Georgetown ISD CAC Meeting Notes – March 6, 2018

The first meeting of the Georgetown ISD Citizens Advisory Committee was held at Carver Elementary School and began at approximately 6 p.m. Comments were made by several CAC members that served on this committee previously about how much the area had grown since Carver Elementary was completed just three years ago.  The meeting was well attended and this CAC will be the largest the district has ever worked with during a facilities study.

A light dinner was served and Dr. Fred Brent welcomed the group and facilitated self-introductions of committee members and district staff in attendance. Dr. Brent then made a presentation 2015 Bond Package at a Glance. This presentation was meant to identify projects recommended by the previous CAC and supported by the voters. It was an opportunity to track improvements that are being made in the district as a result of that successful bond issue. Next, a short video of the new Wagner Middle School move-in was shown and the video allowed everyone to see the interior of the new school.

Dr. Robert Nicks was introduced as the consultant that will be working with the district throughout the educational facilities planning process and he provided background information and discussed the next three agenda items: CAC Purpose, Goals, Charges, and Parameters; A Brief Review of the CAC Process and Timeline; and Why School Districts Improve Educational Facilities.

Dr. Brent discussed the next item on the agenda, School District Data, Analysis & Tax Rate Information. The purpose of the item was to provide a “baseline” of information that will be needed when potential solutions are discussed during the next phase of the study. Dr. Brent then presented the CAC Meeting Dates, Times, and Locations. 

The process that would be used to address CAC member questions was discussed and several committee members submitted questions that will be addressed at the March 27 CAC meeting.  As part of the closing remarks, a video was shown of Barbara Pearce, previous CAC member, providing comments during the opening of Wagner Middle School. 

The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:55 p.m.

Georgetown ISD CAC Meeting Notes - March 27, 2018

The second meeting of the Georgetown ISD Citizens Advisory Committee was held in the Pickett Elementary School Cafeteria and began at 6 p.m. A light dinner was served as some members of the committee and district staff came to the meeting directly from work.

Dr. Fred Brent welcomed the committee and facilitated introductions of first-time attendees of the committee. It was explained to the group that committee membership was now closed.  Attendance was very good and the percentage of members attending was high. Dr. Robert Nicks was asked to review the next three items on the agenda. The Meeting Notes of the previous meeting were reviewed by the committee and there were no changes. Dr. Nicks next gave a brief review of the Meeting Objectives which focused on two primary topics: The Safety & Security Survey and the District Challenges, presented by Dr. Brent. Reviewing tax rate impact data was also listed as an objective for the meeting.

Dr. Robert Nicks explained why a safety and security survey was being sent to each campus and he asked committee members to review the identified topics and make suggestions for additional topics that might be added to the survey. There was considerable discussion about the survey and numerous edits were made and approved by the committee. Several members of the district’s leadership team responded to questions presented by committee members.

Dr. Fred Brent presented the next item, “A Review of District Challenges.” He reminded members of the committee that the list of challenges was extensive and that the district would be prioritizing the items as no school district has enough money to address all facility and equipment needs with a single bond issue. He also stated that we would begin preliminary discussions on potential solutions at the next CAC meeting.

Dr. Brent then presented information about potential tax rate impact and revenue sources to the committee which preceded the Q & A session at the end of the meeting. After closing remarks, the meeting ended at approximately 8:45 p.m.

Georgetown ISD CAC Meeting Notes - April 10, 2018

The third meeting of the Georgetown ISD Citizens Advisory Committee was held at Wagner Middle School and began at 6 p.m. A light dinner was served as some members of the committee and district staff came to the meeting directly from work.

Dr. Fred Brent welcomed the committee and facilitated introductions. Attendance was very good and the percentage of members attending was high. Dr. Brent presented the meeting notes from the previous meeting and asked if there were any corrections or changes that needed to be made.

Next, Dr. Brent gave a brief review of the Meeting Objectives which focused on two primary topics: District Growth/Financial Capacity and Elementary Student Capacity. Dr. Robert Nicks discussed the relationship of district growth and building financial capacity and briefly described future challenges of the district that would be associated with elementary student capacity and the need for future projects. The discussion also focused on the need to limit projects associated with a 2018 potential bond issue in order to adequately address later needs, ensuring that the district would have the financial capacity to meet secondary capacity challenges. A goal of the school district is to receive bond project recommendations that would not require a tax rate increase, thus placing the district in a position of maintaining future capacity.

