Today is Monday, September 28, 2020, and the time is 5.30 p.m. Dr. Gorgorski, will you verify that we are in compliance with the provisions of the Texas Open Meeting Act with regard to notice for this meeting?
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Madam President, I do confirm we're in compliance with the provisions of Texas Open Meeting Act for this evening tonight.
Thank you so much. At this time, the Board of Trustees will give members of the public an opportunity to speak in accordance with KDISD Board Policy BED Local. As defined by this board policy, the first 10 speakers who signed up by 2 p.m. on Monday, September 28th, and have provided their first and last name will be allowed to address the board. A maximum of 30 minutes has been allocated, with the time divided equally among those who have signed up. However, the maximum amount of time for any one speaker is three minutes. If you are not finished speaking at the end of your three minutes, your audio will turn off. off. If speakers wish to share written material with the board, you must email a copy to the secretary for board services for board members, the superintendent, and chief communications officer for permanent record. If a speaker has not attempted to solve a matter administratively through proper channels as stated in board policy, the presiding officer's designee shall advise the speaker to seek resolution through the appropriate policy. Finally, pursuant to Texas government code Code 551.074 and 551.0821, the board will not permit the presentation of personally identifiable information regarding a student and will not discuss the appointment, employment, evaluation reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee or to hear a complaint or charge against an officer or employee. Should a speaker wish to address one of these issues, they may do so through the appropriate local grievance policies, FNG local, DGBA local, CKE local, or GF local. Our speakers will be called forward in the order they signed up to speak. Our first speaker tonight is Katie O'Connor.
Hi. Thank you for your time. So I had planned today to present some data points on the inefficacy and danger of masks. This is about children wearing masks, the cesspools of bacteria, as our children take them on and off throughout the day and drop them on the ground. and the social and mental harms they pose as we limit children's social development through the facial expressions, and most importantly, the hypoxia our children endure each day. But as I drove here, I became acutely aware that nothing I say has any effect on KDISD policy likely. So instead, I wanted to just share something that my son talked with me about when he came home from school today. He said he can deal with the daily headaches, but what's getting really hard is the incessant and immediate bullying that occurs if he takes his mask down to eat or drink or pulls it down below his nose when he's exercising. So he does varsity swim team and he does band practice. So he's at school from 545 a.m. until 6 p.m., three days a week, and then he's at 545 five days. So as you can imagine, he's needing to do some snacking and drinking throughout the day. But he pulls the mask down to take a drink. The teacher's scolding him. Other kids are scolding him. They tell him to, you know, drink it up underneath this way. Anyway, also as he's carrying his bass drum out to the band field in the afternoons, if he or if he's running for dry land and swim, obviously they're not wearing them in the pool, but they do a lot of dry land exercising. If he pulls it down to get a breath or to do his exercise, students in unison tell him, you know, pull it up over your nose. So anyway, I just realized that The data is plentiful. It's out there for anybody who wants to look it up. There are plenty of videos and charts and articles in medical journals about why we probably should not have our children be wearing masks. But what I really wanted to focus on is the fact that we're teaching our children to be fascists. We're teaching them to correct each other when they aren't doing something perceived as virtuous or in the interest of public health. We are teaching them that their personal health choices are no longer something that they decide with their parents. It's something that schools and governments mandate. And it's okay to do the wrong thing for the right reasons if you question it, you're uncaring or anti-science. So I just want to bring this up and ask everybody to think about any other situation where we ask perfectly healthy children to harm themselves harm themselves for the sake of a potential at few risk and where else we might mandate their personal health choices thank
you for your time Thank You mr. Connor our next speaker is Morgan Calhoun
Okay. Thank you for allowing me to address the board today. I'm coming to you to discuss, again, the mask requirement for our kids in school. I know that over the past month, this has been addressed again and again, even before this board. At the previous meeting, Mr. Gorgorski specifically explained that it was still parents' choice as to what was developmentally appropriate for those children that were under the age of 10 and that the term developmentally appropriate would be further expounded on and explained. Not only was that term never given a full explanation but the statement that it was the parents decision as to what was developmentally appropriate was inaccurate at best to date this has not been my decision my son who is eight is required to wear his mask inside his classroom when he for any reason gets up from his desk to do anything he is only allowed to not wear the mask if he is at his desk and he does not move from that spot that is this is wildly uneven across different schools as as well. I've been told by other parents that their children as young as seven have been instructed to wear their masks even while at their desks by different teachers. This is based on the teacher's feelings or emotions to the rare possibility of infection of the coronavirus. When the administrators of the schools are pressed for information regarding these decisions, parents are told that it isn't the principal's decision, but that of the board's. These are just their marching orders. And the question remains as to why. My son recently was diagnosed with strep throat. With the onset of symptoms on a Sunday evening, we had him stay home from school on Monday. We took him to the pediatrician who gave us antibiotics and clearance papers to return to school. The issue I take with this is that the exposure he most likely had was given to him at school earlier in the week. The mask did not prevent an infected child or teacher from passing on the bacteria that my son then contracted. The said bacteria is passed in from air droplets through either a sneeze or cough as well as a contaminated surface. If the mask isn't able to prevent strep throat from passing from one to another, why is it that we are so willing to subject and submit to the idea that it will in fact stop coronavirus? I am concerned that when we look back on this moment in five to 10 years or even longer, it will have the same representation that we hold as when we look back on the 50s and 60s era with nuclear bomb drills of hiding under your desk. The desk wasn't going to protect anyone any more than the mask will from the impending apocalypse that we are continuing to be told to be fearful of. I am asking the trustees to take the time to look at the incoming data that is overwhelmingly stating that our children have no reason to be masked. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Ms. Calhoun. Our next speaker is Kathleen Pittman.
2021 Council of PTA's president. And I'm excited to see y'all in person for the first time in a while. But I just wanted to say thank you to our superintendent and our board for their leadership. I know that there are no easy decisions at this point. And we appreciate the time that y'all are taking to keep our kids' best interests at heart. We have 64 wonderful PTAs in Katy. We have over 13,000 members. Dr. Grigorski recently just joined all 64, and my understanding is Leslie Hack did as well, and we very much appreciate the district's partnership. I'm meeting weekly with Leslie Hack and it has been a great relationship so far and also Janet Tice to have Be able to work on how we can have volunteers still engaging families and programs in our schools Despite everything that's going on. We have campuses doing virtual yoga There was virtual dinosaur George We still have food trucks coming for the teachers for teacher appreciation stocking the lounge and lots of different things happening with our campus in addition to parent programs like one of our campuses did a canvas 101 recently where they kind of instructed and had time for answering questions about how canvas works so that the parents could better understand anxiety programs all different sorts of things so we have a lot of great things happening within our PTAs and we appreciate our district support and and involvement in keeping our parents engaged in this time. Thank you for your time.
Thank you so much, Ms. Pittman. You have a unique job as the PTA Council President right now. So I know that y'all are looking at different ways, so we appreciate you doing your job in such unusual times with our volunteers and things like that. Our next speaker is Taylor Calhoun.
