Regular School Board Meeting - July 17th, 2025

001Good evening. The time is 6 p.m. on July 17, 2025. I call this regular meeting of the Rockport Fton Independent School District to order. Let the record show that a quorum of board members is present that this meeting has been duly called and notice that this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act Government Code Chapter 551. begin the meeting with a prayer led by Trusty Bo. Please rise. Dear Lord, our father in heaven, we take this time to thank you for all the gifts you have showered upon us in the past, for the gifts we now have, and we thank you for the gifts we will receive in the future. Thank you. We also want to ask your guidance in helping us tonight to say the wise words, take the

002correct actions and make the right decisions that will result in the best benefit of our for our students and employees of Rockport Folton ISD. Finally, dear Lord, we ask that you give relief to those who suffered in the flood of July 4th. Please give them peace and make them whole. As we learned in Psalm 34, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord deliverth him out of them all. Thank you, dear Lord, and may your will be done. Amen. All right, we'll move uh to item four, district celebrations. Dr. >> All right, so introduction of the new administrators. We're actually going to bring them next week. Some of them are closing on houses and other things, and I was like, "No, I need you to get a house." So, we're actually going to

003move our new administrators to next month to celebrate and introduce them. And then I want to start with a huge recognition. Um, I would like to say a huge huge thank you. And if our maintenance crew, custodial crew, um, operations who have joined us tonight, will you please stand up and stay standing? Stay standing. Um, Mike Noatne leads this group and I don't want to just thank them for the the typical summer work that they do, which is amazing and they have to get it done in a short amount of time and work around all of us, but I want to say thank you for the extra movement. There's been a lot of extra things that we have asked your team to do this year. remove fences, paint very old classrooms, move furniture, all to

004make our district the best that it can be right now. And I want you guys to know and I want you to know our administrators, our central administrators and and our board see that this is a lot of work in the summer and we put all that extra work on you guys and all I ever see is smiles and thank you. What do y'all need? the moment we make a call within minutes a a table shows up with chairs. Um, so I just wanted to take tonight to specially thank you in front of our board for all of the work that you do to get us ready and all this extra work. And Mr. Noatne, would you like to say anything? Yeah, first off, uh I know it's been tough this year on the custodians

005because they've had to deal with construction over at high school and Fulton. I know people probably walked on their floors after they just cleaned them and dealing with all the dust. So, I appreciate y'all for being patient with us and helping us out getting everything's looking great. Fton looks great, high school looks great, all campuses look amazing. So, I appreciate all y'all maintenance. I know we had a plan and sometimes stuff comes up. So, I appreciate y'all being flexible and being able to get stuff done. One thing that Dr. Ross mentioned was the furniture. That was huge. So, I appreciate y'all knocking that out. Um, building a wall. I know Kyle there had to build a wall that he we did not intend to do and he they they knocked it out. So, appreciate it.

006And yeah, you guys are great. Uh, also transportation. Uh, had summer drivers. So, also appreciate anybody that helped out that uh with that. And then our tech team has been great. They've been dealing with construction, too. There's some things that are on the district to do and we've been able to get all that going, hanging panels and so just really appreciate everything you guys do. Y'all are also involved with the furniture move. So, just thank you to everybody involved. So, so not only do we want to thank them tonight, but next week we're going to do something special and have a lunch where we're going to bring food um just for you guys. I know Mike just made some smashburgers or something. and he didn't invite me, but no hard feelings. We are going to

007get our team together at Central to make sure that we provide lunch for you guys as a thank you as well. So, bring your appetite that day. I won't cook. I'll just buy some stuff. Thank you guys. Yes, I would. Thank you. Please come up for a picture because then tomorrow I will be emailing the entire district your picture with us. Don't leave yet. I know that you're so you're ready for it. Come on up. Mike, this one light in the middle is like blinding most of us up here. It really is. All right, that brings us to agenda item number five, public comment. Miss Hill, do we have any? All right, no one's We'll move to agenda item six, board of trustees. Any committee reports, board? >> Not addressing later. >> All right, move

008to item 7A, bond 2022 project update. We have teal construction and clay comb with this. I have turned the microphone on before. It's not often though, so I'm a little rusty. Okay, good evening. Um, it's nice and toasty outside. Summer's summer's going on, so we got a lot going on. Uh, my PowerPoint. >> There you go. Right. Right here. She's got it. Okay. Yeah, no worries. Okay. Yeah, we can we can get started without PowerPoint. We'll go in. There we go. Perfect. Okay. All right. So, we'll just go ahead and jump right on into um I'm trying to jump right on in. There we go. Okay. We'll just go ahead and jump right on into Rockport Fton High School. Um I made a slight change to this sheet. You'll notice that after project progress, it

009says billing. Um mentioned that a couple times, but I do want to be clear that it's 70% of the dollar value has been build and uh so far that's 27.3 of the 39.24 million. Uh currently scheduled substantial completion is February 2026. And to be clear on that, that is the there's work that needs to be done after your building is turned over to you. There's older buildings that were they're going to be demolished and additional paving and uh driveways and landscape are going to be installed. That's that's what the February means. Um there we go. You want to go ahead? Yes. So last month um you see on the front of the school there's it's called green girth. It's the metal building or it's the metal panel support system and insulation system. Uh that is

010been installed and still working on some of that. Trying to wrap that up. Um bunch of interior drywall. There's some painting that all painting. We're also hanging some rock in uh the fine arts area, wrapping that up and starting to get finishes on on that that area. Um continuing the glazing installation. Um we've got some waiting on our storefront doors, but all the other storefront windows have been installed. Uh on the second floor. Uh we've got um one opening that is open still as we are still loading materials up onto the second floor. Uh that all that loads next week and then so the following week all that gets closed up. Um let's see, wall tile. >> One other thing that happened last month is we tested your windows and they passed. So >> um

011wall tile installation wall tile started in the restrooms and around the restroom so we can start working on getting pictures hanging in the restroom. And then the uh see some concrete got poured up in the front and sight work uh your entry drive in the front. Um and all your some curb work is on there. Um, and then a whole lot of all the MEP stuff, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, contining, all the overhead and and rough in um trying to get ready to start hanging pictures. Um, lots of light fixtures hanging uh and lights on. Um, we started up some HBAC units. They're not currently running as of today, but they've been started up in anticipation of us turning them on. Uh, we'll probably turn those on and have AC working in the building. So that's

012a big milestone for us. Um and that's continuing on into this month. So we started that startup process and we continue on with that. Um we uh like I said, we've got window open in the second floor. So next week you'll start to see all your mill work uh for you've got to have HBAC on in order to start delivering all your um finished materials, mill work, things of that nature, ceiling tile. And so once that happens, we can start delivering more and ceiling tiles and things like that for us. Uh and so all that is happening starting next week. Very exciting. Um as soon as that stuff's delivered on the set before it starts getting installed. Um you're continuing all the installation of all your site work at front of the school. Uh we

013won't no longer have to use the back entries into the auditorium. We'll fix up the front entry to the auditorium. So, we'll have access there by time should show back up. Um, and we'll start and we'll pull our fence back in uh in the parking lot in the front parking lot. It will uh to allow some better flow of traffic obviously once as we're getting back. Um, lots of paint going on. Um, we've actually done some uh we'll finish up the exterior glazing. We started a bunch of interior glazing framework. So, we'll start a bunch of interior glass. showing up. Um, and we're moving out of we're moving wrapping things up on rough end uh in area AB and A1 which is your classroom wings and the fine arts area. We've guys have already moved

014into the athletic area and so we're you'll start to see more activity happening in those areas to try to keep keep on schedule and keep those pushing forward. So here's a picture of some wall tile installation. This is in your fine arts area. Um, you're going to have wall tile on your corridors throughout the space. Uh, interior painting. This photo was taken by me two weeks ago. It's further along than this and there's more wall tile up. Uh, this is this photo was for prep for the main entry driveway. Um, this photo was taken I think late last week. That that driveway has been poured and it looks good. Um, and then this is prep for the metal panels as what Damon was mentioning. It's the there are the girts that the metal panels attach

