August 26, 2019

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The Board will now reconvene an open meeting. Today is Monday, August 26, 2019, and the time is 6.31 p.m. Dr. Grigorski, will you verify that we are in compliance with the provisions of the Texas Open Meetings Act with regard to the notice for this meeting?

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Madam President, I do confirm we are in compliance with the provisions of the Texas Open Meeting Act in regard to this meeting tonight.

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On behalf of my colleagues, I welcome everyone to this evening's regular Board meeting. Each board member received the agenda and documentation for this meeting Friday, August 23, 2019, and have had three days to study its contents and to receive clarification from the superintendent. Additionally, the board met last week in a work-study meeting to receive information and recommendations from staff, administration, and the superintendent on these agenda items. Board members were able to ask questions and receive answers and should be prepared with responses and action tonight. The board has just reconvened from closed meeting in accordance with chapter 551 of the Texas government code any action arising from discussions And a closed meeting must be taken in an open meeting We'll start with agenda item 3.1 consider board approval of the purchase of property for the future elementary and junior high school combined campus

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Adam president, mr. Lacey I move that the board of trustees enters into an agreement to purchase from a be limited an an approximate 75-acre parcel of property for a future elementary and junior high school combined campus for a total acquisition cost estimated not to exceed $4,050,000. Second.

1:29 Unknown speaker not human verified

I have a motion by Mr. Lacey, a second by Ms. Vann, that the Board of Trustees enters into an agreement to purchase from ABE Limited an approximate 75-acre parcel of property for a future elementary and junior high school combined campus us for a total acquisition cost estimated not to exceed $4,050,000. Do we have any questions? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Do we have any scouts in the audience tonight? Okay. I don't see any. We'll go ahead and do our pledges of allegiance. Could we have our officer please come lead us?

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee. Texas. One state, under God, one and indivisible.

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Thank you so much. Next we'll move on to recognitions.

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I'd like to take a minute to go ahead and recognize one of our newest, latest hires in KDISD, one of our administrators and put a name with a face and that is our director of communications miss renny deanda if you would please stand to be recognized and welcome thank you

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thank you next 6.1 2019 state accountability performance results dr matney

