Okay, good evening. This meeting is now convened at 05:04PM. I would like everyone to please silence all cell phones. The quorum of the Board is present in the Board Auditorium. We will now be joined by a member of the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corp to lead our pledges. I would like to ask Board Member Paula Mendoza to introduce tonight's pledge leader. Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. So Cadet First Sergeant Diana Contreras is a rising senior from Sam Houston Houston Math,
Science and Technology Center. She also attends the Barbara Jordan Career Center Learning, the skill trade of Welding. As a member of the Army JROTC, she has served in various leadership positions, ultimately earning the position of battalion commander for her senior year. She is a member of the back to back District Champions for Unarmed Drill. In May, she and her team will compete in Daytona Beach, Florida against the nation's best drill teams. Her plan after graduation is to enlist in the United States Army where she has
already taken and passed the entrance exam. Welcome. Cadet Contreras. Please rise for a moment of silence. Please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance and pledge of the Texas flag. United States Of America, and the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, for liberty and justice for all. To the Texas flag. Honor the Texas flag, with all of your allegiance, we Texas, one state under God, indelible. Thank you. Now I'd like to ask board member, Jeanette Garzalinder,
to read our proclamation of volunteers of public school recognition week. Thank you, President Campo. Whereas, every year, thousands of parents, businesses, and community partners support students and teachers in the Houston Independent School District by donating their time, resources, and knowledge, and whereas, these contributors serve in a variety of roles, including mentoring, tutoring, and assisting in classrooms, and whereas, a robust and successful education system requires community engagement, and volunteers selflessly illustrate the power of that partnership.
And whereas, National Public School Volunteer Week is observed during the April, Now, therefore, we, the Houston Independent School District School Board, and superintendent of schools proclaim April 2025, volunteers in public schools recognition week in HISD and incur encourage all to express appreciation for the dedicated supporters who assist and enrich the lives of our students and teachers. A witness thereof on this April 2025.
Thank you, thank you. Do we have any, public officials in the audience besides, I know we have Clacidio Gomez, thank you, you're going to speak later, thank you for being here. I thought we had Savant Moore here as well. Perhaps not, maybe you'll be here in a minute. Okay, well, thanks. Now I believe other recognitions are in order. Superintendent Miles, you have the floor. Yes, sir. Good evening. Each month we take a moment to spotlight something meaningful happening within our District. For April, we are proud to connect our recognitions to two important observances,
National Middle Eastern and North African Heritage Month and National Volunteer Month, both of which are deeply connected to the heart of the HISD community. One of HISD's special and unique schools is the Arabic Immersion Magnet School, also known as AIMS, AIMS. It is a pioneering institution and a gem in our community. AIMS is the first Arabic language immersion school in the country and continues to serve as a model for global education. The campus provides a rigorous academic program while immersing students in modern standard Arabic,
helping to build cross cultural understanding and global competencies at an early age. We are incredibly proud of the work happening at this school and the community it represents. It is an A rated campus and puts its students on a trajectory to succeed in school and in life. At this time, we would like to recognize Principal Mahasin Bululi for her outstanding leadership. If Principal Bululi is with us this evening, we kindly ask her to please stand and be recognized. We'd also like to recognize any AIM students who may be present with us today.
Students, if you're here, please stand so we can celebrate your accomplishments as well. All right. And then also, April is National Volunteer Month, a time to recognize the vital role volunteers play in supporting our students and schools. HISD's Volunteers in Public Schools Program, also known as VIPS or V I P S, brings together parents, caregivers, community members and business partners who generously give their time through mentoring, chaperoning, classroom assistance and more. Volunteers in Public Schools Recognition Week,
which we mentioned earlier, and Volunteer Appreciation Week are observed the week of April 20 through the twenty sixth. They celebrate the impact of volunteers' contribution and encourage continued community involvement. Each year, HISD hosts the Volunteers and Public Schools Recognition to honor those who go above and beyond in their service. This year's event will take place on Monday, April 21, at 10:30 a. M. At the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center. The theme for this year is celebrating the seeds of change.
We are also proud of the twenty twenty four VIPS Awards recipients whose dedication continues to inspire. The honorees at this award exemplify the spirit of volunteerism and continue to make a meaningful difference across our District. If any of our twenty twenty four award winners are present with us today, we invite you to please stand so we may recognize and thank you. Let's give them a round of applause. Whether through cultural education or community service, this month's spotlight reminds us of the power of partnership and pride across our District.
Thank you to all our educators, volunteers and leaders who make this work possible. Absolutely, I think the idea of recognizing these groups is really important and we just need to constantly remind ourselves how important it is to have folks that create a lot of value for our district, so thanks. Thank you, Superintendent Miles. I will now hear from our registered speakers. We'll begin with public officials followed by student speakers both in person and on Zoom. We will then hear from in person speakers both on the agenda and the hearing
of the community followed by their main Zoom speakers. Please note that Spanish live captioning is available for those viewing the meeting via live stream. The live Spanish interpretation is available in person in the auditorium as well. Public comment during school board meetings will only be available to those persons who have signed up to speak prior to the meeting time, per current protocol. Verbal and other disruptions by persons during school board meetings are not acceptable as they inhibit the board's ability to conduct business and the public's ability to observe the processes.
Persons who participate in such behavior will be given one warning and if the behavior is repeated they will be asked to leave the meeting. We have 55 speakers, registered tonight, who will be limited to one minute each per board policy, as we have more than 30 people signed up, to address the board tonight. We ask that you stay on topic and refrain from naming individuals, especially students, as their identity is protected under law, but you may name your own child. I ask that you please respect our procedures and the other speakers, and your comments promptly when your time has expired and the timer rings.
We will start with public officials, HISD Board of Education, Trustee Gomez. Welcome. Thank you. I once taught a class of graduating seniors whose last assignment before receiving their diploma was to write a six word essay describing their future. And one of my students wrote, not having citizenship won't stop me. Now as a public, publicly elected local school board member, I don't wanna make a habit of talking about national politics, but the heartlessness and the incompetence of the people who have been supposedly enforcing immigration laws affects our students.
I work in politics and my day job is to get people elected who will uphold the values on the Statue Of Liberty and there's clearly a lot of work to be done there. As far as HISD and what we could do right now, what my students or what students like mine don't want is is for anybody who works in our schools to pity them, to feel sorry for them. And what they want is for us to get after it and give them the best education possible. Because once you have it, a great education is something that no president or dictator can ever take away from you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, next we'll hear from speakers who have identified themselves as students when they checked in
this evening. Speakers, please state your name and topic, when you step up to the microphone. Ms. Smith, will you please call our speakers? Leon Garza Lopez and Maya Garza Lopez. Are you here? Eliana Gottlieb? Hello. Today, I want to address HISD's troubling approach to teacher contract nonrenewals. While the district promotes a 50% decrease from last year's 1,400 nonrenewals, the process remains deeply flawed. Consider what has happened. Last week, sixty seven teachers were incorrectly informed their contracts wouldn't be renewed due to calculation errors. Only after superintendent Miles noticed inconsistencies were these mistakes caught,
but not before these dedicated educators experienced the trauma of believing they'd lost lost their livelihoods. The district issued a statement that they were, quote, pleased that teachers got correction calls. There is nothing pleasing about professionals being needlessly put through emotional distress due to administrative errors. Superintendent Miles superintendent Miles and miss Elizondo should have started with two simple words. We're sorry. Teachers deserve evaluation practices that are accurate, transparent, and communicated with professional dignity. Our educators build futures. The least we can offer is respectful,
error free communication about their own. Thank you. Thank you. Josephine Guzman followed by Ashwin Mohan. Hi. I'm Josephine Guzman. I came here unprepared without a speech, but I still have a pretty clear idea. Because one thing I have learned at school is how to prepare stuff on the spot without having something set. Now another thing is how how not having something set isn't always the worst. But at school,
we're being pressured to write something down twice. Like, on a test, we have done several tests different times instead of having different options for questions. So then students already know, and then we finish quickly, and then we don't have anything else to do. And the teacher tells us to review our answers when we already know they are correct. Thank you. Ashwin Mohan? Hello. My name is Ashwin Mohan, and I'm a first speaker. Tell me why when I go to school,
I have to worry if my teachers will be able to teach with their experience, or if they'll even be there, considering the amount that you have fired. Tell me why my teachers' lessons have turned from fun learning experience to robot slideshows in one single color. Tell me why my own teacher said Mike Miles treats everybody the same, as if we are just a number. He doesn't respect teachers and teaching, and he doesn't consider the teachers' opinions. So tell me, why after all of those things, you claim, to be helping us?
