with a gift card. We're grateful to have a representative from FGA here tonight. If you would, please join me. The McWhorter Elementary School principal Robin Leslie with our September star para, Mercedes Vega Gomez at the podium. Principal Leslie will now share what makes Miss
013Vega Gomez so special. Miss Mercedes Vega Gomez is one of the hardest workers that I know. This is her fifth year in Mesquite ISD. She always has a smile on her face and greet students. She is a bilingual pre-K classroom assistant, which I think might be one of the hardest jobs. I really love visiting that classroom, and she never stops working. And when I say she always has a smile on her face, that means greeting students in the morning and then all the way til the end of the day. Again, I think her heart is, in this job more than any other employee. And, if anybody was going to represent excellence always, it is going to be Mercedes Vega Gomez. Yay, yay. She has three great students with a kind heart and and just super
014intelligent that go to Mesquite ISD and whatever she's doing with her kids at home, she's doing the same thing in the classroom. And I really appreciate you. Yeah. Yay! Congratulations. Next up, we want to recognize three very special Mesquite ISD teachers who have been promoted to the highest level of our ETIP program. That's called District Scholar. Here to tell us more about the ETIP program and introduce our newest scholars is the is Mesquite ISD coordinator Liz Rimler. Good evening. The Mesquite ISD Excellence in Teaching Incentive program aims to support teachers in reaching their professional goals, while continuing to serve in the classroom. It's my pleasure to announce three new scholars who reach the highest level of ETIP, District Scholar. These three educators have achieved this third level of eligibility by completing two years of ETIP
015coursework. Two additional successful years as a classroom scholar, two successful years as a Campus Scholar, and completing a doctoral degree in curriculum instruction, or earned a National Board Teacher certification. These district scholars will join our nine existing District Scholars and working closely with the District Liaison to complete a goal that benefits our entire district. In addition to their campus and two classroom goals, please join me in congratulating our newest district, ETIP Scholars. We have, as your name is called. Come on up, Dani Boepple. She is a Principals of Human Services teacher at McDonald Middle School and a National Board certified teacher. Congratulations. Next, we have Doctor Chandra Courtney's - Doctor Courtney is a science teacher and department head at Mesquite High School, and her doctorate was conferred in May. Next up, we have Doctor Sigmund
016Courtney. Doctor Courtney is a science teacher and department head at Horn High School. His doctorate was conferred in May. Congratulations to each of you. They did. Thank you. Okay. Next, we're pleased to recognize our September community partner for their support of our schools and students. The Balch Springs Public Library has partnered with Mesquite ISD Library Services Department to bring exciting opportunities for our students to connect with books, discover new programs, and access valuable library resources. We have a special video to show you more about this partnership, and then we'd love to take a photo with you. This month, we're recognizing the Balch Springs Public Library as our featured Mesquite ISD community partner. One of the Balch Springs librarians, Teresa, came to our meeting that we meet regularly with the district libraries and the public libraries.
017And so she came to one of our meetings with this idea for a library share card, where all of our students could get a library card for the public libraries, and we just jumped right on board with that. The very first year we went digital with this, we had over 29,000 students signed up. The second year we went digital with this program. For the enrollment package, every student signed up except for four families. So the almost the entire MISD student populace have signed up for this program. It is a huge success. We really love it. So that our students can access books during the summer when our school libraries are closed, but also throughout the year. If there's something we don't have available, they can always go and visit the public library and get a
018book from the public library. Thank you to the Balch Springs Public Library for supporting Mesquite ISD students and families. All right. Thank you very much for supporting our students. And speaking of students, this is my favorite part. We have our first student recognitions of the year. And during this portion we recognize special students for, outstanding achievement. And tonight we have two special groups of students that will be recognizing for their academic excellence in our Advanced Placement program. First, we have our AP scholars with honor. These students scored three or higher on four or more AP exams, and have an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken. So we're going to start with students from, Horn High School. This is Andrew Garcia, AP scholar with honor. Okay. Next up, we have Ariana
019Zamora, AP scholar with honor. Next up, we have Nataly Corrugedo, AP scholar with honor. This is from North Mesquite. Next up, Nuvia Ramirez, North Mesquite, AP scholar with honor. Next, we have Carson Winfree, AP scholar with honor from North Mesquite. Love that. Next up, we have Laiyla Grant, AP scholar with honor from Poteet High School. Hector Gonzalez is AP scholar with honor from Vanguard High School. Another AP scholar with honor from Vroonland Vanguard High School. Savannah Gonzalez. Antonio Rivas, AP scholar with honor from Vanguard. Next up, we have Kurtney Sandel, AP scholar with honor from Vanguard. Congratulations to Tirrell Spragin in AP honor. AP scholar with honor from Vanguard. Yaneli Valdovinos. AP scholar with honor from Vanguard. Moving over to the West Side, we have Joel Alonzo, AP scholar with Honor West Mesquite High School.
020Katie Anaya is AP scholar with honor from West Mesquite. Okay. Next, we have a different group. These are AP scholars with distinction. These students scored at least a 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scored three or higher on five or more of those exams. First up, from John Horn High School, we have Jaime Alvarez, AP scholar with distinction. Next up we have Dayanara De Los Rios, AP scholar with distinction for the Jaguars. From the Mesquite High School. Peyton Hardin, AP scholar with distinction. Over to North Mesquite High School. Kathy Avila, AP scholar with distinction. With another stallion. Antonio Charles, AP scholar with distinction. And for the Pirates. Dayana Rangel, AP scholar with distinction from Poteet High School. Next up, Jacqueline Vazquez, AP scholar, distinction from Poteet High School. Now from Vanguard. Alejandro Alvarez Carbajal,
021AP scholar with distinction. Also from Vanguard. Mario Castillo, AP scholar with distinction. Next we have Nhung Duong, AP scholar with distinction from David Vroonland Vanguard High School. Next up, one Juan Guevara, AP scholar with distinction from Vanguard. And Hugo Lara, AP scholar with distinction from Vanguard. Jemily Montes, Vanguard AP scholar with distinction. Tiffany Nwoke AP scholar with distinction from Vanguard High School. Next up, we have a Layla Owens AP scholar with distinction. Vanguard. And back over to the West Side. Nathan Goodwin, AP scholar with distinction from West Mesquite High School. And last, we have Alexander Hernandez, AP scholar with distinction from West Mesquite High School. All right. Special thanks to these young people's families, their teachers, AP sponsors, our amazing educators. Lots of great academic excellence to start the year off. So congratulations to everyone.
022This concludes tonight's recognitions. At this moment we're going to take a five minute recess. We'll come back. And then. Okay. At this time, we're going to reconvene. Next, we have the audience portion. Sabreana. Do we have anybody for the audience portion? We don't. Okay, that takes care of that. Next, we're going to the consent agenda. Are there any items that you want to pull? Or do you move to approve? Okay. There's a motion by Mr. Seward. Second by Miss Hornsby. Are there any comments or questions? Mr. president, I have a couple real quick. Yes. As you know, we got the Texas Association of School Board has a convention coming up this weekend. One of the big, asked is the delegate assembly, which we have three. We have two delegates and an alternate Mr. Carbo. Since
023you’re a TASB director, you're automatically a delegate. Miss Collier, I believe you're a delegate. And the alternate is Mr. Rose. If you're looking there, I know that you've looked in there, but, we do have some the nominations committee report that was put out there on the next set of, directors for tells me I would like to, just remind everybody that we endorsed two people. One of those got the nomination from the nominations committee, which Mr. Carbo is also a member of that nominations committee. I'd like to congratulate Regina Harris from Richardson ISD, who's filling a three year term on Region X - Position B and, two year term. Filling the vacancy is Mr. Robert Selders Jr. From Garland ISD for TASB Region X. Position A. Congratulations to him. And he also wanted to make sure
024that we he relayed to everyone here. He appreciated our endorsement and support and really appreciate that very much. The second piece is, I would ask our delegates to really look at the changes. This is a big year for for the, organization. There's some major changes that are going to make some changes to the mission statement. There are major, bylaws changes. In fact, one of those is that they're going to do away with the resolutions process. That's going to work a little differently. So you can have your advocacy priorities and not have all these resolutions that they spend time on. There's going to be a different process, which is a good thing. They're making some changes to the cornerstone principles that are solid for TASB and they're going to make some adjustments to the advocacy priorities
025that the, Legislative Action Advocacy Committee, which I served on for two years, had made some recommendations and are going to recommend those to the delegate assembly. But I think these changes are going to be great for TASB and for the organization, but also for all the districts that utilize TASB services. But that thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. With that there is a motion on the table. All those in favor please indicate by saying aye. Opposed same sign, Aye do have it. The motion carries. just as a note. This year we only have six resolutions where traditionally we have a 120, 130. So we're very happy about that. We had our meeting today. Okay. Next we're going to reports to the Superintendent. And I want to tell you we're going to move up, Section E,
026which is construction. Dr. Rivera? Thank you, Mr. President. The report for the superintendent. We don't have anything in personnel. We will skip, personnel. And I want to bring up, the team for construction services. And Mr. Prado will make the introductions. Mr. Prado. Good evening, President Carbo and board of trustees. It's my pleasure to introduce, Mr. Graham Baumann from, partner at WRA. He's going to talk over some projects today. With him is Mr. Roland Gentry. And before that, I want to also bring Mr. Don Pool to quickly tell tell you where we are in the process in terms of our projects. And then he'll turn it over to, to, Mr. Baumann. Also here is Jay Russell, construction manager, who did an absolutely phenomenal job last time. So I will let Mr. Pool take it over from
027here. Thank you. Board President, School Board. Dr. Rivera. drawing on the success, the successful selection of the construction method and CM at risk, the WRA architecture team is pleased to present the schematic design for six locations across the district. The milestone marks a crucial step in transforming the initial concepts of district priorities into and tangible functional plans. The phase focuses on the big picture, outlining the overall layout, spatial relationships, and key features that will shape the final decision. Battle design on each campus. The schematic designs incorporates data gathered during pre design phase, including department meetings, program requirements and site analysis to create functional and esthetically pleasing education. No spaces with be denied as grant Beaumont to take over from here. And remember we will be voting after each after each project that's presented. Thank you
028Don, I've got a few more introductions. I brought my team here with me. I’ve got project manager, Roland Gentry, project coordinator Yao Li and, also on the team is .... Again, I'm Graham Bowman. I'll be your principal in charge on these projects. And thank you for the opportunity to work on, these several projects. Mr. Prado said I had no more than 90 minutes up here, so we'll start a timer now. Starting to move to adjourn. We'll start the projects. Talking about McDonald Middle School, expansion and renovation. This was noted as a safety and security priority. In the facility assessment. I want to touch on the existing floor plan before we move on. We had a campus meeting with Principal Jackson to review, some of the existing conditions, our initial proposal, and then come up with