3:31 Unknown speaker not human verified

Good evening, President Doyle, Dr. Gagorski, members of the board. I am pleased to be here this evening to present our 2019 State Accountability Performance Results Report. Just as a review, we, through the strategic design process, developed a series of KDISD beliefs, beliefs. And at the very end, we need to make sure that we remember that we believe effective assessment is a continual process of giving and receiving meaningful feedback that advances learning and supports a system of accountability. And that we believe that our success is not determined by a single standardized assessment. So with that, I would like to report out a predominantly standardized assessment based system an overview of our 2019 system it has three domains and I'll be walking through each of those three we'll talk about our 2019 district and campus ratings as well as review distinction designations that campuses receive so our 2019 system has three performance domains for the district and each campus the student achievement domain evaluates performance across all subjects for all students. It also includes general and alternate assessments, college career military readiness information, and graduation rates. The second domain is our school progress domain and here we measure the number of students that grew at least one year academically from last year to this year or from 2018 to 2019. It also compares student achievement results relative to our economically disadvantaged percentages among those with like levels elementary to elementary junior high to junior high in high school to high school the final domain is the closing the gaps domain in here we use disaggregated data to uncover differences among student groups by race and race ethnicity and different programs to align with both state and federal accountability requirements in In 2019, it was the first time that campuses and districts both received A through F letter grades. Additionally, campuses and districts can receive a not rated rating in a domain or overall. Last year, a district received letter grades. However, campuses did not. But this is the first year that the system is aligned. So overall, KDISD for the second year in a row is rated an A. We're very thrilled about that. and a hundred percent of our KDIC campuses received an overall rating of an A, B, or C. That's equivalent to the Met Standard rating previously that campuses had. So our district ratings overall we received a 92 which is an A. Our student achievement domain an 89, school progress domain a 91, and the closing the gaps comes in at a 95. There were 301 districts across the state about a quarter that did earn an overall rating of an A. However, Katy is the largest in the state of Texas. So to be as large as we are growing at the rate that we're growing it's a pretty remarkable feat to come in with that high mark. So very excited for all the campuses and staff. Pull all these up together. I'm sorry. Okay so under the student achievement domain there are a lot of moving parts so we're going to go through each of these components overall the star component which is looking at all of the tests all of the students together we saw an increase over last year that's what the green arrow denotes and we had a 92 so when you look at that middle bar the middle graph we look at approaches grade level meets grade level and masters grade level a student can score any of those three on a test and we look at the percentages of students achieving those three levels and we're up in all of those areas over last year so lots of gains the state also saw gains but you can see that they are significantly behind what Katie ISD's results show CCM are the college career military ready for our high schools in our district that's the percent of students achieving some sort of college career military ready indicator and whether it's test scores or enlistment in the military and our CCM our result was a 94 that is again up from last year 74% of our students met one of those indicators the state is again behind the district in the CCM ours for our graduation rate for this indicator we're looking at the state definition for graduation rate we'll get into a little bit of the differences in a subsequent slide but for our four-year graduation rate we're again up over last year five five-year and six-year. You can see that the state is declining in one of those, but we're up in all those areas. So our graduation total of 90 is, again, up over 2018. What's interesting is you'll see the four-year, five-year, and six-year are all above 90%, but our indicator is only a 90. The state does a scaling. It has been stated that graduation rates across Texas are high. and so the state actually scales down our graduation rate numbers. So we could be at a 99 graduation rate, but our scale would go down to about a 97. So I know, it's a little bit confusing, but our graduation rate is well above 90, and our four-year students graduating in four years is 94.8. so in our school progress domain we're looking again at students who are growing one year from 2018 to 2019 so again all of our indicators for reading math and total are up over 29 to over 2018 where is the state's going down this is a big result of a push to really help students and teachers understand where students are and where they need to be and want to be and so once that awareness is there with teachers and students alike then they know where they're going and and students are working really hard as well as teachers to have that one year growth so again that scaling actually goes up our closing the gaps domain is our third and final domain this is to meet the federal requirements set out by the US Department of Education and so this is where we're going to have a little bit of a different graduation conversation There's two ways to configure graduation. One is the state definition and it includes exclusions for students who are court-ordered GED who they don't include students who've dropped out previously but come back and graduate. So there's several sets of students that the state graduation rate does not include. The federal includes everyone. So you are going to see some different numbers with graduation rate. Closing the gaps domain uses the federal definition. We met all of our indicators for academic achievement all of our targets for every student group so that's that's that 100% across the top our graduation rate is down at 44% and I'm going to get into that detail to understand that 44% a little bit better because that is not our graduation rate that's the indicator our EO proficiency we're at a hundred percent there for students growing one year learning the English language and our school quality indicator is looking looking at approaches, meets, and masters all combined in college career military readiness. And we're at 100% for every student group there as well. So our total for closing the gaps domain is a 95. So that 44% for the graduation rate indicator. New for 2019, the target for every student group is 90% graduation rate for the federal target. However, the state added an additional clause in for this year, saying that even if a student group was above 90% if they did not increase a tenth of a point over the previous year they would include that as not meeting the indicator so that detail is in that slot in that chart down on the left so you can see our all student group class of 2017 was 93.6 class of 2018 93.7 so So we went up a tenth of a point, so that student group is included in the 44%. There are student groups that are well above the 90%. For example, our Asian student population at 97.9, but because they fell to 97.5, they are not included in the percent of indicators met. So it's just an additional clause that got thrown in there, and so we strive to be increasing that a tenth of a point every student group every year. The only situation where this does not apply is once you reach 100%. If you maintain the 100%, you don't have to go up to 100.1. So that's the only example. So just as a reminder, we include those are our federal graduation rates and the state graduation rates are on the right. And that's really what we most commonly refer to as the KDISD graduation rates are the state ones on the right. so campus ratings overall we had 54% of our elementaries are in an overall a 34% B and 12% an overall C our junior highs are at 53% overall a 47% overall B high schools at 44 a and 56% earning a B so for Katie is D you can see the 52% a's 40% B's and 8% C's overall. Campus distinction designations have been around for many years. There have been very few changes to this process. Campuses have to receive an A, B, C or D rating to be eligible to receive them and all of our campuses are. Campuses are grouped with 40 light campuses based on a series of demographics into comparison groups. And they're ranked in the areas of reading ELA, math, science, social studies, looking at that progress, are we growing students from one year to the next, and then what do we look like in domain three with closing the gaps, what is that score in comparison to those 40 light campuses, as well as post-secondary readiness. This is an example of a distinction designation report. So they take all 40 campuses and they put us in quartiles. And so this is an example of a campus that earned the ELA distinction and you can see that they were in quartile one in all but two of their areas that they're measured on. So every campus gets this page for every one of those indicators. So in summary we are the largest school district in Texas with an overall A. That is one small line on this slide but it's a huge huge feat and in a very exciting statement to be able to make. Katy ISD campuses all received overall ratings of A, B, or C. All secondary campuses received an overall A or B. 52% of Katy ISD campuses received an overall rating of A. In the largest 25 districts in Texas, Katy is one of eight, where 100% of campuses scored A, B, or C. And in the 10 largest districts in Texas, Katie has the highest percent of campuses meeting all eligible distinctions. So not only are they hitting the mark, they're blowing all their peers out of the water. In the 10 largest districts in Texas, Katie has the highest percent of total campus distinction designations met, 65 percent out of all those that are eligible. So with that, I'll be happy to take any questions you have about the accountability system at this time.

15:42 Unknown speaker not human verified

Thank you. Board members, does anybody have any questions? Madam President, I have a question. Dr. Matney, thank you for the presentation. I do wonder why in the student domain did we get an overall rating of 89, yet on page 9 none of those numbers were below a 90?

16:03 Unknown speaker not human verified

Yes, ma'am. One of the additional pieces of the accountability system is if any campus receives a D or an F for a domain, domain the highest the district can receive is an 89 and we did have one campus with a D in domain one okay otherwise we would have had a 92 all

16:22 Unknown speaker not human verified

right and then another one on page 12 the overall C for the elementary yes how does this let me let me go back to page 12 do how does this compare to last year

16:38 Unknown speaker not human verified

So last year all campuses were met standard or improvement required. There were no letter grades for campuses last year.

