May 12th, 2025 School Board Meeting

001Today on Monday, May the 12th at 5:49 p.m.. There's a quorum president of the board, and this meeting has been posted as required by law. Notice is hereby given that the Board of Trustees, Mesquite and the School District, will consider all matters incident related to the canvasing of returns and declaring the results of the school trustee election held on May 3rd. As well as the. Returns in depth decorating and declaring the results of the bond election on May 3rd. Also, board members before you, you have a summary of the election results. For Mesquite ISD for place one. Miss Collier had no opponent. She had 3427 votes in place. Two Mr. Rose had 2348 votes. Miss Carrie Bruce had 1688, for a total of 4036 votes, for Mesquite I-s-d proposition A bond election. Those voting for

002it was 2801. Those against it was 1644, for a total of 4445 votes for proposition B of the bonds. Those that voted for was 2821. Those against was 1634, for a total of 4455. Board members, you have any questions on those unofficial results? No, we can't do that yet. We'll do that in regular session. Any additional information? Doc Rivera, you have anything to add? I'm sorry. All right. Well, no. No. Nothing that. Not yet. So on election day. I'll do it. Just tell me then. No. They gave you two reports. What they gave you as the early votes. Oh, okay. The one I read off was the total final vote of, early voting as well as election day. Do you see that? Any questions? No. There be no more questions. We will take action during

003the regular meeting on this, the election results. To accept them. There may be no other questions or information. We are adjourned from the special meeting at 5:51 p.m.. And we will start at 6:00 for our regular meeting. I'm sorry. The level three hearings, Yeah. Coffee? Very. I now call this meeting to order the Muskegon Business District Board of Trustees on this Monday, May the 12th, 2025 at 6:00 pm. And I confirm that a quorum of board members is present and that this meeting was posted in compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. One item to note, please ensure you have signed up in advance if you wish to address the board during the public comment section regarding items on the agenda. Please see Miss Sabrina Smith, our Chief Communications Officer. If you have any questions.

004We will now proceed with our agenda. We will now hear a level three grievance of employee Mr. Gary Hanley. The employee has requested that the hearing be conducted in closed meeting. The board will now meet in closed session under the authority of Texas Government Code Section 55551.074 and the personnel to hear the level three grievance of Mr. Gary Hanley. No formal action will be taken in the closed meeting. We will now, as a board, adjourn to room 110, which is on the other side of the division room. The time is 6:44 p.m., and the board reconvenes and open meeting. No action was taken in closed meeting. We will begin our meeting with an invocation by Reverend Jones Dalton, pastor at First Presbyterian. And following him will be the Pledge of allegiance by the students from

005Alexkor Elementary School. The sponsor is Cynthia Almond. You know all welcome to join in, if you wish, on both the invocation and the pledges. Reverend, let us pray. Almighty gracious God, I give thanks for all gathered here tonight. I give thanks who seek to serve and to guide the children to the Mesquite ISD. I pray for this board that they have a spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, and knowledge. Give them the gifts of courage and fortitude. Inspire them in their mission. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Students, as they're coming. Both photos migrate. They come. Ready? Go ahead. Start. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Consider it a holiday for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible. Mercy and justice for all. Under the Texas flags. On page 13.

006Texas. I say I'm God. All. Go ahead. Please introduce yourselves. Yeah, I'll get right up to the mic. Go ahead and introduce yourself. To all. Oh, hi. My name is Alana from Alexander Elementary. Oh, fifth grade. Hi. My name is Clarissa from Ozark Elementary, and I'm in fifth grade. My name, my name's Naomi. And, my name is Naomi, and I'm from auxillary elementary, and I'm a fifth grade. Hi. My name is Noah. From auxillary elementary, and I'm in fifth grade. All right. Okay. We'll move on. On our agenda under team of eight moment. Miss Collier, I believe you wanted to talk about a couple things. Yes. Okay, so our e-sports kids went down to Waco to go be awesome. They showed the other kids and Baylor that we have some fantastic kids coming out of

007Mesquite. I realized one of mine was one of them, but yes, totally biased. But they did a great job. I watched them get on the bus and saw some of their work, even when there were some setbacks with technology, you know, it was doing the most. They still showed up. They represented as well. So to all the people involved with that and the students doing a good job, y'all. Mr. president, I'd like to add to that the Poteet High School Smokehouse team went to state, and out of 109 teams, they ranked in different areas. But their pinto beans ranked 12th in the state. And beans. And if you're listening, you're doing an amazing job. That's the nickname they gave the girl that makes beans. Mr. Carville, well, I want to talk about another group of

008students. And some of you may know we had the Cinco de Mayo celebration, this week. This weekend, this past weekend, with the city of, Mesquite and, Hispanic Forum of Mesquite. And, some of our volunteers come from Horn High School who were very active for the five hours this, this lasted. And, the they learn how to communicate with, with, citizens of Mesquite. They, they, do surveys and they do some of the jobs. And I'm very proud of these horn kids because they keep coming, to the celebrations every year. This is our fifth year doing it in downtown Mesquite. As some of you know, we've done it in other places, like the rodeo and all that. But this year was very successful. I also wanted to say something. We, we talked about, the election and we talked

009about the bond. And I wanted to thank everybody because of the results of the bond. And, congratulations, Eddie, for staying in your chair. That's, you. Well, she ran unopposed. She got 100% of her votes and, Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you, doctor Rivera. Yeah, I know Mr. Carillo jumped in on that, but, Yeah, on behalf of the board, on behalf of administration, we want to thank the community for the vote of confidence in the bond. Six 3% is nothing to sneeze at. But we promise you that whatever we campaign to accomplish, we will complete. We ran a campaign of promises made, promises kept, and we do not plan on disappointing this community. So tonight, you're going to see the first item based on that, as we start moving forward and the completion of every single project.

010But the three things that we say, what we're going to accomplish. Safety and security. Address addressing the expansion in the South or the growth in the South side, and addressing aging infrastructure. We will do thanks to you, the voters. And we do not take that lightly. The second thing that I want to talk about, we had one of our very own, Mr. Greg Everett, was recognized at the city council meeting. He received the police department and city the Citizens Certificate of Merit. Mr. Everett earned his recognition for the vigilance helping prevent a major crime in his neighborhood, and he was recognized for that. So thank you, Mr. Everett. And the last thing that I want to talk about, you know, in Mesquite, we celebrate the time that we invest, the time that we dedicate in

011a time that we sacrifice to make a difference in children's lives. But none of it goes even more of a sacrifice, right? Cause our board members are not paid employees. They're volunteers. And tonight is an honor to celebrate ten years of service to this board. To Miss Elaine Hornsby. Anybody else? If anybody out there is looking for somebody to be your neighborhood watch, contact Mr. Everett. Yeah, he'll do a great job. We will now sign on to one of the most. Also, I have pictures of a brand new great granddaughter. If anybody wants to see. You didn't tell them the rest of it, did you? We will now move on to one of the most important parts of our meeting. And that is student and staff guest, Miss Sabrina Smith. Indeed. Thank you very much.

012We're going to begin this evening by recognizing, 12 outstanding, seniors. They are our valedictorian and salutatorian from each of our high schools. These students exemplify passion, perseverance, and dedication to excellence throughout their school career. We're very proud that they're going to be representing Missguided. We're going to let their principals come up and tell you a little bit more about them. So we're going to start off with Principal Jeff Johnson, who's going to tell us about the top two graduates from the Mesquite High School. All right. It is my pleasure to introduce, our salutatorian at the Mesquite High School, Elijah George. Do you want to come up now? Elijah has been top 10% all four years and top ten since his junior year. He has been a honor roll all four years. And an AP scholar

013with honors. Elijah is also a member of NSS. He is president of VPA and has competed at the national level for BPA. He's also competed in regionals for U-i-l. Academics. The state level for Deca in Financial Team Services, and was an active Deca gold medalist. His involvement includes Chess Club Skeeters with the cause and the Superintendent Advisory Council. Elijah plans on attending the University of Texas at Austin and will major in finance. Elijah is here with his mother, Oxmoor Thomas, and his father, Thomas George, our salutatorian. Elijah George. It is also my honor to introduce the valedictorian of the Mesquite High School, Alexis Alexa Castillo. Alexa has been top ten and a honor roll all four years as and is an AP scholar with honors. She has been in the mass orchestra, has been involved

014in National Honor Society, VPA, Spanish Honor Society, and was also in JROTC, a U-i-l academics. Winner in Chemistry and Biology, a member of the Calculus Club, a Quest Bridge finalist, a Quest Bridge College Prep Scholar, and participated in the MIT Railroad Innovation in Action, where her research was displayed in the California Railroad Museum. She established the club called Mathematics of Ensembles, to support the Hispanic community and find success in their math classes by eliminating language barriers and building support system. She plans to attend the University of Texas at Tyler and will major in chemistry. She has received the Terry Foundation Scholarship, a full scholarship, and she was also awarded the Geico Local Excellence Award scholarship. She wants to recognize her mother, Blanca maldonado, her father, Eusebio Castillo, and her sister, Abigail Castillo. Our valedictorian, Alexa

015Castillo. Relations. Next up, please welcome North Mesquite High School principal Marissa Ramos, who is here to give us more information about the top two graduates for the stallion's. Good evening. I am very excited to announce our salutatorian from North Mesquite High School, Cruz Trejo. He is. He is the son of Roberto Trejo and Adriana Falcon. Cruz plans to attend the University of Texas and major in neuroscience and psychology. Joey Cruz is one of only 70 students to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarship, totaling $225,000. While at North Mesquite High School, Cruz was a quest finalist and has been a proud member of our orchestra are U-i-l math and science academic teams, Academic Decathlon, and Science Club. He. We are very proud of you, Cruz. Unfortunately, our valedictorian is not present this evening, but we

016are still excited to announce him. Javier Ramirez is the son of Fidel and Maria Ramirez. Javier is an AP scholar and received the national AP Hispanic Recognition and the National AP first Generation recognition. He was a lighthouse student for three years and he has a perfect GPA. Javier honed his passion for criminal justice with the CT law Enforcement program. He plans to continue growing those skills by starting at East Field and then transferring to UNT Dallas, where he intends to major in criminal justice. Javier's ultimate goal is to serve his community as a police officer. We are excited and proud of him here. All right, next up, we have Doctor Jordan Simmons from the principal of West Mesquite High School is here to tell us about the Wranglers. Valedictorian, salutatorian? Yes. Hello. The 2025 salutatorian

