SFISD Board Meeting 07/28/25

001Okay, it is uh 5:00 on Monday July the 28th to call this meeting on Santa Fe Independent School District order record show board members present. Meeting has been duly called. Notice been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meeting Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. And our first order bid board members will now adjourn to executive session as authorized by the Texas Open Meeting Act, Texas Government Code section 551.001 concerning any and all purpose permitted by the act should any final action, final decision, and final vote be required that final action, final decision, and final vote shall take place in open session. And we are in executive session at 5:01 Welcome everyone to this meeting of Santa Fe ISD board of trustees. It's important meeting be conducted and organized and efficient manner. That would like

002to outline some ground rules for all us to follow. Recognize this is a board meeting by law. Most of discussion all the voting must be done in open session. Public participation by nec necessity must be limited to that part of the agenda that's reserved for public input. occasion may seek comment or clar clarification from an administrator in attendance or from someone in the audience and it's the board's prerogative to seek that information as it chooses. However, unsolicited participation from the audience inappropriate. Second, at times it may seem like we're voting on issues of importance with little or even no discussion. Just be advised the board members get a packet of background information about the subject on tonight's agenda several days in advance of actually coming here to the meeting. After the receiving the packets, all

003board members have and often exercise the opportunity to contact various school administrators to ask specific questions in an effort to better understand the issues with that they're expected to vote. Uh thank you for being interested in your school district. Encourage your active participation educational process. Appreciate your cooperation helping us conduct the business of Santa Fe ISD and organized and civilized manner and hope you enjoy the evening. And with that, uh Mr. Mr. Davenport, would you lead us in our invocation and pledges, please? Sure. Please bow your heads. Heavenly Father, we come to you tonight just to say thank you for everything you've blessed this district with. As we move forward toward the start of the school year, we ask that you give all the students and their parents and all the staff and faculty and

004all the different folks that helped this district thrive be at their best and also just put their best foot forward so that we can start the school year and also finish the school year strong. Heavenly Fathers, want to ask that you help provide some good weather for to help with Warp Path Avenue so that we can make sure that all transportation is safe. Also ask that you give the wisdom and and the uh strength to this board to make sure that we are doing the best that we can for this community and this district. Heavenly Father, we ask that you uh help us uh get home safely to our loved ones tonight. And it is your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

005republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Okay. Do we have any action from our close session? Mr. President, we do not have any action. Okay. Next, it's time for our public comment. Board policy provides time at regular board meeting for public to appear before the board discuss matters concerning their interest. Uh we have no one signed up for tonight, so I will pass this on to Julie. Okay, Dr. Bot, you have some information items for us. Yes, sir. Just a few. We're going to begin with uh Chris Wheeler, and he's going to give us a a facilities and maintenance update. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Uh, one thing that

006I wanted to bring to your attention today, well, first and foremost, War Path Avenue. Uh, if, uh, you've seen Warp Path, they poured about 1,000 ft of concrete this morning. Uh they're going to pour they want to pour the entire remainder of the concrete tomorrow morning. So they'll start that about 2 3 in the morning to get that finished up. Their goal is to be finished by the 8th. That is striped that is ready to go. Uh we'll get test this week on the brakes. If it comes back at we are at the correct PSI, we are uh hoping that they will I've asked for them to give us the road uh for the 6th for the open house for the junior high and Kubichek just for that evening and then we'll shut the road

007back off so they could finish the striping and get it all opened up. If everything comes back right, the pores go well and the tests come back, the 8th is their day and then they would like to do a ribbon cutting ceremony on the 11th. Uh more to I'll have more information as that comes. Um, can I ask a question? Absolutely. Yes, sir. Just for clarification, it's going to be finished on the ETH. Does that mean that people will be driving on drivable? Yes, sir. As long as the test as long as the brake test comes back from the geotechnical and we have the correct PSI, we should be good to go. Okay. Uh the the test on the west side of the road, uh the 7in concrete was at 4500 PSI, 6 days post

008pour. Okay. So, they had they've already had 18 wheelers on it. They had all the concrete trucks on it this morning. They didn't use any pump uh concrete uh pump trucks. Everything was a tailgate dump for their concrete this morning. So, as the concrete trucks rolled down, they use the road that's already paved. Okay. So, they're just they're just keeping it closed just for safety and, you know, to kind of prevent people from driving in wet concrete or people putting their thumb in it. Almost got we had to smooth it back out. Um uh another another item that I would like to bring to the attention is something that we've talked about several times. Um the map that you're about to see. Hopefully it doesn't give anybody a seizure. Um what this is the development.

009This is the West League City uh development. This is the master plan over the next 10 years. I know there's a lot of colors on here. We're what I want you to focus on is a lot of the yellow. Everything you see yellow is single family housing. Basically everything from this green area right here and then this where where this is not colored to about these lakes and then up here. This is all Santa Fe ISD besides this small portion south of uh 517 and this portion north of the Grand Parkway. this uncolored area right here which is um uh I can't remember the name of it right now it's slipping my mind um Westland Ranch that is that is Clear Creek ISD but everything else you see is the master plan and this all

010falls in Santa Fe ISD within the next 10 years projections put the homes at 3,228 uh total lots in Santa Fe ISD um with various neighborhoods that are going to be coming online at different times The Grand Parkway is one of the major feeds that are that is going to play a vital role in the construction and a lot of that will be uh all that construction will start in 2027. Um when you overlay and I kind of brought this up and everybody knows the what our bounds are, but just for clarification, the red line you see is League City Limits. Uh the blue line right here is our district north of 517. Here is 517 along this red road right here. And when you put them side by side, they're small. They are. We

011didn't have a migraine. Trying to get to work now. As you can see, this entire area based on our district map, there's a lot of homes and they're all Santa Fe ISD. So there are school sites that are set aside and in a lot of these developments they have, as you all know, offered us the the ability to carry uh build the detention in with the price of the land. But it is something that looking forward a lot of these homes are going to be moving north. Is this excuse me, is this Megatel right here? No. No, sir. Uh this area right here. Yeah. So on that map, everything colored is Santa Fe ISD and then the creek is landlocked in between there. a lot of it, not and and this map is not colored

012just based on Santa Fe ISD. This map is colored based on their their usage um of commercial detention, parks, uh civil drainage, everything like that. But a lot of this everything a lot of this is Santa Fe ISD. Okay. I apologize. Can you tell me where show me where cemetery is? Cemetery is right here. Right there. Okay. So, you're right. That's Ped. So that'd be Pedrical then, not to the left. I'm sorry. Cemetery. Cemetery is over here. Yes, sir. Lakes of barrier is right here. Cemetery is over here. Right above the yellow. Okay. So, you're saying that's not Megatel. That That's Wesland Ranch. Wesland Ranch is in the gray. Wesland Ranch is in the non-colored area. These two lakes, these two detention ponds right here, these the the the seven and the backward seven, that

013is Santa Fe ISD. Megatail is down at the bottom. Megatel is going to be south also over there up in Western Lake over there. Also, if you keep going to right there gray area at that West Lake as well. Yes, sir. Okay. And I will provide everybody these digitally so you you you can not stare at it at a screen. Uh the paper that I have that that was given to me by the city of Lee City Economic Development. Um, I asked for it digitally. Uh, there were some things they needed to change and update on it. So, as soon as they send that to me, I will forward it out for everybody's information as well. And I will post this on my, uh, department page on our district website. If you said this, I

014apologize. Grand Parkway starting to 2027. Yes, sir. Where's it start at? Where are they starting? Which direction are they? 35. They're 35 moving east. 35 to 35 moving east is their plan projection right now. And that cuts right into 45 right there. Yes, it will take over it will take over the the original plan was for it to take over the 646 corridor all the way to 146. Correct. They they have changed that. So this section is only going to be 35 to 646 and then they're going to determine where it's going to go post 6 uh east of 646. Where is the mark? It will be east. It will be parallel to 517 about about a half a mile uh about a half a mile to 3/4 of a mile north of 517. It'll

