Alright. Good afternoon. We'll call this regular meeting of the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees to order on 05/19/2025 at 5PM. It's with great pleasure. Our first agenda item is the oath of office. Mister Judge Tim O'Hare of Tarrant County will be administering the oath for trustee Alex Sexton and trustee Andrew Yeager. Gentlemen, will you please, go first? Alex, you wanna go first? Okay. Judge? I am. I, Alex Sexton. I, Alex Sexton. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will faithfully execute the duties.
That I will faithfully execute the duties. Of the office of Carroll ISD trustee place six. Of the office of Carroll ISD trustee place six. Of Of the state of Texas. Of the state of Texas. And will to the best of my ability. And will the best and will to the best of my ability. Preserve, protect, and defend. Preserve, protect, and defend. The constitution and laws of The United States. The constitution and the laws of The United States. And of this state. And of this state. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations, Howard. Congrats. Thanks for doing it. Thank you. Yeah. You're holding it?
Just like Jen did? Okay. I don't bite. I'm your husband. Turn like that. There you go. Okay. I know. I, Andrew Yeager. I, Andrew Yeager. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will faithfully execute the duties. That I will faithfully execute the duties. Of the office of Carroll ISD trustee, place seven. Of the office of Carroll ISD trustee place seven. Of the state of Texas. Of the state of Texas. And will to the best of my ability. And will to the best of my ability. Preserve, protect, and defend. Preserve, protect,
and defend. The constitution and laws of The United States The constitution and laws of The United States and of this state and of this state so help me, God. So help me, God. Congrats, Adrian. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Another four I was just in it. That way, Judge, you're there? Signature. Yes. Yes, sir. Thank you, Judge. Thank you, guys. Yeah. Yelton? Yeah. Will you make sure, as the judge gets, he parked on the side. Will you make sure he gets a social? Okay. Our next agenda item is executive session. Therefore, we will adjourn to executive session in accordance with Texas Government Code 551.071,
five hundred and 50 one point zero seven two, five hundred and 50 one point zero seven four, five five one dot 076, and 551-0821 at 05:06PM. Alright. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being here. We will call this meeting back to order at 6PM. Our first agenda item is the opening prayer, pledges of allegiance. In moment of silence, will you all please rise? Heavenly father, we come before you with grateful hearts. We thank you for the gift of education, for the opportunity to shape young minds, and for the dedicated teachers, staff, and substitutes who serve our district with passion and commitment.
Tonight, we lift up those being recognized as teachers, staff, and substitute of the month. Bless their tireless efforts, grant them strength, and fill them with joy as they continue to inspire and uplift our students. We also celebrate the accomplishments of our students whose hard work and achievements reflect your light. Guide them as they grow in wisdom, courage, and compassion and let their successes be a testament to your grace. Lord, we ask your special blessing upon trustees Sexton and Yeager as they embark on their second term.
Grant them discernment, unity, and vision to lead with integrity and serve our district faithfully. May their decisions reflect your wisdom and and promote the well-being of our entire community. Guide our discussions tonight, Lord, that they may be productive, respectful, and focused on the good of all. We place this meeting and our district in your hands. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
And I just made a mistake because I know, miss Lewis, you have Carroll Middle School students. So listen. We're flexible. You wanna do the you wanna do the, Texas flag? The Texas flag? Sorry, guys. Got it carried away. And now for the Texas pledge. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. And now for a moment of silence. Thank you. You may be seated. Oh, boy. I messed up right at the beginning with all these people here. I apologize, miss Lou Lewis and students. We'll make it up to you. Okay. Next item on the agenda is,
item five. We have two presentations tonight. The first presentation, 5.1, National Water Safety Month, International Water Safety Day. I think we have miss Lori Cerami. Welcome. Sorry. I've reached the point where I have to use these now. So thank you for letting me speak, during water safety math. My name is Laurie Surimi, and I'm the mom of two dragons, and one future dragon. And since our inception of 2016, the Swim four Lease Foundation has tirelessly endeavored to share Elise's story in a profound and relatable manner. By the end of this summer,
we will have a net, we are excited to announce that we will have reached over 35,000 children in the local North Texas area. And this is at no cost to the local daycare centers or the schools. We wish to extend our gratitude, to Carroll ISD for the opportunity to reach so many people, especially in our own district, May 5 through the twelfth. Oh, advance. Sorry. That button. Okay. There we go. We, were able to go to every elementary school this year. And so we shared with the kids the importance of three important water safety rules,
swimming lessons, life jackets, and water watchers. And we shared with them the infographic here, and we also did an orange demonstration letting them know that the protected skin on the orange is like a life jacket. And when you're wearing your life jacket, you'll float like in this demonstration here. We also really emphasize the importance of a water watcher. And in this picture here, you'll see a little girl, that was a video, and she said that her mom and dad were her water watcher. We emphasized that you want a capable water watcher. So it's not someone who's distracted on their cell phone,
and it's also not, I did get the question, can grandma be my water watcher? And, yes, she can as long as grandma is capable to get to you quickly. In this particular example, we see that grandma needs assistance as well. So why do we seek out young children to educate them about water safety? Well, drowning is the number one reason why a child will not start kindergarten. And that's because we lose children to drowning at a very, very rapid rate. And this is just a statistical showing of just since April, in Texas alone,
there have been fifteen fatal drownings. And for every one fatal, there's eight to ten non fatal, which means they survived a drowning, but there's some varying neurological impact. In 2024, we actually lost one hundred and three. So simple math, we lost about five hundred to eight hundred children that were now no longer maybe normal functioning. And you can see there are the numbers that were in Tarrant, Denton, and Dallas, and Harris County. And before I go on, I apologize, there's a significant impairment here of the number of males versus females and that report
is worldwide. So drowning impacts our young even as they go into their early 20s and males tend to still drown at twice the rate of females. In addition to educating young children, we also have a, scholarship program and we seek to get lifeguard certifications for competitive swimmers. We've actually awarded over 130 since we started the program, and we did this because Elise's teammates were the ones that pulled her from the bottom of the pool. Hence, we wanted to empower and equip swimmers so that they would know what to do
if there was ever an emergency. This is a picture of her swimsuit, which I picked up off the emergency room floor. They had cut it off of her to aid care. And it's a it is a breathtaking picture. The point of it is that we want all swimmers to learn, even if they choose not to get their lifeguard certification, that we want to have what's called the at least pre EAP. And it's something that we plan to get across to all aquatics programs. And it means that just early aware and prepared. Because even without a lifeguard certification, you can respond early. And every time you respond early to a situation,
every minute counts, and that's imperative for anyone in the water to know. To fund all of our efforts with water safety, we actually host the Run for a Lease, and I am so grateful to the community. Every year, people come out to support this. In 2025, which we just had it a few weeks ago, we had over 800 people that were participating, volunteering, and the vendors that came out to support. This significantly amplifies our community message and enables us to continue to offer this program entirely free, to future little dragons. This summer our dedicated teachers will visit over 70 schools.
And again we're really appreciative that you allow us to come in and raise this awareness during, you know, National Water Safety Month. It's invaluable to our mission in promoting water safety to the community. We hope that CISD will continue to invite us back. We'd like to catch the pre k kids, because ages one to four are the most, susceptible to drowning. And on a side note, since it's water related and I can't ignore the fact that you've got a lot of, speakers that will follow me, when Elise was an incoming freshman, Coach Murphy placed her on the varsity swim team. Not because she was fast, but because she had a way of inspiring others.
And she had a way of bringing people together. With our permission, he placed EC on every single Dragon Swim cap after she passed away. Great coaches know where to place people to leverage their gifts, and he did that for Elise. Thank you. Thank you, miss Jeremy. And so, Laura, you're welcome back every single year, in the month of May. Thank you so much what you've done for water safety in our community in North Texas and all around, The United States. You've made an impactful difference, in people's lives, and we appreciate you, very much. And we are very proud to have your daughter's name on our aquatic center.
So thank you so much. Any questions for Ms. Ramey? Thank you for being here. Okay. Next up, item 5.2, the Carroll Education Foundation check presentation. Drum roll, please. We have the Executive Director, Alex Martin, and, the CEO of President, Elizabeth Janney. Take it away. Thanks, Cam. You bet. Well, good evening, everybody. My name is Elizabeth Janning, and it is my honor to serve the Carroll Education Foundation as our chair this year. And before we really get into the really exciting news, I think it is important to pause and say thank you to the people who got us here tonight.
Because without the support of so many people, the numbers that we're about to share with you would not be possible. So let me first start with our very small staff, starting with Brie Black, who is here somewhere, as well as our executive director sharing the podium with me tonight. In addition, we have many, not all, but almost all of our board of directors in the room with me tonight. In addition, this community has really stepped up this year, and we have so many people in the community to thank for tonight. And tonight, we were only able to invite our top donors, and we do have a few of them here tonight.
And it is because of you that we're able to be here and make this announcement. So I just wanna pause and say thank you very much. Okay. So moving on to the exciting stuff. Okay. So at CEF, it is not a secret that we believe a great education starts and ends with a great teacher. The person in front of the classroom matters. And as a community, the best way that we think that you can support our teachers, the most tangible and the most impactful way is by supporting CEF. From day one,
CEF's mission has been to support all Dragon teachers. And although the how has changed, the why has not. So, how have we changed? Just under two years ago, we made the boldest decision we have ever made at CEF, and that was to fund each and every classroom teacher. And now the exciting part, which I get to turn over to Alex to describe to you. Thank you, ma'am. This new model has allowed us to make a greater impact directly to our teachers by funding them through three pillars. Teacher scholarships.
Just this last week, we awarded eight teachers and instructional paras over $10,000 in teacher scholarships. The end of year or the teacher, of the year cash awards. Each campus teacher of the year received a thousand dollars. Our two, wonderful district teachers of the year that we just met last week. One of them is here. Yes. Hi. We received an additional 5,000. But the one thing that we are the most excited about and why we we're all here tonight is the end of year teacher appreciation gift that goes to all
classroom teachers, including librarians, reading specialists, and ESL teachers. It is my honor I'm gonna get a little teary eyed. On behalf of the CEO board of directors and our incredible donors to present the district with a check for $867,000 2 hundred and 30 8 dollars sorry, and 12¢. This check represents the amount, for the teacher of year, cash awards and a $1,600 end of year appreciation gift to all full time teachers and $800 to all part
time teachers. In total this year, CEF has reinvested just over $891,000 directly into our Dragon Teachers, which is the largest one year investment in CEF's twenty nine year history. We are incredibly excited to celebrate this moment tonight and we can't wait to see what next year brings. So thank you all. Thank you. And the last one I'm going to call you. So what a testament to your hard work, your Board, Alex. I know you guys work tirelessly into our our our community that's overgenerous,
and one of the most generous communities, around. And so I I know you said that your your your goal was to double that amount next year. Right? That's your I mean, I would love it. We're inching really close to that $1,000,000 year. So That's right. We appreciate it. I know this was a record year. Hats off to you guys and our entire community. I know our teachers are very appreciative. $1,600 is not a small gift. That's something that I think everybody will appreciate and we appreciate it. And we thank you for changing your business model two years ago to fund every single teacher that speaks volumes.
And, can we give a round of applause to CF? Thank you. We got it. If our board members and donors could join us really quick, we're gonna do a photo. Hey, no. Okay. As many of you know, we're gonna move on to, item six with our, which is our recognitions for tonight. And many of you may know or may not know that we, feature a campus every single month, and, we think it's great, for them to tell us a little bit about themselves. We get entertainment, and we've saved the best for last. That's miss Shatina Lewis and Carroll Middle School. Miss Lewis, take the stage.
Thank you, President Bryan. And Doctor. Glenn and Board of Trustees, I will admit my cheeks have been a little bit hurting because I've been smiling over here the whole time, excited to be able to share with you, our campus spotlight. People that know me know that there's a special place at middle school. Everyone usually has some sort of stereotype that they think, oh, my goodness. The middle school. Just get through it. Whew. Those are rough years. But I'll tell you, with the three and a half years I've been at Carroll Middle School, it has been the absolute pleasure. I have been so excited to know that in May,
we're going out with a bang to be able to tell everybody what it is we do at the middle school level because there's some amazing things. And while we may not get to contribute to our Lone Star Cup, we definitely are creating an atmosphere for students to thrive. And I have six amazing students that took it upon themselves to say, we wanna write the script for this. And they have some things to share with you. You already have a little bit of a preview, a little hardware. Hopefully, it doesn't obstruct your view. But get ready because I am so proud to have not only our teachers in
the audience, but our amazing students that will introduce themselves to you, talk about our campus. But first, you know, y'all have a hype video for CISD. We have a hype video for CMS. That video is brought to you by mister Brooms. He's one of our art teachers who also does our weekly DRGN. And I'll admit, he's quite the extraordinaire on video. And so we love that video because it shows all the smiles, the learning, the excitement, and the fun that we believe CMS is all about. So I will welcome up my fun team here of six amazing students that will
tell you about that will tell you about all the things. Let me see if I can get to the next slide. Okay. Hello. My name is Elise Etheridge, and these are some of my peers from Carroll Middle School. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to speak with you about our school. One thing Carroll Middle School excels at is our school wide passion to volunteer for the community. During November, seventh grade students participated in their great day of service, where they assembled three fifty Thanksgiving kits, made 400 pet toys, 700 military and birthday cards, and donated 5,493
pounds of food to families in need. These numbers are so outstanding, we even made it onto Fox News. For the eighth grade students day of service, we had opportunities to take care of our farm of a farm that grows food for families in need at Opel's Farm, stock food pantries at Mission Arlington, pack meals of food at VNA of Texas, and sort food into food pantries at Six Stones. Also, here at CMS, we have numerous chances for students to pursue more and do more as a community for the community. Here is my classmate, Clara Witt, who will expand on the topic of student involvement and service.
This year, I founded Volunteer Club. Students participating in this club had amazing volunteer experiences including Miracle Baseball, our Abide Event, and Candygrams, where volunteers ran alongside Medical Clubs, Duco, and Hope Squad. Miracle Baseball is an organization that helps kids with special needs play baseball. Not only were we volunteering, but volunteers formed connections with kids and watched them grow throughout the season. Abide was an event at Restoration Church that helped teach on foster and adoption, where our volunteers helped watch attendees' children. Candygrams was a student led fundraiser that donated over $1,500
to the LA Fire Department, with six sixty one orders delivered in under forty minutes. In addition, I served on the NDHS leadership team, along with Elise and Jonathan, who allowed me to play a vital role in this organization whose 150 plus members serve over five thousand hours. These activities promote our goal, which is not only to serve our community, but form new connections and gain memorable experiences along the way. Let's look at more examples of our students' achievements. My name is Arjun Bassan, and this year, I had the honor of being the student president of BPA. BPA is an amazing opportunity for young business men and women to explore their passions.
Last year, Carroll Middle School took twenty sixth through Chicago for nationals. While this year, we took 46 to Orlando. This year, I ensured that everything ran smoothly by staying organized, managing deadlines, and providing support whenever necessary. Additionally, our sponsors were a huge part of our journey as miss Cashin and miss Adams helped manage our chapter on a national stage, making the experience unforgettable. The National Leadership Conference in Orlando was an incredible opportunity that pushed students to grow, to compete at high level, and connect with others around them. This year's success reflects our teamwork and dedication, and I'm excited to see our middle school chapter continue to grow.
So on the flip side of business, CMS and Carroll as a whole fosters students' passion for medicine through programs like the Science and Biology Bowl, CMA, Medical Club, which I formed and run, and our other countless service and academic events. This year, the Medical Club covered 45 unique topics and hosted the popular Candygrams fundraiser, organized with the Volunteer Club and Student Council. Notably, 21% of CMA members, of which we had one of the biggest freshman turnouts this year, came from the CMS Medical Club. We appreciate all of our amazing science teachers,
our principal, Ms. Lewis, and our incredible students who truly make our district. In addition, I'm grateful for the continued availability and investments in our sports, arts, and volunteering programs, which enable students to be well rounded individuals. To share more of our wonderful multidisciplinary students, I'd like to bring in my friend, fellow club leader, and scientable competitor, Emily Zhang. Under the leadership of our wonderful science teachers, miss Beard and mister Cherry, Carroll Middle School has been participating in science school for three years. Three of the 32 teams competing at Texas A and M this year are from Carroll Middle School,
with our top team advancing to quarter finals. In addition to science, though, Carroll Middle School also leads the way in academic UILs with almost all of our teachers actively coaching the students in different subjects. This year, we won with a total of 766 points, while second place came in with 250 points. With 73 top finishers and 50 people taking home first, second, and third places, the victory marks our fifth consecutive championship and thirteenth first place finish out of 15.
As a science ball and UIL competitor, I am beyond proud to compete with my outstanding team, Carroll Middle School. Last year, I founded a math competition club and helped organize an AMC eight or American Mathematics competition testing location at CMS. Club members with a love for math have been practicing and competing in AMC eight for the past two years. This year, out of our 25 contestants, we had four honor recipients and one distinguished honor recipient. In the weeks of preparation before the exam, both our teacher sponsor and our beloved principal,
miss Lewis, worked tirelessly to make sure that every student was registered. Without their dedication, we could have never accomplished so much. I am so glad to be able to pursue my passion and interest in our incredible school. Here to talk about more student led clubs and organizations is student council and theater member, Aza Hussein. Students lead the way in a variety of clubs, including student council, where they organize pep rallies, spread school spirit, and hold fundraisers like Kindergrams that co drive, in which over seventy seventy five coats were collected. They also created posters for events such as the Red Ribbon Week,
Spirit Week, and the American Heart Association. Meanwhile, the Advanced Theater Group raised over $150 in funds through a cotton candy sale. They stage productions like Spongebob Junior, Mary Poppins Junior, and Judy B. Jones. Similarly, Odyssey of the Mind highlights student create students' creativity and problem solving skills. The team, including five members from CMS and one member from Dawson, will advance to the World Conference at Michigan State University on May. They even designed their own set of pins as seen on the screen. But, of course, we cannot do it without the support of our amazing programs,
without the investment and ability of our and availability of our school board, teachers, and principal, miss Lewis. Thank you. Miss Lewis, get right on in there. Always great to hear from our awesome students. How impressive are they as always every month. You guys have a great summer and we will see you next year. Next up is our Inspire Excellence Awards. We'll start with 6.2 Inspire Excellence Teachers of the Month. I think first up is principal doctor Davis.
Doctor Davis. Not near as tall as miss Lewis. Okay. K. Good evening, board of trustees, doctor Glenn, president Bryant. We are proud to honor at Walnut Grove, miss Meredith Postema as our Inspire Excellence teacher at Walnut Grove. As a proud proud Carroll ISD graduate, Meredith is a passionate, dedicated, and caring kindergarten teacher who brings incredible energy and enthusiasm to her classroom each day. She is exceptionally organized and creates an engaging, inclusive learning environment where every child sees is seen, heard, and valued. As a kindergarten team lead,
Meredith goes above and beyond to support her colleagues, foster collaboration, and lead with positivity and purpose. She also prioritizes honest and open communication with parents, building strong, trusting partnerships that help every child thrive. Her ability to connect with families is a key part of the supportive, caring culture she cultivates in her classroom. Despite all that she does, Meredith remains humble, always giving credit to her team and focusing on what's best for students. Her love for kids shines in everything she does. Her commitment to her students' growth, both academically and emotionally, is truly inspiring.
