001e e e for e e e s e e e the board will have 5 minutes to speak on his 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 patrons no action can be taken on any issue presented during the patron comment section of the board meeting patrons addressing the board will be notified when they're approaching the last 67 so they allotted time to speak when I call your name please step to the podium and state your name and address for the record please Mr Rogers to my left which would be your right will be the timekeeper he will let you know when you have approximately one minute remaining to speak our first speaker will be
002Andrew White please step forward and St your name and address for the record please sir sorry I was way back time's up sorry hey okay good evening board community thank you all for coming out tonight so I want to start out by saying name and address please oh I'm sorry this microphone's a little different uh Andrew Wyatt 119 Panorama Loop wache Texas I want to start by saying that I understand the role of a board member is a very difficult job uh you all are given information and often forced to make decisions based on the information that you've received so I want to start out tonight by saying uh first I appreciate the work that y'all do and I know that you don't make your decisions uh you don't take them lightly over the last
003couple of weeks I've been trying to talk to as many people in the community as I could about uh many things going on in our community but one of those of course is the most divisive curriculum product ever in the history of walks at GD and that's amplify but I do want to say uh I appreciate Miss Stephanie Foster at Northside Elementary uh she reached out to me and talked to me about what their experiences have been at Norths side and I appreciate the fact that she took the time to call me to talk to me and she even had some of her teachers reach out and I know some of those teachers are here tonight I believe and I appreciate all their voices okay and many of them are for uh using amplify in
004the classroom and so I know it's a tough decision that if y'all have to make it tonight but you also have the other side and those teachers and parents that have major issues with this curriculum product for all the reasons that I've discussed before I won't go into those tonight but I wanted to present the board members because you are the ones responsible for the decisions that are made in this district and you're responsible for holding the superintendent accountable so I wanted to share a little bit of data with you all the first page is a sheet that I received it's it has fifth fourth and third grade uh this is from Miss Foster's campus that she provided to the board candidates and I I wanted to show and I think Miss Foster made a
005few changes after I got this copy but there has been growth at Northside and I I think that's something that needs to be celebrated because they it it appears based on this data that they are moving students and I think that's something that needs to be celebrated but I also have a second page of data and I'm not sure if the board members have ever seen this data these are the interim scores from February from all of the campuses and it's not a perfect picture but let me just kind of run through these numbers and I'm presenting this tonight just so you can ask questions before a decision is made about is amplify effective Cliff Elementary third grade 47 fourth grade 41 fifth grade 50 done away I think it was 40 48 53 60
006FY 59 62 63 Marvin 48 44 59 uh let's see here can't read the other one Shackleford 46 5561 Simpson 59 6567 wedworth 42 3847 and wman I believe it was 56 5469 so I'm not sure if you'all have ever seen these numbers but these are the numbers from February four of the schools that are using amplify are on that list I guess my question is what other data have y'all been provided to make an informed decision before we Implement amplify at every school that's the first question another question I have is and I hope I'm wrong and I know I'm almost out of time uh several people told me today that work in the district that some of the amplifying Eureka sources arrived on Friday at the warehouse but I think y making a
007decision tonight to vote on these resources so I hope my sources are wrong but to me it just sounds interesting that you all have not even voted and possible resources were delivered on Friday to this District just a question thank you [Music] all our next speaker is Courtney Sutton please step forward and state your name and address for the record please hi I'm Courtney Sutton 1200 North VI drive here in wachi okay I'm a little nervous sorry all right so hello board members Dr Hollingsworth and fellow wachi residents I stand before you as a first grade teacher here in WD been teaching for 5 years uh we've embarked on the Journey of amplify and I just wanted to share my experience with you all so in first grade we started with the fables and stories
008unit in this unit our students increased their vocabulary their reading comprehension they learned valuable lessons about ethics and behaviors became familiar with key key elements and parts of the story at the end of this unit we got to use our teacher craft we put a little spin on it we dressed up as the characters from the stories our students went through the rooms they we did milk in the the milk in the maid pill and we had a teacher like they got to milk a cow and they like a little thake cow they loved it their vocabulary has expanded vastly our next unit was my students favorite and it was the human body um unit in this unit students were introduced to a network of body systems organs that perform vital jobs uh students learn
009the fundamental parts and functions of five body systems the skeletal the muscular digestive the circulary and the nerves and the narrator of the story was a pediatrician that shared Rhymes and reinforced basic ideas about the human body my students created medical books of each body system they got to write two to three sentences about each body system they completed a huge paragraph at the end of everything they learned about the body system uh we did a hospital day and the students got to have a white coat ceremony they um they were heard saying I want to be a doctor just like Dr Dr wellbody Who was the narrator of the stories uh throughout our journey I've witnessed a remarkable transformation in my classroom the kids are not only learning but they're actively engaged they're retelling
010the stories they're using stim bins to retell tons of stories using vocabulary and they're diving into new topics like civilization we have written friendly letters to dinosaurs and fairy tale creatures and characters we've used Vin diagrams to compare and contrast stories we wrote Narrative retellings of their favorite fairy tales wrote an informational text about the history of the earth students completed research projects on habitats along with many other pieces of writing throughout the year implementing amplify has not only enriched our lessons but also gave me the freedom to plan exciting activities from three dressed up days toap to online fi trips we went virtually to the moon the students got to see the moon walk on the moon explore we got to go to the dinosaurs and talk to them about how the asteroids going
