Thank you, everyone, and good afternoon. Hi. I'm Marianne Shetty, and thank you for joining us today on our Zoom call for our charter school capacity interview. We wanna congratulate you on making it to the interview phase of the application process. So we realize that this is an arduous process, but it's truly aimed at ensuring all charter schools in Texas are high quality options for students and families. Normally, we'd go around the room and introduce ourselves, but today, I'm gonna take the liberty of introducing our TEA staff and any SBOE members that we have on the call with us.
So, again, my name is Marion Shetty. I am our deputy associate commissioner of authorizing and policy here at TEA. And then joining us from our division of charter school authorizing team is Britney Glynn, Sarah Khan, and John Garland. From our financial compliance team, we have David Marks, PJ Southern Orion, and Ashley Wilt. From our special populations team, we have Scarlet Pappas and Amy Johnson. And from our legal team, we have Bridget Ermesch. And we I believe we have on, the call also from,
our team as well, our instructional materials team, we have Linda Autry. And our state board of education members right now, looks like we have, member Clark, member Reviles, member Maynard, and looks like member Childs as well. So I think I've got everybody from our end. So today, is Wednesday, May 7. It is 1PM, and we are interviewing Fort Worth Steam Academy Inc for Fort Worth Steam Academy. So we'll ask that you remain on mute today when you're not talking and only come off of mute to answer a question or ask a question for our panelists and our board members today.
We've set aside two hours for the capacity interview. We'll hear a ten minute overview of your proposed public charter school, and then we'll have time for questions from TEA staff and State Board of Education members. So we hope to hear from your governing board as well as the staff of the proposed school. And based on your interview today and the strength of your application, the commissioner will make a recommendation to the State Board of Education, and the State Board of Education will consider those at a future meeting. It is our hope today that your application stands on its own merits and will not have any contingencies.
However, if there are any items that need to be addressed, our team in the division of charter school authorizing will contact you to address any of those items of concern or omission. So we'll now just have you introduce yourselves with your name and your role only, and then I'll give further directions. Nicholas Ditto, proposed superintendent. Angelica Liberone Gomez, proposed board secretary. Nick Smith, proposed board member. Theresa Davis Larry, proposed board member. Ruben Esketa, proposed board member. Eric Wilson, proposed board treasurer. Doctor Nadia Thompson, proposed board vice chair.
Brian Quintero, proposed board chair. That's everyone. So you'll now have ten minutes to provide the panel an overview of your proposed public charter school. So we'll start the timer when your overview begins, and we'll announce when time is up if we hit the ten minutes. Please bring your overview to a close at that time. We will then begin with our questions. Please know that today is not a time to expand or add anything new to your application. And with that being said, let's begin with the presentation of your vision. Good afternoon, members of the Texas Education Agency and State Board of Education.
Thank you so much for providing us the opportunity to stand here before you today. My name is Nicholas Ditto, and I'm the proposed superintendent of Fort Worth STEAM Academy. I'll share my path into education, the community's need, and our unique academic model. Originally, I planned to become a public defender to ensure that everyone had access to high quality legal support. But in my senior year of college, a Teach for America info session completely changed my life. I recognized the transformative power of education, and I knew that I could make the greatest impact inside the classroom instead of
the courtroom. This led me to teaching and ultimately school leadership. In 2019, I became the founding principal of IdeaRise College Prep in Fort Worth's Las Vegas Trails community, an area known for its high rates of crime, poverty, and human trafficking. But despite these challenges, I led the school to earn consecutive a ratings from the Texas Education Agency and become the highest achieving middle school in Fort Worth. But not every area of our city has access to high quality school options. In Central East Fort Worth, middle schools are drastically underperforming.
Last year, students met grade level standards just 15% of the time, meaning 85% entered high school on a path to dropping out or graduating unprepared for college, career, or the military. Fort Worth's STEAM Academy seeks to address this urgent need. Through more than 30 events and over 1,500 touch points with families and community members, we've heard a clear demand for a middle school focused on STEM in the arts, something that doesn't currently exist in this area. We are committed to building strong partnerships to ensure long term student success.
I recently met with the Fort Worth ISD superintendent to begin a collaboration where our middle school can serve as a pipeline, ensuring our students are well prepared to thrive in their high schools and beyond. And our mission is backed by broad community support, including the mayor of Fort Worth, City Council Members, and local philanthropic leaders. Our academic model has three key components designed to prepare our students for success in high school, college, and career. First, our joyful culture of high expectations. Providing our students with a safe, structured, and consistent environment minimizes distractions and allows them to deeply engage in their learning.
Our high expectations are paired with character development and a joyful environment that recognizes, rewards, and celebrates our students. Second is our STEAM focused education. Offering algebra one and biology to all students prepares them for the rigor of high school. Computer science and engineering courses help students develop essential skills needed for our rapidly evolving world. And our art classes allow students to unleash their creativity, shaping them into the innovators of tomorrow. Last is our individualized learning. By leveraging the power of technology and small group instruction,
we're able to meet each student at their academic level. Students below grade level can build those foundational skills they haven't yet mastered, while students on or above grade level can accelerate into advanced content. I'm proud to now introduce the proposed board of Fort Worth Theme Academy. This dedicated group of individuals brings decades of experience across key industries essential to launching and sustaining a high quality school. Good afternoon. My name is Angelica LeVroni Gomez, and I'm the proposed board secretary for the Fort Worth STEAM Academy.
I am a former middle school teacher and assistant principal with experience in both traditional public and charter schools. I currently serve as a senior program officer at a national foundation where I lead a set of investments to strengthen the quality of the teacher workforce and to better serve emergent bilingual students. I look forward to leveraging my experience in national philanthropy to support the team with fund development and to bring insights and lessons from innovative education models across the country to ensure that the kids of East Fort Worth have access to a rigorous and joyful middle school experience.
My name is Nick Smith, and I am a proposed board member of Fort Worth STEAM Academy. I currently work at the community relations coordinator for Witherory Law Group in which I have the opportunity to work closely with schools all across the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. I graduated from Easton Hills High School in Fort Worth ISD and have been a resident of East Fort Worth for the last twenty years. I'm also the father of an 11 year old girl at last year of elementary school. So I'm not only a board member, but also a parent who is deeply invested in the quality of middle school in Fort Worth. Having an opportunity to work closely with educators in the city of Fort Worth,
seeing firsthand the areas of need that Fort Worth's team academy will address through its unique academic mark. With my details to East Fort Worth, I will assist the school in continuing to build relationships with the families and the community as a whole. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Theresa Davis Larry, and I am a proposed board member of Fort Worth Steam Academy. I am a lawyer with over ten years of legal experience, including school law and advising school district boards and staff. I also have extensive experience as a board member in both legal organizations and nonprofits.
Being an active adult in my nieces, nephews, and brothers' education, I have firsthand knowledge of the impact educational experiences can have on students. Through those experiences, I learned of the importance of all students having a safe, secure, and positive school environment that will help them develop and positively contribute to their communities, whether that be in Fort Worth or beyond. As a board member, I will support Fort Worth Theme Academy to ensure it remains compliant with legal and governance matters. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ruben Esqueda, and I am proud to serve as a proposed board member for Fort Worth Steam
Academy. Professionally, I'm a commercial real estate developer, with a focus on affordable housing, bringing over a decade of experience collaborating with local community leaders and stakeholders to bring resources into underserved communities in order to uplift them. As a father of three and a first generation American citizen who grew up in a low income household, I know firsthand the transformative power of education. It was education that broke the cycle of poverty in my life, creating an opportunity not only for me, but also for future generations of my family. I believe it is a moral duty for us to provide the best education possible
for our children, ensuring that they have every opportunity to thrive and reach their potential. I'm honored to contribute my experience to Fort Worth Student Academy, helping the school navigate the facility search and acquisition process as we work to create a brighter future for our students and our community. Good afternoon. My name is Eric Wilson, and I'm the proposed treasurer of Fort Worth STEAM Academy. Professionally, I'm a CPA with over a decade of experience in nonprofit accounting, financial management, and grant compliance, including audits of Texas charter schools. Growing up, my family moved school districts halfway through my first grade year,
and my older brother and I immediately felt like we were behind our peers. But we also had many teachers and school leaders who were investing time and energy to help bring us up and realize our potential. By using my skills and expertise to help ensure Fort Worth STEAM Academy has effective financial oversight and practices fiscal responsibility, I hope to help other kids get a great public education and achieve their full potential too. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm doctor Nadia Thompson, proposed board vice chair for Fort Worth's team academy. As a Fort Worth native who grew up in Tana East Fort Worth,
I have a deep connection to this community and a strong commitment to educational excellence. With over a decade in education and leadership, I bring expertise online with our mission to create a thriving environment for all students, especially in STEAM fields. My experience as a teacher, instructional coach, and an assistant principal gives me firsthand insight into classroom challenges and successes. I'm excited to collaborate with our proposed board members, educators, and the community to foster an innovative learning environment for our students. Hi, everyone.