I'll be quick. I'll probably be the quickest one. But I just wanted to come before you guys and kind of recap a discussion that I had with a Bryan Elementary school principal recently in regards to our children wearing masks. I'd asked her where the school board had gotten the information to determine that our children did need to wear masks. and she said that it was scientific data that the school board had reviewed and medical professionals that they had spoken to but she had not seen it nor did she have access to it so I know this is a one-way street and you can't can't answer me but I would like as a parent I would like to see the data that you guys reviewed to make that decision and I'd love to speak with the same medical professionals that you guys spoke to as well so if you could share that that'd That'd be great. That's it. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Calhoun. This concludes the open forum portion of our meeting. The board will now convene in closed meeting as authorized under sections 551.001 of the Texas Government Code for the following purposes. Texas Government Code 551.071, 551.129, and 551.074. The board will now reconvene in open meeting. Today is Monday, September 28, 2020, and the time is 6.31 p.m. On behalf of my colleagues, I welcome everyone to this evening's board member, board member, regular board meeting, I'm sorry. Each board member received the agenda and documentation for this meeting on Friday, September 25, 2020. The board will receive information and recommendations from staff, administration, and the superintendent on these agenda items at tonight's meeting. Board members will be able to ask questions, receive answers, and should be prepared to take action. this evening. The board has just reconvened from closed meeting in accordance with chapter 551 of the Texas government code. Any action arising from discussions in a closed meeting must be taken in an open meeting. We'll move on to agenda item 4.1. Consider board approval of the candidate for the position of Katy Independent School District Chief of Police, Dr. Gagorski.
Thank you, Madam President. Appreciate that. Coming before you tonight, I'm bringing a for consideration for Henry Gaw. He is here with his family. Henry's got a bachelor's degree in political science, a master's in strategic leadership. Henry's currently serving as the assistant chief of police for Houston Police Department, fourth largest city in the United States. Henry spent his entire career in the service of others including 26 years in law enforcement and I am pleased to make that recommendation to our Board of Trustees for Henry Gaw for KDISD chief of police.
Thank you so much, Dr. Grzegorski. Board members could have a motion.
Madam President. Ms. Vann. I move the Board of Trustees approves Henry Gaw for the position of Katy Independent School District Chief of Police as recommended by the Superintendent in closed meeting. Second. I have a motion by Ms. Vann, a
second by Mr. Lacey that the Board of Trustees approves Henry Gaw as the position of Katy Independent School District Chief of Police as recommended by the superintendent in closed meeting board we will now proceed to vote all those in favor please raise your right hand and say aye all those opposed motion passes seven to zero introduce mr. yes we will Henry if you want to go
ahead and stand up and maybe introduce family that you have brought out with you tonight.
Motion passes eight to zero. Welcome everybody. I'd like to introduce, well first thanks very much. Welcome all of you, thank you. We're very excited. Did you know that in the interview process, Dr. Bergorski?
I did know that, but what I didn't share with Henry is once after we approve his hire, he's eligible as an employee to bring his children to KDISD.
Wow.
So no pressure on that one, Henry. You bet. Go right ahead.
One of those things where I think a lot of things are happening for us. I think God has opened doors for the building of the hospital. I'm very, very so excited to be here. I want to support my family.
I look forward to the current leadership. I look forward to helping the hospital. We provide a safe environment for the children, for the people who come to school, and for the people who are unemployed.
Just like we discussed earlier, at the end of the day, the matter is that we provide a safe environment
where we will make a difference in preparing for leaders for tomorrow. So how I operate is, you know, we generate leaders.
Thank you. Thank you, Henry.
Madam President, if I could, Chief Jinks couldn't be with us here tonight. He is a long-serving member of our community. He's given a large portion of his career to KDISD, I think a total of 36 years as our previous chief, and you couldn't find a finer man. And Henry's got some big shoes to fill coming in and he knows that and we've discussed that at great length but uh certainly uh we we want to honor chief jinks uh and we really appreciate his service and what he's given to this community because he's he's given his heart and soul to all of us so i want to make
mention of that absolutely thank you dr gregorski and welcome again to katie next we have our pledge of allegiance i would like to invite sergeant howard of the katie independent school district Police Department to lead us in the pledges of allegiance. Sergeant Howard.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic of Wichita, 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 individual
next on our agenda 6.1 discuss and consider future board approval of naming junior high number 17 as recommended by the naming advisory committee. Dr. Graborski. Thank
you Madam President. So last month Board of Trustees asked that we go ahead and put together a committee and we have done so and the committee has met and I am pleased to bring forward the recommendation to this board the name for junior high 17 being recommended as Bill and Cindy Haskett. Let me go ahead and tell you a little bit about Bill and Cindy. Photos up on the screen there. Bill and Cindy Haskett have deep roots and decades of involvement in the Katy community and school district. Bill's family moved to the Katy area in 1952. After graduating from Katy High School in 1961, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture in 1966 and a Master's degree in Education in 1967 from Sam Houston State University. CINDY ATTENDED COLLEGE AT NORTH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY. RECEIVED A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN EDUCATION IN 1972, MASTER'S DEGREE IN COUNSELING IN 1974. AFTER TEACHING MATH FOR TWO YEARS IN RICHARDSON ISD, CINDY MOVED TO HOUSTON, TAUGHT EIGHTH GRADE MATH AND ALGEBRA ONE FOR SIX YEARS IN SPRING BRANCH ISD. SHE THEN MOVED TO CATIE AND MARRIED BILL IN 1979. CINDY TAUGHT MATH AT CATIE JUNIOR HIGH FROM 1980 UNTIL SHE RETIRED IN 2005, CULMINATING 35 YEARS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION. Bill's career in education spans over 50 years, starting in Spring Branch ISD, where he served from 1967 to 1978 as a teacher, counselor, and assistant principal. He returned to Katy ISD in 1978 as an assistant principal of Katy High School, and in 1981 became principal, where he served for 15 years. In 1996, Bill served as the director of community education and special projects, leading that effort until 2004. During these years, he also served as a summer school supervisor, KDISD elections administrator, juvenile justice alternative education coordinator, and credit by examination coordinator. Bill retired from KDISD in 2004, but continued to serve on a part-time basis in community education and is the KDISD elections administrator until 2016. He continued to be involved in the school community by serving on the Katy ISD Athletic Hall of Honor Committee where he was inducted as a member in 2018 and on the Katy High School Hall of Honor Committee where he was also an inductee in the first group to be recognized. Many Katy ISD students and parents know Bill's voice well as he served as an announcer for the Katy ISD Rodeo Parade from 2008 to 2019 and is the voice of Katy Tigers football announcing varsity games since 1986. Haskets have given a lifetime of exemplary service and dedication to KDISD and the KD community. Bill is known among many as a wise leader and a calming influence, a man who exemplifies the KDISD spirit and caring attitude. In retirement, Cindy has continued to serve as a substitute teacher and works for the elections process in the annual spring board election. Bill and Cindy have one daughter, Kristen Winrich, who lives in Asia with her husband and two daughters. That is our recommendation. Bill and Cindy Haskett.
I would ask for you guys to stand up. Go ahead. Stand up. Stand up. Yeah, it's a little difficult with our audience being different and then the masks and everything else, but we could not be more excited for you guys to be our newest namesakes. It is just our honor and our pleasure to make this announcement tonight we still have the committee on October 21st I have a sneaky suspicion it's gonna be filled with people just raving about the two of you and and then our board will make the final decision in October but again it's just an honor mr. Haskett you took us in when we were running for board six years ago and just held our hands through the whole process of of turning in all that daunting paperwork and things like that. And so it's been an honor to get to know you, and congratulations on this opportunity. Thank you both. Next, Agenda Item 7.1, Planning for Growth, Review of Preliminary Results of the Junior High Number 17. Did you all hear me? 17 Junior High ABM Feedback Survey. We've got a name, and now we're going to get the feedback. Dr. Grimes. That's right.
