Good evening. The Board will now convene an open meeting. Today is September 21, 2015, and the time is 643. 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. Mr. Fraley, will you verify that we're in compliance with the provisions of the Texas Open Meeting Law in regard to the notice for this meeting?
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Mr. President, we are in compliance. First item is a personal report.
Mr. President. Mr. Adams. I move that the Board of Trustees approve the personnel report as recommended by the Superintendent in the closed meeting.
I have a motion by Joe Adams, a second by Rebecca Fox, that the Board of Trustees approve the personnel report as recommended by the Superintendent in closed meeting. Any discussions? Hearing none, let's proceed to vote. All those in favor, raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. Those opposed?
Motion passes 7-0. Mr. President, I'm pleased to announce the reassignment of Julie Henson to be as principal of Morton Ranch High School. Announce that there. She's currently the associate. She is an original member of the faculty, opened the high school up, and was the district wide teacher of the year. And I'm very excited about her having the chance to take this next step.
Thank you very much. And that gets rid of item 3.3. Are there any scouts in the audience? Nope. So we'll move to the consent agenda. Item 4.1 consider future board approval of a water line easement in a sanitary sewer easement of the Fort Then water counties municipal utilities district number three associated with the Katy ISD owned property on Kingsman Boulevard West Peterson Road, mr. McElwain
Board board members superintendent Fraley these two items tonight are associated with utility easements associated with two of our newer schools which are proposed and will be constructed through this bond program. The first the first item is associated with elementary school number 40 which will be located in the vicinity of Young Ranch which is just to the east of Willow Creek Farms on Kingsland Boulevard. This particular easement would be granted to Fort Ben Waller County's mud number three. It's a waterline easement and a sanitary sewer easement. The water line easement is directly adjacent to Kingsland Boulevard and the sanitary sewer easement is along the east property line. So in both cases the easement is directly adjacent to the property lines will not impact the operation of the facility. Plus it will elementary 40 as I mentioned is is one of our new schools for this bond program so with approval this particular item will help to ensure that water utilities are there when we need them for this construction. Thank you. Any questions? 4.2? The second item is associated with elementary school number 38 which is a school which is located within the Cinco Ranch Northwest subdivision. The school is located at the corner of Westridge Creek Lane and Horizon Bluff Lane. This particular easement, it's a water line easement along along Horizon Bluff Lane. Once again, it's directly adjacent to the property line, will not impact the operation of the campus. And once again, it will be beneficial to have this work done in a timely manner as we're building this particular school, which is under construction now to complete next August.
Thank you. Any questions? Thank you, I'm glad the weather's staying nice for y'all. I know y'all have been pushing it up. I'm extremely pleased. Thank you. Thank you. 4.3, consider future board approval of a sanitary sewer easement to Mason Creek Utility District associated with Katy ISD owned property on Kingsman Boulevard between Walgreens Boulevard and Dominion Drive.
Good evening, President Griffin, school board members and Superintendent Fraley. The item I'm bringing forward tonight is an easement, I'm sorry, I lost my place, is an an easement with Mason Creek Utility District and they are undertaking an expansion of their water and wastewater expansion infrastructure and that includes a new wastewater lift station, a 12 inch water line and a sanitary sewer line. The sewer line is the one that requires the easement and that will be on the south side of Taylor High School property. The utility district did do a feasibility study and that study eliminated the Kingsland Boulevard esplanade because it couldn't be a routing option. There's already other existing utilities in that easement. So we met with the school and with a representative from the utility district, and it was agreed that the work would be coordinated through our office so that we would assure there were no disruptions to school or impede the flow of traffic during the arrival or the dismissal at school time. We were also reassured that the contractor would bore under the existing driveways and under the trees so that no trees would be damaged or removed in the sidewalks and I mean the driveways would not be damaged. This easement has been reviewed and approved by the district's legal counsel. I have tonight with me Brian Conley from the Mason Creek Utility District. If anybody has any questions we would be happy to answer them. Questions? Thank you.
you. Item 4.4, consider future board approval of the proposal for web-based autism program
support services. Good evening, President Griffin, Board Members, Superintendent Fraley. I have three contracts actually to bring forward to you tonight for your review. The first one is a proposal for web-based autism program support services and this is a software package that is an online package. The district has been using this particular software for a while but the new regulations under the federal grant fund programs require that we go back and look at things that we are already using and make sure that we have reviewed them under a competitive process again to be sure that they are exactly what the district needs to purchase with the federal funding. So accordingly we developed an RFP and went out and looked at the three products that are on the market. And after evaluation, it was determined again that the Rethink product is the best product for the district. It provides all of the services that we need. It provides teacher training as well as support for how they develop programs for the autistic students. The Rethink product is used in many districts in Texas and has been used by Katie for a number of years. After considering all the factors above of and the pricing structure that was proposed, the Rethink Autism product represents the best value for the district. Because we have already began our grant fund year, the first term of the contract will be from October 1st through June 30th at a cost of $140,409 with two additional years is proposed at $175,000 per year and it will be paid for with special education grant funds.
Thank you. Any questions? Okay, 4.5.
