2026-01-20-2026 Regular Scheduled Board Meeting

001Mic check. Mic check. Mic check. Mic check. My check. My check. My check. M check. M check. M Andrew, you're talking. I can't hear you. Can you hear me? mic. Sure. Yeah. >> Test test. >> Check. >> Pretty good. How you >> I think it sounded pretty good. Hold on. Let me check this ring. Mic check. Mic check. Mic check. Test test test. Nothing in here. Okay, I think I just cranked the volume down here. It's going to rever new year. Welcome to the new semester. Um, I'd like to remind everybody that this is a meeting held in public, not a meeting of the public. You are invited to observe and listen as the board conducts its business. During the public forum portion of the meeting, you are welcome to address the board per our

002published guidelines. All items that will be discussed and voted on this evening have been posted as required by law. In compliance with the state government code on open meetings act, the proceeding is being recorded and will become part of the San Marcus CISD permanent legal record. To ensure the recording accurately reflects the proceedings, please refrain from talking while others are speaking. In accordance with state law and district policy, disruptive conduct must be avoided so as not to interfere with the meeting. The board shall not tolerate disruption of the meeting by members of the public. This statement serves as the first warning from the presiding officer to the public and if an individual decides to disrupt the meeting, the assistance from law enforcement officials will be requested to have the individual removed from the meeting. Thank

003you for joining us this evening and thank you for your support of SMCISD. At this point, I've called the meeting to order and we are declaring a quorum with all members present in person. And now I would like to invite principal Barry from Buoie Elementary School to come up to the podium with her students who are going to lead us in the pledges this evening. >> Well, good evening. We're excited to be here. U I'm going to let our buoy bulldogs introduce themselves. Go ahead. My name is Joseph. I'm Coral White. >> My name is Zane. >> All right, you ready? Go ahead and [music] start us out. >> 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

004liberty and justice for all. >> Honor the Texas flag. I pledge algiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. >> Great job, Bulldogs. Thank you so much. Have a great school. Have a great January. It's where we are now. January. Uh the next item this evening is a public forum. We have uh five individuals signed up to speak and each person will be allowed three minutes. Please when you come to the podium, introduce yourself and provide your address. The first person this evening is Lori Davis. My name is Lorie Davis 422 St. Marcus. Uh my comments this evening are in response to the December 15, 20 25 meeting. We've attended these meetings month after month reading excerpts [music] from obscene materials in your libraries books like those challenged in our submissions. The

005content [music] has made everyone here uncomfortable and it should. We don't want empty shelves. We value books. But state law demands removal of materials so profane they harm children and violate SB13. Reviewing every book in your libraries would be daunting, but we have provided this board with specific evidence, a list of challenged books that meet the legal criteria for removal along with direct [music] excerpts demonstrating profane sexually explicit content. We have done this to assist in what we recognize is a challenging task of reviewing thousands of titles. These were submitted formally and by law and district policy. The board is required to consider them seriously through formal challenge. We respectfully ask for transparency on the status of these submissions. Have the list excerpts we have provided been reviewed by Slack? Have the books been individually

006and fully read? And in response to your trust in the professional librarians, we have already read their selection of purchased books. We don't trust their discernment. In addition, your librarians have purchased these books without full content review as admitted in a prior meeting. Your blind trust in them is negligence. And if you have reviewed the excerpts but still defend this material, that's indefensible. Distribution of obscene and inappropriate materials to minors off school grounds is a crime under Texas Penal Code 4324, punishable by jail time. Yet in our public schools, classrooms, and librarians, libraries, it's labeled educational. The greatest threat to your children's innocence isn't coming from Hollywood or Tik Tok. It's coming from [music] inside their schools. Thank you. Thank you. The second speaker this evening is Debbie Limebach. Good evening. Debbie Limebball, New Bronul

007Concerned Citizen Content Advisory. Examples read tonight would not meet FCC broadcast standards. Minors are recommended to step out at this time. Tonight's challenge book, Dime by E. Frank, found in San Marcus High School, is about a 13-year-old girl and her life in a world of drugs and as a teenage prostitute. Page 96. Dime's teenage prostitute mentor training. You got to keep moving. Allessa John, stop you. You got to be fast and you come out quick. Faster not lying down. Cleaner, too. Rubbers, girl. If they don't wear them, you charge double. Daddy going to count those, so your math better be good. Page 99. The man didn't bother with any [music] feeling good, but just opened my legs. He turned me around and pulled my bottom to him and did the next thing. It hurt so

008badly that I wanted to scream, but I didn't scream because I didn't think it was allowed. When he finally stopped that and turned me around again and pushed me to my knees, making me open my mouth. I choked [music] on him and then I think I suffocated. New recruit lollipop, page 2011. Started at age 11. At 12, they shot her up with heroin. She saw survived the only way she knew, sex. Page 206. Lollipop whispered. [music] I'm really good at it. You know, Uncle Ray taught me you to pretend the parts that hurt don't hurt and that it feels good and you like it, they give you even more money. Page 234. I knew Lollipop wasn't a virgin, but still. Just because a little has had sex doesn't make it right to make her have

009it again before she's grown up more. Page 272. Lollipop got pregnant in May by the second or third fan who would ever visit her. I want you to know these are not isolated passages. They start at the very beginning of the book, but I only have three minutes to read them. It goes until the end. There is no no redeeming uh qualities. It's all about sex and drugs, [music] but you do have an incredible list of vocabularies such as ass, buck, goddamn piss, Thank you. >> Thank you. The next speaker this evening is Jim Davis. Yes, my name [clears throat] is Jim Davis. I'm pastor of Grace Bible Church here in San Marcus. I respectfully [music] submit my appeal regarding the EFB local and legal school library collection development policy which should prohibit the possession,

010acquisition, and purchase of [music] harmful materials as defined by penal code 4324. SB13 amends education [music] code 33021 to prohibit the possession, acquisition, and purchase of library materials containing indecent [music] content or profane content, and it recognizes that the content is not protected by the First Amendment. The excerpts [music] of the challenge books were shared with each board member, revealing graphic and disturbing content, including scenes of violent rape. uh one young lady was uh gang raped uh and it was descriptive. For instance, the novel Kingdom of Cur the Curse by Kerry Maliscol Maliscaliscoco uh has scenes that glamorize explicit group sex including orgies while the Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Moss includes explicit instructions on sexual practices and training on the use of a vibrator as a sex tool. Should these titles

011be retained in our school libraries when they fall fail to align with educational values? As you can see, it is obvious that these books and all others that are being appealed tonight violate SB13 by containing both sexually explicit content as well as content that is both profane and indecent. There is a profound concern about exposing our youth to harmful material. Adolescents are particularly susceptible to negative influences which can have lasting rep repercussions. The list of challenge books we provided included titles that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prohibits from prison inmates, one of which, identical, I previously brought to Superintendent Cardona's attention in October of 2024. It is imperative to consider whether the school library advisory committee slack members were informed of the TD CJ's assessments of the reasons for these materials pose risk to

012developing minds. The slack's recent motion to reject all 31 challenges recorded in the minutes of the meeting lack discourse and transparency. Similarly, we are left to question whether trained librarians review the challenge books [music] which contain profane and appropriate content and whether they followed proper procedures before acquiring new titles. SB13 prohibits the possession, acquisition, and purchase of library material rated sexually [music] explicit by the selling library vendor. Your librarians have admitted publicly that they do not read every book. Therefore, how can they ensure that the adequate assessment of the material being made was available as being made available to the students? >> Thank you, Pastor Davis. I do want to note that we are scheduled uh on the agenda to hear your appeal later this evening. >> Okay. >> I just wanted to make sure

013we are that you're aware of that. >> Uh no, I I didn't know that. I thought this was my appeal. >> Nope. We have a particular item on the agenda later this evening to to have you formally present to us. And you want me to come back again? >> You u well it's uh scheduled. I can't give you a particular time it'll be, but it's scheduled on the agenda for this evening. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Thank you. Uh the next speaker is Shannon Ayes. Shannon, Texas Education Director for Citizens Defending Freedom, and I'm from Frisco, Texas. Nothing I'm going to say tonight is new. I've already explained the fifth circuit's onbunk ruling in Little versus Lano County to this board. You are informed. You know their ruling. I've also explained the mandates under

014Senate Bill 13 for district officials to evaluate library materials and remove profane and indecent content. Despite that, your superintendent continues to claim that he has no authority to remove profaneer and decent content from your school libraries. That claim is ridiculous. Again, in Lo versus Little versus Lo County, the Fifth Circuit held that there is no first amendment right to information from a public or school district library. [music] School districts are not required to keep any book on your shelves. There is no first amendment obligation to retain a title once it's been purchased. When no book is required to remain, every book that does remain is there by choice. What stays on the shelves reflects your judgment, your priorities, and your values. The continued presence of profane and indecent material in San Marcus is not accidental.

015It is most certainly not uh compelled by law. It is the result of a conscious decision to keep it available to minors. To be clear, the superintendent did not fail to act. He chose not to act. [clears throat] after the law was explained, after the fifth circuit ruling was explained, and after this board was put on notice, he consciously left profane and indecent material in your libraries. That choice was deliberate, and you rubber stamped that choice. And before you blame the slack, it's worth reminding those listening that the slack is advisory only. The superintendent and this board do not have to take the slack's recommendations. So, the superintendent had the authority to remove these books. He knew he had the authority and he refused to use it. What remains on the shelves today remains there

016because he allowed it to remain. But now that choice sits squarely and only with you. You have the authority to remove these books. You also have the authority to remove a superintendent who knowingly refused to protect the minors in his care from profane and indecent material. It if neither happens, everyone listening needs to know that it will not be because your hands were legally tied. [music] It will be because you agree that schools should provide profane profane and indecent material to minors. Do not think what happens in this room tonight stays in this room. Parents are watching. Communities across the state are watching. [music] Legislators are watching and taking notes. Everyone will know how you respond when you have both the power and the duty to protect children. Your decision tonight will be very telling.

017Either this board enforces Texas legal standards and protects minors, or it signals that profane and indecent material is acceptable in its schools. Everyone will know which choice you made. You're setting your community standards. What will those look like? Thank you very much. And the final speak Oh, two five. Yes, the last speaker, there's five this evening is D. Anderson. Good evening. I'm D. Anderson, Maxwell, Texas. Complete addresses on record. I am a taxpayer, concerned citizen, mother, aunt, and abila, or as my grandson likes to call me, Aba. It's easier to say. There are books in the school's libraries that contain harmful, indecent, and profane content. The books do not have any educational value. Some of the books contain rape, gang rape, incest, pedophilia, child molestation, child prostitution, extreme violence, graphic sex. I will read from

018one of the books. I know you don't want to hear it. I don't like reading it. Here is from the book Identical Doing the Dirty. Shot one, missionary, daddy on Top. Shot two, doggy style, daddy on top. Shot three. Can't even say it, let alone dwell on the picture. But daddy's on top. Always on top. Wonder who was on top when they did have sex. Sex. Sex. Sex. I have really got to stop thinking about it so damn much, you know. Sorry, I need a second. This is not book banning. Many of you think that it is. These books are still available. They can be purchased in bookstores. Our taxpayer dollars should not be purchasing these types of books. I come up here as a grandparent because my grandson loves books. I get him books

019all the time. I actually bought him a new book this week. And I had to look at this book and I had to read the book because I'm going to give it to him when I come visit him. And I need to make sure there's nothing in there that's harmful. And as grandparents, aunts, uncles, you know, you need to look at what the children are reading. And everybody should be accountable as I am accountable whenever I give my grandson a book. I thank you all for your time and have a good evening. >> Thank you very much. Next, we'll move into the superintendence report. >> All right, madame president, members of the board, good evening. We have Dr. Valadez. As you know, one of our priorities this year has been to recognize our campuses that

020are working hard with attendance, getting kids in the school if I could. >> Good evening, board. Uh so we are once again presenting our uh top AEA uh campuses and for our elementary uh I think the fifth month in a row um would be Ernnandez Elementary. If principal Gonzalez can come up she had a 95.74% ADA for her campus. Let me grab the [applause] And then for our secondary campus, we have good night once again with 92.88, [applause] Mr. Mitchell. Principal Mitchell came back. >> Yes, he came back. So, it's going back to good night after being at Miller for a month. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you, board. [snorts] >> Good evening, President Hollyy, trustees, and superintendent Dr. Cardona. I would like to take a moment to recognize Bonum PreK for an outstanding accomplishment.

021Bonum has been named a 2026 HB excellence [music] in education early childhood finalist which places them among a very selected group of early childhood programs across Texas recognized for exceptional learning experiences and outcomes for young children. This recognition reflects the dedication of the staff, the strength of leadership and the intentional work happening every day to support the young the youngest learners and their families. We are incredibly proud of the Bonum team and look forward to welcoming HB to our district this February. Congratulations to everyone involved. And we have our proud principal of Bonum here tonight, Dr. Martinez. And would like to give her a small gift. [applause] We also have some student celebrations [music] and we are going to recognize those students tonight. We have the proud principal of our amazing high school, Dr. Guardo

022here, and she's going to introduce you to her students uh to be recognized. >> Thank you. Good evening, President Hollyy, board members, and Dr. Cardona. It is my absolute honor to be here to recognize a truly stellar >> [music] >> uh senior rattler for an amazing accomplishment, Rice Tips. >> [applause] >> Uh, Rice is being recognized as a recipient of the prestigious QuestBridge scholarship with a match to Caltech University in California. For those of you who may not know, QuestBridge National College Match is a nonprofit uh focused on connecting high achieving high school seniors um with full 4-year scholarships to our nation's top universities. This scholarship covers the full cost of attendance, including tuition, housing, and food, books, and supplies, as well as travel. uh expenses estimated to be nearly $37,500,000 over four years, which

023is really remarkable. [cheering] Okay. As a as a Rattler, Rice has been fully immersed in learning and participating in extracurriculars that have built a strong foundation for all future um possibilities. He is a member and competitor in FFA, a member of the National Honor Society, and an officer in both the science club and HOSA. As a junior, Rice earned College Board National Recognition uh for his performance on his SAT. Though he hasn't quite decided what to major at at Caltech, Rice is strongly considering bioengineering and or astrophysics. After earning his bachelor's degree, he will continue his education to earn both a master's and a PhD in hopes of becoming a researcher and professor or possibly working at NASA. >> Love you. >> SO, last lastly, uh QuestBridge is a highly competitive scholarship that accepts more

024than 25,000 applications each school year. Uh and they only offer about 10% of those applicants a full scholarship. Um, so I would be remiss if I did not mention several other people on our SMHS team that contributed not only to uh his educational journey, but whose support in the scholarship application process no doubt propelled him to the top of their applicant list. I'd like to recognize Rice's teachers, Miss Jackson, Mr. Steedman, and Mr. Tenorio if they're here. and then also our incredible counseling team. At the time, uh Christy Jordan was his counselor and they all wrote recommendation letters which um helped him secure this this um scholarship. So, congratulations Right. Will y'all come up and miss Jackson? He wanted to know if he should [laughter] Can you step here with me? >> Congratulations. So, another

025uh stellar high school student that we want to recognize is Miss Paula Gomez Garcia right here with us. So, as you can see, Paula is a member of our FFA department and she competed this year. So, in the fall and in the spring, the FFA has contests that go district, area, and state. In the spring that will coming up soon, it will be a career development events. In this fall, it is leadership development events. And so in the fall, we had students that competed in a variety of link of LDE events throughout our area. It first starts with the river district. And quite frankly, our district in our FFA is one of the most competitive districts in the state. A lot of times when our kids get to area, the kids that are there are

026are talking to our students about you got out of river district. So that first step was huge for them. So she competed in senior creed speaking which is a public speaking event offered through the FFA. She won at the district level and went on to area 5. She competed at area 5 where she also won and competed at state. And what we're here to honor her today is that she came into the finals and took third place overall in the state of Texas in senior Spanish creed speaking. And so because it was a public speaking event, we want to give her an opportunity to do so. And so we are now going to hear from Paula about her plans after graduation. >> Hello everyone. My name is Paola. And first of all, I wanted to

027thank everyone who supported me. From Mr. who stayed late for practices who woke up every morning who motivated me to keep going for my friends and all the officers from FFA and everyone who was involved for Miss Monica Valade. She was really motivating and she was really supporting me. And so my plans after high school, I'm still deciding on what to do, but I either want to do um education career or a health related career career. I want to work with kids, but I don't know what to do yet. [music] Yeah. So, thank you everyone for all your support and That's just >> Oh, yeah. Madame President, that's uh all I have. You have gifts from various uh people throughout the community, from various schools. Wanted to thank y'all for y'all service to the board.