011to make them extinct so watch out so in essence ailly has breathed new air and new life into my classroom and the way that the curriculum is prepared for me to internalize has allowed me to spend more time with my family and my friends thank you Mary low step forward to state your name and address for the record please hi thank you so much um your name and address for the so my name is Mary low and my address is private for personal reasons thank you to give your address then um it is confidential for security reasons I speak at a lot of school boards and I don't want my address announced over that while I'm away from my home thank you so there are many things about amplify that you already know the main
012thing is that you know you were lied to about its content the cost of it was hidden from you and the outcome of the results was also manipulated by the Education Service Center I want to talk to you about why I know so much about amplify I think it was the P first non uh School member to know about amplifying Crowley Texas when we came back from uh Co every teacher was astonished by the content Crowley did not see any results and they had it for two years now they're beholden to it because they can't afford anything else because they invested in that they were a pilot program things in there like do you have on panties I mean the content is ridiculous so for you to even consider this is like why why would
013you go there so let's consider outcome you have Temple saying that their outcome for reading and there their improvements went up so I called the superintendent and we had a lengthy conversation and he said yes immediately postco we saw a rise but after a period of time it tapered off and it was not the only curriculum that we used we used it in combination with three other sources and so I think if you're really wanting to see Improvement you're going to talk to some people who have seen Improvement not people who have the baked books that the state is providing you on amplify so why would teachers want this teachers are being lied to they're being sold a concept that defunds and destroys their profession at this very minute the State Board of educ ation
014is revising a requirement that teachers will no longer have to take ethics or write lesson plans because what they intend to do is abolish the teaching profession so I grew up near wah hatchee your community like my community relies on your school to employee people your employment is going to go down drastically within five years of adopting this type of curriculum you need to think about the impact not just on the students and the profession of teaching but your community this will destroy your community finally this abolishes local control once you take this you have given up your right to pick up and choose the curriculum that you use because you are handing over the state the next piece of the puzzle to mandate Statewide curriculum in every subject matter that is the agenda and
015if you will go and follow what's happening at the tea and with tppf you will see that next year the sboe and you are going to lose your right because that's what they're going to push and you're not going to have a choice if you guys really care you'll cut your budget in other ways and go to tried and true curriculum and stop falling for this lie now then why would a superintendent not investigate feather well because you look around and this Texas Education Agency is closing schools right and left all of our superintendents in Texas are feeling pressure that if they don't do things the exact way this tea and this state Governor wants you to do you're going to be closed down they're investigating schools not just for their rating but for how
016they appropriate CTE funds they're coming for you and if you don't stand up here and somebody else doesn't stand up in another city then you can kiss freedom in independent school districts goodbye in the state of Texas you can either be a part of the solution to where we are or you can hand them your piece of the puzzle and close the door thank you Meg bage step forward and state your name and address for the record please uh my name is mag backage I'm not going to give my address for the same reason we already have it great I'm here tonight to again encourage you since you've already have it uh to employ the same thought process you you this board used when it decided to test ampli amplify in four schools to see
017if it delivered the miraculous and immediate Improvement in test scores it promises the district has not yet even seen one star cycle or any data to give reason to vote to push amplify on every campus so then why is the board moving ahead without seeing the results it delayed full imp implementation last fall to see who is pushing amplify and why if you're not asking can I see who is financially benefiting from this curriculum you need to with no data proving amplify has been tried and proven successful you must vote no it's not good for the students while this year the district received a grant for $350,000 there is no Assurance if you read the bill or reason to believe you'll receive it again the following year when new workbooks are needed what's going to
018happen the district will then use amplify on a device which as I stated the last time I was here hb65 is a vendor digital curriculum bill that mandates a minimum of four hours per day per student on a device so when you hear teachers this year saying we use workbooks my response to them is maybe today but you won't be tomorrow because waxah Hatchi can't afford to refresh those workbooks each year and what happens when the devices become obsolete which we all know they will just look at your iPhone and how many times have you had to replace your iPhone because it becomes obsolete that's what's happening in districts around the state and they can't afford the refresh of the devices as fidu fiduciaries you must vote no the best decision this District can make
019is to protect local control by not allowing a state curriculum to take over the district when teachers don't create lesson plans and districts don't have a voice in it's curriculum control is totally lost and parental rights have gone down the drain this is the goal of the tea Brian Harrison your representative knows that amplify contains bad content doesn't teach children to read and write well and openly Advocates teaching diversity equity and inclusion Brian Harrison is fully aware that amplifies a colossal fail throughout the state I will give him a hall pass for not being here tonight because I'm sure he has a busy schedule but I hopeful that he has done the right thing for his constituents and contacted each of you to encourage you to hold off on adopting any state at curriculum especially