Right. Good evening, President Doyle, trustees, and Dr. Grigorski. As you will recall, at the July 26 board meeting, our Chief Operations Officer, Ted Veerling, presented a proposed attendance boundary modification for Junior High No. 17, which was designed to provide relief to campuses experiencing current overutilization or future overutilization in the northwest quadrant of the school district. The district has since then worked with K-12 Insight, a research firm, to develop and distribute a parent feedback survey. And that survey has been open since July 28th and will remain open until October 13th. Tonight you will hear the preliminary results of that survey, and those results are being presented by Dr. Jenny Coyson, who is with K-12 Insight. She is the senior research director with that firm and she is joining us virtually this evening So Daniel is going to help us pull her up right now. Do you need this computer? Okay
Can you hear me? Yes we can hear you Dr. Koytson.
Hi, yes good evening. Thank you for having me. As Dr. Bloom said I'm joining you here from Washington D.C. and I'm going to review with you the preliminary results of your ABM for junior high number 17. These results do include data that was collected from the launch on July 28th up until September 15th. During that window, we did send weekly reminders to the parents who received email invitations for the survey. Those who had not taken it received a reminder and asked them to increase their participation to take the survey. The survey is still open, it is still collecting data, and it will remain open until October
13th.
When we look at participation up to September 15th, we had 388 responses out of just over 2,000 invitations that were sent. That put right at 19%. You can see down here the reason why there were just over 2,000 sites is because we sent the email invitations to parents who had children that were in the LEVs for one of these locations of Betsy, Bryant, Hutsville, Katie, King, Leonard, McAlwain, and Winborn Elementary Schools, as well as Katie and Stockett Junior High Schools. So we look at the participant demographic to date.
Dr. Koytson, I think you need to share your screen still.
I'm not sharing my screen. Let me see. I just saw.
Can we see it now? We can.
Yeah, you're good.
Perfect. Thank you. So just so you can see what I was just talking about in terms of participation to date, this was that slide that I was showing. When we look at participant demographics, you can see 98% of the participants who took the survey were parents of a current CDISD student, and then we had a couple who acknowledged they were parents of a graduate, of a future student, or who were an employee of CDISD. When you look at those for their length of time in which they've lived within ADISD boundaries, you can see the majority of them were there between 1 to 15 years. When you look at elementary school sites, you know, initially you're going to see a lot of zeros here. That's because it's kind of previously stated we sent those email invitations to parents who had children that were zoned to one of those specific LUVs. So you'll see that those are the where they have the majority, the number of participants as well as the percentage of what that in count makes up of the total in count for survey participants. In your elementary school site, it's broken across two slides. The percentages for all of these are going to add up to more than 100 because parents were able to multi-select children that they had at different schools. The same thing when you look at your junior high sites as well. And then again for your high school sites. When we look at grade level of current students, you can see kind of breakdown, distribution across the district of parents and what they had children in the grades that they were in. Again, it could multi-select, so this will add up to more than 100%. The first question that we asked was about what state of the district. So you can see here 55% of parents stated that they were fully aware of KIC providing equitable access to high quality education across the district. And 37% were somewhat aware of those district issues. The next was in regards to bond referendums. and you can see 45% were fully aware of the new campuses and construction of the new schools and 41% were somewhat aware. All participants to the survey were able to answer this question. Next we asked about students in school. Only parents of current CDA students answered this question and you can see just under three-quarters said that they had a child who was a school bus and just over half of 63% said that they were driven by a parent or guardian. Again, this is more than 100% because parents could multi-select answers if they had a child in high school who maybe drove themselves, maybe a child in elementary school who took the school bus. The next set of questions we asked were about if they had been impacted by their family by a previous ADM. We had just over half, 51% of parents with a current JD ISD student who said that they had been previously impacted by an ADM in a JD ISD. We then asked about their experience during the process. 19% of parents felt that it was positive, 45% felt that it was neutral, and 36% felt that it was negative. We then asked them how they felt their children's experience in his or her new school was. We saw an increase in positive responses, with 35% of parents saying that they felt that their child had a positive experience in the new school, were neutral and we saw a decrease in that negative response with 18% saying that they felt it was a negative experience. Next, we asked current parents how they felt the impact of the proposed ABM for junior high school, number 17, would have on their child's community school. And we saw just under three-quarters at 72% saying that they felt that it would either be a positive impact or no impact, and 28% felt that it would be a negative impact. When asked to what extent they would support the proposed ABM for junior high school number 17, you see that 33% fully support the recommendation, with a total of 53% either fully supporting or somewhat supporting the recommendation, 15% were unsure at this point, and looking Looking at 90% who somewhat did not support and 22% do not support for a total of 31% who either somewhat do not support or certainly do not support the recommendation. For those who stated that they had a favorable response, so they either selected that they fully support or somewhat support the ABM, these were the factors that were impacting support. So you can see the three big ones here were related to being excited about the new academic or extracurricular options, feeling that the proposals that are balanced and woven across the school, as well as then feeling that they liked how close that they would be to their new school. So lastly, for those who stated that they somewhat do not support or do not support The big hitters here for reasons why were about being concerned of future schools and future boundary changes that cause them to move again and then as well as being concerned about their child adjusting to a new school. And that kind of wraps up where we are with preliminary results and I'm open to taking any questions that you might have.
Any questions? Go ahead. I'm sorry. I was going to ask the same thing. Are there any questions, Board members?
Madam President.
Ms. Champagne.
Yes. I have a few questions. So thank you very much for your presentation because I know that's a lot of work and I appreciate the fact that you've done a survey and the survey is still open. but on on the numbers I see that 388 people have responded but do you know how many children are in that 388 I mean others 388 parents but how many
children's does that represent so this went to the email addresses of parents who are potentially impacted in the LU Z's that were identified that could be impacted as well. I can't tell you offhand how many children because we did send it to every parent in a household so two parents of the same child could have responded but we can probably dig further into the data and do a little research and figure that out and we can provide that information to Dr. Gregor
ski because the reason why I'm asking that is because I know that people have multiple children I have three of them myself and everything you know but a lot of the children are either in junior high or high school and so this may not even affect them so the ones that will affect are going to be the ones that are younger and so I'm just wondering how for example the negative or the positive responses are for people who have pre-k versus people who have one kid in high school again it because will that really matter to them and you know per se if they only have a kid in high school but we don't I don't know how many children are here that that's affecting that's my only thing if I'm understanding what
you're asking you would like to see the number of parents responding by grade
level I want to see how many children so for example if they have a
kindergartener versus a third grader versus a 12th grader so if they only
have one 12th grader and they're saying that they don't like it then for that particular person it may not matter them I mean I know that's their opinion and their opinion matters but it's not gonna affect their child I just I don't know I just think it would be neat to see like which children are actually affected
within the survey dr. grooms would it be possible can can k12 go through that data and break that out that I can get that to the board by the number of the the total responses how many were those elementary level children junior high children in high school children yes that's doable okay madam president I
don't mean to interrupt it's a really good question that's actually on slide
nine okay I thought five nine but it still doesn't say the number you know
miss champagne I have a question actually for you are you suggesting that that would make it, of course, all of the opinions matter, that it would make a difference if we found out that of the 388 participants, 50% of them actually have children that won't specifically be affected by this. I mean, does that, I'm just trying to make sure before we add more work to communications or our staff, what is the goal in knowing? I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out.
I guess it would just paint a picture as to who is answering the question more specifically. Okay.