015to. So, as you know, the next step after that is metal panels and you start looking like you've got, you know, a really classy main entrance. Uh, any questions on the high school before we move on to elementary? Okay. Project status. Um, billing wise, it's 94% has been authorized. 12.1 of the 12.87 million. Um, and it is substantially complete. Uh, that does not mean that there is nothing left to be done, but it does mean that we've got to the point where they're they're waxing floors right now um to get ready to move in. Um, and I'm going to make a slight correction. I should have put substantially complete for all three areas um because they're all in that commission where there is still work to be done. There there's tile that needs to be

016corrected. There's um small troubleshooting that needs to happen throughout throughout the building. Um go on to the summer. So, uh lots of focus in the renovation area all last month. Uh getting it across the finish line. So, all your mill work um all your flooring uh all your ceiling tiles, lights, got your HVAC working in there. Um still working on those things out, but all that stuff's working. Um, and we also continuing to work on punchless item in all the other areas as that stuff's going on. And that will continue uh as we try to get out of there as possible so that students can have the space and use it what it's intended for. Um, and then continuing on just that continued punch list and also we're painting exterior ste. Uh, most of that

017is on the back of the building, but there is some on the front entry that gets painted and on the 600. >> Did we get a CO? We do not have a CO yet. Fire was scheduled for Wednesday. He's scheduled for Wednesday because it was Monday, correct? >> It was Tuesday initially. The fire has to have his designer on site allow him to be there Wednesday. So that's >> So Wednesday he's coming out and then you say it's really quick to get a hold of Fulton and get him out there. >> Fton's already been on site. They've already passed it. >> So we're just waiting for that and then they'll issue the CO. >> Yes, ma'am. Okay. >> So, um couple couple of shots here. Uh this is the corridor in the renovated area class

018renovated classroom area. And then, uh these are some of the classrooms. Uh these photos were taken last week. There's even been more done since then. Uh I know that the district is in there installing interactive display panels and uh there's some other cleaning that's going on as well. Um wax waxing for sure. Um, any questions? Thank you. Appreciate it. >> I just wanted to remind the board um just like with Fulton, we're getting to the point uh with at the high school that you're going to start seeing some large ticket items come to the board for approval. Uh it's normal that's outside of the of the u claycomb and teals jobs u and we put that on ourselves. So that's kind of like your furniture and things like that. So just be looking for that

019in future board meetings. Any other questions? All right, we'll move to item 7B, annual transportation report. Mr. Douglas, >> I'm here. >> Good evening. Um, got a short uh some short uh slides for you to take a look at. Um, I'd also like to uh go over uh thanking my staff. Um it's I I think about uh the challenges that they face and you know when I get the pleasure of uh driving myself I get to I get to uh experience those same pleasures um and challenges. Um it always uh amazes me when we have rain scheduled that uh we'll be in the break room and right before we have to go out walk out to the buses it starts pouring down rain. So, I don't know who schedules that or how that happens, but

020it seems to happen more often than not that uh we're we're we're walking through the pouring rain and uh you're you're soaked when you get to the bus. So, it's uh it's definitely got some challenges there and uh they do a fine job of um representing the district and transporting the students of Aranis County. Uh and I'm very proud very proud uh to represent them. Um, got some short facts here for you to uh take a look at. Um, I always like to point out our uh square our square miles are much greater than our neighboring districts. Um, so that always comes into play on how many miles we have to run and how much diesel we have to we have to burn up in CNG. Um, here's our um what uh the TEA requires

021us to say. how many students that we've uh served. That's actually uh in the morning and the afternoon kind of combined the way I have to report that. So, it's kind of skewed a little bit. Uh I kind of I looked up and saw that uh we're transporting just over a thousand every afternoon. Um is is what it works out to. So, I think that's probably a little better uh representation than the uh than the 1,800 number there. Here's our our CNG is still running us $1.75 uh from the city and uh you can see our usage there the last several years and uh uh for comparison there also our diesel number uh how much we've been using and our approximate cost per gallon there that we have. Um here's our miles on our bus

022fleet. Um, we're creeping up just a little bit, but I I think we'll improve. There's uh we're uh we have an auction coming up and I think we'll be uh selling some of those high mileage buses uh here in the next four to six weeks. So, that'll improve there. I think that'll take u two of those buses that have over 200,000 miles off our off our rolls there. So, we'll be uh reducing all those numbers will get reduced here for you next year, I'm sure. There's our aging schedule showing uh every bus we have and how long we've had them and their current mileage. And just to wrap it up, uh right now we don't have any buses on order. Um I think my number of open driver positions um increased one yesterday unfortunately. Uh,

023so I think we have three open driving uh driver positions. And then I wanted to uh bring up our new wrapped activity bus. Um, I think there was some concerns going in that um there one group would get to use it over another group and uh that's not the case. I'm I'm very proud to say that, you know, every every imaginable group we've we've uh had a chance to take them in that uh in that bus. Um, we've wrestling. I mean, I just go on and on. We We've taken every group. Uh, I had it. Let me see. How many trips did we have? I had it written down here in the new bus. We had it was a little over 120 uh trips in the new bus this this past school year. So, we're

024getting some good use out of it and uh we get uh great reactions wherever we go and uh the younger kids especially uh they get pretty excited when they get to when they get to ride in it also. So, that's all I have. If uh you have any questions, I just had a simple one for you on the uh on the transportation statistics slide where you showed the number of students and you kind of explained the morning and afternoon. You said the 1856 might not accurately capture the usage and then I think you mentioned a thousand. Were you just saying that that we're the 1856 duplicates? >> Yes. >> That's the total of number of students we uh transport in the morning plus the total we transport in the afternoon. >> So that's some cases

025you're >> definitely doubles. That's why I said that we're a little over a thousand in the afternoon to kind of we always transport more in the afternoon than we do in the mornings. >> So, uh that like I said that number is a little over a thousand. So, we're probably, you know, 8 or 900 or 920 in the morning, something like that. >> Thank you. >> Just to piggyback on that question, do you count um like extracurricular activities, those students being transported? >> No, this is uh route services only. That's the report we have to turn in uh to TEA. And TEA doesn't require us to turn in uh students on extracurricular. They only retire us to turn in uh the number of miles that we do um those on those trips. >> Perfect. Any

026other questions? >> Well, thank you, Mr. Douglas. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Oh, one quick question. What's the How long does it take to um get a bus if you order one now? >> You know, it's reduced. You know, since co things have gotten quite a bit better. Um I would say it just depends on the bus we order. Uh our vendor, they order buses in advance. Kind of like they they kind of reserve them. And so I would say would be 3 to six months. It just depends on which bus we need. Uh >> not three years. That's that's a huge difference. >> Yes, I think we're we're definitely back to normal and but it's again it depends on the bus we order. Um sometimes they when they have them coming in and how

027many they've sold out. Um so it's it's much quicker now than it was. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Okay. You're welcome. >> All right. Next is 7C, our annual athletic department report in the 202526 athletic code of conduct, >> our athletic director, >> Mr. Sosa. Thought I needed to be up here. Wanted to feel important. I love it. Yeah. Um, good evening. Uh, I just with my annual report kind of do it a little bit different. I wanted to do a recap of the whole year uh of Pirate Athletics. So, celebrating the pirate pride and the athletic e excellence. Um, a lot of really good things happened uh this year in RF athletics. Um, I'm focusing on on the high school and the the champions that we had um that we were

028able to to really earn from our student athletes. So, starting in the fall, we had football with an overall record seven and five by district champs and then the area finalist. Uh, boys cross country. We celebrated uh the team champions uh team champions, the boys team championship. Uh Royce Havens was back-to-back district champ and then a two-year state qualifier. Luckily enough, we have them for another year. Uh hopefully we can make it a three-time state state qualifier. Uh tennis, both team and spring, was very successful this year. uh team tennis in the fall uh by district and area champions with um with wins against uh London and Lefettia and then we we fell to Kalan in the regional quarterfinals uh spring. The girls were district champs along with six u pirates and lady pirates qualifying

