001meeting of the Wachi Independent School District Board of Trustees in order. Please let the record show that all seven trustees are in attendance and this meeting has been duly called and notices meeting has been duly posted for time and manner required by law. First item of our agenda is Mr. Cooper is going to lead us in our invocation, followed by Haley and Hunter. >> We came here, >> followed by Haley and Hunter Tess in our pledges for the United States flag and the Texas flag. >> Let us pray. >> Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather this evening. As we gather, we ask that you would grant us with wisdom in decision making and compassion in our actions. Father, we ask that you would help us in any areas that we have
002error. Father, help us to realize that the decision that we make will ultimately impact our students. Thank you for our community, our families, and our students. Help this meeting to be nothing more, nothing less, and what you have perfectly planned. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> [laughter] >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Amen. She should do it with only me. the Texas flag to the Texas under God. One indivisible Next item on our agenda is our open forum. >> This is the portion of the board meeting where the board receives input from patrons. Each patron who addresses the board will have 5 minutes to speak on
003his or her issue. Because of posting requirements of the open meetings act, board members will not ask questions of the patron nor answer any questions posed by the patron. No action can be taken on any issue presented during the patron comment section of the board meeting. Patrons of addressing the board will be notified when they are approaching the last 60 seconds of their allotted time to speak. When I call your name, please step to the podium and state your name and address for the record, please. Julie Copeland. M. Copeland, will you state your name and address for the record, please? Mr. Pitch, to my left, your right, will be the timekeeper, and he will let you know when you have approximately 1 minute remaining. Julie Copeland 6440 Fox. >> You ready? >> I have been
004in WIC for a good amount of time and Cliff is the second school that I've been at. We've I've been at the very top school and I've been at the very bottom school. The district always tells us to trust the process. We got new curriculum in the middle of the three three years ago and we were told it's going to fix everything. We trusted the process and our scores went down. We got new math curriculum last year and we were told to trust the process again and again our scores went down. Yet the district did nothing to help us. The only person who has done anything has been Miss Strong and her voice advocating for Clift and the students. She's very vocal about wanting to help us and she's very transparent with teachers and parents
005in letting us know the state of the school that we are in. She was begging for help and no one helped us until now. The district has changed the superintendent, Miss McCutchen. Had a new teaching and learning person, um, Miss Heimbuk, and a new curriculum director, Miss Morris, and a fill-in superintendent, Mr. Woodhouse, and during this year, and they are amazing people who I greatly respect. But they are not the ones. They have came into this mess that Clif is in. This does not fall on them in any way. Now they are in an emergency mode with needing our scores to be raised in 6 months because of the past 3 years of no one helping cliff. This 100% falls on the district that no one helped cliff when it was clearly needed. So therefore
006the district has failed cliff the students the teachers and the parents for the past 3 years. Miss Strong is very capable and able to help the students and staff of Cliff if he would have trusted the process like you expect us all to do every single day. We will always be Cliff strong because of the positive impact in leadership that she showed us every day. Thank you. [applause] >> Excuse me. Adrien Wade. you step forward and state your name and address for the record, please. >> My name is Adrian Wade. My address is 627 Jordan Lane. >> My name is Adrian Wade and I live in the community of Cliff State. I've had four children attend Cliff over the years. One graduating from WHS class of 2023. One will graduate this year from Global, a
007sophomore at WHS, and my youngest is enrolled in high. I've seen the best of what this district can offer and I've also seen how far Cliff Elementary has fallen under the leadership of Tanisha Malone, the preceding principal before Angela Strong. Our beloved Cliff was once a place of stability, community, and pride. Teachers say for years, families felt connected. Students were excited to learn. But in recent years, something went wrong. Under Miss Malone's leadership, teacher turnover rates spun out of control. Nearly half of the teaching staff left each year driven away by a toxic work environment with a single year. Almost the entire staff was replaced. Many of them brand new teachers with little classroom experience. Our veteran educators, the backbone of cliff, were transferred elsewhere, leaving fewer than 20% of teachers with more than a
008decade of experience in the school. My youngest child, who received 504 and special education services did not thrive during this time. He learned to hate school and felt defeated in the classroom. My 2023 graduate once faced the same academic struggles only for her the journey to recovery began at Clift. For my son, it began in the fifth grade after much advocating and it continued on to high. Clif has always been a school of special circumstances. 66.8% of the students are economically disadvantaged and 22.3% receive special education services. These children require stability, experienced teachers, and a nurturing culture to thrive. That culture was dismantled long before Angela Strong's arrival. You cannot build trust, consistency, quality education when the classrooms are revolving doors. And our students are paying that price. The lack of district oversight and assistance
009began glaring. Our children only get one chance at an elementary education and are falling behind because the system that should support them is not showing up. Principal Strong brought hope back into the school upon her arrival. She worked tirelessly to restore the culture, rebuild relationships, and make students and teachers believe in Clipp again. The children loved her, the staff respected her, and she inherited a broken school that fought to rebuild it alone without the proper support she needed from the district. This year, she has not even had an assistant principal. This is a district level failure. If Cliff is struggling, it's not because the students aren't capable. It is because the system has designed to fail. I've reviewed the most recent financial documents for all elementary schools in W D Cliff is not starved of
010monies. It is starved of the right kind of money. The district allocitation strategy fails to equitably support high need low performing campuses directing early education and innovation funds elsewhere like North Side, Marvin and Wildman. 1/4 of Cliff's budget expenditures go to special education and they have the highest ratio in the district. Those [snorts] mandates do not those mandated calls do not raise these test scores or accountability points. Without supplemental support, please generate gen general education classrooms will continue to operate with less discretionary funding for students in other campuses. I'm urging the board to take immediate action and conduct a full transparent review of what is happening at Clift. Look at the district leadership that has allowed this to happen and that starts with the elementary superintendent Lisa Matt. and others. Ma'am, >> I'm going to
