001United States. Yes, I'd like to say a prayer. Dearly Father, we want to thank you for this day. Thank you for the businesses before us. We just ask everything be done. We just thank you all these things. Okay. So, tonight it's my pleasure to formally announce uh Mr. Steven Cox as our new assistant principal at Hollow Sixth Grade Campus. Mr. Cox brings more than a decade of campus leadership experience to White House ISD. A proud US Army veteran, he most reluctantly served as a principal of Central Heights High School, where he led efforts to improve academic performance, expand opportunities for advanced coursework, strengthen campus culture, and increase family and community engagement. Mr. Cox has served multiple districts where he has helped implement initiatives focused on student achievement, behavior supports, and family involvement. Throughout his career,
002he has been dedicated to serving students, supporting teachers, fostering environments where all learners can thrive. His leadership philosophy emphasizes clear communication, high expectations, relationship building, and continuous improvement. Mr. Cox is joined tonight by his family. So, we'd like to introduce him and then you'll introduce your family. ready. Thank you. Congratulations. Hi everybody. Um I am Jodie Bullard and I am the chair of the school health advisory council and I'm just here to give you a little bit of an update on what we've been doing this past school year. So, uh, our big project for the year, we were focused on the mental health of our students. And we know that the kids in school today are known as the anxious generation. And uh, not that we can solve all of the world's problems in one
003event, but we decided to at least chip away at it and help improve uh, the mental health of our graduating seniors by providing them some skills and some tools that they can put in their toolbox. And what we did is the shack partnered up with Mr. Spates at the high school, nurse Harris, and a whole lot of community partners that I can't even start to name. And we put together this event for the senior class that was held on May 20th in the morning. The first part of the morning, the students attended what we called adulting 101 where they rotated through stations to learn different skills. Uh we had an automotive station where they learned about vehicles and things that they can do to help maintain their vehicles or what to do in emergencies. We
004had a station on interviewing to teach them interview skills. They had a financial station that they went through to learn how to build a budget. And then they also had a station where they learned about emergency preparedness. And to if they attended all of these stations, they were they earned tickets that they were able to can take and use to bid on prizes that were donated by the community. And some of the prizes that we had were MacBooks, uh laptops, $500 gift cards to Target, uh just different things that the students could use to help them prepare for moving out of the house and onto a job or college or whatever it might be. And then the second half of the morning, we had um an opportunity for them to have community together one last
005time. So, we followed up adultting 101 with a final field day. And so, they actually got to relive their elementary school experiences. Uh, we brought we had a very uh generous donor in the community who um provided Kona Ice for them. They played tugof-war and all kinds of different uh field day games in the den. They even got to dunk um Mr. Spades in the dunking booth over and over and over again. Um, so this was a very successful event and I don't think Mr. Space is tired of us. So, um, we plan on improving upon this next year and turning this into something even bigger and better for our graduating seniors. And then also um another thing that we do as the shack is we have the uh high school wellness graduation cord that
006students have an opportunity to earn by um going through a series of videos that teach them about healthy behaviors and healthy healthy lifestyle choices. And this year we had 31 students who completed the program and graduated with a health and wellness honor chord. And also uh if the students who do participate in this, they are entered in a drawing for two $500 cash prizes that were provided by our community um members as well. And also just a little side note, uh Brownsboro ISD has also picked up on this event and added it this year themselves. And that's all I've got. Thank you, uh, Dr. Whittle, Dr. Robbie, members of the board. Uh, we're just going to take a few minutes to give a a brief update. Uh, I'm not going to belabor a lot of
007this because, uh, most of it is what we covered in April. This is just the updates. um just a few of the items we want to address just some of the changes and so we're really only going to talk about the variables that have changed and then the steps being taken and then we'll have some time for questions and discussion if if there's any of that. Um the first thing we want to talk about uh tonight is our average daily attendance and enrollment. Um I I want to point out that uh well let's just go back and kind of have a little history lesson. Um right before CO hit uh we were at an all-time high in enrollment. Um and then of course during COVID we lost uh quite a few students. We had a
