June 9, 2025 School Board Meeting

001So first off, good evening and welcome. Thank you for your attendance tonight. We'll try not to keep you here past midnight, if that's okay with you. I now call this meeting to order of the Mesquite Independent School District Board of Trustees on this Monday, June 9th, 2025 at 6:03 p.m. I confirmed that there is a quorum of board members present and that this meeting was posted in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. We will now proceed with our agenda. The first item is that we will convene to executive session. We will meet in closed session under authority of Texas Government Code Section 551.071, in consultation with the board's attorney in section 551.74 under personnel. No action will be taken in the closed meeting, and we will be back as soon as we're done. Thank

002you. Sorry. Paperwork. What can I say? The board now reconvenes at 6:37 p.m. from into open meeting. No action was taken in the closed meeting. We will now have, the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation would be by the Reverend Will Klinke. Is that correct? Okay. He's the pastor of Seventh Day Adventist and the Pledges of Allegiance will be led by Maya Mont..., a JROTC cadet from Vanguard High School. If you would. You're welcome to join us in both. If you wish. Pastor. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, here in awesome God, we're grateful for all the times that you have led us. We're thankful that you don't have to have perfect leaders. We're grateful, Lord, that your presence goes before us. We ask for your Holy Spirit tonight because we need your wisdom. We're here

003to take care of business that pertains to your children, and that's the most important to you. So as I bring these students to you and I bring this board and all present to you, I ask that your presence will lead and guide. The decisions will be wise. Give us skill and wisdom in making these decisions, and thankful that even when we don't have words, that your heart knows ours. So we're here and we're grateful. In Jesus name. Amen. United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas one state under God, one and indivisible. Again, thank you, Pastor Klinke and Cadet Montgomery, I appreciate you very much. Thanks for being here tonight.

004Next on the agenda is our Team of Eight moment. Miss Hornsby? I believe you have a couple comments. I was just going to say, hey, attended six graduations and, with Mesquite Schools, and I think they're the best. I've been on the board for ten years. I think they're the best I've ever seen. So congratulations to all the students. The parents and the children of MISD. It was. This is the best moment as a board member, because you see, the final product. And that's so important for every every student that walks across that stage. So congratulations to all of them. Congratulations to the schools and how well they were run. So that's my piece. it was a great couple of days. Miss Collier? So graduation was awesome. I love that part. But also, it's next summer

005now. So there is something called Camp Excel, and it is opportunity for kids who are first grade going into sixth grade. It is like kind of like STEM on steroids, but it's fun and it's engaging and it gives them something to do. My youngest is looking forward to going this year and if you could see the delight on this kid's face who is actually put down his device, just saying. I'm just saying, put down the computer. But it gives time and it gives time to enjoy something and get to meet new friends and roll into middle school with a big smile on your face. Not the kind of terror that kids get when they're leaving elementary. So if you're a mom or dad or caregiver looking for something fun for your kid to do, there

006are half days and it's called Camp Excel. Get on the website, sign up is 50 bucks and it's fun. So that's it. Dr. Rivera? Yeah, I know, I know Miss Hornsby spoke about graduation, and I will tell you, this is my my seventh year, participating in graduation ceremonies in Mesquite and the level of decorum shown by the kids was just amazing. I've never seen anything like that. So congratulations, principals. But I also want to take an opportunity to thank the Administrative Services department that organize and spends long, long hours, planning the graduation ceremonies to make sure the families get the memories from that milestone that they deserve and that department is led by Mr. Taylor Morris. I wanted to publicly thank him for his work, his professionalism, and the way that he organized. And he

007and his team organized that those six graduations, it was a long weekend. One of my favorite weekends. A lot of work, a lot of hours. Well worth it. I okay with that. Anything else from any of the board members? No. All right. With that, Miss Smith, we want to turn it over to you for student staff recognition. Okay. Good evening. First, we have some MEA scholarship recipients in honor of our school board trustee. And in honor of our school board trustees and their time and commitment to the families, students, and staff in Mesquite ISD. The Mesquite Education Association awards five scholarships to deserving staff members each year seeking to further their education. This year, the 2025 MEA scholarship recipients for paraprofessionals in MISD are Karen Waters from Hanby Elementary and Virginia Holbert from McDonald Middle

008School. We'd like to invite our MEA representative and, Miss Waters, Miss Holbert, to come forward and take a picture. Next up, we have our scholarship recipient for the intern teacher at Mesquite ISD. Miss Brittany Jammeh from Agnew Middle School. Is she here? Brittany cannot make it. Congratulations. Next up, we have the MEA scholarship recipient for our professional teacher, Non-ETIP. And that's going to be Grayson Ogle of Wooley Middle School. And lastly, we have a scholarship recipient for one of our ETIP teachers. This year's recipient is Brittany Stafford from John Horn High School. Congratulations. Thank you to MEA for supporting this scholarship. And congratulations to our winners. Next up, we have a, each month, we'd like to recognize one of our great partners in the community from Family and Community Engagement. And we have a short

009video that will explain more about that. This month, we are proud to recognize Big Brothers Big Sisters as our Mesquite ISD Community Partner. Throughout the year, Big Brothers Big Sisters has shown us the power of connection, mentorship, and believing in potential. We partner with Mesquite at West Mesquite High School, currently to do what's called our High School Bigs program, and that's where the PAL students are mentoring elementary aged kids. Big Brothers Big Sisters help secure a donation of 35 brand new laptops for our PAL students at West Mesquite High School. These students also had the opportunity to step beyond the classroom, visiting BDO and Collinson, where they explored career paths, engage with professionals, and envision bright futures. And thanks to another powerful connection through Big Brothers Big Sisters, students at Floyd and Seabourn Elementary were

010gifted 35 brand new bikes generously donated by Associo. These bikes brought joy, freedom and a little extra fun to their school year. We absolutely love working with Mesquite. You guys are creative. You are open arms. You are a true partner with our staff and our teams, and the kids are receptive. They're so driven and open their sponges to learning everything and just really reflect the community so positively. Thank you, Big Brothers Big Sisters for bringing mentorship to life across Mesquite ISD. Again, thank you, Big Brothers Big Sisters for your partnership. And this concludes our student staff recognitions. We will now move on to our next item on the agenda, which is our audience section. For anybody that wishes to speak on any item on the agenda. Nobody. All right. We will now move on to

011the consent agenda. Board members, are there any items you wish to pull and, talk about? Vote on separately? There being none, I’ll entertain a motion. I have a motion by Mr. Carbo and second by Miss Hornsby. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye, those opposed, nay. Motion passes seven o. Board members, with that motion, one of the items in there is a, You just endorsed two candidates for TASB Board of Directors. Mr. Robert Selders Jr., out of Garland for Region Ten A, and Miss Lee Mathew out of Sunnyvale ISD for Region Ten B. Thank you for their support. Board. With your permission, I'm going to move up two items for consideration prior to the reports of the superintendent. The first one is going to be construction,

012D1, which is to approve the schematic for North Mesquite High School. Dr. Rivera? Yes, Mr. President, I call forward, Mr. Don Poole and, Graham Baumann from WRA and Roland Gentry. Thank you School Board, School President, Mr. Seward and Dr. Rivera. We're here tonight to present the schematic design for North Mesquite High School, the first project out of the 2025 Bond. Tonight, I have Jay Russell with MISD, Graham Baumann, and Roland Gentry with WRA, here to help present the schematic design. But first, we're going to have to see how tell you how we arrived to the schematic design. You know, we started out with a facility assessment, started like in 2022. That's where we got the basically the categories that we were going to do each school, each project by, then the bond was approved in

013May for the 2025 Bond. Then we started design, with WRA at that point, then we determined the construction method, which was CMAR, construction manager at risk. And then next month will award the general contractor, for that CMAR contract. Normally, schematic design and the contractor are done about the same time. So that can be done in either order. And then that leads us to the schematic design, which basically gives us we're about at 25% on design at that point. And we're able to get start really putting some estimates together, at least at the 25% mark before the real plans start coming out. But at that point, we've consulted with the administration and all the departments, that we need for design. North Mesquite High School. And with all that being said, do we have any questions? Well,

014then I'll present to you, Graham Baumann. All right. Thank you, Don. Good evening, Board, President Seward, and Dr. Rivera. I’m going to let Roland Gentry, our project manager, talk about the, design and introduce more of our team that we brought with us tonight. I'm going to just, give a brief introduction. Don, just recap that last month, we were here approving construction, manager at risk method. Last month, we opened up 11 bids that we are evaluating currently. Next month, we're planning, Mesquite ISD Construction Services is planning to make a recommendation. 11 bids is our record. During my career, we've seen five on a consistent basis. We've seen seven. 11 is keeping us busy. A lot of good interest. I think, the industry is recognizing there's a lot of work out here, and they would like to

