Good evening. The board will now convene an open meeting. Today is Monday, June 17,
Katy ISD · Regular Board Meeting
Katy ISD Regular Board Meeting, June 17, 2013
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2013 and the time is 6 54 p.m. The board met earlier this evening in closed
meeting. Any action arising from discussions in a closed meeting must be
taken in a subsequent open meeting. This is a meeting open to the public, not a
meeting of the public. There are students and other guests present. To maintain decorum,
respectful behavior is expected. Disruptive behavior and or comments will not be allowed.
The KDISD Board of Trustees meets monthly in a regular meeting, generally to receive reports
from staff and to take action on recommendations from the superintendent. Whereas there may not
be a litany of questions tonight or lengthy discussions, please know that we've had the
agenda for over a week. As a board we've reviewed each agenda item in a public
work-study session with the administrative team where we were able
to ask and receive answers to our questions. Thus as a board we should have
appropriate knowledge and should be prepared for our responses regarding the
content of this meeting tonight. Mr. Fraley will you verify that we are in
compliance with the provisions of the Texas open meetings law in regard to the
notice for this meeting? Madam President we are in compliance. The first item is
is the hiring and accepting of residential contractual personnel.
Madam President.
Mr. Griffin.
I move that the Board approves the personnel report as recommended by the Superintendent.
Second.
Mr. Huckabee.
I have a motion by Mr. Griffin, a second by Mr. Huckabee,
that the Board approves the personnel report as recommended by the Superintendent.
Any discussion?
Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote.
All in favor, raise your right hand and say aye.
Aye.
Motion carries 7-0.
room instead of a super intensive evaluation mr. de brel move that the
board approves the superintendent's evaluation second I'm a motion by mr.
de brel a second by mr. Mahalsky that the board approves the superintendent's
evaluation any discussion hearing none will proceed to vote all in favor raise
your right hand and say aye motion carries seven to zero
Our pledge. No student tonight.
How about we let Mr. Griffin from Retired Armed Forces lead us in our pledge, please.
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.
I pledge allegiance to the Texas one state under God one and indivisible you want a lunch bag and
the certificate do we have any scouts joining us in the audience working on badges this evening
please stand and tell us your name and what bad you're working on and maybe
what troop you're from
we're glad you're here
Hi, Zach.
Hi, Connor.
Nice to have you.
We're glad you're here.
We'll be through about midnight.
And no recognitions.
Oh, we have recognitions first.
I went to the red instead of the blue.
Recognitions.
Okay.
Madam President, for tonight's recognition,
First, we want to welcome a very talented group of students and parents tonight.
This group of students has learned to master the art of problem-solving, competition, shooting hoops, and throwing frisbees all at the same time.
So please join me in welcoming the Cinco Ranch High School Kryptonite Robotics Team 64 to the podium.
We'll have Mr. Mike Outlaw, one of the leaders of the booster clubs there, and Mr. Mike Fish as the faculty representative.
This year the team robot was one of the highest scoring individual robots in the entire, for inspiration and recognition of science and technology, are the first competition.
And we've had them here before and it's just amazing what these students can do. I had the chance to go by their build site this year. They look a lot neater tonight.
The build site, you know, after about 24 hours of non-stop work and cutting and sawing, it's amazing what they can do.
so the seat want to recognize again mr. fish mr. outlaw and I guess mr. water
whoever's gonna be speaking to welcome but happy guys
okay good evening madam president board members superintendent Fraley so as
educators I know you understand and are concerned about teaching the future
generations to become productive members of society as a member of that
generation I'll tell you that the most important thing for me that's helped me
for that is this first robotics program. As a student at Cinco Ranch I've done math
and science classes but it's the robotics program that truly lets me
fully understand what I've learned as well as apply it in the real world.
Whether working on shooting frisbees or the trajectory of a basketball, maybe
talking about torque and gear ratios something like that. You know all those
things that I do it helps me understand what I'm doing it gives me purpose and
and drive for continuing my education.
And I know I'm not the only one to benefit.
If you look here, we have all these other students.
Ask any one of them about what they plan to do in the future,
and they'll enthusiastically tell you
about their ambitions in engineering
and how this FIRST Robotics program has shown them
the future in STEM.