008two-year recovery after that and then we had uh uh two years since then uh where we decreased. Once again, there were a number of factors involved in that. This past year, and it's in it's in the green up here between 2024 and 25 and the 2526 year, um we had a pretty significant recovery of uh enrollment and average daily attendance. And we attribute a lot of that to our um uh our new transfer policy. Uh many of those students that uh that number of enrollment uh increase is more or less uh what our transfer uh students account accounted for that. And so we have a ADA increase of 125 students between the two fiscal years. Um and we had estimated that our um based on our enrollment and our enrollment increasing we had estimated our
009ADA and we beat that estimate by 32 students. And so uh there's going to be a budget amendment in consent items and much of the increase in revenue is attributed to that uh increase in ADA above what we had budgeted to begin the year. Just a simple uh graph here. This is just to show you graphically uh that uptick. The blue line is enrollment. The red line is u our ADA. And uh also I want to point out on this that we have had a kind of a correction of our uh normalization if you will of our uh relationship between enrollment and ADA because our uh attendance rates have started to normalize a little bit. And so instead of those lines starting to spread out like we had talked about and kind of diverging from
010one another, um they're starting to track together uh like they had normally. At the April meeting, I presented to you some uh we're going to call them pre-preliminary uh certified values because they were they were before the certified estimate. And so, um, this is an update to that because we realized or the Smith County Appraisal District, uh, realized that they had not included the increase in our business personal property, uh, exemptions and so that, uh, decreased our net increase in property values. Uh, so we we have an updated number there. This is our certified estimate appraisal ro growth of $260.6 million. That's a 7.6% increase. This is the same uh budget and tax rate timeline that I uh shared with you at the April meeting. Uh we had talked about at that time that most
011of the action on uh revenue estimates and the factors that that go into that is between mid to late July and early to mid August. And so we're still well over here on the left hand side of this timeline. We did we have ticked past the April 30th um date there, but that was for the certified estimate that we uh talked about earlier. I just want to take a few minutes here on this slide and and talk about uh the steps that are being taken. Just because uh we don't have a lot of the information to make our revenue estimates uh doesn't mean we're sitting on our hands. Um we continue to monitor our student teacher ratios for staffing. Uh we continue to receive personnel and expenditure requests and those are being reviewed and um
012we're assessing the positions as they come open uh for the need for reorganization for redistribution of duties. Um and then uh some of those positions uh just keep in mind were added with uh ESSER funds. And so as those funds have gone away uh we're we're we're having to reassess. Uh we're losing some of our revenue sources while costs are going up. And so it it makes uh makes it harder to provide the same level of service and operations with a a a kind of a contracting revenue stream. Um, these same sentiments were uh echoed in the uh information that I shared with you. There was a Texas House Public Education Committee hearing. There was some testimony given by superintendent last Monday uh from around the state and all of those things were echoed uh
013those same topics. One other item uh that I want to point out that is different I mean that is uh on the funding side and this is the main difference between funding uh going into uh versus 2526 is the special education funding changes and we're continuing to monitor those. Um the state is moving to an intensity of service um model for that based on uh targeting students needs. And the first steps of that the commissioner has been charged with u creating a model to disperse the funds that are committed for that. The first step in that is to collect data and that data collection is going to stretch into early November. And so, uh, keep in mind we have to adopt a budget in August. And so, we're going to be making some, uh, fairly
014major estimates, uh, to to get to that point at our August meeting, uh, our last August meeting. Uh, just a few of the examples I want to show here of additional items that have been requested and and considered. we have uh increasing special ed uh special education costs both on the payroll and non-payroll end and um that was also an item that was mentioned in that uh Texas public education committee house education committee um the testimony and it's it's a issue that is uh is statewide. It's a it's a funding issue. It's a uh the contention is that it's a underfunding of our special ed as that population continues to grow. Uh we have uh technology needs. Uh the main one of those being our Chromebooks that are being funded out of an alternate source
015right now and we're needing the need to bring those back into our general fund budget and match those up with current revenues. We have extracurricular requests. Uh it's it's time for new band uniforms. That's a pretty item. Um, travel is increasing, our travel cost, meal cost, our cost for um, officials to officiate our gangs. So, everything just continues to go up and u, I think we all recognize that even personally, uh, we have the increase in cost of health insurance for our employees. 35.1% increase in premiums is is what we were quoted. Um, keep in mind that was a two-year lag. we were guaranteed those rates for two years. So, um we're trying to provide value to our employees by providing good coverage at a uh at a fair price. So, that's something else we're