029the proposal that we're going to talk about here in just a second. So I wanted to to focus in on the, the administration area. It's one of the smallest, admins, in the district, especially for a middle school of this size. We're also going to look across the hallway, at the clinic, the snack and classroom area and, adjacent to the cafeteria. And also, there's a seating area adjacent, in the cafeteria now, kind of on the north edge near the kitchen that we're going to take a look at in just one second. So the design proposal in the administration area includes an a 1000 square foot addition expansion to the south to be able to provide a more functional layout of administration. So we've built out about 1000ft², just one column, basically to flush out the admin
030to the exterior wall. Nearby, we've enlarged the reception with wall to wall glazing, which provides administrators with clear visibility of all campus approaches. A new single point of entry and secure vestibule, featuring attack resistant glazing along the full length of the glass wall, including reception and adjacent offices. The admin suite count office count remains consistent, but the spaces have been reconfigured for consistency. And an addition of a conference room and a public restroom directly accessible from the reception prevents visitors from moving deeper into the school. Without necessary and being necessary. So the admin wasn't previously provided with either of those. A conference room? It now becomes part of the suite looking at the clinic improvement. The renovation includes an expanded clinic with the dedicated private procedure and treatment room that we've given our latest middle
031schools, clinic, restroom upgrades include, ADA accessibility. In that restroom, it's more of a retrofit restroom that we're going to upgrade their cafeteria and kitchen renovation. Expansion, will include an improved serving line and prep area for functionality and to better accommodate traffic. Expanded cooler and freezer capacity for increased storage needs. Reorganization of the back of house spaces for greater efficiency and flexibility. And we'll be working very closely with my food service and nutrition services and campus admin to ensure that the kitchen, cafeteria, and stage areas are redesigned to improve functionality, efficiency, and overall usability. We've got some building system upgrades that we've mentioned previously. We'll be working on electrical and technology, upgrades, reroofing, upgraded lighting fixtures, HVAC systems for our to use and multi zones units, to provide consistent, reliable climate control and then some miscellaneous
032plumbing items. Moving to the exterior, if you'll notice that the existing facade has a flat brick facade with recessed entry doors. It's utilitarian in appearance, with limited architectural emphasis. Three nearly identical entrances create confusion, making it difficult for visitors to recognize which one's the true front door. Minimal glass at the entry restricts natural light and reduce visibility from reception to the exterior. So the proposed design, is a bold new glass and brick entry volume that extends outward, framed by a modern roof canopy. The school name is prominently displayed on the adjacent brick wall, providing a clear and recognizable identity. Floor to ceiling glazing, displayed on a floor to ceiling glazing, maximizes daylight, creates a strong visual connection between the inside and outside, conveying openness and the new design establishes a secure, transparent and welcoming entrance
033that reflects a forward looking learning environment. Touching on costs were on target from the amount that was approved in the bond. The schedule. We're going to recommend a name for construction manager at the October board meeting. Issue documents for bid in, early February, approve the GMP in April for construction and complete construction in the summer of 2027. I'll pause for a moment for some questions, and then we'll take a motion. This one's for. You. Maybe that's correct. It's got a storm shelter for the capacity of the school. Okay. Thank you, Mr. President. I move to approve the McDonald Middle School schematic design. Mr. President, I second that. On brethren, by saying I, opposed same sign. Action number two. All right. We're going to touch on AC middle school. This is a renovation again. Part of
034the safety and security priority from the facility assessment. We'll touch on the existing floor plan. We reviewed it, and a campus meeting with Principal Dr. Torrance. Had a proposal there, and we've improved it since then. So we'll touch on secure entry into administration. First, we're going to propose a 40 100 square foot renovation that repositions the reception area. I'll tell you what. Let me go through the existing before I jump into that. So the existing facility has two secure vestibules that lead to a lobby that's also acts as a secure vestibule, with a reception that's kind of deeply tucked in, past the main corridors. So what we're going to attempt to do here is improve safety and security. So 40 100 square foot renovation that repositions reception area to the front of the school, giving
035the administrators direct visibility. As, people approach to the campus, it will also provide a new single point of entry, with a secure vestibule designed with attack resistant glazing extending across the length of the front glass wall, including the reception zone. This design enhances security monitoring, controlled access, ensuring all visitors enter through one safe, visible location. The reception is strategically placed with direct access to the main corridor rings, wings, improving circulation and oversight. Public restroom is also provided in this reception, providing to prevent visitors from moving deeper into the facility. And the expanded clinic shown here is positioned right off reception, with access to both reception and the admin corridor to support student health while remaining close, to supervision, and includes a dedicated private procedure and treatment room that we mentioned. on McDonald. So this facility
036also has a building system upgrades. We're going to replace the switchgear, electrical panels, light fixture upgrades. Three are to use and fan core units for climate control and then some miscellaneous plumbing items. Taking a look at the existing, exterior, has a strong castle like presence. It's. But it feels closed off and hard to recognize. The school's front door, predominantly brown brick with glass block. Daylight is muted, privacy is high, but transparency is almost non-existent. The entry is not clearly emphasizes as the front door of the school, making it less intuitive for first time visitors. The new design transforms this into a welcoming, transparent front door that truly says this is the place to enter today's design standards. Call out for daylight and visibility, important for both safety and creating a positive first impression, the new
037glass vestibule brings natural light and provides clear views while maintaining secure, controlled access. The new canopy signage and modern glass facade makes the school's identity visible and inviting. And on the cost, we're on target from the amount approved in the bond. Very similar schedule to McDonald's. We're going to name the construct recommended name for construction manager at the October board meeting. Issue documents for bid in early February. Approve the GMP in April to start construction and complete construction in the end of summer 2027. Pause for question. Make a motion to design for AC New Middle School. Second. So there's a motion by Miss Hornsby, second by Miss Collier to accept AC New Middle School schematic design. Any questions or comments? Been there none. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye, opposed same sign.
038Ayes have it, motion carries. next number three, Horn High school. All right. Horn High school. So Horn High school, field house addition and renovation was noted as a capacity priority from the facility assessment. The proposed expansion is located on the west side of the existing field house, creating a seamless connection between indoor training areas and outdoor athletic areas. The the addition establishes a new athletic hub designed to support strength training, student athlete development, and team gathering in a modernized setting. The improvements address enrollment growth at Horn High School, ensuring the facility keeps pace with the needs of the student athletes. Touching on the addition. It's a 90 500 square foot addition, including a new weight room prominently positioned to connect with outdoor athletics that also includes a meeting room, offices, office and restrooms designed for
039team strategy and staff support. Service and support spaces are also provided with a transparent North facing glass corridor tying the addition back to the existing circulation spine. The renovation in the triangular portion is 6000ft². It repurposes the former weight room into expanded locker rooms with restrooms and showers. It also includes a larger training room and upgraded coaches office with private restroom, as requested by MISD Athletics. Looking at the exterior design, we're going to touch on architectural character transparency and light and seamless transition so that this design and if you let's see if I can point okay. So you'll see an expansion joint on the roof that separates the right side of the building from the left side. That is the addition along with the glass corridor in front of the building. Just below. So the
040design blends the existing fieldhouse, and school architecture, extending the red brick facade for continuity and permanence. A north facing, glass corridor introduces natural light while providing clear visibility, symbolizing openness. And the addition is carefully proportioned and aligned to feel like a natural extension of the campus fabric, ensuring a unified, visual identity. The cost on this one. We're currently under target for the amount approved in the bond. On the schedule on this one, we're recommending a name, for construction manager at the October board meeting, issuing bid documents for bid in late February, approving the GMP in May to start construction and completion of construction at the end of summer 2027. I'll stop for questions. Assume that the, the roof work is going to allow for the collection of foul balls. Absolutely. And we have two, restrooms
041kind of on the bottom of the addition that will allow for, patron use of restrooms during the baseball game or a softball game. Looking more towards the exterior views, this is the, glass entry that'll face the tennis courts and the multipurpose pavilion. You'll see the, red brick on the addition to the right of the screen. And again, one more view. This would be of the white room exit to the fields. Yes, please. Mr. President, I make a motion that we accept the schematic design as presented for Horn High School Fieldhouse. There's a motion by Mr. Rose, a second by Mr. Bingham to approve the Horn High School Fieldhouse schematic design. And any questions or comments. I think it's important to keep going with our construction. When you're setting the culture, you're setting an environment, the
042spaces we come in to, like, set that tone from the jump. It's going to be awesome for the kids going there. Just let me be like, yes, finally, been waiting on it. I think you, Miss Collier. Any others have been there? None. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Opposed. Same sign. Ayes have it. Motion carries. Thank you. Next we go to item four. Approved. Beasley, Moss, and Gray Elementary schematic designs. Okay. I'm going to talk on to general on these because there are three different, campuses. So, we'll, we'll see if we need three different motions. These campus improvements are based on the facility assessments, which identified life safety upgrades and replacement of aging building systems. The focus the project focus on kitchen modernization, MEP upgrades and safety improvements to extend the light
043to service life of the facilities and support daily campus operations. I'm going to hit on costs before I hit on the first one. Currently, we're on on target from the amount approved in the bond on all three of these. In October will recommend the construction manager, at the October board meeting issue bid documents in mid-December. Approved the GMP in February to start construction completion of construction at the end of summer in 2026. So this one is a short fuze project. Because we have many projects in line coming after this, due to the short fuze nature of construction, there will likely be a few items, long lead items that we will have to address after hours, weekends and on holidays. Outside of when, the school is in operation, things like a switchgear that would not be
044able to be in in time, but we have time to fix or replace at a holiday break, either Thanksgiving, Christmas break or spring break when whenever those, actions happen. But we'll try to be the goal is to be out of the building when students arrive. So talking about, loss first, it's going to include, it's life safety need is a fire alarm upgrade. It's going to get kitchen equipment replacement, main switchgear and electrical panel replacement light fixture upgrades, replacement of air handler units, chillers for fan core units and boilers, HVAC piping and controls, and then a miscellaneous plumbing. So if I need to stop down for a project, this is where we'll take questions and a motion. Otherwise I can keep me on. We'll keep going. We'll do all 3 in 1 motion. All right. Talking