The second contract I have to bring before you tonight is for the purchase and installation of a shade structure and playground equipment at Davidson Elementary through the Playworks company and we are purchasing it through the by-board cooperative and it is in the amount of $132,215.61. However, it is being paid for with donated funds from the Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District number 57. So after review of all of the proposals and with the school, this was the particular unit that they wanted, it was available for purchase through the buy board and that is who we are proposing to contract from.
Thank you very much, Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District. We love those
backgrounds. Thank you. No other questions? 4.6. Okay, the last item I have for your review this evening is the proposal for charter bus transportation services. We have had a contract in place for a number of years and it was time for renewal so accordingly we went out and contacted as many companies as we could find we did receive a proposals six were from actual charter bus companies we reviewed all of the proposals received the other two were from travel companies that contract with tour bus companies to provide services they provide actually complete travel packages for our traveling organizations they don't actually own the tour the bus companies themselves. But with the six that did and the two tour companies, we have reviewed all of the proposed carriers that they brought to us. They all met the district safety standards which we reviewed very carefully. We also look at their insurance that they are able to provide the district and our recommendation is that we award all companies presented. The annual expenditure is about three hundred and six thousand dollars per year and these trips can be funded from the general operating fund and our special revenue funds. With an example of
use like when our kids are playing in the state tournaments, this would be the company that our kids are that coaches would charter transportation to and from?
If it is paid for with district funds or the funds come through the district then they are required to use our contract. If the booster clubs clubs contract for the buses, then they don't necessarily use the companies that we have under contract. That's at their discretion. We encourage them to, but they don't always.
Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Mr. Adams?
Ms. Stevenson, would this also include, I know last year we had a student who was like over by Hobby Airport. Would this cover that type of service as well? Is that student still
still there that that comes under the homeless or the transportation that the contract that we brought forward a few months ago this is strictly for charter
bus or busing okay thank you very much any other questions thank you thank section 5 discussion action 5.1 discuss and consider future board approval of design services and construction delivery methods associated with the build out of the education support complex, second floor shelf space and
associated renovations. Yes sir. Great, thank you President Griffin, Board of Trustees, Superintendent Fraley. The school board had the foresight back in 2004 when we built this addition to the administration building to provide an alternate and support that the pricing of an alternate and eventually the the construction of a second floor shell space in this particular building to allow for and to accommodate future growth of our district. Our greatest asset is really the quality of our staff in this particular district and this project supports the needs of our staff, providing training space for our staff to learn and collaborate and accommodation space for those staff supporting our schools. This particular project was included in the approved approved GOF budget for this coming year, the build out of the shell space. It was included and part of this current year's budget. So that being said, with the approval of the Board, it would be our goal to complete this project prior to the end of this fiscal year in August. What this project entails is the build out, as I mentioned, of the shell space, the second floor shell space, as well as derivative renovation work on the first floor. This project will benefit several departments in the organization as well as, as I mentioned, provide a much-needed training space, staff training space in this facility. A day doesn't really go by in this particular facility where you don't see a number of teachers in here learning and collaborating and the space it's really getting quite compressed in this particular building. There's, it's difficult to find space in this building and the sessions and the various events that are the learning events are put on for the teachers are really quite frequent in this particular building. Also some of the departments that will be impacted by this particular project are several of the support departments in the organization. Technology, teaching and learning, the health department, the the Special Ed Department, I mentioned Human Resources Department, Partners in Education Communications. As you can see, there's a number of departments that are touched, will be touched by this renovation. Tonight, what this particular item does is it would bring approval for PBK to complete the construction documents on this particular project, as well as the construction delivery method. We have to identify the construction delivery method for this project. we are recommending construction manager risk just because of the complex nature of this project and the timing of the project and once again as I mentioned this particular the the funds that are identified in this board item have been approved within the the current gof budget any questions mr. Mohost the
estimated total project cost of just under three million does that include all the additional technology for that space? That's a loaded cost, Mr. Lodnolsky.
