9/16/2025 MISD BOARD MEETING

001Daughter of A. upstairs. The time is now 5:31 September 16th, 2025 and this meeting of the Midland Independent Board of Trustees is duly open for the transaction of business or any matters that may be properly presented. I see is that all students will graduate college military ready. In MIC, we work to accept that mission every day. This evening, I am pleased to introduce two Loneser Trails Elementary students to lead us in our pledges. Rosalie Nikolai, daughter of Amanda and Richard Townson, is in the sixth grade and loves math because it is what she is best at. Her favorite hobby is doing jiu-jitsu. And when Rosalie grows up, she wants to be an owner in her family business and attend college in Tampa, Florida. Issa Smith is in the sixth grade and is the daughter of

002Sarah and Jacob Smith. She loves math because it is easier for her to understand. Her favorite hobby is basketball and when she graduates from high school, she wants to attend UTBB to become an engineer. Together, we are educating the future with excellence. At this time, our students will lead us in our pledges. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag. I aliance to thee Texas. One state under God, one indivisible. moving on. Thank you'all very much. Uh moving on to public forum. The secretary will call the public forum speakers, please. I would believe there's a total of 10. >> I'm going to call the first three. The

003first one will be Crystal Nast. Second one will be Reagan Enoos. And the third one is Chelsea Davis. Crystal, if you'll come up first, please Good evening members of the board and Dr. Howard. My name is Crystal Nasi. I teach seventh grade Texas history at Alamo Junior High. I'm here today to share a real concern that's directly impacting both my teaching effectiveness and my students learning environments. This year, I have 188 students across seven class periods. We only have two full-time social studies teachers, myself and my colleague who is a first year teacher. Because of the overflow of students, our health teacher was assigned four sections of social studies on top of her regular health classes. Together, we are carrying an overwhelm overwhelming student load. Adding to this challenge is the loss of our professional

004learning community, PLC time. Because seventh grade social studies is not a start tested subject, our PLC was eliminated this year. PLC's aren't just about lesson planning. They are where teachers share strategies, collaborate, and support one another. That time is especially important now with two firstear social studies teachers on our campus who would benefit greatly from the guidance, ideas, and shared resources that come from collaboration. Without that structure, the work lo the workload is heavier, less efficient, and ultimately impacts the quality of instruction our students receive. The impact of these challenges is significant. With nearly 200 students and no PLC time, it is nearly impossible to provide meaningful feedback and differentiate instruction for every child. Overcrowded classrooms make it harder to engage students, build relationships, and maintain strong classroom management. And with one only one veteran

005teacher and two firstear teachers carrying such heavy loads without PSC support, the risk of burnout and turnover is high, which ultimately affects not only teachers but also students and families we serve. Because of this, I respectfully ask the board to consider re-evaluating staffing allocations so class sizes can return to manageable level. I also urge you to u just to restore PLC opportunities for non-star subjects because students in every content area deserve teachers who have time to collaborate and plan effectively. Finally, I ask you to explore long-term solutions to ensure student enrollment members align appropriately with staffing rather than forcing class rooms beyond their capacity. I love teaching and I love my students. I'm committed to our student success and believe that these adjustments will help me and our team serve them even better. I welcome

006any questions or ideas on how we can move forward. >> Thank you. Before you leave, I do have a qu and board. We can ask clarifying questions, but you can't get off topic on it. And so I just have a clarifying question for you. Uh if you would. When did the PLC's did y'all have any PLC's at all this year? Were they canceled at the end of last year during the summer and y'all came in and y'all didn't have any PLC's? >> So, I've been teaching for three years. First two years we had PLC time and this year at the beginning of the year they told us that's going to be replaced with the class. No PLC. Um I believe only star subjects. They're the only ones that get PLC time. And how many kids

007or students do you currently have in your class? >> I have 188 altogether. My largest class is 35. >> Okay. Thank you very much. And I just want to say thank you for being a teacher in MIT. And more importantly, thank you for coming and speaking to the board and telling us directly if we don't know about it, we can't go to Dr. Howard, then Dr. or Howard might know about it. I cannot tell you how appreciative I am of you coming. No telephone game, no nothing. Board, here's the challenges. Help me. Thank you very very much. >> Thank you so much. >> Thanks. >> Reagan no. Good evening members of the board, Dr. Howard. Uh, I want to speak tonight directly about leadership in this district, specifically Hajes, Freeze, Gwyn, and Hernandez, because what

008happens here determines whether teachers stay or leave, whether students thrive and struggle, and whether this community can trust its leadership. Right now, teacher retention and recruitment are in decline. The numbers don't lie. resignations and retirements are higher than the last calendar year, reversing the steady improvement over the past two years. That's not coincidence. Instead of careful adjustments, this leadership swing an acts regardless of consequences. Their cuts strip campuses, students, and families of support. Staff are stretched thin. Morale is low. Teachers are saying too many jobs, too few hands. An atmosphere that feels punitive and accusatory. Our students pay the price when teachers walk away. They also push new standards as if standards alone fix academics. But education experts are clear. Higher levels of student achievement will not result from mandated standards or high stakes testing.

009Teachers who know how to balance content and process are the real game changers. The truth is playing in our schools and standards without support are empty. Teachers are the difference makers. When leadership undermines them, it undermines student success. But we've also seen teachers perceive as what real leadership looks like with the three Bs. Mr. Booker, Mrs. Berles, Mr. Bishop. At Comication, the difference was obvious. When the three Bs were introduced, the applause was loud and genuine. For others, it was mute and awkward. That reaction wasn't staged. reflected who shows up for teachers and who doesn't. The 3Bs visited campuses. They talked with teachers and administrators. They show up at events not because it's convenient, but because it matters. That engagement builds trust. This morale reminds staff that they're valued. Because teachers see that these board

010members understand the impact of their decisions. That's why teachers themselves are drawn a clear line between the two factions on this board. One makes them feel supported, heard, and valued. The other makes them feel expendable, ignored, and undermined. That difference is real and explains why morale is rising or sinking depending on who is leading. We can't afford more reckless cuts, conflicts of interest. What we need is leadership rooted in service, accountability, respect. This board followed the advice of our superintendent and just listened. We could not only retain our teachers, but we could restore pride in MISD. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your feelings. Next, >> Chelsea Davis. Good evening. I want to thank you for allowing me to speak today. I come before you as a concerned staff member and mother who is facing

011a serious issue that affects not only my well-being but ultimately the quality of education our students receive. First, I want to address the ongoing problem of incorrect hourly pay. I'm one of the many who have experienced discrepancies in their paycheck causing financial stress and mistrust. When compensation doesn't match what was agreed upon, it sends a message that our time and efforts are undervalued. Despite repeated attempts to seek clarity and resolution, responses from human resources as well as Superintendent Dr. Howard have been slow, inconsistent, and often dismissive. The lack of transparency and unprofessional responses only add to frustration. They leave us feeling unheard and unsupported. This undermines our morale and confidence in the system. Additionally, there's a widespread concern about the incorrect classification of positions. responsibilities are being added to existing roles without any corresponding increase

012in compensation or recognition. This practice devalues the hard work and dedication of employees and sets a dangerous precedent for fairness and equity in workplace. Furthermore, I must highlight the dissolution of teacher positions. This has led to class sizes ballooning. This possesses a significant challenge to effective teaching and learning. Larger classes strain teachers ability to provide individualized attention and maintain control. This directly impacts students outcomes. Moreover, a troubling issue persists in our schools regarding behavior management rather than adequately addressing serious incidents such as teachers resorting to yelling or inappropriate language toward students or instances of physical assault. The focus appears to be misplaced on enforcing students dress code and restricting visitors during lunch periods. While these matters are not insignificant, they should never precedent over creating a safe, respectful learning environment. Ensuring that all students are

013free from intimidation or disrespect by both staff and their peers must remain top priority. We owe it to our students and staff to prioritize what truly impacts learning and well-being. Properly addressing pay equity, ensuring clear and respectful communication, and managing behavior with fairness and professionalism should be our focus. I urge the board to take action on these concerns. fair pay, responsive HR support, accurate job classifications, and a safe, respectful school climate. I don't think these are optional. They should be essential. >> Thank you very much. I just have a couple clarifying questions for you real quick. So, on the compensation, how so what how much are you owed as far as like a nominal amount? >> Okay. You have a pen with you? >> Will you give her a pen? >> I I don't I

014would like to hear some >> Hold on. Hold. Let me finish. So, would you write my Do you have a piece of paper? It's 43230 6650 is my cell phone number. My name's Brandon Hodes. Call me or shoot me a text message. If I don't respond, I will. I promise you, you're a priority. So, I want to get to this and again, thank you for coming forth and letting the board know that we have these issues. If we don't know, we can't talk to Dr. Howard and help you on this. So, thank you very much on that. My other question I had for you is on the ballooning class sizes. Do you have specific campuses that you're concerned with? >> Children. Hi. My children and I currently are at Great House Elementary. Um, two teachers

015positions have been dissolved. It hasn't gone publicly yet, but I know because I'm there and it affects my children and now their class sizes will be 30 and 28. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Please reach out to me and thank you again for coming and letting the board know about it. It's very appreciative and I hope your school year year gets better. Thank you. Anyone? Sorry, Dr. freeze. Do you have a clarifying question? >> I just I mean if you would you like to share any specifics or do you want to just do it later privately? >> We can't we can't we because we're over the time limit then we'd have to do it for everyone so we can't do it here. Thank you. >> We can't get clarification. We got it on the

016previous speaker. >> If Well, let's let's take her offline because she's talking about compensation or what have you. Let's Let's do it shortly cuz then we're going to open up the floodgate for lots of things next. And let Hold on real quick. Dr. Freeze, do you have heartburn over that response? If you do, then she can come up here and get >> Yes. I I don't know why my questions can't get answered, but yours can. >> Well, my You're not asking specific clarifying questions. That's why we can't get off in the weeds. Come up here and answer his questions, please. Let me rephrase that. Do you mind coming up here and answering his questions? I just would like, you know, if any specifics like, you know, could you give us be a little more detailed

017on how you're not getting paid? If you're not getting paid on time, I mean, just what are the specific uh >> when I took my position, I agreed to um a certain dollar amount um and I had been paid below that, but I love what I do and so I've stuck to it. I started in January, so I didn't realize that I wasn't being paid what I was supposed to. I just thought, oh, my check is lower because they hold some of it for the summer. Well, when I got paid in August, I was like, oh, the math doesn't add up, which is when I realized this whole time I hadn't been paid what I was supposed to. And I reached out about it. I was had a meeting with HR. I was dismissed. told

018me that they weren't going to do anything about it. I reached out to Dr. Howard. She had HR again back over it and I've heard nothing. >> Dr. Freeze, may I ask a clarifying question? >> Thank you. I'm done. >> Did you have you started a grievance process, an official grievance process with the district? >> I don't believe so. >> Okay. Thank you. Anything? Sorry, Dr. Freezer got ahead. Are you Anyone else? Thank you. Please reach out to me, please. >> Our next speaker, um, I can't read your last name. It's Tashin. >> You live at 110 Pavilion Parkway, apartment 1410. I can't make out the the handwriting. T U A S Okay, our next speaker will be uh >> Michael Booker pays people for not speaking. >> Y'all quit. Heather Thomas, you're next. On

019the record, that was a total adolescent joke. Mr. Booker does not pay anyone. I should not have said that. My apologies. >> Good evening, Dr. Howard and members of the board. My name is Heather Thomas. Thank you for having me tonight. I joined Jumpstart Midland because while my oldest was in elementary, I expressed concerns to her teachers about dyslexia because it runs in her family. Since it does run in her family, I noticed telltale signs at home considering I'm not a teacher, nor do I have the education to do that. I didn't know how to go about it. So, I would ask her teachers every year. Every year, it would just get brushed under the rug. Just keep going. And then her third grade teacher when she got it recommended for summer school finally said,

020"Well, she might have dyslexia and you might want to get her tested." Got her tested. She has dyslexia and ADHD. Got her some tutoring right there. Sorry. So what? No, you're fine. Don't know how to do that. Right there. Okay. Sorry about that. Okay. Thank you guys for having me. My name is Heather. I joined Jumpstart Midland because my oldest, she's now 13. But while she was in elementary school, I noticed like telltale signs of her having dyslexia. And since it does run in her family, I would tell her teachers every year starting in first grade. First grade I told her got brushed under the rug. Second grade, of course, obviously when the co hit, that one got brushed under the rug. Third grade, I told them. They went on about the school year, she

021got recommended for summer school. At that time, her teacher then said, "Yes, we might want to get her tested for dyslexia." And summer school is probably needed. Okay, we got her tested for dyslexia. She has dyslexia and ADHD. Okay, fine. She goes to summer school. We get her a tutor for when she's not in there. I say all this to say she hasn't been on grade levels for reading or math since kindergarten since five years when I told some or told somebody. It got brushed under the rug. I didn't know how to go about it. Thankfully, she is in now 8th grade. We're still struggling with the reading and the math. She's still not in grade level, but we're working through it. I finally found stuff of my own to help her. Even though we're

022on two different brain meets, somehow we're working through it. I am very proud of the team I have with Jumpstart. We did our summer surge and um we engaged a lot of parents and I found out I wasn't alone in this. A lot of parents are going through the same struggles we have. It is clear there's lack of accessible information, inconsistent communication, and inadequate support for our struggling students. This is not just a stat statistical problem. It's a community crisis that has long-term consequences for our children. We know this is a small challenge that requires a shar sorry, this is a shared challenge that requires a shared solution. Jumpstart Midler will continue to engage more parents and decision makers and evaluate the the face of our parents. We look forward to working with you guys

023along with every parent in here to help improve our kids, make our kids successful. >> Thank you guys. >> Hold on real quick. Ma'am, I had a question because you brought up your kiddo with dyslexia and I don't want to go into too many details, but did y'all take did y'all participate in a program called Take Flight? >> No. Okay. Did you on the testing that was done? Did the district provided testing? Did you Is that the only testing? >> District didn't provide any testing. >> I went outside to an outside source. >> You weren't even offered testing for the district. >> Offered testing. No. >> Starting in prek on, you were never all through elementary school. You were never offered testing. >> All through elementary school until I got her tested by Dr. Cope

024when she was in third grade. But I had to go out of pocket and out of like >> Do you have a pen on you? >> 432. >> Okay. >> 230. >> Okay. >> 6650. Brandon Hodgees. Cell phone number. I've reached out on Facebook through direct messaging to Jumpstart. I know the VP has. I believe Matt Freeze has. I believe Angel has met with y'all. I believe Booker's met with y'all. I believe Bley, have you met with him? >> Bley. So, uh, let us know what what a good time is to meet with y'all. We want to make sure that these kids are getting the help they need, >> okay? >> And the resources and accommodation. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you guys. >> Miss Thomas, I have a quick question. What What

025year was that when your daughter was in third grade? >> Um, 2021. >> Um, Miss Rhodess, will you raise your hand? If you would meet with Miss Rhodess over here, she'll make sure you get the help you need. >> Yes, ma'am. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Ashley Kemp. Let's go to the word, shall we? Mark 7:6-8 says, "He answered and said unto them, well did Isaiah prophesy to you hypocrites, as it is written," this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts is far from me, and in vain they worship you, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. In these scriptures, Jesus talks about how the Pharisees will will uphold their man-made laws more than God's commandments.