017for Western State High School is Valerie Mejia. Her sister, Vanessa mejia, and her mother, Judith Lopez, join us in celebrating Valerie's accomplishments during her high school career. She was enrolled in 15 AP courses, earned 14 hours of dual credit as an an AP scholar with distinction. She is a member of the National Honor Society, mu Alpha Theta, Emerging Leaders, Enhancing Education, Art club, Academic Decathlon, and AP club. She serves as the Vice President of NHS and has completed over 100 hours of volunteer work outside of her courses and her high school career, she was a state Art competition finalist two years. Valerie has earned recognition from the College Board for her PSAT and AP scores as part of the National First Generation Recognition Program and the National Hispanic Recognition Program. In the fall, Valerie will

018be attending the University of Texas at Austin, a majoring in environmental engineering, she received over $165,000 in academic scholarships. Congratulations, Valerie, for all you've accomplished. We're so proud of you. The 2025 valedictorian for West Mesquite High School is Madison Gilbert. Madison is the daughter of Jennifer Gilbert, and during her time in her high school career, she was enrolled in 13 AP courses, earned 14 hours of dual credit, and is an AP scholar with distinction. She is the Burnt Orange Band Drumline captain and advanced a team, a All-State band, and percussion. Her sophomore year, she is the president of National Honor Society and a member of Mu Alpha Theta. She completed over 150 volunteer hours over the course of her high school career. Madison was selected to participate in Subianto, the academic The Academy for Rising

019Leaders at UT Austin, where she engaged in leadership development this past summer. She is a Quest Bridge National College Match winner and a Gates Scholarship winner. In the fall, Madison will be attending Brown University and majoring in environmental engineering. She received over $1 million and academic scholarship honors. Congratulations to both of you. Now the next step from Poteet High School. Please help us. Welcome, Doctor Kelly Long, principal, who's going to help us get to know petite number one and number two, pirates from the class of 2025. All right. Good evening. It's an honor to introduce the salutatorian for Poteet High School. Class of 2025, Maria Belen Alvarado Fernandez. Maria is the proud daughter of Rogelio Alvarado and Angelica Fernandez. Maria has excelled academically and served as a model of leadership and dedication. Throughout her high

020school years. She competed in both regional and state level and academic decathlon, participated in U-i-l math and science competitions, and served as the president of the National Honor Society. Maria has also been involved in Varsity Bowls and Orchestra. During her time at Poteet, she maintained a perfect GPA, a 4.0 GPA across all four years while competing on numerous community service hours. Maria plans to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she will major in electrical and computer engineering and recognition of her outstanding leadership. Then, as captain of the Academic Decathlon team, she was just rewarded a $1,000 scholarship from her coach, Mr. Blackwell and his wife. We are so proud of you, Maria. It is with great honor and pride to introduce the valedictorian, a petite high school class of 2025. Rahma mohammadi. Rahma

021has distinguished yourselves as an exceptional scholar and leader, completing 15 Advanced Placement courses and earning recognition as an AP scholar. She is actively involved in science U-i-l, the National Honor Society, and the Superintendent Student Advisory Board. In addition to her academic achievements, Rama served as a senior class Secretary and Student Council Committee chair. She is also an I.F. scholar. Balancing academics and extracurricular commitments. Rama has held a part time job since the age of 15. Her dedication and work ethic ever earned her over $80,000 in scholarship from the University of Texas at Austin, where, yes. Cookham, where she will attend this fall to pursue her degree in nursing. Her tuition is fully covered, and she has also earned 3715 additional scholarships from outside sources. Rama plans to become a pediatric nurse practitioner or pediatrician. She

022is the daughter of a beer and a mod mommy, and the proud youngest sibling of Zina, Fatima, Jannah, and Muhammad. Please join me in congratulating the 2025 valedictorian opposing high school. Today's day. All right, next up, here from John Horn High School is principal Dr. Brown to tell us about the top two graduating seniors from horn, Texas. I'm looking. Good evening, Doctor Rivera. School board. I would like to present the 2025 salutatorian of Doctor John Horn High School, Henry Lee. While at horn, Henry competed on the Academic Decathlon and in the u-i-l in the area of computer science and mathematics. While competing in U-i-l, Henry placed at the district and the regional levels during his time on the Academic Decathlon team. Here he competed at the state level, where his team plays 18th, setting a

023district record for state placement, and he earned the highest score of this team at state. And I'm sorry he is not here tonight. I should have said that earlier because he is, of course, studying for AP test here. He is an active member of the National Honor Society, National Science Honor Society, e-Sports club, the Mock Trial Team, and was orchestra member for the year. He held the position of Vice president of Hornes National Mathematics Honor Society mu Alpha Theta, a club in which he co-founded Ed Horn. Between ninth and senior year, he has taken 21 AP classes, all the while maintaining a 4.0 GPA, and he was named an AP scholar with distinction and is a National Merit finalist. This year, he earned a perfect score on the act, a distinction held by less than

0241% of test takers. That's why he's studying his stay in home studying in the fall. Here, he plans to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at MIT, where he was awarded a full tuition scholarship and will double major in pure mathematics and computer science. Here, he was awarded an academic and merit based scholars. All the colleges he applied to totaling close to half $1 million. Please join me in celebrating Henry Lee as a military captain. Leo also chose to study for his AP exams, so he is not here tonight. I would like to present the 2025 valedictorian of Doctor John High School, Leonardo Chavez. While attending horn, Leo was a member of the Academic Decathlon team, where he medaled at the regional level and as a teen placed 18th in a state, setting a new

025district record. For three years. Leo competed in U-i-l in the areas of science, math and computer science, where he placed in all areas at the district level. The I was an active member of the Environmental Helpers Mock Trial, a sports national sports society, honor society, National Science Honor Society, and National Honor Society. The O is the president of Mu Alpha Theta, an organization which he co-founded at horn. Between ninth and senior year, Leo has taken 21 AP classes, all the while maintaining a 4.0 GPA as well. He has been recognized with numerous awards in the area of academic excellence, including a Capstone Diploma candidate and AP scholar with distinction and a National Merit Finalist. They all received honors in the National Rural and Small Town Recognition Program, National Hispanic Recognition Program, and the National First

026Generation Recognition Program. In the fall, you'll plan to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology at MIT, where he earned a full tuition scholarship and will major in computer science with the possibility of adding a second major in the area of mathematics. Leah was awarded academic and merit scholarships, all at the colleges he applied to, totaling close to $400,000. Please celebrate with me, Leah Chavez. How about. And last but not least, from Doctor David Vernon, Vanguard High School principal Clint El Sasser. He's here to introduce the top two graduates from the second graduating class of Vanguard's alumni. Good evening. First, I'd like to, recognize our salutatorian, Alan Ramirez. Alan is an inspiration, an aspiring mechanical engineer planning to attend the Texas A&M Engineering Academy at Dallas College. With a keen interest in microchip development, automotive design, and

027engineering production technology, he is eager to contribute to the innovation in these fields. Alan is deeply grateful for the sacrifices his father has made to provide him with opportunities, and for his mother's unwavering support in his academic journey. We would like he would like to extend his appreciation to Mr. Spencer and Mr. Medrano for their invaluable guidance and recommendations to help shape his college and scholarship applications. Thank you. And our second ever valedictorian, Andrew Verde. Andrew is set to attend Stanford University, where he will pursue a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. After gaining experience in the workforce, he hopes to further his education by earning his master's degree. An avid mountain biker, Andrew balances his passion for engineering with outdoor adventure. He is honored to receive the Quest Bridge National College Matt Scholarship to Stanford,

028an opportunity that will propel him towards his academic and professional goals. Andrew extends his deepest gratitude to his mom, dad, and sister for their unwavering support throughout his education. He also wishes to thank Mr. Spencer for fostering his love for math and coaching, and Coach Britton for helping him develop leadership skills and lifelong interests. All right. Congratulations again. Some very, very impressive young people and their families and all the educators who poured into these folks. Next up, every month we recognize an outstanding paraprofessional with our Star Power award. As we close another school year, we have an extra special recognition. Tonight, we're going to recognize a Star Para of the year. We're excited to have First Financial Group of America partnering with us. So tonight's star parent recipient is going to receive $100 in gift

029cards. I'd like to invite Director of certifications and Backgrounds Chastity Willey to come to the podium, along with our FFG representative, and introduce us to, Miss Jennifer Johnson. Good evening, everyone, to Doctor Rivera and our amazing school board. I would just like to take a minute to just speak about Jennifer Johnson. She's announced. Oh, come on. Jennifer Johnson is an outstanding administrative assistant in personnel services whose leadership, reliability and proactive mindset make her an invaluable asset to our district. She led the smooth implementation of a new applicant tracking system, trained staff, and manages all departmental systems with accuracy and care. As the go to expert for frontline, Jennifer provides critical support and training to staff across the district. Always ready to step in and solve problems. Her dedication and initiative have made a lasting impact

030on district operations. Her recognition as a star Para is a well earned reflection of her commitment to excellence. Okay. All right. Next up, we're pleased to recognize the community partner that has been a, a longtime and loyal supporter of the Mesquite ISD education Foundation. As I gymnastics has made, made outstanding contributions to our school community. And we're going watch a short video to learn more about how they support our schools. This month, the Mesquite ISD Education Foundation and Mesquite ISD are honored to recognize ASI gymnastics as our community partner. ASI gymnastics owners David and Debbie Holly have faithfully supported the Education Foundation, both financially and through service as volunteers on multiple boards in our community. David and I grew up in Mesquite. David was actually moved here when he was a baby. I moved here

031when I was six years old, and during our time at Mesquite ISD, we were exposed to the most unbelievable educators. After we graduated from college, we moved back to Mesquite and our children actually attended Mesquite Estate from kindergarten through 12th grade. This year, ASI gymnastics was the presenting sponsor of the Education Foundation's annual gala in Concert and also stepped up to be a matching gift sponsor for our inaugural Giving Tuesday campaign, designed to engage alumni and to give alumni the opportunity to support the Foundation financially by giving a gift in honor of their favorite educator. In my mind, the most important thing we can do is support kids and educate kids, and we all are aware of the limitations of public schools. That's exactly where the Education Foundation steps in. We raise funds, we reach