015run from 35 all the way to 646. I see. Okay. Was there any talk about I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, I was just going to say at one time they were planning on putting it down Highway 6 down where the high school is and there was a community had a big uproar on that. So apparently it worked. Yes, sir. Was there any talk about expanding 517? Yes, sir. The 517 was 517 construction was supposed to start at the exact same time. So, they were going to do both these road construction projects in unison, which everybody had the same thing. It was like, why in the world would you take the two main east and west corridors and shut them down? Uh, they have pushed 517's construction back a year later, so it will still be

016in conjunction, but it's going to be in 2028. Should do it first, but it will be it. The plan right now is uh five lanes, two two directional each direction and an esplanade. Be a nightmare for you. What's the projection time on? Five years. Yeah. Five years for both. That's what they said about I45 when I was a kid, too. But so yes, 30 3032 and 3033 should be their projections. Um there there's also some data that I was going to pull, but I didn't want to flood the information. Uh League City has seen about 1,900 citizens. uh move into League City a year per year uh since 2020. So their population has risen almost 8,000 people since 2020 alone. Um and their projections into 2030 2035. This is 11,000 to 11,000 homes in this

017entire area when all of that is not going to be Santa Fe ISD. It's still going to be a very populated area and it doesn't account for some of these other areas. If you see this area over here has a lot of uh wetlands, parks, detention. These are all scheduled to change based on how everything develops. Lots to think about, sir. Yeah. On this road over here, I don't know where I got it from, but I thought they were supposed to do sidewalks and everything. No, sir. So the the road path uh there was by the time that we had got the uh dimen uh the engineered drawings the engineered specs the what started out was going to be the entire road every bit of pavement from uh left to right east to west turned

018to be 36 ft. So there is still a large amount of asphalt that has not been mil or or cut up if you've been out there to walk the road. And then there's a section, there's actually a section that we I addressed with the city where the original design said 36 foot, but there's a section of about 35 to 34 in of concrete or asphalt that's between the junior high parking lot and the new road. And if you which everybody has experience with it, when you have two sets of concrete and asphalt in the middle, it deteriorates. So the city has um said that they're going to try to help us next summer to mill that asphalt out and repport with concrete so it's a solid concrete transition. What about drainage? Is there anything there's

019no there's no updates to the drainage that's underneath warp path currently? No sir. Okay. The drainage the drainage is going to exist as it is and there's no issues with it from what from right what we've had where it connects over on Sixth Street. Do they did I say that correct? It's It's narrower at the beginning and then it opens up. Yes, sir. Why didn't they widen that out all the way? I think it was a It was drainage district. The drainage district call in a city. I don't think they had the funding for it. Doesn't look good. I agree. Are there new curbs being put in? No, sir. Flat pour. It's a complete flat pour meets to the uh asphalt that's been poured, you know, years years ago. Okay. It did take a lot

020of the It did take a lot of the um the curve the bell out of the center of the road. So, if you you know, if you if you were an admin, you know, you essentially had to walk up a hill to get over it, it did flatten that out a little bit. So, there's not as much of a curve and the drainage is still positive. Uh we still plan on at the end of everything uh working with WCID to use their um the truck they have that will uh back flush all of our drainage lines. And we're going to start from the south end and flush everything north. So any anything that hit our drains during the construction process, we plan on jetting the entire lines on the east and west side of the

021road. So that way we don't have to worry about anything during the year of just con construction debris or just anything that built up inside of there. Are we aware of any damage to the drainage? No, sir. Thank you. Anything else for Mr. Wheeler? Thank you, sir. Our next uh information item is our our quarterly report uh quarterly investment report of our CFO Alejandro Sanchez. Hello, good evening. Um just giving you a update on our financial investments. Um, yep. I brought it to you guys and um, our cash investments are looking kind of flat. Just the reality of the markets right now. We haven't seen any actual major increases on t uh or on interest rates or or any type of of uh, additional funding coming our way. So, um, if you look at the

022report itself, we saw a decrease in general of about million dollars in cash and that's normal during this time. As we know, we don't receive any cash influx from the state or from tax collections. So, it is technically the closing of the school year uh and our fiscal year at that point. Um so, we expect the cash collections and um the the funds to start upping um as soon as August um the end of August and beginning of September. Um just to keep you updated on on the economics. Um right now um we are seeing a very flat market kind of leading to a potentially a stackflation maybe a a potential um recession uh time period. We have seen construction um actually hoard um some of their supply and some of their uh inventory which

023means that uh the economy is slowing down significantly. Um so with that and the increase in tariffs we have slowly began to see the price of uh items continue to increase and the cost of uh or the value of the dollar actually decrease against that. So um I don't foresee us getting any increase in rates. Um if anything we'll probably see some decrease in rates towards the end of the year. Um aides from that just normal as business. Anybody have any questions on that? Any questions Mr. Sanchez on the Yeah. Does that give us a chance to refinance in in what sense? Uh our um like bond debt, is that what you're talking about? Yep. Um technically we can. However, there has been some new legislation that has actually kind of prohibited that uh in

024a certain way. um new Senate Bill 2 added language in there that uh technically what it does is it stops districts from refinancing their debt um because they will not be made whole. So basically they will lose dollar for dollar the amount that they go out and refund which is actually something that the board had decided on back in June I believe or May. Um the board had decided to defease and and uh which is you know the district term for u refinance of debt but um council has has met with us and and we are reviewing our options because uh what this would do because it was a $4 million defeasence it would decrease the amount of money that the state will make us whole during that time period. So, um, with that said,

025we're we're reviewing what our options are at this point in time to see what is going to be in the best interest of the district, which means that we're probably not going to be able to defeat as much uh because of that prohibition at the moment. So, to answer your question is yes, it would be a good time because their interest rates are going down, but it's not a good time because the state has put this bar against us where if we do, basically, they're going to charge us for it. Wow. Okay. Thank you. Yes sir. You you mentioned the changes to the economy. Um how does the interest earned yearto date compare to the trends that you've seen over previous years? So just because of the fact that during um COVID we we saw

026a very slow increase in rates. Our rates are higher and technically we are receiving more more interest on that um just in the past year and a half. Um but because of the level of expenditures that we have to offset with that just because of the increase in cost we're not having as much assets that generate that income. So it is kind of a yes we can generate more uh revenue off of the interest but we don't have enough to put into our asset accounts to hold enough to generate that larger return. All all in all we are looking better in the interest income that's coming in. Okay. Just one one thing we I saw some things today in the market. There are projecting potentially two cuts by the feds by the end of the

027year both possibly between like a quarter percent. Which is not not going to help us right if it happens. And it's you know going to slow down the economy a little bit long you know a little bit more. So, we will see that impact our home building and and some of that development that Chris was talking about here just because of that uh inventory hoarding from the different um builders at the moment. Um I think right now um I was reading somewhere that they have about 8 8.2 to 8.4 four months of inventory in their books which is quite substantial and um you know the last time that was seen led directly to a recession. So um just something to think about. Anything else? Thank you sir. Thank you. Our last information item is going

028to be Miss Harris. She's going to bring some of our uh accountability A throughF projections for the last three years since it's all kind of coming out at the same time. Thank you. Yes, sir. So, this has actually never happened before where the state's about to release uh scores for three years, but because two of those years were under litigation, um we're going to end up seeing them all at the same time, which got it is going to create a lot of confusion for our our families. um when the 2023 preliminary data came out, the first release data came out, everybody thought that they were the 2025 scores, that sort of thing. So, we had to spend a lot of time um going it going over it and trying to um remind people of what

029data was from what year. Um so, I'm really here just to remind you guys so that you're armed um with at least some knowledge. They will be available April 15th, August 15th. Sorry, been a it's been a long day already. So, um, yeah, April 15th there. Um, so what we're looking at is you'll see the final versions of the 2023. That was the first year of what we like to call kind of the the redesign of STAR. If you remember, it was one version and then they changed it and upped the rigger um to a a different version. Um so in 2023, so this is year three. 2025 was the third year that we took took the um new test. So our 2023 we have I did not put any specifics in here because we