026And that is exactly what happened in this building last month. While you all were cheering and patting yourselves on the back for conspiring to get the name change back to Lee, unknowingly, you exposed yourselves in a very deplorable way because what you claim is upholding tradition was actually actually systemic racism. Then, not long after your act of depravity, one of you decide to show up at a Jumpstart event. I won't call you out by name, but let me tell you a few things about this organization. We are men and women who want what's best for our children. Most of us have been through the MIT system, and we know how it operates when it comes to black and brown students. If we had ever felt like we were treated fairly, there would be no need

027for this to exist. and the renaming of a Confederate general shows solidarity and equity. And FYI, we accept donations from people with pure hearts and intentions, people who want to make an impact and see better student outcomes. Another thing you need to know is that we are believers in the one true savior. And as far as the abomination committed a month ago, we chose to leave it in God's hands so you can keep your culture because we know this battle is his and his vengeance alone. Your call to repentance is here. If you do not make this right, it will affect the children. And don't think your misuse of the gospel and false beliefs will save you. I leave you with these words by Julia How. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming

028of the Lord. He has trampled out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the faithful lightning of his terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. Dr. John McAfee. First of all, let me say good evening to the board and superintendent. Thank you for allowing me to be able to speak on tonight. I come to you because of the fact that on August 12, I was here and you decided to make a name change from Legacy High School to Lee High School. But unless I'm incorrect, it was supposed to be effective the school year 2026 and 2027. Am I just moment? Well, I I really find myself quaintly because I picked up my paper on the 30th of August and I'm an aid sports fan and I checked the football

029school and I saw some pictures. I looked out and I saw that our high school was playing Alan High School. The only problem was I could not find legacy anywhere. The details were saying Lee High School on the helmets. I thought that maybe this was some coach want to do a throwback throwback game. Uh that was just a one time occurrence. But then I picked up the paper on September 6 after play tragedy. The same decals were on the helmets of the football players. I picked it up just last week after Lake Travis. Same thing. Instead of seeing Legacy High School, I see Lee L E. I thought board policy was effective as of that night when the change was made, formerly made. And I think for someone to go outside of that board policy

030and to use the name LE instead of legacy, I think that's a personal affront to the students at Legacy High School. I don't know, but I would like to know who commissioned or who authorized the coaches to make that change for the details? Was it the coaches themselves going rogue? Was it schoolboard members going rogue? Was it some administration officials going rogue? because I thought that once things are in policy they have to be followed by every employee in this particular district and I don't think when I get a chance to see another game that I should be seeing le on the decals of those helmets and that's leg high school that that's that's just insulting to the truth of of legacy instead of legacy it's l I I I I I I just think

031that's again a personal upfront. >> I appreciate it. Time's up. But I do have a clarifying question. So out of Let me get this right. So you want to know who approved the the >> Yes, sir. Who commissioned that? >> Okay. Thank you very much. We'll get you an answer, sir. >> Our next speaker is Ebony Coleman. this time start. Oh, well, good evening, Dr. Howard, um, President Hajits, members of the board. I would like to thank Miss Berles and Mr. Booker for um taking the time to meet with Jumpstart and a few of my leadership. I'm awaiting the chance to meet um with the rest of the board members to know what your priorities are for MISD. With that being said, um this summer um we embarked a summer surge campaign to listen and

032learn from the families in our communities. Our goals were simple. We wanted to build visibility. We wanted to activate our leadership and we wanted to truly understand what matters to our community and parents. We engaged with hundreds of parents, especially those in Midland's then 12 DNF schools. The data we gathered is both encouraging but deeply concerning. So, let's get to it. What the data tell us, we've seen a positive step forward. The number of D and F ready schools have decreased from 12 to 8. That is progress we should acknowledge and I appreciate that. Um, however, the reality remains sovereign. Over 25% of our students are still attending a D or F-rated school. Furthermore, nearly half of our students are on C-rated campuses and the number of high quality seats available to our children continue

033to decrease. As a district level, 54% of our students are not on grade level for reading and 61% are not on grade level in math. And while we are encouraged by South's brief improvement, the fact that they were unable to main those maintain those gains shows us how fragile progress can be without a strong systematic support structure. This is also evident in our seventh grade math scores which have fallen 30% efficiency to just 13%. And this is in seventh grade. What our parents are telling us. Beyond the numbers, we must listen to the voice of nearly 140 MI school families we heard from this summer. They shared three critical insights. Perception versus reality. There's a stark contrast between between what parents believe about their children's academic performance and actual student data. Parents need clear and

034more frequent communication to understand their child's true progress. A lack of communication and transparency. Parents feel they are not receiving the information needed effectively to support their children at home. They want to be partners in their children's education, but the tools and information due so are not consistently available. And the last one, deep dissatisfaction. The survey results indicated a deep-seated satis dissatisfaction with persistence performance and accountability. This is not a lack of effort. It's a lack of connection to the system that feels distant and unresponsive. In conclusion, the findings of our summer surge campaign highlighted um system a systemic gap in how we inform and engage our parents. While we often urge parents to be more involved, our current system makes it difficult to do so. The lack of accessible information, inconsistent communication, and inadequate

035support for struggling students. It's not a just not just a statistical problem. It's a community crisis and along and with long-term consequences to our children. So, we share a challenge that requires a shared solution. We look forward to working with you all to bridge the gap between perception and reality to ensure that every parent is empowered for their kid to be successful. >> Thank you. I got a couple clarifying questions for you. >> Yes, sir. >> One, I've reached out to whoever's running y'all's Facebook page months ago and so I think other people have. >> And I have sent you >> I haven't got anything. Um, I've also sent Josh email and Mr. Fes. I want to say about a couple of months ago, I personally sent emails out um wanting to just reach out

036with you all to just know your priorities. >> So, you sent them to the board and not to the f the first point of contact, which was social media, right? >> Oh, no. I didn't send it to the first point of contact. I sent it to your email that uh randonhodgees.net. >> Not the one that we had been communicating at before. So my >> actually like when I first uh >> my confusion is because we were communicating on one platform. I just assumed that the platform that I feel like is professional and works best and see if maybe I could uh text you. >> Yeah. You have you have you have a pen? >> I do. >> 43230 6650 is my cell. >> 6650. >> Got it. >> And shoot me a text or call.

037I might not return. I will get back to you. just give me a little grace on that. And my other question was, are y'all >> because this board changed a lot of academic policies earlier to where the district is sending out information to be more transparent. Yes, sir. >> With with the students and the communication between the parents and the local campus and those parents and those kids and really tried to work on that. Are y'all not getting that communication, the emails? Some of the parents um you know they live in like low communities and sometimes their cellular devices are not working and that's the only form of communication they're able to get. >> Are their kids not bringing are the students not bringing home communication in their folders? >> No. >> Dr. Howard, we

038need to note that to make sure that those kids are taking home >> um you know log on to Howard um you know being able to assess that sometimes they have problems you know connect >> but we're giving hard copies I believe to the kids to take back to the parents. >> I think Miss Coleman if you would visit with Mr. Cidio >> Mr. Cidio specifically if there are certain campuses in particular we can follow up on that. >> Okay. >> We definitely I look forward to talking to you and thank you'all for being here too. >> Thank you for telling the board on these issues. If you don't tell us, we don't know. >> Yes. That's why I'm here to let y'all know. >> Thank you. >> Our next >> Anyone else? Hold on.

039Did anyone else have any clarifying questions? >> Good. >> I'm good. >> Heidi Johnson. Good evening, Dr. Howard and members of the board. I'm going be quick and brief because Miss Evan said a lot of the things that I was going to say, but I am a member of the Jumpstart leadership team and I am a 2006 Lee High School graduate alumni. Um and it was formally changed to Legacy High School in 2020 and now it's going back to Lee High School. Um which I personally think is a huge distraction to bigger issues at hand as far as education is concerned. Um but again that's neither here nor there. It's been set. So, um, as she was saying, this summer we did together, we me and the Jumpstart leadership team, we did some canvasing and

040we took to the streets, um, a summer surge campaign and ended it with our back to school blast. We do appreciate those of you that did come and support the cause. At that time with the canvasing and the summer surge, we did listen and learn from fellow um families in our member community and we engaged with them and this is what we learned. The parent survey results did indicate um as she was saying a deed dissatisfaction with the school school systems performance and accountability and the actual data told the same story. Um even though we do have less DNF schools which we're grateful for it still shows that 54% of the students are not on grade level for reading and um 61 are not on grade level for math. So there is a huge disconnect

041somewhere between the uh parents and the school system. Um I guess like she said the perception they're believing their children are on academic level and they aren't and it's not clear. Uh so only onethird of the families according to the survey can easily access the skyward portal. So, um my question is what are we going to do to close this open loop of communication whenever the need is evidence and uh not when it's too late. And I do want to back off of what uh President Haj said at the last family parent meeting that we had for Jumpstart. There was parents that said that they were getting more emails, they were getting more um communication, but it's still like the child isn't getting the tutoring or whatever that they need. So that leaves it at

042about a 70% that's not getting that doesn't have a clear perception of where their child stands. So that's my >> any question. >> I just have one. I look forward to meeting with you. Do you want my cell phone number too in case they forget? >> Oh, I got it. >> Okay. Cuz I we want to especially on that dyslexia. I look forward to meeting with y'all. >> Right. That was great to know as well about the take flight or whatever you >> Yes, ma'am. Thank y'all for being here and thank you for telling us about it. >> Real quick, um I believe it was in the parent newsletter on Friday. Um, we're offering a couple of Skyward sessions for parents to learn how to use Skyward, to access the app, to get any help

043that they may need. Um, that was in the parent newsletter Friday, but if you have questions, where is um Miss right here? She could give you those dates and times and locations. >> So, Friday was >> right. Okay. Thank you, [Applause] >> Tony Dango. >> Good evening, Dr. Howard, President Hodes, and members of the school board. My name is Tony Tango. I thank each of you for your time to bring a health concern to your attention. In the spring of 2023, my daughter Jocelyn was walking down the hall of Henderson Elementary when she was struck in her left eye with light from a laser pointer. At first glance, a laser pointer seems insignificant. Many people don't realize that when a laser beam is directed into your eye, even for just a second, the intense focus

044light can burn the retina, resulting in blind spots, blurry vision, and in some cases, irreversible vision loss. By the fall of 2023, as Josson was starting sixth grade, she kept mentioning that her vision was blurry. The annual wellch check with her pediatrician indicated that her vision was 2020. I was confused but kept a mental note of her complaint. A couple of months later, as she played quarterback for her flag football team, my husband noticed that um she would close her left eye when she was throwing the ball. When asked why she was doing this, she said, "I see swirling. I see everything like I'm looking through a snapshot filter." We scheduled an eye exam with a local eye doctor who then referred us to a retina specialist in Levitic. On December 4th, 2023, my daughter

045sat in a chair directly across a retinal photographer. As he took photos of her eye, he asked my daughter questions like, "Hey sweetie, have you ever played with a laser pointer before?" Her response was, "Yes." He then asked, "Have you ever had a laser pointer shined in your eye?" She said, "Yes. That happened to me when I was in fifth grade." I then remembered her telling me in the spring that a kid had shined a laser pointer at her. Questions raced through my mind as the doctor walked into the room to discuss the pictures with us. She had a retinal burn. The swirling she observed was a pocket of blood at the damaged site. I asked if glasses could correct her vision and he said no. His solution was to inject a tiny needle into