032out to the teachers. We allow them to develop their own projects, their ideas, their, you know, dreams and how they want to educate those children. And then we provide them the funds so that they can follow through on those dreams. Thank you, ASI gymnastics, for your continued support of Mesquite ISD teachers and students for kids for tomorrow. All right. Next up, we're going to recognize our school nurses of the year. And here to introduce those nurses and tell you just a little bit more about the award is director of health Services Macy Melton. It is my great honor to present this year's School Nurse of the Year awards. This recognition goes to three women in our district to go above and beyond to care for our students, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally as

033well. Their dedication, compassion, and professionalism make a lasting impact every single day. On behalf of the entire district, thank you for being a true advocate and guardian of student well-being. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. We have Amber Hall, who has been, in the district for nine years at Poteet High School. Yehya Rios Zavala, who has been in the district for three years at Tosa Tosh Elementary, and Esther Lopez, who is our rookie school nurse of the year at Hanby. Elementary. And. Community. This year. I thank you. During our nursing, the nurses. Next up, we'd like to introduce to you three of our outstanding educators. In a very special organization that was recently, honored by region ten for their outstanding contributions to public education. As I call your name. Come to the front so we can

034take a picture and talk about you. We're going to share a bit of a summary of why you were selected. And this is from the region ten at E honors, which is the Association of Texas Professional Educators. First up we have Doctor Leslie Glass. And Doctor Glass is our assistant superintendent of partnerships and strategic initiatives. And she was named the region ten ATP administrator of the year. She's known for her impactful work in the community engagement, legislative advocacy and strategic planning. She's a tireless advocate for public education, known for her compassion and unwavering focus on student success. Doctor glass exemplifies excellence in educational leadership, making her a deserving winner of the region ten ATP administrator of the Year Award. And next up we have Doctor Kimberly Manchester, our region ten ATP Secondary Educator of the

035year. Doctor Matt Chips has served in multiple capacities, including immediate past president of the Mesquite Executive Board and active member of several region ten committees. She is a strong advocate for educators, frequently participating in advocacy efforts at the Capitol and regularly attending regional and state ATP events. Doctor Manship is known for her collaborative spirit, effective communication, and problem solving abilities. She was named region ten ATP Secondary Educator of the year. We can't name. We kind of cleaned up at these awards because our region ten associate of the year is also from Mesquite. Ricky Garcia. Mr.. Mr. Garcia is a compliance and compliance technician for Mosquito States Food and Nutrition services Department. He's a dedicated professional who serves all campuses with a focus on nutrition compliance and student well-being. His precision, reliability, and commitment ensures the

036district meets the highest standards for serving students nutritious meals. His leadership, advocacy and consistent service makes him a standout associate educator, and we are proud he has been honored for his excellence. And one more. The local unit of the year award also went to Mesquite ISD. We earned region ten Local Unit of the year due to its outstanding efforts and advocacy, community engagement, member support, and innovative collaborations within the district through impactful initiatives and supportive environment. A strong district relationships. Mesquite I-s-d exemplifies the spirit of effectiveness of an 80 ADP unit, setting high standards for others in region ten. Congratulations to our ADP Regional Honorees! We want others in pictures. And okay. Which is good. Thank you all for being here. I'd like to introduce, Christy Davis, director of counseling services. She's going to share

037several campus and individual awards to complete our recognitions for this evening. She has some individual awards as well as counseling, campus awards from this year. Give it to you, Miss Christy Davis. Thank you. Good evening. So tonight we're going to recognize, our counselors, our campuses, who received the Crest Award. The crest Award recognizes school counseling programs across Texas that demonstrate a continuous commitment to building a campus team and programs based on the Texas model for comprehensive school counseling programs endorsed by T.A. crest Award winners are selected each year by the Texas School Counselor Association. Those campuses receiving Crest leadership tonight must have received the Word Award for at least three years to be eligible for the next level, which is leadership. It means that a school counseling program is operating at its best practice serving

038its students, staff, and community. For our campuses who went through the extensive application process, they evaluated every facet of their programs and earned the highest designation in the state. It's not just an honor, but a means to advocate for our counseling department and demonstrate how we support student success in school. We are so proud of these recipients. We have 22 this year. I'm going to call their names as they come up. If I can just hold your applause till they're all up here. We have BJ Smith elementary, Beasley elementary, Galloway elementary, Cross Elementary, Ty Singer elementary, Berry Middle School, Floyd Elementary, Hanby Elementary, Hodges Elementary, Kimbro Middle School, who also received the leadership award. Frazier Middle School McDonald Middle School, who also receive leadership award. Mesquite High School, Poteet High School, receiving the leadership Award.

039Range elementary. Tosh elementary, also receiving leadership. Vanguard High School. Gray elementary also receiving leadership. West Mesquite High School, Horn High School receiving leadership, Terry Middle School, and Wooley Middle School. And the other, the. All. Right. Here we go. Let's move. There you go. Congratulations. Now. So our next award is for our, School counselor of the year. The nominations for counselor of the year are received by, staff, students, parents, the community. I wish I could read the nominations to you, because it just really exemplifies who these people are at their heart. And they're definitely an important part of their school. So our elementary counselor of the year from Floyd Elementary, Mandy Tecklenburg. And then our secondary counselor of the year from Wooley Middle School, Carrie Pritchard. From the onion hall. Are taking. A. This concludes our

040recognitions for this evening. But I'd like to remind everyone we have a very special student recognition event next Monday, May 19th, where we will be celebrating over 300 students, groups and teams who have achieved excellence in their activities this spring. That event begins live. I mean, begins here at 6 p.m., across the way in the vision room and also be streamed on our Facebook. So we'd love for you guys to tune in and celebrate that student excellence. You're all welcome to stay and we move forward on our agenda. So thank you for being here. Okay. And that was quick. Classroom. Next item on the agenda is our audience section. For those wishing to speak on items on the agenda. Miss Smith, I do have one request from, Mr. David Pace. Mr. pace, I'll just let

041you know that you have three minutes to go ahead and come on up. We have to keep your, remarks respectful and relevant to the agenda item. To take that. Okay. I can go ahead and start. Thank you. My name is David Pace. I'm a college student at University of Texas at Arlington, a former student of 38 high school and a former student in Mr. Hanley today like to speak briefly about the impact he has had on me and many others. I first had Mr. Hanley as an AP physics one teacher during my junior year of high school. Not only did he teach me the material well, but more importantly, he led with integrity and heart. It was clear to me and to many others that he lives out his faith in Jesus Christ. Countless students

042stopped by to see him after school or speak with him in passing, which shows the trust and respect he has earned. Mr. Hanley is not only kind and approachable, but he also consistently goes above and beyond for his students, even when it requires personal sacrifice. For example, for at least the past three years. He has led an after school group called parts for Christ every Tuesday. In this meeting, students gather to read and discuss the Bible. Through this group, he's helped many students grow in their faith and be introduced to God's Word for the first time. More personally, during my senior year, I wanted to take AP physics two and a few physics buddies classes were not offered due to low enrollment. Remarkably, Mr. Hanley offered to stay after school and teach AP physics two

043to me independently. He provided me with a textbook lab materials assignment and exams to prepare me for the AP exam, even though I was not enrolled in an official class. He did all of this without any additional compensation simply because he cares deeply for his students. In conclusion, Mr. Hanley is doing meaningful and impactful work at Poteet High School. I believe his dedication deserves to be recognized. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak. Thank you, Mr. Vice. Mayor Smith, anybody else? The. And then move on to our consent agenda. Before we do, we're going to board members. We agreed to pull item number three under the consent agenda to be acted on separately. With that pulled. Is there anything else you wish to pull to be talked about and discussed separately? If not,

044I'll entertain a motion for the rest of the consent agenda. Second. I have a motion by Mr. Rose and a second by Mr. Cabell to approve the consent agenda, with the exception of the item number three having to do with the standard operating procedures. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I, those opposed motion passes unanimously. The next item under that we pulled from the consent agenda is the to approve the updated board standard operating procedures for the board. Mr. Bingham, Mr. president, there's a section there towards the last of the, updates regarding the board self-evaluation. I make a motion that we amend that to be every three years instead of every one year. I'll second that. I have a motion by Mr. Bingham and a second by Mr. Campbell to

045approve the standard operating procedures with the amended piece under, board self-evaluation to be conducted every three years. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying I, Those opposed. Nay. Motion passes seven. Thank you. We will now move on to reports of the superintendent. Personnel action. Doctor Rivera. Thank you, Mr. President. I will, we have we have about through a lot of positions today. I know I sent you the information to send you the candidates. I would like to for you to entertain this as one motion. And then, we shall move forward with the individuals in question. If you may. Board members, this is action item number one to approve administrative contract term contracts that's listed on your agenda. I will entertain a motion. I move. Second. Two second. Thank

046you. I have a motion by Mr. Bingham and second by Miss Hornsby. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I, I those opposed. Nay. Motion passes seven zero. Doctor. Rivera. All right, Mr. President. So the motion and board members, the motion that passed. Now, I'm gonna introduce you to the people that you just voted on for the new positions. So I'm going to ask, Assistant Superintendent Taylor Morris to come up to the lectern and do his, introductions, please. Good evening, everyone. I have the honor to introduce y'all to a couple of familiar faces. The first person is Jeff Moore. Jeff, will you join me up here? Jeff Moore has over 20 years of experience in management, law enforcement, and school district administration. Prior to moving to Texas, he served as a

047school resource officer in Florida, where he was a trainer for the nationally recognized Okaloosa County SRO unit in 2003. He joined Mesquite ISD to serve as the district's first director of Safety and Security. Under his leadership in my ISD has implemented new security programs and procedures, improved and updated district safety trainings, and he continues to meet and exceed Texas school safety statutes and requirements. Jeff has completed trainings and FEMA's Incident Command system, the National Incident Management System, and Multi Hazard Emergency Planning for schools. I'd like to introduce Jeff Moore as our new Executive Director of Safety and Security. Good evening, President Seward. Board members, doctor Rivera and cabinet. Just over two years ago, God opened the door for me to come to Mesquite ISD. This is a big move for my family, as is never