16:45 Unknown speaker not human verified

So the overall C of the 12% for the elementary, is there a way to compare that to last year, how well we did?

16:55 Unknown speaker not human verified

Yes, we did model our data and so although it wasn't official, we did have three campuses that would have been in that box for last year. three elementaries with an overall seat all right and then one last question the

17:10 Unknown speaker not human verified

four-year five-year six-year I understand that that's the state definition but can you give me an example of a six-year graduation

17:22 Unknown speaker not human verified

absolutely so it's possible that students so students obviously we want them on track to graduate in four years if they do not graduate by August 31st of the year that they are intended to graduate then they come back as a continuer and then they can graduate their fifth year if they graduate their fifth year they're included in five year and a student who may come into the country late in their high school career so they may be missing English credits they may be missing social studies credits it may take them a little bit

17:54 Unknown speaker not human verified

longer to get through yes thank you dr. matinee and I'm really really proud of KDIC for the great grades that we got. Are there any other questions?

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Ms. Gasol.

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I just want to echo that and say I'm sure everybody wants to say it, but, you know, that's just, those are incredible statistics and a testimony to the educators in this district that show up every day, every day, and the administrators who support them and the paras and the parents and the amazing students and just what an incredible incredible accomplishment

18:32 Unknown speaker not human verified

absolutely anyone else okay thank you dr. Matney for that great presentation next consent agenda

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kind of president miss van I'm moving the board of trustees approves a consent agenda as recommended in item 7.1 through 7.19. Second. I have a motion by Ms. Vann, a second by Mr. Lacey

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that the Board of Trustees approves the consent agenda as recommended in item 7.1 through 7.19. We will now proceed to vote. All those in favor please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. We'll move on to our action items. 8.1 consider board approval of naming high school number Number nine is recommended by the naming advisory committee.

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Madam president,

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Ms.

19:19 Unknown speaker not human verified

Van, I moved that the board of trustees names high school. Number nine, Jordan high school as recommended by the naming advisory committee.

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Second.

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Did I hear you,

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Mr. Redmond? Okay. I have a motion by Ms. Van, the second by Mr. Redmond, that the board of trustees names high school. Number nine, Jordan high school as recommended by the naming advisory committee. Is there any discussion hearing? Then we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed motion passes. I think we may have some members of the Jordan family here if y'all would like to come up and have a picture made with the board we'd really appreciate that.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Thank you. Thank you.

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Consider Board approval of the proposed 2018-2019 final amended budget and August 2019 construction budget amendments.

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Madam President. Ms. Vann. I move the Board of Trustees approves the 2018-2019 final amended budget and August 2019 construction budget amendments for the Katy Independent School District.

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Second.

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Was that Bill?

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No.

24:10 Unknown speaker not human verified

Y'all sound so...

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No, we don't.

24:13 Unknown speaker not human verified

sorry about that I have a motion by miss van a second by mr. Redmond that the Board of Trustees approves the 2018-2019 final amended budget and to August 2019 construction budget amendments for the Katy Independent School District is there any discussion hearing none we'll proceed to vote all those in favor please raise your right hand and say aye all those opposed motion passes agenda item 8.3 consider board approval of the proposed 2019-2020 official budget for Katy Independent School District. Madam President. Mr. Redmond. I move that the Board of Trustees

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approves the 2019-2020 official budget for Katy Independent School District. Second. Oh,

24:53 Unknown speaker not human verified

I was just seconding so that you didn't sound alike. I was second. I have a motion. We sound

24:58 Unknown speaker not human verified

alike. Y'all sound so similar. I have a motion by Mr. Redmond, a second by Mr. Lacey, that the Board of Trustees approves the 2019-2020 official budget for Katy Independent School District. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand

25:12 Unknown speaker not human verified

and say aye. Aye. All those opposed motion passes 8.4. Madam President. Ms. Vann. I move that the Board of Trustees that the Board of Trustees is how it's written approves a resolution declaring and designating an approximate seven acre parcel of land north of Wolf Elementary as surplus property of the district and authorizes the district administration to take any and all appropriate action in regard to the sale of this property. Second. That's Mr. Lacey.

25:42 Unknown speaker not human verified

Thank you. I have a motion by Ms. Vann, a second by Mr. Lacey, that the Board of Trustees approves a resolution declaring and designating an approximate seven-acre parcel of land north of Wolf Elementary School as surplus property of the district and authorizes the district administration to take any and all appropriate action in regard to the sale of the property. Is there any discussion? Hearing none, we'll proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. All those opposed? Motion passes. Agenda item 8.5. Madam President. Mr. Lacey.

26:10 Unknown speaker not human verified

I move that the Board of Trustees approves the updates to the local board policy BED local, BE local, and BC local.

