Katy ISD trustees hold no votes, brainstorm priorities in strategic plan 'refresh' workshop

KATY — The Katy Independent School District Board of Trustees met in a special session Monday evening not to vote on budgets, contracts or personnel, but to spend nearly three hours brainstorming the district’s next two-year strategic plan “refresh,” a process that will culminate in recommendations to the board this fall.

Board President Lance Redmond opened the meeting at 5:21 p.m., and after confirming compliance with the Texas Open Meetings Act and a Pledge of Allegiance led by a district police officer, trustees noted no one had signed up for public comment. Redmond clarified the board had not gone into closed session and would take no action items during the meeting, which was devoted entirely to Agenda Item 6.1 — a discussion of the district’s strategic planning process.

No motions were made and no votes were taken. The session instead served as a facilitated workshop, led by Julie Moynihan, an executive facilitator with the district’s longtime planning partner Engage2Learn, and Chief Communications Officer Dr. Andrea Grooms, to gather trustee input ahead of a broader community-engagement process this fall.

Moynihan told trustees the “refresh” is not a rewrite of the district’s mission, vision, beliefs, call to action or nine strategic goals adopted in 2024, but rather a reassessment of progress and an opportunity to identify new priorities for the 2026-2029 period. She outlined a timeline that includes a community survey the week of Sept. 14-28, two committee work sessions on Oct. 14 and Oct. 28 involving roughly 100 community members, staff, students and trustees, and a report back to the board on Nov. 9.

Much of the meeting consisted of trustees taking turns naming “critical issues and opportunities” they want the strategic-planning committee to consider. Several recurring themes emerged:

Career and technical education expansion. Trustee Rebecca Fox pushed for more career-ready programming as the district repurposes the former Rhodes building and the Old OAC building, citing existing low-cost, high-return programs such as water utility certification, commercial driver’s license training and alternative teacher certification. Trustee James Cross and others asked whether the district was doing “enough” given how quickly labor-market needs are changing, and floated whether popular specialty programs currently concentrated at Miller Career and Technology Center should be expanded to more campuses or organized into specialized high schools.

Enrollment growth and capacity. Trustees raised concern about slowing or plateauing enrollment, particularly in the district’s northwest quadrant, and debated whether new schools are needed or whether “innovative” programming could relieve capacity pressure without overbuilding. One trustee noted that continued growth could eventually require splitting Katy ISD across multiple UIL classifications.

Keeping “Katy, Katy.” Superintendent Dr. Ken Gregorski said state-level changes to Texas public education — including open enrollment, virtual schooling and other flexibilities — could erode the district’s community-school identity over time and urged the committee to consider how to preserve that sense of place and belonging as the district grows and diversifies. Several trustees linked that concern to student “belonging,” suggesting the goal addressing student well-being should explicitly address connectedness for students not involved in athletics, band or other traditional groups.

Academic achievement and marketing. Redmond said his “win” for the evening was recognizing that none of the district’s nine current strategic goals explicitly names student academic achievement, warning that “success can breed complacency” as growth flattens. Trustee James Cross pushed back gently, saying he did not want the district’s goals reduced to test scores, while trustee Cicely Taylor proposed the district commit to specific reading and math benchmarks, such as ensuring the vast majority of students can read “to learn” by third grade, and explore offering an associate’s degree pathway alongside a high school diploma. Multiple trustees also said the district needs to more actively market its programs and outcomes, given competition from other enrollment options.

Technology and AI. Several trustees, including one who cited the district’s newly developed AI framework, said the plan should address rapidly evolving technology, balancing innovation with critical thinking, TEKS alignment and student input, while cautioning against excessive screen time.

Community and volunteer engagement. Outgoing trustee Rebecca Fox repeatedly urged deeper engagement of retirees, alumni and community members — not just parents — as tutors, mentors and volunteers, and suggested the district’s Education Foundation and campus “namesake” donor groups could help recruit them. She also proposed producing paid social media advertising, similar to political ads, to promote district programs to residents who don’t already receive district communications.

Dr. Grooms told the board the committee will include roughly 100 members, with at least 25% held over from prior planning committees to preserve institutional history, and said trustees will be asked this week to submit nominees for consideration.

Facilitator Moynihan closed the session by thanking the board for its engagement and reiterated that the ideas raised Monday will be brought to the community committee in October as “critical opportunities” for discussion, not final decisions. The board took no formal action and adjourned at 8:09 p.m.

Also at this meeting:

• No public comments were delivered; no one signed up in advance on posted agenda topics.
• The board confirmed it would not enter closed session and took no voting action of any kind during the special meeting.
• A district-produced video recapped a decade of strategic-plan outcomes, including the SpeakUp safety app, expanded mental health supports, modified instructional calendars, the three-tier bell schedule, MAP assessments and restructured teacher compensation.
• The board set its next Work Study Meeting for Sept. 14, 2026, and its next Regular Board Meeting for Sept. 21, 2026.