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Katy ISD · Regular Board Meeting
Katy ISD Regular Board Meeting, March 8, 2016
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I hereby call this special board meeting of the Board of Trustees of Katy Independent
School District to order.
Today is Tuesday, March 8, 2016, and the time is 6.02 p.m.
Noting that a quorum is present, the board will now convene an open meeting.
Chair Nowak, Secretary of Board Services, 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?
Yes, Mr. President, we are in compliance.
Thank you.
that brings us to uh item number three discussion 3.1 review and discuss feedback from the
superintendent search focus groups presenters dr moses and mr thompson thank you for coming here
this evening thank you for working so hard for this district we'll go first sure
well good evening members of the board and uh first of all we we want to thank you for the
the individuals that you asked to serve on the committees. It was a delight meeting with them.
We've been here for the last two days. Obviously, yesterday had an opportunity to talk with
most of the members of the board individually, talk to most of your senior staff. Mike,
I think we were here until about seven last night, and so we got a lot of great information,
and then met with multiple groups today of your constituents
and talked about their expectations for the search
and their high aspirations for the district.
And it's always a long day,
but it's one of the more enjoyable things that Mike and I get to do,
and we want to commend you for the people that you asked to serve.
We had great participation today.
I think a good diverse group and and we've got quite a bit of information I
think I've got 19 pages of notes and Mike and what we will do now is just
kind of give you a little sense of some of the big themes that we heard during
the course of the day what we'll do in the next few days is get all of this
typed up and organized and we'll send it to you in a more usable form so that you
You can study it, read it, be familiar with it before we start reviewing candidates.
And then as we go through the process, it'll kind of help you refine your profile a little bit and your expectations.
And then hopefully we'll guide you a little bit when you get to the point of actually interviewing candidates.
So that will be coming.
But what we wanted to do tonight was just give you a brief summary and an oral report.
Excuse me, Mr. President, but I'm having trouble hearing, Mr. Thompson.
I'm sorry.
Just a little closer.
I'll just move it a little closer there.
That'll make sure that our video recording.
Okay.
So, Mike, I know you and I made a note of what we saw are some of the themes.
And again, what you're going to see are probably a couple of hundred different comments.
Some of them will not be repeated.
it'll they'll be maybe just one comment from one person but what we've tried to
do and what we will particularly call your attention to when we get it all
organized or thematic comments where over the course of the day from multiple
individuals and multiple groups the same basic concern or or desire expectation
came up over and over and like you want to share sure those yes and if I could
just to preface that just for a moment mr. chairman members the board thing as
David said thank you very much for the people that you asked to meet with us
today they were great people and informed I would say inform people about
the district which was very very helpful I would also say and I think you know
this dark rooms and the communication staff I thought did a really good job of
taking and putting together what we're doing in the form of a survey which is I
think going to go live Thursday on your website and allow people in the
community to give you some input for and leave that open for about a week I think
until a week from Friday so you'll I think that gives everyone a fair shot to
if they weren't able to participate today then they certainly have a shot to
give input into this process so in any event but as David said what we try to
do is just take note of what we hear repeatedly not what we hear just once or
But what you pick up over and over, and we start by usually asking the groups to tell us about the strengths of the district,
because that's usually a good place to start, and everybody likes to point out the things that they know.
We say give us the strengths of the community as well as the district.
And everybody that's here, I mean, they start with, well, they talk about the sense of community.
Katy is a big, small town, and everybody knows everybody's sense of community.
and we heard that repeatedly that we like pulling for each other, knowing each other.
And then that's followed up by the one we heard repeatedly, a sense of family.
So we're family and we're friendly, so we're framily, somebody said.
And that was repeated several times about how, you know, it's a sign that they feel a certain closeness
and they like the idea that even though it's a big school district and a big community,
they like to feel like that it's still one that's where people are close and so
that was repeated the first person that made this comment was one of the
students and I would say the students are I believe six or seven students they
all really really sharp seven sharp sharp young people and I think that they
always help the other participants because you're hearing from your direct
beneficiaries of your services your customers if you will and so they were
they were given this first one said quality teachers and I thought well boy
your your teachers would be really happy to hear you say the first thing that a
student said was quality teachers you know we've got teachers that care about
us care about students and so that was and but that wasn't the only time it was
said it was said repeatedly after that and it was certainly said by parents and
it was said by other people in the community as well as you know teachers
obviously themselves were proud to hear that you know there were people that
value what they do parent involvement repeatedly we've got parents that care
involved informed want to know moved here for the schools they expect to be
involved big PTA I think you have one of the largest PTAs maybe and maybe the
largest in the state I think. The PTA folks were you know pointed out I think
you have something like 28,000 members or something like that and it's a huge
involvement and so that was heard over and over about the interest of
parents. If you say well this isn't David and Mike this is not a big surprise I doubt
that it is because you've you've all served and you're you know most of these
people you appointed them so this is probably not big surprises here but
anyway another area of strength was they're very proud to talk about
co-curricular and extracurricular activities and I know that the district
has has had very strong athletic programs but I would say the arts
programs were mentioned as much if not more repeatedly about the arts programs
and their strength and the desire to keep them strong.
