001Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts as we begin this meeting. We thank you for the gift of our students, their talents, their perseverance, and the light they bring to our schools. Today, as we recognize their accomplishments, we give you the glory for the blessings you've poured into their lives. Lord, we also lift up our board members and all those who serve in leadership. Grant them wisdom, discernment, and unity as they make decisions that impact the future of our schools and the lives of our children. May every discussion and choice made here this evening be pleasing to you and aligned with your will. Bless our teachers, staff, families, and community. May we always remember that our calling is to serve with integrity, compassion, and a deep sense of purpose. In your holy name
002we pray. Amen. Please remain standing as I invite Olga and Joani Nino to lead us in reciting the pledge to the US flag and the Texas pledge. I pledge allegiance 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. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. [Music] Uh, Mr. President, before Mr. Ros begins with all the recognitions, I did want to read uh a recognition that came to us uh from Texas A&M International University. Uh we had the privilege of being invited, our Maria had the privilege of being invited to perform at the commencement exercises uh for the graduation ceremonies for Tammyu. And this is a thank
003you card from Mr. Juan J. Castillo who's the interim president for Texas A&M International. And he says, "Dear Dr. Fabinho, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to you for allowing Mariachi to perform at our May commencement exercises." Their festive performance was the perfect conclusion to our ceremonies, creating a joyful and unforgettable experience for our graduates and their families. The audience's chant of otra were a true testament to the positive impact they had. You have an exceptional group of performers under Mr. Martinez's direction and you should be extremely proud of the way they represent Sapata County ISD. Sincerely, Juan J Castillo. So, I just want to uh reiterate how proud we are of the Maria and their performance at the TAMU graduation. So, thank you guys. Thank you, Dr. Theino. And good evening our to
004our board members, our administrators, and all of our our guests in attendance this evening. We have a long list of of individuals who's going to be recognized this evening. And I'd like to start uh with a particular group that u under title one part A requirements parent and family engagement is recognized as a key component in supporting student achievement and and school success. We're proud to recognize a group of dedicated parents who have attended state conferences and regional workshops truly embodying the spirit of parent engagement. These parents have gone above and beyond by by bringing back valuable educational resources, strategies, and information to support not only their own children's academic success, but also to share it with our school community. Their commitment and involvement reflects a powerful role families play in strengthening student learning and
005building strong school home partnerships. We sincerely thank these parents for their dedication, leadership, continued support in support of helping build a stronger educational community here in DCISD. I'd like to invite these parents to please come forward and be recognized. Lesie Bella, Vivana Gonzalez, Maria Susie Gonzalez, Eva Ramirez, Blanca Garcia, Dalia Mendulsa, Maria Orta, Carla Campos, Elsa Delgado, and Nora Martinez. I'd like to also invite the Portuguese The federal program staff is here also welcoming our parents. They're under the direction of Miss Nancy Guerrero. [Music] Can I invite the uh attendance recovery officers to please come forward? There they are. And they show up anywhere, right? At your home or right behind [Music] you. Are you [Music] Yeah. I mean, it's a little wide. Mrs. Yes. Right there, Mr. Gilbert. That way. Yes. Perfect. Okay. One,
006two, three. Take another one. Hold on. One more. One, two, three. Thank you. Again, I'd like to thank our federal programs department and our attendance recovery officers for all they do uh in increasing our family engagement in the district. We have another uh individual or two individuals that I'd like to introduce this evening. Uh we're honored to welcome a representative from Special Olympics, Texas, who is here to present an official acknowledgement to Sapata County Independent School District. This recognition is being awarded in celebration of the of our district's commitment to inclusion through the United Champion School Initiative. So, please join me in welcoming Miss Itel Dinad from Special Olympics, Texas to present this distinguished recognition to our district and campuses for their ongoing efforts in creating a more unified and inclusive school community. I'd like
007to also invite our school principles to join them. Miss Mina De Jesus, Dalia Garcia, Miss Patty Salan who's in absentia, and Miss Margera with Miss Nancy Gats, please. [Applause] Thank you. Good evening. My name is Itel. As I was introduced, I am the Unified Champion School specialist and it gives me great pleasure to present this to Sapata County ISD as the first of area 21, which is Laredo and surrounding areas. First district allaround unified champion schools. So that's a great and the the direction of Missina here and the great leadership and administrators support is always greatful to a program such as this to bring inclusion and gened with special education students together on the same playing field. So, we're looking forward to seeing what comes next, which is state recognition after this. So, looking forward
008to it. Mina came from San Antonio to be here with us today. So, thank you so much for this [Applause] honor. You're going to come in this picture. Okay. And like Miss said, this couldn't be done without uh Miss Christy Beas leadership. She's the goat, the greatest of all time. Okay. Front row that way. Perfect. One, two, three. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening, board president, Mr. Ramirez, superintendent of school, Dr. Tino, board members, ladies and gentlemen. It's always great to have a full house here. That means that a lot of accomplishments are happening and uh we always want to recognize our kids and we want to thank our families. It's always a great thing. So uh today it's a privilege to recognize their hard work, dedication, and remarkable achievements. We created a Google Slide presentation
009that highlights the accomplishments of these amazing students and their programs. We're going to start with communities and schools. Miss Martin Gera is going to do a presentation. It is my privilege to share the outstanding participation and accomplishments of one of our students in this year's do the right thing essay contest. A national initiative that empowers middle school students to speak out against violence through writing. This year, 12 middle schools from Laredo, Jim Hog, and Sapata took part in the contest with over,300 essays submitted. The committee selected one top male and one taught female finalist from every campus and were honored at a special awards dinner in recognition for their courage, reflection, and commitment to change. Out of all the campus finalist, one top student is chosen as the do the right thing national ambassador. Tonight,
