001Mic check one two. Mic check one two. What you got, Candace? Test test. Whoa, that sounds loud. Okay, try it this time. >> Test. Test. Test. >> Okay, try again. >> Test. Another test. One more test. >> Okay, I went back up a little bit. >> Go ahead and say test again. >> Oh. Uh, another test. Test. That's good right there. Cool. Please. >> Yep. to this the last uh SMCISD school board meeting of the semester. Congratulations to getting this far. Thank you very much for all of your work, your tireless efforts getting us here. I know it's been a long semester and everybody's looking forward to the break. So, we will try to move this along this evening. Um I'd like to remind everybody that this is a meeting held in public, not a
002meeting of the public. You're 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 published 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 proceedings of this meeting are being recorded and will become part of the San CD 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
003warning from the presiding officer to the public and if if an individual decides to disrupt the meeting, the assistance from law enforcement officials will be requested to have the individual removed. Thank you for joining us and thank you for your support of San Marcus CISD. Um I'm calling the meeting to order. It is 601. We have all board members present in person. And I would like to invite Dr. Martinez from Bonham Preschool to the podium. She's going to introduce her students who will be leading us in the pledges this evening. Welcome Bon Bears. >> Yes. I'll have our Bonum Bears introduce themselves. Right. >> Will you say your name? >> Vivian. >> This is Vivian. >> Say your name. >> Sebastian. >> Kayen. Good job. >> Leo. >> Thank you. >> Oh, they want them
004to stand in the front. I also to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> The Texas flag. I aliance to the Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. >> Thank you, Bon Bears. Thank you teachers. >> Happy holidays. Enjoy your break. Um we're going to reorder things just slightly this evening because I know we have a lot of people here and tomorrow is a school day and we've got some young folks in the audience. Um so the next item is going to be item number seven, the superintendence report. >> Madame President, Dr. Valadez here. >> Yeah, there she is. I'd like to call up Dr. Valadez. He has some nice recognitions. Good evening
005board. Uh so today we have another name to present to you, another campus. And so we have uh good night that has been dethroned. Um and they're they're going to work to get back up here next month. But um we have Miller Middle School that has this past November had the best ADA percentage for the secondary campuses. So we ask them to come up to receive. And Dr. Cole, if you want to hand off the trophy and their plaque. So if you are Miller and you are here to receive your trophy, please come on up. They had 94.53% of their 88. Yes, Miss Thank you. We invited um 12 of our students who have not missed school since sixth or seventh grade. These are all eighth graders and we thought they set a good example
006of making school a priority and their dedication to education. We're proud of you guys. >> Good job, GUYS. >> We can get a picture. We can get a picture. I'm trying to cut up. >> All right. One, two, three. Say cheese. Cheese. Y >> very good. Thank you. >> Congratulations. Congratulations, Miller. >> Okay. And then if we could have uh Ernand, this administration come up. They have another month made it to the best ADA and they had It's like school, girl. >> One, two, three. >> Thank you. >> Madam President, that's the end of superintendent's report. >> Great. Thank you. The next item is public forum. Uh, the first speaker is Bonnie Wallace. Please state your name and your address. Let's go there. >> My name is Bonnie Wallace. Am I on? >> Yes. >>
007I didn't think so. Thanks. My name is Bonnie Wallace. I live in Lo, Texas. My address is on the form. I'm here to talk about a book called Bag of Bones from Stephen King. If there are any children in the audience, they need to be removed. This book is at San Marcus High School. It is prohibited to Texas prisoners due to the graphic gang rape in it. Page 495. He hits her where she is thinnest and most vulnerable, in the ankles. She hollers in shocked pain as the left one breaks. She goes down in a tumble. Ben falls on top of her. All 190 lbs of him. The breath she had drawn to scream whooes out in a gusty sigh. Ben is instantly excited by the feel of her struggling beneath him. He is 18
008years old, as strong as he will ever be, and he loses neither consciousness nor his erection. Orin tears away the back of her dress, laughing pig pile and drops on top of her. Now he is dry humping her top side and Ben is dry humping just as enthusiastically from underneath. Stick this in your mouth, George pants. And don't bite me, you [ __ ] They take her top and bottom, back and front, two and three at a time. There's [ __ ] down her throat, come running down the crack of her ass. The young one has bitten the blood right out of her left breast. They are young, and by the time the last one has finished, the first one, oh God, the first one is ready again. A child's voice cries, "Mom, what are they doing to you?
009Ma, get off my mama, you bastards. They have raced after the boy and brought him back. Put him in the water. Shut him up. He's seen us. You want to cut his throat, get his blood all over you? Fine by me. Here, take my knife. He slips it to her, what she's wanted all along. He slips it in and sinks it deep. He continues giving orders even as he rapes her. Up and down his ass goes. Somebody take care of him or do you want to spend 40 years rotting in shaw shank because of a [ __ ] boy's tattle. Ben seizes one of the kids' arms or in the other. But by the time they have dragged him as far as the embankment, they lost their heart. Raping an uppidity [ __ ] woman is one thing. drowning
010a scared kid like a kitten in a mud puddle. That's another one altogether. "Run, honey," Sarah cries. "Run away and get." Jared clamps his hands around her throat and begins choking her. He plunges the child into the lake. For an instant, he wonders what the boy must see. The face of the fellow holding him down who's drowning him. Just a [ __ ] That's all he is. Just a [ __ ] Keo's arm comes out of the water. His his fi fingers curl into a fist. Open, close, open, close, open, close. Remove this filth from your shelves. Children do not need to read this. Thank you very much. The next person is Susie Carter. Give those to her. Well, I'm sure you haven't gotten to do all your Christmas shopping, but there are there's hope. You can get some
011books from the shelves of the San Marcos High School, like this one called Looking for Alaska. It's on the San Marcus High School shelf and it's uh about some kids who go to a boarding school and it's totally unregulated. The kids are doing uh getting drunk, getting sexed up, and one of them is named Alaska. She's the She's the one that >> I'm sorry, you didn't state your name or your address. >> Oh, Susie Carter, Cal, Texas. Uh here's a little quote from it. I am sleeping and Alaska flies into the room. She's naked and intact. Her breasts, which I felt only briefly and in the dark, are luminously full as they hung down from her body. She hovers inches over me, her breath warm and sweet against my face like a breeze passing through
012tall grass. I'm so naked, she says, and she laughs. How did I get so naked? And it goes on and on. I don't think really that these books that you have are anything but a mess. You are like in a terrible mess and you need out and there is a there is hope. I've sent you some information. Princeton ISD has gotten rid of the books. McKenna has gotten rid of the nasty books and Shannon Heirs has been here to tell you that the inappropriate books get into your libraries because they are promoted by influential entities like the American Library Association and Scholastic. She said that ALA, once a trusted source for libraries, has come under scrutiny for its advocacy of sexually explicit content and its opposition to faith-based in events in libraries. While the publisher
013and book fair vendor Scholastic now promotes sexually explicit material and harmful ideologies. For decades, districts and parents have relied on these institutions to recommend quality education material. But most people don't realize that these same institutions have dramatically shifted against the values of most parents. The book that I just read you, I uh didn't tell you how much profanity it has. The word ass is count uh there's a count of 13 of those. [ __ ] 10 times, [ __ ] 24, piss 19, and [ __ ] 29. Are these things that uplift your children? Do they help them to learn anything useful to succeed in life? Or is this a way to bring down our country to have these kinds of books on your shelves? >> Thank you. Thank you. The next speaker this evening is John Carter. >> I'm John
014Carter. Members at the Whoville School. >> I'm sorry. Could you please state your address? >> Address. >> Yes, please. >> 121 Grist Mill Road. Kyle Uland. Thank you. >> Thank you. Members of the Whoville School Board, please do not be the school board that stole Christmas. At Christmas, we celebrate light, truth, and goodwill. Yet, some decisions before the board suggest either a troubling lack of common sense or a willingness to ignore it. Thankfully, school boards answer to the law, not wins. The question tonight simply is, will you follow the law or try to work around it? Texas Senate Bill SB13 forbids objectional books and school libraries. Harmful, indecent, profane content are each defined in the law. This is not optional guidance. It is the state law. If you are unsure which books qualify, a list
015of illegal books currently in this district can be found in the Takeback the Classroom website. Currently 121 books in this district are listed as objectionable, meaning illegal under SB13. Key points for the board. Students do not need to check out books to read them. If they're on the shelf, they're available. Parents who wish to expose their children to such material may purchase them. The school library is not a substitute parent. If the district insists on retaining books, they should be removed from the shelves and stored securely viewable only with explicit parental content. Consent consent. Librarians are not psychologists and school boards are not therapy centers. Professional recommendations do not override state law. Books can be obtained outside the school district. Claims that these books provide necessary remediation for children is unsubstantiated and cannot be justified
016justify keeping illegal materials. Scripture asks us to choose wisely. What would Jesus do? He would speak true truth plainly, protect children, and say, "Go and sin no more." The board has a choice. Uphold the law, protect students, enact with moral clarity, or explain later why you did not. Please choose wisely. >> Thank you, Mr. Carter. The next speaker this evening is Jim Davis. So, I'm Pastor Jim Davis of Grace Bible Church here in San Marcus. I want to bring to your attention tonight two books that have sparked significant concern. The first is A Stolen Life by JC Lee Dugard, which includes disturbing scenes of sexual assault. It quotes a harrowing moment where a young girl is forced into traumatic experience leaving her feeling utterly powerless. It's a sato masochistic in its content content. The second
017is Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed which graphically depicts the violent gang rape of the 15-year-old at the hands of upper classmen. There are real life horrors under the newly enacted SB13, SB412, and HB900. The distribution of such explicit content is strictly prohibited. It is no longer defensible to argue that this material provides an educational or psychological benefit to our students. The laws make it clear. We must remove these books from our schools. No student should be exposed to content that is both educationally unsuitable and pervasively vulgar. We must look at section three of the education code. This section explicitly states that libraries must not acquire or retain materials deemed harmful deemed harmful or obscene. Such content is protected by the first amendment and serves is un not protected by the first amendment and serves only
018to expose our students to inappropriate and dangerous ideas. As school boards and administrators, you hold a significant responsibility to supervise the educational environment of our children. You possess the authority to remove materials that are deemed unsuitable. Therefore, I urge you to act decisively and remove these explicit resources from circulation in San Marks ISD schools in light of SB13. There should be no hesitation to take this step. Furthermore, it's essential to note that SB 412 closes the affirmative defense of educators who may be prosecuted for distributing explicit materials. This means that the consequences for allowing students access to such content has become even more severe. As a community, we cannot risk the livelihoods and reputations of our teachers, librarians over materials that have no place in our educational institutions. As a pastor in this community, I
019should find myself counseling parents if I should find that of students afflicted by these crimes associated with materials available in our schools. I will strongly encourage them to take legal action. In conclusion, I implore you to consider the profound impact that these books can have on our youth. Our responsibility is to protect our children from harmful influences. Let us stand together in removing these explicit materials from our schools to ensure a safe and nurturing educational environment for all students. Thank you. >> Thank you, Pastor Davis. And the last speaker this evening is Lori Davis. Hi, my name is Lori Davis, 422 Lazy Lane, San Marcus. SB13 requires by law the removal of sexually explicit material from schools. While free speech is essential, obscinity does not receive protection under the first amendment and it is inappropriate
020for school public schools to allocate taxpayer funds for such material. The focus of education should be on learning rather than sexualization. Exposure to pornography disrupts natural sexual development and healthy relationships. We hold a moral and societal responsibility to prioritize the innocence and well-being of minors over progressive agendas that may normalize sexual content, which leads to harm, confusion, and erosion of innocence. Any agenda that sidelines parents while slipping graphic material into the hands of children is not progressive, it's predatory. If you normalize the sexualization of minors, you are not brave or forward thinking. You're on the wrong side of truth and the wrong side of morality. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Davis. The next item this evening is uh scheduled to be a closed a closed session as authorized by section 551.071, 551.074, 551.129, and 551.076
021of the Texas government code. Is there a motion to move into close session? >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion made, seconded. All in favor, please raise your hand. >> Thank you. So, one super. >> All right. It is 6:47 and the board is reconvening from close session to take action on items discussed in closed session. Is there a motion? I'll move to accept the corrective action plan as to the campus mentioned. I'll >> second. >> Motion made and seconded. Any questions? All in favor, please raise your hand. Thank you. That vote is 70. The next item is to move into uh item eight, reports and information items. First up is academics with the PSA and SAT update. >> Do you guys have this on your It's your screen. Okay. All right, doc.
