001It is now 5 o'clock. I will call the meeting of the Wachi Independent School District Board of Trustees to order. Let the record show that all seven trustees are in attendance. And this meeting has been duly called and the notice of meeting has been duly posted for time and manner required by law. At this time, I'll ask Mr. Cooper to lead us in our invocation followed by our pledge of allegiance by Malone Keegan and Hudson Seal. Let us give thanks. Heavenly father, most gracious honor of God. Father, we thank you for the opportunity to serve. Father, we thank you for bringing us here this evening safe. Um, Father, we just ask that you would help us to keep the main thing, the main thing, which is the future of our kids. Father, we thank you
002for WISD in the community. Father, we um look forward to the greater days that are before us. And Father, we just ask that you would again help us to keep our mind uh straight and steered. And Father, if we faltered in any area, we ask that you would correct us. In Jesus mighty name we pray. Thank God. Amen. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the foresis. With liberty and justice for alliance to the Texas one God. >> Thank you. Next item on our agenda is our open forum. I do not believe we have anyone signed up to speak tonight. So at this point, the board is going to convene in a close session according to section 551.001 ETSC the Texas Government Code. It is now 5:02 p.m. The
003board's going to reconvene back into open session. >> We're going to move to action item A, which is consideration with possible action regarding a level three employee grievance appeal. Have a motion, please. I move to uphold the administrative decision at level two and to deny the requested remedies. I further move to place on a future board meeting agenda to discuss special education and 504 compliance. >> Have a motion by Mrs. Timberman. Do I have a second? >> A second. >> Second by Mrs. Creel. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Post say nay. Motion carries 70. Action item B will be consideration with possible action to hire a boys athletic coordinator and head football coach. Coach Rogers, I'm assuming that's why we have a large crowd tonight. Absolutely. This is awesome. Appreciate
004y'all coming out tonight. Good evening board, Miss McCutchen. We're pleased to recommend Mr. Lawrence Williams for the position of head football coach and boys athletic coordinator for Wsahhatche High School. Coach Williams brings 29 years of experience and a deep appreciation for the rich traditions and values of Wakahhatchee High School. He believes in maintaining a broad-based athletic program that provides all students interested in athletics with the opportunity to participate. His motto of I will not allow you to fail is reflected in his hands-on approach and his commitment to supporting student athletes both academically and athletically. We ask that you approve the re recommendation to hire Mr. Williams as the head football coach and boys athletic coordinator for Walksahhatchee High School. >> Okay. Thank you, sir. At this time, I will entertain a motion to approve action
005item B as presented. >> I move to hire Lawrence Williams Jr. as board's athletic coordinator and head football coach. >> Motion by Mr. Cooper. >> Second. Second by Mr. McCussen. >> Mr. Mr. McCuten has a second. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose say nay. Motion carries 70. Mr. Co coach Williams, you have 30 minutes to give a speech. Um first first all I'm I'm humbled for the opportunity that you that's been given to me. I won't take it lightly. Um I will lead to the best of my god-given ability. All right. Um if things don't if I don't believe that it's all about winning. I'll tell you that right now. I think the whims are going to come if I just treat the kids right and and she
006show them how to be great young men in our society. All right. We will be disciplined and th those things I and I preach it every day. But I don't want you to get get it wrong because I tell them every day. Our goal is to bring a state championship to Wasa Hatchee. I'm not going to promise it to you, but we speak it. We're going to speak it into existence. And that's our number one thing. But I again, I'm humbled and I'm excited as can be and I know these boys are ready to go. Thank >> Thank you. >> We're we're going to take a brief recess because I know there's going to be a lot of people that are going to want to take pictures. Starting with Mrs. Troll right there. Here we
007go. Ready, >> huh? >> You going to be a minute? All right, let's do Thank you. Can you move this? Move that. You want to do it? All right. So awesome. Okay, take Don't Do I need to move this? >> Okay. Here we go. Really? No, don't ask me. Hey, this is this is all they going over. What are they doing? Hi. Thanks for being here. >> Oh, yeah. Thank you for being here. Oh, yeah. >> Great choice. extra history of skill. community members. Anybody Where's Dr. >> Ego? exciting. >> Very good decision. Thank you so much. >> Very good. >> You're a superstar. Imagine breath. Thank you. >> Sorry. Okay, next item on our agenda will be our report section. Report A, which will be our superintendent's report. Miss McCutchen, I don't know how
008you top what just happened, but you're up next. Okay. Well, I probably can't, but um I did have something to do with hiring him, so that helps. Um but would like to just talk to you a little bit about our enrollment. Um I know you've seen this, but as of January 30, we're we're really steady at that uh 11,160ish, specifically 11,158. I know we will have a um demographic report shortly, so you'll have more information there. Um did just want to thank y'all again for the district recognitions night. We had quite a few students that were recognized. We do have our final one for the district scheduled for May 18th and that will be able to cover the rest of the the student activities that we had not covered previously. And as we move into
009the spring calendar, just know things get really busy. Um, three dates that I did want to put on your calendar for sure is the graduations. We have High School of Choice on May 20th, Global High School May 21st, and then Wasachi High School May 22nd. Um, we do have spring break coming up right around the corner, March 9th through 13th. And then we're just really busy. Y'all saw the activities calendar. So, quite a quite a few things happening. And then, um, exciting news that we just shared, and I did not know they were going to put this, uh, picture on there, but, um, kudos to Rusty East and Jacob Perry. They, um, walked into this to my office and said, "Hey, we're filming a meeting or filming a video." And gave them pom poms. And