26:20 Unknown speaker not human verified

Second. I have a motion by Mr. Lacey, a second by Ms. Vann, that the Board of Trustees approves the updates to local board policy BED local, BE local, and DC local. Do we have any discussion? Do you want to address us before we vote or after?

26:37 Unknown speaker not human verified

You guys can vote and then I'll explain what we've just done.

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Okay, thank you. We'll proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed, motion passes. Go ahead, Mr. Graham.

26:49 Unknown speaker not human verified

Madam President, Dr. Grigorski, board members, my 4-year-old daughter is very excited to see me working at home with a pink folder. And my 7-month-old son was just interested in trying to eat it. But I will tell you a really good piece of update is he said his first word and he's been saying it all day and that first word is da-da. There you go. What you had before you, trustees, are changes to three board policies. And I kind of want to walk you through them. I know we have had this discussion, but I wanted to get on the record so that when members of the community see changes moving forward, we can refer back to this to sort of help explain why we're doing business the way we're doing business moving forward. The Texas legislature met earlier this year in the 86 legislature, and part of that legislation, which I talked about briefly after a public comment one day, was directly related to the Texas Open Meetings Act and created some changes in that law, specifically House Bill 2840, revised the Texas Government Code Section 551.007. It actually added it, and that's a section related specifically to public comment. I'm going to go over those changes in a minute, but those changes will follow what is going to be a change, I think, in your normal practice here. Everybody remembers last month we had one meeting. with one regular board meeting in July and after discussion after superintendent's cabinet discussion and with staff and also discussion with the board we found out that that one meeting actually worked pretty well it works pretty well if the board will get a draft agenda ahead of time in order to prepare their questions and then I think what what it will ultimately do is sponsor a little bit maybe a little more questions maybe upfront at the meeting because you won't have an opportunity to then email administration and get answers to your questions between meetings. So I think that's actually going to be something that may give the public a little more insight in some of the questions that you may have on agenda items moving forward. But moving to one meeting per month in the future, by doing that, by saying we're going to do that, this board is really putting an emphasis on being prepared for the meetings, which everyone, I can I can testify to, everyone is well prepared for these meetings and making sure that your staff staff members also prepare it it's going to move us uh back in our timeline about two weeks as the administration prepares for things but it's really going to work well i think with our calendar moving forward especially when we get to those months like november where we have a substantial break march where we have a substantial break december and then everybody knows how hard it is to get everybody together during the summer month so i think it's it's something that is going to be as we look at efficiencies for the district moving forward. If you'll notice the change and I'm going to and I'm going to go to the first change the very minor change that's in that's your board policy i simply change that the regular meetings will be held at 5 30. now everybody knows that we come out here at 5 30 and we open the meeting and we go to closed meeting at that point in time so that's really not a change in the way that our practice has been it just clarifies the rent-a-do it at 5 30. nothing in your policy is going to abrogate you if this board ever feels like hey we do need to have a work study meeting or we need to have a special meeting that's something you can always do so just because we're going to move forward with one month with with one meeting per month that doesn't say hey maybe we get to march and we've got a ton of personnel issues that we need to discuss because we're hiring administrators or we're looking at baseball fields or whatever it may be that you feel like you need an additional meeting on that's always going to be within your prerogative to do some so not nothing in your in your board policy has changed to abrogate that um what we did do is you'll see there is a change in policy dc local and that's regard in regards to employment practices so everybody's saying okay we're gonna have one board meeting a month why would we need to revise the way we do our employment practices well what you have done and I want to remind you I want you to think back as a board think about what we do during the summer time during the summer time your board policy says from June 1 to August 31 you give the superintendent authority to hire contractual personnel so the way that the law works in the state of Texas is that the Board of trustees has final authority on hiring contractual personnel. You can obviously delegate that authority and you do so during the summertime the superintendent and the reason you do so is because that's a really quick hiring period for us right we have a lot of turnover during the summer that's when teachers give us our notice we have some administrative changes and it allows a district of our size to move in the direction that we need to with professional staff. What you'll see in here is that by the adoption of this policy you've also designated the superintendent that authority with contractual personnel with those positions who are below a principal and i say below those i'm just thinking about on our salary schedule not that anyone is below a principal but as i think about our salary schedule and those equivalent positions and what that will allow us to do instead of you know every two weeks now or every every uh every time we have a board meeting you see personnel action right and you you guys get the personnel report and you come out here item 3.1 you approve the personnel report what that will do is it will allow the superintendent and his administrative staff some freedom to go ahead and hire teachers as they need to hire teachers to fill those positions instead of having to wait if we're going to only going to have one meeting a month instead of having to wait until the