029to regionals. So participating in that that postseason play uh powerlifting uh 11 total athletes uh from RFHS went to uh to the regionals. Uh six girls, five boys. Uh a big success with Elizabeth Garcia. She was the regional champion. Silver medalist and state uh state qualifiers right there with Mercedes and Amoris. The boys, we have five regional qualifiers. Cade, Trey, and Michael um really really did really good job. Um so really proud of coach Alvarado and coach Bais with what they did with with that program right there. Girls soccer uh coach Raspberry doing the same thing over and over and over again. Uh they were uh district by district champs, area champs, and then failed to Wimberly who ended up losing in the state finals um in extra time. So we we had a really

030good season for the second consecutive year going to the third round of the playoffs. And then softball coach Ry is in company undefeated district champs uh by district champs and then lost in the second round. Uh but but really great season. Uh that that group of girls was uh there was five seniors on that group. All five of them went five for five for u for state recognitions and academic excellence. So, uh, that's something that again you'll see in a little bit how how they're not just improving and and being champions on the field, but also in the classroom as well. And then with golf, uh, girls district champion as well, Hannah doing her four pete, uh, and then placing sixth at state. We're going to miss her for sure. Uh, girls track, coach Blue

031and Coach Swinford doing a great job. Uh the girls were backto backto back area champions uh with Logan Wood and Addison Burton uh being regional runnerup regional champ both qualifying to state and Logan getting fifth in the uh the 100 hurdles and then Addison eighth in the uh in the 400 meter dash. And so those are just a quick little summary. Uh but some quick facts. Uh we had five team district championships. 18 of the 19 squads reached the postseason play. And of the sports that actually did all district selections. So, some of them uh wrestling and powerlifting, they don't have all district selections. But of those 19 squads, we had 102 all district selections, 146 academic all district, 48 regional qualifiers, and uh and 10 state qualifiers. And so, uh that's just a quick

032little snippet of the successes of our of our student athletes. Um with the participation like Mr. uh Mr. Douglas. These numbers are a little skewed because these are actual roster spots. Uh so if Eric Sooza was a middle school boy and I participated in football, basketball, and baseball, then I would count for three people in that number. So, uh we didn't have 1,267 total athletes. We had 1,267 opportunities for kids to be affected by a coach. And um we're as coaching staff, we have our big convention going on this weekend uh from Sunday to uh Tuesday in San Antonio uh Texas High School Coach Association where 18,000 coaches from around the state, colleges, they're going to come to San Antonio and we're going to be able to learn uh different ways to teach, different ways

033to coach. But then one of the main ones is uh like Stephen Mackey, he has a great presentation and it's how to affect and impact kids in a positive way. Uh Billy Graham, it always comes up where he says a teacher and a coach impact more kids in a year than an average person does in a lifetime. And that's that number right there, 1,267 are just what our coaches were able to do with those roster spots in just this one year. And so, uh, I'm very proud everybody's, we're talking about facilities, talking about custod staff, transportation. I'm very proud of what my staff has been able to do right now to positively impact our student athletes. Oo, these numbers, uh, well, so for strength and conditioning, uh, for the summer, going back into the summer,

034we have, uh, we're averaging about 134, uh, kids every single week in the first six weeks of of strength and conditioning. This week was seven. the seventh week. So, we didn't we didn't have these uh in the numbers, but of that group uh we have that is the perfect attendance club right now. They haven't missed one day um other than maybe they were going to a camp or helping out a camp. Uh but that is that that perfect attendance club that they they really take a lot of pride in that. the remaining camps that we have, we have volleyball camp in two weeks and then our football camp uh alongside with that right before we start our football season. So, uh anybody that wants to come out, we had our our quarterback receiver camp this

035past week uh that we just got finished with it today. We had 46 people that uh young young pirates come around and uh chunking the ball around, throwing it, having a lot of fun and and hopefully we were wore them out quite a bit and they went home and they they uh had good good naps. So, um we had a lot of camps over the summer and now we're we're kind of winding down and we got these last two remaining. Does anybody have any questions about the annual report? I know the next thing is uh is our athletic handbook. Um it's very similar to that of it last year. Uh one thing with with athletics and all of extracurricular, it is extra. It is added to um we're going to hold our kids and our

036our young men, young women to a higher standard. And so this uh this handbook kind of just lines it out uh what we expect as a coaching staff, what parents can expect from us and uh making sure that we kind of have a a a line of chain of command to follow and and uh and holding kids accountable. Uh we will go over this. Uh we will have a meeting with parents uh to make sure that we understand that these are the rules that we will abide by in the athletic field. And uh if there's any questions or anything, then they can go to the head coach, they can go to the athletic director, the coordinator, and and we'll kind of uh iron out whatever details that may be. Any questions? We can go over

037it u page by page if y'all want to. There was no real major changes. The major change that may seem like it is because of the athletic period, but it was already written in there that if a person in a team sport should be or needs to be in the athletic period, unless there is a scheduling conflict. And so that was already written in there. Um, and so if there is from the counselors, from the head coach that they understand that hey, this is the reason why, then it does not disqualify them for being in a team sport. And then individual sports it is suggested that they are in the the athletic period but it's not re it not required. Any questions on that? All right. Thank you. Thank you, Coach Sosa. All right. Next

038is 7D. Review and discuss property value study. Miss Henderson. Okay. So, this I'm way not that tall. Okay. So, this is the local property value study that we are required to present to y'all. This one's going to be on the screen's a little bit harder, so if you've got it on your computer, it may be easier to look at. Um but this is we are required to present this to y'all to show you how the property values affect the the revenue and the tax rate. Um one thing I want to start off with on the the far right column which is the projected budget for 2526. I will tell you those numbers were done last week when I didn't have certified I didn't have complete templates. So I can guarantee you when you see these

039numbers come Tuesday night for the budget workshop, they will all be completely different. So that's this is a very it's very preliminary and it's not not it I would not I would say not accurate but it's what I had at the time. So I just want to start that out. Um in the top row is the local property values that is used for our tax collections. Um and you can see the difference between um 2425 which is that that's at the doctoral budget because we don't have actuals yet. Um and then just the difference in with the 140,000 homestead exemption. Like I said, that will still change some. Um the blue is the state property values. That's a comproller values that's used for figuring our recapture. Um the first column is the states values. The

040bottom column in the blue is my projections when I did it. We don't get any projections from the state since they're using current year now. So those were my projections that I used when I started budget. um actual then goes off the the states values which we get preliminaries in December and actually we still have not finalized yet for 24 so it's you see where it definitely lags and we have to hope we do a good job of calculating um the yellow is the local tax collections for the current year for each of those current years um again 2425 is um that's what was the budget that was adopted. Then you got your tax rate. You've got your the light blue is your state revenue for each year. Um in the red is a recapture.