015be a part of it. So it's a lot of fun to review those. So that's kind of where we're at in that process. We'll bring that in July. As Don just mentioned, we're we're here tonight to present the schematic design. So we'll talk a little bit about the process that we've already completed. We met with Principal Ramos today and all of the department heads that will be affected by the additions renovation, whether it be, food, Food and Nutrition Services, Athletics, Facilities Management, CTE, Safety and Security, and anybody that has an interest in the building, when we go to renovate it, we're doing several different, things within the renovation that I'll let, Roland talk about in just a few minutes. But it's been highly collaborative. Everyone's kind of recognized the need to keep this on budget

016because it's the first one in line. We need to make sure that, we're meeting the need here. We're also meeting the need later. We've also started the process with the city. Roland submitted the conditional use permit, which is the second step. We've had a pre-application meeting. We'll go for a site plan submittal, which will allow us to go for engineering, which will allow us to go for building inspection. All that to get the, the permit at the same time is y’all are approving GMP later this year or actually early next year. So I'll let Roland kick it off and talk about the design, and I'll be back to talk numbers in just a second. Okay. Thank you, Graham. So tonight we're also joined by our design team. We've got Arnold Morse, Amelia Landreaneau and ...

017They've all been really collaborative in this effort, to be here tonight. I'll take it away. The general scope of the project is an addition and a renovation to North Mesquite High School. The addition itself will consist of a 32,000 square foot storm shelter. It's size to fit the full capacity students and teachers of that campus. And it is meant to rehouse the existing population that is using the portables on site. The renovation of the existing building will consist of, a lot of upgrades and, replacements of the roof, and certain portions, kitchen equipment replacement, substantial mechanical systems replacement, including, the some HVAC controls, your air handler units, your chillers and boilers, plumbing equipment replacement, electrical equipment replacement, including panels and mains switchgear. Ceiling replacements, asbestos abatement, followed by some select finish upgrades, throughout the campus. And

018we were also asked to upgrade and update the main facade as well. Some other major improvements to this are. So we're anticipating to, replace the fire alarm system throughout the school as well as installing a fire sprinkler system in the areas, primarily the original portion of the building that is not currently sprinkler. We've also, as Graham mentioned, met with the city and we're going to need to do, we've been requested to do some site revisions, primarily a fire lane and some pavement improvement to meet fire code. So on the site, number four on the slide is the location of the addition. We're extending off of the 2008 science classroom wing. And right where your existing tennis courts are, that will require us to then relocate those as well as, the shot putting discus, as you

019see on number seven. And that's where we're, anticipating at this time of relocating those tennis courts, all of those the athletic, kind of relocations are in talks with the athletics department. As Graham mentioned, we've been very, very collaborative with the different departments, keeping everybody on board and getting their approval and everything we're doing. And then finally, at the the conclusion of the construction of the project, the intent is to then demolish all portables from this campus. Cleaning up the site. Within the addition, as I mentioned, the intent is to take all those existing portables and rehouse those into the storm shelter. This will include 15 core classrooms and e-sports, computer lab, a child development classroom, and some larger rooms for CTE. For your health sciences and, fashion design. We also are including a multi-purpose space,

020which at this time is currently programed for a dance class cheer room. The addition will also include all the necessary support spaces to, supply those functions, as well as the functions needed for storm shelter, including your generator. Which we've been doing that as a standard for the past several projects. On the first floor, as I mentioned, I mean, not to mention, but it's a two story classroom addition on the first floor. We've got, your health sciences and your cheer dance room, as well as the generator and your main systems, housing some of those spaces that have larger equipment on the first floor, makes programmatic sense. And also kind of separating some of the louder spaces from the rest of classrooms. The rest of the space along that first floor is going to be, I believe

021as, six typical classrooms, on the second floor, we're planning for the fashion design to stack over top of the health science room. The spaces are similar in size, so what we've been trying to do is trying to maximize the efficiency of the layout. That makes it easier for us to coordinate with our consultants, structural our mechanical and plumbing systems, as well. As far as the exterior design of the building, our intent is to try and make this, building look as though it was always there. So matching brick patterns, brick types, as you can see on the image on the right side would be, of the image is the existing building we're connecting right at that glass corner, on the end of the science wing. And then carrying that kind of banding and brick patterning around.

022The final portion of the design I have to present tonight is the renovation to the existing facade, of 635. This is a request to bring a new identity to the school, which is highly visible along that main road. The design includes a new curtain wall, glass corner with a cantilevered canopy, kind of demarcating that main entry, which right now is kind of competing with the secondary gym entrance. And then adding some, opportunities for a perforated metal panel that can bring in some branding opportunities. The, the North Mesquite blueprint of pride kind of, staggering across on the right side of that volume. And then maybe another opportunity for the, the stallion logo, across the other side. The renovation will there's quite a bit of demolition work to this. We are removing the existing concrete canopy, from

023that space, going back with something thinner. A thinner profile for that drop off canopy for the bus. Students, this helps break up that existing mass, which is very thick, very monolithic, and gives it a more contemporary look, as well as tying that canopy in to the design of the new vestibule. Another portion of this project, we're proposing, punching new openings, windows into the administration wing, this is for visual security of that drop off area where there is currently, they only have visual, surveillance from that existing vestibule. So adding more windows helps with security. It also helps brighten up those spaces that are currently, all walls. And then, the touch on the underside of the canopy is a wood look, metal soffit. It helps bring warmth. Makes this place more inviting. The last portion, that we

024are still in design on is we've been asked to investigate how to better secure the existing breezeway and canopy. And so we plan on continuing that design and coming back. Once we wrap up, design development. And I'll pass back over to Graham. Right. So our goal, is to issue these drawings in mid-November to contractor for bid. We're going to be, hopefully bringing you a GMP under bid or under under budget in February of next year. We're going to be in construction through the summer of 2027 again. Getting a construction manager on board next month will be able to start the sequencing and phasing, and then the preconstruction estimates, now, so we can start, talking through some of these summers with them, there will be shut downs included, because we have to replace a switch here,

025and the HVAC systems will be very busy in the summers. The budget we're currently looking at, we're at the GMP, targeted budget of $52.6 million. That includes the construction cost, the construction manager, financials, the subcontractor fees, bonds and insurance and then associated allowances and contingencies. And then the project comes with a total project cost of $60.4 million, which includes the GMP design fees, furniture fixtures and equipment, construction materials testing, HVAC testing and balancing, commissioning, the survey and then our soils report. So basically, that's your total project cost all in. We're going to continue to meet with each of the departments as we finalized come out or the design development documents. We're starting to look at the interior and should have a video to come back with, at some point time share with the public. Do

026y'all have any questions for us at this time? I have one. Yes, sir. You talked about the breezeway. Are you talking about this part you're showing us right now on the? The portion we're talking about is where the iron fence is. Yes, sir. Okay. So you're going to look into trying to secure that a little bit better. We're going to look into safety and security redundancy up there. And we're going to try to make sure that we get, whatever options that we come up with approved by admin, and Jeff Moore. Just to make sure that we are solving it without creating any. I appreciate you looking into that one. Thanks. Absolutely. Any other questions? I don't have a question. I have a comment. So this is, this is our our first project, the Bond 2025.