020amplify it's so clear the best investment this District can make is in a strong academic curriculum great teachers who write their own lesson plans that can be used year toe and tailored to each child's individual needs as necessary a state curriculum does not do that and I'm reading right here that this environment in waxah hatchee respects individual differences well when you're learning a state curriculum and it's on a device it doesn't respect individual differences it puts everyone in the same box and a teacher is nothing more than a facilitator following a plan that doesn't suit their her her classroom or her students it can't be personalized at all um let me let's see and now I'm going to speak to the teachers and parents as I did last time it's imperative that you work together
021and that teachers inform parents to the shift happening in the classroom that's reducing the role of the teacher parental rights while children aren't learning to read and write and do math and then it is incumbent on parents to show up at these meetings and to be the voice for their children teachers if you're not aware of what's happening at the State Board of Education as Mary just said it's time to recognize that morath and the tea is doing everything possible to reduce your roles they are actually discussing the new certification program not even having lesson plans in it the effect of this to your profession will be devastating and at that point any robot can do the job and the worst effect will be for our children one minute ma'am I'm GNA I'm just going
022to end with not only is the tea working to to diminish the role of the teacher but without doubt they want to remove your roles and the and the voice of the taxpayer and you all I'm sure have seen that we we're seeing it in Houston we're seeing it throughout the state you see it with the reason for the District of innovation that gave the power to an appointed commissioner to come in and remove locally elected trustees and replace them with their own appointed boards that is just so you all are aware literally the cancellation of every vote here everyone who voted for you their vote would mean nothing that is the loss of our freedom in our constitutional republic you guys have got to stand up against the tyranny in the tea you have
023to vote no to this bill you have to start taking local control and putting it back where it belongs with parents and with teachers in the district and with y'all thank you next item on our agenda will be our consent agenda we have two items items A and B I'll take a motion to approve both items on consern agenda or we can discuss them individually I make a motion that we approve both agenda items motion approve cons agenda items A and B by Mr Tim second second by Mr Scholfield any other discussion all in favor say I I post say a motion car 7 moving into our action it our action item a will be consideration with possible action approval of the hiring of the Simpson Elementary principal good even in board miss m i
024are thrilled to bring you two very highly qualified principal candidates this evening our first is the pr new principal of Simpson Elementary and our recommendation is to hire Miss Christy Bragg Miss Bragg is an internal hire who has mostly served as an who has most recently served as an assistant principal at Clift Elementary she has 10 years of education experience seven as a teacher and three as an administrator she holds both bachelors and master's degrees from Charlton State University in Stevenville Texas so I'd like to introduce you you already know but to Christy brag and I'll give her the mic for just a second have this time I'll entertain a motion to approve action item a which will be the hiring of our El princip present Mr mccut second by Mr Rogers any other discussion
025all in favor say I I most carry 7 Z thank you so much um first off I am honored and thrilled to introduce myself as now the principal of Simpson Elementary starting in 2024 25 school year I'm super excited um as a product of walk haty I myself I'm currently raising two of my own in WD so I'm just thrilled to carry on the walks Hatchy traditions and our values and just really just pushing on all everything that we're working for I'm excited for our future and again I'm just honored to be the leader of Simpsons so thank you you have anybody want to introduce your husband oh yes I have an awesome husband too Corey Brad [Applause] falling down on the top [Music] Mr [Applause] all right thank you B consideration of possible approval
026of the hiring of the wedworth elementary principal all right we are thrilled to bring you Miss J Dr Julianne Denton as our candidate for wedworth elementary principal board Dr Denton comes to us from Oklahoma City Public Schools she has 10 years of experience in education she holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma a master's degree from the University of Central Oklahoma and a doctoral degree from abalene Christian University board we ask that to uh approve um Dr nitton for principal at w wedworth Elementary at this time I entertain a motion to approve Dr Denton as the principal of Wedgeworth Elementary so moved by Mrs Timberman second second Mr stator all in favor excuse me any other discussion all in favor say I I most car Z we are so excited for uh Dr
027Denton to be joining us here getting your back into Texas we're very excited about that and I'll turn the mic over to her sure good evening board Dr Hollingsworth WD team and visitors I am so excited to be joining The waxahachi Independent School District I grew up in Texas but have lived in Oklahoma for the last 14 years met my sweet husband Casey over there in Oklahoma we actually met teaching first and fourth grade in an elementary school in South Oklahoma City so education and public education um is very near and dear to our hearts We love kids we love teachers and I'm so excited to serve the Wedgeworth uh community so thank you so [Applause] much Mr is hiding okay [Applause] we be removing action item C so we'll move to action item D
028which is consideration with possible action to approve District instructional resources for the 2024 2025 school year and Beyond good evening board Dr Hollingsworth I first want to thank our teachers I've got a lag here in my slides sorry I first want to thank our teachers that came tonight to speak in favor of these products but I also want to thank them for the incredibly hard work they did this year from classroom to classroom campus to campus I've seen teachers working hard to make sure that their students are growing academically and I've been really proud of the work that we've seen here in the district we came to you last September with a plan to address what we knew has been a problem in WD in relation to our English language arts and reading curriculum we
029requested the purchase of amplify K through 8 you requested that we do more research speak with teachers and conduct a more thorough program analysis we returned to you in October after completing your requests and we asked for the purchase of Amplified Texas for elementary school campuses you graciously approved the purchase and pilot at four of our campuses which began using Amplified Texas on October 23rd 2023 I know that date so do all the teachers on the campus because that's when the hard work really started on those campuses since that time we've worked closely with campus administrators instructional coaches content Specialists and teachers to implement the product at these four campuses in addition we designed an instructional flame framework plan for Eureka Math our science coordinator led a teacher committee to review our selected Proclamation year