041Um one thing and I keep repeating this and I just I think it really shows the truer picture. If you look at the line that's tax the line that's tax and state revenue less recapture because those three our recapture our state revenue and our taxes all work together. It's they're different buckets Dr. Austin and I are talking to you it's different buckets. So if you look at the bottom line you can see how the different changes and that's where it is um where we see the change whether it's more revenue or more recapture and less revenue however it works. Um so you can see um how it's changed from from for the three years. Um some years we go down then may go up a little bit. Um the next is the ADA for the

042year and then the water and the snapshot snapshot enrollment amounts. There any questions on that one? Yes ma'am. >> Not really a question. Um actually yeah so 2324 I think we had an estimated um recapture if I remember correctly your recapture estimate for that year was pretty close to what your estimate is now and then state did something different and we end up paying more in recapture. Does that happen fairly regularly? >> No. The big thing that changed with that year is that is the year that you can see the homestead exemption went from 40,000 to 100,000. And that's a year that the state did not um actually approve that until August. So we were all squirming to get any information. The appraisal district was doing district was doing the best they could to get

043us information. So we got that late. So there was reason for the big change there. But again, it's that tax revenue as recapture that is is the true picture. Anything else on that one? >> No. My only comment is I believe recapture is too low. I would double that number. >> I'm sorry. >> Uh 2.5 million in recaptured. I would I would imagine that is going to go up >> the 2526. Yes, that's right now after we've worked on templates that's going to be looking at about 6.3 million is what we'll be budgeting. >> So I already knew that because we've been running templates. So when I got this the very first thing um I sent an email and said Kathy I need to talk to you. Um before when we budgeted 2.5 it didn't

044end that way. And so I said, "What is this?" Because I already know that we're at close to five, six million. And she said, "Yeah, six." So that was one of the explanations when we came and we showed this and want you to know that we already know recaptures around $6 million. So I was a little every time these things come out. I don't know why they don't show us real numbers, but that is school finance for you. It changes way too much. Um but we had already talked about that we would be budgeting on the more higher end of recapture and following the trends of what we have been paying year-over-year between nine 7 to 9 million is what we've been paying >> and the current template for 2526 shows is a little over

0456.2 million Dr. Ross when I talk to so we're going to be raising a little bit not a whole lot but we're going to raise it to 6.3 is what we'll end up budgeting unless I look at something completely different right now but that looks like what it'll be is a 6.3 million is what we're budgeting for >> so I know we have a budget workshop next week but with our uh website still being down for res for uh registration I'm concerned we're missing kids at this point and we won't have a true idea and we've hit missed the mark every year on our enrollment. I'm concerned even with the 2857. So those are I would again look at recapture and I would look at what you think honest enrollment is going to be. In

046reality is is we've been off about the last several years and again we don't have our website up for registration. So, it's Skyward. Yep. Skyward is down because we're migrating. Um, I've been asking Chris and Beth, when is it coming up? As soon as we know, um, July 18th is what we were hoping. The 22nd was what the safe date that we're kind of putting out there. Talking with Gil and Molly. We have a whole push of the P3 email, social media. I've talked to our principles. If we have to start calling, we have to make sure kids are getting on there and registering. And that's kind of been our plan. Uh when you when you migrate to Skyward Q, uh it's hard and they always do it in July, right when you need your

047registration. But that's what we had to do. And we'll be on it for sure, right team? That's why they're all here tonight, path makers. >> And and remember also the the enrollment projection is based on snapshot. So that is the number we're trying to get to because it all fluctuates. So, we have to know kind of what to budget for, but that when we do the projections, it's for snapshotting, but it's not for February when it starts going down because we still have to have the same amount of teachers if the kids are there in October if they're not there in February. >> I know, but you and I go round and round every year on the whole enrollment thing. And this is really a double hypothetical on a lot of things. And so again,

048it's simple math in a real world public education finance that's totally a different deal and it's always on a hypothetical, but this is really almost a hypothetical hypothetical. And so we having a $6 million deficit budget trying to reduce that. We've got to be as accurate as possible on certified values recapture and enrollment. >> Yes, ma'am. We we are working on that. something I want to ask about um and I know we discussed this in the last budget workshop but um we have a mandated raise which everybody knows that our staff deserves raises and I'm not arguing about that but I see less um property tax collection this year and I see nothing changing much in our recapture Where is that money coming from? >> So >> to do the raises and do the things

049that we are mandated to do by the state. >> That is part of the state allocation. Um it's it's there in the numbers. They say they're making up the difference in the red the reduction in homestead exemptions. Again, I never see it 100%. Um but it's that that's where it is and the state says it's coming from and they only give us what it is. I can't inflate what we're going to collect in taxes because if we don't collect it, then our budget's over. So, and I can only go by what the state template says that they're going to give us the state revenue. Anything else on that one? [Music] This is just to kind of show y'all where we start um with the April preliminary values and then we go to the Jul July

050certified values and then it's the values that's used for um the actual tax levy. So you can see there's sometimes up, sometimes down. There's definitely a downtrend from April to July. So when I get the always get the April values, I usually always reduce it by 2 to 3%. um because I know that that's going to go down. Um I use the certified values for um when I'm budgeting and in October we get the true levy of what was there. So when he certifies the values it's has to be at least at 95%. Now when I talked to Mr. Presley yesterday and the certified values he's given me for 2526 he said he's at 98 little over 98% certified. So I feel very comfortable with those numbers that they are they're a little above the

05195%. So I feel comfortable with those numbers and you can see the difference in the controllers values versus the um the levy from the the state. Any other questions? All right, we'll move to 7E. Review and discuss. >> I've got another one. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Review and discuss the raw portfol investment policy as per CDA legal and CDA local Henderson. This is again a requirement that y'all uh per per board policy that y'all review the investment policy each year and I bring to you if there's any changes. Don't drop that. The only change is in CDA local on page 30. I've got it highlighted. They just added um the sellers and investments. They added they had brokers, dealers and representatives and they added um the distributors investment pools. They added it there

052for um in that section and also again on um two places they added it. Anyway, that's all they did was just add investment pool and which we use a lot of that was the only change um investment policy. >> Which board member sits >> I'm sorry >> which board member sits on the investment committee? >> The finance committee is Mr. Burton and um Michelle. >> Okay. Good morning. Any questions? >> All right. Thank you. >> So, thank you. >> I move to 7F TASBY policy update 125. First read, M. Adams. So, this update, and I'm I'm just going to be honest, uh, with legislation, um, we actually met two days ago, three days ago. Um, and and there's a lot coming. Um, and so I'm just going to tell you that there'll be more updates.

053There'll be more things that we're bringing to the board of voting items. Um and some of them uh even state that it uh it will begin the beginning of the 2526 school year when we just got um really what it is and we still have questions about it. We're still waiting on um even our attendance accounting handbook to be updated. So there are things that are in the works that will be coming but in particular this update there are 34 legal updates and seven local. Um for the legal there are some updates around safety um emergency operations, our threat assessment teams, um uh our Sentinel program uh or Sentinel um uh platform uh which is where all of our drills and um EOPS and everything are uploaded um into. Um there are some updates to

054the bilingual ESL programs. Um, that's that's really majority of them. Does anybody have any questions about a specific board policy? And this is just the first read. All right, we'll move to item 8A. Consider take possible action to approve the 202526 board operating procedures. The uh the board operating procedures are in everybody's board books. I don't think there was any changes. Any changes, Dr. Austin? >> Name Oh, that's true. >> And and then we added a couple like Dino wasn't in there and said, "Do you need to be in the schoolboard operating procedure so people know?" >> We put her in there. >> She said no. I said yes. >> So those are your changes. So this is a action item. So I'll look for a motion. >> I move to approve the 2025 2026

055school board operating procedures as written. >> Have a motion. Do I have a second? >> All right. Motion made by Mr. Randle, seconded by Mrs. Austin. Any further discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 70. Move to 8B. you consider take possible action to approve resolution regarding the appointment of members of the board of directors of the Aranis County Appraisal District. Dr. Austin. >> So, this resolution is being presented um it updates formal language uh around the appointment of the representatives to the AAD, the Ranis County Appraisal District. The original resolutions to determine how they were appointed was made in 1987. And at that time when that was done, there were some taxing entities that actually had not been created yet. And so it truly is time to update this. Um, we have had

056a meeting with the taxing entities. All of them were invited. Miss Yarnell sits on that Aranza uh Aranis County Appraisal Board, so she could probably add even more context. We have gotten this to our um friend districts, Porter Ranzis and Aranis Pass. I I have met with both of those um sent made sure they got the resolutions. They'll be talking to their boards and so this just really updates how we appoint uh Miss Jarnell, would you like to add anything, any context? >> I town of Fulton has responded and you talked to the other ISDs and the city of Rockport has responded. Um, I think everyone is on the same page as that it just needs to be updated from 1989. Um, and this adds a lot of context and and actually lists the entities

057who were involved in it and it's it's just a little more specific and and up to date. >> Absolutely. Yep. >> And I just wanted to uh thank the appraisal board and Miss Jarnell especially because this took a lot of work. It took a lot of work from uh the other taxing entities in our community meeting. And so it wasn't something just put together overnight. It took a lot of work and uh time. So thank you so much. This is a action item. So I'll look for a motion. I move that the board approve resolution 20 25002 regarding the appointment of members to the board of directors of the Aranis County Appraisal District. >> I second. All right, we have a motion made by Mrs. Randall, seconded by Mrs. Austin. Any further discussion? Take a

058vote. All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Motion carry 70. All right. 8 C. Consider take consider take possible action to approve August 18, 2025 as the public hearing date for the 202526 budget hearing. M. Henderson. This is um again the board has to set the budget date the budget open hearing public uh information. We always do it the same time as we adopt the budget. So we're proposing that to be August the 18th. >> All right. I'll look for a motion. >> I move that the board approve August 18, 2025 as the date for the public hearing on the 2526 fiscal year budget. I give it. All right, we have a motion made by Mrs. Jarnell, second by Mr. Burton. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. All right.