027And, if you're watching this, if you're if you're part of the public, there's going to be an effort for us to keep. There's going to be one of the one of the ways we keep you informed about one of the things that we promise and what we're delivering, which is exactly what we said. We're we're going to do it during the campaign. But we also go to mesquiteisdbond.com, and we'll keep you updated on every single project. If they come up for discussion and budget. And in the process, please stay tuned because those projects are coming. So with all that being said, we're here to get the approval for the schematic design at North Mesquite High School. I think we have. Oh yeah. Roland, I don't know if you or Don or, whoever can answer the

028original core of the building. The HVAC system is that currently still chiller and hydronic boiler? It is still on the chiller system. We're looking at, the actual ductwork that serves some of some of that's been, replaced over time. And some of it was custom. Actually, those chillers, are in good condition. We're looking at the air handlers as well. But the ductwork, we're looking at that original portion that construction needs some work. One of the things that we pride ourselves with, with the city of Mesquite is the cooperative relationship that we have with the city manager and the council, and all of the departments. Do we have a good working relationship with the construction department or the inspectors, and all with the city of Mesquite? Yes, yes, we do. Okay. And that's what you know, that

029makes it it makes it much easier working in Mesquite when you're working with them all the time, because it's not just on inspection day, it's talking to the inspectors before we inspect, you know, and we do everything it is that, that that they want us to do. So sometimes it'll get a little tough. But you know, it's good. Other questions? Mr. Carbo? Just quickly, those tennis courts are going to be on the other side of the road, right? Yes, sir. We're going to have an overpass. Are we going to have gates? I mean, they're crossing Mesquite Drive. I was just wondering about security, the safety of the kids crossing. We're planning on having - there'll be lit tennis courts and there'll be cameras over there and everything. But there's no intention of a bridge, a

030bridge or anything like that. It's kind of the same. Like because it's a soccer field now. Yeah. And we kind of went through this back then on on the soccer field being over there. And you're not going to have an awning to cover from the sun or nothing like that? Maybe one of those portable ends will save it for you. So you could do that, but I'm not going to be there. It's the kids that are going to be there. Yeah, no there's no.. Some play, and some wait. Yeah. They're going to be under the sun and, you know, winter, etc. So that's a txdot road that goes through there. And they're the ones that wouldn't allow anything like that. Other than a bridge that's 16ft above the ground. I'm just talking about around the

031tennis court. Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So the way they can. Are you going to protect the game? Yeah, we’re going to do some some seeding like that and try to put some shade structures if we can. I mean, if we're talking about the kids and how we care about the kids, we might as well go all the way and protect them somehow. But thank you. But, Mr. Seward, okay. Go ahead. Graduate of North Mesquite. Finally. Finally, we get to get it. It's going to be gorgeous. I'm ready. Finally. And no portables. Yeah. Miss Collier, Miss Collier and I are the only two up here that graduated from the North Mesquite High School. What I'm saying, what I'm saying. But to say so, I move to approve the schematic design for the North Mesquite High School.

032Second, second. We have a motion by Mr. Everett and a second by Miss Collier to approve the schematic for North Mesquite High School. Is there any further discussion? There being none. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed Nay. Motion passes seven o. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. I don't know what to say, Jeff. We'll take care of that later. The next item that we moved up, is under administration, C1, is the issuance of certificates of election to administer the oath of office for our board members that have been reelected. Miss Samples? Do we have to approve the motion? Oh, wait. There's no motions. Just the oath, right. Raise your hand and repeat after me. Okay. I, Teia Collier. I, Teia Collier. Do solemnly swear. That I will faithfully execute. The duties

033of the office of. The duties of the office of. School Trustee, Place 1. School Trustee, Place 1. Of the State of Texas. Of the State of Texas. And will, to the best of my ability. Preserve. Preserve. Protect. Protect. And defend the Constitution. And the laws of the United States. And of the state. So help me God. So help me God. Sorry. Okay. I, Eddie Rose. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will faithfully execute. The duties of the office of. School Trustee, Place 2. Of the State of Texas. And will, to the best of my ability. Protect. Protect. Preserve. Preserve. And defend the Constitution. And defend the Constitution. And the laws of the United States. And of the state. And of the State. So help me God. Congratulations Teia and Eddie on your reelection

034to the Board. Next item, going to move up, item number under personnel. Item A1 is to approve administrative contracts. Term contracts. Dr. Rivera? Yes, Mr. President, thank you. We bring to you some positions. I'm going to call, Dr. Janine Fields to the lectern to.. Actually, I'm wrong. You're right, I'm wrong. So I'm going to own that one.. is actually Miss Sabreana Smith who’s got the action items. We we will entertain the coordinator, a communication a coordinator for Secondary RLA. You have those you've had those resumes ahead of time. And so I will like to entertain those in one motion and then go in with also with A5, which is the, information item report only, through the summer hiring. Board members, we have an action item to combine the two actions for that contract under personnel.

035Action item A1. Do I have a motion? Second. Who was the second? The motion by Mr. Bingham and a second by Mr. Everett to approve the administrative contracts. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes seven o. Congratulations. All right. Thank you, Trustees. So let’s let’s, I will entertain first the action items. And so Miss Sabreana Smith will introduce the ones that you guys voted on, and then we'll go with, action A5, which are the ones they're hired through summer hiring. And then that would be when Dr. Fields comes up and does her spiel. Okay, so we're introducing our two coordinators who are just approved. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. So is my pleasure. Absolutely. To introduce a new member of our

036team in Communications, Miss AndreAnna Tate. If you'll stand. AndreAnna is going to be our new Communications Coordinator. She's joining us as a creative communication professional with over eight years of experience leading successful brand and campaign initiatives in education and related sectors. Since 2020, she has served as the Digital Media and Marketing Coordinator at Irving ISD, where she notably increased social media engagement, managed high impact district events, and contributed significantly to a successful bond campaign. AndreAnna holds a Bachelor's of Science in merchandising from the University of Southern Mississippi, along with a marketing certification in professional selling, and we are very excited to have Miss AndreAnna Tate join our team. And next up we have, Leslie Gordineer. Gordineer. This is going to be our new Secondary RLA coordinator. Leslie has ten years. Yes. Leslie has ten years

037of experience in public education, specializing in reading, language arts instruction, coaching, and curriculum design. Most recently, she served as secondary English language arts reading curriculum and academic specialist for Irving ISD. She has presented at conferences such as Learn to Inspire and Texas Reading Initiative on topics related to research based instructional strategies and student success. Leslie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master's in educational, Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum, both from the University of Oklahoma. Boomer Sooner. Welcome, Miss Leslie Gordineer. Now we go on with the report administrative term contracts. And, Dr. Fields, we start with our principals. All right. President Seward, Dr. Riviera, Board of Trustees, I am really excited to present to you this evening. William Lath Staats, the new principal at Woolley Middle School. Come on up Lath. Lath Staats brings

038extensive leadership experience, including nearly two decades in public education, most recently serving as Assistant Principal at Dr. John Horn High School in Mesquite ISD. He previously held roles of principal of Eustace High School, an assistant principal at Rowlett High School, notably enhancing campus instructional practices and securing substantial grants to support student success. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master's in Educational Leadership from Steven F Austin State University, and is certified as a Principal Superintendent and in Special Education. Board President Seward, Dr. Rivera, esteemed Board of Trustees, and all the amazing Mesquite ISD leadership team. Thank you all very much for this opportunity to lead Wooley Middle School. And for your support, few people I want to thank, here in the audience today. I have my

039family, my wife, Tiffany Staats. My daughters, Addison and Emerson. And then my parents, Bill and Sheryl. Staats are here. So, without without their support, I wouldn't have this opportunity. And I'm very, very excited to work with the, the team at Woolley Middle School, continue with the John Horn High School feeder pattern. And I'm very excited about working, with the administrators, Mr. Jose Peterson and Brittany Taylor. They're here tonight as well. So thank you all for this opportunity. And I look forward to.. Can we get your family to stand so we can recognize them? Oh, sure. Come on. They don't get off easy tonight. My wife and daughters and and my parents. Thank you all very much. Yeah. They just thought they were getting off easy tonight. All right. Next this evening, I would like to

040introduce Eva Calixto, the principal of Hanby Elementary School. Come on up, Eva. All right. Eva Calixto joins Mesquite ISD with extensive experience and educational leadership, most recently as principal at Nathan Adams Elementary in Dallas ISD, where she significantly improved academic performance and school culture, earning multiple distinction designations. She has a proven record of fostering high student achievement, enhancing instructional practices through robust professional learning communities, and building strong community partnerships. Eva holds a Bachelor of Science from Texas Women's University and a Master's in Educational Leadership from Concordia University, Portland. Congratulations. Good evening, President Seward, Superintendent Dr. Rivera, and esteemed board members. First, I would like to thank God for his timing is perfect. I'd also like to thank the entire hiring team. It is an incredible honor to be named the new principal at Hanby Elementary.

