Good evening, everyone. The Board will now convene an open meeting. Today is Monday, December 14, 2015, and the time is 6.37 p.m.
Katy ISD · Regular Board Meeting
Katy ISD Regular Board Meeting, December 14, 2015
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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 to receive input from the staff and to take
actions on recommendations from the Superintendent.
Whereas there may not be a lengthy discussion or a litany of questions tonight, please know
that we have had the agenda for a week.
As a Board, we have reviewed each agenda item in a public work study meeting with the administrative
team where we were able to ask questions and receive answers.
Thus, as a Board, we should have appropriate knowledge of each agenda item and should be
prepared for our responses concerning the content of this meeting tonight.
Mr. Fraley, will you verify that we're in compliance with the provisions of the Texas
Open Meeting Act with regard to the notice of this meeting?
Mr. President, we are in compliance.
The first item is the personnel report.
Mr. President.
Ms. Fox.
I move that the Board approve the personnel report as recommended by the Superintendent.
I have a motion by Rebecca Fox, second by Ashley Vann, that the Board of Trustees approves
The personnel report is recommended by the superintendent in closed meeting any discussion
Hearing none will proceed to vote all those in favor raise your right hand and say aye aye
Those opposed motion passes 7 to 0
President please to introduce mr. Ruben Villardo. He's a fifth grader King elementary leading us in our pledge
Ruben under your direction one please stand for the pledges
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state, under God, one and indivisible.
Mr. Ruben Gallardo of King Elementary, Ms. President, Ms. Tame Willem is on the front
row there, proud of him, and parents, Ruben and Maria Gallardo on the front row there,
proud of their son as well.
Ruben's sister's name is Jennifer.
She's out doing something else tonight.
Ruben likes reading and video games.
His favorite subjects are science and social studies.
And this is what Mrs. Willem says about you, Ruben.
Reuben is an outstanding student with obvious leadership qualities. His
integrity is present each day as he leaves our elementary school with lion
pride. Reuben, congratulations. Thanks for being with us tonight.
Good evening Mr. Fraley and members of the school board. I want to say
that King Elementary is the best school I've ever been to. They care about the
kids and our safety they have groups like student council choir garden club and green team that help
the school and the students a lot one tradition is that our fifth grade students perform a holiday
program each year another tradition is that our fifth grade party to celebrate going to junior high
our morning announcements kvc the king broadcasting channel is run by fifth grade students
we have problem solving dual vocabulary music and daily weather reports when we reach camping goals
our teachers and principals get their hair painted different colors.
We work hard, but we also have fun at the kingdom.
Kingdom Elementary is a blessed school in the Old District,
and I am proud to be a Lion.
Thank you, and have a Merry Christmas.
Thank you, Reuben.
Thank you, Reuben.
You did an awesome job.
I'm trying to say, I feel you've been staring at your handsome back.
So what we have here for you is a certificate saying that you gave the Pledge of Allegiance
today, December 14, 2015, and this handy-dandy lunch bag that only those lucky enough to
give the pledge get.
It keeps the cold things cold and the hot things hot.
And I want to thank you again, and I can tell you have a lot of lion pride.
And Wilhelm is very lucky to have you as a student at King Elementary.
Thank you, Ruben.
All right.
Do we have any scouts in the audience today?
If we do, if you could stand up, tell us your name, what troop you are,
and what badge you're working on.
Go ahead, sir.
Great.
Thank you.
Any other scouts?
All right, well thank you very much.
That moves us to our recognition section.
Ms. Sanders.
Ms. Good evening, President Griffin, Board Members, and Superintendent Fraley.
For our first recognition this evening, I would like to recognize three Katy ISD elementary
schools for being selected as the 2015 Texas Association for Health, Physical Education,
Recreation and Dance Exemplary Schools.
schools.
The Exemplary School recognition is given to schools throughout Texas with quality health
and physical education programs and reflects leadership and dedication to quality education
for students.
This recognition is awarded based on three levels and we're proud to announce that Exley
Elementary was selected as a Level 2 Exemplary School and Nottingham Country and Schmalz
Elementary Schools were selected as Level 3 Exemplary Schools.
Please join me in congratulating the following individuals on this accomplishment.
from Exley elementary principal Julie no elder and PE teachers Debbie Crowell
and Michael Kramer from Nottingham
from Nottingham Country Elementary principal Tracy Stroud and PE teachers
teachers Alfred Lee and Kathy Taylor.