That's a loaded cost, so it's got all of what we would normally call the soft
cost. So what about parking? Since this facility is used so much and during the day with all the people that are here, are you going to need any additional parking or with the parking lot that we just redid, does that take kind of
take? Well many of these folks are already here, but also to answer your question President Griffin is that when we built the Merrill Center one of the benefits of that is it is that when there aren't events in the Merrill Center that provides adequate parking so we've pretty well maxed out parking availability on this particular campus so there there will be space available
for for these events thank you any objection to this item consent so move
5.2. The next item is associated with the Student Activities Facility Second Stadium. Just as a bit of a refresher for the for the board, last in July we brought the design of the second stadium to the board. We had identified at that particular point in time that because this is a construction manager at risk project, Duratech Construction and let me just reiterate because we'll be bringing other additional projects that are CM at risk projects to the board that when we retain the contractor early on in the game while we're still doing the design essentially we're retaining the general contractor and his based upon his fee or a construction manager based upon his fee. As we get prices in from the sub trades those are called amendments and that those become then amendments to the construction manager at risk contract so it's a GMP guaranteed maximum price. So one of the other reasons for having a construction manager at risk in a process and a construction manager on this project is because it's a multi-phase project, a complex project. Multi-phased insofar as we do what's called fast tracking the project in order to meet the completion date which is for the football season of 2017. We have been working with the contractor Duratec Construction Limited to put packages together. So the first pricing that was done over the summer if you can recall we did some vegetation removal over there we took to knock the trees down on that particular site and now we're doing some of the infrastructure work okay infrastructure site development and I should identify that that that the the prices that have come in are the team considers those in line with what we had anticipated. You know there are bond funds in the there are bond funds in the 2014 bond for infrastructure and for this stadium. So these these costs are in line with what we'd anticipated for this phase of the work. With approval of these phases which is the infrastructure work as well as site development work or some of the site development work, it'll keep us moving until November because at this particular point time we're still doing the we're still finishing the construction documents on the main stadium proper, we are looking at bringing at this particular point time the actual pricing, the amendment for the actual stadium proper to the November board meeting. So this is, it's part of the construction manager at risk process where we do the project in phases to fast-track the project. So in other words it's done in packages, what we would call packages. So the first phase was removing the vegetation in the summer off of the the site. I'd like to say that one of the reasons we did that was to dry out the site but until a couple of weeks ago that didn't necessarily hold true. But it did help us tremendously to keep the project moving because it's hard to believe but football season 2017 is not too far away. So there's representatives here from HKS as well as with Duratech Construction this evening should you have any questions. The second item if I may just jump ahead a little bit. The The second item, the next agenda item after this is linked to this project. As you know, when we bring construction projects, we bring it at the same time the material testing, which is the material testing companies are retained by ourselves. And that's associated with this project.
Okay. Any questions on 5.2 or 5.3? Any objection to move this item to consent? So moved. Thank you.
The second, I might as well just touch on that. The second item is HTS being recommended for the materials testing for this phase of the project. HTS has, they've done geotech work on this site that they're best qualified to perform this work at this particular site.
Okay.
Any other questions? 5.3. Oh, Mr. Mohoski.
Real quick. So I guess we'll have construction materials testing on multiple phases of this project? That's correct.
That's correct. When you see the next package, the stadium proper at the November meeting, you will probably see either that meeting materials testing or the one right after it.
All right.
Still 5.3, good order of consent. Any objection? Nope. Thank you. So moved. Thank you. Thank you. 5.4, discuss and consider future board approval of an interlocal agreement with Fort Bend County Municipal Utility District MUD number 57 and Katy Independent School District to construct recreational facility improvements to Keiko Davidson Elementary School.
Good evening once again. This item that I'm bringing forward is for your approval of an interlocal agreement with Fort Bend County Municipal MUD number 57 and Katy ISD to construct the facility, the recreational facility improvements that Regina Stevenson spoke to you about just a few moments ago at Keiko Davidson Elementary. This interlocal will allow KDISD to oversee the construction and design of the project, and the project should be complete six months within the effective date of this agreement. The facilities will be available for public use during non-school hours, and the funding for this project will be provided by the Fort Bend County MUD number 57. At the conclusion of the agreement, KDISD will own, operate, and maintain the facilities. Mr. President?
Yes, Ms. Fox.
It's going to be completed within six months of ordering or receiving them, so it will happen during the school year? Yes, ma'am. And this is on the playground outside, so... Yes, ma'am, and it's... Based on the drawing, so it's like it's big and going to take a lot. How will they... will they do it after hours, or how... what provisions have been made for the children?
They will fence off the areas they're using and they will not do any kind of the heavy work while the kids are there. They're going to cover the basketball courts and they're also going to do picnic tables on hardtop that's already there and a shade structure over that and some playground equipment. It will not affect the existing playground. They can still have access to that and they can continue to do some of the work. But like I said when they bring in cranes or lifts or things like that that will not be when the kids are anywhere in here Thank you
Any other questions? Any objection to move this item consent so move thank you 5.5 discuss consider future future board approval of an interlocal agreement between Harris County and Katy Independent School District public health emergency
Good evening, President Griffin, members of the board, Superintendent Fraley. Tonight I'm presenting an interlocal agreement between Harris County and KDISD. The purpose of this agreement is to allow Harris County and KDISD to plan cooperatively and to respond together to a possible public health emergency. Specifically, that is required in the Texas Education Code that school districts cooperatively plan or jointly plan with public health authorities. This particular agreement addresses the possible need for mass dispensing of preventative medications during a public health emergency. and it allows us to do that on our facilities whether that would be a school or a or an alternate type of facility is left to the planning process this is an update of an existing agreement which has been in place for ten years we renewed it about five years ago so this is a fairly routine process process of looking at those agreements and renewing them. The agreement benefits our students and their families by ensuring that there is a location for dispensing medications in a public health emergency within the district and that would reduce the crowding at other county facilities and reduce the travel required of our students and their families. Thanks.
Thank you. Any questions? Any objection to move this item of consent? Thank you, sir. So moved. 5.6, discuss and consider future board approval for the superintendent to prepare, sign, and submit a waiver application to the state commissioner of education for elementary school campuses that exceed the class size limit of 22 to 1 in addition to campuses that could potentially exceed the ratio due to increased enrollment during the 2015-2016 school year.