016considering. And then, of course, pay increase scenarios. We're trying to give what we can while still being uh fiscally responsible. And that's another challenge that is uh that's not you know that's not just specific to us that our peers uh around us statewide are facing the same uh types of types of uh concerns and challenges. So um that's really kind of where we stand at this point. If there are any questions uh clarifications discussion feel bad at this time. >> Yeah. So, I mean, we're up and I I would think our ADA would be up because we continued our enrollment continued to grow uh throughout the year. And so, we were getting uh we kind of have a weighted average uh of enrollment leading to that ADA. And so, uh getting our enrollment up at
017our highest point really at the end of the year um should get us off on a on a good foot to start with. >> Yeah. And I appreciate the question. It's really difficult uh to build a budget with variables you can't touch, right? And so I'm I'm thankful to Clint, his crew for trying to to put together a guesstimation so we can we can move forward. The challenge is u which has been reported is you've got uh vouchers and we've had you know 51 52 53 current students that applied for those vouchers and so you don't know how many were awarded of our students and how many are actually going to you know take that and jump into that. Meanwhile, so you don't know if your if your total enrollment is going to decrease. At
018the same time, we still have uh folks calling and asking for tours and people applying to be an out of district transfer, which we're grateful for. Uh in terms of staffing ratios and models, it's really a delicate balance because right now, as you guys know, our enrollment continues to swell because no one's withdrawn from school yet, but people are enrolling and and so we look really healthy, but we don't know what's going to happen as people don't show or access that voucher or move in, move out, whatever the transient nature of some some of our of our families. So, uh, all that is a guesstimation. Um, but we we've been holding right around 4,900. And when you think of 4,900 and you have 170 something transfers, it's significant. When you got 20,000 students in the
019district, that's not that's not that big of a deal. So, we're we're thankful that people want to be here. We're thankful. We remind our our folks all the time that um, you know, we get them in here. We got to keep we got to treat them right. We've got to work hard to uh to provide a great product and a good service that they want they want to keep getting because the reality is in today's time and folks can go to Chapel Hill, Tyler ISD, Bullard and and they do and so it's it's on our principles and our teachers to be the best version of themselves every day and make sure that we stand up and teach our our you know teach our butts off and and make sure we give a good product. So
020all that to say we don't know but uh proud of the work that we've been doing. Hopefully we can sustain that steady growth, >> correct? There's a window which they had to apply and then they get awarded it closes March, maybe the beginning of April. And so those families have been awarded a voucher. What we don't know is they going to access that money and actually do it. Are they going to homeschool? Are they just going to they just want to see if they can get it? Um we don't know. They don't they don't we don't know who those people are. Um but you know 50 spread across our district. It's I don't want to lose anybody. Those are enrolled in our schools, sitting in our seats uh this spring. Um and I don't suspect
021that window opens back up. I can't remember the exact time, but it's early early spring and there's a defined opportunity to apply award and they can't do it now. Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Good evening, Dr. Robbie, Dr. Whittle, and trustees. Uh, first up this evening, we're going to review uh some trend data of our dual credit offerings for the 2526 school year. Um, as we work through this presentation tonight, you do have some updated pictures of current seniors and some of the activities that they engaged in as they finished out and walked across the stage last month. So, I hope that you recognize some students and enjoy those as well. This presentation is directly aligned to our board goal to ensure that we provide relevant learning experiences to ensure college and career readiness for
022all of our students. Uh we are proud in White House ISD to actually work with two dual credit partners both TJC here locally uh in Tyler and also Texas&M Commerce which allows us to provide our students with a wide array of different dual credit offerings in order to pursue both technical and academic pathways. We currently have the following course offerings in both our CTE or technical side of dual credit at TJC. those stem from trade-based professions uh into professional career tracks as well. Um and then this past year we offered 10 academic dual credit courses through East Texas A&M with our students having the opportunity to earn up to 41 college credit hours while they are still high school students with us here in White House. Uh, in order to participate in dual credit courses,
023our students have to demonstrate that they have met TSI or Texas Success Initiative requirements. Uh, there's a number of ways that our students can do that. Uh, that can be done through the TSIA assessment that we offer our students. Uh, that readiness can also be demonstrated through those traditional tests uh that we are accustomed to taking the ACT, SAT, and PSAT as well. Uh in order to take academic dual credit classes in the English domain, which includes your Englishes, your history, um art and psychology, you have to be TSI ready for English. And then for math, you have to be TSI ready for math. Uh something that we've talked about over the past couple of years is a change in requirements when we moved our pre-cal and cow curriculum from TJC over to East Texas