046her eye that would release a small gas bubble that would open up the damaged area and allow that blood to release. He said the first injection might help her vision, but she may need another injection in the future. She did receive a second ine injection on April 1st, 2024. By January 20th, 2025, she was back to 2020 vision. However, two weeks later, now being in seventh grade at Abel Junior High, she was struck by a laser pointer again. The same eye in the exact same spot. Impossible, right? Um, I have copies of her retinal scans for each of you to see. This incident has been my call to action by God to be my child's voice and the voice of others to raise awareness about this problem. I know prohibition of laser pointers can be

047found in the MISD student code of conduct. However, I ask for your help to educate our students, parents, and MISD staff about the medical dangers and legal consequences that can occur from laser pointers. I also encourage all campuses to take any laser pointer incident seriously by documenting them, encouraging parents to have their child medically assessed if they are struck in the eye with a laser pointer, and review the situation under disciplinary and legal frameworks. In conclusion, minute as a laser pointer seems, it has impacted my daughter's quality of life. She will be 15 years old next year, which qualifies her to work towards getting her driver's permit. I fear that she may not be granted this right of passage if she fails her vision test. We can undo what happened to her, but with your

048help, we can make sure it never happens again. Thank you for your time. I just have a clarifying question. If at a future board meeting we were to bring this on the agenda to discuss it about the awareness, would you be willing to lead the charge on being a subject matter expert on a committee to to bring up the awareness? Yes, sir. I would. >> Thank you very much. We'll be in touch with you and I'm very, very sorry that that happened to your daughter. >> Thank you. >> It is that it's odd that your husband found out he was that she was having problems with her eye when she was in the middle of passing though, right? >> Yes. Yeah. He notices everything. So, thank God for him. >> I'm sorry for that. And

049well, that definitely needs to be because I I know you're not supposed to point those in someone's face, but I didn't necessarily know the consequences of that fully. So, thank you very much and I apologize. Sorry for that happening. >> Thank you. And then I do have these copies. I mean, if y'all would see the pictures, y'all would be >> Hey, Tucker, will you get get those four and we'll look at those tonight and we will be in touch with you. >> Thank you so much, President Hodgeges. Thank you, board. >> Thank you very very much. Before we move on, there's somebody that snuck into the back and they're sitting in the very, very back and him and I sometimes disagree on things, but I just wanted everyone in here to give a round of

050Mr. Courtney Ratliff that he's here live in person today. Thank you for being here very much. Looking good. Looking good. Um let's do it. We'll do that afterwards. Let's move on with this so we can Moving on to agenda item six consent agenda. A. Approval of board meeting minutes. B. Approval of monthly financials. C. Approval of updated 2025 2026 test appraisal list. D. Approval of the following revised policies and new local policies. Revised BBB local board members elections. BBD local board members training and orientations. BBFA local ethics conflict conflict of interest disclosures. BJC, Local Superintendent Contract. CJ, Local Contracted Services. CKD, Local Safety Program, Risk Management, Emergency Medical Equipment and Procedures. DBD, local employment requirements and restrictions, conflict of interest, and new policy, BBA, local board members eligibility qualifications. Um, anyone have any items to

051pull? Seeing no items to pull, all those in favor of approving the consent agenda as is rate or I'm sorry. Can we get a motion? >> I'll move second. >> It's been moved and seconded that we approve agenda item six, consent agenda A through D with the revised policies. All those in favor, raise your right hand. Is unanimous. Motion passes. Moving on to agenda item seven, superintendent update. Dr. Howard. >> Yes. Um I'll start with um just acknowledging the recent events that our um country faced last week and and what that has done, you know, within the local community as well as within our schools. Um to, you know, I think anytime we deal with something like that, it's an opportunity for um a community to come together, an opportunity for the district to come

052together. Um, and I want to thank our educators, um, who are expected to be the stability in the times of difficult situations across the country or within our community. Um, a large majority of our 3,200 employees did just that. We're addressing the ones who didn't handle that the way that they needed to. Um, in line with our educator code of con um, ethics, uh, we're working closely with the guidance from TEA and Commissioner Morath as well as with our local school attorney to make sure that we handle that properly and acknowledge um, the protections that employees have um, while also recognizing the real responsibility they have when they're in front of our students. So, I do want to lift up the majority of our employees. you know, 99% of them handled that really well and

053um the ones who didn't were certainly taking that seriously and going to address that. Um on Friday, we will end our first grading period of the school year. Our enrollment's wrapping up at 29 or on Friday we were at 29,329. So, you've heard a lot about that. Um we're 772 students below projection. um 187 from where we were this time last year. So that's not a significant dip. Uh but what's causing us to make decisions related to staffing, moving teachers, things like that is because of that reduction in projection and being 77 772 students away from projection. So that's part of our annual process. You're going to hear more about that next month when we bring the uh budget amendment for October. Uh but the annual process that we use every year is what we

054call our enrollment staffing and budgeting process because that's all uh related. Uh that actually begins in October this year for next year. And so we'll be bringing you budget amendments in October for this current year while we're beginning the work for projecting and and all of that for next year. Uh what we do with this process is we monitor enrollment as a district at each specific campus as well as each specific class and looking at class sizes. So what we do these first four to five weeks is we're monitoring that across the board um at both the district campus and class level. Uh for 25 26 you heard tonight some um concerns about class size ratios. I can't speak specifically to either one of those situations because that's the first I've heard about that. Uh

055but our team will follow up. Um Alamo, for example, I would be willing to bet that could be they weren't able to fill a position that was allocated. Um but I can't answer that question without looking at that. And our team will certainly dig into what you heard and find out what exactly is going on at Alamo and why those decisions were made. So at the district level, we staff campuses based on the ratios. Uh preK 22:1, there was no change from the previous year. Kindergarten, we did increase the ratio by two from 22 to 24:1. Um so not a significant difference. Uh third and fourth grade, we increased from 24 to 26 and then in grades 5 through 6, uh 28 to1 and that was no change. Um, I will say that, you know,

056as we were moving into this school year and as we were working through the budget efficiencies that we needed, um, class size is one of the areas that we look at and that was something that our team took real seriously. Uh, when we compared our some of our neighbors and some of our peers across the state, uh, we do still have very good class sizes compared to that. Now, there's always outliers because there's no way even if you staff at 24 to1, there's it's never exactly 24. And so, you'll be receiving a class- size report in the coming weeks that'll give you a little more detail on that. Um and then the other thing is and the the one example that was uh referenced about Alamo once we give our campuses their staffing allocations then

057the campus principal does have latitude to use their number of FTEEs to fit the needs of the campus. So for example when I was a principal if I wanted to keep my tested subject areas smaller I had the latitude to do that and bump up my class sizes for non-ested areas. So those are latitudes that we do give our campus principles and quite frankly expect them to prioritize the areas of need um and the the data on their campuses. So um I can't like I say I can't speak to what what what you heard about Alamo, but we'll certainly dig into that and get you answers as to what's going on um you know why those decisions were made. I do want to share some metrics for from the class size report that I received

058this week because I do think it's um good to look at that trend data. So in 2425 and you've heard a lot about opportunity culture. Opportunity culture is a strategic uh compens or strategic staffing model that is all about getting more students in front of quality teachers. And so opportunity culture by design drives up class sizes uh because we want students in front of quality teachers. And so uh in 2425 only um and with our opportunity campus grade levels over 22 to1 we had 3.8% of our classrooms compared to this year's 6%. And so as we've continued to work to make sure we're using opportunity culture right and well um that is a trend in the right direction because again the whole premise is the highly effective teachers need to influence more students and teach

059more students. Um on our non-opportunity culture campuses in 2425 16% of our classes were over 22 to1 this year 15.2% of the classes. So when I say classes, that could be at the secondary level. They have seven periods in a day. When we're talking about elementary, um, you know, it's first grade, second grade, third grade, something like that. And so, um, that's something that we monitor very closely. Our principal supervisors are working with principles, and you're going to start to see that be even more strategic. Uh, because there's no one-sizefits-all. Once we give those campus FTs um to a campus, they have to do that based on their needs. For example, if they have um all new teachers in a grade level, they may choose to keep that grade level smaller than a grade level

060with all experienced teachers or vice versa or tested versus non-ested. We do have 31 positions uh that we've identified for deletion based on actual versus projected enrollment. I believe you received that information yesterday. Um, this is going to result in movement of positions and in many cases it's going to take filled positions and and uh move them to unfilled positions. So, it's not necessarily 31 people that will not have a position. We're having to reallocate them to where we need them. And um that is work that's done every year and and we'll continue to keep you updated on that. of all the elementary classrooms, there's only 14 classrooms over 30, including opportunity culture, which and with opportunity culture, it's not uncommon to push those up because you're putting them with a multiclassroom leader, someone who

061is, um, receiving more pay and more responsibility for serving more students. And then, um, I want to give just some examples. these. I mean, I could talk all night about this because there's 40 campuses and in a lot of scenarios, but for example, what we're looking at, Desabala is down about 200 students. So, they're losing three positions, whereas Henderson is up 190. They're gaining three positions. And so, we're reallocating based on what actually showed up, you know, the number of students who actually showed up versus what we projected. And um then Goddard Junior High for example u they're going to be uh losing 12 positions. They had 10 vacant positions and their campus was overstaffed based on the actual enrollment in which they was they um had show up. So um our team works very

062hard on this. They look class by class. They look grade level by grade level. Many of you some of you have visited classrooms recently. I know I visited a classroom at Goddard the first week of school that had aid and so that prompted me to ask some questions about um our staffing there. Um but this is something that you know we continue to refine and um next month we're going to be talking about how we project enrollment. I wish there was an exact science to it. Uh that would be really nice but um uh there isn't. And so we'll talk about how we do that. We also will talk about uh what our approach will look like going into projections for next year. Probably a much more conservative approach. There's no right or wrong way

063to do it. If we project conservatively and then all the students show up, we're trying to find teachers after school started and that's hard. If we over project, we may have positions that we have to move, relocate, close. That's hard. Um so it's just kind of that balancing act of of making the uh best projection based on all the historical data that we have. Uh one positive as we work on these budget amendments that'll come to you in October so that we can submit pums um most accurately. Uh staffing is one way that we're looking that other planned expenditures where it's appropriate to adjust those expenditures down. Um and then monitoring attendance. I am pleased to report that so far attendance is tracking about a percent higher than it did this time last year. So

064our team has had a very big focus. In fact, you're going to hear about that tonight. Uh so we are seeing some improvements in attendance early, knock on wood, because we have a long way to go this year. Uh but that's what we'll be doing over the next month as we work to bring those budget amendments to you based on actuals. Uh payroll, you heard that talked about tonight. Uh Mr. Durham and his team have worked on processes to avoid what happened last month to make sure that we don't run into that. Um the new payroll director did start on Monday on yesterday. So, we're glad to have her and um him and Miss Garcia are working through every pay question that we've received to make sure that everything is accurate on this paycheck. Um,

065our employees received salary verifications a couple of weeks ago that they had the latitude or the opportunity to send back and say, "I think something's wrong. This needs to be checked." And so, they're checking every single one of those where there's um a question about that. An update on bond refunding. At the uh meeting last month, you approved the refunding of some of our bonds. 41 million was priced on September 15th. that will accelerate payoff, maximize state aid. Um, and the savings we're actually going to realize is going to be 48 million, which is above the estimate you were given last month when you approve the refunding. So, that's always a positive thing to report. Um, the increases total savings from refunding and defeasing since 2012 is going to take that up to 157 million.

066Um and that's um money that you know dollars that our taxpayers will never have to pay back. Uh some legislative updates. The second special session closed. There has not been a third special session. So I think we're good there. Um House Bill 8 is is the most um impactful bill that came out of the second special session. And what that is is the one that's going to have in 2728 with us starting new STAR or new state assessments. And so STAR will be replaced with three shorter assessments, beginning of year, middle of year, and end of year for grades three through eight. Uh we will be following this uh keeping you updated as well as making sure our team is getting prepared for that transition uh while not taking our eye off of the STAR

067test that we'll be giving the next couple of years. And then um state board of education met last week and um the SBOE approved several things but one of interest I think is uh social studies framework and so a new K8 framework will shift the focus to Texas and US history and we expect TECS um to have a full rewrite by and so the team will work on that. To end on a positive note, tomorrow we will be um recognizing 10 of our campus principles that have earned the principal incentive aotment that is funded through the PSP and um is money that they're eligible to earn each year. Um this is uh some of the metrics is they have to have an overall accountability rating of a B. If they do not have a B,

068they can't um qualify for that or they improve their campus from an F to a C in one year. So if they go from an F to a C but don't make the B, they still can qualify. That's another metric. Um and then they have to demonstrate measurable gains in key areas, star student growth, K2 performance, um things like that. So really aligning those metrics um similar to teacher incentive aotment, but this is a locally funded through donations whereas teacher incentive aotment is funded through the state. Um we are in celebrate freedom week and so um this is taking place all week. This is a state uh required observance uh where we work to educate our students on the principles of freedom and the sacrifices made to secure those freedoms. Uh lessons highlight the US

069Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. So, you'll see a lot of things coming out this week um through your updates and newsletters and social media. Uh where our social studies classes uh teach that on an ongoing basis, it is a week where we take the opportunity to make sure all of our students understand um the privileges that they have and the the sacrifices that were made in order for that to happen. Um also um Jumpstart's still here. We do have parent conferences coming up on September 29th. So, I hope you've heard about those. Sign up for those. Uh, that is strategic in our school calendar where we set aside those parent uh conference days so that our teachers have a full day dedicated to being able to sit with and visit with

070parents uh make sure that they know where their students are. And that's all the information I have. >> I have a couple of questions. Um, first the 14 classrooms for opportunity. Well, one, what is for new board members and for people that are new here at Jumpstart, can you define what opportunity culture is like the mission statement of opportunity culture? >> Yeah, so opportunity culture is um designed to extend the reach of highly effective teachers. So, taking the highly effective teachers and getting more students in front of them. And so, typically that's done through a multiclassroom leader. they have to qualify and have data to support that. And that person takes on more responsibility of students and staff. So they now are responsible for a team of adults and a team of students. And so

071again, it's it's it's taking the opportunity. You know, we all can think back to teachers we had and and think, man, I wish every kid could have that teacher. Well, we can't put every student in any one teacher's class, right? So identifying those highly effective teachers who can impact more students but at the same time support adults to learn from that highly effective teacher as well. And so our multiclassroom leaders uh we use partial release. So that means they're in the classroom half a day and they're coaching their team and working with students the other half of the day. So the old model was we would use instructional coaches. They didn't teach kids at all. they were out trying to help, you know, 40 or 50 teachers at a time. That is not effective, not

072highly effective anyway. And this model is one where we don't lose the teacher out of the classroom, but we still have the opportunity to allow them to coach and train and support the team of adults that they work with. And I say that because those could be paraprofessionals, resident teachers, uh different pipelines that are coming into the teaching profession as well. So would it for my this is how I kind of view it and correct me if I'm wrong. Essentially it's like having a TA with your professor. So your professor might not teach that class but that TA is going to come in and represent that professor and teach that class. >> So not exactly. So the way that it typically works is let's say you have four teachers on a team and when you

073go to the opportunity culture model you typically trade in one of those positions and that is what makes it budget neutral because if it's not budget neutral we can't afford it over time right and so you trade in that position and that's what pays the stipen for the multiclassroom leader or team reach teacher every opportunity culture team looks different because that's built by the campus principal based on what the needs are on that campus. Then of course it's vetted through a team at the district level that's making sure we're holding true to the opportunity culture model and uh that we're truly benefiting from that model and not letting it get watered down, which can happen sometimes. So it could be that they have a team reach teacher. That's a teacher who also teaches more students.