She sets a high standard for excellence in education, and our school is better because of her. Thank you, Meredith, for being a shining example of what it means to be an Inspire Excellence. Congratulations. All right. Thank you, Doctor. Davis. Next up, Ms. Leonard. All right. So good evening, President Bryan, Doctor. Glenn and Board of Trustees. It is my honor this evening to recognize our Inspire Excellence secondary teacher, Ms. Kristin Madge. Ms. Madge, if you can come up? And before I begin, I just wanna give a huge shout out to her big crowd back here, her family, and all of our teachers that are here to support her.
She's truly beloved at Dawson Middle School and amongst her family clearly. Miss Madge is a proud graduate of University of Oklahoma. She and her husband Dino have been married for nineteen years and are the proud parents of two dragons, Millie, seventh grader at Carroll Middle, and Decker, fifth grader at Durham Intermediate. And they are right back there too. Since 02/2006, miss Madge has been a beloved seventh grade science teacher at Dawson Middle School. In 02/2010, she was voted teacher of the year. Her passion for teaching is evident in everything she does. She truly loves coming to work each day,
and it shows in her deep connection with our students, our parents, and our staff. Dawson just isn't where she works. It's her extended family. Miss Madge is known for building meaningful, lasting relationships with all of our students even though she hasn't taught directly. Her compassion, kindness, and unwavering dedication make her a cornerstone of our campus community. Miss Madge is a super these are, just some heartfelt words shared from her students. Miss Madge is a super kind, very respectful, loves all her students, very amazing, and makes learning fun. We were learning about periodic table,
so we did a fun project where we chose an item we loved and made it into a model. It was really fun, and I really enjoyed it. Another student said, miss Madge is such a great teacher because she is so kind and loving. Her class has been so amazing this year, and I'm so glad she was my teacher. Even though some of the work was hard, how dare you, she had a way to make you feel better and more confident in yourself. I'm so glad I did not miss out on such an amazing and wonderful teacher. I wish you would move up to the eighth grade and be our teacher through high school, but sadly, that's not how this works.
Miss Madge is one of my favorite teachers ever. Another student said miss Madge is a great teacher because she is very laid back. I also love miss Madge because she stay she says treats to us like oh, sorry. She says she treats us like high school students, and she doesn't babysit us like some other teachers. Miss Madge has made my seventh grade year my favorite and made it go by super fast. I wish I could have miss Madge again and again and again. I'm so sad I won't have her next year. And one other student said, miss Madge has been one of the best teachers I have ever had.
She cares for each and every student, and she only sees the good in them. She is not only an amazing teacher, but an amazing friend. She deserves recognition in a million of ways. I just could not express all of them. These reflections speak volumes about miss Madge and her impact, not just as an educator, but as a mentor, role model, and inspiration. Please join me in celebrating miss Kristen Madge for her extraordinary love and commitment to the students, families, and staff at Dawson Middle School. She truly embodies the spirit of Inspire Excellence. Congratulations. Alright. I just wanna say I taught Meredith this the elementary inspire.
So that's how long I've been here. And she was in a where is she? You were an amazing student when I had you in seventh grade, and I knew you would be a teacher. So Understand. Miss Kajabi, you're up. Yeah. Good evening. It is truly an honor to stand before you tonight to recognize someone who inspires excellence, radiates positivity and truly changes lives, Ms. Lauren Hein. There is no one more deserving of this recognition. Ms. Hein is not only an exceptional educator, but she is also a safe place for her students and their families. And I'm talking about high school, so you have to remember that.
Her passion for special education students, her unwavering commitment to her families and her deep compassion make her a remarkable force within Carroll ISD. Allow me to share a few reflections from parents whose lives she has touched. Ms. Hine is one of the most amazing people I've ever had the privilege of meeting. She's knowledgeable, caring and deeply committed to the success of her students. Through her expertise and her heart, she helps them thrive. She sets high expectations and in doing so, empowers her students to take ownership of their growth. She teaches them to advocate for themselves and encourages them to become the best versions
of who they're meant to be. I thank God daily for Ms. Hein and for the impact that she's had on my child's life. The world needs more people like her, passionate, dedicated and deeply influential. She is one of those rare individuals whose students and families will remember forever. Her presence in our lives is a gift and her impact will be felt for years to come. Miss Hein, your work reaches so far beyond the classroom. You lift others up. You believe in them when they may not believe in themselves, and you model what it means to lead with heart. Truly, thank you for being a light for your students,
for their families, and for all of us. Congratulations, everybody. Congratulations. So welcome. Okay. Miss Lewis, are you still here? There you are. Okay. Okay. Please join me in recognizing miss k, miss Phyllis Cura to the podium, please. Now Now I'm going to go a little off script because when I let her know that this would be the month we got to recognize her, she said, oh, I don't need any recognition. I do it for the kids. And I said, oh, no. We're recognizing you because you're amazing. And before I start, she did let me know it's her birthday.
Oh. Okay. Alright. Tonight, we are privileged to celebrate miss k, someone who is much more than a substitute teacher at Carroll Middle School and Carroll ISD. She's family. Teachers will tell you that being absent can feel harder than being present, writing detailed plans, hoping routines stick, and crossing their fingers that tomorrow will start smoothly. When Ms. Kaye is on the job, that worry disappears. Whether she's scheduled months in advance, and trust me, people scramble to make sure that she can cover their day, or answers a 07:45 a. M.
Phone call, she walks into the classroom smiling on time and ready to make learning her top priority. Students know they can count on a first rate learning environment, and our staff trust her wholeheartedly and know that expectations will be met without missing a beat. Mrs. K partners seamlessly with Ms. Colombo and our front office team, ensuring every class is covered no matter how busy the day gets. She has stood with us through easy days and challenging ones when substitutes were scarce and the need was high. Her warmth,
quick wit, and genuine care have woven her into the very fabric of our campus. Our teachers request her first on their preferred sub list. Our students respect her deeply, and administrators breathe easier when she's in front of the room. Quite simply, we could not do it without her. It is an honor to recognize you, miss Kaye. We truly love you, and this evening, it is for you. Because of your steadfast dedication, your professionalism, your smile, your great hugs, and your dragon worthy excellence, Carroll Middle School is a better place because you're part of our family.
What's her first name? Did you catch her? Phyllis. Alright. Congratulations, teachers. Our next item of recognition is 6.5. We have, recognition of our all state choir members, and we also have the best actress in a leading role musical award. Mister Barb. Good evening. We'll start with All State Choir, and I have a little write up from miss Randall. She says, it is my pleasure and honor to introduce to you the, three exceptional students from Carroll Senior High School who have achieved one of the highest honors in Texas music education. These students have been named 2025 Texas Music Educators Association All State Choir members,
a distinction earned by only the top vocalists across the state through a rigorous months long audition process. Please join me in recognizing Ava Gilbert, Megha Kadayala and Aditi Srikanth. These talented young women have demonstrated extraordinary dedication, musical excellence and perseverance. Their success reflects not only their personal commitment, but also the strength of our fine arts programs here in Carroll ISD. We are incredibly proud of their accomplishments and can't wait to see what their futures hold. Congratulations. Hey. If it's not too uncomfortable for you.
Okay. And then following that, Thursday, March 8, we attended the twentieth annual Betty Lynn Buckley Awards over at Casa Mignana in Fort Worth. Last year, after winning best actor best leading actor in a play, we wanted to hopefully follow that up. We had high hopes for this year And, sure enough, we got lucky and, we were able to do it again. There were 41 musicals, in North Texas entered and adjudicated in the awards, which puts us at somewhere around at minimum about 80 plus young women that could
be considered for the lead actress, award. So, to be nominated number one is an incredible feat, but to also come home with a win is absolutely incredible. So as an alum of Carroll Theatre, now leading the program, it is my distinct honor to recognize Megha Kadayala for her best leading actress in a musical at the Betty Lynn Buckley Awards for her performance as Hermes in Hadestown Teen edition. Okay, next up some more talented athletes, item 6.6.
Mr. Fleming or Coach Drake, sorry, Coach Drake. Well, I'll go ahead and introduce, board, doctor Glenn and the board. Excuse me about that. Very excited to have an opportunity to be here, and I'll start with, Beau Fleming, who has a was back to back years competing at the state track meet and finished fourth. He also is a the current record holder with a throws of 62 feet at the regional track meet, and that's quite a feat. Broke a record last year and then continue to add to it that set up there for about twenty five years.
So what an outstanding young man. And his coach was Adley Shragapore. If you'd come on up here and be recognized. And then the next, young man I'd like to introduce is Caden Leonard. Caden, come on this side here. Caden had a unique opportunity to, compete the state track meet and compete in the March and the 1600. And looking back, I went back about six or seven years and and trying to dig up old records. I don't know if anybody has competed and won the state meet and won both these two events in the same year at the six a level.
And what a unique phenomenon he was defending, 1,600 meter champion and into two and about about a nine or ten hour time difference, competing '30 '2 hundred and 16 hundred was quite phenomenal. And it was, these two young men combined, and he's he's coached by his dad, bless his heart, doctor doctor Justin Leonard, if he'll come up here. But these two unique young men combined for points and finished fourth at the state track meet and, quite an honor, quite an opportunity, a privilege to be a part of these young men. And I just like to thank,
while I'm here to thank CISD for allowing me thirty two years to and and I'm retiring here, and I'm just happy to be on up here recognizing these two young men and be a part of their lives. And, he's gonna continue and conferral at the University of Indiana. Right? And then right now committed to North Carolina. I can't say they have the s word on the end of it, but the University of North Carolina and, two very phenomenal athletes and their coaches. Thank you all very much. Congratulations, guys. Alright. We'll just move on to item 6.7. Every month, the board and the district recognizes,
one of our booster clubs. They play such an important role, in supplementing our budget that we do not have. And we're excited to bring up Allison Hamilton representing the special programs booster club. Allison, take it away. Thank you for inviting us here today. My name is Allison Hamilton, and I am the president of the Booster for Special Programs. I'm joined tonight by board members Tammy Creed, Catherine Cribbs, and Marissa Mahon. As you can see, we're a small scrappy board, but I'm proud to proud of all that we've been able to accomplish to help support the Special Programs Department,
which serves a wide variety of programs, including pre k, which is both gen ed and ECSC, special education, which now also includes dyslexia, section five zero four, which includes ADHD and a number of other medical conditions, ESL transition for students who graduated from high school, and are preparing to enter the workforce, all therapy and site services, and beginning next year, the Little Dragons and Dragon U programs. We touch all 11 campuses and support approximately one in four CISD students, but that number will, of course, increase next year with the addition of those new programs. Our mission is to recognize,
invest in, celebrate, and support the faculty, students, and families of CISD special programs community in pursuit of excellence in their academic achievements and personal development. So what that means, one of our greatest passions is connecting families to one another. Whether your child simply receives speech therapy or has a whole team supporting them, we know that sometimes only parents who've been there can answer your questions. Because at FERPA, teachers aren't always able to connect families, but we can. We try to create events that are fun and inclusive regardless of age, ability, sensory needs, etcetera,
so that all feel welcome. But all of our events are open to everyone because research shows it's mutually beneficial for gen ed and sped students to be educated together. So naturally, that extends outside the classroom too. Our events are a wonderful opportunity for everyone to get to know each other better and have fun. We also invest in special programs by supplying grants for needs that campuses are not always able to provide. For example, we have many specialists who serve multiple campuses, and they don't have a home PTO to turn to when they need a new therapy tool, sensory toy, piece of equipment, behavior training, or other resource. Our biggest fundraiser of the year is our family fun night,
which we just held in April. It's a great time to build community while raising money to fund our grants and better support our teachers, which brings us to celebrate. Some of our hardest working professionals in the district are in special programs. We know it can sometimes be a thankless job, so we try to boost morale similar to what PTOs do on campuses by providing treats on professional development days, gifting them with thank yous throughout the year, and letting them know what a difference they truly make in the lives of our children. So how can you support our mission? I think one of the biggest challenges we face is simply awareness. Again, we serve a very diverse population,
and I'm not sure that everybody realizes that their student falls under the special programs umbrella. So helping us spread the word, making sure parents at every five zero four or ARD meeting are made aware that they could turn to us for, help and resources. We also have a goal of being more visible at each campus next year through a liaison or family mentors type program. Even just general disability awareness can create opportunities to build understanding of and inclusion for our students. Eubanks Kindness Club did a really amazing job with that this year that could be expanded to other campuses. Please join our booster. The QR code is where you can join or donate.
Help Help us support our teachers and paraprofessionals. These are some of the hardest jobs to staff. So when we have good people, we don't wanna lose them. So join us in celebrating our students who also work so hard, sometimes overcoming challenges that are not visible. They may never be star athletes or National Merit Scholars, but I can guarantee you that they work just as hard. And then please attend our events. Come hang out with us and help build a community that welcomes everyone. Finally, one last plug. We're currently holding a toy and supply drive for the little dragons and dragon you programs. You can drop off new or, like, new items now at this at the Administration Building,
through May 23 so that they'll be ready when the doors open next year. Thank you. Thank you, miss Hamilton. We appreciate everything that you guys do, and, I know that all of our booster clubs around the district, work their tails off to, for our students and for our children. And we appreciate that very much. Is there anything specifically that the board can do that you can think of that would would help your specific booster club? Like I said, I think our greatest need is greater visibility and awareness. Serving one in four students is no small feat. And Right. Again, I think that a lot of people aren't aware that speech therapy like,
all the different little things, you know, you don't have to be a student with significant disabilities to be benefiting from this program. And so if you could help spread awareness through your own channels For sure. Attend our events, encourage your people to attend the events. They are really meant to be community wide events that where everybody has a place and is valued. Exactly. Thank you. Okay. We'll certainly do that. Any questions for miss Hammond? Could you just go back to that one slide that shares what umbrella special programs covers now so everyone can see how many programs we have? And none of this would be possible without the team and the special administration,
staff as well. They, special programs administration staff. They work really, really hard as well. Absolutely. I just wanna say, miss Hamilton, I didn't realize how extensive it was. Mhmm. And I just wanna make sure we've got a new school year where we're kinda planning for, that there are ways that you and your team are reaching we have so many new families into the community. So if you could just make sure to work with us and mister Brady, to make sure that we're getting the word out. That'd be great. Thank you. Alright. Thank you guys very much for being here. Thank you so much. Happy to do this anyway. Alright. Let's move on with our agenda.
We're gonna move items, 10, the president's report, committee reports, and item 11, the superintendent's report ahead of public comments. So why don't we go ahead and do that right now? Let's go to 10.1, committee reports. Trustees, do we have any committee reports? I have one. Okay. Let me go to Stacy. Okay. Alright. So we had a special programs action team, our last one of the year this year. So thank you so much to our, special programs team and to our committee members and to our some of our staff that's on there as well. Just to update, so strategy one point three point one,
one hundred percent compliance on TEA monitoring indicators. The district is 98% compliant regarding initial timelines. So far this school year, the district has completed 227 initial evaluations, of which 178 students qualified for special education support and 24 students did not qualify. The expected outcome for the 2526 school year is 100 compliance on TEA monitoring indicators. Strategy 1.3.2, which was, improved educational experiences and outcomes for identified populations,
That particular strategy could not be measured due to a lack of measurement data contained within the strategy. So the expected outcome for the '25, '26 school year is improved educational experiences and outcomes for identified populations evidenced by measurable growth and progress monitoring assessment data in the areas of ELAR and math, along with positive trends in stakeholder satisfaction survey results and increased special programs teacher retention rates over the twenty four, twenty five school year. Thank you,
Trustee Stacey. Trustee Yeager? Yeah. There were two committee reports that I'd like to put forth tonight. One is the communication, it's an action team. And Goal five of the Communications and Marketing Goal five Committee met on May 7. And just to touch on some of the things that highlights from this past year that our communication and marketing team did. They revamped the district news webpage and launched the Good and Green video series that many people have seen, which spotlights the student and staff achievements. They created the growing podcast and video library featuring topics like finance,
legislation and the BRAC Committee, which I'll talk about in a moment. They boosted the internal and external communications through tools like Doctor. Glenn's three Pointers newsletter and the new website chatbot. And they've also strengthened advocacy and engagement with record community participation via takeactiondragons.com. We all know how important that is. In the marketing line, it's great. The marketing team welcomed 12 new sponsors, which is great. That's all money that is not subject to recapture, which is wonderful. So thank you, marketing team.
They also launched sponsor focused newsletters and improved the logo licensing management. And there's more to that, but I'll just be short because I want to talk about the second committee that met this past week, which is the BRAC Tiger Team meeting. Many people are familiar that we had people from various stakeholders, principals, PTO presidents, members of the community, staff and trustees on the BRAC team. This Tiger team is a small group that's looking at then taking those recommendations and
moving those forward. And so they explored revenue options for the district that we can control, that regardless of what they do at the state level. And then also looked at these scenarios with anticipation of any changes that may come in the basic allotment. That is a question that people are asking. When do we find out how much this current, the eighty ninth state legislature, when will we know how much money they're going to give per student? And I want everybody to know we anticipate that on June 2, which is really important because then we can use that information for our budgeting for
this next year. So we're praying that we get a good increase in our funding from the State. Thank you, Trustee Jaeger. Trustee Bottom, you have a legislative update? I do. So, I'll answer some of those questions. As we approach the final weeks of this legislative session, as you mentioned, it's going to end on June 2. I want to just provide a brief update of where we stand and what we can anticipate. So, let's first begin with Senate Bill six eighty six. This was a bill that would have made open enrollment mandatory across the State of Texas. Our community responded. In fact,
thanks to your voices, 20,000 emails were sent by Dragon Nation to our legislators. And because of your advocacy, that bill, as of 04/22, has not moved forward. So we are anticipating that bill dying and it not being moved forward. So well done. But our work is not done. We're gonna discuss House Bill two. This is the key public education funding bill that was passed by the House and now sits with the Senate Public Education Committee. The bill, as it was passed by the House, originally included several key provisions that we support.
So, a meaningful increase to the basic allotment with a significant portion of those funds being directed towards teacher and staff pay raises and additional funding for special education. Those were two of our key legislative priorities. After House Bill two was heard in the Senate Public Education Committee last week, the proposed basic allotment has now been reduced from $395 per student to just $55 Now one thing to know is teacher pay raises, it's been separated out.
So it's not really apples to apples there. It's its own line item. But, you know, the rest of the funds is really being directed. Tied to very specific categories, which makes it really, really difficult for a district that's unique like Carol, that isn't rural, that isn't, you know, small size, that isn't urban, to meet the unique needs of our students, our families, our community. We've heard from so many of you over these past few weeks about issues that are important and near and dear to your hearts. Things like choir, band,
staffing. But the reality is if we do not get this funding, we're gonna have to have some more difficult decisions at the end of next year. So it's really, really, really important that you continue to make your voices heard. What our ask is is this. We need you to go to Take Action Dragons. We need you to click that link. We need you to share it with your circles. So far, we have 4,800 emails that have gone to our state legislators regarding House Bill two. That pales in comparison to the 20,000 emails that we sent before. We can do better than that.