022Good evening, Dr. Cardona, school board members. I am CJ Odum. I'm the director of CTE and CCMR. And today after our October 22nd uh fall school day for SAT, PSAT uh at our schools at both the Miller and Goodnight campuses as well as Samar High School, we come to present the data that we received from college board from that. will be able to discuss trends in that data and then I have the administrative teams from those three campuses to share with you their what they've ruminated on about the data and where they plan to head from here. So, a few of these are just reminders about our district's test delivery. So, for the SAT test, we do provide this to 12th graders in the fall each year. This year, we did that on October 22nd,
023and that's what we're looking at today. And then we will also provide it to 11th graders in the spring. This year that will take place on March the 4th for the PSAT NMSQT. We'll talk a little bit more about what these are and the differences are, but we're giving that to 10th and 11th graders depending on the test. We did that this fall in October. And then 8th and 9th graders at both all three campuses received the PSAT 8 or 9 also on October 22nd for this year. So for the SAT fall 2025, did we get an advertisement? by the new album. Okay. >> All right. So, the uh this is over the last three fall school days, 23, 24, and 25. And so, the scores have kind of remained at that level across the
024last three years for the SAT test. And then it college board provides that breakdown for us in reading and writing. And you can see that across those three years as well. And it will also then break down the specific math score for those three years. All the fall data for those three years as well. Now for the NMSQT PSAT, the reminder here, this is the test that is part of the scholarship piece. So we would get national merit scholars based on this test. There are, as it says on there, a little over 1.6 million competing at this level each year. It's hard to say that there is a particular score that you have to get in order to be a National Merit Scholar. uh it really has they they have a number that they want
025a number of scholars and then they find the cutoff that matches that. So that's kind of a floating moving target but that that's this is the test that allows for that to happen. Also, as we mentioned, this is across you'll see data across three different school years and the the switch up of whether or not there's there's in a lot of data there's a lot of times where when you say we're going to test 11th graders or we're going to test 12th graders and then the conversation becomes, well, are you testing somebody that has the number 11 next to their grade in the in the system? Are you talking about somebody in their third year at the school? Are you talking about the cohort? And so what we're seeing is and is that Miss Dr.
026Guardo is now saying we're going to test all these students. And so across multiple of tests, it was over 400 additional students tested. Uh as pre previous administration had been a little bit more limiting about who received the test. And so it's just fair as we look across the 23, 24, and 25 numbers that we know that the decision by the current administration has been we're going to give this test to more kids. and and we support that at the district level as well to make sure that the benefits are available to as many students as possible. And so for the NMSQT PSAT scores, you see this is the overall score and where it's gone from 2023 to 2025. And likewise, College Board will break that down across the reading and writing specifically for those
027three years. >> Is are those only among juniors? When you say all the kids, are you talking what grades? uh for the NMSAQT and the PSA the 10th grader are going to take the PSAT and then the 11th graders are going to take the NMSQT and then they kind board kind of combos the numbers out from there and >> the ninth graders aren't taking either. >> They're they're taking PSAT9 and then the eighth graders are taking PSAT 8 and I have that data in in a future slide here. >> Okay. >> Yes, sir. And so then the the math score shows there for those three years as well. Uh this is the one test probably one of the biggest ones affected by we're going to test more kids so more kids get the opportunity. So
028then the PSAT 89 again that is for our good night Miller eighth graders are taking PSAT8 9th graders are taking PSAT9 and then college board provides the data specifically for those combined. So this is the overall score for eight and nine in the three fall administrations and then again it's broken into you'll see it's it's it's remained pretty level and that is a result of a bump in the reading and writing as you see here and a little bit of a down in the math score and those have you if you back up two slides that's kind of resulted in that leveling that we have as a total and so we'll have the the administrators now come and speak to you They've seen this data, they've sat with this, they actually have a chance to
029break it down even in further detail. They can look it up by student. For a lot of these, these are very predictive nature tests. So now, because of the data that they have from College Board, they're able to identify students that might need some additional remediation. They might identify students that are very good candidates to take an an AP or a dual credit, an advanced class at the high school when they get there. There's a lot of decisions that now can be made that we have this data on some of these students and we'll let them speak to you about their >> Sorry, I have a question first. Um, so just to clarify what you said. Um, so all 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders are taking the test, some version of the test,
030>> some version of their test. Yes, ma'am. >> Correct. >> Yes, ma'am. >> And in the spring, all 11th graders are taking >> the SAT. Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. So, we don't have the spring scores here from last year. Can we get those? >> We can get those to you. Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Um and also I can see that, you know, we are I understand that we're including more kids. That's great. And I think that the more opportunities the better. Our scores are also not going up, which I will get to in a little bit. But um but I would like you to also send us what the Texas scores are overall in comparison to our scores. >> We can get that to you. Yes, ma'am. Okay. >> So, good evening board. So on
031you know talking about the middle school what we're seeing as we were looking at this data is that we are seeing the trends that we expected to see um based on the last year star and then the teach that they're looking over in class. So some of the numbers are matching up especially in the DCAs that we're taking and so we're able to break that data down and start pulling you know different groups uh in the morning to give them more help as we're going forward with this. Um so again the trends they are what kind of we thought they were. Uh but the data has helped us be able to group more of these students more. Um like you said we did see a bump in the reading which is good but the math
032it did go down some. So we are starting to I don't want to say triage but pull some of the students uh into certain groupings and be able to see where the needs are for the highly tested teach that they're not doing well on that's going to help them on the star move forward. >> So I'm going to second that as well. Um, we're also trying to connect with high school when it comes to our kiddos that are in eighth grade and making sure that we have them on the track that they need to and that we're providing that higher level advance that they need as well. And so we're trying to do a lot of streamlining so that it makes this even flow as our kids go um into high school. Hello. Uh so
033at the high school, one of the things that we did this year was we developed a department time. So um common uh core teachers have a common planning time where uh they're looking at scores for DCAs and benchmarks for our students and developing a plan on how to shore up that tier one instruction um during that time. So, uh, something else we're also working on is developing a tutorial plan for the spring semester through advisory for SAT prep and PSAT prep for our students so that hopefully our scores will go up. >> Mr. Mclin, >> did that I didn't mean to interrupt. Were you all done? I'm >> okay. I I guess as an individual trustee, I'm trying to understand why we're taking this every year and twice the junior year. The SAT is not
034a practiced skill. You don't do better if you take it more times. Um, we're losing instructional days and we really complain about the STAR test. That's done to us, but we're doing this to ourselves. I fail to see the benefit. I mean, some familiarity. They're going to take the PSAT as a junior and they're going to take the SAT as a senior. We've been doing that since the last time I was on the board. But can someone tell me like from our academic team why we want to do it every year? >> Can I have microphone? When we tested in seventh and eighth grade at goodn night, I always saw an increase and I think testing is a skill and the and the students do develop better testing skills. The first time they see a
035test in front of them and have 40 minutes or it's what 25 and 30 minutes, right? It's very overwhelming because at the time we were doing PSAT in goodn night, that's where I did my 16 years. The students were used to taking their state test for six hours and then they're presented with a test that they've got the same number of questions just about to answer and they've got 25 minutes to finish it in and it's as as far as I remember were four 25 minutes and one 30 minute and the 30 minute was the reading part where they had to read and answer. So it is it does require skills. It is a testing skill and when our students are allowed hours to do their state test and minutes to do their SAT or
036their PSAT, it's hard for them. And so they have to learn to read quickly, respond or skip and go on. And and I think as a former counselor from many years ago, I saw an increase from us seventh graders to my eighth graders. And then I would follow up and see how they were doing in ninth. and those kids that practiced that the the quick test, but 25 minutes is a that's a quick time to do that. It does require practice. >> Well, I I disagree with my esteemed colleague. And I think what you're seeing when you look at a seventh grader, then an eighth grader, a ninth grader, is they're not the same kid. They've had a year of growth. Like, they've done learning outside of the test, and that's why they're performing better.
037I mean, it used to be the SAT math had some like riddle components and so familiarity would help you, but the new one doesn't even have those same kind of questions and so I don't I mean I actually was a national merit scholar semi-finalist as I'm sure you already know having pulled my records and I took it cold as a junior and took the SAT one time and then I thought, "Oh, I'm a genius. I'll probably make a 60, take it again, took it again and made 30 points lower." So, um, it's I mean that's an individual experience, but I've seen the same thing with my kids. There's not like a I mean there's intensive tutoring, you know, preparation. We're not really providing the kids because it, you know, some kids do that all summer.
038Sometimes they see a boost, but I I just trying to understand why. I appreciate your comments. Can't though. I didn't mean to. >> Mana, >> no personal offense taken. >> Uh, thank you, President Holly. I am interested in hearing uh staff's response and then I do have an additional comment. So I just wanted to see if they could answer. Most >> I mean I'll give the response cuz I'm the one that started this when I came in a decade ago. So I mean the history is we had certain kids that were testing at certain points and so we did want to use the PSAT89 to see if we could identify kids that we were missing as they were going through the AP track. I agree with you. I mean it is intensive. Um, we've talked,
039I think, about moving to the ACT, which seems to be more less SATish. I didn't score your score, but I did compete probably with your score. Uh, but um, you know, we've had this conversation amongst us all, but we will do whatever the board, you know, is inclined as a voting majority to do. Um because it is I mean we have not gotten better. I do think you need to test at 8th grade because I do think it does give you additional data to look at kids who are falling through the crack as they're moving into ninth grade ninth and tth graders maybe. Maybe maybe so cuz we don't build classes in like some schools have a class. So you know the other thing is we can test once a year. I mean I think
040everybody would like that. Well, if I may say so, Dr. Also, I think your your your objection is very valid, especially it's been part of the discussion that's gone on year to year, and I think that um again, we'll we'll discuss it. Again, I don't think we've laid a concrete plan for 2627 because this discussion keeps going on. So, I'm glad you mentioned it because that is a discussion that we're continuing to have. One of the highlights of why, and I think it's a highlight as to why we would continue to have the discussion is that I believe when Dr. Dr. Conan got here and I don't want to speak for you, but um there was a lack of consistency on just data measurement and just being able to see where our kids were in
041general, whether it was SAT, whether it was STAR, whether it was EOC, whatever it was. And one of the really great things that we've done as a district at this point is we have such a better measured consistent measurement across DCAs, across benchmarks and these things that we have going on. So, we're getting good data on where students stand. Our our administrators are able to respond to that data better. So this may be the time that now that we have that system in place. Do we need this litany of tests at this time? I'm not speaking to say what we'll do for 2627, but I do think that your notice is is something that I think is a big piece of where we're headed in as the discussions that we're having. I I'm glad to
042see that we're getting ready to have some kind of tutorials for our SAT in the in the spring because I mean if they're taking it probably for their last time as juniors or seniors, I mean it's it's hard for them and I know that the colleges still put a lot of emphasis on the scores. So I think um what we're seeing as a parent of a current senior um we are seeing more colleges return to counting scores. So many have gone away during the pandemic but now they're counting scores again. Um I also want to commend the high school. I know the Gear program this year has been doing a great job since early this summer trying to get kids in to do boot camps um and skills building around that in advance of the
043test this fall. Um, I think that's terrific, but also we know that we're not going to have the gear of support going forward. And I think we need to find a way to put that into the 11th grade um day. I would much rather have kids have the option to take SAT prep than to be home monitors. No offense, but I right. Um, I would like to see them be able to have that opportunity and to have it during the day because I think that it's still an obstacle for a lot of kids to get there on Saturdays. Um I I'm less convinced I understand the reason for doing the eighth grade I'm less convinced that we need to do 9th and 10th grade testing but um but I think the 11th grade and 12th
044grade testing is still absolutely necessary. So and I think the eighth grade screening is good. So >> are the high schoolers also doing DCAs? >> Yes. >> So they're already doing those in their classes? Yes. >> Yeah. So, I have a third grader who's already tired of testing. Um, so I agree that I I can't imagine what it is by the time you're in 11th and 12th and these tests seem to determine the rest of your life. Um, I'd like to see some plans that have a little bit less testing, especially if we already have the other testing in place and they're you're saying they're matching, right, Mr. Mitchell? That you saw what you expected because of those tests. I think maybe we could take a few away from our students. Mr. Adon. >> Uh,
045thank you, President Hollyy. I guess I'd be curious and want I just want to thank staff for getting this presentation today. I know we've had these conversations about PSAT, SAT, ACT prep, building it into the master schedule at the high school. So, I know that this is a part of that ongoing conversation and staff being responsive to the board. So, thank you. I guess I know what like benefited me in high school and what that process looked like. Again, like Mr. Mclofflin, I took it once, you know, thought my score was great. Didn't have a calculator for the ACT. It was a mess. But that was all on me, right? And and I guess what I would ask staff is based on y'all's expertise and y'all's recommendation, what would benefit students? Is it building the
046SAT, ACT prep into the school day? Is it focusing on this? What does that look like? Right? And so I guess what I'm saying is I'm not indifferent, but I am malleable to what staff's recommendations would be moving forward knowing that we do spend quite significant amount of resources on what we're doing currently. So take that for what it is. Look to look forward to hearing back from you. >> Thank you, Miss. So I think like to me there's different answers for different kids and it should be a part of how you're already helping them with their individual education plan. There's kids where you have their other testing results and then they take the e take the PSAT as an eighth grader and the results don't align, you know, they're they're very low, right? And
047so like as educators and helping them through, I mean that's the kid where whatever resources we need to bring to get them some tutoring on it or to let them get another rep and take it again because otherwise that's going to hold them back when they get to be a senior. But there's also kids who for whom testing is brutal. You know my one of my kids is um battles dyslexia const and the tests are the worst time, right? She's got to timed things she can't even get through. Just makes her feel bad, you know? I don't need extra days of those. I mean, we know what she needs to work on and it's not take the PSAT five times. So, I this is an administrative decision. You're just giving us an update, but an