Tell me why you have wasted all of our time and funding to turn libraries into detention centers. So tell me why you treat us like this. Because while students may be 30% of our population, we are a % of our future. Treat us like it. Thank you. Alexander Olivera. Alexander Olivera. Alexander Olivera, followed by Benjamin Isquierdo. My name is Alexander Olivera. Mister Miles, you have made me move schools because we are afraid that you would ruin ours. We even had a school for me to go to next year, but that also got ruined.
I had to leave behind all my friends in the middle of the year because of you. We all hate how you are taking away libraries and books, and we all care and all you care about is a test and the test scores. You are also stressing out all the teachers, and learning should be fun. But now it isn't now. It's boring because of what of you are because what you are making us do. I'm surprised that some of the teachers are still there. Thank you. Hi. My name is Benjamin Iscardo. I am, I am a fifth grader in Wharton Doll Language Academy. I am here to talk about what I used to like and now what I
don't like about HISD. One thing I still like are the t are the good teachers, but some of those good teachers are leaving, resulting in us students learning less. The reason that good teachers are leaving is because they don't like how much pressure you put on them. Then they are transferring that pressure and putting it on the students, making kids stress a lot. Another thing that I don't like are the timers that teachers have to put on DOLs.
That also gives a lot of pressure on the human body and mind. I hope that, HISD puts an end on timers, DOLs, and pressure on the students and teachers. Thank you. We have one more speaker, a student who will appear on Zoom at the end at her request. Are there any other students here who came late? Leon? Not because they want to, but because they have no other choice. They teach us with love, help us when we don't understand, and make learning fun. But sometimes they don't have what they need to keep going,
or they aren't treated the way they deserve, and then they have to quit. That's not fair because a good teacher changes lives. They teach us to read, to count, and also to be kind people. So today, I want to say thank you to all those teachers who did their best, and who will never and who we will never forget. Thank you for teaching us with your heart. Good afternoon. Today I want to talk about something that many students are seeing with concern, teachers who are being forced to resign, not because they don't love their job, but because of decisions made by the district. It's hard to understand why someone who dedicates their life to teaching us,
motivating us, and being there for us suddenly has to leave. Sometimes it's not because they want to, but because they don't have the support they need because of unfair changes, or because the conditions make it impossible to continue. As a student, it hurts to see someone go who has been a part of our growth. Our teachers aren't just people who teach subjects. They are guides, role models, and often the ones who believe in us when we don't even believe in ourselves. That's why today I raise my voice to ask that more value be given to those who are in our classroom every day,
that district decisions don't push away the people who make our schools a better place. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other students? Alexandria Zicardo or Luca Candida? Okay. So now we will hear from our remaining registered speakers. If speakers number one through 10 could move to the front row, and beginning with Laura Hanna Olvera. Are we ready? Okay. Where? Mister Miles, let's start with the pay for performance. Are you serious? Let's be real here. It's all based on star test performance, which we all know is complete garbage and shows nothing about our kids learning and
development. It's all about the money to you. You don't care about our kids. You've made that very very clear. All you're doing is causing an even more toxic culture and enabling teachers to bond and make connections with their students, which is so important. On top of that, the no education system schools get more money because they're conformed or were forced to abide by your horrific ways. What a slap in the face for fantastic and seasoned teachers. You are ruining HID HISD and taking down everyone with you. As you likely already know, my son who spoke earlier, I'm so proud of you,
Alex, is already out of HISD, but I will never stop fighting for what is right for our community. Thank you. Catherine Donis. Agenda one, how is it that you're out of control spending for your central office benefit the children instead of their student services in their classroom? Mike Miles, it doesn't and I will continue this massive destruction because no one can stop me. Agenda three, how is financing your vanity news and boosting fake news media securing funds for our students? Mike Miles, it doesn't, but I can persuade my own ego to believe in that I care about the
students future and that of the certified teachers and support staff so that I can keep all of the funds. Agenda four, why do you continue to fire our beloved teachers bullying them into resigning? Mike Miles, it is my personal high and I will continue to expand my followers and give them the authority to fire the teachers, intimidate them into resigning, expanding my reach of authority. You see, I am like a golden egg. I am full of surprises. Isn't life grand? Thank you. Believe it or not, it's a good afternoon, and it's a good day. And thank heavens. Congratulations to the speakers in the they said it all.
They said it all. You know, I listen to my grandson. My heart grieves. The kids can't stand the school. It's not school. It's testing, testing, testing, particularly the magnet schools, particularly the magnet schools that you made sure that this is this was your increase. You flunk them down lower and then you got an increase. But one thing I looked at I think it was CNN. I forget what what channel it was. And the girl said, I'm just tired of living through first and historic moments. I don't want any more historic moments.
And my grandsons and my granddaughters say the same thing. All of this upheaval, it's they already come from upheaval. 70% are distant are, don't have have have no So they come from upheaval. They know about crack. They know about Thank you. Thank you. Michelle Williams, Houston Education Association. I looked at you all self evaluation, but I noticed one metric that is not on there. The metric is upholding HISD policy and also governing your one employee.
Our association filed a grievance on March 28. It has not been addressed by this body. They have not contacted her. March 28. Today is what? April 16? Also, this is the same playbook that when I came back into the district on TA's paperwork, it said I came before the board of managers. You all know that's not true. Pull the paperwork yourself. What we're asking you all to do is do your job. You took the elected board's job.
Do it. Find out why your HR chief has not contacted our attorney. Thank you. Floyd, you are a veteran DEI appointment that is a soldier of fortune in camouflage. NES is your WMD. It enables the voucher scam. No matter how much a one you put on it, we won't bite. You preach accountability, but you're a good faith error. The only nonrenewable nonrenewable mistake is you. You preach high performance, yet yours breeds lying and gaming the system. High performing DeBakey can't follow an IEP,
my reason for unenrolling my child. More TEA complaints on their way. The once listed to be fired principal was bestowed an honorary doctorate for optics. The elementary admin at my son's dyslexia art didn't do anything but worry about checking your boxes, putting undue workload on the coordinator. Lack of sped support and third grade reading scores is what you got dinged on for your 65% bonus. What gets measured gets fixed. You're not measuring up. Thank you. Hello. Is this on? Okay. Jesse Heiner. I am here to since it's budget season,
I'm here to introduce you to what I'm gonna call the $6,000,000 club. It's all of the people on your right. From a public information request, we found out that in during 2024, the following people made the following amounts. Jim Terry, three hundred five thousand dollars. Orlando Riddick, three hundred four thousand dollars. Imelda De LaGuardia, two hundred eighty two thousand dollars. Kari Feinberg, two hundred sixty one thousand. Ina Myers, two hundred fifty nine thousand. Kristen Hall, two hundred ninety four thousand. Morgan Hales, who is you will know her as Alexandra Elizondo,
169,000 in just eight months. Sandy Massey, two hundred eighty three thousand. Dollars DeLanda Castro, dollars two hundred and forty thousand dollars Stacy Vinson, dollars two hundred and eighty nine thousand dollars Jessica Nieman, dollars three hundred and five thousand dollars Rebecca Dre Valentine, dollars two hundred and sixty Kathy Beasley, at the meeting in February, your self congratulatory and somewhat nauseating dog and pony show would have been hilarious had it not been so rife with inaccuracies and blatant lies. You paraded a few teachers up here to tell the greatness of HISD and how all the scores had improved. Who are these teachers you talk to?
