October 5, 2021 — Regular Meeting
Conroe ISD Board Meeting — 2021-10-05
Regular Meeting — Unofficial Notes
Based on auto-generated transcript. Not an official record.
Generated 2026-03-28 14:05 UTC
Unofficial Meeting Notes
Conroe ISD Board Workshop
October 5, 2021 | Regular Meeting
These are unofficial notes based on an auto-generated transcript and may contain errors or omissions.
Board Members Present: President Hubert, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Williams, Mr. Inman, and other board members (not all individually identified by name in transcript)
Board Members Absent: Mr. Moore (out due to work responsibilities; noted as having exceeded required training hours through TASB work)
Meeting Duration: Approximately 7:00 PM – 9:20 PM
Public Comment
No members of the public signed up to speak.
Item 1: Employee Benefits and Extended Sick Leave Discussion
Presenters: Darren Rice and Paula Green (from HR/Benefits)
Background
- Extended sick leave (ESL) was adopted by the Board in 1990.
- Originally, the benefit was paid at half pay with a generous leave package (2 local leave days, 5 local sick days, 5 local funeral days).
- Over time, the benefit was reduced to control costs. It was changed from half pay to half dock — a critical distinction that causes significant employee confusion.
- Conroe ISD currently offers only 2 local leave days, compared to peer districts that offer 5-7 local leave days with accumulation.
- Conroe ISD is believed to be the only district in the state that offers extended sick leave.
How Extended Sick Leave Works
- Available to full-time employees after all other leave is exhausted.
- Provides up to 30 work days per school year at half-dock pay for personal illness/injury, family illness, birth/adoption of a child.
- "Half dock" means half of the daily rate (annual salary ÷ contract days), not half of the employee's standard paycheck — a source of major confusion.
- The calculation is entirely manual — no automated system can handle the variables — creating significant administrative burden not included in the $750K annual cost figure.
Key Statistics
- Only 4.4% of employees (~350 people) use ESL annually.
- Annual cost: approximately $750,000 (does not include substitute costs or administrative man-hours).
- Largest ESL use category: maternity/adoption, with average usage of ~19-20 days. A significant number of employees who used ESL for this reason subsequently left the district.
Peer District Comparison
- A comparison chart showed peer districts offering 5-7 local leave days with accumulation (rollover) options. Some districts also offer separate paid funeral leave days. Conroe ISD offers neither accumulation nor separate funeral leave.
Administration's Recommendation
1. Discontinue extended sick leave effective 2023-2024 school year (allowing a transition period for employees to plan, accumulate days, and purchase disability insurance if desired).
2. Continue providing 3 additional local leave days (approved for COVID-19 leave in 2021) for a total of 5 local leave days per year.
- Estimated cost: $1 million/year (based on all teachers using all 3 additional days), available to 100% of employees.
- Incremental cost over current ESL: approximately $250,000.
3. Allow employees to carry over (bank) unused local leave days or be paid at the substitute rate at end of fiscal year. Default would be rollover.
4. Pay out accumulated local leave days upon separation up to a $5,000 cap (at substitute rate, currently ~$105/day for certified teachers).
- Rationale: Prevents departing employees from burning through banked days unnecessarily; keeps teachers in classrooms.
Board Discussion & Positions
- Multiple board members asked clarifying questions about the math, the philosophy behind ESL, and the cost implications.
- One board member questioned why the district would increase costs from $750K to $1M and expressed skepticism about the change as a recruiting tool, noting that a pay raise discussion would come in April/May anyway.
- Another board member suggested keeping both ESL and additional local days. Administration explained this would remove the incentive to bank days, as employees would still burn through leave to access ESL.
- Dr. Knoll emphasized the competitive disadvantage of only 2 local days and noted he'd hired ~1,000 people and never had a candidate mention ESL, but had frequent conversations about the low number of local days.
- Mr. Inman stressed the importance of getting teacher feedback before making changes.
- Administration confirmed next steps would include taking the proposal to the Employee Benefits Committee and District Level Planning and Decision Making Committee for feedback before returning to the Board.
Important Policy Note
- Mrs. Gladys noted that at the November meeting, the Board would adopt policy DEC, but clarified this relates to legislative session leave changes, not this ESL discussion.
No vote was taken. This was a discussion/workshop item.