And that's what I think is one of the best things
about FIRST Robotics is that, just like everybody
in this room, FIRST Robotics program wants students
to succeed and it wants them to go to college. And because of that, students like me, we actually get thousands of dollars every year in scholarship money to help us do that.
And another great part that I like is that even after college, just being affiliated with FIRST, some corporations actually look at that and use FIRST students as a pool for future employment.
In my mind, there's no question that this program is one of the best there is out there. It's helped me by directing my education, it's prepared me for the future.
and ultimately it's provided me with countless opportunities to better my own
life and hopefully at least it's my ambition that every student KD ISD can
one day be a part of this program and enjoy the experience that FIRST has to
offer thank you
Madam President, Mr. Fraley and the board thank you for the opportunity we have
yet again to come speak to you. I know that we might be sounding fairly
repetitive at this point in time, but we continue to want to stress to you the
importance of this organization. Our club is really the exception to the rule. How
successful we are, the support we have, the financial backing from corporations,
everything that we have going for us is not exactly the norm for a lot of teams.
A lot of teams struggle, a lot of teams really, there's a huge learning curve and
And what we're trying to do is try and eliminate as much
of that learning curve as possible and make this club,
make this something that's part of KDISD curriculum,
part of our whole program here at KDISD,
so more students can participate, be involved,
and feel the impact that Mr. Waters just explained to you.
We continue to make a name for KDISD
at all of our competitions.
I speak with a lot of mentors from other schools,
and they are amazed to find out that we have the team and success that we do
without any formal backing from our school district or schools that we're
actually just a club status because a lot of these other school districts that
I interact with and talk to they actually are backing their team
supplying quite a bit of material for them and helping them through the whole
process. We now are going to have four out of seven schools with a team. We have
Morton Ranch and Seven Lakes along with us that compete, excuse me, competed this
year and because of the the break off from Seven Lakes and a number of
students that were exceptionally bright and excited about the program at Seven
Lakes they are starting a team at Tompkins High School also. So we'll have
one there right off the bat. This year we had a student from Katy High School,
Anthony Cordes, both him and his family were incredibly excited about it and
they want a team at Katy High School so we're pushing for that and I've also
received a number of emails from parents and students at Taylor High School
requesting a team at Taylor High School so we're working on that also. I just
want to make sure that it's reiterated how important this is. I see
students that participate in our team push themselves in STEM related fields
and their math and their science they seek out physics they seek out AP pre AP
classes they strive to make sure that they are getting that work done doing
the best they can because they see a lot of the application the real-world parts
that that they learn from it right here in this robot and in the competitions
overall as an educator I can tell you this is the best program that any
student could participate in outside of the classroom thank you for your time
Madam President, Board members, and Superintendent Fraley, my name is Mike Outlaw.
I'm a mentor at 624, and I would like to sincerely thank you for letting us come and recognize our team and what 624 has done this year.
It's been a tremendous year for us, a lot of achievements.
I think the number one achievement has been our ability to continue to grow and showcase
the STEMS program to the KISD system and to the students of KISD and where it leads them
into the future.
And I think two achievements continue to stand out for us.
And the first achievement is the one we've already touched on tonight, is the enthusiasm
and passion that we're able to build around the STEMS program and the STEMS fields with
this.
And in doing that, we have actually had very measurable and positive results.
We've had 100% of the graduating seniors that come out of our 624 program go on to a STEM-related field in higher education and college.
And a lot of that comes with the acknowledgement of their performance through scholarships as well.
And that is a that's a heck of an achievement and it shows the the the the
dedication and the the the bug that gets in you when you see when you integrate
the real-life stems results that we have with the competition that we do with the
with the the overall overall program of integrating it with with first. The
second measure of achievement is the industry community and mentor support
that you see for the team, both in time and in money for this.
It's not a cheap endeavor to take on,
and it takes a lot of time to push the students forward.
We are fully funded this year again with industry support,
and with parent support, and with the mentor support.
And that takes a lot of work from the team,
and it clearly shows what industry
thinks of what we are able to achieve.
We've got BP Oceaneering and ExxonMobil,
are big supporters, Conoco Phillips, Wood Group, the list goes on and on and I just
can't thank our sponsors enough for that.
But we have graduated to a round-the-year program now.
We do not build just for the competition.
We do items in the fall.
We work with the junior high at the first has a junior high program.