Good evening, President Griffin, school board members, and Superintendent Fraley. I am here to present a class size waiver exception for 2015-16. All districts in the state of Texas must complete a class enrollment survey of all grades, kindergarten through fourth, and based on that enrollment you file for a waiver with the State Commissioner of Education and currently KDISD have eight campuses and thirteen sections that are that have surpassed a 22 to 1 ratio. This would allow us to go to 24 to 1 adding a teacher when it gets to 24 plus 1 and we don't necessarily automatically hire I mean add a teacher once it's 25 kids in the classroom what we do is monitor it because a lot of times we find that the kids may enroll and then pull out so we do monitor it and we are wanting to to submit for this waiver so we can cover those classes that are currently over 22 to 1.
Mr. Fraley. And Ms. Satton, this is pretty much a routine manual thing that we do and to make sure that this question is not negatively impacted.
Yes, sir.
And it's pretty close to last year. We filed one for nine campuses and 17 sections.
Mr. Maholsky. That's okay. She just answered my question before I asked it. I knew we did it every year. I want to know how it kind of compared historically. Thank you. Thank you.
Any other questions? Ms. Fox?
Ms. President, Ms. Edmund, we have, have we had our balance time now where we kind of know where teachers are needed and excess is moved around? Have we had that balance?
Yes, we are currently in the middle of what we consider our fall excess. I think we may have two teachers left on the list to be picked up. So we have, we've balanced every elementary classroom at this time. And that's how we actually get to this point where we know which classes are over 22 to 1.
one. Any other questions? Any objection to move this item to consent? Thank you, ma'am. So moved. 5.7 discuss and consider future board approval of a principal assistant principal substitute list. Okay, to be in accordance with
policy, local policy DNA, the district must submit a list of substitute assistant principals and principals before the board in order for them to to appraise teachers in the absence of an administrator. And because we usually have assistant principals or principals that may substitute in for long-term period and may have to go through the appraisal process, we're bringing the list forward for your approval.
Any questions? It's nice to see someone, oh, go ahead, Mr. Mahoski.
Just curious, because I'm aware of some long-term substitutions that we've had over time on this, but how often are these actually utilized? I mean are these some of these just one day assignments or are they more typically longer term assignments when when you're utilizing it could be a
Combination of both it could be a combination of both depends on the circumstances and how long the actual sitting principal assistant principal must be out
I'm just proud to see some of those names or namesakes that you're enough of there's so much about the district that they continue to help us Whenever the need arises Any objection to move this item to consent? Thank you, ma'am. So moved. You're not leaving anytime soon, are you? 5.8, discuss and consider future board approval to modify the 2015-2016 non-teacher pay ranges for the T1, T2, and C1 through C3.
Okay, and recently we have analyzed the pay for our C1s and C2s, which mainly comprises of our custodians, groundskeepers, bus attendants and food service workers. And we have found that it is very difficult for us to recruit and maintain a high quality workforce in those areas with our starting rates. and I actually did a brief survey with four of the surrounding districts and we are below market by 11.5% on our starting salary for custodians. We're 17.2% below average market average on our groundskeepers. We are with a starting salary of $983,000. The only district that is below us is Fort Fort Beane at $902,000. We have Spring Branch at $1086,000, Sci-Fair at $1018,000, and A-Leaf at $1020,000. And that's for the custodians. We are below average on our groundskeepers with a starting salary of $983,000. We have Spring Branch at $1045,000, Fort Beane at $1082,000, Sci-Fair at $1120,000, and A-Leaf at $1148,000. Food service. We're okay in food service and bus attendance, but I will explain if we're going to move our starting salary for the custodians and the groundskeepers on C1, we have to move the starting salary for the C2. Because if we were to move the proposed salary of $11 an hour for C1s, our starting salary for C2 is $10.82. So of course if you modify one, you need to modify the other one to stay compliant. And in looking at that, it would also impact our T1 and T2 paraprofessionals that are in our classroom So of course we are proposing those two pay grades to also move up just a little bit. Because we didn't want the C1 pay group to be higher than our T1s, which are mainly PE aides and front desk employees that work on our campuses. So we're really asking for the district to approve a new minimum wage of $11 per hour so we can recruit and maintain a high quality workforce in our auxiliary departments.
Thank you. Any questions? Mr. Moholsky.
I believe all of these increases you're talking about were approved in the budget last week. Yes, sir.
I forgot to mention that. Yes, sir.
Thank you. Any objection to move this item of consent? So moved. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
5.9, discuss and consider future board approval to modify the 2015-2016 non-teacher pay ranges for T1, T2. Oops, I'm sorry. We just did that one. We're at 5.9, discuss and consider future board approval of the KDISD School Health Advisory Council Membership Committee. You going to do a presentation for us, or do you want us to go straight? No, sir.
I'm here just to answer any questions if any of you might have one.
All right. All right, board members, the SHAC committee list is provided in your board docs if you have any questions.
Just a little requirement to be in compliance with. We'll be there.
Mr. President.
Mrs. Fox.
Mr. Grimmett, it's very typical and consistent with what we've had in the past. Yes, ma'am. And provide a good service for us, and we appreciate your update you give us every year. So this looks very similar to what we've seen in the past, with the exception of we missed Mrs. Godfrey.
I do, too.