My name is Brian Quintero, and I'm the proposed board chair. For the past eight years, I have worked in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs where I focus on commercial real estate loan financing and data analytics. Prior to this role, I spent three years teaching at an elementary school in Fort Worth ISD. I experienced the frustration of working in less less than optimal conditions and saw how students were being left behind due in large part to systemic inefficiencies. My efforts at Fort Worth Seed Academy are guided by the belief that strong systems and proper resource allocation is essential to a great school.
Alongside our talented board and the dedicated proposed superintendent, I am committed to ensuring our students receive an excellent education. We're all finished with our intro. Alright. Thanks. Just making sure. So thank you. So we'll now begin the the question period of the capacity interview today. So but before we do that, we wanna verify the number of campuses, the grade span, and the maximum enrollment. To ensure we have your, your request reflected correctly, you're seeking to serve a maximum student body in year five of 450 students in
grades six through eight at one campus. Is that correct? Yes. That's correct. Great. Okay. So I get the privilege of asking the first question. And so my question, is for you, superintendent Ditto. So your application states that the governing board is confident that mister Ditto, with his robust knowledge, skills, and experience, is the right person to launch and lead Fort Worth Steam Academy. And you have long standing experience serving as a principal with IDEA. So how did that experience, prepare you to take on operational and financial responsibilities of running a school,
such as student recruitment and enrollment, facility preparation, budget management, and any and any vendor relations that might happen? Thank you so much for this question. So during my time as principal at IDRISE College Prep, I was able to gain experience across all of those fields. So to begin with, for several stretches, there was not an assistant principal of operations at the school, so I stepped into that role in addition to my principal role. That meant that I was directly managing and overseeing all of the operations staff. So for example,
one summer, I need to work very closely with our facilities manager to ensure that our facility was ready to go for the following school year. That consisted of a very extensive, overhaul and summer refresh of the facility. Additionally, during this time, our school had a second phase built onto it. And so I worked closely both with, contractors as well as our regional representative in ensuring that, the school was ready to go for our students and was meeting the codes. When it comes to vendor relationships, I worked very closely with our business clerk.
And so that meant ensuring that purchases were being received accurately, that payments were going out on time, and that we were maintaining strong vendor relationships. And when it comes to recruiting, I actually spearheaded the recruitment when we first opened the school. So I moved up here in March and really helped lead out on those recruitment efforts, ensuring not only we were fully enrolled during the first year of opening, but that we maintained being fully enrolled every year afterwards. So that's just a little bit about my experiences there during my time as a principal.
Since stepping away, I received ongoing training, across those areas as well. Some from the, public Texas Public Charter School Association as well as the North Texas Nonprofit Institute and, University of North Texas at Dallas. Thank you for that. So I have a follow-up question for the board. So, knowing kind of the the background and the experience, that superintendent Ditto would bring, In what ways will the board hold the superintendent accountable for the start up and launch activities of the school, and what might measures be taken if those activities are not on track?
Yeah. I can take that one. Our process for holding the superintendent accountable is based on the TASB superintendent evaluation system. So it consists of a structured set of steps, starting at the beginning of the year where the board and superintendent meet to review the superintendent evaluation tool and create, five smart goals aligned to key objectives. One of them has to be, at least one, related directly to, student performance outcomes. Next, the board and the superintendent create,
key performance indicators that are used to provide a benchmark for accurately measuring progress toward each goal. After that, the board then starts holding, quarterly meetings well, monthly meetings, but quarterly meetings with the superintendent where we discuss, progress toward the five goals and implement implement any required course corrections. So the entire time, we believe that the quarterly meetings help to provide benchmarks along the way, as opposed to waiting until the end of the year or later in the year, to discuss the,
areas of concern. Finally, the entire process culminates at the end of the year when the board provides a, complete comprehensive written evaluation of superintendent performance, and, that's based on the outcomes of those, five SMART goals. Thank you for that answer. I'm gonna go to Britney from our team with the next question. Awesome. Thanks so much. So you proposed to enroll a 50 students in year one, all of which will be incoming sixth graders. So here's my question. What considerations shaped your decision to only offer sixth grade in year one?
Absolutely. I'm happy to speak from a a management perspective and then definitely would turn it over to anyone on the board in case there's something to add on your side as well. So, on our side, from having past experience launching and leading a school, we found that starting with a single grade level is advantageous for a couple of reasons. First, it allows systems to get built at a smaller level and then scaled and refined over time, which we've seen leads to the long term success and sustainability of the school.
The second is also on the student and staff side. Being able to start with a smaller group of teachers, as well as a smaller number of course offerings really allows that from an instructional standpoint, the high quality instructional material to be used effectively, the teachers to be coached up very well. And then similarly, those instructional systems are able to get built over time, leading to that strong sustained performance of the school over time. And regarding sixth grade as the starting grade, that is the most natural starting point for middle school,
and that's why we decided to begin with just sixth grade. Perfect. Thank you. A follow-up to that. Can you share your considerations to only offering middle school for your proposed charter? Yeah. So from the board's perspective of only offering middle school, it's, based on a an great high schools, but there's definitely a need that we perceive in academic scores and, you know, historically academic scores in that area and, lack of, steam focused, education in that area, which places us exactly where we wanna be to in order to provide that bridge
between the gray, elementary school education and the, the possibilities in high school. So we see that gap as essential, to fill and something that we can really specialize in. I'm happy to add on to that piece for specifically on the middle school side. So right now in the area that we're seeking to serve, there are five open enrollment middle schools that are all rated d's and f's, and this underperformance is something that is not new, but has been pretty historical. On the complete opposite side, there are some very high performing high schools that are right nearby.
So I think about I and Carol that offers STEM and visual performing arts at the high school level, but it doesn't have any natural theater pattern. So we're really seeking to help bridge that gap and really support the, high performing high schools that are operating right within Fort Worth instead of trying to expand or have different grade levels that are already being served. Awesome. Thanks. I'll pass it back to you, Maren. Alright. I'm gonna go to John with our next question. Good afternoon, everybody. Kinda wanna stick on enrollment for a little bit, and kind of, talk a little bit about of a scenario based question.
So of the 50 students, that you are projecting, in a scenario where you all are only able to, shortly before you open your doors, enroll a hundred students. Right? So if we look at your budget, the difference of those 50 students is gonna create roughly about a 300,000 difference in your, state revenue. So if you could talk to me a bit about how you would approach, I guess, realigning your budget, and then what areas would you prioritize as you all try to balance that budget? I'll speak specifically from the budget perspective. And then, Nick, if you have anything to add on recruitment,
feel free to jump in. That's it. Part of the conservative approach that we've taken to our budgeting is to factor in some assumptions for under enrollment just to build a little bit of cushion in on the revenue side. So so specifically for year one, absolutely targeting a 50 enrollment, but we budgeted, a 35. So just to build about a 10% cushion in on that front. But this is something that we realize is a key driver of our financial position. So as we're, undergoing recruitment efforts leading up to year one,
it's something that we're monitoring very closely and proactively instead of reactively so that we can take action. We have additional funds set aside in the budget for, increasing recruitment efforts just to accelerate some of the progress on that if needed. But if we do see that, the results of that aren't panning out as expected, that would be a decision point, again, in advance that we'd be discussing. Do we reassess, additional funds to pursue additional recruitment efforts and or what expenses do we need to manage proactively in the budget. Some of that might naturally translate to potentially teacher headcount,
but also just looking across the board, you know, other expenditures, some of that might be driven, based on enrollment and just kind of per student that we can adjust on, but also looking all the way down kind of the expense line items to make sure that we control and manage against the revenues that we're anticipating based on actual enrollment. That's great. And could could could one of you all kinda talk to me about some of the experience that you might have professionally in dealing with budget realignment, if you can? Yes. So, in my current role and for the last a little over seven, seven and a half years,
I've served as an outsourced controller and CFO consultant for nonprofit organizations. And so a big part of that role is not only budget development, before a fiscal year begins, but it is, routine monthly monitoring of that with management and, analysis of any gaps as to budget versus actual. So being in that space of not only analyzing for kinda cause and effect, projecting forward through end of year to see how does our year to date performance
translate to full year performance, but then also identifying what levers do we have at our disposal to adjust on knowing the assumptions that we put into the budget. What of those do we think we'll catch up on, or where do we need to maybe take some corrective action and manage proactively? So that's something that I've been, very familiar with over the last few years and understand my role in that process would be different as a board member, but that's something that I will be able to, work with our superintendent to provide some additional kind of training and resource on on that process since it's something that's very, closely aligned with my professional experience.