030have gone literally gone over this data as a board four four to five times uh because it keeps getting tossed around. So I know you know it u but we were at a a a 79 overall for our district for 2024. Um, our preliminary data is the district-wide scores are going to be at the bottom. Um, I'm sorry, that's a mistake. I apologize. 76. That's supposed to be a 79. Um, I apologize. I changed this. Sorry, Dr. Bot. I sent you the other one, but nobody could see the rating, so I retyped them and then made a mistake. So, 70 uh79 was what we believe our our 2024 scores were. Um these again you've seen all of these before and um this is what we will be we predict will be our 2025 scores. So

031um if you are if you're if you've known a couple of the struggles that the high school saw this year um one that really kind of hurt us um was our algebra teachers. We had three algebra teachers leave in the middle um of the year. So if you know any of the ninth graders that really affected our math scores. There is a lot of weight put on those math scores. It hits us in domain one and in domain three. In domain three you only get to count your meats. So we have um at the high school you have not 350 kids taking algebra but you have about 250 because most of the other higher um kids have taken it in u junior high. So that is where our biggest decrease happened is that algebra at

032the high school is somewhat overweighted compared to the amount of kids that take the test. So 250 kids really pay play a lot of role in this. Um so we did see a decrease of four um percentage points in domain one. That's where all of them come into together. Um and then domain three is the federal section of this and that's where they do not accept the approaches scores. They only accept meets and masters. And so, um, that fell significantly, uh, which gave us what looks like about a 77 for the district. As a side note, I do have to brag on the junior high. The junior high, um, has has made significant improvements. So, you'll see um, there are ups, small ups and downs with just about anyone. And if you've got, you go

033up one to two points or down one to two points, that's going to happen um, from year to year. But when you see large increases like nine points and four points, those are large increases to be very proud of. I know we have a um we've had a lot of changes at the junior high and so I do want to highlight highlight that that those changes are are being are are successful. Um but the the high school we will have to own and we will have to make some some changes. We'll have to make some changes when we have teachers who leave and some of those choices might be difficult. Uh but I do believe that our the administration at high school um is aware of it for sure and we know what we're going

034to have to do. So that's a quick overview because we'll go over this more in depth when we have the actual release of those scores in a in August, not April, in August. Um, but we did want to at least arm you with um with those scores questions. What corrective actions have we taken in algebra at the high school level for the academic calendar starting this year? Well, first off, she made sure that she has some really good teachers there. So, that was and and people are going to stick around. Um, but but I'm going to be honest, there may be tough choices that we have to make in the future. If we do lose a teacher that is um in a significant class, we may have to move teachers around and or split their

035time between two classes. And nobody likes that. Parents don't like it. Um, but it in this scenario, in this situation, we should h, you know, it's one of those things that we probably should have looked at a little bit more closely um than to have people in and out of those classrooms. And so, um, I've told Dr. Bot that I definitely would, you know, make different decisions. And so I've been open and honest with that with the with the staff that we would we would maybe make some of those decisions that were a little less, you know, politically people would not like it, but we can't. Um, second thing that we're going to do is we have a lot of ninth graders who did not pass algebra. And so the plans that we're going to

036have is is we're going to have to pick those kids up. Yes, we already have kind of a backup system to put those students in algebra, algebraic reasoning, which is a class, but it's very similar to algebra and it and it usually um allows kids to learn it and and be successful the next time. We've made sure we have good teachers in that and that we're supporting those classes very closely. So, are we going to see a bubble go through the high school with the freshman? So when they get to like algebra 2 as their junior year, they're they may struggle, but we don't have any accountability set to algebra 2. That's true. Except for our goal of TSI. Um TSI has a great deal of algebra 2 and geometry built in it. So the

037the bubble, yes. And partially this probably is a bubble from our scores from junior high in the in the last year. So we didn't the high school did not inherit students that were probably very high. And then then we had this snafu at the high school. Um, please don't think I'm I'm trying to make excuses about the score, but this is factual. This is a good portion of why those scores are are what they are. Um, and we will have to fix that and make plans for it. So, um, we'll see that bubble, yes, but we'll see it in different areas. Um, so we've got to we've got to make sure that we have plans um because those kids need to be able to pass TSI just as much as the other kids. Thank you.

038When you say you got a plan as a teacher leaves in the middle of the year, I mean, give me an example of like what you can do. I mean, we look for teachers like Yeah. So, um, so we did use instructional the one instructional coach we had. We She was in there a great deal, but we were filling it with subs. They tried to hire as quickly as they could. Um, but when they couldn't when that teacher left again, like they hired and then she left again. Um, we probably should have taken some of the other stronger teachers that are seasoned veterans and at least placed them in there for some time before um the test. and that and we didn't do that because we thought our plans were strong enough and they weren't.

039So essentially reassigning. Correct. And so what would you have done to the students that that you pulled their resources from? You're kind of a That's why it's unpopular. Yeah. Well, yeah. How would you You're going to make them suffer. So we would have probably done We've done this in the past. We've had a, you know, a couple of times where like an English teacher leaves and so we'll put that strong teacher in there for a little while before the test happens or to to at least let it not fall so so much so so far that it it's unreoverable and then move them back. We've also done a couple of times where um the teacher would um teach a like like maybe Monday and Wednesday they were in the algebra classes and maybe Tuesday and

040Thursday they were in their other classes and so the sub was none of those are popular and I have no doubt that you would probably be asking me questions as you should. Um but um 22 points that's a lot of kids also that that's a graduation requirement. And so um so we thought our plans were strong enough. We thought that those subs were good enough and the reality is it probably you just got the perfect storm. It is a perfect storm. And it's very sad because we've made so much progress in other areas that unfortunately for some who maybe don't dive into it enough, they're not going to see that. And that's why I did I did want to mention, you know, the junior high did exactly what they they plan to do. They raised

041the scores. And it's always harder, y'all. Y'all know it's always harder to move to increase. It's it's easy to make, you know, to mess something up and let and it falls. It's it's much harder to pull something out of um it not doing well in a situation like this where we had um such a big impact um with the freshman class and algebra understanding that some of those students failed and so they're going to be retaking it from scratch. Um you know I think about kind of like what Eric was talking about in that bubble. So in my head the bubble is the ones who did pass but they struggled they're moving forward. Yes. How do we approach teaching those kids at the beginning of the year to make sure that we're not just picking

042up with the next level of um math for them? We're understanding that we're probably going to have a large group of students coming in who for the first eight weeks or so need to play some catch-up. How do you handle situations like that? So, I think the best help we're going to be a or the the biggest help we'll have this year is that um unfortunately we weren't able to have five instructional coaches, but we were fortunately able to hold on to Katie Abear. And so, she is actually teaching at the high school. She is not going to teach geometry, but she is um teaching a couple of sections of algebra. She knows what's happened and she will be able to meet with those teachers and kind of help formulate specific plans for each group

043because some of them are going to go into algebra algebraic reasoning. So that bubble, that group will need a specific plan to help them catch up on just passing the test. And you're right, some of them are going to go into geometry with not a perfect knowledge of algebra 1. So she's very good at trying to figure out exactly what they actually need out of geometry and out of algebra in order to be successful in algebra 2. And so there probably will be some compacting in that way so that we're not spending more time on something that it's not foundational and it it's it's doesn't really relate to anything else that they would need for TSI. She's also been a big help in teaching our teachers how to get to the TSI because if we

044can make sure that our kids are able to pass that test, then they're ready to go to college and they're not taking then we've stopped the bubble altogether because then that means that they go to college and they don't have to take a remedial class. So that's our next goal. And um with that, we will also probably bring in some um like TSI boot camps for those kids that are close because you'll have we we'll probably do that on a regular basis anyway, but specifically for this for these groups as they move through. That'll be really good because you know the thought in my head was a prior experience with uh Spanish and um how we had entire groups of students who moved on um and had a very difficult time that next year. So