048individual trustee, something a little more individualized would be my preference. Yes, sir. >> I agree with that. And I think it would also be helpful. I think part of this conversation started um some years ago when um we were discussing what other districts do in terms of TE's preparation and assistance with their students. So maybe it would be great to look around and do a little survey of what some of our um specifically our affluent neighbors do cuz I think that was what was kind of triggering it was the fact that many affluent school districts at the time were providing this inschool support for students and we had not been doing that. So that would be helpful. >> Just a quick comment. I think that it's going to be really important to individualize this just
049like the other trustes said because you've got kids that are not even intending to go into higher education. They want to go to trade school. Some of them are going straight into the workforce. And those numbers while you're forcing this child who has no desire to take this test to take that test is going to skew your data. We're not looking at accurate data when you're paneling everybody and maybe a third of them aren't even going to go into college. So, I think that if we start working on those individualized and lessening that because test fatigue is real um and I think all of our kids are already beyond that. So, thank you. I appreciate y'all. >> I guess we have our next agenda item for principal meeting, huh? January. >> There you go. >>
050Well, I I don't want to discount. I know Trusty McGloin said it's administrator, but we we understand that y'all are parents >> and grandparents and brothers. So, we do value the input that you give us because you hear it wherever you hear it. So, I I think we are moving together as a team and I'm sure Dr. Borardo is sitting over there. She's her mind's running about what something new would look like already. So, she will uh tell us in January. >> I want to agree with Miss Hollyy that we do need to see what other districts are doing to improve their SAT scores. I know the Houston area, I Googled it one time because I have grandkids in the Katy area. The Houston area had something like 87 National Merit finalists, semi-finalists and one
051school district, Katie by itself had something like 67. So, and they get a lot of tutorials. The parents have the money and they send their kids to special tutorials and that's how they do so well. Because when I saw that number, I thought, "Wow, I get excited when we have two and three national merit semi-finalists in our area." And there are there are districts that are excelling in that area, but it's districts that the parents are putting a lot of money in for tutorials. And so, whatever we can do to help our students without parents having to pay outside tutorials, the better. So, I'm really excited that you're going to do this in the spring. Also, I don't it didn't come up during the student recognitions, but I think that in case everybody hasn't heard
052that we did have a student at the high school. Do you want to do the >> one student who matched with Caltech? He was a QuestBridge scholar. Um I don't know if I can say his name. Uh Rice Tips. Um so he'll be um going to Caltech in the fall of 20. Sorry, I I already said his name. Anyway, >> super proud of him. Um, he worked really really hard to get that and um that is a very prestigious honor for him to get. So, congratulations for tips. >> That's it. >> Thank you. >> And next up, we have Mr. Get ahead and Sharon Vill CEO of communities and school. >> Yesterday, >> I'm right-handed, so you all are tricking me a little bit. See what I can do. >> Thank you, ma'am. Okay. Um,
053no. Good evening. My name is Sharon Vil and um, I get to be the CEO of communities and schools and we've really appreciated our partnership for the past 5 years. So on the left um, you will see a typical developing brain and on the right you will see the brain of a child that's exposed to neglect, trauma and abuse. What I want you to notice is how much less activity is present. Trauma changes how the brain functions. So for students in this state, their brain prioritizes survival, not learning. That's why some of our students struggle with attention, with focus and behavior. These are not character flaws. They are bi they're biological trauma responses. Their body is literally trying to keep them safe. But the good news is that um we can help with this. Um,
054so when you think about why some students struggle in school, it's not always about motivation or ability. Many times it's about an exposure that they've lived through before they can ever focus on what's happening in the classroom. So some experiences change how the brain processes information. Instead of being in learning mode, they are stuck in survival mode. Um, but that's where CIS steps in. Thank you. So what I wanted to share with you all is just a little bit about our model. You know that we place a highly qualified, highly trained staff directly on your campus. And this person just doesn't come and do what we want or what they want. They actually do a needs assessment every year. So they survey the community. They survey parents, counselors, teachers. Um and we ask them what
055is going well and what are some supports that you need. We also look at your campus improvement plan. with that campus improvement plan and with our needs assessment. Then we create a yearly campus plan. Your principal signs off on that um before we provide any services. What you're going to see on the right is we provide services in three tiers. Most people think about CIS having a case load, which means having a one-on-one or a group intervention. What you all will notice is that actually 94% of your student body gets CIS services. We do both one-on- ons, we do group services, and then you also get access to services for your entire campus. Hygiene items, coats, school supplies. These are things that all your students can request and get immediately when CIS is on a
056campus. Then we target students. Um, and we do this with your counselor and with your principles. We're part of your parent supports team. I'm sorry, your student supports team where we are looking and studying your entire student body and we're saying what students work best with CIS and what students are better with one of your aware programs or potentially another partner. Um, next, um, so last year we served 13 of your schools. Um, we provided case management services to a little bit over, uh, or nearly 8,300 students. We provided 33,000 a little bit over 33,000 in direct financial assistance and 94% of your student body received a CIS service. So that was an intentional touch point. It wasn't a uh you know it really was intentional and every student was able 94% of your student
057body was able to receive one of our services. Next. Um, what that means is that we were able to provide a little bit over 67,000 unduplicated services were provided to students. You should also know that we like you all have to meet TEA accountability. TEA has to validate and verify our data. Um, and we actually can't present you any data until TEA says that it is valid. So they um we enter our data into their system and it is validated through that. Last year we also provided a little bit of we provided 925 home visits. This is not just dropping things off. This is engaging with family members, making sure that they're okay and making sure that they have the resources um that they need. Next, so we don't do this work alone. Let me
058say that no nonprofit or no organization should be doing this alone. One of the things that we do is we do provide uh services through other partners and they come underneath CIS. So here's a list of our basic needs partnerships. We see that in Santa Marcos a lot of your students are missing some of the basic needs resources. Next, this is some of our programmatic partnerships. Um your school district and Dr. Cardona has asked us to really focus on mental health. And so here are some of the mental health and social and and and and adult functioning uh skills um that are provided through our partners as well. Next, we also provide um some layered services. So these are free staff that are directly on your campus in addition to our program managers. So we
059have a leadership coach and we have a higher education coach that work with boys to make sure that they stay on the right track that they graduate from high school but then they also go to and through postsecary. Additionally, we have a mental health and wellness coordinator for you all. Um and you all can find this on page 12. Um this uh really talks to you about some of the services that we've been able to to bring. So, because you all asked for mental health services, we were able to apply for a $1 million federal grant that is paid out within uh 3 years only for San Marcos. Uh and we're able to increase our mental health interns and our mental health um services. Additionally, we're able to bring in much more postsecary work for
060you all. Um we also received a grant from the Bernie Johnson Foundation that helps pay for this program. And additionally, uh, the city of San Marcos has made us one of their key partners to be able to provide, um, electricity, utility assistance for your families. So, your families, um, you know, sometimes, especially with the winter, we're able to, uh, make sure that they have light and heat on. Next, so last year, these are all the other services that we also provided. Um it was a total of 16 mental health interns, 17 full-time Americaore members. Um we have five weekly volunteers. Um that is 38 individuals that we were able to leverage directly in addition to everything that we do um to provide services for students. Next, um, and one of the things that we heard
061from your principles is, you know, sometimes, um, our money, our budget doesn't always allow for teacher PD or it doesn't allow for attendance incentives or for family engagement. So, last year we gave an addition of 14 $14,300 so that your principles could implement teacher training or target attendance interventions. Next, so all of that was a lot. And last year, 99% of your students that worked with CIS stayed in school. 98.7 graduated or were promoted to the next grade level and 95.2% improved in their attendance in academics and behavioral targets. So, we got an A last year with you all. We're very, very proud. >> Yes. Thank you. Next. So, I'll talk to you all a little bit about mental health because um that is what you all are focused on. AISD is focused on something
062else. Elgen, Lockheart, the districts are are really focused on um what the community needs. So, I'm talking to you all about these mental health services. And so, I want to share with you all that 100% of the students that we served improved in their symptoms of clinical depression or anxiety. So, we actually give them the GAD 7. Um and we were able to help students get out of clinical anxiety. 100% of those students improved their attendance. 100% improved their behavioral health and wellness and 94% improved their academic coursework. Um, those are clinicians that are helping your students. And if your families had to go get a clinician, it would be about $180 to $250 an hour for those services that you all are getting free based on our um, federal grant that we got. Next,
063I'm going to just move on. The other thing that I will share with you and I will stop talking after this is that we not only want to give you data but we also want to give you family input. So every year we survey parents asking them about tell us about our services. Um are we meeting your needs? We also survey your counselors and your teachers and we ask them tell us about what's happening and and where are we missing where are we really hitting the mark and where are we missing. So next um what I will share with you all is that um nine out of 10 of your parents would recommend CIS. Uh and 8.4% out of your teachers would recommend CIS and they actually say that they couldn't do their work without
064CIS. A lot of the comments were about it feels really good that I can have a room or a place where I can take a child who might be in crisis and I can still focus on helping the entire class. Um, okay. I think that that's it y'all. I know I speedun. Um, oh, this is the last thing. So, our total program cost is about $1.8 million. You all do support this partnership. you provide a little bit over half a million dollars. Um that means that we're able to leverage over 224% for every dollar that you all invest in CIS. We're investing $321. You all pay 30% of the total cost and all the rest is leveraged um so that you all don't have to go and find that financial funds to bring these services
065to your students. Okay, that's all that I have questions. Mr. Mclofflin, >> this is one of my favorite things the district does presently. I think it's invaluable. I mean, when you look at like if if kids don't feel safe, if kids aren't fed, if kids are battling family trauma that they don't have a place to process it, they're not going to score well on their PSAT. Like, that's that's a that's they're miles away from that. And so, um, if there's any is there anything the district could do that would make y'all more successful or increase your reach? >> You know, we have improvement meetings often and so we have talked about um getting more connected. I think you all just did a survey that we just got, but I have to tell you that you
066all are doing an amazing job. We work with nine other school districts and by far you all have some of the best systems. you all your principles know how to work alongside partners and don't just think that we're a offside partners but they involve us. We just met with your good night um with Mr. Mitchell and he was like you all are us and I have to tell you that that that those systems are working. So I would say I don't know what we can do to improve but right now we are communicating constantly um and really wrapping around. Um, I will tell you that my goal is I want to case manage about 25% of all your high need students. Right now, we're at about 13%. We know that when CIS can case manage
06725% of a school, we can really move and you all will see high increases, but that takes more funding. And so, I think it's us just talking about how we grant right together. So for us is that we need to serve more of your students more intensely. Um and that will take some, you know, long-term planning. Thank you for asking that. >> Sure. Thanks for your work, >> Mr. Arando. >> Uh thank you, President Hollyy Shannon. I just want to thank y'all's team for the incredible work that you all do. Um just year in and year out. Um, I know that when we went through our budget process this past year, this was one of the programs that we had to have some pretty difficult conversations about of whether to continue funding. Uh, you know,
068do we continue the other departments and divisions that do similar work that y'all do? And, uh, I'm just so glad that we continued this this partnership um, for the benefit of our students and really just the district as a whole. And I want to echo uh, Mr. Mclofflin's comments that again, you know, if we can get to that 25%, even if that does take some conversations here at a local level of us as policy makers um to talk about budget priorities this upcoming fiscal year, like I I want to have that conversation cuz like Mr. Mclofflin said, I mean, if we have a kid who the lights are off at home, right, or their parents don't know how to pay rent or they they're unable to pay rent or whatever that trauma issue concern is
069at home, they can sit in that algebra one class and we can pour as many resources as we can into them in that 90minute period. But I'm not going to care about math if I know I'm going home to some pretty difficult situations, right? So when y'all help th those crises at home, it it's it's transformational. So just thank you again. >> Thank you. I I will tell you that we have a reporter here um who is from the Atlantic and um there is some research that is going to come out from um ed redesign from Harvard and Cornell that talks about the impact of CIS and um they're comparing it to a legislative agenda as big as um Head Start. Um they are saying that there has not been another organization that has been
070researched as much as we have. Um and I want to also thank Dr. Cardona for believing in us and for always advocating for you all. He's always like I need more mental health people or Sharon what are you going to do? So I I just want to say that continue to push us um because we are we will respond. It is in our nature. And I think what strikes me most is how comprehensive you work and um how you really I mean we talk about the whole child a lot but you really cater to the whole child and to the whole family because I've seen firsthand um how your program coordinators have a student at one school and then work throughout the system to make sure that family members that are in other schools are
071also encapsulated and taken care of. And I think that's really important and very systemic. And I think that is something that we really hadn't been able to do before you um began our partnership with us. So, thank you for that. I'm really happy that we're able to do this now at every campus um and that we've been able to continue it. So, >> thank you. >> Great job. And to all of our campus workers who are involved in Europe. Yeah. In communities and schools. Thank you all very much. >> Sure. Would everybody who works for CIS please stand up so we can recognize you now? >> Thanks for your great work on behalf of all of us and our kids and uh enjoy your holidays. >> All right, >> community engagement. Sorry. >> Okay. >>
072Yeah, >> I'm looking for science on >> Oh, any other questions? >> She Andrea has just one she has a briefing on our mental health. >> Yeah, we're aware. Go ahead. does have project aware. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, that's the theme for for this evening. Um, while she's done, we're going to provide an overview regarding our project aware grant. This is the last year that um we will have the grant. And so, it's a it's about time to discuss um again some of those accomplishments throughout um these four years. Last time you heard about our mental health continuum. And so with me I'll have Miss Jenny Parker, uh Katrina Cleveland, Stacy Shockley, um and we're just going to talk about again those essential elements um for a safe and supportive school. We've already discussed