010we are especially proud to recognize one of our very own, Adam Maris Esql, a seventh grade student at Sabata Middle School, who was selected as the national ambassador. Adamaris will represent our school community at the Do the Right Thing National Conference in Washington, DC, and her essay and drawing will be published in the Library of Congress, a prestigious honor that reflects her powerful voice and exceptional talent. On behalf of Sabata Middle School and our entire district, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Adam Maris. Your achievement brings pride to our school, our community, and most importantly serves as a beacon of inspiration to your peers. Thank you, Adam Maris, for making Sapata Middle School shine on the national stage. I'd like to thank Mrs. Mama Mirez, also RCIS coordinator at Sapata Middle School for all her
011help and support. One, two, three. [Applause] Up next, we're going to have coach Paul Sto present Sabata Middle School track and Sabata Middle School golf. Good afternoon, Dr. Board members, uh, everybody that works at Satan County ISD, our family, parents, kids. I'm going to introduce our last two sports for the year. There were very successful sports which were track and golf. We're going to start with our eighth grade individual winners. I have Gel Selenas who's an individual eighth grader uh district champ. He won u high jump and long jump if he can come up. And then I also have Andrea Martinez. She won the 2400 meters and the 1600 meter run and she could come up. Kayla Presas, she won the 100 meter dash and the 300 meter hurdles. And Diego Gonzalez, she won the
012800 meter. So we can start with that group. and also my coaches Jessica Pades, Sylvester Mustamante, Renee Navidides, Isabelle Valde, and Renez. So, you can come up and take a picture. These are all eighth grade individual district champs. Congratulations, We had over 95 kids participating in track this year. It was wonderful. Had a great season. Front row. Perfect. One, two, three. Thank you. Thank you. If you look up on the board, you'll see all those individual winners. Our seventh grade girls and our seventh grade boys teams are were district champs as a team. And we had a whole bunch of district winners. They're all up there on that on that slideshow. Uh take forever to announce everybody. So, at this time of our seventh grade girls district uh track team would come up first to
013take a picture. Our seventh grade girls district track team, please come up. [Applause] ladies. One, two, three. Wait, wait. One, two, three. Thank you, girls. We're expecting great things. Also up there now we have our seventh grade boys. Everybody with their names and what they accomplished this year. If our seventh grade boys district track team would come up please take a picture. All seventh grade boys track team please come up. You okay? Yes. One, two, three. Okay. Hold for the parents. One, two, three. Congratulations, guys. Great job, coaches. You did an awesome [Applause] job. Now, I'd like to present the Sabbath Middle School boys 2025 golf district champions. If y'all can come up, our eighth grade, we had Steve Lopez, uh, seventh graders, Paul Sto, Joseph Ramirez, Jack Venavas, and Emilio Gonzalez. Yo will take
014a picture. They got first place. I believe Steve got 10th individually. Paul got third. Joseph got fourth. And Jackson were in the top 15 both of them. So they did real well all of them. [Applause] Gentlemen, this Just can't see you in the back. There we go. One, two, three. Dr. T, that way. One, two, three. Next, we're going to have Coach Hinkle talk about our baseball program. Yeah. Thank you. Okay, Miho, you three come forward. Uh, thank you everybody. This is our 2025 by district champions and area finalists. Um at this time we cannot release any all district selections due to uh teams in our district competing at the state tournament. But at this time I just want to thank parents and uh coaches coach Alvarez and coach Benvid. And I want to thank
015these players for competing at the you know competing against the the the very best in the state of Texas. Thank you. [Applause] Okay. One, two, three. Next, we're going to have coach Dino Hosa represent the Zapata High School Golf Program. Good evening everyone. My name is coach Dawin Hosan and it's been a true honor coaching this incredible group of student athletes alongside with my assistant coach Sagera. Golf is a game of integrity, patience and perseverance and these athletes have shown all three and then some. Watching them grow some over the course of four years has been both rewarding and inspiring. To our senior golfers, thank you for the leadership and commitment you've helped shape the foundation of hot golf. And we are proud of all that you have accomplished and a very special shout out
016to Caleb Gera who will be continuing his golf journey at the collegiate level in Tammyu. We can't wait to see all the great things ahead of you, Caleb. To our returning players, your hard work has laid a strong foundation and we're excited to see you continue pushing forward. The future of Hawk Golf is bright and we're just getting started. Now, let's take a moment to recognize these outstanding accomplishments for our teams. Uh I'm going to go in order from first team all district and uh regional qualifiers. Uh the first person is Kayla [Applause] Gera Roelio Gonzalez. First team all district qualifier. First team all district regional qualifier. First team all district regional qualifier. And Robert Garcia, first team all district. Uh, second team all district, Ralph Garcia is in absentia. Roeli Vanz and Gutierrez also
017in absentia. Um, honorable mention, we have Jav Lopez in absentia was a regional qualifier and Nik Nicolas Bayena also an honorable mention. Uh we had also uh these kids a group of kids make the all uh academic team and Caleb Gera, Rafael Garcia, Roelio Gonzalez, Juan Rambula, Robert Garcia, Roel Vanz, Aruro Gutierrez and Nicolas Bayena. And now presenting our Lady Hawk Golf team, a special congratulations to our district champion and district MVP, Olga Figero. She was our district champion and regional qualifier as an individual. Uh second team all district, we have Naelli Garcia, regional qualifier. Also, second team all district, Monique Garcia. And also second team all district, Joslyn Maldigales. And proud to say that all four of these girls made the all academic team. And a little message for me uh to every Hawk
018offer. Thank you for the hard work, determination, and heart you've made this a uh this season. One to remember. Let's keep aiming high and swinging strong. Thank you. Okay. One, two, three. Oops. One, two, three. Got it. [Applause] Next, we have coach Hano Garcia to talk about our historic season in softball. Good afternoon. Um, before we start, I want to introduce my assistant coaches, coach Hector Gia and Naomi Venides. Before uh I start with anything, I want to thank the parents for trusting us and and uh letting us coach your girls. Uh when we started the season, we weren't doing very well. We had some injuries. Uh we had to deal with some adversity, you know, and of course, you know, it always happens when you don't lose many games. There's a lot of controversy.