045on Beasley. The life safety needs at this campus are a replace fire alarm and a fire sprinkler system. Its kitchen equipment will be replaced. Since we're doing quite a bit of work in the fire sprinkler, it will get a complete ceiling replacement. Main switchgear, an electrical panel replacement, light fixture upgrades, replacement of two RTU’s and miscellaneous plumbing improvements. And then Gray Elementary School will get a fire alarm replacement, kitchen equipment replacement, mains switchgear, electrical panels, light fixtures, air handler units, chillers, fan call units, boilers and HVAC piping and controls, along with some miscellaneous probably so that is. Any questions? Board? Any questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion. No changes to the exterior design? No changes to the exterior. It's mainly aging infrastructure. Like most of us can't see all three of those masks. All
046three of the designs. Okay, there's a motion by Miss Collier, second by Miss Hornsby to approve Beasley, Moss, and Gray Elementary schematic designs. Any comments or questions? Being there none. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Oppose same sign. Ayes have it. Motion carries. Item number five, North Mesquite High school design update. All right. There's no motion required on this one. So we take you I'll give you guys a break for just a minute. Before we unveil a design development video, we'd like to highlight a few updates that we've made since our schematic design presentation. After receiving a formal survey from us civil engineer, we learned that the addition sits a little bit closer, to the building setback line than we originally assumed. To address this, we adjusted the footprint of the, Storm
047Shelter edition, shifting the corner classroom, to create a stepped notch in the corner. We're going to take a look at it in just a second. This not only resolves a setback issue, but it also aligns with the existing design esthetic of North Mesquite, which you'll see in the video. So if you see kind of the step notch in the top right hand corner, that's the classroom that we moved to the bottom left hand corner. And if you'll notice on on the video, you'll see that it actually steps a couple of times. So it works out on that facade to kind of step back from the property line. Also discussed at our schematic design, we were asked to address courtyard security near the main entrance. Our design approach includes layers of secure fencing that keep the
048general public further away from students in the breezeway, while still maintaining visibility and transparency. So administration can effectively monitor student activity. So if you see on the screen the right side, you'll see a mixture of, masonry wall and decorative metal fence on the right side of the entrance. If I move back, we're in the courtyard now. That's the breezeway. We want to make sure it remains open air because it's on air conditioned. But, gives us the students a sense of security and double layer of fencing to keep the public away. So it's got four feet of, brick masonry on the bottom and six feet of wrought iron on top, just to be able to give, visibility of admin, but also, feeling of safety for the students. Touching on two more things before we move on
049to a fun video and that I'm not going to talk over, I'm just going to hit play. We are on target from the amount approved on the bond on this one. The schedule. Lee Lewis was named construction manager at the August board meeting, and we're working through pre-construction sequencing and are currently reviewing our first construction cost estimate. We issue documents or we will issue documents for, bid in November, approve the GMP in February to start construction and complete construction, at the end of summer in 2027. So without further ado, we'll play the video. Okay. Thank you. Kudos to my team. Kudos to Roland and the internal team for putting that video together. Yes. Absolutely. Gorgeous. Thank you. Are you guys on the staff? I love it, I love it. Finally. Yes. Thank you. Any questions
050now. Appreciate it. Great. Okay. With that we are going to go. We're going to move up. Item number one under business to review and approve investment policy CDA resolution. Dr. Rivera? Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. Prado, introduce, our next speaker and, to address item one, the business section. Good evening, President Carbo, Board of Trustees. Thank you for having me again. Mr. Scott McIntyre from, Hilltop Asset Management. He's the senior portfolio manager that we work very closely with. We'll be giving you an update. I'm going to try to keep, Don from spending all this money. But, anyway, so come and present to you, give you an economic, economic, status and some fun facts. Okay, thanks. So, Fine. Fine. Yeah. I don't know about those fun facts. It's good to see everybody. Thank you for having
051me here. I've got a lot to go over. I'm going to go over pretty quick. The the intention is going to be to talk a little bit about the economy, a little bit about the fed and a little bit about your investment of your bond proceeds. And that's where we're going to wrap up. That's that's the idea here. So and there is so much uncertainty associated with the tariffs right now. And I think if you think of it from the standpoint of being a business and thinking about your future hiring and your future equipment spending, regardless of the side of the political fence you're on, it's very difficult right now to make decisions. And so what's happening is job growth is slowing. And, and you'll see that very recently and some of the job numbers,
052I've got a slide on that. Inflation continues to trend gradually higher. Not as much as we thought it would. So say it with the tariffs. And a lot of that is because the tariffs have sort of gone on and come off. And at this point in time, companies are generally not passing along the costs on to consumers. The expectation is, at least according to Goldman Sachs, is of the world that will change as we roll into the fourth quarter of the year and you start spending for Christmas. So if you're going to spend, spend early, and we're also thinking that we may see a little fewer goods on the shelves. The Fed's expected to end its pause. They haven't cut rates since December. They're expected to cut rates in nine days by a quarter. Some
053people think it might be 50. Some people think it could possibly or should be none. We think it would be a quarter. I don't think there's there's really much question about that. The fed is, is thinking about a couple of different things. They obviously don't want the economy to slow too much when they cut rates. Theoretically, that helps. Lending be a little bit, less expensive and people would theoretically borrow more. That would spur the economy. The fed hates to see the idea of of job loss right now. So that would prompt the fed to cut. The only thing that would cause fed not to cut is the idea that inflation is moving higher. And it is. The Fed's got a 2% core inflation target. And right now inflation is closer to 3%. It's not moving
054down. It's moving up. Some people feel like the fed should readdress whether or not that 2% target which has been in place for a long, long time is appropriate. Maybe they raise it a little bit. Maybe they make it flexible. That's the decision. I think it's going to come later. The composition of the fed. If you read the papers, you know, that could change. That's extremely political. I'm not even going to touch on it. But ultimately, what that suggests is that if the fed becomes more dovish and its members there are more fed members inclined to cut rates, rates could fall significantly next year. They could probably shouldn't, but they could. So were one of the things that we tried to do when we where the bond proceeds showed up was invest those, get those
055invested because we want to lock in and then protect that interest income as much as we can. You still need a lot more liquidity than you've needed in your operating funds because of the time we're in. But as far as the bond proceeds are concerned, you know, you're spending is likely to be so. So those were locked up. And when I looked at the the expectation for the amount of interest that that should be earned on these bond proceeds. And of course, there's a lot of wheels in motion here, but I'm thinking that it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 million. So we wanted to lock that in and make sure that that actually is received. This is hard to look at. Is quarter over quarter GDP growth. And the only thing I
056really want to focus on is those last two bars. And this is I probably shouldn't have even put this in, but the first quarter looks really weak in terms of economic growth was actually negative. But the first quarter was actually a lot stronger than, than a negative. And the reason why is because is front loaded. They bought a whole lot of record amount of goods. They brought them into the country. And when we import goods, they have to be subtracted from GDP. We didn't produce them here. It has to be subtracted. So that way to the tune of about four percentage points on overall GDP, it pulled it down. It also bolstered inventories which you get added. So quarter over quarter next quarter reversed itself. So next quarter we had 3.3% GDP growth in the
057second quarter. And the reality was that was probably closer to zero. If you average the two quarters, you're looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5% is slowing from there. Again, probably shouldn't have even mentioned that. Non-farm payrolls, these are payrolls. President Trump got really upset because the Bureau of Labor Statistics had a large revision to payroll growth that took those gray bars down to the blue bars in May and June. We had a payroll number on Friday that was even weaker than this. There was also some revisions. I will say that the way the payrolls are, especially with the businesses you go to, the businesses you survey them, businesses that are newly formed and have ended are not able to respond. So that's sort of the birth death model that they use to estimate
058those estimates. Estimations have gotten really crazy in recent years. And a lot of the survey data is coming in late. So there are a lot of big revisions. It doesn't have to do with the Bureau of Labor Statistics has to do with the way it's calculated and the fact that we're in 2025 now, and things don't work the same way they did in 2010. So they're in all likelihood, they should probably revise their models. But bottom line is that over the last four months, the average payroll growth was about 30,000 per month, compared to about 140,000 per month last year and about 230,000 the previous year. So you can really see that slowing. It's consistent whether or not it's job openings survey, whether or not you look at small business surveys, whether or not you
059look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it doesn't matter what you're looking at, you are seeing job growth slowing. And the fed will address that with a rate cut. How many rate cuts? We don't know. Because of inflation. And the only thing I really want to note here is at the tail end of that, remember, the fed has a 2% target. If you look in the right hand axis, you see that that red line with core CPI is now very close to 3%. So it's going the wrong way. And the fed probably should assess that. There's a lot of pressure on the fed. They're seeing that that economy's slowing and the job growth slowing. So they will cut again how much. We don't know. And this is a really interesting slide. Again a lot here.
060The left hand side is the last time we were here in front of you. And the expectation was that the fed was going to cut almost ten times over the course of the next year. So going over the left hand side there, fed meeting on on September 18th of 2024 going forward one year to September 17th, 2025. Next week, the expectation was 9.3 rate cuts. Bill ten. So ten rate cuts were expected. We only got four, as much as anything else that's up. That's indicates how difficult it is to time the market going forward. The market has priced in now expectations between now and a year from now for five rate cuts, which would actually take us down to about 3% overnight rate. And I think there's a lot of think there's a lot of
061downside risk to that. I don't think it's out of the question that we could be below 2% a year from now. We could also be at 4% a year from now. That's that's where we're at. So liquidity is paramount. So liquidity is going to show up in your operating funds. It's not going to show up in terms of how we place the bond proceeds. This is the Bloomberg survey. Things to look at here. Real GDP expectation third quarter 1.1 fourth quarter 1.1 first quarter. All of this is below 2%. That's sub standard growth. these are 80 economists in the US is not you know friends of ours is are not your your brother in law. these are some of the best economists in the nation using whatever models they have and they expect the growth.
