Frisco ISD Trustee Stephanie Elad, a two-term board member and corporate HR executive, discussed the district's shifting demographics, teacher retention strategies, and workforce development initiatives in a recent episode of The Building Texas Show. The episode, titled "Frisco's Population Boom: What's Really Happening?" and hosted by Justin McKenzie, aired July 9, 2026, as the district grapples with being landlocked and facing declining enrollment after years of explosive growth.
Elad, reelected in 2025 to a term through 2028, shared how a 2021 board meeting comment sparked her run for office. During that meeting, the board president stated, "this is our meeting, not the community's," prompting a standing ovation from some attendees and statewide press coverage. Elad recalled, "The board president said, you know, this is our meeting, meaning theirs and not the community's. And that just did not sit right with me." She said she decided to speak out and later ran for trustee in 2022.
On teacher retention, Elad highlighted bringing a confidential, third-party employee engagement survey to the district. The survey aims to identify issues and improve working conditions, leveraging her HR background. "Tough conversations with staff and parents have never really been foreign to me because I've just been doing it for so long," she noted.
Elad also emphasized expanding career and technical education (CTE) pathways, including plumbing, electrical, and HVAC apprenticeships, alongside existing programs like medical terminology, legal assistant work, and e-gaming. She pointed to a neighbor who owns a plumbing business, clears a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, but cannot find apprentice plumbers. She argued that Frisco high schoolers should be able to enter apprenticeship programs earning $60,000 to $70,000 within a year or two of graduation, without debt or a four-year degree.
McKenzie connected this to his advisory work with Founding Up and to PTECH welding programs in the San Antonio area, where students graduate with as many as 60 college credit hours through community college partnerships. Elad stressed preparing students for careers that AI cannot replace and urged families to vote in low-turnout school board elections.
Elad also discussed the district's new superintendent, hired roughly a month before taping, expressing renewed optimism about Frisco ISD's next chapter. The episode is available now wherever podcasts are heard, including on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
