they were 20 last year 20 last year um so what can we do to to help you exercise get this result because point fingers all we want we could say that it's your fault we could say that you have no drivers but at the end of the day we still have kids here and on top of that we're paying for staff to be here with the kids we're paying for food for the kids to be here because you can't just have them here without being fed or have somebody watching them so we're losing out more money than we should be so what is it that we can do to make sure that we're helping resolve this issue that's a great question sure Pete sure um oh it's the next button over this way sorry about that sorry as Tim mentioned my name is Pete Delaney and I'm the director of customer relations I came on board about a year and a half ago um uh with with nrt and Trombley and prior to that I was in education I was a high school principal and a community in close proximity so I can certainly appreciate your frustration and the concerns and the issues that you raise relative to when the students are late you know after school the the impact that that has on the district as far as Staffing and financial and as well as the parents so specific to what are some of the things that you know we're doing and that we can do collaboratively to help each other resolve the issue um you know one of the things as part of that Lawrence recruiting center that we open we've also just onboarded a new ESL instructor so we're going to begin those classes after the new year and what we're looking to do is set up a essentially a trimester model through the year so like a spring semester course ESL courses for our driver candidates a summer course and then a uh and then a fall course in addition and I'm not saying that this is a cure all but we've also purchased a number of like Rosetta Stone accounts to be able to help um the with the drivers as they transition through certainly I know we're talking to Lisa uhuricio on our way over here today looking at you know making sure we're getting over some of the brochures and the advertising we can certainly have our area recruiter touch base with your HR Director to make sure that we're having like a monthly check-in to see where are the places that we that you know that we should be recruiting and advertising I know that we did something at the festival of the lights and the recruiting so we're looking at conventional mean means of the things like indeed in Facebook but we're also looking at unconventional processes some of the things in my capacity I go around the the state and meet with different school districts and really my role is to help our company understand how schools work and the challenges that they're faced with and conversely help schools understand you know what we're doing to try to facilitate these so um and not to put the onus back to you folks because I don't mean it in this context but certainly in light of your question you know if there are for instance um uh like paraprofessionals that you have working in the building who are part-time employees who we could pair up those jobs to maybe make them more palatable on both ends right where maybe they want to be a CDL driver in the morning come be a paraprofessional in the building during the day and then be a CDL driver Drive the kids home and at night we uh you know we would offer the training and the opportunities for those same thing with say your coaches or any individuals that you um that you think are groups that you think we should reach out to whether it's Church groups or adult groups we will certainly Embrace those opportunities and we opened in a probably not probably certainly it's not been quick enough for anybody ourselves included but we did a lot there was a lot of learning last year as we everybody came out of covet and I know I can speak to this um from my experience my time as a principal pre-covered I was gen typically working with a substitute teacher pool of anywhere between 28 to 33 teachers that we could call on any given day and it was the same demographic that we're drawing from for bus drivers after coven we were down to three substitute teachers and none of none of our other substitute teachers decided to come back it was part of the Great resignation and we faced the same thing with our paraprofessional staff and our tutors and our aides and so I know that the driver shortage only combines compounds the labor shortages that that schools are you know also dealing with so any any ways that we can definitely look to partner with you and make sure that we're doing a regular check-in you know with our HR Talent acquisition people and your HR people we welcome that we open the Lawrence Center in large part because while we have the same labor shortage issues last year we did have a pocket in the Metro Boston area on our Lin office that was particularly had a surplus of drivers coming through that wasn't being we weren't seeing those same results in other in other regions and demographically the demographics in Lynn matched up with some of our other Urban centers but we weren't seeing the same type of results in our recruiting efforts there and the only thing that we could really identify anecdotally was that the proximity of our Lin office to people being able to walk to the office made it a hub so we specifically opened the recruiting center in downtown Lawrence in Essex hoping to capture that same type of that same type of foot traffic and ideally we would have been able to get that open earlier you know when the school to capture drivers to get ready for the school year but we have opened it we have two full-time Personnel over there uh both of whom are bilingual we have a receptionist that we're bringing on board who's bilingual we've just um like I said um contracted with an ESL teacher instructor who's going to be doing that modeling so it won't answer it won't provide a solution for tomorrow or even for January but it's Our intention that we're not having this same dialogue with you folks and with school districts a year from now and so that as we we and we know the other thing that Tim and I have worked extensively with the with the VPS on is really understanding this the school year calendar and cycle and aligning our business to match up with that so for instance we know that we really need to be aggressively addressing um the driver recruitment is a year-long process because unfortunately as Tim mentioned we onboarded three we lost two for greater Lawrence specifically it's a net one we know that the process from the the moment we get a candidate in the door who is now a candidate we know that there's a fairly High failure rate of people making it from point A to point Z Z being light full licensure and so you know we're looking to try to address why are we losing candidates or you know in in those um you know in that part as well and um we've even taken a step and again not to this doesn't speak directly to you folks but it impacts all of us in uh in October uh I was down in Washington DC along with our chief commercial officer and our chief safety officer we met with um Robin Hutchinson who was the newly appointed director of the Department of Transportation in the morning and then later on that afternoon we met with Congressman Hood staff who is the co-chair of the national bus caucus and even things there where we were attract really asking them is for help in um at the federal level giving guidance to the states for reforms in CDL licensure and I'll just give you one really quick example of a hindrance for people getting their CDL license there is a there is an under the hood requirement for somebody to get their their CDL bus driver's license that requires that they have a certain degree of proficiency identifying and understanding how the engine and everything works it's really an intrastate Trucking requirement for truckers but it has carried over into the CDL licensure and our drivers who have a you know we have our our garage and our office five miles away it's not a requirement it's not something that they would need but it's a licensure requirement and we know that that's a particularly sticking point for people passing you know passing the test so we're asking for them to look at changing that we're asking them to take a look at changing the lifetime look back lifetime look back for licensure meaning if we have a driver coming from another state who have a country as well who had a CDL license they have to go all the way back into their history and it becomes time prohibitive the other thing we did last year in our lobbying efforts in the state this is for 7D for special transportation services but most of our CDL Drivers come through the 7D ranks and it's hard to believe that in 2021 2022 that this wasn't the case but it wasn't last year um the 70 licensure was only offered in English and so we we worked with the Department of Department of Ira with the governor's office with the registry of motor vehicle to get those tests offered in Spanish and the and the difference is is that CDLs regulated by the federal government 70s regulated by the state we had we were able to change the regulations within the state we're working on the Federal Regulations now exactly so now people are able to come in and test in Spanish at the state level and that was that was driven by nrt Trombley so we've got a lot of things going on and that's why I don't want to commit and over commit and under deliver but you know we are outside of the country too we are working with agencies in Puerto Rico right now to bring people over from Puerto Rico and Mexico to come drive in the U.S our rates for for salary are in some cases double and we're looking at seasonality jobs to bring people in from other countries but we still have this this legislation that we're trying to solve for which is you know what do I do with a fluent Spanish-speaking person and how do I get them to pass the test in order to be able to fill the need that we have within the system and it's not just us I sit on the executive board for stem school bus transportation Association for Massachusetts and this issue goes across all of us we're all lobbying to the same audience I think I think our biggest opportunity is to tap into the pools that we don't tap into today which is you know um uh people from other countries or uh communities within our our districts in which we serve that necessarily is English as a second language our English doesn't exist in their in their um in their portfolio today so to speak so in for instance in in Framingham we're looking at Portuguese because it's a primarily Portuguese driven neighborhood so that's a long way to answer your question I would tell you that to your point the Lawrence uh Recruiting Center opened up great opening and then it kind of petered off because the amount of candidates that came in that needed English as a second language training and then we couldn't find a teacher to train and if we oversaw something here with greater Lawrence Tech because I think you indicated that we did have somebody here then that's on me I'm not I'm I didn't take that information as you know superintendental Lavoy but I'll follow up on that and find out why so hold on a second um and you're right one is location because downtown Lawrence is the worst location to have especially for foot terrific I know where the office is because it's a block down where at from where I work I'm also the former ESO specialist for the City of Lawrence and I still trained a current facilitator for the esos mayor's diesel task force so getting people from even teachers or people into classes is something we can do in to make it easier um and but it all starts with with the actual conversation with the correct um people um and I could definitely take your name down and have you guys before the next ESO task force meeting that way we could try to do some partnership that we absolutely be successful but with that even if they've taken English you're you're they have to get take the exam then they have to go through the training which is my understanding and from talking to plenty of bus drivers is two to three months um training so it's not an easy step so you could have three people that pass or they still need to be trained so there's some truth to that okay and and I would tell you so again I'm just going to say it I've been here for 18 months I've changed a lot in in 18 months in the organization and and I I'm not from this industry um but we have what we've found is is that historically the Legacy mindset was is that the drivers in this company trained new drivers which became a very challenging task as we observed it within my first nine months ten months meaning that they require 40 hours of check me here 40 hours of classroom and then 20 on Road 60 hours total I think it's 40 20.
so kindergarten is is going to be increasing and as a general um I'm going to expand this just a little bit more because I just want to show you the total numbers and I don't know if you could see that but I'm focusing here at this number so next next year's projected enrollment from the New England School Development Council is 4201 students that's up from 4160 students that are currently in enrolled in F schools so that's an increase of 41 students however the the key Point here is that in grades K through six we're actually increasing by 73 students Middle School grades seven and eight that's increasing 19 students and then the high school is decreasing 51 students so even though the district is going up by net of 41 it's because our K through 8 is increasing but we have a drop in the High School population and that's just based on the classes flowing through at the high school so that's not a surprise however the 73 students k-6 will have an impact on Staffing and that's really what I wanted to focus on so I'm going to just move to the next piece of information and I did send this to the board members I'm going to try and blow it up a little bit on the screen so what we what we have might be a little too big so as of right now the the top portion of the screen this upper section we have 2182 students uh we have 116 teachers this is just Elementary and we have Chapman do a little Highland Norton Darcy I know it's a little bit hard to see but we're just focusing on the top line number so 2182 students 116 teachers are average class size in elementary right now is 18.8 students the projection which is the lower half of the screen shows us at the 2257 students uh and this does include the open Choice students that we um you know do allow open seats for we expect open choice to go from 15 students to 17 students next year so we're not expecting a large increase but 2250 students to maintain an average class size of 18.8 we need 120 teachers so the bottom line is that to keep class sizes where they are we will increase our elementary teacher of Staffing by four teachers next year from a historical point of view and I'm just focusing in this particular chart from a historical point of view the 18.8 students that we have this year and we're projecting for next year that is a little bit above where we normally are you know you could see in uh 21 22 or 18.7 the year before that 17.8 17.9 in 1819 we were about 18 students you know we have been targeting 18 students per class as the average in elementary a little bit smaller in kindergarten we allow more students per class in the upper grades as you get to you know five and six in particular but from a budget point of view you know we will be budgeting uh for for Teacher increase on the elementary size on the elementary side to keep class sizes where they are today we didn't want to broach the 19 students per class in elementary and I'm going to go back um just to this slide because you could see you know some of these classes like nor at Doolittle sixth grade is 22 and 23 students fifth grade is 21 to 22 students you know Highland is 20 to 21 um in fifth and sixth grade at the kindergarten level you know all across the board the most kindergarten students students we have in any one class is 18.