So that was, there's a lot of pride in the co-curricular
and the extracurricular activities
and certainly hope that that continues.
And then the last area I had was that we repeatedly heard
was as a strength was this is an international community.
This is a diverse community.
This is a community that builds off of that
and wants to build off of that and and it was it was talked about repeatedly so
those were some of the the keys that I heard repeatedly did I miss any you
want to make the only one I would add we we heard several people in all groups
say our schools are safe so yep it was heard that was mentioned several times
So anyway, all those obviously are your strengths.
Then we switch that over to we say school districts don't have problems, but they have challenges.
So we'd like to talk to you and let you honestly tell us what you see as the challenges that this district is facing.
And some of this parallels some things we heard in talking with some of you.
But number one, you could almost, it was predictable, was growth.
Growth and growth is a challenge.
It didn't say it was a bad challenge, but everything that entailed in terms of how do we stay close as we grow?
How do we communicate with one another as we grow?
How do we redraw attendance boundaries as we grow?
Growth and everything that it entails was on their mind.
And I think everybody was pretty sophisticated about that.
Nobody was mad at the board.
Nobody was mad at anybody.
They just said, it's here.
and we deal with it.
Then another area that was repeated,
maintaining one identity as we grow,
maintaining a Katy identity as we grow.
And that was discussed quite a bit.
Another one that we heard repeatedly today
was the urbanization is a challenge,
that it's going to be a challenge for our community.
It doesn't have to be a bad challenge,
but it's going to be something we've got to deal with.
and some of you recognize that as well. Another area was, this was more I think
came from campuses, but as we grow we hope we don't lose our campus autonomy.
We still have some autonomy to be able to do some things that we we get to do.
Of course you would guess this came primarily from teachers and principals.
Few parents concerned about that. These are a little more specific and you'll
know more about what we're talking about here probably than David and I do,
although David and I get this to some degree, a challenge a couple of times was rezoning the district back to the east
if we have facilities that we need to make sure are utilized.
And then that followed with the idea of the I-10 north-south divide,
and we've got to make sure that we're all, again, very – thank you, Sharon –
that we want to stay as committed to not being a divided district,
but being a unified district.
And that was, again, mentioned by people several times.
And the other area that was a challenge that was mentioned multiple times
was we've gotten to be a large district.
We get more media coverage than we probably would like now.
But it's a reality, and one of our challenges is going to be media relations
and how we really handle that.
And, again, not necessarily nobody was being negative,
but they were just saying it's a reality.
Because of our size, we attract attention,
and that's going to be a challenge for us as we continue to figure out how to properly communicate and so forth.
David, you got any others you want to mention?
Only one I'll mention came up, I think, three times, and sort of related to your last comment.
Several people made observations, and sort of thematically the subject was most people are very positive, very supportive of the district.
As in any community, there are some critics or naysayers.
a couple of people said you know the believers in the district vastly outnumber the critics
but the critics are louder i like the way it says the critics are the screamers and the believers
are the workers yep so it and so how to figure that out and how to how to manage that um
was mentioned in a couple of different ways uh during the course of the day
We switched over to a discussion of the characteristics and we start with professional characteristics,
then we go to the personal characteristics.
Professional characteristics, we gave everybody a chance to tell us, do you like educator, non-educator,
non-traditional candidate, what levels of experience, what degrees, Texan, non-Texan,
what's the background you're looking at.