073again the the need for a school climate to really lend itself to academic outcomes for our kids, but it's really important that while we discuss the needs, it's important to start the work. And so this project aware grant has really helped support efforts not just through MTSS behavior etc. increasing family engagement um as well as policies that are also inhouse to help support our kids. We were very strategic as far as placement for our mental health clinicians. So, from early intervention at Bonham PreK, we have Miss Stacy Shley. Uh Jenny Parker serving as our community project manager, also as a clinician at Rodriguez Elementary. And then lastly, Katrina Cleveland, um our LPC, also at the high school. Hello. Thank you for giving us the time. Um so, this the first couple uh slides that I'm
074going to talk about are just a highlight of some of the activities that we've done. We wanted to have something as a quick reference for you all just to kind of go back through. We're going to go a little bit more into depth than some of the things that we were able to accomplish through the grant. And so this is a continuation of those highlight pages that it wouldn't be all in one slide. Um uh our role aligns closely with the school counselors, the counselors, CIS, and other outside agencies. Um, and on this chart, we labeled our team, the aware team, as the mental health team, so that we could see how this could go moving forward. Um, and so naturally, one of the common questions that we receive is how our role differs from
075those other supports. And so to help clarify this, can you go back? Sorry. To help clarify this, uh, we created a comparison chart that outlines some of the similarities and the differences. So I want to note though that this is not an existive list of the roles. um it's more of a demonstration purpose of it, but it kind of kind of shows you how as our whole team we can um serve all students in different ways and and cover all the needs. Okay. So through the aware grant we collected data that TEA had asked us to collect. Um so we're showing you a dashboard from last year and so I want to make some notes about how to look at this data. The aware goals refers to the target set by the state aware team
076for all the three districts that were in this cohort. The other figures represent what San Marcus CISD's contribution towards that goal for both the specific growth and the year-to- date. Workforce development on this slide includes individuals who serve in a mental health or safety capacity who received training from our team. The training mental health prevention and promotion reflects the number of people trained by our team who are not in the mental health or safety field. The section that talks about improved knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs are results from surveys that we've did following the trainings. And then the dashboard also includes the number of students referred, the percentage of students served by our team, policy changes, andus established. So looking at these trends, we can see that the number of referrals and students served increases as
077the year progresses, and we can compare that data to identify which months have higher referral rates than others. The trend also highlights periods when training efforts increased or decreased. Over this one-year period, our team has trained or provided mental health education to more than 163 individuals. We're a small but mighty team. Uh we have served 96% of the students who were referred and we still have time this year to continue expanding our policy and partnerships. So an additional data that we were able to collect is some parent satisfaction surveys and we give these by annually. And so the questions on the left side of this um are asking parents to write if they agree that having school-based therapists was helpful for their child. And 77% of the parents strongly agree that they that they value
078their child's time spent with the provider. And 65% of the parents reported that they strongly believe that the provider was better able to help their child because the provider is located in the uh in the school building. The chart on the right asked parents about their child's improvement since re receiving services through us. And one of my favorite questions was, "Since receiving services from the school-based mental health provider, my relationship with my child and 65% of their parents reported has improved a lot." That's the highest marker. I'm going to pass over to my other colleagues. Hi, I'm Katrina Cleveland. I am LBC, a mental health clinician over at the high school. So excited to be speaking with y'all tonight and to talk to you more about our data. Um, so we also invited San Marcus
079High School students that participate in Aware services to complete surveys reflecting on their experiences with AARE. As the data show, students perception of the mental health services at SMHS fall predominantly with the agree and strongly agree categories when asked about the effectiveness of school-based supports. Notably, 100% of students reported being satisfied or highly satisfied with the services they received. That's teenagers, right? They agreed that their provider treated with respect, communicated in ways that could e easily understand and help them improve their ability to manage daily life. Continuing our focus on elevating student voice, um we would like to highlight statements from the youth satisfaction surveys with students. Students shared comments such as, "I liked meeting because it helped me get well in school, showing that school-based mental health services support not only emotional well-being but
080also academic success, as Mr. Mclofflin noted." Um, others noted that the talks we had helped the talks we had helped me move forward in difficult times and understanding my emotions and my situations overall, showing how students gained clarity, emotional insight, and strategies to manage their stressors. Students also highlighted the importance of feeling heard and supported. She's a good listener and she doesn't judge. And I like that you took the time to hear everything and ask questions to understand my experiences. These statements emphasize how essential it is for students to have a safe, non-judgmental space where they can speak with a trusted adult. This slide shows key takeaways from the parent and student satisfaction surveys. Um, we would like to note the overall response rate for both groups increased from 2024 to 2025, indicating a growing
081awareness of and engagement with aware mental health services. Survey results also revealed that parents would like to be more actively involved in their child's goals in their child's goal setting process and mental health care. This shows the results of the satisfaction survey completed by teachers and staff on campuses served by aware clinicians. Because campus staff generate the majority of student referrals for Aware services, their perceptions offer important insight into the effectiveness and visibility of these supports. From 24 to 25, the data show an increase in staff confidence that students referred for mental and behavioral health services are likely to receive the help that they need. We also observed a rise in overall staff satisfaction with the quality of services provided to support students mental and behavioral health. We want to emphasize how aware services continue
082to align with SMCISD's district commitments. The first commitment highlighted here is the creation of a culture of high expectations for performance and professionalism. Our mental health team actively works to promote a positive and supportive campus climate for both students and staff. Survey data from teachers and staff show an overall increase in perceptions of student and staff well-being from 24 to 25. Staff also expressed greater confidence that schools are providing effective supports for students facing a range of challenges including relationship difficulties, trauma, grief, and loss and anxiety and stress. This this slide highlights staff statements regarding which aspects of school mental health support they believe are functioning effectively. Comments such as, I believe the referral system is working well. They are able to speak with them quickly and I believe our student support team meetings continue
083to improve every year reflect confidence in the efficiency of our referral processes. As aware clinicians, we play a key role in supporting and refining these these systems to ensure that students in need of mental health or emotional support are connected to services promptly and appropriately. Staff also emphasized the value of accessible, high-quality mental health professionals, noting ease of access and extremely competent professional counselors and teachers have someone in our school that is consistently working on mental health. Here's some additional statements that are available to you so you can get the full scope. Um, and then next, we would just like to highlight feedback from teachers and staff regarding areas of school mental health that they believe still need improvement. One staff member noted, "Because there are so many crises, I believe my counselors can't reach
084everyone that needs help." pointing to the need for stronger tier one mental health supports. And additionally, comments such as, "The staff we do have in place are great at their job. We just simply don't have enough of them." And there needs to be more mental health counselors show a widespread recognition that increased mental health staffing is essential to meet the growing needs of students, families, and staff. Thank you all and I'll pass it on to Miss Stacy Shley. >> Hi. Next, we're going to talk about some of the feedback from our parent cafes that we've been able to hold. And I also want to tell you kind of what parent cafes are in case you're not aware of them. Uh but the parent cafes that we're able to hold build resilience for our families, strengthen
085connections, and build confidence in their parenting skills. Uh the parenting program has been able to be successfully implemented over at Bonum PreK, and we're also going to be expanding it to the teen parenting program at the high school. We've also been able to partner with NHS in order to bring them in and promote those leadership skills so that they can help with keeping u the kids in order so that the parents can fully engage in the parent cafes. Um some feedback that we've heard is this is a great experience full of healing and I needed to know that other parents and people had these same experiences. Uh the feedback from the um educator wellness workshops that we've been holding. Um, so the workshops were built in order to provide support, increase staff morale and self-care
086practices with mental health supports embedded into uh the programs in order to help prevent burnout for our teachers and staff. And the feedback has been um that uh it was amazing. It helped my mental health. These workshops help relax my anxiety even the small time that um I was there. Uh we've been able to hold these once a month over at Bonum and we've also been able to have push-ins here at the central office Rodriguez with the principles several of the new teachermies and we've also provided uh product giveaways um for academic outcomes. Um when students experience trauma or grief their ability to learn is directly affected. Um having the supports readily available at school is essential at meeting their emotional and academic needs. um our licensed therapists, having them embedded in our schools enhance
087the district's capacity to respond immediately and providing critical support to our students and families when they are needed the most. For educator wellness, um we developed a comprehensive system of self-care practices designed to support our teachers and staff to support retention um while fostering a culture of wellness and empowerment amongst our educators. For our educator training and development, we've strengthened the district's overall understanding of mental health and improving our ability to recognize, prevent, and respond effectively to our mental health crisis. Um for our family engagement and family education, it's important to note that families um we're providing them with support and resources and individualized education as needed and we're sharing the experiences that we have as educators and mental health providers to empower them for success. With regards to collaborations and community involvement, prior to
088this position position, there was no real dedicated role representing SMCISD on the school level. Um, and strong networking is essential to supporting our families and staff and helping them to succeed in life. So, that was brief. Uh, right, we held our breath. Um, overall this is a chart to show just like Miss Veh showed earlier the cost benefit of Project Aare and all the great things that we've been able to do in this district thanks to that grant from training to providing those sessions for our parents at no cost. Y'all, we have kiddos that do not have insurance. And so all this matters, right? We try to make sure we're not overlapping and supporting accordingly, being super intentional, building our resource maps, all the good things. And so again, it's not only about delivering these
089services or a program. This really translates to more than just data and numbers. It equals kids, right? Kids that will or will not come to school. And so we've seen an increase in school attendance for children who have received these supports. And so it's really important to make sure that we also speak up, advocate, use our voice to say this is helping our students. And so those that do experience this on a daytoday are our leaders, right? Our administrators, our clinicians, um who see this on a daily basis. And so those are also some feedback quotes um from Bonum Rodriguez um San Marcos High School. And they echo the same saying educator wellness should be a priority. Um we know that there's burnout retention. And there's so many research um articles out there to show
090that teachers experience twice the amount of stress um than other uh work uh professionals. And so again, keeping that in mind as well as our students need to help co-regulate in their mental health is really important. Thank you so much for your time. Um do you have any questions regarding uh the material we briefly covered? >> Thank you all very much for all of your work. We really appreciate it and it really helps our kids. We know that. So, thank you. >> Yay counselors. >> Yay, counselor. >> All right, it's about quarter date. Can we keep going or do we need a break? >> Yes. >> Uh, communications, demographic presentation. >> Oh, we're still Oh, sorry. I'm behind. Community engagement. >> Madame President, members of the board, and Dr. Cardona, as part of our continued
091focus on student achievement and whole class success, we have been intentional about strengthening family engagement as a core leadership practice across our campuses. Last year we launched this work by partnering with Scholastic to provide family engagement professional learning for parent liaison, school counselors and communities and school staff grounded in the understanding that meaningful family partnerships directly support student outcomes. This work was elevated in June of this past year during our leadership symposium where principles and assistant principles were introduced to this framework and the role campus leadership plays in setting the conditions for authentic family engagement. Building on that foundation, this fall we facilitated three workshop sessions that brought together all of our 12 campuses. each formed a collective team that included an administrator, a parent, a counselor, and teacher leaders, reinforcing that family engagement is
092shared work and not the responsibility of a single role. Tonight, you will hear directly from campus leaders who have taken this learning and implemented in meaningful ways. We will begin with Dr. Martinez and her team who led a full day of foundation of family engagement at their campus during a professional learning day. Following that, Miss Hooper and her high school team will share their work with the Dr. Map series focus on reframing family engagement to build trust, partnership, and shared responsibility for student success. This work reflects our commitment to developing principles who lead strong campuses, cultures, engaging families as true partners, and ultimately create conditions where every student can thrive. >> Thank you, Dr. Cole. Good evening, board. So, like Dr. P said, um we have been part at bottom of this um family engagement
093that purpose. So, it was a series. It was three um trainings, but we also had one specifically for Bonum, and it was on the foundations of family engagement. Uh Dr. Cole and I had been in conversation, and we just felt like um we really wanted to provide our teachers and staff, including our instructional assistants, meaningful and relevant uh professional development, especially on family engagement since it's the first introduction for our students to schooling. And so we really want to build that strong foundation of family engagement. So um one um Miss Man I'll let her introduce herself. She's my school counselor. She's part of my family engagement team. We also have two educators and we also have a parent that is part of our engagement. So I'll let her just introduce herself. She is a new
094counselor at Bonum. So introduce yourself. >> Hi my name is Jessica Manichi. I'm the school counselor at Bonum PreK. So what we did that day is we had our presenter come and as a whole campus we sat together and we identified first of all some school goals that we have been working on and of course we all know attendance at bonum has always been uh a goal of ours is to improve our attendance and then also we identified some academic goals and that is in emergent literacy specifically within phmic awareness. So we identified those goals and then we sat down as a team and we brought we just brainstormed some strategies on how we can help families advocate for their students and support their students so that they're successful in school. So after we did