And from Schmalz Elementary, Principal Jamie Shipley and PE teachers Scott Power,
Kash Aleem, and Rebecca Makowski.
Congratulations on this achievement.
Congratulations.
KT Parents of Gifted and Talented, or KPGT, was recently announced as the 2015 Parent
Group of the Year by the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented.
This honor is represented annually to a formal and organized local or statewide parent group
that has demonstrated exceptional efforts to support the advancement of gifted students
in schools and communities.
At this time, I would like to call forward Janet Thomason, Natalie Boyd, Josephine McGill,
and Linda Cubina to accept tonight's award and say a few words on behalf of
Katie parents of gifted and talented
Thank you.
We got to do this in San Antonio last week and we had some things to say about KDISD,
so I wanted to share that with you.
It was truly an honor to be recognized as this year's Parent Group of the Gifted Award,
which in actuality was the first annual Parent of the Gifted Award for KPGT,
since so many parent groups throughout Texas are working to support gifted education.
As probably the longest-standing organization of our kind,
we receive a lot of phone calls asking for advice for the secret to our success.
Those are tough phone calls. Maintaining an organization that depends exclusively on volunteers is a tremendous challenge.
There are good years and not so good years. Years when membership rolls in and years when recruiting is more of a challenge.
Of course, persistence, determination, professionalism, and reliability have contributed to our longevity.
Reflecting on the keys to our success, the first is the school district that has appreciated the value of partnership with families
in the community one who has welcomed our input and shared information with us
although we don't always agree a mutual respect and forms for discussion have
enabled us to provide resources and enrichment opportunities for our gifted
students that are unique in such a large district KTISD has consistently placed
KPGT leadership on district-wide committees enabling us to advocate not
only for gifted students but also advanced academics in fact we have
dubbed ourselves the booster club for advanced academics. Without a doubt we
would not be where we are today without the dedicated support of Aline Lindley,
Kathy Prudhomme, and our amazing GT facilitators. The second key is dedicated
leadership by individuals who are passionate about advanced academics and
gifted education. People who know that for public education to be the best it
can be, the community must become involved in support not only our
children but our teachers and administrators by donating their time
and talent to supports to supplement district resources parents who advocate
not only for their child but for all children so this record this award
recognizes those extraordinary volunteers who have worked hard to work
with Katie ISD and to continue and to improve K at KPGT and we would also like
to thank the board for acknowledging this tremendous achievement thank you
congratulations
this year for the first time the Texas School Safety Task Force and the Texas School Safety
Center awarded school safety certificates to school districts that
met all the criteria for certification outlined in the legislation and the
unified school safety standards Katie IAC has its own school safety task force
established in 2009 which provides direction for the district safety
security and emergency operations programs I'm proud to announce that Katie
IAC school safety task force was recently awarded the school safety
certificate and I would like to call up John Brimmer emergency management
coordinator for the district to accept the certificate on behalf of Katie I see
also for the photo I would like to call up any of our Katie I see safety
liaisons
Thank you.
Congratulations.
KDISD is one of 425 school districts in the US and Canada being honored by the College
Board with placement on the 6th Annual Advanced Placement District Honor Roll.
School districts are selected for this honor for increasing access to AP
coursework while simultaneously maintaining or increasing the
percentage of students earning scores of three or higher on AP exams. Since 2014
the number of KDIC students participating in AP exams increased by
13% and more than 7,700 students earned a three or higher on these exams.
Accepting this award tonight on behalf of KDIC is Director of Secondary
curriculum gifted and talented in advanced academics, Alain Lindley.
And that concludes our recognitions.
Thank you very much.
ma'am I loved your words about GT we have a great district but the community can take us
from being great to outstanding thank you very much I enjoyed your words and congratulations
on other recipients today and that moves us to a lengthy report six point one for the Texas
administrative code title 19 part 2 chapter 61 sub chapter a section 61.1
subsection J unfortunately I'll get to listen annually at the last regular
board meeting of the calendar year the current president of each local board of
trustees shall announce the name of each board member who has completed the
required continuing education who has exceeded the required hours of
continued education and who is deficient in the required continuing education
education as of the date of the meeting.
The announcement shall state that completing the annual required continuing
education is a basic obligation and expectation of any sitting Board member
under the State Board of Education rule.
The President shall cause the minutes of the local Board to reflect the
information and shall make this information available to the local media.