So please tell your lawmakers that our schools need a real increase in that basic allotment, that it's already prewritten, although you can change it if you want to. You can adjust it however you like, but it's all very simple. It's a one click initiative. Together, we can make a difference. I know y'all know how to share your voice. We've done it before. Let's do it again. It's time to link arms and make sure that we speak up on behalf of our Dragon community. Thank you, trustee Bottom. Any other committee reports? Okay. On behalf of the entire board, I want to begin by thanking our community for taking the time to share your
thoughts, both in support of and in opposition to certain district administrators and coaches. We value your feedback and take it seriously as part of our commitment to transparency and accountability. Please understand that by law we cannot discuss individual personnel matters in a public forum. However, your input informs our oversight and guides our decision making. I also want to extend a heartfelt congratulations to our outstanding teachers of the year, support staff of the year and school resource officer of the year.
We gathered last Thursday to celebrate these dedicated professionals and their passion for our students and schools is inspiring. Thank you for the exceptional work you do every day. Together, as board members, educators, and community members, we remain focused on providing the best possible learning environment for every student in our district. As always, we appreciate your engagement and continued support. Thank you very much for being here. Doctor. Glenn. Thank you, President Bryan. And also a thank you to our community members who are here tonight,
those who have shared messages on Facebook and those that attended last month's meeting. I want everyone to know your voices, have been heard, and I wanna take this opportunity to provide a few important updates. First, I'm pleased to announce that in response to the community's concerns, the second choir position has been reinstated. I can tell you that our principals already have a really strong candidate in mind, and we expect to make that public announcement very soon regarding this hire. We recognize it's a vital role. We recognize that it is a vital role that our arts play in students' lives
and we're committed to supporting these programs. Second, the Board will be officially resending the resignation of Coach Markley tonight. This decision was made in close collaboration with our athletic director who communicated this update to basketball families in an email last Friday. We thank you for your patience as we work through this process. Additionally, I wanna share that I have been speaking directly to both miss Benhoff and mister Wilson to explore a path forward for our district. Miss Benhoff, as many of you know, has made the personal decision to accept a position with Keller ISD.
We are grateful for her service and we wish her the very best in her new role. Mister Wilson remains under contract with Carroll ISD through next year. He and I have had several thoughtful and honest conversations about his future. And while he's still working through those details, I believe there is a meaningful path forward for him and CISD. What I can say today is both miss Benhoff and mister Wilson will be standing proudly at graduation this Friday, handing out diplomas, offering congratulations, and celebrating alongside of our alongside our seniors.
These past few weeks have not been easy, but they've reminded us why this community is so special. Your commitment to our schools and our people, students and staff alike, is unwavering. Thank you for being here tonight, and we appreciate you. Thank you, Doctor. Glenn. Thank you, doctor Glenn. Next up is public comments. There are 85 speakers tonight, and signed up, so we'll give each speaker two minutes. Let me remind you of the rules. I would like to remind everyone to reference the board meeting protocols and particular bullets two and four which state applause, heckling, booing,
and verbal disturbances of any time will not be allowed, and members of the public will not be allowed to approach or go behind the board dias at any time unless invited to do so by a board trustee or the superintendent. We will waive the applause, as long as you are respectful for the next speaker. Further, in compliance with board policy, if an individual or individuals disrupt the meeting by failing to comply with the board protocols, a verbal warning will be given by me. If it happens again, I'll ask you to leave the room. Also, as a reminder, verbal attacks of a personal nature against trustees,
CISD staff, students or other citizens will not be allowed or tolerated. Lastly, let it be known Texas government code 551.042 prevents trustees from responding to a public comment inquiry of a subject matter not on the agenda unless a statement of specific factual information is given in response to the inquiry or recitation of existing policy is given in response to the inquiry. Ms. Shelton, will you please call our first speaker? Yes. I'm going to call speakers in orders of three.
The first three speakers are Marley Fraser, John Fahoum, and Alicia Werker. Good evening, President Bryan, Board of Trustees, and Superintendent Doctor. Glenn. My name is Marlee Fraser. I started kindergarten at Walnut Grove, and I am now a junior at Carroll Senior High. Tonight, I have postponed attending my Varsity Debate Awards Banquet because it was so important for me to be here. I participate in a lot of different activities. I am in the Carroll Visual Arts program, I am the speech captain of the varsity debate team, and I am one of the captains of the varsity cheer team. Although the groups I participate in are about as different as can be,
the support shown by Principal Wilson is evident in all of them. He shows up to every event, for every group, every time. The love shown by Principal Wilson is universal, and the love for him is too. Last year, I started eight days at the senior high in the Art Building. Every morning, Mr. Wilson would walk by the window, catch my eye, and wave. At first, I didn't think much of it, but eventually, I began to look forward to it so that I could begin my day with a smile. Later, Mr. Wilson told my mom that every morning as he walks the campus to check the doors, he prays over the entire building and every person in it.
This man that the administration has decided is expendable is the same man praying for God's protection and blessing over his school every day. Respectfully, I ask the board to extend mister Wilson's contract. We need to continue to see his smiling face every morning and to know that we are safe under his selfless leadership. It is not too late to do the right thing, and mister Wilson deserves nothing less. Thank you. Good evening. My name is John Fahum, and I'm a graduating senior at Carroll Senior High School. Two weeks ago, we all gathered outside of this room to show our support for principals,
mister Ryan Wilson and miss Christina Benhoff. Neither of their contracts were renewed at the time, and they have still yet to be renewed. What this board has done so far is nothing short of a terrible mistake, because both principals are the true advocates that Carroll ISD and its students need and deserve. But I'm sure that between the May 5 meeting, tonight's meeting, and your own personal experiences with your children and yourselves in this district, you already know that principal Wilson Benhoff are some of the best administrators we could ever ask for.
Which is why this whole situation has left this community confused, concerned, and outraged. Because when we hear that two amazing principals are being pushed out for absolutely no reason, we know that it's not normal. And it has nothing to do with funding. Over the last few years, we've been through a lot between multiple lawsuits and making news headlines for things we'd rather not be in the news for. We all elected y'all as trustees because we as a community trust you can serve and represent us best as a community. Yet in a time when this board and the community finally settled down to return
to normalcy, we're hit with this. By pushing out both principles, you're further eroding this already shaky trust between the community and its board trustees. What you're doing isn't right, and the only thing it will accomplish is harm towards every single student at Carroll. I implore you all as a board to renew the contracts of both principles, to let them keep doing what they do best, which is uplifting my fellow peers every single day. And so, we know that our board and community play on the same team. Because ultimately, going through with this decision, which completely lacks transparency and rationale behind it,
will completely destroy any semblance of trust between the community and y'all. Because right now, we can tell that in this decision, the trust is with principal Wilson Benhoff, not here. Thank you all. The next three speakers are Angela Schilske, Misty Allen and Kirthana Kalyan. Good evening. Simon Rucker. Elisha Rucker will go later. To each member of the school board, I want to thank you, firstly. You had the courage to step up for elected office and serve the community. It's not easy. I would describe it as a thankless task,
so thank you. But this board was elected to represent the interests of the community. It's why we have an election. We're blessed for that, not an appointed body. With that in mind, I respectfully ask each of you to explain why the board has made insufficient effort to retain principal Ryan Wilson, who is widely respected, deeply valued, and loved by our community, students, teachers, and families alike. Instead, the board has created an environment that is neither hospitable nor welcoming for Ryan Wilson
to stay, and that approach runs counter to the will of the community that you are collectively elected to serve. I recently saw a data point suggesting that 95% of community members support doing whatever it takes to keep principal Wilson. And in today's world, I'm sure you'll agree it's rare to find 95% of people agreeing on anything. Finally, I would call on the board to publicly apologize to Ryan Wilson for the difficult position that I know you understand he has been placed in and for the board's
public stance here that to fall, which has been less than supportive. To apologize won't show weakness. It will show strength on your behalf. It will show accountability. It will show love for our dragons, among the finest of whom is Ryan Wilson. I believe you know what should come next. The only question I have is whether you have the courage to do it. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Angela Schulzke. I would like to thank you for reinstating the middle school choir position and the varsity basketball coach Markley.
Those were the right decisions, but it is a shame that they were ever in question in the first place. As a mother of two students who went through the Carroll Medical Academy and as a physician MD who mentors many of those CMA students, we were personally offended by the comments a board member posted on a private Facebook page, Southlake Conservatives, calling out CMA about rampant cheating. To call out one group and marginalize them is completely inappropriate, shows lack of discernment, and is highly offensive. Let's work together to fix the problems and not tear each other down.
I am speaking tonight as I am alarmed at the actions of the school board and superintendent in pushing out our beloved principals. By now, you've heard from countless parents and students via email and public comments detailing what wonderful principals Benhoff and Wilson are. Some board members have stated the allegations were, quote, so egregious, the public would be shocked. But the superintendent, in writing, said the allegations were not terminable offenses. Because her contract wasn't renewed, we lost yet another fantastic admin. Benhoff took a position in Keller One town over. So it calls into question what the board members are saying publicly.
Please get your stories straight. You owe them a public apology. You probably saw the petition circulating online to reinstate mister Wilson, which last I checked had nearly 3,000 signatures. These principles are beloved, and with their loss, there will be many teachers to follow. I've heard the quote many times. If they can run off Wilson and Benhoff, they can run off anyone. As a parent of a senior, I am still shocked that you're not allowing the class president and student president to write and give their own speeches at graduation this year. I will call a spade a spade. This is censorship. To certain board members, I realized that 70% of this community voted for you who were up for election.
As a conservative Christian myself, I can say that I voted for you, but I did not vote for this. Based on the countless text, phone calls, etcetera, I can tell you there are many, many people in this town who feel the same way. Do what you're elected to do. My name is Misty Allen. I'm a proud mom of two undergraduates and a soon to be high school senior. I lived in Southlake for seventeen years, and I care deeply about our students, our teachers, and our administrators. The last several weeks have been hard on our community. I've watched with growing disappointment at the direction this board has taken. Recently, one of you encouraged the community to take a deep breath,
look at the bigger picture, and hold the correct leadership accountable. I've done just that, and I've come to a clear conclusion. I stand with Ryan Wilson. I stand with the man who brings energy, joy, and encouragement into our schools every day, the man who walks the school perimeter every morning praying for the safety of our kids, the man who shows up to student competitions, performances, and milestones, not because he has to, but because he cares, the man who has earned the trust of teenagers and the respect of his staff, the man who effectively manages the daily operations of a large campus while always keeping his doors open to students,
teachers, and parents. Mister Wilson doesn't lead with ego, but instead leads with humility, accountability, and a sincere desire to grow. We all know one person doesn't define Carroll ISD, but Ryan Wilson exemplifies what we should want in a leader, leadership grounded in presence, integrity, service, and compassion, all while keeping high academic standards. If that's not what we value, then I have to ask, what is? I'm heartbroken that we're losing an incredible leader in Christina Benhoff, but I'm grateful the board is listening on other matters. Please keep listening.
Give coach Murphy his team back. Extend mister Wilson's contract. Let him lead without fear, retaliation, or agendas that distract from what matters most, our students. Take responsibility for the harm caused by the false and damaging rumors that have circulated. A public apology expected is expected from all of you. Mister Wilson has stood by our kids, our schools, and our values. Now it's time for all of you to stand by him. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Kirtana Kalyanasundaram, and, I'm the president of the Carroll Medical Academy boosters. I've been a Southlake resident for the past eleven years.
I have a freshman and a senior in the CMA program. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the Carroll Medical Academy Booster Club and many concerned families in our CISD community. A recent Facebook post by a CISD Board member has caused deep concern. In it, the trustee references the CMA community and our top 10% students accusations are not only disappointing, but deeply unfair to a group of students who have worked incredibly hard to achieve academic success. CMA students are among the most committed and service oriented individuals in this district. They spend countless hours studying, volunteering,
and health care settings and engage meaningfully in with staff and the broader community. To broadly label them as dishonest, especially in a public forum, diminishes their efforts and sends a message that hard work is met with doubt instead of encouragement. It is one thing to raise concerns about a problem. It is another to publicly single out a group of students, many of whom have never been involved in a way that harms morale and sows distrust. That said, we are encouraged that board members are paying attention to issues like academic integrity.
These are real concerns and that deserve our collective focus. But what makes this especially important is that it came from a board member, someone entrusted with setting the tone for our district. When concerns are raised by those in leadership, they carry weight and deserve careful handling. That's why it's critical that issues like these need to be addressed through proper channels. As parents, we are also aware of this academic dishonesty being a growing challenge, but it's not the only two thirty students in CMA or the two or the 70 students in the top 10%. While students must take responsibility for their actions,
The next three speakers are Jamie Handy, Jessica Johnson, and Scott Wenger. My name is Jamie Handy. My husband, Trent, and I are Southlake residents, parents to five dragons, and have just completed our thirteenth year with a swimmer under coach Murphy. We selected Southlake because of the school district and sense of community. Our district's sports success is formulaic. We start them young, provide ample coaching to specialize, and then they join the dragon teams in high school. What is unique about swimming is that coach Murphy is found dedicating his time at every level. From teaching group lessons to three and four year olds,
coaching summer swim teams, his influence is everywhere. He has partnered with Intien, and he knows all the kids. He offers timely advice and words of encouragement to every swimmer after every race. At the high school, he chooses a new theme each year and emails the season's goals two to three times a day to support all of our athletes. Swimming is a noncut sport, and coach Murphy not only coaches the exceptional athlete but also the extraordinary youth who have special needs. Coach Murphy runs a program with community at its heart, integrity in its soul, and excellence as its result. His efforts save lives,
bring home state titles, and contribute greatly to a Volone Star Cup. Prior to the last board meeting, you sent an email that read in part, we are committed to honest and open communication to uphold our ethical obligations to protect the privacy of our employees while sharing appropriate and accurate information with our community. To be frank, you have failed us. From doctor Glynn distributing internal emails trying to deflect responsibility to miss Stacy writing at length to a small group disparaging our staff, both of which violate ethical boundaries and erode trust. I am here because Ryan Wilson and coach Murphy have a track record of twenty
plus years of trust. They are the dragon tradition. I will conclude with another poem by Shel Silverstein. The fanciest dive that was ever done was done by Melissa of Coconut Grove. She bounced on the board and flew in the air with a twist of her head and a twirl of her hair. She did 34 jackknives, backflipped and spun, quadrupled gainered, and reached for the sun, and then somersaulted nine times in a quarter and looked down and saw that the pool had no water. Like the diver in the poem, our students, teachers, and community are capable of greatness, but we more than that. And meant to keep the water in the pool. Your reason to change says that you are not change is that you are not taking
and advise. We have to apologize, My name is Jessica Johnson. I've been a dragon since 1984. I'm a mother of three dragons, and I'm a swim mom. I was surprised to learn about coach Murphy's reassignment on April 28, a concern shared by many parents in our community. One question has been raised by several families I've spoken with, and I'm here to ask it on their behalf. I had the opportunity to meet with our superintendent last week. I so appreciate his time. He just could not answer my question. I reached out to our athletic director football coach with this question through email and
did not receive an answer. As difficult as it is to address this in a public forum, I feel it is important to discuss openly and seek the honest communication we tout as one of our core values here in Southlake. In mid to late April, there was an invitation only meeting for a small and select number of varsity girls swimmers, their parents, and the athletic director and football coach. Not all varsity swimmer girls were invited to attend, and among those that were, some chose not to. One to two of these swimmer parents are also donors of a football centered boosters
club. This club raises money for football facilities, and I'm told can even provide coaches with paid speaking opportunities. While presumably our athletic director football coach would have attended or facilitated this meeting as an athletic director, can you, school board, see the potential conflict of interest considering his dual role? The optics, whether true or not, of entertaining a few donor swim families at a meeting with the athletic director right before coach Murphy was reassigned make it seem calculated.
Why weren't the mid large majority of high school swimmers granted a meeting prior to his reassignment? So, please, I humbly ask you to investigate this situation. While I want to assume positive intent, I am finding it hard to do so. Ultimately, we want to know why was coach Murphy reassigned. Do you know? Does he? Thank you. Along those lines, my name is Scott Winger, and I have lived in Southlake Coach Murphy has proudly run our Dragon Swim program since 02/2005 and has led our teams to 15 state championships, five NYSCA national championships.
Coach Murphy was also inducted into the Carroll ISD Athletic Hall of Honor in 02/2017 and has been awarded the TSCA swimming state coach of the year four times. However, even with these accolades, he is a high school swimming coach, first and foremost. He does not coach to improve a potential future Olympian. He coaches everybody equally. He spends countless hours of aquatic at the aquatic center, and I challenge any other coach in any other sport that has given more to their program over the past twenty years. I can honestly say coach Murphy helped me raise my boys.
My boys were always swimming, morning, afternoon, weekends, holidays, summers. The hours Murph's selfishly dedicated were to coach all of our tax paying kids that chose to go into a non cut sport like swimming. My sons will attest to the fact that 5AM and 5PM swimming practices were not to run were not run to accommodate superstars like certain adjacent school districts that recently had to get rid of their swim coaches for violating UI rules to accommodate elite swimmers. Any rumors you hear floating around are propaganda. Coach Murphy has always been there to teach all of our children to swim,
swim better, and potentially win a state title. His method has obviously worked as he is one of the most decorated swim coaches in Texas high school swimming, and Southlake Carroll is widely regarded as the gold standard in the state, if not the nation. To the members of the board, you're making decisions that affect people's lives. So I challenge the board who are supposed to represent the entire district, not a vocal minority in doing the obvious and correct thing and that's to reinstate Coach Markoff. The next speakers are Ken and Danny Hatcher, Ed Hernandez and Taylor Derevnunik. Good evening,
Board. My name is Ken Hatcher. Here to speak to you on behalf of the decision to reassign Coach Murphy, ask you to reconsider that decision. I had two swimmers go through, Carroll High School, and they were on both different ends of the athletic spectrum. One is a high school swimmer, went to went to state one year. The other one, you name the accolade, he got it. Four time all American, all state, everything. The one thing I distinguished though is coach Murphy coached both of them, period. In fact, he coaches all 130 swimmers that are part of the varsity and JV program.
I see him coach my son, working on his turns to turn around and work with the special needs kids at the same time. I'll also tell you that the decisions he makes are always in the best interest of the team to help win districts, regionals, and state titles. In fact, my daughter was on the negative side of one of his decisions. And while I didn't like it, it was the right decision to support the relay to go further. And a very simple question, do you want a coach who's all about just coaching the elite and worrying about that? Maybe they go to college,
maybe they don't. Or do do you want a coach who's about coaching everybody? And that's what coach Murphy does. And I can say that as someone who's played college sports, who has two kids in college, I've seen the good and the bad. And coach Murphy is one of the good. Thank you very much. Ed Hernandez is the next speaker. Then Taylor Durvianic? Hello, everyone. My name is Taylor Durvianic. Both my brother and I had the honor of swimming with coach Murphy for all four years of high school. More than that, we are lucky to receive mentorship from him long before we ever made the team and long after we had graduated.