048easy leaving. Well, you know, to move to an area you've never lived before, but that my personal and professional support system, I would not have become the person who, standing before you tonight. Also, I probably wouldn't be here if it were not for my beautiful, intelligent and the strong woman who has stood beside me for nearly 19 years. To my wife, Ashley, thank you for your never ending support and encouragement, and of course, for following me to Texas or I should say, allowing me to come to Texas. It was an extremely difficult decision to leave a district where my opinion was valued and my abilities and skillsets were appreciated. I'm grateful for the leaders and mentors that helped guide me over the course of my school safety career. Doctor Dawson, doctor Hale, Mr. Chapman, to

049name a few. Who, who even encouraged me to accept this position, knowing that my desire to be a leader in school safety is my passion. Even here, over the last two years, Mr. Morris's leadership style, as well as as well as his counsel and guidance, provided another valuable perspective. A new lens to look through as we navigate the challenges and successes of our growing safety and security team. This district in my ISD has welcomed me, and I've been greatly encouraged by your overall kindness and acceptance for these reasons and more. I want to give God all the praise, honor, and glory for why I'm in Mesquite and for why I'm here tonight. When I arrived here just over two years ago, the work started immediately. There was no training, no orientation, no adjustment period. I

050decided to be myself and do what I know that I can do. I believe in my work ethic and unique skill set would not go unnoticed in Mesquite ISD. Tonight is a culmination of many years of preparing for this role by obtaining the necessary experience and knowledge through hard work, including countless hours of education and training. I regularly share this with my own children who are here tonight. They weren't with me the last time, if you remember, because they were still in Florida. I tell them, whether you're in school or later when you begin your own career, do whatever you're doing to the best of your ability. Be an example for others to follow. I pray this is the example that I've set and will continue to set for them in this new role. It

051would also be unwise of me to think I could do this on my own, and not take the time to recognize and give credit to the dedicated team that stands with me to accomplish this work. I want to thank Willie Wilkins, Elizabeth Baker, and Savannah Zachariah for what they do every day. Each one of you is a valuable member of this department, and each of them bring a unique perspective, experience, and background to our team. Willie and Elizabeth understand the challenges we face and are prepared for the work ahead of us. For Savannah, this was all new to her a year ago when she started, but she is intelligent, hardworking, and eager to learn. As we near the end of another school year, our team is already planning and preparing for what must be accomplished

052this summer to be ready for the 2526 school year. As we all know, this work never stops, nor does it slow down. May none of us ever forget what the priority is and what's at stake. Our future generations deserve and need a safe and secure learning environment. It would be foolish of me to make any guarantees, but I can assure you all of this. I'm committed to doing my absolute best to accomplish the challenging work that lies ahead. When I was preparing what I would say tonight, and I thought about making this commitment. Philippians 413 came to mind, which says, I can do all things through Christ would strengthen me. This verse provides me with the confidence to continue moving forward and to never give up. That's my commitment to Misd. To close, I'm grateful

053for the confidence that my supervisor, Mr. Morris, has had in me the last two years, and even more thankful to have been recommended for this position by Doctor Rivera. And I am humbled that this appointment has been approved by a school board that, in my opinion, has shown time and time again that they are first and foremost committed to the success and the safety of the students and staff within this school district. I'm excited for what the future holds and pleased to continue serving in Misty in this new role. Thank you Jeff. And the second familiar face is April Sarpy. Will you join me up here? April Sarpy has dedicated 20 years of to public education. In 2009, she came to Mesquite ISD as a seventh and eighth grade ELR teacher at Wilkinson Middle School.

054At Wilkinson, she served as an ELR Department lead instructional coach and testing coordinator. In 2014, she became an AP at McDonald Middle School, and in 2018, she was named the principal at Galloway Elementary School, where she served for five years. For the past two years, April has served as director and interim executive director of admin Services for Mesquite I-s-d. She holds a master's degree in Educational Administration and Policy Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in English from Steven at Austin State University. It's my pleasure to introduce April Sarpy as the Executive Director of Admin Services for you. Good evening. Thank you to the Board of Trustees, to Doctor Rivera, and to the cabinet for your continued support during my years in Mesquite. I-s-d. Every kind word

055and coaching conversation have helped me to get to this level. Also, I would like to thank my family, the Sharpies, and my friends who live close and far, who have cheered for me, prayed with and for me, and have shared in my successes over the years. Your support means so much. Finally, I thank my Administrative Services family for welcoming me into the Department two years ago. To say that I've grown in my transition from a campus leader to a district administrator is an understatement. Taylor Moore's I appreciate you for your coaching, your guidance and your support, especially during the loss of our mom. Also getting to know and love my Val. Valerie. Mia. She's back there has been awesome. I'm so glad that we're taking this journey together. The Administrative and Student Services Division is

056unique in its size and its scope. The number of departments and individuals who are tasked with serving as staff, students, and families in our Mesquite community is immense, and the ways in which that help is given ranges from health, safety and transportation to counseling, education, educating, scuse me, special populations, and ensuring that students have access to the best educational opportunities. Missy has to offer. So I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be able to carry on my leadership journey within this great division. As Executive Director of Administrative Services, I will continue to serve our stakeholders, remembering that as an Misd employee, as a Sarpy, and as a Christian, my ministry is to serve. Thank you again for this opportunity. I do have my family here. We we go everywhere together. Now. So here in the audience

057is my brother Gerald the second, his wife and my sister in love, Jacqueline. My two nieces, Reagan and Kennedy. And then also, there's some special people who are watching via livestream, some people down in, Houston, Texas, and my extended family in East Texas. So love you all. And thank you all very much. All right, Mr. President, I believe, Doctor Matthew Morris is doing the introduction. Am I correct? Hopefully, he knew about this. Good evening. I have the honor of introducing you to the new, special education director. Curricular bangs. Carissa bangs is a results driven educator with over 20 years of experience in public education, specializing in special education, leadership, compliance, and instructional systems. She currently serves as the Instructional Support and Compliance Region Manager for Dallas ISD, where she leads a team supporting more than

05850 campuses in the areas of art facilitation, teacher development, compliance, staffing, and progress monitoring. She has been instrumental in developing capacity building tools, tiered leadership programs, and collaborative systems that strengthen special education practices district wide. Carissa holds a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University and a master's degree in Educational Administration, along with multiple certifications including Principal and Special education. She is known for her collaborative leadership style, data informed decision making, and unwavering belief in the potential of every child. She is deeply committed to building systems that drive student growth, support families, and equip educators for excellence. All right. Congratulations. All right. Good evening, President Seward, superintendent doctor Rivera and members of the board. Thank you for the opportunity to serve as director of special education for Mesquite ISD. I'd also like to thank Mr.

059Morris, Doctor Morris in the interview panel for the opportunity to share for me to share my vision during the selection process. I'm truly honored and excited to work alongside the dedicated members of the Special Education Department. This role means a great deal to me and my family. And here with me tonight are my husband, my mom, and my niece. Would you mind standing? It's like being Army Hearns and Gracie, please. I'm especially grateful for their, support and always encouraging me to walk boldly. And my purpose. I look forward to working with the incredible teams across the district to ensure every student, family, and staff member receive the support they need to excel. It is an honor to be a part of this important work. I thank God and I thank all of you for welcoming

060me. All right. Board members think Mr. Prado has the next introduction to introduce the new director of payroll use. Voted for as well. President Seward, board of trustees. Doctor Rivera. I am, certainly pleased to introduce today Christy Clay. Let me see. Christy. So, Christy brings over 15 years of leadership experience in payroll and school business operations, have been serving key roles across K-12, public education and higher education institutions. Most recently, she served as manager of payroll at Texas Christian University. Prior to her time at TCU, miss Clay was the director of payroll. Arlington ISD and held previous leadership positions in payroll and benefits a Little Elm ISD, Duncanville ISD, and Red Oak ISD. She holds a certified teacher, a Texas School business official official designation through tassel, and serves as a tassel mentor, instructor, and

061former vice chair of the Payroll Research Committee. I'd like to welcome Christy Clay. Congratulations. Good evening, President Seward, doctor Rivera, and members of the board. I'm honored and excited to join Mesquite ISD as the new Director of Payroll. With over 26 years in the payroll field and 15 of those in public education. I understand the critical role payroll plays in supporting and our educators and staff and sharing their pain accurately and on time so they can focus on what matters most serving our students. I'm looking forward to building strong relationships across departments, improving processes for greater efficiency and accuracy and insurance, and ensuring compliance with ever evolving regulations. My goal is to lead a department that is not only reliable and responsible, responsive, but also innovative in how we serve our employees. Unfortunately, my family

062was not able to be here tonight, but I appreciate their support. I would like to thank you all for the opportunity to be a part of Mesquite ISD. I'm really excited to get started. Board members, Deputy superintendent, doctor, Dean. And we'll be doing the introductions for the three new principals that you just voted tonight. Good evening, President Seward, doctor Rivera and board of trustees. It is my pleasure to introduce to you Amanda Ducharme, the new principal of Henry Elementary School. Come on. Amanda Ducharme has extensive leadership experience in public education, currently serving as assistant principal at Doctor Linda Henry Elementary. She brings a strong background in instructional leadership and campus support, with previous experience as a literacy coach and Garland ISD. Throughout her career, Amanda has led impactful professional development initiatives and fostered meaningful community

063partnerships to enhance student achievement and staff collaboration. She holds a bachelor's degree in counseling and a master's degree in educational administration from Texas A&M University at Commerce. Congratulations. Yeah. Thank you. Good evening. President, steward. Board of trustees. Doctor Rivera. I'm incredibly honored to be named the next principal of the Henry Elementary. First, I want to thank the school board, Doctor Rivera and the cabinet for this opportunity and for the trust that you've given me. It means so much. I want to thank Jill Vincent. Thank you for your leadership, mentorship, and the strong foundation that you built. It's been a privilege to work with you and to follow in your footsteps. To my family, they are my cry. They're my anchor and my foundation. The love of patients and belief that they have given me are

064the reasons that I'm able to give my whole heart to this work. To the Henry Staff. Sorry that this is home. I've had the privilege of serving alongside you. And I know firsthand the talent, heart, and resilience that live within our campus. It's truly an honor to continue this journey with you now as your principal. To the students of Henry. You are the reason that we do what we do. I promise to be a principal who listens, supports, and pushes you to do your best. To our parents and our community. Thank you for your partnership. I believe that when schools and families work together, amazing things happen. My vision as principal is simple to foster a culture of high expectations and high support for students and staff alike. Where a school where relationships come first.