We sponsor the junior high program at Cinco Ranch Junior High and at Beck Junior High
as well.
And with the continued support and growing support from the other high school teams, we continue to look for opportunities to help and work with KISD and we'd like to continue to do that.
We look forward to doing that.
And just as a side note before I step away is that we have been invited to
again this year to go to Indianapolis this summer to compete with the top 70
teams in the first first organization so we will be going to Indianapolis and
then right after that we're going to be going to Austin for a what they call the
Texas Robot Roundup which is the top teams in Texas playing the
the frisbee shoot as well.
So we're looking forward to a continued summer involved with this and then kick it off again
at the beginning of the year to grow our program even more.
And we do thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Arnold.
Madam President.
Madam President, what continues to be one of the biggest challenges is having a home,
a bill site.
and I went to visit them this year as they were building and so I've worked with
talked to Mr. Goodnell and we're looking at an opportunity now coming up perhaps
have something confirmed to make a recommendation to you all in the next
month or so of what we want to try to do to have a permanent bill site we're
looking at this program being at every high school without a doubt for the
competition and with that and you can go back to the feeder pattern as we were
divided up in the district and work with the respective junior highs, but also elementary
as well.
This is one of the things that Katie's recognized for, is being in the energy corridor, and
the businesses are very supportive.
But I think it's time that the district steps up a little bit, and so we'll bring a proposal
to you all to look at to do just that.
So thank you guys so much.
You still have a lot of parent volunteers who no longer have kids in the program, correct?
And as you notice, adults love to gather around the little thingy there.
We can get the board meeting started.
I think we have a video clip to show from competition,
so if we can get that queued up, whoever's going to do that for us.
If you recall, last year the robot was shooting basketballs and did an amazing job.
I saw them in the rough stage.
I don't know how this Frisbee thing works yet, but they explained it,
but I didn't understand the language.
But it also, now it still climbs up, was it nine feet?
Something like that?
Somewhat, okay.
Okay.
Okay, three, okay.
Well, uh...
To ash and dust
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust
I'm breathing in the chemicals
I'm waking up
I feel it in my bones
Enough to make my system grow
Welcome to the new age
To the new age
Welcome to the new age
To the new age
Thank you guys so much.
Awesome, awesome.
Great work.
Great work.
Thank you.
Very impressive.
Okay, at this time we'll move to our open forum portion of our meeting.
This time the Board of Trustees will hear from persons wishing to speak.
By Board policy, a maximum of 30 minutes have been allotted for this forum.
The time allowed will be divided equally among those requesting to speak.
The maximum amount of time allowed for any one speaker is five minutes.
Individuals who have written comments to present to the Board are encouraged to provide the
statements to the Director of Communications Steve Stanford seated at
the back of the room. These statements will be shared with the board. Due to
posting requirements of the Open Meetings Act the board is only able to
respond to a presentation that is directly related to a posted agenda item.
For clarification purposes the open public forum is not a dispute resolution
forum. The board is not trying to prevent any patron from speaking. The intent is
to redirect patrons to the proper grievance process so that action can be
taken as appropriate. Employees or members of the public who wish to
express complaints about a student matter or district personnel are
reminded that they must follow and exhaust all administrative remedies
prior to presenting complaints to the board. As I announce your name please
come to the mic, state your name, tell the board whether or not you reside in KDISD
and whether or not you have children presently enrolled in KDISD. This
this evening we have five speakers you each have five minutes when you have one
minute remaining our sergeant at arms mr. Griffin will lean into the microphone
and say one minute
Laurie McFarland you're our first speaker this evening it's good to see
you again first off let me clarify I'm Laurie I am NOT a patron I did not pay
to come here you need to learn how to use your words and definitions you as
public servants have a contract with us. It's called the Texas Education Code.
That's your contract. You don't go outside of it. You don't go to the
commissioners of the railroad or to the other little organizations throughout
the state of Texas. You go to the Education Code. Per Education Code, any
Any bid, any contract awarded over $50,000 must be bid on.
You guys last week, as you just announced, said you had a week to think about things.
Within 10 minutes, awarded a no-bid contract.
No price at 6% of an unknown price.
A blank check.
And when asked directly if it didn't go through what the cost would be, you ignored it.
and basically, as a trustee, you are entrusted with the public trust to deal with our public lands and the profits from the KDISD.