Are they the ones who are afraid to say what they think for fear of retaliation? Your system encourages abusive teachers and rewards the abusers. The only one who rise to power here are those that are willing to look the other way or actively participate in the systemic bullying that takes place in this district. That stress on teachers trickles down to the children you claim to care for. And now a new tragic comedy, pay for performance, a fabricated mind game of which I'm sure no one will know the rules. Again, more stress for students, but what we all know by now that teachers and students aren't what you're really
interested in. It's recognition for a job poorly done that's the real motivation. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Joanna Guzman. I'm mother to a fourth grader at at Wharton Dual Language Academy. We spoke last month for the first time here at the Board of Managers meeting, and we're back today. You guys heard her speak earlier, and I'm gonna build on what she said. She was talking about test prep. She's talking about repetitive questions and repeatedly having to answer the same darn thing. Last month, it was surreal to me. I'm a psychotherapist. I'm a former HISD teacher, and I have a master's in psychology and practice psychotherapy.
It was surreal to me to sit here just like tonight and hear over an hour of students and teachers and parents talking about the misery that Mike Miles has created in our educational system here in HISD. The fact that it's just test prep and they're not actually learning. And then lastly, he came up and talked about the progress. Well, of course, there's gonna be progress on test scores if all you do is test prep. Her teacher, mister Fernandez, was put on administrative leave because of poor management skills. Please bring him back. He is a good teacher along with all of the other ones with non renewals this year.
Thank you. Good evening, Brianna Mohan. An assessment is only useful if it is valid, which means it accurately measures what it is supposed to be measuring. Creating valid learning creating valid learning assessments is extremely complicated, because learning is an abstract, multifaceted concept that has to be somehow demonstrated. An invalid fourth grade math test might include word problems written on a sixth grade reading level. That test is not really measuring math skills. It's measuring reading. Threats to educational test score validity are also numerous.
Physical environment factors like noise and room temperature, administration fidelity, time of day and individual student factors like lack of sleep, hunger, having an argument in the car, all of these can impact validity. Thank you. Brianna Viborsen, if the fire alarm goes off in the middle of an assessment or if the test is given in a language unfamiliar to the students, the results are not valid. Recent changes in staff or administration, HVAC failure, a fleet of emergency vehicles roaring by, or a fight in the cafeteria can all impact score validity for an entire school.
This is why researchers go to great lengths to control as many factors as possible and manage the others by study design and statistical modeling. The scores received multiple reports and presentations using 20 three-twenty four MAP scores as a baseline for measuring student performance. The problem is that by all professional and research standards, these scores are not valid. Thank you. Christine Hurley. The reasons the 20 three-twenty four MAP scores are not valid include the following. First, teachers were not given adequate training on the test before they administered it.
Several teachers expressed feeling unprepared and uncertain about protocol. Second, students reported being told everything from just do your best to don't do your best because you're going to be scored on improvement over the year to don't worry, it's not important. Third, the middle of the year assessment was given on a day when several schools had no heat during a hard freeze, and parents were asked to bring space heaters and coats to school. Any researcher and any honest professional who is interested in accurately assessing HISD students using
the MAP test would call the twenty three-twenty four school year a practice run. Thank you. Good evening. The '23, '20 '4 map scores can only legitimately be used as observational data. For example, to notice whether scores were unexpectedly high or low at a given campus or between classrooms on the same campus. And then follow-up to see if there are any obvious factors that may have contributed or impacted the students. The only way to use the district's MAP scores in a way that is consistent with accepted academic norm slash rigor is to count the 24,
20 five school year scores as baseline. Use them as baseline because there was simply too many threats, to the validity of these scores in the 2324 administration. Similar threats to scores, to score validity are the basis of the lawsuit several districts filed over the twenty twenty three star scores. The test was given completely online for the first time and included much harder questions than before. Thank you. Three twenty four MAP scores are valid. And the twenty four twenty five scores show incredible
improvement. They do not. They are baseline. Further, this board has repeatedly been told, one data point doesn't make a trend, but we are already starting to see a trend here. In fact, in academic assessment, at least three data points are required to show a trend precisely because so many factors impact assessment. This means that using map data to identify trends cannot be done with any integrity until the twenty six, twenty seven school year. There are just too many factors that impact student assessment performance over time.
Thank you. The district budget is supposed to reflect the visions and values of the community. We value academic integrity. We value data in consist in ways consistent with best practices. Sorry, using. We value using words as they are defined and used in academia. For example, evidence based should describe something supported by published peer reviewed research. And differentiated instruction should mean teaching differently to different students, not a one size fits all scripted curriculum. A budget that reflects our vision and values will include using evidence based curricula rather
than one generated by AI, hiring and retaining certified teachers, Retaining. And returning librarians and wrap around specialists to all campuses, all of which are actually evidence based. Spending $3,000,000 on producing a television show does not reflect our vision or values, employing an uncertified superintendent who lacks academic academic integrity doesn't either. Thank you. Darcy Kirshan Laroda. In health care, clinicians are taught to always listen to the patient. Vital signs are important, but the patient tells you that something isn't right,
you need to believe them. The same can be said about HISD. Listen to the educators, listen to the parents, listen to the children. They're telling you something isn't right. The HIC scoreboard may look good for now, but it's masking deeper problems. In a patient with sepsis, the symptoms are gradual. One sign may look good, while every other sign points to decline. As the disease spreads, the body reacts, the blood pressure plummets, organs shut down. Mike Miles is a bacterium, a single celled organism who lacks a nucleus. He is an infection in our district.
His continued presence in our school system is sending us to septic shock. Please listen. There's more to education than test scores. Listen to the community. Thank you. Earned from years of learning and growing in this craft. I've helped students rise from deep academic gaps, and I've always chosen connection over conformity, playing at Reese's, laughing in the sunshine, and truly being pressing with my students. But lately, the system has worn me down. The joy, the confidence, even my belief in myself, it's all been chipped away. I've battled hard,
but the burden has become heavy. And I find myself questioning that everything that I've always known, that I was born to be a to teach. Yet even in the darkness, I chose to light a candle. I'm moving forward to a new district with hope that my wounds will heal and my mojo will return. Because no matter what, I still believe I was meant to be here. I am a teacher and that'll never change. Thank you. I'd like to tell you something. It requires more than a measure to eliminate the toxicity of working with a language principal, Veronica Celeton.
Thank you. And I would like her to just be out of those my work, my work is cool. I want her out. Thank you. Hi, Laura Henry. Thank you for supporting novel studies in schools. But as a reminder, excerpts of a novel out of order without discussion of the author or time period don't build knowledge, or teach authors perfect purpose or craft. In order to teach novels, kids need experienced teachers who stay all year. Out of my child's eight teachers, two recently left. They didn't go to NES schools. They left education. Last week, we learned that for the second year in a row,
teachers were told they would not have their contract renewed to the district's problems when they miscalculated their spot scores. This can be an oops for miles, but it destroys the career of a teacher. Last month, in response to doctor Cruz Arnold's question about grouping accountability, you heard the district rep say, we're continuing to look at it in case there are things we need to add to the system. It's still a work in progress. These aren't just the only problems. They're just the only acknowledged ones, and we're firing teachers over them. HISD is not Amazon, and it's not Microsoft, and there are no stock options. People good teachers don't wanna work in a place that's
Thank you. Thank you. Speaker number 18, Mindon Tran. We'll move on to all remaining speakers. If you could come to the front row, please. Go ahead. The STAAR test is meant to evaluate student performance, but STAAR testing actually shows that administrators have no idea what they're doing. Leadership is so terrible at Sharpstown that the testing coordinator quit weeks before STAAR began. TJ Cotter and his admin team don't know how to run a test or how to run a school. About 800 freshmen took the English one STAR test last week. No one communicated with the cafeteria, so only 200 kids got to eat lunch.