010they did it. So, thank y'all. But our TIA, as you know, our TIA data was approved. that is huge for this district. Um, currently TEA is working through designations and aotment amounts. So, we will have that for our teachers. We'll be able to share that sometime around the end of April. Um, if they're a little earlier, that's even better. But, uh, right now, you know, we submitted our information to to te Texas, it's now at TEA. They will determine what those designations are and which teachers. So, we're excited about that. do just want to say t T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
011T was designed to honor um and reward and retain our very best teachers. And so in keeping with that, if teachers are no longer employed here after this school year, they their designation does not go to them. They have to be employed with the district um in on August 31st of 2026 to receive this aotment. Um that's how it's set up. So again, that's the retention piece. And so anyone that leaves prior to that um to this coming up next coming school year will not receive it. But we're really excited and I do want to just shout out thank principles, assistant principles, Lisa Mott for coordinating, all the cabinet, everyone that put a ton of effort into this. It's a such a big um big process, a huge endeavor, and we're successful. And so that
012didn't happen on accident. It was a lot of work, but we're excited about that. These two guys, I don't know about them, though. Y'all need some more pom poms. That's good. >> Yeah. But anyway, thank you. Um, any questions? >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Next report will be ourformational bond 2023 construction update. Mr. Mont, >> good evening board. Miss McCutchen. I'm here to give you the May 2023 bond update for the month of February 2026. We're going to first talk about the Coleman track and field which is right there behind the old Hancock building. Um, we've had two weeks of very low temperatures, so it kind of put us back for about two weeks. We couldn't do anything out there. Um, we've started to get back into it. We, um, the final layer
013was completed today, the final spray paint layers. You can see the tracks been laid for a while. We just couldn't spray the the, um, the paint and stuff on the actual track surface. It had to be 55 degrees and rising to do that. So, we've been kind of, as you know, we weren't 55 degrees for a long time. U,, we're having the punch walk at the mid at the midFebruary on that. And then I'm going to show you a few pictures of the picture there on your left, that was the uh the surface that was finished as of this morning. The picture on your right is it still needed one more layer. That's the one about half of it needed a second coating and they did that this morning. So now they're doing cleanup and
014then the paint crew will come in late week, probably not till Monday to start painting the lines, exchange zones, all those different things that you have to have on the track. Um, but we should have it we we're plan to have take over around the 19th at the latest barring we don't get a lot of rain all of a sudden and push us back some more. Talk about Washetti Creek High School. So area A um it is starting to we're starting to put exterior sheathing and the roofing will start on it Wednesday on that area. Area B we're completing all the fireproofing internal and external there. Area C is the external fireproofing going on. So understand is the external fireproofing we have to have before we can put exterior uh um walls up so then
015we can start the roofing and we need to really start roofing so we can start drying in that building. And so we're pushing on that right there as you see that through those through those three areas there. Area D um and E, we're starting to actually put in the columns in that area. And then you're starting to see the uh CMU continuing F and an H CMU. If you don't know what it is, hey, block, the block walls, those kind of things is what that is. It's really a lot of the you'll see in some of the pictures, it's where we have all the block up going in the building and there is a lot of it in a couple of areas. Um then fi area G we have poured the final locker room slab.
016We still have the main gym slab to pour. It will probably be the last slab we pour out there because we're going to have to drive some really big cranes up into the gym to hang those big large beams. And that's where we'll probably do that's the plan to do our topping out of the gym area. And that's looking like sometime in April. Weather will be right and everything. We're going to do the topping out with one of those beams there in the gym area is what it looking like right now. And then you can see there uh area J we're going to be pouring the slab this Friday and then one day next week and that's the the actual football fieldhouse and then another area right outside there was the the public bathroom right
017outside there. We're pouring those um in Friday and then one day next week. Here's some pictures there. You can see there in the left the northwest um building you know of the site. One on the right is the northeast there. You can see the different things going in there. the north west. That area right there you see right below it is that is the actual indoor that slab has not been poured either. We just poured those grade beams last week. And then the area there on the right, the big area you see right there, that's your fine arts area. A lot of people are seeing that from the road. That's the big fly tower and all that everybody happens to be seeing. There's you a picture of the front southeast corner. That's the front main
018front of the building. So that is all the areas you see there that you see with actual the roof structure on it. That is your main classrooms, GenEd classrooms, your admit area. That's what you're seeing all through there. The fine arts, we haven't started putting the roof on yet. The uh CTE athletics area and all that, we haven't started on that area yet. Putting the actual roof structure. We've got a lot of the structure, but we haven't started putting roof structure on. You can see right there, that's the front exterior there. You can see. And then area A right there is the interior classrooms. We're mocking up a few classrooms to bring in a few of the WHF head of staff like in biologies, sciences, um things like technology department to look at how the