This year, Tier 1 training consisted of an update to the Texas Education Code for
all Board members after the legislative session.
no specified number of hours is required all board members have completed the
required tier 1 training for the year 2015 tier 2 training consists of board
assessment and superintendent and board team building at least three hours of
tier 2 training are required each year all board members have met the required
tier 2 training for the year 2015 Brian Mahalski completed the required three
hours of Tier 2 continuing education. Joe Adams, Rebecca Fox, Ashley Vann, Courtney
Doyle, Henry DeBrell, and Charles Griffin have exceeded the required continuing
education by completing six hours of Tier 2 training. Tier 3 training consists
of continuing education for board members in areas of assessed needs. At
least five hours of Tier 3 training are required for each year for experienced
board members. All board members have met the required Tier 3 training for the
the year 2015 Joe Adams has exceeded the required continuing education with sixty
point five hours Rebecca Fox has exceeded the required continuing
education with thirty six point two five hours
Ashley van is exceeded the required continuing education with fourteen point
two five hours Courtney dole is exceeded the required continuing education with
seven hours Henry Dob 만나's exceeded the required continuing education with
with 46.5 hours, with Brian Mahalski has exceeded the required continuing education with 8 hours.
Charles Griffin has exceeded the required continuing education with 11.5 hours.
Completing the annual required continuing education is a basic obligation and expectation
of any sitting Board member under the State Board of Education rule.
No Board members are deficient in any area of continuing education training for the year
of 2015.
Also, under the Texas Administration Code Title 19, Chapter 61, Subchapter A, Section
61.1 Sub A, the framework for governance leadership adopted by the State Board of Education used
in structuring education for school board members shall be distributed annually by the
President of each Board of Trustees to all current board members and the Superintendent.
The framework is attached in board docs and a copy has been given to each board member
and the superintendent in their meeting folder. Thank you very much for your
patience and that moves us to section 7 which I think most of y'all are here for
the open forum. At this time the Board of Trustees will hear from patrons who wish
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 who have signed up
to speak. The maximum amount of time will be allowed or the maximum amount of time
allowed for any one speaker's five minutes our sergeant at arms mr. Joe
Adams will alert you when you have one minute remaining individuals who have
written comments to present to the board should provide them to the chief officer
for communications government relations and administrative support dr. Andrea
grooms these written comments or statements will be shared with the board
after the meeting through the posting requirements of the open meeting act the
board is only able to respond to a statement that is directly related
related to a posted agenda item.
For clarification purposes, the open 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 their 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 podium, state your name, tell the board whether or not you reside in KDISD, and whether or not you have children presently enrolled in the KDISD.
We currently have tonight 17 speakers.
Each speaker gets one minute and 45 seconds.
Our first speaker today is Ms. Lori McFarland.
You will address me correctly.
I am Lori.
There will be no exceptions from here forward.
I have been told by your one employee that under Alton Fraley, his words quote, there
will be no common core.
We found another assignment where a child was questioned about a professor questioning
their thoughts on God again two weeks after we came up here.
Again, we tracked down the homework assignment came straight from Bill and Linda Gates Foundation
foundation, common core. Who's the liar in this district? You have a public trust with
the people. Everyone here has said working with the community. You have ignored the community.
In fact, today it has been coming out that you're saying happy Kwanzaa and find no happy
Merry Christmas and Kwanzaa was started by a Marxist. We are a republic, not a democracy,
a republic. You have all taken an oath to a republic.
You are now promoting Marxist
against your oath. That is part of both constitutions.
When are you guys going to step up
to the plate, be responsible, and work with the community
and quit telling us to deny God
and questioning God with Christians? We had
this issue three years ago with id at wharton ranch high school you hit it under the table
but not this time fix it
our next speaker uh sir if you would please uh fill our form out correctly uh you just have a
name of tom christian name come to you wishing you all well christ's love and kindness and salvation
I don't wish any of you any ill will.
You know why we're here.
That being said, you have a duty, first and foremost, sometimes forgotten that the primary
purpose for the existence of government in and of itself is to protect and preserve the
rights and freedom of the people.
It has been determined in Texas that Common Core is not compatible with the supreme law
of the land.
However, your one employee who as far as many of us are concerned embarrassed all of KDISD
with throwing a student under the bus apparently stated, again backing up what Laurie said,
we were told that Common Core would not be found in KDISD.
One minute, sir.
Thank you.
This once again has been proven to be false.
How many lies does it take until we say that lying is not a very good example to set for our youth?