074These are all roles that have job descriptions. they have to qualify for. If they don't have the data, they're they don't get it because it's also earning more money. Um, resident teachers. So, what we used to think about student teachers, a teacher resident may be on that team. So, it may be that times of the day they have groups of students they're doing something with under the direction of that multiclassroom leader, >> writing off their hours. >> Right. >> Okay. >> Right. Well, and they work for us. >> Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt I was just talking to myself kind of. >> Um, so you've heard me say this before. When I first came back to the district, we were not using opportunity culture to its full potential. We did a complete

075reset. Um, and we're now in the second third year of the full reset and starting to see the majority of our campuses that use opportunity culture, we see gains on those campuses and specifically with those grade levels that are opportunity culture grade levels. So I think there's a disconnect in the community with the communication piece of this. I think opportunity culture is a tool that we have like in in some situations it's the best we can do in certain situations. Uh I think but for me I would like to see us as a board and come up and with a communication plan to communicate to the campuses with opportunity culture to the kids who are going to be put in a classroom who it's part of the opportunity culture to the parents so they understand

076that when they're going into a classroom and it looks above the ratio that they're normally have that there's the reasoning behind It is well it's not because of mismanagement of resources or what have you. It's a it's it's directly due to the fact that this is a program that the district is implementing in order to get highquality curriculum and a high quality teachers >> right >> in the same area. So that is a highquality seat and I think that that's I hear a lot about opportunity culture. And then I think that we also should talk where's where's my where's my second favorite? She's out there somewhere. But I'll get with my data lady and have her run data and if we can show the improvement in the opportunity culture settings versus nonopportunity culture and and

077it might not say that. I haven't seen the data. >> It does. >> But >> it it says that >> but they >> not every single one of them because there's a human element there. The board needs to see that data and most importantly >> the people that are utilizing the schools because I hear a lot of argument of people that do not like opportunity culture and I just think that we need to communicate it better and see if their argument is as strong against it with the data >> instead of it being an emotional thing because I don't >> if you say the data is better then I'm going to trust you and say hey right now the data is in our favor but I just think we need communicate that to those kids,

078parents, so they understand going and if they don't want to take part in it, if they feel uncomfortable in that that it would give them an opportunity to >> Well, I think it'll throw shade at us. Sure. >> They can move their kid. >> Yeah. Well, the thing of it is, and you know, we can't correct this piece, but the way that it was it was implemented in the district made it very difficult because it in my opinion, it could have been implemented differently. And when we have a bad implementation, we have to recover from that. And so that's what our team's been working to do. Um we absolutely >> does. We're we're like the delta force of fixing other people's issues and you too. >> Yeah. So um we absolutely in fact I'm presenting

079to the Scarbor Foundation board tomorrow and opportunity culture. A couple of metrics are in there. We can absolutely even do a presentation next month on opportunity culture because we've grown that to how many campuses? 28 of our 40 campuses. So, um, and really starting to utilize it at the junior high level to improve student outcomes there. So, >> that's just that's all I have on. And then my other question, you're not going to like this question, but I'm asking anyway with how so the kids that were down on days of all that were down on attendance, do we know what the percentage of those kids were that come from the neighborhood school that chose not to go there because we changed the model? Um, we I don't have that in. Say it again. I was

080looking at him to see if he could answer. >> I think I I'm I'm making the number because I can't remember it. Like 200 kids 200. >> So out of those 200 kids that are down at Days of >> What the What is the percentage of those kids who chose not to go to Days of somewhere else because it is now a STEM academy and it's not the normal school. And where did those where did those that percentage where did we what did we move them because did we move them to Fasin? Did we move them to Henderson? Did we like where cuz >> I want to know where that ripple went. >> Sure. And I I can answer a couple of those and then look at Robert the full report. So the the first

081thing is Davala is still a neighborhood school. So even though it's a STEM academy, >> they can move, right? they don't want to be part of the new program. >> Um, if you you may remember that two years ago, so not this year, but last year, we've made a zone change for about a 150 or 200 to go to Sam Houston. At the time, did not choose to go there. So, but we can get a full report on where they went. >> Well, now that Robert stepped up, can I ask him? >> He may know. >> Yeah. No, Dr. Howard explained it, but um >> Oh, no. I got I got some fast balls for you since you're the one that changed up our boundaries at Scarbor, what have you. So my question is Faskin,

082we've heard I'll let the other board members talk about the issues that they've had at FA because I'm not trying to steal their thunder. I just come in and throw fast balls. Um, my question is when this this problem that we're having with this alleged ch opportunity to do better at Fasin is up here. Are we going to reszone that just like we did all these other kids that were coming too far from Southside? >> Reszone. Uh, >> because that's why we moved all those kids around was they were on the bus traveling. So if Fascin is geographically located further north than the other schools, then physics would prove that it's even a longer ride to get there unless they're taking a helicopter. >> So one thing that we've committed to over the last couple

083of years is every fall and in typically in around December we bring any recommended boundary changes because that is not something we were doing as a district. We were not, we had been 10, 12 years since we had had boundary changes. So, we continue to navigate that and try to make those adjustments where it isn't making sense or a campus is going to be overcrowded if we don't do something about it. >> Watch Robert cuz he'll make it make sense. He's taking puzzle pieces and just get it in there. Shave off this. I'm just kidding. >> So, when we went through the attendance uh boundary evaluations, um we took a few u items into consideration. Um the first thing was maximize uh the the schools. Make sure that we're utilizing the the functional capacity. Um

084uh >> and for the board members explain the three different definitions of functional capacity. >> So functional capacity is the the utiliz utilization of the building. So we want to maximize the classroom space. Make sure we're not having any empty classrooms. making sure we don't have uh uh uh office staff using classroom space that's intended for for teaching and learning. So, we want to maximize each each building and make sure we're utilizing it uh efficiently. Uh that was the first consideration. The second consideration was we want to uh uh move kids closer to their neighborhood schools. So, u maximizing the building, move kids closer to the neighborhood schools while the county side the outside if you're living outside the county push you in to the city uh where the uh neighborhoods are locked. There's no

085more growth in those those families are aging out, the kids are grown, uh there's not much much uh u increase in that in those those landlocked elementary schools. Um, and so those are a couple of the considerations or three of the considerations. Um, trying to refresh my memory. Uh, uh, and also taking into account the high growth areas, so northeast of town. Um, also taking account the west side of the of the of the city. Um, and so really trying to project uh the growth in those areas and making sure that we're not having to add portables at schools. We're actually um we're down probably about 40% um in portable usage. Um and so we're about we're couple years ago. I actually have that that data right pulled up my phone, but we're so a

086couple years ago. >> Tucker, he's got data on them. You got competition tonight on number one. >> We're we're utilizing 104 portables, which is about 93% utilization of portables. And we're now we're at 72 portable use utilization which is at 63% uh portable use usage. So we're we're we're pushing kids in maximizing the buildings, cutting down to portables. Um really u um and that's kind of been our approach. >> If we can just get to I I really think a lot of this is lost in translation communication out to the public and then and I just want especially the new board members that I'm used to getting killed, right? So, but I want the the rest of the board members not to get killed on this. And I really want to push that we have

087a communication plan to get it out to the parents in the community so they understand. They might not like it, but then we can defend our position. And I think y'all are doing all I don't think it's bad or what have you. We can always improve on it. Um, and I just want to make sure that we're communicating that out. And I think a big piece of this if y'all would get the information of where did those kids go that chose not to go to Days of Wallace. so we can get it out. I I get it. It goes against public education mantra, but I like to get ahead of it than behind it. And thank you very much for for everything you do, Robert. Yes, sir. >> See, you came to compete against O

088Tucker tonight. >> Go ahead, Dr. Freeze. >> I got a question uh for Dr. Howard. Um, so I've heard from some parents this year who are thrilled with the timely texts and updates they're receiving from teachers. Um, I was at a campus today that I've heard um, positives about communication from teachers at and, uh, discussed this with the principal and the principal said that they they're working hard to do this. Um, so it's clearly strengthening the partnership between the school and the home. At the same time, I recognize that this kind of regular communication can add to a teacher's workload. So, what steps can we as a district take to celebrate and support the campuses that are doing this well and to make sure teachers have the tools and time to keep this going without

089it becoming a burden? >> Yeah, so that's a good question. That's been a priority of ours for the last couple of years because um a few years ago that was an area where we ranked low on the K12 insight survey is communication and specifically communication around what's going on in the classroom, how is my student doing? And so you heard me lift up a couple of teachers at convocation and I think some took that as a real challenge because I know my daughter has seven teachers that I get a lot of communication from. But one thing that we did recently from how are we lifting it up is our communications team pushed out a post of, you know, we've been working on this, we would love to hear some positive examples of how we're doing

090this. And it was one of the most positive posts we've ever had. Yeah, you can read through that and and knock on wood, but I don't think I saw any negativity in that post with hundreds of comments. And so we will be recognizing those teachers in various ways. The ones, you know, also using them as examples of of how that can be done. to answer the question about how does this work and and is it making the teachers jobs harder if they're using our Blackboard system and our communication system that we have when they type that one email that they want to send to 150 or 160 parents they type it once versus 150 or 60 communications to a parent. They can also then select I want to send this email, I want to send

091a text message. And I learned this last week that they can also choose to call you and tell you I've sent you an email. So they can do all of that in one one area. So they have that one communication. They can let parents know check your email because sometimes they don't check their personal email as often. And then they also can even click a box that sends a phone call that says check your email. So um that's information that our uh technology team has shared out so that teachers know how to utilize that and I do believe in the long run it probably saves them a lot of communication because that forward and and uh proactive communication answers a lot of questions they might get uh by not knowing what's coming up next week.