019screens are. Make sure the where we're planning to put screens were okay when they're teaching in those certain areas, especially in the science because they're standing up on a pres presentation table. We're trying to make sure the presentation screens high enough but not too high. So, we're trying to mock up a few things so we can get them out there to look at those things for us. We'll look here in looks like uh area F hallway there on the top left. Area F auditorium there is in the bottom middle and then area E and D the library. You can see that going up there on that. Any questions on that so far? So Proposition C. Um so a lot of this is this activity will be very busy this summer. We've been working on seven
020or eight different campuses through the through the summer months and most of those campuses will close down so teachers can't be on there. We're going to be doing some extensive work. Some of them will have power off, some will have no AC, no flooring, things like that. So, we will have to close the campus down during those times just because it won't be anybody can be in there during those times. U but you're going to see some of this is um that we've got quotes completed and submitted. You're going to see later tonight. A lot of that is for um flooring, doors, doors, hardware, HVAC, marquees, wall tile, playground covers. This is all part of Proposition C, either priorities one through four, or we've had some savings and we see some things lacking on the
021campuses. This is nothing that we're doing for fluff. This is all big long-term maintenance projects that take a lot of the budget. If we were to do it out of maintenance operations budget, it'd be extensive amount at a time to do maybe one project a year at best. And so, um, through the bond, through the savings, and through some of the actual items we're supposed to do, we're covering that and getting our buildings up to where I where, you know, we'd all like to see them as we go through this. Um, then you're going to see some of the next month, we're going to be bringing in some classroom painting. We're going to be moving some of the lockers in the last few school uh elementaryaries that have lockers. They'd really like the lockers removed
022go to cubbies like we're starting to see. That's a big thing. We got some case work redone. We're redoing the reception area at Turner to make it like the rest of the buildings instead of coming into the building to go into the office, things like that. And then we're going to be doing six campuses. We're going to bring an LED up on those six campuses. Any questions at all? >> Uh, >> yes, ma'am. >> Just to be sure, the consent agenda list a number of renovations and different things. Those are all covered under Prop A or Prop C. >> Yes, ma'am. Every one of those is Prop A or Prop C. The two prop A ones are the marquees and everything else is Prop C. >> Very good. Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. >>
023It's my understanding that text dot let the contract this week or this month for the >> Yes, they gave it they uh they awarded the contract the 4th which I believe was Thursday. >> Okay. >> I believe it's I may pronounce it wrong. I think it's a Cola. >> Yeah, they they won the contract. Um feel good with the hands that with them. Um, I'm trying to get a meeting right now with them. >> That was my next question. If you had any communications, >> I reached out to get a meeting set up with them, with myself, and with PO with our who's building our high school so we can communicate so we can make sure everything goes smoothly on both sides out there. >> Okay. >> Uh, I want to thank you again for
024the tour. >> Yes, ma'am. >> That one thing that you were talking about, I wouldn't have had any idea what it was, but I got to see it. >> Yes, ma'am. fire stuff that was dripping all over the place. >> And two, um I think it's great that you're still having teachers come out and give input. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I mean, that's that's vital. So, thank you. >> Uhhuh. >> Anything else, Mr. Mark? >> Thanks, sir. >> Okay. Our last report tonight will be our quarterly demographics report. Mr. Colin, >> thanks, sir. Good evening, board and Miss McCutchen. Um, we're going to go over the fall 2025 uh demographic report. We received this right before the Christmas break. Excuse me. Um, and so this would be our first meeting um in which the agenda
025was still available to put it on. So, uh, just wanted to kind of walk you through what we're seeing, uh, with Zonda demographics. Looking at the economic conditions, um unemployment rate within DFW and Dallas Metro is actually creeping up a little bit from where it was in August of 2025. Uh Kaufman County was just another example that they uh included in this report, but uh we are seeing unemployment uh tick up a little bit. Uh that bottom chart kind of shows you by uh sector of economy where we're seeing uh changes in employment. And so you'll see manufacturing and professional and business services saw decreases year-over-year, but uh all the other sectors that are presented actually are seeing uh changes, positive changes in employment. And then the uh large circle chart is just showing you
026uh employment by sector within the DFW area. Uh overall, we're looking at national housing market trends on this page. So you'll see we started we start kind of low uh in that top chart and then we go way up uh with housing new home sales um and that was the period of COVID. Then we had the way come way come down uh after COVID where interest rates started spiking. You'll see that our new home sales nationally have really started to level out uh at a rate that's actually pre uh the COVID era. So that that's good news for us that we're starting to level out. we're starting to get in a more predictable trend uh and cycle, but I will point to the average monthly uh sales by price range. You'll see uh in the