065Excellence is the standard in every learner, whether child or adult, feels inspired to grow. Together, we will continue to make Henry a place of pride, progress, and purpose. I am humbled. I am ready. I'm so excited for all that's ahead. I want to take just a minute to introduce my family, my shock is to say that maybe my awesome husband, John Ducharme. My parents, Cliff and Linda Edwards, have been married 56 years. My son Chandler, who will be a freshman at OSU next year. Kason. Duran. Kason. He's our awesome fifth grader. Be a fifth grader next year. Cole, Dagan and Hannah, his girlfriend. And then what's missing is Mike first Connor Dagan, Aaron Dagan and baby boy Brooks. My seventh month year old. My seven month old grandson. He got tired. He had to go

066home. And then my brother and sister in law, Joey and Kelly Edwards. Thank you again. I'm honored. Thank you so much. For. All right. Back again. The next introduction we have Mister Devin Bright, the new principal at Parang Elementary School. Devin Bright has served Mesquite ISD for over 14 years, currently as assistant principal at BJ Smith Elementary. His administrative leadership has notably improved campus culture, reduced student behavior referrals, and fostered a high performing collaborative teacher teams. He earned a Bachelor of Science and Kinesiology from the University of North Texas, and a master's in Educational Leadership from the University of Texas at Arlington. Congratulations, Devin. Yes. All right, all right. First and foremost, the Lord is amazing. I want to definitely give, just my glory to God. Who is the Jesus Christ, who is the head

067of my life. Doctor Rivera, thank you for being real honest and transparent and every conversation we have ever had. You lead with purpose and take accountability and ownership for every decision that you make. And I admire that in a leader to the board members. Thank you for always supporting our campuses and providing us with resources needed to succeed daily. Thank you for entrusting me with this position. To the cabinet members. Doctor fields. Doctor Hensley. Doctor fine glass. Governor Tyler Morris, Doctor Morris, and Mister Prada. I thank you for being supportive of me and making so many difficult decisions to grow. Our students, teachers, and staff to our district leaders who have poured into me, all of the Edwards who are responsible for my growth and development. Thank you. Special shout out to a few individuals,

068in particular the Sarpy family. Thank you so much. What, is understood is not need to be explained. I truly appreciate you guys from the bottom of my heart. Wendy Hadley and my family. There was a guy who once said that I couldn't make a difference. From my position, and, I think the Lord worked everything out for me. All right. Also, to my aspiring principal academy family. I truly love you guys. We came in as competitors, and we left out as comrades and family. I truly believe that iron sharpens iron. And we pushed each other to be great. And that will continue. Doctor Rivera, I'm telling you, with the individuals that we have in the leadership pipeline, I promise you that Mesquite i-s-d is in good hands to mentor principals of the Aspiring Principals Academy. Thank

069you for your guidance and detailing your experiences with us. You truly helped me in my shift from thinking as an AP to a principal. And please don't think your, mentorship of me stops now. My phone number is (214) 537-4829. Do not block me. Answer the phone when I call, please. All right. Now to the campuses who foster my leadership and development to Price Elementary. My title at the time was a PE teacher, but my role was so much more than that. A huge shout out to Larry Sanford and Bridget Mitchell. Thank you for hiring a 22 year old chubby kid to teach kids how to lead a healthy life. Special shout out also to all the administrators. I had a price, Mr. Leno, Mr. Mika Johnson, Sherry Gara, Ashley Goodwin who really pushed me to become

070an administrator and gave me tasks to grow. Also to my comrades of Price Elementary, Miss Carla Hernandez, Trayvon Goldman, Jenna Hanley. There's just too many names to remember. Price. Just know you will always be in my heart to BJ Smith Elementary. Thank you for allowing me to be me. I have built so many relationships on our campus. And the hardest thing for me to do was to not have most of you here with us tonight. I truly am going to miss every one of you, and I will get in specifics when I see you. To my IoT team. I love you guys with all of my heart and the blood. Sweat, laughs, and tears that we shared in our PLC room will never be forgotten. Also special, special shout out to Miss Stacy, principal of

071the year Bennett. Give her a hand clap please. Stacy, you are more than a boss. You are my sister. You're a tough coaching and demands to be great was something I needed. And you made sure that I was my best self each day. I can remember sitting in leadership meetings and writing different questions on my pad and acronyms and education. There's a thousand acronyms, y'all. As I'm writing acronyms down for things I don't know, and I'm tapping her on the side and tapping my butt. What's this? What's this mean? What is me? And she's helping me the whole time and coaching me through it. Thank you for taking a chance on me and developing me into the leader I am today. You had so many options, but you chose me. And I'm forever grateful for

072you changing my life. Thank you. Stacy Bennett. To any student that I've ever taught. I love you, and I thank you for allowing me to mentor and guide you to Parang Elementary. I look forward to leading the students, staff, and community to great heights. Miss Browning has already places on the road to success, and I look forward to taking the wheel and continuing on that road to excellence. I truly believe that grit leads to greatness, and I will look for each of us to demonstrate growth, resilience, initiative and teamwork daily. I look forward to meeting each student and member of Peron family. Our Lions will definitely be chasing greatness. Last but not least, to my family. To my UN. Hattie, who's in attendance. Thank you for showing me early what independence and hard work looks

073like. Oh, we got to hold it together, y'all. Hold on. Ma'am. I felt raindrops coming, my eyes all right. To my mother. Thank you for your love and support and letting me know I could. I can achieve all things through Christ who strengthens me. When dad died, you kept me focused with your strength and comfort and continuous affirmations that made me who I am today. As one of our favorite song lyrics says, there's no way I can pay you back. But the plan is to show you that I understand you are appreciated to my kids. I have an eternal battle every day of chasing greatness in my goals, but also ensuring that I have time for my own kids. This is something that I'm sure every educator struggles with. Thank you to my sons for

074sharing your dad with thousands of students. I talk to you about chasing greatness and working to be excellent every day. I have my son Devin in my hands when I was late doing work, and he's fallen asleep on my shoulder. When I'm working on different things for my campus. He's right there with me every day, and I feel like sometimes I'm cheating him out of his childhood. But he's right there laughing and grinning with me and telling me, dad, it's all right. So then I want you to know, I don't do this for me. I do this for us. I do this to show you what hard work looks like. There's greatness and there's mediocrity. And I want you to always choose greatness. Last but not least, I'm wrapping up, y'all. I know I've been

075up here a minute. I'm wrapping up to my wife. Thank you for being my number one fan and supporter. There is no one. I would rather run this marathon with called life than you that are aware. We once had a conversation and you talked about how you had to have a conversation with your family before you became superintendent, and you had to prepare them for the things that you were going to have to do. I took the same approach, and before I could say anything, my wife was already asking me, so when are you going to apply for principal? Me and my wife never have to ask permission to chase our goals, because we've discussed them since high school. My wife and I have a saying that goes eat with who you starved with, and

076most people don't understand it. So let me break it down a little bit. Me and my wife were so broke as kids. We would share a McDonald's chicken sandwich and a Gatorade and my 1999 Honda Accord, and we would discuss our hopes, our goals and dreams, and to see us achieving them is truly a blessing from God. Babe, I want you to know I love you. And guess what? With this new position, I don't think we got to eat my chickens. No matter how. Thank you guys for your time, I appreciate you. Let's chase greatness lines. All right. We have one more. One more principal to introduce. We have Angie Campanella, the new principal of Thai singer Elementary School. Angie Campanella brings 22 years of experience in public education with 19 years in Mesquite ISD.

077She currently serves as assistant principal at Thai Singer Elementary, where she has significantly improved campus discipline, streamline operational procedures to enhance student safety, and staff efficiency. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the University of North Texas, and a master's degree in Education Administration from Lamar University. Welcome to the new principal of Thai Singer Elementary School. Okay, first off, this is super cool. This. This is really cool. Thank you, Doctor Rivera and the board and the cabinet for this opportunity. And I have my family here. I don't think they want to stand up, but they take up that whole row right there. One of the great things that I appreciate, appreciate about this district is the strong culture that we've built of leadership that pours into others. And I've had a lot

078of great people in my life that have poured into me. So I just want to share a little bit, a little bit about them. Thank you to Donna Gallegos, who hired me into the Mesquite family. Thank you to Jenny Brink, who taught me how to reach gifted learners. Thank you to Doctor Jonathan Royle, who leads by example on how to love your people. Thank you to Doctor Amanda Relph, who proves every day kindness wins. As principal of Thai Singer Elementary. My goal is to enhance student achievement while strengthening positive relationships with our families and the broader community. To my Thai singer family, we are going to do great things, be momentous and excellence always. Thank you. All right. We just have a few more introductions. If you will stand when I call your name so

079we can introduce you. We have, Doctor Paige White, our new bilingual instructional coordinator. Doctor white joins Mesquite I-s-d with over 24 years of experience in public education, most recently serving as principal at Amanda Rochelle Elementary School and required. Paige is also contributed as a district leader, mentor and presenter, earning multiple recognitions for her impact impactful educational initiatives. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside, a master's in Elementary Education from Texas A&M University of Commerce, and a newly minted doctorate in educational administration from East Texas A&M University. Congratulations on that. And welcome to Doctor White. Next up, Katherine McMahon. Now let's welcome our new assistant principal at Black Elementary. Katherine McMahon has been an education for over 23 years. All right. Here in Mesquite ISD. Currently, she

080serves as the campus intervention specialist at Florence Black Elementary. Katherine has successfully managed campus wide intervention and positive behavior programs, mentor new teachers, and significantly contributed to enhance student performance through data driven instructional strategies. Katherine holds a bachelor's degree from the University of North Texas and a master's in education from Texas A&M University Commerce. Congratulations, miss McMurray. And next up, we have someone who, will probably win for for this relocation. Elise Horvath is going to be the new assistant principal at Kimbrell Middle School. She's not here today because she's in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she currently works. But she's going to come to Mesquite. I see, with over 15 years of experience in education, most recently as assistant principal at Tanana middle School in Fairbanks. Elise is recognized for her strong leadership in student discipline management,