019Things get, you know, blurry and everybody questions everything, you know. Uh these girls came together. Uh I told them, "Let's make the playoffs and things are going to happen in the playoffs." And they did. you know, we ended up uh winning that by district title and then winning an area title, getting to the regional semis and winning that that round and ended up in the regional finals. So, I think there's only been like four or five four or five other teams that make it that far. So, it's a historic run for the softball girls and uh you know, it was exciting. The community came together. Everybody came together. It was it was incredibly like fun. It was fun. But I want to say it takes everybody. Even the girls that were not on the field,
020they kept cheering for for the girls that were playing. They were supporting each other. Like like in the 20ome years of coaching, I never seen a team come together like this. Like everybody was excited. Everybody wins. It doesn't matter if you're on the field or not. Everybody wins. You're part of the team. So that was incredibly incredibly great to see these girls come together, support each other, and help each other out in every aspect of the game. All right. So, uh, right now I need the softball girls to come up. Due to to one of our district teams playing in the state uh final, I won't be able to announce the the accolades for for softball right now. So, Oh, we have Rahina Devoske Jim Carena Gonzalez [Applause] Gara Garcia Janv, Jayen Flores, Emily Garcia,
021Jovia Real, Angelica Perez, and Jackie Gutier. Thank [Applause] you. Okay. One, two, three. Hold for the parents. One, two, three. One, two, three. Congratulations. Next, we have Coach Robert Alvarez with Spring Tennis. [Music] I can have 10. Go ahead. Go ahead. Come on up here. [Music] Yeah. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh, first I'd like to recognize my uh my assistant coach, uh, Jerry Martinez. Uh, tennis is a pretty tough coach to sport to coach. We were at it almost uh, year round. In fact, we're already working hard right now. Our first match will be with July 30th with United South. So, we're getting ready for that. Uh, 2025 spring season was a really successful season. We went to eight tournaments. Uh, we won three of them. We won the Feria, Sapata, and Bishop.
022We took second and third at the Roma tournament with about 16 teams at each one of those tournaments. And we were the only 4A school. We took fourth at the Macallen varsity tournament. It was 20 teams. Again, we were the only 4A school there. Uh we finished as a runner up in in uh in our district in 3148 but then like everybody else to middle is ranked like four or five in state but we made him sweat some kid breaking records and stuff. So we we got close to them. We're going to get them next year. Um the entire team made the academic all district team. So congratulations on that. Okay. First team all district Manny Garcia. Manny is the regional quarterfinalist. He lost a really close close match to Wimberly. That kid went out
023to state. So, we got high hopes that Manny's going to make it next year. I'll tell you what, he hasn't taken a day off since regionals. He's ready to go. First team all district doubles, Jarrett Alba and Kevin Navas. And uh at district we we knocked off to the Los Midway number one team. Unfortunately at regionals, you know, sometimes the draw didn't work out for us. We lost to a team that ended up going to state, but they had a hell of a year. Won many tournaments. Second team all district in mixed doubles, we had Pablo Pñena and Khloe Chapa. And second team all district we had Lily Gara and Eva's out with a little stomach virus but her partner there with second team all district did a great job. And last of all I'd
024like all my seniors to stand up. Unfortunately I was overzealous and picking up everything. So that's why they're not wearing the hot stuff. We already picked it up. The seniors step up for please. for the uh for the eighth year in a row this uh all the seniors made the Texas Tennis Coaches Association academic all state team. The GPA is over 95. So congratulations. We've actually done it like 16 out of the last uh well coach Martinez has messed it up worse than his graduating class but we've done really good. Um well that's it. Thank you all very much. One, two, three. Congratulations, Kenny. Good job. Next we have Miss Andrea Gonzalez and Miss Christina Gray to present UIL Sabata High School UIL academics. Thank you. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Christina Gray
025and Miss Andrea Gonzalez is coming this way. Uh but it is our honor to recognize uh the members of our ZHS UIL academics team for their dedication, talent and excellence this season. Uh, so our spelling team, our coach was Mrs. Melissa Jackson. For our spelling team, we had Eduardo Aeskita who got third. Uh, Sebastian Sap Sapata, Eduardo Flores and Nadina Rodriguez for our spelling team. And then for social studies, we also had Orlando Gomez who advanced to regionals. In literary literary literary criticism, we had Daniel Weaver who got fifth and our coach was Mrs. um Monica Vela Rodriguez and then in ready writing we had Javian Gara fourth and Brianna Clary sixth. In pros we had Olga Figaroa who got third and advanced to regionals and placed sixth at the regional level. We also had
026Giovanni Neo who got fifth and Sahara Garcia who got sixth and the coach with me Christina Ger. And then uh for poetry we had Manuel Gonzalez III who got third and he advanced to regionals and Jose Luis Orta who got fourth and Kylie Ray fifth and our coach was Miss Andrea Gonzalez. For our journalism team, we had editorial which was Rihanna Ramirez which was fourth and anexi Martinez sixth place. For news, we have he had him chapa third and she advanced to regionals and also um Rihanna Ramirez fourth. For headline we have Javier Gara first and he advanced to regionals. And our feature was Enrique Garcia fourth and our coach for that was Miss Christina Garcia Gara. Sorry about that. For our STEM speaking team, we had Mrs. Selena Mata. Uh for persuasive, we had
027Lucas Gera fourth and Brianna Clary fifth. For informative speaking, we had uh Delila Martinez second, who advanced to regionals, and Orlando Gomez fourth, and Anexi Martinez sixth. And for LD debate, we had Lucas Ger fourth, who advanced to regionals. That is all for our DHS UIL academic teams. Thank you. On the academics team, can you go up if your name was announced, please? Thank you. I'm going. window, please memo. Perfect. Okay. One, two, three. Congratulations. Next we have uh our Sapata High School, our amazing one act team. Garcia. Hi everybody. Um, at this time, can I please call up Delila Martinez, Sahara Garcia, Olga, Fieroa, Melissa Sanchez, Giovanni Nino, Jose Orta Jr., Allison Jackson, Kylie Ray, Manuel Gonzalez III, Samuel Recendes, Caitlyn Pñena, Alexandra Ernnandez, Pirelli Pñena, Daniel Weaver, Zomara, Martinez, Mileen Salin, and Miss