041I am deeply grateful for this opportunity and for your trust and confidence in my leadership. Standing here today, I feel both humbled and inspired by the responsibility of serving Mesquite ISD and the Hanby community, a community that clearly values its children, supports its educators, and believes in the power of strong and meaningful connections. My journey as an educator has always been centered on my why. As someone who was once a second language learner, placed into an English immersion classroom without support and without knowing a word of English, I understand firsthand the challenges many of our students face. What changed my life was one teacher, one adult, who believed in me, saw my potential and helped me find the confidence to succeed. That experience shaped not just who I am, but why I lead. My personal

042philosophy aligns with the values at the heart of Mesquite ISD and the Mesquite Promise. I believe that every child, when placed in the right environment one that prioritizes dignity, belonging, and high expectations, can and will succeed. Under the leadership of Dr. Rivera, the promise has become more than just words. It's a framework for action. It gives us a shared lens to see our students clearly and compassionately, and a roadmap for how we as educators and adults can walk alongside them with purpose and hope. As I step into this role, I do so with the understanding that leadership. It's about listening, learning, and leading with empathy and purpose. At Hanby I am committed to creating a campus culture where every child is known, valued, and supported, where barriers are removed and bridges are built to ensure

043our students are equipped with opportunities for future success. I look forward to continuing the great work already happening at Hanby and partnering with each of you to ensure every student has the opportunity to grow, succeed, and feel a true sense of belonging. I'd like to take a moment to recognize all the great leaders I've had the honor of working alongside. Each leader has played an important role in my leadership development. I would like to give a special recognition to Peter Pascoe for giving me my first AP opportunity, and I'd also like to give a special recognition to Juan Cordova, an inspiring leader and a great mentor in every single interaction. And finally, I would like to take this moment to thank my family for their unwavering support in every step of my life here with

044me in the audience. It's my mother, my sister Norma, and my three children whom I would like to ask to stand. To my children, Miguel, Joaquin and Abby, who are straight in the back. Bringing my toddler was interesting. They feel me and give me purpose and direction every day. To my three sisters, Anna, Norma, and Celia... they are not just my sisters, but partners in life. And to my mother. Gracias, ma. Puerto carino. Yeah, boy. Unconditional. So Mom, thank you for your love, understanding and unconditional support. These individuals are my anchor and I'm deeply grateful for them. I trust that with God's guidance and my leadership, I will serve my purpose. Here at Hanby Elementary and Mesquite ISD, thank you for welcoming me to this new chapter. I am excited for all that we will

045accomplish together. Excellence always. Okay, this time we're going to introduce some of our, new leaders stepping into, assistant principal roles, if you will just stand when I call your name and we'll hear a little bit more about you. First up, we have Dr. Shonda Thompson, Shonda Thompson. Dr. Thompson will be the new academic dean at the Mesquite High School. Skeeters. She brings more than 20 years of experience in educational leadership with a strong background in curriculum alignment, professional development, and academic performance improvement. Most recently, she served as associate principal at Lancaster ISD, where she led instructional programs including Dual Credit, Advanced Placement, career and technical education, and core academic subjects. She previously served as Assistant Principal in Irving ISD and has also taught in multiple districts. In addition to serving on campus leadership teams, Dr.

046Thompson earned a doctorate in educational administration from Dallas Baptist University, a master's degree from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a bachelor's degree in English education from Grambling State University. Welcome Dr. Thompson. Next we have Haley Hunter, our new assistant principal at Vanston Middle School. Haley Hunter joins Mesquite ISD, is an experienced instructional coach and educator with over a decade of experience in Texas public schools. Most recently, she served as an instructional coach in Frisco ISD, where she led campus wide initiatives focused on data driven instruction, flexible learning, and coaching cycles. Her diverse background includes roles as a teacher and coach in the Frisco and Carrollton Farmers Branch Independent School Districts, as well as adjunct instruction at the University of North Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Science from North from Texas A&M University,

047and a Master's in curriculum instruction from the University of North Texas. Welcome Haley Hunter. Next up we have Dionne Morgan, our new assistant principal at Agnew Middle School. Dionne Morgan brings more than a decade of educational leadership experience to Mesquite ISD, serving most recently as assistant principal of instruction at KIPP Texas Public Schools. She has held previous leadership roles in East Baton Rouge Parish schools, gaining extensive experience in instructional coaching, curriculum design, and student behavior systems. Her leadership has contributed to significant academic gains, particularly through the Ninth Grade Success Academy, and targeted support for state assessments. Morgan holds a Bachelor of Arts, Arts in English from Southern University and a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction from Concordia University. Welcome Dionne Morgan to Agnew. Next up, Mr. Lamark Hughes, Assistant Principal at Smith Elementary. Mr. Hughes

048is an experienced educator and dedicated campus leader with more than 16 years in public education. Most recently, he served at Seabourn Elementary in Mesquite ISD, where he supported student success through roles including student success teacher, CCIS teacher, and English Language arts and reading teacher. Hughes brings a diverse background that integrates educational leadership, military service, and corporate experience. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Grambling State University and a Master's of Education in Curriculum, instruction and assessment from Walden University. He is also a doctoral candidate in educational leadership at Walden University. Welcome to Smith Elementary, Mr. Hughes. Next up we have Marie Perez, our new Assistant Principal at Cross Elementary. Marie Perez brings 11 years of experience in education, most recently serving as an assistant principal intern at Frasier Middle School. In this role,

049she led a team of 18 core teachers and supported 300 students. By cultivating a positive academic and behavioral culture, Perez has implemented the Get Better, Faster coaching model, facilitated professional learning communities across multiple content areas, and applied data driven instruction to improve student outcomes. She holds a Master of Business Administration in Accounting from SUAGM in Puerto Rico, and a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from the University of Puerto Rico, graduating magna cum laude. Welcome to Cross Elementary, Marie Perez. And lastly, I don't believe, Vytara Simmons. She here? Believe she was able to make it. But we want to hear about her. She will be our new assistant principal at Tisinger Elementary. She's bringing more than 15 years of experience in education, including eight years in campus leadership roles. Most recently, she served as assistant principal

050in Irving ISD, where she established and implemented systems and procedures that enhanced staff collaboration, improved student behavior, and boosted academic performance. Simmons is a two time Teacher of the Year honoree and a graduate of both the The Leap Leadership Development Program and the Houston ISD Principal Development Program. She holds a master's degree in reading from the University of Saint Thomas and a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and Spanish from Wichita State University. Vytara Simmons will be the new assistant principal at Tisinger Elementary. And I believe that concludes our introductions for new administrators. Thank you, Miss Smith. Congratulations to all of those who have been recognized for new positions tonight. Welcome. If you're from outside the district, we appreciate you. We're looking forward to great things from each and every one of you. We're going

051to take a break. Not just a second. In just a second, we get two items with a real quick, and then we'll take a little break. Board members under personnel action item A2, approve contract renewal for the Superintendent of Schools. Mr. President, I would like to move that we proceed with action. Number two, the contract renewal of the Superintendent. As we discussed in executive session. All right. Second, okay, we have a motion by Mr. Carbo and a second by Mr. Bingham to approve the Superintendent of Schools contract. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes, seven zero. Congratulations, Dr. Rivera. Glad to have you for another ten years. Yeah. Mr. President, I think this contract is three years. My bad. Next item on the agenda is

052an action item to approve the contract renewal for our general counsel. Mr. president, I move to approve the contract renewal for the general counsel as discussed in closed session. I have a motion by Mr. Everett and a second by Mr. Bingham to approve the contract renewal for our general counsel. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I, I those opposed. Nay. Motion passes seven zero. Congratulations, Mr. Thomas. With that, we will take a seven minute break. Board members under business. We're going to move up under business item number three to consider all matters interested in related to the issuance and sale of Mesquite independent School District. Unlimited tax, school Building and Refunding Bond series 2025. Mr. Prado. Good evening, President Seward. Dr. Rivera, Board of Trustees. In front of you, you

053will have a, proposed consideration for, to adopt, a parameter or a Mr. Jason Hughes, managing director from Hilltop Securities will to some information also, Mr.. Kristen Savan, partner at Norton rose Fulbright is here as well. In case there's a question related to that piece of it. So with that said, I will turn it over to Mr. Hughes, you know, thank you. President. Members. Dr. Rivera, good evening. Good to be with you. So what you have in front of you is consideration of a parameter order. And one of the reasons why we ask you for this is just given what's going on in the market from a volatility standpoint. So I'll talk about that just very briefly. The kind of light gray line there you can see is from mid-January. That was really the start of

054the trading year because typically around the holidays, not a whole lot goes on for the worst week or for the first week to ten days. But what you saw is during April, that's when the tariffs were announced. That's when a lot of that kind of started to pick up steam. And so we saw an increase of anywhere from, 6/10 to almost 8/10 of 1% in interest rates. Now that doesn't sound like a lot, but in my world that's a huge jump. Usually if you talk about a ten basis point or one tenth of 1% increase, that's a huge jump. So if you can see there in three days, with rates going up that much, and in fact, what we actually saw is there were 15 times going back to 2000, that rates went up more

055than 2/10 of 1%, or at least 2/10 of 1%. And one day, three of the 15 happened in three days in April. So again, it's been fairly volatile this year so far. One of the nice things you see, the book in two lines where from the prior graph, that dark blue line, we've actually come back down a little bit. So that's good. But again, just wanting to go ahead and position ourselves to be, ready to move, as quickly as we're, we're ready for. So again, what we're asking for your approval tonight is for the parameter order. This delegates the final, pricing authority to the pricing officers as Doctor Rivera and Gilbert. So in there, you're establishing certain parameters. As you can see, the maximum interest rate, the max maximum principal amount of the bonds, minimum