011I'm going to interrupt you for a moment. Okay. So, just so you know that the board will not entertain comments on individual personnel or officials or students in public session. That is our board policy. Okay. >> Okay. Do I continue or? >> Yeah. Without mentioning specific personnel. >> Thank you. Lastly, I must address the way Miss Wrong's transfer was handled. [clears throat] The way the announcement was delivered to the staff was completely unprofessional, insensitive, and deeply hurtful. Teachers cannot teach with a broken heart. Our children deserve stability. Our teachers deserve respect. And our community deserves answers. You have the power and responsibility. [applause] >> Step forward. State your name and address for the record, please. Absolutely. >> Molina Cano, 1854 Riviera Drive. >> Hello everyone. My name is Molina Cano and I am in fourth
012grade at Clifton Elementary. My mom said you are important people who make decisions for our schools. So I want to talk to you about mine. Sometimes we don't like school lunches. We wish there was better food sometimes like chicken nuggets. We love to be. The other day my mom and dad told me that my principal wasn't going to be our principal. They said she was being sent to another school. I was shocked and sad. I asked why my mom said it was complicated and grown up stuck. I heard them talking about this meeting. She said they said she was going to be sent to another school. I was shocked and sad. I asked why and my mom said it was complicated and grown-up stuff. I heard them talking about this meeting and how people could
013talk to you above cliff. I told my mom I wanted to talk about how I feel, so she told me to write it down. I don't understand grown-up stuff. I only understand how things make me feel. I feel confused, scared, and sad. We didn't even get to give her a hug or say goodbye. And this makes me want to cry. My mom say we will be getting another principal. I heard my parents say they can't imagine her dur doing anything wrong. Did my principal make a bad choice? I have never been to the office before, but I made a bad choice and I had to go to the office. Miss Strong didn't send me away for making a bad choice. When I don't clean my room AT HOME, MY MOM AND DAD don't send me
014away. They give me another chance and teach me how to make [laughter] a better choice. At school, we also do something called choose love. The choose love formula is courage, gratitude, forgiveness, and compassion. That equals choose love. It means that people make mistakes and sometimes our feelings get hurt. And sometimes we make mistakes and hurt others. But we have to learn to forgive and help each other and fill buckets to show compassion. I don't know why my principal is gone. She made school fun. At the fall festival, she sat in the dunk booth and let everyone take a turn to dunk her. When we're good, we go to her glow parties. She even wears funny costumes and pajamas like ours on spirits days. She's part of our Cliff family. She loves us and we love
015her. And now she's gone. What will the turkey trot be like without her this year? and Cliff Miss, can you please bring her back? [applause] >> Vanity Smith, >> speak up. Can you hear? >> You state your name and address for the record, please. Mr. Pitcher will let you know when you have approximately 1 minute remaining. Can you repeat that? I'm sorry. I >> said, "State your name and address for the record, please. Mr. Pips here. We'll let you know when you have approximately 1 minute remaining." >> Okay. Thank you. My name is Manity Smith. My address is 101 Meer Street Hatch, Texas. Um, I am not only a parent of kids at W Cliff Elementary. I I'm also the PIP squad coach. I have seen so many good things that Strong has done for
016this for this school. You can't change something that's been going on for years and even a year's time. Principal Strong has been that strong person for Cliff. Everything that I have seen from the time that I just literally started up my pimp wire team. I could see that the kids were ready to come to school. I could see that the kids didn't play no games because when it was time to learn, Miss Strong was there. And if Miss Strong came to me and told me that this kid was showing out his class, she already knew that. the kid I knew that I was going to talk to them and handle them to the way to where either you're going to be right in class or if not then hey you can't do it because you
017have to respect the teachers you have to get good grades that's all what that's all everything that we say to these kids we are not even doing them oursel we don't listen we don't and then I'm it's so much going on they people want to bring They got a a principal that actually to have put their hands on the student in the hallway and they bringing him back. But we not even knowing what Miss Strong did for y'all to take her away from us. This this principal, she was a black strong principal that was there for us and we don't understand what happened. I had to explain to my kid what happened like I don't know. So what can I tell my kid? There's nothing to tell my kid because I don't know. I'm not
018going to lie to him or her. I have a set of twins. So yes, and that in elementary as they gladly said, we love Strong and I stand behind Strong. And I there's no reason for this to even take place if she if y'all can't even explain to us what she did. It's a lot of people in here that for strong and her parents, teachers, staff members, whatever, they are for strong and we can't even get a a logical explanation what she did. If she in a student, okay, we get it. If she push the student, okay, we did it. If she cuts the student out, okay, we get it. But y'all didn't even explain to us what she did for y'all to just remove her that Friday and put in a different school on
019Monday. That's not right. What are you telling kids? What can teachers teach these kids and y'all not even telling the teachers nothing? This is crazy. This is This is ridiculous. And for us to point the board to point John as a board, y'all, we might need to change the board because that's NOT [applause] [cheering] We are parents. >> We are parents of these kids. If y'all think the kids are our future, how when y'all TAKING SOMEBODY THAT'S RAPED from us? She don't see black, white men. She don't see that. She see a kid and she going to take care of that kid regardless of they're bad, regardless they're good. It don't even matter. She see a kid, she going to make sure that kid is good. If she have a problem with it, she gonna
020bring kids the parents in. Yes. What what what can we do about this? And we that's why we all here for strong [applause] day. [applause] Please step forward and state your name and address for the record, please. Shikica 307 West Waco Street in Texas. >> Good evening. Hello members of the board and the community. My name is Shika Day and I serve as the Prairie View&M University Extension Agent here in Ellis County and I am in support of Miss Angela Strong for her outstanding leadership and her vision. Under her guidance, Cliff Elementary has continued to grow not only as a place of learning, but as a hub for opportunity and community partnership. Mrs. Strong support of the Praview&M University Extension Program has opened remarkable doors for her students. This collaboration brings hands-on learning, leadership development,
021and real world experiences directly into the classroom. These opportunities will have a lasting impact on the children of Cliff. Her willingness to welcome innovative programs like the Garden Club after school program reflects a true commitment to student growth and community engagement. Mrs. Strong's leadership embodies what education should be. forwardinking, inclusive, and centered on preparing every student for success beyond the classroom. I want to commend Cliff Elementary today and Mrs. Angela Strong for her dedication and excellence and for fostering and mentoring meaningful partnerships that will strengthen not only Cliff Elementary, but also the community of Ellis County. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> John Mosley, >> step forward and state your name and address for the record, please. >> My name is John Mosley. My address is 104 South Dallas Street in Texas. I am an
