Frisco ISD Trustee Stephanie Elad, a two-term board member and corporate HR executive, appeared on the July 9, 2026 episode of The Building Texas Show, titled "Frisco's Population Boom: What's Really Happening?" to address the district's new reality: after years of explosive growth, Frisco ISD is now landlocked, built out, and facing declining enrollment. Elad, reelected to a term running through 2028, outlined the implications for teachers, families, and taxpayers.
Elad traced her journey to the school board to a 2021 board meeting where the board president said, "this is our meeting, not the community's." That comment triggered a standing ovation from the audience, statewide press coverage, and ultimately her decision to run for office in 2022. "That just did not sit right with me," Elad said. "I realized that what I really wanted to talk about at that point was what he had just said."
To improve teacher retention, Elad brought a confidential, third-party employee engagement survey into the district, a move informed by her HR background. She noted that tough conversations with staff and parents "have never really been foreign to me because I've just been doing it for so long." The survey aims to identify and address issues driving teacher turnover.
Elad also highlighted the district's expansion of career and technical education (CTE) pathways, including building plumbing, electrical, and HVAC apprenticeship programs alongside existing tracks 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, and cannot find apprentice plumbers. "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," Elad argued.
Host Justin McKenzie connected the discussion to his advisory work with the startup 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 emphasized preparing students for careers that artificial intelligence cannot replace and urged families to vote in low-turnout school board elections.
The episode also covered the district's new superintendent, hired approximately a month before taping, and Elad's renewed optimism about Frisco ISD's trajectory. The full episode is available on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