030science instruction materials and we applied for and received almost $2.5 million in additional state funding to support teachers with these new resources starting this summer at the secondary level through ongoing collaboration with teachers we've been writing District unit learning plans designed an instructional framework and implementation plan for math grades 6 through 12 and our science coordinator also led a teacher committee to review and select our Proclamation year science instruction materials at the secondary level over the last six months I've brought teachers in administ Traders up to you to share the success that they've seen and felt in the classroom some came tonight I didn't recruit these people to come tonight they came because their hearts called them to come tonight while academic achievement would certainly be a driving factor in our strategies moving forward I've
031been encouraged by the feedback that we've received from the 85 WD teachers that were Anon anonymously surveyed during our Amplified pilot by Mrs Burkhalter and Mr odaniel at each campus their responses included that they feel more knowledgeable and more confident in their subject area they're spending less time per week outside their workday finding instructional resources and they feel that the materials have positively impacted student growth in moving to hqm like amplifying Eureka we're being proactive and adaptive in making these resources support WD students and teachers in addition to a thorough State review of these materials our wsd teaching learning and Innovation team has also reviewed each unit and story not because we feel the content is controversial or questionable but because we care deeply about ensuring that everything meets our community standards which may be
032different than those in other areas of the state Amplified Texas incorporates structured literacy principles that are rooted in evidence-based practices from the science of reading this approach ensures systematic and explicit instruction catering to the diverse needs of our students by embracing structured literacy we Empower Educators with the tools necessary to address reading challenges effectively moving away from outdated methodologies as you may remember House Bill 16005 aims to increase rigor in the classroom and reduce teacher workload by providing for high quality instructional materials and develop lesson plans houseu 1605 also seeks to increase high quality instructional materials for students it relieves teachers of certain duties relating to materials development and provides transparency for parents by providing for a tea process of instructional material review to confirm this I looked up house built 1605 and it does
033state that teachers cannot be required to use their bi-weekly planning time to create instructional materials unless there is a supplemental Duty in place with that teacher meaning unless I enter another contractual agreement I can't ask teachers to write lesson plans during their weekly planning time last August our district focused our efforts to enhance student achievement through the effective schools framework this framework endorsed by tea identifies Strategies employed by high achieving campuses and guides our efforts towards School Improvement today I'm here to share with you our progress particularly in addressing targeted School Improvement and advancing literacy through evidence-based practices tea identifies schools for targeted Improvement when one or more student groups consistently underperform over three consecutive years in our district last fall three campuses met this criteria triggering the targeted School improvement process recognizing this urgency
034we turned to the effective schools framework for guidance the effective schools framework emphasizes the critical role of the instructional core the dynamic interaction between teachers students and content in shaping learning outcomes to bolster this core strategic St staing high quality instruction materials assessments and a positive School culture are imperative strong leadership and meticulous planning are pivotal to the success of these initiatives aligned with lever 4.1 of the effective schools framework we focused our efforts on English language arts English language arts and reading curriculum with a high quality instructional material as I presented last August to you a national study revealed that 17% of students were at or above grade level only 177% tea came back and did their study and it was 19% of the lessons Dr yes sir of the lessons I'm sorry of
035the lessons yes yes as a component of this framework we submitted our own teacher created and written lessons and assignments for evaluation the analysis revealed that our submitted assignments were below the state and National percentages after extensive research and consultation with Ed Educators we identified Amplified Texas as a promising solution following your guidance we conducted a thorough program analysis and piloted Amplified Texas in four of elementary schools starting October 23rd 2023 effective leaders have a lasting impact on implementation they know how to create opportunities for change opportunities for collaboration and how to measure progress to fuel success while any kind of shift and instructional approaches is challenging initially our goal is to ensure that our students are getting Ong grade level lessons and that we're easing the burden on our classroom teachers further we are
036not seeking to remove the art of teaching on the contrary we know a students's classroom teacher impacts their learning the most we want confident teachers who use their own instructional resources as core use these instructional resources as core content supplemented with their own enrichment and differentiation strategies based on their expertise having a plan in place in the spring will allow us to maximize the remaining days this school year and the summer toward a smooth transition our principes and teachers have asked for and want to plan effectively and prepare for the 2024 2025 school year the success of our literacy initiative hinges on collaborative efforts through targeted professional development and ongoing support with a partner we will equip our teachers with the skills to implify implement amplify reading and Eureka effectively our comprehensive plan underscores the
037importance of building capacity among Educators administrators and instructional coaches this plan outlines the necessary steps to ensure that students benefit from improved literacy and reading skills setting them on a path towards academic success and ensuring that we live out our highest priority of every student growing academically every year the project to support wachi ISD and the planning and implementation of hqm for amplifying Eureka focuses on a multistream stakeholder-based adaptive approach centered around building the instructional capacity of our leaders ensuring strong engagement communication and alignment of practice with regional leaders providing timely and contentp specific support through differentiated professional learning and school-based support and includes creating a multi-year impl implementation plan for the district undergoing the vast amount of instructional change happening in WD requires extensive planning around communication our support will ensure consistent communication clear