028Briana Clary. Y'all can come up, please. [Applause] All right. So, um, hi everybody. My name is Miss Christina Garcia and I am the one act play director. Um, this year I'm the one act play director alongside Miss Nelly Garcia, Miss Christina Gay, and Miss Andrea Gonzalez. Um, this year we didn't get to finish in the slot that we wanted. Um, but we are still very proud to have finished as sixth in the state out of,400 schools. OAP is the largest theater competition in the world, which is a statistic I like to tell people because a lot of people don't know. Um, there's about 36,000 students and about 6,000 directors to which in each division from 1A to 6A, only eight schools can make it to the top. It is an important statistic to know that
029only 3 to 4% of all companies make it to this level of competition. And I am always so proud to say that this particular group of kids has done that twice in a row. Um so if you kind of take a look at the slides, we had a very very successful season. Um we have placed I believe we were first place district champion, second place at by district, first place team at area, first place team at regional, finishing six in the state. Um at the state level, I believe we did have three individual awards with the honorable mentioning acting award going to Manuel Gonzalez III and Mr. Giovani Nino. you also give us a little wave so we can say oh yeah you uh and then we had the allstar cast acting award going to
030Miss Delila Martinez. You all will notice from this season that the kids are just wearing a ton of medals. This is only from this season. So we are very accomplished and we are very very proud of you young people. Our seniors, however, um are wearing all of their medals hopefully from all of them. Just kidding, they're not. But they have a lot of medals. Um and I would also like to just say a quick farewell to our seniors so you all can recognize them. Miss Sahara Garcia, I don't believe is here today, but we do have Miss Allison Jolene Jackson and Miss Alexandra. Thank you guys very very much. Um, next year it is our company's goal to bite harder, so keep an eye out. Thank you guys. Oh, and then wait. Oh, you want
031to do techn [Music] Are we good? We should be good. Fingerprints. There we go. Ready? Okay. One, two, three. Ready, Congratulations on that crew. Um, next up, I also had the privilege of being the uh technical design coach. I would like to say that um ZHS theater was also highly successful in theatrical design this year with Miss Gelli Pñena being selected as so Miss Gedelli Pñena was selected as second in the state going against almost 3,000 entries in her field costume design. Uh so congrats to Kelli Oh, did I go back again? Yes, it's there. One, two, three. Can you step that way a little bit? Now I can see everybody. One, two, three. [Applause] Finally, we have our Sapata FFA program uh called Coach Rodriguez and Coach Sanchez. [Applause] Will the team please come
032over? Don't touch it. Okay. Uh come on guys. This way. So um first of all, a lot of talent in this room tonight. So, uh, board members, thank you all for your support for all these activities and events that our our kids are involved in. And I want to thank I saw the one I play and they were absolutely amazing. Uh, congratulations on a great year. I want to I want to thank the people that stay behind for this because we do have some very talented kids uh to be recognized right now. And uh, and I want to show them all. We want to show them off. All right. So again, I'm Freddy Rodriguez, my assistant, my my teaching partner, Joanna Sanchez, and this is Rodriguez over there in the back. We also have uh
033Eric Gonzalez and that that work with us. I want to start off by saying that our meets judging team place fifth. And usually the top five advance to state, so they were fifth in area, but in that contest, they have something called the wild card, and they got jumped by another school from another area. So they didn't go to state, but they did do very well. Um then uh we had the homesite team. Yeah, sure. Uh we I coach the homesite team and uh every single year it seems to be that we go through some torrential rain, some tornado warning. Uh so it was a wild ride uh this time around as well. The team actually placed uh second in district and fourth in area. I have to say that a lot of our team
034members that are here have been in the state qualifying team for several years. Derek Garcia being one that has been in the team for four years. Uh uh Caleb and Robert three years and Miss Sarah Lisando for two years. So we've had an excellent team. Uh and they're leaving some big shoes behind for others to fill. So, I'm really really excited for them and they did an excellent job even though we had some rain issues and they had to go through the contest as well. So, can you imagine having Scantron trying not to rip it and of course uh doing well. So, congratulations homesite team. Uh next I'd like to talk about the livestock judging team. Uh I know Ralphie is not here and Derek is not here but the team that went to state
035uh Sarah's here and Rajie is here. Uh these guys have been to state three years in a row. Another difficult task. U it is one of the largest contests in in FFA. They had an outstanding year. Robert also competes in uh in livestock judging and he's one of our good ones too. Um we placed in in San Patricio. We placed in Noesses. We were like 30th in uh in San Antonio out of over 200 teams. Then we won the Laredo show. Uh we were second at East Central. So they had an outstanding year. Then for the first time ever we won district, we won area and we qualified for state for the third year in a row. Um last year we were ninth top 10. This year we're 30th out of 97 teams. But again,
036super proud of these kids. Um uh cannot say enough good things about them. So Sarah, if you can please Sarah and Rajie, step forward. Okay, they there were half of the of the team. Derek and Ro uh Ralphie are the other half. Congratulations on an outstanding career and three years in a row of state and livestock judging is is not an easy task. So, thank you guys. So, okay. Uh the next team u again plan ID u we have Rio Canu Rajie Gonzalez and Gabby Aguilar. The these students uh Ralphie is not here. Ralphie was actually a state champion this year. He was uh the high point of the whole contest. Um there were there's 60 plans in the contest and he identified all 60 plans correct. He missed a perfect score by five points.
037uh incredibly proud of of of Ralphie, the whole team, but these guys have been to state four years in a row. Rio uh Rajie and Ralphie have been there the four years. Drigo's been there three and then Gabby's been there three years with him. So, uh uh Raj's been a top five individual two years in a row. He was uh number four last year, number four this year. And for two years in a row back to back, we were state runner-ups. We're second place out of 60 teams. Uh we missed that state title, but uh awesome kids. Again, uh eight of the top 10 kids are in our program and uh we're very proud of him. Congratulations to the plan identification [Applause] team. And there's Ralphie with the state champion buckle and and and plaque.