045yes, it's good. I also got one more question there on on Cuba is underperformed from the other two elementaryaries. Are y'all doing anything to address that or can you tell me? Yes. Um there's if you'll look at um they're pretty much they've always kind of been a little under what the other groups were. Sometimes that's just a just sometimes it's just the kids you get. Um but there is one area in hers if you'll notice on domain three it says D3 if you'll look at um Kubachek's domain three compared to RJ's an 87 and Barnett's a 92. So in in their star scores there's really not it's negligible right but in domain three which encompasses a lot of our small group populations. So, and she has, if you look at her at that school, it's

046made up of of quite a bit. So, that is something that we're working with Casey on. There's also a test in there called Telpass. Have y'all heard of that? It's just for our um emerging bilingual students. It is just on language proficiency. It's a completely separate test. the whole thing, you know, you can like get a certain amount of points on it and if you don't get enough, they don't give you any. And so that that happened at the high school and at Kubach. So we're going to have to f really focus on essentially our ESL population is mostly Hispanic. So our Hispanic population will be a great deal of what we focus on on those two schools because the other schools, if you'll notice on domain three, are are doing well. in domain three

047at Kubachek and the high school has has not I mean like RJ well Barnett got 92 last year um R.J. got 90 and so they almost made an A because of that. So it's all these points in the accountability scaling system that you you have the small population and they weight that small population with a lot. So if you get it, you're you're golden. you don't there's almost no way for you to make the grade, right? And so we'll have to do that. We'll have to do a better job there. Thank you. Got a couple of questions. Sure. Um you you mentioned earlier that we had a lot of students that didn't pass. I'm assuming you're talking about the test and not the classroom grades. I mean the test. Okay. Have we looked at u

048the students that didn't pass the tests but performed uh fairly well in the classroom uh for the grades that they got? Or are we correlating any of that information? You can um and we have plenty. We have a lot of students that just don't test well. Sometimes it's their knowledge of algebra and sometimes it's it's just they don't test well. they get anxious or um you know they just don't they don't do so well. I've seen and there's nowhere else that you see this more than at the high school because they've been tested so much by the time they get to the high school that they become a little test burnout and um they get disheartened sometimes if they're a kid that struggled to pass that test and they feel like they never can. Um

049thankfully I am very thankful that state does give us um options to help those kids graduate. Um and like you know it's not an all they do if you pass three tests out of the five that you're supposed to test you can do projects for some for some that just never will pass that particular test. So we will we will help them there. But um yes, we do correlate that data all the time, but a lot of our kids they do pretty well in class because they work hard. So do we feel fairly confident that we're teaching the fundamentals that allow them to score well on the test? We're we're teaching the same thing that they're going to be tested on. Oh yes. That we that 100 I can assure you and can line it

050up um for anyone who ever asked. But at the same time, when they don't pass something in class, yeah, a teacher is always going to be a teacher and they're going to allow them to either redo something, try again, come to tutorials, let me and then I'll raise your grade for, you know, so that it's not so that they're not just failing. Um, but the state doesn't do that. It's kind of interesting that they're wanting to go to a three test that Dr. Bot and I were talking about this that today is that while this is the accountability system that we have to live by, they don't even like their test. They're they're looking at moving it to three tests and then take an average of those, three smaller tests and take an average of

051it. Maybe that'll help some of the kids who don't do well but do well in class. Maybe the effort or the anxiety won't be as bad. Yeah, I would think so. Yeah. I mean, I think I think it couldn't hurt. So, I agree. Thank you. Any other questions? Thanks, ma'am. Any other information items? No, sir. All right. If not, we will move on to our consent agenda. A whole bunch of stuff here. Yes, sir. Most of these agreements and andus are annual and um in fact there's there's nothing on here that's something we haven't already previously approved. But I will entertain any questions y'all have about any of these agreements. If no questions, Mr. President, I can make a motion that we approve consent agenda 9.02 through 9.13. Second. Okay. It's been moved and seconded

052that we approve the consent agenda as it was presented. Any other questions or comments? Yeah, I'd like to ask some questions on uh we had some board policies that were changing. Uh not on consent. I'm not seeing any board policy change on consent. No sir. My fault. I just lost my screen. No, these are just We do have one under regular regular under regular. We're just proving consent. Yeah. My fault. My apologies. Any other questions or comments? Cash votes, please. It is passed unanimously. All right, that will take us to our regular agenda. Um, local policy update, Miss Davenport. Can we do those? Yes, sir. I'm going to do the local policy update. um for update 125. This is not the big update that just came out of the legislative session that just ended. That's

053going to be update 126. We don't have that one yet. So, this is a lot more minor updates. Um so, we did put in here um policies EFB local and FNC local which are um address the changes required by law as a result um of the 89th legislative session. and that's library materials and the student use of personal communication devices. So, those are two of the policies that were the big ones that came out of the the most recent legislative session. The rest of these with 125 are addresses that um they they change uh things in law regarding election of board officers, board committees, advisory committees, partial academic credit, school safety transfers, and attendance for credit. So, those are not any of the big things that we just heard discussed throughout the legislative session. The

054rest of that will be coming with update 126. And I expect in the next month or so, we will get that and I'll bring that to you when we get it. Yay. Questions? Yeah. Did didn't I see something in the updates about uh setting aside for time for prayer for students and employees? Is that 126? That's not in this one. That may be 126. That might be in 126, which we haven't received yet. Okay. Yeah. That that you're talking about there there was legislation that allowed that did allow for the board to adopt that. Yes, if if the board so chose to do that. But yeah, that would be 126, right? And that was the same one that also included the ten commandments in the classrooms. Is it ten commandments in 26? I I think

055so. Yeah, I didn't find any of that in this 125 local. Yeah. Mo, like I said, other than the library materials and the cell phone policy, the rest of this was just like one thing was changed from we you changed the word combined to average on some Yeah, this one was more language, but the Yeah, the uh the prayer one is in 126 and yeah, I'm pretty sure the ten commandments is too if if donated. Yes. So, should we see that in August, September time frame? Yeah, I would expect in the next month or so to get that one and I'll bring it as soon as we get it. Okay. Thank you. Yes, no problem. This has been a a a record setting year in uh legislative updates. Yes, we've had to navigate. Would you

056guys approve? Sorry, I didn't ask that part. Mr. President, like to make a motion that we consider and approve local policy update 125. Second. Okay, it's been moved and second that we approve this policy update. Any other questions or comments? No, sir. Now, would you cast your votes, please? Pass unanimously. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Wheeler got a couple of contracts for us. I do. Good evening again. In June of 2024, Santa Fe ISD sent renewal proposals for custodial cleaning equipment, supplies, and chemicals. Santa Fe ISD received renewal letters for the 2025 2026 fiscal year from Clean Supply Company and Polloc Investments Incorporated. I make a motion we approve the custodial supply vendor services renewal for 2526 fiscal year for Clean Supply Company and Polloc Investments Inc. at a price not to exceed

057122,100. So, if it's 122 million, we're going to put that I will take that. I will take it. So, did anybody else bid um when you put out for the RFP or is is there This is just a renewal. RFP will come up uh next year. Uh, in our original bid, we received five biders when we first started and and I can provide the information on all the biders that came from na national sales and everything like that. Um, a lot of them, they're not local, so we would try to use them and we had issues with supply chain logistics and then they when we sent the renewal letters out, they just weren't interested in working with Santa Fe ISD because they didn't get enough business. Now that you said, I remember you talking about

058that last time. So, yes, sir. I apologize. No worries. Okay. I heard a motion. Okay. Now, it's been moved and seconded that we approve the uh custodial contract. Any other questions or comments? Yes, sir. Would you cast your votes, please? This passed unanimously. All right. I guess next we have the landscaping services. Yes, sir. In efforts to improve the efficiency of the landscaping services and ensure the grounds maintenance standard is being met, the maintenance and operations department solicited bids for landscape services. uh contract number 21-2200022. The objective of this bid is to improve efficiency while not raising the district's cost of the service. Bids were accepted and Horicare landscape management was found to be the best value applicant. This will be their third renewal of the landscaping bid. Their services will provide routine mowing and

059grounds care for all unfenced areas in the district. landscaping services for fencing areas will still be be performed by the district ground staff. Some some of the outside of fenced areas such as and just use an example out in front of the high school the the shrubs and everything else along the front. Yes, sir. Does that in noting get included? No, we take care of my staff my staff takes care of that. Yes, sir. And with this contract this year, one thing that I would like to highlight, uh, through our efforts through working with local, um, we work with, if y'all remember that we work with, uh, Santa Fe Little League, the baseball league, we've given them u approximately 11 acres of space that is west of the junior high to use. So, I've worked

060it out with Horticare that that the little league continues to maintain that. So, this year on this contract, we saved about $12,000 with working with uh Santa Fe Little League. They've been more than willing to come out uh land, take care of the land. They they've mowed, they've kept it, uh nice. They've replaced fences. They've done everything they can. And we really enjoy working with them and making sure that this the kids of the Santa Fe Little League have extra spaces and extra practice areas. So, how much is this contract for? This contract is uh $145,882. Let me ask a dumb question here. Um years ago, I thought we internally we did all of the mowing and maintaining. Um have we found it it's just more efficient these days to go out contract? Yes sir.