The other 600 students were sent off with leftover cookies and whatever else the staff could scrounge together. How else is admin failing? There are students at Sharpstown who are still in the wrong classes. A student who passed geometry last year was finally moved out of geometry this year after five cycles. Now he is one credit behind for graduation, and we know he's not the only student this happened to. Boycott, star testing. Cancel TES for teachers, and let's properly evaluate the failed leadership at HISD. Hey. Thank you. Speaker 19, Selena Garcia, followed by Edgar Isquierdo and Brooke Longoria.
Hello, I wanna speak about my daughter and 45 other students who were severely and wrongfully punished for expressing their freedom of speech, even when district leadership stood by and walked alongside them, and congratulated them speaking up. We are now in the process of our level two grievance, and we have our hearing April 21. As a mother, my daughter deserves an education that offers healing, and does not add to the harm we face in our communities where fear and hate want to destroy their lives. In this grieving process, I hope to get the suspension off her record so she can focus on school and her career path.
Our kids need you to respond by acts of love, not excessive hate and punishment. Remember the Northside forty five. Thank you. My children are attending Wharton Dual Language Academy. I see how you are reviewing and approving proposed reassignments and terminations of personnel, including teachers and principals during the closed session. Are you seeing why they are leaving? Are you just looking at the biased observations that are being done? A quote from one of your teachers. Keep the one keep the teachers that wanna be here, here.
Why are they leaving? They're getting pushed out because of the toxic environment that y'all are creating. They're leaving because they're managing their mental health. Our children are leaving H ISD because because we can. Not all families can do that. Mister Martinez, I see you taking notes. I don't see many others taking notes. Board of Managers, do your job. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Brooke Longoria. As I was driving over here tonight, I was thinking about how, my goals for the district and your goals for the district are probably fully aligned.
I think we all want the same things, but I get so sad when I think about how these policies and the actions are not gonna get us where we wanna be. How a very academic pre k doesn't yield the academic results we all want. I think about how the over testing destroys children's love of learning, and it's not gonna give us the test scores we want. Because you can't keep hyping up a kid for a test. They're gonna stop listening. They're going to stop trying. That's just kids.
I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that you reconsider some of these policies. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Adriana Isquierdo, and I'm here to speak about a critical issue affecting our students, teacher retention. This school year has been especially hard. High teacher turnover across campuses has caused instability, disrupted learning, and deeply hurt student morale. When teachers leave mid year or aren't renewed, our kids lose more than an educator. They lose trust, routine, and the relationships they rely on to feel safe and thrive. We've had classrooms without certified teachers for months.
Substitutes have been stretched beyond their capacity. Students are falling behind not because they aren't trying, but because they are not getting the cons In working, we've already lost that number of the five fifty years. Thank you. Number 23, Ruth Kravitz. Good evening. Thank you again for your service. My name is Ruth Kravitz. Julie Cole, TEA's director of student assessment policy clearly stated that if a parent opts out of STAR, the district should keep documentation, ideally a letter, and mark the test s for score. No makeup star or placing the student in front of the star is required.
But Miles, you are ignoring that. You've told administrators to put the star in front of kids anyway even with an opt out letter on file. As always, this decision deepens inequality. This is mostly happening at NES and high poverty schools. Why change policy in secret? Forcing nine year olds to choose between obeying their mother or a school official that's unconscionable. And just as he disregards families' rights around STAR, Miles, you are dismantling the very support systems families rely on. Last year, HISD had several wrap several hundred wrap around specialists. This spring,
only 44 and even more cuts are coming tomorrow. It's a betrayal of our children who deserve more than a test and endless test prep. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other agenda speakers in the auditorium? If not, we'll move to Zoom. Okay. Go ahead. Hello. My name is Claude Bittner, and I'm speaking on item two. As a parent and taxpayer in this district, I urge you to rethink how you're spending our tax our our public dollars. You approved a teacher evaluation system that will pit teachers against one another, encouraging them to compete rather than collaborate. This undermines the values and vision of the community. The scores, they will inevitably teach to the test,
not to the child. What scores, they will inevitably teach to the test, not to the child. What's worse, teachers couldn't can't even change their rate their ratings and the data is not likely to be publicly accessible. That's not transparency. That's bureaucracy. And now after reading the Houston Chronicle article about wrongful nonrenewals or firings of teachers, I have to ask, how can we trust this board to responsibly manage taxpayers' funds or our children's education when the superintendent can't even manage a list of names correctly? This is not fiscal responsibility. This is chaos. Thank you.
Thank you. Sam Bryan, please turn your camera on. You may begin. Hello. My name is Sam Bryan. I'm a current in HISD. HISD's cut to wrap around purposes in schools and its continued extravagant and wasteful spending on the Sunrise Centers are a tragedy for our school system. HAIC really must prioritize meeting the students where they are on campus instead of prioritizing spending on inaccessible, poorly trafficked, and poorly advertised Sunrise Centers. Information about the Sunrise programs is practically hidden and are often on these websites presented
monolinguals to the district that is anything but. This is a horrendous waste of our limited resources that can be better spent on assistance given to students in need on the campus. Thank you. Jessica Catrett, please turn your camera on and mute yourself, and you may begin. The National Association of School Psychologists recommends the following eight school based best practices for bullying prevention and intervention based on current research. Teach social, emotional, and behavioral competence using school wide positive behavioral interventions and social emotional learning.
Develop and implement anti bullying policies. Understand the connection between bullying and mental health problems. Teach the responsible use of technology. Pay special attention to the needs of marginalized youth. Use by standards by creating a school culture in which all students are taught the skills necessary to prevent and respond to bullying, collaborate with parents, gather feedback, share communication, involve parents in stakeholder meetings. Seven of these cannot be done when teachers are required to read a scripted test prep curriculum, verbatim from bell to bell.
Thank you. Doctor. Anita Wadhwa, you may begin. I have two daughters in HISD. One is in a Title I school and the other one isn't. The one in the school that is not Title I has access to a full time librarian, social emotional learning through the Leader in Me program, a wraparound specialist funded by the PTO, books and essays, plenty of school spirit activities. The one in the Title I school has no full time librarian, no social emotional learning, English teachers who can't teach novels until after STAR, constant turnover in the leadership, teachers with multiple classes in one period because of turnover,
students who regularly fight, and even incidents of teachers being harmed physically by students. So what's the difference between the two schools? Relationships are the foundation of any high achieving culture. The research bears this out. It's time for you to approve your own evaluation. You do the math. Thank you. Victoria Hoeppmann Bryan, you may begin. Thank you. My name is Vicky Hautman Bryan. I am a former HISD teacher who left before this mess and a current HISD parent. Mike Miles has proven time and time again that he cannot be fiscally responsible. He has taken us from a budget surplus to a blowing through funds meant to
be used for emergencies or lasting support. He left nearly $900,000,000 in purchases unapproved, an issue only remedied so easily because this board has chosen leniency. Now he wants a further $3,000,000 for his pet TV station, which is not just wild widely ignored, but which has been the subject of ridicule and jest. Keep that money for the students. You could be funding arts programming, field trips, UIL trips, conference attendances, or even I should wait. Librarians. How many librarians positions can you fund for 3,000,000? Well, if you pay them each $70, you could still bring back 42 librarians and have money left over.
What do you really think kids will benefit from more? Vanity TV productions or librarians who know their interests, passions and questions. So far, this Board has made it clear that it cares more for objects than it does for meaningful impact on students. Thank you. May it reverse course and actually choose to do the right thing. Thank you. So lastly, I think it is important that we talk about the origins of the voucher. Sarah Terrell, you may begin. Hey. Let me head back. Do the night. Sorry. Let me turn off the I just gotcha.