038And then the two guys that have been to state four consecutive years, Rajie and Ralphie. All right. And I think um in the whole school district maybe we I think we had a powerlifter that was a state champ, but we have one other group that was state champion. I want you guys to give them a big round of applause. Miss Jamie Rodriguez coaches the team, but I do play a small role in on this team because I'm always collecting bugs, too. We went to a camp this summer. We were collecting bugs at night. We were collecting bugs in the water. We go to the ranch, we collect bugs in every uh gate that we stop at. And to the point that last Friday night, we're Saturday, we're at the graduations in Eagle Pass. And I
039had my arm like this and something was biting me and I was like, "Ah, something's biting me." And Miss Ali looked at it and she goes, "Oh, it's on my new pirate bug. We need we need it for the collection." So, she's asking people in eagle pants for vials. So, I pulled out a a pack of gum and we got the little bug and she brought it home. So, she's always collecting bugs. But, uh, nonetheless, an outstanding group of young men here. Lucas Gera has been a state qualifier for three years, uh, now. And then we have the three sophomores uh behind him. Um they had a great year as you can see. Won the Junction Invitational, Natalia K City, Hondo District area. A lot of uh online contests that they won a lot of
040individual awards. U just super super proud of these kids. First uh FFA state championship team and they have been promised some buckles. They've been promised some billboards. I hope everything works out. Um but uh again just like all the other teams just like one act just like football softball these kids work extremely hard they practice on Saturdays uh Friday nights uh you know between classes they uh between practices I know Orlando's in uh in tennis Lucas is in mariachi and in band uh you know Manuel you know they're all they're all compete uh in in all different activities so you know it's it's hard to get them all to practice and and they came together they worked really hard and you know their hard work paid off. So introducing Lucas Gera, Orlando Gomez, Manuel Hel
041and Yandro Torres holding the Jamie Rodriguez. So um again just uh proud of all our teams. We do compete in other contests and we did have a lot of success in other contests like like vet science and uh uh applied egg engineering. We have poultry a lot of contest but these were the ones that you know made it all the way to the top and of course entomology closed out the year with a with a great win. So congratulations to all the kids and again thank you parents for all your sacrifices and and all your support. Uh board members, I tell you all the time, thank you for your support. Uh these kids are going to do amazing things in life. So congratulations. [Applause] Go be with the birds. She prefers the bugs. She prefers
042the bugs. Okay. One, two, three. Hold for And I just want to say that as a result As a result of all of this, um the we will be having a gift GT entomology camp that will feature the entomology uh students and they and we will be teaching our students about insects and the benefits of insects. Uh we also have a curator from the uh museum of Texas Tech who will be working with us and as of today we have an entomologist from Corpus Christie who will be coming over uh to Sapata County to continue with this as well. So that concludes our student recognitions. Thank you to all groups, all programs. Very proud of all of you. If you all can stick around just for about three minutes for our board to give a
043little statement. No. [Music] I just want to congratulate everyone for being here. Congratulations to all the teams whether it's academic or athletic uh incredible performances, a lot of dedication, a lot of hard work, everyone. Um, I did see the the one act play. It was amazing. Strong strong strong performance. Very emotional. I loved it. I just loved it. It, you know, I'm not very emotional. So, it was great. FFA, thank you. Always done great. U Fern, I know Fernie and Jay, you both retiring. We're going to miss you guys so much. Uh he's done a great job with all say thank you. Uh also the softball uh team also incredible uh to make it that far. I don't think any softball team has ever made it that far. So great job. Also the parents thank
044you. Thank you for supporting your kids and for taking them to practice for getting them involved. It's the best thing you can do for your kids when they're involved. And finally, coaches, thank you very much. [Applause] All right. Well, uh, what can I say? I mean, it's a proud moment as the superintendent of the best district in Texas uh to have such an amazing show of talent gathered here today and and I know there were so many more still absent and like Mr. Amina said, it doesn't go without the support of all the dedication and the hard work from your coaches and your teachers, uh parents. Um you know, it takes a a community for us to be a top-notch school district. And I said this from the very very beginning that I think we
045have the best kids in Texas and and I am 100% convinced that we have the best kids in Texas, maybe even in the US. board members for um all of their activity and going to all the different events. It's been a crazy May. Uh but we're almost at the tail end and the peace the resistance right is Friday night when we have graduations and we get to culminate uh all of the hard work that everybody puts in because uh it's not just what happens at high school that gets them to graduation. It starts at pre kinder and there's a whole lifetime of people involved in raising our graduates. And so, uh, thank you to everybody. Thank you to the parents, to all of our our teams, our administrators, our teachers, our coaches. Uh, we thank
046you from the bottom of our heart for all that you do for our amazing amazing kids. And I'm just so incredibly proud today. So, thank you all. Y'all are just Look at that. [Music] I'm sorry. Okay, let's go ahead and move on item item of the board on April 8th at the regular board meeting held on April 22nd. Thank you, Mr. Damas. Good evening, Dr. Fabinho, members of the board. Administration recommends the approval of the minutes for the board workshop held on April 8th and the regular school board meeting held on April 22nd by secondary. All in favor? Motion carries. Item Fisher report. Thank you for child nutrition fund. Uh revenues reflect $2,660,486 and actual expenditures of $1,982,410 for an excess of revenues of $678,76 uh for month end April 30th. The general operating fund
047reflects total realized revenues of 24,84,244 and actual expenditures of 21,977,79 for an excess of revenues over expenditures of $2,826 uh,535. Any questions? The year-to- date comparative by function reflects a 5% uh more that the district has spent year to date of $1,228,548. Debt service fund reflects total realized revenues of 2,658,687 and actual expenditures of $61,958 for an excess of revenues of $2,596,729. Any questions? bills, claims, and accounts for April uh reflect 750,720 $78123. Um that reflects 1,242,889 less that the district paid out uh as compared to the previous year. Um, as the the board can see, the majority of that uh came from uh the uh LA the safe cycle fund, that's the state uh fund of 429 uh fund 429 that was 101,000. And then our bond uh fund 699, we paid out a
048lot of of bills in the month of uh April this time last year. Does the board have any questions? The tax collection report, the district received 133,51.31 for April 2025 tax collection. Uh as it compares to our budget for the fiscal year, uh the district budgeted 9,150,728. that reflects um all of our uh current tax collection and delinquent tax collection. We are at 97% of our budget as compared to previous year. Um now uh as compared to our opening levy, our tax role reflects 9.7 million. Uh we've collected 83% uh which reflects 8.2 million. Um we are a little less about 87% in collections as previous year. Does the board have any questions? Any other questions? Um okay. Um thank you Michelle. Next item, action items. Um, item G1, approval of the budget amendment VA24-25-04