027near future or in the in the most recent term uh a decrease on all of the price points of homes. Um it has started to stabilize a little bit as of July of 25 uh when this was uh report or graph was put together. started to see a little bit of an uptick again in July, but for the most part, you're seeing a downward trend um on the average monthly home sales by uh price point. As we look at the annual housing starts and closings, we are still a little bit inverted. Uh this would be on a national level with single family housing. Uh so you're seeing closings outpacing starts at this point. Uh we had a really huge uh buildup of starts as we were going through COVID and then we inverted uh and
028then we kind of got right again uh where our closings and our starts were pretty in line with each other but right now we are a little bit inverted with uh closings outpacing starts. So if we look at uh kind of a regional housing information you'll see that it our regional trends are really following that cyclical pattern. we have a a pretty good cycle going. It's all relatively uh at a consistent level. Uh you're seeing uh your dips kind of at the same uh economic point within a year. You're seeing your your high points at roughly the same, but it's relatively level uh as we go through. Um you're also you're able to see the uh top home builders uh per market share uh listed on here. And so Dr. Horton and Lonar keep uh
029leading the way. Uh as we go through the single family housing within the region, we know one significant component that that plays into home activity, sales, and and uh any real activity in the housing market is going to be that interest rate. Uh interest rates been all over the place. We're seeing it come back down and and kind of stabilize closer uh to that 6% range. This is a national uh average in the US. So our our area could be seeing lower rates than the national average, but overall we're seeing that trend move in the right direction to make housing more affordable for those looking to to buy and to move. Show you specifically for Wachi ISD single family housing activity. Uh I will point that the fourth quarter of 2025 data was not available
030uh when this report was generated, but you'll see that the 25 information starts and closings are really in line and on par with 2024. Um and that's through three quarters of the year. That's not including that fourth quarter. So expecting a robust 2025 year as it relates to single family housing activity uh starts and closings. Uh again, you'll see a little bit that the closings are outpacing the the starts. Uh and that is really the inverse of where we were in 24 where we had such a large delta of additional starts over closings. We would expect that there would be some more closings uh this year uh to buy those available houses that were started in 24. So as we look by elementary zone um with those neighborhood elementaryaries is really a focus for us
031as we're starting to look at uh capacity. We start looking at number expectations. Then we start looking for uh potential resonings in future. Uh but you'll see the majority of the activity whether it's the highest activity, second highest or third highest in any one category is primarily um identified within any one of three campuses either Clif Shackleford or Wedgeworth. Uh you do see some activity at Jimmy Ray um specifically the 3,200 futures. So those would be developments that there's kind of a master plan for a community. There's kind of a there's a plan on paper, but we've not actually broken ground to start putting uh the infrastructure in place to actually build a lot or build a house at this point. So a significant number of futures in that Jimmy Ray uh zone, but uh
032I would also point your attention down to Wedgeworth and that futures. That's a lot of future houses in that Wedge Wedgeworth zone. So, we'll continue to to monitor activity in that area as we know that there will have to be another elementary that's going to help serve that part of that uh of the Wedgeworth zone uh within our district in the future. Looking at single family construction activity within our district, uh this map shows you all the elementary zones, and you'll see a good uh array of of active and future activity in pretty much every single uh elementary zone within the district. Uh Marvin and North Side are a little bit excluded from that just given uh their relative age and built out uh status within the community, but uh you can see significant activity
033either happening currently or planned uh to happen in pretty much every single one of the elementary zones uh within the district. In total, there's about 21,000 single family lots that are planned for uh in future subdivisions within Wachi ISD. as we kind of look through specific subdivisions and activity uh highlighting in the Jimmy Ray zone uh Saddlebrook Estates which is moving into another phase of construction. Um we are looking at about ground work is underway for about 500 lots. Um and then uh we have um average price point between 300,000 and about 410 or 415,000 in that area. We are seeing a little bit higher student yield in that area than we've seen as a traditional average across the district. Um almost five students uh for every 10 uh houses. Uh also in Myrtle Creek
034uh subdivision that's right next to Saddlebrook, there's about 2500 total lots that are planned in that neighborhood and about 4,200 of those are still to come in the future. Uh so we have about 300 vacant developed lots, 13 homes that are under construction right now. that average price point's looking at about three and a quarter to about $740,000 uh in those houses. And so uh we should start really seeing some activity with the 13 homes that are underway and then the vacant developed lots uh that housing activity could start uh at any point going forward. Take you out to the Wedgeworth zone. Um so kind of give you your orientation off of the left part of the picture on the left is Wachi High School. Uh, and that line that's kind of going up and
035down is 664. So, this is between 664, business 287, and 287. Uh, so we're looking at Ridge Crossing, at Shephardd's Place, and at Dominion Park. So, at Ridge Crossing, there's 242 total lots. 114 are in the future. You're seeing that student yield on this one at about 318. Uh, so take you back to um Saddlebrook, which was 484. So considerable uh yield difference between the two. But at Ridge Crossing, we're looking at 40 to 50 homes per year within that development. At Shephard's Place, we have about 30 to vacant vacant developable lots and eight homes under construction. Uh the average price ranging from 350,000 to about 500,000. And that yield is is closer to what we saw in uh in Saddlebrook at about 431 or 431. And then Dominion Park. This is all future development.