Thank you so much. Marion, this is all I all I have for right now. Thanks, John. Then I go back to Britney for the next question. Thanks, Marion. So in your application, you cite specific schools with the proposed community, and their kind of state assessment scores. If accurate, this means that the performance gaps of the students that will be your incoming class, will be vastly different from your student outcome goals in year one. So my question here is what specific design elements or features of your model provide the most evidence based support to support your target goals in literacy and in math?
Thank you for the question, and I'll start off and then pass it on to Doctor. Thompson. So yes, we do expect that we will be serving a large percentage of students who are significantly behind academically, and we have designed our school model very intentionally to meet their needs. Our master schedule includes a daily sixty five minute individualized learning block, to be used for strategic intervention, for students who are below grade level. And so students during that time will either be in small group intervention with teachers using evidence based practices that they will be trained on during summer PD, ongoing PD throughout the year,
and coached on regularly, as well as using several tech enabled intervention programs. The two programs that we have identified for literacy are Achieve 3,000 and the McGraw Hill Corrective Reading Program, and for math we've identified DreamBox. All three of these programs, have a strong evidence base behind them for effectiveness with our anticipated student population, which should be include a large number of emerging bilinguals, students who are at risk, who are behind academically. And our proposed superintendent, has used them in his prior school experience and seen them drive pretty strong academic
results, for students who are below grade grade level. Doctor Thompson, do you add anything on the core curriculum side? Yeah. For the high quality instructional materials, we've selected curriculum that is fully aligned to the Texas state standards. In addition to that, we've also utilized research based instructional strategies that will meet the needs of all of our students. We also prioritize for criteria when selecting our, curriculum. So, again, making sure that it's aligned to the TEKS,
Also, making sure that each of the curriculums that we've selected would also, include a constructive scope and sequence that promotes vertical alignment. It has robust lesson materials, and there are opportunities sufficient opportunities for students to practice, and it's accessible to all learners. Awesome. Thanks. I do have just a follow-up to that. So, mister Ditto, you mentioned that you've led a school to an a rating, in 2122. Can you speak a little bit about closing considerable performance gaps at this school or any other school?
Absolutely. So during my time at ID Arise College Prep, we were receiving students in sixth grade that were an average of two years, below grade level. And so for us, we took a similar approach of ensuring that we have strong tier one instruction that's happening in core classes with that scaffolding to ensure that all students are able to gain access to it. Additionally, leveraging strategic interventions that are research backed to help meet students at their academic level
and over time, seeing those two things converge within students getting on to grade level. And so very specifically, although the first year there was no star exam because that was the pandemic year. The second year we had forty percent of students meeting grade level, this year after that 69 and then up to seventy four. So we are able to see consistent gains in grade level performance, and that's not even touching on the high amounts of student growth that we are able to see through taking this approach. And I think one other piece that I wanna highlight within our model at Fort
Worth STEAM Academy is our double blocked literacy. So providing a hundred thirty minutes of literacy instruction to really ensure students are getting that strong foundation compared to the local school district that provides forty five minutes daily, of literacy instruction. Thank you so much for that, Maryann. Alright. I'm gonna go to Sarah with our next question. Thank you. In your application, you named the that the board is going to review, and monitor student performance data monthly. So my question is really, how will how would you hold mister Ditto accountable if student progress is off schedule?
Yeah. So, again, we're, taking it back to the, goals set at the beginning of the year, you know, and basing everything off of that. So we're looking at, you know, the overall goals. And, for example, in year one, we're setting, three goals based on student outcomes. And based on based on those goals, we're creating smaller portions of them, smaller key performance indicators to tell us kind of, benchmarks throughout the year where we should be. So if we're not meeting something, then we're, meeting as, you know, as a group and considering strategies and,
hearing also from our, you know, any advice from our academic achievement committee, to be able to course correct and redirect, resources and maybe reallocate time, maybe speak with with Eric, you know, and look at look at the budget, see if there are any more financial resources to allocate as well. So the whole idea is working together and being very clear about our goals and chunking them down throughout the year to make sure we're hitting them. And, you know, should we come to a point where, where we have many at once that we would,
I guess, at at that point, we kind of prioritize the ones that are most aligned to our, most important, objectives for the year. Thank you. Maryann, back to you. Thank you. I'm now gonna go to Scarlet Popos from our Special Populations team. Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. I do wanna talk a little bit about your oversight for special education. Given the absence of the dean at special populations in the first year, what interim measures will you implement to ensure that special education staff follows systemic operations that meet compliance requirements? I'll give you an example. Who will be responsible for tracking the data that gets submitted to the state for
state performance plan submissions or ensuring things like, manifestation determination meetings are scheduled if needed? Thank you for that question. So at Fort Worth Student Academy, we are committed to providing a high quality education education for all students, and we will follow all state and federal laws and regulations related to our special populations. As far as staffing, we will have certified ESL teachers for all of our core classes and then also certified special education teachers and contractor related service providers to monitor their academic performance.
The campus will conduct quarterly data reviews to ensure that special population students are making adequate growth and achievement and align with their peers. The board is responsible for ensuring that the programs and resources needed, for our special populations to access the, education are made available, and it's also our superintendent's responsibility to implement those on a daily basis. I will pass it over to Nicholas to provide, like, the intricate details of what'll happen on campus. Absolutely. So during that first year, in lieu of having that dean of special populations,
we will be providing a stipend and additional training to a SPED lead teacher. That will be that first person that will be helping, for example, schedule the MDR, prepare the initial, data to be submitted to the state. Of course, as the superintendent, I'll be responsible for signing off on those pieces and ensuring that is happening. I also wanna lift that we'll be, contracting and partnering with region eleven for some additional support in these areas to make sure that we are remaining in compliance with, all federal and state laws as it relates to our special populations.
Thank you. I'll pass it back. Thanks, Scarlett. I'm gonna go to Bridget next. Thank you. Good afternoon. I have a question about transportation. I know in your application, you had stated that you didn't anticipate that, students most students would need transportation. I was wondering what research was done, in terms of the the the community need, the student need for transportation? And then how will you pivot should you find out that, in fact, more students need transportation than you had originally anticipated? Yeah. I'll take that one. So, you know, Fort Worth Steam Academy,
it's important to us that we ensure that, all families have access. Although we're not providing transportation, there is we're strategically, we were located in an area of Central East Fort Worth with a dense population. We're surrounded by, multifamily housing and and major neighborhoods within walking distance. We anticipate that the great majority of of our students are gonna be coming within that short radius. We are also, in conversations with low several, lower no cost, organizations to provide programs before and after our our typical hours to sort of better expand,
the resources that are available and be more accessible to those in the area. And I'll let Nick speak to, any future, items that may come up. Sure. I would also share, two things. So one, you asked about what we would do, in case we need to pivot. So one, we are committed to providing all required transportation, and so we've budgeted for a vehicle as well as ongoing costs for operations. And as far as pivoting goes, in case that we all of a sudden have a need that was not anticipated
and had not been communicated in our conversations with families and community members, we do have additional money set aside within the budget. And so we would be able to utilize that money as well as make some retooling in in the budget if needed. Thank you. I'll pass it back to you, Marion. Thanks. We're gonna go to Linda with our next question. Hi, everyone. Just wanted to ask a little bit about the, from the academic experiences, point of view. What is the initial and ongoing plan for training teachers and instructional leaders for HQIM
that you have listed? I'm sorry. Can you can you repeat the question? That's the first part. Absolutely. Talking about professional development for your staff, what is the initial and ongoing plan for training teachers and instructional leaders for HQIM? Absolutely. So on the initial period, we've dedicated ten days of professional development before the start of the school. And so prior to that, the school leadership team will be meeting with the instructional material vendors to really be able to learn the ins and outs and deeply understand,
all the different features of the curriculum, as well as be able to go through them ourselves. Then we'll be able to train those teachers during that initial summer professional development time. And so that way, they can get that great start to the school year and understanding the the basics and unpacking that first unit and really understanding the curriculum. From there, we've allocated one to two professional development days each month. And so that will serve for teachers to be able to utilize some of that time to unpack those next units to continue their understanding and building their knowledge and
ability to execute those high quality instructional materials. Aside from that, we've been very intentional in ensuring that no instructional staff member manages more than eight teachers at scale. So that provides a lot of time during the week for that observation and for those individual coaching sessions and supports during teachers' sixty five minutes of daily planning. So that's a little bit about just on the front end as well as that ongoing way that we'll be able to continue training and supporting our teachers to utilize the material.