It's mismanagement, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm assuming and presuming a criminal offense.
Not only that, you had on your agenda to think about, let's see, let me back up.
You had a bunch of teachers here for the foundation accepting funds from an organization that might possibly be illegal and unlawful.
We have an organization right now from Texas looking into that lawfully.
Accepting funds on camera without being approved and ratified by this board.
I believe they have contracts with this district and most companies have anything over $15 or $25 you accept have to be approved by the company or the governmental association.
And some of those teachers receive well over $1,000.
Did you put those teachers' jobs in jeopardy?
That's on the agenda tonight.
The other thing on the agenda is TASB.
That's one of the biggest organizations partnered with TASA that received over $37
million from the state of Texas.
Her common core, which is the Bill Ayers, Obama, the communist agenda, C-scope, that
everybody's talking about.
We need to defund our district from TASB.
And you want to elect somebody to their board?
Are you kidding me?
Do you people not do your research?
This board acts as one and I beg of each and every one of you to get with each and every one of the other members of this board because you act as one.
You better wake up because I have now gone to the Attorney General, the Texas Education Association, the county attorney, the district attorney,
and the district attorney on my behalf has gotten in touch with Fort Bend County Sheriff's Department
because I believe there is criminal activity going on here.
You don't act as one for what you want for the district.
You're supposed to hear us, we the people, your public service.
We pay our taxes as part of that contract with the Code of Education in Texas.
You are violating your contract with we the people by having our children stopped, attacked, hiding it, the agenda, the curriculum.
We've had so much sexual curriculum going through this district.
We had one meeting where it was almost all about the inappropriate curriculum in this district.
And that was you schools.
One minute.
set up just like the Seascoach was in the state of Texas.
And Senator Dan Patrick had an open hearing
where they found out it was all unlawful and illegal
by the Code of Education.
You guys have put me down.
You have ignored me.
You have called me crazy.
You have laughed.
You have never listened to me,
and there are many more like me in this district
than have tried to get your attention.
Their children have been hurt and harmed.
You also had something hidden on the agenda last week, a security device.
Security devices, if it has an RFID chip or anything of that nature of tracking,
you better watch it because we're watching you too.
Madam President, three items here.
First of all, professional services does not require a bid.
That's the law.
The Education Foundation has an affiliation agreement approved by this board,
so it's fully ratified and the common core was not adopted in Texas and we
were has c-scoping ktisd thank you for that clarification our next speaker is
Nancy Salazar
are and Isabella Salazar does she want to come with you she's the next speaker
do you want to do together okay Isabella do you want to come with your mom okay
Hi, Ms. Salazar.
We're really glad you're here.
Hi, Isabella.
I'm glad you're here.
My name is Nancy Salazar, and both my children, Isabella and Marcelo,
go to Memorial Parkway Elementary.
They're in the two-way immersion program in Katy.
Katie. As I was sitting listening to the gentleman who was speaking about such a wonderful, beautiful
thing that I would never be able to even begin to try to even touch, I was thinking that
Katie has been very, very blessed with parents who are very passionate and students who continue
on the passion of their parents and the parents who support their kids' passion.
This is a wonderful example of what a program can be not only for these students,
but for the generations to come. Like Mr. Fraley said, it would be a beautiful thing to see
going to the elementary as they have it in the high school. Our program, the one I'm going to be
be addressing you about is called two-way immersion program and it is a
the passion that we have it is a program where we have our children learning
English and Spanish in the classroom different from the bilingual program in
that the children have two different teachers in the class where the kids go
and learn English and Spanish during the day they begin in kindergarten and they
continue all the way through fifth grade. My little one here he's going into first
grade and my oldest is going to fourth grade. I know that you have also heard us
speak before. We had some children who spoke last last time and it was very
beautiful for me as a parent to listen to some of the students who are not
native speakers to come up here and speak in Spanish and to be proud of that.
The relationships that are being built between these children are beautiful, and the parents
as well.
And we would love for this program to be able to continue through high school, junior high
and high school.
And that's the support that we've been wanting to look for in many ways, letters, emails.
And we are very encouraged that this year we were able to sit down and speak to the
the director of the Department of Other Languages, Mrs. Ferris.