She's our community person, but you have a new one that's also awesome. Yes, ma'am. Okay, thanks so much.
Thank you. Any objection to move this item of consent? So moved. 5.10, discuss and consider future board adoption of the 2015-2016 debt service tax rate. Mr. Smith.
Good afternoon, Mr. Griffin, Mr. Fraley, and board. Board. Property tax code states the governing body must adopt a tax rate on an annual basis. We adopt two tax rates, both the maintenance and operations and general and a debt service tax rate. We're we adopt the debt service tax rate first. You have submitted before you an order adopting the debt service tax rate that supports what the budget was built on and would recommend adopting the order for the debt service tax rate as presented any questions right any
questions at this point no I think that's a reduction proposed reduction Thank you very much. Any objection to move in this item to consent? We don't want to. I think the order, does it read next week or read it now? All right. We'll go ahead and read this one. All right. We'll just save that one for next week. I don't want to hear me read. You can do it twice if you want to. No, that's okay. So is there any objection to move in 5.10 to consent? Oh, hold on one second. That's what you're saying. I got you now. Can't move to consent. All right, 5.11.
All right. Maintenance and operations tax rate is also presented to you in the form of an order, and that order would be recommending the same tax rate that we've had there in the maintenance and operations at $1.1266.
Any questions? Thank you, sir. And number 512?
Property Tax Code directs voting entities of appraisal districts to submit their nominations for appraisal districts to the chief appraiser of each county before October the 15th. That's why we do this in September of every other year. And we would be doing that in order to nominate a member of the three appraisal districts. districts. Again, KDISD is a member of both of all Waller County Appraisal District, Fort Bend County Appraisal District and Harris County Appraisal District. In order to be a nominee or to be eligible to be a nominee, they would need to be a resident of obviously KDISD or that particular county for two years. They need to be, they cannot be employees employees of Katy ISD. They cannot be, cannot serve as a directory if they've been related to anybody that is an appraisal district employee. Currently, for Waller County, our nominee and our representative has been Mr. Alexander, Roosevelt Alexander. He is willing to serve again. We do not have a rep for Fort Bend County. We did not make a nomination for Fort Bend County but we will vote on them in November and Harris County is a little unique in that all school districts have one representative and then in Harris County and historically and over the years Tony Trumbull, who is a retired tax assessor collector from Spring ISD, has represented and represented well the school districts in Harris County. And they are also, along with Mr. Alexander, willing to serve again. So you have before you three resolutions, one for each county, that would be for your selection and designation of a candidate for Waller, Fort Bend, and Harris County. Again, to be voted on in November. And I will add that the term would be January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2017. So it's a two-year term
Thank you any questions
All right, I wonder who votes on on these boards you will This board will be have an opportunity to vote based on all the candidates from From each. Okay appraisal district support basically each taxing authority has as last year. We cast our votes in Waller County for mr Mr. Alexander. We cast all our votes in Harris County for Mrs. Trumbull. And in Fort Bend County, we split those votes up.
Thank you. May I remind the board of how many votes they have? I think it varies by county, doesn't it?
It's dependent on the size of our district, and I don't have that information with me at this time. I'm sorry, Mr. Trumbull.
We can mail it out to you guys. It is weighted based on taxable value or taxable value.
Yes, sir.
It's just FYI, and it only matters when you look at splitting in Fort Bend County.
All right, we can't move that one to consent. 5.13, discuss and consider future board approval of the September 2015 budget amendments.
Good evening, President Griffin, Trustees, and Superintendent Fraley. We have four budget amendments tonight. The first one is $1,018,000, which is funded from the TURS Fund. It's the TURS Waterfall Fund. This is for exterior athletic improvements over at the Katy Complex, including the concessions and the restrooms we have another amendment amending one hundred and seven thousand five hundred dollars for architect fees related to the installation of the lambs system at the second stadium and the remaining two budget amendments are offsets between different functions of
existing budget any questions just real quick on the Katy high school stadium when is it to propose completion date for the concession stand and bathrooms
that this year is a spring of 2016 which canal
new that project there's multiple phases to that project there's if you can recall we brought it last month it's the concessions is the first phase concessions and restrooms that to respond to your question it's early it's early in 16 I can't say I'm sorry I can't say exactly what the date is
that's close enough thank you any objection to move in this item to consent so moved thank you ma'am all right 5.1 for discussing consider future board adoption of a vision statement for the Katy Independent School District this one belongs to me as a presenter and I'd like to do this one and of a unique way Joe and Rebecca I mean Joe and Rebecca y'all have been here providing the district a vision hasn't been written down yet because this is a very complicated uh thing but i think with a good vision statement we give direction and unity to the board you all have been here setting the tone for the district for a long time we have a lot of work done brian you let us many hours to come up with the vision statement that we've worked on i would like for y'all to to lead the discussion on this is what y'all seen and does the proposed statement lead us in the direction to continue the district in the correct