I would say almost without exception we heard an educator we did not hear anyone
say that we thought this ought to be a non-traditional person we thought the
educator and again repeatedly someone that's had campus experience been a
teacher it's been a principal has worked their way through a system had a had a
career path that was very strong and then repeatedly we heard it went beyond
that to superintendent experience from growing diverse school district that was
that was repeated to us doctorate not required but but nice to consider nice
to look at but not necessarily a requirement I'd say we heard to comment
more often than not that the preference would be a Texan but but get the best
person was was also said that you know someone really revealed themselves as
just a dramatically stronger than anybody else you know go with the
strongest person but but probably the Texan would probably be somebody that
would be favored and then the other professional characteristic someone that
again this goes back similar district experience with bonds with the bonds
construction and some experience again and knowledge with high knowledge of
school finance school funding they didn't say we had to have a business
person but they said an educator who is who has a real strong temperament and
understanding of Finance so David you want to add any to the professional
characteristics that's good those were all you know the one and that that was
That was pretty much across the board.
There wasn't much everybody.
Not a lot of disagreement there.
On that at all.
And then finally, personal characteristics.
And the one I guess we probably heard as much as anything today.
And this is nowhere.
And again, this was not intended to reflect on anybody,
but it was we need someone that's a great communicator.
We got a lot of audiences to communicate with,
including our parents and our taxpayers and the media and our staff, the internal communication, the external communication.
And as we get larger, the thing that's going to keep us close is if we have a real good system of communication.
And I would say basically people were pretty complimentary of what you have already in place,
but they see that as a – that's really going to be important on a go-forward basis.
And then the usual high integrity, person of great honor, repeatedly was heard, great
listener.
And Alton Fraley got many compliments from me and a wonderful listener.
He was complimented repeatedly for his, also for his accessibility and approachability,
which people also spoke to and said they liked.
but also on the personal someone that could inspire that was in tart articulate
and it could inspire and get people to buy into the to the vision of the
district and what the district is could be should be and then repeatedly we
heard somebody that we heard that it needs to be someone that will
collaborate with us work with us not not an autocrat but a collaborator and those
were just the high points we heard a lot of other desirable things you found a
characteristics you would find desirable but that those were kind of the repeated
themes again they did you want to add any I think you hit the big ones on the
communication one person I think Mike you and I both wrote this down I like
the way the individual said it the person said I want a visionary
storyteller if you don't own and tell your own story somebody else will and I
I thought that was kind of an interesting way to say it.
Somebody said we want enthusiastic aggression.
Enthusiastically aggressive.
One of the students said that.
Enthusiastically aggressive.
That was a student.
I'd say we did hear repeatedly from all the groups, including the namesakes today,
not not that anybody was saying we don't want someone to come and improve us but
the general sense was we've been blessed we've got a district that's pretty
highly rated we're really not looking for somebody to come and take us off
track take us in a completely different direction we'd really like someone that
will come and collaborate with us understand where we are what we've been
working on what we're doing and then if we need to make improvements make those
over a period of time and not in a sudden sudden way we were pretty
reassuring that we don't coach candidates to do that and we also were
pretty reassuring that in an interview process the board would be able to
decipher the candidates steadiness and their temperament to make sure that you
were that you understood what a candidate would be thinking about in
in coming to the district.
So I think those are always concerns
because people are always concerned
about the known versus the unknown.
And are we gonna get somebody that's gonna do something
really off the charts?
And we don't, I don't, David and I certainly
will coach people that that's not what the district needs.
And I'm sure in your processes that you'll follow,
that you'll communicate what needs to be communicated
there as well.
David.
Mike, I think we should not fail to mention
we also heard several, two or three positive comments about the board itself.
So we want to be sure to pass that up.
And we didn't solicit that.
They just offered that.
But we want to make sure you heard it.
Mr. Chairman, I think obviously that's a pretty brief rundown here,
about 20 or 25 minutes of what we heard.
And as David said, you'll get all this in a written form,
and and it can community can take a look at it the community can also I think you
put this on the website the community is going to have the chance over the next
week or so to also do the survey and give you some additional input and again
David and I were impressed with the way that that the communications team put
that together I thought that was really well done so you get some more input and
have that information and we should have this back to you probably in the next
week or so right you're out on spring break next week but we'll get it to you um like we'll get it
to your staff electronically and yes certainly by the time you come back it it should be available
sir if you'll give that to miss nowak she'll make sure that the board and dr rooms gets all
the information to get out to the community we spent nearly an hour uh meeting with media that
covered the district I think that was a positive meaning and we told them we'll
will be as helpful as we can be we'll tell them what we can tell them and
we'll tell them when we can't get into details that are really privileged with
the board I think it was generally well received and we'll certainly continue to
work with your staff and make ourselves available as needed to hopefully
continue to have a good positive coverage for the district as you work
through the search process we want to thank miss no a dr. grooms your food
service but everything was organized really wonderfully and and the level of
support was just outstanding top shelf if Katie's goal every day is to do it
the absolute best and second to none this was just one indicator of that if
we do want to very much thank the board but in particular thank your staff well
done any question you want to ask us about this today or if you don't hear
comments back if you hear anything from participants we encouraged them if they
have anything that they want to follow up with let us know or let you know if
you hear anything that you want to pass on to us by all means please let us know
board any questions on 3.1 and I'll make sure to pass on those comments to our to
the staff so that they get kudos that they deserve and so that brings us to
the 4.1 update on the progress in superintendent search?