And we were also able to discuss some of our concerns as parents, some of the ideas that
we want to bring to the table.
It's very important for the district and it's very important for us as parents to know that
the district is listening and it's wanting to also be excited about this program as much
as we are.
We want to be there to support it and our children want this program to continue for
for many, many reasons.
As a Spanish-speaking parent, as a Spanish-speaking person,
I was born in California.
But I came to the United States when I was 13.
Went to school at the University of Houston
and did my career in speech pathology.
And as a professional, I found many, many opportunities
that I really believe were able to be given to me because
of being bilingual. Being able to help the children that I was doing therapy
with and being able to be a communication between the other
therapists and the parents who were there. It made a lot of emotional
connections for me and it made a lot of difference for the children to be able
to have a therapist that was able to work with them in their own language. And
And I pass this on to our kids.
My husband, he does nuclear medicine.
And he himself works with the elderly in cardiology.
And he's always talking to me about how whenever a patient
comes in that speaks Spanish, that he
likes to be able to help them out in their language.
And it is a beneficial thing.
And I know that most of you know that.
So I'm trying to pass this on to my children.
And a lot of the parents who are in the program
also want to do the same for their children who may not be natives. I'm not
concerned that my children will lose the language if they go if the program stops
at fifth grade because I think that they will continue to hear it from us. What
I'm concerned about is their academics which the teachers do a wonderful job at
teaching for our children and also the pride that they have to be able to be
bilingual and to be role models in their classroom for their friends. Is that the
the time now for my daughter or did I speak through the whole time?
Sorry. Isabella signed up separately so her time will start
over. I'll let her speak and I'll just let Marcelo introduce himself
just to say goodbye and my pardon. Okay, go right ahead Isabella.
My name is Marcelo Edison Salazar and I'm going to first grade.
It's nice you're here.
Okay, Isabella, it's great to have you here.
Pull that microphone down and then go right ahead when you're ready.
Good afternoon, everybody.
My name is Isabella Salazar and I'm going to fourth grade TWI.
I have a younger brother named Marcelo Salazar and he is going into first grade TWI.
This program has been a success for me and here are some ways I would describe TWI.
The way I feel about this program is very positive and it will help me in the future.
For example, when I'm older and looking for a job,
I will have more opportunities of finding a good job just for being bilingual.
I'm also very proud of learning to be bilingual.
I love to speak both languages at home, school, and everywhere I go. My native language is Spanish,
but I'm fluent in both languages.
But the main reason I love this program so much is because I can speak both languages and feel supported
by my teachers, friends, and parents to keep my English and Spanish.
Spanish. I really would like if the program extended to junior high and more. It would
truly make me very happy.
up in the English there are so if you're in the most Dios los dos idiomas
estergo yo sad is a bilingue porque celebra las tradiciones de mis races
espero que este programa con inuit la secundaria mucho mas gracias por
escuchar me thank you for listening to me is about something thank you Isabella
for being here you did a very good job
Our next speakers come together this time.
Adriana Martinez-Gonzalez and Marcel.
Hi.
Hello.
Good evening, everyone.
Madam President, board members, and Superintendent Fraley.
Thanks for having us here today.
My name is Adriana Martinez-Gonzalez and this is my son Marcel. We live in Katy and my son is an
incoming fourth grader in the two-way immersion program at Memorial Parkway Elementary. We are
here tonight to share with you and the audience some of our experiences as bilingual residents
in the US. My parents gave my sisters and me the greatest gift we could have
received, a bilingual education. We were educated in private schools and
universities in Mexico and Texas at a very high cost. My parents' economic
situation back in the 1970s through the 1990s was very different to my economic
situation nowadays. At this time of my life, I am not able to have my son
enrolled in a private school where he could learn a second language, in this
case English as a second language. When we came to Texas in 2009, my son started
kindergarten in the bilingual program at Plano ISD. After six months in school, he
he started speaking and understanding English.
At the middle of second grade, we moved to Katy,
and my son continued the bilingual program in Katy ISD.
After a month in Memorial Parkway Elementary,
we applied to the TWY program, and Marcel was accepted
because both his English and Spanish were proficient enough
for the level of second grade in that program.