092So, kind of uh along these same lines tonight, we did hear some testimony from some parents and community members that said, you know, they've been around, you know, with the jump start um group. They they have lots of parents that may not be communicating well with technology. Um, I would I don't know if you have any thoughts right now or if if it's something that we can think about and it may take some time to really try to strategize how to reach these parents. Um, I don't know if you have any thoughts on that. That's just >> Yeah, I mean I can I can think of a couple of things and I know Mr. Cido visited with Miss Coleman so um talked if there are some campuses in particular where that seems to be a

093bigger challenge. Um, but for any of our parents, you know, if they let teachers know, um, this is a better form of communication for me. Send something home with my child. Please give me a call because I don't have Wi-Fi and I'm not getting the emails. We're going to accommodate those kind of requests. We don't always know that if they don't let us know. You want to talk about turnovers? All right. And moving on to the next agenda item 8B, districtformational reports, student attendance report. >> Are we done with the attendance report? Was that part of your the bond. >> Oh, I'm sorry. A district informationational reports a bond 2023 monthly report. Uh Mr. Edwards, how are you, sir? >> Standby. Attendance report. My apologies. >> Thank you, President Hajes and board. Thank you for

094letting me be here. And Dr. Howard, um, this is your 17th monthly update on the bond program, uh, since we started it and passed in November 2023. A great deal of activity is um, uh, certainly underway now. We currently have 93% of the $1.4 billion bond uh, actually in action through uh, different construction packages, through design, to construction. So, uh we're we're pleased with that. That is right on schedule with uh what was um uh communicated in the in the bond program and uh we're moving uh in that direction to complete it as as was promised to the voters. Um want to certainly thank Dr. Howard, Mr. CIO, Mr. journal this message. We working very closely with them um and a tremendous amount of uh communication back and forth uh with them on um the

095fact that we're involved now in uh nearly every campus throughout the district. Perfect. So, you have a package there. Uh you know, we've we've we're executing the barn program through packages. Uh package number one is Lon Spars Trail Elementary School. Uh we're pleased to announce of course that everyone knows that it opened at the beginning of the school year on a very tight schedule. We're now completing that first six weeks. Uh certainly continuing to work with contractor on a daily basis out there uh on punch list items. Um you may have heard that we had some issue with the elevator. We believe we've got that completed and corrected. They had to replace the electronics in it. uh and we've got that uh now operating uh without incident uh for the last week or two. Uh

096the tzo floor uh we have met multiple times with the contractor and I think have come to understanding that they are going to fix the floor. Uh they are scheduled over the next three weekends to come in and do some additional polishing and and uh resealing of that floor. Uh we'll look at it at the end of that to see if it is up to standard. Uh but uh continuing to work on the Terzo floors but doing it in a way that won't interrupt uh any of the classroom time. Um and uh we also um you may have noticed that we do not have a marquee installed yet. We are currently working on a district-wide standard for mares for all of our elementary and middle school high school campuses. And so we put a pause

097on installing the marquee at the at the elementary school in case you get asked about that. But we will hope to have something installed by the end of this semester. Package number two is the new high schools. Uh we have received full B building permits from the city on both sites uh without uh which is uh was one of our concerns and that's happened without delay and both contractors have moved on site completely mobilized on site. uh dirt work is ongoing and will be ongoing now for uh again for several months. There's a lot of uh rough grading that has to be done on both sides, but that's what is happening uh now. Uh we do expect some vertical construction that you may see coming out of the ground uh by the end of the

098year. Uh there'll be points for concrete installing some utilities and um currently we're hoping that they will actually start to come out of the ground by the end of the year. Um the utility improvements uh for the off-site work that was done in conjunction with the agreement with the city uh will bid uh next month. We have uh already had pre that that that work is out for bids and it is our hope to bring that first package of that developers agreement uh to the board next month for approval so that we can start to get water and sear lines installed at uh the LHS site in trade winds and Avalon. Uh we also anticipate that at the next board meeting that we'll bring you the second GMP. Y'all approved the first GMP in the

099amount of five approximately $580 million for the two campuses earlier this year. That's what's allowing this construction to be ongoing. Um, we anticipate that this second GMP will be in the 200 million to $240 million range u to uh finish up most of the packages uh that will be required the subcontractor packages that will be required to construct the whole building. Uh there will be still be some miscellaneous things. We're not going to do landscaping right now and some other things that won't be done for now several years. It's impossible to kind of bid those now. Uh but we certainly have allowances and budgets for those things uh in the overall. Uh but this second GMP uh will bring uh we nailed down most of the major subs in that first TMP, but we do

100anticipate getting the mechanical HBAC contractors on board for both sites and the roofing contractors. uh once once we have those GMPS then that um essentially puts the risk for any volatil volatility in the market and for construction prices on the construction manager at risk rather than on the district. So uh that'll be an important step for us to get those locked in. On package number three, that was our first package that included eight elementary schools. I'm not I'm not doing a good job of advancing my >> You're talking about it. >> Yeah. Um sorry about that. Y'all just stop me. Uh ask questions if you want. But the uh we have eight elementary schools in package number three. Uh they uh we did do some sprinkler work this summer on five of those campuses. Uh

101on um Lamar, Houston, and Franks. We we do anticipate One thing I said was uh we do anticipate uh construction on the new entries at uh Lamar, Houston, and Franks to begin after the first of the year. Uh we do anticipate bringing you a final GMP for that uh grouping of schools by um November. And so uh we're uh we're getting close on finalizing the design and having that full-fledged in construction. Package number four is uh our first middle school package. It's Goddard Middle School and Middle and Freshman High School that we converted to middle school. Uh we brought you those bids uh in the August board meeting. We're currently working through the construction contract with at contractor the low bidder and we do anticipate construction to begin next month um at both Goddard and

102Middle and Freshman High School. We did break out a portion of package number five. Uh package number five is Alamo Middle School. Uh but we did break out an early package for that for the multi-purpose buildings at both Alamo and at Abel and the contractors have mobilized on those sites. Uh and we do anticipate those u multi-purpose buildings being constructed between now and January. uh so that we're hopeful that by the start of the semester next year uh they'll be available to the students. Um the uh uh the work at Eleno uh we uh do anticipate uh that it's it's it's actually bidding the end of this month and so that design is done. uh we should get bids in end of the month and it's our intention to bring that package also to you

103in October for approval. Um and uh then that will allow uh construction of the new classroom additions and the new library additions uh to begin uh most likely in January. They'll probably do some preliminary work this semester and get ready over the holidays to get started. Package number eight uh six and seven are completed. Um, page number eight is another elementary school renovation project for elementary campuses, Santaita, Bush, Barbara, and Devala. Uh, that is currently in the design phase and uh it will um hopefully uh anticipate to bid that in the uh late spring of 2026 so that we can start construction on that project in the in the summer of next year. Package number 10. Uh, oh yes, I skipped over. There we go. I hit the button twice. Package number nine is the

104second middle school package. That's Uento and Abel middle schools. Um, that design is currently uh we're just beginning that design work. Uh we do anticipate completing those design by the end of the school year uh next year so that some work can get done in the summer. Package 10 is um four more elementary schools which uh completes all of the elementary schools that that are now a part of a package and also the Midland Alternative Program and Coleman High School. This thing keeps going twice. I apologize. And um and so we uh have architects on board and they're just beginning that design work on those campuses. And finally, package number 11 is uh the that is the final eight elementary schools. So that that covers all of our elementary schools and our middle schools. Now

105um that's architect is working as well and getting started with design. So uh hopefully that gives you a quick update on all the different packages and a lot of activity. Be happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. I have a couple of questions. Did you say this was the 17th district information report on the 2023 bond that we've had? >> Yes, sir. That that was our count every every month. >> 17 months. >> Yeah. I actually asked in one of our meetings couple weeks. >> Let me let me ask him some questions. So, the last time that we spoke, >> it was not the most comfortable conversation. And I don't want to go into a lot right here cuz we're going to speak of it as a board and special meeting. But the

106thing that I would like to ask of of you is also has to do with transparency and a communication plan because the new board members on this board and myself as the only board member that voted against this bond because I had concerns on due diligence were notified three or four weeks ago, right, that there were some issues with pipelines that that easement has calls for six and not just four. And if I remember correctly, for several years, I've asked very specific questions in public meetings in different places about the row work, the utility work, the pipelines. There's been a lot of issues within the community about this specific piece of property that used to be Rancheland. And we are finding out now after the fact that we're going to have to change it up.

107And we're going to build the schools. We're going to build a great school. and we're going to give a great place for these kids at Midland High to have an education because by gosh that's what we're going to do. It's the right thing. But I do think that it is unfair for the new board member. It's not just unfair. It's not going to happen because I will raise absolutely holy hell over this in Midland, Texas. I I'll bring it up. I my goal will be to be on Fox every day at Fox and Friends because I'm not going to let the new board members and the new administration take it in the teeth and lose the good that we have of providing value in improving education. And we're going to do it in public. We're

108not going to sweep it under the rug. Lots of people are going to be mad at me, but we're going to do and all of us make mistakes. I make them every day. You ask my wife. I make tons of them every day. Michael Booker, Tommy Bishop, Katie Joiner, Dr. Howard. I think you were on the internal facilities committee. I've talked to Michael Booker about it. He was never made aware about any easements or extra construction pipelines. I haven't spoken to Katie Jorner, but I'm assuming that was never brought up in the internal Dr. Howard. It was never brought up to you, correct? In the internal uh facilities committees. Correct. >> That's correct. So, this is new information which would have changed the entire process of us as a board determining what the best impact

109and best footprint for Midland is going to be. And I'm very very frustrated with it, but I'm getting over it because I'm an adult and we're going to the the goal is to build these schools and make it better for for Midland kiddos. Young this this is a high school, so they're not kiddos. They're they're young men and women. But I just want that brought up and we will talk about this later, but I want to bring it up in public because I'm absolutely not going to not talk about it in public. We're going to have this conversation in public and we're going to fix it in public and work together in public to make it better in public. That's all. Anybody else have any questions? Dr. Freeze, >> I guess I'll also say that

110um it is the public needs to know. It has come to our attention that we have some very big issues with pipelines at Rancheland, the former Rancheland. And um we don't know, we're still asking lots of questions. We're trying to do due diligence, but it has become very apparent to me that due diligence was never done and uh we're going to do it now. So that's all I have to say at this time. >> I have a little different opinion opinion on that. >> Hold on. I want to just pardon me. something I want you to know, Mr. Edwards, we want again, we're going to fix this in public and we want to the goal is to work together to build the schools to get them built for the kids. I just want that preference

111with that. >> Well, I know that you're in oil and gas, right? >> It doesn't matter. >> Well, well, it kind of does. Well, because I mean I we have all asked questions about this, but if you're in New Orlean gas, you know that the pipeline went through there. You know that um energy transfer. There's there's always been possibilities of having to move it, etc. That's what you do when you do site things. >> Mr. Bson, what year who who originally who originally if we're going to get into this and you want to go oil and gas with me, who originally owned that pipeline? If you really want to do this in public and have this discussion in public, who originally >> I deserve more respect than what you're giving me at the moment. >>

112No, because you're trying to make an argument. And I deserve more respect than what you're giving me. >> Ma'am, I deserve more respect, too. I'm not an idiot. I understand pipelines as well. What is You know what? This is not Germaine. We're moving on. Thank you very much, Mr. Edwards. We're moving on. >> My stuff's never germaine to you. >> Go ahead. >> My stuff's never germaine to you. I'm not going to sit here and get >> I'm not going to argue with you either until you argue back with me. >> Hold on, Brandon. >> Crazy. >> Let Miss Berles speak. Go ahead, Miss Berles. >> I've studied that pipeline a lot with my husband who's an engineer. We've driven it. We've done a lot of things. I think that to put this off on

113anybody, I think it does need to be discussed. I'm not saying that at all. But what I am saying is that we need to quit the argument over it. >> Miss Burlson, I respectfully I I resp I respectful I respectfully disagree. I'm just putting on the record. The pipeline was owned by Centurion Centurion Pipeline. It was bought by Energy Transfer. There were six lines available for that easement. We were only told about four. It's been gone on and we've asked those specific questions and due diligence legally for the from the time that it was purchased. So, we are going to discuss it. We are going to discuss it respectfully. I apologize to you if you feel like I'm not giving the respect that is you did not give me respect. >> At the same time,

114that goes two-way street because I'm not a tw like a 10-year-old kid. I understand pipelines. Thank you, Mr. Edwards. >> I've learned to understand them, too, mister. >> Thank you. >> Do not be rude to me again. I want that on public record. Do not be rude to me. >> Moving on. to agenda item 8, district informationational reports B, student attendance report. >> So, President Hodes, members of the board, Dr. Howard, um, so my team is here to provide a presentation on student attendance. Um, I want you just to know that I appreciate bring you bringing awareness to attendance across the community. It is a problem. It's been a problem for a long time. My team's been working to address the issues, find the the root cause of the problems. And so I'm gonna turn

115it over to Miss Mrs. Warner. >> Good evening, board president Hodgees, board members, Dr. Howard. I'm here with Shioana Glenn from uh leadership coordinator and Cindy Piles, educational I'm sorry, educational executive director of school leadership. and I'm here to present an attendance update. It's anformational report regarding attendance. Oh, I got a click down. I am the worst at this thing. Okay. All right. I'm going to begin with identifying the problems we have identified with our team and then as we go through these presentations, we'll expound on them. So I'm just going to share what they are at the beginning. Um the problems we've identified is chronic absenteeism, inconsistency with attendance intervention plans. Those are um AIPs that process uh that's a requirement for court filing. So it's an important piece. Uh transy court filing frequency

116actually getting the the person in in the courtroom to be held accountable. Um, our attendance rate has consistently been below the state average and below our district target. Currently in our strategic plan under student experience, the target for this year is 94%. Um, last year we finished the year at 92.5%. For that um, attendance rate. Currently though, the good news, our year-to- date attendance for last week was 95.01. 01% and that's up from 94.8% this time last year. So we are seeing an upward trend. So that is some good news. Also we had some processes and procedure changes between the transy courts and MISD and it slowed the process and kind of backed things up. Okay. I'd like to start with defining chronic absenteeism and truency. There's always a lot of um confusion between those

117two terms. Chronic absenteeism. This occurs when a student misses 10% or more of the school year regardless of the reason. Now, this is not having this doesn't count school related absences. Um and then truency is defined when a student misses part or all of 10 or more days in a six-month period. And that is without a valid excuse. So that's the difference between those two. Our truency timeline. Some key events in the last year. Last year we moved from one truency judge and clerk to four. And each of those judges had their own clerk. And they each had their own procedures and processes for try cases. and that did back up the system and cause some miscommunication between campuses. In April, MISD leadership met with the three of the four truency judges and we met

118to establish shared consistent procedures processes for all truency cases. So that was a really positive step. And then even last week, three of the four judges came to our principal learning session and talked to our campus leadership and went through those processes and procedures, shared their expectations, answered questions, and shared their commitment to this cause of getting kids in class and um improving attendance rates. And then also this summer, our judges removed another requirement for try filings, which were home visits by campuses because of safety concerns for staff doing those. That doesn't mean they won't happen. They said contact them and they'll send a constable or someone from their team to do those home visits for us. So, those were some very positive steps moving forward with our courts. Another thing to understand um in

119changes with truency is before 2015 it was it was criminally prosecuted. If you failed to attend school that was criminally prosecuted and we had truency officers. They focused on punishments, fines. They a truency officer was like an attendance enforcer. They emphasized uh addressing that you weren't at school but not the why, just getting you back to school. After 2015, it was decriminalized. It became a civil matter and the law then required truency prevention measures come first before a filing. And Miss Glenn will speak to those um measures a little bit more. the focus became on identifying why kids were absent getting to the root cause as well as the filings and then um we did see a big change across the state and changing even the title. So we went from having truency officers to

120try prevention facilitators or as we had here a truency behavior coordinator and they act as a support. I will now turn it over to Miss Glenn and she is going to discuss the um process and try prevention measures. >> Can before you leave, I want to jump in and ask a question real quick. So on the chronic absenteeism versus the truency, we've got some kiddos that are like at like homebound, right? At is the chron is the chronic absenteeism when they're regardless of whether it's excused or not. >> Yes, sir. Does that bleed over into like a medical condition or >> not? The homebound students are in attendance. >> But are some of the ones labeled like chronic? Is it could it be because of a the beginning of a chronic illness? uh per se.