036Ground work's currently underway. Uh we anticipate delivery in the next quarter. So we'll start actually seeing some homes uh go out there when those lots are delivered. Quick look at multifamily housing. Um there are about,00 students currently residing in in a little over 4,000 multif family units within the district. Uh a lot of the misconception is that multif family housing is a real leader of student enrollment. Uh overall our yield in the district is about.266 uh for multifamily housing. So we were talking about Saddlebrook at 484. Uh this is roughly half of what uh student yield is out of Saddlebrook uh within multif family housing. Uh but there's still activity happening multif family housing uh in a in a good number of the uh zones in the district elementary zones. Kind of look at at
037enrollment trends. We're looking at newcomers and levers. So the mobility of our student population in 2526. This is information out of Skyward. Uh our student information systems. uh for the first time that uh we have displayed here, we actually had more students leave the district than new students coming into the district. Uh that delta was about 17. Um so not a an overly or 13 not a not an overly significant movement, but it is uh part of a growing trend as you see the annual difference chart at the bottom. Uh the levers and newcomers have been getting closer and closer in terms of total numbers. And so uh as to where we used to see a significant number of newcomers into the district compared to levers, we we have started seeing that trend uh narrow
038and this year we actually went inverted where we had more levers uh than new students enrolling in the district. Uh that's a trend that we're going to continue to watch. This is also a trend that we're going to continue to watch. Uh this is looking the chart on the left is looking at uh total births in a given year verse ele uh kindergarten enrollment across the district 5 years later. So when those students would be eligible for enrollment uh in the district uh I would point you down to 2020 as the year in the bottom that would be the 2526 school year. uh you're seeing that there's a little bit of a gap between total births uh within our zip code verse elementary or kindergarten enrollment. Uh but you see the projections going out to
039the right from there and you're seeing that delta widen. Um that's a demographic estimate and projection at this point. We are hoping that that's not uh what we actually experience, but we need to make plans that that is a realistic phenomena that we may see going forward. that uh on the table on the right shows you that we've been uh enrolling roughly 91 92% of the births in our zip code when it's uh kindergarten enrollment time. Uh but you'll see that projection drops to the mid 80s mid or upper 80s in terms of enrollment uh capture from births within our uh zone. So that's a worrisome trend. um not only is the uh birth rate declining, but our ability to capture those students is declining as well uh and projected to significantly decline from where
040it currently sits today. So again, we'll be watching uh this trend and making uh staffing ar um staffing plans accordingly based off that information. Kind of show you where we are grade level by grade level. Uh yellow is the highest uh grade level in any given year and green is the second highest. Uh ninth grade seems to be the the capturing point where it's almost always our highest grade level in any given year. Uh that would be with student promotions from 8th grade with new enrollment uh at the high school uh time frame whether it's for participation in in academics or extracurriculars or uh otherwise. But it's also because we know some students don't fully earn all the credits necessary to be a sophomore uh after that first year. So uh ninth grade is traditionally
041our highest enrollment, but I would show you that uh fifth grade this year is actually our second highest enrollment at a grade level. And so that that kind of breaks the trend of it being uh mainly that growth in those high grade level enrollments at high school uh as we're starting to see that now at a little bit lower. Uh Miss McCutchen has pointed to it a couple of times, but a concerning trend for us is looking at the kinder first and second grades. Uh this year total enrollment, kinder first and second is lower than total enrollment for seniors. And so uh that would mean as a district who's generally been growing, we either have a really big bubble class this year of seniors that are graduating or we're really slowing down on those early
042education enrollments uh going forward. So, um, again, another area that we're going to continue to monitor, uh, because that's not what we would expect in a growing district. Putting it all together, what does it look like for a 10-year forecast by grade level? Uh, this year, we had anemic growth. Uh, we essentially held flat from where we were last year. Um, a snapshot, uh, enrollment review of roughly 19 from last year to this year. uh you'll see that demographic projections have really come back down to earth. Uh when we were talking in uh 22 23 talking about that bond in May of 23 we were talking about some really large student growth um area. We were talking greater than four and a half all the way up to about 5 and a half% annual growth.
043Now demographic projections show about anywhere from a 1% to about a 4% topping out growth. uh with that sweet sweet spot really being about two and a half to 3% growth uh each year for the next 10 years. So again, we're we're seeing a a slowdown uh in our enrollment trend. We're seeing a slowdown in projections of growth uh from our demographer, but we're not seeing contraction at this point. So uh we will have to make sure that we are mindful of what the trends show and what our enrollment actually is as we make our staffing decisions. Uh this is just kind of a recap. You'll see that enrollment still is on a uh upward trajectory, but it is not nearly as as fast as it was previously. When we talked in 22 uh about
044a bond in 23, we were looking at about 17,000 plus students. By the time we hit 3334, uh right now we're looking at about 14,000 145 on a high range estimate. Uh so that really has kind of come down uh as we've gotten more clarity and more years uh of actual data to look at. And then key takeaways uh I'd point you to the enrollment forecast again uh there's still there's still projected growth but it's about 14,800 students now by the end of the 203536 school year uh as compared to the 17,000 uh plus students that we had talked about in 2223. So with that, are there any questions that I can answer for the board about the demographic report? >> How does that compare with districts around us? >> Oo, yeah, good question. So
045last month when we were doing the budget update, I had reached out to um the other districts in Ellis County and we are not alone in our stagnation or a little bit of a decline. Uh there are some larger districts around us that are seeing growth, but it's not nearly at the pace that they anticipated that it would be a couple years ago. So we're seeing a lot of slowdown. Um when we talked to Zonda and they're looking more at the DFW region 10 uh as a whole uh they're seeing uh significant slowdown in the growth within region 10. Uh so less than 1% growth within our region uh which is really a phenomenal number if you you kind of look out at all the activity that's happening knowing that our our region's about 130
046uh school districts and it goes pretty much all the way up to the Red River. That's a It's a pretty wide range to see less than 1% growth on average across the districts. >> Anything else from Mr. C? >> Thank you very much, sir. >> Thanks, sir. >> Okay. Next item on our agenda areformational items. Those are included in your packet for you to review at your own leisure. We'll move us into our consent agenda, which we have items A through Z. Any questions or comments on the consent agenda items? >> Mr. President, I move that we approve agenda items A through Z. >> Have a motion by Mr. McCutchen. >> A second. >> Have a second by Mrs. Krueger. Is there any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Post say nay.