We were also lucky to find an available spot in the class that year. If he had continued to study in Plano ISD, by third grade he would have had to leave the bilingual program and join the mainstream monolingual English class.
class. This was the case of some of his friends in Plano who tested advanced in English and
could not continue studying in the bilingual program. Some of them have to change schools
and join their home schools. We were very fortunate to have Marcel attending TWI and
not only maintaining his level of Spanish practice, but also improving every day his
writing reading and content comprehension he has been able to make
good friends from different cultures learn from their upbringing experiences
in different places in the US in Texas and other countries also from his
teachers who oftentimes have a diversity of cultural backgrounds as well Marcel
has also participated in activities related to creativity and extended
extended education with his TWI classmates and friends, like the Houston Kids Triathlon
TWI team during two consecutive years. Also, the TWI Destination Imagination team represented
Memorial Parkway in the regional competition. My son's excellent performance in both languages
in the TWI program made me realize that his level of Spanish has not diminished all these years.
On the contrary, I believe it is the same as if he was in school in Mexico.
If he continues to receive a bilingual education in secondary level,
he will be able to have plenty of opportunities for college education and beyond in the work field.
Today, we are happy to call Texas our home
and just hope to keep learning and experiencing the benefits of bilingual education,
education, continue Marcel's development through both languages and having him becoming a citizen
of the world. And now he wanted to say some words.
One minute.
Perfect.
Hi, I am Marcel and I am nine years old. I attend the TWA program in Memorial Parkway Elementary.
One reason I like to do EI is because I can learn to be bilingual and this gives me a
better opportunity at finding a job.
Being bilingual also helps me to communicate with people in both languages.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for being here.
Our final speaker this evening is Stefano Zolian.
Good evening.
Welcome.
Good evening, Madam President, Superintendent.
Can I speak in Spanish?
No.
I'm the parent of two daughters.
They both go to a 2WI program in the field of elementary.
I wanted to talk to you about the importance of the 2WI program, both from the parent perspective,
as a business perspective, and as a taxpayer.
To do that, I want to share a little bit of information about myself first.
I'm the son of two immigrant Italians.
My first language is Italian.
That's the language that I spoke in my house all my life.
I live in Venezuela, so I went to a Venezuelan school.
That's what I did in my elementary, high school, and my college.
My high school degree was in a German school, so I actually did German as a .
Now if we count it, we have Italian, I have Spanish, I have German, and I have English.
Out of the four, I'm actually proficient to work in two of them and not in the four of them.
And I wanted to show you the difference between the different type of education that you get in language.
Speaking a language in the house lets you talk and understand and maybe read that language.
in that language. But that not makes you work in that language. In order to do that, you actually
have to really understand what you're reading and you have to be proficient to write in business
setting in that language. So even though I speak Italian fluently, I can understand that I cannot
work in Italian. I went to a German school. I had more German than math, Spanish, or any other
subject together, I think. We had two or three hours a day of German. And besides
the fact that German is very difficult, after all my years in high school,
I didn't speak a word of German. I might go, I can drink a beer, I can ask for the
bathroom, I used to be able to ask for the bathroom, but not anymore. So having
having just two hour lecture in a language
don't make you proficient in that language.
Of course, I was immersed in Venezuela. I had to speak Spanish.
I did all my courses in Spanish. So, of course, I was able to
do everything in Spanish. But also, I came to the States.
I did my MBA in English. So, I actually am able to
speak with you. I am able to do my work in English.
So it's very important for these kids not only to be in a house that speaks Spanish or English, they need to go to a school that actually teaches them to think and to read and to write in another language.
And that goes both ways. That's what I love about the TWI. It's the best program that I think that Americans have to learn Spanish and not the other way around.
I mean for me for me for my daughters is a good plus but there is a problem that
has to in my sense it has to be widened to more schools and deepen into the
product so they reaches junior high and high school eventually I want to give
you another share another part of the information about the important DWI for
Katie as I said I'm a business person I migrated to the United States and I have
a business. I make chocolate. It's a sweet business. But yeah, it's very sweet.