062It's gonna be slower but not recessionary slowdown, not recession. They expect, the fed is going to cut by a quarter over the course of the next 4 or 5 quarters. And then it's going to slow down from there. But again, I think that's, that's economists being very, very careful. They expect that inflation is going to generally be under control. So here we here we go. This is the bond proceeds investment. I still have $100 million. That's going to be in pools. That pool money is going to cover your your immediate expenses. So, the front of the curve is very expensive. No point in stepping out of a pool, right? It's paying for 30 and going into a, you know, 90 day to build this, paying 4%. So for six months, for the most part kept
063liquid. The rest of it invested in large blocks that are that are in line with expectations for construction draws going out all the way to August of 2028. If you're wondering why, we invested money at a 360, to 2028, when the overnight rate is closer to four and a quarter, it's because of those expected rate cuts, and it's because we're taking a very conservative approach. It is because at the end of the day, when these bond proceeds are spent, I'm hoping that you've you've earned 18 or $20 million. And it's the fed. Does it somehow cut to zero next year and you're stuck with making next to nothing. So this is this is very conservative. And part of it is because we don't know this is a place as quickly as possible because those those
064earnings are important. But if, if I, there's no way I can stand up here and tell you that I know what's going to happen going forward, we're just going to take the middle ground and make sure that we're not getting in trouble here. I should also note that the majority of the investments are U.S. treasuries, full faith and credit. You know, right now, agency yields are not very attractive. And Fannie and Freddie may be privatized by the end of the year. So, that was a lot. I understand, as in many, many questions. Or can I go into any more detail? Board members. Good, good. Well, I hope that everything turns out, really well for the district and really well for the nation. A lot going on. Okay. Thank you all. The. Oh I should probably
065so the policy there were no changes in the is. Do you need to did the policy need to be. Yeah. We have to okay. Should I step away. Okay okay. Thank you. And that's it. Are so good to say. This is the policy. See, the, I'll second it. To to approve investment policy. See the a resolution. Any questions or comments Being there none. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Opposed, Same sign. Ayes have it, motion carries. Okay, let's get back to the order. So with this we're going to the next item would be there's nothing on the personnel. So we're going to do effectiveness report the report on CTE. Dr. Rivera? Yes. Mr. President, we'll call to the lectern, Mr. Elsasser, which will provide the, CTE effectiveness report. Welcome, Mr. Elsasser. Thank
066you, Dr. Rivera. Mr. Carbo. Plummer. All right, just want to kind of go over, one, before we get started, give a lot of credit to the CTE team. They did all the work over this last year. And then, Chelsea Hogue for putting together the presentation for me, with my other duties as assigned with the like that. All right. So the CTE effectiveness report, just a little bit about CTE. We're more than just a program, with Mesquite ISD. We provide strategic tools and empower students with valuable skills, strength to local economy by meeting workforce demands, build more connection and prosperous community. And so we do a lot to invest and invest in our students. The thing that I like to say the most is our job is to get students jobs and make sure that they
067have the skills and the resiliency, to be prosperous for whatever they do after they graduate for us. And so we do a lot of work in that area. And so a lot of these slides, you'll see the work that's happened over the last year, the amount of students that we've, encountered and affected and what they've accomplished. So last year, CTE served 11,939 of our students. We have 223 faculty members. You can see there on your screen, the percentage of students from each campus that we have on there, we're very strategic about making sure that we look at each one of our campuses, individually and holistically as a CTE. What we do is we provide hands on learning, industrial based certifications, which means that they can get a certification when they graduate and go right to
068work. When they leave us, we provide on the job training. There's, dual credit, interns and externships for our students. And some of those are paid and some of them are unpaid. And we're increasing that as we go. Last year, you'll notice, we had a 37 or 34% growth, in our industrial based certifications last year, there were 40,107 industrial based certifications that our students earned. And you can see there on the slide, some of them are construction business, health care, computer science, AutoCAD engineering. So our, certifications go kind of go all across the board in all of our 35 different areas. We also, earned, 914 dual credit hours. Those are hours that our students earned. They get high school credit along with college credit at the same time. And a lot of those came from, early
069learning, or teaching and training or fire. And our automotive students, received that dual credit. And so they're getting a leg up, as they graduate from high school. There's some of our business partners that we had, we have over 230 business partners, and industry partners, where they get internships, job shadowing, mentorship programs, pre apprentice, in a variety of areas. You'll see, most almost all of these, partners are within the Mesquite area. So we do a lot of work within our community. So when we're, when we start looking at the local economy and how CTE, is affecting that, we are providing some of that pipeline, for our local companies in industry so that we have here. And so here's some of our, practicum, internships. So these are students that are sitting in a class, and they have
070the opportunity to go out and be, in our community so you can see our health science there. We have some of our early learning. They go and they help, with our, with some of our other elementary schools. They're part of that. Our fire or dental? We have a lot of our health science students that go to, the, elementary, elementary schools and they work with their nurses and, and and so forth. And they do that, we have Mesquite police, the fire. We have our vet tech program. They're out in the community a lot. And so you'll see them out there. It's always good to hear when we have, somebody interact with our students out in public. We get a lot of that back. And so, a lot of the students are, being taken care of that
071way. And you can see our intern, and these are our internal ones. Those are all the elementary schools you can see there of where our high school students are, working either in the, early learning or the health science. We did have a couple students with the Mesquite Education Foundation last year that, they were our graphic design students, and they got a special, project. They were able to earn some scholarships that way. So that was a great opportunity that they gave us. And I believe we have two students that worked, on the with the busses and they got hired on and now they're diesel mechanics there. So we're pretty excited about those opportunities that our students got, to work even within Mesquite ISD. And not just those external ones, other opportunities that our student, students have
072gotten. This is one thing that I'm personally very excited about. Our those which are called our career and technical student organizations, these are like, our students Friday Night lights. This is their opportunity to shine. And their opportunities, to show off their skills that they've been learning. We had, 440 of our students go for regional, and then they went from regionals to state. And so we had 297 of our students make it to the state. And we actually had 43 students go to nationals, which we're extremely excited about. Why is that important? When our students have the opportunity to go to nationals like TSA, skills USA, Hosa, there's a lot of these, organizations out there. They have businesses are there. They'll they can hire students. A lot of them get scholarships. And we had several of
073our students get scholarships at, and they're able to go to college basically for free, and have those opportunities. And those are all the opportunities our students get, when they go outside of our state walls and they go and serve and these national things, a lot of times, our students, this is the first time that they've ever been able to travel outside of the state. And get that experience. And that is another opportunities our students get, when they go out there and they do these type of things. I remember when I was a teacher, I took our students on a trip, and it was the first time I took them. But, not having I took them hiking, we took them hiking. it was just one of those bonding experiences that you get, with your students and
074just unique opportunities that they will remember for the rest of their lives. And so we're really proud of our, CSOs, all the work, that our teachers put into that. And, so we're excited about that. Some other opportunities that our students have gotten. We have a partnership with Texas Women's University, our teach Mesquite. You may have saw this on the news recently. And so this is an opportunity where our students are, becoming teachers, which we all know that we're in a teacher shortage. So this is our pipeline, for our future. And we did get a grant with them, so we got a $30,000 grant where our students get to go to TWU and they get to travel back and forth and kind of see that program and, kind of build into that. And then we had
075a new program this year that we're extremely excited about is called Incubator Edu, which I believe that a couple of you, partook in this year. But this is like Shark Tank. So our students come up with an idea, they do the research behind it. There's a mentorship with it. So we get mentors with, local industry and business partners. They get to talk about their idea, formulate, generate and build those. And then it kind of ends with a pitch night, where the students actually get to pitch their idea, and along the way, and, you know, our hope is sometime that they will get funded, so they can fund their ideas right out of high school. And so that's, that's a huge thing that we put in, give a lot of credit to Jennifer Martin. She has
076done a lot of work at putting that together and taking our students, and our teachers, to learn more about this. And so it's been an, it's been an awesome thing for, our students to be part of. And so there is that, we also got a grant. It's called the lasso grant, and this is for AP Computer science. And so this is to help us build kind of that computer science base, right here in Mesquite ISD. And so, this is a grant to help for, resources, exploring, the AP computer science, helping them, build up their, their capacity to do that, you know, and just like we saw tonight, we saw our AP students, if they score a three or higher, they they get that. And so that's, accountability, that goes in there. It proves that they
077are college ready, with our CMR. And so this is another huge investment for us. And we know this is a huge area that we really need to tap into. Especially with, AI and the advancements of computer science and all that. This is something that we're extremely excited about. I'm going to clip through these here real quick. These are just a career clusters. We have 35 different programs, in CTE, and we're breaking this out, by, high school, so you can see where we're at. If you look on there, the 23 or 22, 23, 23, 24 and 24-25, just the enrollment in some of our, CTE programs per campus, there you see Mesquite and you see, North Mesquite. And you can kind of see where we're at on that, on our enrollment in different areas. This is
078West Mesquite and Poteet, and you can can see the enrollment numbers there for each one of our, programs that we have. You'll notice that business marketing and finance, usually has our highest enrollment, probably at each one of our campuses. And there you see, Horn High School and then, Vanguard High School. Just to kind of give you an idea of the programs that we have and the enrollment, numbers that we have for those programs. Which leads us to our, labor market data. You can see that, health science is one of our biggest areas. It is, on all of our campuses. It is also the biggest program at Vanguard High School. Because of the need in the area, we have information technology, that we're growing. So that ties back into that last grant that I was talking
079about, with the computer science, business and marketing. And then, the physical therapists assistance and the sports medicine, which were all tied into those. Now, one thing that we have not been able to people ask me about is oil and gas. So, Mr. Steward, at any time we can get a connection there. It it has been one area that I have. I don't have a lot of experience in and just been asking a lot of questions. Because I do have students that are interested in that field, it does seem kind of like a good old boys club. Unless you know somebody, it's kind of hard to get into. So if anybody has any contacts, that is definitely one thing that I would love to explore. And we are in Texas, so we do know that it's,
080it is a big and needed field, and our students do want to be involved in it. From what I, found out that a lot of the the finance is here in Dallas. But the work is done East Texas, West Texas, and down in the Houston area. So a couple things that I really want to talk about. So that is all the good, the the good feely, fun stuff that we do. We do a lot of things that we look at. But I want to talk a little bit tonight about Completers. And I don't know how much you get, as far as what a completer is, where we talk about CMR, college career and military ready. We have known if you, you know, you guys have been around education long enough, there's always some sort of
081accountable that's out. CMR is, the big accountability now for our high schools. And huge kudos to all of our high schools this past year that have done an excellent job, at getting our CCM numbers up. And so this is, this is a big lift, not only for CTE, but also for advanced academics, and all of our areas to really push into. And so what is a completer, is probably the first question. It's a student that completes or passes three or more classes for four or more credits and a program of study. A program of study is kind of like construction. So if I take a class in construction, I'll take the principles of construction construction one, construction two, and then I'll take a practicum. Right. And, and that's your program of study. And we have
08235 of those, different ones. The state has a lot more that we participate in. And so what we try to do is we try to get the students into a program of study that they complete three of those classes at least, and now they have to get to IBC, which is an industrial based, certification. And so, you know, so that's what that is. So if you ever hear what's a completer completer plus IBC, that is a student that has gone through those courses in sequence, which kind of eliminates the, the, the days where you could kind of pick and choose and kind of take whatever you want. Hey, I like construction. I, I didn't like that very much. So let me jump over to business and I'll take some classes over there. And we our
083focus now is really to get those students, into those pathways, keep them in that pathway and give them the training that they need through that and the IBC, and, you know, why would we do that? Right? What what is the good point of doing that? Well, it gives our students, the opportunities to build upon skills as kind of like math. Right? If I, I've got to take algebra and then take algebra geometry and then take algebra two, and it's kind of one thing kind of builds right on the other one. And that's what our programs of study do for our students. It gives them kind of they build upon the skills that they've been learning. And then at the very end, they get, certification in, which we hope that they graduate and they go get
084a job, in that field, or they have some sort of dual credit that they, they take with them, that they can do that. And so, so that's what does completer. So Fisher what's a completer completer IBC that's that whole focus. And our whole focus is to build a well-rounded student, in those programs of study so that they can be productive, when they leave us. And so that leads me to kind of where are we at? And so you can see the completers over the year, we just pulled the last three years, this has been, this is kind of been a, a building sequence. And so, this is the first year that a student actually has to be a completer. Last year, they only had to be a concentrator, which is, they only had have two
085classes in that sequence. But this year, they have to have the, completer plus the IBC, to get that, accountability marker. And so if you look at that, you can see that we've had growth over the last three years. From where we were at, we had to break these up by school. And the reason why I feel it's important to break it out by school is I could we could while you with numbers and show you all the great things that we've done for the whole district. And it looks it looks impressive because it is impressive what we've done. But we for accountability and for our students, we have to look at each high school and what we're doing at each high school to make each high school successful, because we know we have different programs.