022employee of Clif Elementary School. This is not my first time employed at Clifton Elementary School, but this was my first time employed under the guidance of Angela Strong. I was there when the school started going downhill. And I can tell you [clears throat] why that school went downhill. That school went downhill because the core leadership of that school was horrendous. >> The core leadership of that school created a toxic environment that did not foster any kind of growth for the veteran teachers or the growth of any new educators. In fact, the last school that the last administrator that was in charge of that school was on that campus, she lost the core group of teachers that had been at her campus since before her and the principal before her. I may only have been employed
023with this school district for not even a total of three years, but my wife has been employed at Clifton Elementary School going on 11 years. This is her 11th year at Clif Elementary School. She chooses to stay at Clifton Elementary School. My wife has also pushed and fought back against that kind of behavior. My wife does not have any kind of social anxiety. But the last years that Tanisha Malone was at that campus, my wife had anxiety to the point where she was going to quit her job. My wife grew up in Pleasant Grove. That school doesn't scare her. What scared her was a place that was toxic and cared nothing for you. They didn't care for the students and they didn't care for the teachers. I can tell you what the difference Angela Strong
024has made in that campus because I see the joy that the staff has in showing up to school. I can tell you from personal experience that after the last time I was at Clipp Elementary School, I was suicidal. I had a plan because of Tamisha Malone. >> But I have joy and I have peace when Angela Strong is on campus. I do not have July [applause] 18th today on TV because I don't know what's going to happen. We had a meeting this morning and we were told that it was because of academics. Academics. How is a teacher supposed to effectively teach when they're scared for their job? when they're scared to go home and be alone with their thoughts about how they're a terrible person because somebody's actions tell them that day in and day
025out. How? And the fact is is that I can tell you for a fact that these children are working as hard as they possibly can to catch up. But it's hard to catch up when you have nobody to tell you that you matter. And it's hard to catch up when you don't have somebody that's consistently there for you. When the turnover rate is like 80%, how is a child supposed to feel safe at school, safe enough to open their mind and their heart, >> right? >> It's not just about the staff. It's not just about whether or not your statistics are going to show that the the test scores went up went up, which we're working our best to do. >> It is about student peace of mind. We are raising people, not robbots. >>
026That's right. [applause] >> The last point I want to make is this morning we had a meeting and we were told that we are some of the most passionate individuals in our district. That you guys have been in our classroom and you saw that we are the some of the most passionate individuals in this district. We want to be at Cliff. We want to make a difference. But if we're so great and we have such passion and we're the right people for this job, why would you take away the person that put us together? [applause] My name is John Paul Moses. I support I support Angela Strong. Thank you. [applause] Marisha Bright. >> Marisha Bright. >> Miss Right. >> You step forward and state your name and address for the record, please. >> My name
027is Misha right 545 Cotton View Drive. I will give you I have lived in Wall Pache for 5 years. I have kids at Howard and I have a son who is autistic who is at Cliff. I have been through now my second principal, the one before Miss Brown. The only recommendation she had for my son was to have him repeat the grade. >> There was no how can we help? How can I help you? I don't know anything about autistic kids, but I have one. When I met Miss Strong, I first saw her announcement on social media. The very first day of campus, my son was so petrified of going to the school, he hid under the chair in the office. Miss Strong stayed with my son and helped me. I don't know what she
028could have done, but I know she's a good person and a good woman and an amazing principal at that school. And for you guys to snatch her >> like a thief in the night from that school is wrong. >> You ought to be ashamed because you did not give her the opportunity to continue to grow our school. She does an amazing job. Our kids love her. The staff love her. and the fact that you guys did not take the time to get to know her and see her value and her worth to just drop her back into another school without a care in the world for the rest of us. You ought to be ashamed. >> Yes. >> I don't appreciate it. You don't care for my understanding because I don't see it. You sit
029here. Everyone is here. We support Miss Strong and I need answers on why she was snatched away. I think that at this point in time, we deserve an answer. We're here. There's t-shirts made in a matter of days to come here and support an educator that was here. I wish and I don't know what the what the plans are for our school. And if academics is the case, you have then you're not looking out of what's going on in the rest of the world. Kids are hungry. They're tired. But they're expected to do well in school. >> Right? >> At the end of the day, my son has had for first grade a teacher that was out of this world. Her name is Copeland. She helped me. She helped me get my son to a
030place where he would walk into school. He did not hide in the office. He walks to class by himself. that >> Miss Strong was also instrumental in that. So if you don't do anything else and if you don't listen to anything else I say, please, please bring her back because we need her at this school. Thank you. [applause] Dr. Donna Marks, [applause] Dr. Donna Marks, >> step forward and state your name and address for the record, please. >> Good evening, board president, trustees, superintendent, I'm sorry, my name. I am the honorable Dr. Dino marks 1100 Peach Drive in the honor of the city of Dodto, Texas. Good evening, board president, trustee, superintendent, and members of the community. I am here, I come before you this evening as an advocate for our students and staff of
031Cliff Elementary. I stand before you with 31 years of educational experience, retired. Since retirement, I have served the students at Marvel, North Side, Fely Wedgeworth, Shackerburg, interim principal at Finley and interim director of transportation and now Cliff. So when I speak about the needs of Cliff Elementary, I do so with both a professional lens and a prof a personal heart for children and the educators who serve our children day in and day out. I've seen firsthand what can happen when a district steps up with intentional equitydriven support and I know what can happen if it doesn't. So tonight we've heard the concerns. So now I want to come to you with some possible solutions and I share those specific supports that are needed from you as a district. These supports we do think will take