028[music] So, thank Jo. We appreciate y'all. I know the staff appreciates all the support you give them and obviously the students are very appreciative of the support you give them to allow them to go to state and national competitions. So, thank you all very much. Thank you, Dr. Cardone. And on behalf of the board, congratulations again to our students and to our campus. It's it's really great news tonight and it's a wonderful way to start the new year. So, thank you and keep it up. Um, next up, let's move straight into our reports and information items. academics or uh >> adjust the human traffic. Are we doing something underneath a is that it? >> It's just a resolution from the board. >> Then I'm doing a proclamation on human trafficking prevention month. Whereas January is

029recognized as human trafficking prevention month. Human trafficking is a public health issue and crime that harms the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities, often across generations. Whereas, nearly 25 years after the passing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, an estimated 27.6 million people are subjected to human trafficking globally with cases reported in every US state and territory. Whereas human trafficking can happen to anyone, but certain populations are at a greater risk, including people affected by abuse, violence, poverty, unstable living situations, or social disconnection. Whereas human trafficking is connected to so many other forms of violence and exploitation, and often shares common risk and pro protective factors such as lack of resources and unsafe environments. Whereas strengthening communities requires collective action to reduce the conditions that contribute to exploitation, build resilience, and create environments

030where people are protected from human trafficking and other forms of violence. Whereas America CISD is committed to ensuring that those impacted by human trafficking receive services that are traumainformed and responsive to their individual needs. Whereas a successful response to human trafficking requires a coordinated communitywide effort that includes collaboration across sectors and with those who have experienced human trafficking firsthand to ensure that services and programs are effective and meet the needs of all survivors. Therefore, the San Mara CISD board of trustees do hereby proclaim January 2025 as human trafficking prevention month, reaffirming our commitment to prevent and combat human trafficking by increasing awareness and building diverse partnerships to support a comprehensive response for individuals impacted by human trafficking as of this day, January 226th. The next item, academic quarterly app academic update, please board of trustees,

031Dr. Cardona, let's bring that energy back for some academics, y'all. You ready? Okay. Well, we are excited to share quarter 2 data with you this evening as soon as my computer cooperates. All right. Would you mind scrolling for me and I'll I'll get you back next time. >> All right. So, first we'd like to remind you how we measure all of our efforts and that is through our key performance indicators. These are directly correlated to the effective schools framework. been a while since we kind of reminded ourselves of this graphic. So, we wanted to bring this back. Remember that the ESF outlines the actions that effective schools take and we continuously seek to improve our effectiveness for the sake of our students. So, we do check ourselves by looking at data related to the [music]

032three key areas you see on your left. Uh when we look at SEAL and safety data, we know that that relates to positive school culture, a huge piece of the ESF framework. When we look at attendance data, we know that we're measuring the effectiveness of our instruction and our culture. And when we look at academic data, we know that we are measuring the effectiveness related up to our instructional materials and our instruction. And then the fact [music] that we have these KPI scorecards, we ask our principles to every quarter spend time with their staff digging into data and responding to it all goes to our efforts to strengthen school leadership and planning. So with that sort of background reminder you have in your board book and what you see on the screen is a snapshot

033of that KPI you'll go to the next one KPI scorecard. But tonight, and like I said, you have each campus's scorecard in your book if you wanted to get into that level. But for tonight, we're going to zoom out and share that 35,000 mile high view from a [music] district perspective of our quarter 2 data. And we're going to begin with data around and safety. So, I'm going to tag out with my partner, Dr. Cole. Okay. Good evening. So as you can see here with our discipline data we are taking our data from 2526 we have quarter 1 is the first nine weeks Q2 is the second nine weeks. So as you can see here these are referrals discipline referrals that have been written. So this is ISS OSS and our DAP which is rebound.

034This does not include referrals that maybe are a timeout or maybe it's talking with a counselor. So these are not your total referrals. These are just referrals that have to be reported to the state. So as we can see with elementary we did have a up uptake of referrals. We went from 27 to 69 which was 42. So the reason behind that we are thinking that we do have a lot of new teachers at the elementary level. We have half of our teachers at Buouie Elementary at Travis and at some of the other elementaryaries and they are still learning classroom management. They're still learning how to, you know, decide what is a classroom referral that they'll handle and one that goes to an administrator. But talking with my counterpart here during our um new teacher

035orientation throughout the year, they get uh classroom management strategies. They learn how to talk with students. They learn how to deescalate situations. So that is something that we are going to be continuing working throughout the whole school year. So then we go into middle school. middle school went from 134 ISS to uh 136 uh 270 which is 136 and then we also see all the way at the bottom they did go up to 154 with this being said November December that's when referrals do happen that is in the classroom because we do have things happen throughout the year where they're excit excited about Thanksgiving, excited about Christmas, but they are still trying to maintain classroom environment. And then at the high school, we do also have um the referrals go up. If you can go

036to the next slide. So here, this is where I really want to to stress what we have from last year of second nine weeks to this nine weeks. So as we can see here, if we go all the way down to the bottom, we do have a total for elementary. they did go up to 47. So that is something um that I did talk about earlier. But then we have middle school. Middle school you see that they did go down in ISS referrals, OSS, DAP. So they went down 105. And what we're doing there is we're not telling teachers do not write referrals, but we're having [music] our director of guidance and counseling and work with the counselors to say this is what we can do instead of writing referrals. This is something for restorative

037practices. [music] So now we go to the high school and Dr. Barardo is really focusing on not ossing kids because when they're at home, they're not going to learn. But when if we can just put them in ISS, yes, they are on school. Yes, they are in a timeout, but at least they're still at school and at least they are learning. So, the high school team really did change their mind of thinking and that's why we see a negative 174 in their [music] referrals. And now we go into attendance. So, attendance, the superintendent's goal is for all of our schools to be at 95%. So, as we can see here with elementary first nine weeks, the second nine weeks, we did drop to 0.58. middle school we drop 1.11 even though we do have a

038high competition between Miller and goodn night every nine weeks but now we go to the high school and high school also went down 8.87 [music] 87. But taking a bigger picture, these are the celebrations. So that we see our attendance is going up from last year where we were to this year. So elementary is up.55. Middle school is 044 and an amazing high school is up 1.26. So Dr. G and her team are really stressing the importance of coming to school every [music] day and is showing as with the data going up one point. And then the overall the district overall where we were last year we're at 94.16 for the second nine weeks and now this second nine weeks that [music] passed 94.09. So as a district we are down 0.07 07. But remember,

039our goal is 95% and we're still aiming for that for the [music] end of the school year. >> Can I quickly ask a question? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Um, do you have some sense if you look at the quarters, like I assume quarter 1's always going to be better than quarter 2 because there's less illness there. You know, we're excited maybe. Is that probably part of what's contributing to this as well? That's historically the same. >> Yes. That we go to the campuses every week, especially elementary, we're seeing a lot of illnesses, whether it was the flu one month, then we had a stomach bug. So, unfortunately, that's what we're seeing and that's when we get to get they get together with their uh custodian staff to make sure they're disinfecting the schools so that

040the germs don't continue. >> Thank you, >> President Hollyy. Uh, thank you, President Hollyy. This is I mean a really hypersp specific question. So, if you all can indulge me to the best of your ability. One, I appreciate the emails that now the board is receiving regarding the like weekly attendance and really like the work that is happening on a week to week toe basis and like day-to-day basis almost uh to affect attendance increasing [music] in in regards to Friday. This past Friday, obviously there was a lot of activity on social media and without really like undoing all the layers of that onion, so to speak, I'm really interested and this isn't a conversation for tonight, but internally, and I can sidebar with the superintendent after this, is I would really be interested in knowing

041how staff communicates with those families who might not feel like it's safe to leave their kid at a bus stop or pick their child up from a bus stop, might keep them home for the day because of things that are going on on social media. So, again, we can have that conversation later one-on-one as an individual trustee, but it's something I'm very curious in. So, thank you. [music] >> Yes, sir. >> All right. So, we're going to shift to some academic data and we're going to open it up with a comparison of our failure rate. You've got your first and second nine weeks there. And then your bottom row is your average for the semester. Keeping in mind at the high school level, 10% of that is the final exam that they took at the

042end of of December. For elementary and middle, it's just an average of the two nine weeks. Now, this is a percentage of [music] students failing at least one course. Um that could so that could mean like at the high school level that could be 85 students failing all eight courses. It could be 680 students failing one course. And the answer is it's somewhere in between there. And now we'll shift to yes. >> What are we doing to help those? Have we implemented our credit recovery for especially our seniors that are in question of >> Yes, ma'am. So, uh right now those conversations are happening with teachers and students about the ability to average over the year, right? So, we're coming into spring semester. Here's what you've got to make to average out. We still want

043to keep you in that tier one. We don't want to pull you out too soon. You still have a chance to average out. So those conversations are happening after the third nine weeks. They do have a plan for um you know 9th and tth graders. They'll do work credit recovery in summer school. For our 12th graders who are already in an edge course if at the end of the third nine weeks the averaging isn't looking as possible. Those courses will load in. For 11th and 12th graders not currently in an edge course. Again after that third nine weeks there's conversations to see how those courses may begin to get loaded in for them. And are the counselors working with the parents to let them know that they're kind of in thin ice? >> Yes, ma'am.

044Absolutely. Yeah, the counseling department, Dr. Gorardo Guardo, they are keeping a close eye on these numbers and communicating with parents. Okay, so we're going to shift into that uh DCA2. This is the um exam students took in the month of December. And we're starting with we did add in some second grade scores for you this go round. Um we heard that you kind of wanted to see even a few more grade range and so here's some second grade scores for you in RLA. As a reminder, our goal is 80% approaches, 50% meets 30 masters. If on average we can all kind of get there, you're looking at about a B. So that's just sort of a a goal post we've set for ourselves. Um you can throughout the presentation you'll be able to compare DCA

0452 from December to DCA 1 which was um early October and then in the parentheses you'll be able to compare to how students did on this test last year. So that would be a different group of kiddos but the same type of test with some exceptions [music] that I'll explain as we go. When we see the growth in parentheses in green, what that tells [music] us is our teachers are really doing a great job of teaching on grade level because the assessment's on grade level and for the most part it stays the same. So as we see that growth from year to year starting to match, our teachers are increasing that instruction that's on grade level. So it's a really exciting to see some green in those parentheses. Moving to third grade, you do see

046some growth for this cohort from their DCA1 to their DCA 2. And you also see some growth in that ongrade level teaching from what students did this year and what a different group of kiddos did last year. In fourth grade RLA, we do see some growth here um at the approaches and masters level for this particular group of students, right? From what they did in October to what they did in December. And again, we're seeing some growth from how a different group of kids did on this test last year. And then in fifth grade, we noticed some slip from DCA 1 to two from October to December. Though they did do better than this point last year. Our fifth grade teachers are looking at growth data down to the student and making [music] plans for

047reteing at the tier one level, but also intervention. So they they saw these trends. um they do dove in this January 6 and have continued in their collaborative time to dig in a little bit deeper on this data and look at by student level where the growth is and what adjustments need to be made. And then we thought you might like to see this view uh this go around. This is that cohort data. So you would read this by row from [music] left to right. Our classes of 20 33 34 and 35. I know. Let that soak in. Right. Um, and so you can kind of see how this group of kids did last year at this point versus how they did this year. As a parent of a fourth grader, pretty exciting to see

0482034. Um, and for our fifth graders, I do want to point out for third grade, um, I debated whether to even include this row. uh the state does not measure third grade growth because there's no star test in second grade to [music] compare it to. And so similarly, our internal assessment system, our second grade DCAs are not as starlike as our [music] third, fourth, and fifth. So when you look at that third grade row, you're comparing a second grade assessment [music] that was more um aligned to their instructional materials versus now a DCA that's more uh star aligned. So just want to point that out. >> Yes, sir. >> So these aren't these aren't the same grade. These are the the kids the prior year. Is that what you're saying? And so like when I

049look at the class of 2033 D uh let's look at meats cuz that's the one I'm looking at. We've got 31% in 2024. I read that to mean when I looked at the packet that 31% of the fifth graders in 2024 were meeting. Are you saying that's the same group in fourth grade? >> Yeah. You're going to read that row across. So [music] when you see DCA 2024, that 31% is how our current fifth graders did last year. Fourth grade. >> Okay. Thanks for clarification. >> Absolutely. But again, we do look at this type of data because remember that domain 2 from the state looks at the growth. So uh this is a view we thought you might [music] enjoy. >> All right, we're going to move. Yes. Okay. >> I was just wondering if

050part of the third grade change is there more writing this year than they did last year. Is that perhaps >> some of it or just the >> rigor? And they begin to get introduced to the short constructed response and the extended constructed response. Um they they get I mean they get introduced to that in second grade. Our our second grade teachers are doing a great job of trying to vertically align, but it definitely ramps up in third grade that rigor and that type of writing that they're going to see on the star. >> Thank you. Okay, so we're going to shift to some elementary math data and we're going to start with second grade. So, [sighs] one thing we want to point out um is that last year both the first and second DCAs for

051our second graders were taken on paper and then DCA3 that they take in the spring was on the computer. This year we shifted. We decided to have our second graders start [music] practicing their assessments online and working out some of those kinks in second grade as opposed [music] to third grade when their scores are going to be measured on the star. So, as we've analyzed the data, that has been a question that's come up. We wonder how much they're still kind of getting used to their uh keyboard skills and and taking that assessment online. But again, we do prefer to have them work those kinks out in second grade as opposed to that first tested [music] year as third grade. So that's just some context to know about uh this grade level. We do want

