Alright. With that, we are live, and we will jump into our capacity interview today. Thank you all for joining us today on Zoom, and congratulations again on making it to the interview phase of the gen 31 application process. We realize this is an arduous process, but it is truly aimed at ensuring all charter schools that open in Texas are high quality options for students and their families. Normally, we would go around the room and introduce ourselves, but given our virtual nature, I'm going to take the liberty of introducing our TEA staff and our SVOE members.
So I'll start with myself. My name is Valerie Trevino, Director of Charter School authorizing here at TEA. And also on our call today, we have Marion Shetty, associate commissioner of authorizing and policy, Britney Glenn, new schools manager, John Garland, new school specialist, Sarah Khan, new school specialist, Pija Sathnurayan, financial compliance, Ashley Wilk, financial compliance, Michelle Merrick, emergent bilingual, Esther Pena, legal, Ed O'Neil, special education, Dana Garza, special education. Michelle Merrick. I already said Michelle Merrick. I apologize.
Emergent bilingual. And then from our SVOE, I do believe we have Brandon Hall, district eleven. I believe we also have just joining, member Tom Maynard, District 10. Member Evelyn Brooks, District 14. And I believe that is all that I see on the call. As additional members of SDOE join, I will make sure to announce them as well. Alright. With that, today is Monday, May 11. It is 1PM, and we are interviewing Nova Steam Academy for Nova Steam Academy.
We ask that all participants remain on mute today when you are not talking, and come off of mute only to talk or ask a question for our panelists and board members today. We have set aside two hours for this capacity interview. We will first hear a ten minute overview of your proposed public charter school and then have time for questions from TEA and the State Board of Education. We hope to hear from the governing board and staff of your proposed school. Based on your interview today and the strength of your application, the commissioner will make recommendations to the State Board of Education at a future board
meeting. It is our hope that your application stands on its own merits and will not have any contingencies. If there are items that must be addressed, staff in the division of Charter School authorizing will contact you to address any items of concern or omission. At this time, please introduce yourselves with your name and role only. Doctor Tony l Edwards Juberet, proposed superintendent. Kobi Fleming, proposed board chair. James Hollins, proposed vice chair. Tracy Owens, proposed treasurer. Doctor Zachariah Davis, Proposed Board Member. Shaniqua Smith,
Proposed Board Secretary. Attorney Ma'am Owen Milton, Proposed Board Member. Kalandra Blackwell, proposed board member. Doctor Carol Miles, proposed board member. All right, I trust that was all members of the NovaSTEAM team. All right, we will now have ten minutes for you to provide our panel an overview of your proposed public charter school. We will start the time when your overview begins, and I will interrupt and pause you when that timer has gone off. Please bring your overview to a close at that time. We will then begin with our questions,
and please note that today is not a time to expand or add anything on to your application. With that said, you may begin your presentation at this time. Your ten minutes starts now. Doctor. Jewbert, I believe you're on mute. Good day to the members of the Texas Education Agency and the State Board of Education. Thank you for the opportunity to present today. Before I begin with the data, I'd like for you to picture a student. She leads a strong elementary steam program, confident, curious, and excited about learning. She enters middle school expected to continue building, designing, and exploring.
Instead, she encounters a disconnect, limited continued focus on steam education, fewer hands on applications, and academic gaps that begin to widen. By the end of sixth grade, her confidence has shifted. By eighth grade, her path had changed. This is not a single story. It reflects a documented pattern in Ellis County and a story we've heard countless times from parents and students so often that it inspired the launch of NOVA STEAM Academy. This is exactly why the mission of NOVA STEAM Academy is to empower students to dream,
discover, and design through project based inquiry driven learning and STEAM education while cultivating a reflective and principled student that is prepared for success in high school, college, and career. NOVA is a proposed fifth through eighth grade open enrollment charter designed to address a documented academic and program gap in Ellis County. Our proposal is rooted in clear data trends. Middle grade performance in reading, science, and mathematics of Boston region consistently falls below the state average, and economically disadvantaged and underrepresented students experience even greater academic impact.
Additionally, the transition from elementary to junior high has shown evidence of academic setback and limited program progression. For students coming from a specialized elementary steam program without an aligned middle grade pathway. Nova steam academy was intentionally designed to change that course. As a proposed superintendent, founder, and graduate of Waukesha High School, I bring more than twenty years of experience in STEM education, career and technical program, instructional leadership, and partnership development. My leadership philosophy centers on data informed decision making,
instructional fidelity, and operational integrity. Our purpose is clear, to ensure every student in Ellis County has the opportunity to dream boldly, discover deeply, and design a better future. Thank you. Hello, and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this afternoon. My name is Kobe Fleming, and I am the proposed board chair of NOVA Scheme Academy. Collectively, we are honored to present our vision for a school that is designed to meet the evolving academic and social needs of Texas students during one of the most critical stages of their educational journey. We aim to serve as a bridge between foundational learning and high school readiness by
creating a rigorous, innovative, and student centered STEAM environment that empowers scholars. Our Governing Board reflects the depths of expertise necessary to responsibly lead this work. With experience spanning education, finance, law, technology, and compliance, we are committed to strong governing practices, transparency, and accountability. Again, we appreciate you for your time today and look forward to sharing how NOVA Steam Academy is prepared to deliver on that vision. Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. My name is James Hollins and I will serve as the proposed vice chair of
the OpenStreet Academy. As proposed vice chair, I'll work closely with the board and chair, fellow board members to help ensure the board provides strong governance, and remains focused on oversight, strategic direction, accountability, and effective superintendent oversight in support of the school's mission and goals. Novo's team academy is built around a powerful vision, helping students dream, discover, and design their future. My responsibility as a board member is to help ensure that vision is reflected in the decisions we make and the opportunities we create for students and families. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Tracy Owens,
and I am the treasurer of the existing five zero one c three NOVAST EAM Academy entity. I am a certified public accountant with thirty five years in corporate finance, holding various positions up through CFO. My extensive budgeting and audit experience in both public and nonprofit organizations well prepares me for this role. I will ensure that NOVA Steam Academy is poised to reach their goals by adhering to strict financial controls, budgeting, fundraising, and oversight. The board has established that the best location for NOVA Steam Academy is in Waxahachie,
which is the county seat of Ellis County. As a graduate of Waxahachie High School, I am excited to be a part of a transformative team to bring quality education to the community. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is doctor Zachariah Davis. I am an educator, pastor, social justice advocate with over sixteen years of experience serving students in urban school settings. I currently teach at Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School in Saint Louis as well as an adjunct professor at several universities where my work centers around culturally responsive instruction,
civic engagement, and advancing student achievement and outcomes. As a proposed board member for NovaSeam Academy, I bring a strong commitment to accountability, strategic leadership, and ensuring that the school delivers a rigorous, innovative, and student centered educational experience. I appreciate the opportunity to engage with TEA officials today, and I look forward to contributing to the successful launch and long term sustainability of this school. Thank you. Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity today. I am Shaniqua Smith, a resident of Waukesha, Texas and an IT applications employee of Hartland Hospital,
where my experience helps me support family engagement through strong communication, collaboration, and a commitment to serving diverse families. I'm excited about the opportunity to bring NOVA's STEAM Academy to our growing community. NOVA's model is grounded in strong family engagement with the belief that student success is the shared responsibility. Families are active partners who contribute through our Parent Advisory Council, Board representation and open access to campus leadership. Through surveys, focus groups and town halls we've identified, a clear need for academic support, rigorous learning opportunities, as well as as well as hands on project based experiences.
This resulted in over 100 letters of intent from families picking a different option. In response, NOVA was intentionally designed with a STEAM focused program that emphasizes personalized instruction, targeted intervention, and real world learning. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Mia Mullen Milton, and I'm a licensed attorney in Texas and Michigan with more than fifteen years of experience in litigation, education law, governance, and advocacy. I previously served as a general counsel and director of the legal and grievance department for the Dallas Teachers Union, where I worked on matters involving educator rights,
school policy, compliance, and public education in issues impacting students and families across Texas. I have also served in leadership roles such as managing attorney, managing partner, which gave me experience in organizational oversight, strategic planning, and accountability. What drew me to NOVA's STEAM Academy is its commitment to innovation, equity, and building strong academic pathways for students in Ellis County. I look forward to contributing my legal, educational, and leadership experience to help support NOVA's mission and long term success. Thank you. Good afternoon,
and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. My name is Kalandra Blackwell, and I'm honored to serve as a proposed board member, and I'm responsible for student culture for special population. I bring over thirty years of experience in public education and an additional two years in a private school setting. Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work in a variety of special education environments, including inclusion classrooms, co teaching models, and resource settings. I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively to strengthen special education services for all
students at Noble Stein Academy, where we dream, discover, and design. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is doctor Carol Miles, proposed board member of NOVOS STEAM Academy, working with community engagement. I have forty years of combined experience from both education and business vocations working with both students and adults from marginalized communities. As an educator, a harsh reality that I observed was that many of my graduating seniors had no real dreams for their futures. This is why the mission and vision of Novus is so important. Children should be educated in an environment that encourages and fosters their ability to dream,
discover their passions and abilities, and receive the tools to design their individual futures. The earlier children's began learning these tools the greater the likelihood of their future success. Thank you and this concludes our overviews. Alright thank you so much for providing us that background on NOVASTEAM Academy. At this time we are going to transition to our panel questions. The remainder of our time together today will be divided into fifty five minutes for questions from our TEA panel followed by about forty five minutes for SVOE questions.