Go to David now with a set of, finance questions. Good afternoon. So my first question is, around the efforts that that you guys have done since you submitted the application and then, continuing on. As far as, obtaining local contributions, Whenever I look at your your budget for year one and year two, if I were to subtract out both of the the local and other revenues, so your local contributions, you would be operating at a loss. So I wanted to be I wanted to hear from you guys about your efforts
and then also who would be leading, the charge on that. Yeah. So I can speak to some numbers on that. I can say so far for that that first year, I believe we'd budgeted 271,000 on that line item. And as of, I think this was the eighteenth, a couple weeks ago, we had already secured $296,000 of support. Some of that's, agreements that are effective after authorization, but we have already secured that amount. And then we're in the final rounds of, grant support for an additional 450,000 coming from two different national foundations.
And then from conversations that, both members of the board as well as, proposed superintendent have had with, other local foundations and organizations, Others have expressed interest in supporting the organization, the school, post authorization. So we've made strong headway in that and do have a a pipeline in development, already in progress so that we're pursuing and feel that we're well on track for the numbers that we've laid into the budget thus far. I'd also add that on the board, we have a fund development committee that will be responsible for leading the charge around
fundraising and partnership with our superintendent. And also the two grants that Eric mentioned that we are finalists for this year, were we not to be awarded those grants we'll know in mid June, we still have the opportunity to recompete for them the following year before the the school actually would open if authorized. So can I just clarify really quickly? So of the 02/1000 for the start up year, you have commitments from commit like, for all of those funds currently. And then of the amount of the 450,000
for year one of operation, you're working towards that currently. How much of that has been is actual tangible commitments? So we're in the final rounds of the applications grant applications for that additional 450,000. So it's not firmly committed yet, but we should know within the next, month and a half or so. Okay. Go ahead, David. Okay. And so if if the that fundraising doesn't come through, similar to what the exercise that John was walking you through, except for in this scenario,
you didn't receive the local funds, so that's 450 for year one, and then year two is 250,000, which, for that particular year, you also only reported a net operating income of just over $3,000 which I know you have a little bit of contingency built in there. What what kind of efforts, are are are you will you make to either obtain those funds or back to cutting cost? I know that I think I heard you say that you you're planning on a
50 students, but, whenever you you did the budget, you only planned for a 35. If you wanna talk, more about the thoughts behind that as well, happy to listen. Yes. So a couple different measures of conservatism have been factored into the budget on the revenue side, but not the expenses side. So kind of budgeted for some contingency in the revenue line item while budgeting full expense to factor in some cushion that way. One was on enrollment and budgeting slightly below our enrollment targets,
as well as, budgeting a little bit for, less than where we expect to land on ADA. So also to to build a little bit of contingency in the revenue from that perspective. Additionally, we do have that reserves or contingencies line item in the budget. So for year one, that's really just a set aside. So that was 45,000 that year and then a hundred 46 the following. So if we were faced with a revenue, shortfall, that's that's an area that could adjust to where the true bottom line is a little bit understated because of that contingency set aside.
The first option would be to pursue additional fundraising, philanthropic opportunities. And, I don't know, and, Aleka, if you won't have anything to add on that in just a second. But we'd also be looking at, if we've accumulated reserves yet, is that something we can draw on or adjust what our reserve target is, knowing that that's kind of another lever that's built into the budget, as well as looking at any of the expenses that we can control. So knowing if some of that is enrollment related, are there per student costs that are already variable, or are there things that we can,
proactively plan to adjust on to help right size the budget in the event of a revenue shortfall. And, Helga, do you have anything to add on the fund development side of that? Not particularly. Yeah. And then I know also, mister Ditto has undertaken a grant writing course. And so just as part of his professional development, within Hellica's background, that is a skill set that we're, developing and being proactive on so that we can manage towards those goals, ahead of time rather than finding ourselves, up against the situation without appropriate time to take corrective action on that.
Great. And then, also in line one eighteen of your of your budget, basically your student incentives and, your Steam store, you have budgeted, not an insignificant amount of money to that line. So I wanted to hear what what your plan was because it reads like you're essentially using state funds to incentivize students to attend school, which you're not really allowed to do. So, wanted to hear what your thoughts were on creating the SEAM store and then, doing those incentives for for students. Well, Obin was saying that our our intentions are to follow all state and federal laws
and make sure that we're administering state and federal funds appropriately and that noncompliance is, not an option. And so there's no intention to misuse state funds. Nicholas, could you speak more specifically about the Steam store and that budget line item? Yeah. Absolutely. So the Steam store is really connected to our positive behavior system. And so that way, again, as students are are earning points and being recognized for their positive contributions to the school, it's an opportunity for them to be able to get some some tangible pieces again, little knickknacks or things like that.
And, again, we just want to make sure that we had sufficient funds to be able to operate that, including utilizing it for our house systems where we're having some of our celebrations and pieces to really recognize and reward our students, but not on the attendance side. Rather, it's more so focused on their behavior. But in order for them to have those positive pieces, they do need to be at school, of course, but the focus is not the attendance. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, David. I'm gonna go to Amy with our next questions. Hi,
everyone. I'm from the emergent bilingual support division, so I wanna focus in on your emergent bilingual students who are participating in your ESL program. Specifically during the, individualized learning time, that sixty five minutes. You've talked about, small group. You've talked about some tech assisted, McGraw Hill corrective reading, Achieve 3,000, DreamBox math. Some of those can be toggled English, Spanish. But I'm wondering in terms of individualized learning, what opportunities will there be for students in your ESL program to develop their English
language proficiency skills? Yes. So, we imagine that that is a time, that students, who are emerging bilinguals, especially those who might be earlier in stages of language acquisition, that will be the time that they would receive additional support for English language development. We have not yet chosen, an official program. Some of the potential options that we've seen to be successful in the past, have been imagine learning, or a program called direct instruction spoken English. So those are two options that we're looking into but again have not yet made a decision on. And our interventionists will also be ESL certified,
as as will the rest of our core teachers. So they will have the skills, training, and support needed to also do some English language development in small groups within that setting. Nicholas, is there anything that you would add from the management side to that? Okay. Thanks. And you kind of, went into my next question. When you meet your sixth graders in year one, some of those students may be relative newcomers to US schools. Some may, by sixth grade, be long term English learners. So how would you address those students differently? And I'm and I'm you already talked about differences in that individualized learning time,
but I'm particularly thinking about content based language instruction and what instructional practices teachers might have within the content areas. Yes. So we've, selected to use the content based, ESL, model, since it allows for students to ensure they're getting to on grade level content, while developing, their English language skills at the same time. This is important because, as we know, all subjects are start tested by the end of eighth grade, and it's important that students are not missing out on any of the content, due to language.
The core curriculum, the the HQM that's been selected by our team as Doctor. Thompson spoke to earlier, one of the key criteria for selection was attention to the needs of emergent bilingual students, and so they all have strong scaffolds and supports in place to support teachers and making sure that that material is accessible to emergent bilinguals. And I'm sorry, could you repeat the second part of your question? Well, I was just thinking about the differences in these two subgroups that might be relative to newcomers versus long term.
Yes. And and that is where our individualized learning block really comes in and is really important. During that block, students will be able to receive the more individualized students who need more time, with basic language English language acquisition will receive more time. And then the final note on the curriculum side, our math, ELA, and science curriculum is all also available. There's a Spanish translation, available that students who have significant gaps in English language, that can it can be used in in their native Spanish language if that's their
home language, to help ensure that they're getting some access to content, before it comes in English, and to start fortifying there. If there are, students, a a significant percentage of students or any students who speak a language that is not Spanish, that is not their home language, we are starting to look into what AI applications, might be able to help us, when there's a very significant gap there to address to make sure that they are still getting the access they deserve to content. Okay. Thank you. Okay. That brings us to the end of our TEA questions.