047Motion carries 70. Okay. We will now move to action item C which will be removed for consideration tonight. So we will move to action item D consideration with possible approval of TASBY update 126 legal and local. >> Mr. Kegel. >> Good evening board. Miss McCutchen, as is our practice, uh this is the second time I'm coming before you related to policy changes from update 126. If you remember, there were quite a few. Uh the legislature was in uh busy work. As you can see, as we discussed last go around, the many legal changes which do not require y'all's action, but the local ones are really where your input is needed. And if you notice there, there are 29 local policies put forth, but we have looked at four of these that we are going to
048remove from y'all's consideration uh this evening. Now, I did put in all the slides and I won't go through all of it as I did last time, but I did want to point out where these yellow ones were. And if you notice, all but one have to do with some changes in complaints and grievances. We are looking at these through our DOI district of innovation process and we'll be coming to y'all in coming months to have some modifications to these local policy suggestions by TASBY. This EIA is the only one that's not related to grievances or um complaints. And this one is talking about some grading procedures, but primarily we're looking at some adjustments to the requirements that will change from having two inerson parent teacher conferences to one. But we'll be discussing those later
049this month at our DOI meeting and then coming before you again. Notice FNG. That's the one related to students and parents. And then finally, GF, which is community members. If you remember, uh here was the many legal changes in policy. And finally, we are asking for action to approve the local policies as presented other than DGBA, EIA, FNG, and GF. Any questions? >> Questions for Mr. Cable? I know that's a lot of letters and a lot of policies. this quite a bit. >> I entertain a motion to approve action item D as presented. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mrs. Timberman. >> Second by Mr. Pitts. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. >> Say nay. Motion carry. 70. All right. Thank you board. Moving on. We also had a brief discussion about this
050item last month. This is related to Senate Bill 11. Not to interrupt you, but I just want to put on the record it's action item E for for discussion. >> Yes. I'm sorry to >> No problem, >> Mr. President. Thank you. So, Senate Bill uh 11 requires action for the board to consider a resolution about a policy establishing a period of religious text reading that would be mandatory across all schools. Now, as you can see, I've shown you here DG legal and FNA legal where these requirements are discussed. I do want to point out as I did last month that if this resolution is not approved, if you say we we do not want to have this period, it does not restrict any student or faculty or staff member from taking time during their day
051to read whatever religious text they choose. So, um, but it does require a specific roll call vote from the board to approve or not approve uh this resolution. Now, after some discussion um amongst the staff and looking into other districts in the area, we are recommending to not approve the such a resolution. Any questions? specifically requests a recall or a roll call vote. >> It does. >> Okay. All right. So, I'll entertain a motion for action item E as presented. >> Uh, Mr. President, I move that Wahhatchee ISD does not adopt a policy requiring every campus of Wache ISD to provide a period of prayer and reading of the Bible or other religious text as provided by Texas Education Code 25.0823. I have a motion by Mr. McCutchen. I have a second. >> Second by
052Mrs. Tierman. Any other discussion? Okay. I will go down the each call each individual's trustes name and you can state your vote publicly, please. Mr. Schoolfield, >> Mr. McCussen, >> approval. >> Mr. Timberman, >> approve. >> Mr. Cooper, >> approve motion by >> Mr. Creel >> approve. Mr. Matches >> Mr. Pittz >> nay >> and myself I will say yay. So the motion will carry 61. >> Thank you board. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Okay, moving on to our next action item will be consideration with possible action to order an election of board of trustees places one and two for Wachi Independent School District and approve Marvin Biome Medical Academy as election polling location. >> Thanks sir. board. Uh it's that time of year where trustees places one and two are are uh ending
053uh their terms and so we're asking for you to call for an election for trustee places one and two. Uh filing day uh or filing deadline is actually this Friday at 5:00 p.m. Uh so there's still time for candidates or potential candidates to uh to file to run for a place for uh one or two. Uh but wanted to make you a little bit aware that there are some changes coming as it relates to election places. And so uh this year the administration building at 411 North Gibson will not be an early voting site. Uh so due to changes in state law um there have to be early voting sites have to also be election day sites and u so that's not our traditional uh method in the past. And so in talking with the
054county elections administrator, uh we're moving towards compliance with the law as uh it was passed this last session. So this building will not be an early voting site this year. We will continue uh to use Marvin Biomedical Academy as an election day site. Uh going forward that may change. Uh we may look at using the former high school building. uh we may look at using JW Williams gym for um election site going forward as to not have an impact uh on an instructional campus. But uh for this year, we're asking for you to call an election or call an or order an election. Uh if we do not have a race uh then that election would be cancelled uh at that time, but we won't really know that until Friday and we would need to
055have that election called uh at that time. >> Any questions for Mr. Cog? Okay. I entertain a motion to approve action item F as presented. >> Some move. >> Motion by Mrs. Creel. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Pittz. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Both say nay. Motion carries. 70. Thank you, sir. Our next action item will be consideration with possible action to approve the physical year ended August 31st, 2025 audit report. Thanks sir. Uh board like to introduce Juan Santana with uh the accounting firm of Henins. He is here uh to deliver the audit report for the fiscal year ending August 31st, 2025. Good evening, trustees of the board. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for the opportunity uh given to us to continue serving
056the district. This is our second year. Um this year um the significant delays in uh due to the government shutdown and as well uh a delay in the issuance of the compliance supplement. The player supplement is the document that contains all of the federal regulations for audits of uh federal programs. Uh so therefore that uh there was a span of time uh last year we presented in December of 2024. So therefore uh that's the reason for our presentation here uh tonight. Um if we go to our auditor's report on page three, the report is similar to last year. The only uh insertion would be that very small paragraph in the middle of the page uh titled emphasis of the matter. Uh and that's uh mainly due to a new pronouncement that uh the district uh