How many lies will it take before you publicly apologize for calling a student liar while obviously lies are going on on behalf of the board?
The credibility is now
Relatively gone the law of the state of Texas is being broken and because there is no enforcement provision
You continue to break it with more Gates Foundation Common Core curriculum. I'm not a prosecutor, but I do have much legal experience
I'm a constitutional researcher investigator. I have 20 years at a law firm
But when someone ignores the law and conspires with others to break the law, there does not need to be an enforcement provision, because at that point it's called criminal conspiracy.
If you continue to break the law of the state of Texas, we will act. We don't wish to do that.
Sir, there is a process if we break the law and I suggest if you think, no sir, you can
have a seat. If we are breaking the law, I would encourage you to follow the appropriate
steps. We've had accusations before. Please, bring it up to, let us take care of it. And
our next speaker, thank you sir, have a seat.
officer if you'll our next speaker is Lindy I'm sorry Lindy Rajput good evening guys I'm here I'm
the West Memorial PTA president and I'm speaking to you guys in regards to the boundary modifications
that have been proposed I want to suggest that option to not be in
consideration it will not provide enough relief that's necessary for West
Memorial Elementary option one is what we propose that you guys really look
towards right now my number one concern in addition to all the concerns are the
safety of our children you know if you do move forward with option two we're
gonna have to you guys are gonna have to evaluate it again because we're busting
at the seams logistically I don't know where another T building will fit on our
campus the only thing I can think of would be possibly the parking lot one
minute ma'am um so logistically I don't know where another building is gonna fit
on top of that just the overall safety if we grow and we are growing our second
Second graders are going to be coming in and out of the building.
Where are they going to go to the bathroom?
What if a child gets injured in a T building?
So you've got a teacher on the phone trying to get, you know, assistance as soon as possible.
What if that child's ill?
You've got a classroom full of 22 kids plus a sick kid,
and that teacher's walking that sick child back into the main building.
My main concern is relief for our school.
I want all of our children to thrive.
All of our children in our community to thrive.
but existing the way we exist now our children will not thrive I really urge
you to go with option one logically it's the best option for our school
financially it's the best option for our school thank you ma'am your time is up
thank you and our next speaker is Jenna Miller
Miller.
Hello, everyone.
I am the proud parent of two children at Nottingham Country Elementary, one of whom is in the
YCAT program.
I am speaking up for him because he cannot speak for himself.
He has severe nonverbal autism.
My husband and I chose to move here from Alabama last year because we did our research that
this was one of the best school districts in the area for kids with autism.
We have not been disappointed. We are thrilled with the education that he is receiving here.
Thank you so much for the excellent PTA teachers and staff at Nottingham Country Elementary.
We are very grateful more than words can say. A stable Y cap classroom is vital to any progress
that our kids with autism can make at this point in their lives. It is their lunchroom,
their playground, their safe space, and their home away from home. One minute ma'am. That is why I was
very concerned about the attendance boundary modification plan. I came to the
last school to school board meetings and it has been very informative. Thank you
for being open and transparent with us. Thank you for listening to me when I
spoke and thank you for listening to our opinions on the surveys. Thank you to
assistant superintendent Steve Robertson for coming to our PTA meeting and
discussing the alternative option to help alleviate our concerns. Thank you to
Tom Gannell and Scott Dunlap in operations for working so hard to come up with an alternative.
I know that this process is not easy and you can never make everybody happy, so I appreciate
your hard work and listening to us.
I'm very grateful.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN BRYANT L. Our next speaker is Gary Harrington.
Hi. I'm here representing the Governor's Place Homeowners Association and the subdivision.
We've been a resident in Governor's Place for over 20 years and I've watched the West
Memorial trials and tribulations as it grew. T buildings came in and out. And it's been
very interesting. I read Mr. Gummel's report that was presented at the last meeting and
thought okay finally the group is on to something they're going to fix the problem then i heard
about the modification that was made and looked at it originally in the original modification it went
from 127 percent over utilization which was not good but better than it was projected and the new
modification it goes to 145 percent so it went up not good one minute sir the recommendation went
went from what I thought was fair and balanced to an overcrowding issue,
which what I feel was an appeasement to certain factors.
As board members, you are the stewards of our children's future, each and every one of you,
and of our district finances.