049general operating fund. Thank you. Staff recommends amending the 2425 general operating fund and committed fund balance in the amount of $518,830. This transaction has a $450,000 effect on fund balance. As the board can see, $68,830 uh dollars um is a budget amendment in between functions. Um in function 31, that's our counseling. I'm requesting to move funds uh to cover some extra duty pay and payroll benefits. In function 35, that's our child nutrition fund. uh we are up for an audit next year and because the general fund collects revenue from our child nutrition fund. We have to show an effort that we're spending expenses out of our general operating fund in function 35 which is child nutrition. Okay. And then function 11 is our beginning of year training. Our special ed department has requested an amendment
050to move uh money around to cover uh beginning of the year trainings that they will be hosting. Um usually they're updates uh during professional for professional development. And then $450,000 is uh what we're requesting to transfer in from fund balance to um support our early separation incentive payments that we will be paying out in the month of June. Does the board have any questions? Any questions? I'd like a motion to approve budget amendment. Yes. BA 24-254 motion by Ma second by all those in favor motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Um next item approval contracts and purchases over 25,000 and fund balance 24-258. This will be the uh eighth request for contracts and purchases uh over the threshold amount of 25,000. Um we are requesting approval um to uh purchase from Gun Chevrolet um a
051food transportation cargo van. We the source of funds will be our child nutrition fund. Um we're requesting a budget of 40,000. However, the total amount uh is 38,783 and the procurement method for this purchase is through our interlocal contract with region one cooperative. uh what they do is they uh procure out they solicit services uh for uh fleet vehicles as referenced in uh support documentations through RFP 24-0160 I'll make a motion motion by second by all those in favor motion carries thank you thank you uh item three approval 2425 summer curriculum writing pay rate. Thank you. Um I'm recommending um uh and requesting approval to increase the hourly rate for our the district's curriculum writing initiative from $30 per hour to $40 an hour. Um the source of funds for this um extra duty pay
052will come from our title 2 part A allocation. The district did receive a reallocation uh from previous year. we got notified um on the increase in federal budget. And so um in order to uh compensate our teachers for and counselors for the curriculum writing initiative uh that the curriculum department will be um heading uh we're requesting to increase that rate to $40 per hour. Any questions? Jen, I need a motion for All those in favor motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Um item number four, approval of pilot blue bonnet learning Spanish instructional materials for 2425. Good evening, President Ramirez, members uh of the board of trustees and superintendent. I would like to provide a little uh bit of background to explain why it is critically important that we participate in a pilot for blue bonnet
053learning Spanish instructional materials. Sabata County ISD initially implemented amplify for reading language arts and Eureka for math when we were awarded the Tclass grant. These highquality instructional materials have laid a strong foundation in our instructional program. Blue Bonnet learning pilot instructional materials are state developed, aligned with state standards, and designed specifically for Texas students. Participation will ensure that our district continues to utilize aligned research-based resources for our dual language program to ensure bilingual learners receive equitable, highquality instruction in both languages. The purpose of the pilot is to evaluate the quality, rigor, and instructional support of the Blue Bonnet Spanish materials for grades kinder through fifth to gather feedback from our teachers and instructional leaders and to support the Texas Education Agency in refining these instructional resources as the pilots by the county ISD will obtain
054a board approval for participation in accordance to the Texas Education Code. code 31.0721 ensure superintendent endorsement, verify teacher support for the pilot materials, limit its use for the 2526 school year only, and protect confidentiality and prevent sharing of pilot materials outside the district. The district will this these are our responsibilities and commitments. We will attend a required uh orientation webinar. We will submit teacher and coach feedback three to four times during the pilot. We will provide family support and communication in local policy. We will comply with all pilot license and copyright restrictions and we will remove these instructional materials by June 30th. Um, so it is recommended that the board of trustees approve the district's participation in the blue bonnet learning Spanish instructional materials pilot for the 2526 academic school year. You don't have any
055question. Is there a cost for the pilot or it's just a actually with the pilot we would be receiving the instructional materials and some of the orientation and training uh free free of charge for the Spanish materials I'll make motion by to second by Martinez to approve the board of trustees monitor learning Spanish instructional materials All those in favor? Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. Next item. Item number five, approval of structural materials a lotment and certification 2526. This annual certification process is required by the Texas Education Agency and ensures that all students in Tapata County ISD have access to instructional materials that fully align with the Texas essential knowledge and skills or the TEICSS in all core content areas. Our certification confirms the following that our instructional materials in reading language arts, mathematics, science,
056and social studies are managed at the district level and are consistent across classrooms and that our adopted uh instructional materials cover 100% of the TEACS across all grade bands uh K through 12. We have included both English and Spanish language materials, including our district's participation in the Blue Bonnet learning Spanish instructional materials pilot that you just approved. So uh on the screen you will see our instructional materials for uh for our elementary English uh reading language arts and it is the blue bonnet that is our core uh our uh blue bonnet learning and foundational skills and our supplemental materials are to continue with our amplify boost reading our amplify MCL class and our those are supplemental uh and you see that we have its uh the Spanish components as Well, moving on to the middle
057school, uh we have our previously adopted, we go through adoption cycles and this is our previously uh state adopted um resource, our SAVAS learning company, My Perspectives, Texas English Language Arts, and our supplemental is Language Arts. At the high school, we will continue with our state adopted, which is HM into literature Texas and our supplemental EXL. For mathematics, we will transition into the blue bonnet learning as an and as I mentioned in the previous uh conversation, now it is directly aligned to our TICS and to a our STAR assessment. Um, we will continue. We have that in English and in Spanish for our elementaryaries. And we have our supplemental zern and our math. At the middle school, we will also transition to blue bonnet learning secondary math, all grade levels. We will continue with our