061So my my maintenance staff uh my ground staff used to be six members. Yeah. And through attrition uh we have reduced that down to three. That's why we still maintain we still maintain about 40.6 acres of interior uh fence in areas in most spaces. We take the entire uh complex at the stadium complex. We do all of Kubach. We do uh junior high u my building and as well as everything inside of Barnett detention ponds and retention. I see this. So is this something we just started? Yeah, it was a couple years ago to reduce staff and it's overall doing it probably three years. Three years. Yes, sir. This is their third renewal. This will be our third year to have staff here doing Bob had done some comparisons about the cost, the personnel and

062the equipment that he's not using and trailers and different things like that and it just came I'm assuming things have gone well since we've done this. We've had no issues. Yes. Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah. The only question that came up initially was more around the safety and that handled that by taking we take care of what's inside the fence and the non-district employees at contractor is outside the fence and so that eliminated that. One of the things Mr. Couch also that helped was that season I think when we switched we had a lot of weather. Yeah. And there was no possible way for us to keep up. Got way behind because we were constantly chasing our tail. It was and a and a a lot of this also came from Barnett when we

063when we graded when we did final grade of Barnett the the entire front area out there which is about I think it's about 6 and a half acres that was just field dirt that we had scraped back and so we did not saw that. So what started to grow was a huge amount of clover dollar weed and it just it as everybody here that has a house you know you can mow it in a day and then two three days later it looks like it hasn't been touched. Yeah. So what we do, we still supplant with my efforts like when it comes around like football, our contracting day is Fridays and Saturdays depending on how horicare uh you know how weather pushes them on their normal schedule. So home football games, start of school, teacher

064night, uh anytime that we have events and our schedule if it happens during the middle of the week, my maintenance staff, we go out there, we get on mowers and we knock everything down to make it make sure it still looks presentable. So that's why we still maintain u a small skeleton staff that maintains our areas. Okay. Appreciate the explanation. I've actually had maintenance directors from other school districts reach out to me to find out how this is working because they're looking at the same thing. And I mean if you look at his numbers, this contracts for $145,882. He went down three people. That's $48,627 per person. We can't hire three people, provide them benefits, and provide all the mowers and equipment for $48,000 a year. I agree. Well done. There's no way. So, it

065it's a cost savings without a doubt. Originally prompted it, but we did want to make sure it was efficient. Yes, sir. And it has been. And I continue to work with Ordicare uh along with how we maintain some areas, how we've uh reduced uh frequency to some areas and then we've taken by we I mean our my staff has taken on additional roles to to make it work. Yeah, we got Mr. Wheeler. I'm assuming that Hardicare is a DBA or a subsidiary of the company. They're uh nelobal. They they're doing DBA asare but they are nelobal enterprises. Okay. I was just checking because I noticed that the I didn't see hoarded care and the renewal letter. Yes. On the attachments. Yeah. I will get it attached. No, the attachments there. It's just there's no reference

066toare. Oh, DBA. Yes, that's why I was just checking. I understand. Yes, sir. Yeah, that makes sense. All right. What's your pleasure? Hold on. He has one more question. At what point are we going to consider not having our own staff at all? What's that, sir? At what point are we ever going to consider subbing the whole thing out to someone else? Sounds like it still be a there's a cost savings there and then those event days that you want to do. We do run into the issue again of safety. We're not going to allow external people to come in behind our fences and that that that does require not to mention the fact that our maintenance folks do lawn services a lot of a lot of a lot of areas. So, they're not just

067they're not just grounds maintaining. We we paint, we pressure wash, we sidewalks there. The grounds crew is not just guys that hop on mowers and have weed ears. It's good to have a little There's a lot of uh auxiliary sense. Yeah. You know, that kind of as all other duties as assigned falls a lot on the maintenance. I get it. Yes, sir. One of the things that we talked about because taking care of the yard and like you said when it's growing so fast, all the other things it starts to slip by. It does. And that was exactly what had happened. And and it was beginning of school. We were trying to get ready. When new teachers come back, everybody knows this, new teachers or returning teachers come back, we probably get within the next

068within this next week and the week after, I'll have probably 175 to 250 work orders submitted for, oh, I forgot to ask for paint before I left. I want to rearrange my room and we try to support that and we come together as a whole maintenance staff and we just knock out one whole building at a time. And with that, that's if I have if I'm missing at that time, if I was missing six people able to help us do that because they were trying to catch up on the yard uh grounds, it it it uh slows down everything else. Are you still employing the summer help students? I am. Yes, sir. Through the through that kind of help when they put in those 200 tickets or so for the next week or Yes, sir.

069Okay, cool. And and I will be keeping them this year until I I give them the option every year. I give them a week off. Uh if I don't have seniors that graduated, uh if I have any returning students, I give them the option of next week to have the week off so they have a week before school starts. Every one of my students this year that are returning, they're like, "No, I want to work all the way until school starts." That's good. Right. Mr. Mr. President, like I can make a motion that we approve the Horticare landscape management to perform mowing and landscaping needs as the annual renewal of landscape bid number 21-220002 at the cost not to exceed $145,882. Second. Okay, it's been moved and second that we approve the landscaping service renewal.

070Any other questions or comments? Yes, sir. I cast your votes, please. It has passed unanimously. All right. Now, we got the solid waste services. Yes. In June of 2025, Santa Fe ISD sent a renewal letter uh proposal for the solid waste services to Airways Incorporated. Santa Fe ISD received the approval uh renewal letter from Ammer Waste to provide solid waste services for the 2526 fiscal year. This will be their fourth renewal under this contract. I'm asking that you consider and approve the renewal of solid waste services for the 2526 year at a cost of $58,569. Sold. Mr. President, I move we approve America, Inc. to provide waste uh solid waste services for 2526 fiscal year at a price not to exceed $58,569. Second. It's been moved and second that we approve a merit waste in

071this contract. Uh any other questions or comments? I cast your votes, please. Just pass unanimously. Thank you very much. All righty. Thank you, Wheeler. Thank you, Miss Sheree. Doing what you like to do best. Alex said I had 20 minutes. I can talk about whatever I want. No, it's not what he said. You've not talked 20 minutes total in front of the board in all the years that you've been here. No. What you got for us? Okay. Unfortunately, this evening I have to ask for a paid lunch meal price increase. Um, all of our USDA grant funds have ended. Um, they started out as supply chain grant funds to help with um, uh, grocery price inflation at the end of COVID and then they morphed into a local foods grant to help us buy local

072unprocessed foods. We've been using those grants to purchase milk for the last four years. Uh the total of those grants is almost $485,000 and now that is completely going away. Um and then late last week uh USDA released our reimbursement rates for next school year and um we're going to get a whole penny at breakfast for paid lunches and we're going to get two pennies for lunch for a paid lunch um for next year. So, um, for that reason, I have to ask you for a paid lunch meal price increase. I'm asking for 25 cents for 2526. That will make our elementary paid lunch price $3.25 and our secondary $3.75. Um, that equates to about um $43 a year per family who has a child who has to pay for a lunch. Um we are

073um doing our best to keep the quality the same in our meals what our families expect from us and so a meal price increase is unfortunately necessary. So this recommendation is asking for 50 cents not to exceed not I had to put in I had to put this in before USDA released the reimbursement rate so I didn't know what it would be. Okay. And um so I put in a high number so I could come in and ask for what we actually worked out that we think we can get by with. So we're asking for 25 cents at this time. Why wouldn't you? I mean I besides the obvious, why couldn't we do 50 cents to to save our families the the that amount? Kevin, if all they need is 25, I mean it's $43

074a year. Yes. I mean, we go to the grocery store, food's up. We go to, you know, fast food, it's up. So, there's no reason why we should, you know, have to take the hit at the school. So, we can go, we can go 50 if you No, no. If you need 25, 25. I mean, I just didn't want anyone who shops, groceries have not gone down. Yeah. I just don't want her to struggle and then she has to come back again and ask for and there's the the question is, you know, how often do you really have to look at this because you're you're basically asking for something, predicting it for a year out. If in 3 months you see that that's not working, you're going to be back here in front of us.