Coach Murphy has never been just a coach. To so many of us, he has been a mentor, a friend, and like a father figure. He always made time for his swimmers no matter their speed, and he made sure every single one of us felt seen, valued, and supported. As director of the Timmeron Tiger Sharks, he helped grow the sport from the ground up, bringing in young swimmers from all backgrounds, creating an inclusive and welcoming environment. Coach Murphy was also instrumental in putting, Southlake Carroll swim team on the map. I was incredibly proud to be part of our very first state championship team,
a meet that we dominated. Both the men's and women's state titles played a key role in Southlake Carroll winning the prestigious Lone Star Cup. That success didn't happen by chance. It was the reflection of culture and excellence that coach Murphy built. And now as a full circle moment, I am proud to share that my women's state championship class is being inducted into the Carroll Hall of Fame this year. A huge part of this success also came from the collaboration with the NTN club swim team. Rather than competing for control, coach Murphy works side by side with NTN to align training and schedules,
always putting the swimmers first. It was never about his own success. It was about ours. And you can see that in how many of us went off to swim at the division one level. Even today, I bet you could ask coach Murphy what my best time was, and he could tell you down to the tenth of a second. That's how deeply he invests in each and every swimmer. This program and so many of our lives would not be the same without him. We feel incredibly lucky to have swum under coach Murphy and even luckier to be shaped by his leadership, his heart, and his belief in all of us. With that said, I hope you, the board, reconsider your decision and reinstate Coach Murphy.
Thank you. The next speakers are Marissa Mahan, Tara Eddins, Trey Knapp and David Tyler. Good evening, President Bryan and Trustees. My name is Marissa Mahan, a resident of CISD since 1991 and mom to two dragons. I'm here tonight in support of our educators and hoping our district can reset expectations, restore trust and transparency, and refocus on what is important, our kids and our educators. Resetting expectations could begin by publishing an organization chart to include a chain of command and job descriptions for admin in each campus. Providing this to the employees and the community would help alleviate recent situations and concerns
of staff and programming. Restoring trust and transparency could be achieved by publishing the legally required current check registers, evaluation documents, publishing personnel reports, and ensuring all documents are accessible and correct on our website. If an opportunity is noticed to improve access to information, supporting free, reasonable open record request would be appreciated as well. Restoring trust would include as much transparency as possible about the recent staffing changes, accountability, or coaching opportunities for development when needed, and also giving those who are told to resign or non renew a second chance to appeal, especially probationary educators.
Refocusing on kids and educators would include anonymous survey of past and current staff to inform training strengths and opportunities. Another way to refocus on our kids and educators would be truly to listen to the speakers tonight about all the amazing things mister Wilson and coach Murphy have done for our community. I encourage you all to revisit staffing changes. Everyone resigned, reassigned, and removed to ensure the best decisions are truly made for our CISD family. Lastly, with all the changes at the state level, everyone influencing outcomes of our district needs to be a firm supporter of public education.
Advocating against open enrollment and focusing on legislative priorities as maximizing funding is nonnegotiable. If you're serving for our district, you must apologetically be for public education only. When our community can have open and honest communication, transparency, partnership, and collaboration, we all know how magical our community Good evening. My name is Tara Eddins. I am an eighteen year Southlake resident. I'm a mother of four dragons, and I'm a certified English language arts teacher. Let me first start by saying, whether you are fifth or first generation, nobody cares.
We are all dragons. Next, Doctor. Glenn, we both have a cross country boy runner. Your son is very disciplined. I deeply respect that. You run a tight ship, and it shows. I also deeply support that. Your hands on approach, your boots on the ground going into the schools, you have more widespread support for that than meets the eye. That's what needs to happen. We need to weed out the teachers in the senior high and the high school phoning it in. We need to promote and encourage and uplift the amazing teachers giving it their all. And most finally and most importantly,
Coach Murphy. Tonight, Coach Murphy, right now, is coaching our youngest, littlest dragons. He is building a program. That is what he does. You've heard from all these different people speaking to his character. He is the gold standard of coaching. He has won state 15 times. 26 out of 32, times he's had in the top three finish. A 28 children that are all state, all American. How did this happen? How would this happen in Southlake? Let me break it down why. You have a tiny minority linked to the Touchdown Club,
a board member in that group that requested a private audience with Riley Dodge, who was the athletic director, the head football coach, and also gets paid for speaking engagements from the touchdown club. He is there it's sticky. There's a conflict of interest. He had to meet with them. Within a week, coach, Murphy is reassigned. That is not a disciplined decision, doctor Glenn. It's not. He needs to be reinstated. It would go a long way to reinstate coach Murphy for goodwill in this community. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Trey Knapp. We have a tenth grade son and eleventh grade foreign exchange student living in the
district. We are twelve year Southlake residents. I love this district, and I serve it in many capacities. These views are solely my own. I do love this district, and I respect our superintendent and members of the school board. I know many of you personally, but I struggle with these recent personnel decisions. I'm confused how our district could just willingly let go of exceptional educators such as Wilson and Benhoff. We as the community don't know if this is because they were misunderstood, shared an unpopular opinion, or possibly made a mistake in judgment. My faith tells me that when I'm faced with life's trials and tribulations,
I should seek to understand what lesson I am meant to learn. Here, I have struggled with defining that life lesson, that life is unfair, that sometimes things just happen. No. As I watched the May 5 school board meeting and witnessed our amazing community support for Wilson and Benhoff, I had a revelation. None of those speakers were concerned with a misunderstanding, an unpopular opinion, or a mistaken judgment. They were adamantly supportive of Wilson and Benhoff because the unreasonable and exceptional things that they have done to make Carroll a very special place. Wilson greeting school traffic in the cold with a huge smile on his face,
Benhoff comforting sweet Preston Hall in the midst of a panicked health episode, both of them running onto the marching field as the band entered UIL area state emerging contest to hold down props in a freak windstorm. The list goes on. They've made such an indelible mark that students, faculty, and parents are willing to line up in droves to support them. The lesson to be learned is this. When I am misunderstood, when I share an unpopular opinion, when I make a mistaken judgment, have I lived my life up to a point in such a way that without question,
my friends and coworkers are willing to line up and defend me in my time of need? If there is anything positive that comes of this, I hope my son loves that. I hope all of us have learned that. Thank you so much. Thank you, board. My name is Dave Tyler. I wanna take a minute to say, a few words about coach Murphy. He's been at the helm of the Dragons, as you've heard, for twenty years. It's not an easy job. I know this because I was the person that held that position before coach Murphy came here. I can tell you that the reason I left was because my family had an
opportunity to take a different role. It wasn't for me. It was for my wife. And when we left, I told her, if we have a family and we have a bunch of kids, we're gonna come back and we're gonna be Southlake Dragons. That happened. We had three boys. We moved back to Southlake. First thing I did was put my kids, into the swimming pool and into the schools. My oldest son, is in college now, and he swam for thirteen years here at the pool. And, most of that time, in some capacity with coach Murphy, whether that was learn to swim program, stroke team, NTN, junior varsity swimming,
varsity swimming, all the way through. Coach Murphy's been a huge, huge win for Southlake Carroll. Anything that people have said derogatory about him, I really have a hard time believing. He has to make rules. He has to make the hard calls. And he's the guy at the top that holds it all together. And there's many, many programs that he's brought from infant and to full fruition, a state championship 15 times as you've heard. Started the water polo program here, with coach Smith, over twenty years ago. And now, you know,
one of the things one of the problems that happened was coach Murphy had to make pool time, because the UIL made water polo a varsity sport. If you ask who did that hurt, who did that upset, where did what happened? How did he get the whole pool opened up for two brand new sports, varsity, water polo, Men and women. Coach Murphy had to make that call. He had to make that space available. People that were upset were the The next speakers are Carson Henderson, Susie Matine, Alex Hudak, and James Schultz. My name is Carson Henderson, and I'm a 2012 graduate of Southlake Carroll.
I I lived in Southlake for ten years where I attended Rocknbach, Eubanks Dawson, Carroll High, and Carroll Senior. I was a four year varsity member of the Carroll Dragon swim team, NHS, varsity Crowell crew member my senior year, and I was elected homecoming king for the class of 2012. Talk about overcompensating. That's because at Rock and Ball, I knew I was different. At Eubanks, I knew I was gay. And at Dawson and beyond, I clearly tried my best to hide it, to fit in. Middle school isn't fun for anyone, especially when figuring out your sexuality is viewed by many as wrong, let alone dodging the whispers and slurs echoed in the hallways and cafeteria at you
and in general. However, one bright spot I distinctly remember was my assistant principal, mister Ryan Wilson. Even in 02/2006, it was clear he was going places because he loved what he did, But more importantly, that he cared about and support all of the students he was in charge of. And boy, did we love and respect him for that. The halls of Dawson were also where I figured out I would be one of the few rising freshmen under coveted spot on the Dragon Varsity swim team. I already knew coach Kevin Murphy from my time I spent in the aquatic center. And over the next four years, I came to know and respect a man who instilled in me the lessons of hard work, diligence,
and sportsmanship always with unwavering individual support. I was on the 02/2011 and 02/2012 state championships, the first of 15 state championships coach Murphy brought to this school. Only one of you that's sitting up there graduated from Carroll. Miss Stacy, considering your family's legacy in Southlake and the actions of this board, as a fellow alumni, I would be ashamed of the actions of this board. I stand in front of all of you protecting the tradition of excellence I was raised to uphold. The actions of the school board and superintendent are a slap in the face to these upstanding individuals as well as the school district. This is not how you treat tenured employees who bring exemplary academic scores and state
championships. The crimes of these employees is simple. They stood up for all kids, including what the board has described as wrong kids. I ask you, doctor Glenn, I am a state championship homecoming king in a closeted gay kid of Southlake Carroll. Thank you, mister Henderson. My name is Susie Bettine, and my family and I have lived here for twenty years, and I have two k through 12 graduates. A short time ago a short time ago, I decided to take a break from my career and I came to work at the district. My break has now turned into nine years and along the way, I fell in love with the students, the staff, and several district administrators who have come and gone.
I now consider the majority of my campus staff to be my friends and many I would count as family. I would be remiss if I was if I were to allow what you're doing to this district to go on without speaking up, even though I'm sure it will result in repercussions. Within the district, we have seen your agenda long before the public became aware of it in the last several weeks. I will maintain confidentiality, but there are a few things that should not go unnoticed. In addition to the forcing out and or the reassignment of Mr. Wilson, Ms. Benhoff, coaches and fine art personnel, the community might ask the commute the current board and superintendent for transparency about the
following. First, the treatment of the other members of the admin teams at the high school and the senior high, especially in regards to the newest high school assistant principal. Also, the lack of support displayed for teachers and staff from this board and superintendent. Next, I'll ask the specific board members about coming onto campuses attempting to promote drama by prompting clerical staff members and new members to talk about just campus administration and drama. Did they come on campus? They are there to assist or to take selfies.
And finally, specific board members come on stage with microphones yelling about their title and their own agenda. Lastly, I would ask Doctor. Glenn, when he was on campus seeking out our principal at one point, the assistant principal and I were working at our desks. He looked me in the eyes and said, Oh, so I see there's no one here today. So I guess doctor I mean, mister Fontana and I were those no ones. And the previous career I mentioned, I wasn't just a no one. I was Hello. My name is Alex Sudek, and I'm an eighth grader at CMS. As a swimmer about to start ninth grade at Carroll,
I want to share how much coach Murphy has already meant to me. Even before officially joining the high school swim team, I've had the opportunity to be coached by him for over the summers. For ten years, he's been a great coach who truly cares about his swimmers. Coach Murphy has helped me lead Southlake team to 15 state championships, which is a remarkable accomplishment. He knows how to push swimmers to their best while still making practices fun. He encourages us to work hard and be the best we can be. His coaching has made it exciting to join the high school team. Borley makes coach Murphy special.
It isn't just the medals or all the wins, it's how he treats us. He always respects his swimmers and wants the best for us. He doesn't just care about how fast we swim, he cares about our technique and how to swim safely. He's the kind of coach who actually takes time and personally teaches you, and that is very important. He tells us, master the technique and the speed will come. As someone coming into high school, having a coach like coach Murphy makes me feel confident about my few my few years in high school. I was really looking forward to being coached by him, and I know how many others feel the same.
I hope the people making decisions will take take the time to listen to the students had been trained by him since he has made Carroll swimming a dynasty. And if he stays, I know he'll keep helping swimmers like me grow into better athletes. Coach Murphy deserves his job, not just because of the records, but because of the way he builds a team and supports his swimmers. Thank you. I'll be speaking on behalf of my father, James Schultz. He's currently in recovery for hip replacement surgery. My father is the proud parent of two of coach Murphy's swimmers. Myself, Lindsay Schultz, and current varsity swimmer,
Riley Schultz, who will be entering her senior year next season. Doctor Glenn, you had the pleasure of meeting my father at one of the swim meets, for senior night. He's that very tall basketball player who's lived in Pool Marshall. We moved here in, from Chicago in the summer of twenty eleven because we were looking for a strong high school swim program, something that coach Murphy provided for us. We met with him for one hour and knew right away he was the perfect fit for us. He cared for everyone on the team because we all had a role on the team. And as a result, we were able to go off in those first two years that I was here
to win our state championship meet. And as a result, because of that, I I was able to swim for University of Houston and the University of Kentucky. To this day, he still maintains this friendship, and trickles down to my sister. Even though she currently has shoulder injuries, he still cares for her well-being as well as everybody's well-being. And thus, she was very upset about the news when she found out that coach Murphy was being reassigned because she has been his, swimmer for the past three years, and she wanted to be his swimmer next year as well. We don't know why these circumstances have evolved, but we know here's a coach that believes and supports and mentors his,
swimmers, not just be his outstanding student athletes, but also be better people as they grow to become outstanding adults. Please reinstate coach Murphy for the sake of the Southlake community. Thank you. The next speakers are Barbara Johnson, Kirsten Fleming, Jennifer Blanchard and Crystal Long. My name is Barbara Johnson. My husband and I have lived in Southlake for over forty years. I'm the mother of two dragons and grandmother of three dragons, all of whom have learned swimming from Coach Murphy in his summer Tiger Shark team. I am speaking for the second time in three weeks to address the travesty of
reassigning Coach Murphy, the winningest coach in our athletic department, out of his position as head coach of the high school swim dive team. I'm big on asking why. Now I ask why. Why would our winningest coach, devoted by so many of his swimmers, be removed from this position? There are three possible reasons: cause, competency, or character. Cause. If Coach Murphy had been removed for cause, he would have been fired immediately. So x that one out. Competency. Coach Murphy has won more district,
regional and state championships than any other coach in Carroll history creating a dynasty. He's one of the most successful swim coaches in the State of Texas. Next month, he is being recognized with a national award. So x that one out. Character, hold on to your seats because I'm going to talk about integrity. In 2022, some parents and coaches of the NTN Swim Club wanted to do things that would be UIL infractions. Coach Murphy said no. Some NTN coaches and many swimmers moved to Keller.
Fast forward to 05/02/2025. The Kellar swim coach resigned after her boys' and girls' teams won state titles, and she was named coach of the year. Now we have the UIL investigating Keller for their swim program. Thank you, Coach Murphy, for your integrity and following UIL rules while creating this dynasty. Kirsten Fleming is the next speaker. Jennifer Blanchard? Good evening, board members, superintendent Glenn. My name is Jennifer Blanchard,
and I want to thank each of you for serving our community. I am here tonight to request that Coach Kevin Murphy be reinstated as the high school swimming coach. I'm going to focus on Coach Murphy's character. His accomplishments would take me way too long to list and I think they've been mentioned very well already this evening. I have known Coach Murphy for over fifteen years and his commitment to all swimmers has never changed. I would like to provide a little of my background to help you understand my relationship my relationship with Coach Murphy. I grew up as a competitive swimmer in various parts of the country, attended the University of Texas at Austin on scholarship,
was world ranked and on the U. S. National team. I taught swimming lessons at the natatorium, coached the stroke teams and then was head coach at a competitor of Coach Murphy's Tiger Sharks in the summer. I say this all so that each of you understands I have a multilayered relationship with Coach Murphy. We also have three boys that graduated from Carroll. So my relationship with him is as a parent, a coach at the natatorium, a competitor, mentee and personal. It is this enables me to proudly say Coach Murphy should be reinstated based on the following and more. Consistency, he treats each swimmer the same regardless of their ability and coaches each swimmer to
be the absolute best they can be. In my experience, this characteristic is extremely rare. Ethical, he makes daily decisions based on a strong moral compass versus his own personal gain. Responsibility. He takes ownership of his actions even when others may disagree. Issue, killer ISD issues that they're going through right now. Respectfulness. He consistently treats everyone with respect. He still refers to me as Mrs. Blanchard even though we have known each other for over fifteen years. Trustworthiness. He is authentic, honest, and dependable. Everything he has done at CISD and the Timmeron Tiger Sharks Summer League program have
been for the benefit of the slimmers. Continuous growth in Coach Murphy's twenty Good evening. My name is Crystal Dong, and I'm the mother of Lucas Sun, who will be a sophomore this fall and a new member of the varsity swim team. Lucas first met coach Murphy back in second grade through the stroke team. I remember sitting in the stands watching coach Murphy and coach Wallace keep a group of weekly little kids focused and motivated. It was impressive. Lucas has never been the most naturally gifted swimmer. But when coach Murphy is around, hard work is what matters most.
That made a lasting impact. Lucas trained hard all freshman year on JV, just hoping for the chance to attend early morning varsity practice he kept reading about in coach Murphy's team emails. Recently, Lucas told me, coach Murphy is really fair. And honestly, I don't think I've ever heard Lucas use that word to describe anyone else. That meant something to me. In today's world, academic knowledge is easy to access, but a truly great coach, the kind who shapes character,
work ethic, and resilience can only influence kids through daily consistent training and presence. Coach Murphy is one of the hardest working people I've ever met. I don't know about you, but no one can pay me enough to get up before 5AM every day. But coach Murphy does it with dedication and consistency. I know you are facing tough decisions, but as a parent, I just want to say this from the heart. When our kids are coached by someone who truly cares, not just about winning,
but about the growth as people, it matters. Coach Murphy has made a difference in my child's life, and I hope he gets a chance to keep doing that for many more students to come. And coach Murphy called my son by his last name, Son, and my kids love it. The next speakers are Finn McAtear, Andrew Beck, Hilary Hale and Laura Drand. Good evening. My my name is Finn McAteer, and I'm a 17 year old student and swimmer in this district. And I'm here to speak about the recent reassignment of coach Murphy.