Item 2: Student Support Services Overview
Presenters: Dr. Chris Hines (Deputy Superintendent), Dr. Tamika Taylor (Assistant Superintendent for Student Support Services), Jeff Fuller and Hartwell Brown (Directors of School Improvement & Transformational Leadership), Rod Chavez (Director of Dropout Prevention & Recovery), Denise Apollo/Griffin (Coordinator of Student Support Services), Lindsay Taylor (Mental Health Specialist), and Kim Earthman (Director of Student Support Services)
District Demographics Context (Dr. Hines)
- District has grown from 37,000 to 67,000 students since 2003.
- Current demographics: 43.1% White, 39.6% Hispanic, 9% African American, 4.9% Asian, 3.8% Two or More Races.
- 17% Limited English Proficient (80+ languages spoken; estimated 25-30% of families don't speak English at home).
- 39.6% economically disadvantaged (up from ~27% in 2003).
- 172 students in foster care, 332 homeless students, 54 migrant family students, 381 military-connected students, 1,960 recent immigrants.
- 36.2% at-risk, 9.3% receiving 504 services, 9.3% receiving special education services.
School Improvement & Transformational Leadership (Fuller & Brown)
Mission: Develop and promote exceptional leaders for student achievement through coaching.
Key Activities:
- Develop processes, protocols, and systems for campus leaders
- Build positive culture and climate on campuses
- Coach on data-driven instruction — shifting from merely discussing data to actively addressing misconceptions and modeling re-teaching strategies
- Create observation and feedback cycles for principals — moving from summative to formative, small-chunk observations
Transformational Leadership Pipeline (3 strands):
1. Aspire to Lead (Teacher Leaders): 108 participants, 5 training sessions/year
2. Aspire to Lead (Assistant Principals): 103-104 participants, 9 sessions
3. Aspiring Principals: 22-23 participants (application process), 8 sessions
External Partnerships: IntoLearning (executive leadership), Holdsworth program (leadership pipeline development)
Board member Mr. Hubert asked for concrete examples of transformation. Mr. Fuller provided a detailed example of transitioning campuses from data-discussion meetings to data-driven instruction meetings where teachers collaboratively analyze student misconceptions, script re-teaching approaches, and model instruction in real-time.
Dropout Prevention & Recovery (Mr. Chavez)
Key Statistics:
- Attendance rate: 96.3% vs. state average (pre-pandemic 2018-19 data)
- Cohort graduation rate: 95.3-96.4% vs. state's 90%
- Dropout rate: 0.9% vs. state's 5.7-5.9%
- Annual dropout rate: 0.2% vs. state's 1.9%
Primary reasons for dropouts: Economic — students needing to work to support families, exacerbated by the pandemic.
Key point: Once a student drops out, they cannot be counted as a dropout twice, creating an incentive for the district to continue pursuing them. Students have up to 6 years to complete graduation.
Department staffing: Presented as a team chart showing positions funded through a patchwork of local funds, state compensatory funds, special education funds, ESSER money, homeless grants, Title I, Title III, Medicaid funds, and other grants.
Board member concern (Mr. Williams): Expressed significant concern about reliance on grant funding for essential student support services, particularly as ESSER funds will expire. Urged the district to budget these positions more sustainably. Dr. Knoll acknowledged a transition plan is being developed to move ESSER-funded positions into the regular budget as enrollment growth provides additional funding.
Programs Highlighted:
- Project Mentor: 200 mentors paired with 200 mentees; mentors commit to one lunch visit per week. Managed by 1.6 FTE. Dr. Knoll's father (Michael Noll) cited as a long-time dedicated mentor. Board members discussed the program's value and limitations. Open to community volunteers — Angela Matthews conducts outreach to churches and civic organizations.
- Communities in Schools (CIS): 20 contracted positions across the district. Provide mini-counseling, resource connection, food distribution. Partially grant-funded, partially locally funded. Cost-effective program. CIS workers are contracted employees, not on CISD payroll/benefits.
- Proposity App: Allows community members to see specific family needs (jackets, shoes, etc.) and purchase items delivered directly via Amazon.
- Parent & Family Engagement Liaisons: 13 parent liaisons and 4 family engagement liaisons hired by principals. Some funded by ESSER III and Title funds.