032us from an F-rated campus to a C-rated campus. I was one of the ones that was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Miss Strong and certainly I ran this by her and certainly I want to make sure that her plan continues to move forward. What can you do? Number one, you can adjust staffing formulas to include equity waiting for sped and economically disadvantaged students. Yes, >> because as you know sped is 22.3% economically disadvantage stands right now at 66.8% >> to assist with behavior. Unfortunately, you allowed the counselor that we had in place to leave >> that we only found out this morning that she was gone for good. >> What? >> Include Cliff. Number three, include Cliff in the 2025 2026 district facilities plans, the sensory and refle reflection room upgrades. Number four,
033designate a math and science instructional coach and a regional 10 partnership for tier one curriculum alignment. Number five, provide a district attendance liaison for stronger partnerships with community organizations because as you know attendance effects it goes into discipline that takes you out of the classroom which goes into the test scores that you so look for. Number six, designate cliff as a priority retention campus with differentiated stipens and reduced non-instructional duties. Number seven, provide a district funding family liaison or a social worker to coordinate parent workshops, mentorship programs, and community connections. Number eight, adopt a three-year improvement compact with quarterly board updates to define support metrics. What I'm asking for isn't charity. I'm simply asking for partnerships. It's not about aligning district resources with campus. It's about aligning district resources with campus realities and giving every
034child a fair chance at success. >> And finally, I'm asking for consistency in leadership >> by allowing Miss Strong to continue at the at the helm with the aforementioned supports. With these supports, Cliff can and will rise. When it does, it won't be a victory just for this particular campus, but for Watson GISD. So, I thank you for your time, your compassion, and your continued commitment to the children we serve. Although I realize that you cannot give any feedback at this time, but certainly I hope that you would give it every consideration. I yield back the remainder of my time. [applause] >> [applause] >> At this time, the board's going to convene into close session according section 551.001 EDSC of the Texas Government Code. It is now 5:34 643. The board's going to reconvene back
035into open session. We're going to go a little bit out of order. We're going to skip to action item A, which action item A will be consideration with possible action to approve the hiring of the new assistant superintendent of secondary learning. Hi, good evening board and Miss McCutchen. After a comprehensive search and interview process, I'm pleased to recommend Mr. Jacob Perry for the position of assistant superintendent of secondary leadership. He brings over 25 years of experience in education, demonstrating a deep commitment to student success and organizational excellence. In his career, Mr. Perry has served as teacher, coach, assistant principal, principal of both high school and middle schools and director of curriculum, student services, and facilities. Given Mr. Perry's extensive experience across instructional leadership, campus administration, and district operations, I recommend his approval as assistant superintendent
036of secondary leadership. >> Okay. Board, I'll entertain a motion to approve action item eight. So move. >> Motion by Mrs. Timberman. Second by Mr. McCuty. Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. I. >> Post say nay. Motion carry. 70. Congratulations. [applause] >> Is this when I get to say thank you? Well, board uh Miss McCutchen and rest of the cabinet, thank you so much for this opportunity. U been home done a lot of roles as you you've seen and I I can't wait to get to work and I just really appreciate this opportunity. Also want to thank my team. A lot of my dream team is here and my wife and my son Caleb and some of my teachers for being here. I mean Cole, I do that all the time. we go through
037all three names, but thank you for having uh your confidence in me and I really appreciate it and I'm ready to get to work with you. [applause] Ready? One, two, three. Good job. That's awesome. Great. >> Appreciate. Thanks. Okay, moving back to our report section. We'll move to report eight, which will be our superintendent report. Okay, board. Uh, it's my honor to present my short report to you tonight. Um, first we'll start with enrollment and um this takes us through October 31st, which is also the um snapshot date for um um for for the state of Texas. So, the our current enrollment was 11,182 on October 38. And you can see our attendance is 95.75%. We'd like to see that at 96% but if we can keep it in the high 95s that would be
038good. Okay. Um want to talk a little bit about executive council and was able to finish uh our meetings up for the fall semester today. A couple of weeks ago um we met with elementary students and you can see we had a great group there from all campuses that were represented. Also on that same day we met with junior high students separately. And um then today we actually finished up with our high school and just in talking to the group from last year, the junior high students really felt like um they wanted to meet outside of the high school. So we we did split this up into three and so that was really great. Um had camp all campuses represented and of course we provide lunch for them and that helps and then just really
039listen to their feedback about how we can how [snorts] we can get better. Schools are for kids and that's that's what we move forward with. So I enjoyed it. Um I think some of the other cabinet members were there and it it's really rewarding to be able to do that. Also want to thank the education foundation for all their support. Um we do have our shirt for this year. I know some of y'all received those as well and um we'll be wearing those first Monday of every month in support of the education foundation and just appreciate all the staff members that that pour into this foundation. It does make a difference. Bless you. And then want to just spend a little bit of time um congratulating our most recent state qualifiers. So the band as
040we know Spirit of Watsah Hatche Indian Band did qualify for state. And then also um our boys cross country team and the entire team qualifi qualified for state. And then we have two individual girls that uh ran at this at the UIL state meet. So to be able to make the the the final round in any competition is amazing and competing at that highest level is it's just so neat to see our students do that. And I know we have our student recognition board meeting coming up on Thursday at 6 PM. And so um I won't spend any more time really talking about all the kiddos because y'all will get to see them on Thursday. And really that is all. Does anybody have any questions or anything I can expand on? >> Thank you, Miss
041McCutchen. >> Thank you. All right. Our next report will be ourformational bond 2023 construction update. Mr. Mott. Moving forward, Miss McCutchen, I'm going to give you the May 2023 bond update. So, we're going to talk about the Coleman track and field. You've heard me talk about it. I will give you some good news. Is on the last Friday, Friday the 31st, the actual encore was out there and pulled both poles out. Um, I'm sorry, they did it last Monday. Spectrum was out there on the 31st moving [clears throat] their lines. So last Monday, as you can see the tire tracks across that one there in the left, that picture on the left, that is actually Encourse tires driving across to get a pole that was there. Then they came and removed the other pole of
042the track. So now everything's moving along a little faster and they can move move on and we'll be starting to see some finishing there. You can see the uh discus uh cage there is in and then the shot ring there is out as well. Um, we will still see once we were able to lay the actual asphalt, there's a 28 day waiting that the asphalt has to sit before the track can be put on there. There's no, we can't wait for 20 days. We can't do the 21. It has to be 28 days. The asphalt has to sit. So once the asphalt goes down, we are on 28 day waiting period for actual track service to go on. We'll go to Wet Creek as you can see. Um, this is still the rendering for the