When I joined the swim team as a freshman, I was near the bottom of junior varsity. I didn't have a lot of confidence, and, honestly, I wasn't sure if swimming was something I'd stick with. But coach Murphy saw potential in me that I didn't yet see in myself. Over the past few years, he's pushed me, trained me, and more importantly, he's believed in me. Because of him, I've not only grown as a swimmer, but as a person. I've gone from barely making JV to qualifying for state as an alternate this year, something I never thought was possible when I started. Coach Murphy didn't just teach us how to race. He taught us how to lead,
how to handle setbacks, and how to be a team. His reassignment feels like a loss for all of us who've grown under his his guidance. I'm asking you to please reconsider this decision, not just for me, but for all the swimmers who still need his leadership and support. To add to this, the small group of girls that had a meeting with coach Dodge to get Murphy reassigned said that they wanted Murphy gone so they didn't have to go to those practices. To me, that is ridiculous and totally unfair to to Murphy. And whatever they told Dodge about Murphy to get him fired immediately without us even getting to say goodbye shouldn't be fully trusted.
Thank you for your time. Hello. As a senior top ten swimmer, water polo player, historian of the Cara Medical Academy, and future student at Cornell University, I must respond to the claim that CMA is full of cheaters. Let me be clear that statement is wrong. Cheating is not a CMA issue. It's a CISD issue. And to single out a program built on integrity, discipline, act to MacGregor is not just inaccurate, it's insulting. Insulting to our staff, to our hundreds of students past and present, and every hour we have spent studying and helping the community. If we want to talk and have an honest conversation about academic dishonesty,
then let's do so. But not through Facebook posts, let's talk about it through democracy, leadership, and constructive solutions. The CMA cord I wear at graduation isn't just an honor, it's a reminder of four years of sleepless nights, early mornings, tears shed, and the repeated choice to do the right thing even when it was hard. This year, CMA students completed a year long pharmacy technician course in just three months. Seventy percent of us passed on the first attempt, and a hundred percent pass rate is is expected on the second. So I ask, how do you cheat on a national exam taken at a secure off-site testing facility?
You don't. Cheating is CMA isn't about prestige. It's about purpose. We are more than high test scores that boost this district up. We are future doctors, scientists, teachers, and leaders. Now while I speak on the integrity of academic programs, I must also address the recent reassignment of coach Kevin Murphy. Coach Murphy has long been more than a swim coach. He's a cornerstone of our community. Whether you are a nationally ranked athlete or a beginner on your first day, he treated every swimmer the same, with belief in their potential. We built a program rooted in growth, discipline, and unity, and his unwanted reassignment is a big load of rubbish and a a hindrance to our program as the
only girls who benefited were Lakeside Swimmers, a team currently under UIL investigation. In school, we we learned about democracy, but it can be a little bit complex, so I'll simplify it. Think about it as the will of the people. Lately, this meaning has been forgotten. Since when did the loud voices, narrow minds, and big pockets of a few outweigh the needs and support of the many? So let's make one thing clear. These recent changes aren't acceptable, and they will not stand. And if you allow Good evening. My name is Hillary Hale. My husband, Eddie, and my son, Alfred, plan to stand by here with me tonight. But, they've been asked to wait in the other room.
But still, my family is standing together to urge you to please do whatever you can to renew Ryan Wilson's contract. I agree with all those who spoke before me about, his honor and integrity, and who are speaking on his behalf. So I would like to share a personal example that I think illustrates his exemplary character and why losing him would be just heartbreaking for our community. My family has always known that Ryan was awesome way back when he was principal at Dawson Middle. And he, always, as you know, just called all the students by name,
was instantly their best friends. He greeted them every morning. He was so sincere in in all the relationships with all the children. But it wasn't until he became principal at the senior high school that he really personally showed me his strong character. There was, one time his there was a crowd of moms, like, all around him, and they were all, like, vying for his attention. And while I was kind of hanging back, and a friend of mine asked me how Alfred, my son was doing. And, Ryan immediately, like, perked up, and he heard he's and he said, Alfred Alfred Hale,
is Alfred's mom here? And I said, yes. And he came straight over to me, and he said, your son wrote a college essay about a teacher who had left an impact on his life, and you sent a copy of that essay to the teacher. And that essay really just overwhelmed this teacher and and moved him so much that he showed it to me. And it meant the world to him. And thank you for having, raised Alfred the way he is and for forwarding his essay to this teacher. And to me, that really left an impression on me because I knew immediately that not only was
he obviously in total support of my son, and they went on through the years of the Good evening. My name is Laura Durant, and I'm here with Defense of Democracy as part of the teacher thank a thon because teaching is a walk in the park, if that park is Jurassic Park. To our teachers, thank you. Thank you for showing up, for teaching through chaos, policy shifts, book bans, and fear. Thank you for holding space for our kids even as this district has failed to hold space for you. You've been silenced, scrutinized, and stripped of protections.
We've watched incredible educators get pushed out, like mister Wilson and miss Benhoff, and many others worn down by a board and superintendent more focused on politics than public service. But still you show up. You teach with grace, you coach with integrity, and you care deeply. And tonight, we want you to hear this. We see you, we support you, and you are not alone. And next year, next year, during teacher appreciation month, we're we're gonna try to get you something a little bit more meaningful. We're gonna try to get you a new school board,
one that listens to you, one that respects you, one that actually believes public schools are worth fighting for. Because we cannot claim to love our schools if we keep electing leaders who undermine the people who make them great. So thank you, teachers. We're behind you, and next May, we'll be beside you at the ballot box. I'd like to close with a quote attributed to w b Yates. Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. I think what he was trying to say is teaching is not not just about imparting knowledge. It's about igniting curiosity and a lifelong love of learning,
and that is a fire that we must never let go out. Thank you. The next speakers are Megan Lee, Casey Gochenbach, and Alicia Werkle, if she's here. Good evening, president Bryan, superintendent Glenn, members of the Carroll ISE school board. My name is Megan Lee, and I stand before you as a public school teacher, a proud member of this Southlake Carroll community, and someone who is absolutely furious about the decisions you've made to gut the heart of our schools. I'm here to demand answers,
demand accountability, and demand you fix this before it's too late. Let's start with principal Ryan Wilson. For twenty four years, he's poured his soul into this district. As a teacher, I know what it takes to build a school culture where kids thrive. It takes leaders like Ryan Wilson who show up every day with heart and grit. You've given no reason, no shred of evidence to justify kicking him out after next year. If there's no cause to fire him now, why not renew his contract? What are you hiding?
Then there's coach Kevin Murphy. Are you kidding me? This is a legend. You're saying you want to move in a new direction? What direction is that? Mediocrity? Because that's where we're headed. If you shove aside a coach who's built one of the best programs in Texas history, this isn't just about one principle or one coach. It's about a pattern. I'm demanding three things tonight. One, reverse these decisions. Two, be honest with us. Three, listen to your community. I became a teacher because I believe in the power of education to change lives. I believe in schools like Carroll ISD where kids are pushed to be their best
by leaders like Ryan Wilson and Kevin Murphy. But right now, I'm ashamed of how this board is treating its own. You have a chance to make this right. Don't let our kids down. Don't let this community down, and don't let educators like me lose faith in the system we've dedicated our lives to. Thank you. Hi. I'm here today to actually read remarks from a beloved teacher in our district that felt her comments needed to be made anonymously out of fear. Before I get to what she wanted me to say, I just wanna add that it's so sad to me to no longer have the
sense of pride in being a dragon that I once had. The steady decline under this board is astonishing. When teachers do not feel appreciated, supported, and protected, they leave, or they're pushed out as we have all witnessed over the last month. Sadly, under this board's direction, we have lost way too many of the good ones. For all the parents of younger elementary age kids, you should be very worried. You may not see the direct effect yet at your grade levels, but believe me, this is not the same district as it was five years ago. And now the comments from the teacher. I'm sending my thoughts to be read anonymously because we teachers know that we are
being tracked and you are keeping a potential grievance list. As a teacher, I wanna know what on earth you are doing to this beloved district. I don't know why any of you hold this position because you have no interest in inspiring excellence or protecting the tradition. You have allowed two of the most wonderful administrators to leave and have broken the heart of every senior. Additionally, this year was the lowest turnout of faculty and staff for end of year awards ever. Only a little over a 25 people showed up out of 11 schools. If that doesn't get your attention and how little the teachers value the current decisions
that you're making, I don't know what would. The teachers are the backbone of this district. Lower salary, abysmal health benefits, increased class sizes, and lack of support. We take all the hits because we love this community. We love these families. We love these kids. But most importantly, we love teaching. And as you can see by the extreme backlash from the community, the community loves us, the teachers, not you and your decisions. Thank you. Hello. I'm glad to follow Casey because it really fits with the word that's been going around and round in my head since this all began,
which is trust. Regardless of who we're here to support, we're here to support all of these amazing educators and principal Wilson and principal Benhoff and miss Heizer and the ones we've already lost and the ones we're hoping to still hang on to. But the reason we're all here is trust. I've heard countless times over many different issues, the board president, the superintendent, certain trustees on Facebook lament that the community just isn't giving y'all the benefit of the doubt. If only we would trust you that you're making the right decision and just,
you know, trust you trust you. However, this situation is not what's been breaking the trust. The trust has been broken time and time again for the last four years, ever since a bunch of people who care more about their political careers have taken over our school board. So that's why we find ourselves here. So trust is really what this is all about. If we trusted you, we wouldn't be here. We would say, oh, yes. You know what's best. But you clearly do not. Okay? And here's the issue. If you spend any time at all in the schools,
and I mean more than just bringing a box of donuts around, like, once a year. If you sub, if you are a president of a GT Booster board for three years, if you have, you know, students and you're involved in PTOs across three campuses, and you are with those teachers across the whole district, what you hear time and time again over the last four years is a constant refrain of lack of trust, feeling unsupported, feeling scared of repercussions to come and speak to you, and that is not good. We have lost so so many people, so many educators, and we we want it to stop.
We want to stop losing these people that make CISD what they are. Each and every one of you are replaceable, principal Wilson, and all those we are here to support are not. Thank you. The next speakers are Paul Austin, Elizabeth Diller, Ginger Forrest and Krista Klein. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board and superintendent Glenn. My name is Paul Alston. I'm here, to actually speak on behalf of Kevin Murphy. And frankly, I'm stunned that I am here to have to advocate for the immediate reinstatement of Kevin Murphy, but at the same time, I'm honored to do so given the experience of our daughter who was a dragon
swimmer for three years under Kevin Murphy's leadership. And as I was thinking about what I wanted to say tonight, I reflected on the values of CISD. And when I think about those values, there's no question Kevin instilled each one of those values, not only in our daughter, but in every swimmer that he coaches. And you've heard that in unison tonight from everybody that's here. And I think it's important to say something personally about Kevin because we moved here. We moved from a small town in Central Pennsylvania. It was a two way school district. So you can imagine moving in high school's hard,
but moving from a small town into a big district like Carroll is pretty intimidating. And what did, what was the difference in terms of our daughter feeling immediately at home and feeling like a dragon? It was her time under the leadership of Kevin Murphy. And Coach Murphy took her under his wing and coached her just as he coached every swimmer as you've heard here tonight. And that was the culture that Kevin built that really exemplified and thrived academically and athletically under coach Murphy's leadership for three years.
And there's no doubt the life lesson she learned here is what prepared her to go on to college out of state to the University of Florida and now thriving professionally in the business world. And so it's for this reason I'm here tonight because there's no question our daughter was one swimmer out of thousands of swimmers that Kevin Murphy coached. JV swimmers, varsity swimmers, it didn't matter. He was fully engaged with each one and he was an advocate and he cared about each individual. Hi, everyone. My name is Elizabeth Diller. I'm the mother of three dragon boys,
the oldest of which is a freshman in high school and a swimmer on the current swim team. I'm here tonight to talk about coach Murphy. We've known coach coach Murphy since moving to Southlake. We moved here for the schools five years ago, and my son all of my sons have actually swam swam with him on the Tiger Sharks swim, team. From my oldest competitive swimmer to my middle swimmer with autism, he is an awesome coach for every level of swimmer out there. He is a great swim coach. You've heard from other folks here. He's won 15 state titles.
Upon receiving the email that coach Murphy was no longer the swim coach, we were shocked and saddened to hear this information. It's simply not the right way to treat a coach who's given so much to our school. I'm here tonight to ask that the board reconsider the decision to remove coach Murphy from his post and reinstate him as head coach. Thank you for your time. Good evening. Excuse me. Thank you for allowing me to, speak. My family has been a Dragon family for fourteen years, and we have had the honor of having mister Wilson as our principal for eight
years. I would like to share some examples of his exceptional leadership in support of his students and his unparalleled partnership with parents. During our child's time at DMS, we found ourselves in a challenging situation as parents. We reached out to mister Wilson who responded promptly and found time that very same day to meet with us. He validated our concerns and helped us understand the challenges of parenting teens. His ability and willingness to partner with us understand and acknowledge our concerns immediately, and help us going forward was like nothing we had experienced before.
Seeing our daughter move from being reluctant in approaching adults to seeking out mister Wilson when she needed help has made him one of my favorite people ever. My daughter has been known to refer to him as the most approachable person on the planet. Mister Wilson once mediated a very difficult conversation that my husband and I needed to have with an educator who was overly harsh. He did so in such a diplomatic way that the course of our child's school experience was greatly improved going forward. I could give countless examples of mister Wilson's actions that demonstrate his ability to connect
and support those around him. Pushing percussion instruments in the snow, writing It's a Small World with students at Disney World, directing two fifty band members in Slow Burn at Homecoming, cheering on the robotics teams at competitions, and even singing We Remember at a Veterans Day assembly, which brought my veteran father to tears, are just a few examples of how his presence is strongly felt throughout the community. The decision of a non renewal is a mistake, and this community knows it. Mister Wilson is an extremely effective leader who connects with every student and parent with
which he interacts. I implore you to extend mister Wilson's contract and respect him going forward as the beloved experienced Hi. My name is Krista Klein, and we've been living in Southlake for thirty two years. I have four children go k through graduation and four members of the swim and dive team with coach Murphy. My experience with coach Murphy started early on because I'm also a coach. And he called me coach Cline and does to this day even though I've known him all these years. I've had the spectrum of children in his program from,
a couple of them that won state titles to a couple of them that were there for the social aspect and just enjoyed being on the team. And he treated them all with the same respect and, loving character. I would say there was an inclusion, a feeling of belonging that the state champion had as well as the kid that was there just enjoying himself. They all got better, and they got better because of coach Murphy. Those green shoes that he wore around, showing his dragon pride, the fact that he started the year with some slogan of protect the tradition.
Whatever the slogan was every year, that was everywhere. You saw it everywhere you went. And it was something that made you proud to be a dragon. It really did. And these kids who were on the team, whether they were in the no cut JV or they had made the cut and were varsity, They all had that same pride. They were there for a reason. And one of those big reasons was coach Murphy. They were held accountable. He looked at them as an individual. He knew their times down to the second. I mean, even below a second. But at one point, I had a small skinny little kid that was going into high school, and he looked at me and he said,
he's gonna be a great swimmer. And I thought, no way. I mean, here's this skinny little kid that's sick all the time, and he said, I'm telling you, by the time he's a senior, this is the time he's gonna go. And that's the one time he was wrong because that skinny little kid went a little bit faster. And he came up to me and he said, alright. I was wrong. He's faster than that. And that's the one that won the state meet a couple of events that year and surprised everybody. But it didn't surprise coach Parker. So thank you. The next speakers are Patrick McAteer, Erin Cottrell, Heather Gillette and Madelyn Riel.
Superintendent board, thank you very much for the time, to speak with you. My name is Patrick McAtier. My wife and I have lived in Southlake since 2012, and our children have been in CISD CISD schools their entire education. My son is a rising senior. He spoke just a short while ago on the varsity swim team. I'm a former competitive swimmer as well as a former swim coach at Longhorn Aquatics in Austin, so I know a few things about swimming and coaching. Why was Murphy fired? Most swimmers love him. Most parents have no real issues with him. He's won 15 state championships. Don't let people tell you it's it's all the,
club teams that are doing that because that's that's not completely accurate. Why was this man released? What do you do that warrants him being at practice one day and then gone the next? Why did no one in the district think of how this would affect the swimmers? Why all the secrecy? This abysmal communication and opaque transparency provide no information and only rumors. These rumors suggest that a group of about four parents and their swimmers met with coach Dodge to advocate for the removal of Murphy because they wanted their kids to swim only at club team practices and not have to attend a high school practice. They only wanted to show up for the swim meets.
Two of these parents are important football boosters. Yes, football boosters securing secret meetings with the football coach asking if the swim coach be terminated after twenty successful years and 15 state titles. These are very questionable optics, and it looks very shady and underhanded. Is this how our district is working now? I and many others are angry that a handful of these entitled parents have been allowed to maliciously torpedo this man. They made a decision to serve their own selfish interests at the expense of the majority of the team. Murphy allows any students to be on the swim team. This is the most welcoming and diverse athletic program at Carroll.
We know there are championship swimmers on this team, but there are also many non superstar swimmers who have a place to be an athlete and would not be able to earn a place on another team and another sport. This This team is about more than top three finishes in state titles. Murphy knows and understands this. This team is bigger than the individual. Is Erin Cottrell here? The next speaker is Heather Gillette. Hey, guys. I'm Heather Gillette. I'm mom to three dragons spanning from 2022 to 02/1938. We've lived here for eighteen years. We're gonna be here a while longer, and we do love this town and our schools, so much.
First, I wanna thank you guys for serving the community. I know many of us only show up here when we're concerned about something, but y'all are here a lot. Lots of things across your desk that we never hear about. I wanna speak about principal Ryan Wilson. There's a quote, live your life so that if someone speaks badly of you, no one believes it. And this embodies Ryan Wilson. If you've met him, he's a unifying force respected by students, teachers, and parents alike. In 2020, when students returned to school and there was social distancing, many schools just canceled the arts. Hey. No no performances, but Dawson Middle School did not.
Mister Wilson found the funding, filmed our students, performing High School Musical, and broadcast it for the entire town to enjoy. And that's who he is, creative, resourceful, and committed to every student. I served on his board, and I know that he's a Christian and fiscally conservative, but he sets his personal beliefs aside to support students on their paths. Look. I voted for this board, but I would never vote to dismiss Ryan Wilson's twenty three year investment in this community. At the end of the day, each of your names will go on the record for these decisions made.
Please be sure each of you are remembered as the ones who fought to keep mister Wilson, who's given so much to our children in our schools, not the ones that let him be lost. As always, I'm praying for you all and our schools. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Maddie Reel, and I'm a senior at Carroll High School. Tonight, I wanna talk about the leadership of Ryan Wilson. We can all agree our students deserve a leader who stands up for them regardless of background, belief, or circumstance. Our principal has been, time and time again, that essential pillar of a good leader. He is an advocate for every student,
not just the ones who might align themselves with this board's personal political views. From all students to our FCA, fellowship of Christian athletes, to less than 1% of the students from the clubs, like the unlocked library. Mister Wilson cares deeply about all these students' education. He shows up to everything from football games to band trips. He's a principal for all students. He leads with fairness and integrity, never letting personal beliefs get in the way of supporting the needs of his students. This is a man who has earned the trust of the committee, and and evident by many people here to support him.