direction well i think anytime that you have an organization whether it's a school board or a church or whatever vision statements important because it's it does cast the vision for where you want to go and maybe not be a mission statement but a vision so that that you can do that back in 1989 when I got on the board we had a lot of discussion about that we've had several different topics with that I know Bonnie Hollis not here tonight but she was involved in every one of those it probably has a binder thick about that as far as the way it goes but I think that you could look back on that and see the vision statements that we had at that time even before the law came into effect that you had to have that that it was because of that and because of good board members and with those included here tonight that has caused this district to continue to focus on the future of kdisd it's not just trying to stay ahead of the growth but it's it's primarily to to to make katie a place where you want to get where you want to be where you want to raise your children um i was thinking about this today actually and um i was just coming i know that mr rutherford talked about vision statements the other night and some of them that were a little bit cheesy and all but but the thing about this is that you know we are here to prepare their students for the future and I think that that to me is is just so critical that we do that and it as mr. Fraley has said many times it's all about the students you know in the work that we do the work that we do the things that we have come before us I really really have enjoyed mr. Fraley just reminding us that step back is this about the kids you know I mean we're more worried about mowing the grass at Taylor High School than we are about what's going on at at in education inside that building and the answer is of course that we need to do that but I think that through the years previous board members have had to foresight to be able and even before my time with Jim Jim Williams, Stanley Thompson, Don Elder, all those folks. And it feels way, way back to have a vision for KDISD. And I'm pleased to be a part of that. And I'm pleased that even though we may not have had one, but we do have one. And I think that each one of us have our own vision. But it's combined together as one. and I think this board is unified in knowing that kids come first and and I'm happy to be a part of that Thank You mrs. Fox would you like me to read the
statement that we work so hard on um all right we as a board worked very hard to come up with transforming learning unifying community sustaining the legacy of excellence it feels so odd to me to be the
senior member of this board because I for so many years said I'm the cute new girl or the new anyone so many years and now I'm this is your 12 for me and having moved to Katie I say it all the time our family moved to Katy because of the school district the reputation of the school district and the opportunity for our children and we very quickly got here and saw the quality of education our children got but what kept us here was the community it's the it's the embracing of our community and wanting excellence for all of us and how that was the transforming part for us to stay here because we talk all the time about the children and about keeping the main thing the main thing we are about delivering quality instruction to our children our students but it doesn't stop there Katie is so unique and so impressive because our community comes alongside and says we want that we have high expectations of that and how can we help you get that but when we were working so hard on this it was a very difficult thing mr. Mahulski very valiantly led us through this last year during our team buildings of how do you boil down into a statement a very short statement that says what our vision is because it's not just academic excellence it doesn't stop there you know we also we have the unifying our community and sustaining the legacy that we have because we talked about Mr. Griffin, you graduated from here. Mrs. Vann, you graduated from here. And now look at you. You know, you're kind of a big deal now because, right, those are my favorite terms. And so I'm so proud of our students and where they go and what they've done. And so we sustain that legacy of excellence. And it's an expectation for us. So coming up with these words was not an easy thing. And we talked through so many of them. right and so when mr rutherford was here and saying somebody said you know some is such and such isd changes lives we do that too we change lives but it's it's more focused it's more intentional we are very intentional about how we do it and um we do transform learning because not every child comes to us with the same kind of style or at the same place and they don't leave the same so it's not a cookie cutter delivery of instruction dr. Caskey is Barbie and her people are far beyond a cookie cutter type of delivery of instruction and so the talk about not having a vision statement was about not being able to find the exact words that seven people can agree on without it being and every time we tried to do one it was a paragraph because we had so so many things we wanted to put in there and recognize. The same way it's hard to say thank you to one group of people without all of them. But we absolutely have always had a vision. And that is recognized by the success that our students have, our teachers. And, you know, we have a teacher who is a Texas finalist for Texas Teacher of the Year. And she represents one of thousands and thousands in our district. So we have all of that. Have we had a vision? Absolutely. Absolutely. Do we live it out? Do we make decisions at this dais with that vision in mind? Absolutely. Can you put it into words? It's really hard. But I'm glad to have this one and it wasn't an easy thing to come with it. But Mr. Adams is right. We've had a vision and people who came before us had a vision. And I'm just so stinking grateful to be here and be a part of this.
All right. Now for the rest of us, I think we all have children still in the district. Is this the future that you want your children to go to school and learn under? And each person is going to have to say something today. So, Brian, why don't we start with you?
Honestly, I don't really like it.
That's all. Do you have any modifications you'd like? No, no, that's not mine.