end of the month to do so superintendent is going to have the authority to do so throughout the year now of course you're going to get this this information you're going to continue to be updated on it just like you are during the summer so that's just a little procedural change and a little delegation of authority but i think it makes a ton of sense especially in the district as large as kdisd with as many employees and teachers as we have to hire so the last thing i want to talk about is kind of the first thing i started with changes in the texas open meeting act related to public comment you will see your bed local i've gone in that red line and tried to clarify some of the things we've done. I want to reiterate to this board that I don't think anything in here with the exception of having public, moving public comment up to the very beginning of the meeting. So what we're going to do now is we're going to come out at 530, we're going to open the meeting, then we're going to hear from members of our public, and then we're going to adjourn to our closed meeting, and then we're going to hold our meetings as we've regularly done. That is the only change really operationally that I see in here. And let me tell you, and let me tell you about that, okay? By doing so, members of your public are no longer going to have to wait until the very end of the meeting to address the board they're not going to have to wait and hear all of the business that we're doing they're going to be able to address that to you ahead of time the law currently as amended requires that members of the public be allowed to comment on agenda items so anything that's on your board agenda members of the public are going to be allowed to come up here and talk to you about right um i saw the budgets but you know we adopted the budget so if a member wants to come up here and say why was this in the budget i think you need to consider xyz or the naming of jordan high school hey board members i think you need to consider naming it an alternative or i do want to speak on that we have always allowed in this district members of the public to speak about anything that's on the agenda that's not a change in process we've always allowed that if there's something on the agenda we allow you to speak about it what we're doing here by moving it to the beginning of the meeting is allowing you to weigh in on it before an action is taken. So let's say for example tonight if we have the public comment at the beginning of the meeting then anybody that wants to speak about Jordan High School can do so before you actually vote. If it's at the end of the meeting well you've already taken action on naming the high school Jordan High School and so if a member wanted to speak on that topic it may be considered a moot point. That's a change in the law and I think it's going to be beneficial for you. And it's good I think it's going to be again as we look at efficiencies in our meeting I think it's really going to hone us in on what is on the agenda and what is it that members of the public can speak about. Now you'll see in here one of the one of the areas that I that I think the legislature did a very good job with is defining criticism and I will tell you I've been with this board for the last three years and I know some of the criticism that it is faced and I don't think that this board has ever shied away from criticism of its actions, criticism of what it as a body decides to do. In fact I think we welcomed it in certain areas certainly when we do a rezoning you know we're looking at our attendance boundary modification certainly that's an area where we really want public feedback and oftentimes it's criticism because anytime you move people around. But what that law now says 551.007 of the Texas Government Code and I encourage anybody who has a question about what is criticism to go look at that. What it does is it talks about discussion can be of any district or board act, omission, policy, procedure, program, service, or agenda item. But what it talks about is it being board business and it being criticism of the governing body. So you as trustees are the governing body not just one trustee you mr uh redmond you're not the governing body mr lacy you by yourself not the governing body in fact if it's three if it's miss champaign mr redmond mr lacy you still don't have the governing body until you have a quorum present at a duly called meeting where action is being taken so when we talk about criticism we're really going to narrow it down to criticism of the business that is before the board so criticism what we may consider what what some may consider criticism of individuals, is still not prohibited to be public. You're still gonna have to go through the appropriate grievance channels. If you have problems with an employee or problems with a student issue, you're still gonna have to be directed to the appropriate administrative channels. But what we're really gonna hone in on is, hey, we allow criticism. Hey, we want your feedback. We wanna know if you think that there's a viable alternative, tell us about it. But we're not gonna allow individual attacks on employees, board members, trustees, or staff. It's not going to happen. And again, I do not think that this is a break from our current practice. I really don't. I think that this is just a codification in the law of how we currently do things. And again, I think it will be helpful because, again, you're not going to get members of the public that have to come and they have to sign up 15 minutes before the meeting. Well, they have always had to wait until the end of the meeting, is in at least in the three years that i've been here always have to had to wait until the end of the meeting now they're going to be able to sign up it before 5 15 5 30 hits they're going to be able to address the board and then the board will be able to consider their feedback as it takes action on items moving forward throughout the meeting i feel like i may have i i'm trying to merge the ideas of the fact that we are have that we are moving to one meeting because of efficiency reasons along with the changes in public comment to sort of give what I say is a foundational structure for our meetings moving forward which I really do not think is a break in our current practice other than moving that public comment to the beginning of the meeting having said that I'm prepared to take any questions that this board may add I know you've already taken action to approve it but if anybody has any questions or needs clarification I'm here for questions