0598 D. Consider take possible action to approve the 202526 proposed tax rate. Miss Cenderson, >> this is again the board is required to approve a proposed tax rate. This is just proposed. Um, this is the highest rate we could go. Um, and we do that because if we y'all adopt a rate that's lower, we can't go any higher. So, this is the highest that it will be, it will not be this high, but just so y'all are proposing um the max it will be that will be adopted at the August 18th meeting. >> Any questions for Mrs. Henderson? All right, I'll look for a motion. >> I move that we approve a proposed M tax rate of 0.71 0.7122 and a proposed INS tax rate of 0.1043 for a total proposed tax rate of 0.8165

0608165 for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. >> All right, we have a motion made by Mr. Randall, second by Mrs. Jarnell. Any discussion? >> I do have something I should have should asked a second ago. >> Just for clarity sake, I feel like this could be confusing. Um when you mention that uh that we are we would be approving here the motion right on the table is to approve the 7122 um and the 1043 you had mentioned that those are the highest possible and I think I just want to be clear you're saying it's the highest possible >> so with with the MCR until we uh with the the compressed rate on the M until we get the certif ified values from the controll from the appraisal district. Then I put that into the state.

061The state comes back and tells us what the rate will be. There's a range. Right now the range is from um 0.56 to 63 and that doesn't include our 6 cents uh golden pennies that have already been approved. Um so the ranges from 0.56 to 63 that um so again I always use the highest rate because if we adopt the lowest then you know if you'all adopt the proposed at the lowest and we can't raise it which actually this year it's going to be because almost every year or every year we've done it we've always been the lowest rate. This year with the homestead exemption increase we are not going to be at the lowest rate. So, I didn't one of those things I'm glad, you know, didn't didn't do that because then we couldn't

062have gone up to what the state is actually requiring us. >> Right. Okay. Thank you. >> It's another one of those uh uh public school finance uh issues that we face. So, this is a proposed tax rate. We're not actually adopting the actual tax rate. We'll do that at a later time. >> Correct. >> Any other discussion, questions? All right. I'll look for a motion. I mean, I'm sorry. We'll take a vote. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. >> All right. 8 F. Consider take possible a Are we on E? >> Yes, sir. >> All right. 8E. Consider take possible action to approve designate to calculate no new revenue and voter approval tax rate. Miss Henderson. Again, this is something the board is required to do. Um, it's to designate an employee

063who shall calculate the no new no new revenue tax rate. That would be me. But I do also work with Anna Marshall, the tax collector assessor. She helps us in in figuring everything so we have it right. But so between she and I and Miss Mo, we work on getting the correct new no revenue, but I am the district's designate. All right, I'll look for a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve Kathy Henderson, RFISD chief financial officer to calculate and prepare the no new revenue and voter approval tax rates for Rockport Fton ISD. >> All right. Motion made by Mr. Burton, second by Mrs. Randall. Any further discussion? We'll vote. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries 70. Now we'll move to 8F. consider take possible action to approve the 20 2025 20226

064liability and workers comp insurance. Miss Henderson, >> uh this is we have a renewal date of this on September the 1st. Uh this our liability and workers comp run September 1 through 8:31. Um this is I'm recommending we stay with regional pool alliance as a self insurance that we've had with them for several years. Um and it's the rate is not going up and you've got a copy in there of our claims history um in the letter from regional pool alliance saying you know everything is looking good. Rachel will say the same for this year and even our maximum amount is not going up because with the um with the self- insurance we pay a portion to regional pool the other part we budget um and it goes into our self- insurance fund and as

065it is um as claims happen we pay for it out of that but then we get to the max which is I'm sorry if I find that amount Um, hang on one second. Oh, there we go. A maximum of 200. Well, the minimum will be 288 317. That's what the premium will be. That's what you're approving tonight. We'll budget 378,873. That is a max we will have to pay. If it goes above that, it goes into another carrier comes in and covers. >> Any questions? My only question is is in in years past uh have we traditionally hit the maximum? >> I'm sorry. >> In the years past, have we have we ever hit the maximum? >> There was one year. They used to do it up to about two years ago, they did it

066would do it on a three-year. Um then now they go to just a one year, but one year we we did hit the three-year limit. And so then we weren't paying anymore. It was coming from the the additional carrier. But for the most part, no, we do not. >> And then what's left over we can use towards >> correct special shoes. Exactly. We use those for for uh safety shoes for our staff. Um there's other things. If it's just a >> if we happen a vehicle gets an accident and it's just a you know small replace something, then we just pay for it directly out of that rather than turn it into insurance. Um so we we can do there's things we can do with that um that helps us and again we get to

067keep it if let you go with a fully funded then you pay the premium and they keep any excess. >> Any other questions? If not I'll look for a motion. I make a motion that we approve the RFISD protected self- insurance pool payment of $288,317 to Regional Pool Alliance. >> Second. >> I have a motion made by Mrs. Jarnell, seconded by Mrs. Austin. Any further discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. All right. 8G consider take possible action to approve sources of instruction relating to investment officer training. Miss Henderson, >> this is um again a requirement that y'all approve each year. Um anyone that are investment officers, which is myself and Dr. Austin, who we can go through that to get our required training. Um mostly we use ESC2 or Coastal Bin Taso,

068but we've got the option of doing some others if we need to. I'll look for a motion. >> I'll make a motion to approve the list of recommended sources of instruction relating to in relating to investment officer training. >> I have a motion made by Miss Mr. Burton, seconded by Mrs. Jarnell. Any further discussion? We'll take a vote. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70 8H consider take possible action to approve qualified financial institutions and brokers for district funds and investments. Miss Henderson, >> the final one. So again, y'all are required to um approve who we in invest with. This is something now that we have a finance committee that if a new vendor, a new, you know, broker came up that we thought we good, we could take to the finance committee,

069they can approve per board policy. right now. Um, we're still bringing it to the board. These are all that y'all given us approval. We don't necessarily invest in all these, but we have if someone say American Bank had a good CD rate, then I could go invest there. So, it's goes gives us the opportunity to do that, but y'all have to approve anybody we can invest with. >> Any other questions? If not, I'll look for a motion. I move that the board approve the list of recommended qualified financial institutions and brokers for district funds and investments. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion made by Mrs. Randle, second by Mrs. Austin. Any further discussion? All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. Thank you, Mrs. Henderson. That's but that's not all. We'll go

070to 8 I consider take possible action to approve the purchase of strong foundations literacy framework services rendered through sustained it leaders Mrs. Robbins. >> Yes. So we received the lasso grant cycle three um to develop our literacy framework. We are required from the grant to work with a provider. Um the state gives us a list of somewhere around 20 providers. we get to um vet that group and make the best choice and then they the state kind of sets an amount for every provider. So it's not like some are more or less expensive than others. They set that line and then we just choose who we think is the best fit. So we are beginning our work with that team and um we just need to be able to finalize that contract and payment. So,

071as I was reading board books, it said, "We interviewed, we thought it was a great fit." Um, what other districts have used this one program? >> Well, so they're not actually offering a program. What they're doing is they're working us through a process of developing. Yes. And so I did we looked at um we got the recommendation that they were strong folks to work with from Aran's pass has been working with this team and so a lot of times it's because they're in a facilitation process. Um the training is all coming from tea. So the product is really similar based on the different groups. So Aranis Pass had worked with them through their actual with this these partners and kind of vouched for who they um were as a as a a team to work