043building as you can see there. So then we are still doing some lots of concrete pores. We're still constantly going. We'll have three more this week. Um we're not having last night or tonight because it's a little cold in the mornings for that, but we will have the rest of the week as long as the weather holds. We're looking at uh doing the first second floor probably next week is what it's scheduled at. So we'll actually to understand that that's a big deal because now that means that we have really gone vertical and we're getting things [clears throat] on the vertical surface. are moving along. So, um we're doing that in the kitchen. The kitchen is probably the hardest thing to do on any part of a building cuz there is so many pipes, so
044much electrical, so many drains, so much plumbing and you have to be perfect because once all that poured in, oh, the drain's 5 in off. Machines don't go 5 in off the drain in the kitchen. So, it's a big deal there. So, that is a we've been waiting for that one to go through. You're still seeing in ground electrical and plumbing all going out through all the different areas. Iron iron work crews going all utilities are complete. U we're working with textile to get our final approval on the highway 77 entrance. So that would be our easement through the as you know we do not own property right up next to Highway 77. So it would be an easement we have going through there to have an entrance over into the parent uh I mean
045sorry the buswood drop off and staff parking. You are seeing a lot of work going on along 77. I want you to understand is that is this that is the city. They're putting a new water line in going down 77 and then it will turn and go across the front of the building. So that is them putting that in. So that is getting water to our site which is something we need very quickly because we need a little bit more pressure if we are to need fire fire protection. We're at the bare minimum we can do um right now. So here's just an overview site. I'll have you some more, but just so you can kind of see there. Right now, the main thing we're pouring, you're starting to see is we're starting to do
046a lot of parking lots. So, if you see there in the middle on the right of the picture on the left, you can see in that upper middle, you can start to see three pieces of that parking lot, which is a student parking. That third one was poured last Friday morning. And then you can see on the picture there on the right, all that steel sitting there on the ground. That's where the next section that's going up there. It's to the right of that concrete wall. start to see some of it. But just to understand that's one section of the building. That's not all the building. That's just one section. And so you got to remember we have A through J out there and that is one layer of steel sitting on the ground. So
047understand we don't have all the steel, not even close to the steel out there. We literally bring in one section at a time. So here's some views from the corners of the property. You can see as I was telling you is that is the second location for that crane to be moved. That is a good progress. It means we're moving on through it. Probably by the end of the month, we'll have a second crane out there in the back by the fine arts. That's what we're seeing right now. As long as we can get um some good weather to hold off, we're going to look to probably have a second crane out there. But that area you can see there on the left of that picture on the left there. You can see that first
048floor. You can see through there. That is where we'll be pouring next week. As you can see, like I said, we're starting to see a lot of it go in um and start to make a move. picture on your right you can see that is looking over and that is the fine arts area. So that is your um actual the FAC is whatever performing arts area whatever we're going to whatever is going to have the acronym out there but you can also see it's the practice room the black box those kind of things there that are in the um the block area there. Here's two more. Um looking back across you can see in the upper left over kind of by where you can see the football field layout. That is your two auxiliary gy
049gyms. we were able to pour those already. Um, we had an opportunity to get in there and do it. One thing about gyms, you don't have a lot of plumbing. You don't have a lot of electrical on the floor. So, it makes life a lot easier to pour those things. Um, and then picture there on the right is again, this is looking across, you can see there in the bottom of that picture on the right, that is actually your indoor football field. We're finishing up the grains around it and getting ready to start doing work in there on that. Then we go to Proposition C. Just so you kind of know, these are some of the things we're looking at. Those are the big objects we're looking at. And most of this is probably going
050to be next summer. I mean, I know everybody's like, "We're already looking at next summer project." Yes, I am. I'm looking next summer. I think the first one is on for tonight on there. And that we're looking at because none of these are small projects. It's things we have to look out, have to plan, have material order prior to a lot of those things. There's a lot of different things throughout multiple campuses. This is not just like they're moving lockers and cubbies. maybe a three or four different campuses that one thing's going on. So there kind of give you a little idea of what all we're looking at for next summer and different things about vision. Any questions for me? All right. Thank you'all. >> Thank you, sir. Okay. Our final report will beformational report
051on mascot and color selection for Washi Creek High School. Good evening board and Miss McCutchen. Thank you so much. We are so excited to be here this evening. I actually am not going to speak much to you. I did just want to um uh jog your memories and not reintroduce you, but I'll [clears throat] give an introduction here to Cody Jones who will lead us through this this evening. >> Okay. Hi y'all. Um, I'm Cody. I'm the creative manager of VLK. I like to tell everyone I'm not an architect by trade. I'm a graphic designer. Um, so what I do is work on branding for our campuses, developing big logos, doing the graphics that go into our campuses once they're designed. So, for the last um about year and a half um I've been working
052on the brand with y'all's district um for Wahashi Creek High School. So, we started last August with an initial meeting with the district. Just wanted to walk you'all back through kind of all the steps that we've taken to get here. Um we came and presented to the board in October of last year and then we kicked off our community forum meetings. So we held three different community forum meetings, one at Coleman, one at Finley and one at Howard. Then we held two branding meetings this October. The reason for that gap in time was to wait for the theater to be established for the high school so that we could refine that committee in order to be a more tailored group. When we got to these branding committee meetings, we had some really good um interest
053in that committee. I think we had 30 something people. Um so a really really good group for a process like this. Felt like it got a really round um conglomeration of voices um and people within your community and students um teachers in in that group. And then here we are today, November 10th. This is our board presentation to show youall the results of that process. Um, so really quick review of our first step, which was our community forums. Uh, we went to three different nights in a row for our community forums. What we asked everybody to do was to take a look at the teams you'd be playing, the people who you'd be up against on Friday night on a football field, right? And ask them, "What do you see on the helmet? What do