So I'm gonna open it up to our State Board of Education members who might have questions. On the line, we have, member Clark, member Brooks, member Revelis, member Maynard, and member Childs. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for your time today. My first question is centered around, we just had two charter schools closed in Fort Worth area. Two charter schools closed in the Fort Worth area. One specifically in Academy of Visual and Performing Arts in that area. How will your campus be different for the middle school experience?
Thank you so much for for that question. So when I think about how our canvas will be different than the two canvases that they recently closed, we're really thinking in three areas. So the first is that fiscal responsibility. So ensuring that we are always operating, obviously with a positive revenue and making sure that we're meeting our charter first requirements through strong oversight, of course, from the board. I think that the second piece is gonna be ensuring that we're getting fully enrolled. We know that not getting fully enrolled places additional strains and challenges on the budget.
And in some instances requires that right sizing of SAFT to make sure that you are not having too great Expenses while having those re reduced revenues. And then I think the third piece is really having a intentional academic model to be able to support students who may be coming in below grade level, meeting them where they're at and continuing to put them on that path to being on or above grade level, which I think is is an important differentiator and piece there. Thank you. And then I know you spoke a little bit about the transportation piece,
but can you speak again to how students will have equal access to your school when you do not guarantee regular accessible transportation for all students? Sure. So I think ensuring that there's open access to our school from everybody in the community is is really something that's key. And so one, being very specific about where we're looking to locate our school so that it is an area of high population density that's accessible walking, biking through public transportation there. I think the second thing is also understanding that folks may work earlier in the
morning or later at night. So having that low or no cost after school and before school care available so that families could bring their student as early as 06:30 in the morning and pick up as late as six in the evening if it is necessary. And of course, that that deep commitment to ensuring that we're following all federal and state guidelines, of course, related to required transportation budgeting that in. Thank you. You just spoke about, before school and after school care, but we currently see that on the national level, the president is currently trying to reduce,
funding for after school, style program. So what is going to be the methodology for you all to sustain that program to with fidelity? Yeah. So I think working really closely with several different, before or after school care providers to see which is going to be the the most feasible and most sustainable there. We know that several have, sliding scale pieces where they use some of their schools that are very low free and reduced lunch, charging full price in order to subsidize schools,
where many students are free and reduced lunch so that they're able to provide it for free at those sites. So I know that's one of the financial models that a local organization uses, but we are also in those conversations right now to ensure that we're able to provide that for families. Thank you. Also, going back, you just talked about the free and reduced lunch piece. Well, we also see with the Department of Education and that being part of the agricultural need, that's gonna be a funding proposition that's probably cut too. So then what's the plan? Are you referring to the the money that's being used for the child nutrition program?
Yes. In the agricultural program, which that falls under. Yes. Yeah. So for that, again, I I can't speak to the federal legislation that's happening right now. Again, we are committed to continuing to follow any updates and work closely so that we're able to provide it. Again, we will be providing, on-site meals for our students. Thank you. Member Brooks, member Maynard, member Revelis, member Childs, do you have any questions? Hi. This is, this is Gustav Revelis, and I'm sorry. There's some noise in the back. Right? I'm in a, I'm at a meeting in a conference.
I wanted to touch as someone who does, marketing and recruitment for my school district. I wanted to see if you guys could answer the question about recruitment. How will your recruitment efforts target, your student population given, your desire to target, low income at risk students there? And how will you change your program model if your enrollment does not meet your demographic projection? Thank you so much for for that question there. So I wanna speak to a couple of things that we have in place to recruit a wide variety of of students that are reflective of the community that we'd
serve. So within this community, as you showed, there is a high portion of families that would qualify for free and reduced lunch. So a specific example of doing that door to door canvassing, knocking on doors, handing out flyers, hosting events in areas that are key right within the communities, such as community centers, libraries that are easily accessible. We know those families may not have reliable Internet access to engage in digital marketing pieces. Second, we also know that certain portions of the ZIP code have a a high portion of primarily Spanish speaking families.
And so having all of our materials in two languages, whenever we are at a recruitment event and we know that there's gonna be a high portion of Spanish speakers having folks that are bilingual in order to deeply engage with those families there. And, could you repeat the second part of your question or the first part? Oh, changing the model. Right. Yeah. So, for us, of course, the we wanna make sure that we believe that we've designed our model that'll be strong and flexible variety of students there. So, for example, if we have, less students that are below grade level than we suspected,
again, that individualized learning block will be able to meet, students' needs wherever they're at. Same thing with our high quality instructional materials, really ensuring that they have strong supports and scaffolds to meet students in special populations as well as students at a variety of performance levels. Yeah. And I'd just add, there's also some financial considerations alongside those demographics that we understand there's some interrelation there, especially when it comes to the federal, anticipated funds that we've included in our budget. So if we do see actual demographics of enrollment diverging from what we had expected
and anticipated, that we would then also, run the numbers on the budget side of things to make any adjustments that we needed to on that side as well. Well, and and, you know, as as, you stated earlier today, you're you're you're, to mister superintendent, you you mentioned your success in recruiting when you were at Idea. Idea does spend, millions of dollars in urban areas like Fort Worth in recruitment and marketing. Your your budget is significantly lower than that. How will that impact your capacity and your success in recruiting, given your limited,
funding for, for marketing and recruitment there? Thank you so much for that question. And and I would definitely state and share that although they do spend that type of money now, when we launched ID Arise College Prep, IDEA was completely unheard of in this area. And so many of the same marketing tactics and strategies, being that we're planning to use are ones that we use then. Door knocking, tabling, having those small local events, and we actually found that those were the most impactful pieces. Although nationally, again, there may be a large marketing budget overall when it came to our school specific
budget that we had as far as, money for materials, events, things like that, it was pretty shoestring and comparable. And so I am confident that utilizing, those similar strategies will yield, those strong efforts and outcomes. Thank you. One more question if if, possible here. You know, there's, you guys listed a wide variety of qualifications for your instructional leadership team, but you didn't mention, such for teachers. Will teachers at your school, be fully fully, certified, beyond just those in special ed and,
bilingual education? Yeah. So all of our teachers will be certified there. Again, we think that it's an important piece to provide. And so one of the ways that we're actively working towards that already is partnerships with the local universities. I know that TCU, UTA, even Tarleton State have great education programs. And so we're through that collaboration, we're looking not only to be able to recruit their graduates, but also their alumni. And I think long term, a a key goal of ours would be to be a site for a residency.
I think that's, like, a wonderful way that most of these schools are moving towards and could be a great way to ensure that strong pipeline of certified teachers into our school. Thank you. Member Maynard, member Charles, member Brooks, any questions? Yes. I'm sorry. I'm trying to find my audio here. This is member Brooks. Good afternoon, everyone. I I do wanna follow-up on that question. As far as certified teachers, is that in the AM and your application that states all of your teachers are certified or will be certified as a requirement?
I believe in the the application specifically, we highlighted, our core teachers having that ESL certification, which you wouldn't be able to have without having your core certification. So we didn't explicitly list that piece out. We thought it wasn't implied there. Mhmm. Okay. Thank you. I have no further questions. Thank you very much. Hey, Nicholas. How are you doing today, member Maynard? You've been in front of us before. Who who are you with before? I was on the applicant team for, Infinite Minds. That's right. Okay.
I do so, like, I mean, you know, Nicholas Ditto is not a name that you forget. So, Nicholas, have you been a have you been a superintendent before? I have not been a superintendent before. Yeah. Well, tell me a little bit about that just in terms of and and and I and I listened to a little bit of what what you had to say, and and I I I think that you're I think that you're a diligent focused guy. But what I heard a lot from you was a lot of of discussion about tactics. I didn't hear a lot of discussion from you about strategy.
And that and and that is really the fundamental difference between a superintendent and and and someone who's a campus administrator. Campus administrator is really more more about about tactics and executing that sort of thing. As as as a superintendent, you've gotta be a little bit more 30,000 foot view. You've gotta be a little bit more about about overall strategy, about about fostering vision, and those kinds of things. I'd like to to hear you talk a little bit about that, and then I'd also like to talk to You know, I want you to tell me a little bit about, you know,
what is your your own professional development plan and just in terms of bringing somebody alongside you to mentor you just in terms of of being in your first superintendency? Thank you so much for for that question, member Maynard. I'm happy to start specifically on the the professional development side there. So during, my time since stepping away from idea, I've had the opportunity to engage with several local superintendents, being able to have great conversations with them, be able to get some of that that mentorship as you described.