056savings level. There is a refunding component. And then the final maturity date. So we have to meet every single one of those parameters in order to move forward. So if any singular parameter can't be met, we can't price the bonds. And again that just gives us the maximum amount of flexibility to go and hopefully price in a good market on the left hand side, you'll see there what the suggested parameters are. You have 600 million of authorized but unissued bonds. We're asking for that full approval. What's anticipated is something less than that, probably closer to 450 million. But again, just having maximum flexibility. We're asking for approval of 600. The refunding is about 86.95 million. Effectively what we did is we went and we took every bond that we could refund on a tax exempt

057basis. Ideally, we'd get all of those given where interest rates are, which probably if we were to price that today, it's probably closer to about 25 million, again asking for the maximum amount. But seeing there that we have to have at least 2% present value savings, overall the maximum rate would be 5.5%. To give some context to that, if we were to price today, they'd probably be closer to around 4.6 to 4.7. So there is cushion built in there. Again, going back to that first slide that I showed the large movements that we've seen so far this year on the new money. 30 years is what we're asking for your approval for. For a maximum term, what's anticipated is closer to 25 to maybe 27 years. And then on the refunding, we won't extend the

058debt. So 2032, that's the furthest that those bonds go out. So no extension of the debt. And then as you can see there on the right hand side, as I said, we've got a large list of refunding candidates because rates have been such that we haven't had a refunding in 3 or 4 years. So all the way from the 2013 towards if you and I know several of you were on the board in 2015, if you recall, we actually had five issues in 2015. So all of those are on there as well. So 2013, the two 2014 and then the 2015, A3. And then you can see there on the one side the coupons 3%, up to 5%, just as a, example that 2015 A there's actually some 2% coupons. We're not going to refund

059those out because those aren't going to provide savings. The ones that will primarily provide savings are those 4% and 5% coupons that are sprinkled throughout. So with that, that is my presentation. I'd certainly be happy to provide more information, as you would like. Board members, Go ahead. You get questions. Please go ahead. Mr. President. I move to adopt the order authorizing the issuance and sale of Mesquite Independent School District. Unlimited tax School Building and Refunding Bonds series 2025 establishing parameters for the sale and issuance of such bonds, and delegating certain matters to authorized district officials. Three. At the moment of brought to processing that, are there any further questions or discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes seven zero. Thank you, thank you. Appreciate

060you. We will now move back and get on track on our agenda. Next under we have affecting effectiveness reports athletics Mr. Groves. He brought his own cheering section. Great support. Your face is a little red right now. I just want to thank Tracy for sticking around for this. I appreciate it. President Seward, Dr. Rivera, Board of trustees, thank you for giving me the opportunity to, visit about our athletics effectiveness report for 24-25. I don't want to leave too much out this first slide. I do want to kind of go over in particular. It's our vision, our purpose, why we do what we do. Athletically, our job is to provide a positive, athletic experience for student athletes, develop valuable life skills, provide a safe and secure environment for all participants, and provide a memorable, memorable experience

061for all our athletes and their families. So, we kind of came up with this vision a while back, and I believe this for a long time when I was coaching a Poteet, something I believe for many students, it's not the textbooks or the test scores pulling them through the doors each morning. It's the thrill of the game rhythms of practice, or the relationships that are built by being a part of a team. Sports and extracurricular aren't just extras, they're the heartbeat of a school. I believe that in my department, and I know the role we play. I recently went to the athletic director, state conference in round Rock, and we were asked a question, how would you fight for athletics? And we sat at the table and they gave us about 15 minutes to talk

062about that. And here's what the notes I wrote down. I didn't intend on doing this until I sat there at that conference. So they made us think about it. But, I believe there's no other group in our school system that better impacts our at risk students than athletics. Athletics is the central to the academic success of a majority of our students who participate in sports. Athletics drives the culture of a school and pulls the building up when the teams are successful. The most powerful lifelong memories for students are not always on the field, but they happen in places like busses and locker rooms. Athletics is not always about the wins, and this year we had a lot of wins and I want to celebrate those today. But it's not always about the wins. It's about

063the experience, the academics, the life skills that are taught through being a part of a team teamwork, resiliency, accountability, consistency, overcoming adversity. How to get back up when you're knocked down, leadership skills, culture, community and just overall being a better person are all things taught through athletics. It creates a positive, results in school like lower dropout rates, better attendance, fewer discipline issues, and athletics is about telling the story that matters. And we need to be able to celebrate that at the end of the day. So that's what that first slide is about. Our area of supervision for athletics. We're over 15 campuses. We have 330 coaches, and we serve approximately 6000 student athletes at the secondary level. We recently added wrestling. A couple years back, we added middle school, soccer a few years back, we

064added P.E. and health to our department this year. So we have approximately, 34 elementary teachers and 63 P.E. assistants that are now under our department, along with most of the middle school and, and high school PE teachers are also coaches. So they've always been on our department, our athletic staff. And I'm appreciate them being here. Alex Figert and Whitney Long assisting these. We added Daniella Rodarte to our team this year. So our PE and health coordinator and Blake kind of is also a coordinator over strength and nutrition conditioning. And we appreciate I appreciate them being here and and waiting it out tonight. With our team, we have several other people that help us out when I say several, our staff is pretty extended and our, our school, our, in our department, we host over 3000

065athletic events a year, and I say host, we put on 3000. We host over 1400 of those in Mesquite. And it takes a lot of individuals to do that. So all the different departments from campus staff, teachers, paraprofessionals, field maintenance, safety and security, food services, tech services, risk management. There's so many people that work our events. So when you come watch us, you see people from all throughout our, our district coming to help us put on those events. So we do appreciate our extended staff as well. Now, this is the part I really want to celebrate and highlight. Something that probably hasn't happened since I've been the athletic director, but every single sport we participated in this year, everyone, we have a team for one, a district championship, one of our five schools. One. I

066thought that was a pretty big deal. I've got them listed on this PowerPoint. 16 teams won a district championship. 12 of those teams also won the district championship. And I've got a couple that I want to specifically highlight that I thought had incredible years. A great turnaround. West Mesquite football, they had an undefeated season. They lost in the second round of the playoffs, but they had a great year. Poteet volleyball. They lost to the, eventual state champion in the third round. But they had an incredible season. And then, two sports that really excelled probably more than any other teams this year overall were basketball and soccer. And I think y'all kind of went on those journeys with us, but, foreign basketball, lost in the fourth round in the regional finals in overtime out in Lufkin

067and then also West Mesquite, lost in the fourth round. So they were regional finalist, incredible seasons. And then our soccer team, all five boys teams made the playoffs. All five boys teams made, made it past by district. Our girls teams, we had three of the girls teams that that also made the playoffs. And in the regional finals, Poteet lost in the regional finals to Highland Park. And then we had an also a pretty neat experience that I don't think a lot of school districts get to see is when, you had Mesquite High School and Horn Boys soccer playing each other at Memorial Stadium, for the chance to go to the state tournament. And so that was pretty cool to have two of our teams do that. Really cool. And and again, that's a, that's a

068great memory and it's, it's a telling sign. It does give me a moment to kind of brag on our, our middle school soccer. We started that about three years ago. And I think we're seeing the fruits of that. It's always been, big in mesquite, but, I think we're starting to see it, play out at the high school level. And then, history was made this year for, Mesquite High Soccer that that actually made it to the state championship game. Unfortunately, they fell short. But what an incredible season that they had. And, we're just really, really proud of of them and all of our, our teams, individually, we had a lot of people to highlight. Again, like I said, with our teams, we also had a district champion. Each individual sport, we had a district champion in

069girls golf, a sophomore from Horn High School. District champion, and tennis. And you can see Marco on the picture, but, we had three wrestlers that they went to the state tournament, to wrestle, and we had two students that went to state and track, and one ended up winning state from high school. They were both high jumpers. And so it was great to celebrate them. A group that we can't, pass up. I said, we have about 3000 athletic events. The athletic trainers sometimes don't get talked about enough. They're in every single one of those events. They're in every single practice, and you can see the numbers. There's not a lot of people doing that. You have three, athletic trainers at each high school. We have Bucky Taylor, who helps us kind of coordinate that in our

070department. But, at the different high schools, the student athletic trainers range anywhere from 5 to 25 students. And that's a lot of events for North Mesquite, for coverage for the three adults and the five students. And they were at everything. So I appreciate them. They provide coverage. They also provide training for all our coaches from our CPR, first aid, ad training, concussion, making sure we're up to date on our heat policy or UIL CCP, our emergency action plans. And so we do appreciate them. And I wanted to make sure I talked about them. Another thing that I think is, not always spoken, but between, the services they provide, the rehab, the treatments, they save our, our parents and our families a lot of money from going to the doctor. I think we try to do