086We have a different identity at each high school. And it's our job as CTE to make sure that we're maximizing that. And so you can kind of see the numbers there if our accountant, if in the reason why I put the last on there, the class of 25 complete plus IBC. So if you look at Mesquite High School, 18% of the students earned a completed plus an IBC okay, 10% at North Mesquite. Okay, now we know that there's something coming down the path where we're going because of changes to legislation. All of this, our accountability is going to be a little tougher, over the next year, especially, with, kind of reduction in college prep courses, which is really helped us get, our accountability numbers. And this is where we feel like CTE can do a
087great job at getting them to complete or getting to the IBC. If we really kind of tighten our belts a little bit. And we do a whole lot of work by expanding opportunities for students, now we get and I get and I get it too, and I get trapped into this idea. I concentrate so much on accountability, you know, because we want to do good. We want to look good, we want those. But what this really is, is about opportunities for kids, okay? It's about getting a job. If my job is to get a kid a job and then give them the skills and the resiliency that it takes, that's what this is all about. It's about the opportunity to do that. And we just want to do a better job at doing that this
088next year. We want to focus in on where we can get more internships. Where can we kind of focus a little bit on our programs of study? And what are some of the changes that we can make, to really, I just I just we had we had a student from Vanguard last year and just kind of it just it pumps me up every time I think about it. He he didn't know what he wanted to do. He was in the robotics program. Right. And we introduced him to called Fame Federation of Advanced Manufacturing Education. And, we got him in. Now, here's the cool thing about this. What it is, is an apprenticeship program where they work three days a week and they go to school two days a week at Dallas College. Okay. But what
089he needed to do was he needed to pass the TSC to get in. He needed to get into college. But he graduated on June 1st. And on June 2nd, he went to go work for plastic Pack and Garland, making over $20 an hour. He's got benefits and he's got an opportunity that he never had before. And when we start talking about career, college and military ready, it's not just the student that is going to go and be a welder or he's going to go and be a construction guy because they just may want to go on to a community college. And so we want to prepare them in math and English, too. We want them to get these certain markers so that they can have a better future. They can do more because you never
090know, you might be a plumber one day, and you might be standing in front of a board giving a presentation, and you just never know where these students are going to be. And that's what we want to be for these CTE students. In Mesquite ISD. That's it. There we go. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to tell, tell you all about two completers that my family has had some direct, involvement in. My wife recently his changed medications, which causes her to be dizzy. Well, to make a long story short, she fell in fractured her lower back. So she is in a physical therapy facility. We came in contact over the last two weeks with two young ladies that are graduates of Vroonland Vanguard 2024 graduates, Crystal and Jackie. I'll not mention their last names, but
091what great ambassadors for Vernal and Vanguard. These young ladies are professional knowledge. Skillful. They've got compassion. They're personable. But these young ladies, what a tremendous benefit that they're teachers have given them at Vanguard. They went directly. Each of them, earned two certifications in the health science program and study, and they went directly to work for this local facility, doing an absolutely fantastic job. And, these are just two success stories. I can't imagine what many of the other students are doing right now, to benefit themselves. And both of these young ladies, Crystal and Jackie, intend to continue going and further them, their medical, professionalism, you know, as they continue down the road. So y'all are doing a fantastic job with at least two of these young ladies. We got to, Thank you, Mr. Everett. And our
092best wishes to Miss Ramona and her recovery. Board members and any other comments, Yeah, we got goals, you know, Yeah. I'm really glad you had. Out of your 440 students, 10% went to nationals. I think that's commendable. Yeah. Shows, you know, very well prepared kids. They do an incredible job. Yeah. But we do have some goals. We want to expand our opportunities through internships, which we're doing. And we have a lot of our, a lot of our already a lot of our construction students have jobs working. And so we're excited about that. And that's an increasing thing. We definitely want to increase our CCM, our focus. We know that that is going to be a huge deal. Not after next year. That's where it's going to be, increasing that. And that's why those numbers on
093there are super important. Because the number of students that got to CCM are met through Texas College Bridge. We have to increase our numbers to make up that difference. And so we really have to push that. We have to make some huge strides in that area. And so that's a super, that's motivating for us. And then part of this is really, coming up with innovative ways to really push down the middle school, because we know it's crazy to me sometimes that we have we're asking eighth graders to make long term decisions. I wish that could be different, but it's not. And so we got to do our best to educate those those middle school students on the opportunities that we have increased those opportunities, so that they stay and then, you know, we have to
094work with our teachers, to make sure that when they go into those classes, they're, they're engaged. They are, focused. And they can and they can complete those, programs of study. Yeah. So any questions? Yeah. I do have a question for you, sir. You said we got 35 programs we're doing right now. Is that making? Is it making it real thin for our staff? Tell me the situation with staff, making sure you have the right folks in the right place. I know sometimes you've got people that leave, and it's hard to find somebody like the fire. Yeah. And so forth. Yeah. So, you know, that is one of the challenging things that comes with CTE is finding, good quality, educator, to step into those, you give perfect example fire. Another huge one that we really have
095to increase is, our tech. Right? Computer science. You can't. It is really hard to find a good quality teacher that can teach that, that they're not out making the money that they can make in the field. And so it takes a real special person to, to find the come in to do that. And so those are some of those are some of our challenges. When you start looking at programs, expanding programs, which ones do we have? One, you have to have. The number one thing is you're always looking for that kid magnet, right. Who can those students connect with in that field? And then you have to have them. And then when we start looking at all of the campuses, you saw where all of our programs fall, right? How many students can I put
096into that class to make it fall, to get the funding with the right person? Right. To provide that opportunity for those students. And so that's why we have some what we call cross entity classes. So, you know, you can you'll have a program, say at North Mesquite. And, and you have like 3 or 4 other schools that come to that. Is that the best solution? Is it to duplicated at other programs? So those are all things we look at because of that. So it's it'd be awesome if you could just go, hey, boom, I want this I want this one there. But you know, it, it does get with funding. It does get a little tricky. But you answered my second question because I was going to talk about, the different groups. Yeah. All right.
097Yeah. One of the things, especially when you start looking at like CMR, one of the easiest paths for our students to get there, without Cambly is through our business program. So that's why you see those a little bit larger at all of those? Just because of the makeup, how they are start throwing in, you know, fine arts, athletics and all these other things. These are all, contributing factors to those, and the types of programs that we can have. But we really do, you know, of course, you know, my heart a little bit is just to like, getting that skilled trades in there. How do we get those students engaged? Get them, get them working, get their hands on different things. And so just how do we find those opportunities for all of our kids and
098all of our programs? All right, look for any more questions with that report. I want to thank you for what you're doing and thank your team very much. All right. Thank you. So of work very well done. Good report. Okay. Next we're going to go to another report and we'll call Colonel Burton. So he's going to do a report on the junior ROTC program. Mesquite. Good evening, Colonel. Mesquite ISD school board administration. Principals, teachers, parents, students. My name is Tim Burton. I'm the director of army instruction for Mesquite ISD, JROTC. Thank you for the opportunity to talk to you tonight about JROTC, thing I truly care about. As you know, JROTC is a junior reserve officer Training Corps. And it was it was started in 1916 by the Army with the National Defense Service, the
099National Defense Act. And it was started in 1963, Mesquite High School, as as of right now and even back then, our our primary focus is citizenship. And that that's still remain our focus now citizenship, one of our our our strength right now is is our mission is to motivate young people to be better citizens. And we continue to do that. This past year. We had over 900 cadets to be in the program, and after that, that was a great number for us to have. And with that, we we want to continue to work with the cadets and continue to grow our numbers. This past year, we had a few changes in instructors. We had to leave, and we picked up two, they're doing the two we picked up are doing quite well in the program.