When we get to that portion, Marion Shetty will assist in facilitating an even amount of time for any questions that we will field from SVOE. Alright, before we jump into our questions, I do have, some data to confirm. So I would like to please first verify number of campuses, grade span, and maximum enrollment. So in our records, to ensure that we have reflected the sponsoring entity's request, you are seeking to serve a maximum student body in year five of five twenty students in grades five through eight at one campus.
Can you confirm that that is correct? That is correct. Great, thank you. All right, so we'll transition into our questions now, and the first question is coming to you Doctor. As your application suggests, you have over twenty two years of experience in STEAM education, college and career readiness, and career and technical program leadership. Can you tell us a little bit about how that experience or any other experience prepares you to take on the operational and financial responsibilities, such as student recruitment, enrollment, facility preparation, budget management, and vendor relations for Nova Steam Academy.
Thank you so much for the question. My experience has prepared me for the operational and financial responsibilities of opening Nova because throughout my career, I have consistently led programs that required budgeting, staffing, planning, accountability, and measurable results. In education, I have served as the summer school director, CCMR coordinator, department chair, and mentor for new teachers. Those roles required managing staff managing staffing, scheduling, academic resources, students' performance, and making adjustments quickly to ensure goals were met.
At Uplift Education, I also work with department budgets through CTE programming and aligned in spending directly to academic priorities. Always understanding that resources must support student outcomes. That same philosophy guides Nova. Every financial decision must connect to instruction, sustainability, and long term success. My leadership has consistently produced measurable outcomes. I led initiatives that increased ACT scores by 18%, achieved 100% FAFSA completion as college counselor, and contribute to a 55 gain in student achievement and a 36 gain increase in
closing performance gaps. That work reflects my ability to analyze data, identify needs, and implement targeted strategies that move students forward. Recruitment and enrollment are also, strengths because of my long standing relationship in this community. Through outreach, STEAM events, and direct family engagement, we have already built strong awareness and enrollment interest for NOVA before we even open. Outside of education, founding and operating a child development center gave me direct hands on experience with budgeting, licensing, facility preparation,
vendor contracts, compliance, and family engagement. I personally manage operating setups, service agreements, and financial monitoring, which taught me the importance of a clear system, financial discipline, and accountability. I also bring strong operational and instructional leadership. I have built master schedules, designed intervention systems aligned to students' need, coached teachers, and led evaluations to ensure continuous improvements. My experience with ELCs and IB program position meets lead a rigorous focus model like NOVA.
Now what really gives me confidence is that NOVA is built with a strong board oversight, financial experience, and systems designed to ensure responsibility is executed from day one. Thank you. Thank you so much. We're now going to Britney for question number two. Wonderful. Good afternoon, everybody. So in your application, you state that the superintendent visited high performing STEAM schools to help inform NOVA's curriculum, instructional approach, and student support systems. Here's my question. Can you walk us through those visits and explain what specific practices or insights informed
the design of NOVA's curriculum, instruction, and student supports? And did any of the schools that you visited, have similar STEAM or IB programs? So I'll start it off, and then I'll hand it off to our board chair, mister Coby. So we had the great opportunity to visit Village Tech, which is located in Duncanville. And we were during that visit, we were able to see exactly how their steam program worked. We had an opportunity to visit with their camps their campus leadership as well as their operational director that walked us through, day,
by day events that take place at that campus. We've also had the opportunity to visit, a few of the uplift campuses since I used to work for them. So we had the opportunity to sit down and talk with a lot of their leadership team, looking at the patterns and the methods and strategies that they use to guarantee student success, as well as looking at their road to college program. Our board chair can take it from there. Thank you. Excuse me. In addition to, what has already been mentioned, we also did have the opportunity,
to really look at what their overall framework was and how they approached it from a student centered as well as a parent informed approach. When we were specifically when we were at Village Tech, there was a lot of information provided to us about previous operations or previous methodologies, how that translated or how that was shown, and then what their improvement focus was. So, for me specifically having that opportunity to walk that campus, it really showed the importance and the necessity of continuous improvement. And that is something that I personally brought back to the Board,
and making sure that that's a highlight specifically because that is something that I noticed and that stood out to me. Thank you. Thanks, Valerie. Back to you. Thank you. Sarah? Perfect. Thank you. Good afternoon. Your model indicates that you're going to be using multiple complex components, such as IB program, Project Lead the Way, STEAM labs, and interdisciplinary instruction. Given the level of implementation required for each of these, what do you see as your top operational challenges in the first year, and how are you planning to mitigate them? So I will start us off, and I'll have,
our board member, James, to come in and continue. So even though we have all the different components that you name, they all work together. They're not a isolated program. They all work hand in hand. So when we talk about being able to use project lead the way or having the IB framework, you're not only seeing that in the engineering classes, but you're seeing that across the board. It is incorporated in all of our core classes. Meaning, if we have a project such as an example being the Apollo 13, you will see that demonstrated not only in the engineering class,
but you will also see that demonstrated in the history class where they look up the the facts about the Apollo 13. You'll see it in the math class, always tied into our tics where they look at the, ration the, ratios and the projections. You'll see it tied into our English class. So it's not an isolated or a separate, type of program. It's all built in to enhance the experience for the student. It's entitled as it helps them with the hands on aspect. And then once they become they get into the engineering class, that's when they build the prototypes,
and they're able to see what they've learned in the other classes come to life. And then mister Hollis can continue on. Yeah. Thank you, doctor Jay, for that. You're absolutely correct. What we will start with is the TEEXA learning diagnostics and the benchmarks to identify where those kind of specific, skill gaps are. And then it's important because many middle school students in Ellis County specifically are entering with those unfinished learning gaps while several campuses are serving populations that are almost half percent economically disadvantaged.
And once those gaps are identified through the TCS line diagnostics and the benchmark assessments, then we'll, you know, be able to use our daily support win program. It's what I mean, intervention block to support those students whether they participate in those targeted small group instructions, that are directly tied to the identified needs, and those instructions will follow the I do, we do, you do model for for those frequent checks and understandings to sustain the, learning growth that Nuova is pushing for. Thank you. If I can add to that as well.
As you mentioned, those a lot of the different strategies or tools or systems that we're utilizing are relatively complex in and of themselves. Right? And each of them have their own, substandard or subset of implementation requirements. Right? So how do we manage that large level of differentiated instruction, but still make sure that the core tenets of what it is that we're trying to do follows through as well? I think that one thing to note is it's going to be an intentional recognition of what are the key elements of each focus and how does that play back
to our overall model, our overall goal, and our overall desirable student outcomes. Does that make sense? So, really looking at what are the requirements that each one of those key fundamentals are asking for and making sure that it's seen from a planning perspective of how those are implemented, from an operations perspective of how that's implemented. But also, I think a key component of that is also going to be an evaluation perspective. So, if we're saying, hey, we're going to implement IB or we're going to implement Project Lead the Way, not only did we implement it from planning, not only operationally do we see it happening,
but how are we meeting those metrics? How are we meeting the metrics that we set as a board, that the leadership team, that the school set, but also that those individual entities, how are we meeting those? So, I think it's that holistic approach of not just saying that, you know, hey, we're going to implement these things, but what is our fidelity in implementing them? What is the standard that we're meeting? And then how do we course correct accordingly, based on the data that we receive? Thank you for that. All right. And moving to John with our next question. Hey, afternoon everybody. I want to stay on the IB program for a minute.
I know that the International Immaculate Organization, requires sort of an authorization for that process. So my question to you all is what is your plan to seek that authorization? Do you have a timeline for that? What's your plan around that? Well, thank you for the question. So we have had, the opportunity to speak with the IV coordinator and lay out our model for Nova Steam Academy. At this time, we're just waiting. She wanted us to wait until we go through the full authorization with TEA. And then once we do become a charter, then we have mapped out a timeline.
So we're looking at at least two years down the road before we would be fully, authorized with IB. But in the meantime, we still would be using those principles. We still would be teaching that model where students have become, you know, principled, where they're, caring, where they're inquiry, driven. So it's a process that we're going to be leading up to. But starting off, it will take a little time to get there. Coba, you can add more to it. You were in that meeting also. Absolutely. Thank you. So they were very clear and very specific about the steps that would take,
leading up to it. Like she said, they wanted us to go through the full process. Once we are going once we do go through the full process, then they ask us to come back and schedule a meeting in which we would go over the full realm of implementation, including what does it look like for training, what does it look like for your mentors coming in? So, that's one thing that we did ask about is how does training work, how does mentorship work within that first year. Then we talked about an additional year of evaluation before we get that official capacity certificate, basically saying that we are a recognized IB program.
So, it is a multiyear stage, but we, like she said, we have connected with the appropriate individuals and are prepared to take it forward when we get the green light. Perfect. Thank you so much. Valerie, back to you. Thank you. Moving to Britney. Perfect. One second. Actually, if you can come back to me and go to John next and then, I can go after John. Perfect. I'm ready. I got plenty of questions. No. This one's actually about enrollment. So I wanna switch gears for a second. And looking at your application, I see you want around 200 students in year one. That's what you're proposing.