Ask any student, any parent, any teacher who's worked with him, and you'll hear the same thing. He cares. If you wanna discuss protecting the tradition, you should start by prioritizing and valuing teachers like Ryan Wilson, who are for the students. Your mission as a board is to serve and protect all of your students. Your main focus right now should be doing everything in your power to keep and protect the educators who embody that mission. Because of your actions, we've already lost many educators who advocate for their students. You have time to fix one of your many mistakes and keep a principal here who has added value to this district for over two decades. This board made it fear clear that they do not care if I,
as a senior, despise you, but I ask you to please uphold your duty and support all students. Protect their right to learn. Remove your politics from our education. The next speakers are Dana Smith, Jonathan Doddridge, Alexis Lance and Carrie Skiermont. Good evening. My name is Dana Smith, and we moved to CISD in 02/2005. I'm the proud mom of three dragons. I was really impressed by the student speakers on May 5. I mentioned that to my youngest daughter, Caroline, and she said, that's the kind of student that Carroll ISD creates, mom. But it isn't the ISD that creates us. It's the teachers, the administrators like Wilson and Wilson and Benhoff who set the foundation.
Without principals like them, you don't have the teachers in the room that inspire this level of advocacy and and encouragement. Teachers aren't uncomfortable here right now due to the actions within the district over the last few years that have eroded their confidence in the board and their job security. The non renewal of Wilson and Benhoff's contracts is shaking people up more because they know if it can happen to these administrators, after many years of stellar service to this district, it can happen to anyone for any reason. We are in danger of losing more teachers. In fact, many treasured teachers have already announced they won't be coming back next year. Without Wilson and Benhoff, who the teachers feel support them and all students,
more are going to be leaving. I keep going back to our core values in this area, respectful relationships. We wanna build relationships that are respectful. Step stepping back, it doesn't look like we've done that. In fact, this administration has seemingly spent the last twelve months decimating the respectful relationships with mister Wilson and miss Benhoff. I think you've heard and seen all the emails and support from this community. In fact, there's a petition going around with close to 3,000 signatures on it to keep Brian Wilson. There are stickers being handed out. It's not idol tree. We know this man is not perfect and he makes mistakes. But you need to you can work together to fix those.
Show respect for the person's knowledge and experience and leverage that. The fact that our 17 and 18 year olds like to see him in the halls, have him at their events, and talk to him should be a pretty good indication of why he makes a great senior high principal. In fact, the senior class just voted him most likely to brighten your day. Do you know how hard it is to brighten Teenagers Day? Pretty hard. So I'm asking you right now, I know you can ask to extend his contract, but we all know that's not what it's about. It's not just extending the contract. We've got to fix the situation that he's in, and you are the people to do that. He needs to work to work here.
Hey, y'all. My name is Doddridge. We've lived in Southlake since 02/2003. I wanna say thank you. Great job on the pivot with coach Markley. That that I assume that took some humility. I'm glad you found a way to do that. I think that was great. I'm gonna have two asks. One is to to consider doing the same thing for mister Wilson, and the second is to demonstrate some dynamic leadership. Mister Wilson has has done so much for so many. There's no dissent. This is gonna be the easiest thing you guys can do, where you just say, you know what? After a further review, we have gotten a lot of feedback,
and it's all good. Mister Wilson is so loved. He's such a great leader. I've got a daughter here that, he wrote a letter to help her get into college that just meant so much to her family. What a stud. Right? I I I feel like that's an easy thing for y'all to do, just to say, man, we just got a lot of new things. And so instead of staying linear, let's go dynamic. Let's pivot a little bit again. One of you are on salary, and I wanna just send a message. You're not paid for doing what you want. You're paid for doing what we want. It's important. It's important. And I'll tell you in terms of leadership,
leadership with performance improvement plans does not make people motivated. It doesn't make you look better. It makes people update their resumes. Let's lead in a way that we want people to be here. We want people to grow and people to stay. It's important. Make it fun. Enjoy the wins. Build a culture of trust. Let's do it. We're dragons. Protect that tradition. Good evening. I have four children. And up until now, I've been in happy elementary school land. I feel like I'm here on the wrong night. But as my fourth grader is going to be starting at Durham this fall, I am concerned about the amount of time he will be spending in front of
screens, both with student smartphones as well as school issued devices. Tonight, addressing student smartphones, kindergarten through fourth has been great with no issues. We've had no phones, on campus or in the bus. But despite the fact that grades k through six have the exact same, device policy, starting in fifth grade, if I put my son on the bus, suddenly he's surrounded by smartphones. And to quote a neighbor, porn is all over the bus, and this should not be. And we've gotta explore some ways to protect,
especially our younger kids as they're with the older kids, especially if they have a phone in their hand. I also asked the board to continue the bell to bell phone ban all the way up through twelfth grade. A class time only rule does not work as we've already seen. Research from the National Education Association found that 73% of teachers in schools that allow phone use between classes also report disruption during class. In contrast, in schools where they have a bell to bell ban, only twenty eight percent of teachers find them disruptive.
In addition, since 02/2012, the rates of nearly every mental illness have skyrocketed. In turn also, academic performance has trended downward according to national and international metrics. We all know what happened in 02/2012. It's the arrival of phones. It's the arrival of laptops, tablets on every student's desk. And while the intentions were good, the outcomes have not been. Screen. Thank Hi, everyone. Thanks for your time tonight. My name is Carrie Skiermont. I've been a Southlake resident since 2012, and I am a parent of a Carroll graduate and two high schoolers.
Tonight, I found my inspiration in the color green, and I'd like to explain how I believe that the board can fix some of the current issues in three steps using the concept that green means go. First, go extend mister Wilson's contract. Extend it until he is ready to ride off into the sunset on the back of a green dragon. I think doctor Glenn and the board have underestimated what mister Wilson means to Carroll ISD. A majority of the community view mister Wilson as a culture keeper for this district. Students and parents look up to mister Wilson, some might even say idolize him as a role model who is kind,
enthusiastic, cheerful, and willing, who walks around the perimeter of the school each day and prays for the students inside. Someone told me he actually does this. He has a place in his heart for each one of his students. Give mister Wilson the green light and go extend his contract. Second, and it is not easy being green for this part, go to the community and apologize. Embrace servant leadership publicly. The community feels betrayed. Admit that you've made a mistake regarding mister Wilson. Voters gave you guys the green light. They voted for you, but not for this. A public acknowledgment will go a long way to regain the trust of this community.
Go make it right. Finally, go forward in good faith. We've all taught our kids that after you admit a mistake and apologize, you have to follow through with change. Go forward with an open heart and an open mind, and listen to your community and your campus level education experts who know and love our dragons. Mister Wilson is a known quantity to many after twenty years in Carroll ISD. Doctor Glenn, respectfully, is not even a year into his tenure here. From the outside looking in, and I know y'all have information that we don't, but, respectfully, it looks like this could be a failure of leadership and not a lack of accountability by mister Wilson.
Either way, leaders adapt. Go and make it work. Finally, in an email last me last week, trustee Bottom assured court is going to put it over the The next speakers are Tim Schutz, Izzy Gavin, Jerry Smetana and Jeff Heldenbrand. Good evening, school board and doctor Glenn. This is my name is Tim Schutz, and I have been a resident of Southlake for forty years and I'm a proud parent of a rising senior. This is my fifth time speaking to you on one of my favorite topics, improving our electronic device policy in our school high schools.
And I'm pleased to share some encouraging news, and obviously, all of you, I hope too. First, I'd like to thank doctor Glenn and mister Wilson for their time and thoughtful engagement over this past several weeks. I appreciate productive discussions we've had regarding developing a more comprehensive and enforceable electronic device policy for ninth through twelfth grade. It is clear that fostering a learning environment which supports the mental and emotional well-being of our students is a shared priority. And this is just one of many important outcomes of a policy that we can
achieve. I'm happy to report that after connecting with the principals at our intermediate and middle schools, that what I like to call the current policy is bell to bell, no phone use, is working very well. Now how do we get it to work ninth through twelfth? I'm happy to say, without my screen going blank, That we have the opportunity to work with our high school principal, doctor Glenn, and others to develop a stronger policy that will be more than just a policy of not using your phones, but educated and communicated to our teachers,
students, and parents to ensure consistent and fair enforcement. Thank you, Kent, again for your continued attention on this important issue. I look forward to supporting the district's efforts to work together to create a healthier, more focused learning environment, and we'll see you on June 23, if not sooner. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Izzy Gavin, and I graduated from Carroll in 2024. I got to know principal Wilson throughout my time at both Dawson Middle School and Carroll Senior High, and I can confidently say there is no administrator who cares more about students.
Throughout my time at Carroll, I was heavily involved with both Carroll Choir and the Emerald Bells, and principal Wilson strongly advocated for both of these organizations. The choir department has already lost a wonderful and beloved teacher, miss Heizer. Seeing the many tearful faces at the Carroll Choir Show last weekend was disheartening. It spoke to her character and dedication to each and every student. Though I'm glad the decision was made to reestablish the assistant director position, the damage of losing miss Heiser is irreparable. However, there's still a chance for the board to do the right thing by extending principal Wilson's contract. Carol's motto is to expect excellence,
and one person who has been nothing short of excellent is principal Wilson. He's in attendance at numerous student performances and games despite his busy schedule, and I witnessed him going above and beyond by attending choir rehearsals, dance competitions, and even participating in a carol choir performance to further connect with the students. In my junior year of high school, I founded a literary magazine through the school, and principal Wilson was the first person to support the publication. He attended our end of the year reception and helped facilitate the club, excited to give student voices a platform. Mister Wilson leads by listening, and he genuinely cares about what each student has to say.
So I hope the board will learn from his leadership and listen to what students and staff have to say now. Carroll is full of astounding students who should be encouraged to be the next generation of leaders and innovators. But without administrators that encourage and advocate for them, how are students supposed to grow and uphold the tradition of excellence? I, among countless other Carroll students and alumni, am extremely grateful for principal Wilson and continue to look up to his leadership today. He embodies the spirit of what it means to be a Dragon. And if the board fails to see that, they fail to understand the community they're serving. Thank you very much for your time.
Good evening, board. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. My name is Jerry Smetana, and, my wife and I are Southlake residents since 02/2012. We have four dragons, ranging from 13 to four years old. I just wanna wanna start out by saying that competitive swimming is a horrible sport. It's a miserable sport. It's the only sport where a coach will yell at you for, for breathing. There's no social interaction. You can't be sitting on the sidelines talking to your friends, and you simply stare at a black line for two hours, sometimes four hours a day. But somehow my daughter,
chose us as her as her support. When she was five years old, we ended up, signing up for the Timbron Tiger Sharks. And, coach Murphy, as you know, is the head coach of that. She did really well. The following year, she made the NTN swim club, and then three years later, she started qualifying for TAGS. And as you know, TAGS is the, basically the state level swim meet, for club swimming. Did very well. Three years ago when when the NTN swim swim club basically exploded, fell apart, the coaches were not showing up to practices, coach Murphy took her under her wings, under his wings,
and invited her to basically practice with the, varsity JV folks. This meant the world to her. She qualified for two more events, basically had a full schedule, the most events she can possibly, qualify as a 10 year old and also on three relay teams. She did very well. And then later on, when Shelby, our oldest, she's 13 years old, fifteen months away from starting high school, when we told her that, coach Murphy is dismissed as varsity head coach, I'll never forget these words. Good evening. I'm Jeff Heldenbrand. Been known Murphy for ten to twelve years. Daughter went to two state championships.
I got a son that's a rising junior. He's, you know, he'll be on the, varsity team next year. And I've they've gone through, rec league, NTN. Murphy didn't have anything to do with them, but he knew their times. He'd come up to them and say, you know, that was a great '53, you know. And they were on just these crazy meets, these rec meets that were way out of state. And, so he took a he took an interest in everybody. And as you've heard before, it's not just the top swimmers.
It was all of them, every one of them down the road. The rec leagues, the the Tiger Sharks he's been working with for twenty years. And, they say they need to wanna go in a new direction. I mean, I don't know what that means. It's awful vague, you know? And I don't know what that would look like. I mean, are you gonna be able to get a coach in here that goes to wanna come to work for Carroll after one coach that's got 15 championships get kicked out, what kind of coach you gonna get? You know? Everybody loves him. I think there's some issues with,
like, some of the people said about him the couple girls that didn't like him that were connected to the football program. And then I think we also got an issue with the aquatic center, the new, polo coach there. I think he wants to develop the polo over the swim. And I think he's kinda forcing that's a good way to force Murphy out is to expand the polo to get more water time. And, I think that's an issue. So I think all this is The next speakers are Dana McGowan,
Joy Roberts, Colin Heintz and Roy Grinnell. Good evening. My name is Dana McGowan, and I have three dragons, a 10 year old son possibly entering Eubanks this fall, an eight year old daughter and five year old son at Carroll Elementary. To inspire excellence means to achieve high potential. Research shows introducing excessive technology at such young ages will work against reaching potential in the long run. Do we really want to rush our children into adolescence and adulthood? When it comes to phones and computers in and around school,
we need your help. I'm told the kids aren't the problem in changing the policies around technology. It's the parents. If the parents are the problem, then let the parents tantrum like a toddler while they adjust, and let's enjoy a more safe and socially satisfying environment for our kids. 10 year olds with full access cell phones are not okay, let alone on the bus where my kid is gonna see it. As for Chromebooks and intermediate school, to expect a 10 year old to take care of it is unreasonable. Starting in fifth grade,
the majority of schoolwork is done on a computer at school, then brought home. Is this computer for the benefit of the student or the teacher? If this is for teachers and grading to be made easier, we've missed the point. A fifth grader does not need to be on a computer all day. They don't need to bring it home and then want to be on it all afternoon and all evening. We are adults and can't control our own tech addictions, so now you're asking us to saturate our kids far earlier than we would choose. You have already lost students due to cell phone policies and Chromebooks in intermediate school,
and you will continue to lose students if things don't change. I appreciate the time and hope you take seriously the consequences of allowing so much technology. This is the sake for all of our Dragon families. Hello. My name is Joy Roberts. Had two swimmers with Carol and with coach Murphy, Julian and Jonathan. Thank you, doctor Glenn and board members, and I do thank doctor Glenn for taking the time to meet with me. And I sent all of you an email because I couldn't say everything I wanted to say in two minutes. So please please read it. I would I would feel honored. I want to start with a quote from,
just to say I've prayed for wisdom as you listen to and consider or rather be considered coach Murphy's future. And the book of James defines wisdom this way. Wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere. I would ask that you could agree that these are wise attributes used in decision making and hope you will use them this evening and throughout the coming weeks. While the many accolades of Carroll Swimming have been under coach Murphy's tenure speak for themselves,
most importantly, coach is a man of integrity. He cared about each swimmer. You've heard it countless times. Desiring to improve, help them improve wherever they were, and to love swimming. Setting goals and doing the work to achieve them is very important in life. Sometimes time does give more perspective. And so today, I decided to use my time with brief excerpts from four of the numerous swimmers that reached out and would wish they were in town today to speak to you. First, I valued coach Murphy's leadership and the belief he had in us to reach our goals. These goals were often more ambitious than the ones we set ourselves.
He knew as long as we stayed the course in training and kept our mind on the goal, we would reach it. That's very powerful. Next, Murphy would always focus on the big picture versus strictly the performance of the athletes. Creating well rounded student athletes was a priority for him. The energy, enthusiasm, and motivation coach brought to practice every day on top of in debt ceiling his entire life Colin? Yes. Good evening. My name is Colin Heintz. I'm a Southlake resident, and I have lived here my whole life. I'm a rising senior and member of both the varsity boys swim team and varsity
boys water polo team. I'm here tonight to say how disappointed I am at the recent treatment of our CISD teachers, coaches, and principals. Firstly, coach Murphy, over the past three years, has pushed me to become a better, more confident swimmer. This year, I finally achieved a long time goal, making both the district and regional teams as well as an alternate on the state team. This year, I spent the entire season chasing a time of 21.5 in the 50 free. I kept coming up short and feeling discouraged, but coach Murphy never let me give up. He kept believing in me, giving me chance after chance to try again.
At regionals, during my last race of this season, I looked up and I saw the number twenty one five flash on the board. I could not have been more proud of myself. I finally achieved my goal. And in that moment, I started wondering with how much more hard work, how much faster could I be next year with coach Murphy's guidance. Without coach Murphy's encouragement or support, I'm not sure if I will return to the sport my senior year. It won't just be the same without him. Secondly, principal Ryan Wilson. He's been a leader at two of the five campuses I've attended over my time at Southlake Carroll. And during his time, some of those were my favorite years at Southlake.
He's more than just an administrator. He's a mentor and a genuine friend to all. Every interaction I've had, he's has felt personal. He listens. He cares. He understands. He came to several of my water polo matches and swim meets, including regionals and state. We would talk so long afterwards that his wife would start to wonder where he was. Through it all, no matter what happened behind the scenes, he showed up with a smile and brings positivity that is unmatched by anyone I've ever met. It doesn't if this if he does not return, this district won't just be losing strong leader. It will be losing a dragon who's made a real and lasting impact on thousands
of students, including myself and several of my other swimmers and high school teammates. Lastly, to my coaches, teachers, past and present, please know I'd be up here speaking on your behalf if you were affected too. Your Good evening. My name is Roy Grinnell, and I've lived in Southlake with my family for, past fifteen years. I've had two swimmers, go through the Carol Dragon, program with coach Murphy. My youngest daughter is a two time all American senior captain on this year's varsity team. And my son,
swam JV for two or three years. So we've seen the entire spectrum of what Kevin Murphy's programs are all about. And that's all about serving the kids. That's been his motto the entire time. From the Timron Tiger Sharks all the way up to JV and all the state titles that you'll see. If you've been inside the Aquatic Center, you can look up and see all the state banners, all the trophies, all the region championships that he's brought to Southlake Carroll. It's truly absurd how much is out there.
But what isn't represented up there with a banner and is probably his greatest achievement are all the non state swimmers, all the JV swimmers, all the Timmers Timmeron tiger sharks that he's coached and influenced over his twenty years. Those numbers are much greater than any state championships or trophies he's that you might know about. So if you look around at all the support, he has and all the testimony you've heard up here, you recognize coach Murphy is a legend. He's a valuable asset that he's brought to Southlake Carroll.
You don't reassign this level of commitment and success. You hope it doesn't get taken away by some other school district. You protect it. If this were a college athletics program, we would be talking about how to retain him and make sure he doesn't get away from us. The next speakers are Danielle Quinn, Khan Fan, Eric Hart, Zachary Lund, and Emily Lund. Hello. My name is Danielle Quinn, and I'm a CISD parent and Southlake resident. I'm here today because I believe in public education and because I expect the people elected to our schools to act in alignment with the values and responsibilities of public
service. Trustee Yeager is currently employed by Texas Values, a lobbying organization that actively promotes private school vouchers and other policies that weaken public school funding. This is a clear and direct conflict of interest. According to CISD board policy, trustees must avoid actions that create even the appearance of a breach of ethics and must, quote, place the welfare of the children served by the District above personal or political motives, end quote. The Texas Education Code,
section one one point one five one one also outlines trustees' duty to govern independently and in the best interest of students, not outside entities. How can trustee Yeager justify serving on the board of a public school district while working for an organization that actively promotes defunding public education? It's crazy. This is not a simple policy disagreement. It is a fundamental conflict of interest. Based on what I've seen, I don't believe recusal is realistic. The only responsible course of action is resignation.