Although I'm heavily invested in receiving that ongoing coaching and mentorship, as you said, there is really no replacement for having somebody that's been in the role, prior to you and and led at that 30,000 foot view as you described and be able to get that ongoing, piece there. Additionally, just invested in overall professional development, having received plenty over this this past year from a variety of different institutions, and I seek to continue doing that. And as far as the strategy piece goes, I'm happy to kind of lay out the overarching vision.
Right? We see Fort Worth STEAM Academy not just as a school to be able to have a strong performance one year or two years, but really for it to become a legacy school for it to help play that vital role within the local educational ecosystem, where it is preparing students for those STEAM fields and for success in high school. Ultimately, we see us serving as that pipeline and pathway, whether students are going to a great school like Trimble Tech that's providing career and technical education, a very natural pathway over to I'm Terrell that specializes in STEM and visual and
performing arts, or one of the early college high schools in the area. So that's really that larger overarching vision there. And for it to really have that long term positive impact, not just on students and families, but on the larger community of Fort Worth as a whole. Yeah. So, so, you know, just to just to just to follow-up on the superintendency piece and the do you do you have a phone of friends somewhere? Yes. Absolutely. I have a couple of those phone of friends, folks that I've connected with both at, smaller or mid sized schools as well as folks at very large schools.
I think I'm grateful to have built some excellent relationships over the past year plus in stepping out on that principal spot. Yeah. You know, if if if somebody wasn't really familiar with all of this and had you you know? And, I've been on the board. I've been I've been listening to these presentations for twelve years now. And, you know, and I spent, well, about thirty years in the current technical education space. Now, you know, for someone that didn't that didn't really know the space that, you know, all of that sounds like, wow, that's really, really, you you know,
that's really wild. That's really, you know, really cutting edge. Most of what I'm hearing, you know, is not is is pretty much, you know, standard practice, for for schools. That's what we do. And and so, you know, the whole purpose of having a charter school, the whole mission of the charter as it was created in the nineteen nineties by the legislature is for innovation, is to do things that maybe that, you know, sometimes ISDs get kinda bogged down in these these kind of traditional ruts and things
like that. And and and and the whole idea about creating something new is to to do something that is really new, I mean, and and innovative. And so tell me, what what do you think about this model and this this this application? What is the element in it that that qualifies it as as being innovative? What is the secret sauce? I'm having a, if you wanna lead out, and then I'm happy to follow-up with specifics if that works. Well, give me some specifics.
Yeah. Sure. So I point to three things. So first and and I'll name that the school is innovative in a very locally responsive sense. I wouldn't say it in, like, I don't know the context of other communities there, but what I will tell you is that, three things. First, Fort Worth is currently in the middle of a literacy crisis, which impacts students across all subjects. So by double blocking literacy, providing a hundred thirty minutes of that instruction, we're able to really help students accelerate in their reading and writing, which will serve them well across all of their classes.
Currently, the local district provides forty five minutes of literacy instruction in middle school. The second thing that I would share is gonna be the blend of high quality tier one instruction and individualized education. I know that term gets thrown around a whole bunch, and but often what it looks like in practice is after school teachers kind of doing their own piece with students, but not something that is structured, systematized, and and data informed to really support students there. And then the third piece is really gonna be opening up those pathways for high
school. So right now, the amount of students that are enrolled in advanced math and science classes, most of the surrounding schools is less than 10%. In addition, nobody is offering engineering, fundamentals of computer science. And so by providing those unique course offerings, we're really helping serve as a great pathway as students are entering high school, especially when thinking about those in demand steam fields in which we have many local employers that provide a wide variety of access points for students coming out of high school,
whether they wanna go right into their career or whether they wanna go to university, ahead of time. Okay. Also, if if I can add to that as well from my experience, at my job, you know, there is a severe lack of, students being furnished to the job market right now from locally to take those jobs. So part of the reason why companies are relocating to Dallas is to have that big pool of talent available. So what we're trying to do is ensuring that East,
Century East Fort Worth, that those students specifically can also have access to that, and it doesn't just end up being h one b visa students or, students in other ZIP codes. So kinda giving, equal access to good edu good employment. So if you look at our, vision, it's to have, give students success in high school, college, and career to become productive members of their societies in Fort Worth and beyond. So, essentially, that's what we're trying to do, and that's how we're differentiating because if we don't step in,
then no one else seems to be stepping up. Alright. Thank you for that. I have no further questions, Marianne. Thank you, member Maynard. Member Childs, do you have any questions? Member Childs, if you're speaking, you're on mute. Just double checking. Mary Anne, can I ask another question? Yes. So you basically talked about to member Maynard's, point about the commute computer science and the engineering, trajectory that's to come. SPOE just passed a lot of CTE courses centered around this to give your local ISDs this opportunity.
Do you foresee this being a deterrent, now that they will be able to offer this? So I I can't speak to whether or not they'll be offering these courses at their schools. If those courses were being offered again, we'd wanna work in in partnership with them so that we are providing, something along a similar path, but not duplicating the efforts. I think really core to our mission, especially in thinking about serving only middle school and focusing on STEM in the arts was really to provide an unmet need. And so we definitely don't wanna be duplicating efforts.
We wanna provide a strong quality education that's gonna support students to enter in these, in demand well paying jobs. Thank you. And then I wanna refer to your application. Excuse me. In your application, you wrote, excuse me, that you shall exclude any student who has ever had a discipline problem, not just students who may have had a serious offense. Do you still believe in that motto? Thank you so much for asking that question regarding our enrollment policy. What is gonna be really key when we're thinking about our enrollment policy is that,
only, reserving that rate to exclude students that have committed those, mandatory spellable offenses, ones that would pose a potential, safety danger to students or staff. So I think about something like bringing a firearm to school. Unfortunately, in my experience, I've seen many students that have come to a prior school of mine that have been expelled for things that were very frivolous and never should have happened in my opinion. So we certainly do not wanna exclude any students who would not be committing those, mandatory expelleable offenses. So I really do appreciate you asking for that clarification.
Thank you. Thank you. And then you also I'll talk about the your PBS system, and your your steam points with your houses. Can you just speak to that a little bit more? Absolutely. So, really, having those two things go hand in hand to promote both, individual positive actions and also that group or collective piece. So specifically those team points is more of a tangible way, especially when you have middle school students to help reinforce those positive productive behaviors that are gonna help them become not only great students with us,
but great citizens growing up in in the world. And then the house system is really to help promote those positive relationships across grade levels. So I think about if I have a sixth grade student, he may not ever have a class or he won't ever have a class, right, with an eighth grader. But that's a missed opportunity to learn from a peer who's ahead of you. So through those houses, they're able to pull their points to have that collective effort to reach a shared goal, as well as those opportunities for having mentorship, camaraderie, and same thing with the staff. Right? Being able to build those great relationships with the staff who you may not have
that year. But that way, you can get excited about having them in the future or same thing, just saying hi in the hallway. It's not who's this person talking to? You know exactly who that is and that they're another adult in the building that cares deeply about you. Thank you. If you all move forward, I hope the greenhouse will always win. Can I ask one more question? Yes, ma'am. Hi, mister Ditto. You know, you you mentioned in your application that you will not offer transportation other than the one required by law, for, for special ed and other services. And and you also mentioned that most of your enrollment will be centered around the
school, two to three miles from school, which would be technically walkable. However, you do have, familiar with Fort Worth. I I live there, and actually cover schools for the Fort Worth Star Telegram, there. So I'm familiar with that neighborhood. There's major, major highways, thoroughfares that exist there that I think that's that, area. How would you ensure safety how would you ensure that students and family can get to and from your campus in a safe manner? Thank you so much. I really appreciate that question. And, you know, there is it is along the I 30 Corridor.