Okay, but it doesn't change the outcome of the recommendation and how you would proceed in a vote?
You're probably correct, but I think that it would paint a picture of who it's affecting within this survey.
Okay. Okay. No, I think it's a great question. I just want to make sure that in them doing this research, you get the answers that you need. Do you see what I'm saying? I want to make sure that you are getting answers.
Well, I also think it would be good, not just for me, but for the community members and everybody else.
Right, to see who participates. No, I think that's...
It's not just for me. I don't even live over there. But it's for everybody else that's maybe interested also.
Right. No, I think that's great. Okay. Any other questions, board members?
Madam President.
Mr. Lacey.
Just as a reminder, just so the public can hear, what is the size of capacity of children of the new, I so want to say it, I know we haven't voted on it yet, of the new junior high 17 and of Stockton, because that's the new three-story design. Do you know right offhand about what the capacity of those numbers, what those are?
I have a number, but I'm going to confirm with our Chief Operations Officer.
Is my mic on? About 1,300. Thank you.
Any other questions, Board Members? Okay. Thank you so much, Dr. Grooms. Thank you so much, Dr. Coyson. We appreciate you videoing in. It's very interesting. worked well thanks guys next on our agenda 7.2 Katie independent school district education foundation annual report miss Janet ties
madam president board members and dr. Gorg or ski it's my pleasure to behalf the Katie I see education foundation to direct this report to you in compliance with the July 12, 2012 Memorandum of Understanding between our two organizations. Leading our report tonight is Mike Van Hooser, our Board of Directors President. And when he's finished, I'll be happy to return and help answer any questions if needed. Thank you.
Thank you. Welcome, Mr. Van Hooser.
Thank you, Madam President and the Board, Dr. Gaworski. Appreciate the time tonight. Janet Sanna served as the president of the KDISD Education Foundation Board. In 2013, which was our first year of operation, we raised and invested about $88,000 in Katy ISD schools. In our first eight years, and so now we've come into the end of our eight years, we've raised almost two million dollars and invested that, impacting about 2,000 teachers. And in the last three years, it's averaged about 55,000 students per year over the last three years. So some good math to just think about you know what's happened in the last eight years and reaching that two million dollar mark and then impacting 2,000 students and then impacting so many students in KTISD and we appreciate your support for that. As you know we're a standalone independent 501 3c nonprofit. We're operated by independent board of directors and we're supported by a committee structure. We're charged by the KTISD memorandum of understanding as as well as our own bylaws that are independent, policies and procedures to do the following things. First one is to enhance teacher and learning in KDISD classrooms. The second one is generate strong community support for the district, and those two serve as uniting the community and investing in KDISD. Those serve as kind of the foundation for what we do. There are other things including supporting the educational mission and functions of the district, so coming alongside the district and supporting those. realizing gains in excess of any support that the district provides and then providing our records and books of our organization to be audited every year and provide that audit report to the board. In compliance with that our foundation is requested and receives annually an independent audit from a CPA firm and it basically audits our financial position, our financial statements, our cash flow and related financial statements. Our most recently audited financials are in your board packet along with our IRS form 990. It's also available on our website so you have that available as our kind of annual report out and we have it on our website as well. A couple other things I wanted to touch on, we have a highly engaged board of directors I get to work with and dynamic committee structure that's there as well. We're extremely proud of the work we've done especially given all the challenges that have happened. I remember having some conversations in March with Janet about meeting as a board and as we were all trying to figure out kind of new ways of meeting, new ways of coming together, how we were going to do vote on teacher grants, all the other things that were kind of ending up in the spring and our board just rose to the challenge and was able to meet, vote on grants, award those to the teachers and do all of that and they never missed a beat. We're proud of the work we've done, also the financial responsibility and the fiscal responsibility that we've had back to the district to make sure that we're fulfilling the mission of our Education Foundation. A couple of things that have been challenges this year but also we're proud of how the committees have stepped up have been our events and two of our major events are Groove and Fireflies and Food Trucks a lot of you which have attended those well we had to replan Groove twice this year because it's usually in the April timeframe, but our committee stepped up. We had a virtual event called Groove Your Way and reimagined that event and it actually attained the highest guest count and funds raised for any in-person Groove event that we've had in the past. And so this was a virtual event. It was incredible, you know, what our committee did and how the community stepped up and supported that as well. Fireflies and food trucks is getting ready to come up but we're going to have to reschedule that so we're reimagining that to become a trivia under the stars. And so we're going to be doing this at Cane Island on October 29th and working with them on all the protocols in place but this will be in kind of a reimagined event, a pop-up event that we're doing there. We've got some other ideas that are coming up later this year as well. Our Reason to Race event is usually in February and it's in coordination with the Katy Half Marathon. on. Last year, it netted the most amount that we've ever raised for that event. It was about netted about $100,000. Most of that was raised by KDIC teachers and staff that actually ran and raised that support. And they were pumped about racing and competing amongst the campuses as well. So just an incredible amount of events and things that happened. But really, foundationally, is our investor programs. And we have different ways that people can get involved in that. and we have our groundbreaking Keystone and KDISD legacy programs and that serves as the foundation. We never wanted to be a foundation that was totally event driven but to have a core group uniting the community that came together and they give an annual amount for three years and pledge that and then we also have the KDISD payroll deduction where teachers can give that if they want to as well. We've seen great participation at that. Again just in kind of summarizing like all nonprofits I mean we've faced a lot of challenges challenges this year, but in seeing the obstacles, we also see opportunities. And we're looking forward to giving the same amount that we gave last year to teachers this year. And so we're working hard, Janet and her staff, our board, to try to meet that challenge and make sure that we give the same amount that we did last year to teachers and students. And so, and then hopefully continuing on our strategic plan that we did last year. And so some exciting ideas around that as well. Finally, I just want to to say we're grateful to you for your continued support I mean it's been incredible the support the district has given to this foundation it's been a pleasure to serve with Lance and again he's we were on committees together before he was on this board so I've got to know him through that and he's our board representative on the foundation board and so it's great that he's serving at that but we're very grateful for your continued support and how you support our mission so with that Janet you want to come on back up or if you have any questions I'll open it up to that if I need Janet I'm gonna pull her
I don't have a question, but I will say that the foundation is incredible. And I've seen the way that, as we all have, had to pivot with the situation that we're facing. And, again, I mean, I just wonder, is there anything that we can throw at Janet Tice and her not knocking out of the park? I mean, I know she's got a great board with you as the leader, Mike. She's incredible. It's incredible. And I was able to sit on that board for a little bit as the board representative a couple of years ago. And so just the things that y'all are doing for students and teachers, it's just inspiring. And so I just want to say thank you guys for pivoting so well during this time as well. So, Board members, does anybody have any questions for Janet or Mr. Van Heuser?
Madam President, I'd like to say, too, that I'm so impressed with how well y'all have been able to maintain yourselves during this time. And it's so fun to watch the teachers on social media receive their grants. And so also I reviewed all of these things, and I just can't believe the massive amount of work that goes on into running this nonprofit. And I really admire the work that you've done to keep this afloat and during this time of our pandemic.
Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Madam President, I just want to say thank you. I know Janet and Mike, many times y'all get a lot of the praise. And y'all are great. I love y'all. But the team, being able to be at the board meetings and see the business owners and parents and namesakes and the time that they give, and they show up at a meeting and are there and it's working. It's not just being at a meeting to be at a meeting. But not only are they working during the meeting, but there are hours of work put into that to raise the $2 million in the time frame. And so I'm just to the board to say the work that they're doing to hear, to see the report on the audit is great. But to hear the person give the audit feedback and to see that it's entirely clean. And if we are giving our money or we're supporting the foundation, that it's a great place to put our money. And I know one of the things we like to do as we give grants is to award innovation. and if you weren't able to be a part of Groove Your Way this year it was amazing to watch that team put that together and to create a gala that was done in your own room with your friends to provide the food I mean it was amazing I enjoyed a blast and I'm looking forward to this next year and so hopefully next year everybody's able to be a part of it but thank y'all for what
y'all do thank you and just on that point Lance I mean we're Janet are just representing a bunch of people who are just coming together and doing that and so it's an honor to give this report but there's so many people behind it they're doing great things and I say it often I mean my first exposure to the board was Janet and getting a chance to work with her on a committee and come on alongside this board and just see her balance energy and enthusiasm and then Stan Stanley was another person who really inspired me and I stepped onto that board development committee with him and just watched him and he helped me in so many ways and becoming a part of this board and giving so much wisdom during that time and so but we're just representing all those people have impacted the foundation again really support you know appreciate your support so thank you so much thank you appreciate it
next on our agenda 8.1 discuss and consider board approval of the july 2020 financial reports Our presenter is Ms. Feitinger. Welcome.
Good evening, President Doyle, Dr. Grigorski, and Board. Item 8.1 is to consider approval of the district's July 2020 financial reports. The four reports include the financial statements, which include expenditures which are broken down into function and high-level object for our budgeted funds for the general fund the food service fund and the debt service fund this is for the 11 months of operation through July July is just a little over 91 percent through the way through the budget through the year and as you can see most of the costs are falling below that that percentage at this time this is primarily due to COVID-19 and those adjustments were reflected in the final amended budget that we presented last month the construction report presents costs through July for projects funded with the 2017 and 2014 authorization, along with E-rate funding and TERS funds that come back from the Katy Development Authority after the payment on the bonds are made. The tax report summarizes property tax revenues received through July, and the check register indicates vendor payments made in the month of July. These are our financial reports that we present for you for the month of July, and I would like to note that next month we will only bring the check register because we will be we are in the process of closing the year right now getting prepared for The auditors to come in and so we're going to be bringing you the full Comprehensive annual financial report in January after the audit is complete So we do not bring you the financial statements for August other than the check register
Board members are there any questions? All right, I'll entertain a motion.
Madam President.
Mr. Lacey.
I move that the Board of Trustees approves the District's July 2020 financial reports. Second.
Is that you, Mr. Redman? I have a motion by Mr. Lacey, a second by Mr. Redman, that the Board of Trustees approves the District's July 2020 financial reports. We will now proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Ms. Feitinger. 8.2, discuss and consider board approval of the September 2020 budget amendments. Ms. Butterfield, welcome.
Thank you, President Doyle, Trustees, Dr. Grigorski. Before we get into the revenue and expenditure amendments affecting fund balance, I need to address a clerical error that was made in the compilation of the original budget where the co-curricular stipends were accidentally presented in function 33 when they are actually function 36 expenditures all of the budget was accounted for however it was reported on the wrong row there is a correcting entry reported with tonight's amendments detailing that correctly restates this budget in function 36 again this has no effect on the fund fund balance or expenditures it only straightens out which function the budget is really in moving on we are recognizing Essers impact tonight first the general operating fund federal revenues increased six hundred fifty thousand thousand three hundred thirty six dollars to recognize indirect costs related to the esser grant and second related to esser general operating fund expenditures decrease a net of four hundred ninety five thousand four hundred thirty one dollars to recognize esser's impact on expenditures we are decreasing four million four hundred thirty two thousand two hundred $102 of general operating fund payroll cost and increasing $2.5 million in COVID-related non-payroll budgets, budgets, $300,000 to increase budget for November election cost and $1,136,771 for the cost of Chromebooks, network hardware, and instructional materials ordered in 2019-20 but not received before fiscal year end. These are timing amendments when that happens. and that's it for ESSER. Expenditures are also increased $619 for special ed classroom security cameras and another $6,300 for new facility startup at McIlwain Elementary, also a timing issue due to orders that were initiated in 2019-20 but not delivered until after September 1st. So simply a timing amendment. Approval of all of these amendments will result in a $1,133,448 increase to the General Operating Fund's fund balance. The Construction Fund Expenditure Amendment for $850,000 establishes additional funding for furniture retrofit. This will be at Beck Junior High School. This amendment will be funded from CFO Reserve within the 2017 bond authorization, resulting in no change to construction fund balance.
Are there any questions?
Madam President, Ms. Champagne. Yes, thank you for your presentation. I'm just wondering in the payroll reductions of, I can't remember how much it was, where did we get payroll reductions?
So we are recoding $4 million, let's just call it $4.4 million. We're recoding that to the ESSER grant. Remember, ESSER was a supplant of General Operating Fund. fund. So instead of those salaries being coded to general operating fund, they'll be coded as ESSER expenditures.
Okay. And then one other. So I know we, I think we talked about this last month, but the 300,000 for the additional costs in elections, that's because of the move from the May to the November and the elections are more expensive? Yes, ma'am. Okay.
Are there any other questions? Okay. Hearing none.
Madam President. Ms. Fan. I move the Board of Trustees approves the District's September 2020 budget amendments.
I have a motion by Ms. Vann, a second by Mr. Keller, that the Board of Trustees approves the District's September 2020 budget amendments. We will now proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye.
Aye.
All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you so much. much. Our next presenter is Mr. Smith discussing consider board adoption of the 2020-2021 maintenance and operations tax rate and the 2020-2021 debt service tax rate. Mr. Smith, welcome.
Good evening, President Doyle, Superintendent Gorgorski and board. Just to follow up on Ms. Butterfield's, we're finding out information every day from the Texas Education Agency and we're likely to bring another amendment as we find out information to you in October, and that should be a revenue amendment that we'll be looking at over these next few days, and we'll probably be bringing it in October. What I want to talk to you about is our tax rate. I'm going to go through the anatomy of our tax rate that you see before you, and I'm going to start there on the top line, compressed rate. rate. Our compressed rate, our district's local compressed rate is 0.8886, or almost $0.89 per $100 valuation. Back when we started talking about the compressed rate, I used 0.9164, or $0.9166. And that was based on the statewide average. Every school district in the state is going to lower their tax rate down to $0.9164. If you had, and that was based on the assumption that the state made of 4% value growth. If you had a lower rate such as we did, that means your value growth was more than 4%. Our value growth in KDISD was more around 8%, and hence the lower tax rate of .8886. The second part that I want to talk to you about is the golden pennies. And as you'll recall, back prior to House Bill 3, school districts only had access to four golden pennies, six with an election. And upon House Bill 3, based on the district's anatomy in Katy, because of our status for the last 50 years, since before I was born as the 2784G district, we have access to all eight golden pennies. That is a result of House Bill 4. We also have access to the three copper pennies, making our total M&O tax rate at .9986. And you can see with the exception of the one disaster penny, that mirrors the column on the left with the .08 golden pennies. The total tax rate, total tax rate would be maintenance and operations would be 0.9988 or 99.88 cents per hundred or 99 cents. The INS rate would be 39 cents or a total tax rate of a dollar 38 88 it's hard to say and that is a a 5.43 cent reduction to our tax rate. That's the second year in a row, thanks to House Bill 3, we've been able to reduce the rate. And I believe if my math as I was walking up here serves right, that's about $0.12 that we've reduced, or a little over $0.12 that we've been able to reduce the tax rate in the last two years. With that said, I'm going to go ahead and recommend that the Board of Trustees approves the attached order adopting the maintenance and operations tax rate of 0.9988 per $100 valuation and the debt service tax rate of 0.3900 per $100 valuation for the tax year 2020. This next part that I'm going to say is kind of weird but it is required by by a tax code. The property tax rate will be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 1.3888 which is effectively a 0.78% increase in the tax rate. This statement is required by property tax code because the tax rate exceeds the no tax revenue tax rate calculation. That sounds like a lot, but really the tax rate decreases and the average homeowner would see that that 5.43 cents would be somewhere around $148, $150 reduction in their taxes due.