058math supplemental and our at the high school. We will transition in algebra 1 to blue bonnet and continue with Carnegie and algebra 2 and geometry. and we will be aligning with our elementary and our middle school and uh utilizing EXL throughout. For social studies, uh we did a little bit of research and the previous adoption is no longer meeting our needs. So the recommendation is to go into uh social studies weekly and continue with as our supplemental. For social studies, we will continue uh sixth through 8th. We will continue with our state adopted Pearson for world cultures um Texas history and US history. Thank you. And we will have our supplemental asl. Uh for our high school, we do have two different publishers. We have HMH for world geography and Pearson for economics, American government,
059US history and Texas world history. Again, this was part of our state adopted cycle and we will uh move into however we will continue with study island for our US history. Uh for science we will continue with uh with our HQIM great minds um PhD science and our supplemental. At the middle school we will continue with STEM scopes and our supplemental and at the high school we will go with our recently adopted SAVAS and LL uh learning. Um, we also in the certification we also certify compliance with the children's internet protection act to safeguard students from harmful or obscene online content. We also uh indicate our district plans to utilize the instructional materials review and approval to guide our decisions regarding adoption ensuring the selection of high quality materials for our students and teachers as
060we have done in our past uh adoption cycles. Um we also indicate our assessment forms and that they provide opportunities for intrim diagnostic and formative assessments which help us evaluate, modify and adjust instruction and we also uh this certification maintains our district's access to EMAT system which is essential in ordering and managing instructional materials through state aotment funds. So, EMAD is where our our funding is for instructional materials. By utilizing our uh highquality instructional materials, we actually receive additional funds for that. Um, so at this time, I do recommend that the board approve the instructional materials allotment antique certification for 2025 2026. Any questions? No. Have a motion by release. All those in favor? Motion carries. Thank you. Item number six, an action item to resend board action taken on November 18th, 2024 regarding appointment
061of board members to the appraisal district. Motion by and that's just going to be for Miss Morales. Not not the other 14. Okay. Second byes. All those in favor? Motion carries. Uh item number seven in line with number six, consideration possible action to appoint trustee representative to the Sapata County Appraisal District Board of Directors. And I think we have talked about it and I think recommended that will take on the job. So I need a motion to approve that. Motion by second by second in favor. Motion carries. Mr. I also like to to point out that the board currently has one member now two and member Gavaras uh term will expire on the 20 on December of 2025 at the end of this year. Correct. Thank you Roie. Uh item number eight, discussion possible action
062to update district policy DEEC local in regard to bereavement leave. Yes sir. Uh thank you Mr. Ramirez. So we're recommending a revision to our DEEC policy. DEEC is our compensation and benefits policy. Uh this is an item that that we've been wanting to bring to the board for quite some time but never really, you know, got to it. Uh May is a good time to do it. That way we start fresh. uh uh with with this new uh leave opportunity to support our our our staff. Uh so the way that it's that is being presented is um of course this was done through in consultation with Tazby legal but uh we're providing an employee 3 days of bereavement leave upon the death of a member of an employes's immediate family. Such leave shall be taken
063with no loss of pay or paid leave. Um to reference that as well, there's a definition of immediate family. So there should there's no question about that. And um I've looked with all of our our surrounding areas and uh all of the districts around us have brief and we do not three days three days. But this would take effect if they pass it immediately, right? Like tomorrow somebody unfortunately has a death. Correct. You're not going to wait until the next year. No. Uh that's what uh what I was going to going to answer that the um this as soon as you all approve this and we post it on TASBY uh on our on our policy it takes effect as of today which is tonight. Correct. I'll make a motion to approve the meeting. Okay.
064Motion by second by Michael. All those in favor motion. Thank you. I do have a question. Yes sir. I've been reviewing the policies and like you said locally, regionally there are some we were like lagging behind and I'm glad you brought it up the bereavement but there's another issue the leave that we that we our local our local leave. Yes. Yes. Because I think we're providing only two days. That's correct. And I was thinking maybe you guys can come up with a plan and maybe review that also because I think it's long overdue that we need to do something like that. We that's part of the budget process because it impacts it has a pretty significant impact on the budget. So we can we can bring it to to budget uh committee and show you
065show you the the effects of adding any additional day to to that and we'll we'll provide all that information through budget. That'd be awesome. But yes, you're completely uh right about that. It's it's uh there's been a lot of questions about that. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any other questions? If not, uh item H. Uh we will now go to close session pursuant to the Texas government code section 551.071 and 551.074. We are now in close session. Thank you. [Music] Oh, no. That's Yes, just the step. No, it has to be 5:30. Why do you have on that lawsuit? Yeah, I'll make the recommendation. Okay, you you'll read out the Okay, we are back from executive session and it is 8:29 p.m. U we have two items. The first one is discussion possible
066action to set a date for the superintendent's annual evaluation. I need a motion to set the 17 as the superintendent. I'll make it second. Okay. Motion by second. All those in favor? Motion carries. Uh item number two, presentation discussion. I'll just go ahead and read it. Perfect. Uh just a recommendation is to approve the resolution approving the contingency fee legal services agreement with JCA Law P LLC and GA LLP and finding the need for submission of the contingency fee legal services agreement to the Texas Attorney General for approval and request for expedited review and consideration as presented in close session. A motion to approve the resolution. Motion by Marta, second by Dora. All those in favor? Motion carries. And the third one is approval of contingency fee legal services agreement with JCA Law PLLC and
067GA LLP and ALS authorizing the board president to execute such agreement and for the purpose of pursuing litigation and causes of action and the potential recovery damages against social media companies resulting from student social media usage. I mean a motion to approve. That's a resolution also. No, the contingency agreement. The first one is the resolution. The second is the contingency agreement. I make the motion by second by favor. Motion carries. That's it. Right one. Yeah. Okay. District communications. Uh yes. I just like to take this opportunity. Uh I just wanted to clarify some of the concerns I have had over the last few months that I believe may be perceived as personal tax. As an elected representative, my main priority will always be the safety and educational progress of every single students about the county.