Right? It's obviously setback and not they're not having to cross I 30 or anything like that. But that's absolutely a consideration that we're taking into account as we're on our facility search. So ensuring that we are not, pursuing any facilities that would be having to cross those major thoroughfares or not be accessible there is something that we're taking into to strong consideration as we're looking specifically at our facility there. So that's really one of the main pieces that that we're doing to ensure that it is accessible to to all families. Is there a reason why you're not pursuing the available funding for transportation that's available
to charter schools, from the state? So, no. There there is there is not a reason there and definitely something that we would be open to exploring. Again, for us, we wanna ensure that we are operating, as questions have come up. Right? Ensuring that we are having a a strong source of revenue expenses under that and operating in a financially sustainable manner. I think a question that was raised earlier was about, local other charter schools closing, which finances did play a large role there. So would love to continue learning more about some of those different funding opportunities that
are available, from from, for transportation. And and lastly, I just wanna ask your your, board members if they were willing if they plan to livestream board meetings and and make sure that their meetings are, not only do we posted, but, that there's an effort for transparency that goes beyond the minimum standards for, for school district. Yes. We are planning to. We're we're required. I think, as we get closer to opening, then we'll, you know, we reevaluate. But, definitely, we are fully, committed to compliance with state and federal standards,
and we'll always follow. So yes. That's a yes to to live streaming? Yes. To making it public, we'll have to see about you know, I can get back to you in the future about, live streaming. But we are compliant with, open meeting laws and open transparency. So if live streaming is one of them, then yes. Thank you. Hi. This is member Brooks. I have another question to ask too. My concern is there's you know, mister Diddle, you you seem to have more of the the knowledge about the school and and
the DNA and the and the questions being asked. So I missed the first couple introductions. Who else is an educator on the board to kinda, speak to a lot of the issues that you seem to be aware of, but the other board members are not so much aware of that and a little apprehensive too. So maybe you could just kinda tell me kinda how familiar everyone is and and and involved in in the school. And is is that a conflict where there's just kinda kinda isolated experience in the
education field serving, on the board? I will, start off the question and then pass it to Angelica. So introducing myself again, doctor Nadia Thompson. I have been in education for over a decade, and I have also served as a teacher in e on the East Side Of Fort Worth as well as an instructional coach, data analyst, and an assistant principal. I am fully aware of the gaps that exist in the area just based through my experience with students, as well as community resources that we can tap into to continue to support,
students that will potentially come to our school. Thank you, doctor Thompson. But I think more specifically, I'm I'm just kinda thinking from the perspective of the board. So a lot of the decisions come through you all, right, projectively speaking. But as far as I know you're you have the education background, but, I guess my question is, there just seems to be a a lot of question marks from from from you all on this this panel of of of of board members as far as just the nuts and bolts of of this of this school proposal.
So I think that's kinda concerning me. Mister Diddle has a lot of wealth of information about it. But, I mean, I I I guess I'm kinda sitting here wondering ex exactly how much time and experience, I guess, do we the members on the board have? I I some of you have a real estate background, a funding treasurer. But but how will you use that to really speak to the issues of running a school, I guess, is my question, with the exception of doctor Thompson and mister Diddle. I guess,
how will we use you use the skill set that you have to effectively run a a a whole school, I guess, is my concern. So coming into this, we are aware that we, we have seven board members at the moment. You know, we have a minimum of five, max 11. So we still are in a cert we recognize that skill gap. So at the moment, we're, looking for a board member with c suite level experience and, senior education, you know, especially in, like, a larger network or a larger district that can fortify that side of it.
So, yeah, definitely, you know, as you can see, the board member has only seven seven of us, and, we recognize that that is a skill gap that we are looking to close. I have a, I have a question, member Brooks, because I came in late too. This is member Childs here. I heard proposed superintendent, Ditto speak a lot as well. But, superintendent Ditto, did you talk about at all in your speech what you've achieved as a school leader already to kinda show that you're equipped to do this.
And I think it would behoove, you all to kinda express the experience you guys have even if it's not directly in a school leader capacity? Because I think I mean, I'm assuming that you put together the board thoughtfully. So can y'all kinda walk through, hey. We have this board member from this this sector, this sector, this sector. I was a school leader, and I was able to do this so that we can kinda clear up any confusion. Thank you so much, member Shada. I appreciate you highlighting that. I'm happy to speak very briefly on my side, and I would love to have, the board hop off and be able to share their relevant expertise and and how
it connects back to the strong launch and sustainability of the school. And so on my side, as you alluded to, I was the the founding principal over the idea arise college preppers able to lead the school to consecutive a ratings and be the highest achieving middle school within the the city of Fort Worth there. And I'll pass it off to the board. Yes. I, I'm a board member, with almost twenty years of experience in education. I'm a former teacher, school leader in both, public, traditional public setting and charter schools. I currently work in national philanthropy and education.
So I'm able to bring my expertise in both instruction, and school based work, as well as knowledge of fund development, to help the school get off the ground, and thrive. And my background is in community outreach. And that's taught me the real impact starts with relationships, and that's exactly how I plan to lead at Fort Worth STEAM Academy from day one. I've worked to ensure that this school isn't built in isolation, but in partnership with the families, the leaders, and the organizations of Fort Worth. And I plan to apply my community outreach experience at Fort Worth STEAM Academy is,
building and maintaining trust with families. I've spent years building authentic relationships with parents, civic leaders, nonprofits, and schools across for work, and I'll continue to use that trust to keep the families engaged and informed and truly invested in their student success. Also establishing deep and strategic partnership. Because of my outreach experience, I know how to cultivate mutually beneficial partnerships. That's already led to connections with organizations like the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Parents Shield, and Strong Castle Outreach, Groups that will help enrich our students' experience and expand our reach.
Also ensuring responsiveness, inclusive student culture. You know, outreach is about listening as much as it is lead. So I'll use the mindset to make sure that ForwardSTEAM Academy stays responsive to community feedback, culturally inclusiveness, and flexible to the real needs of the family, families that we serve. You know? I'm not just bringing a professional skill set. I'm I'm not from the education background, but I'm bringing a network and a reputation for integrity and a track record of building bridges between institutions and the people that they serve. And I think that's what Ford's team academy needs to throw,
and that's exactly what I bring to the table. Hi. I'm Theresa Davis Larry, and I appreciate this question. I have, both professional and then practical experience. So on a professional side, I'm a lawyer, and I, have previously practiced school law and as well as I've advised school district boards. And then on a practical level, I have been an active, adult in my nieces, nephews, and brothers' education, and, that will that will and does help me contribute to, the experience of the,
the proposed schools board. That practical experience is really important, I think, for all of us, and being able to see firsthand, the impact education can have in our students' lives. And then also, similar to kind of a question that one of the board members have mentioned are the lifelines is just being able to and and what Nick Smith mentioned, being able to tap into our tap into our network. I have other, professionals that are colleagues, family members who work in education. So I have some familiarity with it, not just on the professional side,
but also, as I mentioned, just personal practical side. Thanks. Yeah. And my name is Ruben Esqueda. I'm, obviously more of the sort of real estate professional of the group, but I developed specifically in the affordable housing space, which utilizes many, you know, many federal state and local, funds. And so no stranger to the process, that are multilayered processes that, require to make a project successful, have been involved in budget formations, building boards, working with local stakeholders, including,
you know, city council folks, governors, anybody you can think of. Something unique to to my experience is that, I've developed thousands of units of of family housing, many of which the great majority of have had a a school component, working and coordinating with local school districts and providing after school tutoring, bringing nonprofit organizations to our site, with a very, big focus on education. Many times, the folks that I work with in the affordable housing space don't have the resources that other folks do. And we identify those gaps in education, and we provide those services whether it's academic and steam,
and or expanding the arts. We try to expose children to to many things. You know, I'm a product of low income housing, grew up in in a school district that was not, very enriched resources and understand and appreciate what it is to have those resources because that is what got me out of that situation and and able to give my children a better future. As a father of three, education is is very critical. And so although I don't have the necessarily the education background, you know, there is some overlap in that front that I I hope to bring to the
to the board. My name is Eric Wilson. As the treasurer, I am a financial professional. I'm a CPA. My background was initially in public accounting and auditing nonprofits and then transitioned to a role, providing outsourced accounting consulting services to nonprofit organizations. The way I see myself leveraging my skills for Fort Worth Steam Academy centralizes around not just the fiscal management, the monitoring, monthly reporting, budget versus actual, but it's also looking at things from a holistic key performance indicator standpoint. So not just looking at budget versus actual,
but looking at enrollment and other nonfinancial metrics that drive success and outcomes for the school. Also looking at those metrics that we have set, the goals that we're setting, and the the, measurements that we're looking to achieve from a student outcomes perspective, those are things that I'm going to expect to see reported on on a regular basis so that we can actively monitor and govern the organization as a board. I am doctor Nadia Thompson. I have over a decade of experience in education. Previously taught in East Fort Worth.