okay my question is let's say a sophomore Junior besides after Christmas older kids could show up and be a part of this or a cutoff date for it I mean since we're not playing the official schedule the ca doesn't care when the cutoff date is right so are we are we going to prove this for other kids and then I don't know anybody will but if they do uh Mr Guthrie Mr President Mr Guthrie uh Dr shavoltz is going to be working closely with Mr sane and our athletic director also Mr Young they're going to make sure that they are all in the room at the same time going over all the details since this would be uh something to me but also uh very critical to maintain our to continue and try and re-establish a foundation for for next year's team hopefully have a junior varsity into a varsity so they're going to take the lead and iron out all the details and I'm just wondering if we could change this from 8th and ninth graders to just anyone that's interested kid wise could come out and be part of this is it too late to do that okay yes the actual motion just says that boys basketball development team the motion on the bottom though you're actually going for it just says uh boys basketball development teams that doesn't have the actual grades in the motion they just have it in the explanation so you can vote on it as is there's no great little okay Okay so we've made the motion so yeah um voting on creating the team I spoke I I am also on I Mr Guthrie Ms Duncan aye Ms Robertson aye um and now voting on appointing Mr sane as the coach on voting High um I am also on I Mr Guthrie aye Mr Duncan aye Ms Robertson aye is the approval of the fiscal year 2023 budget revision uh Mr President as they yesterday after the uh the revision provides solid numbers for carrying forward um the current year School District flood increased the necessity of fiscal year budget revisions prior to the end of that fiscal year approval of the Auburn Unified School District fiscal year 23 budget revision is recommended for ARs 15-905 and Ms Smith is here at case there are any questions don't forget okay I'll make the motion to approve on a second president I Mr Hopkins aye Mr Robinson aye aye Mr Goods all right Miss Duncan aye motion okay thank you very much oh you're very welcome thank you you just you're doing a fantastic job for us oh appreciate it thank you for that he always wondered I appreciate it was extra helpful thank you okay next item of business is the approval of the governance team handbook approval review is up to the governing board okay this is your call um I was going to make the motion but I was going to with the contingent that we go through what the changes people wanted to make first and vote on those foreign how it should work is that we should we should move to adopt it as it is right because it's approval is governing board handbook and that if people want to make a Amendment so then I'll second it question can we do that once we approve it can we because that almost is almost like another agenda I've done before is we've made the motion and approved it and then voted on the changes and then so so you make the motion and then you second it and then there's a discussion if we want at anyone can propose amendments and then we vote on each Amendment yes individual and then go back to the original motion yeah that's what I was that's what I thought I was saying okay first and then yeah but we had to do the motion in a second before we could do anything else so now it's open for discussions discussions So based off what I have written down here from yesterday I would like to propose the Amendments with the requested changes from yesterday okay which Miss Duncan requested a title change to Awful Unified School District governing board handbook and then when discuss the date on the front to remove it it's basically the calendar because we don't need to have the date on the front that's done okay then that's fine so then basically so that's what I got so far here so are you making the motion to change I am asking for the amendment to be made to change the title to Unified School District number 15 governing board handbook yeah we're waiting for a second okay okay so any discussions yeah does anybody have any more discuss on changing the title of this document cool you know specific title um just like I just stated we was the governing board handbook yeah yeah okay um Mr Kirsten says I miss Duncan aye Mr Guthrie aye Mr Hopkins aye Ms Robertson no motion passes four to one okay what was the next proposed to um that was it because they had the consensus of the date so we didn't need to I thought there were other changes to other exceptions that's what I've got oh and also the other one was uh I apologize for that was um updating of This falls to the clerk of the board yes yes I'll make the Motions that we um we did as far as I knew we did okay well we can do it yeah okay so so now we're voting on the document I'll make the would you make the motion second okay Miss Robertson Mr Hopkins aye Mr Cruiser which is aye Ms Duncan about the clerk being responsible for the updating of the okay and Mr Guthrie five to zero okay are there any other amendments to this document okay so but it goes back to you I think do you make your motion with the one change the two changes that we've made to it so now it goes original motion with the amendment I guess okay okay so let's go second it okay uh so Robertson Mr Hopkins Mr kurz which is I Mr Guthrie Miss Duncan no motion passes four to one next item is the minimum wage increase Mr President under the board um are the Arizona voters approved minimum wage increase ausd must increase minimum wage to 13.85 per hour attached from the 22 District employees who will have their wages increased by one dollar and five cents eight percent because of the voter approved law I recommend the approval of the wage increase or the listed 22 staff members affected January 2023 I'll second it okay so this only applies to employees that were employees District prior to to date correct no this is the minimum wage I was thinking something else right oh dear this this could require an increase to minimum wage comes from whatever your second news Yeah Wendy first second all right yep okay Miss Robertson hi Minister Hopkins um Mr Guthrie Miss Duncan aye and Mr Kirsten which is I it passes five to zero okay um next matter of business if you need to convene into an executive session [Music] do you want to use the tablet okay the next item then is the 2023 staff server Mr President members of the board um as you can see on board docs that we're going into board docs a member of the W boys requesting an evaluation revision of the USB staff survey the administration is asking the board for their feedback and has contacted other Pre-K Pre-K 12 districts for examples this is a board decision and we had in-depth discussion yesterday it's your call as far as the recommendation what is the recommendation she was asking a question she asked what the recommendation was if it was just to consider the yeah from what I remember from yesterday uh the board as far as saw three uh three surveys they surveys from three different districts from Sunnyside sawarita and Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District I believe if I remember correctly you're going to yes I'll make the motion that the administration can choose either any of these three tools that they find works the best or they may combine elements from both of them to do it I'll second uh I would like to amend that to add or friendly Amendment if you're up into it um that uh requirements be that it's anonymous online that all staff are surveyed um and that any modifications are made necessary that um tailored to our district yes um so to keep make sure it people's information is confidential and to address the fact that we um of special situation where we have both the district office and the School office on one campus engaging with our school okay I'll accept those amendments to the admission and you're still second um I'll still second I just think that this it's kind of like basically saying we don't want to do this we know he's probably already gonna do it that way the the administration's probably going to already do that anyway so you know so okay Mr Hopkins aye Mr Kirsten which is aye Mr Guthrie Ms Duncan no Ms Robinson hi it's the amendment that I did yeah I'm not I'm not a family here but evidence and changed it a little bit I'm thinking that's up to you uh next uh item is the board discussion and vote and possible vote on board docs implementation and meeting procedures vice president members of the board of the information as we can see more discussion impossible quote on board procedure recommendation is this is a board decision okay so um as I said yesterday I absolutely no discussion on this implementation of four docs and the agenda meeting um um procedure there are a few things I I passed out a list of the things that I was interested in addressing um did I just go through them and yeah um first one is ADD procedural to the call to order um agenda okay so um go to the study session agenda Emma the culture are you sure I I get to choose what's there right so change is every meeting I just have to be it's not something that all the time so for all of it so because on all the other ones there's a type already selected so it's like a template but that one was away that's all so so all of the opening meeting items um have a type so it's action discussion okay so I just forgot to hit one on that okay so it should be in person every single one open I have the on that button so if there's no there's no constant there's no way to save the settings so you can't create a template that has all of you have to recreate full agenda every single time no it comes it comes off when I say session or I copy the meeting and then delete all of the ones from before so if this wasn't clicked here it wasn't clicking a lot okay that's fine I just wanted to point out that it should say procedural and it says happen so that's so that's an easy fix I thought it would um the next one is for the call to public oh do you need one yeah I had it here but it's gone no no not that the the paper she passed out yesterday I had it here but it's gone sure sure um so the next one is um for the the at the call for public comment if you click on public comment guidelines um thank you so one thing that has come up on more than one occasion is we have in there as a guideline as a requirement essentially that people State their name and their address it is actually a requirement but a legal requirement that they State their name but not their address and we've had people ask not to and I personally have been uncomfortable when like teenage girls are coming up to speak to the board and they're asked to to state their address so I would like to have that and address just removed from that it and and if anyone is opposed to any of these things obviously it doesn't have to happen we can we can does anyone have I think we should leave the addresses for adults but if they're a student they can just say my name is such as any student here but I still think it's important because I'd like to know there's people that live in the district that are making comments that's just my opinion period I can also see in this age of where the meeting is publicly available to anybody and there definitely have been some whack jobs around the country showing up at people's houses or we have people State whether they are or not a Statin report them that they where they live or not the district because I think that's important because some of Elizabeth had a lot more bearing to me than someone that doesn't I really don't care yeah yes networks relationship to the district yeah that's helpful too um okay thank you um under governing board actions call for a future agenda items so this the The Heading is governing board action it actually is not an action um I have a suggestion to to just title it call for future agenda items um yeah because it's not technically an action it is a procedure thank you um and then the next one is the welcome note that we have it's on I think if you go to the featured page yeah I can definitely um it's hard to talk I'm used to seeing it published um but I yeah I see yours so yeah it starts with we welcome all community members okay okay so um there are a couple things that in my opinion are are incorrect on here and one that's just not clear um the first is a little bit it seems to me that all of this should have happened no this that's this you're using as a discussion on a meeting this session was specifically requested for this purpose and and the agenda is listed but it doesn't give us the time to really unstate our opinion I mean you're welcome too um I just did I think it should have been done on Monday okay um may I continue um so here the um it says you're welcome to attend our regular board meetings regular is is a specific term and so it could mean you're welcome to attend only our regular board meetings and not all the special sessions especially session um also I'm not asking you to correct that right now because I I have a um and I actually I I read through it oh you did okay and it's great we do have to keep uh County Board of Supervisors in there because when I do open meeting law I have to register with them where the physical place is that we post our agendas um when it changes them when it changes I think I posted that County Board supervisors okay so do you I have to leave that in that's fine so do you have um you have the proposed I have that I have to retype it too long oh yeah I don't expect you to do it right now um I included you all have it I included I added also a section about minutes that was not there the welcome one minute statement um so if everyone is okay with making those changes then we can move on I'd like to hear all the changes before I say I'm okay with any of you want me to read the statement I I should read it I mean I just it's it's totally different that's the thing oh I know I just I just need to read this and absorb it and decide because I'm not going to say okay to any of this at the second right now I just need to uh yes okay um Okay so okay um and then the next thing is um what is it oh the scripted statement so and this is this is more of a discussion um and Angelina I'm going to ask for um information free from you about this um at the welcome and call uh the welcome statement that's a call to order when I was setting this up with it it said uh our agenda item just said um call welcome and then it didn't say anything I was never really said anything and then it said call to order but we don't really do a thing of welcome and and I don't think that we've ever done anything yet so I kind of just took it out okay because it it basically everything every president that uh where I've been here he's calling me to order the shop really like a welcome statement right so I just kind of took it out if it was unnecessary okay and then I switched some things around because um just made the agenda flow better and it wasn't one of those things that was procedural and that we had to do it like we probably should do roll call we should probably order we probably should do the presentations so as the welcome really wasn't sure so yeah I I did notice that if that the category wasn't there which it was fine um so for for minutes requirements we are not required to approve minutes but we are required that if it's like an audio recording or a video recording then it contains certain things like the time the date and the location and the intent with this statement was to vocalize those things so our digital minutes are our recordings count as minutes and that right there that YouTube video has all that on there date and time they already went from last night and and it has the date and the timeline and no location oh right yeah so um so for when we have audio recordings is it is that similar is there a like a time stamp on audio recordings no when the audio recording is playing when I save it so it's not just a random bunch of numbers and it saved there's a study session on December of 5th 2006.
I'm Jose Gutierrez from Kingswood your word is few few f-e-w few thank you no number 19. okay my name is Lucas Martinez from Luke Elementary okay may m-a-y may okay my name is Caitlin Jarrett from Mountain View okay word is scan can you use it in a sentence scan the reading assignment prior to coming to class offered Mr day scan scam scan okay thank you all right so that is the completion of the practice round judges are you ready let's begin all right speller number one this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is water the part of speech is a noun water w-a-t-e-r water okay thank you spell number two your word is bookworm Bookworm b o o k w o r m bookworm thank you your word is scold it's called s-c-o-l-d it's called your word is downcast huh or what's the word again downcast d o w n c a s t okay thank you okay this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is purse the part of speech is a noun and the definition is a receptacle as a handbag pocketbook or wallet used to carry money and often other small objects about with one p u r s e okay thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is grumbling the part of speech is a verb and the definition is expressing dissatisfaction especially in a low harsh voice and Surly manner grumbling grumbling g-u-r-m-b-l-i-n-g grumbling thank you speller okay your word is garlic g-a-r -c-l-i-c thank you speller your word is erase either sorry erase e-r-a-s-e erase thank you your word is kidney kidney k-i-d-n-e-y kidney thank you your word is apron apron can you use that in a sentence Miss Peterson likes to wear her special red and green Plaid Apron while she cooks Christmas dinner apron a-p-r-i-n-e thank you speller your word is beagle beagle b e a g l e beagle thank you your word is shortfall shortfall s-h-o-r-t-f-a-l-o [Music] thank you speller your word is cowlick can you use that in a sentence unless she uses a lot of hair gel and coaxing queenie's cowlick causes her bangs to stick straight up cowlick c o u l I C okay thank you speller next speller yeah this word has a homonym and could be confused with another word the word is headdress the part of speech is noun and the definition is an often elaborate covering for the head as for ceremonial or social occasions headdress headdress h e d r e s s thank you speller your word is Sunflower sunflower s u n f l o w e r sunflower thank you speller your word is squirm can use that in a sentence sure the little boy managed to sit still for five minutes before he began to squirm in his seat squirm squirm s q u i r m squirm thank you your word is Shamrock Shamrock s h a m r o c k thank you okay this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is gradual the part of speech is an adjective and the definition is moving changing or developing by developing by fine slight or often imperceptible changes gradual gradual g-r-a-d-u-a-l gradual thank you your word is zebra Zebra z e b r a zebra thank you your word is shoulder shoulder s-h-o-u-l-d-e-r shoulder thank you and everyone want to keep playing okay this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is freckle the part of speech is a noun and the definition is a small brownish spot in the skin usually due to exposure to sunlight freckle Freckle f r e c k l e freckle thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word I'm sorry I'll say I'll start over this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is Fortune the part of speech is a noun and the definition is good luck or success Fortune fortune f o r t u n e Fortune thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is whisk the part of speech is a noun and the definition is a small usually wire kitchen implement used for hand beading of food such as eggs cream or potatoes whisk whisk w h i s k whisk thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is tennis the part of speech is a noun and the definition is a typically outdoor game that is played with rackets and a light elastic Ball by two players or pairs of players on a level Court divided by a low net tennis [Music] thank you that's the end of round one keep going round one words foreign thank you all right speller your word is railings r-a-i -l-i -n-g-s thank you your word is hitched hitch and use that in the sentence Arthur hitched his horse to a post and went into the barber shop hitched hitched h-i-t-c-h -e-d hitched okay thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is Saints the part of speech is a plural noun and the definition is people who are slightly or considerably more charitable patient self-denying or virtuous than the average person Saints saints s-a-i-n-t-s Saints thank you your word is bossiness policy news b-o-s-y-n-e-s-s bossiness thank you speller your word is kneeling New Link k-n-e-e-l-i-n-g kneeling thank you do need to adjust if only if you need to thank you your word is 12.