072with. We had done work with them up in Dallas Fort Worth area as well. >> Any other questions? If not, I'll entertain a motion. I move that we approve the purchase of services with sustained ED leaders in the amount of $70,000 to be funded by TEA's LSO cycle 3 grant. I have a motion. Do I have a second? I have a motion by Mr. Randle, second by Mr. Burton. Any further discussion? If not, we'll vote. All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries 70. All right, that moves us to agenda item number nine, our superintendent report. Dr. Austin, >> and I feel like I've been sitting here a while listening. Um, I do not have a campus report this month. It's summer, but you'll notice that all four of our campus principles are here

073today. We have just spent two days together with 26 of our teacher leaders. Um the first day was at the rock um the art center and then today the city of Rockport was so gracious and let us use their brand new training general assembly room. It was an amazing room to use. It is a beautiful building. And so we took our 26 leaders, our our principles and Jessica and Molly sat and we worked with our teacher leaders and we went through our new strategic plan. We talked about systems. We talked about culture and belonging and their role in all of it. And it was amazing training. And you can see the shirts that they're wearing. And so, thank you to our principles for being engaged with your team today. And thank you to those teachers.

074Um, it's their summer, y'all. And they came up for two days and worked with us and they're excited about the school year. So, that leads me to my next report. Leads right into Jessica Robbins. She's been talking all day already training. So here's some more. >> All right. So I've given you two different documents um in board book for tonight. Um one is our finalized tables that you should be familiar with that we've been reporting our map data and the second our star preliminary scores. I'll talk a little bit more about um some dates around that. Um something I wanted to say. So this is data that we've reviewed with our academic excellence committee. Um the the work to um already begin the response analysis has been going on um that really the minute we

075started and actually before we started getting data to to finalize this year. Um that first table that you had in your board book is um that map achievement percentile which is a new number we're going to start tracking this year with the adoption of those new House Bill 3 goals. And this tells us where we stand in that national percentile ranking. And so you'll see that I just provided you with the end ofear data last year and this year. The green just denotes where we've moved up in our national ranking. So, you can see that as you look down. Um, we're not giving those House Bill 3 board goals because we don't have final preliminaries, I'm sorry, final scores tonight, but that's something we'll be updating on next week or next month, I'm sorry, next

076board meeting, not next week. Um, the next table that you had was that RIT average achievement score. I won't spend a lot of time on this one tonight. The only thing because as we get these final star scores that come in, what we really want to do is is look at where we landed there. But I do want to draw attention to that kindergarten, first and second grade um writ achievement score, that average score that our students were receiving. And you'll see um some you'll increases on that end ofear data. So what you'll see is that tracking of the the trend increase at reading um over the course of the year and then just some small gains at end of year data as compared to where we were last year. Second grade stayed a little

077bit flat but you saw the um first grade come up about five points and then kindergarten we didn't have 2324. So you just see that RIT that increased over the year. So I just wanted to highlight that piece. Um, and we'll look at some three 38 data in just a minute. The next table that you had in your with the map data was star projection. Um, again, the only thing I really want to say here because at this point a projection doesn't mean a lot to us other than we want to know how accurate these projections are. And this came up in the academic excellence committee meeting. There was a question about um what are we seeing in terms of how our assessments align? like is map telling us what star is going to tell

078us? And so I did do a few comparisons there and um what we're seeing is about an average of a 12% um increase on map. So map is running high and we've talked about that in the past that MAP tends to run a little bit high. they are continuing to reorm with state um star scores and so I think what we'll continue to see is MAP will continue getting closer to what that star um number looks like but right now we are averaging about a 12% gain which is just something principal school leaders will be thinking about anytime we're looking at MAP data remembering that when we're looking at these meets projection numbers they do run high so that's just we can't count on that to be telling us that exact number. We should always

079know that as of right now, until MAP reorms a bit, we're seeing those numbers a little inflated. Now, there are some pockets that that rule doesn't follow like fifth grade reading, we actually came out um four percentage points higher on final. Right? So there are some pockets here and there where we really um were quite a bit um above that projection, but for the most part we need to just assume that that data runs a little bit higher than the norm by about 10 to 12 percentage points. And the same was true for math. those growth numbers. What map tells us is that on average we want to see about 55% of our students meeting the annual growth projection. So I've just highlighted in green those grade levels where we met what map says is

080the goal. Now I've mentioned before that we try to set um campus principles will set higher goals than 55% because we're working to close gaps. So while we are meeting that annual MAP goal, you'll see at you know kindergarten um and when we look in reading um second, third, fourth grade and then eighth grade reading we saw that they did meet the growth goal. Then in math we saw they met the the growth goal at kindergarten, second, third, fourth, fifth, they met those growth goals there. Um, we still are settings like Denise, Miss Poland still would have set some higher goals for that as a campus that they look at when they're working toward that number. But according to the projections of the of the assessment, that's where we would want to see that. So,

081let's talk preliminary star scores. Um, they just weren't what we wanted to see. um they're not what we wanted to see and and we've continued to weigh the heaviness of this. We talked at the beginning of the year, we started with the conversation that we want to be looking at. The meat's grade level is where we live. And I can tell you that in our conversations, no one's really even talking about that approaches column anymore unless we're talking about who needs to retest at high school. Um we're talking about that meets grade level. We started the year with the conversation around how many of our students are on grade level and how many are not. Um what was difficult is that that number is probably going to run pretty flat. Um that that the number

082of students who hit meats is looking flat maybe even one or two percentage points lower. Um and so when we think from a very high level as a whole system what we saw is we stayed flat. Um, that is not what we wanted. Way too much work went into this school year to feel that, to hear that, to see that on paper. As we start digging into the next layer, what we have to do is get more specific because it doesn't tell us enough to drive action if all we're doing is looking at that one big number. So, we have to dig the next layer deep. And when we look at that meats column, there are some gaps I want to point out and there are some strengths that I need to point out because

083if we do not leverage where things went well, we're missing a huge learning point as a system. So we have to look at both even though that grow even though that meat's number stayed flat. Um so I'm going to start with the areas of gaps that we saw. math across the board is still not doing what we need it to do. Now, what we're hearing is that postcoid that is still where we are nationwide, statewide, that's not a good enough answer for us. We want the solution. We want it fast. We want to figure that out. So, what we are trying to figure out is why are we trending um why are we trending lower in math than we are reading? We would want to see those trends as we're improving practices. We want to

084see everything trending in the same direction going up and consistently we're seeing that math is not catching up. So we're fig we're trying to figure out how we make those moves quicker. So you'll see particularly at middle school math. Um even high school EOC came down and that was just our data told us some things. Not like we shouldn't be surprised by those middle school numbers. the high school was not quite what we expected. So that was concerning to us. Um we saw on average that that approaches column there was way too much red there. We wanted to see more kids getting across that approaches line in general all the way down the column. right now as we start looking at uh and then we saw a really significant dip at sixth grade reading. That

085was that was a concern and we saw a dip at English 2 EOC. So those were just some areas that when we look year to year we saw drops. Now when you start looking at cohorts you can see it looks a little bit different. Um, that's a whole different conversation, but right now I just want to talk year overyear. The areas of of strength are worth noting because way too much work has been going on at our K5 bracket in reading to not acknowledge that we finally saw some trends go right for us here. too much work has happened for us to not stop and say, "Okay, this work has been going on and now we're getting to see green across columns." So to see third and fourth grade at approaches, meets and masters all

086trending up that not just by small one and two percentage points by five, right? So five percentage point gain is a is a goal that we want to attain from year to year. Um, that tells us something about the health now of our K2 system. We're needing to see all like we need to see three, four, five starting to make that move up if we want to reflect that something's worth working in that phonics instruction, that fluency work. And so that is aligning with what we're also seeing when we're turning fluency data at Live Oak with that those reading groups. um we should continue to see this move and now really keep moving forward quickly at a trajectory that makes I mean we should be able to see that keep moving. Um these are grade