In that, obviously, you all have a plan for recruitment. But I want to talk a little bit about what happens if the, recruitment efforts don't actually get you those 200 students and to get you more like a 100 students. Looking at some of the the numbers, it looks like that will put you all at a negative operating income of around $580,000 give or take. That said, could you walk me through what your process would be to realign that budget and then kind of what topic areas would you look to sort of cut, initially? Thank you. I'll take that question.
If NOVA's enrollment were lower than projected, the school would, immediately transition into a conservative operational adjustment plan aligned to actual, average daily attendance revenue and enrollment trends. The board and leadership team will conduct a comprehensive review of staffing, operational expenditures, implementation timelines, and cash flow projections to ensure that the school remains financially stable while protecting the core instructional services. So the core the priority is the core instructional services.
The the students get the same, services no matter what the enrollment is. Our first priority, is that high quality instruction, student interventions, compliance services, campus safety, nonessential expenditures, and phased initiatives and discretionary start up costs would be delayed or reduced as necessary. The staffing allocations would also be adjusted strategically based on actual enrollment while maintaining appropriate student to teacher ratios and preserving support for special populations, intervention systems, and core academic programming.
In addition, NOVA would intensify enrollment stabilization efforts through targeted family engagement, community outreach, student retention strategies, ongoing marketing initiatives designed to strengthen the ADA and long term long term sustainability. The board's finance committee would continue monthly financial oversight through budgeting budget monitoring, variance analysis, and enrollment forecasting to ensure proactive decision making and early intervention if adjustments are needed. NOVA understands that successful
school and protect the instructional program while positioning the school for sustainable long term growth. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you, Valerie. Back to you. Alright. Moving on to our next question coming back to Britney. Okay. Thanks so much. So in your application you cite that there's gonna be a transition from elementary school as a key rationale for your proposal. So noting that many of your fifth graders, are performing, at that proficiency level, a lower proficiency level in math and reading. So because this school will be opening starting with fifth grade,
all your students will be transitioning from another campus. So here's my question. How will you address existing academic gaps also while supporting students, when entering a new campus at that fifth grade level? And what specific strategies or supports are you gonna implement, in order to ensure that transition does not result in continued underperformance, in your existing model? Thank you for that question. So, Nona's decision to begin with fifth and sixth grade on the fifth and sixth grade model reflects a growing national trend and recognition that the middle school our middle grades
represent one of the most critical transitional periods in a child's academic, in social and emotional development. So this decision to begin with fifth grade was intentional, and it was rooted in both academic transition planning and student development. Across the country, of course, educators and researchers have increasingly emphasized the importance of what we call the three inch years because students are moving from foundational learning into more advanced and critical thinking, identity formation, and even independent academic responsibility. So with that being said,
we chose this. And by beginning with the fifth grade, NOVA has the opportunity to establish school culture, academic expectations, leadership development, and support systems before students fully enter the traditional middle school years. Fifth and sixth grade students are old enough to engage in rigorous scene based instruction, leadership development, and project based learning while still being young enough for schools to positive positively shape habits, confidence, discipline, and even academic identity before any negative educational patterns,
become entrenched. Starting with fifth grade also allows for intentional strengthening of foundational skills, things like executive functioning, organizational skills, leadership skills, collaboration, scene based problem solving, project based learning routines, and social emotional development. This doing this creates a smoother transition into more rigorous six to eight instructional models and helps reduce learning loss and disengagement, which oftentimes we see, especially around the seventh grade, that can sometimes occur during middle school years.
Finally, the model is also effective because it creates smaller, more supportive learning environment, during years when students often experience major emotional and developmental changes. Research can just consistently shows that students who feel seen, challenged, and supported during these, middle grades are more likely to succeed academically and socially, in regards to high school and beyond. Operationally, finally, beginning, with fifth grade also supports the long term student retention and school continuity, by allowing the school to build relationships with students and families,
earlier in the educational pipeline IGI. Ultimately, the goal, of course, is to create a strong bridge between elementary and middle school, years while establishing consistent academic and cultural foundations that support student success through graduation and even beyond. Thank you. Thank you, Douglas. I could not get add that, starting with fifth grade also allows the school, to build strong traditional skills, you know, in those areas, such as, you know, executive functioning or leadership and collaboration, the scene based, problems, the social emotional,
development. Those things will be taken care of. This will also create, a smoother transition from that six to eight grade instruction model that helps reduce the learning loss and disengagement that a lot of times can occur during those middle school transition years. Thank you. Thanks for that response, Valerie. Alright. Moving next to Sarah. Perfect. I just wanna talk a little bit about the governance. So you currently have 11 voting members on your Board. So my question really is for the Board. In the first eighteen to twenty four months, there's gonna be a lot of rapid and high stakes decisions that happen,
that are often required. How will the Board remain nimble and avoid any decisional or strategic bottlenecks during those times? Sarah, do you mind repeating that? You cut out at the end on my side. My apologies. Yes. Of course. My question is, with a lot of decisions that are gonna happen within the first eighteen to twenty four months, and given that you do have 11 voting members on your Board, how will the Board remain nimble and avoid any decision or strategic bottlenecks? Absolutely. Thank you for that question. As far as it relates to our decision making, from a board, one thing that I would like to note,
is that we have had an adjustment. So, we are now at eight, but we will be continuing to recruit and look for, to rebuild that board number up. But, as far as it relates to addressing the specific question at hand and the bottlenecking, as we continue to make these, make these decisions as they come up, right? Making sure that we're intentional with that we have what decisions need to be made at what time frame. Right? There are gonna be some decision as a board that we can spend a little bit more time, talking about. Right? Maybe we need to table it or what have you. And there are gonna be some decisions that we will need to make a key,
and or quick decision. So, primarily, I would say, excuse me, is making sure that all of our board is continuously committed as we go and that they understand the, the meeting cadence, the meeting requirements, and ensuring that agendas are sent out ahead of time, so we know what decisions need to be voted on, and ensuring that all voting parties are aware, like, hey, this is a conversation that's gonna address this particular voting instance and making sure that we're voting on that accordingly and moving the votes forward instead of allowing them, to hang back and kind of create that bottleneck.
So, really utilizing, at least from our standpoint, James and myself, really utilizing and relying on Robert's Rules of Orders, making sure that we are attuned to that and, you know, the timing and cadence for each decision to be made. Thank you. Perfect. I just have one follow-up question as well. Given that you are at even number board then at this time too, how do you think you would approach a situation where you have a time sensitive task that requires the board approval, but you're experiencing delays in receiving that approval? Yes. So, with us having that even number, one member,
which is oftentimes my self, I oftentimes do not vote in these situations or in the motions at hand, in case unless there is a case of a tie. And at our first board meeting, that was what we decided as a group to be the most effective. When we're having instances that are a time sensitive situation or a time sensitive vote that needs to be had, the way that we have approached it here recently and have been successful in is making sure that everyone has all the information that they need to be successful prior to the vote. That way,
while the vote's taking place, we're not spending time rehashing the issues or re, litigating for lack of a better term the issues, but rather we're able to come in, voice our opinions, and then take the vote as necessary. And just make sure that it's intentional with the expectation that, hey, prior to us leaving the leaving X days meeting, we do need to have a solidified answer or decision on X, Y, and Z topic. Thank you. Alright. Moving to Michelle with our next question. Thank you. Good afternoon. Looking at the instructional leadership team, who will be overseeing and ensuring policy procedures and support are being properly executed for
emergent bilingual students and staff? Thank you for the question. So our academic dean, our dean of academics will oversee as well as our, MTSS coordinator and special education coordinator. They will work hand in hand to ensure that all paperwork, all submissions to the State are in order. Miss Blackwell is the specialist on that and she can continue on with that answer. Thank you for that. As a board member, I will support the emergent bilingual students by advocating for inclusive instructional practices, with access to high quality language development programs and culturally responsive learning environments.
I will work to ensure teachers receive ongoing professional development and the that the families are actively engaged as partners in their child's education. My goal is to actively engage as partners in the child's education, and help every emergent bilingual student thrive academically while valuing and building upon their linguistic and cultural strengths. Thank you. Thank you for that. And this leads to the next question. In your application under serving emergent bilingual students,
you estimate starting with two bilingual ESL certified staff. And you also mentioned the flexible programming options to meet the needs of these students. And these options included the dual language two way, transitional bilingual, and ESL content based program. My question is, two part, is will these teachers be ESL or bilingual certified? And would you please describe the plan to provide the three program options with two certified staff? So I can speak on the certification part,
and then I'll let, miss, Blackwell or miss Miles continue on. So, of course, all our teachers will be certified. We will be, seeking to hire highly qualified in that particular area, making sure that they have their ESL certification. In the event that we do have to hire, which we're not, we're gonna go into it with our partnerships with Navarro College as well as Nelson University to ensure that we're, working that pipeline to get students or get employees that have their certifications. So that way, they will be able to work not only with our special ed or our,
emerging bilinguals, but they will also be able to work in our content classrooms as well. So we're actually looking at our all of our staff to be 100% certified when we open on day one, but they can continue on with the actual programs and methods that we will be using. Okay. Moving to Ashley with our next question. Hello. Shifting to facilities, what is your plan for locating and acquiring a facility? Do you propose to lease or purchase that property? And lastly, is there a contingency plan if renovations are necessary? I can take that question.