071the figures, but it's it's several hundred thousand dollars that they. And for not having to go to a doctor and not having to go to somebody to do their treatments in the rehab. So, very thankful for them and what they do for us. College recruiting and scholarships. They had over 50 kids get scholarships this year. Now I want to at the very end, I do want to kind of highlight when I first got here, that number was over 100. And it's dropped down to about 50. And that is still incredible for these families, incredible opportunities. But I am going to mention when we talk about challenges in a second, what the Nil has done and the transfer portal is done for our high school students, it is definitely had an impact. Really nationwide in Texas,

072in Mesquite. And it's made a difference in opportunities for our high school kids for scholarships, especially at the division. Division one level. Something I'm most proud of is the way I think we make a difference. And when we say it's not about what happens on the field, the Texas Way Initiative is something that was pushed out and not really u-i-l the Texas High School Coaches Association has put out, but teaching them the three pillars the respect for others, control of self and spirit of competition, that is something we are pushing out hard to, promote sportsmanship. We also purchased a character development curriculum for every single one of our student athletes. It's called two words. We push character development, community service. We had very cool things go on, like our middle school would do. Signing day

073is to sign to go to their high schools. It was pretty neat. We started, with the help of Whitney and Alex and our team and Elite Leadership Academy, or elite leadership teams. At Vanguard, we sent a lot of our, our, female athletes over there for a Powerade, Girls Inc. It was a great opportunity to learn about leadership. And I know President Seward was there. But a healthy culture matters. It's our lifeblood. And I think if we continue prioritizing these type of things, I think we're on the right track in athletics. Something that probably, the public doesn't see or know, but just in general, the savings and revenue that's, that's created or generated through the athletic department. We started a facility rental, software called facility on that. A lot of school districts are doing, bookings for

074that, hosting playoff games, scoreboards, sponsorships, ticket sales, entry fees for teams that come and play in our tournaments. Those are all opportunities for us to generate revenue for our school district and give back in to kind of help out, with our department's needs. And then lastly, some challenges and opportunities, staffing in general. My department is trying to restructure the way that we're going about, our responsibilities, long term replacement cycles for equipment. That's something we have to think ahead of, in the budget that we're sitting in, safety and security, for all our athletic events. I mean, if you just read the news, you see it all the time. And that is like our number one concern is, is how do we maintain a safe and secure environment for all of our activities? There's a nationwide shortage

075of officials. We are starting a course called Ref Reps. It's an opportunity for our high school kids to get, get their, officials license. And so we're pretty excited about starting that course. I'm on the state officials committee for the U-i-l. And so we're we're constantly, looking at opportunities to grow that profession because we need them for our sports. And sportsmanship is a big thing that we're focusing on. The, the NCAA transfer portal and in Ohio has bled down into high schools. You probably saw how in the legislative. It's just they talked about it a lot. Not much happened with it, but, it is affecting the opportunities for our high school kids when they can just go grab one that is already three years in the college and the they're giving the those students the opportunities.

076We're continue to look for opportunities for community relations, parent involvement. There's certain programs that have continued to grow and participation numbers, for example, or middle school soccer, girls flag football has become kind of the hot sport out there. That probably will be the next one for the U-i-l. So you'll see it in the Olympics. They're giving scholarships to kids in college. So that's an opportunity we're going to provide for our kids moving forward and then continuing to look at branding and marketing opportunities and how we sell our school district and our athletic department. And so those are opportunities we're looking at that we're excited about. I'm thankful for for your support for everything that you do for our student athletes, for our coaches. And, if you have any questions, I would be happy to spend

077a moment to answer those. Any questions? I'm just going to make a comment. I read an article back when we were doing all the soccer playoff things that it said Mesquite has come to become the hub of soccer. In other words, we know what we're doing with soccer in Mesquite. So that was I thought that was cool. It was very cool. You mentioned Alex Figert, coach, most of our coaches. So it's it's really special for us right now. So how do you mentioned the huddle TV stuff. And that kind of brought an idea to mind is I know that there was a lot of legislative talk about outlawing social media for kids under the age of 18. How many of our athletes promote their accolades and their sporting successes on social or social media platforms?

078And how much do the colleges and places recruiting look at those platforms versus something more official? I think it's pretty big. I mean, that was primarily the only way we promoted our kids was through social media, because a lot of times that's how the college coaches could communicate with with the student athletes. I think for kids, that's how they promote their stuff. That's what they're used to using. That's what they see. And I do think it's a big tool for, for colleges, and for our students. I think you've got to educate our students on the proper way to do that. I think our coaches, they do a pretty good job of that. But there's all kinds of different opportunities. I mean, Huddle, for most of our sports, you get to create your own highlights. You

079can send those out to college coaches. But I think a lot of colleges, they're going to go through social media more than they will through an email or a phone call. At least starts that process. So I think there are challenges. And I think we're trying to get creative with websites, that help put along a lot of that information out there for the student athletes. But yeah, we got to keep forward thinking for our kids and, and be as creative as we can. Mr. Everett? Great report. Cody, you had mentioned, some things regarding building revenue and the rentals of facilities and all. You know, the communications tower from the second pod. Have we ever considered a zip line from there over to the arena? Well, me and you considered that one time, but no, sir.

080And then we'd send Greg down. And more questions. I just have a comment. First off, great report, as Mr. Everett pointed out, but also very proud of all that we've seen this year through our sporting activities. But proud of your staff and what they do. We see you guys working all the time. You're at almost everything that I can as I've seen, and I know the others up here. But the kids, I can tell that the coaches are developing character in these kids. It's not just about the sport. And I think that's one of the most important things, is to build that character and leadership skill for all of our students, because that will take them a long way. Besides winning. It's been a great year, and it's been a pleasure to go out and

081watch these kids perform in different activities, but we're proud of each and every one of you for what you do, and all the athletic trainers and other coaches through all of our schools. Thank you very much. Appreciate you. And Alex, too. The next report is on school leadership. The EDLD’s. Showtime. It's a senior. You know you only have 30 seconds, Gerald. Oh I understand the rest of them totally took the other five minutes that we had. And, you know, President Seward, Dr. Rivera and the board, we appreciate the opportunity to come and share our effectiveness report for, school leadership. And. Oh, good. He did leave the clicker. That's perfect. We are a team of five. As you see. We have Ms. Gregory, who leads our Northside Pride. Dr. Lalugba, who leads West Side Best. Doctor

082Laplante, who leads Skeeter Nation. Bruce Perkins, who serves a dual purpose. He leads, Poteet Strong and the Republic of Vanguard. And then I get a chance to, to lead, Horn Texas to JFL. When we when we think about, school leadership and our vision, it boils down to we empower campus leadership through collaboration and shared accountability to remove barriers and drive student success. So, in short, we lead, collaborate, and succeed. And as we work through our workstreams and design our work for, to support the campuses, these are our five long term improvement plan Workstreams one, to develop, leadership capacity on the campuses to to ensure systems for improved outcomes, three to, support systems for positive school culture. Four facilitate district department communication and collaboration with us and with the campuses. And then five to advance the

083campus, pipeline and succession planning. So in order to develop our workstreams, we went through a four step process. That process included reviewing our responsibilities, reviewing our current, data and evidence to support what our focus was and identify barriers and create goals and strategies. So as we did this, we came up with four, components that we focused on this year. The first one was effective school framework, aligned foundational systems that included PLCs, leadership meetings, observation and feedback, and CFAs. We also thought it was important to prioritize Cross-departmental collaboration pipeline program revision, and we wanted to complete our long term improvement plan. So let's talk a little bit more about the ESF align systems. Our goal for this particular, for this particular component was due by June 2027. 80% of our campuses will fully implement the ESF

084Align Minimum High Leverage Expectations element. Now, when we say 80%, we want every school, every grade level to achieve in these areas. However, we know that, principals will leave, teachers will leave. And also, there'll be adjustments in grade level. And we wanted to make sure that we left the room to, make sure that we give them the training as well as they come on board. We do have some opportunities and obstacles in this area. Ongoing, differentiated professional learning is something that we're really working towards. And we really worked hard on it this year by allowing principals to select and say, hey, this is the area that we need to focus on. And they were able to attend those workshops. We also understand that implementation of these elements are at different levels on the campus. And