38:35 Unknown speaker not human verified

Board members, does anybody have any questions for Mr. Graham? Okay. Thank you for explaining that. Next on our agenda is 9.1, donated items to Katy Independent School District. The board has been provided a copy of the donated items. 9.2, certification of anticipated tax collection rates for 2019-2020. Again, the board has been notified of the anticipated 2019-2020 tax collection rate for Fort Bend, Waller, and Harris County. and 9.3 appraisal district budgets for 2020 the board was provided a copy of the appraisal district budgets as well our future meetings as you heard miss Graham mr. Graham sorry just explained that our next Board of Trustees meeting will be on September 23rd it will be one meeting at our regular meeting September 23rd 2019 with that the board will now set up the room to hear a level 3 grievance numbers FNG 18037 and 038. If at any point in time the subject matter deviates to that which must be heard in closed session, such as complaints against staff, the Board will stop the meeting and convene in closed meeting as authorized under Section 551.001 of the Texas Government Code for the following purposes. Texas Government Code 551.071, 551.129, 551.0821, and 551.074. Mr. Graham, can you briefly explain why this hearing may be held in open session?

40:06 Unknown speaker not human verified

Yes. Trustees, tonight we have, at least for the first time in my tenure, we have a grievance that has been requested to be heard in an open meeting and is actually lawfully suited to do so. When you have an issue that is related to a student matter, the government code allows the board of trustees to convene to closed session to talk about that issue to hear the grievance and what that is intended to do is that's intended to provide that particular student and parent the privacy to address the board about whatever sensitive issue may need to happen that right can unilaterally be waived by the complainant can be waived by the parent or the student and that's what we have here we have a parent that is bringing forward a transfer appeal directly related to her student and has asked for this meeting to be held openly so we're gonna hold this meeting in an open session but we're gonna ask again that our rules of decorum be followed so at this point time we can have the complainant come up to the right side and we can have our administration our administrators come up to the left side I will tell you that even though that this is that this is an issue about a transfer this is not an opportunity for the airing of grievances against employees if at any point in time we move into a realm of discussion or complaints or concerns against employees it is that employee's individual right to have that heard in closed session so if we get in that gray area i'm going to go ahead and say madam president i think we need to adjourn the closed meeting at which point we'll clear the room and so having said that where's our complainant and then madam president i'll turn it back over

41:50 Unknown speaker not human verified

over for you to you thank you mr. Graham this proceeding will be recorded to ensure that an accurate record is kept Daniel are we recording yes we are welcome my name is Courtney Doyle and I'm the president of the board for the record today is Monday August 26 2019 the time is 713 at this time members of the board we will move to agenda item 11.2 which is to conduct a level 3 FNG complaint brought forward by Ms. Jacinta Green, her parent, case number FNG18-37 and 038 combined. At this time, I would like to instruct all participants to please avoid talking when another person is speaking so that the recording will accurately reflect the proceedings. Furthermore, please endeavor to make your oral statements as clear and complete as possible. Remember that the recording will not reflect gestures or any other form of nonverbal communication. This hearing will be conducted as an administrative presentation in accordance with applicable policies and laws. It will be based on the record made from the previous level. The board members have been supplied with a copy of this record in advance of this hearing. No new evidence shall be presented. This record includes student complaint forms at level 1, level 1 response, notice of appeal at level 2, level 2 response, notice of appeal at level 3, audio recordings of the level 1 and level 2 hearings. Now that we have reviewed the procedures for the hearing, it is time to determine the qualifications of the board members to hear and consider this matter. At this time, I will poll the members of the board as to whether they can consider the information presented at this hearing and make a decision in a fair and impartial manner. If any member of the board feels that he or she cannot do so, the board member should so state at this time and not participate in the hearing. Mr. Lacey, can you make a fair and impartial decision on this matter?

43:35 Unknown speaker not human verified

Yes, ma'am, I can.

43:36 Unknown speaker not human verified

Ms. Vann, can you make a fair and impartial decision on this matter? Yes, I can. yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes The record reflect that all members of the board present have indicated that they can consider this information presented at this hearing and make a fair and impartial decision on this manner. Members of the board, I'm going to ask that you hold your questions, if any, until the conclusion of the presentation by both sides. Ms. Green, you have 10 minutes to make your presentation to the board. Do you wish to reserve a portion of your allotted time for any rebuttal? And if so, you must indicate the specific number of whole minutes you want to reserve at this time.

44:28 Unknown speaker not human verified

Ms. I reserve three minutes for rebuttal.

44:30 Unknown speaker not human verified

3. Time will be kept on the monitors overhead. Ms. Green, you may proceed with your presentation at this time.

44:37 Unknown speaker not human verified

So quickly, I want to address the fact that this session actually started off as a closed session. And the first question I need answered is why was it a closed session and why did it change to open session about five minutes before the scheduled time? That's my first question. Second question. I've presented, well requested, this hearing in a very timely manner. Why, if students are the focus of KDISD, why would this hearing regarding what school my children are going to attend, why would it happen almost two weeks after school starts? Second question. The most important part of it is I was told that my students renewal transfer was denied because I was not an employee at the time of requesting the transfer, which is false. I requested a transfer at the very beginning of April. I was sitting at my desk at single ranch high school at the time of requesting that transfer being renewed. on April 23rd is when I received notice that both Jaheim Green and Raheem Green's renewal transfer was denied because I am not an employee. On that very same day as well, I was sitting at my desk at Single Ranch High School and I was working. I also need to point out that on May 9th 2019 KTISD told the Department of Unemployment Benefits that they are fighting my unemployment claim because I am still employed by the district so it's really weird how at the beginning of April I can be not employed and then on May night I can be employed it again i need to know what the real factual reason for the denial is and what supports your reason for denying them also aside from the issue of whether or not i'm working for kdisd because i worked for kdisd up until may 24th i was told in the meeting with dr robertson that there is a clause that states that a student can apply to stay at their school for one year regardless of the reason for the renewal transfer. And I specifically stated in that level two meeting that I wanted my children's transfer considered under that clause or whatever it was that he brought up in the recorded meeting. So once again, my third question is what is the The actual reason why they're renewal was denied. Now, lastly, I want to address what was requested of me by email about five minutes before this meeting started. When I was informed that instead of a closed session, I would have an open session, I was also asked not to bring up anything about retaliation, discrimination, or racial comments in the past. I'm wondering why I would not be able to bring that up when those things are directly related to my children's transfer is being denied as I just presented all of the other information It was not denied because I wasn't an employee because I was working for KDISD when I requested it It was not denied for any other reason except for the fact that it was retaliation for my previous complaints So why would I not be able to bring those up? Before I close, these are my proposed remedies. After all this district has put me and my children through, I believe we should be allowed to go to whatever school they want to go to. If I say I want them to go to McDonald's, they should be able to go. If I say I want them to go to Morton Ranch, they should be able to go. When I initially purchased my home in Katy, we were zoned for Morton Ranch. But, you know, since Katy has built about 10 schools in the last two years, and there's There's a lot of moving around going on, you know, I guess trying to keep the old money away from the new money. Their school has changed. Their zoned school has changed every year since we moved here. So my remedy, my proposal is that they be allowed to go to the school that I picked for them. This is my oldest one's last year in junior high. Next year when he begins high school, he should not have to worry or have the threat of being put out of his school like he was this year. and the same thing for my seventh grader when he starts high school. That's my remedy.