024A&M was a more rigorous requirement as it related to readiness to enter into pre-cal. Uh so there's a couple of different ways that we address that. We've given our students the Alex test in the past uh which they only had to take if they had not already taken college algebra because at East Texas&M as many universities across the state credit for college algebra or a certain highle score on the Alex is required in order to go into pre-calculus. Uh something that we approached a little bit differently this year was we gave all of our students who were in algebra 2 honors this year. We actually had them sit for the SAT this spring. And so by having them participate in the SAT, uh we had a number of our students who were going to go
025from algebra 2 into pre-cal that were able to bypass that Alex requirement because they performed high enough on the SAT. Uh, so we have a healthy mix of students that are going into next year either pre-cal straight from algebra 2 or they're taking a dual credit algebra and dual credit statistics courses next year, one in the fall, one in the spring, which then will automatically make them eligible for pre-cal the following year. Uh, this year, uh, these are the totals for our class of 2026. We had a total of 210 enrollments in technical dual credit which equal to 598 credit hours earned in those CTE pathway aligned courses. And then in academic dual credit um and again this is just comprised of juniors and seniors primarily at White House High School. We had 1,185 enrollments.
026So obviously you can see by those numbers that there's a lot of students that are taking multiple dual credit courses simultaneously and our class um our juniors and seniors this year earned a total of 3,531 credit hours. So that's certainly a lot to be proud of for our White House ISD students. Um as we look into the future, uh here you'll see some images from elementary career days this past spring. uh we start early in our district kind of exposing students to different careers and what their options are after life in high school. Um but we want to ensure that anything that we're putting in front of our students is meaningful and not dual credit just for getting dual credit. Um so we're very thoughtful as we add courses um to try to create a
027profile where our students have the opportunity to be core complete. Um, and sometimes you'll hear about the difference between students earning an associates degree or being core complete. Um, and in our conversations with some of our IICHE partners, specifically East Texas A&M and UT Tyler, it's of a great benefit to the student um, if they're going into a 4-year university to actually have that core complete because that's what allows them to start taking those specialized classes in their field of study. Um, so we want to offer that. Um, last year I came to you and I said that some needs we had were for some more government courses and also for science course in dual credit. So I'm happy to share with you that for next school year for 2627 we are adding Texas state
028government as a dual credit offering and we're also offering public speaking. U those are courses that contribute to that core complete status um and are highly transferable across different universities in the state. Um, as we look into beyond 26 27, we'll start to talk about next year some shifts that are coming in CCMR, uh, the state is changing what that's going to look like and how our students complete and earn that CCMR status. Um, primarily dealing with the tiering of different industrybased certifications. So, not too much to report on that tonight, but just to let you know that as we work into next year, that is something that you can expect to hear more about. All right, and last but not least, um, as was reported to you when we talked about Shaq, here's some
029images. I thought this was a fitting end, uh, to this presentation night tonight to look at some of the fun things that our seniors did as they wrapped up their house high school experience with some guest stars in the audience tonight that are that made the slide deck. Um, but with this, I would welcome any questions or conversation that you all have. Absolutely. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> And uh this is not really dual credit related, but uh you want to share with them a cosmetology update? >> Yes. So um great news. We had our cosmetology inspection last week and on our first pass our cosmetology lab was certified. So we have our license to operate our cosmetology studio or workshop here in White House. Uh so we will start in the fall. Um I
030want to say don't don't hold me to this number but we had I want to say around a hundred students uh that have expressed interest in that uh CTE pathway and we will start with those courses in the fall. The goal is over the first two years for those students to earn their 100 hours. You have to have a hundred hours before you get to work on people. Uh so we've got mannequins, all sorts of equipment over there in our lab space. uh they will be clocking in and earning those hundred hours over the next two years um before they go to our partners at uh the Salon Professionals of White House and actually start to earn those additional credit hours that are needed to get their license. Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Fantastic.