it just brings it down for each case so that it makes it more affordable for us and it's a benefit to us because since we participate with them they give us those pounds and the USDA delivers those directly to the vendor that produces the product for you correct yes you're right so that's another thing so they've sent truckloads of cheese to nardone so then you're kind of locked in with no don't so you'd have to have a big reason to but during covid we did have a valid reason and we did get it out so you did get the pounds of hamburger back yes we got a lot of it back and we sent it to someone else who was able to make hamburgers which a lot of places couldn't get any we were very fortunate here in our district to not have as much impact from the shortages because we kept ahead of it and um body was very supportive in helping us get emergency procurement well in place and they came here and you voted on it you guys approved numerous emergency procurements which are allowed when there's a shortage of of supplies so which we had never asked for that before there was a real need and thank you for helping us to do that because then the students weren't missing all those things then they kept some of our pounds because you know they'd say oh in January we can make some Oh by March we'll make some so now we're using those pounds this year so they let you roll over to the next year and so you didn't lose anything so curious Natalie why do you not serve the other Pizza products at the high school or secondaries okay very good question so I'd say around 2014 I want to say um we did a taste testing with the students and dominoes did not win with the secondary students and we're like great we'll just make it ourselves I'm easier better all this stuff well first of all we had to hire an additional person at each school and literally all they did was bake pizzas so it was more labor intensive secondly within the first two to three weeks of school our pizza cells went downhill drastically like nobody was buying pizza anymore and we were like but you guys liked this one well it's harder because you know you have the oven temperature and sometimes it's a little bit darker sometimes it's a little bit lighter sometimes it just it didn't come out as consistent and they just didn't like it so uh the supervisor at the time said let's try Domino's again see and then also shot right back up so that was what they wanted and I was explaining to the student Senate some of that could be mental some of that literally could be we put the frozen pizza in the box and they think it's from Domino's and they love it I'm not sure but the secondary students are the age where they want pizza delivered from somewhere it's more cool and more fun to have that than to have something that the Lunch Ladies made in the back so we accept that and they eat it I mean I was at Gilbert high today and we sold out a pizza every single Pizza right yep we sold out of every piece of pizza so it's definitely not struggling and it's still the safe Choice okay we are gonna switch gears and serve you some different foods so that was just the pizza that was just an example of one of our entrees and so we go through this process for everything we serve whether it's a chicken patty a sandwich nuggets um anything we make macaroni and cheese everything we taste test and then we take it to the schools and taste test it today we have two kinds of wraps we have an Italian combo wrap it's pictured on the left that's from South Valley Junior High we also have turkey BLT wrap so it's turkey ham so it's really turkey but it's kind of flavored like turkey ham bacon lettuce and tomato and that one's from Mesquite Junior so Judy was able to make some into small two inch pinwheels so that you won't have to get too full after already having dinner exactly we helped you out there Jill so um these are for you to sample and these are on our menu every day so let's say you're a student that doesn't want the hot option you could choose these These are how they look in the packs when the students take them you already have your veggie in there you have your fruit this has Ranch for dipping they can still take any fruits and vegetables all of our fruits and vegetables are unlimited so I have had some parents call me and they're like well my student is still hungry after lunch they can have as much fruits and vegetables as they want and then this they could take milk and or juice with it here's this is the this is the Italian combo one this is the Italian combo one and this one has our cupped peaches carrots and of course Ranch for dipping again then on your plate you'll notice they're salad we also have solid packs and in the secondary we also have sub sandwich packs every day you'll see in the next few pictures this one's spicy chicken it's spicy this makes me cry even if I peel the breading off the outside it's still too spicy for me but the secondary students love it the spicier the better they just crave this even my son would get this all the time when he went to Camp I've already had he loved it so they've already got their fruit in here then we have the grain because it wouldn't be enough if you just have this they also can have crackers with it if they want croutons those are the more greens and we also have milk and our juice and endless fruit veggies with that just to add we um the reason why I thought it would be a good idea to share the meal patterns with all of you is to know that even on that spicy chicken there's a breading on it it actually has a grain value and they just have to match up the number of grains that's just really interesting I think so I'd share yeah because uh you know maybe they do after school sports or something they need to have fuel to learn and to do physical activity okay this is the chef salad pictured on the right so that one's at Kenyan Rim Elementary you can see how the elementary kids open it and add things secondary we have a different package or sometimes we use these see some of these have three compartments we have some that are one compartment for some reason with the supply chain uh paper and Plastic Products still a hard thing you order and you get what you get so we make it so you serve them like that though they're created like that for them to choose usually but sometimes they're in the container on the left the circular one gotcha we like that one it's hard to get um just depends but this one with the three compartments nice because if it's one compartment if this were to shake a little everything moves and it combines and some kids don't like their food touching each other so this is chef salad it's true and you know you don't need to ruin their day right there at lunch and we have grains they can have crackers with this too because if you notice this one doesn't have an extra grain in here and milk and or juice okay [Music] this one we're not asking you to rank or win anything it's just hey I didn't know this was offered at lunch to our students or oh I did know this was awkward and I'm so glad we have these options because um you know we even have some students who are vegetarian or have allergies and things so we can offer a variety so that they have what they like at lunch um that last picture was a picture I Was preparing them then here's an elementary school so in elementary school the two most popular cold lunches are yogurt and PB and jpac so um the girl on the left she has her yogurt she has her crackers she has string cheese she has fruit juice and she has milk so she has everything she needs and I used to tell my kids don't get the yogurt pack I could just give you yogurt from home but sometimes if they didn't like what was the hot lunch choice they would get the yogurt pack peanut butter and jelly pack it's extremely popular we bring in 400 cases a month of the grape and 400 cases a month of the strawberry very popular in all grades in the middle you see our salad bar in the elementary schools again some people aren't aware that every day we do have fresh fruits and vegetables self-serve style inside the kitchen where it's monitored and supervised the reason I say that is one time I was emptying the salsa that had been out in the cafeteria and there was a quarter in there who knows who knows who thought it was fun to drop that in there so we have to supervise it just to make sure it stays sanitary and that everybody's treating it respectfully so um next High School cold meals so as you see she's making the salads they're chopped and prepared everyday fresh that's at deserts Junior then at Highland High that lady is making the sub sandwiches which we do sell a lot of those every day in the middle we have from Gilbert High so she has fruit and yogurt parfaits we were selling that today and I'm not kidding I was working at Gilbert high on that line and one boy said do I have enough money in my account to buy nine fruit and yogurt cup parfaits and I looked at the other lady working I thought do we do that and she was like sure I'd like to go get a box to put it so we could carry them all can't remind your kids yeah they let them they let him who knows if he bought him for his friends but it's healthy it's got yogurt it's got the one he had had strawberries blueberries low-fat yogurt and granola and he loved it so um that's what I had for breakfast it's good right and then she's got all her salad packs and then we have the side salads right there um which you know you could have with your pizza with your cheeseburger with anything you wanted that's the end of our presentation is there any questions board members do you have any questions this is delicious yes and it was it was so great to hear and see details of all of the things you do I we've seen it as parents and those who have worked in the schools but to get an even more in-depth reminder of all the work and thought and preparation and a year ahead the buying and the taste testing and and then to make sure that our students have healthy meals but that but we wanted to be happy with them and you guys do such a great job it makes such a difference so thanks to you all of your District staff every staff member at our schools you make such a difference for our students we sure appreciate you all I I think I have a question I I want to hear a little bit about the history because I know that we're offering more fresh options and more fruits and vegetables than in the past so can you give us a little history just about how we got here today let's go way back so Way Way Back um when the national school lunch program was born it was because they weren't having students that came out of school that were physically healthy enough to serve in the Army and so they needed people who were Soldier ready and that's when they developed the national school lunch program so that there wasn't as many malnourished young people growing up so that's when it started then in 2010 they passed the healthy hunger free kids act which really amped up the fresh fruits and vegetables we get an extra six cents per meal just for offering that because it does cost more you don't want to just count ketchup as your vegetables okay that's famous right it was on the news that's disgusting so [Music] um we were already offering but then we amped it up some more choices and more fresh things and we get more money so they're helping us do that but it's also training the students at a younger age to eat more healthy so I was explaining to the student Senate because some of them were like yeah well we just throw that part away or whatever they went back and started studying it was passed in 2010 in 2016 they did some more studies and they were probably studying it every year but by then the students were old enough to get to Junior High and the even the cafeteria managers were shocked they're all taking fresh fruits and vegetables they were trained to do it and now they're doing it so it's kind of a good feeling to know that you're helping them develop healthy habits that they can take into adulthood well I I do remember that when I sat down with Debbie once she was telling me that they learned to put the fruits and vegetables first so they grabbed those first because they're hungry and then some of the other things are further along the line that they would take anyway but they call that smarter lunchroom strategies so you know you put the chocolate milk behind the white or whatever and so we do a little bit of that but as long as they're taking it I'm happy you know if they like pears better than they like oranges that's fine with me I just want them to be able to get it that's great all right thank you for the history and and this is delicious I haven't had my wrap yet but the salad is wonderful how many lunches do you serve approximately we have that chart Tyler how many lunches about like 21 000 do you think okay we're gonna guess I'm gonna say an average of 21 000 a day yeah and that's right now so when we had Universal free meals it was a lot more almost every student wants eating with us kids are the option yes they can bring lunch or they can buy lunch with us we also have free and reduced priced meals so if it's harder to afford I know inflation's so hard right now um some students leave early like they don't stay at school all day so some of them might not eat so just the fact that we capture 21 000 is pretty good please thank you anything further could we take a brief yeah we were hoping to take about five or ten minutes and then everyone in the audience is welcome and then Dr McCord you've got two of your student Senators here maybe you might want to introduce them and we invite them please stand up Highland High superintendent student sentence I'm gonna let you guys go back and eat first thank you again to all of you guys nutrition services this is extremely important I think a lot of people take what you do for granted in terms of what happens at least twice a day on our campuses in terms of serving meals to our students and so thank you guys so very much appreciate you you're very welcome yeah appreciate it all right we'll grab your favorite pizza [Music] over here there we are thank you so much thank you so much to our nutrition staff again and to all those who who came and helped tonight appreciate it and thank you for your work each day we will now move to 2.02 Spring 2022 assessment data Dr McCord thank you amount of present governing board members tonight I have for you are directors of Elementary Mr Robert Berkshire we have our director of secondary Dr Cox and we have our assistant superintendent of teaching and learning um Dr Newman they're going to present to us tonight the spring 2022 assessment data I'll turn over to you thank you good morning good evening Madam president governing board members and Dr McCord not really quite sure how we're going to follow that what we just had at the presentation but we'll give you some food for thought how's that so we'll go there we appreciate the opportunity to share the summary of our spring assessment results as well as some highlights and towards the end some of our next steps related to that the slide here looks similar to what you've seen in the past every year it seems that our assessments have changed so just as an overview overview just some reminders here the comparisons on the slide you can see between 2021 and our 2022 different assessments at the state level and different things that we've been doing with our own District assessment platform and sort of implementation phase two of that and some of that work just as a reminder also we did have a time in 2020 where all tests were ex we do not have any tests right they were suspended but what so when we look through today and look through some of this data you're going to hear both Dr Cox and Mr Bircher speak and compare sometimes 2019 data to 2022 and sometimes some 21 data to 2022 and they'll be very explicit when they do that but that's important too because as we're looking at some things we really had that we had points and assessments in 2021 but we didn't necessarily have all of the same pieces is here to compare so we wanted to compare some of those tonight on the first chart you'll see the top numbers are year to year percent proficiency for ELA and on the bottom is math you'll see in green the GPS scores in the pink is Maricopa County averages and the yellow are State of Arizona averages remember so we've got 21 20 21 we took the azm2 assessment 2022 is the ASA assessment I'm pleased to report that do the hard work of our teachers we were able to beat State and Maricopa County averages across the board in all of our assessments um additionally I've got some uh just summary of performance on the third bullet I'd like to point out that out of the 21 schools that qualified for the English learner points 20 of the 21 received 80 or more of the El proficiency and growth points we said 21 schools because you have to have at least 10 students receiving English language services in order to qualify for those points in the accountability formula Dr Cox and I tried to quantify a little bit because we know we hear a lot about learning loss and things like that so we looked back at 2019 assessment data because that's when that's the last time the state gave uh letter grade for each of our schools so what we did is we took the the average points that each School earns so I'm going to speak on Elementary and she's going to do secondary so the average points earned for elementaries in 2019 was 82.7 and we went up with the spring of 2022 to an 84.6 thank you can I can I ask something before you go on real quick so when we see uh some of the scores go you know from 2021 to 2022 go up some of them go down what's your thoughts on that I think for the most part I was really pleased that the majority of them mirror what the state is doing and what the counties are doing uh when you look at all of the e-law or sorry the majority of our data mirrors what the state and County do so it's probably more reflective of the test because it's a different test so it's probably more reflective of the test that was given not are learning actually what if the learning actually was increased or decreased right right okay good evening so you will see on the next slide that we to mimic I'm not going to repeat all the same things Mr Bircher has but we have prepared all the same uh graphics and data points so that you can see the uh trajectory K-12 so for our seventh and 8th grade teams thank you for our seventh and 8th grade teams you will see the same Trends and notice that GPS outperformed Maricopa County in the state average percentages for all the secondary levels and for our seventh grade team one of the things I would like to highlight is when you see that GPS in 2022 is at 63.
right yeah okay and so If a driver if we're asking a driver to train another driver really what what we leave is only four hours between the to and from to school and from school in the PM that we can train these drivers so that means if I'm looking to become a school bus driver and I need all this training you're only telling me I can get 20 hours a week it's going to take me a long time to do that so I've just outsourced that so we are working with a company in Everett right now that we run shuttles out of the Merrimack Valley down to Everett that people are going drivers new candidates are going down there full-time 40 hours a week and then go immediately for testing and once they test they come to us and we're training them for school bus so they're going to get all the way through this CDL now they'll possess their CDL and then they just need a certificate for school bus so they're do we've outsourced all that CDL training to get it done as quickly as possible they come back to us we give them school bus training because that company's not equipped to do it and then our expectations we're going to be able to move candidates to the system we've got 12 people coming out this week as a matter of fact so 12 drives for the for the valley for the valley the valley is my biggest challenge in the entire state right just so you know sorry and I and I tend to agree with you um because I just don't sit here I also sit on the government's Attila advisory commission so I'm aware of all the different um challenges there is right now but in the rest of the state is great but my concern sure is here um and when we're looking at late attend late buses coming in since the beginning of school year since the beginning of school year I mean at one point is when I reached out to the superintendent and say we need a bus company there because one we have to explain to our parents why the kids are still here two we have to have staff and everything else we're acquiring bigger causes than we should be um but with no resolve right no and no and nothing from the bus company so that's why I asked once again for you guys to be here because we have to figure something out that is going to be mutually beneficial for us as well um but as well as what we can do to help thank you Mr Mr zolinski yeah I appreciate it and it's really good to hear the context and I would love some support and assistance in order to formulate more of a broad parent communication because I think we try to communicate but I wouldn't be able to communicate fully what you just communicated to our families right now again the families have specific it's like they want to know about their child but I think knowing that um it is not just a greater Lawrence problem and really the long term would be helpful um and I guess we could talk about this offline but one of the things I keep talking to Mr Vogel about that deals with you is also we have over 300 athletes in most seasons that don't take buses home at 2 30.
um the smallest classes we have are Norton 15 16 and 16. so we you know as we go through these projections and try and Slot where our enrollment growth is going to be you know this is a an annual exercise I think we've got it right but this will be presented you know to the board as part of the budget so if there are questions or or comments from the finance committee I will um I will pause here before I move to the to the next piece which is the new program request Sam go ahead then do we have um I can't remember we have classroom aids for each of those kindergarten classrooms we do just in kindergarten we do have a para educator in every kindergarten classroom so that that does help yeah is the point of your question if it increases we'll need to open another section you know yeah so you would see that I just don't remember so I'm going to flip back so just looking quickly if I compare uh Chapman has three classes of kindergarten they'll have three three this year three next year yeah Doolittle is going from two to three um but we're pulling that out of Darcy so for next year we're planning on three Doolittle kindergarten classes that do a little and two at Darcy Highland is going up one additional kindergarten classroom as well as one additional grade three the highest enrollment growth we're seeing is at Highland yeah I see that um yeah and so if we look at it just very quickly Chapman goes from 20 to 21 classrooms next year Doolittle goes from 26 up to 28.
okay so and unless the time is different then all of them are at 5 30. okay so my understanding that so maybe this isn't necessarily the the like saying those things um but my understanding that is that yeah as long as we have the location time and date attached to those we don't ever have to have written minutes every video that's posted has the video attached to it with the date time and location awesome okay so I would I wouldn't ask for that change that doesn't unless I don't have a video for it right um I think there's a couple that something went haywire I think like like the July one for such a good reason it didn't download and YouTube just like that's always um so I'll probably have to put that on here but it'll have the date and the time and the videos attached to it so everything's there okay okay great um like so yeah um so next um with the consent agenda we have an item that's typically called financial report I'm going to propose that whatever that report is is specified because financial report is really vague and that is the item description um so rather than financial report it would say something like Student Activities account report because that's what is contained in the item and then along the same lines this has been something that I have wanted to address for a long time our consent agendas we typically have vouchers financial report donations maybe a couple other things regardless of if there's any content so we have we sometimes approve consent agendas that um have items listed that may or may not have anything in them um and that's a problem because like for for a history of it we we may not actually be sure that there ever was anything in it especially especially with the consent agendas we my email and maybe some board docs that should probably it'll probably be different now um but I'm going to propose that only things that actually have that we're voting on appear on the agenda so they aren't like empty items does that make sense yeah well you're saying only things that we're going to be voting on appear on the agenda in general so that that would mean things like Mr Casey's presentation on the Great and the School's grade would not be on the agenda even though it was part of only only items on the agenda worth it or something is actually happening it's a it's a it's a consent item with content in it it's a discussion it's a report okay um it's just not empty as we've been doing it we've had empty items so we're voting on these items that are sitting there but but they aren't really anything there's been times where we've voted for a consent agenda that literally contained nothing and add a list of items so okay I'm proposing that only only thing only items appear on the agenda that of some sort and the purpose of the consent agenda is to happen that aren't necessarily always used to know the agenda or that don't always necessarily meet that 24-hour um that 24-hour deadline that if we got it the day of we could put it on the agenda because it's already listed on the considered data but if I take off four minutes and donations and it made a five thousand dollar donation the day of the meeting and it's not listed on agenda because it's not itemized out I can't put anything under that donation because that's the purpose of the consent agenda is to do those last minute budget things that we have to approve ment so so for the example of let's say there's um there are no donations so you don't have something for the consent agenda it's it's nothing right and then we get a donation a few hours ahead of time then make an item for that right if I take it off if it's already on the agenda that's been posted 24 hours donation yeah and so I can put it under the donations because I've already been I understand if I take it off okay um so this is something I I should ask students yes because it doesn't seem to me like you should be able to have a 10 cent item but yeah I need to make a note that Mr Guthrie stepped away from the meeting so we have a form of four right now and not five at what time we got that's seven six twenty two eighteen twenty two so we have four members present right now sorry I understand you're saying Angelina I want to be sure that we can do that yeah um uh words and recognitions okay so this is also something that most schools do um and something that I thought was a good idea for a long time um and that is we have a carve out for rewards and recognitions that we start the meeting with and because it's um it's under it's essentially similar to a governing board report or a superintendent's report it's allowable um but it's it just makes up a point of starting the meeting with something positive and it's almost always something that someone's like a recognition that Coach Q organized this thing over the week it could be almost anything um so anyway I'm going to propose that that be added to our agenda template um to start the meeting with an order recognition um and so this is the most complex one his number nine move Personnel actions to the consent agenda um and list those Personnel actions on a spreadsheet rather than as individual items as we've been doing so this is what a lot of schools do and the reason for that I mean there's a lot of good reasons it's it's efficient because you know a lot of times it's the bulk of an agenda um but the other reason is that it avoids needless discussion of individuals um and this board has done a lot of discussing individuals in the past sometimes totally appropriately and recognizing people good um ignore Mr Guthrie has returned the meeting at 18 23.