49:13 Unknown speaker not human verified

Is that all, Ms. Green? You have two minutes left.

49:16 Unknown speaker not human verified

Yes, I know. I'm trying to think if there's anything else that I want to.

49:20 Unknown speaker not human verified

I'll just let the time run down then to make sure that you have said everything you need to say.

49:23 Unknown speaker not human verified

Oh, that's fine. I did want to add that there were some people on my Facebook page and some of them were KDISD employees and they were there to suggest that maybe my children's renewal transfer was denied because of space and other random things, but I do want to state that at all levels when it was denied the first time by campus administration when it was denied the second time by Miss Nicholas when is denied the third time by Dr. Robertson no one ever mentioned anything about space so it was really inappropriate for the district to have their little peons to reply to my protected activity which is my post on Facebook especially with erroneous information because if it was about space that could have been stated the the very first time they were denied. And it would have made everything much easier. But at every level, it was stated that they were denied because I am not an employee of KDISD. And I was at every meeting. One minute.

51:10 Unknown speaker not human verified

In the last 30 seconds, I'll add that as an educator and someone who's been in education for a long time, I know some of the most important things about transfer students are grades and behavior and attendance, and all of those were great for both of my sons. So, like I said, I need to know the real, actual reason why their renewal transfer was denied, and I need to see what evidence supports what you're going to say.

51:43 Unknown speaker not human verified

Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Stocks, will you be making the presentation on behalf of the administration? Mr. Stocks, you have 10 minutes to make the presentation. Do you wish to reserve a portion of your allotted time for any rebuttal? and if so, you must indicate the specific number of whole minutes you want to reserve at this time. Time will be kept on the monitors overhead. Mr. Stocks, you may proceed with your presentation at this time.

52:08 Unknown speaker not human verified

President Doyle, Dr. Gorski, board members, in April of 2019, Ms. Green applied for student transfers for children.

52:36 Unknown speaker not human verified

Okay, Mr. Stocks, if you could start over, please. Sure.

52:41 Unknown speaker not human verified

In April of last year, Ms. Green applied for student transfers for her children. for her children, incoming kindergartner Imani, who is requesting Fielder, rising seventh-grader Rahim, who is requesting Cinco Ranch Junior High, and rising eighth-grader Jaheim, requesting Cinco Ranch Junior High, using the KDISD employee provision found in FDB Local. This provision states that a full-time district employee may request a transfer for his or her child to attend the school closest to the actual work site of the employee. As an aside, Rahim and Jaheim attended Cinco Ranch Junior High last year with this transfer based on Mrs. Green's status as a district employee working at Cinco Ranch High School. So in essence, she was seeking to renew that transfer. However, her employment with the district was terminated on April 22nd. So the transfer request was denied April 23rd because she would not be a full-time employee with the district for the 2019. As required by the policy. Ms. Green appealed this decision through FNG. Dr. Steve Robertson heard the level 1 FNG and ruled that the denial of the transfer was appropriate because Ms. Green would not be an employee with the district during the 2019-2020 school year. Dr. Robertson, however, did recognize that the kindergartner, Imani, was eligible for a transfer to Fielder because an older sibling attended fielder. Thus Imani's transfer was approved for this reason without Ms. Green having to file a new request. Also the transfer fee was waived. Ms. Green appealed the decision for Rahim and Jaheim. She asserted that the transfer should have been approved since she was employed by the district at the time of the request. She also asserted that the transfers were denied as retaliation for racial complaints and other complaints she had made against the district. As a level two hearing officer, I ruled that since she would not be an employee for the 2019-2020 school year, then the employee provision was not in effect. I found no evidence of retaliation. In fact, I found that Dr. Robertson acted in good faith by recognizing that Imani would be eligible for a transfer for a reason other than that requested, and he ensured that Imani's transfer was approved without the fee having to be paid. The ruling at level 1 was upheld and the district transfer requests were denied. In the written level 3 appeal, Ms. Green states that Dr. Robertson mentioned a one-time option to finish at the school. FDB local provides a one-time option to remain at the current campus for high school students only. only. Junior high and elementary students have a provision to allow them to remain at their current campus for the remainder of the school year if they move out of the attendance zone during the school year. Neither of these provisions applies in this case. Since Miss Green is not a full time district employee, and since no other provisions apply to her request for transfers, we are asking that the board uphold the decision made at level 2. I will also state because of a very important Ms. Green has brought this up a number of occasions about being an employee at the time of the transfer request. The way I read the policy, the policy says a full-time district employee living within district boundaries may request a transfer for his or her child to attend the school closest to or actual work site of the employee. To me, the intent of this policy is to provide teachers and staff and the district with convenience of having employees' children in close proximity to their work site. Since Ms. Green is no longer employed by the district, she has no work site, and thus the employee provision does not apply in this case. Thank you.