I also grew up and graduated from a school in Fort Worth and also founded a charter school, in Fort Worth as well. I currently work for a nonprofit educational organization where I am supporting teachers, also in the Fort Worth area, as well. So I have a variety of experience in curriculum instruction, supporting teachers, and so forth. And my doctorate is also in education with a focus on curriculum and instruction. I'm Brian Quintero, and I, my educational background is having worked three years as,
as a elementary school teacher in Fort Worth ISD. And as I shared, it was very frustrating. It was a very low rated campus, so that's, kind of my background. It wasn't a very pleasant experience. And, what excites me about Fort Worth Student Academy is the joyful culture that that is being proposed. I also see see the diversity in our skills as a strength rather than a weakness. Like I said, we were only seven, board members in. And I think it would be if we looked at the opposite case where we had more educators,
you know, six out of seven of us were educators, that would make the board, maybe more in a more be in a more precarious position. I think we have several, good basis covered by the diversity of skills, of skill sets, and backgrounds that we bring. And like I said, we recognize we have that, that skill gap in senior leadership maybe also in human resources, but we're actively working. We have time to get everyone, you know, cover all our bases and have a very good grasp on everything. So,
I've been working we've all been working, collaborating for over one year, you know, coming on two years, and we understand each other. We understand our strengths, and I think that's what, that's what that's why we're so confident about, about it, you know, being able to function as a board because, we understand how how we work and, and how we can divide our, talents to the benefit of Fort Steenkamp. And briefly to add after hearing about all of our experience, is that the board will also have board committees and we expect that the,
members of those board committees will also have experience, related to some of the topics we just talked about, academic achievement, governance, development, in other areas. And so we will, utilize their skills and experience and also, expect for them to inform some of the information, to the board. Okay. Remember, Brooks, I don't know if you had any other questions. I only have one. No. You're you can go ahead. Thank you. Okay. As you guys know, there were one or two schools that closed or they're struggling or about to close
in your area. So my question to you is, how can you convince us that not only can you open, but you can sustain yourself three, five, seven, ten years down the line so that we're not, you know, waking up seeing a news article about a Fort Worth Steam Academy closing? And I and I hope that you guys can be specific as possible with your answer. Yeah. So I'll take the first piece of this, and a a big part of our financial model is being fully self sustaining on, the per pupil funding by the time that we're at scale.
So though we've only included philanthropic dollars in the first few years of our budget, that's not to say that those efforts will cease after that point, but we are not planning on those as core elements of funding. So certainly something that would still provide, potential revenue streams, but we've built that financial sustainability has been a core element of the financial plan that we've laid out for, the first five years of the school getting to scale and then operating at scale. In addition to that, it's also,
again, coming back to that monthly reporting, the monitoring of budget versus actuals, as well as forecasts through end of fiscal year, both of anticipated revenues and expenses, but also cash flows, knowing that there may be timing. Differences are just things to manage from that perspective, making sure that we do everything that we are responsible for to, submit reporting to state and federal agencies to prompt the reimbursement or payment of funds that are, obligated and entitled under those grant programs, but making sure that we are staying fully compliant and administering those programs and the,
reporting requirements effectively so that we're then doing our part to make sure that we maintain, all of the steps that we need to be doing on that. And looking forward to make sure from a financial perspective that we are managing expenses, maintaining enrollment, driving revenues so that we can have a financially sustainable organization. I would also add that from an impact perspective, our number one job is to make sure that our kids are succeeding and that they're learning, and a strong academic program is our number one focus at Fort Worth STEAM Academy.
And so we've thought about that in every element that we've built, throughout our schools, starting from including high quality instruction materials, which, yes, is required by the state, but we also have a strong instructional coaching system that ensures that teachers are getting regular observations or regular feedback so that they can improve their instruction from day to day to serve kids. We know that we're going to be getting, be serving a large percentage of students who are behind academically and need extra support. We've built, we've built intervention into our model on a daily basis, and have selected very strong evidence based programs to support their growth.
And both at the management level and at the board level, we have plans for a very consistent, and structured monitoring of student performance data so that we know when things are off track and that we can adjust and pivot, so that in three, five years, we are not seeing the school close because of academic results. We are hopefully, potentially one day maybe serving more students or thinking about, how to scale our model or how to scale our ideas to other places, so that more students can get, the education that they've served.
And I also just wanna speak to the community and the recruitment aspect. So what makes Forward Steem Academy different starts with how we approach enrollment. We're not dependent on flashy ads or cold outreach. We're enrolling students through real relationships, deep community trust, and a model model that families helped us build. You know, other schools have struggled because they tried to enroll students before earning the trust, and we did it the other way around. We spent the past year meeting one on one with over a 50 community members, partnering with churches, nonprofits, and schools showing up to at more than 30 community events and not just to
pitch a school, but to listen. And that didn't stop when our application was submitted. And because of that, when we say we're opening a school, families already know who we are. They know our faces. They know our mission, and that we've kept them involved every step of the way. They see themselves in this school, and that's what drives a sustainable enrollment. So we're also targeting the exact communities that told us they need a better middle school option, low income families, emergent labels, and students who are often left behind in a one size fits all system. We built our messaging, materials, and events around their needs,
not our needs. So when we say we're ready to enroll and grow, it's not just a strategy, it's a relationship. And I think that's what sets us apart as a school that came before us and didn't last. Not just enrolling school students. We're enrolling families into our long term partnership with a school that belongs to them essentially. Nigga, I didn't know if you, No. Thank you. That's correct. If you want to add anything. I I think I have just one last question, if that's alright, number Charles. Yes. I'm finished. Oh, I think my question here today is a a lot of your solutions are heavily, evolved around, digital
and instructional materials. I didn't hear anything about what teachers will provide real life teachers. I just heard about programs, software to fill the gap. What is unique with just relying on devices and and and software to help teach children? I I I don't understand how unique that is, an experience for for your your school. Like, we talked about secret sauce. Well, all schools can do that and provide those services. That's not anything that's really different,
I guess, is is the point I'm trying to ask. Are you going to do anything else where it involves a live teacher or something to, help improve academic achievement and, ensure that all students are are at proficient grade level. So, performing at proficient grade level. We wanna talk to that. I just heard all solutions are are are based around software, instructional materials. I will add that for our curriculum adoption of high quality instructional materials, we have selected curriculum,
that a live teacher will actually teach from. So for example, for reading language arts, we are using the. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Learning learnings my perspective. For science, we have sim scopes, which provides students with hands on opportunities, labs that they will actually participate in in the classroom. We also have STEM scopes for, math. For our enrichment, for our students, we also have the fundamentals of computer science. And then for social studies, we're using the SOLUS learning Texas contemporary world cultures.
So all of our high quality instructional material comes with, lessons that teachers will actually teach. In addition to that, it has a scope and sequence. It also provides teachers, excuse me, with the opportunity to, tailor the instruction based on what students need. So if a student is below grade level, the teacher is able to tap into that using the curriculum and provide students with what they need. If they are above grade level and teachers need to know exactly what to do, the curriculum also provides that for them as well.
All of the curriculum we've selected is a % aligned to the state standards as well as the ELPS. Sure. I I do understand that, doctor Thompson. But when you all were talking about specifically the extra sixty five minutes for students who are are performing below grade level. You mentioned devices and and and and software materials, not a live teacher in that environment. So I'm assuming that that entire period will just be students on the device to bridge their gaps, their learning gaps is is what I'm mostly speaking to.
The sixty five minute individualized learning period does leverage technology, for part of the time, but it also includes small group instruction delivered by an interventionist who is a certified teacher. And the McGraw Hill Corrective Reading Program is a program that is delivered by a live teacher and specifically for students who are below grade level and need support in developing foundational skills. So, while a part of that block, that sixty five minutes during the day, students will be using tech enabled platforms, it is certainly not
the entire use of time. And as Doctor. Thompson mentioned, the tier one curriculum is delivered by live teachers as well. Thank you for sharing that information. Thank you. Brings us to our end of time, for questions. So I wanna thank, our applicant team, our TEA staff, and our State Board of Education members, for being here with us today, and that you will receive the commissioner's recommendation to your application by May 28. For our viewing public, this concludes our capacity interviews for today.
And so we will adjourn, and our next interview will commence tomorrow morning at 9AM. So thank you, everyone. Appreciate all of your time and your effort in your application. Thank you. Take care. Thank you. Thank you.