031Well, um I want to share with you tonight some intent to apply for grant opportunities. Uh this of course helps us to make sure that we are being fiscally responsible and looking at all avenues in order to ensure that we are procuring funding for our district and in order to bring um those enhanced opportunities for our students. So first tonight, this list of grants, these are entitlement grants. Uh you may remember these because these are on the docket every year. Uh first is the ESSA. Those are our title one, two, three, and four grants. And primarily those are used to pay for intervention teachers um and some salaries at the district level to support interventions. Uh the second is a Perkins grant which goes towards CTE salaries and the third is the sped consolidated grant
032and that pays for both campus-based and districtbased special education staff. So those are very important um grant opportunities that allow us to continue to provide a high level of service for our students. Uh the next is this is actually a competitive grant. So this one is not guaranteed. Um but our CTE department is interested in applying for the innovative services special populations grant. Um what this will give us the opportunity to do is to um you know that we already have a clothes closet at our high school to provide students with uniforms and appropriate clothing that they may need for job interviews. But with this particular grant we want to buy some of the specific items that they need for internships. So think things like scrubs, think things like steeltoed boots for um different a
033fields and for welding. So, this is really an opportunity to provide um hopefully procure some funds that will allow us to provide an additional service to our students uh to alleviate some of those stress of materials as needed. Any questions about those opportunities? Great. May I proceed? Perfect. Thank you. All right. Perfect. Finally, this evening we have TASBY policy update 127. So, Remember back in November, I've brought before you update 126, which you approved in January. Uh that was a lot of cleanup from the 89th legislative session. Uh this list that we're bringing before you now is much smaller. Um of course, we keep our policy up to date to ensure that we are in compliance with all local and state laws. Um but also to make sure that we are responsive to the needs
034of our community. So, uh, tonight is first reading only for nine local policy revisions. Uh, this will bring us into full compliance with all of the changes from the 89th legislative session. And so, we'll come back in August and ask you to approve those. That way, they'll be in effect before the start of the 2627 school year. Any questions about that? Okay. Thank you very much. um this uh this item is simply refinancing of the mortgage. Um we're we're seeking no additional debt here. We're seeking uh no extension on the maturity. Uh simply reduction in interest rate to provide savings. on on our 2016 issue. you many of you some of you will recall we refinanced a number of issues in 2016 and kind of consolidated those and this is uh we've met the call
035date and so we're we're asking to refinance again uh to reduce the interest rate again and then we will uh probably follow this up again next year by uh asking for this same action on the uh the bond that we passed in 2017. 2017 issue which is much larger. Yes. All right. Dr. Robbie, Dr. Whittle, board of trustees. Tonight, we wanted to give you our annual update about special ed cameras. Uh this is uh based on Texas Education Code 29.02. And so, although this is a mandate for us to do, it does align with our board goal to a safe and civil environment uh that is responsive to the needs of our students and our community. So, a little bit about it. Every year you have to initiate uh the activation of the cameras. Uh
036it does have to be in written consent. Um that can be done by a parent, an assigned staff member or by the board of trustees. And once you get a request, you have seven business days to either authorize or deny and then 45 days to install and make the came active. So, you can also uh do it also by early AR. Um but the fall deadline would be that we have them up and activated by the 10th school day. So, this is a single year mandate. So, once you uh say to turn on the cameras, it does last for one year. So, if we want to renew it, uh we have to come back to the board and renew it every year. Um and then uh if we choose not to, we have 10 days
037to be able to tell the parents uh that those will be deactivated. And for any reason that you ask to deactivate them in the middle of the year, we would have to give them a five-day notice. That is not a typical process, but that is an option that we have. So, tonight we ask for you to consider and approve uh to authorize the installation of new cameras if necessary or add monitoring equipment uh in self-contained education settings as requested uh by the school board uh pursuant of state regulation to begin recording on the first day of the 2627 school year and end on the last day of the 2627 school year including the extended school year services. Do you have any questions? They do. Most of them are um already equipped and they already are