57:12 Unknown speaker not human verified

Ms. Green, at this time, you have reserved three minutes for a rebuttal. You may make your rebuttal presentation on behalf of the complainant.

57:22 Unknown speaker not human verified

I heard him mention about Imani. Not only is that issue not valid right now because I'm not here about Imani, but also according up until yesterday when I got a call from the registrar at Leonard, up until yesterday, Imani is registered for Leonard. So apparently her transfer was not approved. approved. As far as full-time district employee, the way all of the denials were worded, it said nothing about full-time district employee the following year or the year that you're requesting it for. All of the denials stated verbatim that they are denied because I am now currently not an employee of the district and I was an employee of the district up until until May 23rd. There's no way that you can say on April 22nd I was not an employee when, like I said, I was sitting at my desk at Single Ranch High School and I was working. And in May, KDISD told the Office of Unemployment that I'm still an employee. So how can I not be an employee on April 22nd or April 23rd and then again be an employee on May 1st? There is nothing written in anything that I have received that said that it is only for full-time employees who will be working with the district next year. Nothing was worded like that. As far as the one-time provision that is supposedly for high school students only, Dr. Robertson is the assistant superintendent of secondary schools. I find it very hard to believe that he didn't know that that applies to junior high school students and that it only applied to high school students. In the recorded meeting with him, he specifically said that there was a one-time provision for them to return to that school. So if he made an error, my children and I should not have to suffer for the error he made. Also, I heard him mention that the one-time provision for junior high students are for students who have moved out of KDISD school zone. So if I have a junior high student who is actually still in KDISD school zone and they are trying to use the one-time provision, I do not see what is the problem there. And also if the provision was only for high school students, why was that not in the written response that Dr. Robertson sent me when he denied their renewal transcript again. The written response that Dr. Robertson sent me to deny their level two request for renewal transfer stated, once again, that I am not an employee of the district. Not that I won't be one next year, but that I am not. And it said nothing about that provision only being for high school students. If that's what it states, why was I not told that before now?

1:00:24 Unknown speaker not human verified

Thank you, Ms. Green. Mr. Stocks, at this time you have reserved two minutes. For our rebuttal, you may make your rebuttal presentation on behalf of the administration.

1:00:36 Unknown speaker not human verified

Just would like to reiterate that the administration's position on the employee provision is that the employee status applies to the time during the year that the transfer is in request, for which the year the transfer is requested. requested. So for an employee to use, for someone to use the employee provision for this coming school year, they would need to be employed during the school year as it makes the most sense for the reason for that transfer. Also, we are unaware of the enrollment status of Imani. I looked at eSchool Plus today, which is our student information system. and Imani shows to be in that system to be a student at Fielder and marked unexcused for basically for this for the first days of the school year if there's a problem with with her enrollment she is she has had that transfer request granted and we can make that happen if if they don't show that record correctly. I have nothing further. Madam President. There's still 30 seconds left and

1:01:58 Unknown speaker not human verified

there's a question that he didn't answer. I addressed it to him and to everyone else. If students are supposed to be the focal point, why is this meeting being held two weeks after school started? I did present my request in a very timely manner. This is Mr. Stocks. That's fine. He said he was finished and I wanted to give him a chance to actually answer that question that I presented

1:02:18 Unknown speaker not human verified

during my time right thank you mr. stocks nobody answered members of the board do you have any questions for either administration or miss green if there are no questions from the board members this proceeding is concluded the The Board may elect to make a decision during tonight's open meeting, August 26, 2019, or may decide to take no action.

1:02:58 Unknown speaker not human verified

Board members, at this time, if there's a motion pending, we can consider that motion or we can adjourn into closed meeting to have a discussion about the agreement.

1:03:11 Unknown speaker not human verified

Madam President. Mr. Lacey. I would like to move that we take no action at this time.

1:03:21 Unknown speaker not human verified

Do we have a second?

1:03:22 Unknown speaker not human verified

Yeah.

1:03:24 Unknown speaker not human verified

I have a motion by Mr. Lacey, a second by Ms. Vann, that the board take no action at this time. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes 7-0. room. There being no further business before this board, this meeting is adjourned. The time is 7.35 p.m.