052to keep in mind like it's really exciting to see some growth at meets and masters for DCA 1 to2. And I also have to point out sometimes the skills don't match. Sometimes they're relatively isolated and so what you're doing in quarter one may not necessarily be built upon in quarter two. So sometimes we'll see some celebration there. Sometimes we won't. And so you just you really have to know the skills to know if we we and the teachers do they get down to the skill level to see did we grow on skills that we've been learning all year and if this was a skill that we struggled with maybe it was just introduced as recently as November. So that's that's the level they're looking at in the [music] classroom at third grade math. This year

053both DCA 1 and 2 were much more star aligned in both the question stems and the rigor. So for example last year if the students had only learned their multiplication facts up to eight and they they have to learn them up to 12 uh by the end [music] of the year then the assessments would ask them questions up to eight but the questions would come from the instructional materials that they use Eureka in our case. This year we said, "Let's make sure we're asking them at the rigor level that they're going to see on STAR." So the STAR stems were put into these tests, but we would still keep the numbers at this point at a max of [music] eight. The test they'll take in the spring, DCA3, those numbers would go up to 12

054since by [music] then they should have learned it. So the content is still matching what they should have been taught to that point, but we have upped the rigor level of the question stems to make sure it's matching what they would see at the end of the year. So, we had that sort of adjustment in third grade. In fourth [music] grade, um, looking at star scores last year, we felt like our, did I say third grade? I meant to say fourth grade. Our fourth graders started much more prepared and uh the assessments we build in-house when we build them with certain cut scores saying like this score is going to be approaches this score is going to be meets we match what the state did the year prior and so when you look at these

055fourth grade scores here please know that this year's DCAs in order to match the most recent star the approaches you had to score three points higher to get approaches two points higher to get meats and masters stayed the same. So knowing that that this test technically took a bit more to get approaches and meets, we were happy to see some growth and [music] um some numbers relatively static in some areas knowing that this assessment was technically a bit harder. Also just as a flashback to fourth grade, this is the point where protractors were introduced. Remember those? So that's new learning in the second quarter and they're just, you know, like trying to figure out how to work those things. So we we take that to account here. And then we have fifth grade. Again, this

056is a grade level whose cut scores changed from last year. [music] So to get approaches, it was two points harder. To get to meets, it was five points harder. And to get to masters, [music] two points harder. So, kind of keep that in mind as you look at how our students did on this fifth grade >> [music] >> uh DCA2 compared to last year. Yes, ma'am. >> Before we leave the ele >> Yes. Before we leave the elementary grades, I want to know what in the in the ballpark number, how many students do we have that are GT? >> Ballpark number. We can get that for you. How >> about 1,200 across the district? >> 1,200. >> Yes, ma'am. >> But for elementary or are you counting elementary and secondary? >> That's the total. So,

057we'll we can we can divide it up for you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> And then the next slide is it's cohort with math. But again, like I've mentioned, math is a bit hard to go apples to apples from uh grade level to grade level. The teaks are pretty vastly different. Um, in second grade on DCA2, students are solving one-step problems with visuals within a 100. Um, and then in third grade, a year later, they're solving multi-step problems using any of the four operations. So, the rigor from one year to the next is quite a [music] jump in math. So the cohort data here, you know, grain of salt with that. >> President question. >> Yes, sir. >> When you get early feedback, which I think is what this quarterly data is for, that flashes red

058like third grade and fourth grade math performance, what are we doing now in the middle of the year to remedy those worrying signs? Okay. So, from a district level, we have a curriculum specialist for elementary math who is pushing into campuses for support, particularly lately at the fourth grade [music] level. Um, that data came in and immediately principal like we're looking at it at the same time principles are looking at it. They're picking up the phone as we're picking up the phone and saying, "What do we do about fourth grade math?" So she is pushing in um to help primarily look at what is remaining in our scope and sequence between now and the test and see is there anything that's not an essential standard that we can maybe trim away and then how do

059we spiral back some essential learnings that we're going to need. So they're working with teachers to kind of rearrange their scope and sequence between now and then. at the campus level. Um, we're still completing our one-on-one meetings with every principal where we ask them this very question. [music] So, I could have a more sort of comprehensive report for you even campus by campus later, but I can tell you generally those administrators are pushing into the collaboration time and reflecting with teachers um down to the student level because they look who went backwards, who went forward, and they're making those individual plans and goals for students. um where needed instructional coaches are pushing in to not only plan with the teacher but also sometimes go in and model for the teacher and then watch the teacher

060observe and give feedback. So there's kind of there's many different options out there especially at the campus level. Is there something that we did like instructionally t instructional time or some shift from year to year because the same kids are doing quite a bit better [clears throat] in language arts and then showing some worrying signs in math. Is is there some explanation for that >> related to time? >> That was an an example. I mean, you would know better than I, >> right? Um, the time would be something I would want to look at to see what our I mean, I can look at the minutes that are spent on math. And that's an area that as we've looked at this data, that's actually a conversation that's [clears throat] come up is is there something

061we can do now and future forward to allow for more of that time. Um, and then we do have just at the fourth grade level in particular, we tend we seem to have less experienced teachers this year. >> How, you know, they just kind of landed in the fourth grade pocket. So that's where a lot of our supports through our new teacher academy, the individual coaching, um, admin really pushing into their collaborative time. So, there's a lot of individual um I don't want to say issues, individual places and supports that are individualized for that [music] teacher. >> Thank you. >> We do teach science in elementary and here's how that's looking. Um okay, so remember that we got new science standards. So all the science assessments we look at tonight, it is kind of unfair

062to compare them to last year's because uh the standards have changed, therefore the assessments have [music] changed as we have new assessments, but also uh different ways that they're asking the questions. So last year's uh results are somewhat inflated. Um it is particularly in science, I know it's one [music] point, but I'm sorry it's not. It's 12 points for the EB population. It approaches our science test, the vocabulary, the academic vocabulary and the science test can be pretty difficult. So, we are encouraged to see some growth for our emerging bilingual with this [music] assessment. But again, as we go through the night and look at the science assessments, just keep in mind comparing to last year, not as apples to apples as some other areas. Okay, we're going to shift to middle school and we're

063starting with RLA and you have your sixth grade data here across the board from DCA1 to DCA 2. Something to keep in mind is this exam does grow in length and DCA 3 will be a fully released STAR test. So they get longer which means more reading passages and therefore the need for more stamina. [music] Our teachers understand that and do um they have strategies for classroom instruction to build that stamina. And we do typically see go into that DCA too. That's where you really see who's who's up for the one more passage reading and who starts to peter out. Our seventh grade scores are relatively steady. And then eighth grade, some fluctuation. [music] And then we did put that RLA by cohort in for you here. Again, a view that we look at because

064the state and domain 2 does look at that [music] growth. >> So, are we double blocking that RLA for the sixth graders? >> Yes. Sixth grade and eighth grade are currently double blocked. Okay. Now, middle school math, y'all, if you remember, we um worked last year to reconsider our pathways and make sure that um students weren't over accelerating and that they were placed in an appropriate challenge based on multiple data points. And so, and even with that sort of streamlining, you have to remember when you look at middle school math data, if you look in the upper right hand corner, those are the courses that took this assessment. So, this one's relatively straightforward. You have your sixth graders who are on an in an on level, a resource, and an advanced course. So, about 540

065took this test. big growth from where they started in [music] October and compared to this time last year though the students who took this test last year would have been different [music] and you'll especially see that on the next slide the seventh grade. So last year only a small amount of students took this test. That would have been um only your sixth graders who were in pre-alggebra again we're talking last year and your seventh grade students in resource. So very high achievers and traditionally some struggling math learners. Those were the only ones that took it last year. And now this year if you look in that upper right hand corner you have seventh grade on level putting in more numbers here. So again to compare to last year not totally apples to apples and just

066kind of keep that in mind. And then at the eighth grade level, you can see you've got your eighth grade on level and resource, your geometry students, and some of the seventh graders in advanced for 516 taking our eighth grade. >> President have one quick question on [music] this math issue. So, in sixth grade, do we offer an on level, an advanced, [music] and a pre-alggebra? Those are separate tracks for the sixth graders. >> Correct. >> Okay. And then the sixth grade on level goes to pre-alggebra. your sixth grade on level. Depending on data points, they might continue to seventh grade on level >> or if they're showing some readiness for acceleration, they could go seventh grade advanced, >> but there's not a seventh grade pre-alggebra. I don't see it on here. >> So, it

067goes from the three options to the the two options. >> Yes. But if you picture your third [music] option for sixth grade at pre-alggebra, they're going to algebra in seventh grade. >> Yeah. And how many? Eight. Roughly 8th grade geometry kids do we have >> less than 30 at each middle school. >> Okay. Why did they take this eighth grade math? Like if if they're in the eighth grade geometry group. >> So last year as seventh graders they took algebra. And once you have taken algebra with with the state you can't go backwards and take an eight a [music] seventh. Wait, did I mess that up? No, no, no, no, no. I understand why they don't take the course. Why do they take this test like this assessment? Your eighth grade. I guess they're losing

068a day of class to take something that's >> two years in their rearview mirror. >> They'll take the eighth grade star. >> So, this is our way to sort of monitor them >> where they are. Okay. Thank you. >> I have I can hand you my handydandy wrinkle chart later for a visual that I reference [music] all the time. >> Thanks. >> It's well loved. >> All right. Um, what do we want? Algebra 1. Here you go. So, these are our kiddos enrolled in algebra 1. They'll be taking that star this spring. Over 420 students. >> Um, this is just middle school. I have a separate one for you for the high school. Um, did anyone notice 80 5030? Met it. Exciting. and we're moving to middle school science. I'll just say again, we are

069kind of in a transition year as we learn our new standards. A lot of them pushed down from upper grade levels and we have the rigor of our assessments and yet many growth points. And then we do have some social studies coming in at 8th grade. These students will take a star. Um we do have that 30 at masters which is exciting. Um this test is more rigorous than last year. Uh we kind of got a fine tooth comb to it with our new specialist and felt feel more confident with the rigor level that's there um at all all of our social studies assessments this year. And we're going to move into high school. And here's English 1 almost 80. Yes, 50. English two relatively steady. We do have, keep in mind, we do have

070our uh retesters take this DCA since we know they'll be potentially testing again. We do, they are in the fold. And then here's that cohort [music] data at the high school. Here's that algebra I mentioned. Keeping in mind, as of now, the high school still gets mostly students in algebra 1 who were not successful in middle school. So sometimes we see those numbers in the word, but remember those are those are students that are most likely retesting after not being [music] successful in middle school. our biology team. Um, they're they're I know this is looking backwards at their DCA1, but I know sometimes we see the red. Uh, DCA1 this year, we mentioned last time it had more on it tested more of material tested on it this year due to the pacing changes from

071the standards. Um but again we we think DCA2 data is on par with last year's EOC and in fact they're seeing a higher percentage of students approaching me and masters than last year. So [snorts] this is the team I've bragged on quite a bit that they really dig into the data. They're um they're ready to go. They see every child and they're going to get them there. They had great scores last year and 8050. And then here's our US history team. 80 5030. And so then one of the final pieces on our KPI scorecard is we do ask principles to report out their number of classroom observations. So we know that being present in classrooms by our leaders addresses [music] culture. Uh it can help with our discipline referrals and mainly it helps principles and

072assistant principles be aware of what instructions looking like. Give immediate feedback to correct where needed. We have given administrators a goal of five per week this year and they have been knocking out of the park. They're a very competitive group. So you give them a target, they're going to go for it. Um, and so we see some as we move into uh holidays and testing season, you or as they move more into their formal test observations, um, fewer quick walkthroughs, but still they're they're doing a great job of being present in the classrooms and being aware of what's happening dayto-day so that they can respond more timely. And so I'm going to pass it off to Beth Nash now to walk you through our December EOCC scores that came in. Okay, thank you. So our

073December EOC scores for [music] the most part, these are 100% retesters. So keep in mind that as you look through the data, but I do have comparison data for the state, region 13, and then the district. [music] And then you'll see we have San Marcus Excel Academy and San Marcus High School. So for algebra 1 we have um Excel Academy and then the high school. I did include the number of students as well so you can get an idea of how many students are retesting to give an idea of approaches, meets and masters. And you can see that the high school is right at the approaches um above for the meets and right at for masters of the state. So while it's, you know, not numbers you would expect to see for the spring for

074December retesting, we're doing a great job for our kids that are not doing a successful job for the initial firsttime testing. Um, and as we've realigned the math pathways in middle school, that's going to really help what high school is receiving the [music] first time around, ensuring our students have a stronger foundation. So, the idea is that we have fewer and fewer students who need to retest in [music] the first place, allowing high school to now have firsttime testers in larger numbers in the spring so that these numbers will be smaller in December. For our English one, English one and English two continue to be a low point for the entire state and a lot of that goes back to the ECR scores. Um that is something now through House Bill 8 there is the

075automatic rescore that has been pushed out. Um and that is something that now with the automatic rescore certain um ECRs the extended constructed responses are automatically rescored by humans. We did have three students who their ECRs were um regraded and received higher scores. So those numbers were not reflected in this but one student at the high school he actually received now an approaches and two students went up to meet. So that was nice to see that our students had um higher score increases. Um but once again you can see Excel Academy is well above the state and the region. So kudos to them for what they are doing. And then the high school is right at the state and well above the region as well. English 2 EOC data. You can see once again the

076Excel Academy is considerably above the region for not only or above the region for approaches and right at the region or sorry the state for meets and then the high school slightly below the state um but knows that work needs [music] to be done and that is a very competitive group as well. We've worked with a lot of um data with the different teachers that are in there with what do those students need to do to be successful and those students are highly motivated. They know that these five EOCC's, those are graduation requirements. So, it's something that those kids know this is not something you can just play around with. Every single EOCC is one less opportunity to pass for graduation. Our biology, you can see here where we have Excel Academy only had one

077student, but that one student was successful. And then for the high school team, like Miss Medioski mentioned, that high school team is very competitive with biology. And you can see here that the high school is right out the state for approaches and right below for masters and US history. This is the one where we do have some first-time testers and this is due to students who are looking to graduate early because of how late we receive scores back in May. If a student's wanting to be an early graduate, they typically take US history as a junior. So an early grad would take this course accelerated and so December EOC is when they would take this as a firsttime tester. [music] That's why the meets and masters is typically much higher on this assessment than the

078other assessments. [music] But you can see once again um St. Marcus High School and Excel Academy at 81 and 85% is right aligned with where we would like to be. So very proud of our results for this year for December. But then also comparing to last year, if we look at 24 to 25 for the high school, you can go down and see all the green of the growth showing that the changes, we're not just happy with the status quo, but constantly looking to improve on what is being done. So growth happening for the San Marcus High School and also San Marcus Excel Academy. So they have a smaller number of students they're working with, but still looking to see that growth is happening to allow these students to pass those EOCC's to get those