121I guess >> um I guess it per se it could be typically you know we if we work with the family on that it may be that they ultimately qualify for homebound services or homebased services and then at that point if if we're serving them even when they're at home they are counted in attendance. >> Yes. Yes. >> Thank you. I didn't mean to I would have forgot about that. So thank you. Thank you Dr. Har. Thank you. >> And I'll turn it over to Miss Glenn now. Thank you. Um, last year we created districtwide system systematic responses for transit prevention. In addition to the automatically generated warning letters that go out at 3, five, 7, and 10 unexcused absences, the attendance clerks initiate soft calls at three. Can y'all hear me well? Three unexcused

122absences to offer support and reiterate school attendance policies and procedures. If the attendant if the absences continue, the assistant principles have a formal meeting at seven unexcused absences with the student and the parent um to discuss how to uh further prevent trenies from occurring. This is meant to be a collaborative meeting. So if it is something like a chronic condition that can be addressed and then the assistant principal will follow up uh with the respective departments. Um if at that point the assistant principles review the effectiveness of the plan, the assistant principles run a report weekly uh with their alpha or if it's at an elementary school, the entire school to uh see how the student is doing after the plan is implemented. Um, if the student should meet 10 unexcused absences within a six-month

123period, then we file try charges and at that point the families go to try court within two to three weeks after the court filing. >> I'm going to turn to Mrs. Cindy Piles. Yes, sir. >> I have a quick question. Do we have any data on when we turn them over to truency court? Do we have any data that shows the positive impact of them going through trency court correlating them to starting to attend class more because of them going to truncy court? I do not have that data available, but I can get it to you >> whenever. I just like I'd like to know if we're being affected if that is the most effective way to be able to get these kids back into a learning environment. That's that's it. Thank you very much.

124And this morning just reminded me too, once they are assigned consequences from the court, the court does follow up with them. They have some obligations to the court like they have to submit their attendance to them, their check-ins for any other um additional maybe community service or things like that that were assigned to them. So I just want to take a second and share how our school leadership department facilitates and supports when it comes to attendance. So we look at attendance weekly. All district and campus staff get weekly reports comparing the week of the current year to last year and a running total. When we notice any trends, any, you know, things that we want to address, we work with that campus administration to get to the root of the problem. At a large campus,

125we're looking at things like what period of the day it is, what time, things like that. Do we notice any errors that need to be corrected? Do we notice any trends? um maybe first period, we have students that are showing up late because it's a a family issue or things like that. So, we want to get ahead of that, right? So, when we meet with those campus um students and families, we put in place these intervention plans where we talk about this is the expectation and then we monitor to see if it's improved. Um campuses can utilize things like makeup time, detentions, things like that. But we also have outsourcing agencies that support us. It's very important that we're communicating our expectations to our students and our families about the importance of being in school

126and how we need our students present to learn. We also um recognize those that are doing right. Okay, if they're coming to class, we have reward systems in place for those students as well. And then just to kind of summarize some actions that we have done to date, Miss Glenn is now part of the school leadership team so she can provide onampus support as we notice issues on campuses that we want to address in a timely manner. Um I mentioned we are tracking our attendance weekly so that we can stay on top of it and address needs in the moment. We have a new process related to school related absences. So we are creating those ahead of time. Campuses know that expectation. that's working very well. We are um eliminating some of the barriers that

127were in front of us when it came to filing in the past. Um as mentioned before, a home visit, things like that. The courts have worked with us because they want to partner and have our students in school. So, it's much um a more simplified process to file on those students that we identify to file. We have shared with families on our website and in our campuses what attendance means, how to code attendance and what we um expect of our students and again just that collaboration with our judges. So we are seeing an increase at this point in this year and at this time that concludes ourformational report. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Mr. Hodgees on your data question that's not something we've tracked and we will not be able to get that data.

128to start collecting it. But as in regards to experiences, um I mean as soon as kids go to court, you see an urgency um the day after. So I mean as far as um quantitative quantitative data we could provide that but not not not >> I think we should get a x and y and see what a delta is and then we can actually show it say this makes an improvement and then take it to our court system and say we have this is the data that's trending that this is helpful. We'd like y'all to get >> you have an opportunity for improvement with the district >> and that's data we can start collecting but to to go back and start >> unless it's going to cost us a ton of money. If if if

129it's a huge hiccup, don't do it. We'll talk about it later. Um did anyone have a question? You had a question, didn't you? >> So on the back a few slides it said in 2015 we started focusing on the root cause. Have y'all found what like the main route because it's it's majority high school students, right? Or secondary students is the biggest offenders or is it elementary? >> It it's spread across the district and and there's numerous reasons. you know, when the when the parents come in for those um attendance improvement plans, they share their reasons, but it really it's lack of communication with the schools because if we know of the problem, we can help address that with the family. So, a lot of times they say whatever the reason is, they've been sick.

130Well, they haven't communicated they've been sick or provided doctor's notes. So really if you get down to it, if we have that communication piece, we can improve that attendance. So >> thank you. >> And parents can now submit that online. You whereas they used to have to call, they can submit attendance online. So some of them are using that. I >> have just random question because this is important to get kids to school. Um, have any of the parents or do you see that there's a pattern developed with the difficulty in getting them to a bus stop or transportation provided by the school district to the schools or that's not an issue as far as like where we need to locate bus stops to make it easier? Is that an issue or it's got to

131be a weighted variable somewhere in there? Um I don't have specific data on the bus stop locations but some of some of the families do say that the distance is a problem. Um I I don't have the specific bus data but it is one of the most common reasons that we did do a study on that and it was in the top five but a lot of times um it could be something like they ask for transfer and we don't provide transportation. So it's it's pretty complicated situation you know. >> Yes ma'am. Thank you very much. >> I have a question on let's go back to the slide with chronic absenteeism versus truency. If a child has too many absences and is labeled as chronic absentee, is that how does that going to affect the

132child, the student later on? I mean, is going to be a label or are we going to try to work with the child? What what are we going to do there? >> Well, we don't label them as chronic absenteeism. That's just a legal term. We file on truency. >> Yes, sir. >> It's just a definition. They don't get coded that way or anything. >> And I included it because you hear both terms a lot. So just make sure we all had this shared understanding. >> Yes, sir. And I will tell you as a former student in MISD, I was unaware of the state requirements of attendance until I was made aware after I mean my grades were fine. So it was just now my parents have been telling me for a long time that there

133was a rule, but a tharting compulsory school attendance. >> Hey, don't get me started. Anyhow, thank y'all very very much. >> Thank y'all. >> I move to uh take a 10-minute break, please. President Haj, >> it's been moved and seconded that we take a 10-minute break. All those in favor, raise your right hand. So moved. Be back in 10 minutes. Moving on to agenda item 9A action items or I'm sorry nine action items a discussion of and request for approval of prek 2 grade annual targets to measure for annual board goals in alignment with HP3 early literacy and HB3 early math. Miss Bueno, how are you? >> Good. How are you? >> Good evening, President Hodgees, members of the board, and Dr. Howard. The following presentation will review preK through 2 grade literacy and math

134um baselines and annual targets in alignment with HB3. Sorry. So last month we did review um third grade an alignment right to third grade and so I will review starting in prek. So starting at the bottom the percentage of um prek students who are proficient on prefoundation literacy skills on CLI. Our baseline is set at, sorry I can't see that screen so I have to look at my paper. So our baseline um is set at 7% and our oneyear annual target is 80%. For preK in first grade, sorry, in kinder our baseline is set at 21% and our one-year target is at 60%. In first grade, our baseline um for all students is set at 12% and our one-year target is set at 75%. For our dyslexia students in first grade, our baseline came in

135at 1% and our one-year annual target is at 40%. And in second grade, our baseline came in at 18% for all students and our one-year annual target is at 58%. And for our dyslexia students, our baseline came in at 1% and our one-year annual target is at 40%. In math, starting with preK, our baseline um came in at 19% and our one-year annual target is at 85%. In kind, our baseline came in at 9% and our one-year annual target is at 65%. In first grade, our baseline um came in at 5% and our one-year annual target is at 65%. And for our dyslexia students in first grade, our baseline came in at 1% and our one-year annual target is at 40%. And in second grade, our baseline came in at 7%. And our one-year annual

136target is at 58%. And for our dyslexia students um in second grade, our baseline came in at 1% and our one-year annual target is at 40%. The following slide just displays um our five-year annual targets um for prek through 2 grade. We did review third grade through EOCC's last month. Um so it's the data that I just shared but um then you'll see our five-year annual targets. This is for all students. So starting in preK baseline at 7% and you can see 80% and then moving up um for the next five years. And our last data set is um a review of our dyslexia students. what the baseline came in for our dyslexia students in first and second grade and what our annual targets are um for the next five years for our dyslexia students.

137And at this time we're happy to answer any questions you may have. So, I got I got some questions um kind of with our our pre through 2 grade um group, but I kind of would also like some of this to extend to third to 8th. Um um a lot of it's about kind of screen time and um just overall child development and brain development. And so I kind of I've this is something that I kind of discussed a lot when I was running for this. Um I'm a big believer in, you know, limiting screen time for um our our elementary kids. And so I kind of want to just discuss a little bit about um kind of our how how we're addressing this as a school district. So we have all this uh you

138know targets and everything. how how do we address daily screen use and reading and math um you know with with these targets. So um in our framework so every grade level is different but I can tell you in prek so students engage in a platform um called age of learning that just gives them some foundational skills and some um early math skills and we recommend um anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes a day. So that is our recommendation. That's what's in our framework. Um now on the campus level not sure if you know that they're if they're extending that or having students um engage in that platform more than the recommendation that we're giving. And then in kinder through 2 grade our recommendation for I Ready um which aligns to the data we just reviewed.

139So the kiddos just took a beginning of the year assessment and now a pathway is created for the kids, right? And so we recommend 60 minutes per week. And so that can look different in every classroom. So as teachers are pulling back small group, the kids that are not on grade level that are two or three grade levels below um the kids could engage in a few minutes at a time on I Ready math or on I Ready reading. >> How does this kind of extend into the the upper grades three through six or >> so? Same thing. I can I'll send you that breakdown all the way through. Um but in our frameworks we recommend those minutes as well. I will tell you with I already they do recommend they engage in that platform

140um at least a minimum of 45 minutes if we are going to see any kind of improvement because that pathway is individualized based on their data. Um and the upper grade levels um same thing. they should be using it the same way as they're pooling groups and being strategic um and not sitting in front of the computer engage in these platforms for more than you know 20 30 minutes at a time. >> Is there any way to kind of monitor how not only schools but specific classrooms or you know how much time they're putting kids in front of the screens or and communicating this to parents. >> Yes. Um I know that Apatina has shared that information with us. um earlier where um they can go in and utilize a platform I believe it's called

141gold guardian right >> good evening so um there's a couple ways that the teacher can monitor that usage as well so for example the teacher can go into their teacher Google guardian portal and see how much usage they have in their classroom for that specific student and also for the classes themselves Um, one thing that we've been launching and working through is what is called the guardian parent. Last year we did a pilot site for 40 parents to allow them to give us feedback on this platform. One thing that I didn't want to do was launch something that we didn't feel confident about. So we did kind of a soft launch. We launched it with 40 parents. We received feedback from them. We were very grateful for that because it provided a lot of insight

142on how to make changes to that program. We provided those to the vendor and they have made those changes. Um so currently all our parents can actually access what is called guardian parent where they can see their students um usage or apps. They can also see um they have other functionalities. For example, they can see the type of staff sites for their students use. They can also see um after hours they can block internet usage if that's something that they choose to do at home. Um, and they can also say, okay, well, I only want you to be practicing your I Ready and not anything else on the web. Um, so that tool is available to them. And like I said, my biggest concern was making sure that it was a soft launch, to ensure

143that our parents um did get a good experience with this quarter. >> Um, so I got I have these are kind of some questions that I've gotten from some parents. Um, another another question involves um take-home pages for extra practice and and parent awareness. Um, how can we ensure that this is being done across the district? um just you know just to make sure it's done consistently giving you know the because apparently you know we have workbooks for math and English and I I I think parents would like you know just see >> yeah they would like to see this in in action some of their kids work >> so right now because we set them as recommendations um I mean with your permission or with the board's permission we can um set it as