075So, and I'll let you answer this one or if I'm wrong, but we're approving 50 cents, but she's only 25. So, if she needs to go up, she can go up to 50, right? No. I mean we're you said not to exceed 50. So technically not to exceed. So she has flexibility right to your point. The wording's right. Yes. That's what I'm make that why we wouldn't go ahead and approve 50 even if you only need 25 right now. That's what we're doing. Yeah. That way she has the ability to go to 50 if she needs it without coming to us. She can take care of her own business. Yeah. So I I want to speak for you, but that's what you would do, right? Yes. You get down and you do your assessment. You're

076like, "Oh, I need 35." Then you can just We've already approved up to 50, so you can take 35. Yes. Okay. I don't have a problem you moving it to 50. I don't either. We understand that you're trying to get what you need, but still honor our families. And we appreciate it. It's hard for families that have three or four kids. I mean, our charges last year were almost $4,000, and that's only going to get worse when we raise meal prices. Well, I feel like you've been creating magic with what you've been doing anyway, and we just appreciate everything that you and your staff have been doing. So, for you to only show up and ask for 25 cents where it would probably be helpful for you to have a little bit more, I get

077it. Yeah. I I was just going to echo part of that that um appreciate you coming in and asking for 25 and trying to make that work. athletes. That to me that says something that you're trying to do the right thing. You're trying to help families out there. But like everybody here is is saying, you know, that it's I guess it's a good thing that if we have to go higher, you've got that capability to do that. Uh one other question in in uh somebody may know this. Uh when was the last time that we increased lunches and a paid lunch price increase? It's been two or three years ago years. Yes. Not as far in between as I would like for it to be. I understand. Excuse me. Once again, I I appreciate the

078work that y'all do. You're to be commended. Thanks. And your food is good. I love it. Eat it every day. Mr. Mr. President, like to make a motion that we approve the paid lunch meal price increase not to exceed 50 cents. Second. Okay. It's been moved and second that we approve this uh paid lunch meal increase. Any other questions or comments? No, sir. Now, would you cast your votes, please? And it has passed unanimously. Thank you for all you do. I have one piece of good news. I'm going to end on good news. The state passed funding for reimbursing districts for reduced price the paid portion of reduced price meals for breakfast and lunch. So it's 30 cents at breakfast and 40 cents at lunch. So it's 70 cents a day. But the state's going

079to reimburse us for that for two years for 25 26 and 26 27. So um those families who do qualify for reduced price meals will essentially eat like uh they qualified for a free meal. So that's a great benefit to our reduced price household. So I encourage everyone to apply. Awesome. Thank you. Sh. Thank you. Sorry to let you leave. So are we doing free breakfast then for those folks or will they get free breakfast If they apply. Okay. That's great. They will if they eat they don't have to pay. Awesome. All right. Mr. Sanchez, you got some donations for us? Okay. So, um as you know, we bring the donations to the board for acceptance roughly about every either four to six months just so that we can accumulate um all the donations that

080we can and then we just get them for acceptance. Um we are bringing to the board um donations from January 2025 through June 2025 for a total of $226,64.79. The majority of it it's coming from the Santa Fe Texas Education Foundation and they are several different grants that helped the school district, helped our teachers and several different programs here. Um there was also additional booster club uh support and uh those grants are also included. um here in the donation. Is there any questions on that? I guess I'm I've got a humorous question here. What what came from Bucks taxiderermy? So they they um they actually supported one of our staff events um one of the um is it called? They do um Jenny does these employee appreciation. There you go. I was just curious if

081they donated or stuffed it something that was stuffed. So, part part of the Bucks family also is one of our uh elementary school educators. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Mhm. Mr. President, like can you make a motion that we approve the acceptance of donations that is greater than $5,000 received. The total donations received from January 1st through June 30th 25 is $226,64.79. Second. It's been moved and second that we approve the donations. Any other questions or comments? I cast your votes, please. And just pass unanimously. All right. Next, you've got the student information system. Yes. As you know, in order for the district to function, we use our system information. Um, in this case, it's Skyward. And we are asking the board to consider and approve the renewal for our student and our finance skyward in

082the amount not to exceed $84,19. Any questions? Mr. President, I move we approve the annual renewal of the district student integration system skyward including crystal reports for a cost not to exceed $84,19. Second. Okay. Okay, it's been moved and seconded that we approve this uh student integration system renewal. Any other questions or comments? No, sir. Cast your votes, please. And it is passed unanimously. All right. We've got the U prek uh for services. Yes. Um, so we have we are bringing to the board the approval or the consideration the approval for prek4 services for all SFISD staff as an additional benefit. Senate bill two uh that just approved um made a requirement that all teachers be granted the opportunity to have prek4 services without any cost to them. It is a great benefit to have.

083However, we believe that it is in the best interest of the district to provide this service to all of our staff as we believe that everybody in our district works just as hard um in in in supporting our teachers and our students. With this, we want to bring it to the board to allow us to provide this as a benefit for our staff as a no no cost benefit. Any questions on that? Yeah, I I just think this is a a a great um option here for Santa Fe to be able to do this overhead. um when we sent out the survey, how many extra sponsored kids? So, um when we sent it out last week, we got a response of about eight different um teachers or eight different students um that were interested in

084in taking uh advantage of this preK4 service. There's only eight. Yeah. As of right now. And again, that's non teacher. Yes, I know. That's what I'm I'm talking about. Yeah. So, and that that again that's as of last week um when everybody was still on vacation. So, next week that may change when everybody checks their email. There's no ADA tied to this, right? No. Only the only ADA that will be tied to it will be for teachers themselves. Teachers just exclusively teachers. Okay. So if they are a teacher or a qualifying prek4 student, those will be tied to attendance. Otherwise, they will not. Okay. And those will be considered just like our uh regular sore program. I just think it's a it's a win-win for the district for us to be able to offer this

085to all all the staff uh along, you know, along with the teachers that the state is paying for. But I I think it means something when uh when we stand up and and try to support uh uh the staff and the rest of the administration. Well, it's a benefit to the staff and it's also a benefit to the district accountability in the future because we're we're we're putting our kids in a classroom early. We're only going to gain from that in the future when they hit kindergarten and first grade and on up the line. I mean, you know, starting them early just benefits us. So, with that being said, I cons, Mr. President, like make consider and approve the prek4 services for Santa Fe ISD staff as a benefit. Second. Okay, it's been moved and

086seconded that we approve the prek services. Any other questions or comments? Cash your votes, please. And it just passed unanimously. Thank you, Alejandra. Miss Harris, you have our uh code of conduct for this next school year. Get all of the items today. You say that so calm. Yeah. All right. So, we do have some um important changes this year and I am going to try to go through them as quickly as possible, but also make sure that you're aware of them. um because there was a lot of legislation this year. So um first off, the first new um item is that TEA um plans to give each school the um basically an updated um list of all of the legislative changes and that we will then send it home. Um they said it should be