And to the rest of the board, if you were aware of this employment and remain silent, that's really troubling. Really troubling. But the fact that our president, Cam, publicly congratulated Trustee Yeager on social media, calling him an excellent choice for Texas values, shows open endorsement of that conflict. That's not just poor judgment. It undermines public trust and violates the ethical intent of CISC board policy and Texas education law. When trustees validate divided loyalties, it raises serious questions about who
who Good evening, doctor Gillen and Carol I's team board members. My name is Khan Fan, and I have four Carol Dragons in the district for over twenty years now. I asked the board and superintendent to assure the community that mister Wilson will stay on in his position with a renewed contract as principal as long as he's as he is willing and, and able. The brain drain is already happening as surrounding districts hire our beloved talented educators and coaches who are uncertain of their own future in our district. Please restore this community's trust in this board and our school district.
Return us to a district where students, teachers, and staff are supported and encouraged to thrive and excel in all areas. Board members, I respectfully charge you to act with integrity and do that which is right by this community and those of us who stand before you. We are Southlake Strong. Mister Wilson belongs. Keep mister Wilson. I share a personal experience that illustrates the integrity and humanity of mister Wilson that goes beyond his role as principal. Our family was victimized by a criminal syndicate in the summer of twenty seventeen when my children attended Eubanks and Old Union.
I emailed Carol's assistant superintendent for board and community community relations requesting help to access copies of my kids' records, all of which were stolen along with my family's paperwork and possessions. The district officials reply lacked empathy and offered no assistance whatsoever. Despite my efforts to contact the schools during the summer, no one helped me until I reached out to mister Wilson, who promptly replied with genuine empathy for my family's ordeal and started the document retrieval process at Dawson and the other schools. He went out of his way then to make sure we were okay and has
continued to do so even to this day. Unfortunately, another Carol ISD family who lived on the other side of 114 was similarly targeted that same weekend. The outcome of our shared experience was very different since there was no mister Wilson on that side of the district to advocate for that family. The irony is not lost on me that mister Wilson is a complete stranger. Hello. I am Eric Hart, and, I was k through 12 at Carroll, class of 2017, and I was on coach Murphy's swim team. And I gotta say, the reason I'm up here today,
you've heard a lot of things. I'm gonna echo some of those things. But I think my personal experience is such that I can really say that he is a true coach. He is the very embodiment, I would say, of the archetype of a coach. I was a very busy kid. I was in band, club swimming, you know, high school swimming. I had a job. I was in CMA. Super busy. And I think the thing that sets me apart versus a lot of the other people you've heard today is that I don't like to swim. I swam because I had a knee injury. And that being said, a lot of people would have never believed in me, or give me the time of day because I was very bad when I started.
But under coach Murphy's, mentorship, I actually made state, and I went on in the future to get third place for Sweden in the 1,500 meter swimming, freestyle. So I think, like, there's really no other man that could do that. Because when I was in high school, I was in a super dark place. I was very sad, very angry. Very few people could've cracked into my shell. And coach Murphy on many days was one of the only, points of light, I would say. And, there's no there's no other man I can think of who could light a fire in a kid like that who had all sorts of stuff stacked against him.
So to lose coach Murphy is a tremendous loss, to everyone who really, you know, he touches, in his life. So I would seriously reconsider it. You're losing, like, an icon, like a living legend, as people have been saying, and it just makes no sense to me. I I can't understand why that would be the case. So thank you. Hey. So my name is Zachary Lund. I graduated from Carroll in 2020, and I actually just graduated from UNT. I moved to Southlake when I was in fifth grade, and that following summer, I joined the Timoron Tiger Sharks so I could learn new techniques and swim safely
and even make friends along the way. But even though there was a whole pool of swimmers, lots of them who were way better than me, Coach Murphy made it special because he would stop me and help me with my strokes and my breathing. Even though I typically came last place in all my heat, he always made me feel so confident, and I could always hear him cheer me on. One time I was stopped in the middle of a race because I got tired, and I heard it reminding me, hey. Zach, keep going. You can do hard things. And he reminded me that I can do hard things and that I just keep going. And even years even years after that,
I would, I would keep I would often see him in the school and he would say, hey. How you doing, Lund? And I think coach Murphy should be around for all of his swimmers because he looks out for all of us. Thank you. Good evening. About two weeks ago, I stood right here, and to advocate for our choir, and I wanna start off tonight to with some gratitude and thank you for, all of you for swiftly correcting that staffing issue, for attending our pop show, and for honoring our all state choir students today. It really means a lot to the kids and really meant a lot to all
of the parents. But tonight, I'm also here for coach Murphy and mister Wilson. Coach Murphy, as you can see with my son, he's the kind of educator that every student remembers, not because he plays favorites and not because he coached champions, but because he believed in every single kid that they were that they were worth the time. Whether you were an elite swimmer, like we've heard, or like my five dragon swimmers who were incredibly average. He treated them with he made them have high he had he had high expectations
for them. He expected the same discipline and the same care. And that is exactly what's right about a public school athletic coach, and our students deserve to have him back. Now, mister Wilson, how does he do all that's physically expected of him every day? We've heard so many amazing stories about him. He's also managing facilities, supervising parking lots, juggling duties far beyond his job title. And still, he shows up to smile with our kids and to talk with them.
If we want excellence in our schools, we must, as a board, as a community, as parents, we must support and uplift the people who make Carroll excellent, starting with coach Murphy and mister Wilson. I've seen this board pivot recently. When the community speaks, you are listening, and we appreciate it. You did a flyer, and you did a Our next speakers are Carson Klein, Maria Grenell, Leah Delgado and Vicki Van Kelly. Hi. My name is, Carson Klein. My mom spoke earlier.
When I was a kid, my mom told me that the doctors said that one day I'll make a really good horse jockey. That I'm probably gonna end up to be five'six, maybe five'seven if I'm lucky. Going through life, I tried a bunch of sports. Football was really tough. I got clobbered all the time and it didn't work out. I tried diving, wasn't very good at that, got kicked out of baseball, got hit by a ball one time, completely ruined my confidence, and never played the same again. But I found swimming and I found Coach Murphy. And he was the first person to kind of see something in me before I
could see it in me. And I ended up going through and getting a lot better, better far better than I ever thought I would. By senior year, I had won a couple state championship races and was captain of the team. It really built my confidence in life. And I ended up going to SMU on a scholarship, which was my dream school and Kevin Murphy made that all possible. And, the cool thing about Murphy that I really loved about him was I coached swimming after college
and here in town too. And I competed against him and something that we had as a criteria for our little kids was you have to be able to swim across a pool on your own. Coach Murphy did not have that criteria for his swimmers. And if you ever went and watched Coach Murphy coach his swimmers, he's not on the pool deck, you know, watching his kids go back and forth, and writing a workout down and saying, hey, this is your workout to do. He's physically in the water and has all of his other coaches in the water
with his kids, helping him learn swimming. And I have a bunch of friends that started that way, I started that way, and we I'm really disappointed. My name is Maria Grinnell. My daughter is a Carroll Swimmer. She's a varsity senior captain. She met Coach Murphy when she was three years old, when her brother was taking lessons at the CISD pool. We were downstairs waiting for him. She had been sitting in the bleachers for weeks on end watching her brother learn because she was too young. She's told me, I'm going to do that one day. And she has.
She went downstairs, she saw Coach Murphy walk out, she walked up to him and she said, Hi, Coach Murphy, my name's and I'm going to swim for you one day. And he said, Well, I look forward to that, shook her hand, and from that day forward, always knew what her times were. I volunteered for the better part of fifteen years, and I never saw him say anything negative to or about a swimmer. He always has looked for the positive, and he has always encouraged these kids,
including my son, who was a very indifferent swimmer. My son came back to swim for Murphy his senior year JV with the stipulation that he swim JV because he said, I really like these coaches. I want to come back and be around them and swim with them. The influence that Coach Murphy has had on his swimmers cannot be underestimated. He is an asset to this community. And the same is true of Mr. Wilson. Both of my kids were deeply disappointed to hear that his contract had not been renewed. So, I would beg of you to please,
please let Coach Murphy do what he does best, lead our Dragons forward. And let Mr. Wilson do the same, lead our Dragons forward. It's not too late to change this. Thank you. Good evening, board, doctor Glenn, President Bryan, and trustees. My name is Leah Delgado, and I am a current teacher at the senior high. I wanna start by saying, that I know that serving on the board takes time, commitment, and energy, often at the expense of your own families, and that's not lost on me. I wrestled with the decision to speak tonight,
for reasons mentioned before, but I believe that when something doesn't feel right, we we have a responsibility to say so. Just like I would expect my own children or students to stand up for what's right, I feel I had to hold myself to that same standard. I'm here tonight to say clearly that mister Wilson is the best of the best, deeply respected by staff and students. I see it every day. I live that. There are so many things that we admire and respect about him, but for the sake of time, I will say that he always takes the time to listen,
and he consistently does what is best for kids. Watching what's being done to him has been heartbreaking. I can confidently say that among the teachers I've spoken with, there's an overwhelming disagreement with the notion that removing him is what's best for Carroll ISD. This isn't just about one decision. It's part of a broader pattern that's left many of us feeling uneasy. When a coach is removed without input from his superiors and then later reinstated after public concern, it creates confusion and raises questions. When central office responds to a complaint by coming to campus and issuing directives without
first gathering context from campus leadership, it leaves staff feeling bypassed and unsupported. Even well meaning efforts like the last minute midyear convocation, which was held on a day already scheduled, for a teacher workday the day before students return from a winter break, that can feel out of touch. Good evening, members of the Board, Superintendent Glenn. My name is Vicki Kelly, and I'm a Southlake resident for twelve years. Two weeks ago, the community voiced our concerns about the non renewal of principal Wilson and principal Benhof's contracts. Since then, you have reinstated coach Mark Markley and are actively looking to hire the second choir
teacher. These are great decisions. Thank you. What will you do now about principal Wilson's contract? I hope you change your mind. I hope you change your no action decision. It is evident that your lack of action has already cost us principal Benhoff. Congratulations to her. The people at Timber Creek High School are lucky to have her. But what a huge loss to our district, to so many high school students and those who will be making the transition to ninth grade next year, and to the staff under her leadership. My pastor ended Sunday's sermon with Ben King's Stand By Me,
and I thought this was the perfect inspiration. My family and I stand by principal Wilson and what his exemplary leadership symbolizes. He has helped my senior find her way these past four years. The smear campaign that he must have done something wrong must stop. I have faith that principal Wilson must have voiced his opinion and stood up for what is right. He must have stood up for someone who needed him to believe in them and support them. Many teachers are watching what you plan to do next. They have we have already lost some of our most valuable teachers and coaches and
the talent they've taken with them. Please fix this. It starts with renewing principal Wilson's contract. Lastly, thank you for confirming that principal Wilson will will be able to address and dismiss the class of 2025 at graduation. It is a good Carroll tradition. I hope you all you all let speakers speak freely using their own words and not speak from scripts that you give them. The right to speak at graduation is an honor bestowed to only a few. This is not a carol tradition, but a universal tradition that is sacrosanct. The graduates represent the leaders of our next gen
The next speakers are Megha Kadayala, Jeff Blanchard, Claire Johnston and Ru Hi. First, I wanna thank you for my recognition earlier. It really meant a lot to me and my peers, and I appreciate that. My name is Megha Kadiala, and I'm a senior student at Carroll as well as a cocreator of a student run club. Last week, my mother spoke in my place to advocate for the reinstatement of the second choir director position. I really wanna thank you for reopening this position, but I also want you to recognize that we lost missus Heizer to Keller ISD
because of the lack of foresight in the original decision not to renew our assistant choir director's contract. How many more valuable faculty members must we lose in order to recognize their importance? I've recently heard accounts of our principal's employment being challenged over his approval of a club on campus. This is extremely disheartening. Our club has undergone all of the protocol in order to achieve its status, including gaining teacher sponsorship, administrative approval, consent forms, and student membership. All students have a right to have a club on campus. We have a right to free speech and making sure our voices are heard.
And the contract of educators who support student efforts to make themselves heard should not be challenged or scrutinized. School is meant for students. It is meant to be a place of learning and student collaboration. Administration should foster this collaboration and allow educators to support student led organizations and endeavors. Every club has the right to exist on campus, whether it's the barbecue club, book club, or a cultural club. Students are entitled to expressing themselves on their campus and creating clubs to foster learning and collaborate within their community. Educators like our principal who allow these clubs should not be scrutinized for defending the
student right to expression, especially when they are widely beloved by the student body and community. I urge you to listen to the community in front of you. You hold the unique power to Jeff Blanchard is the next speaker? Claire Johnston? Hi there. Excuse my voice. My name is Claire Johnston, and I'm the mother of elementary students. And I'm here to speak about the technology usage in the elementary classrooms during the win time. From my understanding, there's an hour each day where students can attend to tailored educational needs. I have one child who has a full win time utilizing speech pathology,
reading support, and now I have a child who spends her win time solely on her iPad because she does not receive any services. If you do not qualify for services, it seems to me it's just iPad time. I've heard many times a voice of frustration regarding the usage from my child. She's here, and I'd like to introduce Elise Johnston, my second grade student, And I'll let her voice her own thoughts and provide some encouragement. Hi. I'm Elise Johnston, and I'm here to talk about Win Time. Win Time stands for what I need. The teachers provide me either my iPad,
which has a lot of requirements, or reading on my iPad and not from a and not from a book. I enjoy reading a paper book and not a book on a screen screen. Other things I would like to do during my one time could be going to the library for books on topics, embroidery if I was allowed to bring it, and most importantly, do something that does not involve my iPad. Please allow us more choices to do the things we like that cannot be found on the iPad. One last thing. I think kids that don't have any classes to go to during one time should
still be able to do something, and while we're using our brainpower, not making an iPad read the book to you. Thank you for spending your time to listen. Thank you, Elise. We talk with our children a lot about investing their time versus spending their time. My hope is that while at school, they are investing their time in education and spending their time with their friends. Spending their time with their iPads is not an investment that I want for my children. How are children supposed to know what they need during one time if we don't ever even give them the Is Rue Hames here? Hi. I would like to say that I did write this before.
I was aware of Wilson being able to hand out diplomas, but I feel like it still stands. My name is Rue Hames. I'm a lifelong resident of Southlake and a graduating senior. I would like to start out from words from yet another teacher who is sending anonymous things for me to say. In this last part of this paragraph, it says, you have made this place a desperation district. One of your educators are fleeting rather than flocking to. A drastic change must be made if we are to believe this district is still
a place that stands for excellence, and that doesn't change without change. So what I came here to say was that I'm here to talk about the senior class of twenty twenty five's graduation ceremony. Do not understand the weight of the idea that our own principal is no longer allowed to hand us our diplomas and that our highest ranking students are not able to speak their own mind to their own peers. We always say, protect the tradition, and that we all bleed green by being a Carol Dragon, yet all this board is doing is bleeding greed. You are the ones breaking our tradition.
Ryan Wilson has done more for the people not only in this room, but for so many outside of it that it is a privilege to have him even work for Carol in the first place. I had the honor of calling Wilson my friend, and that friend handpicked me to design the UIL billboard that has now, for two years, stood in front of this our senior high campus. Just I would like to take a second. Who else would do that? Who else would directly go to a student for that? I believe the senior twenty twenty five class agrees with me when I say I
want Ryan Wilson to hand me The next speakers are Jill Austin, Nancy D'Amico, Melissa Everett and Chris Taber. Good evening. My name is Jill Austin, and I am the mother of three dragons. When relocating to Texas, Carol stood out, and after a campus visit, we were sold. And to us, no one protects the tradition better than the 20 17 Athletic Hall of Honor inductee, coach Kevin Murphy. I first met coach Murphy a few weeks before the start of the school year
with my daughter, where he greeted us with his signature firm handshake. Now moving teenagers during high school is tough, but moving across the country to a six a school is downright intimidating. So I decided I would just sit in my car after that first morning practice to collect my daughter's wet things and check-in with her. Coach Murphy saw me sitting there and said, don't worry, missus Alston. She did great, and we're going to take good care of her. And take good care of her,
he did. Over the next three years, we saw our daughter thrive both in and out of the pool. He was there to support her until friendships formed. He believed in her until she believed in herself. He was there when she got her best time and there to pick her up when he she was disappointed. He had motivational mottos to guide and used famous quotes to inspire. Through sacrificial service, we saw this man push each and every swimmer to reach their full potential.
We found that coach Murphy truly lives to fulfill his swimming tagline that states, we build good citizens, not just good athletes. As a matter of fact, my daughter still credits her I'm sorry. My daughter still credits him. Good evening. My name is Nancy D'Amico. I am a Southlake resident and mom of two current dragons. I really hope you're hearing all the examples after example of the dedication and servant leadership of both Ryan Wilson and coach Murphy.
I also have to say that our student speakers tonight have been outstanding and are a testimony to the excellence of Carroll ISD. Their own words and voices should not only be heard here, but at their own graduation. I also am very thankful for teachers like miss Delgado because I am speaking in behalf of a lot of teachers who have shared their concerns with me. I have spent almost a decade teaching in the classroom and understand the importance of
campus culture and the challenges that teachers face every day. I know teachers, campus administrators, and coaches are our most valuable resource that we must protect at all costs. Year after year, we have been losing our most experienced, talented, and venerated educators. This is where all parents of Carroll ISD need to wake up and realize that these decisions that this school board and superintendent have created such a difficult and toxic environment.
No amount of treat carts can fix this damage. Our teachers are required to sign confidentiality clauses. They fear that they may be the next target of this board and superintendent. They fear that they're going to be retaliated against if they speak up about any concerns. And all their fears of retaliate One kindergarten and four more projected to be. This is something we have taken pride in. We have loved being dragons and a part of this community for over twenty years, and I still believe this is an exceptional place.