Thank you. Our facility search, as leadership team, we have already identified a building, our number one ideal location. It's a two story, 25,000 square foot location. It was previously used for medical offices with various suites. So there I don't think there would be a lot of build out, maybe, minimal, as far as leasehold improvements are concerned but it would be a lease and but it it is clearly ideal for classroom administrative offices right off you know out out the door when we get started.
It's the location is ideal. It's it's, really close to two major highways. It would be easy for anyone in the county to get to. It's very accessible. The the what's nice about it is that we can move into it slowly and grow into it, take on additional suites as we are trying to grow as well. We do have some backup options if if that location is no longer available once we when once we're ready to get started. And, those options would would be in the main artery of the town of Waxahachie,
would have a lot of leasehold improvements, but all of it, it would be leased, leased, facilities. And I'll let, James, if you don't mind, continuing to describe our facility. Yeah. Thank you for that answer, Tracy. Let me just kind of because I think you did a great job of answering the first part of the question. If there's any type of, you know, changes, we'll implement, operational side, the a plan to ensure that there's continuity and the students and the staff that very important, instructional time, is protected. And so we we are ready to evaluate
different options that align with the school's vision and vision, the safety, and instructional requirements. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. The next question coming from Esther. Hello. Thank you. Regarding superintendent and principal roles, can you describe the dual role between superintendent and principal as proposed? Specifically, how do you foresee managing your time effect, effectively between the unique responsibilities of each role, especially as the school grows? Thank you so much for that question. Being in a double role, starting off these first couple of years is gonna take a lot of time management,
but We have We have already identified a program to help, help me during that process. We call it the LEAD program where we have, observations that come in from different, superintendents that we have identified to mentor me during those first couple of years to make sure that we're meeting all of our benchmarks, making sure that we're hitting all of our milestones as well. So we're taking a proactive look at the responsibilities that I will have to. We're ensuring that we have all of the staff that we're needing as it relates
to the academic side, making sure that we have a dean of academics, making sure that we have a dean of operations that will assist in those day to day, strategies that will take place as well as handling the day to day, on campus, things that might take place also. Kobe can also outline a more detailed path that we're gonna be taking to ensure that everything in every positions run smoothly throughout those first couple of years. Thank you. I'd like to add to that. So in reference to the two superintendents that we have identified and she's actually been
able to connect with in sort of a mentorship capacity. That is mister Walter Jackson from La Porte ISD and mister Johnny Tay, the retired, deputy superintendent from Ailey ISD. And so, in her dual role, right, as you said, there's gonna be a lot of different nuances of each portion of that that will have to be, met frequently, right? And so, I think a large part of that also goes back to how we, as a board of directors, plan to hold her accountable. And accountability and transparency from the very beginning is going to be a big,
function for us as a board. When we initially started having conversations, we had several conversations in which she was not a part of just ensuring that we are making the direct the best decision for the school in allowing that type of dual role, and, you know, choosing her to be in that position. But speaking to that accountability aspect, we see it as being over four, excuse me, four key metrics, if you will. So, financial health, academic outcomes, one of them is operational compliance and that organizational stability. So, not just making sure that, you know, she's doing the principal role well or doing the superintendent role well,
but how are we integrating those, right? What does the intersectionality look like between those two roles? And how are we as a board doing our due diligence to make sure she is supported, but also holding her accountable if she is missing those metrics or if the school is underperforming? And what does that plan look like and what datasets do we use for that as well. Thank you. All right. Next question coming to Ed. Good afternoon. In regards to special education, can you please share your plans for completing evaluations and then the provision of speech and related services? Thank you for that question.
Our plan to is to ensure that ESL recertification practices are aligned with state standards while also meeting the individual needs of the emerging bilingual students, including those receiving special education services. We'll use state approved language proficiency assessments such as the LASS as, beginning of the year, assessment and we'll also use Tellpass, in the spring. We'll use academic performance data. We'll use teacher input and and even parent communication to make informed, reclassification decisions. We believe that it's important to provide ongoing training for our teachers and staff and
that they can understand the state requirements and the language development expectations and appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities. Collaboration between ESL, SPED, and general education, teams will also help to ensure students are supported appropriately and not exited too early or too late from services. And in addition, we will monitor student progress after reclassification to ensure continued academic success and provide interventions when needed. Part of that is through our WIN program which where students will have,
time in their daily schedule to be assessed in whatever areas that are needed. Our goal is to create a fair and a data driven process that supports language growth, academic achievement, and long term student success. Thank you. Okay. And as a kind of a second question or a follow-up, do you walk us through how you ensure you're ready to implement the existing IEPs according to the transfer requirements just that are described in, the administrative code, 891055? Miss Blackwell, I think I'll let you have that one. Okay. Getting off mute.
Thank you very much. Thank you for that question. We will have the procedures in place to review existing IUPs immediately upon, upon enrollment to ensure services, accommodations, modifications, transportations, and related services are implemented without delay. We will make sure that each student has an updated IEP, and if needed, we will go back to ARC and add or eliminate services. We will ensure special education staffing is secured early, including teachers, diagnosticians,
speech providers, counselors, and related service personnel. Teachers and staff should receive training on student accommodations, behavior supports, confident confidentiality, and instructional expectations before the school year year begin. In addition, campuses should establish clear communications between SPED staff, general education teachers, families, and service providers so everyone understands each student's individual needs. Ongoing monitoring and documentation systems will help ensure services are delivered with fidelity and remain,
compliant with ideal requirements from the very first day of school. Thank you. Alright. Moving to John for our next question. Yes, ma'am. One second. Let me scroll down to it. I kinda more of an exciting question for you all. I know you all had, I think, four stakeholder meetings. I think there's two in person, maybe two virtual. I'd love to hear how those meetings shape you all's proposal. If you have any, like, specific examples, how perhaps some of that feedback actually changed development of the model.
Well, thank you for that question. It gave us the opportunity to really, hear what the parents had to say. The parents, when they did come to our focal groups, when they came to our steam Saturdays, were excited about the opportunity of having a middle program. In Ellis County, you have the two, elementary schools that go from k through fifth grade. So there's not a middle pathway for those students that wanna continue in steam. The next time they're introduced to it per se is when they reach high school. And even at that time,
you're taking just different courses. It's not a continuation of the actual steam pathway. So to hear about us, to hear about NOVA and what we're trying to bring to Ellis County, the feedback has been just overwhelming. They're all excited about it. Our turnouts on Saturdays are just packed houses because they're really excited. We were able to really target in with the, homeschool network, those parents that had taken their kids out of the public school, but now they're thinking about bringing their children back into this type of environment because
it's giving the students what they wanted. So when we talked about in our introduction that we listened and that helps launch NOVA STEAM Academy, it was because we got all of the different information and feedback from so many parents and even from the students because they're so excited by being able to continue on with the STEAM pathway and the STEAM education and having the opportunity to have hands on projects. So that's kinda pretty much shaped our model and keeps us going with NOVA. Kobe, if you wanna add anything or James, y'all have been a part of pretty much all of them.
Yeah. So I think one thing that I would like to add, at least from because full transparency on theme Saturdays, I spend majority of my time talking to the kiddos. And helping them with their STEAM projects. But one thing that I noticed is that the students really enjoyed the, the skill development or the progressive development of the different activities that we're doing. Right? If we were doing, let's say, one specific project one month and then the another project another month, they always wanted to go back and say, well, in this project, we did this or in this project,
we did, we could have done this or we could have changed this. So, making sure, you know, like, in our model that it is reflective that you do have that progressive build up, that students are able to have those hands on opportunities. Because once we started to promote that and give out our literature and really talk to those parents, a lot of what we were seeing was, okay, so is my student going to learn this just, you know, just this one component and then never talk on it again? Or how is this going to be translated or reflected later on down the line? And so, I know for me specifically having the opportunity to sit and talk to the students,
listen to their excitement, and really put those bridges together for me, was a very eye opening experience. And I know we had several conversations as a board, specifically with, you know, Doctor. Davis and Doctor. Jay, on how that is implemented and how we are just continuing to progress and build upon foundational learning skills, versus having it being this one intermittent, activity. And thank you for that, board chair. If I can handle my experience of being there on those Saturdays, for me, it was just listening to those parents come to us and say thank you for thinking of us.
Wasatch County has needed and Sales County has needed a program that supports our kids who are being pushed towards STEAM and you seem to be the organization that's going to fill that gap. So thank you. So I was so pleased to hear from the community, the parents thankful that no esteem can be a reality. And then if I could just add one more thing to that as well because I really enjoyed, the STEAM lab Saturdays. And so, you know, this direct engagement it was it resulted in over a 100 letters, of intent of families that wanna, attend NOVA.