057had uh basically to change uh the accounting for compensated absences uh and it's under the provisions of uh gas statement 101. So the importance of this is that you will see uh an adjustment to the beginning net position uh of the uh district. However, as you can see at the end of the paragraph, our opinions have not been uh modified with respect to this matter. The rest of the auditor's report is an unmodified opinion or formerly known as a clean opinion. So therefore is similar to priority. Moving on to page number six, the MDNA or management discussion and analysis which basically gives the reader a brief description of the activities of the district throughout the year. We move to page eight and nine. Page eight uh shows the net position which basically compares uh both
058governmental activities and the B business type activities from uh fiscal year 2024 through fiscal year 2025. the most significant um actions uh would be the the increase in capital assets there in the second line. Basically is the net uh effect of additions of $115 million versus depreciation of approximately $10 million uh occurring during the year. Those additions, as you uh already know, respond to the uh amounts incurred for uh elementary school projects uh carried out uh throughout the year and also the beginning of the construction project for the Waxahei Creek High School. In terms of going a bit uh further down in the long-term liabilities, you would see a significant increase uh in that line uh of approximately um 84 uh million. And that's basically the effect of new bond proceeds uh of approximately $148
059million less the retirement of approximately $43 million of related debt as a result of the refunding bonds. Moving on to page nine. That's uh the economic activity of the governmental activities and the business type as well. Uh the most significant uh line items would be the total revenues which increase approximately $19 million and that's basically due to uh 14.8 8 million uh increase in investment earnings and that's basically because of the increase in investment positions occurred during the years during the year as a result of the uh issuances uh the bond issuances that occurred uh throughout the fiscal year 2025. Um there is just a small shift in the property taxes and the state uh grants. Uh that will be approximately an increase of $2 million in the property taxes and a decrease in the
060state uh grants of approximately $3.7 million. The increase in property taxes mainly respond to um even though there was a a small decrease in the MO portion of the maintenance and operations there were there was an increase in appraised values of new uh property additions uh throughout the year. The decrease in the state aid formula grants uh was mostly due to a slight uh decrease in the weighted average uh attendance uh numbers throughout the year. Moving a bit uh down further to the expenses, the most significant uh changes respond to approximately $5.5 million in the at the instruction uh expense line item at the top. Facilities and maintenance operations also increased by approximately $4 million and that also responds to the increase in the uh additional infrastructure and the instructional activities in the new elementary
061schools. Uh and also the other important and significant increase was of course in the interest on long-term debt uh line which approximately uh was or reached $97 million uh during the year. Moving um to page 13. Page uh 13 includes the statement of net position. Um it is similar to uh last year. The statement of net position difference when comparing to the uh governmental funds is basically that it includes the long-term assets and long-term liabilities of the district. Moving forward to page 14, uh the statement of activities. It shows basically uh the result of the activities for the district considering those uh long-term uh assets and liabilities activities uh throughout the year. The governmental funds follow on page 16. Basically you would see uh the increase in the capital projects uh column uh where the
062uh cash position uh approximate uh approximated to $39,500 uh,000 uh during fiscal year 2025. we go to page 20. Uh page 20 includes the statement of revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balances for the governmental funds which is basically the core of the activities of the district. It is uh similar in the sense of um the uh payments of long-term liabilities interest. Um you can see in line uh 81 in the code 81 the 115 million dollars of uh uh basically capital outlays or the activities of construction that the district underwent during the year. And uh in the other financing sources a bit further down you would see uh $142 uh million plus the $5.9 million of premiums uh on issuance of the bonds which were the additions of uh bond issuances uh during the
063year the proceeds. Sorry. Um that would be uh basically the most significant uh amounts and changes in the activities of the district for the year. The notes to the financial statements begin in on page 29. they are significantly similar to prior years. Uh the mo being the most extensive part of those the notes about the pension and the oped or other postemployment uh benefits. Uh so basically the rest of the financial statements include all of the required uh TEA schedules um similar as uh also in uh prior year. If we go to pages uh 83 uh and forward, that would be the federal awards uh section uh which states that the major program this year was the IDB uh for the conduction of our federal uh programs testing. There were no uh findings uh identified
064uh during the year. And the very last schedule included in page 91 would be the schedule of expenditures of federal awards which totals all of the different programs and all the amounts received by the district for um the federal uh programs. uh during the fiscal year 2025. During the year um and as part of our audit procedures, we received uh full cooperation from uh management. There were no disagreements uh and the information was uh provided with uh due care and uh adequate uh uh time response. Um, are there any questions at at this point uh with regards to the financial statements uh hereby presented? Any questions, comments? I know it's a lot of information in a short amount of time. Thank you very much, sir. Okay. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve
065the fiscal year ended August 31, 2025 audit report as presented. >> So move. >> Motion by Mrs. Timberman. >> Second by Mr. McCutchen. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Most nay. Motion carries 70. Okay, moving on to action item. >> Action item H. consideration with possible action to approve alternative number one for fine arts renovations at Finley Junior High at a cost not to exceed $6.5 million. >> Thanks, sir. Board, you may remember that last year we did um some expansion renovation work at Finley and at Howard. At the time, we were able to afford um alternate number one over at Howard for renovations to their fine arts spaces. um we were unable to afford uh the renovation work at Finley at that point. Uh tonight we have gone back, we've