This is home for us. This is also home for Ryan and Jenny Wilson, who go above and beyond on a daily basis for our kids. I have so many stories I could share of the ways I have witnessed mister Wilson serving our district. There are hundreds of us with personal accounts of mister Wilson carrying in a way that goes beyond what would ever be expected of someone in his role. He does this because of who he is. He is an exceptional human being, and I got a chance to tell him that recently on our Carol Jazz trip to New York, where our talented students competed on a national stage. I'm so thankful I got to tell him how much I appreciate him,
but now I want to tell all of you. As you can imagine, mister Wilson was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders while we were in New York. This was a trip that we had all been looking forward to for months, and my child had been looking forward to it for years. This opportunity was a dream come true. However, the excitement was clouded by the thought that it might be the last time we'd be with our amazing leader. Not one time over those five magical days did mister Wilson be anything other than the exceptional human being this entire community knows him to be. While carrying his own load of worry that he never once let show,
he still managed to lighten our load in a way that only he can, bringing joy, laughter, and a sense of hope to every situation. He diffused the kids' performance anxiety with a perfectly placed joke or story about something he knew about each kid. He knows these kids in a way that says, you are seen and you are loved. I've never been around someone more perceptive and in tune with how he can make a situation better in order for others to shine. He has a gift. This gift is irreplaceable. Our community has been very divided over the last few years. And although one person does not make an entire district,
one person has united our entire district. There is one thing we all agree on as well, and that is Ryan. Good evening, doctor Glenn, members of the board. My name is Chris Taber. My family and I have lived here for the last four years, and we moved here to Texas, chose Southlake specifically because of its reputation for excellence. Schools that provide a rigorous academic proving ground to prepare our youth for higher education and take leading roles in their communities of tomorrow. But what I'm witnessing happen in recent weeks at the instigation of our new superintendent and with the support of this school board risks undermining and stunting critical thinking capabilities
of our students by closing off areas of inquiry based on Narrow, small minded, and fearful ideology that seeks not to engage challenging ideas, but to silence them. The idea that a well regarded and eminently qualified principal such as mister Wilson can be unceremoniously re reassigned in part for some supporting students who seek to initiate and lead their own clubs under appropriate guidance and with the knowledge of this administration because those clubs might explore ideas deemed off limits by a small but vocal group of
overzealous parents, wealthy donors, and close minded bureaucrats is beneath the tradition of this great community. It and the the tradition that makes Carroll worthy of its long standing reputation for excellence. We can and must do better by our students, our hardworking faculty, and our principals. Instead of pushing principal Wilson aside because you are threatened by the ideas being investigated by us investigated by a student run club that he has signed off on, you should be championing his efforts to better equip students with the tools that they need to understand,
evaluate, and process new and challenging ideas, even and especially ideas that you or I might happen to disagree with. From the comments shared this evening, it's clear that he understands this part of his responsibilities better than this board does. The next speakers are Sophia Kelly, Sydney Frazier, Avery Frazier, Angela Frazier, and Jennifer Ferrara. Good evening, board members, doctor Glenn. My name is Sophia Kelly, and I'm a senior at Carroll Senior High School. I'm here to support clubs like the Unlock Library Book Club because I know how important it is for every student to be seen and heard in school.
And no one has done more to make students feel that way than principal Wilson. Mister Wilson supports us all and makes sure every student, no matter who they are, where they're from, or what they're going through, know they'll be met with respect and compassion in his off in his office. He uplifts students with communities of color, LGBTQ students, and others who feel unnoticed. But even as he supports those in the minority, he truly creates a space for every single student. Mister Wilson provides an eye environment for students to have the freedom to explore topics through books. The books we're talking about contain real stories about real people facing real challenges.
Taking these books away doesn't protect anyone. It sends a message that these stories and the students who connect with them don't belong here. And that's not protection. That's isolation. Mister Wilson has modeled what it looks like to protect all students, not just the ones who are popular to support, but also those who are often overlooked. He's created a school environment where difference is respected and celebrated. That's what true leadership looks like. It's not about avoiding tough conversations. It's about making space for them. You don't have to agree with everything in the book to learn about it. That's what education is supposed to be about. I'm graduating this Friday, but I hope the next group of students will navigate high school with our well
respected principal, Wilson. I also hope they will all have access to stories that reflect reflect real life, not just the version that makes certain adults feel comfortable. We need to stop censoring the stories that make a school a place where everyone can belong. Because from where I'm sitting, it seems like the board is protecting citizens. It's protecting its own comfort. Thank you. Hello. Thank you, board president Brian, trustees, and superintendent doctor Glenn. My name is Sydney Fraser. I am a 2023 Carroll Kindergarten and a current University of Michigan student and division one athlete. Back in my glory days at Carroll, I was captain of the varsity emerald bells,
speech captain of the speech and debate program, president of the model United Nations team, and more. From academics to performance and visual arts to athletics and pre professional groups and more, CISD has always been about pursuing excellence. Quite simply, Carroll students are smarter, more creative, more innovative, more athletic, and more determined to be champions than anywhere else. Our many Lone Star Cups are evidence of that. But you don't get to be champions at every level without a strong leader like principal Wilson. For twenty four years, mister Wilson has said,
I know things are hard, but how can I help? Despite budget cuts and staffing shortages, mister Wilson has simply done more with less. He has taken the limitations that this board and superintendent have put on him and found creative solutions to problems that many didn't even know existed. When people were saying no, principal Wilson found the way to say yes. He found the way to convince amazing teachers to stay for worse pay. He found a way to keep programs that we weren't willing to fund, and he found a way to make sure that students still had opportunities to chase
their dreams. In Southlake, excellence starts with treating everyone with dignity. Respectfully, I believe you owe mister Wilson an apology. I urge you to I urge you to reverse course like you've already done and offer principal Wilson an extension, and I beg him not to take his gifts and talents to another district and encourage you to do the same. Sometimes excellence means admitting that a mistake was made, and our district is inherently less excellent without principal Wilson. It's not too late to do the right thing. Thank you. Mister president, board of trustees,
doctor Glenn, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Avery Fraser, and I need to tell you about the mister Wilson I know. The Mr. Wilson I know always has time for students. It doesn't matter who you are, every student is important to Principal Wilson. He cares about things students care about. He's the kind of leader who listens and who offers encouragement. He doesn't always give you what you want, but he always gives you what you need. Mr. Wilson follows the letter of the law when it's the right thing to do, but sometimes policies and procedures are not in the best interests of students or teachers. In those rare instances,
Mr. Wilson relies on his twenty four years of experience to make the best decisions that he can because that is what good leaders do. Is he perfect? Likely not, but he is humble. I can think of a time when he reversed course on a decision after taking into consideration feedback from students and staff. Why would he do that? Because his heart is always in the right place. Mister Wilson always puts students first. That means first above policies, above procedures, above protocols because people come first, And sometimes a strict application of the rule doesn't make sense.
And isn't it a beautiful thing that students have seen this sort of people first leadership modeled for us on a daily basis so that we can learn from him and take it out into the world? If mister Wilson is not getting a contract renewal because he put people ahead ahead of technicalities, then that's shameful. We should be celebrating a man who puts people first and who raises up leaders to do the same. Along with the thousands of families who have been touched by this man, I implore you to extend his contract so that my little sister and all of the students behind me will have the chance to learn from this amazing educator and this amazing human being.
Thank you. President Bryan, trustees, doctor Glenn, my name is Angela Fraser. I currently serve as the president of the Speech and Debate Booster Club, a parent group charged with supporting more than 140 students who proudly compete on behalf of Carroll throughout the state and across the nation. Under the leadership of head coach Anthony Brown, Carol is considered to be a national powerhouse in speech and debate. In the past three years alone, Carol has won a state championship, a national championship, and two weeks ago,
a world championship in debate. And these championships have contributed to Ivy League and elite college acceptances for many of our Carroll students. This time last year, a competing district offered coach Brown more money, offered him more staff support, more resources, more program funding, less work, and less travel. At the urging of students and parents, principal Wilson immediately went to work trying to retain our championship coach. Principal Wilson had very little to offer, but he did what every great leader does.
He fought to keep his best talent. He fought to make sure that the 02/2022 teacher of the year, who is beloved by his students, stayed at Carroll. Instead of throwing up his hands, he rolled up his sleeves and convinced a fellow educator to stay at Carroll for less than he deserved. Ryan Wilson single handedly saved our championship speech and debate program because of the relationship that he had invested in with his teacher. It's May, and Coach Brown's phone is ringing again as the Booster Club president,
I know that. With the uncertainty about who will be the cancer campus principal next year, I can only imagine that he is entertaining those phone calls. Hi. My name is Jenny Ferrara, and, I've lived in Southlake for ten years. I have two sons, one at the University of Texas, and the other is graduating and attending UC Santa Barbara. Anyone in Southlake who has had the privilege of knowing principal Wilson fully supports and loves principal Wilson. While, principal Wilson is intelligent, kind, enthusiastic, thoughtful, sincere, and above all, an educator,
his number one priority is the students he works with. While at both Dawson and at the senior high, principal Wilson helped our son's boy scout troop with eagle projects that helped both both scouts achieve their eagle scout rank and accomplish helpful school projects, like the the mobile, bulletin boards at the senior high. He always has both the students and the school as his top priority. Rarely do you find someone so perfectly fit for the job and role they play in their community, and Ryan Wilson is that person. Not only does does he do do his job so well,
but he somehow finds time to attend and support all the student events, including football, soccer, swimming, diving, talent shows, band competitions, choir performances, and most recently prom, where he was voted most likely to brighten your day. My sister-in-law lives in Michigan and recently reached out after hearing a story on NPR where teams put together an audio story based on someone who inspires them. One of the Southlake High Schoolers had interviewed principal Wilson telling him it was for a project. Little did principal Wilson know that he would be featured on national radio as a
person who inspires. That's what principal Wilson does. He inspires kids to go above and beyond. Please do the right thing. Apologize to principal Ryan Wilson and inspire excellence by extending his contract. Thank you. The final two speakers this evening are Heather Taber and Carson Henderson. Hello. My name is Heather Tabor, and I am a sophomore at Carroll. The Unlocked Library isn't just about reading. It's about confronting ideas that have been challenged or silenced. Banned books often tackle tackle complex topics, ones that shape our world, such as racial injustice,
gender identity, or political dissent. By engaging with these texts, we learn to think critically, question assumptions, and understand perspectives different from our own. This isn't rebellion. It's preparation for a world that demands nuance and empathy. Keeping banned books in our education system is crucial for young minds. These books spark discussions that teach us how to navigate difficult conversations respectfully. They expose us to histories and stories that might not might otherwise be erased, helping us recognize the power of words and the consequences of censorship. Without this exposure, we risk graduating students who are less equipped to face diverse ideas or challenge injustice.
This club fosters a safe space to explore these works under guidance, ensuring we approach them thoughtfully. Dissolving it would signal that some ideas are too dangerous to discuss, which undermines the very purpose of education. The thought that simply being in support of a club like this is helping you push out principal Wilson out of his job is absolutely mind boggling to me. Me, a 16 year old who is easily able to grasp why we must be educated about banned books as they clearly reveal the history, perspectives, and truths often hidden from us. I moved to Texas in hope for a fresh start and excitement for my upcoming
high school education. I'm disappointed and disgusted at the new, lower trajectory my school's board is putting me on. And, yes, doctor Glenn, it is true that both Granbury and Southlake are quite the conservative areas, But doesn't that just highlight how important it is to educate our students on all sides of politics rather than shelter them from the opposing ideas so they can become more well informed voters when they turn 18? Yeah. I think so too. Thank you. Is Carson Henderson here? That's the final speaker. Thank you, miss Shelton. Thank you all for being here. Board is going to take a ten minute recess and then we'll come back and
continue with the rest of our agenda. Thank you and have a great evening. All right. Good evening everyone. We'll reconvene at 10:16PM with item number eight reorganization of the Board, eight point one reorganization of the Board. Do I have a motion? Yes. President Bryan, I move to hold the current officers in their positions. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Motion carries six to zero. Moving on to item number nine, consideration possible action on any matters addressed in executive session. 9.1, consider and take possible action on personnel report. I move that the personnel report as presented in Executive Session is approved.
Second. Motion and second. All in favor? Motion carries six to nothing. Okay. Let's move on to our information portion of our agenda item number twelve, twelve point one, our SHAC annual report, miss Petty. Sorry for keeping your eye sore open. Oh, no. No. Thank you. Thank you for having me here. As you are aware, SHAC is a state mandated, committee that is formed. We do have four meetings throughout the, school year. And SHAC meets with a group of parents, community members, and school staff members working together to improve the health of all students and families
through a correlated health services. Our role is to support the district in aligning with the local community values. We play a crucial role in the intersection of health and and learn learning and strengthening the knowledge and essential skills for promoting a healthy lifestyle. This year, we were extremely busy. The items that I'm gonna touch upon today, we've already talked about during the regular meetings, so I'm going to briefly, briefly go over these. And if you have any additional questions, I am happy to address those. But we broke I broke them down into three main initiatives that we had.
We had a mental health initiative, a student safety and well-being initiative, and health protocols and district policies. So as you could see through those, we talked about the house bill three, which is our mental health first aid training that is required of all of our staff. At our last I align day, we did, our pre k teachers went through that training, and they they were very complimentary of the training. They thought it was very helpful. We'll be moving forward with that with the rest of our staff going into the summer and into next school year. We talked about suicide prevention, technology, and the impact on mental health.
Under student safety, we talked about, senate bill nine, child abuse prevention, where we used Alliance for Children. House bill thirty nine zero eight, which is also substance abuse, fentanyl. We talked about the lead curriculum and our resource recovery council. We also talked very briefly about gun safety education requirement. Under health protocols, we talked about the Cooks Children's Hospital telepath, telehealth program, the American Heart Association who did donate the CPR kits for us. We talked about the district life policy, and we talked about mold, mold protocols and procedures. And we did create those mold protocols and procedures and implemented those.
So Shaq was extremely busy this this year, but I wanna thank all the community members and all of our board of trustees that served on that committee. They did a great job because that's a lot to cover in four meetings. You did great. Thank you, miss Patty. Job, miss Patty. Yeah. You did a great job too, as someone Thank you. Any questions for this, Betty? Are any of these where we can read them, like, what the new mold protocol and procedures are? Or Yes. Yes. I can I can send those, but they're also they're on the district website under the they're under the,
board of trustees under the district committees? It's got all of the minutes from all of the meetings. Okay. Perfect. So and I did list the the mode protocols that are in there. All right. Thanks, Ms. Patty. Thank you. All right. Next up is 12.2 strategic plan action team updates. Mr. Nickel? Good evening, Doctor. Glenn and Board of Trustees. I'm here to, update us on year three of our, strategic action plan. I know in the fall, we did not have our teams meet because, of the involvement of most of those members in the BRAC committee, and so they picked up in the spring, and, most of those committees met a couple of times in the spring.
That being said, even though their meeting time was limited, it wasn't that we didn't continue the work that each of those teams were doing. And so I'm gonna be going through and, kind of highlighting some of the celebrations for each of those groups. I will say that we started off with 66 slides. I don't think that was something that we wanted to go through this evening, so we have trimmed that way back. And I will go through it as, with as much brevity as I can, but I'm happy for us to try to answer questions if you have them. So we go into, goal one. One one is on curriculum. And so our curriculum department, and the staff,
they work to develop an instructional framework focusing on horizontal and vertical alignment. I know in my discussions, they feel like horizontally we are, more closely aligned necessarily than vertically, but we continue to work on that piece. We have instructional coaches that were hired, and, district, wide writing style guide was developed. In, one, two, grading policies, GPA skills, course offerings were reviewed, as well as university admission requirements were reviewed. For our goal 1.3, looking at our programs, programs like GT have been evaluated and aligned,
and we've reviewed their effectiveness. Improvement plans were made to integrate best practices for continuous improvement. Our district was also awarded an early childhood behavior support grant, from TEA to develop capacity for our pre K teachers and paraprofessionals. Our district, let's see, go up to here. Our district was also considered fully compliant for the changes outlined in the dyslexia handbook. The district, will also open, Little Dragon's Child Care Center in August of twenty twenty five and the Dragon U,
after school child care program in August of twenty twenty five. And those are all under 1.3. One point four, student skills. They continued, to work to support students in development of executive functioning skills. Research was conducted to determine appropriate entry points for instruction, like career investigation classes. For objective, 1.5, which is on student wellness, we expanded our counselor conferences to include one on one meetings with eighth through twelfth grade students. So our counselors met one on one with each student from eighth grade up.
Also have started partnering with Region eleven behavior support team to implement behavior initiatives. I know we've heard a lot of, concern from from staff about, just increased student behavior and trying to find ways for us to, structure learning to to help, help support that. Goal two on human capital, we increased the number of student teachers placed on CISD campuses to, 16. The job fair also had increased numbers and to date we've already hired 10 employees that attended the job fair. We've continued to work on our district mentoring program and,
one of the things noted was that we have, dedicated two days for our mentors and mentees to, to work, to observe, support, and collaborate with other staff members. We also had a 3% increase in beginning staff salary for the twenty four-twenty five school year. Looking at goal three, in technology, for 03/2001 on our technology infrastructure and tools, we lengthened the life cycle of devices from four to five years to help, reduce cost. Also, have increased our BYOD focus for high school and senior high students. For, 3.2,
technology and, technology privacy unapproved technology software use. We also streamlined professional development around those approved technologies. Goal four on finance and operations, reduced non payroll budgets by 950,000 for fiscal year twenty six, facility needs assessment was completed, and, one of our key actions in progress is to finalize real estate transactions and evaluate remaining district properties. Goal five, 5.1 on effective communications. And you heard about this earlier. We launched Good and Green video series,
have developed the podcast, and also introduced doctor, Glenn's three pointers for staff and community. And then on our 5.2 marketing, welcomed more than a dozen new sponsors, updated and enhanced our, our sponsorship database to better manage our relationships and reporting, and then improved our logo licensing and management. Any questions? Questions, trustees? That was really impressive. 166 slides. You know, for for those of us that have been around these, action plans, we've been on action teams and everything. There's a lot I know it's late at night and people may not be focused.
There's a lot that has been accomplished. And, I don't know if we have a plan on sort of breaking these out, President Bryan and fellow trustees. But there's some stuff here that I feel like I would like to see elaborated upon, because again, there's just so many good things here. Oh, maybe the 66 pages, just in case. I wanted to say, like, student and staff wellness. I love that we've expanded the counselor conferences from eight, including eight to 12, so I think that's huge, and that's gonna be a huge thing for our families and our kiddos.
And then I just love the, in special programs, I love the key action celebrations that are on, page nine. I mean, that's a lot, and that's huge. So I really appreciate that. Right. Thanks for presenting the report. I think it's really a testament to all of our departments, across every department. I think people understand what we are in the district and they're trying to help. Sorry, When's our next series of meetings? When were you starting up again? Is that at the end of the summer? Yes. We will, over the summer, go through the committee process again. We put out those that are interested in being on committees, make sure we we fill all those spots.
And then normally, your committees start meeting again in about October. October. Anything else for Mr. Nickel? All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I appreciate it. Next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. We have a very big donation. Mr. Yeager? Yes, certainly. So, as we heard earlier this evening, the executive team from the Carroll Education Foundation has done just a marvelous job in that organization's twenty year history. This is the largest single annual donation that they have made. So, kudos if you're still up. Thank you all and everybody in the community who donated.
Many of us on the Board here, your gala was sensational. And we do need to have this approval, not just the big check there. And that is to say that the donation amount of $867,238.12 and that is that the Board, that we approve this donation and we also just thank the CEF for an amazing year. Yes. Thank you, Trustee Yeager. And that's part of the consent agenda. So I move to approve the consent agenda as presented.
Second. Motion is second. All in favor? Motion carries six to zero. No objection. We will adjourn at 10:28PM. Thank you,