Are there any questions, board members?
Madam President. Ms. Pham. I move the Board of Trustees adopts the maintenance and operations property tax rate of 0.9988 and the debt service property tax rate of 0.3900 under tax code section 26. It's further recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the order adopting the maintenance and operations tax rate of 0.988 per $100 valuation and the debt service tax rate of 0.3900 per $100 valuation for the tax year of 2020. The property tax rate will be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of $1.3888, which is effectively a 0.78% increase in the tax rate. This statement is required by the property tax code because the rate exceeds the no new revenue tax rate calculation, although the actual tax rate decreases. Second.
I have a motion by Ms. Vann. Would you like to read that again, Ms. Vance?
No.
A second by Mr. Lacey. That the Board of Trustees adopts the maintenance and operations property tax rate of 0.9988 and the debt service property tax rate of 0.3900 under Tax Code Section 26. It is further recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the order adopting the maintenance and operations tax rate of 0.9988 per 100 valuation and the debt service tax rate of 0.3900 per $100 valuation for the tax year 2020. The property tax rate, which will be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of $1.3888, which is effectively a 0.78% increase in the tax rate. This statement is required by the property tax code because the rate exceeds the no new revenue tax rate calculation, although the actual tax rate decreases. increases. No questions, board members? Okay. We'll proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you so much, Mr. Smith. 8.4, discuss and consider board approval of the claims administration by Texas Association of School Boards Risk Management Fund for Unemployment Compensation. Mr. Nauman, welcome.
Good evening, Dr. Grigorski, President Doyle, and Board of Trustees. The district shall comply with the provisions of the Texas Unemployment Act, Labor Code 201.26. The district is permitted by law to enter into a joint account with political subdivisions to share the cost of benefits that are attributable to the services provided in the employment of a group of account members. KDISD provided these services through an interlocal agreement with TASB Risk Management Fund. The contribution plan year 2020 was $244,091, with a renewal contribution of $488,182 for plan year 2021. The contribution increase is the direct result of COVID-19. The contribution factors are as follows. In 2019, we had a claim frequency of 84 claims, totaling $66,082 in expense. In 2020, through the end of July, we saw claim activity of 551 claims with claim expense of $692,130. It is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the 2021 administration by TASB Risk Management Fund for unemployment compensation claims.
Thank you, Mr. Nauman. Board members, do we have any questions?
Madam President, I have a question. Ms. Champaign, go ahead. Yes, Mr. Nauman, thank you for the information. I'm wondering why there were so many more, I mean, I realize it's COVID, but why were were there 551 claims when we I know we pay contracted people and sure let me
try to explain immediately after spring break people were encouraged to seek unemployment benefits the district was receiving a warning of benefit notifications before we were receiving notification benefits had filed and even given the ability for us as a district to dispute or provide information to the Texas Workforce Commission. So the matter had already been, money had already been distributed to employees, and it's been an uphill battle all summer. And I would add that this is not just a KDISD issue. This is something that all employers, and particularly school districts, have faced over the summer months. It's been a battle, I'll be frank with you.
Okay, so what I understand is that this money was paid, but they also got their income also. But it's just been a matter of playing catch-up or something. Is there a way to recoup any of that money?
Well, we have received mixed messages, frankly. We have received messages that we would be able to recoup those funds based on our disputes we received messages that we would receive credit against future benefits and It is unclear at this time how the mechanics of that refunding Will take place if at all
Trustees if I may step in I know Mr. Nolmans what he's trying to tell you is this is very uncertain territory that we're in this pandemic, I can tell you we've talked with our representatives at TASB, and we are actively communicating with the other school districts throughout the state of Texas who are encountering the same issue. I can tell you that when I look at our peers and I talk to districts that are similar size to us, the number, the amount of abuse and the amount of fraud that they seem to have is way more than ours, which is a testament to the close eye that our current risk management department is putting on the claims that we have coming through but I think at best all we could say is it's going to be uncertain and certainly we will keep the board abreast on any monies that we're that we're going to
see back on this issue okay one more question do the people who receive these sort of fraudulently? Did they get any kind of reprimand? Yes, it is a
criminal act under the Texas Unemployment Act to receive benefits falsely and make false claims. However, if you can understand the magnitude that Texas Workforce Commission is under, chasing down those wrongdoers is going going to be a long and and quite frankly sometimes fruitless effort but that
would be done by the Texas Employment Act not by that is that is correct that
will be done by the Texas Workforce Commission but we have filed our disputes and made our claims known that we do not agree with their findings and And we continue to battle that as well.
Are there any other questions, board members?
I have a question. Mr. Covell? If we can't talk about this here, let me know. But when you file claims with the Workforce Commission, sometimes there can be a dispute as to eligibility. And sometimes that honestly happens. Other times it's fraud. Are we seeing that we're actually having fraudulent filings being committed as opposed to innocent filings that were misinterpreted?
That's a very good question. I would honestly say my intuition would be probably of the questionable claims, probably 25% would be, oops, I made a mistake. I listened to the media or the announcements on social media in error. then I would say another 40% would probably be just direct fraud that have been been filed erroneously and with intent and I will I will also add in and ask and answer any other questions but our employees have also been victims of fraud we have seen a lot of people we receive notice of people filing claims that we reach out to them. We have a process where we say, Mr. Smith, have you filed an unemployment claim? And they go, no. And they've been gainfully employed with us and working. And that is happening across the state as well. People having claims fraudulently filed on their behalf. And that's, it's a battle. It really is. But I feel confident that our department is, is actively engaged in the process with the TASB risk management fund and we're doing our best not to let anything slip
through the cracks, I assure you. Well, I've had to do that in my professional life, so I want to tell you thank you for that diligent effort because that's one of the things I was going to add. It's not easy and I know it's a struggle and I know it's an argument, so thank you for watching out
for our dollars with that. Thank you, sir. Any other questions? Madam President, Ms. Gessle. Really quickly, so that's a 100% increase in the premium, but it would be a reasonable supposition that next year we'll probably go back to a more normal premium? Or, you know, I'm just hoping that this doesn't say, well, you know, last year it was $400,000.
I think the best way to answer that question is, how long do we see this pandemic really progressing down the road? Are we going to be in this environment for an extended period through December or even to March? Whatever it may be, I believe that if we come out of this, which I think we're seeing signs of, I think, yes, to your question, there will probably be a reduction. But, again, there is a tremendous amount of pressure on other school districts, and we share in those losses, per se, across the board. and it was yet to be seen yet to be seen but I mean are we still see if you were
to look at it on a graph are we still seeing kind of a similar number of claims being filed on an ongoing basis we are we're actually seeing a re a
resurgence here of late of of claims primarily from a fraudulent standpoint that we have to battle on a daily basis. I've been doing this for a long time, and I've never seen this before. This is an anomaly.