And so through this direct engagement with families and community leaders and local organizations, it's evident that there's already a strong demand for a program like NOVA STEAM And so a STEAM focused school will not only meet this demand, but also expand access, strengthen college and career readiness, as well as equip students with the critical skills needed to thrive, you know, in our rapid evolving and growing economy as well. I just wanna add one other thing. I know everybody says such wonderful things, but one of the things that I shared with doctor Toni, when she asked me to be a proposed board member is that,
education must be engaging, especially in the time that we are living in as to being engaging and innovative. And I've had the opportunity to fly in a couple of different occasions to be a part of those Saturdays. And the engagement that I saw, from the students who were attending was just absolutely really amazing. And And as a former middle school teacher, oftentimes it's hard to, get students engaged and continuously engaged. And I believe those same Saturdays really provided that engagement at the top tier level. Thank you. Have you all been doing those STEAM Saturdays after the application submission,
or or have you have those been ongoing, or have you all been doing events since you submitted the application? So our STEAM Saturdays are ongoing. We have not stopped. Matter of fact, this upcoming Saturday, we have our our next one. So we try to do them once a month. We have partnered with Sims Library in Waxahachie, but we're getting students that are coming in from all of the surrounding cities. So we have students that are coming in from Innis now, coming in from Red Oak, coming in from Menelopean. So the word is really getting out about Nova and what we're doing on Saturdays.
So it's not the juice we have. One set of kids that show up, it's always a continuation. It's always, oh, I brought my friend or a whole different new family set that comes in because they've heard about it. We did have this past month, one of the, day cares directors came in, and they were excited and wanted to know how they could be a part of it. And they're talking with us right now about having a, summer camp where we could take the steam lab over to the daycare even and be able to do some hands on activities with those fourth and fifth graders this
summer. So it's been ongoing, sir. I love that. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Valerie, that's all I have. Alright. Coming next to Sarah. Perfect. Thank you so much for that. How will you operationalize the coherence across your Sabus core curriculum, Project Lead the Way modules and the IB program so that teachers experience one integrated model rather than competing initiatives? Thank you for that question. And I'll start first and then, doctor Jay or doctor Zach, if you could kinda, expand on the answer. Luckily, do those POCs that will be designed for the teachers to be able to kinda
talk to what the curriculum is, how they're involved in it, what it looks like in their in their classrooms so that any questions that they do have about how those things are aligned, that they'll be answered through the continuous POC meetings. Doctor Zappen, Doctor Jay? So as soon as, James was saying, so we like we said earlier, it's not a bunch of separate. It's all integrated into one model. So a lot of the project lead the way will definitely come through our computer science as well as our engineering classes, but the hands on aspect of it,
that core value is actually in all of the core classes. So even though the project is introduced maybe in English during those PLC meetings, during those, professional developments that we have. That's when we will be able to align it to the TEKS. And then in the summer, before school even starts, all of our teachers, all of our staff will go through a professional development. We will look at all of the TEKS of all of our core classes. We will be able to align those takes to the exact projects. So that way, we have an interdisciplinary, going, pathway. So when students learn one aspect in English,
they'll see it again in history. They'll be able to recognize it in math, and then they'll be able to execute the final project once they reach the engineering classes. And so that way you have a whole overall project. Teachers will also be able to, will be doing walk throughs and doing observations. They'll have debriefing where if they're not understanding the expectation or understanding how the model works, they will have the academic dean that will be able to walk them through that, give them coaching, show them how it aligns, and be able to give feedback to them. So it is a process that everybody will be using.
Everybody will be aligned, and everybody will be trained on how to use all of it. Go ahead, doctor Zach. Hey. I just wanna also add that, in doing this, we'll evaluate outcomes connected to creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and technology integration. As soon as advance, through the program, it's our desire at NOVA, to explore age appropriate certifications, partnerships with universities, industry leaders, of course, and other STEM organizations. We also wanna look at workforce development programs that assist students to future career pathways
as been stated earlier, of course, in science, technology, engineering, and the arts. Thank you. Thank you so much. Valerie, back to you. Alright. Moving now to Brittany. And Brittany, you're on mute. Wow. Ricky Mistake. Thanks so much. You describe a system of quarterly evaluations so you've kind of gotten into that of performance data and you mentioned that your targeted corrective actions will be implemented when outcomes are off track. So here's your question. Can you walk us through, some of those examples of what that's gonna look like in practice specifically?
What happens if students are not meeting, the star growth targets in year one? I think, if I'm understanding the question, we're gonna be using the wind program. What I need, well, they will have a a daily, set period during the day, all the students every day to go into wind and what we do and when they will be. We'll be using diagnostics to see where their deficiencies are and that's where the enrichment programs will come into place for students individually. That will be an everyday class for the students and the students also we will also be doing diagnostics there
to see on a biweekly basis to see where they are moving if they're moving toward their targeted goals or not and if not we'll go back and reassess and maybe the kids who are going have met their goals and going beyond who may reassess the groups and rearrange the the groups for the students but there will be ongoing diagnostic and enrichments for the students on a on a daily basis. I think, someone wants wants to jump in there? Yes, ma'am. I'll jump in because I'm excited about when we call it the wind intervention. It's what I need.
So we're not waiting until a grading period ends before we change where our students are. We're looking at those, pre assessments that they have taken, and we're placing them in the particular tiers that they need to be in during the wind block. During their block, they're getting not only being able to use, iReady, but they're getting, teachers that are helping them with small group. We're doing pull out. Our interventionists are coming in and we're working on the different strategies that they need so we can get them from where they are to where they need to be. The great thing about our intervention,
about the WIN program, is it is a daily intervention block. It is not just a few minutes. Like we see, some schools have an advisory, and it's only about twenty minutes. This takes up a full block every single day. The total, minutes that we're looking at in a week is three hundred and twenty three minutes of in bench, intervention that will take place. On Fridays, we have what is called our win Friday. So on Friday, you have two blocks of intervention that takes place for all of our students. And I know you might be thinking, well, maybe it's not everybody needs that. They might not need that,
but we wanna enhance and get our students from if they're on grade level, to get them to mastery. So that is the reason that they're everyone will be going through the intervention. At the end of our intervention blocks on Friday, that's when we go into our enrichment program. Our enrichment program, we have already partnership with the, four H of Ellis County, which is a part of the Perry View A and M, extension program. And we're looking at offering, career, readiness skills as well as having coding, having leadership skills and character building. And we've already started putting that curriculum together with,
miss Day who is over the Ellis County program. So we're really excited about what WIN can do, what WIN is going to do to ensure that our students not only meet but exceed what these, state average is. So we're excited about WIN. Thanks for that response. Valerie? Yes. Alright. Moving now to Esther with our next question. Thank you. Can you tell me what formal mechanisms will the board use to evaluate and remove a superintendent if necessary? Necessary? Sorry. Can you repeat that question? One more time. Yes. What formal mechanisms will the board use to evaluate and remove the superintendent if necessary?
Gotcha. So, as a board, we will be using the, TA TASV, so the Texas Association of School Board Superintendent Evaluation System, utilizing one of the two recommended best practices. So, either utilizing the previously structured based on recommendations, or finding a way, to really evaluate that system and highlight what our key nuances are and how it relates to that specific plan. But really making sure that we're looking at those performance goals, those performance, performance goals and measurable outcomes and where it aligned on there.
In the event that the superintendent does have to be removed, we would have already, as a board, taken several collaborative steps, right, reviewing those different goals, putting corrective actions into place, but also, you know, ensuring that expectations are clearly defined and communicated in the beginning, right, and that we're coaching and tracking as we go along the way, right? So, those periodic observations. And then, you know, if the superintendent does not meet the outlined expectations or fails to improve on the previously discussed expectations,
we as a board will make the, make the decision to vote the superintendent out of that role. And miss Mai, would you like to, add anything that I might have missed? Thank you for that. We actually only have a couple of minutes left, so I'd like to get through, my next few questions. Okay. But thank you for that. Can you tell me, what ongoing training and evaluation will be provided to board members to ensure effective governance? Yes. Thank you for that question. So the board will take all of the required trainings, that is required to start based off of the outlines of the TEA.
Continuously, we will ensure that we are taking those trainings that are, best practices based off of recommendations from TEA resources, business consultants, legal consultants as well. But I also would like to highlight that since we are an official five zero one(three) designated organization as well, we will continue to take the trainings necessary to effectively run that, run that type of IR, excuse me, run that type of organization as designated by the IRS to make sure that we remain in compliance. Okay. At this time, I'll turn the time over to Valerie.
All right. Thank you. That concludes our portion for TEA questions. We are now going to, open up the floor for questions from our SCOE members. With the time that we have left, it will be about seven minutes per SCOE member. And I will allow Marion to, to call on each member. I believe we'll start with a member of Belmetto, and then I will pass the facilitation off to Marion. Doctor. The proposed superintendent does not have campus level leadership experience and doesn't have relevant certification.
No other campus leadership resumes are provided in the application. How do you think this lack of experience and training will impact the successful operation of the campus? What is You can't hear? Yes. You hear me? Yes, mister Davis. We could hear you. Go ahead. Thank you, board member. First of all, our current proposed superintendent has twenty eight plus years of experience in education as a whole. And what I've seen over the last sixteen years as being a a full time educator is that superintendents come with a variety of different experiences from different spheres.