087done by the first day of school. I am assuming that that is not our earlier school start. I would think it was maybe whatever they, you know, September 1, they might get it done. Um, so, but when that goes home, we'll try to make sure that, you know, about it. Um, but we're trying to be very transparent with everyone because of that. It's, you know, it's going to cause another piece of confusion sometimes, um, that they don't know why they're getting it. um code of conduct changes. Uh a campus behavior coordinator. They've had this in the past where they uh asked that you have one, but it you used to you could um differentiate uh in your district of innovation and have it be with like several people. Uh but now you're not allowed to

088do that. It has to be one person. One person is like the sole responsibility for all of the discipline. Um, other people are allowed to administer it, but that person is responsible. It also has to be listed on our website. So, that'll be a change and y'all will see that with a direct line. So, um, we're working on that on our end. Um, some anti-semitism u language and has been added to the mistreatment of others and um um into the glossery. the vapes. I don't know if y'all remember a couple years back, they had a great idea that in order to stop vapes, they would um cause a mandatory DAP placement and they found out that no one had room in their DAPs for that. So, they decided to change that and this year they

089said first offenses don't have to go to DAP, but they must go to ISS for 10 days. That'll be fun. So that will our currently we're usually given about five. So um we don't have a choice on that one. So that'll add some additional headache um discussion with parents that sort of thing. Official artificial intelligence has been added to our academic dis honesty uh description as far as the state has added it. We did add it last year um for our own our own code of conduct, but it is now part of the state um rhetoric. Formal formal teacher removal removals, excuse me. Um has expanded it. It's a lot easier for teachers to remove students from class. Um they're allowed to remove a student for a one-time incident. Um, but what it also does

090mandate is that there be a multi-tered approach which would require parent conferences with the teacher and a plan for return. So, at least they just didn't say that they could be removed. They did put in a plan in place. Cell phones, everybody's pretty much heard this. Uh, luckily Santa Fe already had pretty much implemented a cell phone policy. The biggest changes for us will be that um first it includes not just cell phones, it's smart watches or any other electronic device that comes around. Um it cannot be used during um hallway changes or at in the lunchroom. It says the the law states that it um is to be stored or left at home during the school day. So, um, Santa Fe suggests that we, uh, our discipline group, um, suggests that we designate a

091spot. Uh, we have, um, written into the code of conduct that it be in a bag, purse, or backpack and not on the actual person. If you have any teenagers in your life, they love hoodies and it's real easy for them to communicate with it in their hoodie or in their like in their back pocket. It'll be too uh, tempting. So, we're just designating that a a bag, purse, or backpack can be used should they get taken up. So, uh we are they already kind of had a um pro process for that. So, there the consequences state that the first three they'll give it back to the student at the fourth time and after that they are they have to be picked up by the parents. Any any charges like in terms of costs to

092the parents or the fans? So that's one thing that they left out of this year's legislation. So can we adopt as a district should we choose to incorporate a fee? Possibly. The way that TASBY is reading it right now, they are suggesting that we not include a fee. Um now every time some of this legislation comes out, we tend to get commissioner rules and they put slight changes on it. They may allow us to adopt a a cost for it, but currently we it's just consequences. We did also we do also have the right as a school that if the um parents don't pick it up after 90 days, we'll be able to dispose of it. That's in there. Um most of the time if it's a real cell phone, they'll they'll come pick it

093up. But lots of kids buy like burner phones and we don't want to have to hold on to those. To share $5 to get it back. $5 goes back into her budget. That's I we agree. We agree. So I got a question. I mean that I'm being serious. That's an easy way to students account. So it says the district may authorize use of personal communication device for following reasons. So we can actually let them use their phones for certain things. Uh it's not teacher teacher. Yes. If there's like an emergency and they need to step out in the hallway, the teacher can do it. We're recommending to implement an individual education program. Get your phone. Oh, the IEPs and 504s. Yes. And it has to be documented by a physician that would be um the

094correct type of physician. So, the way the language is in the in more of that ruling in 504 and IEP, if they have some type of like anxiety disorder or if they are like um monitoring blood sugar or heart rates and things like that, there there is a way for those students to do it. And I'm sure teachers like that that's a good example so teachers will know. I think like if that student because there ain't gonna be very many of them. Yes, they'll all have copies of their IEPs and 504s. Okay. But I did like I did appreciate the language that they put in there. It doesn't say just a doctor's note. It from a qualifying physician is what it says. So, in other words, they would have to have someone like a, you

095know, a doctor that helps them with their diabetes or with, you know, heart doctor, stuff like that. It can't just be their friend, the doctor. So, they were pretty strict on it. Any other questions about cell phones? Because I know that's going to be a big one. Yeah. You know, Clay and I are up here talking about, you know, you said three three strikes essentially. Do we dictate that or is that and and I forgive that's us dictating that? Do we leave it open-ended to where if we need to make a change to this particular district code policy? So that's why it's not listed in there is it will be listed in it will be public for everyone but then that way if we have too much or too little we can adjust it as

096it kind of like a regulation versus the otherwise if we wanted to change the consequences and add a sack instead of a two-hour detention we would have to bring that to the board. I'm speaking for myself. I don't mind you tightening that down. Okay. I'll let them know because we were actually discussing it once again today and so I told them that we um because that we've gotten a couple of cell phone policies from other schools. I think it's good to note that Eric speaks for himself, not the whole board. I like the idea, you know, this is a brand new program. I like the idea of giving them a little bit of time to to learn it, you know, and then and then and I like the fact that the parents have to pick

097it up after the third time. Yeah. Because that's also time that parents have to take off work, which does result in the money instead of saying you got to pay pay $5. So, I mean, it's I like that program. I like I like what y'all come up with. And then and it's similar to what we've had in the past. Um but it's it's a much harder it's much harder to implement this if we don't have if you don't have the state backing and it's just something that Santa Fe is doing. So honestly we didn't change the consequences that much. Um but I mean we even talked about it at our admin retreat that even the adults will have to get used to not being on our cell phones as much. I mean they can be

098that big of a change because we had had policies in the past. So but no I think it's good. Yeah. I mean, I understand what the state law says and I understand that kids are using cell phones for the wrong reasons a lot of times. I guess my question is, and I know I know you don't have an answer for this, but just in my mind, who's teaching them to use their cell phone? Because this is one of the most valuable tools I have. I use this tool for all kinds of things constantly and with AI and everything else that everybody that some people are deathly afraid of it's it's where we're headed and somebody has to teach them how to use this or does she so I do agree with that I understand they

099use it improperly and that is the biggest part of our problem but our real problem is we don't have a way to teach them to use it properly. So, we're working on that. So, this time this at this admin retreat, we talked about it with our with our leaders that were there about AI resources and how to teach it instead of just locking it up. There is no locking it up. So, I think it's important to know too this out of our hands at this point. I I yeah and I understand what the law is and all that and they've kind of tied our hands but at the same time we didn't make if you don't if people don't understand that this is the future and they can't I mean you're not going to be

100able to live without it. You can't do your job. You can't do hardly anything without this phone anymore. Somebody has to teach them how to use it properly. You can go to school without it. carrying on. Yep. Okay. Any other All right. I knew it was it's a it's a very um Okay. ISS and OSS changes. ISS is in school suspension. OSS is out of school suspension. Um there there's some been some changes to these that have these have never really had any changes um until this year. First, um ISS has no time limits. Um, don't worry, that doesn't mean Santa Fe is going to start throwing them away. Uh, but they had to change that because they also mandated the 10 days of ISS for the vapes. So, they had changed their rule. Um,

101during ISS, I don't disagree with this one. It's going to be a a good thing. We just have to find it and adopt it. But basically, is during ISS, um, they are required to receive appropriate behavior, support, and education. So while they're there, they will have to learn social skills, um, you know, how to better organize themselves, whatever got them there. That is what the appropriate behavior uh, remediation should be. Who likes that curriculum? That's why we're looking for some because that's that's a big job. It's a big job. So we're we're we're looking for there are places out there that write it and and But it's not a it's not an option. It's not a best practice. It's a mandate that they get it. So we we will have to buy something for it.