Thank you.
Yes, ma'am.
Any other questions?
Madam President.
Mr. Lacey.
I move that the Board of Trustees approve the 2020-2021 Claims Administration by the TASB Risk Management Fund for Unemployment Compensation. Second.
I have a motion by Mr. Lacey, a second by Mr. Redmond, that the Board of Trustees approves the 2020-2021 Claims Administration by TASB Risk Management Fund for Unemployment Compensation. We will now proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed, motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Nauman. Next on our agenda, 8.5, discuss and consider board approval for the superintendent to prepare, sign, and submit a waiver application to the State Commissioner of Education for elementary school campuses that exceed the allowable class size of 22 to one, in addition to campuses that could potentially exceed the ratio due to increased enrollment during the 2020-2021 school year. Mr. Schust, welcome.
Good evening, President Dool, members of the board, Dr. Gorski. Tonight we are here recommending approval for class size waivers for the 2020-2021 school year. This is something that we bring to you annually. This is for kinder through fourth grade class sections that are over the 22 to one students teacher ratio. Even though we bring this to you annually, obviously this year goes without saying is an unusual year. That is evident in these numbers as well. What we provided to you in our report is a number of the waivers, but we broke them down between face-to-face waivers and KVA waivers. We only have nine face-to-face waivers that we're requesting tonight and 404 KVA waivers for a total of 413. So obviously we want to talk about that for just a second. The high number of waivers is a function of the face-to-face class sizes being lowered, and that was intentional, keeping those class sizes lower so we could spread kids out, socially distance, and accomplish the things that we needed to to get the kids back to face-to-face instruction. So again, with that being intentional, what is that going to do? it's going to obviously raise the the number of kiddos in the in the kva classes and those those class sizes um and we were aware that this could be an issue but one less a bit of information i want to give just kind of put it in perspective we looked at the numbers as if okay let's say we were all face to face and we were adhering to the 22 to 1 like we would normally do or adhering to that as close as we can and still only talking about kinder through fourth there are only seven grade grade levels district wide that would have been over the 22 to 1 ratio. So that doesn't necessarily mean that we would only be requesting seven waivers this evening, but it does certainly mean that we would be requesting many less than we are tonight and probably many less than we have in years past. So I just wanted to put that in perspective. I think that's important information and take any questions.
Are there any questions, board members? Madam President. Ms. Gasol. I have a couple. So, we do this every year, and it's a once-a-year thing. How do we manage this on an ongoing basis as some children return to the classroom? I mean, I guess if we make an assumption that more people are going to return to the classroom than are going to go to KVA, then we'll only go down. But what if it goes the other way? What if we have a resurgence and a lot of people choose KBA? We don't even have really the option to request more waivers, do we?
So what this action does, it does allow the approval of the waivers that we currently have today, but it also allows for future waivers moving forward through the end of the 2020-2021 school year.
Okay. That's a good question. And then is there, you know, you get a waiver to go above 22, but there's no ceiling. What is that average number right now that we're seeing?
So it varies, I mean, obviously. But there are quite a few that are just a little bit over. But we do have some in the 25 to 30 range, and we do have a few that are over 30. But that said, we are already seeing quite a bit of interest of students that are going to be coming back to face to face, even in this next grading session. So we know these. I mean, obviously, this is fluid. it these numbers are going to change we're constantly working with mrs. at elementary the principals and just just assessing it really day by day because it does change day by day and that's elementary what about secondary what kind of the class size for kva I don't have the secondary averages with me this evening I certainly can get that to dr. Gorski Nika chair but I think we would see very much the same thing not not exactly the same numbers but I think we would see the the kva class sizes are larger than the face-to-face
okay thank you any other questions madam president okay mr shess thank you for your presentation i'm wondering on the i have a couple questions also on the ones that require the waiver for the face-to-face so that means that they're they're have over 22 kids in their class and i'm just wondering about the social distancing and all that because you know we have less kids in school than normal but you know those particular classes have the same number of children in them so that's one of my questions yes it's a
great question and this hat can expand on this you know I'll answer briefly but But the teachers are doing the best that they can, and we're giving them the resources necessary to accomplish that. We know, and again, this is a small number of class sections, but we do know that they are out there. And you're right. I mean, there's only so much room in a classroom. And so if you've got 24 versus 18, there's going to be less room. But we are doing the best that we can to accommodate. Ms. Hack, do you want to expand on that?
Sure. Can you hear me? I'd be happy to. Yes, when each campus stood up their in-person sections with their teachers and then their virtual, there was an emphasis on keeping the number of students in in-person reduced for two reasons. One, for the social distancing and the safety, and two, knowing that at the end of each grading period parents had the option for their children to return to in-person, so you wanted to have those seats available. So we started out with those sections smaller. In regards to the few in-person sections that we have elementary, those particular sections, if you look at how they break the kids up, there's probably a second teacher in there. They're putting them in different groups and spreading them out. But the focus was to keep those in-person sections below that number so we could spread the kids out. To kind of give you perspective, today was the first day of the second grading period for secondary. We had a great first six weeks. 6,500 secondary students returned to in-person instruction and we had to have the seats available in those in-person sections so that's why those started smaller. There's natural attrition occurring out of those virtual classes into those in-person. We anticipate the same with the second nine-week grading period beginning for elementary that we'll have the seats available for the
virtual students when they return. Okay and I have one other question. Thank you for that answer but now the other question is um so when i looked at the numbers i saw the 6 500 extra kids and all that but actually you know there's 1500 that switched the other way so it looks like it's a net of 5 000 kids but um how are we handling the transition back into the classes you know are the kva teachers going the number of the kva teachers going to diminish finish, you know, as the face-to-face teachers, students rise?
So certainly that could happen. You know, that will depend on scheduling and, you know, how many students within an individual class actually move back to face-to-face. And so, you know, when I say we're literally managing this on a day-to-day basis, those are the kind of things that we'll be looking at. And to keep the class sizes where they need to be, if you have to reorganize, repurpose, and a KVA teacher now maybe becomes a face-to-face teacher, yes, those are exactly the things we'll be looking at.
Any other questions?
I'll entertain a motion. Madam President, Ms. Phan.
I move the Board of Trustees grants approval for the superintendent to prepare, sign, and submit an application to the State Commissioner of Education for a class size waiver exception.
Second.
I have a motion by Ms. Vann, a second by Mr. Lacey, that the Board of Trustees grants approval for the Superintendent to prepare, sign, and submit an application to the State Commissioner of Education for a class size waiver exception. We will now proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you so much, Mr. Schuss. Next on our agenda, discuss and consider Board adoption of the local policies included in Board Policy Update 115.
one five mr. Graham welcome we're good now so madam president dr. Gorky board of trustees every item you've heard tonight it says this is a little bit unusual because of the pandemic this is the one item that's not this is a fairly routine update TASB localized policy manual update 115 you guys we presented it a month ago you've had that time to look at it if you have any questions I'm happy to take those if not I have a question please I just have one one
question and it's on the the EIF legal academic achievement graduation it says that the 2021 2022 12th graders are going to have to file a federal or Texas
application aid to graduate yes ma'am so this is a change in the law again I'll remind you that legal policy is not something that we really have control over so what what basically that is is another requirement to graduate so for those students who go to college and or go to the military they have the opportunity to file what's called a FAFSA so if any of you have had adult children go to college you will understand what the FAFSA is they give you a pin number which is very important I remember I lost mine when I was at Texas Tech University apocalyptic but so what we are requiring now is that every student who graduates go ahead and file for that financial aid ahead of time. And so what that does is that accomplishes a couple of the public policy goals. Again this is not set by this board, but you could understand where there may be children who could go to college, who have the grades to go to college, but don't understand that they are eligible for the financial aid to get them through college. So I think this is going to fill in a little bit of a gap there and could encourage some children who may not have the means to to go to college, if they're required to fill out this form and understand that they are eligible, I think it really fills that gap.