038and relevant Community engagement and compelling artifacts to tell the story of implementation in wad GISD deliverables that will accompany our work with Ed elements includes a thorough communication plan and messaging documents parental transparency videos of the work accomplished teacher poll surveys and community engag engagement summaries Dr Hollingsworth has talked about highquality instructional materials with every staff this campus during his spring campus rounds in addition a three-page memo outlining the plan was shared with staff on April 17th 2024 our curriculum staff members have also visited individual campuses for lunch and learn sessions and we've allowed our teachers and staff to see the materials to ask questions and to get a better understanding of how the resources work together we will continue to inform and support our teachers throughout the rollout and implementation of this plan for
039Amplified Texas and Eureka Math t will provide lesson plans excuse me Lesson by lesson slideshows that are easily editable and will accompany the daily lesson plans refined District unit learning plans direct support from the 22 tli coaches and coordinators additional coaching and support for both classroom teachers and campus administrators from our district partner Ed elements Benchmark phonics will continue to be an integral resource for us in tier 2 and tier three instruction and interventions as well as our special education settings and regular feedback loops will help to inform and support our plans the instructional materials and Technology allotment was restored in house bill one to traditional levels roughly $1 billion do per bium House Bill 1605 also establishes two new foundational school program entitlements for sboe Approved instructional materials in addition to the allotment these
040new fsp funds will be managed in each District's instructional materials and Technology account so in the 2223 bium the funding was set at $61 per student with approximately 5,400 elementary students this would generate about $332,000 that we could spend on instructional materials there are no material costs for us this year for amplifying Eureka for the 2425 school year this leaves $332,000 in our instructional materials account and the unextended balances carry over from year to year in the 20242 bium funding was set at $171 per student with an additional $40 for sboe Approved materials and an additional $20 for sboe OAR instructional materials with approximately 5,400 elementary students this would generate about $1.2 million the consumable replacement costs are approximately $450,000 for amplifying Eureka for the 2526 school year this would leave $800,000 in our instructional
041materials account again I'd like to remind you that unexpended balances carry over from year to year the strong foundation's planning and implementation grants funding aims to assist the district and effectively implementing these instructional materials and providing high quality professional development for educators coaches and Lead leaders to ensure successful and sustainable implementation and the funding for this top grant that you see here year year one supports was $3,000 per teacher coach and administrator that's implementing these resources on each campus the year 2 supports which we have not applied for yet because that Grant hasn't opened up is $1,500 per teacher coach and administrator to support the implementation for year two are there any questions I can answer for you at this time drer I don't know I saw something and I don't really when I was
042reading through the grants and everything on the TA website and it said that this cycle Grant would conclude on August the 20th or whatever 25th of U 25 so are you sure that we are able to Carri the money over from year to year for the grant money or for the instructional materials the grant money would be spent this year on training for our staff and I will go through that in the next presentation the material costs for this year the materials were received in kind so there was no cost or money exchange for the materials that would be shipped to us this year okay but that's I'm talking about for the 2425 school year yes ma'am do we have I mean do we have to spend all the money that we were in that
043school year that grant money would be spent on training and professional development for next year yes ma'am so there's a difference Miss creal so on this slide this is your oh sorry on this slide right here that I'm showing you well it's not over there can you go back one go back yeah the money received was strictly for professional learning and to implement the resources and that money that he's talking about right there the 2433 that would have to be spent during this coming year on those uh professional learning and supports this money right here go back one more please there we go this money right here uh that's the part that's the instructional materials and Technology allotment that's the money that can roll forward uh from year to year as we've always been able
044to do if you have extra money in your IMA you absolutely can roll that phone that's the distinction so we're going to be adopting a science curriculum is can I assume it's going to be HQ also yes ma'am okay and that's was chosen by the teachers yes ma'am it was it's a a proclamation year I appreciate that process through it's an adoption year for our science resource so yeah we followed the state adoption uh Proclamation process for for that yes ma'am anybody else I have a list go ahead okay well my main concern is from what I hear from the teachers is that um they're leaving kids behind that there's not any remediation there's not any time it's and that the program actually them go forward you know and then also besides not being run
045to mediation there also is not anything for advancement for like our GT kids and so that's the m one of the major concerns that I hear from teachers Mr Kel one of the things that and and I've heard some of those same concerns in my conversations with teachers as I've gone around the district one of the things that I think is important to point out is that we came late to the game on starting those uh those resources we started them as Dr Viner mentioned October 23rd at the earliest and I will tell you that I know on a couple of campuses that really didn't happen until about November the 1st so uh there are builtin to these high quality instructural materials pause points specifically in amplifi Texas there are pause points that are built