strong suit okay Ashley I like it I find it a bit wordy it's just like Rebecca said there's so many things we we all had different things that we you know had her vision they all came back to talk about the students when we initially hashed this out and I she's exactly right I think that's why I walked away without anything concrete because not that we would be disagreed we just didn't make it gel I do like the unifying community partially because as miss Fox said I'm from here and I came back here and I think you know as big as Katie's getting it still feels like a small community and as as we keep growing I do feel like the unifying committee community portion is a vital key to helping Katie stay strong even though we were inevitably growing by leaps and bounds so that that chunk I I like me mean that that's just that it speaks to me as a community leader well before i sat here um and you know how i gave my time in volunteering so um that's my favorite chunk of it but i do feel like it's it's a mouthful like i think it'll take me like a year to even memorize it which says nothing to my blondness
it's just you know it's just so would y'all would y'all rather pull this out of the consent and have another three hour or more work study to come up with a more concise or different vision statement well I don't know and I do
pretty much agree with Ashley I think it's it's a bit bit wordy it's not that I disagree with the concepts there or you know it's just just doesn't roll off the tongue and I think one of the things that came out of our our last meeting here with with the dr. Rutherford was you know that's something that just you just know it or and you you can recite it very easily at any time and to me this is a little little much or for that I'd rather simplify it
if we can thank you Henry I remember when we started this process Rebecca's first year as president we're sitting at a white table back there and there was some intense discussion and she pounded her finger on that desk and said we will finish this we will get through this process I remember the last the following year and then the year Brian when you let us do this there's a lot of work that has gone into this although it's it's words but I believe it's what we're trying to define not only our community but our community's values and their desires being translated into not only the schools but into the entire educational system and to what type of community we're going to become I do believe it should roll off the tongue you know similar to Nike just do it American Express you know never leave home without it but I believe it also should guide us in what type of district and what type of community we want to become remembering the fact that people mr. Fraley says they don't move here for the rolling hills or for the cool temperatures they move here because of the education and that's the signature of of this of this district and I believe that this should it should state that I mean I when I look at it I just remember the work so and I believe that all those hours spent that this somehow captures all those hours that we spent putting dots on boards and trying to go through all those processes of nailing this down you like it I like it
like it Courtney thank you I agree to the roll one off the tongue I know that I know we met last week we talked about the ISD that has the one that says I don't know what I see it was changes lives he said that every decision they make they can very easily say okay but does this MIT is this going to change lives is this you know is that what we're looking at and so I like the fact that that's very simple I mean are we transforming learning yes are we trying to unify a community yes are we sustaining a legacy of excellence it's clearly yes and so I agree with both sides of it I agree that this has been a long work in progress and it's because we're trying to get so much into something and also make it catchy something people can remember and so finding that balance is kind of hard without then looking at it and people saying oh that's cheesy but cheesy may not be so bad because cheesy simple and and so you know are we trying like I said yes we're transforming learning yes we're trying to unify community yes we're sustaining but as a board let's look at it what are we doing you know let's try to just we can't do all of that it takes everybody else to do all of that so you know I just think if we're looking at what our vision statement or is this a vision statement for us as a board or is this are we adopting a vision statement for the the entire district what is what do we do let's roll let's pull it into a nutshell of just a few words of what all the people in this building and in all these other buildings and in the community what is everybody working toward for the students and in try to find something short and simple it
brings us all together well real quick mr. Adams I'll yield to mr. Dubrow first go ahead
mr. Rutherford saying about all these little small vision statements but this past year I had the privilege of spending the entire year and all around the state of Texas with mr. Rutherford and one thing that is unique to us is that not only our size but our diversity as a community we're probably one of the most diverse districts in the state of Texas that's achieving at such a high level and I'm kind of arguing with myself here and saying how can you put that into something that's so simple I mean we have our academics excel our Our fine arts excel. Our athletics excel. I mean, we build a building for $6 million. And I have trustees in my leadership TASB class asking to travel to Katy to tour our STEAM Center. And I don't know how you can put that into a just do it. all that we do for young people from May Creek to Seven Lakes you know from Tompkins all the way out to Wolf we have a very diverse community and I think that this statement although it is longer than most kind of explains what we want to do how we do it and our desire for that community um i'm looking at and saying what would i pull out what would i change there's not one thing i would pull out that i would change
mr adams
well i don't think we want to get into a work study session here tonight night about the vision statement but I mean it's me if you wanted to condense it I mean if you wanted to get the catchphrase I mean I hear what mr. DeBrell saying about the community and what Ashley's saying too but I I don't know you know getting back to a point of where you could just say it I mean I meant to say something while ago when I I was talking is that when I wasn't in today out and about is that I was thinking about something just as simple as preparing all students for the future and that kind of was it's short but it but it's you're taking care of all students you preparing him for whatever may be coming down the pike and where they decide to go to college or wherever they may be but preparing all students for the future encapsulated that and the more I thought about it or I like that aspect as well
well I don't think as a board if we're speaking as a unified voice I don't hear seven people given direction to the district on where it needs to go right I think it further highlights as a board we haven't focused down to say this as as a board this is what we want to see accomplished so I think you know we've got a work study coming up and I think that's a great opportunity there to look look back into this vision statement and continue to do work so as a board we can speak with one one voice and hopefully as a board brings a little bit more unity so that we give better direction to the district as a whole and I think
it's I don't disagree with what mr. Mahowski said is that it doesn't roll off of your tongue easily and for anyone else to be caught in the hall and say hey can you say the vision I mean it would be a challenge for anybody probably but but getting it back down to something that that is smaller and that might be a little more easy to remember us memorizing it and being able to say it it's not going to make this district a better district at all but believing what you're saying what is it but I don't think that we need to have a vision statement for the sake of having a vision I agree with you and I like the
words you said we we as seven have to believe in it and if we don't believe in it and there's no way that anybody else is going to believe in it either so it looks like I suppose it's cool yeah we will not move this item forward mr.