Your own mission statement says, and I quote,
Can you in good conscience say that that change is an honorable change?
change. You took, you made a modification that allowed two adjacent schools to go underutilized
while one school is bearing the burden of overcrowding in an area. Two contiguous schools
underutilized over the whole period while this school suffers. I hope you look at these
model thank you sir your time is up all right our next speaker is Chris Hoyle
you as a West Memorial Elementary parent volunteer at the school watchdog dad two
two young daughters at the school. I presented a list of options maybe of
considering maybe a third option for redistricting that the boundary
modification. Basically I don't know who all is aware but our entire fourth and
fifth grade are in portable buildings. I'm so nervous. Which is not the safest
place for our children. I did drive by Cimarron earlier this evening and noticed
that they have a nice gate protecting their children from the gates and
something like that would be great for our students too but that's not a long-term
solution something like you know construction and adding on space to our school
um moving people around things like that um you know um the option that was presented at the last
um school board meeting really is just a band-aid um so um i ask that you really look hard um maybe
table your vote as far as at least west memorial goes on what to do with that modification um
in closing i respectfully ask the board look at all options and not necessarily take the easy way
out I volunteer for the KD YMCA adventure guides program and one of the
objectives to our program survives many opportunities as possible for dads and
their children to participate together everything that's planned is done with
the following question of mind is it an activity that fathers and children can
do to enjoy together so I ask you the board to consider this what boundary
alignment is the best for our students our school our staff our facilities once
again I ask that you please table it and please look at all options thank you for
your time our next speaker is Christopher McAllister
good evening my name is Christopher McAllister I'm a father of two students
that attend West Memorial Elementary. I'm also a firefighter and a paramedic for the City of Houston.
Being a firefighter affords me a unique perspective on safety for our students.
As a captain and as a paramedic, it is my job to continuously conduct a risk-benefit analysis on
the various situations that we encounter. That said, I see a huge amount of risk in the security
and fire safety of having temporary buildings, especially those visible from the street,
used as the primary classrooms for such a sizable portion of the student body.
Currently, we live in a world where every door in every school is locked except the
front door.
Yet, a student who needs to use the bathroom during regular class time must be given a
key to access the main building and sent out alone, and at best with another student.
An individual with nefarious intent could easily wait for a seven-year-old who has a
full bladder and now has access to the key to enter the school or to enter one of these
temporary buildings.
buildings. If a situation arises, that individual can cause harm to those students in those
temporary buildings and nobody would be the wiser until classes stop showing up for lunch.
I'd also like to address the construction of these temporary classrooms. In an effort
to minimize the effects of foul weather on students and teachers, a continuous wooden
deck has been used in Awning that connects each of these classrooms. Forgive me, my speech
a little longer than a minute 45 a single electrical short could cause fire to rapidly
communicate from one room to the next to the next and even into the main building
additionally a fire that occurs beneath one of these buildings which is very possible
will uh very quickly allow for the the for carbon monoxide to enter into the classroom
become very dangerous if not deadly to the students and the teacher thank you sir your time
is up all right our next speaker is kim johnson
first i would like to thank the board for taking time to listen to concern citizens parents and
the staff members of kdisd my name is kim johnson i'm a math science instructional coach at west
Memorial Elementary. We are a strong staff at West Memorial and we work hard
to service the academic needs of our students no matter where they come from.
Whether it be established neighborhoods or apartment complexes and by the way we
have 15, we believe all students can learn and we take great pride in seeing
our students grow. I've come before the board today to speak on behalf of what
is best for students. In Katy our number one concern is student safety. At the
At the present time, our newest portables have been placed in the front of the school,
and our parents and staff are concerned about the students' welfare going to and from the main building.
One minute, ma'am.
At the current time, anyone can easily access our portables, which is a serious safety issue.
If we go with option two, we will see small relief, but that will change quickly,
and our numbers can shoot back up very fast.
At the rate we're growing, we will have second, third, fourth, and fifth grade out in portable buildings.
That's 75% of our students.
This is a concern because we know it becomes a serious safety issue.
Student staff will not feel a part of the WME community, grades will drop, and behavior issues will become a problem.
Our board, you, have always focused on what's best for students and student growth.
option one would provide the necessary relief WME and keep our numbers down to
a reasonable amount so we can focus on educating our students to the highest
level and not just managing crowd control we know the board will do Thank
You miss Johnson your time is up our next speaker is Denise Ragsdale
Good evening. My name is Denise Ragsdale. I have lived in West Memorial subdivision
for 23 years. My students both attended, I mean my children both attended West Memorial
Elementary. We are continuing to grow and we are all concerned, one, for the safety
of our children. At this time, the portables are easily accessible to anyone in the community.