054you see on these logos?" your community went through and identified things that they saw a lot of that they didn't want to repeat, styles that they liked and disliked, um, and competitors that they generally were wanted to make sure that we stayed away from. That was step one at our community forums. Step two at our community forums was to collect mascot concepts. So, we went with talking about our heritage pathway, our nature pathway, Texas themed, alliteration with the W, and alliteration with the C. and we took submissions from your community um for those mascots to develop a list that would be taken to that committee later on. We also discussed the colorways. So at the time the color way that we talked about was talking about your different greens in Waha. So you guys have
055your district green which is that Kelly green for Waha ISD and then that dark forest green for Waha High School. So what was discussed at the community forums was moving forward with that green and and your community gave us a list of colors that they wanted to bring forward for that next step. As a result of the community forum review and we came out with nine different mascots, the Vice and the Buffalo, the Wranglers, Warriors, Indians, Siminals, Cougars, Bears, and Rattlers. And we came away with five different color combinations. So we took all of these to our smaller branding committee and in meeting one what we started with was our color typologies. So we built a board of each of the different color typologies including Wakahhatchee High School for comparison. And we put these out
056on big like 4ft boards for everyone to study. The reason we do this is to show y'all the application of uniform to make sure that you're not getting too much dilution of your color and that both of your high schools have equal parity and access to costumes for fine arts and dance theater as well as our uniforms for soccer, football, track, all those different groups. Um, the reason we do this is to test the feasibility of color combinations because what we don't want to do is promise you a color combination, say green and navy, that does not exist. Um, it was originally one of the color combos that it made sense. It looked really good together and then when we went to test fit it with uniforms, it doesn't exist, which is going to cost
057you a ton of money. Um, so what we want to do is make sure that when y'all are coming up with color combinations and uniform combinations that they are easily accessible for your coaches, they're easily accessible for your directors. And we're not going to create something that has to have a custom solution for your district for years years moving forward. The next thing we went over in that meeting one was a mascot discussion. So, we pulled through mood boards for the eight different mascot submissions, put these up, and asked everybody to discuss them at their tables, pitch out to us why they were passionate about one concept or another, and then go up and actually vote on the different mascots so that we could pair this down for meeting two. As a result of meeting
058one, um, Bison initially had 47 votes. We had 39 for the Rattlers/The Copperheads. We had 13 for seinals, then nine for bears, six for ramblers, and zero for the other four. Um, when it came to our colorways, the light blue combination with waxahhatchee green, high school green, it had 46 votes. And then in second, we had the royal blue with the waxahei green. That one had 38. And then we had a golden green as a third option that was carried forward. We took those forward to meeting two. And in meeting two, we brought them three different colorways and four different mascot concepts. So, at the end of that meeting, the goal was to pair this down to options for y'all to select. The way that we do this is we take these colorways and now
059that they've seen them in real life application with uniforms, we apply it to logo concepts. So, the next thing that they saw was a board for each logo concept before the bison, the Rattlers, the Copperheads, and the Seinals. And each one of those was shown in our three color combinations that they had voted to move forward. We let the committee gather in their teams and discuss and come up with their preferred options. We then asked everyone to share out as a group so that we could have some kind of common consensus within our small group and then within our large group and then we asked everyone to get up and vote together. As a result of this second meeting and after seeing that color combination together, almost unanimously the royal blue and the kelly green
060were selected by the committee. There were 15 votes for the gold and the green. Uh but the biggest point that everyone brought up with that color combination is that it is exactly dotto. Um, and while we talked about the blue and the green and that some blue is in Mlotheian and we do have some blue in colon, I'm sorry, global, um, the blue is not the same blue as global and we don't have the same overlap in athletics and the other programs with global and with Wachi Creek as you would with Wachi Creek and Dodto. Um, so that one was strongly preferred by the committee for that color combination. And then when we got down to our logos, the two preferred logo combinations were the bison um and the bison came with some debate on
061the nomenclature. Um so the mascot itself um was widely supported. We were equally split between the bison and the copperheads. Um they were good with our word mark with Wahashi Creek High School. where the debate came in was whether they wanted to be known as the Bison or the Thunder. Um it was so split that by the end of the meeting um I had discussed with them I was just going to bring it to y'all. Um and if Bison was the option that was selected by the board, the board would then choose between Bison and Thunder because they were equally split as a committee. Um and we were not going to be able to get to a resolution point on that. So there are different options here. Um, the way these are designed, y'all would
062end up with a full suite of logos, whether that's athletic logos, it's academic logos, it's full names, but what we just showed you here is a small sample of how that mark could be applied for the campus um to show the color combination and then just the two different options here with the bison and the feather as well. And then the second option um and these were very very split in the voting between bison and copperheads. They the committee felt very strongly that they would be good with either of these options for the high school. Um the copperheads was the second preferred option. So we have the Wakahashi Creek High School logos. Here we have the C with the snake working its way through meant to um be similar to the W with the arrow
063going through it as well. They wanted to have a mark that had some of that similar parody to Wasachi High School. And then we have the copper head straight on. wanted to see something that they could put on the football helmets and those are the options there. Do y'all have any questions about that process? >> That was great process. It was a lot of fun. if you want. >> So, will this be brought back for action in December? >> If y'all have any questions you think of at a later time, we have direct contact with Cody said she can answer those or if you have any concerns or want to see anything um modified yet more than that. >> I do have one question. So with the basset on the copper, will it be the