12 t w e l v e 12. okay thank you okay your word is hummingbird hummingbird h u m m i n g b i r d hummingbird thank you okay your word is donkeys donkeys d-o-n-k-e-y-s thank you your word is grimy grimy g r i m y grimy thank you this word has a homonym and could be confused with another word the word is until the part of speech is a conjunction and the definition is up to the time that until until u n t i l until thank you your word is compute compute c-o-m-p-u-t-e compute so keep going oh we're on round three now okay so do you want me to jump to those words okay got it okay we're gonna go ahead and begin round three your word is adjusted adjusted a d j u s t e d adjusted thank you okay your word is Republic r e p u b l i c Republic thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is efficient the part of speech is an adjective and the definition is marked by qualities characteristics or equipment that facilitate the serving of a purpose or the performance of a task in the best possible manner efficient efficient e e f f i c i e n t efficient thank you okay your word is menacing m e n a c i n g thank you your word is temperature t e m p a t u r e thank you speller your word is limbering limbering l-i-m-b-e-r -i-n-g remembering thank you your word is switcheroo Switcheroo s-w-i-t-c-h-e-r-o-o switcheroo thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is shrivel the part of speech is a verb and the definition is to shrink and form wrinkles shrivel shrivel s h r i v e l thank you your word is aggravate can you please use in the sentence Shane thinks that a game of one-on-one will aggravate his ankle injury aggravate a g r a v a t e aggravate thank you speller your word is cronies um can you give me the definition intimate companions especially of a long-standing familiar friends or old Chums cronies I can use that in a sentence Isabella and her cronies have had a standing monthly dinner date for decades cronies c r o n i e s cronies thank you your word is churned c h u r n e d churned thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is Tiara the part of speech is a noun and the definition is a decorative band or semicircular ornament for the head often made of flowers Fabric or metal for wear on formal occasions Tiara Tiara t-i-a-r-a tiara thank you your word is hula who are h-u-l-a-hua thank you your word is spinal what's the word spinal can use it in a sentence Marty visited a doctor to be treated for his spinal pain spinal spinal SPI and as spinal thank you okay okay round four this word has a homonym it could be confused with another word the word is cobbler the part of speech is a noun and the definition is a repairer or maker of shoes cobbler cobbler okay thank you your word is traction can you use it in a sentence please James found he was unable to move his car because his tires didn't get enough Traction in the mud traction t r a c t i o n traction thank you your word is suburbs suburbs s-u-b-u-r-b-s suburbs thank you your word is hilarity can you use it in a sentence Susan's Susan's and Sandy's attempts at figure skating soon had them both in a state of hilarity hilarity h l a r i t y thank you foreign your word is rejoice rejoice r e j o i c e Rejoice thank you your word is centrality could you use it in a sentence please Gertie picked up her new picked her new apartment based on its centrality and affordable rent centrality centrality c e n t r a l i t y centrality thank you okay your word is unstinting I'm stinting you and St i n t i n g okay thank you your word is Commonwealth um can you use that in a sentence Oliver Cromwell declared England a commonwealth in 1649 Commonwealth can you give me the definition a state in which the supreme power resides within with the people and their representatives or a republic Commonwealth C o m m o n w e a l t h okay thank you your word is exclamation e x c l a m i t i o n thank you speller your word is conclude conclude c-o-n-c-l-u -d-e conclude thank you okay your word is sanctions sanctions S a n c t i o n s sanctions thank you your word is flich can you can I have the definition a side of pork cured and smoked often the side of meat of a hog after removal of a shoulder a loin a ham and Bones cured and smoked as bacon flitch f-l-i-c-h Fletch thank you speller okay I'm gonna move on to round five this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word inaudible the part of speech part of speech is an adjective and the definition definition is incapable of being heard inaudible inaudible i n a u d i b l e inaudible thank you your word is Pistons pistons p-i-s-t-o-n-s pistons thank you your word is feisty uh can you give me the definition please having or showing a lively aggressive aggressiveness or spunky feisty feisty f-i-s-t-y feisty thank you speller your word is Chicago can you use it in a sentence although Chicago is nicknamed The Windy City it is actually less windy than many other U.S cities Chicago [Music] thank you your word is reenactment reenactment r-e-e and a c t m e n t reenactment thank you your word is I'm sorry this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is crevices the part of speech is a plural noun and the definition is narrow openings of some depth caused especially by a split or cleavage narrow recess-like slits crevices c r e v i c e s crevices thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is follicle the part of speech is a noun a small cavity or deep narrow-mouthed depression follicle follicle f-a-l-o-i-c [Music] -l-e thank you speller this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is eradicate the part of speech is a verb and the definition is to do away with to destroy completely eradicate eradicate e r a d I see c a t e eradicate thank you your word is vengeance Vengeance v e n g e a n c e vengeance thank you your word is supremacy can you use it in a sentence the supremacy clause of the United States Constitution establishes that the constitution in federal law take precedence over state laws Supremacy Supremacy s U p r e m a c y thank you okay all right we're going to move on to round six your word is centipede centipede c e n t i p e d e centipede thank you your word is osmosis you use that in a sentence please an experiment using red dye gave a dramatic demonstration of Osmosis osmosis osmosis o s m o s i s osmosis thank you your word is laconic can you use it in a sentence Mrs Fitzpatrick's laconic speaking style was quite popular with her students laconic um e c o n i c thank you speller your word is fluoride fluoride f can use that in a sentence certain oh the addition of fluoride to drinking water is denounced by some and advocated by others fluoride f l o r i d fluoride thank you speller your word is bipedal could could I have the definition please having two feet bipedal bipedal b y p e d a l by petal thank you speller this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is fracking the part of speech is a noun the definition is the injection of fluid into Shale beds at high pressure in order to free up petroleum resources such as oil or natural gas fracking you can use that in a sentence fracking has resulted in a natural gas Boom for America and has also raised concerns about environmental damage and Rapid depletion rates fracking fracking f r a c k i n g fracking thank you speller your word is congruent congruent c-o-n-g-r-u-e-n-t congruent thank you your word is debut you can use it in a sentence Mira's debut won her Universal Acclaim as next as the next great soprano debut debut D E B U T debut thank you your word it oh I'm sorry oh seven okay sorry moving on to round seven this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is subsequent the part of speech is an adjective and the definition is following in time coming or being later than someone else subsequent subsequent s u b s e q u e n t subsequent thank you your word is ricochet can you use that in the sentence please Albert and Tyler carefully counted each Ricochet in the skipping in the stone skipping contents contest ricochet Ricochet r i c o s h a e h thank you speller your word is symmetrical symmetrical s y m e t r i c a l symmetrical thank you your word is edification edification e d i f i c a t i o n edification thank you your word is succumb can you use in a sentence Laney refused to succumb to the Temptation that was her mom's chocolate trifle succumb succumb s u c c o m e um thank you speller okay thank you okay round eight manuscript m a n u s c r i p t manuscript thank you your word is assemblage can you give me the definition a collection of individuals or of particular things or aggregation assemblage can you use that in a sentence Drew had never seen anything like the assemblage of characters at the Star Trek convention assemblage assemblage a s s e m B can I restart okay assemblage e s e m B l e g e assemblage thank you speller Ms Noble is going to read the directions of now that we're down to two spellers all right well congratulations so rules for the last two contestants when the number of spellers is reduced to two the elimination procedure changes at this point when one speller misspells a word the other speller shall be given an opportunity to spell the same word if the second speller spells the word correctly plus the next word on the pronouncers list then the second speller shall be declared the champion if one of the last two spellers misspells a word and the other speller after correcting the error misspells the new word then the misspelled word shall be referred to the other speller if this other speller then succeeds in correcting the error and spells the next word on the list then he or she shall be declared the champion if both spellers misspell the same word bolt shall continue in the competition and the one who first misspelled the word shall be given a new word to spell the champion is not determined until he or she corrects the misspelling of the other speller and then correctly spells the next word on the list good luck okay this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is convection the part of speech is a noun the definition is the circulatory motion that occurs in a fluid or non-uniform temperature owing to the variation of its density and the action of gravity convection c o n v e c t i o n convection thank you your word is qualification qualification q-u-a-l-i -f-i -c-a-t-i-o-n qualification thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is inverse the part of speech is a noun and the definition is something of a contrary nature or quality inverse inverse i n v e r s e inverse thank you your word is diameter diameter d-i-a-m-e-t-e-r diameter thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is dividends the part of speech is a plural noun and the definition is returns or rewards resulting from an activity effort or undertaking dividends dividends d i v i d e n d s dividends thank you your word is geography geography g-e-o -g-r-a-p-h-y geography thank you this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word the word is radium the part of speech is a noun the definition is an intensely radioactive shining white metallic element of the alkaline earth group radium can you repeat that the part of speech is a noun the definition is an intensely radioactive shining white metallic element of the alkaline earth group radium radium r a d i u m radio thank you this word is a homonym and could be confused with another word the word is one moment hold please I want to make sure I get this right make a mistake the word is loot the part of speech is a noun and the definition is a stringed musical instrument that has a large pear-shaped body loot loot l-o-o-t loot this word is a homonym and could be confused with another word the word is loot the part of speech is a noun and the definition is a stringed musical instrument that has a large pear-shaped body loot glute l-e-w-t loot moving on to a new word I'm going to skip 352 okay okay your word is arsenic can you use it in a sentence ingestion of arsenic was listed as the official cause of Tim's mysterious death arsenic can you give me the definition please a metalloid element that is used in small amounts in Alloys and in the form of its compounds chiefly as poisons such as incesticides in pharmaceutical preparations and in glass arsenic arsenic a-r-s-a-n-i-c arsenic okay so same word your word is arsenic arsenic a r s e n i c arsenic okay you're gonna get a new word your word is harbinger can you use that in a sentence the howling wind was the harbinger of a storm harbinger Harbinger h a r b e n j u r same word okay all right your word is Harbinger harbinger h-a-r-b-o-n -g-u-r-e harbinger right your word is rejuvenate rejuvenate r e j u v i n a t e rejuvenate come on up your word is rejuvenate rejuvenate r e j u v i n a t e rejuvenate new word okay okay your word is grotesqueness can you sign a sentence each Monty Python movie seems to be trying to outdo the others in grotesqueness g r o s t g r o s t e c n i c your word is grotesqueness g r o can you say the word again please grotesqueness g-r-o -t-e-s k-n-i-s go Texas 224.