081parent engagement, and implementation of comprehensive safety and instructional improvement initiatives. She holds a bachelor's and master's degree in music education from Texas Christian University, and a master's in education administration from Concordia University. So we'll be excited to welcome Elise Horvath to Kimbro Middle School. And lastly, this evening we have Diamond Gres. This is going to be our new assistant principal at Tosh Elementary School. Miss Grace has dedicated eight years of her professional career right here in Mesquite ISD, currently serving as instructional specialist at Berry Middle School. In this role, she focuses on teacher support, effective use of data, and professional development tailored to improve student outcomes. She holds a Bachelor's of Education and a master's of Educational Leadership from Stephen F Austin State University. Congratulations, miss Grace. Just kidding. If you all knew how prepared

082I was this morning, we have two more assistant principals. Gabrielle. Cabaret. Cabaret. Cabaret. Cabaret. Cabaret. Okay, this is going to be our new assistant principal at Mesquite High School. He has served in education for over 16 years, currently as an assistant principal at Vance and Middle School. His leadership has led to notable improvements in student attendance and reduction in tardiness, and stronger partnerships between families and the school community. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. Also holds a Texas principal certification from Lamar University. Welcome to the Mesquite High School. And now I think we have one more. Sorry for freaking you guys out. Yvette Lozano Corrales. All right. This is our new assistant principal at Florence Elementary. She has 15 years

083of experience in public education and served Mesquite ISD as a bilingual educator at Bonnie Gentry Elementary since 2021. Prior to joining Mosquita, prior to joining Mosquito City, she taught in both Rockwall ISD and downsized, where she supported emergent bilingual students through dual language instruction that earned her Bachelor's of Arts in English and a master's degree in curriculum instruction from Texas A&M University Commerce. Welcome to Florence Elementary. And this, I believe, concludes our new administrative introductions. Thank you. Congratulations to all of you. Welcome. Next item. Board members on the agenda. We have two action items we can combine if you wish. Action. To approve employment contracts and action to consider. Motion to propose. Non-renewal of the term contract of Anthony Wells. I'll move. So. I have a motion by Mr. Campbell and a second by Miss

084Collier. Any further discussion on those to move items? There being none. All those in favor, please indicate by saying I those opposed. Nay. Motion passes seven zero. Next on the item, under the agenda is report, which you get before you on resignations and replacements. We will now move on to, administration. A report by the superintendent on the superintendent's advisory council. Doctor Rivera. Yeah. Thank you, mister President. And, you know, to the students, superintendent advisory council. Last time we met, we didn't know we were going to name so many people. So my apologies for it. I'm glad you're here. So, trustees and and guests in the room. The superintendent advisory council meets with the superintendent throughout the year. And we look at a variety of things throughout the district, but we look at it from the

085students perspective. And what you're going to hear today is the student's perspective on what they decided was the issue they wanted to talk about, but also provide some solutions. So if they can pull their presentation and I believe we start with, of course, the Mesquite High School. Good evening everyone. My name is Samantha Wade and I'm here with Noah, Clifford, Elijah, George and Neubauer Sanders. In the state of Texas, 20% of students have reported using illicit or injection drugs. While this vary by region, 15% of students in Dallas County have reported using alcohol as early as the age of ten and illicit drugs at the age of 11. The most commonly used drugs among teens are alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco. And though these drugs may seem relatively harmless compared to other drugs on the street,

086the substances make up three out of four gateway drugs and are responsible for multiple health complications. I'll talk about a few of the strengths we already have in place. So, what the quick. I guess, is that, as a district, we already have pretty decent policies in place to prevent drug use among students, such as the vape detectors as seen in Mesquite High School. And staff are more attentive, as well as administrators walking around the building and administering proper punishment to students caught with drugs. As for some key concerns that we have, with the things set in place, we have the issue that vape detectors are not in every single building on campuses. While vape detectors are an effective tool in curbing vaping, they are currently limited to a few key areas, often restrooms in central

087locations. And to maximize their effectiveness, detectors need to become more widespread across the entire campus. Secondly, we have constant hall monitoring being a, hard task to complete due to the size and layout of most schools. Maintaining constant supervision in hallways and common areas is impractical even with staff presence during passing periods. The sheer number of students makes it easy for some to slip unnoticed. Hall monitoring is especially challenging in areas that are naturally less visible, like stairwells, alcoves, and isolated hallways. Third, we have drugs that can be easily hidden. Students often find creative ways to conceal drugs using everyday items like water bottles, makeup containers, or personal accessories. Backpacks are common hiding spots and even quick pat downs or visual inspections may miss concealed substances, since these items blend in with normal school supplies. Identifying

088drug paraphernalia can be especially challenging. Finally, we have limitations on resource usage. While there are many effective strategies and tools available for drug prevention, schools face challenges in implementing them consistently. Balancing preventive efforts with other educational priorities means that some initiatives may not be fully integrated or maintained over time. Additionally, ensuring that staff and students are consistently engaged with preventive measures can be difficult, especially when other school issues demand attention. So we came up with a list of solutions. Solution number one is obviously going to have some costs involved. Installing all the weed detectors in all the buildings around the campus, especially in the restrooms. Even though we do have them, I'm not too sure exactly how they work, but I still find myself walking into the restroom and it smells like weed. I don't

089know exactly how they work, but you know, obviously we can do something about that. Solution number two is all about prevention and education. We have a lot of certified professionals within the district, and we have a lot of resources that we can use. And one of the biggest ideas that we have was to be an assembly at the beginning of the year. We have one inch each of the six high schools and the feeder patterns, because also ten assembly. We have lots of students and parents, and it could really be about educating students and parents about drug usage so we can have our intervention counselors go there, talk about some of the psychological effects, as well as what drives our students to use drugs. And students can actually reflect and be, why am I using

090drugs? So we can prevent that from the start. We can have the SROs out there to talk about legal concerns, anything that might happen, you know, during, punishment that they may get, as well as the school nurses to talk about any of the symptoms, side effects. A lot of parents don't know what drug usage looks like. They just think, my child comes home from school, locks himself in the room, doesn't want to talk to me, comes with their eyes red, always tired. And this lack of knowledge does not only allow students to do drugs, but it prevents us from helping students who are struggling and don't say anything about it. Our third solution was weekly support meetings. We did talk to Mr. Johnson. He did inform us that DAP students do get support from intervention

091counselors, but an idea that we had was to follow some sort of curriculum as like the Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous. It is does have some spiritual aspects that can be not to, you know, comply with concerns. This is allowed under the Texas Education Code 38.351. And to have more of a structured program for not only people who are DAP or any student in the district, right, because not all the students are DAP or Aeneas, and not all the students have been punished for using drugs. And some students, you might think they don't even use drugs. So this can be really even outlive for that peer to peer connection, to see other people who are also struggling and receive not therapy for to say, but some sort of support. Right. And you can say, oh,

092there's a lot of Alcoholics Anonymous groups or Narcotics Anonymous groups in the city, which is true, but they're not really catered to young students. They're more catered to adults. So we're trying to make sure that all these students have some outlet. And we could use, like I said, the resources here in the district, we have lots of intervention counselors who are qualified professionals who can lead the group, and that is one of the solutions. And then lastly, we had a testimonial for from a recovering addict. Like I said, there's a lots of Narcotics Anonymous groups, Alcoholics Anonymous groups. There's like one ten minutes away from here. We can have one of the chairpersons either record a video or have some sort of speech like they were going to do at the Memorial Stadium that got

093canceled, and then have a testimony for all the students. That way, the students can hear firsthand what it is to be an addict and then how it affects people in the future, because at the end of the day, what we're trying to do with these solutions is use our key resources that we already have instead of spending more money and then educating on prevention, because it's not going to be possible to stop every single student from doing drugs. It's just not something that we can do. But as long as we can do what we can to prevent it, that will already stop the problem at the start. Thank you. Yeah, that's what first. Doing okay? Good evening. We are from North Mesquite High School. I am Jordan Hernandez, and I'm here with Madison Simpson, Nicholas

094Ray Goza and Martin Solorzano. Our question is, what support is given to students whose first language is Spanish? During our conversation with McDonald Middle School, it was brought to our attention that some teachers, when faced with a student struggling to understand an assignment, ask another Spanish speaking student to assist by explaining them. The material. While peer support can be beneficial, is important to note that the responsibility of instruction should not fall on another student. This concern was raised by both a student and a parent, highlighting the need to revisit how support is provided in these situations. Our main concerns include teachers relying on students for instructions. Some teachers ask Spanish speaking students to guide other students along when giving instruction, but that isn't really where we want to provide our students with. It shifts the

095responsibility of instruction from the teacher to another student. Our second concern is misuse of peer support. While peer support is helpful, it is being used as a substitute for proper instructional support from the teacher. We pay our teachers to instruct our students. They shouldn't have to, dive that off onto a different students. And our third concern is, equity of instructional responsibility, relying on students to support others academically may create unfair burdens and does not ensure constant equity for accurate instruction. Some students often relay false instructions. I've seen it happen with my own eyes, and it's not the best for the teachers. Okay, this is, some of our strengths, and this is the secondary is. So program provides extra support to help English learners understand grade level material and high school English in reading, classes are

096taught by ESL certified teachers, while other subjects use strategies that make lessons easier to follow for non-native speakers. This approach helps students improve their learning English, stay on track in other classes, and build confidence in school. And now to close for wherever possible. Solutions. Point number one is teachers should get more training on how the ESL program works and why it's important. Number two is learning about the program's purpose, structure, and best practices can help support English learners better. When teacher understands the goals of ESL, it leads to more fair, inclusive and effective instruction for everyone. And our last point is this training can be offered through short professional development sessions, workshops, or even department meetings. Thank you. Really? Question is an opportunity. I'm listening. Confident in our. Hello, I'm Leah, this is Rama, Leo