For supportive education decision that desegregated schools in The United States. Guys. For a second. And after that It's her feet. Atlanta. It's her audio. Access chamberly. Now this is made to study segregation. It's called damn it. It's both ways. That's where the idea of vouchers was born. We can come back to you, miss Terrell. I think I got it. And then I had it on playing on two screens. Okay. Here I am. Here I am again from Zoomverse because you all think that I'm a safety. This budget is silent as to the actual transfers in our app previously described as
property sales. How often does Miles symbolizely highlight his one time escapade to for rent? He hopes he won't notice he's selling real estate to pay the light bill. Previous board were required to reinvest sales proceeds in capital projects, but Miles balances the budget with these onetime cash outs. Who bought these six properties and for how much? Board members have not signed conflict of interest statements, but why not? Isn't that just basic to assure the public that you guys are not favoring related
parties? You do not think that's important. Is it not linked closely enough to student outcomes? This is a minimum for transparency, fairness, and ethics, but it seems that you are not up to it. Thank you. Thank you. Sister mama Sonia, please begin. Thank you. Doctor. Maria Benzon. Is Adida Sage Buettner going to speak? Yes. She'll be coming she'll she's on her way. Okay. She'll be right here. But may I go first? Yes. Absolutely. Go ahead. Okay. Thank you. My name is doctor Maria Benzon. As a former teacher, administrator, and education professor,
I'm deeply alarmed by this district's budget and policy direction. Mike Miles' five hundred and six thousand dollar income, which is three times the salary of governor Abbott's and a hundred thousand dollar more than The US President's, is outrageous, especially while public schools face cuts. Our district pays him to promote himself and his NES model like a slick snake oil salesman with potions that don't actually help. The teacher evaluation system you approved in March is another smoke and mirrors tactic, flawed both pedagogically and ethically. You lure people with promises of higher pay,
but only if they are compliant and enjoy reading off of the script. It promotes test prep over learning, competition over collaboration. You would rather have uncertified YES people than knowledgeable, competent, and certified teachers. This defies the values and vision of the community. Experience matters. Trust matters. Realign your priorities before more irreversible time is done. Thank you. Thank you. She's coming. She's right here. Come on. They're waiting for you. Alright. Next time? Yes. Start. Hi. My name is Adida Sage Bittner, and I'm a fifth grader at Condo Elementary.
I'm asking you to spend less money on STAAR test prep and computer programs. Imagine if that money went to books, musical instruments, or field trips instead. School should be about doing cool projects, art, and science experiments, not just answering another reading question or missing recess for test practice. My family's opting me out of STAAR for moral reasons. These tests don't show how smart we are. Kids learning English or with disabilities might know a lot but not test well. STAAR doesn't show who's kind, creative, or a good teammate, things that really matter.
Some say opting out hurts schools, but it's a test that hurt us. Teachers are stressed, not because of students, but because of unfair rules. If you care about the values and vision of our community, stop using tests to punish school. We deserve that. Thank you. Thank you. This concludes our speakers. Okay. This concludes, the hearing of speakers. Now I will turn over the floor to you, Superintendent Miles for a couple of updates. Yeah, go ahead. Board members, Mr. President, thanks for giving me a little bit of time. I'll try to be very quick. This is superintendent's report just to provide some additional information.
No action items or anything that we're voting on tonight. But I think it's helpful every once in a while just to give you the information that we gather all the time. And the first thing I want to talk about is curriculum and instruction. Curriculum and instruction has been a center point for any district for decades. But only recently has the profession turned towards high quality instructional materials. And for us, that's a very particular phrase that has very particular documents related to it. So it includes when we use that phrase,
high quality instructional materials, we're talking about curriculum maps that has the standards outlined and the TIGS, the TEXIS Essential Knowledge and Skills, pace for the teacher, lesson objectives that are rewritten so that they're measurable and doable within one class period, demonstrations of learning, lesson plans and PowerPoints that go with the lesson plans, suggested scaffolds and engagement strategies, bell work, relevant templates and rubrics, any assessments like the unit assessments, differentiated assignments and texts,
especially in the LSEE model and then answer keys. So these are all the things when we say high quality instruction materials that are included in what we call the HISD curriculum. Last week when I talked to principals, we do these surveys. They're our co surveys. They're just a quick check. They're done anonymously. They're online. And one of the questions was, Next year, my school would use the HISD curriculum in at least one grade level. And you can see there that 95% of the schools will most likely use the
HISD curriculum in some form or fashion even though only 130 schools are required to use the HISD curriculum. So at some point, that 95 will probably go a little bit higher, but that's a lot of teachers and grade levels using the HISD curriculum. You have to ask yourself, Why? The answer is teachers quickly got used to the curriculum and began to realize the benefit of having all the materials provided for them. They no longer had I'm going to ask you to refrain so that Superintendent Miles
can make his presentation. Thank you. They no longer had to make lesson plans or search for texts aligned with the objective. They no longer had to create bell work, assessments or assignments. They no longer had to worry about aligning lessons to the text's essential knowledge and skills, which is required by law. They didn't have to worry about the curriculum calendar or differentiating lessons for students who were academically high, and many other things. The reason why it's 95% is that teachers like the curriculum. And despite That's enough. Thank you.
And, despite outcries like that, the truth is that the teachers are wanting to use Susquehmm. It's easier for them at 04:15 to leave and not have to create the curriculum themselves or get extra text or things like that. So, one thing about the high quality instruction materials that's really important to note is that no curriculum teaches the high quality instruction materials do not teach. They are tools for teachers to use to help students learn. So HQIM will not have the desired effect if teachers are not proficient in the
effective delivery of instruction. And so, real quickly, in our profession, there's always been curriculum and there's always been instruction. And in many cases, the two are separate. If you just say, we're going to use Amplify, for example. And there was a pilot on Amplify a couple of years ago, prior to my administration. We're going to use Amplify, we're going to use Engage New York. I mean, there's all kinds of curriculum out there over the many years, Singapore Math. And we dump them on the teacher in the classroom and stories are replete throughout
our profession about books and curriculum being stuck in the closet, unwrapped, unused or used improperly. That's because curriculum doesn't teach. Teachers teach. So, the two have to be married, at least they have to be aligned. So, whatever you're using as a curriculum has to be aligned to both the TEKS, of course, but also how the instruction is made. Now, in many districts, they've gone they've taken extra steps to ensure that whatever curriculum they have,
it is aligned to the standards and what teachers are supposed to instruct. But this slide is where most people stop. And what's unique about the HISD curriculum, the reason why it's being used well and we're getting results, it will be if not already, the best curriculum in the state of Texas because of this. There is and I don't know any other district that's doing this a tight integration of curriculum and instruction. In other words, the curriculum is purposely used and designed to support how teachers instruct.
I'll give you an example. Pacing is one thing that all teachers deal with. Some are good at it, but many are not as good at pacing. The question is, are you spending too much time on different supports or in review and not sufficient time on the objective? Are you getting to the objective? Are you spending too much time on bell work or homework review, vocabulary review, scaffolds and not getting to the main content? Are you spending too much time on one problem or part of the lesson? Or too much time with a few students instead of the entire class?
In other words, slowing the class down because three teachers out of the 25 are not getting it. Do you move on? Do you not move on? Teachers not knowing when to move on. Teachers not providing students with multiple opportunities to practice a concept or solve a problem. Those are all questions of pace. This is part of instruction. And then the question is, okay, if the teacher doesn't have an idea of this instruction, no curriculum matters, whether it's AMPLIFY, HIC curriculum or whatever. So, what we've done, what the Curriculum Department has done, and it's been just amazing work from the Chief Economic Officer and her team,
Chief Kristen Holt, we use the instructional materials to help the teachers instruct. We use the curriculum. So in the PowerPoint, you get, not vocabulary at the very beginning, but it's embedded in the lesson. You get slides that are marked, Really important, can't skip. Others can be skipped. You have scaffolds, which are supports for students embedded in the curriculum. You have prompts for multiple response strategies and quick response in the curriculum, in the lesson plan. You have suggested times for multiple response strategies.