- Community Partnerships: Lone Star Family Health Center (medical, dental, vaccinations, mental health), Lone Star College, Woodforest Bank, Montgomery County Food Bank, Tri-County Behavioral Health Center.
Hispanic Achievement Celebration: 20th annual event scheduled for April 21st at the new jet center behind Woodforest Stadium.
Guidance & Counseling (Denise Apollo/Griffin)
Staffing: 173 school counselors — an increase of 15 from the prior year.
Key Functions (per Texas Education Code 38.351):
- Early mental health prevention and intervention
- Substance abuse prevention
- Suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention
- Grief-informed and trauma-informed practices
- Positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS)
- Positive youth development
- Building skills for managing emotions, relationships, and decision-making
Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Support Link — free, confidential support available 24/7/365 for all staff and household members up to age 26, regardless of district insurance enrollment. Includes counseling, legal, financial, wellness, and other resources.
Community Health Partnerships:
- Tri-County Behavioral Health: On-campus mental health services at 4 school sites; served 3,600 student contacts in 2020-21. Operates at ~$50,000 loss per site per year.
- YES to Youth Montgomery County: Provides therapeutic support groups on campuses.
- Lone Star Family Health Center: Medical, dental, mental health services.
- T-CHAT (Texas Child Health Access Through Telemental Health): Telemental health through Senate Bill 11 and the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium. Partnership with Baylor College of Medicine. Provides near-immediate psychiatric/psychological appointments versus weeks-long waiting lists. Three laptop computers being deployed to Conroe High, Caney Creek High, and Oak Ridge High for on-site telemental health labs. All students district-wide can access T-CHAT; approximately 50 students have used it in the past 2 years.
Counselor Time Study: Random 3-day time study confirmed counselors spend well over 80% of their time on direct student counseling activities, meeting the 87th Legislature's requirements (SB counselor duty requirements). Testing coordinator positions had already been put in place to free counselors from testing administration duties.
Current Challenges:
- More suicide outcries reported at much younger ages
- Sharp increase in anxiety and stress
- Alarming number of parents who are afraid of their children (particularly young children; parents calling counselors for help)
- Severe financial needs of families
- Sharp rise in grief due to family member deaths
- CPS reporting is up
Community Support Highlighted:
- Student-created organizations: Matthew's Birthday Wish (weekly food support, first aid/hygiene kits), Ashley's Closet (clothing/formal wear), Be Blessed by Bailey Cohert (backpacks, school supplies, shoes)
- Churches redirecting mission projects to local community support
- Area organizations adopting campuses
Student Support Services / MTSS / PBIS / Social Emotional Learning (Kim Earthman)
Team: 14 district-level instructional coaches (12 for campuses, 2 for foster care population), 51.5 campus-based instructional behavior coaches, PBIS liaisons, academic interventionists.
Foundations (School-Wide PBIS):
- 8-year implementation; all campuses have now completed training.
- Based on Safe and Civil Schools (Dr. Randy Sprick's research-based framework).
- Focuses on: clear expectations, consistent structures, positive relationships, school connectedness.
- "Power of Being Seen" exercise: Staff mark rosters to identify which students they know by name, personally, academically, and by interests — revealing students with no adult connections. Mr. Brown described implementing this at Washington with follow-up teacher engagement.
Classroom Management:
- Framework-based approach (not one-size-fits-all program)
- Part of new teacher onboarding (full day of training)
- District coaches provide ongoing support and classroom observations
- Focuses on: clear expectations, consistent implementation, positive student-teacher relationships
Response to Intervention (RTI):
- Three-tier model: Tier 1 (all students), Tier 2 (targeted small group), Tier 3 (intensive intervention)
- Branching Minds platform implemented for tracking whole-child progress
- House Bill 4545 compliance for learning loss addressed collaboratively with Teaching & Learning department
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) — Significant Board Discussion
Ms. Earthman presented Conroe ISD's approach to SEL, emphasizing:
- All SEL work is grounded in state law (Texas Education Code), commissioner's rules, and board policy
- Handouts provided showing legal citations for every component
- District developed its own framework through a committee of ~75 teachers, administrators, counselors, and coaches over approximately two years
- "I Can" statements developed as curriculum aligned to legal requirements
- Not yet fully implemented — still going back to SHAC (School Health Advisory Council) for additional feedback
What SEL IS in Conroe ISD:
- Helping students build skills for managing emotions, positive relationships, and responsible decision-making
- Using teachable moments for respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, caring, citizenship
- Explicit instruction in skills some students lack
- Collaboration with home values
- Required by state law, TEC, board policy, comprehensive guidance model, commissioner's rules
What SEL is NOT in Conroe ISD:
- Not proselytizing or indoctrinating regarding specific religious or political beliefs (per HB 1026)
- Not pushing personal beliefs on students
- Not critical race theory (CRT)
- Not a replacement for values taught at home
Significant Board Discussion on SEL, CRT, and Classroom Content
President Hubert expressed concern about the confusion between SEL and CRT in public discourse, noting he had never heard of CRT until community members raised it at board meetings. He expressed support for SEL as implemented but wanted clear differentiation.