100There there are the in a way and they said and examples our cadets, they stay very busy this past year, on top of all the other classes, they had no offense. They were doing the other classes we had. They participated in over 330 events with those events. Those events included going to all the middle schools, going to the some of the elementary schools. They even supported the community by lending a hand with, addressing mesquite de the mesquite trespass and mesquite, Martin Luther King Parade, just to name a few. So cadets were very busy. Arkadiusz also completed six service learning projects, which they plan, organized and executed with the with this one project I am particularly fond of was when they when the cadets supported another military school. They support elementary school to help young young
101kids to improve their reading. And as they as I went to the school to listen to them brief as you can, just see how excited they were about what they were doing at that elementary school and how they were helping those young, those young people to to improve one book at a time. It was just amazing. And I was just extremely proud of them, how they were interacting with their community. They also competed in numerous drills, these these competitions, it included going inside and outside of Mesquite. They were they did drill competitions. I did, drone aerial drone tournaments or interior tournaments, cyber Patriot tournaments and robotics tournaments. So they did a lot of different things, just to stay busy and to feel like they were part of, a bigger team. Every three years, our GRC
102program is evaluated by, High Intensity, which is our fifth Brigade headquarters, fifth Brigade. They want to make sure that throughout all of the, the programs throughout the country, that those programs are valid and those programs are thriving. This year was our year of accreditation. All of our JROTC programs, they did extremely well for each school or each program. To maintain their honor unit with distinction, they had to score at least 95% in eight different categories. And those categories included cadets answering questions, the the color guard sequence, the cadets, uniform inspection, the cadets briefing, their service learning project, and the seniors leaders briefing a continuous improvement plan. So they did all these things, very well. On top of that, there are over 1700 US Army ROTC program across the nation and US territories. Only 10% of
103all these programs school over 95%. Only 10%. We had all six of our JROTC programs scored over 98% on the accreditation. So did our standards. Vanguard received that first on a unit with distinction and on which I'm very proud of. They scored 100% on their accreditation, was the first time ever for any of the GRC program in Mesquite history. Stem is rapidly becoming a part of the JROTC program. The JROTC program involvement in Stem fostered innovation, teamwork, problem solving. Through Cyber Patriot, through our drone program, and through robotics. The cadet guards had no experience in cyber security, defense, learning to safeguard networks while developing critical thinking and digital literacy. Drone operations. They build technical skill, spatial awareness and adaptability to. This helps prepare the cadets for modern taking technology, technology driven careers, the robotic challenges.
104It helps encourage creativity, engineering designs and collaboration, and this strength in their leadership and their perseverance. These opportunities for cadets connect with classroom classroom knowledge with real world applications, inspire confidence and prepare them for for future success by us. Embracing Stem JROTC equips students with the skills that are vital for both military and civilian pathways. Every year, the GRC program completes a summer camp. This summer camp has been going on since the inception of Mesquite, the JROTC program in Mesquite. The GRC summer camp received over $200,000 from Department of Defense in the past two years. This past year, we had 78 cadets to actually participate in our and our Stem on the ground program. The cadet, the cadets had an opportunity to to work together, to design, to assemble, and to operate a robot. They
105had the opportunity to to visit two industries to see what those industries are about and see what they had to offer. That was one of the part they wanted to make sure we integrate within, the camp that we, we held, they also had a chance. The cadets had a chance at the end to actually brief what they learned throughout the summer camp. They briefed some administrators and they brief their family members. I think they did. Well, I know I did it, did an outstanding job with their briefing as we had at least 60 parents to drive from Mesquite to Commerce to see what their cadets there for the for the entire week. And the number of parents that showed up was it just blew me away for them to make that journey during and during
106the actual work day. If I could, I would like to show a video of of our summer camp. Seeing them in action help me understand that this was like more attainable than I thought. At the beginning, I was kind of stressed, that I was going to be a little harder than usual, but it ended up being extremely fun and I'm glad I'm here. My favorite part of the academy has to be like finding myself in other ways. I never thought I could like bonding with other people who are different. For me, I think it's just really cool. Like, see that part of me come out? Hi, my name is Lieutenant Ernest Burton Junior. I'm the director of ARM instruction for Mesquite ISD, and I'm the director for the JROTC, Stem leadership Academy. So this week
107we have a very full week of what I could discuss. And actually, the first thing they're doing, we're doing some aquatics, high ropes, low ropes. So those are things to try to get the cadets to bond and do those things that we traditionally do with the RTC. It was my first time rock climbing, and I was able to climb the wall twice, all the way to the top without giving up or feeling tired. Each day we add to that day with the Stem activities, we have three different challenges that we work on. In the beginning, we had to learn our strengths and weaknesses. If you're a planner, builder, adventurer or relator, and based off of that, you're grouped into pairings where you will work best. We eventually got to open up our robots and it
108was really cool to see them. Then we started building the drive chain. After the drive chain, we went to the first challenge which was trying to go through courses. Then you move on to the second challenge which is adding the arm, of course, which of course got some more modifications. Adding the core I don't think was the hardest part. I think the hardest part was getting it to move and trying to get it to actually work. Because of the added weight, we had to redesign it. Coming on to the third challenge, you start replacing things more, seeing what gears do work which don't work well, will help you win in the arena competition that we have set up, which of course takes a lot of time in preparation. I remember last year, the first time
109we started, we had cadets that were so scared about Stan because stamps to him is a scary word. I don't know why, but it's a scary word and the way we break it down, you just have to just participate and you're going to get it. And I think they had a great time on that portion. And so we also get a chance to do industry visit. I definitely learned about new job opportunities solely because I guess I didn't know before that these could be like really good jobs. And going on these field trips made me realize like, oh, I actually kind of want to do this, like really bad. My fear for sure was definitely going to go back. Being able to come here and see that I could be hired in a good environment,
110and seeing that everything in person was more than a dream come true. A lot of work is just that first trip out of Muskegon. I think it was an eye opener for a lot of them. We have cadets. Once they leave camp, they go back to their counselor saying, I want to change my class to another math class or take another class without a Stem class. I wasn't planning on going to college, and now I want to go cause because I can do this, Stem is something that I can do. So I've seen that in ESA. So just a awesome thing. Right. Lastly, our cadets received over $2.7 million in scholarships. Last. I received over $2.7 million in scholarship. They also. They they served over 18,000 hours in their service learning project and community service
111to the community. So they were definitely involved with things that around them. Looking ahead, our goal is not only to continue the success, but to expand the reach and finding new ways to reach out to that. We've added archery to our program this year, so that we're going to continue to try to do those things to to bring more cadets to the program where we're going out to to more schools doing more volunteer work just to so that so that that those opportunities to for them to better themselves, for them to be better citizens. And then we want to also we want to ensure that every cadet has an opportunity to discover their potential, whether that's in leadership or it's academic, whether they're Stem with that service. Before I close, I want to thank the
112board, thank Mesquite administration, the parents, none of this would be possible without your support, without your encouragement. Our cadets are successful because they know that the community believes in their, at this time. This concludes my briefing. Subject to your questions. Board members for the for the Colonel Burton, I had a question for you. Yes, sir. I know you're having to work hard on. It's a challenge trying to inform the community, the parents, that it's more than just going into the military. It's about building those life skills and discipline and so forth. Where is the what is causing the barrier on that, or have you been able to identify it and lives let it figure out how we need to approach that. I think this is a I think Covid, when Covid hit, something happened. And
113then it's just like there everyone's closing on on trying to do anything that's different. And then that's going to that's going to take them away from from being at home. I think that's part of it. And for us to hopefully just get them, just to listen to what we have to say, to see that we're trying to make them better. And a lot of times we don't get that far. We won't get to the point where we can just had that conversation. I think we get to that point. We can have a conversation. Then I can see the things that the kids are that's that's available to them. One other question tied to that, do you have the data that shows how many of the the ROTC cadets are part of the Emerging Leaders program
114that we have in Mesquite? I see I think I've seen it was three of our kids that were part of that program. Three I think so, sir, because I think there's a big connection on emerging leaders. It's almost identical. That's something to kind of look at. Maybe look, talk with the soccer goalie and see if there's some opportunities that maybe that's how we branch out. Thanks. We welcome the report. Report. Thank you Colonel. Thank you. Next we're going to go to administration. First item is a report on some of our academic problem programs, including accelerated instruction report. And, Mr. president, Miss Keich Willis is going to introduce and, present this section. So, Casey. All right. Good late afternoon evening. I'm excited to share with you the highlights and the outcomes of our summer learning program
115for 25. So what does summer learning look like in Mesquite ISD? We have a video to kind of show you what it looked like this past summer. Learning didn't slow down. It soared. Summer recovery 2025 brought students, staff and departments together in a powerful effort to support academic growth, connection and readiness. Six elementary hubs served as the foundation hosts and students in kindergarten and grades third through fifth. Our youngest learners benefited from bilingual pre-K and kindergarten programs, while our Extended Ear services provided additional time for students to build essential academic skills. Innovative experiences like camp Invention encourage creativity and problem solving, while Camp Excel offered targeted academic support and enrichment, middle school students stayed active through our PE program, and both middle and high school learners participated in targeted recovery learning, earned original credit, and
116took part in transitional programs like The Deal and Fresh You, designed to ease academic shifts and build a strong foundation for what's next. This summer's success was the result of intentional collaboration across multiple departments, from administer native services and teaching and learning to food services, counseling, health services, transportation, safety and security. And of course, our dedicated teachers and paraprofessionals. Each team played a critical role in delivering a safe, enriching, and student centered experience. Together, they ensure that every student who attended was supported, empowered, and ready for future success. All right, so as highlighted in the video, we offered a variety of programs. As you can see, we offered ten programs this summer, each designed uniquely to fit the needs of our students, but also happening at the same time. We had over 3000 students in
117attendance, over 34,000 meals served, and the collaboration of 341 staff members across departments and campuses. Although attendance was 537 students less than the year before, the dedication and teamwork of our staff ensure that every student who participated benefited from positive outcomes. So you may ask why? The lower number is a combination of a few things we targeted reading this year instead of doing reading and math like last year, student invitation requirements were streamlined across the grade levels and to operate within the budget constraints of this year. And also, we know that families also have other personal requirements and dedicated things that they're going to do in the summer, like summer vacation, which some students would start summer and then, not be able to finish the whole program. There were many emails and meetings across campuses
118with different staff members. I would like to also give kudos to teaching and learning, as you're going to see in the next couple of slides, because of their dedication and their staff, to make sure that the curriculum was on point and targeted for the, needs of our students. We had much success this summer. So for elementary relay kindergarten and third through fifth grade, students participated in ten days of intensive early summer support. Each grade level showed growth based on pre and post test results. However, it is important to note that the measuring gains for fourth grade was a little bit difficult to attain because students that started at the beginning less students in fourth grade finished summer. Middle school or LA pre-departure test scores increased across every grade level. The most notable growth was seen,
119with seventh grade improving by 16% and eighth grade improving by 12%. Middle school math showed substantial growth on post tests, with all three grade levels demonstrating clear academic gains. Look at the 2,829% increase for eighth grade. That was only, just a few days. So the curriculum was on point. The teachers and the students were dedicated in their learning. Middle school social studies. In eighth grade, students engaged in three hours of daily practice using U.S. history content. Over just nine days of instruction, their performance increased by 14% from the pretest to the post test. Eighth Grade Science Summer program focused on building a strong foundation in key biology concepts. Student performance grew by 17% from post tests, from pretest to post test. The English curriculum provided to teachers was intentionally designed to target high leverage teach.