I'll just say this, David can add to it.
Of course, we're early.
The last two days have been very productive.
I guess our next milestone is April the 15th.
Well, the milestone is, of course, with the community survey for the next week.
And then that's the deadline.
That's still a month away.
We've had a lot of conversations.
I had one just about 10 minutes ago, and I had a lot of conversations with really wonderful
people.
A lot of the paper will not show up until closer to the deadline, particularly the outstanding
individuals will probably want to thoughtfully consider it and probably look for a limited
time of exposure.
And so we probably will see things that will really pick up that, oh, sometime between
April 8th and April 15th, things will be pretty busy there. But as far as the
inquiries, as far as the nominations, as far as the invitations, it's all very
very favorable. We have people from districts, very good school
districts that are indicating an interest in this and from all different
types of districts, some even larger than your district. So it's a, I think people
recognize it as a great opportunity and we will as far as the progress will also
come prepared when we come back to visit with you for the and look at the the
pool will also come prepared to also talk about the interview the interview
process and we'll have some information to help prepare for that for those
activities as well so David I'll let you that's good I think we have received and
And I haven't been in the office the last couple of days, so there could have been some come in that I don't have.
I think we had around 10 completed applications that we've already received.
We've received quite a lot more inquiries or discussions than that from people that we know or expect will be submitting applications.
So I think, as Mike said, all of the indications of interest are very, very positive, both in Texas and a fair number of inquiries from outside of Texas.
We had eight meetings at Midwinter Conference.
I had two meetings at the American Association of School Administrators.
I would expect that almost every one of those will probably result in a candidacy.
Thank you very much.
Board, any questions?
Mr. President.
Ms. Fox.
So, of course, this is a, you know, big part of conversation everywhere we go now, you know, the superintendent search, how's it going? And the most.
Questions I get in the concern is the date the August 1st.
Our people do not like an August 1st start date and many people are asking us to move that date forward to give the new superintendent more time to get his feet under him before we jump into a school year.
We as you know, we are high-performing. I loved how you said, you know, we're top shelf
From from the way you've been treated and you know every need being met
It's just I'd really like to see us move that date forward
Maybe a July 1 or at least a July 15th. If
You know, there's probably a week
Built in that visits if need I mean there's some time that could be
be squeezed a little bit.
Do we need another month?
Do we need another month to keep it open?
I mean, there's nothing going on in the next month, right, except just waiting for people.
The concern that we'll get to there is the only way to really move it up is to move the
interviews up prior to your elections.
I mean, it'd be to move the interviews up into April, and that's the only way to do
do anything other than maybe squeeze a week out of it somewhere in the process.
Can I say a couple things?
One, I think the calendar that we have, you legally could name someone as early,
but you could name someone March 31st.
We can move that up probably if we can get the background checks up.
You also, on the calendar we had, we had May 31st, and then you had June 27th
because I think you all have a meeting that day.
But you actually legally can move it 21 days.
Right.
You could do that another week.
You could shave another week off of that.
The other thing that I would say is what's usually common is once you've identified the finalist,
it's generally protocol to have the finalist come back to the district a couple of times,
receptions, meet and greet, perhaps hosted by the chamber, the PTA, or someone.
and then and usually what's happening is the superintendent-elect is getting an
orientation to the district that 21 days is doesn't mean that there's not some
right some learning going on usually and a lot of this is going to depend on the
candidate that is selected it might be I have seen it happen where the day that
that the candidate signs a contract,
the board, if they're leaving a district,
they release them in 10 days.
We built 30 days in just because we think it's always best to say
you want to treat people the way you want to be treated.
I have seen it, but I will tell you what's going to happen.
The moment that you've identified someone,
they're going to turn their attention to asking questions about this district.
And then as soon as they sign a contract,
whether they're on the ground or not here,
their attention is going to be at this district.
I think you could probably shave a couple of weeks off of that in May and in June
if you were willing to.
I think we were trying to just get the fine.
Tighten it up a little bit.