046in for the very thing that you're talking about pause points for teachers to be able to emphasize uh areas where students are struggling to go back and teach pause points for young people who are excelling to have enrichment and so it is the pause points that really suffered from our late implementation of the curricula and that really was the main issue that caused us to not have as many of those it's one of the reasons that we're really here today to encourage the implementation now so that we are able to appropriately plan so that teachers are ready to start on day one in August and that will afford US those opportunities for the very things that you're bringing up so are the um so the people that are in charge of those areas like dual
047language GT the the area that they're aware of that they know that about the pause points Dr bener can you speak to ma' yes ma'am so we have a a pacing calendar that Maps out when lessons will take place and so we're working on the pacing that's something actually that this partner would work with us to develop that that concern a lot too from different and that's it was a valid concern this year because we started when we did we wanted to make sure that we had as much instruction taking place as possible and we did not have as many pause points in the fall and the spring semester we definitely did have more PA points built in and it's something that we've gone back and Revisited as we work towards a a fresh start
048in August we can build those pause points in and allow more time for intervention enrichment uh I want to go back to this particular U this that particular slide there please we can see on the side okay I really want to point out that top bullet uh and this is something that uh Dr bener mentioned obviously as he was going through his presentation but I really want to emphasize this this is something that our uh curriculum team our tli team have already begun to do is to create these Lesson by lesson slideshows uh I will tell you uh this is a practice um I I have friends in Burleson they are about two and a half years ahead of us in this process they've done this very thing for their teachers it is very labor
049intensive for our tli group however it is incredibly helpful for our teachers note that they are Lesson by lesson they are easy easily editable it's not something that they're bound to uh it is something that really just takes a lot of the workload off of the teacher and uh something that I think is going to be a really helpful thing for our folks and regarding the intervention time that's something that's built into the elementary master schedule so they all have time built into the day for intervention to take place I actually witnessed um let's see I was at Marvin uh pause that they were taking and they were working uh with some kids that were struggling there was another teacher in there and they were using that pause for that um then I just showed
050up at Northside one day I don't know if I was eating lunch with my granddaughter or what but um they were doing a pause and it was the theme kings and queens um because I've heard there's no fun left but there is and I've witnessed it in the schools and they were having a ball that day they were all dressed up as kings and queens they went in the cafeteria and they had their tea and they did dances and um I I also have asked my granddaughter um and have looked at her work and what I've been impressed with is uh how much she likes it and also all the writing that I've seen uh because kids hate to write but they're doing a lot of it which I like so so um also one
051thing that really blew me away the day I was at Marvin uh in fifth grade was the vocabulary the kids were going from um one uh poem to the next and they were writing down uh comments I didn't even know what a couple of words were and I had to ask the kids uh same thing in the a first grade classroom the vocabulary words were up on the Whiteboard and it was like really there learning these words but the kids knew them cuz I was asking so it it was impressive I think we were on the same trip we went to Cliff and we walked into a class and it was a new unit that was starting that day and I asked the young lady in third grade class that I went into what was
052this unit what are you learning about and she started to tell me and she said but my favorite unit was you know ancient gods and goddesses and Greek mythology and we learned about the body systems and we learned about this and unit one was this and unit two was this and three and she rattled off every single unit that she had learned about and the pieces that uck with her about each unit I've never had a student tell me dating back to the fall a unit that they remembered that they loved that little girl could well they're actually excited and that excitement um has really improved the discipline on those pilot campuses too because those kids are excited about learning they're focused and their discipline referrals have gone down which is very impressive too yes
053ma'am I want to something I I've sat here for many meetings and listen to both sides go backwards and forth and I honestly can't remember anything that's been this divisive in the eight plus years that I've been serving on this Flor I want to highlight one thing on here and I'm going to address some comments that have been made in previous meetings to me it's Amplified Texas key word Texas it's not the same curriculum it's being taught around the United States so that that's the first part I want to highlight the other part that I want to I want to stress and I can't stress this enough there's some concerns been about some particular vocabulary or some par particular situations that could be deemed inappropriate in some of the the literature that they read and
054I'm going tell you personally I won't tolerate it not not one instance and I I've been assured that your department is screening this okay but I'm just telling you I won't tolerate it okay so it's very very imperative that continues to happen as far as I'm concerned absolutely okay sir are you about to call for a vote uh yes maam okay well I have can I read something absolutely you can read it now or you can read it during the discussion part of the motion however um can we read it after the motion you read it whenever you want to you want to do discussion part so you want me to go and call for the vote after the vote after the vote yeah just right after the vote I I have a question first
055I'm a born skeptic okay um I test scores drive your job they drive Dr hulings worst job they drive the board members who won't be back if you know if if they're not good I I understand it full well I taught for a decade that's an exaggeration I taught for nine years almost a decade um I've been a part of a really good curriculum roll out and a really bad one the really bad one was really bad um I have people that I respect immensely on both sides of this subject and I've talked to both of them I have I'm torn I really am I really wish I was seeing a a full years worth of data you know all the way through I realized we started late and that and that's no dig against
