Public Forum Information

DAVID RUBIN, Belmont One Freshwater District
 
"Thank you and good evening Board Members. My name is David Rubin and I’m a resident at 1416 13th Street in Harvest Community.  This evening however, I’m here representing Belmont 1 Fresh Water District as an elected officer on the board. If you’re not familiar with the Belmont districts, we were created by the Board of Denton County Commissioners and overseen by the Texas Commission on environmental quality.  Our district is empowered among other things to purchase, construct, operate and maintain all works - improvement, facilities, of graveled and paved roads within our district boundries.  These include sidewalks, ramps, and crosswalks.  We pay these activities through an annual ad valorem tax, which in 2023 was 1.158 billion in assessed value.  This tax base represents almost 3000 family homes. Belmont 1 includes homes that contribute approximately 70% of their children attending JRE, as such, parents who are active voters have engaged Belmont 1 to take action and support in protecting their children from potential traffic dangers now facing our community. The purpose of me standing in front of you today is to ask for your encouragement for the principals involved for the safety of our children to re-engaged the district regarding the traffic changes surrounding JRE.  We recognize the school is attempting to address safety issues that were not addressed during the initial engineering of the school.  While their approach may have addressed concerns on the property, the results are net negative overall to safety surrounding the school and the subsequent residential streets. The results of the revised traffic pattern has made some students and parents less safe. I’d like to share an example that one parent reached out to me where they were involved in being blocked in front of their own driveway by a parked car no less.  The irony of that was that parent had to rush their child to a medical emergency and had to drive over their grass and off the curb to circumvent the vehicle. You should be aware that Belmont 1 supported a recent petition with our community last week with the intent to request the administration reevaluate the traffic flow of pick up and drop off for student safety to minimize congestion on residential streets. I also understand our president, Jeff Riggs has reached out to you.  He looks forward to your response.  Not only do I thank you for your time with the parents and children who asked me to reach out to you - I thank them, as well.  I look forward to hearing from AISD and those at JRE in scheduling time for further discussion.  In the meantime, I encourage you to read the traffic impact analysis report which we paid for, which discusses the surround activity around JRE.  It can be found on the Belmont District website.  Like you, our Belmont 1 meetings are open.  We meet every second Monday of the month and we encourage you to come.  Thank you."

ARGYLE ISD:

The District has met with representatives of the Belmont Board and their traffic engineer on two separate occasions. At the conclusion of those meetings, the decision was to continue with the current traffic plan. However, we understand the entire Belmont Board has heard from their community and there are still concerns. The District and Mr. Riggs, Belmont Board President, are meeting again to further discuss the traffic concerns. 

JOSH STERLING

Thanks for letting me come here tonight. First, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with a couple of board members and I just wanna say thank you guys for the opportunity for me to meet, to be able to reach out, and you accept that invitation and actually one of you actually extending the invitation to me - so I thank you for that - it was awesome.   So, anybody that’s listening to this or watches the recording, if you haven’t reached out to your board members, I recommend that you do so because they are willing to listen and it’s been - we’ve had some good conversations.  So, I just wanna say thanks for that. I know as we’re getting closer into planning for future - not closer to - you are planning for the future.  I know that one agenda item that I spoke on a couple of months ago was when the Middle School moves and it gets split to two middle schools and I know that the idea is to, apparently the idea is to move seventh and eighth grade in with the high school. I have a kid that’s not, probably will not, be zoned for that school and I just want to say that even though I don’t have a student that would go to that school - I just wanna ask you guys please consider something different. I just don’t think putting a 12-year-old daughter with an 18-year-old boy in the same school is a good idea - again it wouldn’t be my daughter, but if we were to move or something like that it could be, so again I just wanna bring that up. So that also makes me want to ask is this the only solution?  Is it the best solution? I know it’s been done in the past. Argyle was a lot smaller. I just don’t want it to be because it’s something that we’ve always done and may not work this time, so I just wanted it to be something that’s considered.  And again, if it’s been considered and you guys have mapped all this out and that is the best plan that’s great. I love that and I’m for that. Well - I shouldn’t say that. I’m still not for that.  But I love the idea that it’s been mapped out and that is the best solution.  So again, is the best solution?

Then, with no stats to support what I’m about to say, I do think from a community standpoint and maybe it’s just me - I do think that if this is the best solution and with anything that’s decided upon as to what the solution, is the final solution, if the community could get a - This is what happens if we go this way, this is what happens if we go another way, and this is why we chose this direction.

I also think that’ll help with any bonding that’s going to be needed in the future. I think people want to see you know what - OK there’s two solutions there’s three solutions and this is why we chose the solution that we chose.  So, if that would be a possibility to see something like that, I think that would be a big help in support of a bond because it would show that hey, we understand there were two options, but this is why we chose this way.  So anyways, I just had those few comments to make again I appreciate everything you guys are doing and love the opportunity to be able to meet with those that I’ve met with so thanks again.

ARGYLE ISD:

Mr. Sterlings’s public comment addressed an action item on the agenda related to growth planning for the meeting held on August 19, 2024. The board voted 7-0 to adopt a revised Strategic Growth & Facilities Plan. 

The following is additional insight into district planning. The district has been reviewing configurations for a few years, under both the previous administration and the current administration.  Through various reviews of current facilities and enrollment expectations, the District and Board of Trustees believe the current plans to be the best option for AISD. 