079graduation requirements. Now I'm turning it over. >> So you asked for um more frequent check-ins on the Buoie Elementary. And so while again you have KPI scorecards for each campus in your board book, we have asked uh Principal Barry and her team to be here to just give you a little check-in on how things are going at Buouie. You ready? >> So is me. >> Sorry. [laughter] >> Um yes. Back in October, we presented the plan to you for Buoie. Principal [music] Barry has been working very um hard with her team to incorporate that plan. One of the requirements as the plan, you all had to approve that plan, which you did, and then we had to submit it to TEA uh for the commissioner to approve. So, we're still waiting on that particular piece

080um for them to approve it. But in the meantime, we've had a number of opportunities to work closely with region [music] 13 in support of what TEA requires. They've done an excellent job of giving us guidance [music] so that as we're constantly looking and evaluating what's happening at Buoie, they're able to push our thinking even more. So, what you're going to see tonight is Miss Barry is going to explain just the where we are at this point in [music] time and then I'm going to give you guys some information related to how we're supporting firstear principles. I know that was something that was asked at the previous meeting. So we we'll be able to share with you some of the things that we're doing across the district to make sure that they are successful in

081their first year as principles in this district. Miss Perry. >> Hi. Good evening. President Hally School Board Dr. Cardona. Really excited to share this update with you guys. We There it is. [music] Okay. Uh prior to creating this slide, we were really rich on data points. We've been collecting data and pivoting throughout the school year. And so our instructional leadership team really wanted to be mindful of the data we were capturing to continue tracking growth and making the changes that we needed to. So we're going to look just really quickly at growth and then also at achievement. And so I wanted to start with the boxes to your left titled year-to-year comparison at midyear. What we're looking at on in those boxes is where third graders as a whole were at this point of the

082year last year. So these are not the same cohort of students. This is just buoy elementary, middle of the year, third grade, fourth [music] grade, and fifth grade. How are they doing? Because we know how the year ended. So, we really wanted to see what did that look like at the middle of the year and then compare it to where we are at this point in the year for both reading, language arts, and math. Um it's pretty easy to see that we have pretty steady um gains at the point we are at this point according to DCA2 meaning third graders, fourth graders and fifth graders generally at this point in the year are progressing towards um approaching and meeting grade level standards uh as we prepare to move on to the last two nine weeks

083prior to STAR. [music] Um, we also wanted to look at the bottom right, which is the same cohort of students. So, last year's third graders, how are they doing this year? And we separated reading and language arts and math. And you can see that third grade reading last year, those students this year as fourth graders, uh, overall at 61% whereas last year they were at 43% at this point in the year. And then we look at last year's fourth graders who are now this year's fifth graders and they had 70%. So they had a a huge growth from last year to where they are at this point in the year going into the third nine weeks. Um math as is the case across the district, but specifically at Buoie, fourth grade continues to be an

084area of concern for us and an area that we're closely monitoring. This data still shows that we do have a lot of work to do and are continuing to do. Last year's third graders were at 30% and this year's and fourth grade they are pretty much exactly where they were at this point in the year. Uh we've already begun to address that um with our teachers with help from our instructional coach, our district um curriculum specialists, Dr. Katie Bettes, along with Miss Chaffy, our assistant principal, and myself. we are in there in the classrooms ourself. Um and we are really keeping a pulse on that providing additional support to our teachers. And then you can see our last year's fourth graders who are now fifth graders have had a growth from that is correct. They

085were at 13% approaches in the middle of the year and this year they are sitting at 51%. So the the growth has been exponential with this cohort of students. And we do know that growth um is incredibly important. We've gotten very granular with our students thanks to the growth charts that Beth Nash has been providing us consistently. We've been able to pinpoint specific students um in the ways that we can support them through our intervention MTSS strategic grouping and um other strategies that we've been we've been able to implement on campus. And then the the big piece on the top right is our turnaround plan goal. So this is the turnaround plan that the state of Texas is um going to approve and hopefully is going to improve to approve. But really this shows the

086target. So when we look at reading our goal in order to get [clears throat] us out of being a school improvement um rating would be at 35% at meets and that's across the campus and right now as a campus we're sitting at 31%. So, we are only four points away from what it will take for us to meet that target goal according to our turnaround plan. When we look at math, that's where we have a little bit more work to do. Um, our goal is 35% and we're sitting at 21%. All of this information and data has been shared with the teachers. We have sifted it through this, talked through it. Everybody understands the end goal and we're working together along with help from um our district support and really making the the growth that

087the students need and the teachers as well, especially in some grade levels with brand new teachers. So that was really exciting for us to share. So as you know Miss Barry is one of our first year principles and she is doing a remarkable job in leading uh the turnaround that is happening at Buouie. We also have one other first year principal and then a number of first year assistant principles. So the way that we approach supporting our principles we want to make first we want to make sure that everyone understands that they are the instructional leaders of their campus. We as a district we are a form of support. So our job is not to go in there and tell them necessarily what to do, but it is to inform their practice by asking the

088right questions through coaching. We operate through a coaching lens and not necessarily through a compliance [music] lens. One of the first things that all departments across central office are responsible for doing [music] back in June, I believe it was, we hosted an onboarding experience for all of our new administrators, especially for our new principles where they got even more time than our first year uh assistant principles. So every department, HR, finance, operations, communications, and of course academics was responsible for going over the priorities of the year and really drilling down to those so that the principal had an understanding of what the goals were. We were very intentional to not overwhelm them and really focus in on day one as a principal. This is what you need to know and be able to do to

089be successful. And a lot of that is really about the relationship piece. You've got to take care of your folks. You got to love on your kids. But instruction has to happen. You've got to hold people accountable. And you can do all three of those and u be a great leader. Weekly, our first year principles engage with their supervisor as does all principles with Dr. Cole. And that one-on-one meeting is really a time for them to reflect on [music] the successes that they're having, of course, some of the challenges that may be experiencing. They do walkthroughs. they calibrate to make sure that they're um operating in one accord. During that one-on-one meeting, Dr. Cole is also responsible for coaching the principal around how to have coaching conversations with uh teachers, with administrators, how to plan

090staff meetings, all of those nuances that must take place for [music] the campus to run efficiently. That is part of that meeting. We've hosted in the fall a an opportunity for our new principles to come together. It's just the two of them in an intimate setting where we're able to meet and give them an opportunity to ask the questions that they may not feel comfortable asking when they're in the monthly principal meeting with all their experienced colleagues. [music] So, we we did this back in the fall and we will have another one coming up in the spring. And it really did give us an opportunity just to, you know, break the ice and talk about things in a way where we can be honest sitting in this room uh without fear of coming across that

091you don't know what you're doing. We have made sure that there are a lot of people who are lined up to support these principles, but too much support can also hinder their progress. And the way that we go about aligning our support, we're very strategic with it. So the current support that is offered through all departments, it [music] goes through my office. And so I am informed of what we're offering them. If we are bringing in internal well if we're bringing in external help for example um I coordinate that with if it's HR bringing in someone uh which we brought in a veteran leader to support us a little bit. We make sure that those things are aligned. We don't want 20 well-intentioned uh people running over to the campus [music] telling the principal different

092things to do and that just creates a little bit of chaos that they definitely don't need in their lives right now. We want to make sure that first and foremost that there is a strong academic presence on their campus. So my team they are responsible for being at the campus in whatever capacity the principal needs. It is not our [clears throat] job to tell them what they need. It is our job to ask them what they want. So we have curriculum instruction [music] obviously multilingual special education uh bless you uh gifted and talented guidance and counseling. So all of the different academic departments have a responsibility for being on those campuses [music] and in particular making sure that you're giving time um to first year principles more than any other and especially with Buoy being

093a turnaround and having a first year principal. We really want to make sure that Miss Barry gets that support. Um I'm just thinking Miss [music] Nash was out there. She created growth their growth charts and the first campus that I asked her to do was Buouie um just to make sure that Miss Barry had ample time to prepare to meet with her staff on January 6 when they returned from a holiday break. So all I say all of this to say that our principles they feel very comfortable reaching out to any one of us. If I were to show you my cell phone right now you would see countless messages that we're always communicating with each other. But one of the things more than the strategic [music] part, it is the human element that is

094so important. Just stopping by to check in on them to make sure that they're doing okay. It is a very stressful job. It is a very lonely job having sat in that seat, especially as a first year principal. Sometimes [music] you just need someone to stop by and tell you everything's going to be okay. And so that's something that we emphasize as well is we can talk about the data today. Dr. [music] Cole may come out to do that later, but I'm here right now just to check and see how you're doing. So, we have some wonderful leaders and if we're going to retain them, we have to keep up the support that we're [music] providing. Okay, too. Um, >> on the math that they're 30% to 30% from third grade to fourth grade, you

095all spend some time doing item analysis and then you take the item analysis results and then you work with the teachers to see what concepts still need to be taught, right? >> I'll say I'll say yes and then you can answer. But I'll also say something that I saw Friday while I was over there at um Buoie. they were having a great level MTSS multi-tered support systems of support um with Adriana um from our department leading that and so teachers were really diving into some of the um I call them response to instruction a lot of people will call it response to intervention but if you're not responding to the [music] instruction it's not necessarily respond to the intervention so they were working on that and that's part of what they were actually looking at

096as part of that meeting when we talk about math we are experiencing like districts across the country math has gone down since co one of the things that we are looking at is how can we provide more small groupoup tutoring as a result to combat that it's much harder to do that in reading just [music] because of the nature of reading with the science of reading needing to be a skilled reading teacher versus math not saying it's easy to teach math but it is um somewhat easier to help a student um with tutoring in that area. Okay. So, that's something that we're looking at at Buoie and across um all of our schools trying to see if we can get tutors in to not um take over tier one instruction, but definitely [music] um support

097um the intervention. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any questions? Thank you very much. >> The next item is our transportation update. Good evening, board president Hollyy, board of trustees. Dr. Cardona, tonight's transportation update is going to be delivered by uh Anthony Shields, our director of transportation. Uh there is an action item tonight that y'all will be voting on regarding the purchases of buses and this um this along with an update on our electric bus bus fleet, he'll be delivering to y'all tonight. So, Anthony. >> All right. Thank you. Uh good evening. Uh, President Holly, board of trustees, Dr. Cardona. Again, Anthony Shields, director [music] of transportation. Uh, wanted to bring a couple of transportation related updates for you all. Uh, today, uh, one of the big things that we have going in our realm is,

098uh, Senate Bill 546, which [music] was passed by our legislator and was put into effect September 1 of this year. um a big topic item in the world of transportation. Essentially, this bill is going to amend the current uh [music] transportation code that is in effect, which now will require that buses be all buses be equipped with the three-point lap and shoulder belt. [music] So, um in your your board book and on the screen, you'll have a couple of a couple of items, if you will, regarding the actual Senate bill and what it means. Um so first and foremost all school buses and that does include the uh white or purple buses that we have also known as uh multi-functional school activity buses um they will now need to be equipped with threepoint lap [music]

099and shoulder belts uh going forward. Um, previously the transportation code 547.701 uh stated that buses manufactured after September 1st of 2018 had to have the three-point lap and shoulder belts. But um we are moving to having all buses in the fleet for public schools to have that uh the three-point lap and shoulder belts. Um, TEA has since come out with guidance for districts to kind of navigate how to, uh, go about implementing and making sure [music] that this happens. Um, so there's a couple of things that we are going to need to look at as time goes on. Um, and coming to you all here in January this year, um, is one of those things that we need to talk or that we need to do just to give y'all an idea of what we

100have in our fleet and, uh, what we should be doing or need to do to go forward. Um, but you'll see there um, the the board of trustees will need to determine [music] if our budget um, does not permit immediate compliance with the updated Senate bill. Um and we there at one point or at some point throughout the year we will have to actually have a determination [music] um a formal determination made and it will have to be documented in a public board meeting. Um one of the things that was put in there um which is kind of a moot point as well. Buses may also they may be um exempt if installing seat belts would void the warranty. Um, that's again a moot point because typically when we get buses and warranties on the

101buses, they're only for three to five years. Um, and we are past the 5-year mark for our 2018 model year school buses. So, [music] um, we have no buses that the warranty would be voided uh, by putting the three-point lap and shoulder belts. One thing that we did get clarification for, and it's been great news to everybody, we do not need to have all of the buses retrofitted or placed with seat belts as of [music] September 1 of 2025. Um, they are giving districts until [music] 2029 to replace or retrofit their fleets uh with those three-point lap and shoulder belts. So, um, we can all breathe a sigh of relief because school buses are getting very expensive. Uh, so a couple of reporting requirements that we have for TEA. Um, we'll need to again make

102sure we determine if the district is uh able to afford [music] uh replacing those buses. Um, so we'll need to prepare a report um that that tells you the status of our fleet. So, how many buses have the three-point lap and shoulder belts? How many buses have lap only should or lap only belts? Um, and how many buses do not have either? And then the cost. So, the good news is in y'all's report or your in your board book, you should have that and it is going to be on one of the next slides. Um, we will have to submit this information in this [music] or this data to TEA for them to then come out and give us further guidance. Um, with the Senate Bill 546 uh requirement, they are stating that there may

103be uh grant opportunities available. Um, I think we'll probably have to wait and see once the statewide numbers come up to show how many districts are going to need um additional monies for that. And I I have a feeling that's going to change, but we'll see once uh all the data is submitted to TEA. Um we are required to submit this into Sentinel. Um there's several uh points or dates that we have to adhere to. Um we've already had our first deadline where we had to acknowledge that we have received the guidance um which we've already done. And so, um, some of the things that we're talking about today will go for our next, uh, reporting [music] requirements. All right. So, when we talk about our fleet, um, you'll see here on on the screen

104and in your your books, you do have a a pretty detailed c or a pretty detailed um, view of our fleet. Uh, I do want to note when you get to the bus breakdown, I had a um, the bus use breakdown, excuse me. Um, I may have had to make a switch with some of the numbers, but overall we have about 90 buses in our fleet. Um, you can see how many 77 passenger buses we have, how [music] many 54 passenger buses we have with lifts, how many multi-function school activity buses or MFSABs we have, [music] um, both in 48 passenger, 24 passenger, and 14 passenger. So, there's three categories of those white or purple buses that we have. Um and then the next uh portion is going to talk about our breakdown that we

105have. So how many buses we have on route and the type of buses um whether they're general ed, special ed, trip buses, spare buses. Um that's all there for you. And then on your on the far right column, you'll see the seat belt breakdowns. Um you'll see that we have 35 of our um 35 of our 77 passenger buses [music] are without seat belts. And then the next one is the total number of buses with seat with lap belts only. So you'll see um in that category that's only going to be the uh special needs buses. Um previously those were the only buses before 2018 that we had to put seat belts on and they all have lap belts. So that's why you see some of those numbers and you don't see any of the

106bigger buses. Um and then you also have the multi-function uh school activity buses. Two of two categories of those that have the uh lap belt only. And then the next part is going to have the three point the buses that do have the three-point lap and shoulder belt. This these are the buses that as of today if we were having to have a compliance um number those you would see those are the buses that are in compliance. [music] We have 31 current buses 77 passengers um we have five 54 passenger buses with lifts and then we have two uh MFSABs and so total we have 53 buses without the three-point lap and shoulder belts. Um and then we have 35 buses total without the um without any type of seat belt. So those are some