038working. Uh the only thing we would have to do is if it's relocated, we would have to relocate uh that software. Um, in this item, we're simply asking you to uh approve for us to sign an engagement letter with uh Patillo Brown at Um they're a highly qualified uh audit firm with a dedicated audit team with high levels of expertise in governmental audits and uh especially schools and projected lower costs the How long? Thank you, Dr. Robbie, Dr. Whittle, board of trustees. Uh, tonight we would like for you to um, uh, take action for Blair Buchanan to be considered for the director of special programs for White House ISD. Miss Buchanan brings extensive experience in special education, student support services, and district leadership. Previously serving as a director of special programs at Chapel Hill ISD,
039uh where she led special education section 504 and MTSS initiatives while supporting campuses in meeting uh diverse needs of students. Throughout her career, uh, she has been committed to building strong systems of support, collaborating with campuses, um, and ensuring students have the resources and opportunities needed to succeed. Her experience as a district leader, coordinator, and school psychologist provides a strong foundation for serving the students, staff, and family of White House ISD. So, at this time, we ask that you approve her employment contract for the 2627 school year. Okay. So, at this time I would like to bring her up and then uh she sorry. >> All right. So, please join me in welcoming her. stickers. >> Load them up. I look good. >> Y'all ready? >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Yeah, they get their tablets
040all night and sugar. All right. Okay. And the next item tonight, we bring before you Ashley Gropel as our recommendation for principal at Holloway Sixth Grade Campus. Miss Gropel brings a wealth of experience to our district, most recently serving as the assistant principal at Tyler Legacy High School, where she has excelled in mastering, master schedules, curriculum implementation, instructional leadership. Her background includes serving as a coordinator of special services and educational diagnostician in Greatvine Collville ISD, as well as a strong foundation as a classroom teacher and coach. Academically, she holds a bachelor's degree in communications, a master's in educ special education, and earned her principal certification from Texas&M Commerce. With her deep deep expertise in student intervention, professional development, and collaborative leadership, we are confident that Miss Gropel will inspire excellence and foster a supportive environment
041at Holloway. We are excited for the incredible future ahead under her leadership. So at this time we formally ask you to approve her employment contract for the 2627 school year. >> All right. So All right. So, it's my honor to formally announce Miss Gropel as our new principal at Holloway sixth grade campus. And she's here with her family tonight. Thank you. Congrats. All right. Um yeah, thank you. Um just a reminder to everybody that we are on summer hours through the end of July, which is Monday through Thursday, 10 hour days. And so if you look for us on Friday, uh we won't be there. Uh so anyway, just a reminder that uh the campus is kind of shut down. We kind of shut down different hours, but wanted to make sure publicly everybody knew
042that. Uh, additionally, uh, graduation was great. We, uh, we got everybody graduated across the stage. The rain held off. Uh, we look forward to doing it again. I guess the stadium, people have asked and several emails came in about why don't we have it indoors. Um, we can't find a we can't find an East Texas location to to house the number of graduates we have and then not limit attendance by families. So, we have opted to try to try to make sure that we have it outside so we can have all family present and we don't have to give tickets out. So that'll be our goal again next year is to have a backup plan should weather become an issue. But luckily weather was not an issue. It got a little dicey there at the
043very beginning. If you were there, you know, but uh we crossed our fingers and said some prayers and got through it. And then lastly, just a reminder, we did not have a July board meeting. And so, uh, we will begin, thankful to our maintenance staff, um, and all our guys. We are going to, uh, begin tomorrow morning burying that cable that so many of you have tripped on today. And, and I'm super thankful, uh, for for our guys who are going to do the work. Um, and we've got just a contract, just a small portion of it, just to just to pull the wires and run the cables, but the rest of that will be done by our guys, and we're super grateful for them. But this room will be out of commission for the
044next couple days and no July board meeting. So, I just want to make sure everybody knew that as well. We'll see everybody again in August.