These are really beneficial to new teachers or struggling teachers or teachers working toward certification. Color coded slides next year to gauge the pace of the lesson. So first fifteen minutes, the teachers will be doing more direct instruction. Next fifteen, more guiding. Last fifteen, multiple at bats, releasing the students to do the work. That is the integration of curriculum instruction. It's happening here in HISD. That's why the curriculum is strong. That's why teachers are liking it. And it's just going to get stronger.
And that's why next year 95% of all schools will probably use some form of it. They're not forced to, 130 are. The others are not, they're using it anyway. Any questions on the curriculum? All right. Quickly on Superintendent, just on the curriculum. I know last year we I think somebody on your team referenced how improvements are implemented throughout the year. What does that process look like today and how we're getting feedback from teachers and make sure that it's actually beneficial to them and to the students? Yes. Thanks for asking. I I we're trying to go too fast.
So, what happens is when teachers or principals see something that, is doesn't make sense to them or, seems like a mistake or seems like could be improved, they pick up the phone and they call their they can call their principal and the principal can call their executive director, but often they call straight to curriculum. When I'm in the building, when Chief Sandy Massey is in the building, like this happened this week, yesterday, actually. Went to two middle schools. I look at the curriculum all the time, and when I notice something, for example, we weren't using the writing rubric as strong as we should in the materials,
the rubric that helps a teacher instruct writing. And so I picked up the phone, called Paige on Tristan's team, and said, Look, we need to tighten this a little bit, so that the teacher has a better chance of getting the kids to write a whole paragraph during the time that they're in class. So, that's how it happens. I mean, it happens organically, it happens all the time. And that's why it's a continual improvement model. It's that slide with the integration. And that is what works the best. If you just leave it for the curriculum,
if you just leave the materials, without that, it wouldn't get stronger, and the teachers wouldn't be able to we use that word internalize the curriculum. Thank you, Ed. I think you addressed the beginning question. Does teachers can reach out directly to the curriculum department? Yes, Ann. You remember you recall last year, we had, we hired a whole bunch of teachers half time teaching, half time working in curriculum just to make sure this integration was tighter. We have good people working in curriculum, but when you're on the ground in the classroom,
you know, or when you get the feedback from me and others and the teachers and principals, then you can do a better job integrating that, what the curriculum is and what the instruction is. That's good. Sure. Yeah, so one of the best things is that there's an actual button on all of the curriculum. So if there's any issues, any teacher, any administrator can just push the button. It's actually monitored every single day, multiple times a day, and they make corrections in the moment. So you won't see it, obviously,
that day because the curriculum's already been used, but they make the corrections so that next year it will already be made. We, we are getting lots of calls from other districts, both in and outside of Texas, to use the curriculum. This will be the strongest curriculum in the in the in the nation. I don't really care about that. I care about what we do. And, it's getting stronger every day because of this feedback loop that we have. Yes. That's good. And just as a follow-up, Board President, I had the benefit of being part of the student engagement this past Friday,
great participants. I know Board Member Cassandra was with us and Michelle and Jeanette and Rick for a little bit, no quorum, just letting you know. But a question with regard to some of the feedback that was provided to them, actually let me ask you this question first. The HSI curriculum, do they cover also AP classes as well or is it specifically not AP and not advanced coursework? Christian, what part can you answer that question? College board provides curriculum for, AP classes, but they don't cover the full year. So we do provide supplemental supports for,
some of our AP classes and some of our pre AP classes to support campuses implementing those courses. So the college board materials cover about 60% worth of the academic year, and so we we fill in the gaps. And have you found that for because part of the feedback that was given that and and they were pretty, I think, pretty balanced feedback to students. Like, they're really good about it. So they recognize the benefits of some of the pacing, some of the timers. Like, they recognize that in some courses, it makes sense. But in some courses, perhaps, it doesn't make sense because it actually kind of distracts the conversation.
A lot of that was advanced coursework in particular AP. How have we differentiated perhaps some of these practices with curriculum to for advanced coursework as well? I think one really important way is we built the specialty spot form, and that actually really focuses on what you expect to see, in a typical class, but also when a class has a different model. So within the specialty spot form, there's a specific, focused area for advanced coursework where you might see students engaging in more, project based stuff, research based stuff,
and how that might look different from a traditional classroom. And so we train on that. We show videos and examples of what that might look like in the classroom, and we use that for principals, and for our EDs. So I think that's one way where we can help make sure we're highlighting that classrooms do have differences with them based on the specialty guidance. And then there's also there's some common strategies that are fundamental to every good teaching. I'll give you a good example, engagement. So what, Kristen just talked about is engagement is important everywhere.
It doesn't matter whether you're a Montessor, IB, AP, you have to engage kids. But you might have on the specialty spot form, for example, where it's not about multiple response strategies, but it is a strategy to engage all kids. So even if you're doing the Socratic method in an advanced placement class, which calls for more deeper learning and discussion, you still have to have deeper learning and discussion for almost every kid. Because, you know, it's not good that three or four kids that always participate and love that sort of method,
and then half the kids are not doing anything. So while engagement is on that form, we recognize that it's not multiple it's not always parent chair, it's not always whiteboard or things like that. Can I have one question? With respect to the curriculum, are we seeking approval as a high quality instructional material from TEA, or what's the status of that? Sorry. Not at this time. One, TEA has not historically reviewed a district's curriculum. They have focused on the publishers that sell to districts.
The second thing is that when you submit a curriculum to TEA, you have to pause iteration, And you have to pause it for a pretty extended period of time, you know, in advance of submitting, and then you can't change it while it's being reviewed. So it could have to stand still for up to a year at times to go through a review process. And we had so many improvements that we wanted to make to it last year. We still plan to do that. So we want to make sure we can continue to iterate on the feedback that we're hearing from principals and teachers. But even so,
TA doesn't review district curriculum. Just today, just to give you an example, just today, we looked at curriculum for math and for the advanced and the S2s, the proficient students, and how we can integrate even more rigor into that. And so that's the iteration we're going to do, during the summer. So it keeps improving, keeps getting stronger. And that came about because some students said that they're racing through in the team center, the math especially, the advanced kids. And it's a little bit too easy,
not all of them, but some enough that we thought, okay, well, maybe we need to improve on that. Let's go forward. All right. So just quickly on the IRT, you may have gotten some of this in your materials just to show you. We had our third IRT, Independent Review Team. We have one more coming. And, I had set a goal of being at 10.5 by the end of the year. We're not there yet. These are the campuses, and this is the score. So proficient for the IRT for a school is nine to 11.
Once you reach it after eleven, eleven point five, you'll be proficient two. So as a district this size, just starting out, I mean, this is only the second year, it's hard to demand Proficient two, but I wanted to get close to the top end of Proficient. So the goal is 10.5 by end of the year. Here's where we are right now. The district as a whole is at 10.33. So we're getting close. I think we're going to be there. We'll see. And we look at all those different domains.
And you can see the different districts. We've improved since October. So October was 9.03, January and February time frame was 9.94, and then now 10.33. So hopefully, you'll see this in May. We'll have at least 10.5, we'll see. Not as an average, just as the score in May. And you can see, each division is going up a little bit, so that's the way you want it to be, improving on the quality of instruction. And this is, again, the number of schools. So most schools are proficient. We have 10 schools that are proficient, too, and then nine schools that are progressing,
too. And then, I was happy to see that the PUA schools and the NAS schools are very similar. That's a good thing. That means the quality of instruction in the PUA schools is also increasing, just as they are in the NES schools. That's a quick, summary of IRT. Questions about IRT. I have a question. Do you have I'm sure you do can we see the breakdown by school type, by middle, high school, and high school? Yes. There was a lot of slides that didn't yes. Yes is the answer. We'll get that to you. We already have it. Anybody else?