remember that that is an average and so I just want to highlight that and this is true for elementary through Junior High School that the range is when you look at the more broken down data actually show ranges all the way up to 94 in seventh grade up to 96 percent in the eighth grade and in those if you take note from 21 to 22 you will see increases anywhere from 6 to 13 percent in our seventh grade 4 to 16 in our eighth grade and that's just for eoa and then in math the range also even though it is sitting at 43 and 41 for an average which is above the county and state those range up to 86 percent in our seventh grade and range all the way up to 89 in our eighth grade and those increases are anywhere from nine to twelve percent based on um which grade level you're looking at and which school you're looking at one of the things that I would like to point out that uh was something to be celebrated is when we took a look at our surrounding districts our seventh and eighth grade in English language arts outperformed all of our surrounding districts and in the Arizona Science assessment our eighth and 11th grade outperformed all of the surrounding districts as well so I know that um sometimes we like to look at our surrounding districts to just kind of see where we're at and we I'm a little bit competitive I know all of us at this table probably are so was excited to share that with all of you tonight and then moving on we put together a brief visual for our high school so at the high school level the only assessment data that we have for proficiency is our 11th grade act data and you'll notice on this graphic that 2021 is not there and that is because there was it was not our state assessment at the time but we did want to show that we do plan to show this trajectory of assessment data in the future and so what you can expect in the next year is to see what that growth data is going to be and right now the 2022 is really going to be our Baseline data and we're going to get to see the longitudinal data as we move forward and on the ACT Ela and the math is there a certain score that we consider as passing when we're saying that these this percentage passed what is that score that we're looking at so that is a little bit of a more complex conversation because according to our state they will determine proficiency bands but also act has their own fans that they determine as considered um proficient for like college entrants and things like that so for what you'll see right here um they use the bands that the state determines and those will change year to year depending on the cut scores that the state determines and we'll dive a little deeper into that in just a moment 18 20 21 whatever correct yep the other the question I have um with the ACT test used to be just kids that were going to college that took it now everybody has to take it so that's going to change the cut scores or whatever correct correct and so that is an important piece because Act is a national assessment and so they're not going to change their scores that they use nationally for college but since it is now adopted as our state assessment in Arizona Arizona they're looking at every student taking that so therefore they have created different performance bands to determine what's considered proficient minimally proficient and it's taking all of the students and looking at the standard deviation of those means and averages so one of one of the things that we get from standardized testing at least the state level standardized Destiny so we can look and see where students did well and where maybe they didn't have enough knowledge to do well on those questions and then address that how does that work with act since I don't think we really get to see those questions in the same way we do um we for act one of the things that I personally am thrilled about is that they provide us with very detailed reports and broken down by the different categories so right now you will see that I have shared and as we get a little further I'm going to focus on Ela and math because those are the two areas for our accountability formula however within act there's a science component there's a writing component and so the data that we get from that is very broken down but because it's not a standardized test it's a norm reference test it is really showing where students perform against one another Across the Nation and so it is under needing to understand kind of what you're looking at but our parents get immediate access once those scores are released which is a nice piece that is different from a historical State assessments and act has worked to create an Arizona dashboard where they provide more explanation reports q a frequently asked questions than I've ever seen the state provide and I believe that is because of the partnership that we have with the National Organization as act okay all right thank you Dr Cox yes recently there was a report in the National media about ACT scores Nationwide and a dip in reading and math is there any comparison with GPS scores and where where they fall where we fall in relationship to that National Data or do they compare specifically to what I think you're asking I could dive into that a little more deeply but I will share that right now what I have looked at is uh act comparison data from District to District which actually um gives us a decent indicator of where we can I guess I'm going to say competing with our surrounding districts but from a national lens I haven't Dove that deep yet into that big of a picture but I do question because there are a few states that are moving toward using this as a state assessment if that would have an impact because as uh was just mentioned a moment ago this used to just be for the college students and now the more that we are exposing all students to this there is the expectation that some of that data is going to shift I think that's the variable that the national media didn't pick up on correct in that many districts are beginning to use these kinds of Assessments in Acts sat as their testing formats yes and we in Gilbert Public Schools we have tested students on act for years uh but what I'm presenting and sharing with everybody right now is based on those performance bands that Ade is using for our letter grade because that's important because that is looking at all of the students that are testing instead of four years ago when we were just testing our students who really were doing a ton of test prep and were really driven with that post-secondary um mindset and I think it's valuable to report that out when we do that we're testing everybody's testing the select college-bound person we're testing everyone so you're going to see a variation in that score and probably a dip for a while and I really have been thrilled with the fact that this has become our state assessment as you recall there were a couple of years where there was like a menu where different schools around the state could choose different assessments and where Gilbert public schools had chosen act it was skewing that data on a national level on a state level even more because some had chosen it others didn't and then we were forced to use the ACT bands which really put us at a dis not just us but anyone that was choosing it as their state assessment at a disadvantage for that exact reason I I think that it's uh benefits us now that the entire state is using that because I think more districts and people people that understand what they're looking at with act recognize that it is all students that are taking it but I do agree that the more we can communicate that helps our stakeholders to understand that point good for us because it does give our student population an Open Door absolutely to challenge themselves absolutely well and hopefully over time as we increase that challenge and they're getting used to it we will incrementally improve and students will do better on the test I mean I think that's the goal of having it it's a state assessment is to help all students do better so that they can be College ready if they choose I agree with that skin so it's outside of the state's player for the ACT Testing thank you those scores for your college application yes yes there are a lot of benefits which is why I'm thrilled with the way that the high school assessments are set up for our accountability because it truly is providing the opportunities that should have been provided to all students in my opinion for a long time now do all colleges accept act now or is it because it used to be some of like out of state was it what is it in the other one yeah there are still in State uh yes but there are still some outside uh that it it depends all right so moving on to some secondary performance highlights I shared a couple of these but I did want to just share again that it is important to recognize that this spring was the first time that the aesa for our Junior High and then we also added in the ACT Aspire uh in the spring of 2022 for our ninth graders so these are all new state assessments across the board half of our secondary schools earned 70 or more of the El proficiency growth points that Mr vercher explained just a moment ago and similarly to the point that he shared in 2019 our secondary schools were sitting at 75.4 points for the accountability model and in 2022 they increased that to 82.7 so K-12 we are very excited to be able to share that because we're going back to 2019 before we had some of the pieces that have kind of impacted us if that be the pandemic or the different assessments that have taken place over the last couple of years okay the following chart shows the elementary schools it's a year over year measure of points so first I want to go over the legend is blue represents the title schools receiving Title 1 services or funding the white is our non-tidal schools and green represents any increase either letter grade or points um year over year the first thing I want to point out is remember we did not get letter grades and for the 2021 assessment so those are all estimated what we did is we took previous years accountability formula and we tried to estimate the best we could that you know had the state given a grade this is likely what we would have used what I would love to celebrate is commend the hard work of Ashland Ranch Mesquite Elementary Quartz Hill and Sonoma Ranch for all making a significant jump when you compare 2021 points give or estimated points given versus and then 20 2022 and then also I would love to recognize Finley Farms gilbertell Harris islands and Val Vista Lakes for all uh making an improvement in letter grade okay we also have some other things that we'd love to highlight is when you combine third through sixth grade math we did increase in math proficiency third and sixth grade ELA both increased by six points and fifth grade math increased by five points out of our 27 elementary schools 20 of them earned at least 80 percent of the growth points growth is huge as we look at meeting kids where they're at and really measuring what impact our teachers are having again meeting kids where they're at where they come to us growth is critical we also had 11 elementary schools maximize the acceleration and Readiness points and the accountability formula those acceleration and Readiness points are usually given for year-to-year subgroup improvement so that's a huge thing huge shout out to the 11 schools that maximize those points and then on the right side we also saw some huge jumps by different school and grade level teams so we'd like to commend and give them a shout out for working hard all right all right so now you will see the two-year comparison of accountability points for our secondary schools and the legend and the different color coding is the same you will notice on the right there's a lot of green we are really proud of the growth that our secondary schools have made and uh two major highlights that I would like to just draw your attention to the first being our Gilbert Global Academy they had a 20 over a 27 point increase and given everything that that school has had to there's been exponential growth with that school so it's very telling to what their team has done we're very proud of them and then another one that is just uh very high increase would include Gilbert High School with an over 15 Point increase if you go through those numbers you'll see that there's several others on there but for the presentation I could only fit so many celebrations on there we also were very excited to share five of our six GPS high schools are in the top 50 of all schools in the entire state all of our secondary schools earned bonus points six of our high schools earned 10 out of 10 points for graduation rates three of our seven Junior highs received 80 or higher on that acceleration and Readiness category which is comprised of several different indicators and all of our high schools increased their CCRI points and just as a reminder that is the College and Career Readiness index which is self-reported and is in itself could be its own letter grade there are it is a spreadsheet that is filled of every opportunity for college opportunities our CTE classes different types of diplomas it's it's a huge undertaking and to see that all of our schools have increased those opportunities for our students I think is something to be celebrated as a district overall and then similarly we wanted to highlight some of our more significant increases with proficiency when it came to our Ela and math so with Ela you will notice that our Desert Ridge Junior High increased their seventh grade by 13 percent Gilbert Classical increased their seventh grade by 16 and our Junior highs for all Ela proficiency increased by 11 for all of our schools combined within our math subject area Desert Ridge Junior High increased 7th grade by 12 percent South Valley and Gilbert Classical both increased their 7th and eighth grades and Junior High math proficiency for all of our schools combined increased by two percent [Music] okay Dr Cox and I tried to quantify how our subgroups were doing and so what we did is there are 15 subgroups for example special education low socioeconomic status ethnic groups foster care gender Etc so what we tried to do is quantify we took all of there were 15 data points for each assessment third through eight third through third through sixth grade math Ela and then 7th 8th 11th math Ela so each grade had a total of 30 subgroup categories that they were reporting we compared against Maricopa County averages and Gilbert Public Schools was higher in 88.3 we outperformed an 88.3 percent of the reported subgroups in elementary and we outperformed Maricopa County subgroups and 76.7 percent of the reported subgroups in the secondary schools okay and then also fourth and sixth grade ELA outperformed Maricopa County in a hundred percent of the reported subgroups so Dr Newman started off this presentation sharing a little bit about the previous year overview and then kind of led into this year and we would like to just share a couple of things that outline the spring of 2022 which include uh that the Arizona Science test was used for reported data for the first time with this new Arizona with the new science test for grades five eight and eleven so that was a new piece in the spring this was the first year as we've noted for aasa and that is in math and Ela for grades three through eight was the first year for our ninth graders to take the ACT Aspire act will continue to be the state assessment for 11th grade and our 10th graders used to be required and have a mandated test but they are no longer required they no longer are part of the mandated assessment so with these pieces from Spring we wanted to share that the state has communicated to us that this is their assessment plan for the next five years and at this time they are not predicting that they're changing that at this time so we are excited to have the same assessment planned for the next five years I know I might don't hold me to that but at this point that is the plan and um again Ade has communicated that with us and it is posted on their website as their their long-term plan in addition to that there is the addition of a kindergarten entry assessment that will it's being uh piloted this year and will go into effect next year which will bring more information at a later time on that assessment but in regard to all of the previous assessments that I just noted all of those will continue on as true into this spring and the next few years what do we know right now about the kindergarten assessment other than that it's coming um we know very basic so we know that the state has provided funding for the next two years we know some of the timelines we know that students are to be a kindergarten students are supposed to be assessed within 45 first 45 days of school the state has picked a testing platform teaching strategies gold and that's kind of where we're at okay and we'll where will we report that data to do we know that to Ade it'll be Ade right after the 45th day of school gotcha okay we just have to do within the first 45 days correct okay so I am currently taking the training through Ade I'm doing it's two hours every Wednesday for the next couple Wednesdays so I'm learning a lot by getting ready to do it and I feel like that gives me the best chance to lead teachers principals by getting trained myself okay perfect [Music] is it computerized do you know that yet so I have seen screenshots but it's going to be five different categories it will be um physical motor activity social emotional learning numeracy literacy I'm forgetting the fifth sorry new Mercy literacy physical oh cognitive skills and what I believe is going to be a rubric nice that's beautiful so by a rubric he means the teachers will be making observations and then recording those within the platform right so um we want to make sure that we're supporting our Kinder teachers Mr vercher has done a really great job of establishing a plan where because we're going to be piloting developing a committee of teachers and getting some information so that we are really ahead of the game when we're having to train all of our Kinder teachers and they're going to have to implement it next fall I know I'm asking a lot of questions about kindergarten sorry but my what are they going to do with this data any idea I have not heard that as of yet okay this is something that came from the the legislature and they charged um the Arizona Department of Education to find an assessment so they chose this assessment which is what's being used right now in the preschool as well they did an RSP for that Head Start it's Head Start and my understanding is that um it has like a number of items on it 124 items that mostly are done through observation correct so I think that's tricky to be a teacher and helping all the kids to learn and observing individually so that you can know what the kids are capable of correct except that's what they do anyways because we want to meet them where they're at anyways so in some ways that's what kindergarten teachers are doing so we'll just need to make sure that they're understanding and supported yeah and something yeah something he had already also mentioned um looking through the test and the assessment as well is we are going to be able to some of the things that we're already doing in kindergarten those will become the artifacts that they will put in there exactly what you're saying yes so that is something already ahead of the game that we're thinking about but it's that Committee of kindergarten teachers that are really going to be able to tell us what it is you know that's going to be best for those artifacts I'm Mary to a kindergarten teacher in the district and she's let me know her thoughts right Robert do you see any just the little bit you know about this testing is any kind of a benefit for our teachers with the information I we used to many years ago we used to have testing before they started school like the first the first three days when it when the teachers came back and then teachers had an idea where their kids were going to be so I haven't seen the actual assessment but I'm optimistic that we'll be able to use that data to measure kindergarten Readiness to kind of set a path for um I think it's all going to depend on rollout and what evidence we want to prioritize if there is 124 days if there is right then a year I think it's great he's a preschool teacher and she I asked about it specifically so you know and that's why I'd love to get a committee is which ones do we prioritize right and which ones you know we can go a lot of different ways so as we kind of look at next steps uh we're continuing year three of the instructional framework and that should guide all of our initiatives that we're rolling out to both uh Schools teachers continuous Improvement plans are including quarterly impact checks we are working together as a teaching and learning Department with admin services to ensure that we're supporting teaching and learning is supporting the work that's happening on campuses we're focusing on core instruction and use of adopted curriculum resources such as foundations readygen and my perspectives uh it's been huge to build the coaching capacity for our new position of instructional coaches we're not only building the capacity with the Department of Professional growth and development but also building curricular capacity uh for leadership on the campuses next steps with assessment We are continuing with our priority of the reboot and refinement of our assessment platform illuminate and that includes several different components so one of the bigger ones is focusing on the universal screeners to help Target our interventions and even enrichment opportunities for our students these different opportunities take place in the classroom daily throughout the school year this year we added intercession opportunities and then for the past few years we've also used the screener data to help with summer school and summer support programs in the boot camps that take place in addition we have created and implemented end of semester common summative assessments for our high schools in each of the 16 a Arizona Board of Regents the graduation required classes to help with focusing on standards the academic Arizona academic standards and then with that a lot of our data teams and PLC conversations have led to the create of common formative assessments and those are small assessments on each of the standards by content and grade level and so this year we're focusing on creating those across the district so that instead of having a team at each School create them we can create a bank of them that everyone at the different schools can use and it will save as you can imagine with how many schools we have multiple teachers doing the same work uh and then finally I just want to point out that we are continuing with the administration of the PSAT and msqt to all of our 10th grade students which has been such a great opportunity at the high school level of being able to identify AP potential and open up a great opportunity for our students when it comes to scholarships College opportunities more advanced placement classes and that is something that I just know that on behalf of our team we're really thankful to the board because you guys have continued to support us with that and I just want to share that it really has been noted with the opportunities that it provides to our students and our parents our students and our faculty have all voiced that to us so we wanted to take an opportunity because really it's thanks to the board Dr Cox yes I'm intrigued by the common uh formative assessment can you give me a give us a sense of what your thoughts are well are you looking at a bank of information in a variety of domains or a predetermined domains I should say and teachers in that grade level in that content can then select from that bank of assessment items to create their own assessment but consistent with the domain am I you Dr Santa Cruz I could talk all night on this topic with you if you would like but to answer in a nutshell uh absolutely everything you're saying is spot on so just to reiterate some of that currently uh within illuminate in DNA there are banks of questions that exist and uh part of our package with illuminate is that they have experts on the other end of their um platform that create these and they're all attached to the standards so all of that work is done what we have found is that um when we first implemented illuminate it wasn't under the best circumstances which was out of everybody's control last year we did a reboot of the platform and we found that there were a lot of pieces within the platform that exist that our teachers and our administrators were not aware of and so um they were spending time doing some of this when we're like press pause that exists that we will save so much time so what that looks like right now is our PLC groups come together and they then are trained on how to create these common assessments there is a way to drop down so you can click a certain standard and there's a bank of hundreds of questions that exist they can click four or five of them and they can assess their students and then immediately the minute that the student has done and click submit these teachers could immediately come back together and it actually lights it up green and red they can visualize and see where their students are at which really helps with knowing when to maybe slow down the pacing of how they're teaching or if it is when they get together and talk in their data teams as a part of that data team cycle it is asking as a group what do we do now that they know how to do it what do we do if they don't know how to do it and then when and how do we re-teach those things and so it has also assisted with some of our teachers when giving re-test opportunities instead of teachers feeling like they have to recreate a new assessment on their own they can get into these Banks of questions and do that as well so depending on the type of assessment and what they're trying to evaluate those opportunities are there so our seventh and eighth grade team with our math departments have been the team that is most excited to come together and so in the next quarter our seventh and eighth grade teachers are going to be coming together to create these as a district and we're going to instead of going school by school this will be kind of that movement in the direction of okay we know and we're having the conversations how we're doing within our own seventh grade team but how are we doing compared to this other seventh grade team at this other school so that's kind of the direction of where we're going with it but I hope that that answers but this is a great conversation and we're really excited about the opportunities uh the wonders of technology I know take it back to ancient history and I remember how painful this was to create common summative Assessments in this District in