With her twenty eight plus years of, educating experience in the classroom and things of that nature, I actually think she is actually quite prepared, to lead. Her resume speaks to, different entities that she has led, consistently, not only, summer school director, CCM coordinator, and, of course, of, getting a certification. While it may not be an easy process, it is definitely one that we believe that, our superintendent is qualified to take on. So we believe strongly, that her current experience prepares her for this leadership role,
because we want a superintendent that's well rounded, that's well versed. And I've known her for a number of different years, and I've seen her operate in a number of different capacities in regards to education is concerned. So we don't, we don't see the fact that she, doesn't have a certification as a negative. We just see it as, something that needs to be worked toward, and she's actively working on that. And we continue to support, her being our proposed superintendent because, again, we want a superintendent that is well versed, well rounded,
and we think her experience currently in education over these next twenty eight years speaks to that. Member Balenaro, you're on mute again. I I just don't see the the leadership and experience. I don't see the training, and so I'm I'm thank you, but I I disagree. And then additionally, as far as, like, the annual meetings, I know that there's been some personal development that has taken place here recently too. Is that correct, doctor Jugger? Yes, ma'am. Thank you so much. So I have been attending different, professional developments in leadership and governance as well.
I'm also in the process of going back to school to get my certifications as well. I'm a lifelong learner, so I believe in making sure that I have all the credentials that I will be needing. Up until that time, we will be using what we call what we have is a mentorship program with some superintendents to help guide me along the way. I believe that my experiences in the different roles that I have had have prepared me throughout my career to be able to manage a rigorous school like Nova Steam Academy. So I am already on top of it and doing the things that I need
to do to make sure that I have the credentials that I need to see NOVA go forward. Thank you. I would like to also add that though she has not had any experience as a superintendent, we have a very strong board with a plethora of, experiences. And as a as a board, we are here to support her. We all have a vision of where we want the school to go, and we're all working toward that vision as she said she's doing. She's having, mentors to guide her. I think that we because we have such a strong board her lack of,
experience as a superintendent won't be a hindrance to the school in any way. Thank you. Member Palmetto, this is still your time, so you don't need to raise your hand. You can go. Member Bonner, do you have any more questions? Oh, yes. I was going to say that, only, two of the 11 board members live in Waxhawax Street or Ellis County. And, I'm just wondering how they will understand the community, where the school's located, if they're not part of that community. If if I may, thank you for that question. I'd just like to jump in and indicate. I actually do not live in Ellis County. I live in the surrounding Tarrant County,
but I have served as an attorney for over fifteen years. And I've done education law, in various counties, including Ellis, Dallas, Tarrant. I'm very familiar with, the rules and regulations that are promulgated and what is to be expected, with respect to the Texas Education Code. And also over and above that, I've raised five children. And in doing so, education remains at the forefront. Guidance and governance for our future leaders is at the forefront.
I don't find it a hindrance that I do not live in Ellis County when I frequently have practiced in Ellis County, as well as represented students in, parents in other capacities dealing with education issues. And so for my purposes, I feel like all of the experience that I've had across the board in many jurisdictions, allows me to take that experience and apply it more succinctly to Nova Steam Academy so that I can be an asset even though I do not reside in Ellis
County. I am an adjacent, Tarrant County Mansfield. Thank you. I I have another question there. The demographic projections, you estimate 9% special ed students, but the surrounding district, served just shy of 18%. And can you, explain why you expect to serve half as many special ed students at the ISD? That discrepancy. I think and I'll let, doctor Jay finish this up. Our numbers were based on the percentages based on the number of students that we will be enrolling, based on the number of students that are at the larger ISD we're looking at
the number of students that we have and our percentages are based on that and Doctor. J I'll let you finish that because I remember I can't remember exactly what in Waxahachie the total ISD numbers were, but we were looking at starting out with 200 kids and our percentages were based on what their percentages were. Doctor. Jay, could you I didn't write that down, the number of students in Waxahachie. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. So in Wausau Hatchee ISD, which our numbers were based off of, the special ed, percentage was 17, point 7%. And so we we based our numbers,
off of that 17.7, and that's how we came up with the nine per the 9%, if that's what you're referring to. Well, how did 18% turn into 9%? I'm not I I just don't understand. Tracy, could you tag in on that one? I will have to, go research that. I don't have I don't have that answer in front of me. I do remember that we we use percentage of the Wausaukechi ISD. So if there is a discrepancy, I'll have to look into that one. Member Belmodero, we are at time for your questions. So I'll move to if we have additional time at the end,
I'll come back to you. Member Hall, we'll go ahead and go to you. I see your hand raised. Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for being with us today and participating in this and, your heart to serve students. I just wanna begin by asking, you to elaborate a little bit more on the condition of the school system there in Waxahachie and especially maybe, relevant schools around the area you plan to pursue. And just, what do you think is driving the demand for a charter school there based on academics and what are those schools look like? I can start out on that answer.
So most students in Waukesha High School do not currently have access to high quality K through eight campuses. So about three fourths of K through eight students in the district are actually enrolled in a c, d, or f rated campus and that's based on the twenty twenty five academic accountability ratings. Also existing steam focus options don't fully meet the student needs while Waukesha ISD do have two specialized campuses that are focused on STEAM and Biomedical Education. These campuses have not historically achieved high accountability ratings,
and serve comparatively lower percentage of economically disadvantaged students. Emerging bilingual students, and special education students compared to other campuses in the district. So this highlights the need for a more inclusive high quality STEAM model that serves broader student population. Also compared to statewide performance, Waxahachie ISD has reported lower rates of graduates who were college ready, or who met AP IB criteria across student subgroups. So NOVA STEAM Academy will help strengthen early academic preparation and provide students with a
stronger foundation for student for success, in high school and actually beyond. And then just one more thing, student academic achievement and growth are below statewide averages. So a majority of students in grades three through eight with the proposed 75,165 zip code are struggling to meet grade level standards in reading, math, science, as well as social studies. Additionally, the percentage of students achieving at least one year of growth in reading and math is slightly below statewide averages, demonstrating the need for more innovative and structural models,
to better support student progress. So overall, you know, if we look at the data, it supports the conclusion that proposed that in this proposed, geographic location, it would benefit from an additional high quality, accessible, STEAM focused charter school. So NOVA STEAM Academy will help address the current academic gaps while expanding educational opportunities for the students and the families in the community as well. What are the specific factors or reasons in Waxahachie ISD that you think are leading to low performing campuses around your proposed area?
Well, I think that one of the main and I'll let doctor Jay speak to this. I just wanted to say one thing. I think one of the main things is the gap, of the pathways that we spoke about in terms of it's available on the elementary level, but when we look at the middle schools, not so much. And so there is a gap in that pathway from elementary to middle school and then beyond to high school. And can I just I'll just clarify my question really quick? So I I get with, like, STEAM related subjects. What you're saying that you'd be able to provide unique opportunities that are not currently being provided in local ISD. But when we go to,
like, core subjects, let let's just say, like, the reading scores, as an example, you know, which not seem specific, but obviously pretty important. What do you think the factors are in those campuses around you? Like, why are they why are they achieving those scores besides the the same issue? So thank you so much, member Hall for that question. Not being in those campuses conversations that we have, had with different parents, they have expressed that there's not a lot of hands on intervention that is taking place. They have the, map test that they do do, but they're not having enough time where those skills are implemented into a day by
day, which is producing low scores as well. When we look at the students that are coming from the specialized theme campuses, which are those two schools, when we look at that data, it really doesn't give you a clear picture of the overall, body of Ellis County. When you look at the economically disadvantaged, those two school numbers are lower when you compare to the other elementary schools. And when you go into the only three junior highs that are in Waxahachie, you're experiencing overcrowdedness, not able to meet all of the demands or not have nor have there be
enough, I guess, resources is what the parents have been able to tell us in the conversations that we've had with them. So what sets us apart is going to be having that wind intervention, only having 520 students starting out with that fifth and sixth grade, being able to target in on what those gaps are and providing those strategies that they need in order to bridge that gap to get these scholars where they need to be so those scores can go up. Thank you. Well, I I appreciate that you clearly do have, you know, addressed something that you think is a factor, and you think you can do it differently.