The new middle school will open on FM 407 in the fall of 2026. According to the demographer’s projections, AISD will have 1,181 seventh and eighth graders to begin that year. The capacity of that building is 1,200. The planning discussions have focused on the number of students and the building’s capacity in the first year it opens. The following year in 2027-28, AISD is slated to have 1,277 seventh and eighth graders which puts the district over capacity at the beginning of the school year. Additionally, beginning with the 2027-28 school year, the current AHS campus at Canyon Falls exceeds capacity, thus the timing on transitioning to two high schools in that year. The 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years are the pinch-point for secondary capacity in AISD. With this reality, the district looks to best utilize current facilities to avoid overcrowding buildings where necessary. 

The 377 campus was originally a campus that served 7-12th graders for several years, including sixth graders at one point. Therefore, in its design and layout, it provides measures that allow the administration to successfully separate and serve students in those grade levels. 

The district can utilize the 377 campus as the second middle school and avoid moving all students to the FM 407 middle school site to turn around the next year and have to move some of them out. This allows time for a second middle school to be considered on a bond and land parcels to be purchased.

The configuration at the 377 campus would be:

• 2026-27: 7-8th graders zoned for future Middle School #2 only

• 2027-28: 7-8th graders zoned for future Middle School #2 and 377 HS 9th-10th graders only

• 2028-29: 7-8th graders zoned for future Middle School #2 and 377 HS 9th-11th graders only

• 2029-30: 377 HS 9-12th graders only and 7-8th graders zones for future Middle School #2 would need a new school (bonded and built)

The district and campus administration will always have student safety as a priority and as the campus prepares to open as a combination site in 2027-28, the campus administration in place will have those procedures and practices well defined and communicated to students, parents, and all staff. 

ACELA SPEIGELBERG
The linked letter was read into public comment by the community member.

DISTRICT RESPONSE:

The agenda for the July 30, 2024 special board meeting was publicly posted on Thursday, July 25, 2024. As stated by Dr. Carpenter during the meeting, the District had not received the letter read into record by the community member as of the date of the meeting on July 30, 2024. When Dr. Carpenter stated no letter had been received, the community member stated the letter had been mailed on Friday. On Wednesday afternoon, July 31, 2024, the District officially received the certified letter read into record during the board meeting.

Full length District response may be accessed at this link.

ERIN REED: "Good evening. My name is Erin Reed and as most of you know, I have four daughters. I stand before you tonight to express my support for the decision to vote down the recent Title IX mandates. This choice is crucial for safeguarding our daughters’ rights and ensuring that our educational environment remains fair and equitable. Title IX was established to protect students from discrimination and it is essential that we continue to recognize and uphold the biological distinctions that exist between male and female students. Our daughters deserve a safe space where their rights and opportunities are not overshadowed by policies that blur these important lines. By voting against these mandates, we are affirming our commitment to protect the integrity of female sports, privacy in our locker rooms, and bathrooms, and the unique experiences that shape our daughters’ educational journeys. We are assuring that all students can thrive in an environment that respects their identity and fosters healthy competition. So, let’s prioritize the voices of our daughters and recognize their rights.  Let’s continue to recognize students based on their biological sex while supporting those who choose to identify otherwise, at the moment. Together we can create a school community that is inclusive while also respecting biological realities. Thank you for considering the best interest of our children as you make this important decision. All present who are in agreement with me please stand in support of our Board and represent the majority of our community. Please stand. Thank you.”

ARGYLE ISD:

Mrs. Reed’s public comment addressed an action item on the agenda for the meeting held on July 15, 2024. The board voted 6-0 to adopt a resolution denouncing the changes to Title IX. The board also voted 6-0 to adopt policy FA (LOCAL), which codifies the current practice regarding parental rights and responsibilities related to safeguards, facilities, and pronouns that has been in place since August 2022.

ACELA SPIEGELBERG: "Good evening. So, I wanted – there was two issues that I wanted to discuss.  One is the traffic routes for JRE. It was something that I had brought up a year ago and when I spoke to someone from the Belmont board, they said that they could only discuss in their meetings with the school district had brought up, and they had not brought up traffic patterns. And, by my estimation there’s about 400 students expected to come in from the Ridge into Harvest through two side streets through two small roads - 19th and 17th St. Both of which allow public parking and it’s already very hard for cars coming from two different directions to go down them and they did not hear anything about traffic going through those side streets when the school district made their presentation so, now they have to wait until there are complaints from the public, which wouldn’t happen until school is in session in August. They wouldn’t meet again until September and we could be dealing with very big traffic issues that would affect drop off and pick up at JRE if that’s not addressed before school starts so I’m hoping that you guys are working on that and that you will be going to the Belmont water district with some recommendations as to how they should route traffic until Cleveland Gibbs is complete.  

So, that’s one piece.  And then the second piece is we still don’t have any financials for your 10-Year Strategic Plan and you are asking for a raise for teachers, which I am in complete agreement with, they deserve it. They deserve that money however, the resolution that you guys have - that you guys posted on the website shows that it would only guarantee compensation for the first year, and it doesn’t say anything about removing that tax if and when the state does start to reimburse the school the way that it should be for the students and those two things would mean that if you do need money for your 10 Year  Strategic Plan for the two year High School split you’re in essence you could in essence take from this tax money that you would be advertising as money for raises for teachers. So, it’s something that the optics would not look good if it doesn’t have - if you don’t either have that financial information along with maybe changing the language in the resolution if it truly is meant to be something that’s meant to compensate teachers - that money – so, those are the two things that I wanted to bring up. Thank you so much."