Two, the lack of room, having to put more grade levels outside, which would mean 75%
of our students would be outside the school building.
If we put our kids outside, our concern is about a drop of academic grades and behavior.
Loss of academic time learning time due to students in classrooms having a transition
into the building for specials, lunch, restroom breaks, and dismissal.
Also, having 15 apartment complexes naturally brings a high transit rate, which also impacts
the students' academics.
We want to educate all students, no matter where they come from.
Therefore, I think that the Board should vote for option one to help relieve the students'
growth anticipated for WME.
This is what needs to be done to benefit the students and their learning environment.
Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Jennifer Leitze.
Hi I'm Jennifer Leitze. I teach first grade at West Memorial Elementary. I'm
also speaking in favor of option one. I'm also a parent. My two kids they're here
tonight. They went through West Memorial Elementary from kindergarten through
through fifth grade.
They got an outstanding education
at West Memorial Elementary.
Wouldn't have them any other place.
All of our students deserve a good education,
an excellent education with high expectations.
Everybody deserves this.
And a learning environment where every moment
counts towards learning,
the more time that kids spend in portable buildings,
especially if we're talking about year after consecutive
year in portable buildings,
the more learning time that they're losing
just from transitions from the classroom to lunch
to the bathrooms to specials it really adds up as a teacher every moment counts
I know you guys are administrators expect that we make every moment count
we want to make every moment count it's impossible for kids to have every moment
count when so much of their learning time is spent in transitions as a parent
when you're in a portable building seems to be acceptable but if it's year after
year if you're a second grader a seven or eight or nine year old is in a
portable building going back and forth to the bathroom that's not okay if that's just the norm
for your school year after year something something is wrong so we're asking you to
address this and not make it just a band-aid but a more permanent solution
the bad weather is a problem too our kids in portable buildings are brought in whenever the
weather is severe they're separated from the rest of their school community separated from their
peers when they're in portable buildings this is not the way that you would have it set up this is
not intentional learning that we all want for our kids we're a community that thank you ma'am your
time is up thank you and our next speaker is kim belcha all right our next speaker is kelly
Kelly Colletta? Sorry. Good evening. My name is Kelly Colletta, and I am the West Memorial
Elementary PT membership chair, a parent of a West Memorial Elementary student, and also a teacher.
Like my colleagues, I'm also deeply concerned about the overcrowding at West Memorial and hope
that the board will approve the proposed attendance boundary modification option one.
Without option one, a majority of our students, up to 75%, will end up in modular classrooms,
an environment that is inherently not conducive to learning and brings with it certain safety
challenges.
Students in portable classrooms do not have the same level of security associated with
the locked double door system of the main building and potentially could be accessed
by those that are not even affiliated with West Memorial.
Furthermore, students are particularly vulnerable when they're walking from the portables to
to the main building, which leaves them exposed
to anyone in the community.
We've already discussed the problems with commuting,
which means that we lose academic support time.
Beyond the primary safety concerns, however,
modular classrooms are also prone to a drop
in student academic performance and an increase
in problematic behavioral issues.
These outcomes are often attributed
to the loss of community felt by that grade level, where
teachers and students feel isolated
from the rest of the school and its activities.
These students do not have the same frequent access
to the newly constructed PTA-sponsored amenities
in the main building, like our recently built pond
and butterfly garden in the atrium,
and morale-boosting murals that are forthcoming.
I ask you to come up with an option
to have our students in a less crowded environment
and that you support option one.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN BRYANT.
Our next speaker is Amanda Brinkley.
AMANDA BRINKLEY.
Good evening and thank you for allowing me to speak tonight.
I currently do not reside in Katy ISD nor do I have a child that attends Katy ISD schools,
but I am a teacher of a Katy ISD school.
I attended KDISD schools from 1995 to 2008 when I graduated.
KDISD teachers are the ones who inspired me to become a teacher and teach here in Katy.
As a teacher at West Memorial Elementary, I love and cherish all of my students, no
matter their background.
At the rate WME is growing, it is only a matter of time before second through fifth graders
are in portables.
Currently, all fourth and fifth graders are outside and students feel disconnected from
the rest of the building.
We lose approximately 30 minutes a day transitioning inside for specials, extra learning time,
lunch, resource for our special education students, and time to use the restroom.
This has become unfair for our students, but we do not have a choice with our current numbers.