095that then we were able to sit and create a plan of action moving forward so that we can really transform those partnerships with our families. So, one of the outcomes, uh, learning outcomes that I'll really, uh, pinpoint here because that was part of our action plan was identifying those five process conditions that we need to address every time we have a family engagement activity. So, what we did is we looked at our calendar, we identified what family engagements were coming up, and then we use these five five process conditions to uh, plan our next family engagement moving forward. So, some of the things that we uh focused on in that training is the relationships that we're building with families and the trust that we're building because we need to build that trust before we can
096have families truly engage with us. Another thing um that we did is we looked at our families family engagement activity and we wanted to make sure that it was linked to a learning outcome based on our goals. How are students going to how are we going to um present this for families when it comes to how to you know read with your child, how to uh introduce letters and sounds to your children. So we wanted to make sure it was linked to learning and um student development. Also um we looked at is it asset based? Are we identifying the strengths of our families and then building on their strengths so they can continue to support their students in school? Uh is it culturally responsive? Are we meeting the linguistic needs of our families when we
097have family engagements? And then is it collaborative? And not just collaborative with our staff, but collaborative with other parents. Are they having opportunities to collaborate with other families and um just build those networks? And then um also um is it interactive? So do parents have an opportunity to learn something and then practice that skill? And so that's where we are. So, we have plans moving forward on our future family engagement activities which I'll be inviting Dr. Cole to come and give me some feedback. And so, that's what we did upon them. I'll keep it brief. Is there anything? And actually, um, Miss Shopley, you know, with her parent cafes is very involved in our family engagement. So, yeah. >> Yes, that's where we are also doing the parent cafes that our families can engage in
098those as well. um with regards to the family engagement trainings that we all did. >> Questions? >> Great work. >> Okay, now we have the high school team coming up. >> Good evening board. My name is Arlene Hooper, assistant principal of San Marcus High School. And here I have >> Hi, I'm Tasha Fenel from San Marcus High School as well. graduate. >> Yep. And Bobcat s Britney Posie also from the high school. >> Daniel Relas, high school counselor. And um um unable to be here um is Norma Ibata. She's one of our English teachers and uh you all are shaking your head. Very very um wonderful asset to our family engagement team. And so we will let uh Miss Fenel uh start off with what we're doing at San Marcus High School in order to
099build um partnerships with our parents. >> I think I'm first. It's okay. Um all I have to say is ditto. Bonum did an excellent job. They really showed you guys um the whole process that we went through. Um my previous work was through Gear Up as a good chunk of you guys know. So, family engagement has been at my heart for many, many years. And it was just a really cool opportunity that we received to be able to sit down, the people that are on the ground doing the work and have a second to be like, yeah, what do our families need and how can we meet those needs? So, we in we talked about the difference between family engagement and family involvement. I think we'll talk about that a little bit more in a
100second. um creating that plan of action. Love a good plan. Um I think our plans coming together tomorrow and um Miss Hooper will talk about that a little bit. And then the last part was redesigning the um traditional family and fence and what they've always been. We've always had Rattler Roundup. We've always had um open house. How can those look different to meet our families where they are? And um yeah, very excited to get going on that. >> First session. >> Okay. Um again, my name is Tasha. I work at the high school and whenever Miss Hooper first asked me if I'd be on this committee, I was like, let's I want to be honest and see what it's going to require to participate. But I knew when it came to families, this is something
101that I'm very passionate about. I think it's important to do the work that you enjoy and love the most and family engagement is super important. So, um, series one I was like, this is a real job that exists. Someone does this for a living. You just get to go to campuses and schools and cities and states and tell people what it's like to get families involved. And so, I loved Tanya. She is amazing. Um, and what we learned was super helpful. So part of series 1 was reframing family engagement as an instructional strategy. And I want to share how it connects directly with S. Marcus as a teacher, a coach, and a parent. I believe learning at home and family engagement shape achievement. Series 1 reminded us that when families are engaged, students thrive, attendance
102improves, confidence grows, and achievement rises. Um, from the assetbased lens, we must see families by their strengths. And something we talked about or we spoke about was what like the trauma informed or what they don't have is not always where you should start the conversation. We should first start considering what they bring to the table and how can we capitalize on that instead of constantly focusing on the lack thereof. Okay. And so those strengths include the multigenerational ties, cultural traditions, and honoring those assets as we build trust. And some of the strategies that we considered um is like what can we do to help the parents know what we're doing in the classroom or at school, the verbiage, what we're doing, the lessons, the assignments, the trips, like whatever we have going on. Communicating directly
103what it is or what we want them to learn or how we want them to do it. And so providing things to the parents to be more a part of the learning and engagement. Session two focus it on the learning outcomes and how we integrate family engagement with student learning goals. Uh for our campus, we're focusing on how to build the literacy, the reading, writing skills just throughout like throughout the school. And in regards to that, we also plan on engaging that as part of one of our other campus goals related to career college military readiness and uh seeing that come to fruition and just making a vision into reality. So, there's a couple initiatives that we're going to speak about and Miss Hooper is going to speak about how changing the I guess more
104of the language to fit more students and to uh support not just a specific group of population of students but the all And so when we started off thinking about the high school, um I've been in this district for 27 years. I started off as a student at Texas State University. Um I got my first taste of what San Marcus was all about when I went to my very first sights and sounds as an incoming freshman there. Um, I got my job here and I love it. And it's something to go out in the community and go to HB and see all the families and how are you doing and go to the different events. Um, how do we keep our families not just involved but engaged? And that was a big part of this
105training to see our families as true partners. Not just we send a newsletter home, but how do we get you into the building where your voice is heard and you felt seen. And so part of that was um the dual capacity building framework that we went through in session three and it was building relationships. Um that was spoke um spoken to us um many many times. The key word is relationships. And so we looked at our com uh collective commitments that we have as a high school campus and it is building those partnerships so that all students are successful so that everyone felt heard, everyone feels seen. And so we came up with um looking at as Bonum did some of the things that we already do. We have a wonderful night where we invite
106um in the past a particular demographic of parents um and that you know across across our state it does happen um where you go okay I'm just going to invite just the ninth graders or I'm going to just do my seniors or I'm going to just do this small group. How do you get everyone to come when it's not Rattler roundup? Okay, thankfully we do have a lot. Um and so we said, let's take a look at starting small with our freshman population. Um we're going to focus on literacy and we're going to make that one big night. We're going to in um bring in our community partnerships. We're going to bring in our aware team, our CIS team. We're going to work with all of the groups that we already have on campus that
107sometimes become solo. We're going to look at our booster clubs. We're going to look at AVID. We're going to look at all of these um in-house partnerships and come up with a a comm a night for our community. And so we developed a 90-day action plan um that that doesn't just end on our one night. Um we see that there's not just a goal when it comes to family engagement but it is ongoing. Um we have decided to sorry I I'm very passionate. Um we have decided to take this night that we originally had and we changed the name so that it's a San Marcus High School village. And tomorrow we will be celebrating our village um our Rattler Nation in having this night occur. Um in conjunction with that, we're going to be doing
108surveys not only to our parents but to our students. We want to hear their voices. We want to hear their testimonials of what do they need because sometimes high school students don't feel like they're heard. Um we are going to be um working with our AVID coordinators to have one big AVID night where we are focusing on CCMR where we're focusing on helping our parents understand um those who may have questions. What does it take for your child to be college career and community um sorry college career and military ready? We're looking at some of the things that people have said in the past. How do I access um their grades? how do I access uh services? How do I get assistance with just helping my kid with what they need in the classroom? And
109so our focus was um on writing. We are looking at writing across the curriculum, writing across every grade level. We're working in providing our uh staff uh training in our PLC's and we are getting teacher, student and family input. We are continuing to um come together as a staff to just say what do we need in order to make San Marcus better. We know that this is just a small step and we are um continuing to do this work so that we can grow the partnerships. >> And then we have some candid pictures that we took during this training. We had um Miss Tanya Brown from Scholastic. She was amazing. The principles, everyone really loved her. So, we couldn't have done it without her. So, thank you all. >> Thanks. That's great. Questions? It's very
110cool. Keep it up. Um, I think we're going to take a quick 6 minute break. So, we'll be back at 8:05. communications demographic presentation. Mr. Fernandez, >> good evening board. Happy holidays. I know we've had a lot of information thrown at you, so we'll go right into it. uh we received a lot of information from our demographer and we condensed it. Uh along with that we include a reasonzoning anticipated for next school year. So some of the determining factors that went into the resoning uh one size of our elementary campuses right now and the campus capacity. The second item we looked at was transportation efficiency. Making sure we're providing the most efficient routes so students are getting to school on time and getting home at a good hour. The third thing is campus capacity uh
111which went along with our size of our elementary and our enrollment. So why now? Uh we have a new Mendes Elementary being built. The second item is academic consistency. So our academic department feels like there's more consistency among all seven elementary campuses. And the third thing enrollment numbers and campus capacity which is what what we mentioned in the first slide. And this uh the boundary changes is only affecting our elementary campuses right now or that's what we're looking at. So the red lines right here is our current boundaries and then the colored portion are the proposed changes for next school year. Uh I sent over a presentation earlier this morning and it didn't include the number breakdown. Uh Miss Nash uh was looking at the numbers at that time and so we actually found u
112the numbers for every single change that we're proposing. And before I move on, I do want to give a lot of credit to Mr. Anthony Shields and Miss Beth Nash. Uh they're the masterminds that we've been working with our demographer the last 3 4 weeks um putting the this proposal together. Mr. Shields knows every street in San Marcus CISD and he we'll give him a quiz here in a little bit so he can test his skills. But I I want to give a lot of credit to Mr. shields and the amount of work he puts in to identify every street and every bus route. Miss Nash knows our numbers inside and out. Uh we wouldn't be able to provide such a good proposal that we've provided tonight without those two. So I want to give
113them a big round of applause. So there's seven anticipated changes or proposals and so it does affect every elementary school. And so I'll start in the top left, the Wonderorld area. uh to highway 82 will move Hernandez students to Crockett students and that's approximately 97 students. The Cottonwood Parkway to Wonderorld Street move from Rodriguez to Mendes Elementary which is approximately 61 students. Area east of Hunter Road from Posey Road just north of the Grand at Stone Creek Apartments will move about 56 students from Rodriguez to Hernandez. If you go to the very bottom area between Bback in Road and Burmantoorf, we'll move approximately 12 students from Rodriguez to Buouie Elementary. If you're looking at the Buoie zone, Mard Loop and Pinto Loop area moves DZ to Buouie approximately 26 students where the star is right
114under Desavala. Uh this boundary change will move their boundary east to FM 621. right now would only move one student. And then current DZ at the very top right area east of Highway 21 north of Highway 80 over to uh State Highway 142 will move approximately 69 students from Desaala Elementary to Travis Elementary. And again, the red lines are our current boundary. So if you look at it, a lot of zigzags, a lot of different lines. And if you look at the colored portion, it's very straight lines. is we're using main roads, we're using highways, we're using the farm roads to to create our boundaries. If you look at this, this is what our proposed boundaries will look like. A lot cleaner. If you notice along 123, you'll see that little triangle that sticks out
115uh where the green and red flags meet right on 123. So, that area is Toyota RER Stadium, and there's an apartment complex right there. If you look outside your window, you can see Buoie Elementary. So that's why that one looks a little funny, but we would we didn't want to move those students when they can see Buoie from their balcony. And same thing if you come down a little uh further on 123. So again, these are the proposed changes for our elementary campuses. And I'll move on to the next slide, which is looking at actual numbers and students. So the very top row you'll see our current enrollment and right under in the parenthesis is our current economically disadvantaged number or percentage for every elementary campus. If we were to make no changes to our
116boundaries our proposed our projection for enrollment for every elementary is the second line. So again, what we talked about at the first and second slide, the enrollment at Travis Elementary, for example, was 383, while we're projected to have Desavala at 578, Mendes at 583, and then Rodriguez at 617. And if you notice Rodriguez specifically, 617, and their campus capacity is 660. Speaking with our demographer, the greatest growth we are going to see is in the Rodriguez zone. So if we can bring aliate some of that pressure by bringing some students to the surrounding campuses uh now is the time to do it because growth is going to happen within the next three years. If you go to the ver the third line that is our proposed enrollment for every single campus if we were to
117move the boundaries exactly how we propose and if you see there's a better balance across every single elementary each of them almost in the 500 besides Travis which will put them at 450 not too far behind and we anticipate this as a three-year plan because of the growth that's going to happen in the Rodriguez. There's also a lot of growth going to happen in the Buouie and Desavala campus. I'll let you look at those numbers for a little bit, but I know it's a lot of information to throw at you in just a short amount of time. So, there is one more slide and then we can take questions and go back. Um, this was our timeline that we we talked to principles and felt like it was the best fit for the district. Today
118is where we present to the board. We're going to send out a survey to our community, our parents, our staff. Uh this week before we head out for the break, we would host our first community meeting here at central office on January the 6th. It's a Tuesday. And to follow that trend, we would have another community meeting here at central office on January the 13th. Give same thing. Give our community an opportunity to give feedback. January 20th, bring it to the board. On January 21st, we would open up our transfer window. So, we have a lot of in district transfers. We have a lot of out of district trans transfers. We would close that window on February the 18th. On February the 20th, we would have a meeting with all of our elementary campus principles
119to approve or deny all of our transfers. And by that following week, February 23rd, our HR and finance department will have all the numbers and all the enrollment uh for next school year so that they can begin staffing. And that concludes our presentation. >> Questions? >> Yes, Miss Kane. >> I have two questions. Um I heard you talk a little bit about some of the new developments uh in terms of apartment complexes. obviously like there's a new one behind me and there's a new one over there and there's a new one over there. Have you taken the estimated additional students totals and factored that into this? Yes. >> So this really can be a comprehensive Okay. >> Correct. >> Um and then the second question is I have never gone through a process like this.