I was just gonna ask, just for those listening, a reminder on who the IRT Oh, yes. Thanks for asking. Yes. A little bit of a reminder of that. Thank you. Yes. Independent Review Team. This is a group of about 120 about 120 executive directors, some principals and some people from Kristen Holt's office who've been in the classroom and the schools. And so they do calibration exercises to make sure they have the same eye. They look at videos and score them. And they've all been trained on the spot observation form,
on instruction, things like that. So that is the group that goes to all two seventy three schools to give them an IRT score. And what makes them independent or, is Yes. They're independent because the principal will not if it if there is a principal on the team, they do not go to their school. I don't think they even go to their division. They go to a different division. Can I ask another question? This may be for, Chief Hull. Alisa came and she was saying that you all are putting together videos to make sure that everybody is in alignment. Can you just give us an update on where that is? Or maybe superintendent knows.
Yes. I can talk to it. So she was talking about teacher excellence system. And for that, all principals have to meet a threshold of proficiency in observing instruction. So every principal will go through these videos and the training, along with the training that they have received if they're here. And over the summer, even principals who have been here and who haven't been here, they will all go through certification. And that means certification to observe and score teachers on a spot observation. And that is different from these folks?
Some of the videos may be the same. There's a whole bank of them. Okay. But these folks also go through a process to be IRT members. So they also get training on, who do they see when they first get to the school? How much information will they give a teacher? Because they're not supposed to give a lot of information to teachers. It's not about the teacher at that point, it's the school. And things like that. So they get training as well as training on instruction. So there's a constant calibration. But it's different from whatever the principals are doing. Is that right? Oh, okay. That's what I kind of remember.
Yeah, because the principals, will be certified for TES Got it. Which hasn't started yet. Thank you. Okay, I think you have one more area. Yes, sir. You're approaching your time now. Yes, sir. I'm going to be quick on this. I think you got this data. So I just want to point out that we are looking at discipline data all the time. And at this point last year to this point this year, the number of incidents are down quite a bit, 20.86% as a district. That's huge.
If you look at by elementary, middle and high, same thing. Mostly in the high school, we're down. Elementary, about the same, just a little bit down. NES and PUA. NES discipline incidents are down 27%. That's remarkable to me. And but still, PUA is also 10% down. And then we can look at ISS. Overall in the district, down 14.95%. That's in school suspension. OSS is out of school suspension, down 20.71. And then, the only area DAP is also way down.
This is the number of the kids we send to DAEP, down almost 50%. And then finally, expulsions. Expulsions are actually up a little bit, but keep in mind, we're not talking about thousands of incidents, we're talking about 34 to 37. That's an 8.82% increase. Now we, if you look at the incidents, we're down everywhere except firearms. We went from 18 possession of firearms at this point last year to 42 at this point this year. And that's why, we're also doing things like putting in the weapon detection systems,
which we're not done with, but we have made good progress and it's been going fairly smoothly. And we're hoping that's not a fantasy, I've said it before. But it should help. That's it. That's all I wanted to show you on the discipline data just to keep you apprised that it is improving and improving quite a bit. Great. Thank you. Question? Go ahead. Just a quick question on disciplinary. What measures do we take or has there been a study of reviews for example out of school suspension and school suspension and expulsion? Has there been a study to determine what measures we took before that student got
to where they were at? Like did they receive counseling before there? Did we offer mental health to them? What offerings do we have for them? Or is it all of a sudden, they just kind of usually they don't, right? We can track where they're at. With regard to yes, off I mean, it's before the incident, there's not a lot. The reason why this is improvement is one, we have all the traditional things like counselors, we have principals and APs looking at it, office managers, we have social workers, we have threat identification,
things like that. Those are normal things. What's happening here on the incidences, especially in NAS, is a more safe and orderly environment. It is about making sure there are some strict rules, not unfair rules, and that we don't suspend kids right away. I mean, people think, you know, sometimes you take a kid out of class, he or she is suspended. No. You're taken out of class, you're zoomed back in through a Chromebook, and then you go to your next class. And that has worked well to not only make kids more,
orderly and respect the school environment, but it has kept them from being suspended. So that's the reason. Okay, any other questions? Okay, great. Well, thank you, Superintendent Miles. We're going to shift the schedule a little bit. We still have some students, that just arrived that would like to speak and we're going to open up the public comment again. So, Ms. Smith, will you call the students up? Yes. Luca Candida followed by Alexandra Ischieto. Hi. My name is Luca. I'm seven years old, and I'm here because it hurts that they are firing teachers without a just reason.
My teachers teach me, they take care of me, and they believe in me. It is not fair that they are taken out of the school when they do their job with love. When a teacher leaves, we also lose. I want to keep learning with people that make me feel safe and happy. Please listen to our voices. Kids also have something to say. Take care of our teachers because they take care of us. Thank you. Gracias. Hello. My name is Alexandria Scherzo. I would like to ask you to stop timers because they are giving
the kids stress and make schools more stressful than it's supposed to be. On the DLLs, if you get one wrong one wrong out of five questions, it's an 80. But if you get two wrong out of five question, it's a it's a 60, but I feel like it should be a 70. If you get two wrong if you get two wrong. More and more teachers are leaving because they don't like what's changing. When teachers leave, we are getting inexperienced teachers. Right now, fourth grade is the worst
is the worst one, and two teachers left from fourth grade. I want this to change because next year, I'm going to fourth grade and because Thank you. Diane, I can meet up. Speakers that, that came as well, so let's go ahead and do that. Camille Breaux followed by Diana Candida. Go ahead. Camille Breaux. I'm here to express deep concern about the decision to let go of inexperienced teachers instead of investing in their growth. Rather than providing mentorship, HISD is building spending millions on leadership roles that do little more than walk around
campuses handing out low spot scores. This isn't support. It's surveillance. It's also a fear tactic. I personally do not agree with the certification waiver. But now that it's in place, there is a responsibility to make it work. Our teachers deserve coaching, not punishment. If we truly care about student success, we have to invest in developing our teachers, not discarding them. Hands on training with teachers has been proven to work. Look at the literature. And it does not require a cabinet of bloated salaries. Dismantle this punitive system that demoralizes the people our children depend on.
Thank you. I'm Diana Candida and I'm angry about the continued mistreatment of HISD teachers. Even though our school is supposedly has a four level four autonomy, principal Celadon is following the district curriculum and procedures. This makes both retention and recruiting difficult. We've lost a significant number of teachers this year. And last Friday, six of our teachers received a non renewal notice. These teachers are valuable members of our school community. They know our children and are respected and appreciated by parents. The culture of the school is being dismantled with each departure.
The situation is even worse at NES schools. Board of managers, you've been brainwashed to believe that the new district curriculum is good. But how do you explain the fact that parents looking to put their children in pre k or kinder are actively avoiding NES schools? You need to realize and accept that Mike Miles is deceiving you, and what he's doing harms children and teachers. One day, those of you who have a conscience will feel ashamed and will regret the fact that you enabled Mike Miles to destroy HID. Act now and fire. Thank you. Okay, Board members, we have item two on our agenda and it's actually an item that's on the consent agenda.
And there was someone who on the Board who asked to discuss this question and maybe had questions about it. So if any rather than a presentation since it is in the in fact in the consent agenda, are there any questions Board members have of this? Sorry to interrupt. Sorry to interrupt. I just want to clarify. It's a report item. It's not on the consent. Oh, it's not on the agenda. Okay. It's just a report item but it was a question that someone might have had. Anybody have questions about this or want to discuss it? Because if not we don't we're planning on discussing it.
It's in the materials, it's just a report. But there was a question about whether someone wanted to ask a question about it. And there were questions asked about it in the Q and A that were answered. So if the information in the Q and A wasn't sufficient and Board members have a question, we're happy to discuss it here. I had made the suggestion that perhaps, Jim be available for questions. Right. It might be helpful to get a high level summation if anyone cares to do that, but if not, then I'm fine. Anybody want a high level summation? Yes, I think that would work.