120As a result, English one performance aligned with state and regional results across approaches, meets, and master's levels for English to district performance was comparable with some performance levels slightly plus 1 or -1, with the state and regional benchmarks. Algebra one. The curriculum was designed to address high impacts. As a result, Mesquite ISD students outperformed the state by 3%. The students achieved approaches, while the district performance for meets was comparable to the state. Students participated in review activities designed to strengthen historical thinking skills, including cause and effect relationships, point of view, and sequencing. As a result, Mesquite ISD outperformed the state by 4% and the region by 6%, and the percentage of students achieving the approaches level for U.S. history. Students outperformed the state by 4% at the approaches level and performed comparably to the state
121and region for each a master's level. As you can see, our teachers and students worked extremely hard this past summer. So our credit Recovery program this program provides students the opportunity to regain course credits required for promotion and graduation by offering this program on every high school campus. Campus students earn over 1400 credits directly supporting their academic progress and long term success. We also offer a traditional summer school, which allows students to earn original credit to get ahead or create space in their schedule. While Summer P.E. offered a full year of credit together, these programs also provided students the flexibility to take additional courses throughout the school year. The Deal and Fresh You welcome 326 students, incoming sixth grade and ninth graders. They participated in a two day program which showed them how to get
122around the school orientation, how to meet friends, how to meet their teachers, give them resources and strategies to make sure that they had a successful school year. The most exciting thing that happens in the summer is our student graduates. There were 34 students eligible to graduate. This is in part impossible of our recovery learning opportunities. The goal is always to make sure that every student graduates prepared for success, either in college, the workforce, or the military. You like your picture? This slide is just to give you a quick glance at our testing percentages compared to the state. And as you can see, we're we're right where we need to be. Our district graduation rate consistently, consistently exceeds the state average, reflecting our commitment to student success and effective support systems that prepare every student for
123the future. And now it is time to conduct our public hearing. Before they have an action item, thank you. To turn to conduct a public hearing to evaluate the accelerated instruction effectiveness. Miss Smith, do we have any speakers? I'll jump all at once. Yeah. Really? And being there? None. We close. We're going to close the public hearing. Thank you. Thank you. Very good report. I love to hear when when our students outperform the state and the region. That's very significant. Yes it is. Thank you, Miss Willis. So the students started the the summer program. And it just seems like for that particular grade level the students started but then they stopped coming. And it was everything from we have vacations already planned. I just don't want to come in the parents not really in forcing
124them to come. And that was just the grade level that had the biggest, gap. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So I gotta I have a question. On your credit, recovery. North Mesquite High School had 395 credits recovered. And they don't have the largest enrollment. And even if I'm even if I match it to the closest school they were matching enrollment. They were 3.5 times more credit than the comparable school. Do you know what they did differently? I do not know what they did differently, but I can find out for you what they did differently. Everyone is given the same, curriculum or the same, product to use. And so I'm not quite sure what North Mesquite is doing that others and probably on the recruitment of kids, maybe it could be it could be recruitment. It could be
125the conversations that they're having before school is out, letting students know that, credit recovery has happened. A lot of times. What happens is, students don't want to come at the beginning of credit recovery. They want to come towards the end. And this year, we had to cut it short because we switched to a different program. And so if the students didn't start at the beginning of summer, sometimes they may have missed to regain some of those credits because they wasn't there enough to get all of it. Was that apex? No. We went from Edgenuity to Edmentum and them. Yeah. So we had to shorten it a little bit this summer. So they had to be really intentional about showing up every day to get those hours. Yeah, I'll be interested to know if they did
126something differently than the others. I can find out just for sure. Just curious. Yeah, I can find know those are some series gains in seventh and eighth grade, like serious gains like the teachers and the students were on it this year. Yeah. And the curriculum, of course, with teaching and learning, everything was laid out, clear. Everyone understood exactly what to do. And so there wasn't any guesswork, especially with the short amount of time that they had to do that, that Gaines or that summer program. So everybody just hit the ground running. That's fantastic. Yeah, it is. All right. Thank you. And next item, action item number three. Approve and amend the amendment to the DOI update. Yes, Mr. President, that's going to be Mr. Taylor Morris covering this item this evening. Good evening everyone. I'm
127pinch hitting tonight for Cara Jackson. She's our DOI chairperson and couldn't make it. And we have two amendments that we're going to recommend for your consideration tonight. I'm going to walk through those with you. First to review a district of innovation. Can, gain exemptions from certain laws and mandates that are required through legislation, through a locally developed plan to better serve our, our school community, kids, adults, etc.. You can see on here we are not approving the entire dollar. Again, those are we approve the dollar for a five year period. You can see we approved that in December of 22 and it lasts till December of 2027. Tonight we are just looking at these two amendments, to some of the new legislation that's been passed. So I'm going to get to it. The first one,
128is recent legislation amended sections 26.0062 and 26.0071 in the Texas Education code and this basically requires three things. Just to sum it up, the beginning of each semester, it requires the district to post online and instructional, an instructional plan or a syllabus for every class that the district offers that semester. This at the beginning of each semester, a teacher would have to provide an instructional plan or course syllabus for every class that they teach to the district, and to the parents of all the students that are enrolled in each one of their courses. And then finally, each teacher must provide the instructional plan, a course syllabus at a parent's request. And the proposed innovation strategy that would be in the door. What we know, and it's important to understand that we've always provided access, for
129these things, for these instructional materials, for parents. We've had instructional maps that are posted that include all the texts that are going to be covered and the scope and the sequencing that it's covered throughout the year that's been available on our website. And we have a mechanism for parents to request any other, specific instructional materials through a live forum that's on the website. Ultimately, we fill these new sections in the Texas Education code. Place an undue burden on our classroom teachers, and it's an unnecessary step when the district has already provided this historically for our families. So that is that amendment. The Second Amendment is regarding, chapter 26 A and the Texas Education Code, and specifically 26.001, where it talks about grievances and complaints. And this chapter specific to that and includes several burdensome and
130restrictive elements. First off, it extends timelines and and the timelines vary. Sometimes they're 90 days, 60 days, 30 days. And it depends on those circumstances on, when that timeline is enacted, it allows grievance to add additional claims at any point through the process. So you might solve at level one the grievance or complaint. But you could, complainant could just continuously add additional grievances and you would essentially never get through the process. And it requires us to keep data on grievances that will be reported to state to the state. So the proposed innovation strategy, the purpose of a grievance process is to try and handle, at the lowest level, the grievance and in an expedited manner. We want to get this solved and resolved, and we want to work together, so that we can move on
131and continue taking care of the kiddos. Having extended timelines to file the grievance has the potential to cause grievances to fester rather than be solved. If I've got this problem with Dr. Rivera, I don't just let it sit there and sit there and sit there. And three months later, I have 500 grievances, you know, and, and, and so I would want to talk to him and say, hey, this is what's going on and, and solve that. And we want to solve it informally before it ever gets to this process. But shortening timelines as well, causes us to have less time to investigate and truly look into what is the problem here. So when you shorten timelines to have a hearing, you don't get to investigate. When you extend timelines, things tend to fester. In the
132past, our grievance process has allowed us to work with the agreement to try to come to a resolution in a more efficient and timely manner, and it prevents things, ideally, from getting worse. And then regarding the maintenance of forms and investigations, we will continue to maintain all of our forms, investigations, findings and responses at the district level so that we can provide that to the state. In the end, we want to strive to collaborate and solve complaints and grievances informally. However, we need to go through this formal process. We know that our longstanding grievance, policy is effective and works in a fair and efficient manner. It's also well worth noting there that this possibly impacts three of our local policies DGBA F and G and GF, as well. Finally, the DOI committee, Dr. Morris and
133myself, presented these to amendments to the DOI committee. You can see there it's composed of several members of the, of our stakeholders. We met at the end of August. And that committee, unanimously approved both of these amendments to bring to you all for consideration. Any questions, board members. And third, one, I might have 1 or 2. Yeah, yeah. Board members, if there are no questions, this is an action item to approve the two amendments to our DOI strategy plan. Motion to approve. There's a motion by Mr. Seward and second, by Mr. Bingham to approve the two amendments to the design strategy. Any questions or corrections? So basically, we're just said we're going to do are reading. We are going to continue. Essentially, we are going to continue doing what we've what we've done in the
134past regarding the syllabus and the instructional materials. We have mechanisms for for getting that out there. It's public for anybody to see and have have their hands on. And then with the grievance process, it would stay the same as what we've got at currently. And each one of those three policies has somebody else's. Not really. That's why we need to do this now. It's because the state has in this new legislation last year they said that we this is how that this, process would work. Regarding the grievances. Yes. Okay. We're going to ask for a way and. Cool. Yeah. Okay. I'm ready. Good. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye, opposed same sign. Ayes have it, motion carries. Thank you very much. Okay. Next you again. Next, we have item number four, which
135is a discussion of the district wide intruder detection audit report findings. Well, you know, if I'm back up here talking about this, that school started, we have received a phone call from TEA from region ten that said they would be conducting these audits. I look this morning, we still have not received one of the audits for this school year. Legislation says that we will 100% of our schools will be audited. We did get 100% of our schools audited last year, just reminder what they're doing. They're going to try to get into at least three exterior doors, before they come to the front door and then then come in like any other visitor would at that point. They're going to be they're going to ask to walk our exterior of our buildings, try to get into
136portables, try to get into other doors to ensure that they're locked up like they're supposed to be. And, they're going to check our log of all of our exterior doors, that we do when we check those every day. And so that will happen if they have findings, will bring that to the Safety and Security Committee meeting, and we'll discuss those there. And then we would discuss an executive session as well. Our corrective actions if, if that were to occur. So again, we haven't had any this year. But we know they're coming. Thank you. Yes, Mr. president. Alesia Austin, executive director of building Assessment, will give an update on HB three goals. I believe she just woke up. So she's ready to go. Yeah, that's a cool. Now. Well, good evening, everyone, and good night. Very
137soon. This won't take us long. So I'm here just to update you on progress made where we are with our House bill three goals. And so we'll look at those now, just a bit of backstory so that you'll know what we're talking about. Legislature determined that we would set goals in three areas over the course of many years, moving forward incrementally. We set the goals through 2028 and then revised them last year and added through 2029 when we determined what the goals needed to be. We looked at federal standards. So not to get too deep in the weeds on accountability, because I'll get to do that in a few weeks. Anyway. The reading standards it meets and the math standards will be changing in 2028 from the federal level. So we aligned ours with that.