120I've never been affected by it or voted on it. How does this work for the students who are currently let's say a fourth or a fifth grader or I guess fifth graders it doesn't matter. sorry, a third or a fourth grader at an elementary school, do they get priority in the transfer that they would get to stay at their current school or we would just say, "Nope, you got to go to this one for your last year." >> Correct. So, the current fourth graders and the current uh so the incoming fifth graders, they would have the ability to uh submit a transfer or to remain at that campus, but uh the caveat is they would have to provide their own transportation. Miss Ku, >> at what point do you start involving the parents in the
121conversation so that they can start thinking about what they want to do? >> Uh, immediately. So, we would send this proposal out to our community this week and provide a survey for them to provide feedback to uh the changes and anything that we may have missed or not thinking about currently >> because y'all usually do in the spring transfer applications to transfer from one school to another anyway, right? >> Correct. So, um, la last year our transfer window was a little later, but with the resoning, we figured we tie them together so that families can submit transfers or if they want to try to stay at their current campus, like Miss Kane mentioned, if they're an incoming fifth grader and want to stay, they're able to submit a transfer and go through that process. But
122yes, we want community feedback as much as possible through the survey and then through in-person meetings as well. >> Good, good question, Mr. Teroda. >> Uh, thank you, President Hollyy. I have uh several questions. I guess my first one though, and this has nothing related to like transfers or boundary changes is the addendum on this slide where it says additional change would move dual language students from Mendes to Desabala. What where was that decided upon or what who made that decision? So, yes, with this change and so it was to get Travis's enrollment a little higher. uh we pulled some students from the DZ uh boundary, move them over to Travis. But with that, and I I did leave that out and I I forgot to do that. The reason for this, our current students
123who live in the Buouie zone, but are in dual language are currently going to Menddees. And so they're being busy zone to Mendes passing Desabala. So to be more efficient with our bus routes, we would get anyone who is zoned to Buoie wants to participate in dual language would be moved to the Desala. >> So I guess my following question is hasn't our dual language campus changed several times over the last like 5 years? Like this is I think the third change of where dual language is being provided. Correct. >> So we currently have three dual language campuses. Uh Buouie was the fourth and they're phasing out currently. So our dual language campuses would remain the same. So this but for these buoy kids this would be their second move going from Mendes to now
124desala correct for dual language. So they were originally buoy dual language and now you said that they're going to Mendes >> and so now this would be their third campus of going to Desabala. Is that correct? Um, so we only had one major move in since 2017 when the program started and that was Buoy. And so it's taken such a long time because we wanted to phase it in in honor of the students who were already attending Buoie because we had said we're going to open a program and Buoie is going to be part of that. Um but then after several years of the dual language program, we realize we have the program too spread thin and we can harness more resource if we have students at fewer campuses. Uh so Buoie is is decided
125upon. Mendes has chosen to accept Buoie students because Mendes was built as a middle school campus and could take on more students and we foresaw that they were going to be hundreds of students eventually moving into Mendesone over the course of years. So this would actually just be a second adjustment to numbers. Buoie had already this year is the the final year. Fifth graders are still at Buoie and then next year there wouldn't be any dual language students at Buoie. So they were all fed into Mendes because of Mendes size. Um, so now moving forward is uh having some of those students now start populating in Desavala because of some of some of the moves to kind of equal them out. But it still benefits dual language program because we're trying to resource our three
126campuses that are left at least at the elementary level, right? We have those three campuses and then we have prek bonum resource them well with our teachers. And so the goal is to increase and even now the number of of students that we have dual language at each of those three campuses if that makes sense. >> So the current dual language cohort that originally started at Buouie >> Mhm. >> that was then at Mendes that is now going to be moved these hundred students to desal. So those students have gone to three separate campuses, correct? Or no? >> No, they haven't gone to three se separate campuses. Now I'm not sure who these kids I would have to look at the list specifically see who these kids are and what grade level they are. >>
127Is that 100 just in the dual language program at Mendes currently be going to days? So I guess I'm trying to understand additional change would move dual language students from Mendes to Desavala about 100 students. So those are 100 students currently at Menddees who their new dual language campus would be deavala. Correct. >> Correct. >> But none of those started at Buouie. >> Correct. >> Okay. Those are just originally Menddees dual language students. Okay. >> Yes. They started there since kinder. So these are students that had been redirected from Buoie. They didn't they never started Buoie. They started Mendes. >> Okay. So a followup to that is for these this dual language cohort does transportation service it's still provided to them correct as >> even though this is kind of like a by choice program
128>> it it's so it's never provided to our applicant families uh regardless of whether where the campus is unless the program exists in your attendance zone you would have to provide your own uh transportation because as it seems as an enrichment program for say your English speaking >> so if I was All of our EBS are provided transportation. >> All of your what? >> Emerging bilingual students, our Spanish speaking families, all of them are provided transportation regardless of what campus they go to because unless So this is where it gets tricky. If a Mendes family wanted to, a Mendes emerging bilingual family wanted the dual language program at Desa Valley instead, they had to would have to provide their own transportation. But if they are at attending Ernandez because they're in the Travis zone, Travis
129does not have dual language. We provide them transportation too, so they can fully participate in their dual language program. >> I have more questions, but I'll let my colleagues go. >> Miss Leeski. >> Okay. So, my question is going to be pretty simple, I think. Looking at all of this growth, our campuses are not going to be able to keep up with the new construction on the new Mendes, which is also going to be pretty well populated. What is our capacity? Do you know what? >> Yeah. So, right right there on the very bottom is the campus capacity. >> So, Mendes is at 792. >> So, and that's with the new campus. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Just wanted to be sure. Thank you, >> Mr. M. Mclofflin. >> So, uh Mr. Fernandez, it appears
130from the current to the proposed that this is solving a problem that's not yet upon us as far as capacity. Um Rodriguez can still manage what you're bringing what you're projecting to be there in 2026. Um are there transfer in students among that number at Rodriguez and if so how many? >> I knew she had 61. >> 61. >> And so as an alternative to a change in zoning this year, we could just decline those, right? And then no campus would be near capacity as an option. I'm not saying your favorite option, but that would technically still achieve the same thing, right? >> Uh Travis is a concern for us. getting small >> the low enrollment. >> Why is the size being small a problem? >> Consistency uh across the district >> in size >>
131just the services. I mean, you need to be about 500 to fully staff. But when you start talking about 300, that means that y'all are going to have to step up as a board and fund positions that normally a campus could self-fund, you know, through state comped, through federal. It seems like an opportunity where we could offer something at Travis that would attract students like something different that we don't do at the other five or six elementaryaries. Um, and then bring, you know, we can't do that when everything's full, but where you have a lot of capacity. Is there some different program we could offer? >> There is different programming. I mean, there's also exploring partnerships with outside entities that can do things we can't. Charters, you know, 1882 partnerships, they can recruit kids from
132out of district to bring students in. You know, they have tried to meet. We really haven't explored that option yet. But um from a programming standpoint, like if you want to do Steam or something like that, you could uh do something like that and then they could recruit. Now's the time to do it because I've opened a new school in 3 months, so it can be done. >> Just providing them the resources and shifting some resources around. >> That's >> Mr. Ardondo. >> Uh thank you, President Holly. I guess similarly I remain unconvinced that we are preparing for like an over capacity issue in in the future. Like I hear you. I see a lot of the development. Unfortunately, like I have yet in the 10 years that I've been here to seen that development
133materialize into new students, right? Like we've seen LAMA built out significantly. We've seen trace, we've seen modest, I think even modest is being generous growth across the district, right? Like we are smaller than we were 5 years ago. So again, I can understand why with Travis's low enrollment, we want to move kids there so that the campus funds itself when it comes to ADA and positions, but I guess I don't I don't even want to say the thing out loud, but like we have overbuilt, right? Like we've overbuilt and we have like significant capacity at at Nandez. We have significant capacity at Buoie and Crockett. So, I see us like moving around kids not to address a future capacity issue, but to address like an underenrollment issue at one of our schools, right? So, I
134guess I'm I'm indifferent to this proposal right now. I'm ing on the side of I don't want to move kids around just because Travis's enrollment is low and moving 100 kids from Menes to Desabala still remains to be seen as like an an advantageous thing or like serving families, right? Especially with like the investment at Menddees, what that campus is going to be and what I would see as when we talk about like things that could like drive enrollment, having dual language at Mendes at a brand new campus, I would hope that we would use that as like a selling point to get people to transfer in there so that we wouldn't have to transport them because those families were choosing to be there by choice, right? So, I mean, I would hope that we
135can still continue this conversation and and dialogue. I just I would assume that Rodriguez and Mendes would be ones that we could easily recruit students to go to, right? Because they are the the newest campuses and if they did have dual language or other programs, there'd be selling points there for families, right? So, >> absolutely. Anyway, >> I think I agree with my colleagues and um I am wondering if Travis now that it's coming successfully out of its growth plan and and uh reaching new levels of achievement if there might not be an opportunity to partnership with Texas State, right? We've talked in the past about wanting to have more partnerships with Texas State. We've done the residency program. Um, but maybe there's now interest from Texas State to do something even broader and that
136campus is perfectly located for such a program. I know that we're having conversations with the core 4 about um >> childare >> child care issues which elementary schools and childare but maybe it is an opportunity to attract um Texas state faculty to bring their children if there's some comprehensive innovative something I go back to a national schoolboard meeting that I went to years ago and saw a pro a presentation from the teacher of the year who had worked in Chattanooga the schools and she had gone into a school that was um uh that students were were not excited to or parents were not excited to enroll their students in the school and she turned it into a museum lab school. Um and it became so soughta that they were then having challenges of a different
137sort, right? But then they expanded the program. It had gone from being a K5 to now being prek to 8th. and they worked with every museum in the city and they built their curriculum around all of the different museums and um turned it into like a hands-on learning lab. So, which I love that idea personally, but but I think that with Texas State and the Meadows Center and there's so many programs there and the College of Education and the work that we're already doing with them um through the residency program and other things. I just wonder if it might be a good time to explore that opportunity with them and see since we have that capacity and that facility there. >> And I just want to clarify, it's not just Travis low enrollment, right? Uh
138Rodriguez, they grew by 100 students just this school year alone. Another concern from our demographer was Crockett. Uh Crockett is a landlock campus where there's not going to be any growth in the next three to five years. And so part of this plan was to make sure we have students at that school. Uh cuz as you see they're they're projected to go down in enrollment over the next 3 years. And so if we can expand their zone to get more students in inside that campus building. So I just wanted to clarify it's not just one campus we're looking at. It's a domino effect. Um so again just wanted to clarify that point. And I guess my per um I guess my preference would be to go ahead with the survey and to talk to parents
139and talk to community members and also explore other avenues. But Miss Kane, >> I did have one more question. You said the middle school zones won't change. So obviously those in fifth grade right now will be going into the sixth grade campus they're expecting. Um but right now, >> if I'm not mistaken, our elementary the full elementary feeds into the same middle school. Correct. So, >> so >> there's minor changes. Our middle school boundaries are not changing, but for example, in the Mendes and Rodriguez. So, Mendes is getting some students from Rodriguez. So those students will their middle school would change because Mendes feeds into Goodn Night, Rodriguez feeds into Miller with the move of going back to >> go back to the old way when I got here. Travis was splitting between Mill. >>
140That was my big question. That big Travis zone. So some of them will go to Goodn Night now and others will go to middle or to Miller whereas right now they all go to Miller. >> Correct. >> Okay. Yeah, when I got here, Travis was capped, Crockett was capped, Hernandez was capped, and we had a robust discussion about school choice transfers and who would be displaced. Does anybody remember this conversation? I think >> Yeah. So, now we I think what got us off guard with all this is the number of homeschool that we've lost. And then um idea Kyle actually has about 89 of our kids from that northern triad. They've they've really tried, but we can research. I actually wrote down Meadow Center. So, like uh we can talk to Texas State. They like
141to move quickly. Um some of their people and then we can reach out to some other people potentially. Let's see. >> Yeah. But just to be clear, so Travis would split, good night and Miller. Um and then the students moving from Rodriguez to Mendes, that would be affected with the middle school change. >> Okay. Um, and then my last thing is not a question, but kind of along the lines of President Hollyy. Uh, when we're talking to the community, I noticed all of the dates are on Tuesdays, >> and if someone has something on a Tuesday, it's likely that they have something the next Tuesday as well. So, I would just suggest pulling one of those dates and making it another day of the week. >> We can do that. >> Other questions from Mr.