144a requirement right so those standard forms that will go home for every student instead of the teacher just deciding you know we will send it this week maybe not next week or campus A is sending it and campus B is not but we can just make sure that it is an expectation and clarify um first of all the purpose right and then make sure everybody finds value in it but just with the expectation that they are sending them home >> all right if you have any um way to you know submit that to us I'd be happy to look at it or discuss it. So that's that's all I have. >> Mr. Freeze, a lot of the or most I say most of the parents, I can only speak for myself. You we have access

145to their I Ready as well. So they can work on it at home and you can go through and see what they're actually working on in class cuz a lot of those um programs or math models or whatever it pick when they get home it'll pick up where they left off at school because it's the same login that they use at home and school. So you can as a parent, you can see exactly what they're working on in class as well on the computer side of it. And what I've noticed, you know, I have two boys, both in the third grade. They pretty much come home with the exact same homework every day. Like the take-home pay, like reading homework, it'll be the same vocabulary like for the entire third grade across the board. But

146that that's just at Scarbor. I don't know if that's the same across the district, but >> yeah, I think that's a great question and uh brings up a point that gives us the opportunity to look at what are those best practices, what should people be doing, what should we expect um and and putting those best practices in place uh now that we have consistent resources across every campus. So, we can certainly uh communicate with you how we're going to do that. Well, I think also that habits are built from the lower grades up. And by fifth grade, habits are they're either good or they're bad. And we've got to build those habits so that they're ready for junior high in high school. >> I got one other one real quick. Um, so I noticed, you

147know, that our our prek, you know, we got a goal of 80% uh for, you know, whatever, and then next year it's going to be 85%, then 90%. Well, it seems to me like, you know, the other grades you can kind of build up, but prek, it just seems like whatever our goal is, unless we're building our prek program itself, I just do you have any, um, insight into why we wouldn't, you know, you know what I'm saying? Like why would >> So, um, I do want to share, and I know we had this discussion a few weeks ago, um, is we're going to, um, evaluate the assessment we are giving. So, CLI is one that is approved by the state. Um, but we're just we're going to re-evaluate that and the way that we

148are administering the tests because like we discussed in the past, um, our percentages at the end of prek are really high, right? And then the kiddos move into kindergarten and then we're seeing a drop. So, we want to be consistent across the board. Unfortunately, I Ready is not does not assess prek, but there are a couple of other um assessments that we're going to look into. And so, we're engaging in that work now just to see um or better fit the alignment across the board. >> Anyone else? Miss Burlson Quinn. Somebody got a motion. Motion to approve as presented. Second. It's >> been motioned seconded for this board to vote on action or agenda item nine, action item A, discussion of and request for approval of preK through 2nd grade annual targets to measure annual

149board goals in alignment with HB3 early literacy and HB3 early math. All those in favor, raise your right hand. So moved. Moving on to agenda item nine, action item B, discussion of and request for approval of the superintendent's evaluation timeline template evaluation criteria in accordance with board policy BJC local. Uh, Miss Howard will be presenting this. >> Yes. So, thank you, Mr. Hajes. Um, so a little bit of background which I think everyone knows, but just um to get us started on this. So, uh, with the new board policy that came in play in May of 2025, that prompted a revision of the superintendent timeline as well as the process. So, in alignment with BG uh, BJC local, uh, the template has to align with AE local, BJA local, and BQ local with at least

15050% of the criteria coming from board adopted student outcome goals. also had to be limited to fewer than 15 criteria achievable in one year and evidence-based performance. And so with all of that in mind and then with the transition to a September um appraisal timeline and the requirement for appraisals to to happen at least every 15 months. Uh what I think will work best to kind of walk you through what might look complex is to start with the first attachment which is the timeline. So, um, this timeline typically would outline one year, but because we're in a transition year, I tried to put this on here, um, for both the 2425 appraisal that will occur in January of 2026, as well as the 2526 appraisal that will occur in September of 2026. So, the timeline

151that you have attached in board book um, outlines that first part. of course by December 1 of of this school year would provide the um evaluation form and supporting documents for January of 2026 and then that um evaluation would be at the January regular board meeting. Then as we transition into the new superintendent appraisal process, which um I'll go over both the January and the September after this, uh September 1 of 2026 um is when board members would receive the 2627. The document you actually have says 2526, but it would be the 2627 superintendent evaluation form and supporting documents. Um oh actually it is 2526. So the document you have is correct. Too many years running together. And then at the September 2026 regular meeting would be the evaluation based on the 2526 school year

152that we're in now. So that's the timeline. The next attachment you have is the January 2026 document. Uh this was board approved in October of 2024 based on the board goals that were in place at that time. Uh based on BJC local last year for January appraisal. Um the law requires that superintendents in Texas are evaluated every 15 months. So that's why we've talked about the transition year where there would still be a January then we would get on the September um timeline. Um I did make a recommendation to reduce the current evaluation even though the year is over from 18 plus um and the taper to 11 because there was a real frustration with how many things had to be evaluated. Um, so that's what you see in the January document. Um, nothing was

153added, just some things were reduced to simplify that form. And then the September 2026, of course, we worked through this during a team of eight training. Um, I presented some initial thoughts, asked for your feedback, had some real good discussion around that. So then I tried to take everything I heard and and what we talked about and what you seem to come to some consensus on and put that into the September 2026 evaluation document. This one is aligned to the new board goals. Um and this um is takes seven criteria. So the maximum was 15. There's two sections. Section one, which starts on page two of the handout, outlines the board goals related to student academic outcomes. And so I'll kind of talk through that. There are six areas that um indicators if you will.

154So one, overall reading and ELA results. So for students in grades three through eight star in English one and English two, the percentage of students scoring meats or higher will improve from 25 from the 25 baseline of 46. So that's indicator one. If that's met, there's a check mark and we move on. Um if in the event that isn't met, then when averaging all students in the tested grade levels, the board shall review the scorecard for each grade level 3 through 8 and English one and two. So then we would look at third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade. If 50% of the tested areas met their their annual targets which you approved at last month's board meeting andor 75% of the tested areas saw improvement from 25, then the indicator would be considered met. So

155again, number one has one check mark either way um or one not met if that were to be the case. Um number two is exactly the same, but this is overall math results. Number three is overall reading ELAR but this is specifically for students served through special education including dyslexia. This is for students K8 and measured by I ready performing on grade level will increase from 10 to 30%. And then again in the event the overall results do not improve looking at the individual grade levels to see if 50% of those met their annual targets or 75% improved. Number four is the exact same thing but for math. Um again students serve through special education and including dyslexia. Uh number five is um I tried to take on this one. We talked about accountability. We

156talked about board goal B. Uh so tried to take some different indicators. There's different ways that we see accountability improve. And so number five would be accomplish one of the three indicators related to accountability. So uh the first opportunity for success there would be accountability rating improves from a 72 to a 75. Percentage of campuses with domain rate domain one rating of B or better goes from 22 to 27 or the percentage of AB campuses increases from 38 to 45. So if any one of those or more were met, then a number five would be met. Number six, CCMR. uh when we went back and revisited the special services and dyslexia, I u took into account some conversation that Dr. Freeze shared about advanced academics and and things like that. And so with the CCMR,

157this is another one that um at least 89 for the class of 2025, which is the 2026 accountability ratings. If that happens, then that indicator is met. In the event that the overall score is not met, then the board could look at these next four indicators. If half of them are met, um the annual targets because you said annual targets for these or if 75% of the metrics improved. And so those um right below that it talks about there are six areas in section one to calculate section one each area would receive uh met or did not meet. So um if five of the six met that would be 75% and so that would be uh masters. I was asked to align these to the approaches meets and masters. Uh three to four of the

158six were met. It would be a met standard. Two of six would be approaches and one of six would not meet standard. And then um exhibit or um section two which is the other area um on page seven. This was one we had discussion about. I actually had I think four different areas uh when we had our budget not budget not budget workshop our team of eight training. Um and there was some discussion about what you know I actually had control over versus what sometimes you don't have control over. And so, um, I landed on this one related to because I think this is very critical work for us this school year and, uh, work that that's going to be, um, front and center for the district as we prepare a budget for next year.

159So, with that, I'm glad to answer any questions. Um, you do have, we attached the scorecard. It's completely blank. We just wanted to show you an example of when it comes time for you to receive the appraisal package, you would get a scorecard. Um I think it's the last attachment. Um and each of those, you'll see the six indicators there. They would each have a, you know, a check mark, yes or no. Um just like you used um last year. >> Any questions? I I'll I've got a few comments on it and I appreciate I know there's been a lot of work and back and forth on this. The team of eight meeting I had strep throat but we had gone back and forth prior to and then on email uh talked to some other

160board members about it. I really appreciate the fact that we've gone back in and put dyslexia in there. I think that's a really important component on it for me personally and I it's so what I was my expectations on the simplicity that I think this is too complex. I think it we talked about it earlier today and I don't I think that there are ways to get this shortened down into a one or two page document for for us to do the evaluation on it. uh you know the Texas education I'm trying to look at the Texas education code uh subsection subsection 11.2013 and subsection 21.354 require us to conduct an annual appraisal to ensure alignment with district goals student outcomes and overall governance. And I think that this we're we're in the I think

161we've got some a good framework here. I think we're going in the right direction, but I think that this is pretty complex document and I think that we can simplify it and that's just my in all due respect on it. We've talked about it. That's just where I'm at on it. So, that's just where I'm at. Anyone else have any comments, questions, concerns? >> No, I I uh I appreciate you uh going over it with us and explaining it to us. I think this is exactly what we asked for in that team of eight training. Okay. >> Um I mean in the team of eight, we this is exactly what we asked for in my opinion. Uh somebody may have something different, but I think this is what we asked for. >> That team of

162eight training, you know, we went back and forth on this and I went on a pretty uh got pretty intense on dyslexia. I mean, it's uh something I'm serious about, passionate about. That was really my hangup on it is at first we didn't have anything in there and I'll say it again sometimes I feel like we leave those kids behind because they are uh more challenging students to teach. So I mean that was really my hangup on it. So I mean I I kind of agree with Booker on this one. This is kind of what we came up with you know. Well, and I tried I know some of the language is wordy, but I also know that one of the things that um we talked about is making it very clear. So, when we're

163when you're sitting around in August and September trying to decide did this happen or not, it's not now what did that mean and what did we say about that. So, I tried to be very clear in the language and uh worked very closely with Miss Bueno um on how would we pull that data? Can we pull that data? That's why you see I ready reference because otherwise how are we going to measure how our dyslexia students did? It's we have to say where we're going to track that data and pull that data from. Um and so her team created that scorecard which when we have data that scorecard can be calculated and provided to you. >> I think it's important. Sorry miss go ahead. I just think it's, you know, this is the first year

164we're going to or it'll be next year, but it's first time we're going to do this. So, I'm sure after going through it the first time, we'll realize like, h this didn't work too well. And there'll be things you want to change on your end, but I can tell you just by looking at it over the last week, this is a lot better than what you have right now. I mean, >> it's more object. It was more objective instead of subjective. But, um, I also want to say that team of eight training was a great day. the five of us that attended um or six of us that attended really work together on this document to get clarification for you and your um cabinet to figure out what it is that we want to see

165as a board to actually give you a really good a a good evaluation on what the student outcomes are in the district. So, I appreciate all the work that's gone into this. >> Thank you. So again, I'm glad to answer any questions. Otherwise, I would recommend approval. And I will say, Mr. Gwen, that was my mistake because when we were talking about this dyslexia, um there was a conversation about do we put them in the annual targets or not. And so that was just my misunderstanding of yes, we put them in there and yes, we want it on here. So glad to have corrected that. >> I move that we accept this. Second. >> It has been moved and seconded. That the agenda item 9B, discussion of a request for approval of the superintendent's evaluation

166timeline template and evaluation criteria in accordance with board policy BJC local uh be voted on and approved by this board. All those in favor, raise your right hand. >> I think you can still >> All those in favor, raise your right hand. Let's do that again. All those in favor, raise your right hand. Okay. Motion moves. >> I I'd like to I was going to comment before we voted, but I didn't get to because somebody motioned, but I got a couple things. >> Well, we're moving on because I asked specifically on that and then there was a motion on the floor and we voted. So, we're move we're going to come back at it at the end of it, but >> we often get to comment after the >> Go ahead, Dr. Freeze. >> All

167right. Um, so some of these, you know, we just get one of the three and I would really just like to encourage you to like part five, shoot for all of them. >> Oh, absolutely. >> So, um, I will give extra points if you get >> Well, you know, and I had some discussion with all of them >> with some of, you know, you throughout this process and, you know, some some of people are like, can we do that? I'm like, you know, we set the target. But it's kind of like when you decide you're going to lose 10 lbs. When you set out to lose 10 lbs, you expect to do that. You try to do that. You do all the things and sometimes you lose eight and sometimes you gain five. Um, so

168this is one of those things. That was a bad analogy, but it's a true analogy, right? And so it's one of those things to your point. We have even more areas that we're working on than are outlined in here, but these uh we tried to be very clear, but make no mistake that if it says I would like to hit all three of the the one on number five and I'd like to hit all of them on the CCMR and we'll actually be covering this with um our principles tomorrow so everybody's on the same page. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Moving on to agenda item nine, action item C, discussion of and possible approval of the 2526 tax rate. Mr. Durham, how are you? >> I'm doing well. And yourself? >> Great. >> Good.