the core areas and this gives a variety of options if it in fact works as it's theorized to work that that really is neat that's a that's a neat way to go but I I was just intrigued by that piece in your assessment package I I had a question just about the PSAT I presume we're going to encourage students to go on and take the SAT because then if they've done well in the PSAT that's where the opportunities lie if they do well on the SAT that entire plan uh I'm I'm not sure that that'd be like entirely National Merit scholar okay I I didn't want to assume where you were going with that but actually uh no our the end this exact assessment is actually what identifies National Merits but they have to be in their junior year so by testing all of our 10th grade students and each year that score that determines that changes because it depends on the top percentage and so what we are able to do and what our schools are currently doing is they get those results they just came in I believe this week and they're able to identify the top and based on the previous year's kind of cut score for the National Merits they are targeting those top end students and going to them and saying hey you really should consider taking it as a junior so the number of Juniors that we have taking the assessment has actually increased and we hope uh to really significantly increase that more PSAT again or the SAT it is the PSAT it's the same assessment the nmsqt that stands for national Merit student qualified test because I thought my understanding of the process was they take the PSAT they do well on that they still have to take the SAT not for National Merit no okay sorry it's okay understanding I was going to ask about psap too but you answered it thank you I know we've had National Merit Scholars quite a few of them in the district I my questions unless did you have anything for them to study I wanted to just ask a couple things one um I kind I'm excited about the formative assessments across the district as well because I think that it will help us see where things are what where things are effective like what about to say okay something really great is happening over here and then we can maybe say how can we replicate that what are they doing something different than other students not that someone's better or worse or anything but just how can we have everyone keep increasing and doing the best and learn from each other not be you know competing against each other as much as learning from each other and growing together so I'm looking forward to that and hoping that we we can use that in fact I was thinking that as you're saying like some of the schools had you know huge growth in some of their math or some of their things so do we then go back and look at that if third grade at Burke or I don't know what it was Desert Ridge Junior High you know had phenomenal growth then do we say hmm what is there something that we can pass on to replicate and that is 100 the mindset of where we go with these conversations and why we are hoping to create even more uh opportunities where we can look across the district at some of those pieces so historically and even currently we do have our benchmarks which provide that our state assessments and then like I said some of the campuses have created common assessments we're taking it to the district level the final exams that are created for the high school which they are administering in two weeks we're going to have that there but it all is a part of that conversation and I I love how you uh highlighted you know a lot of people do really great things and um it isn't that we're not doing a good job everybody's doing the best that they can but if there are areas where things are working well let's learn from one another and and I think our teachers are excited when I have worked with Department chairs and different teachers and that's the conversation that got going and so um I know that with the math department chairs at the junior high they're really eager and excited to go there I'm not sure that we're going to be able to keep up at the pace for the other teams that are going to want to be there so we're creating a plan for what we can kind of sustain for all the Departments and and K-12 to kind of have that um and it'll probably take a couple of years but that's the goal one of the things that um through our leadership coaches I mean such a wonderful thing for us to have so that collaboration with administer our administrative services with teaching and learning they have their quarterly impact checks so they look at the data then they determine what their goals are going to be and then quarterly what their action steps will be then quarterly they come in and they meet with a combination so Elementary will meet with Marcy Taylor Tim Cannon and Krista and second um sorry opposite secondary thank you for catching that um and then secondary elementary will meet with Robert Jason Martin and tia Hansen and just what they can learn just by through those conversations and so then we have our teaching and learning cohorts one of the things that we have planned is we're hearing all these great things that they're doing but we want to make sure that they're each hearing what they're doing as well so we're going to put some time just next Thursday and Tuesday to have them go through so they can hear what they're doing and some of those cool things too so we're really trying to work with some of that collaboration around the house because I think that everyone is valuing what each are doing they just don't necessarily know so we want to make sure that we're doing that but we're hearing tons through those quarterly impact checks they're so powerful and I think it's a great time because they can come and really brag about some of the wonderful things they're doing too and they're so intentional and they're so strategic and I think that makes them even more proud when really the results that they get are the wonderful that's that's great I I am happy and excited to celebrate a lot of great things that are happening and I know that even like our our grades from the state and different things like this assessments they are just one piece of the whole of what's really going on in every classroom and campus each day but it is it is one way that we can measure and see and something that we can Mark against it is difficult when the tests are change every year it's difficult when we haven't taken a test some you know different things when it's so I think it's a it's one piece but it's an important piece so I'm glad that we're looking at it if I could just ask one question I feel like some of our Junior High like our seventh and eighth grade um I felt like the way that you guys were describing it seemed like our assessments were fairly good so I'm wondering it doesn't feel like our grade from the state reflects that like their actual letter grades yeah the letter grades so one of the things to keep in mind is that the letter grade is made up of a very complex formula that is multiple areas and then when we dive into some of the celebrations that we shared we were focusing on proficiency within this presentation I did highlight a couple of other areas but when you look at the the whole picture if it is in those other categories so there's proficiency there's growth there's acceleration and Readiness and so when you start to look at all of those pieces we've identified the areas that we know and I I will be honest that um some of them it was just very close based on where those cut scores are and those cut scores change year after year so we know that there's there's always going to be work to do and we've identified those areas but we also because of all the variables you just pointed out a new assessment there's just so much change that we also like our teachers deserve to be celebrated for the the positives but yes at our Junior High we we notice that there's some work well there's work to be done everywhere every day so but you have a some specific categories that we can really focus on to reflect that better in the grade yes that's part of it too and I think it kind of goes back to a comment where Ade said we're dedicated to this for five years and nothing changing that would be phenomenal and when I say that because it seems like we've had moving targets for several years now and I think you highlighted that too but at the end of the day this this is information that informs our principles and forms our teachers of of where they need to play and this this is a bit of a a game to a degree and when you say that they keep adding certain things that are combined to make your letter grade over the years and so if you're really focused on one area and you you kind of let another area drop off because this is what your school really needs all of a sudden you're you're going backwards and not forwards according to a formula by a state but at the end of the day if your kids are progressing that's that's primarily what we're concerned about and making sure that um each single day that they're here that they're getting the very best out of our teachers and and so now if we're able to have some of the same consistency then we can focus in a little bit more on what that looks like for all of our students and so that's what these guys have been doing I I've been here what 24 years 23 years 25 years I don't know how many is I just got 25 years right 25 years oh yeah good thing I didn't get tested in math I have not witnessed more discussion about instruction and data amongst principals and teachers that ever before in this district and I can say that coming from a classroom coming to an administrator as a principal as well and it's it's really good and that those are hard conversations for people because some people aren't built that way I wasn't built that way as a principal and I know I got a couple principles here that probably weren't built that way either but we were principals in a different time and um so these folks are really really working hard and they're getting out of their comfort zone a lot of different ways and that is also things that they're doing with their teachers because that's not a comfort zone for a lot of them so we've had to take a step back and look at how we do certain things and how we construct our day how we plan for rigor on a daily basis for our kids and that's again it's not easy and it's a mind shift and when you go through that and when you go through that process some are going to get through it real easy others you're going to have to pull through and get them there but at the end of the day all that effort is going to spell great things for our kids and we just gotta continue to work hard and get there so and that's what these folks have been doing for the last few years so thank you thank you I I want to add to your comment just because I think I want to remind people that when we're talking about looking at the data what we're looking at is does the student know this or not and how do we go back and teach the student again so they understand it better because to me that is the thing that has changed instead of just giving a test and well you got to see or you got a D or you got an F that's it now we take that student and we work with them and help them understand that information so that they're better prepared to learn what's next and I think that's that's very very valuable Mr jelly I have one question that I think I've asked Dr Newman every year isn't it typical throughout the country that we see a seventh and eighth grade drop [Music] I mean it's it you know what's the reason for that and yes um and as a junior high Prince former Junior High Principal like it pains me sometimes to say that right we know that there's more than just the content we know that it has to do about the connect create and care it has to do with the relationships has to do with knowing what students do well and knowing what they struck how they struggle and being able to counter that so that they can achieve but I I do believe that our Junior High principals and teachers are completely dedicated to making it happen but that across the board not if that is not a single something singular to us no then I would like to just make one other comment if that's okay I would I would say that based on what we've dealt with over the last three four years in all of the different assessments and not getting assessed and and everything that um and just what you know all the expectations in our society and everything that's going on that our teachers are doing in our principles and all of you are doing a fabulous job and I think that it's really important that we celebrate what they do because you know they're not getting you know they can get a lot of they get a lot of beating up and I don't think that's fair anything further nope thank you very much thank you yes miss you Jenny we've end with that as well thank you and thank you very much foreign [Music] okay that will finish 2.02 and now we'll be to 2.03 FY 2022 School level annual financial report well here we are once again with the annual financial report for 2022.
and so we also have a lot of kids that stay after school on Tuesday and Thursdays now that's not a guarantee but many of the buses that are leaving here also parents have just said forget it I'm picking up but many of the buses are leaving here that are leaving almost like they're not that full capacity because of that so with the technology that you all have available could we like and we don't have to do it now but can we obviously we need long-term Solutions with you know busing and Staffing but for the remainder of this year could we try to think outside the box in terms of our afternoon routes and in terms of even aligning because I think sometimes and I know it's done out of best intentions but sometimes you know a bus will show up but only one kid gets on it because of that so I'm sure that's frustrating but can we like there's all kinds of like I know you have the magical root sorters but can we look to offer more of a like a solution that will support our students in particular we know like you all know the bus the targeted bus and the problem bus areas can we try to combine those in a more official streamlined way yep and I think the short answer is yes you know one of the things that we've instituted over the last few months is specifically around Sports Chatters is why is a 77 bus the right size for a you know golf team that may have only six kids on it so we recognize that as well again I I think some of it is Legacy thinking it's school bus charter therefore it needs a school bus um but we do when we when we get a chatter called into the office we should be asking and I'll check that but we should be asking how many students are on the bus so that we can send an appropriate size bus to solve the problem which may allow for more flexibility is what I think I hear you saying I think just to clarify what I'm talking about is our 230 Roots the 29 of them if we if if those roots are designed based on 1700 students but there's three or 400 students that are staying after okay for sports or activities um can we kind of look at ways to see if there's certain I know you do combine certain routes and there's second drivers but many of those buses like the kids that have to wait it's not a full bus right because of the the kids um and so you know we'd have to think about that like so say for example if there was a half day like the day before a holiday where everyone goes home that's different but for the most part on a daily basis um the afternoon routes are not as dense as the morning routes okay so I and again I don't want to take the team the committee's time but I think hearing about the longer term Solutions in onboarding and recruiting and partnering to find out supports is one thing but for our for our daily needs for our students I would love to partner or find out if there's some some flexibility and as you say so like I and I love what you said in terms about like we need to understand more about how bus companies work like you're trying to understand how schools work so it'd be great if like we could partner so you can kind of see how our school works and how our Roots work um like and and maybe we can try to say well these two can we can switch it up a little bit to make it better for kids sure absolutely and we can schedule that time so you asked if any of us had any suggestions on where to find drivers I don't know if there is an age limit I'm not offering myself to go get the training no one would want that um but is there an age limit I'm thinking every single City in town in Massachusetts has their own Senior Center and is that a place where you have looked they are only looking for part-time work the last thing they want to do is work 40 hours a week so I don't know if that's something you've even thought about or if you can't do it because there is an age limit on when you could be a school bus driver sure and and I'd say this we typically do work with districts and towns on um with their hiring administrators which would include sourcing retirees within that Community But to answer your question about the age limit I don't think there is other than they have to be able to pass a physical exam and so anything like sleep apnea diabetes would exclude you from being able to be a CDL license driver other than that I would tell you that I already our Workforce is probably north of 45 70 of our people thank you Vivian so I have a few questions you mentioned that you have drivers in the pipeline the last time we had a meeting and your representative came before us it came across as uh some of the drivers that were already in the pipeline were coming to us so I'm not sure how accurate that information is or was but when you do have candidates that are in the process what is the guarantee if any that a driver is designated to Greater Lawrence Tech so I'll allow you to answer that before I move on to my next question that's a great question so ideally the ideal case is that we're geo-locating the person closest to the closest base for that allows for them to get to and from Quick work as as easily as possible we did when we first opened the Lawrence recruiting center push people and we got immediate pushback saying I'm not going to take these jobs if I've got to drive to here or there so so the ideal scenario for us is is that we're hiring people within the communities in which we serve which is also geolocated next to a facility so in this case we're servicing out at Drake and Methuen that that's where they're geographically live so that way they can get their bus and come come out on their routes when you put out a posting that you're searching for drivers I know there's some job postings where ill specifically state that they're looking for Lawrence Methuen Worcester do you do do you have that in place or is that something that you could look into that way we are specifically getting candidates that are aware that this is the area that you guys are in need of instead of obtaining candidates that are because obviously they're replying they don't know um you know if they're coming from another town but yet there's a desperate need for GR you know the Merrimack Valley I feel like that's something you could potentially look into so I'll tell you Pride prior to my arrival what they used to do is they would put out these broadcastings across the state so you would get people applying for jobs into the organization that may live in Milford Mass right who would never come to Lawrence to drive about two months ago two months ago three months ago we changed it to specific contract and what I've what I've learned in my tenure with the organization is that bus driving is a community-based job we need to be hiring from the community in which we serve because it's generally a part-time job for people who are in retirement who don't want to be inconvenienced by having to go to work but are willing to work provided that the work is is there for them so we have totally changed our recruitment strategy when a posting goes up it's specific for this District right now so when you go online you would see postings for great alarms my second question is in regards to a comment that you made you said that this was a global issue which I could understand but now that I'm curious um to know in more detail as to what other schools in our neighboring communities that are also affected just as badly as we are in terms of you know if correct me if I'm wrong we're talking about two hours behind so what other schools in our neighboring towns are also affected so it's a good question I just want to make sure that I'm clear too my understanding is that the a we fix the AMS we still have a PM issue and the PM issue is on average somewhere around 3 15 for the last bus getting out of here is that correct that's that's what our data is telling us um which may be a call out for being sick so I don't think that we're two hours anymore I think we started off the year arguably maybe longer than that yep and and with driver shortages but I think we've corrected a lot of the problems but I do still think we have a few buses on the PN side that are uh constant habitual issues let's call them habitual issues that we're working to rectify but I don't think it's that we're at two hours right now um and then I you know I when Mrs Fitzgerald Ms Fitzgerald spoke earlier so you know Andover is short Lawrence is short Methuen short Drake is short um Lawrence Lowell um I'm sorry Haverhill yeah they're all short it's right in there yep um the boxer talks to Middleton Newbury we have shortages I'm sorry we have shortages in all those locations as well as well as down in Metro West so I would say to you that holistically we're about 15 of our driver work for what's short across all the business and I would say that's just in line with the national standards what we're seeing right now uh but each one of those districts varies about you know what the driver shortages within the district and one of the primary drivers that we're trying to correct for is that the districts the hourly rates for the drivers are typically tied to the contract and so you get a a contract renewal that just took place in Haverhill which we went up 50 on our driver pay so Haverhill is now at 31 an hour 31 an hour I think and so it drastically changes the market right and then we have we we bid The Roots out in um in our local facilities and so the drivers are smarter than we are when when the when the rates change they move so we are trying to um go to terminal based salary structures for the drivers hourly structures for the drivers I approached the board of directors this year and asked for nine million dollars to create what I call not only an internal wage disparity between contract to contract within a terminal but even between terminals so you know the geographical location between Methuen and Drake and it's only five minutes down the road right so internally within Methuen I will have wage disparity within Drake and I have wage disparity and then between Drake at Methuen there's wage disparity and then that's not even including the external forces between you know other bus providers that it may be offering other or greater wages right so I asked the voter directors for nine million dollars to try to correct some of that uh I was approved for seven and a half million hence the reason why I was able to move on great Lawrence Tech drives to the tuna six six dollars that's a huge increase for uh for um for a 20 hour 20 an hour job but it's I'm not where I want to be I am not the employer of choice yet and um and I'm still working to get there my last question is in regards to the contract that we have in place with you guys whether it was negotiated or whether it was an RFP that we accepted and agreed on um if this is an issue that's going to continue let's just say you know worst case scenario till the end of the school year are we going to have any adjustments as to what you guys are being compensated for it's a great question so today we we made the adjustments on the front end to reduce all our billing for buses that are not running and any bus that runs late we credit for immediately right out of the gate it was in my eyes it was the right thing to do as opposed to what's happened in the past where the you know that the what do you call it 2010 billion or what's it called 110 billing and how the structure used to be in place where it was a flat rate for the 10 months um I found myself last year being new in my role going and explaining why you're charging me for buses aren't running so this year we were proactive uh any bus that's not running we credit immediately 100 of the cost any bus that's delayed we take I think it's like 27 28 off the top which is um um our our cost for internal minus the operating expense yes ma'am I would just I would just ask this uh superintendent Lavoy just check me on the bill I want to make sure that I'm not that is the Mandate that is I'm sure somebody's going to check me yeah our first credit was six thousand twenty three dollars something like that for the first month um I agree so the comment was it doesn't help us I agree listen the last thing I want to do is be in the busing industry and leave kids standing on the side of the road right and and this is a huge problem I'm trying to solve for and it's not going to happen overnight that's why I don't want to sit here and tell you it's going to be done next week and go out of here and you believe in that and then two weeks I'm back here answering the same question it's going to take systematic change over an extended amount of time to to correct what what's in front of me I don't come from this industry I think a little bit different than how others do and um and so we're influencing some new decisions that are being made from the organization to try to make it better but the last thing that I want is kids standing on the side of the road as well can I just ask a quick what um thank you what terminal Services us and why so that's Drake let us Drake it and I think geographically well Trombley was a legacy Trombley coming go ahead drink it because there's been a contract coach since the 1970s is that a legacy thing that could be considered because it is that because we hear that a lot like would there be another terminal that would better serve our you know I think we're within two or three miles in any direction that we go I'm for sure can take a look at it we're looking at all that anyways um so today we have for instance Haverhill Big Bus is run out of Haverhill sped is run out of Methuen and so we're looking at yeah we're looking at all that right now and what makes sense how do I get how do we get the assets closer to the districts in which they serve it makes sense for me as a business uh person as well um so we can absolutely take a look at that I I just don't know how far North Reading is from here and or Methuen the one's closer yeah okay um Frank it's thank you Leo he's actually um on off of 28.