056any party involved it's just a fact um I I am not big on government control I'm an anarchist I shouldn't say that really probably in a meeting but I do think that we need to be paying close attention to what happens and in our community and all these kids are a precious commodity as well as the employees and and especially people like you guys that are being held to the standard for a vote on your confidence dictated by a kid sitting in a room taking a test and I won't even divulge into that because I really don't agree with that either uh there's there's better ways to do that than as being forced your hands are forced I I I understand that but I I could write a test in a week that would stand
057the test of time we wouldn't have to redo it every 30 minutes and make billions of more dollars off of it I I struggle with grant money it's really our tax dollars that have gone to Austin that they're not sending back and not raising your salary and these teachers and the teachers in classrooms every day so it's I I I it's a very deep subject to me and I probably need to quit making the water muddier but my concern is this or my question is this if our test scores are not dramatically different yet next year where do we go what do we do what what's Plan B what are we looking at because I this is going to hurt some people's feelings part of our problem is in the past we haven't held people
058to being on grade level I taught school I've been in the classroom it it has been a problem um by doing this we get them all on grade level so my question is are we getting the Improvement because we're on grade level now or are we getting the Improvement because the curriculum is better I don't know I wish I knew the magic answer to that and I wish I knew how to make it easy an easier job to teach because it's hard but where where do we go from here what does it look like I'd argue to your to your question about data it's it's both and while I don't have years of data to prove that this program is going to be effective or has been effective because we've only been using it for
059a 7mon period I have years of data to show that what we were doing was ineffective you're correct and I can lean on that yes I agree with you Mr schoolfield and I would ask and or I would add to that and you know this no program will create high achieving schools across no magic bullet correct and you and I know that a big part of what we do is keep excellent principles and teachers and hire excellent principles and teachers and support them well and so all of those things have to be in place for us to get everybody at that high achieving level that we want to see and so uh I just want to add that in there we don't believe this is that amplify or Eureka are going to fix everything quote
060unquote 31 years of doing this tells me that's not the case it can be an important ingredient and and that's that's where we are and that's where in lots of conversations with our principles that's where we landed one other thing Dr bener U I appreciate that you going to shows I'm actually part of the English of Texas I know they'll let anybody in but uh anyway but but I've done a lot of reading and that's one of the major complaints is and can they buy the can they buy the different slideshows you know or did they have to make them and that's one of the major points so I appreciate that I would throw in though we do have a dual language are we going to cover the Dual language schools also will are going
061to need to be written in Spanish yes Ma and that's a m has been a major today yes ma'am I sat in here a couple of months ago with their Elementary principles and that was one of the things that I committed my team to do for them and when I sat in here Dr H came into the meeting afterwards and the meeting was described as one of the coldest meetings he's walked into but I sat with these principles and I was asking them questions and we went around the room principal by principal talk to me tell me what you need what you want the direction that we want to move forward as a district and everyone told me the same thing and then I shared my thoughts and what I felt about this and I
062committed my team to doing the additional work of providing these slides because I know that's something extra for teachers that we could take off of their PL and we volunteered we've offered up um for teachers to come and work with us if they want to and be a part of this so that they can have some ownership in this and if a certain teacher doesn't like the color or the picture or the timer that's on a slide they can edit and customize those however they want to but we're going to give you those things and I also just learned that our science resource that we'll adopt in a couple of weeks also comes with slides so it's another thing that we're taking off of our teachers plates at the elementary level anyone else I also
063wanted to say that I love Eureka as a former math teacher when I was presented I just said yippe because we're we're going back to what I consider the way that we should have been teaching math and should have never stopped teaching math um so I'm really excited to see how the district's going to improve because I I know they're going to real impressed with with that thank you anyone else at this time I entertain a motion to approve action item D which is consideration of possible action to approve District instructional resources toward the 2024 2025 school year and Beyond as presented so moved motion by Mrs terman have a second second second by Mr McCutchen any other discussion would really like for you to read whatever you want to read during the discussion part
064if possible go so we can move on to the next item I'll go okay this might be hard for me because I'm about to roll off the board and it's it just may be hard but I think all of you any of you out there that know me you know that I'm that these this is genuine coming from me I'm coming from the standpoint of someone who enrolled my first child in WD 20 years ago can't believe that I followed the district closely been an active volunteer all of that time and have grown to have a deep respect appreciation and love for so many and I have heard from many of them over this year I respect and admire our teachers and administrators and I truly believe in their desire to help our kids be
065successful no matter the resources used even though times have changed in the world of public education which that's an understatement isn't it um it is still the teacher who is the most important part of his or her Student Success and that brings me to my concern it appears that we took an approach to this program that was reactive hurried and unilateral in in the fall do districts want to emulate do districts that we want to emulate find themselves in this same spot surely we have a process in place or some type of administrative regulations for researching planning and deciding on new curriculum that involves input and collaboration from teachers and administrators and I do applaud that that's happened since you know this this all happened in the fall um but my but I I think