With, you know, the other factors that are in the community, like, say, socioeconomic status, you're gonna face those same exact factors that the ISD in your area, are also facing. So what are you gonna do differently than what they're doing to for high achievement? And you may you may go back to the same answer that you just gave me or you might have something more specific, but I'd love to hear a little bit more about that. I just would like to speak to that. I think the our major what we're gonna add, as far as a major difference is our win program is that enrichment where we
go in and enter we see where the kids are low and we're going in immediately going in to start to try to work with those deficiencies where the kids are on a daily basis rather than waiting till the end of a semester or a testing period. We're looking at our kids on about weekly basis to see where their weakness and we're going in with enrichment and interventions immediately. I think that's one of the things that may be lacking in the other schools and we are definitely that is one of the high points for our programs that
that immediate intervention for our children or for our students. And what is the commitment of the board and the proposed administration to ideological neutrality in the classroom and following, all applicable state laws when it comes to, like, DEI or CRT in the classroom, or curriculum, kind of those ideological issues. Like, how committed is the board to ideological neutrality? Well, thank you for that question. I just wanted to, jump in on on this and indicate that the board is fully committed to neutrality. We're fully committed to following all of the,
regulations, the rules, the expectations that are, expected and given to every educator, in the state of Texas. NOVASTeAM will be no different, than having to follow those rubrics as if an ISD. And so from that standpoint, the there will be neutrality, from the standpoint of we will be following the laws to the letter of the law. We will be following the, Texas Education Code, and we will be ensuring that we are fully compliant with all requirements as issued
and given to our students and our educators. Thank you. Member Hall, that's at time for your questions. I'm happy to come back to you if we have additional time from SVOE members. Member Young, I believe I see you next in, our order of participants here, which is just alphabetical order by first name. So do you have any questions? Alright. Doctor Clark, do you have any questions? Yes. I do have a question. Go ahead. Yes. Good afternoon, the team. It's good to see you all. One of my questions is centered around the, experience of several of well,
one experience of the proposed superintendent as well as campus resumes attached to this information. So can we speak to the experience, and training that will be impactful for the successful operation of this campus? As we do know, the proposed superintendent does not have leadership experience and does not hold a superintendent certification. I'm sorry. The sound is breaking up on my end. Can you repeat your question? Yes. What leadership experience does the campus leadership team have considering the proposed superintendent also does
not hold a superintendent certification and the resumes of proposed campus leadership was not attached to the application? Thank you for that question. As far as, the training and the continuing education of our sup excuse me. Of our proposed superintendent, kind of like, Doctor. Davis alluded to earlier, right, or it might have been Ms. Shaniqua, excuse me. She's gone through and taken those additional steps for professional development. So continuing to look at what those different opportunities are and how we can fill
in those gaps, right? So, identifying what are the necessary steps to get certifications, qualifications, and or, respective licensures, and what does that look like as far as an implementation plan. So, as a board, we will have to come together collectively to ensure that the respective requirements and trainings that are, that are in place are met within a time frame. So, at this time, I do have it notated, and that is something that I, am completely prepared to get back to you on, as far as it relates to the specific timeframe on how to achieve that particular
function of it. As far as campus leadership, I do think that it is important to ensure, that the respective individuals that are being put into place, take a holistic leadership approach in the sense of ensuring that different factions or different individuals have, respective responsibilities and or experience that can all be pulled together for a collective leadership approach. Thank you. Thank you for that. While I do think that was a loaded answer, it was not very direct and clear, so I look forward to the follow-up. And then the other question I'll ask is,
the start up year projections show $710,000 in revenue and $709,967.67 dollars in expenses, leaving only $33 net operating income before depreciation. Why is there essentially no start up cushion? Thank you for that question. I know that we are accepting the I'm assuming you you're talking about year zero. Can you confirm? Yes. I'm looking at the the budget summary on page four fifty one and four fifty four. Okay. Thank you. I know that for year zero,
our plan is to take the money in that we're getting in our start up grant and utilizing that to to just get, the school ready to go. So so while we do not have a lot of cushion in in that, we we feel we feel like, the year one, there's still gonna be some start up grant money carried over into year one just to allow us, you know, that continuous, we have some extra start up going into year one from year zero. So it's really just,
what what we were planning on doing, what we needed to do to open the doors versus, now we've got the students in. We're still finishing up some CSP startup money, while they're there, and and then we're going to start, utilizing the ADA, state income to to manage our operating budget. Thank you, miss Owens, for that response. I wanna follow-up to this real quickly. Because you talked about grant funding. How will you provide cash flow support if reimbursement based on grant funding is delayed? Because we've seen that happen throughout different things.
So what's the the follow-up plan? Again, if reimbursement is the grants? Well, I'm happy to start answering that question if anyone else wants to, chime in after. But I the first things I'm thinking of when you ask that question is we have, some, some fundraising occurring now. We have pledges that has committed to us, certain amount of money just to get started because we know that we need a cushion to get started. We know that we can't count on the grant money upfront because, just like you said, we have to pay the money out,
get the receipts, get reimbursed. So we're using the the pledges of of, gift money to come in just to help start with that that initial, cushion that we were we would need. I don't know if does anyone else have anything else to add? We're also looking at, thank you for that question, doctor Clark. We're also looking at different, companies. We're looking at partnerships as well, donors. We've already started the process of talking with several, about being a legacy donor.
So we're looking at those contributions to also help us get started, before the the CSP money comes in. So we're once again, we're being proactive. We're out in a we're out doing the things that we need to to secure and make sure that we're able to be able to be, to be where we need to be financially before we even open up. So a lot of it is continues on if we move forward. A lot of, the conversations that we've had have been come back to me after you make it through this stage. Come back to me after you make it through this stage.
So once we're able to show that we are where we need to be, then we'll we will have those finances that we need. So thank you. Thank you. Miss Shelby, I'll pass it back to you. Thank you. I saw member Young come, turn her video on. Member Young, would you like to ask some questions? Alright. I will go to Member Brooks. You are next in, alphabetical order. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate you all for for, your passion in in educating students and for your proposal. I do have a couple questions, and I am a little concerned about the following things.
So first, I'm a little concerned about doing too much. Right? I'm looking at a 325 in your, proposal in your application, and you you have a daily schedule. So in your daily schedule, you are talking about CTE time, art time, band time. And and also looking at your the mission of your school is not just STEAM. You have project based learning, the prod, project lead the way. You also have international baccalaureate. So this is a lot,
and you also have to teach 100% of the safe seats. So how are you going to, ensure that students are going to get meet all of the expectations that you have while you're also dealing with the problems that you stated are the reasons for you, starting to charter school in this area. You highlighted the economic, disadvantages, but you really didn't say how you're going to use all of these things to improve reading and and math and writing, professionally. So, again, I I just wanna be clear of what I'm asking.
So what I'm asking is international, baccalaureate, we're looking at, how are you going to, integrate the the state standards with the these international standards. And so you're looking at a global perspective here with your, and maybe you could start with your mission statement. It is a drop, project based on it. I don't understand, you know, how some of these pedagogies, kinda interrelate, like, you do in the project based learning where teachers are more facilitators as opposed to instructors. And then the focus of the mission for the public education system here in the
state of Texas is to simply ensure that all of our children have access to a quality education and and and receiving their full potential. And so, again, how are you gonna manage your time with all of these different elements that you're you're trying to focus on? And, again, how are you gonna fit it into just a a a regular school day? Friday, you have a lot of time set aside to instructional time for tutorials, for enrichment. So how are you going to,
at the end of the day, get our students reading and writing proficiently? And and that brings me to your your your goals, your your student your your school plan. 75% of the students you want to reach proficiency. Is that the first year? So I guess you could kinda speak to how you're going to integrate all this together. And and if I didn't see really anything in your proposal that showed how you have maybe side by side tics or aligned tics with ID, with your project based learning, with your the social studies TIGS for grades five through eight.
Help show me where how you're going to to make this work, please. Thank you so much, member Brooks for that for that question. So just to start off, the programs that we have, they're not they're not programs that we have to implement all of these separately. They're all integrated into one. So Project Lead the Way, for example, that is a software that is done mainly in your engineering classes. So when our students go to engineering, they will be on Project Lead the Way. Our wind intervention is based off of our pre assessments that we do,
our midyear assessments, as well as our end of the year. That allows us to see where the students are to ensure that we're giving them exactly what they need so we can get them to where they need to be when it comes to reaching those math and those reading goals as well. When we look at how it's all going to work together, how it's all gonna work together, The model itself is integrated within the core classes. So IB is not taking the place of TEKS. TEKS are nonnegotiable. We will be following those, all the way through in every in all of our classes.
Everything will be aligned to our teams. The IV model is just to enhance it to get our kids to think more critically. And as we mentioned earlier, this is a process, so we would not be starting day one with IV. It will take at least two to three years before you become fully, authorized through IB. But we will be using the, profiles of IB. And those profiles being risk takers, being principled, being caring, being global minded, we will be using those principles, embedding those into our lessons. If anybody else wants to chime in,
again, I was trying to answer everything that you mentioned. Let me just jump in here and ask the next question because I have limited time, if you don't mind. Okay. So because you do understand that that with the IB, that that in itself is a is a is a pedagogy. And it also even with the profile, it's it's it's more than just those words. Right? It's essentially what their mission statement is is building an internationally type of global minded student. So that is is a little bit more a lot more than just focusing on,
you know, the inquiry based, project based. So it it I I would like to to see what that looks like in in in year three. If you have that information, you could send to me kinda how you're going to, put those together. Do you what is your mission statement, if you don't mind? So I was trying to get off of mute. It wasn't letting me. So the mission of NOVA STEAM Academy, is a grade five through eight public charter school built on TICS aligned, IB informed STEAM model that combines rigorous academics, inquiry based instruction, daily intervention,
and whole child development during those critical middle school years. And just to answer, your question, I my background comes from Uplift Education where I've seen IB work, and we're still using the TEEX. So I can actually send you how it all work and go ahead. We're still writing it out as we're looking at the different TEKS in the core classes and as we're putting together and following those scope of sequences. But I can get that to you, member Brooks. I would love that, and thank you for that. Now Yes, ma'am. That you're staying, focused, what math requirements are you expecting your teachers that you're hiring to come?