We need a long-term solution and the only option that benefits all students of Katy
KDISD in the long run is option one. Thank you for allowing me to speak
Yeah, our next speaker is Courtney Cordova
Hi, I'm Courtney Cordova. I'm a fourth grade teacher at West Memorial Elementary, and I do also live in Katy
I don't have any kids right now
But I do believe that in Katy we try and strive to have the best education around for all of the kids in Katy.
Not just at a certain school or certain economic status.
I really believe that we have the opportunity to give them the best education.
I have had the opportunity to work in a portable and outside of a portable.
And I have seen a huge difference in their academics.
The students lose five minutes each time they go in and out of that door.
I have a lot of students that get extra resources extra support and that adds up like miss Brinkley was saying
20 to 45 minutes a day depending on how many times we leave
It's our job as teachers in the community to create the best for our future leaders regardless of their economic status
I know it was more we love all of our students, but we look for what is best for each of them
Unfortunately, we don't have the space to accommodate all of the kids that we have coming in right now
Now we have fourth and fifth grade outside that you've heard, and it's growing continuously.
We're going to have second through fifth outside soon, and roughly that's about 24 general
ed classes and about 500 students outside in portables.
It already takes extra time to go in and out of the restrooms.
We have 900 students right now and 16 bathroom stalls for them.
So as you can tell, that probably takes a while.
I truly believe that option one is our best choice because we don't want to be looking
looking at the same issue year after year over the populating.
What is the best for the students is what we need to move.
We want them to move once and not change schools over and over.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Ross Kennedy.
Thank you for letting me speak.
The first thing I'd like to say is that the people before me
definitely brought up a lot of things to attention
that I wasn't aware of.
so I'd like to greatly thank you.
And it certainly sounds like we have a large issue with portables.
I'm a KDISD parent of two students, one in Davidson Elementary
and one in Tompkins High School.
And just to mention what I specifically wanted to address here
was the zoning for the junior high school for specifically Cardiff Ranch.
Cardiff Ranch will be zoned into Wood Creek
when currently they go to Davidson with Pine Mill students
and they will go to Tompkins with Pine Mill students.
So they'll be separated throughout junior high
and they'd be reintegrated again in high sometimes zoning just doesn't seem to
be the best interest of the kids when we're looking at friendships bonds that
can last last a lifetime one like you guys if you can to think about how
you're zoning and why we're zoning and make sure that it's in the best
entrance of the child thank you our next speaker is janae woodkey
good evening my name is jeannie budke i've been a resident of green trails for 23 years
and a nottingham country parent pta member or officer volunteer since 2000 with two of three
two of my three children still enrolled and one graduated.
I'm really pleased to be back speaking to you again tonight
and to have the opportunity to thank the administration
and the board for listening and addressing our concerns
and revising the ABM as a result of the many surveys,
phone calls, emails, speakers at last month's board meeting.
The process has worked and I'm proud
of the Nottingham community members
who've handled themselves respectfully and thoughtfully as they addressed our
concerns regarding space and safety at Nottingham a special thank you to mr.
Dunlap and mr. Ganel for going back to the drawing board with the professional
demographers to come up with option two in my opinion it is a fair compromise
yet it is not ideal it provides West Memorial with the relief that they need
without overcrowding Nottingham West Memorial Elementary enrollment is trending downward
Nottingham's continues to trend up ABMs are difficult and emotion filled there's no such
thing as a perfect plan or compromise there may well be problems with numbers and trends in these
landlocked schools in the near future that require the district to look at district-wide rezoning to
to preserve community and pure feeder patterns.
Many in our community feel that Nottingham's
actual capacity should be adjusted
to better reflect functional capacity.
We would also appreciate.
Thank you, ma'am, your time is up.
And our final speaker tonight is Lindsey Hunneford.
I live in the KDISD zone.
I have one student currently enrolled in Nottingham Country Elementary and one who will be there in a few years when she's old enough.
Thank you for hearing me again this evening, just like last month.
We really do appreciate you actually reading the survey results and reading our emails and hearing our phone calls.