president yes ma'am I appreciate very much what mr. Adams is saying about preparing students for the future absolutely absolutely we are but we're doing so much more than that and it's so hard to you know if you verbalize it and And yet it's like, I just keep thinking of, well, of course you are. You're an ISD. We're just so much greater than that, that it's so very difficult. to encapsulate it, which is why it's a work in progress, and this has been modified since my presidency and Mr. Michalski's and now Mr. Griffin, you, in that because we all have something. When it gets there, we're all going to be like, yes, just do it. We're going to get there. We are going to get there. But in spite of having one articulated and voted on, I just am grateful to each of you for the leadership that you're providing and for the commitment that you've made to our community and to our employees and students that we're all working so well and giving giving our community the leadership they deserve because we're we are doing all the things we've talked about we're doing all of those things so finding a statement we'll get there but but I'm grateful to you all for the leadership and purpose that you have and intentionality in the job that you do. We're giving vision. We just can't say it in a little sentence.
Mr. Fraley?
Thank you, Mr. Griffin. I really appreciate this conversation, without a doubt. This is my ninth year here, and we've had this conversation since my first year here, actually, and beginning out in the OLC, the Learning Center. It's been a challenge because this takes a while. And you're bringing seven folks who are very pleased with the efforts that we have sustained over the years. But we're sure not feeling like we're in sync as a community. And that's why you have some of the tension you have around every election. Us folks are not always agreeing with or, let's say, acknowledging where we are. Because there's no commitment to it. And so for a board to not give in to compliance because you're trying to build commitment, I think, is commendable. Commendable, without a doubt. There has been no question in my mind since day one where you want to go. Where you want to go. And I think that the sink has been the respect for the community. Articulating it into a little catchphrase has been the challenge because each of you are right. We do all this stuff, all this stuff. And I will say to you that Patty Pato struggled with trying to narrow it down and we said in my office, she said, okay, here's what I'm thinking, what do you think? I said, well, the test we had is does it pick up everything everyone talked about? And it does. So now what can we articulate, what can we work with that does create that passion, that emotional connection where everyone's in sync with it? We're excellent in so many things that we do. We're not perfect, we know that. We excel in so many things that we do, and yet we still feel like there's not a sink. There's one, the board, I have no doubt what you guys want. You don't have the community understanding at all, as much. Yet folks move here in droves. So there's an understanding, now it's time for an articulation. That just takes some time. It takes some time. The comfort we have, the gift we have, is we don't have a crisis in terms of performance or force of measure. Academically, not going out of the park. Financially, out of the park. Our kids are involved in co-corrected activities, not going out of the park. You know, we're in playoffs every year. We've been in state football seven of the last eight years. championship game. Girls saw fall this past summer. We've had individual and team accomplishments out the wazoo that would be the envy of the state, yet we don't seem to feel happy. Why is that? Because we can't point to what we really believe in. We celebrate the results, but we can't point to what we really believe in and really rally behind that in terms of a commitment. So the board is to be a part of it, not just complying, but really trying to articulate a commitment so that we can begin to feel more in sync and realize just how good we have things going. So how do we boil it down to a few catchphrase words? I don't know, but I'm glad that's a problem we have, trying to find the words. The fact is, you should take pride over being on the Board of Trustees or the district that's performing as well as it is. And so the vision statement is important but I think we look at our mission statement and in respect I want to say we've kind of moved beyond the preparing for the future thing it's create the future don't do it what future is going to be but to the degree we provide learning and experiences the kids are prepared to create the future and that's been what we've articulated and you can almost say there's a statement right there you create the future and that's what we And that's what we've been playing with and using across the campuses and within departments. You find symbols all over the place. So a compliance piece is one thing. Commitment piece to this community is without question on this board. Without question. And I think that's what's kept us going is that you've made decisions based on your values that we just have not put into a simple statement yet. But I'm glad to see that we're talking about it again, and I think we'll get there. We're going to get there.
Saw a lot of people scribbling. Somebody have a division statement, the answer?
Sorry. Rebecca and I were scribbling and sharing. I don't know if it's the answer, but I'm happy to share.
Go ahead.
um we came up with kdic creating a legacy of excellence
pretty close to what i scribbled all right
no as as mr frilly was talking and talking about this being a destination district x many things that we do excellent I just a little bit I wrote two down and Mrs. van liked one but not the other well at first based on what he was saying I just kind of read I get ESD a destination for excellence that's the one she didn't like but um just and the next one was you know replacing that with focused on excellence trying to make it short all right well the at that speaking we
changed creating to committed to excellence I think we're almost there
yeah I think I think we'll get it done real quick and we do have the work study come further committing to the path of excellence we all pretty much write down the same thing yeah we've got a work session coming up and I think this will be a great opportunity for us to work on our on our statements and then hopefully use that as a unifying deal so we can come up with one good one any other questions or comments on this one no then future meetings for item six Regular board meeting is Monday, September 28, 2015. And seeing no further business, this meeting is concluded at 7.51.
Official documents
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Motions and votes
Recorded actions
MOTION 001 · AGENDA 3.1
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the personnel report as recommended by the Superintendent in Closed Meeting.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bryan-michalsky | Yes |
| charles-griffin | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| henry-dibrell | Yes |
| joe-adams | Yes |
| rebecca-fox | Yes |