064lady facet or the lady copper heads or what's the thought process on that? So a lot of times with our animals, we don't see a lady version. Um but also that's completely up to y'all andor the campus and what they end up adopting. I was a viper in high school. Um we did have lady vipers as our female mascot. Um but it typically it balances between campuses and what they end up doing. There was discussion with the bison about being concerned about being the late bison because they didn't want to be known as Heathers. Um, but that was where that discussion came by with the Thunder and the Bison. >> Can I get a copy of the logos and the color schemes emailed, please? >> Say, I'm sorry. >> Can I get a copy of
065that emailed? >> Yeah, if if I could get a copy of all, I'll email it out. >> Yes. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Next item on our agenda is item seven which areformational items A B C and D are included in your board packet for you to for your uh for your information only. So we will move to consent agenda which is item eight on our agenda. Consent agenda items A through H. Probably the shortest ones we've had in a while. So consent agenda items A through H are up for consideration. >> Mr. President, I entertain a motion to approve consent ag consent agenda items A through eight. >> Motion by Mr. McCutchen >> Second with Mr. Pittz. Is there any discussion on the consent
066agenda? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Post say nay. Motion carries 70. Moving on to action item action item B which will be consideration with possible action to cast votes in the selection of the Ellis County appraisal board of directors election. Mr. Cton. >> Thank you sir. Good evening board and Miss McCussen. Uh tonight we're at the end of our little process here for uh appointing potentially uh up to two people to the Ellis County uh appraisal district board of directors board. You may remember back in September we started this process. Uh we had to have at least one nominee into the appraisal district before the uh middle of October. At that point um the appraisal district would come back with all of the nominees. Uh there were five four nominees. Uh
067we nominated Mr. Tim Cummings. Um and then you have 337 votes to apply to nominees. The nominees um need 667 votes to fill a position. Um unfortunately due to state law, tonight is the only opportunity that you're going to have to cast your votes for any of the four nominees. board. It's up to you and your discretion as to how you would like to allocate your 337 votes uh for a an appointed position on the Ellis County Appraisal District Board of Directors. So, with that, I turn it over, Mr. President, to you uh for a recommendation from the board and a resolution. >> Who are the other people we can uh >> uh your other nominees? You have Mr. Cummings, you have Walter Irwin, who currently serves on the board of directors. You have Miss
068Sher Lanin and you have Nathan Potter. >> I normally don't make recommendations, but the only name that we discuss as a board as our soul nominee was Tim Cummings, and I don't think it makes any sense to divide our votes amongst more than one individual. >> Agreed. Um, Mr. President, I move that we allocate all 337 votes uh to Mr. Tim Cummings for the Ellis County Appraisal District Board of Director votes. >> Motion by Mr. Pence. >> Second by Mr. Schoolfield. Any other discussion? >> All in favor say I. I. >> All say nay. Motion carry 70. Thank you, sir. All right. Action C will be consideration with possible action to approve EAF effective advising framework grant funded stipens. Good evening board and Miss McCutchen. So we're here tonight to ask for approval for stipens
069that have been requested for the effective [clears throat] advising framework grant. As you may remember, this grant was discussed in October regarding what the framework covers and how it helps students with success across WISD in multiple areas. The total amount of this year's grant is $110,000, which is a decrease from the previous two years. Um, and within this grant, only 20% of that amount can be used towards stipens in alignment with TEA guidance. The grant language specifically lists stipens only in relation to this 20%. As TEA knows and understands, the scope of work will be additional to what is contracted or required from staff within the district. These stipens are paid through this grant awarded and will not affect our local budget in any capacity for the work being undertaken by the committee members. So,
070when looking at these stipens for approval, it's important to note that the amount of monthly additional hours that will be dedicated to this effective advising framework and grant range from 10 to 25 hours per month based on responsibilities aligned with the grant for each person. So, those hours for each committee member were written into the grant and submitted to TEA for approval. And that work is required for the success of EA. So it's a total of approximately 80 to 200 hours annually per person or total for the whole committee. Um so the scope of the work for the year um would be paid or excuse me the stipens would be paid in either two payments split at the end of each semester or one payment at the end of the second semester. So listed here
071for you are just a few of the responsibilities that the committee takes on for this grant opportunity. So board, I'd like to recommend for your approval for the stipens for the EAF grant to be paid with grant funds. What questions may I answer for you? >> I know you answered this that it would have no impact on our budget. If it's not approved, you lose the money. >> Correct. >> We don't necessarily lose the money. Um we we TEA has been awarded the grant and so uh has awarded us the grant. So the grant is here. Um the scope of the work would would suffer because without stipens um I I don't know what scope that would look like for a for the committee. Right now we have a robust committee that helps region 10
072with other committees and other districts. um they're one of our um we're we are a shining district for region 10 in this effective advising framework grant and our committees put a lot of time into it and so while the grant funding is here and could potentially continue I don't know what scope that would look like >> and so it's grant funded so next year if we don't have the grant monies then it would go away >> this grant would go away now the framework and the all of the steps that they've put into place are all going to continue. We've created a really robust system of advising for our students, grades fifth grade through 12th grade. So, that will continue. Um the funding that helps out with things like the Blitz days or the CTE
073certification prep, if we do not apply for next year's grant, th that extra funding would go away. Anyone else? Okay. I entertain a motion to approve action item C as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Schoolfield. Second by Mrs. Timberman. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. Nay. Motion carries 70. >> Thank you. Our last action item will be consideration with possible action to approve target improvement plan tip for Clif Elementary Marvin Biomed Academy and North Side Elementary. >> All right, it's me again, Ward. Thank you so much. So, in the packet, you have a copy of our targeted improvement plan that's going to be submitted to TEA for your approval. So, the tip covers three campuses for WISD. We cover Clif and Marvin Biomed. that is for a comprehensive school
074improvement plan. [clears throat] We also are required to submit a continued uh targeted improvement plan for North Side Elementary even though they've made great progress over the past few years and they're currently rated to be campus due to receiving grant funding through strong foundations for their federally targeted status that they were two years ago. So for all three campuses there are requirements from TEA that we must adhere to for the plan. So each campus was required to hold a stakeholder engagement meeting to address their accountability ratings and all three campuses held these public engagement opportunities last week with Clif Elementary being on Tuesday with their state of the school meeting and Marvin and Biomedical and North Side Elementary being on Thursday evening. So, additionally, student outcome goals were set in conjunction with the region 10