Highland goes from 44 to 46. norn actually drops one from 24 to 23 and Darcy remains at two kindergarten classrooms for Doolittle for next year so that's how the four teachers are spread out so it's Chapman Doolittle Highland and one less at Norton I just got a little nervous just looking at the primary grades and we only have assistance really for kindergarten but even your first and second graders you know you tend to need a few extra hands in that in those rooms um trying to think how else we can assist them because again you know the pandemic has impacted the way you know the kids are interacting they're a little bit more immature so to speak um and the exposure isn't there whether they were pre-exposed to a preschool or or not it's still it's a little concerning that the number's a little high in the first and second grade classrooms yeah well first grade I mean on average 17.7 but you get to grade two for next year we're at 19.2 yeah grade three is 18.5 I understand the concern I'll certainly pass it along you know to Jeff and Marlene and I'm sure we'll we'll discuss it during budget deliberations as well but right now the practice is that we provide a para educator on all the kindergarten classrooms and of course the other grades if there's a para educator it's typically for special education purposes in a classroom and then um if I'm looking at this correctly so the the growth is really in the lower grade that's not really at like sixth grade where you like where we had what was it a few years ago where we were able to sort of um swap teachers from Dodd to sixth grade and vice versa uh to to accommodate the sort of the population bump that occurred there um so this time it's more at the lower levels where you have to have that specific you know K through five Training and there's really not a lot of uh interrupt the swappability there except between schools right right and so just I'll Focus your attention this is um grade seven at Dodd so this year we're at 26.4 students uh and next year we're 26.4 um you know per teacher that's what this amounts to for next year eighth grade goes from 21.8 to 23.1 I know those numbers are not um displayed here but so the number of teachers we have for seventh grade is 12.
anyway it is an efficient and useful thing to do um and I just wanted to put that out there as as a as something that other schools do a lot maybe most other schools do from what I can tell is looking at other people's agendas um other districts agendas and I have a sample template a sample table um of what that could look like so it has like the list of people what the action is are they resigning or is it employment um what the the full-time equivalent is and what the effective date is and what the jump but the title is the job description Yes we made that change would the board still be provided the actual application and the resume for everybody yeah they could it could be because it could just be put inboard box free so when we yes we can add all of the because I can I can add as many attachments on on things um as as need be so we just have to figure out what is public and what is private or what for the administration so the the Excel agenda the Excel strategy is okay for public but the applications are not right correct so one of the other things is like resignation letters there might be personalities so probably or some of them are just like I'm leaving on this third of you know December or whatever um all the time I would think that just the spreadsheet information would be public and any of those personal would be private so anyway that's really that's really it um those are the changes that I would like to see well I know I had a question for you about what was included in discussions and reports and after talking with you I realized it was things like Mr KC getting his presentation on the school's letter grade it wasn't something we voted on it wasn't a board action but it was a discussion slash report on that information the same thing is for reports and discussion well it could be either we've created these two meetings to be able to have discussions or reports on either day who created the board then when uh I still get the fact that it should not have been part of this meeting we don't have enough it's just going ah in my brain it's very difficult I have a different motion to make regardless I just make that motion request it I'm not sure how that works because I have a motion that you believe what it is is we would have to vote on the motion on the table first before a second motion could be made changes to the agenda and then you can well if okay we've already had them we have a motion so this is my thought is you bring up a lot of balances this is a lot um I would like to have a motion if we could amend that motion or we can approve the use of board docs but I would like to table the rest of these changes so the board can look at it deeper in January and then go through and approve it so we've already approved four ducks so to me that meant like okay are we voting to implement War Dogs even though we've already done that you know it's really it's voting on how we are implementing more drugs right we already are implementing those amendments I'm fine with the board Dash but I would like to table the part about the changes so the work and look and discuss it further in January okay so you're making motion I would like to make that motion yeah yeah because it's a it's a lot it's a lot and it makes that motion if Wendy's motion still hasn't been voted on if we have that motion on the table oh really you can amend it based on what he said you can say I changed my motion to table this until January while still using board dogs before discussion on this because I don't wanna hinder any implementation of board docs I think that's important yeah that but I also think that the board should give your ideas which a lot are very good I think it needs to be absorbed more and have a little more discussion on it before you decide what we want to implement on those changes okay okay so I'm not so we but we're gonna vote on on implementing these changes yeah that's the motion on the table right now unless it stands unless it's amended um by the person who made it is there anything in particular Eric can I say is there anything important particular not in particular I just think that this needs to be thought over a little bit longer and let the board read it more and understand a little bit before I make a complete decision on it that's all I don't think it's you know I mean I'd like a little more time this tonight going over it okay okay and Angelina do you have something and I'd also like to get the input of the two incoming board members also you have to die but he struck down yes yes yeah so she's not comfortable changing her motion and then it it passes it or it doesn't pass then the second location uh well if it doesn't oh yeah well if it doesn't pass then it's automatically right yeah yeah cool okay so I make a get the role then for the motion yeah so we're going with the original motion there okay so um the motion with the um for those changes okay so can you repeat the motion so the motion is Mr Robertson requesting approval of implementation of board docs and her requested changes to the agendas that's what we'll be voting out right now okay okay Miss Robertson Mr Hopkins Mr Kirsten which is a no Mr Guthrie Miss Duncan and that passes three to two okay okay the next item is the call for agenda items if anybody on the board have I'd like to an agenda until we can revisit this in January okay because I would like to get the revisit what the changes that you requested that were just approved I like to revisit that in January why not I can I can request any agenda item I want I think only I can change I can and I'm not going to be here so once something is passed in order to change the thing that's passed I believe that the person who who made the motion has to we've already passed that it's been approved so now it's let's talk about the board nothing why can't I as a board member say I don't know I want to revisit this in the future now so can we get an answer from from this from Bob or asba on that because I'm pretty sure once something has passed it it can't be then brought right back in back again I believe there's no time frame on that I would think it could because every day anytime we vote on changing anything in policy or an agenda we're doing that I'm gonna request okay that is Alex except Eric's proposed agenda item contingent on instability yes thank you okay anybody else whether or not that there's other things from yesterday do we need to redo them again for them I just thought there was one that somebody wanted okay that's right if it's already on the request yeah it's already requested yesterday okay problem is not good enough okay so now the next item is to convene into an executive session for the purpose of the superintendent's evaluation I know I think we get into it and read it for everybody's presence do I have the thing to read it's on here under executive session 90.
your word is intermezzo can you repeat that Intermezzo i n t e r m e z o in terms of Intermezzo i-n-t-e-r-m-e-z-z-o intermezzo okay that's correct all right new word this word has a homonym or could be confused with another word your word is power the part of speech is a noun the definition is deficiency of color abnormal paleness of all or part of the human body power can you use it in a sentence the power of Julian's stage makeup gave his girlfriend a fright power p-a-l-o-r pallor your word is power the part of speech is a noun and the definition is is deficiency of color abnormal paleness of all or part of the human body power p a l o r e power your word okay your word is profundity p r oh o f u n d i d i t y profundity your word is profundity profundity p r o f u n d i t y profundity okay all right you're going to get a new word your word is ramifications can you repeat that ramifications ramifications are a m i s i c a t i o n s ramifications okay that's the correct word all right we have a winner congratulations [Applause] well done spellers families friends uh everybody here thank you so much for attending the 2022 spelling bee again the winning word was ramifications and if I could have the top five if you can tell us please and Sadie okay so these top five spellers are actually going to be invited to the regional spelling bee so we get to because we're a larger District we get to send our top five spellers so parents we will be sending notes home about the regional B and we do have Metals for our top three so again can we give them all a round of applause [Applause] and we're going to take pictures in just a moment of our top five and then all spellers together congratulations congratulations you all did a wonderful job here you go oops sorry that's what I was I should have my glasses on okay and if you can all stand with your certificates together Mr McGinley is going to take a picture my way come this way and before we have the rest of them come up I'm going to have them tell their name in school again our first place winner I'm Brianna armenta and I'm from Sunset Hills I'm Jose Gutierrez from Kingswood Elementary School I'm Jada Arguello from Canyon Ridge I'm Louise Martinez from Luke Elementary School I'm Sadie Morrison from Asante Preparatory Academy all right let's give them one more round of applause and then let's have all our spellers come up for a picture please we'll take a picture parents if you want to take pictures you're more than welcome to do so and then after pictures we will um go out for Refreshments in the corridor again if your student was a top five speller information will come home from the school about the regional spelling bee it's not until March so we have some time for this we'll give them words to study and stuff too thank you
we'll bring up Miss betz and her team and they will go through this presentation with you good evening everyone again uh we had several questions from all of you when we presented the annual financial report and the school level annual financial report in October and so we took the time to do a comparison that we had done a few years ago looking at Gilbert Elementary versus Carol Ray Ranch Elementary and so we put together a very short presentation and also we'd like to share our own personal conclusions regarding the intent of this report and the difficulty of taking the data without the programmatic basis for the changes so to begin I want to introduce director Jackie matinin and budget manager Ashley Miranda and I'd like to point out that Ashley Miranda is the one who is putting together all of this data and rifling through it and you'll see in a few slides the difficulties associated with all of these all these numbers and so with that I'm going to go ahead and hand it over to Jackie thank you Miss betz Dr McCord Madam president members of the governing board as Miss Betts mentioned we are here again to present this there is nothing to approve this evening it's just a little bit more of an in-depth review of the school level annual financial report and again a huge shout out to Ashley Miranda for taking this on we do appreciate her hard work a little Blood Sweat and Tears and missed family time over it but we're here so today's report will include the school level AFR summary school by school comparison as mentioned Gilbert Elementary to Carol Ray Ranch and then we'll talk a little bit about school level Revenue to spend comparison so these are the the tabs I guess if you will from this giant data spreadsheet that is the school level AFR so it's important to keep in mind that not all of the spend is allocated out to the school level so we in particular special education special education Transportation those are all of those expenses are coded some services are coded at the district level um it's also important to remember that schools vary by location based on programs based on enrollment and also the revenue for this report was allocated by Ade and the auditor General's office that is not something that was in our control for this report so let's talk a little bit more about that but we'll compare Gilbert Elementary and Carol Ray Ranch so we wanted to focus on function 1000 which is instruction and then break it down by object codes which is part of part of the overall report so you can see salaries and benefits here salaries and benefits are higher at Carol Ray Ranch although the size of the school is very similar the purchase Services was much higher at Carol Ray due to our phased retirement folks who are not paid through payroll but actually through a purchase service supplies and capital you can see there the differences so it's important to note overall just an instruction that because of the special ed programs at Carol Ray Ranch on the target class sizes are a little bit different so special ed classes are smaller so you would see a higher cost for salaries and benefits any questions would that would that also be the same with the higher costs per student per supplies and as well right yes absolutely because with those special programs and okay and when I looked at the analysis on the supplies in particular um it's important to note also that this is this includes all funds except unemployment which is strange and Student Activity and the Enterprise and internal service funds so it includes most funds including tax credit and donations where Carol Ray exercised those funds a little bit more than than Gilberto [Music] this slide we combined all of the functions and I wanted to note that there are two highlighted cells on this slide there was a typo in the original presentation that was posted so we will post an updated revised presentation in the morning so those are the two that that changed so this is under all functions and then provides a total school over school so you can see that the amount per pupil overall in instruction was from the previous Slide the support services for students in that 2100 is higher this that includes the your speech language Pathologists otpt a lot of those special ed services so we would expect to see that higher there the 2200 Support Services instruction is actually higher at Gilbert Elementary because of the furniture that they purchase for their Library the school administration is pretty even Central Services was a was a minor um it was actually a professional development any questions on that one so you can tell from this slide overall that we're spending nine thousand two hundred eight dollars per student at Gilbert L and 10 935 dollars per student so for a reader that might be looking at the report they would think well that's not fair why are you spending more money at Carol Ray per student than you are at Gilbert Elementary which is one of the big problems associated with this report because the programmatic data is not there it's just a bunch of numbers collected together and divided by the number of students so it's easy to misinterpret the data as it's presented I'm sorry go ahead go ahead ask it two questions one question none of title one is in any of this information correct it is oh it is okay so where would that be I'm sorry I missed it it's part it's um included in all of the spent okay all right in fact the three dollars that you see under Gilbert Elementary was a title one expense and then I I think you said something about the um people that are on the for Pace retirement so that would that mean there's more at Carol Ray than there are at Gilberto there are yes and then Jackie could you explain you mentioned in your uh introduction that the bus transportation is held centrally so why is there student transportation reflected in each of these elementary schools um because the because these funds include tax credit and 525 auxiliary operations there these were school-based field trips for extracurricular activities it's a 17 and 12 dollars Miss matinee to your point and and to Betsy's point at Support Services 2100 function uh do we know the percentage of special student categories at Carol Ray and Gilbert l that might shed some light on that difference I don't have the percentage in front of me but I do know I can tell you that the Carol Ray Ranch special education population is about twice that of Gilbert Elementary I think that that's important factor it speaks to that programmatic issue that kind of throws the information into the clouds right yeah because they have similar total student counts but when you dive into and see the number of students that are actually in those highly specialized programs that completely changes and if we were to compare this to a different school that didn't have title one or it just is all of these different programs and things that we don't see in the numbers but once we can start looking at it we can we can see okay this is like I thought it was even interesting when you said the 376 dollars on the 2200 was more at Gilbert L because they chose to use some funding for Library Furniture which is beautiful over there right now so but that's an interesting it's just again that's a it's a yearly thing this doesn't reflect or show us that in just these numbers and these number this 2200 account well and if you talk about Library furniture since Gilbert L is 50 years old and Carol Ray is not I you know maybe 15 or 20 years old at least there's a big difference in Need For furniture when you right around that long so but to miss Beth's point it's important to caution our readers because to your point they look they look similar there are only seven students off but programs and how they choose to spend their money is very different thank you and I'm assuming that I'm assuming that the instruction code is is probably due to more senior teachers or that are probably paid more is that a correct analysis or that could be that could be part of it with the special ed students at Carol Ray keep in mind that those classes are a little bit smaller so there's probably more teachers at Carol Ray okay thank you I think that that's an important factor and I don't know if there is opportunity to create notations and asterisks on an AFR but if there were opportunity it would be important to say something about programmatic differences would be important to say something about Personnel differences as well when you factor in Phase retirement folks and the varieties of people who are there but I'm not sure that that's a viable option with this report but it's critical that we at least say that in these meetings so that that word does get out well if it's possible we would have a lot to say oh yes I'm sure well keep in mind that even just comparing two schools is a significant effort because we have to we have to go and de delve into HR records Etc to figure out what's going on at that schools and so to do that across the board would be an exceptional difficulty for we'd probably have to hire another couple of Staff members to get all that done our paraprofessionals counted in here as well yes that's a good point boost your salary as well you've got three or four more people per program that's very true to give you an idea on the class size too Mr Parker the special education classrooms are targeting maximum of 12 per class so it's often less than that whereas our k-6 population is probably on average about 26.