068With the amount of excellent and dedicated teachers we have throughout the district, we should have no problem reasonably improving student scores annually. We are also elected to oversee the financial decisions that are being made by the school district with taxpayer dollars, especially in the middle of a funding deficit. It is important for the public to note that my concern is that the board does not currently have the capability to interject in a hiring or a financial decision made by the superintendent even if we completely disagree with the with the decision. For example, from my experience, we have had to hear about who has been who was just hired to the school district from the public. In some cases, the criteria for requirements for the position weren't met. Even though some of us weren't in agreement
069and expressed our disagreement with the hiring, it still went through. Another example is if there is an expense on the monthly financial report that we don't agree with, there is nothing we can do. The reason it's not possible to stop it is because by the time we review the report, the decision has been executed and the check has already been deposited. The truth is it isn't fair that the entire board is being asked to show support for every decision made even though we may not agree with the decision and the public perception of the decision is a negative one. We are being asked to take the black values from certain decisions even though we were never consulted about the decisions. The worst part is that if we ask for additional information or speak up about
070our concerns regarding a decision, we are labeled as attempting to micromanage or politicize a topic when in reality we are just trying to understand the reasoning for the decision. At the end of the day, we are all elected to represent all students, staffs, parents, and community members of Sabata County. Thank you all for your time and I look forward to growing our communication together in order to best represent all of our opinions in the future decisions for our district. Thank you. May I clarify something? I just want to clarify something. um and we can discuss it later, but um you mentioned that that criteria weren't met for any position and uh to my knowledge and and every decision that we've made in terms of hiring, every candidate has met the minimum requirements that are that
071are uh stated and listed on the job description. So there's been never any any candidate that has come before the board or to any campus hired that did not meet the minimum requirements. Well, our understanding was that the gear up we all heard that the gear up but she met the she met the minimum requirements. That's not what we had. She met the minimum requirements. Okay. Well, when we spoke that's not and I clarified that at that time. And I clarified it multiple times that the minimum requirements that that that the individual did not have to be a certified teacher. She had to have a bachelor's degree and she had to have two to three years of experience in with students which this candidate did. So all criteria for the positions have been met. We
072have never ever hired anybody that has not met the criteria for the position that they've been hired. And I will stake my contract on that and my reputation. Yes. and that wasn't the understanding and I apologize if that's the case. Uh we definitely talk about it afterwards. And if I may, um Mr. President, I just I want to say that as strongminded and intelligent as all of us are, I have never felt coerced to do anything, I don't think anybody else has. And then with Eagle sitting to my neck when we're in there, it's like I feel like they're going to shut us down if we're wrong. So I think it's it's wrong to send a message to the community that what what's happening is legal or irrelevant to student growth. I don't appreciate that.
073So that's coming from me. What do you mean? Because you just said that we have we have had to make decisions when we didn't agree. I have not once made a decision that I didn't agree on. In fact, I've been the one to say I agree or I don't. Everyone has had that opportunity. I don't think it's right. And I and I respect you, Mr. Gana, but let me let me finish. It's like I just think you need to be real careful with your words because if we're here every day, if I come back from the back room and I disagree with something, I I'll say it right here. I'm not going to go home and prepare and try to muddy the waters. I don't think it's right. We don't want to do that, guys.
074So, you're you're misrepresenting my words. I'm not trying to say that speak for board members that they are coerced. I never use the word coercion. Okay. That was my choice of word, but I think it represents what you said when it comes to saying that several decisions that that some of us haven't agreed with in certain cases and I agree there might be some but not all of us of course I guess I wanted to clarify that okay um let's move on any other communications uh we have graduation on Friday night we will be meeting here at the boardroom for refreshments before at 6 at 6 o'clock uh and then we will transport to the field for hopefully a nice evening of celebration with our graduates uh at 7 o'clock the graduation takes off. I
075believe ma'am 7:30 there will be meeting uh everybody will be meeting over there meet at the field and then we'll transport back over here and then we'll transport you back around 5:30. So 5:30 at the stadium and then the buses will the vans will transport us over here or the suburbans rather. They'll transport us back uh to the central office so we can have our refreshments and break bread together and then we'll go back for the graduations that will start at 7:30. Then uh that's it. Last day of school. Tomorrow morning at 9:00 we have a special event happening at the field with um all of our kindergarteners and our seniors. um doing a uh meet in the middle to pass the torch. So, our seniors will be passing the torch to our kindergarteners and
076our kindergarters will be giving a token of appreciation to our seniors. So, it's the first time we do this event um courtesy of Tik Tok. So, we'll be doing that tomorrow and then we'll have a a board workshop uh on the 10th at 9:00 in the morning. We will have a special called meeting at uh 9:00 in the morning on the 17th and the regular board uh meeting at 5:30 on the 24th of July. What about what about the graduation ceremony for honoring and this morning? There's a lot of stuff going on. Oh yes, we had that this and the weather's going to be what? 50° and during Yeah. 15. Okay. Any other business? If not, I need a motion to adjourn this meeting. I second. All those in favor? Motion carries. We're journ. It
077is 8:38 p.m.