142>> I just wanted to echo President Hollyy's comment. I mean, I'm very much interested in not moving students to address an underenrollment at Travis, but creating a draw to that elementary school. I understand again that there's other domino effects taking place, but I just I have a lot of feelings that are being contained right now that a hundred current Mendes kids are going to be moved from Desavala on like the eve of a new campus opening. So, I'm just keeping those feelings very, very tight right now. Mr. Mclofflin, >> I'm going to jump on that same idea. Not the 100 kids. Miguel's got that covered, but the um you know, I think it seems like a competent way to level out students. Like, no issue with that. It's just to me the low enrollment at
143one or two campuses seems like an opportunity for us to do something innovative that might attract students to vote with their feet, families to vote with their feet. I would at least before we commit to this, which is always upsetting to at least a few dozen families, um um that we maybe look at whether there's any opportunity to do something in that regard. Thank you. >> Great. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Fernandez. >> Next item. Our next item is approval of consent agenda items, the approval of minutes for the regular scheduled board meeting on November 17th, 2025 and a special board meeting on December 1st, 2025. Is there a motion? >> So move to go ahead. I'll move second. >> Motion made motion made by Mr. Ardondo, seconded by Miss Ku. Any questions? All
144in favor, please raise your hand. That motion carries 70. Items for action. Number one, discussion of possible action to accept and/or reject the SLAC recommendations for library book procurement. >> Good evening, board of trustees. Dr. Cardona, your next two items of action are related to library books. First, you'll be deciding whether or not to um accept the recommendation from the school library advisory committee that you approve the procurement of 729 new library books across all campuses. These books were chosen by our school librarians in accordance with the American Association of School Librarian Standards and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission's collection development standards. Uh, per Senate Bill 13, all titles proposed for procurement must be posted for 30 days uh, prior to your vote. These titles were posted as early as October 28th, and
145we have received no public comment. >> Questions, Mr. Mclofflin. >> Question and a complaint. I I really hate this process. I know the state did this to us, but I can't possibly read 729 books, and I'm supposed to somehow say that, yeah, let's bring them in. So, I have questions about the process. They they recommended we approve 729. Out of how many? >> That was all of them. That was the entire um >> that doesn't feel robust. This is like the blind security guard meme. I mean, how were 729 something we want? >> Those are the books that came from the campus level up. These are the books that our people want to bring. >> Traditionally, librarians just kind of ordered throughout the year, but now you have to approve their orders. So, we said,
146"Librarians, give us all the books you want to order in the fall." And it came to a total of 729 across all of our campuses. And so, now it went through Slack who said, "We recommend that you approve these for purchase." >> But they just rubber stamped it. Not a single book caught anyone's attention. >> Um, not in the discussion in the meeting >> or the vote, right? >> Or the vote. There was not a lot of discussion on the procurement items. >> Mr. Mclofflin, I mean, sorry, Mr. start. >> So I guess understanding that this came from like the campus level librarians, does that I guess does like a list exist out the gate or is it like I want these 15 books, 15 turns to 709 and then it like travels up. Does
147that make sense? >> Like is it like a zero book list or does it start like boilerplate? This is what an elementary school would order in 2025 and here's like 150 books I guess where how did we get to the 709 >> right that is um if you let me go back to the procurement so there is a whole process where they um librarians have sort of the the standards that they can look at to see if um a book meets the needs of a campus. There's several criteria and they have to meet two of the five. Um I can share this with you later. It's um on page two of our um collection development policy that you approved last month. And so librarians have they have guidance from our um Texas there's two organizations
148from our American Associate Li Association of School Librarians and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. So there's some guidelines there and then there's these five um criteria if they want to get a book and they have the book has to meet at least two um again I can I can reshare that list with you. So they each librarian librarian goes through this process um to propose books. They did come together as a group and talk about books that they wanted to um procure. some books, for example, um one elementary may have already had the book and you know, a school's like, "Yeah, we don't have that on our shelves. We want it." Uh so that's kind of how the list came together. >> And so I guess that was my question is like if
149a librarian wanted an individual book, it could be added to this list and then it went through this process to get to where we are today. It's not just like like back in the day you could like buy a package of like school supplies, right? that was already like pre-baked before >> we do have publishers who contact and say here you know we have these books and you can have a bundle or there's individuals um and like I said in the past they would just on their own kind of um I mean not completely on their own they had their standards but they would just order um directly from through their campus and so now it's since you have to approve every book be purchased we said we're going to do this twice a year
150once in the fall and once in the spring combined your list and then and that's what went to the slack. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mr. McClen, you're looking very skeptical, but I have to say that I think that as somebody who is a parent and a lover and a reader of many books that um as a schoolboard member, it is not my job to write curriculum and it is not my job to teach the curriculum and to students who are not my own children. Um, and I don't think that it's my job to read 729 books to determine whether or not they belong in the libraries. I think my job is to appoint the person to the committee that the state requires and to trust in the librarians as the professionals that they are
151and the administrators who are well aware of the scrutiny and all of the questions that have come to us and then to uh take their recommendation. >> Well, but yet I am asked to vote on these and I didn't ask for it. it's part of the legislation. And so then this has generated a lot of discussion and conversation and I've consistently told anyone that asks me that we're creating a robust process where we'll review these things and then it'll come to me as a recommendation and I'm I my intent was just to rely on that recommendation, but that's because I thought it was a robust process and instead it's just like a rubber stamp. It's 729 out of 729. So how's that robust? >> So how would you suggest we make it more robust because
152that is something that this body can discuss and make calls. It's our first time through so I mean we would have to >> and so you know so the part of the process is posting and allowing for public comment you know we didn't get any you can debate why that is if people you know but that is part of the required process is to seek that public comment and then for the committee they received a list of the books in advance and links to different resources that they could research um but you know outside of policing seeing how they spent their time if they read every single book. Yeah, we didn't do that. But we did try to provide them background information and time to do their research. >> I mean, they could cuz the
153day I tried to read, you know, see, oh, let me see what I can find. And cuz I, you know, I saw the list and um I mean, I could find excerpts, I could find criticism, I could find a Reddit, but I couldn't find any I couldn't just find the 100page book to work through. So I I mean I'm I'm don't think the committee had any different access than me, right? So >> I don't know. I just I don't know who's seems like we would have them broken up or something and then there would be some sort of review. >> Mr. Ardano. >> Uh thank you, President Hoy. So explain to me we approve this tonight. If it gets approved tonight, what does the process look like after this as far as these books becoming
154available for student at Hernandez or Mandis to check them out like tomorrow or >> they'll do their purchase order. It'll go through finance approvals, order process, delivery. >> So, it' be like early spring, maybe mid-spring that these things would be available and on shelves. >> I think early spring. >> Okay. And then you said leading up to this there was an opportunity for like folks from Lano to to weigh in on on the books in our library tonight. >> Our community can uh provide feedback. There's a 30 it has to be posted at least 30 days for for public comment. We didn't receive any. >> Thank you. >> I mean I have to say that I think that we are adhering to not only the letter of the law but the spirit of the law
155the best that we can in order to I mean we have to have books in the library. We cannot we can't let this process shut down our libraries and not allow students to have any access to books or to new books or have teachers have access to new books. And one would certainly hope that that isn't the intent behind the law. So if that's not the intent then if we are also required to have parents be the people who comprise the Celsius like it seemed very specific about who could and couldn't be on that committee and so those people are volunteers. We can't reasonably ask them to come in once a week and sit in a library and review like read books from end to end in order to make sure that we are continuing
156to have a supply of books. So I feel like certainly it could be better but I think that this is realistic for what we can do. >> Miss Miss Hollyy I I tend to agree with you. I think that at one point you have to trust the professional librarian who has been ordering books and putting books on the shelves for years and now we're being so cautious because of this SB13 and I think it makes everybody stop and and think did they read that whole book? Do they know what's in there? But librarians have all kinds of ways of getting information on on the books and whether they're questionable, I doubt that they'd be recommending them considering what's going on with SB13. So I I'm going to support whatever our librarians are going to recommend.
157>> I don't I think the parade of horribles I mean I don't want any of those things. I don't want no books in the library, an empty library. Uh, I don't want my appointed person on the Slack to read 729 books for however long that would take three months. I just at the same time the 729 to 720 I mean there's got to be one that's just garbage in there, you know? Just and and I don't believe I mean yeah of course I trust librarians but there's also captured organizations like special interest groups just like come here to talk to us. There's those on other sides that, you know, recommend a package of books. And I don't I can't tell you that anybody's read all 729 of these. I just don't understand in the system
158wherever it might lay where the check is to make sure I don't, you know, not necessarily worried about the excerpts being read to us, but that it's even worth reading, you know, worth reading for that grade. A lot of the things I pick up that my kids read, especially excerpts on test or something are just awful. Like terrible pros, hardly readable, probably creating poor writers from reading such bad writing. So, I mean, I just I don't know. This is our first time through just expressing my displeasure in this process. >> I mean, I guess I would guess that the librarians individual lists before were larger and that this is a narrowed down list from their original list. I will say our ILS's are um pretty hesitant now. Um all the books that they uh put
159on the list, they really in light of SB13 and the pressure, I think they were more guarded than ever. >> Yeah. I mean, they were threatened this evening with being arrested. So I Mr. Ardanda. >> Uh thank you, President Holly. Is there any ILS or librarian in here who can like explain the process? Nicole, >> come on up. come to the splash zone with us. >> Dana Limeer, >> you want to know how they >> Yeah. How like the 729. >> I I will say what this process has done is stop and like it it's more prevalent to high school where vendors were just sending books. And so I think this process has has in a sense stopped publishers from dumping stuff that we don't know anything. So there is some standards of and Dana
160will talk you through with Nicole because they've lived it. >> Yes. A couple of the things are that are on the list are books that are sequels that are already kids really like these books. So a bunch of books have already have come out by the same author. So a lot of those books are those. Um no book is on there that's already included in the collection somewhere. So if Hernandez has this title, um they don't it doesn't have to go through the process because it can be at any elementary school. So those are all books that are exclusively new additions to the collection. Most of the books on there are elementary level books. Um so they don't they most likely will not contain that um controversial content. um any of the I know our
161both middle schools and our high school they use a subscription service um from the junior library guild. So they get their titles at certain times during the year then they added those onto the um onto the list. Also some of these are like from the summer that librarians never got to order. Then all of a sudden we're September 1st hits and we haven't gotten the books yet. So, that's part of the reason why this particular first list is so very long. Um, you have anything you want to add? >> I think the only thing I would add is it's this is my first year as an ILS. I picked a heck of a year to start. Um, yeah, I think being new, I tried to pick titles that were already in other campuses to add
162to our library. Um, but uniquely at Mendes, we do have a huge dual language population. There's a lot of books available to our monilingual English speakers that are not available to our Spanish speakers and I'm trying to like alleviate that gap and add as many Spanish titles as I can and so those do have to go on the list if they yeah don't exist. >> So I do one more. >> So just to understand this process better. So even if the book exists in language in English it still needs to be approved by us to be in Spanish. Okay. What a mess. Okay. Thank you. >> I'd like to make a motion that we approve the list as presented. >> That motion. >> Motion made by Miss Kane, seconded by Miss Ku. Any other questions?