107of the buses that we're going to be targeting when we talk about replacement of buses as of right now so that we can be uh in compliance. >> Before you leave this slide, President Hall, quick question. The 30 is the 35 without any seat belt included in the 53 without the three point. Yes. >> Yes, sir. >> So there's 18 35 and 18 for a total of 53. >> Correct. Thanks. All right. Um, we were also tasked as part of TA requirements to uh provide and obtain uh cost for retrofitting of retrofitting buses with the three-point lap and shoulder belt. So, you'll see there we have three types of bus manufacturers. Um we did reach out to all three manufacturers to get the um to get a quote for that so that we could see

108what that looked like. [music] Um and so you'll see for our 77 passenger buses for our IC buses there's 24 buses and the total cost would be around $735,000 to retrofit those types of buses. Um for our Thomas buses in the same passenger category it'd be $315,000. Um, and then with Bluebird, um, in the same passenger category, um, you'll you'll see that it says not eligible, and we'll get to that in just a moment. Um, and then likewise, when we start talking about the, um, the smaller buses with the lifts, so the special needs buses, um, $350,000 for the um, international buses, uh, $135,000 for the Thomas buses, and again with the Bluebird buses, um, they are not eligible. Uh, and we then we also reached out to the manufacturer of the purple and white

109buses um for a quote um and for those four buses a total to retrofit with the three-point lap and shoulder belt um it is $220,000. [music] So when you look at that, um the grand total for all 49 of the white buses um would be one $1.5 million essentially to do the retrofitting. Um and then for the four activity buses, it'd be $220,000. >> And before you leave this slide, >> I appreciate those numbers from the manufacturer. Did we look into any aftermarket third party companies? >> We're going to get to that. Okay, [laughter] >> it's actually here in the next slide. So, retrofitting a school bus is going to um it's a lengthy and tedious process. Um when we reached out to the manufacturers, one of the big things that we had to take

110into consideration is having the bus certified. And so what that means is when you go and replace a critical component of the bus that's been manufactured by a particular manufacturer, if we go and change that, there needs to be a certification process that happens. And without that, then we are stuck with a very big liability in the event that something happens um on one of those buses that [music] was not certified. Um so that's actually the reason one of the reasons why uh Bluebird does not um recommend doing any type of retrofitting on their buses and we were not able to obtain an actual quote from them. Um they do not recommend doing that just because uh some of the buses um a some of the buses are older but Bluebird does not and they've

111always had this stand. They do not recommend um they do not recommend replacing them because they simply don't want to reertify them because they don't want to be liable in the event that something happens to one of those buses. So, let's say that we went and got one of our buses retrofitted from a smaller company or a company that's not the manufacturer >> Or the CTE kids. Yes. Um, and let's say unfortunately if something were to happen, um, and it could be something as simple as a, uh, an accident where the bus is rearended and a kid maybe falls off the seat and they get hurt or it could be something as tragic as what we've seen in uh, neighboring districts. Um, if that bus is not certified, that work is not certified by the

112manufacturer. [music] Um, then there's no help or guidance that we get from the manufacturer in the event of an incident. Um and then likewise there's no liability on their part like it's the bus is essentially no longer theirs >> like no manufacturing defect liability. >> Correct. [music] >> Right. >> And so with that they the manufacturers do not recommend us going with um companies that are not OEM if you will um and they will not certify those buses. Um, so that's why it puts a lot of us in a very tough situation. Um, because we we don't we with them not wanting to certify the bus, we don't recommend doing the the retrofit for that and the sheer cost of the vehic sheer cost of the retrofit versus the actual uh current cost of the

113vehicle. >> But do you know the cost of the retrofit? Did you did you reach out to a third-party provider as to the cost? >> Yes. So, I did reach out to one third party for um the IC buses and they were willing to do uh the job for about $10,000 less per vehicle. Um but again um we struggle with getting that work done and then having it yes they may have oop sorry they may have some warranty um but we don't carry the if you will the certification from the manufacturer for the seats and the floors on that bus. >> Right. But have we has the district ever recovered a single dollar from a manufacturer on a manufacturer warranty after a collision? this district. No. >> Okay. >> And on our normal replacement cycle,

114how many buses are we buying per year? >> Um, we try to stick towards six [clears throat] or however many the year is replacing. So, every single year, um, depending on how many buses are in that year will really determine what we should be replacing. So, if there's six model 2018 buses and we need to replace six, um, for a district our size, we have no year where we have more than uh nine nine or 10 buses per year. So, for us, we wouldn't do more than 10 buses at a time for replacement. [music] just it makes um it very difficult when it comes time to replace all those buses um again in 12 to [music] 15 years uh to go ahead and try to replace a super high amount when um historically or the

115year before we've done 10 and then the next year we're having to do 40 and but for this law I think this is my last question but for this law in our normal replacement cycle how many buses considering the model year you'd be replacing this year are in line for replacement This year we should be replacing six buses. Yes, six buses this year and then next year next year we should be at eight. All right. >> I'm sorry. >> Oh, go ahead. >> Can you go back to that? Uh the line here that says on buses that need a new floor, the manufacturers have indicated an additional 40,000 charge per bus. How many buses do we estimate need new floors? >> So I've gone out and looked at the at the buses that are needing

116to have the retrofit. And so when I look at the IC buses on the 77 passengers, um we have about seven or eight of them. Um, and simply put, the floors, y'all, are made out of plywood. And so when we go to wash buses, let's say that someone gets sick on the bus and we go and wash it out, that takes a toll on the actual floors because it's wood. Um, so what happens if they have to replace the floor, that just means that the floor is warped and so the structural integrity of that floor has been compromised. And so in order to put those seats um the seats with seat belts on those floors, they would need to replace it so that it is actually strong enough to be able to uh hold withhold

117the the weight of the new seats. >> Thank you. >> And then you do see on there as well um it'd be an additional $40,000 per vehicle um in addition to the um the seat belt retrofit cost on there. So it gets kind of expensive. Um, as we as we start looking [music] at some of uh those buses and historically uh the older the buses go, the older the buses get, the uh the worse condition their floors are. So, we we'd have a lot when we got towards [music] um some of our older buses. >> Mr. Ardono. >> Uh thank you, President Hollyy. My question similar to Mr. Mclofflin is so obviously later in the agenda we're talking about purchasing 10 buses is that 10 buses using supplemental bond funds in addition to the six

118that were already being replaced. So we're looking at having 16 new buses to then replace from the 90 that were that was on [music] the presentation. >> No sir. So we were very strategic and we will get to that here in a moment. um we're able to use the electric buses that we just got as our replacement buses. So, we've already theoretically replaced all those buses and that's reflected already in the numbers that y'all have. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Miss Vapano has a question. >> Yes. I was wondering, >> can you turn your mic on? um for the buses that we're not going to be able to to replace or do something else with that then involve schools um would we be able to sell those buses? >> So we would move forward

119with auctioning those buses as per our district guidelines. >> At least we get something back. >> Correct. And so some of the buses are in fairly decent condition. Um, and I'm fingers crossed, um, quite hopeful that they will remain in great condition. Um, and so we hopefully with some of the buses that are current model years 2015, 2016, and 2017, um, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to get a little bit more money than what we historically get with some of our current older buses that we that we auction off. Um just as uh for more information, typically when we're retiring or um optioning off buses, they are going to be 15 plus years old. So we don't historically get a lot of money for them. >> We can get >> All right. So, in

120order to comply with Senate Bill 546, um our recommendation, of course, is to replace just based off of the nuances with um having to have the vehicle certified and the cost, the sheer cost of the uh retrofitting per or retrofitting for the buses. Um when I look at some of the buses and I look at the ages, um some of the buses that we have in our fleet that are currently out there, um we'd be putting more money into the bus for the retrofitting uh process than what the bus is actually worth right now. And so it really isn't um worthwhile for majority of our buses to be able to [music] to retrofit um again as we would be putting a significant amount of money into that bus and it wouldn't necessarily extend the life

121of that vehicle. Um I have a tentative replacement schedule. It kind of threw what our typical replacement schedule is out the window just to kind of expedite, if you will, trying to get um 30 buses before 2029 so that we can be in compliance with the um uh Senate Bill 546. So, you'll see um we do have an action item tonight to request uh 10 buses um using bond supplement funds. Um we're looking to go again uh later in the year uh July or August to request um an additional 10 buses with 2023 bond supplement funds. Um we want to utilize money uh put in and approved in our transportation budget for 2627 and 2728. Um and then going forward getting back to our normal replacement schedule. But we want to start making sure that

122we put that in our budget um so that we're able to get that uh get those buses and we don't necessarily fall behind on our replacement. Um a couple of considerations. Um we are buying bigger buses than what we have been in the past just to um ensure that with our growing but not growing population we're able to accommodate um all of our students. So you will see on there that we are purchasing a couple of um a few buses that are 84 or 90 passengers. um we wouldn't put 90 people 90 pupils on a bus. Um but it has the function uh the ability to have a little bit more than our um for middle school 50 or 55 kiddos. Um and then for special needs, our special needs population is growing. Um and

123so I we see the need to add or to replace some of our current 47 or 54 passenger buses with 65 passenger buses so that [music] um we can ensure that we are uh we're able to get our students picked up and on the buses in an appropriate time. Um, one thing as well that's also fueling us to be a little bit aggressive when it comes to replacing, [music] um, in 2027, the EPA has a, uh, updated diesel engine regulation coming up and we are showing or we are being told that prices of buses are going to go up another $20,000. Um, and so we are really trying to get ahead of the game and get buses ordered before that comes in. Um, I've been speaking with the manufacturers um or the OEM vendors um

124as late as this afternoon at 2:45. Um, and they are still not able to give me an accurate date range of when that happens. Um but our best guesstimate is going to be in um um September or October of this upcoming year. So um that's why we're kind of being a little aggressive with those initial 20 buses um and util utilizing uh bond supplement funds for that so that um we won't have such a higher number to do um after that increase goes up. All right. So, that was the main the main meat and potatoes with bus replacement and Senate Bill 546. Um, the next thing is really exciting. Um, I remember being tasked with finding information um when I first started here almost 4ish years ago about electric buses and opportunities for grants and

125things like that. Um, and I know that we came to y'all a few years ago about being awarded the uh EPA's clean school bus [music] grant. Um, which was also really exciting. Um, we were awarded $3.5 million. Um, that has helped us get nine electric buses um that we've added to our fleet. Um, that also um will do great things with the environment with being a cleaner emission vehicle. Um and of course surpassing the 2027 EPA update. Um [music] we are fortunate we worked with uh Highland Electric Fleets uh to partner with them for our electric bus project. Um they have helped us with uh purchasing of the buses um purchasing and construction of the charging infrastructure um and of the if you will fuel uh or the electricity for the buses. [music] Um, so

126we really like this uh model uh of uh of being able to obtain the bus. Um, Highland has essentially uh paid for that and used that $3.5 million. Um, and then the remaining, I believe it is $1.2 million. Um, we're able to actually spread that out kind of like a lease um over 10 years. And so, um, we're really excited to be able to have that. Um, it kind of [music] helps us get those buses now and not have to pay 1 point, um, 1.7 or 1, uh, $3 million for additional buses. Um, so, the first eight of nine buses are here on the lot. Um, I do apologize. It's cold outside and I'm just going to be really honest with y'all. It was cold and I did not want to bring it. But I

127will bring one of them [music] to the board meeting in February so that everybody can see it um and kind of see some of the the differences that are with those buses. Um right now our estimated go live date has been pushed back a little bit. Um we probably won't be seeing our first bus on route until the first week of February just to get some training done with our staff and the mechanics. Um but we are very excited about that. Um we will have a brief um celebration if you will um internally with our team once we have our first bus go live. Um but once the project is complete which we're estimating in May of 2026 um we will have a um a bigger celebration if you will that uh we'd love to

128have everybody come out for. So we'll give you more details on that when that happens. But some exciting things or some very electric things that we have going on um in in our department. Uh I will say I don't believe we will be getting any more electric buses. We just we at the current moment um the the battery range is um not as big as I would hope it would be. And so we have a lot of routes that travel a lot of miles. And so unfortunately uh as of right now until they make bigger batteries with uh a longer range and they make it more affordable I don't think we'll be getting any more. Um but the last thing that I have for you all uh future planning um we continue to look for

129uh grant funding opportunities. Um I have heard grumblings of an additional or a new TCQ grant fund um that is coming out that we may qualify for. Um one of the things that we're very ahead of the game and it's nice but it also hurts us um we don't have a lot of uh pre208 emission buses. Um, we actually only have two uh right now, but um, so we're actually not able to apply for a lot of the current TCEQ grants, but there's word on the street that a new uh, funding opportunity will come out and they're bumping that um, that age [music] range up a little bit, which could help us. So, we're looking at that. Um and with that, uh we're looking at the potential for um adding additional infrastructures at uh both

130stations. Currently, we have only diesel, uh diesel fuel at both the annex and support services. Um, and I'd really like to be able to move forward here in the next 5 to 10ish years um to get gasoline um uh at both the annex and support service um and then potentially other fuel alternatives depending on how and what grant opportunities come available to us. So I think that's all I have. If there are any questions >> questions for Mr. Shields. >> Mr. Arondo. >> Uh, thank you, President Hollyy. Mr. Shields, I'm just curious, obviously, you know, with TEA's reporting guidelines, school districts have now responded and providing this data. [music] I guess as a policy maker and looking at our schools finances, our district finances, I'm just curious or I guess cautious in complying with this

131new law sooner rather than later because like a lot of mandates that come from the legislature, like a year into it, a lot of school districts have responded, we don't have the money. And then TEA eventually like walks back the thing and says, "Oh, we're going to give you more time. We understand that it's not feasible." Very similar to our school safety standards where there is now a mechanism in which we can kind of exempt ourselves [music] from these obligations. And clearly there's a a method of doing that currently. So I guess I'm not I'm just kind of sharing my initial thoughts on this is [music] like a lot of TA mandates like how long is it going to be a mandate? how long is it going to be enforced? Because again, you know, when

132school districts realize that either they don't have the resources or the vendors themselves cannot respond to 1,800 school districts trying to [music] become in compliance with this law. Can the vendors even deliver that to every school district in Texas that is now ordering these buses as we are also ordering them? [music] Right. So that's initially where I am on this. Okay. So, a couple of things. I was of the same thought um when Senate Bill 546 was first proposed. Um I will say that when it was proposed, we did have someone, if you will, advocating on behalf of uh school districts and transportation departments to kind of let them know the financial impact. Um and so at that point when it was initially uh brought to the floor and passed I was very hesitant for

133the same reasons. Um a couple of things that have changed for me. Um a they kind of doubled down on the guidance. Um and they have not uh not gone down with potential requirements or reporting pieces. Um and then it kind of doubled down even more at the beginning of the year when we had three or four I think school bus rollover accidents um throughout the state of Texas. Um that compared or that in addition to the National Transportation Safety Board um their reg or their recommendation for the state of Texas uh is to have those three-point lap and shoulder belts. Um, and they're kind they're being very um very specific and very uh very adamant about making sure that we have those and then that we have the appropriate uh policies in place to