I'm very pleased as a resident to know that those processes are actually reviewed and our voices are heard.
and i really do appreciate that and we recognize that option two is not a perfect solution for
the schools in question um although it will prevent the an immediate overcrowding shift
from one school to another which we believe is what option one will do is simply shift
a one minute crowding situation from west memorial to nottingham country and we thank you for taking
into consideration the overall growth trends of the entire quadrant of the
district and the truth is we may be a landlocked quadrant but we are still
growing and and some school zones are growing at different rates than others
Nottingham countries neighborhoods are regenerating are growing we appreciate
you taking that into consideration we ask that you do continue to monitor all
of the zones in our quadrant over the next few years to see how these trends
continue to affect us thank you for taking into consideration the special
needs programs at NCE and for not ping-ponging the special needs programs
around unnecessarily over the next few years as we know that's more
detrimental to them than to our general population I have confidence that as the
bond build outs continue the board will continue to analyze enrollment at all
elementary schools in the quadrant and consider what's best for the entire
Katy ISD community as we progress and grow together thank you ma'am your time
Time is up.
Thank you, speakers, who showed up today and gave us all your words of wisdom and your thoughts.
We appreciate it.
Look forward to seeing you again next month.
And that moves us to item number eight.
Mr. President.
Mr. President.
Mr. Fraley.
I just want to ‑‑ I've been involved with a lot of these ABMs over the years,
and I just really appreciate Nottingham Country family for how they have approached the staff
and the board and their concerns in a very, very professional and respectful way.
I'll say in this case very strongly, I really appreciate that.
Like what I heard tonight, West Memorial, we missed your voice.
I really want to shout out to the staff.
I'm very proud that you have spoken tonight.
You have the right to speak.
Thank you for coming tonight.
This is your school district as well.
Thanks for coming tonight.
I really appreciate everybody.
I want to thank Mr. Gunnell and his team for being responsive.
This is not easy.
It's not what we like to do.
But we do it because we are trying to look after the best interests of the students.
Sometimes we don't agree on what the best interest is, what the decision is going to
be.
But the intent, without a doubt, on all sides has been honorable, respectful, and very informative.
And it's, it's, we don't have a perfect solution yet.
We don't.
but thank you all for your participation. Mr. President. Mr. DeBrow. I know that student safety
and student success is so important to this board. I know in talking to the administrators
that student success and student safety is paramount in your minds every day and with that
with that I would like to remove item 8.6 from the consent agenda and allow the administration
to look at this some more and bring us back a recommendation.
All right.
Well, Board Member Henry DeBell has requested that item 8.6 be removed from the consent agenda.
This item will be moved to discussion action item number 9.2 and will be discussed
and considered by the Board at that time.
There will be no discussion at this time as we're considering the consent agenda.
Mr. President.
Mr. Moholsky.
I move that the Board of Trustees approves the consent agenda as recommended in item 8.6.
8.1 through 8.14 with the exception of item 8.6 right I'm going to rephrase
your words just a little bit if you can help me out there okay thank you I have
a motion by Brian Mahalski a second by Courtney Doyle that the Board of
Trustees approves a consent agenda consent agenda as recommended in items
items 8.1 through 8.5, 8.17 through 8.14, removing item 8.6.
Do we have any discussion?
Oh, can't discuss it.
I'm sorry.
We'll proceed to vote.
Those in favor, raise your right hand and say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed?
Motion passes 7-0.
And that moves us to discussion action.
9.1, discuss and consider Board approval of proposed partnership with Simon Youth Foundation
at Katie Mills Mall.
Mr. President.
Mr. Doyle.
I move that the Board of Trustees approves the proposed partnership with Simon Youth
Foundation at Katie Mills Mall.
I have a motion by Courtney Doyle, second by Ashley Vann, that the Board of Trustees
approve the proposed partnership with Simon Youth Foundation at Katie Mills
Mall. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. Those in favor raise
your right hand and say aye. Aye. Those opposed? Motion passes 7-0 and that
brings us to discussion action 9.2 which is that which is consent agenda 8.6
consider board approved with the attendance boundary modification for
2016-2017 school year mr. president mr. Adams I move the board trust is
approved the approval of the tenants value modification ABM for 2016-17
school year second I have a motion by Joe Adams a second by Brian Mahalski
that the Board of Trustees approves the attendance boundary modification ABM for
2016 2017 school year any discussion
and we'll proceed to vote hearing none all those in favor raise your right hand
and say aye aye those opposed motion passes six to one that brings us to
information items number 10 donated items to the Canadian Dependent School
District I'll refer to you to your paperwork and future meetings 11.1 board
work-study meeting is Monday January 11 2016 and 11.2 a regular board meeting is
Tuesday, January 19, 2016.
Having no further business before the board, this meeting is adjourned at 7.32.
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.