What kind of experience is that? And how will you uniquely meet the needs of of, math of challenging your students in mathematics, area of mathematics, and and what is your baseline for that? What's your ongoing assessment for math? And kinda speak to your mathematics school plan, please. Thank you again, member Brooks, for that question. So we definitely wanna make sure that all of our teachers and all our core classes are certified. So we wanna make sure when we're hiring for our math, that they have e, EC through six as well as seven through,
twelfth grade, when it comes to their certification. For our middle school scholars, of course, for our elementary scholars at fifth grade, of course, we will be doing, you know, our basic math. Once we get those diagnostics backs to see where our students are, that will determine what math class that they're in. As they continue to progress on, we're hoping that, we will have a lot of, gifted and talented students as well, and not just students that are behind. But that way, we'll be able to allow those that are in eighth grade to go ahead and take algebra one and be ready to pass that EOC at the end of the
year. So we're gonna make we're going to make sure that when we start the hiring process, that we're hiring, staff, hiring teachers that do have their full certifications. They can teach all areas of math so that way we can ensure that once our students go to high school, that they're ready for the challenges. And even if they wanna take dual credit, we're hoping that, by going through Nova's STEAM Academy, that we will be able to produce those students that when they get to high school, they can take dual credit. And that will help, update or upgrade those current CCMR numbers that are currently in Waxahachie High School.
Okay. Thank you for the analysis. I'd like to add on to that, in regards to certification and our, education. Know what doctor Davis. I just don't have a lot of time. If they give me some more time Member Brooks, we are actually at time for your questions. So I'm gonna move on, and then if we if we can come back, we can. Next in alphabetical order, I have member Francis. Member Francis, do you have any questions? And then next, after member Francis, I have member Maynard. Member Maynard, do you have any questions? Yeah. I do. Walk me through, a little bit about how y'all wound up in Waukesha. Help me understand that a little bit.
Thank you so much, member Mainers for that question. I am a native of Waxahachie. I was born and raised in Waxahachie. I'm a graduate of Waxahachie High School as well as I still have a family that lives in Waxahachie. Waxahachie will forever be my community. And when we started, talking about NOVA STEAM Academy and just talking with parents in general, in church services or just out and about, the conversation has always been about we're trying to get our children into the elementary steam program, but there's always a way,
and we can't get our kids in. And then the conversation, elevated to what what happens after they leave those particular schools. And the conversation has always led back to there's a middle school gap. There is no middle school steam program in Waxahachie for our students to go to. Now although Village Tech has taken over Advantage, Academy in Waxahachie, their model is a little different from ours, and we respect that model. We think it's a fantastic model, but our model is completely different in how we want to integrate STEAM and continue
that continuation and having those students that complete eighth grade even be able to get an IB certification as they enter into high school. We would like to see our middle school eighth graders, complete a showcase at the end of that year showing what they have learned throughout that year. And then once again, like I said, having that IB certification in Microsoft, that's gonna set them ahead and get them ready for college as well. So that's a little bit about me and my background from Waxahachie. What year did you graduate from Waxahachie? I graduated in 1987, sir. Wow.
I'm a proud Indian. Yeah. So that's, you know, I mean, was was, you remember a guy named RC Shipley? I do, mister miss I remember mister Shipley. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Yeah. I worked for RC Shipley when he moved to left Boxahatchee with the Plainfield. So yeah. Yes, sir. So okay. And that's a small world, isn't it? Yes, sir. Sure is. Yeah. So, tell me a little bit about, the with some specificity just in terms of your of your public meetings. And and, you know, what I'm really struggling with is is that I I just this in terms of
the demand, And when I look at your numbers, and and I I I am struggling a little bit to to see that. I mean, I I hear, well, you know, a 100 letters of of of commitment, but, yeah, that, you know, that may or may not be real. I mean, when it comes right down to it, for a variety of reasons. And, I'm just really and and there's a lot of, you know, pretty good schools around there, and there's other charter schools in the area that are was in was doing similar things. Waxahachie is doing similar things.
Tell me a little bit about your numbers specifically. And, you know, how many public meetings have you had, and what are the numbers exactly? So we had over, almost over 15 to 20 meetings. I do not have the exact number on how many attended every single day because I didn't bring that part of the binder, with me when we did have our meetings. We started off our interest meetings actually in Sims Library, with our STEM Saturdays to spark an interest. From there, we had our, virtual meetings. We also had our in person meetings. We also partnered with one of the local churches,
during, last summer. We were able to pass out information to those families as well as backpacks, letting them know about, Nova Steam Academy. We received a lot of feedback from them. I don't know if you're if you know about the new project, the, development that is coming through to, Ellis County, with the Minto Project development, which is actually gonna produce 13,000 new homes that will be built. They're looking at over 33,000 new residents, that will be entering Waukesha to the Ellis County area. So that opens the door for our type of school because the growth that is
getting ready to take place in Waxahachie over the next five to ten years. So we're excited about that. The feedback that we have received once again from the parents is that they're looking for a change. They're looking for something that will continue the, steam program that they've started in the middle elementary through either the Marvin School or the Waldman School and just not having a clear middle school pathway for their students to go to. We were also a part of the, homeschool association. We had an opportunity to speak with them in detail about NOVA and the,
information that we received back from them. A lot of those parents are wanting to put their student back into a school, but they're not wanting to go per se, to one of the elementary one of the elementary schools in Ellis County, but they are thinking about putting their student in, a charter school, and they liked our model. So we've received a lot of feedback from parents all across Ellis County, mainly in the Waxahachie area, sir. Yeah. If if if this thing moves forward, I'm gonna see, I mean, you know, a lot, standing room only, whatever you like.
You know? But I I, you know, I really would like to see some numbers. And because what we don't wanna do is we don't wanna put out a a charter school and then then we can't, you know, meet our enrollment numbers. You know? And, and so, unfortunately, we've seen a lot of that. And so I think we just have to be pretty pretty intentional about that. But what are you looking at in terms of extracurricular? Starting off, we want to take it thank you again for that question, sir. Starting off, we want to take it slow, but we did even have parents ask about that because they wanna make sure that their students are a part of some type of extracurricular.
So we're looking at once we do get established and gradually building up, but we would offer basketball. We would offer cross country. We would offer, volleyball and soccer. I'm big on, technology students association, so we would definitely have a middle school technology, students association where our students will be able to go and compete. I'm super proud right now because my team currently has made it to nationals, and we'll be going to nationals in June through, Technology Students Association. So we are outlining exactly what a full program will look like for students that
come and be a part of NovaSTEAM Academy, sir. Yeah. And and the reason I ask that question is is that, you know, whether we like it or not, you know, sometimes decisions are made about a child's education that have nothing to do with academics. And you know it's that you know I was a school board here we had a partnership for certain CTE programs and you know that that nobody participated in that because all those kids that would have participated in that were also played on the football team. Well if you make a boy choose between football and bat, well, you know who wins.
You know? That's just the reality of that. And so that's that's kind of my my question is is that, you know, because you can get a letter of intent, but if that kid has an interest in a certain sport or something like that, and and and sometimes is that, well, when it comes right down to it, this is that, okay. Well, but, you know, he's playing football. You know? And and so that that's why I asked the question. Thank you, sir. Alright. Do I still have some time? You are at time, sir. Alright. I'll I'll have another question later maybe. So Alright. We have about two more minutes left at SBOE time.
Member Young last call for anyone who didn't get a chance to go. Member Young, Member Francis? Yeah. Thank you. If I have questions, we'll I'll get with them and ask them another another time before June. Thank you. Thank you, Member Young. Alright. We have about two minutes of SBOE time left. Is there any SBOE member who would like to come off mute and ask a question? I would just go ahead, ma'am. Brooks. Thank you so much. So, I'd like to know how much of teaching time, instructional time will be spent on computers.
Are you asking, member Brooks for the exact amount of time? Yes. So what can a parent expect as far as their instructional time that students will receive on on a computer curriculum, during the school day? So you have five through eighth grade. Is it higher in eighth grade, seventh grade? How much time will a student spend in direct in receiving direct instructional, information from a teacher versus time spent on a computer receiving their instruction? Thank you for the question, member Brooks. So I'm gonna use the phrase,
I'm old school. I believe in having a teacher and having that teacher being the being the one that is leading the class and teaching the class. Although we will have technology, it would be used as, assistant technology to help out and to reemphasize different, aspects of the lesson. But we believe in making sure that they have those pens and papers because we need to work on our writing skills. We need to be able to, turn and talk and not just have a computer screen in front of us. So although we will use, computers in the classroom, they will not take up the entire classroom time the way our we want our
teachers to be involved, to be able to do small group, to have those students engaged in the lesson, to have them no red zone, meaning everybody sits up front. Everybody is actively learning, actively listening, and engaged in the lesson. Thank you. That that is wonderful. And lastly, because of time, could you just tell me how many charter schools are in the areas that collectively in Waxahachie ISD, in Red Oak, and NSIC? Yes, ma'am. So, there are no charter schools in Ennis ISD. Waxahachie currently has three charter schools. Life school is also in Red Oak,
and there are no charter schools in Mineral Ocean as well now. Alright, we are at time for SBOE member questions. I will hand it back to Valerie now. Alright, thank you again, NOVA STEAM Academy, not only for your preparation and completion of the application, but for your preparation for today and your robust and thoughtful responses to questions from both our TEA team and members of our SPOE. Alright. Our next steps now, this does bring our time together to a conclusion. You will be notified of the commissioner's proposal by 05/27/2026.
So you'll hear back again from us by that date, and then any further next steps after that. Alright. That does conclude our time together. So for our viewing public, that concludes our interviews today. Our next interviews begin tomorrow at 9AM. And again, we thank you all for your participation, and engagement in today's interview. Thank you all so much. Thank you. Thank you.