134uh require students to wear them when they're on the bus. So, I have the same concerns. Um I do think that there is going to be a change um to the stance. Um, I do not believe they're going to roll back the um they're going to roll back their initial idea of having such uh three-point lap and shoulder belts on all buses. What I see happening realistically um in the reporting requirements, it has something in there about buses that have the lap belts only. Um I think what we'll see is they may give us a little bit more leeway for the buses that already have lap belts on there. Um, and so realistically, I that's what I'm seeing right now. Just with some of the the trends that are happening, unfortunately, I don't believe that

135this bill that [music] I once thought was going to go away is going to shrink. >> I I just want to say I appreciate that insight and and perspective. That's helpful for me to contemplate this upcoming vote. So, thank you. >> No worries. Any other questions? >> I would just like to know how we enforce the wearing of black belts. So, right now here in our district, it's it's tough, but we're we're we're making it work. So, we're not a district that has 100% seat belts on buses. So, um we have it out on the buses. Um we have signage that the if the bus is equipped with the three-point lap and shoulder belts, they must wear them. Um additionally, the drivers are required to tell the students to put on their seat belts. So,

136um, what you'll see is as drivers are greeting students in the morning as they're getting on, they're telling them good morning and they're reminding them to put their seat belts on. Um, and then in the afternoon, it's the same thing. So, it's it's kind of twofold. um and we'll take one of the rollover accidents that happened at the beginning of the year to another neighbor of ours um in the northern Austin area, but um they really came under fire because they were in a bus that had three-point lap and shoulder belts and over half the students were not wearing them. But what was found out is that there was no enforcement. Um, and so we hit home with that with our drivers um because [music] we know that if we hear them say that at

137least once um or twice via the surveillance camera or whatnot on the bus um we know that a they're doing what they're supposed to and then legally they've done they've they've met their obligation. So if something were to happen um they were able to actually say that they attempted to enforce it. Um but other than that we don't have any um major disciplinary um problems if you will with with the students wearing them. Um I find that if I have to call a parent and tell them that their kids are not wearing a seat belt that changes real quick. Um so typically after we've made a phone call we don't see any other issue with that particular student. >> Thank you. Any other questions? >> I have one more question. >> Min, >> is there

138a way that we could audit compliance? Do y'all do that already? Like can you youall have video in there, right? Can you see like what percentage of the kids are using the seat belts? >> So our [clears throat] we're very fortunate um because a few years ago um we were able to get new cameras on all the buses and so our camera systems are fairly new and we're able to see that. Um, historically, what I will do is when I'm looking at a um a a video for [music] whatever discipline's uh going on, I'll look to see throughout that video to see who's wearing and who's not wearing. Um, and if I'm seeing more than on an elementary bus, let's say the bus is full with 60 kids. If I'm seeing more than five or

13910 kids, then we're pulling the driver in to make sure that they reinforce those standards [music] with the kiddos. Right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> I think at this point we're going to take a quick um let's say we'll meet back at 8:15. We'll uh take a quick recess. And all in favor, please raise your hand. And that motion carries 70. The next item for action tonight is uh to consider the appeal filed by Jim Davis concerning retainment of challenged library books. This is the first time the board has had such an a consideration under the new laws. So, I'm going to follow a script. Um, and I appreciate your patience. This is an appeal the board's previous decision to retain district library materials challenged for removal. On December 15th, 2025, the

140board voted to retain 32 out of 32 challenged library materials in district library circulation. In accordance with Samura CISD board policy EFB local, this appeal is being held before the San Marcus CISD board of trustees. To clarify, this is not a grievance pursuant to board policies GF, DGBA, or FNG. My name is Anne Hollyy. May the board members who are present please state their names for the record. Mr. >> Clementine, Cam 2, >> Margie Vando, Sandra Lopez, >> Jessica Kane, >> Miguel Arundo, John McGovern. >> Thank you. Also present is the district's legal council, Tony Rendez, and Jose M. Deluna. For the record, media appellant and administration, please introduce themselves at this time. I'd like you to come up to the podium. Mr. Davis. Please introduce yourself. >> Okay. >> Pastor Jim Davis of Grace

141Bible Church. >> Thank you. >> Yes. There. >> Can you repeat it for the recording just so it's on mic? >> Pastor Jim Davis from Grace Bible Church here in San Marcos. >> Thank you, sir. >> And Dr. Michael Le Cardono, superintendent of schools representing administration. >> Thank you. to provide a recording of the proceedings. An audio recording is being made. Please avoid speaking when others are speaking so that the record will reflect the proceedings accurately. Further, the board has been provided with a packet consisting of the original challenges and pending appeal. The December 15th, 2025 meeting minutes, board policy EFB, legal and local, excerpts from the Texas Education Code, chapter 33, TEA guidance for Senate Bill 13, the district's collection development policy, and information provided to the Slack and and the November 18th, 2025

142Slack meeting transcript and other supporting documents. The library materials appeal is being conducted in accordance with EFB legal and local the district's policies regarding library materials. I will now instruct the appellant and administration on procedures to be followed in this library materials appeal presentation. The board will listen impartially to a presentation by both the appellant and administration. The appellant shall present first followed by the administration. Following both presentations, the board may consult with its legal counsel in close session pursuant to section 551.071 of the Texas Government Code. The rules for this library materials appeal presentation are as follows. One, only one person may speak at a time. Two, the appeal participants shall conduct themselves with common courtesy and respect for the rights of others. Three, the appellant and administration will each be afforded 10 minutes,

143which is a reasonable time limit to make their presentations. However, additional time may be afforded at the request of the appellant and at my discretion. If additional time is allotted to the appellent, administration will be afforded an equal amount of time. The appellant administration may not question the board. Five. At the conclusion of both the appellants and the administration's presentation, the board shall consider the appellant's appeal and at that point the board may ask questions of the appellant and administration if necessary. The board shall take action to render a decision on the peel appeal. Such decision may grant the requested relief by reversing the previous decision to retain challenge library materials or deny the requested relief by affirming the previous decision to retain the library materials. [music] Are there any questions at this point regarding

144the presentation procedure? >> No. >> I will now ask the appellent to proceed with his presentation. You have 10 minutes. Mr. Rosendez, our legal counsel will keep time and when the final two when uh the final two minutes remain, a verbal notice will be given. >> All right. Thank you. Um, I apologize for u not reading the agenda earlier. Uh, but dear school board members, I respectfully submit my appeal regarding the EFB local and legal school library collection development policy which should prohibit the possession, acquisition, and purchase of harmful materials as defined by penal code 4324. SB13 amends education [music] code 33021 to prohibit the possession, acquisition, and purchase of library materials containing indecent content and profane content and obscene. Uh these excerpts of the challenge books were shared with each board member revealing graphic

145and disturbing content including scenes of violent rape and gang rape. For instance, the novel Kingdom of the Cursed by Carrie Maniscal Scolo has scenes that glamorize explicit group sex, including orgies, while A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Moss includes explicit instructions on sexual practices and training on the use of a vibrator as a sex tool. Should these titles be retained in our school libraries when they fail to align with those educational values? As you can see, it is obvious that these books and all others that are being pilled tonight violate SB13 [music] by containing both sexually explicit content as well as content that is both profane and indecent. There is a profound concern about exposing our youth to harmful materials. Adolescents are particularly susceptible to negative influences which can have lasting repercussions.

146The list of challenge books we provided includes the titles of the Texas [music] Department of Criminal Justice which they prohibit for prison inmates. One of which, identical I previously brought to Superintendent Cardona's attention in October of 2024. It is imperative to consider whether the school library advisory committee members were informed of the TD CJ's assessments and the reasons [music] these materials pose risk to developing minds. The slack recent motion to reject all 32 challenges as recorded in the minutes of the meeting lack discourse and transparency. Similarly, we are left to question whether trained librarians reviewed the challenge books, which contain profane and inappropriate materials, and whether they followed proper procedure before acquiring new titles. SB13 prohibits the possession, acquisition, and purchase of profane and indecent content. Your librarians have admitted publicly they do not read

147the books in the December 15th meeting. Therefore, how can we ensure they adequately assess the material being made available to students? Furthermore, the recent enactment of Senate Bill 412 effective sept September 1st [music] in 2025 eliminates the affirmative defense previously available under Texas Penal Code 4324C for sale distribution or display of harmful materials to minors even when claimed for educational [music] purposes. This means school officials, including librarians and administrators, can no longer shield themselves from pro prosecution by arguing that explicit content has literary or instructional value. Violations under 43:24, such as providing materials that appeal to the purant entrance of minors in sex, nudity, [music] and excretion while lacking redeeming social value, are now a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and $4,000 fine. Retaining books like a court of

148thorns and roses by Sarah J. MS which contains obscene sexual activities and explicit nudity directly exposes district personnel to criminal liability as the law closes all loopholes that once allowed such promotion under the guise of education complementing SB 412 Senate Bill [music] 13 effective September 1st and 2025 mandates that the school districts adopt and enforce collective development policies explicit ly prohibiting the possession, acquisition, and [music] purchase of indecent content, portraying sexual activities as in a patently patent patently offensive manner, profane content, grossly offensive language, harmful material per penal code 4324, and pervasively vulgar or educationally unsuitable items as referenced in board of education versus PC code. Districts may establish local school library advisory councils to review and recommend removals prioritizing parental input [music] and community standards. Failure to rem remove challenge materials such as those

149with graphic depictions owed to violent uh violent rape or um instructions on sexual acts constitutes a willful violation of these statemandated policies. [music] providing grounds for prosecution when combined with SB412's removal of defenses in San Marcus CISD. This lack cursory rejection of challenges without documented discussion raises serious questions [music] about compliance potentially subjecting board members and superintendent [music] to legal accountability for mo for promoting indecent and profane materials. Together with SB13's bans and the SB412 heightened penalties funded by taxpayer dollars, there is no longer any excuse. The way has paved for [music] district attorneys to pursue charges against officials who knowingly retain them as seen in ongoing investigations in districts like Granberry Granberry ISD. In light of these interlocking laws, I urge the board to immediately remove the challenge books [music] to avoid exposing the

150district to civil and criminal risk. Retaining them not only violates state [music] policy but invites prosecution for endangering minors through the promotion of harmful content. We must acknowledge our nation's troubling position as a leading consumer of sexual exploitation pornography and actively work to prevent this culture [music] from infiltrating our schools. The retention of inappropriate material in our libraries risk normalizing detrimental behaviors among students. As a pastor and community member, I'm deeply troubled by the retention of these books as they conflict with the values of many families, including my own. God has provided his word on the matter. Marriage must be honored among all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled. For God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers. The prophet Isaiah said of Israel that they display their sin like Sodom, they do not even

151conceal it. And the Apostle Peter states, "He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example of those who would live ungodly lives thereafter. My objective has always been to raise awareness among parents about the explicit nature of these materials. I implore you to reject these books and prevent harmful content from being normalized in our schools. and let us prioritize the education and moral development of our students, teaching them virtues of honor, truth, self-control, and respect. Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. My prayers are with you as you navigate these decisions. [music] >> Thank you for your presentation. At this time, I'll now ask the district's administration to present its response. You also have 10 minutes. Mr. Rosendez will keep the time.

152When the final two minutes remain, a verbal notice will be given. Good evening, board members. Mr. Pastor Davis, we are here today because Pastor Davis is appealing the board's decision to deny his challenge of 32 library books that were voted to be retained in our district's libraries. In short, Pastor Davis requests that the board reconsider its prior decision per permanently remove 32 books from the district libraries and classroom libraries. In his appeal and through his challenges, Pastor Davis asserts the removal is required under Texas Law because in his opinion, these books violate the provisions of the Texas Education Code Chapter 33.021, 021 which prohibit the district from possessing, acquiring or purchasing harmful material, library material that is pervasively vulgar or educationally unsuitable and material that contains indecent or profane content. Pastor Davis has also referenced

153alleged violations of the Texas Penal Code. To provide the public with the context regarding the district's effort since these new laws went into effect and in less than half of a calendar year, the district has voluntarily created the school library advisory council, facilitated its first Slack meeting, reviewed all books in school and classroom libraries for compliance with the law, updated legal and local board policies, engaged legal counsel for guidance, reviewed TEA guidance, and updated the district's collection development policy. These actions were taken to comply with the Texas Education Code Chapter 33, which establishes the legal standards governing library materials and the required review process through the Slack that includes parents and other members of our community. Furthermore, I want it to be clear that all of these challenge books are not are only authorized for

154the secondary level and the district does factor in grade level of our students when placing books in our libraries. Where I disagree with Pastor Davis is his characterization that the challenge books violate the law. The phrase harmful material in the education code is defined by Texas Penal Code section 43.24, 24 which defines harmful material as material whose dominant theme taken as a whole. A appeals to the purant [music] interest in of a minor in sex, nudity or excretion. B is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole [music] with respect to what is suitable for minors. And C is utterly without redeeming social value for minors. The key components of this definition is that these standards must constitute the dominant theme of the material when taken as a whole. In short,

155the law prohibits sexual pornography or similar content. I agree with Pastor Davis that children should not be provided this type of content. However, I disagree that any of the appealed materials have a dominant theme that appeals to students in sex, nudity, or excretion. Pastor Davis and others aligned with his position frequently cite excerpts from library materials. A selection of quotes, pages, scenes, or other short excerpts from entire books do not adequately inform anyone about the dominant theme of material when taken as a whole. Books should not be determined to be harmful material based solely on isolated [music] passages. Another requirement of the law is that the books may not include indecent content defined as content that portrays sexual or expiratory organs or activities in a way that is patently offensive. The Oxford dictionary defines patently

156as without doubt. This means the district must not possess library books that display sexual content that is without doubt offensive. The fact that this matter comes before the board as an appeal of a 6-1 vote to retain the materials reasonably demonstrates that there is no consensus that materials are without doubt [music] patently offensive. From the procuring staff members to the slack to the board, multiple individuals disagreed with Miss Pastor Davis's assessment. Given this diversity of opinion, it would be simply inaccurate to conclude that these materials are without doubt patently offensive [music] indecent content. Similarly, the law prohibits profane content defined as content that includes grossly offensive language considered a public nuisance. Here again, the input of the community and the district supports the board's determination that the materials do not violate the law and are

157appropriate for inclusion in district libraries. the original procurement of the books, the Slack's vote to retain them, and the board's vote to retain them reflect a conclusion that the content does not rise to the level of profane content constituting a public nuisance. When these challenge titles were reviewed by the Slack, which [music] includes parents, educators, librarians, administrators, and community members as required by TEC 33.025, 1025. The committee unanimously recommended the books be retained. During that review, no committee member concluded that the materials constituted profane content or otherwise violated statutory standards. The law prohibits pervasively vulgar content [music] which is referenced in board of education versus PICO. TEA has provided guidance that pervasive means existing [music] in or spreading through every part of something. Again, we are talking about content that is so vulgar, [music] the