Board Member (unnamed, but described as raising concerns about specific incidents) expressed significant concerns including:
- Fear that SEL frameworks could be used as vehicles for inappropriate content
- Referenced specific incidents: a Pixar video shown without preview that contained inappropriate content, a 7th-grade parent complaint about questions regarding LGBTQ friends, a book in a 3rd-grade classroom, and referenced teachers in neighboring districts (Magnolia, Willis, Montgomery) openly stating they would teach CRT regardless of the law
- Called for stronger culture of accountability to prevent such incidents
- Expressed concern that incidents "keep slipping through"
Mr. Williams strongly pushed back, arguing:
- Isolated incidents should not be extrapolated to indict the entire system
- With 8,500 employees and 68,000 students, mistakes will occur due to volume
- The district has clearly and repeatedly stated it does not teach CRT
- Characterized some community complaints as "conspiracy theories" and "fanatic" approaches
- Questioned why the board continues to entertain claims that contradict the district's documented practices
- Stated the board's role is to hire the right superintendent, provide resources, and step back from day-to-day operations
Dr. Knoll responded:
- In every specific incident raised, there has been accountability
- The Pixar video incident: teacher selected from a complete list of Pixar movies without previewing; principal called every parent that night; fully addressed
- The 7th-grade incident: investigation revealed a counselor conducting a Naviance four-year planning survey asked "Do you like to be around people that are different from you?" — not an LGBTQ-specific question as characterized by the parent
- Emphasized the district reflects community values
- Acknowledged mistakes will happen with millions of instructional minutes daily but are addressed when identified
- Stated he does not believe there is a systemic culture problem
Ms. Earthman confirmed that the SEL framework has not yet been rolled out to all teachers; it was shared with administrators and counselors. Professional learning for teachers is planned. The SHAC committee (School Health Advisory Council — composed of parents, school staff, community members, and students) will provide additional feedback.
Process for vetting instructional materials was discussed:
- Required curriculum: Vetted through textbook selection committees, open to public
- Library materials: Less stringent but subject to formal challenge process per board policy, with ultimate appeal to the Board
- Classroom resources: New teacher training includes Conroe ISD expectations and community values
Closing Remarks
- Dr. Taylor and the student support services teams received praise from multiple board members.
- Mr. Sanders publicly thanked Dr. Taylor for her dedication, citing her personal phone calls inviting him to participate in Read for a Better Life.
- Mr. Williams echoed the sentiment, expressing 20 years of knowing Dr. Taylor and her impact at every level.
- Mr. Inman expressed gratitude for the staff's passion and work.
- Dr. Knoll thanked the teams for their presentations.
Meeting Adjourned
Time: 9:20 PM
Summary of Key Outcomes
| Item | Status |
|------|--------|
| Extended Sick Leave reform | Discussion only; no vote. Administration recommended discontinuing ESL effective 2023-24 and adding 3 permanent local leave days (total 5) with rollover/banking option. Will go to Employee Benefits Committee and DLPDM Committee for feedback before returning to Board. |
| Student Support Services presentations | Informational only. Multiple departments presented overviews of programs and services. |
| SEL framework | Not yet fully implemented. Going back to SHAC for additional feedback. Professional learning for teachers planned. |
| CRT/classroom content concerns | Discussed at length. Board members expressed differing views on scope of concern. Administration reiterated accountability processes are in place. No action item. |
Note: These are unofficial meeting notes based on an auto-generated transcript. They may contain inaccuracies. For official records, please consult the district's approved meeting minutes.