085so we're working to make sure that that strengthen that we're streamlined and aligned. And then we really worked on rubric development this year. We know we need to refine it, and we're going to do some more work with collaboration. We have a couple of metrics that we want to share with you. Three of the elements that I mentioned before, which includes PLCs, observation, feedback, leadership, they have rubrics that we are, currently using, and then we write them by us. We rate, the campuses by using partial implementation or full implementation. So this is the good news. The good news is that again, we did a great job starting the differentiation for principals, with their professional learning. But 100% of our campuses are at partial or full implementation. And this is important because remember, we said our

086goal is June 2027. We would be at 80%, to share further data with you. 26% of our campuses, have fully implemented PLCs, 56% have fully implemented leadership, 60% for observation and feedback. And we're really excited about observation and feedback this year because we'll be getting region ten support, and it will be supporting our whole district. And then we have CFAs at 50%. So I'm just going to share a little bit about District Department cross collaboration. Our goal is that 100% of our cost departmental meetings will include transparency and will be data driven. And we've done that this year. So we're excited about that as well. We know that we still have opportunities in terms of frequency and time allocation of meetings, and there are other departments we need to meet with, our metrics for success

087includes a consistent, a consistent agenda development and regular collaborative meetings. What we've accomplished is that four of the six, departments we meet with on a regular basis, and so we are going to include those other two. And we're excited about the fact that every time we meet, we are discussing data and what we've heard from campuses that is that our, messages message of expectations are more aligned now. And they really appreciate that as one of our other workstreams, goes with campus leadership pipeline development. And you'll see the goal here is by the end of June 2027, we want to increase by 50% the number of excelling candidates completing the AP and principal pipeline programs. As some of the obstacles that we have here and opportunities that we have rather are one, we want to identify

088more talent for our AP and principal. Principal pipeline programs say that five times fast. We want to make sure that those leadership experiences are authentic for the AP and principal, pipelines, as well as connect it to the shift competencies. And when I mentioned shift competencies, what we're saying is the experience of an IS or a testing coordinator would be different than an assistant principal or an assistant principal than a principal. And some of the learning that happens during those, those programs is to prepare them to thrive in that next role. And so we look at their, implementation and learning of the shift competencies in those places. And also, we want to make sure we increase participation in our aspiring AP program. When we look at some metrics for success, we of course look at our

089surveys from our pipeline participants. Some of you all were able to be at our problem of practice for the principals and we also look at the success for our assistant principals in a pipeline of practice, and then how well they are moving through the principal shift competencies through that feedback. And of course, we love to see the increased number of participants who are promoted, the campus leadership roles. And so one of the accomplishments we want to highlight tonight as well is that many of our APA participants are promoted into the, Mesquite principalship. You saw one tonight with Mr. Staats coming over to Wooley. And then of course, I think you remember, Mr. Bright, Ms. Ducharme, who, also, I've gone through our APA program. Devin Bright shares that this program helped him to establish, sustainable systems

090and improve his leadership skills. Ms. Ducharme talked about the idea of the challenging, real world situations that happened in those programs and the ability to, improve her public speaking, her confidence in our public speaking. And if you look at the bottom of the slide there, you'll notice that for the most part, our principals in Mesquite ISD come through the aspiring principal program. That's something we're proud of, some other accomplishments that we want to highlight as well. And we really want to give kudos to Bruce Perkins and the team that he leaves around. CCMR percentage. If you notice. And, excuse me, in 2023, 69% of our seniors met CCMR. But right now we are at the 88% mark for our seniors of 2025. And that number is still improving. We are also happy about the capacity

091development that we have for our principals through our one on ones with them, our own campus labs, and we even host our own, Mesquite ISD Principals Symposium. And, we also are happy to say that 96% of the principals agree with this statement. That's a wrong way of saying it is better to say, they align their responses with the ideas that EDLD’s have strong communication skills, that we value and respect our principals, we hold them accountable, and we express our appreciation for the job well done. And so when you look at the principal retention rates, I think that is, an outcome from the accomplishments and the way that we, coach and try to build up our principals. What you'll notice is if you're not retiring or being promoted, you stay here, Mesquite as a principal. And

092so our next steps for 2020, 25-26 are to continue to enhance and move forward in our employees, those minimum high level expectations, to continue to grow our campus leadership pipeline development, to make sure that our principals are involved in that, differentiated professional learning for fellow principals. And one we're really excited about is to help our campuses to really lean into the community engagement, to continue to strengthen the trust that they have that our parents and our community have in our schools, and that we can move forward there and that's our presentation. We appreciate your support, your leadership and the passion that you have for our schools. Questions, comments. Members. Great report. Thank you for what you're doing. I appreciate all the transparency using data for being informed about everything. The aspiring program that you get

093for, aspiring principals. It says a lot about what this district's doing to maintain leadership that we need in different roles, because I think that's going to have a major impact on one of our major goals, which is performance of our students and their growth. So we appreciate all of you very much in what you do. Thank you. Board members, next item is under administration. It's an action item. It's number two. It's organization of the board that will be moved to the end of the meeting. We'll need to go into executive session again before that. So we'll pass by that at the moment next under construction or I'm sorry under business is an action to conduct conduct a public hearing on the proposed budget and tax rates. Good evening, President Seward, board of trustees. Dr. Rivera,

094here tonight, I will, briefly go through a presentation, for the public consumption of the, public hearing 2025-26 budget and the proposed tax rate, that supports the budget. With me today, is Mr. Trace Naylor, and Kimberlee is upstairs, finalizing some items, as well. But they have been instrumental in getting all this together. So I want to publicly thank them for all the work that they've done. It's been a challenging year, but here we are. And, considering the budget, for all legal purposes and requirements, we posted the budget, on the local newspaper on May 30th. Again, this is a requirement by the state. We need to invite public comment if possible. And so we did, advertise it. We also posted it on our website, and it's currently posted on our internal website. Just a brief, property value

095trend. Again, Mesquite has seen some growth, especially in the last few years. The 2025 preliminary estimated values as of May 22nd, 2025 is predicted around 17.3 billion. Again, this is before this, our preliminary. We won't get our final, our final values until July 25th. Also, I do want to say that everything you're seeing here today, is based on current law, and it's not anything that has been passed by the current legislative session. So everything is based on current, proposed law, but values have increased, over the last few years. There's had there has been homestead exemption increases from 15 to 25, thousand. In 2015, 2021, it increased from 25 to 40,000 in 2023, it increased from 40 to 100. And again, it's anticipated that if the voters approve it in November, it would increase from 100

096to 140. And then for over 65 and disable that is proposed to increase if voted by taxpayers from 10,000 to 60,000. Homestead exemption. Just a comparison of tax rates to this. Our current tax rates. I won't have the data until after the budgets get approved, for the Dallas County. But as you can see here, Mesquite ISD is one of the lowest maintenance and operations tax rates in the, surrounding districts. Currently, the only one that's below us is, Garland ISD, high .6669. Again, we're competing against this district's, we keep a very low maintenance and operations tax rate compared to the other districts that are surrounding us. The proposed general operating budget, again, under current law, here are some revenue assumptions. We are projecting that we will have approximately 37,905 students. That is based on a demographer

097moderate, projection. Our current enrollment at the end of the year was approximately 37,700. We are, using an average of 94%, average daily attendance for the 25, 26. Our maintenance and operations tax rate is set .6969. Our debt service is increasing from $0.40 to 41 to support the $600 million bond, election that occurred. So our total tax rate is predicted at one 1069. I do anticipate some tax compression under this. So I do anticipate that the maintenance and operations, rate will be lower than .6969. Our projection taxable values, we predicted about 7% increase. And again, we won't know the actual values until July 25th. Some of the expenditure assumptions, 10% reductions under expenditure codes of 6300, which supplies materials and miscellaneous expenses. We also implement strategic reductions at department level. Our budget, is spin rate is

098at 98%. That's what we build the budget on as well as the non payroll at 94%. We continue to see some pressures in terms of on the expense side, such as health insurance and property insurance. We've seen significant increases related to those areas. And of course, security. We are, increasing some spend expense on that, because the grant has expired. So overall decreases in non payroll is approximately 12.2 million. And then in payroll it was approximately 4.4 million for a total reduction of 16.6 million under increases. Again, the the security budget was increased by a million. Auto and property insurance increased by more than 600,000. Health insurance. Again, we, pumped in an additional $3 million towards, that, health plan ourself. Plan, in addition to positions and speed ed and strategic staffing, for a total increase of

099about approximately 5.6 million. So the proposed budget for for 20, obviously for 2025-26, if you look at the comparison here, from last year, we are, staying steady in terms of revenue at around 429 million. Our expenses, after we do all the reductions that I just spoke about and, and decreases and also increases, we're predicting a, $449 million expense budget, which leaves us with a, budget deficit of approximately 19.2 million. Again, under current law. So, in terms of the fund balance history, you will see that if we finish and you will also have a, final budget amendment, to consider later on in the session. But if we finish, 2024-25, with a deficit that we anticipate, the, the unassigned fund balance will be approximately 85.8 million. And then if we don't have any additional revenue, or control