097and Alex with us. And we are from Petite. We surveyed the Beasley Elementary students, and we discovered that one of their main issues in the school is the climate and atmosphere that they have. For a lot of the classes, they said that there is both issues in the class and comparing to other students or other grades, that they have a lot of problems and concerns over trying to bond with each other. Certain classes are mean to each other and exclude each other, and this is hurting overall, the school and the environment and making students feel left out, disrespected and unsafe. So these are a few of the strengths that we identified after, speaking with our feeder elementary schools. One of the strengths is that students look forward to various school events and activities. Of course,

098these are limited, because we don't have well, we didn't really identify that they had a lot of school activities outside of school hours. Another strength is they are strong with pride in school spirit. And another one is many students feel supported by their teachers. We did see we also communicated with Kimbrell Middle School and we did see that our their principal, they really do like their new principal. And they feel like they have a deeper connection with their principal because they try the the new principal tries to, really connect to the students, if that makes sense. Okay. And then as for the concerns, while there were many strengths, students were also open about the challenges that they face. First, there are safety concerns. Several students shared that they feel unsafe in places like the restrooms,

099playgrounds, and hallways, particularly when there are no adults around. Secondly, we saw social concerns. Many students spoke about feeling left out or bullied. One student wrote that when I asked to play, they say no and walk away. Another added that people or some students from other classes may call them names. They mentioned that the students in their specific class, it was a pretty tight knit community, but the other two classes were very they just left them out and excluded them, and it felt like an unwelcoming environment for most. There were also academic concerns. Some students shared that they don't feel confident in class, especially when they don't understand something. One student said, I don't want to ask for help because I feel like all made fun of because I'll be made fun of because of

100past experiences, which shows a need for stronger emotional safety and support and the learning process. Finally. So finally, students expressed a desire for more more voice and involvement. They want to be part of decision and improvement. One said that people don't usually ask us what they think, and I want to help make school better, which is powerful and telling. So for some possible solutions, based on the concerns students shared in our survey, we came up with several possible solutions aimed at improving the school climate and strengthening relationships across the campus. First, we suggest fostering teamwork and positive peer relationships. This could be done through classroom activities that require collaboration and group problem solving, helping students learn how to work with others respectfully and effectively. Second, we recommend implementing more extracurricular clubs such as football, soccer,

101art, music, or any other ones. These clubs provide opportunities for students to connect over shared interests and build friendships outside the classroom environment. Lastly, we we propose creating mixed class activities where students from different classrooms or even different grade levels can interact. This can help break down social barriers and promote a sense of unity throughout the school. By applying these solutions, we believe Beasley Beasley Elementary can become an even more inclusive, respectful and engaging place for all students, and this can apply to every other elementary school. So I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I am so sorry. Hi. Good evening. I'm Chloe, and this is Peyton next to me, and we're from Horn High School, so our art. Excuse me? Our one was over the safety and our schools. The lack of safety in the

102school is a pressing concern that affects students, parents, and educators. As educators alike, the issue encompasses various aspects, including physical safety, mental health, and the overall environment in which learning occurs, and scenes of violence, bullying, and the presence of weapons in schools have raised alarm bells, promoting discussions about how to create a safer educational atmosphere. The strings the schools have implemented wearing IDs that every student has to be wearing in order to enter the school. While this does help, they take them off as soon as they're inside the school and is not checked again to the lead basically. And they also have paper IDs. Those get torn in like a matter of five seconds with those kids at our school, so it doesn't exactly help with the whole identification process and who's entering the school.

103And then next, they've been putting alarms on every door. That accessibility, they're silent alarms that notify surrounding teachers. While it does help if you're just leaving the door, that also notifies the teachers so you get stopped. While that's not a bad thing because you should know who's leaving and entering the school, the ones that don't have alarm bells are being watched by security guards, and they're patrolling the hallways and parking lots. People still get at our school. We've had multiple incident. It's instances of people who have entered our school and made threats or brought in weapons or alarms and anything. So while they do help, there is still cons to all of them. Some of the concerns are weapons. While no schools want to have metal doors, the presence of weapons have gone up and

104it needs to be talked about. The number of kids have increased dramatically. It's not just safety that's worrying, but also the student to teacher ratio. And drugs are a pressing matter. At horn, the usage of drugs are higher than their. The possible solutions are the use of metal detectors would help catch not only drugs, but also knives and possible drugs. The handheld ones are around $50, but we could budget and fundraise for the walk through ones. And a drug dog would help keep drugs out of schools and prevent the selling and usage of drugs at school. The training of a drug dog can be raised by a fundraiser or public help. Another thing added the I talked to a lot of the SROs at our school, and I also talked to that principal at our

105school. While the walk through ones are severely out of budget, we talked about a fundraiser that could happen. Whether it's a food like we have people come up and help the school, we have a car wash. We have honestly anything that can join these together. The $50 ones are the ones that you can do as you're walking through the school. While it may be minor, it is still a step to catching things that are coming into our school that could be potentially harmful. Like I myself have seen things and if you see something, you're supposed to say something. It's not always the case. And and since this happened when someone gets hurt, and then the drug dog itself, raising money with the fundraiser would be through the schools and they would be helping our school,

106but it would also help the surrounding schools if we decide to use one. Just like, the dog we have now, which is for the weapons or like gunpowder and guns, that one goes to all the schools. It helps all of them. So if we have one that helps train under drugs or narcotics, illicit substances, stuff like that, it could be used for all school, not just one. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Alexis Enriquez and I am joined by Andrew Birdie and Karen Commander. And, we had a bit of a different assignment in comparison to all the other schools. And a question that we kept kind of asking ourselves is, what do our students want to see more of? So once again, as we are from Vanguard, we've decided to address a slightly different

107issue. We've surveyed students from Vanguard and have seen that some have had expectations of a more in-depth program in not only Vanguard, but across the district. Our current CTE pathways that Vanguard have provided students with opportunities to compete in booster skills through clubs and organizations, as TSA, VPA, skills USA in Hosa. So our main concern was that students weren't having their full interest met due to the sort of broad nature of the CTE programs at Vanguard. So, for example, some construction students were expecting to specialize in fields such as electricity, plumbing or Hvac, and some come from computer science students who are seeking a more hands on approach to technology. So after careful consideration, we've narrowed down our prospective CTE programs to three. So we have electronics, which I would have loved to take if

108I was going to Vanguard, you know, as a freshman. So so electronics is seen as an extension to the computer science program. Students will get a more hands on approach this to technology while being able to pursue further education and job prospects. And then a track is a specialized program under the construction category. And this will allow students to get a job right out of high school. And oh yeah, okay. Aviation aviation maintenance is sort of an extension to the automotive programs over at Vanguard. And students may able to, may be able to pursue a job right out of high school or pursue further education at an institution like Universal Technical Institute or a four year degree in something like aerospace engineering. I'd also just like to preface that the the costs on the screen

109are probably on the low end, and they also forego the cost of, commercial construction, as Doctor Rivera told us, was very expensive. So thank you for your time. Yeah. Oh, well, trustees, as you can see, our comprehensive high schools have had a different assignment. But one of the things that we keep talking about, and they, they, they chose and researched their item, a lot of in the previous years, that I've had the pleasure to work in with Superintendents advisory Council. We've taken 1 or 2 projects in the following year and try to address it, and we actually take the student perspective. What Vanguard was a little bit different. We actually took a different approach, as they were saying, we actually we conduct research on careers and tracks and pathways, but we wanted to hear from

110kids and students from what they experience. And the rule in Vanguard High School and try to improve that through their voice. So hopefully those pathways that they looked at, they are a little bit higher the investment than what they put on a screen. Especially some of them with electronics, with startup, but they're not far fetched. And we will be looking further down the road to start adding those programs for our Mesquite I-s-d students, not only at Vanguard, but at our comprehensive high schools as well. Thank you. Great job. Thank. Okay. Board members, the next item is under administration. There's two action items regarding the election. Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Do we need to take both of these separate, or can we consolidate them to, separate? So the first one is, action item to consider and

111approve all matters instant and related to the canvasing of returns and declare the results of the school trustee election held on May 3rd, 2025. As we discussed at the, special meeting at 545, you'll have a motion. To amend the second. Second. We have a motion by Mr. Rosen. Second, by Miss Hornsby, to declare the results of the school trustee election held on May 30th, 2025. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I, those opposed, nay. Motion passes. Next is an action item to consider and approve of a resolution, canvasing the returns and declaring the results of the bond election held on May 30th, 2025 by the Mesquite Independent School District. Do I have a motion? I will second. I have a motion by Mr. Carbo and a second by Mr. Bingham.

112Any further discussion? All those in favor, please indicate by saying I, I those opposed, nay. Motion passes. Next item under administration is a discussion of district wide intruder detection, audit report findings and Mr. Morris, our Governor Morris governor water. Let's there's no story that's not speak that into existence. There we actually finished we have 100% of our schools got their ideas complete today. We had the last couple, there is nothing to report out. It was all great news. And so we have completed ideas for this school year. We will do what we always do. We'll continue to monitor that. Our schools are still checking exterior doors four times a day. It's never perfect, but we do everything that we can to try to prevent anything like that from happening, from anybody gaining access to our

113schools. So the ideas are complete. And I think Jeff talked to you all about last month, that Vvas will start next year, that we got a reprieve from the district vulnerability assessment for this year. And so those will start next year. That's all I got. Thank you. Next item is, under construction. It's an action item to approve construction manager risk method for the North Mesquite High School addition. As the construction method. Mr. pool, let me bring Graham Bowman up here with me to the, the step we're going at tonight. This is literally the first step that we've got. New bond, new project. This is the first step that we go through is determining what method of construction, what we're going to do. And generally it's between CMI, CMR, construction manager at risk, KMA construction manager

114agent or KSP competitive proposal. We smaller projects may be on the cusp, but CMA and CMA are the ones that we use. CMA was was more transparent than CMA. Are. But we've changed. CMA are to the point it's as transparent as CMA, which then makes it the logical for us to recommend all the CMA are at risk. So tonight I will Graham is going to tell you a little bit about the project and we'll go from there. So on previous project, the typical order has been to bring schematic design followed by a assume at risk method. Due to the nature of complexity at North Mesquite High School, and how long will be there, to keep things as calm and as coordinated as we can from this room? Us we're asking for special permission to get