087levels where the systems we've put in place we can say are being held to fidelity. So this is where we can say yes they have been using a high quality instructional resource. They've been relying heavily on coaching cycles. they've been getting the feedback that they're needing um around that resource that they're using and we're seeing that play out in the assessment data. We wanted to move faster. We wanted to we wanted to move quicker, but we're seeing that qu that solid green trend across that piece. Um where we saw was the big dip in fifth grade reading. And I'm just going to tell you that didn't surprise us in the end because our data was telling us that in the year other than at me at meets we did still see a 5% gain at

088meets even at fifth grade I'm sorry 4% gain at meetats even in fifth grade reading. Um so that is the trend we want to see across our whole system. We don't see that at math in math. Um, and so that's the conversation we're having right now around the um, all the way from the elementary piece up through secondary. The other thing I want to point out that you see a clear trend and pattern is in science. Um, you'll remember we adopted a brand new science instructional resource this year. And all the way across the board you see green trending all the way across in approaches, meets and masters. So that new adoption at science proved a very quick turnaround. Not really surprising because we were using some pretty weak instructional resources in science prior. So

089this told us something quickly um in a positive in a positive trend app. But I just want to end again by saying these this wasn't enough for our team. We looked at this, we were frustrated, we were disheartened, we wanted to see it faster. Too many systems in place, too many things working um that we're trying to get moving. So the goal then becomes how do we look at what did go well, why it went well, and and this we got to a very granular level with with teachers. Um not the conversation for a board meeting. That's a conversation for campus principles, for their teams. Um, but we went far more granular on looking all the way down as far as we could in that data this year so that we could make some more

090solid um, draw some more solid conclusions there. So, the state, remember, we've been telling you for three years the state was going to roll out a new accountability system. Apparently, we're finally going to see that. Um on August 8, uh the 13th, we should be receiving 24 and 25 data and they are actually going to go all the way back and give us 23 data um on August 19th. So all of this will be pushing very close to the board meeting. So, I can't say that you'll necessarily have that report that Friday, but the plan is unless something stalls out, which crazier things have happened. You should see that data at the August meeting. So, again, these are preliminary only, we should have finals in August. So, I will stop talking and take questions. And

091again, I'm just we had oh, I can't even remember the academic excellence committee with Mr. Vogle, >> Miss Randall, and Miss Jarnell >> in June. >> Uh, we just in June >> in June >> to review these. Jessica, just from a high level perspective, we've kind of talked about this in the past, but um when when looking at these tables, does it really make sense to compare >> across one row? Because that that's literally completely different set of students. >> A group of kids, I always appreciate that you bring this up. Um that is so there are two ways you you look at data, right? you look across the road when you're just wanting to gauge whole system big picture, right? Like I want to see that I don't care what kids walked in my

092door in August, when they walk out in May, we got them where they needed to be across the line on grade level. So, we have to have that mindset going in that no matter how they walk in the door, our goal is to get them to meet by the end of the year. And that's year to year. And I want to see that number going up every single year. When I think about cohort groups, this starts to get into the but what are those kids doing? Right? So the numbers guy to my left when he looked at my data table right before um the meeting, he was like look at your cohort groups though, right? So he's saying look at third grade reading coach Sosa. Look at that's the he next to me. Look at,

093you know, reading third grade 31% meets. They jumped up 43%. They picked up 12% of their students of that entire cohort group picked up, right? So, that's a really important conversation that that group of teachers is having. So, on like a more campus level, um, principles need to be looking to see with a grade level of teachers, how many more kids did they get into that green bucket, right? that. So, it's valuable to look at the data both ways. Um, from a system level, big picture, we just want to see those numbers going up. I don't care how they walk in the door in August. From a campus level and decision making, I want to look at cohort groups. Yes, it represents a straight line. Yes. So obviously this is not our ideal situation, right?

094Every year we keep seeing that we're flat or we're dropping, right? Period. That's it. >> Obviously things are changing. Stars no longer, which means there was something else coming in place. >> We don't know that yet. >> Well, it's on hold. I mean, again, we can look at map, right? We have to look at our accountability, right? And we've always said map is a great test to show exactly where we're missing. It can identify exactly which teaks we're missing. >> What I do see on this is that we're closing gaps and we are closing gaps from our low to our meats. Right? >> My concern is we're not pushing our students to be better than what they can be from your meats to your master. you look at your seventh grade math and that's a

095major concern. So, yes. So, and this is that weird pocket. So, I want to I want to first affirm everything you just said, right? Like when you're talking about we want to make sure that we're pushing that master's group. Absolutely. And and so that's where our planning actually is around growth, which is the piece we need we need MAP to tell us. MAP is not great at telling us which teaks we're missing. MAP is a growth assessment and growth makes us look at every kid. That kid that walked in super high and that kid that walked in super low, right? It's an and all in between. So our conversations at the campus level even though you're not hearing this in my language we're not seeing it as m we're not seeing it enough in our

096data yet is around every kid growing no matter what es and pushing those high level high quality resources are the key to unlock that and that was the leader conversation we were having today like we go ahead >> and this kind of goes back to what I was asking you earlier I want to make sure that whatever is not making us successful, we remove it. And we spend the $70,000 on things that do move the needle, right? And again, it's closing. We're doing a great job. And there is no doubt these teachers are not working day in and day out trying to do it, but it takes home to do it as well, right? It you can't just count on the coaches to raise your kids because they spend x amount of hours with them.

097It the foundation starts at home, period. And so we have to have a great support system on that. Teachers are doing their job. There's no doubt. I I appreciate it and I don't want anybody to think that we don't see that hard work going in emotionally daily to exhaustion. We are closing gaps and I like that. But are we using the right programs to motivate and move our children in the direction that it needs to be? And I don't know that answer because that is something that we trust you with every year. But every year I'm looking at this and we're staying flat. So to me, we're not using and I know our clients change every year. I get that. What can we do if you had a perfect world and the tea says you

098do what you want. What does that look like? So I'm going to hit this and I need I need to be able to and I asked this last time you got we talked data and I asked about how honest I could be. So, I'm going to tell you, we can get the biggest, baddest programs. Programs don't teach kids. Who teaches kids? Teachers. How many teachers are we still rotating in and out of this profession every year? We're still, and I know Mr. Dr. Vogel has brought this up when we're talking about retention, we're talking about I mean when we're starting with sometimes an entire grade level level of new teachers. You want to talk about comparing apples and oranges and data. How do I compare instruction when I have a whole new a whole new

099team from last school year? How does a principal take last year's team and compare that to this year's team and talk about where we're moving instruction? So we and it's not just about people coming in and out of the system, but when we're starting every year with a large number of people, professionals that we're trying to get on the same page, and that's where we're talking a lot about continuity right now, consistency. It's consistency. We've got to have some consistency with keeping everything. And last year I talked about district level leadership. I think that's what made this so hard to handle because we had such consistency with expectation moving into the strategic plan. I feel like there are no questions about where we need to go. Like we're not kind of roaming and trying to

100follow the next lead, the next leader. We know where we need to go. We know how we need to get there. We've got to be able to get all the adults in our system rowing in the same direction at the same speed. It's about consistency and that's what we talked to our teacher leaders about all morning today. Um, and their boots on the ground with new staff that we're bringing in. So, there are just so many layers to getting a team of people ready. We we can like we can take the biggest most expensive resource that whoever high performing district is using and it can be plopped into any school system. But how we deliver that instruction is the gamecher. So here's what I need to know. I don't need to know what some high-erforming

101district with low with low SCES numbers is doing with benchmark. I need to know the district that looks like us. What are they doing with benchmark and how are they getting it across the line? And frankly then how what like what are we doing to make sure that once we start equipping our people to do it we can keep them here. I mean that's a big piece you mentioned benchmark. I'm not seeing a problem with benchmark. I see a lot of green using benchmark. I see ago. Are we using orgo the way that it's designed to be used? >> Yeah absolutely. And so that's something we're kind of tearing apart right now, right? That's our next step. And and and I say next step, we've already been doing this. Like we're looking for that pocket