Jim, can you come up and give us a high level summation of actual to budget? Good evening board members. So you have in your report the general fund, which is our operating fund for all of the school district. And if you look at that, it is by function code. And I think the best way to look at is these financial statements are through the first three quarters or nine months. And if we were to spend evenly and we don't spend exactly evenly,
but fairly evenly, it would be about 8.3% or 75% of our budget would put us on target. So if you look at the third column over, our fourth column, you will see that currently we're at just under 69%. So from a percentage point of view, that puts us about 6% under. But I warn you that this is third quarter, we've got April, May and June. June usually is a heavy month for spending as we pay out stipends and other
kinds of items that get caught up by the end of the year. And you can see last year that a percentage was 72% and we did better by the end of the year. So we're actually a little bit ahead of the previous year. And what I provided for you after that general fund by function, you will see the general fund by object code. Also in there is the other two funds which you all will eventually
have a chance to approve the budget and that's the debt service, the INS debt service is pretty constant, payments go out February and August. So you can see that most of the expenditure has gone out and then food service. And you actually have an amendment where we're adjusting the food service budget this month. High level. High enough. That's very high, I liked it. You answered my questions, but I've got one more. Are we going to have a budget amendment for the general fund?
You will have a budget amendment for the general fund in June. So, you know, we're going through it and then at the end of the year, we get a much better idea of exactly where all expenditures are, and we will move within functions in order to try to be in 10% I think is with the FASRAC, the governing text that we use from TEA at the end of the year. So we're within 10% of that right now and don't need to do a budget amendment, is that?
Well, right now, we're, you know, you can see that we seem to be if you look at each one of those functions, that we seem to be right on. But as I say, this is only through March and so the heavy months are of course the last quarter. Thank you. And you're confident that we will be within our budget by the end of the year? I'm certainly Don't total dollars. Yes, total dollars. Okay. You may move it around, but we're gonna be within our budget by the end of the year. I believe that we will. We certainly got some challenges, but, we're trying our hardest to stay within that,
the current budget. Any other questions? I had a, question. Thank you, Doctor. Terry. Just looking at the Child Nutrition Fund, can you just talk through the, net change in fund balance? I see a few different, changes, but can you speak to it please? The $4,600,000 Yes, let me bring that up. Okay, in child nutrition, they, you can see that their revenue, actually is a little bit ahead of schedule. But I do know that they've also had increases in food prices and they have,
they're still on budget. You're talking about the financial statement right here, not the budget amendment, right? Yes, sir. Okay. So, there is a change for the food service and you will see that they're gonna eat a little bit more into their, fund balance with the amendment. I guess I wouldn't have expected to see it and this is just me thinking about declining enrollment. Maybe we're not feeding as many kids. I just wouldn't have expected it. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. That is correct. That's what's going on and that's why the amendment.
But we're spending more, right? Yes, food service is costing us, food's costing us more too. We expect it to go up. So the decline in enrollment and the increase in food prices are causing these changes. Exactly. Exactly. Thank you sir. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Well thank you all very much. Thank you, appreciate that. All right, the next item on the agenda is we'll consider the action items, which is board policy requires board members to abstain from all discussions and those pertaining to contracts that might involve conflicts of interest. Board policy BBA
local defines the conflict of interest as any circumstance it could cast doubt on Board member's ability to act with total objectivity and with regard to the district's interest. We have the consent agenda today. Do I have a motion to approve tonight's agenda items by consensus? You need to hit my computer to get your computer awake again. And you may have to log in too. And your login's on the top corner of your computer. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Is there any questions or comments? Okay, let's go ahead and vote.
So we have eight yeas and one absent, so the motion passes. Thank you. At this time, the Board will recess to closed session on Chapter five fifty one of Texas Government Code Open Meetings Act subsection 551.004 through 551.008. Should the Board final action, vote or decision in any matter considered in the closed session be required, such final action, vote or decision shall be taken at an open meeting covered by this notice upon the reconvening of the public notice or at a subsequent public meeting of the Board
upon notice thereof. The Board has recessed to closed session at 06:53PM, April sixteen, twenty twenty five. Good evening, this meeting is reconvened at 09:22PM. We are now ready to consider items discussed in the closed session. Are there any motions? Yes, Board President. I move that the board, adopt the resolution of the Houston Independent School District regarding the sale of surplus real Which authorizes the vice president to complete the sale of the property known as SB 20 5 Dash 0 2 Dash 0 3 Brookline Facility 30 9 0 1 Telephone
Road, Houston, Harris County, Texas 7 7 0 2 3 to Chetan Wen in partnership with family. I Oh, I have I have I'm sorry. One at a time. Yeah. One at a time. Perfect. Is that are you finished? That's fine. Okay, good. Alright, so we have a motion, and a second. Is there any questions or comments? Please vote and I will also make sure that people understand I am abstaining from all real estate transactions in a, to make sure that there is since I'm in the real estate business there is
no appearance or any kind of, issue about real estate. Thank you. Motion passes, with one abstention. Is there another motion? Yes, please. I move that the board adopt the resolution of the Houston Independent School District, school board regarding the sale of surplus real property which authorizes the vice president to complete the sale of the property known as SB 250204, Chatham Facility, 80 1 10 Birtwood Street, Houston, Harris County, Texas 70 7 Thousand And 16 to Houston Habitat for Humanity Incorporated in partnership with
Northeast Houston Redevelopment Council. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments? Please vote. Again, we'll abstain. The motion passes with mostly yeses, one nay and one abstention. Okay, next motion. I move that the Board adopt the resolution of the Houston Independent School District School Board regarding the sale of surplus real property which authorizes the Vice President to complete the sale of the property known as SB 250211 Kirby And Orem Acreage, 0 West Orem Drive,
Houston, Harris County, Texas 77047 to Alliance Residential Company. Okay. We have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments? If not, please vote. Motion passes. One abstention. Okay. We have another motion. Yes, please. I move that the board adopt the resolution of the Houston Independent School District School Board regarding the sale of surplus real property, which authorizes the vice president to complete the sale of the property known as SB 250212 North Forest Acreage, Xero Mesa Road, Houston, Harris County, Texas 77078 to 4 Windy Hill Investments,
LLC. Okay. We have motion and second. Any questions or comments? If not, please vote. Motion passes with one abstention. Another motion? Yes, please. I move that the board adopt the resolution of the Houston Independent School District School Board regarding the sale of surplus real property, which authorizes the vice president to complete the sale of the property known as SB 25 And 215 South Area Office, 4 Thousand And 40 West Fuquay Street, Houston, Texas 70 7 Thousand And 40 5 to Community of Faith Foundation, Inc. We have a motion and second. Please vote.
The motion passes with one abstention. I have one final motion. I move that the board adopt the resolution of the Houston Independent School District School Board regarding the sale of surplus real property, which authorizes the vice president to complete the sale of the property known as SB 250217 Terrell Facility, 4 Thousand 6 Hundred And 10 East Cross Timber Street, Houston, Harris County, Texas 70 7 Thousand And 16 to Houston Habitat for Humanity Incorporated in partnership with Northeast Houston Redevelopment Council.
There's a motion and a second. Please vote. The motion passes with one abstaining. Okay, that's it on the motions. Okay, we are ready to hear any kind of reports or comments from board members. Board members? Go ahead. I'll be quick. Thank you. I just want and we'll probably talk about it, who all was there, but Friday was an amazing event with our seniors. It was just so good. The best and the brightest, the leaders of their class. It was an amazing, event and I'm so proud of how we prepared these students for, the next phase in their lives. So,
thank you. Anybody else over here on this side? Are we good? Great. One last comment. I just want to thank the superintendent and the staff and team today for the presentations that were made. The discipline numbers are incredible. Everything is going the way I think that we wanted to go. Kids are taking STAAR test. We do really appreciate everything that the team does every single day. We know it's really hard work but it's really important that we're doing that work and we appreciate what you do every day. So thank you. We stand adjourned.