138So that we're on pace. So we're not looking at multiple targets. It's the same target from the state and from the federal government. So as that stands in 2020, a third grade reading target is 55% and third grade math is 58. And the reason third grade is the grade that this is set out is because it's the first time they're taking star. And while it's not necessarily just solely an evaluation of what's happening at the third grade, it's all the early literacy that's led up to that at this point. This is the first year we have to test students just to see where they are. So it really is a shared responsibility from pre-K up through the third grade. Also, the goal stays at the grade level. It doesn't follow a group of students. So
139it's about evaluating program and processes. More than it is. How our individual students performing sort of our first benchmark that, will determine where they are. The other goal we set from House Bill three is about CMR under Mr.. Elsasser talked quite a bit about this this goal. We set a lot more aggressively, primarily because the state goal changed on us. We used to be at 60%, for CMR to have an A the CMR indicator. And then that went up to 90. And while I don't think anybody everybody would agree that we want all of our students to have a CMR point or indicator so that they leave here ready for the next phase, that was a big jump for us to make. But through a team effort, we really made some progress on that. And
140then all of our campuses are using these goals as part of their CIP just to drive instruction. So let's look at some numbers. What you're looking at first is third grade reading. You can see that 2028 goal is the benchmark for federal standards. And then we carried it through for the next year. We are in 2025 looking at that data. And so you can see for reading 43% is where we want to be. That's the meets level across all campuses. At the third grade. Here you can see a bit of Mesquite versus the state data. And you've got the last three years. Didn't want to go back farther than the refresh here because in 2023 is when the accountability system and the starts of change. So we really thought that's a good place to go
141back to. So you can see in the middle three bars that's Mesquite ISD meets versus the state. And we are a bit behind there where we want to be. But what that looks like for us in terms of progress towards the goal, the target for 2025 is 43% at meets and we're at 42. So the thing to keep in mind about this is this is not the be all, end all goal. This is a threshold mark along the way. The goal is that by 2029, we're on pace. So, I can tell you that half of our campuses at the elementary did hit the goal, and some exceeded it by quite a bit. So 17 of our 34 are on pace and others may have just missed by here. And again, it's a change of the
142students. It's evaluating the whole system. So we're looking forward to the next goal. We did not adjust goals. So if I had a campus that did have a step back, they don't have a smaller goal this year. They just have a bigger gap to close because the goal stays the same for 2029. And if they far exceeded the goal, I didn't push it out farther because that could be a year where there's something that keeps them from growing at that same pace. For math, you'll see here you've got the goals from 23 up through 29, and again, 58% in 2028. That's when the federal government standards will change. So we want to make sure we're on pace with that and then extended it out for one last year through 2029. Here you can see just
143like with really where we stand in terms of the previous three years for approaches, meets and masters. And again these goals are set at the meat level. So we do have a gap here between I missed meets and state meets. And we've got some things in the works that we're working to address that. Here you can see the target for 2025 was 40%, and we're at 35 for all third graders across the district at the meets level for third grade math. But again, we had 17 of 34. But it's not the same 17 some hit the reading goal, some hit the math or some hit both, and some missed both. So it definitely varied. But it is a split, just a different group of campuses. So that's the reading and math goals that we have.
144And then for CMR, like I said, these are a lot more aggressive goals that we've planned out. You can see in 2025 at 75%. That's where we were projecting. And I can gladly tell you that we're far exceeded that all six of our high schools exceeded their common goals for 2025. And remember, that's the class of 2024. So what we're looking at for this year, all six of our high schools are also on track to hit their goals through 2027. So if you look back at 86%, three of our campuses are already above 90 and the rest are not that far behind. So we're on pace for those next two years to hit that goal. Again, this is a shared responsibility between lots of different departments that have really rallied around this because I, as
145Mr. El Sasser, said, none of us want anything less for our students. These are the opportunities and that's what this represents. From my perspective, the lens I have to look at it through is about accountability and points and scores. And so sometimes it feels a little clinical and not so personal, but it isn't lost on me. We are talking about students here. There are some changes coming. And the biggest change that we're preparing for is that college prep class changing. Students will still be able to take that and not have to take a developmental reading or math class when they get to college, but we will not get the CMR point for them doing that. That's just a change. And yes, there are courses that are just no longer going to be approved, and there's
146a very limited list of college prep courses that can count for that CMR point for the high schools, but students will still have the opportunity to take them and not have to take a developmental class. So our need is to focus really then on getting more students to TSI. I met and through all the ways that we have available, because there are a lot of other options that are out there, not this one, but we'll see. But it is it is two years away. And I say that because this is the last class of seniors who can take the college prep class and their accountability will be on our 2027 data. So we'll see what where we are after that. But we've got a few years to put some things in place. So any questions.
147Thank you. I have a question. I read numbers and you know what's number 810 like you see it and you're like oh my gosh. But then I see where the benchmark is. And it's like, okay, it's not far, far. But it's still not. It's still not there. And then I think about we had such gains in summer school with seventh and eighth grade. I'm like, okay, if we can get it and I can see it, that is possible. Then we can get there and we should be able to get there without a long lag. What do you see as the biggest thing that can help move this process along? I mean, hitting the goals for third, if I'm looking just at third grade, the math, we have some support in place from region ten coming
148from math that I'm really excited about. And I've kind of I've jokingly said this, but it's I'm not lying. It's I'm long in the tooth and I'm pretty jaded when it comes to trainings. At this point in the life. But I went into this training for math, and I went back two weeks later because it was that good. And they're coming here now to work with our teachers to help bridge the gap between the kind of math that maybe I learned versus the way we're teaching kids now. And so I, I see a lot of good things coming out of this, and it's called Arby's, but it's not the sandwich, it's RBIs. Think like baseball terms. It's research based instructional strategies. Okay. And so, we've got teachers signed up, administrators coming where they are streamlining
149the training. So it's not generic. It's for us. And, using the curriculum that we use. So we're really excited about that. And I-ready is another tool that while we're just getting started with it, there's great promise there that we are going to get some good hard data on what which students we need to intervene with and what they need. Awesome. And the tool to help group. And that's really going to work for reading and math. Okay, in terms of CMR, I think we've got some good things in place. It's just now I feel sometimes like whac-a-mole like we've got a good thing going and now we can't use college prep anymore. So, but that's the game because, you know, it does add to her answer for your question to to kick the big pink elephant
150in the corner. It also help if the state would plant the goalpost and leave it alone. Yes, at least till the end of the game, you know? Yes, for sure. Okay, great. Ms. Austin, thank you very much. Great report. Any other questions? Board members I mean there none. I really appreciate the report. Okay. Thank you. Next we're going to go to our last item in the under business. Item number two is an action item to adopt order setting the ad valorem tax rate to fund the 2025 2026 budget. Doctor Rivera, Mr. president, I'll defer to, Mr. Prado on this one. All all all matters related to tax. Oh, good evening, President Carbo. Board of trustees. Doctor Rivera, it's great to see you. So, before you, it's considering, adopting the tax rate, for the 25, 26,
151fiscal year. Just briefly, of course, we adopt the board budget. In June, we received the appraisal values. In July, we get the state to actually tell us what the maintenance and operations, tax rate will be, when they determine the the compressed tax rate. And so here we are in September, approving the, tax rate that supports the budget. The maintenance and operations is set to be at 69. 69 is no change from last year. It remains the same, that is for the maintenance and operations. And as we all have been, tuned to, the I.n.s. or the debt service, tax rate has increased by one penny from $0.40 to $0.41. We are, obviously by law, required to approve the tax rate so that we can coordinate with our tax office so they can go ahead and send
152you a bill. So, that is practically what you have in front of you tonight. I'll answer any questions. Members. This is an action item. I entertain a motion. So moved. I think I need to read it and bring this. So go ahead. Go. I move that the property tax rate be increased on the adoption of the tax rate, the dollar and ten nine, which is effectively a 13.5% increase in the tax rate check in that payment arena that you have in the other order, there's a motion by Mr. Bingham and second, by Miss Collier. For setting the ad valorem tax rate. Any more questions? Comments? Being there? None. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Opposed, same sign, Ayes have it. Motion carries. Thank you. With that. Are there any questions concerning exhibits
153or information? Being there none, I call us adjourned. Thank you. Okay.