169Good evening, President Hajes, members of the board, Superintendent Howard. This evening, the administration brings the recommendation for the board to adopt a tax rate for the 2025 um tax rate. Before we move forward with the proposal, I just wanted to provide a brief overview um in regards to some of the statutes along with providing some scenarios as well. So in order to increase the M tax rate um which is above the maximum compression rate and the five additional golden pennies that the board of trustees has adopted that would require a veer known as a voter approved tax code election. TEA sets the MCR on an annual basis based off the district's property value growth and then they also make sure that no district in the state of Texas has less than 10% um from the

170top um tax rate in order to ensure um all districts have an equity along with the basic aotment could be adjusted downwards if a district does not levy its maximum tier one tax rate. Um the question might be is what is it exactly the tier one tax rate? The tier one tax rate is comprised of the maximum compression rate that is approve that is um um provided by TEA on an annual basis that is subject to recapture. And then there's two additional components um to the overall M tax rate um under tier 2. The first one is level one um which has your eight golden pennies. the board of trustees is able to adopt five of those golden pennies prior to um having to go out to the voters um to adopt the three additional

171golden pennies. Um the other nine pennies um are known as copper pennies and those copper pennies are subject to recaps. Um and so it shows on the very bottom that in order to access the three additional golden pennies along with the nine additional copper pennies that would require a voter approved um election to take place. So, one thing I wanted to provide to you all tonight is four different scenarios. One scenario is going to be based off the proposed tax rate that you will see later this evening. The second is a 10% increase. Um the third is a 10% decrease. And then the fourth is what the maximum m um tax rate could be. Um and the maximum m along with the 10% increase would require a voter approved um election. Um, so one thing

172I just wanted to mention is you'll notice on the proposed um, the net state and local revenue is right at $281 million and the percentage of our tax collection that are recaptured are approximately 23.73%. If you move over to the right slightly to the 10% increase that would require a voter approved tax rate election, the net the net state and local revenues would increase by approximately $21.8 million. However, the overall recapture calculation um would also increase slightly to 24.21%. That would show an overall tax rate of 69.45 cents. And then you can see that um you have your MCR provided by TEA. You also have the eight golden pennies. Three of them would require the voter approval along with copper pennies. Those copper pennies are going to be subject um to recapture um that the

173golden pennies are not. Um if you go right um slightly the 10% decrease um you will see a decrease in the overall um net revenues by approximately 35.8 million and then recapture collections increases by approximately 28.7%. Um this would have a total um overall tax rate of 56.82 cents. Um you can see on the MCR that I do have um that is essentially a negative um penny um in there and that's because it is less than the current maximum compression rate provided by TEA and the district will be penalized if we do not um adopt the total tier one tax rate. Um the fourth and final one that I wanted to provide is the maximum M um tax rate. So districts are eligible um to go and receive an additional 17 pennies on top of

174the MCR with voter approval. And so this is going to be taking that entire um 17 cents into consideration. That would be approximately a $30.8 million increase. the recaptured collections um would increase by approximately um 27.38% with the overall total tax rate um for the M side of 75 cents. With that being said, I I wanted to um go over what is being proposed this evening. Um so you can see that there are three columns. Um the left column just um outlines exactly what each row represents. The middle column is the total tax rate for the 202425 fiscal year. And then the far right one is the proposed 2025 2026. Um you will see that the overall total M tax rate um is a slight decrease of 63.14 um cent and overall that's a three

175and a half cent decrease. And so the total tax rate that the administration is recommending this evening is an overall tax rate of 84.15. This is a graph that shows the historical tax rates. So, you can see um tax year 2025 is the lowest that it has been um in the past decade. Um and I would assume that it would continue um trending downwards as the state continues to compress tax rates across the state of Texas. I wanted to provide some insight in regards to the um required language and motion this evening. This is also on the um board ordinance. So even though that it does state that the tax rate is a 2.04% increase, the overall tax rate is reduced by 3.55 cents, the district is required to state the tax rate will raise

176more taxes when compared to the previous year. And we're also required to have this posted on our homepage of the district's website. Um we will receive additional tax collections this year um based off the uh current M tax rate. However, that is because the values increase. We are at the minimum for what TEA has set our maximum compression rate along with adopting the five golden pennies that are not subject to recaps. And at this time, the administration recommends the board of trustees adopt a maintenance and operation tax rate of 63.14 cent and an interest and syncing tax rate of 21.01 cent for a total tax rate of 84.15 cents per $100 valuation. >> I have a question. go back to your copper p golden pennies copper pennies on there please on that. Will you at

177some point provide we used to have a what the dollar amount was on those pennies that we did not have to go to voter approval for versus what we do. I think Daryl, you were here at the very end, but it gives the board the option to just see this penny, these three pennies equates to $4 million, whatever the number comes out to, but just like be able to show what that amount is on when those pennies leave. >> Do you remember that that graph that he had? >> I do not remember that off the top of my head, but >> I'll find it and send it to you. It was just a good visual for the board to have on the on the golden pennies versus copper pennies. And that's all I had. >>

178I do have a question. Probably should have asked you when you called today. So, right now we're in a $7 million deficit, right? >> That is correct. due to fiscal cliff of esser funds going away and formula transition grant ending at the same time. It wasn't lack of of the board doing the deficit. So we've been working through that for two years last year and now this next year we're working through it this year. So we're still at 7 million. Correct. >> Correct. >> And then they're cutting three and a half cents out. So how much less is that going to be in our budget this next year compared to what we had? >> So it doesn't change the overall net revenue >> because it tax appraisals. >> Well that but what what happens is

179if you have everything as a constant and values do not increase and your tax rate just shifts downwards. Um what happens is our overall recapture would also decrease. >> Okay? So it's going to be equal. So we still only have seven million to cut this year. >> 7.8 million. 7.8. >> So I I want to clarify something and if I'm wrong, Tucker, clarify for me. But the tax rate that you're being presented tonight and asked to approve was the tax rate that we prepared the budget on. So when you saw had the budget hearing back in June, um we talked about what we expected the tax rate to be. And so it's just that we can't adopt it until September. And so this tax rate doesn't have it. I I shouldn't say it doesn't have

180implications, but there will be a new tax rate for next year based on all of the all of the revenue and projections and values and compression rates and things like that. Does that make sense? Did I say that anywhere close to right? >> Yes. Yes. No, ma'am. You did. Yeah. Um one thing um I will clarify though is that the um that was adopted this year was based off um the projected um um values. The values have increased um and then that has also decreased the maximum compression rate and so there is a slight variation. However, the overall net revenue which is really important for budgeting purposes um has has remained um fairly constant. If anything, um, it has it has increased slightly >> because of the offsets >> and then so we're good there

181on the offsets. >> I have a question. >> This would be a lagging indicator. Okay. >> Uh, go to the motion page. Th This is out of everything you said today, this is the part that bothers me the most. So the motion reads, >> I'm not motioning this. I'm just It says, "I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of tax rate of 0.8415, which is effective at 2.04% increase in the tax rate. The problem I have with that is last year the tax rate was 877. This year it's 8415. So that's a decrease of three55 cents, right? Three cent three and a half cents. So, I think it's important. I guess we have to the state requires us to motion it like that based off the property valuations, right? The

182appraisals. >> Well, well, >> I guess my question is why would the state have us sit here in lie of the community that it's a tax rate increase when it's not? So, so the way that that motion is calculated in the two um run at 2% increase is going to be based off the um truth and taxation um worksheet that was provided in the board document and that shows the no new revenue tax rate for M purposes. Um in my personal and professional opinion, the biggest issue with that for Texas school districts is it doesn't matter what that no new revenue rate um actually shows on a worksheet. The state of Texas tells you what your maximum compression rate is going to be and it would be financially irresponsible for the school district to not

183also um tack on the enrichment pennies. Um especially for MISD, ours are five um golden pennies that are not subject to recapture. So let's say for instance we did not move forward with the five golden pennies. We would just be losing out on money. we would still have to send back a lot of money to the state in the form of recaps. >> So the state >> he doesn't know why they >> the state sets a floor and a ceiling for us for the school district. >> Could you go to that one slide with that plus 10 minus 10 real quick? So this kind of this scenario I I asked Mr. Mr. Durham to kind of put together a scenarios where if if you know he we got our proposed rate just say we we

184you know it is lower than last year significantly. I think the M part of it if we actually raised it up 10% from where it is this year we would be paying almost $10 million more in recapture if we raised our taxes. So even if we raise taxes off this number, we're paying, you know, we don't even get to keep it all. It's going to the state. So I think uh the community needs to be aware of that we're really handicapped if even if you want to raise taxes. I do not. I'm a very fiscally conservative person. Um but and then at the same time it shows, let's just say we wanted to decrease our taxes. Well, for some reason we decrease your taxes, seven million plus gets sent back to the state for recapture.

185So if we decrease our taxes, they take more, even more. So, you know, Mr. Durham has found kind of this sweet spot where the formula puts you and it's essentially the state kind of dictates where we need it we need to be for taxation given our recapture status. Um, again, this is this is and then even this language, it's very dishonest. Our state government is forcing us to be dishonest with this motion. It it's just very sad. We need better state government. It's It's not good. That's all I have to say. Go ahead. Did you Did y'all have anything I'm just going to say I I I'm absolutely for your budget or what have you, but and I'm a lot of things, but I am 100% not a liar and I won't vote on it

186just because it doesn't matter if the state it doesn't matter who comes down here tells me I have to vote for it. The math does not equate to the statement. Therefore, I will not vote for it. I'll do a motion and then roll the dice and take the heat if there's heat on it. But I just it's not against what you're doing. It's not against what Howard's doing or the sport is doing. It's just a matter of principles and I'm not I won't budge. State or not, I fought the state lots. Plan on fighting them again in a different scenario soon. >> Motion to approve as presented. Second. >> It has been motioned and presented to approve agenda item nine, action item C, discussion of and possible approval of the 2025 2026 T tax tax

187rate. All those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Moving on to the next agenda item. Agenda item nine, action item D, discussion of and request for approval of budget amendment number two. Mr. Durham, >> trustees, this evening, the district brings >> You better pull something real good. Robert's been on the ball tonight. So's Miss Bueno. I'm just saying. No pressure. >> I didn't know my other numbers weren't good enough. >> I appreciate that. Um trustees, the this evening the district um is recommending um approval of budget amendment number two. The majority of this budget amendment is going to be addressing crossf functional transfers um already budgeted funds. However, um whenever budget owners um want to move money from one of their functions to another in order to better categorize their expenses, um it

188does require board approval. Um this budget amendment also um taking into consideration a donation of $4,000 um that has increased the revenues along with increasing um the expenditures for a net difference of zero. Um and then um one of the large items um specifically on the CNS um fund is they are requesting approval to transfer a portion of their fund balance to cover allowable expenses. um that was specifically outlined in a TEA approved spending plan um that was submitted um I believe 18 to 24 months ago um and is still being addressed in order to reduce the excess net cash resources. Um so prior to this past year um the CNS can only um keep up to three months of operating expenditures um within their fund balance. However, TDA did increase that up to six

189months. Um, however, we do have sufficient funds in there that we need to continue addressing some of our capital um outlay um for the nutrition program in order to um get back up to par from whenever we were um outsourcing. So, at this time, the the administration recommends the board of trustees approve budget amendment number two as presented. >> I move we approve as presented. >> Second. There's been motion second to this board to approve as agenda item n item discussion approval budget amendment number two. All those in favor raise your right hand. Motion moves. Let me redo that while I'm on the mic real quick. This board just voted unanimous approval for agenda item nine, action item D, discussion of and request for approval of budget amendment number two, and it was approved unanimously.

190Please take note, Mr. Secretary. Thank you. Moving on to the next action item uh 9E, discussion of impossible action to approve a resolution certifying compliance with Texas Education Code subsection 11.0528.22H. O22H regarding prohibitions on diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, duties and to achieve the superintendent to submit the required annual certification to the Texas Education Agency on or before September 30th, 2025. Mr. Sado, that was a I feel like I Yes, sir. So, we recommending the approval of the resolution certifying compliance with TE Texas education code regarding prohibition on diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI duties and to authorize the superintendent to submit the required annual certification to TEA on or before September 30th, 2025. Some action items that I want to speak on that the board has taken and also uh district administration for you guys

191uh adopted a policy back in May uh policy AIB local. uh that specific policy prohibits the use of tools such as equity audits uh which are commonly associated with DEI. It also restricts the district from establishing a critical race theory or systemic systemic discrimination ideology office again associated with DEI. Uh the hiring of CRT SBI specific staff, the creation of programs or requiring DEI statements as part of the hiring process. Um, in addition to that, uh, district administration added to our employee handbook language that includes, uh, restricting DEI um, uh, duties or items. Also, as part of the 89th legislative uh, uh, updates and policy revisions, uh, our technology department and human capital department audited district practices and documents tied to these requirements. The review confirmed that no prohibitive practices are in place. So at

192this time, if you have no questions, um I will ask your motion to approve this item. >> I'll move I'll move to approve. >> Is there a second? Oh, there there was a motion. Angel, Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Booker, you want to second that since you >> second. It has been moved and seconded. This board approve as recommended by the district. Agenda item nine, action item E, discussion and possible action to approve a resolution certifying compliance with Texas Education Code. Subsection or section 11.05 and 28.022H O22H regarding prohibitions on diversity, equity, and inclusion DEI duties and to authorize the superintendent to submit the required annual certification to the Texas Education Agency on or before September 30th, 2025. All those in favor, raise your right hand. So moved. Uh do we have any business in close session?

193We do not have any business in close session. So, we're we have a motion to adjurnn. >> There's been motion and second that we adjourn this meeting of the Midland Independent Board of Trustees. All those in favor, raise your right hand. So, move this meeting is adjourned. Thank you'all very much.