066the reason why we're in the divisive situation that we're in is because by missing that important step before we set the stage for a lack of ownership by staff and this is with anything which if you don't I mean that's when I ran for school board you know we we had failed bonds and a lot of that was because we never took the time to involve the community and ask them what they wanted and then once we did that we passed a bond people to have ownership then you take on top of that and add the fact that amplify is so controversial for so many reasons and it just starts everything off on a negative note I certainly applaud anyone at one of our pilot campuses that has been able to see some benefit from
067this program but I can say that I've also been told by more than a few staff that no matter what resources used if it's taught with Fidelity and accountability there should be some improvement so the question is why are we so dead set on a highly controversial one there are teachers and administrators who support using amplify but there are also plenty who don't I'm sad to hear Rumblings of Staff who want to look elsewhere some with much wisdom and experience that we need to keep around I'm also sad that we have some campuses that are successful and thriving but yet we are telling them they have to change I'm certainly not the expert here but I just really have a hard time understanding why that has to happen I don't understand why we want to
068break some campuses to fix the district can't we just allow the campuses that truly want to want it to use it as I roll off the board I'd like to encourage our district to truly look at something that I've been concerned about and voiced for a long time creating a central office culture that has a true customer service approach to assisting our employees I feel that before we mandate another program we need to assess our level of trust with our staff I also don't see how we are so trusting of the state on this topic but not on others that one that puzzles me and um and you can call me a conspiracy theorist if you want to but I mean I just see the push for amplify as another sneaky way to put a
069nail in the coffin of Texas Public Schools I mean you can be conservative and still support Public Schools I've I've I've been that way um um also on the list that comes from tea I don't see any wow districts that we strive to be like most of them are very very small districts with probably not much in the way of curriculum staff or resources um this topic is just so divisive and I have heard from so many highly respected people in this District that aren't comfortable with it so I guess that's all I have to say thank you for listening any other discussion I'll go ahead okay first I want to apologize for having this meeting on the night before a large number of our students are testing for Star if you're watching this please
070get some rest this evening you have done your best that is all we can ask it is our job to provide you the tools you need to to be successful I don't know how many of you know it but the last n years of my teaching career I got to advocate for kids I got to make sure our seniors graduated it was the best job ever now I get to advocate for all of w all of them um I've taught I've talked with so many on both sides about amplify obviously I I don't believe it is the best tool we can give you however if it is the will that that was the key if it is the will of the board I will be sure that you have every tool you need to make
071amplifi successful in WD with me it's about one thing our kids getting the best education that they can possibly offer them the tool is being chosen now I must offer to I must support it and be sure sure that all the promises that are made are carried out I pray that our veteran teachers will give it a chance but totally understand if you can the proof will be in the scores again with me it is not about the scores but about our kids learning and the teachers and our principles being supported any other discussion okay at this time all in favor say I I I all oppos say n n all right I'm going do a hand vote all in favor say I raise your hand okay four and nay good motion carries 4 three
072all right motion motion action item e it be consideration with possible action to approve a contract with Ed elements ad elements you say that add elements yes sir in your binder on page 28 you will see the proposal from Ed elements the company we have chosen as our approved partner for the strong foundation's planning and implementation grants we conducted a review of Partners after we rewarded this grant in January based on a thorough interview guide for selecting An approved provider we were looking for a partner with a desire to understand the specific context of wace ISD and how they can customized supports to meet our specific needs we reviewed specific examples of past work and how it positively affected teaching and learning in those districts specifically we were looking for a partner with strong experience
073in community engagement and communication and a thorough knowledge of the change management process as I previously shared successfully implementing and supporting the Amplified reading program as well as Eureka in our schools will require careful planning collaboration and ongoing assessment T and campus administrators will partner with teachers to build capacity as they Implement resources and research-based instructional strategies a structured literacy approach weaves together an array of skills from the science of reading and it's crucial to teach the components of the science of reading an explicit cumulative and responsive way this comprehensive plan outlines the necessary steps to ensure that students benefit from improved literacy and reading skills setting them on a path toward academic success and ensuring that we live out our highest priority of every student growing AC academically every year the project to support
074wach ISD and the planning and implementation of hqm for amplifying ureka focuses on a multistream stakeholder approach centered around as I shared before building the capacity of our instructional leaders ensuring strong engagement communication and alignment of practice with regional leaders providing timely and content specific supports through differentiated professional learning and school-based support as well as creating a multi-year implementation plan for the district an additional area of support will be to guide us in ensuring that we maintain open lines of communication with teachers staff and the community throughout this process this training and support comes at no cost to the district the support from Ed elements is covered completely by the strong foundations's Grant which will allow Ed elements to partner with us to provide 121 days of onsight training and approximately 4200 hours of Support
075over the implementation period in Year One are there any questions I can answer for you at this time question for Dr maner okay this time I entertain a motion with POS entertain a motion to approve action item e as presented Mo by Mr McCutchen second second by Mr tman any other discussion all in favor say I I I'll oppos say n motion carries 70 and our last item would be I need a motion to adjourn so Move Motion by Kel have a second Rogers all in favor to say I I motion carry 7 Z thank you very much [Music]