100expenses, for 25, 26, our fund balance will be approximately 66.5 million. Again, the the orange line is the three months of operating expenses. So we would be under that in the next couple of years if we don't implement some changes. On the expenditure side, of course, most of our expenses are related to instruction that is direct face to face with our students. Second, aided by maintenance and operations, school leadership, guidance and counseling. And you can see that some of the other areas, for example, curriculum and instruction, our health services, our small piece of of what we are of the overall budget, the proposed child nutrition fund, which is also a budget that you will consider, tonight, has the following, there is no, pay increase is included in the, the this fund, we project a slight

101increase in student participation. We anticipate the meal reimbursement rates will remain the same. But they might change at the end of June when, Texas Department of Agriculture will notify us, or in July. And the fund balance drawdowns for projects implemented, continue to happen. The fund balance threshold did increase from 3 to 6 months. So that gives us a little more flexibility for the keeping a, a, good fund balance in terms of the food service. So you will see that anticipated revenue for the proposed budget is 26.7 million and expenses is 29 million, leaving a deficit of 2.5 million, 2.2 million by design, the current fund balance, about 10.4 and the projected 2425 fund balance will be approximately 8.1 million, which is about, 4.3 months of expenditures that that side, the third budget that you will

102consider tonight, has the following, the tax rate would increase from $0.40 to $0.41. We are predicting a taxable property value of 7%. Again, this is hold harmless funding based on current law. As I explained earlier today, there is some consideration of, Senate Bill four, and Senate Bill 23 that it will will impact this, in the coming year. But our current bond ratings S&P this is, this are great ratings. Double AA and Fitch double AA plus and again we have unissued voter authorized debt of 600 million, which Mr. Jason Hughes, presented to you for a parameter order earlier today. And so, again, after we issued the the bonds, we anticipate that we will bring you a budget amendment, after that, to highlight all the items that occur after the after we issued debt. So with that

103said, we anticipate a total revenue of 70.3 million. And we are also, the, expenses 70.3, which is a balanced budget, our fund balance, approximately 71.8 million currently. And we're projected to have a fund balance of about 84 million by the end of 24 or 25. Yea. Here is the consider approval of the proposed budget, which you have in front of you. As you consider the next item, I will be able to answer any questions you might have. Now, in terms of compensation, again, this budget, the 25, this is important for me to read, the 2025-26 budget adopted by the board. Consider adoption for the board. Today is based on current funding laws and does not include pay raises. The board intends that staff salaries may be retroactively adjusted as necessary to maintain compliance with the

104requirements of legislation passed by the 89 Texas Legislature and any subsequent interpretations by the appropriate authoritative bodies, which is mainly to which were not known at the time of budget adoption. The board will consider amending the adopted budget to be in compliance and implement other compensation matters. And with that, I will open it to any questions. First, before we do that, we're going to go open it for a hearing and then we'll talk about the action item on the budget. We will now move from regular session and open for a hearing. So anyone that wishes to speak on the proposed budget and tax rates. There being none, we will now close the public hearing and move back into our regular session. And the next item you talked about your make the proposal and approve the

105budget for 2025 2026 school year. Board members, you get any questions and comments you want to make sure want to thank everybody for their hard work. This is an incredibly difficult and difficult season for our school public school finance right now. So thank you, Gilbert and your team, for all your work. And thanks for everybody in this district. It's looking under every rock and turning over every stone to try to save money. And, so thank you for that. Just to clarify what Gilbert just said, the budget that we're considering tonight is based on the situation prior to the actions that the current legislation in Austin is taking. So once we get a good handle on that, we'll come back at some point in time in this budget to include some raises for some of our

106teachers, most of our teachers, some of our teachers. And then we'll figure out the rest of it. But I just want to clarify that that we we still don't know, because of the legislature's late action, exactly how it's going to come out. But once we get that, we'll come back and amend this budget to include some compensation changes. Mr.. River. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Frontal. One of the fundamental responsibilities of this board is to approve the budget and set the tax rate to support that. So we're doing half of that or we're proposing to do half of that tonight. So thank you very much. Like Mr. Bingham said, for your hard work for you and Trace and Kimberlee and all the great things you all do. Thank you. I want to echo what Mr. Everett

107was talking about, just for public consumption. Thanks for the clarification, Mr. Bingham. This board has been going through a review process for the last several months. We've spent many hours going through, scenarios based upon different things. Don't remove it to the legislature. Now that they've signed that, we've now waiting for the details. And by law, we have to adopt a budget prior to July 1st, if I recall. And that allows us the opportunity to amend it afterwards. But, as I said, we want to thank you and all your staff and all those that have been involved in helping to streamline the budget and to make necessary cuts where we can make them. As you said before, the cuts were not in the classroom. The cuts were other places where we could do that. And I

108know we got a tough job ahead of us for the next couple of years because this is not over. There's a lot for us to consider as we move forward, and this board and this district are going to have to make some tough decisions as we move forward. And we really do appreciate that. Thank you. I will entertain a motion. So moved. Second, I have a motion by Miss Hornsby and a second by Mr. Carbo to approve the budget for the 2025 2026 school year. Any further discussion or comments? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I, those opposed, nay. Motion passes seven zero. Next item, Mr. Carbo. Mr. Prado is action item to approve the budget amendment for the 2024-25 budget. Yes. Thank you, President Seward and board of Trustees. Doctor Rivera, this

109is the final budget amendment, for the current year. As I explained earlier, we're just basically realigning our revenues, compared to local collections and related to what the state contributions will be, for the general operating fund for the food service as well. Related to where we anticipate end in the year and also the debt service. I explained a little bit earlier today in terms of the fund balances. So the realignments is our best projections of where we think we'll end the year. For the general operating fund, we anticipate that we'll end the year with a budget deficit of approximately $24.5 million. And then in the, food service, a food service nutrition fund, a deficit of 2.3 million. But that is by design because we needed to spend down some fund balance. And then in terms of

110the debt service fund, we anticipate, an increase to the fund balance by approximately $12 million. And so those are, that's what we're asking in this final budget amendment. I believe the expenses are fairly, we do a good projection. So hopefully we'll end up, a little better than what we predict in here. But, it might be a little more or less, but not too significantly different. But you've done a great job on trying to, control some of those costs. I understand it going to be anywhere from 3 to $4.5 million, that we will reduce that deficit amount that we originally adopted. So we appreciate all the hard work that everybody's done on that. And the questions. I'll entertain a motion. Yeah. Mr. president, moved to approve the budget amendment for 2425. So I have a motion

111by Mr. Carbo and a second by Miss Collier to approve the budget amendment for the 2024-25 budget. Any further comments? There being none. All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed. Nay. Motion passes seven. Oh, thank you, Mr. Prado. Thank you, Mr. President. Board members, we will now, convene into closed session and then we'll come back. There will be no action taken in closed session. We'll come back to take whatever necessary at the end of the meeting. I'm sorry. Section five. Oh, you're right. Which one? We will meet in closed session under authority of Texas Government Code section 551.07 for personnel. Thank you. We will now reconvene from closed session. We would consider an action item under administration. It's action item number two. Organization of the Board. Election

112of Board Officers. Do I have a motion? Mr. Seward, I move to appoint Kevin Carbo as president, Eddie Rose as vice president. And Gary Bingham as secretary. Do I have a second, second? Was that Miss Collier? Was. We have a motion to elect more officers. Motion was made by Mr. Everett and a second Miss Collier. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Those opposed, nay. Motion passes seven-o. Board members next, you'll have before for you a tentative agenda of July. And before we adjourn the meeting. And I would like to now turn over the gavel to Mr. Carbo, who's going to be Board President after this meeting. So I want to present you with a new gavel. Oh, great. Silent. This is straight from the legislature. Yeah.

113I mean, but really, congratulations. Thank you. You did a great job. And you get to adjourn us today. Yeah. Before we do, I do want to say something real quick. This has been a really tough year, and you brought a lot of leadership and then a lot of good things. Especially the committees. I know Gary is starting to see more committees coming through. We may take a break on that one, but I want to thank you for everything you've done. This has been great. And all the leadership. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. And then we'll debrief on that on July the 8th, I believe it is. I think it's on schedule, but just expect that email and respond back in a timely fashion. So and thank you for heading that up. Thank you. Any comments.?

114Anything else?. No, no. We stand adjourned.