158entirety of it is vulgar, and that it's simply not the case with the materials that have been challenged. Simply stated, the law addresses materials that are vulgar throughout, not materials that contain limited or contextual references within a broader educational or literary narrative. Further, the law prohibits content that is educationally unsuitable, also referenced in board of education versus [music] PICO. TEA guidance instructs districts to compare objectionable portions of the content against a significant educational value of the material when taken as a whole. While educationally unsuitable is a broad and undefined term, determining suitability requires a holistic review of the entire work as advised to do so by tea. These are the same high standards we should expect [music] students to apply and actually teach to them to apply. Examining content, meaning and purpose rather than focusing

159on isolated excerpts from a small portion [music] of a mar much larger work. Some of the literature currently being challenged does contain references [music] to sex, drugs, rape, and violence. Administration does not deny that. However, the presence of these topics do not negate the educational value of the materials. For example, one Slack member shared that as a survivor of sexual assault, [music] they appreciated having access to a book that addressed rape in a thoughtful and meaningful way, emphasizing a true educational value. The inclusion of these books in the district library [music] is not intended to promote immoral behavior or normalize harm. When difficult subjects are addressed, they are included to help students recognize [music] abuse, understand right from wrong, process trauma, learn ways to cope with pain. These are real life issues that some students

160unfortunately experience firsthand. Access to age appropriate literature addressing these topics provides educational value whether by helping students avoid harmful situations or by allowing them to connect with shared [music] experiences. I would like to conclude that by clarifying it is not my role, the board's role, administration's role, teachers role to raise and direct the moral upbringing of any student [music] in our schools. Nor is anyone ever directed to do so, which would violate state education law. I say this to remind every parent who disagrees with the content in our libraries that you have the right to review what your children are reading and checking out. You have the right to review our library catalog and to select those books you do not want your children to read and restrict access currently and a right to restrict

161your students access to any materials and topics that you disagree with. TEC code chapter 33 establishes the standards and review process for challenge library materials. It does not provide for automatic or district-wide removal of library materials based solely on an individual objection. Particularly where as here the materials were reviewed by Slack and the board and determined not to meet statutory definitions of harmful material, indecent or profane content, pervasively vulgar content, or educationally unsuitable material. Pastor Davis has also mentioned in his appeal that some of these books are prohibited to Texas inmates. I would like to remind our board and our community that public school children are not incarcerated and have not been permanently deprived of their rights. I take pride in believing that our students and our parents are capable of making informed decisions interpreting

162literature much better than a convicted felon. Lastly, it is important for the board to know that there are some constitutional restrictions on how schools may remove library materials. The Supreme Court has held it is unconstitutional for school districts to remove remove library books based on disagreement with ideas or as an attempt to prescribe a particular set of thoughts as Pastor Davis is doing here. Thus, for these reasons, it is my recommendation that the board rejects the appeal of m of pastor Davis and upholds its prior decision to retain the challenge books. These materials are not in violation of Texas Education Code and the board has lawfully determined to keep these books on district shelves. >> Thank you for your presentation. At this time, the board may convene in close session to consult with legal counsel

163regarding legal issues relevant to this matter. [music] If the board has any further questions for the appellant or administration, the board will reconvene in open session with the appellant and administration to ask such questions. The board will take action on the appeal in open session and in accordance with Texas Education Code 33.027F. Is there a motion to move into executive [music] session? >> Also move. >> Motion made by Visia Pondo, seconded by Miss Cantu. All in favor, please raise your hand. Sorry. Hands opposed. That motion carries 5 to one. All All right, we are reconvening in open session at this time. It is 9:12. Um, and at this time, uh, the board can ask further questions for the appellant or administration. Are there questions? I have two uh for administration. Uh, Dr. Cardona, is it

164true that there is a mechanism in place at every library in our district that allows parents to opt their children out of particular materials? >> Yes, they can use Destiny, which is our library catalog system to click that they do not want their children to have access to books. >> Thank you. And furthermore, they can use the grievance process to challenge any curriculum materials. Sex education, this assignment in English that has what they believe to be controversial authors, they can choose an alternate assignment. >> So, they can do that online andor I assume they could go in and meet with their administrator or with their teacher or the librarian, whoever the district person [clears throat] is in question, and put those mechanisms [music] into place. >> Yeah. as for board policy at the lowest level.

165>> Thank you. My second question is, was the meeting of the Slack held in accordance with the uh Texas Open Meetings Act? >> Yes, it was held in accordance. It's on audio. It's on the website right now. There's a transcript of it. They can listen to the dialogue of the members. >> Thank you. >> And administration was advisory in nature. We were non- voting members. >> There any other questions? Seeing none, is there a motion? >> I'll move I'll make a motion. I move that we uphold our previous decision or the board's previous decision on the challenge books by Pastor Davis and denies his appeal in its entirety and that additionally the board continue to review and revise our procurement and slack procedures to ensure rigorous [music] examination. >> I'll second. >> Motion made a

166motion seconded. Is there any discussion? >> I have I have something President Holly if I may. >> Mr. McLonen. So, uh, I voted against the action last month, but made the motion this month because, um, I this process we're working out on the fly. The the law got thrown onto us. Um, and this board developed, um, a slack which met and did everything it was supposed to do uh, way before that was a requirement. Um, and then this board reviewed what they did and voted 61 to approve it. So, we've followed our process and the process provided a voice to folks that have shown up consistently and challenged books and that's important because our schools are a community of all of us. Um, my kids, your kids, the Slack member who [music] thought the uh

167who appreciated how one of the challenge books um showed and shared her experience as a survivor. Um, all of our kids go to these schools, so we have it in common. And here you had a voice, those who've shown up month after month to challenge dozens of titles in our library. But in reality, our libraries have thousands of titles. And I think this undue emphasis [music] on a few has given a wrong impression to members of our community that our libraries are rife with this material. My all four of my kids have gone through this district and and I would share many concerns of Pastor Davis about things generally my but my children have never come home with a book that concerned me or been exposed to something that was outside of what my family

168values and so I I don't want to give a false impression of what's in those libraries and as was indicated there's a process for parents to to buy in and determine what their kids learn and join in that. So, I think at times this rhetoric's become way overheated and when when you when Pastor Davis shows up and threatens prosecution of our librarians through the district attorney's office, I don't think that's helping anything. Um, I do think that we're going to work to make this process more rigorous. Um, our first time through we learned a few things and the next time through I think it'll be even better. But I'm going to vote with my colleagues tonight because we're trying to do the best we [music] can um in the situation. Thank you, Mr. McGloin. Any

169other questions, discussion? All in favor of the motion, please raise your hand. All opposed? That motion carries 70. The next item on our agenda this evening is to consider an order calling an election to be held on May 2nd, 2026 for the purpose of electing three trustees. President Hollyy >> Mr. Arando >> so move that we approve the order calling an election to be held on May 2nd 2026 for the purpose of electing three trustees. >> Motion made. Is there a second? >> Sure. >> Seconded by Mr. Mclofflin. Any questions, discussion? All in favor, please raise your hand. That motion moves 70. The next item is communications to consider the approval of the 2026 2027 school calendar. Mr. Fernandez, good evening. >> Good evening, board of trustees. Happy schoolboard appreciation month. So, put that on

170the on the record that we appreciate you guys. >> Hey, that's a that's a genuine gesture. Very genuine gesture. [laughter] Every year we bring that academic calendar to you. We sent it out to our community and I believe this my ninth year doing the calendar and it's the most positive comments we've received. So, uh we as a as a cabinet and as a principal and as a committee, we're we're very appreciative of that. Uh we're going to go through the calendar and then if you have any questions, please feel free to ask any questions you may have. Uh beginning with August 3rd and 4th would be our new teacher orientation. uh last year or the current year we're in it was 3 days long, but to avoid bringing staff back in July, we're going to

171shorten it up and we talked to our academics and HR team and we can make that work. Professional development will begin on August the 5th and go through August the 18th and then um August 18th, we're setting that for convocation. August 19th would be the first day of school. We're also going to have meet the teacher in open house the week of August 10th. So August 11th would be Bonham in the high school. August 12th would be the middle school and August 13th would be kinder through 5th. Moving to September. September 7th is Labor Day. It would be a district holiday. September 25th would be parent community day. In addition to this year's calendar is a mini fall break. It would begin on October the 8th for a professional learning day for our staff and

1729th and 12th would be a district holiday. Moving to November, we would move uh November 23rd through the 27th as Thanksgiving break. December 18th would be a professional learning day. This would allow staff to input grades prior to going on the winter break. Winter break would be December 21st through January the 1st. And as we did this year, staff would come back on a workday, January the 4th. And then January the 5th, our academics team will [music] be hosting a professional learning day to kick off the spring. February 12th will be our second and final spring parent community day. February 15th actually will be two two items. It's President's Day, but it's also the day after the Super Bowl, which historically [music] is a very low attendant uh student attendant day in San Marcus CISD.

173So, big football fans. March the 15th through the 19th, we've double checked and triple check with Texas State. Uh this is their this is their um academic calendar spring break for 2027. In a lot of survey results, we got question, why are we taking March 26? And so that's actually Good Friday. Uh Easter happens late March this year and not early April. April 23rd, we're very thankful to our fine arts department. They host the state base at San Marcus High School. So we've traditionally made this a uh professional learning day. The one year we did not. We made it a regular student day. It was very chaotic. [music] You know, we already have [clears throat] 2,000 plus students there and staff. we'll throw 500 to a thousand more kids there. It was just wasn't safe.

174So, we turned it into a professional learning day. Our last day of school would be May 27th and then uh staff workday May 28th. And we'll also once this is approved, we'll go with Texas State and make that graduation as well, May the 28th. This puts us at 187 days for our staff, which is required, and it meets the 75,600 minutes required for all of our campuses. And this also provides us with two makeup days uh if bad weather hits us next year. Any questions? >> Uh yes. Um President [music] Hoy, so can you can you explain fall break? I mean when I about maybe the first one of these I approved we we had Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of Thanksgiving week and then it grew to the whole week about 8 years ago and I

175I [music] understood that. Um but then we added the the fall break. Um it seems like kind of stop and start in the fall. What why does the administration and this fall break grew this year that we're in. It was two days off for the kids and now it's proposed to be three. Why? >> Uh, one, it was very popular with staff. Uh, last year when we got the feedback from staff uh on the survey results, our neighboring school districts have uh fall breaks implemented already. And so, a recruiting tool for staff was to give the idea of a fall break. It was very popular from the results we received this year and and that's why we with the implementation of it. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> We got got something in >> Oh,

176Miss >> Yeah, I have a similar concern, you know, cuz I answered the survey. Um, just that that is a lot of days really close together, especially if you look at October through December that we're asking our families to figure out what to do with their children if we are usually providing, you know, 7 to eight hours of their children being able to be at school. Um, I do think that October plus November is a lot to ask of families versus I mean we already have a lot of time off, but that extra day might really put some people over the edge. >> Absolutely. And so we partnered with Skyhawks this uh this school year and so every professional development day that we had throughout this school year uh Skyhawks has provided um a service

177to our families. it wasn't very utilized but um I did talk to them and they are willing to you know provide some daycare services uh next year as well. >> Mr. Uh, thank you, President Hollyy. I know that we've gone to a week for Thanksgiving. Back in my day, we had the three days, right? And I'm as interested as I think the next trustee to provide staff and students with the breaks that they need to decompress and relax and do all the things. I guess I'm just curious, and again, I know this happened several years ago, but like a reoccurring theme that I've heard from some families, not all families, right? I think there's a lot of there's a segment of our families that uses that week to travel and to go places cuz now

178they have like a full week in the fall, the week of Thanksgiving [music] to go somewhere. Conversely, we have, I think, a population in our schools that all that means is that kid is going to be at home while mom and dad are at work until Thanksgiving Thursday and that Friday, right? And so I'm trying to keep in mind that student and that population where mom, dad, parent or guardian might be there Thursday, they might get Thanksgiving, but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday they're just kind of at home hanging out, [music] right? So, I do have feelings about the full week break [music] of Thanksgiving. Again, as someone whose parents would have been there the week of, like, I get it. It would have been a good time, but conversely, like, I know that isn't

179the the rule for our families of [music] that week. So, I do have feelings about the full week break of Thanksgiving. I have a question for my colleagues that if um we wanted to not include those two I would guess two extra days in October um keeping one of the professional learning days but [music] not the district holidays. What would you propose that we do? Um because it looks to me like this calendar meets our required school days. So would you want to [music] end the school year earlier, start later? or what would you >> if if we got any if we clawed any days back I would prefer at least individually that we start later in August like even to the 24th you know that Monday um because those are I that's too hot

180to be anywhere I mean in my own opinion because we're making choices right if we take days back we got to put them somewhere >> and just to keep in mind with staff as well right if you take away a holiday for staff you have to give them that work day somewhere else. So, for example, you mentioned the October 8th or the 9th, if we made it a regular school day, um we would have to add another workday somewhere else for staff cuz that would drop their work days to [music] 186. >> But we could ostensibly move the 8th to the 9th, like have the the professional learning day on the 9th and then just get rid of the two district holidays. That would be comparable. Correct. I don't know what they'd prefer among a

181whole week for Thanksgiving or and and not a fall break, not this lengthy a fall [music] break or the fall break that he said was popular and working Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, which I think is what Texas State [music] does, right? They don't get the whole week. >> And that is a tough thing. Neighboring school districts in Texas State are a full week in November for the Thanksgiving break. >> They are a full week. >> Yes, they are. >> Okay. >> No, Texas State is Texas. I mean, sorry. uh KMA all the neighboring school districts take the full week. >> Texas State is typically Wednesday. >> Um but Texas State is continuously rumored to be having a fall break. And my I the last I heard they hadn't made a decision on that

182yet. So maybe the best thing to do with this would be to table it to next month and double check and see if Texas State has made a determination on their fall break because >> I have their calendar. I can pull it up if >> Miss Hollyy. Yeah. >> And I guess to like further clarify my comments on the 23rd, 24th, 25th Thanksgiving is I don't just want to Grinch take the Monday and Tuesday away cuz people don't deserve [music] it. But even finding additional opportunities for like 4 day weeks in the spring when you go from like spring break in March to like a solid month and a half of like no breaks just to the end of the school year. So again, like I'm I'm happy to move those two like off days

183somewhere else, but I'm also not going to like draw a hard line in the sand that if it's a cool Thanksgiving break, I'm going to be against it. I just wanted to verbalize what I've heard as a concern for some families is like, yeah, in theory it would be great to have the week off, but like if I'm an hourly employee, if paying my rent in December is contingent on me only taking Thanksgiving, Thursday off, like I'm not at home with my children Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, right? So, >> and then to turn around 3 weeks later and do two more solid weeks, it's it is a lot to ask. Um, I as someone who's raising some objections, I also think it's potentially worthy of we we've heard that there are teachers and staff

184who are interested in this calendar as presented. Um, I am happy to entertain it to try it out for a year and then say how did it go in 2627 versus 2526 and then we have more data for the year after that. I don't think it's so drastically different this year, this potential from this year that people are going to be, you know, not unable to handle the changes. >> And just for reference on the Texas state calendar, so they are off October 15th and [music] 16th. >> It just says Thanksgiving. >> It says university closure. So, do we need to try to match that? >> I mean, I know that that's a big deal for spring break, especially since a large portion of our parents work for Texas State. Do we need to try

185to flip >> to match that? >> I would recommend that. >> And also, are we not uh taking I mean, I know we typically do or we're at least done with school by then. Memorial Day is not listed as a holiday this year >> or for 2027. Sorry. >> Memorial Day. It's cuz we're out. >> It's the 31st. We're out before then. >> Oh, it's late. Is it late? [music] All right. >> I do have just a couple of questions in the like if we stay the course route. So again, I heard a lot about matching like, hey, CISD's spring break because we have families [music] that their kids go there, which I have feelings about, but they work here and they want to be on spring break like with their kid, which again philosophically

186like I get, but also I have feelings that your kids are in haste. [music] Um, so where is that in the like we match with Kale Hay CISD the essentially like the corridor school districts? >> So Hayes CISD is starting school August 13th. >> No, I'm talking about spring break. >> Oh, spring break. It it aligns the 15th through the 19th >> with HCISD. >> Yes, sir. >> And Kale. >> Kale. I'm not sure. >> Okay. I was just curious. I'm Yeah, I'm not going to like bend over backwards [music] to help. >> But I know Texas State was they called me last year. They were trying to align uh their spring break along the 35 corridor and uh Koma is the only district that did not align with Hayes UT and Texas State. >>

187So what are we going to do? >> I can wait a month if it's going to change but of course not. And the importance of a proven academic calendar calendar early is it allows the next steps for our finance and our HR department to start um their calendar of getting things going [music] for next school year. >> I think my only thing is looking to see if we need to flip-flop those dates in October. That would be my only real question at this point. >> Do we want to make a motion? Do we want to move to hold this out for another month? >> And as I stated at the beginning, this was the most positive feedback we had received from our community, but you are a board of trustees and we'll follow your direction.