115a CMA. Seem at risk. Construction manager, at risk on board early so we can start talking, sequencing and get very accurate cost estimates. Early and off the bat. I will be back in June to tell you about the schematic design, to be able to present, anything that's, been approved as we work through the floor plans, working with CTE, removing portables from site, everything that we're going to be doing in the existing building, it's going to be pretty extensive, just large format, renovations for Hvac, electrical upgrades, lots of shutdowns, at that campus. So those are the reasons we kind of want to get a CMA risk on board. Fire sprinkler replacement. Fire alarm replacement. So quite a bit of overhaul, to be done there. A lot of exciting work and storm shelter, 32,000ft². We're going to

116be added to that campus, open in 2027. Provide all the. In details next. Next month. Any questions for me? Questions. I've got a general question for just about kind of outside of this, I know there was a lot of districts in the DFW area that had bonds on the ballot, and you guys watch. That was pretty good. How overall, what kind of success did districts have in getting their bonds passed? Just in general, this was a good season for bonds in Texas. I think it was close to 80%, 80%. We were seeing, some people came out in support. There was a lot going on. A lot of overwhelming support that we could. Thank you. So with all that being said, the administration from Construction Services recommends MSD, the recommendation of construction manager at risk as

117the construction method for North Mesquite High School. Do I have a motion? To the second. You do? Yes. Motion by Mr. Rose and second by Miss Collier. Any further discussion? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying I, I those opposed. Nay. Motion passes seven. Oh. Thank you. Thank you. Next on the agenda under business is a report. The auditor roll presentation. Mr. Hawkins. Look, I think. Meeting president, sewer superintendent Rivera, board cabinet. My name is Brian Hokanson. I've been the auditor with the Mesquite School District now for eight years. And once a year, I stand before the board and open session, talk a little bit about, the internal audit role and some of the activity that I take place, in the corporate world, the internal audit is called the third line

118of defense. That would mean the first line being management and governing board, such as yourselves, making sure finances are watch over fixed assets processes, systems are managed well. The second line of defense is called risk management and compliance. Now in the corporate world, these are dedicated groups that come in quality control sample and are responsible for making sure the controls are in place. Then the third line of defense is the audit internal audit such as myself, I am a, employee of the district as opposed to the external audit function and internal audit then comes behind this testing controls sampling, within the school district itself, as is the challenge with many school districts. That middle layer risk risking compliance is often still in that first line of defense. We don't have dedicated compliance folks apart from

119the folks that actually manage the system. So from a management standpoint, that can be a bit of a challenge. So I just wanted to bring that up. Internal audit itself. And my work conducts auditing consulting work with specialized direction from the audit committee. There are three members of the board. I'll show a graphic on that shortly. And I work on a audit plan, as well as requested and ad hoc items that come up either from management campuses or through our fraud hotline. This is the current structure. Our audit committee, consisting of three board members right now, are the folks that I, directly report to. I am independent of the day to day business group and Doctor Rivera. However, the structure seen here on this graphic is what's called our audit committee. From open session. And

120so several times a year I meet with this group, Mr. Prado, Doctor Hensley and Doctor Rivera, in addition to the audit committee to review audit plans, results and talk about general, information that they would like me to work on through the the current year. I am the sole, internal auditor. We do. Last several years. Have had a summer intern that has helped me. And it's a nice, developmental option for me to potentially bring in someone after I head off into the sunset. What guides my work is an audit charter, and, it's essentially a manifesto of things that I manage to. It's very much standard to a lot of, areas that other auditors, both corporate and educational world, manage to. They manage to a code of ethics. Gasb Sasb. Fas rag many of those acronyms that

121are out there, to be I in, managing and do professional care, which means sampling based on skill and areas that I'm, competent in. My wife might have some questions about that. Perform audit functions with independents to the task. I have no actual functions that report to me in the district, so I am at least viewed as independent from that. And our annual review does a major update of review of a Q&A process, which I'll talk about in a little bit. The core charter elements most recently have been split apart from procedures, which were previously in the charter. There was a quality assessment that's required every five years. As per, best practices. We went through that process this year with an independent auditor from the Tyler district. And, many of you who were part of getting

122some survey information, as well as some members of the cabinet, and they provided a list of about 22 different areas for me to improve in our operations, some of which are listed here. Creating an audit committee charter, which gives them a little bit more structure, general board assignments and roles, more transparent on our Mr. website, revisions of the charter itself and placing it in a local policy. Again, these are action items yet to be fulfilled. Create a district wide ethics program. So this is business ethics. And Mister Prado and, Mister Chappelle and I have had some discussions on that earlier this year. We want to do this as well as a conflict of interest, program, being built out a little bit more and expand audit findings, accountability and a follow up process. So as audits

123are completed, they are cast out in a report, but sometimes the parties that are responsible for making these things fulfilled, they would fall by the wayside based on other priorities. So we wanted to build a more robust reporting aspect of them. So how do I determine what needs to be audited here on the left based on materiality of an area, financial impact compliance. If we have rules and laws changing or a new department coming into existence. We'll look at those areas. Risk of, diversion of loss of assets. When we went to Chromebooks, for every student. That created a whole new level of trying to control all that's going on there. So that built into my new audit plans time since last audit. So if it's been a number of years and something changed, we hire

124I'll bring that into a higher priority management personnel. If we have an executive director or assistant superintendent, move out of a position, a new one, come in. We want to review that person and the exit interview and then limitations on internal audit capacity. So, me being a single person, we have a single, level of ours that we can assign to that. So we prioritize that. Most recently last year, you can see some percentages of everything gets broken down. All campuses go through a campus audit, which has become more and more robust over the last several years, takes about half my year to do a third of the campuses and just have now completed as of today. This last round, audit plan, specific items, ad hoc items, trainings, fraud hotline administration, risk management from an operational

125review standpoint. And then working with the audit committee and administrative staff. Most recently, just areas of risk and school operations that I might highlight non teacher staffing. Those are paraprofessionals which I deal most directly with our secretaries, financial management staff, challenges of oversight and program. We do a great job in training our principals to be good teachers, managers, but not great financial managers. And I just have to be honest about that. So we want to work with them to give them additional trainings and oversight. Small oversight staff can create knowledge gaps should a position become open again with limited front office staff. Should someone leave with a specific skill? We're stuck for a while, so we have to do better cross-training and we and provide some, supportive services from business services when when needed. Multiple

126systems and processes to manage similar work. We have no fewer than five systems to do inventory. It's a challenge to get them all to talk to each other and get in a process that we need to to to streamline variability and campus process as of some programs, creates difficulty and consistent oversight. Sometimes we just have a new campus leader come in. They've done certain things at their campus before or District way, and sometimes it ruffle some feathers with the administrative staff. So we have to try to work through some of those things. And then the measurability and effectiveness of controls, engagement of end users may not always be in place. So we're going to be rolling out a new payroll system potentially. And are the end users involved in the testing? How often do we

127bring up their scenarios and their input and cross cross train all the folks that could potentially be impacted? I'll highlight very quickly, we do have a fraud hotline and it was kicked off in late 2019. We've had about 45 different reports over the last five years into that. Most of the recent ones have been around payroll and folks, putting in, changes and requests for changes and hours being assigned, which should not have been. So we built up additional steps in our campus audit to be able to address some of that. Other than that, some of the things are just personnel conflicts. We for those off to the campuses and the leaders to to meet on that, in addition to those plans works, they also do some, some additional trainings creating a new fraud training video

128in collaboration with the Dallas FBI. There's last summer, we do new principal audit reviews. We'll have about eight of those this summer where a new principal coming onto a campus, we give them a couple hours to review their previous audit results. We created an audit tracking database for audit handoff. This is doing more robust work around our, handoffs on our findings and ad hoc reviews to analyze. These are just some one offs, contract payments for rideshare services. We found there were some incorrect billings going on annual payroll validations. When we move with the TSB survey this last year, I'm doing some validations on the roll out of those things look good, things look good. And investigations of money handling and purchasing at several campuses, which unfortunately, impacted a couple of our high schools this year.

129But we were, had a very cooperative team to help do all those investigations. Would there be any questions? Questions? Comment. I'm a member, a new member of the audit committee. Thank you for what you do. I have not been as responsive to you, probably, as I needed to be. I'll say that in this meeting, just because I had an extra slide, I was going to talk about that because this is not something that I can wrap my mind around at all. I'd rather run into a burning building than audit something, and that's just what I do. But that's right. I'm glad that you do it and you do an amazing job. And we thank you for what you do to keep our district safe from that third line of defense and keeping us in the

130right and transparent. I appreciate that. Yeah. I don't recall that I've worked with Brian since you've been here, and he does a great job for us. There's a word that we don't use much in our fine woods around here, but they call us trustees, and that's part of what we're about is to be good stewards of this district. And Brian's a great tool for us to be able to do that. So thank you for that. But I also thank you for it's a big operation. And as much as he works and as good as he is, it works. We found very little to be concerned about. But maybe that's because Brian's doing what he's supposed to be doing too. So it's a good story to tell about, the reports and the audience that we get

131to review. So good work out there and all the departments, but good work for Brian too. So thank you. Awesome. Great job Brian. Thank you very much. Board members, next item on the agenda is, wanted to ask if there's anything further, relative to the item considered during executive session. If not, we'll move forward. Hearing none. We will. We will now move on to any questions and reminders. Before we move to the calendar, I want to thank the, Standard Operating Procedures Committee, chaired by Elaine Hornsby, with Mr.. Kevin carvel and Mr., Everett. Thank you for the hard work you did in putting that together and, addressing some of the things that need to be addressed and updated with that. You also have a calendar in front of you. Just want to remind the board members, requires

132a confirmation Wednesday. The 21st is the Apple Corps gala. Thursday, May the 28th is the emerging leader senior luncheon and graduation on, Monday, June the 2nd is the milestone retirement luncheon. And Monday, this next Monday, May 19th, the student recognition ceremony. We're here in Division room from 6 to 730. And of course, on Saturday, May 31st through Sunday, June 1st, we've got six graduations at the Cultural Center. Hey, and, just FYI, the one on ones will be done in between the graduations at that time instead of trying to do it the next week. With that, are are there any other questions? Nope. Did I leave something off the calendar that's about, there being nothing else than we are, adjourn at 658.