075representative. Um, and those are listed on your in your packet, and I will show you those as well in just a minute. Um, in addition, our school improvement strategies and specific milestones had to be identified for Cliff and Markman specifically that align with the supports provided by the approved provider through strong foundations. >> Did you have very many people come to the to those meetings? uh Clif Elementary. I think there were 12 um staff and parents there. I want to say um that was the number. I did not get the opportunity to attend North Sides Marvin's um it just had zero. No one showed. So, okay. So here before you you can see um that our student outcome goals are required by TEA and each of the campus sets here in the five areas identified
076by the state. So all of these goals are set in relation to domain three which is growth um in the meets category for these areas. Um if the campuses are successful in reaching these goals for the 25 26 school years, Clif would uh come out to be a D on the accountability rating while Marvin would come in at a C and North side would remain a B. These goals were set for Clif and Marvin in collaboration with the region 10 representative and the campus administration. And so it's important to note that this process for um Clif Elementary will be a two-year cycle. while Marvin and North Side are in the one-year cycle. >> I've got a question and I know this page is left out, but in our folder um where it talks about those
077meetings, one [clears throat] of the bullet points say, "Is sure that the board conducted a hearing regarding the plans for each campus identified and the board posted the plan on the district website prior to the hearing and I looked all over the website and I couldn't find it. Where where could I find it?" So when we looked at that with our region 10 representative, a region 10 representative advised that that is actually this um actionable item here. And so it's not a hearing so to speak as in an open hearing. It's actually an actionable item. And so with it being posted in our agenda packet um and us talking here today that meets that requirement. So, this saying that the board posted the plan on the district website, it's we don't have to have it
078on the website. Is that what you're saying? >> It's currently there with our agenda. It's so our plan is part of our board packet agenda and it's there currently on our um you can click on our website and find it there in our agenda. >> Okay. I'd Oh, on the board book. >> Yes. Yes. >> So, anybody anybody can get to the board book. >> Correct. It's well it's part of yes our board uh packet that is on our I think it's called board book on your on the website on the W school board website >> school board but can other people get to it? I know I can get to the board book but everybody can. >> Yes, ma'am. Oh, everyone. >> And I think um Miss Lockidge is going to send that out
079later on tonight with her board group briefs. She's also going to add that into the boards packet when she sends it out. >> Okay. Now, I will add that um our region 10 representative um when we saw her on Thursday, she walked campuses with us. When we saw her on Thursday, she shared that the Qualric survey that I will submit through Teal through I am that actually has these items in it. Um that some of the wording is different and I so I assume that's where she knows that the wording about the hearing looks different. >> Oh, okay. >> All right. So in addition to state expectations, we've implemented additional supports for the campuses through our TLI team. So here you [snorts] can see consistent supports in place that are being provided specifically from TLI
080staff for both Clifton and Marvin. And recently we've begun implementing extensive unit planning times for both campuses for each module with our TLI coordinators for math and RLA specifically in third through fifth grade teams. So and also our MTSS coordinator is working closely with the MTSS team at Cliff to ensure we're meeting the intervention needs of the students and modeling interventions for specific grade levels. Mrs. Morris and I walk or I either one we walk campuses weekly in instructional sweeps and we debrief on our observations, celebrations and next steps um on any actionable items we need to take and these are some of the key areas that our team has supported and will continue to support the campuses throughout this year. Um additional supports we put into place as needs arise and are brought to
081our attention as well. any questions I've asked answered on those sports. >> I'm I I guess I'm just out of place here because what's in our book doesn't look like this at all. And I've got questions all over what's in my book. But >> yeah, because the book is what's presented to the state. This was just >> Okay. Well, I've got a question on this. Maybe you're going to show it, but uh there's a bunch of not applicable that's crossed out like um how many district staff members would you be reporting for capacity building and it says not applicable? >> Yes, ma'am. So those are the things that are crossed out are actually part of what would have been a TAP um uh which is a more comprehensive and a level two had we been
082this would be our second year as a as an F we would be in a TAP plan instead of a TIP plan. And so that those pieces are needed and actionable items required as part of that targeted >> oh okay >> plan versus the one that we're currently on. We're kind of on a phase one or step one plan with the targeted improvement plan. >> Okay. All right, that makes sense. Any other questions? I've got another one. If is this it? >> This is it. >> Okay. >> So, it says capacity building. So, if I'm taking what you just told me, that's not for this because we're not to that stage yet because it says like a capacity building campus principal uh years of experience as a campus principal and it says not applicable. >>
083So, that's again that's part of that that tap. However, yes ma'am. So, however, we are doing capacity building with our principles. Um, specifically, we've been attending or we are attending, we've attended one so far. We're going on the 17th of November for the flips, which are leadership um instructional um trainings at region 10. They're actually part of the TAP plan, which is the more [clears throat] um harder plan, but we're attending them because we want to make sure that we are building capacity in our principles. um the principal from uh Marvin, the principal from Simpson and I uh were able to attend that back in October. Uh principal from Clif was not able to attend that day. And so um we have another one that we are attending November 17th and and again uh in
084December and and in January. So we're attending those together along with our region 10 representative and then meeting afterwards to be able to talk through next plans, next steps and plans. Okay, thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Anyone else? >> All right, so board, I just I would like at this time to uh recommend the approval of the submission for the targeted improvement plan for Cliff, Marvin, and North in accordance with TEA requirements. >> I entertain a motion as to approve action item D as presented. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mrs. Tman. >> Second. >> Secel. Any other discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> Post say nay. Motion carries 70. >> Thank you ma'am. And our last item I need a motion to adjurnn. >> So move. >> Motion by mle.
085>> Second by Mr. Pence. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion carry 70.