102Maybe next month I'll be here saying, "Can you consider and approve?" You know, we're looking right now. I got a question going back to the um the vapes and stuff. You said that was a the state required that 10 days. Do we I'm sorry if I don't know this, but do do we have offer any type of assembly for stuff like that? So, we haven't in the last couple of years. Um, but that would be one of those appropriate behavior things is I just mean that like the dangers of using vapes. Not recently. We probably could come back and do some more because they're so horrible for people and they're they're so easily accessible. Yep. Yeah. And that goes over Y. So, I I agree. We could probably do some more of that. Um, but

103some of the curriculum that will be adopted or bought, purchased, whatever. Um it would be stuff like for our our kids who are vaping. Um so because they'll be there for a while. Um also in uh ISS they are required to receive services related to their IEP. Um used to you could essentially you could have 10 days what's called out of placement that they're not receiving their IEP. So the state saying that you know the minute they get there we have to implement the IEP. Um, OSS, um, out of school suspension is usually, you know, we only do it for three days and we try to do it at the the only the most severe cases. Um, and it's never been allowed to be given to anybody lower than the third grade. Um, because it

104would require parents to stay home essentially and it is now being allowed um, below third grade. the um it is for the threat for any threat any conduct that threatens the immediate health or safety or any kind of constant repeated disruptions. Um so unfortunately we do have some kids that will um probably fall in that. Um it will hopefully help parents to take a little bit more action with getting their kids help questions about ISS or OSS. That's a good one there. I don't disagree with it either. We've had quite a few situations. Um, DAP and expulsions. I can probably wrap this up pretty quickly with just basically saying um they have uh increased the levels of a lot of uh infractions and I I don't have them listed. I could show you the the

105very long list at some point, but basically a lot of things that were DAP went to expulsion. Um and so um that will lead and and excuse me in addition they no longer care if it's something that's done on school property or off school property. So if it's a high enough um charge, uh they will go to JJ. It'll be a mandated expulsion no matter what. Um, one that comes to mind is we've had some kids that um were involved in robberies and there's nothing for us to do because it wasn't on school property or within 300 ft. Those will now be mandated JJ's. So, I don't again I think that's good, too. Um, because of that, they knew the JJP would um fill in its capacity very quickly. Um, so they've allowed that in

106in the event that JJ fills to capacity or CAP does um that virtual learning we can expel to home and provide virtual learning. Oh boy. So I do not know what that's going to look like. More to come on that, but um there we may have to take advantage of that in certain situations. One other change to DAP and expulsions is if we expel it's for 75 days normally. Um and used to it was always 75 days no matter what happened to the charges. Um but now it's 75 days until or until charges are reduced or dropped. So you it's very possible that you would see a child go to JJ stay for 15 or 20 days and they're it's the charges are reduced and come back. So, I didn't want y'all to be caught

107off guard with that information. Questions? Yeah, I got a question that Okay. You mentioned the uh virtual learning. This would be like virtual expulsion. I only I can only guess. Do we do we get credit for attendance if we're having to Yes, we do. They have written that part into the law. So if they are like the way JJ makes it is paid essentially is that they get our ADA while the child is there. But if the child is not in JJ and we are and it's they're expelled to home to do this virtual learning there would be some kind of attendance criteria within it and then we would get the credit for it. What it will be no one knows yet but it is written into the law that we would get the ADA.

108Thank you for the virtual. So if there is not any other questions, Mr. President, I make a motion we approve the Santa FD student code of conduct for the 2526 school year. Second. Okay, it's been moved and second that we approve the student code of conduct. Any other questions or comments? Yes. All right. Cast your votes, please. If I can get the screen switched. Sorry. It's passed unanimously. Thanks, Rachel. Okay, you've got one more last one. Hopefully be pretty easy. Um, we're asking that you consider and approve the prek frog street curriculum for the 2526 school year. This is the same curriculum they have been using. It's just an updated uh version. Um, it is in the amount of u not to exceed $64,244.90. Mr. President, I move to approve PreK Frog Street curriculum for

109the 2526 school year in the amount of $64,245 from our instructional materials aotment. Second. Okay, it's been moved and second that we approve the preK for street curriculum. Any other questions or comments? Yeah, I got a question. Does this include like phonics? Yes. for the appropriate age level of it. Okay. Yeah. Good. Thank you. Anything else? Not cast your votes, please. Just pass unanimously. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Okay, that is all of our agenda items tonight. So, we'll move into board communication. Mr. Couch, you have anything to add this evening? No, I'm just uh really pleased that the district itself without much help from the state could uh offer the opportunity for prek for the for the staff and the administration. Uh I think that's fantastic and appreciate all the hard work uh people

110have done here during the summer that weren't off during the summer. Appreciate your hard work too. Uh, Dr. Bot, that's all I've got. Thank you, sir. Mr. Kelly, you have anything to add? Thank you'all for what you do, Mr. Davenport. Hope you all finish up summer strong and appreciate it. Mr. Herburgger. No, sir. Just thank y'all. Mr. Grass M. Man, the mic button turned on by itself. Cory, somebody doing their job. I just looked down and it just switched over automatically. Um, now hopefully everybody enjoyed their summer and getting ready for another year. I'm sure everybody will do an excellent job as always and enjoy your 9,000 safe schools training you get to click on. You know, I'd made But in seriousness though, I had made a comment on Facebook the other day about those

111and I know the staff I know they drive you nuts because there's so many of them. And when Patty Hanser was here and I first got on the board, I actually asked Patty to give me access to those courses because I wanted to experience what the staff had to experience because there were just so many people that are like, "They're terrible. It's so monotonous. We do it every year. and I wanted to see for myself. So, she gave me access and they were terrible. But I went through those courses and about three weeks later, we were at an event offsite and one of our teachers was there and there was a medical emergency. I'm telling you, it was like she was instructing that course. It was unbelievable. I mean, immediately she's like, "Start a watch.

112You call 911. You do this. You do that." And it was it was insane. Um, as a big of a pain in their rear end as they are, save school, they can save lives. They really can. So, please try to do them. Try to learn. They work. I've seen it firsthand. Thank you, sir. Miss Lambert, anything? Um, thank you guys for being here tonight. And the other thing is too is I know how much effort it takes to put together the things that you guys put together for us to make sure that we stay informed and answer loads of ad hoc questions that we throw at you that you might not have been anticipating. Um, but you guys always handle it with such grace and you're always incredibly informed and you communicate it to us

113in a way where we can easily consume it and be able to have valuable conversation with you guys. So, um, I just really appreciate that a lot. So, thank y'all for everything that you're doing. I hope that you've had a great summer. I'm excited. I don't want the summer to end yet for everybody's sake in the room. Um, but I am excited about the school year. Dr. B, do you have anything you'd like to close out? Just thank you to everybody. Uh love coming to work, love working with the cabinet and directors we have. For those of you that don't know, our theme for this upcoming school year is inspiring heroes. I want to thank CNI and the principles for kind of coming up with that. But um that's very indicative of what our staff

114does. They're constantly um not just inspiring our kids in heroic ways, but they are truly heroes themselves for the work that they do. And there's so much that goes unnoticed. And I do want to circle quickly back just to the academic accountability. We joke as superintendents, there are literally hundreds of things that schools do and have to do and are required to do and and need to do that you'll never see on an accountability report, but at the same time, we want to continue to grow and improve and be successful. And so looking forward to seeing what our inspiring heroes can come up with this year. Thank you, sir. Again, thank everybody. It's been well, it's hard to believe the summer is practically over. The summer's not over with, but we're it's time to start

115school again. So hopefully everybody's energized and ready to roll. Um we've had a lot of activity this summer with things. Uh some people just didn't even skip a beat with some of our camps and other things like that and all the stuff. I I don't think the public will ever have an understanding of the work that the administration's had to do and just understanding what takes place every two years after legislative session and especially knowing that they're going right back into a special session and things are potentially going to change again. So appreciate everyone's hard work and uh with that I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion been moved and seconded we adjourn. All those in favor raise your hand. We are adjourned.