066looked at um the fine arts renovation over at Finley to get them uh on par with where Coleman and where Howard are. Uh so tonight we ask for your approval from Proposition A uh an alternate to Finley Junior High's original project to do fine arts renovation work uh at a cost not to exceed 6.5 million. Uh these funds were um identified due to project cost savings uh as we've done other Proposition A projects and they've also been identified as investment earnings uh within the funds issued for Proposition A. Uh so we ask for your approval tonight uh so that we can get working on this and uh by the end of next school year uh our three junior highs will all be on par with each other uh with fine arts. Any questions? Mr. Colin,
067I'll entertain a motion to approve action item H as presented. >> Who's going on? >> Mr. Timberman. Motion by Miss Timberman. Is there a second? >> Second by Mr. Scoffield. All in favor say I. I. >> Post say nay. Motion carry 70. All right. Action item I, consideration with possible approval to of the proposed 2026 2027 Wahachchi ISD academic school calendar. Mrs. Mott. >> Good evening, trustees and Miss McCutchen. Um, the the process uh for our calendar development started this year on November 20th. I met with our district uh our DEIC committee. I presented to them two draft calendars. one very similar to this year's and one with the full fall break that has been very popular and uh requested often. So I presented two drafts of those to the committee. Uh the committee leaned
068very heavy toward more of a traditional calendar with a mini fall break. And so they went back to their campuses after that meeting on November 20th and they uh solicited feedback from their campuses and departments and we reconvened the DEIC on January the 14th and we went through all of the feedback from all campuses and departments and we narrowed that down and made adjustments to the calendar that the um committee saw that needed to be made from the feedback. And then um on February 3rd, I took that calendar to cabinet members and they reviewed it as well. So here is the proposed calendar, the academic calendar. A couple of things to note on here. It did have to undergo a quick revision last week because it is a UIL realignment year and so that impacts
069homecoming. And so I made an adjustment here with homecoming. Homecoming this next year will be on September the 18th. very early for us for us, but it is the best choice in light of our alignment and home game options for October. So, I made that an early release day on September 18th in order for um everyone to get to the parade and then tried to re retain the uh mini fall break that the committee uh really liked in October. So you'll see on there the October 9th day now becomes parent teacher conferences for a full day and the uh mini fall break on the I'm sorry I'm not able to see that 12th and the 13th um would be that two days off for that mini fall break. A couple other things to note on
070this calendar. Um early release there in December right before the holiday break. The return in January is pretty typical um what we do every year. Uh March for spring break. The committee did request that we move that spring break a little further into March. Uh it used to be a big deal that we try to align that up with no for dual credit. We used to try around Ellis County everybody to have the same week. Um that's been a number of years since um all of that has happened. the dual credit, they tell me it's not as big of a deal anymore, that our students are able to navigate that just fine if it doesn't perfectly align with neo. Uh so the committee did ask that we push that back. They're hoping for better weather,
071I think, over spring break. Um and then uh te April's a big testing month. We did try to bookend it with a little bit of a break for our teachers and staff, teachers and students. And then May, of course, we have graduation that Thursday and that'll be a full day off. So Global can have their graduation that evening. I know that helps them greatly. And then of course, WHS graduation would be on that Friday. And the last day for teachers uh on 187 contracts would be that Thursday. We did additionally designate specific work days for teachers. That was something they really asked for. So you can see uh those green, those neon green type days, those are designated work days. On the PL days, the uh pinkish red, those are half of professional learning and
072then half of a work day. So they get a little bit of both there. The state did require us this year to designate two bad weather days. Um years past we've had to do this. They're requesting that again. So we designated those two days in April. Now, we put them on the calendar, but the odds of us ever having to use those, we'd have to have a really bad winter. There are almost eight days built into this calendar, extra minutes. So, we would not in all likelihood have to use those April days, but they are designated. Any questions about the calendar or the process for development? >> Uh, Miss M, that last statement kind of confused me. So, we have eight days built in. Is that minutes or days? Well, it adds up to um
073almost eight full days >> with our minutes. >> Yes, with our minutes. There's 455 minutes in a day. And so, you can see on the calendar, it gives those calculations down at the bottom how many minutes we have built into this calendar. 75,600 is the minimum required by the state. We traditionally build in quite a few. So things like two weeks ago we missed three days because of ice, we're able to not have to come back and make those up. >> Right. But next year we'll have two full days of weather days built in also. >> Yes. If if in case we needed up to 10 days, we would have them. Yes. >> So that's 10 days >> if you use those two bad weather days. Correct. >> Thank you, >> Miss M. I want
074to clarify. It's not eight days. It's 6.8. It's seven. >> 6.8. I'm I'm this pro fond so small up here I can't see it. Yes. 6.8 days. I'm sorry that that's what's built in already. >> Any other questions? >> Okay. I'll entertain a motion to approve the 2026 2027 Wahatchi ISD academic school calendar. Motion >> by Mr. Schoolfield, second by Mr. Cooper. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Say nay. Motion carry. 70. Thank you. And our last action item will be consideration with possible action to adopt a resolution to pay district staff during the districtwide inclement weather closure days activated by the superintendent under board policy EB local on January 26, 27th, and 28, 2026. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. And our final action item of the e of the evening,
075the administration recommends that the board of trustees adopt the resolution to pay district staff during the district-wide inclement weather closure days activated by the superintendent under board policy EB local on January 26th, 27th, and 28th. The recommendation does not negatively impact the operating budget as the payment of all contract workdays for each employee is already an expense accounted for in the current year's budget. The resolution contemplates pay for employees to support the safety, morale, and retention of our staff. >> Questions or comments? Okay. I entertain a motion to approve action item J as presented. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mrs. Creel. >> Second by Mrs. Timberman. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. >> Say nay. Motion carries 70. And now I need a motion to adjurnn. >> Mr. McCregel, second by Mr.
076Cooper. All in favor say I. >> Motion carries 70. Thank you.