We had a person being hired in conjunction with a board meeting you already had.
If you're willing to have a special meeting, I think you can move that up.
And you might could shave a couple of weeks off of that.
and mike let me respond um trustee fox and members of the board we we literally only had one person
today in in the entire day we've only had one person express a concern about august 1st and
wanting it faster and and when that comment came up in that group several other people said well
well, I want the board to take the time needed to do it right.
And then here's what I particularly want you all to hear.
Several of your principals immediately jumped in and said,
we want you to know that's not an issue.
We're going to be ready to start.
And whether the person is here August 1st or a couple weeks prior to that
is not in any form, shape, or fashion going to affect
the operation of the district and our ability to keep doing what we're doing.
So that literally only came up in one conversation today, but
that was the nature of the response that we heard both from some other citizens,
but more specifically from some of your principals.
And I wanna go back to, we talked about this as a board,
we talked about it as a calendar.
We had an opportunity, now we come up with a game plan,
now we wanna change midstream.
I'm almost happy with we've set an agenda we've talked about it people out there seen it now we
stick with a game plan well I think is once you've gone through the interviews if you look at the
interview schedule you say you know we can maybe work this half make this happen a little faster
and if you're and we'll work with you on that as soon as you've completed the interviews and you
think we're ready to start rolling we could squeeze we make and we can may help you get
get there a little quicker. And I'll just say this. I would speak almost as a as a former
superintendent. I will tell you the moment you hire me and sign me up, my attention is here
and they're going to be there. The people are going to be very interested in getting here as
quickly as they can. But but I hear the concern and you know, we were very respectful of that.
David was what we were also trying to say to people is also the only mistakes
I've ever seen districts make and they weren't in searches that we did but is
when you get in a hurry at the end and you know we talked about this first time
we visit with y'all is that what mistakes do boards make sometimes at the
very end they get just a little bit quick and we want to do this in the
right way but we also want to make sure that all due diligence all vetting all
All background checks, reference checks, everything is done in a way that you feel very confident and feel very good about a final decision.
That's where we want to land.
Mr. President.
Fox.
My question was simply a question about when I heard you say there's a whole month to wait.
I was just asking if that was a possibility.
I am very happy with the answer that I was given.
I am not asking to derail the whole thing.
I was simply asking I like the responses that I was given and I see that I think you're right once they've been named
And they have an opportunity to come and make some you know
It's about the relationships. We're gonna build here and and those kinds of things. I think you're exactly right
So thank you. I feel very comfortable with the end appreciate it and we'll
We'll work to make it all flow as as well as we possibly can with you
Thank You board any other questions
CHAIRMAN BRYANT.
NEW SPEAKER Thank you, sirs, for the presentation.
Thank you for doing all the work you're doing, and we look forward to seeing you again shortly.
NEW SPEAKER I want to say again it's an honor to have
the opportunity to work with you all.
NEW SPEAKER We're very privileged.
NEW SPEAKER And the district has got so much to be proud
of, and I know you are.
And we're really pleased to get to work with you.
Thanks a lot.
NEW SPEAKER Thank you.
CHAIRMAN BRYANT The Board will now convene and close meetings
authorized under Section 551.001 of the Texas Government Code for the following purposes.
Texas government code five five one point oh seven four and five five one point oh seven one
The more the board will now reconvene an open meeting today is Tuesday March 8th 2016 the time is seven oh three
Board will now move to item six point one
Consider board approval of the terms and of the agreement that controls the duties and responsibilities of the superintendent in the months immediately
following
following, sorry, responsibilities of the superintendent in the months immediately prior to his resignation.
Mr. President.
Mr. Maholsky.
I move that the Board of Trustees approves the terms of the agreement that will control the duties and responsibilities of the superintendent
in the months immediately prior to his resignation and accept the superintendent's written resignation dated March 8, 2016 and effective August 31, 2016.
Second.
I have a motion by Brian Mahalski, a second by Henry DeBrell, that the Board of Trustees
approves the terms of the agreement that will control the duties and responsibilities of
the superintendent in the months immediately prior to his resignation and accept the superintendent's
written resignation dated March 8, 2016, effective August 31, 2016.
Any discussion?
I'll just say that I'm sad that Mr. Fraley's leaving.
I'm glad that we got this contract done, and I wish him Godspeed on his new career.
With that being said, the board will proceed to vote.
All those in favor, raise your right hand and say aye.
Aye.
Those opposed?
Motion passes 7-0.
Having no further business before the board, this board is adjourned at 7-0-4.
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