188>> I appreciate that, Mr. Fernandez. I think like the I wish that there was specific like where we have [music] some room that we could get more specific feedback rather than here's our calendar. What do you think? But like a value decision between [music] for instance the week at Thanksgiving and fall break like I look at that survey and I used to fill it out but now I'm like last and it was a little bit better this year. Last year it was two. I couldn't even tell the difference, you know, and I don't I don't know that we're asking questions that allow me to know what people think. We're sending something out like what do you think? And I don't know, I'm nitpicking, but I I think that that could get refined a bit. >>

189Yeah. And [snorts] we changed it up a little bit. Uh I would say the previous years you could tell the parents wanted one thing, um the staff wanted another, and we're almost pitting them against each other. So it was more of, hey, what what are we doing right? What are we doing wrong? what's best for academic growth. >> So, just to circle back and clarify, obviously I have feelings about the week of Thanksgiving, but that isn't like a make or break with me. There's a question about October, what is it, 15th, 16th, [music] >> 19th, whatever the dates in October were. >> I mean, if there was a postponement pending the questions of Mr. Mclofflin, myself, and [music] Trustee Lopez soliciting parent and staff input. I'd be interested in using those data sets to [music]

190make my decision in February if that's okay. If there's a postponement, but also if someone makes a motion to approve, I'm not going to like implode or anything. So, >> so I do feel like we need more input. I also think that um at present I feel like safeguarding that week in November I think that our staff really gets to that point and and needs that break and I think bringing them back for Monday and Tuesday can seem somewhat um [clears throat] overwhelming and also I'm not sure that it's the most effective teaching time for anybody I think. But that would be my my personal and I would also be personally in favor of starting on the 24th. I'm pretty certain that that is [music] when Texas State resumes classes. But so I would be

191inclined to keep the Thanksgiving break, move the date of the start up um and omit I'm I mean this year we were able to let everybody out a day early at December because we had some bad weather days banked. I'm assuming somewhere in here there's bad weather days banked, right? Um so >> and and just to one final note, we do align with Hayes CIST as far as they're taking the ETH um it's a staff work day on the 9th. It's a student holiday on the 8th and 12th or 8th is a student holiday and then the 12th is a district holiday, >> right? I also think it's hard to take any more days out of April or May because you're getting into testing and exams and all that and it just gets too >>

192Yep. That's why we avoided any >> um so >> but I'm happy to wait another month on it. >> I guess in that vein, President Hollyy, I'm fine moving forward with this. I would be interested in and I think the lapse in in SNAP benefit funding I guess showed a light on like how missionritical support is for our [music] families. if like food service came and said like hey we can do something for like meals that Monday and Tuesday of the week of Thanksgiving or I guess just something again because again my concern is for most at risk families not the ones who are working Hayes or work here who want a week break and I get that like yeah I want I want a week break [music] too like fundamentally but I can also

193like feed my nephews or like take care of family that's living with me during that entire week [music] right so if we can like workshop how to support maybe the families who are not well served during a four [music] a five day break for Thanksgiving. I'd be interested in that cuz again it's not the five days of that week. It is also that Saturday and Sunday before and after, right? So again, it's it's a pretty significant lapse in support and services for some families going into then December where we now have even a longer Christmas break [music] than like what was traditional when I was in school, right? So again, I'm cool with whatever. But >> I kind of like the idea starting later, starting on the 20 on August 24th. I think start those

194two days that we're going to make them flex days in exchange for the October, right? >> Yeah. The problem is it's three days. And where do you find it? >> Because the first day right now is the 19th. So if you start on the 20, this is this is one problem with doing it up here like this. Like if you if you if you say, "Okay, we're going to start on the 24th." And I think that's a like start a school definitely board prerogative. Um where do they find those three? But maybe we could just approve amend the start date to the 24th and give staff direction to figure it out. >> I'm going to argue against everybody who wants to start on a Monday. Uh [laughter] y'all y'all have older children. Uh and that

195like Wednesday, Thursday, Friday is plenty. I'm sure it's plenty for the teachers. I'm sure maybe if we started on Thursday and really eased in that might be even easier. But a full week at the beginning of the school year. I'm thinking about kindergarteners who are falling asleep those first few days. Give them a couple days to to recover. High schoolers, whatever. Um on this point. Um, but I I think starting on a Monday is really rough on our our youngest kids, especially I'm talking about three-year-olds who maybe have never been to school before. >> Yeah. >> Trying to start this whole routine and then do it for 5 days straight. And our youngest teachers who are starting this routine or our teachers who have just enjoyed sleeping in all summer long and now have to

196be at school at 7:00 a.m. >> They've been called in before though. They're here a week or two. >> You make a good point. >> Yep. >> That's just I don't know. I'm now I'm now disillusioned with doing the but we all have different things we value. Maybe next year we can buy into this process a little sooner. I'm just going to move to approve the calendar as [music] presented. >> Second. >> Any other questions? >> I just want to thank staff for indulging me because I'm going to vote [music] in favor of it too. [laughter] October. [clears throat] >> Um, I'm going to vote for it, but I would like you to just think again about whether or not those October days if we don't want to align them with Texas State just to

197double check that and make sure see what they're doing. My children are old enough that it doesn't personally affect me, but I think it affects many families. So, >> I agree with President Hely. >> All in favor, please raise your hand. Opposed. Thank you very much. That motion carries. 70. The next item is to consider the approval of purchase of 10 buses from Longhorn Bus Sales, Rush Bus Sales, and Thomas Bus Texas for 1.81, sorry, 1,810,839,000, sorry, through the use of 2023 supplemental bond funds and authorize the superintendent or his designate to execute the contract. >> I'm going to move to table item 8D until the next budget workshop. I think that we're certainly not under the gun. Uh 10 on first glance with another 10 in July seems very excessive to me with our

198budget condition. Further down this agenda, we're claiming an inability to afford um the armed security officer, which is a fraction small fraction of the cost of the bus. I agree with my colleague, Mr. Arerodondo. This date at least is [music] likely to get kicked back. So, I just don't see the urgency to spend that money tonight. So, I'm going to move to table [music] 8D. >> President Holly, I'll second Mr. Mclofflin's motion. >> Motion made motion seconded. Are there any questions or discussion? >> I just as far as discussion goes. One, Mr. Shields, I just want to thank you for the information that you presented today and and my interest in continuing this conversation is more so like I know we're going to go through a pretty protracted process [music] with the budget, our bond,

199our supplemental bond dollars, and like I really need in a perfect world I would have like a Wolf Blitzer election night screen as we're like moving money around to do these things. Um, just because like I can like especially on a purchase of 1.8 8 million. [music] Like there's just a lot of money that I need to see like where it's going cuz when we talk about staff raises and construction projects like I just I just need to see it all. And I think I can be more equipped to do that like another budget workshop and say, "Hey, let's buy 10 buses tonight. Let's buy them in July, etc., etc." But I I'd just like more time to have [music] that conversation. >> Any other questions? All in favor of the motion to table, please

200raise your hand. opposed. That motion carries 70. The next item is the safety item consideration approval of a resolution to declare a good cause exception for House Bill 3 armed security officer requirements. Is there somebody to speak to this? >> Mr. Cleveland can educate us briefly. Uh good evening. Um so to go back to the resolution to adopt the good cause exemption for House Bill 3 armed security officer requirement. This is on the basis that under section 37.0814 0814 of the Texas Education Code. Uh amongst others, we are required to have an armed commission police officer at each campus. When we initially adopted the school marshal program, it was on the basis that in conversations with our legal council as well as the St. Marks Police Department. There was one going to be a uncertainty

201of the availability for a commissioned officer at each campus, but also on the basis that um putting a commission officer at each campus was going to be out of our budgetary range, which was where we then explored the creation of a San Marco CISD police department, which we found was very out of our budget range. Um we were advised by Chief Standridge that in 2014 the state of Texas in response to Sandy Hook had committed the had created [snorts] excuse me Texas school marshall program. Uh therefore what we did was we uh claimed the exemption on the basis we were unable to meet the requirements of the code due to limited funding and limited availability of personnel who qualified to serve as a security officer pursuant to this code. Um however we did at that

202time and are again this evening claiming a good cause exemption to the security officer requirement under the basis that we adopted an alternative standard for campus security that includes the appointment and utilization of school marshals as the armed individuals uh at each campus. So at no time have we been out of compliance or disregarded the statute that we we will have an armed individual. uh we just do it in a different way which is through the school marshall program. >> Mr. Arondo. >> Uh thank you President Hollyy. I guess I would like further clarification to understand. So it's my understanding that a school marshall is a licensed peace officer. Is that not correct? >> They are it's it's kind of an interesting program. So, they are trained and they meet the requirement to carry a

203firearm in a Texas public school through having attended and completed the L3 psychological evaluation, which is the same thing that police officers in Texas go through, but also the completion of the 80our school marshall course through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. So while they're not a TCO officer who carries an active commission, they are licensed through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to carry having met the requirements of the program. >> So, and I'll try and like be as like vague and hypothetical because I know these individuals are supposed to be like anonymous. So for instance, when we hire a like retired sheriff's office deputy to be a school marshal, they are at one point in time held TCO lensure. Is there a re I guess upon retirement you you give that up? I'm

204like learning on the fly here. >> They have the option that and we've so we so far we have hired federal law enforcement uh retired Texas law enforcement, United States military and out of state law enforcement. Um, they've either kept their commission active through the retirement status where they go and they qualify or they serve as a reserve through another commission law enforcement agency or they retired from their respective agency or branch of service in good standard. Um, however, as the board knows, um, those individuals have been very vetted. Um, and we really have made sure that we've hired the best people. >> Well, and and I don't and I don't doubt that. I I guess want to make it clear. I'm 100% in support of our current program, the school marshals. I think we

205meet and exceed expectations. [music] I guess my point is like we're requesting an exemption when like why like why does a school marshall not satisfy the mandate? Is it because we're not asking them to like >> hold the TCO license? Like S&P doesn't hold their certification for us? >> Yes, sir. I understand. Um it it all goes back to through this legislation through Texas Education Agency. The way that it was written in section 37.0814B and 37.0184C is that it's all worded as a commissioned officer. However, those little caveats are built in there that if you can't meet that, you can go through the Marshall program or in the case of some of our neighboring districts who are not as well off as we are with training and staffing, they can go through what's called the

206guardian program. So, they they gave the opportunity to not have the commission officers, however, to have a model that fits us. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. Can I just make sure I understand? So that if we approve this exception, then we're basically not changing anything that we're already doing. We'll still have the SRO's. It's secondary and we'll still have >> Yes, ma'am. Correct. And this this came up in our our vulnerability audit that Dr. Cardona and I worked on that um we just needed to say that we had an alternative standard. So, we'll still continue to have that hybrid model where we have the Samarks Police Department SRO's at the high schools, uh, the middle schools and Lamar, and then the SRO's at the elementaryaries. Doesn't change anything. Just um, [snorts] it

207checks the box in Sentinel is a really good way to put it. >> Any other questions? Is there a motion to approve this? >> So moved. Motion made by Miss Kaine, seconded by Miss Ku. Any further discussion? All in favor, please raise your hand. All opposed. That motion carries 70. The next item is to a consideration of possible action of a resolution for hazard mitigation action plan for future eligibility for FEMA mitigation project grant funding. [music] So, uh, part of this is the pre-approval process which states that, uh, as a county, uh, Hayes County has agreed to be a part of this and this give gives consideration that if there were ever a disaster declared by the president that um, we've already been included in any plans that Hayes County is making to uh, secure

208FEMA funding and to provide that funding to mitigate any disaster we have. And then the true mitigation phase um is having already been a part of the pre-planning um we're already in the consideration that if we do have a disaster that goes beyond our insurance coverage um that we would have to claim FEMA funding, we're already included in it with the rest of Hayes County. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved. Motion made by Mr. Ardondo, seconded by Miss Kaine. Any questions, discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please raise your hand. Opposed. I'm sorry, Mr. Ardon. Did you vote? >> No, I vote in favor. >> Okay, that motion also carries 70. The next item is uh the option to move into close session is authorized by Texas government code section

209551.071 551.072 551.076 and 551.087 087 in order to have a discussion regarding the mid-year evaluation and contract of the superintendent and for item C the deliberation regarding safety and security including safety personnel systems intruder audit audit reports infrastructure andor devices >> so moved >> motion of Mr. Mclofflin seconded by Mr. Arando all in favor please raise your hand opposed thank you thanks everybody It is 12:08. All board members are present. Uh, >> President Hy. >> Yes. >> I move that the board authorize President Hollyy to negotiate a contract extension with Superintendent Michael Cardona as discussed in executive session. motion made and seconded. Are there any questions, discussion? Seeing none, all in favor, please raise your hand. >> Opposed that motion carries 8 Z. >> 70. I'm sorry it is late. Um, is there a motion

210to adjurnn? >> I move tojourn. Second. >> All in favor, please raise your hand. >> Opposed. Great. Thank you everybody staying so late. Thank you. >> Why am I