Dr. Fred Brent presented the next item, “A Review of Elementary Student Capacity Challenges.” He reminded members of the committee that projects associated with increasing capacity for elementary student growth would be the only projects discussed this evening, but the May committee meeting would focus on all other district priorities and challenges. After the presentation depicting the need for two new elementary schools and an addition to Ford Elementary, the committee was asked to divide into small groups for the purpose of generating questions associated with the proposed projects/solutions to address elementary student capacity challenges.

Dr. Brent then facilitated the Q&A session and gave closing remarks. The meeting concluded at approximately 7:50 p.m.

Georgetown ISD CAC Meeting Notes  - May 15, 2018

The fourth meeting of the Georgetown ISD Citizens Advisory Committee was held at Benold Middle School and began at 6 p.m. A light dinner was served as some members of the committee and district staff came to the meeting directly from work.

Dr. Fred Brent welcomed the committee and facilitated introductions. Attendance was very good and Dr. Brent complimented the group for their commitment to the process. Dr. Brent presented the meeting notes from the previous meeting and asked if there were any corrections or changes that needed to be made.  Dr. Nicks then gave a brief review of the Meeting Objectives, which focused on three primary topics: Safety & Security Survey Findings, Responses to Small Group Questions, and the presentation of Other District Projects and Priorities.

Dr. Bryan Hallmark presented the findings of the Safety & Security Survey and emphasized that every piece of equipment and facility-related request was being incorporated into the project for district safety and security. The total projected amount for this project is estimated to be $9.526 million.

Dr. Fred Brent and administrative team members presented the next item, “A Review/Response to Meeting 3 Small Group Questions.”  Questions were grouped by category and responses were given to the committee. Dr. Brent next gave a presentation that included all district challenges and recommended solutions with the exception of elementary student capacity, which had been addressed during Meeting #3.  Time was given for questions and comments about each proposed project.

Dr. Brent then facilitated the Q & A session and gave closing remarks.  The meeting concluded at approximately 8 p.m.

Georgetown ISD CAC Meeting Notes - June 5, 2018

The fifth meeting of the Georgetown ISD Citizens Advisory Committee was held at Purl Elementary School and began at approximately 6PM. A light dinner was served as some members of the committee and district staff came to the meeting directly from work.

Dr. Fred Brent welcomed committee members and facilitated introduction for staff and others.  Attendance at the meeting was good and Dr. Brent began the meeting by thanking everyone for their contributions to the facility process and made encouraging remarks about the future of the school district. Dr. Brent reviewed the meeting notes from the previous meeting and asked if there were any corrections. There were none.

 Dr. Nicks led the discussion on the next item, the meeting objectives. The next agenda item was the response to the questions generated by small group discussion’s activity during meeting four.  Dr. Brent led the response to questions, but also called upon staff members to address certain issues that pertained to their respective departments. Dr. Nicks then presented the rough draft of the Community Survey and asked for input as to edits or changes to the survey. Several suggestions came from committee members and these were incorporated into the Community Survey document.

The next item discussed was very important – the selection of the CAC Leadership Team.  After a nominating process and acceptance by the committee, the following individuals were confirmed as the Leadership Team:

John Copelan jcopelx@yahoo.com

Bob Brent rdbrent@suddenlink.net

Elizabeth McFarland elizabeth@mcfarlandtaxlaw.com

Oona Villarreal oona@suddenlink.net

Scott Mangum scottymangum@gmail.com

Carolina Dominguez Carolina.dominguez@gmail.com

Scott Firth firth@utexas.edu

These ladies and gentlemen will also lead the Specific Purpose Committee that will support a potential bond issue and will be asking other members of the CAC to participate in this next step.  Dr. Brent and others congratulated the Leadership Team and praised them for their willingness to help the school district and a potential bond issue.

After a brief Q & A session, Dr. Brent closed the meeting by reminding everyone that the next meeting would be July 31.