102of where were we not using a major component of a system. Is there something that was a miss there? And that's where those walkthroughs become important and why that's part a big part of our work this year. >> And I mean, I'm I'm speaking from a teacher. I say I I'm in a classroom. I actually teach math. Um, and so I know what I'm seeing, we all went, we all know that we went through science of teaching reading and we had to do the readingmies and a lot of us were taught phonics. That's how we were taught to read. So it was easy buy in. >> You know, a lot of teachers said, "H yes, this makes sense." >> That's very true. >> And now we've got Orgo, Blue Bonnet, whatever you're out there using

103that is teaching new math had this discussion this last weekend. It is not new. It is explaining why it works, >> right? >> But we've got to get on board understanding that and we've got to I had to do it and I know it's difficult and math's a hard one. And then the parents are struggling to be able to help the kids. So they're sitting there looking at it. So it I can see where math is a is a hill to climb because it's being taught in a way that you know the parents aren't familiar with, the teachers aren't familiar with. So we're all having to climb that mountain. >> It can be done. And I I have absolute faith in all four of you, all of your teachers, because I know you've picked the

104right people to do it. So, I I see these numbers being able to grow. You know, it's just trusting that mountain. >> And I think the state's recognizing what's going on with math right now. Um, and so math academy is coming like that just passed. So, teachers already are having heart palpitation. I mean, I was in one of the a room with our staff when it was mentioned that at summer learning by the beach that mathmies were coming. No one's excited about that. It's a it's a heavy lift, but um it's another way to norm around the best practices in in this process. So, can I alleviate that a little bit? I've done the two-day math academy, froze my hind end off at ESC2, came home, got warmed back up, went right to sleep. But

105>> Randall, I hate to break it to you, but that's not the math academy. We haven't designed it yet. >> Oh, okay. >> That was that's the reading the ESC calls it >> math academy. That is not there's more coming. >> Okay. Well, that's fine. But anyway, I've done two I've two-day grade level in-depth discussion on it and it was it was really informative and it helped a lot of the people who were not familiar with Eureka. >> Yeah. questions. Okay, we'll be back next month with those ratings. All right, we're going to move on. If you don't have any more questions, um we have our business office report. Uh Miss Kathy Henderson, what is it? the you have the the business office report. A couple of things to point out. We're still on track

106um u to reach the 97% collection which we've done over the last several years. That's still on track to do um in the investment point report and apologize. I know it's very small print. Um but just want to let you know the way interest rates are doing and this happened a few years ago. They're they're they're slowly inching down. So, I've got more money in the pools because the long-term investments are much lower rates. They're the pools are running 4.4 4.5. Um, they're I can go 90 days at 4.2. I'm like, okay, you know, and it's a it's a guessing game, but it's like, okay, how long is it the rate the pool's going to stay at 4.4 4.5 unless they go down? So, I'm really keeping more money in the pools right now because

107they're making money and the the long-term investments just are not. Um, I will have more next Tuesday at the budget workshop. We'll have projections for you for year end 2425 as well as looking at 2526. Any questions? I'll be happy to answer them. >> All right. Thank you, Kathy. We'll move to Molly Adams with her human resources report. >> Uh, so we are still in the thick of hiring season. Um, and um, not going to lie, as I'm sitting here and I looked over and I said, "Jane, check your email." Um, while it wasn't a teacher, but it was an um, clerical staff. Um, Jessica's completely right. consistency um started with one year of completion one in a six six month or something with Dr. Austin. Um, and we are we are seeing the our

108our ship sailing. Um, but the turnover at the teacher level that directly impacts kids on a day-to-day basis. And I'm going to piggyback on something else. While it could be turnover, and it is turnover, I get that. Um, another component of that is are the right people in the right seat? Um Jerry, I'm going to talk about one in particular subject on your campus. 8th grade social studies. When you had an opening this year and we all looked at each other and said, "Delgato, that's the person that you need. He is going to get those kids where they need to be. He is phenomenal at it. He's not where he should be for what is best for kids." So we have a discussion with him and he's all on board because he's he is there

109for kids. So it is making sure that the people that we have we look at their strengths and we put them in the right spot. Um Dr. Austin did talk about the two-day um ending today uh teacher leadership academy that they did with all the department heads. Um it was a fantastic room of individuals. Um you just see greatness, you see positivity, and you see them ready to get to work. Um and all of that's going to go back to their team and their departments. Um and we are definitely super excited um to see them in action this year. Uh yesterday in our office uh we did our first round of onboarding which was your administrators, counselors, um those that work more than teacher day contracts. Um and so they got everything set up. Remember

110those onboarding days are about making sure all of their personal stuff is taken care of before they walk in. So they're making sure health insurance is taken care of. um anything with payroll, anything with our technology department, they're ready to rock and roll. Um and then the 28th and the 29th of this month month uh is when we will see the rest of our teaching staff, our cafeteria workers, our bus drivers, our pair professionals um all of those come in during those two days um for onboarding. So, we're excited to see them. Uh Chelsea, I wasn't there yesterday, but they said everybody was very positive and ready to get um to campus and get to work. >> All right, if no questions for Molly, we're going to move to Mike Noatne with its operations report.

111>> All right, so you should have my usual monthly report and we'll get right into projects in July. So on the left there it says science lab remodel. Uh that's going to be a new health science lab. Uh so um you can see there is a window. Believe that's a 8ft window uh framed in right there where the to the right of that. That's going to be a door. So a passage door to go from that one lab to the other. Uh and also the room that I took the picture from is not not much changing there. On the other side is where we also took out took out some of the desks that were shooting out into the lab to make more room for the equipment that they need in there for that lab.

112Uh that is pretty much near completion. They're just waiting on the door uh to come in. There's usually long lead times on that, but everything should be ready uh by the time kids are back in there. Uh on the right there, that is Dr. Austin, Dina, and Gail's new office after the trailer went away. Uh that room I should have done before and after. I think I did do a before and after in the report, but uh that room went through quite a transformation. Uh pretty happy the way it turned out. And uh during that and that's also the new furniture. That furniture was actually slated to be in the admin office there. But we went ahead and took the delivery and we actually have the rest of that coming the week of the 4th

113in August. So we'll have the rest of that furniture delivered then. Hey, next slide, please. Okay, so budget we have started with 725,998. So far we've uncovered 642,83. July expenditures 55,159. Uh remaining 83,915. So some of the upcomings, we're currently working on the access control and video monitoring software that was approved last board meeting. The window is going to be tight. We made it clear can't have any downtime. So we're we're you know crossing our tees, dotting our eyes, making sure that everything is correct and there's no no downtime because that's non-negotiable. If there is any downtime whenever because there will be a sort of short window where we we do have to go to the new servers, we'll make sure that it's off time, no one's here, uh because the doors will go down

114whenever we flip over to the new system. Uh furniture delivery for Fulton is happening Tuesday. They're estimating two days. So Tuesday and Wednesday everything will be delivered, set up. So that's uh all your new classrooms, classroom wing, the four classrooms there. And then the uh six other classrooms in the old cafeteria and the intervention room will all get new furniture. Uh waxing is should be finished uh all the classrooms today and in the hall is left in the renovation area. That'll be done before the furniture is delivered to be done on Monday. So that concludes my report if there's any questions. >> Thank you, Mike. That ends our superintendent reports. >> All right, we'll move to agenda item 10, consent agenda. I believe there's two meeting minutes in there or is there anybody that would

115like to pull one of those items? If not, I'll look for a motion. I make a motion we approve the consent agenda. >> All right, we have a motion made by Mrs. Jarnell, second by M. Austin. Any further discussion? Not we'll take a vote. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. 70. All right, that moves us to item 11, close session. So at this time, the board recess in executive session pursuant of the Texas government code se code sections 551071, 551, 072, 551074, and 551076. And the time is 7:47