um before the flea market yeah and say oh yeah I'm at the building all the time I'm there tomorrow morning I just without looking at a map and measuring I just wasn't sure which one was closer that would be the close one out in North already yeah um but it's something you said and came from a lot of drivers um was that before they used to have a bonus for not calling out sick throughout the year you guys took that away without even saying anything so now so a lot of them is like well why even if I don't want to go I call them all sick um so I think you just lost a big incentive for a lot of your drivers with taking that away so so my understanding is that's not gone this year that it's still in play no it's not it's not and so what I'm hearing you say is we've got a communication issue without drivers it is definitely in play this year what I what they may be missing misinterpreting is is that when I host driver meetings which I do monthly what I get back is is I'm a 10-year driver I've been here for 15 years why am I making the same as this guy who just walked through the door that's the other one right so I'm trying to solve that and I'm talking about changing the structure to a tenured bonus versus a an attendance bonus so that I can reward those drivers that I committed and have been here over time versus the just gross turnover rate we have for drivers within the first 90 days which is roughly around 50 percent yeah it's it's it's uh it's steep from what so I think what somebody might have misinterpreted what they heard and we can check back we can communicate with the drivers just to clear it up but this year the attendance bonus is in place but we are looking to restructure driver bonuses and again to incentivize people to come to work and build in barriers not barriers I shouldn't say that's probably like a gay process zero to three gets x three to seven gets X and so on and so forth yeah for longevity yep uh I have uh just a one request uh probably mostly from the to the principal our am runs in our 230 runs could you get this committee a number of each bus and the bodies on each bus in the morning then the body is on the buses at 2 30.
and the eighth grade is 14 teachers this year we're not changing that next year it'll still be 12 for seven and fourteenth eighth grade um so it's just a number of students that went up a bit in eighth grade that is taking that class size up a little bit higher but you know you could see you know even here in seventh grade the the last three years you know we've we've hit the 25 students plus mark um and in eighth grade you know at one point we were as low as 22.7 we're at 23.1 so the eighth grade has actually been a little bit more consistent the seventh grade class has been growing but not enough that um Jeff and Marlene believe it warrants adding another teacher and and I mean not well versed in how the schedule works but you know I know the board members know that the seventh and 8th grade operating teams so you can't just add one teacher it has to be adding a half a team or a team which is half the team would be two teachers so right yeah so right now we're looking steady um so like if we so by the time let's say our elementary schools open that's sort of a little off topic but like I noticed that the that the populations in like the first and second grade are look to be a bit higher than let's say the sixth grade is now um what does that translate to as far as planning for the for uh Dodd on let's say five years when the elementary school's open all right so we're gonna we're gonna look at that um I just want to get the columns right so these two columns oh well so those can you see those two columns highlighted in blue I'm going to blow it up yeah those represent seventh and eighth grade and the two that I highlighted are this year so this is Year One two and when I say this year that's 23 24.
so you have to have more questions classified as well for special for special education that's correct too yep from people in the gallery Caraway has eight spice classrooms with 23 percent of the students receiving sped Services Gilbert L is at 12 sped with two functional skills classroom thank you thank you Mr Martin breaking news maybe we could have Mr Martin do the programmatic analysis for the 27 schools for us kidding Kim totally kidding I'm kidding Jason I'm sorry sir foreign School Revenue to spend comparison School so one of the questions that we received from a couple of board members was regarding the negative so when you're looking at Revenue to spend in Gilbert Elementary uh you know looking at special education only you note the negative 292 000 and then you look at Carol Ray and they're positive at 55 299. so to explain that remember as Jackie introduced the presentation this evening she shared that the revenue is allocated out via a formula by the otter General's office and then Department of Education so we are not um we are not a participant in those decisions regarding how the revenue is allocated out and to explain it in a different way it's the concept of backpack funding where each child has a certain value depending upon their particular attribute boots whether they are a special needs student or an English language learner or a gifted student they all receive a variety of different weights associated with funding So based upon this the department of Ed is saying okay this is the population at Gilbert L this is how much you if it were backpack funding that you would be allocated out well obviously with a negative 292 thousand dollars they're not underfunded by 292 thousand dollars because our practice here in Gilbert is to fund the need we are not providing dollars based upon how much revenue each student is earning we are providing the resources to each School based upon what the needs of all the students are at that school so also Ms metton shared that none of the district office expenses are allocated out on a per student basis to any of these schools so there is a lot of spend held at the district office that's not reflected here so if you look at so really if you look at the backpack funding Gilbert Elementary should have received 292 thousand dollars more than they actually spent but that means Gilbert Elementary provided absolutely zero dollars to support transportation to support all of the district office functions even to support the special education leadership Personnel that are held centrally so that's the best example that was the biggest question that was asked alternatively if we had backpack funding and we were going to fund Carol Ray Ranch in that way they would have a surplus of fifty five thousand dollars from a district-wide perspective that's an inefficient way to allocate out resources and make make sure that every student then is getting what they need across the district so that's really the story thank you are there any other questions board members well thank you for all the hard work I I appreciate it um I wish you didn't have to do this um and I would like to see other education entities have to be more accountable and transparent and maybe us do a little less so because I you know while this this is valuable unless we know the context that it's in it we really can't make any judgments just based on the numbers so DR Sanders just like to again offer thank you to Ashley and Jackie and and Bonnie for the work and effort and it's a constant communication when you have reports like this that is seem to highlight disparities which actually do not exist because the amalgam of funds that come into the district are distributed to the institutions based on an internal formula that tries to provide equity for all of its populations and personnel and I hope I've said that correctly [Music] Mr Parker thanks again uh the the audit committee went through this a couple of weeks ago and so we appreciate everything you've done too great so I guess my takeaway would be if someone has a question as they look at the report to please give us a chance to help understand and and see what those numbers might be you know might be what they're reflecting what they're actually telling and that we would be able to show that kind of like you did here today give some even just general examples of what some differences are so is it is it is it useful like do we look year over year just the same school is that something that's useful like if if Carol Ray we look at 2020 versus 2021 versus 2022 does that provide any insight into anything or is really the intent of this is to compare the others to compare school by school what do you think I do believe that the intent was to allow a comparison of school by school and push that concept of backpack funding I believe that this came into being those fiscal 20 that we were required to do this so I know that the State of Arizona has been working on this concept of backpack funding for the last since 2013.
yeah okay anything further it just isn't a side yes sir I think we have the student list loaded into the system as well so we may be able to get that for the school committee as well uh and what we would need though to look at the analysis for the afternoon is what child what children will leave at 2 30 and what won't and then they got to kind of stick to it if we change it but we can work with that offline curiosity with that like I'm just trying to like it doesn't sound like here tonight we're gonna solve the long-term Global issue but I'd like to at least do like a scenario sure sure and I think we can have a breakout session Frank did you uh no I mean just the number is not the names of any students Vivian numbers would change though based on season since okay so then every season so I'll say like on on average like I can confirm with the athletic director but our spring our fall number of athletes is very similar to the winter it's pretty consistent it's just like the when you get down to the student level like I would say we have a lot of three sport athletes though so I think at least looking at it would be worth it and we're taking into consideration like the club's um and I don't know if I would do clubs only because clubs are Tuesday and Thursday only okay but we could at least run the numbers okay oh yeah oh there it goes all right it was flashing green on me um I would agree with that and I think when you when you get to that point we're talking about just of having available seats what I'm hearing you say versus name specific okay anything for the ladies and gentlemen I want to thank you ladies and gentlemen for uh taking their time this evening thank you for coming okay I appreciate that sir thank you and superintendent Lloyd thank you nice to see you again thank you see you thanks for being here okay back to the back to the regular order of business uh John admission report is in the packet any questions or comments on that anything on it no just uh just those are just the numbers where we're at with the admissions to this point okay as you can see it continues to grow quickly okay superintendent Lavoy will update this committee on the following uh new programs or proposed programs Aviation uh programming and child care so all three we haven't heard back we expect to hear from the Department of Ed between within the next week or two at the most uh on the final decision moving forward with those three particular programs uh in terms of child care space is moving along fine we're hoping to open up to Child Care Program in January sometime we've got they're working on the ceilings now putting in the ceilings then we'll put the floor in and up than the Cabinetry so we're hoping to put all the Cabinetry in during Christmas Vacation put the counter in and we're ready to open of course it then has to be inspected by the state so we do have a little bit of work there but that program uh is well on its uh way we feel confident that that's going to get approval because that's in the Northeast blueprint as a need and then the programming again uh is another program that's in the north east blueprint as a need so we feel good about that still the one that's up in the air is Aviation so we're not sure yet on the final approval of Aviation we'll know in the next couple of weeks final visual for that Mrs Michelle yes on the child care um if we were to open up in January have we already hired the teachers I know we have the director do we have the teachers we do have the teachers hired and I just are they already on board are they to start during board they're starting uh just before the holidays to prepare and plan and organize curriculum and that kind of thing alsoila just to follow up on um Miss Fitzgerald questioned we had the director really high and the teachers like I mean like you said so but we don't have that the child care center yet so what what job are those people doing right now so they're not they're not working yet no the uh the director has been working on putting together all the uh documentation for approval by the state to just finish the uh handbook for uh parents and uh of the those who want their child to come here it's working on the handbook for uh the staff themselves regulations and rules working with uh vendors in terms of ordering uh all the equipment that they need for the child care space for playground working with organizing the time frame for all of that so she's here every day in her office preparing for our opening there's a lot to it she could show me a list the other day of about 30 different things that we have to be that have to be approved to get final approval for opening so she's making sure that we have everything in place in order to get approval the child care teachers themselves haven't started yet they'll start just before the holidays preparing they their curriculum and getting ready for opening and then as a Cabinet once the cabinets are in place they'll start organizing and putting things together so that when we open everything's in ready to go in place so we can we really would like to see opening for somewhere around the middle of January uh it's really going to be a matter of how quickly we can get the state in to give us final approvals on as far as a child care so this year it's a service program next year will be a early childhood education program once we get final approval from the Department of Ed I feel confident about that one and that one really fits perfectly with with programs at the state is encouraging us to open as well as programming and we'll see on the aviation I feel good about the aviation program as well we got a lot riding on that program state knows we have a lot riding on that program so I I do feel good about that uh so I think all three I would feel uh I feel like we're going to be in good shape for that which will allow us uh some other good benefits if we get the aviation program approved enjoy continue where is that director falling under which what is stop a person a union person the director no she's not she's non-rex she's just a contract yeah uh Mrs for Joe just one more thing on the child care how did we know how many teachers to hire not knowing how many students we would have we we've done we have uh we right now have more than enough to fill the space from people who have already reached out to us they're anxiously waiting for us to open so based on that and based on how many we can open in each space is how determines how many students we can how many staff we have to in order to meet state regulations so we're other than people already registering which they're anxious to do that we haven't opened the doors yet for that we know we have at least 18 to 20 something from the school itself any other questions yes sir Frank sorry Vivian um how much of what's going to be the are we charging people and how much or more or less are we is it going to be next meeting uh I will bring you the handbook that was just completed uh which has the rates and everything on them for a child we asked we tried to calculate the rate at our cost for personnel so we calculated what we what our Personnel would cost and we're setting the rate in order to cover those costs which is still a substantial discount from the going rate John if you have that ready before the next meeting could you get that out to us sure yep we just I just have uh the principal to look at the handbook and I think then we're ready to bring it to you I just want her feedback on it before we before I give it to you but uh and then I can I can send it out to you yeah anything further okay we pull through committee's all business district committee priorities policies non-new business table matters position title change superintendent are we addressing that this evening I'm sorry uh the table about us position title change is it just there that's still tabled until we settle the uh administrative contract part-time to full-time that's tabled also or yes okay Personnel considerations uh resignations I see none leave of absence I see none retirements appointments we have a couple of job postings which need to be voted on I have I don't know if you have more of it oh yes so we have MCAS we have MCAS tutors for the winter spring MCAS tasting uh tasting testing I'd like to taste them cats yeah only if you like wine uh per the CPA a CBA for 12 10 22 to 2 4 23 these are annual positions and uh social studies teach you long-term sub from March 2023 to the end of the year I have a motion on those two second discussion questions comments all those in favor anyone opposed future agenda items ongoing projects that's just ongoing right yep okay do we need uh make sense do we need anything further anything else uh no no uh Francis Frank sorry Leo um can we get an update on the expansion of for automotive to um uh as far as Automotive is going the uh block walls are pretty much completed waiting for the uh the roof trusses uh to arrive and then after that they'll put the panel down and start the brickwork so it's moved much better uh in the last month or so so in there and also the opening between the new space and the old space has been uh done and so it's in much better we're in a much better place than we were a month ago I was starting to see better progress okay uh too that I uh wasn't on my desk the principal's report did they so that's another boy oh I'm sorry it's just the question that just answers the questions from uh you had at the last meeting I just want to make sure I didn't uh it's the follow-up requested information from the last one okay okay sorry I just uh I didn't I didn't want you to miss your your Limelight oh thank you uh yeah no that was just it I did in the same format that's just in response and it's a follow-up anything further it's time to kill except the motion to adjourn all those in favor and you want to close everyone please have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year when's our next meeting uh so January 3rd January January 3rd so we'll see you next year don't forget if you're if you have the time uh Mrs LaMontagne and I would love to have have you at the house sir for a little bit if you'd like to come over now if you don't know where the house is I can give you the address