163All in favor, please raise your hand. >> Give me a minute to count. >> I can't see your hand. Mofflin. Is it raised? >> You're abstaining. Sorry. Okay. Six. All opposed and one absention. I'm not meaning to call you out, but we do now have to record votes. Just as a reminder. Okay. >> Um the next item is discussion and possible action to accept or reject the Slack recommendations for library book challenges. All right. So, this item pertains to 32 books. We received formal challenges on. All but two were challenged on October 17th, the others on November 6th. Owl challenges originated from one community member. These titles were immediately pulled from shelves per SB13 and on November 18th, they were taken to the Slack of which you each appointed a member. You have the Slack
164recommendations on page 93 of your board book. If you choose to retain any challenged books, they will be returned to library shelves and they may not be challenged again for 2 years. If you choose to remove any books, they'll be disposed of following district policy. >> Is there a motion? Mr. >> Uh, Miss Hollyy, I move that the board accept the recommendations of the slack committee as presented in our board book on page 93. >> Motion made by Mr. Ardanda, second by Miss Kane. Is there any are there any questions? I >> have a question, >> Mr. McGloin. Did the committee vote one by one on the like book by book or did they like take them like a basket like they come to us? >> They were the floor was opened for a motion
165and they were told motions might sound like book by book bundles or whole. The first motion was to approve all then uh there was a second there was discussion and then when they put they went to vote on that motion >> and so okay so there was an individual bookby bybook consideration >> a motion was not made to do that >> okay >> any other questions all in favor of the motion please raise your Second miss. All opposed. That vote is 61. Mr. Mclofflin opposing. The next item is discussion of possible action to approve the participation in the 2026 intercity leadership conference. >> Mr. Herando. >> Uh, thank you, President Holly. So I'd asked that this be put on the agenda and brevity is not a virtue I was blessed with but I'll try and
166be brief. So every year the Chamber of Commerce invites Texas State University Lockheart San Marcus CISD and various elected and appointed officials to attend this inner city trip where we go see what other regions are doing as far as uh crossjurisdictional partnerships uh public private partnerships different things when it comes to like impacting higher ed or public schools. So, I believe this is like the sixth year the Chamber of Commerce has participated. Um, I've attended in the past. I know other trustees have attended in the past. I think Trusty Shanks attended last year, his last year on the board. Um, typically this was like a non-issue, but during the budget crunch, I had asked that Dr. Cardona and the board bring this to get permission to attend this year. So, registration, travel, accommodations per attendee
167prior to December 31st is $2,200. Um, if the board would like me to present some followup as I return of like what was discussed or what I learned, um, I think the biggest thing is we have seen in the last several years our chamber be so much more heavily involved in our public schools and I think that is a direct result from these trips, from these partnerships, from these conversations where whether it's Mr. or ODM or others saying, "Hey, we need teacher externships through the chamber or we need more participants or sponsors for events in the school district." I think the chamber has been extremely willing and participatory in those asks and I would argue that it's because of these types of opportunities to travel together and kind of see what other >> I thought
168200 was just the registration >> and air and travel. So, it's the entire thing. Who are the two board members interested in going? >> It's just me. I don't know if there was another >> the budget amendment says to >> We we I just listed two in case. >> Were administration going to attend this or was it just going to be board? >> Uh Mr. ODM and myself were willing to attend. >> So how many how many would be traveling in the group? >> I don't know how many >> from that we would be paying for since we're talking about the budget >> per year. So yeah, just to clarify, it's my understanding that the administration would use allocated funds already in their respective budgets for professional development and travel, but since this is an
169addition to kind of like SLI or TASBY or any board approved travel that's baked into the budget, this would be a brand new budget amendment. And just to clarify, I think because I think Trusty Shanks attended one year. I can't think of another trustee who attended, but I know they have in the past. Um I think uh Trusty Mahia attended when she was on the board. So that's why there was two, but if there's no interest from anyone else, then if approved, it would be the 2200 for me. So, I'm sorry. I'm a little angry, so forgive me in advance, but I just don't know that are teachers still not allowed to travel anywhere outside of the state for any type of >> We send teachers out of the state if kids qualify for national
170competition. We have teachers going instate to conferences if campuses have >> instate. >> Well, okay. So, we have we've we've lifted that. We have we haven't really lifted it, but if the campus has budgeted funds, they are allowed to go if they allocate their funds. >> Okay. I'm just I guess I understand all of the building relationships, but I feel like if relationships really need to be built, they can be built here. Um I don't know that I need to go to Florida to build connections with people in San Marcus. So, I'm not really too interested in this. Um, but I mean I'm open to hearing everybody else's opinion. >> I think that this is an a worthwhile endeavor. I guess I didn't realize that we were doing travel for administrators and professional development. At
171this point, I thought we were still pretty much a hire a traveling freeze except for when it was student competitions and such. I didn't think that that administrators and and campus leaders were going out on airplanes and such. But but so that's my that that's where I was at thinking that we were still in that budget cycle. But but my question would be I do think that there's merit to Mr. Ardondo's comments about the involvement with the chamber and that they have become a really good partner to us. And so my question is the chamber has a new foundation. Understanding that we have serious budget limits as a public school system in this particular point. Might the chamber not be willing to help us cover the cost of those three travel stipens with their new
172foundational activities? That would be my first question. So, I know I guess historically, and I can't speak for the foundation, but I'll do my best, is that I know that the money that they've raised thus far has gone to student scholarships for St. Marcus High School students, right? So, I think they've been recognized at numerous scholarship ceremonies that they've been giving money there. And then their only other fundraising effort was those additional funds for our neighbors fund for the Haste County Food Bank, which again was, I think, a direct response to accommodate ISD families who had been impacted by the pause and SNAP benefit. So I don't know what their capacity is to take on the travel cost of myself and and staff, even if it is just three of us. Um, but yeah, I
173mean, and push comes to shove, I'm happy to turn in like I'll miss y'all at TASBY SLI next summer, but I'm happy to like give that up in replace of these funds or whatever that looks like, right? Like I'll do the Juan Cruise training and at all on my own if if necessary. >> One more question. So, um, if teachers are not trans, if teachers are are not being allowed to fly out of state for training, if that is still the case, then we do not need to be flying board members out for training. That's the way I feel about it. Um, in addition, if the chamber is more involved, that's fantastic and I appreciate that. But I would hope that regardless of our participation in an outofstate function like this when we've had so
174many budgetary issues over the last year, that they will continue to be involved and maybe more so because of that. So, I don't know that that's going to damage any relationships there. Um, that's my personal opinion and that's kind of where I stand on things right now. >> Did you have a question? >> I'm thinking >> I had a tough budget year off again. We've had a tough budget year and in the deficit we just need to be careful whatever money we're spending of course always need to be fiscally responsible but we have like a hund00 million budget. I think a board member and an administrator tra or two board members and a couple of administrators traveling to something that they can get something out of is something we can certainly swing. That's like a
175rounding error on our budget. I I understand the concern about are we teaching teach are we treating teachers differently. So I don't know why we're prohibiting their travel. I mean if it's something that works for and enriches their background and continuing education then let's do it. I mean we can't just sharpen the pencil to the point where we don't do things that make us better. So, I'm generally supportive. If if two of my I'm not going to go, but if two of my colleagues want to go, um the expense of $5,000, we can certainly find somewhere else. And and if there is a if we need to take some board action to lift some sort of moratorum on teacher travel, then let's put that on the January agenda. So, I'll make the agenda that I'll
176make the motion that we go ahead and approve this for up to two board members um to to attend the uh the what's it called? The intercity >> chamber of commerce program conference second. And I'd also like to u bring this back up in January where we talk about what travel is and isn't happening with staff and administrators because that I think is something that we're not clear on. Um >> well there's certain things we have to do as administration to send our high school CTE teachers to training. I mean we have to do certain things. So Mr. uh ODM's travel is federal funds. They're not local dollars. So he he's allowed to be paid. the teachers that go that fly out of state um with the students to FFA re most recently we covered
177them but there are certain things we have to do with certain programs because their certification hours require that they go training during summer judging I think I learned as part of this you know if we don't go then our kids are last in line when they're judge at an FFA concert so we send those teachers around. We have looked at alternatives to, you know, the national bilingual conference which is in Albuquerque. We send our teachers to instate Texas and Miss Yoners knows we've sent we just have to get those teachers trained. We have to GT hours. They have to that's not that's a mandatory. So, we've tried to work that budget to where we can send groups of teachers to come back when necessary. >> I think that's great and I think that we've done
178that. I'm just saying I think we need to the board needs to get an update on it comprehensively because I don't think the board is in understands it. And I think that there's situations where teachers need to complete hours, but then there are other situations like everybody has a professional development opportunity, right? and everybody has a professional development need. And so to make sure that we're being as fair across the board as possible while maintaining our focus on our bottom line, I just think the board should have that conversation comprehensively in January, especially as we're starting to go into the budget season. >> Um, any other questions? >> So, we're just voting on two board members going, which would be under $5,000. >> Correct. >> Which we did not have budgeted. So, we would have
179to do a budget transfer. >> It's later in the agenda. It's that that budget amendment is uh 10B4. >> Also, I think that I I don't know of anybody in besides Mr. Arnando who is interested in going. >> So, I think that it would just be for one >> for one. I mean, >> but the motion is for up to two, but >> any other questions? So, we do need to do we need to change the item the emotion if you were just going to pay for one. Do you need to change the motion? >> Sure. I'm happy to to alter my motion to uh to approve one member of the board attending the intercity leadership conference. I'll leave my second a second, however I'm supposed to do that. >> I would also like to
180say that I would if the Chamber of Commerce is listening tonight and wanted to step up and fund our board member, that would be terrific. Um, >> but >> yeah, that'd be nice. >> Um, >> any other questions? >> No. >> Can we ask first the chamber? >> No, they have a deadline in order to get the early bird registration. So, I'm sure that if the chamber feels like they can do it, they will >> by doing. All right. >> Any other questions? >> Ready for the vote. All in favor, please raise your hand. Opposed. That motion carries 52. Miss Vapondo and Miss Lopez dissenting. Uh the next item is the finance to consider rescending the previously approved action to delegate contractual authority to the superintendent for purchase of attendance credit. We had to do
181this last year also because the state requires us to use very specific verbiage and we did not do it. So we are going to resend the the previous authorization and then we will uh hopefully move to >> return it with the appropriate language. >> I'll move to resend because that language isn't tough. I'll move to resend the previously approved action to delegate contractual authority to the superintendent for purchase of attendance credit. >> May wish made by Mr. Mcloin and seconded by Miss Kaine. Any questions? All in favor, please raise your hand. That motion carries 70. The second motion we to consider and or act to delegate contractual authority to the superintendent for the purchase of attendance credit. Is there a motion? Miss Lopez to read this. >> She's Lopez. For the 2025 2026 school year,
182we delegated contractual authority to obligate the school district under Texas Education Code TEC 11.1511C and 4 to the superintendent solely for the purpose of obligating the district under TEC 48.257 and TEC chapter 49 subchapters A and D and the rules adopted by the commissioner of education is authorized under TEC 40 49.006. This included approval of the agreement for the purchase of attendance credit. >> Motion made by Miss Lopez. I will second it. Any questions? All in favor, please raise your hand. That motion carries. 70. The next item is to consider approval of the 2025 comprehensive financial report. We do have our auditor here today. Uh we had the report uh presented last month and um he is back today because they were able to certify. >> Good evening Dr. Cardona and board of trustees. Uh
183so we did get the OM uh did give us the compliance supplement so we can issue a single audit which you do have within your financial statements. Uh that was the major item that was holding us up. There was a minor change within your financial statements for your fund balance. It did actually increase about 90,000 in the general fund and about 45,000 in the debt service fund. This was due to uh some more information we got from the tax office and and had to do with your taxes, sorry, had to do with your taxes receivable. Um so this was an increase to your fund balance from the the previously reported uh financial statements. So I'm happy to answer any questions. You guys have gotten the presentation before, so I kind of keep this one a
184lot more brief. >> I think this is a I don't know if I'd say this is a question. This is a complaint. Not really at you, but collectively the way this came to us this year, I hope we can do better next year. I got y'all got us a draft version a month ago and then you came and presented and then in our board book there was a different draft version of a month later date. And then today when I got here there was a final which I appreciate one you can sign but I don't want to read three of them. I mean I really just want the final or if you are going to send me multiple drafts that change over time. If if you could track a change that'd be useful cuz I'm
185I got one out on my desk and one on the computer. I'm trying to see what I'm missing and you know I'm paranoid so I think you're slipping something. You know I don't know. So, I got to look at everything and it was just the process was was less than >> I would like. So, if it could just come to me in a final, but I could get it a week ahead and read it, then I think I'd be a better a better trustee. >> Yes, sir. I think it was mainly because of the OMB compliance supplement not being out is, but we did want to present that to you guys back in November. Uh but because we still had that window open of not finalizing the report got a little bit more information from
186the tax office that required us to actually make that change. >> I understand why it happened, but I think I at least me I would have been fine if he just if if it just came this way. I didn't the early preview we weren't under the gun to approve by a date certain. Um so anyway, that's my complaint. Thank you. >> But you're a rattler, right? >> Yes, sir. >> So it's all for good. >> I'm just saying it out loud. Any other questions? >> N I already asked my question before. I I sat with him and asked him some questions. >> Great. Thank you very much. Is there a motion to approve? >> Yes. >> Motion made by Miss Cantu. >> Seconded by Mr. Any other questions? All in favor, please raise your hand.
187That motion carries 70. >> All right. Thank you guys very much. >> Thank you. Happy holidays. Thank you. >> Last item is to consider approval of the 2025 2026 budget amendments. Miss Garcia, >> I'll move to approve the amendment but at $2,500 since we only approved one travel. >> Motion made by Mr. Mclofflin, seconded by Miss Kaine. Any questions? All in favor, please raise your hand. Opposed? That motion carries. 70 >> move tojourn. >> Motion made by Mr. Mclofflin, seconded by Miss Vapondo. All in favor, please raise your hand. Thank you very much everybody. Have a great holidays. Be safe. Thanks for all