Okay. I understand that this isn't something that we can approve, but also it's maybe something that parents should understand. And I don't know if you can advise on where parents can contact because, I mean, I don't understand how you could qualify in every other way to graduate from high school, but But if you don't fill out the financial form, then you're not going to be able to graduate from high school.
Mr. Graham, I'm going to go ahead and ask Dr. Caskey if she would maybe speak to that. We've had several conversations about this process. It did come through as part of the last legislative session, the 86, and we knew this was coming. There is a provision in there, I believe, Dr. Caskey, now that they've made one that a parent can opt out in writing of doing that, or at least there was discussion on that. But can you speak to a little bit about our future plans on that?
Yeah, so that is my understanding as well that parents will be able to opt out of it But we work through our counselors and providing these opportunities for our secondary students We offer multiple trainings for parents for our students in order to have the students complete that FAFSA
There any other questions, thank you
Okay. Madam President. Ms. Phan. I move the Board of Trustees adopts the local policies included in the Board Policy Update 115. Second. I have a motion by Ms. Phan, a second by Mr. Redmond
that the Board of Trustees adopts the local policies included in Board Policy Update 115. We will now proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Graham. 8.7. Discuss and consider board authorization for the superintendent to form a naming advisory committee for the purpose of proposing a name for the former LD Robinson Pavilion per board policy CW local.
Thank you Madam President. Of course you guys saw some designs on our former LD Robinson Pavilion that sits on the same property as this education support complex. They are fast and furious on that design repurposing that building it's going to be exciting when it's finished and there was a recommendation that we bring this forward and if the board will approve so I will start working with dr. grooms on putting a committee together and we will find a name for that building thank you dr. Grewborski I need
a motion madam president mr. Lacey I moved at the board of trustees authorizes the superintendent to form a naming advisory committee for the purpose of proposing a name for the former LD Robinson Pavilion. Second. I have a motion by
Ms. Vann, I'm sorry, a motion by Mr. Lacey, a second by Ms. Vann that the Board of Trustees authorizes the Superintendent to form a naming advisory committee for the purpose of proposing a name for the former LD Robinson Pavilion. We will now proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed, motion passes. Agenda item 8.8, discuss and consider board approval of the minutes for the 2000 august 2020 board meeting
miss fan i move the board of trustees approves the minutes of the board meeting held on august
2020 second in august i have a motion by ms van a second by mr lacey that the board of trustees approves the minutes of the board meeting held in august 2020 we will now proceed to vote all those in favor please raise your right hand and say aye all those opposed motion passes donated items to Acadian-Pennant School District, the Board was provided a copy of the donated items to Acadian ISD. Future Board meetings, regular Board meeting, will be held on October 26, 2020. The Board will now convene and close 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. It is necessary for everyone to please clear the room as the board will convene in closed meeting in this room. Thank you all. The board will now reconvene in open meeting. Today is Monday, September 28, 2020, and the time is 8.30 p.m. The board heard the Level 3 CKE grievance in closed meeting regarding case number CKE19-001. In accordance with Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code, any action regarding this matter must be taken in an open meeting. Do I have a motion on the Level 3 CKE grievance?
Madam President.
Mr. Lacey.
I move that the Board of Trustees denies the Level 3 CKE grievance and CKE 19-001, thereby upholding the decision of the Level 1 and Level 2 hearing officers.
Second.
I have a motion by Mr. Lacey, a second by Ms. Vann, that the Board of Trustees denies the Level 3 CKE grievance in CKE 19-001, thereby upholding the decision of the Level 1 and Level 2 hearing officers. We will now proceed to vote. All those in favor, please raise your right hand and say aye. Aye. All those opposed, motion passes. There being no further business before this board, the meeting is adjourned. The time is 8.31 p.m.
Official documents
About the underlying data (7 notes)
- The transcript on this page was produced automatically by speech recognition. No person has checked it against the recording. It is a way to find a passage, not a quotation.
- Speakers are unresolved where a turn reads Unknown speaker: 139 of the 159 turns on this page. The transcript separates one voice from another but does not name them, and no name is assigned to a turn without evidence.
- The speaker turn timeline is not continuous. There are intervals with no attributed turn, so a gap between two turns is not evidence that nothing was said.
- The district’s video index for this meeting carries no timestamps, so the recording is presented here as a single section rather than divided into agenda items.
- The district publishes this recording as 20 separate files rather than one. The player on this page plays the first file; the later parts are on the district’s own player, linked above. Transcript times run continuously across the whole recording, so a time past the end of the first file will not play here.
- The recording is played here from the district’s own stream. The archive does not hold or serve a copy of the video.
- No speaker on this page is named. The automated attribution available for this recording was derived from names spoken aloud in the transcript, and a surname inside a turn is not evidence of who is speaking. Every speaker is therefore left unresolved.
Motions and votes
Recorded actions
MOTION 001 · AGENDA 4.1
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves Henry Gaw for the position of Katy Independent School District Chief of Police as recommended by the superintendent in Closed Meeting.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 002 · AGENDA 8.1
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the District's July 2020 financial reports.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 003 · AGENDA 8.2
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the District's September 2020 budget amendments.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 004 · AGENDA 8.3
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees adopts the Maintenance and Operations property tax rate of $0.9988 and the Debt Service property tax rate of $0.3900 under Tax Code Section 26. It is further recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the attached order adopting the Maintenance and Operations tax rate of $0.9988 per $100 valuation and the Debt Service tax rate of $0.3900 per $100 valuation for the tax year 2020. The property tax rate will be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of $1.3888, which is effectively a 0.78 percent increase in the tax rate. This statement is required by the Property Tax Code because the rate exceeds the No New Revenue tax rate calculation, although the actual tax rate decreases.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 005 · AGENDA 8.4
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the 2020-2021 claims administration by TASB Risk Management Fund for Unemployment Compensation claims.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 006 · AGENDA 8.5
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees grants approval for the superintendent to prepare, sign, and submit an application to the State Commissioner of Education for a class size waiver exception.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 007 · AGENDA 8.6
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees adopts the local policies included in Board Policy Update 115.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 008 · AGENDA 8.7
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the superintendent to form a naming advisory committee for the purpose of proposing a name for the former L.D. Robinson Pavilion per Board Policy CW(LOCAL).
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 009 · AGENDA 8.8
PassedIt is recommended that the Board of Trustees approves the minutes of the Board meeting held in August 2020.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |
MOTION 010 · AGENDA 12.1
PassedThe Board of Trustees denied the Level Three CKE grievance CKE 19-001, thereby upholding the decision of the Level One and Level Two hearing officers.
7 Yes · 0 No
| Trustee | Vote |
|---|---|
| ashley-vann | Yes |
| bill-lacy | Yes |
| courtney-doyle | Yes |
| dawn-champagne | Yes |
| duke-keller | Yes |
| lance-redmon | Yes |
| susan-gesoff | Yes |