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DeSoto Independent School District board meeting, date not confirmed yet

1 h 56 min · 8 public speakers

Meeting video · district archiveDeSoto Independent School DistrictDate not confirmed yetWatch on the district’s video site ↗Opens in a new tab; skip to 1:39:39

This board doesn’t post agenda times. Click a board member to jump to where they first speak; we list only members whose voice our check named. Video length 1 h 56 min.

  1. Who spoke · first speaks at
  2. Eboni MitchellBoard member
  3. Cynthia Watson-BanksSecretary
  4. DeAndrea FlemingVice President
  5. James (JD) DurhamBoard member
  6. Karen LacyPresident
What happened

What happened at this meeting

DeSoto ISD board hears progress report on college, career and military readiness goal 56:41

  • Speakers at public comment raised issues including a lack of math teachers at the high school, fine arts funding, accountability for low-performing campuses and district processes. 8:25
  • The board heard a goal progress monitoring presentation on its goal for students who graduate college, career and military ready, and trustees asked about partnerships, staffing and program costs. 56:41
Item by item (4)
  1. Opening and meeting procedures 0:01
    • Karen Lacy called the meeting to order at 6:47. 0:01
    • The meeting opened with an invocation and pledges, and Eboni Mitchell read the district mission statement and emergency statement. ~0:32
    • Karen Lacy established that a quorum was present. 5:19
  2. Public comment 5:54
    • Cynthia Watson-Banks read the procedures for citizens' comments and said each speaker would be allowed 5 minutes. 5:54
    • Speakers at public comment described an after-school math tutoring initiative, asked how long it takes for fine arts funds to be released, and asked what the plan and benchmarks are for low-performing campuses. 8:25
    • Other speakers at public comment raised hiring and process delays, school security and unreturned calls, and asked any trustee whose resignation is pending to make the departure effective by the end of the meeting. 21:14
  3. Student recognition and golf donation 43:43
    • A board member asked that the donation be placed on the next agenda so it could be accepted legally. 43:25
    • A presenter recognized high school students for their performance on AP exams and said a total of 51 students achieved honors. 43:58
    • Chasiti McKissic presented a restricted donation of $29,358.45 from Project Graduation DeSoto for the purchase of a golf simulator for the district golf team. 51:44
  4. Goal progress monitoring 55:16
    • A staff member said the district rose to 88% in 2025 on its college, career and military readiness measure but missed last year's mark by 1.6 percentage points, and that a related measure reached 42.5%. 1:03:43
    • A staff member said 56 early college students earned associate's degrees and asked for additional personnel, while another staff member said 57% of students earned an industry-based certification. 1:09:20
    • Eboni Mitchell asked how the district was exceeding progress measures yet not meeting its yearly goal target, James (JD) Durham asked whether the resources the program needed were for this year or next year, and another board member asked for the costs of running the P-TECH program versus the early college. 1:36:41

Written by software from the meeting's transcript and checked sentence by sentence against it.

Other meetings

Other meetings of this board