Now, in my decision-making, I had to choose a city to do this. I came from
Venezuela. It was 2009, the middle financial crisis, so the United States
was not the best way, best place to do business with. Houston was the best place
to actually do business, and I selected Houston for that. Within
Houston somebody told me you have to go to Katie's the best program in Houston
and I chose Katie so my business pay taxes employs people and everything
because of the KDISD and specifically for the TWI so I encourage you guys to
to think about this program and think of ways of widening the the program to more
more schools so the more people more kids have available to get into the
program and to deepen the program to reach junior high and high school
eventually thank you very much
Thank You mr. Zolian yes mr. Friebel first of all I'm glad you guys are here
the program TWA is very very popular and that's an understatement and we
made the decision last year to go to fifth grade as was agreement to
continue with another cohort coming on board in kindergarten so there's no question about the
support but the program has been originally designed and and what it began with the grant
but now we're funding it our local funds and um frankly i i think it's it's good our kids become
bilingual and do it for our language the challenge is the current model we're going to do an
evaluation now to look at it um is one is the one that we can sustain for in the current uh format
at is one that we can afford to expand horizontally and then look at it on the vertical side of
things.
The biggest concern I have right now was just signing the law this weekend in South Spill
5, which has a new graduation plan that's going to take effect on a lot of cases when
they enter high school.
So we're still trying to evaluate that law to see how can we do what we want to do in
KDISD with not only TWI but robotics and a lot of other stuff as well with this new law.
So we don't know yet, but we'll be looking into that.
that. But without a doubt, there is a strong value for this district, and I think about
the previous boards and this current board, I don't want to speak for them, for foreign
language development. The United States lags behind most of the developed nations in terms
of being proficient in more than one language. And we do see this, as you have said to me
before, as an unparalleled learning experience. And so consistent with our mission, we do
have an interest in continuing to look into this program, evaluate it, and make some decisions
at that point in time. So thank you for your input.
This concludes the open forum portion of our meeting. And we will move to the consent agenda.
Just give me pause one second, please.
I'm going to direct your attention to the consent agenda, please, and the chair will
entertain a motion. Madam President. Mr. Adams. Move the Board of Trustees approve
consent agenda items 1 through 10. Second. The motion by Mr. Adams is second by Mr.
Griffin that the Board approves the consent agenda as recommended in items
1 through 10. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All in favor
raise your right hand to say aye. Aye. Motion carries 7 to 0. We have one action item on the
agenda this evening. The Katy ISD is a large district that has a seat
allocated on the Texas Association of School Boards Board of Directors. We will
send a member to serve there for us and at this time the nominations are open
for position E on the region for board of directors. Madam President, I'd like to nominate Joe Adams for region 4E position.
A nomination was made by Terry Huckabee to nominate Joe Adams for position E on the region 4 board of directors.
Are there any other nominations? Madam President. Mr. DeBrell.
I'd like to nominate Rebecca Fox for Region 4, 4E, as the board.
Nomination was made by Henry Dubrell to nominate Rebecca Fox for Position E on the Region 4 Board of Directors.
Are there any other nominations?
If not, the chair will entertain a motion to close nominations.
So moved.
I need a second for the closing.
Second.
The motion was made by Brian Mahalski and seconded by Henry DeBrell to close nominations.
All those in favor, raise your right hand and say aye.
Aye.
Opposed, nominations?
Motion passes 7-0.
We will vote in the order of nominations.
Nominations. A nomination was made by Terry Huckabee to nominate Joe Adams for the position E on the Region 4 Board of Directors.
All those in favor of Joe Adams for Region 4 Board of Directors, raise your hand and say aye.
Aye.
All opposed?
It's a vote.
What?
I'm sorry okay that's a majority mr. Adams congratulations region for board
of directors
We have information items attached on our agenda this evening.
The donation report is here and we have future meetings.
We have a meeting on Wednesday with the, in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce,
with the exchange is coming to the community.
The exchange is an opportunity for us to take the dialogue from the board to the community.
Thank you, Mr. DeBrell, for offering us lots of varied opportunities.
You're in charge of that program, and you're taking us to the business community this month
to the Chamber of Commerce early breakfast, 645 in the morning, if you'd like to join us.
There's a fee for breakfast, but, of course, attending any board meeting is free.
You're welcome.
We have a board work study on Monday, July 15th, and a regular board meeting on July 22nd.
Having no further business, this meeting is adjourned.
Official documents
Motions and votes
Recorded actions
The motions and votes for this meeting have not been recorded here yet. Whether any were taken is not stated either way. The agenda and the recording above are the primary sources.